Chapter 7
Bella POV:
I spent about two days dawdling on, on the same route. Staying out of the sun, and staying away from civilization. I was somewhat relieved when I reached Washington; the little sign that said "Welcome to Washington!" was somehow reassuring to me. It made me feel like James would never follow me here.
I quickly reminded myself of what Jacob had told me to do, and kept running West to the coastline. When I got there it was dark out so I let myself wander into town to get directions to Forks; I was approaching Forks within an hour.
I kept on running in the forest until I found a clearing in the forest. It was absolutely stunning, and there were no human scents around it. I breathed for the first time since I had asked the man for directions, and it felt so good. There were no driving scents to pull me away from my spot, and I finally felt free of all of everything that had been weighing me down for the past few days. I didn't even care if I found the other vampires who inhabited this area or not; I could just stay here for a while and figure things out from there.
I sat there for what seemed like about three hours and contemplated what I was going to do. I decided on finding a house that I could stay in, and try attending school to finish it and maybe even get a degree in college so I could get a real job somewhere and just move around like that. James had surely given up and moved on to find some other girl he had found in the alleyway; no way would he travel this far and go to all of this trouble for me. I was so not worth it.
I kept thinking of how I was going to get money to buy my house when a rotten smell came to my nose. Not again, I thought. There couldn't be werewolves here too! I jumped up quickly, ready to run again when I sensed movement in the distance.
"I know you're there, might as well come out. I mean no harm." I said cautiously.
"Are you a new member of the Cullen's?" A voice in the distance asked harshly.
"And if I'm not?" I asked.
"Then you are trespassing our territory." A different voice said.
"I'm a friend of theirs, just visiting." I quickly lied.
"What are you doing all the way out here then?" The first voice spoke again this time.
"Just getting some air. I actually don't exactly know where the Cullen's live since I haven't visited with them since they were living elsewhere, and I wanted a little break before I tracked down their scent." I said with a smile, coming up with lies as I went. I prayed that they would believe me.
"Oh, of course madam. We'll just leave you be then. How long do you expect you will be staying?" A new voice said willingly. The change in tone was drastic, and I was confused why they had eased up so easily.
"I am not sure yet, whenever it is best that I should leave. The decision will be theirs." I said, still confused.
"Would you like us to lead you to their estate?"
"No, I will manage on my own." I heard more motion in the bushes and after a couple of minutes, the rotten smell weakened in strength. What had happened? At first I could tell they had animosity and disbelief towards me and then when I wished that they would believe me, they did. I shook my head and ran slowly into town, still somewhat dazed. I slowed to a walk once I reached an old road leading into town. I stopped when an interesting smell came across my nose; one that reminded me of James. I turned down the road that it was coming from, and broke into a run. I came across a mansion a couple seconds later that was absolutely beautiful. I had never seen anything like it before.
The scent was strongest here, and seemed to split in seven different ways. I stood in the driveway, afraid to go up to the door when another vampire came from the side.
"Who are you?" She spat out rudely. She had golden eyes with long blonde hair; easily one of the prettiest girls in the world. What puzzled me the most was her eyes, she smelled like James so I guessed she was a vampire too, but didn't all vampires have red eyes? I stood there in puzzlement as six more of them appeared, all with golden eyes. I took a step back trying to take them all in, all beautiful, just like James had been.
Though, the one with bronze hair stood out the most to me. He just stared at me with frustration and confusion in his eyes.
"What does she want, Edward?" The one that looked like the leader asked the bronze haired one.
"I don't know." He said with even more confusion.
"How do you not know!" The blond said again with bitterness in her voice. The biggest one (muscle-wise) walked up behind her and gripped her shoulders to calm her.
"I don't mean any harm." I finally said, breaking out of my confusion."
"How did I not see this?" The smallest one with pixie-like black hair whispered.
"Look, if you want me to go, I'll leave and try to find someone else. I think he said the Denali's were like you too." I said, mumbling the last part to myself.
"Like us?" The leader asked.
"Animal eaters. I want to learn that lifestyle." I replied.
"Carlisle, she's a new born; I can sense it." A blond male said to the leader who also had blond hair.
"Come on inside so we can discuss all of this in a better surrounding than this." A woman with reddish-brown hair who was holding Carlisle's hand. They all walked inside the house except the bronze haired one, he waited for me to go inside before following. Carlisle motioned for me to sit in a vacant armchair in a circle of couches. I saw everyone else had taken a seat, the bronze haired one was the only one without a mate.
"Ok, I'll start out with us." Carlisle began, "My name is Carlisle, and this is my
wife Esme." He pointed to the pixie-like girl and the blond man sitting on a love seat. "That is Alice and Jasper, that is Rosalie and Emmett," he pointed to the blond and the dark haired one, "and that is Edward." He finished pointing to the bronze haired one. "Now what would your name be?"
