Here
BPOV
I could sense them. My vision was unfocused, my body exhausted from so much use of my power, but I could still tell where every single one of them was. Alice was on my left, Rosalie on my right holding Danni, Jasper and Emmett standing behind their significant other. Carlisle and Esme were across from me. Edward was still lying where he had fallen, my body draped over him, my ears straining to hear what was missing.
But his heart stayed still. His lungs stayed empty. The world was still whole around me, but why did it feel like everything I knew had shattered? That everything had died with him?
The answer was simple. My mind stayed blank, but my heart knew the answer. As long as Edward was gone, so was I.
I never admitted it to him, but he had become my whole world. Whenever he hadn't been around, nothing felt right. He seemed to notice that for himself early on and tried his best to make sure he was always with me, but even little bathroom trips had caused me anxiety. I told myself it was stupid to be so obsessed with one person, but maybe some part of me knew this was going to happen. Maybe I had known, deep inside, that nothing would last the way it had been, so it tried to give me all the time I could possibly have with him.
Now it was gone, gone with him, and it was too late to do anything about it. The plan we had made, to change him so we could be together, it was too late. We waited too long. We missed our chance. It felt like every tear sliding down my face and onto his bloody chest was just another minute we had lost, the seemingly endless torrent the eternity that should have been ours.
I couldn't tell how long we were there, but eventually I stopped crying, a few stray tears clinging desperately to my lashes. None of the others had moved, but I could feel a new presence, a stranger standing on the outskirts of the clearing around the house. There was a feeling of sympathy and understanding coming from her, but only one word stuck in my broken mind.
Stranger…
I stood up abruptly, my hands tensed like claws and my teeth bared. A snarl ripped out of my throat and the strange woman looked at me pityingly. Someone put their hand lightly on my shoulder and I roughly shrugged them off, my gaze not leaving the woman's face. Small arms clutched my leg and I put my hand lightly on Danni's head as she hid her face in my thigh. I waved the others back, but Danni stayed next to me, moving so she was completely behind me.
Whoever this person was, she wasn't going to harm another member of my family.
Not again.
Never again.
EPOV
Death was…weird.
The clearing around the house faded as the angel wrapped her wings around me and everything turned white. There was no sound, no light, no darkness, no feeling. Everything was just there. Just a sense of being. Nothing else.
I could feel someone else near me, but I didn't look for them. There was no panic, no worry, no fear…but there was something. I couldn't put my finger on it, but it was there. Every time I tried to put a name to it, it changed. The closest thing I could get to was complete happiness, but even that didn't really fit.
"Try peace," someone said behind me. I turned to see the angel that had brought me here. She looked amazingly similar to Bella, but her eyes were sky blue. Her hair was the same brown, but she had light streaks in it. It was also the same length. I smiled when I saw her, and she returned it, stepping forward until she was next to me.
"I was told to answer your questions," she said. I was about to tell her I didn't have any when the first popped into my head. I looked at her hesitantly and she nodded reassuringly.
"What…Who are you?" I whispered, not used to the disturbed silence. She smiled again, reminding me of Bella every time.
"I am one of the people the son of Satan killed through the years. The angels of death took pity on me for what happened and allowed me to stay here instead of continuing on to my final resting place. They felt my desire to help others pass more peacefully than I did, so they made me an Angel of Death." She didn't look away the whole time she explained, so she immediately saw my confusion.
"Then…are you a Reaper?" I asked. She smiled, expecting this question but shook her head.
"No, I'm not. Both Reapers and Angels are servants of Death, but there is a difference. Angels are chosen after the spirit dies and before it moves on, like I was. Reapers are those who are changed by a Reaper before they die. Like Bella." I flinched at the mention of her name, and the woman continued on.
