chapter four

A slap to the face, a blow to the gut, a punch in the kidneys. Any of these would be an adequate description of how I'd felt after that tidbit of info. I hadn't even realized that knowing Jasper already had someone—that Jasper was mated—would hurt me.

Maybe it was knowing that the kind and sensible Jasper that had gone out of his way to ensure that I didn't feel offended or uncomfortable in school was stuck with such a controlling... witch. No, I wasn't even going to filter. Because she didn't deserve that title and I wasn't going to put myself in the same group as her. No, the child that was probably no older than fifteen when she was turned was a bitch. How was she not deemed an immortal child?

I pulled myself to a stop as I paced my bedroom. Immortal child was going too far for never having truly met her. As I understood it, it was one of the biggest insults and sins in the vampire world. And whatever I felt about Alice—no matter how unfounded—it would reflect on Jasper. And I, at the very least, respected him.

I flopped down onto my bed, drawing the large grimoire Charlie had told me to read when I was home alone closer. I absently flipped through the pages, letting out a sigh. The pain I'd felt—and had quickly hidden from Jasper because that was not a conversation I wanted to have—could only mean one thing. In some way, shape, or form, I liked him. Which wasn't bad.. Unless it was the dangerous kind of love that would get me in trouble with people more powerful than all of the Cullens and my father put together.

I randomly flipped to a page in the middle of the grimoire, perking up when I read "Confusecto Infectucto". It was created by P. Halliwell, back in the middle of the Salem witch trials. It had to be one of the oldest spells in this particular grimoire. It was around then that my ancestors had lost almost everything they owned in a fire to fake their deaths. It was either that or die a witch's death of hanging. No one wanted that, to be certain.

It was ritual for a ward, requiring jade and a handful of ingredients like candles, salt, and mercury. It was supposed to create a magical barrier to prevent all magical ways of spying like scrying.. or mind reading.

I was on my feet within moments, thundering down the stairs and into Charlie's basement to gather the supplies from his storage room. He found me there on the floor, slumped against the wall with an extremely intricate magic circle in front of me and a pleased grin on my face when I finally made it work.

"..Looks like you decided to be rather productive today, Bells."

"Nah, I didn't do my homework," I groaned from the floor. He was lowering himself in front of me almost instantly, hand on my forehead as he gazed at me worriedly.

"You overdid it, Isabella. What have I told you?"

"That I need to be careful?"

He flicked me on the forehead, causing me to flinch before letting out a sigh and gathering me up into his strong arms. He carried me like a small girl again, making his way up the stairs. "Don't get me wrong, I'm very proud you managed to make the barrier work. But you have to take better care of yourself. You know what kind of witch you are."

"Protection," I grumbled in response. "The weakest of them all."

He stopped where he stood, staring down at me like he was insulted. "Where did you hear that?" he demanded, almost throwing me onto the couch in the den as he took up the typical dad stance with his hands on his hips.

"..Renee?" I answered before realizing my foolishness. Of course someone that hated magic in all its forms would make me think I was weak.

"Renee," he repeated in a growl, looking more creature than human. Outside, I could hear thunder erupting in the distance.

In that moment, a bird flew in through the open window, its sleek feathers glistening slightly with the dampness it brought from outside. The large black thing landed on Charlie's shoulders, instantly calming him as it stared me down with large and intelligent crystal blue eyes.

It was a creature that I had seen only a few times, but it was those moments from my childhood I would never forget.

"..Pryde?"

Charlie's brows raise, looking between the raven and me. The way he had shifted gears nearly gave me whip lash, one moment looking like he was about to hunt down Renee and the next looking amused. "You remember my familiar, Bells?"

I nodded my head slowly. "How could I not? He saved me.."

Charlie grimaced as he nodded, "Ah.. When we learned your clothing needed to be washed in the ashes.. Your magic is part of the reason why they have always targeted you, sadly. But it's not because you're weak, my belladonna."

He was back to being my loving dad, not the booming authority of the magistrates of Salem, the witch society. It was the Volturi's pair, both from humans but at least the witches retained their humanity. He reached over to the large bird, nudging him slightly.

