Chapter Seven: Edward's Plan

Emmett's POV

Edward came running into the kitchen, looking frazzled. I cocked an eyebrow at him and dealt a card to Jasper.

"Hey, Ed," I said. "You seduce her yet? I'm guessing not, considering you're here..." I trailed off.

"I may not have seduced her yet, but I have a plan. And for God's sake, don't call me Ed!" Edward practically yelled in my ear. I winced at bit and then asked:

"What's the plan, Oh Master of All Things Red-eyed and Cursed?" Just then, Alice ran in excitedly, bouncing on her toes. God, I thought vampires were supposed to be scary.

"Oh my gosh, Eddie, that is the best plan ever! Can I help, can I?" Jasper snickered while flipping idly through his card pile.

"Yes, Alice, you may help, that's what I wanted. And don't call me Eddie," Edward said matter-of-factly. I frowned. Why do I get yelled at and not Alice? Geez. "She doesn't get yelled at because she says it in a cute tone that reminds me of a five-year-old, okay, Emmett?" I shrugged and started to quote random books I had read in my head.

"Okay, Edward, cut it out and tell us the plan," Jasper said, dropping his cards and leaning towards Edward.

"Well, see, it goes like this..."

Bella's POV

"I'm bored," I said to my bedroom at large. Nothing responded, of course. Furniture doesn't talk, no matter how much you want it to. I sighed and fingered the dark purple—oh, excuse me, royal purple—silk of the dress Alice had forced me into for mine and Edward's "supper". I wondered why Edward had stalked off so fast. What had I done wrong? I didn't understand him at all.

I was still muddling through all my thoughts when there was a soft knock on my bedroom door and it cracked open to reveal Rosalie.

"Bella?" she asked. I sighed. Who else could it be?

"Yes, of course."

"Edward wants you to come meet him in the foyer," she said awkwardly. I sighed again.

"Do I really have a choice?"

"Erm... not really." I slid off the bed and walked over to the door.

"I didn't think so," I told Rosalie, and she smiled and ushered me out the door.

Edward was standing awkwardly in the foyer, wearing an obviously forced smile.

"Hello," he said, taking my hand. I pulled away; the building was already too cold for me without holding on to him. He frowned, but didn't say anything. "Come with me." I followed him down a few hallways before we finally came to a set of big wooden doors. Edward stopped outside of them and fidgeted.

"Um... could you close your eyes?" he asked quietly. I frowned.

"Why?"

"Because... it's a surprise. Just trust me, okay?" He looked very uncomfortable, so uncomfortable that I felt kind of sorry for him. I closed my eyes.

Edward took my arm awkwardly, and I heard the doors open. He led me forward and then stopped.

"Can you stay right there?" I made a face at him, my eyes still closed.

"What's the magic word?"

"Uh... please?"

"Yes."

I heard Edward moving around the room and the scrape of what must have been chairs against the floor. In no time at all, it seemed, he was next to me again, his hand lying on my arm. I didn't flinch away this time.

"Okay, you can open your eyes now," he told me. I snapped them open and resisted an urge to gasp. We were in the biggest library I had ever seen. The bookshelves reached all the way to the ceiling, with ladders propped along them. There was a red and white checkered blanket lying on the floor between two of these bookshelves with a pretty flower arrangement sitting in the middle of it. Every available surface was covered in candles, giving the room a dim, yellow glow. I stared.

"Do you like it?" Edward asked. I looked back at him; he was standing just behind me, his hands folded in front of him, rocking back and forth. I smiled.

"Yes, I do." At that, Edward flashed a huge smile at me that made my heart skip a beat.

'No, no, Bella. This is your captivator, the one that was torturing your father. You can't like him like that. You can't like him at all!' My inner voice scolded me, but I disregarded it, instead walking over to the blanket and sitting down on it. There was a picnic basket I hadn't noticed before, so I pulled it over to me and opened it. It, like most picnic baskets, was full of food. I pulled out a bun and proceeded to pick it apart and eat it. I looked up about halfway through the bun to see Edward standing next to the blanket watching me. I frowned.

"You could sit down, you know," I told him condescendingly. He blinked and gracefully sat down with a weird look on his face. I held out the other half of my bun to him. "Want some?" He shook his head. "Why not, you didn't eat anything earlier, either." Edward looked upset now.

"Erm... we... I mean, vampires... don't really eat human food..." he trailed off. I nodded and pulled my bun away from him and ripping another chunk off.

"What else do vampires do? Or, you know, not do?" I inquired. He took a deep breath and started to list things.

"We sparkle in sunlight, we don't need to breathe, some of us have special powers, we can move abnormally fast, we are exceptionally strong, our skin is ice cold—though I'm sure you realized that one—as well as being virtually impenetrable." He paused, and looked at me. My mouth was hanging open, staring at him.

"Holy. You don't breathe? You sparkle? What kind of vampire sparkles?" I asked him. He shrugged.

"This kind of vampire, I suppose," he said nonchalantly. I put down the rest of my bun, no longer feeling exceptionally hungry.

"Can you show me?" I asked tentatively. Edward had been staring at the picnic basket in distaste, but now his head snapped up to look at me.

"You really want to see?" he asked incredulously. I simply nodded. Edward got up and I followed suit. He looked around the room before turning back to me. "Get on my back."

I stared at him. He wanted me to get on his back? "Why?"

