Bella woke the next day in a peaceful mood. She felt content, happy and ready to start the day. The house was empty as Sookie was gone and her grandmother had some garden club to go to. Bella enjoyed to quiet and decided that today was a day for reflection and relaxation.
After getting dressed (in a Pam selected outfit of course) she made a hearty breakfast of bacon and eggs, scoffing them down.
As she washed her dirty dishes, Bella saw something from the corner of her eye. Something was hurling straight towards her! What the hell! She had no time to think and simply reacted. Bella jerked her head out of the direction of the unknown object quickly to avoid any impact. She heard a crashing noise in front of her. Unfortunately, her sudden movement out the way unbalanced her. Of course, being Bella, she tripped over her own foot trying to grab purchase on the kitchen counter and failed. She fell spectacularly, landing on her bottom with a thud.
"Ouch" She muttered, feeling the burning pain of impact all the way to her bones. That was going to leave a bad bruise.
"Not bad, although your balance needs serious improvement" An unknown male voice rang throughout her kitchen. Started, Bella scrabbled her feet, unable to see just who was speaking and what was going on. She felt immediate panic at the man who had sneaked in her gran's house.
When she rose, she saw a tall impossibly beautiful man standing at the entrance to the kitchen. He had long raven colored hair, which flowed around his beautiful face. He was not vampire beautiful exactly but still equally as mesmerizing. She was tall, taller than Bella herself, with a lean, graceful figure. One of a supermodel. What in the hell was this stranger doing in her grandmothers kitchen?!
"Who are you? What the fuck are you doing here? Why did you throw that at me? What the hell is going on" Bella raved, furious. Her panic was slowly seeping into a rage at the man in front of her. She observed him very carefully, taking note of any movement he made. He simply stared back at her blankly, he had intense green eyes.
"Forgive me, Lady Bridgant. I am Preston Parole, I am to be your instructor in all things fae. The prince sent me" The man spoke. She continued glaring at him, still unsure if she could trust him. Niall had mentioned he would be spending a tutor her away... was this him? She got that strange feeling deep down, the fuzzes, that she got with Niall and Sookie but this was... different. It wasn't as warming and as welcoming but it was as if a part of her recognized him.
Whilst Bella assessed the man in front of her, considering a plan of action, he spoke again,
"Please, My Lady. Calm down, you may hurt yourself. I have not taught you to wield your power safely yet" He said with a slightly apprehensive look on his face. His eyes flickered down a few times and she followed his line of sight, down her body.
She gasped. Her hands were clenched to fists and there was a light blue light emanating from them. The blue glowed beautifully, shimmering in the light. It created a distinct bright glow throughout her kitchen, she had no idea how she didn't notice it before. She couldn't help but stare. What in the world? It is the same light that she used with Eric.
As she watched the light in awe, her rage slipped and the light dimmed until it vanished completely.
After a moment, she looked towards Preston with a confused look upon her face.
"I don't understand. You are sent to be my teacher on my fae powers?" She said unsure, still suspicious of the man. He had just thrown something at her.
She looked to where she was standing previously and saw a tennis ball had knocked down all the figurines above the sink in her grandmothers kitchen. She scowled, the shelf was hanging off, how on earth was she supposed to fix that?
Looking back at the man, he looked relieved and smiled at her. He had a dashing smile, she had to admit.
"Yes, My lady. I am to begin your instruction immediately. If you would please step with me outside, so as to not do any damage to your home?" He suggested with amusement dancing in his eyes. She glared at him.
"About that, what am I supposed to do with that?" She waved her hand towards the destruction, "Before we start, you'd better clean that mess up or my gran will smack you with her frying pan when she gets home" She finished by crossing her arms expectantly and looking at him.
He smiled at her wryly.
"Of course, My lady" Preston replied.
Bella was surprised as she watched him wave his hand half-heartedly and a strange very light yellow glow came from his fingertips before disappearing. She looked back at the sink and saw everything back to normal. She stared in shock. Oh my god, I so want to do that.
"We will begin our training sessions now?" She heard him say bemusedly as she continued staring where the mess had once been.
She looked back at him with a stunned expression, "Oh uh yeah. Training" She said confusedly. He bowed to her for some reason then made his way outside.
As she followed him, Bella thought that he seemed to not give much of a teacher vibe. She got the distinct impression that she was in charge, which seemed silly.
As she exited the house, she saw him standing a few feet away watching her. After seeing his little display in the kitchen, Bella was very much exited to learn about her new powers. Think how much time she would save! Niall had said he was sending a teacher but looking at Preston he looked more like a model than a teacher. Although it was unfair to think this, perhaps all supernatural creatures just had to be devastatingly beautiful?
As she neared him, a tennis ball appeared in his hand. She jumped back a little startled. That ball came out of thin air!
