"Look at you," Alice picked up a strand of my hair, waved from the humidity. "It's longer." She smiled, her golden eyes trailing over my face. "You haven't changed one bit... Except for your eyes." My fingers went to my cheeks, just underneath my lids. "I see red." She whispered and I nodded.
"They've been changing. Not much. Little by little." I shrugged. "No one notices."
"No, they are just specks. Even with my new sight, they are only slightly visible." Her pupils dilated around the gold, as if focusing on the spots.
"Look at your eyes." I said with a smile. "I don't think I've seen such a gold color."
"Comes with the food." She shrugged with a smirk. "You look like you've gained weight." She said and I looked down at my stomach quickly, as if completely embarrassed. "No, no. It suits you. You were just bones before." She giggled and I smiled, loving the sound of it.
"Look at your hair." I pointed.
"I know! Isn't it so shiny and perfect? I could never get it like this when I was human." She laughed, running her fingers through her tresses.
Alice and I sat on the deck out in the back, the sun was slowly descending, the break of red painting the sky just beyond the horizon as the waves lapped onto shore. Storm clouds were rolling in, but we didn't seem to care. We sat on the plush white seating, a giant canopy drifting around us. She had been here all day, proving that she truly had been tamed. For the first hour, she wouldn't let me go - so close to my skin, my blood. And she didn't even flinch.
Of course, that didn't deter Edward whatsoever. He tried to give us privacy, but I knew he wasn't far. Always around, ready to leap if he needed to. And Alice knew this, but I don't think she was offended. It came with the territory. In the first few hours we had laughed, I had cried, we had reminisced in the memories back in Forks, of how everything used to be and how much everything has changed.
And she had definitely changed.
There was something so beautiful about her now - and Alice had always been a force to be reckon with. She poured beauty. But now, it was as if every crevice of her was shined and spotless. Her skin was paler, smoother, like silk. Her spiky black hair was a little longer, shiny and soft as her face had no make up, her natural beauty masking all the imperfections from her human form. Her legs were crossed, her posture straight and she only moved when necessary. She didn't twirl her hair like she used to, pop on gum or tap her toe.
She was perfection. Flawless. She was different. But I could still find my old Alice in there, because no matter what Alice was, it never replaced who she is.
"Remember that time when Emmett put the grasshoppers in our bathrooms?" She laughed, her hand reaching over to my knee. I glared at the memory of opening my bathroom door, the tile covered in grasshoppers which took weeks to clean out. "Then when we put the snakes in his bed?" I laughed and nodded, it was a sweet revenge. Emmett's worse fear was snakes and perhaps it was cruel, but he had it coming.
"Rosalie confessed he peed his pants. She made him go outside and wash himself off." I smirked.
"Oh my God! Shut up!" Her eyes widened in shock and I shook my head. "I can't wait to see him, I will definitely be rubbing that in his face."
"Have you talked to him?" I asked hopefully but Alice shook her head.
"Not since the transformation. He went first. And before he did, he called and we talked for a bit. I think we've just been a little too busy." She shrugged, her head perking at the storm rolling in our direction.
"I miss him." I confessed, Alice turned back to look at me with a small smile.
"He's been doing great, so I hear. No mess ups." Her voice was perfectly smooth, no indication of a falter. But her face had contorted slightly as if she was wincing in pain, but she was smiling sincerely within seconds. Even if she was a different species now - I could still see the old Alice.
"Mess ups happen." I shrugged. "You didn't mean to do anything, Alice."
It was incredibly quiet and I could see the tremor in her small body as if she were crying. She hadn't known that I knew of her slip up, something Edward told me last night. But she didn't seem to care that I knew. The storm was blowing in faster, the wind chimes behind us making a beautiful song. Alice had finally looked up to me, her head shaking.
"It was a girl. Did you know that?" She asked. I didn't move. "She was our age, Bella. And she just... She got lost from her hiking group... I wasn't expecting..."
"We don't have to talk about it." I whispered, moving forward to place my hands on her shoulders. "And you don't have to explain anything to me. I know you, Alice. I know you are sorry. You would never intentionally hurt a fly."
"I killed her, Bella. I cracked her spine in two and drank her dry. It was all intentional. I wanted to do it." She whispered agonizingly, shaking her head.
