Ex vivo Chapter 3
Out of the living

Bella drove home while Raven slept as she lay in the back seat and Eric glanced at Bella, she was silent and seemed sad about something but he was afraid to ask. "Something wrong Bella?" he whispered, she kept her eyes on the road. She didn't say anything, he patted her shoulder and got out; he hurried around the front and helped her out of the car. She thanked him and he let her go ahead as he woke Raven who was already awake.

"Everything alright?"

"Not really- I think something happened today; she was fine when I saw her- she handed in my sheet for me so I could wait by the car." Raven nodded and said she saw her as well. "Something between her coming out to us and handing the papers back to the woman behind the desk. I'll check tomorrow," he promised and Raven nodded.

Raven got out and hurried to catch up to Bella; Eric was going to go for a walk so Raven could talk with Bella alone. She leaned against the counter as her sister brought out cookware, "What do you want Raven?"

Raven shrugged and bit her lip, "To talk. Don't be angry with Eric, but he mentioned you looked sad on the ride home…" she gripped the edge of the counter. "Do you want to talk about it?"

"No, go away Raven- I'm busy."

"Bells, I'm trying to be a- a sister now and I care about you- Renee and I get along… you get along well with my dad; Phil respects you like his daughter and you're my big sister now."

Bella didn't answer. Her knees felt weak and she hated being in this position. She considered telling Raven about Edward and how mean he was in Biology to her and how he wanted to change classes; how he practically tried to flirt his way into getting classes changed. Bella glanced at her sister- she changed her mind. Then for the next few days, Bella's mood changed and she became excited not to see Edward in class after she figured it out that he left the town. Eric and Raven left the problem alone because they didn't want to make her angry or scare her away from them; they wanted to get close to their big sister and become a family for another few months before they leave and go off to college after high school. Isabella and her father spent dinner together as her siblings stayed downstairs and they said they fell asleep when she asked the next morning. Then on Monday a week later, Edward was back and Bella began to fall for him… Isabella Swan fell hard.

Bella sat down and made sure she was away from him until they had to get up and to the lab assigned to them. Edward made small talk, but he accidentally touched her- he stiffened and became different again and Bella kept her eyes elsewhere for the rest of the hour.

Eric waited outside and stepped forward when Edward came out with his family and like Alice said, he waited until they approached. "Where were you?"

"Why do you care?" Aubrey snapped.

"I care because my sister is scared."

"You're a vampire Eric; you should be killed for living with two humans-."

"Guess again… well kind of. Raven and I don't feed on humans, in fact we barely feed at all." He muttered and Raven skipped over.

"Bea seems alright- you should have told me," she said and he raised his brow at her. "I have a right to know."

"As my little sister your rights mean nothing to me," he teased.

She grinned and leaned against him. "Your back," she said and looked at Edward. Today Eric wore jeans and a gray shirt; Raven was in a dress shirt that went to her wrists and below the waist, she wore dark gray leggings. Edward nodded, "What caused the sudden return?"

"I missed my family," he answered.

"Yeah, I bet you did." Eric nudged her hard in the shoulder, "That hurt Eric."

"Be nice," he told her and she nodded.

"I apologize I just like people who are mean to my sister and brother."

"You look after big brother here."

"I try unless if he beats me to it," she admitted and Eric nodded. "Have fun or not- wherever you were Edward."

"Not really," he answered. "I left because I thought I'd be unstable around your sister," he whispered and Raven looked up at Eric. "I'll explain, but not now."

"Good idea," Eric said when Raven began to speak. He moved her behind him and she wrapped her arms around his waist and looked from around his side. "Sooner rather than later; Charlie means a lot to us eve if he doesn't exactly have nothing to do with our lives. Phil and Renee are our parents even if we barely either of them; Bea deserves us to look out for her."

Jasper frowned, "You barely know your own father."

Raven put her hand over Eric's mouth, "Our mother was a newspaper editor; she was killed by a very angry ex-coworker. We were raised by a single parent in Boston, MA."

Alice nodded, "Who killed you."

"I did," Raven said and Eric moved her beside him. "Eric was dying a brain tumour," she said. She looked up at him, "I can't live in this world without my brother with me. Mine wasn't an accident; to save my brother I had to take my own life- vampires can't control themselves when it comes to blood. It only took a few minutes to get one to come to me- I made a deal and I got what I wanted to save Eric." Eric didn't want to look at her anymore.

"You had no right to give up everything for me."

"You would have done the same thing for me Eric; please don't deny it. We're twins, you can't lie to me and think I don't know it."

"Damn lie detector for a sister." He grinned at her, "I like orange."

"Now I know you're just being an ass." She turned back to Edward, "Does she threaten you."

"I'm not answering that."

"She does, otherwise his answer would have been no." Eric said and Raven agreed. Edward growled at them, "No need to be threatened Edward." Eric waved him into patience, "She's coming. We'll talk later," he said and Raved grabbed his hand and dragged him off to meet Bella.

"Bella! Eric's asthma acted up in class."

"I thought he didn't get symptoms anymore," she said as they went to the car together and Eric and Raven raced. He let her win, he said, and Bella actually laughed. This time Raven drove home with Bella in the front seat and she sat back. "I saw you both talking with the Cullens…"

"Just about some projects," Eric said from the back seat. "Worried we were spreading rumours or something?" he teased and Raven grunted as she pulled to a stop, "Come on- Bea I have trouble with math, can you help me?"

"Sure, I'll do what I can." She said and Raven said she'll make dinner.

The days following the day the Cullens and Eric-Raven spoke, Bella and several of her male friends ask her out to the dance and then the beach but Eric and Raven said they couldn't make it because they wanted to go to Port Angeles. That late afternoon when Bella returned to home, Eric and Raven were getting dinner ready and Charlie was watching the baseball game; Bella went to tell him about her day and chatted as Raven and Eric set two places. Charlie asked why and Raven said that she and her brother wanted to have dinner together; they left taking the car Charlie got for all three of them and met Edward out of Forks. He led the way to their house and Carlisle was waiting for them with the others.

They shook hands with Carlisle and introduced themselves, "Eric and my younger sister Raven Kullyn." Carlisle stared, "Spelled differently." Eric said quickly and Carlisle smiled, "Edward said you wished to speak with us about something."

Carlisle nodded and motioned for them to him inside, "Carlisle Cullen and than you for coming on short notice."

"If Bella finds out we lied to her Mr. Cullen- she might just either kill us or never speak to us again." She told him as she walked faster to keep up, "We love our sister Dr. Cullen; we'd never hurt her or Chief Charlie."

"I understand that and Alice knows you will not hurt at all, but just in case… please come with me." Eric took Raven's hand and held it tightly as they followed Carlisle into the lovely house they lived in and Eric smiled when he saw the tapestry of graduation caps.

Raven looked at Eric, "Out of the living and into the dead world; Eric I'm nervous." She whispered.

Edward stepped into the room, "No need to be." He nodded at Aubrey as Raven grabbed Eric's arm and wrapped her fingers around his arm.

"Carlisle we're set," Aubrey said and he nodded.

"Thank you Aubrey."