Thank you Noee, Magda95, Sharpeyes, KittenAlice2, and Jesspotts1704 for leaving your reviews!
If you read in the reviews section, I have replied under my account and also under SavKelly-author. It's a guest name.
Noee, I will not be planning on going into Edward's POV in this story. I feel like going into Edward's POV will ruin some anticipation. I feel like staying in Bella's perspective will just keep it as if we are a part of living in the moment that Bella is living in. Learning as she learns. Finding out new things when she does!
Sharpeyes: I'm glad you found the time to read the original idea behind my reason to write this story. Yes, her maker was more involved in Bella's life… but I wanted to adapt a different idea. Also, yes. I hated James's coven, but I'm also concerned about the timeline. We are currently on Saturday January 15th, 2005. March 13th is when they go to the baseball game. So, that really comes down to the timing of Bella engaging herself romantically with Edward. That hasn't been typed yet in my outline. I keep moving it around because I did take in consideration of your thoughts of taking more time with Bella instead of having her rush in with her romantic desires for him!(: When I mentioned her not being completely attentive with her self-preservation, that was shown so far with how Bella went so long starving herself just so she could preserve life and not take it. Also her curiosity of searching for Edward in Alaska was a risk she took without too much thought of what could have become of her if he had caught up to her. As far as mind manipulation… we will eventually get there. It was shown so far in the lunchroom on her first day in Forks. But she hates to use it because she wants to give those around her their own right to their actions and mind. But, of course… it will be explored eventually some more later.
Magda95 thank you for taking notice of the small things in my last chapter! Stay perceptive(:
Jesspotts1704, I'm glad I could bring enough emotion to the story! I was able to imagine exactly what was going on… so I was sniffling when typing.
KittenAlice2 thank you for showing your support for the success of my academic studies and reviewing! Ready Player One is one of my favorite movies, and I loved the name Halliday which was the name of the creator of the Oasis in the movie! (There is no connection between the two. I just liked the name.) And that's really cool that your family shares the name! I'm glad I could bring you that treat to your reading!
All rights to these characters and the Twilight Saga go to Stephenie Meyer! Enjoy!(:
Chapter 6: Laugh
I knew what I had done last night, and I can't completely bring myself to think of it being morally wrong. In a way, I thought I possibly had interfered with his life, possibly interfered with him being able to go home to his wife since I was no celestial being, instead I was a murderer— a monster. I was a monster that possibly had taken Teddy's rightful passage to finding the light—finding his wife that too had inconveniently passed the same way he had. If this was true, did my choices in succumbing to his request cause him to live his afterlife into damnation? Was this a possibility that the heavens had frowned upon my kind taking the life of a human? If so, then why was I created? Why had my kind been created to drain the energy of a human? Was it God's way of ridding evil? Then how was he so sure that my kind would find the truth behind those that we took the lives of. Teddy seemed like a nice man who loved his wife and loved his life. How could God shame punishment of that kind onto him? Then again, God takes the lives of those who are innocent everyday.
I was a Christian. I had almost full belief that there was life and pain after we had finished our time on Earth, but would that be affected if their life and energy was consumed by me? I wasn't sure but Teddy trusted me. Teddy trusted me to take him home to his wife and trusted me to follow his favors and grant him a peaceful end next to his wife's grave. I had hoped the high of the act that I had inflicted was about the morals behind it instead of it just being my monster wanting to find a meal.
It was also a possibility that my actions didn't interfere with their damnation. That my actions had no effect and that their soul was already spoken for no matter which way they had succumbed to death. I had hoped for this. I had hoped that Lucille's and Theodore's afterlife was full of love. I couldn't imagine that God had chosen me and the other one of my kind to take his and his wife's life just to send them both to Hell. I hoped that they were together again, holding each other's hands and thriving on their new journey together.
If in theory that I did not effect their pre-determined destiny, could this be something for me to do and I be the one to offer safe passage to those that need to go? To those who had the medical field fail them, offering them to not have their own life taken on their own choice. Suicide was a concept that the Bible and many churches had frowned upon—believing that suicide was a ticket to Hell. Though, as a Christian, I was free to make choices on what beliefs I accepted. Suicide to me wasn't a ticket to hell in the slightest as long as it was carefully considered for the right reasons. Teddy had a good enough reason in my opinion, especially his wife Lucille. Brain cancer was a fickle and dreadful thing that many and almost all do not survive from. He said she was hallucinating and seemed to not be living in peace throughout the rest of her days. Those seemed to be as good enough of reasons to want to leave this Earth before our bodies had let us. And if others had contemplated this decision with reason, then I could provide those choices for them and I could offer them a life beyond the one that had failed them. I could feed myself, keep myself sustained while also providing good deeds to those who needed my help. To those who had no more longing to continue on.
Teddy told me that someone of my species had taken Lucille, as well. That someone with the amethyst eyes had come into their room startling Lucille who had terminal brain cancer and had offered her peaceful passage. A part of me had wanted to ask him more about that night, to ask more about the one with the amethyst eyes who took his wife's life. Maybe it was Vilinsea? But I haven't a clue if it would be or not. Vilinsea had talked about humans as if they were cattle, not regarding too much sympathy towards them so it had pondered the question for whether she would be someone to have done something like that. Someone to seek those who no longer had the will to continue on. Or was it just an excuse to replenish her energy? Maybe it wasn't a kind act of her, and she was just hungry.
I knew I needed to somehow be able to contact his family sometime this week; handle whatever expenses he had left on the plot by hacking into his bank account. I was no criminal mastermind or had any experience on hacking into bank accounts, but what I knew from my grandparents is that older generations keep their passwords and bank information written down in their homes. I would have to find something like that. I didn't want to risk one day that they would decide to bury someone else there to find Teddy's decomposing body there. Or it may have been the easier option to find his family and contact them anonymously.
