Disclaimer - I do not own Twilight, if you recognize anything that means it's probably not mine. This is purely for entertainment.
"Dialogue"
'Thoughts'
'Pack Mind'
Chapter 2
Bella P.O.V.
It's Saturday morning and I'm getting ready to head down to La Push with the gang. I eat some cereal and head down to Newton's Olympic Outfitters, the store Mike's parents own, to meet up with everyone and ride down to the beach.
When we get down to First Beach it's pretty much empty so we find a big spot around one of the large fire pits and the boys get the fire going. Everyone with the exception of Angela and I head out into the water to swim or attempt to surf. About two hours into our miniature party a few of the local boys show up. One of them is Jake and I decide to ask him about the Cullens. "Jake, take a quick walk with me?" he nods and follows me towards a tree a little ways down the beach.
"Hey Bells! How ya been?" he asks with a little too much enthusiasm for my tastes.
"Alright Jake, what about you?"
He nods and smiles a bit then turns to me. "Good, what's up Bells? You seem a little off?"
I chuckle "Am I that transparent?" he nods and I continue. "Well I was wondering if you knew why the Cullens aren't 'allowed' down on the res?"
He chuckles and shakes his head. "It's just an old scary story…Did you know the Quileutes are supposedly descended from wolves?"
Now that peaks my interest. "Wolves? Like real wolves?" he chuckles at me and nods.
"So the story about the Cullens is?"
He sighs but continues, "Well they're supposedly from this, like "enemy clan" …but they claimed to be different, so we made a treaty with them." I nodded I was started to fit things together here…I knew the first thing I needed to do when I get home is search for information about the Quileutes and their legends.
We made our way back to the group just as they were packing up. Lauren, one of the girls I don't care for, turns to me. "So Bella is that your like boyfriend or something."
I sigh and shake my head. "No Lauren, our dads are best friends…known him since I was a baby." She narrowed her eyes but didn't say more. We finally made it back to the store and I hopped in my truck to head home. As soon as I got there I went up to my computer to try to find anything on the Quileute legends. All I found is a book "Quileute Folk Stories and Art" that is at a book store in Port Angeles. I decide I'll go tomorrow and I close out of everything and head for a shower then bed.
The moment I walk back into my room my phone goes off. I'm so glad Renee decided to get me one so that Charlie's phone bill wouldn't go up from talking to her. I look at the caller id and it's Alice. "Hey Alice."
She answers in her typical overexcited tone. "Hey Bella! I was hoping you changed your mind about shopping? I decided I was going to just go up to Port Angeles tomorrow there were a couple dress stores I wanted to see. The ones next to the book store over there."
I smile and nod to myself before realizing she couldn't see me. "Sure Alice…I was actually going to go up to that book store tomorrow. I found something interesting I wanted to read."
Alice was quiet for a moment…I could almost picture her with that glazed look in her eyes that she gets quite often. "That's great Bella I'll pick you up in the morning! Bye!"
I shake my head and laugh lightly. "Bye Alice." I put the phone back on my desk and go to sleep.
I wake up early and get ready to leave. Just as I finish putting everything in my pockets a horn honks lightly outside. There is Alice…and her Canary Yellow Porsche 911 Turbo. The Cullens all have expensive cars and Alice has a closet the size of my bedroom packed full of designer clothes. I guess there are benefits of having a doctor for a foster father. I hurry down and hop in and she takes off. 'I'll never get used to how fast they drive' I think to myself. We made the hour long drive in just under thirty minutes and off we went. I should have remembered how much Alice loves to shop…not to mention take advantage of her 'Bella Barbie' as she likes to call me.
About three hours later we finally finish with the two small shops. We head into the bookstore next door and grab the book I wanted. Alice looks at me with an odd look saying something but I'm not sure what. We hop back in the car and I decide I can't wait. I grab the book but know that I can't ask Alice about anything I see as I look through it. I notice Alice look at me the same way she did at the store a couple times as I flip through the pages…and I find a bit more about how the Quileutes are descended from wolves who turned into men.
I got a little happy when I read this…that meant she is one of them. It said that their greatest enemies are the Cold Ones but it didn't say anything about them. On a snap decision I decide to just go for it. "Alice, do you know anything about the Cold Ones?" I am not sure what I was expecting but it sure wasn't for her to swerve the car for a moment before regaining control and looking at me with surprise. After my heart stopped feeling like it was going to jump out of my chest I turned to her. "Um Alice are you ok?"
She nodded slowly and stayed quiet for a moment as if deciding what to tell me. "Well Bella," she said in a serious tone I have never heard come from Alice, "from the legends I believe they are what we call vampires." She looks at me with that same look from before but now it seems almost...hopeful?
I sit quietly for a few more minutes and just before we get into Forks I look at her again. "The Quileutes named them that because they have icy cold skin didn't they?" She looks at me and nods slowly with a very serious look still on her face as if waiting for me to add something else. I look at her calmly "There's a reason you and your family aren't allowed on their land isn't there?" There…I said it.
She's probably going to laugh at me and call me crazy now at least this is what I think until she says one thing I never expected to hear. "Yes Bella."
I nod for a moment trying to think clearly…Alice, my best friend, is a vampire. Not only that but her entire family are vampires and could kill me with a flick of their wrist. 'Why am I not scared?' I question myself. I just look at her and see her staring at me with a worried look I just smile. "Ok."
Her worry turns to surprise. "Ok, I tell you that me and my entire family are vampires and you just say ok?" I nod. "and you're not scared of us?"