"You can't scare me." I said, though my voice was betraying me as the images filtered across my brain. Alice chuckled and shook her head, pressing her lips together.
"You'll understand soon enough." She simply told me. I sat back down in my chair, reeling in from her cryptic words. The silence grew again but it was not tense - instead the sounds of thunder were almost soothing.
"Did it hurt?" I asked her.
"Incredibly so." She nodded. "Not something to look forward to."
"I think I will take my chances." I stated, looking to the window at the red eyed man who smiled at me. Alice looked to see what I was staring at, though I knew she didn't need to.
"He loves you to pieces. But not even he could withstand you, Bella. Not when you smell something you like." Her eyes were menacing and when I looked to her, it looked as if someone had stripped the old Alice from her. "The strength is amazing. The sight, the sounds, the smells, the speed. It's so thrilling. And being with Jasper... In ways I couldn't before. It's so fulfilling, so wonderful. There's always a good side to the evil."
"You are not evil." I grounded.
"I suppose you would say that. You always see the positive in people." She smiled.
"You do too." I snorted. "Just as much as I did."
"Things change." She smiled with a shrug. "Enough with the heavy. Let's not talk about it. Tell me about you. What have you been doing here?"
"You're looking at it." I laughed. "If I'm not sleeping, I'm swimming, if I'm not swimming I am trying to beat Edward in chess."
"Sounds... incredible." Her voice dripped with sarcasm.
"It's not much... But I like it." I smiled with a shrug. "And being with him is the only thing I want."
"Have you two done the deed yet?" She waggled her eyebrows and I nearly choked. There was the old Alice. "Come on, I want all the dirty details."
"Alice." I grounded, knowing both Jasper and Edward could hear us.
"Don't mind them, they will always be nosey. Come on, tell me." She whined, gripping my hands. I laughed and shook my head.
"If you must know... We haven't. He has decided to keep my innocence in tack for now." I told her.
"Innocence? But Peter..." I quickly put my hand over her mouth, shushing her. A crack from inside gave me the indication that he had heard. Alice laughed, shaking her head. "Always jealous, that one."
"We do not speak of that name while we are here." I smirked, leaning back in the chair. "Someone gets extremely upset."
"I bet. Considering Peter got to you first. I bet someone is very bitter about it." Alice said condescendingly, catching me off guard before I could stop her.
"Ladies." A voice said from the side.
"Oh, Edward, lovely for you to join us. We were just chit-chatting." Alice mused as Edward's expressions darkened. I smirked and bit at my lip. She loved to antagonize him.
"I heard. May we move this inside? There is a storm heading this way." He said, his head nodding to the ominous clouds rolling in our direction.
"I do love standing in the middle of a good storm." Alice's arms opened wide as the gusty winds began to pick up, pushing her hair back wildly.
"Well some of us are still preciously fragile." Edward said. "So please, come join us inside." Alice muttered a curse under her breath and shot me back a smirk as she headed indoors. I walked to Edward, my arms wrapping around his middle as I bit at my lip.
"She's trying to get a rise out of you." I whispered, pecking his chin.
"I know. I'm trying not to retaliate." He said, pulling me inside.
"She is doing better than I expected." I said hopefully to him but he didn't comment, the house shaking underneath of us from a vibration of thunder.
"Of course I am." Alice sighed, laying herself over Jasper's lap on the couch. "I am an amazing student, right sweetheart?" She asked and Jasper nodded.
"Alice has showed some great restraints." Jasper agreed and Edward grumbled, pulling away from me but always staying close. "And to be surrounded by so many people..."
"Did you go to Tokyo?" I wondered, sitting on the leather chair in front of them.
"Of course! I thought I was nearly going to pass out. Everyone was out on the streets, Bella!" Alice was up within a blink of an eye, edging herself on the couch. "They barely drive cars... They were just out in the open."
"With that many people around? Quite difficult for a newborn." Edward challenged.
"Didn't you hear the news, Edward? I am one of a kind. I don't follow the natural rules of things." She smiled and he grumbled once again, sitting on the arm of my chair. "My instincts were to kill, but I kept them under control."
"You did amazing." Jasper nodded.
