Hey everyone! I am soooo sorry! I know I haven't updated in AGES. I had some computer problems, but I have a proper laptop of my own now so I can write whenever. :D
Oh, and also listen up!!! I know these chapters have been very short so far, but now I'm changing the way I do this so the chappys are gonna be longer !
Remember to review! Bcoz if you don't, I get put off! :D
Enjoy!
I'm falling down stairs. Like that feeling when you are sleeping and wake up suddenly. But the sudden wakening is not coming. I can't breathe, the lump in my throat is growing, but I can't move my body. I can do nothing but fall down these..... stairs? Well they were stairs a second ago, but the wooden structure has disappeared, leaving me to fall through the empty darkness. My lungs are burning, if I don't get air soon I don't know what will happen.
I hear it before I feel it, a loud thump, like the sound of a body dropping to the ground at a huge force. My body. I look up, to see a pair of shoes standing over me. But I stated to feel calmer; I had a strange sense of déjà vu, as if these shoes had been standing over me before. I glanced up expecting to see the soft tanned face of Jacob Black. But I was disappointed.
Instead the eyes looking down at me were full of hate and anger, as Paul grabbed me and dragged me to my feet. He knocked me back towards a wall; I just knew what was coming. I clenched my fingers as he gave me his first blow.
"Arh, please, just let me go. I'll do whatever you want, but please just stop!" I pleaded with the hench figure in front of me. He wasn't answering.
"No! Just let me go!" I felt so much braver, like I didn't care what happened to me, but I wouldn't put up with this. I was struggling hard, large arms where thrown around me to stop my pathetic attempt at an escape. But I could see Paul's arms right in front of me, hanging freely down his sides. I felt as if I was being dragged to my left as darkness surrounded me once more......
I yanked my head up, panting loudly, Paul was gone, the stairs where gone, and the darkness was gone. But the strong arms where still wrapped tightly around my body. I panicked at brightness of the room around me; it was a few seconds until I realised I was lying on a white leather sofa, in a large light room. Am I dead?
"Bella?" A soothing voice came from my side. I twisted and saw an angel. Don't be silly Bella! It was one of the Cullen siblings. The one who was talking in the corridor earlier. I came to my senses.
"What....Where am I?"
"Oh don't worry Bella! You're at my house. It's ok..." he was staring at me with a concerned look on his face. I am guessing he heard most of my dream; I tend to talk in my sleep. "Bella, look your safe here, I just want you to answer me one thing." Oh no, I don't think this question is going to be one I would like to answer.
"Go on then, ask away."
"Who...did this to you?" he practically whispered. For a moment, I didn't know what he was talking about. Who did what to me? But then I glanced at the huge wall sized mirror on the other side of the room. It took me a few seconds to realise it was actually me lying there. Paul had done damage before, I mean real damage that was hard to cover up with make-up, but this was another story. I had a black eye, a large cut across my face and as I was still wearing the vest top, you could see bruises all over my arms, some that were new from last night, and some from a few days ago that were starting to fade. The Cullen boy was looking at me expectantly.
"Oh crap! Paul! How long have I been here? Oh my god if he finds out I am here, he will honestly kill me! I'm sorry I have to go!" I tried to swing my legs of the sofa and run to the door. I am in so much trouble when I get back.
"No Bella! You're not going anywhere right now!" he retrained me from leaving the sofa.
"No! You don't understand. If I don't go now I am in so much trouble..." but he cut in before I finished.
"Bella, I promise you won't get hurt. Trust me, I won't let this happen to you again. Wait; was it Paul that you said? Is he the one that did this to you?"
Memories of last night flashed into my mind, the reason I was here.
"Paul is my Mums fiancé, please explain to me, the last thing I can remember is me driving off in my mum's car." I was desperate to know what had happened. Had Paul come after me?
