I do NOT own any Twilight characters. Thanks for reading, and please review!!
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
Kendra woke up with the sun peeking through pristine white curtains and she frowned. She turned onto her back and looked around for a clock desperately, realizing that she was at least a little late for school. There was none, and she figured the vampires didn't have a huge use of them or alarms. She stretched and enjoyed the comfortable bed, then she remembered it all. Her mother was in the hospital, David was probably headed here to kill her, and she…..she was waking up at the Cullen's house. Kendra sat up quickly, and the fear hit her again. It is all that she had lived with for years, and she took a deep breath as the tears came into her eyes. She hoped against hope that the Cullens would be able to help her, but she was scared to trust them too much. That had not worked well last time for her, and she had a vague fear about them….well, one of them. Kendra got out of the soft green covers, giving them bed one last lingering look. She had not slept that well in a long time. She left the room and walked slowly down the stairs, seeing the sun shining fully into the living room. Her heart sank as she saw Rosalie and Emmett cuddling on the couch, and she heard a sports announcer over the speakers of the television. "Hey. Kendra, right?" Emmett greeted her, with a warm but goofy smile on his friendly face.
"Yes. It is Kendra." She replied, catching the icy glare from the stunning blond that leaned closer to him.
"I am Emmett and this is my girl Rosalie." He grinned and glanced at the television as the voices raised, and she looked at it herself with a grin.
"It is nice to meet you. Playoffs, right? I am going for The Sharks myself." Kendra told him, and he gave her an impressed gaze. She saw Rosalie roll her eyes, and she looked down for a moment. It certainly did not help the situation for her to be the way she was. She was happy to hear Alice's cheerful voice behind her, and Kendra turned to see her tugging Jasper by the hand.
"We called the school for you. Esme thought that you could use the rest, and we know that you wanted to call your mom." Alice told her, and Kendra glanced at she sun shining in. "Well, that is our reason. I hope that you don't mind."
"No, not at all." Kendra told her, trying not to think about Rosalie sitting behind her and probably glaring at her. "I wish I had some clothes is all."
Jasper gave Alice a look, and the pixie smiled widely. "I can help you with that." Alice told her, and Kendra raised her eyebrows. "Are you hungry? I found an all night store while you were asleep and grabbed a few things."
"You did?" Kendra asked, and Alice smiled and nodded. The sound of a piano drifted down the stairs, and Kendra glanced up along with Alice.
"Edward is playing again? Wow. What inspired him?" Alice spoke as though it had been awhile. "I think he'll be helping to guard you, Kendra. Maybe you should talk or something."
"Probably." Kendra replied, and Alice gazed at her. "I will. I need to learn to take the help." She let Alice lead her to the kitchen and got a bowl of cereal, and sat down at a long table to eat it. Alice left her alone to eat, and Kendra looked around the beautiful and otherwise unused room. It was modern with light walls and dark décor, some of it appearing to be very old in age. The appliances were a dream for any cook, and Kendra shook her head as she thought about that. She finished her cereal and washed the bowl and spoon in the sink, and opened the fridge to see what there was to drink. She grabbed a Pepsi and turned to see Edward standing in the doorway to the kitchen. She gazed at his face as he looked at her, and opened it loudly.
"Good breakfast." Edward noted, smiling at the soda in her hand.
"It went well with the cocoa puffs. Your sister knows good junk food for a vampire." Kendra said, and he tilted his head.
"I always see you eat pretty healthy." Edward told her, and she saw the look that he gave her. "I would not think that you enjoyed it all that well. Didn't you sleep well?"
"I slept better than I have for quite sometime. Maybe I should move in." Kendra tried to joke, and he turned his face down but his eyes remained on her. She broke the gaze and looked down at the floor for a moment, hating the intensity in his eyes. She didn't know what to say.
"Would you like to take a walk?" Edward asked her, and she gazed up at him. "You can stop being scared of me. I do not intend to hurt you at all."
"It's not that….." Kendra told him, and her words stopped. He stepped forward and she looked at him as she shook her head.
"Come on. The sun might do you some good." Edward said, and she looked at her wrinkled clothes and set down her soda and started to follow him. She did take a deep breath as she walked into the cool air, and shivered slightly as the wind hit her at the door. Edward pulled off his jacket and put it over her shoulders, and she looked up at him.