"Reapers tend to help those who are going into Hell, since they have tangible bodies on Earth. Those going to Hell know it when they die, and they fight the whole way. Unexpected deaths, like murders and suicides, are also taken care of by the Reapers. Angels mostly help the souls of the people who have reached the end of their lives. Whether they are going to Heaven or Hell, or even their next life if that is their religion, we take care of them. There are times when the roles change, like with you, but it is mostly whoever gets there first. You are a special case, so I was told to bring you here." She looked at me and smiled.
"There are also Reapers who are brought to Heaven and changed into Angels, but that doesn't happen often. The Reapers can sometimes be ruthless with their work, and some souls who are changed into them are not fit to do their kind of work. That is when they are examined by the higher Angels with the possibility of becoming one or moving on into heaven itself." She looked above my head, like she was thinking about something.
"You know, now that I'm explaining all of this, it seems like…I don't know, like we have too many rules. Everything seems too complicated." I nodded once, still trying to sort through all of the information she was giving me. She shook her head. "Don't worry about all of this. I'll just get to the part that concerns you."
"Lucas's age is going to be a slight problem. He has been able to learn from his mistakes, which have not been many, and been able to improve his powers. He was born before 0 B.C., but only Satan himself knows when he was actually born. Only he knows the exact year when he decided to kidnap, rape, and kill a young woman with a demon birth," she finished, the first sign of anger I'd heard coming into her voice. She shook her head and continued as if it hadn't happened.
"Many of the Reapers went rogue with Lucas once he took the title of the Grim Reaper. He killed the last, which made him inherit his powers. He killed any Reaper who went against him and absorbed their powers as well, which is how he got to be so strong. The one to kill him will have all of the powers he has, plus their own." She paused and took a breath before continuing.
"But he took it farther than that. He started killing innocent people and trapping their souls inside his own so he could tap them whenever he wanted to use his powers. It saved him from having to use his own. He didn't take my husband or me. He was too set on his next target." She paused and waved her hand in the air in front of us. The white mist that made up wherever we were pulled together and started opening up in the middle. Bella's face slowly appeared among the whiteness, but there were no tearstains on her face. She was smiling.
"She was beautiful even before she changed. It only made her more so," she said, turning to me afterwards. "You make her happier than I have ever seen her, Edward, and I don't want my baby to lose that." My eyes widened and she laughed, the sound like soft bells.
"That's right. I'm Bella's mother. And I'm here to tell you that things don't have to be over just yet. All of us have talked about it and we've decided. You haven't been dead long and you are the soul mate of a Reaper, who can change you so that you live again." I stared at her, remembering Bella's face right before I left, the desperation and sadness there that almost broke my soul, since it was too late for my heart already. Bella's mother smiled when she saw my face.
"I can see your answer already. But I must warn you. Death can change someone. I cannot predict the effects it may have on whatever powers you get when you change, but you will be a Reaper." I nodded, not caring about any of that. The only thing in my mind now was Bella's face, the smiling face I wished to see with my own eyes and the crying one I left behind.
"What's your name?" I asked, feeling like a child.
"Renee," she said. "Renee Swan."
"Swan," I repeated, almost forgetting at how fitting the name was to Bella. Renee put her hand on my shoulder, bringing my attention to the window-like opening before us. I held my breath as I watched the images, always looking for Bella's face among those that were there. I didn't even notice when Renee walked away.
BPOV
"Things don't have to be over just yet," the Reaper said, staying right where she was. I didn't move any closer, but I also didn't stop growling. I could still feel the dried tear marks on my face, but I didn't wipe them away. Nor did I bother to wipe away the fresh ones her words brought.
"It is over!" I growled harshly. "Edward is dead. I can't save him from that." I felt my grip on my power slowly vanishing with my despair. Danni made a frightened whine and I tried to pull myself together enough to keep myself under control.
"And what if I told you that you were wrong? That there was still a chance to save him?" she said softly, seeming to feel my hold weakening again. I pushed Danni towards where I sensed the others standing and she ran to them understanding that something was happening to me.
