Suddenly the kicking stopped. I heard an angry roar and above me something soft collided with something very hard.

"Edward!"

A cold hand touched my shoulder and instinctively I curled even further into myself.

"Edward," the voice said again. "It's me, Carlisle."

Finally I recognized the voice and instantly I relaxed. If my family was here nothing else could happen to me. Or Bella for that matter.

"Bella?" I asked, my voice rough.

"She's all right," Carlisle informed me. "Thanks to you. But I need to take a look at you."

I loosed up more and found myself lying on the ground next to a kneeling Carlisle. Around me the four assailants lay unconscious or dead - right now I didn't care - a furious looking Rosalie crouching low and watching them with angry, almost black eyes. Emmett stood a few steps away, his hands balled into tight fists, his face contorted in an enraged snarl. He looked ready to kill. With the scent of blood in the air, I was surprised the attackers were all still in one piece.

Bella was standing against the wall further away, her eyes wide, terror written plainly in them. When she saw me stir, she pushed away from the wall and ran over to me.

"Edward!" she cried out, falling to her knees next to me. She hesitantly reached out one hand, but didn't dare to touch me. "You are injured."

What was it with this girl? Here she had nearly been raped – and just the thought of that possibility made my blood boil – and all she worried about was that I had gotten a few bruises.

I tried to get up and gather her in my arms to comfort her, but instantly regretted moving. Okay, maybe a bit more than a few bruises.

"Ouch." My side was on fire and I had trouble drawing in a full breath of air. Bella's eyes flew from my face to Carlisle. She looked panicked.

"It might be a good idea not to move for the moment," Carlisle recommended with a soft chuckle as he let his hands roam over my upper body.

No shit, Sherlock.

"Looks like you managed to crack a rib or two, but nothing is broken there. What else hurts?"

I thought about that for a moment. The attackers had managed to get only a couple of good kicks in before my family had intervened and, luckily, none of then had been wearing hard boots. My leather jacket also had provided me some protection.

"I think one of them got me in the left leg, but my side is the worst by far," I replied honestly. I looked at Bella and saw her sagging in relief. Once again she reached out with her hand and I took it into mine, holding it firmly. Her eyes were impossibly wide as she watched Carlisle continue to examine me.

Carlisle's hands moved down to the leg I had indicated, ghosting over it with a feather light touch. I knew his sense of touch was so heightened compared to a normal human he was able to detect breaks better than any x-ray machine. He then instructed me to move my arms and legs, watching me closely as I did so. Everything functioned with a minimum of pain, so it looked like there would be no permanent damage.

"You're going to live," he announced eventually. "I would like to tape your ribs before we get out of here to help you with your breathing. It will most likely bother you for a while and I can give you something for it, if you want."

"No drugs, please," I said and he nodded in acceptance. I had the feeling I needed a clear head tonight and didn't want it addled by drugs. Right now the pain wasn't so bad I couldn't cope with it.

My parents had moved over to stand behind Bella. Rosalie's stance relaxed minutely as she heard the news that I would be fine. She cast me a concerned glance and I returned it with a weak smile. I knew she probably was angry at me for - once again - getting injured because of Bella. But there was nothing I could do about it, and at least this time there were no broken bones.

Carlisle held out his hand to help me up and I accepted it gratefully. Standing upright was no picnic and even taking a simple breath hurt. But the pain was bearable for now and I tried to hide it from Bella.

"Are you all right?" I turned to her, taking her face into my hands.

"I'm fine," she insisted. I felt her shaking and wondered if it was from the onset of shock or from the cold. Her blue blouse was torn in places and she didn't have a jacket on. So I shrugged out of mine and wrapped it around her. My leather jacket had seen better days and I didn't know if was possible to clean it again, but at least it was warm.

"Thanks," she whispered.

I wanted to take her into my arms, hold her and never let go of her, but I didn't know if this was a good idea after what had happened. I didn't want to bring bad memories back to the surface.

She solved that problem by taking one more hesitant step closer to me and leaning, gingerly as if afraid she might break me, against my chest. With a deep sigh – which wasn't a good idea; when would I learn that breathing deeply hurt? – I wrapped my arms around her, placing my chin on the top of her head. I closed my eyes, breathing in her sweet, flowery scent and felt her relax in my embrace.

It was perfect.

I knew I could stay like this forever, with her in my arms, but eventually I would have to let her go. I had to find out what she had seen and what she made of it. I was sure that she had seen more than was good for her, and she had already been far too curious about my family before.

We also needed to sort out what to do with her attackers. I wanted them to pay for what they nearly had done to Bella. I was sure this hadn't been the first time they had attacked a young woman and if not stopped there was no reason for them not to try again. But this would mean involving the police and then we would need to explain what had been going on here. I didn't know what they had seen and if they started to ramble on about people with super speed and super strength then we would be in deep trouble. The easiest solution would naturally be to kill them, and for their crimes I almost thought they deserved it. They had tried to rape Bella and no punishment was too harsh for that in my book.

