Welcome back! Thank you to myfanficaddiction, KittenAlice2, Magda 95, Ladysylphide, antiquesandroses, tyra8888, Julianna Baxter, Jesspots1704, Speedforce 1229, VAMPaddict222, NatalieKatee, jlap . mypersonalfiles, William Francies Reinsen-Newman, Noee, and Mariana for reviewing!
Myfanficaddiction, As always, it is very, very much of a pleasure to read your review! You always point out the details I add into each chapter and I love it so much! Yes, Edward is fairly certain that she has something to do with the dead body. I'm glad that you like that I have finally gotten them to start speaking to each other, even if it is filled with partial animosity. I almost actually didn't do the Van scene! I almost made the choice for Bella to jump out of the way without Edward's interference. But, nope! She was on her way to leave the crash zone and Edward instinctively tackled her to the ground anyways. I hope you also noticed the sentence where Bella saved him from colliding against someone's car by grabbing onto his shoulder. Thought that was a good way to show her developed fast reflexes. Carlisle has always been a soft spot for me and to Bella in the original story, so I wanted to preserve his kindness towards her. And yes, the anticipation of being so close to him!
KittenAlice2, No, haha sorry for confusion. The guy Bella had killed at the campsite was the hiker that was found. Laurent, James and Victoria haven't made their way to Forks yet during the original book timeline. Their presence doesn't show up until March. Yes, I almost actually didn't do the van scene! Read above on my A/N above for myfanficaddiction for more about that!
Magda95, Yeah… yeah I understand what you mean, lol. I don't normally like those either, the aggression, but again, Bella has her walls up right now, and you have two supernatural creatures that didn't know either of them had existed. So, a possible threat is hanging in both of their minds right now. I had hinted a little bit of a … spark going on (; I'm glad you had given that thought a benefit of the doubt in your review, though! Very perceptive of you! And, AHHH THE BODY.
Ladysylphide, oh my goodness… you are much too kind. I cried at your review, thank you… so much. Yes, succubi seem to not be a common species, but they are also very good at hiding what they are. Their appearance is practically as normal as a human's— beautiful, but normal, besides the eyes. I very vaguely implied that succubi were thought as mythological when Edward had called Tanya (a vampire) a succubus just for sleeping with humans (taken that from Midnight Sun). But it does become more apparent that succubi are a mystery to them as they struggle to figure out what Bella is. I want you to know how grateful I am that you are one of my constant reviewers and how glad I am that my story does make you want to express your thoughts. You don't understand the joy I feel when you encourage me to write my own book one day! (':
Antiquesandroses, I'm excited to see that you are a new reviewer to this story! Yes. Succubi can be oversexual if they choose to be in my story, but with Bella's trauma when she was changed along with the abandonment of her having to find herself on her own, I had wanted to make her more opposed to that. I also wanted to kind of preserve the Bella we know… but one that's 'less fragile,' which can bring a sort of confidence in anyone. I'm not really into OOC stories. Yes, we had missed the part of Twilight where Sam and Jared were wolves during that book. According to the original Twilight timeline, Sam and Jared had already phased in 2004, so I wanted to not leave that out like Stephanie Meyer had… and to also make the story more original but still follow the rules, guidelines and timeline. I'm very glad you are enjoying it so far!
Tyra8888, Yay! I'm glad you are enjoying the story! And I don't know… I guess we will have to find out(; I am happy to have been able to clear that question up for you on your previous review!
Sharpeyes, When I saw that you had reviewed, I held my breath in with anticipation. I was so relieved to read that you loved the chapter. I had thought a lot about your reviews when writing it and was so eager to push your thoughts forward as much as I could but also preserving canon Bella. I fixed and updated the 'Hello, Charlie.' when Edward spoke his name first without permission. Also, you mention the van wreck was out of timeline. So, Jacob's birthday was on Friday of January 14th and his party was on Saturday of January 15th. Then during Chapter My Line, that had picked up on his birthday after Chapter Laugh, I had done a week's worth of a time jump throughout it. So, Chapter My Line had ended on Monday of January 24th, which was the same timeline of the Blastula lab that I had written. And this Chapter Doctor's Note was on Tuesday of January 25th which was the same timeline for the van wreck. So, it should be correct.
Another note: You mentioned that Edward wouldn't have used the word, 'fuck.' I actually wasn't planning on using that word, but I went back and forth between a pdf of Twilight and a pdf of Midnight Sun to be able to follow the accident correctly. In Midnight Sun, it says, "A word I'd never said before in the presence of a lady slid between my clenched teeth." I had assumed he dropped the F-bomb. And no no, it was an absolute must to give you credit in the last chapter with the rewrite. I really loved your idea and was able to incorporate it into that chapter and with this one, too, so I thank you! (:
Julianna Baxter, Hello! Thank you for leaving a review! I want to remind you that this story is following absolutely every detail offered from Twilight. We are in their world, and the only supernatural creatures that they had spoken of in the books were Vampires, Children of The Moon (real werewolves), Shape Shifters (the Quileute Tribe), and Hybrids (vampire x human). So my guess was that… no. They never had run into Succubi. Read A/N for Ladysylphide above.
Jesspots1704, NatalieKatee, Noee, and William Francies Reisen-Newman happy you are here and excited for the next chapter!
SpeedForce 1229, Never can be surprised by Carlisle's medical curiosities!
VAMPaddict222, I'm thrilled you had the time to read the inspiration for this story before having read this one! Yes, I wanted to create it a little differently. Follow the rules and timeline of the original story but recreate events that would possibly happen since Bella is not human anymore. Well, Bella had disguised her scent, which will also rid it from the hiker!
jlap . mypersonalfiles, gotta love Carlisle. Glad you like them together!
Mariana, glad I can keep you wondering and excited for the next steps of each of the groups! I hope I can appease you with this chapter!
All rights to the characters and the Twilight Saga go to Stephenie Meyer. Enjoy!(:
Chapter 9: Ducks
Stillness filled the truck with sideways glances and silent observations. The car ride had felt to be on the brink of eternity as I drove through out the town to take him home. There was only silence between the two of us that hadn't been there before when we had walked to the school. The close proximity in a closed space had made the situation different for the both of us, causing the unspoken words and things left said only more unnerving to think about. I glanced over at him, seeing his eyes planted on the passing trees.
"So," I spoke breaking the uncomfortable stillness in the truck. "Your eyes change color when you are thirsty."
"Yes," he replied in a hoarse voice.
"And you have wanted to kill me before." I had trouble easing my voice as he did. We both knew that it wasn't just the silence in the truck that was unnerving, or the close space between us. It was the scents of each other that were driving the both of us mad. The scents that were not filtering out in the Forks fog.
