Disclaimer – I own nothing, S. Meyer owns all and I'm simply borrowing her characters to play for awhile. No profit made.
A/N – Okay, I know this has taken me awhile but I'm currently going through an overhaul with betas and the like so hang in there. If you've heard of my other on-going story, The Twilight Guild (yep, shameless plug, lol) then rest assured that I will be working on both at the same time. So no worries and hope you like this!
The car in front literally shuddered as we finally pulled into parking spaces, causing both Bella and I to laugh. In the blink of an eye, Alice was out of their car and beside Bella, having already opened her door. That was fast even for a vampire.
Jasper joined us at a more human pace, a lazy contented smile upon his face. His thoughts were solely focused on Alice and the absolute happiness she was radiating. Seeing it through his mind and also feeling it as he subconsciously spread Alice's sunny mood to us all brought a smile to my face as well. Bella's grin beamed up at me, though it turned indulgent when she looked at Alice. This had not been part of my plan, but if the rest of this shopping trip had us all so happy, then I had no complaints.
I wrapped my arm around Bella as we walked to enter the Mall of America, one of the biggest malls in the United States. Alice was practically vibrating as thoughts of all the shops the mall contained flew through her mind. Bella laughed at her.
"Alice, you're like a jumping jack! I know you're excited, but you need to calm down just a little."
"No she doesn't," Jasper countered and Alice rewarded him with a rather lengthy kiss. Bella laughed softly.
"You just like the good mood," She shot back and Jasper shrugged, knowing he was caught but not really caring. Bella laughed again. We were all in too good of a mood to complain or argue. I pulled Bella closer to me and nuzzled her hair. She still smelt so glorious, and I happily breathed her in.
"So I think we should start on floor one and just work our way up, sound good? Good," Alice nodded, her smile beaming.
"Hang on, I just thought of something."
"Really? You had a thought? I didn't hear anything ..." I interrupted Bella, and she glared at me quickly before turning to Alice, not before I saw the quirk of her lips though. It made me smile, knowing she knew I was teasing.
"This is one of the biggest malls in America! And we're supposedly here for 'light shopping'! I think I've been duped." Alice just laughed as Bella continued to glare at her.
"Any other time you would be right, Bella, but not this time. I saw what we were going to buy, but I'm not exactly sure where. I know it's here though, and when we get closer I'll be able to see more clearly. We're only here for our dresses, Bella. That is it, I promise." She shared a look with Jasper. "We want to spend some time alone, as well."
I felt the heat erupt within me as Alice and Jasper moved closer together. Their eyes never faltered, and my own gaze moved to Bella and traced her figure. She still took my unnecessary breath away. Our eyes met, and her lips curled up into her come hither smile. She was entirely too tempting. And I was long done resisting her.
Moving to her side, my hands gripped her hips to bring her body flush to mine, as I buried my head into her neck, lathering the smooth skin there with nips, sucks and kisses. Her breathy response to my action only encouraged me.
"Okay, we all have to stop!" Alice's voice was breathy, and Jasper's growl of discontent started before she even finished speaking. Bella's quickly joined the air, and it only made me pull her closer.
Edward ...
Alice's vision hit me then, of what would happen if we stayed and allowed our emotions to take over. I let my own growl of dissatisfaction out before gathering Bella to my side and beginning to walk again.
"You know, Alice, that was your entire fault. If you hadn't got Jasper so worked up-"
"I know where you're going with that, Edward, and I'm telling you now that it won't work. We both know you would have pounced on Bella sooner rather than later." I let a smile curve my lips up at Alice's very correct statement. We entered the mall, receiving the customary stares, and just followed the throng of the crowd.
"Pounced? That wasn't a pounce," Bella mumbled, and my smile became a full blown grin at the memories that simple statement brought forth. Mine and Bella's gazes locked, and I knew we were both thinking the same thing.
"Don't worry, love, the pouncing will come later." I winked and Bella pouted her lips in return. It just made me smile even harder.
Following the crowd, we all set our paces to that of the humans around us, perfectly happy to just stroll in leisure through the mall. As we continued on, Alice made comments about all the shops and what we could find within them, and all the things she could find but was not going to, due to the 'lightness' of the shopping trip. Bella simply replied with how Alice and Jasper could stay on longer, at which Jasper took one look at Alice and said a very gentle but firm, "No."
We all laughed and continued forward. The girls pulled in front of us, and Jasper and I were happy to let them walk ahead, gossiping in whispered tones and flinging us looks every few seconds. Besides, the view from behind, or of their behinds, was very good.
Suddenly Bella and Alice froze in front of us.
"Bella-" The stench hit me then, and I instantly stopped breathing. What was that? My own thoughts were echoed from the others, and we all moved slowly forward, none of us taking in any air. Alice pointed to a stand a little way ahead of us, surrounded by people. By their thoughts and expressions, I knew the humans could smell the awful odour, too, but it wasn't as strong for them, so they allowed their curiosity to mask it. Jasper began to walk faster, and I knew the emotions surrounding him were affecting him.
But we wouldn't be able to stop him without causing some type of scene, so we all moved forward after him, albeit none of us taking another breath. I squeezed Bella's hand, and she shot me a small smile.
A man shuffled to the back of the stand before picking up a bottle. His job was obvious, as he turned to the crowd and held the bottle high so everyone could see. He shook his head and tried to take a deep breath to help with his confidence.
More people ... not a public speaker ... probably here coz of the stench ... hate talking ... hate crowds ... suck it up, it's your job!
"Ladies and gentlemen, allow me to introduce you to the next wonder of the household! This bleach may look ordinary but it's ten times more powerful than your average household bleach. This allows you, the buyer, to only use a tenth of what you would normally need! Meaning you would use less each time, and so the product would last ten times longer! That's our quality guarantee! Just come closer and look at the cleaning results, live demonstrations done in front of your very eyes!"
For a nervous speaker he was a lot better than he thought he was. Still the stench was vivid in my mind, and I desperately wanted to replace it. I leaned down and nuzzled Bella's neck through her hair. Feeling her shudder made me smile, as I took a good whiff. I stepped back. I actually let go of Bella, and took a step away from her. I felt like gagging at both the hurt in her eyes and the stench that now masked my beautiful Bella's scent.
"Bella." I let my love fill that one sound, her name reverent on my lips. I hadn't meant to react like that. It was simply shock. My Bella did not smell like that. She smelt of freesia and love and light and existence. She was glorious. This time Bella took several steps away from me, but Alice snagged her hand.
"Be careful, Bella!" She had been stepping back towards a smaller display and the vision that filled my head caused me with despair. This bleach could harm us, was strong enough to burn our skin and to hurt. My low growl drew all of my family's attention.
"We need to go. This bleach can hurt us if it touches our skin. And the smell is overriding everything. Even each others' scents. We can't smell anything other than that stuff." With that, Alice led Bella away, taking the lead as Jasper and I followed. It really was disconcerting, only being able to smell one thing. And a rather unpleasant thing at that. Now, Bella's smell ... hmm.
In front of us, Alice stopped dead. Her mind had gone blank, and she shuddered. Despite the distance, I still heard her whisper.
"I can't see ..." Jasper rushed to her side as I searched her mind. There was nothing, a void.
"I can't see ..."
A/N – Slight cliffy, I know, but next chapter should be up soon so stay tuned and hope you liked it!