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I climbed through it, grabbing onto the tree limb that stood outside my window, swung myself and jumped onto the ground.
I began my run in search of his address.
Chapter 3: Curiosity
Pain is what I continued to feel daily every time that I had investigated my past, bringing up old memories of my months as this treacherous monster. Previously to my moving to Forks, I had taken the lives of two innocent people. One being a doctor, and the other being a lonely man who had decided on that unfortunate night to take his prized telescope out to the desert and look amongst the planets and stars from the Earth. I had remembered that night, unbearably being able to control myself. The day had begun at school when I had accidentally peaked through the strands of my fallen hair over my face into a group of students who were enjoying a laugh as they had spoken ill about me.
The lure had set into their expressions, as they had looked directly into my expression, and I into their own eyes, not breaking eye contact. The group had immediately stood up from their tables, all in the panic state to follow after me with the length of their arms spread towards me, trying to catch me while I did my best to keep up with a convincing fast human pace out of the room. They were all unwillingly drawn to me as their breaths continued to come towards me. Too many of them, the scent had continued to splurge down my esophagus. The frenzy tore through me as I knew I could not attack these students.
They were bullies, but they were innocent and did not deserve the death that I would bring them, nor would the explanation of what had happened be fathomable. I had left school that day, bursting through the doors, trying to fight myself from turning back around into the narrow hallway. To force them all under my control, one by one, breath by breath, but I had enough strength in me to fight the subconscious monster that spoke mercilessly for me to take them. I knew that there was no way I would have been able to hide those murders. Nor did I want to have to hide the murders. I wanted them to live. Live their human lives the way I was no longer able to.
I set foot out the door of the school building, trying to continue a convincing fast human pace as I crossed the parking lot, and walked down the traffic filled roads as each car passed me by, giving me strange facial expressions, wondering what a high school girl was doing all alone, walking on the side of the road.
It had become dark by the time I had finally realized that there were no more lights around me. I had made it away from the light pollution that dawned in the city, where I was now in the desert, surrounded by the broken terrain and rocky structures that surrounded me. The cactus was scattered randomly throughout the desert region, and the nocturnal were now out, scavenging for food in the cooler weather as the sun had set.
The man I saw, sitting on his stool with a tarp underneath him and the telescope he had his eye pressed against. His mouth hung open with his top row of teeth exposed as he seemed to be trying to concentrate and refocus the telescope into slightly different directions as he stared off into the great beyond that is only just past our atmosphere.
The demon in my subconscious was pleased with the setting of the night. No one was around, not a group of drunk teenagers were walking about sluggishly with their games. Just the man before me, and I. He seemed to be possibly in his early to mid-thirties. His hair was concealed by a baseball cap with no logo on it, his patchy beard which only seemed to expand from his cheeks by maybe an inch, his tan complexion as he seemed to enjoy the sunny weather, but no wedding ring. No wedding ring had delighted the monster that continued to want to drag me towards him. No wedding ring meant the possibility of no wife to miss him, no children that cried in their sleep from a bad nightmare, just a man, alone, with his telescope.
Fighting the urge was not possible anymore. In situations that came like this, where the opportunity was much too unchallenging and simple to get away with, it erupted me more. I had killed that man that day. Never knowing his name, his proper age, whether he had family or not. The news never covered the story of the mysterious star gazer. The word simply died out once it started. I told myself to not find myself in that situation again, but I had broken my word today.
Running away along with my gift of evasion had saved me. Saved me from whatever was coming after me. I hadn't a completely sure idea that there was someone coming towards me, but I had known I had heard something picking up the pace as it followed behind me. The succubus in me had been able to oppress my scent from my trail and body when I needed it most.
But it was a curse. The curse of knowing that I could get so effortlessly away with whatever I needed to.
Even though I was immortal, I still needed sleep, though less hours than I used to. I could completely function each passing day on only three hours of rest. Knowing this, I had smiled at the idea of enjoying the tapestry of the town of Forks with its moss grazed hills, the rocky mountain sides of the Olympic Peninsula, the endless trees to dart through and boulders to leap over. If anything, that I was grateful for with this newfound life of mine, was the exhilarating feeling of the immense speed that I could run. Run for hours with only breaking a mild sweat.
As I continued further through my exploration to find where Edward Cullen lived, I noticed the road had grown darker as less streetlights seemed to be placed along the edges of it. It seemed so remote, so isolated. The eeriness of the fog felt unsettling, but I had perceived no immediate danger from where I had continued walking.
I went forward, looking for the address that Charlie had kindly given me with my lies. I detested lying to him, but it only seemed that the further I continued venturing through this new life, that I would only spread more. One day I would eventually succumb to a numb feeling as each lie would effortlessly escape my tongue when I decided to leave after graduation. The risk was far too great to stay behind.
As I continued running, I passed over the bridge at the Calawah River, following the winding road northward, seeing flashes of lights coming from the houses that I had quickly passed by, but the houses were growing farther apart, each getting bigger as I continued on my run, until no houses were coming into view all together. Through the misty forest, a lonely mailbox, hidden shyly by the trees and ferns, had come into view. I was now entering the area of the Cullen house. If I had continued my speed to a full run, I wouldn't have even acknowledged the lost unpathed driveway that winded through the trees to an unnoticeable house. I stopped my footing, and began to slowly walk lightly down the driveway, looking behind me to make sure I had not left any prints behind.
