Chapter 7
"EMMETT!" I heard someone scream making me leap out of the bed in alarm and assume a defensive position.
"Mom I'm sorry!"
When I realised I wasn't under attack I stood straight and walked out the door.
"What have I told you about throwing things in the house!" I slowly came downstairs to see Emmett with his head down surrounded by glass from the broken window and Esme fuming in front of him pointing at the mess.
"Jasper made me do it!"
"He's not even in the house! Clean it up. Now." Esme said walking into the kitchen leaving no room for protests and being the very smart boy Emmett was he didn't argue and started picking up the glass mumbling under his breath. He heard me giggling on the stairs and looked up to pout at me which just made me giggle louder.
"Make sure to sit on the naughty step when you're done." I said walking into the kitchen when I smelt the amazing aroma of pancakes coming from it. "Wow Esme, I didn't know you could cook, it smells amazing."
"Thanks! I love cooking but I didn't have anyone to cook for, now you can be my taster guinea pig."
"Anything that smells and looks that good and ends up in my mouth will be perfectly fine with me."
"That's what she said!" I heard Emmett shout from the living room.
"That's not cleaning young man!" Esme responded, I loved that these vampires acted like a normal family.
A few minutes later she put down the tower of pancakes along with some syrup, sugar, cream and chocolate sauce, have I mentioned I love this woman? The tower would have been way too much for a human who could probably only eat about four but with my never ending stomach this would be no problem.
My fork clattered to the empty plate and I slumped back patting my stomach looking very satisfied.
"Enjoy?" Esme said with a cheeky grin.
"Very much so, you should consider cooking for a living, I never knew pancakes could taste so good."
"Thank you, I've thought about doing that but I can't really test out the food myself so I always worry I'll give someone food poisoning."
"So you don't care if I get poisoned?" I said sadly looking at her with my famous puppy eyes. Esme looked slightly panicked when she saw my sad face.
"Don't fall for it, those eyes are evil." Alice said from the doorway breaking the magical connection that appears whenever I bring out the eyes, Esme looked at Alice then back at a smiling me with a glare.
"Don't scare me like that! I thought I'd offended you."
"Sorry Esme, I couldn't resist." I chuckled. "Where's everyone else?"
"Rose is in the garage working on the cars, Carlisle is in his office and Edward and Jasper are off most likely doing something I no way in hell want to explain." Alice replied.
"Oh crap, what about school? How long was I knocked out?"
"It's okay, you were out for a few hours, it's Sunday today, you okay going to school tomorrow?"
"Yeah that's fine, everything healed a while ago, I was just making sure I had no explaining to do, I'll just say I tripped up and scarred my face."
"That's good, I know you wanted to talk to us about something today but until everyone isn't busy wanna come shopping with me?" She asked excitedly.
"Errmm, I don't do shopping…" I tried to say but I was cut off.
"No excuses!"
"Hey Bella, do you wanna play Xbox with me instead?" As soon as I heard that I made my escape and zipped into the living room with Emmett.
"You have an Xbox? That's so awesome, what games do you play?"
"Mostly Call of Duty and Battlefield."
"I'll kick your ass at Battlefield!" I said getting excited at the thought of playing video games for the first time in a while.
"AHEM." I flinched and turned around slowly to look at Alice who had her arms crossed and tapping her foot. "Awww come on Ali pleeeaaaaase?" I begged trying to use my eyes but failing seeing as she looked away, most likely Seeing what I was planning.
"Do not use your evil black magic on me." I decided to go a step further and get on my knees making a whining sound like a dog and pawing at her jeans to get her attention, her eyes slowly made their way down to me and when they did she let out a huge sigh. "Fine!"
"Yay!"
"You wouldn't think you're a centuries old werecat."
"I will never grow up!"
"Hey, Dumb and Dumber, stop horsing around so I can kick Bella Bear's butt." Emmett interrupted from the sofa, game loaded up and a controller in his hand.
"Dumb? Bella Bear? You're going down."
"Why am I Dumber?" Alice pouted but I ignored it and picked up the other controller jumping on the sofa next to Emmett. What Emmett didn't know about me is I get aggressive when playing video games, very aggressive.
