A/N Sorry for the delay! I was getting my manuscript polished up for my second novel! I'll post faster for the next month or two before edits hit me and then I might have another little hiatus, but as always, I will be back. Let's go see what Charlie has to say, why don't we? :) See you soon!

Fill Me with Your Poison Chapter 4

Bella Swan studied herself in the mirror. What should have been as familiar as breathing was now completely foreign, but then again, she didn't have to breathe anymore either. She was wearing her own T-shirt now-her favorite Forks Police Department gray shirt-and a pair of blue jeans. She hoped that if she looked enough like herself, her father wouldn't freak out. She knew it was a fruitless hope, though.

"You look stunning."

Bella laughed and lifted her eyes away from her own face, meeting a pair of admiring red ones over her shoulder. "I think my line is, 'in this old thing?'"

Edward kissed her cheek as he slipped his arms around her from behind. Taking a cue from Bella, he'd dressed in jeans and a T-shirt as well, opting to wear all black. He'd thought about wearing one of his finest Armani suits, but his girl's father was a simple small-town man, and he was going to try not to intimidate him…until he had to.

"You're stunning in anything and even more stunning in nothing at all…" he trailed off as he brushed his fingers lightly over her breast. "So I think we should hurry up and get this meeting over with so I can get you out of that old thing."

She didn't know what magic it was, but his words along with his touch calmed her. She was truly terrified about her father's reaction to her change, but, realistically, she knew there was nothing he could do about it. What was done was done. And she had every faith that Edward would handle it if things got out of hand. She didn't even question her confidence in that fact.

"Yes, my beauty, I will keep the peace." Even if I have to kill the man. She turned in his arms, and he hugged her gently. "It'll be okay."

"Can I really see him? Won't I try to eat him?"

Edward laughed and loosened his hold on her. "Do you feel the burn any longer?"

Bella focused within herself and shook her head when she couldn't find that hunger.

"You're fully sated and will be for a few days or so. After you've aged a bit, you can go a week without being hungry. But if you should start to feel hungry, or stressed and worry that you might lose control, you've only to think it and I'll get you away from him, okay?"

Bella nodded slowly. "I don't want to hurt my father."

He touched her cheek lightly. "I won't let you." He'd never allow her to do anything that might cause her lasting pain.

"I don't want you to hurt him either."

Edward smiled at the way she looked at him, as if she were the mind-reader of the pair. "And what makes you think I would hurt him?"

"You'd do anything for me." She knew that with every fiber of her being, even without his assenting nod. "And if anybody upset me, hurt me, you'd hurt them right back."

That was true. Edward had no illusions that this meeting with Bella's father was going to be all sunshine and roses, but he wanted her father to at least be civil and accept her choice. If he didn't and if he said anything awful to her, he was prepared to end him. Nothing and nobody was ever going to hurt his mate.

"No matter what he says, or what he does, he's still my father and I love him. Please don't kill him."

Edward was helpless to do anything but give her his word. "I won't kill him, even if he upsets you." There were other ways to deal with him after all.

"And you won't have anyone else kill him," Bella said, interrupting Edward's silent scheming and stopping his alternate plans in their tracks.

"Why would you think I would do something like that?" he asked, trying to appear innocent.

She smiled. "You're the boss around here, remember? You say jump, they say how high. I may not be able to read your mind, but I do know you, Edward."

She humbled him and astounded him at the same time. Never had anybody been able to read him so easily, so effortlessly, before. Even his mind-reading creator slash father.

"Fine. I won't have him killed, but I won't listen to him yell at you, either. If he tries, he's getting thrown out on his ass." And it would be a pleasure to be the one doing the throwing.

"Dads yell, Edward, especially when they're disappointed in their children. Don't you remember what it was like to have a father? You didn't want to kill him when he yelled at you, did you?"

