A/N: Hi, guys! Thank you for the lovely reviews in the last chapter. This chapter holds a few nods to the canon, but the plot and this crazy story is still very much mine.

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Chapter-25: A Soul for A Soul

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BPOV

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I wiped away the teardrops trailing down my cheeks only to have more droplets take their places. I raised my hand to dash them away again when my cell phone rang. Thinking it must be him, I answered without looking at the name of the caller.

"Hello?"

"God! You sound like you're missing me," Angela's voice greeted me from the other side of the phone.

The sound of her voice made me suddenly feel homesick for my best friend. "Terribly," I replied, my voice sounding a little scratchy from crying.

"Bee?" When she spoke, her voice was quiet. "What's wrong?"

Everything, I wanted to say. I wanted to tell her how my vampire boyfriend had behaved like he'd gladly tear off my friend and her brother's head just for being in my general vicinity. I wanted to share with her how even with his history of killing humans, I couldn't seem to stay away from him. And lastly, I wanted to confess to being afraid that he might end up hurting someone for my sake and sending him away from me just to keep him safe from himself.

But the only thing I managed to say was, "Nothing."

"The croaking sound you're making doesn't say that. Either you're crying or you thought you found your frog prince and swallowed him while trying to kiss that poor bastard."

The visual her words created made me gag and let out a small bark of laughter, and then I was crying again. She listened to my sobs for a long moment before saying, "Is this about that boy you told me about a few weeks ago? Edwin or whatever?"

"Edward," I corrected her with a sniffle then added, "We had a fight."

She made a clucking noise with her tongue and asked, "Want me to come over and redesign his face with my fist of fury?"

I shook my head before remembering that she couldn't see me. "I fought with him," I clarified, recalling how he had stood there looking utterly shocked as I told him off for his behavior.

"You fought with him?" she repeated sounding surprised by my revelation.

"He embarrassed me in front of some friends …" I started to say, but the look on his face came to my mind again, and I sighed. "Yes, I fought with him. And he just stood there. He didn't defend himself. He …" I trailed off.

She made a small humming noise before asking me, "What exactly happened, Bee? Tell me."

So I did. I told her how Jacob had shown up with Rachel at the bookstore, and how seeing him must've made Edward remember the time I got hurt because Jacob came to visit me last time. I told her all of it, except the fact that I had been afraid of what Edward might do in his anger.

She listened. After I finished talking, she asked me, "How old is he, Bee? Edward, I mean?"

I gave her the answer he gave everyone else and said, "He turned eighteen in June. Why?"

She didn't answer me. Instead, she asked me again, "Didn't you say that you're his first girlfriend?"

"Yes," I answered, not sure where this was leading to. "We're both new to this."

"Exactly!" she said. "So maybe you got mad because you felt like he was staking a claim on you in front of that Jacob dude?"

"Maybe," I said, not agreeing completely.

"And maybe he felt like he needed to protect you from getting hurt because you're his girl?"

"His girl?" I asked in shock.

She sighed. "Bee, didn't you say that the boy is adopted?"

"Yeah …" I hedged.

"So maybe with you, he has found someone to care for, for the first time in his life. Maybe that's what made him act like a jerk to your friends because he was only thinking of you at the time. Maybe he was just trying to keep you safe."

Her words hit home, and I said. "It's possible."

Once again, the look on his face came to my mind. How unsure of himself he had looked … how sad his eyes seemed when he saw me walk away from him.

Oh God! What have I done?

"Hey, Ang?"

"Yeah?"

"When did you get so knowledgeable about these things?"

She laughed at my question and then said, "It's all that dork's fault. He's been messing with my head."

I smiled at the definitive tone of happiness in her voice. "Tell Ben I said thanks. He's good for you."

"And get his head so big that it doesn't fit through the door? No thanks," she said with a snort. "Are you gonna be okay, Bee?"

I wiped away the last of my tears and nodded. "Yeah, I will be great. I just need to talk to my boyfriend."

"Go get him, Bee-girl."

With a chuckle, I disconnected the call before making my way to the office room. I needed to get to my vampire boy.

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EPOV

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I clutched my hair in my hands and tugged hard, chastising myself for not thinking before showing up at Bella's work. I hated the fact that she had called me a caveman for wanting to protect her from that asshole, but more than that I hated the possibility that I might have scared her in my moment of anger.

And then there was that teardrop. As a vampire, I wasn't used to tears. No, that wasn't true. I had seen my victims cry for mercy before sinking my teeth in their necks. Correction: I wasn't used to feeling like shit for seeing a few human tears. But then again, this wasn't just any human's tear. It was my Bella's … my human's … and I made that teardrop escape her eyes.

