Not much to say this week, except we're getting close to the end! Thanks as always to CoppertopJ for keeping me right. Enjoy1
It was mid-morning when Edward and I slid into the booth of a small diner. I was still shielding myself from the human scents, but having hunted just this morning the heartbeats around me were barely causing my throat to itch. From the look on Edward's face as we walked into the diner, I was glad I didn't have to smell the human food being cooked around us.
"Watch the facial expressions," I chuckled at him, "You certainly aren't going to endear us to the locals if you insult them."
He stuck his tongue out at me, then flashed me his breathtaking crooked smile, and all signs of disgust were gone from his face.
"It's been a while since I've been so close to the aroma of human food," he said so quietly only I could hear him, "I'd almost forgotten how horrible it smells. Somehow, it never seemed as bad when I was cooking it for you."
I rolled my eyes at him and picked up the menu, attempting to look as human as possible. I spotted the waitress heading in our direction and nodded subtly at Edward.
"I can't believe that woman last night," I spat, speaking loudly enough to be heard throughout the diner, "She was practically all over you when I had only left for a few minutes to go to the bathroom. Anyone could tell you were uncomfortable, but she was just so desperate...Oh, sorry." I looked up at the waitress who was standing a few steps away from our table, looking uneasy at interrupting me. She was young, perhaps only a few years older than us.
"I am sorry for interrupting," the waitress said in a thick accent, "I can come back..."
"No, no, it's fine," I replied, smiling a warm smile at her in an attempt to ease her awkwardness, "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to get so worked up."
"It is fine," she assured, dropping her voice to a whisper as she added, "I would be mad too if someone was hitting on my boyfriend. Can I take your order?"
We placed our order and the waitress shuffled into the kitchen.
"See?" I said, continuing our little skit and keeping my voice loud enough to be heard around the diner, "I didn't overreact last night!"
"I didn't say that, love," Edward replied, "I just said that you can trust me. I told her straight away that I wasn't interested, that I was already taken. She just didn't want to take no for an answer."
"I know, and I do trust you," I said, "I wonder how many other men she came onto like that."
I was subtly looking around the room, trying to work out if anyone was paying attention to our conversation. There was a couple in the booth opposite us who were clearly oblivious to anything but each other, which was sweet, but there were a few other tables who were clearly listening, though no one seemed inclined to speak to us.
I knew it was highly unlikely that we would hear anything in the first place we tried, but I was a little disappointed that our stellar acting performances had been fruitless.
Our food arrived shortly after and we continued our acting by trying to look like we were actually consuming the pancakes, eggs, and bacon when we were discreetly wrapping them in napkins and putting them into my handbag. Once we had removed enough from the plates, Edward paid for our meals, leaving a nice big tip for the waitress, and headed outside.
"Bravo, my dear," Edward whispered as we walked through the small town, having emptied my handbag of our breakfast in a nearby bin, "Your acting certainly has improved since you've become a vampire."
"Ah, none of those pesky human traits to give me away," I replied, "No blushes, sweaty hands, or a racing heartbeat that always gave away my lies as a human. It still didn't work though."
"Everyone was listening though," Edward said, "It's only the first place we've tried. It could take a while."
~~~ PS ILYF~~~
We continued acting out our little skit in a few other places in the small town, a few shops, and later in the evening, the only small bar in the town. We mixed things up a little each time, improvising as we tried to bring a few people into our conversation. Some people just looked at us like a crazy couple having an argument, but one or two women empathised with me at having another girl come on to my husband. Still, no one said anything that suggested Tanya or Irina were in the area.
Alice and Jasper were having the same luck in the town they were in and by the end of the night, we were no closer to finding out where they could be.
We headed back to the cabin and worked on extending my shield, attempting to cover someone else in it so I wouldn't have to search on my own once we narrowed our search area down. Ideally, I wanted to be able to cover Alice as between us we would have the best chance at finding them, though I thought that if I wasn't able to extend my shield to protect my mate, then it was unlikely that I would be able to protect anyone else. For that reason, I was working on extending it to Edward first.
"Attempt to empty your mind," Jasper said, as I sat cross-legged on the floor facing Edward with his hands in mine, "Tune out all the sounds and distractions around you."
I closed my eyes and took a deep breath, cataloguing all of the distractions around me. The sounds of the human heartbeats that were far enough away that they were just a very low hum. The dripping sound of the rain outside. The sounds of breathing from myself and the others around me. Then I pushed it all to the back of my mind. It was impossible to tune it out completely, but my vampire brain was able to compartmentalise it all into a little box at the very back of my mind.
"Now, focus on your shield," Jasper continued in a soft voice, "Feel it surrounding you. Feel it protecting you. Feel how it's keeping you from feeling Edward's touch. Feel where it comes from and how it moves when you move."
I concentrated on the hum of electricity that covered every inch of me when my shield was up and how I activated it around myself. Then I had an idea.
"Wait," I said, opening my eyes and looking at Edward, "How is the human scent here? Is it strong?"
"No," he answered, his brow furrowing in confusion at my question.
"I have an idea," I said before cautiously lowering my shield so I was exposed to the scents around me. Edward's honey and sunshine scent, along with the scents of Alice and Jasper filled my nose, but thankfully, any human scent was diluted enough that I didn't react.
Edward and Jasper stiffened as they clearly scented me, readying themselves to grab me if I made any movements. Alice, however, was smiling so I knew that I was safe in that regard.
