Lessons

Once I entered the house, I looked around seeing multiple different antiques. From paintings to sculptures, the house looked similar to how it did in the movies but more full of...culture and life, I guess?

It was a refreshing sight as the closest I got to culture at home were the posters Bella had on her wall.

So, not the best.

Looking over at Edythe, I saw that brows were furrowed, which confused me, "What? Something on my face?" my voice was a bit jokey but from the look on her face and the way she was looking at her, I knew that something was up.

"Yeah..." she absentmindedly spoke but quickly clearing it up with hurried speech, "I mean, come with me!" she grabbed my hoodie sleeve and I wondered why she didn't just grab my hand.

Oblivious to my thoughts, Edythe dragged me up the stairs. I followed her, looking at all the graduation caps. Chuckling at the joke, I continued to follow Edythe until we got to a bathroom.

Seeing it, I smiled with a lost expression on my face, "And we're here why? I know you literally saw me murder someone last night, Edy, but I don't think we're at the point where you can force me to have a shower while you watch," teasing her like this, I wasn't expecting her to drag me over to the sink before pointing at the mirror.

When I took in what I was seeing, I frowned before looking at my hands.

Clawed. While my mouth had the same feral appearance it must have had last night.

So that's why she didn't touch my hands.

It seems that walking into a house full of vampires made me unconsciously bring out what I could. If I was further along with my phasing, I'd probably be even more wolf-like at the minute.

"Ah," I managed out before looking closer at myself in the mirror before I forcibly tried to retract the claws and teeth.

Nothing happened, however, and I tried to think about how I did it last night:

Hugging Edythe. But it wasn't because it was a hug or her - it was because it was calming. I need to calm myself to take back the claws.

Closing my eyes, I took deep breathes of the air, focusing purely on Edythe's scent as it was the only one I could stand without feeling a bit sick. Slowly my heart went from beating in my chest slightly faster than normal to beating at it's normal strong but calm beats.

When I opened my eyes, I could feel no fangs in my mouth and my hands were free of claws.

Turning and smiling at Edythe, I found my smile frozen on my face as she still looked at me with furrowed eyebrows. I gave myself a once over, looking for any other changes before looking back up at her.

Seeing my confusion with her look, Edythe had an awkward look on her face as she began to speak, "It's...it's your mouth. I can still smell the blood and it's kinda setting off my instincts," she licked her lips, looking slightly dazed, "We have special mouthwash made for after we feed so humans can't smell the blood, you can use it," she looked fidgety before she turned away from me and started walking to the door, "I'll wait outside."

As I watched her walk away, I didn't miss the shaking of her arms and shoulders which made me thankful for her self-control.

Little did I know at the time that it wasn't the blood that had been in my mouth which set her off like this.

Anyway, oblivious to what was going on in Edythe's head, I opened up the mirror cabinet above the sink and grabbed the bottle of mouthwash before bringing it up to my mouth and taking in a mouth full before swilling it around in my mouth. While doing so, I went over all the things I learned about my desired musical instruments and any tips on playing them that I found.

I wouldn't know how to use such tips until I started playing but I had the confidence that my brain would put together the missing pieces pretty quickly.

Moving on from such thought, I spat out the minty mouthwash before turning the tap on to get rid of any mouth wash that was too frothy to flow into the plughole.

Giving one last look to my teeth in the mirror and then down at my hands, I felt gratitude that Edythe showed me before I made an ass out of myself, and walked out of the bathroom to see Edythe looking much calmer than when she was when she left.

"Better?" I smiled, showing off my pearly whites. Edythe looked to me, sniffed the air, and apart from a small shudder at her shoulders, she just nodded her head with a blissful smile of her own.

"Yep!" she spun on heels before motioning for me to follow her.

We ended up walking into a long hallway with multiple bedrooms or rather personal rooms as they didn't have beds in them. At the end of the hall, there was a bedroom with the door wide open showing a piano next to a bookshelf with books completely rammed into it. The room was a blue-ish color and seemed to have been freshly painted - it gave a relaxing feeling to whoever saw it.

