Flight of the Phoenix
Chapter Two – Resistance is Futile
~Edward
I continued to stare at the demon that sat less than ten feet away from me. She was a demon that had been sent here to torment me from my own personal hell.
She was a temptress, not only in her quiet mind or body, but in blood. Never had I ever come across anyone that brought out the monster I was as she did.
The woman shook her head and used her long dark hair to provide some cover from my penetrating gaze. The movement caused me to catch her scent, even through the filtered air of the cabin. I sensed the movement of a passenger nearby.
There were less than four people in this cabin. I calculated how long it would take me to quench my thirst on the divine blood of this creature. I calculated that I would have less than twenty seconds before someone saw what I was doing to her. I wanted every single drop, and twenty seconds wasn't long enough to drain the precious crimson liquid from her small body.
No, twenty seconds was not enough. I could kill the two flight attendants and passengers in this section easily. Their deaths would be quick and painless, a simple twist of their necks, six lives extinguished in less than fifteen seconds.
Then I would have the elixir within the demon's body. I could savor each pull of her blood in my mouth slowly. I was certain that I would never taste another like hers.
An overhead voice snapped me out of my thoughts.
"Ladies and gentlemen, we are about to take flight. Please be sure your carry-on bags are secure and your seatbelt is buckled. Once in flight do not remove your seat belt until the indicator lights overhead are off. This is flight number ninety-six non-stop to Lebanon, New Hampshire."
Damn it. I'd only had one chance to leave, but now it was gone.
I heard the door somewhere behind me close with a hiss. I was trapped. Or, more to the monster's liking, she was trapped.
The sinfully-scented woman was breathing slowly and started to exhale deeply. Her scent was even more overpowering.
I realized then that I could stop breathing, since I didn't have to breathe. I held my breath, feeling the burning ache in my throat. This flight was about six hours long, it would be uncomfortable.
The alternative was for me to kill the beautiful creature before my eyes, and I would have to kill everyone else on this flight to cover what I'd done. I idly wondered how full this red-eye flight was. I closed my eyes to listen to the tones of voices around me. I heard at least one hundred passengers. It would be a massacre.
Could I really justify destroying all the lives of everyone on this plane just to taste her blood?
The monster that craved her blood within me voted with a resounding yes.
It would be easy. I could just wait to see if she went to the bathroom. Follow her, enter the room quickly, cover her mouth, close the door and bite down on her slender neck and let the blood flow down to soothe my thirst. After I'd had my fill of her sweet blood, I could easily take the plane down. There would be no survivors.
A face filled my thoughts as I pictured the look of disappointment on my father's face. Carlisle would be disappointed, but would not turn me away. Esme would forgive me, she loved me very much.
It was more than I would deserve.
The plane started to ascend, and the woman of my desires was exhaling deeply. She grasped her armrests with her hands so hard that her knuckles turned white due to the strain put on them.
The pitiful creature before me must have feared flying. I held back a laugh. Of all the things to be frightened of, she was afraid of flying.
I continued to look at the woman before me with outright frustration. Here I had been glaring at this woman since she'd taken her seat, and I could not get into her mind. Surely she had noticed me earlier. Did she not fear me? Did I scare her? Did she even notice me?
The plane leveled out with slight turbulence. The woman whimpered, her eyes closed tight.
For some reason I wanted to comfort her. I wasn't sure if it was just her demure, soft and slight frame. The delicate skin that looked invitingly smooth. The fluttering of her lashes tapping just above the apple of her cheeks. The top bow of her plump lips quivering with fear. It was beyond ridiculous the urge I felt to reassure her that it would be alright.
I, of all creatures, wanted to comfort the one creature that would make my abstinence from human blood for seventy years be in vain.
The woman let out a sigh of relief as the plane leveled out and finally unclenched her slender fingers from the armrests. She stretched out her fingers and took several deep breaths.
As if she felt my eyes touching and scorching her skin with my fiery gaze, she turned and looked at me. Her eyes narrowed, and she lifted an eyebrow.
