"Bella!" Alice yelled as she jumped from rock to rock across the creek, attempting to avoid the water as much as possible. "Come on!" She waved me down, a large wicker basket in her hand as I shut the back door of the house, trudging down the hill and towards the stream. I jumped across the rocks right behind her, squealing when I almost fell in to the water. Alice began laughing hysterically, my eyes narrowing at her.
"Shut up." I said, jumping onto the other side of the grass where the trees broke off and into the forest. She darted off and I followed her as we made our way into the woods.
It had been a little over a month since I stepped out of my room for the first time and I haven't regretted it since. Rosalie met me at the bottom of the stairs, sweet and nurturing as she introduced me to Alice and Jasper. I was taken aback a bit by Alice at first. She was a seventeen year old girl who acted like she was five.
Alice couldn't sit in one place for too long, she always had something to say and she loved to go outside and roam around the woods. She was a little girl at heart and I wouldn't have her any other way.
Jasper was quiet. He didn't say much, but that was his thing. He observed quietly and when spoken to he spoke like a gentleman. He was soft and tender, despite the soft red that swam in his eyes.
And in the past month I had fallen a bit in love with every single one of them. They treated me so well, like I was apart of their family. I had never been apart of a family or at least a big family like this. It was just Alec and I. No siblings, no aunts or uncles, no grandparents. Just us. This was a big change, but I was enjoying every moment of it.
I still missed Alec terribly. It was worse at night when I couldn't fall asleep. I would put on Clair De Lune, thinking he was by side me, training my body to make up some kind of figment of my imagination that he would be standing beside me, humming me to sleep but it just wouldn't work.
I didn't say a word about it to the Cullen family.
I didn't want them to think I was ungrateful.
Though, I think they sensed it, but did not approach the subject.
They gave me my space when I needed and allowed me to do the things that I wanted. Mr. Cullen said I was allowed to go anywhere. To town, to Seattle, out in the woods as long as I had someone with me. And if I didn't, I would have to be back at a certain time. If I didn't come back, there would be consequences.
I never asked what those consequences were.
I already knew.
So far, though, I had only traveled outside in the backyard. Alice, Emmett and I would usually venture off into the woods, finding something to do with our time while Rosalie, Jasper and Mr. Cullen hunted.
Hunted.
I learned rather quickly that if not drinking human blood, the three of them would be drinking animal blood. Rosalie told me that the blood of an animal doesn't even compare to blood from a human. It's like tofu and steak. You are never fully satisfied.
But the animal blood weighs lesser on the conscience mind. It's less barbaric, less violent and the animals don't cry for their lives.
But they still drink human blood. Of course we as the donors do not have to be hunted, but the Cullen's still find it to be immoral. They drink what they should in order to keep their eyes a certain color. If Aro found out that the donors were not being used properly he would take us away, sending us to someone who would use us properly.
I wondered why that was such a big deal for awhile. Alec had said most vampires trade their donors once the blood starts to get dull. They constantly want something new and the donors get tossed away like scraps.
But with the subtle touches and kisses between the vampire and their donors here, I realized that this was more than just a regular donor relationship. Emmett and Alice did not have bite marks all over their bodies like Victoria did, or the people from the party at Aro's. Instead on the inside of Emmett's left wrist was a pale crescent scar. It looked deep which indicated that was where Rosalie fed off. Alice's was on her right shoulder, just above her collar bone.
It was not just a symbol of their feeding but it was also a symbol of their relationship. Rosalie said that even as a vampire, the scars of bites still show. This is how other vampires knew that this one belonged to someone – they were mated.
I asked if Aro knew that, and if he saw the mated scar would he send them away? Rosalie told me that Aro would never see Alice or Emmett. They never traveled to Italy with them, therefore only Jasper and Rosalie would have to keep up the charade with their eyes.
And eventually, Alice and Emmett would be turned into vampires themselves so they could live forever with their mates.
"Bel-la!" Alice yelled, grabbing my hand and running me into the forest. "Come on! I want to pick the flowers before it rains!" I clutched onto her hand and ran with her, laughing as we heard Emmett in the background, telling us to wait up.
