Chapter 5

Jessica's POV

I spent the entire car ride shaking in anxious anticipation. I knew something bad was happening. I could tell by Alice's maniacal driving and the strange look that would come across her face every few minutes. But I held my tongue, even though there were a thousand questions to be asked.

I had been to the Cullen's home before; once, for their graduation party. It had been decorated that night, twinkle lights and streamers dripping from available corner, a visible symbol at the joy we all felt at actually graduating from high school. Tonight, however, it was different. Few lights adorned the exterior of the home, and the cloudy sky hid the natural moonlight from illuminating any more than the outline of the massive building. It was really, really, creepy.

We pulled into the driveway only seconds after Bella and Edward, but Alice had me out of the car and in the house long before they had even exited their own vehicle. I didn't even glance behind me as we made our way in through the garage and into the living room. The interior of their house was beautiful, just as I had remembered, but I couldn't really bring myself to appreciate any of the décor or expensive furniture that was scattered purposefully around the room.

"Make yourself at home," Alice said, leaving me alone in the center of the living room.

"Wait," I croaked out, "When are you going to tell me what's going on?"

She looked at me nervously. "I think I should wait until everyone else gets here. Carlisle and Edward can probably explain better than I could anyway." I sighed, not really knowing whether or not I should put up a fight. She danced gracefully up her family's spiral staircase, but stopped midway. "Can you do me a favor though?" she asked.

I just looked at her, not responding. I wasn't going to agree to anything without knowing exactly what was going on. "Can you just wash your hands. The bathroom is right through there," she said, pointing toward an empty hallway.

It was a strange request, but I did as I was asked. Not before I looked down to see why she had asked me to do such a thing, however. Light scrapes dusted my palms, but they were covered with dirt from falling down when Mike had shoved me. I wasn't bleeding profusely, but one of the scrapes had cut deep enough to produce a light red streak across my left palm. I scrubbed my hands, getting off all of the dirt and leaves and blood. I looked through the medicine cabinet to see if I could find a band-aid, but was slightly surprised when I found it almost completely empty, save for an extra bottle of hand soap.

I dried my hands on the towel next to the sink, and opened the door. I almost jumped in surprise at Alice, who was standing directly in front of the door, a bottle of antiseptic and a thick bandage in her hand. She handed them both wordlessly to me before turning around and walking in the direction of the living room. I closed the door again and quickly dressed my superficial wound, wondering why on earth she felt the need to give me such strong a strong antiseptic for a superficial scrape. It wasn't even bleeding anymore.

Once my task was completed, I made my way back into the living room, where the entire Cullen family had now congregated. And they were all staring at me. I looked around the room nervously and saw that an empty seat had been left for me next to Edward and Bella. I slowly made my way to the plush sofa and sat down, seriously nervous now.

The room was completely silent, and I was so anxious I thought my heart was going to beat out of my chest. As quickly as the near panic attack had come on, however, a sense of calm washed over me. It was so strange, but at that moment I felt okay. I knew that something was going on, but I wasn't worried anymore. I felt content, and…safe.

That gave me the confidence to ask the question I've asked multiple times that night, but never got a response to. "What the hell is going on?" I finally said, looking nervously around the room. "Where's Mike?"

Dr. Cullen was the first to speak. He was standing behind his wife, who sat in a comfortable arm chair on the other side of the room. "Jessica," he said, "before we have this conversation, I need you to know that you are safe here. Can you trust me when I say that we will do everything we can to make keep you and your friend out of danger?"

I felt my eyes narrow. Why should I trust them when they wouldn't even tell me what was going on?

"Jessica," I heard Bella say softly next to me. "Jessica, you can trust them. I promise, regardless of what they are about to tell you, you can trust them. They won't hurt you."

They won't hurt you. Why the hell did she just say that? I was never afraid that they would hurt me, but now she had me even more nervous than I was before. I noticed, from the corner of my eye, as Edward looked in Jasper's direction. Suddenly, the unnatural calm I felt intensified. I wasn't scare. At this moment, I was just curious.

I opened my mouth to agree. Instead of responding in the affirmative, however, a question that I had not intended to ask came out instead. It was as if my voice wasn't even my own. It was the real question I had been wondering all night. Actually, if I was being honest with myself, it was the question that I had wanted to ask ever since the Cullens moved to Forks.

"What are you?" If the room was silent before I asked the question, now it was as still as stone. I heard Bella take a sharp intake of breath, before burying her face in Edward's shoulder. Everyone else just sat completely still, their eyes wide and unblinking, staring in my direction.

Nobody spoke. The only sound came from another loud wolf's howl outside. It was close. I turned my head in the direction of the window, and was horrified to see the face of a giant animal gazing inside. In the time it took me to blink, to see if it was actually there or just a figment of my imagination, it was gone.

"You know what we are," Edward said. His voice sounded far away, even though he sat mere feet from where I was. I turned to look in his direction. Before I could open my mouth to say that I actually had no idea, he spoke again. "You do know, Jessica."

I thought for a moment about what he meant. I honestly thought that I had no idea. I looked around the room at the faces of the Cullen family. Though I had noticed it before, I didn't truly understand what it meant. It was their eyes. They all had the exact same color eyes. It was an unnatural color, one that made you look twice when seeing them individually. But now they were all together, and it was entirely disconcerting.

I tried to think of the other things I had noticed in the years. Anything unusual I had simply placed in the back of my mind, willing myself to forget, but now it flooded back to me. I remembered a few years ago when Dr. Cullen treated me for a broken wrist. His ice cold touch had been soothing to my aching wrist, but now, three years later, I realized how strange the sensation was. It was the exact same sensation as when Alice had grabbed my arm earlier. Her touch was cold and strong and smooth as marble. It wasn't natural.

They didn't eat. I had noticed that before too, when they just threw away the food on their trays at school. Bella was the only one who ever ate anything. And they skipped school. A lot. On sunny days, so they could go hiking and camping. But Rosalie didn't exactly look like a camper to me.

"You know," Edward said once again. It was like he knew exactly what was going through my head at the moment. Because I did know. I just hadn't said the words yet.

Everyone stared at me, but I saw none of them. I just saw Bella, curled up into Edward's side, her soft, rosy complexion a stark contrast to the ice cold, white skin that cradled her hand. She was so comfortable, looked so safe.

My throat was dry again, but I willed myself to speak. I wasn't afraid, though I knew I should be. The first time I opened my mouth, nothing came out. But I tried again. My second attempt was more successful than the first.

"Vampires."