"May I help you?" she asked through gritted teeth. This little inkling of anger surprised me. She didn't seem the type to be rude, but then again, I wasn't exactly being friendly.
That was the understatement of the year.
I took a breath from my mouth, and I tasted her scent on my tongue. I bit back a growl and prepared myself to talk, coming up with a lame excuse.
"No. I just noticed you're wearing a Dartmouth t-shirt." I stopped breathing through my mouth again, just in case.
"And?" she urged. Again, her anger toward my blatant staring was obviously justified.
Damn it! Why did she have to ask another question?
I inhaled again through my mouth, feeling the thirst start to overpower me. I clenched my fists and braced my body from pouncing and taking what it wanted from this girl.
"And nothing… I just noticed. That's all." I tore my eyes away from her questioning gaze and closed my own. Even without seeing her face, it did nothing to dispel the need to watch her, hear her, smell her and taste her.
"Whatever," she mumbled quietly. I could hear her shifting in her seat, and I wanted to know so badly what she was doing and thinking.
I calculated that a half of an hour had already passed since she'd entered my wretched life. It wasn't getting any better – it was as if seconds were agonizing! Despite the fact that I'd stopped breathing, it was doing nothing for my other urges.
Why couldn't I hear her?
I could hear a flight attendant come into the aisle and stop by the woman. "Ms. Swan, there is an emergency phone call for you."
Finally, I had a name to the blood and body that called to me. Swan... was she from Forks? No, it wasn't possible. I would have come across her if she had lived there.
"There are only two people that know I'm on this flight and they're my parents. So, which one is it?" she questioned the flight attendant.
"She said her name is Alice and that it was an emergency."
Had she just said Alice? It couldn't be my sister. Why would she be calling this insignificant human?
Ah, the scent. She was the tantalizing scent that had lingered on Alice and Esme when they'd returned from running errands last week. Now it all made sense. Was this human what Alice had kept away from me? That was logical of her. If she had told me that the scent had belonged to someone from town, I would have searched high and low for it.
Hell, I would travel the world and depths of the deepest oceans to find her. I would have lured her away from her home, and there would be nothing stopping me from quenching my thirst. I would've succumbed to the obvious traits of most of my kind. I would have been the monster I craved to no longer be.
Ms. Swan took the phone from the flight attendant. I listened to the conversation.
"Alice?" she said.
"Are you heading to New Hampshire?" I recognized her voice instantly.
"Yes. I'm on the way to school."
"I thought so," Alice sighed.
"Why are you calling me here?" Bella asked. The look on her face showed confusion.
"Have you met my brother? He's on the same flight," Alice asked.
"No, I haven't met your brother. Is he supposed to be in first class?"
"He's in first class, Bella."
"Describe him to me," Bella said.
"His hair color is bronze or coppery and all over the place. His eyes are dark, and when he left, he still had some bruising under his eyes."
After a few moments, she turned to look at me.
"Bronze hair, dark eyes, pale skin and dark circles under his eyes." She turned away from me and started to whisper.
"No, I haven't met him, but apparently he thinks it's normal to look at me like a piece of meat." She was talking to my sister, and she thought I was going to eat her. I bit back a laugh.
I could plainly hear Alice's tinkling laughter, no doubt finding Bella's statement funny.
"Don't worry about him, Bella. He won't bite. Can you give him the phone?" There was a minute pause before Alice continued. "Please."
"Fine, Alice. I'll give him the phone." She turned back to face me and held out the phone. "Your sister wants you." I was not going to go and get that close to her.
"Toss it," I snapped. She rolled her eyes and tossed the cordless phone. It barely made it to the seat beside me. She folded her arms in front of her and glared at me. It was obvious she wanted some kind of explanation.
I wasn't about to give her one. What was I supposed to say? Sorry for looking like I want to eat you. It's in my nature.
I took the phone from the seat. "Alice. You should've warned me." I spoke in a low whisper so that no one would be able to hear me.