Fuck!

"Too bad there isn't a vampire version of the Glamour magazine. We could've gotten a fortune by selling pictures of the vampire-who-went-bald," Rosalie's cynical voice filtered through my thoughts and I looked up to glare at her.

"Why the fuck do people keep calling me a bald vampire?" I groused.

"Whoo! Aren't you a ray of sunshine?" She rolled her eyes at me and took a few steps inside my room.

"What do you want, Rose?" I asked irritably. "I'm really not in a mood for your bitching right now."

Drama queen, she thought to me. Then she said, "Relax, Grumplestiltskin, I'm here to offer you dinner."

"Dinner?" My eyes narrowed at the word.

She shrugged. "We're going on a hunt. I know you never join us, but I figured you've not been invited to do so in some time."

I was taken aback by her words. I didn't hunt animals. Even if my family didn't know about my actual hunting trips, they knew that much. Frowning, I said, "I don't like animal blood, Rosalie. You know that."

"I do, but now that you're tied up to a human, I thought you might want to change your diet," she responded with a shrug.

An involuntary sigh escaped me. "I'm not sure she wants me to be tied up to her anymore."

I could hear the questions in her thought so I elaborated. "I sort of fucked up today."

When have you not been a little fucked up in the head? She thought snarkily.

When I didn't respond immediately with a smart-ass comment, she tilted her head to the side and looked at me closely. "What did you do, Edward?"

I shook my head, starting to tell her that I didn't do anything before thinking otherwise and said, "I might have overreacted a little bit after seeing a stupid human near her. But in my defense, that asshole hurt her the last time he was near her. So what was I supposed to do?"

"Ah … jealousy. Classic rookie mistake," she said. "Were you a possessive dick to her?"

"NO!" I said instantly, but then thought back to that moment and amended myself. "Well, maybe a little bit."

She sat down next to me and laughed. "Some girls like that you know? Of course you would find the only girl who doesn't like that to fall for."

I opened my mouth to protest about her statement, but a look from her silenced me.

"I remember wanting to tear off Kate's head the first time the Denalis visited us after Emmett had joined us," she said with a smile on her lips. "It's natural to feel that way about your mate, little brother. Don't fret about it."

I let out a humorless laugh and shook my head. "Well, my mate doesn't seem to think so."

She's a free-spirited girl—exactly what you need.

"I made her cry, Rose," I muttered, regretting my actions once again.

She raised an eyebrow at me. "Is that regret I detect, brother? I never thought I'd see the day when you would sound anything but nonchalant about something you did. Now, dinner?"

I thought for a moment about giving it all up and changing … for her. Then I said, "Is there any blood bags left in the house?"

She nodded. "There's a few left in the refrigerator in the basement, I think. Why? Not feeling up to a family outing?"

Shaking my head, I stood up. "Not yet. Besides, I need to get to Bella." I need to apologize for being a dick.

She grabbed my shoulder and stopped me. "Don't. Give her some space. Girls need some space to cool off."

I grimaced. "You're enjoying this, aren't you?"

"Immensely," she replied. "Now tell me, what do you think happened back there?"

I let my shoulders drop and said in a defeated voice, "I was a douche. I should've allowed her to handle it herself. She didn't appear to be in any kind of danger, but I still butted in. It might've been a little hasty on my part."

She nodded with apparent satisfaction. "The fact that you realize that speaks volumes. So now I'm gonna leave you to your broody ass alone and go for a hunt."

For a split second, my mind conjured up images of running through the jungle and then teeth closing down on a frail human neck and warm blood rushing out of the jugular and into my awaiting mouth. But I pushed the images away as another took their place—an image of a teardrop falling from warm dark brown eyes as they stared at me in disappointment.

Shaking off the images from my head, I looked at Rosalie. "Enjoy your hunt. I'll go get me a cool drink when I feel like it," I said with a smirk.

For Bella, I'll gladly drink that watery tasting ice cold blood from a fucking blood bag if it meant I'll get to keep her.

She grinned and opened her mouth to speak … and that's when the sound of a beating heart reached our ears.

"Is that a human heart?" she asked with a frown. "So close to our home?"

I listened intently before my eyes widened, recognizing the sound that had been embedded in my mind since the first time I heard it. "That's not just a human's heart, Rose. It's Bella's heart. She's here."

A smile appeared on her face as she started backing out of the room. "I'll leave you to deal with your girl then, brother."

