NOVEL NEXT Chapter 51: ch 49
Anna's POV:
I could feel myself slipping out of the security of my peaceful, dreamless slumber to consciousness that told me that my body was sore all over and that if I was smart I would go back to the warm peaceful place I just came from.
And I did try but as I inhaled deeply through my nose the sweet, fresh and intoxicating aroma that I loved so much and that told me that my mate was close to me made me pause on my way back to the land where the sandman was home.
My ears could detect a soft humming sound that carried a beautiful melody while I was waking more. Cool lips travelled over my skin from my left cheek, leaving light small kiss on their way to the corner of my mouth.
"Please come back to me my love," I heard a beautiful velvet voice beg.
I felt myself stir a little as those seductive lips came to a halt over my own.
"Please wake up. I miss to be able to see your beautiful eyes." The alluring voice murmured while I could feel those cool lips pout against my own.
I let out a soft whimper in respond not really wanting to wake yet.
"Please Anna," Edward whispered against my mouth while he gently kissed me.
I didn't open my eyes but my hands moved from under the covers, rubbing over the well build muscles of his back, driving along his board shoulders and finally found their way to his neck while my fingers twisted in his hair at the nape.
He purred when I was tugging at his hair a little and I could feel his warm smile against my skin.
Edward pulled a few inches away from me just far enough so he could look at my face. My eyes shot open when he did that and I pouted at him.
"I wasn't done yet," I complained and at the same time noticed how raw my voice sounded even in my own ears.
"Don't worry my Anna I'm fully intending to continue soon," he smiled down at me.
"But first," he said and reached over me to the nightstand, grabbing a bottle of substitute blood.
Edward helped me to sit up, what was a rather uncomfortable experience and I wondered briefly why I was feeling like had run the New York marathon before I had the Vampire bust as the memories all came crashing down on me.
"What happened? Are the others alright? Did someone get hurt? No one….." I shot the questions out on after the other, getting more worried and panicked with each passing second.
"Shhhhh," Edward put his finger over my lips.
"Everything is fine. Drink first, love then I will tell you everything you want to know." He assured me.
Edward handed the bottle to me and I drank the entire thing at once. It was as if I couldn't get enough of it and I also noticed that the substitute blood tasted different, somehow more yummy then normal.
My expression must have said it all because Edward delivered an explanation without having been asked for one.
"This isn't the substitute blood that you usually consume but the original one. After you collapsed the other one wasn't strong enough to cosset you up."
"Cosset me up?" I repeated puzzled.
"To keep the shield up Apollo used your energy…..you lost about ten pounds in the process." Edward didn't look too happy about that.
"It worked right? Esme and the others are alright?"
"Esme is just fine. Still a little traumatized about what happened but she'll be fine." He looked thoughtful at me.
"Is something wrong?" I was getting more concerned the longer he looked at me with that bothered and frustrated expression on his face.
Edward exhaled loudly and heavily before he answered me.
"You just got kidnapped. I saw what he....did to you," his jaw clenched shut and his fists were balled as he tried to control his temper.
"How can you be concerned about others when…." My Vampire shook his head angrily.
"Edward I'm fine except that I feel sore all over and am quite exhausted but aside from that I'm fine. The only thing I'm worrying about is if the people I love and care about are alright."
He sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose with his forefinger and his thumb.
"O.K. you tell me now how the others are and then scold me for not having a narcissistic and self-centred personality." I offered.
Edward's eyes shot open and looked perplexed at me for a few seconds before his expression softened and he reached his hand out to cradle my face.
"I'm sorry I'm just….."
"I know...I know," I murmured while I leaned into his touch and placed a soft kiss against his palm.
My Vampire shifted and the mattress moved under me while he inched closer to me and drew my exhausted frame into his embrace. My body melted into his as I was leaning sidewise against his board chest.
I placed my head against his shoulder and inhaled his scent while he was massaging small circles into the muscles of the small of my back.
"I was so scared that I would lose you." Edward whispered in my hair and I heard the pain and the fear in his voice.
"I'm here now." I snuggled further into him.
"You have no idea what you mean to me," he mumbled into my hair.
"Edward." I breathed and attempted to sit up but he wouldn't let me leave his embrace. His arms tightened around my body as he held me in place.
"When I got the call," he took a sharp breath, "when Alice told me," he swallowed hard before he hugged me even closer to him if that was even possible and placed a kiss on the top of my head.
"I was going crazy. My entire being was set out to get you back but a part of me was preparing for the "what if" and I could feel my sanity slipping away from me. I love you. I need you so much. I can't be without you." Edward chocked out in an emotional voice.
