I do not own Twilight.
I wish I could say the rest of this coven were just as welcoming, but alas, there is always at least one to ruin a perfectly good evening.
This one was Rosalie.
Hostile from the moment I walked in with Alice on my arm, frosty towards Jasper for finding me, and downright disgusted with Emmett, her own mate, for booming out his welcome back.
Dr. Cullen stood in front of the fireplace, with a slender female at his side, who was introduced as Esme, his mate and wife.
Edward was nowhere in the house.
I find myself less inclined to stay when my reason for doing so is absent.
"Do you plan on staying in the area Bella?" Dr. Cullen has directed most of the conversation, brushing Rosalie's lack of manners to the side.
She screams of vapid, spoiled child syndrome.
"I do have some personal matters here to attend to, yes." Alice has settled herself next to me on the couch, while Jasper sprawls out on the floor in front of her with a history book.
Some things never change.
"You're more than welcome to stay here at the house Bella, it would be nice to have company." Esme is a warm, eternal mother.
While I've never come across one quite like her before, it's quite enjoyable in a vampire. I almost find myself wanting to say yes just to please her.
How odd.
"Oh, we could go shopping while you're here Bella! There's some fabulous stores in Seattle, and it's always fun to see the city!"
It's hard to rain on Alice's parade, but before I get a chance to, Dr. Cullen throws out a particular piece of information that has me planted in my spot.
"If you do decide to stay, I must ask that you not go past the river that runs in from the ocean about ten miles south of Forks. That is tribal land, and our treaty allows our peaceful coexistence as long as we stay off their homelands. It is rather easy to identify, there is a strong smell that they carry and their lands do as well."
Rosalie scoffs. "It's a stench, disgusting dogs."
Well now.
Vapid and not very bright when it comes to withholding information from the look on the Dr.'s face. Excellent.
"Dogs? What exactly is she talking about?" I can play the innocently curious card too.
The quick side glance from Jasper has me rethinking how well I've been getting away with it though.
Ah well, more practice then.
The Dr. seems fooled though.
"Their tribe has for some generations now, had the ability to shape shift, into wolves. While I am not allowed to examine any of them, my best working theory is that our presence brings out the genetic trigger in their bloodline. You see, we resettle in the area every fifty or so years, this is a favorable home to us. Every time we settle, their numbers in the active pack climb. It's quite fascinating."
Shape shifters. Who shift into children of the moon no less.
Well. This complicates things.
I don't get any more time to ponder it though.
I can feel him.
That tug is back in my chest, it worsens as he gets closer, screaming at me to meet him by the back glass doors that open into the yard. It takes every inch of will power to stay in my seat.
It's almost painful.
He freezes when he enters, watching me just as closely as I am watching him.
I see the resolve cross over his face, as if he's donning armor for battle. Something inside me twists unhappily at the idea that he might consider me an enemy.
After a moment of absolute stillness between all of us, Esme rises with Carlisle on her arm, she begins ushering everyone out and away, even tugging a semi growling Rosalie along with her.
Alice whispers that we can talk later and pulls Jasper up the stairs with her. While he's passing by he grins that wide, up to no good grin.
"Have fun now Miss Bella."
Edward growls at his words and Jasper chuckles as he follows the little sprite of a girl.
Music drifts down soon enough and a louder stereo booms music from the garage.
Privacy, at least the illusion of it.
Alone, without eyes on us, I can't keep myself seated.
I'm up and in front of him before I reign this insistent tugging in. He doesn't seem to mind the closure of distance.
He draws in a deep breath through his nose, eyes closed, looking more at peace than even when my chilled hand was flush against the flesh of his young face.
It's mesmerizing.
I hate how much it affects me.
"I remember you."
Three little words that have me waiting on baited breath when I don't even breathe.
His eyes open and they bore into mine.
"I thought you had been a dream, an angel sent to take me away when I died, because no creature could be so beautiful in such a horrible place."
It's a compliment, though in my own twisted logic, it's ironic that he thinks a harbinger of death could be an angel.
"You were in such obvious pain, I couldn't just slip by." Why does he affect me this way? "My touch was a simple comfort, and your fever so high you were none to wiser as to how unnatural it truly was."
He nods, taking a hold of the same hand that had given him relief so long ago.
"Did you know then? That we were mates?"
For the first time in over one hundred years, I fidget.
My mother would be appalled.
I pull my hand back and step away, feeling too closed in, too close to him, I couldn't focus on my real reason for being here.
Not with him standing not two feet in front of me.
Still, I don't lie to him.
"I was drawn to you, it was so strong, very different from any other human I'd ever come across. I wanted to stay with you, but no, I didn't know that it was because of a mating pull. I do not have experience with such things."
I've said too much, made it sound like I'm accepting what this is.
Maybe I am.
No. I can't be this selfish, not now.
He looks thoughtful for a moment before stepping closer, before pulling my little hand into both of his and playing with my fingers while he smiles contently and speaks.
"Carlisle said it may not have been strong enough yet, as I was a dying human. I was not changed in the hospital, so I never caught your scent either, after I awoke."
He begins tracing the edge of a bite scar along my wrist, one that peeks out, ending just over the back of my hand.
His brows knit together and his beautiful face is marred with a frown.
I hate how much I want to remove it. I prefer his smile, crooked and still slightly boyish, after all these years.
He's blurring the lines again, confusing me.
I may have not come here for him, but I can't seem to pull myself away now that I've found him. I'm risking everything by being here with him.
"How did you get this?" He's still tracing his finger lightly over the bite mark.
