A Love Story For The Ages: Chapter Three
A Love Story For The Ages
A Twilight Novella in 5 parts
Edward was changed in 1918 unaware that his betrothed lay dying in an alley outside the hospital. Every eighteen years she comes back to him, only to die a horrible death. Can they find a way to stop it, before it's too late?
Chapter 3
It had been two months since Edward had been reconnected with his lost love. Two months of lying to her, of his heart breaking over it and knowing that he could never truly be honest with her. He'd found he couldn't even lie to her properly, choosing instead to deflect any personal questions sent his way back to her, so really he wasn't lying. He simply wasn't saying anything.
She was a clever girl though, and he knew that eventually she would figure it out. She had been spending a lot of time down on the Quileute reservation, so he knew it would only be a matter of time till she worked out what he was, and then she would be disgusted with him he was sure, and want nothing more to do with him. That thought alone nearly broke him down.
Edward was determined that she never know what he was, what a horrid creature he could be. He was terrified of what her reaction would be, and he was enjoying the time spent with her too much to throw it all away.
He could never regret his decision to get to know her and not simply ignore the girl that was such an important part of his life. This time he was determined that she wouldn't die. He simply couldn't let her, he wasn't sure if his heart could deal with the loss. She was truly amazing though, and it had been even easier to fall back in love with her. The pain he felt when she was gone was almost a distant memory now that he had her back, and was set on never letting her go again.
On the third of June he waited by his car for the arrival of Bella, just as he did every morning. She was running a little late so all the spaces near his car were taken, meaning she would have to park at the opposite end of the lot, of course it would give him more time to observe her, a hobby he would never tire of. He was looking forward to spending the summer vacation with her. Although even in Forks they got some sunny days, though his family had already devised a plan to avoid them (he hoped Bella wouldn't want to come camping with them), but it wasn't something he minded, so long as he got to spend time with her.
After a few minutes he watched as her truck rumbled into the lot, though he'd heard it from more than a mile away. The tyres kicked up the spray from last nights rain, and he hoped she didn't begin to aquaplane, though he supposed with those tyres there was no chance of it happening. Edward continued observing her as she collected her bag and hopped out of the cab. She seemed nervous he noticed, fidgeting with the strap of her backpack and mumbling to herself, but he couldn't hear what she said.
Finally she glanced up and sent him a nervous look, but no smile like she usually did. His metaphorical heart was in his throat; could she know? Was she going to tell him to stay away from her? Before he could truly lose himself to his thoughts however, his attention was dragged away from Bella walking nervously towards him, to the car that had just entered the lot. The boys music was blaring and he seemed to be fiddling with his phone, his attention therefore was not on the road, and he was heading straight for Bella.
Edward prayed he would notice her and slow down or stop, so he didn't have to risk exposure by speeding to her rescue. Of course that didn't happen instead he just kept on coming, until he went too quick over a band of water and began to skid. The movement of the car was only slight, however it was enough to knock the driver, Tyler, out of his distraction who then swerved to correct it, but only managed to send him directly on path to hit Bella. So Edward did the only thing he could do; he ran.
He moved so quickly no one saw him, distracted as they were by Tyler and his car swerving out of control. Then he was on her, knocking her back a few feet so she was no longer in the way, allowing Tyler to make a complete albeit shaky stop. To the observers it looked just like Bella had stepped back slightly. The whole event took maybe thirty seconds to occur, but to Edward having to watch the car head for Bella, it seemed like a lifetime till she was safe.
"Ed-Edward, how…?" She trailed off, frowning while looking at the car and where she had been standing just a moment before. But she couldn't understand how Edward had got to her so quickly.
"It's okay, you're safe now." He cooed, wrapping his arms around her, partly to shield her and to hopefully stop her asking more questions, but mostly for himself, so he could feel for himself that she was there and real and alive.
"B-but, you were over there. And now you're here. How is that even possible?" Bella was so confused. She couldn't understand how he could move so fast, though she supposed she had one more thing to add to her list.
"You must have been distracted, I was nearly to you when Tyler started skidding. Are you sure you're okay?" he asked, once again ashamed with himself for lying to her.
"No Edward," Bella retorted, "I saw you. You were on the other side of the lot, you couldn't have…" she was frowning, she was so confused. How could he have done that?
The bell signalling the start of classes interrupted her line of questioning, which Edward was thankful for, and he walked her to her first class in silence. She didn't even reply when he told her he'd see her later.
