7: Bella

BELLA'S POVSeptember 13th

Katie took in a sharp breath, as if whatever memory she was recalling pained her physically. I felt guilty that I didn't already know what she was going to say. That I didn't already know Mike Newton had asked her out. Maybe I'd been too wrapped up in Edward to notice what was happening in her life.

Edward squeezed my hand, pulling me closer to his side. While not exactly comfortable, I obliged, because being close to him was much better than the alternative. My heart skipped a beat in my chest. I knew Edward could feel it, because he turned to me, his bronze hair glinting under the lighting.

"Here goes nothing," Katie said, tightening her grip around herself. Her position, arms folded in front of her, emphasized that wherever she was about to say would not be easy to hear. Her legs, slim but muscular, were drawn up on the bench beside her. She was clearly a little underweight, something I had not thought over much before.

"Back in Portland, my friends and I snuck into a college party. It was there that I first met a guy named Johnathan. He..." she paused, shaking her head, "he was different than anyone I'd ever met. Something about him made the hair on my arms stand straight up. Back then, I had just pretended it was because I had felt the spark between us.

"Johnathan introduced himself to me, more polite than I had expected. Especially at a college party. I couldn't hear him, so I leaned in," Katie's eyes practically lit up with the memory. She continued, "He grabbed my hand, and a word kept ringing through my mind. It was like a warning bell. Vampire, vampire, vampire. It was... I had never met a vampire before. I didn't even know they existed. It was like my mind just knew what he was. I told him what happened, and he told me what he was. I thought he was joking."

Katie takes a moment to pause. I see the tears swimming in her eyes, fighting, but she doesn't try and wipe them away. "Extremely complicated story short, we started dating. It was nice, for a while. He helped me figure out what was happening to me. I figured out that have this... sense. It warns me when vampires are near. It gives me a sort of mental shield, which is probably why you can't see my future, Alice." Katie cleared her throat softly. "And it also allows me to push my thoughts into other peoples' heads. When a vampire grabs my hands, the opposite happens. I get a sense of absolute... truth. I can't really describe it."

The room is dead silent, listening to Katie. Emmett makes a comment about her, asking if she can push a thought to him. For a moment, nothing happens, but suddenly Emmett is doubling over with laughter. Rosalie, next to him, scowls, and Katie turns her focus to the blonde. Suddenly, Rosalie is smirking.

I know that night when Katie first met Edward, she pushed some sort of thought to him, but I hadn't realized it had anything to do with Katie. I thought it was just because of his ability.

Katie clears her throat again and continues on, her grip on herself so tight that her knuckles turn pale. "Johnathan was a part of a clan that drank human blood. They only hunted just outside the city limits, and so I didn't think much of it. As long as my friends and family were safe... it didn't really matter to me." Her neck is red, flushed. Her face reflects her guilt. "It's selfish. I know. But it was... I wasn't thinking about the consequences. It was fun and meaningless. Johnathan didn't tell anyone about us. With good reason. His clan was... very secretive. And they had recently merged with another group. He warned me that if they knew I existed, his new leader would likely kill me. I felt safe with Johnathan, though. I thought nothing bad could ever happen, if he was with me."

I know the feeling well. I've never been scared, with Edward. Even if he drank human blood, the small voice in my mind would likely still convince me that Edward would never hurt me.

A tear rolled down Katie's cheek. She didn't seem to notice it, staring at a spot on the wall behind Esme. "He told me he loved me. He wanted me to become a vampire, to live with him forever." She hesitated, her voice scratchy with the effort of holding back tears. "I declined. I didn't want to leave my family behind. And I didn't want his coven to be mad that he had kept me secret. I knew he would be disowned by them, maybe killed. I told him how I felt. He was determined to prove me wrong. So, he told the rest of his coven about us."

Edward straightened next to me. "Do you know who his leader was?"

Katie glanced over at him with her red-rimmed eyes. "I never met him. His clan were wanderers. Johnathan told me they were mostly nomadic, so every time he had to meet with them he traveled for a while. But... he did mention that the leader was named James." She says it while shaking her head. I saw that she was angry through the little signs I had picked up on while she was living with Charlie and I— the way the inner corners of her eyebrows dipped down when she disapproved of something, her tendency to squint at things she was frustrated with.

The room suddenly felt charged. "Did he tell you anything else about James?" Edward pressed, voice low and insistent. I had only heard this urgency a couple of times before. He only used it when trying to figure out things unknown to him.

Katie looked up towards the ceiling as if she was racking through her brain. "He was a tracker, I think. That's why Johnathan warned me he would come after me, if he knew I existed. Their clan was pretty small— Johnathan, Damien, Victoria, Laurent, and James. Do you know any of them?"

