Disclaimer: These are not Stephanie's vampires.
Chapter Nineteen
Isabella Swan
Alice had just told me that she was a relatively new vampire – she'd been a vampire for as long as I'd been alive. And in light of that, I wasn't sure how strong a hold she had on her instincts; it was clear enough that she wasn't completely comfortable in her body and though she was at least twenty years older than me plus her vampire years, she spoke in a stiff, formal way and seemed to possess typical vampire obliviousness.
Simply, I wasn't sure she could stop herself from attacking Victoria.
"Alice," I whisper hurriedly. "Alice, it's okay. I know her. That's Victoria's term of endearment."
"It's disrespectful of the Prince's mate," she hisses back.
"No, it's not," I lie, even though she's right and I hate it when Victoria calls me bitch like she calls James sweetheart.
"Yes, it is!"
There had to be a way to fix this.
I'm thinking quick, watching as Victoria hurries closer to the diner, closer to certain dramatic death, and I open my mouth without much hesitation. "Bitch?" I call towards her desperately. "This coming from the queen bitch?"
Beside me, Alice appears to be processing the term and tone that I've used.
Victoria laughs, looking really human; I glance at Alice and see that she has calmed rather quickly and is looking at Victoria with a tilted head, curiosity and a dash of suspicion plastered on her too-still face.
"Where's your shadow?" I ask Victoria, who is still laughing.
She grins at me, pulling me into a fierce hug. "Football practice," she rolls her eyes before pulling off a pout that would rival that of a four year old. "He left me all alone and since someone doesn't have a cell phone, I had to leave the comfort of my dorm."
"Oh, poor you," I tease.
Victoria sniffles in jest. "It's ungodly to not have a cell phone."
I roll my eyes. "I think I'll survive."
Victoria directs her attention to Alice. "You're hot. Where'd you come from?"
Alice blinks. "Mississippi," she answers plainly – too plainly, because Victoria quirks an eyebrow and shoots me a look.
"She's a friend of Edward's," I say.
It only occurs to me after I've opened my mouth that Victoria wasn't updated on Edward; I try to rein in my irrational anger when she asks about him casually. "Tall, dark and hot piece of ass? How are things with him? Tapped that yet, Mary?"
Heat rises in my face. "No, I haven't tapped that. God, you're so crude."
"And you're a prude."
I wrinkle my nose at her. "And, Mary? Really?"
Victoria shrugs. "What? You look like the Virgin Mary. I mean, dark hair and, well, being the only living virgin."
I glance at Alice, who seems to be having trouble understanding how this conversation in happening in public while she continues to hold the diner door open. I shuffle in, feeling them follow me, and wave to Sue, glancing at one of the clocks on the wall – I had a few minutes to spare before my shift.
Turning to Victoria, I settle my face into a mock glare. "I'm not the only living virgin."
Victoria produces an unladylike snort. "The only virgin on this campus."
And then Alice does the unthinkable – she casually points to a mousy girl surrounded by books in one of the diner booths. "She's a virgin," Alice says with absolute certainty.
Victoria is bemused by the observation, raking her eyes over the girl. "Good eye," she tells Alice.
Alice grins. "It's actually my good nose."
A beat of silence.
Victoria bursts out laughing while Alice looks on with confusion; as far as she's concerned, she was telling the truth. It was painfully clear that Alice wasn't accustomed to dealing with humans because even Edward seemed to be more tactful with his human façade.
Wiping a tear from her eye, Victoria looks up at me. "Forget the hot piece of ass," she tells me and gestures to Alice. "You need to trade him in for this one. Hilarious."
I raise a brow. "Now you want me to be a lesbian? I thought I was Mary."
"Unless this one has a sparkling strap on, I think you can keep your V-card."
"She'd have to borrow it from you," I tell Victoria dryly.
"James would like that," she replies lightly.
I pull a face. "Gross. I don't need to know about your sex life."
"A little kink never hurt anyone-"
"Oh," I exclaim falsely. "Look at the time. My shift is starting."
And thank God it is, because I don't think I can take another session of Victoria over sharing. James is like a brother to me; there are things I just don't need to know.
