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Chapter Twenty-Two

Mesmerize

EPOV

Hearing Bella decide to state her plan to fight the immortal sent many feelings through my system. I was proud of her to want to defend us, proud of her knowing that she would be able to defend, but I felt weariness and ill at the thought of this other immortal even trying to put a punch on Bella. I hadn't worried that any of us would be harmed. I saw Alice's vision and there wasn't any foresight into any of us being injured, but that could change the moment any fighting began. I was hoping that we would happen up on this immortal woman and would be able to talk to her. She had not been taught anything regarding what she had become. She could still be a newborn for all we knew, which would truly make it easier for us if she was. Newborns instincts during a fight were much different from that of the rest of us. I had remembered in thoughts and memories, her eyes were red. She obviously fed on humans. She might would be stronger as a result. The human blood in a newborns tissue, their own blood, made them stronger. None of us really knew if human blood made you physically stronger. I recalled my time when I was on rebellion and I believed that I had been stronger then, but I couldn't be for sure.

Carlisle called Sam when we reached our home to tell him of Alice's vision and to tell him of her thoughts that I had been privy to. Sam thanked Carlisle and asked if we would like the wolves to join us tomorrow. Carlisle declined telling Sam there was no need for them to be put in harm's way when there was eight of us and one of her. Sam agreed to up the patrol at the line. The line truly didn't exist anymore, as the wolves roamed our territory and we roamed ours, but for history's sake, when we were meaning business, our territory became our's, and there territory became their's. It was the best way to work it on situations like this. Monitoring both territories for either clan would be difficult to do. Bella and I called both Masen and Renesmee to fill them in on what events were about to take place. Knowing it would worry them had almost caused us to not make the phone call but as Esme had told us, they would be upset with us if we didn't.

We hadn't seen our son since we came to the Forks. He was hoping to be able to visit within the next month. If all would go well the next day, we agreed to let him come. We didn't want him to be here while the unknown immortal was running rampant. Masen had never been anywhere near a fight, and we were sure he would do fine, but we didn't want to involve our kids in the fight that could come about. Renesmee and Jacob were thrilled to hear from us, as Jacob and Sam had already discussed the happenings. They both wanted to board a plane and come to join us, but once again, we insisted that they stay put. We didn't want them to come anywhere near, especially since this immortal knew very little about what she was, and if Jacob came too close and she bit him, the venom would kill him and we knew Renesmee nor Emma could deal with that. Upon bringing that information to the forefront, Renesmee reluctantly agreed that they would stay put. She could be as stubborn as her mother and I felt awful using her love for Jake against her, but to protect my daughter and granddaughter, I would do anything. I had promised myself after I left Bella that I would not allow her to be harmed, and once we had our children, I had promised the same for them. I would protect them at all costs.

After Alice's vision in the clearing, I tried harder than ever to try and hear the thoughts of the unknown woman that had been existing in our forest. I had grown accustomed over the last nearly two centuries of not paying much attention and not really listening to the thoughts that I would hear almost constantly unless they were thoughts I needed to hear. It had once bothered me that I couldn't hear Bella, but I had begun to like the idea of not always hearing what all those around me thought. It often was more of a nuisance than a benefit. I had learned long ago to tune out the thoughts of my family and friends, and I only focused if I felt necessary for the situation at hand. I tried to even give privacy to those I hadn't met. It was always easier when I knew the person whose thoughts I was trying to avoid. It was even more difficult to try to attune myself to someone I hadn't actually met. I had spent the last few hours focusing all of my attention to that one unknown immortal that posed a threat to my family. I wonder what this is. There are people in the Cullen house. That house has been empty for a long time. When I heard the mention of my family's name, I couldn't help but listen then. I need to get out of here. I cant let anyone see me. They would come after me. The town might learn of me. The immortal was near. I walked onto the porch and scanned the forest. Nothing. I couldn't see anything or anyone in the darkness.

I heard Bella as she walked up beside me. She brought her hand on mine and was staring intently on my face, studying it. She lifted her shield. Edward, what are you listening to? Have you heard her thoughts?

My wife had gotten over the years to when she could identify when I was focusing on listening for particular thoughts. She never interrupted and she only asked when she could see in my face that I had heard what I was listening for. I nodded. "She was out here. Not looking for us, just perhaps, passed by, noticed that the Cullen house wasn't empty. She was a bit fearful that whoever was in the house would see her. She's afraid of the residents of Forks finding out about her. She wants to remain unseen."

Bella pondered the words I had just spoken to her. She let out a sigh. "Everybody in town knows it the Cullen house. That's all its ever been called for the last hundred and forty plus years…" her voice broke. She looked at me. I knew she was wanting me to finish her thoughts, but I wanted to hear her theories. Her theories in her human life about what I was had caused me to laugh at her. She had thought I was a superhero. My sly grin told her I was waiting. "I wonder if she knew us, back then. Maybe she lived in town. I don't know. Maybe she was a kid when we were here before. I don't know."

I shrugged. The immortal didn't have any thoughts that would give me any indication of who she was, before or after becoming an immortal. Her thoughts seemed almost like Alice's to me. Like she had forgotten all the things of her human life. Or maybe she was suppressing it so she could deal with being alone. I did not know. "Its un-telling, Bella. I don't get many of her thoughts. Just here and there. I know she isn't in the area anymore. If she was I would hear her, she would be thinking. Immortals think all the time. I hear them all the time. Except you." I gave her a wink. "And I love that."