Ms. Swan continued to stare at me, and I returned to just staring in front of me.
"I didn't know you were going to be the one that killed her."
"What did you see, Alice?" I questioned icily, pinching the bridge of my nose.
"When I met her, I saw her dead, cold and pale. I also saw a newscast of a plane crash in Chicago killing one hundred eight passengers and crew members. I also saw her with red eyes. Everything was unclear. I had no idea that you would be the cause. Don't you dare touch her, Edward!"
"Her blood sings to me, Alice. Resistance is futile. I can't control my thoughts, my need to..." I paused, unable to say the words. "There is something strange about this human. I can't read her. I look at her, and I can't hear one thought from her head."
"You have to resist. Do you think you will be able to live with yourself after killing all those people, just because of your own selfish need?"
"I know."
"Talk to her. Get to know her. That might help you fight your urge to take her. Her name is Isabella Swan, but she prefers Bella. Her father lives in Forks. He's the Chief of Police. She was a straight A student in high school. She received a full scholarship to Dartmouth. She hasn't even had a serious relationship before."
"Like this is going to help," I said, completely frustrated because of the ache in my throat.
"It should. The visions I'm seeing have become more unfocused. Now, stop scaring her and stop looking at her like you're going to eat her." Alice chuckled. "Give her back the phone."
I returned my gaze to Ms. Swan and offered her the phone. She got up from her seat and walked over. I held my breath, looked up at her, and she just glared. It wasn't fear in her eyes, just confusion and anger. She returned to her seat without a word.
"Bella, don't mind my brother. He's really shy. It's not easy for him to make friends."
"Alice, okay… I guess I understand."
"Why don't you try talking to him? Just get up from your seat, sit with him and try talking to him."
"That doesn't sound like a good idea. I don't like attention," Bella whispered in the phone, looking away from me.
"It can't be that bad, can it?"
"Yeah, have you ever heard of 'if looks can kill?'" Bella said, giving me a glare but quickly looking away when she realized I was still looking at her.
"Just give him a chance. He doesn't know anyone over there, and neither do you. Can I have your email address?"
"I will try, and yes. It's bellaswan at dtm dot com. Bye." She pressed a button on the cordless phone after Alice had said her goodbye. She looked around for the flight attendant. She sighed and pressed the button on her seat. A flight attendant named Marjorie came from behind a curtain, smiling at her and taking the phone.
"Is everything alright, Miss?" Marjorie asked Bella. I noticed that Bella was wiping at her cheeks. Was she crying? I watched as a couple of tears fell down the pale expanse of her cheek.
Had I done that? I'd scared her enough to make her cry. Bella wiped her cheek and just nodded to Marjorie.
I didn't think I had ever made a woman cry, not even in my human days. The idea that I had made this woman cry did not sit well with me. I'd been brought up to be a gentleman and to treat women with respect.
The urge to comfort her took over me. I unbuckled my seatbelt, took another breath through my mouth and took the seat beside her. I just hoped that the monster of curiosity was strong enough to keep her alive. I knew now that there was no resisting this woman.
"Are you alright, Ms. Swan?" I asked, taking another breath through my mouth.
"Yes."
"Then why are you crying?" A sudden urge to wipe away her tears overwhelmed me.
Isabella wiped her cheeks. "I'm not crying." She was stubborn and a bad liar.
"Liar." She looked at me and glared.
"What's it to you, anyway?! I don't even know you!" she huffed and folded her arms across her chest.
"I'm not sure, but my sister said that I scared you." I shrugged.
"I can't believe you're related to Alice and Esme," she stated matter-of-factly. She started to shift in her seat.
"You don't even know me," I stated in a firm voice. Isabella rolled her eyes.
"Well, so far, I don't like what I know. Excuse me, I'm going to change." Isabella stood up from her seat and passed me. She went into the aisle to reach up to the compartment above me. Stretching up slightly, her midriff was revealed eye-level. I drew in another breath and clenched my hands. She was so close that I felt the heat that emanated from her body.