I couldn't help the small gasp that left me as I looked at Edward. His frown was deep, especially as he stared back at Katie. The rest of the Cullens were murmuring to each other. "We killed James a few months ago. He went after Bella."

Katie's eyes flashed to mine, concern written on her face. "Good." She said, swallowing hard.

Edward stared back at Katie, a softer expression on his face. He squeezed my side closer to him, as if in protection."What happened then?" I asked, as gently as I could manage.

Katie unlatched her arms from her sides, clutching them together in front of her. She stared at them. I noticed that her expression looked empty and cold. "Johnathan and I were together, as it normally was those days. He told me that he had told James about us. He told me that the coven was mad at him. He... he said he turned his back on them.

"I was shocked. They had basically protected him. Sheltered him. They were the ones who had turned him." Katie seemed like she was stalling. She took in a shaky breath, then continued, her voice low. "We went back to my house. The front door had been kicked open. My parents..." her sentence broke off abruptly. I suddenly had a gut-wrenching feeling that I knew which direction this was headed. "My parents had been home when Damien retaliated. He was looking for me, to kill me, and decided to drink from my parents while he waited for me."

Katie's shoulders started shaking slightly as a stream of tears came down her face. Unable to speak, she turned to Edward, her eyes widening. Although I didn't know for sure, it seemed like she was pushing the rest of the story into his mind.

Edward stilled. "Johnathan killed Damien," he continued for her, eyes scanning the memories she was likely showing him. I squeezed his hand a little more. "And then he fled. The police attributed your parent's death to an intruder attack." A pause. "And Laurent came by later in the day. He was after Johnathan?"

Katie nodded, her cheeks pink. "He didn't care about me. Laurent actually thought it was... interesting. He promised he wouldn't tell James he had seen me. But he went after Johnathan anyways," she croaked.

Edward frowned. "They blamed you for your parents' death?"

Who, I almost asked, but the expression on Katie's face said enough. Everyone, it seemed.

"People assumed Johnathan was in a gang. He accepted the story, because it was easier to explain than the whole vampire thing.... The story was that I was with Johnathan, and I had pissed off the gang somehow. That was the rumor, anyways. While I was gone, my parents were attacked inside the house. I wasn't home, so they took out their revenge on my family." She shrugged, but it was weakened by her wallowing. "It was my fault. I don't blame them for thinking that."

"It wasn't your fault," Esme chimed in. The pain in her voice reminded me of her affection.

"I'm sorry," Carlisle added, holding Esme's hand tightly. Their gazes were heavy with sympathy. In fact, as I looked around, trying to be subtle, all of the Cullens looked sympathetic. Rosalie included.

"Yeah, well, you can imagine my surprise when I move to my only other living relative's house and the first person I meet is a vampire," Katie teased, trying to ease the tension. She laughed a choked laugh through her tears, wiping her cheeks with the sleeves of her turtleneck. "I'm glad James is dead, though. What about Laurent and Victoria?"

Edward shook his head. "They disappeared." He said simply, looking down at where our hands were intertwined. His voice felt cold, detached. It was eerie. "I'm sorry."

Katie just shook her head back at him. Her stubborn resolve seemed to come back— she raised her chin, dropped her shoulders, and stood up. "I need some air," she said, not waiting for anyone's approval before speeding towards the front door. I stand up to follow her, unable to soothe the ache in my chest.

Edward stands up to follow, wordlessly communicating that we were about to go back home. I spare a last glimpse at the room, Alice's decorations that were much too decadent, and give an apologetic smile. Nobody but Alice seemed to notice— in fact, nobody had even moved from where they had been sitting.

Katie was sitting on the bed of my truck, hands gripping the edge tightly as she looked up at the sky. The time we had spent inside had given the sun enough time to set, and the sky was now blinking with starlight.

I don't say anything as I move to sit next to her, fumbling my way onto the truck bed. Normally, I think she would have laughed at my struggle, but she seems too absorbed in the night sky to care. Once I've managed to copy her position, I cover her hand with my own.

Katie doesn't look over at me, but her head tilts to rest on my shoulder. Normally, it's hard to imagine that Katie's over a year younger than me, but now she seems... small. I rest my head on top of hers, following her gaze up to the moon.

I don't know how long we sit there, staring up at the sky. Eventually, miraculously, we make it back home, where Edward leaves me at the front door. I follow her up to her bedroom and crawl into her bed beside her. She curls up and cuddles against my side,  like I imagine we would have done when we were kids. "Thank you," she murmurs, just before she falls asleep.

I'm not used to lying with someone warm next to my side.