XXIV. The rest.

It was getting a little later and the sun had disappeared behind thick clouds in the sky. Me and Edward still sat in the meadow. He was lying back, propped up on his elbow. I sat right next to him, fiddling around with our intertwined hands.

"Why did you leave after the first day?" I asked him softly as I looked at my with curiosity, my eyebrows furrowing.

Edward pursed his lips as he stared at me. "I don't think I can explain it to you without scaring you." He said softly as he shook his head.

I offered him a small smile as I shook my head. "Takes a lot to scare me, I am in the middle of the forest alone with a vampire, after all," I said as I shrugged my shoulders, my head tilting to the side.

Edward glanced down as a chuckle slipped from his lips. "Right." He said as he raised his eyebrows for a brief second. He nodded his head. "I forgot." He mused himself about my sanity. His eyes flicked towards me and he gave me a small shake of his head. "Well, just keep in mind, that there is something physically stopping me from hurting you." He said, in an attempt to assure my peace of mind for whatever he was about to tell me. "If there was a random person right here, bleeding out, I would...well you know what I would want to do." He added softly as he pursed his lips, his gaze diverting down. "But if it were you, that would not for a second cross my mind. I'd never do it, not even if you were bleeding all over the place," he assured with a shake of his head.

I took a deep breath as I nodded my head in understanding. "Okay," I whispered as I stared down at him, my hand still intertwined with his.

"That first day...I could smell your scent, like your blood," he explained carefully and I had to bite down and force my eyes not to widen in shock. "It wasn't appetizing, but it was...it was pulling me in." He continued, speaking cautiously. "Everyone smells the same and then here you came, with a scent I've never smelled before." He whispered as he shook his head. He hesitantly looked at me. "Don't take this wrong, but you smell good."

My lips parted as I stared down at him, my eyebrows slightly furrowing. "Like...my blood?" I asked hesitantly, my voice soft and a little confused.

"Yes." He hesitantly confirmed as he nodded his head, giving me an apologetic look for his words. "But no matter how good you smell, I don't have the urge to kill you." He assured me once again as he shook his head. "And it's strange, essentially because that's what my kind does." He continued, his eyebrows furrowing and his lips pursing. "So it scared me because I didn't know what it meant." He said as he shook his head again. "It's like putting a person's exact favorite food in front of them and they don't have the appetite for it, no matter how hungry they are." He explained, again shaking his head. "They just can't..."

I nodded in understanding. It took me a second to register all his words. It confused me a little, but strangely it didn't scare me. I believed him when he said he didn't want to hurt me. He's had more than enough opportunities to do so. And someone who wanted to hurt you, wouldn't demand you tell people you were going to be alone with them. Even if my mom didn't know where I was, she knew exactly who I was with.

It was confusing, my blood being more appealing than others. I didn't understand what it meant. It was just as unexplainable as him not being able to read my thoughts. "Why me?" I asked him as my eyebrows furrowed.

"I don't know." He admitted as he shook his head, pursing his lips as he lowered himself from his propped-up elbows, laying flat on the ground. "Maybe it comes back to the soulmates thing." He suggested as he stared up at the sky.

"So your feeling for me overpowers your hunger?" I asked as I raised my eyebrows at him, my eyes ever so slightly squinting. I wish I could make sense of this. At least this time, I wasn't the only one left in confusion. Edward didn't seem to understand it either.

"Yes." He confirmed with a nod of his head. His words made something inside my chest flutter. I was curious about what exactly his feelings towards me entailed. Whatever was between me and Edward, was getting to the point of more than friends. Friends didn't sit and talk for hours while holding hands. "But I'm still scared sometimes," Edward admitted. "I couldn't fathom the idea of ever hurting you in any way." He whispered as his eyebrows furrowed.

I offered him an assuring smile as I stared down at him. "You know, even humans can hurt each other badly." I reminded him softly. "Some aren't even scared to do it," I said as I shook my head. "I think being scared of even the thought of it, makes you better than most humans," I said softly and he gave me a thankful smile.

A few seconds later he sat up and patted my thigh. "I should get you back home." He insisted as he got up to his feet. He held out his hand and I took it. He pulled me up to my feet before grabbing my bag from the ground, and carrying it for me as we returned to my truck.

