*Elizabeth's POV

  I was apparently stronger than all of them, not just Edward. Yet I couldn't help my growing anxiety as we were coming closer to the house. Carlisle saw I slowed down and came to my side while Jasper continued ahead. I still somehow felt calmer. This time it wasn't Jasper's doing. It was Carlisle's closeness that helped me. I stopped completely. It surprised him and he came back to me with a concerned expression.

  We were alone, yet I didn't want to speak out loud. Why does your presence calm me like when Jasper uses his gift? Carlisle looked surprised a little since it was the first time I intentionally spoke to him this way and then he gave me a gentle smile. "I know you have a lot of questions, Ellie. I'll answer them once we find out why Alice is calling us back. Alright?" He leaned down and kissed my forehead while I tried to hear any hidden reason he'd want to avoid answering me. "But it makes me happy to know you feel that way." He thought, as if he knew I was listening.

  "Promise?" I indeed had a lot of questions and there were more and more popping up, the longer I didn't receive answers.

  "Promise." He agreed. I looked after Jasper, who had already disappeared from the view, and was reluctant to continue towards the house. Carlisle noticed my hesitation and offered me his hand. "There's no need to worry, Ellie. I'll stay by your side if you'd like." I didn't need to think twice before I took his hand. I loved his touch and I felt sort of a pull towards him, which I found I did not want to resist. Especially when his kind golden eyes looked at me as if I was a rare treasure instead of a freak. Even after he learned about my ability.

  "I... I don't want to see him." I admitted. I may have been stronger than him, but I was still scared to meet Edward.

  "I won't let him near you." Carlisle stated firmly and reassuringly squeezed my hand.

  Once we reached the house, we were met by everyone except for Edward and they all looked worried. "What's the emergency Alice? Where's Edward?" Carlisle asked as we looked around but he was nowhere to be seen.

  "That's the problem, Carlisle." Alice replied with a frustrated expression. "He ran. And I've no idea where to."

  "What do you mean that you have no idea?" Carlisle inquired incredulously.

  "You know he's the fastest of us. Didn't take him long to shake us off... And since he also knows exactly how my visions work, he's using it to prevent me from finding him."

  Visions? I looked confused at Carlisle. "Alice can see the future, but it's subjective and changes according to the choices a person makes." He expined, noticing my confusion.

  "He keeps constantly changing his mind about where he wants to go and every time it's a completely different direction. I don't have a clue where he's really going." Alice threw her hands in the air and let them fall back to her side again, in a helpless and frustrated gesture.

  "Why...?" I was gd he was gone but the fact that nobody knew where he was or where he was going, made me uneasy. Something was telling me he would come after me again and I pressed myself to Carlisle's side, seeking the safety I felt when I was in his arms.

  As if he knew what I needed, he wrapped his strong arms around me and I rested against him. "You have nothing to fear with us, Ellie." His calm voice soothed me.

  "I dunno what he's thinking but if it's a fight he wants, count me in!" Emmett announced with a grin and I smiled at him.

  My eyes nded on Rosalie who appeared to be slightly uncomfortable, standing a step behind Emmett. "I'm... sorry Elizabeth. I didn't know..." She trailed off and her gaze shifted to Carlisle. "I'm sorry."

  She looked truly remorseful so I smiled at her. "It seems that my stay has been prolonged. Shall we start over, Rosalie?" I stepped out of Carlisle's embrace towards her, offering my hand.

  Her eyes widened with shock before she returned my smile and moved to hesitantly take my hand. "Don't you hate me? From what I understand, it's because of me that it turned out like this." She said quietly.

  "When it comes to hate, I'm usually at the receiving end. Trust me, it sucks." I ughed. "You gave me a reason to question Edward's motives but it's not your fault that he attacked me. On the other hand... I remember you were not fond of me since day one...?"

  Her smile grew warmer. "It wasn't really you that I hated... Yes, let's start over. You can call me Rose, by the way."

  "Thank you Rose. I prefer Elizabeth but call me whatever you like, except Beth. I honestly despise that." I gave her a small warning.

  "Ok Ell." She ughed.

  "Hey Ell, how about we test those muscles of yours. You're so tiny. I don't think you're as strong as a newborn is supposed to be." Emmett mocked me.

  I met his challenging look with my own as I lifted one eyebrow at him. "You wanna get hurt, bear boy?"

  "Ohh someone spilled the beans. I was looking forward to showing you what real prey looks like." He ughed. "Did you fight a rabbit?" He motioned to my torn up top and I quickly zipped up Carlisle's jacket to hide it. Mmm... It smelled like him.

