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Edward

Cannibal?

Is she being serious?

I can't help but laugh at her reasoning. I guess in a way my kind could be likened to humans who feed from their own species.

So close, yet so far away.

"You're… why are you laughing?" I hear Bella ask.

Her question sobers me up.

Does this mean that I still need to explain? Should I just go along with her theory? It could save a lot of hassle for me and my family.

Son, as entertaining as Bella's logic is, I believe that she should be told the truth, Carlisle thinks.

Ouch, Edward, she was pretty hurt by your little outburst. She still kind of is, actually, Jasper warns me.

Cannibal? Me? Do I look like a cannibal? Emmett questions. I can just imagine him checking himself out in a mirror as he thinks this.

"What are cannibals meant to look like exactly, Emmett?" I ask him quickly and too quietly for a human to notice.

Well, damn. I wonder if that's what the rest of the town thinks, he replies in thought form. I'm glad the girls aren't here. Rosalie might have something to say about that.

I dread to think what Rosalie might do to Bella for thinking something so… disgusting. Then again, it's not like being a vampire is all that glamorous either.

When Jasper, Emmett and Alice returned from their tracking party earlier with no news to report, Alice suggested to Rosalie and Esme that they go hunting. Perhaps Alice knew that this was going to happen. I wasn't paying too much attention to her at the time to know.

I guess you could say Bella had occupied the vast majority of my thoughts.

I shove my hands in to the pockets of my jeans and try to come up with something to say. The best I can think of is, "No, we're not cannibals."

I'm not able to fight the smile that creeps on to my face at the mention of that word.

"What, then?" Bella demands.

I've never heard her be so forceful. I've not actually heard her speak this passionately before, come to think of it. Her tone was always so lifeless, like it was a struggle to talk. Maybe today made her realise that she has a life that she needs to live.

A life that shouldn't include me.

Where did that come from?

Edward, please stop trying to deny your feelings, Jasper tells me.

What feelings? I'm not sure I know what he's talking about.

Fine, suit yourself. Why do you always have to make things so difficult? You're so masochistic it's unreal, he adds.

Sometimes, I wish I didn't live with an empath.

"Uh, I'm not sure I know what you mean," I try to stall for time, while ignoring Jasper's thoughts.

"You can't be serious," Bella replies. She takes a deep breath and continues, "I'm not trying to be rude, but I know what I saw today."

"What did you see?" I ask. I need her to work this out for herself.

"You… you were impossibly fast, and when you pushed her off me it was like… like rocks colliding together, or something," she tries to reason.

"And all of that points to me being a cannibal?"

She takes a moment to think.

"Well, no. I guess not. I just…" She stops talking as her argument runs out of steam.

"What other theories do you have?" I ask. I'm genuinely interested to know. Humans don't generally tend to orientate themselves to us, so I wonder what she must think, especially as I can't read her mind.

She looks from my face to the floor as she begins to pick at the hem of her t-shirt.

"I don't know," she mumbles. She clears her throat and speaks louder, "I've considered kryptonite, or… radioactive spiders."

I laugh again.

"That's all superhero stuff, right?" I question. "What if I'm not the hero? What if I'm the bad guy?"

Her head whips up at the sound of my voice.

"But you're not… I can see what you're trying to put off. I can see that it's just mask to try and keep people away from you."

She's very perceptive. I didn't give her enough credit. She pays more attention that I thought.

I shrug, not really knowing how to respond.

She takes a step towards me. I can hear her heart rate increase. Surely her body has been under enough stress for one day. How much more will she be able to handle?

Do you need a hand, Edward? Maybe I could help to explain our situation in a calming manner, Carlisle suggests.

I want to respond with the words, "No, she's mine!" but I manage to control myself.

Jeez, Edward. Possessive much? Tone it down, Jasper practically begs.

I offer Jasper an apology that Bella isn't able to see or hear. This can't be easy on him. It's not exactly easy on me either. I don't even know what I'm feeling. This girl in front of me brings out so many different emotions in me, some of which I don't think I've even felt before. It's like I have no point of reference for them. I don't know how to handle them and I'm not even sure what to call them.

Am I being possessive?

Maybe I am, but I'm not certain what it is that I want to claim as my own. I no longer know if it's just her blood that I'm after.

I swallow the build-up of venom in my mouth and take a step back. I hadn't realised how close Bella had gotten.

Maybe I'm over thinking this. If she knew what I really was, she wouldn't want to be around me anyway. There, problem solved.

Do I really want that?

Honestly… no. I don't want her to leave. And if I'm being completely honest with myself, I like that she's in my room, alone with me.

"Finally," I heard Jasper say out loud.

"What?" Emmett asks.

"I think our brother might be starting to realise that he's in love."

Love?

Love?

What?

With who? With Bella, the girl that I want to drink dry one minute and protect the next?

I look at the girl in front of me. Her chocolate coloured eyes are fixed on my own golden ones and her plump lips have parted slightly under my gaze.

Then it dawns on me. I want to know what she tastes like, and I don't mean her blood. I think I want to kiss her and compare the flavour of her lips to the scent that she emits.

Why is this happening now?

Bella

He hasn't said anything in at least a minute. He's just standing there, almost like a statue.

I must have said something close to the truth. It's like he can't be himself around other people, but he can be himself around his family… like he's trying to hide something from everyone, or even who he really is.

Does that make sense? My thoughts are so jumbled.

He denies that he and his family are cannibals, but they're something, aren't they?

He said he was the bad guy. I don't believe that. If he was, he wouldn't have helped me with fixing my truck, and he certainly wouldn't have appeared out of nowhere today to save me.

That's a good point actually.

"How did you know where I was?" I hear myself ask.

