Disclaimer- All recognizable characters belong to Mrs. Stephenie Meyer, whereas all new characters belong to me.
Chapter 12- Enemies
The moonlight shined down on me. Phillip was sitting beside me on the grass. Neither one of us were saying anything; Phil knew I had to think things through first. " To be or not to be, that tis the question." Phillip said suddenly. I turned to him in confusion.
" Huh?" I replied. He smiled and tore out a weed from the ground.
" Shakespeare!"
" I know who it is, but why did you say it?"
" You have a decision to make Noleen. To either be yourself or not be. I know you still feel something for all the Cullen's, even Edward. You need to decide whether or not you're going to stay you or become one of them." I didn't say anything, I knew he was right.
" What should I do?" I whispered after a couple minutes.
" I can't be the one to tell you that Leen; only you can decide. But I like you just the way you are, you're a wonderful girl." I smiled, somehow Phil always knew what to say in these kinds of situations. It made saving his ass mean more.
" Thanks Uncle Phil." He squeezed my shoulder then got up.
" I'm going to head inside. Think about what I said okay?"
" Will do." I watched him walk away then turned back to the stars and moon.
Phillip had been right about one thing, I did still care about the Cullen's. Since seeing them again, I'd been remembering things from the past. How happy I was with them, how I'd loved them like they were my own family. How they'd been my best friends, well except Rosalie. Then there was Edward, the one man I'd ever truly loved. When he'd left. . . It hurt worse than changing almost. If someone could die from a broken heart, I would've.
But even if we became close again, they'd want me to change. And I couldn't become just some lap dog who rolled over on cur. I was powerful, I was strong and most of all I was prideful. I liked myself just the way I was. I enjoyed the thrill of a run and working with Lanina; it was a good life. This was the new me, and I knew the Cullen's wouldn't be able to accept all I was now easily, if at all.
Standing up, I felt small drops of rain pattering on my head. This was who I was. I was a human drinker and a hunter. I wouldn't change myself for no one, no matter how much I cared about them. Making my decision, I turned and walked back inside Phil's house. Every eye turned to me. " This is who I am." I started, looking at each of the Cullen's. " I'm not going to change for anyone, no matter how important you are to me. Maybe one day I can forgive all of you. . . But right now I can't. I don't think any of you know how much you hurt me."
" But there's a change you'll forgive us someday?" Esme asked. I shook my head slowly. Alice stood up and walked over to me.
" I can live with that." She said softly and hugged my quickly. Phillip winked from in the corner.
" You're too nice." Lanina teased. " Make sure they grovel and beg." I smirked and nodded my head.
" Oh groveling is a must." Everyone laughed, even Edward. He was going to be the toughest to forgive; but I knew that eventually I would. Hell, I had eternity to get over my grudge. Lord knows that's enough for anyone let alone me.
" Do we have any ideas who could have kidnapped Tai and tried to kill your father?" Lanina questioned us. Everyone was seated in the living room, dawn was rising in the east slowly.
" No lately." I replied.
" Do you have any enemies?" Carlisle asked me. I chuckled and nodded my head yes.
" Of course I do, many in fact. But none know of my past. There's no way they could've known Charlie was my father." His brow scrunched in frustration. He looked quite handsome when agitated. Hmm. . . Interesting.
" What about you guys?" Phillip suddenly said, tearing me from my thoughts.
" Surely you cannot be saying we're at fault." Lanina snorted and rolled her eyes.
" Because you guys do nothing wrong." Phillip held up his hand, not wanting anyone bickering anymore than I did.
" No, what I meant was if you have any enemies who might know about Bella." Hearing him say my real name sent me aback with shock; I hadn't even known he knew my real name. The Cullen's shook their heads, obviously not as taken aback as me, and pushed it aside. But something clicked in me, something suddenly made sense.
The memory came fast and hard. Baseball with Edward and his family. " James." I whispered. " Holy shit!" I couldn't believe it. I'd assumed Victoria had given up on me, thinking I died twenty years ago.
" Victoria." Edward stated, thinking the same as me.
" The vampire whose mate you killed?" Lanina questioned. Edward shook his head yes. I was still in shock that the bitch was still after me.
" Why didn't we think of her in the first place?" Carlisle cursed aloud. I simply shrugged my shoulders, what did I care when we thought of her, as long as she was the one and I could get my hands on her to rip her apart.
" Doesn't matter. All we have to do now is find her, she'll be no problem to kill."
" I asked around but no one would tell me anything." Phillip told me.
" Well, we'll just have to change that won't we? Give me the name of the bar and I'll go squeeze some information out."
" I'll go with you." Edward said. Lanina chortled with laughed and stood up.
" You wouldn't last two seconds in a bar like that , you're way too prissy." She said to him. He scowled and stood up beside her.
" You don't know anything about me."
" I know that you don't have the balls to fit in there." He let out a low growl and stepped menacingly toward her. " I'm a monster, I'm not good enough for you, wah wah." He lunged at her, his eyes black with fury. She stepped out of the way easily so he, of course, hit the wall with a thud. I laughed for a brief moment then walked over to him, holding out my hand.
" Need help?" He took my hand and I pulled him up. For a second we just stared into each other's eyes, our lips close to touching. Gathering my senses I said, " Don't fuck with Lanina, she'll kill you." I pulled away and cleared my throat.
" I'm coming with you." He reiterated. Clearly I wasn't going to win this fight.
" Fine but you're going to need to borrow some of Travis's clothing."
" Why?"
" Because you can't walk into a demon bar in a beige turtleneck and not expect to get your ass kicked." Travis smirked and put his hands on Edward's shoulder.
" Come on pretty boy, let's make you bad."
" I can't wait to see this." Rosalie teased. Thinking of Travis's tight black jeans, I realized I couldn't either.
