No F POV this chapter but if you come back later there might just be some 😉 Enjoy!
Chapter 5
B POV
"Hey Jane?" I asked, quietly looking over from where I was tucked into my bed towards the old rocking chair where the small vampire had been hanging out since Charlie had gone to bed. She was invited into my room unlike a certain creepy bedtime stalker.
"Yeah B?" We'd talked non-stop, save for when Charlie came home, had dinner, and watched a baseball game before going up and crashing for the evening. She'd told me all about her and Alec's lives from what she could remember from their time as humans, to meeting me in Volterra. I wasn't ready to hash out all the pathetic details of my 'relationship' with the Cullens, but we'd get there eventually.
"Can you tell me what your gifts are? Like all three of you?" I tucked the blankets a little closer to my chin, as if waiting for the resounding 'no'.
Jane sat there, making me wonder if the other two were back from their hunt and could hear us talking. "Well for starters," she began, "I can make people feel unbearable and unimaginable pain by looking at them. Demi is a tracker, once he's met someone he can tell where in the world they are at any given point. That's one of the things that freaked us out earlier today; Demi can't track you." She said, eyes casting over to the window and back, a small frown forming on her face.
"Oh. What about Felix?"
"Felix is…different when it comes to sharing about his gifts. He's also a private person, so I'll leave it up to him to tell you. Very few people know what he can do, and he likes to keep it that way."
"Oh. Is it bad?" I hedged, hoping I wasn't pushing too much.
"No not bad, just different. I'm not entirely sure whether it would work on you, and I doubt he'd test it out while you're still human." Strange.
"Jane, one more thing?" I tried to get the words out around a yawn that made her smirk knowingly.
"Who do you feed from? You don't have to answer but I've been curious about what my diet would be like once I'm changed." The question had been on my mind since my visit with the wolves, the idea of harming children or innocent people didn't really tickle my fancy.
"Oh! Bella, we're not complete monsters, we typically feed from bad people. Never children and rarely from women. If we've fed recently, we'll even feed off of a sleeping human through a small cut. No venom, no loss of life, just a little blood donation." She finished with a wink.
"Whenever the Cullens talked about draining humans or animals they never mentioned just having a little snack" I pondered.
"Yes, well the Cullens have an unnatural diet that causes them to never be fully sated." Fitting seeing as everything else about them is unnatural as well.
"Bella?" She continued, "the boys are back, they'll be hanging out nearby like last night, I'm going to go for a hunt now, I'll see you in the morning." I gave a feeble wave in response, hearing my window glide shut as my eyes did the same.
Most of Sunday was spent calling around to find out what was going on in school so I could turn things around in time to actually graduate this year. I even called Newton's store to see if they'd still be keeping me on despite missing a shift last weekend. Surprise, surprise, good ol Mikey vouched for me and got his mom to agree to keeping me on, on a probationary period.
The first week back went by pretty well, Demi, Felix, and Jane took turns tailing me to school, and I spent most of my evenings getting my grades up at school, something that I'd been doing before chasing Stalkerward to Italy. Turns out when you go into zombie mode, your grades also start to decay, so it's been a long road to academic recovery that thankfully Jake had helped me start a couple months back.
It was finally Friday, I'd had a test third period, and used the extra time at the end of fourth to finish off the homework assigned for the weekend. Tonight there was a bonfire with the pack, and I wanted to make sure a certain trio of immortals didn't have any reservations about me returning to the…reservation.
Charlie was working a night shift and made me swear this morning, lunch box in hand, that I would call him when I got home, which would be no later than ten o'clock. Thanks to Jared, Emily, and Jake, Charlie was worn down into extending my lame six o'clock curfew so long as I was making the effort at school and following his rules.
That brings me to now, walking into the living room and fiddling with my phone as I looked at the two vampires crowding Charlie's loveseat. Jane sat in the corner grinning encouragingly, we'd been practicing what to say last night while the guys went hunting.
"Soooo, you guys have a minute?" I hedged. The game was muted and six ruby eyes fell on me.
Come on girl, you practiced for this moment.
"As you all know, tonight the guys in La Push invited me to a bonfire. Charlie approved a ten o'clock curfew, my phone ringer is on loud, I set an alarm for a six o'clock check-in text, annnnd I filled up the gas tank after school so the Beast is all set for the trip." I rocked back and forth on the balls of my feet, eyes shifting between the three beautiful statues.
Jane gave me a thumbs up, and Demi narrowed his eyes before nodding his assent. I turned to the biggest vampire in the room, and probably in the world, I'm honestly not sure how that couch is still in once piece – focus Bella.