"Ok, well, I am Edward by the way. My father is Carlisle; he had a quick check over you in case of any broken bones and stuff, he is a doctor. My sister Alice told me about you. I was so worried. I came to look for you, found you driving up the main road, I could see in your mirror you were badly hurt, and the way you were driving I am surprised you got to the main road without putting yourself in hospital." Edward paused and let out a slight chuckle, "I stopped you in your car and drove you back to mine. You were in pieces. I couldn't leave you! Look, Bella I won't let you go back, I take it this happened to you at home, and I won't let Paul get his hands on you. You can stay here for as long as you want! Esme and Carlisle love having more people around..." Edward let out his whole speech in what seemed like one breath, but it was my turn to stop him.
"Edward wait! Let me just ask something. How did Alice tell you about me? I have never spoken to her." At that moment a tall blonde man walked into the room.
"Oh Bella you are awake." He smiled at me soothingly. I gave him a small smile. I assumed this was Carlisle."I just came to see if I could have a word with Edward for a sec?"
Edward got up and walked over to Carlisle, they talked fast and quietly for a few moments, then Edward started to make his way back over to me and Carlisle started to leave the room. I looked at him, wondering what they wanted to keep from me. He let out another small laugh.
"Don't worry Bella; he just wanted to know if you seemed okay. Oh, and he also said he wants you to stay with us, and that he won't have you go back to where you used to live, unless you know, your mum dumps Paul or something like that." He seemed to really care. Oh don't be stupid Bella, he doesn't care. Why would he?
I sighed, "No, my Mum won't dump Paul, she won't ever dump Paul. She already knows what goes on, but she chooses to ignore it, she has chosen him. But it's not her fault, she used to be the best Mum in the world, the best could ever imagine, but she has changed so much. I don't know who she is any more. See, he has done so much to us, stuff that anyone would have dumped him for months ago, but he has this way of getting round her every time. Every single time she just says 'I'll give him one more chance, just one. If he ruins it then he is out' but it never happens." I felt tears start to appear on my cheeks. Edward had his arms around me before I could realise it and I was crying into his shoulder.
"Oh Bella, it's ok. Everything is going to be ok now, I promise." I was still sobbing into his shoulder.
I must have been there for a while, when I stopped crying. Edward felt strangely cold, but it wasn't a bad thing, it calmed me from my sobbing.
"Hey Bella, how about we go for a drive? You know, so you can clear your head a bit. I could take you somewhere peaceful." Edward broke the silence with his velvety voice.
"That sounds good. Do you have a car?" He laughed slightly.
"Yeah, I have a car, c'mon lets go." He gently helped me off the sofa and to the door. He took a quick look at me.
"I'll be back in one sec!" he ran off up the stairs and came back down 3 seconds later. "Here, it's Alice's, she said you could borrow it. You'll be cold otherwise." He handed me a black jacket and started to guide me towards the front door. Once we were outside, he led me round the side of his house to the garage. Just outside was a silver Ferrari Enzo.
"Whoa! Is that Carlisle's?! I didn't think I would ever get to even see one of those!" I awed at the 200mph sports car. Edward laughed at my expression.
"Well...actually, it's kind of mine." He seemed shy of admitting that he had one of the most expensive sports cars in the world.(AN – soz if some of you think that car isn't really that great, I don't really know anything about cars, so just looked for one of the internet )
"You are joking?" I asked him. I couldn't even drive and he had a car that famous people would be proud of.
"Nope. Carlisle gave it to me as a present though. Come on, get in." I hadn't even seen him move over to the door and open it for me. I smiled shyly at him as I got in. It didn't even take him a second to get in next to me and start the car. In seconds we were on the main road, I guess with a car this fast, you would want to use it as an advantage.
"So, you never told me, how did Alice know about me?"
"Well, that is something I will tell you about, but right now. Let's talk about something else." I was a bit confused at his answer. Why wouldn't he tell me? But I was still quite tired and wasn't going to argue with him.
"Ok, tell me about your family, there are seven of you right?"
"Yep, me, Carlisle, Esme, Emmett, Rosalie, Jasper and Alice. Carlisle and Esme adopted all of us, but Rosalie and Jasper are real brother and sister. We're all really close," Edward paused as we slowed down; we were coming to a more open area of the woods we had just arrived at. He stopped the car, I could see we were in a large clearing, but at the edge of the clearing was the river that I had been staring at yesterday. Edward got out the car and had my door open while I was looking at the river.
