12
He stood across the room, staring at Bella. Her and her red, glowing eyes. She could feel her body shaking, her fingers clinched into fists so tight had she still been human her fingers would have broken, and she needed to move. Edward reached for her, but she shook her head, and ran to the other side of the room, throwing the door open, pulling it off the hinges. She winced inwardly, knowing she would have to explain that, but at the moment, she didn't care as she let it fall to the floor with a loud thud.
The people in the living room, stood and stared at her, and she remembered that even though she couldn't hear them when they were just on the other side of the wall, they could hear her. The fear on their faces made it clear they knew that she'd heard Edward's thoughts.
"Bella," Jasper whined, cowering against Alice in fear, which seemed to confuse her. "Bella, stop, please stop!"
However, before she could process what Jasper was feeling, someone wrapped their hand around the top of her arm. They screamed and when Bella turned around, she saw the woman named Kate on her knees, her body jerking violently, like she was being electrocuted. Bella yanked her arm out of her hand, stepping away from her, and she stopped jerking immediately.
"I'm sorry," she whispered.
And before anyone could stop her, she bolted out of the house, and into the woods. She wasn't sure where she was going, just knew she needed to get away from them. Her legs moved faster than they ever had. She'd never been athletic, and Fred had made her even clumsier, yet now, she could dart around trees with ease. And apparently read minds, make people cower, and hurt people when they touched her. What the Hell had happened when Edward kissed her?
He had kissed her, right? Twice. And said he loved her. But did he? Did he really love her? Could she love him? Was that why she felt this need to be close to him? Was she in love with him? And how could she love him when she barely knew him?
She slid to a stop and leaned against a tree, sliding down. If she were still human, she'd probably be crying. She felt like crying, though the tears didn't fall. Hell, if she'd been human, she would be dead, but she was starting to think being dead would have been better than being a freak.
"Hey."
She tensed as she looked toward her right, finding Edward standing a few feet away.
"Your eyes aren't glowing anymore."
"That's good, I guess," she quipped, pulling her knees to her chest. "Why did they do that?"
He smiled and shrugged his shoulders. "No clue, but I'm guessing you can't hear my thoughts anymore, either?"
She shifted and stared at him, but she didn't 'hear' anything. "Guess not."
He sighed in relief.
"That makes you happy?"
"Yes," he said, "And no. It's not that I have anything to hide, of course, but I wouldn't want you to be stuck with my gift. Doesn't always work out well."
"Oh."
"How'd you do it?" he asked. "I mean, how'd . . . You were in my head, Bella."
"How do you do it?" she countered.
"I just woke up and could hear what people were thinking. Took a long time before I could . . . filter, I guess is the right word, between them. Sometimes, I can block people out entirely. Mostly human, though. Most aren't very complex. Makes it easier."
She nodded. "You said you loved me."
Edward smiled. "I did."
"Did you mean it?"
His smile grew. "I did."
She inhaled a sharp, unneeded breath and looked away. "Why?"
"Why what?" he asked, and a moment later, she felt him sit next to her. He reached over and wrapped his hand around her fist. "Why do I love you?"
She nodded, and again, had she been human, she would have been crying.
"I don't know. I just . . . I need you, Bella. I need to be close to you. It's like you were meant for me."
"Like soul mates," she whispered, tilting her head to the side as she looked at him.
"Yeah, like soul mates," he murmured. "I won't push if you don't feel the same, of course. We can just be friends."
The word friend hurt her, though she wasn't sure why. "I don't want that," she said, slowly. "I just . . . this is all so much."
Edward brought her hand up to his lips. "We can take it slow."
Bella nodded. "Slow would be good, but not just friends. Just . . . I don't know how to do this."
"Do what?" he asked.
"This," she said, gesturing between them. "I'd never even kissed a guy before today. I mean, before I got sick, boys thought I was weird."
"I don't believe that," he scoffed, and when she shrugged he asked, "Are you serious?"
"Very," she confirmed. "I was shy and quiet, reserved I guess. After they found Fred, I withdrew even more. People looked at me differently, and it was just easier not to let them close. The doctors were so confident that we could beat him, but I wasn't. They removed as much as they could surgically, and we started chemotherapy and radiation. I lost my hair, lost my identity. I became known as the girl with cancer. The treatments didn't work, though, and they kept talking about trials and drugs and more surgeries. But I was tired, so tired and the pain. . ." Bella looked back at Edward, finding him staring at her intensely. "Sorry. You don't want to hear about that."
"I do," he disagreed, tightening his grip on her hand. "I just wish they'd come to us sooner. We were almost too late."
"I know," she whispered, closing her eyes as the memories of the last part of her human life floated through her head. "I could feel death coming for me. I was scared, Edward. Scared of just not existing anymore."