"I would tell you that you are signing your death notice," I snarled, my lips curling up in my fury. She had no right to speak Edward's name, or to talk about the fate of his soul. I knew where he was, I knew as soon as the angel came to take him.
"Tell me what you want, or get out of here now," I said, my voice vibrating with the effort to keep from letting my powers run free. There was also an underlying authority to it, even though I didn't even know who this person was. She smiled sadly and I held myself back with everything I had to keep from attacking her.
"I am here because you defeated our Grim Reaper. He is not dead, but he has been defeated. Because of that, you are now the Grim Reaper. You won't get his powers until he is dead, but you beat him. The first defeat marks an unfit ruler among our kind, and I have a feeling it is going to take a lot to defeat you," she said, not pausing until the end. My anger rose at her last comment, my body taking it as a threat. I felt the strands of my power lash out, but there wasn't enough to reach her. Fear and confusion flashed across her face, followed by understanding.
"I am not here to challenge you," she said hurriedly, holding her hands up in a defensive stance. "I was only saying that I think you will hold the title for a longer time than the others. They let themselves get weak. All except for Lucas, that is, and you still defeated him." She looked at me curiously then, like she was trying to figure out why.
"He was my sire," I whispered, trying to control my continuously rising anger.
I didn't even know why I was still so angry. She told me why she was here and she wasn't making a move against me, but I was still angry. It almost felt like something was taking over, making me want to kill everything and everyone around me. I couldn't stop growling at her, even as she stood there so surprised at what I had just said. I grabbed my head as pain joined the anger and fell to my knees. It felt like something was trying to get into my head.
"Bella, are you alright?" Carlisle asked, coming up behind me cautiously. His question seemed to alert her to my condition.
"It's him," the woman said. "You have to fight him. He is going to use everything he has to make you pay, but you can't let him." All of the anger quickly turned to pain and I cried out, my hands holding my head.
You are a dead woman, Bella…Lucas's voice echoed in my mind. You may have taken my title, but you do not have my powers…And I am going to use them to kill you…You and the rest of that misfit vampire family…
"No," I ground out, trying to keep back my screams of agony. "No, you won't. I won't let you." He laughed in my head, the sound echoing and becoming louder and louder.
I will kill them one by one…so each couple can see their other half die right before their eyes…It will be slow and painful, Bella…I will make sure of that…
"No!" I yelled, putting my hands over my ears. "Get out of my head!" He laughed again and I sensed someone kneel in front of me. She put her hands on my shoulders and leaned towards me.
"Push him, Isabella Swan. Find him and push him out. You must, before he gets too strong," she said quickly. There was a rush of steps coming in my direction and Danni's small hands gripped my arm near my wrist. I hadn't even noticed when I curled up into a ball, but Danni wrapped her little arms around me and pressed her face into my hair.
"Come on, Bewa. You can do it. Don't let him hurt you like he hurt Edward. You can beat him again," she said softly, like she was the older one.
Stupid little brat… His voice roared so loud that everyone could actually hear it. I should have killed you when I had the chance…
I felt a chill in my side as he reached out from inside me and Danni gasped. She stumbled back from me and gasped. I trembled as the pain in my head and his power overwhelmed me and started blacking out when Danni screamed in absolute terror and pain.
That was all it took to wake me up again.
"No, NO, NO!" I screamed at the top of my lungs, following the flow of his power and ripping him out of me as I did so. I saw him go flying a few yards in front of me, but I whipped around to Danni.
She was just starting to fall forward and I shot over and caught her before she hit the ground. Her eyes were half closed and she was breathing quickly, but she wasn't hurt. I switched my vision and saw that he had only managed to grab her before I threw him, but her soul was bunched up where he had gotten her. I put my hand over the spot, right in the middle of her chest, and let my power flow into her. It gently coaxed the bunched spot apart until it was smoothed out again and she blinked, looking up at me.