"Edward," my voice was small as I tried to free myself from his vice grip to be able to look at him. I pushed against his embrace and at some point he did allow me to pull away though only a little.
What I saw once I looked at his face broke my heart. He looked so fragile, young and vulnerable. His face was twisted in pain and an ocean of anguish reflected in his eyes.
"Edward I told you many times before I love you and nothing will keep me away from your side. You are stuck with me forever because I will not give you up ever, under any circumstances." I told him in a firm voice, being serious as a heart attack.
I know that others defined love with letting their loved one go to have a "better" life or for their "own good" or whatever crap there was. I read enough of those stupid sacrifice stories, "New Moon" being one of them, but that wasn't love as far as I was concerned.
If you really loved someone then you fought to protect what you had, you held on to the person you love even if the entire world was against it as corny as that sounded.
"Edward, I would and I could never give up on you or stop fighting whatever fate or destiny throw our way because at the end of the day being able to lay in your arms while you tell me that you love me, tasting your kiss, feeling the powerful jolts of electricity that are pushing through my veins because of your touch that is all that matters." I murmured attempting to put my emotions into words.
"Being together with you makes everything worth while."
His devilish handsome face screwed up into a heartbreaking mask again and he looked like he would be crying if he could before his head bend down and he pressed his lips to mine in a soulful and desperate kiss.
"I'm sorry," he whispered when the kiss ended while his lips still lingered against my own.
"For what?" I asked confused pulling away to be able to look into his eyes but they were closed shut.
"For being as weak as I am." He said and opened his eyes before speaking again. The intense emotions in his eyes made my breath stuck in my throat and my heart clench in my chest.
"I literally can't function without you. I am yours entirely, completely. I'm not even mine anymore you own me completely. The only way to define myself is with you, through you. Without you I am nothing." To be honest the meaning and intensity of his words scared me a little.
I knew from the beginning that Edward was intense, complex and complicated and that by loving him, accepting his love I also, in a way, would be responsible for his life and sanity. I guess to get to know to which extend that was the case was a little overwhelming.
"Without I just can't..." his anguished cry echoed in my ears while he clutched me to his chest as carefully as he could. My body was flush against his while he trembled slightly in my arms.
To an extend I couldn't understand him only because the idea of not being together with him was utterly absurd to me. Even as we had been separated in the back of my mind I always knew that I would get back to him.
I couldn't even fathom the concept of surrender in such a case. All I knew was fighting. That was where Edward and I were different while he would break down if he lost me I would start scheming on how to get him back. I mean if Vampire, Werewolves, Lycan's, parallel worlds and god knows what else is real there is always a way.
He was mine and I was his. We belonged together and that was written in stone, on iron or on a diamond as far as I was concerned though that didn't mean that in the back of my mind I was still a little scared that being his was too good to be true and that I would one day wake up from this beautiful dream.
The fear was irrational but I guess very human as well. If you have something to lose you fear that you might. A fear everyone felt at some point and had to learn to deal with.
"I love you, Edward." I murmured into his chest.
I felt his body relax a little and a small smile formed on his lips against my forehead.
"Do you know those are my favourite words and you have been saying them every day we have been together."
"Really?" I looked up at him.
He gazed at me with such love and adoration that it made my heart sore. One of his hands let go of my body and lifted up to brush against my forehead, stroking my skin on it's way to my hairline before he waved his long musician fingers through my locks.
"It always makes me feel warm and content inside to hear you say that you love me. You know that you got yourself damaged goods when you accepted me in your life…."
"Edward," I scolded him but he wasn't having any of it.
"It is true Anna. That was mainly the reason why I couldn't understand and still can't why you were and are able to love me," I glared at him.
"You know from the start how much baggage I have, just how broken I was when you came into my life." I glared harder and anger and annoyance were making their presence known in my stomach.
"Love, please don't glare at me. I know it upsets you to hear me talk like that." He brushed his lips on the top of my nose. I tried to get the glare off my face and listen to what he had to say as objectively as possible. Easier said then done of course.
"Don't get me wrong I'm not questioning your love or what we have far from it but on some days I still feel unworthy of your love, your presence in my life. Sometimes I can't believe that you are truly mine." by this point it was hard for me to keep my mouth shut but I wanted him to tell me everything he had on his mind. Edward wasn't into talking about his feelings so when he did I had to hear him out no matter how bad I wanted to interrupt him to tell him he was an idiot.
"But then you tell me you love me and I can't deny the sound of your voice or the sparkle in your eyes when you say it. When those words cross your delicious lips it feels like an aloe balm on my wounds, smoothing the cracks that the sins of my past have left behind, erasing my doubts about myself, healing me." His voice broke with emotions and I found that tears were threatening to spill from my eyes what was very unlike me.
