Disclaimer: I dont own anything but the plot
Chapter 7 Trust me
Edward POV
"Your what?" I asked, again, completely filled with shock.
"My little brother." Bella repeated. "Well, half brother, actually." She waited for me to say something, but I couldn't quite find the right words for the shock I felt. She must have realized this, as she then gestured to the couch. "Please sit. If you want, I'll just explain a bit further and then you can ask questions afterwards." I nodded and took a seat.
"So, the story is a bit complicated, and I don't feel comfortable speaking many of the details aloud. But I'll try to make it as non confusing as possible."
I nodded again, waiting for her to continue.
"Eight years ago, on the day I was turned, my mother gave birth to Luke. She and my stepfather both died on that day. I only narrowly escaped with my brother, and we've been in hiding ever since."
"I guess that would explain why you were so apprehensive when I knocked."
"Yes. I haven't actually seen any trace of the guy who did this to us, for almost four years now, but I know that he is still out there. Waiting. Searching."
"He's looking for you?"
"The last time I saw him, he told me that he had never stopped searching, and that he never would until he finally caught us."
"Do you think it's safe staying in this house?" I was becoming very worried now. My hands had balled into fists.
"Honestly. I don't know what's safe anymore. All I know is that Luke is of an age, and has been for a few years, where he understands everything going on around him. He understands action and consequence. He knows what I am, that the evil guy is after us, that it's not normal to move around as much as we have. I want, so desperately, to give him some semblance of a normal life. We've been alone for so long. He has barely had any human contact in his entire life except me. And that doesn't even really count, as I am not a human any more." Bella's body had started to shake and sadness filled her voice.
"When I learned that my father, the late police chief Charlie Swan, had died and that his house that I was supposed to have inherited was up for sale, I decided that now was as good a time as any. Luke needs friends besides me. He needs to be able to navigate the human world in case I'm not here to help him some day. I just hope that I haven't made a huge mistake. I mean I don't even know if I should be telling you all this, but for some reason, I feel like I can trust you. I can trust you right?" Her eyes looked pleading.
"Yes." I hurried to reassure her. "Yes, of course you can trust me Bella." I scooted closer to her on the couch and took one of her hands in both of mine. "You can trust my entire family."
A half smile. "I really hope that's true."
"Of course it's true. I can even prove it to you." "Alright. I really have to think about how I'm going to do this. I don't want this to come across as creepy."
Bella furrowed her brow. "Prove it how?"
"Remember my sister Alice?"
"The pixie-haired girl. Sure. What about her?"
"Well, Like me she has a talent. So does Jasper actually, but that's not important right now. Alice's power is subjective precognition."
"Sub… What?"
"Subjective Precognition." I repeated.
"Doesn't precognition mean seeing into the future?"
"Yes it does."
"Are you seriously telling me that Alice can see into the future?" Her voice rose a bit.
"Yes. But only subjectively. As the name says."
"Explain." She said with a look of non comprehension on her face.
"She can only see what will happen if a person has decided on their course of action. She is most sensitive to non humans. For example, she always sees when another group of our kind is coming near."
"Did she see me coming?"
"Yes. But that particular vision was different from the others."
"How so?"
"She has seen events far into the future before. So far away in fact that there was no way anyone could have made a decision yet that would lead to that point. But all of these events had a certain significance towards her. It has only happened on three occasions, and all of them were in her early years of this life. Carlisle, my father, and I have a theory that she was able to see these three visions, so long before they were to happen, either because the people in the visions were to become very important in her life, or because the thing we call fate truly does exist and these event were going to happen no matter what future choices were to be made. Or maybe it was both. There really is no sure way to know."
"What were the visions?"
"She saw Jasper first. In the first moments of her new life she had no idea who, what or where she was. The pain of her transformation had wiped her memory. But soon after waking up, she had that first vision. She saw herself meeting Jasper and he spoke her name. Alice. Later she saw herself and Jasper joining the rest of us. We were already living together. I don't know exactly when she had the third vision, but it was before she and Jasper joined us."
"And what was the third vision?" I could see that Bella was completely enraptured in the story. Her earlier sadness and nerves had all but evaperated.
"You." I stated matter of factly, looking into her eyes to see how she would take this.
"Me?" Her eyes were wide in disbelief. "Alice saw me?"