I just shake my head for a moment before I stop. "…well maybe Rosalie a bit."
She laughs that tinkling laugh. "Don't worry about her…she'd never hurt you she's just very protective of the family and our secret." I smile nervously and nod.
"Bella, I think you should come talk to Carlisle I'm sure you have lots of questions."
I look to her and smile sheepishly. "Yeah." She giggles and we take off. When we arrive at the Cullen house or should I say mansion? We go in and Alice calls out for Carlisle and as if responding to something I can't hear, which is probably true now that I think about it, she takes me up to his office. She tells me to wait at the door and I watch them talk. Their lips are moving so fast that there is no way I could understand anything.
Carlisle calls me in and I take a seat on the leather couch against the wall as Alice closes the door on the way out. "So Bella, I see you've found out our secret." He says as though it's any normal conversation. I nod dumbly I know he won't hurt me but I have no idea what to say. He chuckles and smiles that brilliant smile that makes him seem almost godlike, they all have that. "It's alright Bella, please ask anything you like." His smile helps me loosen up a little and I ask the basic questions on my mind.
It turns out that the reason the pack leaves them in peace is because they only drink animal blood. This still doesn't make them safe because it is possible to slip up but they all have a lot of control Jasper has the most problems which is why he seems so distant from me. I nod as this makes a lot of sense, he's just trying to keep me safe, that makes me feel a lot better about him. They call themselves vegetarians and I had to laugh at their inside joke. He told me about their strength and speed, when I ask about all the legends he tells me that the only way to kill a vampire is to rip it to pieces and set fire to them. I shiver a bit at this information and quickly change the subject.
He continues telling me about how some vampires have special powers above the norm. "What about you all? Any special powers?"
He nods his head. "Jasper is an empath he can feel and control moods of those around him."
I nod "That's why he has the most trouble with the lifestyle isn't it? Having to feel all of you wanting the blood on top of himself that must be hard." He stares at me dumbly for a moment then smiles brightly. He opens the door for a moment and says Alice and Jaspers names at a whisper that I can barely hear but I know they would hear it anywhere in the house.
They walk in looking slightly confused at Carlisle's smile then look at me and I shrug not sure what's going on until he looks back at us. "Bella has an interesting theory about Jasper that none of us have considered before." I smile then I get it…they never thought about feeling the bloodlust of the others effecting Jasper's control. I quickly explain my theory and the grin on Jasper's face make it look like he would split in two. Then, he does something I never expected…comes up and hugs me spinning me around like Emmett always does.
"Thank you darlin' you don't know how much better this makes me feel." He tells me in his southern accent. The pure happiness that radiates from Jasper at this revelation is astounding and I'm so glad that I was able to contribute my part to causing it.
Carlisle goes on to tell me about Edward's ability to read minds…except for mine some reason. I nod and laugh to myself until they give me a confused look. "That explains why he's stared at me like he was trying to read my mind since we met…because he was trying to do just that." They all nod and laugh along with me. Alice tells me about her own power and I smirk at the thought coming to me. "That explains a lot." She looks at me with a grin but I can see the confusion in her eyes. "I had just decided to go to that book store then you call and ask me if I changed my mind about shopping." She nods and smiles dreamily at the thought of shopping. "Not to mention all the other times it seemed like you knew what I was going to do before I told you. When you get the blank look on your face is when you have a vision right?" She giggles and nodded. So that's how she knew we were going to be great friends the first time we met.
"What about your eyes?" They look at me for a moment as if telling me to elaborate. "They change color right?"
They all nod before Carlisle adds "When we are full our eyes are the amber color you see now and when we get hungry or angry our eyes turn black." I nod as these are things I've noticed but didn't have an explanation before now and look back as he continues. "The amber color is just for us though, those who drink human blood have eyes that are…"
"Crimson" I interrupt before he can finish and the look they all gave me was screaming 'how did you know that.' I sighed and told them the story of my first night in Forks. They didn't seem all that surprised about the wolf being there which made me narrow my eyes at them until Carlisle explained.
"When we were here about eighty years ago we were out hunting in the woods when we came across Ephraim Black who was the Tribal Chief and Alpha of the Pack at the time. I explained to them that we only drink animal blood and we made a treaty that as long as we don't bite a human we are free to live here in peace." I smile and nod. It was late so Alice called Charlie and got me permission to stay the night which was when I found out that they don't sleep…ever.
Alice took me up to her room and started with the girl talk when I finally decided to tell her about the girl. "Alice…is this room like Carlisle's office? That the others can't hear through?" She looked confused but nodded. "I uhm…wanted to talk to you about something that I've kinda kept to myself for a while now."
She nods and smiles. "You know you can tell me anything Bella." She chimes out in her bell-like voice.
"Well I think I um…" I stop, trying to gather up the courage to continue, when I just blurt it out. "IthinkImightbegay." There...I did it, I told my best friend that I might be gay.
"What do you mean Bella? Why do you think you might be gay?" I sigh and told her about how I can't stop thinking about the girl who saved me, about how beautiful she was. "She's in my mind like all the time Alice."
She giggles and nods. "I think you might be right Bella, just remember there is nothing wrong with it. Love is love no matter who or what the person is." I nod at her especially at the 'what they are' part because obviously she's something other than completely human, which doesn't really matter to me to be honest. So I nod to Alice telling her thanks for listening and decided it was time for bed. I went to sleep yet again dreaming of my savior, my wolf, my girl.