I wasn't emotional my exhausted body must have been screwing with me though I wished that I could have been as good with words as he was but I only sometimes had my good moments which is why I told him the only thing that I could as lame as it was.
"I love you," I repeated the words over and over, whispering them into his ear as we were a bundle of tangled arms and legs.
I have no idea how long we were just lying there in each others arms, holding on to one another as if there was no tomorrow and nothing else besides the two of us existed on the planet but eventually I heard him sigh and kiss my forehead.
His kiss lingered on my skin and I instantly knew he had something on his mind.
"What?" I questioned pulling away from him to be able to look into his face. He couldn't hide when I looked straight into his golden pools.
He sighed again, this time long and heavily before he lifted his hand to brush his knuckles over my cheek.
"I hated it to see you in his arms."
"What?!" I whispered was completely confused. "Who's arms?"
"Apollo's." his chest vibrated with a low growl.
"When we stormed into the hangar the first thing I saw were his arms around your waist. I loathed it and I despite what he was able to take from you, not to mention that he endangered your life. I loath the image of his hands on your body." His voice was serious and angry. I could feel the jealously emitting of off him.
"Edward," I sighed and was about to roll my eyes on him while telling him how utterly absurd he was because he was the only on for me but I stopped myself.
I tried to imagine how it would have been for me seeing another woman clutched to my Edward despite the fact that I wasn't a jealous person that picture didn't sit well with me. I was used to all the females ogling him and lusting after him, but only from afar. He after all, was the most handsome male I had ever seen. Imagining another woman holding onto him who wasn't a member of our family brought a dark scowl on my face and let my stomach burn with dismay and jealously.
"I'm sorry for what you must have felt in that moment. Not that this is any excuse but after I crashed into him after running away from Nestor and Helen and then you burst into the hangar I kind of forgot or better said the fact that he was holding onto me was not exactly my number one priority. I...." I tried to explain but he interuppted me by putting his finger over my lips.
"Shhh, I know and thank you for not telling me that I'm stupid for feeling how I do." He sighed and stroked my hair.
"Your emotions are valid, Edward. What you feel is always important to me and I do understand why you are getting jealous though it sometimes, "exhaled forcefully, clapping my mouth shut before speaking again.
"I do understand though it got to be hard to see in others mind what they think about me."
"You have no idea," he moaned, rolled on his back, still holding me with one arm to him while the other fell over his eyes.
"Sometimes I just want to rip them apart, forget who I am and give in into the monster that is demanding their demise." He moved his arm from his face and looked down at me.
"I want those kind of thoughts about you to only be mine. The things I want to do to you. The things I want us both to experience. Things that should only belong to the both of us."
Edward's arms encircled me and he pressed me softly to him with a care as if I was the most precious thing in the world while he placed a lingering kiss on my lips.
"I'm consumed by you," he whispered tenderly against my mouth.
"I'm yours and only yours. You are the only guy I have ever kissed, who ever touched me and the only male being that ever captured my interest."
"You are stroking my ego that feels good." He said as he was peppering my face with feather light kisses.
I knew that he wanted to be close to me. I could feel his desire against my thigh and as much as I wanted that too I was just too exhausted. With ever single motion I made my body screamed at me, demanding to remember it's sore condition. So I stayed as still as possible in his tight embrace while time was passing us by and I eventually fell asleep in his arms.
The call of nature ripped me out of my peaceful slumber. I felt Edward place small kisses on my hair while he was running his hand over my arm. I sighed, winced and exhaled loudly while I tried to push myself away from my Vampire.
"Love what are doing?" He asked. His concern was evident in his voice.
"Bathroom." I answered simply.
"Right!" He said as of he just now remembered that there were certain needs a human had. A small laugh escaped my lips but instantly the muscles in my belly started to protest. I sighed annoyed.
"Did I get hit by a truck or something while I was out?" I joked. Every muscle and bone in my body hurt. I groaned and moaned with every movement just like a really old grandma.
Edward cradled my head in his hand while his face looked pained and pressed a kiss on my forehead.
"I'll help you," he said, carefully picked me up into his embrace and carried me into the bathroom before putting me back on my feet leaving the room.
When I was washing my hands I looked up from the sink into the mirror and almost screamed in horror. I never have been a vain person but I did have my standards, being clean, smelling pleasantly, not to look like I fell through a paint box regarding both make-up and clothes and to look like I knew what a comb was good for.