He hesitated before he answered, "Yes."
I clicked my tongue against the roof of my mouth, annoyed with his short responses. "If you drink from deer then why did you want me?" I asked, rubbing my thumb against the leather of the steering wheel, gliding my nail over it to feel the ridges, finding a way to have some stimulation to calm the rapidly beating heart in my chest.
Edward snorted through his tone. "I'm curious as to what you think a vampire's natural feeding source is," Edward's question held a comical overtone as he chuckled in slight disbelief at what I had said.
"I don't want to sound like an idiot," I replied with frustration that he was mocking me; tightening my grip on the steering wheel to hold myself back from the swirling energy that radiated from his breath in the truck. It was almost like ecstasy when he spoke, when he breathed, and it was all contained in a metal box.
"The question should relatively pose an easy solution."
"If I were to say humans," I paused, glancing over at him to see his eyes had stilled. Humans must have been the easy solution. "Then I would be throwing multiple stereotypes based on movies and books about vampires that I had read before. Dracula fed from humans, though he couldn't walk in the daylight or he would burn and that doesn't seem to be the same for you." I glanced my eyes towards his face again, taking in the molten golden hue of his irises. "And his eyes were blue, but they would turn red when he was angry. I think I've seen you angry before, as of last night and before your excursion to Alaska, and they turned onyx. Though, I think we confirmed that meant you were hungry."
He didn't vocally answer, instead had only nodded.
"And if you were to throw stereotypes about me and what I am, you would be wrong too." I replied. "Well, partially." That seemed to have been able to capture his attention. He blinked towards me, briefly glancing in my direction until his stare bore onto me. He had his body leaned against the window and his elbow propped on the side handle of the door with his thumb in between his teeth. He continued to stare—scanning his eyes up and down at my form. I began to feel a little insecure and self-conscious as I shifted my seating position and ruffled my hair to cover the side of my face that he was looking at.
"So, you are of something that I had possibly read about before, but the descriptions of what you are in the stories and legends don't fit your characteristics or habits?" He asked questionably.
I nodded. "What legends have you read?"
"I think it is my turn for questions, don't you agree?" He replied. I sucked my lower lip in between my teeth, biting down on it.
"Depends," I said slowly through gritted teeth. "If it's about what I am, I'm not going to answer."
"And why not? If we know what you are, then I think that would help calm the wolves and my family down a tad. To at least be able to decipher what threat you pose to all of us and to the people of Forks." Edward paused. "Including that hiker," he added lightly.
I swerved my turned off the road, the tires and chains tugging onto the grass and small boulders and rocks, causing the truck to rock back and forth as it was trying to become stable again. Edward had quickly reached over, grabbing onto the steering wheel to steady as it frantically turned left and right. I slammed my foot onto the brakes, halting the hunk of metal to a stop.
"I didn't kill that hiker!" I scolded him.
"And to think that you hated liars," he raised his eyebrow with a cracked smile.
With a slight roll of my eyes, I slouched my back against the seat with my arms crossed. I looked over at him who still held the same facial expression towards his last remark, but I quickly darted my gaze away. I looked down at the door, needing a breath of air that wasn't apart of the truck. I leaned in, grabbing onto the hand crank to turn it clockwise, trying to not break it in my midst of frenzy. When the window had been able to crack, I leaned my face out of it, inhaling a sweet breath of clean air. I could feel the flurry of goosebumps rise across my skin as my body had begun to sooth itself. I turned my face back to his, but he hadn't looked slightly phased as if he understood the need for the clean air outside of the box.
"I didn't kill that hiker," I muttered the lie.
He snickered. "Of course not." He dipped his tongue across his bottom lip. "But, theoretically speaking, if you did kill the hiker and you were lying to me, which of course like you keep notoriously reminding me that you did not, then if not me or my family, the wolves will eventually find out that it was you and I think for safety purposes, that would not end well."
"And by not well, you mean…"
"There are only two of them that we know of so far, but based on what they have told Carlisle, you are not as fast as them, and have a strange ability of being able to hide your scent. So, if my theory of you having a gift of evasion is evident, then I would say that you would be able to run and hide, but you are keeping up with the facade that you are only but a human who had moved here to live with your father who happens to be Chief of Forks. And with that, that would make you a runaway teenager with a father who would desperately not stop until he finds his daughter."
I widened my eyes at him, struggling with a response. My mouth gaped open, trying to find the right words to say to him.
"But, that's all completely theoretical, isn't it?" He smirked at my silence.
I nodded. "And if it isn't theoretical, what… you'd stop the wolves?"
He shrugged, "Maybe reach a deal of trying you under the first offender act."
"Oh, vampires and wolves have legal trials?"
He let out a breathy chuckle, "No," she shook his head. "Not normally."
"And your family would completely look away on the fact that I theoretically killed that hiker."
"Would have to look further into the situation. Only got brief information that I know of from your father, but my family is a forgiving one," he smiled. "I'm surprised you call my family that of one instead of a coven as most of the stories and movies do."
"Stereotypes," I whispered. I let go of the brake pedal on my truck which followed with a grinding sound as it started to lurk forward off of the grass and pulled onto the road. And that's what they were. Stereotypes. Succubi based on the mythological aspect would be said to be demons from hell, which I was not, and were said to have bat-like wings or demonic features. We were said to lure men and women during the night, seeking to perform sexual intercourse to drain their energy to either weaken them or kill them. The last part was true, we did drain their energy to weaken or kill, but we didn't have to use sexual intercourse towards them to achieve it. I didn't. I didn't want that, at all, not after that night.
Maybe Edward and his family were not a threat to me. It was obvious that he was very sure that it was me who had killed that hiker. He wasn't wrong, but I wasn't sure if I could admit to that yet, not to him. But he would want to form a deal with the wolves to keep me safe, but under a first offender. It was not a first-time thing, nor would it be the last. If he were to find that I must continue doing what I do to sustain myself and to keep me from killing those around me that I care about, then I would have to continue feeding. Killing.
"What are you thinking about?" He asked me. I blinked my eyes rapidly, staring at the road in front of me that I realized I hadn't been paying much attention to. His finger was lightly placed under the steering wheel, holding it straight.
"Oh!" I lowly gasped. "Nothing."
"Can I ask my question now? By the way, you can take the turn down that street there," I looked over at where he was pointing and flicked my blinker on, taking a slight turn.
"Thanks," I muttered to him. "What would you like to know?"
"Why did you move from Phoenix to Forks?" A question he had asked once before but I convinced myself he didn't relatively care about such a normal conversation that humans would ponder together, but I chose to entertain him anyways.
