Guys, I'm sorry it took me that long to update, but I was really busy. This is chapter 9, I hope you somehow like it! Read and review! I'll try to post more soon!

Happy Holidays!!! :)

Love, B.

Chapter 9 – Left behind –

After what seemed like an eternity, he pulled away from me, his eyes a deep black. I smiled slightly and tossed a strand of his black hair out of his face. He smiled in response, stroking my right cheek with the lightest of touches.

"So, what are you going to do now?", he asked calmly. I sighed and crossed my arms in front of my chest. "I honestly don't know…", I said frustrated and stood up, pacing back and forth. If I had to go to Volterra, I might as well just go as soon as possible. Still, an undefined fear came up when I only thought of it. "What will they do to me?", I asked, now looking at Alex again. "I mean, if I turn out to be a danger to them?" He looked at his feet, obviously unsure, what to say. "I don't really know. As far as I know, they are always searching for people to join them in their guard." Join them? I frowned. I wasn't planning on joining anything, I had just experienced how things like that could end up. "People with special abilities – just like you.", he added and ran his fingers through his hair.

"They don't need to know about my abilities, I don't have to tell them, do I?", I asked, watching his every move, as he stood up and took some steps towards me. "I don't think that's an opportunity. Aro can read minds just like Edward, although he has to touch people to read theirs… And they've got Jane.", his face turned into a disgusted mask. "She can make you believe, that you're hurt by manipulating your mind. They'll find out soon enough." Hurt people by manipulating their minds? That meant, if she would try hurting me, she would obviously hurt herself… "That's not that bad then, is it?", I asked, realizing that a sarcastic smile appeared on my lips. "They won't be able to hurt me, right?" He smiled now too. "No, I don't think so. Still, I don't think they'll just leave you be as soon as they know what you can do…" His face was full of concern again.

I shrugged. "It's not as if I really do something, Alex. It just happens!" He nodded and put his right hand on my hip, as soon as he did so, it was, as if electricity rushed through my dead veins. "I just don't want anything to happen to you, Lana. Not if I can prevent it from happening. I want you to learn more about yourself, about how your mind works this stuff! And maybe, you'll be able to control it, hide it or something like that…" He was looking straight into my eyes. "You don't have to go at once, some years, maybe decades, don't mean that much in our world. There'll be no problem, I assure you."

This seemed reasonable. I didn't even know what my mind did, I needed to learn more about it and then make my way to Volterra. I gave Alex a smile and closed the space between us, pressing my chest against his. "Thank you.", I muttered, now only whispering and kissed him lightly. "For what?", he asked against my lower lip and I felt him smiling as he did so. "For being there for me…", I laughed lightly and kissed him again, drawing back only a bit. "But what am I going to do about William and the others? They'll hate me even more by now." "They don't hate you…", he began, but I cut him off immediately. "You know at least Madelyn and Mary do. They tried to hide it well, but I know that they didn't like me being the one to cause all the trouble. They liked it best the way it was before I was changed." He tilted his head from side to side, and I knew, he couldn't say anything against that. "I don't think I can stay with you guys anymore…" It was the one thing, I needed to say, yet the one thing I was absolutely scared of. 'You guys' meant that he belonged to them while I didn't…

I looked at his face, his eyes narrowed, they had now gone back to their light burgundy tone. "You don't really think that I'll leave you, right?" I tried to shrug, but he laid his hands on my shoulders, keeping them down. "Lana, if you really think that, you understood nothing of what I tried to tell you!", he nearly yelled at me now and I stopped breathing at exactly that moment. It wasn't as if I needed to breathe, anyway… But the look in his eyes was intense and a slight hint of pain hit me. "I love you.", he said simply, never taking his eyes from mine. "I want to stay with you. That's not an opportunity. That's a necessity."

I had never been a very sensitive person, but if I had been able to cry, I knew there would have been tears coming now. I didn't know how badly I had longed for something like this. This awful closeness between us had made me gone mad back then and now? It was as if all the insecurities were solved at once. "Alright.", I coughed lightly, looking at my feet, but then I lifted my gaze and held his. "I love you too…", I said, my voice merely more than a whisper.

His answering smile was dazzling, it lighted his face, lighted the whole room somehow. It felt just right.

"Okay, you want to tell the others and then find some place for us to stay?", he asked after a while, with his arms around my waist, while my head rested against his muscular chest. "I think so.", I answered and stood up straight, flexing my muscles. I felt a lot stronger now than some hours ago. Maybe I would be able to handle this, maybe there was a way to get through it all. "So, let's go.", Alex said, holding out his hand to me and I gratefully grabbed it, following him downstairs and into the great living room.

