I swear, I am the only person in the world who can hurt herself while she's sleeping. I sprained my wrist while I was asleep last night. Way to go me, right? Anyhow, I know you're all gonna kill me for not updating in so long, but life has been hell, and I just couldn't get this chapter sounding right. I'm on end-of-term break now, so I have these two weeks to write up a couple chappies for this and Mistakes. Oh, and I'm happy to say that there WILL be a sequel to Ariel's Summer coming out sometime soon. And I changed the summary, in case you haven't noticed. You'll notice this Edward is a lot less…pessimistic, I guess, so he's OOC now too. It just didn't fit to have Edward all brooding and emo in this story.

Endangered: Chapter 5

"Excuse me, what did you just say?"

I looked to the ground and blushed a little – I noticed his eyes darkened a fraction here – realizing I had said that out loud. Oh well, so much for keeping him in the dark.

"Nothing, only that my newest friend is a vampire."

Wow, I attract the weirdest creatures, I though to myself. Bears and moose were too normal. I just had to go find myself some strange supernatural hottie to hang out with. Way to go Bella.

Wait. Hottie?

I swiftly lifted my palm to my forehead, checking for a fever. Never in my thirty-something years had I come even remotely close to using that kind of terminology.

Yeah, now I'm the girl who uses the word 'terminology' in her head. Great.

"Bella?" Edward's cold hand reached up to brush my shoulder, shocking me out of my thought. I didn't miss the electricity that I felt, but I just brushed it off as it being a little static. I suspected he felt the spark too, judging from the surprise in his beautiful topaz eyes.

I shook my head, clearing my thoughts before I went off on some inner monologue about those 'beautiful topaz eyes'. God only knows I'd either sound like a love struck teenager or some wacky scientist.

"Yes, Edward?" I noticed his eyes had become a little dull, sad even. I smiled softly, trying to decipher his sudden change of mood. He turned so that I couldn't see his face clearly, shrouding his eyes in a tuft of bronze hair.

"What gave me away?" He asked after a short pause, his head shooting up to meet my gaze all of a sudden. I jumped at the sudden movement, before calming down enough to rest a reassuring hand on his arm. I felt the electricity again, but didn't remove my hand this time.

I looked up at him, confused, "What do you mean?"

"You know exactly what I mean." He snapped, shrugging my hand off. His eyes turned dark but this time it seemed out of anger.

I glared at Edward, annoyed. I briefly wondered if it was possible for vampires to be bipolar, before shaking my head slightly from side to side, "no, I don't. Why don't you just tell me and make both our lives that much easier?"

By now, we had stopped walking and stood front to front about two feet apart.

I stared at him, daring him to tell me, while he simply shoved his hands in his pockets and refused to meet my irritated gaze.

"Well," he started finally. I noticed the change in his tone, how he was now looked calm, collected and in control. His eyes had almost returned to their usual gold. "How did you know I was a…vampire?" He said the word 'vampire' like it was some nasty incurable disease, surprising me. The way he said it made it obvious he didn't appreciate that existence.

I stammered, letting out a complete string of 'ums' and 'ahs' as I contemplated how to approach answering this question. I didn't really want to tell him what I was; not yet anyways. I hadn't known him long enough.

"Er…women's intuition?" It came out more like a question, and I had a feeling even the most gullible of people wouldn't believe that.

Edward just nodded, his expression stoic but his eyes telling me he didn't buy my answer – hell, I didn't – but he didn't push the subject. I thanked him vigorously in my head.

We turned and continued walking side by side. The silence wasn't awkward, but it wasn't comfortable either. It was just…nothing.

All of sudden I got an idea and a mischievous grin broke out across my face. Edward gave me a puzzled look and I simply smiled wider before practically yelling, "20 questions!"

"Is that your brilliant idea?"

I nodded energetically, still grinning like the Cheshire cat.

Edward nodded his head in approval, pursing his lips, "I like it."

"You know how to play 20 questions, right?" I asked him.

He gave me an incredulous look, "Who doesn't know how to play 20 questions?"

"Um… the starving kids stuck in Somalia?"

Edward shrugged, "I didn't think of that."

I bit my lip before I could make some snappy remark about him hurting his head, instead deciding to start the interrogation. "Favorite color?"

"Brown; you?"

"It changes every day. Um, favorite book?"

"None. I'm not the most avid reader." This surprised me; what did he do with all his free time? "What's your full name?"

We continued like this as we walked strolled through forest, and I'm sure we asked way more than 20 questions. For me, it was refreshing to talk in English, to a biped. It was almost strange.

