Bella's power - fanfiction author (100 books to read .txt) 📗

enough away now." Edward's voice jolted me from my musings.
"What? Far enough away?" I had no idea what he was talking about. Had I missed something?
"Far enough from the house that they can't hear us," he clarified. I frowned at him mystified, and he explained how acute vampire hearing was.
"Well, that was certainly interesting. Do you have any idea what happened?" he said, sitting on a fallen tree.
"You probably know more than me, seeing how you could get inside all their heads." I joined him on the tree.
"They feel the same spark I do when we touch. I thought that was just us, something special, but even the girls…" Edward drifted off. It was plain from his demeanour that he did not like the situation.
"Ours is special," I urged, attempting to comfort him. "I feel the connection even when we don't touch, and so do you." That was when I realised that with Edward's family, the electricity was only there when their skin touched my skin. As I told Edward, he smiled.
Edward's POV
I was pleased there was a distinction between the way I affected Bella and the way the others did. I knew how I felt about Bella, how much she meant to me, but this business with my family had made me question her feelings, and whether they were just based on this strange reaction. It was a relief to know that it was more than that. "So, if you wore gloves and long sleeves, it wouldn't happen." I reasoned happily.
"Oh sure," she pouted. "Why don't I wear a balaclava to make sure, or maybe a big sign saying 'vampires don't touch' around my neck."
"I'm only trying to help," I soothed. Bella's blush had alerted me to her embarrassment, so her sarcasm was not entirely unexpected. "But if you're going to be like that we might as well go back to the house."
"I know. I'm sorry. The whole thing has been exhausting and more than a little disturbing."
"Come on, then. Let's find something relaxing to do at home." I waited for Bella to get up and let her walk in front of me, careful not to touch her or give her any cause to become excited again. I didn't mind that Bella became aroused, in fact, it was rather sweet that I affected her that way, and totally normal for a teenager. I just wasn't comfortable with it around my family. I was already in for a lot of ribbing from Emmett and Jasper. I could deal with that—but I didn't want Esme to be any more embarrassed.
Bella's POV
I was confused that Edward kept me at arm's length, much as he did at school. I had given him cause to sulk, but I was certain it wasn't that. As we approached the house, Alice came skipping along.
"I'm so sorry, Bella. I had no idea. It was quite a shock—still, every cloud has a silver lining," she rattled off. I had no idea what she was on about, but Edward frowned at her.
"Alice, how many different colour nail varnishes can you buy in Macy's for $3000?" he asked quickly. As Alice worked out an answer, Edward's frown melted away. I smiled at him, guessing that he hadn't liked her thoughts. I'm sure he spoke to Alice then, but too fast and quiet for me to hear; Alice barely nodded in reply and disappeared into the house.
The house was very quiet. "I'd like to use the bathroom," I told Edward, wondering if they even had one. Esme appeared as if from nowhere.
"I'll take you, Bella." She made to take my hand, then corrected herself and put her arm round my waist. "Come on." She steered me up a flight of stairs and down the hall to a beautiful bathroom.
After changing my panties, I stood there reluctant to put the soiled ones in my pocket. Maybe I could wrap them in some paper, my hand strayed to my pocket, of course, the plastic bag. I really did not want to think about how Alice knew I'd need it.
Edward sure wasn't kidding when he said this family had no secrets.
Edward's POV
I was grateful that Alice had spread the word about skin contact. As Esme ushered Bella upstairs, she directed her thoughts to me. Edward, go and talk to Emmett. He's far too excited about all this.
My four siblings were in the main lounge where Emmett was almost bouncing off the walls, with all sorts of rubbish running through his mind.
I addressed them all, but glared pointedly at Emmett. "Maybe it's best if you all keep away from Bella, at least until we work out what's going on." Emmett had a vision of passing the electricity from Bella through him and on to another human.
Alice pouted. "Don't be ridiculous. It's not like it hurts, it was just a shock. I see no reason to shun my new friend." Always the drama queen.
"Do you think we could use it to jump start a car?" Emmett was asking Rose.
"Can't you keep him under control?" I growled at her. "Bella is not some fairground curiosity," I admonished Emmett. "She's not a toy, either, so just stay away from her okay."
I met Bella as she left the bathroom and showed her round the house, telling her some of our background and ending up in my room. We sat on my couch and listened to music.
Bella's POV
The family history was very interesting, and I was fascinated with Edward's bedroom. He had so much music, and we spent much of our time lounging on his couch listening and chatting. Although it was very pleasant, I had hoped we would be closer, maybe cuddle or even kiss again, but Edward seemed determined not to touch me.