I was becoming nervous as I came closer towards the house. Looking around at my surroundings as the forest encroached on both sides, leaving only the road ahead discernible for a few meters as it twisted, serpent-like around the ancient trees. I continued running but slowing my pace down as I was concerned about where the house would show up in view. The driveway itself had taken a few miles to pass until there was some thinning of the woods where there seemed to be a meadow. No, this was a lawn. There were six primordial cedars that overhung an entire acre with their vast sweep of branches. Until I had noticed the house that rose among the trees that held a shadow of moonlight up against the walls of the house with its deep porch that wrapped around the first story.
It was out worldly extravagant, yet timeless, graceful, and probably a hundred years old. Interesting for it to be in such a remote location, hidden away from the rest of the neighborhoods. Charlie had said that Edward's father, Carlisle, was a doctor, but I highly doubted that a doctor on a Forks salary could afford this. But I couldn't help but stare in awe at it.
The entire exterior—so open as it was almost paneled entirely with large glass windows that were either a part of the original structure, or a perfect restoration. I suppose they never needed privacy from the outside considering how far away from society the house was.
I looked around, noticing the nearby sounds of a river close by that flowed between different levels of terrain, hidden by the obscurity of the forest. The view would have been gorgeous during the evening. The house is surrounded by tall trees and bushes with a small garden in the front. Nonexistent broken tree limbs scattered. I couldn't imagine the amount of work a gardener has to do here, or how much they are paid for this job.
I made sure to lighten my steps as I continued to close the gap slightly towards the house, peeking behind a few of the overlapping trees and it's hung canopy and vines that spiraled around the girth of the trunks.
I could see Edward, including his family. Their stances were motionless as their lips moved at unrecognizable speeds as they spoke to each other. I had noticed Edward grabbing a hold of an item off of a bookshelf behind him, as he let out an intense growl and slammed it towards the wall nearest to him.
"Have you not heard of a word I said? Do you not understand the problem here? I almost killed her! If she hadn't left that classroom, I would have eventually given in, and would end up having to slaughter the entire school just to shield them of our existence!"
"Edward, that is not a reason you should leave. We can help you," A woman, with a heart shaped face with bundles of caramel colored hair, said, reaching her hand out towards his upper arm, but he shrugged it away.
"Esme, I went after her, why am I the only sane person here noticing the issue? I followed her through the woods, looking for her." Edward shifted his position, looking towards the man who still wore his medical coat. "I was out of control Carlisle, and then her scent disappeared. I would have killed her if I found her in the woods." His nose scrunched up and his eyebrows furrowed as he ran his fingers through the beautiful bronze locks and growled out of frustration.
Killed me? For what? I was the one having to fight my control to kill him. I was the one who had to run away. But the woods, he mentioned. He was looking for me, to kill me.
I felt saddened by this. I hoped more that he didn't actually hate me since Charlie said he wanted to help look for me. Maybe he was being rhetorical.
A roaring laugh emitted in the house, bouncing through the glass panels and through the trees that were enveloped in the night mist. "Bro, you found your singer, huh." The taller, bulkier man in the house said. He was leaning against the back of the couch with his foot pressed up against the coffee table and his arm around the beautiful and gorgeous supermodel blonde haired woman. "You already know what happened when I ran into my singer. And we covered it up, Eddie. We can do the same for you."
My jaw loosened at that statement. Cover what up? Was this group of people murderers? No, that can't be. Charlie said they were good kids. He respected Carlisle very much. There must be more of an underlying meaning to what their words were saying. A missed conversation from earlier.
"Emmet, you know that is not an option we are discussing right now," Carlisle said. "She is Charlie Swan's only family. It would kill him."
"I'll miss you," the recognizable pixie-like girl from the bathroom said as she walked up to him slowly with her hand rubbing against the side of her arm and her head looking down. "No matter how short of a time you are gone." She looked up at him through her eyelashes and leaned into him, wrapping her arms around his torso. His tensed body seemed to have relaxed as he leaned his forehead on the top of her head and lightly wrapped his arms around her. Esme's face distorted as she seemed to want to smile through the tears she was holding back. She held her arms towards him and wrapped them around his shoulders, pressing her cheek against his clavicle.
"Come back soon, Edward," she said. Edward nodded and let go of their embraces and quickly grabbed a jacket that was hanging over the back of the love seat and walked out of the front door. He looked over at his Volvo that was parked close to the front door of the house as if he had parked it there originally in a rush. He pushed his pursed lips to the side of his mouth with his eyebrows still furrowed and instead walked away from it into the woods until he was no longer there anymore.
Shock filled my expression as it seemed that the boy had completely disappeared from his place in the front yard, and instead had teleported away, but his intoxicating energy has radiated up wind from me, signaling me that he was going further and further into the woods at an alarmingly fast rate as the scent has quickly started to turn stale.