"Phone battery?" it sounded more like an order than a question, but I saw it coming.
"It's at 98%, plenty of battery to last until tomorrow night if I needed it to, which I don't!" I added the last part in when I saw his eyes start to narrow.
"Shower?"
I sighed, "Doing it now before I leave. Anything else?"
"Nope" he popped the p while he turned back to unmute the TV. I started up the stairs, pausing when I heard him say "Charlie's pepper spray is in your purse." There it is. Could've been worse I guess, I figured he'd have something a little overboard up his sleeve, but this was manageable.
It was just after four when I pulled up to Sam's, and I could see Jake leaning against the front railing on the porch with a huge grin.
"Bells!" he swooped me up in a Jake hug, with a slight crinkle of the nose, "you smell like you this time with just a hint of bleach, I think it's just your bag?" he looked down at my purse as if it had personally attacked him. I just rolled my eyes knowing exactly who had left their scent on it, he knew exactly what he was doing. I tossed the bag back into the cab of the truck, double checked my phone was in my pocket, and started towards the house again.
"Sorry Jake, I'll make sure to bring an old bag or something next time. So tell me, how was your week!? Patrols? School? Girls?" I finished the last question with a slight brow wiggle causing my tanned friend's head to drop back with a sigh.
"No honey, no girls, but Embry imprinted on some girl a grade below us today so she's going to be at the bonfire. This means you'll get to hear all the legends!" he continued to chatter away as he led me inside to be swept into a hug from Emily who slipped a spatula in my hand with a knowing wink.
"Shall we?" she asked, turning up some generic pop music on their kitchen speaker before she turned back to the giant pan of meatloaf she was checking on in the oven.
"We shall" I grinned back, giving the simmering pot of Bolognese a good stir.
An hour later, dinner was served, and within minutes the wolves had devoured everything laid out on the picknick tables, deciding to bring the deserts down to the eat by the fire while the elders recited their tribe's legends. Even Paul ate what I had personally cooked, only pausing to make sure Jared didn't die after his first bite before also diving in.
It was just before six, so I decided to go ahead and check in now to avoid using my phone while the elders spoke.
I sent Dem a quick 'early check-in complete' message, Jane got an 'all is good 😊', and then I paused before sending Felix a message too.
You forgot to mention stinking up my purse. Not very nice. Stop worrying.
I got thumbs up from Jane and Dem and figured Felix would just leave it.
I sat down on a log between Quil and Jake, giving a wave to Embry and his imprint who both grinned back at me. She was a sweet girl, just outspoken enough to balance out Embry's reserved demeanor. Kim passed me a blanket and went to sit with Jared as Billy and Old Quil began speaking.
Time flew by as I sat fully absorbed in their tribe's stories about the shapeshifters, the cold ones, Taha-Aki, imprinting, and especially the one about the Third Wife. I even sniffled a little at the end but tried to hide it by sneezing and softly whispering to Jake that he had to stop shedding so much.
When the elders were through, it was much darker out. Some of the boys left to take over patrolling, and others headed down to the beach to get more driftwood for the dwindling fire. I heard my phone chirp and pulled it from my pocket.
I told you I don't play fair; I'll worry if I want to. You've got less than an hour.
I tried not to read too much into the worrying part, he'd already explained the whole job on the line don't lose the gifted human/future family member thing.
I snuggled into Jake as the wind picked up and the chill from the night air started to settle over us.
"You alright Bells?" he asked, looking down with a small smile on his face.
"Yep", I stretched a little and sunk back into his warmth, "just wish I ran as warm as you guys at times like this. And those legends? Wow! I know I've heard most of them before, and some from you, but listening to Billy and Old Quil tell them feels like they just happened, if that makes any sense."
"Yeah, it really does." I could feel him wanting to comment on the temperature thing, but it seemed there was an agreement amongst us all that we were just going to avoid talking about my inevitable change, and just enjoy the time we still had together.
He looked hesitant for a moment then asked, "so how are these royal leeches anyways? Are the red eyed freaks treating you well? Do we need to come up there and kick some rotting ass?" Guess we're going to talk about it.
I knew he was partly joking, but the idea of the pack trying to take on just Jane, let alone all three vampires made my eyes widen and I spluttered trying to answer, "N—No, No! Absolutely not. Jake, they are treating me just fine. After all, I am going to be joining them once I'm changed so if they're mean now it will only bite them in the ass a year from now." That seemed to appease him, for now. He just looked me over, as if memorising me as a human with pink cheeks and a beating heart.
My phone chirped, breaking our silence, it was Jane.
