The high afternoon sun peeks in through the dusty window of the Olympic. Royce shuffles around the dank bar, the hiss of a worn broom accompanying his steps. The chairs creak and whine as he moves them out of his way.
Edward had gone home, but staying in a place provided by Lilim did little to tide over his anger. His uniform is crumpled in a corner of the bedroom as he sits at the lonely bar. The back of Edward's throat strains as he swallows too much beer. The thick, bitter charge runs along his tongue. It's not delicious, but serviceable and on his second pint he is numb to the flavor. Seething questions rush through his mind.
His cell phone buzzes in his pocket. He ignores it, taking another swig. His jaw tightens. Another buzz. With a sigh, he looks.
Bella Swan. "Where are you?"
He tosses the phone, face down, on the bar. His chest aches. It's not fair to her, to Alice, but he can't. Fuck Lilim.
He finishes his drink. He rolls the bottom edge of the glass over the rough surface. Minutes pass in a haze.
Another buzz from the phone.
"Please, Edward."
He frowns and types out his response. "I left."
"Please, let's talk about it."
Edward leaves his phone and takes his glass over to Royce. Tapping him on the shoulder, he holds up the empty glass, questioningly.
Royce grins, pointing to Edward, then the glass, then the bar.
"I can refill it?" Edward asks, slowly.
With a smile and a nod, Royce goes back to sweeping.
A little embarrassed by the show of trust, Edward walks behind the bar and refills his pint. He sits back down and looks at his phone. Another text.
"The team needs you, Edward. Tell me where you are."
He ponders, drinking half the glass before texting back his response.
About an hour later, with Royce gone into a back room, Bella walks in. Her pleading eyes hit Edward the moment she enters. She scans the bar quickly and moves to a small table in a back corner, dimly lit in blue by the old neon sign on the nearby wall.
Taking his beer, Edward joins her. The only two in the bar. "Want a drink?"
"No, I'm good," she says, forcing a smile at the gesture.
"Did you drive here?"
"No. I caught a ride with Epsilon's team leader."
Edward hides his surprise at the revelation of another team in the facility. "Didn't know there was one. He human?"
Bella nods. "Teams rarely meet up unless necessary. That's why you haven't seen anyone else. There's a whole other wing of the facility, actually."
Through a grimace, Edward takes a gulp. The alcohol starts running through his skull. "Can't see my own team. Can't see the whole facility."
"Yeah." Bella speaks softly, with understanding and sadness. "It's always hard on some leaders. Really hard on others." Her brown hair, near black under the ugly blue light, hides her eyes as it falls around her lowered head.
Edward sits back, putting distance between them to help think straight. "I get the need for secrecy, but I don't see why I'm needed."
"Carlisle told you why." There's a sudden flatness in Bella's voice.
"And his reason is bullshit," Edward spits. "How they fuck can you deal with that?"
She sighs. "In 1947, we had a member..." She shakes her head, "Oh god, what was her name? Maria. She was a llanto. Did you..."
"Yeah. A Central American banshee," Edward says with a bored recollection of the creature's profile.
Bella flashes a wide smile that Edward can't help but return. "Exactly," she says. "Sweetest woman, but she just kind of ... lost it one day. Five humans were killed before me and Emmett could take her down."
"You and Emmett?" Edward says, a pang of inexplicable disappointment striking his gut. "You killed her?"
"Emmett did, but I helped," Bella says, running a hand through her hair. "It was the only way to stop her."
"You and Emmett have been with Lilim a long time."
"Don't say Lilim out loud, and yes. I was the first member," she says in mock pride. "The government created it because of me."
Edward ponders on the statement, staring at the empty glass in his hand. He can feel his mind swimming in the previous drinks as the gleeful satisfaction that this conversation will take a while. Gripping the glass tightly he beams at her. "I need a refill."
"Okay," she says with a chuckle as he walks back behind the bar.
"Sure you don't want anything?"
