Usual disclaimers apply, I'm an amateur, playing in the world created by SM.
Thank you to MsLiss and Rita01tx for your encouragement and reviews.
The days after the accident passed in a blur of tension and unanswered questions. Bella couldn't shake the memory of Edward standing in front of her, stopping the car with his bare hands, or the look in his eyes—so full of control, yet burning with a dark, undeniable hunger. His warning had echoed in her mind over and over: You should stay away from me. But despite everything, she couldn't.
Something was pulling her toward him, something she didn't understand but couldn't resist.
At school, Edward had been distant. He still sat near her in biology, but there was a strained silence between them, a tension that neither of them acknowledged. He didn't speak to her, didn't even look her way, but Bella felt his presence like a heavy weight pressing down on her, watching her without ever turning his head.
It wasn't just Edward. The whole Cullen family seemed to watch her now, their eyes lingering on her whenever she passed them in the halls. Their stares weren't curious or friendly—they were cold, calculating, like predators sizing up prey. Bella felt like she was being silently judged, weighed against some unseen standard that she didn't understand.
One day, after another uncomfortable silence in biology, Bella gathered her courage and approached Edward as he left the classroom. She reached out, grabbing his arm before he could disappear into the crowd. He turned to face her, his expression tight, as though he had been expecting this.
"Edward, I need to know the truth," she said, her voice more determined than she felt. "About what happened in the parking lot. About you."
For a moment, he said nothing. His amber eyes searched hers, and for the briefest second, she thought she saw a flicker of something—conflict, maybe even regret. But then his expression hardened, and he pulled his arm free from her grasp, stepping back.
"You don't know what you're asking, Bella," he said quietly. "This isn't a game."
"I'm not playing," she insisted. "You saved my life, and I've been trying to figure out how—but I can't. And I know there's more going on here. Please, just… tell me."
Edward's jaw tightened, his gaze drifting over her shoulder, as if he were searching for something beyond her. Then, after a long pause, he sighed. "You won't let this go, will you?"
Bella shook her head.
He exhaled sharply, frustration flickering across his features. "Fine. But not here. Meet me after school, outside the woods by the field."
Bella's heart skipped a beat at his words. There was something in his tone—something final, as though whatever she was about to learn would change everything. She nodded, unable to find her voice, and watched as Edward walked away, disappearing into the crowd like a shadow.
The rest of the day passed in a haze of nervous anticipation. By the time the final bell rang, Bella's stomach was in knots. She gathered her things quickly and headed toward the spot Edward had mentioned, her mind racing with questions. What was he going to tell her? Was she ready to hear it?
She found him waiting near the edge of the forest, his tall figure almost blending into the misty grayness of the trees. As she approached, Bella felt a strange mixture of excitement and fear. Edward's expression was unreadable, but there was a coldness in his eyes that hadn't been there before.
"Are you sure you want to know?" he asked, his voice low, as though he was giving her one last chance to turn back.
Bella hesitated for a split second, but her curiosity won out. "Yes."
Edward nodded, his gaze turning toward the darkened woods. "Come with me. There are things you need to see."
He led her deeper into the forest, the trees closing in around them, the air thick with moisture and the scent of pine. Bella followed, her heart pounding in her chest, her mind racing with thoughts of what she was about to uncover. They walked in silence for several minutes until they reached a clearing, where the sun barely pierced through the canopy of leaves overhead, casting long, eerie shadows.
"This is where I'll show you," Edward said, his voice distant. "You need to understand what my family is. What I am."
Before Bella could ask him what he meant, he moved with a speed that left her breathless. In the blink of an eye, he was standing at the edge of the clearing, his eyes glowing faintly in the dim light. He reached down, picking up a large, fallen tree branch. With no effort at all, he snapped it in half, the crack of the wood echoing in the stillness of the forest. Bella stared, her mind struggling to process what she had just seen.
"Edward..." she whispered, her voice trembling. "What are you?"
He turned toward her, his face a mask of restraint, as if he were holding back something dark and dangerous. "We're not like you, Bella. My family… we've spent decades pretending to be human, but we aren't. We're vampires."
The word hit Bella like a physical blow, knocking the breath from her lungs. She took a step back, her mind spinning. Vampires. The Cullens were vampires. The whispers, the shadows, the unnatural coldness of Edward's skin—it all started to make a horrible kind of sense.
"You should have stayed away from me," Edward continued, his voice soft but filled with tension. "I've tried to keep you safe, but now... it's too late."
Bella stared at him, her chest tight with a mix of fear and disbelief. "You saved me from that car," she said, her voice barely above a whisper. "Why?"
For a long moment, Edward said nothing. His gaze softened slightly, but there was a darkness beneath it, something raw and hungry. "I couldn't let you die," he said, his voice strained. "Not you."
Before Bella could respond, a movement from the shadows caught her attention. She turned just in time to see Alice Cullen step into the clearing, her presence light and ethereal. Her golden eyes flickered with an unreadable emotion, and for a moment, Bella thought she saw something like pity.
"You told her," Alice said softly, her gaze shifting from Edward to Bella. "It was bound to happen."
Edward didn't reply, his expression taut with frustration.
Alice stepped closer to Bella, her eyes gleaming with something strange and unsettling. "I've seen parts of your future, Bella," she said in a voice that was both soft and cold. "There's something dark waiting for you, something unavoidable. You've already started down a path you can't turn away from."
Bella's heart raced as Alice spoke. There was something in her voice that made Bella's skin crawl, a certainty that was both terrifying and cryptic.
"What do you mean?" Bella asked, her voice shaking.
Alice's smile was small, almost sad. "You don't belong in our world, but now you're in it. You won't be able to leave. Your future is tied to ours, whether you want it or not. And once the darkness takes hold, there's no going back."
Edward shot Alice a sharp look, his jaw clenched. "That's enough," he said, his voice low and dangerous.
But Alice only shrugged, her gaze lingering on Bella for a moment longer. "I'm just telling her the truth."
Bella felt a chill run through her as Alice's words sank in. There was more to this than just the Cullens being vampires—there was something else, something bigger and more dangerous that she hadn't yet begun to understand.
Edward turned back to Bella, his expression filled with a strange mix of sorrow and resolve. "I told you to stay away for a reason," he said quietly. "My family... we're not like the stories. We try to control what we are, but there are limits to how long we can deny our nature."
Bella's breath caught in her throat. She felt a growing sense of dread, like she was standing on the edge of a cliff, staring down into a dark, endless void. She had thought she wanted the truth, but now, she wasn't so sure.
"What happens now?" she asked, her voice barely audible.
Edward's gaze softened, but there was still a shadow in his eyes. "Now, you need to decide if you can live with what you know. But I warn you, Bella—if you stay, your life will never be the same. And there are things... things in this world far worse than death."
Bella swallowed hard, her mind spinning with everything she had just learned. The Cullens weren't just vampires—they were something far more dangerous, something bound by darkness and hunger. And as much as she wanted to turn back, to walk away from the nightmare she had stumbled into, she knew deep down that it was already too late.
She was already caught in the web.
And Edward, despite his warnings, was the one pulling the threads tighter.
Alice's cryptic words echoed in Bella's mind as they left the forest, a chilling reminder that her future was no longer her own. Something dark was coming, something inevitable.
And Bella wasn't sure she'd survive it.