I looked over back through the glass windows of the house, still with my jaw hanging loose. The Cullen family had all turned their backs towards the windows, looking a little glum about Edward leaving. Carlisle quickly took sorrow filled Esme into his arms as they both headed up the stairs together. Emmett and the supermodel still kept their place on the couch as he leaned forward, grabbing the remote off the coffee table, and the pixie haired girl strolled over to a blonde gentleman, smiling at him as she took her place on his lap.
Confusion filled through me as the familial affairs of the family had taken me by surprise. Are they all related to each other? If so, why do they seem so especially close to each other?
The blonde-haired boy on the couch moved his head slightly to the left as it seemed that he was now listening to something that he could hear outside. Quickly I moved myself out of view behind the larger tree before he could completely turn his head over to look at me in my direction. I needed to get out of here before they had noticed me. I had no clue how they would react to a person who had come down their long driveway on foot, listening in on their conversations.
I bolted away from the house, trying to avoid any small unmoved broken twigs or shrubbery that would make noise under my fast footsteps as I quickly headed towards the stale scent of Edward's energy that was picking up its distance. I had to follow him. I had to know where he was going.
Chasing after your meal, Isabella? A soft chuckle whispered in my subconscious. Seems it is possible that I was wrong, he may not be such an easy target after all.
"What does that even mean?" I said to the monster that continued to egg me on. I knew that it never replied to my questions or complaints. It just had a sentient mind of its own as it continued to try to persuade my daily actions and life.
I continued to run through the woods, moving at one of the fastest speeds I have found myself running before. I was determined to catch up to him. I was determined to figure out why and how he was able to escape from me as I sored over the large boulders and flew past the trees. The scent of him continued to go further, creating more of a distance between us than before. It seemed that the scent was traveling almost fifty percent faster than I was running. But how was that possible? What could possibly run faster than me? Even Vilinsea was a little bit faster than I was, as she had escaped from me when we parted ways my first week as a succubus in Phoenix. She had left me all on my own, though not completely. She had made sure I understood how to continue in this way of life and taught me what I needed to know. She had told me that it would be the last time I was seeing her, but she had felt confident that I would one day enjoy and accept what I had become.
Bullshit, really.
I didn't know how long I would keep up the chase to find him. It seemed as though I was running for far too long towards the Canadian border. His stale energy still lingering ahead of me, but it was quickly diminishing farther and farther away. I held onto what was left of it as it continued further. Soon, it was clear that my surrounding area was covered in snow. The icy chill of the air had burned against my cheeks as I rushed through it, trying to break the inches of soft ground beneath me.
Where was he going? How long would I continue running for before the next day would end? I knew that Charlie would now most likely be furious when he would notice I was not in my room, or perhaps I had been lucky this time and he would not have checked on me this morning. Perhaps he had left for work in a rush and didn't have the time to open my bedroom door to make sure I was okay. I had hoped for these things. I didn't have a cellphone for him to call me, or for me to call him to tell him I was okay. I would hate for him to worry about my whereabouts. I would hate for him to call the swat team he had threatened me with last night. I could only hope that he went to work safely and unaware. I would have to make up some sort of reason that I would be home late after school if he was oblivious to my disappearance. I knew that I would not be making it back anytime soon, today.
Then again, was that even a proper time? I had been running for almost over fifteen hours now and I still hadn't made it to my destination. Frankly, I had found that my speed of eighty miles per hour, running a straight shot through Canada had given me the advantage over traveling by car, besides having to run around town limits. By car, it would normally take much longer, with the traffic, frequent stop lights, lower speed limits, but my disadvantage was trying to not be seen. I did seem to be a blur when I would run. Not noticeable to the human eye if they were not closely paying attention, but it still would leave me having to avoid being around larger populations. I would say this trip in a car itself would take almost two whole days to travel to where I was at. I had my wallet, luckily on me on the inside pocket of my sweatshirt. I could easily take a flight home if I needed to. It would only be a three and a hour flight to take me from where I was to Port Angeles airport where I then could decide to run back home. That would be my best option. Though, at this rate, I still had no idea where I was headed. It would be over a full day before I got back home.
I would have to call Charlie over a payphone and make up an excuse for my whereabouts sooner rather than later.
I was deep into the snowy mountains, still running. If I knew my geographical locations well enough, I would assume I was making my way over Kluane National Park Reserve. The run itself was exhilarating. The fast speeds that I could keep going at, not becoming tired, except I could feel the muscles in my legs that would normally be overly worked at this point. It was uncomfortable, but I could push through it. The view itself was incredible. The water that flowed through the dark mountains that had peaked with snow. The toll trees that scavenged through the flatter areas of the landscape. It was breathtaking to say the least.
After my continued efforts of traveling, I came across a lodging area. I slowed my pace down, still holding onto the scent of Edward, keeping it close to me as I decided I needed to go inside and call Charlie.
The place was small, almost vacant. I walked inside the small main lobby, seeing a young adult who had her legs placed onto the counter as she leaned back in her chair. She was bundled up in her winter clothing, which looked more heat insulating than the sweatpants and jacket and sweater that I was wearing. It would be clear that someone as small and lean as I should be dressed warmer, but it wasn't an issue that I cared to dwell on.
