Chapter Five - No Going Back
I had gone to bed the second I had left myself into the apartment, but I hadn't fallen asleep until late. I had been up thinking about Edward. I tried to decipher his actions and his words. He felt the electricity between us, and yet, he was angry that I didn't mind him being close.
He had to have known that it wasn't just that I didn't mind, he had to know that I liked it.
When I woke up the next morning, because I had felt guilty about leaving Sylvia high and dry at the club, I decided to tell her about Edward.
But when I went to her bedroom, she wasn't in bed. I couldn't find her anywhere in the apartment and there wasn't a note on the freezer door.
I began to panic and ran to my room to call her.
"What's up Swan?" Sylvia answered.
"Oh thank god. I thought something happened to you." I flopped down on my bed and breathed a sigh of relief.
"Sorry I didn't mean to worry you. I ran into Troy at the club last night and went back to his place." She lowered her voice suddenly. "Chad lives here too. He was asking about you at the club and when we came back here."
"Ugh." I rolled my eyes.
"Bella maybe you should consider Chad. I mean…I know you and Edward has those two moments together but…I don't want to see you getting hung up on him when he's acting so shady."
"Actually I ran into him last night when I was coming home."
"What?! Oh my god tell me everything!"
I was about to open my mouth but I heard a deep voice in the background.
"Just give me a few minutes okay? Yeah. Yeah. Okay that sounds fine." Sylvia's voice sounded further away. "Bella? Sorry about that. Troy just came in and asked if I wanted to go to breakfast."
"Oh well go ahead. That'll be fun."
"But I want to hear about Edward." Sylvia whined playfully.
"I'll tell you all about it when you get home."
"Okay." Sylvia sounded like she couldn't wait. "Hey I just got an idea. Why don't you meet us for breakfast? Troy said Chad's coming too."
"No thanks. You have a good time and I'll see you later."
"Alright Bella. I'll be home later."
"Bye." I flipped my phone shut and set it down on my nightstand.
I decided then to get up and get out of the apartment. I didn't want to spend the rest of the day sitting around.
After a shower and toweling my hair until it was only slightly damp, I got dressed and went to write a note in case Sylvia got home before I did. I told her that I had gone out to explore and that I would be back in a few hours.
I made sure that I had my cell phone with me before leaving the apartment and locking it up.
I walked down the sidewalk, not really knowing where I was going. I made sure that I looked up at road signs so that I could find my way back.
What I really felt like doing was walking along the beaches back at La Push. I had used to do that all the time. I would spend entire days out there on the beaches and then back at one of the boys' houses for a night of movies or storytelling. There had never been a dull moment there.
I suddenly became very aware of the fact that I was in close proximity to Stanley's. I allowed myself one glance in the garage's direction. When I didn't see Edward in the large window, my eyes flickered forward once again.
After walking for awhile, my stomach began to growl. I went into the nearest diner and got a small table in the corner.
"What can I get for you sweetie?" The waitress asked, pulling out a pad of paper.
"Um…a glass of water for now. Do you mind if I look over the menu for a second?" I asked.
"Sure thing. I'll be back in a few minutes."
I watched as she walked behind the counter. As she passed by a customer, he said something to her and she nodded. He pointed to whatever was in front of him. I leaned to the side to see it was a newspaper.
"…cold hands…"
My heart stopped.
Edward's face flickered through my mind.
"…okay?"
I shook my head and saw that the man at the counter and the waitress were both staring at me with concerned expressions.
"Yeah…um…I was just wondering if I could…" I nodded at him.
"Borrow the paper? Sure." The man got up and walked it over to me. "I was just reading that article about New York City's very own superhero."
I looked down at the paper and read the headline: What The Police Don't Want You To Know About New York City's 'Superhero'.
This time, I didn't scan through. I read the entire article three times.
