Succubus (Hiatus)

by SavKelly

After her attack in Phoenix at the age of sixteen, and the re-occurring incidents, Bella moved to Forks with Charlie hoping to ascend into this town with a fresh start. All alone Bella has had to endure what she has become, now hoping to regain normalcy again. Though, little did she know that this town would bring out the reminder of what she now was, a life draining demon.

19. Affair

Welcome back and thank you to kitsune2477, mariaclaradsm0, KittenAlice2, Aline, Guest, Guest, Noee, myfanficaddiction, Rensie, Kathryn L. Malone, jaanavihairani, Guest, NatalieKatee, RALAC, cbmorefie, IsabelaGomez, and Sharpeyes for reviewing!

I want to remind you guys that I updated the last chapter a little bit. I updated the school day that Bella went through and I added what Abigail's creator's power was and extra conversation.

Kitsune2477, I don't think I'm exactly burned out, I think it's just that I'm not mentally stimulated anymore like I was in school. So now I'm just riding along through the summer break. I won't abandon the story, though because I do love it. As in, I have ideas already for a second installment.

mariaclaradsm0, Abigail showing up was originally set to happen later, but I pulled it forward because I wanted Bella to get some clarity and some reassurance that she can handle this. Someone of her own kind to tell her that she isn't a bad person and she deserves to live, aswell.

KittenAlice2, Thank you, yeah inspiration and lack of mental stimulation has been the biggest issue here. Actually, I added Abigail's creator's gift into the updated version of last chapter! Haha yes, in the original version she just goes home after thinking about it, but Edward wouldn't have dared let her hit his precious Volvo lol. He kept speeding up like a little game, and she would speed up after her, so she never managed to get to that point to hit him. Darn haha. Yes, James's coven will be vampires still. All the characters will stay canon. Pool party should be after this chapter.

Aline, Yes that is exactly how I wanted it to be. Bella being responsible for herself and not having another succubus to rely on. She is given the tools she needs to handle this on her own.

Guest, Thank you for reviewing. No, not exactly. That's just a succubus thing that I made in my story so that they are meant to be solitary creatures. So, by presence alone, the stronger succubus will drain the weaker one. It kind of is like vampires when they hunt. The vampire will attack the other if it is in it's feeding frenzy because it'll see the other as a threat to their meal. So for succubus… it's like an all the time thing. Always worried the other will take their next victim. Since these are sexual creatures, I suppose you can say it's power of jealousy. For Bella to take the energy of one of the Cullens, she would have to do the same act on them that she does on a human.

Guest, thank you so much! Hope you'll enjoy it!

Noee, hey friend! I'm glad you enjoyed the update. Definitely wouldn't abandon it, mostly just was just not in the headspace to motivate myself to write for a while. This chapter should hopefully peak your interests on Bella and Edward time!

myfanficaddiction, and a big shout out to you for helping me so much with this story! Definitely.. The time skip in Breaking Dawn was the worst thing they could have done considering her becoming a vampire was so hyped up for such a long time. Yeah, I really wish you had saw my message about the updated version before I posted haha because I did fix that issue. Yes, Charlie being a protective parent about Bella going to a party that could potentially have alcohol was key. And right on the money with the smoker energy to animal blood. Yes… her feelings have started to show, but she's never been in a relationship and I don't think she would have realized what she had felt before because of all the stuff she has to deal with right now. Yes. Edward has it bad, lmao. I wanted to add Emmett to that truck scene because I thought it would be funny because… that's so Emmett. At first my idea was to actually make both of those her powers, but then I realized… I'm not going to make her so OP, so I'll change that around that every succubus can mind manipulate. I think her shield definitely will end up being the same as it has been before, only because I don't want to make it a physical shield like Renata's nor do I want to make it OP. And hmm we will see if Edward goes with her to hunt!

Rensie, when I read the review, at first I had been upset. But, taking a harder look at it, I realized it definitely was my mistake and I should've changed the invitations day more to suit Bella's succubus side. So, it worked out in the end. Thank you though for your concern… and you're right.. I shouldn't get upset over a review. I just want to please the audience so badly.

Kathyrn L. Malone, your wish is my command!

jaanavihairani, yeah. She booked it out of there. No phone number, but it did make sense. Abigail doesn't know Bella is acquainted with vampires, so really she thinks Bella is all alone in the supernatural world, and would eventually end up calling her if she needed help from Abigail. So it did make sense in my head to not offer that. Thank you. I'm glad you enjoyed the updated version, and yes, she was very pissed. Abandonment issues are definitely there.

Guest, haha I appreciate your review! I had laughed a few times when writing it. I enjoyed this chapter alot when I finally sat down to do it. I have found my writing again, thankfully. I can't promise to always update weekly like I had before because I find myself in the funk again every now and then, but no matter what, I won't abandon the story

NatalieKatee, thank you so much. Abigail needed this chapter to give Bella some insight on why she had been left alone.

William Francies Reisen-Newman, thanks, my man!

Ralac, Thanks for reviewing! And yes, The reason why I updated is because a past-reviewer told me I should've changed the school day up and not completely take it from the original story. But, I also wanted to keep it canon to the original Twilight Timeline. I believed changing what Bella is wouldn't necessarily affect outside events such as stopping Mike, Eric and Tyler from shooting their shot. And adding more suiters emphasized what her presence has done to the student's affections around her. Also, maybe Edward shouldn't have pushed her too far with allowing Tyler to interfere at the truck, but I wanted to leave that in for my reasons. I just liked it. That part of the original story makes me laugh when I read it, so I kept it. Also, you say Bella is acting childish with her tantrum… well I said before, I like to keep Bella canon. Bella threw tantrums in the books — Freckles trailed irregularly across her cheeks and the bridge of her nose is beautiful, and doesn't take away her beauty or flawlessness of her features. Freckles aren't flaws and are normally in an irregular pattern. And thin lips that "aren't unflattering to her features," also doesn't take away from her beauty. When I imagined Abigail, I imagined if Cara Delvigne had short ringlet strawberry blonde curls and tan skin with freckles. — Your thoughts on Abigail was actually my initial thoughts on how Abigail should be portrayed towards Bella. Very assertive… and honestly you're right. I should've kept that initial thought on her. It's just that when I was writing the story, I thought that Mrs. Weaver would've told her to go soft on Bella.

cbmorefie, no, thank you!

IsabelaGomez. Thank you. I'm glad you enjoyed it. Yes, and we will see that further into this chapter. Yes Abigail needed to happen because I thought that with Bella still hurt over Vilinsea abandoning her, that she needed to know why. Along with the other portions explained to her and more about her story.

Sharpeyes, hi. I couldn't approve your last review because of a word you used in it. I didn't want it to get flagged. I wasn't sure. But anyways, I heard your last review and made the changes to the school day to make them a little more original, but also still follow the timeline correctly. Your vision of Abigail actually had been what I hoped for her to have been. Her initial personality was supposed to be exactly like that… and I think it came down to me not being as experienced enough of a writer to force in an assertive character like that. So instead, my thoughts were to have Abigail go to see her mother, and her mother had told her to go soft on Bella because Bella is completely clueless to this life. It is possible that I'll go back eventually and change Abigail up if I can figure out the right way to make her live up to the initial standard I had. Considering Abigail is a onetime character, it won't be an issue to change it. And with your last review attached to this one… I know you are not a fan of cannon Bella. And I understand that. I think it does go back to me not being an experienced writer to write a strong version of her. When I imagine Bella all the time, it definitely does keep me writing her as this young character who has her immature childish ways still because of her age. When I get a chance, I'll read that fanfiction you suggested so I can get a clearer picture on how to give Bella character growth.

All rights to the characters and to the Twilight Saga go to Stephenie Meyer. Enjoy!(:

Chapter 18: Affair

In the car with Edward, we had sat there for a moment in silence before he had asked me where I would like to go. I didn't know where I wanted to end up, or where I wanted him to take him. Now I had felt silly about the idea entirely, relying on him to drive me anywhere. Maybe I should tell him to take me home instead and end this road trip. Abigail had warned me that I needed to feed, but I knew I could hold my self-control a while longer. I had gone three months before without feeding, a week and a half was hardly close to that. I also hadn't been sure I would be comfortable with Edward driving me somewhere for a late-night energy boost. He was a vampire who fed on the blood of animals. I knew he had seen me feed before, and maybe hadn't judged me then based on the circumstances then, but what would he think of now?

I had been slightly thankful that Alice couldn't see my future, even if it did pose disadvantages to a family that showed possible care for me. If I had decided to take Edward on an adventure of murder and practice with me, I would think she would have been mortified at the sight.

I told him that I needed to call Charlie. He would be wondering where I was since it was after hours of work, and I also hadn't told him about what happened to my truck. I wondered if he would be disappointed in me. Not for ruining my truck's engine, but for driving well over the speed limit on a chase after a vampire. I would miss that truck, and that had been my fault own fault of blatant lack of emotional control.

With a call to Charlie on the phone he had not realized I had in possession; he was glad that I had used my earnings to purchase one for myself. I neglected to tell him that a certain someone had gotten it for me in case of emergencies that I knew I would be able to handle on my own. Charlie had been worried as expected about my truck, but without letting him ask too many questions, I told him that I would tell him more about it when I get home. When he offered to pick me up from work, I mentioned that a friend I had called came to pick me up and told him that I wouldn't be home too late. He thanked me for the dinner I left for him in the fridge, and the call ended.

Edward asked again where we would be headed, and I decided on the only place I knew the best. Out of the Forks limits to a little town I never caught the name of myself. I knew the direction very well from the street signs, and recognized the passing trees that would go by. I knew that the further we got, which wasn't far, I saw the town of Shuwah that I would pass on the way to the town a little further North down the road.

But it wasn't the trees that kept my mind occupied, or the people that were enjoying their time with each other on their front porches while they sipped their concoction they made in those mugs, it had been Abigail's words that tore through my consciousness. She wouldn't exchange even a silly phone number for me to contact her, believing that I would eventually call her in a crisis of need. I knew that she couldn't stay around because it would only kill me, why would I risk asking her for reinforcement. It was more the experience I needed. Guidance. But I was alone in it. Not even the vampire next to me would understand. He had Carlisle when he was turned, and Carlisle never left him.

