E
I pull up to the diner and look at the clock; it is a few minutes before eight o'clock. She should be finishing up soon, better that I be here waiting than to make her wait on me. I let the engine idle and start to reach out with my mind, again trying to find her thoughts. I comb through every psyche I can find but none of them are hers. Even with fresh blood in me I am denied access to her thoughts. Calling this frustrating would be an understatement and I bring my self back to the car and wait.
The rumble of the engine is drowning out the sounds around me, I turn the key and the sounds of the city become predominant once again. Immediately I hear her voice, "That's my ride, I'll see you around." She sounds…upset. She is walking towards my car now, her breathing is uneven but she is trying to control it. The finer details are lost to me, the curse of a luxury car: well-designed soundproofing.
I open the door and stand up, the wind at my back, as she turns the corner from a side street and the breeze gently lifts her hair away from her face; she looks tired and emotional. Why would she be exiting there and not still in the diner? She sees me and smiles, forces herself to smile. Her heart is racing now, something happened while I was gone. Her body language is plain enough that reading her mind is unnecessary, something bad happened and she is going to lie about it if I ask.
"Good evening." I greet her as she walks closer, acting oblivious that something has happened.
"Hi!" She manages to pretend to be happy as I open the passenger door for her. She would have fooled a normal person, but I can hear her heart and uneven breathing, she is still unhappy.
"So, how did it go?" Another feeble attempt at conversation on my part as I settle into the driver's seat, maybe she will offer it up freely. I pull onto the one-way street; I will have to circle around to get back to her apartment.
"Oh, it was hectic. We don't usually get rushed like that on a Tuesday night so we weren't ready for it at all."
"Well, for your trouble, you seem to have made it through in one piece." That was a perfect line for her to expand on her evening. If she refrains, I will be patient.
"I guess not." With that and a little laugh, the events of the evening are closed. I turn another corner and we are in front of her building. Parking at the door we step out, I grab the music we need and I follow her to the door. As she pulls out her key she turns to me, "Thank you so much for the ride and the escort tonight. I'm sorry that I had to work."
"It was no trouble at all miss Swan." I reassure her, I hand her the music and CD. "This should be all you need."
"Oh, thank you. Hey, you can't call me that!" She smiles at me, still pretending. "If I can't call you mister Cullen then you can't call me miss Swan."
"Touché madam, forgive me Bella." I give her an exaggerated bow and come back up with a smile. "Have a wonderful evening, I look forward to our meeting on Thursday."
"Me too." She
says, she opens the door and goes inside.
I turn towards my car
and slowly walk away from her building. Something in the air is
agitating me. What it is exactly eludes me but I feel myself on edge.
I decide to take the car home and return later tonight.
J
What the hell was that? Why didn't I move? I should have done something! That smell, that foul, acrid smell. It overwhelmed me so suddenly that by the time I got my feet back under me it was gone. I'll have to ask Sam about it when I get back tonight. My body was on fire, the change was so close. What would Bella have thought if a giant wolf had barreled around the corner from where she had come from? Probably would not have kept me in her good graces, that's for sure. What if she had gotten hurt? What if I had hurt her?
I'm suddenly aware of Sam's front door in my face. I open it up and walk in.
"Jacob, what happened?" he asks, I must look like crap.
"She didn't forgive me, but she still wants to see me." I'm still really off kilter and Sam picks up on it.
"That's fine but
you look like you've seen a ghost. What happened?"
I'm
pulled back to reality for a few seconds, "You weren't
listening?"
He pauses, picking up on what I meant, "You're not part of my pack Jacob, you have to let me in for me to hear your thoughts."
"Oh, well, anyway. Something was there with us, I don't know what it was. I only smelled it, it burned my nostrels and I almost lost control." I remember that feeling, I haven't been that way since I had first started to change. "What was it Sam?"
He's not looking at me any more, staring out the window, "A vampire." His voice is a mix of sorrow, rage, fear, and excitement.
"What?" Okay, so I know I'm not exactly normal but the idea of other supernatural creatures actually existing still seems a bit odd.