"Yes. She saw you." I gave her a moment to digest this before continuing. "She saw the brief moment when you first saw us in the cafeteria earlier today. Or rather yesterday now. She had heard her own voice saying your name in her head and calling you sister."
She started to shake her head. "That's not possible." She said while blinking hard.
I tightened my grip on her hand a little, to ground her thoughts. "I know it sounds kind of unbelievable.."
"Kind of?" She cut me off.
"But please believe me Bella, when I tell you that we have been waiting for your arrival for over five decades now. We had no idea when or where it was going to take place. We didn't know who you were, what kind of person you were or anything at all about Luke. But we have known your name, her and I your face, and the knowledge that someday you would come to us. Meet us in that room."
She stayed silent. Looking at my chest as if she couldn't meet my eyes. I didn't know if she believed me or thought me crazy. "I actually never thought i would have to say this, but good gracious what I wouldn't give to be able to read her mind right now." I decided to just keep going until she stopped me.
"Alice has thought of you as her sister from the day she had the vision. I have been anticipating your arrival almost as much as she since I've seen the visions alongside her, most of the time. The rest of my siblings and my parents want to get to know you very badly as well."
"She didn't see Luke." Bella's soft voice halted my words.
"No. Since he's human and wasn't with you in the vision, there was no way for us to know."
She looked up then. "Does it make a difference?"
"Does what make a difference?"
"If all you're saying is true then does it make a difference that he is with me?" She looked almost panicked again.
"No. Of course it doesn't. That's exactly the point I was trying to make. The fact that we already care so much about you, makes it an even better decision to join our family."
"Join your family?"
"Oh God. I'm completely messing this up, aren't I?"
"Yes, join us. We can and will protect you and Luke. If there is anything you need, anything at all, you only need to ask. Besides, both my mother Esme and Rosalie have always been very depressed over the fact that as vampires they can't get pregnant and have children of their own. They would be over the moon to know that a young, sweet boy like Luke was to join the family. They would dode on him and protect him as though he was their own. And the fact that he is already comfortable around you while knowing what you are just makes the situation that much easier." Was I ranting? No, I'm neither angry nor shouting. But I was definitely getting ahead of myself there. Bella had looked down to her lap and was shaking again.
"Bella?" "God! How badly did I mess that up? I can't tell what her reaction is without seeing her eyes."
"Bella. Please look at me?" She shook her head and still didn't answer. "I need to see those eyes."
Before I could stop myself, my left hand came up to right under her chin and I lifted her face up slowly. She was sad. She looked like she was holding back tears. Although that was impossible since we couldn't cry and her eyes were dry. But her lower lip was trembling badly. She noticed me looking at it, and took it between her teeth. I felt pain in my chest. If I didn't know any better, I would have thought that my dead frozen heart was breaking.
"Bella. What did I.." She threw her arms around my neck. Her body was now convulsing with tearless sobs. My own arms came around to hold her and stroke her back to sooth her. "Ok. If she was crying because I had said something wrong she would have yelled and thrown me out right? She definitely would not be clinging to me for dear life while sobbing on my shoulder. So what had made her so upset?"
"Breath Bella, breath. Shhh. Why are you crying? What did I say?" I rocked her back and forth, trying to calm her down.
"You didn't.." Sharp exhale. "You didn't say anything bad." Sob. "I just.." She couldn't speak yet. She was still too upset.
"Don't speak yet. Calm down first. Breath deeply Bella. Breath all the way down to your stomach." I took a few deep breaths myself to make her follow my direction. She tried, but couldn't quite manage. So I just continued to stroke her back soothingly trying to get her to breathe more evenly. Could a dead frozen heart… beat again? If it could, then that would explain the warmth I thought I felt in my chest now.
When she finally calmed down enough to talk she pulled back and placed her hands on her cheeks. They were of course dry, but I'm guessing she did that out of habit. No doubt, had she been able to cry, her cheeks would have been burning hot and puffy by now.
"I'm sorry about that."
"It's okay. You don't need to apologize. But what made you so sad?"
"Oh Edward." She looked me in the eyes and smiled sadly. "I'm not sad. I'm happy."
I just stared at her. "Happy? But you were crying." I said dumbfounded.
"Happy tears. Or they would have been if there were any."
Before she could continue, we both heard the sound of a door opening and small footsteps coming down the steps.
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