The more that I continued the ranting morals in my mind; contemplating of whether my act was in good deed or selfish, the more Edward continued to venture through my past thoughts. I wanted to know what he was, and I was worried that he had already figured out what I was as well. What I did know so far is that he knew I wasn't human. He knew because he had recognized me and I knew he had recognized me jumping off of that cliff when he had tested my hearing in the classroom. His soft whispers that humans could not hear or decipher clearly like I had mistakenly shown to notice had surely confirmed his suspicions that I was not a part of the living residents. What had continued to irk me more was whether he saw me as a threat. If he had, he might have already decided to make the choice to come after me, kill me. But I was still here in my father's home living with him without causing suspicion. Safe in my bedroom untouched.
Charlie was thrilled to not have to buy dinner for him and Billy tonight since I had made the chili last night with more than enough leftovers for the both of them. He said he would drop it off at Billy's house and go fishing with Harry before Jacob's party so I would need to drive myself there, which I preferred. I wanted to take it over to Jake's anyways to see if he could possibly fix the back firing of the engine so it wouldn't be so loud and draw so much attention towards me every day in the parking lot. That was only part of the dread of having to persist as a human during my education.
This morning Charlie had eagerly headed out of the house with the chili in his hand and his arms strapped securely around the fishing poles that he had taken home with him from Harry's shed from their last trip. I detested that he had kept them in the house with the unflattering scent of rotting bait carcasses that had dried up around the hooks.
I didn't want to have to put together anything too special for myself this morning, so I instead had placed two strawberry pop tarts in the toaster and headed upstairs to take a shower. Charlie had already taken his turn earlier in the morning. He always made sure to leave for his fishing trips before the sun had begun to rise. He said it was the best time to catch anything that bites.
I quickly had jumped in the shower, enjoying the warmth of the water against my scalp that drained over my skin along with the comforting and sweet smell of the strawberry shampoo I had found myself in favor of using. After I had finished showering, I went through my normal routine of quickly detangling my hair after the few hours I had spent in slumber, tossing and turning over the nightmares that I had endured last night.
Teddy's face plastered each angle that I turned to with panic and worry. I couldn't hear the words he spoke to me, but I could read the sentences and words his lips were conveying. He repeatedly asked me to spare his life in my dreams, that he had changed his mind and he wasn't ready. And repeatedly the dream had me in an out of body experience. I was seeing myself in front of Teddy in a room full of only mirrors that continued down long endless paths of my reflection. As I could see my body turn around in circles, trying to escape Teddy's pleads for his life, I had also noticed a change in my eyes. They held the same amethyst purple that they normally do, but they were glowing. The blinding glow of them as they reflected through each mirror.
Teddy had looked terrified as he backed up away from me, trying to feel around with his hands behind him for an exit that wasn't there. It was just me and him in that room full of the mirrors, but somehow someone had entered the room as if they were there the whole time. No walking presence that had come up behind me, but she was there. Vilinsea held her palm on my shoulder bending down with her lips close to my ear whispering into it as her warm breath draped over my earlobe.
"He wants to die, cara. Take him home to his wife," she spoke so softly. I could see my head continuing to shake back and forth in worry as tears streamed past the engulfing amethyst glow.
"The man is just in panic and shock. He wants this. He told you he wanted this. Feed yourself, juvenalis." But it was no longer Vilinsea's voice that was speaking to me. It was the subconscious monster that was now speaking through her engaging lips. Encouraging me to move forward with my hunt— with my next murder. My body could not fight it. It could not shy away from the monster that inhabited my mind. I could see myself trying to scream as my fingers clawed through my scalp, panicking over the control I no longer had. The control that was withering away as the voice chanted louder, repeating for me to succumb and feed myself. To feed into my nature.
Quickly in inhumane like movements, my palm had clasped against his throat, forcing him to quake against the glass mirrors until they all had continued to crack and shatter from the screams that inaudibly escaped from his chest. The glass of the mirror fell down in shards as the image became clearer that this room was in the middle of the graveyard that his wife's tombstone resided in. My body had no control as it had lunged the man to the ground, forcing his body to pass through the Earth's layers of soil and roots until he was six feet under in an unmarked grave. The last I could see in the man's eyes were the reflection of the amethyst glow of mine.
I woke up this morning in a frantic state and uncertainty.
I knew I would be able to handle seeing Jake and his friends today without having to worry about the need of changing my contacts. My subconscious monster was not going to overthrow me today since I had recently fed last night, but I made sure to pack an extra pair of contacts anyways to feel easy about it. Jake was my friend, and so were Quil and Embry. I shouldn't have to worry about wanting to feed on them or kill them.
I chose a normal outfit that suited the weather for today's forecast. It was just a long sleeve purple top of mine with my regular non form fitting jeans and long socks with my sneakers. I made sure to grab my tan Carhartt jacket before I left.
I put the car into park, listening to the shift in the trunk start to squeal. I sighed when I knew that my arrival had just been announced to the whole reservation. I checked my rearview mirror, noticing the red undertone of my hair had looked more vibrant. I slightly smiled at this. It was a nice change of color. I looked over towards the house, noticing Jacob running over to me with a wide grin on his face. His hair had flown behind him as he continued his pace towards me. He looked oddly older than when I saw him only last week, but I suppose it's a part of growing up, puberty and all.
"Bella!" He said, pulling open the loud truck door at a fast speed, causing the metal of the door frame to squeak and grind against the body of the truck. I winced at this and prepared myself for him to rip me out of the truck's driver's side—which he had done. My body was pinned against his chest as he had his arms enveloped around me. He continued to spin me around in circles causing me to let out a soft laugh. "You came!"
