CHAPTER 22 – LOOSE TIES

Coldplay - What If?

What if there was no lie

Nothing wrong, nothing right

What if there was no time

And no reason, or rhyme

What if you should decide

A/N: Back again early – thought I'd cheer you up on a Monday. Love Coldplay and love the song above. Recommend it. But for now, let's read on…

"Where do you think you're going?"

Her golden eyes had darkened, no longer the bright gold that she had in school which unnerved me. Her murderous rage filled me and this only heightened my fear. As well as this anger, I could read the curiosity that was laced in her snarled tone.

My erratic thoughts were jumbled up now and I skimmed through them when I stammered out any excuse that came to mind, "I-I uh um sorry. I guess I-I just got a bit lost" my sentence was broken up and my voice sounded weak and pathetic but I was not going down without at least fighting for it. There was still a chance that I could save myself.

Instead of my first emotion being fear, it was actually embarrassment as I watched her eyes rake over my body which was in the soaked pajamas and my slipper clad feet. My wet tendrils were now curled and my skin was probably ashen due to the freezing weather. Nothing compared to the beauty that she held in her simple white tank top and fitting jeans and somehow wedge heels which weren't caked in mud as they should be.

She continued to stare down at me with the advantage of her tall height of about 5"9 and I caught the unexpected amusement that flickered in her eyes but I didn't really intend on staying long enough so that I could to try and analyze her thoughts.

Gulping down my fear, I tried to stop the shaking as I spoke again, "I better get going"

Not waiting for a reply, I dodged her side wanting to try and get away but I wasn't so surprised when her hand was quick to reach out and grabbed my wrist, stopping me from taking another step. Her grip was tighter than Edward's and I could tell that my life meant nothing to her.

She would not take a second to think about killing me and this was strangely comforting because it was an expected reaction – not the other bewildering reactions from the rest of the Cullens that would throw me out of the loop.

She spun me back around and used her true strength to push me back onto the tree. Ironically being the same one that I had once been cowering behind causing me to release a strained groan when I the rough bark scratched my back under the thin pajama top.

Would she feed on me?

She leaned forward, only inches away from my face but all I saw was the threatening hand that rose. In remembrance of my past training, I was quick to block whatever attack she had planned for me as I took grip of her wrist, evidently surprising her before I then spun her around like she's done to me then twisted it so I could pin it behind her back which meant that she was the now the one pressed up against the tree.

A day of satire, huh?

"Bella?" it wasn't her surprised voice this time and I turned to my head to the left, following the voice as I was met with a shocked looking Edward and gaping Emmett.

Realizing what I was doing, I quickly dropped her arm and took a step back, "Sorry" I muttered lowly before gulping then trying once more, "I – uh – I needed to go" , but I this time as I turned around, Emmett was quick to flash before me and I could see that Edward was on his side as Rosalie now stood behind me.

I was surrounded.

Trapped.

The memories swirled and replayed as the great sense of déjà vu engulfed me and the suddenness of the darkening thoughts made me weak. I could still feel their arms reaching out to me and this caused the the pounding in my head returned as I also caught the flash of scarlet in my thoughts which made my skin crawl. Dizziness hit me and my knees gave way, my eyelids grew heavy as I allowed the waiting shadows to take me away again.

-XxxxxX-

I could hear several whispered breaths nearby and the soft sounds of someone shuffling their feet. The low ticking of a nearby clock as seconds passed and the complete silence was so peaceful that I gave a small smile. It was the first time in a long time that I felt calm.

Before I could help it, I felt the enveloping darkness slip away from me but even though I tried to remain where I was, it continued to slowly fade and my eyelids fluttered open. I blinked away the blurred vision only to be met with the swirled patterns on the white ceiling.

White ceiling?

As the darkness wilted away, it also cleared my hazy thoughts and I found that everything was coming back now and I was thankful for this even if they were returning in fleeting fragments.

Stopping the van…Angela…Edward…The dream…Driving…Cliff-diving…Swimming in the warm water…Walking in the forest…Rosalie…Emmett…Edward…

Edward.

My heart rate had picked up pace and my breathing was now cut into short gasps as I fought for air and I shot up from the seat, a wave of nausea hit me again that I had to reach up to clutch my head with an audible groan escaping my chapped lips.

When I glanced down, I found that the comfortable thing I had been laying on was a white couch.

Wait - this was not my couch and this was not my cabin.

Someone cleared their throat and the sound was enough to break me out of my stupor as I whipped up in surprise and panic set as I gasped out when seeing the light blues and whites of the interior before finally meeting the unknown golden eyes.

Her long caramel colored locks framed her pale heart-shaped face in perfect waves and it was almost like a classic beauty that reminded me of the 50s. Her beautiful features reminded me a lot of Edward and I could almost believe that it was his real mother. Her slender figure was dressed in a purple ruffled top with a black skirt and I took note of the black heels she was wearing. She was the one that they called Mrs. Cullen – their 'mother'.