"Hello?" I called out to get the woman's attention as I closed the door behind me. I looked down towards the ground, knowing I had not reapplied my contacts since I left my house. I needed to shield my eyes. I pulled the sunglasses out of my pocket, putting them on. She still hadn't looked up at me, where I then noticed she had headphones on connected to a portable CD player that she was listening to. I walked towards the counter, standing there, and tapping my fingers on it, waiting for her to acknowledge me. She didn't. I reached over tapping a few times on the small desktop bell that was near her. Her eyes averted from the magazine as she didn't seem remotely shocked by it. She let out a heavy sigh as she closed her magazine, taking her feet off the counter and straightened herself in the chair.
"How can I help you?" She asked in a monotone voice, chewing on a piece of gum that she had been holding in her cheek.
"Can I use your phone?" I asked as politely as I could. I felt irritated by the customer service that she was giving. It wasn't as though I was a customer, but it did make the lodge look bad to reviewers.
"Sure," she replied, pointing her finger over to the landline hanging on the wall. I knew that the call to Charlie would show that I was definitely nowhere near or close to Forks. I remembered to dial star-sixty-seven before I typed his station's number in so the call would be from an unknown number. I didn't want him to try to call the place back just for someone else to pick up the phone and tell him the location of the lodge.
"Hello? Chief Swan speaking," Charlie greeted.
"Hey, dad," I replied, shyly, looking over my shoulder at the receptionist who no longer was paying attention.
"Bells?" I could hear him pause, possibly trying to look at the number I was calling him from. "You okay?"
"Yeah, I'm fine, dad. I just," I let out a heavy sigh trying to figure out any lie that I could come up with. "Something has come up. I'll be home sometime tomorrow morning, okay?"
"Wha-what?" he stuttered. "Where the hell are you?"
"I'm just out of town. I know, I'm so sorry I should have told you."
"Out of town? Where are you, Bella. I can leave the station and come pick you up."
"No, please I promise I will be back. I just needed to get away for a moment." I shut my eyes, biting down onto my lip. "You were right, yesterday. School was… less than inviting."
"Oh, Bells," he said, pleading in the phone, sympathy and worry coming through his exhaled breaths. "Did something happen? Were people not nice to you?"
"You know… new kid stuff. Just silly rumors. Look, dad. I know that I have no authority to run off for a whole day. And I apologize, but I promise I'll be back soon, tomorrow."
"No, Bella. You get back here now. You are a minor and I am your father and I'm telling you to come home right this instant."
"I'll be back soon. I promise, I just needed to get away. Find some kind of sunshine." I felt horrible for lying to Charlie. I hated him thinking that I wasn't liking Forks. I didn't like Forks anyways, but I knew he wanted me to be comfortable and happy there. We haven't spent much time together in years. I could hear the hurt in his voice.
"Bella, I swear."
"I have my wallet and some pepper spray on me. I'm fine." I've never owned pepper spray in my life. "And I'll make sure to call you when I'm on my way back."
"Bells, if you hang up this—" I placed the phone back against the wall, letting out a deep sigh. I turned around seeing the girl blowing a bubble between her lips with the gum.
"You know, I'm going to have to report you if you're running away from home, kid," she said, pulling the gum back into her mouth with her tongue.
"That won't be necessary. I'm not running away." I looked over at the gift shop shelf, that wasn't necessarily a gift shop in any way. It was just a stand holding items of the lodge name on it, and amongst those items were a pair of gloves and a knit hat. "How much for the knit hat and gloves?" I asked.
"Twenty dollars for the both of them," she said, eyeing me. I nodded at her, grabbing the items off the shelf and pulling out my wallet, handing her a twenty-dollar bill.
"Do you take American currency?" I asked, shyly. She rolled her eyes at me, taking the bill from my hands and opening a drawer with a top open safe in it. She placed the bill in there and looked back up at me. "Would you like some change? The American dollar is worth a little more than the Canadian dollar."
"No, it's fine. You keep it," I forced a smile towards her, grabbing the items— heading out the lodge. I put on the gloves and hat and made sure to re-identify the scent of his energy again and headed Northwest.
After another almost six hours of running, it became dark. I didn't know the time, but I ran past a sign that welcomed me to Denali. I had stopped looking at the landscape around me until now. As I had thought before, the view was just breathtaking. My eyes were able to see clearly in the dark, but the moonlight did help by cascading light over the mountains. If I didn't detest the cold and snow so much, I could easily find myself wanting to look at this view every day. Down the mountain side towards the river, there was a large bear holding a fish it had caught against the ground, and biting into its superior portion of its body, ripping it in half. It had caught its meal today. But to my surprise, I saw it walking towards the trees as three cubs came running out towards the mother bear. She dropped it to the ground, allowing the cubs to share the meal.
I kept going further, and the scent of his energy was drawing closer. I stopped, looking around at my surroundings. Exhaling my breath from my lungs as I tried to concentrate on my talent of evasion. I quickly let the talent ripple over my body as it were to disguise my scent as I had done before. Whatever Edward was, I knew that he could most likely be able to track me, just as I could track him. I traveled further, following his scent only for another mile till a large house came into view on the mountain side.
I'm surprised you even cared enough to go the distance, amica. You must really be itching for a delectable snack.
I waved off the monster that continued to furrow into my subconscious. I was not looking for a snack. I was not hungry anymore after my gruesome murder yesterday. I was looking for an understanding towards my curiosity.
