Unseen, Pt 4/?
NEXT CHAPTER OF UNSEEN :D i wish it didn't take me so long to write chapters, but the chapters for this fic are longer than the ones for my house fics [that usually take me like,a month to write]. here yah go! enjoy!!! and please let me know what you think!
Title: Unseen 4/?
Author: zeppogrl7
Disclaimer: Characters are not mine, Stephenie Meyers owns all.
Fandom: Twilight
Pairings: Bella/Edward, Alice/Jasper, Rosalie/Emmett
Spoilers: None I think
Ratings: R eventually
Summary: Bella, Alice and Rosalie move into a house that Bella inherited from her grandmother. Bella soon finds out that the strange stories her grandmother used to tell her might not have been so strange after all. ALL HUMAN, except for Edward.
After my encounter with Edward in my grandmother's room, I decided that it was time to really figure out what was going on. I had so many questions and it was clear that Edward wasn't going to willingly answer any of them.
I went to my computer and was about to search the internet for information, but I stopped. What would I possibly type in to find information about him? I couldn't just type in 'Edward' and expect results. I typed in 'Forks, Washington history' and scrolled through the search results.
A time-line caught my eye and I clicked on the link. The time-line was of the 1900's, up until the present, and I knew my grandmother's house was built in 1902, so I started at that year. For a while, nothing caught my eye, until I came to the year 1918. That year was marked by a string of disappearances, starting in September.
I typed in a search to see if I could find articles about the disappearances, but came up with nothing relevant. As I stared at the computer screen, I wondered if there might be another record somewhere of that year; a record with more information. I remembered going to the public library to research papers and using their microfiche computers. I would try that now.
I wrote down the information I had so far and stuck the paper of it in my pocket.
As I climbed into my truck, I figured I should let Alice know where I was going. I knew she would worry if she came home and I wasn't there.
Gone to the public library. See you later tonight. - B.
The Forks public library wasn't busy today, thankfully; I didn't want to wait to use the microfiche. I went straight to the librarian and explained what I was looking for. After waiting for 15 minutes for her to find the film that could help me, she set the computer up and let me start reading.
I scrolled through tons and tons of articles, many about happenings around town and in the courts.
I sighed as I continued to search. I was assuming there would be some kind of article about the disappearances - the title in big bold letters - but hadn't found anything yet. After another few pages, I found my answer.
Boy Goes Missing In Woods
It wasn't a big article, it was practically an aside to the regular, boring news of the day. I felt a little offended by this. How could they treat a person's disappearance this way? I leaned forward and read the small section of print on the right side of the page.
A boy went missing Sunday night in the town of Forks.
Edward Masen, 17, son to Edward and Elizabeth Masen, was reported missing late Sunday night. His parents say he had gone hunting in the woods behind their house and hadn't returned many hours later.
A partial search of the woods turned up no clues as to where the boy is.
I read it several times over. I was in shock. My grandmother had been telling the truth! And it was too much of a coincidence that the missing boy in the paper and mysterious boy in my house shared the same first name. What had happened to Edward?
I printed a copy of that page and scrolled through the rest of the film, in case there was anymore information about him. Another few pages passed and then there was another article, but this time the missing person's name was Nathaniel Scott. He, too, went missing at night. There were three other reportings on disappearance and, on the page of the fifth article, another title caught my eye.
Deer Population Shrinking
Remembering the night Alice told us about the dead deer she saw, I read the tiny article. Apparently, hunters began noticing a lot of dead deer in and around the woods about three weeks after the first - Edward's - disappearance. The hunters told the paper that the deer had large wounds in their throats, but there was barely any blood around them.
Had Alice said anything about blood? I wondered.
I pulled out my cell phone and called her. She answered after three rings.
“Hello!” Her voice sang through the phone.
“Hey, Alice.” I said quietly, not wanting to talk too loudly. “I have a question for you.”
“Why are you being so quiet?” She asked.
“You're supposed to be quiet in the library.” I replied, looking over my shoulder. The librarian was glaring at me.
