It was dark by the time Bella returned home. She told Jessica she would call her later and when she entered the house, she saw Charlie was home watching a football game that he seemed excited about. He invited Bella to come join him watch the game and enjoy some pizza he ordered, but she declined his offer telling him she had some homework she had to do and didn't want anything to eat and rushed upstairs to her room.
Once in her room, she locked the door and sat at her desk and turned on her laptop and looked up vampire on the google search engine. When the results came up, there was a lot of sift through. Everything from movies and TV shows to role-playing games, underground metal, and Gothic cosmetic companies. Bella grew frustrated because none of sites she visited were getting her nowhere near close to the answers she needed to Edward being a vampire.
She soon found a promising site called Vampires A-Z. The site came up with a simple white background with black text, academic-looking. Two quotes greeted her on the home page:
"Throughout the vast shadowy world of ghosts and demons there is no figure so terrible, no figure so dreaded and abhorred, yet dight with such fearful fascination, as the vampire, who is himself neither ghost nor demon, but yet who partakes the dark natures and possesses the mysterious and terrible qualities of both." -Rev. Montague Summers.
"If there is in this world a well-attested account, it is that of the vampire. Nothing is lacking: official reports, affidavits of well-known people, of surgeons, of priests, of magistrates; the judicial proof is most complete. And with all that, who is there who believes in vampires?"- Rousseau
The rest of the site was an alphabetized listing of all the different myths of vampires held throughout the world. The first she clicked on, the Danag, was a Filipino vampire supposedly responsible for planting taro on the islands long ago. The myth continued that the Danag worked with humans for many years, but the partnership ended one day when a woman cut her finger and a Danag sucked her wound, enjoying the taste so much that it drained her body completely of blood.
Bella read carefully through the descriptions, looking for anything that sounded familiar, let alone plausible. It seemed that most vampires myths centered around beautiful women as demons and children as victims; they also seemed like constructs created to explain away the high mortality rates for young children, and to give men an excuse for infidelity. Many of the stories involved bodiless spirits and warnings against improper burials. There wasn't much that sounded like the movies she'd seen, and only a very few, like Hebrew Estrie and the Polish Upier, who were even preoccupied with drinking blood.
Only three entries really caught Bella's attention: the Romanian Varacolaci, a powerful undead being who could appear as a beautiful, pale-skinned human, the Slovak Nelapsi, a creature so strong and fast it could massacre an entire village in the single hour after midnight and one other, and the Stregoni benefici.
About this last one there was only brief sentence.
"Stregoni benefici: An Italian vampire, said to be on the side of goodness, and a mortal enemy of all vampire."
It was a relief to her, that one small entry, the one myth among hundreds that claimed the existence of good vampires.
Overall, though there was little that coincided with Jacob's stories or her own observations. Bella made a little catalog in her mind as she read and carefully compared it with each myth. Speed, strength, beauty; and then Jacob's criteria: blood drinkers, enemies of the werewolf, and immortal. There were very few myths that matched even that one factor.
And then another problem, one that she remembered from the small number of scary movies that she'd seem and was backed up by today's reading. Vampires couldn't come out in the daytime and the sun would burn then to cinder. They slept in coffins all day and came out only at night.
Aggravated, she closed her laptop and flopped onto her bed and stared at the ceiling. Though she was irritated, she mostly felt overwhelming embarrassment. It was all completely stupid. Here she was in her room researching vampires. At this point, she was questioning if she was starting to go insane. She wanted to laugh at how silly this situation was, but Bella knew that whatever Edward was, he was not human.
What concerned her the most was that she was not scared that the boy she liked could be be a vampire. Maybe just a small bit was afraid, but not full on terrified to the point she would want him to stay away from her. The normal person would run for the hills, so did this mean she wasn't a normal person? She sighed, and pulled out her phone to talk to Jessica about Angela for a while before falling to sleep.
When Bella opened her eyes, she recognized the green light of the forest. Somewhere in the corner of her consciousness she was aware she was dreaming. She could hear the waves crashing against the rocks somewhere nearby. And she knew that if she found the ocean, she'd be able to see the sun. She was trying to follow the sound, but then Jacob Black was there, tugging at her hand, pulling her back toward the blackest part of the forest.
"What's wrong, Jacob?" Bella asked. He looked completely terrified as he yanked with all his strength against her resistance. She did not want to go with him.
"Bella, you have to run! Now!" he yelled, terrified.
