Chapter 13 – Curiosities

Alice never left. She insisted on seeing my closet and was impressed. "Bella, not only are you stronger, you also have better taste in fashion." I nudged her shoulder, "Oh, stop it." She and I were dressed and off to campus. "Carlisle says he loves teaching. He loves helping young people learn new things. He said he may do it again when we move." I giggled, "I know. I sat in on one of his lectures. I recognized Emmett and Rosalie in the class." "Hey Bella!" I looked to my side, "Hey Deb!" I answered, waving to one of my new friends. Alice smiled, "It's good to see you that you were making friends." She was right. I was starting my life over here. Being here, I'm really happy I moved out of Forks. In the library, I showed Alice the books on the legends. She read all of them herself and was just as fascinated as I was. "This is really amazing. Can I call Carlisle?" "Of…" Dr. Perry came in the room, "Bella, who is this?" Alice smiled, "Hello, Dr. Perry. I'm Alice Cullen, well, Alice Hale. I'm Dr. Cullen's daughter." Dr. Perry stared at her, "Lovely to meet you." He looked at me, "I'm sorry, Dr. Perry, but I was telling Alice about the legends and she was interested." His mouth pressed into a hard line. His body stiffened a bit as Alice walked passed him. Stepping closer to him, I looked into his eyes, "Dr. Perry, Alice can see the books. She's going to talk to Dr. Cullen and if he and his family want to see them, it's allowed. Is that all right with you?" He stared back, "It's all right." I smiled, "Goodbye now." He blinked, "Lovely to meet you, Alice. See you in class, Ms. Swan." I watched Dr. Perry walk away and Alice laughed, "That's really amazing." She dialed her phone, "Carlisle, we're on campus. Come to the archives. She found a lot of information." "But, I've heard that Dr. Perry…." She smiled and winked at me, "Don't worry, Bella took care of it." She hung up her phone and kept reading.

"I can't believe Aro was a slave. It explains so much on why he loves power." I huffed, "Being, that he was once powerless." The front door of the library opened and I heard the quiet footsteps, but there were more than one. Alice sighed and I sat with her, "He couldn't stay away could he?" She and I giggled until Carlisle, Edward and Jasper came into the room. My hands flew to my mouth and Alice did the same thing. Edward looked between us, "What is so funny?" Alice hid her face in my neck and I stifled a laugh, "Nothing." Carlisle took in mine and Alice's smiles and he laughed once, "What did you find out?" Alice showed him all the information I found. Edward and Jasper sat and read. Alice stood by Jasper and he held her waist. Knowing Edward's true feelings about me, I felt comfortable standing beside him. I felt awful that I ran away from him last night. I was just so ashamed of what I did and I knew facing him, I would have to face that shame right then and there. His hand crept up to my waist and I was pulled down into his lap. "Don't you ever run away from me again," he whispered into my ear. "Sorry." His arms kept me close, against his chest as he read. "This is fascinating. It says Daywalkers have their own blood." Carlisle looked up at me. Turning my hand inward, I bit down on my wrist and showed my blood dripping from the wound. The tendons of my skin came together and the wound was healed. Carlisle's eyes widened, "That is amazing."

Jasper looked at me, "Can you make Daywalkers yourself?" I nodded, "Actually I found that information from a professor at Peninsula Community College, Prof. McCallister. Actually, Carlisle, you know the painting you have of yourself, with Aro, Caius and Marcus from the 1700s?" He nodded, "Prof. McCallister has a copy of it and he knew your name. He said you were Aro's confidant." Carlisle exhaled, "He knew me." I made a face, "Yes, but I took care of that too. I 'persuaded' him to never mention you again." Carlisle patted my hand that was on the table, "Thank you." "Well, Prof. McCallister told me to make the change, blood is the key. For humans, they would need to ingest my blood, then be bitten. And, to complete the change, they would need to hunt for themselves. But, for a regular vampire," Edward scoffed at the term, "they just need to have blood in their bodies. I think that is so, because when they are changing, the blood that they fed on is changed into their own and they add on to it while they hunt." Carlisle blinked several times, "So, a human told you this? So much for keeping the secrets." I huffed, "Yea. And he believed in all of it. Dr. Perry believes it all a legend, but Prof. McCallister, he wants to be a Daywalker. He said that he is a descendent of Aro, from his human family. After compelling him, he told me everything he knew and it all fit. Darius is my ancestor, but I'm not going to avenge him. I have no reason to attack the Volturi."

"Bella, I am curious about another factor," Carlisle looked at me, "the blood? How does it affect your body?" "The same as it does for yours. But with me, it's a bit different." I looked away, then laughed. Edward brushed my hair, "What?" "There is an analogy, but it's a bit funny. Let's say, you're an SUV and I'm a hybrid." Jasper laughed, "So you're saying, your body uses the blood more efficiently than ours does." My lips formed a line, "Pretty much. I told you it was silly, but it was the best I could come up with." "And with your new mind, that's all you got?" My shoulders slumped. Alice elbowed Jasper, "Jas!" I kicked him, "Oww. Ok, that hurt," he complained. Edward chuckled, "Still have a temper."