"You told me there was a party hat with my name on it, how could I resist?" I said jokingly. That would have been dreadful if there really was one. He set me back on the ground and I leaned into my truck, grabbing the paper brown bag that was folded closed and turned it around handing it to him. "Happy belated birthday, Jake," I said, grinning at him.
"Wow, brought me lunch?" He teased and I had lightly hit him on his upper arm causing him to smile and rub his hand against it as he pretended to whimper. "Damn, Bella. So hostile."
I scrunch my face at him, becoming impatient. "Just open it up!" I shouted. He snickered at me, shaking his head and unfolding the top of the paper brown bag. It opened the entrance wide with his fingers, looking inside the bag. I could see his eyebrow raise when he put his hand inside of it and then pulled it out. Then, a wide grin spread across his face that brought me so much relief that he seemed to like it.
"So, what's this?" he asked with raised eyebrows, flipping his fingers around the object, and then sliding his thumb over the small picture of us. His grin still stretched. "A key chain?" he asked me.
"Obviously you won't be able to drive it until you're sixteen, but I thought maybe you wouldn't detest the idea of adding something to your keys when you're finished building it." He then inspected the keychain further, lightly pulling the preserved feather and multicolored beads through his thumb and index finger. He then went back to the photo of the two of us; his smile never leaving his face.
"That's us?" He asked, letting out a huff of air through his lungs. I started biting on the inside of my cheek nervous at his response. "What happened? Someone throw a shoe at your face after this photo?" He began laughing, causing crimson to flood through my cheeks. He looked up at me noticing the embarrassment that he caused at his teasing and then leaned into my wrapping his arms around me again. Laying his chin on the top of my head. "Bells, this is perfect. Seriously, this is really cool."
He must have gotten the name 'Bells' from my dad. I noticeably didn't mind that he had taken to it. I was comfortable around him. I leaned into him, really pleased with myself that he liked it. He was my first friend since I moved here, and apparently a friend to me from before during my usual visits.
"How did you preserve the feather?" He asked, letting go of the hug and continued to inspect it.
"That was probably the trickiest part of it. I had to search that online because I wasn't sure if they rot or not. It's five parts warm water, one-part vinegar and one part witch hazel."
"Guess I'm going to have to figure out a dope present for you on your birthday." He started spinning the ring of the keychain around on his finger. "This is really great. Thanks, Bells." I nodded at him, keeping my arms to my side. He leaned behind me, shutting the truck door and put the keychain back in the brown paper bag. "C'mon. Quil and Embry are inside arguing on the phone over what toppings they are going to get on the pizza. Is supreme good with you?"
"Supreme is great," I said and followed him to the house.
"No, I don't like olives!" Embry shouted, trying to pull the phone out of his hand.
"Then you can take them off like a decent person would do!" Quil replied holding the phone in the air away from him. I could hear the employee on the phone asking repeatedly if they were still there. Jake held the door open for me and I took a wide turn away from them, and sat myself onto the couch, holding my knees up against myself. They continued arguing until Jacob finally took the phone from them telling the operator that they would like three supreme pizzas, one with no olives.
"I can help pay for that," I said, glancing over at Jacob who told them he would pay with cash. "I don't have much in my wallet, but I have a ten-dollar bill." That reminded me that I would need to find a job soon.
"Don't you worry 'bout that. Paying for the pizza is actually our birthday present to Jake," Quil snorted, shoving his fist into Jacob's arm. Jacob rolled his eyes and walked over to sit on the other side of the couch from me, kicking his legs up on the small coffee table in front of us.
"So, Bella. What did you get for Jake?" Embry asked, leaning against the kitchen counter. I looked up at him, and then glanced over at Jake who had placed the bag near the refrigerator.
"I couldn't really think of anything, honestly. So, I made him a keychain for his car whenever he finishes it." I said, pointing over towards it. Embry and Quil dashed towards the bag, opening it up as they pulled it out. "Be careful with it," I reminded them.
They held it up in the air, turning it around to look at it. "Dude is that a picture of you and Bella as kids?" I felt my cheeks begin to burn a tad, but I nodded. "Ooo, looks like a really personal gift." They both wagged their eyebrows at each other, snickering.
"I don't like the idea of a gift not having any meaning behind it," I made a jokingly sly comment towards them paying for the pizza. They passed the keychain back and forth to each other, inspecting it.
"Seems like it has a lot of meaning to me," Quil said, winking at Jacob who responded with a low grumble in his chest at them. I chuckled at the boys teasing Jacob. I knew there was no romantic gesture behind the gift, but it was silly that they had pushed the idea about it.
"So, what's the plan for today?" I asked.
"Tonight, I thought we could have a bonfire. Quil and Embry are trying to pressure me to go cliff diving, but I keep reminding them that they are going to freeze like Jack from that Titanic movie. Water is pretty cold right now."
"Cliff diving?" I asked, cocking my eyebrow between the three of them.
"Yeah, just something that some people on the reservation do recreationally. Very few jump from the top. The rest of us climb down a little farther so the jump isn't too high. But no one is stupid enough to go cliff diving during January."
"We could be stupid," I murmured looked down, fiddling with my thumbs. I knew I could handle a fall from a three-thousand foot jump off of a mountain, so I definitely knew I could handle cliff diving. The cold weather hadn't been a major factor against me. I still got cold, but not as brutal as I used to get. I was more equipped to handle drastic temperature changes.
"Charlie would kill me if I let you jump off a cliff," Jacob said leaning towards me. A smile still appeared on his face, but it seemed he was trying to hide that he was confused and slightly worried by my response.
"He won't be here until this evening," I looked around, noticing Billy wasn't in the room. Jacob noticed my glances and leaned back more comfortably against the arm of the couch.