"Thanks" I said quietly. He held out his hand. I gave him a weak smile and took it as he led me across to the river.
"Do you trust me?" he asked mysteriously.
"I guess it depends on what you are going to do." I smiled at him as he grabbed my hand and started walking along side the river. This was not a good idea. I just knew I would fall in. Edward walked smoothly next to me as I stumbled along the narrow edge. But I knew what was coming, a dip in the ground caused me to trip, I didn't fall, but I stumbled a little more. Edward held my hand tighter in case I fell as I picked my pace up. He laughed, and moved to stand between me and the river.
"Just in case, it's pretty cold in there, wouldn't want to be jumping in after you." He smiled at me. He had a beautiful smile, I realised I was probably staring at it oddly so quickly turned away.
"Here we are!" Edward announced. We came off the narrow edge and were standing in a small clearing, but it was surrounded by trees and plants, it was much more colourful than anything I had seen in this town. But I still hadn't noticed the best bit, a small why up the river, it turned into more of a stream and led on to a huge and beautiful lake.
"Wow" was all that could come out of my mouth. I let go of Edwards hand and started to make my way towards the lake. I got to the edge and ran my fingers through the water; it was pretty clean for a lake, and surprisingly warm. I kicked my shoes off and sat on the grass, with my feet dipped slightly into the lake water. Edward appeared beside me and slipped his arm around my waist.
"Nice isn't it?" Edward broke the silence. "I don't think anyone else knows it is here. It's always empty of people."
X#x#x#x#x#x#x#x#x#x#
We must have sat there for hours, talking, laughing, teasing. It must have been the first time in months that I had laughed properly with someone and not had to care about anything in the world. We were still sitting by the lake, talking about the deer that we had just seen in the trees.
"...of course all the animals will have run away soon considering the amount you trip over." Edward teased and grinned at me. I gave him my puppy dog look.
"well if I'm so clumsy, maybe I should just go then," I joked back with him, and turned my head away from him.
"aw, don't be like that" he chuckled, and turned my head back to face him. His hand felt so cold again, as if he had been living in a freezer for the past 2 months. His hand stayed on my face as he stared into my eyes. His eyes were amazing, a beautiful...wait... is that gold colour? Gold eyes! That's impossible! But all words were lost from my wind as he leaned in, slightly parting his lips. Oh my god! He is going to kiss me! Our lips were only about 3 inches...2 inches away, and then our lips touched. They were so smooth! Like smooth pebbles but so soft, they moved around mine as if they were made to be there. Shivers ran down my spine as his tongue traced my lower lip. I opened mine slightly more and it continued to explore my mouth.
Suddenly, Edward pulled away sharply. I stared at him with awe, had I done something wrong?!
"I'm so sorry." He started to say as he looked at me with shocked eyes.
"What do you mean? Why are you sorry? Didn't you like it?" I asked.
"No, no of course not. I loved it, but I shouldn't have done that."
"Why not? It was me as well, and I wanted to!" I replied. He looked at me nervously.
"Bella, there is something I should tell you. My family want me to tell you as well, I mean seeing as you will hopefully be staying with us, you will have to find out at some point. I just don't want you to be scared. Or take it the wrong way." I looked at him questioningly.
"Edward nothing you say would scare me. I'm sure it's not that bad anyway. You can tell me anything." I smiled at him persuadingly. Well I hoped it was persuadingly. It seemed to work as he took a deep breath and started to speak.
"Yes, but Bella you either won't believe me, or you will think I am mad." I looked at him expectantly.
Edward sighed.
"Ok. Well, me and my family aren't like normal families. We are very different. We have a secret that not one other human knows." His beautiful face looked solemn. "We don't live like normal people...see I really don't know how I'm supposed to say this, but I'm not exactly.... human." What the hell was this boy on about? If he is not a human then he must be an angel. So beautiful.... "And I'm not lying or trying to joke. I'm being serious, me and my family..." he cut of his sentence, trying to find the right words, "don't you notice that my skin is always cold? And we all have expensive cars when only Carlisle works? And that I can move so quickly and I just happened to know where you would be last night after what happened?"
"Well, if you're not human then what are you?" I asked slowly.