"It'll be faster," he told me. I frowned, but went over to Edward and grabbed his shoulders. I jumped awkwardly onto his back—it was very weird, I couldn't convince myself otherwise—and he jumped through a window. I shrieked and scrunched my eyes shut, sure we were going to hit the ground and I was going to die. We did hit the ground, but it was on Edward's feet, and I didn't die. I smiled at my silliness, of course I wouldn't die. I was with a vampire! I laughed out loud at my absurd thought. You'd think I'd have the sense to consider the part where he probably wanted to suck my blood.

I could feel wind blowing my hair back, and I chanced opening my eyes a crack. Big mistake. We were moving so fast that I couldn't see anything but a green blur. I let out another shriek and buried my face into Edward's back. Not long after, we stopped moving. I continued to hold onto Edward, breathing in deeply. I couldn't help but notice that Edward smelt good.

"Bella?" he prompted. "You can get down now."

I continued to breathe in his scent, not so much because I needed the air, but because I liked the way he smelled. I finally brought my head up and said shakily, "I don't think I can."

Edward chuckled and lowered me down, loosening my grip on his shoulders as he went. He laid me on the grass and I breathed in deeply, staring at the blue sky through the green canopy of trees. Edward's face appeared above me. "Are you okay?" he asked anxiously.

"I'm fine," I replied, sitting up cautiously. "Why didn't you warn me?"

Edward looked confused. "But... I said vampires moved fast... and I just thought that you would know what it meant when I said to get on my back." I frowned and chanced a glance at our surroundings. Seeing the meadow in front of me, I gasped and got to my feet, walking into the beautiful meadow that was full of tall grass and little yellow flowers. I looked back at Edward to see him hovering in the shadows.

"Come on, show me your 'sparkling,'" I encouraged. I could see Edward take a deep breath and step into the sun.

Edward's POV

I stepped cautiously into the sun, dreading her reaction. I stood awkwardly at the edge of the meadow, waiting for her to say something, or even move. She didn't. Bella just stood there, staring at me.

"I'm sorry, I shouldn't have taken you here," I lamented, turning back towards the trees. A soft hand on my wrist stopped me.

"No, don't go. You... you're beautiful," Bella whispered. I shook my head.

"Beautiful? This skin," I pulled away and gestured at my sparkling body, "this is the skin of a killer. An evil, human bloodsucking monster." I stared at Bella, willing her to understand. I may need her to fall in love with me so the curse could be broken, but I didn't want her to risk her life not knowing what she was doing. She needed to know how dangerous I was.

Bella sat down in the grass, her pretty purple dress laid out around her. She picked up an edge of it and fiddled with the trim. I sat down next to her as she brought her knees up in front of her and hugged them. We were silent for a few moments before she began to mumble to herself.

"Shouldn't fall in love with my captor... it's not safe, he could attack me at any moment. But... he's so perfect, how can I help it? He's smart, he's gorgeous... not to mention..." Here her voice became too quiet for even my acute vampire hearing to register. Well, at least she realizes the danger she's in. I was attempting very hard to not be selfish, as was my nature, I admitted it.

"Bella?" I asked.

"Yes?"

"Why are you still here? I just took you out of the castle, and you haven't made one attempt to run away."

Bella stared at me incredulously. "Are you serious? There are a lot of reasons. First of all, if I tried to run away you'd catch me in seconds. Second, I would have no idea which way to run, seeing as I had my eyes closed the whole way here. And third... maybe I don't want to leave." I had been nodding through her entire tirade, wondering how I hadn't thought of those things, but her last sentence shocked me. She didn't want to leave me? Why not? If I was with a monster who wanted my blood, I'd be running in the other direction in no time.

"You don't want to leave? What?"

Bella sighed. "I should want to, but I don't. There's just something about you... you fascinate me."

I continued to gape at her. "You don't care that I think you're the best thing I've ever smelt in my life and I want to suck your blood? I'm a blood crazed vampire that hasn't let himself feed for years. Aren't you the least bit scared?"

"I'm the best thing you've ever smelt in your life?" Bella cocked an eyebrow at me.

"Yes," I replied simply. "That's why it's so hard to resist you... I think I'm getting better at it though." It was true; I barely noticed the appeal of her smell anymore... just the lavender in it, not the food smell.

"Well, if it makes you feel any better, you smell really good too," she offered. I sighed.

"I don't think you understand," I told her. She shook her head.

"I don't think you understand," she retorted. I shook my head at her and she frowned.

"Don't frown," I said without thinking, reaching my hand out to touch her face. She stiffened at my touch for a second, then relaxed, leaning into my hand. I moved closer to her and laid her head against my shoulder. In what seemed like no time at all, her breathing evened out, and she seemed to be sleeping. I let my thoughts wander, absently stroking her silky smooth hair.

I really didn't think that Bella understood me at all. The problem was, I didn't know how I could make her understand. I pondered this for a moment and then it hit me.

Why did I want to make her understand anyways? Wasn't she just a pawn that I was going to trick into loving me in order to lift the curse? This must mean I was really changing, possibly even becoming... unselfish. It was an odd thought. I'd always been the overbearing, never satisfied lord. Was Bella breaking my outer shell to reveal something no one—not even me—had realized was there?

It seemed that she might be, and that scared me.

Phew. That was a HARD chapter. (TWSS). I'm so sorry for the lack in updates, but I had to get this scene just right. Thanks for being patient, and tell me if you thought I got it right in a review!! :D