"Mommy?" she whispered, her voice on the verge of breaking. I smiled but shook my head. Her brows knitted together in confusion and she blinked again. Her confusion disappeared as she recognized me and she looked around. "But I saw my mom. Where she go?" she asked, her words slurring as she tried to get her bearings again. I didn't answer her, instead looking to where I had thrown Lucas.
He was standing, his hands braced like claws in his anger. I felt my eyes widen as his turned red, his body constantly changing between that of a human and his true form. He never went completely to one form after he left his human one so I only got glimpses of the demon he really was.
His whole body was red, including the huge, curling horns erupting from his forehead. He was dressed in an all black robe that fell to his ankles and he was barefoot. His body was all muscle and he stood around six to six and a half feet tall. He had a haze of power outlining him that constantly moved.
I stood up slowly, set Danni on her feet, and turned to Lucas. He smirked at me and showed his teeth, all of them pointed and knife-sharp. His fingers twitched and his nails grew out, making his hands look like talons. I watched them until they stopped and looked up narrowing my eyes at Lucas.
I crouched until I was in attack position, with my strong side back, and never took my gaze from his. I let my own power seep out around me and felt my own nails elongating. But still I didn't look away. I could feel the apprehension and fear of the others, but Lucas lunged at me before I could do much more than that.
The battle was on.
EPOV
I saw Lucas lunge at Bella and almost dove into the window to get to her. I watched as the battle began, Bella's smaller size as much a defense as it was a weakness. She darted around him almost faster than he could follow, landing hits but doing practically nothing to him. He hit her once and she went flying into the trees, only to come back out again and stand between him and the Cullens, who were circled around Danni. I could see the pain on Bella's face and the flowering of blood through her shirt at her shoulder. She was still using her arm, so I guessed it wasn't too bad.
I looked away for only a moment to look for Renee, but she was nowhere to be found. I looked back just as Lucas slashed Bella from her hip to her shoulder across her chest and felt a hand rest on my own shoulder as my heart twisted at the sight.
"They won't let you go. Not right now. Not while this is happening. He'll just kill you all over again," Renee said sadly, her own fear for Bella coming through her voice.
"What? I have to help her!" I said, whipping around to face her. A tear trailed down her face as she watched the fight behind me.
"They won't give permission for you to go. Not with this fight going on right next to your body. They'll let you go back once this is done." Her gaze never wavered from the window. I turned back just in time to see Bella land another blow, just to be thrown back into a tree. It snapped from the impact and fell over her, the snapped end catching on the rest of the tree so it didn't crush her. She crawled out from under it and stood, swaying on her feet.
"I'm not just going to stand here and watch her die. By the time this is over, there won't be anything left to go to. He'll kill them all and it won't be worth going back." I stared at the scene before me and curled my hands into fists.
"She has to weaken him. She can't win until she weakens him," Renee kept repeating. I glanced between her tearstained face and the window, noticing the soft fall of rain starting as I watched. I thought frantically about everything she told me, about everything that could tell me what Bella could do. Things slowly matched together and my eyes widened.
"I know what to do…" I said slowly. "I know what she has to do…" I reached out towards the window, but Renee grabbed my hand.
"You can't go…They won't let you go…" Renee said, tears falling faster and faster as she continued watching. The rain through the window increased with her tears.
"I have to. I have to tell her. Have to help her." I lunged for the window before she could grab me again and fell through.
I was going back.
BPOV
He was strong. He was stronger than I expected, and I was losing badly. I was slashed all over, and he barely had a scratch on him. All his muscle made him slow, but when he hit, he hit hard. There was something wrong with my shoulder, and I cursed the fact that I could be injured like a human, even though I couldn't die from the injuries.
I was getting up from being thrown again, my body feeling like one big pain instead of little separate ones. My vision was blacking out, but I concentrated my power so that I was looking at souls instead of people. That didn't take my eyes, and it lessened some of the pain in my head. I heard quiet sobbing as Lucas stepped towards me and turned to see Danni crying against Esme's legs.
