Charlie Swan: Vampire Hunter

21

                                                                                         Edward

I can't stop staring at the girl, Bella. As soon as she walked in she took my breath away. I can smell her blood right away. The salty sweetness of it with a hint of citrus, it calls to me. I take a deep breath and blow it out. It's been a while since we last hunted maybe that's why she's affecting me like this. 

I shut my eyes and try to block out the flow of thoughts coming from those around me. Most of it was nothing more than trying to decide what to order. Carlisle is thinking about Charlie, big surprise there, he hasn't stopped thinking about Charlie since the party. And Bella... Bella's not thinking about anything. I glance up at their table to make sure she hasn't gone to the bathroom or something and find her staring at me. But more concerning than that, I'm not picking up anything from her at all. I wrack my brain trying to figure out why she would be immune to my powers. As far as in know, no one, not even the most powerful vamps, are immune to it so why is this human? 

I watch them eat, still distracted by the scent of her blood and trying to pick up even the tiniest thought from her. I try to block out the stream of anxiety coming from Charlie and Carlisle with little luck. When she get up for the bathroom I wait about 30 second before following her. 

She stops before going in and turns to look at me. "Why did you follow me?" 

I take a steadying breath. "Who are you?" 

She shakes her head and gives a little exasperated sigh. "I'm Bella nice to meet you. Why did you follow me?" 

"I-you- I don't know." I'm still trying to wrap my mind around not know what's going through her head, it's been so long since I was this clueless. And trying to ignore the dryness int eh back of my throat from her blood. 

"You don't know. Well then you can be on your way." She rolls her eyes before going into the bathroom. 

I shake my head to clear it. "Bella wait!" She turns around, an expectant eyebrow raised. 

"I followed you because you- you. intrigued me and well I think you're beautiful and I know an Italian place if you wanted to go some time."  The words pour out of my mouth before I have time to think about them. Stupid stupid why would I invite her on a date? Not that I don't want to, but can I really trust myself with her. Especially with her blood calling my name and the weird radio silence. This could go very badly very quickly. For both of us. 

She thinks about it for a minute before replying. "How about Friday night?" 

I nod quickly. "I'll pick you up." 

"You know where I live? That's not creepy at all." She says dryly. 

"I know where Charlie lives, and seeing as he's your father I figured his address was yours." 

she rolls her eyes. "Yes well, I'll see you then." 

 ---------------------------------------------------------------------

The rest of the week drags on and yet Friday still arrives too soon. I haven't told my family about Bella, too soon and with too many unknowns. I did some research and apparently the Volturi use the term Cantante to describe the human whose blood is more irritable than any other. In some cases a Cantante is immune to a vampire's powers. I've decided that Bella must be my Cantante, and therefore I can't see her ever again after this. No matter what. I have to figure out how to make it clear that we aren't a good match without telling her the whole story. This is going to be a nightmarish night. 

I look into the car mirror at my reflection. I have on a light blue button up that compliments my ivory skin tone and spent more time than usual taming my hair into it's perfect pompadour but it's paid off.  I'm outside her house waiting. I have no clue what she's doing but it's taking forever. I'm about to go knock when she comes fling out of the house in a short flow purple dress and slams the door behind her. I raise an eyebrow as she jumps into the car. 

"If you don't leave now, dad's going to destroy your very nice car and we will never get to go." She says. 

I hit the gas.