"Emmett, get the fuck out from back there!"
"Hey I'm doing well back here!"
"Pussy!"
After a lot of verbal abuse and swearing we won the game with me coming out with the most points.
"I don't like playing with you, you're mean!" Emmett whined rubbing his arm where I punched it in excitement.
"Just because I beat you."
"I wouldn't call that a victory, all of us beat Emmett." Rosalie said walking in from the garage wearing overalls covered in oil, I couldn't resist wolf-whistling, Rosalie gave me an over-exaggerated wink and I held my hand over my heard and pretended to faint.
"Bellaaaaaa stop stealing my wife from me!"
"It's okay Emmett, I'm sure you can join in." Emmett gave the biggest smile ever and looked between us.
"Hot!"
"I'm afraid that will have to wait." Said Carlisle with a little grin walking into the living room with Jasper and Edward, Edward's hair looked even messier then usual. I looked at Alice to see if she saw too so we could poke fun at him but she was looking at Rosalie intensely for some reason, I cocked my head but shrugged it off. "I hear you have something you would like to discuss with us all?"
"Yeah if you don't mind." Everyone sat down on different sofas and I sat down next to Alice. "I know you said you wouldn't mind me staying here but I thought I would warn you all of my situation before you made up your minds." I told them everything I told Alice the night before although I was a lot more composed this time around, they were just as supportive as Alice when I got to my past, is there no end to this family's kindness? When I mentioned that I was involved in the war Jasper sat up a little straighter.
"You were in the war?"
"I wasn't directly involved no, I just picked off newborns that went astray, I heard about you God of War and it's actually an honour to meet you." Jasper flinched when I said his war name. "I'm sorry if I'm bringing up bad memories, I would love to know more about the war if you're willing to talk about it."
"I don't mind, all of these guys have gotten bored of my stories now." Jasper smiled. I carried on, getting to the part I left out, the reason James is hunting me down.
"About a month ago we were in Canada in a little cabin watching a movie and having some drinks, that was strange in itself, he's not a movie person. Half way through the movie we went in the kitchen to fill up our drinks and he decided to kiss me.
I pushed him back and reminded him that I like girls but he didn't seem to like that, he had been trying to get with me for a few months prior to that saying that we were mates and each time I rejected him he taught me a lesson and made me submit."
I lifted my top slightly to show them the deep red claw marks that were along my stomach and back, Alice gasped when she saw them and lightly traced one which made me shiver. There weren't that many but I remember each one he gave me since they burnt like a bitch, almost as bad as the bite that one vampire managed to lay on me once. I'm glad the scratch on my face wasn't that deep so hopefully it won't be as bad as the others.
"How come some of your wounds heal but others don't? Everything else but the scratch on your face has healed from when we found you" Carlisle said confused.
"I think it has to do with me being in human form when he gave me these, he took me by surprise and I was never quick enough to change before he got to me, but I'm not entirely sure.
Anyway I tried to walk out the door to let him calm down so he wouldn't lash out again but he pulled me back against him, since I knew he's stronger then me and I didn't want another scar I tried to shift but I couldn't, he told me he has an ability, one I didn't know about that means he can block an ability but only if he concentrates. I think he disabled my natural shield because he couldn't have done it otherwise. He threw me onto his bed and immediately pinned me down, I won't give you all the gory details but I'm guessing you know what he did to me after that."
I heard Alice growl deeply and grasp my hand, I looked over to her to see her eyes were pitch black with anger, it made me pretty uneasy for a second, I'm only just getting used to being around calm vampires after all. I also heard a low growl from Rosalie and glanced at her quickly to see Emmett calming her.
"I'm going to fucking kill him." I heard Alice threaten and I immediately turned to her.
"Please Alice, you know what I said earlier, don't go on a suicide mission for me." She looked at me sadly and I simply smiled holding her hand with both of mine.
"When it was over he thanked me and told me that now we were mates everything would be better, so I punched him in the face surprising him and making him lose his focus on me allowing me to shift and run away. The only advantage I have over him is speed, I ran until I knew I lost him and came here to Forks. I thought I would be safe here since he knows how much I liked to go out to clubs and there's none of that here, but he's found me so easily and attacked me.