"Get out of there, Bella!" she recognized her father's voice calling out of the gloomy heart of the trees, but she couldn't see him.
"Why?" she asked, still pulling against Jacob's grasp, desperate now to find the sun.
But then Jacob let go of Bella's hand and yelped, suddenly shaking, and falling to the forest floor. He twitched on the ground as she watched in horror.
"Jacob!" she screamed. But he was gone. In his place was a large reddish-brown wolf with black eyes. The wolf faced away from her, and turned toward the shore. The hair on the back of his shoulders bristling, low growls coming from between his exposed fangs.
"Bella, run!" Charlie cried out again from behind her. But she didn't turn and suddenly her surrounding's changed. The clouds had now darkened into a gloomy gray as the atmosphere had become cold and all the trees in the forest had withered and died.
And then Edward stepped out from the trees with blood smeared around his mouth. His skin faintly glowing, and his eyes were black and dangerous. He held up one hand and beckoned Bella to come to him. The wolf growled at him.
Bella took a step toward him, and then he smiled and his teeth were sharp and pointed.
"Trust me," he said seductively.
She took another step.
The wolf then launched himself across the space between Bella and the vampire, fangs aiming for Edward's neck.
"NO!" Bella screamed, jolting upright from her bed. She was back in her room.
She grabbed her phone from the drawer next to her bed and saw that she received a text from Edward.
Edward:
Just got back. Will pick you up around twelve thirty.
The time on her phone showed it was eleven o four a.m., so she had at least an hour and twenty six minutes before Edward arrived. She needed to get out of the house for a bit to get her head together.
Bella brushed her teeth quickly first and she pulled on her boots, already deciding where she was going, and went downstairs. She put on her raincoat not really caring about the weather and headed out the front door.
It was overcast, but not raining yet. She ignored her truck and started east on foot, angling across Charlie's yard toward the ever-encroaching forest. It didn't take long till she was deep enough for the house and the road to be invisible, and for the only sound to be the squish of the damp earth under her feet and the sudden cries of the blue jays.
There was a thin ribbon of a trail that led through the forest here, or she wouldn't risk wondering on her own like this. The trail wound deeper and deeper into the forest mostly east as far as she could tell. It snaked around the Sitka spruces and the hemlocks, the yews and the maples. She remembered the names of the trees around due to Charlie pointing them out to her from the cruiser window in the earlier days. There were many she didn't know, and others she couldn't be sure about because they were so covered in green parasites.
Bella continued to follow the trail and then started to slow down. A few drops of moisture tricked down from the canopy above her, but she couldn't be certain if it was beginning to rain or if it was simply pools left over from yesterday, held high in the leaves above her, slowly dripping their way back to earth. A recently fallen three; she knew it was because it wasn't entirely carpeted in moss, rested against the trunk of one of the others creating a sheltered little bench just a few safe feet off the trail. She stepped over the ferns and sat carefully making sure jacket was between the damp seat and her clothes wherever they touched and leaned her hooded head back against the living tree.
Bella sat and wondered if this was the wrong place to come too, but where else was there to go? The forest was a deep green and far too much like the scene in last night's dream to allow for peace of mind. Now that there was no longer the sound of her soggy footsteps, the silence was piercing. The birds were quiet, too, the drops increasing in frequency, so it must me raining above. The ferns stood higher than her head now that she was seated and she knew someone could walk by on the path, three feet away, and not see her.
Here in the trees it was was much easier to believe the absurdities that embarrassed her indoors. Nothing had changed in this forest for thousands of years, and all the myths and legends of a hundred different lands seemed much more likely in this green haze than they had in her clear-cut bedroom.
She forced herself to focus on the two most vital questions she had to answer, she did so unwillingly.
First, Bella had to decide if it was possible that what Jacob had said about the Cullens could be true.
Immediately her mind responded with a resounding negative. It was silly and morbid to entertain such ridiculous notions. But what, then? She asked to herself. There was no rational explanation for how she was alive at this moment. She listed again in her head the things she's observed herself: the impossible speed and strength, the eye color shifting from black to brown and back again, the inhuman beauty, and other small things like how they took tiny bites of their food and never fully eating, and the way Edward sometimes spoke with unfamiliar cadences and phrases that better fit the style of a turn of the century novel than that of a twenty first century person. He hadn't said no to the beach trip until he heard where they were going. He seemed to know what everyone around him was thinking expect Bella. He had told her he was the bad guy, dangerous.
Could the Cullens be vampires? Well, they were something.
