A/N: This story's just flowing out of me like a river here recently! Hope you guys don't mind me posting so often!
Musical Inspiration: First half=None I can think of... sorry, some chapters come without the aid of music. Second half= Claire De Lune - Claude Debussy
Chapter 11 – Revelation
~"Bella, when I told you that you could have free run of the house I asked that you're questions about the family be directed to me. I left you my address and everything. Why didn't you just ask?" Edward asked me icily.
"I did… I mailed it the day after you left, but while I was waiting on your reply I stumbled across the burial records for Elizabeth and Edward Sr. – I thought I'd get a copy of Edward Jr's to complete it and when I went to the courthouse there was none." I said quickly.
"You really shouldn't have done that, Bella." Edward said as his golden eyes met mine. ~
BPOV
Edward walked slowly toward me. He took my face in his cold hands, pulling me toward him. He inhaled deeply as he closed his eyes. He dropped his hands and walked away suddenly and Alice led me toward the bed.
"Bella, I think you need to sit down." Alice said.
I sat obediently and waited.
Alice spoke again.
"Alright, Bella… I know you're a smart girl. Somewhere in that overly curious little brain of yours, you've already made the mental connection. You've subconsciously made the leap from what you've found out on your own, to what you've just heard as you came in the house. Now, honey I need you to bring that to the front of your mind, but keep in mind that we have not hurt you, nor do we plan to, alright?"
I nodded.
"Okay, tell us what you know… or what you think you know no matter how preposterous that might seem in the real world, okay?" Alice asked.
I took a deep breath.
"Edward Masen Jr. has no death certificate or burial record. There is reason behind it… you all know what it is, and that's what I'm supposed to guess, right?" I asked tentatively.
Alice nodded. "That's right… now, what do you suspect?"
Jasper intervened. "Alice, what's this game about? Just tell her already."
"No! If she guesses it she might be in less danger of the Volturi… if Aro sees that none of us told her, then none of us are in danger!" Alice shouted.
"Right, Alice, the Volturi are going to be merciful to a human who happens to be smart enough to figure it out with very little information to go on… THAT will go over nicely." Edward spat at her.
"Who are the Volturi?" I asked Alice.
"All in time, sweetie, just ignore the boys and continue…" she said soothingly.
"Okay… um, I think Edward, despite his denial, is closely related to the Masens… the resemblance is too close." I said, a little more bravely.
"Alright, you're getting warmer… but don't think relation, precisely… think closer." Alice said, prodding me to go on.
I laughed nervously.
"Well I actually had this dream where… Edward Masen and Edward Cullen were one and the same person… it's just a stupid dream but…" but I was cut off by Alice's squealing.
"Yes, yes, go on… you're red hot!" she exclaimed.
That totally threw me off… "What? That Edward Cullen is Edward Masen?"
By now she was literally jumping up and down…
"Alice, you expect me to think that… Edward is a…. ninety-something year old… person… that he never died?!" I asked incredulously.
"Yes! You got! Bingo!" Alice exclaimed wildly.
I would have laughed at her display had I not been immediately horrified, confused, and giddily dizzy.
It started to get harder to breathe, I resisted the urge to clutch my chest… something didn't feel right… the room began to spin.
Edward was at my side faster than I could blink, which I attributed to the dizziness.
"She having a severe anxiety attack, Alice, get the salts… just in case." He put his cold hands on my neck and forehead intermittently and told me to lie down for a minute.
He looked into my eyes… "Try to calm down Bella, as Alice said, we never mean to harm you… we're not that kind of… people."
Jasper stepped up behind Edward, who was now sitting on the bed next to me.
"Aw, Edward… she's lying down… just tell her the rest… don't draw it out, if she faints at least it will only need to be once. Back in my day, when ladies had fainting spells, once was better than twice." Jasper said.
I looked up at him… "Your day? You're old too?" I asked.
Jasper grinned deviously. "Yes, ma'am, I'll be a hundred and sixty five in September. I was an office in the War Between the States in the '60s. Fought for the Confederacy." He said politely.
My head began to spin a little more so I closed my eyes. "What did you mean by 'the rest'?" I asked Jasper.
"Well, ma'am… Miss Bella, we're not merely old people who have cheated the effects of time. Like Alice said, we absolutely will not hurt you, please remember that, alright?" He said, his drawl becoming heavier the more he spoke.
"Why does everyone keep saying that?" I asked nervously.
Edward spoke softly, his face now closer to mine. "Because, we're vampires, Bella; I did die, as did Alice and Jasper and the rest of our family. Now we are what have been known since the beginning of time as the undead… immortals."