"Yes, thank you," Bella says, her face flushing slightly in embarrassment. "I'm sure they don't have what I drink back there."
Edward fights the urge to ask for specifics with the temptation of a more interesting story. He slides back across from Bella. "Lilim was created because of you?"
Bella ignores the use of the organization's name and nods. "Yeah. I was with the Army Nurse Corps in World War II. Pacific. In Manilla, I was attacked by a mandarugo." A longing fills her. "Everyone thought it was a dog, but then I turned." She bites her lip, recalling the moment of her first transformation but futilely fighting against the details in her mind.
She continues. "Brass didn't know what I was or what to do. I stayed in observation for months. They thought it was some Japanese secret weapon or a unit made up of vampires and ... you know what happens. Generals see what they want to see in their intel reports. They found two cities in Japan they thought would be housing these vampires."
She bites her lip and wipes her eye, forcing an awkward smile. "Someone, I don't know who, knew about the Manhattan Project and figured the atomic bomb would be powerful enough to destroy vampires. It actually is. But after Hiroshima, Japan said they didn't know anything about vampires. It wasn't until after Nagasaki that a mandarugo was captured in the Phillipines that we realized the truth."
Edward says nothing. In the lingering silence, he is intrigued by how readily he accepts her story. It's an outlandish tale, but he knows creatures exists, he knows how decisions are made, and sitting across from the beautifully plaintive Bella, he knows it's fact.
The oleander charm glints as Bella holds it between her fingers. "The military knew monsters existed. When they discovered Nazi research on other monsters, werewolves and such, President Truman decided to keep it classified, but allow willing creatures to help maintain secrecy: Lilim."
Watching her, Edward fills with awe. Their eyes meet and they share a smile.
"Drink your beer," Bella says.
So enraptured by her story, Edward forgot the drink in front of him. The now warm liquid runs roughly down his throat.
"Where did Emmett come from?" he asks, wanting to continue listening but unsure of what else to say.
She sighs, the uncertainty of how to discuss the matter clear on her face. "Western Europe is all I know for sure. When he joined Lilim we were told he healed a soldier in Germany after the war, and that's how the military discovered him. I'm not even sure how old he really is. At least five-hundred. Maybe a thousand."
"You'd think he'd learn some manners by now," Edward says, scowling as he takes another warm swig of beer. He finishes the glass and heads to refill it.
"Imagine if you lived in secrecy that long," Bella says across the bar, her voice carrying. "I'm in my eighties. For sixty years most people I meet last in Lilim less than five years. I try to be friendly, but knowing that almost everyone I meet will die or disappear makes it hard to really care."
Edward sits back down. His chest tightens at her statement.
"After a while, all you can be is an asshole," she finishes with a shrug.
"Why do you put up with it, though?"
Royce returns to the bar from the back. Bella watches the man shuffle around, a sad distance in her eyes. He absently grabs his broom and steps outside. She frowns a moment before answering.
"Emmett can be impossible, but he's saved hundreds of lives. Team members, team leaders, random victims just caught in a bad spot." Her voice catches as she avoids details. "He's saved me a few times."
"Then why don't people last longer?"
Bella bites the inside of her lip. "They die. Sometimes Emmett can't get there in time."
The somber answer is so obvious Edward is disappointed he asked. The anger from the morning is gone.
"And," Bella adds as an afterthought, "He has centuries of combat experience. In the field he is one of our best assets."
The way Bella describes Emmett is so against Edward's interactions with him. "So, what's his deal with me?"
"He's old and, I think, bored. He's experienced so much, the only entertainment he seems to get is harassing people."
Bella reaches across the table and grabs Edward's beer, her fingers grazing his. She brings it up to face and takes a long whiff. The hint of grain fills her. Her shoulders relax. She's just comfortable, for the first time in a long time.
"Have a drink," Edward says.
Royce enters, catching Bella's attention. The light from the lowering sun hits deep into the dark building. She sets the drink back down.
