Ok, I'm rubbing my palm together because I am going to be a villainous villain right now! No one throw anything at me, please!
Inuyashademons14 - Thanks so much! Anywhoo I hope you liked Alice! And also...the little do I'm planning for our T and Steph!
Justabookreader - Hey! Long time no see! Glad you liked Stephen's plot. This is just something I'm mixing up to get the wheels moving. Hopefully, if the book gets enough good response, I will explore all of this more in the sequel. :)
Kat Smith - Well, here's me hoping Jennifer's boyfriend wasn't too offended. (Can you imagine keeping your boyfriend secret? Actually, scratch that, I can ;) ) Hope you like the little date I'm planning for our friends. A question; what did you think of the Cullen's reaction to Tulika?
Edward pulled up to my curb when it started to drizzle.
I turned to look at him when I caught his glare. "What…?" I followed his line of vision to see a worn black Ford parked in the curb. The occupants of the car were Jacob and Billy. The looks on their faces were comically opposite to each other's. Jacob looked mortified while Billy's nostrils were flared with obvious outrage.
"What are they doing here?" I whispered.
Edward didn't answer, just mumbled something under his breath, too low for even me to hear. "Edward…?" I asked again, hoping he'd swipe their minds and give me something to work with.
"He's known that we're friends for a while now. He got anxious when he didn't see you today." He spat.
I sat back in my car, contemplating. "I'll handle this." I said, putting my hand on the car handle. "Don't forget this." He handed me the shopping bag, Alice and Rosalie had equipped me with. "I can't wait to see it; I'll pick you up at dusk." He told me.
"Ok," I said as he swiftly leaned in and dropped a kiss on my cheek.
Without looking back, I hopped out and protecting the bag with my arms, ran up to the porch.
"Hi Billy, Jacob," I said as I knocked on the door.
"Hi Tulika, I just brought up some of Harry Clearwater's fish fry." Billy said as Bella opened the door, looking surprised to see me with the Blacks. "Hey, how did the meeting go?" she asked.
I made a quick move to cut her off and smiled at Billy. "Thanks, Billy, that's nice of you." I said, going into the kitchen to take off my wet coat, leaving Bella to deal with Jacob and Billy. I kind of felt guilty but hey, it was my business.
I dumped my bags into my room before going back into the kitchen to get a drink, thinking maybe the Blacks were gone. I stopped short when I saw Billy sitting beside the dining table.
"Tulika, we need to talk." He said.
I considered the man in front of me before sliding into a chair, "Is this about the Cullens? You don't want me to see them?" I asked. He raised a brow. "They have an unpleasant reputation on the reservation," he explained. I sighed, bringing my hand up to rub my neck. "Billy, I respect you and I understand your concern but I assure you, there is nothing to worry about." I said.
"No, I don't think you do, Tulika. That reputation is well earned." He pressed.
"I know Billy. Believe me, I know," I insisted and he finally understood. "You're informed?" he asked, shocked.
I stopped myself from laughing. "I'm probably just a tad bit more than informed, Billy. Now, if you'll excuse me, I have a date I need to go get ready for." I stood up and waited for him to steer himself from the kitchen.
"Think about it, Tulika," he pressed.
I nodded as Bella and Jacob entered the kitchen…with Charlie.
"Billy, hey, great to see you again," he said jovially, removing his fishing hat. "It is, sorry to show up like this but…" he shot a glance over his shoulder at me. "I'd say we got what we needed. Have a nice night girls, Charlie." He wheeled away with Jacob throwing me a final wistful grin and trudging after his father.
Bella gave me a quick motion and I nodded.
"Um, Charlie…we had something to tell you." I said quickly.
"Go ahead, kiddo."
I looked at Bella and she smiled nervously. "Um, Tulika and I were going to go out today…with Stephen and Edward…on a double date." She said.
He froze and so did Bella and I.
"You're dating…? And you…one of the Cullens," he thundered. "I thought you liked the Cullens," I said.
"They're too old."
I resisted the urge to roll my eyes. Typical American dad…even though, he wasn't really that far off…
"Edward and Stephen are both juniors, Dad." Bella reasoned.
"Plus, I told you the moment there was someone I'd tell you. It's early stage, for both of us." I said. Charlie's jaw ticked.
"Ok, when are they coming over?" he asked.
In answer the roar of a car echoed from the driveway. Charlie sighed then walked towards the door, grumbling. Throwing a quick look at Bella, I rushed upstairs to get ready.
Half an hour later, we were sitting in a quaint little diner, looking awkwardly over at each other.
I could feel three pairs of eyes on me, ranging in varying degrees of judgment. I picked up my glass of water. Oh gods, maybe this was a bad idea.
"So, Stephen, how's your life here going?" I asked, in a somewhat choked voice.
He glanced up at me over his plate of fries and raised a subtle brow.
"Its fine, considering…" he made a mock show of a heaving sigh and I clenched my fingers around my fork. He could not be serious; did he actually forget Edward could read minds?
For his part, Edward was quiet, choosing rather to watch me interact with Stephen and Bella than actually do the interacting himself. I was drowning, literally. This double date was so awkward I would rather be playing baseball with the Cullens than bear one more chink or click of cutlery. It was more awkward than that date in Vampire Diaries…hang on…
A slow devious thought bloomed in my mind which I quickly smothered, making Edward fidget in his seat and make a low dissatisfied noise in the back of his throat.
"Edward, Stephen, do you know how to play pool?" I asked, indicating the single barren table at the back of the tiny arcade.
The two men looked at each other dubiously before shrugging. "Perfect," I grabbed Edward's and Bella's hand and yanked them up, "We're playing," I said.