Ordinarily, good Samaritans should receive thanks and praise for their good deeds. But in this case, this journalist isn't so sure. Our previous articles held our good Samaritan up as a knight in shining armor, protecting the weak. But, new facts have come to light that cast our so-called hero in a different light. Several facts about the multiple cases concerning our unknown hero have been kept out of the papers - until now. Most of these facts are all incredibly disturbing. The faint of heart should not read on. The assailants, all men, were all found to have been savagely beaten. Most, if not all, of their bones had been broken into splinters. The blow that appeared to have killed each assailant was the one to their head. Autopsies show that their skulls had been completely obliterated into dust. To top all of that off, the assailants' bodies were all found to have been drained completely - of their blood. Skin on their throats and wrists had been cut away post mortem. The coroner believes that the skin was removed to hide bite marks. The final detail that was kept from everyone was matching statements from all of the women, children, and men that were saved saying that their 'hero' had cold hands. All of the victims had corroborating statements that they didn't get a glimpse of their rescuer, and yet, they know the temperature of his skin. I doubt that anyone can move that fast. It is this journalist's opinion that the truth is being covered up. The police and the victims know more than they are revealing. And I intend to find out what.
I finally pushed the newspaper away from me. I hadn't noticed, but the waitress had brought me my water while I had read.
The only image I had had in my mind while reading was Edward. It seemed silly to have thought of him. But there were a few things that had reminded me of him: the cold hands, the quickness, and even the strength.
"What am I thinking?" I asked aloud, pressing a hand to my forehead.
The only strength that Edward had shown was in the library with the books. But he was a mechanic. Though I hadn't seen them, Sylvia had said he had big arms.
"There's an explanation for everything. This is all coincidental."
"What is sweetie?" I looked up to see the waitress standing next to me, still looking worried. She placed hand on my shoulder. "Are you okay honey?"
"I'm fine." I managed to smile up at her.
"Okay. Well what can I get for you? You look hungry."
"I am. I'll um," I hadn't looked at the menu. I just said the first thing that came to mind, "have an omelet. I don't care which one."
"Do you want wheat toast, white-"
"Surprise me." I smiled up at her.
"Alright. It'll be out shortly." She gave me a smile, but her eyes still looked worried.
I put my face into my hands and tried not to see Edward's face. I failed miserably.
I spent the rest of the day finding different places to sit and think. I hadn't wanted to go home because I didn't want to have to explain everything to Sylvia. I didn't want her to think I was crazy, or worse, to think I was right. But I didn't even know if I was right.
I closed my eyes and thought about the stories that I had heard in La Push as I sat on a bench in a little dog walking park. I kept thinking about La Push and I knew that there had to have been something that I had heard that had to do with Edward to make me think of it.
As I was sitting there, a flashback smacked me upside the head.
"You want to hear a scary story?" Jacob asked suddenly, taking the flashlight from Sam and holding it under his face.
"A scary story huh? What's it about?" I asked, leaning back against the couch.
Jacob looked around at everyone with a grin.
"The cold ones."
"The cold ones?" I asked curiously. "I've never heard of them."
"Jake." Sam's voice was laced with a warning. "No."
"Oh come on. Just let me tell it." Jacob clicked the flashlight on and off while he whined like a little kid.
"No. It gives us all the creeps." Quil agreed.
"But Bella's never heard it before." Jacob pointed across the room at me while swinging the light over Sam. "Let me tell it just this once."
After a moment of grumbling, Sam nodded.
"Alright!" Jacob pumped his fist in the air.
"Okay, okay. Just tell me the story." I threw one of my shoes in his direction.
"Don't get testy Bella." He stuck his tongue out at me. "So you know how the Quileutes are supposedly descended from wolves?"
"Yeah. Come on Jacob tell the story!" I folded my arms over my chest.
"Calm down! So anyways, there was a family that moved to Forks like…ten years ago. They were supposedly descendents from an enemy clan."
"Enemy clan?"
"Yeah. But they claimed to be different from the creatures that they were descended from. So the Quileute made a treaty with them: if they promised to stay off of our land, we wouldn't tell people what they were."
"And what were they?" I asked, leaning forward.
My eyes shot open.
"Vampires."
I made it to the library after running from the park that I had been in. I had tripped once and scraped my palms against the sidewalk. I walked past Barney, waving at him when he smiled and said hello.
"Bella? You don't work today." Suzanne said curiously from the front desk.
"I know." I said as I walked past her.
"Is everything okay?" She asked, loud enough for me to hear.
"Yeah everything's…fine."
I made my way through different rows, pulling books off of shelves and piling them one on top of the other. When I couldn't see over my stack, I stumbled down to the lounge. I chose a corner to sit in and began to read.
There were two opening quotes on the first page of the first book I opened. The first one, from Reverend Montague Summers, painted vampires as fascinating to most, and yet, he said that "…who is himself neither ghost nor demon, but yet who partakes the dark natures and possesses the mysterious and terrible qualities of both."