Edward and I walked through the small park, nearing the arch and hedges that surrounded the tombstones with one I found myself familiar with.

"Theodore Eugene Halliday," I whispered, staring down at the engraved tombstone that was next to his wife's.

"The man whose house you had broken into."

"The very one," I smiled faintly, remembering him. "He was a religious man married to his high school sweetheart who was a painter. Her name was Lucille and they had seven children."

"You seem to have known him well."

"Not at all, actually. I just knew what I had asked him," I looked over at Edward, smiling at him and glancing back down at the grave. "He's the reason I do take care of those ducks at the pond, though. Just a last request from him."

"So, you were fond of him," he inquired.

"I hardly spoke to the man for more than ten minutes."

"You are fond enough to reward his wishes," he countered.

I pondered that for a moment. I suppose I had thought of him as a man that reminded me of a grandfather figure. A man who found love, a cherished one in fact. A man that spoke proudly of his wife's irritation with him, but never had thought to disregard it or miss the years he would have had without a wife. He had a wholesome and happy marriage which would be how you expect one. Not the way my parents had. There's were practically forced by their own conscience.

"We all deserve some kind of request before death, I think."

I realized my mistake when I spoke. I inspected Edward's reaction, expecting an uncomfortable qualm from him at my words. Expecting them to have targeted him personally or maybe even slightly burn over his covered facade, but his face held no source of distress. It was complacent. He only stared down at the tomb stone in front of him.

"Have you ever visited her?"

"Have I ever visited whom?"

It wasn't a difficult question to understand. There had only been one woman in his life that I knew had been important to him and had passed. One woman who may have meant the world to Edward, a world where a mother couldn't imagine her young son succumbing to a fatal sickness and to death.

"Your mother."

"I visit Esme each day."

"Edward…"

He breathed. "No, I do not," he spoke coldly. "During the epidemic, there were too many patients that succumbed to the influenza. The hospitals were filled with more patients than they had filed papers for. After my mother's death, Carlisle immediately took me away during my change, and my mother had no family left to identify her. I assumed she had gone to an unmarked grave in Chicago."

"So, she very well could have a grave marked, but you just never had asked?"

"It's possible there is one."

"You really remember nothing?"

"Faintly." His smile quivered. I could almost inspect a small twinkle in his eyes where thoughts were placed, memories he had that had been blurred over. "And you? Your memory still very well intact?"

I nodded. I did remember most of what a normal teenager would have. Remembering the good memories, and even the ones that you would wish to have forgotten. I remembered the fights that my parents would have over the phone, but then the friendship they still perceived. I remember my most embarrassing moments as a child, and the ones I had to learn to grow responsibly to take care of myself.

"What were they?"

"There's not much to know," I spoke. "Honestly."

"I still would like to hear them."

Pushing the strands of hair that fanned over my cheek behind my ear, I took a small step backwards, biting down on my lip trying to embark on the correct way to speak about my past. And then I gave him the whole run-down of my mother and father's relationship, how they had divorced when I was a child because they both had different plans for their lives. I told him about my mother and her flighty qualms, along with my father who enjoyed the small-town life where you know everyone. I mentioned Phil and how my mother had met him and that I was content with the way he made my mother happy. I even spoke more about the reason I moved to Forks which he had thought was a decision that I had been unhappy to make. But I found it easier to speak about it, easier to speak about it with him. I was overcome with vulnerability.

With Edward's soft smiles at my words when I spoke, he pushed more, asking about my childhood. I told him very faintly of it, leaving in the boring portions of my life in Phoenix where I hadn't made many friends. There was one that I thought I liked at the time, but that friendship didn't last. When I had mentioned how clumsy I had been as a human, continuing explaining the severity of it, he had laughed, almost with disbelief. He told me that he would have to see that for himself. I told him I stumble sometimes in front of Charlie and my mother to continue the charade. It was at this point a high characteristic of my previous life to have two left feet.

"Well, you walk with a stride of grace," he mentioned, causing a reddening blush to appear across my face.

I told him about my frequent visits to the reservation as a child when I would come visit Charlie. I spoke of my times there at the beach. I enjoyed those moments the most, even if the beach had already been dampened with the rain. There had also been the tide pool I admire, but when I was old enough to make my own decisions to not spend time in Forks, Charlie would visit me instead.

"So, with your visits to Forks, a lot of the time spent was with Charlie on the reservation?"

"From what I remember, quite a bit. Though, Jacob," I smiled at the thought of him, chuckling silently. "Was a little young at the time for me to play with, and so I think I distinctly remember acquainting myself with his older sisters. Eventually him and I did play on my later visits when the two of us were older. He was kind of a jerk."

Edward's eyebrows pulled together, slowing his pace next to me around the edge of the cemetery as we walked next to the tree line. "I don't understand." He said with confusion. "He was a jerk to you?"

"He was a boy, and I was a girl. There were gender dynamics there if you can believe it," I rolled my eyes at him. "He would throw mud at me and pull on my pigtails."

"I don't think I find myself to be very fond of him."

I turned to look at him, raising my eyebrow at the expression of his face. He looked to be contemplating a decision in his mind as his eyes flickered, trying to find an understanding of who Jacob Black was. I wondered if Edward's past life with friends had really gone from his mind, not remembering how children would torment each other. I couldn't help but laugh, but I felt slightly sorry for it.

"You don't even know him; how could you already base an opinion?"

"He used to pester you."

"We were kids!" I laughed. "That's what kids do!"

"Little boys are meant to berate young girls based on their different sexes?"

"I—" I looked at him, parting my lips where a laugh was no longer escaping. Edward really didn't understand, yet, he had made a perfectly clear point. "You're right. Maybe I should give him hell for his past misdemeanors."

But he was still silent, and I could see his hands burning into fists at his thoughts. He didn't look towards me anymore, but his eyes glazed over towards the darkened trees where the moon lit the tops of them.

"And what would you think of him if he was to phase like the others?"

Jacob? Jacob as a wolf? No. I couldn't imagine that thought. The thought that Jacob would morph into a crazed wolf that stood feet above me. Jaws snapping in my direction with malice and hatred. Hatred for what I was, hatred for what I do. I pondered the thought. Even if Jacob never did phase and he stayed the sweet boy that I have grown to love and found friendship so easily with, would he hate me if he had known? No. My Jacob would never. At least, I hoped not.

"He wouldn't." I shook my head. "Jacob's not like them."

"He has the gene," Edward glanced over at me. "At least I assume so."

"Why would you assume that?" I grabbed onto Edward's wrist, stopping him as he walked forward. It was Edward's turn to slightly gasp, as his eyes closed slowly shut. His breathing hitched for only a still moment before he opened them again to look down to where my hand clasped over his wrist. Was he upset with me? Had I done something wrong?

I quickly let go of it, letting my hand idly fall to my side, feeling slightly hurt by the rejection of him. He didn't want me touching him, but I also couldn't ponder why I cared. Though, what I didn't expect from it was for Edward to reach for the tips of my fingers as he looked down at my eyes. He pushed his hand underneath mine and his fingers softly traced over the underside of my wrist. I looked up at him in wonder, staring into the darkened irises of his, as they stared back into the amethyst glow of mine.

And then, we were falling onto the ground. Edward had pulled me down next to him on the floor of the pine straw beneath. We were both sitting, I on my knees, and him on his rear as one foot was placed down for support with his hand behind him, and his other leg tucked under the other, but he didn't let go of my hand… and for a strange and utterly absurd reason, I didn't want him to.

"It was 1936 when we first arrived in the Washington area. At the time, the family had just been me, Carlisle, Esme, Emmett and Rosalie. We had lived a few hours south of Forks in a town called Hoquiam and decided to go on a hunting trip together as a family. But the timing had taken us by surprise when we discovered lands inhabited by large wolves. These wolves didn't shift into their human forms and had been surprised that I was responding to their thoughts. At first, I didn't expect them to be shifters, but just abnormally large wolves, then when I heard their minds and found myself involuntarily replying to them, we had realized what was before us.

"They had been at first uninterested to hear what we had to say, but when they assessed the situation, realizing that the three of them had been outnumbered by the five of us, they agreed to listen. It helped when Carlisle spoke for us, making a clear distinction that we had no intention to harm. They grew more curious of us, seeing the difference between our eye color and those of the nomads they would normally come across."

Edward paused when saw the question in my eyes. His teeth glistened under the light of the moon as he smiled, realizing he hadn't made an explanation to it before.

"Nomads are vampires who travel alone or at the most, in threes. My family is known for our large numbers considering it is quite unusual for a group of our size to maintain a relationship or companionship for so long. Vampires can be very territorial when it comes to hunting patterns, and in our state of frenzy, we involuntarily will attack a vampire nearby if we suspect them to be a threat of interrupting our hunt. And for the other question on your mind, my family's eyes are an unusual shade when compared to other nomads. Theirs are red because of their consumption of human blood, while our eyes are gold because of our alternative diet."

"That's how you fit in with the humans…" I inquired my explanation. "I mean because your eyes aren't red."

"That, and because of our control allows us to be around them with little casualties."

"Casualties…" I muttered.

Edward nodded, and continued. "When they saw our eyes, it had been their original hesitation to not charge an attack. Carlisle informed the pack about our animal diet. At first, they had rendered sick to the idea of our drinking habits, not because of our choosing, but at the thought of surviving on blood was arbitrary, though still they were interested in our restraint to stay away from human blood. Then a treaty was offered between us and the pack. It has very much to do with yours. We were not to injure any humans: either by hunting them for food or by transforming them into what we are because the Quileutes viewed that this act was equal to an act of murder. Along with those demands of the treaty, we could never trespass on Quileute land. With no argument, Carlisle agreed to the terms, and proposed another by asking for a concept of mutual secrecy. They would not be allowed to tell anyone the true nature of the Cullens, and vice versa."

