A's notes : Hey there :) Thanks for your reviews on chapter 8 ! I hope you'll appreciate this one too, don't hesitate to review ! Chapter 10 will be the last.
Karine
Chapter 9 :
In spite of him running much faster than me, I managed to follow him. It was a sunny day again : he wouldn't go far and would have to stop in a few seconds. Suddenly, he did so and I came next to him. He looked sad.
"You'll have to wait, if you want to kill a human, the sun will be shining today," I said ironically.
He looked at me for a long time and eventually asked me : " How did you do ?"
His voice was back to normal, it reassured me. I took his hands in mine and said : "I had Carlisle who taught me that I could be someone else than a vicious creature. Contrary to the vampires you see on tv or in the books, we do have a conscience, we can still feel emotions like love or fear. You may not feel like that right now because of the thirst but it won't last Edward. I'll always be there, and one day you'll remember what it was like to be the two of us, you'll remember what we said to each other 2 days ago…"
I looked down, unable to meet his eyes, I was too ashamed of myself. He took a deep breath, caressed my cheek and said : "I do remember, but it's just that I can't control this thirst. It's burning inside of me Bella. And it's terribly painful, if I hadn't any feelings for you I would destroy all the town now."
"You'd hurt your mom ?"
He suddenly frowned, puzzled by my unexpected question. "I… I couldn't do that…"
I smiled and replied : "You see, that's what I'm talking about Edward. You can't tell yourself 'Okay, I'm going to kill this person but not this one for she's my mother' You can't judge who has to die and who hasn't to."
He silently nodded, deeply thinking for a few seconds. Now, I could only hope he would listen to me and try to let me help him during those first months, I was ready to do anything for him. I owed him that.
"Okay, I want your help. I need your help."
"I'm here, forever." He smiled and I kissed him.
"I'll go with the animal blood," he said smiling.
"I have to show you how to hunt then, it's not complicated, you'll see," I replied.
He seemed to hesitate for a second so I asked him what was wrong. "What about Rosalie ?" he said, his eyes worried.
"We'll take care of this later, you have to drink for now." I took him deeper in the woods.
Narrator's POV - flashback : Angela was just passing by the street when she had heard the screams. Real loud screams. Coming from Edward's house. She had jumped a little, suddenly taken out of her thoughts about the Maths class, had stopped in front of the house and had come into Edward's yard to see what was going on, she already had her cell in her hand, just in case. But after hiding behind a bush, she quickly got that the police or the firemen wouldn't help at all unfortunately. She had caught sight of Rosalie behind Edward, holding his neck with her right hand and then she had seen Bella, looking terrified, talking to Mr Cullen. Then, without even having the time to understand the process of the action, Rosalie had bit Edward. On the neck and now blood was flowing from the wound. Then Bella had crashed on Rosalie and they both had destroyed the wall behind Rosalie, and finally before running like hell, Angela had seen Jasper jumping on Edward and biting him too. That's when she had begun to run. At this very moment, she hadn't known where to run to but she knew she could only run. Far away from the Cullens.
Carlisle tried to stay calm, he had told Rosalie he wanted to talk to her face to face, without no one around to bother them. He didn't really know where to begin but he had to.
"Rosalie, you know Esme and I appreciate you like our own daughter, we've always been here for you. And we know you love us too. But what you did is in complete opposition to our principles, to what Esme and I taught you. And we're deeply hurt by this situation. I know that you've never really liked Bella and that you loved the life you had but it wasn't a reason to let us go. Because that's what you did by biting Edward, you all let us go. Cowardly. And we can't accept this."
Rosalie was quietly listening, without saying a word. She knew Carlisle was right, she looked up at him and told him : "Emmett and I are leaving. I think you don't want me in the family anymore now. I won't cause trouble anymore."
"To be honest, I think it's the best you can do for now. But you'll always be a part of the family, so you can always come back to us, no matter what Bella thinks. You're our child."
Rosalie got up, thanked Carlisle and got out of their house.
Once Rosalie and Emmett left, Alice came into the room. "Bella's with Edward, things are going well, they're hunting. Bella managed to convince him he had to learn not to kill humans. They're gonna be fine."
Carlisle smiled and told her it was good news. But he was worried about Bella. "Alice, isn't Bella going to do something about Rosalie ?"
She shook her head quickly and said : "Nope, she's entirely focused on Edward. Don't worry. I'm sure they'll come back before the sun sets."
"Thank you Alice, how's Jasper ?"
Alice winced. "He's resenting himself though I can't stop telling him it's not his fault. I don't really know what to do actually."