Bella smiled and kiss my cheek, just along the jaw line. "I knew you do, love. You had wanted so bad when you met me, but I think its part of what makes you love me so. I give you something nobody else is capable of, silence."

I laughed at Bella's explanation. She was partly right. Not being able to hear her in the beginning had definitely made her more interesting to me. What made me love her was the person she was, the kind, selfless woman she would be forever with me. "Would you like to stay in the cottage tonight, or here in the house with the others?"

I couldn't read her mind, but I was almost certain she would say she would want to stay in the cottage. Bella and I always used our cottage to get away from everyone. To have our private time. We would go there when we wanted to just have a few moments alone together or just to read a book. Not that we had read that many books together. But it was our cottage where we began our life together after returning from Isle Esme, after the birth of our daughter, and after I had changed her. Bella had insisted that my venom be the one that turned her into an immortal. Her change had not been as she and I had planned it, but it had been my venom and she had been right. Something about using my venom to change my love into an immortal made our bond even more strong than ever. Bella smiled at me and she shockingly surprised me. "I would like for us to stay in the house with our family tonight, if you don't object." Bella brought her fingers to her lips as she did when she was unsure of what to say. "I think we should all be together tonight. Just in case she tries to sneak in to see who is at the Cullen house. She may think we are humans here…and she may try to come in here…I don't want to leave them, but I would much rather be in our cottage with just you."

My Bella. I should have known she would want to stay with our family tonight and she was right. If she had said yes and we went to our little cottage, she would have worried herself all night long with the happenings at the house. She would probably would have even stayed on the phone the entire time checking on them. She was right. Bella knew that we needed to stay here. My own selfish reasons for wanting to be alone with my wife would have to wait. "Of course, love. You are right. We all should be close together. I don't believe she will come here. She is hard to read. This immortal doesn't understand who or what she is, doesn't want people around, but yet, she is ready to fight. Of course, she was ready to fight and attack when she thought Rose was a human. I cant figure out what will come with her. Her thoughts are sporadic and they jump from one subject to another."

Bella glared into the darkness. "I really hope for her sake she doesn't try to fight any of my family. I know you hate hearing this, Edward, but I will fight her. I will not allow anyone to hurt anyone that I love. Every person in this house has a big role in my life, and you, Edward, you are my existence. I will not let anyone get hurt. Its been too many times that I had to be protected. I want to give back."

I listened to her words once again. She had reiterated her feelings about protecting all of us. "Bella, there will be no need for that. There are eight of us. All we need is for Emmett and Jasper to get their hands on her, and she wont move an inch. You know how strong they both are. Jasper feels that our confrontation with her tomorrow will not be much different than the Victoria's newborns. She hasn't been taught and doesn't understand her own instincts. She doesn't know that giving over to her instincts would be effective in her defense. I believe it wont come to you fighting her, love." I was hoping this. Maybe I could convince Bella so that she wouldn't try to initiate a fight with her. "Love, we will need you on the sidelines protecting us all with your shield in case she does have a gift."

Bella thought about my replay, but of course wasn't accepting of it. "Edward, if she is not very good with her own instincts, then I'm sure that if she has a gift, she wouldn't know what to do with it. Look how long it took me to get my ability to control my gift completely? It took a couple of decades and that was with me working with all of you that had been immortal for so much longer. I had your help, Carlisle's, Kate's, I had all of my family. She has nothing, nobody as far as we can tell, so she wouldn't know about gifts. That's what I think, Edward."

Bella made a good point. I shook my head in agreement with her, that she was right about her assumptions. I could never pull the wool over Bella's eyes. She had and always would be way too smart for that. I took my Bella's hand and led her back inside. I wanted to inform the rest of our family of what I had heard and then perhaps get a few moments alone with her before it was time to leave for the clearing. They were all interested in the information I had been able to pull out of her head. Jasper found the information useful, she feared others. He believed that would perhaps keep her from attacking any of us before we talked. Our instincts alone would allow her to know how to go about trying to kill one of us, but since she hadn't been trained or taught, we would have the upper hand. Eight against one. The numbers said it all. I didn't want a repeat of Victoria. I didn't want her to get away, which would leave us looking over our shoulders until she showed her face again. Her face. That was the one thing I hated. None of us had gotten a good enough look at her face.

Jasper, Carlisle, and I sat down in the dining room and drew out the plan of what and where and how we should be when the immortal would show. If she saw all of us, she might turn back. Jasper had thought of all possibilities and had come up with the best plan of action. Bella wouldn't like what his ideas were but I had decided we would wait until the next morning to cross the bridge. We didn't have many hours left. Alice had said just after daybreak and it was less than two hours from sunrise now. We all sauntered off to join our mates. I led Bella into our room and laid down on the bed, pulling her next to me. We didn't have much time left before we had to go to the clearing, and I wanted to spend it holding my wife. I brought her close and kissed her forehead. "I love you, Isabella Marie Swan Cullen."

Her smile lit up the darkness of our room. "As I love you, Edward Anthony Masen Cullen." She pulled herself closer to me, putting her head just under my chin. "Edward?"

I had been lost in the time we had spent in the meadow. I mumbled and moaned slightly. "Yes, dear?" I answered her question with my own question. "What is it, love?"

Bella lifted her shield and allowed me in her thoughts. I listened to what she was thinking and I was mesmerized. My Bella, when she allowed these glimpses, they had always took me aback. Tonight was no different. We had our quiet conversation and all I could do was say, "Yes, love. For you. For us. I love you, Bella."