Preston looked at her, then began his lesson, "I apologize for startling you earlier, My Lady, I was testing to see how well your reflexes are. You did quite well, except when you fell. We must improve your balance and basic abilities before we move on to anything more complicated"
She groaned, just what Bella needed. She was terrible at any physical activity, she thought she was learning about cool faery powers, not how to improve her balance. It was impossible. Bella Swan would simply never be graceful. It was a fact.
She looked at him doubtfully, "Do we need to? I am a hopeless cause Preston, I am far too clumsy. It's embarrassing actually. There's no use teaching me anything like that. Maybe we can just move on to the superpower part and leave all the other stuff out"
"Nonsense, I will be your tutor in not just your fae powers but also your warrior abilities. You come from a royal line, you will be positively deadly once I am through with you" Preston said dismissively.
Bella sighed. She thought this was going to be some cool teaching on how to use magic, not gym class all over again. She had just graduated high school, this was so unfair.
"Fine" She sighed resigned, "What first?"
As soon as she said those words the tennis ball flew out of Preston's hands and hit her squarely on the shoulder. She jumped, a little startled and looked at the ball bouncing on the grass then back at Preston. It did not hurt per se but she definitely felt the ball smack her. Before she could question him, he spoke,
"First things first, I will help you with your defense skills. Lesson one: Evasion. I will continue throwing these balls at you and all you must do is avoid them. Simple. Are you ready?" He asked but before she could speak another ball hit her swiftly in her stomach.
She scowled at him, "I wasn't ready" she said.
"One must always be ready for an attack, you cannot always be prepared, follow your instincts and let them guide you in the face of danger" Preston spoke wisely, with a patient look on his face.
"Yeah, attack of the killer tennis balls" She muttered petulantly, "Oww!" She screeched when a ball hit her squarely on the forehead.
Bella saw him about to start when she said, "Yeah yeah, always be prepared, face of danger, I got it" She lowered herself into what she believed what a defensive crouch. It seemed more like she was a sumo wrestler bracing for impact; whatever, it was the best she could do. Preston's lips twitched before she saw him throw a tennis ball at her quickly.
This went on for sixty minutes. Yes, an hour of trying to dodge tennis balls. Just when she would get the hang of it he would do something that would throw her off, like throw the balls in a more rapid succession or throw two at once. Bella was panting and sweating ridiculously, her clothes dirty and grass stained. She had become less elegant in her dodges and took to diving away and tumbling around the ground to avoid the tennis balls. After a while of being constantly pelted with tennis balls, it began to hurt. Bella also swore the balls were somehow getting bigger, do you even get bigger tennis balls? Don't they need to be a regulation size of something?
One last ball was thrown at her face. Instinctively she moved head and tilted her body to the side, narrowly missing the ball. It sped past her, feeling a slightly breeze. That was a close one. It would have hurt to get smacked right in the face like that.
Bella rounded to Preston and shot him a huge, smug smile.
"Did you see that Preston?! That was some Matrix shit right there! I'm getting great at this" She beamed at him proudly. Preston smiled back indulgently and began walking towards her.
"Yes I did, you have improved greatly in the short while we have practiced. Now we must move on to more important matters as your grandmother will be home shortly" He said as he stopped in front of her.
Bella nodded and waited for instruction. Preston sat down crossed legged and motioned for her to follow suite.
As Bella sat down she watched Preston curiously, wondering what was in store.
"First thing you must learn as a faery is how to locate and bring forth your light voluntarily. Your light was brought out prematurely in the face of danger but any fae can sense how strong you spark is. By learning how to tap into your light you will hopefully learn to harness your seer abilities. Every magical thing that we are capable of comes from our spark. It is what makes faery's live such long lives, the more powerful the spark, the longer you live" Preston explained to her.
She nodded and asked, "How old are you?" she just had to ask.
Preston smiled at her charmingly, "432 years old, My lady" Preston answered. Her mouth dropped open. Wow, he didn't look it.
"Enough of that, 'My Lady' crap, it's just Bella" She stated, uncomfortable with the formalities.
Uncertainty flashed through his eyes, "That would be highly inappropriate of me, to address you so informally..." He said warily.
She sighed, "Let's make a deal, you can call me My lady all you like when we're around others but when it's just me and you, call me Bella, okay?" She suggested, hoping he wouldn't stick to the my lady crap.
Preston smiled happily, "Of course My la-Bella" He replied.
She smiled back at him happy.
He cleared his throat, bringing their attention back to the lesson, "Close your eyes" He said in a gentle voice. She complied and allowed herself to relax.
"Focus on your breathing, in and out. In and out" He continued in a soothing voice. She complied and found herself relaxing and focusing her mind.
"Now feel every inch of your body. Your toes, your knee's, your head, your back, your hands, your fingers, allow all of your muscles to relax"
Bella done this, focusing on different parts of her body.