"Dad's taking a nap right now, but no, Bella. Just because we jump from lower heights doesn't mean you still won't get hurt. Plus, the hypothermia could easily eat you alive."
"C'mon, Jake. The girl wants to live a little," Embry replied, pulling the tab up on a soda can. Jake glared at him, pursing his lips with a quick shake of the head. Embry held up one of his hands in surrender at him.
I could hear Jake quietly grumble under his breath, "You guys just want to show off for her." I silently snorted at his comment. It was silly of him to imagine that. I knew that it was very possible that they were drawn to me, but it didn't change the matter that I could never reciprocate the same feelings towards them.
I did want to go. I wanted to feel the air passing over me again. I wanted to feel the adrenaline rush that coursed through me from my trip in Alaska. It was terrifying but exhilarating to say the least. I knew I would have to push the idea a little further. Possibly persuade him to say yes. I leaned forward, unwrapping my arms from my legs and changing my position to sitting on my knees. I stared at Jake's chin during the process and reached my hand towards his that was extended along the back of the couch. Flirting a little couldn't possibly do too much harm. I placed my fingers on the back of his and featured a small smile on my face.
"I think it could be really fun. Unless you have other ideas for us to partake in until the bonfire." Jacob's eyes widened when he noticed my fingers were placed on his. He took a large gulp into his throat, and I noticed in my peripheral vision that Embry and Quil's eyes also were wide with their lips parted into amused smiles. "I could always just go by myself some other time." I smirked.
"No!" he shouted, "I mean, no you can't go alone," Jake stumbled over his words but then let out a heavy sigh, glaring back at his friends and then his expression softened when his glance came back into my view. "Fine," he muttered.
Embry and Quil high fived each other and I leaned back against the arm of the couch, smiling at them both, but I looked back over at Jake who didn't seem too excited himself.
"Jake, if you really don't want to cliff dive, I understand. It is your birthday," I said softly to him—one on one.
"It's not that. I don't hate the idea of going, and I'm not going to tell you no if you really want to go. I just feel bad that I didn't actually make a lot of plans for today and giving you hypothermia wasn't entirely one of them."
"Promise you I will be fine," I said offering a kind smile. "I will need a change of clothes though, if you don't mind offering." Jacob's face looked flustered at my last statement and looked up at me, beaming a smile as he stood up off the couch.
Jacob clasped his hands together, "Okay, everyone ready?"
Quil walked over towards me on the couch, grabbing onto both of my hands. I shook my head at him as he lifted me up and pulled me out of the door. Funny how I could easily drag him and toss him into the ocean.
Jacob jumped into the driver's side no matter the retaliation I gave him for it, forcing me to sit in the middle between three boys that couldn't fit very well in the truck and we drove off. Quil and Embry were making jokes about my truck that they had both had a part in persuading me to take it. I rolled my eyes at them and stared out the window at the passing trees. The road was uneven, so our shoulders all continued to collide against each other as the truck swayed back and forth over the potholes.
What was I going to do about the rest of the semester at school? I told Edward that he needed to leave me alone. I didn't want to talk to him, especially now that he had taken note that I clearly had sensitive hearing to his low muttering when he was testing me. Next week would only be the second week of school. I could easily change my class schedule around if I wanted to, but if I did that, it was possible that I would have my lunch schedule changed to the second wave and lose my table with the friends I had already made. I wasn't sure if they were friends, really. I didn't hang outside of school with them, and Mike, Eric, Ethan and possibly Tyler were only around me so much because they felt drawn to me. It wasn't going to be an easy year. Especially if they end up deciding to make a move on me. I shuddered at the thought.
"Okay, we're here! Well, almost. We got to walk to the location, but I parked close enough," Jacob said as the truck groaned to a stop. He parked it and hastily got out of the crowded vehicle. I leaned over Quil and pushed the passenger door open noticing Jacob was jogging over to this side. He frowned. Quil had already jumped out of the seat from the passenger side and Embry followed Jacob from the other. I slid over towards the door, jumping out and closing it loudly behind me. I tugged on to my jacket, pulling it closer to my neck to hide the cold chill from the wind that was grazing over my collar bone.
I looked around and noticed there was a wide dirt path leading into the scattered and irregular tree line. It was noticeable the way some of the fern bushes looked to have been plastered down from smaller vehicles driving through them. Jacob had put the keys into his pocket and started leading the way through the path. The salty air was more humid the way it was suffocated inside of the forest as it started to stick to my hair strands.
"Don't worry, I can hold you on the way down." Quil raised his eyebrow towards me with a side grin. I could feel the blush in my cheeks starting to form when I noticed Jacob looked irritated with him. I really hated this for them. I hated that I had drawn them to me, but I enjoyed their company. They have a sense of familiarity when I'm around them but mostly Jacob since I knew him from my child-hood years.
As the light showing through the clouds started to appear through the trunks of the trees, Jake slowed his pace down as we followed. The roaring of the waves continued to get louder as we got close. I could hear their heartbeats starting to stutter more, but mine felt louder. The adrenaline and excitement coursing through me for the jump. For the fall that was so close to happening in the waves that would crash over me, but I the victor.
I made no hesitation as I picked up my pace past the three of them where they were stopped near the rocky cliff. I shrugged off my jacket, pulling it off of my arms and tossing it behind me next to a tree along with my shoes. A glimmering smile appeared across my face as I looked over the cliff, seeing the waves smashing into the side of the rocky wall, the very ones that would crash against me. I could do this. I can test myself and I wouldn't be hurt. I no longer would suffer from broken bones, scraped legs that would bruise or scar over. I healed— and I healed fast. The hypothermia wouldn't take over me. I was ready.
Jacob grabbed onto my forearm as I was making haste to jump with one of my legs already over the edge of the cliff. "Whoa, there, tiger."