The raven bobbed his head, pushing off Charlie's shoulder and latching itself towards me. He didn't quite get to me before his form shifted, a tall man taking its place. He looked much the same as the last time I'd seen him, if not as tall. He held the same eyes he had as a raven though his midnight blue feathers were replaced with light brown hair.

He stared at me coldly for a moment before reaching out and resting his hand on my head. It was the same as Emmett but the emotion that it inspired was so much different. Charlie's familiar was like my brother—he was my best friend when I was a child, shifting into whatever animal I wanted, letting me ride him into a pretend battle.

"Your father missed you."

I missed you.

I could see the words he was too prideful to say, my eyes watering just a bit as I sniffled. His eye twitched once before I flung myself against him, wrapping my arms around his waist and burrowing my face into his chest. "I missed you, too!"

Pryde did not do affection, but he did to pats. He patted my head, my shoulders, and my back as I calmed down enough to release him.

"You must be more cautious," he warned soon as he didn't have to awkwardly pat me anymore, his ice cold eyes stern. They looked more like glass crystal than real eyes—one of the tells of what he was. "You expended enough energy with your ward that I felt it."

I felt more chastised by him than Charlie.

"Hey, that's my job, Pryde."

Pryde turned to give Charlie a displeased look. "Do not coddle her, Charlie. She needs to know what awaits her."

"Awaits me?" I questioned, brows furrowing.

Charlie let out a sigh, sending Pryde a look of displeasure. "That is not how I wanted to have this conversation. And you know it."

He shrugged. Pryde was not bothered. Anything short of violence towards someone he deemed his didn't bother him.

"Bells. Are you hungry?"

I nodded, looking between the two of them.

"Good. Pryde, go get us food from Port Angeles."

Pryde gave him the most insulted look I'd ever seen on his face. "I am not your errand boy, Charles."

"Aren't you?" Charlie asked innocently.

Pryde grumbled but a moment later he was taking off as a raven, bursting through the open window and into the elements.

"..Are you sure you should send him out in the rain?"

"He's a familiar. Rain and wind won't slow him down. Give him thirty minutes, tops."

.

Charlie didn't know how to start whatever it is he needed to tell me, but I knew he wanted to be done with it by the time Pryde returned. Otherwise, Pryde could just come out and tell me whatever it is Charlie was trying to carefully word.

Charlie thought I was so breakable.

He settled into his chair with a bone-weary sigh, a hand sliding over his forehead and eyes.

I sat on the couch, my legs crossed as I waited impatiently. I wanted him to just come out and say it—wouldn't it be easier that way?

"Charlie." He looked up at me, eyes a little sharper. He never did care for me to use his name. "Just say it. I'm a big girl. I can take it."

He let out a frustrated sigh, shaking his head. "But you're not. You haven't had a chance to grow, to experience the world and I want those things for you. But Pryde is right. You have to be cautious in our world, for your safety and freedom."

I blinked at him, head tilting worriedly. I didn't know what I was expecting, but it wasn't this. "My freedom?"

He let his hands fall on his lap, fingers loosely threading as he stared at me. He didn't look like Charlie that way, with the shadows drenching him, twisting his features into something more sinister. "It's time for a history lesson, I suppose. Years ago, our people faced the greatest threat of our existence. The humans we had always done our best to protect from the dark, to heal and guide, were turned against us in fear. Young women were seduced, told what to say with promises of eternal beauty and life. It is what began the witch trials, Bella."

"..Vampires?" I whispered quietly. Eternal beauty and life was kind of their calling card.

"Vampires. The Volturi in particular. They are the ruling party of the vampires—vampire royalty if you will. They had just destroyed what they believed to be the last of the Children of the Moon; werewolves. They turned their eye to witches, next. They wished for control, for no other supernatural entity to be their match.

"Many died, Bella. It was a horrible war, vampires making pawns out of humans, the power hungry creatures picking out the witches and allowing humans to do the dirty work."

The way he was talking, his eyes growing more and more distant.. This wasn't just a history lesson, this was a walk down memory lane. "But.. Witches don't live longer than two hundred years, I thought?"

