i

Jasper bothered Bella to a degree that she had never experienced before. His eyes were constantly on her, no matter what she was doing.

The family had eventually moved from the entryway to the living room, where Bella was flabbergasted at the lavish furnishings. It all just seemed like too much. The giant windows she had seen from the outside had long, rich fabrics for curtains draped to the side of them. The floors were hardwood and had red and gold patterned rugs carefully arranged on them. The walls had bookshelves covered in a wide array of texts and knick-knacks. The coffee table, sitting in front of the plush layout of the couch and loveseats, was black iron bars with a thin pane of glass covering it. There were yet more books sitting on the table, looking untouched. The windows of the living room looked directly into the forest, and Bella felt a longing to jump through them and hide in the lush trees.

Bella attempted to not stare at the wall and at least look attentive. Edward sat to her right, again, and Alice had gracefully taken to the spot on her left. Jasper stood behind Alice, glaring holes into Bella's head. If she wanted to survive the night, she was goin to hve to "behave".

"So," Carlisle starts, his voice drawing Bella's eyes to him. "What's your life like, Isabella?"

Bella's heart pounds in her chest, and she suddenly becomes incredibly aware of the fact that they can hear her heartbeat. Her eyes dart to Edward who is watching her carefully.

"I, uh, live with my dad, Charlie. He's the police chief. It's just the two of us. I make dinner, and he works, and sometimes catches fish for us. I used to live with my mom, Renee, down in Arizona, but she got married to this minor league baseball player. She didn't want to take care of me nymore, not that she ever did-" Bell stops abruptly, her back going stiff. Her head turns and she looks at Jasper. Something in her says that her response wasn't natural. Despite how hard it is for her to resist Edward's treatment of her, she is capable of stopping whatever had caused her thoughts to spill out of her mouth.

Jasper's head cocks to the side, and then he smiles. Its a strange smile, as if he is unpracticed, but it softens the danger in his eyes. Bella keeps her eyes on him, trying to puzzle out what it all means.

"Alright, Jasper, yu cna stop now. Clearly she is less susceptible to that than we thought," Carlisle says, standing up from his chair and walking around the room slowly. Bella takes her eyes off of one blond vampire to look at the other. "That was his Gift. He's extremely adept at manipulation, particularly emotions. He nudged you to say more than you normally would."

Bella frowns, and Edward moving draws her attention. He takes her arms, cast and all, and strokes his fingers across it for a few seconds. He then drops it and lounges against the arm of the couch, looking at her appraisingly.

"My Gift is Telepathy. I'm a form of Reader; a vampire who can know things simply by being near someone.I can hear every thought in everyone's head, all the time. It actually takes quite a bit of concentration to make it quiet." He smiles at her, his sharp teeth gleaming in the low light.

Bella realizes then that this must apply to her too. (She wants to scream. She has no privacy at all now. He could hear everything she thought, and he could use that to his every advantage). Her eyes widen and suddenly sh's struggling to breathe again. Her head aches, the buzzing growing louder. She winces, grasping at her head for a moment. When she sits back up, Edward is grimacing at her, and Rosalie has moved from her seat near the furthest wall.

"Edward-" Rosalie tries to say something, her feminine voice full of something sharp, but Carlisle is suddenly at her side, putting his hand on her shoulder and shaking his head. Bella hadn't even blinked, and yet he had moved so fast. Her breaths did not slow down, and her fear racketed up another notch as she noticed more.

Edward, at the slight commotion had stood up and turned his back on Bella. Bella took the opportunity to flit her eyes back around, trying to remember the layout of the room in case the knowledge would be useful later. Alice giggled next to her, and grasped at her left arm.

"Oh, Bella! This will be just great. Now that you've been here you can come hang out all the time! I'll do your hair and put you in some proper clothing! Oh, it'll be so much fun!" Alice's high pitched voice almost sounded like an excited teenager, but her voice took off into a deranged snarl. The growl set off Esme, who jumped forward and pulled Alice off the couch. It was all so fast, and after a moment of the two talking, they took off from the room. Jasper sighed and shook his head.

"Always getting so excited," He huffed quietly. It was the first thing he had said the whole time Bella had been there. Just like the others, his voice was drawing her in, but it was tinged with something darker. He turned to Bella, his expression changing for a split moment, before tipping his head to her, and disappearing just as Esme and Alice had.

Edward had stopped bothering to look at Rosalie, and grabbed at Bella hauling her off the couch with her bad arm.

"Come along, Little Singer. Perhaps another day would be better for a visit." He was pulling her to the front door, and Bella was barely able to keep gave her a moment to put her tennis shoes back on, and then continued his march back to his little volvo. "The family seems to be forgetting how this is supposed to work." He said it quietly, almost as if he had forgotten she was there. (But he could hear her thoughts. Obviously he knew she heard him. Maybe it was to psyche her out? Was overthinking anything he did a good idea? She tried to just get into the car without breaking another limb instead of thinking about it more). "We will set up another time for you to come over. Perhaps after everyone has eaten."

At the mention of them eating, their diet came back to the forefront of her thoughts. Vampires. And they were forcefully entangling her with the knowledge of their existence and all that came with it. Nothing would be the same for her now. And there would be no getting away from him either. (If she tried to think up any ways to escape him, he would just thwart her efforts, right? He could hear everything she thought).

The ride home was silent, and he drove just as recklessly as he had the last time she was in his car. He didn't care for her safety but took delight in the fear that radiated from her at his high speed. When she finally got out of the car, he said nothing, but the expression on his face stopped her from moving. He shut the door from the inside, and took off down the road, leaving her with only her (unguarded) thoughts.

She wished for the rain to wash away the traces of his existence. Until then, she would take a hot shower, scrubbing over and over until her skin was raw and free from his clinging touch, and she would eat ice cream. Heaven knows she wouldn't be able to cook anything that night.