"But I still don't understand," I broke through the story again, but I assumed it had ended. "What does this have to do with Jacob?"

"The wolves were composed of three people from the Quileute tribe with names you would recognize. Levi Uley, Quil Ateara II, and lastly, but as the alpha of the pack, Ephriam Black."

His eyes glimmered over to mine, looking to see if I had understood, which I had. Levi Uley would have been the possible great grandfather to Sam Uley, the second to my friend Quil, and the third, with the name most important to me, Jacob Ephriam Black.

"Jacob's great-grandfather," I whispered.

Edward nodded.

"But if Jacob's great- grandfather was an alpha to the pack, then why are Sam and Jared the only wolves, and why is Sam the alpha to it?"

"Sam Uley hasn't made an appearance to give that explanation in his thoughts, but I assumed that it has to do with Jacob's adolescent age."

I pondered the thought and wondered if I should ask Jake about them. Maybe leave out the mention of wolves along with his rightful heir to the pack but ask more about Jared and Sam as people. With their appearance, they looked to be in their early to mid-twenties, but I wasn't sure how much that had to do with being what they were.

"But why would Jacob phase? Why now or any time soon?"

Edwards' face fell grim, staring at his reflection in the whites of my eyes.

"Because of our existence. At first when we moved back to Forks, we thought their gene line had ended considering their ancestors no longer were around, and we believed no new phases commenced among the tribe. The wolves didn't make themselves known, not until you showed up and had found yourself between them." He looked down, rubbing the pad of his thumb across the top of my hand. "My family's existence is why they exist. We along with other vampires are why they phase into wolves. We are what the wolves have to protect the tribe from."

So, if Jacob did hold this gene, then the change would be inevitable and against his will. I couldn't imagine the thought, the idea seeing Jacob's body contort into positions that were anatomically impossible, watching fur grow from his skin and his face to form a snout with large teeth that stared down at me. I felt pity for my best friend. I was uncertain how the life of a wolf was for Sam and Jared, but I couldn't believe they would have chosen it if they had the choice. My friend would one day hate me, but hopefully I could take the rejection if I left before that occurred. But if the Cullens knew this, why had they not left?

"Then why does your family stay? Why not just leave so no new phases occur?"

"Carlisle asked Sam Uley if that was a possibility, that if we leave now instead of later, if we would no longer affect the tribe… but we had come to an agreement."

I thought about his words as he paused. Another agreement between the Cullens and the wolves that would have been added to the original treaty. Another outlier that had grown into the cause.

"Me. Your family had agreed to watch over me." Which meant Jacob would phase sooner than not… because of me.

Edward nodded. "It wasn't as one-sided of an agreement that the wolves had made it seem when you made an appearance that night. While we had originally offered, they also had their concerns that if we were to leave, that you wouldn't come with us. That Charlie was holding you here, along with your ties to living a normal life with him."

"They could've just told me to leave. They had the numbers against me."

"Billy Black wouldn't allow them to." His eyes fell back towards the ground, looking down at our entwined fingers. "He cares very much for your father, and with that, he cares much for you, as well. Though, he does assume that when it comes time, that you will leave on your own to carry out your normal life as a growing adult. Move away to school one day and leave Forks behind considering that you'd have to hide your non-aging existence from him and those who live here. And with that, the wolves were reluctantly content. Besides," he smirked. "I don't think you would have left town without a fight."

"You think I could take them on?" I chuckled, holding a smug grin.

"Not a doubt in my mind."

His featured half smile that I had found myself enamored with held onto the edges of his lips as he stared downwards at me, but in a way, it had looked serious. I found myself no longer able to hold back the blush that was blazing across my face, warming the edges of my ears as I stared back up at him. My lips parted to speak, but no words escaped. I had even found my body inching closer to his, holding my fingers still in between his.

But I had to speak. I had to hold myself away from his gaze. It was almost intoxicating what that lopsided grin was doing to me; the way his eyes held my own, knowing myself having to be very careful to not stare into the dark mounds of his pupils, but it was still a moment.

"So, when I leave," my voice was soft. "Your family will leave, as well? To never come back to Forks?"

Edward nodded. "It would be best for us not to return if we are the cause for the shift along with the hope that other nomads don't cross the area or pose a threat and stay for too long."

"Does that happen often?" I blinked at him, breaking the trance. "Nomads coming into the area?"

"Not often, no. Friends of Jasper have visited from time to time, but they don't share the same diet as we do, so they don't stay."

I couldn't form a response to that, and Edward had seemed to notice that, but I also didn't believe he would think much of it considering I, as well, am not following a human-friendly diet. Though, it didn't stop me from worrying about Charlie and my friends, along with the others that found friendship with my father in Forks. The possibility of how close they must have come to meeting a vampire whose diet relied on their existence. And then the thought came to how close those humans were to me.

"They know not to hunt in the area," he responded to my thoughts as if he knew what they were saying. "As long as we are in Forks, Bella, no one will harm Charlie. I assure you of that."

But I shook my head, perhaps he didn't fully understand my heavy heartened stare.

"I know I'm not perfect, Edward." I looked down, breaking our eye contact completely from one another. "You don't need to pretend that Jasper's friends or other vampires are the only threat to Forks."

"My family is also a threat."

"You know that's not what I mean." Slowly, I pulled my fingers from his, gently placing them onto my lap. I didn't dare looked up at his face to see what my action did to it. "I still haven't finished telling you about Teddy."

"Teddy?" He asked.

"Mr. Halliday," I clarified. "You keep distracting me with your fabulous life, Edward," I breathed a sarcastic reply.

"Fabulous isn't the word I would have used to call it," he muttered, grudgingly.

"I met Teddy here at this park." I looked away, staring across the field towards the park bench near the pond. "He was a funny man who loved his wife dearly, and if I must say, a sixty-four-year marriage is a hard one to find without love." I chuckled lightly and continued. "But for them… their years could have grown longer. His wife had succumbed to brain cancer, and she made the decision to opt out of any medical decision to treat it. After a while, she had fallen into hallucinations, seeing things that weren't there sometimes, except for once. Once when even he hadn't believed to be seeing what she had seen."

I stared up at Edward, checking to see if he was following my story, but his eyes held still, his lips didn't move into any sort of reaction that he understood where I was going with.

"She awoke him violently, telling him that there was a beautiful woman in the room with eyes that appeared to be the same as my own. Eyes that would be unmistakable if you were to see them again. The woman promised to take her pain away. To take her away from him. But Lucille wasn't scared, not in the slightest, nor was Mr. Halliday because his wife fell to sleep peacefully… forever."

"She was a succubus." Edwards's reply was low with recognition.

I nodded.

"And you did the same for Mr. Halliday." He confirmed.

I nodded again. "He thought I was some Angel that was taking him home to his wife, as if I could possibly be one." I laughed with self-chastise. "But I couldn't refuse his request. I think I almost did, almost thought to walk away, but I didn't because of my own selfish reasons."

"I can't say I disagree with him." Edward's breath draped over my skin, and his eyes darkened more around the edges as he peered down at me. His reply had been gracious, almost filled with warmth and adoration. "And it wasn't a selfish act. You grew fond of him, and you allowed him to reconnect with his wife."

"I was selfish because I was hungry, Edward." I gently pushed his hand away, shaking my head and clenching my eyes closed till I could escape the direction of my face away from his, looking for another orientation that wasn't towards his stare. "It was the very same reason I decided to apply for the nursing home. I thought maybe if I took the lives of those who were ready to leave, that it would be easier for me to accept what I am. Easier to go through with it, but in the end, I knew the act was only a morbid one. Though, I would have still gone through with it if it weren't for the treaty."

"Why are you telling me this, Bella?"

"Because you have to know how awful I am. How a life as a Grim Reaper would be fitting for someone like me." I looked back up at the young vampire under my lashes, feeling my eyes burning as I stared back at his. Acknowledging the wetness that was set to glaze over. "You need to know that I am not someone for you to take care of. I wasn't meant to be taken care of and you and your family never should have proposed such a silly scheme just for my own safety. I am meant to be alone…"

His eyebrows pulled together again, staring down at me with confusion.

"Do you honestly believe you deserve to be alone?"

"You have your family, Edward. You have people who have been with you for such a long time. You have a mother figure who seems to be so caring, so doting, and you will have that forever. For eternity. But one day my family will be gone, and I will have only myself to blame because I deserve it for what I had done over the past months of this life."

"You think you deserve to be alone because of what you have done?" His voice was coarse, lacing with questions and a tone I could have mistaken for disbelief. "Bella, you didn't deserve what happened to you. You didn't deserve to be forced into this life. You cannot blame or push critical connotations on yourself for doing what you have to do to survive."

He was right, I had to become a murderer to survive. To survive a life that I was meant to live for what is now an eternity. One day I will lose Charlie and Renee, including Phil who I had warmed to for making my mother blissfully happy. But they will be gone, just like a child must go through at some point of their life. Losing their parents, losing their friends, but they had another bestowment. One that would let them leave this world in time and get past that pain. A human life wasn't one meant for eternity. Whether death came for them by their own hand, another's and in another case, naturally. But I wasn't granted the same. I could not die, nor did I follow the circle of life. I would live forever, alone because my kind was not meant for a life with companionship. My life was forced into an eternity of solitude for all of existence.

I wasn't sure how Abigail had been able to cope with this, and maybe her addition of making her life into a movie had helped her, but I wondered if one day when her mother and her sister were gone if the feeling of being alone would sink it. She was probably too distracted to think of that now, but I'm sure the thought had come to mind seeing her mother lying in the bed at a nursing home. But what I was sure of, was that maybe this had been a curse of what a Succubus was. That with their sinful sexual nature and a means of murder, that the curse bestowed upon them was to be alone.

"You don't understand," I replied. "It's not only that, Edward. What I said was true, that you have a family who loves you, but also that you are adept to have one. What I am —" My lips parted. "My kind can't have what your family has. My creator left me and for a long time I didn't understand why she had done that, but I understand now. She had to."

"Why is that?"

"Because we are monsters," I snorted, wiping my sleeve over my eyes. "According to what we are, if we were to stay near each other for far too long, one would eventually die. That would have been me because I was weaker than her."