"And I was able to visit all of the places I wanted to, explore the city. It was so... beautiful. Everything about it." She sighed longingly, her chin resting in her palm. "I'd love to take Bella there sometimes."
"I'd love that." I smiled, looking up to Edward who seemed unamused with Alice's comment.
"I'm sure you would, after being cooped up in this place!" Alice smirked.
"You are increasingly more annoying as a vampire, how is that possible?" Edward bit and Alice smirked with a shrug as Jasper chuckled.
"It's a gift, I suppose. Come on, Bella... Let's go talk some more." Alice gripped my hand and pulled me to my feet. We had gone upstairs as I showed her around the place. We laughed some more together, talking about our times in Forks, traveling out in the woods, movie nights in the basement, going to the parks.
"You know I despised Edward for taking you from Forks. I hated him for the longest time. Even when you were in Hilo." She growled, pushing her arms against her chest as we sat at the dinner table. "But he seems to be... Different with you. I can tell by how he touches you. Like he always needs to be. Like he doesn't feel right when he's not. Jasper was like that when I was human. I can tell also because he won't leave us alone." She said loudly, though she didn't need to. Edward could hear us perfectly clear from the living room with Jasper.
"He's protective." I shrugged. "It doesn't bother me any."
"As long as you are happy here." Alice stated as I brought my plate from my dinner to the sink. I smiled and nodded at her. "I hope you can come join me in Tokyo sometime." Alice sighed against the counter. "The culture... The experience... I feel like you would like it there, Bella."
"I know I would." I smiled, wrapping up the remaining of my dinner and placing the left overs into the fridge.
"I even tried calamari for good measure." Alice laughed and I turned to look at her confusingly. "I did it before I turned. I even used chopsticks. Jasper made fun of me the whole time, but I swear I got it down eventually."
"Will you guys go back to Forks?" I asked.
"Maybe. The house is empty. Carlisle and Esme are always traveling and who knows how long Rosalie and Emmett will be gone for. I know before I go back to the US I was to travel to different places. Rome, London, Barcelona. Oh! You should come with us! Oh, it would be so much fun."
"I can't go anywhere, Alice." I told her as I reached the sink, grabbing the dirty plate and grabbed the sponge and sticking it into the cold bubbly water that had been sitting here since morning.
"And why not" She scoffed, pushing off and sitting at the table.
"Because Victoria is still out there. They think she is heading to Russia and that's too close for comfort. Alec and Edward are going to try and block her off, but if she gets away who knows where she will go." I shrugged. "She is getting closer everyday."
"All the more reason for you and Edward to come. You will have three vampires protecting you. No way would we let her scrawny ass touch you." She laughed as I smirked back at her, putting the clean dish into the rack. I began grabbing a few things at the bottom of the soapy sink, cleaning off the silver wear.
"Edward wants me to stay... So I'm going to stay." I sighed. "Not because I have to."
"Sure." She laughed.
"Really. If him and Alec think it's safe for me to be here then... I will. I don't want to cause trouble." I said. "Plus, it's not like I'm locked back up like in Jackson. I'm in paradise, and I... Ouch!" I dropped the metal object in my hand, hearing it clank to the bottom of the sink. I brought my hand up to inspect, red staining my skin.
I had no time to react - no time to even look to see her expression. A loud snarl echoed in the room just as I was slammed in my chest, my head spinning as my body flew backwards. I hit a surface, crashing of items falling and shattering on the ground. My eyes were blurry, my body moving again as hard hands gripped my shirt, my eyes finally focusing in on black onyx looking back at me - the look of a predator.
It all happened so fast, because within mere milliseconds she was gone, my body falling back to the ground with a thud and a crash forced me to flinch. A threatening growl vibrated around me, and through the tears I could make out a body hovering near me protectively. My eyes focused on a blur running towards my direction, my head dipping into my chest as a crash of what sounded like two boulders collided together.
Alice began screaming and I was curling in myself, the smell of iron causing me to gag as it felt like I was in the middle of a war zone, the house falling apart around me. The crashes were vibrating my body and soon enough they were fading - and I felt a mist of water covering my skin.