But Bella hadn't heard him. Neither did she hear anything in her classes the whole day, she didn't eat at lunch and barely smiled in greeting to Edward. Her mind was totally absorbed with thinking about what had happened. About Edwards apparent speed. Bella didn't think he had always been that fast, neither that he had been standing near her. So that would mean it was something else that had changed, more than likely when his eye colour changed too. She felt she was missing something huge, something obvious.
She barely spoke to Charlie at dinner, not that that was so unusual, but he did notice his daughters lack of presence in the room. She was eating robotically, as though she didn't taste the lasagne she'd made them. However he simply chose to let her go about her business, what did he know about teenage girls anyway?
She went to bed straight after doing her homework, though sleep didn't come straight away. Everything was still running through her mind, like it was on a constant loop. She needed something to distract her, to get her off this conundrum, then maybe she would figure it out. She grabbed her iPod from her bag and played the first thing she could find, trying desperately to become absorbed by the music and not think about things that made no sense.
Finally she slept, though it wasn't restful. She dreamt of incredibly fast, cold beings, spiralling around her in the dark forest. The trees were so tall above her she could barely see the tops, and the earth was damp, like it had just rained. This wasn't a memory, for once she was dreaming for herself.
Somewhere in the back of the dream state she heard a wolf howl, but ignored it before she became focused on the white blur rocketing towards her. Bella cringed expecting the blur to plough straight into her, but it didn't, and after a moment she straightened up to see Edward standing in front of her. One hand outstretched for her to go to. He was smiling, just how she liked, his whole facing lighting up in happiness. How could she not take his hand? But as soon as she reached for it he vanished, as though blown away with the wind. Then she was on a beach, and this she knew was a memory, but a more recent one.
It was her last trip to the beach with Jacob, and after a peculiar conversation with her father about the Cullens she'd decided to ask Jacob about it. Charlie had said that the Quileute's didn't like the Cullens, but he didn't know why. Bella figured if anyone would know it would be Jacob, and she needed all the info she could get on them.
He'd wove her a tale of men who turned into wolves, so she immediately disregarded it as folklore, but now, in her dream, it didn't seem so silly. Jacob had called the Cullens cold ones, which in her mind made sense; they were incredibly cold. But neither of them had believed it, they'd laughed at how superstitious old men could be and left it at that, she never asked what cold ones were specifically. And as she awoke from her dream, she realised that maybe she should find out.
~O~
As Bella awoke, breathless, from her dream, Alice slipped into a vision. She had been laying with Jasper in the garden, soaking up the early morning sun before it hid for the day behind thick clouds. Their hands had been intertwined and he'd been singing softly to her. Alice had never felt so relaxed.
When the vision started she didn't tense or show any real sign that it was happening. She'd grown used to getting these flashes and rarely reacted to them anymore. As the colours swirled before her, forming the shapes of Bella and Edward she held her unneeded breath, smiling as she pictured what it could be of. Maybe they'd finally kiss, or he'd tell her the truth and they could be together forever. However as the figures solidified the idea of a happy ending quickly flew from her mind.
Her hand in Jaspers clenched shut as she watched Edward scream, and pull at his hair. He was going crazy, shouting about unfairness and how this wasn't supposed to happen this way. Her sight, so focused on Edward, didn't notice at first the girl writhing on the floor. It was worse than in New York, which was peaceful compared to the scene in front of her now. Bella lay writhing on the floor, unable to scream from the blood pouring from her mouth. She was trying to say something, and she was reaching for Edward. But he was lost, watching his love die, he was no use to her. The vision continued and Alice didn't want to see anymore, but she couldn't stop it happening, she never could stop a vision once it started. So she watched, as her best friend convulsed and drowned in her own blood, before her eyes rolled back into her head and she stopped.
Alice watched helpless as Edward knelt by his Bella, shaking her and begging her to wake up. But she wasn't going to. She was gone.
Her vision cleared on a gasp, and she saw she'd been moved into the living room, Jaspers hand was still clutched in her own. She could barely believe what she'd seen, how could this have happened? And why was it happening now?
"Alice, Alice," Jasper was speaking to her, she turned her blank eyes to his, not really seeing him. All she could see was the blood, "What did you see? You have to tell us what you saw sweetheart."
"I…can't…no," Her breath was coming in short gasps as she looked around the room and found Edward, almost curled into himself on the chair next to her, "Edward…I-"
"Why?" he asked, lifting his pain filled eyes to hers.
"I don't know."
"When?"
"Graduation." His eyes went wide as she spoke, and her own closed in pain.
