E D W A R D

Lisa didn’t let her fear sell her over this time. She kept firmed and faced Aurora with the equivalent dominance.

I couldn’t deny I was proud of her after all any vampire in Lisa’s shoes right now would be begging for their lives. That was just the respect and power Aurora held over all of us.

She gazed Lisa up and down in pure curiosity and when she elevated her hand to reach Lisa’s face I almost flinched back even though she stood undisturbed by Aurora’s actions.

I, myself had doubted her intentions. Aurora wasn't really the type you could call sensitive and whatever happened falling for her pretty little face was the most obvious mistake we could make as vampires.

But what could she possibly want with Lisa? I could tell for sure she wasn't into lassies. What was the curiosity about? Although these things crammed my mind my biggest doubt concerned the fact that how much she had really heard. The hunters' part was vivid but what more?

And most of all, the thing that troubled me was what now? If she had listened to our entire conversation I wouldn't be much thrilled concerning what was to come next. And yet I couldn't wait to get this over with.

Aurora's knuckle softly brushed against Lisa's cheek sending a shiver down her spine but the question remained unanswered, it was due to cold or fear? And Lisa had her eyes tightly shut, as if it’d shun away all the bad things. Aurora’s hand brushed on her round cheeks as if searching for something until she felt contented enough to remove her hand. Meanwhile Mal and I exchanged distressing looks.

Lisa grudged against the desire of opening her eyes but her curiosity got the best of her and she looked into Aurora's hazel eyes. She was a foot taller than Lisa and had the straight brunette hair covering the back of her dress.

Mal had told me about her a little but the murderous rage that I felt and that peculiar and strong aroma was entirely something he could not explicate. Although it was nothing in compare to Lisa's but still a vampire's scent to be that strong said a lot about the vampire, especially her age.

Aurora gazed into Lisa piercing through her soul ever so lightly. Her gaze filled with tension and a pile of unresolved problems. We could feel the growing tension between the two women as Lisa stared at her with the same curious gaze.

I could peek into her mind now and then but it took up almost every ounce of my strength and now was so not the time to be weak.

I had to protect her . . .

"She's a human." Aurora clarified taking a few steps back. It felt like a weight was lifting off my shoulders and I could finally breathe.

Bu I couldn't comprehend. That was what she was looking? She was looking if Lisa was already one of us—that would be the stupidest thing to ever hear or witness. Her scent had already given the proof that she was alive and not dead. What was she thinking?

"Why? What did you think?" Mal asked lifting his sight to meet hers.

Aurora took her time before she eventually found herself fit enough to answer. She would not even try to act decent, she was enjoying every bit of the authority she had. It annoyed me to the core—even I wasn’t that arrogant.

"I just thought that Christophe here might've turned her." She explained still cross-examining Lisa.

"How is that possible?" I blurted before processing what I'd needed to ask.

"Well, he said he heard her heart stop and yet she walks effortlessly among us. Not to mention she piques Mason's interest." Aurora claimed not averting from Lisa's face.

Lisa till now had gathered some courage to boldly stand and put efforts to look inches taller than she was. She looked just as daunting as Aurora as she held her head up high, ready to retort.

"But I’m a human, you said so yourself." She started as horror masked her face and I wasn't the only one to notice. She seemed like she was fighting against something horrifying and now a bit of relief was slowly starting to brush against her skin.

"You sound like you're relieved to not be like us." Aurora examined her now ever so carefully. Her eyebrows twitched together trying to figure out Lisa’s intentions.

To her surprise Lisa never once attempted to hide her true feelings and thoughts as she took a few steps closer to Aurora and whispered bravely against her face.

"I'd be glad any day to not be what you are. Even if my life sucked I'd never give in to my demons." Lisa's voice was laced with courage and a little amount of pride that threatened to bring out the worst in Aurora. She also showed her disapproval and disgust on the matter without any sense of fear.

And to our surprise, Aurora did nothing but scoffed and a smirk placed pulling up the corners of her mouth. That was so unlike her of course, any one would agree to that.

"I'm glad you admit to have those demons. At least you're not ashamed of their presence." Aurora shot daggers at her direction whilst I and Mal got ready to handle the situation whenever required—after all you could not trust a woman with her copycat alone under any circumstances let alone a female vampire with a human girl without any bloodshed.

Her words made Lisa to sink backwards and emerge in her own thoughts of worry and displeasure but before she could Aurora's grip was around her forearm as she kept Lisa steady at one place. I basically jumped a few steps towards them but then held myself steady at one place.

"Trust me sweetheart one day, when you've lost everything you own, you won't be able to stop your demons from taking over. In fact I bet you'll give yourself up to them willingly."

As Aurora spoke she didn't hesitate nor angered but remained deadly calmed and then a smirk shaped widely on her face that caused Lisa to sink back.

A horror was lucid on Lisa's face as if she'd believed everything that was just been told. It made me doubt her true self because to me Lisa always seemed like the fragile type with a lot of anger and courage that got her in trouble. It made me wonder what she must be really hiding about herself. What demons a sixteen year old like her could have?

I wondered if Lisa was so scared at the thought of being a vampire and her demons taking control of her then it might be true. I really wondered what Lisa would be like if ever her demons were to come out?

Aurora was really good at reading people, especially humans, I'd give her that. One sentence and she put Lisa in her place.

"Now it's time to tell everyone." She announced out of the blue catching all of us in shock. I was the most taken aback and I looked at Lisa to see her fear laced expression but she rather seemed like someone who’d expected an arrow long before it was shot.

"What?" Mal questioned, just as befuddled as everyone else.

"You know the rules. No humans allowed especially not the ones summoned to the Great Palace." She gave Lisa a hard glare before turning back to leave. Her glare contained of both victory and sarcasm with a bitter nature of vampirism.

I didn't know why and how but with a swift wind crossing me I was there to block her way before she took any further step. I later realized just how unintelligent the idea really was. My friends looked at me in awe and so did Lisa with a bit compassion and worry. I hadn’t expected that from her—she should be happy since I was walking towards my death.

"I can't let you do that." My voice was low, honoring, shaking, and uncertain and showed every bit of regret I was feeling.

Aurora didn't budge and said nothing for the next two minutes until she finally gave me a warming smile and patted my cheek with her soft cold touch.

"I appreciate you're protective of her but you cannot always protect her Edward." She paused to look back at Lisa, more like in empathy than anger. "Her life is limited and her fate is sealed by your masters." She finished.

And then this crazy thought traveled in my mind that made an exception.

"Then I will protect her as long as I can." I murmured. I shouldn’t have said that. I knew well what I was to do with her in the end. I was to hand her over for my mother but my heart wouldn’t agree to this butchery.

I wanted to know how Lisa felt about that and so I looked over Aurora's shoulder to meet her gaze that was filled with salty water. She had been crying but she seemed oblivious of the fact. Was she happy or sad? Oh! Human emotions are complicated as hell.

"She's a lucky one." Aurora whispered gazing at me and then gave her a momentary glance.

After a bit of awkward silence, shaking, staring and glaring, Christophe suddenly decided to break the peace with a question worth no amount of annoyance in the world.

"Well . . . when's the wedding then?" Both Lisa and I gave him a glare looking at him as if he was stupid.

And he was if he had believed that we're going to get married. I couldn't handle this girl alone for ten minutes and he was talking about a life time! And for a vampire a life time meant a whole freaking life time.

"It's tomorrow." Aurora answered in a cheeky tone.

At first I thought I might’ve heard her wrong but seeing the horror masked upon Lisa’s face as she stood gaping at Aurora’s words took away every doubt I must’ve had regarding her words. It was true, all hell was breaking loose.