I didn't move. I didn't breathe. I tried to reel in what exactly had happened in the last minute. My palm clenched and I could feel the cut. The stinging brought me to the harsh reality of what was happening - she had slipped up. And I had caused it. I was beginning to shake and I tried to call for her, but my voice faltered. My eyes opened, my head rising as I blinked away tears, my vision coming into focus. I was alone - the kitchen clouded with dust and the table was broken into pieces. I began to lift, my hand sliding against broken glass as I looked down to see the vase of flowers littering underneath me in pieces.
The kitchen floor was being sprinkled with rain, the wall in front of me gone. Completely gone. As if a wrecking ball went right through it. Rain was washing in with the wind as it began pattering the floor, the wind blowing my hair back. The kitchen was ruined - all of it. I began gasping for breaths, looking around at the mass destruction.
I stepped over broken glass, shards of mahogany wood, brick from the wall and stepped out of the gaping hole. The waves were violent now, crashing onto the beach with no remorse as lightening struck down into the ocean. My body was drenched with rain and I stepped down onto the sand, trying to find someone, trying to find anyone.
Edward...
"Edward..." I whispered softly, instantly feeling an arm around my waist.
"I'm here, I'm here." His voice was so smooth, so welcomed. I quickly wrapped my arms around his neck and squeezed him tightly to me. "It's okay, you're okay. I've got you."
"Wh..." I began gasping, trying to catch my breath as I gripped his shirt underneath my fingers. "Alice..."
He didn't respond. He only picked me up and headed for the stairs and to our bedroom. It was a blur - it was all a blur. The plush blankets underneath me we dampening from my clothes, the lights around us flickered as thunder clapped fiercely over our home. And when he let me go, I finally saw his face. I cried out, his right cheek had a gaping wound, like a crack in concrete. I gripped his chin, inspecting it through tears. "You're hurt!" I cried out.
"I'm fine. I'll heal. I need you to lay down." He said but I wasn't listening, to busy trying to smooth the wound, trying to heal it with my touch. "Bella..." He whispered but I wouldn't listen. "Isabella!" His voice finally caught me off guard. "Isabella. I'm fine. I need to clean you up and see if you need stitches."
"Stitches?" I asked and disappeared into the bathroom. I had finally realized what had started this all, my eyes trailing down to my open palm that was covered in blood. But not only that, my whole left arm was covered in dry matted blood, my eyes widening as my stomach began to churn.
"Don't look at it." He whispered as I turned away. With a cold cloth he began wiping the blood. My stomach rolled, hot tears streaming down my face as my eyes trained on the window.
"Where is Alice?" I asked softly after a big breath of air. He didn't answer. "Edward... Please."
"Gone." His voice was unmoving, unwavering. My head quickly spun to him.
"Gone?" I cried.
"Yes. Jasper took her before I could kill her." He said, wiping off the blood on my palm. I quickly brought my hand away, holding it to my chest.
"Did you hurt her?" I asked.
"Give me your arm." He growled.
"Answer me."
"I did what I had to do." He pried my arm away from my chest, cleaning more blood away from the wound. He didn't look at me and continued binding my wound. "This will sting." He whispered, pressing the cloth of antibacterial against my arm. I bit on my lip, holding in my cry. "It needs stitches." I turned and looked at him with wide eyes. "The initial cut isn't deep enough. But the one on your arm is. Stay still." He placed a large bandaid on top of the cut on my palm before grabbing a small black box on his side.
I looked away as he was preparing the needle, eyes wandering to the ground. I wondered momentarily what Alice was doing, if she was okay, if she was hurt, if she regretted coming and seeing me. The reality of it all hit me so quickly, the I nearly lost my breath.
"Open your mouth." Edward drove me from my thoughts. I turned to look at him with widened eyes. In his hand was a rolled up cylinder cloth, his eyes unwavering. "I have no anesthetic. Bite on this."
I looked at it suspiciously before accepting it. I held it in my hands and took a deep breath before setting the cloth in between my teeth. My fists balled together and I felt the tears welling up again.
"Isabella, look at me." He said softly as I looked at his crimson eyes. "I'm going to make this as quick and as painless as I can. Please just stay still for me, okay baby?" He asked and I nodded. He pulled my arm close and within no time, the needle was enter my skin. I closed my eyes tightly and whimpered softly as my teeth clamped around the cloth. I could feel the hard thread closing the wound with each swift movement. It only took less than a minute but my arm was throbbing.