I also learnt a lot about Edward during our game. His full name is Edward Anthony Masen Cullen, and he is a member of a coven of seven. He was born in Chicago, and he loved music. He listened to everything but rap and country, although he wasn't too fond of pop. He also played the piano, and when I asked if he composed music, he just looked embarrassed and avoided the question. I didn't know what to make of that. I also learnt a lot about the inconsequential little details in his life, like

We walked on in silence, and I found my self looking over at Edward ever now and then, almost as if to confirm he was real. I noticed that Edward was doing something of a similar manner as well.

As I glanced at him again, I started to take more notice of his aesthetic appearance. He was easy on the eye, that was for sure. He looked perfect, even if I could only see his profile from the way we were positioned, side by side. Straight nose, square jaw. His lips were a soft pink, contrasting beautifully with his pale complexion.

Suddenly, Edward stopped short, and I drew my gaze away from him to see were stopped at the edge of a beautiful clearing that was rather large, a meadow in true definition. The grass was a beautiful green, covered with multicolored flowers of all sorts. In the background, on the opposite side of the meadow, stood a beautiful, renaissance type mansion, with a modern touch. On the side we were standing at, I could see into the house, as one entire wall was made out of glass. On the ground floor, in what was probably the living room, were four people in various positions. I could just make them out through the glare of the window. Between the house and myself was a medium sized river, about three and a half meters wide; the water inside was crystal clear, and you could see right to the bed of it. It was beautiful.

"Erm, Bella, I'm sorry, but I kind of led us to my house unconsciously while we were walking…" Edward began.

I cut him off before he started rambling. "I understand, don't worry. It's completely logical for an animal to approach it's living quarters unknowingly upon the chance they are either lost or traveling in no particular direction. It's a nervous reaction due to a chemical processed in the back right side of the brain. Mammals' psyche."

I blushed a deep crimson when I realized exactly what I had just said. I mean, really? I looked up to find Edward staring at me with the most puzzled, frustrated – not to mention cute – look.

"Was that English?" He question finally.

"Yes," I answered meekly.

"I didn't think you'd know all that," he commented. "How old are you?"

I was rather taken aback by this question. How old was I? And how in the world was I supposed to answer that question? I just went with my physical age, "Seventeen."

"Bella, you aren't seventeen seventeen. That's obvious enough to me. How long have you been seventeen?"

I paused, contemplating my answer. I didn't even know, actually. So I opted with a vague response. "A while."

Edward snorted, "Accurate answer."

I nodded, "Of course."

"Would you like to come inside? I'm sure my family would love to meet you, Bella. A couple of my siblings are out, though."

I found it really sweet that he called them his family not because he had to, but because that's what they really were to him. I could see it in his eyes and the tone he used – a loving, soft one. I really wouldn't know much about familiar relationships, though, bearing in mind my past.

"Sure, as long as they don't bite" I joked.

"I'm sure they won't," he responded in a similar tone. I looked up into his mirthful ocher eyes.

And that's when something struck me – I forgot to ask about what he ate! Way to go, Bella, I thought to myself. Realize you know diddly about the hot vampire's diet minutes before walking into his house. This time around, I ignored the fact that I called him hot and just focused on the more important aspect of the sentence.

Like how I'm probably the afternoon snack.

I voiced this thought to Edward.

Edward shook his head, almost like he was disappointed, muttering something that sounded like, "Now she asks." I ignored his comment, instead looking up at him expectantly.

He paused, supposedly thinking of how to word it right. "Bella, my family and I, we're different from other vampires. We live off animal blood rather than human blood."

My world stopped right then and there. I didn't really listen to Edward's rambling about how it gave them a clearer conscience. I knew this was too good to be true – of course he lived off my animals. I bit back a groan. Fate really hated me, didn't it?

It's not that I didn't believe Edward and his family weren't good people. It would be presumptive of me to label them as cruel heartless things, and I was sure they were all great. But fate was really hitting below the belt with the whole 'we eat animals so we can feel good about ourselves' deal. I really shouldn't be surprised though. This was me, Bella Swan. I had the worst luck of anyone who ever existed.

"Bella, Bella?! You in there?" Edward was waving his hand in front of my face, looking worried.

I shook my head, pushing those thoughts to the back of my mind, ready to revisit when I had the time. "Hmm? Oh, sorry I zoned out on you, Edward!" I apologized quickly. Then, before I could change my mind and back out with some lame excuse, I took a step into the clearing and looking over my shoulder at Edward, who looked relieved for some reason. "Shall we?"

What did I just get myself into?

BTW, don't believe that scientific thing that Bella said, I just made that up for story purposes. Notice Bella turned the 'a while' card on Eddie? xP

P.S. You Twilight peeps really aren't into cookies like PJO peeps are! Do you prefer blondies or something? :D

Don't forget to review... -hint, hint-

Xx

HG23