"Now, feel within yourself a warmth, a power, a magic that animates your entire body"
Bella tried to look for this feeling but could not find it. She sighed frustrated, unable to find this feeling.
"I can't feel anything" She got out, irritated.
"Relax, you will find it. Listen to your heart beat, your breathing, just like your spark, these keep you alive, animate you, concentrate" His voice was the same smooth tone it had been.
Bella felt her heart beating, concentrating on it. She memorized the feel of her lungs inflating and deflating. Amongst these feelings, she felt a trickle of something in her abdomen. She frowned, focusing on the feeling. It was an odd buzzing sensation. The more she focused the more noticeable it became. Her chest began to feel warm and tingly, a strange feeling. It was... powerful and wonderful. It was soothing. It was like she has a link to her very soul and was embracing it, she sighed contentedly.
"That's it" Preston's voice was back to normal with a proud ring to it which made her open her eyes and look at him curiously. "That is your spark. Feel it, embrace it, it was a part of you now and will only continue to grow stronger" He was looking ridiculously pleased with her for some reason.
"What is it? Why are you looking at me like that?" She asked warily. He smiled at her cheerily.
"Not many fae can sense their spark so quickly. It is truly remarkable. You will certainly be very powerful, M-Bella" He looked at her happily. She smiled back, happy she done good.
Suddenly, Preston stood and she followed him up.
"It is time for me to take my leave now, Bella. Here" He said. Bella watched as a large book appeared in his hands. It looked fancy and old, a far cry from a basic paper back.
"This is a book on fae culture, etiquette and history. It is a special book that can only be read by fae. See how much you can get through tonight. I will be testing you tomorrow. Our sessions will be everyday at midday for as long as I deem necessary. I am also enrolling you in some human classes to help with your basic skills. A leaflet appeared on his hand for a community centre in Shreveport. Go to the Yoga and boxing classes. They won't do much, I'm afraid but it will help improve your balance and aggression" He said.
Bella's eyebrow's rose, "Aggression?" She questioned. Why would she need to be aggressive?
Preston smiled at her, "I am teaching you how to fight, Bella, become absolutely lethal and we need you to be more aggressive. You will never be able to properly fight without tapping into your inner animal. The boxing lessons will help with this" He explained. Bella nodded even though she still did not understand.
He handed her the huge tome, with the leaflet sitting on top, she huffed. It was heavier than it looked.
"Until next time, Bella" Preston said then 'popped' away.
Bella sighed and made her way inside with the massive book. She was sweating from being outside and over exerting herself. She needed a big glass of ice tea and a cool shower.
After her delicious supper, Bella settled into the comfy sofa in her grandmothers house whilst said grandmother watched her 'stories'. She had a shower earlier and changed into some nice cosy sweats, or what qualified as 'sweats' in her Pam approved/designer clothes.
She settled in and opened the big mysterious book that Preston had given her. It seemed she would be doing a lot of studying with the supernatural with the books Eric and Preston would give her. Part of her wanted to protest but in reality she didn't mind, it was so fascinating. It was learning about a whole new culture. A pretty barbaric one, she was beginning to realize.
Bella browsed through the book, reading the parts which caught her eye. There was a section of Royal families and she was able to see her 'family tree'. It bothered her that she was not on it and neither was Sookie. It also had 'part human' beneath those that were not full fae. There was no such thing as a 'bastard' in fae families but any child not born from a political marriage did not have rights to the throne, although they still held a position of power within the family.
Other than that, she was delighted reading up upon fae and their history in particular. It said that they were a larger part of the human realm before vampires became dominant as it became more dangerous and with the industrial revolution making iron very common, it become unlikely that fae would venture into this realm.
It also mentioned the fertility problems the fae women were plagued with. This was partly blamed on mating with humans, others blamed it on not enough diversification. Fae tended to mate with those with the same powers, hoping to make them stronger, instead of mating with those with different abilities and making things more diverse. Whatever the reason, most fae had fertility problems. Especially more powerful female fae. She frowned at this.
She had been so absorbed in her book she did not notice that it turned dark outside. Hearing someone at the door she stood and stretched her legs stiffly.
"Coming" She yelled and made her way to the front door. She had a pretty good idea who it was and was not disappointed,
"Godric" She greeted cheerfully, swinging the door open to reveal his perfect figure. His eyes lit up in happiness when he saw her. He held out a beautiful bouquet of freesia's.
"For you, my beauty" He said charmingly. She blushed and smiled shyly, taking the flowers from him. She was beyond happy to see him. Being around Godric was the best part of the day.
"Come in" She grinned and moved aside to allow him into her home. Bella was exited, she could only imagine what the night had in store for them.
A/N: Sorry for the long update, i hope you like my chapter. I am thinking about a squeal to this story. One involving the Cullens, any opinions on that? Let me know.