There were many more things in the room but Edythe led me over to the piano before sitting down on it and patting next to her. Not wanting to miss the chance to sit next to a beauty, I sat down next to her.

"So, the first thing we need to go over are the keys, finger numbers, and then the major scales. We'll see which hand position is most comfortable for you before we do some basic melodies and refine your ability to move your fingers in the ways you have to," she listed off with a slightly strict voice and seeing her like this, I smiled - she was acting much more like her age.

When I thought this, I decided to impress my wonderful new teacher by holding up my thumb and numbering it, before bring up my fingers from my thumb to my index finger, then to my middle finger and onward, "1, 2, 3, 4, 5. The fingers have the same number as the one on the other hand," I pointed down at the piano keys, "C, D, E, F, G, A, B," before going back and doing the black, shorter keys, "C#/Db, D#/Eb, E#/Fb, F#/Gb, G#/Ab, A#/Bb."

Chuckling I explained, "I did some research before I came over...I didn't want to embarrass myself, Edy, so don't look so disappointed!" I laughed, knowing she was probably looking forward to seeing me mess up with something, so she could tease me, presumably, "It's not my fault I have total recall memory, either. I can remember a picture labeling the piano keys, another picture numbering the fingers...and another picture showing me the major scales," seeing her pout a little, I laughed before adding on, "Though I sure do hope my beautiful teacher will go over the Major Scales, just to get it into my head and fingers."

Scoffing, despite having a small smile on her face, Edythe looked at me with mock-disdain, "Flattery will get you nowhere, Mr. Swan," she 'hmph'd before starting to go over the Major Scales, even bringing out printed out pieces of paper detailing and showing me the different scales and what keys they used.

. . .

Standing in the kitchen, I looked over at Edythe who was paying so much attention to buttering bread, she was biting her lip like she was trying to figure out a really hard math problem - it was pretty amusing. And cute.

Suddenly, a voice called from behind me, "Ah, Alexander!" Carlisle's smooth voice rang out behind me, "It's good to see you. How are your lessons going?"

Turning toward the tall-ish man, I put my hand out to shake his outstretched one, before answering, "I wouldn't be the person to ask, Carlisle. Ask Edy over there, but wait until she's done buttering the bread, she seems like she's concentrating on it," I said with a snicker which made Carlisle chuckle slightly as well.

An annoyed voice came from behind me, "I'm making you something to eat, the least you could do is stop making fun of me - I haven't had to butter bread in decades, Alexander," Edythe muttered in a frustrated manner, to which I blatantly laughed at.

"Yes, and I'm thankful for your hospitality, Edy, but I did say that I was perfectly capable of making my own sandwich - you just wouldn't let me. What was it again...'I'm your host, aren't I, Alexander? So let me do it for you, while you just relax'?" I mimicked her slightly posh and polite accent which caused her to groan again before she threw some ham and lettuce onto the bread, before putting the other piece of bread on it and cutting the sandwich in half.

Before she could reply, another snide comment came behind us, "He's right sis, I heard it all - I think you're doting on your singer a little bit--!" the owner of the voice was stopped as Edythe disappeared from my sight and appeared behind me.

Turning around, I saw Edythe clamping her hand down over Emmett's mouth.

Emmett was much taller than Edythe, even an inch taller than me, which made the action comical in appearance but the pure malice Edythe was radiating put me on edge.

"If you even utter anything about what you were about to say, I'll tell everyone in this house every one your thoughts over the past week," she paused before glaring even more intensely, her topaz eyes practically glistening with threats of bodily harm, "Every. Single. One."

Emmett's eyes widened a little before he raised his hands in surrender and mumbled a muffled 'okay'.

Edythe disappeared back to where she was before, and raised my plate to me, "Here you go, Alexander," she smiled at me and I felt slightly scared at her ability to change her mood/expression so quickly.