Grasping Edward's hands a little tighter, I focused solely on the two of us, keeping all the background sounds and distractions locked away. As I brought my shield back around myself, I pushed it out past my hands, having to strain a little as it reached my fingertips, but with a little force and concentration, it spread over Edward's hands. Within a few seconds, I had pushed it right over Edward. A smile spread over my face as I took in a deep breath, the scents of Alice and Jasper were nowhere to be found, but I was surrounded by my favourite smell in the world.
"You did it, Bella!" Jasper exclaimed, taking a deep breath in through his nose.
"I need to lower my shield completely before trying to cover someone else," I explained, "I can't push it out past myself without first taking it off completely. Then, it was just a case of pushing hard enough to surround Edward with it."
We spent the rest of the night practising until I was able to cover myself and another person easily and keep the shield up despite any distractions. I attempted to cover more than one other person and while I could just about stretch it over two others, it was difficult to keep up. It felt like an elastic band being stretched too far and it would snap back after a short time. Jasper thought that with time and practise I might be able to do more with it, like exercising a muscle, but for now, being able to surround one other person was fantastic and would hopefully help us in our search.
~~~ PS ILYF~~~
The next morning, we decided to mix things up a little, and Alice and I headed off to one town with Edward and Jasper heading to another, hoping we might have better luck this way.
Alice and I had played our roles in a few shops, cafes, and even at a bus stop with no luck when we headed into a bar. It was a little different from the bars Edward and I had visited last night, which had been the kind of bars that only locals went to, making us stand out as tourists. This bar was filled with younger tourists, with a group of young guys who looked like they were at a bachelor party.
Alice's face lit up as we walked in and she guided us to a table close to the guys after ordering a few drinks at the bar.
"This is it," she whispered to me, "Just follow my lead."
I nodded, taking my seat beside her, lifting my glass of wine to my lips, and waiting to see how she was going to play this.
"Oh, Bella," she giggled, her voice high and loud, attracting the attention of the guys beside us, "You've gotta let this go!"
"Fine," I replied, rolling my eyes at her, hoping I was playing along the right way for her plan.
"Looks like we might be able to find you another guy tonight," she replied with a wink and a not-so-subtle look at the next table.
"Alice!" I hissed, the annoyance in my voice was not just part of my acting. I didn't want to have to flirt with these guys, but I knew it was probably our best way to get information. Plus, it sounded like Alice had already seen us getting somewhere with our search, so I was going to have to suck it up.
"Hi guys," Alice said, turning towards them and fluttering her eyelashes, "Mind if we crash the party? My friend here was upstaged the other night and needs some cheering up."
"Of course," the dark-haired guy closest to us replied, sliding over in the seat to make room for us and gesturing around the table, "I'm Oliver. This is Tomas, David, Dominik, and Alex. Alex is getting married next week."
"Congratulations!" Alice said, "I'm Alice and this is Bella." I waved shyly, letting Alice do all the talking for the moment. I listened as she told them that we were students from America, backpacking through Europe. She then launched straight into a conversation about what she was studying and where we had been travelling, as I tried to tune her out, pretending to take a sip of my wine.
"Does she always talk this much?" the fair-haired guy sitting on my left asked under his breath.
"This is only the beginning," I chuckled, "David, right?"
He nodded and smiled what should have been a cute smile and probably would have been if I wasn't so biased.
"She never stops," I laughed, not having to lie, "I usually just sit and listen."
"Well, you're off the hook for a while," he said, nodding towards the other guys at the table, "She has a rapt audience." I giggled as I turned to see the other guys hanging on Alice's every word. I wouldn't have been surprised to see their tongues hanging out.
"So, what's this about you being upstaged?" he asked with a smile.
"Oh God," I groaned, putting my face in my hands, "I can't believe she said that! She lives to embarrass me!"
"Isn't that just what friends do?" he chuckled, "You don't have to tell me."
"No, it's fine," I said, "It wasn't really a big deal. We were out the other night and I was chatting to this guy. I thought it was all going well until this blonde bimbo strutted in. I excused myself to use the bathroom and when I got back out he was leaving with her. I mean, she was beautiful, but I was only gone for two minutes!"
"Weird," he said, "The same thing happened here last night!"
"Some blonde chick stole your man too?" I joked.
"No," he said rolling his eyes, "We were in here last night and a beautiful blonde came in, spent about five minutes talking to Dominik before he was leaving with her. It was almost like she'd hypnotised him. He barely told us he was leaving. I wonder if it was the same girl."
"It sounds like it," I said, glancing toward Dominik, "Where did she take him?" I tried to sound casual like I was just continuing the conversation and not desperate to know every detail.
"Somewhere on the east side of the town, I think," he replied, "He was a bit unsure where he'd been when he got back this morning. He was very drunk though."
I didn't dare ask any other questions, but I glanced up at Alice and she gave me the slightest of nods, letting me know that we'd got all the information we needed. David changed the subject and we spent the next while chatting about our lives. He told me about his girlfriend and the way his face lit up when he spoke about her was so cute. I told him some fabricated things about college and our supposed travels that I'd heard Alice mentioning to the other guys.
"Come on, Alice," I said after a while, "We have an early train to catch in the morning."
We said our goodbyes and headed out the door, both grinning from ear to ear that we now had a better idea of where to begin our search.