All too soon it was time to leave. We poked our heads into the family room to say our goodbyes. Everyone got up and hugged me except Emmett, who was sulking and just waved. Edward was glaring at him. It wasn't until we were parked outside Charlie's that Edward finally relaxed and kissed me.
"Goodnight, Bella. I'll pick you up in the morning for school." With that, he was gone.
I lay in bed that night and ran through the day's events in my mind. It had been bizarre and Edward had acted strangely, too. At least by the end he seemed to be back to normal, so I decided to draw a line under it and start afresh in the morning.


If I thought my day at the Cullens' had been bad, the next day at school was on a whole new level. It started well enough. Edward picked me up in the Volvo and was back to his old self, greeting me with a light kiss and tucking a stray hair behind my ear. When we arrived at school he opened the car door and suddenly, it seemed I'd grown three heads. Everybody stared as he walked me to class, his arm firmly round my waist. We only got half way across the parking lot before Rosalie's sports car appeared. At least all the male attention was refocused on that—until Emmett came running over.
"Bella! Hey, Bella! High five!" he was yelling. Without thinking, I responded by slapping his hand—so not a good idea, at least for me. It appeared that Emmett had enjoyed it. "Way cool, Bella," he almost roared, doing a little dance. "Ha ha, you're so cool." Rose grabbed him by the ear. "Ouch, Rose! Just a bit of fun." As she led him away, Alice ran up and hugged me. Thankfully, I was well wrapped up and Alice did one of those air kisses.
"Hi, Bella. Will you come shopping with me at the weekend? You could do with some more underwear." I was too stunned to say anything, but Edward scowled at her. "What? It's your fault she needs to shop."
Alice turned in a huff and danced back to Jasper, who waited patiently a short distance away.
Emmett's POV
Rose parked the convertible, and I jumped over the door, leaving her to the adoring male populous. What? Rose can take care of herself. Besides, it was the car they were ogling. I was eager to catch Bella and check out if she was still sizzling. I managed to get a high five from her. Whatever that shit was, the girl was still shooting. Better yet, she turned a lovely deep pink.
Rose stopped my little celebration, yanking me off to class, but I heard what Alice said about shopping for underwear. I hadn't missed the smell—jeesh, she'd smelt like that all the time with Edward at our house. Then I thought back. She was with Edward when I got to school, and she didn't smell then. I had an idea that the smell appeared around the time of our high five. So she did know a great body when she saw one! I laughed out loud, wondering how long it would take Edward to pick that from my head, and whether I should flirt a bit with Bella to wind him up.
Rose scowled and rolled her eyes, clearly not as amused as me. I had a few points to make up there. A passionate kiss pressed into a doorway, with a vampire speed grope down her bra, put a smile on her face. She playfully swatted my ass as I scooted off to World History. Life was sweet.
Edward's POV
Oh, how I wished I could shut out the thoughts today. We Cullens had certainly made an impression. Considering how hard we worked not to draw attention to ourselves, I suppose I should have been relieved that the focus was on Bella—but I hated it.
The female thoughts were bad enough, from bitchy "what do they see in her?" to bitter "as if bagging Edward Cullen wasn't enough, now she's BFF with all of them" to envious "two hunks after her and I don't get one". The male thoughts, ran from admiration "she seems to have impressed the big guy" to x-rated and worse.
I made sure to meet Bella after her last class of the morning, and walked her to the cafeteria. As we carried our trays, I was headed to an empty table when Emmett's voice boomed across the room.
"Hey, Bella! Come and sit over here." I gave Emmett a withering stare. He appeared to be under the impression that Bella had some kind of crush on him.
Bella's POV
Emmett was grinning like a Cheshire cat. I glared at him, turned my back, and sat down opposite Edward. Pushing my tray to one side, I buried my head in my arms. Edward groaned, and I looked up as Emmett arrived at the table.
"What are you playing at, Emmett?" Edward quietly growled at him. "Leave her alone."
"That might be best," I agreed with a sigh. "We're already attracting too much attention." Every pair of eyes in the room was watching the Cullens or me. Edward was glaring at Emmett, Rosalie was glaring at me, Alice was glaring at Edward, and poor Jasper was gripping Alice's hand with his eyes closed, looking like he wanted to throw up.
"Have it your own way," Emmett said, and went to sit with Rosalie again, just as Alice left, pulling Jasper behind her.
I turned back to Edward. Reaching across the table, I placed his hand on my forehead. His coolness was soothing—I tried to focus on that and ignore all the speculation going on around us. The bell couldn't ring soon enough.
All through biology, recent events raced round and round my mind. Luckily, Edward had my back and whispered the answer to the only question I was asked. By the end of the lesson I had decided that I needed to