Chapter Four
~* Bella’s Point of View *~
It was just after dark when I opened my eyes again and all was quiet, only the faint ticking of my bedside timepiece could be heard and I briefly wondered where everyone was. I could have sworn I heard snarling just after Peter put me to bed and for a few seconds I thought Peter was going to kill Jasper. I didn’t get up to inspect the scene or to stop him. It wasn’t that I particularly wanted Peter to end him, but at the time I was just to sleepy to care.
But now, I was wide awake. Wide awake and ready for answers and not that rehearsed, cryptic bullshit they were spewing earlier, either. I understood that everybody has some things they wanted to keep for themselves, and I respected it. But not when it involved me.
Tick-tock…Tick-tock…Tick-tock…
“God, I hate that fucking clock,” I grumbled, realizing a second too late that I wasn’t as alone as I thought I was.
Peter’s heavy voice filled the silent air with a heavy chuckle, “Are you always so pleasant when you wake up?”
With a startled cry I scrambled to a sitting position, frantically brushing my hair back to free my eyes of the birds nest of tangled locks. When I could see again, I really wished I couldn’t because him sitting there looking incredibly casual, shirt parted at the collar, free of his usual neck-tie and sports coat made me want to do something incredibly foolish… like lick him.
I blushed vibrant red when I realized I was staring, or practically drooling and the incredibly smug and sexy smirk he sported a second later let me know he knew exactly where my train of thought had gone. “Shut up.” I grumbled halfheartedly, sniffing the air indignantly.
His highly amused chuckled followed as he leaned forward, his pouting lips just grazing my ear as his clove scented breath washed over my face when he whispered. “Why would I do that?” he asked in a sultry deep tone as his cool lips pressing just above my throbbing pulse. I shuddered uncontrollably, and my breathing grew heavy. “You’re so beautiful when you’re angry.”
If that wasn’t a like a cold bucket of water, I didn’t know what was. In a flash the tractor beam of lust and desire that pulled me to him was gone and I was left seething mad. It was only when the fog of lust induced mist lifted that I realized; I wasn’t supposed to be bantering, flirting and most certainly not necking with the cretin before me… no. Hell no, I was supposed to be angry and just like that I killed two birds with one expensive, annoying, antique crystal clock.
It shattered over his head like a storm of twinkling stars and by the look on his face I’d say he wasn’t expecting it. His eyes were wide that if I hadn’t been so pissed off at him I might have laughed at how comically shocked he looked. Just as quickly though, that look of complete and total confusion washed over him, it was gone, replaced by a look I could only describe as primal. But he wasn’t angry, oh no, his eyes burned brighter than fire with lust and it was all directed at me.
A growl rumbled from his chest as his lips parted into a crazed, maniacal smile. “Yessss!” he hissed, fangs near exploding in his mouth. “Hit me! Show me your spirit!… Mult prea mult timp a trecut de cand am simtit ultima focul, Zeita mea.” (1)
I could barely register what he was saying in English, never mind all the shit he said that I couldn’t, I was a woman on a mission. A mission to beat the living shit out of something and it just so happened that Peter was there, the giant elephant of mystery. I continued to thrash wildly against him, slapping his face and punching his chest and he let me. His eyes were blazing with lust and affection as his hysterical zealot laugh boomed around us, the glass of the window panes shuddering with the sheer force.
Utterly spent but still teaming with emotion, I sobbed, clutching frantically at Peter’s shirt as he drew me into his arms and cooed soothing words to the top of my head. “Shh,” he told me quietly as I hiccupped and gasped. “All will reveal itself in time. If you can be patient with me I will tell you things that others could only dream of knowing.”
Flushing with embarrassment, I nodded against his soaked shirt, wet from my tears. Kissing the top of my head and whispering something too low for me to hear he pulled me into a higher more comfortable position in between his legs. I don’t know why I allowed it. I was still very angry with him, but in light of my little breakdown I realized that in some sick, twisted way… I needed him. He was my comfort when I was upset. He was who I went to when I needed to be provided for. I didn’t understand it and this point, I wasn’t going to try. I was content to just be for a moment, my back pressed against Peter’s strong chest and my head lulled into his shoulder.
