Chapter 9: Too Much Information

Angela's pov

I looked into the eyes of Jasper Cullen. He looked dangerous. He also looked frightened. Slowly, I drew myself up and stared into his eyes. He was holding me in a vise-like grip. Resistance was futile.

"It's okay, Jasper, seriously. She's not going to betray us. She's too loyal." Alice was sitting on the couch. Then, she was standing beside Jasper on the stairs with her hand on his arm. She moved so fast that I didn't see her do it.

Jasper nodded at Alice, and backed off. Warmth crept back stingingly into my arms when he released me. I rubbed them absentmindedly.

I turned to go up the stairs, but I was suddenly unable to move my feet. "It's okay, Angela. We're the same people we were this morning, and you are still family. Our lives are just a little more... complicated than you imagined." Alice placed her hand on the small of my back and gave me a little push. I forced my legs to move.

My knees wobbled with every step. I gripped the bannister for support. I did not know whether to go forward or run away, but what I did know was that Edward and Bella and the rest of the Cullens had always been kind to me. I decided to risk trusting them, no matter what kind of alien creatures they turned out to be.

Rosalie was standing guard outside Edward's bedroom. She exchanged an unhappy look with Alice. I braced myself outside the bedroom door. Then Alice turned the knob and ushered me inside.

The enormous buck was lying across the bed. It was not moving. Edward was sitting up with it in his arms. There was a sudden onslaught of sound. The family was protesting my presence.

Carlisle, Bella and Emmett moved to stand defensively at the foot of the bed. There was a strange, menacing growling noise coming from somewhere in the room. With the bedroom curtains closed, the room was quite dingy. I strained to see what was happening.

"What in God's name do you think you are doing, Alice? Have you gone insane?" barked Carlisle.

"This is what is meant to be, Carlisle. Angela knows our family is not... normal. She is going to keep the secret. She is going to be a help to us in the future, be a surrogate member of the family."

"You can't imagine any of us is going to change her," Carlisle snarled. I had never heard him get angry before. Change me? To be like them? I cowered back against Rosalie and Alice.

"She won't choose to be changed. It won't happen, but she must know the truth in order to have her future." Alice patted my hand. Rosalie rubbed my back consolingly.

"And what will the Volturi have to say about that?"

"Actually, they are never going to bother her. They will never even find out that she exists."

Carlisle eyed me appraisingly as I stood cringing in the doorway. "Are you afraid of us, Angela?"

My throat felt too closed to answer. "Of course she's afraid," scoffed Jasper from behind me. "She's a perceptive girl." I took a tentative step into the room. A strange feeling of calm came over me.

Edward released the deer and Emmett picked it up. Edward fell back against a pile of pillows with a sigh. Emmett moved to the far end of the room. He threw back a curtain and opened a door-like window, flooding the room with light. He took the deer and pitched it out the window. It landed two storeys down with a dull thud. It made no noise of protest. It was already dead. I gasped and turned to look at Edward.

I'm sure I must have screamed. I hurled myself backward against the foot of the wall, huddling up and averting my face. Edward Cullen, my friend and protector, had blood dripping from the corners of his mouth. The sense of betrayal was overwhelming. Would they kill me now?

Bella, my best friend, picked up a cloth and tenderly wiped away the blood. The ripping, sawing noise was clawing its way out of my body again. Christ Aid! I was in a house full of demons. I snatched at the cross I wore on my neck, and held it up as a talisman.

"In the name of Jesus Christ, I demand that all evil spirits depart from this place! I claim this house for God!" I yelled shrilly. There were several muted chuckles in the room. A thrill of horror passed up my spine.

"That doesn't seem to be very effective," Edward said weakly from the bed. "Would you like to try using mine instead?" He held up an object worn about his neck. I saw it was a small, gold cross. "Or perhaps you should try Carlisle's. It's much older than mine and doubtless more powerful."

I turned to look at Carlisle. He was also holding up his cross. I looked at my own cross. "So you're not demons?" I asked huskily.

"No, we're Christians actually. Just because we aren't human anymore doesn't make us soulless monsters."

"Are all of you Christians?"

Bella smiled wryly, "No, some of us would rather wallow in self-pity, thinking we're damned regardless of belief, despite compelling evidence to the contrary."

I relaxed my posture to sit on the floor, leaning back weakly against the wall. "What are you?" I asked with a trembling voice.

Bella moved closer to me, to look me in the eye. "You know what we are, Angela." My gaze drifted back to Edward, looking so fragile as he leaned back against his pillows. He was obviously still in pain. The Cullens had never done me anything but good. They weren't likely to harm me.

"You ... are vampires." A shudder ripped through me. Bella crouched down gracefully and took both my hands in her cold ones. She continued to look me in the eye.

"We are vegetarian vampires," she corrected, "We do not hurt people. We feed only from animals." I nodded, in order to show Bella that I accepted her word. Bella drew me to my feet and pulled me closer to the bed. Carlisle moved to stand between us and Edward, his posture defensive.

"I need your word that you will do no harm to my family. You can never ever speak of this to anyone, or the fact that you know about us will be discovered by our leaders and we will all be killed. All of us. You, Ben, Jacob, Renesmee, possibly your parents and brothers, Charlie and his family, and definitely all of the Cullens and all of our extended family and friends, depend upon our existence remaining secret."

"What about Ben? What do I tell him?"

"Nothing for now. Maybe he will need partial knowledge in the future, but right now he's better off knowing nothing. If he notices anything unusual, he will rationalize it, just like you did.

"The more people who know, the more dangerous things become." Bella looked down at the floor.

I looked from face to face and realized the enormity of my decision. They were all regarding me solemnly. "I make you a promise as a Christian, that I will never harm anyone in your family, and that I will keep your secrets, as long as you do not hurt humans."

"Boy, she'd fit right in at LaPush," Emmett grumbled, shaking his head.