Disclaimer: The characters of Twilight are owned by Stephenie Meyer. The content, ideas and intellectual property of this story and the 'American Vampire Series' in its entirety are owned by Just4ALE.

And once again, Follow You, Follow Me belongs to Genesis.

Chapter 18: Body and Soul

EPOV

I had often likened Bella's nature to an iceberg… at least 85% of her feelings were buried far beneath the surface.

As it turns out, I was WAY off on this 85% part. 99% was more like it. I should have suspected based on our last night together when she released her veil to show a new level of happiness that I'd never seen before.

After all of those months, at last I was standing there with the woman who had brought light into my dark life... my shining star.

Her anger always drew me toward her. And that night I was in deep shit. Because my star was going supernova…

~#~

"GET OUT OF MY HEAD!" she screamed. And then she shattered another window.

Bella had been touching herself and talking about Jacob. I was already being drawn in by her scent - her sweet scent calling to me through her sweat -- and her anger and her incredibly erotic movements as she moved her hands from the outside of her pants to inside. And then her images of Jacob started filling my brain and sent me over the edge. It was torture.

Some of the first images she showed me before the Jacob horror may have been made up, possibilities for the future, but some of them were real and most were guys I hadn't known about… old images. Mike Newton kissing her at the formal. A guy doing a shot and then leaning in to kiss her. Another image of what appeared to be a college dorm room with a guy with whom she appeared to be having a wrestling match, fending off his wandering hands.

And then there were several images of Bella and Jacob, which were most vivid and, based on Jacob's appearance and age, real; they matched the images I'd seen in his head when he was remembering their time together in Boston. Shit, it was more than I'd ever imagined happening between the two of them. She had told me that seeing him naked had only happened twice before she left for business school but, the two times that I was witnessing now were clearly two too many as far as I was concerned.

The sonofabitch was there, waiting in the wings for her, ready to take her. I'd seen his mind. This time he wasn't playing with her. He was ready to accept her love. And my walking away had allowed this to happen. I'd been kidding myself. There was no way that I could live knowing that she was with someone else. In the end, I was just too selfish and I loved her too damn much.

"Bella, don't you dare! God damn it, NO! No one else can have you. I won't let that happen!" I bellowed.

Oh SHIT! Her eyes widened and then she ran for the studio door but I caught up with her instantly. With her back to my chest, I wrapped myself around her, my arms around her waist, my lips by her ear. "Bella," I growled, "you're mine..." My lips kissed her neck, my tongue tasted her skin. Oh fuck, the taste! At first her body responded as she pressed herself closer to me, allowing me to hold her more tightly. No, no, no... not his tongue! But as my hands moved up toward her breasts, she grabbed me by my wrists and forcibly removed them from her.

Again, she started to make a break for it, but I grabbed her wrists and pulled her back to me. "No! No! Asshole!" she yelled, which only fueled the fire. In her fury, she started pushing me away and trying to break free of my grip but I was stronger and more determined. Her anger had drawn me in, but it was my overwhelming need and longing that pushed me to the brink. I wanted her so much, in every way, but I fought back the desire to bite her, willing my fangs to stay away. I would not bite her again like that unless she asked, I had vowed to myself; I would not hurt her again.

I shoved her back against the wall next to the door and pressed myself close to her. I tried to kiss her lips but she turned her face, so my lips moved toward her ear and then worked their way down her neck, "I've missed you so much... I love you... Let me make you feel good again, Bella," I murmured.

Oh God, his hands... lips... that smell… feels sooo good. OH CRAP! You can hear me. You shithead!

She started pushing me away again but was losing the fight with herself. No… no… Everything about her was sucking me in… her thoughts floating through my brain… her conflict, knowing she was furious at me and yet her body wanting me too. My hands groped at her and my fingers found the waistband of her yoga pants, pausing for the briefest of moments to gauge her reaction. She inhaled and held it. Okay... yes…

I got down on my knees and removed them from her legs quickly. Her underwear followed suit in one quick rip. "I want you," I said huskily. "I love you, Bella. Please," I begged, "let me show you. Let me love you." Still kneeling, I kissed her stomach and then made my way down her body. Her hands moved to my shoulders in a half-hearted effort to push me away, but my hands grabbed her hips roughly to pull her closer to my mouth. My tongue caressed her slowly and then moved more ardently and deeper into her as my mouth worked urgently to fulfill my need for her. I released her hips and reached under her right leg putting it over my left shoulder. Gliding my left hand around to the small of her back, I pulled her closer to me while I inserted two fingers from my right hand into her. She gasped again and her hands stopped pushing and soon her fingers were tangled in my hair, pulling me closer as she rocked against my hand and mouth.

