Part 8

The evening Bella dreaded had finally arrived.

After two weeks of working hard to pretend she was Edward's friend and that she trusted him, Bella was now supposed to spend the evening with the Cullen family while they played baseball. Of course she was eager to get to know them all better, especially Carlisle. She knew so much about his ancestor Athelstan through the diary, she couldn't wait to know more about him, to find out by herself how much like him he actually is. However, she was nervous about Edward, who seemed to be confused about the difference between friendship and love. She kept on reminding him that he was only her friend and that he should stop pretending he was her boyfriend, but she had a hard time getting her point across. He was really persistant and hard headed.

Rollo had promised to come back and check on her in the evening, as soon as he could politely excuse himself from the fishing trip. Until then, Bella was on her own, but she wasn't worried about her safety, just nervous about Edward's unpredictable behavior. She trusted Alice and even though Jasper was nervous about coming close to her, she trusted him as well. The only one she didn't trust was Edward, but the whole point of this was for her to pretend that she did, so she played her part as best she could.

She was a bit relieved when Alice and Emmett came to pick her up, she had fear she'd have to be in the car with Edward, alone, and that was something she didn't want.

"You two know that I don't actually need two vampire babysitters at all time, right? Just one of you would have been just fine." Bella told them when she entered the car, making Emmett chuckle.

"He's not here to babysit you but me. I won a bet so I could drive his precious car tonight but he doesn't trust me enough to let me do it alone, so he came along." Alice explained.

"Can you blame me? The last time you drove a car this big you had an accident and destroyed it. I won't let that happen to my precious baby." Emmett argued.

"You know very well that it had nothing to do with my driving skills but with a strong vision of Jasper needing my help!" Alice argued back.

"Yeah well, it could happen again and I'm not letting you crash my baby." Emmett replied and it made Bella smile at how normal this conversation was.

"Boys and their toys." Bella commented, making the two vampires laugh with her.

"You know, he doesn't even speak to Rosalie the way he speaks about his car. She's getting jealous" Alice chuckled, making Bella smile wider.

"Maybe she can find metal underwear to wear for him. It might get him more interested in her." Bella mentioned, making Emmett and Alice laugh.

.

Rollo couldn't relax. He loved spending time with his brother, Floki and their human friends but this time, his mind was on Bella and he couldn't enjoy himself at all.

"You shouldn't worry too much about my daughter, Rollo. She'll be fine. Trust me, she's made of stronger stuff that people think." Charlie tried to reassure him.

"I know, I just don't trust that Edward kid."

"She'll have Carlisle and the rest of the family around, he won't be able to do anything to her. She'll be fine, Rollo." Floki assured him.

"I hope you're right, because I have a bad feeling."

"Well, the gods haven't predicted any obstacle that you won't be able to overcome easily. Don't worry too much or you'll go grey. It wouldn't be a good look for you." Floki reassured him.

"If you're too overprotective, she might grow to resent you. Lagertha warned you." Ragnar argued.

"Yes, she's an independent one, my daughter." Charlie nodded.

"The girl was born 35 and keeps growing more middle aged every year, she knows not to trust the Cullen kid." Billy added.

"You're right, let's fish before I change my mind and rush over there. The boy would be able to use my presence against me if I show up too soon." Rollo agreed.

"The future hasn't changed, if it helps you relax a little. You and Bella will still spend eternity happily together. The gods are telling me so." Floki smiled.

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Bella was getting along rather well with all of the Cullen's and she did her best to stay away from Jasper, trying to make it easier on him, which he seemed to appreciate. She got to know them all by talking to them a bit and, when the sky started to darken, they took her with them to the field where they played Baseball. Bella couldn't help but notice how possessive of her Edward seemed to be and it scared her a bit so she did her best to stay closer to Alice or Carlisle. Carlisle was the one she trusted the most, mainly because Rollo and his family did.

Rosalie didn't seem to be overly fond of Bella, like Alice was, but she was polite and the only moments she acted a bit rude towards Bella, was when Edward showed signs of wanted er to be his girlfriend. Bella didn't understand but she figured that the blond beauty simply didn't want her to join her family, which she agreed. She knew that she was very good friends with Torvi and that, given time, they'd get along and become friends. Come to think of it, maybe she was just hostile because she wanted Bella to remember that she belonged with another coven, she wanted to make sure she didn't fall for Edward.

Esme was very welcoming and nice, kind of like the perfect mother figure. Bella immediately liked her and decided that the woman fit perfectly with Carlisle, who seemed to be, indeed, a lot like his ancestor.