"It's okay" she breathed softly and I looked up at her with wide eyes. Her eyes were s lighter golden, warm with kindness and I felt no threat from her but I was still guarded. "We're not going to hurt you" she added gently as if I was some kind of ticking bomb.

It was when she said 'We're' that I took note of everyone else in the room. They were all here – Edward was in the seat next to the new stranger vampire. Alice and Jasper occupied another couch, his arm wrapped around her shoulder in a protective manner. Rosalie was sat next to them and I felt myself cower from her glare. Next to her, stood Emmett who had his arms crossed over his chest and for once looking very serious.

"No one will hurt you" the pretty brown haired woman spoke again when she read my silence and I turned back to her, meeting her warm golden eyes again. "I promise" she whispered with such sincerity that I almost fell for her words and believed her.

I wanted to believe her. I really did.

"You're not?", my first words escaped my lips in a croaky tone as they scraped against my throat.

My whole mouth felt dry and I had to dart out my tongue to lick my lips. This seemed to have gotten Edward's attention as I caught the movement of him straightening up in his chair. When I finally locked eyes with him, I found that they were almost pitch black and held a betrayal which I instantly felt guilty for.

I should get out of here – run while I still could.

Not able to help myself, I glanced at the door but this wasn't difficult for the vampires to miss as Emmett raced to block the exit and Rosalie sneered, "Don't even think about it"

I was outnumbered yet again and with this fact, I finally gave in and fell back onto the chair with a defeated sigh before my rambling began, "I'm sorry" my apology tumbled out in a rush, "I shouldn't have been listening in" meeting Emmett's eyes then looking towards Edward before finally turning around to look at Rosalie, "and I shouldn't have hurt you"

I doubted that my weak attempt at making peace with vampires would get me anywhere but I still wanted to try and save myself. It was worth the try – even if I did die while trying.

Rosalie brought me back as she broke the silence with a scoffed laugh, "Pfft, please. It takes a lot more than that to hurt me" she smirked at me and I caught how Emmett mirrored it while looking across the room to his mate, with a prideful smile.

From her action, I could easily read that this Rosalie vampire was a creature of pride but her self-assured words made me break out in an involuntary smirk as I murmured, "I'm sure…"

This did not go unmissed as she grew annoyed and then her dark glare was directed at me but I didn't focus too much on it because Alice caught my interest when she gave small smile as if she was shared my secret. It was both unnerving and comforting.

This had to stop – I couldn't do this. Not with them.

I doubted that they would've brought my truck here but maybe if I could just push them out with the telekinetic energy that might give me a head start of running away. A small voice told me that I could never bring myself up to hurt them and an even small part of me added especially Edward.

Thinking of him caused the unintentional action of glancing at him and watched how his eyes darkened then narrowed as a thought crossed his mind. The temptation of looking into his mind rose but I bit my tongue to stop from stretching out my shield.

Again, Rosalie took charge of the questioning as she snapped me back to reality with her harsh tone, "What were you doing in the middle of the forest at four am?"

My patience was growing thin and I resorted to masking my fear with anger as I challenged her, "I could ask you the same thing"

She didn't flinch or give anything away as she leaned back and confidently crossed her arms before answering me smoothly, "We were hiking", her confident tone only confirmed that they had had time to discuss and decide on an excuse while I was unconscious.

I briefly wondered who it was that had carried me back to their house and my eyes flickered once again towards Edward, who was still watching me intently. His heavy gaze made me squirm in the seat making me tear my eyes away from him as I looked back at Rosalie who was waiting for my explanation, "Well I couldn't sleep so I decided to walk" adding a small shrug in hopes that they would believe me.

It was the best I could do but I knew that it was not even nearly enough as they all continued to stare back at me, casting accusatory glances my way and all I could prayed that my mask was still in its place.

Emmett chose to be the one to voice the question that I dreaded, "How did you move so quickly?"

Making my expression form into a confused grimace, I pretended to be perplexed by the question as I replied calmly, "I don't know what you're talking about"

I hoped that they had missed the way my heart skipped a beat when I said this.

My reply had all of them sharing wary glances between each other and I caught how Edward had now turned so he could be looking directly at Alice with such intense emotion that I was able to tell that they were having a mental conversation between them.

After a second passed they seemed to have come to a decision and I watched both Jasper and Alice moved forwards on the seat. Jasper then caught my attention as he trained his eyes on me with a decisive expression before finally speaking, "We know that you know"

My heart fluttered at this but I took a deep breath to stop my stuttering as I continued to challenge them. "Know what", I hitched an eyebrow still hoping that I could break them and they might actually end up letting me go - wishful thinking, I guess.

"You know what we are" Alice's expression was like the rest - calm and composed but also guarded as they tried to be careful not to slip up.

"I don't underst-"

"Listen here girlie" Rosalie interrupted me with her angered growl but also as she gripped my shoulder with great force so I could face her, "We know that you know and we know that you aren't exactly human either" she stated with the same certainty.

I still, wouldn't give up as I continued to play innocence, "Why?" she narrowed her eyes at me, "What are you?" I asked already knowing that they wouldn't actually say what they were. They just wanted to catch me out – that was not going to happen.

