Chapter 6

Some Truths

"Esme, we have company!" I spoke loudly, pretending my mother wouldn't hear me otherwise. I heard Bella take a breath behind me and turned around to see her slowly stepping through the doorframe.

"Why would she feel so relieved?" Jasper's question hit me and I wondered that myself. "And now she is feeling misunderstanding and confusion."

I felt Bella's stare at me and when I turned to see her face, she was looking at me with wide eyes. She quickly shook her head and put on a friendly smile. Esme came into the hallway then, her motherly smile shone brightly on her face as always.

"Bella, this is Esme, my mother by all intents and purposes." I introduced. Bella shook Esme's hand and I noticed a confused look had quickly touched her face again.

"It's very nice to meet you, Mrs. Cullen. You have a lovely home!"

"Thank you, sweety. And it's Esme, we don't like formalities in this family." My mom assured her. "I'm afraid you've missed dinner, but I can cook something up for you if you two are hungry."

"Alice mentioned Bella would be coming over," Esme told me in her thoughts.

"Thank you, but I'm really not that hungry," Bella spoke first.

"Me neither," I spoke relieved. However, I found it strange that Bella wouldn't want to eat after only having a salad many hours ago for lunch.

Bella took a seat next to me in the living room and looked around.

"Do you play?" She pointed at the grand piano in the corner.

"Sometimes." I shrugged. "Do you?"

"A little," Bella admitted. "Damon and I used to play four-hand pieces for our mom when we were younger."

I held up my hand for her which she took with an interest and led her to my piano. She took a seat next to me and stared at me questioningly.

"Do you want to play now?" Bella chuckled.

"Why not?"

"I haven't practiced in many years." She made a point to stress the 'many' part.

"Why don't you start with something and we'll see if I can follow your lead?" I asked, not willing to let go now.

Bella shook her head with a smile and put her fingers on the keynotes. She started with an Allegro con spirito, in D major and common time. I knew the sonata she chose, it was one of the most popular ones for two people. Mozart composed it in a very gallant style, with interlocking melodies and simultaneous cadences.

"Edward is playing again." Esme was happy in her thoughts.

"More classical music. Great…" Emmett was bored.

I looked over at Bella, who seemed to be entranced by the music our hands were producing. She passionately placed fingers on the boards, running them along in a knowing manner. When we finished the composition and the house became quiet again, she looked up at me with a bright smile on her face.

"Muscle memory works?" I chuckled.

"It definitely does." She nodded eagerly. "I didn't know how much I'd missed it."

I tried getting Bella alone for the rest of the week, but her oldest brother's arrival sort of took her away from me. I didn't want to make her feel obligated to spend time with me instead of the brother she hadn't seen in almost a month, so I decided to give her some time to adjust.

Alice told me I wasn't allowed to spy on Bella's house anymore, which got me a little embarrassed and mad. On Friday that week, it was pouring rain. The roads were almost flooding with the amount of water released from the skies.

It happened after school. I waited for my family to come, standing next to my car under an umbrella. Usually, I would have just gotten in the car and listened to some music, but not being able to speak to Bella for the last few days made my need to see her that much more urgent and necessary. And so I waited every day for her classes to end, so I could watch her come out of the school building and waive me goodbye as she walked to her car.

I was pathetic, Emmett made sure to tell me that in his thoughts, but I couldn't help it. I knew of my feelings for Bella, there was no point denying them anymore. I also knew we couldn't be together, it was too dangerous for her and I couldn't possibly hope that my feelings would be mutual. Still, a selfish part of me hoped for it to be mutual, a selfish part of me struggled to let her go, and the most selfish part of me begged to just tell her my secret and beg for her to love me back.

I watched as Bella left the gym building and looked around the parking lot until she noticed me. She shook her head with a bright smile and waved at me with her left hand. Her right one was occupied with an umbrella. I waved back and noticed Alice and Rosalie coming my way…At least their thoughts were coming my way.

I didn't know what happened first, the screeching sound or Alice's vision. I watched both events happening at once. The one in Alice's head had a few seconds on what was happening in front of my eyes. Tyler Crowley's van was skidding on a turn, I noticed a small film of water between his tires and the road and understood that he was hydroplaning. He lost control of the vehicle and it was coming toward Bella.

Bella noticed the van but was standing as still as a stone. Her face didn't look shocked or expecting, it relayed only one emotion, frustration. As soon as I saw the van hitting her in Alice's vision, I ran.

"Edward, No!" Alice's thoughts rang in my head. I couldn't stop, not when Bella's life was in danger. She was my world, if I lost her…

No. I won't lose her. Won't let that happen. Not now, not any other time.

