Disclaimer: I do not own Twilight.
This story has been adopted. The original was written and discontinues by Amiiix3. I was graciously given permission to continue the story as I saw fit. Thank you Amiiix3 for your trust.
The carriage continued across the bumpy road, and I saw other horses pulling carts along; we were in the smaller part of New York. The ride was uncomfortable, and hot. The spring sun had leaked through the clouds and was pouring from the windows thickly.
Edward had pulled the dark, velvet curtain over his window, effectively casting him in the perpetual shadow he lived in. He leaned back in his seat, eyes closed, arms crossed over his chest. He seemed to be napping, but we both knew it was not possible.
The driver, on the other hand, did not. He continued to cast longing gazes in my direction- desiring, daring, disgusting. I turned from him, eager to leave the confined space. I heard Edward chuckle under his breath when the driver had turned for almost the twentieth time in the short ride.
I wrinkled my nose at him, feeling annoyed. Ego deflated, I turned back to the window, enjoying the wind that flapped the curtain back, though I only peeked through a tiny space, afraid of the light touching my skin and turning it to diamonds.
"Stop here!" I called.
A tiny building stood on the edge of another block. It was perfectly square in size, and with my unnaturally strong sight, I could see it was almost empty. On top of that, it was a woman's clothing store.
The driver let us go reluctantly. Edward had no money, which made sense as we had no use for it, but I was always prepared. I pulled a few crisp notes from my bag and dropped them on the driver's lap before hopping out the door and right through the other- which Edward held open for me like a good gentleman.
Despite our ragged appearance from a night spent on the ground, the shopkeeper began following behind us, leaving all his other customers behind.
"What can I help you with, miss?" he asked. He was short, his head barely reaching my elbow. His high voice pinched my nerves and I was so satiated even the scent of his blood did not attract me.
"Nothing. I can find it myself." I waved him off, moving to a rack and beginning to shuffle through it.
"Are you sure, miss? I believe we just received a new shipment of jackets."
"No thank you," I insisted, attempting to further myself from him. I glanced at Edward, hoping he could use his three foot advantage to frighten the man, but he shook his head at me, chuckling.
"I could use some help, sir." A woman a few years older than me- in appearance- stood behind the shopkeeper. The air about her was regal, but he shook her off the way I had done him.
"In a moment." The shopkeeper turned back to me.
I sighed. "No sir, you can help Miss..."
"Stanley- Jessica Stanley," she huffed, tossing her thick head of curls, each one perfectly polished.
"You can help Miss Stanley. I don't require any help at the moment, but I assure you, you will be the first to know if I do." I turned from him again, this time moving down two racks, though the clothing in these were not to my taste.
From the corner of my eye I saw the shopkeeper pull his stare from me, reluctantly, and help Miss Stanley, with not nearly as much vigor as before.
"Thank you for your help." I hissed to Edward, so quietly I might have been talking to myself. Especially since he was still leaning beside the door, as still as a statue.
He was beside me in a few quick steps. "I apologize. I should have been more gentlemanly. You never told me your power though, and I must admit I haven't stopped thinking about it. Yes," he continued when he saw me open my mouth in protest, "you told me your story, but you never fulfilled the obligation you set yourself in- to tell me your power. It was the first question I asked you after all..."
"You asked me what I was first," I laughed, "Is that why you've been acting so strangely?"
"No more stranger than usual. Your power?" I raised my eyebrows, my eyes darting around the store. Jessica watched us from the corner of her vision. When she saw me looking, she turned her head back to the jackets she was admiring, her cheeks flushed.
"Here?" I asked skeptically.
"Well, if not here, then let's find a secluded place." He raised his eyebrows
suggestively.
Secluded, I thought, feeling my throat become suddenly dry.
"I just need some clothes," I managed to say.
"And we retrieved your bag...why?" He nodded at the smelly, black bag, limp in my hands.
"It has money in it. And some special items. Maybe I'll tell you one day, but for now you can still revel in the mystery that I am." I tossed my hair at him, laughing quietly, and made for the racks I had deserted earlier.
I stepped from the store cautiously. The sun had momentarily receded behind a thick tumble of clouds, but you could never be sure how long it would remain that way.
I stood beneath the shop's jutting roof, pressing my back against the brick wall beside the door.
"Here," a whisper in my ear sent me back, battering the bricks.
Edward pulled away, an unsure look in his ruby eyes, as if he was confused how he should act. His lips twitched and then he smiled. "Your reaction was unexpected," he snickered.
"Your arrival was unexpected," I shot back, "Where were you?"
"I was waiting outside. It's harder for me to control my thirst and you take an incredibly long time to pick out clothes."
"We can't all shop at vampire speed," I huffed.
"Well, while you were wasting time buying useless clothing-"
"It's not useless, Edward."
"Fine, while you were shopping much too quickly for the unimaginably important and much needed clothing, I found a way to escape this sun." He nodded at the ball of furious light hovering directly over the square.
We were pressed to the sides of the clothing shop I had just exited, our backs flush against the crumbling brick, hidden in the partial shadow of the roof's end.
"And where might that escape be?" I asked, doubtful. Edward seemed an amateur vampire to me. He took my hand, his slightly warmer than my own, and pulled me to the end of the block, still forced beneath the alcove.