"My mom remarried. Phil played baseball and traveled a lot so I didn't want to get in their way, so I moved in with Charlie."
"But, that's not the real reason," He raised his eyebrow.
"No, not exactly. Partially, yes.'' I exhaled through the small hole of my lips, flexing my fingertips on the steering wheel. He had been very honest with me so far, and I could provide the same to him—slightly. "There were complications at school. Complications that I wouldn't have been able to run from or explain."
"Complications," he confirmed.
"Yes. Kind of the same as some of your own, I suppose."
"Same as my own?"
I looked over at him, trying to hide the grin on my face. "You have to know the effect you have on people."
"Enlighten me," he grinned. I rolled my eyes at his comment. He knew, he had to know if he could read the minds of others. I had noticed it before on Tanya and on the nurse in the office along with Jessica. It had stunned me multiple times, as well sometimes. He could dazzle me with just his crooked smile, but I knew it was just a trademark for what he was. It had to be.
"You confirmed that the Dracula theory was partially correct, that you feed on humans, too. And I'm putting together that you possibly use your looks to lure naive women and men that don't know how to walk away from the obvious danger."
"Wrong," he said through his teeth.
"Wrong?" I asked.
"Yes, you are wrong. I do not feed on humans and I haven't in a long time. I don't like that part of my past, so my family and I and those that you saw in Denali only feed on the blood of animals." He glanced over at me, "We call ourselves vegetarians."
It was my turn to laugh aloud "Vegetarians? Wouldn't that mean you would have to suck the cellulose out of plants or something?"
His repositioned himself in the seat, seeming to find the conversation uncomfortable. It was clear he didn't care to talk about himself or this subject far too much. It bothered him. "Well our natural food source is humans. There are not many like us out there that follow an animal diet, so yes, we call ourselves vegetarians. I'm surprised you are not concerned about the fact that I have murdered before, though."
I pondered what I would say to his response, clicking my tongue against the roof of my mouth. "You found an alternative, correct?" I asked.
"Yes, but I knew of the alternative before I consumed human blood," he replied.
I bit onto my lower lip, "But you decided you were no longer okay with the idea behind it and reverted back to being a vegetarian." He nodded. "Then I'm not concerned," I said honestly.
We were following down the familiar road that I had taken only on foot before. Passing by the larger houses along the street until they became more distant and farther apart until the side of the road had become vacant. The drive was much more beautiful during the day than at night. Seeing the light pass through the trees, causing the vibrant green to display. He cocked his eyebrow at me when I had already known what driveway to turn down, but this wasn't a surprise to him. He knew I had been here before.
"So, you said you have the same type of lure that vampires do to attract their prey."
"Geez, you don't have to seem so surprised," I said, referring to my appearance not being as flattering as his own. I could feel the blood pouring into my cheeks, flaring up the rose complexion. I knew that him and his family were more than just beautiful. I did not compare to them in the slightest, but I knew I was no longer so plain looking as I had been as a human.
He shook his head with the ends of his lips slightly turned up. "Not what I had meant. You are very beautiful, Bella." I could feel my heart lightly flutter at his comment, which I suspected is what caused his mouth to raise slightly more. "I'm seemingly only confirming what you had said in hopes for you to reiterate it."
"It's not just my appearance," I muttered, holding steady onto the steering wheel as it bounced slightly on the rocky gravel road down to his house. I bit down on my lip again, looking over at him who looked very intrigued in the conversation.
"You never look at my eyes, nor do you look at another's," he said. I swallowed the lump in my throat, feeling the perspiration form on my head that had nothing to do with heat. I was nervous. He was way too perceptive, noticing that detail about me. I only nodded. "Ah," he said.
"Ah?" I mimicked, questionably.
"Just forming my own reasons," he grinned towards the house that I had parked in front of subconsciously. "I have to admit, now that I have the day left without my siblings, I find myself out of ideas on how to consume the rest of it." He paused, glancing back at me briefly before he turned his gaze back to the architecture of the home. "Would you like to come inside?"
"In your house?" I asked, and he nodded slowly at me. I've never been in his home before and have only spied from the outside to look in. I didn't trust him enough to walk into the vampire den. "I— I don't know. I have to get home. Charlie is going to be expecting dinner."
"According to Charlie, he won't be home until the morning," he nodded his head towards the front of the house, motioning me to take the offer to go inside. I looked at him with widening eyes and a gaped jaw. He snickered slightly, pausing his movements towards the handle of the truck, looking at me, and then opening it as he climbed out. He paused before he shut the door behind him. "You're afraid of me," he spoke.
"No," I replied, shakenly. I wasn't sure if I was. It would be me alone with a vampire in his own sanctuary who could kill me if he had the chance. One with reason to do so since he had the most suspicion that it was me that killed the hiker. Another reason: just because he wasn't fond of killing humans anymore, doesn't mean he isn't fond of killing succubi, or any of those who are no longer human.
He only nodded. "Very well," he spoke, looking back at the house. I turned my glance in the same direction, seeing the woman who was named Esme near one of the front-facing glass paneled windows. She held her composure with her hands closed together in front of her. She had a smile on her face that looked as if she wanted to seem reassuring, but I could see the slight fear of uncertainty in her smile.
"Because I am afraid of you," he replied again when I had not been looking in his direction. He patted his hand against the hood of the truck. "You should really invest into something faster." He closed the door behind him, catching me off guard. I exhaled a quick breath of air through my lips as I saw him glide up the stairs in the blink of the eye and inside the house in another.
When I drove back to the house expecting to arrive there alone, I noticed a tall bronze boy with long silky hair sitting on the front porch step of my house. I pulled my truck into park in front of my house, ignoring the driveway, noticing it was Jake who had already heard my truck coming not too far away. I looked down at my lap, hiding my eyes while I leaned over on my seat to grab my bookbag and rustle through it for a pair of contacts.
"Bella!" He waved at me with a grin. I couldn't deny that I was relieved to see him.
"Jake? What—What are you doing here?" I asked through my open window. Jacob sat up from the step and began jogging over towards my truck. He pulled open the door and enveloped me into a warm hug. "Hey!" I laughed. "Are you okay?"
"Yeah I'm fine. The whole Rez is talking about that body that was found this morning. Getting a little overwhelmingly crowded down there if I'm being honest."
I bit into my lip as he pulled our hug to its end. "Does your dad know you're here?" I asked sheepishly.
"No, he's been busy with Charlie. He keeps asking him about you and all sorts of weird questions. I heard you had a car accident this morning?" He took a gander at my truck, inspecting the body of it and placed his finger at the bumper where Tyler's van had folded into. Barely even a scratch.