"Get Danni out of here," I whispered, looking only at her. Her eyes widened and she shook her head frantically. I smiled sadly as her eyes took in my wounds and moved back to my face.
"You need to get out of here before you get hurt." She shook her head again and started running towards me just as Lucas grabbed my soul. I threw my head back and my cry of pain died in my throat. Danni screamed as Lucas brought us into the soul world again, making what he had done visible.
I looked down to see a large gapping whole in the center of my soul, the edges ragged and gently flowing in an invisible breeze. I slowly looked behind me to see Lucas standing there with his soul standing behind him again, the missing part of my own in its hand. His soul reached up and placed it in its mouth, like it was relishing a meal.
I put my hand over the spot and Danni cried out, falling to her knees where she had stopped. I turned back to her, tears falling down my face along with the rain. I could feel myself weaker than I had been before he had taken part of my soul, and the rest of it despaired. My very being knew there was no way I could beat him. Not even when I had been stronger.
I felt a second hand fall over mine and looked down. A shimmering white, misty hand. I immediately felt my power come back to me and breathed in deeply. When I exhaled, I turned my face to see the one I never thought I would again.
Edward brushed a finger across my lips with his thumb for just a second before he looked at Lucas, a death glare on his beautiful face. He had a glowing aura around him that made him shimmer. Lucas looked surprised for a moment and then laughed.
"Didn't they teach you how to stay dead? Apparently you can't do anything right, Cullen," he sneered. Edward didn't respond to him, but turned when Danni yelled.
"Edward!" She came running over, Rosalie still crouched where she had been next to Danni. All of them were staring at him in shock. He just smiled as she tried to wrap her arms around him. They went straight through. I looked up at him, confused, and he laughed, my heart jumping at the sound.
"I haven't figured out how to make my whole body tangible just yet, but it doesn't seem like it should be all that hard," he said, picking up a shocked Danni with his other arm. She started to fall through his hip, but he fixed it. She laid her head on his shoulder and draped her arm around his neck, letting the other dangle at her side. My heart tightened as I looked at her. She shouldn't have been brought into this at all, but it was too late to do anything now. Lucas's laugh brought me out of my thoughts.
"Do you think just because you came back that she will win?" He laughed again and I looked at Edward, my hopes falling once more.
You can still win this, Bella, he thought to me. All you have to do is weaken him.
How? I asked, thinking the words without even knowing if it worked both ways. Edward looked down at me and smiled before looking up at Lucas.
He has the souls of the people and Reapers he's killed in his soul. We have to get them out. He made it sound so simple, but I didn't know how we were going to manage it.
His soul was already ripped during your last fight. He's hiding the wounds. I nodded once.
So how do we do that?
No clue, he answered. I smiled. He sounded just like he did before. He whispered something to Danni and she nodded, a trace of sadness in her eyes as Edward set her down. She ran back to the others and he turned to me.
I have an idea, he said, not explaining anything. He faded into me and there was a rush as he filled the hole that Lucas had left in me. His soul molded to mine and I felt my power increase greatly. The pain from my wounds decreased to a tolerable level and I sighed in relief.
You have to keep fighting him. I'll get the souls when you touch him. He won't know what's going on, since I made it look like I faded away. I took a lot of your pain away, but the wounds are still there. Remember that. I let my head fall to my chest and left my hand over my soul's wound so Lucas wound think Edward was gone.
Okay, are you ready? I asked him. I felt him smile.
Ready when you are, love.
