a/n: I don't own it. EverlastingMuse is the marshmallow to my sweet potatoes.
My woman trouble began in the end of October. I was wrapping it up in the office when I got a call from my sister Rosalie, asking me to pick her up an oil filter for our father's car. I get calls for these errands a lot since I work in town. Carlisle and Emmett work in town, too, but Emmett purposefully screwed up the errands he got sent on so many times they don't even ask him anymore. Which leaves Carlisle and I, but because he has a "real job" and because I have too much pride to act as dumb as Emmett it comes down to me. I get a little annoyed when they treat me like the family errand-boy.
"Rose," I whine. "Why can't you ask Carlisle? He's working today, too." I should have known better.
"Because Carlisle works as a doctor while you play Sam Spade all day." Ouch! Rose can be a little harsh, as you can see.
"Fine, but I'm not making any other stops." These errands can get a little excessive with my sisters making requests for beauty products and my mom sending me to the craft store. You have no idea what it's like to be a 110 year-old vampire pretending to be a 20-something man having to ask where the "googly eyes" are.
So I'm walking over to the auto parts place because it's just about a block away from my office when my phone rings again. I ignore it because I am sure that it's just someone else at home asking for hairspray or blank cds. It's a typical windy day in Forks and with it blowing at my back I'm pretty sure that my already crazy hair is looking like a clown wig.
The streets are pretty empty because it's Forks, population: practically nothing, when around the corner comes this teenage girl. She's small, dark-haired and almost as pale as one of us. I prepare myself for the onslaught on teenage mind, a flavor I am way too accustomed to tasting. I pat myself on the back again that I found an alternative to high school this time. The girl glances at me and I try to place her but I don't think I've ever seen her. Which is weird because it is Forks, after all.
I am beginning to wonder why I haven't heard her mind yet and my phone is continuing to ring in my pocket. Then I realize that I hear the sound of my brother's voices in my head and sense them coming near me, fast. At that moment the wind shifts directions suddenly and I smell the most enticing thing I've ever smelled. It's the girl's blood and it's better than any blood I've ever smelled. I haven't drank from a human in 70 years and I'm just about to change that because I don't think I can resist.
My whole body goes into predator-mode and I start to crouch down, the better to spring at her. My mouth fills with venom and I'm sure I look scary as shit. I barely have a chance to think about what's going to happen when I am seized from behind by my brothers.
"Hey, Eddie," Emmett is holding on to one arm while Jasper has the other. "Not so fast." I can feel Jasper sending calm feelings my way. It barely takes the edge off but it clears my head enough for me to realize that I was about to eat a teenage girl out in public. In front of a used bookstore. Bad form.
She has slowed down and is looking at us, wide-eyed, clutching some books to her chest.
"Eddie hates the dentist." Emmett says to her with a smile. "We have to drag him there every time." He laughs. She doesn't.
My brothers start to drag me back away down the sidewalk in the opposite direction and I don't struggle. What the fuck just happened to me? I start to talk but Jasper interrupts. "We'll talk about it at home." he hisses and sends another wave of calm my way. We have turned away from the girl but I take one last look back and see the girl has gotten to the door of the bookstore and has paused with the handle in her hand, still looking at us with curiosity and alarm.
I try once more to probe her thoughts but I can't hear anything from her. My phone is still ringing and Jasper pulls it out of my pocket and answers it.
"Yeah, honey, we got him." He listens for a second. "We'll bring him straight home." He says goodbye and hangs up. He looks at me and raises an eyebrow. "You gonna answer your phone from now on, sport?"
All I can do is stare at him.
I am driving back to the house I share with my family with Jasper and Emmett, without an oil filter, wondering what the hell just happened. I mean, on the surface, I know what just happened. I almost ate a girl on Main Street in Forks. I know I said that before, but I am blown away by the reality of it. If my brothers hadn't come along I would have killed her. I would have blown our cover in the most spectacular way possible.
"Fuck!" I punch my own leg in frustration. Jasper looks at me with concern. Emmett laughs. I shoot him a glare.
"Does anyone mind telling me who the hell that was?" I assume they know since they're being so cool about the whole thing.
"That's Chief Swan's daughter, Isabella. She just started school this week." Jasper says thoughtfully. That poor sucker Jasper let Alice con him into going to high school again with her. Alice just never gets enough prom committee, I guess.