I just wanted to warn you that he will come back to get me, he is stronger than vampires and can block abilities, although I'm not sure if he can block all of yours at the same time." Everyone was silent after that, thinking over all I've said, they looked up when Emmett stood up and walked over to me.
"Well, I don't know about you but I already feel like Bella is my sister and this James guy sounds like he can give me a good fight, I'm all game for helping her beat the shit out of this creeper. Also, there's 8 of us! There's no chance he'll win."
"There was no objection to me being with you all the way in the first place." Alice said from next to me. Esme came over and gave me a hug, I guess that means she's in too. Everyone else agreed after Rosalie deliberated for a while and I could help but let my heart melt for this family of vampires.
"Thank you all, I don't know what I did to deserve having you on my side in this."
"There's nothing to deserve, you're our friend and you need our help, that's all there is to it." Esme said kindly from next to me, I took one of the hands holding Alice's and held Esme's smiling at her.
"If there is anything that you ever need from me don't hesitate to ask, I'll be here if you ever need my help."
We talked for a while after that about anything we could think about which somehow ended up with Emmett challenging me to a spar since he didn't believe I could be stronger then him.
"Do not do it in here, go outside you two." Esme reprimanded us.
"Come on then fool." I said to Emmett walking out of the house into the yard where there was plenty of space. The rest of the family gathered on the porch to watch, some of them obviously didn't think I was as strong as I said I was either. I crouched down and summoned Emmett to attack me with my hand, raising my eyebrow in challenge, he grinned and dashed forward using the same tactics the wolves did, head on assault. I decided that instead of dodging I will meet his attack, I braced myself with my feet shoulder length apart and waited, just as he was about to hit into me I thrust my upper body forward shoulder first ramming into him, causing him to fly into the air and hit into a nearby tree, I somersaulted backwards so that I wouldn't tumble over myself from the impact.
"Holy shit…" I heard Rosalie mutter as she watched her mate get up from underneath the tree branches. He growled and dashed forward again using all of his speed, I jumped up and landed on his back, pushing my feet down full force making him fall forward and eat dirt, I could have pinned him down at that moment but I wanted to play with him a bit more.
"That all you got?" I teased, crossing my arms and yawning. He got up again and stayed still this time, contemplating his next move since charging forward didn't seem to be doing him any good, I made his decision for him and charged forward myself, he held his arms up and I caught onto his hands momentarily stopping before pushing making his feet drag across the floor as he tried to push back. I threw him to the right onto the ground and got onto his back putting my arm around his neck and pulling it up exposing his throat where I rested my teeth, I heard a warning growl from Rosalie but I let go immediately and grinned down at him smugly.
"Hmph, I guess I underestimated you, didn't expect a tiny thing like you to have so much strength." He said getting up and brushing dirt from his clothes.
"I think that's the first time I've ever heard someone call me tiny." I laughed looking down at my long body and I held out my hand for him to shake, he turned his nose up at it at first but then grinned showing me he was kidding before taking it. I looked up at the rest then with a serious expression.
"James is stronger then that, and I wasn't even in my panther form, I just wanted to give you a chance to back out after seeing the way I fight." I mainly looked at Carlisle and Esme since they were the leaders, Alice dashed down to stand next to me and look at them too.
"I already said I was with you from the start no matter what." Alice answered my curious look before grinning. "Besides, some of us actually have some tactics whilst fighting unlike this baboon."
"Hey!"
"And we're not changing our minds either, we won't abandon you when you need us. Maybe some training would help however if you are willing to give us some pointers, we've never met let alone fought a werecat." Carlisle said putting his arm around his wife's waist, I bowed slightly to him.
"Thank you, I would be more than willing to help with training, it's the least I can do." Everyone except Alice went back inside while I stood there looking at the setting sun that was just barely visible through the clouds.
"Are you okay?" Alice asked softly putting her hand on my lower back where warmth spread throughout my body.
"I'm brilliant I just spaced out for a minute, I love watching the sun set."
"It is beautiful." Like you I wanted to say cheesily but I refrained, I put my hand on her head and ruffled her soft hair slightly.