"Thanks." She slid the arms into the sleeves and they walked quietly across the grass towards the river. She was actually glad that she had slept in shoes for once. She looked at him, and her feet stopped suddenly. "You're…..sparkling."
"It is what we do in the sun. It is why we avoid going out in it." Edward told her, and she stared at the dazzling array of what looked like tiny diamonds on the skin of his face and neck. She didn't realize that she had reached out to touch him until her took her hand in his cool one. He looked at her as their skin touched, and she gasped as she remembered something. She tired to pull away, but he held it.
"I have touched your hand before. That was you that night?" Kendra asked him, and he glanced down and nodded. "Why then?"
"Your pain was so bad when I first picked it up. It really bothered me, so I came to watch you sleep that night. Your dream must have been horrible the way you were writhing around. I could not help but comfort you, Kendra." Edward explained, stroking her hand with her thumb. "Now that I know more about it, I want to protect you. Nobody deserves that in their life….." His eyes grew serious, and she looked away.
"You know more than the others." Kendra stated, and he pulled her along slowly.
"I didn't want to read my father's thoughts after he spent that time with you, but I could not help it. It gave the vague emotions some reality, although it was a bit worse than I wanted it to be." Edward said to her, and she kept her eyes to the ground. "I have a feeling you skipped the worst parts as well. How do you get up day after day, Kendra?" Edward asked her, and she shrugged.
"I don't always get up. Remember my first week here?" Kendra asked him, and looked up. He nodded quietly, and his eyes flicked to her for a second.
"Alice thought that you were leaving." Edward said bluntly, and Kendra frowned. "She saw you doing that. Is that in your mind, Kendra?" He stopped her from speaking with his finger against her lip, and gazed into her eyes. "Don't. We are going to keep you safe, I promise you that."
Kendra turned her head to get his hand off her face, and he dropped it as he clenched his fist. "Sorry. I just get…..funny sometimes."
"I'm sorry. I should think a little more about your comfort level." Edward told her softly, and she laughed.
"Do I have one of those?" Kendra asked, and he glanced down at her hand in his.
"Does this bother you?" Edward asked her, and she looked at their hands as well.
"It is comforting, but there is a part of me that is struggling with it. I have avoided contact entirely for….months. It does not lead to anything good." Kendra said, and he gazed at her. "You must know you come off as a bit of an intense guy."
"It is part of reading the thoughts." Edward admitted, and she nodded. "It is never ending and exhausting mentally. Not that I sleep as a result, but it makes me unable to really relax. I just try and ignore them as I need to." He gazed at her with a pained expression. "Then there was you. Your pain came out so strongly, but I could not figure out why. Then Alice had seen you coming as well, and she got caught up in the vision if you as being good friends. She was involved so quickly, and is happy knowing you. She can see him coming, you know. We'll have warning, and we'll handle it." His eyes darkened heavily, and she looked up at him. He seemed lost in thought, and he shook his head as he gazed at her. "There is something else with you, Kendra. Some vague part of your emotions or thoughts that I am not clear on." He stared at her with a demanding gaze. "What more is there?"
"Nothing. Nothing." Kendra replied, yanking her hand away. She walked away from him and frowned as tears filled her eyes.
"If it helps us help you, I need to know." Edward told her, suddenly by her side. She gazed up in shock, and he took her shoulders in his hands. He was a few feet taller than she was, and it was easy for him to hold her still with his strength. She felt the tears slide down her cheeks, and his eyes warmed to a deep amber as he stared at her. "You're hurting so much inside. What were you like before all of this?"
"How did you……..where…." Kendra asked him, shaking her head. She wiped at her eyes, and took a deep breath.
"I'm fast, Kendra. Hence the reason you are safe." Edward explained to her, and she closed her eyes. "I wish that I could make this all better for you. Maybe I can when I get my hands on him." He took one hand and stroked her cheek gently. "But you need to heal."
Kendra pulled away and looked down. His touch made her tremble, and he dropped his hand off her shoulder. ""I will. Someday." Part of her wanted to let him hold her and comfort her, because she was drawn to him. Part of her wanted to run away screaming and leave Forks forever. Alice's vision entered her head, and she shook her head. Would it be better if nobody knew where she was? Edward tried to figure out what she was thinking, and she met his curious gaze.
"Let's go back and you can call your mother." Edward told her after a long moment, and she nodded.
"What was your mother like? I mean, I do not know how old you are really, but you must remember something."