On the drive back home, Edward gave me the chance to ask more questions. He could tell I was curious and he wanted to share as much as possible with me. "So Carlisle changed you because you were dying from the influenza," I muttered softly as I drove back home.

"Yes." He confirmed with a nod of his head, sitting comfortably in the passenger side of the leather bench seat of my truck.

"What about the rest?" I asked hesitantly. Edward had been an open book about himself but I was unsure of how much he was willing to share about the rest of his family.

"Esme was the second to join us." He informed me and I nodded, remembering when he mentioned that earlier in the meadow. "She fell from a cliff." He muttered softly as his eyebrows furrowed and my eyes ever so slightly widened, my heart clenching inside my chest. I didn't know the woman but such an almost death still made me feel sad for her. "They brought her straight to the hospital morgue, though, somehow, her heart was still beating."

"That's sad," I whispered as my eyebrows furrowed and when Edward glanced at me, he could see the sadness that crossed my facial features.

"Yes." He agreed with a slow nod of his head.

I was silent for a while before I moved on to my next question. He didn't seem uncomfortable sharing his family's stories, so I carefully asked more. "What about Emmett and Rosalie?" I asked curiously.

"Carlisle brought Rosalie to our family next." He informed me. A small smile tugged at his lips and he shook his head. "I didn't realize till much later that he was hoping she would be to me what Esme was to him." He said with a roll of his eyes. "He was careful with his thoughts around me."

"You and Rosalie?" I asked as I raised my eyebrows, pushing my tongue around the inside of my cheek as I kept my eyes on the road ahead of me.

Edward glanced at me, his smile growing a little more. "She was never more than a sister to me and she felt the same way." He assured me. I glanced at him with squinted eyes. Did he think I was jealous? Was I jealous? Rosalie was immensely far more prettier than me. Of course, I was. "It was only two years later that she found Emmett." He continued on. "She was hunting, we were in Appalachia at the time and found a bear about to finish him off," he explained and my eyes widened in horror as I briefly glanced at him, my lips parted in shock. "She carried him back to Carlisle, more than a hundred miles, afraid she wouldn't be able to do it herself."

I slowly nodded my head as my eyebrows furrowed. I couldn't imagine how hard that must have been. "But she made it," I said softly, nodding my head again.

"Yes." He replied as he nodded his head as well. "She saw something in his face that made her strong enough," he explained and that made a small smile tugged at my lips. "And they've been together ever since. Sometimes they live separately from us, as a married couple," he added before rolling his eyes. "I suppose we'll have to go to their wedding in a few years, again." He scoffed as he shook his head.

"How did she...?" I asked softly, not finishing my sentence. I didn't need to, he understood what I was asking.

"Carlisle found her bleeding out on the side of the road," Edward explained softly, his gaze lowering onto his lap. His eyebrows furrowed and a frown tugged at his lips. "What almost happened to you in Port Angeles...did happen to her," he informed me softly.

My heart sank to the pit of my stomach. Memories of that night managed to peak out of the haze it had been covered in, just long enough for tears to form in my eyes. "Oh my God," I whispered and Edwrad's gaze shot towards me when he heard the tremble in my voice. I could see the anger in his eyes when I glanced at him. I felt a foreign anger deep in my chest as well. Anger at what happened that night. But my own memories were covered underneath the haze they had been under since that night.

I was silent for a while, waiting for both of us to calm down in our ways. After that, I moved on to my next question. "Alice and Jasper?" I asked softly. The question was now more out of attempting to change the subject and fill the silence, than my curiosity.

"Alice and Jasper are two very rare creatures." He mused as the smallest smile tugged at his lips, but when I looked at him, I could see it didn't fully reach his eyes. He was still upset. But he still continued on. "They both developed a conscience, as we refer to it, with no outside guidance." He explained and I shot him a glance with furrowed eyebrows, confused by what he meant "Jasper belonged to another...family, a very different kind of family. He became depressed and wandered on his own." He explained. "Alice found him. She saw Jasper and knew that he was looking for her before he knew it himself. She saw Carlisle and our family, And they came together to find us."