He snaps out of whatever trance he's in.

"What do you mean?" he responds quietly.

"Earlier today, when I was… when that woman was…"

What was that woman going to do to me? The way she looked… it was like she transformed in to some sort of animal. I don't know how else to describe it. She was so strong and she barred her teeth to me. Who does that? It was like she was going to take a bite out of me.

Wait… she was, wasn't she? She said that she was hungry. She was looking at me like I was something to eat.

But, Edward said they weren't cannibals.

What else is there?

Maybe she was just crazy.

Or maybe she's a vampire.

I laugh out loud at the thought. It's pretty funny.

Yeah, and pretty damn impossible.

Or, is it? What do I know about vampires?

I notice Edward looking at me cautiously. Maybe he's waiting for me to finish my earlier sentence.

I walk further in to the room and take a seat on Edward's couch. He stays standing, leaving me to work through my thoughts.

I take a look around the room to distract myself from my ridiculous inner monologue.

"Isn't this your room?" I ask Edward.

"Yeah."

"But there's no bed."

"I don't, I don't really sleep," he replies.

I look up at him to see him shrug at me in response.

"What? Like, never? Are you some sort of insomniac?"

He laughs, but it sounds nervous.

"I guess that's one way of putting it," he tells me.

Right…

I take a moment to work things out in my head. I'm not sure what conclusion I come to, but I hear myself thinking out loud.

"So, you don't sleep," I begin, "and you're incredibly fast and strong… I've never seen you eat or drink anything…" I realise how true that is as I say it. I haven't spent many of my lunch times with the Cullen's, but during the couple that I have, they either don't have any food with them, or they play with it while they talk to one another.

I've never seen them eat.

Like the first time I came over here after school…

This doesn't make any sense.

Edward

I hold my breath as Bella rattles off her list of observations. She stops when she mentions food. I've only shared one lunch time with Bella; she seemed to disappear after that. I wonder if my family became careless enough to stop pretending to eat what was in front of them when surrounded by the school children.

"I'm going to sound crazy," Bella mutters.

I slowly move towards where she's sitting on my couch. When I reach her, I kneel in front of her so I can see her face. She looks me in the eye as she scrunches her face up in confusion.

"Tell me," I say.

I boldly reach out and place my hand around her calf. I just need some kind of connection with her. I hope it can soothe her as it seems to do that for me. Her breath hitches in her throat.

"Breathe, Bella."

She does.

"I can't think of anything else. My thoughts are revolving around this one word, but I don't see how it's possible."

She's figured it out, hasn't she?

If only you could read her mind, Eddie, Emmett thinks.

Yeah, if only.

"Tell me," I demand again.

She goes back to playing with a stray thread on the hem of her t-shirt. She looks at her hands as she says, "vampire" in a quiet tone.

So, she has worked it out then.

I take my own deep breath.

"Are you afraid?"

Her gaze returns to my own as she shakes her head slowly.

"Am I right?" she asks in a whisper.

I nod my response.

The smell of salt assaults my nostrils. I see a tear fall down Bella's cheek, leaving a path behind it. With my free hand, I reach up to collect the drop on my thumb. She doesn't flinch away from me as I expect her to. Instead, she watches me as I place the salty water in my mouth.

I had almost forgotten what tears were like.

"I thought you weren't afraid?" I ask her when I'm done.

"I'm not," she replies quietly.

"Then why are you crying? Do you want me to take you home?"

Please say no. Please stay with me.

She shakes her head again, but then her eyes widen as if she's realised something.

"Holy crow- Charlie! He must be wondering where I am."

"That's been taken care of."

She eyes me warily, "What do you mean?"

I recognise now that I worded that sentence pretty badly.

"Esme called him earlier, said you were staying for dinner."

Her eyes open up even further.

"Oh God, no, not like that!" I exclaim. "Bella, I meant what I said earlier. I could never hurt you."

I rub my hand up and down her calf muscle in what I hope is a soothing gesture.

After a moment, Bella apologises.

"You've got nothing to be sorry for."

"So, today… that woman, she was…"

"A vampire? Yes." I finish her sentence for her.

"She was going to kill me, wasn't she?"

I grimace at her question.

"Yes, she would've done."

"Why me? Why now?" she asks after she thinks through what I've said.

"Bella, you don't realise just how tempting you are." I decide to tell her the truth. I think she's shown that she can handle it. It's the least she deserves.

"Am I… tempting to you?"

"Very," I reply immediately.

She looks a little shocked at my admission.

"I've never smelt anyone so…" How do I put this so she won't freak out on me? "You're like a drug to me."

That works, doesn't it?

"What do you mean?"

"That's the only way I can describe it so that you could understand. You're like my own personal brand of heroin."

She looks a little frightened now, like maybe she's realising that it's not a good idea to be around me.

"Are you going to drink my blood?" she asks quietly.

I take a deep breath, which is probably the wrong thing to do given how close I am to her while we're talking about her blood. I swallow my venom before speaking.

"Never," I state simply.

I think she breathes a sigh of relief. I stand up and move away from her before the scent of her breath reaches me. I think that would be too much temptation for one day.

"So… the rest of your family, they're all vampires too?"

I nod to answer her question.

She stands up from the couch quickly and walks towards the door. When she reaches it, she turns around to look at me.

"I'm sorry, but I have to go. This is all just-"

"Too much," I finish for her.

She nods.

"I understand," I tell her, even though I don't want to let her out of my sight.

"Will I be safe?" she asks.

"Bella, my family won't hurt you either."

"I know that, I think. I mean, is that woman going to come back for me?"

I quickly walk over to stand before her.

"I promise, I won't let any harm come to you."

She seems to believe me.

I just have to make sure I can actually keep that promise.

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