Edward's lips curved in a deadly smile. "I very much want to kill my father, Bella." She jerked in surprise, and he stilled her. "My vampire father, my creator. My real father…" He sought to bring back the fuzzy memories. He remembered a blond-haired, blue-eyed man with a kind smile. "He didn't yell much as I recall, but I was very young when I was taken from him." He stroked her cheek. "I never wanted him dead either. I promise that I won't kill your father or have him killed."

Her mind was whirling with confusion. Edward wanted to kill the vampire who'd made him? Who? Why?

"Later," Edward told her. "I'll tell you all of it later. We have to deal with your father before we even think about mine, okay?"

He had a point. Bella tried to focus, though her heart was aching for her mate, for the loss of his real family and wonder over what had happened to him, how he'd come to be the vampire that stood with her today.

"Soon," he promised, kissing her lightly before releasing her and lacing his fingers with hers. "Let's go see your father."

She moved with him silently down the hallway, marveling at how light she felt on her feet. She almost felt as if they were gliding on a moving walkway, rather than walking themselves.

"I can't wait to take you out and let you experience the world with your new eyes." He stopped before the door that led to his private office. "Are you ready?"

"As I'll ever be."

Edward squeezed her hand and opened the door. He'd been listening as they'd moved down the hallway and hadn't caught many thoughts from the human, other than wondering where Bella was and what was taking so long. He wasn't sure what he'd expected. Maybe, due to Bella's worries over his reaction, he'd made the man into more of a monster than he could ever be. Charlie Swan was an average-sized man, standing at 5'11", and like his daughter, he had pale light skin and brown eyes and hair, though that was the only resemblance. It was the other man in the room that caught Edward's eye and had him tensing for a fight.

The boy, that awful boy from his Bella's memories, was in the room, his back to them, but Edward recognized the black hair flowing over his shoulders and the tanned skin and taut muscles. Hate filled him, and only the fact that Bella was there, holding his hand, kept him from snapping the man's neck before he even turned and laid eyes on her again.

"Bella, what did you do?"

Edward focused back on Charlie Swan, who'd surged to his feet and was staring at her, open mouthed.

"No, no." He gripped at his chest and stumbled. Emmett moved to steady him.

The other man, Jacob, turned and took them in before glaring and taking a step toward them. "Bella! How could you do this to Charlie, to us?"

A low growl came from Edward's throat at the mention of "us" and Jasper, being the good brother and soldier that he was, stepped between them before his brother did anything he might later regret, though he doubted that he would regret it if he killed the man.

"Dad…I…I had to." The part of her that still recognized her humanity wanted to go to her father; to comfort him. The part of her that was no longer human, the stronger part of her, had her staying where she was and holding on to her mate. She wanted to touch him, always, but she also knew she needed to keep him calm. She should have known that Jacob was going to be with her father, of course, he'd come along when she couldn't be located. He'd have felt obliged to. She should have thought of it and she should have warned Edward, or met him without Edward.

At that errant thought, her mate turned and glared at her.

She sighed and shrugged. It's not like I want to be alone with him, Edward, I just don't want you to have to deal with him. Jake's not the nicest guy.

Edward smirked at that and nearly made her laugh.

Yes, I have no doubt that you aren't either, but I'd rather this not turn into a bloodbath, okay?

Edward just jerked his shoulder. He was going to let his mate take the lead, for now. He'd made a promise not to kill her father, and he intended to keep it, but he'd made no such promise when it came to the brute that had the audacity to have touched her, to even now be staring at her with a combination of anger and lust that made Edward want to rip out his heart and shove it down his throat.

"You had to? He made you? I'll kill him myself!" Jacob attempted to get past Jasper, who merely shot out a hand and held him in place.

"Mind your tone and your actions, son," Jasper warned him. "You don't know who you're dealing with."

"Vampire scum who force themselves on innocent girls and confuse them and take advantage of them. That's what I'm dealing with," Jacob snarled.

Edward, who was busy calculating the varied and interesting ways to kill the angry young man in front of him, just smiled as he imagined dismembering him, starting with his dick and then moving on to his fingers and toes. It would be very painful, and it made his day to imagine the giant of a boy screaming and crying and begging for his life.