My shift is steady, light enough that even Sue has the time to eagerly ask me about my "young man" and when he'll be coming in again. I tell her that he's still raving about her chicken fried steak – which was true, as he'd casually mentioned that it was fabulous and had sated his curiosity for human food for the moment. Alice, for her part, spends the shift with her attention divided between watching me like a hawk and gaining an alarming amount of information from Victoria; I'm so glad that I'm not part of that conversation.
Before she leaves, Victoria stops by the counter. "Girls day," she tells me. "Me, you and my pseudo-lesbian lover. Soon. We can dish about your hot piece of ass."
I roll my eyes and tell her that this weekend should work out – Alice, my lady's maid, doesn't seem to be going anywhere anytime soon. She sits almost too still in her booth, her posture proper for someone born in the seventies. But then again, maybe she was raised in an affluent Southern home.
My day changes drastically after my snack break.
I am wiping down the counter from where a rather rowdy group of stoners has just finished dining when Alice races up to me, her body tense, her movements calculated and her eyes dark. In her hand, she clutches a sleek black cell phone. "We need to leave."
My hand stills on the damp rag and I look at her. "What?"
Her eyes dart around. "It's not safe. We need to leave. Now."
I glance at her cell phone, which is lit up like it's still taking a call. "What's going on?" I demand quietly, leaning forward so nobody can hear.
"There's been an attack," Alice tells me.
My stomach drops.
My heart sinks.
My brain works in overdrive, racing through all kinds of possibilities and coming to one conclusion – something to do with Edward.
Is he okay?
My hands start to shake and I have to make a real effort to calm my rapid breathing – is this what a panic attack feels like? Alice is staring anxiously at me, glancing around every few seconds and I can feel the urgency coming off her in waves. I can almost see her fighting against the urge to let her fangs drop.
I place a hand on my stomach, turning, almost able to tell that my face is more pale than normal. "Sue?" I ask weakly.
There is no acting.
I feel like I could pass out.
Edward has to be okay – he has to.
Ever the mother figure, Sue sends me home, thinking I've come down with a stomach bug.
But Alice doesn't take me to my dorm.
She quickly leads me down the alley beside the diner and towards a nondescript black car with a driver already in the front. I'm no idiot – he's a vampire and he's careful and fast in his perfect driving. We speed through stop signs and yellow lights towards downtown Seattle, a twenty-minute trip due to traffic and construction. He pulls the car into the front of a ritzy hotel, dropping the keys in the valet's hand before opening the door for Alice and then me, and he follows me in.
By the time we reach the elevator, I'm so tense that my muscles start to cramp – but vampires don't seem all too concerned about sharing information, even though the human charge in their care is verging on collapse. My hands grip the golden railing as we ride up to the penthouse suite.
The vampire, a bit short and built stocky, stops outside the elevator, obviously guarding it, his expression neutral and his dark eyes sharp. He nods to Jasper, who is waiting for us.
Seeing Jasper manages to calm me down enough so that my breathing feels somewhat normal. "Where is he?" I ask quickly, feeling tears gathering behind my eyes – I don't know how much longer I can hold back. I just want to see Edward, I want to know what happened, I want this panicky feeling to subside so I can be a rational person again.
"He's right through here, my Lady," Jasper tells me formally.
I can't get a read on his tone – is he worried or not? Concerned? I have no idea and it just makes me want to scream at him and Alice for not displaying emotions like people do.
But I don't; I simply trail Jasper's steps as he leads me and Alice through a maze of ornate hallways and rooms. If it were any other time, I would be impressed by the combination of sleek and traditional décor the expensive suite offers, but my mind is in disarray, completely focused on Edward and his wellbeing.
All I can think about is that if we had been bonded fully, I would be able to tell if he's okay – never mind that I've only known Edward for a couple of weeks and that a step like that was serious.
Finally, finally, we stop before a closed door.
"He is resting, my Lady," Jasper tells me softly. He and Alice bow ever so slightly and take a step back, allowing me entrance.
I waste no time in opening the door and I am not distracted by the rich gold and burgundy of the room – my eyes are only for the tall man laying perfectly still on the bed, his shoes and shirt off and clutching his left shoulder.
When I am close enough that my trembling hand can lay over his, he looks at me with clear mint eyes, pain evident in their depths. "Edward," I breathe, part of my body calming at his proximity and the other spiraling into agony because he's obviously hurt.
"Princess," he greets, a peaceful smile crossing his face.