The fact that angered Bella the most was that Edward kept on trying to put his hand on her. Around her waist, on her shoulder, on her arm... She kept on reminding him that she wasn't comfortable with that and that they weren't that close but he always did it again. Always tried to touch her, as though trying to claim her with his scent.

Bjorn had told her that Rollo's scent was very potent on her, probably because of their bond, and spending only a few minutes with him made his scent stay on her for about a day. Edward was jealous of this and did his best to get his own scent on her. Bella pictured herself a street lamppost, Rollo and Edward being two dogs from the same street who constantly peed on her to claim the lamppost as their own. When she had told this particular image to her father, he had laughed, assuring her that it would be repeated to Billy so that he, too, could laugh. She had no doubt that Rollo would hear about this mental image during their nocturnal fishing trip.

"I'm sure you'll love this, Bella." Edward insisted when they stood on the field.

"Well, it'll probably be impressive but I was never one to like watching sports. I mainly came to get to know Carlisle's family." Bella replied, trying to sound as polite as possible.

By stating Carlisle's name instead of Edward, she was trying to put some distance between them and she saw a flicker of something on Edward's face when she did so.

"This will be different, you'll love watching me play." Edward smiled.

"I'm sure watching you all play will be very entertaining. Bjorn told me that Emmett could act like a child sometimes... Then Torvi added that he was one to speak, because he was the same." Bella replied, making Emmett and Rosalie chuckle was Edward frowned at the distance she was once again putting between them.

The Cullen quickly took their places around the field and Esme stood by Bella's side, ready to referee. They seemed to be having fun and Bella was sure that her father would love to witness such a game.

Bella watched them play for about 15 minutes, sometimes wondering what was happening because of the speed they were going at, when Alice stopped everything and rushed to Bella's side, followed by Edward and everyone else.

"We have to run with her, she can't stay here." Edward exclaimed, already trying to take Bella in his arms but she moved away and stopped him.

"What's going on? I'm not a doll you can move around as you please, Edward! I can make my own decisions." Bella protested, doing her best to be as far away from him as possible, or at least to have several people between them.

She was glad when Rosalie moved slightly to stand closer to her. The more Bella tried to distance herself from Edward, the nicer Rosalie was to her.

"Three nomads were simply passing through, like I initially saw, but they heard us play and decided to come over. They want to play with us. The found the ball Edward couldn't find earlier." Alice replied, worried for her new friend.

"Well, let them play." Bella shrugged, not seeing the problem.

"They're not like us, Bella. They might decide to feed from you." Carlisle told her.

"Well, it's too late now anyway. If we run with her, they'll smell it and chase her." Jasper argued.

"They won't hurt me if they know what's good for them. There's only three of them, right? They'll see my pendant with Rollo's family crest, see which coven I belong with and they won't cross them. Even if they don't recognize the emblem, they won't dare cross all 7 of you just for one little me. I probably don't have enough blood in me to share in three. It seems a hell of a lot of trouble to go through just for me. It would be like holding up a grocery store next to a police station just to steal one sandwich." Bella argued.

"I can't see what will happen but she might have a point." Alice shook her head while Jasper nodded his agreement.

"You're a foolish child if you think those Vikings will protect you without being even present by your side." Edward snarled.

"Edward, stop pretending you know more than you actually do and shut it before I ask Rollo to take care of you for good. I'm starting to think that being your friend is going to be impossible to do." Bella snapped angrily.

"They're here now." Emmett announced while going to stand closer to Bella.

The Cullen assembled closer to Bella while she made sure the pendant was visible by taking it out from under her shirt. Unfortunately for her, Edward was determined to play hero and he disregarded her wishes, making sure that the nomads wouldn't see her pendant. He'd break it and make it fall on the floor if he had to but as it happened, all he had to do was stand protectively in front of her.

While the Cullen clan talked with the nomads, Bella got her phone out and texted Rollo, hoping that he'd have his phone with him. She hoped that Edward would be too busy to hear what she was doing.

"Red eyed nomads here. Scared" she quickly typed before she sent it.

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Rollo was finally starting to relax when his phones biped.

"Oh come on, what now?" Ragnar asked his brother, annoyed.

"We have to go, three red eyed nomads met with the Cullen's. I'm going." Rollo exclaimed before he dropped his fishing rod and rushed away.

"Go, we'll be fine here." Billy and Charlie told the other vampires who nodded and followed Rollo who was running faster than ever before.