The girl that looked back at me obviously didn't take any of that to heart. My hair looked like I bathed it in oil and I had definitely smelled better before. I wondered briefly why I didn't notice my inexcusable hygiene earlier.
When I noticed how I looked and smelled I also noticed that my head was itching. No matter how weak I was and how much my body protested I was in a desperate need of a shower.
I moved my sore frame over to the shower and just as I was about to open the glass door a cool hand touched my own.
"Love?" Edward questioned me and I looked up at him.
"I need to shower."
"But you are too weak." He tried to argue.
"I'm sticky and smelly and itchy and gross." I nearly whined.
Edward gazed into my eyes, sighed, nodded and then started to take his clothes off.
"What are you doing?" I blinked at him.
"I prefer to shower without my clothes on." He said and leaned in to press a light peck on my cheek while a lopsided grin played on his lips.
I smiled back at him while I tried to shake my head but thought better of it as I painfully noticed how tense the muscles in my neck were. I grabbed the hem of Edward's white t-shirt that I wore while he had his torso uncovered by then.
"Let me," my Vampire murmured and I let go of the fabrics.
Instead of grabbing the hem that just let go off he placed his hands on the collar of the shirt, earning a raised eyebrow from me before he easily tore the fabrics in two pieces.
"Why did you do that?" I asked confused as he pushed the remains of the t-shirt of my shoulders.
"I seriously doubt you are able to lift your hands in the air," Edward chuckled.
I opened and closed my mouth but no sound came out. He could have been right after all and I wasn't all to keen on testing his theory.
When the shirt was off there I stood then in his boxer briefs.
"Is there a reason why I'm dressed only in your clothes not that I mind of course." I smiled lazily at him.
Edward didn't answer but drew me into his embrace as gently as he could and peppered my neck with small kisses.
"Too weird?" He asked after he pulled a little away from me.
"No."
His hands inched from the skin of my hips to the silk boxer briefs that I was wearing and he hooked his thumbs under the fabrics.
"No need to tear them as well," I teased.
Edward kissed my forehead and pulled the boxer briefs down my legs. When he kneeled in front of me he placed his hands on my hips again and brushed his lips lightly against my belly before he stood up in a spilt of a second and was just as nude as I was.
"You are tired," his finger stoked along my hairline, "let's make this quick."
"Please," I whispered.
Edward switched the water in the shower on and guided me inside when the temperature was right. The warm water felt heavenly on my sore muscles and I couldn't help the moans that escaped my lips.
I sat down on the build in shower seat and Edward carefully massaged the shampoo into my dirty locks washing my hair in gentle, rhythmic strokes. I sighed in contentment every so often while his hands were in my tresses.
Being under the spray after the heavenly scalp massage I remembered that Edward had yet to tell me what happened after I passed out. I made a mental note to ask him again once we were out of the bathroom.
He helped me to dry up and as he got me something to wear I brushed my teeth. He came back into the bathroom with one of his bottom downs and fresh boxer briefs, giving me a sheepish look.
I leaned against the counter for support and curled my index finger in his direction gesturing him forward to me. Edward didn't need a second invitation and within a few moments I was dressed again and he carried me back into the bedroom where a freshly made bed waited.
"Rose changed the covers." He offered, placing me on the soft mattress and suddenly had another bottle of the substitute blood in his hands. I was missing a lot apparently.
"Thank you," I said, took the bottle out of his hands and finished it of in record time.
"Funny as if I couldn't get enough," I mumbled mainly to myself.
"Your body needs it that is why you are craving it. I would give you as much as you can consume but Carlisle thinks it's better if you drink with breaks in between. The Vampire part of your body needs the blood but the human, doesn't. If you drank more then the Vampire part could instantly consume you might get really sick." He smiled apologetically at me.
"O.K." I breathed and felt a little more awake then I did before I consumed the substitute blood.
Edward crawled into bed and took his place next to me. His arm went behind my back and I leaned into him sidewise again, resting my head on his shoulder as we sank into the pillows behind us.
"Now tell me what happened," I murmured and he took my hand, brought it to his mouth and kissed the skin of the back of my hand before he began.
"Everyone on our side survived, Vampires, Werewolves and Lycans alike with some injuries." I grimaced at the end.
"Emmett had his right shoulder dislocated as he defended Rosalie and Tanya from a group of newborns. David had rather grave injuries on his back as two newborns managed to surprise him but Carlisle treated him and with the substitute blood spread over his injuries he doesn't even have scares. Jasper was bitten as he tried to watch out for Alice. The rest got lucky. " I let out a sigh of relief.