Something weird going on, have a wolf follow you back.
Jake must have seen the message; he was frowning when I looked up.
"Is that one of them? A royal red?" he asked.
"Yeah" I started tentatively, "they've been really understanding about my coming out here, and Jane would never ask me to get a chaperone if it wasn't serious, she's actually really cool." I worried my lip, wondering what she could mean by 'weird'.
"So can you follow me? I might as well head out now just in case."
"Sure sure, I'll get Quil to come too just in case" I paused at that, but what harm could it do anyways?
"Okay but play nice. They've been sticking to the rules and have stayed away, no wolfy tricks." I finished sternly crossing my arms while trying to intimidate my abnormally large best friend.
"Don't worry Bellsy, I'll make sure ol Jake here doesn't piss on any trees…or beastly trucks" Quil supplied, slinging an arm around my shoulders and steering me towards the beastly truck in question.
My phone chirped again, Felix.
At the treaty line.
They must've sniffed the treaty line out. Weird supernatural senses.
"One of them will meet us at the treaty line, I'll be safe from there, just make sure you stay on alert and I'll call Sam's with an update when I know what's going on." Jake nodded, jaw stiff, eyes scanning the woods around us as I climbed into my truck and started towards home.
I saw flashes of brown and russet fur through the trees as I drove down the county road back to Forks, using my high beams to see far enough down the road ahead in case anything or anyone suddenly jumped out.
It was a good choice, I was able to make out a dark figure looming in the road ahead and started to slow down, knowing exactly who would cast that big of a shadow against the truck's lights. Jake and Quil came out trotting alongside the truck.
"It's alright guys, you can circle back now, I'll be safe. I promise." I knew they could hear me from inside the cab. I didn't miss Jake's bared teeth as he and Quil stopped moving and watched my truck approach the large vampire. I switched to my fog lights, unsure of how bright lights effected vampire vision.
Ignoring my furry entourage, I gestured to the immortal ahead through my windshield, "are you coming in or following…" the second the words left my mouth, he was in the cab, taking up most of the space with his massive frame. He took a second to look me over before leaning back slightly.
"You smell like wet dog again. Drive."
We sat in silence for a few minutes and I could feel his eyes on me every once in a while. At first, I chose to say nothing until I couldn't take it anymore.
"Are you going to tell me what's going on? Is it the Cullens? Are Jane and Demi okay? Oh my god is Charlie okay!?" With every question my panic rose, and Felix's hand shot out to grip the wheel, causing me to glance over.
His gaze had softened slightly, "The Cullens are the least of our worries right now. Everyone you know is fine. There was an unknown vampire circling the area around your house. Dem saw him, Jane followed, I came to get you. We don't know if there's anyone with him, but I have no doubt Jane will be able to extract some information from them." As he spoke my breathing slowed and my heart stopped pounding. He pulled back from the wheel and watched me some more.
"Okay. Everyone is okay. That's good. Have you heard from them since you left – "
My phone chirped cutting me off, Felix reached into my pocket before I could make a move for it, ignoring my disgruntled sound of indignation, and opened the message.
"Whaaaaat? What is it? Who is it?" He was already typing back as I drove.
"If you don't tell me what's going on I'm going to pull—" suddenly my breath whooshed out of me and I was in the passenger seat. I looked over and saw the hulking man beside me was now driving, pedal to the floor, with my phone dangling between his fingertips for me to grab.
I snorted but reached for it anyways. It was a message from Demi.
On our way back meet at Swan house.
"Really? You couldn't have just, I dunno, told me this? I mean it's barely a sentence."
He shifted his gaze from the road to my face, "You're too chaotic to drive right now. Now you can update the mutts and then take a shower when we get back. Then we will fill you in."
Sighing, I opened my phone and dialed the number to Sam's house. Jared picked up and I relayed the situation and let him know we'd give them an update in about an hour. The entire time I spoke with him, I noticed Felix's hands tight on the wheel, causing little cracks in it. Without thinking, I covered one of his hands with mine mid-sentence on the phone and felt more than saw his body start to relax little by little.
After I hung up, I pulled my hand back and rubbed it on my jeans, trying to get the tingles to calm down.
When we pulled in Felix put the beast in park, turned to me, and said "shower." Then he was gone. Weird.
As my hand reached for the front door I heard a sound like thunder. Well, any normal human would have assumed it to be thunder, but after watching the Cullens play baseball and knowing the skies tonight were relatively clear for Forks, I had a feeling either the 'questioning' wasn't over, or one of the vampires was taking out some anger on something or someone.