The Cullens were sitting around the low table, nobody said a word, they all looked very thoughtful, as if somebody had given them a choice to make. I carefully avoided eye contact with Edward, but I knew, he wouldn't be trying to read my mind anyway. He knew what that would cause. "Where's the others?", Alex addressed Carlisle, who sat on the edge of one of the white sofas. "They are just leaving.", he answered somehow apologetically. "We told them to wait and talk about things, but William was furious." Alex nodded and tightened his grip on my hand, dragging me towards the front door. I closed my eyes and inhaled deeply. This wasn't going to be nice.

Outside, William was just getting into the car, when we hurried down the steps. I felt the appearances of seven other vampires behind us, but at least for now, I didn't turn. My eyes were tightly locked on William, whose body was tense, rigid almost. "William, wait!", Alex called, stopping in front of the car. I stood close by his side. "So, you at least decided to come with us!", William yelled and took some steps towards us. "Little miss "I can go on my own", ha?" His tone was sarcastic, angry. Who did he think he was? "I'm not going with you.", I said grimly, when Alex interrupted me. "We are not going with you.", he said, keeping his voice low.

"What?" It was Madelyn's voice that broke the short silence between us. I looked up, seeing yet another pair of angry eyes. I gulped. Why did I always have to get in between people? I hated it. "You heard me, Maddy.", Alex said, I didn't overhear him calling her by her nickname. "Lana and I are going to go off on our own." I think it was by then, that she recognized our hands, holding each other, our fingers entangled tightly. Her eyes narrowed noticeably. "You're not serious.", William muttered, now only talking to Alex. They had been together for a long time; sometimes they seemed to me like father and son or mentor and student. But I had William never seen like that as well. He seemed too self-righteous. "I am.", Alex simply said, as I looked up into his face, it seemed to have turned into stone. There were no emotions left.

Madelyn came forward, groaning slightly at me. "What did you do?", she asked. "Used some of your new found witch power on him?" She now stared right into my eyes, something she had never done before. Eye contact had always been avoided between the two of us. "I didn't do anything.", I said, believing that I had said that too often. "Yeah, right.", she shook her head, making her look like a fury. "Maddy, stop it.", Alex demanded, I thought Edward would have liked this. It somehow verified his thesis about the overprotective part.

She shifted her gaze towards him now, showing me her cold shoulder. "Alex, she's not good enough for you. Remember everything she's done in only the year she has been a vampire." He shook his head lightly, showing her he didn't want to hear any of it, but Madelyn continued; now really frustrated. "What? Did she tell you, she loved you? It's all a lie, Alex. You're going to realize that sooner or later. She's using you, that's what she does with anybody!" She shook her head again, then turned around on her heals and slammed the car door shut behind her.

I shifted my gaze and looked at William – for the last time in a long period of time, and all I could manage was. "I'm sorry for the trouble, William." His gaze burned into my eyes for a fraction of a second. I didn't know by then, that this look yet implied the decision to do something that would change the existences of us all dramatically…

I stared after the backlights of the car longer than I could have seen them, even with my improved sight. So, I only turned and focused on my surroundings again, as somebody cleared his throat behind my back. It was Carlisle, and it was by then that I saw the other members of the Cullen family standing near the front door. "I'm sorry about all of this…", Carlisle began, but I shook my head no. "Please, don't apologize. I'm the one to do that, it's my fault that this day went so horribly wrong." And I knew, that this was true. 'Keep out of trouble', my dad used to tell me whenever I left the house. I thought that maybe I ought to have listened to him. Carlisle looked at me fatherly, a look I had never seen on anybody in such an authentic way. It wasn't a role he was playing. "So, where do you plan on going?", he asked, addressing Alex now as well as myself. I threw a glance at him and we both shrugged at nearly the same time.

"What about staying here?", Alice had joined us by now, winking in my direction. I opened my mouth, but Alex answered before I had the chance to. "I don't think that's possible. We don't want to cause more trouble, right?" I agreed with a nod, feeling, that I really would have liked staying here. "You need to learn more about your power, Lana.", Carlisle commented, reassuring Alex somehow. "With Alice, Edward and Jasper around, we might be able to push it somehow and see, how it really works." He sounded excited, as if it was some kind of secret he wanted to discover. I glanced at Alex, meeting his gaze and he looked as if he wanted to leave that choice up to me. I looked at Alice, feeling a wave of sympathy towards her and Carlisle, but shouldn't I try and keep people out of things that weren't their business? Keep them out of trouble, if I couldn't stay out of it?
I cleared my throat. "We'd love to stay, if that's okay for everyone of you. At least for a while…", I said, looking at Carlisle as the head of the family. He nodded slightly.

"Welcome!", he said warmly.