Edward... "Ungh, oh shit..." Ah, the tongue, your hands… "Oh God…" Yes… Why… Why… She moaned and her knees buckled as she climaxed, her muscles pulsing around my fingers. My hands and body held her steady against me as her body shook.

I looked up at her and her eyes opened and met mine. They were unfocused at first and she was breathing heavily as she came down off of her orgasm. Then she was furious again and she began to push me away again. "Get away Edward! You don't get to claim me! You walked away!"

Snow Patrol's Chocolate came on her iPod as she shouted at me. And suddenly I heard her thoughts as she was distracted for a moment. How the hell did this get on my Pissed Off playlist? Jacob must have added it… Damn it! I told him not to.

I couldn't believe I was hearing this after what had just happened between us. "Are you fucking kidding me?!" I shouted. I grabbed her wrists. "Bella, I'm making love to you and you're thinking of JACOB?!"

"No! No, Edward, I LET you do that. That wasn't 'making love', in case you've forgotten the difference," she hissed. "And I'll think whatever the hell I want!" Freakin' MEN! All the same. She shook her head as she glared down at me. "You're here because of Jacob, aren't you? He comes sniffing around and you're back to mark your territory!"

Her anger was still pulling me toward her. Being near to her after being without her for so long was like being an addict suddenly close to a fresh supply of drugs. "Damn it, Bella! You're mine!" I growled still holding onto her wrists. "I'm here because of YOU. I'm here because of ME. I won't let Jacob, or anyone else, have you."

My mouth moved up her stomach and I let go of her wrists so that my hands were free to wander underneath her top, cupping her breasts and playing with her nipples. "I can't be without you, Bella. I WON'T be without you any longer!" Soon I was standing again, my lips on her neck and shoulders. I pressed myself against her and she moaned. "Oh shit, you're really hard!" I hate you for this. "Oh, God, I want you..." she breathed. Fuck me...

Whether she meant that fuck me as 'I'm so screwed' or as 'screw me,' I took it as a green light. I reached for my jeans button… and her hands helped as I unzipped my pants and we shoved them with my underwear down to my ankles. This all looked and felt horribly wrong; it was not the sweet reunion that I had imagined for us over the past two days and yet the unbridled need I had for her was propelling me. And I could hear her need in her head intermingled with her anger. She was fighting herself even as she was helping me undress.

So stupid! So stupid! So stupid! This will end me when he runs again. One last time, Bella. One last time.

"I won't run Bella. I'll never leave you again." I brought my body up against her once again, my knees pushing between hers to separate her legs. Then lifting her up to straddle me, I pressed her back up against the wall as she wrapped her legs around me. "Mine, Bella," I stated, as I entered her. She gasped and then stared into my eyes.

"You shit!" You left me! You left me! She repeated this thought with every stroke as I pounded her against the wall.

Mine. Mine. Mine. I answered back with each thrust. "You belong with me, Bella. I love you." Once again, I tried to kiss her lips but she turned her face each time. So my lips found her neck. "Say it… say you love me. Say you're mine…" I murmured as my mouth worked its way over her soft skin.

Her eyes were furious and defiant. "No," she breathed. Damn you, Edward Cullen. Damn you to hell for this!

In all of the times we'd been together, we'd had playful and fun sex. We'd had sex driven by lust. And we'd made love over and over. But this night was different. She was furious with me for leaving her and I with her for suggesting that any other man could touch her.

It wasn't lustful sex. It wasn't playful and fun. And it definitely wasn't making love.

It was animal. It was raw. It was based on pure need and desire.

It was fucking incredible… or an incredible fucking, however you wanted to look at it.

But I realized that Bella merely screwing me wasn't necessarily a good thing. What had she said? That she wanted me one last time?

There was no love attached to her part of this; she was trying to say goodbye.

No Bella, this isn't the end. I won't let you tell me goodbye.