I nodded along to his words. Their story sounded a lot sweeter than Rosalie and Emmette's, but Edward's hesitation to mention Jasper's previous family, made me wonder. "Are there a lot of your kind?" I asked curiously as I raised my eyebrows.

Edward shook his head in response. "No, not many. But most won't settle in any one place." He explained."Only those like us, who've given up hunting people, can live together with humans for any length of time." He continued on. "We've only found one other family like ours, in a small village in Alaska." He said and I nodded, remembering Jessica telling me the Cullen's moved here from Alaska. "We lived together for a time, but there were so many of us, that we became noticeable." He added. "Those of us who live...difrently, tend to band together."

"And the others?" I asked, referring to the non-vegetarian kind of vampires. I shuddered at the thought of those. While I was perfectly at ease and at peace with Edward, his kind, especially the ones with less values than Edward and his family, scared me.

"Nomas, for the most part." He explained as his head tilted to the side. "We've all lived that way at times. It gets tedious, like anything else." He muttered, referring to constantly moving around and never staying long at any place. "But we run across the others now and then." He added. "Because most of us prefer the North."

"Because it's usually always cloudy." I guessed as I glanced at him for a brief second, raising my eyebrows as a small, knowing smile tugged at my lips.

Edward grinned as he nodded his head. "Exactly." He confirmed as he glanced over at me. It was such a fleeting glance from those golden eyes, that it knocked my breath away for a second and I had to force my eyes to return to the road, pursing my lips.

"So Alice also came from another family, like Jasper?" I asked him, in an attempt to keep the conversation going and distract myself from those beautiful golden eyes. The effect this man had on me, was getting ridiculous.

Edward smirked as he glanced over at me, and from my peripheral vision, I could tell he was ever so slightly aware of the effect he had on me. What gave it away? Probably my sudden avoidance of eye contact. Most likely the blush creeping up on my pale cheeks.

"No, and that is a mystery," Edward replied to my question as he shook his head. "Alice doesn't remember her human life at all. And she doesn't know who created her. She awoke alone. Whoever made her walked away, and none of us understand why, or how, he could." He explained.

My eyebrows furrowed at his words. I didn't know Alice, but even from afar, I could tell she was kind and sweet. Such a small and elegant woman with amazing style. I didn't know her, but neither could I understand how someone could do that to her. How could you so drastically change someone's life and leave without giving them guidance in their transition?

"If she hadn't had that other sense, if she hadn't seen Jasper or Carlisle and known that she would someday become one of us, she probably would have turned into a savage." He whispered as his lips tugged into a deep frown. It was so clear that he loved his sister, adopted or not.

"I can't imagine that," I whispered as I shook my head. By now we had entered Forks again and were turning into my street. "She seems so sweet and kind," I added softly, my eyebrows deeply furrowed.

"She is." He confirmed with a nod of his head. "She has a lot of compassion." He added. I pulled up to the curb in front of my house. Edward's Volvo was still in the driveway, right next to my mom's car.

I glanced over at the house for a second before looking over at Edward. I shifted in my seat to face him. "Thanks for today," I said softly as I smiled at him. "I had a lot of fun," I admitted as I nodded my head.

"Me too." He replied as he nodded his head. He reached out, brushing his fingers through my hair before cupping my cheek with the palm of his icy-cold hand. "You know, you have a way of bringing very human emotions and feelings out in me." He admitted. "I haven't felt that way in a long time...it's nice," he whispered.

For a second I leaned into his touch. "Thank you for sharing so much with me today," I whispered. We sat there in silence for a second, staring at each other as he cradled my cheek in the palm of his hand.

After we climbed out of my truck, I walked with him towards his car. "Bye," I said softly as I offered him a small smile, crossing my arms over my chest.

"Goodbye." He replied, placing a gentle hand on my arm before he leaned forward, placing a feather-light kiss against my forehead. I smiled up at him when he pulled away and waved him off as he got in his car and drove away.

I bit down on my bottom lip as my smile grew bigger, the feeling of his cold lips still lingering on my skin.

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Yeah he's not gonna be a creep having to fight  to not kill the love of his life!!