Disclaimer: The only thing that is mine is the story itself.

A/N: Please continue to read and review.

Chapter 12

"Edward is that really you?" I blinked and rubbed my eyes.

"Yes. I'm sorry, did I wake you?" he said softly.

"No, you didn't wake me up. I was dreaming about my parents again"

"I heard," he replied.

"What do you mean, you heard me? I thought that you couldn't read my mind," I said with almost a panic in my voice.

"No Bella. You were talking about it in your sleep," he replied. "More like murmuring really. But I didn't have any problem understanding it."

"Oh." I didn't know that I did that. I knew that I was blushing so I looked down.

"Why do you do that?" Edward asked.

"Do what?"

"Look down when you blush. I think it is a very cute quality."

I didn't have an answer for that. It was just a habit and I don't know if that is something that I could have changed even if I wanted to. I didn't like showing my emotions, so I hid them. "I don't know why. I have always done it."

"Well in my opinion you shouldn't hide like that. The flush that comes to your face is very endearing." He got up for the chair he was sitting in and came to the couch where I was still half sitting and half laying on. I watched him move in the moonlight like a ghost or a god. His movements were so fluid that it looked like he was gliding on air. As he came closer my heart stared to beat faster.

He paused ever so slightly, looking at me. He said, "Are you afraid of me Bella?"

"No… no I'm not."

"Then why is your heart beating so fast?"

"I… wait… you can hear my heartbeat?" Unbelievable! It must be one of those vampire things.

"Yes, I can and right now yours sounds like it is racing in a marathon. You can relax you know. I won't be hurting you. Not tonight at least."

"Not tonight? You plan on it though?"

"Make no mistake, I can hurt you so fast that you wouldn't know what happened until after it was done. And by then it would be too late."

"But you wouldn't. You said that you weren't going to," I replied.

He sighed and said, "I going to try my hardest to not hurt you, that is not saying that I won't. I am a killer Bella and I can't change that." He got up to walk away, but I reached out to stop him. He looked at me with a question burning behind his eyes.

"Don't go. Just stay with me please." I sat up a little bit more so Edward could sit on the couch with me, but he had me lay my head in his lap. It was very sweet. He put his arms around me and held me there. I didn't want to go back to sleep knowing that I was in his arms but my body had other plans for me. I guess that is the problem with being human. I needed to sleep and eat to function.

When I awoke in the morning, I was surprised that I was still on the couch and Edward was still there watching me. I sat up slowly a little stiff from sleeping the way that I did, but it did not matter. What did matter was that Edward was with me still. He stayed, even when he thought that he could hurt me.

"Morning," I said with a dry mouth. "Did I wake up in time to get to school?"

"Morning to you too and yes, you have plenty of time. Come on, get up and dressed. I will have some breakfast ready for you when you are done. Everyone is waiting for you downstairs."

Great. I couldn't wait to have to meet all of them right away in the morning. Especially Alice, since she didn't ever sleep she was always perky. Almost like she had too much coffee. Well better get going. I got dressed in my sweater and jeans, pulled on my shoes and headed out the door and down to the kitchen.

In the kitchen stood Rosalie, who smiled at me; Emmett, a bigger smile than Rosalie making him look slightly goofy; Jasper who looked a little bored; and finally Alice, who looked me over, head to foot. "So Alice, am I acceptable?" I laughed.

"You'll do," she said. But she came over and gave me a big hug. "Are you sure that you want to go back to school?"

"Yes, I am sure. I am going crazy with nothing to keep my mind focused on. Plus I am sure that I am getting too far behind on everything. I know that my parents wouldn't want me to fall behind."

"Okay, well eat your breakfast and we will be waiting for you out front, okay?"

"Okay." And they all filed out of the room. Edward said that there would be breakfast. There was eggs and bacon and by the looks of it fresh orange juice. I ate it and thought I was in heaven. It was so good. I don't know who made it but a girl could get used to this. Once I was done, I put my plate into the sink and rinsed out the juice glass.