We were both breathing heavily as our bodies rocked together in unison. Her beautiful angry eyes bore into mine and then they opened wide. I could feel her pulsing around me as she climaxed again. "Oh God!" she gasped as she threw her head back. Allowing herself another moment of ecstasy as her orgasm continued, she stayed looking up almost as if she actually were praying to God and her hands were splayed open by her face. And then her face contorted as she started to cry. Why, Edward? Why? Her body began to shake and she threw her arms around my neck, clinging to me as she cried on my shoulder.

I came immediately after, spilling into her, my head falling on her shoulder, my body shaking as I clung to my angel, our physical need spent for the moment. She continued to grasp me, and I held on to her, unwilling to let her be any farther from me than this. If it were my choice, I could have stayed holding her like this forever. I'd missed her so much. I'm sorry, Bella. I'm so sorry for everything.

Finally she loosened her hold and I slowly set her down so that I could look into her eyes. I took one hand and put it under her chin, trying to raise her face to mine so that I could kiss those lips that I missed and again she snapped. She pushed me away and looked at me furiously. Wiping her eyes, she bent down reaching for her pants and put them back on. I unceremoniously pulled up my own pants at the same time. I couldn't stand being apart from her physically, still craving contact with her in any small way. I reached over to caress her arm, moving in closer to try to reach her lips and she shoved me.

"You bastard! Don't you dare! You may have had my body but my kiss means something more and you took that from me!"

Although I had felt her denial the whole time, the confirmation with her words were like an arrow through my heart. I felt it the second her words officially denied me her kiss. Those words, that I could have her body but not her soul… I felt it as I began to come apart inside. I felt a rip inside of me as all of my hopes began to crumble… and I felt like crying, something I hadn't felt since I was human.

Without warning, she smacked my face. "Fuck you, Edward!" She turned away from me, ready to get the rest of her things and go.

And then she noticed it. What is this stuff? She stared at her hand.

Her thumb moved against her fingers as she felt the liquid on her hand. She looked down at the ground and at her body to see where it was coming from. Coming up empty, she continued to examine her hand. Then she lifted her hand to her nose to smell it. "I think this is your blood. Did you cut yourself?" Looking back at me, she saw my face and registered it all at once.

Her mouth formed an 'O' as she gasped. Her eyes were wide and then she crumbled to her knees and curled in a ball on the floor. "NO!" she cried. The floodgates cracked. She covered her face with her hands and began sobbing uncontrollably.

I could barely understand her through her tears. "Edw-" she cried, "Are th- those tears? Oh God! I... I d-don't underst-… you're th... YOU br-broke the bond!" she wailed, rocking herself.

I wiped a tear from my eye and fell to my knees with her. I reached out to touch her hair. "Bella, I didn't break it," I breathed. "My bond is everlasting… irrevocable. And I'm so desperately sorry about what I've done. I really did do it for your protection, but I should have explained... I should have told you!"

I reached for her hands, taking them in mine. She hesitantly allowed me to do this and she looked up at me. I dared to pull her up into a sitting position as I continued. "I love you Bella... I've never stopped! I was stupid to leave you. I did it because I was scared that I could harm the one thing that I loved and needed the most, but my body and my shattered soul are, and will always be, yours."

She looked at me through her tears as I gently wiped them from her face. Her cheeks were red and blotchy from her crying and yet she still looked so beautiful. Her hand moved to my face slowly and she wiped my other eye. My dark almost bluish tear drop was on her finger. She looked at it in wonder and then brought it to her mouth to taste it. I stiffened at the sad and yet erotic image this portrayed. And then she looked at my lips, silently giving me the permission I'd been waiting for, and I didn't hesitate. I crushed my mouth on hers, taking what I had longed for too long. She gasped, parting her mouth and I took advantage of the opening. My tongue played with hers and she moaned. She pulled herself closer to me, as close as one could be with our clothing barriers yet again in our way. She kissed me hungrily, her body grinding into mine as she sat on my lap.

The kiss said it all. She was mine and I was hers. Her bond was everlasting as well.

Our kiss went on, but not long enough. She pulled back to gasp for air and looked at me, her eyes moist, tears still streaming down her cheek.

I grasped her tightly, clinging on, burying my face in her neck, my hands tangled in her hair. "I love you Bella. Please be mine again. Please," I whispered. "I'm so sorry. So very sorry. I never should have done that to you, never should have hurt you. I was so wrong. Please forgive me. Please say I haven't lost you forever. Don't go to Jacob. Don't go to anyone else." I released my grasp on her and pushed her back slightly away from my chest so that I could look into her eyes. "I love you. Be mine, Bella," I said over and over, caressing her face. "Be mine, Bella… come back to me."

