2000s
Esme was saddened by Jasper's and Alice's departure, but she knew she'd see them again sooner rather than later. She kept asking Carlisle questions about Bella, more out of curiosity than suspicion. She had never heard of her before. Carlisle gave her vague answers. It didn't help that his knowledge about Bella was very limited. He knew a bit about her gift and where she used to live, but he had no idea how old she was. He suspected that she once spent a fair amount of time with the Volturi by the way she talked about them.
To Edward her thoughts were a catacomb of dead languages and it only made him more and more curious about her.
She had been cooped up in Carlisle's study for almost two weeks and he was worried that she'd snap from her lack of blood, but her thoughts were always calm. It never crossed her mind, from what Edward could decipher at least, that she was even the slightest bit thirsty.
Edward was very curious about Bella. From what he saw she had no scars despite participating in the Southern Wars. She never thought about her time there. Some of the brief flashes of memories he caught were of a night sky that was so clear that it was breathtaking. He had never seen the stars look so beautiful.
He enjoyed the few times he could understand Bella's thoughts, especially when she compared what she was reading with something she read long ago. She'd draw parallels, apply theories to the real world, and make discoveries that were mind boggling to Edward. He could see why Carlisle would admire her. If she taught him everything she knew… well, Edward got a new appreciation for his father's intellect.
Her thoughts did sometimes turn to darker matters. She often thought about hunting down other vampires and destroying them or at the very least fighting them. There were memories of her with Jane at various places, overlooking a few vampires they were about to kill. He caught a few images that matched up with 'her shadow' as Jasper called him. He was always smirking, but Edward never heard her think his name.
The thoughts that scared Edward the most though were the ones of pure fire. Sometimes it would be a subtle flame, or a whole city on fire, he even saw a memory of her standing in a field that was covered in flames.
Her mind started singing a song that was so lovely and without match to anything he'd heard before that he had to stop what he was doing just to listen. He wanted to know everything about her. She was just so different from anyone he'd met before, both vampires and humans.
He wanted to go up to Carlisle's study and talk to her, but he didn't want to break her constant stream of thoughts that were both amazing and terrifying. Along with that, despite her being barely five feet tall and no more than 100 pounds she was completely intimidating to him. How could he talk to someone who was a thousand times smarter than himself? How could he speak to her and not make a fool out of himself?
I really like this chapter for some reason. What do you think?