"What was that?" Bella asked, her voice was low but to the ears of the vampires in the room, it was clear as day.
Her voice carried a lot of emotion, the biggest ones that Alex could infer from it though were confusion, anxiousness, and maybe even fright.
*Sigh*
Alex released a slow sigh as he looked at her.
"I would call that my true form, what you see right now is merely a mask, something I hide behind while what you saw was what I really look like," Alex said, his voice was somber and it was clear that he wasn't having as easy of a time as he thought he would have.
"Your real form?" Carlisle asked from the other side of the room.
Alex turned toward him and nodded.
"That's right, what you see right now is just a mask, so I guess you can't even call that a transformation, what you're seeing right now would probably fit that term better," Alex said as he looked at the man.
Bella gulped, the sound of it resonating in the silence.
"You just looked so different, I thought that," Bella said and then had to stop as she caught her breath, continuing once more a second later.
"I thought that nothing had changed but I guess I was wrong." Bella's voice was disheartened as she spoke, it almost sounded like the voice of someone who had lost something dear to them.
"I'm still me Bella, nothing has changed," Alex said as he tried to get her to calm down but by the speed up beating of her heart, Alex knew that this time it wasn't going to be as simple as it had been last time.
He had killed someone, two people in fact right in front of Bella's eyes and it hadn't been a pretty sight, seeing someone's head fly off their shoulders certainly was nightmare material.
Bella took a deep breath as she turned to face Alex.
"What do you mean nothing has changed Alex, you just killed two people, how can you expect me to just deal with it and move on as if nothing has changed."
"Bella..." Alex started but his throat felt so tight that he couldn't continue his words.
"Bella, he did it for you, it was to protect you," Alice said as she went ahead and sat next to her.
"How do you know that Alice? They hadn't done anything yet and they could have just gone ahead and left, never even noticing me" Bella turned to Alice as she said, her voice was high, at this point she was close to screaming.
Stopping, Bella gathered her breath once more and then asked Alice.
"Did you see a vision, Alice? Did you really know that they would attack me? Tell me the truth" Bella asked as she looked at Alice.
Alice meanwhile stood silent, her eyes wandering off toward Alex.
Seeing her stare, Alex nodded, telling her to tell the truth. There was no need to lie in this situation, it would just become worse down the line when she eventually found out. Lies will always end up discovered one way or another, it is just a matter of time.
*Sigh*
Alice closed her eyes and released a soft sigh, the next moment her eyes opened and she shook her head.
"No, I did not see a vision about that Bella" Alice said as she looked at Bella whose eyes were nearly overflowing with tears.
Bella nodded and mumbled a soft thanks.
"Thank you for telling the truth Alice" Bella said and then turned to Alex once more.
"I do not know anymore Alex, at one moment you seem normal like nothing has changed even though you're a vampire and the next you seem completely different. Even the others don't, didn't do that" Bella started as she looked at Alex, her brother who had never left her side.
Her last words pointed toward the Cullens who she hadn't seen react like Alex. To her, at the moment the Cullens felt much more humane than her brother.
She knew that her words were hurtful but she was hurt as well, she was confused and scared about the entire scenario that had transpired.
Alex just looked at her, his mouth staying in a flat line as he watched tears spill over Bella's eyes and drip down to her chin.
"I did it to protect you Bella, they weren't good people, even if they hadn't noticed you, they would still go on their way and continue hunting humans as if they were livestock. Would you want that? For them to be left free in the world just so they could hurt more people" Alex finally said as he opened his mouth, his voice was flat, and no hint of emotion could be detected from it.
Bella stood silent for a moment and then with a choked voice she said while shaking her head.
"I don't know Alex, I feel like I don't know anything anymore," Bella said and then lifted her hand and wiped the tears off her face with the hem of her shirt.
"Can I go home, I'm tired" Bella said as she turned to look at Edward.
Edward stood silent and simply gave her a nod.
Turning to face Alex, he looked at him for confirmation, there were things he could interfere in but this was a matter between family, between Alex and Bella.
Alex simply nodded, his face had lost all expression. A poker face had taken hold and he showed nothing on the outside, but inwardly his entire mind was in turmoil. It felt like he had lost something dear to him whilst he had tried to save it.
Turning toward Bella, Alex opened his mouth and said.
"I can see the future too Bella, I knew they were going to find you out," Alex said
Bella stopped for a moment and then turned to Alex, her face contorted into a sad miserable smile as she looked at him.
Slowly she shook her head.
"How can I trust your words, Alex? I just do not know anymore if what you are telling me is the truth or not, you, your different now, I can't even begin to guess what you're thinking. Back then we used to know everything about each other but now, I don't even know if you're telling the truth or if it's just another cover-up." Bella said as she looked at Alex.
Her words were jumbled up together and maybe even illogical, Alex even felt that she was making up things but he could also understand, that what she had seen was something no human would remain calm after.
Alex was scared in fact, scared that he had scarred his sister forever.
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Chapter 99, we sure have come a long way.
The second chapter of the day.
I tried to delve deeper into emotions but every time I do I felt like I was trying to do something over my skill level and it didn't turn how I wanted it to. I'll try to improve more in the future but this is the best I could do as of right now.
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Lots of Love
WhiteAuthor