She leaned her face into my hand, allowing me to caress her cheek. And then her eyes focused and she grabbed me by my shirt collar. "Edward, please," she pleaded. "I don't want to live like this anymore... always in danger, and I don't want to be without you! Turn me or drain me completely right now. Please!" she begged.

My heart leapt. Yes! This is the right place! Thank you, Alice. I nodded. I cupped her face in my hands and looked into her eyes. "Are you mine again, Bella?" I asked.

"I never stopped..." she breathed, "I'm yours, body and soul."

Her words healed my cracked heart and my mouth began to tingle as my fangs grew.

I inhaled sharply as the urge started to take over. "Ask me again, Bella. Ask me…" I said, my voice cracking.

Her eyes registered my meaning instantly. She gripped my shirt collar tighter. "Edward, this is my home. You're always invited. I love you... and I trust you. Please, bite me," she whispered.

I moved in for one last kiss, tenderly caressing her lips. Her tongue flicked in my mouth, finding my fangs. She inhaled and held it once again. Finally, I made my way down her neck. "I'll love you forever, Bella," I whispered. "I'll be here with you through the whole thing. Just bear through it and follow my voice. You'll see me very soon." I managed one last kiss on the pulsing vein calling to me in her neck.

And then I bit down.

"Oh. My. God!" she cried out.

~#~#~

No.

THANK YOU, God.

In that instance, I said yet another prayer to Him, thankful that Bella made this choice. She was choosing to stay with me; she wasn't being turned to prevent her from imminent death, but because she wanted to exist with me. I know You're there and I thank You, once again, for her.

And I drank, savoring the taste of her sweet hot blood as it gushed down my throat and the feel of my fangs surrounded by her soft warm flesh one last time. Her hands slowly released my collar as her body became limp in my arms. She was still straddled on my lap as I moved forward, laying her gently on the floor, still clinging to her throat. I could feel her heart slowing as I drank.

With her heart barely beating, I moved quickly, biting my forearm and moving it to her mouth. "Bella, love, you can hear me. Listen to my voice and do as I say. Drink, Love. Come back to me. You're mine," I repeated slowly, matching my pace to her slow heart beat. The first few drops slid down her throat but her mouth didn't move. I kept my thoughts constant. Come back to me, Bella. You're mine. Hear me. Come back.

And then her mouth twitched. Her tongue darted out to taste the drops of blood on her lips, and then she began to drink. I pressed my forearm harder to her mouth, forcing the blood closer to her. She drank deeply, and as I saw her become more urgent, I knew it was time. I pulled away.

Her eyes were open but she was paralyzed as my blood took over her body, working its way through her veins, dancing with her blood in her system. I repositioned her so that her head was on my lap. Knowing that below her frozen exterior she was in severe pain, I held her hand and sang to her softly, hoping that she would hear me, hear the words from one of the songs she played for me on our first date:

Stay with me
My love, I hope you'll always be
Right here by my side
If ever I need you, oh my love...

I will follow you, will you follow me?
All the days and nights that we know will be
I will stay with you, will you stay with me?
Just one single tear in these passing years...

I could hear the thoughts of my family as they entered the surveillance room behind me. We're here, Edward. We're with you, Esme thought. I nodded as I continued to sing to my Bella, not wanting to break our connection... wanting her to hear me, to make sure that she knew I was waiting, to give her something to come back to...

Bella's heart suddenly began racing as my blood took over in its final act... and I held my breath and watched as the human girl I loved died in my arms.

A/N: To quote an old song by the The Byrds: "To everything - turn, turn, turn."

So a bunch of you wrote comments in the earlier break up chapters that you wanted to see Edward begging her on his knees. And since Bella mentioned it too, I put him on his knees alright and I tried to make him useful... (*insert Emmett's wiggly eyebrows here*)

Thanks for sticking with it. PLEASE leave some feedback…

Post A/N: swordphishtrombones has the live version of Follow You, Follow Me from the 2007 concert tour in Dusseldorf on YouTube as well. In case you want to hear it.

And yet another big epharisto to my FF bud MrsEdwardCullenP for her moral support on the small glass of lemonade I have in the chapter. Thanks Pen!