A Thousand Years // Edward Cullen

Chapter 12

Edward looked up at the huge house that stood before him. It wasn't like his house, but a little more human. A large log cabin type house rose up from the trees about three miles from the Cullens'. There was a basketball net out in the front driveway and the yard was littered with balls, toys, ropes and old tires? Edward smiled. The Vicasi kids sure knew how to use junk for fun!

Edward trotted up the stairs to the front door and knocked on the large wooden door. Soon it opened but Edward saw no one there. Glancing down, he found himself face to face with little Vanessa who was looking up at him curiously.

"Oh, you're Edward!" the girl chirped in her two-year-old voice, "Come on in! Daddy and sissy are waiting for you!"
Edward smiled as the girl led him down the hallway and into a room which turned out to be a library. Mr. Vicasi was standing at the other end of the library, reading standing up. Kamber was lying on a backless couch in the middle of the room, a book laying on her face and her hands laying on her stomach.

The boy tried not to stare at the girl for she wore a pair of grey leggings underneath a short pink skirt and fuzzy striped socks. Her shirt was short, so part of her abdomen was showing but her fair smooth arms laying lazily on her stomach and her rich red hair flowing about her made Edward begin to sweat.

"Ah Edward," Mr. Vicasi said, turning and smiling kindly at the boy, "Come on in. Please excuse Kamber, she didn't get any sleep last night."
"Sleep?" Edward asked, "She has to sleep?"
Mr. Vicasi nodded as the two sat down at the table. "They inherit some things from their mother. At least once a week the kids have to sleep once they reach maturity. For all the little ones, they have to have a regular human sleeping schedule. Kamber just recently reached maturity so she doesn't need as much sleep but it's still all new to her, so she has to get at least twelve hours of sleep once a week."
Edward nodded in understanding. He sat down at the table and Mr. Vicasi reached over to his daughter and lifted the book off her face. That was when Edward noticed that her eyes were closed and her long black lashes brushing her cheeks. Her mouth was slightly open as she breathed and her chest rising and falling with her breathing. Edward envied her. While she was still half vampire, she had enough werewolf in her which meant she was also warm... and could breathe.

"So, the case..."

"Ah yes," Mr. Vicasi said. "About three months ago I was asked to defend a young man in court. He was being sued by a man for breaking and entering their house to get his hands on his sister. The man who was accusing is Harrison Gerasimov. The man being sued was Jason Bounds."
"Was?"

"Was," he confirmed. "Jason was found dead... murdered last week. I didn't hear about it until last night. I cannot investigate it because I am not a police officer and I have two other cases that are much more pressing. I need you and Kamber to find out who killed Jason and why."
"Couldn't it have been Harrison?" Edward asked. "To get back at Jason for trying to harm his sister? Besides, how was he killed?"
"That was what I thought at first but that is too obvious. If Harrison wanted to kill him, he wouldn't make it so obvious. But besides that, his death is strange... it was a fatal wound to the chest... but not by any weapon or creature we know. Your father investigated the body... the scar marks and wound itself are none that we are familiar with."
Edward frowned, "That is strange. Do you think it is connected to the case?"
"That I do not know," Mr. Vicasi replied. "But that is what I need you to figure out."

Edward nodded and glanced over his shoulder at Kamber.

"Anything else sir?" the boy asked.

Mr. Vicasi nodded, "Kamber has a hard time making friends. I guess she is just socially awkward, but she likes you Edward. I hope you can be a friend for her."
Edward smiled and nodded, "I will sir."
Mr. Vicasi nodded and left the room, leaving Edward with a folder which contained all information he had on Jason Bounds and Harrison Gerasimov.

Edward opened the folder and began to look through the information. He glanced once at the pictures of the two but he didn't recognize them. He was just getting situated when he felt a presence behind him. Turning around in the seat, he saw Kamber standing behind him. The girl looked like she had just woken up for her eyes were blurry and half open, her face flushed from sleep and her hair all over the place. Edward had never thought she looked more beautiful.

"Edward?" the girl asked, rubbing her eyes with the back of her hands.

Edward reached up and grabbed her wrist, stopping her from rubbing her eyes, "Don't do that. My dad once told me that rubbing your eyes when you first wake up damages your eyes overtime."
He rose to his feet, not releasing her wrists. The girl looked up at him with a question in her eyes. Edward sped off to the kitchen and after a few seconds of explaining the situation to Mrs. Vicasi, rushed back. He held out a warm washcloth to Kamber, but the girl seemed puzzled. Reaching over, he wiped her eyes gently with the warm wet cloth. The girl let out a content sigh.

"That feels good," she whispered.

Edward swallowed. 'You have no idea what you are doing to me!' he thought to himself.

When he finished, he realized that his eyes were no longer blurry, and she was looking up into his amber eyes with big sky-blue eyes.

Feeling all the life draining out of him, Edward found himself frozen to the spot, staring down at the girl. Kamber was faintly aware of him reaching up and gently touching her cheek. She was surprised at how cold his hand was and shivered slightly. This caused Edward to snap out of it and he stepped back, removing his hand.

"Sorry..."

Kamber blushed brightly and looked down, shielding her face with her hair, "We should get to work."