"But, that's only a week away." His tone was pleading, begging her to tell him it was all a lie. But she couldn't.
"I'm so sorry Edward."
"I thought we had till August," he muttered, and Alice shot a shocked glance his way. The rest of the family were trying to understand what had happened, but knew better than to interrupt them.
"You know?"
"Know what Alice?"
"The date, always the same date."
"Yes, but not this time," as he spoke he dropped his head back into his hands, but she wasn't about to let him worry, he needed to know the significance.
"Edward, come with me. Now," she added when it looked like he wouldn't move, "You need to see this."
Reluctantly he followed his pint sized sister up the stairs to her room, the rest of the family followed silently, they hated seeing Edward and Alice in so much pain. Alice ignored them however and walked straight to her large walk in wardrobe at the back of the room, where she grabbed a large box from the top shelf and walked back to where the family had gathered in the centre.
"Edward, when we moved here I did a little digging and found something. In here are photocopies of newspaper articles about Bella's deaths-"
"Why do you have this Alice?" he asked, confused as to why she felt the need to look into it.
"She's been dying over and over, always on the same day, always a month before her birthday. So I wanted to know why, and how we could stop it next time. She always died on August eighteenth, well mostly," she added, referring to New York and watched as Edward winced, lost in the memories, "Does that date ring any bells Edward?" Though she asked she doubted her would remember the significance.
Edward had no idea what Alice was getting at, all he could think about was that was the day Bella always died. But he couldn't seem to think of anything else, his mind was filled with the vision Alice had, all that blood pouring out of her. He didn't think he'd ever wash the image from his mind. Carlisles voice just broke him from his thoughts.
"That was the first day of Edwards change," he said, frowning as he tried to catch up to Alices train of thought.
"Exactly. And on that day, Isabella Swan was found in an alley two streets away from the hospital Edward had been treated in. She'd been looking for you, while she burned," she spoke directly to Edward now, hoping he would understand, "As you burned, so did she, and she died without ever getting to see you one last time. In New York she said she'd finally found you, but by then she was already dying, there was nothing we could do. What if she's been looking for you all this time? Being reborn only to die again when she doesn't find you-"
"This is all a little science fiction Alice, don't you think?" Rosalie asked, her face a mask on disbelief.
"Rose, we're vampires. I don't think anything's impossible anymore."
"It does make sense, but why would you see her dying in a week?" Edward asked, his voice breaking over the word. He didn't want to imagine her leaving him again.
"Something must have changed. But I can't let it happen, Edward. I won't let you live without her again," Of this one thing Alice was sure, she would not allow Edward to be without his Bella, she would do whatever it takes.
"And how do you suppose we stop the bloodbath we witnessed?"
"We could change her," Jasper spoke, continuing through Edwards disapproving growl, "It would make sense, you want to keep her forever, and this way she'll never die."
"He has a point Ed-"
"No Alice, he doesn't. I will not allow her soul to be taken, I can't."
"So you'd rather she die like we saw, in that much pain and bathed in that much blood?" Although it hurt to think about, she needed him to see reason. This was the only way.
"I can't, Alice." Edward was pleading with his sister to understand, he simply couldn't damn Bella, such a beautiful creature to a non-life such as theirs, it would be incredibly cruel and selfish of him.
"You have to. I'm sorry it has to be this way," Alice placed a soft hand on his shoulder as she stood, realising he needed to be alone and the rest of them should get to school, "We should go, but if you need me let me know okay?" The hand on his shoulder squeezed though he didn't feel it surrounded as he was by the notices of Bellas death. He couldn't let her die, but he couldn't make her like him either. He just couldn't.
~O~
Bella wasn't sure what she was expecting. Simply searching for the term 'cold one' on the internet wasn't exactly going to give reliable results, but she supposed she had to start somewhere right? She got a few hits for some band in England, and some crazy blogs, before she finally hit on something that seemed a little more connected. The page described some Native American legends, stories of the Thunderbird and the K'wati. There it mentioned a cautionary tale told to children, about the Apotamkin, which were also known as the cold ones.
Bella read how the stories were designed to discourage children from wandering into the woods on their own, for fear of a cold, dead man eating them. It described how the fictitious Apotamkin was extremely strong and fast, and would drink the blood of any animal or human it came across.
Like vampires?
