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Next chap Yey!
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And
blue fire 101, for writing her version of chapter nine!
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BPOV
'Well', he began….
'Well', Edward began. I waited with bated breath as he began his answer. Why was I so anxious to hear his answer? What did I even want his answer to be? To be quite honest, I did not know. If he said yes, what did that mean? Is that what I wanted? If he said no, did that mean he was actually interested in Tanya? Would that bother me? Why was I so confused?!
All this had gone through my head in a matter of seconds, although the time it took for Edward felt like an eternity. 'Well,' he said again. Oh, come on Edward, just answer the question already! 'Yes, Tanya, yes we are.' And he put his arm around my waist to prove it. Well, that was quite the anti-climax. What was I thinking, that his answer would answer my own confusing questions? Well, if I had, I was doomed to be disappointed. I was still completely and utterly confused! Although I must admit that I relished the look of dismay that passed over Tanya's face upon hearing Edward's answer. I had to restrain myself from sticking my tongue out at her like a five year old.
I suddenly felt Edward's lips against my ear. What the..? 'I'm sorry if you wanted me to say no, Bella. It was just what Tanya was going to do if I said no. Her thoughts were …..terrifying, in all honesty.' He whispered too low and fast for the rest of the vampires to hear. 'It's okay, Edward.' I replied. 'I don't mind.' And why was that? Why didn't I mind? Oh, my god! What was wrong with me? Stupid, incessant, human hormones resurfacing!
The rest of the day passed by quite quickly, with the occasional death glare sent my way by Tanya. I have decided that I greatly disliked her. I discussed my mental shield in great-depth with Eleazer and he seemed to think that it might be possible to push my shield away from me and maybe even onto others. I was eager to try this and wondered if Edward would be willing to attempt it when we got home. The whole Denali coven, except Tanya, seemed to be very nice and hospitable. Even though we'd told her we were mates, Tanya seemed to be determined to flirt incessantly with Edward. What a whore!
I had been discussing Kate's power with her. I found it extremely interesting and was extremely grateful that she was willing to explain it to me completely. It had gotten quite late and Carlisle and Esme wanted to leave to settle in the new house. I'm sure that by 'settle in' they meant something else. However, seeing as how they were now, for all intents and purposes, my parental figures, that particular subject did not bare thinking about. Not that it would no matter who they were.
Anyway, Carlisle asked me where Edward was and I realised that I did not actually know. I quickly scanned the room, failed to see Tanya, and had a good idea of where Edward might be. She was truly evil. I decided that I would have to deal with this particular wanton woman for good. I excused myself from the room, took a deep breath, squared my shoulders, and set off to find the woman who was attempting to seduce my supposed mate.
I searched the house, and after a few rooms, I heard muffled sounds coming from one particular room a few feet away. This seemed promising. I made my way to the door and pressed my ear up against it. Yep, Edward's voice and that same sickly sweet and slimy tone that was otherwise known as Tanya's voice. 'Come on Edward, you know you want to. Forget Bella, I'll be soooo much better for you.' Who in god's name did this woman think she was?! I restrained myself from barging in there until I heard Edward's answer. I wanted to know whether or not he would accept her offer. 'I'm sorry, Tanya. But I cannot do that. You see, I love bella, and I could never do better.' I faltered for a moment. What? Did he mean that or was it just to get Tanya to leave him alone? What am I thinking? Of course it was the latter. I was just glad he had not accepted her offer. That would have been an awkward situation to interrupt. I regained my composure and opened the door.
The first thing that I saw was a surprised and embarrassed looking Edward on the other side of the door. I gave him a reassuring smile and motioned for him to exit the room. He looked relieved that I realised that the situation was completely out of his control. I pressed my lips lightly to his in a chaste kiss, to keep up the charade, of course. 'Go on, Edward. I'll be down in a moment.' I told him. He looked momentarily worried, but then shook it off. 'Of course, love.' He replied. Wait, when did he start calling me love? 'Don't hurt her too much.' He whispered, and then left. That made me laugh slightly. Of course I wouldn't hurt her…..much.