There he was, leaning against a boulder as he held his glance down towards the snow. There were others inside through the glass paneled wall that I could see sitting on the couch, enjoying their reading of a book. There was a male, who seemed dashingly handsome with his olive tone complexion, along with a dark-haired woman who had curled next to him, reading along the pages with him. Then there were two girls inside, sitting on the staircase together, talking about the arrangements they were needing to make to make Edward feel more comfortable there. One of them had long, pale blond hair that was straight as corn silk, and the other had straight, chin-length silver blonde hair. Each of their most common traits that made them possibly seem related were their golden eyes. Others darker than the next.
A remotely average height girl with long, curly strawberry blonde hair exited the front doors of the house and glided over towards Edward gracefully through the snow. She had the most expressive smile on her face as she seemed genuinely happy that he was there. She took her stance next to him against the boulder, nudging her shoulder closer to his upper arm. He didn't seem thoroughly amused by her, but she seems amicably fascinated.
"Humans," she said to him. "Strange things, huh?" She smiled up at him, but his facial expressions didn't change besides the slight downward tug at the corners of his mouth. "Well, maybe I can help you get your mind off of it. You didn't kill her, Edward and you are here now, everything will be fine." She placed her hand against his chest, her fingers tugging against his knit sweater that he wasn't wearing before he had left Forks. A low humming sound escaped her throat as there were changes of pitches in it.
She was enjoying touching him, but he didn't seemingly reciprocate the feeling.
He had moved himself away from her grasp and continued walking a little farther from the house as he stared towards the woods that led near the cliff that over hanged the river. A disappointed look appeared on her face as she pressed her thumbs together.
"You can stay as long as you like," she said. "We're happy to have you here, Edward."
"I appreciate that Tanya, though I don't know how long I will be staying for."
Her frown deepened, "Are you going back to Forks eventually then?"
"Perhaps not. Might go somewhere in the North eastern parts of America. Possibly Maine."
"You don't have to. It could be good for you to get away from your family and live here with us for a while. Get away from human society."
A smirk expressed over his face, as he slightly pulled her view into his peripheral vision, "I still haven't changed my mind, Tanya. I know what having me here means to you, but I can't find myself agreeing to that."
"Of course, not. But the offer is always there," she walked closer towards him, partaking in the same view that he was looking into. "I'm surprised you ran all the way here. A plane would have been much faster. Or perhaps a car. You normally drive very fast."
"I preferred running this time. Needed to clear my head."
She paused, pondering her next question. "What's her name?"
The corners of his mouth twitched upwards. "Isabella—or well— she goes by Bella."
My eyes widened. He was talking to her about me. Why? Because he wanted to kill me? Was he still eager to finish the job, and if so, why was I still here? But I was compelled to lean forward, to listen more. How could he have possibly known I go by Bella? Oh, well. That's right. I suppose that pixie girl had told him when she cornered me in the bathroom.
"Is there something going on in your head about her, Edward?" He flattened his lips into a line, not answering her. "So, you can dig into my head all you want to, but you draw the line when I ask about yours?" Weird.
"Nothing particularly. Her mind is silent, which nerves me. I tried my best to dig further when I was holding back my restraint, but before I could push, she had left the classroom and ran away."
Tanya giggled, "One thought you can't read out of the entire population of the world, and that bothers you?" Again, a missed conversation that I had trouble identifying the meaning of.
"It wouldn't bother me as much if I wasn't so drawn to her," He sighed. Looking at Tanya, forcing a smirk on his face. "Would be helpful if I knew she was scared of me."
Scared? Scared of him? Why would I be if anything I was notoriously fascinated by him. Curiosity rippled through my mind to understand what he was. His eyes were not like mine, his scent was not like the others I had encountered, and his speed. His speed is a great deal faster than mine. Not that he's just a faster runner, but entirely he seemed to have significantly more boost in his step.
"Hate to disappoint you, Eddie, but you're not that scary," she teased.
"Tanya, you know I despise that nickname," he replied groaning.
I hate to alarm you, virginem, but their energy radiation is much higher than others you had encountered. The voice said, seeming to be trying to create a one-sided conversation with me. I knew it couldn't hear my words, or reply to what I say to it, but it was trying to supposedly speak to me instead of enticing me.
Others you have been near seem to have a limited amount of energy, thus taking it would produce death, but these specimens seem to be radiating an endless amount. Just stare into the cloud as they exhale the air from their lungs, regia puella. See the static flow that forms in the falling snow of the cold air near their breaths? Endless. Curiosus.
I had taken its advice and did my best to narrow my eyes to deepen my sight into what the monster was trying to warn me about. There was something odd about their breaths that they exhaled into the cold weather. Small spurts of electricity danced between the snowflakes near their mouths, that continued circulating around each other and around their forms entirely. I couldn't see this before in Forks, but here, the negative degree of the weather had made it visible. Endless supply of energy? How was that possible?
"It's not entirely unheard of to be attracted to a human, you know. Kate and I do enjoy our playtime with them on occasion. The gifts they bring to us, showering us as if we are goddesses," Tanya chuckled, but Edwards eyebrows furrowed with his nose seeming to scrunch. He looked uncomfortable by their conversation. Strange though, for them to use the term human as if they weren't one. Clearly it wasn't possible for them to be human in the slightest. Edward's incredible speed proved that to me, along with the endless supply of energy that radiated off of them both. But what were they?