"I'm gonna head to bed, I'm pretty tired."
"Okay." She said taking my hand and leading the way even though I already knew where it is but I wasn't complaining, any time spent with her was worth it. Before we could get into the house however we were stopped.
"Can I have a word with you Bella?" I looked up to see Rosalie standing at the bottom of the porch.
"Erm yeah sure."
"Alone?" She asked looking to Alice who hadn't moved, she glanced at me in question and I simply shrugged my shoulders and nodded.
"I'll see you inside then." She said before dashing inside, I cocked my head at Rosalie.
"Follow me." She said as she wandered into the forest, I was so confused as I trailed after her wondering what she wanted to talk about that the rest of the Cullens weren't allowed to hear.
"I want to know why you are putting my family in danger." She started suddenly after we were far enough away. "Surely if this James has found you you can simply run away again, find somewhere else to hide, maybe overseas, why do you need us?"
Although she was being harsh I understood her questioning, she simply wanted to protect her family from a very dangerous enemy, but I couldn't give her a straight answer.
"I...Trust me I hate that I'm bringing your family into this, I would go away if I could but I...I..." I trailed off as I looked towards the house, how can I tell this protective vampire that I'm too weak to leave Alice, there was no need to carry on anyway.
"You've imprinted on Alice haven't you?" She asked in quiet realisation.
"Imprinted?"
"It's a shifter thing so I don't know if it happens with you, the mutts call it love at first sight."
"Oh, I wouldn't say that exactly since I didn't even know until yesterday but yes, Alice is my mate, I found out when I looked at her in my panther form." Rosalie smiled slightly and relaxed her stance, I didn't like telling her before I talked to Alice herself but there was no other way to explain me staying.
"I'm happy for you two, she's been waiting for her mate for a long time. This changes things then, as long as you keep Alice safe and happy I will help against James. But if you so much as hurt a single hair on her head..."
"I won't." I stated straight away, "I would never do that to her, I'll protect her with my life."
"We're in agreement then. I hope you know though that vampires do not have the same love at first sight moment like shifters do, it may take some time for her to return your feelings properly. Although to be fair she seems pretty hung up on you anyway."
"You think?" I asked hopefully with a big smile, Rosalie chuckled slightly at my excitement.
"Definitely. It won't take very long, maybe she already knows."
"Has she...Has she ever mentioned liking women?"
"Honestly she's never talked about it that much, she only really talks about people's fashion when looking at people, never if she thinks they're good looking or not." I guess that's a plus for me then since she's called me beautiful a few times now. "Most vampires accept their mate when they realise it no matter the sex, would you believe me if I told you Edward used to be homophobic?"
"Really?! But...but him and Jasper are so cute and lovey dovey and Edward seems like his life goal is to be a fairy." Rosalie laughed out loud at this, she's even more beautiful when she relaxes and gets rid of that scowl she usually has on her face.
"That's brilliant, but he wasn't always like that, he was brought up in a religious house where being gay is a major sin. He's still embarrassed about the way he acted back then."
"That seems so weird if you haven't known him that long. Anyway, I'll talk to Alice soon, I don't want to rush anything, she only just found out I wasn't human after all. I'll wait as long as she wants, if she doesn't want to be with me I'll be her friend. anything that makes her happy." I realised when I said this that I genuinely meant it, I wasn't just saying it to please Rosalie, I would do anything that made her happy, whatever that may be.
"I believe you, I can see it in your eyes. Don't worry, I won't mention this conversation to anyone. I understand you need to talk to Alice first." I smiled at her in gratitude which she returned before we silently made our way back. "I may mention the fairy thing to Edward though." She added after a while making me break out in girly giggles.
"She wasn't too harsh on you was she?" Alice asked half-jokingly as I dragged my feet into her room.
"She was very tame from what I expected actually. She's really nice."
There was already a pair of shorts and a T-shirt set out for me on the bed, I started changing not checking to see if Alice was looking or not, when I was ready I turned around to see Alice with her back to me politely, hopefully I'll strip for her properly some day. I'll talk to her sometime this week, I was too tired for anymore talking today.