Or I would have been if my door hadn’t been opened a moment later by a nosy pixie-pire and her Southern-Seeking-His-Death, alleged non-husband. “Um…” she croaked nervously as her black head peeked through the crack of the door, eyes uncertain. “I hope we’re not interrupting something?”
I’m not immature enough to say that I didn’t turn my head and give her the stink eye, because I did. She knew damn well they were intruding on a private moment and I was in no mood to speak with either of them right now. If they pursued a conversation with me, I wouldn’t deny them but I also wasn’t going to be held responsible for my actions. My eyes were already shifting about looking for heavier things to throw.
“Not at all,” Peter replied genuinely, but I could hear the amusement in his tone. That sadistic bastard was probably just itching to see me get all riled up again.
I shot him a glare from under my lashes, trying to ignore the two shuffling through the doorway like a heard of wildebeests. “Jesus, have you two always been so loud!” I snapped and the fucked-up grin Peter had been sporting since I woke up was now a full on fang-smile. Apparently the sick creep liked an aggressive woman.
“You have no idea,” He murmured, nuzzling his nose against the sensitive skin of my neck. Jasper growled and like a light bulb I understood that Peter was teasing him, goading him into doing something foolish. He’s more insane than I thought!
My hair blew around my face, tickling my skin as Peter laughed quietly into my hair. “Yes I am.”
I rounded on him, my neck straining against the force of my head swinging around to look him dead in the eye. “You can read my mind!” I yelled, horrified that he had heard my earlier thoughts about him being sexy.
His laugh grew in volume as he threw his head back. “Forgive me,” he said after a moment. “I really thought you knew.”
I huffed, grumbling unladylike things under my breath, which I knew they all heard but keeping my eyes locked on Peter letting him know silently that that conversation was not over. As Alice let out a little giggle I turned my anger on them. I was highly embarrassed and just looking for an outlet. “Either the two of you sit down and shut up or you can get the fuck out! I’m done with your vampire bullshit for the evening.”
Alice’s face went completely slack, then turned angry as she stomped her foot like a scolded child and defiantly thrust her arms under her chest. I was about to tell her exactly what I thought about her little temper-tantrum when Peter hissed from behind me, his lips going a mile a minute across the top of my head. What ever he said seemed to do the trick because she looked terrified as she scrambled out an apology and went to sit at the window seat while Jasper warily took the club chair closer to the bed.
I wanted so badly to ask him what was going on with him, why his sudden interest in me but I didn’t dare with Peter sitting at my back. After this afternoons display of male hormones I wasn’t about to risk getting in the middle of a cock fight for curiosities sake.
Ignoring the fact that Peter could read my mind for now, I turned to my next question. It was an easy one in my mind and it shouldn’t be a problem for them to answer. “Where is the rest of your family?” I snarled. It hadn’t meant to come out so hostile but… well after what happened I could hardly contain some of the negative feelings I had for them.
Jasper who looked the most remorseful spoke first. “I believe they are somewhere in New Hampshire at the moment, but I’m not entirely sure. I… We’ve only spoken to Emmett and Rosalie a handful of times throughout the last six years.”
Trying to wrap my mind around that one and finding that I really couldn’t yet, I moved on. “Okay… So, you said earlier that neither of you were who you claimed to be, right?” at their nod. “Care to elaborate?”
It went on like that for hours, me asking questions, Jasper and Alice dodging the ones that Peter obviously told them to steer clear of and answering the ones they could.
Jasper, it turns out was the bad-ass feared vampire from the Southern Vampire Wars but he was there solely in a leadership position to watch over what Peter - chuckling, I might add - called his investments. But that also created a hiccup for me in the story I had once heard long ago. “Wait a minute,” I interrupted, waving my hands like a lunatic. “I thought…” Trailing off, I gathered my wits.
“Obviously you’re not Peter’s sire then?” I asked with a groan.
At that everyone laughed, I could even here Charlotte tittering down the hall like a school girl but it was Peter who answered my question. “No, I am far older than he.”
“Alright,” I stammered as I tried to control the beating of my heart. “So does that make you his Sire?”
Then he laughed, nearly snorting with amusement. “Bite that sentimental fool? Niciodată. (2) Asqueroso. (3)” He responded in that deep, smooth voice sending chills down my spin and pooling wetness between my thighs.