"I can't," she says. She watches the old man cross the bar. He glances over, their eyes meet and they nod. After the moment, Royce disappears again, into the back.
"You know Royce?" Edward asks, a mix of genuine curiosity and a hint of jealousy.
"No." Bella watches the door to the back, the past flooding her mind. She forces a smile and turns to Edward. Playfully, she taps her fingers against Edward's forearm. "Tell me."
"Tell you what?" Edward ignores her obvious lie, politeness and understanding making him grin.
"Tell me you'll be back tomorrow."
"I want to," Edward says, the frustration slowly returning, "But I want to be with the team. I have a major issue with not training with you."
A surge of flirtatious spirit rushes in to Bella. "Just me?"
With an open smile, Edward takes the bait. "Mostly. Yeah." They let the moment linger before he continues. "I don't see how not training with you makes me safer."
"In the field, you direct us. It's your decision-making and overwatch we need." She sits back in her chair, allowing her feet to straddle his on the floor. "Even when I'm sniping I have a very limited view. Typically, the closer team leaders are to the action the worse their outcome."
Edward scowls in thought before finishing his drink.
"Alice picked you," Bella continues. "She's thrilled with the selection. Once Carlisle is satisfied with how much you know about supernatural creatures, you'll start working in Observation. Then you'll get your ARMS and we'll start Pen work with you."
"How long will that take?" Hearing the process laid out so simply makes Lilim suddenly seem less daunting.
"Depends on how badly you want it," Bella says, a teasing rasp in the words.
"Seriously."
"A couple of months, typically."
"What happens if I quit?"
Bella's face tightens in anger. "Is that still an option?"
"What happens?"
"You don't get your life back," she says, through a frown. "You don't get much of a life back at all." She doesn't like giving vague answers, but would rather not discuss the details: the committal, the treatments.
Edward's mouth twists, wanting more information but knowing he won't get it.
"I would be pissed," Bella adds, wanting to lighten the mood and ignoring the ache in her heart. "Alice would be really hurt."
"Yeah?" Edward asks with a wide, flattered smile.
She tilts her head forward, eyes up to meet Edward's, and smirks. "You wouldn't want to hurt Alice, would you?"
"Okay," he says, his face reddening slightly. "I'll be there.
"Thank you," is all Bella can say in relief.
They sit a while longer in quiet. Edward allows the alcohol in his system to wane. Bella simply enjoys his company.
Her stomach tightens and she checks her watch. "I need to go."
"Curfew?" Edward says, jokingly.
"Something like that."
They stand. Edward takes his empty glass back behind the bar and slides some cash into the register drawer. A group three guys, wearing the red polos of the grocer next door, walk in as Bella and Edward exit.
"Need a ride back?" Edward asks.
Bella turns away from him, heading back to the woods behind the bar. "No. I'll fly back."
"Oh." They walk together to the trees. "Can I watch you transform?"
Gritting her teeth, Bella sighs. "Not yet. But," she turns her back to him and pulls her hair up, "Could you unzip me?"
"Sure." The two zippers sewn into the back of her shirt pleasantly surprise Edward. He places one hand firmly on her shoulder, strands of her hair falling against the back of his hand. His eyes trace her neck down her back. He slowly tugs the slider, revealing the bare skin of her back, changes hands and repeats.
"Thank you." She turns. "Typically I have to take off my shirt and do that myself." She grimaces briefly, trying to hide the pain. "I'll see you tomorrow."
"I'll be there," he says softly.
"Good." Her eyes brighten. "Good night, Edward."
"Good night, Bella."
The brush crunches under her feet as she moves into the trees. Edward waits before taking a few steps back towards the parking lot, when the loud crack of a branch draws his attention. Through the leaves, in the shadows, he just makes out Bella's silhouette as two wings grow and expand. The shush of their movement, the crackle of twigs and she disappears above him into the darkening sky.