I kept my head down until I could keep the smile off my face and then looked at Lucas, drawing on the sorrow I had felt when he killed Edward to hide our plan. I tensed my hands into claws and screwed my face up in anger. I had to leave one hand over my stomach, but I bared my teeth at him. Lucas just smirked and we attacked, my first blow a swipe across Lucas's face. I felt Edward reach out through my hand and the slight resistance as he grabbed a soul
Edward freed another soul every time I so much as touched Lucas, and his anger showed. I got thrown into a tree a few more times, but Edward kept the pain at bay until the last was removed. Lucas was hunched over and gasping, holding the center of his demon chest. Sometime during the fight he lost his human guise and he was all demon now. I dug my nails and toes into the ground and slid to a stop after the last throw. I stood up slowly and Lucas glared at me, his confusion making him even angrier.
"What did you do to me?" he screamed. I said nothing. I just watched as a circle of souls surrounded Edward and I, all of them staring right at Lucas.
Fear flashed across his face as he took in the sight of those he had killed for his own gain. Edward materialized next to me, not hiding the fact that he had been fighting him from inside me, and kept his hand over my wound. Lucas snarled at him, but Edward didn't react. He just paid attention to the two figures that walked towards him and stood just behind us one on each side. Edward's mother placed her hand on his shoulder, smiling at me softly, and Edward's father had his hand on the other. Edward's reaction was the only hint I had to who they were, his tears telling me I was right.
All of the other souls moved in closer to us, making one big group. They all took each other's hands in one long chain, the ends being Edward's parents and then him. I immediately felt it when all of them started concentrating their powers to me, my body sizzling and pulsing with it. Edward placed his free hand in mine and rested his chin on my shoulder. His happiness seeped into me with the energy from the souls, making me smile.
I took my hand away from my stomach, leaving Edward's there to keep the power inside me, and reached out toward Lucas. He flinched back, but he couldn't move any more than that. I glanced at Edward and he was smirking at me. He kissed my neck, the smirk never leaving his face. He brought our entangled hands up to my stomach and moved the hand that had been there out to mine. He let his arm mold into mine.
"Ready, love?" he asked. I nodded and he smiled at me.
He looked back towards Lucas and I followed his gaze. I concentrated all of the power flowing through my body into my hand, and a pure white ball quickly grew there. It grew and grew as I kept up my concentration, and Lucas tried harder and harder to break free of our hold as it did. When all of it was circling in my hand, I looked at Lucas and smiled.
"Goodbye. And this time, forever." And I let it go.
It shot out of my hand with such force that I was almost blown back, but Edward held me still. The white stream of power plowed right through Lucas's body, his feet rooted to the ground by our mental hold on his soul. His scream seemed to echo all the way to Hell and back, but it died along with him. His body turned to ash as the last of the power shot through, the stream trickling down until it vanished.
No one moved for a while afterwards, but I could feel the chain breaking. When I looked behind me, I could see many of the souls starting to vanish. Angels, looking just like the one that had come for Edward, were appearing in the clearing. One appeared in front of us and Edward's parents moved towards her. The Angel's face was hazed, like the living were not supposed to see their faces, but it cleared as we stood there. I gasped and tears immediately poured down my face when I saw who it was.
"Bella," my mother whispered, opening her arms to me. I ran to her, completely forgetting my soul, and fell to the ground in pain at her feet. She kneeled down next to me and placed her hand over the wound, just like Edward had been doing.
"Mom," I said, my voice broken and breathy with pain. My eyes were half closed, but I could still see her. She gently rolled me onto my back and I could see the others standing only a few feet away, Edward sitting on the ground next to me. There was worry on his face, but when my mom motioned to him, he ran off.
"You did great, Bella," she said. "You freed all of those trapped souls and rid the world of a rogue death angel." She smiled down at me, but I couldn't return it. It felt like all of the energy I had used had sapped everything in me.
Edward kneeled next to me again and something glowing softly was in his hand. My mom slowly took her hand away and Edward replaced it with the rest of my soul, the piece Lucas had taken from me. I gasped as the edges reattached, but sighed as my soul settled again. Danni came running over and sat on Edward's thigh, using her feet to keep herself from sliding off.