Jasper growled lowly at Peter and I could kind of relate. I mean he did just insult Jasper by calling him a sentimental fool and what ever else he said that I couldn’t understand. But for some reason, call it a niggling in the back of my brain, tells me that insulting Jasper was not the whole of his growl. But that was a question I’d have to ask both of them in private. Perhaps outdoors where they wouldn’t destroy my habitat. Habitat? Jesus, I’ve been hanging out with Vampires too long.
Reading my mind again he chuckled darkly, nipping at the sensitive flesh of my earlobe. “You will understand everything in time.”
I wanted to groan, moan and smack him all at the same time but somehow found the deep seeded resolve to hold it in an not make myself look anymore the wanton hussy than I already was. I could feel him shake his head, having picked up on my train of thought and childishly I stuck my tongue out only to have him growl back and thrust his hips upwards as he let out a low hiss of warning. “Be careful how you tempt me, little vixen.”
Finally hungry enough to eat and entirely fed up with the process of dodging and weaving around the questions I knew they weren’t going to answer tonight, I decided to put an end to this frighteningly fake play and get on with my evening. “Well, this has been fun and all but it’s time for my fake friends to take a hike so I can eat and enjoy my new bathtub.” I said nonchalantly, kicking them out with out really ever saying it.
They’re centuries old vampires, surely than can read between the lines?
Peter laughed long and hard at my inner dialogue and gently lifted me up from his lap and placing a chaste kiss to the top of my head before shooing a stunned Jasper and Alice from the room like a herd of sparkling cattle. If Peter actually heard that one he didn’t betray it, at all. He only smirked at me and pulled my doors closed.
“Would you send Charlotte in, please?” I asked quietly but all I got as a response was a distant chuckle to tell me he had heard me. I wanted to face palm at my own stupidity when Charlotte entered even before Peter laughed. Of course, she heard me just fine as soon as I opened my mouth. Stupid, perfect vampires…
~ Kiss Me. Bite Me. Love Me. ~
Dawn.
A sparkling river in my sights surrounded by lush green mountains capped with winking snowflakes. It is cold here but it doesn’t blister my skin even though I know it should. It is blissful. I am happy.
Tingling laughter catches my attention as a ball, crafted from sheepskin and thick twine whips past. A beautiful voice follows. “Isabella, pay attention.” the voice laughs. It is distinctly female and familiar. It makes me smile. Turning with a bright smile I watched as a blue eyed girl, the same age as I points behind me. She is dressed in royal blue velvet gown, something a princess would wear but it confuses me.
Looking down at myself I notice that I am dressed much the same. It is a wintertime dress with heavy sleeves of brocade crimson, trimmed in a heavy rose cotton. My gaze returns to her, looking for answers and she giggles again, gesturing with her hand that I should look behind me. I do.
A deeper chuckle, by still boyish captures my interest. I spin into a vested chest. With my eyes still on the ground I see two black boots, fit for riding. Startled by the presence of a man, I look up and meet a set of deep cherry chocolate eyes. They are familiar as well and make me want to blush. His face is kind and so beautiful in the morning light. I remember him and yet I do not.
“Isabella,” he rumbles, this boy.
“Who are you?”
He laughs at this but does not take his eyes from mine. He opens his mouth to speak…
I jerk awake to the sounds of a low kneeing, it was both mournful and lonely. Shaking the fog of sleep from my mind along with the strange dream I shifted my eyes to dart about the room in search of the sound. It didn’t take me long to find it but when I did I had a momentary laps in higher brain function.
It was a dog. A huge dog. A Mastiff, I think, sitting on its haunches at the foot of my bed, head resting against my feet. He was as black as the night sky and his eyes burned bright red. His eyes reminded me of Peter when he was agitated, they smoldered through your soul but for some reason I wasn’t afraid.
“Who are you?” I asked it as I reached out to pet its muzzle, feeling a strange sense of foreboding came with the beast eyes as they stared right back, somehow pleading with me to understand. I didn’t but that didn’t mean I wouldn’t try. Slapping the space next to me in the bed, I called for it to join me in and it did, happily. It crawled its way up the length of my bed to rest its massive head in my lap, tongue lulling out to the side. Giggling to myself as I thought with hope that maybe Peter would somehow be allergic. But then again, knowing my luck the dog was probably some watch hound from Hell that he scent to spy on me.