Oh fuck! What do I do?

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BPOV

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Alice opened the door before I could bring myself to knock on the polished wood. "Hi, Isabella! Come on in."

"Hey," I greeted her back. "Is he …?"

As if she could read my mind like her brother wished to, she smiled and pointed toward the stairs with her chin. "Upstairs."

"Oh." I stood in awkward silence for a few moments, not knowing if I should ask after his family or simply rush to him as my heart was aching to do.

Alice must've caught me looking at the stairs because she said, "We're all going out for a little while … well, all of us except Edward. The others are already out of here. I stayed back to meet you. So we'll talk when we get back?"

Her words immediately put me at ease. I was grateful for the sense of privacy this would give us to work out our problems. I nodded, and she hugged me. "I'm so glad you're here."

And then she was gone, leaving me to go and find my vampire boyfriend in the stark white house.

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

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I waited for a few moments outside his door, gathering my thoughts and going through the words in my head one more time before knocking lightly.

The door swung open and there he stood—looking handsome, perfect and so very agitated.

"Hey," I greeted him, not meeting his eyes.

When he didn't say anything, I lifted my head to see his eyes boring into mine in what seemed like a mix of confusion and hope.

"You're here," he finally said, sounding like he couldn't believe his eyes.

"I'm here," I echoed him.

He stayed still for a long moment before stepping closer to me, holding my face in his hands. He brushed away locks of hair from my face and said, "Bella, I'm so sorry. I shouldn't have acted that way. I was a complete jerk for behaving like that. I just …"

I placed my hand over his and shook my head. "Watch it, Masen. You're calling my boyfriend a jerk there." His eyes snapped to mine, and I tried to smile as I brought his hand to my lips and kissed his palm. "I'm sorry. I was extremely rude and I shouldn't have said those awful things to you."

A ragged breath escaped him as he leaned his forehead down to rest it against mine. "Bella, I can't tell you how precious you are to me, baby," he said, his voice pleading me for understanding. "The thought of you in any kind of danger feels like someone's about tear my heart out and trample it over. I feel … I feel very protective of you. I can't help it."

"Ditto," I whispered. "I may not be able to protect you physically—being a little human in the world of big bad vampires and all—but I want to be the one to protect you … your heart … your soul … that's what I want."

He wrapped his arms around me then, pulling me to him for a hug. I clung to him with all the strength I could muster, feeling the need to love this flawed yet perfect creature with everything I was.

"I was afraid that you'll kill Jacob and go back to being the way you were," I murmured into his chest. "I should've trusted you. I'm sorry."

I felt his chest rumble beneath my hands as he spoke. "I can't go back to being the way I was, Bella, because I'm not the same … person anymore; I can't be if it means not having you in my life." He moved and took my chin in between his fingers, raising his thumb to trace my lips. "You said I thought I owned you," he said softly. "But baby, it's the other way around. It's you who owns me."

The implication of his words hit me, and I blinked back the tears threatening to spill over. "You own me too, Edward," I told him. "I've been yours since the first night we met."

He took in a sharp breath, and the next thing I knew he had me pressed up between the wall and his body, kissing my lips … claiming them … owning them. "Tell me you're mine, Bella, please," he pleaded in between his kisses.

My arms held him tight to myself, afraid that if I let go, he'd turn into a mirage. "I'm yours, Edward," I whispered against his lips, wrapping my legs around his hips.

"Mine," he repeated, his voice sounding like a cross between a groan and a growl. "Just like I'm yours."

"Yes," I breathed the word as I felt his lips kiss my neck. He trailed his lips down to where my blood pulsed and kissed me.

He raised his head to look at me then before kissing my lips once again. "I don't know if I have a soul or not," he said as he stared into my eyes. "But baby, if I did have one, it'll be yours."

That moment. In that one single moment of silence in his room … held in his arms, I knew—I wasn't falling for Edward … I was already in love with him … unconditionally and irrevocably.

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A/N: *Peeks from behind hands* Everyone okay? Thoughts?

Share them with me and leave a review.

Thanks for reading.

The song rec for this chapter: Jungle by Emma Louise. Seriously, listen to it while reading it'll be worth it, I promise. :)

To my Dreamers, DreamWeaver has been nominated for the top ten completed fics on July. Follow the link to vote if you loved PLPBward and his MysteryElla. Remember you can vote only once every 24 hours. So go and vote. :)

twifanfictionrecs category/ top-ten-fics/ top-ten-completed-fics-jul-2015/ (remove the spaces)

Until next week.

Take care.

Ann