Something outside the possibility of rational justification was taking place in front of her incredulous eyes. Whether it be Jacob's evil ones or Bella's superhero theory, Edward Cullen was not human. He was something more. She decided that would be her answer for now.
And then the most important question of all for Bella. What was she going to do if it was true? What should she do? Involving someone else was definitely out. Bella couldn't even believe herself; anyone she told would have her committed.
Suddenly she remembered Angela's warning about how she got a bad feeling about Edward and how Bella should be careful around him. If Angela really did have psychic abilities, could she tell that Edward was not human? Thinking about vampires and psychics was starting to make her head spin.
Only two options seemed practical. The first was to take his advice: to be smart, to avoid him as much as possible. To cancel their plans, to go back to ignoring him as much as possible. To pretend there was an impenetrably thick glass wall between them in the one class where they were forced together. To tell him to leave her alone and mean it this time.
Bella was gripped with the sudden agony of despair as she considered that alternative. The thought of never being around Edward again made her heart ache, and she knew it was completely stupid to let that override her common sense but she couldn't help it. Her mind rejected the first option, quickly skipping on to the next option.
She could do nothing different. After all, he'd done nothing to hurt her so far. In fact, she would be dead right now if Edward hadn't saved her from getting crushed by Tyler's van.
There was one thing she was sure of. The dark Edward in her dream last night was a reflection only of her fear of the creature Jacob had spoken of, and not Edward himself. Even so, when she screamed out in terror at the werewolf's lunge it wasn't fear for the wolf. It was fear that Edward would be harmed even as he called to her with sharp edged fangs. She feared for him.
And Bella knew in that moment she had her answer. She didn't know if it was even a choice because she was already in too deep. When she thought of him, of his voice, his hypnotic eyes, the magnetic force of his personality, she wanted nothing more than to be with him right now. Not here, alone in the forest. Not while the rain made it dim as twilight under the canopy and pattered like footsteps across the matted earthen floor. She shivered and rose quickly from her place of concealment, worried that somehow the path would have disappeared with the rain.
But it was there, safe and clear, winding its way out of the dripping green maze. Bella followed it hastily, her hood pulled close around her face, and made her way home.
It was noon when Bella returned back home. She went upstairs and got herself ready for her trip to Seattle with Edward. When she was done, she decided to kill time by working on her paper on Macbeth that was due Wednesday. She settled into outlining a rough draft contentedly, more serene than she'd felt since...well, since Thursday, if she was being honest.
Her attention was soon on the sound of a honking horn coming from outside. She looked to see a familiar black Bentley parked on the sidewalk in front of her house. One part of her was telling her to just cancel the whole thing and lie and tell Edward she was sick, and the other side was telling her to stop being afraid and go find out the truth about him for herself. It was like having an angel and a devil on her shoulders and the devil's temptation won.
Grabbing her coat and her purse, she headed downstairs into the kitchen to grab some money in a jar her dad said he would leave for her for her trip to Seattle. She already had some money left over from a summer job from last year, but Charlie was nice enough to give her some extra money. She left him a note thanking him and reminding him of where she was going and then headed out the front door.
Even from a distance, Bella could see Edward's smile as she step outside. He waved to her, but she didn't return the gesture and made her way inside the vehicle.
Once she was inside, she kept her face forward, not wanting to make any eye contact with Edward out of fear she could suddenly just freak out. In her mind, as long as she faced forward everything would be fine.
"Hi," Edward said politely.
"Hi," Bella replied quickly.
"How have you've been?"
"Fine," she replied quickly, again.
She hoped she wasn't coming off as rude like he did something wrong and she didn't want to be around him. She just didn't know how to act around him know that she knew he wasn't human.
"Is everything okay?" he asked with concern.
Bella was careful this time to not respond so quickly. "Yeah, everything's fine. I'm just not use to getting up this early on a Saturday that's all."
"Um, okay."
And with that, Edward drove them out of the small town of Forks and on toward the city of Seattle.
The car ride to Seattle was probably the most excruciating hours of Bella's life. Edward occasionally tried to start a conversation, but Bella just came off as awkward and nervous or just nodded her head yes or no. She felt bad because she didn't want to hurt Edward's feelings or make him think he did anything wrong, but knowing what she now knows about him she just didn't know how to act around him anymore.
She wanted so badly to just ask him up front if he was a vampire, but the idea just seemed absurd. Like, who asks another person something so crazy? And how would Edward react? Bella feared he would probably either throw her out his car or take her to the nearest mental institution, but she knew the boy next to her was not human she just didn't know how to confront him about it.
