Chapter 9

An IOU

I begged that my family would act normal. I was close to praying. I was sure Bella felt confused enough already for today, and I didn't want to make her feel even more so. In Carlisle's thoughts, I saw everyone sitting in the living room, quietly staring at nothing - the living statues garden.

I sighed and walked into the house, leading Bella inside behind me. In Carlisle's thoughts, I saw that everyone turned their heads to the hallway entrance.

"I've told them you found out what Bella is and that you were bringing her to tell the rest of us," Alice informed me.

"You could've prepared me for that," I spoke to her.

"Pardon me?" Bella asked confused.

"It's Alice."

"You're replying to her thoughts?" I wasn't sure if it was a question or a statement, but nodded anyway.

"That would get some getting used to." Bella smiled. "Hey everyone."

We walked inside the living room now, hand in hand. I noticed Esme caught that little detail and her thoughts derailed in a completely different direction. I smiled at her thoughts and felt a little satisfied with myself. My mom was proud, relieved, and happy I found someone.

"Hello, Bella." Esme's smile, which she was trying to contain, was too bright to consider just friendly. She stood up and almost pranced at us.

"Hi, Esme." Bella chuckled.

Alice patted a seat next to her on the couch. Jasper was standing behind her, his arms resting on the back of the couch. Friendly but still protective and ready to pounce. I felt the need to hiss at him for his thoughts. Noone was going to touch Bella.

Esme returned to her seat next to Carlisle in the simple beige loveseat. My father gave her a reassuring squeeze on her hand and nodded to Bella. We took a seat next to Alice, my little sister made sure Bella was sitting in between us and put her own little hand on Bella's free one. Rosalie was sitting on the armchair with her arms crossed on her chest, staring at Bella with judgment. Emmett was smiling mischievously. He too noticed our entwined hands together and was waiting for an opportunity to make a joke about that. From the thoughts I gathered from him, I would definitely not enjoy those jokes, and I doubted Bella would either.

"So I only told them that you weren't a threat to us and that everything will come out tonight. You decided where you wanna start or if you want Carlisle to ask direct questions." Alice kept mumbling. "But he has a lot of them, like a lot a lot. So I would highly recommend you just start talking and let him ask questions later if he has any. Or other people for that matter…"

"You knew?" Bella asked surprised.

"Of course I did. I'm Alice, I know everything."

"I can't believe you just said that." I chuckled.

"Is that why you rushed to get me my necklace back? The day that van was about to hit me..."

"The sun was going to be out the next day and it was crucial to me that you come to school."

"Alice." Bella laughed, interrupting my sister. "It's okay. I know it will come as a big surprise for the rest of you, just like it did to my family two hours ago. For the record, I didn't know this was possible. I am a vampire as well. A different kind as we have already figured out today." Bella looked around the room.

"Not possible." Jasper was staring intently at Bella.

"Her heartbeat." Esme wondered.

Alice was smiling to herself. I wondered if she planned this evening this way. I shook my head, realizing I was probably right. The reaction that surprised me most was Carlisle's. It was as though all thoughts disappeared from his head. He was just staring at Bella with furrowed brows.

"So…" Bella cleared her throat, probably not expecting silence as a response to her latest sentence. I squeezed her hands and she looked gratefully at me. "You can interrupt me at any moment if you have a question. We already discussed some things with my brothers and Caroline. We sleep, eat, and drink. It's not necessary if we keep enough blood in our system, but those human things help us abstain longer. We do get tired and we need to breathe."

"What happens if you don't breathe?" Carlisle asked.

"We die." Bella shrugged her shoulders as if it was nothing. "Not for long though. Our heart restarts and we wake up again."

"Fascinating," Carlisle spoke aloud. "Can your kind be killed for good though?"

"Yes, but it's not so easy to do," Bella explained.

"I understand you don't know us very well yet, so I'm not going to push for any more information regarding that topic." Carlisle smiled. "Please continue."

"Thank you. Well, we are fast, but Edward beat me when we were racing. I am pretty certain you guys are also stronger than us. We can turn our senses off when we don't need them. It's the reason I didn't realize noone except for me has a heartbeat in this house." Bella chuckled. "We drink blood. Most of us feed from humans, but those who settle in one place for a long time switch to blood bags. Some others can't handle human blood, we call them rippers. If they taste it, it's like something switches in their brain and they can't stop until they rip the human apart."

"And what do they do?" Jasper asked. "The rippers?"

