13

Blaize POV:

With a sense of eagerness similar to yesterday's, I hit gas and speed to Jacob's. He's already there, waiting by the front door. 'Morning, Blaize!' His voice is cheery, but his smile doesn't quite reach his eyes.

'What's wrong, Jacob?' I ask.

Jacob averts his gaze and mumbles, 'We have a visitor. Well, a friend. Seth. He's waiting inside.'

Okay... I don't see what the problem is. I walk into the house after Jacob. Seth is lounging on the sofa, tapping his foot on the ground while his restless eyes dart around the room nervously. 'Hey Seth,' I call.

He visibly swallows, and replies, 'Hey Blaize,' in a strangled voice.

'Jeez what is up with both of you today? What's on your minds? Spit it out.' I groan, dropping into the seat next to Seth.

The younger takes a deep breath. 'Have you ever heard of the term imprinting? You probably haven't though, it's just a werewolf thing,' he adds hurriedly. 'So basically - it's not like love at first sight. It's more like... gravity... moves, and it's not the earth holding you here anymore, she does... You become whatever she needs you to be, whether that's a protector, or a lover, or a friend. They are the centre of your life. Your soulmate.' Seth speaks quietly, his brown eyes staring intently at me.

And, after a heartbeat, slowly, it dawns on me.

'Oh.' Jacob's sadness, Seth's nervousness, this sudden explanation. I rise from the couch. 'Jake, you know I still love you, as a brother. Always.' I wrap him in a hug, and pull back to meet his dull gaze. 'We still have the bikes to work on, remember?'

Jacob frowns, and looks at his feet. Shoving him playfully, I moan, 'Just because I'm Seth's soulmate doesn't mean we can't be friends, jeez.' Jacob finally permits half a grin to slide across his face, and I roll my eyes. I glance at Seth. 'And just because that's that doesn't mean you can go all soft and gooey and all that lovey-dovey nonsense on me.'

Seth smiles, and scratches his head. 'We're all friends, and that's it for now,' I say firmly, reading the hesitation in his eyes. 'Now come on, I want to finish off those bikes.'

Bella POV:

By the time I wake up on Sunday, Blaize has already disappeared to see Jacob. Edward arrives through my window just as I finish getting dressed. 'Hello,' he says in his musical voice.

'Hi,' I reply, tugging nervously at the flutter sleeves. 'Do I look okay?'

Edward wraps his stone arms round my waist, and buries his head into my hair. 'You look beautiful, no matter what,' he murmurs.

I bat playfully at his arm. 'You'd say that, no matter what.'

He kisses the top of my forehead lightly. 'I missed you,' he says.

As we pull up to the Cullens' drive, my mouth falls open. The house is not what I expected at all. Huge and modern, painted a soft, faded white - It looks stunning. The woods seem to surround the place, enveloping it with leaves. I can hear the sound of a river gushing nearby, but, unsurprisingly there are no bird calls. It's clear who are the dominant predators here.

But Edward's velvet voice immediately contradicts my thoughts. 'Welcome to my humble abode.' Pushing open the wooden door, I step inside.

The inside is even less like what I was expecting than the outside. It's very bright, very open, very big. The south facing wall is replaced entirely with glass, and I see a huge open lawn which stretches down to a wide river. A massive staircase takes over the west side of this massive room. As I gaze around, I notice that everything is white: the walls, the ceiling, the carpeted floors. In a doorway to the left stands a grand piano, also white.

Edward's parents stand in front of the piano, waiting for us. I'd seen Dr Cullen before, but it was impossible to not notice how outrageously beautiful he was. He has his arm wrapped around whom I presumed to be Esme, the only member of the family I hadn't met yet. She has wavy caramel hair, and her face is subtly shaped like a heart. There is also something really kind about her face, but I couldn't tell what made me think that.

'Carlisle, Esme, this is Bella,' Edward says.

'It's nice to meet you again, Dr Cullen.'