He offered me a humorless smile, "Through normal means, yes. But my specialty is familiar magic. And I don't have just any familiar. Pryde is an elf who tied himself to our family centuries ago. He tied himself to me, centuries ago."

"..Is that why you're a magistrate of Salem?"

He let out a sigh—this conversation was draining him, making him look much older than his apparent forty years. "Salem was created in that chaos. We took the name to remember what can come from power unchecked. We hid, protected ourselves until a new kind of magic came from it. Protection magic." He reached out a hand, covering my knee and giving it a soft squeeze. "The same magic you specialize in. It is the reason Pryde saved you from a vampire so many years ago, why you have always had something on you that dulled your scent enough to not be tantalizing to their kind."

"I.. I don't understand," I said quietly, staring at the hand that felt like it was of a stranger's. "What does that have to do with me?"

"Protection.. We used that magic to defend ourselves when we attacked the vampires. When we forced them to regulate themselves better. When we created the Council for the Welfare and Protection of Supernatural Creatures and forced them to abide by our laws. All this came at a grave cost, Bella."

It was like I had a weight on my chest, slowly squeezing around my heart. The floor was disappearing and my freedom along with it. I wasn't stupid—I knew what was coming.

"The one that held that power became someone irreplaceable. Only they could join all witch covens—white and black—under one cause: Salem. Only they could lead us forward. Their power came at an even graver cost to themselves, however. One, those that used a large amount of it could easily be traced and found. And two, the more protection magic they used... the smaller their lifespan became.

"I have sheltered your magic for years, Bella. But if you continue this path.. Salem will demand you fulfill your 'duty'."

.

I never wanted to use magic again, I decided. The desire to control my destiny was strong enough to ignore the pain caused by denying who I truly was. Pretending just to be normal was an enormous task but the risk was too great.

I continued like normal after learning one stray spell could destroy my life, interacting sparingly with Emmett, Rosalie, and Jasper and moving throughout my day like a zombie. The decision that laid before me distracted me from Calculus as my high school classes became redundant in the long run. If I accepted my 'fate' and accepted who I truly was, it would mean I would be trapped into becoming some Supreme High Priestess, holding the keys to the future of all witches—and humans if I was being honest. It sounded interesting in theory, but I knew I wouldn't be able to handle the pressure and the constant threat of death looming over the horizon because I over-expended myself. Not to mention petty witch cliques and the literal death threats there would be on my life.

A stack of books dropped loudly into the desk next to me, pulling me from my train of thought. I glanced upwards towards the aggressor, catching the too-fake smile of a Cullen vampire, the mind-reader.

"Hello, my name is Edward Cullen," he said charmingly. "I believe you know my siblings, Rosalie, Jasper and Emmett."

People that were charming couldn't be trusted. And he didn't 'believe'. He knew.

I pushed my hair over my shoulder and eyed him warily, brow raising. "Bella. But you already knew that."

It didn't phase him, instead his smile took on a crooked quality that I was sure got all the girls. "Well, it is a small town. Word travels fairly quickly."

"Sometimes as fast as a thought," I agreed sarcastically, turning my head away from him. I wanted to continue my internal debate with myself, but he wasn't about to let me.

"Shall I help you adjust to this class?" He continued, obviously having difficulty keeping his voice steady after my barb. "I'm sure the curriculum is different from Arizona."

He was all insincere helpfulness and fake smiles. Somehow, it just rubbed me further in the wrong direction.

"Unnecessary," I stated haughtily as I looked to the front of the class. I didn't have any interest in talking to the controlling jerk who could be so easily thrown off by someone immune to him.

"You're a bit of a loner, aren't you?"

"Picking my brain won't work, Cullen," I sighed, feeling him poking at the corners of my mind for an opening.

I could see him send a glare my way from the corner of my eyes, aggravated that not even his attractiveness didn't even phase me.

"Trust me, I know," he muttered.

I ignored him for the rest of class, especially the looks he shot me every so often as if to gauge my reaction to something. It got tiresome fast and I was grateful the bell rang when it did, giving me the cue to escape.

I continued the zombie act for the rest of my classes until lunch when Jasper found me in the library by my lonesome, sitting in a corner and pretending to read.