Rollo was going so fast that Bjorn, Floki and Ragnar had a hard time following him.

"I'm not losing another sister." Bjorn muttered as he pushed himself to be faster and catch up with his uncle.

"The Gods didn't warn me, it means we'll manage to get over this easily enough. We're in no danger. If Bella was in any danger, they would have warned me." Floki said, trying to reassure everyone.

"I don't think he cares about that right now, Floki." Ragnar shook his head.

"The kid better not have had anything to do with the nomad's presence or Carlisle won't be able to protect him this time." Floki predicted.

They all ran as fast as they could but Rollo arrived first on site.

.

Rollo and Bjorn arrived just as two of the nomads ran away. The third one looked like someone who was tired and it was probably why he stayed behind.

"This isn't good." Bjorn whispered.

"What the hell, Edward? I told you that he was a tracker, that if you did anything obvious to protect Bella he'd go after her and you just started the most exciting game ever for him!" Alice snapped at her brother.

"Let go of me, Edward! I told you it would be fine if they saw my pendent but you made sure they never saw it! Let go of me! You're hurting me!" Bella snapped as well, trying to get out of the hold the red haired vampire had on her arm.

"What's going on here?" Rollo growled.

"Rollo!" Bella breathed out in relief.

Surprised, Edward loosened his hold on Bella enough that she was able to run to the Viking warrior who opened his arms to welcome her to safety.

"Are you alright?" He asked as he hugged her close to him, taking a few seconds to smell her hair, a scent he loved and never would get enough of.

"My arm hurts. Edward wouldn't let go and he held on too tightly. I'll probably have a huge bruise." Bella shook her head.

"I was trying to save your life!" Edward growled.

"You were trying to run away with me when I told you that I didn't want to!" Bella snapped back.

"What the boy did is start for James the best game of his life. He's a tracker who loves to play with his food and loves a challenge, but your little friend told you that through her thoughts, didn't she. You behaved exactly like you shouldn't have and you started the best game of his life." The remaining nomad declared, annoyed.

"What about you?" Bjorn asked him while his father and Floki joined them and were brought up to date quickly by a worried Carlisle.

"I've grown tired of James' games, I was planning on going on my own for a while now..." Laurent replied.

"What's going to happen now?" Bella asked them in a little voice.

"Now, thanks to Edward, James and Victoria will come after you. Victoria is in love with James and will do anything for him, they're mates. James will do what he has to in order to get to you. Your protection is only making him want to drink you more. Despite the boy's efforts to hide your pendent, James saw a piece of it. He doesn't know who you're attached to, but he knows it's not them. He's going to get ready for what is, in his mind, the most exciting game of his life." Laurent explained to them.

"Why did you do that, Edward? You had to know what would happen, you could read his mind, along with Victoria's and Alice's warnings." Esme scolded him.

"I did what I had to in order to protect Bella!" Edward insisted.

"Even I know you're lying now." Jasper growled.

"You're wrong, anyway, since you all know better, you should know that what Bella needs is to be hidden far away from here." Edward replied.

"Are you stupid? Running her away would only make this worst!" Laurent shook his head.

"You just made sure a lethal vampire would chase me until I die, Edward, excuse me if I don't listen to your advises. You completely disregarded my wishes tonight and I'm tired of your entitled attitude. I'll be leaving with Rollo and they will be keeping me safe. You better stay away from me from now on." Bella spoke in a cold voice, still safe in Rollo's arm, which were wrapped around her.

"You'll be helping us know more about your old friend." Ragnar said to Laurent and everyone knew that it wasn't a question but an order.

When he spoke, he sounded more like the king he had once been than like the simple man he was now. He spoke with authority and the danger of disobeying him was obvious in his tone and with the look in his eyes.

Of course Laurent would obey. Even though the Voltury were in charge, everyone knew that the Viking coven was the most powerful one. So powerful that Aro, Marcus and Caius were afraid of them and never crossed them if they had another choice. Refusing Ragnar's order would be suicide.

"We'll help you, as well. Just tell us what you need and when you need it." Carlisle told Ragnar, whom he considered not only a friend but like an uncle.

"Of course we will!" Alice nodded, Jasper agreeing by her side.

"You can start by keeping this boy away from Bella. We know he's the one who broke the chains of Tyler's car because he wanted to save Bella in hopes that she's fall for him and break Rollo's heart. This is the second time in less than 2 weeks that he puts her life in danger and we won't let that pass. He's only still alive because of you, Carlisle. If you know what's good for your family, you'll send him away. Next time he crosses Bella will be the last time he has legs." Ragnar ordered.