Shaking my head, I went inside and took a shower, quickly and thoroughly scrubbing the wolfiness from my skin before leaving Charlie a message that I was home, then putting on some sweats and hoodie and going downstairs to see if they were ready to give that update.
I walked into the living room to find all three guards there, Jane was holding a scrap of something that I realized was half of an old Phoenix shirt of mine, causing me to shudder.
"Why do you have that?" I asked, worried that I already knew what the answer was.
"Bella," Demetri started cautiously as if approaching a timid animal, "is there something you need to tell us about your past? Something that would explain why the vampire we caught leaping from your bedroom window needed a piece of your clothing for their sire?"
I hesitated and Felix spoke up, "You're not in trouble, but you need to tell us why someone from our world wants you dead, and wants you dead badly."
My blood went cold. No. No, it couldn't be. Laurent never came back, I figured she gave up.
"Bella…?" Felix was in front of me now, kneeling down, taking my face in his large marble hands.
"How much did Aro tell you about my time with the Cullens?" I asked, eyes boring back into his.
"Only the cliff notes, why? Bella, what did they do?" his eyes turned hard, glittering with anger and he abruptly pulled away and started pacing.
I swallowed and pulled up my sleeve, showing them the pale crescent bite mark.
"Woah hold up, what the fuck Lil B?" cried Demi, surging forward to take a look at my arm. Jane's fists were clenched tightly as she stared at the ground as if imagining it were the Cullens.
"It all started last year…" I told them everything. The meeting, finding out their secret, the baseball game, the ballet studio, the bite, the hospital stay, Jerkward leaving, Jake and the wolves healing me and killing Laurent, until finally, "Laurent mentioned Victoria was out for blood and wanted to kill me, slowly. A 'mate for a mate' he said. I thought she'd given up when the wolves killed Laurent, but I guess not."
It was very quiet in the living room. Too quiet. I looked up and caught Demi's eyes.
"Felix" he said, slowly but sternly, "go for a run, now". He looked at Jane then continued, "Jane, you go too, but give him some space. I'll stay with Lil B." She nodded her head and disappeared after her coven mate.
I opened my mouth to ask Demi a question, but he held up his hand, "remember when Felix told you what you mean to us?" I nodded, "well he's very protective of his family, and when all is said and done, he ranks above Jane and I in the guard. So if anything happens to you, to us, he will blame himself and himself alone. Just give him some time to calm down, you've thrown us a curveball we didn't see coming."
I sighed and nodded my head. Feeling a little off myself, I called the wolves back and relayed what happened to Sam who said they would double patrols on their end. After that I felt drained, so I told Demi goodnight and walked upstairs to my room. Snuggled down under the covers, I heard more thunder. This time knowing for sure the sound was caused by Felix (and maybe Jane too), and why he was doing it, I felt a couple of my own tears trailing down my cheeks. I hoped that one day the man who carried the responsibility for his family's well-being would one day share at least some of the burden.
I sat up about an hour later when I heard a knock on my bedroom door. I could feel who it was, feel their own unsettled emotions in the pit of my stomach. I carefully got out of bed, checking to make sure all my garments were on and in place this time before opening the door. I looked up and there he was. Wild red eyes tracing my features, hands braced on either side of the doorframe, taking small unnecessary breaths in through his nose. The longer we stared at each other, the calmer he became, just like in my truck.
I wonder.
I reached up and laid my hand on his cheek, and he closed his eyes, something I had yet to see him do since meeting him.
"Thank you" I started, causing his eyes to snap open and look down into mine, "thank you for keeping me safe."
Something in him changed at my words, he looked sort of…protective?
"Do you have any idea just how powerful you are?" he asked, but in a way that made me think I wasn't supposed to answer. So I just kept staring.
"Two thousand years. I've been around for nearly two thousand years and I've never –" he cut himself off again and cupped my hand on his cheek with his own, turning it so he could gently press his cool lips against my scar. Not quite a kiss, but still an intimate gesture that made my breath catch.
He straightened to his full height, head practically brushing the hall ceiling. My hand slipped from his and fell back to my side as I remained locked in his gaze gnawing on my lip.
His raised his hand once more, pulling my lip free, "Go sleep, il mio gattino grintosa", that smirk from the jet peeked out a little, "we will talk in the morning." With that he vanished in true vampire fashion, leaving me to ponder what the hell he'd just said.
I got back into bed and pulled my comforter up to my chin, passing out immediately.
Everyone seems to be getting a little protective! Il mio gattino grintosa roughly translates to my feisty kitten/kitty. We'll elaborate more on that soon, and on Felix's other gift.