"Maybe I could talk to him ?" Carlisle proposed.
"No, I think he needs to be alone actually," Alice replied, the pain in her voice.
"But he's going to be okay ?"
"Yes."
"Good," Carlisle repeated. "I trust you, you'll know how to make him feel better. Besides, that's a pity he can't control his own emotions."
Alice couldn't agree more with that. "Do you think Rosalie will come back ?"
Carlisle nodded and said : "I think so. She may not always be of the generous kind but she loves us, and she knows she hurt us. I think Emmett will talk to her someday. We have to be patient."
Alice nodded and disappeared off the room.
Angela was quieter today, she was reaching school by now and she was thinking and thinking again and again about what she had just witnessed 2 days ago. A part of herself wanted to check on Edward, to know if he was still alive, but another part of herself told her to stay away and to speak. What to do ? The others would think she's crazy, of course everyone thought the Cullens were freaks, but vampires ? Right. And Buffy and Faith are coming to Forks. She couldn't believe it herself, she was the rational kind of girl that only believed in what she saw. But she saw them. She knew.
As she glimpsed her friends in the parking lot, she decided to wait. She'll pass by Edward's house tonight and she'll see whether he's home or not, then she'll wait until he comes to school. If he came to school. If he physically becomes like the Cullens, she would be sure.
Edward was incredibly fast to learn new things and to locate his preys. I was really amazed by him and he was happy he could resist human scent. After feeding on a tenth animal, he came to me and said : "I think I'm doing good right ?"
"You're doing great !" I replied, kissing his cheek.
"Thanks to you," he added, caressing my hair.
"That's right but that's mainly because of you, if you didn't want it, you couldn't do it," I gently replied.
"Yeah, I guess you're right," he said smiling.
He was about to kiss me when he suddenly stiffened. "What ?"
"My mom, what am I going to do ?"
"I think the best is for you to pretend you're missing." He cringed. "Look, I know it's horrible, I really do, but if you wanna protect her, that's the only way. You can't tell her about us."
"Is there a serious reason why ?" he asked, his eyes curious and wary.
"The Volturi. I'll explain everything to you at home alright ?" I asked him.
"Sure, let's go."
"You don't need another…"
"For now, it's okay." His eyes were still bright red but I wasn't surprised. I was wondering what his reaction will be when he sees himself in a mirror. And we still had so many things to tell each other.
As soon as the bell rang, Angela quickly exited the room. She actually couldn't wait to pass by Edward's house, she almost ran on her way but didn't want to be noticed. So she tried hard to walk normally and she didn't need to be close to the house to see the police lights ; Edward's mother was in front of the house, a tissue in her hand, tears falling down her face. The chief police was taking notes and now he was talking to her quietly. Angela carried on walking until she was in front of the house, there she talked to a policeman :
"Excuse me, what… what happened ?"
The man cleared his throat and asked Angela : "You know Edward Masen ?"
Angela nodded and said : "A bit yeah, he hangs out with us at school."
"Well, he's been missing for 2 days now. One morning he disappeared in thin air. I'm pretty sure he just ran away to a friend or something, that's what teenagers are about right ? Fleeing and friends." He shook his head.
'Alright' Angela thought, what kind of policeman was that ? She said : "What does his mother say ?"
"That she left for work on Monday and that Edward was in his bed, still sleeping." When she came back in the evening, he just wasn't there and his breakfast was still on the kitchen table."
"It sounds weird, why would he run away this way ?"
"To pretend he's been kidnapped."
Sure. Angela decided she had enough of this man, thanked him and left. Apparently, there were no traces of blood anywhere and Edward never came back home, this didn't prove he was dead. Like it didn't prove he wasn't. Should she talk about this to someone ? But who ? Jessica would tell the whole world about it, Mike would laugh at her, Eric would do so too… She had no one. The only thing she could do was investigate on her own. And that's what she decided to do.
Alice was talking with Jasper about what had happened when suddenly she had a vision. It lasted around 10 seconds. When it was over, Jasper asked her : "What'd you see ?"
"Angela… She saw us. She saw what happened at Edward's house !"
Jasper made a worried face and told Alice they had to tell Carlisle. They all knew the consequences of this new fact. The Volturi didn't accept humans knowing about vampires, they had to be killed or they had to be changed. And they will know very quickly that Angela knows about vampires and they will come here in Forks to make a decision about her. They had to hurry. Carlisle was about to leave for the hospital when Alice called him.
"Carlisle, wait ! We have to talk to you. I had a vision, Angela Weber saw everything at Edward's house, she was just passing by his house and she heard his screams."