"What?" I let him pull me back closer to them. "You're not going to let me jump?" I asked.
"Not at this height. Are you trying to kill yourself by just walking off the edge?" His eyebrows were furrowed into a worried V-shape. "I could say maybe we could try this jump at another time whenever you get used to the lower heights, but definitely not jumping here today."
I looked over the cliff noticing it was far down, but it wasn't a problem. I've jumped much higher than this without any water at all. Appear human. Appear human. I am five feet and four inches tall with a more than lean body. I would appear fragile to others around me. I was fragile before, so I was safe to say he probably had remembered that detail about me, but I wasn't anymore. Not in the slightest. Then again, I needed to appear as if my body was only one of a humans. Taking precautions was a must.
I nodded at them, "Okay, is it far?" I asked walking further away from the ledge letting Quil wrap his arm around my shoulder as he started to guide me down the sloping side along the edge of the cliff. The walk wasn't too far at all, and the cliff side had already been molded into a staircase pattern from frequent use towards the lower jets of ridges of land that poked out from the cliff. Quil had his hold on my shoulder from behind me now as he kept his balance against the side of the rocky wall as we continued down the molded path until we had reached the outstretched portion of the cliff.
"Okay, who's first?" Embry asked, rolling his shoulders and bouncing on his toes.
"Me," I said, looking over into the water. The height was much less threatening to a human now which put a light damp to my mood for the thrill, but still the adrenaline coursed through my body.
"Someone's eager, Jake. She's a wild one," Quil snorted, nudging Jacob in the arm. I shook my head at the both of them and walked backwards into the wall, exhaling a breath of air from my lungs. I looked over at Jake who nodded at me with an assuring grin on his face and a nod. I returned the smile and took myself into a short sprint, leaping over the edge.
The jump wasn't high like I had expected it to feel. I quickly had landed into the water after a short thirty-foot drop and plunged in. I could hear Jake and his friends hooting and hollering about my success in the water and them cheering for me. They made no hesitation to follow me when I had safely moved out of the landing zone.
The waves kept crashing over my head, but it wasn't too strong of a force. I was able to keep myself tread in the water, but it's icy chill easily continued to poke my skin. Embry kept wincing at the cold, along with the rest of them who weren't reacting as bad as he was. I rolled my eyes at them and started to paddle myself to the nearby shore.
"Damn, Bella. Didn't know you had it in you!" Quil said through his chattering teeth after he had made it to shore. We all quickly walked back to Jake's house to get changed. He offered me a pair of grey sweatpants and a green hoodie of his that smelled like it had been sitting in his drawer for quite some time. The rest of them got changed after I did and I took my time to comb through my hair and run my hair under the sink to get as much salt water out of it. Jacob offered a shower to me, but I didn't want to plan on taking too long.
The many colors of the fire continued to crackle as the sea water in the wood altered each hue. I continued to stare into the flames while Embry, Quil, and Jake chatted on with their conversation about something that I wasn't following myself. The fire felt warm, comforting even. I felt at peace, but the internal struggle in my mind held me there. The struggle was that of Edward Cullen. Who was this guy? What did he know?
"Jake?" I asked softly to the next of me when Quil and Embry became distracted with their own arguments over DC superheroes.
"Yeah, Bells?" Jake responded by pulling off a marshmallow on a stick and throwing it into the fire.
"Um," I glazed my tongue over the bottom of my lip trying to put into words what I wanted to ask. "Why exactly does Billy not want me to talk to the Cullens at school?" I tucked my chin, trying to see his facial expression through the lashes of my eyes. A humorous grin shown in his cheeks as he let out an uncomfortable chuckle.
"Just some stupid superstitions that Billy and the elders here are brainwashed with. Scary stories, really." He leaned forward digging his hand in the bag of marshmallows to grab two more to replace one on my stick and his. I nervously smiled at him, changing my glance back to the fire.
"I like scary stories," I replied. He bit his lip looking back over at Embry and Quil who were still focused on their own conversations.
"I'm not really supposed to say anything about it. Top secret information," he snickered looking into my direction and then extended the stick in his arm over the flame to toast the marshmallow.
I nodded, spinning the stick around in my hand looking at the waves crashing against the shore. So, there are stories about the Cullens. Stories that the elders knew and had passed along the superstitions to the younger generations. They knew something was off about them, and possibly knew that the Cullens were not humans.
"Top secret as Area 51?" I asked, trying to lighten the mood. "What? Do they experiment on a bunch of aliens?"
Jacob guffawed, shaking his head back and forth, pulling the marshmallow off the stick and plucking it into his mouth. I hadn't been paying attention to my own marshmallow that was now burnt to a crisp. I took it off the fire and started picking around the outside, pulling the burn edges off and tossing them into it.
"Aliens? I would've been over at their house already if it was something that cool," he joked. I smiled at him and started to pull the melted core of the marshmallow in between my fingers like taffy.
"I wouldn't tell anyone. I'm just curious."
He lifted one eyebrow and glanced around the fire again to make sure we weren't alerting anyone with our conversation.
"We can stay for ten minutes tops and then we are leaving," a deep voice said in the distance. I squinted my eyes trying to figure out where the voice was coming from. Down the beach there were three people walking together. Two tall men who were wearing cut off shorts and underdressed for the weather. They were shirtless with only sneakers to warm their feet. A tall man, possibly six-foot-six, with cropped black hair, copper skin, rounded muscles and an older face. The other man was around six feet tall, sharing the same rounded muscles and cropped hair. His skin was more of a reddish brown. Both of them wore the same tattoo on their arm.
Following next to the first man with her hands holding a large cake was a young woman who was extremely beautiful with exotic good looks and glossy black hair with satiny copper skin. What did cause me to glance twice were the three long scars on the right side of her face from the hairline to her chin as they extended down her right arm to her hand.