His eyes fell again forming a stilled silence between us, processing the words that I spoke and the meaning of them. I knew he wouldn't completely understand them because I hadn't explained thoroughly, but what I gave him should have been enough to follow.

"She left to keep you safe," he confirmed softly breaking the quell, and with what I thought was spontaneous, he placed his cool touch underneath my chin, gently lifting it to look back at him once again. The words he spoke next came with force and an unbreakable reassurance. "But you're not weak, Bella."

His darkened eyes stared down into mine and once again, I was lost in the chasm. My breath caught in my throat, following with the excited but heavy thrumming of my heart as I was hearing the words leaving his lips. Feeling his cool hard finger that was placed so delicately under my face, I found myself involuntarily leaning into his touch where his hand then cradled the side of it. What had he said? His words came with such confidence that only forced shock through me. I didn't understand how he could have complied with himself to still sit here next to me on the pine straw floor. I didn't understand how he had not decided to run when he heard of my reasoning to find a job at the nursing home. Knowing I very well would have gone through with it if it weren't for the treaty. I didn't understand how he could still stay by my side, knowing that my existence with another of the same kind would eventually kill the other. Such a monstrous act. But he didn't believe me to be weak, and he had meant that.

Could I accept what he had spoken? Were the words that escaped his lips meant to be truthful in his own thoughts? He didn't see me as a monster for an unexplainable reason. Then there it was… it was deepening. Deepening so much further that I knew it could that the burning would never show itself again with him by my side. I couldn't completely state what this connection that was forming between the two of us was. How overwhelming it was as it began overcoming my senses and clouding my mind. I didn't understand why he was affecting me so much in ways that had made my heart rate quicken just by the slight caress from him. The way my insides clenched with each breath he took that graced my lips. It was incomprehensible.

But as I stared deeper into his darkened amber eyes, imagining a life that would come by staying in his grasp underneath his soft but ample touch, I knew it could never be. I was sworn to live alone, and not because of my past and what I have done. Not because I was destined to not have the company of another succubus at my side the way that his family were able to live. No. It was not because of that. I was destined to be alone because I knew that being with Edward only meant death. One kiss would be the eradication of him if I were to lose control, and I knew that once the subconscious monster got ahold of the unfathomable energy that radiates from his breath, that it wouldn't be able to stop. I wouldn't be able to stop.

But still, I held my gaze, and gasped in his touch. And then he spoke words. Words that I don't think I could have broken the silence with, or any at all.

"And I am not what you are. You don't have to be alone."

-o-

Charlie had been anxious to see me when I arrived home, but still I had expected him to have been off to bed by the time I came. He was sitting down on the couch in front of the television, flicking through the channels on the screen, probably annoyed that his usual sports broadcast had come to an end. When I walked through the door and entered the living room, his face turned to the side to look at me, but he only looked relieved to see I had gotten home safe.

"Glad you got home safe, Bells. But you could have let your old man know it would've been so late."

"You're right, I'm sorry." I could have argued that it had only been ten-thirty, but it had been a school night and I needed to go upstairs to work on my Macbeth assignment that was due next week. I had already gotten through the first two acts of the play, and desperately needed to start working on the third soon.

Charlie clicked the power on the remote, turning the television off on it. He groaned as he pushed himself off the couch and in his successful attempt, he leaned back, placing his hands on his lower back to stretch out. I heard a few cracks ripple from his spine, and Charlie let out a sound of relief. He cracked his neck next and walked out from the front of the couch to follow where I was. He placed his hands on his hips as if he was waiting on me to say something.

"Well?" he asked.

"Well, what?" I questioned.

"What happened to the truck?"
Oh, the truck. Alleviation swept over me that he did not ask who the friend had been who had picked me up from work and drove me home, nor did he ask where I had been gone over the past hour and a half.

"The engine went out when I pushed it more than it could handle," I said in an almost whisper, faintly ashamed of it.

"You went over fifty?"

"I was being stupid, I know." I murmured.

Charlie didn't go further with the reply I had given. He only huffed, bristling the hairs on his mustache as he stared at me, his hands still holding onto his hips, until he moved them to cross against his chest.

"Where is the truck now?"

"A tow truck came to pick it up from the side of the road."

He thought for a moment. "Maybe we can go pick it up soon, then. I can give Billy a call…" He sighed, glancing away. "And ask him about what we can do to get it started again."

"No. It'll cost more to fix than it's worth," I assured.

His eyebrow raised at me, and his lips formed a shallow frown. But he nodded in agreement.

"Thought so. Alright, well…" he moved his hand to scratch the back of his neck, blowing out a breath full of air through his slacked mouth. "I can take you to school in the morning if you need me to. You'll just have to be there a little earlier than usual."

"Yeah, that'll be great, dad. Thanks."

I told him goodnight, heading out from the living room to the front staircase, but before I could make my ascend, Charlie called out again.

"Bells? Just let me know if you want to go look at some cars. I'm sure we can figure something out."

I gave him an affiliated smile and turned back to the staircase. My room had been how I had left it, including the Macbeth paperback book that was still laid open on my bed. Sighing at it, I turned to head into the bathroom instead to take my shower and handle my normal affiliations of getting dressed for bed. I finished some other assignments needed such as my math homework I had gotten halfway through, along with some light reading of the first part of the third act. There hadn't been much work I needed to do tonight, and with that, I was comfortable to turn in early. Maybe I could fall peacefully asleep and last for the rest of the night until the morning without finding a full resting sleep after only three hours.

But it was that damned smile and that cool touch that kept me up most of the hours of that night.

-o-

The dreams didn't escape me, even if I had managed to get in the full three hours. This dream wasn't ordinary as they normally had been. The dreams that I would have of my life in Phoenix before my change. The dreams I would have of cooking dinner for my mom and Phil along with others of myself running through the desert at night. No, this dream had been entirely different.

The scene before me had been something ordinary, almost magical as the aesthetics of the Fork's woods offered. The spruce trees and pines towered over me, but the day had come to a sunset. And then there had been Edward walking through them, but it looked as if he didn't notice me. I called out to him, but he was staring towards a far corner somewhere else. Somewhere my eyes couldn't reach. Then, there was the low growl that I had been well acquainted with now, but a new growl that was different from the rest. It was croaked, but the vibrations rumbled deeply through me and over my skin. I still couldn't see the figure, but it was clear that Edward had no problem identifying the image. He stepped back, his eyes widened in fear, and his jaw slackened. His backwards pacing was heading towards me as he held one arm out to the side. Was Edward protecting me from the looming threat that was coming forward?

There it was, pushing past the brambles between the trees and the tall ferns that covered the image, but its black nose was what I had made note of first, and under it… were teeth that bared in my direction. As its jaws opened, its long pink tongue sliced across the front of the teeth and returned behind the caged row. Its full face appeared now, with reddish brown scraggly fur breaking through the leaves of the ferns. It's dark eyes that were nearly black hardened on me, looking past Edward's arm that held a protective stance. Its ears were turned back as it edged closer, the growling and snarling never ceasing.

As it neared, I could see my reflection through its hardened eyes that held anger, hatred, malice for me, but the calculating eyes looked intelligent, almost human and close to someone I would recognize. I thought of Jacob Black.

"Jacob!" I squeaked in agony, staring at this large wolf that towered over both Edward and I, but Edward didn't flinch, instead a low rumble echoed through his throat as he was growling back at the large wolf in front of us.

"Bella, stand back," Edward commanded. "It's not safe."

"He won't hurt me," I assured him, though I wasn't all too sure that was the correct statement to make.

Edward growled again. "You don't know what he's thinking right now. His anger is uncontrollable."

"I said he wouldn't hurt me!" But with those words, I was wrong. The wolf lunged over Edward's extended arm, and the last sight in my dream had been his widened jaw and large canines coming down towards me.

Startled, I woke up, hearing my own scream leaping out of my throat as I sat up in my bed. I breathed heavily, my hand clasped against my chest, heaving for a breath of air that I fought to keep into my lungs. It was only a dream; I repeated the mantra in my head. I felt almost dizzy from the fast awakening but felt the small strands of my still dampened hair from the shower before, pressed tightly against my perspired forehead. It was just a dream… but why had it seemed so real?

I looked over at the alarm clock on the table next to me, seeing the time stamped at six-fifteen. I had a little over an hour before school would start but knowing that Charlie was taking me to school today in his cruiser, I had about only twenty minutes to get ready.

Rubbing my hands over my face, slapping life into them, I felt overwhelmingly drained as if life had been sucked out of me. I painted more, trying to force air into my lungs, but it was the need to feed that seared my throat. I felt weakened. My body ached in pain as I turned to my side on the bed, I almost had even winced. I never had felt this way before, not even in those three months that I had starved myself. But that wasn't the only thing that had caught my attention this morning.

I oddly heard low voices downstairs that my groggy mind couldn't quite pick up correctly. I knew the grumbled low one had been Charlie's… but no… no, no. Quickly I pushed through the aches and the weakness, tearing the covers off my body and jumped out of the bed in a blinding move. With the contacts being pushed into my eyes while I was swinging the door open too fast, I descended the stairs in only three quick steps. At the bottom of the landing, I followed myself to the kitchen, hearing a chair move against the linoleum floor. But no, this had to be a dream. Because why would…

"What is he doing here?" I asked, staring between Charlie who was standing up, leaned against the kitchen counter, and Edward who had stood next to the opened chair at the table.

"Says he's your ride to school today," Charlie yawned, lifting his coffee mug to his lips to take a sip.

"He is?" I asked with questioning sarcasm with raised eyebrows towards him, but Edward just stared back at me. His eyes were hardening on my figure. Then, with a blush that could have scorched the remainder of the house down, I realized I hadn't grabbed my robe and been indecently exposed in my nightwear that consisted of a only tank top and fairly short sweat shorts.

Quickly, I covered my arms over myself, hiding anything that was not meant for the male gaze. Edward Cullen was staring at me. Was he as embarrassed as I had been? But without a second thought, his eyes darted away from me.