My eyes flew open at his admission. "What!?"
"Bella, Carlisle, even when he cared for my family ninety-one years ago, was a vampire… I was the first he decided to add to his coven… at the request of my mother… she'd do anything to save me; she asked him that after her death, that he 'save' me. At the time I was turned, he'd been a vampire for over two centuries." Edward whispered as if speaking in low tones would soften the blow.
"That's why your mother started speaking to him privately…" I said, finally something starting to make a little sense… however insignificant.
Edward, however, did not think it so insignificant.
"How do you know about that?" he asked, his eyes suddenly harder than before, as if I had shared a piece of intimate knowledge I should not have been privy to.
"I…I read it… in Edward's… in your…. journal." I stammered, realizing what a grievance I had committed all at once, though, on my own behalf, unwittingly.
"You read my journal." He said, it was not a question, but a statement.
"I didn't mean to invade your privacy; I thought the person who had written it was dead." I said in my defense.
"Just because someone is dead does it give you the right to read their most private thoughts? I'd say not… their thoughts are still their own." He retorted.
"I'm sorry, Edward… I really meant no harm." I said, my eyes tearing up; he seemed angry and I would be too, but wasn't it partially his fault for pretending to be dead?
Edward stood up and walked out of the room, Jasper watching him go and Alice passing him on his way out.
"Looks like we won't need the salts after all." She said observing me.
She walked over to take the place Edward had been sitting only moments before.
"Don't take Edward too seriously, Bella… he's had a lot on his mind lately… it's really not you he's mad at." She said sweetly.
I nodded, but the tears were still brimming in my eyes. "He said last week, before he left, that an old friend had died… it was his Willow, wasn't it?" I asked quietly.
Alice nodded sympathetically. She placed her cold hand on mine.
"Let's not think about that right now, though… there are some questions I'm sure you have about…us." She said.
My head began to spin again, though not in the same way as before; now it was swimming with questions, curiosity…even fear, as I remembered Edward's previous admission of what he was.
Alice and Jasper answered every question I had, and some I hadn't thought of… each answer seemed to be making me calmer and calmer, more comfortable with their presence. Especially the fact that the three vampires I shared a house with did not drink blood from humans, but only from animals, though they assured me there were those out there who had no qualms about taking several human lives per day.
Jasper encouraged me to call Mr. Burton and discourage him from looking further into the Cullen case. I did, but Mr. Burton was puzzled by my sudden disinterest in what I had seemed to be so involved in only a day before. As I hung up, I felt he was quite suspicious of me, but there was nothing that could be done about it.
Jasper eventually wandered off to the library, where Alice assured me that he spent most of his time at home, and Alice begged me to accompany her to the store where she could re-stock the house with groceries for me and pick up a few things for herself.
I declined, due to the fact that I wasn't feeling quite up to it; actually I was feeling a lot better physically, but emotionally I still felt horrendous at the invasion of a very personal journal.
After she drove off I was left to myself to wander the house once again. I avoided the library, not wanting to disturb Jasper, and not wanting to stay in a room I now knew to belong to a living… well, somewhat living person, I wandered to the room that had gotten me into all this trouble.
As I walked into Elizabeth's room the smell of lavender surrounded me. I walked to her wardrobe and ran my hand over her dresses, selecting a beautiful periwinkle blue one with white lace trim. It, like the one I had played with before, was of the older styles in her collection. I shut the door and took off my shorts and tank top, slipping instead into the blue frock.
I managed to button the two-dozen buttons on the front of the bodice and walked to the full-length mirror.
As I gazed at my reflection before me I realized that this must be a more formal gown; the neckline was considerably lower, dipping into a smooth sweetheart style. The sleeves were enormous at the top, but tapered to a very close fit at the wrist. The bodice was fitted to be tight, the sateen gathered on the sides to create a beautiful rippled effect, but still show off a slim figure. The skirt was narrow, but flared out slightly at the bottom and was topped off with a train that gathered into a bustle at the back of the waist.
It was lovely. After smoothing the waist and skirt one last time I sat at the vanity and pulled my hair up into the loose bun that I had created only a week before, but spit curled the tendrils that framed my face this time.
Usually I wore very little makeup, if any at all, but I selected one of Elizabeth's tubes of lipstick this time and lightly glazed my lips with it. The color was a light coral red. It seemed to suit the gown nicely.
I imagined how this frock must have looked on Elizabeth, with her flaming auburn locks to surround her sweet, heart-shaped face.
Satisfied with my reflection, I padded over to the phonograph across the large room. I wound the crank and put the needle down on the large black disc that lay silent for so many years on the old machine.
