Chapter 8 – The Green Eyed Monster

EPOV

Edward.

Edward!

EDWARD!

"Alice, when people don't respond to you calling them, it's generally because they are ignoring you." I spoke out loud knowing full well she could hear me from her room. Suddenly she appeared in my doorway.

"Edward. You have to desensitise yourself to her smell. Otherwise look what happens!" Alice showed me a vision of me murdering my entire English class, along with the teacher Mr. Berty so I could have some privacy in killing and draining Bella. With a little over two weeks until school began, again, I understood why Alice was harassing me.

"Lovely, Alice, thanks for that. That's sure to help me." I rolled my eyes at her. The truth is I hadn't figured out yet how to desensitise myself to her without losing it and killing her in the process. Alice stood with her hands on her hips, tapped her foot and glared at me.

"You're not even trying, Edward. You haven't fed in over a week. How are you supposed to resist her if you're hungry?" She looked at me expectantly. I glared at her. She glared back. For a second we actually looked like the dangerous vampires we were. I threw my hands up in exasperation.

"Alice, I'm not keen on becoming 'Stalker Boy' to this girl. It's not exactly gentlemanly to follow a girl around just to get used to her scent." She came and sat next to me on the leather sofa in my room.

"Edward. Let's hunt. Then I'll go with you to her house, and we'll just sit outside her house for a bit. That's a start." I shrugged, but made no move to stop her as she pulled me to my feet.

I sated myself on two large mule deer before I found myself sitting high in the trees with Alice, overlooking Bella Swan's house. I could faintly make out her scent, but nothing that would cause any rash actions on my part. Alice was right; helped to get used to her fragrance.

As before, I couldn't hear Bella's thoughts, although I knew she was there. Chief Swan's thoughts were more subdued than others I had encountered. As he prepared himself for work, I could feel love and concern in his thoughts, but I couldn't make out specifics from this distance. Bella must have inherited her silence from him.

As soon as the police cruiser pulled out of the driveway, Alice moved out of her crouched position to get closer to the house.

"What are you doing?" I hissed.

"Edward, you need to get closer than this to get acclimatized. We'll stay in the tree line, but let's move nearer to the house." Alice lithely hopped from branch to branch, moving them no more than the breeze did. I reluctantly followed, each leap bringing the wretched burning to my throat, as Bella's scent assaulted me the closer I got to the house. When Alice finally stopped, I felt that the distance we were was manageable. I was fully aware of the scorching in my throat, but wasn't overcome with the desire to break into the Swan residence. I was also able to hear everything that was happening in the house, which of course included Bella's heartbeat. For now, she was still asleep.

"Okay, Alice, I sniffed her house. Can we go now?" I turned my gaze towards Alice.

"Pfft." She scoffed. "We've been here for all of five minutes. That's hardly desensitised. Stop freaking out. You can handle being here, and you need to be able to be closer to her than twenty feet, and not separated by a building."

"I could be closer than this." I grumbled. "This just feels like we're spying on her. It's not right." I folded my arms over my chest. I saw myself through Alice's eyes and objectively, it very much looked like I was pouting. Alice smirked.

"Then turn around or close your eyes, so you don't feel like a voyeur. No one said you had to look at her, just get used to her scent." Then she stuck out her tiny tongue at me. I made a big show of turning around, and looking into the forest.

Eventually I heard Bella's heart rate increase, and then sounds of her stirring from her sleep. I was hit with a vision of me in her bedroom, soaking up her scent.

"Alice, can you please tell me why you see me in her bedroom?" I shifted minutely so I could see her in my peripheral vision.

"It would appear Bella is planning on going out today, thus giving you the perfect opportunity to really saturate yourself with her scent." Alice shrugged, and continued concentrating on the house. "She'll leave for La Push in forty-seven minutes." I snapped my head to look at Alice full on.

"Why is she going to La Push?" Not that I was planning on following her all day today, but I was irritated now that the prospect was denied to me. Alice showed me a vision of Bella laughing with a boy with long dark hair.

Who was this boy? Is he her boyfriend? If he's not, does she have a boyfriend? Wait, why do I care if she has a boyfriend? I'm simply going to extra lengths to avoid killing her, that is all. I'm doing this to protect my family. It would be ridiculous for me to even entertain dating a human, much less one who may be my singer. Preposterous. I would never engage in such a foolish and outlandish idea. Utterly irresponsible...

"I think you're best option is the window." Alice broke me out of my inner tirade, her head cocked to the side; as she analysed the house. "You can use the cover of that large tree at the side of the house to get into her room."

"Alice," I began when she interrupted me.

"Tut tut." She clucked. "I've already seen it will work, and you will benefit from being surrounded by her scent, without a warm body to endanger. It's brilliant really." She looked smugly at me, then back to the house. I resumed my previous position of facing away from the house.

Forty-four minutes later I heard the thunderous roar of Bella's truck, as she pulled away from the house. Thirty seconds after the sound of the truck faded from the distance, I was perched on a branch of the tree outside her bedroom window. I tried to ease open her window, but it stuck a little. Alice appeared next to me holding a can of WD-40. She tapped her head.

"Brilliant."

A few quick sprays, and the window slid open. I was once again assaulted with her scent, and it seemed more potent than I recalled. I slid into the room, and was overwhelmed by the essence of Bella. Alice hopped in quickly behind me. I inhaled a long drag of the air, and felt my lungs explode with fire. My venom was freely flowing in my mouth. I swallowed, hard. Alice rubbed soothing circles in my back.