"Um," I cleared my throat. "Dad, this is Edward Cullen."

"Yes. The kid that saved you from that Van." Charlie cleared his throat. "I remember him. He seems to keep turning up." Charlie looked back over at Edward, then raised a questioning eyebrow at me. "I didn't realize you two made yourself so..."

"We're not," I quickly interrupted him.

"After what had happened with her truck, I saw her pulled over on the side of the road. I suggested as well that I would give her a ride home, along with a ride to school this morning, which she had accepted."

"Bells? Is that correct?"

No. Not exactly like that. No.

"Yes," I said through gritted teeth. "I must have forgotten to mention that when you offered last night, dad."

"Hmm." Charlie nodded, walking over to the kitchen sink, sipping the last remaining liquids from the mug and placed it inside. "Alright."

Charlie took a few strides, walking over to Edward with an extended hand that Edward had reciprocated with a handshake. Charlie flinched a fraction when their hands met. I stiffened at his reaction, knowing that he had just acknowledged the coldness of his skin. But he didn't make a comment on it.

"I have to get to work. And Bella?" He dropped his hand from Edward's, looking back at me. "No boys upstairs in your room. Got that?"

"Understood."

Charlie huffed, looking back over between the two of us. His eyes narrowed for a second too long, but without pursuing an argument over the scene in front of him he glanced only at Edward with a nod.

"Have a good day at work, Chief Swan. I'll make sure to get Bella there in one piece."

"Told you to call me Charlie, kid." He patted Edward on the shoulder before walking away, but he hesitated again as his hand grazed it. I knew that Charlie had shook his hand only moments ago, but I don't think he had acknowledged his hardened body as much. Charlie shook his head, griping lowly with words that were incomprehensible to make out. "I expect her home right after school."

"Of course, Sir."

Charlie huffed another grumble through his lips, looking back and forth between us again before he had decided to leave the kitchen. I heard the ruffle of his tool belt and jacket leaving the hanger and the soft click of the lock replacing itself back into the strike plate. When I noted that the coast had been clear from lingering ears, I spoke.

"Why are you here?" I quipped

"You needed a ride."

"Charlie was going to take me to school today," I moved across the kitchen to grab a glass out of the pantry, placing it down. I moved instantaneously to the fridge, pulling out the jug of orange juice from it, and poured it into the glass before he could make his reply.

"Would you have preferred that?" He asked.

But I hesitated. Did I prefer to show up in a police cruiser? With my early timing that I would have shown, there wouldn't have been nearly as many wandering eyes to see me hopping out of it. But in a slow acknowledgement, I couldn't deny the shallow relief I seemed to be overcome with at the thought of Edward appearing in my kitchen to have taken over the duty.

"I'll wait down here while you get dressed. We won't be going to classes today."

That had stopped the contents of the glass from spilling between my lips. I turned quickly to stare at him, gawking almost.

"W — what? I can't just skip school. I have classes that I need to go to."

Edward thought for a moment before he replied. His lips hardened in a line, but his calculating features hastily dissolved.

"Okay, but you'll have to at least miss one." He replied. "They are blood typing today in biology and I'm sure you don't want a sample of yours in the wrong possession."

And with that reply, I understood the concern for why he was here. The thought came to mind for how Mr. Banner would have decided to arrange for the lab, and if it had anything to do with a small prick of the finger, I knew that it wouldn't have been able to break through my skin. That would have been something that I would have to explain to the teacher which I understood was something I could not offer an explanation for. Edward was right, it was needed to skip that class today, but I also knew that he had his own reasons for the ditch.

Blood.

Without a confirmation to his offer, I hastily left the kitchen, exiting my way to the stairs, ascending them quickly to the bathroom. I hesitated briefly as I stared down at the bowl chamber of the toilet. No. He would hear that. I could hold it in until I got to school. I nodded at myself in the mirror in front of me and proceeded with my normal actions of getting ready. Brushing my teeth and pulling the weighted brush through the knotted hair that had tangled in my sleep, I found myself in deep thought from last night's event, quickly losing track of time.

As I assessed my appearance more in the lighted bathroom, I could see the deep circles underneath my eyes. The circles that weren't so hardened before I had left for work, but now were apparent from my visit with Abigail. Even if I could last a little longer without feeding, I knew that my appearance could go for an overtired one, or even stricken sickness.

Looking away from the mirror, I made it back to my bedroom, pulling the drawers of my chest open to grab my long-sleeved knit shirt along with a pair of dark washed jeans. Trying to not acknowledge the aches in my body, or the burn that seared my throat, there had been only thirty minutes that had passed since I had been getting ready, but I frantically dressed myself and grabbed my plain black jacket from the hanger in my closet. Making my quick descent down the stairs again I found myself becoming shy as I began pushing my hair back behind my ears, making my way back into the kitchen. But what I found there wasn't necessarily what I had expected. Edward had been standing at the stove with a pan on top of the burner with two sizzling over easy eggs that he was pushing around.

He leaned to his left, grabbing the two pieces of toast from the toaster, placing them down onto the plate next to the stove, and grabbed ahold of the pan to slide the eggs onto the empty space. Had I not noticed the smell earlier that he had been cooking? It was possible that I hadn't even thought to think much of it, but why was he putting in the effort to cook?

"Eat," he spoke aloud, placing the warm plate down onto the kitchen table. Near my idling stance, he grabbed the nearest chair, pulling it out for me. I decided not to offend his polite gesture and took my seat at the table but couldn't keep my face from staring at him with awe.

"You made me breakfast?"

"You need to eat," he pushed, but paused for a moment as he looked back at me with inspection before taking his own seat across from me. "It does help, doesn't it?"

But without a reply, I only swallowed, feeling a blush of embarrassment as he continued to assess me. I nodded, grabbing the fork near the plate, and proceeded to break the film over the yolk of the egg, planning to dip the toast into it. I slowly ate as he sat there at the table with his arms crossed onto it.

"Why do you keep looking at me like that?" I asked, swallowing the last bite of the first piece of toast.

"I've never spent much time around anyone who eats food."

"You sit in the cafeteria every day at lunch."

"But I do not insert myself to spend time with them." He picked up the second toast from the plate before I could respond and dipped it quickly into the oozing yolk and lifted it to my mouth. "Now eat, or we're going to be late."

Staring through the windows of the Volvo, the morning was held in darkness and smokey fog from the rain that must have come last night during my sleep. That wouldn't have been surprising considering it was Forks. But the Volvo had been comfortably warm when Edward had turned the heat on. It wasn't needed. I didn't become frozen by the cold anymore, but still. It was comfortable. Leaning my head against the window, I continued to gaze out of it. Not being able to escape my thoughts that Edward had been sitting beside me, driving fast over the slickened road.

"How did you sleep?" He asked. "I heard you scream this morning."

Oh right. I blushed embarrassingly. I had almost forgotten that Edward had been in my house when I had woken up. And with that enhanced hearing that we both possess, he of course had heard me waking up from the complex nightmare.

"It was nothing. Just a bad dream."

"You sounded unsettled."

"Really, I slept fine." I assured him. "It was just a silly nightmare."

"Nightmares can stem from our own fears," he said cryptically. "What are your fears, Bella?"

The million-dollar question.

"Jacob…" I muttered. Looking into his direction, I saw the edges of his lips tighten into a frown, including the deepened 'v' between his eyebrows. "I'm worried for him."

"He's still young," Edward said, but his voice was cold.

But that didn't comfort me anymore than it had before when he mentioned that it was possible the more adolescent, they were, the lower the chance. I couldn't get the image out of my mind of the large reddish-brown wolf snapping its canines towards me. That could be Jacob one day. But the thoughts didn't distract me for long.

What had now distracted me was the circle of teenage boys blocking Edward's way into his parking spot. They were crowding something together, and their eyes did not look our way, or seemed to have noticed the Volvo waiting patiently for them to move. Investigating my eyes in their direction, trying to peek through their stance, I noticed what they had been surrounding as they finally broke their circle to allow Edward to pull forward. My passenger door had quickly opened before me, and I didn't have the mindset to argue with him for acting with chivalry. No, I was distracted by the red convertible next to us.

"Ostentatious," Edward muttered.

"Whose car is that?"

"Rosalie's. She drove the others to school today."

I could see why the boys' eyes were filled with lust with what was in front of them. The paint glistened even though the sun wasn't shining down on it.

"What kind of car is it?" I asked, looking up at Edward.

"An M3"

Rolling my eyes at him, I glanced back at the car. "Like I would know what that means."

"It's a BMW," he snorted, grabbing my backpack for me that I had forgetfully left in the back seat. He lifted it over his shoulder, but I didn't protest this time. If no one was staring in our direction, I didn't care to mind.

"If she has an M3," I mocked with humor. "Why does she ride with you?"

"Like I said, it's ostentatious. We try to blend in."

"Well between the seven of you, and the one of me, I don't think your family's attempts are successful." I laughed and shook my head.

But still, the car couldn't distract everyone from the display that walked into the building. No. Eyes had been on the one that was standing in front of the closed double doors. But, before I could assess their curious questions that only formed in their gaping stares, I had been attacked with the burning sentiment in my throat that caused my knees to weaken underneath me. Energies had collided together in the closed and suffocating building. It was almost as I could see the dancing auras of them as each one bounced against the walls and aimed towards my tongue.

My body stiffened, and I think I felt a cool hand grip tightly around my arm. I looked up through my lashes, seeing Edward to my right. His face held still with no expression as he stared down at me, but I knew that he knew. He knew my throat was on fire. Before I could figure out what I was doing, I pressed my face deep into his cotton long sleeved shirt. Pushing my nose into the fabric of it and breathing in the sweet lilac and sunshine scent of his. I had noted that the overly decadent honey scent of his energy wasn't apparent anymore, it was just lilacs and sunshine that had calmed the fire that seared the tissues of my throat.

I relaxed, leaning myself into him. His other arm wrapped around me, almost as if he had meant to rescue me from falling to the ground, but I didn't care. His scent was my only saving grace.

