Hi folks! Sorry, I've been MIA. I'm going through a lot and am having a difficult time handling it. So that's put me behind. I'm catching up though. Any mistakes are mine. No copy write infringement intended.

Chapter 6

Bella

When we got back to the house, Emmett had fixed the floor and was turning the remains of the armoire into what looked like a set of two large chests in the garage. Edward looked a little sheepish and apologetic when he saw that and apologized profusely. Emmett just waved him off, told him it was no big deal and that he'd just order another armoire if I wanted. He side eyed me as I walked past and I mouthed later to him. Something was going on that was bigger than us and I needed to work out a game plan. Emmett frowned and shook head, turning back to the chests.

I told Edward we would need go to his home and get some of his belongings and all his legal documents. We had to make it so he'd disappear. This process was not going to be an easy one. These days it was harder to make people disappear because of technology and social security. We would have to be careful. The accident helped with some of it but there were still some loose ends to tie up. He didn't seem surprised or upset, which I thought was both good and bad. Anyone who has to suddenly give up their life for one of near solitude and constant relocation has to have some kind of negative emotion about it. But Edward was different. It was almost like he was waiting to die. And I wasn't sure if I should be worried about that or not.

What happened in his short life that made him want to give in so completely?

Over the next couple of weeks, Emmett and I worked with Edward on controlling his blood lust. It was actually easier than we thought. While his thirst was there, it wasn't overwhelming and uncontrollable. Edward described it as more of an urge to eat like when he was human. If you're hungry, eat, if not, it's a not a big deal. Because Edward didn't much like being around people even when he was human apparently, I think that that carried over to his vamp side. He didn't need people so it sort of made sense that he wouldn't need to have the urge to feed from them to sustain himself. He was really good at hunting and we found his favorite was mountain lion when we took a short trip to Canada. I loved hunting with him. He was so sensuous and sleek and lithe; it almost made me envious. I wasn't anywhere near as neat or clean my first six months. I told him so once and I knew that if he could blush he would have. The man didn't know how to take a compliment which I thought was rather adorable.

Edward was very tightlipped about his past. When we went to his home, he requested that he go in on his own. Em and I looked at each other but nodded, taking seats on the front steps. It was a nice two story home that could've used some upgrades and a coat of paint. I picked up his scent and an older one, long dead. Edward had said that the homeowner, Mrs. Cope, had saved him some years ago and left him the house when she died. He looked so heartbroken and sad that I decided not to ask for more details on his family, or lack thereof. If there was one thing I knew, it was that his life hadn't been a easy one.

Because Emmett and I took some personal time from our jobs, six weeks, we would have to get back to our regular routines if we wanted to keep up our facade. Because of Edward's abilities, we felt it was okay to leave him alone. He knew the risks if he exposed himself and while he didn't seem too broken up about dying, he didn't seem to want to die twice. I let him have free reign over my laptop and order anything he wanted to try and settle himself in our home. He'd made our spare room into his own space and had seemed to be learning things at a good pace. Life, slowly went back to normal for us.

I decided not to tell Edward about the Volturi and their rules. At least not yet. I didn't want to overwhelm him since I wasn't sure how he would take the information. While he was being an exceptional new born, he was still a newborn and therefore prone to violent outbursts at times. Vampirism came with enhanced emotions, which could sometimes be unpredictable. Despite Edward not having one since he first woke up, I knew there had to be one coming soon.

And I was actually scared of how vicious that outburst would be.

Edward didn't talk much. After the visit to his old home, he barely spoke anymore. I knew he enjoyed the quiet when we weren't home because even though he couldn't hear me, he could hear Emmett and he was always loud. Emmett had been working on lowering his internal voice so as not bother him. I appreciated that Em put work into doing it despite his earlier objections to Edward's turning. Emmett was still warming to Edward but he didn't actively work to make his life miserable. Edward seemed grateful, too. At least, it showed when I was around. While he didn't talk much, he also avoided touching me and wouldn't answer when I asked why. Something else was going on with him and I couldn't figure out what. The pull I felt for him was gone when we were near each other, but when I left for work, the further I got away from him, the pull returned stronger, painful. As soon as I came back, it would vanish. I still didn't know what that meant, and I couldn't ask Edward because I knew he wouldn't answer me. I had noticed in Canada when I took off after a rather large buck, the pull was different but when I got back, he was acting weirder than usual. Emmett didn't know what was wrong either, so we were helpless as to how to fix what was going on. The pull was just confusing everything.

I wish he would talk to me.

Did he feel the same thing I did? Was it just as painful for him? What the hell did all this mean?

When we got back to the house the first day of his first hunt, we hadn't spoken about what happened when I touched him while my power was being invoked. It was amazing yet terrifying. I had no way to explain it. I never even told Emmett what happened for fear that he would think we were crazy, and to prove he was right and I shouldn't have saved Edward, kill him. Emmett would go through great lengths to protect me, which I never understood but usually just let him be.

Months passed, and there was no sign of the Volturi, which was a good thing. I still needed more time to create a workable story to give them but Emmett and I had yet to come up with something believable. How could I explain the appearance of another vampire when I promised not to be involved in any other turnings as long as I lived.

I was beginning to think I was just plain fucked, as Emmett would say.

I sighed as I made the turnoff towards the house. Today was a long day at work. We got slammed from students coming in from the local technical college buying books for the new semester. Seth was out sick and Sue was out of town at a convention so Leah and I held down the fort. She was actually doing better, having met a man named Sam, who seemed to level her out a little. She still wasn't close to me, and that was fine, but it made working alone with her today easier. I'd noticed, lately, that people's emotions were effecting me, leaking through their auras. I could actually feel the tenor of Leah's emotions throughout the day, and the students when they came within 10 ft of me. This was new and I didn't know why it was happening or how to control it. It wore me out though. I actually felt tired. I was ready to just head to my room and pass out if I could.

I frowned as I pulled up to the house. There was a large black SUV out front. Emmett would've told me if he bought another new car. I knew he was home because the garage was open. That was he workspace and with the door garage open he utilize more space, depsite how large the garage already was. Edward didn't have a car nor did he drive. And he would've told me if he bought a car too. No one else knew where we lived so that could mean one of two things; the Volturi were here or someone saw something they weren't supposed to see.

I pulled up next to the SUV and parked. Heading to the front door, a group of familiar scents both eased my concern and increased my worry. Why would they be here?

~EoU~

Edward

Being a vampire was both nothing like being human and everything like being human. My senses were all the same, although extremely amplified. I didn't sleep which wasn't new to me. I didn't need to eat, also not new to me. But I could hear the voices in my head, drink the blood of animals, feel strange pulls to other vampires, well just one vampire. That definitely wasn't human. I sometimes wondered if I couldn't even get being a vampire right. God knows my humanity was fucked up.

I sighed as I leaned back against my headboard. These past few months have been the best and worst of my life. I got a chance to start over but had no clue how or what to do with myself. I couldn't exactly leave the house and go prancing around the neighborhood since I was officially declared dead. The authorities found my mangled and burned to a crisp car. The fire had burned long and hot despite the light rain and was a charred mess. The other driver was a melted mass of flesh, cloth, and bones. Everything was such a mess and because the town was so small, they hadn't the resources to bother with a thorough autopsy or check for every single minute detail. I was pretty much able to die quickly and quietly. Funny, that. I've lived my life as an abused zombie. I've wished for death before. I was able to die, but not die in the span of a week. How's that for irony.

The hardest part part, I mean aside from turing, was going back to my house. It was the last piece of Shelly that I had and even though I knew I had to give it up, it was really fucking painful. I couldn't bring myself to face Bella and Emmett after they arranged everything. I got what I needed and left, not looking back. Bella and Emmett boarded it up and that was that. Maybe one day I'll get it back but right now, I just couldn't. It felt like the last, and best, part of me I had left died in that crash, which the pieces that Shelly helped to put back together.

I raised a hand, fluttering my fingers in the air and watched as the TV remote came towards me from the shelf under the TV across the room. This little ability was something that happened on accident. When we went to Canada, I had gotten cornered by a bear and a rock wall. I knew I could take the bear, of course, but I got distracted by Bella. She had taken off in the opposite direction a few seconds earlier, probably to go after some deer. That trip was the first time we had been apart for any significant distance so as soon as she took off, I felt a pull, like a rope had tied itself around my chest and yanked hard in her direction. I gasped, filtering a step, which must've looked like an act of aggression toward the bear that had suddenly appeared. He roared and charged and I instinctively threw a hand out to protect myself. Only, instead of feeling the impact of teeth against my flesh, a jolt of power shot from my shoulder, down my arm, and out my hand, slamming into the bear and throwing him backwards into a tree. The tree shook so hard, a few branches broke off and felt on top of the bear. I was so shocked, I stood frozen to the ground as the bear got his bearings and took off a few seconds later. Emmett came rushing to me a minute later, asking after the noise. I just shrugged, staring down at my hand, wondering what the fuck happened. For weeks after that, he pestered me about what happened but I was too scared to say anything. While I knew Emmett didn't hate me, I also knew he didn't like me. Why he didn't, I didn't have a clue either. This would only add to fuel to his fire. He didn't really give me a hard time, which he knew he could just by being obnoxiously loud in his thoughts, but I didn't want to test his patience. I knew he was only doing it for Bella's sake.

Everything was on fucking eggshells and I knew it was my fault. I just didn't know why.

Either way, I hadn't told either one of them I could move things with my mind. It started with small things, remotes, shoes, clothes. Now I can move a chair or table across the room. Anything bigger and I overexerted myself. The bear was an exception because I was scared and distracted. It shouldn't have surprised me though. I'll have to practice more. After that first hunt with Bella, when she touched my face, I knew something had changed. I don't know what she did or how but she saw something and I couldn't tell if she was scared or happy about that something. We hadn't spoken of that moment and I was too much of a chickenshit to approach her about it. It was all so overwhelming. It was just easier to avoid it for the time being.

Turning the TV to some mindless tv show for background noise, I focused back on my laptop. I was researching things about vampires and supernatural abilities. Logically, I knew that the internet wasn't a good place to find out about this shit but since I wasn't ready to face Bella just yet, I had to find what I wanted somewhere else. I rubbed my chest absently as I felt the pull stretch and twist a little. Bella had been working later than usual with the start of the new semester at the technical college and that meant we were apart for longer periods. I don't know if she felt this insane pull or not but it ached and became worse the longer and farther she was away. I wanted to find out anything I could about this pull and what it could mean.

A few hours later, my search was proving fruitless and frustrating and I could hear Emmett's monster of a truck coming down the driveway. He'd spend some time working in the garage. He liked to tinker with cars and woodworking projects. I considered actually going to him and telling him what was going on but he still scared the shit out of me. His size and strength was rather intimidating. I could hear his thoughts but he'd gotten pretty good at speaking softly and masking them. I could ignore it as a soft hum in the background, especially if I was listening to music or had the TV on. Another hour or two of searching and it was proving futile so I tossed the laptop to the other side of the bed and focused on the TV again.

I was interrupted by the sound of a vehicle coming down our driveway. I frowned because Bella's car didn't sound like that. This was bigger, heavier, and after a few seconds, five new thought trains assaulted my brain. I groaned at the onslaught. I dropped to the floor, hands clenching and pulling at my hair. I nearly screamed, they were so fucking loud. Why did everyone have to think so damn loud all the time? Four women and one man. Fuck! So much noise.

Emmett came rushing into my room a few seconds later.

"Dude, they're friendlies. You have to calm down and sift through the noise. I know it's a lot but you can control it." We had tested the amount of noise I could handle, distance, strength, level. It varied depending on the noise but sometimes I could block out some of it if I focused hard enough. Like I said, Emmett didn't make my life hard and sometimes helped, if only for Bella's sake.

I nodded at him and decided to focus on the tenor of his thoughts since he was the closest and quietest. He was singing a random rock song which made me chuckle but did actually help. A few minutes and I was able to calm down which was good because a knock sounded at the door.

"You good?" Emmett asked.

I looked up at him and nodded, sitting cross legged on the floor.

"Come down when you're ready." He patted my back and left my room.

I took some deep unneeded breaths and continued to focus on on Emmett's thoughts. Eventually, I could ignore the others and they become a buzzing hum in the back of my head. I heard Em open the front door and voices overlapping in greetings. I steeled myself and headed towards the stairs. Not only would this be the first time I was around other people, but also other vampires. I had no idea of the appropriate etiquette or anything. What do I do? Shit, I wished I had asked Emmett before he went downstairs.

Oh, hell, here it goes.

"It's been so long, Emmett. How have you been?" A deep voice, sounding slightly Spanish, spoke.

A slap of skin made me think the two either clasped hands or did the man hug.

"Hey, Eleazar. I'm good."

"Emmett, come, let me see you." A feminine voice spoke up then.

"Carmen, beautiful as always. You get younger every time I see you." I could hear the grin in his voice.

"Flattery is always welcome." Carmen chuckled.

I had made it to the top of the stairs and descended them slowly. Em was surrounded by four women and one man. Three of the women were tall, blonde, and unnervingly beautiful. Where all vampire women so inhumanely beautiful it made your eyes hurt? The fourth woman was shorter, darker skin, with long black hair and a kind smile. The man, Eleazar, was about my height with black hair and a similar complexion as Carmen. He stared at me as I came into view, rather rudely, might I add. They were all impeccably dressed. I felt almost poor dressed in jeans and a plaid button-up.

"Oh hey, guys, this is Edward. Bella found him nearly six months ago. Edward, this is Eleazar, Carmen, Kate, Irina, and Tanya."

Wow, he is handsome.

Oh, I know that look. She's gonna make a go at him.

I really hope Alice was right about this.

I see what she meant now.

Oh my god. I've never seen anything like him before.

This last thought was from Eleazar who's stare was boring right through me. I tuned out the rest and focused on him but it seemed almost as soon as I did that he hid his thoughts and began speaking in another language.

"How did you know to do that?" Was the first thing out of my mouth to Eleazar.

Eleazar laughed softly. "There are many things I know."

I frowned. "What the hell does that mean?"

Emmett moved toward me, shaking his head. "Stop it, they are friends, you don't know-"

"You're right. I don't know, so tell me." I challenged.

Emmett's mouth clamped shut. While I hadn't talked much over these last few months, I knew he and Bella had been keeping something big from me. Figures that when I put him on the spot, he wouldn't cough anything up. I glared, feeling anger and frustration building me.

"I think it's best if we take this to the living room. There's much we need to discuss." Eleazar motioned to the next room, easily diffusing the situation.

"Where is Bella?" Carmen asked as we headed that way.

Everyone took seats around the room. I was too agitated so I took to holding up the window wall towards the back of the room.

"She'll be here soon. She's at work." Emmett explained. "Why don't you start with why you're here? How did you find us anyways?"

I was interested in the answer to that question, too. Bella had explained when I first woke up that they had only been in town for a few months before she found me. No one knew where we lived and she and Emmett didn't keep in close contact with others. I felt like I was missing something but didn't bother to ask. Plus, I had my own shit to deal with.

"While we haven't seen you in over 20 years, we do have our ways of keeping track of our friends." Eleazar provided.

"Still doesn't explain why you're here or how you knew to block your thoughts." I grunted.

Emmett sent a disapproving look my way but then glanced toward Eleazar when he realized something.

"You know he can read minds? How?"

"Oh he can do so much more than that. But I guess Bella never told you then." Eleazar shook his head.

"Never told me what?"

"She's here." I said, feel the pull loosen around my chest. She was close and I was grateful because the pain was starting to get distracting. She was particularly late today.

Everyone looked at me and stared.

"I can't hear a thing...wait, here she comes. How the fuck could you know that? I thought you couldn't hear her." Emmett frowned.

I shrugged. I still wasn't ready touch that topic with a ten foot pole.

"We'll get to that, too." My head whipped around to Eleazar. How much could he really know after just one look at me? Why the hell was he here?

Bella had parked the car and was coming through the door. The sight of her beauty and the absence of the painful pull was such a relief that my body actually sagged a little. I felt like I could breathe again.

"Eleazar, Carmen, guys? What are you doing here?" She came in the room, her expression both surprised and apprehensive.

They both rose as she came toward them. They hugged and then she turned to greet the others.

"We were just getting to that. You might want to have a seat." Carmen said.

How we doin'? Yes, I know. I'll get the next chappie up ASAP. Find me on fb Reader4Lyfe.