Through the Mirror

Twilight - Thirteen

The bell rings out and people are bustling toward their next class. I stand still, waiting. Knowing it's time I walk past Edward. Our eyes meet and I continue into the forest. Waiting I feel Edward's presence and start to speak. "You're impossibly fast. And strong. Your skin is pale-white, ice-cold. Your eyes change color. And when you speak. It's like you are from a different time." I bite on my lip. Then turn to face him. "You never eat food, or drink, or come out in the sunlight. You waited to know which beach we were going to till you said no. That's right, I know about the treaty. The Quileute considering your family the enemy. " Edward's eyes widen and I take a step toward him. "How old are you?"

"Seventeen."

"How long have you been seventeen?"

"A while."

A shiver runs down my spine. "I'm guessing a while doesn't mean a few months." I look directly into his eyes. "I know what the Cold Ones are. What you are. I've known for a while."

"Say it. Out loud. Say it."

"Vampire."

"Are you afraid?"

"I don't have to be. I know who you are."

"Then ask me the basic question: what do we eat?"

"Your family are different from the others."

"You think you know me?" Edward's hold on my wrist is tight as we start walking.

"We don't have to go there."

"We are going up the mountain. Out of the cloud bank. You need to see what I really am. What I look like in the harsh light of the sun."

"I know what the sun does to you."

"You need to see the truth."

"Slow down. My legs can only move so fast."

"Are you afraid?"

"No."

"Then come with me. Someplace where no one can protect you. Where I could do what I've wanted to do from the first moment I met you."

"Stop trying to scare me away. I'm not afraid."

"You should be." Edward grabs me and scoops me into his arms. "Hold on." Then I'm on his back. We are moving so fast I couldn't really pick up on our surroundings as he runs. "Are you afraid!?"

"No!" The climb makes my head rush and Edward placed me onto the ground. "Edward, enough hiding."

I get up from the ground and find him standing nearby in the shade. Stepping toward him I stop at him motion with a hand up. Edward steadies himself and starts walking out of the shade. "This is why we don't show ourselves in the sunlight." The sparkles coming off his skin is mesmerizing. "This is what I am."

"I didn't think it would really be like this. You're" My breath caught in my throat. "Beautiful." My hand reaches for him on instinct. Edward moves out to the shade immediately and the trance is broken.

"Beautiful? I'm a killer, Bella. This is the skin of a killer." Edward jerks his arm into the light to show the shimmers it produces. 

"No, I will not think different of you." 

"Because you believe the lie. The camouflage. I'm the world's most dangerous predator. Everything about me invites you in - my voice, my face, even my smell. As if I need any of that."

"Thanks for that belief in my judgment."

Edward is darting around so fast it was difficult to keep my eyes to where he would pop up next. "As if you could outrun me. As if you could fight me off." Edward breaks off a piece of a tree and flings it into a tree trunk.

"That was very much unnecessary."

"I'm designed to kill."

"Okay."

"I've killed people."

"Think that's a given at this point."

"I've wanted to kill you. I've never wanted a human's blood so much in my life. I'm dangerous to you."

"What about when you first became a vampire?" I let out a huff of air. "I trust you."

"Don't"

"I trust you, Edward. I'm here." I take hold of his hand and lean forward. Edward is suddenly gone. "Edward?" 

"You. Took me by surprise. I don't know how to do this."

"I'm sorry."

"Me, and my family, we're different from others of our kind. We're not nomadic, we have a permanent home. We only hunt animals. We've learned to control the thirst." Edward makes himself as levelheaded as possible. "but you - your scent, it's like a drug to me." Edward pauses again. "My own personal brand of heroin."

Shaking my head I think it over. "I know." How can I explain what happened? "You hated me when we met."

"I did. For making me want you so badly. I'm still not sure I can control myself."

"Try."

"I wish I could understand this thing you see in me. You look at me with those eyes. I can't read your mind. Tell me what you're thinking."

I swallow the knot keeping me from responding. "I'm afraid."

Edward falls lightly onto his knees. "Good."

"It's not like you think. I'm afraid that one day you will vanish. That everything I've come to know will be gone. A thing, a memory from a dream. That I'll lose you and it's like nothing ever happened."

"You don't know how long I've looked for you." We both smile. Edward reaches forward. "Be very still." His hand is close, the cold giving off a comforting feel. Edward's presence is warmth. "And so the lion fell for the lamb."

"Stupid lamb."

"Sick masochistic lion." We are laying together in the grass and Edward finally asks, "What do you mean when you say "I know" things that you couldn't possibly know?"

"What?"

"You keep saying you know things."

"There's something I haven't told you. That I've been delaying." Looking toward the sky I bring my thoughts together. My head turns back to look at his eyes as I tell him, "This whole time I've been so glad about you not being able to read my mind. Right now that really doesn't help what I need to tell you."

"How long have you known?"

"From the beginning. Right before I came here from Phoenix."

"How?"

"I don't think you'll believe me."

"Just find somewhere and start from that point."

"The place I'm from this is just a story. You know how Harry Potter is a fictional series. A universe that was created by J. K. Rowling and turned into a movie. The Marvel franchise that have the movies built from comics."

"Yes."

"I think we can find reasoning behind this. Thinking about universes beyond our own. Like the alternate universe concept. The Multiverse." I pick at the grass. "In mine it just so happens that this universe is a book series that was turned into movies. I think in each universe we have our own counterpart. In this universe I am Bella Swan. In another maybe I'm Natasha Romanoff. The other life that I have memories from, in that - universe my name is Chloe Dawn McCall." I take a breath before finishing. "The last thing I remember is looking into my vanity mirror, falling asleep, and waking up here at the beginning of Bella's story."

"That's everything?"

"Yes, I don't know what will happen differently now that I've told you. I can other go from what I remember from the books and movies. What I know for sure is that I can't keep this from you anymore. It is past time that you knew the truth." I close my eyes to gather courage. "Tell your family, they should know."

"Okay."

"Can we just lay here? Just not think about it for a bit."

"As long as you want."