I silently gasped but Jacob seemed to have noticed and looked into the direction my gaze was at. His eyebrows furrowed as he tried to focus his vision at what I was looking at and had seemed to register my view as they creeped in closer to us. When the woman noticed us looking in their direction, a kind smile beamed across her face as she started to pick up her pace to come closer to us.
"Who are they?" I asked, leaning my head closer to Jacob.
"That's Emily, Sam and Jared. They kind of all do their own thing together."
"Well, she seems to be holding a cake."
"Yeah, my dad asked if she could bake one for me," He said looking at me with a side smile, but then glanced over at Quil and Embry who now had realized what we were talking about.
"Hell yeah! It's cake time!" Quil said, jumping up from the log and pushing Embry over. Jacob stood up, placing his stick down on the log next to him.
"I should go get my dad and Charlie and let them know Emily is here with the cake," he turned towards me and held his hand out. "Want to come with?"
I nodded at him and captured my hand into his and he lifted me onto my feet. I needed to get that story out of him. I needed to know what he knew about the Cullens.
Billy and Charlie joined us outside at the bonfire after Sam had pulled a few more logs near it for the three of them and Charlie to sit down on. Emily had provided paper plates and forks for all of us and the atmosphere itself felt cheerful and carefree as everyone enjoyed the cake and small chat. She had made Jacob a large rectangular red velvet cake with his name on it.
It was strange though. It was that lumberjack smell that I was slightly familiar from my days earlier in the woods. The earthy smell of the freshly moistened pine of the trees and forest. The wolves. They were nearby. I set my plate down on my lap, frantically looking around, inhaling quick breaths at the increase of my heart rate. They seemed oddly near, but I couldn't seem to be able to understand where they were. Were they hiding behind the houses? Were they on the territory? Down the beach, hiding in the darkness? None of us were safe if they were near and what could I possibly do to keep everyone alive?
"You okay, Bella?" Billy asked with his fork hovering close to his face. I blinked at Billy, and then Charlie raised his eyebrow at me along with the rest of the group offering confused expressions. I noticed that Sam and Jared started looking at me rigidly when their bodies became tensed.
"Yeah, I'm fine. Just… thought I heard something," I kept my stare down at the plate, trying to keep my concentration on relying on my sensitive hearing to listen to any movements. There wasn't anything strange or out of the ordinary besides the cackling fire as each piece of ash disintegrated in the air.
"Charlie told me you were a good cook. That chili was really good. Thank you for offering that to us tonight. Didn't care too much to have to order in." Billy said. I smiled at him and nodded my pleasure. "And that was a really nice gift you got Jacob, hun," Billy looked at me with a cocked grin. I changed my glance back to him and felt the blood start to boil in my cheeks as Embry and Quil started wagging their eyebrows at me. Jacob's smile had moved to the side of his face as he continued to chew on the cake in his mouth.
"Jake's a good friend," I replied, glancing my eyes around the land again, trying to peek through the blackness in between the tree line.
"Ooo, bummer, Jake!" Embry teased with a laugh along with Quil. Jacob coughed out a laugh but then started excessively coughing as he beat his fist against his chest to get a piece of cake that only slightly was lodged in his throat. When he finished upchucking, the piece of cake flung out of his mouth and landed into the fire. I widened my eyes at him.
"You okay?" I asked, patting his back.
"Yeah, just remind me to not rely on you guys to do the Heimlich maneuver on me," he laughed shoving his shoulder into me, but it didn't faze me as I shoved my shoulder back into his which caused him to lose his balance on the log and drop his cake onto the sand. He looked slightly annoyed but then a large grin appeared on his face as he kicked the cake over more in the sand causing me to giggle. Damn. I should be more careful with my strength.
Sam and Jared now became more rigid. They looked at me and then stared deeply at each other with odd facial expressions that seemed worried. Their faces became more tense as they turned their facial expressions slowly back at me.
"Billy," Sam said, not breaking his stare at him. I didn't look back at him, but instead stared at Jacob who looked up at Sam. I felt oddly uncomfortable. "Can we help get you back to the house?" His voice sounded authoritative.
Billy hesitated. He looked at Sam and then followed his stare directly at me. Charlie grunted as he lifted himself off the log. "I can handle that. You guys continue to enjoy the fire. I'm going to grab whatever is left of that chili and head home. Got fishing in the morning with Harry."
"We will follow you out," Sam said, standing up and taking Emily by the hand and helping her. He guided her in front of him as they quickly shuffled their way back to the house. Jared stayed behind as he watched Charlie push Billy's wheelchair in the sand. As soon as he noticed they were getting farther away from view, he looked back at me, still not speaking.
"Are you going to head home, too?" Jacob asked me.
"Not right now if you don't want me to," I replied.
"Don't say that Bella or he's never going to let you leave," Quil chuckled. "Neither are we. You're too much fun! Jared, you should've seen her jump off the cliff, today. She almost launched herself from the top of it without even taking a running start, but we stopped her. She didn't seem phased at all by the height of the drop. She was all in."
Jared's eyebrow raised, but his narrowed eyes didn't change. "She did, huh?" He replied without a hint of it being a question. More like a confirmation of what Quil had said. He leaned his forearms on top of his knees. "That's a pretty tall jump, Bella. A girl your size could have gotten seriously injured if you weren't sure of what you were doing."
"Yeah," I hesitated. "Good thing they stopped me." I twiddled my thumbs together looking down at the fire. "It is getting late, so maybe I should head home. Make sure Charlie gets there safe." I almost had forgotten about the nearby wolves. They were close, I could smell them. I didn't hear any distressing sounds so far coming from Billy's house, so I knew they made it safely inside.