  "No rabbit. A mountain lion, for your information. You want to test my muscles? Let's do it!" I grinned at him. My grin slightly wavered though once we got ready for arm wrestling and my small hand pretty much disappeared in his. The guy was huge. I am stronger than him, right? I looked over to Carlisle and he nodded, smiling in encouragement. I had to make myself look away and then I shot Jasper a death gre hearing him trying to hide a chuckle.

  "Ready? Go!" Emmett pushed against my hand. It seemed he was really trying when he saw it didn't budge but it didn't require too much effort to keep my hand from moving. So I tried to push back. Taking into consideration that he was a mountain of muscles, I pushed really hard. Our hands smmed into the boulder we used instead of a table. Me and Emmett both stared at the rock that cracked in half in shock while Jasper and Alice ughed.

  "Didn't I tell you?" Carlisle spoke up, still smiling at me. I couldn't help but think he looked proud and my chest tightened.

  Rosalie was smiling too. "You should stop underestimating the girl." She chuckled and winked at me.

  "Really?" Emmett picked her up and threw her over his shoulder while she ughed.

  "Em, put me down!" But he just ran off with her like that and everyone burst out ughing. They were so cute together.

  When I had Carlisle's jacket only on my shoulders, it was more like a cape on my back. Now that I had it zipped up, I realized how big it was on me. I loved that it kept his scent around me, but I knew that I couldn't just keep it. "Umm... I'm going to change." I told the others and went into the house. The door to the house seemed to be always open, but when I arrived at the door to my room I remembered what Carlisle said about handling my strength. Thinking about the destroyed rock, very slowly I reached for the doorknob and as carefully as possible I turned it to open the door.

  When nothing broke, it made me happy and I made the same effort while closing it. Satisfied with my small accomplishment, I took off Carlisle's jacket and id it on my bed. Pulling my ruined top over my head, I looked at it. Damn, this was my favorite. It had a few tears on the chest and a big hole on the stomach. I threw it in the trash and examined myself. There was not a trace of the cat's sharp cws on my skin. Unbreakable, huh? If only this would disappear too... I thought, as my anger grew, looking at the bite mark on my wrist. Recalling all of Jasper's scars, I could guess that it was there to stay and it pissed me off even more.

  My gaze fell onto the jacket on my bed and I reached for it. Clutching it in my arms and taking deep breaths, I felt myself calming down a little. Carlisle... I thought how much I wanted to be near him as I inhaled his scent. Suddenly the door to my room opened and Carlisle came in with a worried expression on his face. "Did something-" He paused mid sentence once he saw me but he quickly recovered and closed the door behind him. Then he slowly came to me and made a motion with his hand, gently yet barely touching my hair as if caressing a precious flower. "I heard you say my name, love. Did something happen?" He asked just as gently.

  "I-I didn't mean to call you... I got angry and..." I looked down at his jacket that I was clutching to my chest. It was embarrassing to admit. ...Your scent helped me to settle down a bit. I finished, hesitantly looking up at him.

  Soft smile pyed on his lips as his warm golden eyes looked deep into mine. "It's alright, Ellie." Carlisle spoke quietly. He sat down on the edge of my bed and gently pulled me by my waist until I was sitting on his knee. "I'm here now. You don't need this." He slowly took the jacket from my hands and brought me tenderly to his chest as his arms wrapped securely around me. "What angered you so?"

  "Edward." I mumbled into his shirt. No more needed to be said. Carlisle understood and his hold on me tightened a little. At first I was happy and his scent was both tempting and rexing. However, the longer he held me, the more aware of his hands I became. One was on my side and the other on my back as he held me close.

  The fact that I was topless and I felt his strong hands on my bare skin was slightly unnerving. Not because I'd find it embarrassing. For some reason it felt natural and his touch excited me. Not that I'd expose myself to guys on a regur basis but I wasn't exactly shy either.

  It went against my own rules, yet I longed for Carlisle to touch me more. Do they still even apply to him when he already knows what kind of freak I am? Even though he kissed me in the woods, now he treated me more like a child than a half naked woman. When I literally fell into his arms the other night, he didn't do anything either.

  'His self control is beyond normal.' That's what Jasper said about Carlisle. 'At least was until he met you.' He thought then too. But it didn't make sense. Compared to me, Carlisle was perfectly collected and in control. Aside from the fact that he was embracing me while I was topless, he did absolutely nothing that could be considered 'inappropriate' in any way. It was more like he was calming down a child if anything.