"Yeah, it was no big deal, really. Not even a concussion, but the doctor advised me to go home," I replied.
"Yeah that's what Charlie said."
"Have you been here long?" I asked, concerningly.
"Only about ten minutes. I thought you'd already be home by now. I had to walk all the way over here. Wanted to see if you were okay and ask how you are since I heard."
"Oh, Jake. That's sweet of you but I'm fine. I'm sorry I had left your party so abruptly."
"Don't even worry about that and it's a good thing you did. My dad was pissed all night about something," Jake rolled his eyes.
"Wait—Wait. So, Billy doesn't know you're here? Does anyone know?" We walked together up to my front door and I unlocked it but continued my worry. "I can't believe you walked all the way over here, Jake. There was a dead body found. Your dad would be pissed at you for this."
"Calm down, I'm perfectly fine," He smiled at me. He sat down at the kitchen table while I walked into the kitchen to look in the pantry for something to feed him. "My dad won't even know I'm missing, and if he does, he'll be happy to know I'm at the Chief's house."
I wasn't sure if Billy would be any happier about that. He seemed pretty clear about me not returning to La Push, so I had wondered how he would react if I were around his son.
I excused myself to go to the bathroom while I replaced my contacts. When I had gotten back, I placed two peanut butter sandwiches on the table for the both of us while Jacob shared about his day at school. He told me about how Quil and Embry were doing, which they of course were fine. He mentioned Quil's attempt to talk to a 'pale face' this weekend when some girls from Forks High School had come down with a few guys to First Beach. It was as if Jake and I were just back in motion with each other when it came to conversations.
"So, the body. Everyone is pretty much freaking out about it, huh?" I asked, removing my lips from my tea mug to look up at him.
"Yeah! There's not much excitement that comes through here, so on top of the Chief's daughter almost getting crushed by a van and there being a dead body, everyone's having quite a day."
I rolled my eyes at him while the blood pooled into my cheeks. I pulled my shoulders forward in a slouch. "Did they identify the guy, yet?"
"Probably. They don't tell me much, but the guy was from out of town is all I know."
"Out of town?"
"Yeah, there are investigators from wherever he's from. Pretty big deal. Whoever killed that guy is going to have a hell of a sentence with all the trouble the police are going through," he chuckled. I felt there was a giant log in my throat as I tried to desperately swallow it down. I tapped my fingers repeatedly against the mug. Maybe going inside Edward's house would have been the better idea. Maybe they could go ahead and fulfil their possible plan to kill me while I was there. Would be better than going through the worry about the hiker. Worrying about whatever family would be missing him right now and worrying about if I would be caught.
Surely there would be no substantial evidence on me. I had hidden my scent when I had jumped into the river with the hiker over my shoulder. The water would have already wiped away my scent and possibly prints on him that would lead the investigation to me. If they had found a print of mine, I knew I wasn't in the system, so they wouldn't have been able to figure it was me anyways. No one would expect a five-foot-four girl who was the daughter of the Chief of Forks to have killed that hiker.
"Do you have someone to pick you up?" I asked as I noticed it was getting later in the evening. Jake and I were watching a movie on the couch after I had been reluctant about not leaving the house today. I reminded him that the doctor told me that I needed to stay home and not exhort too much energy after the accident. We had watched a war movie of my dad's that I hadn't paid much attention to. I leaned closer to Jake who had his arm stretched over the cushion of the couch behind me. It seemed friendly, enough. Jake had to know that this was nothing more than a friendship based on our age gap, and right now I needed a friend. I needed someone who was fully human that knew nothing of my life and that I was comfortable around.
Jake asked me how my past week at school had been. I told him about trig and the issues I was having with the class. He told me he also wasn't a fan of math and that it was something of a struggle for him, too. I told him there were three boys at school who were harmless but would cause me some discomfort throughout the day as they were very persistent to be near me. Jacob teased me that I was racking up on potential suitors and that I would be a heartbreaker eventually when I get to college. He made it known that he believed I was too pretty for my own good which had caused me to embarrassingly blush.
"No. No one knows I came here. I think I might have mentioned to Quil and Embry that I wanted to go see you after classes were over, but our classes were cancelled after the second period. Did they cancel classes at Fork's too?"
"Not that I heard of. I was actually with, er, Edward Cullen today," I said, peeking through my lashes to look at Jake who seemed to have to re-evaluate what he had heard. "He was in the accident, too."
"Yeah, I heard." He flatted his lips together. "Was he alright?"
"He was fine. Both of us were. He didn't have his car with him, so I drove us both home. We ran into his sister who never mentioned anything about classes canceling so I suppose there wasn't too much of a threat to keep the school open."
"So, is Edward a guy you hang out with normally?" He asked. There wasn't a hint of jealousy, just seemed to be an ordinary question to engage further into the conversation.
"Not normally," I exhaled. "Was the most him and I had ever talked, actually."
"My dad really doesn't like his family," he chuckled.
"So, I've heard," I rolled my eyes and laughed along with him. "How long are you planning on staying over? Don't take that as if I'm wanting you to leave or anything, I'm happy to have the company since Charlie won't be home till the morning… but I kind of have something I need to do." I looked over at the clock on the wall that indicated it was getting late. I needed to go out of the town tonight and feed the ducks like I had promised Teddy I would do.
"Anything I can help with?" he asked, leaning forward to stretch out his back. I had wondered if this was something, he could help me with. I wasn't sure if the wolves would be outside of my house waiting for me to leave so they could get the chance to kill me. Edward said they most likely would speculate that I was the cause for the hiker's death. It was a selfish thought of mine to have, but I knew they would not harm Jacob, nor would they want to exploit their secret to him, so if I had allowed Jacob to go with me then they wouldn't try to attack. Feeding the ducks wasn't the most important thing to do. They were wild animals that were capable of feeding themselves, but I had made a promise.
"Are you wanting to go out of town for a little while?" I asked. His eyebrow raised at my question and a mischievous smile formed on his lips.
"Oh, hell yeah," he replied. "But I thought the doctor said you had to stay home and take it easy."
"The doctor also said I was completely fine," I reminded him. I stood up from the couch and held my hand out to him. He looked at it, speculating but didn't hesitate to take it. I pulled him off the couch and we headed back to the kitchen to get my keys. "Is your dad going to call for a search party if you are out too late? Don't you think that he will just send someone to come pick you up? I mean, there is a dead body that was just found." And Jacob was standing with the murderer who had been responsible for it.
"He's probably a little preoccupied right now. I can call Quil and Embry to cover for me."
"That would be lying," I narrowed my eyes at him with a hint of tease.