The second quote came from Rousseau. I felt a shiver race up my spine when I read through his quote.
"If there is in this world a well-attested account, it is that of vampires. 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?"
I went on to read through different kinds of vampires. I flipped through the different letters, stopping over ones that caught my eye. I read through different bios and descriptions for hours.
I read about the Danag. The story of the Danag became interesting when I read that they had once had worked with humans for many years. However, the partnership ended one day when one of the Danag sucked blood from a woman's wound and ended up draining her dry.
I remembered both Jacob's story and the part of the article that I had read about the assailants having been found drained of their blood.
The other vampires that captured my interest were the Romanian Varacolaci (could appear as a beautiful, pale skinned human) and the Stregoni benefici (an Italian vampire on the side of goodness, and a mortal enemy of all other vampires).
When I had finished going through many of the books I had grabbed, I realized that the sun had set and it was dark. I quickly put all of the books back onto their appropriate shelves and went down to the front desk.
"So what is it that you were studying?" Suzanne asked.
"Oh…nothing special." That was actually the opposite of what it was.
"For nothing special you sure were here for a long time."
"I know. I lost track of time." I smiled. "I'll see you on Monday Suzanne."
"Alright Bella. Have a good rest of the weekend."
I walked up to the doors and realized it was raining. I should have been the most prepared person after having lived in Forks for two years. Yet I was without an umbrella and I wasn't wearing a hooded sweatshirt or jacket.
When I walked outside, still shielded beneath the sheet of glass over the door, I saw that it wasn't just raining - it was raining hard. I sighed. It was almost always rainy in Forks, but it was hardly ever hard rains.
I took a breath and hastened my steps down the sidewalk. I could feel the rain soaking through my clothes and my hair became heavier. I could barely see in front of my face but I moved quickly towards the place I planned to cross.
As I made it to the edge of the sidewalk, my clumsiness couldn't resist itself. I slipped harshly on the slick cement and pitched forward into the street. My knees scraped against the asphalt, as well as my elbows.
In that moment, several things happened. I had fallen into the street. In that moment, that was the only thing that I was aware of.
However, the driver of a taxi that had been speeding down the street was losing the battle to brake. The wet street fought against the screeching tires. The taxi was headed straight for me.
I looked up and saw the taxi screeching towards me through the rain. I wanted to shut my eyes to brace myself for the blow. But before I could, several things happened in the next moment. And I was aware of all of them.
A blurred figure was suddenly throwing itself in front of me. In those next few seconds, time seemed to slow as the blurred figure became recognizable to me. I looked into the eyes of Edward Cullen as his burned into mine with the most intense emotions. I couldn't have looked away had I wanted to.
Time, which had begun to tick by so slowly, came to a crashing halt as Edward wrapped his arms around me with breathtaking strength. In his strong hold, I waited to feel the impact of the taxi with Edward. But I never did.
The next thing I knew, I was being lifted. I reacted immediately. My arms went around Edward's neck, and slowly wrapped my legs around his midsection.
Perhaps to make up for the many moments of slow motion, time sped up rapidly. Or at least, that was how it seemed. Only when I opened my eyes did I realize that I had closed them after Edward had put his arms around me.
The second I opened my eyes, my vision was even more blurry than it had been in the rain. Colors without shapes flew past me and swirled together to make one big mess of a painting. My stomach began to turn and twist with motion sickness. I shut my eyes tight and tried to breathe, but found it very difficult to do.
But then, as quickly as we had been moving, we had stopped.
"Bella?" Edward's bewildered voice sounded far away, although I knew that I was on his back. "Bella? Are you alright?"
I was unable to find my lips to tell him that I was. I wasn't aware of my grip on him loosening. All I could focus on was the spinning in my head and the nausea that was sweeping over me in waves.
"Bella!"
I hadn't realized it, but I had begun to slip from Edward's back. With a few quick movements, he had swung me from his back to his front and had me cradled in his arms like a baby.
"Bella can you hear me?" His concerned voice sounded a little closer.
"Yes." I breathed, looking up at his face. His beautiful features were displaying so many emotions at once. There was worry in his eyes, but his set jaw showed his anger, and his lips trembled with sadness…or fear.
"Are you feeling sick?" He asked, his tone gentler than before.
"A little." I blinked a few times to clear my head.