Carlisle nodded, "So, what were you going to do with your life?" I shrugged, "College for a start. Which honestly, I love." "And after that?" Edward asked. "I don't know yet. Thought I would finish school first, then figure it out." My eyes fell to the ground. I couldn't let them know that Charlie hadn't left me enough to pay for an upscale school like Cornell. Getting out of his hold, I went to the window, "You may want to get out of here. The sun is about to come out." Alice blinked, "How do you do that?" Edward smiled, "Leave her alone, Alice." I looked up at him, then back to her, "Well, I could bite you and you could find out how I do that." Alice gawked at me, "Bite me? Me, be a Daywalker." She looked up at Jasper and Edward looked at her, "Alice, she was kidding." "Was I?" I laughed, "Ok, how about this? You get in your car, come with me and you can see what I look like in sunlight?" Edward smiled, "Now that I do want to see." All of us walked out of the library to the parking lot. Their car was parked next to mine. Walking ahead with Edward, I tested how strong I really was. Gripping his hand, Edward buckled in pain and I pushed him into my back seat, "We have to talk, so stay there."

He was ready to protest, but the sun broke out of the clouds and shone on my skin. "There's barely a difference," Jasper observed, "She could pass among the humans." I smiled, "See you later." I got in the driver's seat and Edward was in passenger's seat, "You are so pushy." I smiled at his quote of what I told him in high school. I drove him to my house and pulled into the garage. "Bella, what is this all about?" I smiled, "Let's talk inside." He was out of the car and opening my door before I could blink, "I could never get used to that." We walked into the house together and I looked up at him, "Ok, this is about what I heard Carlisle and Jasper talking about." His eyebrows furrowed, "What did they say?" Looking Edward in the eye, I backed him into the living room, "You lied to me, for one. You left me alone in Forks because you thought you were too dangerous for me to be with. You broke your promise of never leaving me. And then, they talked about how they were worried about you. That they've never seen you so…. so sad." He exhaled, "I didn't want you to find out like that. Bella, I am so….." I put my hand up, "Edward, just answer one question and we can forget everything." Edward looked at me, "I think I know the question and the answer is 'yes,' I do. I promise I will not do it again."

My head dropped and I smiled. Looking up at him, a growl began to grow in my chest. With my strength, I pushed Edward across the room. I saw his feet leave the ground, then he landed on my couch. Playfully, I pounced him, landed on the couch and it skidded across the room, "Good answer." I clutched at his collar, pulled him up and kissed him. His body stiffened beneath mine, but soon, he relaxed and his hand held my waist.

Edward and I resumed our relationship as if nothing happened. I fell back into my place with the family, like there was no separation. Of course, Emmett wanted to see how strong I really was. To be honest, I wanted to see for myself as well. An opportunity for me to test my real strength never came up. The fight started between me and Emmett, but soon, Jasper was fighting me alongside his brother. Edward thought it was unfair, until he was roped in. At first, he was trying to defend me, but he saw I didn't need any, so he sided with his brothers. "I really don't want to fight three old men." That caused them to charge me at the same time. I slammed Emmett to the ground by grabbing his shoulders, then, with the palms of my hands, I pushed Jasper and Edward into two twin trees with such force that the trees fell. "Never lose focus." They looked at each other, then to me. I was getting a bit smug, "You asked for it." Edward submitted, Jasper bowed out and Emmett demanded a rematch.

Carlisle told the others about what they read and what I told them. Carlisle spoke to me in private about it. "Aro told me about the Daywalkers. He said they needed to be destroyed." "Really," I asked in a huff, "we needed to be destroyed. You know, he wanted to be one. He regretted killing them off." Carlisle folded his arms, "Yes, Aro loves power and the Daywalkers are very powerful." "And Aro wanted to be one of the strongest beings there is. Not the second strongest." Carlisle looked at me, "Precisely. But what I find fascinating is your ability to have children. As vampires, we are frozen." "Never changing," I interjected. "Right, and there is your kind. You can bear a child." I blinked, "Well, now that brings up a question. I know you are frozen, so woman cannot have children. Their body needs to change in order to do that, but what about the men? If they were with a woman, a human woman, do you think a child can be made?" Carlisle looked at me, then away to the sky, "I wonder… I wonder if that is possible. I wonder if one of our kind is cautious enough to have a physical relationship with a human and leave her alive. Could a child come from that union?"

Carlisle stood silently, thinking. "Maybe, we would have found out if Edward had chosen to stay and you were still human." I looked up at him, "Me….? Edward? Do you think so?" Carlisle smiled, "It's possible. You changed him so much. I honestly believe, over time, he would have asked for your hand in marriage." I exhaled, "Marry…. me?" "Bella, Edward may be immortal, but his morals are from the early 20th century. When a young man finds a woman he cares for, even comes to love, he would court her," I giggled at the word, "Ask her father's permission to propose. During their engagement, they have chaperoned walks together?" "Chaperoned?" He smiled, "Back then, rules of etiquette were much stricter. Kissing wasn't even condoned. They had to be stolen." I smiled, "That's actually really sweet." Carlisle smiled, "But, that is something we will never know. I do wonder what a half-human, half-vampire child would be like?" While Carlisle thought about that mystery, I thought about what it would be like if Edward and I have a child. After a long moment, Carlisle said good night and went home. I sat alone, thinking about having Edward's child. Bringing me out of me reverie, there was a knock on the door. Opening the door, I was surprised to see my guest, "Rosalie."