A dark, familiar chuckle echoed of the walls in my room and I could only sigh at Peter’s strange impromptu visits. It didn’t matter if I protested in the slightest, if he felt like it he didn’t hesitate to let himself in. “And I never will, Zeita mea.”
I shrieked at how strangely distorted his voice sounded as it seemed to becoming from inside the walls and nearly had a heart attack when a black mist formed in the east corner, the corner closest to Peter’s privet study. A pair of fire red eyes appeared from it and I watched in horror and rapt fascination as Peter, suit and all, stepped out of the wall like a cartoon character stepping out of a black hole.
My expression had to been comical if Peter’s face was anything to go by. I swear that man lived to scare me to death and I wondered briefly what I had ever done to anyone in life to deserve such harassment. “Wha- How-?”
Of course the rat bastard only smiled smugly at the fact that I couldn’t seem to string words together let alone a sentences. “His true name is Câine din Iad (4) or roughly translated; Dog of Hell but I like to call him Damon. He’s is one of two of my familiars that can roam without the need of my physical body close by. That is what makes him so special.”
Not bothering to hide my awe, I openly gaped at the creature who lovingly nuzzled my hand much like a domesticated house pet faithfully serving its Master’s needs. “Familiar.” I whispered, more than taken back by the implications of this animal. Closing my eyes, I sighed. “You really aren’t like the other’s are you?”
A low rumble coming from directly beside me told me how amused and proud Peter was that I liked his pet, I guess I would call it. “We are not even close. They are as different from me as the moon is to the sun. And he is not a pet, love, he is part of me.”
My head snapped up so fast that I was surprised I didn’t get whiplash. “Apart of you?”
“Yes,” he purred, scooting both me and the black beast to the other side of the bed so he could sit. Once settled he pulled me to him and for reasons unknown to me, I curled against him like the contented little kitten I was. Despite having just woken up, the smell of Peter all around me mingling with the rich gravely voice had me yawning again.
“Peter?” I asked, quietly almost mumbling out my words.
“What is it, little Kitten?” He growled teasingly, obviously having picked up on what I was thinking. “You can ask me anything, Bella. I can’t promise I’ll always answer you, but do not hesitate to ask.”
Nodding against the hard planes of his chest, I wasn’t about to pass up this chance for a couple hours of beauty sleep. I could nap later. Peter was in a rare mood, cuddly and content to tell me things. “Why are you different than the others?”
He chuckled at my question. “Would you like scientific makeup or are you content with the cliffs notes, Nancy Drew.”
Slapping his arm playfully before I snuggled back into Peter’s cool body, I huffed. “What ever, just tell me.”
“As you wish.” He answered seductively, running his elegant fingers through the mass of my wavy hair. I wanted to ask him to stop it for fear of falling asleep but it felt so good. “Think of them as a totally different race altogether. They are a completely different species than I, created by vampires like me for servitude. They were originally created for war.”
“That sounds horrible.” I commented, not caring in the least if I offended him. Although I shouldn’t have been surprised when he wasn’t. Peter, I had figured out is an insanely confident man, who gave little thought to what others around him assumed. He held an air of absoluteness that scared me and thrilled me all at the same time. It was both excruciating and exhausting to be in his presence for very long and yet I couldn’t quell the desire to be around him as much as I could.
He went silent for a moment before speaking again and when he did he sound almost remorseful. “It was in the beginning.” he said so quietly I doubted for a moment that I even heard him and not imagined it. “But,” he said louder, quickly changing the subject. “The reason for the differences between us is simple. I was born to this life, the others like Jasper or Alice were made. Changed is the description you are most familiar with, correct?”
I couldn’t say anything. Nothing could have prepared me for what he just told me but in the back of my mind a startling revelation dawn upon me. Somehow, I already knew that.
Translations:
(1) Mult prea mult timp a trecut de cand am simtit ultima focul, Zeita mea. - Too much time has passed since I last felt the fire, my Goddess.
(2) Niciodată - Never
(3) Asqueroso - Disgusting
(4) Câine din Iad - Dog of Hell.
No comments:
Post a Comment