"Bella?" I heard a shout from one of the multiple peers that were staring at me. What had been their problem? For me, I couldn't seem to find one. "Get your hands off of her, Cullen!"

"I don't think I will, Newton." I heard a growl escape Edward's throat as his grip tightened. His cool hand cupped the side of my head, pressing it further into his chest. "I should take her to see the nurse. I think she's gone faint."

Faint? I hadn't fainted. Not in the slightest. I was in bliss, really, if that's what you could call what this most relaxed feeling I was experiencing was.

"I can take her," Mike said.

"No," I mumbled into his chest. His other arm enveloped further around me, and I could feel my body being scooped up into his arms, as easily as if I weighed ten pounds instead of a hundred and ten. His hand never left the side of my head as it held it close into his cool chest that was covered by the cotton fabric. How I hated that the fabric was in the way of the full force of the lilac and sunshine.

The fogged air had surrounded the both of us as he briskly walked through the front doors again, and rushed down the stairs, but I didn't sway even the slightest in his arms. At first, I had expected him to take a left turn to take me across the campus and around the edge of the cafeteria towards the nurse's office, but instead, I had been placed down into the leather seats of the Volvo with the door closed behind me. I blinked when I realized the scent of him had gone, the scent that held me in bliss from the scorching fire.

"When was the last time you fed?" Edward's question was not rhetorical. It was a question that demanded an answer. I could almost feel the shards of ice from his voice directed towards me.

But I couldn't form the thought or words as I stared at the darkened shade of his irises. Last night they were darkened amber, but now, I could tell they had almost blackened into onyx. Not as quite as they had been the first day, I had met him in Biology, but it was close.

Edward pushed his keys into the ignition, not looking behind him as he sped in reverse, pulling quickly out of the parking lot and onto the road. I didn't see the direction to where we were going as my eyes still only locked onto him, seeing his jaw tighten, and his eyes hardened on the path in front of us. I heard car horns honking, but their sound dissipated behind the same way a train's whistle would grow quiet as it rushed further away.

Breaking my trance, I searched for where the sound of the car horn had come from. Far behind us at an intersection, the car was stopped in the middle of it. I could see that the light had been red and came to realize that Edward had run through it.

"Where are we going?" I asked, looking around at the street signs that flew past us.

Edward didn't reply, only his knuckles tightened convulsively on the wheel as his face held rigid.

"Edward!" I shouted at him.

Piercing the silence between us, his phone in the cupholder of the car had begun ringing, but Edward quickly grabbed onto it, exiling the sound as he clicked the end button with force that I thought would have caused it to crumble into pieces.

"Aren't you going to answer that?"

"It's not important." His voice was hard, sending shivers down my spine that I didn't know were there.

"Was it Alice?" I whispered.

"Yes."

"Did she see something?"

"Not likely," he said through gritted teeth.

"Then why is she calling?"

"The very same reason."

"Are you going to tell me where we are going?" I asked now with annoyance in my tone. Street signs continued to pass quickly by us as the Volvo lurched forward, increasing speed.

"Out of town."

Out of town? No, he couldn't be. He couldn't be doing this. I gaped at him; my eyes widened with shock as I watched his stare harden further than I thought was possible in front of us.

"Edward, no!" I shouted at him. "I — I can't let you do this," I stuttered. "Just let me out of the car, I'll go by myself."

"And increase the chance of you turning around to find the nearest hunt?" His voice let out an incredulous laugh. "You're starving, Bella, and you can't afford the risk."

I flinched back from the tone in his voice.

"You mean your family can't afford the risk." My temper flared now, and I geared defiantly at him. "You're worried I'm going to screw up and put you and your family on death row."

He paused, and for a moment his stunning face was unexpectedly vulnerable.

"Is it really unbelievable that I worry for you?" His voice came across hard, but also frantic distress. "Have I not shown the severity of my care for you and your well-being?"

I gasped lightly at his words, but with the air leaving my lungs, I had diligently inhaled a deep breath. Had he shown that he had cared for me? Had he made it clear that he had been looking out for my well-being? I thought of the small moments that he had in the classroom and the times he would hold his breath for me so that is energy wouldn't affect me, so.

Other long moments had awakened during my less desirable hour where I had been laying down on the cold wet asphalt, wrapped in his arms as he held me, with tears streaming down my face. His cool hand so gently had wiped away the wetness that trickled down my cheeks as I held my face barren against him in the truck.

There were words he had spoken before. Words at the time that I didn't understand his meaning before he would alter the subject all together.

The night he had shown up outside of my work in attempts to keep the wolves at bay from where he had not too long ago asked for me to join his family in the treaty of the wolves. To keep me safe. To keep me fed. Other moments had been soft, and unreadable at the times, including when faced with the two wolves that lined up in front of us. He had mirrored the way the other members of their family had held a protective front for their wives. Wives…

There had been more, more that had felt unbearable to re-live in my mind. And then as of last night… pleading questionably for me to not fret for what I had done. For me to not blame myself for the actions I had taken to survive. There was no disgust behind a mask I had been able to come to realize he never was wearing. He didn't want me to be alone.

"Edward…" I whispered.

He exhaled sharply, closing his eyes, and pinching the bridge of his nose with his thumb and forefinger. "I'm taking you to Seattle."

-o-

"Why did we come here?" I asked, looking around the city in front of us, staring up at the tall buildings that skyscape above.

There had been many people walking along the sidewalks of the streets near the building. Men sporting their best business suits as they held their coffee and spoke on the phone. Women were dressed neatly, chatting with possible colleagues of theirs as they walked inside of one of the many towering buildings. All in all, the streets were flooded with all types of crowds and taxis. Luckily, the sky still held the crisp fog that saturated the tissue in my throat, and the energies expelling all around us dissipated into the air. My body still ached and felt weakened but being outdoors helped control my drive.

"Crimes are less likely to become noticed in high populated areas," he replied.

Edward's eyes fell into slits as he scanned the streets and the people around us. What had he been looking for? Or, more likely, what had he been hearing in his mind?

"Come." Placing his hand onto the middle of my back, he began guiding me forward on his pursuit for something unknown.

"Where are we going?" I asked, very easily keeping up with his fast pace by my side.

"We are looking for someone."

"Who?"

Edward's eyes glanced around, hurrying me behind a crowd of people on the street, but also keeping our distance away from them, as well. They narrowed into the defining slits once again, looking into a specific direction. He huffed out in annoyance when his eyes trailed up a large building across the intersection. They were still onto one of the higher floors, but they didn't meet the very top of them. He paused, skimming his tongue across his lips in thought, but his arm that held so tenderly around my waist now didn't let go.

"There's someone on the twenty-first floor that we plan to go meet."

"Plan to meet?" I questioned. "I hardly believe this is the time to be handling business affairs."

His eyes darted down towards me, holding me still against him in the crowded streets. I didn't realize that I now had my nose pressed against his chest once again, breathing in the scents of him as people nudged past us on the sidewalk. He was waiting for me to understand the insinuation. No. This wasn't a business affair he had planned for this certain someone. This was our target.

"What about the wolves?" I asked a muffled question. "Doesn't this make you an accomplice if you help me kill this someone? You'll break the treaty." I reminded him.

"You said so yourself," he added. "Accomplice. The fine print doesn't mention such a word."

"The treaty is written on paper?" That document would have had to show some aging after all these years. I wondered if it was still eligible to read.

"Metaphorically, Bella," He smirked.

"I don't think the wolves would think that's a reliable way to misconstrued what they had meant with it."

"The wolves aren't here." He continued, looking away from me as his eyes trailed the tall glass building.

Instantaneously, he began dragging me next to him again, walking forward while making certain that we didn't walk into someone. He would jerk my body away when a person had not been paying the best attention to what was in front of them, leading themselves directly into my path. If that woman was smart, she would look up from the documents in her hand she made dutiful to keep her attention on.

"Well, who is that someone we are looking for?" I asked.

"A man."

"Do you know this man?" I inclined my neck in his direction to take another peek of him.

"Not exactly. I can just read his thoughts."

That perked me up. "What are his thoughts? What is he thinking?"

"You really want to know?" He looked down at me again with a questioning eyebrow.

"If I have to kill someone," I whispered. "And you have the means to know what kind of thoughts he is thinking, then yes, I would like to know what kind of man he is."

He thought for a moment before considering my more than understandable deliverance.

"He's been fooling around with his assistant."

Had I heard him correctly? Fooling around? That hardly seemed to be a harrowing crime.

"That's it?" I asked skeptically.

"What do you mean?"

"He deserves death just because he's been fooling around with his assistant? He's not a guy selling drugs to kids or some kind of deranged serial killer? You made this seem like a very strategic mission to find this specific man. I can't imagine that you could think some hanky panky is so deplorable."

The grin on the edges of his lips twitched until they grew deeper into a humorous smile. I heard him slightly chuckle under his breath as he stared down at me.

"Oh, is it my turn to amuse you?" I questioned, mirroring the smile on his lips.

"You thoroughly excel at it, yes," He nodded. "And to answer your statement about what seems to be horrifying to you, then no, he is not those two things. He could be, but he hasn't thought as much into those extracurricular activities. Along with your term of 'hanky panky,' he is married so he is acting in adultery." He raised his eyebrow at me once again with the same side smile of his. "But that is far from what I'm more focused on. The files he is staring at on his computer seem good enough of a reason to take care of him."

"What kind of files?"

"Deplorable ones."

I gulped at the thought. If he has made care to not go further into details about those said files, I'm sure I didn't need to ask. Walking further down the road, we had made it to the intersection and passed over the crosswalk to the other side of the street. I stared up at the tall glass building that appeared even bigger up close. It had to have been at least forty stories tall and the man we were looking for was on the twenty-first floor. I locked arms with Edward's other arm that hadn't been extended towards the handle of the door, opening it for us to walk in. Considering the climate outside, I expected to be met with a breath of warm air, but instead, it still held a chill. Warmer than the air outside, but still chilled.

There was a doorman at the front who nodded to the both of us. Looking in his direction, his eyes widened at me, and lips parted full. I smiled at him, leaning against Edward's arm and walked forward.