"Here." We paused at the edge of the clothing store, and the roof's shadow. The sunlight trickled past, like a spotlight, wavering on the edge of our sanctuary.
"Where?" I looked about skeptically. There was no shadowy place around.
"Here, for goodness sake," Edward huffed. I laughed inwardly at his motherly expression of distaste. He tilted his head around the corner.
"Oh!" I gasped. I had thought the corner led to another block for sure, but this was a dead end, a curving circle full of shops; the only exit was the way back.
"Alleys again," I sighed, both relieved and aggravated.
I let Edward pull me around the corner and deep into the alley in one swift movement. We stood in the narrow opening for a moment, both surprised at how thin it was. We could hardly fit, side by side, shoulder to shoulder, across the width of it. I pressed myself flat to the wall, glad to be in the shadow of another alley, but unhappy with the rank odors coming from the dumpsters.
Edward seemed to be thinking the same thing, for he had stopped breathing, his muscular chest held perfectly still beneath his black shirt.
I realized I had never paid attention to what he was wearing. It seemed the only thing I had seen of him was his face, his hair and eyes themselves enough to keep mine full. His black shirt, short sleeved, pulled tighter across his chest, emphasizing his muscles. The khaki pants seemed strange, so easily dirtied by blood, but it was a versatile outfit for all occasions.
"How do we 'escape' this place?" I asked, pulling my eyes from his body.
He was already watching the other end, which I had failed to look at. From all my experience with alleys, they only had one end, but this one seemed to lead to another place.
"Through there." I nodded, answering my own question.
But Edward shook his head. "No, see how much light is there? That's just another block. We can't leave through there."
"Well, you could be more optimistic," I sighed, "Now what?"
"And you could spend more time thinking," he was quick to reply, "There." He pointed upwards.
A smile pried apart the corners of my mouth this time. A little exercise was exactly what I needed, I thought as I gauged the distance between the ground and the roof of the next building.
"Let's go!" my voice was high with the barely contained excitement. Edward grinned at me, his bloody eyes sparkling gleefully. Good and Evil came to mind, a disturbing combination of both in the once innocent boy turned murderer.
"Do you need to change though?" he asked, eyes flicking down my form. He looked sheepish when he met my gaze.
For once, I felt embarrassed at my lack of clothes. They were rather skimpy and threadbare in spots, for some reason unable to handle the friction of my body as I ran vampire speed.
I shrugged. "All right, I suppose. I did snatch something useful along with all those skirts."
"You bought skirts?" Edward raised an eyebrow.
"Amateur," I muttered. I knew he heard, but he said nothing, only grimacing when he thought I did not see. "Could you turn around?" I asked pointedly.
He fumbled for a moment, attempting to give an excuse for why he had not turned earlier, but gave up with a sigh and twisted, his back to me.
"Cover your eyes. And you better not look, or I'll have to use my power on you," I warned.
I pulled open my tote bag and shifted through my newly bought items. There were two knee-length skirts, one black dress, a shirt, and a pair of shorts I had stolen from under the shopkeeper's nose.
Though the shorts I grabbed were a few inches more decent than the ones I usually wore, they still barely hit mid-thigh. The shirt was an improvement to my current. The one I wore for hunting and seducing was tight and uncomfortable, but this was more breathable, the fabric black and silky.
I tugged my clothes off, eyes boring holes in the back of Edward's head. He looked like he twitched when I took off my undershirt, but I had my new clothing back on so quickly it was barely recognizable.
"I'm finished," I announced when I had thrown my old clothes among the pile of garbage bags.
Edward turned slowly, his eyes closed.
"You can open them," I laughed.
He sighed, his lids fluttering up to reveal deep, scarlet irises. I shivered, turning from him, and walked to the wall of the building opposite the clothing shop.
"The sun will hit us right as we reach the roof. Then we'll be glowing and sparkling like fireworks," I realized, "How do you suppose we work that out?"
"I was hoping you would put on more clothes." Edward said suddenly. He was eyeing my new outfit with distaste.
I felt a strange satisfaction in it. "Do you expect me to be able to climb in
skirts?"
He frowned. "No, I suppose not. But it would be easier to stay hidden if you covered more skin."
Now is stung. "I apologize for my lack of decency. I'll go right away to buy twenty yards of cloth and wrap myself in them so that you can be happy."
My sarcasm was biting.
His frown deepened. "Then I apologize for offending you."
"You didn't offend me."
"I did."
"You didn't."
"No need to deny it, Miss Isabella, I assure you, you were offended."
"I wasn't."
"You were." He nodded.
I put my hands on my hips, leaning forward aggressively. "I assure you. If anyone was offended, you would know right away." I raised a fist menacingly. "And you can trust that I would know if I was offended- which I am not."
"Well..." he grinned crookedly, a dazzling smile, and rubbed the back of his neck.
"I accept your apology though, and simply must add that my clothing is perfectly decent. And I hope you realize we'll both be glittering in the sun- not just one of us. So I'd like to say that I'm disappointed you didn't realize how sunny New York could be in the spring when you came here and I'm shocked you packed so little. Furthermore-"
"All right, all right." Edward held up his hands, palms out. "Truce?"
"Truce," I huffed. My hands slid from my hips and Edward relaxed.
"Ready to climb then?" His grin was back on, brighter than before.
I nodded excitedly.