Bella looked down at me, and when she saw that I was looking at her, she blushed, a beautiful shade of crimson coloring her cheeks. She turned and went down the aisle to the bathroom. I fought the temptation to follow her and take her. The image of the both of us enclosed in that tiny compartment started to play in my mind.
Upon entering the small room, I'd grab her and pull her to my chest, fool her into thinking this was about lust. I'd kiss her full lips and gently lay a trail of kisses along her jawline, to her ear and down her neck. I'd even dare to dart my tongue out to taste her smooth, luminous skin. She would gasp for breath, her pulse quickening under her skin and my cold lips. I'd kiss along her collarbone and bite down just above her pulse point. She would gasp in surprise. They all did. I'd put one hand over her mouth roughly, enjoying the warmth and sweetness of her blood as it trickled down my dry, cracked throat. I'd drink from her until she was dry, and I'd look into her eyes. The depth once there would have been gone and her quiet mind forever silenced.
The images started to change.
Instead of biting her, I'd continue my exploration of her skin with my lips and tongue. She'd moan my name, sending vibrations throughout my body. The sound would elicit a groan from my own lips. I would lap at her skin with the tip of my tongue. It would be exquisite as I continued my exploration.
I heard her coming toward me, which snapped me out of my dangerous thoughts.
"You're still here, I see," Isabella stated. Once again she lifted her black carry on to the overhead compartment, exposing her belly button.
I tried to tear my eyes away, but not only had she exposed her midriff, now she was not wearing the low cut jeans she'd been wearing earlier. Instead, she was in a pair of fitted dark blue shorts that exposed her creamy legs. I took another breath and looked down, wishing now that I had moved.
This newfound craving was unnerving. Never had I ever looked upon another with such an overwhelming sense of longing.
"I'm sorry, did you want me to leave?" I asked, trying to concentrate on my hands instead of her as she took her seat. She pulled up her legs and crossed them on the seat. She pulled out a laptop and a set of ear buds.
"I don't care either way. It's just that I can't sleep when I fly, so you won't be able to, since I need the light overhead," she said in a frustrated tone.
"I don't plan on sleeping, either."
Bella glared at me for a moment and then shook her head. She powered her laptop and ignored me.
For several minutes she just played with documents on her computer, not really doing anything and just skimming. Occasionally, she'd correct her grammar or add a few sentences here and there.
She seemed to be working on a report of some kind based on the book "Wuthering Heights."
The urge to know what she was thinking was so powerful. I wanted to know more about her so that I could decipher her expressions and her thoughts.
I cleared my throat, hoping to catch her attention, since she was actively ignoring me.
"Why don't we just start over? My name is Edward Cullen." I extended my hand in the customary fashion of a human introducing himself.
She looked at my hand and then into my eyes. Her rich, dark brown eyes looked slightly confused but excited at the same time.
"Isabella Swan, but you can call me Bella." Bella took my hand, and then there was a sudden feeling of electricity and heat that emanated from our intertwined hands that swept up my arm and radiated throughout my body.
Bella pulled her hand away quickly, likely disgusted by the coldness of my hand. I looked at her face and realized that she had a look of smugness rather than one of revulsion.
Why would she look smug after shaking my hand? It was like she had some kind of secret.
"Sorry, my hands are little cold," I said as casual a tone as I could.
"No worries, your sister and your mother's hands were just as cold and strong. It must run in the family." She arched an eyebrow, like she was trying to get me to say something.
I couldn't even garner a guess of what was running through her mind. The idea of such a look rendered me speechless and left me thoroughly frustrated.
What was she thinking?
"Um... yes, I guess it does. You still haven't answered my first question. Why were you crying?" I smiled at her, still wondering why she had that look on her face.
The smug look left, replaced with a glare. She looked away from me and pouted a little.
"It's silly, really. I guess I couldn't understand how you could hate me so quickly when you don't know anything about me." She shrugged her shoulders, still avoiding my eyes.