Wait, attracted? I asked, baffled.
"No," he shook his head, crossing his arms. "No, I will not participate in those kinds of affairs that you and your sisters seem to find disturbingly entertaining."
"That's because you are a prude," She smiled, leaning into him again. A small tug in my chest had played against me for my attention. I couldn't identify the feeling that was coming over me or if I was simply annoyed with her continuous efforts for his physical touch that he had not wanted or planned to reciprocate. Was I feeling jealous of her being so close to him? I didn't even know the guy. I've never spoken to him before, and the last time I had seen him, I ran like a coward, trying to not kill him. The only reason I knew his name was from my own dad. What reason could I possibly have to feel jealous? There was no possible universe where I could compete with that woman. She clearly was a goddess, not like the supermodel blonde in his family, but gorgeous she was, nonetheless.
I could feel my face falling at the idea that I was not a close match to her beauty. He was beautiful, far so the most handsome boy I have ever seen before. They would look very well together at each other's side, and they did. They seemed to be a perfect match when it came to their appearances with each other.
"Bella fascinates me," he admitted. "I want to learn more about her, to learn what I can't read for myself. I didn't plan on talking to you or anyone about this, that I am fascinated by her, but after I had ran looking for her in the woods, feeling so succumbed to the internal monster that lingers inside my natural instincts, I had felt weak. Too weak to suppress my thoughts as I normally would. If I had managed to get through that class that day with her, leaving her untouched and not hunted down, I possibly would have kept these thoughts to myself," he frowned. "I wouldn't have felt any less guilty, but I would have felt better knowing that I was able to hold myself back from going after her at the end of the day."
"Singers are very rare, Edward," she looked back up to him, "It's not something you, nor many of us at all are used to being near. Could have happened to someone with the most control, even Carlisle."
He shook his head, staring ahead at him towards the view. "No, not Carlisle."
She nodded. "You're right. Maybe not Carlisle. I doubt there is anyone of us that could do his job." She pursed her lips together. "So when will you decide to return back?"
"I don't know if I will," he sighed. That upset me.
"Just give it a few weeks. If you are still here, I will force you back, myself. Otherwise, I might end up having my way with you," she winked at him. He briefly winced at her last comment, but she just chuckled at him.
I don't think I was particularly fond of her. She seemed nice, but my unwarranted jealousy could easily be clouding my judgement.
"I thought you said I could stay as long as I want, Tanya. What is the change of heart?"
"I think you are much stronger than you give yourself credit for, Edward. If you have to avoid her, then you have to avoid her. But you still have your family in Forks. Esme seemed distraught on the phone when Carlisle called to let us know you would be arriving soon. So, I know they are terribly missing you."
"They'll live. We have split our ways before in the past," he grumbled.
"Not forever. You all tend to form back together again," she smiled. "Family," she nodded.
"I came here expecting you to hold me down and not let me leave to go back."
"Awh, Edward. Stop, you're only just teasing me more," he nodded lightly, chuckling at her. "I will want to meet her one day, just to know what it is you see in her that you don't see in me."
"You're a thousand times lovelier than the stars, Tanya. Of course, you're already well aware of that. Don't let my stubbornness undermine your confidence." He chuckled. Would be very unlikely for her to not have a high amount of confidence just by her appearance alone.
"I'm not used to rejection," she grumbled, her lower lip pushing out into an attractive pout.
"Certainly not," he agreed. His eyebrows narrowed at the silence between them. "Succubus," he said.
She grinned, flashing her teeth. "The original."
My eyes widened at their words. Succubus? Was she a succubus? That wasn't possible—not likely, at least. Their scents were much different than mine and Vilinsea who had a scent almost comparable to mine.
I inhaled a deep gasp at their conversation, confused and worried, but mostly enlightened by the possibility. But their eyes, a deep gold and so much different than my amethyst hue. It wasn't possible that they were the species of my own, but it didn't mean they were human, either.
Their eyes averted to my direction, scanning the area for the sound that came from myself.
"Did you hear that?" Tanya asked. Edward nodded. I slowly turned myself around, trying to hold in my breath to keep any possible noise from escaping my throat, but my heart was something I couldn't silence. It continued to drum louder and louder at my nervous worry.
"No," he muttered at her silent pause. "I can't smell whatever it is—yes I hear that, too—no we are downwind from that direction as of a few minutes ago. We should have been able to smell their scent," he continued to mutter to her, answering unasked questions.
"Hello?" Tanya spoke up towards my direction. Good, they were still near the house, unmoved. They weren't coming my way yet; I had a chance to escape—and I took it.
I was swerving my way through the trees, hurdling over the cracks in the sides of the mountains, passing over broken trees that had fallen onto the ground within the woods. I couldn't hear them coming after me, but that didn't mean that they wouldn't begin to. As far as I know at the moment, Edward was much faster than I was. I wasn't sure about Tanya, but if she was whatever he was, I'm sure they'd both be able to easily catch me if not for my talent of evasion.