"You're lucky I was ready for you this time," he said, messing with her hair. Danni just tilted her head up and smiled sweetly at him, making all of us laugh. The Cullens had moved towards us and were standing as a group at my feet. I looked at Edward, who was still playing with Danni's hair even though she was trying to swat him away, and then to my mom. She seemed to know what I was going to ask.
"Edward needs to decide what he is going to do," she said, making everyone's gazes turn on her. "The higher Angels were going to let him return to you, since you would be able to put him back in his body, but when he dove through the window we use to look in on Earth without permission, they were ready to send him straight to Hell." My heart sank with her words, but I didn't interrupt.
"They decided to watch him, to see what he was going to do, and I have to say were quite surprised when he figured out how to get rid of Lucas. His love for you and his family helped influence them as well," she said, turning to everyone there individually.
"But the purity of his intentions are what truly kept them from exiling you there," she continued. "When they saw just how badly you wanted to save everyone, it would have been a sin in itself to send you there."
"What does that mean for him?" I asked, trying to sit up. It made my head spin from the pain that was slowly filtering back, but I didn't stop. Edward put his arm around my shoulders, keeping me from falling back again, and I leaned against him. My mom smiled softly.
"It means," she said slowly, "that, as long as Edward wants to stay, they will allow it. After everything the two of you did today, they are not even putting a condition on his return." My eyes widened in shock and I looked at Edward. He had a look of disbelief on his face and slowly turned his head toward me. He didn't say anything, just stared.
"Edward?" my mother asked gently. "You have to answer. If you don't, then I have to take you back."
He looked up at her and then at his parents, who were still standing on either side of her. They looked at me as I closed my eyes against the pain, but I opened them again to see what they said. They looked at Edward and nodded. Just once, but they nodded. I looked at Edward and he smiled at them, and then looked down at me.
"I think I'll stay," he said, not looking away from me. "What do you say love? That sound good to you?" I nodded frantically and he chuckled, leaning down and letting his lips brush lightly over mine. He smiled against me and leaned back.
"Yeah, I think I'll stay."
Only then did any of us notice the presence of the wolves around us, their howls like a song to the moon itself. I looked around and spotted Billy standing with the Reaper. She bowed and walked away and I had no doubt that we would be meeting again. Billy smiled at me before backing into the trees and disappearing into the night like a shadow, the light of the moon making his face look like that of a wolf for a split second.
6 Years Later…
"I can't believe I still haven't gotten used to this yet," I said as Bella laughed. I glared at her, but it just made her laugh harder.
We were practicing with our powers together, instead of working with them separately. We were in our room in the Cullen's house, while the others helped Danni with her homework. She was in fifth grade now, and growing much faster than I liked. She didn't know what we were just yet, but I could tell she knew something was up. It was hard to hide the fact that none of us ate, and whenever the wolves stopped over, she seemed to be able to sense something about them too. She just made sure never to mention it. As Carlisle kept saying about it, it was only a matter of time.
Bella's control was really frustrating me, since it made me look like the amateur I was. Even after working with her since the day after I woke up from changing, I still had almost no control over my powers. We had been worried about my bloodlust at first, but we quickly learned that my sire's lack of it had passed along to me. She walked over and took my face in her hands.
"You'll get it eventually," she said, going through the same conversation we had every time we decided to work on it. I just sighed and sat on the bed. Bella sat down next to me and brushed my hair back from my forehead.
"Hey, you will get it, Edward. I know you will. It just takes time. All I knew when I met you was how to keep it inside and change how I see things. I didn't know anything else, and that was a year after I changed. I'm learning right alongside you," she said, trying to make me feel better.
I just sighed again and Bella pushed me back onto the bed. She sat on my stomach and I grabbed above her knees with my hands. She leaned down and kissed me, moving her lips against mine. I quickly responded and kissed her back. She leaned far enough back so that our lips were no longer touching, but just far enough so that she could see me.
"You need to learn some patience, Mr. Edward Anthony Masen Cullen," she said, letting her pupils narrow into slits like a cat's. "You should not doubt the Grim Reaper, little underling." I smiled and she smirked.