"I don't hate you and you're right, I shouldn't have glared that way at you. It's just that I…" I couldn't come up with anything logical to use as an excuse.
"I smelled too good." Bella smiled that smile that said "I know something."
I couldn't even come back with anything. How could she know what I was thinking?
I just stared at her with a questioning expression.
"Can I tell you a story, Edward, before we get to know each other a little more?" The innocence and blatant curiosity in her eyes enhanced her youthful appearance.
"Yes," I said cautiously. I wondered where she was taking this conversation. Surely it was not where very few had guessed.
"About a year and half ago, I went to visit my father during my spring break. With the loss of two of his friends, I felt I owed him some sense of peace and came to visit him instead. My father dragged me along to fish one time with his best friend. His friend had his son accompany us. I made quick friends with his son, a boy named Jacob Black.
"He was a little younger than me, but it was nice to talk to someone other than my father. So, Jacob and I later took a walk on the beach. He started to tell me stories and legends of his people, the Quileutes. His father is an elder."
I stiffened in my seat as she continued. "Jacob didn't really believe the stories. I think he was just trying to impress me. He told me a legend about werewolves and their natural enemies, the cold ones or 'vampires.'" She paused, possibly hoping to elicit some type of reaction from me. I kept my composure externally… but in the inside I was enraged.
They'd broken the treaty, and now she was a liability to my family. He'd also risked this fragile little human's life with the knowledge of our existence.
Bella sensed that I was not going to say anything and continued. "He said that over six decades ago, a coven of cold ones settled in the area, but they were different. They didn't drink from humans, only animals. So, a treaty was made that they would not warn the pale faces of the cold ones, if the vampire coven refrained from hunting humans and stayed off the wolves' land. At that time, of course, I thought nothing of this legend, and neither did Jacob. We laughed it off as just a good story.
"That all changed though when I came back to visit for Thanksgiving that same year. Jacob was upset that I hadn't wanted to move to Forks when I'd had the chance. His anger got the best of him, and he phased in front of me. He didn't hurt me but he left immediately, thinking that he had scared me." She stopped and fidgeted with her hands, the inner working of her silent mind stirring up memories.
"Later, he came back and apologized for scaring me and for getting angry. He told me then that the same family of vampires form the legend had moved back to the area and that all his friends had started turning into werewolves. We remained friends, but only communicated through letters and phone calls." She shrugged her shoulders, a sense of finality in her tone.
"That's a good story, but what does that have to do with me?" I asked, silently hoping she didn't think I was a vampire.
"Jacob told me the last name of the coven. The Cullen Family." She smiled at that point and turned her questioning gaze upon me.
"What gave me away?" I asked stiffly.
"It wasn't you, it was Esme and Alice. After I met them, I did some research on vampires. A lot of it didn't fit, just the cold pale skin, the bruises under your eyes and being inhumanly beautiful. I asked my father about your family. He told me each of your names and about your father being a doctor and that they'd adopted you and your siblings. Esme and Alice seemed really nice during our brief encounter, and so I decided that I didn't care."
"You don't care." I swallowed the venom that had pooled in my mouth and took a deep breath. The burn was excruciating.
"No, I figured that as long as you don't attack humans, I don't care. Though, something seems to be off about you. Ever since I came onto this plane, you've been looking at me like you want to attack, but there are others here. What makes me so different?" Her questioning gaze had a touch of sadness behind it.
"You are different in more than one way. Your blood, your scent is much stronger than anything I've ever come across in my entire existence." I turned away from her eyes, a feeling of shame washing over me.
"Oh. What's the other reason?" she asked.
"I can read minds, but I can't read your thoughts. I don't know why. That is a first for me also," I indicated, trying to decipher her expression. She stayed quiet for several moments.
"I'm a freak." She laughed with no humor behind the words.
"You're talking to a mind-reading vampire, and you think you're the freak."
"I must be. I am danger magnet, so clumsy that I'm disabled, I seem to attract legends left and right, and now my head is not working right. So, yes, I'm a freak."