"How are you finding it. Edward?" Alice looked up at me, her eyes full of concern.

"It's manageable. You were of course correct in your assessment Alice. It truly is easier to manage without a thudding heartbeat nearby." I smiled at my favourite sister. She was justly worried for me, and I appreciated the effort she took in my well being – both mental and physical. And I wasn't lying. Without the presence of Bella's heart reminding the monster inside me of the source of her blood, I found her aroma to be very appealing. Much like appreciating the bouquet of a wine before drinking it, I found myself able to appreciate Bella's bouquet, without drinking her.

I inhaled again and noticed a faint animalistic odour. Dog maybe? But Bella didn't have a dog. It was residual, maybe a day old or so. I almost didn't notice it amongst the more appealing scents in the room.

Maybe a friend brought a dog to visit?

That seemed the most plausible reason to explain the foreign stench.

I felt, rather than heard, Alice withdraw from the room. She had been carefully controlling her thoughts all morning, and as she ran away from the house, I could faintly hear her say that she was proud of me. I walked towards Bella's bed, where her scent was more concentrated. I tried not to snoop around her room, reminding myself that I was here for her fragrance alone. But the more I thought about Bella, the more it bothered me that I hadn't been able to hear her. I wanted to learn more about this mysterious girl with the silent mind, and enticing aroma. Before I realised what I was doing, I was outside running towards the border of our territory and La Push. I had no intention of crossing the border, but I was curious as to why Bella went there.

I actually passed her decrepit, slow truck on my run to the border. I held my breath as the rusty heap passed by, and turned into La Push, disappearing from sight. I strained to listen for voices concentrated around the sound of her truck, but she was too far in, and I could go no further.

So now what?

I had already broken into her home to saturate myself in her scent. I followed her to the one place I wasn't allowed to enter by treaty, and I had no idea why. Suddenly, I heard the sound of her truck approaching. A young boy was now in the car with Bella. I inhaled as they passed by. Again, there was the faint aroma of dog. Perhaps this was the friend who brought a dog to visit. Through his thoughts, I could hear their conversation. Bella was lamenting returning to school.

Ha, if she only knew the real reason she shouldn't go back.

The young boy took her hand, and then put his arm around her. My hands accidently gouged the branch of the pine tree I squatted on. I also heard a low growling and looked around, only to realise it was me.

Well that was ... peculiar.

I followed the truck the short distance to the scrap yard. This was no place to bring a lady. There was no way this child could be courting Bella, you simply don't court with garbage. And yet I could hear his thoughts and adoration of Bella while they continued their conversation. He joked with her about teaching and then leaned down to kiss her head. I heard the snarling again and tried to calm myself. I had no claim to this girl. I didn't even know her. She seemed impressed with the collection of garbage the child had accumulated. Apparently he was rebuilding a car with it. Well that was a skill I could appreciate. I had nowhere near the level of knowledge or talent as Rosalie, but I could understand the satisfaction of building something from nothing. Then I heard it.

"Gotta keep outta trouble if I'm gonna be dating the Chief's daughter."

So they are dating. Suddenly my mind was filled with so many questions. And I had no source to search for answers. Again, her mind was blank to me.

What attracts her to this boy?

Does she feel for him how intensely he feels for her?

Why does she not care that they are at a junk yard?

Seriously, who courts in a junk yard?

Does she love him?

Why did she blush just now?

I jumped to the only source I had, and the boy's mind was a jumble. He was completely panicked. What had I missed? I was suddenly overcome with thoughts of intense lust, with brief flashes of him kissing Bella passionately, and extreme angst and heartbreak. His typical teenage hormones aside, he really did seem to adore Bella. A part of me felt bad for him, until I remembered we were in a junk yard.

May this be a lesson in how to treat ladies to you, young man.

But then Bella did something completely unexpected. I heard her call out to him.

"That's too bad Jacob. I was really looking forward to seeing how skilled your hands were." And then she winked. But from my perspective, I could see her face, and he could not. As she turned around she turned bright red. It was the most intense blush I had ever seen. I could not get a read on this girl. Saying something that bold was usually accompanied by great self-assuredness, but Bella seemed embarrassed?

What a mystery you pose, Miss Swan.

As the rain started down on us, she called out to the boy again, this time not as playful as before. His mind reacted to her words, and he had extremely impure thoughts of Bella. I was hit with a visual blur of erotic images he conjured up of Bella. I quickly removed myself from the onslaught of pictures in his mind. I retreated to the safety of the tree line so I could not be seen as they left. Despite my best efforts, the images remained, and the growling returned. But this was not the usual inner beast I had to tame. This was not the monster that yearned for blood. It was an entirely new creature, and I didn't know what it wanted.

I followed them back towards La Push and caught the rest of their conversation as they had pulled over due to Bella laughing so hard she was crying. At what? Toilet humour? This girl never had the reaction I expected. As they pulled back onto the road, I felt a shift from the boy. He seemed aware of a presence, and then at the last minute our eyes met.

Did he see me?

I frantically searched his mind before he disappeared, and could only find that he saw something, but didn't know what it was. I hoped he didn't tell his elders. While I wasn't breaking any rules by being here, the optics of the situation were not good. Deciding I had pushed my luck enough for one day, I went home deep in thought of what had transpired today.