"I think we should clean up, actually. Bella, why don't you help me and we can throw the plates away inside." Jared had his stare at me, but he leaned back off of his kneecaps and started to stand up.
"I can help with that," Jacob said.
"No, you enjoy your birthday. We will be quick," Jared replied. His husky voice sounded like he was trying to hide the tense tone in it. I hesitated. I couldn't leave the rest of them outside here at night out in the open. What if the wolves are waiting for us to form smaller groups and were planning to attack Jacob and his friends?
"Um," I said, biting my lip. I didn't have an excuse not to help. "Sure, sure." I stood up, looking worriedly at Jacob and his friends as I took their empty plates from them. Jared held onto his and the other two's and followed slowly behind me. I kept making quick glances at Jacob who continued his conversation with Embry and Quil, but the smell was so close as if it was lingering behind me.
We kept walking further away from the fire and away from the beach towards Billy's house. I started slowing down in my tracks but Jared behind me had grabbed my upper arm, pushing me forward.
I hissed between my teeth. What the hell was his problem? "Move," he said sternly, shoving me forward. Jacob and his friends were reaching further out of view. But the wolves seemed closer to me and not to them. I exhaled in relief. If they were going to go after anyone, it would be me.
You need to get away, dulcis. You need to run. The subconscious monster had spoken to me. The voice sounded unfriendly—slightly panicked. Hell no, I wasn't going to run. I couldn't leave behind all these people on the reservation when there was a major threat lurking around. That would be selfish of me to try to save myself and leave them to perish. I knew that I was no match for the wolves from the last encounter. They were faster than me, possibly stronger, but I couldn't just run.
I could see Billy's house nearing as the front porch light emitted in the slight fog. Sam was standing on the porch with his arms cross and his eyes boring into my face. This was odd. This whole situation seemed odd. Jared's hand wrapped tighter around my upper arm carrying empty paper plates as he shoved me along. Sam was standing there as if he was inspecting me as a potential threat? What they didn't know was that the real threat was close by.
I huffed out heavy panics through my chest. I couldn't save them. I possibly couldn't even save one of them. It was so close. I turned my head around to look at Jared, and the scent just lingered over his body, filling into my nostrils. I gasped unexpectedly, looking up and down at his bare chest that the scent was emitting from. It was them. They were the scent that I was panicking over. They were the ones I had smelled in the woods. They were the wolves. But how?
How? I asked myself. How was I not human? How did I drain the energy from humans? How were my eyes amethyst purple? How was I fast, and strong? How was Edward a significant amount faster and stronger along with his family? How am I unageing? How did I jump off mountains and land with only a wound that healed the moment it was made? Forks wasn't a haven for humans. Forks was a haven for the supernatural. I peeked over Jared's shoulder, seeing Jacob and his friends were no longer in sight. I dropped the plates on the ground, baring my feet into the sand as Jared's chest collided into my shoulder blade. He huffed in annoyance. Sam's body twitched as his arms slowly uncrossed from themselves.
"Let me go," I said through my gritted teeth. "I just want to go home."
"I don't think you have any possible authority to demand anything on our lands," Sam said as his shoulders moved steadily as he walked down the porch steps coming towards us.
I struggled, clasping my fingers under Jared's holds, trying to break free from his grip. "What the hell are you?" I hissed.
"Funny, we were going to ask you the same damn thing." Sam said, striding closer to us until he was firmly planted in front of me with Jared's hold still on my arm. "Keep your hold on her, Jared."
I exhaled from my lungs slowly, contemplating my options. "Let. Me. Go," I ordered at Jared, using my gift of manipulation. But his hold didn't loosen only slightly as he seemed possibly fazed at me but recovered. I silently gasped. Why wasn't it working on them? Was it not working? Was I not working? Was I in too much of a panicked state to properly use it? "I said, let me go," I repeated. "I will leave. I won't come back. Just let me go." I said, boring my eyes into Sam's chin, trying to not look up at him.
"Bring her inside," Sam ordered Jared whose body tensed.
"Billy and Emily are in there," Jared protested.
"Charlie is dropping her off at our house, and Billy will be fine. She doesn't seem too strong." I scoffed at Sam.
I used my other arm that was free and pushed Sam away from me, kicking my foot into his thigh trying to use whatever strength I had against him. It worked, only slightly. Causing him to have to take a step back to counter his balance. Jared now grabbed onto my other upper arm, holding me in restraint. I maneuvered my shoulders back and forth trying to break from his grip, but it seemed useless. I was in danger.
Sam moved next to us his hand gripped tightly on my shoulder farthest from him as he helped Jared push me forward towards the porch steps. I grungily took the steps, stepping on each one at time until Jared lifted me up where his hands were clasped on my upper arms, and then set my feet back down on the porch. Sam leaned forward grabbing onto the door handle—turning it and pushing the door open wide. Jared pushed me forward through the threshold. Billy was sitting in his wheelchair in the kitchen, sipping on green tea. Lemon was an ingredient in it.
Billy's eyebrow cocked suspiciously at me as he looked at Jared's strong grip on my arms. I looked over at Billy nervously, worried about what was going to happen to me.
"Jared, just let her have a seat on the couch. It's Bella—Charlie's daughter. She's not going to hurt anyone. She's clearly not the same things that the Cullens are."
"Billy, she could be dangerous," Sam interjected, looking at Jared to not let go of me.
"She's been with my son and his friends all day. I doubt she's dangerous," Billy replied. Clearly, they didn't know how dangerous I really was. How I was a murderer. I yanked my arm out of Jared's left grip and turned my body around, plummeting my fist into his face. Damnit! That hurt. I shook my fist afterwards, seeing that my punch had caused his face to lurk backwards from the force I applied.
"Let go of me!" I said to him, shrugging out of his right grip until he let me go. "What the hell is going on?"