"Hardly, but I admit, 'danger magnet' seems to be right. So, are werewolves and vampires the only legends you've encountered?" I chuckled.
"No, that's what I mean. I had a very strange encounter before leaving home in Florida with a gypsy. She just came up to me and said that I was powerful and that I would one day restore the balance." She shook her head in disbelief. "I shook it off. It was all too Star Wars like." She laughed a little more. Her laugh was beautiful and infectious.
"Well, I've never met a witch or gypsy, so… maybe you're right. You're a freak." I winked and chuckled, trying to keep the conversation light. It was so easy to speak freely with this creature.
"Tell me about yourself, Edward. I'm curious."
"Curious about what?"
"How old are you?"
"I just turned nineteen," I said quickly – a carefully delivered line.
"How long have you been playing a teenager?"
"A while," I answered with a small smile. Her eyes narrowed and she shrugged her shoulders, giving up.
"So, what's up with Alice? When I met her, she kind of went into a trance."
"Alice can sometimes see the future. She must have had a vision when you two met."
She didn't even flinch or react in any way to this new information.
"That must've been the reason she called me on the plane. She wanted to warn me about you?" She stated it more like a question. She waited for my confirmation.
"Yes."
"Did she see you attacking me?"
"Something like that."
"Do you want me to sit somewhere else? I don't want to make it harder for you."
She was trying to make me more comfortable. She was truly a strange woman.
"No. I think it will be fine." More than fine. I felt connected to this mysterious woman, and she presented me with an enigma.
"Good. Do you want to listen to some music?" She held out an ear bud for me. I took it from her hand, lightly brushing her skin. The same electric feel and warmth shot through my body. I looked at her, wondering if she felt the same thing. She stayed quiet as she slowly pulled her hand away.
I was curious about what type of music she listened to. She smiled and plugged the jack into her laptop.
Clair de Lune played in my ear. "Clair de Lune?" I asked as Bella smiled at me.
She blushed slightly before answering. "I like classical music, but I know only my favorites. My mother used to play the piano, not very well, but it was something I enjoyed watching her do," Bella explained with sadness in her voice. She missed her mother.
We decided to play a game of twenty questions, in an effort to get to know each other. I was thrilled with idea of deciphering the inner working of her mind.
"Favorite book?" I asked first taking the lead in the questioning.
"Mostly classics Jane Austen, Romeo and Juliet and Weathering Heights are among some of my favorites," Bella answered while naming them using her tiny fingers.
"Does anyone else in your family have gifts?" She asked; curiosity deep in those chocolate pools of hers. I couldn't tear my eyes off of them. I noticed when our eyes met, the burning in my throat and the venom, lessened.
"Jasper, Alice's husband has a gift. It's very subtle. He can manipulate the feelings of the people around him. He also feels the emotions of those around him."
"Sort of like an empathic?" Bella's brows furrowed adorably in question and concentration.
"Yes, something along those lines," I answered, smiling at her. She looked stunned for a moment, and then blushed and looked away.
We continued our little game way past twenty questions, for at least a few hours. Already, I was completely captivated by her. I thought over time that my curiosity would lessen, but my over-developed mind found her intriguing. Every time I thought I had her pegged, she completely caught me off guard.
I'd thought all women loved to shop, but Bella had a fierce loathing for it.
We found out that we were mostly compatible with our favorites – music, movies and plays. I had her describe Florida to me, since I had never been there before. She seemed to really love the sun. I briefly wondered what she would look like in the sunlight.
"How are old are –" I didn't complete my question because the plane shook violently. The lights in the cabin went out, leaving us in complete darkness, except for me. Bella gripped my arm with one of her small hands.
"What's going on, Edward?" she asked timidly.
I let my mind wander to the cockpit. I read the thoughts of the co-pilot. I noticed that all the instrument panels were dark.
Damn, I'm not the reason the plane was going to crash.
AN: Thanks to lisa89, my wonderful beta. Please review.