I got to the front door, which was cracked enough to allow in some light, but I could also hear Rosalie asking, "What are you going to do about it Edward? This is a big problem and you know it. If what Alice saw comes true then it could turn out very badly. And not just for you or Bella."

What was this all about? Alice had another vision and she didn't tell me about it. Why would she not tell me? If it concerned me then I wanted to know.

"Rosalie, nothing bad is going to happen to anyone. She isn't going to do anything stupid. There are too many of us," Edward said, but his voice sounded tense.

"Shh, we have company," Alice said.

I opened the door since they all knew I was there anyway. I looked right at Alice. "Did you have another vision Alice? You seem to be having a lot of them with me in it lately." I couldn't help but feel a little annoyed that she was keeping something like this from me.

"Bella, it's really nothing…" she started but I cut her off.

"It didn't sound like it was nothing. Why was Rosalie upset over this 'she'?"

This time it was Jasper who spoke. "It isn't Alice's fault. She sees things when someone is on their current path. If they change what they are going to do, the vision changes."

"So what changed that it is making everyone nervous?" I asked looking around to everyone's faces. It looked like no one wanted to tell me. "Fine. Don't tell me. Can we go to school now?"

We walked to Edward's Volvo. Edward, Jasper, Alice, and I got in his car, while Rosalie and Emmett got in his Jeep. On the way to school we parted ways so I could go run in my house and get my backpack. Just being in my house again, I felt the weight of everything so much. I really miss my parents, I miss how normal everything used to be, and most of all I missed feeling independent. I didn't feel that way now. I now relied on my best friends family for everything and I didn't like it. I had to change that and change it soon. Taking one last look around the house, I walked back out to the car that was waiting for me.

Alice turned to me in the backseat and said, "You don't have to get a job you know. We don't mind helping you."

"A job? I didn't…" Of course she knew that I needed to have some change that would make me independent again, which led me to getting a job. "Yeah. Will I like it?"

"Well, it isn't for me but then again working for Mike Newton's family in a sporting goods store isn't up there in my priorities." She wrinkled her nose at the thought.

I laughed at her. At least now I knew where to go and apply. "Thanks for the tip Alice. Maybe I can run over there after school. Or I can talk to him at school today to see if they are looking for an extra set of hands."

The rest of the short trip to Forks High School was quiet and peaceful. The way the car felt was completely different from what it was like in the parking lot. It was an assault on my senses, there were kids running and screaming all over the parking lot. I just stood there for a minute to try and get my mental balance before heading to the office. I needed to let them know that I was here again.

Edward, Alice, and Jasper went to their lockers to get what they needed for class while I went in to the office. The woman at the desk looked up as I walked in. "Oh Bella dear! It is so good to see you again. I am so sorry to hear about your parents. They were good people." And so it started.

"Thank you. I just wanted to see if I needed to do anything since I haven't been here in so long."

"Oh. No, you are all set. Esme Cullen called to say that you were coming back today so we have told all of your teachers and they have a list of your assignments that you missed. Oh, but they all said that you can take your time to catch up."

"Thank you. Well, I had better get going. Thank you again." I walked out of the office and took a deep breath. Step one done. I can do this. I steeled my reserve and walked to my first class, English. I walked into the English classroom and it fell silent. And then because they realized it, the people in the class started talking again.

I walked up to the teacher and asked for my assignments that I missed, accepted another apology, and went to my seat. It went this way the whole day, and it drew me deeper into myself. I knew that it was going to be like this, but I didn't realize that it would be so hard. By the time I got to lunch I was ready to go home and sleep. Everyone there was looking like they wanted to offer me a seat but also scared to do it at the same time, so I sat by myself.