"M-my Name is B-Bella." I said, my voice cracking.
"Ok, Bella, what brings you here?"
"Do want to hear the whole story or just the summarized version?" I asked.
"We have time, give us the long version." So I did. I told them everything from my leg injury to the night in the alleyway to almost killing myself when I killed my first human. Then how I ran away from James and met up with a werewolf who used to be my best friend who told me to come to them.
"Oh my god." Alice whispered.
"I've already gone through enough, so if you don't want me here or if you're planning on turning me in please just tell me. I will leave you alone, I swear." I said.
"Oh, honey, we would never want that for you. You've already gone through so much and you've only been a vampire for a few days." Esme said softly. She came over and gripped my shoulders, squeezing slightly.
"You're welcome to stay with us, we've had encounters with James before. He's tried to get us to join him for years." Carlisle said. It seemed as if the other people in the room besides Carlisle and Esme weren't even involved in the decision because they all just sat there in silence.
"Well, I don't mean to intrude or anything. I just have a few questions before I move on." I said.
"You're not intruding. I want you here." Alice said, walking over to stand next to Esme. Emmett and Carlisle walked over after that, then Edward and then Rosalie walked over to, me slowly and offered me her hand.
"Forgive me for my rudeness." I nodded and shook her hand. As soon as my hand touched hers I saw a girl on the floor with 4 men surrounding her. The girl was saying no over and over again, but the men persisted. Her long flowing dress was ripped all over, and she was sobbing. The men finally left her alone and she laid on the street waiting to die when a man ran over and picked her up and ran away with her. I ripped my hand away, and suddenly became faint.
"What just happened?" Rosalie asked. I hadn't realized I was standing until I started falling, never hitting the ground. I blinked my eyes and looked up to see that Edward had caught me. He set me down gently and backed away a couple steps.
I turned to Rosalie before speaking. "Did you see that whole thing?" She nodded, and I blinked a couple times before speaking again. "T-the girl, was that…was that …you?" She nodded again. "Was that how you became a vampire? Those men? T-they t-turned you?"
"No, Carlisle was that man who carried me away. He turned me, I would have died if he hadn't." She said, obviously as shaky as me.
"Bella, has this happened to you before?" Carlisle asked me. I shook my head and he walked in front of me and reached his hand out. I shook my head and turned away.
"I don't want it to happen again." I said.
"Bella, I'm very sorry about this but we have to try it out to see if it happens when you touch everyone's hand." I turned around slowly and reached my hand out, he grabbed it and I was sucked into another vision. There was a group of people, a mob with pitch forks and fire torches, walking down a street. One of the men turned around to look behind them, and I saw Carlisle's face.
"Mrs. Dubose claimed they came out of this hole last night." a man said. I figured he was the leader of the mob. Carlisle made his way up to the front of the mob before they reached the sewer hole. Two men slowly lifted a tarp covering the hole and I saw three vampires come out.
"Attack!" one of the men screamed. Carlisle dug a stake into one of the vampires, and in return got bitten in the neck. He fell to the ground in agony as all the men kept on poking and torching the vampires coming out of the hole. Carlisle crawled across the street to the other side of the road and hid himself in a pile of potatoes.
Once this vision was over, I was able to rip my hand from his grasp and stumble backwards into a set of arms again. I recognized the scent from the last time he caught me.
"So that's…how you became…a…vampire." I said slowly, out of breath. He nodded and I looked up to Edward. "You can set me on the ground now, thank you." He did as I asked, and I pinched the bridge of my nose to calm myself.
"Carlisle, is that her power?" Alice asked him.
"If it is, then it is a very interesting power, I've never seen anything like it. It doesn't happen with just a touch, it has to be hand to hand." He said, looking at his hand curiously.
"Rosalie, come here." I said, reaching out my hand. She grabbed it hesitantly, but nothing happened this time.
"Did anything happen?" Edward asked, and I shook my head no.
"So it only happens the first time I touch somebody's hand with my own. Carlisle…" I reached my hand out to touch his, but I got the same result as I had with Rosalie. I stood up, suddenly thinking of and idea. I walked over to Rosalie and put my hand on her forehead.
Wow, this is so weird. I wonder if she would be able to see how Alice got changed since she doesn't remember herself. Wait, what is she doing now? Why would putting her finger to my forehead do anything? I dropped my finger and gasped.
"Oh my god. I think I just heard your thoughts." I said.
"Oh my. So you have a little bit of Alice's power and a little bit of Edward's power. How could that be?" Esme said in her soft little voice.