"The greater part of the wolves had broken bones, flesh wounds, contusions and a few scratches all over. Nothing that was too serious. Carlisle, Batiste, Rose, Lethia, Aya and a few of Batiste's friends treated them. Carlisle wanted to stay with Esme but she insisted he helped to tread the inured. You know how she is." He smiled fondly down at me.
I laughed quietly, even though that hurt, and nodded.
"The last one of the wolves that had been injured left this morning after being given the O.K. by Batiste."
"Hold on a minute!"
He wanted to continue but I stopped him and narrowed my eyes at him.
"This morning? How long have I been out?"
"Four days." He answered and looked at me with concern shining in his butterscotch pools, gauging my reaction.
My mouth was hanging open for a moment. O.K. that also explained why he was relatively calm and relaxed about everything, he had time to deal with things.
"Alright go on."
"As for the Lycans…..only minor scratches and bruises," he said as seriously as he could but couldn't hide an amused chuckle.
"What?!" I was almost too afraid to ask. I knew that it couldn't be something bad because then his eyes wouldn't have sparkled in amused and mischief like they did.
He looked at me for long moment while the grin on his face got wider with each passing second. As I was about to open my mouth to demand of him to tell me what happened the words stumbled passed his lips.
"Seth imprinted." I was stunned at first but then immediately I left happy for my favourite wolf though as Edward continued to beam down at me an uneasy feeling made itself known in the pit of my stomach. The look in his eyes told me that there was a catch, a big one apparently.
"On who?" My voice was small.
His grin got wider. I feared his face was going to crack any moment as I held my breath and waited for his answer.
"Aya."
My jaw went slack and I blinked at him stupidly while pity overtook me for my favourite Werewolf. Seth imprinted on the ice queen.
"And how did she take it?" I asked in a tiny, worry laced voice.
"Well the good news is he is still alive." He chuckled. I gave him a look, demanding the entire story.
"Emmett replayed it all in his mind for me because I was a little occupied at that time." He gently tightened his grip on me.
"After the all evidence of what happened there was taken care off and the injured ones received treatment Seth saw Aya for the first time while she was helping her father. Since she also has some medical degrees and has worked in a hospital before."
"Anyway he looked into her eyes and it happened. All of the Werewolves look eye wide at the two of them, sensing that something was off Julian asked what happened and a female wolf named, Haley, filled him in on imprinting." He chuckled before he went on.
"The Somerville's were shocked while Aya only looked at him with a raised eyebrow, showing no emotions at all true to her form until….." Edward paused for the dramatic effect.
"Until.." I urged on.
"She turned around went straight for Emmett who stood only a few feet away from her, since he wanted to witness the spectacle from as close as he could. She took his gun out of his hands, turned back around and pointed it at Seth." Edward laughed while a mask of horror washed over my face.
"Edward!" I chided him
"Don't worry he is fine. Emmett and Batiste reacted quickly and took the weapon from her. She glared at the two of them before she sent a death glare at Seth, turned around, walked away and is not giving the poor pup the time of the day ever since." Edward shrugged.
"Poor Seth," I was feeling so sorry for him. Aya was going to be quite some work.
"How is the rest of the Somerville's taking that?"
"As far they want to wait and see what will come out of it." Edward shrugged. I nodded at that. At least her family was giving him a chance. I had no doubt that Seth would steal their hearts in no time.
"And Seth? I mean he imprints and she wants to kill him."
"He was a little shocked of course but her rejection hurt him more then the fact that she tried to shoot him. His sister on the other hand…"
"Leah was there was well?"
"She wouldn't have let her brother go alone. Anyway she went all ballistic on Aya while Aya stayed true to her form again and didn't pay her any attention at all."
"Oh my, that's gonna be something." I sighed.
"Now you are going to have some La Push drama here at home. I doubt Seth will be able to stay away from Aya." Edward informed me and I beamed at him.
"And Apollo and the others?"
"They are in the closed hotel that is located just outside of our property. Esme rented it. They are coming around slowly but they had been starved a long time and the terror over what happened to them is still fresh. They told us bits and pieces but they want to wait until Apollo recovered enough to have a clearing talk with us."
"Recovered enough?"
"To keep the shield up he needed a lot of energy as Eric explained to Carlisle. His body functions like seeing, hearing or speaking, they got eliminated the more energy he lost," I gasped shocked.
"Don't worry he is going to be fine but it will take a while before he can talk again."
I made an acknowledging sound and a huge yawn overtook me out of nowhere. Edward turned a little away from me and reached for a paper bag on his nightstand.
"What is this?" I asked while I yawned again.
"You have to take these before you're going to sleep again to get you back on track."
I looked into the bag and there were tablet cases but not the normal simple ones I was used to where all my pills usually rested in but bigger ones.