"Nobody made me do anything, Jake. Stop making a fool of yourself. You couldn't move him if you tried. I don't know why you're here, but I'm not here to talk to you."

Edward dragged himself out of thoughts of Jacob's torture to admire the beauty of the girl next to him. She wasn't cowering in fear. Instead, she was standing tall at her mate's side, glaring at the boy she'd made the mistake of giving herself to long ago.

"Daddy, I'm sorry you had to find out this way. I should have called you and told you so that you wouldn't worry."

Her father laughed harshly. "Wouldn't worry about you becoming one of them?" He spat the word in disgust. "That wouldn't have happened, Isabella."

She nodded. "You're right, and I knew that. I didn't tell you because I knew you'd be upset. I'm sorry that you are, but I hope that you'll accept my choice and respect it."

"Respect?" Charlie Swan pushed away from the desk and shrugged off Emmett's light hold when Edward nodded at his brother that it was okay to let him go. "What do you know about respect? Did you respect my wishes when you came to this godforsaken vampire city? Did you respect my wishes when I asked you to stay in Forks, with me and Jacob, to make a good life for yourself away from these evil beings? Did you respect my wishes when you let him bite you and do God knows what else to you, Isabella?"

Bella gasped as his words were more effective than a slap. It upset her that her first reaction to her father's angry words was to want to bury herself under the covers and cry herself to sleep. But she could do neither of those things anymore, and she wasn't sorry about it.

Before she could speak, Edward addressed her father, though he kept his gaze on Jake as he spoke. "Your wishes? What about her wishes? Whose life is she supposed to lead? Hers, or yours? Bella has made her choice. You don't have to like it, but you do have to respect it, just like she respects you."

"I don't know who you think you are, but Bella is my daughter, and I know what's best for her."

Edward met his eyes then, and Charlie took an involuntary step back at the anger, the heat, and the power that he saw there.

"I am Edward Cullen. I'm your daughter's mate. I am what is best for her as she is for me. You will be respectful to her in my presence, or you won't like the consequences. Are we clear?"

His tone left no room for argument, and Charlie nodded mutely.

Bella, sensing that the crisis had past, stepped toward her father. "I do respect your feelings, Dad, but I had to go with mine. Edward is my mate. Do you know what that means?"

Charlie Swan said nothing, his thoughts whirling. Not again. This can't be happening again.

"It means we were meant to be together. There is nobody else for either one of us. I have to be with him, or I'll never be truly happy, truly right. Don't you want me to be with the one I was meant to be with, the one person that will make me whole?"

"Person? Don't you mean vampire?" Jacob spoke up again, seething with rage. "I made you happy. I could make you happy again, Bella. Even now, I would…"

"Silence!" Edward shouted, his face thunderous. "Don't you even think about it," he warned the young man, who didn't know that his thoughts were as clear as his words for Edward.

Jacob couldn't get over how much more beautiful Bella had become and even though vampires disgusted him, she was still Bella and he still wanted her. In fact, now that she was unbreakable, his mind started to wander to just how hard he could fuck her and, that had been Edward's breaking point.

"What? Are you afraid she won't choose you? I know what Bella needs, and I can give it to her."

"If you think about her like that again, your brains are going to be splattered all over my office walls," Edward said in a soft, deadly voice.

Bella released his hand and slipped both arms around his waist. He's not worth it.

Perhaps not, but Edward didn't care. The boy had signed his death warrant when he'd imagined touching Edward's mate. He might not die today, but he would die soon. Painfully.

"Jacob, perhaps you didn't hear me when I said that Edward's my mate, so let me say it again. I love him. I want to be with him and him only. So much that I had him turn me into a vampire so that we can be together forever. I left you, remember? Edward is the man I want to be with."

"But Bella, I love you." Edward growled, and Jacob pointed at him. "There! You see! He's a monster! He growls! How could you want him?"