I closed the door and turned to Tanya. She looked like a mouse that had just been cornered by a cat. I grinned at her, and relished the opportunity to watch her tremble in fear. 'Wha-wha-what are you go-going to do to me?' she stuttered. I bared my teeth at her which caused her to open her mouth and attempt a scream. I moved faster than the eye could see and before any sound could come out of her mouth, I had her pressed up against the wall. My knee was pressed painfully into her back and I had her arm twisted at such an angle that if she were human, I would have torn it off. I squashed her face into the wall and tightened my grip on her so that she was in as much discomfort and hopefully pain as possible.
'So, Tanya. I heard the tale end of your charming little conversation with my mate. But don't worry; even though I didn't hear all of it, I got the general gist. You don't think I'm good enough for Edward, you think that you'd be much better for him; you think it's acceptable to seduce a man with a mate; you're a despicable individual, etc. And I know that you fancy yourself as everyman's dream woman and think that any male would fall at your feet at a second's notice.' Up until now, I had spoken in a falsely cheerful tone. Then my tone became menacing. 'But if you ever, ever so much as think about Edward in that way again, I'll rip your head off then tear you limb from limb as you watch. Then I'll make you watch as I burn the pieces. Are we clear?' I growled. Her body began to wrack as she dry-sobbed against the wall. 'I'm sorry, I'm so so so sorry! I promise that I'll never do it again! Just, please don't hurt me!' she cried.
I smirked and tightened my grip on her for a moment, just to prove that I could. She whimpered pathetically and I dropped her onto the ground in a quivering heap. She lay there for two seconds then chose to take this opportunity to get away. She clambered up and scrambled out the room in a very ungraceful, unvampire-like manner.
I made my way to the main room where Edward, Carlisle and esme were waiting for me. Edward smiled at me and took my arm gently. We said our goodbyes and thanked everyone for having us. I looked at Tanya pointedly and said, 'Goodbye, Tanya.' I wiggled my fingers at her as she cowered in fear. I resisted the urge to laugh out loud, as I felt Edward shaking beside me I realised that he was having the exact same problem.
Edward waited until we reached our house and went upstairs to my room to ask. 'What did you do to her?' though he sounded more amused than angry. 'Well,' I replied, 'Let's just say that I gave her high incentive to leave you alone, if you know what I mean? Anyway, I was speaking with Eleazer and we discussed my mental shield. He seems to think that it may be possible for me to push my shield away from myself or even use it to make others invulnerable to mental abilities as well as myself. I was wondering if I could try to push it away from myself tonight and you could help me by seeing if it makes my mind any less silent to you. Would you mind?' I bit my lip as I waited for his response. Maybe he wanted to spend his night playing the piano or reading, aka, not with me. 'Of course I don't mind, Bella. I'd love to help.'
We spent the whole night trying to push my shield away from myself. It felt similar to stretching a rubber band. I kept tugging on it over and over again, but I could never seem to pull it far enough to let Edward hear my thoughts. It felt just out of reach and I just couldn't seem to reach it. It frustrated me to no end and mentally drained me. By the morning I was extremely exhausted. I didn't really believe that we made any real progress, but Edward seemed to disagree. He said that we had figured out the method of how to do so, and had begun to try. He said that was half the work. I guess he had a point. As long as we kept at it, we'd accomplish the end result soon enough. All that was needed was a little patience.
The day after we visited the Denali's, Edward and I decided that it would be best to set Esme and Carlisle straight as soon as possible. So we went down to the living room where they were sitting simply conversing with one another and enjoying each other's company. When they noticed us enter, they beamed at us with parental love. 'Carlisle, Esme, Edward and I have something to admit', I began. 'Yesterday, at the Denali's, Edward lied, we are not mates. We hope that you are not disappointed with us for lying. Tanya's thoughts were making Edward….uncomfortable. Please don't tell her we lied.' I pleaded. Esme and Carlisle looked thoughtful. 'We're not angry', Carlisle replied. 'And we understand why Tanya's thoughts may make Edward uncomfortable. She ahem likes men very much so. Thank you for telling us the truth and not feeling that you have to lie to us. Of course we won't inform the Denali's of the truth. Your secret is safe with us, I can assure you.' They smiled at us reassuringly and I sighed in relief. I threw my arms around Carlisle's neck in gratitude and exclaimed, 'Thank you, Carlisle. So much.'