Edward carried me swiftly, but carefully, up a flight of stairs. I didn't dare to move my head from its current position to look around and see where he had taken me. I shut my eyes and tried to concentrate on not getting sick.
After a moment, Edward gently laid me down. And then his cold hand was upon my forehead. The chill of his touch soothed the spinning in my head.
"Thank you." I smiled and slowly opened my eyes.
"You're welcome." His voice was low. "Bella, do you think that you feel well enough to stand? You need to change out of your wet clothes."
"I think so." I slowly sat up. "But…I don't have any-"
"I have clothes that you can borrow for now." Edward walked through a door in the room that we were in. "I'll start a shower for you."
I looked around. I was in the most exquisite bedroom I had ever seen. All of the furniture in the room was made out of a dark, almost red, wood. Everything glistened as though it had just been polished.
I was sitting in a canopy bed with an extravagant, deep red canopy billowing around the bed. My hands ran over the gold sheets. I felt guilty for lying in such a beautiful bed soaking wet.
I got out of bed quickly and stumbled. But Edward was there in a second, steadying me.
"You really need to be careful." He said in the same low voice, a harshness intertwining with his words.
I didn't know how to respond to his biting words. I nodded meekly. It must have been in the way my eyes drifted to the floor, because I heard him sigh quietly before gently tipping my face up.
"I'm sorry." His words were simple, and yet, they were deep and meaningful. "Go shower. I'll have clothes laid out for you when you're done."
And then he was gone.
I went into the bathroom. It was just as lavish as the bedroom. A very large, Jacuzzi tub was to my left, while a long row of mirrors was at my right. There were four sinks beneath the mirrors, and a handful of hygienic products lining them.
I closed the door behind me and hesitated. I decided not to lock it, but waited a few moments before I began to undress. My T-shirt was soaked through. A heavy blush radiated across my face when I realized that Edward had probably seen my bra through my shirt.
I peeled off my Capri pants and cast them aside with my shirt. Then I unhooked and slowly pulled my bra off. When I did, I shivered and realized how cold I was. I quickly took off my underwear and got into the waiting shower.
The shower could have fit an entire sports team. I felt so small inside of it.
I would have felt uncomfortable being naked under the same roof as Edward had the hot water not been so relaxing. I used one of the many bottles of shampoo and washed my hair.
After I had rinsed my hair and lingered under the hot water for a few minutes, I stepped out of the shower. I searched through the small closet for a towel, and pulled out one to dry myself off with.
I then moved it through my wet hair as I swept my hand over the foggy mirror to study myself. I was flushed from the hot water, and there were beads of sweat at my hairline. I wiped them away while I continued to dry my hair.
As soon as my hair was no longer dripping, I wrapped my damp towel around myself and cautiously opened the door. I poked my head out into the bedroom and saw that Edward had laid out clothes on the bed like he had said he would.
Before going over to the bed to look at the clothes, I went to the front door and locked it. I didn't think that Edward would ever disrespect me, but I didn't want him to accidentally walk in on me while I was changing.
I began to blush when I realized that Edward had laid out a nightgown. It was very beautiful: simple and white with sleeves that covered my arms to the elbow. I ran my hand over the material carefully. Whatever it was, it was incredibly soft and smooth. I had never felt anything like it before.
The only reason I decided that I would wear the nightgown was because I saw that, next to it, was a cream colored wrap. It was almost as long as the nightgown itself. I had a hard time with it because I had never worn one like it. There were sleeves hidden in the billowing fabric.
After I had dressed, I went back into the bathroom to check myself one last time. The blood had drained from my skin and I was back to being almost as pale as the nightgown.
I tugged a brush through my long, damp hair a couple of times before I was satisfied.
I slowly emerged from the bedroom, closing the door quietly behind me. I walked to the banister and looked over the side. I gasped when I realized how many floors up I was. I had to have been at least four stories up from the ground floor.
I made sure that I walked carefully down the stairs so that I wouldn't trip over myself and make Edward angry again. It was hard to concentrate on walking, because on the way down, I was looking at all of the beautiful artwork and sculptures on every floor and in ever corner.
When I got to the ground floor, I stood in the center of the foyer, not knowing what to do or where to go. I noticed a dark, round table to my right and studied the pictures on it.
In a gold frame, there were seven people pictured on different levels of stairs. Each and every person was incredibly and indescribably beautiful - just like Edward.