I took one of the tablets cases out of the bag and recognise some of the pills, like the vitamin and the iron pills I had to take. Edward handed me a bottle of coke to drown all the colourful "candy" down.
"As long as it helps," I smiled at Edward after I was done.
I gazed at him and bit my lower lip. Edward groaned quietly, looking longingly at my mouth. He pursed his lips in a cute pout and swooped down to capture my mouth for a soulful kiss while he held my face carefully in his hands.
"Sleep now and please don't bite that bottom lip. You know what that does to me." He whispered pleadingly after we broke the kiss.
"O.K." I mumbled and snuggled myself into my pillow and my Vampire.
"Rest well." I heard Edward say as he was lovingly stroking my hair and his lips were peppering my forehead with light kisses before I drifted off.
After my routine in the bathroom in the next morning Rose and Emmett were waiting for me in Edward's and mine bedroom.
"Hey guys I'm glad to see you. Are you alright?"
Emmett appeared in front of me out of thin air and gently lifted me off the ground in a careful cuddly big bear hug.
"Shouldn't we be asking you that?" He laughed.
I beamed back at him.
"Emmett let her down she is on bed rest." Rose muttered behind him.
He put me back on the ground and Rose also gave me a hug.
"So I'm on bed rest?"
"Carlisle said that it's best if you take it easy for about a week. Batiste will visit in about three hours to give you a check up." Rose informed me.
"Why Batiste?" I wondered.
Emmett laughed and wiggled his eyebrows.
"Carlisle is otherwise occupied…." He wanted to continue but Rose punched his upper arm.
"I'll get the picture." I laughed.
Rose rolled her eyes when Emmett started to laugh loudly.
"You," Rose looked pointed at me, "back to bed." She ushered me.
"Where is Edward?"
"He is in the kitchen preparing something to eat for you." Emmett answered.
"And you are keeping me company. Not that I mind of course but I'm already a big girl and I'm feeling better then yesterday so…"
"You may be a big girl but Edward won't stop being overprotective and overly concerned until you have the O.K. from either Carlisle or Batiste." Rose shrugged.
"Boy he's lucky I love him." I grumped and Emmett chuckled.
"I love Edward I really do. He is my brother in all aspects that matter but sometimes I just want to chock him. I wonder how do you suppress that desire?" Rose asked me curiously while I heard a growl coming from downstairs.
"I wonder about that myself." I laughed, Emmett and Rose joined in.
"Are you done laughing at my expanses?" A velvet voice asked from the entrance of the bedroom.
"No, we're not." Rose answered cheekily.
Edward rolled his eyes as he carried a tray with food inside.
"Thank you for your assistance."
"Are you trying throw us out?" Rose raised a perfectly arched eyebrow at him.
"Yes," Edward answered with brutal honesty.
"Ouch that hurt's;" Emmett held his hand over his silent heart, faking a hurt.
Rose shook her head and looked back at me.
"If he gets on your nerves just call for me." She smiled pleasantly at me but when her eyes met Edward's they had a playfully threatening gleam in them.
This is how Rose's and Edward's relationship was. They loved each other like real siblings but couldn't help to be competitive towards one another and to have a little playful quarrelling whenever the chance arose.
After Emmett and Rose left our bedroom Edward placed the tray on the nightstand, greeted me with a kiss on my lips and started to feed me with strawberries.
When I had eaten all the fruits and was about to reach for the sandwich I noticed that something was missing.
"Is something wrong Anna?" Edward asked me concerned as I looked around the room.
"I'm just wondering why I wasn't tackled to the ground by now."
He looked puzzled and concerned at me.
"Where is Alice?"
A smile of relief broke out on Edward face before his expression turned a little dark and upset.
"She, Jasper, Kate, Garret, Tanya and David are searching for Laurent."
That one left me puzzled.
"Why?"
Edward clenched and unclenched his jaw to calm himself before he answered.
"We can't have him running around and telling others about you. Tanya and Kate were all to edger to pay him back for breaking Irina's heart."
"Oh, guess your right."
I sat on the edge of the bed lost in my thoughts. Edward inched up behind me straddling my leg's from behind and pressed me against him so my back was pressed against his chest while his arms sneaked around my waist.
He brushed the hair off my right shoulder, pressed a kiss against the skin on my neck before his nose skinned it's way up my neck and he pressed his lips against my ear.
"Please tell me what you think about before I lose my mind." He whispered softly.
"I was just wondering...….is something wrong with me?"
"What do you mean?" I heard the confusion and concern in his voice.
"I mean Esme and I got kidnapped and almost killed. The fight." I turned my head to look at him.
