Disclaimer: Twilight Saga doesn't belong to me, but this version of VampWard is all mine. ;)

A/N: All your reviews for the last chapter have made me smile like crazy. I would like to thank every one of you, who has reviewed, favorited, put on alert or simply... read RoALS. You guys make it worth my time to put my crazy thoughts in writing. Thank you.

A big squishy hug goes to my very own FangirlinGranma, DataByteDL-FangirlinGranma. Love you from the bottom of my heart, Granma.

Ready for the next chapter? Read on!

Chapter-7: A Hallucination?

BPOV

"You sure you want this?" Rachel whispered to me as we both watched Leah walk inside the store. "I can always hook you up at the diner."

I frowned at her insistence. "What's wrong with the bookstore?"

She stole a glance at the now slightly ajar door and said conspiratorially, "The lady who owns the place creeps the hell out of me. She used to offer us cookies whenever we'd visit the store. You know, like the witch from the story of Hansel and Gretel?"

I laughed at her over-dramatics. "Rachel, I'm sure she just wanted you to feel welcome in her store. She can't be a witch."

"How do you know? You haven't met her yet. Besides, she used to offer cookies to the kids only."

I stopped the snort building inside me from getting out, not wanting to hurt my new friend. Imagining a woman to be a witch simply because she gave cookies to her younger customers was something I could see only Rachel doing.

So I just shrugged and said, "Well, then we'll see, won't we?" With a wink at her, I added, "If I don't get home tonight, you make sure to look into any ovens she might have around here, okay?"

Her face paled a little before she saw the smile on my face and hissed, "That's not funny! Don't joke about things like that."

Laughing, I led the way into the store, knowing she would follow me despite her aversions to any woodland witches.

~*~*~*RoALS*~*~*~

The moment I stepped through the door to the bookstore, I knew—this is where I wanted to work. Instead of what Rachel predicted to be the cookie-wielding storeowner, what tied me to the place, were the books.

Every direction I looked at there were shelves filled with books, and don't even get me started on the smell of the place! I never knew the smell of new books could be so overwhelmingly good.

As I took in a deep breath, trying to savor the smell, Rachel looked at me like I was mentally imbalanced. "Why are you sniffing?"

I gave her an incredulous look and asked back, "You don't smell that?"

She sniffed cautiously and shook her head. "What am I supposed to smell?"

Grinning widely, I replied, "Books!"

She frowned. "All I can smell is dust," she said grumpily.

I was about to tell her how amazing the smell of books can be when we heard a voice say from behind us, "It's all about perspective, dear."

We both jumped at the voice, making Leah laugh from behind us. As I turned my head to the side, I saw an elderly woman with graying-blonde hair in a bun atop her head with a smile on her face.

She gave me a nod before addressing Rachel. "Where you smell dusty old books, she smells the scent of new books and freshly printed covers. It's all perspective, you see?"

Rachel pulled a face at her words and said with a pout clearly audible in her voice, "Fine. I guess I'm allergic to dusty volumes then."

The woman laughed at her tone and then looked at me. "Hello, dear, I'm Amanda Goff. You must be Isabella."

I nodded and held out my hand with a smile on my face. "Hi, Mrs. Goff. It's nice to meet you."

She patted the back of my hand and returned my smile. "It's always nice to find young people who appreciate books," she said with a glance thrown in Rachel's direction, making Leah snicker.

Mrs. Goff clapped her hands together and asked happily, "Now you girls want some cookies before I take Isabella on a tour of the shop? They're freshly baked."

Her question made Rachel's eyes go wide, and I couldn't help but laugh quietly at the exuberant way Leah dragged her cousin to pursue Mrs. Goff's cookies.

She must know about her cousin's lingering suspicion about Mrs. Goff's intentions, I thought as I followed them.

Once we'd all had some of the yummiest chocolate chip cookies ever and Mrs. Goff had talked to me about my qualifications and salary, I found myself an employed girl.

"Thanks, Leah," I said to my new friend as they prepared to leave the store. "You did me a great favor by bringing me here."

She rolled her eyes at me but allowed the corners of her mouth to move up in a smile nonetheless. "As if you'd have starved without working," she said softly. "I'm glad I could help you out. That's what friends are supposed to do, right? And I think that we might end up being friends at some point."

I smiled at her awkward way of hoping that we might become friends. "That sounds like a real possibility," I added in a teasing voice.

With one more smile, she led Rachel out of the store, leaving me to do my new job.

~*~*~*RoALS*~*~*~

My first day at work turned out to be pretty slow. I made a few book sales and started making an inventory of the books to arrange them in a categorical way in the future, but other than that, I was free to look around the place.

The bookshop, which was on the ground floor of Mrs. Goff's home looked very well-kept if not slightly mismatched with the book arrangements. The feeling of standing between shelves upon shelves of books made me feel alone … but not lonely.

It's almost four in the afternoon when I got a call from an unknown number. Frowning at the caller ID, I answered the call. "Hello?"

"Is this Ms. Isabella Swan?" a voice asked from the other end.

For a second, I debated saying that depended on who was asking, but decided that made me sound more like a mob-boss than a teen who's slightly on edge from starting her life in a strange town.

So, clearing my throat, I replied, "Yes. Who is this?"

The voice sounded relieved when it spoke this time. "I'm Jake from the car rental services. I was told to come and pick your car …"

"Oh! Of course," I said immediately all the while silently cursing myself for forgetting about the car being due today. "When are you coming?"

"I'm actually in Forks right now. So if you want I can come over."