"Girls vs. Boys, I presume?" Edward asked dryly and I laughed. "Actually no, I can't really play pool all that well, never had much opportunity."
Stephen grinned, handing us cues and a triangular aligner before sliding a dollar over to the broad man behind the counter. "We could teach you," he offered.
We took up positions over the table and Edward pulled me over to him.
"You lean over like that," he murmured, placing a hand on my shoulder and bending me over just so my body was parallel to the table.
"Line the cue stick," he whispered. I obeyed and he corrected a couple of my gripping as I hit the lineup, scattering the balls.
"Pick a ball," Edward said, coming up behind me. I placed the tip in the valley between my thumb and forefinger and he gripped my right hand, bringing it back just so when I felt his lips place tiny kisses over the shell of my ear. I looked over at him and he gave me an impish grin as I heard the sharp crack of stick hitting ball. "Well done, sweetheart," he said and I straightened, looking at the table to see the balls scattered all over the table. I watched the ball of my choosing – a red – as it sank gracefully in a pocket.
I grinned, raising my hand to give him a high five, trying to ignore the fact that he's basically been in my head and tried to distract me while taking matters into his own hands.
He eyed the hand as I glared. "Do not leave her hanging, she doesn't like that." Bella quickly put in, in a similar position with Stephen like I'd been.
Edward rolled his eyes before lightly smacking my palm with his.
"Tulika, would you get it? It's probably Charlie." Bella said. I shot Edward a wistful smile as I dug around in her bag and pulled out the phone to see the blocked number.
"Hello," I said into the mouthpiece.
No answer.
"Hello," I said again but was again met by silence.
I shut the phone and slipped it back into her bag when my phone started to ring. Pulling it out, I looked critically at the blocked number.
I glanced once at the trio sitting at the bar. Edward's head was turned just a fraction towards me, no doubt listening. I held a finger up so he'd see it in his periphery and went to the ladies room.
"Hello," I said, more forcefully.
Silence
"Listen freak, you called me, so either talk or hang the hell up," I bit out.
"Feisty little thing, aren't you?"
A chill crept down my back as I heard the cold, heartless voice. It was mocking, filled with nothing but disdain for humanity. From years of studying profiling in my spare time, I could easily tell: this was the voice of a cold blooded killer.
"Who're you?" I asked, unable to filter the fear out of my voice.
"I can see why she picked you…and that boy, too bad you didn't fit the job description." With a click the voice was gone.
"We need to talk." I said, grabbing Stephen by his sleeve. He looked surprised but didn't argue as we walked out of the diner. I could feel burning gazes on our backs but I didn't stop till I was sure, Edward couldn't hear me. I put on some music on my phone and told Stephen about the phone call.
"Picked us…? You mean whoever picked us, brought us here?" he asked frowning.
"Obviously, and this guy knows him, her, whoever this is and he's a killer, Stephen, we didn't fit the description, what's that all about?" I asked.
"You think I know? I don't even know half the book, Tulika." He hissed.
"Well, there are only a few psychopathic vampire killers and they could be basically anyone. The story's changed, it could be anyone." I said, beginning to pace frantically.
"What if we're being stalked? Do you live with someone?" I asked. He shrugged. "I woke up in Ben's place, I'm; I don't know playing his cousin or something." He said.
"God, this is messed up. We have to find some way to go back…what?" I asked impatiently when he just stared at me.
"Do you want to leave?" he asked.
"What do you mean?"
"I mean, I saw the way you looked at Cullen."
"That's…not the issue right now, we're being stalked, Stephen." I said.
"We can't do anything about it; we'll just have to stick close to the Cullens. If anything they're the only ones who can protect us." He paused when I scoffed.
"Do I look like Bella to you?" I said. "I am not going to run and cower behind my boyfriend's family. If this creep decides to show, I know what to do. These aren't indestructible statues, they can be hurt." I said.
"Tulika," Stephen stepped forward, gripping my shoulders and giving me a gentle shake.
"We can't put up a fight without proper training. If anything, the only thing we can do is find a way to go back home." He said. I racked my brains. "There was a site, on the net, about some guy Sorenson who studied about dimensions intermingling." I said.
He frowned. "Sorenson, like, our librarian?" he asked, of course, our librarian, I realized. That was why his name was so familiar.
"We have to talk about this with him." We said at the same time when his eyes darted up and widened. I whirled around in time to see a quick hand strike me across the head, darkness taking me over.
When I woke up I was still in the parking lot, the only difference was that Stephen wasn't the one hovering over me.
The man was regular looking, light brown hair, up to his shoulder windswept like a surfer's or a vampire who'd been running a while. He flashed a wide, white smile when he saw I was awake.
"Morning, cupcake, you're a lot tougher than Sweets over there," he flicked the thumb over his shoulder. I tilted my head, painfully; to look at Stephen slumped against his car, a gash over his head.
I looked back at our assaulter as a database ran in my head, matching description to the face.
"James, you're James," I whispered.
Can I just say...I actually enjoyed Tulika meeting James. He's a heartless monster with a GPS brain and I never really understood the point of him going after Bella. I mean, seriously, if you understood why he did what he did in Twilight, please PM me or leave the reason in the Reviews. I have no clue what happened to the dude.
So, to give him purpose in his literary life; since the poor guy just had about 15 minutes of screen time, on reel and on paper; I have made him decidedly more 'Vampiry' and less 'Just your creepy guy with the Fang problem'. (See what I did there? ;) )
Please tell me if you like the way the story's headed.
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Much Love