I lifted my head, looking at Rosalie and Emmett. I knew they wouldn't lose any sleep over killing Bella's attackers – that was if they would sleep at all, which they didn't. Nobody would ever find them because vampires were very, very good in hiding their traces. I guessed practice made perfect. But Carlisle would be set against it for he valued every human life, even that of criminals, and his opinion weighted a lot with my parents.

In the end, though, it was Bella who made me decide in favor of not killing them. She would know about it even if we tried to keep it away from her and I didn't want her to feel she was in any way responsible for it. Which she wouldn't be, but I knew her well enough to know she would think she had something to do with it.

"What have they seen?" I asked Rosalie over Bella's head. I felt Bella stiffen in my arms and I held her even tighter then before.

Rosalie grinned predatory and huffed a laugh. "They have no idea what hit them."

Good.

Reluctantly I released Bella by taking a small step backwards. I wanted to see her face.

"Bella, what do you want us to do?" I asked her gently.

"What do you mean?" She looked slightly confused.

"Those men tried to rape you." Just saying it pained me. "Do you want us to call the police?"

She instantly shook her head in denial. "No, don't call the police, please. If they come, Charlie will know. He would go crazy." She started to shake again and it was all I could do not to pull her back into my arms.

I nodded, taking once again her face into my hands. She calmed immediately. "Okay, no police. I get it. Do you want us to take care of them?"

"Take care?" She looked confused. Suddenly she paled and I felt her Adam apple move up and down. "You mean …? Are you going to …?"

"We will not kill them, Bella." Carlisle had stepped up to us.

She looked over to him, doubt plainly written in her eyes.

"We do not kill," he said emphasizing every single word. "This is not what we are."

"What are you then?" she asked, barely loud enough for me to hear. There was an edge of panic in her voice now, but she fought to repress it. She looked over to Rosalie and Emmett, then back to Carlisle. "What are you?"

Her breathing quickened.

"Bella." I made her look into my eyes. "I'm as human as you are," I told her, putting as much conviction into my voice as I could.

"But then … How? How did you know where I was? How did they do what they did? Rosalie … she threw that guy against he wall like it was nothing. And they moved so fast, so unbelievably fast. I know I saw it. This wasn't normal. Not human."

Her eyes brimmed with tears and I didn't know if they were from fear, anger or frustration. Possible from all three.

"I'm human, Bella," I told her once more. "But my family, well, they're not."

"Wah?" was her not really intelligent, but nevertheless very understandable reply.

I sighed, remembering this time not to breathe out too deeply. "My family … they are all vampires."

Bella opened and closed her mouth several times like a fish out of water, but no words came out.

"Bella?" I asked. Maybe she was going into shock now after all. Not that I could blame her. It was a lot to swallow. I was ready to catch her if she should faint.

"Edward is telling the truth, Bella," Carlisle now said in his best doctor voice. "We are vampires. We are very strong, very fast and we do not age. But we do not live off human blood, but drink animal blood instead. We value all human life and don't kill."

"But how …?" she asked again, pointing at me and then at Carlisle.

"Could we have this talk someplace else? Preferably someplace with food. You really need to eat something after that shock."

"You want me to eat something? Now?" she asked perplexed.

I simply nodded. Bella had received quite a shock and she needed to get something into her to up her blood sugar level.

The headlights of two approaching cars let us all look up. I was surprised nobody had shown up before now, but since the whole thing had started we had been the only people in that street. It was dark by now and the street light next to where we were standing was broken. My guess would be that this was part of the reason the attackers had chosen this very spot, but now it also had helped to prevent drawing unwanted attention to our own activities.

The Mercedes pulled up, with the Jeep right behind it. Esme, Alice and Jasper got out, though Jasper stayed with the cars, possibly because of the smell of blood in the air. Luckily Bella hadn't noticed it so far, or more likely, so many other things had been going on she hadn't paid it any attention.

Esme stepped up to us, pulling me into a gentle half-hug. I was sure they had listened into what we had said and knew exactly what the situation was.

Alice moved to the attackers, looking at them with a thoughtful expression. She bent down to search for their wallets, pulling them out of back pockets and the inside of their jackets. As she flipped through their IDs a grin spread over her face and she danced back to Jasper and the Jeep. It looked like she had an idea.

"Edward." Carlisle placed a hand on my shoulder. "I still want to tape your ribs up," he reminded me.

He led me to the back of the Mercedes. His medical bag was in the trunk and he made me take off my shirt, so he could start working on me. As I undressed, I heard Bella gasp. She had stayed close to me, never letting go of my arm. I liked it, but suspected her behavior was mostly because of the revelation that she was now surrounded by vampires, and I, as the only human, was possibly the safest person to be with. Which was after all very true. She had taken it all rather well, I thought, with a minimum freak out and – so far at least – no fainting.

I looked down and saw a dark red-blue stain on my torso where the guy had kicked me. I felt at the edge of it to see how far it extended until Carlisle slapped my hand away so he could get access to the area. He sprayed some cooling stuff on it and immediately I felt myself relax as the pain receded a little.

"I'm so sorry, Edward," Bella gasped.