And Bella truly was the Grim Reaper. After the news of her defeat over Lucas and how her soul mate returned from the dead to her, no one thought to challenge her. All of the Reapers fell back onto line and Charlotte, the vampire who had been at the house that day, came to tell Bella of her duties not long after. There was a whole list of them, but I hadn't paid much attention. All I heard was about how Reapers were spreading stories of how I'd stormed through Heaven to get back to Bella, and of how I was the other half of her soul. That last part seemed to stem from how I had been able to keep her together and fighting by using myself to make up for what Lucas had ripped out of her.
"Hey, stop inflating your ego, mister. It's big enough already," Bella chided. I smiled innocently and she laughed. Those Reapers hadn't been that far off about the soul thing. Bella and I knew everything about each other, at any time of the day, no matter where the other happened to be. We were, quite literally, each other's other half.
"Aww…" Bella said, leaning down to kiss me again just as the door opened. Danni peeked her head around the side and immediately put her hands over her eyes.
"Ew," she said plainly, not putting any emotion into her voice. Both of us laughed and Bella let herself fall to my side.
"It's okay, Danni. Edward was just being a pessimist again," Bella said around laughs. Danni spread her fingers before she put her hands down and jumped on the bed next to him.
"About what?" she asked, even though she knew we wouldn't answer. She smiled at her and patted my chest.
"Everything, of course," she said. She huffed and shook her head, not bothering to ask any more. I laughed again and Bella rested her head on my shoulder. She took my hand in hers and laced her fingers through mine.
"So, what's up?" I asked her. She shrugged and laid her head on me like Bella.
"Nuthin," she said. "I finished my homework, so I wanted to see if you were busy." Her face scrunched in disgust, causing Bella and me to laugh again.
"What did you have in mind?" Bella asked her.
"I dunno," she answered, shrugging again. "Maybe a movie downstairs?"
She looked between the two of us hopefully, and we looked at each other. We both turned back and nodded at the same time and she rolled off the bed in her excitement. She went running downstairs yelling that we were going to watch a movie and anyone who wanted to watch should get their butts in the living room. Clearly, she had been spending way too much time with Alice and Rosalie. I chuckled and Bella sighed. I looked at her, feeling her weariness and slight anxiety.
"What is she going to do when we tell her, Edward?" she asked, feeling my curiosity. I smiled softly.
"She's a smart girl, love. She already knows something is up. She's just waiting for us to tell her what it is," I said, trying to reassure her. She was uncertain for a moment, but then she nodded.
"Yeah, you're right. She's probably already trying to guess." I chuckled again, imagining some of the things she could think of.
"I know I never would have believed it if someone told me about everything that's happened to us. I would have personally paid for their one-way ticket to the padded room." That made Bella laugh and I smiled.
"Well, I never expected to find a soul mate at a small town high school," Bella countered. I kissed her forehead.
"Neither of us did, love, but I wouldn't change anything even if I could. Everything that happened got us to where we are today, and it's exactly where I want to be."
"Here," she said, placing a hand on my chest. I put my free hand over hers.
"Here."
A/N: Well, it's done. This is the final chapter of this story and it's out before my vacation, just like I hoped. I have to say thank you to all of my readers now. I asked you to keep an open mind about this story, and if you're reading this right now, then you did. Thanks.
I don't know when my next story is going to be up, but the new version of Infectious is going to be the next one up. It'll definitely be before I start college, but after the next two weeks. There won't be a whole lot of time to work on it, but I'm somewhat sure it won't be nearly as long as this one.
The song is Here by Rascal Flatts. It's a personal favorite of mine that I may have put into those last few parts… :)
And Now a Few Words of Wisdom:
Open your mind,
Listen to your heart,
Reach for the stars,
And believe your dreams.
There is nothing that can stop you unless you let it.
It's your choice.