I stole a glance at the clock hanging from the wall behind me to see that I still had an hour of work to go. "I'm at work right now. Can you wait until after five? I'll be able to get home by five fifteen."

His reply came a little hesitant as he said, "I need to get back to Seattle with the car so …"

"Oh! Okay, I'll be there in fifteen then. I'll text you the address for picking up the car," I told him, mentally thinking about how to convince Mrs. Goff to let me off an hour early on my very first day.

Jake sounded happy with the arrangement and after thanking me, he hung up.

~*~*~*RoALS*~*~*~

Surprisingly, Mrs. Goff was okay with letting me off early. She said that since it was a slow day, I could take off.

Just as I stepped out of the bookstore, something across the street caught my eyes. For a moment, I stood there, waiting to see if it was really there or not. When it didn't appear again, I shook my head and started to make my way home. It must have been a trick of the light.

Surely, the handsome stranger I found a few days ago in the middle of the road wouldn't be here?

EPOV

I started day two of my deal with Carlisle very differently than the first. Instead of sulking all fucking day like I did on the first day, I smiled at people. I smiled widely … showing them my teeth.

Even though my teeth didn't look anything like those of Count Dracula's, they were damn sharp, and call it instinct, but the sight of a vampire's teeth seemed to put humans on edge.

I loved hearing them shudder inwardly at the sight.

The only exception was Jessica Stanley, a middle-aged nurse in the hospital. She didn't seem scared by my glistening whites. No, instead, she started weaving fantasy porn scenes about me—which even to me, felt disturbing, not to mention disgusting as fuck when she gave me the mental image of going down on her.

I'm not going anywhere near your cooch, you bleached blonde … or your fake tits for that matter.

I've never been a guy with the proverbial chastity belt around me, and I had fucked a few women in my rebel years, but the smell and taste of hot human blood felt more orgasmic to me than any chick blowing me. Besides, judging by the names I've heard roaming inside dear old Jess's head, she might be the first woman to give a vampire gonorrhea.

Nope, not even going near that.

"Edward, will you get in here? You could make yourself useful in here," Carlisle's voice broke through my repulsive musings about the cougar-nurse, and I gladly walked away from the station to be somewhere away from her thoughts.

But that didn't mean I wasn't gonna give Carlisle hell just a little bit. "By doing what?" I asked him in an irritated voice as I walked inside his examination room.

He gave me a look, warning me not to start anything in front of the humans inside, before smiling at the guy sitting there with a small boy cradled in his arms. "Please excuse my son, Mr. Robins. He woke up on the wrong side of the bed this morning."

Like the cocky asshole I was aiming to be, I raised an eyebrow at my creator. "Did you just imply that you slept with me last night, Dad? That would be the only way for me to wake up on a side of my bed at all."

Carlisle closed his eyes, probably praying the good Lord grant him enough self control to not lunge at my throat right now. When he opened his eyes, the good humored Dr. Cullen was back with all his charms. "So, Timmy, where does it hurt?" he asked the boy.

The little human whimpered when his father held his arm up to Carlisle to show the spot where he must have broken a bone. "Hurts," he said in a whisper to his father, and the father hugged him tighter to his chest, whispering back how brave his little boy was.

Seeing the two of them there brought back memories from a time I've tried to forget.

Suddenly, I wasn't the spoiled bratty adoptive vampire teenage boy of Carlisle Cullen. Instead I was Edward Masen, a little boy crying inconsolably, clutching his skinned knee after falling down from his first attempt at riding a bicycle with his father, Edward Masen Sr., kneeling beside him and wiping away the tear tracks as he promised to be right by his side when he felt up to riding again.

I hated this side of being a vampire—the side which meant your emotions get heightened.

Trying to escape the memories, I murmured about preparing the surgical tray for the plastering equipment, and moved away from the little kid and his father.

As I stood by the window, gathering up the equipment and half-heartedly nodding when the boy asked for a maroon-colored cast, my eyes strayed from my hands and looked out the window, and I felt my breath catch.

There, at the doorway of the dingy little bookstore across the street from the hospital, stood someone I never hoped to lay eyes on again. It was her … the girl Alice was so sure of about being my mate.

With my improved sight as a vampire, I could make out every little detail of her even from the distance. She wore a simple white T-shirt with black jeans and had a jacket slung on her arm. Her hair wasn't styled like I've seen girls do these days, no, she wore her hair in a ponytail, and a part of me wished I could tug on that ponytail as I kissed those naturally pink lips of hers.

Shit! This is so fucked up, Masen, even for you, I chastised myself because I didn't do romance or mates for that matter. This girl was messing with my head … both of my heads.

She waved to someone inside the store and for a moment, I wondered if she had a boyfriend in there, but felt relieved when I saw the wrinkled-up lady who owned the store walk out to say goodbye to her.

I must have stood there longer than I expected because Carlisle chose that moment to ask me to hand him the surgical tray.

Fucker had lousy timing.

After dropping the damned tray next to him, I made my way back to the window only to find the store entryway deserted now.

Was she really there or did I just imagine her? I wondered. Do vampires even have hallucinations? Maybe I was going nuts. Fuck! What do I do?

A/N: Boy! He sure is in trouble, huh? ;)

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ICYMI, I've started another fic. It has very short chapters and written with witfits. The biggest plus point? It updates DAILY (aside from Mondays). The story is titled DreamWeaver. Come over and say hello if you want. :D

Song rec for this chapter: Hallucination by Ke$ha.

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See you next week.

Take care.

Ann