"It was a vampire you smelled. There isn't anything in this world that will send you into a craze like that except for a vampire." He walks over to the window, I'm rooted to my spot. "I should have filled you in on everthing when you got here, we've been trying to keep tabs on a vampire in the city. We only get hints of him now and again, usually a death on the news that doesn't seem quite right but we've haven't been close enough to smell him in months." He's angry, more with himself than me and I feel bad that I let this slip.
"Why are you after him?" I ask, better to cut to the chase, something that boils my blood that badly without even seeing it must be worth the effort.
He doesn't speak for a long while, long enough that I move over to the window. "Sam, why are you after him?" I ask again.
"We're not 'after' him. Just tracking him, keeping tabs. That's the agreement." Short, simple, robotic answers. He's made this speech before.
"Sam, why is there an agreement?"
"Damn you Jacob, never could just leave well enough alone could you."
"Sam, what is it?" I try one more time, and that was too much.
In a blur of motion I feel Sam's hands on my throat, my back against the wall and my head against the ceiling. Now he's angry at me. I reach for his arms, pulling them with all of my strength but I can't get them loose. I feel the heat in the room rising, Sam's face turning redder and reder as the seconds tick by. He's going to shift if I can't calm him down.
B
He's polite, well spoken, only about a year older than me, gorgeous…and my boss. The world can be cruel at times and this is one of them. My informal meeting with Edward Cullen was everything I had hoped it would be, if only Jacob hadn't shown up. Ugh, today of all days he has to come back into my life and ruin my good mood. After being so distant and irritable to me for so long.
I get into my apartment and set down the music Edward gave me. Determined to get Jacob out of my mind I rummage through the boxes under my bed for my CD player. I finally find it, but not attatched to headphones. After more searching I finally have all of the parts I need, I grab the music and CD and go into the kitchen. Flipping on the lights I set the CD player on the counter and pop in the disc. I don't hit play just yet, instead I pick up the sheet music he gave me.
"Calling To The Night"
Through
the night to the day
When everything is gone
Carry this soul
away from the dry lands
In the sun we see fighting over lines
All
our dreams and wishes we send home for safe keeping
Fighting for
what's right
Calling to the night
To dream again in the
light
Waiting for a storm to rise and feel the isolation
fleeting
Calling to the night
To be or not to be fighting
here
Leaving without you is leaving my soul behind
Calling to
the night
Colors of golden crowns fade with time
Calling to
the night
For us, for every single life
All the ashes of men
remain as a perfect memory
Calling to the night
But the
heart will remain
As a silhouette of time
Hear the ringing
echos in the splitting horizon
Calling to the night
I like it, it's a simple song, fairly slow, nothing too risky or unconventional. The bridge is a little boring but the way the piece is actually laid out there is a lot of space between those lines. I can't wait to hear it, I look at the clock. It's after nine already, how long was I looking for this thing? I put the music down, I need to shower and go to bed. I have to get up tomorrow and work, besides prepare this song.
In my night clothes I crawl onto my bed, I let out a deep sigh of contentment. Finally being able to relax a little bit feels so good! I grab the headphones and put them on, laying on my back I press play. A gentle thrill of a soprano sax fills my ears, just under that a piano and violin come in playing harmony. It has a melancholy sound to it and a slow beat, very appropriate. Looking at the sheet music, there's a quiet symbol roll and that's my cue. I sing quietly to myself, getting the rhythm and learning my timing. Keeping my tone where it should be without straining my unprepared voice I make it through once without any real problems. The bridge picks up the pace and the song becomes very…epic I guess would be the word for it. The last verse is more like the first, melancholy and slow.
I go through it a few more times, trying to internalize as much as I can tonight so I can concentrate on emoting and timing tomorrow. I'm a little surprized he didn't give me something more difficult, but it is his composition I suppose. It's very pretty and I'm touched that he shared this with me. I turn off the CD and take off the headphones. I pull on the covers and roll away from my windows, thinking of Edward and his song I fall asleep smiling.