"That's the kind of people you want to be with, Bella? You claim to know about them but do you have any idea of the number of women Rollo's been with? Do you really know his history?" Edward asked, looking only at Bella.

"You mean, you're not a virgin Rollo? Really? And you hide this from me? How could you?" Bella declared, looking at Rollo with a smile on her face before she turned back to Edward and spoke:

"Of course he's not a virgin, do you know how old he is? He's had a life before meeting me or even before learning about the prophecy and he's a grown man that wasn't attached to anyone at the time, what else was he supposed to do? Learn to knit? You're acting like an old fashioned grandmother! It was their way of life!" Bella was growing angry with Edward and her words, defending him, warmed Rollo's heart and brought a smile to his family's faces.

"You don't mind that he's been with over a hundred different women? Some unwilling? He raped them!" Edward insisted and Rollo started to growl while Carlisle, Jasper and Emmett looked at Edward like he had grown a second head.

"It was their way, Edward! The slaves were raped and that's the way it was for them. Like I told you before, I know all about their way of life, mainly because Rollo gave me, over the years, books that explained everything, without hiding the darker facts, because he wanted me to know it all. I've accepted them all." Bella replied, trying really hard to remain calm.

"You're actually not only accepting but supporting his old ways?" Edward gasped.

"Be careful or I might be tempted to tell them to make you a salve. I'm sure they had eunuques too in their time. I remember reading about one of Bjorn's trips in Sarrasin Spain and his encounter with one." Bella growled, amusing the Northern men.

"Even if you overlook his sexual deviance, he's a heathen, they're pagans!"

"Seriously, you're bringing the religion now?" Bella chuckled, amused.

"They have no souls and are going to hell! You'll doom yourself with them." Edward insisted.

"Oh please stop talking, you're only embarrassing yourself!" Bella chuckled while Bjorn, Floki, Rollo and Ragnar started growling.

"Careful Edward, you're really pissing them off!" Jasper warned him.

"Me too." Alice added.

"They'll kill you, son!" Carlisle added, scared for his first companion's life.

"Listen there Edward, I'm more willing to believe in all of their gods rather than yours. They've been seen, they help the people who believe in them and Odin actually visited me in my dreams once to warn me about something that actually happened. Their gods are real, they've been seen, spoken to and they bless and help the people who believe in them. They ask for sacrifices? Well, that's the way life is, Edward. You don't get anything without being willing to pay for it. Everything worth having has a high price and most of their sacrifices were willing to give their lives for their gods. I believe in the North gods. Odin is real. Thor is real. Freya, Loki, Heimdall, they're real. Another point I'll make here: Your so called God supposedly sent his son down on Earth. Let's consider that it's true, you do remember how he died, right? Jesus dies nailed to a cross, one of the strongest North Gods, Thor, has a hammer. I think it's an obvious point in their favor. Maybe even a message to keep in mind." Bella told Edward, still acting halfway between amused and annoyed while everyone else looked impressed by how defensive she was.

"I'm pretty sure that if Rollo wasn't holding her, she'd be breaking her hands on his face." Bjorn told his father who nodded and chuckled.

"I've said it before, I like this girl." Floki nodded.

"You're crazy, they've gotten to your head." Edward shook his head, shocked by her words.

"Listen to me, boy! I've warned you before and this is the last time I say it: Stop this and stay away from her. You've done enough damage. Anyone this James kills while trying to get to Bella will be on you. I'll make sure you personally answer for them." Rollo said with a growl.

Surprisingly enough, Bella wasn't afraid when she heard Rollo growl. He was defending her, he'd never hurt her and she knew it. She was safe. He wasn't growling at her, he was growling to defend her.

Suddenly, Alice gasped and everyone turned to look at her, interrupting what they were doing. Edward, being the only one able to read her mind, made an extra effort to act like he hadn't seen anything special.

"Oh no!" She exclaimed after a few, incredibly long, seconds, a look of horror on her face.

"What's going on?" Bjorn asked at the same time as Jasper did while Edward tried to hide his smug look.

What did you think? Will Edward help and be innocent or will he turn into an enemy (or a pile of ashes)? Do you think he didn't find this ball on purpose?

Should have Bella been angry or disgusted at Rollo or do you agree with her forgiving his old ways?

I know that I touched religion here and I don't want to offend anyone, keep in mind that this is a story, and only a story. I don't mean anything by it.

Review please?

Lorelei Candice Black