“Oh.” She said. I could hear Jasper playing his guitar in the background. “So what's your question?”
“It's kind of a weird one.” I warned, trying to prepare myself for her reaction. “When you saw the dead deer in the woods, was there a lot of blood around it?” I squeezed my eyes shut; that question would probably confirm to her that I was, indeed, out of my mind.
She didn't answer right away.
“Alice?”
“Now that I think of it...” She said thoughtfully, “I don't think there was any blood. Not even on the grass or anything.”
I nodded to myself as I added her experience in with what was reported in the articles.
Alice sighed then. “Bella?”
I frowned at the level of her concern; I never wanted to worry her. “I'm fine, Alice. Really.” I tried to sound as reassuring as possible.
“I'm just...” She sighed again. “I don't see anything bad happening right now... but I feel like I should be worrying about you.”
“Don't, please, Alice.” I said. “There's really nothing to worry about...” I wanted to tell her everything that was going on with me, but if she couldn't see Edward, then how could she believe me?
“Okay.” Alice said finally. “I'll try to relax.”
“Good.” I smiled and received a loud, angry, suggestive cough from the librarian. “I have to go. The librarian looks like she's about to flip out on me.”
Alice giggled and the sound instantly made me happy. We said goodbye and hung up.
I spent another half hour or so at the library before heading home. Rosalie and Emmett were in the living room watching a movie and munching on popcorn.
“Hey, Bella!” Emmett's booming voice greeted me when I entered the house.
“Hey,” I greeted them both and glanced at the tv. “What are you watching?”
“Interview With The Vampire.” He replied. “We just sat down to watch it. Want to join us?”
I sat down in one of the sofa chairs, letting them have the full sofa to themselves.
“Rose hasn't seen this before.” Emmett told me.
“Neither have I.” I shrugged and we were silenced by a hiss from Rosalie, who was intent on paying attention to the movie.
I sat quietly as the movie began. Part of my attention was elsewhere, thinking of everything I had learned at the library.
”How did you do that?” The interviewer, Malloy, asked the vampire Louis.
My mind snapped to full attention, processing what I had just seen on the television screen. Louis had turned on the light and then was suddenly sitting in a chair in front of Malloy. He had moved so fast... it reminded me of Edward.
From that point on, I watched the movie with more focus than Rosalie and Emmett put together.
There was a certain scene; Louis and Lestat were in a dining room and Lestat poured rats' blood into a glass to drink.
”We can live like this?” Louis asked. ”Off the blood of animals?”
'The blood of animals...' I thought. I pulled the papers from the library out of my bag and looked at one of the articles. Dead deer were found... spilled blood was not.
“Where're you going?” Emmett asked when I stood and began to leave the room. “The movie's not done!”
“I'll finish watching it later.” I called back to him over my shoulder.
I hurried to my library and pushed the door open. The state of the room shocked me; I froze in place just inside the door. Papers were everywhere. Many of the books had been thrown from the shelves and onto the floor. It looked as though the room had been torn apart in some kind of search. But none of my friends would do that to me...
“Edward?” I said quietly, looking around the room. He wasn't there.
Frustrated, I went to my room and put my bag next to my bed. I grabbed a flashlight out of my closet and headed back downstairs. If Edward wasn't in the house, I would go to the other place he would most likely be.
Rosalie was in the kitchen, getting a drink, when I went through.
“Where are you going?” She asked, eyeing my flashlight.
“For a walk.” I replied and quickly left through the back door.
It was twilight; not bright and not dark. There was a narrow path between the trees, where I entered the woods. I looked around as I walked, also trying not to trip on anything. I walked in silence for a few minutes and then stopped. Unsure if I should try calling out for him, I took a better look around.
Everything was so green, even the tree trunks that were supposed to be more brown. There was a fallen tree a few feet to my right. I walked over and, after inspecting it for ants and finding none, sat down on it. It was slowly getting darker out and I knew I needed to either see if Edward was in the woods or go back home.
I took in a breath to call his name but stopped when I saw something out of the corner of my eye.