"True," he said, contemplating his thoughts. "I guess I will have to just invite them to come with us so that it's not a complete lie."
"Jacob!" I shrieked.
"Oh, hush. They will be thrilled to get out of there as much as I was," he replied with a smile. He walked over to the phone dialing Quil's number first. They were together already at Quil's house eating spaghetti. They had been alone most of the night and were thrilled for the invite like Jacob had mentioned. I told him that I don't think I should drive onto the reservation so he told Quil and Embry to ride their bikes where the Forks and La Push line meet and they could put their bikes into the back of my truck and come with us. Jacob was smooth and had always seemed one step ahead.
When we walked out of the front door that I had locked after I offered Jake a warmer jacket from Charlie's closet, I noticed the earthy pine smell from a little further into the woods. I could lightly hear small growls erupting that Jacob hadn't seemed to notice.
"He's fine with me," I said under my breath in a whisper while Jacob had climbed into the passenger side of the truck. "You're welcome to follow if it's such a problem." I heard one set of paws take off into the direction down the road while the other had stayed behind, continuing to growl. "Get over yourselves. I didn't kill that hiker," I hissed. I placed the house key back under the eave and walked to the driver's side of the truck to see smiling Jacob sitting on the other side waiting for me. I smiled back at him and climbed in.
"Damn, Bells. Didn't know you had it in you!" Embry chuckled, as he lifted his bike into the bed of the truck next to Quil's.
"And where do your parents think you are?" I asked them both when they had climbed into the back seat of the truck.
"With Quil and Jacob," Embry smiled at me.
"With Embry and Jacob," Quil replied.
"So, if they found out that you guys are all with me, am I going to get charged for kidnapping?"
"Jeez, Bells. You're only like a little over two years older than us! And you're not even eighteen. You'd get charged as a minor," Jacob mentioned. I rolled my eyes at him and continued checking in the rearview mirror, trying to keep track of the following pine scent.
"I'm glad you are so concerned about this, Jake," I replied.
"Hey, you're the one with the keys going through with it," he shrugged, continuing his grin with a tease.
"So where are you taking us? Are we going to go get fake IDs and hit the club? Are we going to meet up with a group of college sorority girls? Oh! Oh! Are we going to rob a bank?" Quil asked excitedly.
"You guys like ducks?" I raised my eyebrow in embarrassment, flashing a sheepish grin at them. They all turned their heads towards me with questioning expressions. I couldn't deny the excitement I was feeling in the situation. Doing something that could put me in dangerous territory with the wolves as I take three of their people out of town. The tingling radiated over my fingertips as I clutched lightly onto the steering wheel and pulled forward onto the road.
"Ducks," Jacob said, with his mouth gaped in my direction while I shuffled another handful of seed in my palm and tossed it into the pond. The ducks continued to swarm around the landing zone as they dipped their beaks repeatedly into the water after they had grabbed their own fill of seed. I looked over at Jacob with a small grin on my face.
"Yeah, it's kind of something I do certain days of the week," I replied, rubbing a piece of seed in between my fingers, flaking off the outer coat of it.
Embry and Quil were on the playground farther away, doing their attempt at something called 'parkour' as they continued to jump off the swings and climb up the slide and hop down from the second story of the jungle gym. They had paid no attention to Jacob and I as they had found their own way of entertaining themselves. Jacob had stood near me, digging his hand into the seed bag and pulling out handfuls himself to toss into the water. The ducks had paid no attention to who the handler was but were just thrilled to be fed as they were shaking their tail feathers back and forth. I supposed this meant they were happy.
"And this was something that you had to do tonight?" He asked, with a raised eyebrow. "Don't take me the wrong way, I'm happy to just be able to get out of the reservation and hangout with you. I'm mostly just surprised this is what you had in mind for tonight."
"What? Did you expect to go to some party?" I asked, turning my expression towards him.
"No, that didn't seem like something you'd do either," he lightly teased. "Might've thought you had something in mind like going to an indoor fight or sneaking into an amusement park."
"My dad is a cop, Jake."
"And you seem like a risk taker," he added with a cocked grin. "Never seen a girl just willingly launch herself off a cliff into freezing cold water. Was a little impressive."
"Sorry to disappoint you," I laughed. "Let me know next time you're free. It seems like I have a reputation I need to uphold."
"You're on."
The growling erupted further into the woods that surrounded the park. It was just one wolf, so the other must have stayed behind in La Push to not venture too far from the reservation. I thought maybe my obvious gesture of feeding the ducks would come across as a non-threatening presentation to them, but they still saw me as a threat.
"Jake?" I questioned him, looking up at him through my lashes. He had his gaze on the water, taking in the sight of how the moon had reflected off of the ripples that surrounded the ducks as they moved through the shallow pond. They had decided they had enough feed for the night and ventured farther away from us. "Did Billy ever mention something about not wanting you to hang out with me?"
He took a deep breath into his lungs, swaying back and forth on shoes, not answering right away. He contemplated what he was going to say, and I had already assumed that I had the answer to my question.
"He mentioned that he thought you were too old for me to be hanging out with," he replied softly with a low grumble in his chest. He didn't want to let his gaze fall upon me. He must have been slightly upset about what Billy had said, possibly even embarrassed as I noticed the soft blush forming on his cheeks. "I told him it was stupid because we used to hangout all the time as kids and it was never a problem then."
He only slightly looked at me through his peripheral view. His lips had flattened against his face as he was trying to force a smile to comfort me with his response. It had struck a chord in my chest. Jacob and his buddies have been my first real group of friends that I had enjoyed spending time with. It was easy being around them as if I never had left Forks as a small child. I didn't want to spend the rest of my time that I had here alone.
I nodded at his response, looking up at him and returning the same forced smile at him while I flexed my fingers repeatedly. It bothered me. I knew that was Billy's soft way of telling him that he was no longer allowed to see me anymore. Billy had stuck up for me when it came to that night when Sam and Jared were concerned, and Billy reminded them that I was with Jake and his friends that afternoon and brought them back unharmed. But I suppose after the incident that I had inflicted on Sam and Jared, that he had decided to not go forth with the benefit of the doubt.
"I like hanging out with you, Bells, and Embry and Quil do, too. They think you're a tad cooler than you let on though," he teased. "I think Quil gets off on the idea of being friends with a girl that's older than him as if it provides street cred."
"Lord knows Quil needs more street cred," I let out an uncomfortable laugh, trying to lighten the tension. "I like hanging out with you guys too."