I pulled her on the ground with me as gently as I could master, but still heard a crack of bone as we fell to the ground. Tyler's van skidded even more until he hit a red pickup truck further down the lane.

"Bella?" I asked quietly, looking down at the girl. She was lying on the ground, her umbrella was snapped in half a meter away from her. The pouring rain kept coming and coming, making her hair completely soaked. I felt my own body becoming completely wet as well.

"What the hell is wrong with you?!" She spoke threateningly and pissed off.

"Excuse me?" I was appalled. That's not the reaction I was expecting.

"You wanna out yourself in the middle of school, be my fricking guest. I still want to be considered human." She pushed me away and stood up to leave.

I remembered the crack that I heard before and looked over at her again. She was dragging her left food behind as she tried getting out of the parking lot. I looked around, noticing noone was yet to come. But it will only be about ten seconds till everyone comes rushing downstairs.

"Screw it," I swore and rushed back to Bella, picking her up in my arms and running at a vampire speed into the forest with her. I put her down on a large log and turned around. "You know?"

"Know what?" Her words cut the air.

"You know I'm not...normal," I spoke it as a fact.

"Yeah, your unbeating heart is a dead giveaway." She snorted.

"Yor leg, is it…Do you need to go to the hospital?"

"No," Bella spoke and I heard movements. I immediately looked back to see Bella standing up like there was nothing wrong with her. She was putting weight on both legs now and I couldn't help but stare.

"How…"

"I regenerate pretty fast." She shrugged.

"You regenerate fast," I spoke unsure. "Your leg was broken just ten seconds ago."

"Nothing but a minor injury." She threw her hand at me dismissingly.

"What are you?" I asked amused.

"I'll tell you if you tell me." She countered, and I looked away. It was one thing admitting that I wasn't exactly normal, completely the other telling her I drank blood to sustain myself. "I'm guessing that's a no then."

"I'm sorry." I shook my head and glanced at her. If Volturi found out about me spilling our secrets, my whole family would be dead, not even mentioning what they would do to her.

"I'm sorry too," Bella spoke with sadness and started to leave. It was then that I heard the rustling of the leaves and Alice's thoughts came into my hearing range. Two seconds later, my sister was already standing in front of Bella.

"You can send me a thank you card," Alice spoke brightly and gave something to Bella. Her eyes widened and she put a hand on her neck, grabbing nothing.

"I owe you one, Alice," Bella spoke gasping.

"Saving your life might run in the family." Alice winked at her and put a hand on my elbow.

"Edward, we have to go. Rosie is furious and she is calling Carlisle out of the hospital for a family meeting." Both of us need to be there to get her to calm down.

I nodded and looked up to where Bella was standing. She wasn't there anymore though.

"She'll be fine. Rose took your car home, Jasper is driving Bella's car to her place and is going to meet us at home. C'mon."

"How is Bella getting home? Where did she go?" I asked.

"Don't worry about that right now. Everything is going to come out soon. Trust me." Alice spoke surely.

"How can I? You've been covering the truth from me for almost a month now."

Alice gave me a death glare and then sighed. "Fine, see for yourself."

Her mind cleared and then I saw the most wonderful picture playing inside her head. Bella and I sitting in the middle of my meadow, the sun didn't reflect off my skin, my eyes were my human green color and yet I could hear and see and smell everything I could as a vampire. Bella was laughing, trying to cover her mouth with her left hand, and I gasped when I noticed my mother's ring on her ring finger.

"Alice. How can this be?" I breathed.

"You mean the sun, right?" She asked.

"And my eyes." I pointed out.

"I don't know yet. I don't see what decision will lead to that, but that was the first vision that I saw with Bella in it."

Carlisle was parking in the driveway when Alice and I made our way into the house. Esme made us go through our windows, where she already placed towels on the floor to keep it clean. The water was still dripping off my hair and clothes, so I carefully took everything off and jumped into the bathroom.

"Family meeting, two minutes. No more." Rosalie's mental voice was dipped in venom. I could hear how mad she was at me for exposing us like that.

It was probably the quickest shower that I've had in a while. When Rose was angry, she was worse than the god of war. The emotions that Jasper couldn't filter were radiating through the entire house.

I dressed in whatever I could find first and rushed downstairs, taking the second to last seat at the table.

Alice came down just a few seconds later, looking displeased at being rushed down.

"So what was so urgent I had to rush home in the middle of my shift?" Carlisle spoke calmly.

"Oh, I'll tell you what was so important…" Rose started talking, her voice kept rising, and the insults came more often with each passing sentence. I didn't think I'd heard as many insults coming my way as I did during her speech. Carlisle listened intently, not even hoping to interrupt Rosalie. We all knew how that would end.

