Chapter 4:

We had practically walked into a lions den. Fives vampires, in this very room. I spotted them then. They were sat at a table in the corner far away from any others, each one purposefully staring into space.

I wrapped my mental shield around Delilah and Alistair while I tried to get a read one one of their minds. I contemplated also using my physical shield as well but decided against it because it would make movement hard for Delilah and Alistair. Plus surely they would not attack with so many witnesses around, right?

I continued walking, sitting down at the nearest empty table.

I pondered a way to tell Alistair and Delilah, tapping my knuckles on the table in annoyance. That's when it came to me. Morse code.

Dot, Dot, Dot, Dash. 'V'

Dot, Dash. 'A'

Dash, Dash. 'M'

Dot, Dash, Dash, Dot. 'P'

Dot, Dot. 'I'

Dot, Dash, Dot. 'R'

Dot. 'E'

Dot, Dot, Dot. 'S'

I repeated the pattern over and over until they got it.

Where? Alistair thought.

I allowed him to look through my eyes and he looked very quickly to the corner of the room where they sat.

What should we do? Delilah asked me in her thoughts.

I just shrugged. Then I heard shouting.

It was mental shouting coming from the table of vampires in the corner.

Why can't I read their minds?! One of them thought.

I let up me shield and then thought, Because I'm blocking you.

I let my shield snap back into place. I looked at the table and watched as one of the males heads snapped up and his gaze met mine.

He was beautiful, even by vampire standards. He had unruly bronze hair, pale skin, different to others, more creamy. And deep, huge topaz eyes framed by thick, long lashes. He was tall, at least 6' 2", and I could tell he was well toned even though he had clothes on.

-most beautiful vampire I have ever seen. That was all I got, I had missed the first half of the thought. I hope he meant me.

I looked down at the table I was sitting at. Why had I thought that?

I felt his stare boring into me.

How are you blocking me if you can read my mind? he thought.

"Because I can." I said once again meeting his eyes.

I saw Alistair and Delilah look at each other so I turned back to face them. "Mind reader. The young male." I said quietly. I had had a chance to look at the others sat at the corner table and had noticed he looked quite young compared to the other males, who looked more around the age of a student in collage than in high school.

They both nodded, letting me know that they understood.

For the rest of lunch I kept glancing at the beautiful bronze haired boy, only to find him staring back at me. The waring bell rang then singling that is was the end of lunch. I stood up waving a goodbye to Alistair and Delilah and then walked out of the lunch room again I felt peoples eyes staring at my retreating form.

Now I had Spanish. I rushed to the Spanish room in a hurry thinking I was late, only to find it almost empty apart from the teacher whose name I now knew was Mrs Gomez. No it was not, she called herself Señora Gomez.

"Hola, Señora Gomez. Soy Bella, te conocí antes." (Hello, Mrs Gomez. It's me Bella we met earlier.) I said jogging her memory.

"Ah, sí. Te recuerdo. Espera a que todos estén sentados y luego te daré un lugar." (Ah, yes. I remember you. Wait until everyone is seated and then I will give you a place.) She told me.

"Por supuesto. Gracias. Por favor, ¿podría firmar esta hoja para mí?" (Of course. Thank you. Please could you sign this sheet for me?) I asked her.

"Por supuesto." (Of course.) She said, reaching out for the sheet.

I had waited exactly 34 seconds before the first person showed up.

People continued to walk into the classroom.

I was chatting idly to Señora Gomez and didn't notice him walk in until he was right beside me.

"Hola, Señora Gomez." (Hello, Mrs Gomez.) He said in his smooth velvety voice.

"Ah, Edward. Bella, esto es lo que estaba pensando en sentarte al lado." (Ah, Edward. Bella this is who I was thinking of sitting you next to.) She told me in an excited voice. She was clearly happy to have some students that could actually speak the language in her class.

I nodded my head letting her know that I had heard. She told Edward to show me to where I would be sitting.

I sat down and listened to the lecture Señora Gomez was giving us. I decided to test his emotions to see if he was feeling hostile. He wasn't he, instead he, Edward I corrected myself, was practically overflowing with happiness.

"Todo el mundo, hoy es todo acerca de las conversaciones así que voy a dejar que hable entre ustedes. No Inglés." (Everybody, today is all about conversations so I am just going to let you talk amongst yourselves. No English.)

I turned to Edward.

"Hola, mi nombre es Bella. Eres Edward, ¿correcto?" (Hello, my name is Bella. You are Edward, correct?)

"Sí. Así que las dos personas con las que estabas hoy ... ¿son tu familia?" (Yes. So the two people you were with today... are they your family?)

"Sí. Especie de. Alistair es mi hermano biológico y Delilah es su ... ya sabes ..." (Yes. Well sort of. Alistair is my biological brother and Delilah is his... you know...) I said.