The tears I had been holding back finally escape in a wild, unrestrained torrent and as I let out harsh sobs, I lean over him, resting my body across his so that I can reach his face with my lips, careful not to touch his injured shoulder. I realize that I probably love him as I press quick kisses to his jaw and the corner of his lips – because this type of emotional reaction is reserved for him and him alone.
I hear the door close behind me and Edward carefully lets go of his shoulder in favor of wrapping an arm around my waist so I don't move away from him. My legs fall to either side of his hips and I sit up just enough to get a glimpse of his shoulder.
The injury isn't like a human one – there is no trace of blood, no shiny pink flesh for a scar. Instead, it is a very fine set of spider web fissures on the highest part of his shoulder and though the lines are crisp like broken glass, they are deep.
Carefully, I trace my finger around the wound, feeling his eyes on me as he wipes the tears from my face. "How can I help?"
"I'm okay, princess," he tells me gently, catching a few more tears with his thumb.
I feel like I can't stop crying, even though he's underneath me and obviously okay enough. He's in pain but he's alive.
I lean down, pressing my lips to his neck and trailing slow, soft kisses towards his left shoulder. "You're hurt," I tell him needlessly, my lips brushing against broken flesh. "What happened?"
Edward shifts under me. "Explosion."
I frown.
That sounded too familiar – wasn't my death caused by an explosion of some sort? Edward must be thinking the same thing, because he hurries to assure me. "It wasn't the same."
I want to snort at him. Of course it wasn't the same – bombs from 200 years ago are rudimentary in comparison to the bombs of today. His attack was much worse than mine was, even if he was only hit by shrapnel and walked away from it just fine.
I shake my head. "How can I help?
"I'm fine," he says stubbornly. "It will heal. There won't even be a scar."
My tears have dried but I want to cry all the same – I want to help him, heal him and I know how. Determination rushes through me and I shift my body down, lining our most intimate parts up; Edward is already hard and ready and he growls at me when I put pressure against him. I'm much shorter than him and I have to strain to reach his lips, but when I do, passion spikes between us.
My heart races for him.
My blood is only for him and it can heal him.
I use my body to tempt him, playing into his vampire instincts, waiting for a feral reaction – waiting for his fangs. I moan against him, my body thrumming as fiction pushes against me in the most perfect way. His hands clamp down on my hips, guiding me into a faster rhythm as he sits in one fluid motion and rips my sweater off my body, his hands moving against my bare breasts, pinching and pulling.
My fingers tangle into his dark hair at the nape of his neck and I push his mouth towards my neck. "Please," I gasp, sparks shooting across my body. "Please."
Edward growls deeply against my neck, increasing my rocking tempo as his fangs scrape against my neck.
And then, in a smooth, ancient motion, his fangs sink into my skin, his lips moving against my neck. Our bodies shudder together with frantic thrusts and uncontrolled gasps leave me.
My eyes are riveted on his shoulder, which heals rapidly before my eyes with every swallow of my blood; calmed by his healing, I stroke his bare shoulder and smile.
A/N: Had finals this week, so I skipped an update! You forgive me, yes? The story is picking up – we're getting into the nitty gritty!
host312 – Awwwh, there wasn't a fight! Darn!
And the first 10 reviews of the last chapter (plus guests) are…
Kimmie41 – LOL they made it out of the dorm!
Twilight Rocker 12 – I was worried about Victoria for a second. She totally almost died!
Jamieannaelisabeth – In due time, my dear!
twilight-saga-lover95 – LOL The whole Alice-helping-her-dress-thing is hopefully a one time thing! As for Alice's stiffness, maybe Bella was right and Alice was raised very proper?
Lizakimiko – LOL Ah, but she didn't die ;)
Wootmoot – I'm glad you're enjoying it so far!
Pumpkinmykitty – lol Violence Against Alice support group, maybe?
blve6 - *drumroll* I give you the next chapter! Lol
vampyregirl86 – yep! The bond will come soon! LOL See what I did there? I said come. God, I'm like a middle schooler.
Super special shout out to the first review of the last chapter, Nalia-R - Yay for other characters!
As always, be brutally honest. I can take it.
~cupcakeriot
P.S – Some awesome recs. Give 'em a look!
Augury by Passionate04
Once upon an unfortunate September by jamieannaelisabeth