The next day at school had been as uncomfortable and agonizing as I had anticipated it to be. Ethan, Eric, Mike, and Tyler all had been waiting for me at my usual spot in the parking lot. They held terrified expressions on their face that also held grief and guilt when they had looked at me as I hopped out of my truck. Each of them had given me separate hugs and apologies for not being there yesterday to wait on me. They thought that not being there had been a reason that I had gotten hurt in the first place as if they could have prevented the accident. Tyler continued to be persistent with his empty apologies that I had no reason to take from him. He was at no fault to me because I was fine and he was fine, except for the Van that needed repairs.
I knew there would be a time that I would have to push forward that they needed to pursue other interactions with girls other than me. I needed to let them down easy because I was not interested in any of them. Not because they held no desirable traits, but because that I was not looking for a relationship; at least not a relationship that I knew wasn't honest and only held desire because of what I am and what I was unintentionally doing to them.
Throughout the first few periods of the day, I had continued to form questions in my mind that I would ask Edward today during biology. I wanted to know about certain stereotypes about vampires and how those stereotypes applied to them. I wanted to know what had formed his desire to want to kill me. Whenever I had brought it up before, it seemed that that conversation was diverted to something else, or instead of answering that concern, he instead would answer something of a previous question. Maybe he didn't realize he was diverting away from the topic and had not seen a big reason to answer it. Maybe it didn't concern him anymore that he had formed a weakness that day in biology class that he wanted to kill me. It concerned me though.
I also knew that he must have formed several questions to ask me, as well that I would have to either be dishonest about or would have to tell him that I could not simply answer. I didn't want him to know what I was for many reasons. I didn't want him to form the same stereotypes of my kind and project those ideas onto me. I wasn't putting down those who do choose the route of sexual intercourse when it comes to preparing their meal, but simply because I didn't want to give him a reason why the idea of performing that act had repulsed me and had only left pain at the thought of trying. I also didn't want him to know because I loathed the idea that he would see me as too weak to not kill a human.
In retrospect, I was too mentally weak to pull away from the energy that pooled into my mouth when it came to feeding. I would easily drop the body in a matter of a few seconds because the hunger was much too great. I knew that the hunger was only getting worse as the passing days had continued to go by without replenishing my body. My stamina for extending my feeding times only became worse the more I had fed. Between the hiker and Teddy, those were two instances that were much too close together, causing my stamina to be able to starve myself for longer periods of time started to weaken greatly.
When I had followed Jessica to the cafeteria tables, I had noticed that none of the Cullens were staring my way, not even Edward as his body sat still in his seat. It seemed that they were trying to avoid looking into my direction at all costs. They weren't speaking, eating, drinking from their water bottles. They sat together in silence.
Jessica had caught me off guard when she had brought up the accident yesterday. I hadn't noticed she was speaking to me until Edward's name had slipped through her parted lips in a question.
"Sorry, I wasn't paying attention. What was that?" I asked, glancing back and forth to her and towards the cafeteria tables.
"I asked what it was like to have been wrapped in Edward Cullen's arms," she laughed, looking back towards the cafeteria table when she had followed my stare. She narrowed her eyes at me when I hadn't replied to her question as I continued to distract myself when I continued my peeled stare on them, waiting for one of them to look in my direction, but they had not.
"I think it was really brave of him to pull you out of the way. It could have been much worse," Angela said, inputting her thoughts. "He could have gotten himself injured in the process, but he chose to put you first. I hadn't a clue that you guys were close."
"Close? What," Mike said as a piece of macaroni fell from his parted lips. "Her and Cullen aren't close, right Bella?"
I glanced over at Mike and his panicked expression. Jessica had looked nervously between the two of us as she noticed Mike's distraught voice form his question.
"No, we aren't close. Just was in the right place at the right time," I muttered.
"Duh, they totally are close," Jessica said. "They sit next to each other in biology. They must have had some sort of engaging conversation if he would have risked his own safety on her," she said bitterly. Lauren snorted at Jessica's comment, but Angela held a remorseful face towards me. I shyly smiled at her.
"Can't imagine what could have been so engaging from our previous conversations," I replied, ignoring Jessica's subtle sneer. "He just needed some notes from me and happened to pull me out of the way."
"Well, I'm glad you're okay, Bella. It could have been much worse," Ethan said. "I'm really sorry I wasn't there," he frowned.
"The van would have come whether you were there or not," I replied in a way to comfort him. I noticed Tyler winced at my comment, but he had no reason to. It was an accident.
"So, you guys heard about that hiker?" Mike began, engaging the table with a new conversation that I had not been interested in partaking in. I continued my stare at the Cullen table until the bell to dismiss the students to their next class had irritatingly chimed. I continued my seating at the cafeteria table as the rest of the group had left their spots and chatted on their way to class. Mike and Angela had waited at the cafeteria exit doors to the hallway as they looked at me with confused expressions, but I was waiting for the Cullens' departure from their table. They stood up slowly without a glance towards me, including Edward. The group walked past me causing the tingling in my throat to rupture, but I noticed Alice had looked slightly glanced at me and I could see a slight crooked grin on her face as she looked at me with an apology in her eyes. I had wondered what was with the fuss.
I sighed when I noticed the next group of students were on their way into the cafeteria, so I exited my seat at the table and followed the hallway towards the biology room. I had noticed everyone had already taken their seats and Mr. Banner had already written the topics for the lecture that we would be discussing onto the board. I darted my eyes toward Edward, but his gaze was held onto the scenery out the window. I held tightly onto my bookbag strap as I crossed the front of the class to take my seat next to him, causing a disruption when the legs of the seat screeched across the tile floor. I saw him flinch at the unsettling sound.
I looked over at him, waiting for him to move his stare from the window, but it did not change. Mr. Banner continued with the lecture for the day, not noticing Edward had not been paying attention, or rather he knew that Edward would already had successfully retained the material either way based on his academic credentials.
"So, you're just going to ignore me now?" I whispered under my breath, waiting for a response from him. I looked towards him, trying to capture his face through the tendrils of my fallen hair, but he hadn't commented. I huffed with annoyance and looked back towards Mr. Banner and continued taking the notes that were on the board, following the commentary he had said that pertained through the topics.
It had gone on for the rest of the hour of class. Edward had never dropped his stare from the window, and I had continuously glanced towards him in curiosity as to why he had been ignoring me in the first place. Why his family no longer lingered glances towards me. It was only just yesterday that I thought Edward and I were possibly settling with each other, having conversations and asking aimless questions that we both provided with vague-like answers, all just for it to come down to him ignoring me, like I had ignored him. But, why?