I wasn't following the same way I had come from, and I knew I needed to figure out the route back before I could get lost. Edward's scent he left from Forks had almost entirely been lifted, leaving me no way of direction to travel back. I needed to find the airport. Get lost into a crowd of people, but there would be no one near this area. Not enough people to hide me, that is.
I began to hear their increasing footsteps towards me, but they were much more jagged as they were trying to pinpoint where I was going. I knew that they must have been thrown off with not being able to track my scent, which I was grateful for. It gave me the advantage at an upper hand to get away from them much more easily.
As I continued forward, looking behind me frequently, I ended up coming near a dead end where the mountain would cascade down a cliff towards a drop so high that I have never fallen from before. It hurdled me to jolt to a complete stop, looking both directions for where I could go. This drop could be said to be over three-thousand feet. I wasn't sure if I was comfortable with the possible outcomes, even knowing that I was nearly indestructible, but I knew if I changed direction and ran left to follow the mountain down, I would be stopped by Tanya who was already honing in on me from that direction, and Edward from the opposite one.
"Damnit," I whispered to myself. Shaking my wrists back and forth and hopping up and down on my heels. I needed to think. I needed to think fast. My masked scent wouldn't be able to hide me for long. They could hear the possible direction of where my feet had hit the ground during my escape. They would find me if I continued to stand here while contemplating my decisions. All I could do… was jump.
I walked a few paces back, keeping my eyes forward, and came to a running start, jumping over the ledge of the cliff sided mountain. I could feel the cold air pulling my clothing past my torso as it chilled me to my core. The feeling of falling, the gut-wrenching stomach drop as gravity was trying to take over my body. I couldn't help but scream as I flew down in the air, waiting for my death at the bottom. A coiled scream that bounced off the mountain sides around me. I had to remember quickly what it is those people do in action movies. Slightly bend your knees, holding your legs together and try to land on the tips of your toes, to then curl your body into a forward roll as your physics continues to hurdle your body forward. Soften the fall as your hand absorbs some of the impact of your legs and push your body.
I had to look, I had to see how much farther down I was falling. The edge of the cliff I was coming towards was at an incline, and it was coming fast, faster than you'd expect it to.
I could feel the impact on the tips of my toes as I leaned forward, pressing my arm against the ground, causing my body to roll forward, but not as gracefully as I hoped it would. The side of my body slammed against the ground repeatedly as I continued to roll down the incline. My body wasn't stopping. The incline was rather tall, and long where it would then meet the flat slopes of white snow. Grunts were forced out of my throat at each impact as my body was out of control rolling down the hill. I hadn't a clue of how to stop the inertia that was forcing my body to keep tumbling down the side of the hill, not until I was then slammed into a tree.
Blood curdling screams erupted from my chest as the impact felt brutal. Then the cracking began as I heard the tree swaying back and forth from the impact, and then start falling towards the ground in the opposite direction from me. I instinctively held my hands above my head, bracing for the impact that wasn't going to come towards me. As the tree had finally crashed to the ground. I felt a sudden sigh of relief, but pain emitted across my body. I looked down at my leg, where the blood started soaking through. I pulled up the bottom of my sweatpants, seeing that the wound was instantly healing as the blood that surrounded the past wound started to immediately circulate back inside of my skin, leaving no trace behind. But my sweatpants were ruined.
It was interesting to find that my blood wasn't the same color as human blood. It wasn't as dark as the crimson or maroon shade human blood was. It was much lighter. Had more of a raspberry red shade to it. I kept eyeing as the last drop of blood fell back into the wound which then closed completely, leaving no scar behind on my skin. I chuckled at that, which then now noticed that there was no longer pain scorching through my body. My body healed me.
Overwhelmed with the shock, I began to erupt in simultaneous laughs that just continued to heave out of my body. I rolled onto my knees, hunching my body forward and leaning my forehead buried into the snow. I couldn't stop laughing. This was my life. This is what happens to me now when I get hurt. I just heal as if my past broken bones and scaring and bruises were no longer a thing to worry about. I ran my fingers through my hair, stopping at a few strands that were folded underneath my knit hat that apparently had been able to stay attached to my head during the drop. And my sunglasses, surprisingly only slightly harmed as the side of it was cracked and the part that holds it on my ear was now bent.
I just continued to laugh more until the laughs started to muffle as I remembered that I was being chased. I barely tilted my head up, just enough to be able to see at the top of the mountain where I had jumped from was Edward and Tanya, staring down at me. Their eyes wide in shock, as they couldn't believe what they had seen. I had hoped Edward didn't recognize me from these clothes. I had hoped the hat and sunglasses that Edward had not seen before were able to disguise me. But my jacket, my jacket was the same that I wore my first day of school. I had hoped that his eyesight wasn't as advanced as mine, or that his memory wasn't too impeccable.
I knew I could never wear this jacket again.
I quickly got onto my feet and ran into the woods behind me and continued my search. I found a road nearby after another hour. Not much traffic was going on, but a few cargo and 18-wheeler trucks were passing by. I needed a ride to the airport. I needed to get out of here.
I held my thumb out to the truck, as a hitchhiker would. Charlie would have my head if he knew I was doing this. Then again, he would have a heart attack if he knew I just jumped three-thousand feet off of a mountain in Alaska.