After a long drive and one ride on the Bainbridge Ferry, they finally arrived to Seattle around three where Edward drove and parked the car in the parking garage of the Pacific Palace mall in downtown Seattle.
When they got into the mall, the first shop they entered was a Nordstrom department store which was easily found on the ground floor. Bella wasn't particularly picky when it came to fashion, but she found herself becoming indecisive about what clothing to buy. Edward tried to make a few suggestions, but Bella politely declined his help explaining she would figure it out. She eventually decided on getting a three pairs of casual wear outfits for the remaining of spring and for the summer summer season.
Through out the day, Edward knew something was off with her. He would try to make conversation with her, but she would either give a one worded response or just nod her head yes or no while saying nothing at all. He even carried some of her shopping and offered to pay for some of her items which she declined because she didn't feel right taking money from him with how she was acting. She felt terrible because she knew she was making him feel bad like she couldn't stand him or didn't want to talk or be around him anymore which wasn't her intention, but not knowing whether or not the boy with her was a supernatural creature made her unsure of how to handle any of it.
The last couple of clothing stores they went into where an American Eagle Outfitters, H&M, and and Hollister and decided on getting one outfit from each since she didn't want to spend as much time picking out cloths as she did in the Nordstrom store and finally a Bath & Body Works. It was annoying on some level whenever some of the stores female employees tried to "assist" Edward with their help, when they were clearly flirting, and he politely had to direct their help toward Bella because they were so enchanted by him they almost forgot she existed. Edward even had some other shoppers gawking at him like they couldn't believe someone as beautiful as him was real, but he kept all his focus on Bella which made her feel good.
It was around five by the time Bella had completed all her shopping, Bella had gotten hungry so her and Edward decided to go to the food court on the third floor. Before they could reach the place wanted to go, Edward had stopped her.
"Bella, wait," Edward said.
She turned to him and saw he had a worried look on his face. It made her feel nervous.
"What's wrong?" Bella asked.
He sighed, and gestured toward the nearest empty table in the food court for them to sit at. She followed his lead and prepared herself for whatever he was about to say as they took their seats.
"Is everything okay?" Edward asked.
Bella did her best to put on happy face before replying. "Yeah, Edward, everything is fine," she lied.
"Are you sure?" The tone of his voice showed he didn't believe her.
"Yes, I'm all good. Why do you ask?"
"Because you just seem, I don't know, a little different. Like something is bothering you."
"Edward, I promise I'm okay. There's nothing to worry about," she lied again, putting on a fake smile.
Bella then just started to look around aimlessly while Edward continued to stare at her. At this point she didn't care if she didn't want to face him and she just wanted to the ground to swallow her so she didn't have to have this conversation.
"Is it because of me?" he asked.
This made Bella turn her attention back to him. The hurt look on his face made her feel awful. She never intended to hurt Edward feelings, but she was doing it anyway with not being honest. When she tried to speak, no words came out. She didn't know what to say to him. Her silence was all the confirmation he needed.
"So, it is because of me," he said sadly. His hurt expression only made her feel worse about how she was treating him. It wasn't fair and she knew he didn't deserve it. "Do you not like me anymore or..?"
"No, of course I still like you, Edward." Bella said without hesitation.
"Then…what is it? Can you tell me anything."
"It's just…" She couldn't finish what she wanted to say. Edward was her friend, and she already decided she didn't fear him, so she thought it would be easy to finally get the truth from him, but she found herself stuck.
Edward then reached across the table and placed his hand on top of hers. "Bella, it's okay. You don't have to be scared. Just tell me."
The thing was, she was scared but not of him. She was scared of not knowing what would happen. Scared of not knowing what the truth would do to their friendship. And worst, scared of the idea of Edward decided to leave. If Edward knew she knew the truth about him, what if he decided he longer wanted to see her again? A normal, rational person of course would run for the hills if person they liked was a blood drinking monster, but Bella knew in heart Edward wouldn't hurt her. If he wanted to he would have done it a long time ago or just let Tyler's van crush her to save himself the trouble. She knew she was being stupid, but she had to trust her instincts and believe the boy in front of her was good.
Screw it, she thought to herself. He already saw through her facade and knows something is not right, so she might as well get the truth from him now and let the clips fall where they may.
Bella looked Edward straight into his eyes and spoke. "Okay, Edward. I need to ask you something and you have to be honest with me. No lying, or trying to avoid the question. Okay?"