The fire burnt in her dark eyes that were filled with frustration before she then hitched an eyebrow to question me, "Are we really going to play this game?", she leaned in, making sure that I didn't miss the underlying threat in her angered words.

Did they really expect me to reveal myself?

They were sadly mistaken because I would continue playing the cat and mouse game because we both knew that they would never t-

"We're vampires" Edward spoke for the first time and my head whipped round to look at him. There had been no anger in his voice but instead I could hear the worry.

It took a while from me to recover from the shock that they had actually revealed themselves but I still couldn't give in so I got back into the charade as I scoffed, "Vampires?" then adding a laugh when in truth I was actually panicking.

I had not expected them to tell me the truth especially with the Volturi's strict rule regarding the secrecy of their existence. Many had died in the hands of the Volturi simply because of revealing themselves – some did it for love or some were just careless.

I knew this because I had killed some of them.

"But you already knew that didn't you…?" Edward continued ignoring my attempt at the façade. He looked at me with the previous betrayal and I knew I shouldn't feel the guilt but I could not help but look away from him in shame.

It was pointless to carry on but my mind hadn't clicked on that yet as I continued to argue, "What? How c-"

Again I was interrupted by Edward, "The fact that you're not even trying to escape implies that you knew that already". He was right and I berated myself as I looked down at my entwined fingers in silence as I wasn't really sure what to do next. "What you did in the parking lot…" Edward broke off but I could still feel the strength of his stare and he continued to gaze at me.

"I'm different. That's all", still refusing to look up, I shrugged at this before muttering quietly but knew that they could hear me.

Different was an understatement.

Edward gave a huffed sigh before gently whispering, "Why don't you want to tell us?"

I shot my head up to glare at him as I spat out my reply in disgust before I could even take a second to think, "Because you're a vampire"

At the time it seemed like such an obvious answer but I realized that my rushed words had come out more harshly than I expected and I immediately felt remorse once again when seeing the hurt settle in Edward's eyes before he looked down.

"I'm guessing you have met some of our kind" Mrs. Cullen spoke this time and I was slightly startled as I'd even forgotten about everyone else's presence in the room as I'd placed my full focus on Edward Cullen. It seemed he had a habit of making me feel that way.

I looked away from her 'son' so that I could meet her pained filled eyes too which hurt me even more so I shamefully cowered away and looked back down to my hands which were placed on my lap when I answered her in a soft whisper, "You could say that"

Edward remained silent and Mrs. Cullen continued her interrogation, "They weren't exactly good to you were they?" she perceived and all I could do was nod. "Well, you can trust us" she added with a fierce tone and I snapped my head up to look at her surprised to see that she was being sincere.

Salty tears brimmed in my eyes, making everything more obscure and I felt so torn and conflicted over what I could do next. I wish my parents were here – they always knew what to do.

Feeling vulnerable under their penetrating stares, I shook my head to get blink away the tears, "Can I?" my voice shook with the stuttering words.

"Yes" with his answer, I tore my eyes away from my hands and finally lifted my head so that I could look up to Edward. His eyes were no longer filled with the pain that I had inflicted as I could only read great sincerity and understanding.

It was almost like he was sending me a message but I couldn't really decipher what he was trying to say. All I knew was that his heavy gaze was making me feel more defenseless but strangely I was okay with that. I felt like I could trust him and that scared me.

He nodded before adding, "You can"

A/N: Ooh…getting closer. Love for the Cullens? Hope you liked this chapter.

Respond to Reviews:

Kelly-Starfly – Great support. Thank you for reviewing and for reading.

Multi-Fandom-Lover123 - Not Alice – sorry. Although I was tempted to use her or Emmett. Back to school huh…Good luck to ya. The whole writer's block thing always comes to me too. What a weird topic so my best advice is to think of a fanfiction and just change around the names? Find the metaphorical value of the topic. Thanks for the love to the chapter – revelations are closing in. Had a great Thursday and Friday, thanks - hope you did too. Ooh Damon Salvatolre stalking you – I would not mind that… If only. Anyway thanks for reviewing and for reading.

IzzyPure – Okay…okay…I crown you as top weirdo. Congratulations, you are the reigning champion. Hats off to you. Learning newer and weirder things about you. Love it. Thanks for your review and for loving the story.

kvarsha – Thank you SO much for reviewing and for reading. I'm so grateful that you're giving me and this story a chance and you're enjoying it. BTW Bella is not a vampire.

Twilight Rocker – Great guess. Aren't you glad that you weren't wrong? Feels good, don't it. Happy that you loved the chapter and you're still reviewing. Thanks.

Sakurako Nagasaki – Correct! It was Rosalie. Thanks for reading and reviewing. Always like to know what my readers are thinking.

InLoveJA – As always, thanks again for your help. Sorry wasn't Emmett who found her but glad that you like him. I've always been an Emmett fan. Reminds me of one of my best friends.

Valentine Rain – Aro did many many things to Isabella… All will be revealed.

pfkman23 – We're coming closer to all the revelations. Great guesses but we'll have to wait and see…

Until next time...