But it wasn't real, it was simply a cautionary tale, but if that were true why then did Jacob call the Cullens, cold ones. Obviously they didn't drink the blood of just anyone they came across, and Bella found it hard to believe they did that at all. Vampires weren't real, Dracula was a fictional story, as were all the tales by Anne Rice. She could believe she had known Edward in another life, but she simply couldn't marry the image she had of a vampire with the image of her Edward; it simply couldn't be true.
However on the drive to school, her mind began to think the idea through. They were definitely different, after all Edward was incredibly fast and cold, and of course made her irate and short tempered. She blatantly ignored Alices greeting in the parking lot, so absorbed as she was in her thoughts. She barely took notice of the fact that Edward wasn't with the Cullens and that instead they'd arrived in a large jeep driven by Emmet…well she almost didn't notice. It seemed even when barely cognizant she still took notice of his presence.
She ignored Jessicas questions about what Bella would be doing after graduation, and didn't bother to play up to Mike at lunch. Her mind was so consumed by thoughts of Edward. Images of him draining the blood of the people in the town. Could the man she loved really be capable of such atrocity? And if so would it really change anything? She had to say she didn't think it would. After all it was only part of his nature, just like her affinity for beef or pork. But really she would just accept him no matter what.
Edward finally made an appearance in biology, slipping into the seat next to her silently with barely a smile her way. She thought he looked worried, his brows drawn together slightly as though in concentration. Maybe she should just ask him about it?
The bell signalling the end of the lesson rang, and neither Edward nor Bella had spoken a word to the other. Each of them wrapped in their own troubles, neither knowing that if they only spoke to each other, maybe everything would just be okay. They were each avoiding the proverbial elephant in the room that was their past together. Though both were sure the other knew about it, neither knew for sure. And until one of them could be brave and break the silence, the cycle would simply continue.
~O~
The dreams started as she slept that night. Dreams filled with blood dripping from pale lips. Sharp teeth biting through thin flesh like a hot knife through butter. Dreams that left her shaking in a cold sweat of horror. They left her gasping for breath as she woke repeatedly, trying desperately to escape the horror of her thoughts. She knew what they were showing her, Edward as a vampire, taking life. Then thankfully they changed and she was back in New York.
She was in a field listening to Hendrix. I'm at Woodstock. She realised, and felt amazement surge as she realised she had attended the festival that people still talked about. Then the images ended and she was left dreaming with her thoughts.
Thoughts of her consequent deaths, of the pain and the burning and the itching. Of the fear of something, God what was she so scared of if not the pain?
Then things started clicking into place. Inconsequential facts that had never seemed important before then. Like the dates she died. She'd died on the same day the first few times, always a month before her birthday. But in New York it was a little earlier wasn't it? What was different about New York?
I knew him. The thought hit her quickly before it left. She recognised him, she remembered that now. She remembered asking him who he was, and if they'd met before. And each time he'd lied. Was that it then? She died earlier because she knew him, could it be that simple?
And then as the fog of sleep cleared the most disturbing thing occurred to her. Something so obvious it should have occurred to her earlier. She was going to die, much sooner than she'd like to.
She wasn't going to get the predicted sixty more years of life. She wasn't going to get married and have children and have a career. Sometime in the near future, more than likely before her next birthday she was going to die, and it wasn't going to be quick or easy. It was going to be painful and heart breaking.
The tears poured hot down her cheeks. She would be leaving everyone behind. She would never see Charlie again, or Renee, or Edward. Because so what if she were reincarnated again, she wouldn't be who she is now. She would be some new Bella, who would only die again.
She skipped school that day and spent it curled in bed thinking of her inevitable death. She thought of ways to stop it; if there even was a way. She went through stages of panic and terror and grief. But she couldn't deny it. She felt in her heart that this was true. So what could she do?
Charlie came to check on her after he got in from work and she surprised them both by crawling into his lap as he sat on her bed. Simply holding him, crying persistently into his shirt. He wasn't sure what to do, having never really dealt with an emotional teenage girl, so he held her back, cooing softly into her ear and promising that everything would be okay.
Eventually she let him go and crawled back into bed. Deciding it would be best if she at least tried to sleep. Missing school wasn't going to stop her from dying, it would simply mean she wouldn't graduate before she died. So she fell into a fitful sleep. Her dreams filled once again of menacing gold eyes and blood dripping from pale lips, but this time the blood wasn't just from some stranger, it was from her. Her neck that Edward bit into so easily, her blood he drained from her, her pale lifeless body dumped at his feet.
Then she saw something else. Something that gave her hope that maybe she could be saved, that maybe she didn't have to die. She saw herself; tall, pale and beautiful with deep golden eyes.