He poured some antibacterial on it, causing it to sting more before place a butterfly bandage over the top. I didn't look and only felt my eyes closing. I was so tired.
"My strong girl." Edward cooed, placing his hand against the back of my head, leaning forward to kiss my check. I felt my wet clothes peeled from my body and replaced with a warm blanket around me. My hair was pushed back as my head gently hit the pillow beneath me. Edward's voice was coaxing me to sleep and it didn't take long for me to go under.
||TSIPWR||
A crash in the darkness had suddenly woken me up, my body quickly reacting to the sound. The room was still clouded in darkness giving me the indication that the sun still hadn't come up. My eyes fixated on the darkness around me, my arm throbbing from the pain of the stitches. I rubbed my eyes and turned to see the bed empty beside me. My heart ached.
"I don't care what is going on with Victoria, I'm not leaving Isabella." A familiar growl echoed down in the house. I didn't want to move, I didn't want him to think I was listening. "I need you to handle it, Alec. See if you can cut them off. But I have to stay here." A growl erupted through our home as another loud crash caused me to flinch. "Handle it! I will be there in a few days!"
I turned quickly back on my side, holding in my tears. Reality was washing over me like lapse of waves, suffocating me. It was clear that Edward was talking to Alec who could possibly be on the track of getting Victoria and Riley. And without Edward there, more than likely the two would get away again - continuing this long game they were playing. Continuing every night Edward wouldn't move forward with me, continuing me being a fragile and stupid human - one who needs to come into realization that she can't trust everyone.
Alice was an example of that. My trust in our friendship overplayed my ability to sense danger. Edward knew it, he always knew it. But he was doing it to please me. Setting his worries aside to accommodate his idiotic human girlfriend. And no matter how much I wished Alice was normal again, she would always be a danger to me when I was still like this. Edward would never trust her with me and I wouldn't see her until I was changed, if I ever was - something that cannot be done until Victoria was out of the picture which was being held off because Edward was here instead of on his way to Russia to stop her.
And that was all crashing down on me, the reality setting in that I wasn't safe, that there was danger everywhere. I tried to contain my cries but they powered over me, the whimpers escaping between my lips. The bed moved instantly, an arm around my waist and pulling my back against a hard chest. Edward kissed the back of my head, his hand stroking my bare stomach to calm me.
"I'm sorry." I cried, dipping my head into the pillow.
"You have nothing to be sorry about." He said genuinely, kissing the back of my head.
"I shouldn't have pushed you to do this. You were right. She wasn't ready. And I guilted you into it." I cried.
"I can't resist you when you plead to me. I always want you to be happy." He smiled against the back of my head, trying to lighten the mood. I turned in his arms as my naked chest pressed into his, my eyes resting on his now smooth cheek.
"You warned me." I said lowly.
"I know. And I should have put my foot down. But I guess I was naive too. I should have said no." He whispered, leaning forward and kissing the tip of my nose. "You mean everything to me... And when the moment I smelled the blood, I knew she wouldn't be able to handle it. Bella, I almost killed her."
"Edward..." I cried out but he shook his head.
"I didn't. Jasper intervened before I could do anymore damage..." He stopped, judging my reaction. I wanted to ask what he did - if he hurt her badly, but he continued. "I would have. If anyone hurt you... I would kill them. No matter who they are. When I saw her over you, I didn't see Alice. I saw her as a threat that I needed to eliminate. And this could all have been avoided if I just..."
"It's not your fault. I should have known... But I thought... I mean... It's Alice. I never knew..." I cried out but Edward shushed me, wiping my tears.
"You have to understand that emotionally she is still Alice. But physically and mentally she is not. She's a predator now, Isabella. That's what happens when you change. And it takes a long time to resist the urge to kill humans." He whispered, his fingers skimming over my cheek. "She will learn with time."
"I won't be able to see her again, will I?" I asked, my voice faltering. Edward sighed and kissed the top of my head.