I wasn't there alone for more than two minutes when in walked the Cullen's. It was funny to think that the last time I was here in this room, I had no clue that they were vampires. I didn't even think they existed; now I was living with 7 of them. They all looked so graceful, even big Emmett. My heart felt slightly lighter since I knew that they wouldn't give me pity, they knew that I didn't want it. They came and sat next to me and soon I didn't know why I was feeling alone.

"Thank you Jasper," said Edward. I didn't know why he was thanking him, but soon a smile crept to my face. I felt like nothing that happened to day mattered. It really didn't so I don't get why I was letting everyone getting to me.

"Hi guys. Thanks for sitting with me. I think I was bringing everyone down. They didn't want to share their table. Well, they did but were scared to ask me to sit with them."

They nodded. "It's understandable. They don't want to do anything that will make this first day back worse for you," Jasper said. I never noticed how deep he was. It seemed like he really got people, really understood what they felt.

"Oh," I said. "Jasper?" I started to ask. "Can you do something like Edward and Alice?"

He smiled. "You are perceptive, aren't you? I can… affect people's feelings."

"Oh, is that common?" I asked.

"No, it is something that we carry over from our human lives," he replied.

"And everyone else?" I asked looking around at the people at the table.

"No, in our family we are the only ones. There are other vampires out there that have abilities and not all of them use them in the appropriate context."

"Oh. You mean they use their powers against other humans and vampires?"

Jasper nodded. "They use them to make themselves feel better, more powerful. It is a sad thing really."

It was, and I was wondering if this had anything to do with Alice's vision. "Alice, have you seen something like this happening soon? Do you see someone coming after us?"

She looked around the table to see if she should say anything and just got nods or shrugs. With a sigh she said, "Yes. There is one such vampire that is coming. She heard about you and Edward. She had a thing for Edward and he rejected her. So now she isn't happy that he found you and you didn't reject him."

"She is coming for me? And she has a power?" Things were going from bad to worse.

"Yes, she is coming to see you. She will be here in a day and a half. And yes, she has a power," Alice said.

"Do I want to know what that is?" I asked tentatively.

"She can cause a person intense physical pain just by thinking it," Edward said before Alice had the chance to. I looked over at him and was wondering what he was going to do. He said once that he was thinking about leaving to keep me safe. Would he do that now?

"I see. And can a power be stopped or blocked?"

"It hasn't been done before," he said.

Well, that is just great. I am having a pain-inflicting vampire coming for me who is in love with Edward, not that I could blame her. I was completely useless without Edward now. "So what is the plan?"

"The plan is for you to be nowhere near the house when she gets in the area. She isn't like us. She hunts humans, so you would not be safe with her anywhere around. We just have to figure out where we can bring you so that you stay safe," Edward said.

"We aren't going to be safe. If she creates a legion of newborns, we will have one hell of a fight to face," Rosalie said. She must not be happy that I am around now. Now that there is a danger coming at her and her family she must want me gone. Maybe I should leave on my own. I could go…

"Oh now you don't Bella. You aren't going anywhere on your won, so don't even think about it!" Alice said fiercely.

"You need to stop doing that," I said. But it made me feel like I belonged with her if she was going to be fighting for me to stay.

"Then stop thinking that you are going to run from us. We will figure everything out and make sure that you stay safe in the process. We will be talking about it tonight."

Just then the bell rang for lunch to be over. That was a really fast lunch, but when you learn that you are going to possibly be someone's lunch, time doesn't really matter. Edward waited for me to get up and then grabbed my hand as he led me out the door and to our class that we shared. That little gesture was noticed by most of the people in the room and I felt the talking behind me as we left. I blushed, again.

Hopefully Carlisle will have an idea of what to do with this new threat coming for his family. Was I right to stay and endanger them? But just then I felt Edward's hand tighten on mine a little bit and I knew that no matter how much I should leave to keep them all safe, I couldn't leave Edward. It would kill me to do that. Then the vampire coming for me wouldn't have to worry about killing me. I would already be dead.