"Bella, I'm all right," I responded with a breathless laugh. "You were the one attacked," I had to remind her.

"I'm fine. He really didn't manage to do anything to me before you came. But you're hurt. Again. Because of me. I was so afraid for you when they all went after you." Her voice quivered and she bit her lower lip. She exhaled softly.

"Bella, just the thought of what those men could have done to you pains me more than those bruises ever could. I'm just glad I was here in time to help you."

It was nothing but the truth. I would gladly suffer far more than a few bruises if that meant she would be safe.

Carlisle made me lift my arms, which turned out quite painful. I didn't say anything though and bit the inside of my cheek so I wouldn't aggravate Bella any more than I'd already done. I don't know why she thought my injuries were because of her – after all she hadn't been the one kicking me – but it was obvious she did blame herself for them somehow.

After Carlisle was done and I had lowered my arms again, I found that breathing was now much easier and almost painless. I thanked him, but he waved it off. I pulled my shirt back on.

Alice now came up to us, showing us the IDs she had collected earlier.

"I had Jasper check those guys out."

I knew Jasper never traveled without his laptop and was more than capable of hacking into any database in the world.

"We got two hits. Alonzo Wallace is wanted in Texas and in Oklahoma for murder and other things." She didn't say which other things, but I had a very good idea on what they might be. I only hoped Bella didn't catch on. "The second one is one Jeffrey Hasenklein. He's wanted in California for assault. There's nothing on the other two, though we could cook something up."

"You can do something like that?" Bella asked with astonishment in her voice.

Alice chuckled. "We can. Trust us."

"Why am I not surprised?" she asked purely rhetorically.

Rosalie now joined our little group. "We're going to take care of them, Edward. How about you two go and get something to eat now?"

I nodded, grateful to my family to take over the clean up duty.

"Do you have something for Bella to wear?" I asked her and she nodded. Bella's blouse had large tears in it and if we went into public she needed something else.

A minute later Rosalie came back with a light blue colored silk blouse and a dark blue cardigan, and Bella went around the car put them on.

"Thank you, Rosalie," she said after she had changed. She handed my jacket back to me. I was almost reluctant to take it back, as I'd rather liked the thought of her having something of myself with her. But taking a look at it, I realized that the jacket was pretty beaten up and that she deserved something far better than it.

"What time is it?" she asked then.

I checked my watch. "6:20."

"Oh," she said, sounding surprised. "I thought it would be much later already."

I had to agree with her. It had been less than an hour since I had met Jessica and Angela and they had told me that Bella had gone to that book store, and so much had happened in that short period of time.

"I told the others we'd meet at the Bella Italia in ten minutes."

"Do you want to go there?" I could understand if Bella wanted to be with her friends now. I would be disappointed, though, as I would have liked to spend time with her alone.

But she shook her head and I breathed a sigh of relief. "No, I don't want to explain this to them. I don't want them to know. Besides, you promised some explanations."

"All right. Does Jessica or Angela have a cell phone?"

She nodded. "I think so, but I don't have the number."

"No problem," Alice piped up. She pulled out her own cell phone and spoke into it quickly. Within a few seconds she had the number she wanted. She made the connection and handed the phone to Bella.

"Just tell her you're with Edward and that you'll get a ride home with him," she told Bella.

Bella nodded.

"Jess? Yeah, it's me, Bella. Yes, I'm fine. Listen, I met Edward at the book store and he offered me a ride home."

I couldn't hear what Jessica said, but it must have been an affirmative, for Bella nodded. She listened for a moment longer.

"That's okay," she then said. "I can go with Edward."

Again Jessica interrupted her. Bella rolled her eyes, miming mouth movements with her hand.

"Okay, I'll tell him," she said as soon as she got a word in edgewise. "I've got my jacket still in your car, though. Is it okay for you to bring it to school tomorrow?"

Jessica must have agreed to that, for Bella nodded again.

"Thanks. See you tomorrow then."

She hung up before Jessica could get another word in and passed the phone back to Alice.

"Thank you."

Alice smiled and placed the phone back into her hand bag.

"Where do you want to go to eat?" I asked.

She shrugged her shoulders. "I don't know any restaurants here, to be honest. Charlie's not exactly one to go far for his food and so far we've only been to the Coffee Shop in Forks."

I nodded. I'd driven past that place a couple of times, though I'd never been inside. Actually, I hadn't been to many restaurants so far to begin with. My family's diet was something that didn't exactly go well with eating out in public.

While I had been browsing the boardwalk earlier today, I had seen a couple of restaurants and I tried to remember any that would appeal to Bella's taste - whichever it was. I had no real idea what she liked to eat, other than what had found its way on her tray in the school cafeteria and that wasn't exactly the best indicator in the world.

"Do you like seafood?" I recalled one place that had looked quite nice from the outside.

"Seafood's fine," she said. "We should stay away from Italian though. I really don't want to run into Jess or Angela."

I agreed. For my own very selfish reasons I wanted to have Bella all to myself. And besides, it would make answering Bella's questions somewhat easier.

"All right, Michael's Seafood and Steakhouse it is."