A/N: I own nothing. I noticed when I read over the last chapter that there was some point of view confusion on my part. That was my fault. Sorry about that. Ok, so here's chapter 12. By the way, italics indicate flashback snippets.
Chapter 12:Only One
Bella's POVThat night and the whole next day were spent in Alice's room with the other 6 female vampires bombarding me with questions along the lines of "How?" "When?" "Why?"
I giggled as I dropped down onto my bed. I was actually very surprised when Tanya and Rosalie cared more than the rest of them.
"Bella! I'm so happy for you!" Tanya squealed. I propped myself up on my elbows.
"Are you sure it's not going to be weird?" I asked. I didn't want her to feel uncomfortable.
She shook her head. "Absolutely not."
"So," Rose prompted.
I looked at her all innocent. "What?" We giggled.
"Do you love him?" she asked. I looked out of the window and sighed. I played with the string hanging off my useless pillow.
"I think I do. I mean I care about him. A lot." Esme smiled sweetly at my response. "You all know I have trust issues. I just need to spend more time with him and talk to him."
"I don't think they'll do much talking in their alone time," I heard Kate mutter to Irina and Alice. Everyone besides Esme and me started to giggle.
"Very funny, Kate. I think you two will be just perfect together," Esme said to me patting my knee. I smiled warmly in her direction. Esme stood up.
"Well, Carlisle and Eleazar went out for some 'male bonding'," Esme informed us. She turned to Kate, Irina, and Tanya. "Knowing how much you like shopping, would you three like to come with Carmen and me to shop for Rose and Emmett's party? Since it's Saturday, I think a good shopping trip is needed." All three were up and ready in a matter of 2 seconds. Alice, Rose, and I giggled. They left 5 minutes later, which left us three and our handsome men in the house. This was going to be interesting. A few minutes later Alice hopped up.
"Let's watch a movie!" She grabbed our hands and we looked at each other.
"Ugh," we groaned as Alice pulled us downstairs. The boys were watching Spongebob. Alice shut off the TV as Rose and I plopped onto our respective boyfriend's lap. Emmett was, of course, the first to complain.
"Alice! Come on!" he whined. Rosalie gave him a small slap on the shoulder.
"We are going to watch a movie. So hands up for..." She went through the DVDs and pulled out 3 movies. "Love, Actually." No one. "Ok, then." She tossed that one back on the shelf. "Transformers," she said. All of the boys' hands went up, Emmett putting both up. This smooth maneuver almost landed Rosalie on the floor. Alice rolled her eyes as Rose gave her husband a death glare. Alice squealed. "Oo! Titanic!" Alice, Rose, and myself put our hands up.
"Oo. A tie." Alice said.
"So what's the tiebreaker gonna be?" I asked. "Rock, paper, scissors? Arm wrestling?" I looked pointedly at Emmett. Everyone looked at each other and then back at me. "What?"
"Our tie-breakers are little more on the...adventurous side. " Edward informed me.
--
"Ugh! Fuck my life," I said. It was pitch black. It was raining and what was I doing? Searching for a godforsaken flag in the middle of a fucking forest. Yes. We were playing 'capture-the-flag' as a tie-breaker. Of course, Alice already knew who was going to win, but she refused to tell us. She said it would ruin the fun. Fun my ass. I tripped over yet another log.
"UGH!" I shouted as I fell over, not bothering to quickly and easily prevent myself from falling. I was tired of tripping over everything. I rolled over and laid on the ground. I closed my eyes.
"Rough day?" a voice said. I opened my eyes to a man standing over me. I jumped up into a crouch immediately.
"James," I said through my teeth. He smiled.
"Hello, Bella," he said all too politely. "Long time, no see." My nostrils flared. We circled each other.
"You need to leave," I said. He didn't move. "Now." He crouched down and was the first to pounce. Sadly for him, he didn't know how swift and strong I was. I sidestepped him and hit him the back of the head before he could react. I slammed right into a tree. The tree moaned as it cracked at the force. He got up and went for another try. This time I jumped up and pushed off of his head as I kicked him back. I landed lightly and gracefully on the ground as he slid to a stop a couple of yards away. He got up looking angry. He ran forward and I went for a roundhouse kick. He caught my foot and slammed me hard into the ground.
"Ah!" I screamed. Even for a vampire, that hurt. If I was a human, that would have killed me. I jumped up and pushed off of his head. I jumped up into the trees to plot my next move. I watched as he looked around the trees. He turned his back to me. Perfect chance. I quietly jumped down and ran so lightly my feet were off the ground. I landed a swift kick right on his back. Or so I thought. He was quick. Instead, I ended up on the ground with him on top of me. I snarled. He went to take a bite when he was suddenly thrown off of me. I took this chance to jump up and successfully roundhouse kicked his face.
"Is that it? Filthy nomad," I spat in his face before turning to my savior. It was, of course, my angel. Or my 'demon' angel as he preferred to call it. I smiled.