We reached the colorful meadow just beyond the forest; the sun shining up until a few dark clouds hovered in front of it. Alice wanted to pick some of the lilies here for the center piece of Carlisle's dining room table. She hopped into the meadow, leaning down with her basket and gently pulling the flowers from the weeds in the ground.
"You should do this for a living, you know." I told her, knelling down to pull up some white lilies for her. Alice loved to decorate. Anything she could get her hands on and alter in her style was perfect for her. She made candle holders out of sticks and leaves, weaving them together and perfectly placing the orange candles in the middle giving off a woodsy kind of scent. She always had bouquet of flowers in vases, baskets or mugs decorated all over the house.
She had an eye for beautiful things, constructing them to make them even more beautiful.
"I thought about it. Carlisle said he would let me go to college for designing, but I'm not very sure." She shrugged, pulling up more lilies.
"Why not?" I asked.
"I can only do it for so long, you know?" She shrugged. "Maybe a good twenty to thirty years. By that time I'll be immortal. And I think people will realize I'm not growing up."
"Oh." I said, biting at my lip. "But you can do it for a bit of time. Then maybe give it a couple of years and start somewhere new?"
"Yeah." She smiled, nodding her head. "That would be nice. I always wanted to be a wedding planner as well."
"You'd be good at that." I said.
"You think?" She asked.
"Well you're already good at decorating, planning and bossing people around." I laughed. Alice grinned, pushing my shoulder playfully and causing me to fall down.
"You're such a brat, Bella." Alice laughed, shaking her head as we continued to pick the flowers. Emmett came and helped us out as much as he could, but he pulled the flowers too roughly out of the ground, damaging the stems. Alice yelled at him and told him to just stand and watch.
"For such a small girl, you're actually pretty scary." Emmett smirked, sitting down across from us as he chewed on a piece of gum. "Jasper is even scared of you sometimes." He laughed.
"Jasper is not scared of me. I'm not that scary. Am I Bella?" She asked, looking at me with wide eyes.
"Well…" I trailed off.
"Bella!"
"You can get pretty intense when you get angry." I laugh, reaching and grabbing her shoulders to pull her into a hug. "I'm sure everyone here is scared of you just a tad bit. Except for Carlisle. He seems to be invincible." I laughed, pulling up another flower.
"That's not entirely true." Emmett murmured from the side.
"Everyone is afraid of something." Alice shrugs.
"Carlisle doesn't seem like it." I said.
"He doesn't show it very well. He tends to keep his emotions to himself. Which is fine," Emmett began, "but he is just as human as us. Even if he is immortal."
"What's he afraid of?" I asked. Alice and Emmett looked at each other for a second, and then back at me.
"His mate was taken away from him." Alice said, sitting on her bottom as she crossed her legs.
"Taken away from him?" I asked.
"Yeah. She was his donor. Carlisle changed her into a vampire. Somehow Aro found out. He sent people here and they took her when he was gone. She was still transforming so she was out cold for a few days. That usually happens when you get changed. So they caught her when she couldn't defend herself." Alice told me.
"That's horrible." I whispered.
"That's why Alice and I have to go off grid when we get changed. Aro doesn't like it when donors are changed and aren't under his surveillance. He doesn't approve of it. He's kind of one set minded. If he found out that we are going to be changed, he would rather us die. That's why we already have our deaths played out. Alice dies from pneumonia and I get attacked by a grizzly bear out in the woods." Emmett says.
"A grizzly bear?" I laughed.
"Hell yeah! If I'm going to die, I at least want to die a cool way." He says.
"And apparently being eaten alive by a grizzly bear is cool." Alice rolls her eyes, shaking her head. I laughed, biting my lip as a few raindrops fell above us.
"So what happened to Carlisle's mate?" I asked.
"She's still alive. That's all I know, though." Alice shrugged as the thunder rolled in above us. Heavy rain dropped down quickly and we all stood up, screaming and laughing as we ran all the way home.