The wolves had followed me last night as well like I believed they would. One had stayed behind which wasn't something I had expected before but understood the need to protect the reservation as well. Could it be possible that they had a reason to believe it was me that killed the hiker? I knew I would deny it. I wouldn't ever admit to it, especially not to those who need a reason to kill me. Murder seemed reason enough to be a participant in the slaughter games of the wolves. I wanted to ask Edward more about how he would be able to protect me from them, but now that Edward was ignoring me, I had felt alone in the supernatural world like I had been before.
The bell had chimed for us to leave our classes. Edward was the first to stand before me, and I had tried to follow him out of the class, but he had already been lost in the sea of students that were flooding the school hallways. Mike had already been full of smiles at the biology room door, waiting to walk me to the gym, but I wasn't in the mood today. I didn't want to be crowded and forced to smile and participate in a friendly conversation.
I searched around in the crowd of the hallway, looking for him. I didn't know his class schedule, but I was determined to corner him and get him to speak to me about what reason he has chosen to ignore me for today. I walked into the cafeteria seeing the group of lunch kids leaving to go to their next class. I was annoyed, but I knew I couldn't miss another one of my classes after being gone yesterday. I took another glance through the windows of the doors leading to each room, but still hadn't been able to find him.
I went to my gym class and the rest of my other classes for the day in panic. If Edward and his family were now showing animosity towards me, it only meant that I had lost protection from the pack of the wolves. I knew I could take them down in their human form, but Edward was right, I couldn't go on the run forever from them. Maybe they wouldn't try to come after me if I had left Forks. There were only two of them and they had already shown me that they had left behind one of them to keep watch over the reservation. If I had left town, then I could be free from both them and the Cullens. Though, that still left Charlie. I didn't want to hurt him. I didn't want to hurt Renee either and going to live with her again wasn't an option. I couldn't go back to Phoenix. It seemed that my plan to start off fresh had only taken for the worst.
When the school bell rang for students to be dismissed from the building, I stalked the parking lot towards my truck, scanning the parking lot for his family. I noticed that they had begun piling up in Edward's Volvo, but he wasn't there yet. I paused, peering into the swarm of students who were pushing their way from the many exit doors of the different buildings, looking for him, but had not seen where he would have come through.
When I had glanced back to the Volvo, I noticed it was already in reverse, with Edward in the driver's seat. I could see his eyes move towards me—peeking, but his expression still facing forward. He glanced away and had turned around in the parking lot and got into line behind the rest of the students who were already leaving the school. I huffed out another breath of air in irritation, but also in nervous frantic as I walked back towards my truck. I climbed in and slung my backpack against the passenger door and placed the key into the ignition in anticipation for the loud roar of the truck that had come expectedly.
When I drove home, I tried to clear my head of the thoughts of Edward and the wolves. As long as they didn't know a thing, they were no threat to me. I hadn't had trouble with the wolves for almost two weeks until the body was found, and I don't plan on keeping myself in trouble with them. They wouldn't know, because, how could they? There was no trace of my scent on the body or the grave for I had ridden it clean.
Charlie had come home this morning like he had said he would. I had breakfast ready for his arrival which he desperately needed. He was exhausted from a long night on the reservation, trying to pick up clues and tracks. He said each one was a dead end, but the hiker didn't seem to have been killed by homicide. The hiker's name was John Gibson and had died at the age of thirty-seven. Charlie mentioned that his death had shown signs of having an unusual early heart attack. Unusual because of his age and his medical history shown no previous instances of abnormalities in his heart. But that's what it had normally come up
There was a truck that was parked in front of my house that I could see from down the street. I sped up my truck, hearing it groan as I slowly pressed down further onto the gas pedal. The increased speed caused the steering wheel to shake rapidly back and forth, but I held steadily onto it.
When I got closer, I noticed Sam and Jared were sitting on my front porch, their heads perked up when they had heard my truck nearing. Billy was there off in front of my house, nearing the edge of the porch in his wheelchair. Why the hell were they here? They were in their human forms so they must not have been too worried about killing me, nor were they wanting to appear as a threat.
I slowly eased my truck in front of the house, taking the turn into the driveway. I could feel my heart erratically pounding as they narrowed their eyes at me, and their bodies became rigid. I parked the truck, hearing it backfire at me as I turned the key in the ignition and turned the truck off. I didn't move from the driver's seat as they continued to stare. I took heavy breaths, counting each time my chest had heaved and decompressed as they sat there on the porch staring at me. They weren't coming towards me but continued to only stare.
I let out a heavy sigh, opening my truck door. The two of them stood up from the porch step as I closed the truck door behind me.
"We need to talk," Sam said.
"Yeah, I figured," I said, trying to hold my composure while looking over at Billy. His lips had flattened into a tight line as I walked over towards the house. Jared and Sam stiffened as I got closer, but I rolled my eyes at the both of them and shoved past them to reach towards the eave and grab the key to unlock the door. "Charlie isn't here, but he will be in just a couple of hours. I suggest you three be gone in the next ten minutes."
I opened the door of the house, and I could feel the radiating heat that was emitting from Sam's skin close behind me. I looked back, noticing that Jared was helping push Billy's wheelchair onto the porch to follow behind us. I walked forward and headed towards the kitchen, pulling out chicken from the fridge to prepare chicken fajitas for Charlie tonight. Jared wheel Billy near the kitchen table while Sam and Jared took their positions against the farther wall.
"Glad to see you heal so quickly," I faintly snickered to Sam who had replied with a stiffen growl. "So, what is there to talk about?" I asked innocently with a smug smile on my face as I grabbed out some of the spices needed to season the chicken.
"I think it's pretty clear that we are here about the hiker," Sam's deep voice left a chill running down my spine. I closed my eyes to rid myself of it and blinked open again. I turned around to look over at him. He had his arms crossed against his bare chest, and his eyebrows were furrowed tightly together forming a V-shape in between them.
Lie, the subconscious voice spoke.
"I know," I hissed under my breath at it. Sam and Jared raised their eyebrows at me, noticing I wasn't speaking to them. I exhaled a slow breath through the small hole of my puckered lips. "I heard about the hiker. Charlie told me. Heart attacks are a real pickle."
"Yeah, a heart attack," Jared grumbled.
"I'm not a doctor, so there really is nothing that I can help you with. Maybe I can point you to the town's morgue?" I walked over towards the sink, scrubbing off the cutting board with a sponge, digging my grip against it to help shake the nerves that were eating me alive. "But either way, you have less than ten minutes to keep this conversation going, so I suggest you use it wisely."
"We know it wasn't just a heart attack. This man was buried in the ground and from out of town. He was said to have a healthy record, and a buddy of his told us that he decided that he would use his savings to go traveling for a month to hike in the northwest mountains. One of his stops would be Olympia. The man was hiking alone, and your little vampire, Edward, had mentioned before that he had chased after you in the general area." Sam glided his tongue across his bottom lip. "I guess he didn't realize you had dragged a body in that area, too. According to the autopsy, it had to be that same day."