A beautiful deer walked between the trees, grazing and oblivious to my presence. I sat silently as she ate grass and flowers from the ground. I had never been a fan of hunting and, as I watched her, I felt a little sad at the thought of coming across her lifeless body during a walk.
She stood straight up then, paused for a moment, and then took off running. I stood, too, trying to figure out if she had noticed me. I was about to turn and go back home when a large wolf came through the trees.
It had been hunting the deer.
I froze in place and tried not to breathe too loudly. My cell phone began to ring in my pocket and, the deer forgotten, the beast turned towards me. A low growl came from him as he stalked toward me. There was no way I would have been able to outrun him and my heart beat fast and hard at the thought of what was about to happen. With every step forward that he took, I took a step backward. I stumbled over a root sticking out of the ground and tried to steady myself. I tried grabbing onto the tree that the root belonged to, scraping the palms of my hands against its bark in the process.
The wolf crouched lower to the ground and growled again.
Something suddenly wrapped around me and I felt like I was being thrown over someone's shoulder. They jumped and I watched the forest floor get smaller beneath us. The fast movement began to make me feel sick, so I closed my eyes tightly. It felt like we stopped and then I was immediately jolted when we took off again. That feeling lasted only a moment before we hit the ground.
My eyes snapped open when we landed, but then we took off. I could see the person's feet moving incredibly fast on the dirt and grass. I closed my eyes again, wishing that my body was upright so that the blood would stop rushing to my head. I felt their feet push off from the ground once more and then we landed and were completely still.
Two strong hands gripped my waist and set me down on my feet.
Opening my eyes, I saw that I was on the balcony outside of my bedroom. Then I saw who had saved me from the wolf.
Edward.
He stayed silent as he watched me; he looked like he was waiting for me to scream or something. He showed no signs of just having run for our lives. He wasn't panting for air, the way I would have been. The way his eyes bore into mine sent a tingle up my spine.
“You saved me.” I said slowly, my mind still trying to process what had just happened.
Edward took a step closer to the railing and I felt a pang in my heart at the thought of him running away again.
“Miriam should have told you to stay out of the woods... not to just be careful.” He said bitterly.
“What? My grandmother?” My eyes widened. “Did you know her?”
“She gave you more credit for your common sense than I would have.” He added. “Going into the woods alone at night...” He shook his head to himself.
The anger at his words built up inside of me too fast for me to enjoy the smooth sound of his voice. He was finally speaking to me and I couldn't even revel in it. He was basically saying that I was stupid. I let him have it.
“I must not be as stupid as you think because I figured out what you are!” I spat out.
He took a step forward, an angry look in his eyes. “What did you say?”
I sucked in a quick breath; he was standing so close that I would have been able to feel the heat coming from him... if he hadn't been ice cold. I was once again consumed with the desire to reach out and touch him.
Trying to keep my voice steady, I spoke softly. “I know what you are.”
His dark eyes narrowed, but I thought I saw a hint of sadness in them. “You have no idea what I am.” he said firmly.
“You called yourself a monster,” I murmured.
His jaw clenched.
“Why is your skin so cold?” I asked, even though I already knew the answer. “How can you move so fast? And the dead deer...”
His head turned to the side, his eyes cast away from me.
“Why don't you just admit it?” I asked. “It's not a big deal.”
His eyes snapped back to me. “Not a big deal?! I am a monster, Isabella!”
“Bella.” I corrected.
“What?” He asked, frustrated and confused.
“I like to be called Bella.” I explained. “And I'm not scared of you.”
“You should be.” He growled but the sound had the opposite affect than what he had been going for; I wanted to touch him even more.
“Why?”
“I've killed people! I could kill you right now!”
“But you haven't yet.” I shook my head. “You saved me.”
“'Yet,'” he scoffed. “You say that with no fear at being threatened with death.”
“Because I'm not scared!” I said firmly, wishing he would understand that.
He looked straight into my eyes. “Then why is your heart beating so fast?”
Automatically my mouth opened to answer him, but I realized I didn't know what to say, so I closed it. There was no way I could say something like 'because I find you so incredibly attractive' or 'your presence takes my breath away.'
We stood in silence for a moment, and then I took a step closer to him. Taking a step back, he fixed me with his very dark eyes, mentally warning me to stay away.
“Do you know how difficult it is for me to resist your blood right now?” He asked. I could tell he was trying to scare me. “I can smell it on your hands.”
I looked down at the palms of my hands and saw fresh and dried blood on them; on the scrapes from when I fell against the tree.
“The dark-haired girl is coming.” Edward said suddenly.
“What?” I looked back up at him.
“She's worried about you. You didn't answer your phone.”
Ah, so Alice had been the one to call me when I was in the woods.
The door to my bedroom burst open and Alice ran in. She looked around as if I were hiding from her. She looked up when I knocked on the balcony door and she ran over. I quickly looked back towards Edward but he was, of course, gone.
“Ohmigod, Bella!” Alice threw her arms around me as soon as the doors were open. “I was so worried! I had a vision... I saw you in the woods and there was a wolf...” She hugged me tighter. “I tried to call you-”
“Alice, it's ok. I'm ok.” I said and gently pushed her away. There was no way that I would ever tell her that it was her phone call that had alerted the wolf to my presence.
“But why didn't you answer your phone?” She asked.
“I, uh...” I tried to quickly think up some kind of story. “I accidentally left my phone in my room.”
Alice nodded her head, too frazzled to see through my horrible ability to lie. “But how'd you get out here? Rosalie said you went for a walk in the woods.”
“I changed my mind about the walk.” I explained. “I came up here and accidentally locked myself out.”
She smiled a bit, relieved. “It's a good thing I came up here then.”
“Definitely.” I agreed, but the truth was that I was disappointed; Edward wouldn't have run off if she hadn't come upstairs... Oh well, I couldn't blame her for worrying.
“Come on, let's go inside where it's warm.”
I nodded but didn't immediately follow. Turning to look out at the woods, I frowned.
“Please come back.” I said quietly enough so Alice didn't hear, and then followed her inside.
I closed the balcony doors behind me and made sure to leave them unlocked.
[tbc]
Title: Unseen 4/?
Author: zeppogrl7
Disclaimer: Characters are not mine, Stephenie Meyers owns all.
Fandom: Twilight
Pairings: Bella/Edward, Alice/Jasper, Rosalie/Emmett
Spoilers: None I think
Ratings: R eventually
Summary: Bella, Alice and Rosalie move into a house that Bella inherited from her grandmother. Bella soon finds out that the strange stories her grandmother used to tell her might not have been so strange after all. ALL HUMAN, except for Edward.
After my encounter with Edward in my grandmother's room, I decided that it was time to really figure out what was going on. I had so many questions and it was clear that Edward wasn't going to willingly answer any of them.
I went to my computer and was about to search the internet for information, but I stopped. What would I possibly type in to find information about him? I couldn't just type in 'Edward' and expect results. I typed in 'Forks, Washington history' and scrolled through the search results.
A time-line caught my eye and I clicked on the link. The time-line was of the 1900's, up until the present, and I knew my grandmother's house was built in 1902, so I started at that year. For a while, nothing caught my eye, until I came to the year 1918. That year was marked by a string of disappearances, starting in September.
I typed in a search to see if I could find articles about the disappearances, but came up with nothing relevant. As I stared at the computer screen, I wondered if there might be another record somewhere of that year; a record with more information. I remembered going to the public library to research papers and using their microfiche computers. I would try that now.
I wrote down the information I had so far and stuck the paper of it in my pocket.
As I climbed into my truck, I figured I should let Alice know where I was going. I knew she would worry if she came home and I wasn't there.
Gone to the public library. See you later tonight. - B.
The Forks public library wasn't busy today, thankfully; I didn't want to wait to use the microfiche. I went straight to the librarian and explained what I was looking for. After waiting for 15 minutes for her to find the film that could help me, she set the computer up and let me start reading.
I scrolled through tons and tons of articles, many about happenings around town and in the courts.
I sighed as I continued to search. I was assuming there would be some kind of article about the disappearances - the title in big bold letters - but hadn't found anything yet. After another few pages, I found my answer.
Boy Goes Missing In Woods
It wasn't a big article, it was practically an aside to the regular, boring news of the day. I felt a little offended by this. How could they treat a person's disappearance this way? I leaned forward and read the small section of print on the right side of the page.
A boy went missing Sunday night in the town of Forks.
Edward Masen, 17, son to Edward and Elizabeth Masen, was reported missing late Sunday night. His parents say he had gone hunting in the woods behind their house and hadn't returned many hours later.
A partial search of the woods turned up no clues as to where the boy is.
I read it several times over. I was in shock. My grandmother had been telling the truth! And it was too much of a coincidence that the missing boy in the paper and mysterious boy in my house shared the same first name. What had happened to Edward?
I printed a copy of that page and scrolled through the rest of the film, in case there was anymore information about him. Another few pages passed and then there was another article, but this time the missing person's name was Nathaniel Scott. He, too, went missing at night. There were three other reportings on disappearance and, on the page of the fifth article, another title caught my eye.
Deer Population Shrinking
Remembering the night Alice told us about the dead deer she saw, I read the tiny article. Apparently, hunters began noticing a lot of dead deer in and around the woods about three weeks after the first - Edward's - disappearance. The hunters told the paper that the deer had large wounds in their throats, but there was barely any blood around them.
Had Alice said anything about blood? I wondered.
I pulled out my cell phone and called her. She answered after three rings.
“Hello!” Her voice sang through the phone.
“Hey, Alice.” I said quietly, not wanting to talk too loudly. “I have a question for you.”
“Why are you being so quiet?” She asked.
“You're supposed to be quiet in the library.” I replied, looking over my shoulder. The librarian was glaring at me.
“Oh.” She said. I could hear Jasper playing his guitar in the background. “So what's your question?”
“It's kind of a weird one.” I warned, trying to prepare myself for her reaction. “When you saw the dead deer in the woods, was there a lot of blood around it?” I squeezed my eyes shut; that question would probably confirm to her that I was, indeed, out of my mind.
She didn't answer right away.
“Alice?”
“Now that I think of it...” She said thoughtfully, “I don't think there was any blood. Not even on the grass or anything.”
I nodded to myself as I added her experience in with what was reported in the articles.
Alice sighed then. “Bella?”
I frowned at the level of her concern; I never wanted to worry her. “I'm fine, Alice. Really.” I tried to sound as reassuring as possible.
“I'm just...” She sighed again. “I don't see anything bad happening right now... but I feel like I should be worrying about you.”
“Don't, please, Alice.” I said. “There's really nothing to worry about...” I wanted to tell her everything that was going on with me, but if she couldn't see Edward, then how could she believe me?
“Okay.” Alice said finally. “I'll try to relax.”
“Good.” I smiled and received a loud, angry, suggestive cough from the librarian. “I have to go. The librarian looks like she's about to flip out on me.”
Alice giggled and the sound instantly made me happy. We said goodbye and hung up.
I spent another half hour or so at the library before heading home. Rosalie and Emmett were in the living room watching a movie and munching on popcorn.
“Hey, Bella!” Emmett's booming voice greeted me when I entered the house.
“Hey,” I greeted them both and glanced at the tv. “What are you watching?”
“Interview With The Vampire.” He replied. “We just sat down to watch it. Want to join us?”
I sat down in one of the sofa chairs, letting them have the full sofa to themselves.
“Rose hasn't seen this before.” Emmett told me.
“Neither have I.” I shrugged and we were silenced by a hiss from Rosalie, who was intent on paying attention to the movie.
I sat quietly as the movie began. Part of my attention was elsewhere, thinking of everything I had learned at the library.
”How did you do that?” The interviewer, Malloy, asked the vampire Louis.
My mind snapped to full attention, processing what I had just seen on the television screen. Louis had turned on the light and then was suddenly sitting in a chair in front of Malloy. He had moved so fast... it reminded me of Edward.
From that point on, I watched the movie with more focus than Rosalie and Emmett put together.
There was a certain scene; Louis and Lestat were in a dining room and Lestat poured rats' blood into a glass to drink.
”We can live like this?” Louis asked. ”Off the blood of animals?”
'The blood of animals...' I thought. I pulled the papers from the library out of my bag and looked at one of the articles. Dead deer were found... spilled blood was not.
“Where're you going?” Emmett asked when I stood and began to leave the room. “The movie's not done!”
“I'll finish watching it later.” I called back to him over my shoulder.
I hurried to my library and pushed the door open. The state of the room shocked me; I froze in place just inside the door. Papers were everywhere. Many of the books had been thrown from the shelves and onto the floor. It looked as though the room had been torn apart in some kind of search. But none of my friends would do that to me...
“Edward?” I said quietly, looking around the room. He wasn't there.
Frustrated, I went to my room and put my bag next to my bed. I grabbed a flashlight out of my closet and headed back downstairs. If Edward wasn't in the house, I would go to the other place he would most likely be.
Rosalie was in the kitchen, getting a drink, when I went through.
“Where are you going?” She asked, eyeing my flashlight.
“For a walk.” I replied and quickly left through the back door.
It was twilight; not bright and not dark. There was a narrow path between the trees, where I entered the woods. I looked around as I walked, also trying not to trip on anything. I walked in silence for a few minutes and then stopped. Unsure if I should try calling out for him, I took a better look around.
Everything was so green, even the tree trunks that were supposed to be more brown. There was a fallen tree a few feet to my right. I walked over and, after inspecting it for ants and finding none, sat down on it. It was slowly getting darker out and I knew I needed to either see if Edward was in the woods or go back home.
I took in a breath to call his name but stopped when I saw something out of the corner of my eye.
A beautiful deer walked between the trees, grazing and oblivious to my presence. I sat silently as she ate grass and flowers from the ground. I had never been a fan of hunting and, as I watched her, I felt a little sad at the thought of coming across her lifeless body during a walk.
She stood straight up then, paused for a moment, and then took off running. I stood, too, trying to figure out if she had noticed me. I was about to turn and go back home when a large wolf came through the trees.
It had been hunting the deer.
I froze in place and tried not to breathe too loudly. My cell phone began to ring in my pocket and, the deer forgotten, the beast turned towards me. A low growl came from him as he stalked toward me. There was no way I would have been able to outrun him and my heart beat fast and hard at the thought of what was about to happen. With every step forward that he took, I took a step backward. I stumbled over a root sticking out of the ground and tried to steady myself. I tried grabbing onto the tree that the root belonged to, scraping the palms of my hands against its bark in the process.
The wolf crouched lower to the ground and growled again.
Something suddenly wrapped around me and I felt like I was being thrown over someone's shoulder. They jumped and I watched the forest floor get smaller beneath us. The fast movement began to make me feel sick, so I closed my eyes tightly. It felt like we stopped and then I was immediately jolted when we took off again. That feeling lasted only a moment before we hit the ground.
My eyes snapped open when we landed, but then we took off. I could see the person's feet moving incredibly fast on the dirt and grass. I closed my eyes again, wishing that my body was upright so that the blood would stop rushing to my head. I felt their feet push off from the ground once more and then we landed and were completely still.
Two strong hands gripped my waist and set me down on my feet.
Opening my eyes, I saw that I was on the balcony outside of my bedroom. Then I saw who had saved me from the wolf.
Edward.
He stayed silent as he watched me; he looked like he was waiting for me to scream or something. He showed no signs of just having run for our lives. He wasn't panting for air, the way I would have been. The way his eyes bore into mine sent a tingle up my spine.
“You saved me.” I said slowly, my mind still trying to process what had just happened.
Edward took a step closer to the railing and I felt a pang in my heart at the thought of him running away again.
“Miriam should have told you to stay out of the woods... not to just be careful.” He said bitterly.
“What? My grandmother?” My eyes widened. “Did you know her?”
“She gave you more credit for your common sense than I would have.” He added. “Going into the woods alone at night...” He shook his head to himself.
The anger at his words built up inside of me too fast for me to enjoy the smooth sound of his voice. He was finally speaking to me and I couldn't even revel in it. He was basically saying that I was stupid. I let him have it.
“I must not be as stupid as you think because I figured out what you are!” I spat out.
He took a step forward, an angry look in his eyes. “What did you say?”
I sucked in a quick breath; he was standing so close that I would have been able to feel the heat coming from him... if he hadn't been ice cold. I was once again consumed with the desire to reach out and touch him.
Trying to keep my voice steady, I spoke softly. “I know what you are.”
His dark eyes narrowed, but I thought I saw a hint of sadness in them. “You have no idea what I am.” he said firmly.
“You called yourself a monster,” I murmured.
His jaw clenched.
“Why is your skin so cold?” I asked, even though I already knew the answer. “How can you move so fast? And the dead deer...”
His head turned to the side, his eyes cast away from me.
“Why don't you just admit it?” I asked. “It's not a big deal.”
His eyes snapped back to me. “Not a big deal?! I am a monster, Isabella!”
“Bella.” I corrected.
“What?” He asked, frustrated and confused.
“I like to be called Bella.” I explained. “And I'm not scared of you.”
“You should be.” He growled but the sound had the opposite affect than what he had been going for; I wanted to touch him even more.
“Why?”
“I've killed people! I could kill you right now!”
“But you haven't yet.” I shook my head. “You saved me.”
“'Yet,'” he scoffed. “You say that with no fear at being threatened with death.”
“Because I'm not scared!” I said firmly, wishing he would understand that.
He looked straight into my eyes. “Then why is your heart beating so fast?”
Automatically my mouth opened to answer him, but I realized I didn't know what to say, so I closed it. There was no way I could say something like 'because I find you so incredibly attractive' or 'your presence takes my breath away.'
We stood in silence for a moment, and then I took a step closer to him. Taking a step back, he fixed me with his very dark eyes, mentally warning me to stay away.
“Do you know how difficult it is for me to resist your blood right now?” He asked. I could tell he was trying to scare me. “I can smell it on your hands.”
I looked down at the palms of my hands and saw fresh and dried blood on them; on the scrapes from when I fell against the tree.
“The dark-haired girl is coming.” Edward said suddenly.
“What?” I looked back up at him.
“She's worried about you. You didn't answer your phone.”
Ah, so Alice had been the one to call me when I was in the woods.
The door to my bedroom burst open and Alice ran in. She looked around as if I were hiding from her. She looked up when I knocked on the balcony door and she ran over. I quickly looked back towards Edward but he was, of course, gone.
“Ohmigod, Bella!” Alice threw her arms around me as soon as the doors were open. “I was so worried! I had a vision... I saw you in the woods and there was a wolf...” She hugged me tighter. “I tried to call you-”
“Alice, it's ok. I'm ok.” I said and gently pushed her away. There was no way that I would ever tell her that it was her phone call that had alerted the wolf to my presence.
“But why didn't you answer your phone?” She asked.
“I, uh...” I tried to quickly think up some kind of story. “I accidentally left my phone in my room.”
Alice nodded her head, too frazzled to see through my horrible ability to lie. “But how'd you get out here? Rosalie said you went for a walk in the woods.”
“I changed my mind about the walk.” I explained. “I came up here and accidentally locked myself out.”
She smiled a bit, relieved. “It's a good thing I came up here then.”
“Definitely.” I agreed, but the truth was that I was disappointed; Edward wouldn't have run off if she hadn't come upstairs... Oh well, I couldn't blame her for worrying.
“Come on, let's go inside where it's warm.”
I nodded but didn't immediately follow. Turning to look out at the woods, I frowned.
“Please come back.” I said quietly enough so Alice didn't hear, and then followed her inside.
I closed the balcony doors behind me and made sure to leave them unlocked.
[tbc]