The first floor of the building was in a rush with people talking on their cellphones and others who were chatting in groups surrounding the elevator to the building. The kind woman at the front desk smiled at both of us but arched her eyebrow when she had taken an eager look at Edward's physique. I assumed she was ogling his appearance. I didn't smile at her. We waited together behind the crowd of people who were checking their watches in front of the elevator. It seemed no one else had been making their way through the front doors, so we kept our distance from the crowd. The elevator chimed when it reached the lobby floor, and abrupt paces of feet were eager to make it inside.

When I walked forward, Edward stopped me.

"Wait. We will catch the next one."

Oh right. A small elevator with multiple energies trapped in a space wouldn't have been the grandest idea for me.

I looked up at the numbers on the elevator. Some were stopping only a few floors above, and others still were climbing up nearing the middle portion of the building. It seemed we had waited for almost an eternity, and I couldn't help but pat my toes against the marbled flooring impatiently.

Taking another glance, I diverted my attention to him, seeing his jaw tightened. He was being impatient, as well, but it wasn't for the man that was on the twenty-first floor. I saw his eyes flicker over towards the doorman at the front entrance. Before I could look in his direction to see what had troubled Edward so much, he tightened his hold on my arm when the elevator chimed once again, signaling that it had made its arrival back down, and quickly pulled me in. Luckily, there had been no others that were waiting for the same elevator, so we had it to ourselves.

I breathed out in relief, looking around the small metal box that was coated in policed wood and steel that shined. There was a mirror behind us to make it seem that the elevator was much bigger than it was. I assumed for the concept of not wanting to upset someone with claustrophobia.

"I don't want you to watch," I said, looking up at him. "And I don't want you to be listening."

"Why can I not watch?" He asked.

"Because… you don't need to see someone die because of me."

"Ah, but his death that will only come because I am showing you where to find him. So, really, the blood would be on my hands."

I gawked at him. "There won't be any blood, Edward."

"I know. I'm speaking only metaphorical again."

"I still don't want you to watch. I don't want you to see how I'm going to be going through with this, especially not through his thoughts."

I felt his arm stiffen where my arm had been locked around it. I still held tightly against him, but my face had not been near his chest any longer. I strictly only breathed in the scent that was held into the room. The scents that had gone stale from the previous passengers, along with the pleasant one of his.

"I've seen it before."

"But I hadn't meant for you to see it before. You instead had been idling watching like a stalker last time."

"You believe I stalk you?" He asked incredulously.

"Do you not?"

But he didn't reply.

"If he works in this building, doesn't he hold importance to it? You said that areas with high population are less likely to notice a crime, but if this man is of importance, don't you think someone will take notice?"

"He's not entirely important, no."

"But he has an assistant," I reminded him.

"Even low-class scum can have an office assistant. He still answers to a boss who also answers to their boss, and so forth." He said cynically. "And with his age, there isn't a reason to investigate a homicide when it relates to a natural health related incident such as a heart attack."

Damned if he were right. I realized he had broken through my exterior of finding any flaw with his plan, but there hadn't been one.

"And his wife? Wouldn't she morn his death?"

"Not after she finds what was on his office computer files. And with what I'm seeing so far on his desk, there are no pictures of children that he possibly could have, so I can't believe they are close or that he has any, at all."

"Not every man keeps a picture of their children on their desk."

"That's correct. Only good men who miss their family when they go to work do."

The elevator chimed when we had reached the correct floor, and the metal doors opened in front of us. We were greeted to a front lobby that closed off the rest of the floor with a long wall that was opened on either side. Peeking over, I saw people sitting in cubicles on their computers, and others parading around the office, flipping through files in their desks. In that moment, I had to cease my lungs from inhaling any further. The air conditioning had been loud, swirling the contents of energies around in the room.

There was a woman at the front desk that was against the wall with a plate on her desk featuring her first and last name: Audrey Keller. She was staring down at her computer, but when she had heard the doors to the elevator open, she had looked up.

Sitting in her chair, she had still looked as though she would be tall. Her long hair had shined a deep brown and was pinned to the side. Her lips were full and painted a dark burgundy and her complexion of a warm bronze. Her attire had been a short and slim tight green dress, and I could see the silver belt that tightened around her torso to complete the look when she stood. She smiled warmly at the both of us when she had trained her eyes, but they had quickly moved over to glance at Edward. That had stopped her glances from landing on me again. I knew that Edward had been strikingly beautiful, but the dark circles of my eyes really couldn't have been that unflattering, could they?

"Welcome to Seattle Prestigious Magazine and Publishing. How may I help you?" She asked sweetly, still holding her dark eyes onto Edward. I even had found myself scowling at her as we walked forward to front desk.

"I am here to speak with Mr. Simmons, please." Edward's voice was kind, and the smile on his lips had been unmistakably hard to not notice.

"Oh!" She blushed, adjusting the fabric on her dress at her waist. "Do you have an appointment?"

"No," I could hear Edward's teeth grinding, but his smile still held. "I do not."

She formed a frown on the edges of her lips, but it didn't break the attractive complexion of her face. "I'm sorry to hear that, but I'm going to have to ask you to return when you have made one. Mr. Simmons is a very busy man."

"Not too busy at the moment," Edward murmured under his breath, but it was not audible for her to have heard. Edward glanced down into my direction, causing me to flush when it was unsurprising that I have been caught staring up at him. He was offering a knowing glance that at first, and I wasn't sure what it had been meant for.

Oh right.

I broke my eyes from his and looked forward at the woman who had been patiently waiting for our reply, or for us to leave. I let go of Edward's arm, still holding in the breath in my lungs that was burning to escape. Stepping forward to get near her, where only the large desk had been standing between us, I glanced up at the lengthy woman, forcing a smile on my face. She looked down at me, and her eyes instantaneously widened. Her lips parted along with her slackened jaw. I had her.

"Audrey," I spoke with clear authority in my voice, but also held innocence. "Buzz my friend and I into the office of Mr. Simmons, please."

And without another word, I saw her flick her finger onto a pad that was hidden behind the desk. A buzzing sound echoed in the far distance behind the wall where the employees were sitting at their desks answering phones. I looked at Edward, glancing at him to see if this was a logical idea to pass multiple people throughout an office, but he only nodded.

Though, before we could take our turn to walk past the desk and into the opening of the wall, Audrey had stopped in her tracks where she had her arm extended out towards me. Examining what had stopped her, I saw Edward's hand placed gently onto her shoulder. You would think such a such hold on her that appeared to be light would allow her to easily break through, but knowing how strong that vampiric hold would be, I understood.

Looking back at her, her lips continued parting, and lust was filling in her eyes as she continued to glow down at me. I stared back up at her and realized what was wrong. I lured her.

"Take your seat and continue with your job, Miss Keller," I commanded her. She hesitated to move at first, but I realized she couldn't while Edward's hand was still clasped on her shoulder. I looked over at him with a nod, to which he had let go of her. She quickly too her seat back at her desk and without a thought to what had happened only moments ago, she began opening her desk files and clicking the monitor on her screen back to life.

"You could have just dazzled her. It would have worked," I spoke, peering my face up.

Edward leaned down when he recaptured his place at my side and whispered into my ear.

"Ah, but your methods are much more efficient."

"They didn't work on you…" I said, feeling slightly dissatisfied by that. Why hadn't the mind manipulation worked on him before?

"Perhaps not, but I'm sure you would do very well at getting a client of Jasper's in the city to do whatever you ask in a shorter amount of time than he is able." He snickered.

"Does he reside close by? Maybe I could pay him a visit," I winked.

His eyes widened at me this time, but they weren't filled with lust, but with bewilderment. His shocked face dissolved into his side smile again with another chuckle escaping his throat.

"Not sure how Jasper would feel about that. He enjoys his own way of handling it." He pulled me next to him again where I retook my position to hide my nose against his chest as he guided me through the office.

No one had stared into our direction, at least not eyes that I had seen. Through the narrow walk path of the office space, we had turned a corner to the right where glass window panels edged the wooden door that was placed in the middle. Looking through them, I could tell that the office was rather large on the inside. It had been a windowed office that looked over the city where other tall buildings were apparent. I could only see the long-connected couch and coffee through the windows as the rest of the office view was blocked off by a wall to another one next to it.

I stopped in the hallway near the door, and let go of Edward's side, shifting him away from me. I pulled my jacket off my shoulders and arms and handed it to him to take. He stared at me questionably, but I chose to ignore him and ran my fingers through the strands of my hair, fluffing it up a little bit to create more volume.

"What are you doing?" He asked septically.

"Trying to look presentable," I told him sweetly.

"You looked fine to me before."

"But am I fine enough to compare to the assistant he has been fooling around with?"

Edward gulped. He actually gulped. Feeling slightly offended by his lack of response, I pulled my eyebrows together.

"Edward!" I hissed.

"I just didn't know how to respond," He replied, staring back at me. "But, Bella, you have always looked angelic."

Angelic? I felt my heart almost stutter, and my breath captured inside of my throat. He was looking down at me, staring almost with those hardened dark eyes. What was he doing to me? Quickly, I shoved off how noticeable his affect had on me and assumed a nonchalant response.

I snorted a humorous smile. "Yeah, the look of illness really flatters me."

Business. We were conducting business. If that's what you could call giving someone a heart attack.

The light on the side of the door was green, still waiting for it to be opened from when we were buzzed in earlier. I stood there, staring at it, but I couldn't find my legs to work or move. Could I do this to Edward? His family chooses to hunt animals as a means to not cause death onto a human life, but that's what he was doing now. Helping me kill someone… helping me feed. I wondered if this could possibly ruin his persona of making amends for what ever his family's reputation had been before. I looked up at him, but his eyes had been dead set on the door.

"You can't come in there with me," I exhaled. "I want you out of the building and to your car before I walk in there."

"What?"

"I mean it, Edward. Get out. I don't want you to see or hear a single thought from that man."

He looked at me in confusion, but then something slightly sparkled in his eyes as if he had been overcome with a memory… and it was possible I could attest to exactly which one he was remembering. Port Angeles.