"I'm ready." I said getting under the warm covers with a sigh of relief; she sat down on the covers next to me.
"You don't have to tell me what Rosalie wanted to talk about since it was obviously private, but know I'm always here if you ever wanted to talk to me about anything."
"Thank you Alice, that means a lot." I said with a sleepy smile.
"I also wanted to make sure you were okay. You don't have to feel bad about my family helping you, they wouldn't do something they didn't want to do."
"I know, I'm really grateful to all of you."
"Anytime, anyways I guess I'll see you tomorrow." She seemed reluctant to leave and I didn't want her to, I was sleepy and I wanted to cuddle my mate.
"Are you doing anything tonight?"
"No, I've already been hunting today."
"Come here." I almost ordered lifting the covers and tapping the spot next to me, her eyes widened but she followed my order slipping under the covers where I pulled her flush against me, it may have seemed forward but I wasn't bothered about that right now, I was way too tired. She breathed in an unnecessary deep breath and put her arms around me without protest.
"Goodnight Tinkerbell." I said softly and she chuckled nuzzling her face into my hair.
"Night Kitten."
The next morning I got a lift to school in Edward's Volvo with him, Jasper and Alice while Rosalie and Emmett went in Emmett's jeep. I was extremely happy today seeing as I woke up next to the most beautiful creature in the world who hadn't budged an inch all night, I smiled at the memory.
"What you grinning at?" Alice asked with a smile of her own.
"Ohh nothing just very happy today is all."
"You're happy you're going to school? You're the only one then." Edward said from the front. We pulled into the car park and got out to students gasping and whispering amongst themselves.
"Swan came to school with the Cullen's?"
"What the fuck? They never talk to anyone!"
"Sooo jealous, do you think she slept round theirs?"
"What happened to her face?"
"I guess they really don't have anything to do but gossip." I said as we walked past the staring students, really not giving a crap what they think. "I'll see you guys later on." I said waving to them as I made my way to the loos.
"Oi dyke." I heard someone say as I was washing my hands, I turned around to see Lauren, Jessica and two other girls I didn't know glaring at me with their arms crossed, I rolled my eyes and turned away from them, drying my hands with the paper towels, it's funny how Jessica could be nice but suddenly her attitude changes when there's the possibility I could infect her with my lesbian germs.
"I prefer Carpet-Muncher if you're going to be name calling, or at least something a bit more creative, anyway how can I help you lovely ladies?" I asked finally looking at them with a smile, if I'm not intimidated by the shifters I sure as hell wouldn't be by teenage girls who I could beat with my little finger. They seemed put off by my non-caring attitude but kept talking anyway.
"Why were you with the Cullen's today?" Lauren demanded.
"Because they're my friends and they were kind enough to give me a ride."
"Bull-shit, I bet you're with that little freak Alice." I smiled mischievously.
"And if I am?"
"That's fucking disgusting."
"Awww Lauren you're breaking my poor little heart, and here I thought I could invite you along to have a threesome with us." I pouted and sighed dramatically, taunting her purposely. Lauren walked forward and swung her arm forward trying to slap me but I easily caught her weak arm and pulled it behind her back, kicking the back of her knees to make her kneel down.
"Please, you will get beaten if you try and mess with me." I stated.
"There's four of us and one of you, we have the advantage here."
"I wouldn't be too sure of that." They seemed hesitant at first because of my confident voice but all three rushed forward at the same time to try and grab me, I pushed Lauren into one of the girls I didn't know with brown hair causing them both to fall on the floor, I swept my foot under Jess' legs taking them out from under her and she landed on her butt with a thud, I grabbed the other girl's arm and held her like I did to Lauren, I then laughed at how pathetic this all was.
"I can do this all day girls, you can either leave now, or I give all of you broken noses and black eyes, it's up to you."
"You'll get suspended if you do!" Jessica threatened.
"You really think I give a shit?" I responded with a raised eyebrow and a massive grin, she didn't seem to have an answer for that.
"Let's go, I don't want to be around this dyke much longer."