"Can I say something?" I asked after giving Rose a few seconds to take unnecessary breaths. My sister looked at me with a want to kill clearly written in her eyes. "Bella isn't human either."

"So our theories were true?" Carlisle spoke enthusiastically, almost forgetting about the incident.

"Bella wouldn't say what she was until I revealed our secret." I could already hear Rose's thoughts start forming. "I didn't."

"And now she thinks we don't trust her, so she won't put her trust in us."

"I say we keep that up," Rose spoke without emotion. "It's better for all of us if we just leave right now and never see the lot again."

A growl escaped my lips as the words left her mouth. I'm not leaving.

"Son." Carlisle put up his hand in the hopes of calming me.

"I'm not leaving her," I repeated out loud now.

"So you're choosing her over us?" Rose countered, her brows flinging up.

"Rose, Bella is a part of the family," Alice spoke with a soft smile. "I saw it."

"I think you might want to leave the house for the next part," Jasper warned sensing the murderous emotions coming off Rosalie. I nodded to him and quickly rushed through the main doors.

I ran to Bella's house, not sure where else I would go. Taking my usual spot behind the big evergreens next to the living room areas, I concentrated my hearing on the house.

"C'mon, Bon Bon. Have a little faith in me." A new voice, one I'd never heard before spoke. That must have been Bella's older brother Damon.

"You can never be trusted when it comes to mixing drinks," Bonnie snorted.

"Ara, you want one?" Damon called.

"I'm not in the mood for anything fancy. Just pass me the bottle." Bella's voice sounded tired.

"I'll do just that for some information." Damon's voice travelled a little and I heard him sit down on the couch cushions. "What's the boy's name?"

"Since when do you care?" Bella asked.

"Because you've been lashing out and being a total dick to everyone in the house for the past few days."

"Boo-hoo." I moved slightly and could now see what was happening in the living room. Bella snatched the bottle out of someone's hand. I could only see the part of the room where Bella was sitting.

"You know I don't do the big brother thing very well, so I don't have any milk or cookies for you," Damon spoke with sarcasm.

"Yeah, you've sucked at being the big brother." Bella chuckled and took another sip.

"Well, I did promise you an eternity of stupid jokes and intruding into your privacy."

Bella hummed in agreement. A radio started playing in the background then.

"So, you're going to tell me his name?" Damon tried again and I listened closely.

"Fine. His name is Edward." Bella spoke and smiled shyly before taking another sip.

"One of those freaks Bonnie told me about."

Bella rolled her eyes but nodded.

"They aren't freaks. Their whole family is actually really nice." Bella added which made me smile. She liked us. "And Edward…I think he might be from around the same time we are."

Hold on. Are they immortal?! I would have to add that to my list of theories.

"I mean, I'm not so sure, but the way he acts and talks…" Bella continued.

"So he doesn't age," Damon mumbled. "Anything else weird about them?"

"You can ask your friends for details, I'm not in the mood to discuss theories. All I can say is that I was able to walk into their house without invitation and when I decided to test it, I couldn't hear any heartbeat in the entire house except for my own."

Superhearing? And what did she mean by passing the threshold?

"Huh, and I thought we were the only living dead creatures out there."

"Yeah, a toast to not being alone." Bella snorted and put her bottle up before drinking from it again.

"So you think you and him…"

"I'm so not talking to you about that."

"Why not?"

"Because you have everything, and it's not because you were a good little boy who fought for your own happiness." Bella sighed. "No offense, but even this situation with Elena isn't so bad. So you spent the next 60 or so years without her, who cares? You have forever together. I've already had forever, and because I got him close to you and your friends, I lost it."

"And now you have a chance at a forever again…"

"And you can guarantee this forever won't end like the last one? Or can you guarantee that this feeling that I have is even mutual? Anyway, I see no point in continuing this conversation. He doesn't even trust me enough to reveal his identity."

Oh, Bella. I would give you forever if only you could live with the reality of what I was.

Bella ignored me on Monday and Tuesday at school. I felt sick to my stomach, metaphorically speaking that was. Being around her and yet having no contact was almost killing me.

On Tuesday during History, Stefan cleared his throat and I turned my head in his direction.

"Did you and Bella have a fight or something?" He asked.

"No, what makes you say that?" I tried to sound casual.

"Um…The fact that I'm not blind?" Stefan chuckled. "C'mon man, talk to me, she is my sister, I know her."

"I'm sorry Stefan. I don't know what you're talking about." I shook my head.

"Okay. Why don't we talk about this project that is supposed to be due next week instead then?"