"Well, me and my family are, vampires." he threw the words out.
"What?" I gasped, suddenly I realised that if this was true. I just spent the night in a house full of vampires. Edward must have seen the terrified look on my face.
"Don't worry though Bella! I swear I don't want to hurt you. None of us do! I know that your impression of a vampire would be a sharp teethed monster that goes around killing people and drinking their blood and all.... but I promise you we are different. Just hear me out ok? Yes, vampires do usually drink human blood, because yes there are many other vampires in the world. But they are so different to us! We don't drink human blood, we drink the blood of animals." He had to be kidding me... "Look I might as well give you the whole story..." he took my hand in his and turned to sit facing me. "Carlisle turned me. I was dying, it was either let me die or turn me into a vampire. In time, he turned all the others as well, but he would only ever do that to someone if they had no other choice. Carlisle is such a kind person. We hunt animal blood and restrain from drinking humans, we think it is cruel and monstrous. We are incredibly strong, and fast, our hearing is twice the strength of yours, and our sense of smell. I hope you can understand Bella, we want to help you." He let out his story, and I was left gawping like a toddler listening to a fairytale.
"So...so you drink animals? Umm, Edward can I ask you to do something for me?" I asked nervously.
"Of course, what is it?"
"Well, could you run please? I giggled, as fast as you can. To that tree and back." I indicated to a large oak at the end of the clearing. Edward chuckled at my request. The tree must have been about 50 metres away, but he was done within a second, I had barely noticed him go. I gawped at his body. At that moment, the sun started to peak through some trees on the other side of the forest. Beams of light shone through he leaves, and although sun in the town was so rare, that was not what held my attention. Edwards skin, though still as pale as before, now sparkled, as if millions of lights were being shown onto him. All I could think to describe it, was the most beautiful, amazing thing I had ever seen.
"Edward..." I whispered in awe."Your... wow" I couldn't even find the words to express to him. He laughed at my bemused expression.
"Edward, although I barely understand any of this, there is one thing I have to know."
"Yes Bella?" He asked intrigued.
"Why? Why did you pick me to tell of all the other humans out there? Why did you decide to help me?" I asked. I had to know. He knelt down next to where I was sitting and looked deeply into my eyes, frowning slightly.
"Bella, you are such an amazing person, you are so thoughtful of other people and I couldn't bear to let this happen to you," he gestured at all my bruises. "I saw you at school and you were so small, fragile and... miserable. I was drawn to you, and I really wanted to know what was making you so unhappy. Bella, I want to protect you." His voice was so smooth, but seemed so strained as he talked about what had happened to me. I felt the blood rush to my cheeks as I blushed.
"Edward? How did Alice know about me?" I asked cautiously.
"Well, Bella, that's another thing about being a vampire." He said the word without complete ease this time, "Some of us have special talents. See Alice can see the future." My eyes widened. W-o-w.
"That-is-so-cool!!!" I cried exasperatedly.
"Wait Bella! Let me finish." He chuckled. His laugh was like bells ringing. "She can only see the future based on people's decisions, it can always change. But she's not the only one with a gift."
"Do you have one too!?" I asked excitedly.
"Well, Jasper can feel other people's emotions and Bella, I can read minds." He whispered.
"Are you being serious? You can read minds! So you can hear what I am thinking?" I was suddenly terrified. This meant he could read ALL my thoughts. Oh jeez.....
"Well, I can read every mind on this planet..... other than yours." He replied smoothly.
"You....you can't read mine? Why?! I mean not that I was too keen on you being able to read my mind anyway, but why not?!"
"I honestly don't know. But you have to idea how frustrating it is for me! I spoke about it with Carlisle. It could be some fate thing or something.... but I don't know Bella."
"Ok..."I accepted Edward's strange explanation, I trusted him completely. "Anyway Edward...I think we were in the middle of something." He had a confused expression on his face. I leaned in a little, my eyes on his lips. He moved in slowly and cautiously, and planted his lips on mine. This kiss was different, slower and smoother. After about 15 seconds he pulled away.
"Bella, I think it is time we got back to the house. I want you to meet the family." He smiled at me and was already standing over me with his hand held out, ready the lead me back to his car.