Parallax

Chapter 8

When it was almost dark, Bella made herself comfortable by reading a book in front of the fireplace. This time, Carlisle had brought the love seat over so Bella can sit comfortably and was given a blanket to keep warm. Since she didn't bring any books with her, she opted to borrow one from the Eleazar's collection.

It kept her from thinking too much about what she was going to do when Edward arrives or how she was going to explain her predicament to the rest of them.

Bella's reading was interrupted when the door open and the house was filled with Emmett's boisterous laugh and before she could even stand up and greet them, she was hoisted from her chair by a burly figure.

"Emmett! Can't breathe!" Bella tapped her big brother's arm for him to let go from his bear hug.

Emmett put her down slowly and was grinning ear to him, his arms to his side.

"Bella! Am I glad to see you! It's never been the same without you!" Emmett exclaimed and then his mouth turned down in a frown and was shaking his head in disapproval.

"You look skinnier" He blurted out and he received a smack from Rosalie, who was suddenly by his side, tilting her head towards her in greeting. That was the only acknowledgement that she got from the female vampire.

"Well, you left. I got depressed" She replied nonchalantly but that only got a sober look from the man in front of him and silence from the rest of the inhabitants of the house.

"So you're the one that Edward and the Cullen's have been fussing about." A female voice interjected from behind and Bella turned to see Tanya walking towards her, assessing her features with her vampire keen eyes.

"Bella, this is Tanya and her sisters Kate and Irina. This is Isabella Swan" Alice introduced and skipped besides Tanya.

"Hello" Bella greeted without making it obvious that she knows exactly which sister was which.

"I don't... quite see the appeal to be honest." Tanya replied and Bella merely shrugged.

"Me either but I guess I'm not obligated to be appealing to anyone else other than the one who I'm supposed to be with." Bella shrugged nonchalantly and the vampire in front of her raised her eyebrow while her two sisters behind her, snickered.

Bella's relationship with the sisters were quite dynamic. Tanya likes Bella but gets annoyed with her gifts because she keeps shielding Edward from her not so subtle imagination about him whenever they visit. She never really stopped teasing Edward even when Alice was around although she wasn't as forward about it as before but Edward still needed to ask Bella to intervene to give him a piece of mind. The strawberry blonde-haired vampire would always be saying that she was a spoilsport for ruining her fun.

"Nice one Bella" Emmett teased and playfully nudged her arm, but Bella winced instead.

"Hey! Go easy big guy! I'm still squish-able" Bella rubbed her arm.

Emmett burst into laughter but suddenly stopped mid laugh when Esme cleared her throat and glared at his son.

"Sorry" he finally said and Bella patted his arm affectionately.

"Sister, you are making a bad impression to our guest." Kate walked forward and held her arm out.

"Isabella, it's a pleasure to meet you. I'm Kate and Alice had told us so much about you" Kate introduced herself. Among the Denali sisters, Kate was the one closest to her, because of her gifts. While waiting out her newborn years at the Denali's, she became Bella's mentor and worked with her in controlling her gift and projecting it to others.