Chapter 5

William laughed. "Are you having a seizure?" he asked. "Or are you just afraid of me?"

"Neither." I responded immediately, without thinking. The truth was I was really scared and I think I had a reason to be. This maniac was going to kill me! "I'm just cold."

"Funny." William replied, not laughing or even showing a sign of a smile at the creases of his mouth.

"If you're not going to kill me, then why am I here?" I asked.

"Because I was told to bring you here." He replied. "I am only following orders, remember that."

"What are your orders?"

"I was told to bring you here and-" he stopped, as if someone had cut him off, but it was only he and I in the room and I hadn't said anything. He sighed heavily, as if the next words out of his mouth were going to be his last, and they might as well been, because what came out I never thought I would hear from him.

"I would like to extend an invitation for you to join us here." He said.

"I still don't quite understand where or what 'here' is." I replied.

"This house, it's some what of a sanctuary for gifted vampires." He said. "And not just vampire's that can do cute tricks like your sister, but people with real abilities, like you and I."

"But I'm not even a vampire anymore." I retorted.

"That can easily be changed." He said. "If you will join us. And as soon as Bella is changed, our master would be must interested in her as well. We've been watching her sine she arrived in Forks."

"How long have you been watching me?" I asked. If they had been stalking me or something, I was going to go home and set up video cameras all over the house and surrounding property. This being human thing had to change and so did I.

"Ever since you rejoined Carlisle and went to stay with the Denali in Alaska." He replied.

I was flabbergasted! He and his band of undead psychos had been flowing me for more than 50 years! And I had been completely oblivious to the whole thing! The next question that popped into my head was how they had done it. Were they always hiding in the bushes outside my bedroom window, or was there a trader among us?

"Edward?" he asked, snapping me out of my fantasy and back into reality. "What of my offer?"

"I need to see more of this place." I said slowly, not wanting to offend him and whoever was in charge by outright saying no because I knew almost certainly that would get me killed.

"Of course." He said. "I too was skeptical when I first joined."

"When was that?" I asked. The more he talked, the more I began to wonder if the time I had met him in the woods was really when he was changed, or if that had also been a trick.

"Let's just say I'm not from your generation, but more your father figure's." he replied and turned to go to the door the large man had left through before.

"You're that old?" I asked.

"Yes." He replied. "So don't try to pull any fast moves on me, Edward. I know all the ones in the book. Now come on, my master wants to see you soon and wants you to have your mind made up when we go to see him." He thrust the large doors open with great ease, a movement that in my current state would have taken every ounce of my energy and then some perhaps.

In the halls of the great house were many people, or vampires rather, bustling everywhere. It reminded me of the hallways in Fork's High School between passing periods.

"Where is everyone going?" I asked.

"The ones running around are 'students,'" he said. "They are still learning to control their powers and so they go to a school of sorts to learn that control. Basically, they meet with different masters to learn how to control different aspects of their powers."

"Were you ever a 'student'?" I asked him jokingly.

"The best." He replied, completely serious. "Here, I'll show you." He stopped outside one of the rooms and opened the door.

"Hello William." A pleasant man greeted him as we walked into the classroom. He had a strong French accent, but spoke English quite fluently. "Who is this?"

"This is Edward." He replied. "He may soon come and join us."

"That's nice." The man replied. "Bonjour Edward. My name is Monsieur Debont." He was talking to me as if I were a two year old or as if just because I was human somehow made me mentally retarded.

"Nice to meet you." I replied.

"We're just going to sit in for a few minutes, then we need to go and meet boss." William explained.

"Sounds good." M. Debont answered and motioned toward two vacant chairs in a corner.

The class was even more boring than a regular school class. At least in Forks, I could pass notes to Bella in class. I had a feeling that if any of these guys tried that, they'd get their head chewed off by a giant lion in a deep pit somewhere in the backyard.

The large clock struck noon on the wall next to where William and I were sitting right in the middle of M. Debont explaining how you should never use your powers to hurt any innocent bystanders. I was wondering if William had missed this part of the class or if they had simply never taught it to him. In fact, I was beginning to doubt anyone here knew what William had done to Bella and I only months before. They all treated him like the golden child; like he had never done anything wrong in his life.

"We had best go." William said, getting up off his chair and inclining his head toward M. Debont. The teacher and all the students bid William farewell in unison as we walked out the door to finally meet their leader.