It takes all my strength to pull my hand away from him, but I do, and I pull my sleeve down further in vain.
"A long time ago, I was young and foolish. At least now, one of those things has changed."
I smile at him, dryly, but it only makes him frown more.
"Why can't I hear you?" He grabs my hand again, this time splaying the stretch of his palm flat over my own. "Nothing, not a whisper, not even a dull hum."
Those piercing eyes meet mine again, and that same frustration is back.
He asks again. Louder.
"Why can't I hear you?"
I'm not sure what my not answering will do. Clearly he's a gifted vampire, but the idea of revealing something sets me on edge.
I may end up in trouble for whole different reason than my human connection being discovered.
Vague in my answer however, I can be.
"I'm a shield." I'm not speaking anywhere near as loud as him, but it doesn't matter really, he hears me perfectly.
His face freezes, then slowly relaxes into intrigue. A small smile forms after a moment.
Then he chuckles.
"The mind reader and a mental shield. Irony, I suppose."
Mental shield. Yes.
That isn't exactly a lie, but it's not completely true either.
Perfect.
Now if only the knot in my chest threatening to break bone would agree and relax.
His hand makes its way into my hair again, playing with the long curls as if he's a child. He looks completely content there, the idea of stepping away makes the knot unbelievably tighter.
"I never imagined the connection of a mate, I've spent most of my time around three other mated couples, I've seen firsthand the bond. Yet I find theory and practice are worlds apart here."
His velvet voice is heavenly to listen to, a low murmur that I could spend eternity engulfed in. I could stay here, beside him, let ages of the world around us pass by, and stay, unchanging with him.
My beautiful boy.
Edward.
"I cannot believe I've found you again Isabella." He smiles when he speaks my name. "Bella."
In my human years, I detested my full name. It sounded stuffy to my ears, stuffy and proper, unapproachable.
If I never hear anyone but Edward say it again, I'll exist a blissful woman. It sounds ethereal, beautiful, coming from him.
Eventually, we move to the lit fire, and he settles us on the hearth.
While nothing more than our fingers touch, lying flat and intertwined against the marble floor of the fireplace, it's more intimate than anything I've ever experienced.
"How did you come across me, back then in Chicago?"
The truth was that I had been making a visit to family. I knew of the epidemic hitting the city, and even then, my un-beating heart clenched at the idea of one of my beloved descendants falling ill. So I went to them. I watched from the shadow, never coming close enough to draw attention to myself, but enough to see for my own eyes that none of my kin were dying.
It was after. While I was wondering, forlorn and alone, that I came across the scent of vampire in front of a hospital, of all places. Curious, I found myself going room to room, next to invisible to the over worked staff.
Imagine my surprise and heartbreak at finding a bronze haired boy lying in bed, with nothing more than a whisper of his life in his hands.
"Cities were easier to blend into, for me at least. I caught Carlisle's scent and followed it, when I happened across you, I couldn't bring myself to leave."
He seemed happy enough with my answer. Again, part of the truth, but not all of it.
Something inside settled unhappily at the notion, as if accepting the logical thing to do, but letting the discord be known.
I wished to tell him everything, that silly little girl that I still carried with me, the one who dreamt of such adventures, and love, she perhaps would have thrown caution to the wind and told him.
The century old vampire however, would not.
We don't live this long being open and forthcoming.
"I haven't been back there in a long time." He muses while playing with my fingers and watching the fire.
"It is vibrant, full of life, lights and sounds. I find most cities are."
When he says nothing in return, we sit in silence, allowing one another to simply be.
Suddenly, I'm drawn back to my childhood, to the nights I'd sit on our stairs and watch my parents like this. Words weren't needed, in the quiet of the evenings they would sit near each other, reading, sewing, living silently together. I'd never seen my mother more relaxed, my father always looked more human to me during those nights, less stiff shouldered and rigid.
Secretly, I longed for the same.
Now, before my eyes, sits my counterpart. He does exactly as I would wish for now, if I ever allowed myself to hope for such things.
But I don't.
Charles Swan in his police uniform flashes through my mind.
I don't let myself think of nights like these, because my existence is not for myself alone.
My blissful dream is shattered.
He looks beautiful here in firelight, and I know it is not just because of our unnatural appealing looks, Edward truly is a gorgeous man.
The fates, whatever they may be, are as cruel as they are kind.
"I should be going." Slowly, my fingers leave his.
When he doesn't say anything right away I stand, pulling my resolve together.
I should have known it wouldn't be that easy.
Esme and Carlisle appear once more, as if lying in wait.
"Isabella, you are more than welcome to stay here with us. Of course if you have companions waiting for you nearby I wouldn't keep you from them, but if you are on your own we would be happy to open our home to you."
Her voice is so honest, it matches her face and the emotion there perfectly. Carlisle nods and keeps his hand on her back.
Before I answer, Alice steps down off the stairs, with Jasper in tow. "Please stay Bella! We haven't gotten a chance to get to know each other yet."
I look down at Edward, who doesn't need to say anything. It's in his eyes, he's asking silently for the same thing.
Something tells me that even if I left, he'd follow.
Panic wells in me.
I'm ready to bolt when a subtle nod from Jasper catches my eye.
That's right. I'm not completely alone in this.
So I nod at Edward, who rises gracefully, and hand in hand we walk together upstairs, while Esme smiles and Alice cheers in perceived victory.
For now, I'm playing with fire.
Too well I know that I'll get burned.
As always, I love reading your thoughts so far. Until next time.