"The Cullens hangout at Forks Highschool all day leaving the pale faces untouched, too. Doesn't make them any less dangerous," I looked up at them, now realizing for the second time they spoke about the Cullens, confirming that they were a threat.
"The Cullens?" I asked looking over at Billy confused. "What are they?"
"Not our secret to tell, I'm afraid. You heeded my warning and stayed away from them, correct?" Billy asked. I bit my lip nervously. I did stay away from them, or away from them knowing I was there. I stalked them at night and had a class with the bronze haired boy.
I nodded.
"Good, then now we can get down to business. What are you, Bella? And how is it that Charlie is still alive and that you are still standing in front of me keeping up the appearance that you are human and living with him? Aren't you afraid of hurting your father?"
It actually hadn't registered with me before that I never had wanted to hurt my father. The tugging in my throat never appeared when I was with him or Renee. It was like my body repelled the idea of wanting me to drain them. It could be an incestual thing, not wanting me to take them over in that kind of way.
"I would never hurt Charlie," I said, furrowing my eyebrows.
"But you would hurt someone else?" Sam asked.
I contemplated my words, knowing that if they were to find out what I have done, they would possibly kill me. "No, I don't hurt people." I lied smoothly; Jared had cocked his eyebrow at Sam. "I just want to go home. I'm sorry, I will leave and not bother you again."
"Now, now. That doesn't explain what you are. Clearly from what they said, they recognized your appearance from an earlier transaction between the three of you several days ago in the woods near our land. They also said they had recognized your laugh. You had incredible speed—"
Sam snorted, interrupting him when he said that. He was right, I was fast, but not close to how fast they were. Billy narrowed his eyes at him.
"Like I was saying, you had incredible speed and were able to leap tall up in the trees, without leaving a trail of your scent behind. But now, they said that you do. Like it isn't human." I tensed my body. Letting my gift ripple over my body at the threat I had felt from them. What were they going to do to me? Were they going to let me go home?
"And now it's gone," Jared said. Sam looked over at him nodding his head in confirmation.
"Are you going to let me go home? Or are you going to kill me here?" I asked looking down at the floorboards. I could feel my extra pair of contacts bleeding from my eyes as the gift held tight over my skin, disguising me. I didn't want them to see. I held my eyes closed, only blinking slightly to let the bothersome shreds of the contacts fall out from in between my lids.
"Depends," Sam said. "Whether or not we find you to be a threat to the people here and the people of Forks."
"Sam!" Billy scorned. "She is Charlie's daughter. She's not one of them and she said she wouldn't hurt him. I cannot allow the grief of my friend."
"She could be lying, Billy."
"I'm not!" I protested. "I would never hurt my dad! The real danger is you two! You both are much faster, and apparently stronger than I am. And you think that I am dangerous?" I asked them, baffled.
"We are protectors, Bella. We are who we are to keep the tribe safe," Sam said looking at Jared, signaling him to restrain me. I jerked my arm away and quickly moved towards the wall away from them both. Billy gasped at my speed, his eyes widening. "When is Harry and Old Quil getting here?"
"Soon," Billy said. "Bella, why don't you have a seat on the couch?"
"No. Charlie is going to be worried about where I am. I'm grounded. I'm not supposed to stay out too late. He said I could come here for Jacob's birthday and that is it. Seems to me the party's over and I should be on my way."
The house phone started to chime on the wall. Everyone flinched as they didn't move towards it. I rolled my eyes at them and took strides towards it, but Sam quickly shifted in front of me, blocking my way. Billy narrowed his eyes at me, rolling his chair towards the phone and taking it off the wall.
"Billy speaking," He sighed, waiting for the person on the other line to continue.
"Hi Billy. Wanted Sam to know that Emily made it home safe and that I'm home now," Charlie said.
"Thanks for taking her home for Sam. He's almost finished with that broken step on my porch," Billy lied.
"It was no problem at all. Don't want no one to get hurt walking on that old porch of yours," Charlie laughed on the line. "Just wanted to pass along that Bella's curfew is soon. She can come back tomorrow to hang out with Jacob if she wants, but I think it's time for her to come home now."
Billy let out a heavy sigh, looking in my direction. I smirked at him with a cocked eyebrow as I kept my eyes towards the ground. "Will let her know so she can get the rest of her stuff. Glad you got back safe. Talk to you tomorrow." Billy set the phone back up against the wall port and held his head low. He turned his chair around back into the kitchen. He pulled open the fridge door, grabbing a beer out of it.
"See? I have to get home. Tell Jake that I had a good time," I said. Billy nodded at Sam, but Sam didn't lighten his stiff body. I tried to shove passed him, but he continued to block me.
"She can't leave until we know what is going on," Sam's deep voice sent shivers down my spine.
"And I'm sure Jake is going to be heading back to the house soon, so yes, let her go home and we can discuss this later."
"Then what do we tell the Council when they get here? That we just let her go?"
"Yes, that's exactly right," Billy investigated my direction. "And we will see you tomorrow. Correct, Bella?" Billy said as if it wasn't a question.
My eyes widened at the floorboards. I could feel my shoulders tense up at his command towards me. I started to flex my fingers repeatedly but had eventually nodded.
Sam's body still looked rigid and placed his finger under my chin and lifted my head up to look at him. I didn't stare directly at him, but I kept my glance on his wrist.
"Her eyes," Sam said.
"Are they red?" Billy and Jared asked in unison.
"No, they are purple."
A/N
Thank you, guys for being patient! I know it's been a while since I updated. Mid term week was crazy along with this week as well! But I'm back! I have another test next week but hopefully I can update more frequently! I hope to see at least 5 reviews on this chapter before I update again! Shout outs are always guaranteed! I appreciate each and every review from you guys and hope to hear more about your concerns and thoughts! Until next time…