"Usually the witches interfere or the local churches. Those who regret their killings actually switch to your diet, but it's hard. And it tastes disgusting." Bella cringed and then looked around the room. "No offense."

I noticed along with myself, that both Alice and Esme were chuckling, whereas Emmett was outright laughing.

"None was taken," Carlisle assured her with a friendly smile. "I take it you don't drink from animals?"

"No. The blood tastes so much better from the vein. Edward explained how feeding makes you lose control and you can't stop. It's not like that for us. After a few months, we can control this process perfectly, only taking the amount we need."

"And the humans don't talk about that experience?" Carlisle wondered.

"We can compel them to forget."

"That hypnosis thing you were doing…" I wondered aloud.

"How does it work?" Jasper asked.

"I stare into the human's eyes and tell them what I want them to do. It takes a few weeks to master it, Caroline was really bad, Stefan or I had to do it for her."

"Can you do it on us?" Emmett asked eagerly.

"I don't think so, it doesn't work on other vampires since we are all technically dead."

Bella then proceeded to explain how one becomes a vampire like herself, which sounded really complicated no matter the fact that I've heard it the second time tonight. I heard Rosalie's thoughts travel back to 1933 Rochester and how she regretted not having a choice in the matter. I knew my sister well enough to say that she would let herself die in that situation. I would have chosen the same thing at one point in my life. But not right now, not when Bella was in my life. I wanted to continue living, unable to imagine being anywhere where she wasn't.

"You've mentioned witches would take care of the ripper vampires." Carlisle started. "I'm afraid I don't know much about them either."

"Witches are humans, it's a genetic thing. Noone can just become a witch, you have to be born a witch. They do spells and chant words in a funny language they call an Ancient language, but it's pretty close to Latin." Bella explained. "They have the lifespan of a human and in most cases really hate vampires."

"Why is that?" Emmett wondered.

"They are all about life and spiritual magic. They think we are an abomination that should have never happened." Bella smirked. "Pretty hypocritical, if you ask me, considering they were the ones who created both vampires and werewolves."

"You have werewolves too?" Emmett asked enthusiastically.

"Witches created vampires?" Carlisle asked surprised at the same time.

"How can you even create a vampire?" I asked along with them.

"One at a time please." Bella laughed. "Being a werewolf is a curse that was put on a tribe a very long time ago. Before the vampires were created. It's a genetic thing as well, just like witches. A human has to kill a person to trigger the curse. After that on the night of the full moon, they transform. They get a little more irrational and aggressive the closer the full moon is."

"Okay, this is getting just a tiny bit ridiculous." Emmett shook his head. "Three types of werewolves and only two types of vampires. How is that fair?"

"Three?!" Bella raised her voice and looked at me.

"We knew of two types. The Children of the Moon were almost all killed by the Volturi. They too turn only in the full moon, but their lycanthropy is passed on by a bite. They are feral when they change. The others are shapeshifters from the reservation just outside Forks." I explained. "Their legends suggest their spirits were able to leave their bodies, their old chief asked the wolf to share his body during an uprising. When the chief took back control over his land, he went back to his old body and since then all of his descendants could change into wolves at will."

"Huh…"

"We made a pact with them the last time we lived in the area. Reservation is off limits, I think they might apply it to you and your friends as well," Carlisle warned. "The stories have been passed on to the new generation and some still believe it's true. We know there is at least one shapeshifter patrolling the border."

"Noted, thanks." Bella nodded her head in understanding.

"So how did witches create vampires?" I asked again.

"We are going to have to get ready for school in an hour." Alice chimed in and I looked out the window in surprise. Time flew by fast, it was getting lighter outside already.

"I'll have to be quick then." Bella clapped her hands together and then put her right one back in mine. "They are called the Originals. The original vampire family."

"Are they still alive?" I asked, having a strange feeling that Bella somehow knew them personally.

"Most of them." She smiled sadly. "They moved to the New World in the 10th century from Norway. Back then they were a small family, a Viking warrior father, a witch mother, and a son. They went on to have another five kids. The village they lived in belonged to werewolves, so every full moon everyone stayed inside their homes, barricading the doors. Only the adults knew about the real danger, the kids weren't being told about who or better yet what their neighbors were. One of the days two of the kids snuck out and in the morning the older brother returned home in tears. The youngest son died, a werewolf attacked him that night."

"Oh, poor boy," Esme spoke aloud.

"The father, Michael, was devastated, ready to go into the battle with the werewolves to avenge his son. The mother, Esther, wanted to find a way to protect her other children. And she did. There was a dark ritual, the Spell of Immortality. I don't know all the details, but that's what she did and her children and husband drank the meed that evening and woke up the next day as the first vampires."