"It doesn't really affect me that much. I know I should have a trauma or something, like a hard time dealing with what happened but there is nothing." I shrugged helplessly.
"Is it weird that I take things like that all in a stride and put them behind me that fast?" I asked, searching his golden shadowed eyes for an answer.
Edward sighed heavily and looked thoughtful for a moment before he answered my question.
"You have always been weird like that actually. I mean you accept me for what I am. You went into a house full of Vampire fully aware of that fact and the fact that nearly all of us are murders, that we have killed humans in the past. And that we could have killed you simply by accident. And the entire different universes thing….." He paused and looked intensely at me.
"You have always been weird like that."
I sighed. He was right maybe that was how I was build. I never had been overly emotional.
Edward tightened his grip lightly on me and his lips pressed a kiss against my cheek.
"I love you with all of your weirdness. It's part of your charm."
A small smile rose on my lips.
"Thanks I choose to take that as a compliment." I snort lightly.
"Good because it was meant as one." He said and his lips inched forward to the corner of my mouth.
I turned my head to give him better access to my lips. Our mouths were pressed against one another, moving in a sensual tango while my hand travelled up his hard, ripped torso into his soft locks.
I could feel his arousal against my bottom and I shifted my frame in a better position to be able to run my hand that was in his hair down his form to his hardness. My hand made it down his neck over his shoulder, brushing south his torso before he caught my wrist and stopped me.
I pulled away from our kiss and looked questioned at him.
"I would love to. I want you badly, really badly," he sighed pained, looking at me with his soulful honey pools that were pleading for understanding.
"But you are still too weak. I don't want you to faint on me." My Vampire nuzzled his face in my hair.
"At least not like this." He added as an after thought. It made me giggle a little.
"O.K." I pouted, "but once I'm fine again I have you pinned to this bed." I vowed.
He guided his lips to my ear and placed a tickling kiss against my flesh.
"I sincerely hope so."
We both chuckled before his eyes narrowed and he seemed to have an idea.
"Lay down on you stomach." He ordered.
I gave him a puzzled look but did as I was asked.
"And now?" I asked after I was lying on my belly.
"You have to tell immediately when I hurt you." Edward instructed deadly serious while he was sitting down next to me.
Just as I wanted to ask him what he was up to his hands went to my shoulders and he began to softly massage me.
I couldn't help the groans and the moans that escaped my mouth. It just felt too heavenly.
"You can also tell me when I'm doing fine." He chuckled in a rather strained voice.
"Sorry for the," I wanted to apologise for the moaning but as hit a very tense spot I couldn't help the long and rather loud moan that passed my lip.
"Sorry."
"It's alright." He said but I could hear what my moaning and groaning was doing to him.
I bit my teeth together and tried to stay quiet. When his hands were running down my back kneading the tense muscles there I fell asleep at some point in utter bliss.
Batiste came after I woke from my little nap and examined me. He allowed me to leave the bed as long as I was taking it easy. As I asked him about the imprint he only said that Seth had to have a really good stigma if he wanted to captured Aya's interest and heart but didn't give anything else away.
Being allowed to leave the bed I dressed in a pair of grey sweats and one of Edward's cuddly sweat shirts. I was sure Alice would have a heart attack if she saw me but since I still couldn't really move without my body reminding me how sore I was I decided not to torture myself into any of my mostly skinny clothes.
"Ready?" Edward asked and just as I was about to answer him my mobile rang out.
Both of us looked liked a deer caught in the headlights.
I slowly went over to get my cell and saw that I had a text massage. I looked nervously at Edward who shook with silent laughter while I could barely keep it together.
"Once I'm home I will have a serious word with you missy." I read the text out loud.
"Seems like someone is in trouble." Edward teased and my cell rang again.
"Oh she's not the only one." I read out loud again.
"What did I do?" He asked puzzled and moments later my phone rang again.
"You are letting her wear that!"
"Give me that." Edward said, took my cell from my hands, typed some massage and sent it.
"What did you tell her?"
"That you look beautiful no matter what you wear." He answered with a serious expression on his face.
I titled my head to my right before I curled my index finger in his direction gesturing for his lips to meet my own. He didn't need to be asked twice.
Edward knew me good enough to know that I wanted to walk on my own. Not that I minded when he carried me on other occasions but right then I needed to stretch my legs.
In the hallway in front of the living room I nearly collided into Irina.
"Oh, Anna, I'm so sorry I didn't see you." She apologised.
"No, it's alright nothing happened." I smiled at her.
"What's the hurry?"
"I just wanted to get my IPod to show Alain a few pieces that I like." She admitted shyly.