"Hey, it's okay," he murmured, leaning over and pressing his lips against the top of her head.
"Why do you make everything feel better, Edward?" she wondered breathlessly and leaned against him.
"You make everything better for me, too," he confessed, but then he leaned away, his body tensing.
"Someone's coming, aren't they?" she asked.
He nodded. "Carlisle. The others called him, told him what happened. He's worried."
She closed her eyes, trying to hear him, but she didn't, yet when she opened her eyes, she could see him running toward them with Eleazar right behind him. Why couldn't she hear them? Edward made it seem like she should, and Alice had said that she could people from a mile away, so why couldn't she?
"Everything okay?" Carlisle asked once they were around fifty feet away.
"Yes," Edward said, standing up. He reached for her hand, and she allowed him to help her to her feet. He wrapped his arm around her waist, pulling her against the side of his body. She'd be lying if she said she didn't like the way it felt when he held her. "Her eyes . . . her eyes glowed, and then . . . Well, I'm sure they've already told you, but she could hear my thoughts."
"And project her emotions onto Jasper, and use Kate's electrical current against her," Carlisle said, leaning his head to the side as he put his hands up and stepped toward Bella, who immediately tensed. "Nobody's going to hurt you, sweetheart."
"I know." And she did, but things were too intense. "How'd it happen? I don't understand how it happened? One minute he's kissing me, and the next . . . the next, my eyes were red and glowing, and I could hear him inside my head."
Carlisle grinned, his eyes shifting to Edward, who shook his head, probably to whatever silent question the man was asking, before he looked back at Bella. "What did you feel? When . . . when it started?"
"Um," she whispered, bringing her free hand to the middle of her chest. "Warmth, a strange warmth that went from fingers to my toes."
"The moment you and Edward had may have . . . triggered your other gift," Eleazar said, causing them to look at him. He watched her apprehension mixed with fear.
"Other gift?" she asked. "Besides my . . . my shield, or whatever you called it? You think I have another gift?"
"I know you do," he insisted, reaching for her hand, but she leaned away from him. "I won't hurt you, dear. I'm just curious if I can get a read from you if I touch you. Normally, I can sense a vampire's gift on sight, but you're proving to be an enigma."
Bella shifted her eyes to Edward, who said, "It's up to you, but he might be able to help us understand how it starts, how you use it."
Still unsure she liked the dark haired vampire, especially seeing as he hadn't really welcomed her to new life, she reluctantly raised her hand and placed it in the middle of his palm. He covered her hand with his other, and closed his eyes. Bella wasn't sure what she expected: a tingle, the warmth again, something, but she felt nothing, and when his eyes opened, the disappointment in them confirmed what he was about to say, "Nothing. I sensed nothing."
"So what does this mean?" Bella asked, slipping her hand from between his.
"It just means we wait and see if it happens again," Carlisle suggested. "Just like with your shield keeps you protects you, and you used it to block the thoughts of everyone for Edward, we will have to see how this develops, Bella."
"Great," she murmured, wrapping her arm around her torso.
"You're overwhelmed, Bella," he said with a smile. "Understandably overwhelmed. We have time to decipher any gifts you may, or may not have. Right now, we just need to give you time to adjust to this new way of life."
"That easy, huh?" she asked, shaking her head.
"It can be," he said, shrugging. "We're here to support you, to help you, but if it's too much, if you need us to step back, all you have to do is say something. We care about you, Bella, and only want you to be happy with us."
"I'm sorry if I sound ungrateful," she stammered. "I'm just . . ."
"Overwhelmed. There's not a one of us who didn't feel like that after our change." Carlisle grabbed Eleazar's arm, pulling him backward. "Take all the time you need. Maybe hunt again, and when you're ready, come back to the house."
Bella watched as Carlisle shifted his eyes back to Edward, who tensed, but nodded. The two men then turned and ran back in the direction of the house, leaving the two of them alone again.
"What'd he tell you?" she asked.
Edward smiled and looked at him. "It wasn't so much what he told me, as much as he wondered if I'd finally realized why you're important to me. Apparently, I'm a little dense, according to my family."
Bella bit the inside of her lip before she said, "And by that you mean that you . . ."
"That I am in love with you," he replied, coyly.
"I kind of like it when you say it," she whispered.
"I like saying it." Edward placed his hands on her hips, pulling her body against him. "I won't push for more than you're ready for, Bella, but I need to know that I'm not the only one of us who feels . . . lost when the other isn't there."
"You're the only part that feels normal, Edward." Bella placed her hands on his chest. "I don't know if what I feel is love, or something else, but I know that I don't want to lose you."
"You'll never lose me, love."
And once again, Edward pressed his lips against hers, and once again, everything inside her tingled.
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