"You will see her again someday. But not for a long time, Isabella. Not while you are human. I can't... I will not take that risk again." He said sternly, but his voice wavered - he knew I didn't want to hear that. But I nodded and duck my head into his chest, gripping onto him tightly. I didn't want to talk about it anymore - I didn't want to think about it. But that's all I could do. So fresh in my mind - I needed a distraction.
I tilted my head slightly, pressing a soft kiss to the side of his neck. His hands slipped down, resting on my waist as I kissed up towards his jaw. My fingers slipped underneath his shirt, pressing into his cool ridged abdominals, moving upwards as his chest began vibrating in warning underneath my fingers.
"Isabella..." He trailed off.
"Please." I whispered against his chin. "All I can think about is what happened... I... I need an escape."
"You can't use me to forget about the problems at hand." He whispered, catching my wrists. "That's no way to deal with them."
"I'm not using you." I reeled back. "I love you. And I know you love me. And right now I'm scared. And you are the only thing that makes me feel better and I want to feel it. Please... Make me feel it." I pleaded, pressing my lips into him. "I need you to touch me. I need to feel your love."
"You already are." He whispered, keeping his lips tight so I couldn't push the kiss forward. I whimpered against him, my leg hitching over his hip and pressing my core to his covered center. He growled against my lips, trying to push me back but faltering.
"Please, Edward. I need more. I need you." I pleaded, finally feeling what I had been hoping for. He gripped my waist and swiftly pulled me underneath him, hovering his body over me. He opened his mouth enough for our tongues to intertwine, moans lifting in the air as centers pushed to each other. I pulled my hands out from underneath him, over his back and my nails scraped, pushing him to me. "I love you." I cried against his lips, feeling him still above me. He looked down, lips parting slightly. His crimson eyes had darkened with onyx as my fingers reached up and touched his jaw.
"You are my home." He whispered, leaning down to kiss my forehead, my eyelids, my cheeks, my lips, down to my neck. I moaned as he kissed over his bite mark, his tongue sweeping out and across it. But he surpassed it, his body swiftly moving down my own leaving kisses in his wake. Over the mounds of my breasts, over both nipples, causing my mouth to open in a gasp, down my waist and around my navel. He bit at my hipbone and grabbed my thighs, bringing them up and over his shoulders.
My eyes closed as my stomach twisted in anticipation. I felt him down there, kissing my inner thighs, teasing me to no end. I wanted to scream at him, but my lips stayed shut until I finally felt the softest kiss to my center. I ached for him, my voice cracking as I whispered his name. My eyes opened, watching as he spread me with his fingers, blowing to tease me and finally opening his mouth to suck on my most sensitive bud.
I cried out as my head tilted backwards, gripping the sheets beneath me. His tongue worked at a genuine pace to keep me wanting more, my body squirming under him. His hands reached up, keeping me in place as his tongue circled my center and lapping back upwards. My hands reached down gripping into auburn hair as I called out his name, over and over again, trying to move my hips forward and urge him on.
But he teased me, nipping and biting, sucking and licking - and when I was so close, so very close of teetering over the edge, he stopped.
"Wha..." I couldn't even think before his lips were back up with mine, his tongue climbing inside my mouth and sharing the taste of me. "Edward..." I tried to move but he didn't budge, kissing me with such delicate passion that my head was spinning. His hand moved down south, cupping my center as I moaned quickly. His fingers entered inside of me swiftly, pumping into me with no remorse. He pulled away slightly only to stare down at me, his hooded eyes mixed with lust and hunger. My jaw slacked open, his fingers pushing me back to the edge.
And when I looked up to him, his gaze so intense and direct - I knew what he was saying. The flow of love between us was undeniable and at one point I felt like I was going to crack underneath it all. Because despite everything, despite what happened in the past whether it be a year ago or mere hours ago - I had him. And he had me. We had each other and that was all that mattered.
I nodded my head to his stare, feeling the deep twist in the bottom of my stomach, a moan erupting from my lips as he dipped his head down, sensing my oncoming orgasm, his lips pressing over his bite and slowly opening his mouth, his teeth clamoring over it as the wound opened.
And within seconds, I was washed under a wave of pleasure that was so indescribably beautiful, so gloriously adoring - that when it felt like I was falling from Earth, I felt his arms around me and I knew it would never be better than this.