'Please, call me Carlisle.'

I step forwards to greet Esme, and she pulls me into a stone hug. Somehow I wasn't at all nervous that I was in a house surrounded by vampires.

And then Alice appears at the top of the stairs, and she streaks down the stairs to come to an abrupt halt directly in front of me. 'Hey Bella!' she squeals, and squeezes me gently. 'You do smell good, I'd never mentioned before,' she comments. For a moment, it was silent.

Then Jasper appears. 'Hello, Bella.' He makes no move to shake my hand, and I was okay with that.

'Hello, Jasper,' I smiled at him, then the others. 'It's nice to meet you all - you have a very beautiful home,' I add. Nodding to the piano, I asked Esme, 'Do you play?'

She laughs. 'No, didn't Edward tell you he was musical?'

'Um, no, but I figured at this point I should've known, I guess.'

Esme looks slightly confused.

I backtrack. 'Is there anything he can't do?'

Jasper barks out a laugh, Alice rolls her eyes, and Carlisle gives Edward a fatherly look, which is impressive considering how young he is. A few words pass through their minds, and I watch the exchange with interest.

Edward sighs after a second. 'Bella, would you like to hear me play?'

I nod eagerly. 'Yes, please.' He sighs again, and gently guides me to the piano. Patting the seat next to him, I sit down just as his fingers meet the keys. They flow swiftly across the ivory, and the music fills the room with an unbearably sweet melody, the interweaving notes and complexity making it hard to believe only one set of hands played. Edward looks at me while the music surges around us. 'Do you like it?'

'You wrote this?'

He nods. 'You inspired this one.'

The music continues to dance, and I sit next to him eyes closed, as the lullaby grows.

*

We wandered around the house for a while. Edward told me all about the Volturi, and we visited Carlisle's office where he shared his stories.

As we ascend the winding staircase, I notice a whole wall of colourful objects. 'Are those graduation caps?' I ask.

He nods, and grins. 'We tend to graduate a lot.' After a moment, he asks, 'It's nothing like you expected isn't it? No cobwebs, no coffins, no piled skulls... this must be a disappointment to you.'

I pinch my lips together sheepishly. 'Not a disappointment. Just... very grand.'

We reach the second floor, and Edward leads me to a room at the end of the corridor. 'My room, ' he announces. One wall was lined with countless CD's, the other with shelves and shelves of books. The others faced the Olympic Mountain Range, and provided a view of the lawn to the river to the forest below. No bed sat in the room, just a worn blue sofa. 'How do you organise these?' I ask after a moment, having been unable to find any rhyme or reason to the titles. Edward doesn't reply.

Turning to face him, I find him to be staring at me with a strange expression. 'What?' He remains staring curiously. 'You're still waiting for the running and screaming, aren't you?'

Finally, his statuesque façade fades, and he smiles his famous crooked smile. I still my thrumming heart, and say, 'I hate to burst your bubble, but I don't think you're really that scary.' I try to master my heart rate, knowing that Edward can probably hear every thundering beat. He slowly smiles, and lets out a dark, wicked chuckle. 'Oh, really?'

And then I'm flying through the air, and slammed into the couch, and I gulp in as much oxygen in as I can as I try to righten myself.

Edward holds me prisoner against the couch. 'You were saying?' he growls playfully.

'You are not at all scary.' It's an outrageous lie, and he and I both know it. He snarls again, the sound harsher this time, but still relaxed.

The door swing open, and Alice breezes in. 'It sounded like you were going to have Bella for lunch; I wanted to see if you would share.'

Edward grins. 'Unfortunately, she's all mine.'

Alice gives a sweet, angelic smile in return. 'Anyhoo, there's a storm tonight. We'll stay dry. You up for a game?'

'Oh, yes.'

I frown. 'What?'

Edward replies, and Alice chimes in, 'Baseball.'

I roll my eyes. 'Vampires like baseball?'

'It's the American Pastime,' he grins.