I hitched my breath and continued scrubbing the cutting board that was clean enough now. "I didn't kill that hiker." I thought I must have said this many times by now to be able to lie about it properly. "Yes, Edward had chased me down that area before, but he only chased me. There was no hiker and no dead bodies when I was running from him."
"Yeah," Sam replied with a single chuckle, mocking me. He moved towards the kitchen table, placing his hands on the back of the chair and leaning onto it. "I don't believe you."
"And why would you not believe me? I told you before I haven't hurt anyone, and as you know, I hung out with Jacob, Quil, and Embry last night and I left them unharmed."
"You have a soft spot for my boy because of your humanity of growing up with him, but I couldn't say the same for strangers you don't have attachments to," Billy added.
"I'm not some heartless killer, Billy. I still am who I am, just less fragile," I hissed at him, jerking around in a quick motion causing water to splatter all over the counter. Billy flinched, but never took his gaze off of me.
"I don't think you are a heartless killer, but I suspect whatever you are, it requires you to do so to sustain yourself. That's something I cannot allow you to do here, not to anyone." Billy glanced up at Sam who had taken a brief look at him in return. "I don't want them to kill you, Bella. You are still the little girl I had the pleasure of helping Charlie take care of all those summers, and I know your death would possibly end Charlie, either by natural causes or by his own hand. So, no. I don't want you to die, but I would appreciate it if you could lend a helpful hand by telling us more about yourself and how you became what you are."
I paused at his request. It wasn't an unfortunate one, and it was one that I could do myself on my own choices without having to involve the Cullens, but I wasn't too sure of that, either. I still had means to be able to deny what I had done.
"I appreciate that but like I said, I didn't kill the hiker." I glanced up at Jared who seemed unamused with Billy, and Sam's face now had flattened, expressionless.
"When we found the body, Bella, we did our usual routine of checking the area for scents. Human, vampire, whatever we could find. Of course, the body had been dead for a while now, and those scents would have been long gone, but they could very well have been preserved on the body since it was unharmed by weather occurrences and only had been harmed by mother nature that takes place underneath the surface. When we had checked over the body, there wasn't a scent at all. Nothing left, not even a stale one." Sam's lip had quivered into a smirk. "And who do we know that can cover scents as if they were never there in the first place?"
A paused silence overtook the room.
"I think it's your turn to talk, Bella," Billy stated.
"I don't want to," I admitted. "Another time, please." The burning in my throat heightened during the fright I had felt in the room. I clasped my hand over it, wincing, but trying to relieve the pain that I knew could only be done by one thing. I turned, pacing back towards the sink and collapsing my hands against the counter, trying to silently exhale and inhale unsteady breaths. I didn't want them to notice the pain I was in. I didn't want them to believe that I was unstable and incapable of handling the challenge against me.
"We just want to help you, Bella."
"You may want to help me, Billy, but they don't," I sneered at the wolves over my shoulder. They stiffened their forms. "If you want to talk about this, then it has to be at another time."
"What? You have more hikers to kill?" Jared asked, slightly leaning less against the wall.
"I think it's time for you to leave," I hissed, looking down towards the ground, gripping my fingers tighter against the edge of the counter. I could feel the bumps along my arms start to tingle down over my chest, and down my torso and legs. I could feel the energy that I was radiating, wanting to strike against them, wanting to drain them of theirs. I didn't want to kill them. "Now," I commanded.
Jared made no hesitation to stumble away from the far wall of the kitchen, grabbing onto Billy's wheelchair. He nodded at me, and Jared hastened to wheel him out of the front door and down the porch step. I looked over at Sam, who had his grip tightened against the back of the chair, causing the wood to splinter under his grasp. He was fighting it, fighting himself.
"What the hell have you done to me," he gritted through his teeth. He exhaled his breath, trying to catch it—trying to fight it. It worked this time. I hadn't a clue why it didn't work in the past, but he was struggling. The command had instantaneously worked on Jared and Billy without any sort of rejection, but it had trouble holding against Sam. He was much too strong.
I took a slow stride over towards him, feeling a tad shaken to get near him as his skin had begun to form ripples of vibrations over his form. I needed to know that I could incapacitate him, I needed to know that I was stronger than him, stronger than his pack.
I stopped just a foot away from his, flexing my fingers. He had flinched when I had come so close, exhaling raspy breaths and sounds of frustration through his teeth as saliva had spewed from his clenched lips.
I leaned against the table, holding my weight near the chair he had been close to breaking into pieces. I copied the same move that he and Edward had both used on me before and lightly outstretched my arm to reach his tall form and placed my finger underneath his chin. I lifted his sunken face slightly, only needing an inch to have it facing me. He promptly lifted his hand from the back of the chair, grabbing onto my wrist. I let out a small cry in pain as he continued to tighten his grasp against it, but I didn't allow him to move my hand away from him. I flinched as his fingers had tightened, shifting my skin to a pinch in his grasp. I tightened my teeth against my lower lip, while my arm wound shakenly in his grasp as I pushed for my strength to keep my position to stay absolute.
"I said get the hell out of my house," I spat, forcing the words through him through the pain he was inflicting upon me. I lifted my eyes through my lashes, following the trail up the ridges of his masculine jaw, diverting my eyes towards the crevice in his chin and up the outline of his swollen lips. I didn't stop the trail as my gaze continued the pattern up his face, staring directly into his flared nostrils, and along the freckles and open pores on the bridge of his nose. I flicked my stare directly against his eyelid, until I made no more hesitation. I bore my eyes into his own directly, causing his to grow wide and his lips to part. His jaw had slacked underneath my fingertips. He hitched his breath, causing strained gasps to escape his throat. "Now."
A/N
I'm a little iffy about this chapter. Not even a fan of it myself, honestly. I know it took me a while to write it because I really wasn't sure what to do with it. After about 5,000 words, I just halted production on it because I just didn't know what I wanted for this specific chapter. Right now, I am struggling with Timeline. I need to rewrite my outline a little bit. I'm trying to figure out what to do to fill in the month of February since Stephenie Meyer time jumped from January and straight to March in her book because Edward and her weren't on speaking terms, but I don't want to do that. I don't want him to ignore her the whole time, and it won't affect the timeline if he doesn't ignore her, but It does effect me when having to figure out what to do with February without developing their relationship too soon. I don't want to time jump either, especially since she is a succubus and has more to offer in context.
As always, I hope to see at least 5 reviews on this chapter before I update again! Thank you for all of your reviews! Until next time! (: