Guarding Edward...Epilogue 6.0...Esme...10/20

[katmom]

Summary: A stalker is trying to get close to Edward Masen, a green-eyed 24 year old concert pianist. He hires Elite Guardians to keep him safe from the one who is hunting him. Bella Cullen is the owner/operator of the company. She's also a 110 year old vampire.

Title: Guarding Edward
Author: Kathie…katmom
Rating: PG-13
Main Characters: Bella, 110 year old Vampire; Edward, 24 year old Concert Pianist

Prologue
10 years ago…

The young woman was jogging through the park. She really didn’t expect to have any company as it was 4 a.m. The birds were just starting to stir in the pre-dawn light. They didn’t notice her passing, she was so quiet. The early spring air caressed her smooth cheeks as she moved swiftly along the main path of the park.

She suddenly stopped and turned her head towards a sound that shouldn’t have been there. It was the sound of an accelerated heartbeat…a slap and then a whimper.

“I TOLD you that this would happen if you didn’t listen to me!” Another ringing slap sounded through the darkness and then the sobbing began. The sound of a foot making contact with something soft came to her ears. Without a thought for herself, the woman sped in that direction. She slowed as she neared the light of a street lamp. A woman was kneeling on the ground, a man towering over her, his hand raised to strike again.

“I told you that I’d never let you go, but NO, you had to run, you had to try and hide.” He sneered down at the woman at his feet. Her face was in her hands, her head bowed as her shoulders shook with sobs. “Where could you go anyway? No one wants you.” His fist started to fall again. Before it could make contact it was stopped in place. A small, pale hand enclosed his.

He was startled and looked down into the face of an angel…A very MAD angel.

“I would stop now, if I were you,” she said in a quiet musical voice. He was shocked at the coldness of her hand, at the strength she exhibited and at the dazzling smile she displayed.

“Hey Baby, let me finish this and we can find some place to get to know each other.” He leaned closer, drawn in by a scent that was filling his head with desire. But he was confused too, she was so small, how could she be holding back his fist? And, wait, was that scent good? Or was it causing the hair on the back of his neck to rise?

With a small smile on her face, the angel flicked her wrist and the man was then kneeling, cradling his arm. At the best it was only sprained, but more than likely it was now broken.

He gazed up at her in shock, tears of pain filling his eyes. What he had first thought was an angel now looked more like a demon; her lips were drawn back in a snarl, her gleaming teeth snapping close to his face.

“Also, if I were you, I’d stay away from this woman. Don’t make me finish this. Don’t make me finish you.” With a sound very near a growl, the woman snapped her teeth once again, staring deeply into his eyes. “Do you understand me?” she asked.

With a grimace and tears of pain running down his face, he nodded.

“Good." She turned to the battered woman on the ground. Her sobs had slowed to a sniffle and she was looking on in amazement. “Can you stand?”

“I think so,” she answered. The angel leaned down and offered her a hand. As she grasped it, she was surprised at how cold it was, but still found comfort in the strength she found there.

“Let’s go,” she said as she put an arm around the bruised woman’s waist and led her out of the park. “My father works in a clinic near here and I really think he should take a look at your face, you may need stitches.” The woman nodded her head and allowed herself to be led swiftly away.

“I’m Bella,” she added.

“I’m Kendra.” She leaned into the woman, aching from the blows that had so recently struck her body.

“Do you want to talk about it?” her protector asked.

Gathering her thoughts for a moment, she replied, “I left him two weeks ago after he beat me again. I really didn’t know where to go and stayed with a friend. But he found me there last night and dragged me out. Melissa wasn’t home. She’s probably guessed that he came, but didn’t know where to look for me.” She stopped talking as she stumbled to a stop. “He dragged me to the park, and he held me in one of those little buildings near the carousel. “ She started to cry again, Bella tightened her arm around her waist. “He told me that he was going to kill me. That I wasn’t worth anything anyway, and that no one would even miss me.”

Again, something close to a growl rumbled from Bella’s chest.

“Come on; let’s get you to my dad.” Bella walked her out of the park and around a corner. There the friendly lights of the clinic warmed the sidewalk.

The place was clean and nearly quiet; most of the people who came to spend the night in relative safety were making their way out the door now that dawn was near. They carried a hot cup of coffee in one hand and a bag with lunch, for later, in their other.

When the triage nurse looked up and saw them, her eyes widened at the sight of blood on one of the women. Before she could call for the doctor, he was walking into the room. She briefly wondered, “How does he DO that?”

“Bella?” he questioned while looking down at them both. Kendra gazed up into his kind face. It was so beautiful that she gasped. “Let’s get you into an exam room.”

Bella continued to help her down the hallway and into the exam room. As Kendra sat up on the exam table, she looked at Bella, in the light, for the first time. She gasped again. Before her was a young woman, probably about 20, with long auburn hair pulled back into a low pony tail. Her golden eyes were deep and filled with concern. Her skin was pale and so clear. It was like looking at the finest porcelain. Small lavender bruises sat just below her eyes.

Her dad, the doctor, followed them into the room. “I’m Dr. Cullen. Let me have a look at those cuts.”
Kendra looked from one to the other. They both smiled gently back at her. “You’re safe now,” Bella said.

\o/ \O/ \o/

At their apartment later that day, Bella sat with her father, Carlisle, and her mother, Esme.

He was just filling them in on Kendra. “A volunteer from the Women’s Abuse Network came and spoke with her. She decided that she really did need to be safe and to make a change that would keep her that way.” He paused and looked out the window, gazing unseeing down at the park. “The worker had already sent someone else to speak with her friend. They both need to be safe.”

“I heard the sirens just after you left this morning, Bella. It appears that the police were tipped off that a mugger was in the park. They caught up to him as he was stumbling down one of the paths, nursing a broken wrist.”

Bella laughed, “He’s lucky that’s ALL that was broken. When I saw him beating her, it was all I could do to NOT end him. I wasn’t even thirsty, but the venom was filling my mouth and he’s very lucky that I needed to get her away from him.”

Esme reached over and patted her hand. Bella turned hers up and grasped it tightly. “Do you think that’s why I jog there? So I can play “Super Girl?” She shrugged and continued, “That’s what? The tenth time this year that the police have been tipped off that some bad guy is loose in the park.” She laughed, showing those gleaming teeth again. “Not that I need the money, but I should be on their payroll”

Esme laughed gently. “There are worse ways to spend the evening.” She glanced over at her husband and he nodded his head.

“We know that you’ve been wondering what the next ‘thing’ should be. Maybe this is it.” Bella looked at her mother with a slightly confused expression on her face.

“What better job than to be a bodyguard,” Carlisle said. Bella’s jaw dropped. “You’re faster and stronger than the ‘bad guys’. You’d probably meet lots of interesting people.” He looked into the wondering, intrigued eyes of his daughter. “And, unless it’s another vampire, a werewolf or a mob carrying torches hunting your client, you can’t really be hurt either.”

Bella considered the idea for a moment, and then a burst of laughter escaped her, ringing through the living room like a peal of bells. “I can see my business cards now: Vampire Bodyguard, No threat too big, no threat too small!” She looked back and forth at her smiling parents. “This could be fun!”

“I bet that Emmett would enjoy something like this too. He’d scare the thugs just by flexing his pecs!” She thought for a moment then said, “Rosalie would be great at distracting anyone that we needed to be distracted.” She laughed. “This just might work out.”

She chuckled again and glancing up at her parents from beneath her lashes, “I’m not wearing a CAPE! But I bet Emmett will WANT to!”



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[katmom]

Chapter One
…Blood Singer…

I closed the door of my office softly behind me. A sigh of contentment left my lips. Another job well done. As I sat down at my desk, I thought back to the assignment that we had just finished. A business man was being threatened by an associate. The idiot had started out by parking across the street from the client’s home, just staring at the house. When that didn’t get a big enough response, he actually TP’d the client’s house! Not funny when it’s done by a teenager and seriously weird when done by a 37 year old man!

When he then crept into the backyard and stole the family dog, a yappy Pomeranian (worth thousands, by the way), the businessman called us, Elite Guardians, to see what we could do. The trick was to catch him in the act and the police just didn’t have the time to devote to the job. The guy hadn’t really done anything too bad, yet.

Within hours of being on the job, Emmett had found the guy’s rental house, with the dog in the back yard. Rosalie had snapped a hundred pictures of the guy outside the client’s home, outside of his own house and actually walking the stolen dog!

Criminals tended to be stupid, which was good for those of us who hunted them. The wiretap on the client’s phone had also turned up about a dozen incriminating phone calls, which had been taped and saved for the police.

I had turned the information over to the SPD this morning and now the guy was in the local lock up awaiting arraignment.

Once again, Elite Guardians had won. We had saved the day and the dog too.

I sighed again. This job was an easy one. A lot of our jobs were easy. But then sometimes something big came along. Like the Maguire Baby Stealing Ring. Good grief, that guy had kidnapped several babies so that he could sell them to the highest bidder. We had seen the pattern after four little ones disappeared from the Seattle area in the course of a week. Through diligent effort we had tracked the guy down. At least he had had the good sense to hire a couple of women to take care of the babies. They were in fairly good condition when the police rescued them. It was quite a sight to see the reunions of those families. The women were arrested too. It was good that they had taken such good care of the babes, but Holy Crow, just what had they been thinking? They were accomplices too and would pay the price.

That was a pro bono case. Rosalie had insisted that no money change hands. She had a soft spot for babies. The Seattle Police Department was very grateful for our help and sent work our way when they could. Sometimes people approached them for information on bodyguard services and they always gave them our number.

Besides our bodyguard duties, we also found things for people. Everything from stolen items to lost cats and dogs. I really had to think to remember how many lost pets we had recovered. Our vampire sense of smell really did come in handy!

Yes, Elite Guardians, consisting of Rosalie, Emmett and I could do the little jobs…and the big ones too.

My intercom buzzed and I hit the button, “Yes, Angela?”

“Bella, there’s a Jessica Newton on the phone. She’s calling on behalf of her boss, THE Edward Masen.” Angela paused, gulped and continued, “he’s in the latest People Magazine…he’s one of the hottest bachelors around. His green eyes just give me the shivers.”

I waited for Angela to get to the point. “And…?”

“Oh yes,” she continued, “he’s been getting some threatening letters and some weird stuff has been happening. His assistant is worried and she’d like to set up a meeting with E.G.,” Angela paused again, “Shall I set it up for tomorrow afternoon? He’s getting ready for a big concert here in Seattle this weekend, and he’ll be down at the University, in their concert hall.”

I hadn’t heard of this guy before, but it sounded pretty straight forward. “Yes, set it up for 3, okay?” Angela agreed and then I said, “Please be sure and fax them the paperwork right now. They can fill out the information and then have our messenger service pick it up and bring it over to the house. I’ll look over it there this evening.”

“Sure, and, um, maybe tomorrow I could come and take notes for you?” I rolled my eyes at Angela’s request.

“If we take the job, I’m sure that there will be an occasion for you to see him,” I said.

“Great! I’ll set it up.” The intercom went silent.

I chuckled quietly to myself. I could hear Angela through the walls of the office. She really was sounding professional, but I could also hear the underlying current of enthusiasm that was in her voice.

This guy must really be something to get Angela in such a tizzy. We had guarded several VIP’s over the past 10 years. Rock stars, movie stars, Heads of State, the famous and the infamous. We had guarded items of immense value and things that had very little worth except to the person who owned it. I had never heard Angela so excited about someone. Well, except for Paul McCartney. But then, I had been pretty impressed with that assignment too!

I decided that this would probably be a good time to hunt. It had been about three weeks and if this job got busy, it could be awhile before I had another opportunity. It was only 1:00 in the afternoon, plenty of time to get out to the mountains and back. I’d be able to go over the new client file later in the evening. I grabbed my purse and headed out of the office.

“Angela,” I said. “I’m leaving for the day. You can finish up and take off yourself.”

Angela nodded and said, “Great, Ben’s off this afternoon and we were going to head over to his folks’ for dinner.”

“I think I’ll go and catch an early dinner too,” I said with a smile. Just then my phone rang, the caller ID said Alice. I waved goodbye to Angela as I walked out the door and answered the phone.

“Hey Sis, what’s up?” I asked.

“Hey Bells, Jasper is at the University until late this evening. He took my Porsche because Rosalie is tinkering on his car. I didn’t think I’d need it, but a client just called and wants to move our appointment up to this afternoon…and the fabric swatches are in my car. Could you stop and pick them up for me? They’re clipped together on the back seat.” Alice paused for a moment, “You’ve got a key, right?”

“Sure, I was just coming home and then heading out to hunt. Stopping by his office won’t take long.” I paused, “I’ll swing by, get them then come on home. Want to come with me and hunt? I think that I’ll hit the back side of Snoqualmie Pass.”

“Thanks, but I’m good. Jazz and I are planning on going this weekend, up into Canada.” She giggled and continued, “He’s got a long weekend and we thought we’d take our time. Since my appointment was moved up to today, we can leave early tomorrow morning.”

I smiled and shook my head. “So, is hunting the only thing on the agenda?”

Alice’s laugh came over the line. “What do YOU think?”

“Okay, I don’t really want to know. I’m already in the car. I’ll be home after I pick up the swatches.” I turned out onto the street, heading towards Jasper’s office.

“That’s great Bella. Jasper’s car is parked next to his office...” Her voice tapered off and I wondered what was going on.

“Alice, are you still there?” I asked.

“Yes, I’ll see you soon. And Sis…” Alice paused again. “Be careful, okay?”

“Um, okay. Did you see something?” I asked. Alice had a gift; she could get flashes of the future. Sometimes they were clearer than others. She could always see the weather. The future in regards to people depended upon how set their minds were. Once a person made a solid decision though, she’d see the outcome pretty clearly.

Not all vampires had a gift, besides being overwhelmingly strong, fast, gorgeous and deadly. Jasper could feel and influence peoples’ emotions. I was what we called a shield. I could protect myself from mental attack and infiltration from others of our kind. I could also stop physical attacks briefly. That had saved me from getting tackled by Emmett more times than I could count. A nice perk for the bodyguard business is that I could throw my protective shield over those in close proximity to me. That little trick had kept the knife that someone had thrown at one of our first clients alive and well.

“Yes, there’s something, but I’m just not getting a good read on it.” I could almost see Alice’s face in my mind, her pixie nose scrunched up, her brow furrowed in thought.

“Well, don’t worry about it. You know that won’t bring the vision on any clearer.” I merged out onto the freeway. “Just let me know if anything concrete shows up. We’re meeting with a new client tomorrow. Actually the meeting is near Jasper’s office, at the concert hall.” The traffic was getting thicker. “I’ll be home in just a bit. Maybe by then you’ll have a clearer idea of what’s going on.”

\o/ \O/ \o/

Alice’s bright yellow Porsche was easy to spot in the crowded parking lot. Classes were in full swing as it was still early afternoon. Jasper had gotten a space close to the building. I parked a lane over from him.

As I exited my car, a midnight blue Volvo S60R, I faintly heard “Claire de Lune” being played on the piano. The soft music was coming from the Concert Hall across the lot. The Hall and Jasper’s office building shared the parking area.

I stopped. The music was beautiful, full of feeling. At one point in my very long life, I had learned to play the piano, but had never really felt like I had a major talent in that area. I had the technical skills but not the heart for it. It was just something to fill the long nights. I hadn’t played in years even though we did have a piano at the house. Esme kept it in tune as she and Rosalie occasionally like to play.

Without consciously thinking about it, my footsteps took me to the Hall. As I opened the door, the music filled my ears. Another lovely melody had started up. I didn’t recognize this one. Quietly I opened one of the double doors into the auditorium. The sound of the piano was joined by an entire orchestra. The music poured over me, rather like the swell of a tsunami. Then once again it was soft and sweet.

I slipped into a seat in the dark back row. My eyes searched the musicians and came to rest on the man sitting at the grand piano. He was totally into the music, his eyes closed as he moved his long fingers over the keys. The stage lights were on and they glinted on his bronze hair. It wasn’t overly long but it was messy, like hands had been run through it several times. He was wearing dark blue jeans and a light blue button down shirt with the sleeves rolled up to his elbows.

The final note sounded and he was still for just a moment. He then leaned back and turned to the orchestra.
He clapped lightly as he smiled at them. “That was much better than the last time.” Turning to the conductor he asked, “What did you think Victor?”

Victor, a man of medium height, with long flowing silver hair, put his baton down on the music stand and walked over to the piano. “I think that we’ve just about got these first four songs done well.” He looked over at the first chair violin and said “That segue on the last chorus was tightened up very nicely Eric. Good job.” The violinist smiled in thanks.

“So, Edward, I think that we can let them go for the day.” I quickly looked at the man at the piano. So THAT was Edward Masen, my soon to be client. If I had known that he was here this afternoon, I could have made the appointment for today.

Edward nodded, smiled and said, “Yes, let’s let it go on that good note.” Several musicians snorted as they stood up and started gathering their music and instruments. It wasn’t noisy, but there was plenty of ambient sound. I could see several of the young women in the group looking longingly over at Edward.

“We’ll see you all back here at 9 tomorrow morning.” There were nods of acknowledgement from the group. “I want to thank you all for giving me this opportunity to play with you. It really has been a pleasure.” He smiled at them all and then continued, “The concert is Saturday, which gives us two more days to get up to speed.” He clapped lightly again, “and as well as this has been going, I have no worries.” Edward stood and walked to the edge of the stage.

I could see that he was easily over six feet tall, probably about 6’2”. He called out, “House lights, please” and looked out at some people sitting in the middle of the auditorium. As the lights came up, I noticed for the first time that there were two men and a woman sitting there. I had been so engrossed in the music and Edward Masen that I hadn’t even noticed that they were there. That was odd; I usually noticed details like that.

As he smiled down at the trio walking towards him, I got a good look at his face. He was gorgeous. No wonder Angela was all a twitter today. His jaw line was chiseled, with a little bit of dark shadow there. The crooked smile on his face made my breath catch in my throat. And the sound of his voice was nearly as beautiful as the music had been…soft, silky, with an undertone of velvet. It was definitely music to my ears.

I shook my head, trying to clear those thoughts away. I watched and listened as the three people approached Edward. The woman was very obviously pregnant. The man to her left kept a supporting hand on her back. She carried a clipboard.

“Edward, that was fantastic. You know, when you mentioned ‘giving back’, and had that brain storm about playing with the local orchestras during your tour, I really did think you had finally lost it.” They were now standing just below the stage and she was tipping her head up to look into his face. “Nope, haven’t lost it. I’ve just received three more requests, asking us to extend this tour, or at least let them get in on next year’s. You are really shining the spotlight on the local arts in the tour cities.” She shook her head again and grinned up at him. “You are bringing in so much money for these schools!”

Edward laughed and jumped down off the stage. He put his arm around her shoulders and gave her a gentle hug. “Well, it was MY idea, but you sure are bringing it to life.” He leaned down and gave her tender kiss on the forehead.

I found myself feeling jealous of that gentle moment. I shook my head to clear it again. What was that all about? I didn’t even know this guy!

The man with his hand on the woman’s back said, “Hey, keep your hands AND lips to yourself, buddy!” He held his fists up and took a fighter’s stance. “That’s my PREGNANT WIFE you’re kissing up on.”

Edward laughed as he took a step back and put his hands up in a calming movement. “Sorry Mike, you know how she’s glowing right now.” He winked down at the woman. “Jessica, does he know how lucky he is to have you?”

“Yes, he does, but I remind him often, just in case he should forget.” Everyone laughed as they moved towards the side door. The other man with them spoke up then.

“Edward, I’ve got the contracts for the music deal.” Edward looked up quickly, surprise was clear on his face. “We can go over them now if you’d like.”

“Wow Robert, that was quick.” They all paused at the door.

“Well, after that People article, they really want to keep the buzz going. They want to get the deal set so that they can rake in on your publicity.” Edward’s face twisted a bit.

“I guess I can see that. Use the free stuff before you have to pay for it.” He turned back to Mike and Jessica. “I’ll go over the papers with Robert in my dressing room and then we can go have an early dinner. Sound good?” He looked back and forth between them. “Shall I guess what you’d like to eat Jess?” He looked intently at her face. “I was thinking it was going to be Mexican early on, but now…Thai?”

Jessica laughed and asked, “HOW do you do that? I was thinking Mexican this morning, and now I can hardly wait for Thai!” She shook her head in disbelief as she looked at him.

“Well, I guess that I can just really read you,” he laughed and shrugged his shoulders.

They all chuckled as Mike held the door open for them to step through. I heard them say that they would go home and change and then meet with Edward at the restaurant.

A gust of air was blown over them from the corridor and back through the auditorium to where I still sat in the back row.

With a gasp I flew to my feet just as the door quietly closed.

Before I knew what was happening, my mouth was flooded with venom. A scent, like nothing I had ever smelled was flowing over and through me. My eyes narrowed and I found myself in a hunting crouch. The scent, it was everything, it was the center of my universe.

It called to me like nothing ever had before.

Spicy musk…a hint of vanilla…warm linen in the sunshine. Heaven…

With no sense as to how I got there, I was at the door. It took all of my strength to not rip it open and follow those people out. Which one of them was the source of it?

Turning from the closed door with difficulty, I followed the scent back to the stage, which was now emptied of musicians. I moved to follow the aroma. It was barely noticeable at the conductor’s stand. I moved on.

When I reached the piano I sat down on the bench. The smell was so thick here, weighing me down and filling my senses. I leaned forward and sniffed delicately above the keys. I picked up the music that was sitting there and ran my fingers lightly over the pages. I could nearly feel his fingerprints on the pages.

Edward Masen was the source of this calling. Edward Masen, the man who was looking to hire me to protect him. Edward Masen, the man that I wanted to kill and drink from at this very moment.

I stiffened my body against the almost overwhelming urge to turn and follow him out of the side door. The scent called to me, causing my breath to catch in my throat. Nothing had ever done this to me. Not once in all of the 90 years of my life as a vampire had I ever felt the call of blood, of human blood, the way I did just now.
As my phone started to ring, I knew that I had very little time to make the right decision. I glanced down at the phone. A text message from Alice was there:

Sit tight. Jasper’s coming.

A reprieve, if I could only hold on that long. I took the sheets of music and held them to my face, breathing in deeply. I fought to keep myself just sitting…and waiting for Jasper. I wanted to go, to follow the scent...I wanted to HUNT.

He’d never stand a chance against me. I was the ultimate predator and it didn’t matter that he would tower over my 5’4” frame. I’d smile and he’d be dazzled. He’d follow me somewhere private and then…

I felt the plan start to take shape. It would only be he and the other man, Robert, in an office. I could take care of Robert in a moment, either to send him away or to kill him, it didn’t really matter. If I sent him away, I’d have more time…

I could savor the moment. Oh, I wanted it badly, so badly. I wanted to drink, deeply. I wanted that hot, tantalizing blood to flow down my throat. It would be heaven…but it would surely send me to hell.

It just might be worth it.

My phone rang again, but this time I ignored it and flew to my feet and over to the door. It opened just as I reached it and Jasper bolted through and wrapped me in his strong arms.

“No!” I hissed at him. He struggled to hold me against the pull of the want, the need, the hunt.

Jasper hadn’t always been a History Professor. His life was even longer than mine and at one point he was one of the most fearsome fighters that had ever walked this land. He held me still while I fought. The door flew open again and Emmett was there. He took in the scene quickly and got his hands on me too.

“Come on Jazz, let’s get her home.”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Uh oh....that could be bad for Edward!

[katmom]

Disclaimer, Stephenie Meyer is the great and powerful Twilight originator and owner. I appreciate her work more than I can say. I own none of these characters, but I sure am having fun making them jump through my hoops.

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Chapter 2

~~~Choices~~~

“Guys, I’m so sorry.” I was sitting on the couch, my hands holding my aching head. Vampires didn’t get headaches, but mine sure wasn’t feeling very good. I felt Jasper ratchet up the calming effects he was sending my way. I glanced at him in thanks, and he nodded.

Esme and Alice sat on either side of me. Emmett was leaning back against Rosalie’s feet where she sat on the loveseat. Jasper and Carlisle were seated in chairs on the other side of the coffee table.

“I can’t tell you how grateful I am that you were there for me. I haven’t ever felt that way before.” I shook my head at the remembered aroma; it still called to me, hours later. “What was that?”

Carlisle spoke softly, “La Tua Cantante.” We all looked at him, our eyes wide and inquiring.

Esme translated, “La Tua Cantante---Your Singer? I’ve never heard of that.”

“Let me try to explain.” Carlisle paused and looked at each of us. “During the time I spent in Italy so many years ago, I was fascinated by the history and the science of why we are the way we are. I found myself spending hours and hours perusing the papers in the library at Volterra.”

There was a pause as we all considered Volterra. It was the seat of the rulers, so to speak, of our kind. The unholy trio of Aro, Caius and Marcus passed judgment on the rest of us. They had a vanguard of soldiers with assorted vampiric gifts who kept tabs on the rest of us. They also dealt with any problems that arose. The number one rule of being a vampire was: keep the secret.

The Volturi existed to enforce that rule. From some of the stories that I’d heard, I think they enjoyed that part of their life very much.

Carlisle had been to Volterra hundreds of years ago. But none of the rest of us had ever been. One really didn’t seek out the Volturi. It was better to keep quiet and mind your own business. The Volturi didn’t keep the same diet as we did, and every one of us in the room shivered a bit to think about the Volturi way of life.

“At one point, I heard about an effect that some humans’ blood had on a vampire. It occurred so rarely; there really wasn’t much information, but it intrigued me, and so I learned what I could about the situation. I wondered if it would ever happen to me.” Carlisle shook his head. “It hasn’t yet, and I am grateful.” Carlisle, along with Rosalie, Alice and I had never partaken of the “traditional diet” of a vampire.

“Yes, Esme, ‘La Tua Cantante’ means ‘Your singer’. That’s what they call a human whose blood calls--in effect sings--to a vampire so strongly, that almost nothing can stop you from taking it. Almost nothing can stop you from drinking until it’s gone, and then you're still thirsting for more.” Carlisle’s eyes darkened.

Esme looked around at her family, and her gaze paused on Emmett. His face was so sad. He looked so ashamed. “Emmett?” she questioned. “What’s the matter?”

Emmett was nodding his head. Rosalie leaned over him and put her arm comfortingly on his shoulder.

“It happened to me once, about 50 years ago. Rosalie and I were on our second honeymoon. We were in the south of France. We had been walking in the countryside when a storm came up. As we ran back to our chateaux, her scarf blew away. After the storm passed, I went back to find it for her.” He smiled up at his gorgeous wife. “I had gotten the scarf for her. It was an Hermes, and she really liked it.” He looked back down at his hands and continued, “Twilight was deepening, and it was so peaceful after the storm. An apple orchard had just been harvested. I could smell the ripe fruit. It really smelled good. The air was so clean and fresh. I saw an elderly woman in her yard. She was pinning her sheets up on the clothes line. I guess she wanted to capture that smell.” His eyes closed as he remembered.

“A breeze wafted over her and blew her scent to me.” He swallowed deeply. “I had been drinking animal blood for more than 15 years at that point, and yet when that scent hit me, I didn’t even pause for a second.”

He swallowed again. “Hours later, Rosalie came to find me. She found me sitting in the middle of the apple orchard. She talked to me and told me that it was an accident; that she still loved me.” He smiled gently up at her. “We extended our honeymoon until my eyes had returned to gold. I was too ashamed to tell you all what had happened.” His gaze swept the room slowly, as if he wondered if he would find condemnation there.

He didn’t. Every one of us looked at him with love and concern. Esme reached out to him and took his hand, holding it in both of her own. She looked him right in the eyes and smiled at him, her love shining like a beacon into his heart. She had been in his shoes. She had killed and still felt remorse for that lapse.

Carlisle nodded. “Like I said, it rarely happens. At the time of my research, there had only been about 15 documented cases.”

“I didn’t know there was a name for it,” Emmett said. “It almost makes it better. But I’ve hoped that it would never happen to me again.”

A deep growl suddenly erupted from my throat. Every eye turned to me.

“So there’s NO HOPE?” I looked at my family. “I have no choice? Unless I go to the dark side of the moon, I’m going to KILL Edward Masen?”

Carlisle leapt to his feet and came over to me. He took my hands in his as he sat down on the coffee table and looked deeply into my eyes.

“I don’t believe that that has to be the case, Bella,” he said. “I think part of the problem is the shock of the scent; the suddenness of the situation. I believe that’s what happened to Emmett.” He glanced over at his son.

Emmett nodded his head, “Yeah, that’s what happened. WHAM! The scent was just THERE, and it totally took me by surprise. I didn’t have time to think, just to react.”

Carlisle looked back at me, his face somber. “You have a warning now. And you have a choice. You must choose what to do. Give into the call of his blood…or fight it.” He paused, giving me time to think.

“Now that you know that this blood is out there, and you know where it is, you are going to have to make a decision.” I nodded, and he continued. “You are one of the strongest people that I have ever known. You have to know that we will all support you in your decision…No matter what that decision may be.”

I looked around at the people near me…my family. It didn’t matter that we weren’t related by DNA. We were related by love and respect. We had lived through some hard times. Emmett, as a newborn, had been quite the challenge. It was tough, but we got through it…together. We were stronger because of it.

Was I going to let this man, this human male, make me break the decision that I had made so many years ago? Was I going to give into blood lust and, finally, after 90 years, drink the blood of a human?

As I thought about that, it occurred to me that I was growing angry…furious, actually. How dare he? How dare he tempt me this way?

Then I laughed, which surprised everyone. They looked at me like I was nuts, and maybe I was.

Edward Masen had no idea what he was doing to me. It wasn't like he planned to have blood that would call me. It was an odd twist of fate that had brought him to my attention at that moment in time. But it may also have been a blessing.

“No,” I said, making a decision in my mind. “I won’t let the monster in me go. I’m not going to let it free. I am BIGGER than this.”

I glanced around at my family again. I saw pride and relief on their faces. “I’m going to need you all to help me, though. I have a meeting with this guy on Thursday, tomorrow, at three, and I’m really not sure just HOW I’m going to be able to get through it.”

Words of encouragement and love surrounded me. Plans were already being formed. During a pause, I turned to Alice.

“I know you feel badly about not seeing what was going to happen, but I’m actually very grateful to you.” Alice looked surprised. “If you hadn’t asked me to go by Jasper’s office, I wouldn’t have discovered this situation. I would have walked into that meeting tomorrow, been slammed by his scent and then, more likely than not, killed him.” I sighed. “That would have taken care of his stalker situation, but not exactly the way that I would prefer to do it!”

Alice laughed and hugged me. “Glad to be of service, Bella. Now that I know the situation, I’ll try and focus on it better.” She paused, and a funny expression crossed her face. “What I see is confusing right now.”

“How so…?” I asked. Everyone stopped to listen to what she had to say.

“I see you happy, joyful even. And I see him, too. He really is gorgeous, by the way.” She winked up at me. Jasper growled a bit, and she looked over at him. “Not as gorgeous as you, my darling husband.” He smirked, and she continued, “I get the feeling that things are as they should be. I see something, and it’s good, but there’s bad, too. Some flashes of red? I don’t get that part. I just wish it wasn’t so fuzzy.” She shook her head. “I’ll let you know if I see something more concrete.”

She cocked her head to the side, then jumped to her feet and flew to the door, “The messenger is coming with the packet that Edward filled out for your meeting tomorrow.”

She paused a moment after the knock sounded, and then she opened the door to see Tyler, one of our regular messengers, standing there. “Hey, Tyler,” she said. “Got something for us?”

He smiled down at Alice, looking a bit dazzled by her smile. “Hey, Alice,” he murmured as he held the packet before him and just stood there. Alice took her smile down a notch. She reached out and took the packet from his hand and thanked him.

“Thanks, Tyler, see you next time.”

She started to close the door, and I heard him say, “Next time, yeah, um, next time,” as he turned away, still slightly dazed. She giggled and turned back to us.

As Alice carried the envelope in her hands, I felt my body stiffen. I could SMELL Edward on the papers. It was fainter than earlier, but still definitely there.

I sighed as the venom pooled in the back of my throat. I swallowed loudly. “This may be harder than I thought. How am I going to get passed this?” I looked over at Carlisle. “It’s all I can do to keep myself from grabbing those papers from Alice’s hands!”

Carlisle liked to plan ahead, that was one of the reasons he made such a great doctor. He was always thinking forward to what needed to be done next. He did have an idea.

“First, I think that you need to be desensitized to some degree. Maybe by immersing yourself in his scent, you’ll be able to gain some control.” He took the packet from Alice. “His address is here. Emmett and Jasper can go by his place and pick up, I don’t know, maybe an article of clothing that he’s worn or one of his pillows.” Emmett and Jasper nodded their agreement to go.

He glanced up at me and continued, “You can hold it, breathe the scent in. Then, tomorrow when you see him, maybe it won’t be such a shock to your system.” By then Carlisle had the packet open and was skimming the papers for the address. He gave the address to my brothers and offered them the papers to smell. They stood up and sniffed the paperwork.

“Wow, he does smell good!” Emmett said. I felt a rumble start in my chest and tried to contain it.

“MINE,” was my first thought. I guess I said it out loud because Emmett took a step back, raising his hands in surrender. Jasper, again, forced some sense of calmness over me.

“Easy, Bells. I’m just saying…doesn’t mean that I’m going to do anything about it.” I nodded at his statement, feeling a bit of control coming back to me.

“Boys…” Carlisle looked at them both and said, “Don’t be noticed.” They nodded and left.

Esme spoke up next. “Bella, you need to hunt…now. Rosalie, will you and Alice go with her?” They both got to their feet as they nodded their agreement.

I stood, steeling myself from snatching the papers covered with Edward’s scent from Carlisle’s hands.

A plan started to form in my mind. I could beat the boys to his place; I could go now…Wait! That’s not what I really wanted, was it? No. I really need to get control of this situation. I would get control of it, damn it!

As I made the decision, Alice smiled at me. She knew, and the future tightened up just a bit more.

“Hunting is probably a good idea. I better get good and full before I have to see him.” I felt my resolve stiffen again. “Let’s go and get this show on the road. Maybe we can come up with a plan when we get back.” I knew that Carlisle would be giving that his entire attention, as would the rest of my family.

The three of us were out the door and through the backyard heading towards the mountains in moments. Our house was nestled close to the foothills, which gave us an easy way into the hunting area.

My sisters let me take point as we ran faster than the human eye could follow. In just a few minutes, we were far outside the city. Twilight was deep around us, and the sounds of nature filled my ears. In a short while we were beyond where even the most dedicated hikers generally ventured.

I crossed a trail that immediately caught my attention. It was musky and dense. With a nod to Alice and Rosalie, I broke away as I turned to follow it. I slowed, and the few sounds that I had been making ceased. I took several steps and then stopped. There, up in the tree to my right, perched on a branch high above my head, was my prey. It was a tawny colored cat, a cougar. He was huge, and his attention was on the elk that I could hear walking this way. The tip of his long tail twitched, the only thing that moved where he lay, waiting for his dinner. Too bad he didn’t know that he was actually going to be my dinner. I’d take the elk later, for dessert.

With a leap, I was on the branch with him. He turned with a growl. I sprang at him, and we tumbled towards the floor of the woods. He tried to get a swipe in, but I was too fast. I was draining his life as we hit the ground. It was good, but didn’t quite satisfy the thirst that had been stirred in me earlier in the day.

When I finished, I pushed a huge boulder aside and tucked his body into the cavity. We didn’t like to leave exsanguinated carcasses out in plain sight. If there were too many of them, the authorities would have to look into that. I dropped the boulder and turned, sniffing the air. The elk hadn’t run nearly far enough. I was soon hot on its heels, letting my instinct take over.

~o~O~o~

Chapter End Notes:

Many thanks to those of you who are reading. And more thanks to those of you who have reviewed! I appreciate you all very much.

Kathie

Please Leave Comments Here! Thanks!

[katmom]

Chapter 3

…Face to Face…

While I waited for Alice and Rosalie to finish hunting, I sat on a rock and thought about my situation. On the one hand, I could run far away. I could just leave. The family would probably even come with me. We had moved for other family members in the past after mistakes had happened. With our assets, I could set myself up any place in the world. We’d be moving soon anyway as we had been in Seattle for a very long time. I could even continue my current line of work. That really wasn’t the problem.

The problem was that I now knew that my blood singer was out there. Would I be able to resist searching him out? I knew that I could find him very easily. I could kill him even more easily.

Yes, I could kill him. I could drink that heavenly blood, and, for the first time in my vampire life, I would be totally satisfied…sated. There was a part of me that wanted that, more than I could even imagine. But just how big was that part? Was my moral compass going to be tossed aside? Was everything that I had believed about my life as a vampire going to be left on the wayside?

I hated that this was being forced upon me. Yes, as a newborn it had been hard, almost impossible to ignore the craving for human blood. To be satisfied by animals instead. But, from the moment I had opened my eyes to Carlisle and Esme, to learn what I had become and the way they lived, that’s what I had wanted for myself. I had wanted to be good enough to earn their respect. I already had their love, but I wanted more.

It had certainly been a challenge those first several years of my new life. We had lived in the far north of Alaska…far away from humans. After a couple of years they started to take me to villages, and then as my control had grown, we had gone into crowded cities. It had taken me years to reach that sort of control. I knew that they would have forgiven me if I had messed up. But, I had never wanted to make that mistake, no matter how strong the call for human blood had been.

I knew that Esme had killed, twice, as a newborn. I also knew how much it weighed on her still. Carlisle had helped her through it. But, I never wanted to be in that position, to be the one needing forgiveness.

Alice and Rosalie joined me, and we returned to the house. Alice had hunted, too. She decided that she and Jasper’s plan to go away for the weekend should be pushed back. Better to be at home and see what happened here.

~o~O~o~

Emmett and Jasper were waiting in the living room when we got back. I could smell Edward’s scent from the doorway. I closed my eyes and felt my mouth fill with venom. A burning sensation filled my throat as I swallowed it down.

Jasper rose and held out a black button down shirt to me. The waves of scent were pouring from it. “I got this out of his laundry basket.” He rolled his eyes and looked over at Emmett. “HE wanted to bring the guy’s socks--the dirty ones!”

As I eagerly snatched the shirt from his hands and buried my face in it, I heard Emmett say, “They didn’t look THAT dirty. I figured they would’ve had a lot of AROMA.” Ah, brothers, what joy they brought to my life…or not!

As I stood there with my face buried in Edward’s shirt, so many feelings rolled over me. I was nearly overcome with the urge to find a deeper connection, deeper than just inhaling a scent. I turned to the door.

I suddenly found myself sitting on the couch, with Jasper and Emmett on either side of me. They had their arms loosely held around my shoulders. My guess was that they had read my body language pretty clearly. Jasper had felt the urge start to grow as I had, and they had taken protective measures. I really did love my brothers. They had also gotten to me before I could throw my shield. I really was distracted. In this case, that was a good thing!

As everyone joined us in the living room, Carlisle started to speak.

“Your meeting is at three. I know that you usually meet with new clients alone.” I nodded, and he continued. “I think that in this case, that wouldn’t be prudent.” He cocked his head down at me and smiled ruefully.

“Emmett and Rosalie, as your support team, should attend the meeting with you.” He glanced at them, and they nodded. “Jasper could ‘drop by’. You are his sister-in-law, and his office is just across the parking lot. He could help with emotional control.” Jasper agreed with a nod.

“I’ve read through the concerns that Edward and his assistant, Jessica, have been having. He’s a famous guy, and they get lots of fan mail, etcetera. That’s to be expected. But, recently, some of the letters have been getting more intense, in a bad way. Gifts have been left at places that he has been. And the gifts have been getting more aggressively violent.” Carlisle paused while we digested this information. “The last one was a toy piano, broken into many pieces, tucked in a box, with a red rose and hearts glued to it.”

That did sound pretty creepy. My nose was still firmly pressed into Edward’s shirt. The fire in my throat had dulled to a coal. I lifted my face and said, “Having you three with me for the meeting sounds like an excellent plan.” I paused as I considered the decision that I had made to NOT kill Edward.

“I will get through this. I will win.” I looked them all in the eye before continuing, “We’ll sort out his stalker, and then I’ll move on. And I’ll let him continue to BE. I’ll know he’s out there, know that I want his blood, but also know that I won’t take it.”

I nodded my head. Yes, this was going to be my challenge, probably for life. I would be the better person, the better vampire, for this. I would prove it to myself.

Again, Alice smiled. She felt the force of my decision and approved. THAT would make this easier, if there was any way to make any of this easier. Just knowing that SHE had seen the fruit of my decision firmed it up even more in my mind. I would allow Edward Masen to live. I wouldn’t be the cause of his death.

~o~O~o~

I called Angela at nine to let her know that I wouldn’t be by the office this morning. That I’d work from home and then go straight to the appointment.

“Okay, Boss,” she said. After a short pause, she asked, “Are you sure you don’t need me to take notes?”

I laughed quietly and said, “Not today. But at the meeting, I’ll set it up so that he can come by the office tomorrow to sign the contracts.” I let her squeal of delight run its course before I continued, “I’ll let you know what time he’ll be by so you can have the papers ready.” I think she panted into the phone!

“Okay, I’ll be waiting for your call.” We discussed a couple more office issues then said goodbye and hung up.

I read through the info packet that Edward and Jessica had filled out. His house was in one of the nicest sections of Seattle; a gated community, with a guard at the entrance. That’s why they had been so bothered by that last gift. It had been found on his front porch. How did the stalker get into the area? I wondered if it might be someone living in the neighborhood. Just because an individual was rich, it didn’t make them a good person. Didn’t make them a bad one either, but people would be human.

By this time, I was wearing his shirt like a baggy dress. He was so much taller than I; it hung clear down to just above my knees. Alice finally couldn’t stand it any longer. She came towards me, holding a wide, red leather belt.

“Stand up,” she commanded.

“What?” I was confused.

“I get that you want to have his scent around you, but this is NOT a good look.” She wrinkled her little nose and once again commanded me, “Get up.”

I laughed and stood up for her, holding my arms out to the side. She placed the belt around my hips, buckling it loosely. Then she took some pins and deftly fitted the shirt on my shoulders, making it look a lot better.

“There, now you can go back to work.” She laughed. “I can almost like this look on you!”

I laughed, too, and ducked my head to get a good sniff from the collar. “You know,” I said. “Except for the burn, he really does smell good. If I had spit instead of venom, I think my mouth would be watering!” I shrugged as I looked at Alice. “I don’t know if that’s a good thing or a bad thing!”

“As long as it’s helping you to get some control, that’s all that really matters.” She waved and went back to her office.

She and Esme had an interior decorating business. We didn’t have enough houses for them to renovate and decorate, so they looked to express their interests elsewhere. Their clientele were very upscale. Esme did the designing and renovating side, and Alice did the decorating side. The arrangement suited them both.

Besides catering to the rich and famous, they also had their hand in decorating Ronald McDonald houses. These were houses located near children’s hospitals, where family members of those little ones who are hospitalized could stay. It was their way of giving back.

Although our closest friends were also vegetarian vampires, they still didn’t understand the reasons why we brushed shoulders with humans on a regular basis: Esme and Alice with their renovation/decorating business; Carlisle as a doctor who treated humans; Jasper enjoyed teaching history since he had lived so much of it; Rose, Emmett and I in our bodyguard business.

I think we did it in part to give back. We had so many gifts, and though at times it seemed like there were curses, too, we really did have so much.

The diet of animal blood made our covens more like families. At least, that’s what others told us. Our ties were much closer for some reason. Maybe it kept our human side closer to the surface. Anyway, they thought we were “weird” to be rubbing shoulders with humans.

I thought back to what Jessica had said about Edward giving back with his concert tour. After I had read the information they had provided, I did an internet search. There was a LOT to be read about Edward Masen. He had started his “Giving Back Concerts” two years ago. He had toured ten cities and had brought a lot of money in for the schools that he played with.

This year’s tour had started in Portland, Oregon. They had played there last month, in August. The concert this weekend in Seattle would be number two on the list of ten. From here, they were going to Salt Lake City in two weeks. There was a break after that, probably so that Jessica could have her baby and have time to recuperate. The tour would pick up after the New Year.

A lot of pages came up on the internet search. His family name was a well known one. His father, Edward Sr., had founded a medical research facility in the 1950’s. He had used old family money to start it. Instead of resting on his laurels after their first big break, he had led the field in cutting edge technologies.

He and his wife, Elizabeth, were well known for their patronage of the arts and their charitable endeavors. Several of the articles that I read commented on how wonderful and unassuming they both were.

There were also many pages pertaining to their deaths in a plane accident five years ago. They had been flying back to their home in Colorado after a conference when their plane hit some major turbulence. A lightning strike had knocked out the electrical systems of the private plane, and the pilot wasn’t able to get back in control. They had crashed in the Colorado Mountains. There were many tributes to their lives and such sadness at their passing.

I continued with my research. Apparently Edward had been playing concerts for the past six years to critical acclaim. I was glad to note that his parents would have known of his success. After going on a couple of solo tours, he had decided to play with the local orchestras in the cities where he played. He had two CD’s on the charts. I found a Youtube video of some of his work and let the music play while I continued my surfing. He really did play with feeling and enjoyment.

Edward wrote a lot of the work he played. I wondered why I hadn’t heard of him. I could only guess that I had just been busy with work and the family.

There were LOTS of pictures of him; the People Magazine shots; playing the piano on tour; out with some hot model or actress, taken at some award show or another.

Then I came upon one that really touched me. It was taken at his parents’ funeral. He had such a haunted look on his face. I couldn’t imagine how hard it had to have been to lose both of his parents at one time. I hated to even think about losing Esme or Carlisle. One of the many plus sides to being a vampire was immortality. I wouldn’t have to lose them to old age.

Well, Angela was certainly right about one thing: His green eyes were fascinating. Several photographers seemed to think so, too. There were close-ups everywhere. They were a deep green, with golden highlights.

I wondered if they were a true representation, or a fix-up from Photoshop. I guess I’d find out in the next couple of hours. I closed up the computer and took another sniff of his shirt. I figured I'd better change before the meeting. Although it might've been interesting to see his face if he recognized the shirt I was now wearing as a dress over my gray leggings. I’d be taking the shirt with me in the car, to keep the smell close to me. I could only hope and pray that it would be enough to keep me from attacking him.

~o~O~o~

Jasper planned to meet us in the parking lot at 2:45. Emmett drove Rosalie and me in his jeep. Carlisle, Esme and Alice had seen us off at the house. Alice had smiled and said that she thought things would “go well”. I held on to her belief. If she had seen it, then it could go that way. I never bet against Alice. She was right too many times.

Rosalie looked over her shoulder as we parked in the lot. “How are you holding up back there?” she asked.

I buried my nose in Edward’s shirt and took a last deep breath, then set it down on the seat. “As well as I can be, I guess. Let’s do this.”

We could hear the music as we crossed the lot to where Jasper was waiting for us. As we approached him, I felt a wave of comfort, love and assurance flow over me. He never bet against Alice either.

As we walked into the foyer, I spotted Jessica. She was holding a clipboard like she had been the day before. Angela, who didn’t know that I had already seen her earlier, had told me this morning that Jessica would meet us at the entrance and then show us the way to Edward’s office. She said we’d know her because she was pregnant. She was due in two months.

I knew the moment she spotted us. Her heartbeat picked up, and her face registered amazement at our appearance. The lures we used were our faces, our bodies and our scents. It was all designed to draw our prey--humans--in. Our appearance was generally overwhelming to a human. By the time they realized that the hair on the back of their neck was standing up, it would be too late.

Emmett chuckled under his breath at the way Jessica first succumbed to awe and then quickly looked slightly frightened and confused. It always amused him that humans felt that way. Of course, the fact that he was 6’5” and built like a linebacker usually caused people to respect his personal space, even without the vampiric enhancements.

I approached her and held out my hand. “Jessica Newton? I’m Bella Cullen of Elite Guardians.” Jessica took my hand gingerly, and I gave hers a gentle shake. Her eyes were wide as she took in the four of us. I held her hand and led her forward to meet them. “This is my brother Emmett Cullen and his wife, Rosalie. They’re my partners.” They both held their hands out to shake hers. I could see that her fingers trembled a bit in their gentle grasps.

I turned her to Jasper. “And this is my brother-in-law, Professor Jasper Whitlock. He’s a history teacher here at the University.” Jasper smiled down at her, and as I felt her back relax under my hand, I knew that he was working his magic on her. “His office is just across the parking lot, and he thought he’d like to meet the man that he has been hearing play this week.”

“Nice to meet you all,” Jessica stumbled a bit over her words, her left hand sitting protectively on her tummy. We all waited a moment while she got her composure back a bit. “Edward is just finishing up with his solo practice. If you’d like to follow me, I’ll take you to the conference room the University has allowed us to use these two weeks.”

As she spoke, I took a deep breath. Edward’s scent was clinging to her. I closed my eyes and took a second breath. It was tolerable, even with the burn deep in my throat. I felt my siblings’ eyes on me and nodded my head fractionally. I could do this.

Rosalie, who winked at me first, turned to Jessica and asked, “Could we stand at the back of the Hall and listen for a few moments? His playing really is breathtaking.”

That would be a good test of my control; Edward on the stage and me at the back, with three vampires ready to subdue me. Hopefully it wouldn’t come to that.

Jessica’s face lit up. “Sure. He’s just going over one more song, and then he’ll be done for the day.” It seemed she really was proud of his achievements.

“This one is called Elizabeth’s Dance. He wrote it for his mother when he was only 13.” Her face held the memory of loss.

She led us to the doors of the auditorium, her pregnant belly leading the way. Jasper hurried to hold the door for us all. She smiled shyly up at him, and he nodded down at her.

We quietly filed in, standing just inside the door. The music once again washed over me, easing my tension somewhat. The melody was sweet, with an undertone of elegance. It actually reminded me of my own mother, Esme.

I looked to where Edward was playing on the stage. Today, he was wearing a dark green casual shirt and jeans. Again, his hair was mussed; one of the articles I read had called it “sex hair.” I could see where that title could fit.

Emmett and Jasper flanked me. Jasper let his power subside, letting me judge how I felt in the moment. I caught a small hint of scent from the stage. It was powerful, but not the slam it had been the day before. I think that using his shirt for the past several hours had helped me. I rather wished that I was still wearing it and not the tailored blue suit that I had on.

Again, I nodded to them. They relaxed the slightest bit, and I took several more deep breaths, feeling the burn in my throat, as the music wound to a close.

A couple moments after the final note sounded, Victor stepped up beside the piano. He and Edward began discussing a couple of the passages.

Jessica started down the aisle towards the stage, beckoning us to follow her. Once again, I took several deep breaths and then followed.

As we neared the stage, she called out, “Edward, these people are Elite Guardians. They’ve come about the stalker situation.” As she spoke, he turned on the bench and watched our approach.

His eyes rested on each of us, starting with my very tall brothers. I saw his eyes widen when he reached Rosalie. She really was stunning at 5’9” with wavy blonde hair down to the middle of her back. She walked with the grace of a runway model, and she had the attitude to carry it off. Most men didn’t take their eyes off of her after first seeing her.

To my surprise, he blinked, and then his eyes were on me. He blinked again, and I saw something pass over his face, almost a look of recognition. I didn’t know what to make of it and filed it away for future analysis. I knew that I had never met him before. THAT I would have remembered.

Right then, all I could think of was taking another breath and keeping control. The scent, and therefore the burn, was getting stronger with every step closer we took. I felt Jasper passing some pretty strong waves of calmness to me. Venom was pooling in my mouth, but again, it wasn’t the slam that it had been the day before. Apparently there was something about the desensitization that was working.

Edward stood up and walked to the edge of the stage, his eyes still on mine. He broke our connection as he glanced over his shoulder to say goodbye to Victor, who then moved to the back of the stage and out a door. Edward jumped from the stage to join us.

Once again, I felt Emmett and Jasper near me. I needed to focus on what was happening and not just on Edward’s scent and his green eyes. They really were as gorgeous as all those pictures on the internet had shown them to be.

I was finding it hard to focus on what was happening. I was surprised to find that Jessica was speaking; she was introducing us all to Edward. When a slight blush covered his cheeks as he was introduced to Jasper, I felt my throat constrict a bit more. Then Jessica turned to me and began my introduction. I swallowed and stepped forward.

“This is Bella Cullen. She’s the President of Elite Guardians.” Edward took a step closer to me and held out his hand. Emmett had casually moved back beside me.

As I approached Edward with my hand out, I had to tip my head back to look into his face. He WAS tall. I took another deep breath and slipped my hand into his. I didn’t know if it was because his hand was so warm and mine so very cool, but it was almost as if a static charge had passed between us. His eyes were still staring into mine, and again, that look of recognition was on his face.

As strong as the scent had been on his shirt, it was nothing like it was now, with him right before me. This time, the warm linen smell was at the fore. But as he held my hand in his for a few moments longer, I could almost see the musk tones starting to overshadow it.

I took a step back, releasing my hand from his. I had to take control of this meeting. With a nod of my head, I began, “Mr. Masen, we’ve looked over the information you sent us. And we all agree that this stalker situation is getting out of hand.” I glanced over at Jessica. “You said that you had kept the items that have been sent through the mail; and those that have been left for you. We’d like to take a look, if that’s okay.” I looked between the two of them.

Edward nodded. “Yes, we have all of that. Come on back to the conference room, and we can go over them.” Edward gave me another long look and then put his hand on Jessica’s back to lead her out the side door.

In a voice too fast and quiet to be heard by them, Emmett asked, “Well? How’s it going?”

I spoke fast too, “It is hard, but I feel that I can control the urge to kill him.” I swallowed the little pool of venom that was in the back of my throat. “Let’s get his stalker sorted and move on.”

They all nodded as we followed them out the door and to the conference room.


----------------

So…? What do you think?

Coming up next is Edward’s POV about this first meeting. I know you can hardly wait! Me either…

Thank you to everyone who are reading AND reviewing. I appreciate it!

Kathie


Please Leave Comments Here! Thanks!

[katmom]

Chapter Four

~~~Who is She?~~~

As I played the last note of “Elizabeth’s Dance,” I wondered what my mom would make of my life. She had only wanted me to be happy, to be productive…and to remain a gentleman. I sighed and let my hands settle into my lap.

I wondered if she would have approved of the way my life was now. I didn’t really feel happy, except when I was playing or writing new music. I had a few close friends and enjoyed the time I spent with them. Somehow, that didn’t feel like enough to put a check mark by “happy”.

I guess I was productive; at least by providing my concerts as a way for various scholastic and charitable entities to make money for their programs. I also had my seat on the board for Masen Enterprises. We endowed scholarships to high school seniors. That was always an enjoyable time of year. And it was one banquet that I always made time for.

As for the question of my being a gentleman, well, that was harder to answer. I really tried to remember the rules my mom had taught me. There were so many groupies trying to get close to me, and that was just plain freaky. It was hard to tell if they were really interested in me, the family money or the trappings of fame that were now surrounding me.

Who would have thought that a concert pianist would even have groupies? I mentally shrugged. The Rolling Stones…yes; The Jonas Brothers…yes; but me, not so much. That People article was really coming back to bite me. I hadn’t realized that the article was going to be for the “New Hot Bachelor.” I had thought it was going to be about my concert tour. I rolled my eyes. Oh well, I guess any publicity was good for the tour.

Victor stepped up beside me, and we spoke briefly about the way the practice had gone.

As I was speaking with him, I heard Jessica call my name, and I turned around. She was coming down the aisle with four people behind her. There were two men and two women. I glanced at them and then felt my eyes snap back for a second look. They were seriously the most beautiful people that I had ever seen. Their faces were pale, and their hair was perfect. The confidence that exuded from them was almost palpable.

The two men were really tall. The dark haired guy looked like he must've been on a football team. He was huge. The blonde man was nearly as tall, but lanky.

Then there was the willowy blonde woman. I had spent quite a bit of time with actresses and models during the last several years at promotional parties and the like, and none of them held a candle to her. The smile on her face told me that she was used to men, and probably women, too, looking at her like that.

Walking between the two tall men, and nearly dwarfed by them, was a petite woman with long mahogany hair. They were close enough to the stage that the lights caught glints of red in her hair. As I glanced at her face, I felt my breath catch in my throat. As perfect as the other three were, she still stood out. She was beyond lovely; ethereal, even. I felt an odd connection, like I knew her. Surely that couldn’t be, as beautiful as she was, I was pretty sure that I would have remembered her if we had met before.

Her eyes caught me. It was hard to look away. Victor said goodbye, and I finally broke our connection to glance over my shoulder to say goodbye. I looked back to where Jessica was standing below me and jumped down from the stage.

Jessica was speaking. She was introducing them to me. I needed to focus. It was hard to do so; they were so striking. “This is Emmett Cullen and his wife, Rosalie. They are partners at Elite Guardians.” I shook both of their hands. Their skin was pleasantly cool, and their handshakes firm. Their eyes were topaz, with hints of gold. I looked again, never having seen that particular color before. I wondered if they wore contacts.

“And this is their brother, Professor Jasper Whitlock. He works here at the University and has been hearing you practice.” His handshake was just as cool, and his eyes appraised me, sizing me up. His eyes were golden, too. How odd.

“My wife has been very jealous that I’ve been privy to your practices this week. She’s a great fan of yours.” He had a mild southern accent. “Alice begged to be allowed to come to this meeting today, but the boss lady here...” He looked down at the petite woman at his side. “...said maybe later.”

I felt my face flush just a bit. As much as I enjoyed the concerts and playing with orchestras around the country, it was somewhat intimidating to think that I had fans. That’s what people like that actor, Robert Pattinson, had…not me.

“Edward, this is Bella Cullen. She’s the President of Elite Guardians,” Jessica said.

It was time to shake the hand of the lovely dark haired woman. I saw her take a deep breath as she approached me. Her small hand was nearly lost in mine. I felt a spark jump between us. It startled me into looking deeply into her eyes. They were even more golden than the others’.

After a long moment, Ms. Cullen took a step back, releasing her hand from mine. She began speaking, “Mr. Masen, we’ve looked over the information you sent us. And we all agree that this stalker situation is getting out of control.” She glanced over at Jessica. “You said that you had kept the items you’ve received. We’d like to take a look, if that’s okay.”

It took me a moment to focus on her words. I nodded and said, “Yes, we have all of the items. Come on back to the conference room, and we can go over them.” I took another long look at Bella Cullen, trying to remember where I knew her from, and led Jessica out the side door.

~o~O~o~

A/N...I’m not fond of doing whole chapters over and over from several perspectives. I think that tends to get redundant. But I did want to have Edward’s view on the meeting with the Cullens. From now on each POV will move the story forward.

Any guesses as to where Edward had seen Bella before? She’s pretty sure that she hasn’t ever met him, and she’d be right!

Reviews are nice…and I appreciate those of you who have left them! It’s always a treat to see that notice in my e-mail! Thanks so much!

Kathie

[katmom]

Chapter 5

~~~Love Letters?~~~

The conference room was quite large, which was good for me. At least Edward Masen’s scent wouldn’t be contained in a small space. The burn was manageable. I could tell that Jasper was keeping a light touch on me. I was grateful.

In the center of the room, there was a long table. It was covered with small, tidy piles of paperwork. As I walked closer, I realized that they were letters, written on all sorts of stationery. Their envelopes were clipped to them. Two boxes sat to the side. I could see stuffed animals, fake flowers and other bits of debris in them.

“Are these all of the questionable letters?” I asked in shock. There were so many!

Jessica laughed and said, “No, this is the mail for the past week.” She walked to the end with the stuffed animals, “We have a small staff of temps that open it and sort it for us. Edward has me send the toys to a local hospital for the pediatric ward.” She pointed to the different piles. “These are requests for personal appearances; this for autographed pictures; these are CD’s that artists want Edward to listen to. After we get them sorted, I send the appropriate thank you notes, signed photos, etcetera.”

She paused as she pointed to one pile and laughed. “These are the ones asking Edward to marry them.”

I looked over to where Edward was standing at the head of the table. He had his eyes closed and, again, there was a flush on his face. I found myself staring at the rosy color, and I swallowed, hard. He opened his eyes and shrugged a bit. “I always let Jess handle those,” he said with a grimace.

“Dude!” Emmett bellowed as he rushed over to that pile. “Do any of them include pictures?”

I groaned inwardly. Leave it to my brother to let a professional meeting dissolve into something dirty and/or silly. Before I could say anything to alleviate the situation, Rosalie smacked my brother, her husband, on the back of his head and turned to Edward. “Pardon my husband, Edward. He may be twenty-three, but apparently, he’s still only about sixteen years old!”

Edward’s face was shocked when Emmett first spoke. Then he grinned at Rosalie, and suddenly, he totally laughed out loud. It startled us. He had seemed to be a bit uptight for such a huge belly laugh. I liked the way his eyes crinkled shut as he laughed.

He finally got himself under control. “I’ve got to tell you, when I started out in this business, I used to open all the mail myself. You know…the two or three letters that I’d get a week.” His green eyes were twinkling now. “When I opened the first letter of THAT kind, I nearly fell over! I literally dropped it on the floor. My mom laughed at me.” He shook his head as he continued to chortle. “She told me I better get used to it, but I shouldn’t bring any of those women home to meet her.” He chuckled again.

“Once I started to get more mail, and have a need for an assistant to keep me on track and on time, I hired Jessica here.” He grinned fondly down at her. “She and I went to school together, and her boyfriend, now husband, has been my best friend for years. I have always appreciated her organizational skills, never more than when she handles those letters! Now I let her do all of that for me. She’s the best assistant and friend that one could have.” Jessica smiled back at him. “I do sometimes think she needs to wash her mind with bleach over some of the stuff that comes through our post box!” He shuddered lightly.

Jessica spoke up, “I do send a response to them, too. But when we first started getting these letters years ago, I spoke to a psychiatrist, and they suggested a wording to go on the notes that wouldn’t be harsh, but neutral. I include a small photo, like I do with all of the other notes. We want them to know we got the notes, but not encourage them.”

Jessica walked over to a file box. “These are the letters and notes that concern us. Edward’s right; we do get a lot of weird stuff, but its normal weird, if that makes any sense.” She glanced up at me. “This stuff goes beyond the norm, and it really does concern me.”

I walked over and took the box from her. Rosalie and Emmett joined me as I spread the notes out on the table. I could see that there was a very distinct style of handwriting on these. I gave a subtle sniff over the letter to get the scent. I then flipped one over to look at the address. It was a local post office box number. The papers were all different sorts, from stock note cards that could be purchased almost anywhere, to very expensive stationery.

“Where are the gifts?” I asked as I continued to spread out the letters and cards.

“Here they are,” Edward said, lifting a box from the floor and placing it beside the notes. Once again, he looked into my face like he was searching for something. It was actually getting to be a bit annoying. I was going to have to ask him about that and soon.

Besides the broken toy piano, which was in its own little gift box, there were three stuffed animals, all lions; and five bouquets of silk flowers, assorted kinds.

“Can you set these out in order of their appearance?” Rosalie asked.

“Yes. They were all date stamped as they came in; that’s done with all the incoming mail. These started arriving when we set up shop here two weeks ago,” Jessica said. She laid out several of the notes and letters. She then added the first bouquet of flowers. It was yellow chrysanthemums, yellow tulips and an orange star gazer lily. She continued to add the toys and the other bouquets to the line of notes.

“Hopelessly in love, a secret admirer…and ambition,” Rosalie said as she looked at me.

“What?” asked Edward and Jessica at the same time. They looked confused.

Rosalie continued, “That’s the meaning of the three kinds of flowers in the first bouquet.” She took the second one and said, “The next bouquet is red roses, denoting passionate love. The last one is china asters and marigolds. That’s the one that really concerns me.”

She glanced at Edward. “It means jealousy and a desire for riches.”

Emmett had picked up the last stuffed lion. It had an arrow through its heart. “Does this mean Cupid is shooting you with an arrow of love? Or does it mean that the sender wants to shoot YOU?”

Both Jessica and Edward looked shocked at the way we were interpreting the gifts.

“Where did you get these things? Did they all come in the mail except for the broken piano?” I asked.

“All of them came in the mail except for the lion with the arrow and the piano. The lion was delivered to our table at a restaurant where we ate last Friday in Ballard,” Jessica said. Ballard was a nice little part of Seattle, down by the locks.

“We hadn’t planned to go there. But my husband, Mike, called as we were getting ready to leave for the day, and we made a spur of the moment decision.” She looked up at Edward.

He continued, “The hostess brought it over after we had been there for about an hour. She said some woman dropped it off but didn’t stay to meet with us.” He ran his hand around his neck, apparently trying to rub some of the tension there away. “The piano was on my front step on Monday morning. I stepped out to get the paper, and the box was there. It wasn’t closed. The top was ajar, and I could see the rose without touching it.”

Jessica said, “That’s when we decided that we needed some help. Edward’s house is in a gated, guarded neighborhood. Unless it’s someone who lives there, how did they get in?” She shrugged. “It would be easy enough to find his address, but the guard is one of the reasons he purchased the house two years ago!”

Jessica handed me about five of the letters from the marriage proposal pile. “For comparison’s sake, read a couple of the ‘normal’ love notes, and then read the ‘weird’ ones.”

I started reading the first set of letters and then passed them over to Rosalie. Some did have pictures, showing the writers’ “attributes”. Rosalie just rolled her eyes as she handed them to Emmett. Jasper said he’d pass on reading them. He excused himself and stepped to the end of the room to make a phone call home to tell them, quietly, how things were going.

The first group of letters were pretty gushy, filled with flowery “I love you’s” and “Marry me, and we’ll be happy forever” kind of things. I noticed that quite a few had hearts sprinkled around the writing. They were silly in a rather non-threatening way.

I moved on to the notes that Jessica had laid out. The first one started out as the ‘normal weird ones’, “You will marry me, and we’ll be happy forever and always,” but the last paragraph contained a somewhat veiled threat. The writer wanted to keep him to herself, not share him with anyone else. It also alluded to knowing his address. It was signed:

All my love forever and always,

Your Soon To Be Wife…

LM

The initials “LM” were looped about each other. It was so curvy; I could barely make them out. I wondered if the M was for Masen or if it was the writer’s actual last initial.

The next one was still “I love you” but asked when they would meet. The writer suggested a time and place. I looked at Jessica, and she said, “You see the time and place mentioned in that note? We had eaten there the day before and had planned to eat there again soon!” She shuddered delicately. “We haven’t been back since.”

It appeared that this stalker had been close enough to them at some point to overhear their plans.

Rosalie read the last note out loud. It mentioned Edward’s “assistant” and berated him for letting “her” keep the admirer away from him. The writer once again wished to keep him all to herself. She said he was her “soul mate”.

Edward walked behind Jessica and put his arms around her waist, letting his hands rest lightly on her belly as she leaned back against him. It was a very intimate moment, and I felt a funny little twinge somewhere inside me.

“Jessica, Mike and I won’t let anything happen to you.” He glanced over at us. “And now Elite Guardians won’t either, right?”

“Edward, it’s not for ME that I’m worried!” She leaned away from him, turning to look up into his face. “It’s YOU! This nut is getting way too close to you. Mike and I couldn’t bear it if something happened to you. It was too hard losing your parents, and I won’t lose you, too.” He gathered her close to his chest as she began to cry quietly.

After a glance at my family and receiving their nods, I turned and spoke to Jessica, my eyes on Edward’s troubled ones. “Jessica, you have our promise that we’ll get to the bottom of this. We’ll do everything in our power to keep you all safe.”

I shot a pointed glance at Jasper, and he nodded. I could see some of the tension leaving both Jessica and Edward. I was really blessed to have an empath as a brother.

“It seems that this person may have been close to you at some time over the past couple of weeks. They must have been close enough to overhear your lunch plans. They also were close enough to know how much responsibility that Jessica has, at least over your mail and itinerary.” It’s a good thing that Jasper was close right now…I think that Jessica was about to lose it. He was helping her to keep a grip on the hysteria that even I could sense was coming to the surface.

“Do either of you remember seeing anyone different near you on the day you were going to lunch?” I asked.

“That’s the day that a huge group of students came through the auditorium while you were practicing with the orchestra,” Jessica said to Edward. “When they realized YOU were here, we had to have that small autograph signing session. They hung around for quite a while after that. Maybe they overheard us then.”

Edward nodded his head. “There were about fifty of them, mostly young women.” He paused while he thought about who he had seen. “None of them really stood out as being overly aggressive or anything. One said that this was about the tenth time that she had seen me. But I don’t recall ever seeing her before.”

“Can you tell me what she looked like?” I asked. “Hair color, height, anything like that?”

He closed his eyes, trying to remember. “She had on a hat, a cowgirl hat…and curly brown hair. It was rather long and was hanging over her shoulders. She was about average height, I guess.” His eyes snapped open, “She also had on the shortest skirt. I thought at the time that it was pretty inappropriate. She held my hand tightly before I signed the autograph for her. I thought she wasn’t going to let my hand go. That’s all. It doesn’t seem much to go on, does it?”

“That’s okay. That may not even have been her.” I nodded to my siblings. “We’ll check out the post office box and see if that turns up something for us.”

I turned to Rosalie, “Can you check over their cars for me? Either this stalker is following them or she has some sort of tracking device on their cars.” Jessica gasped and glanced up at Edward, fear stark on her face. I looked over at her. “Don’t worry, if there is a GPS hidden anywhere on your car, Rosalie will find it. She’s the best!”

Jessica and Edward both looked a bit bemused by the fact that gorgeous and glamorous Rosalie was our car expert.

“I could probably change the oil for you at the same time.” She winked at them, which caused them to laugh just a bit. “I love a good car! I saw that your car, Edward, is an Aston Martin V12 Vanquish…that’s on my short list.” She sighed happily over the thought of getting one of her own.

“Yes, it’s a great little car. My father got it for me after I got booked on my first tour.” He smiled softly. “I enjoy driving it while I’m here in town. Not when it snows here, though! Snow in Seattle is not a fun time for drivers. There are too many hills. It’s a good thing that we don’t get it often and that it’s still months away.”

Emmett spoke up, “What kind of security system do you have at your house? We need to come by and have a look. I can tweak it a bit if necessary.” Emmett was really good with the technical aspects of our business. I think it was from all the computer games that he played. He also had some inkling as to what Edward’s system was since he and Jasper had broken in the night before to get the shirt for me.

Edward mentioned a system that we knew to be good. There were a few things that could be added to make it safer. Not enough to keep vampires out, but enough to keep humans at bay.

“Okay, Rose after you look over the cars, you can follow Jessica home and check out her place. The rest of us will head over to Mr. Masen’s home to check things out there,” I planned out loud.

“Ms. Cullen, please call me Edward,” he asked. I looked back to where he was now standing next to a much calmer Jessica. Hearing us plan for their safety was having a good effect on her, and Jasper was helping, too.

“Certainly, thank you, Edward. And please, call me Bella.” Again, that searching look as he gazed into my face. What was with him?

“This whole situation started only two weeks ago,” I spoke again. “And the advancement of anger is really disturbing. In just two weeks, their affection has gone from ‘I love you’ to enough anger to destroy that toy and put an arrow through the lion. This person appears to be getting out of hand…quickly.”

I looked over at my family. “I think that we need to keep an eye on Edward 24/7, until we can get this sorted out. We can work the shifts that we discussed earlier.” Rosalie and Emmett both nodded. I’d be taking the midnight shift. It might be easier on me if he was sleeping and not interacting with me.

None of us slept anyway, but we had to keep up the human appearance.

“Jessica?” She looked up at me. She still looked fearful, so I said, “We’ve never lost a client, and I don’t intend to start now. Okay?” She nodded. “I’d like to take the letters and gifts with me, if that’s alright?” Jessica nodded again and began to gather them up and put them in a plastic tote box.

I wanted to look them over again, closely, to see if I could find any other clues as to who the sender was. Each of us had sniffed the items. We would remember that scent if we came across it.

When she was done placing the items in the box, she handed it to me. “Let me lock up and we can go,” she said.

Rosalie had already left the room with Emmett to check over the cars. As we approached Edward’s car, which was parked one aisle over from Emmett’s Jeep, I saw that she was already sweeping the car for electronic bugs or a GPS. A sudden ping came from the machine.

“There’s one here. It’s tucked into the wheel well.” Rosalie squatted down and quickly felt inside the open space. She gave a twist of her wrist and brought out a small rectangle. Edward and Jessica both looked rather sick. “It’s not top of the line, but it’ll work.”

Rosalie handed the sweeper to Emmett and quickly adjusted some of the settings on the device. “This setting will make the tracking software think that it’s fallen off or become damaged. But not that it’s been turned off. I’ll see if I can find where this one was purchased. It’s got a serial number on it.” She turned to Jessica. “Which car is yours?”

Jessica quickly pointed at a white 2008 Vibe sitting a couple cars away. “It’s that one.”

Rosalie walked over and began her sweep. She went around twice…no ping. “Yours is clear.” A look of relief crossed Jessica’s face.

“Thank you!” she said. “Can I go home now? Is it safe?” She looked over at Edward and then at us.

“Yes,” I said. “That should be fine. Go home and rest. Rosalie will follow you home in Emmett’s Jeep and make a sweep of your house as well. We’ll keep you posted as to what else we find, if anything, tonight. What time did you plan to be here tomorrow?”

Jessica said she’d be back at ten, then turned and gave Edward a hug goodbye. I stepped close and handed her and Edward several of our business cards.

“Here are all of our numbers. You should both put them on your cells. Call at any time if you feel the need, okay?” I searched Jessica’s face and then said, “We will get this sorted. I promise you.” She nodded back at me and got into her car. She locked the doors. She gave us another wave, and as Rosalie fell in behind her, they drove out of the parking lot.

I realized that Edward and I were standing close together as we watched them drive away. It was much easier to be near him out here in the open air. I took a deep breath and felt the burn, but it was tolerable. That mouth watering feeling was back, too. I still couldn’t tell if it was good or bad. The tension he had felt while we discussed the stalker had caused his scent to intensify. I swallowed a small rush of venom and turned back to the guys.

“Emmett, why don’t you go with Edward?” Emmett looked happy to get to ride in the Vanquish. “Jasper, we’ll see you at home later?” Jasper looked at me, trying to see if his special skill, or his strength, was going to be needed.

I shook my head. I was on task and felt focused. I really did feel that I could cope. Of course, I’d be sniffing his black shirt the entire way to his house. Rosalie had put it on the seat of my car before we came out of the building. I would trade out for a new shirt or something while we were checking out his home security system. I thought that if I could retrieve the shirt that he was wearing now, it would keep me desensitized for days! It was a good thing that my car was still here after my brothers had taken me home yesterday. Now I wouldn’t have to ride in a car with Edward. It seemed like that might've been pushing my luck, and his, too.

“Yes, I’ll see you at home later,” he said. Jasper turned to Edward, reaching out his hand. “It was nice meeting you. I just wish it was under better conditions.” They shook hands as he continued, “My sisters and brother are the best. They’ll take care of you. You’re in good hands.”

Edward smiled and looked at us all. “It was nice meeting you, too. Tell Alice that I’d like to meet her at some point.” He glanced down at me. “Once the boss lady allows that.”

Jasper said that he’d pass that message on to Alice. I was actually thinking that I should have her meet with him sooner, rather than later. Alice had a harder time seeing humans, especially ones that she hadn’t met before. I wanted her to meet him, and maybe she could tune in a bit more. Maybe her psychic gift could help us pinpoint the stalker.

“Edward, we need you to sign the contract with our company.” He looked down at me and nodded. “I’ll have my office manager bring it by here tomorrow. Maybe Alice can come by at the same time.” I paused and then asked, “Would that be okay?”

“That would be great. Like Jessica said, I’d planned to practice with the orchestra again at ten,” he said. “So, are we ready to head to the house? Do you need directions?”

“I’ve got the address and know how to get there. You go on with Emmett, and I’ll be there shortly.” He nodded and walked towards his car, then glanced back once…that look again.

I waved goodbye to them and headed to my car. I hoped that Emmett would at least try and be on his best behavior. But then I thought back to how Edward had reacted to Em’s earlier comment. I actually thought that they’d get along well.

As they drove passed me towards the exit, I caught sight of Emmett’s face. He was grinning like an idiot, a very happy idiot. I couldn’t blame him. We all loved fast cars, and he was sitting in one hot model.

I got into my own car, which was certainly fast enough. As the door closed, my phone rang. The caller ID said Rosalie. “What’s up?” I asked as I answered.

“Bella, we have a situation here at Jessica’s house.” Rosalie paused to listen to something Jessica was saying, and then she said, “You need to get over here. Now…”

~o~O~o~

The NEXT chapter is from the Stalker’s POV…my girls think I’m nuts because I actually had a good time writing that POV! I find it a bit scary myself…LOL!

Enjoy!

Kathie

Please Leave Comments Here! Thanks!

[katmom]

Chapter Six


~~~I Love Him, He’s MINE~~~

Every single time I close my eyes, all I can see are his deep green eyes; his bronze messy hair; his jaw line that I just want to nibble on and his body. Oh…his body. His shoulders are so wide, and his long pale fingers just call to me.

I need him beyond anything else. He is my soul mate. The few words that we have spoken are engraved on my heart and mind. His voice seriously causes shivers to run down my spine.

He is MINE.

My Mama agrees. She always says that I deserve the best of everything: the best clothes; the best shoes; the best schools; the best cars; the best meals. Yes, the best of everything. She says it’s because I am so very special.

I remember when I was trying out for head cheerleader in high school. Poor Natalie was in that freaky accident that broke her leg. She was out, and I was in. Mama said it was because I was supposed to be the leader. She said that she told Natalie that the ladder she was using to put up the banners in the school hallway wasn’t safe. Mama knew it wasn’t safe because she had seen me take the hammer to the left leg! But Natalie didn’t listen to my Mama. Oh well, she was warned.

Mama said it was meant to be because I deserved to be Head Cheerleader more than Natalie.

Once I saw Edward Masen in People Magazine, I just knew that we were meant to be together, forever and always. He is just so gorgeous, a fitting mate for me. And he’s smart, too. Everything he said in that article just rang so true. He was so sweet and charming. I could tell that he really liked to help people. His family had started that scholarship fund, and he played his concerts for schools and arts’ councils. He gave away a lot of money, but he still had more than enough left to buy me the things that I deserved. He deserved the best, too. And that would be me, Lauren Mallory, soon to be Lauren Masen. Mrs. Masen, wife to Edward Masen. That has such a lovely ring to it. I wonder what kind of wedding ring I’ll get? Probably something with lots of diamonds on it, big ones.

The internet is a great thing. Mama and I did a search and found out that he was going to be down in Portland for a concert last month. Then he was going to be here in Seattle for the next one. He lives here, so it’s kind of a big thing: “Hometown Boy Gives Back” and all that sort of thing.

The fact that he lives here, where I live, well, it is just meant to be.

We got the tickets to all three of the concerts in Portland. We sort of had to cheat to get the tickets to the kids’ concert on that Sunday. We don’t have any little kids to bring, well, not yet anyway. But that's okay. Sometimes you just have to blur the lines a bit. I AM my Mama’s daughter, her one and only child, so that counts, right…?

We sat front and center each time. It was nice when he played with the orchestra, but when he played his solos, well, that was just the best. I knew that he was playing just for me. He looked out at the audience, and his eyes rested on me for the longest time. He knew that we were meant to be, and he played just for me.

He knew he was MINE.

It was worth the money we spent to stay down there for those three days. We got to saw him coming and going from the concert hall all the time. We got lots of pictures of him, too. We printed out a bunch of them, and now they’re pinned up all around my room. I printed the best one and had it put on a pillow case. Now I sleep with him all the time. And soon I’ll be sleeping in his real bed. Well, I hope that we do other things than sleep all the time…

I was glad to see that he never took any of those girls who hung around the stage door in Portland back to his hotel with him. They didn’t deserve to ride in his fancy car with him. That seat was MINE.

Mama and I weren’t quite ready to actually meet him in Portland, though. We needed to get our affairs in order and get our plans made. But it did thrill me to know that he was waiting for me, too.

Once he started practicing in Seattle, it was so much easier to get things set up. I was so happy to send him all those letters, to let him know that I loved him, too.

When I saw that little lion toy, I just knew that I had to give it to him. He really reminded me of a lion…all that bronzy, tawny hair of his. It was just so wild and untamed. It looked just like a lion’s mane. I bet he’ll be a real wildcat in bed, too. I can hardly wait to find out. We’ll have to be married first, though…and that’s what was taking so much time. Our plans had to be done, just so.

I scoffed, thinking about the first note that his assistant sent back. It was just so snarky. She signed it “Jessica Newton, Assistant to Edward Masen.” SHE would be the first thing to go once we were together.

Mama was so upset when the SECOND note, just exactly like the first, came to me. She let me know that Jessica was standing in my way, and we just couldn’t let that happen.

Again, the internet came in handy. I found Jessica’s address. We’d deal with her soon, just as soon as our plans were in place. I found Edward’s address, too. It was in a lovely neighborhood for our children to grow up in. I can just imagine them having my golden hair and his green eyes. They’ll be beautiful!

We put GPS tracker things on both of his cars. It was good to know where my lover was all the time. It gave me a great feeling of security to know that I could find him at any moment.

He really didn’t go out and about much though. Mostly just to the practices, home and out with Jessica and her stupid husband, Mike. Yeah, I found out about him, too. He was out of town a lot. Probably because he couldn’t stand being around that **CENSORED**.

Once Edward and I are married, we’ll go out a lot. We’ll eat at all the nicest places. We’ll shop at the best stores. Oh! And we’ll go on lots of honeymoons. Maybe we can go to Hawaii for the first one. I bet he could rent an entire island there just for the two of us. That would be great. I wouldn’t actually want it to just be the TWO of us; we’d need servants there, too. Someone would have to keep the meals coming and keep the rooms tidy. Oh, and Mama would need her own little bungalow. We couldn’t have her looking over our shoulders on our honeymoon!

I just know that lots of people will want to take our picture together. They’ll see how much he loves me, that’s because I’m so special! I bet that we’ll be on the cover of lots of magazines. We’ll look so nice together.

Last week we read about a tour of the University. Part of the tour would be through the concert hall, right where Edward was going to be practicing! That was the best news. Mama told me to wear my cowgirl hat and my brown wig when we went there. She said that I should hide my light under a bushel, so that he’d be so surprised and pleased when he saw the real me at our wedding.

She’s right; my hair is so golden and lovely. I know that he’ll want to touch it all the time. I’ll let him brush it every night, one hundred strokes, just like Mama does for me. I bet he’ll like that, too.

All those other girls that wanted his autograph that day, I just felt sorry for them. They didn’t know that he was already MINE. He was so sweet when he signed that paper for me. He felt the electricity when I let my hand caress his. He jumped a bit. I know that he felt our love grow even more in that moment. Mama said that we had to have his signature for the marriage papers. It was so exciting to actually talk to him and to touch him. His eyes give me the shivers. When I overheard him say that he was taking HER to lunch at that deli down the street, I just knew that we should meet there later. I put that in my next note, along with the time and place. I figured we should have our first date.

Mama was SO mad when he didn’t show up! I thought she was going to cause a scene. But she just broke the mirror in the ladies room when we were alone in there. The sound of the glass breaking and the mirrored shards flying everywhere made Mama feel a little better. I had to hurry her out of the restroom before the manager came in.

She wanted him to know that she was mad, so she stuck that arrow through the little lion’s heart and dropped it off for him at that other restaurant later on. We watched them from where we sat in the car across the street for a while. He was having too much fun with THEM. I wanted to go up to them and take him away right then, but Mama said that we had to wait. She said that our plans weren’t quite ready; that it would be worth it.

Mama’s always right.

I wanted to make him something with my own hands. So we bought that cute little toy piano. He loves to play his grand piano. He plays so well. We always have his CD’s playing at the house and in the car.

I got so excited when I thought about the fact that soon he’ll only be playing for ME. But then I got a little mad, too. I kept thinking about that JESSICA, and how she apparently wasn’t giving him his mail from me; the little lions and the flowers. I picked those flowers out myself! She should have given them to him right away, so that he could know how much I loved him. It wasn’t fair for him to be in love with me and not know how much I loved him, too!

I got a little carried away with the roses and the hearts while I was decorating the little piano for him. I pressed too hard when I was gluing them on to the toy. It broke. It didn’t really matter all that much, though. I just knew that he’d see the love that I had put into making it for him.

Once we’re married he’ll only want to play for me.

Because he’s MINE.

It wasn’t all that hard to get into his neighborhood. Mama drove me over there really early on Monday morning. She sat in the car around the corner. She had me wear my white halter top, the one that just barely covers my breasts. I also wore that cute denim skirt. It’s the same one that I wore when I got Edward’s signature on the marriage papers. I saw him looking at me in it, so I know it looks pretty on me.

Mama also gave me a $100 dollar bill. She told me to flirt with the guard and then give him the money. She was sure that he’d let me in. I like to flirt and he was happy to see me. He said his name was Danny when I asked him. He did let me in through the walk gate. I took the gift, the gift that I had made with my own two hands, and left it on Edward’s porch. Oh my! That house is so pretty. I can hardly wait to live in it with Edward, my husband.

I blew Danny a kiss when he let me back out the gate. He waved and winked at me.

But when I move in there, that guard will have to go. We can’t have someone guarding us that can be bought for goodness’ sake!

I hated those generic notes that Jessica kept sending back to me. But I hated it more when I didn’t get one this week! I had sent several more items to my Love, and she should have acknowledged them. I went to her house today and left her a message. It made me feel good. Just a little taste of what we’ll do to her on Saturday.

Edward is supposed to be playing three concerts this weekend. He’ll play at the big event on Saturday. Everyone gets all dressed up for those evening concerts. He wears a black tux; it almost makes me swoon to see him so gorgeous. I always like to see the dresses and jewels that people wear to those events. Soon I’ll be wearing those designer clothes, too.

He’s also scheduled to play for several children’s groups at the Sunday afternoon matinee. He likes to do that at every city. He gives those tickets away to the kids. That concert wouldn’t include the orchestra. It would just be him playing. He’d make more money for us if he’d charge them, too. I’ll have to talk to him about that. More money means more gifts for me. Then he plays another big event with the orchestra on Sunday night.

It’s too bad that he won’t be able to attend those two on Sunday.

Mama said that our plans are all finally in place. We’ll take care of Jessica just before the evening event on Saturday. We can take care of Edward without messing with Jessica. But where’s the fun in that? She’s really messed with me these last couple of weeks. She needs to pay for that. I bet Mike won’t even miss her, or that baby in her belly. She already looks too fat. Who would even miss her? Not me, that's for sure. And Edward won’t miss her either. He’ll have me.

We’ll let Edward play for the concert that evening, and then we’ll be married afterwards. He’s going to love me in my wedding dress! It’s so pretty! He’ll already be wearing his tux from the concert. Our wedding pictures will be simply amazing.

Mama has it all arranged. I can hardly wait!

~o~O~o~

A/N...She certainly has a couple of issues: anger, lust, avarice. Oh, did I mention anger? What do you think?

I'm a little scared at how much fun I had writing this STALKER'S POV. My three girls were a bit worried too! And my hubby just rolled his eyes...

Thanks so much for reading AND reviewing. I just love getting those review e-mails!

Kathie

[katmom]

Chapter 7

~~~How Fast Can this Baby Go?~~~

As I got into my car, I glanced back at Bella Cullen. I knew that I had seen her before. The memory was tugging at the edges of my mind. It’d come to me, sooner or later. She sure didn’t seem to know me.

Emmett eased himself into the passenger seat of my car. “Hey, Edward,” he said. “Can I move the seat back a bit?”

“Sure you can.” I laughed when I saw his knees were nearly touching his chin. “Jessica was the last one to ride in that seat, and her legs are a lot shorter than yours.” I heard his sigh of relief as he moved it back and stretched out his long legs. He clicked his seat belt and looked over the dashboard with something akin to love.

I knew where he was coming from. The smell and feel of the soft leather and the sound of the engine as I started it soothed me. I always thought of my dad when I drove this car. The car had been such a surprise when he had given it to me.

“How fast have you gone in this baby?” Emmett asked, patting the dashboard lovingly.

“I try to obey the speed limits, Mr. Cullen,” I said with a stilted inflection in my voice. Then I looked over at him and winked. He laughed and raised his eyebrow in inquiry.

“Well, when I was coming back from Portland last month, the road was clear and dry with very few cars on it. I let her go to 120.” I smiled fondly at the memory. I only knew that I was going that fast because I had looked down at the speedometer for a moment. The car was so smooth and quiet.

“Rosalie would love to have one like it,” Emmett said. “But I think she’d like hers in red.” He chuckled. “I don’t know how I got so lucky. She loves me. She’s gorgeous, and she can fine tune a car engine like no one else.”

“You do sound lucky,” I replied. I glanced at his huge form that nearly over-filled the passenger side of my car. “Did you ever play football?”

“Only for fun with the family,” he answered with a slight shrug of his shoulders. “I actually prefer baseball, but I didn’t play that professionally either. Our family gets games together every now and then. We have a blast.” A huge smile was on his face.

“Why didn’t you play professionally? I bet there were scouts all over you.” I found it hard to believe that no one had snapped him up.

Emmett shrugged again and said, “I’ve got a bad knee. I got in an accident years ago. It’s actually how I met Rosalie.” He looked at me shrewdly. “Maybe I’ll tell you about it sometime.”

As I drove towards my house, our conversation drifted into general sports talk. It was good to have a guy to talk with this way. Mike had been gone a week, and I knew that when he returned he was going to be spending a lot of time with Jessica. We’d be heading out to Salt Lake City next week. That would be the last concert before our hiatus. We’d be taking the holidays off to give her time to have the baby and to recover. She was my right hand girl. I didn’t know what I’d do without her managing my life. Jessica and her blackberry kept me on the straight and narrow…and on time!

As I turned into the gated community, I stopped beside the guard shack. “Hey, Bill.” I waved the guard to approach us. “I want to introduce you to Emmett Cullen. He’s going to be coming and going for the next few days. Please put him on my admit list.”

Bill nodded and said, “Sure thing, Mr. Masen. Can I get your photograph, Mr. Cullen, to post in the book?”

Emmett got out of the car and waited while Bill snapped a picture with a digital camera. He smiled widely for it.

“I’ll put this in the book right now,” Bill stated as he started to turn to reenter the shack. He paused when I called out to him.

“Bill, a Ms. Bella Cullen will be arriving shortly. She needs to be on the list, too. She’s a real pretty, petite brunette.” I turned to Emmett and asked, “What does she drive, Emmett?”

“She drives a midnight blue Volvo S60R,” he said. “And Rosalie is in my red Jeep Wrangler.”

“Yes, his wife may be here this evening, too,” I added. “She’ll be the drop dead gorgeous blonde in the tricked out red Jeep.” Emmett smiled at my description of Rosalie.

“Yes, Sir, I’ll keep a look out for them both.” Bill started to step back into the guard shack when Emmett gestured him forward again.

“Bill?” he asked as the guard stepped closer to the car. “Who was on duty Sunday night through Monday morning?”

“Let me check,” he said as he stepped back into the shack. He returned with a clipboard. “That would have been Danny. He worked from midnight to 9 a.m. He’ll be here tonight, same shift.”

“Thanks, Bill.” Emmett waved at him. The gate opened and as I drove through it, Emmett said, “I’ll stop by and have a little chat with Danny later on. Just to see if he might have let someone in.”

I turned to Emmett, “That’s rather a coincidence about Bella’s car. My other car is a silver Volvo S60R.”

Emmett chuckled and said, “Bella loves her car. She hates to let anyone else drive it. It’s her baby. Rosalie has it tuned to perfection.”

I could understand that, but I thought that it was a guy thing. What an interesting group of people the Cullens were. They were smart, beautiful, and into fast cars. I hoped that we could get this stalker thing taken care of. Maybe then I could get to know them in a social way, as opposed to a professional way. Bella’s face appeared in my mind’s eye. I tried to push it back, but her golden eyes held me captive. I really would like to get to know her better.

It only took us a few moments to get to my circular driveway. I liked the way the house sat back from the street. My front yard was quite large. Several leafy trees shaded the house. I always liked the look of the place. It reminded me, in a small way, of the home I had lived in with my parents in Colorado. I think it’s almost time to go back for a visit. I always found myself so relaxed there. Maybe I could go while we are on the break. I’d have to give that some thought.

I clicked the remote for the first bay in my three car garage. I pulled in beside my “mucky weather” vehicle, the Volvo.

Emmett got out of the car and pulled the sweeper from his pocket. “Let me check this one over first,” he said. “Then I’ll check the perimeter of the house.”

I watched as he began to swing the device over and around the Volvo. Sure enough, a ping sounded.

“Damn, there’s another one.” He reached into the passenger’s rear wheel well and pulled a duplicate of the one Rosalie had found on the Vanquish out from the small space. I walked up beside him as he checked it out. He started manipulating buttons on it, then he paused with a thoughtful look on his face. “I was going to disarm it. But I don’t think I will.”

I was sure that I looked confused. “Why not?”

“If we disarm both of them, the stalker might get suspicious,” he explained. “Now that we know about this one, we’ll just leave it here with the Volvo. The stalker will probably think that you are driving the Vanquish all the time for now. If, for some reason, you need to drive the Volvo, we’ll see about disarming it then. For now, it just looks like it’s sitting here in your garage, going nowhere.”

“That makes sense. I guess we don’t want the person to know that we are on to them yet.” I nodded in agreement. I really wanted the person caught, not just frightened off for a while. I didn’t want to have this lingering over Jessica and me. I wasn’t all that worried about myself, but I sure didn’t want anything bad to happen to her and the baby.

Emmett started out of the garage and went around to the back of the house. I followed him. There was a keypad lock on the backyard gate. I showed him the code as I punched it in. We both looked the yard over. Everything was in its place, nothing looked disturbed. We went back out the gate, locking it behind us. We walked to the front of the house. Emmett checked the front porch. Again, everything looked fine. We went back into the garage to enter the house from there.

“Let me go first, just in case.” He laughed quietly and said, “It’s what you’re paying us for after all.”

All of a sudden, I felt rather silly. I just couldn’t believe that I needed a bodyguard! I felt like I should be able to protect myself from anything. I was a 24 year old man for heaven’s sake! I worked out, and I was fit…it wasn't like I was a couch potato. Surely, I could protect myself. I think that Emmett must have seen something on my face because he turned and looked at me very seriously.

“Edward, don’t be weirded out about this.” We had made our way through the mudroom and had stopped in the middle of the kitchen. “My sisters and I have been in this business for several years now, and we’ve guarded lots of people. Sometimes it’s just as a barrier, so to speak, to keep people at a distance, like at concerts and things like that. Sometimes it’s because of threats to them.” He paused while I nodded my understanding.

“You really have to take threats like this seriously. We do. There are some mighty deranged people out there. This person who is stalking you, well, she seems pretty unbalanced.” He looked around the tidy kitchen and spoke again, “She seems to think she deserves all this.” Emmett then pointed his finger at me. “And she wants you desperately. We don’t know how far she’s willing to take that scenario.” He shrugged his wide shoulders. “She’s tagged your cars, she’s actually been on your front porch, and she’s followed you in person at least once.”

He put his enormous hand on my shoulder and squeezed it gently. “Let us do our job. We’re good at this and I don’t want you to worry over much. Now, show me through the rest of the house and to your security panel, okay?”

I thought about what he had just said. Having them work on this with me didn’t make me weak; it made me smart. Smart enough to know when to get help. He was right; the writer of those letters sounded like she was totally nuts. Who knew what she was really capable of doing.

I smiled at him in acknowledgment of his words and led him through the house. I let his confidence fill me. They would get to the bottom of this, and we’d all be fine.

~o~O~o~

Emmett had looked over my security system. He gave it thumbs up for safety but thought that a few more sensors would be a good idea. He said that he’d bring them over when he returned tomorrow.

I was in the kitchen making myself a sandwich while he was watching ESPN on the flat screen in the den. He said that he wasn’t hungry. I wondered why Bella hadn’t arrived yet. What could be keeping her? I hoped it wasn’t the gate guard, but surely she’d call if that was the case.

I heard Emmett’s phone ring and then heard a muffled conversation. The sound was getting closer as he walked towards the kitchen.

“Okay, I’ll tell him,” he said. “Is there anything else we can do? No? I’m sure we’ll be there shortly, bye.” He hung up. There was a concerned look on his face as he came around the corner and into the kitchen.

“Edward, don’t freak out. She’s fine,” he said, and I could hear the tension in his voice. Of course, that made my anxiety levels start to rise. Had something happened to Bella?

“That was Bella on the phone. She’s at the hospital.” He paused. “Jessica’s having some contractions and they’ve admitted her.”

I sank back against the kitchen counter, my hands flat against the cool marble counter. “What?” I was having a hard time understanding just what he was saying. No, it wasn’t Bella that was in trouble, it was Jessica, my pregnant best friend.

I stepped forward and said, “We’ve got to get over there. Mike’s not even in town. He’s in LA.” I started pacing. “Did they call him yet?”

“Slow down, Edward,” Emmett said, raising his hands in a calming gesture. “Yes, they called Mike. He’s catching a flight back from LA shortly. He’ll be here in a few hours.” He wrapped my sandwich up in a napkin and handed it to me.

“Come on, I’ll drive. You eat. This may be a long evening and you’ll need it.” At his words I rushed through the mud room to the garage door. I grabbed my jacket on the way out.

“What else did Bella say?” I asked, shrugging into the coat and digging in my jeans pockets for my keys. Where were they? My fingers finally found them, and I wrapped my hand around them and pulled them out.

“She said she’d fill us in on what brought this on when we get there. I guess there was some kind of situation at Jessica’s house.” He shook his head when I looked at him questioningly. I guess he didn’t know either. “Jessica started contracting, and she and Rosalie took her directly to the hospital. She said that they think that they’ve got them slowed down and they should stop soon. But the doctor admitted her as a precaution.”

When we reached the cars, he held his hand out for the keys. I didn’t want to hand them over. I wanted to drive as fast as we could to get to the hospital, just as quickly as was humanly possible.

“Dude,” he said, with his hand still held out. “You’re in no shape to drive, either the Vanquish OR the Volvo. Your head is NOT in the game.” He shook his hand again.

He was right. I didn’t know him very well, but I felt like I could trust him. I had, after all, just hired his company to guard my life. I tossed him the keys and walked around to the passenger’s side of the Vanquish. “Get in, and let’s go.”

Emmett slid behind the wheel and adjusted the seat to suit him. I reached over and clicked the remote for the garage door. He was very smooth as we reversed out of the garage. He headed the car down the street and out passed the guard shack. He glanced over at me again.

“Bella sounded really sure that Jessica was going to be fine.” I looked him in the eye. He looked very sure himself. That reassured me to some extent. “Eat your sandwich and we’ll be there in just a few minutes.”

I knew he was right. I hadn’t eaten since early this morning and this might be a really long night. I ate the sandwich, but I didn’t really taste it. All I could think about was Jessica and the baby. He was my Godson. I wanted to meet him, but just not now. I prayed as I ate and Emmett drove.

They both had to be okay, they just did.

~o~O~o~

A/N......Ah, male bonding over cars. I like my Emmett, he’s a smart guy, but still funny. And Edward is smart too. Smart enough to know when to get help for his situation and then to ACCEPT it!

Next up, just what was the situation at Jessica’s house?

The title for Chapter 8 is “Too Close to Home”.

Thanks for reading AND reviewing...I love reading your thoughts on my words...

Kathie

Please Leave Comments Here! Thanks!

[katmom]

Chapter 8

~~~Too Close to Home~~~

“What’s going on?” I asked Rosalie as I got into my car and started the engine.

“The stalker has been here and she’s left a message.” Rosalie’s voice was tense over the phone.

“I’ll be right there,” I said as I backed out of the space and left the parking lot. Jessica’s house wasn’t that far away. I knew the address from the info that they had given us. It was near Woodland Park Zoo, up on the hillside. It would be a great place to live with a little one.

I pushed the speed limit to get there quickly. As I whipped the car efficiently into a street side parking spot, I saw that main floor of Jessica’s house was all lit up. I rushed, at a human speed, up the steps. Rosalie had the door open before I reached the top.

Jessica was sitting on a couch in the living room, hunched over and holding her tummy. She was rocking backwards and forwards, moaning softly. She looked ill.

“What happened?” I asked quietly as I stepped further into the foyer.

Rosalie motioned me to follow her as she spoke too softly for Jessica to hear. She led me down the hallway to the back of the house. I could see a set of glass patio doors at the end of the hall.

“We got here and I asked her to wait in the car while I checked out the house. When I got to the porch, I smelled that same scent that was on the letters that they showed us earlier. When I got to the backyard, I discovered this…” She opened the patio door and stepped out onto the deck area.

My eyes widened as I looked around at piles of debris everywhere. The yard had apparently been quite the showcase with an extensive amount of landscaping around it. Now the flower beds were destroyed and uprooted flowers were thrown everywhere. There were flower pots shattered on the ground. An ornate birdbath had been tipped over, the flower petal shaped bowl broken into several pieces. I could see several smashed bird houses and bird feeders all over the yard. Bird seed was underfoot everywhere. The green wrought iron patio furniture was tipped over and the seat cushions ripped. An umbrella, a green and white one, was in tatters, shreds of material floating in the small breeze that was wafting around the yard.

I was catching a scent on the light wind that was familiar. Rosalie was correct. It was the same as the one that was on the letters and gifts from the stalker.

Rosalie, with an angry look on her face, gestured for me to turn around and look at the back of the house itself. Graffiti was everywhere on the walls of the house and across the back windows. Written in red spray paint were the words:

He’s MINE…

You’ll Pay…

Ugly **CENSORED**…

The short phrases were written over and over again. It was ghastly.

“Did she see this?” I asked as I looked back at Rosalie.

Rosalie nodded sadly. “I was coming back through the door to get her, when she came in through the front door. I guess she got tired of waiting in the car or something. She could see the debris through the door in the hall when she entered the house and rushed out here before I could stop her.” I could tell that she was sorry that Jessica had seen this.

We both turned when we heard a muffled gasp from the house. We flew back inside. Jessica was standing up, her hands tight on her belly. She looked up as we approached, fear etched on her face.

“I’m having contractions,” she said with her eyes wide and scared. “I’m not due for another eight weeks.” Tears were flowing in a river down her pale cheeks.

I hurried to her side and eased her back down on to the couch, keeping my arm around her shoulders. I put my hand carefully on her tight stomach. “Rosalie, get her some water please.” Rose hurried to the kitchen and was back in a moment with a plastic tumbler half full of water.

The baby’s heartbeat was strong against my fingertips. Jessica’s heart rate was really high, though. Too high.

“Okay, sweetie, I need you to drink some of this water and take some slow, deep breaths.” I looked her in the eyes, urging her to do so. “Sometimes dehydration will bring contractions on.” I had a couple of degrees in medicine but hadn’t ever done anything with the knowledge. It was helpful right now however.

Jessica took a small mouthful of the water and swallowed. She closed her eyes and took one breath in then let it out, then another deep breath in…letting the breath out slowly. Through the pads of my fingertips, I could feel another contraction starting. She started to breathe quickly again.

“No, slow down and take another deep breath and let it out very, very slowly,” I told her. She nodded and complied. The contraction lasted about 30 seconds. When it was over, I asked, “What’s your doctor’s number? Is it on your cell?”

“Yes, it’s on my cell. It’s in my purse, outside pocket. It’s number three on there. He’s Dr. Morrow.” I nodded to Rosalie, and she quickly found the phone and dialed the number. I could hear it ringing as she held it to her ear.

The receptionist answered and Rosalie said, “Hello, I’m a friend of Jessica Newton, one of Dr. Morrow’s patients. She’s had some stress today and is now having some contractions.” She paused and listened. I could hear, too, but I was pretty sure that Jessica couldn’t.

“No, it doesn’t appear that her water has broken and she isn’t bleeding.” We’d know if she was, that was for sure. Rosalie listened again. “No, I don’t believe that we need an ambulance; we’re just a few minutes away.” She paused again. “Yes, we’ll be there shortly.”

She hung up and said, “Jessica, we’re going to take you in to the hospital. Your doctor wants to check you out. He’s actually at the hospital right now for a delivery.” Jessica nodded and I helped her to her feet.

Rosalie gathered Jessica’s purse, took the cup of water from her and handed her the cell. “Come on. Let’s get you into the Jeep,” she said as she slipped her arm gently, but firmly, around Jessica’s waist.

“Give me your keys and I’ll lock up here. Then I’ll meet you over at the hospital,” I said. “You keep sipping that water, okay? And if you have another contraction, remember to breathe slowly.”

Jessica handed me her keys and nodded. Rosalie kept her arm around her back and helped her out to the Jeep.

I went back through the house and locked the patio doors. Shaking my head at the mess out there, I wondered what else this nut could possibly do. I turned off the lights in the house as I made my way back to the front door. It was a small blessing that I didn’t smell the intruder in the house anywhere. I guess she just kept to the back yard where no neighbor could see her.

The Jeep was gone by the time I stepped out onto the front porch. I used Jessica’s keys to lock the door. After thinking about it for a moment, I decided not to call Emmett and Edward until we found out more information at the hospital. I did decide to give Carlisle a call. Jess was going to the same hospital where he worked.

I wanted to make sure that she was safe there. To make sure that this nut couldn’t get close to her. The maternity wards in all of the area hospitals had recently gone through a security upgrade. The baby stealing ring we had disrupted had brought that about. She should be safe from this psycho there, but I wanted to ensure it.

The police would also need to be notified about the destruction of Jessica’s property. I’d call them soon.

I hit speed dial #1 on my phone as I made my way to the car...“Carlisle, can you meet me at the hospital?”

~o~O~o~

A/N....A shorter chapter, sorry! But one that shows just how aggressive the stalker is becoming. I'm just glad that Rosalie went home with Jessica.

Thanks to everyone who is reading! And special thanks to those that are REVIEWING…you all get pixel cookies!

Kathie

[katmom]

Chapter 9

~~~Discoveries~~~

After we parked on a lower floor in the hospital parking building, Emmett took us in an unmarked side door. He seemed to know his way around the hospital pretty well. When I looked at him in inquiry, he shrugged and said, “My dad works here. I’ve been in here a lot.”

We walked down several corridors and rode up on a couple of elevators. I was pretty turned around by the time we stepped off the third elevator and saw Bella and Rosalie waiting nearby.

Bella came towards us, concern on her face as she lightly rested her small hand on my arm. It was a soothing gesture and I appreciated it. “She’s resting comfortably right now,” she said. “They’ve set her up in a private room. We’ll have to go through a security checkpoint to get there.”

Her words eased my tension some small degree. Questions tumbled out of my mouth, “Can I see her now? When will Mike be here?”

“Yes, I’ll take you in to the ward in just a few minutes. But first I want to tell you both what happened at her place.”

She and Rosalie filled us in on the damage that they had discovered at the house. I was so grateful that Rosalie had gone with her to check the place out. I told her so. She smiled at me and told me that it was no problem. That she was glad she had been there, too.

It was hard to wrap my mind around the fact that some person had destroyed Jessica’s yard and had spray painted her house, just because they were after me. It steeled my resolve that this had to be taken care of…and soon. This kind of tension wasn’t good for any of us, especially Jessica.

Bella was speaking again. “Mike will be landing at SeaTac in about four hours. One of us will go get him and then bring him back here.” She paused again, her brow creased in concentration. “I don’t think that the stalker could possibly know that he’s on his way back, or when he would be arriving here in Seattle. But I don’t want to take any chances with his safety. I don’t think that she could know that Jessica is here in this hospital either.”

I nodded. “That would be great.” I blurted out my next question, “How could this happen? And, more importantly, why? Why go after Jessica?”

“This nut is really escalating her agenda,” Bella said with a rueful shake of her head. Both Rosalie and Emmett nodded. “Her note said that she was mad at Jessica for keeping you from her. It’s relatively easy to find someone’s address in this day and age. I’m just glad that Rosalie went home with Jessica.”

Rose shook her head sadly. “I just wish that I could have spared her from seeing the mess at the house.” A steely look came over her face. “She’s shown her hand now, though. We’re going to find this stalker and put an end to this situation.”

I felt my jaw tighten. Bella noticed and said, “We can handle this. Just let us do so. The scope of the damage at Jessica’s house showed just how out of control the person is getting.”

Rosalie again nodded her head. “There’s just no way to know how far they are willing to go and we won’t let our guard down.”

Emmett spoke up, “She’s really tipping her hand now. That’s going to help us a lot. She’s bound to mess up soon.” He looked over to Bella and Rosalie. “I found another GPS on Edward’s Volvo.”

Rosalie grimaced and asked what he had done with it.

“I left it. I figured we didn’t want to knock them both out of commission.” They both agreed that was the right choice.

The doctor walked out just then. He was a young guy, tall with dark hair and brown eyes. He looked around the room and called out, “Is there family here for Jessica?”

I strode over to him and stuck out my hand. “I’m Edward Masen. Her husband won’t be here for a couple of hours.”

He shook my hand and introduced himself as Dr. Morrow. Anxiety made my voice husky as I asked, “How is she?”

“Mr. Masen, you and the others here, who I’ve been told are bodyguards?” I nodded. “You can come back with me now and we’ll discuss her condition.” He turned, and as I moved to follow him, Bella put a hand on my arm again. I stopped and paused to look down at her.

“I’m coming with you now, but Rosalie and Emmett are going to wait here. Our father is on his way and they will update him on the situation. Carlisle’s a doctor here, too. He’s the Chief of Cardiac Surgery.” I nodded again as she continued, “I want him to make sure that the security is tight around Jessica.”

With a wave to Rosalie and Emmett, we both moved to follow the doctor through to the security checkpoint.

At the checkpoint I had to show my ID. Then one volunteer took my picture, while another one got my info, including my digital thumbprint. They printed the picture and info onto a plastic card with a clip. I was told to wear it at all times in the ward. Bella already had her card clipped to the collar of her suit jacket. We’d need to run it through a scanner and place our thumbs on an optical pad to be allowed in to the ward.

We both scanned our cards and placed our thumbs on the pad and the door was opened for us.

The doctor had gone ahead to the nurses’ station. He was waiting there for us. He smiled as we approached, probably trying to put me at ease. I wasn't sure what would actually work to do that though.

“Mrs. Newton is resting comfortably right now,” he stated firmly. “We’ve given her something to stop the contractions and we’ve also begun giving her IV fluids. The contractions have nearly stopped, and we believe that they will be gone shortly. The baby is in great shape. We’ve got a fetal heart monitor hooked up.” He looked down at her chart as he asked, “Do you have any questions before you go in to see her?”

I actually couldn’t think of any question to ask, so I shook my head. “Can I see her now?”

“Yes, she’s in room 523…down the hall to the right.” He pointed in the right direction. “Tell her I’ll be back by in a couple of hours to check on her, okay?”

I was already heading towards her room and Bella answered for us, “Sure, we’ll do that. Thank you, Doctor.”

As I reached Jessica’s door, I took a deep breath and straightened my back. I glanced down at Bella and she smiled, giving me a small nod. I knocked lightly and entered when Jess called, "Come in." The room was actually quite large and looked more like a fancy hotel room than a hospital. There were lots of built in cabinets, probably home to the “doctor stuff” that a patient might need.

Jessica was lying on an elevated bed, propped up on her left side. She smiled when she saw me and reached out her hand to me.

“Edward, I’m so glad you’re here.” Tears filled her eyes as I took her hand in mine. “Mike will be here later and Bella and Rosalie have been great. But I’m scared.” Tears started to flow down her cheeks. I got a tissue from the box on the side table and wiped them away.

“It’s okay, honey. We just spoke to the doctor and he said that things were going really well. He thinks that the contractions will stop completely soon.” I brushed her hair back from her forehead with my free hand. “You just need to relax and take care of my Godson.” I smiled gently down at her. “His heartbeat sounds wonderful!”

She nodded and laid her head back on the pillow. “I’ve just had an ultrasound and got to see him again. That’s a perk to being in here.” Her shoulders got tense as she asked, “Did they tell you what happened at the house?” She shuddered as the memory came back.

“Yes, they did.” I looked over at Bella as she stepped closer to the bed. She reached out and took Jess’s free hand in both of hers.

“Jessica, you do need to relax right now…and know that you and the baby are safe. The security here is really tight. No one can get in here to get close to you.” She looked up at me. “We’re going to keep Edward safe, too.”

I smiled down at this very small woman. Height didn’t seem to matter right now. She looked adamant that we would be safe. I had to believe her. Her team had come highly recommended by the Seattle Police Department.

Bella smiled down at Jess and said, “Now, they said you could have something to eat. Since they’ve already served dinner to the ward, I can get you something from downstairs. The cafeteria here really does have some amazing food. They have a four star chef on the staff.”

Jessica and I both laughed. “A four star Chef? In a HOSPITAL?” I asked.

“Yes, I guess they finally figured that they had to compete for the patients. One way would be to have some good food for the visitors to eat,” she said with a grin. “So, what sounds good?” Bella had taken a menu out of the bedside table and was looking over it with Jess. I was pleased to see that Bella was cheering Jess up. They discussed what she’d like while I watched them both. Jessica was getting some color back in her cheeks. Bella’s face was still so pale. It made a lovely contrast to her dark hair. I found myself taking a longer look. She really was stunning.

“Okay, I’ll run down and get you a roast turkey sandwich on whole wheat, light mayo and a dill pickle.” She laughed gently. It sounded like the light tinkle of bells and made me look even more closely at her. “I thought that the whole pickle thing and pregnant women was a myth!”

Jessica laughed, too. “Just be grateful that I’m passed the Gummy Worms stage.” She shook her head as another laugh escaped her. “That pretty much grossed out both Mike and Edward. I liked eating them stirred into chocolate pudding!”

Bella’s laugh was lovely, but when she caught my eyes, she looked away…over her right shoulder. That’s when I remembered where I recognized her from.

“Jessica! Do you remember that painting of the woman with the red gold hair in the breakfast room at the big house?” Jess looked at me like I had lost my mind. Urgently I continued, “The one in the really pretty golden frame? It’s right by the bay window in the breakfast room?”

“Yes, sort of, maybe, I don’t know! What’s this about?” She and Bella looked at me curiously.

“Maybe you haven’t noticed, Bella, but I’ve been searching your face all afternoon. You seem so familiar to me.” She looked at me and nodded her head; she had noticed apparently. “I’ve been trying to place you all day.”

“Yes, you keep looking at me like you know me, but I know that can’t be true. I’ve never met you.” She looked down as she paused a moment. “I’d remember that for sure,” she said, looking away again. I was pleased to think that she thought I was memorable.

“My family has a house in Telluride. It was our home base while I was growing up. I still go there as often as I can.” She nodded as she listened to me. “My mom had hung a painting that she bought at a charity auction in the breakfast room. It’s of a young woman and she looks remarkably like you. Her hair is loose and wavy. It looks really long. She’s wearing a dress with a gathered, white flouncy thing on it.”

I saw a look I couldn’t recognize pass over Bella’s face before it smoothed into a calm mask as Jessica gasped.

“Do you remember it now, Jess?” I asked, looking at her eagerly. I hoped she remembered it and could confirm that they looked alike.

“Yes, I do! She’s really pretty, but she’s not smiling in the portrait. Your mom used to say that she thought the young woman looked annoyed. We used to wonder what was going through her mind as she posed for the painting,” Jessica said with a smile as she turned to look at Bella. “Elizabeth, Edward’s mom, used to give us mini art lessons. She’d take us around the mansion and we’d discuss the art work that she had hanging there.”

“We’d all pick our favorite and then have to discuss why we had chosen it.” I smiled, too. “My mom knew the background of many of the paintings, but not all of them. When she didn’t, we’d make up stories about them. This particular painting was a favorite of hers. The artist, Nelson Primus, doesn’t have much work out there. He died about 1920.” I shook my head, “She looked for more of his paintings but could never find any that were available.”

“Well, if you say he died in 1920, wouldn’t that mean that I couldn’t have sat for him?” Bella asked. Her smile didn’t quite reach her lovely golden eyes.

Jessica laughed again. “That’s right. That would make you a really old woman and you don’t look a day over 20!”

Bella laughed, too, and said, “Well, now that you have me figured out, I better go and get some food for Jessica. Would you like something, too, Edward?” She turned to look at me, not quite meeting my eyes.

“Thanks, no,” I said. “I had made a sandwich just before you called the house. Emmett made me eat it on the way here while he drove.”

“WHAT?” Jessica gasped. “You let someone ELSE drive your Volvo?”

I laughed and said, “Nope…he drove the Vanquish!”

Jessica looked over at Bella, her eyes wide. “Wow, Emmett must have made a huge impression on Edward. He NEVER lets anyone drive those cars. He’s told me that when I get near my due date I’m not even allowed to ride in them, just in case my water breaks!”

“Well, Emmett can be persuasive, that’s for sure.” Bella patted Jessica’s hand where it lay on the bed. “I’ll be back in just a little while with your sandwich. Emmett will go and get Mike when his plane comes in.”

Bella glanced over at me with a mischievous look on her face. “He’ll drive his own Jeep…not the Vanquish. You did get the keys back from him, right?”

I laughed. “I did get them, but, hey, whatever he needs to do will be fine.” I glanced back down at Jessica as I squeezed her hand again. “WHATEVER needs to be done to keep them safe.”

“Well, I don’t think that he will actually need to drive your car to get Mike, although that would certainly make him happy. He’ll be fine in his Jeep.” She turned back to Jess. “You rest, okay?”

Jessica nodded and said, “I will, and thank you so much for all that you’ve done for me.” She had tears in her eyes again.

“Don’t worry,” Bella said while patting Jessica’s shoulder gently. “Everything will be just fine. I’ll be back soon with your food.” She gave me a nod goodbye and was gone.

“Edward.” Jessica turned to me. “I think that we are really lucky to have Elite Guardians working with us.”

I nodded. Jessica was more than right. I felt confident that they would keep us safe and find the stalker, too. All of them seemed to have a huge amount of confidence and they seemed sure that they could handle this situation.

I convinced Jessica to close her eyes and to rest while we waited for Bella to bring her something to eat. I dimmed the lights and sat back in the chair by the bed, holding Jess’ hand. The chair was actually quite comfortable, a recliner for family members to catch a nap in apparently. The gentle beeping of the baby’s heart monitor was soothing. It was nice to hear the little guy, to know that he was fine.

The memory of that painting came back to me. It was amazing how much Bella and the memory of it fit together. But she could only be, what, 25 at the most? Even though she looked like she was only about 20. But I thought that she must be closer to 25 because of her business. It was really hard to tell. I wondered what that look was about when I mentioned the painting. Maybe I’d figure it out sometime. I was just glad that I now knew where I remembered her from. Even though it couldn’t be her, as the painting was about 90 years old. It was a puzzle that my mind couldn't quite wrap around.

My mind drifted back to the stalker situation. I didn’t know how long Jessica would be there in the safety of the hospital, but something would have to be done to keep her safe when she was discharged. I didn’t think going home to her place would be an option right now, at least not until the stalker was dealt with. Maybe I could have her and Mike stay at my place. Emmett was going to beef up the security system. Maybe that would keep them safe.

I’d ask Bella for her input when she returned.

~o~O~o~

Now we knowwhere Edward *knows* Bella from...

Here is the link to the painting mentioned in this chapter:

http://english.uiowa.edu/courses/boos/galleries/afamgallery/image/primusportrait1907.jpg

I think that Bella is prettier than this young woman, but she fits the time frame and I love the annoyed/pouty look on her face. My daughters think she looks a bit more like a Victoria than a Bella...

Ah, Dr. Morrow…there really is an OB/GYN by that name…and he’s gorgeous! He delivered my first two children. He’s seriously beautiful enough to be a vampire!

Also, yes, one of the hospitals in Seattle actually does have a four (or is it a five) star chef on the payroll. I ate there when one of my aunts was ill. The food really was THAT good!

Next Chapter: On Guard

Thanks so much for reading AND reviewing! I appreciate it...

Kathie

Please Leave Comments Here! Thanks!

[katmom]

Chapter 10

~~~On Guard~~~

Carlisle was at the nurses’ station looking at Jessica’s chart when I came out of her room. He looked up at me with a smile as I approached him. The nurse at the counter was practically hyperventilating. Her heartbeat was racing. I slightly rolled my eyes at the look on her face. Carlisle was used to women fawning over him. He never even noticed it anymore. But that didn’t mean that I liked having women ogle the man that was essentially my dad!

The same nurse had practically fainted when Edward had walked up to the desk when he had first arrived. He hadn’t noticed her either, which made me smile just a bit.

“Bella, I’ve spoken with Dr. Morrow.” He paused to smile at the nurse in thanks as he handed her back the chart. Her heart rate rose dramatically as a flush covered her cheeks. I rolled my eyes and, once again, Carlisle didn’t even notice.

He walked with me to the exit, his hand resting at the small of my back. “He’s confident that she will continue to improve and that her pregnancy will be fine. I’ve filled him in on the stalker situation, and we can keep her in here at least until Sunday.”

I nodded as I felt relief wash over me. “That would be great. That gives us nearly three days to see what we can find out about this nut case. I know that Edward will be more comfortable knowing that she’s safe.” We had reached the outer waiting room. Emmett and Rosalie were there.

We all moved away from the other people in the room. They were looking at us, mostly from the corner of their eyes, but some were outright staring. Four vampires made an impression, even if we weren’t doing anything to try and draw attention to ourselves.

Carlisle looked down at me. “So, what was that about a painting? I heard them discussing it with you in there.”

“Edward has been looking at me all day like he knows me. I know that I haven’t ever met him before.” I sighed and continued, “I glanced over my shoulder at one point while I was speaking with Jessica, and I guess it triggered a memory for him. A memory associated with a painting of me that’s hanging in his house in Colorado.”

My family looked slightly confused. I’d never mentioned the painting to them before. In fact, I had actually forgotten about it until Edward described it.

“A painting…of you?” Emmett asked excitedly. “When was it painted?”

“Yes, Emmett,” I sighed again. “There’s a painting of me. It was done during my human years. I’ll tell you about it after I go get Jessica a sandwich from the cafeteria. I’ll bring it up to her and then tell you about it.”

“That sounds fine. I’m looking forward to hearing about this painting. How about we meet back in my office? We should have some time before Emmett needs to go and pick up Mike.” He turned to my brother and asked, “How are you going to know him, by the way?”

“Jessica showed me the picture of him that she carries in her wallet,” he answered. “And I’ll hold a sign with his name on it. I’d probably know him anyway…he’s going to be the guy that looks really distraught as he rushes off of the plane.” He checked his watch and said, “I don’t have to leave for another hour and a half.” With a glance and a smirk down at me he continued, “If I could drive the Vanquish, I could even wait another TWO hours.”

I had to chuckle, remembering what I had just told Edward about the cars. “I think you’ll do fine in your own Jeep!” I turned and walked towards the stairs. I could rush at vampire speeds down them and not be seen. “I’ll be right back.”

oOoOoOo

I scanned my card at the desk on the maternity ward, and the security person opened the door for me and waved me through. I listened as I approached Jessica’s room; all was quiet within, except for the fetal heart monitor beeping steadily.

The light in the room was dim as I pushed the door open and stepped inside. I could still see clearly though; the dim lighting didn’t affect me. I saw that Edward was holding Jessica’s hand as he leaned back in the recliner. His eyes were closed. From the steady sound of her breathing, I knew that Jessica was sleeping. I’d just leave the food, and she could have it when she awoke.

The smell of Edward’s blood was somewhat diminished in this hospital environment. There were just so many other scents overlapping it. There was blood, new and old; cleaners, both mild and harsh; bouquets of flowers spilled their pollen into the air, too. The smell of sickness was prevalent, even though the staff did a good job trying to keep the place as comfortable and as clean as possible.

The smell of human blood didn’t really affect me anymore. I would notice it, but it didn’t call to me. I wouldn’t put myself in a position to seek it out, but if a human cut themselves near me, it didn’t send me into a frenzy of blood lust.

Carlisle always amazed me. He was a surgeon, a heart surgeon, and he wasn’t bothered by it anymore at all. I think that the fact that he was helping people as he held their beating hearts in his hand, even as their blood pooled in their chests, that’s what got him passed the call of it all.

I took a shallow breath, testing to feel how hard the burn was going to be. It was definitely still there. The call of his particular blood was still strong, still singing to me. A small pool of venom collected in the back of my throat. I swallowed and took another, deeper, breath. Every time I spent time away from Edward, I had to get reacquainted with his aroma. When he had walked in with Emmett earlier I had approached him carefully, holding on to my control very tightly. I had surprised myself when I reached out and touched his arm. It had seemed quite natural to do so. And I had wanted to touch him. Maybe to offer what comfort I could; I just don’t know.

His scent in this smaller room was still hard to handle, but I could do it. I would do it. I wondered if it would get any easier over the course of this assignment.

That would certainly be a good incentive to get this situation settled quickly.

Besides the burn that the scent of his blood caused in my throat, there was that other feeling; the mouthwatering one. I still couldn’t pinpoint exactly what that was about. I’d found myself looking into his face over and over again during the course of the afternoon and again this evening. Just as he had with me earlier in the day when he was trying to remember where he had seen me before. And, like I had told Alice, I couldn’t tell if this feeling was good or bad. I found myself drawn to him. That was a very strange sensation for me. I actually couldn’t recall feeling that way before.

As I set Jessica’s food down on the rolling side table beside her bed, I heard Edward move to sit up in the chair. After a glance and smile at me, he looked down at Jessica as he stood up. He saw she was sleeping and gently removed his hand from hers as he moved away from her bed to stand next to me.

“I’ll just leave her food here. She needs rest more right now,” I said quietly as I looked up into his face. I tried not to breathe too deeply as he was standing so close to me. His scent still hit me like the slam of a wrecking ball.

“Yes, she does.” He nodded as he turned to face me directly. “Bella, I want to thank you all for taking such good care of Jessica earlier.” He glanced back at her sleeping form. “I can’t imagine what Mike’s and my life would be like without her.”

The deep feelings that he had for her were apparent on every line of his face. He looked down at me, his eyes dark with concern.

“Is she safe here? How long can she stay? Where should she go when they discharge her?” His words came out in a rush, even though they were very quiet. And then he leaned towards me. He leaned towards me! Humans just didn’t do that. It was another thing for me to puzzle over.

“It’s okay, Edward.” I tried to assure him as I placed my hand on his arm again. “Dr. Morrow agreed that she can stay until Sunday. She WILL be safe here. You can be assured of that.” I looked at him to see if he really was hearing my words. I put as much confidence as I could in to them. “My father is the Chief of Cardiac Surgery here. He has alerted security to the threat, and they have assured us that all precautions will be taken for Jessica and for Mike once he arrives.”

His stiff shoulders relaxed as the breath that he had apparently been holding rushed out of his lungs and bathed my face with a sweet scent. I tightened my control considerably and stepped away from him under the pretense of looking out the window. The city was awash with lights as the rain, which had been threatening all day, began to fall. I glanced around at the view and then turned back to him. He was standing where I had left him.

“What about after Sunday?” He shook his head. “What will we do then?”

“Edward, we’ve got all day Friday and Saturday to try and figure things out. Emmett, Rosalie and I will be keeping you safe and looking for this stalker during that time.”

He nodded his head at my words. His eyes were locked on mine. A shiver slid down my spine. His eyes really were something else. It was like looking into a deep green forest, with glints of gold, like the rays of the sun, around the pupil. I shook my head to clear the image from my mind and to focus.

“In the morning Rosalie will be checking at the Post Office for information regarding the renter of the box. She’ll also be looking into the GPS devices.” I had held up my hand and was ticking off the points for him. “We’ll also be going over the letters to see if we can come up with something from them. Emmett will be beefing up your security system, and you will be under our constant surveillance. I’m taking the first shift tonight, and one of us will be with you at all times.”

Edward still looked tense. I found myself wishing that I could give him something that would assure him, something to give him some relief from the worry that was etched on his face. Catching this stalker would be the only way he would find relief.

We would do that for him.

“Edward, we are good at our jobs. And I promise you that we will do everything we can to keep you all safe.” I looked more deeply into his eyes, and, once again, he leaned towards me.

In a gesture that surprised me to the depths of my soul, Edward lifted his hand and gently ran the tips of his fingers across my cheekbone. My eyes widened in shock at the warmth of the trail that his fingers left. It felt like a brand had been drawn across my skin. It felt amazing, his warmth against my cool skin.

In all the dealings that I'd had with humans over the course of my 90 years as a vampire, no human had ever just touched me. Humans were attracted to us, but then the fear generally overcame any attraction. Angela, who had worked for Elite Guardians for three years, still avoided skin to skin contact when she was handing me files and the like.

I had received the hugs of people who had had pets or items found. It was always in the spontaneity of the moment when they had flung their arms around me; they’d hug me and then release me. This was usually accompanied by a confused look. But never had anyone just touched me in such a soft and intimate way.

Edward looked a bit shocked, too, and he took a step back as he let his hand drop to his side. He cleared his throat and started to speak.

“Bella, I am hearing you. And I do believe that you and your family will do everything in your power to keep us safe.” He looked into my eyes again. “I do believe in you, and I trust you to keep the stalker away from us.”

oOoOoOo

I told Edward that I needed to go and make sure that Emmett was on his way to pick up Mike. I looked back over my shoulder at him as he stood next to Jessica’s bed. He looked a bit less tense. I did hope that my words gave him some relief.

My cheek still felt the heat from his brief contact. I ran my fingertips over the place he had touched me. My cool fingers didn’t even dim the remembered heat.

Carlisle’s office door was open when I approached it. My family looked up when I entered.

“How is Jessica doing?” Rosalie asked. She was sitting on a leather love seat curled against Emmett’s side.

“She’s sleeping right now. Edward is staying with her until Mike gets here.” I turned and looked unseeing out the window into the rainy night sky.

Knowing that Emmett would be leaving soon to get Mike, I began telling them about the painting that was done in 1919, the year I had become a vampire.

My family only knew the generalities of how I had become a vampire but hadn’t heard the entire back story as to why I was riding a horse in the dark of night before being injured. They knew that my human life hadn’t been anything that I had thought of as special. It was actually rather boring, at least until the end, and I didn’t like to talk about it. My life as a vampire had far surpassed my human life in quality, not to mention quantity. I didn’t like looking back.

The only facts that they knew were that my horse had spooked; I had fallen and been mortally hurt. Esme had found me and taken me to Carlisle. They had been together for about ten years previous to my change. Esme had always wanted a child, and even one at the advanced age of twenty would give her pleasure and fulfill her mothering instincts.

As a human girl, I had loved to ride horses and to read. I had also enjoyed helping my mother with my younger siblings. My mother had been a kind woman, who was very busy with her six children. At one time I had hoped to continue with my education, but my father had had other plans. He said that marriage, and marriage only, was to be my future.

My father, Charles Swan, had been a busy man, too. Acquiring land and riches had been his favorite pursuit. He had found a rich suitor for my older sister, Eloise. She wasn’t happy with her situation, but Father was quite pleased with the land that he had gotten at a good price because of the match.

When I turned 17, he started looking for a husband for me. It had taken him quite some time because he decided that he was going to hold out for someone even richer than the man he had found for my sister. It took him over two years to find someone that met with his approval. He had eventually found James Anderson. I was appalled at this choice before I had even met him. The man was already 45 years old! Friends had also been eager to fill me in on what they knew about him.

Mr. Anderson had already buried two wives. The first one had given him six children and had died in childbirth trying to bear the seventh. His second wife had borne him four children, all boys, and had died when his prize bull had escaped its pen and run her over. She had pulled one of the boys out of harm’s way before dying.

Mr. Anderson had quite a bit of land and was willing to part with a rather large parcel in exchange for a young, strong wife. And if she were pretty? Well, that would just sweeten the deal for him. My father had been in negotiations with him for several months. He had commissioned a painting to be done of me so that Mr. Anderson could see me, as he lived a three day's ride away from us.

The painter, Nelson Primus, was a very talented portrait artist who was in high demand. I had refused to smile during my sittings, and he thought that I was amusing. He took a few liberties with my facial structures and the color of my hair, but he kept my annoyed expression. He said that it made the portrait more interesting…that it made me look mysterious. My father actually thought that the painting looked much better than I was in reality and had paid him handsomely for the work. He sent it off to Mr. Anderson post haste, and I hadn’t seen it since.

Once he saw the painting, it was enough for Mr. Anderson to seal the deal and propose marriage to me, through my father. Father, thinking that he was being kind, arranged for me to meet with him at our home. After a wonderful meal prepared and served by my mother, my father had left us alone in the parlor.

Mr. Anderson had come and sat down beside me on the horse hide settee, where he had then proceeded to grope me and try to kiss me, telling me that I would have many children with him.

I had slapped him soundly on the cheek and had finally gotten away from his roaming hands. I had run from the room and from the house. His horse was tied to the hitching post beside the porch. It was a wonderful animal, a blood bay stallion, and I had admired it when Mr. Anderson had arrived. With no thought of propriety or safety, I had untied the stallion, hitched up my skirts and flung myself up and into the saddle. The stallion was well rested, and with one swift kick to his ribs, he had bolted into a dead run back down our lane.

As we ran, there was really no destination in my mind. I just knew that I had to get away. I gave the horse his head, and we ran on the road for the longest time. Suddenly, a small herd of deer ran out into the road from a copse of trees. The horse spooked to the side and then jumped the ditch. I actually did manage to hang on when he landed. But I guess he had had enough of my flapping skirts, and as we reached the small flat area on the far side of the ditch, he began to buck. It was unfortunate that I couldn’t stick to the saddle, and I flew off his back. I remembered the pain of hitting a fence post and then nothing for the longest time.

When I came to, I had thought that an angel was carrying me. It was Esme. She had been hunting the deer that had run into the road. She had been feeding on a buck when she saw my horse throw me. From the amount of blood pouring from the wound in my side, she knew that I wouldn’t have long to live. She made a spur of the moment decision; one to save me and to have the child that she had always wanted. It took a great deal of strength on her part to ignore the call of my blood and to carry me in her arms to Carlisle. As it was, she apparently got me to him just minutes before I would have died.

They had both held my hands through the fire and the hell that my transformation had been. They had told me the rules and how they lived. I had awoken free from the decision of my father. I was so grateful to them both. They loved me from the beginning and let me become who I wanted to be.

I wouldn’t kill Edward now and break their faith in me.

oOoOoOo

After I finished my story, everyone hugged me. I had never told them the entire thing before. It actually felt good to have the story out. I hadn’t felt like I was holding on to the pain of being seen as a commodity, but now that the truth was out, I actually felt much lighter.

“Bella,” Emmett exclaimed. “You were a horse thief! That’s a hanging offense, you know. Good thing you were changed!”

I laughed at him. Leave it to Emmett to find something funny to say. “Okay, Emmett, it’s time for you to go and get Mike. You will be going in your own Jeep!”

After some discussion, we made our plans for the immediate future. Emmett would bring Mike back here, while I waited for them. Rosalie would head home in my car. She’d find the appropriate outfit to wear to get information from the Post Office. The Seattle PD had given us ID cards that gave us a certain legitimacy for asking questions and getting into places that we needed to be. They had come to trust us, and the ID cards would help us to help them when the need arose.

But a dressed up Rosalie, well, that usually got us what we needed quickly. She’d also do some checking at the local Radio Shack to try and find out the buyer of the GPS systems.

I decided that I’d take the letters and gifts back to Edward’s house. I’d look them over while he got some sleep. Then I’d also ride back to the concert hall with him in the morning.

Emmett and Rosalie questioned my ability to keep myself under control. I assured them that it would be fine. I think that the urge to find this stalker, so that he and Jessica would be safe, was overcoming the pull of his blood for me. That and the fact that I was becoming increasingly more intrigued by him.

I wanted to know more about him: A human that leaned towards me…a human that had actually touched me. It was a concept that left me puzzled. I liked that a lot of things in life were black and white, and this definitely wasn’t. I wanted to figure it out.

After spending this evening with him, I also felt that I could ride with him in his car. The time spent with him was making the burn easier. Also, by being in his home overnight, I wouldn’t have to be slapped in the face with the burn in the morning when I met up with him again.

The saying “Keep your friends close and your enemies closer” came to my mind. He was my client, but being my singer made him my enemy in some ways. It was a conundrum, that was for sure.

oOoOoOo

Emmett called when he and Mike made it to the garage. I waited for them at the elevator. Emmett was right; Mike did look distraught as I introduced myself and ushered him into the ward and to the security checkpoint. They got him set up with his ID card and got him through the door quickly. He rushed down the hall and through the door into Jessica’s room as I followed behind him.

Jessica was still on her left side, and it looked like she had just woken up. Her entire face lit up as Mike ran to her side. He leaned down and rested his forehead on hers as he gathered her hands to his chest. Tears slipped down Jessica’s face as they murmured quiet words to each other.

Edward had stepped back and away from the bed as Mike came forward. His face was soft as he watched their reunion.

Mike eventually lifted his head, and he turned to shake Edward’s hand. He kept holding Jessica’s hand with his other.

“Thanks, man.” Mike had tears in his eyes, too. “The only way that I’ve been able to take these trips away from her has been because I know that you are here for her, too.” He sighed deeply as he shuddered. “Emmett filled me in on what’s happening with this stalker.”

Once again, I stepped forward. “Mike, Jessica is safe here. And you are, too. We will get to the bottom of this, and we hope to have made significant progress before Jess gets discharged on Sunday.”

“Mike, I trust them, with our lives actually,” Edward spoke in a quiet, confident voice. “You just need to stay here with Jess and keep her calm. Let my Godson keep growing…inside!” He smiled down at her. “If I’ve convinced myself to let them do their jobs and to not worry overmuch, then you can, too. You know I’m a control freak.” He tipped his head and gave her wink.

They all smiled, and I felt relief that some of their tension was leaving. Even without Jasper’s gift, I could feel the mood lighten a small bit.

I filled them all in about our immediate plans, and after Edward gave them both a hug, we left the ward. Emmett walked us out to the Jeep. Rosalie had taken my car but had left my emergency bag in the Jeep. We all kept changes of clothes and assorted work items in bags in all of our cars. We never knew when an occasion might arise where we couldn’t get home.

Emmett shook hands with Edward and said, “I’ll bring those extra sensors over in the morning and get them in place.” Edward had already given him an extra key to the house, and Emmett knew the codes. “Try not to worry and to get some rest. We are handling this for you.” Emmett handed him the box of things from the stalker to carry to his car. I’d be looking them over during the night.

Edward nodded and stepped towards the Vanquish. In a voice too fast and low for Edward to hear, Emmett asked again if this would be okay, me riding with him. I quietly assured him that I would be fine, that I’d be able to handle the situation. Time spent with Edward really did help that problem.

“See you tomorrow, Bells,” Emmett said loud enough for Edward to hear. “Take care. Call if you need anything.”

I took my bag from him and nodded. “I will. See you in the morning.”

Taking a last deep breath of Edward free air, I turned and headed towards his car. I could do this.

oOoOoOo

A/N...I know that knowing how Bella became a vampire wasn’t really crucial to the story, but I saw it and wanted to write it out anyway.

To answer a few questions:

I like the Edward/Jessica/Mike thing. I never have been one of those that hated Mike. He was just acting like a 17 y/o boy in Twilight. No better, no worse. Just because TWILIGHT Edward LOOKS 17, he’s really this old geezer guy, well, a HOT 108 y/o guy! I’m not sure that I can actually call him a GEEZER…LOL…Don’t get me wrong, I LOVE Edward…especially in the form of Rob Pattinson…

With regard to the painting: I’d LOVE to read any stories that YOU come up with about the stories that Elizabeth, Edward and Jessica would have made up about it. What kind of story would YOU have made up? Share with us in a review…please?

Thanks, again, to all those who are reading and reviewing. Reviews/Comments are wonderful! I always get excited when I get an e-mail announcing them!

Kathie

Please Leave Comments Here! Thanks!

[katmom]

Chapter 11

 

~~~Before the Dawn~~~

 

Edward opened the trunk of his car and placed the box of the stalker’s items in it. He turned and took my bag from me and placed it inside also. To my surprise, he also opened the passenger door for me.

At my look, he shrugged his shoulders and said, “My mother taught me that it’s polite to open doors for women.” I just nodded my head, took another deep breath and sat down in the leather seat. I adjusted it to fit my stature as he walked around and got in the driver’s seat.

For a brief moment, as his door shut and we were enclosed in this small space, I wondered if I would really be able to keep my cool in this situation. I could picture my teeth at his neck, the feeling that would overwhelm me as his blood filled my mouth.

I took a shallow breath, getting control of myself. Yes, it burned, but I could do it. I just needed to look at the bigger picture. He was my client, and I was stronger than the call of his blood, at least I hoped that I was.

As we pulled away from the hospital and headed towards his house, I thought of the things that we would need to do to find the stalker. Emmett had told me about the guard, Danny, and I decided that I would check out what he might know first.

“Edward, when we get to the guard shack, I’d like to take a few minutes to talk to Danny.  To see if he knows anything about the toy piano that was left at your home.” Edward nodded and eased the Vanquish up the ramp and onto the freeway through the heart of the city. I didn’t speak as he wove through the sparse late night traffic. I didn’t want to distract him. I also wished that I was driving. I always felt more in control that way. Probably not a good thing to drive THIS car though; I’d want to go very fast.

We were quiet as he drove. Both of us had things on our minds.

As the scenery sped by, I remembered his touch on my cheek.  If I could have blushed, I knew that I would have been doing so. I tried not to take the deep breath that I really didn’t need but somehow wanted. I needed to keep my mind on the business at hand, and touches to my cheek were not what I needed to think about right now.

We turned into his neighborhood before I expected us to do so. He had driven quite fast, for a human. I mentioned his speed to him, and he just shrugged, glancing over at me with a crooked smile.

“I was impressed with Emmett’s driving earlier. He drove faster than I would have, but he really did a good job of it.  I was glad he went that fast; I was in a hurry to get to the hospital.” He shrugged again. “I’d let him drive the car again if he wanted to.”

“I’ll be sure to let him know.  He’ll probably take you up on that, but Rosalie will want a turn, too.” I smiled back at him as he laughed at my comment. He said that she could have a go anytime at all.

Danny, the guard, came out of the shack, and since he recognized Edward, he started to wave us through, but Edward motioned him closer. Edward stopped as I had asked him to so that I could speak with Danny.

“Good evening, Mr. Masen,” he said as he approached us. “What can I do for you this evening?”

“As I mentioned to Bill earlier, I’m going to be having a couple more guests coming in and out this week.” He turned to me and introduced us. I stepped out to get my picture taken and to ask him a couple of questions. I also swept a quick glance around the area to ensure that we didn’t have any unwelcome visitors.

I smiled at Danny, trying to put him at ease. Danny’s responding grin was quite wide. He seemed impressed by the lures that I had at my disposal. I used them quite effectively and with purpose in this case. I wanted information, and he may have some.

“Danny,” I extended my hand and shook his firmly. I had slipped my soft leather gloves out of my bag and put them on while we were driving here. My skin wasn’t freezing, but it was cool; I didn’t want him distracted by that while I was questioning him. He was gazing down into my face, drawn in by the beauty that IS a vampire. Stepping away from the car with a smile on my face, I quickly began my interrogation.

o O o

 

Bella stepped out of the car to talk to Danny. She was partially turned from me, and I could only see the side of her face. Danny’s face was turned directly towards me. The first emotion I saw on it was awe at the beauty of Bella. Then as she continued to speak to him, I saw fear cross his face. He glanced my way, and it appeared that Bella commanded him to look back at her. He then looked down at the ground, and shame was bright on his face. He started nodding at her while she spoke.

Then it was his turn. She asked questions and appeared to be getting answers. He took his wallet out of his back pocket and brought out a piece of folded money. He handed it to Bella who looked at it closely. She also seemed to sniff it, but surely that wasn't really what I saw. After several more minutes of her questioning him, he took a card from his wallet and wrote something down on it and handed it to her. He shook his head again and turned back to the guard shack, his shoulders slumped.

Bella turned and got back into the car with me.

“Well?” I asked eagerly. “Did he know anything about the toy?”

“Yes, he did.” She looked angry. “Around seven a.m. on Monday, a young woman wearing a very short denim skirt and a white halter top approached him. She flirted and then gave him a one hundred dollar bill to let her through the gate for a few minutes. She told him that she was bringing a present to her boyfriend and that she wanted to surprise him with it.” Bella showed me the money. “I told Danny that we’d be confiscating this as evidence.”

“What did she look like?” I asked as we pulled through the gate and drove towards my house.

“She was about 5’7”, long curly blonde hair, blue eyes. He thought she was pretty, but there really wasn’t anything out of the ordinary about her, except for the fact that she handed him that money.” Her voice had a very cold tone to it as she continued, “I’ve told Danny that I will be calling his boss as soon as we get to your house. He is not an appropriate person to be guarding this neighborhood, or any other for that matter. He has an appalling lack of integrity for the job.”

We had pulled into my garage by this time. Bella asked me to wait in the car briefly while she took a quick glance around the front and side yard.

I actually felt a bit silly once again. Here was this little lady looking out for my safety. Then I remembered how abashed and then fearful Danny had looked. She apparently had him pretty scared when she was talking to him. I had to remember that SHE was the owner of Elite Guardians and a force to be reckoned with.

Bella quickly returned and motioned that it was okay for me to get out of the car. I clicked the remote to close the garage door and opened the trunk to get her bag and the box of the stalker’s things out. We walked to the interior door, and I opened it. I left my coat in the mud room and then walked into the kitchen with her.

Bella asked to be shown around the main floor and to the security panel. As she looked around the house, checking the doors, windows and back yard, I ran upstairs and made sure that the spare room was made up for her. I had a cleaning service that came in once a week, but I wanted to make sure that everything was in order and the lights were on.

We met back in the dining room. She had brought the box of items to the table and was sorting them out on to it. She looked up as I came into the room.

“I’ve called and spoken with the firm that hires the gate guards. Danny is being replaced right now.” She seemed quite pleased with that information.

“That’s great, but did you get any information from him that helps us?” I asked.

“Yes, we do have a bit more information about your stalker. She was in the neighborhood for the right amount of time to get here to your place and then back to the gate on foot. I believe that she is the same person that has been sending you these things.” She shook her head sadly. “He didn’t see a car though. Her vehicle was probably parked down the street and around the corner. The woman at the impromptu autograph session had brown hair, this one was blonde. I’m guessing that one of those looks was fake. It’s hard to tell which though. The skirt he described could have been the same one she wore when you saw her.”

“Now, you should get some rest.” Bella looked at me from across the oak table. “It’s been a long day, and I’m guessing that you are going to want to go by the hospital and check on Jessica before going to the practice at the University in the morning, right?”

I nodded emphatically. “Yes, I do want to do that. I feel somewhat better knowing that she’s safe right now. But I want to see how she is in the morning.” I thought to myself that it might also be hard to get to sleep tonight. So much had happened in such a short time.

“Here, let me show you the guest room.” I looked into her golden eyes, “You probably need some downtime. I want my bodyguard to be rested, too!”

Bella laughed gently as I picked up her bag to carry it for her. She followed me to the second floor. I walked into the guest room and then over to the bathroom door. “There are towels in here already.”

As I stepped back into the middle of the room, I caught a whiff of something lovely. I had smelled it off and on during the day but could never pinpoint what it was or where it was coming from. I had smelled it in the car too, but my mind was on other things, and I hadn’t made the connection. Now, standing in the same room as Bella, I realized it must be her perfume. It was subtle, an overtone of freesia, with something else, an undertone of strawberries maybe?

Whatever the combination was, it caused my mouth to water. I leaned towards her a little and tried to be subtle as I sniffed just a bit.

I guess it wasn’t as subtle as I thought because she took a step back from me with a confused look on her face. I quickly stepped away from her and walked towards the door, feeling a bit like a 17 year old boy. I was pretty sure that my face was flushed.

To my embarrassment, I stammered a little as I said, “I think that I’d like a cup of tea before I head to bed. Would you like to join me?” I looked back at her, where she was standing in the middle of the room. The confused look had been erased, and a calm mask was now in place.

“I don’t want anything, but I’ll join you in a couple of minutes. I want to call Rosalie and check in.” She smiled slightly at me as she took her cell out and started dialing.

Okay, Masen, she didn’t seem totally wigged out by my sniffing her. Good grief, what was I thinking? I found myself pinching the bridge of my nose. Besides a cup of tea, I think that I also needed some Motrin. This had been a very long day, and I was somewhat confused; it was making my head hurt.

So much drama today: First the stalker appeared to be worse than we thought; then Jessica had complications with her pregnancy. And now, well, I was sniffing my bodyguard. What was worse is that the sniff had been worth it. She smelled heavenly. I rubbed my thumb along my fingertips, feeling again the cool purity of her cheekbone where I had touched her earlier.

I need to have some tea and then I need to get some sleep. Mom always said that a cup of tea couldn’t hurt, and maybe it would help. Good advice from my mom. I hurried to the kitchen to put the kettle on.

 

o O o

 

I spoke with Rosalie about the guard and the fact that the stalker’s scent was on the $100 bill. She must have heard how I was distracted because she finally asked, “What’s up with you? Was the ride over there okay? How do you feel being in the house alone with him? Do you need one of us to come over there?”

It only took her about a second to get all that out. I did appreciate how much they love me, but it made me roll my eyes anyway.

“Nothing’s up with me. The ride over here was okay. I feel fine in the house alone with him. I don’t need anyone to come over.” I answered her questions in order.

I heard Alice speaking in the background, and Rosalie burst out with one more question, “He SNIFFED you?” I guess it was less a question and more of an outraged shriek.

It actually made me laugh just a bit. “Well, he just leaned in a bit and sniffed.” I had to hold the phone away from my ear as she and Alice started talking, very loudly.  Rosalie had turned the phone to speaker mode.

“WAIT!” I hissed back to them. “It was no big deal. He immediately backed away, and I could tell that he was embarrassed.” The memory of the blush on his face made the venom surge in my mouth just a little. I swallowed as I shrugged, knowing that they couldn’t see me. “I’ve sniffed him a time or two today too, okay? He smells nice, well, when I can get passed the burn.”

That quieted them down a bit, and I could imagine them communicating with looks at home…I rolled my eyes again.

“Next subject; I’m going to go over the letters and gifts after he’s asleep. I probably won’t find anything, but it can’t hurt to check them over again closely.  Alice?” I asked.

“Yes, Bella?” she answered.

“We’re going to be going back by the hospital early in the morning to check on Jessica. We’ll then head over to the University. I’d like you to meet us there. Maybe it would help you to get a clearer picture of what may happen if you’ve actually met Edward.” I waited for her answer, and I didn’t need to be psychic to know what it was going to be either.

There was a loud squeal from her end of the phone. “Sure thing. I’ll meet you in the Hall about a quarter till ten, okay?” I knew that she’d want to meet the guy that had sniffed me and the one that I had sniffed back! She was nothing short of tenacious. If I couldn’t figure out what these strange urges were towards Edward, she certainly would. “Then maybe I could hang around and listen to him play for a little while.”

“That will be great. Jasper told Edward that you were jealous of the fact that he had been listening to him practice all week. So you’ll be able to act like a fan, right, without being over the top?” Alice liked to do things big; she was used to us asking her to take it easy. We had to tell her that several times a week, sometimes several times a day.

Alice laughed. “Actually I do have one of his CDs. I got it after that PEOPLE magazine article came out. He’s quite gifted. So I’m not going to have to pretend. He’s also quite gorgeous; his green eyes are awesome. Gosh, what am I going to wear?” And that was where I lost her.

Rosalie got back on the line, and we confirmed the plans for the next morning before I said goodbye.

Okay, time to go downstairs and have a cup of tea with my client. I would pretend to drink it, and then I’d pretend to go to bed. I’d head back to the dining room table after he was asleep.

I walked down the stairs and into the kitchen. I could hear the kettle boiling on the stove. Edward had two cups on the counter and a wide variety of tea set out.

“What kind would you like?” he asked, while waving his hand over the assortment.

“I’m good, but go ahead,” I told him as I sat down on a stool at the marble counter.

“My mom drank tea for refreshment and for comfort. It’s one of her habits that I still enjoy.” He chose a chamomile tea bag and steeped it in his cup. He added just a touch of honey and brought his cup over to the other stool at the counter. We were sitting across from each other.

“I realize that it’s 1:24 in the morning and that I have a busy day tomorrow, but I’m not sure that I’m going to be able to fall asleep easily tonight,” he said as he sipped his tea. He looked back up at me.  His eyes were deeply green. “How do you do it? Isn’t this kind of thing hard for you, too?”

I glanced down at my hands resting on the counter and thought about his question before answering him. “I guess that knowing that I’m helping people is what keeps me going. It’s worth it for some sleepless nights and long days. I don’t want the bad guys to win, ever. Whether they are trying to get close to someone, like this person is trying to get close to you; or when someone takes something that doesn’t belong to them. That’s just wrong.” I laughed quietly. “One of our side jobs is to find lost pets. That isn’t huge in the universe, but finding a pet for someone who is frantic because they are lost is pretty cool. They’re always so happy when we find them.”

“I can certainly understand that. Playing concerts isn’t going to bring on World Peace, but it makes a lot of people happy to hear me play.” He shook his head. “It also makes me happy to play for them. I sometimes wonder if that’s enough though.” He looked away, and several emotions chased themselves across his face.

As he took another sip of tea, I watched the way the light played on his hair. It was pretty wild looking. I found myself wondering what it would feel like to run my fingers through it.

Holy Crow…I really needed to get a grip and focus on this case. I stood up and said, “Well, I’ll see you in the morning. If we leave here by 7:30 that will give us plenty of time to go by and see Jessica. Jasper’s wife, my sister Alice, wants to meet you in the morning, too. She said she’d drop him off at work and then come and meet up with us in the Hall. I think that we could be over there by 9:45, if that’s okay with you.”

Edward got to his feet, too.  He took his cup over to the sink where he rinsed it out and then placed it in the dishwasher. He made sure that the stove was turned off under the kettle and then turned to face me.

“That’ll be fine.” He walked over and turned the light off and led the way out of the room. We walked quickly up the stairs, and he paused at my door. He looked down at me, that crooked smile on his face again. “I can’t thank you enough for helping us out like this.” He looked deeply into my eyes, and I found my breath catching in my throat. “Sleep well.” He raised his hand slightly, and I wondered if he was going to touch me again. The moment passed, and I nodded to him as he turned and walked down the hall to his room.

I stepped into the room and closed the door behind me. I leaned back against it and took in a deep breath, letting it out with a sigh. I decided to shower and change; he’d probably be asleep by the time I was done. Then I’d go and check over the letters and things.

I was anxious to find something that would help us find the stalker. I wanted Edward to be safe and Jessica, too. I ran my fingers across my cheekbone again, following the line that he had touched. I wondered if all humans would affect me so. Somehow I doubted it. There was something special about Edward Masen. I just hoped I could figure out what it was before the assignment was over and he’d moved out of my life.

 

o O o

 

After my shower, I had changed into a pair of black jeans and white tank from my bag. I put a tailored dark blue button down shirt over that and headed down to the dining room.

About thirty minutes later, I really wanted to growl in frustration. I had been over each and every note, letter and gift…twice! The scent was the same on all of them, as was the handwriting. Our sense of smell would already identify the stalker anywhere, so pouring over these things didn’t bring me anything new. I didn’t know what I expected to find, but there was nothing there that would help us.

After I put the things back in the box, I moved into the living room and just sat on the couch, listening for a while. This was a very quiet neighborhood.  The houses weren’t so close together that humans would be able to hear every little thing that went on in them. I could hear a baby crying in a house close by; a mother’s voice quietly made hushing sounds, and it stopped; a dog barked briefly; an owl hooted a bit closer. I could hear traffic some distance away.

Even though it had taken Edward some time to fall asleep, I could now hear his steady breathing and his heart beating. Occasionally I could hear him turn over in bed. It was rather odd to be in a house with a sleeping human.

Our house wasn’t quiet at night. Since we didn’t need to sleep, there was always something going on. Esme would be drawing up plans for her latest remodel project; Alice would be sketching the designs to go into the remodeled homes; or she and Rosalie would be creating some new clothes designs. Jasper would be grading papers, except when Emmett would convince him to play some video games. There were times when they would start wrestling, and then Esme would have to step in and tell them to take it outside. They had broken several pieces of furniture and display items over the course of the years. Sometimes Carlisle would join the boys, but he mainly read and just watched us play.

My family also used the time to be close to each other; each couple enjoyed their private pursuits together, which was why I usually headed out to hunt at night. We all loved each other very much, but they loved their mates even more. It was sometimes quite overwhelming to be in the house with them!

Just before dawn, I got up and looked through the house. The living room had several pictures on the walls, as did the dining room. The rest of the house was rather sparsely decorated. Alice would love to get in here and dress it up a bit for him, I was sure. The pictures were a mix of posed shots and candids, all of Edward’s family and friends. There was a painting of him and his parents over the fireplace. It was quite large and looked like it had been done when he was about 15. He got the color of his eyes and hair from his mother, but the texture of his hair definitely came from his father. They all looked so happy in this painting.

As I moved through the house, I found myself making my way closer to his room. I could hear his heartbeat in every room as I explored.  It was there, quietly in the background; I had become quite accustomed to its sound. When I arrived at his closed bedroom door, I wondered what exactly had drawn me there; I wondered what I expected to find. I debated for just a moment before quietly opening the door and slipping inside. The room was dark, the drapes closed tightly. His scent was thick here. Some part of my mind actually found that comforting. I took a deep breath and felt the burn in my throat. But another feeling was overwhelming me, one of curiosity.

I stepped closer to his king size bed. The bedding was messy. I was right; he had been tossing in his sleep. He was on his back just now. His right arm was raised up and resting on the pillow above his head, the covers pushed down to his waist. He wasn’t wearing a shirt. My breath caught again at the sight of his chest. I had seen the very well-equipped home gym on the main floor. He must use it often. I stepped closer to look at his face.

In sleep his face had softened. The worry that had been evident for most of the day was gone. His brow was smooth and unlined. His bronze lashes lay thick upon his cheeks. He really was gorgeous. I chuckled to myself at the thought of what he’d look like as a vampire. He would be spectacular. Wait, I couldn’t even think about that. As much as I enjoyed my life as a vampire, it was not what I’d wish for others, especially this man.

I felt that I had a soul, which was the way that Carlisle and Esme had raised me, but others of our kind felt differently. They felt that we traded our souls for an eternity of life, with no hope of heaven. I wouldn’t wish to take heaven away from anyone, just in case it was true and our souls truly were lost.

I nearly jumped out of my skin as Edward started to turn towards me. Was he waking up? He sighed as he slipped his hand beneath his cheek and settled back down. He murmured something I couldn’t make out, and then he grew quiet.

I knew I should leave his room, but something held me there. I backed up and sat in the armchair near the deeply draped window. I sat and just watched him. A peace filled me. I took another deep breath of Edward scented air. The vanilla and warm linen aroma were at the front this time. I settled back to wait for dawn to break, confused as to why I was there but comfortable enough to stay. I’d leave when he began to stir.

 

o O o

A/N....I guess that Lauren isn’t his only stalker. :F  …vampire smilie, yes, I realize that these vamps DON’T have fangs…but I think the smilie is cute!

Next chapter is called:  His Girl Friday

 

[katmom]

There are THREE POV in this chapter....I think you will be able to tell who is who!

Chapter 12

~~~His Girl Friday~~~

Edward came down the stairs about seven. He was freshly showered and shaved. Holy Crow! His personal scent outweighed the scent of his blood by a long shot this morning. I was very glad that he wasn’t standing close to me right then. His hair still looked rather untamed.

The burn was still in my throat but not hideously bad. Spending a couple of hours in his bedroom had desensitized me very well. I would still have to be on my guard, and I prayed that he’d never cut himself near me. But for now, it was tolerable.

Edward chuckled quietly as he looked me up and down. It took me a moment to get the joke. He was wearing a dark blue button down shirt and dark blue jeans. We were color coordinated. I laughed quietly, too.

While he made his coffee, after asking me if I wanted some, I told him that I hadn’t found anything new on the notes, etc. He nodded then asked me if I wanted breakfast. I told him that I’d grab a bite with Carlisle at the hospital while he spent some time with Jessica and Mike. He drank his coffee, grabbed an apple and said that he was ready to leave.

We drove in the Vanquish to the hospital. The early morning traffic was quite heavy as we made our way back into the city. The rain had ended during the predawn hours, but it wasn’t going to be sunny today either. We didn’t speak much as he concentrated on his driving.

After he found a parking spot in the garage, we made our way into the hospital. He followed me as I led him through the maze of corridors and elevators. There were a lot of people around. We had to wait a few moments to get through the check point at the maternity ward. I could tell that he was anxious to see Jessica. He kept running his hands through his hair, making it even wilder than it had been earlier.

Once again, he didn’t even notice the looks that he was getting from the nurses and the visitors alike. He was very much like Carlisle in that regard, and it made me smile. I could tell which looks were because he was gorgeous and which ones were because they recognized him. No one approached us, and I was glad that I didn’t have to put my bodyguard hat on just then.

After we made it through the checkpoint, he hurried us down the hall to room 523. He knocked lightly on the door, and Jessica called for us to come in. She and Mike looked much more rested and peaceful than they'd been last night. Edward gave her a hug after he shook Mike’s hand.

I greeted them also and then excused myself to go meet with Carlisle. I told them that I’d be back by nine so that we could leave and get over to the University in time for Alice to meet with us.

Carlisle was smiling when I entered his office. “Sniffing? Really?” he asked with a chuckle. I laughed as I sat down in one of the leather chairs in front of his desk.

I told him about the evening, leaving out the part about me sitting in Edward’s dark bedroom, watching him sleep. I hoped that Alice wouldn’t comment on that either, that was if she had seen it. I may have to have a little chat with her about it.

After we chatted for a while, Carlisle left to do his morning rounds. I continued to sit in his office and think about what the day might bring. It would be great if we could get this wrapped up today. Maybe the stalker had paid for the GPS systems with a credit card and we’d be able to track her down. One could hope anyway.

An idea suddenly occurred to me: Jessica, as Edward’s assistant, was now incapacitated, and I could step in as his assistant. That would give me a legitimate reason to keep him in my sight, and therefore, safe. It would also give me access to all those who might approach him.

I headed back to Jessica’s room to discuss the arrangement with them. There was soft laughter coming from the room as I neared her door. I was glad to hear it; some of the tension was gone.

I knocked and stepped inside at a joyful, “Come in.” A tech was performing an ultrasound, the wand moving back and forth across Jessica’s tummy. They were laughing because the baby had his thumb tucked into his mouth. It was a lovely sight.

Edward beckoned me closer to where he stood at her bedside and then made room for me to step closer to the screen. His green eyes were bright with love and joy. He smiled that crooked smile down at me and then returned his gaze to his Godson.

“There you go, Mrs. Newton,” the tech said. “I’ll print you out a couple of pictures, and the doctor will be in shortly to check you over.” The machine clicked and hummed as it spit out a strip of pictures. “This little guy is a real cutie!”

Jessica and Mike’s heads were close together as they smiled over the pictures. The tech wiped Jessica’s tummy clean of the goop, then she gathered up the equipment and wheeled it out the door.

Jessica ripped the last photo off of the strip and held it out to Edward. “Here you go, Edward. You can keep this one in your wallet,” she said with a wink. “It’s your first picture of Michael Edward Newton.”

Edward’s face lit up as he took it. “You’ve named him! I’m honored. Thanks, Jess, Mike,” he said as he looked down at the picture.

He offered it to me to look at. She had given him one of the ones with the baby’s thumb in his mouth. It was very cute. I could tell that he was enormously touched that the baby would carry his name, too.

“We’ll call him Michael.” She looked lovingly at her husband and then back at Edward. “We wanted to name him after you and after your father. We’re family, and family sticks together.”

Edward’s face shone with love and pride as he turned and gave them each another hug. “I am so pleased that you’ve done this for me.” He leaned down and spoke to Jessica’s tummy. “Michael, just wait until Daddy and I teach you to catch worms and stuff! We are going to have so much fun!”

Jessica smacked him lightly on the arm. “Don’t you dare!” He and Mike laughed as she continued, “Only gummy worms for my son!”

It was good to see their playing. It was sweet and normal, a nice change after all the stress of yesterday. I handed the baby’s picture back to him with a smile and turned to Jessica.

“Jessica,” I said as she looked up at me. “On a regular day you’d be at the hall with Edward, right?” I asked.

“Yes, I usually go in at the same time and deal with the new mail that’s been brought in, go over the e-mails and set up appointments.” She reached over to the side table where her personal cell phone and a PDA were resting. “This pretty much has Edward’s entire life on it.” Jessica touched the screen and handed it to me. “I keep it backed up on the laptop that’s currently in the conference room there. We take that one with us when we are on the road for concerts, interviews and such. I also back it up on his computer at home, as well as my home computer.”

I looked up at that. That was a LOT of backup copies. She laughed at my look. “We, meaning HE, lost our one copy once.” Jessica looked over at a blushing Edward. “Now we probably go overboard, but I never want to have to put his schedule back together like that again.”

Edward smiled widely and said, “Hey, in my defense we did actually find the PDA a couple of weeks later.” He laughed. “It had slipped out of my pocket and was lodged under the Volvo’s driver’s seat.” He laughed again. “So, technically, it wasn’t really lost. It was just misplaced.”

I laughed, too. He looked a lot like Emmett when he’d been caught out in one of his pranks.

“Okay, well, I think that we can work your stay here into our safety plan.” They all looked at me, a bit of confusion on their faces. “With you in here, Edward will need an assistant. That will be me. That will give me a good reason to be seen with him.” A look of comprehension filled their faces. “And, I think, if you talk me through it, I can actually help him with the assistant stuff.”

They both agreed that this would work. Jessica briefed me on the things that would need to be done today, gave me the keys I’d need, and handed over the PDA. We then said our goodbyes and headed over to the University to meet with Alice. I told Jessica that if I had any problems, I’d just give her a call.

I knew that she was relieved to know that besides keeping Edward safe, I’d also be keeping him on time and on schedule for the next couple of days. That aspect of being in the hospital had really worried her. She was so used to being his right hand girl, his Girl Friday, and keeping him on track. With day one of the two day concert program starting tomorrow, she had been worried about how he was going to get through everything that needed to be done.

As he was driving us to the University, I called Angela at the office. “Hey, Ang, have you got the contract ready? Good,” I said. It was basically a formality, but we needed to keep everything clear with the accountants. I glanced over at Edward as I continued, “Why don’t you bring it over to us at the University about one, then you could join Edward, Rosalie, Emmett and I for lunch.”

Angela tried to keep a professional tone in her voice, but I could hear the excitement that coursed through it. At least she didn’t squeal like Alice had done earlier.

We talked about a few office issues, and then I ended the call. We had arrived at the parking lot. As Edward started to open his door, I put my hand on his arm and asked him to wait just a moment. He nodded his head, and I stepped out of the car. I looked over the area quickly. There were several students walking on the sidewalk. Many of them were carrying instruments and were headed towards the Concert Hall. Much farther away there were a couple of students sitting on benches, apparently enjoying the rain free moments. No one appeared to be paying us much attention.

I leaned back down and looked into the car as I said, “Let’s go. It looks okay.” I grabbed my bag and slung it over my shoulder and closed the door.

Edward got out, and I met him at the back of the car as we headed towards the building. I had seen Alice’s car a couple of rows over, and I knew she was waiting for us in the foyer. Edward and I were walking quite close together. I kept my eyes busy sweeping the area. The breeze shifted, and suddenly I caught a whiff of something. It was the stalker’s scent, but a bit different, like something was missing. I tried to catch the direction it was coming from but couldn’t. The breeze was swirling over and around the building.

I stopped Edward with a touch on his arm. He looked down at me as we paused. “Edward, please go directly inside. My sister is a petite woman with spiky black hair. She should be waiting just inside the door. Find her and stay with her inside the auditorium. I need to check something out here.” He must have heard a note of tension in my voice, because he started to turn with me as he looked back out at the parking lot. “Please, let me take care of this. You go inside, find Alice and stay with her. There are lots of people in there now. You just stay with them. Start your practice, keep your routine. I’ll join you shortly.”

I could tell that he wanted to argue with me. Edward finally nodded and stepped towards the door. Alice was approaching him as the door started to swing shut. He had started to turn to look back at me when she got his attention.

Before the door swung closed, I called Alice’s name, knowing that she would hear me and said, “Alice, get Edward into the auditorium and wait with him there. I have to check on something.” I heard her say okay just as the door closed. I had my phone out and had hit speed dial even as I rushed back to the open space before the building. “Em, where are you?” I asked as he answered on the first ring.

“I’m about two blocks from the hall. What’s up?” he asked.

“I smell the stalker. I can’t pinpoint it. Edward’s safe in the building for now with Alice, but I want to search, and I want you to go and help Alice.” I was heading around to the back of the building, still trying to get a bead on the scent.

“I’ll be there in just a moment,” he said as he hung up.

The scent disappeared at the side of the building, so I headed back to the front. It was beginning to dissipate in the misty air. Emmett was beside me in just an instant. I told him to go on in to Edward and Alice as I continued to look around.

I finally caught the scent again. I followed it to a bench, some distance from the parking lot. I had seen a woman sitting here when we got out of the car. She had been wearing a hat. The scent was much heavier here but was quickly fading in the stiffening breeze. A coffee cup was spilled on the ground. I picked it up and sniffed it. The scent was all over the cup. It had definitely belonged to the stalker. Again, although it was the scent I had come to know, there was also something missing. I’d have to figure that out. I looked back towards where we had parked. The view of the lot was wide open from here. The woman who had sat here could see Edward’s car clearly.

Sniffing the air, I turned and followed along the walkways to a parking lot on the other side of the Science building. The scent disappeared there. The stalker had apparently gotten in a vehicle and driven away.

She was gone.

 

o O o

 

HOW DARED HE? Edward had SOME WOMAN in MY car, sitting in MY seat. They were nearly touching as they walked towards the building.

WHO WAS THAT? How dare SHE be with him? He’s MINE. Only MINE. And tomorrow he’ll be MY husband, for the rest of his life.

Mine…

Mine…

Mine…

I had gotten up nice and early, gotten dressed and then stopped by Starbucks for a Mocha Cappuccino Grande. I had taped an envelope holding my latest letter and gift to my fiancé to the door of the building, which was still locked at this early hour. I had written Edward’s name nice and big on it. Someone would take it in for me. Then I had made my way over to MY spot to wait for his arrival.

My spot…the place where I always waited to see MY man before he went in to practice for his concert. I was really looking forward to seeing him this morning because I hadn’t seen him when he'd left last night. I was too busy over at Jessica’s house to see him leave. I missed him when I didn’t get to see him.

When we got home last night, Mama said that the GPS had apparently stopped working on the Vanquish, as it wasn’t feeding any information to us anymore. That had worried me. I sighed with relief and anticipation when his fancy car turned into the parking lot this morning.

And then there he was, with HER. I was so mad, I could hardly see straight. As they walked away towards the building, I dropped my coffee and rushed back to my car. I had to tell Mama what was going on. He was MINE and he needed to be protected from that **CENSORED**. She wasn’t even pretty. Well, she was, but not nearly as pretty as ME!

How dare she look up into his green eyes. Those were MINE to look into, not hers. She’d have to pay too, once I found out who she was.

As I stopped at a red light, I screamed in frustration and pounded my fist on the steering wheel. The sound echoed in my car. The man in the car next to mine looked over at me, startled. I flipped him off and drove on when the light changed.

I was so close to having everything that I wanted, and more to the point, everything that I deserved. Edward Anthony Masen was MINE, and no one could come between us. No one…

Mama would know what to do. She had a plan, and everything would work out for the best, the best for me.

 

o O o

 

I walked into the foyer, still wanting to go back outside to help Bella. It was hard to let her do her job. It nearly killed me to just walk away from her and to get inside to safety while she was out there with some deranged stalker.

Just as I made the decision to head back out, in spite of what she'd said, a very petite woman approached me. The only reason she stood taller than five foot was because she was wearing three inch heels. Her hair was black and spiky, and she was looking me right in the eye as she held her hand out to greet me. This must be Bella’s sister, Alice.

“Hi, Edward. I’m Alice Whitlock, Bella’s sister.” She grasped my hand and shook it firmly. Her skin was very cool, just like Bella’s. She looked around me, apparently searching for Bella. “Where is she?” she asked.

I looked back towards the doors again. “She said that she needed to check on something out there.”

I looked down into her tawny eyes. Her black lashes were really thick around them. What was with this family? All of their eyes were gold, even the ones who had married into the family. I had never seen that eye color before, and now here was an entire family with it. What an odd coincidence. Again, I wondered, maybe it was contacts?

“She told me to find you and then to stay inside.” I really wanted to go back out, but I wasn’t sure what she had noticed out there. Looking back down at Alice, I wondered what she could do to help. If anything were to happen, I wa sure that I’d have to be the one protecting her; she was so tiny! Maybe Bella wanted me to protect Alice. Yes, that had to be it.

As I debated whether to go back outside or do as Bella told me and to stay here with Alice, Emmett came through the doors and hurried over to us.

“Hey…Edward, Alice,” he said as he reached out to shake my hand in greeting. “I just saw Bella. She’s got things covered.” He looked down at Alice, and I thought that I saw his lips move, but I couldn’t hear anything. “She’ll be back in just a bit. She wanted you to carry on with your practice. We’ll sit here and wait for her.”

He motioned for us to move into the auditorium. I looked down the aisle to the stage where Victor was putting the orchestra through warm-up scales. “I have a few minutes until they’re ready for me.” I glanced over at Alice. “It’s nice to meet you, Alice. I just wish it wasn’t because of some stalker.”

She laughed and said that it was nice to meet me, too, that she had one of my CD’s. She also said that she had nagged Jasper about what my music had sounded like while I practiced.

I felt my face flush just a little. I really wished I could get past doing that. I was 24 years old, and I’d probably still be blushing when I was 80, at least that’s what my mom used to say. She thought it was “sweet”. Yeah, that was the look I was going for... not!

Alice and I sat down on the front row. Emmett stayed on his feet, his gaze sweeping around the auditorium constantly, obviously on alert. Alice, trying to keep my mind occupied, asked questions about being on tour which I answered rather absently. I kept looking over my shoulder back towards the door, waiting for Bella to come in.

The middle door finally opened, and Bella came in, her eyes searching for us. I leapt to my feet and hurried towards her, Emmett and Alice close behind me.

She looked tense but unharmed. I didn’t know what I expected, but it eased a bit of my tension to see her so. “Well?” I asked. “Did you find something?”

Bella put her hand on my arm and squeezed lightly. “I found a bench where the stalker had apparently been watching your arrival from. She was gone when I reached it.”

I have no idea how she would have even noticed such a thing, but it was her job after all. “So, the stalker was here this morning?”

She glanced over at Emmett and nodded her head. She simply said, “Yes.”

Just then, Victor called my attention back to the stage. They were ready for me to start the practice. I hated to have to step away from Bella, my bodyguard. There was safety with her, and something else. She must have seen my hesitation because she gave my arm another squeeze and told me to just continue with the practice. She said that by changing my routine I was letting the stalker win. That got my back up; I wouldn’t let that happen.

“Trust us, you practice. Emmett and I will be close by. I want to check the mail to see if anything new has come in. I also want to get the work done that Jessica told me about.” She nodded down at Alice. “She’ll stay in here with you. She’s worked with us before, and she’ll make sure that you are safe in here.”

I looked down at the little sprite standing beside me and sized her up. I shook my head at the thought of her defending anyone, much less me. Maybe they went through some kick ass training seminars and she would be able to handle anything, but I didn’t feel confident in that. Alice smiled up at me, and I had to say that she did exude a lot of confidence. No matter, I’d keep my eye on her too.

Victor called again, and with another look at Bella, I turned and hopped up on to the stage and walked over to the piano. I would have to just trust them to take care of things. I wouldn’t let my routine change just because there was a nut out there watching me. I wouldn’t let her win.

 

o O o

 

When Edward got up on the stage and sat down at the piano, I turned to Emmett and Alice and motioned them to come with me to the side door. I didn’t want to disturb the practice with our talk.

“The stalker apparently sat for some time on a bench. I found a dropped cup of coffee. Her scent was all over it.” I shook my head in confusion. “Something was missing from the scent though. I have no idea what. It WAS the scent, but it wasn’t too. I just don’t know.”

Emmett said he wanted to go and check it out for himself. Maybe he could figure out what was missing. I told him where the bench was and which way the person had gone. After a glance towards the stage where Edward was playing, he left.

“Alice, can you wait here and keep your eye on things?” I asked her.

“Sure, I can,” she said. She glanced back to where Edward was playing the beginning notes to a lovely song. “He’s quite nice, Bella. He’s very charming, and he was worried about you.”

I caught his eye as he began playing, and he still looked worried. I sent him a confident smile, and he smiled back at me.

“So, Alice,” I asked. “Did you get any flashes when you met him?” I turned to look down at my sister. She had a look of concentration on her face.

“Actually, I got that same sense of danger that I told you about yesterday, but it feels more intense. There was that flash of red, the same as that first vision. I can’t tell if it’s hair, clothes or an axe.” She shrugged as she shook her head and opened her eyes. “Something is going down, but not all the decisions have been made. Now that you are involved, some of the plans are going to be changed.”

The music started to swell over us as the entire orchestra joined Edward as he played. We both turned to look at the stage. Edward might be right that his music wouldn’t create world peace, but it was very beautiful. I needed to keep him safe so that he could continue to provide these lovely moments.

I told Alice that I was going to go on in to the conference room and see what needed to be done there. She agreed to sit in the hall and keep an eye on things and to send Emmett my way when he came back in.

I glanced over at Edward one more time and then headed out the side door to the conference room.

I heard some chatter as I approached the room. Jessica had told me that they had hired three students to work the mail. Monday would be their last day after the concert. After that, the mail would be sent to his house, and she’d work on it in the office there. They’d set up another temporary office when they went to Salt Lake City for that leg of the tour.

The three young people looked up as I stepped into the room with a smile--the kind of smile that drew people in--they smiled in return.

“Hi everyone. I’m Bella Cullen with Elite Guardians. I’ll be taking Jessica’s place as Edward’s assistant for the next few days.” The students looked at each other and then back at me. “She’s had to take a few days off. I’m guessing you are Larry,” I said to the young man. “And you two are Delaney and Amelia, right?”

They all nodded, and the short haired brunette said, “I’m Delaney, and this is Amelia.” She gestured to the honey haired girl beside her. “Jessica told us that you’d be working with her and Edward for a while. Is Jessica okay?”

“Yes, she’s fine. She just needs a few days off. She’s filled me in on what needs to be done, but I would appreciate your help if I get lost. You’ve been doing this job for two weeks, right?” They all nodded and resumed the sorting of the mail. They told me how it worked as they began working again.

“We have a system,” Larry said. “One of us opens the mail, clipping the envelopes to the cards and letters; then we date stamp it, while the other two start to read and sort them into in the appropriate piles. Jessica had us keep an eye out for those weird ones.”

Amelia spoke up. “We all recognize the handwriting on those by now.” She was the one opening the mail this time. “I flipped through this lot and didn’t see any of those here.”

Larry continued, “Jessica has form letters and signed photos for the regular responses. We print up envelopes and send those out for her.” He pointed to three other piles that were apart from the others. “She deals with the ones that need personal responses.”

“Great, I’ll set those aside for when she returns, probably on Monday.” They nodded and then everyone got back to work. I turned on the laptop and checked the items that Jessica said would need attention. Emmett popped in the door just then. I introduced the students to him as a member of EG and excused myself for a minute.

“You were right,” he said. “It’s the same, but it’s not. Something is missing. I just don’t get it.” He looked as confused as I felt. “I scouted the other benches in the area and found the smallest amount of scent on several of them. The rain had washed most of it away. It seems like she’s been watching him from the surrounding area for a while now. Probably the whole two weeks that he’s been practicing here.”

I found myself feeling grateful that her agenda hadn’t escalated until just now. I shuddered to think what she could have done and hoped that we’d be able to keep her from doing anything now.

“I did go install those sensors at his house after you left this morning. I also uploaded a minor upgrade to his security system.” He continued, “I got a call from Officer Martin just before you called me this morning. He wants to check out the vandalism at the Newton’s house and file a police report. I’ll pick Mike up at the hospital and take him over to their house to meet with him at 11:00. Then I’ll take him back to the hospital and come back by here.”

“That sounds good. We need to keep close to Edward right now. Since the stalker was so close to him this morning, there is no telling just what their plan is, and I don’t want to let him out of our sight right now. She knows his routine, and we don’t want her to have an opportunity to get really close to him.” I told him that Alice couldn’t see anything concrete yet, but that the danger appeared to be escalating.

I mentioned that Angela was meeting us for lunch at one if he wanted to join us. He said that he’d find something else to do. Eating lunch that he’d have to hack up later didn’t really appeal to him. I could understand that. We were well practiced at keeping up the eating appearances, but sometimes we had to actually eat. Human food pretty much tasted like dirt, and we’d rather not eat it if we didn’t have to.

He left, and as I turned to go back into the conference room a security guard approached me. “Ms. Cullen?” he asked.

“Yes, I’m Ms. Cullen. What can I help you with?” I could see that he had a large envelope in his hand. Edward’s name was written on it in the handwriting that I had come to know.

“We found this taped to the door this morning when we unlocked the building. I showed it to Mr. Masen just now, and he told me to bring it to you.” He held the envelope out to me. As I took it, I could smell the stalker’s scent on it. It was the complete scent, not the one where something was missing. I just didn’t get it.

“Thank you very much. If anything else shows up, please bring it directly to me, okay?” I asked. He nodded and turned to walk back towards the rear of the building.

I turned the thick envelope over in my hand. Edward’s name was written in red ink, and there were hearts sprinkled around his name. I could feel that there wasn’t just a note inside. Quickly turning it over, I slit the flap open with my fingernail and shook the contents out into my hand.

A pair of white lacey boy shorts, that had obviously been worn, came out first. They were quickly followed by a note card and a matted photo. I held the underwear cautiously in one hand and turned the photo so that I could see it clearly.

Centered in the photo was a girl, facing away from the camera and looking up into Edward’s eyes. I couldn’t see her face, just the back of her head. She was wearing a cowgirl hat, and her long brown curls were hanging down her back. She was on her tiptoes, leaning in to Edward; the white boy shorts were peeking out beneath her too short denim skirt. Edward’s face was shuttered; there was no engagement there at all, only discomfort. There was a date stamp on the lower right hand corner. It was the date of the impromptu autograph session.

Written in red sharpie in the upper left hand corner were the words:

 

Our first meeting…Before we are together forever…

 

In the lower right hand corner there were the initials “LM” entwined with “EM” and even more hearts.

The card, handwritten in red sparkly gel pen, read:

 

The Joy that I feel knowing that YOU Love Me…

 Fills my heart with Bliss…

 You are worthy of the Best…

 And I am that for You…

 You are my Sun…

 I am your Moon…

 You are my Everything…

 I am your All…

 The time is fast Approaching…

 Soon we will never have to Part…

 Our Lives will be Entwined…

 Forever and Always…

 For as long as you shall live…

 

Please Leave Comments Here! Thanks!

[katmom]

Chapter 13

 

~~~Taken~~~

 

I growled as I tried to tie my tie for the third time. First I had tried it with my eyes open, then with them closed, and once while I was looking in the mirror. No joy any of those times. Jessica always did this for me before my concerts, having taken my mom’s place in this small chore. My hands were suddenly pushed aside by a pair of small, cool ones. I looked down into sparkling golden eyes.

“Here,” she said. “Let me do it.” Bella bit her bottom lip gently as she tamed the knot in my tie. She settled it closely but not too tightly against my throat. “There, how’s that?” she asked, after stepping back and eyeing it.

It took me a couple of moments to make a coherent thought, much less an articulate sentence. I shook my head, trying to clear it; the scent of freesia, strawberries and that special something that was Bella had almost overwhelmed me. Shaking my head again, I turned to look into the full length mirror on the wall of the dressing room. The tie did look good.

“Thank you, Bella.” I smiled down at her. “It looks great.” She smiled in return and picked up my coat, holding it out so that I could slip my arms into it. I turned and let her slip it up onto my shoulders. Her small hands smoothed the fabric down and picked a minute piece of lint off of it.

“There, you look gorgeous.” Bella smiled up into my eyes. Again, sound thought left me.

She turned to put the hanger back on the rack, which gave me an opportunity to get myself together. The concert would start in about 20 minutes. The butterflies that I always got in anticipation of playing for such a large crowd had already made their way into my stomach. It was a glorious feeling, now compounded by having Bella close to me. She stirred feelings in me, too, feelings that I had never thought to have.

She started to speak. “Edward, don’t worry about tonight. We--Emmett, Rosalie and I--plus the University Security Staff are all looking out for you. Even though we don’t know what 'LM' looks like for sure, we’ll be watching.” She glanced back up at me, her lashes so thick around her eyes. A smudge of violet, like a bruise, lay beneath her eyes. “Just play and enjoy yourself. We’ll keep you safe.”

 

~o~O~o~

 

“Don’t worry…we’ll keep you safe.” That was what she had said yesterday when she, Rosalie and Alice had come to me after the practice and before we headed out to eat.

Victor and I had just finished up with the orchestra, telling them that the final run through would be at 11 on Saturday morning. I saw Bella come into the auditorium with Rosalie beside her. They sat down and spoke with Alice. I watched the three of them together. Blonde hair, mahogany hair, black hair; close together in quiet conversation. They were all so different, yet so much alike. They were all so pale, so beautiful. They walked with such grace. Their eyes were shades of gold and topaz.

After I spoke with Victor about the practice the next day, I had jumped off the stage and approached the women. They had all looked up at me and stood when I got close to them.

“What’s up?” I asked.

All of their faces were a bit tense, and I wondered what had come up. I had sent the security guard to Bella with the envelope. Even though I was curious, I hadn’t wanted to open it right then. The practice had to go on, so many people depending on me to keep things together.

“What was in the envelope?”

Bella glanced at her sisters and then turned to look up at me. “Let’s go back to the conference room. You’re done here, right?”

“Yes, we’ll all come back tomorrow at eleven and have a straight run-through for the concert. That will probably take about two and a half hours, maybe three. Then we’ll meet back at seven o'clock to prepare for the concert at eight.” I was rambling, stalling for time. I did want to know what was in the envelope, but I didn’t, too.

We were all walking to the side door, and I held it for them as we passed through it. The conference room was just down the hallway. The door was closed. I opened it, and we stepped inside. The student temps were gone, and the mail was all neatly arranged in sorted piles.

At the far end of the table, next to the envelope with my name on it, were three items. A picture, a card, and good heavens... was that a pair of underwear? Now I was grateful that I hadn’t opened it myself. Ugh!

Bella led me towards the items. She picked up the photo and handed it to me. “This is from the day when that group of people came through the hall. See? It has a date stamp.”

I shuddered when I saw the inscription.

 

Our first meeting…Before we are together forever…

 

What the heck? FOREVER? What exactly did that mean? The initials LM and EM entwined creeped me out, too. I raised my eyes to see the three women watching me.

“Now, there is some good news here,” Bella said. “We are pretty sure that the stalker’s initials are LM, that she wasn’t just adding her first name to yours.”

So, how many name combinations could we come up with for that? Only a million or so!

Lana Miller

Lois Manson

Laura Maine

Lisa Monroe

Lucy Malcolm

Yeah, that wasn't a lot of help.

“Also, someone took this picture for LM. She might have just asked some stranger to snap it for her, or she may have had someone with her.” Rosalie asked, “Can you think back to when this woman was with you. Can you remember anyone being with her?”

Closing my eyes, I tried to remember. The photo had jogged my memory. It had certainly caught how uncomfortable I had felt. That young woman had held my hand much too tightly, while leaning towards me. The look in her eyes had been intense. Her eyes were blue, pale and washed out. So many people tried to make connections with me at things like this. I know they felt like they really knew me. It was a weird feeling.

Looking back, there had been so many flashbulbs going off; several of the people had had cameras with them. People had cell phones out, too, snapping pictures with them. I couldn’t remember who was holding which camera and who they were with.

“I’m sorry. I just can’t remember.” I dropped my head in defeat.

Bella stepped closer and put her hand on my arm again. She gave a little squeeze, and I covered her hand with my own. It was so cool, almost cold. I squeezed it back. Her touch was very comforting to me for some reason.

I picked up the card and read it next.
 

The Joy that I feel knowing that YOU Love Me…

Fills my heart with Bliss…

You are worthy of the Best…

And I am that for You…

You are my Sun…

I am your Moon…

You are my Everything…

I am your All…

The time is fast Approaching…

Soon we will never have to Part…

Our Lives will be Entwined…

Forever and Always…

For as long as you shall live…

Shock coursed through my system, followed quickly by adrenaline. “This sounds totally…totally…uh; I don’t even have words for this!” My voice was loud as it echoed throughout the room. “This nut is totally deluded! How can I love her? I don’t even know who she is! And this part: for as long as you shall live? Me? For as long as I shall live?” Several swear words ran through my mind, and I fought to keep my mouth shut in front of the ladies beside me.

My fight must have shown on my face because Rosalie laughed and said, “Hey, if you want to swear, you can. I know that I had a few choice words to say when I read it!”

That actually caused me to laugh a bit, and the women joined in. I could feel some of the tension leaving me.

“So, Rosalie, please tell me that you at least found some good news at the Post Office or Radio Shack?” My eyes were pleading with her to have found this nut’s home address, and that they were on their way to confront her.

“Sorry, Edward.” She shook her head in denial. “The Post Office Box was paid in advance for three months, two months ago, with cash. The volume of mail that goes through that branch is immense, and there is just no way for them to keep track of everyone that comes and goes there.” A small smile crossed her face as she continued. “I did get them to check and see what was in it right now. Unfortunately, there was only mail addressed to occupant.”

She heaved a sigh. “Radio Shack looked up the numbers for the GPS systems. They were also paid for with cash about three weeks ago. They sell so many of those that no one happened to remember who bought them.”

“So we are at a standstill. No other leads.” I looked back at the note that was still in my hand. “I think that I can safely say that she’s crazy!” Without really wanting to, my eyes were drawn to the underwear. I pointed to them. “What’s THAT about?”

Bella said, “Those were also in the envelope. Apparently, they are the ones that she was wearing when the picture was taken. For whatever reason, she must have thought that you’d enjoy them as a gift.”

“This is just sick. ROCK STARS get things like this. NOT concert pianists!” A shudder ran through me.

Alice came close to me. “Edward, you need to stop worrying. That’s Bella’s job, and Rosalie’s and Emmett’s.” She looked into my eyes. Hers were strong and piercing. “This psycho will mess up, and she won’t be close to you when she does it. And they will be THERE to take her down and to keep you safe. Believe in them; they ARE the best.”

A deep breath escaped me. I knew that Jessica was safe right now, and I had Elite Guardians on my side. It would work out; they would make sure of it.

~o~O~o~

Angela found us in the conference room just before one. She was so excited to meet the Edward Masen. Rosalie and Alice claimed a prior commitment, so it was just Edward, Angela and I for lunch. I suggested the sushi place over on Magnolia, knowing that Angela was a big fan. Also, it was easy for me to “hide” sushi in my purse.

We rode over to the restaurant in my Volvo. Rosalie had driven it to the University for me. She took Edward’s Vanquish back to his place, much to her joy. He was okay with that after they looked into the engine and spoke in “Auto Speak” for several minutes. She had some ideas about how to fine tune it a bit; the tune up would make it faster. He was all for that. And I was all for having him off the stalker’s grid for now. Emmett was going to pick her up at Edward’s place.

We had a good time at lunch. Alice was right; Edward was quite charming. He certainly charmed Angela, and if I was honest, he charmed me too.

After lunch, Angela headed back to our office with the signed contract. Edward had made sure that she had two tickets to the concert for tomorrow night. She would bring Ben. He also invited them to the reception that would follow the concert.

Jessica had called me earlier to remind me to pick up Edward’s tux from the tailor’s. It was a new one and had to have a few alterations. We went to the shop together. He tried it on to make sure that the fit was correct. As he stood before the tri-mirror and discussed the alterations with the tailor, all I could think was: Wow…just wow.

He and the orchestra wore formal wear for the first half of the concert. For the second half, he would lose the coat and tie and just wear the shirt (the top three buttons undone) with the vest; it would be very informal. Their playlist was contemporary for that section of the concert.

The tux, with tails, just accentuated how tall he was, how buff. Holy Crow! I sounded just like one of those teeny bopper fans he was talking about earlier. Good thing he couldn’t read my mind.

After we left the tailor, we stopped and picked up takeout from a Chinese restaurant that Edward said Jessica liked. Even with the five star chefs at the hospital cafeteria, he thought she might like that instead. We took the food in, and then I left him in the safety of the Maternity ward with Jessica and Mike. I told them that I had a few errands to run and that I’d be back around nine to take him back to his place.

A t-shirt out of his dirty laundry basket was on the passenger seat beside me as I made my way back home for a change of clothes. Maybe I’d add a run out to the mountains to hunt, too. I was a little worried that being away from Edward would make it hard for me to control my thirst when I met back up with him. Thus the shirt might keep me grounded in his scent.

Could vampires become addicted to something? Addicted to anything? Edward had only been out of my sight for 20 minutes, and I had already picked up his shirt and buried my nose in it three times!

While running errands and being near him all day, I had found myself trying to stay downwind of him; that way his scent was always enveloping me, essentially washing over me. The burn was pushed to the back of my mind, still there, but not at the front of my thoughts. At the front was the need to be near him. I kept finding myself turning to face him, adjusting my body to be in line with him. Whenever I realized I was doing so, I’d adjust myself away from him…then my mind would wander, and I’d be aligned with him again. Good grief, what was up with me?

After I arrived home, Rosalie, Emmett and I fine tuned our plans for Saturday, and then I did head out to hunt for a short time. Jasper decided to join me. Even though I had just hunted, the strain of the blood lust was draining me just a bit. I certainly didn’t want any other kind of draining to go on, so hunting was a good idea.

We didn’t have to go far before we crossed the trail of a small herd of deer. I quickly took one and then another. Jasper found an elk a short distance away. He was waiting for me, leaning on a tree, when I made my way back to the edge of the woods.

“Want to talk about what’s going on with you?” he asked. “I can feel so many things from you right now. Would it help to talk about it?” He looked down into my eyes. I could see my emotions being played out over his face. Confusion was the leading one, followed closely by concern, fear and something else. Something I hadn’t wanted to face just yet.

I could feel Jasper using his gift. A sense of calm settled over me, allowing my mind to clear. “I feel confused about WHAT I feel,” I said with a laugh. “There’s concern because this stalker is getting closer to my client, and I’m afraid of what she might be willing to do to get him forever.”

We were running back to the house now; the cool wind fanned my cheeks. It felt good and fresh. Jasper’s face was intent as he contemplated my words. “Do you want to know what I sense and what I see?” he asked.

He stopped running, and I stopped beside him. Did I want to know? I had an inkling of what it might be, but I was afraid. I had never felt this way before, but I had seen it with my own eyes with Carlisle and Esme; with Rosalie and Emmett; with Alice and Jasper.

Taking a breath and hoping for strength, I told him, “Yes, please tell me what you sense in me.”

“First, I have to tell you how proud I am of you.” He reached out and put his arm around my shoulders as we continued walking towards the house. “I fought my blood lust for so long. Even now I have moments where I have to really fight for control, and that’s just against regular human blood, not even against a singer’s blood.” He squeezed my shoulders again. “It’s worth it for me to continue fighting. Teaching history is just so much fun; making it come alive for these students. But, it’s hard on me sometimes.”

I had my arm around his waist, and I hugged him back. We all knew the battles that he fought so often, but his resolve was set in stone. He wouldn’t let his inner monster loose. Teaching was just too important to him.

“Now, while I sense the confusion in you, I also sense something new.” He looked down at me as we walked. “There’s a light in you that wasn’t there before, some kind of spark. I saw it begin when I met Edward with you yesterday. Today, the spark has grown into a fire, one that appears to be warming you from the inside out.” He laughed gently and said, “You have always been beautiful, but now you are seriously glowing, and the sun isn’t even shining on you! I see that glow on Alice’s face every day. And on Rosalie and Esme’s, too. It’s what happens when they each look at their mates. It’s what happens, in a more manly way,” he winked down at me, “when we look at them. We are taken by each other…we love each other…”

“What?” I couldn’t believe what he was saying. “I’m glowing?” I felt my face scrunch up in dissent. “Jasper, maybe your senses are off. My mother and sisters always look at you guys like…” I paused, and I knew a look of amazement covered my face as my mouth dropped open.

“Denial... it isn’t just a river in Egypt.” He laughed as he let my shoulders go and took off in a dead sprint for home. “Last one home has to go shopping with Alice…in Paris!”

I stood for the barest second, taking in what he had said, and then I was after him like a shot. No Paris for me! AND, I was not taken with Edward Masen, really, I wasn’t.

 

~o~O~o~

 

Once again, I offered Bella a cup of tea before we went upstairs to sleep. She declined but sat with me while we talked about the day and what the plan would be for tomorrow.

I usually spent an hour or two at the gym early in the day before a concert. After the final run through with the orchestra, I would just sit and play the piano, either the one at my hotel if we were on the road or, this time, the one here in my music room for a couple of hours. Usually Jessica and Mike would join me for dinner about five, and then I’d head to the auditorium to get ready for the concert at about seven. I tried to keep the day of concerts relaxing and low key.

This time, instead of going out to eat, we’d be taking food into the hospital again. And this time, I’d have Bella or one of the others with me at all times.

We had pretty much talked through the subject of the envelope from LM earlier today, so there wasn’t much left to say about that subject. I hated having to wait for HER next move since we didn’t have any clear leads on her. It still bothered me though.

I think that Bella saw that because she told me again to let her do the worrying. She then said, “Do you think that little girl could get past EMMETT? And you haven’t seen Rosalie, or me for that matter, in our badass bodyguard mode. Rosalie is flat out scary!”

That made me laugh, and she said it was time to get some rest. I turned off the lights, and we walked up the stairs to our rooms. At her door, I once again found my hand raising; I wanted to touch her cheek again. To see if it was as smooth and cool as I remembered it was. The urge to lean in and get a big lungful of the freesia and strawberry aroma that surrounded her was hard to contain.

I was so taken with this woman. A shudder came over her eyes, and she leaned back just a bit; maybe she was afraid that I was going to sniff her again. I stifled the urge to roll my eyes at how gauche I had been yesterday and stepped back myself, nodding goodnight to her. I was walking away and heard her voice whisper, “Goodnight.”

 

~o~O~o~

 

He had almost touched me; I was sure of it. After my conversation with Jasper, I wasn’t really sure how I felt about that. I knew that I was really enjoying the time we spent together. I knew that I was very concerned about what LM may have planned, and I wanted him to be safe. But what else was going on? Jasper said that I was “glowing”, that a spark had been lit inside me. As he walked away from me towards his bedroom, I knew that right then I was annoyed that humans needed to sleep, because I was going to miss him for the next several hours.

Unless…well, unless I spent my night the way I had last night. Sitting in his room, in the dark, watching him sleep. Holy Crow! Maybe I was some kind of pervert! Maybe I was as bad as the stalker!

I had talked to Alice about last night. She had assured me that she thought it was sweet and that she had only told Jasper about my nighttime adventure. She swore she wouldn’t tell Emmett; I’d never live that down!

A hot shower relaxed me. When I went to get my sweat pants and t-shirt from my bag, all I found was a set of silky pajamas, short ones, in hyacinth blue. Alice! Someday I was really going to beat that pixie. But it wouldn’t be tonight…

After less than an hour, I could hear Edward’s breath even out and his heartbeat slow down. He was asleep. It hadn’t taken him as long tonight, not nearly as long as last night. Maybe he was more at ease about his safety tonight.

I made another sweep of the house, checking the doors and windows. As I stepped out on to the front porch, I took a deep breath but found no hint of the stalker. I did the same on the back porch; nothing there either. After relocking the doors and setting the alarm, I stepped into the music room. I ran my fingers lightly over the keys of the black baby grand. We had spent a pleasant hour in here earlier today. He had started out by playing Claire de Lune by Debussy and finished with his mother’s song while I sat on a chaise near the windows. Watching his fingers move on the keys was fascinating. Sometimes he would look up at me and smile. Yes, it had been a very pleasant hour.

As I left the music room and walked slowly towards the stairs, I realized that something was off. I could hear that Edward’s breathing was becoming a bit labored, and his heart rate was climbing. I hurried up the stairs, rushing past my open door. The light from there spilled out of the room, just barely illuminating Edward’s bedroom door at the far end of the hallway.

I came to a quiet stop outside his door. A groan from inside his room had me opening the door without another thought. There was no danger that I could see, no one lurking in the darkness, but Edward apparently had been thrashing in his bed. The comforter had slipped to the floor, and the sheet was tangled around his legs. A couple of the pillows had slipped off the bed and were lying on the floor. Edward was wearing a pair of gray sweat pants; they had ridden low on his hips.

An agonized moan came from his parted lips as he raised his arm over his head, settling his face in the crook of his arm. Another moment passed as I watched him, wondering what was happening. With another groan, he turned on his side. A sob started deep in his chest. The sound tore at my heart. His head started to shake back and forth. Another grating sob erupted from him; another stab to my soul. He was hurting so badly.

What should I do? Should I just let the nightmare run its course? Should I wake him? In my very long life, this was a first for me: a human having a nightmare.

Then he spoke, clearly. “No! Pull the nose up! UP!” And with a sudden shout, Edward sat up in the bed, his shoulders shaking. I couldn’t stand it anymore and moved quickly to the side of the bed and crawled up on it. I moved close to him, and then I knelt beside him.

“Don’t go!” he cried out again, his head thrown back in apparent agony.

“Edward, it’s okay. I’m here.” I put my hands on his shoulders and shook him the smallest amount. The skin of his naked shoulders was hot, almost burning to my cool hands.

He jerked away from me as his eyes finally opened. Tears started to trail down his flushed cheeks.

Even though he was looking at me, I had the feeling that he wasn’t really awake and seeing me. I shook him lightly again and hushed him quietly.

With a groan, he leaned towards me and wrapped his arms around my small frame, pulling me into his embrace. I was shocked into stillness as Edward pressed his face into the curve of my neck and breathed deeply for another long moment. He was trying to contain another sob, and my arms came up around him as I held him closer.

“Hush, shhh, you were having a nightmare.” I brought one hand up and ran my fingers through his hair. It was so soft and silky. The tension was starting to ebb from his body.

“The plane... it was falling again,” he whispered into my neck. He sighed deeply as his arms tightened around me. “I only have the dream a couple of times a year, which really seems like too much. I dream that I’m hiking in the woods near my home in Colorado. I see the plane carrying my parents back from the convention. Its circling high up, almost too high to see. But in my dream I know that it’s their plane. I’m on a ridge in the mountains, and I see it start to fall. I always yell for them to pull the nose up. And it never works…it still crashes. There’s fire everywhere, and I can’t get close.” He shuddered again, and my arms tightened around him once again.

“It didn’t really happen that way. I wasn’t hiking. I was at the house. The crash site isn’t even anywhere near there.” His breathing was becoming steady, but his arms remained locked around me. “A sheriff that knows our family found Mike at work, and he came with them to tell me the news.” I could feel him shake his head in my neck. “On the one hand, I know that there wasn’t anything that I could have done to stop the accident, but on the other, I keep wishing that there had been.”

Not able to stop myself, I had moved my hand back to his hair. The stroking of it seemed to calm him even more.

I could feel the change in his body when he realized that he was holding me, in the middle of the night, in the middle of his bed. He stiffened and moved back away from me just a little bit. His heart rate began to rise again. I moved away and sat back on my heels. We were still very close together in the quiet of his room.

“Thank you,” he whispered. “I’ve never had someone with me when I’ve had the dream before.” He flushed a bit as he continued, “It’s easier, somehow, to not be alone when I’ve just been jerked awake out of that mess.”

Trying to make him more at ease, I said, “Well, as a bodyguard…your bodyguard, I’m glad that I was here to help you through this.”

His face was so soft and vulnerable as I looked into his dark eyes. Once again, he raised his hand, paused for just a moment, and then he slowly drew his fingertips across my cheekbone. He finished by cupping his hand under my jaw. Even though I knew somewhere in my vampire mind that this was not a good idea, I leaned into his hand, resting my cheek there.

I closed my eyes so that I could just concentrate on the feel of the heat from his hand. It was fabulous. After a few moments, and with a sigh of my own, I opened my eyes and leaned back the smallest bit. His hand dropped slowly back to his side.

“I know it’s a lot to ask,” he said as he looked into my eyes. “But will you sleep here tonight beside me? I promise to be the gentleman that my mother raised, but I know that I won’t be able to sleep after the nightmare. And being near you, well, I don’t have the right words, but it’s comforting to me.”

After staring into his eyes and weighing the consequences for a moment, I came to a decision. I slipped off the bed and retrieved the pillows, handing them to him. Then I twitched the sheet out from around his hips and legs and shook it out and placed it back on to the bed. The comforter was soft in my hands when I picked it up from the floor and fluffed it out across the sheet. Edward scooted over out of the middle of the bed when I crawled in at the side. He settled onto his right side, facing me where I lay down on my left side. There was a good foot of space between us.

The silence of the room was warm and comforting. He reached out his right hand to me, and I placed my right one in it. He pulled it to his face and settled his cheek on it. Edward gave a deep sigh that washed his sweet breath over me and closed his eyes. His breathing quickly settled into a slow rhythm, and he was soon asleep, my hand held firmly in his own.

At least this time I was in Edward’s room by permission. I settled down to watch him sleep. I realized that that little spark that Jasper had seen, that he thought was beginning to flame, had become a bonfire. I was drawn to Edward Masen like a moth to a flame, and I would probably suffer the same fate as that moth, or he would. Even knowing that this couldn’t possibly become anything more than an assignment, I couldn’t stop my mind from pursuing the thoughts of “what if” and “maybe”…and more importantly “why not?”

Yes, why not?

 

~o~O~o~

 

I couldn’t believe that she was staying, here in my bed with me. I really wanted to stay awake and watch her sleep. Well, I wanted to do more than that, but I had promised to be a gentleman. I wanted to think over the last few minutes, of how I had felt to see her face when I woke from that hideous nightmare. But all I could do was breathe in her sweet aroma and feel her hand pressed to my cheek…I took another deep breath and remembered what she had said earlier, “Don’t worry…we’ll keep you safe.” And I did feel safe as I drifted off to sleep.

 

~o~O~o~

Please Leave Comments Here! Thanks!

[katmom]

This one starts like the last chapter, but from Bella’s POV…she had an epiphany overnight, after his nightmare.

Chapter 14

 

~~~Epiphany~~~

 

I heard a growl and spun around to face the danger. I laughed to myself when I realized that it was just Edward venting his frustration over trying to tame his tie. Quickly moving in front of him, I pushed his hands away and said, “Here, let me do it.” I bit my lip to help myself focus on the tie and not on the incredibly handsome man standing before me. Settling the tie against his neck, I stepped back to inspect my work. “There, how’s that?”

Edward shook his head slightly from side to side. Maybe I didn’t do it right? But then he stepped over to the mirror and inspected himself.

“Thank you, Bella,” he said as he smiled down at me. “It looks great.”

I smiled in return and picked up his coat, holding it out so that he could slip his arms into it. I slipped it up onto his wide shoulders and then smoothed the fabric down. There was a small bit of lint on his shoulder, and I removed it.

“There. You look gorgeous.” I smiled up into his eyes, trying to fill the Pianist Assistant’s role for him. Jessica said that he tended to get just slightly nervous before concerts, and she tried to keep him grounded and stress free. She also said that the butterflies he got just kept him more focused and that I shouldn’t try to shoo them all away.

I was guessing that he may have been just a bit more tense than usual because of the worry about the stalker. Without a firm lead, we had to wait to see what LM’s next move would be, and I hated that. I was sure he hated it too.

“Edward, don’t worry about tonight. We, Emmett, Rosalie and I, plus the University Security Staff are all looking out for you. Even though we don’t know what “LM” looks like for sure, we’ll be watching.” I glanced back up at him; he really was so beautiful. I never thought that a human man could be called that, but he surely was.

He had run a brush through his hair and then used a bit of gel to try and tame it. All that did was make it seem more alive. I had a feeling that the women in the audience wouldn’t just be listening to him play; they would be longing to run their fingers through his hair…just like I was. Now I was the one that needed to focus!

“Just play and enjoy yourself. We’ll keep you safe.”

I had every reason to believe that we would do just that. Besides having Emmett and Rosalie here keeping watch, Alice, Jasper, Esme and Carlisle were here as well. They would be sitting in the audience. The University Security Staff had been in on our briefings this morning, and they were also on alert against LM.

Still, a small sliver of worry was nagging at me. I felt that there was something that I was missing, and I detested that. Missing anything was not an option. Not for me and certainly not with regard to Edward’s safety.

His safety and well being were rapidly becoming paramount in my mind and in my heart.

A part of my vampire brain kept running the night before through my mind, like a movie. I had lain in his bed and watched him sleep for several hours after his nightmare. He had finally rolled away from me, but I had stayed on the bed, just listening to his steady breaths.

Then he had said a few words. That’s when the brand that I had felt as he touched my cheek became a brand that seared my heart. The words he spoke touched the very core of my existence. He had said, “Bella, please stay. I need you.”

He needed me, at least in his dreams.

I had gotten out of his bed and sat in the armchair, my feet curled beneath me. All at once the feelings that I had discussed with Jasper and the emotions that I had been feeling came together in my mind. These things had all been funneling through me towards this one point.

I loved Edward Masen.

I loved the way he cared so deeply for his friends.

I loved the way he shared his talent to help others.

I loved the way he fit with my family, joking and being at ease with them. At ease with VAMPIRES! Even though he didn’t know what we are, he hadn’t flinched away, not even once. Humans always tried to keep a distance between us and them. And he hadn’t.

I loved how intelligent he was. The books in his library had actually been read; they weren’t there just for show.

I loved his funny sense of humor. He had made me laugh so many times already.

I loved his protective side. He had thought that I wanted HIM to protect Alice the other day.

I loved to look into his deep green eyes. I loved the way he looked back at me, like he was seeing into my soul.

I loved the way his hair was so wild, and now I knew how wonderful it felt beneath my fingertips. I loved the line of his jaw and wanted to run my lips along it.

I loved the way his touch seemed to reach deep inside of me. If we ever kissed, I think that I would probably just burst into flames, just spontaneously combust!

That was a huge concern for me. Could I actually be with a human, in any way, shape or form? Would I have enough control to NOT kill him with a misjudged caress? Would the venom in my mouth change him if I kissed him? So many questions, and the man barely even knew me.

Three of our cousins in Alaska, members of the Denali Coven, were the original succubae. The myths of the succubus were started after they had met with human men. They were now vegetarians, like us. But they had started out by mating with, and then killing, their lovers. After centuries of killing, the Denali women had embraced a different moral code: Love them and leave them. Meaning: leave them alive. They had come to that policy after becoming drinkers of animal blood, not human.

After I had been changed and joined Carlisle and Esme, the Denalis had asked if I wanted to learn their ways, but I had declined the offer. Finding a mate, temporary or otherwise, had never been on my list of things to do. Yes, I had felt lonesome at times, especially when any or all of the couples that I lived with got frisky. But I had never found that spark before. Not until now. And now it was with a human. I rolled my eyes. What was I thinking? I guess that was the crux of the problem. For the first time, I wasn’t actually thinking, I was feeling.

And it was glorious.

Maybe I should give Tanya a call, just to ask a couple of questions. Could I be subtle? Wait! I was jumping to such titanic conclusions. Yes, I loved Edward, but I didn’t even know how he felt. He seemed to like me, but he was such a charming, polite man; he may have been just being kind.

I had asked earlier, “Why not?” Now I was asking, “How?”

I had only known Edward for a couple of days. How could my heart be involved so quickly and so completely? Years ago I had asked Alice how she knew that Jasper was her one love, her soul mate. She said that she had seen it from the time she had opened her eyes as a vampire. That she had always known that she would meet him and that they would be together forever. Her gift had kept her searching him out, kept her on track to find him.

During that time I had also asked Esme the same question. Looking back on her answer now, it sounded like both Carlisle and Esme had felt like I had when I met Edward as my La Tua Cantante. Except for them it had been their hearts singing for each other. They had just known.

A sigh left my lips. Change was hard for a vampire; we were so much like the stone our bodies resembled. At the time of our change, everything that we were was set, permanently. Our likes, our dislikes, even the way we looked. Only something huge could change anything about us. Like love. Love could change us. When love came to a vampire, it was there forever.

That’s just great…I had already been leaning in that direction, and with a few words Edward had spoken in a dream state, I’d been pushed into love.

I guess that really wasn’t a fair assumption, if I were to be honest with myself. I had been feeling the stirrings of love, and his words just solidified it for me.

Now the what if’s were harder. What if he had been dreaming about something other than me? Human dreams were often just a mishmash of things from their day, not always about the longings of their hearts. He could have just as easily been dreaming that I was leaving the table at lunch earlier.

As I thought about that, I realized it didn’t matter. My heart had been taken, taken over completely by Edward. I had never thought that I’d feel this way, and it was amazingly wonderful. Knowing the way that I was, over analyzing everything, I decided that I’d just bask for a few moments, just enjoy the feeling of warmth that coursed through me. I would just enjoy the feeling of LOVE that filled every atom of my existence. It was astonishing, simply incredible.

If Edward ever loved me in return, I knew that my feelings would probably just overwhelm me. I enjoyed thinking about that for a few moments. Another sigh left me as reality swept over me. How could he ever love me? I was a vampire, a monster who lusted for his blood, his sweet luscious blood. Even now, knowing that I loved him, the burn in my throat was still hurting me. I had to exert a great deal of strength to keep it at bay. Holy Crow, I could kill him with an overzealous kiss, much less anything more intimate.

I’d never age, and he would grow old and die. The mere thought of that happening sent a shock of fear and loss rampaging through me. I leapt to my feet. What was I going to do? I had just found him. How could I let him grow old and die?

My cell phone began ringing. It was in my room. After a quick look at Edward’s sleeping face, I ran down the hall and scooped up my phone and answered it.

“Bella!” Alice’s voice was excited. I could picture her jumping up and down in her fervor. “I’ve just seen something. Jasper said I shouldn’t say anything, but you have to know!”

I was trying to get a word in edgewise, but she was going on and on. She finally seemed to hear me ask, “WHAT did you see? Did you see the stalker?”

That took her enthusiasm level down several notches. “Sorry, no…I do still see the danger, the flashes of red, but that’s not the vision that you need to know about right now. This vision was so complete. It was like watching a movie in my head. I wish all of my visions were so clear…”

I rolled my eyes, just wishing that she’d spit it out already! “Okay, I’m waiting to hear it. Are you actually going to tell me?”

“Oh! Yes! I just saw you and Edward. He was smiling down at you. It was in the springtime. There were flowers blooming, filling the meadow where you both were standing.” She paused to take a deep breath and then continued, “His eyes weren’t green, Bella…”

What? What was she saying? Of course his eyes were green. I’d enjoyed looking into them several times just yesterday!

“Bella, his eyes were golden…just like ours.”

Could vampires go into shock? I hadn’t thought so, but right now I felt like I may have been doing so. “Bella, did you hear me?” Alice was yelling into the phone that I still held down at my side.

~o~O~o~

I shook my head to clear it, looking over at Edward in his tux. The concert would be starting shortly. Alice and I had spoken briefly after she told me about her vision. She kept assuring me that her visions were based on decisions that had been made, that her visions were subjective.

At that point I had heard Edward start to stir. I had said goodbye to Alice and gotten dressed. How was I going to react to Edward? How was he going to react to me? Thinking that it would be best to meet on neutral territory, I made my way to the kitchen and waited for him there.

Edward came into the room and seemed grateful for the cup of coffee that I had prepared for him. He had thanked me for helping him through the aftermath of the dream. And then he had gone into the gym to get his pre-concert workout started. The rest of the day had gone by much like we had planned it the day before.

Gym

Practice with the orchestra

Quiet playing the piano at home for a couple of hours

Dinner with Jessica and Mike at the hospital

And now it was time for the concert. I smiled, thinking about the gentle touches we had shared throughout the day. I’d find myself putting my hand on his arm to get his attention. He’d do the same. A particularly lovely touch was when he’d put his hand in the middle of my back to guide me from place to place. It felt like he was taking care of me. We’d smile at each other too, rather like we knew a secret about the other.

I know my secret was that I loved him. I didn’t know what his was. I did know that I really enjoyed today…being with him.

The lights flickered to alert us that it was time for him to get on the stage.

“Bella,” he spoke in a whisper. I stepped closer to him and looked up into his eyes.

“Thank you, again, for being with me, both last night and today.” His eyes crinkled up as he broke into a huge smile. “I had the best time today, with you.”

I felt my breath catch in my throat as he leaned down towards me. I know he was going to kiss me. And I know that I wanted him too.

There was a loud knock on the door. The stage manager poked his head inside and said, “Mr. Masen, it’s time.”

Edward leaned back away from me and ran his fingers down my cheekbone. Now a soft grin was on his lips. He ran his thumb along my bottom lip. It felt like it was on fire. “Later, when we have time…” And then he turned and made his way out of the dressing room.

I put my fingers on my mouth, still feeling the heat he had left there. Later? I sure hoped that was a promise! I followed him out into the hallway, enjoying the view as his tux clad backside walked before me.

~o~O~o~

My baby…my baby girl was getting married tonight! She was twirling in her dress before the mirror. It was a lovely shade of ecru, with a long flowing skirt. The bodice was in a halter style, the style that showed off her assets so well. It looked more like a prom gown, but whatever my baby wanted, she got. She deserved the best.

“Where’s my veil, Mama?” the vision before me asked. “And my bouquet?”

“Not to worry, Sweetness, they are waiting for you at the cottage. We’ll get Edward and go there. It’s so pretty! You are going to love it!”

“But Mama, I want to know where!” My sweet daughter, when she whined, wasn’t quite that attractive.

“Sweetness, I want to surprise you! That’s why I didn’t tell you where. Just trust me that you are going to love it.” I sighed. So many months had gone into this plan. My baby deserved the finest of everything. Once she had decided that that was Edward Masen, well, I had done my best to get that for her.

Once we had his signature, all of my plans fell into place. Now it was time for the wedding and the start of our new life.

I was using a lovely home by the ocean for her nuptials. I had worked there years ago. It was isolated, which would work well with my plans. Right now the elderly Justice of the Peace and his lovely wife were making their way to the cottage. I had paid them a bonus to prepare the scene for us. They thought it was so romantic.

I had the drug ready, the one that would make Edward Masen compliant. Once the ceremony was over, and they had spent the night together, he would know what a catch my daughter was. He’d be happy with her and love her eternally…just like she deserved.

I did have a few contingent plans in place, just in case he was a tad bit resistant. Lauren knew that he might take a couple of days to come around, and she was good with that. I hadn’t told her about the chain, but it was in place too.

Now it was time to get to the auditorium. We both had our parts to play, and we would soon be secure for life. He had enough to take care of us both, the way that we deserved. Both of us.

“Come on, Sweetness. It’s time to go.”

Lauren got her little bag with her lip gloss and cell in it. I got my bag with my cell, the drug and gun in it. We both looked into the mirror one more time. She was so lovely with her swirly dress. My outfit was like a female tux. My vest was red. I really liked the contrast with the white shirt and the black of the coat and pants. It looked nice with my blonde hair too. I looked like I could be a member of the orchestra.

We were ready.

 

~o~O~o~

 
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