"I swear whatever it is, I won't lie to you. You have my word," he promised. She knew he was being serious.
It was now or never.
She sighed before finally speaking. "Alright, Edward are you.."
"Bella?" Someone called.
Bella recognized the voice. She turned to see it belonged Jacob Black.
"Jacob?" Bella said surprised. "What are you doing here?"
"I'm here with my friends Quil and Embry. I'm going to go visit my sister in Hawaii next mouth and I just wanted to get some early shopping in. What about you?" Jacob asked.
"Yeah, same. I'm mean not about going to Hawaii, but I'm just shopping for some new cloths, too."
"Nice."
There then was an awkward silence between the three of them. Bella noticed Jacob was starting at Edward hand on top on hers and Bella moved her hand from under Edward's unintentionally quick. Jacob probably thought she was on a date with Edward.
"Oh, this my friend, Edward, Edward this Jacob. He's an old friend of mine." Bella said.
"It's very nice to meet you, Jacob." Edward said as he shook Jacob's hand.
"Yeah, it's nice to meet you, too." Jacob replied.
"So, how long have you and Jacob known each other for?"
"Oh, me and Jacob have known each other since we were kids. Our dads are friends with each other." Bella answered.
"I see," Edward responded.
There was another moment of awkward silence before Jacob spoke up.
"Well, I should probably get going. My friends are probably looking for me, but did you guys want to come and hang out with us? You're more than welcome, too." Jacob said.
For a second, she considered Jacob's offer, but realized it probably wasn't a good idea at this time. "Actually, Jacob, I think we're just going to head back Folks, but thank you for offering." Bella said sincerely.
"I understand. Well, uh it was good seeing you. And, it was nice to meeting you, Edward."
"You, too." Edward replied. And with that Jacob was gone.
Without saying anything, Bella decided she was no longer hungry and got up from her seat and grabbed her bags and headed for the mall as Edward grabbed the other bags and followed her lead.
Similar to when Edward first picked her up earlier, the car ride home was silent. It was surprising to her that Edward didn't try to continue their conversation, but Bella assumed he probably didn't want force a conversation she didn't want to have which she did appreciate, but she was more upset with herself not saying what she wanted to say.
Bella was so close to finally getting the truth, but stopped when Jacob came around. It wasn't Jacob's fault at all. She knew this. She was so confident she was finally going to come out and ask Edward if he was who Bella thought he was, but her own cowardice stopped. She came to the conclusion that maybe this wasn't the right time for her to know, and in a sense Jacob being there was a blessing in disguise.
It was around eight by the time they returned to Folks. Edward got back to Bella house quickly and when he parked in front of her house he was the first to speak since they left Seattle.
"So, just to let you know I won't be in school Monday or Tuesday." Edward said.
"Oh," Bella said surprised. "Where are you going to be?"
"Just taking care of some stuff with my family."
"Okay, well, I'll see you later. Thanks for driving me."
"Yeah, anytime." he replied with a smile.
Bella did her best to hind the sadness in her eyes. Edward wasn't going to be in school because he probably didn't want see her. With how she acted the today she didn't blame him. She was about exit the car, then suddenly stopped. She turned to Edward to see a confused look on his.
"Edward," she called.
"Yes?"
Without even thinking she leaned forward and wrapped her arms around his neck pulling him into a hug. He was completely taken off guard and tensed up at first, but his body eased and he softly hugged her back. That stayed like that for a couple of seconds and savored every moment
as if it was the last time they would see each other. There was so much being left unsaid, but Bella didn't want to ruin it. She just wished she could stay like this with him forever.
They both soon released each other and Bella exited the car and collect her bags from his trunk. They gave each other their final goodbyes and she watched has he drove off into the distance.
Notes:
Wow, so it's been three years since I touched this story, and it honestly feels really weird getting back into it. There is really no big reason for why this story was left alone for so long other then I got lazy and lost inspiration. Plus, I got real busy in my personal life, so..
I don't know how it happen, but I just really wanted to get back into writing again and just decided to update this story. This is an original chapter about Bella going to Seattle with Edward since it didn't in the books. I just whipped something up real quick so I'm not really happy with how the chapter came out, but I'm hoping to do better with any future original chapters.
Anyway, I don't know if anyone is still reading this, but if you are I honestly truly do thank you for still supporting this story and waiting for an update. I can't make any promises on how frequent I'll update but I'll do my best. Again, thank you all for your patience and still sticking around. It means the world to me.