"Thank you," I purred and touched his cheek. He cupped my face and touched his lips lightly to mine. I heard a rustle of leaves and twigs. I turned to see James getting up from the ground. Edward pushed me behind him. I pushed his arm away. James chuckled.
"I see. Love. Ya know, I had that same feeling for Victoria. Do you know what it feels like to lose the one you love, Edward?" he said tauntingly. A growl erupted deep from within Edward's chest. I put a hand on his shoulder. He shook me off. I tried to hold him back. He ran over to James and threw him into a tree. James was quick though and bounced back. He grabbed Edward's neck and sunk his teeth into his flesh. My eyes widened as I gasped. I ran over and ripped James off of him. Edward tried to get at him. I grabbed his arm.
"Sorry," I muttered as I threw him back into a tree. I turned back to James and looked seriously and angrily into his blood red eyes. "Leave," I said through my teeth. He stood up straight and looked over my shoulder to Edward.
"You will know how it feels, Edward," he said and ran off. I turned and jogged over to Edward. I smiled nervously.
"Sorry, but no more fighting. At least, over me." I said. "Ok?" He nodded. "Are you okay?"
"I'll be fine." He picked me up and put me on his back. He ran back to the house showing off his speed. Jerk. We got back to the house to find Alice waiting impatiently while Rose waved a black flag teasingly around Emmett's head. Emmett sat there pouting. Jasper lingered by the door. Edward stopped and put me down. They all looked at us.
"What?" we asked in unison.
"We've been waiting here for like a half an hour. Rose found their flag and got back here almost 45 minutes ago," Alice said. Jasper looked at her, and she immediately calmed down. That boy really did come in handy sometimes. I giggled and grabbed the flag from Rose. Emmett looked thankful. I proceeded to wave the flag around Edward's head.
"So, who won the fight?" Alice asked nonchalantly. Jasper, Emmett, and Rosalie looked at us confused.
Edward sighed. "James attacked Bella while she was looking for the flag. I happened to be walking by and saw them. He ran off."
"Not before taking a piece of Edward though," I said. I pointed to his already healing neck. Alice looked apologetically at us.
"Sorry," she said, "I didn't know what was going on until it was too late."
"It's ok," I said and turned to Edward. "And now, onto Titanic," I said still waving the flag around his head. He ripped the flag out of my hand and threw it to the ground. He walked inside not saying a word. I laughed.
"Oh, come on, love," I said, "I was only joking." I put my hand on his shoulder and turned him around. I giggled, grabbed his head, and planted a big kiss on his lips. I made the kissing noise and everything. I smiled and pulled him into the living room. I settled onto his lap as Alice put the movie in. We got through some of the movie, Edward whispering Jack's lines in my ear as I did the same with Rose's lines, when I looked over and saw that Alice and Jasper were quietly making out in the corner and our dear Rose and Emmett decided to leave us. I giggled quietly and turned back to the movie. I snuggled closer to Edward. We got up to the part on the front of the boat.
"Do you trust me?" Edward whispered in my ear. I smiled as he held my hands. Alice and Jasper had left the room.
"I trust you." He lightly picked me up and stood up. He put me down so I was standing on his feet. He took my hands in his and pulled my arms out. I giggled at his corny gesture. I turned my head.
"No matter how corny this is, it's kind of romantic," I said as I turned my head back around. He put me down on the floor and spun me around to face him. He took my chin in his hands and pulled my face to his. My arms snaked around his neck and pulled him closer. His hands found my waist. We stayed like that for God knows how long. I suddenly felt that I couldn't get close enough to him. I guess he did, too. The kiss became more urgent. We fought for dominance as we backed into a wall. I broke the kiss and looked into his eyes. I moved his shirt aside and placed small kisses on his neck where James had bit him. He gently pulled my face back to his. I wrapped my legs around his waist. Before I knew it, we were in his room. We fell back onto the couch.
I turned to leave and he kissed me fiercely and pushed me onto the bed.
I pulled away. Edward looked at me.
"What is it?" he asked. I shook my head and continued to kiss him. I tangled my hands in his hair. I felt a little tug at the hem of my shirt. Edward's hand went up my shirt and rested on my waist. He went for my pants slowly with his other hand.
"Get off of me!" I screamed. His hands were all over my body. "Someone help!"
One hand held mine above my head and the other undid my pants. They were around my ankles in two seconds.
I pushed him off of me and flew into the corner. "Stop it!" I put my hands over my ears. I looked up at him. His eyes were wide with worry. He was next to me in a flash.
"Bella? Bella, talk to me. What's wrong? Did I hurt you?" His voice was trembling. I looked into his golden eyes. I was immediately overcome with a wave of comfort when I looked into his eyes.
"I remembered. When you put your hand up my shirt, I went back to that night." He understood immediately. He pulled me into his chest and cradled me. I clung onto him for dear life. We just sat there for the rest of the night talking about our lives. He knew most of mine already. I knew barely anything about him. I now knew that his parents' names were Edward and Elizabeth Masen. He was born Edward Anthony Masen.