Luckily even at night, one of the 18-wheelers saw my outstretched hand and stopped for me. I sighed in relief and climbed onto the step, opening the door and swiftly pulled myself into the seat. It was an older lady, who seemed to have kind eyes as she smiled at me.
"Hello, dear," her face was curious, but she looked sympathetic towards me. "You're really far away from regular civilization. Are you okay?" I hid my bloody sweatpants leg behind the other before she would have been able to notice it.
"Yes," I let out a sigh. "I was hiking today and realized that I had gotten myself lost."
"Lost? Honey, you are hours away from being lost," I gulped at her attentiveness, but I nodded at her.
"You by chance wouldn't mind driving me to the airport?" I asked, creating a small pleading smile at her. "I clearly don't know my way around here."
"Clearly not, but yes. I need to ask again, though. Are you okay? Were you forced out here and are possibly running from something?"
I shook my head, "No, no. I flew out here from Washington. Heard about the amazing views. Wanted to check them out for myself." I was surprised how fluently I came to lying now after all these months of having to hide what I am. "I caught a taxi that dropped me off near one of the trails at one of these mountains. I was meeting family over there, but on my way back from the trail, I realized I had forgotten my map and became lost."
She bit her lip at my response, looking back at me and back at her hands that were clasped on the steering wheel. After a brief pause, she then nodded and put the truck in drive and drove me to Fairbanks International Airport where I then caught a flight back to Port Angeles and I ran the rest of the way home.
I made it back inside my house by sunrise. Charlie was in the kitchen on the phone with one of the sheriffs at the police station asking if they had heard any more leads about where I was. I rolled my eyes at this. I told him I was safe—I told him I would be back by the next day.
I was nervous though. I never have seen Charlie mad at me, and I reluctantly didn't ever want to catch that side of him. I took my hat and knit gloves off, throwing them into the bed of my truck to hide them so he wouldn't see the logo of the lodge in Canada that I went to. I reached for the key that was hidden under the eave and unlocked the door, flinching at what was about to come. I walked into the door, replacing the key back under the eave and shut the door behind me.
"Bells?" Charlie called, panicking.
"Yes, dad, it's me." I said, huffing my reply. I walked past the hall and into the kitchen to see Charlie put the phone back against the wall. He immediately crossed the kitchen to envelope me into a bear hug, cradling the back of my head.
"Oh, Bells I was so worried about you." he sighed in relief. "Where the hell have you been, young lady?" Young lady, oh no. He was mad. He let go of our embrace so he could look at me.
"Dad I told you I would be back. I promised you I would be and here I am."
"When I saw your truck here, I couldn't help but worry someone had kidnapped you. I had no way of contacting you, at all. Do you know how worried your mother is?"
"You told mom?!" I questioned loudly. If Renee knew about this, she would most likely be on a panic run. Smashing her way through everything.
"Yes, of course, I did. That's beside the point. I need you to tell me right now where you ran off to," His face expressed anger, but to my relief I knew it was just stress and a lot of emotion releasing from seeing me.
"I told you I wanted to go somewhere where it was sunny," I muttered trying to think at the top of my head where there were sunny places around here in Washington. "So, I called for a ride that took me to the airport and I went to Sequim. I read that it's really nice there." I exhaled my breath from my lungs that kept quaking inside at my lies. "And it was."
"You couldn't have just told me where you were headed off to?"
"I wasn't sure where I was going when I had called you. Then I remembered reading about Sequim when I was searching for information about Washington when I decided to move here." This wasn't entirely a lie. The lie was that I went to Sequim, but I didn't lie when I said I had researched that before I moved here, or that I didn't know where I was heading to. "I'm sorry."
"You know you're grounded, right? For the next month." I nodded at him. An understandable punishment. His eyebrows furrowed as held his hands against my shoulders. "And I do expect you to find a gift for Jacob for his fifteenth birthday party. He called yesterday to invite you to go. And I trust that boy and his hooligan friends to keep you out of trouble. They are nice kids that like you, and you deserve to be around nice people. And I'll also be there watching a game with Harry and Billy that night."
I raised my eyebrow at him, "When is it?" I asked. I had recently remembered that I told Charlie that the kids at school weren't the most inviting crowd to new students to give me an alibi to why I needed to get away from Forks yesterday. So, he must be feeling worked up and relentlessly wanting me to be around people that knew and cared about me.
"This weekend. His birthday is on Friday, but the party is Saturday night on the beach. Now head up to your room and get ready for school." He grumbled. He let his hands go from my shoulders and sighed looking down at the ground and back at me. "I was just so worried about you, Bells." I nodded at him and walked up to my room to get a shower and change out of my clothes.
Thankfully, Charlie didn't even take a look at my clothing attire. He would have immediately seen the blood that dried brown onto my pant leg.
I knew that I would need to check my email tonight. I was expecting to be bombarded with them from Renee.
A/N
So… did you like the chapter? It took me way too long to type it. I had to figure out what I wanted to do with it, change my outline around… A LOT. Let me know what you think about it! I really hope to see at least 5 reviews on this chapter before I update you guys with the next one! Shoutouts are always guaranteed! (: