Chapter 8

So, yeah, it took me almost three months to catch on. Maybe you think you would have discovered them sooner or maybe you think I was just too ignorant. But hey, have you found the vampire in your school yet? Because I bet you're just as blissfully unaware as I was.

Anyway, I managed to convince Charlie I was too sick for school the next day. I didn't have the strength to sit next to Edward (and possibly Alice at lunch) and pretend I was still drinking the Kool-Aid and asking for more.

Instead I sat on my bed, staring at the wall in front of me, and tried to convince myself I wasn't going crazy or jumping to conclusions. I admitted that alone the Edward ice event wasn't anything to get worked up over. Sure it was bizarre but some of his excuses (though sounding stretched) could be plausible. And then I thought of the men dropping.

Nothing hit them. The possibility of them all falling due to medical problems was improbable. There were no shots. Alice did not use my pepper spray at all. There was no reason for them to all fall like that and the only people around were me and Alice. And I knew for sure that I didn't do anything.

More than all else I was forced to admit I was terrified of her and her brother. It was immediate and primal like when the old man sits too close to you in an empty movie theater. I wanted, no needed, to stay far away from them.

So then what was it that made those men fall? Alice's stare couldn't just kill people; that was ridiculous. And why had Edward wanted to talk to me the night before? He knew I had been out with his sister, if he had wanted to talk to me because of something earlier in the day he could have just had her ask me. Or he could have met up with me while I was out to talk.

But maybe that was why Alice was trying so hard to keep me in her car; maybe she was taking me to Edward. But why would Edward go to all that trouble? No, he must have come up with the need to talk to me after I was already home.

So what had he wanted to talk about?

And of course then I realized he was going to do a cover up. His sister did something and it was clear by my responses in the car that I was wary of her so who better to keep me off their trail than my biology partner who I managed to not fight with 5% of the time.

He would've sat me down and then tried to pretend it was something else that I saw. He would work to distort my memory until even I wasn't sure what I had seen. And if that didn't work-

I froze, eyes widening. He'd kill me. Because that was just how it was done.

Sitting there, my legs hugged close under multiple blankets, my mind exploding with new information, it all became clear.

It didn't matter what was up with Edward and Alice (maybe even the rest of their family). It didn't matter what I saw. I didn't matter what I knew. All that mattered was that I stayed away. Because that was the only way things would return to normal.

I began the process of avoidance.

Biology was the first to go. My bad grades became my savior as I explained to my advisor that I just couldn't keep up in class; she placed me in study hall. Lunch was as easy as avoiding the cafeteria, something I probably would have done a long time ago had it not been for Jessica's desire for me to be included in everything.

But there was something I did not have a plan for: Edward wanted to talk to me.

Plans made, I was in the living room doing that day's homework when the knock came. I slid down from the couch to the floor, pulling myself out of view from the hallway windows.

"Bella, I know you're in there." Edward sounded annoyed. "Open the door, please? I really need to talk to you."

I bit my lip and held silent, not moving from the scratchy carpet.

Seconds, then minutes went by but I refused to move into view of the windows. Call me crazy but I had a feeling Edward was still standing there.

I finished my homework on the floor.

When Charlie came home with no mention of our neighborhood stalker, I finally lifted myself off the floor and managed to act normally. But worry for school the next day consumed me.

I pulled into the parking lot late the next day on purpose. Edward and Alice were already in class. I laughed a little manically to myself before walking to the office to pick up a late pass.

Yes, it was about at this point were the sheer insanity of everything finally got to me. But do you blame me? The movies make finding something supernatural seem like a trip to the grocery store when in fact it feels more like you left the grocery store only to find that a huge meteor had just wiped out everything in town.

It was left to me to avoid the crater.

Classes flew by as I sat, slightly jumpy, trying to act normal. Which is not the same as BEING normal. Hallways were the worst because I could never tell if they were walking my way or not. The few times I spotted them, I managed to evade by ducking into a stairway but I knew I had to stay on my A-game if I wanted to keep them from finding me.

And they did want to find me. Eric, Mike, and Angela all had messages from either Edward or Alice telling me that they really needed to talk to me. I shook with each conversation, trying not to imagine Edward running me over with his car or doing any number of things to keep me quiet.

And I was staying quiet. Who would believe me anyway? I prayed that my silence alone would cause them to forget about me but I had a feeling it wouldn't be enough.

When lunch came I left the building and booked it toward my truck. There I felt the safest I had all day. So many mirrors to stop anyone from sneaking up on me. I ate my sandwich in silence, reveling in a place where my heart wasn't pounding out of my chest from fear.

By the end of the day I was exhausted but I managed to wait inside a stall inside one of the girl's bathrooms until I was positive everyone had already left. Then I crept out of the building, highly satisfied with my evasion skills, and made it home just in time to avoid Edward's visit to my porch.

When Charlie came home and found him still there, he was smart enough to send him away, assuming that if I had wanted to speak to him I would have opened the door. Then he proceeded to give me a mouthful on the subject.

"If all he wants to do is talk, why can't you just talk to him?" He asked for maybe the fifth time.

I sighed. Because I'm scared something is really messed up with that whole family, I wanted to shout but instead I said, "He doesn't want to talk. He's lying. He's just been stalking me and I don't want to deal with it."

"If he's stalking you then this is something serious. If that's the case then maybe we should file a restraining order."

If only I thought a restraining order would stop him. Defeated, I said, "Dad, I don't want to be known at high school as the person who filed a restraining order against another student, okay? Let me try to figure this out and if I can't fix it then I'll think about it."

He seemed unsatisfied but he agreed, only because he knew I still kept my mace on me.

And so the paranoia continued. One more day at school was agony followed by a Saturday spent entirely inside (I was completely bored out of my mind). I only lasted four days after the incident before the inevitable happened.

Sunday was beautiful, or as beautiful as Forks can get. It was an earth shattering 60° and it pained me to have to sit inside. I tried opening windows, letting the clean air overtake the stuffy scent of a closed house but it was no use. The sunshine splayed on the blossoms poking out of trees and everything in me was screaming "photo, photo, photo!"

I pried myself away from the window in the hopes to silence everything in me that wanted to shove on some rain boots and take in the world. Fifteen minutes later, I was just pulling on my coat silently calling myself and idiot when a voice I knew too well froze me in my tracks.

"Bella, we need to talk."

I turned around so fast I almost fell but there was nothing comical about the situation.

"What are you doing here?" I managed to say, voice low.

"I came bec-"

"How are you in my house?" I shouted. "Get out of here!"

I stumbled backwards, reaching toward the coat closet where the coat I had worn the day before hung with my mace in the pocket.

"Bella, you need to listen to me."

I laughed wildly, the adrenaline of finally facing my fears pumping me up with confidence. "I need to listen to you?" I laughed again. "Oh no, you need to listen to me. I know where my dad keeps his gun." I was visibly shaking. "And how the hell did you get into my house?"

He held out his hand palm forward and down like he was letting an invisible dog sniff him.

"Calm down, Bella."

"Calm down?" That's what brought me over the edge. "Calm down? Maybe you should just call your sister in here to kill me off with the snap of her fingers. Then I'll be super calm."

My fingers finally closed around the mace and I lifted it, my finger on the trigger, just as someone knocked on my door.

"Edward? Are you going to let me in?" Alice called.

"Oh my God!" I shrieked, eyes wide and heart suddenly pounding so hard I could barely feel my fingertips. "You're actually here to kill me off aren't you?"

Edward, in his defense, did have the decency to look surprised at that accusation. "No!"

"Edward," another female voice shouted through my door. "Can we please get this over with? I have things to do today."

I stared at him, disbelief plain on my face.

"Hear me out, Bella. You saw some things that didn't make sense, right? Don't you want an explanation?"

I shook my head. "No."

"Really?"

"It's true, Bella." Alice shouted, clearly thinking we were farther along in the conversation that we were. "Edward is telling the truth."

Edward sighed. "How about I let them in here and we talk, okay? No killing."

I didn't budge from in front of the door. "I don't care what happened, Edward. I just want you and the rest of your family to leave me alone."

"You know what, Bella?" He said throwing his hands up, "that is exactly what I want too. Unfortunately, due to recent circumstances that is not possible."

He stepped around me, opening the door and letting Alice in followed by a surly looking Rose.

"Because I saw Alice?" I quipped, not moving, the mace now dangling at my side.

He shut the door. "No, because if you don't leave Forks today you're going to die."

And that is how I found myself sitting on my worn sofa a couple minutes later, two people I had desperately been trying to avoid and their sister standing in front of me.

Alice and Rose were brought up to date on how much Edward had told me: nothing. And Alice repeatedly kept asking me why I thought they would kill me.

"Am I that awful of a friend that you think I could just turn around and murder you one day?" She asked, preventing us from starting the conversation, something for which I was intensely grateful. Although not enough that I bothered to answer the question.

"Bella, it's okay if you're scared." Edward said, glancing around before finally sitting down on the floor in front of me.

"I'm not scared."

"It must have been hard," he continued as if I hadn't spoken, "pretending every day that everything was still normal."

"It wasn't."

"And I'm sure you have questions for us-"

"I don't. In fact you can all leave, seriously." I'd been telling them that the whole time.

Rose leaned a hip up against the wall across from me but no one left.

"We're trying to help you," Edward continued, annoyed, pitching the bridge of his nose. "Please at least believe that."

I laughed. "Oh, I know exactly what you mean by 'help,' Edward."

He looked up, glaring at me. "How can you not-"

"Alright, Bella," Alice interrupted, shooting her brother a look. "I know you have no reason to trust us or believe us right now but we really just need to explain." She hesitated. "What do you know about mythology?"

"If you're trying to pass this off as the rage of Zeus or something you can stop right there." I said, holding up my hand.

Edward laughed at me. "We're not even Greek, idiot."

"I mean like Slavic mythology." Alice stopped me before I attacked her brother.

I shook my head, frustrated. "Nothing."

"Okay," She started, seeming to try to find the right words. "Okay, so there is a legend of…creatures…who, when they die, come back to life. But, when they do, they need other things to sustain them." She widened her eyes at me as if I should have the answer already.

"Oh, God," I said, covering my mouth with my hands. "Are you trying to say you're zombies?"

Edward rolled his eyes. "Close, but not quite."

I tried to think of every imaginary creature I knew that was undead. Slowly, I shook my head. "I don't-"

"We're vampires." Alice blurted.

I opened my mouth and then closed it. Then I rolled my eyes. "Sure you are."

She sighed. "We're not joking."

I glared at her. "Alice, I've hung out with you, remember? I think I would have noticed if you'd taken a bite out of Jessica or something."

She shook her head. "I'm not that kind of a vampire."

I waited for her to continue but she didn't. In fact, she wouldn't even meet my gaze, instead she stared at my carpet like a dog had just peed on it and she didn't know if it was polite to point it out to me. Edward spoke up. "What do you know about vampires?"

"I know that they drink blood." I said accusingly throwing my hand out in a so-there kind of gesture.

"Some of them do."

He failed to elaborate. "Some?"

"What else?"

I sighed. "They're undead."

Edward shook his head. "We live longer than humans, but this is my first life."

I shook my head, crossing my arms and sinking back into the couch. "Listen, you guys can't just defy all the rules and then expect me to believe you're some unworldly creature."

They were all quiet for a couple of moments.

"What if I told you I have proof?" Alice asked.

I studied her expression: slightly fearful but determined. Then I nodded. "Show me."

And of all the things I expected, it was not to see Edward slip Rose what looked like a fifty dollar bill and then have her approach me.

She kneeled on the carpet and looked me in the eyes, smiling. "Thanks, I'm going shopping later."

"No problem," I said although I had no idea why she was thanking me.

"Alright, I'm just going to show you." She held up her hand in mock pledge. "No biting, I swear."

I looked to Alice but she was sitting down next to Edward, not looking at me. "Okay."

She opened her mouth and, between one blink and the next, the fangs popped out, scaring me half to death. I jumped a little in my seat, kind of like when you expect you're home alone and then you run into your mom or something in the kitchen. My heart beat a little faster and I looked up to meet Edward's amused smirk.

Rose closed her mouth, the fangs retracted, and smiled. She stood and strolled past her brother and sister with nothing more than a "have fun." I heard the door close behind her and then, blood still pumping way too fast, I pulled my legs up onto the couch like some kind of barrier.

"So," I started but I had no way of finishing that sentence. I ran a hand through my hair and pursed my lips. "Which one of you is going to kill me by the end of the day if I don't leave?"

"Not us. Their names are James, Laurence, and Victoria." Edward's voice was stiff.

"Friends of yours?"

He shook his head. "Mores like friends of a friend."

"Why do they want to kill me?"

"They don't," Edward lay back, crossing his arms behind his head, seemingly bored with the conversation. "At least not yet."

I looked to Alice for an explanation. She didn't disappoint. "Being…what we are is-must stay a secret. There are a lot of us out there, so much so that we needed to make rules, or laws I guess you could call them. And the most important one is not to tell a human."

My heart was beating fast for a totally different reason. I let my feet drop to the floor and glared at them (although Edward couldn't really see me). "So then why did you just tell me? It's not like I wanted to know! In fact, if I remember correctly I told you guys to get lost!" My hands flew up like they were illustrating some very angry words of their own.

Edward sighed. "I told you, Bella, we're trying to save you. You needed to know."

I jumped up, crossing my arms. "What happens to me if other vampires know that I know?"

Edward lifted his head up to stare me in the eyes. "You already know."

I rolled my eyes. "So you guys came all the way down here to tell me that I was going to be killed even though the only reason I'm going to be killed is because you told me?"

Alice sighed. "We're explaining this wrong. Bella, we have friends who live in Alaska. They ran into these people who are...more like nomads. Some vampires choose to just continue moving instead of living in one place like us. Anyway, they were trying to find a new place to travel to and our friends mentioned that we live down here so they are coming over for a little bit."

I tapped my foot. "What does that have to do with me?"

Alice swallowed audibly. "Well, Bella, you were in our house. You're…scent is all over the place still." She sent me an apologetic glance. "Humans don't enter vampire houses, Bella. It's just not done. When they come over and smell your scent in our home it will be clear that you know what we are. And then they will have to kill you."

"Taking me out of town isn't going to make me forget."

Edward sat up. "We know, that's why we're going to say we killed you. You stay out of the way, making it appear as if you're dead, and your scent in town and in our house is explained."

I stopped tapping my foot, thinking it through. Charlie would be safe because my scent here could just be left over from before I "died." As for leaving town, it was spring break so I wouldn't be missing school. I wished I had known earlier, I could have planned a trip with my mom or friends. "Why did you guys wait until today to tell me this?"

"We just got the call last night," Alice defended.

Last night. "Then why were you trying so hard to talk to me these past couple of days?"

Edward sniggered. Alice, on the other hand, turned white as a ghost. She met my gaze with an apologetic one. "Bella, when you saw what I did the other day…that was breaking the law."

I sucked in a sharp breath. "You were going to kill me?"

"No!" Alice shook her head, sending her short hair sparking in all directions. "Do you remember when I said I was not the kind of vampire who drinks blood?"

I nodded.

"Not all vampires eat…physical things. Edward and I, we're mental vampires."

I sat down slow, perching on the couch. "What does that mean?"

Edward bared his teeth. "I eat your thoughts."

My jaw sagged a little as I desperately tried to remember which thoughts had been taken from me. Which of course was impossible. "You've eaten my thoughts?"

Edward's horrible smile sagged. "Not yours, no. But other people's."

Relief swept through me. My mind was whole. And then- "why not?"

Edward glared at me. "Because YOU are a projector."

"I'm a what?"

He sighed. "Every time someone is thinking I hear an extremely soft tone in my ear. Like this." He hummed a single note as example. "So usually several different bars in different notes are playing in my ear. It's not annoying, I can still hear everything around me and usually I can tune the noise out. Now imagine you sound like a fire alarm."

Despite his glare I smiled a little. "I'm a fire alarm?"

He clenched his fists. "Why do you always shout everything you think? Don't you ever think quiet thoughts?"

I didn't even know that was possible. "I'm sorry."

"It's not your fault." Alice broke in.

"So why can't you eat a projector's thoughts? Wouldn't that help with the noise thing?"

Edward laughed, not nicely. "Because if I started, the urge to shut you up would be too great. I'd take it all."

"And then I'd be…"

"Braindead." Alice whispered.

I paused, running a hand through my hair again. "Umm…thanks for not doing that then."

Edward nodded. "Doing my best."

I let that go and turned to Alice. "Do you steal thoughts too?"

She stared at the floor and mumbled something inaudible.

"What?"

She looked up. "Futures. I eat futures."

I couldn't stop my cringe. She nodded and looked back at the floor. "How does that work?"

She pursed her lips. "You've seen it."

I vividly remembered the men all dropping all at once. Dead, because they no longer had futures.

"That's-"

She brought up a hand. "It's not usually like that. Vampires…we're just like you. We're not uncontrollable when we eat. We can pass up tempting things, as my brother has explained. We can also choose to only eat a tiny bit."

"As in-"

She smiled. "Have you ever made a decision that you later looked back on and knew was an awful decision? And no matter how much you wanted to you couldn't go back and change it?"

I thought back to my failure to call the police when the men fell and to my strange conversation in Edward's house. Hell, I even thought back to the first day I had met Alice when I didn't ask about her eyes. "You-"

"I've taken just a little bit. Nothing important, just the little decisions. Except for the one with the men of course."

I rested my head in my hands, I was getting a headache. "How?"

She sighed. "Imagine just by looking at someone you could see their life like a road. At each decision, no matter how small, the road splits and different futures appear like new paths. I can choose to take those paths and leave one, making the decision for you. I could leave a few and still let you make some form of a decision. Or I could take every path and then you die."

"Braindead." I repeated, tonelessly.

She nodded and I sighed. "So then what were you guys planning to do to me if you weren't going to kill me?"

Edward ran a hand through his hair. "I would have made you think of the event and then stolen that memory. You'd be oblivious."

I glared at him. "But you JUST SAID you wouldn't be able to control yourself if you tried to take my thoughts."

He shrugged. "It was either take the chance that you wouldn't die or kill you outright. I figured you would at least like the chance."

I threw my hands up. "What is wrong with you?"

"What's wrong with you? Do you know how easy it was for us to wipe the memories of everyone else who found out over the years? But with you it's got to be this big production where we have to give you an explanation and move you out of town…"

"Well maybe I just won't go!"

Alice stood. "No, Bella, you have to go. If you don't they'll kill you."

I glared at her. "Either they kill me or Edward kills me trying to wipe my mind after my little vacation. What's the point? And why did you go through this whole thing anyway? If Edward could actually succeed at wiping my mind wouldn't that be enough for those vampires? Why the master plan?"

Alice shook her head. "It doesn't matter to them, the law says you would need to be killed. Our family has our own method of serving the law. It's…not correct but it saves lives. Once we found out others were coming, and after you had so recently been in our home, it was either lie or get you killed."

I stood up and walked past them. "Well thanks for telling me about my imminent death. I think I'll just get it over with tonight instead of Edward getting to do it after. You guys can leave now."

Alice followed me into the kitchen. "Bella, we wouldn't wipe your memories when you got back. I promise."

I braced myself against the counter. "Why not, Alice? And why should I believe you?"

She was silent for several moments. So long that I thought she had left. "You can't." She finally whispered. "But you're my friend. And now that you know, I can be myself around you. I can't ruin that."

I dug my nails into the counter, eyes squeezed shut. It was ridiculous. Chances were I'd die in the end, either by Edward's hand or a couple of strangers. A part of me though, the part that lives way deep inside us all, was pleading with me to choose life. Even if they were lying, I needed to take the chance at least. I finally sagged and took a deep breath. I turned and she stood there, hand clasped together, eyes pleading. "So where am I going?"