Taking the plate, I smiled down at Edythe, "Thanks, Edy," before sitting down on one of the seats by the kitchen counter.

Seeming unperturbed by the threats made by Edythe, Emmett came over to me and I got a better look at the tall guy.

He was very bulky, even more so than me. But he gave the impression of being pure brute strength, rather than the perfect mix of strength and speed that my physique gave off. He had curly brown hair which was so dark it was nearly black unlike my brown hair which was clearly chocolate brown, and he had the usual golden eyes of vegetarian vampires.

He walked over next to me with an impish smile which gave him a childish look not seen on most grown-up adults. Once he was over by me, he stuck out his hand for a handshake, along with saying something.

"Hey, I'm Edy's brother, Emmett Cullen. Nice to meet you, Alex," his tone was friendly, so I stuck out my hand to meet his in a handshake.

When our hands clasped around one another, Emmett instantly starting squeezing down on my hand, trying to figure out my strength. I wasn't near the strength of an average vampire, let alone a vampire like Emmett who had higher than average physical strength, but that didn't mean I couldn't put up a fight.

His eyes widened a little once we'd gotten past a certain point and he released my hand before laughing mischievously, "He's definitely not human - his hand would've broken if he was," he saw the disapproving look on Carlisle's face and the angry look on Edythe's, and he raised his hands in indignation, "What? I was just checking if he was good enough for my 'little' sister," he mocked her height as he held his index and his thumb a few inches from one another.

His impish smile didn't leave his face until he felt Edythe pushing him out the room with an angry but flustered face. His impish smile had to go because he started laughing before shouting over at me from the kitchen door, "We need to hang out sometime, Alex - you hang out too much with Edy and you'll turn into a bookworm!"

And that was the last thing he said before Edythe came back in with an embarrassed look on her face.

"Sorry about Emmett...he's just not used to other supernatural creatures. Well, one's he can talk to in a non-hostile environment, anyway," she smiled before sitting down next to me. Carlisle walked over to the other side of the counter before leaning on it and looking over at Edythe.

"So, Edythe, how is your new student? Up to your standards?" he smiled lovingly as he looked at his daughter, and Edythe let out a scoff of a laugh before replying.

"Up to my standards? He'd be up to the standards of some of the best, Carlisle. He absorbs everything I tell him like a sponge and he doesn't forget it," she pouted a bit before carrying on, "He even makes connections and works stuff out on his own. All he needs is the practical experience and he'll turn out to be a marvelous player."

"Then why are you looking so dissatisfied?" I said with a smile after swallowing the first bite of my sandwich. Thinking of a way to tease her, I found one and said what I had to, "Oh, is it because you're gonna miss teaching me when I overtake you~?" I playfully teased with half-closed eyes, showing a mock arrogance which made Edythe sneer at me.

"Really? You, overtake me? You're a few decades too early for that, Alexander," she teased back but the undeniable sad look in her eyes made me know I was right.

Had to change that.

"Well, you can teach me the other instruments you can play if that's what's bothering you," I said in an off-handed manner before nonchalantly carrying on, "Plus, I don't have any of the instruments at my house, so if I want to play, I'll need to come over here, no?" I smiled while 'concentrating' on eating my sandwich.

But I was paying attention to Edythe and Carlisle's expressions. Edythe went frozen before looking over at me with 'Really?!' practically written across her face along with a very hopeful look, while Carlisle saw what I was doing, seeing through me like I was invisible, and smiled at my actions.

I turned to Carlisle, "Well, as long as that's okay with you, Carlisle," I smiled casually before awaiting his answer.

I saw Edythe's eyes practically bored holes into Carlisle before the doctor let out a laugh.

"Of course that's fine, Alexander. Just try to give us a heads-up before you want to come over, okay?" he smiled while looking between the two of us before raising his eyebrows in a fake manner, "Ah, I have to go and do some...business, I'll leave you two to it," with this he blurred and ran away, causing Edythe to smile and me to chuckle before I started to finish off my sandwich.