"Bella, you don't have to do this alone. I told you before…"

"This isn't about me being alone, Edward. This is for you. Now go!" I stared at him, hoping that the command would over come him and work. My nose scrunched in disappointment when I saw that it hadn't. Why does that pesky thing not work on stupid vampires?

"You really would like me to leave?" He whispered.

"Yes. I'll be fine. Now please… just go."

He stared at me for a second longer, still not wanting to break our stares from each other. But he needed to. I needed to do this on my own without rising him. I needed to know that he could go home to his family with no shame or guilt for what was going to happen today. He didn't need to be apart of this, and I wasn't going to let him. But as with the thought ending, his shoulders had loosened under his firm stance, and his eyes glanced away from me and back to the door. But, with reluctance, he turned, heading down the hallway turning out of sight. I listened for his light footsteps, hoping to hear his loafers tapping against the marbled flooring as he walked further away, but the sound of the elevator chiming had alerted me that he understood my request. Seconds and minutes passed by until I had brought my self to believe he had finally been gone from the building an on his way to the Volvo.

Looking back at the wooden door in front of me, I stared back up at the green light next to it. It was waiting for me to enter the room. Waiting for me to meet Mr. Simons. I went forward, grabbing onto the handle to turn it until I had swung it open to step inside. Promptly I closed it behind me without making a sound as I had been fully entered in the room.

The room had been large as I had previously expected it to be, but it had almost felt cold. The couch that I noticed before was of a black leather, and the coffee table was of a dark wood with several empty glass cups aligned on a lazy Susan. In the corner had been a rather tall bamboo palm that was encased in a white pot and the walls that did not meet the exterior windows were black. Hanging on them had been a large map with red and yellow thumb tacks pinned in random points across the United States, but I hadn't been sure to what they were meant for. But most important of all, was towards the back left of the office where the large dark mahogany desk had sat.

Mr. Simmons eyes were only keen on the computer screen in front of him, with one finger scrolling on the computer mouse, and the other hand pressing a button onto the desk phone that was brightening with multiple flashes of red lights. He must have had many calls on hold while he continued to stare at the files that were on his screen. I found myself almost becoming curious to see what were on them, but I remembered Edward's vagueness when he had explained, so I assumed that curiosity would have only killed the cat if I were to find out.

Silently, I crept forward, taking one step at a time as I loosely stared at the man in front of me. He hadn't been unattractive. Maybe looked to be in his mid-forties with dark hair that was gelled back well. His nose had a slight bend in it that looked as if he had broken it at some point in his life, but its shape had been close to ones you'd see on a Greek statue. His lips were sharp, and he looked to not have shaved in the last week, but it seemed to have been lightly sculpted to fit his appearance. From what I could see with the light of the screen reflecting off his eyes, they had been hazel. This man didn't loo to be any sort of a scum that Edward had described him to be, but I suppose with money, an attractive appearance, and power in the office, it could change you. Not in the most favorable ways.

"Mr. Simmons," I broke the silence. His fingers froze as they scrolled against the mouse, and his eyes glanced up at me. At first, he had looked utterly bored to have seen me here as if I had been interrupting something quite important, but according to Edward, it was nothing of the sort.

"Can I help you?" He then straightened up, and leaned against the back of the chair, intertwining his fingers onto his lap with an arched eyebrow in my direction. "Miss…"

"Not really important, is it, Mr. Simmons?" I raised my eyebrow back at him, mimicking his own but held a slight smirk on the edges of my lips.

"How did you get in my office without an appointment?"

"Possibly by the woman you have been having an affair with."

That had gotten his attention. I saw the Adam's apple in his throat bob up and down, and a hint of sweat perspire on his forehead.

"How much do you want? Hmm?" He placed his hands down on the desk, pushing himself out of his seat, glowering over me where our faces had grown closer to each other. The scowl on his face deepened further.

Had he been offering money to me to keep his office affairs a secret from his wife? I hadn't been a reporter or had planned to tell anyone at all. It wasn't my business. That was between him and his wife, except, I rather would think that the conversation may never come up between them. His breath continued to seize through his teeth. It was almost an intoxicating aroma that was laced in the scent of his energy. Vanilla possibly swam through it, along with swirls of cinnamon. I felt my eyes flutter from it and my knees growing week, but the fire in my throat had been scorching.

Et fac connexionem, Isabella. Gladly.

"That's not exactly what I'm here for," I panted my reply as I turned my head, meeting his icy glare which had now faltered as his pupils grew wide. A soft moan escaped through his parted lips that now slacked, but the muscles in his arms had flexed more as his fingers had almost wore deep into the glossed wood.

"Mary Mother of…" And the attack came from him. He had lunged over his desk to grab onto me, his hand around the back of my neck, and his other gripped tight around the lower portion of my waist. I pushed against him, placing my palms flat on his chest and threw him off me, watching his body thud against the glass window behind him.

His eyes were bewildered at the sight of me, staggering further back into the window with nowhere to go, but it looked as if his mind didn't want to agree with him. It was lust that fueled him, and he had been enjoying the game.

"So, you enjoy cheating on your wife, Mr. Simmons?" I asked, walking around the desk to take a better look at him.

His legs tried to readjust themselves on the floor to push himself up. His hands collided against the ground as he had been arched forward, but his footing had been a little off. I would say he had been clumsier in this moment than I had been in my previous life. Maybe not, but it was close.

"And you've been staring all morning at the files on your computer. Why is that, Mr. Simmons?"

When he had made it into a standing position, his breaths were in short, heavy pants. His shoulders shook with each breath, but the hunger in his smile was the most mesmerizing feature of his thus far. He had been eager. He moved with such authority, crossing the feet between us until he had been staring over me. His hand lifted, brushing the back of it against my cheek, but his heavy panting that still draped over me was almost too much to take. The curling iron had been forced down my throat, and I couldn't stop myself.

Though, it seemed to not stop him, either. Images scattered across my mind of my hair tied back. When I looked around the room, it had darkened significantly more than I had noticed before. The room had just been only us and we both were surrounded in darkness.

His lips trailed down the jawline of my face, measuring their way up towards the lobe of my ear where he had placed delicate kisses. His other hand trailed up my sternum, until it reached the base of my throat. I felt the cold shiver that came over me as his fingers wound their way back to my neck, holding it firmly in his grasp. His nose nudged underneath my jaw, forcing my head to tilt back and lean into him. This had been his fantasy? Passion? The fingers of his other hand trailed delicately down my bare arm to which had made me notice that I had been almost wearing nothing in his illusion. I was bare, with only a small white bra, and laced panties to match. And him? His shirt had still been on, but the white button down he was wearing had been undone until it reached underneath the hair of his torso.

"Breanne…" he hummed against my ear. Breanne? Who's Breanne?

I grabbed ahold of his chin, forcing it down to look at me again, but in the reflection of his eyes, I didn't recognize myself. It wasn't me he had been imagining. No, it had been of an older woman I didn't recognize. Her hair had been curled into light brown waves, her eyes were of a deepest blue with cupid bowed lips of the softest pink, and her complexion of a pale ivory. This wasn't my appearance at all. A grin grew brighter across his face, but his teeth had latched onto his bottom lip.

"I've missed you so much…" Out came his breathful reply.

What had this woman meant to him? It couldn't have been his wife considering he was having an affair, but I also hadn't seen any pictures lying around in his office.

"Mr. Simmons?" A small voice asked at the door. I heard a stack of files fall to the floor, causing a thump to break the trance of the illusion. We were now back in the black walled office with the windows surrounding us again. His eyes were no longer on me, but still his hand held clasped around the back of my neck.

"Au — Audrey?" He stuttered, blinking frantically around the room, realizing where he had been.

"I came… to give you these files you asked for earlier." Her voice filled with panic, but her composure still held.

"I just…" he looked back me, assessing my appearance with a confused expression, but then looked back at her.

Damnit, Audrey. Could you have been a worse assistant right now?

"Sorry for the mess. I'm going to—" Immediately I had my hands clasped around her face. I no longer had felt sane in the moment before me. I glared at her; rage filled through my persona as I pushed her against the wall. She didn't deserve this reaction out of me, but she had broken the trance of the delectable meal I had been about to have.

"Audrey," I spoke with malice. "Leave this office now and forget you had saw any part of the events taken here. Forget my friend. Forget my face. Forget my voice. Forget my scent." I commanded her. "Go home. Draw yourself a nice bath. And take the rest of the day off. Understood?" I was seething through my teeth.

"Yes… yes!" She flustered. I broke my hand from around her face, and pushed her out of the door, slamming it shut behind me. I looked through the window, watching stumble down the hallway back to the main office space of the employees, making haste to get out of the building as fast as possible. Good.

I turned around, licking my lips across my teeth as I stared back at Mr. Simmons.

"Now," I voiced a sinister smile. "Where were we?"

-o-

Opening the door of the Volvo, I pushed myself inside. Edward had his arm propped up against the door handle, and the bridge of his nose was held in between his two fingers as he eyed the unmoving road in front of us. I wasn't sure if he had noticed I was here or not, but when his eyes faltered into my direction, I could see a smile twitch at the edge of his lips.

"How did it go?" He asked.

"That depends… how do I look?" A bright smile grew across my tanned cheeks.

A/N

I am currently back at college now... so next update will be a while. I apologize. Taking Microbiology, Biochem, Comparative Invertebrate Anatomy, and Research Methods. It's going to be a rough semester... :[

I want to thank myfanficaddiction for helping read over this chapter and offering feedback on it! She has been a major help in bringing my motivation back into the story!

Also. Seattle Prestigious Magazine and Publishing is a fake company I made up. Don't try to search it. It's not real.

So… I hope you all enjoyed this chapter! I had fun writing it. I thought I was going to have the party take place during this one in hopes that I could fit it in, but it has been moved to the next. Thank you all for being patient and for the reviews I received. I hope to see 10 more on this chapter before the next update... I hope to hear from you soon! And… until next time!(:

Translations: Et fac connexionem, Isabella. ~ Make the connection, Isabella.