Bella let out a low growl of her own, making Jacob step back. "I do it, too, so I guess I'm a monster as well and you couldn't possibly want me now. Problem solved."

Jacob was confused. On the one hand, she was still very similar to the girl that he loved. She looked the same, only better, which wasn't something he could complain about. But gone seemed to be the docile girl that had usually gone along with his wants and desires. He missed that, but found this new, stronger Bella to be sexy, which he'd never seen in her before.

Edward kept himself from killing the man by imagining him strung up before him, screaming as he tore strips of skin from his body, piece by tiny piece.

"Bella, I can overlook what you are so long as you leave here and come home with us. Charlie and I can take care of you, and we'll find some way to get you back to normal-"

"I don't want normal, Jacob. I want more. Edward is my more, and he's willing to give me the world, not hide me away from it like you both wanted to."

"We only wanted to protect you."

"I don't need protecting."

No, she didn't, and Edward continued to be moved by how incredible his mate was. She was calm, controlled, and logical, whereas every man in the room was riding high on emotions. Jasper and Emmett were poised to protect Edward at any moment ,while Jacob and Edward wanted to kill each other, and Charlie was just lost in pain, anger, and sadness.

"But, clearly you do because-"

"Because I didn't do what you wanted. I'm not sorry about that. I am sorry that you came all the way here and that you're upset, but I told you long ago that we were over, and you should have accepted it then."

She turned away from Jacob and focused on her father. "Dad, I hope in time that you can understand the decision I've made and see that it's right for me. I very much want you to be part of my life, to get to know Edward and his family-"

"What do vampires know about family?" Charlie demanded, his face purpling in his anger. "All they know is how to destroy them, how to tear them apart and ruin everything!"

"Dad, that's uncalled for, isn't it?" Bella was embarrassed by her father's outburst. She'd known he'd be upset, but to accuse Edward of tearing them apart was a bit ridiculous in her book. "We can still be together, I can visit, and, well, you could come here, but I know how you feel about that, so we'll come to you. It's no different than if I were to move away after college. We'll still see each other, if you want to. We're still family."

"We haven't been a family since your mother abandoned us for…" Charlie shook his head. "You know what? It doesn't matter. You're an abomination. I have no daughter." As she gaped at her father in shock, he gestured to Jacob. "Let's get out of here."

"Charlie? Without her? I don't think-"

"She's dead, Jacob. We're going home."

Bella let out a sob and tried to step toward her father, but he walked out the door without a second glance.

Jacob looked at her sadly. "I'll try to talk to him," he murmured before following him out the door.

Edward jerked his shoulder at his brothers as he drew Bella into his arms and let her cry tearlessly against his shoulder.

"How could he hate me that much? I thought after he got past his anger that he'd accept it. How dumb was I?"

Edward rubbed her back and kissed her temple. "It's not you that he hates, Bella." It was so much more than that. Edward had caught it in Charlie's final thought before he'd torn into his daughter. "It's me, my kind, and it has nothing to do with you."

She looked up, confused. "How can you say that? He just called me an abomination and said I'm dead to him! That has everything to do with me."

"No, it started well before you. What do you know about your mother, Bella?" He had no idea how much she knew and how much he should cushion the blow. He hoped telling her would make her see that Charlie's anger was more with the past than with her in the present.

Bella looked confused. "She left nine years ago."

"Why? What did your father do when she left? What did he tell you?"

"What does it matter?" When Edward just looked at her, she sighed. "He took off to find her, left me with Jake's father. He came back about a week later and said that she'd found a new life and wanted nothing to do with us." She looked impossibly sad. "Is that what he thinks I'm doing now? I told him I would still come see him! How is that the same thing?"

Edward cupped her cheek in his hand. "It's not the same thing, but in his mind, it is." He took a deep breath to steady himself before he laid it on her. "Bella, your mother left you for a vampire. She found her mate and she went with him, just as you have with me. That's why Charlie hates us so much and why he's so angry with you. Your mom became a vampire."