"I had wondered if the negative emotions were coming from you."

I looked up at him, once again remembering how stupid I was just yesterday. A budding crush on a mated vampire was probably the most embarrassing thing I'd ever done to date. It by far takes the cake, overlapping the time I made Renee's fiance, Phil, piss himself right after he proposed.

It was my way to cover up discomfort with sarcasm and I did not disappoint today.

"What gave it away? My cheery complexion?"

"Actually, you're rather pale. Might even pass yourself off as a vampire."

I stared up at him blankly, "It was a joke."

He threw me a grin, plopping down next to me with all of the grace of a feather. "Oh, I know."

I frowned, turning my eyes back to my book. Once it became apparent I wasn't going to pay attention to him my book disappeared from my fingers, reappearing in his hands.

"..This is a dictionary."

"Yes, and?"

"You're reading a dictionary."

"Thank you for that helpful explanation, Captain Obvious."

He didn't look amused as he flipped a few pages of the dictionary as if curious there was something more to it. A secret compartment or random spells.

But no, it was an ordinary dictionary I'd picked up from a shelf.

He tosses it way from him disdainfully and it clatters to the table loudly. "Is that what humans do for fun these days? Read a dictionary?"

"I can't speak for the rest of humanity," I shrug before letting out a soft laugh. Somehow, watching him be so put-out by the book made me feel a bit better. At the very least, he was an interesting person to befriend.

I paused, frowning. Was I even technically allowed to do that? While vampires and witches were no longer natural enemies—not like vampires and werewolves, anyways—they weren't exactly friendly. There was a lot of bad blood there, a lot of pain and suffering. The balance between vampires and witches was a delicate one and if I were to join Salem... a friendship with the Cullens—excluding the control freaks—would be frowned upon.

"It's interesting how your barrier drops just a bit when you think deeply. And you've been doing that all day."

I let out a soft sigh, shrugging once more. "Just something that I'm dealing with at the moment. I haven't found the solution yet."

He nods, reaching across the table to slide the book back in front of me. "When would you like to work on our project?"

He had commented on it but he wasn't going to push or force me to explain my emotions to him. It was nice.

"Dunno. Soon?" Everything else seemed so large compared to a school project I wasn't going to learn anything from.

He cracked a small smile, "Soon."

.

Numbing sensation and then fire. The ball that caused me that pain bounced away, smacking the ground as it went.

"Are you okay?!" The voice sounded disconnected, barely louder than the ringing.

It wasn't long before people started appearing near me, trying to help me up and offering ice packs.

This was gym class, the bane of my existence. All the humans around me had so much more physical potential than I did. It was as if I had the same type of muscles as them.. just a very outdated model. And the funny thing was that it didn't take me forcing my magic to behave itself. My magic refused to protect me in gym class. It was just like Charlie, gruffly telling me this was tough love and I should suck it up. It would build character.

I hate character.

After taking two other dodge balls to the face, the gym teacher finally called it quits, telling me to go to the nurse's office. One of the boys, Nick or something, tried to ask if he could take me but the teacher quickly told him not to focus on flirting. I tried not to laugh loudly as I promised myself to make a habit of skipping gym.

The biggest problem of my day wasn't gym though. The moment I walked outside, I could feel him lurking in the shadows of the building, watching me.

I turned towards him, my glare piercing through the darkness. "Really? Don't you have anything better to do?" I questioned before turning away and stalking towards my truck. He wasn't even worth my time.

He was next to me in a moment, hands shoved into his pockets as he matched my pace. "I can't stand not knowing," Edward began. "Its like if someone took your magic from you. I need to know what you're thinking."

"Uh, no, I don't."

He growled at me before suddenly cutting himself off. "Would you allow me to take you out, then?"

I pulled myself into my truck, pretending to think for a moment.

"Uh, no."

And then I slammed the car door on his face. I giggled to myself the entire way home, remember that look of shock on his face. It was so satisfying.

Author's Note: As promised, a longer chapter (by one thousand words). I have to be careful, the longer my chapters are, the more jumping around between scenes and the less time I spend on description and such.

Thank you so much to those who reviewed. As always, they keep me motivated to post more!

Evelyn.