"The Originals, are they different from regular vampires?" I asked.

"We get stronger and faster with age, so they are the most advanced version of my kind. It's a lot harder to kill them too, most of the things that kill us, don't kill them. Every vampire belongs to a bloodline of one of the five siblings. When the Original dies, their entire bloodline dies with them."

"Bella…" I started to worry.

"My bloodline is the hardest to kill, don't you worry." She laughed. "I'm almost positive that bastard will never die. You know he's the most hated vampire in the world? Witches, werewolves, even his own sireline despises him."

"Do you?" Rosalie spoke for the first time. "Do you despise him?"

"No." Bella sighed. "I think he had to go through a lot, he is a survivor, a conqueror, a really bad brother, and not the most wonderful friend, but…He has been through enough and I can't blame him for being emotionally unstable."

"So you've met him?" Jasper asked.

"Short story?" Bella asked rhetorically. "Yeah, we've met on several occasions."

"Why don't you?" Rosalie asked. "He is responsible for turning you into a monster, why don't you despise him?"

"Because he didn't," Bella spoke with a sad smile. "For one, it wasn't him. It was a random guy who turned me. And for a second…I had a choice and I chose to become a vampire. I didn't choose to become a monster, and I'm not one now."

Rosalie sat in her chair straighter. She wondered what Bella meant by that and how can she not see the reality of being a vampire. In Rose's head, it didn't make sense. Any female vampire she met longed for motherhood and regretted not having a child while they were human. Everyone except for Alice, but Rose believed it was because Alice couldn't remember her human years. And now she was faced with a vampire who willingly let go of that opportunity. And I would be damned if I said she found that decision logical or thought-through.

"Their blood has healing properties, Rosie." Carlisle tried. "How can someone be a monster when their being can cure humans?"

Rose ignored our father, continuing to stare intently at Bella. The woman next to me was unrecognizable, she looked determined and ready to fight. This confident nature of Bella was new to me and made her look even more attractive in my eyes than I thought was possible.

"That's not the reason why I don't think I'm a monster, Carlisle," Bella spoke surely. "I don't think that my blood defies me, and neither do I think that your lack of it defies you. With all due respect, Carlisle, healing properties or not, some vampires are total dicks with no respect for humanity."

Bella looked around the room and continued when she found noone who questioned her words.

"I believe that the thing that makes one a monster is the decisions they make that affect other people's happiness. I don't think that my being a vampire immediately makes me a monster. I don't think that killing a person makes me a monster as long as that person would surely hurt others if they continued living. And just for the record, I don't think any of you are monsters either, for hell's sake you all don't even hunt humans."

"Some of us did before." Emmett contemplated.

"Well," Bella sighed. "Controlling hunger can be very hard for you, as I understand, I think as long as you didn't do it on purpose or had no other choice, it makes it forgivable."

"You think their loved ones would forgive us this easily too?" Rose was getting angry. "You think killing a human soul is alright as long as we feel sorry about it later?!"

"I didn't say it was alright." Bella was calm. "I said it was forgivable."

"You have your mind upside down if you actually believe this!" Rosalie stood up from her armchair, pointing her finger at Bella's face. I didn't even realize a growl that slipped from my lips. "Really Edward? You are going to growl at me? This is the only opinion that you and I share!"

"I think we all need to calm down," Carlisle spoke aloud and looked at Jasper for help.

I felt the soothing waves crush me and heard Rosalie's thoughts become furious. She could feel Jasper's gift trying to calm her down and tried restlessly to fight it off. Rose growled and swore before running out of the house.

"Was that your gift?" Bella stared at Jasper incredulously. "It felt like I was being submerged in the calm water. That's amazing."

Jasper nodded his head unsurely. Alice giggled at his reaction, it wasn't often when Jasper could be caught off-guard.

"I think Rosie and I will skip school today." Emmett shook his head. "Don't take it personally, Bella. She is a very passionate stubborn woman."

"That's the understatement of the year." I laughed after making sure Rose was out of my hearing range. Making her even more pissed wasn't in my plans.

"Yeah, you're right." Emmett laughed with me. "Anyway, I'll go check on her."

"Any other gifts that you have, besides compulsion?" Carlisle asked.

"No more questions for today!" Alice spoke now. "We have to get ready for school. Bella, you're coming with me!"

My pixie sister stood up, basically lifting Bella off the couch with her tiny arms.