"I saw her and Chief Swan at Thriftway this weekend. Seems like a sweet girl." Emmett says, "Geez, she's just a high school kid, Edward." He is shaking his head at me, laughing.
"A high school kid who almost didn't get a chance to go to Homecoming." Jasper says. I growl at him. I am embarrassed and furious. Why didn't Alice see this sooner? I could have left town or avoided her. How am I going to manage this? I'm going to have to leave town. It's going to break Esme's heart but I can't risk being anywhere near this girl again.
"If it wasn't Chief Swan's daughter maybe we could find to another teenage girl to munch on." Emmett is grinning at me over his shoulder as he gets closer to our house. "Whatsherface Mallory's mom really likes you. Maybe you could do a sex for teenage daughter trade."
"Dude, you've been watching too much 'Secret Lives of American Housewives' or something." Jasper gives Emmett a punch in the shoulder.
"Bro, have you seen 'Desperate Housewives'? Those women are sex-fiends!" Emmett is exclaiming loudly at Jasper, hardly paying attention to the road at all.
"I've never had sex with a human. Have you? Seems like it'd be like stapling jello."
"Nah, man. Too fragile and squishy. Like trying to sand a balloon."
"You guys need to shut up! This is a serious problem. I almost killed that girl!" They turn around to look at me as if they forgot I was there.
"Sorry, man." Emmett and Jasper look embarrassed for a second and then they start giggling. Story of my goddamn endless life.
Thankfully, we arrive at the house and I rush in to find Alice sitting at the kitchen table with Esme and Carlisle. Alice jumps up and immediately starts apologizing.
"Edward, I am so sorry. I didn't see it until Rose called you and then you didn't answer your phone!"
"Thank God nothing happened to that poor girl!" Esme looks alarmed by what happened and Carlisle is staying calm but has his arm around her shoulder.
"What happened?" I look at Alice and Carlisle. Carlisle clears his throat and gestures for me to take a seat.
"Well, it appears that Charlie Swan's daughter is your singer. You know what a singer is, right?" I nod slowly while hearing Emmett's mind wander back decades to a woman he encountered on a country road and before he knew it…
"Stop it, Emmett!" I glare at my brother who has replaced himself in his story with me. I am draining a limp Isabella Swan who's wearing an apron and a housedress and has clothespins falling from her hands to the ground.
"Sorry, buddy." Emmett's shoulders dip slightly. Carlisle looks at me with concern before continuing.
"A singer's blood calls to a specific vampire. I've never heard of anyone resisting their singer but if anyone could, Edward, it's you. She survived her encounter with you today."
"But only because Emmett and Jasper got to me in time. I've got to leave town." I look at Alice, hoping she has some insight into where I should go.
Alice is nodding slowly, her eyes fixed on a distant point. "I…I don't see you leaving, Edward. In fact, it wouldn't help. Once you encountered her you can't get the idea out of your head. It actually puts her in more danger if you leave than if you stay here and try to get acclimated to her scent."
"That's insane! I'm going to have to hang out in the same town as her trying not to kill her! What if I run into her by accident again?"
"If we coordinate we can come up with a plan to know where she is at all times. And we can get items of hers to expose you to her scent." Carlisle looks at Alice who nods.
"Yeah, I see that working. She has a pretty predictable schedule and we can alert Edward if it changes." I see an image come into her head. It's Isabella Swan sitting at a desk in…our office? I look at Alice incredulously. "A job? You're going to hire her?" She shakes her head.
"I don't know, I just see her working for us. I saw it before, maybe a week ago. That's why I had no idea she was going to be a problem."
"There's a big gap between keeping an eye on her so I can avoid her and giving her a job so I'm trapped in the office with her. There's got to be some workplace safety policy on that." I look around the table at my family. They are smiling at me.
"This is crazy! I almost killed a girl and now we're going to hire her?"
"It's not going to happen right away. It's a ways in the future." Alice looks at me reassuringly. "It's going to be OK, Edward. You're not going to hurt her."
"I'm glad you guys feel so good about this. I'm going to go hunt." I look at Rosalie. "You're going to have to get your own oil filter." I walk out followed by my brothers. I guess they don't trust that I'm not going to go back to town and eat Isabella Swan. I'm not sure I trust myself.
a/n: Thanks for reading! I sent people who reviewed the first chapter teasers. Will I do it again? It's a mystery. Get it? I said "It's a mystery" and this is supposed to be a mystery…just, nevermind. JuJu