Carlisle's look became grave and firm. He asked : "What about the Volturi ?"
"They don't know yet. If we hurry, they won't come."
"What do you mean 'if we hurry' ?"
"We have to talk to Angela, we have to do something, you know it."
Carlisle nodded and said : "Yeah I know but how are we going to approach her after what she saw ? She must be very scared of us now."
"I think I have an idea. I'll go to her place when her mother's there, she couldn't say anything in front of her mother."
"Go now," Carlisle says. "Hurry."
Before walking through the door, Alice turned around and said to Carlisle : "We can't let them kill her."
Carlisle sighed and nodded. The choice will be difficult to make.
Edward and I were finally home and what we found wasn't joyful. Carlisle, Esme and Jasper were in the living-room, looking very tense. I had never seen them like this before. They all greeted Edward warmly though.
"Edward, I know this may be a bit disturbing but we are here to help you with that," Esme said.
"Thanks a lot, and yeah it is disturbing indeed."
"But we have more serious problems right now," Carlisle said with a firm tone. "Angela Weber saw us the other day, she knows. Alice went to her place to talk to her, we're going to have to make a choice. Very quickly."
I stiffened. Edward first, now Angela. "Where are Rosalie and Emmett ?" I asked.
"They left," Jasper said. "But they'll come back."
Edward looked down.
"The Volturi know about Angela ?"
"They will, very soon, if it's not already done," Carlisle replied.
"Who are the Volturi ?" Edward asked curiously.
"A powerful family of vampires that reigns over us, they're always making sure our secret is kept which means that if a human knows about our existence, he has to be killed or changed into one of us."
Edward eventually got it. "So we have to make a decision for Angela ?"
Carlisle nodded twice. "Yeah, I hope Alice could bring her home. This would be simpler."
We all looked at each other, not knowing what to think. This was getting out of control. I decided to break this awful silence : "Okay, while we're waiting, could we talk about Edward ?"
"Edward is part of the family now Bella since he's with you," Esme said smiling. "You both don't have to worry about anything."
"Thanks Mam," Edward said. Esme smiled back.
Alice knocked at the door, wishing Angela's mother would open it. The door opened a few seconds later and Alice was relieved to see it was her mother indeed.
"Hello Mrs Weber, I'm Alice Cullen, one of Angela's friend. Is she here ?"
Angela's mother hesitated a bit, certainly surprised by Alice's politeness after all she heard about the Cullen family. "Er… Yeah sure come in Alice. Angela's in her room."
"Good, is it upstairs ?" Alice asked.
"Yes, the door with the flower on it," Mrs Weber replied while going back to the living-room.
"Thank you," said Alice before going upstairs.
Alice didn't knock before coming in and immediately put her hand on Angela's mouth so she wouldn't scream.
"Listen, Angela, I'm not here to hurt you okay ?"
They both look at each other and after a moment, Angela nodded. "I just want to talk about what you saw. You have to promise me not to scream." She nodded again.
Alice put her hand off Angela's mouth and said : "Listen, I know you know about us."
Angela sat down on her bed and nodded : "You guys are… You really are vampires ?"
"Yes but usually, we don't hurt people. When we met Carlisle, he offered us a family and a new way of life. Only, what happened with Rosalie and Edward wasn't supposed to happen."
"Is he…" Angela didn't finish her sentence.
"No, he's like us now."
"What happened with Rosalie ? Why did she do that ?"
"I'll explain later, I don't have time for now. You have to come with me please, it's very serious."
"Why ? Where ?"
"At my house. Our kind is governed by one invincible family, the Volturi, and their first goal is to make sure than no human knows about us. The problem is that you know and you're still human. I'm going to be very frank with you, you have two choices : either you become one of us, either the Volturi will kill you because they'll never be sure you won't say anything as a human."
She looked horrified and terrified at the same time. "Where are the Volturi ?"
"In Italy but they'll come very soon. Angela, listen, we have to change you before they come."
"Change me ? Into a vampire ?" She whispered. "But what about my mom ? My life ?"
"I'm sorry Angela, I'm really sorry but you'll have to make a choice from now."
It didn't take her long to decide, she didn't want to die. But what would be worst for her mother ? Dying or disappearing ?
"I could never see my mother anymore ?" Angela asked, tears in her eyes.
"If you become one of us, we could still find a way. We'll all be here to help you Angela. You're one of Edward's friends right ?"
She nodded, took a deep breath and said : "Okay, I've decided, I go with you."
"Right, you made the good choice." Alice then put Angela on her back, told her to trust her, jumped off the window and ran to the Cullen's house.