"I was turned in 1918, but I do remember her vaguely. She was warm and loving, and she died before me of the Spanish Influenza. From what Carlisle says, she seemed to know what he was and wanted him to save me. She had green eyes and my color hair, and I looked more like her than I did my father. We were very close, her and I." Edward shook his head, and she looked up at him as she tried to picture the green eyes. "Esme was turned after I was, and her warmth reminded me a lot of my own mother. She has always embraced the role of our mother very well. I sense that you were reminded of your own mother when you met her." Edward suggested, gazing at her as they walked back to the house.
"I was." Kendra replied, worry setting on over her mother. "What if he gets back to her, Edward? He would kill her if he felt the need to, and I am not there."
"Carlisle made a few calls and she is under police protection. He has made a lot of friends over the years, and people help his friends." Edward told her, and she felt her legs giving out. He caught her and pulled her up, wrapping his arms around her as he did to hold her steady. "Do you believe in us now?"
Kendra called her mother when she got back to the house, crying through the entire call. Her mother assured her that she would be safe and that she would recover, but Kendra could not shake her guilt. She apologized for not coming to see her and told her a little about her new friends as she calmed her tears She sat on the floor of the Cullen's kitchen as she talked for an hour, and ended the call with a tearful I love you to her mother. She remained on the floor after she hung up, and watched the clouds move across the sky through the window. She saw someone pass by her, and she looked up to see Alice. "Are you okay?" Alice asked her, kneeling down to look into her face.
"What now?" Kendra asked, and Alice sat cross legged with her on the floor.
"Do we have to talk about this in here when there is a perfectly good couch in the living room?" Emmett walked in, and the girls looked up. He pulled them up and they all went into the larger room, though Kendra had felt better where she was.
"Do you want to go back home?" Alice asked her, and Kendra looked at her with a frown. "You could stay here. You know that."
"I have to go home to my family. They're probably freaking out as it is." Kendra shivered, and gazed forward. "I don't know if I'll sleep alone in that room. I don't feel that safe."
"You do not need to be alone." Edward reminded her, and she looked up at him as he came down the stairs. "I'll be there if it makes you more comfortable, and your family won't know. "
Kendra looked at Alice and Alice smiled reassuringly at her. "You'll just sit there all night while I sleep? How boring."
"Necessary if it makes you feel better. We can talk when you're not sleeping. It would be a little later after they are sleeping for the night." Edward told her, and she took a deep breath. "It would be easier that way in case he gets in the house before us."
"What do we tell my family if this all goes down?" Kendra asked, and she saw the gleam in Edward's eyes.
"They will not hear a thing if I can help it." Edward replied, and Alice nodded.
"He's the fastest out of us," Alice confirmed, and Kendra stared at them. "I will be watching for David to come, and Emmett will be waiting to help if he can in any way."
"Stay here as you can." Esme suggested, as she walked into the room holding hands with Carlisle. "It would not be unusual on weekends to stay at your close friend's house." She smiled at Alice, and Kendra glanced at her. She kind of wished it were Alice that were keeping her company, and she saw the way that Jasper leaned into her on the couch and whispered to her. That would be why. She needed time with him, and Edward seemed to be single. Looking at him, Kendra found it hard to imagine. He was fiercely intense, but very easy on the eyes and someone that was not Kendra could find the intensity very sexy. She found it a little scary, but it would only be until David came and was dealt with. The plan was made and Alice took Kendra up for some clothes so she could take a shower and change into something fresh. Kendra enjoyed the shower and the products that Alice provided , and pulled on the soft tee shirt and leggings that were handed to her happily. She brushed out her straight hair, and wandered down the hallway to the sound of the piano. Edward was sitting and playing it, and she stood in the doorway until her turned around to look curiously at her.
"You play really beautifully." Kendra told him honestly, and he nodded his thanks. She leaned against the door and a question came into her mind. She walked closer, not knowing why since she even knew that vampires had excellent hearing. "I have a question for you before all of this begins, Edward."
"What would that be?"
"Is there any chance that you will be tempted to be a vampire around me?" Kendra asked him, and her eyes met his. "Am I safe to sleep in your presence?"
"You have been before. You are probably a bit more tempting than the average human, but I have been living the way I do for some time." Edward admitted, and she raised an eyebrow. "Is that an invitation to sneak in tonight?"