On the highest set of steps stood a man and a woman. The man had tidy, blonde hair. He looked like a suave movie star. But I noticed that he wore a long, white coat and a stethoscope around his neck. I wondered if most of his patients were women.
He had his arm around a woman with thick, caramel colored hair. She had the sweetest looking face and a curvy, yet slender, body. She was just as beautiful as everyone else in the picture, but she was the most real looking. Her smile was warm, it looked as though she had been stifling laughter.
On the second highest level stood another man and woman. The man was easily the tallest of all the other men in the picture. He was also the most muscular. In fact, he was probably one of the most muscular men I had ever seen. They bulged out considerably from beneath his sweater. But there was such a contrast in his dark, curly hair and the crater like dimples in his smile.
He also had his arm around the woman beside him. When my eyes ran over her, my jaw dropped open and I felt my eyes nearly fall from their sockets. She was, without a doubt, the most beautiful person that I had ever seen. Her hair was the color of pure gold and fell in illustrious waves down her back. She looked like she didn't care about the picture that was being taken, and still she looked like a model. She was the only one not smiling.
On the third level there was, yet again, another man and woman. I looked from one to the other and thought about how peculiar they both looked. Even though they appeared to be quirky, they were still just as breathtaking as the others.
The man had dark blonde hair that was slightly messy, but not at all like Edward's. He was muscular too, more so than Edward but not anywhere near the second man. There was something hidden behind the features of his face. His smile was almost pained.
And the woman in his arms, was the smallest of all the people pictured. The first thought that came to mind when I studied her was Tinkerbell. She was very pixie-like in every sense of the word, from her haircut to her small stature. Her black hair was jagged and short. She wore a huge smile on her face.
Standing on the floor, in front of the stairs, was Edward. He stood alone, looking just as beautiful and godlike as ever. But there was a sadness behind his eyes.
I ran my fingers across the glass over him.
"That was taken…a long time ago."
I whirled around, nearly knocking over the picture. I gripped the table for support.
Edward was leaning against the wall a few feet away. He had changed clothes too and it was hard not to stare. I had never seen him in a short sleeve shirt. His arms were crossed over his chest.
"Y-You…scared me." I said after a moment of staring.
"Sorry about that." He offered me one of his breathtaking crooked smiles.
I tried to recover. I turned back around to look at the picture.
"It's so beautiful. Is it your family?"
"Yes."
I heard his footsteps coming towards me and became aware of him standing very close at my side. I could barely breathe.
"Those are my parents, Carlisle and Esme." He said, pointing to the movie star doctor and the woman at his side.
"Your parents?" I looked up at him, the lack of air in my lungs making my words hard to understand. "But they look so-"
"Young? They are."
"And these are their children? Your brothers and sisters?" I motioned to the other people pictured.
"Yes." He leaned in and pointed to the second couple. "Those are Emmett and Rosalie."
"And what about them?" I pointed to the next couple.
"Jasper and Alice." He stood straight and turned to me. "We were all adopted by Carlisle and Esme."
"Adopted?" I turned to him with a quizzical look on my face. "That's strange."
"Why?"
"Well…you all just look so similar." I turned back to the picture. "All of you are inhumanely beautiful. And all of you have topaz colored eyes. And all of you have smooth, pale skin…like marble."
"You certainly are observant." Edward said, cocking his head to one side.
"I thought it was obvious."
"I can't tell you how many people never make that observation. There are friends of the family that have never noticed that."
"Edward," I slowly turned to look up at him, "what happened earlier with the taxi? And how did we get to wherever we are so…so-"
"So what?" He leaned down to my level slightly.
"Impossibly fast." I whispered, partially because of how close he was.
Edward was suddenly snapping back up to attention and walking away from me very slowly. I thought that he was going to leave the room, but he turned, and paced back and forth.
"I couldn't…let it happen." He managed to say through clenched teeth.
"Let…what happen Edward?" I asked breathlessly, not daring to make any movement.
"Bella…you have to understand something right now." Edward stopped pacing, but kept his back to me. "If you really want to know…about me…then there's no going back."
I didn't even have to ask him what that meant. The thought never crossed my mind as I closed the distance between us at an extremely slow pace and reached for his cold hand.
"All I want is…to know about you."
By the way he clenched his jaw tighter, I could tell that my answer didn't make him happy. But he also wrapped his hand around mine.
"Come with me. We have a lot to talk about."