I let go and went to exit the room, Edward took me by the waist and was leading me out the door when Carlisle said, 'Oh, Edward, Bella, you won't have to act too much to convince the Denali's you were telling the truth. You had Esme and I completely fooled.' He chuckled. If I were still human, I would be blushing fifty shades of scarlet right now.
Over the next few weeks, Edward and I began to fall into a routine of sorts. We would hunt, read, he would play the piano as I listened, and we would talk about anything and everything during the day. At night we would work on pushing my shield away from myself. We were starting to make some real progress, Edward would sometimes hear snippets of my thoughts, but as soon as he heard them I was under so much strain from pushing it out that it snapped straight back into place. It was extremely draining, but we kept at it, because if I could learn to push it away, I would be able to learn to stretch it over others as well as myself. Edward was extremely patient, for which I would be forever grateful.
The weeks turned to months and the months turned to years. After fifteen years we still hadn't left Alaska, it was peaceful and remote. The fact that we did not age was not a problem here, hardly anyone lived here. There were plenty of animals to feed upon. We could entertain ourselves simply by talking, reading or listening to Edward play. He had gotten extremely good over the years; he had composed many of his own songs, including one he dedicated to me. He called it 'Bella's lullaby.' It was extremely beautiful. Every time I heard it, I felt like crying at the sheer beauty of the melody.
Of course we still worked hard at pushing away my shield. It was still difficult, but I could do it almost perfectly now. We had started to attempt projecting it onto others, but I needed to work at it a bit more. No worries, though, we'd soon get it. Edward and I became closer friends with every passing day, but never became mates, something that never ceased to confound Carlisle and Esme. Of course, we had to keep up the act for Tanya, when we saw her, which was rarely enough. She tended to keep her distance, smart girl.
It was a day like any other when they came. An empath and an over-enthusiastic physic pixie that went by the names of Jasper and Alice. The doorbell rang and I got up to answer it, but Edward beat me there. He saw that it was another two vampires and crouched protectively in front of me, in case they were a threat. For goodness sake Edward, I can protect myself!
The pixie like girl simply raised a questioning eyebrow at him and turned to me. 'Hello, Bella.' Wait, how did she know my name? What was going on? 'I'm Alice, and this is my mate, Jasper.' He smiled shyly and nodded his head in acknowledgement. 'And we're your new brother and sister!!!' She exclaimed in excitement. 'Oh, and by the way, Edward and bella, you two should just get together already; stop trying to put off the inevitable!' Why was everyone so sure Edward and I should be together? She didn't even know me, for crying out loud! Edward and I simply stood there gaping at them. She spotted Esme and Carlisle and bounded over to them. 'Hello, I'm Alice, your new daughter, and that's Jasper, your new son!'
Ah, you gotta love Alice! Blunt as a stump! Well, there's a nice treat for you! Good and long. I know that bella was a bit OOC but anyway. I wanted to have a good Tanya bashing. Don't like her, don't know why, just don't.
Anyway if you're reading this when it's posted publicly, review! 20 and I shall update. If you got it sent privately to you before it was posted publicly, lucky you! PM and let me know what you think. The challenge I posted in the last chap for chapter nine (to write your own version of it) applies to chapter 10 too. If you're interested, write your own version of chapter 10, what you think will happen next, or would like to happen. Just mention that it was based off my story, if you don't mind. PM me the link and I'll read it. The best one could be posted with my version of chapter 10. I only got one for chap 9, hopefully I'll get more. Then I can pick the best and post it. Don't forget to check out my story comp, if you enter/nominate a story, you shall receive chap 10 before it is publicly posted here.
Thanks,
Kate.
Xxxx