"Carpet-Muncher!" I corrected her whilst throwing the girl in my grip towards them to catch, my smile was still in place when they left and when I got out of the bathroom to my lesson. The little scuffle didn't deter my mood, in fact it increased it because of the hilarity of it all, as I got to the cafeteria later on in the day I spotted Angela and went over to talk to her.
"Hey Ange."
"Hey Bells! How are you? Oh my goodness are you okay? What happened to your face?"
"I'm okay honestly Ange, it's looks worse then it is, all face wounds are. I fell down the stairs Friday night, the doc said it would probably scar which got me pretty upset."
"I'm so sorry that happened, you still look as beautiful as always though."
"Are you flirting with me Angela Webber?" I asked leaning closer with a joking tone.
"You wish Isabella Swan." I put my hand over my heart and winced dramatically causing her to slap my arm lightly.
"I just came over to tell you that I won't be sitting with you at lunch since I had a little problem with Jessica and Lauren earlier today."
"They didn't hurt you did they?" I loved that she didn't ask what it was about and was worrying for my health instead.
"Nothing I couldn't handle babe." I smirked ruffling her hair like I did to Alice's.
"Hey I'm not a dog!"
"Awwwwww is the wittle puppy-wuppy getting ruffled up?" Angela frowned and huffed walking to the lunch queue.
"You're lucky I like you punk." I laughed and joined her getting a little of everything as usual.
"What's got you so jolly?" Emmett smirked as I got to their table.
"It's just a very good day." I replied stuffing my face with pizza, Alice looked at me with doubtful eyes.
"What did you do?" She said in accusation, I gasped at her.
"Alice! Why must something happen for me to enjoy this wonderful day at school?" She simply looked at me with a smirk and a raised eyebrow. "Okay, okay, I may have kinda beaten up Jess, Lauren and two of their sheep." Everyone was silent before bursting out in laughter with Emmett and Alice giving me high-fives.
"I thought they looked particularly bitchy today, what did you do?" Jasper asked.
"Well they followed me into the bathroom thinking they could beat me up for being gay and asking about why I arrived with you guys, I said something about being hurt Lauren didn't want to join me and Alice in a threesome." When I said that I looked over to Alice and winked, if she wasn't a vampire she would have probably blushed, this caused the rest of the Cullen's to chuckle. "That pissed them off so they tried to fight me, as you can imagine, it was the funniest thing I've seen in a while, I owned them bitches." I said the last bit complete with a finger snapping for effect.
"Fo' sure gurl!" Emmett responded in an awful ghetto accent, causing Rosalie to sigh and shake her head.
"We're meant to keep a low profile, not beat people down like piñatas."
"Hey now I wasn't going let some human girls think they can rough me up, I'm top cat and they'd better get used to it."
"Top Cat! The most effectual Top Cat! Who's intellectual-"
"Sing another word of that song Emmett and I swear you will wish you were born a girl." I growled threateningly which apparently had no effect since everyone laughed at the theme tune.
"Aww T.C don't be like that! I was just joking, we know you're the indisputable leader of the gang-"
I got up and put him in a headlock and rubbed his head with my knuckles.
"Owwww get off pussycat!"
"You wanna sing some more monkey boy?"
"OUCH fine I won't sing no more, damn you're violent."
As I sat back down in my seat I saw most of the other students staring at our table.
"Erm did we do something? Why's everyone staring?"
"We usually keep all of our antics for when we're at home, we're pretty quiet here, people probably think we have no personalities." Edward said with a grin.
"But how can you stand school without having a little fun?"
"Oh we do have fun, but it's our own personal brand, Jasper I believe our target has just walked through the door." Edward said staring at a very annoyed Jessica as she joined her table. Jasper nodded and focused a little on her, I could feel the waves he was projecting but didn't know what they meant, I saw Jessica jump slightly and stare at Lauren with dark eyes she then lifted her hand and stroked down her arm. Lauren pulled back and glared at her.
"What the fuck Jess?"
"Erm I..Uhh..." She seemed confused as Jasper's influence left her and looked anywhere but Lauren as she tried to make up an excuse while all of us were giggling quietly in the background.
"You guys are evil." I said approvingly.
The song Emmett is singing is the theme tune to the cartoon Top Cat. Hope you enjoyed!