"Ahh…" I nodded.
"Well, I go then." She said and rushed out of the house.
I looked questioningly at Edward.
"Irina and this Alain seemed to have hit it off." He offered.
"Indeed they have." Carmen's voice laced with a thick Spanish accent confirmed.
"Carmen," I turned to look at her and saw her husband standing next to her, his arm locked around her waist and a smile on his face.
"Hello Eleazar."
"I see Edward let you leave the bedroom," he said with humour in his voice and winked at Edward who cleared his throat.
Carmen, Eleazar and I laughed while Edward rolled his eyes at us. I lifted myself to be able to gave him a quick kiss on his cheek before we went into the living room and sat down on the couch while Eleazar and Carmen occupied a love seat.
"Rose once told me that you two met in Spain." I began ended the silence between us.
"Yes, we did." Eleazar answered and looked lovingly into Carmen's eyes.
"It was about a year after I left the Volturi that I found myself in Spain. I was in a little village not far from Seville, it is called Camas. In the backyard of a guest-house music was played and I could hear humans enjoying themselves. The music was passionate and fierce. It reminded of the time in spend in Spain before I joined the Volturi." Eleazar smiled remembering.
"It pulled me in magically. Curious as I am I followed the music and when I neared the backyard I saw women dance in colourful dresses with a lot of frills. The dance was sensual and passionate." He paused.
"I don't know how long I sat there watching the dancers until the music stopped all of the sudden and a strange kind of energy went through the entire space." His eyes twinkled as he gazed at his wife with huge grin on his face.
"Then there she was. The most beautiful woman I had ever seen. I sat in my seat like paralyzed. I was not able to tear my eyes away from her. And when she started to dance I was completely done for."
"I remember soon after I started my evening show my eyes met his. The only male Vampire I had seen till then with the same eye colour as mine and he looked so damn handsome as well." Carmen giggled.
"I danced my heart out that night hoping he would join me on the dance floor but nothing. Can you imagine that I courted him the entire night and he only sat there completely unmoving?" Carmen told me dismayed.
"By the end of the night I was crushed and offended."
"Yes, you had the most adorable, angry pout on your face when I came back the next day." Eleazar told her, chuckling lightly and squeezing her hand.
"He came with an enormous bouquet of red roses but I was offended and not about to let him off the hook that easily."
"I came back every night in which she would torture me with her glances and the sensual language of the flamenco." Carmen looked very pleased with herself.
"I knew that she was angry at me for some reason but for the life of me I couldn't figure out why." Eleazar explained, looking completely helpless.
"After three weeks I decided to give him a chance and didn't regret it ever since." Carmen gazed at him with love and devotion in her eyes.
Eleazar looked with the same love in his eyes back at her before the two of them remembered that Edward and I were still in the living room with them.
"That was before or after you met Tanya and the others?" I asked curiously.
"I had already been with Tanya, Kate and Irina for about a decade." Carmen answered.
"We met in Australia. I was travelling with Shamara that time. She is still a good friend of mine but I never shared her lust for the kill. After being bored by the European men she wanted something new and exotic. She goes only after men it is a principle of hers." Guess there was a story behind that. My expression must have told what I thought because Carmen answered my unspoken question.
"She was to marry the son of the mayor of the village she lived in as she was still human. The entire town knew about the union but three days before the wedding he broke the engagement off and married another woman on her wedding day. Of course back then everyone accused her to be the one who was at fault. Her life and the one of her family was ruined. One night she was got attacked by a Vampire and changed. She never forgot what had been done to her and it left her bitter with a disgust and hater for men."
"Shamara and I were in small village that was located where Canberra is today, when we met Kate and Irina. Tanya had already found her toy for the night," Carmen chuckled.
"I had never seen Vampires with an eye colour like theirs. It made me curious and I approached them. After we spend some time travelling around together and I tried the vegetarian diet. I liked the life style and the sisters. When it was time to part I decided to accept Tanya's offer and I went with them."
"Thank heaven for that." Eleazar threw in and rolled his eyes.
"Shamara doesn't really like him." Carmen winked at me.
I laughed and nodded.
"Luckily Shamara understood me and we could continue our friendship even though she still thinks I'm crazy for drinking animal blood. And when I told her about the substitute blood she wanted to admit me into a funny farm." Carmen giggled.
"Tanya and the others were quite surprised when I came back to home from my little trip to my home country with a fiancé in tow."
"My life had never been boring ever since then." Eleazar sighed half amused and half pained.
"Oh you." Carmen playfully swatted his chest while she scolded him. In respond he winked at her as he broke out in loud and heartily laughter, pulling her into his chest.