"Right. I can write about the events that led to the battle, the fighting sides, and the main people involved in it. And you can write about what actually happened during the battle and its aftermath if you want. We can do it the other way around, it doesn't matter to me."

"Sounds good. Why don't we make an outline for the project and get some notes done for tomorrow?"

For the rest of the lecture Stefan and I talked about the outline. I wrote it out and he copied it into his own notebook. It was actually nice doing a project with someone who understood the topic as well as I did. Only at the end of the class, I recognized that tomorrow was Wednesday. It was supposed to be sunny, which meant I wouldn't be in school.

"Are you excited for your camping trip?" Bella asked Alice during lunch.

"Camping trip?" Stefan asked.

"Sorry, I completely forgot about that." I lied. "We won't be in school tomorrow."

"No worries, man. We can look at our project on Thursday."

I nodded in agreement and sent a grateful look at Alice.

"Well, I am excited about the trip!" Emmett let everyone know. "Mountains, wildlife, fresh air."

"Yeah. I found it interesting that you would go to that region. It looks like a place for hunting, not camping."

"What is she trying to find out?" Rose asked suspiciously.

"Heck yeah, it's good for hunting. That's why we're going there, girl." Emmett thought enthusiastically.

"Well, we'll be staying around that area, maybe go hiking up to the mountains." Alice was saving the situation. "Esme and Carlisle are really into staying active and healthy."

I smiled knowingly at her statement.

"Maybe we should do something like that," Stefan spoke to Bella.

"Hard pass, Steff." Bella chuckled. "I think we have enough squirrels next to our house."

I looked at her and Stefan with an interest in my eyes. Alice was giggling in her hand, which Stefan found very curious.

"Squirrels?" Jasper and Rose both thought.

On Wednesday, the family and I left around noon to start our hunt. We traveled on foot for about 3 hours, stopping occasionally to wait for Esme and Carlisle, who checked surrounding areas for possible places to build a small piece of property on. Emmett wasn't big on waiting, so he made it his job to crash every boulder that was bigger than Alice in his way.

Jasper and I had a friendly fight to pass the time. Jasper's strategic mind never failed to amaze me. It was almost as though he was reading my every thought as well. He could anticipate my moves and deal blows, of course, I was doing the same thing.

We finally reached Mountain Rainier around 4 pm and all went our separate ways. I went to track down something carnivorous, something that would not only fill me up but could also fight me for their life. It has been a while since I had something other than an occasional elk or deer.

The only problem in all of that was my thoughts of Bella. The beautiful smart girl with lots of secrets whom I've been falling for for the last few weeks. I wondered again what she was doing today, wondered if she was in school or ditching again, wondered if she found the courage to kick her friends out of her house…Not knowing what she was up to was incredibly infuriating, so I didn't even pay much attention to a desirable smell coming from somewhere south.

I followed the scent either way. I took a big breath and felt the venom pool in my mouth. It has been over a week since I hunted last. Being around my family and Bella was making me less hungry since none of them smelt appetising, but here surrounded by the smell of wildlife…I was becoming my usual self again, the blood-drinking monster.

Oh and the monster inside of me liked the smell very much. Definitely something carnivorous. I would even bet it was a cougar. After so many years on an animal diet, it was almost too easy to tell apart the species of my prey.

I came to an abrupt stop where the smell was the most intense and focused on a strong heartbeat coming from under the big evergreen tree. Inside the not-so-thick bushes, I could see the golden fir peaking through. The animal was sleeping, judging by its steady breaths and calm demeanor.

I intentionally stepped on a branch and smirked to myself. Wake up.

The intensified heartbeat and a quick movement from the bushes made me smirk even more. I was staring at the golden eyes of a predator, soon mine will be matching its own. The large cat hissed and went down, preparing for a jump.

I took a step forward and the animal pounced with a loud growl. I extended my hands, catching it mid-air and throwing it on the ground below me. The cougar growled and hissed, trying to scratch my arms and legs and bite down on my exposed skin, but its attempts felt like nothing more than a soft tickle on my body.

I growled and put more weight on the animal, pressing its body down into the ground. The heartbeat intensified, the sweet scent of adrenalin hit my nostrils and I couldn't contain myself anymore. With an unprovoked growl, I tore into the animal's jugular.

I was about to start the hunt again when I was interrupted by Alice. It must have been something important if she was intentionally seeking me out instead of just waiting at our meeting place.

I saw a vision playing in her head before she could reach me. Bella would be in danger tonight. I cursed out loud and without saying anything to Alice, I turned around and started running in the direction of Port Angeles.

Oh, what happens next...

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