"Aw. That's a cute name," I said chuckling. He pinched my side. I twitched/jumped in his lap. I playfully slapped his arm. "Don't do that." We continued to talk. He was from Chicago and had green eyes. I had always loved green eyes. He told me about how he was changed and what his life was like before Emmett, Rosalie, Jasper, and Alice found them.
I giggled. "You must have been bored out of your mind." Emmett, Jasper, and Edward were more than brothers. They were best friends. They were the only guy friends each other had.
"Yeah. But Carlisle took Esme and me to visit the Volturi a while back. So I found some new friends." I looked at him.
"Like who?"
He shrugged. "Demetri, Afton, and Felix were the only ones who really talked to us. Alec mostly kept to himself and hung around with Jane and Renata."
I nodded. "Jane enjoyed it when Aro pitted us against each other. We both knew she was mentally stronger than me, but when it came to plain old combat, I kicked her ass." I sighed. "I do miss them. I hope Teagan and Afton are behaving," I chuckled.
"Afton is actually dating someone?" He asked. I nodded.
"Ten bucks he has singes all over his room." He gave me a weird look.
"Teagan can create and manipulate fire. She has a tendency to throw fireballs at him when he gets annoying." I looked out the window. The sun was already in sky. I stood up.
"Well, it's Sunday. And I haven't fed in a while." I looked at him challengingly. We raced downstairs. Alice and Rose were in the kitchen with Esme, Carmen, Tanya, Kate, and Irina. Jasper and Emmett were in the living room playing a video game with Carlisle and Eleazar.
"I call Emmett!" I yelled.
"No! Not again!" Edward yelled. Emmett knew that line. He was at my side in 2 seconds apologizing to Jasper for abandoning him.
"So, what are the stakes this time my partner in crime," he asked leaning on my shoulder.
"Fastest and neatest kill," I said.
"Hey, Rosalie," Edward called into the kitchen. Emmett and I both whined. Rosalie was at his side at once.
"What's up?" she asked.
"Fastest and neatest kill," I said. Everyone knew Rose was the neatest kill because she didn't want to ruin her outfits. Emmett and I were determined to beat her.
She smirked. "Excellent." Alice and Jasper were going to be the judges this time. We set out for an appropriate spot. We came to a small group of deer about 5 miles away from Forks. Edward and Rose claimed this spot first. Emmett and I sat back and rolled our eyes at Rosalie's near perfect kill. Edward only took about a minute or two longer than her. They were done in less than 5 minutes. They came back over.
"Ok, ok, our turn," Emmett said. We went another 2 or 3 miles away and came to another group of deer. We picked our kill and were off. I was determined to beat Edward. Emmett and I climbed into the trees. I danced gracefully and quietly through the branches in order to get a good angle on my prey. Emmett stayed where he was. I flew out of the trees and landed on the doe's back. She had no time to react before I snapped her neck. She fell limp to the ground as I fed. I was done in about 2 minutes without a single bloodstain on my shirt. Emmett finished at almost the same time as me. We walked back to where the others were standing. Edward, Rosalie, Emmett, and I looked to Alice and Jasper for the winners. They discussed it and turned back to us.
"Now, we've talked it over and..." Alice started.
"It's a tie," Jasper finished Alice's sentence. I stared challengingly at Edward.
"Arm wrestling?" I suggested. Edward smirked. What he didn't know was that had beaten Emmett more than a few times at this. We walked over to a huge boulder and placed our elbows on it and clasped hands. Alice bounced over and held our grasped hands.
"Ready?" She looked at us both. We nodded. "Go!" She let go. Edward didn't even have time to react before his hand was flat on the boulder, and I was grinning. Emmett pumped his fist in the air.
"Woo!" he shouted. I giggled and looked up. I hadn't realized how late we had been out.
"We should get back before they send out a search party for us," I said.
"Race you back!" Edward shouted. We all started to sprint back to the house. Edward led the pack, but I was gaining on him. I finally caught up to him and let out an excited laugh when I passed him. I looked back and saw him grin evilly. In two long strides he was at my side and tackled me to the ground.
"Aah!" I screamed as we knocked into Emmett, who had Rosalie on his back. Rose flew off and took Jasper and Alice down with her. We all tumbled down the hill and landed in a big heap. We all laughed and attempted to untangle ourselves from each other. I got up and was brushing myself off when Edward pulled me back down. We laid next to each other and looked up at the stars. I rested my head on his shoulder as he traced little patterns on my arms.
I sighed contently. "This is perfect." For the first time, I let my guard completely down. For once, I felt safe and protected. I was in heaven. I was in the arms of my angel.
"This is blissfully perfect. By the way, I think you mean your demon angel," he chuckled. I looked at him confused. "What?" he asked, "You said that I'm your angel, and I corrected you."
"I never said that. I was thinking that," I said. He looked confused for a split second and then realized he had read my mind.
"I read your mind," he almost jumped up. I held him down and giggled. We snuggled closer. This night was perfect. Edward was perfect. We were perfect.
A/N: I'm really sorry about the slow update. Things have been kind of crazy. Thank you to all who have stuck out the extremely long wait.