"I need to go for a run, to clear my thoughts a little. I'll be back, I promise." They all nodded and I took off out the door. I ran until I found the meadow I had been in before I went to the Cullen's house. I sat in the middle of it, soaking in the sun high in the sky. I tried to relax my brain which had run into overdrive in the past half hour.
So, I could make people do what I wanted, I could read people's minds, and I could see how they were transformed. This was all just too much to take in within the last ten minutes. I just needed to relax for a couple minutes.
I let my head fall backwards and hit the soft grass so that I was laying down with my legs still criss-crossed. I laid like that for a while before I heard movement just outside of the clearing. I hadn't realized I had stopped breathing, but when I inhaled, I smelt his scent.
"Did you come to make sure I wasn't going to run off?" I asked with my eyes still closed.
"No, my family thinks that I am going on a quick hunt until you come back."
"Did Carlisle change you too?"
"Why don't you see for yourself." I sat up at this, intrigued.
"Crabby much?" I said sarcastically, smiling. I stood up and walked over to him. I wanted to know what he was thinking about first so I reached my hand up to his forehead. He grabbed my wrist before I could touch him though.
"I don't think that that is my hand."
"Well maybe I want to do things out of order since you probably already know what I'm thinking right now."
"How do you know I'm not the one who has visions?" He asked.
"I'm very observant. When I first met your family, Alice claimed that she hadn't seen me coming. That kind of gives away the other power if I have it too."
"Well I can't read your mind. It's different, like there is a big shield around it blocking me out."
"Well maybe I can't read yours either." I said grinning.
"Don't you want to know how I was changed?"
"Why? Is there something you have to hide?"
"No."
"Then why are you being so stubborn?"
"Fine." I smiled again and reached my hand towards his forehead. Once my finger made contact with his skin, a shock went through my body and it sent me flying into a tree on the other side of the clearing. My neck had snapped to the side and a shard of pain traveled throughout my body. Edward was at my side in seconds.
"I guess I can't read your mind, Edward." I said shakily.
"What the heck just happened?" He asked, panic in his voice.
"When I touched your skin, a shock went through my body and then I was flying into a tree, and can you snap my neck back into place because it really hurts." He did as I asked, and the pain slowly died away. Without thinking, I stuck out my hand and he took it to help me up, and I was sucked into another vision. There was a boy on a hospital bed, looking very sick.
"Edward, your mother has just moved on." Carlisle said. Tears streamed down the boy's face, and I recognized his face to be Edward's.
"Carlisle, I appreciate your work, but just let me die and be with my mother. I can't take this anymore; I don't have anything left to live for." Edward said weakly. Carlisle nodded and walked away. He came back a few minutes later, rolling his bed away. Carlisle bent over and whispered into his ear.
"Edward, I need you to pretend you're dead for me when we pass any other doctors or nurses. Just trust me on what I'm about to do." Edward nodded and closed his eyes.
This time we both fell to the ground again.
"What did you have?" I asked him.
"The influenza. It's what killed my mother too."
"How long ago?"
"1918."
"Oh, wow." I shook my head trying to clear it again. "So you've been a vampire for almost 100 years?"
"Yes, and this is the first time that I can be within ear shot of someone, but be in silence."
"Because you can't read my mind?"
"Yes."
"So there's no way to just turn it off? You hear everyone's thoughts no matter what?"
"I can sometimes tune it out a little, but the hum of voices is still there." I pushed myself up to my feet and offered my hand. He took it and was soon standing not even a foot away.
"I want to try it one more time." I reached my hand up again, but he caught it.
"No, you've done enough for one day."
"I just want t try it one more time." He sighed and dropped his hand. I hesitantly reached my hand up for the 4th time today and prepared myself for some kind of shock, but there wasn't one this time.
A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P- why was he singing the ABC's? Maybe he was still trying to hide something. I pulled my hand away and put my hands on my hips and looked at him.
"Seriously? What are you trying to hide?" I said, frustrated.
"Nothing, why would you suspect me of hiding something?" He said with a crooked grin on his face that I just wanted to melt in. "Why are so curios as to whether or not I like you?" Wait, I didn't say that out loud. So how would he know if he couldn't read my mind?
"You're a liar!" I screamed and started to run away, but he grabbed my arm holding me back.
"How am I a liar?"
"Because you said you couldn't read my mind and I know for a fact that I didn't say that out loud."
"I guess you should pay attention to my thoughts longer instead of zoning out when you touch my forehead." He quickly ran away as I just stood there dumbfounded. So when I read his thoughts he could read mine? Crap, I hope he didn't get to the part where I thought he looked like an angel sent from the heavens. If I were still human, I'd blushing major right now.
A/N Hey sorry I haven't updated in like a month guys, I've been pretty busy, but this is a longer chapter compared to the other ones for this story. Please review and tell me what you thought!