Debussy's 'Claire De Lune' began to play, the notes softly filling the room.
I walked around the room picking up and glancing at photographs of Elizabeth and her beautiful little family. I stopped as I held one with Elizabeth with Edward… Edward looked much the way he did now. They were smiling and holding one another, as if dancing, out of doors.
"That was about a year before we got sick…it was taken in the back yard in May of 1917. She was so full of life and joy; even just before she died."
I spun around, dropping the photograph in the little glass frame. Edward's hand reached out to catch it with lightning speed before it could shatter on the floor.
I opened my mouth to speak, and again I was struck dumb.
"Claire de Lune' was my mother's favorite; she listened to it often… she was a wonderful dancer." He said.
I realized how close, now, that he was to me. Setting the frame back on the little table it had come from, he took my right hand gently in his left, his right hand slipping lightly around my waist.
My left hand fell lightly on his white cotton shirt, the sleeves, he had rolled up to his elbows, as if he had been working, the top two buttons undone. If it had been on anyone else they would have looked slouchy and unkempt… but on him… it was perfection in its most basic form.
He began to sway slightly to the music, pulling me with him. I could not dance to save my life, but this was rather like just switching from one foot to the other.
"It's been so long since I've danced… I'd forgotten how enjoyable it could be to have a beautiful woman in my arms." He said so softly, I almost didn't catch it.
"Did you ever dance with Willow?" I asked timidly.
A sorrowful look crossed his eyes momentarily.
He nodded slowly. "Only once, at a benefit held by the mayor; it was to Beethoven's 9th symphony. It was quite a bit faster than this." He grinned.
"Then I'm sorry; you must be horrified at my dancing abilities." I said trying to lighten his mood.
He smiled again. "You're really not as bad as you think… you only need a little practice and you'll be fine."
I smiled. "I don't really like dancing very much."
His forehead crinkled a bit as he frowned at me. "Why not? It's a wonderful pastime." He asked.
I laughed lightly. "I'm not from 'your era' – most boys these days can't dance like this… not that there are any I'd consider dancing with." I said timidly.
He grinned widely. "Am I to take that as a complement? That you haven't pulled away from me yet?" he asked teasingly.
I blushed fiercely. I could literally feel the blood rushing to my face.
"You really shouldn't do that; it makes you smell… well, really irresistible… but it makes you look very beautiful." He stammered.
I giggled slightly… it was odd to see him stumble over his words like that.
"I can't help it', I said, 'it's something I always hated, but could never control." I smiled embarrassed… blushing harder.
"In my day, it was a sign of great virtue and modesty that a woman could blush… it was also very…" he laughed nervously, but did not finish the sentence, instead he began another, "most young women these days do not blush at all…" he smiled, his lips tightened.
"Did you ever tell her?" I asked after a short period of awkward silence.
"That I loved her? No. I should have, I said as much to her last week before she died. She said she had known, and at the time loved me too. She had figured out what I was, but too late." He said sadly.
"She did?" I asked, curiosity overpowering my instinct to keep this sad subject from bothering him.
"Yes… after many years, she had known I had not died, but she kept it to herself. She knew what Carlisle was and what I had become." He said.
I blushed at that statement; he might not have meant it to sound that way, but I immediately felt guilty for digging so deeply into his history that I could have endangered innocent people.
"So… has Chicago changed much since you lived here?" I asked awkwardly.
He let out a boisterous laugh. "It's like an entirely different city!" he said.
"Nothing remains from your time?" I asked.
"Well, as a matter of fact, yes, a few things do… would you like to visit them?" he said thoughtfully.
I nodded eagerly. "Yes, just let me get dressed, I mean… if you meant right now." I added timidly.
"You're really that eager to see some crumbling old buildings and antique hotels?" he asked, trying to gauge my sincerity.
"Yes! I love history… I love this house because of what it is… it's a time capsule; there's nothing like it!" I said passionately.
"Then yes, we will go tonight… but you needn't undress; you look fine for what I have in mind." He said mysteriously.
"Edward, I'm in period dress, won't someone wonder?" I asked, unsure of my appearance.
"You look stunning in my mother's dress… besides, you won't be the only one in period garb … and if anyone wonders it will be only that they have seen the most exquisite apparition on the dance floor in these last hundred years." He said; his voice low in a tone I had never heard before.
"I have only one thing to add, I hope you won't take offense." He said, his tone lighter now, more playful.
He released me from his arms and immediately I felt more alone than I ever had in my life. It was as if a part of me had been ripped away.
A/N: Tell me seriously... do you think I'm going to fast with this- am I posting too often? I know this is the third time this week!