"¿Tienes un ... amigo?" (So do you have a... mate?) He asked, sounding, and feeling hopeful.

"No. Sólo soy yo, yo y yo." (No. It's just me, myself and I.)

I'll go check on Bella and Edward. Señora Gomez thought.

"La señora Gómez viene." (Mrs Gomez is coming over. ) I warned. "Sí, mis lugares favoritos para ir eran, un prado en el bosque y un enorme roble viejo." (Yes, my favourite places to go were a meadow in the forest and a huge old oak tree.) I said, covering up our previous conversation.

"Suenan como lugares encantadores. Estoy seguro de que te lo pierdes." (They sound like lovely places. I'm sure you miss it. ) Edward spoke softly catching on that I was talking about my old home.

"¿Está todo bien aquí?" (Is everything alright over here?) Señora Gomez asked.

"Sí, estábamos hablando de mi antigua casa." (Yes, we were talking about my old home.)

Señora Gomez just nodded. "Completa estas hojas y luego te enviaré a un recado para mí. Puedes ir ahora si te gusta las sábanas será dado como tarea de todos modos." (Complete these sheets and then I'm going to send you on an errand for me. You can go now if you like the sheets will be given out as homework anyway.)

"Voy a hacerlo ahora si está bien contigo Edward." (I'm going to do it now if that's alright with you Edward.) I said knowing it would be alright.

He merely nodded and started to fill out the sheet. We were both done within minutes.

We told Señora Gomez that we were finished and then she had us go and give letters out to students that were either failing in Spanish and needed to get themselves a tutor or were doing exceptionally well. Edward and I both got one for doing well. I don't even know how I got one I'd only been in the lesson for 15 minutes.

We ended up walking around the empty corridors handing out letters.

"So, I take it that the meadow and oak tee were made up?" He asked as we made our way to building 4.

"No. They are right here in Forks. After all this were I grew up is it not?" I smirked knowing full well that he did not know this.

He stopped walking then and turned to look me straight in the eyes. "Really, is it not hard to come back then. Presuming Swan is your real last name? Surely people will recognise you?" I suddenly felt like I was under investigation, but I knew his intentions were pure.

"It is indeed my last name but I have no living relatives." I said in a sad voice.

"Oh, I'm sorry. I hope you don't mind me asking but how can you be sure?" He asked me his expression soft.

"Because, shortly after Alistair and I disappeared we tried to find him only to find his grave in Forks cemetery. We looked him up in the records and they said that after being admitted to hospital with chest pains he had a heart attack and died." I said, my voice shock on the word 'died'.

"I'm so very sorry Bella."

"Not your fault. Besides I don't really think about it anymore." I shrugged.

Edward knew that I was lying but he didn't push me for anymore information.

"So, what about you? Do you have any living relatives?" I asked curious about his story.

"I... I don't know. My parents died of Spanish influenza. Carlisle found me, I was on my death bed. I had a fiver so high that I was barely conscious. Carlisle had taken care of both my mother and father, so he knew that I was alone. My mother nursed me while she too was ill and weak, and when the time came for her to go, she made Carlisle promise that he would do everything in his power to help me. For she knew he was different, she knew he could do what other doctors could not. And so I became Carlisle's first son. To answer your actual question, the fever is the reason I don't know. Our human memories obviously start to fade after the transformation, but for me they were already gone." His mouth twitched into a frown and for a moment he looked lost in thought.

I raised my hand to try to comfort him in some way. I settled on placing it on his shoulder and giving it a gentle rub.

"Guess we're kind of in the same boat then?" I smiled up at him, a genuine, happy smile that hadn't graced my features in over 80 years. "So, the rest of your family are all mated I presume?"

He nodded, "Yes. Like I said before, I was the first addition to Carlisle's family, Shortly after he came across Esme. They mated and were extraordinary happy together, so much so that I felt out of place in their home, and so I rebelled. I took off on my own, hunted humans." He said the last part of the sentence in a whisper. "Because of my gift I was able to separate the guilty from the the not so. Hunting only murderers, rapists, robbers. After a short time I started so become depressed. I listened to their last thoughts, what monster they saw just before they died. And so I went back to Carlisle and Esme. I didn't take me long to once again become committed to his way of life." He finished and I knew that would be all I would find out today.

We finished handing out the letter and then made our way back to class. The rest of the lesson we sat in comfortable silence, I pulled my drawing pad out of my bag and began to sketch a portrait of Edward. He didn't seemed to notice however as the wall seemed to be so interesting.

Not long after my portrait of him was finished the lesson ended.

"Where are you next?" He asked me once we had reached the door.

"Gym." I said it with distaste. "I like sports but humans are so limited compared to us." I moaned.

"I also have Gym. And I agree. Would you care to be my badminton partner?" He asked holding his arm out, courteously, for me to link mine with.

"That would be delightful." I said, linking my arm though his, giggling to myself as we made our way to the Gymnasium.