"Alice." I protested.

"You can have her back when I'm done."

"What's going on?" Bella laughed at her situation.

"She wants to turn you into her personal Barbie doll," I replied after hearing what Alice needed Bella for.

"Uh…no." Alice corrected. "I simply want to help you with your clothes and makeup for today. I have some outfits picked out for you. No peaking, Edward." She warned me.

"You don't have to do it if you don't want to," I reassured Bella.

"I am under the impression that's not completely true." She replied with a chuckle. "I'll be okay, after you, Alice."

With a shrilling squeak of excitement, my sister disappeared upstairs. Bella laughed.

"Don't worry, Edward, make-up isn't one of the things that can kill me. I'll see you soon."

The way Bella said it should have made me feel calmer, more relaxed…But it did completely the opposite. I still had no idea what could kill her…Damon! How could it slip my mind…Somebody killed him, I saw him lying in the forest with no pulse! I knew now that somebody broke his neck and then it healed and he was revived. But who would break his neck and why? I mean the guy was intense, and I wasn't just speaking from my own experience. I could understand his anger toward me seeing as we were introduced by me climbing into his little sister's window. But the conversations that I overheard in the house days and weeks before that concluded that my own experience matched everyone else's. I could understand why someone would want to break his neck, but the question still bothered me. What if someone would try to hurt Bella as well?

I felt calming waves hit me once more and looked over at Jasper.

"Existensial crisis much?" My brother cackled.

"Like you're not having one as well?" I shot back with a smirk and tapped on my forehead.

"It's strange." Jasper agreed. "Not as strange as thinking she might be a siren or something."

"Urgh met those," Bella spoke from upstairs. "Do not recommend."

"Who's eavesdropping now?" I chuckled.

"You've been doing it for weeks, it's time for payback."

"Isn't she cute?" Esme thought to herself, the smile never left her face. I rolled my eyes at my mother's antiques. She was never like that around Rose and Emmett or Alice and Jasper for that matter.

"She's really happy for you, you know?" Jasper mentioned.

"Yeah, I can tell," I mumbled, looking over at Esme again.

I stood up from the couch, feeling slightly uncomfortable under the gaze of Esme. I went up the stairs to the third-floor study room and opened up my laptop. I wrote out what I needed for my and Stefan's project in ten minutes. It could've been faster but the laptop needed time to catch up to my speed typing.

Alice released Bella about five minutes before we were supposed to get out of the house, and not without a fight. There was a talk about a shopping trip to get some new clothes and try out some new mascaras, and Bella protested both. I smiled to myself, another girl who was going to let Alice down.

"In your dreams." Alice protested her vision.

"It was nice seeing you again," Bella spoke to Carlisle and Esme.

"Please don't hesitate to come over, you're always welcome here, dear." Esme smiled again and gave Bella a tight hug.

We were all out of the door then. I opened the passenger door for Bella, which made her blush slightly. Alice and Jasper jumped in the back seat and I started driving. Throughout the drive, Jasper filled his and, as a result, my head with theories on our kind's origin stories. Truthfully, I wouldn't want to know what horrible things had to happen for someone to create vampires like ourselves.

"You should ask her out to dinner tonight," Alice suggested.

I smiled at the rearview mirror, noticing Alice's knowing smirk. I thought of a question and just like always, before I could ask, she had a vision about it.

"I think she would like Italian. There is a small restaurant in Port Angeles, it looks very nice."

I thought of a joke next and Alice giggled.

"I think it's best if you stick with Italian, deers and elks might be too much to handle."

"Get used to it." The voice came out loud from the back seat. Jasper continued, "They do that a lot."

I looked to my right, Bella's eyes were switching between Alice and me.

"So she thinks of something and you hear it, and then you…what? Think of a response and she sees it in a vision?"

"Yeah, that's about right." I smiled apologetically.

"So what were you discussing?" Bella asked playfully.

"I so rudely interrupted your sleep yesterday and didn't even offer you breakfast this morning." I started.

"Smooth." Alice snorted from the back seat.

"Not to mention I didn't bring my salad with me for lunch because I spent all night at your place…" Bella interjected.

"So I was thinking it would only be polite of me to at least invite you for dinner."

"You don't even eat!" Bella laughed but quickly composed herself. "But I would love for a chance to talk to you in private."

"It's a date!" I kept my left hand on the wheel, and took her hand in my right one, dragging it to my face and leaving a small kiss on her knuckles. I heard her heartbeat intensify, which made me smile even brighter.

Date night! Please review!