  Thinking about how, twice, I ended up on top of him today, all of a sudden I wanted to put that extraordinary control to a test and wished he'd fail. I hoped that this time he would pin me down underneath him. I longed to find out whether I was the only one feeling the pull or not. However I needed to try and control myself. What if he'd push me not down but away? That thought hurt. I had to distract myself from these thoughts somehow before I would do something stupid again. He promised to answer my questions. I remembered. "Ummm... will you answer me now?" I asked, keeping my head rested on his chest. Feeling him was bad enough but without looking at him it was a tad easier to resist him.

  "I promised, didn't I? Ask away." He encouraged me and one of his hands started stroking my hair. First I got through stuff I knew about vampires from movies and such. Apparently there were a lot of myths. We didn't sleep at all, much less in a coffin. Garlic didn't bother us. No food actually. Sun didn't hurt but we still could not let ourselves be seen in it. We were super strong, fast and immortal. Not to mention incomparable senses.

  Cullens called themselves vegetarians since they fed only on animal blood instead of humans. I was particurly happy about that. If I had to hunt people, having to hear the thoughts of my freaked out prey would definitely drive me crazy. I was also gd that I didn't come across any humans yet. Carlisle warned me that I most likely wouldn't be able to keep myself from attacking them for a while.

  "So, I can't go to school with others anymore..." I commented, disappointed.

  "I'm sorry, Ellie but yes. It's too soon for you to be around humans. It would put you under too much stress now, even if you managed to not attack anyone. I don't want you to unnecessarily suffer that way. Please, let us take it slow, alright?" This man was so caring. I thought so even before I met him. When Edward told me he and his siblings were all adopted by Dr. Cullen, I was astonished that there was such a kindhearted person. Especially, knowing that Jasper wasn't an average human either.

  At the time, I wished I'd met someone like him before too. That one of those so-called parents who took me home because they wished to have a child but couldn't, would love me the same way and wouldn't send me back like they did because they'd found out I wasn't an ordinary kid. However, Cullens were not just adopted kids. "Why...? Why did you let Edward bring a human into your home?" A cold shiver ran down my spine. Could they have...? Not completely conscious of my own movements, the next moment I was slightly crouched, standing in front of Carlisle. Carefully watching him as I continued. "Did you know he'd turn me?"

  I saw his hand ball into a fist but he stayed sitting on the bed. "No, Ellie. I have no idea why he attacked you like that. I'd like to ask him myself. Aside from a few other things. You were supposed to first learn about us and have a choice in the matter of becoming a vampire." He clenched his jaw, pausing for a moment. "He's got a lot to answer." I heard as I listened in on what was going through his mind. Trying to find out if he wanted to hide something from me. Unlike Edward, who was always evasive with his answers, Carlisle seemed honest. "As to why I allowed a human to move in with us..." Carlisle's voice grew somewhat softer as he looked deep into my eyes.

  "Vampire's have soulmates. A person who makes them whole, happy. Understands them. Someone they would love unconditionally and forever the same way that person would love and support them... Edward convinced me that you are his soulmate. That's why I agreed for him to invite you to live with us, since you didn't have anywhere to go." "I also couldn't bear the thought of you killing yourself..." I didn't try this time but still heard him and it made me wonder why he would feel so strongly about some random girl, apparently before he even met me.

  "How'd you know I wanted to kill...?" I was confused but then it clicked. "Alice." She could see people's choices. I had considered it a few times before but once I realized that there was no pce for someone like me, I wanted to enjoy my st few days with the kind Cullens and then finally end it. Getting to know Jasper made me waver in my resolve to get the world rid of a freak like myself and so when they offered me a pce to stay, it made me happy. I bit my lip and looked down, ashamed that Carlisle knew how weak I was. "Wait a moment..." I could feel my hands shake. "Edward is my mate?" I somehow got out of myself. I didn't want it to be true. He was obviously lying to me from the beginning. There was no way I could love someone like that.

  If it's true, I'd rather be really dead. Suddenly, Carlisle was towering above me but I didn't move. "No." He stated and his big hand gently cupped my cheek. I closed my eyes, enjoying the feeling. "Elizabeth... What did you feel that night in my room?" There was a certain urgency in his voice. As if my answer was important.

  Confused, I tried to remember how I stumbled through the dark and nded in his arms. "I felt... safe. I know I ran away but... in fact I didn't want you to let go of me." I admitted. It was quiet for a little bit. However, I did not find the courage to open my eyes and look at him.

  "And what did you feel when Edward touched you?" Carlisle's voice seemed strained when he asked that.

  Thinking, I frowned and opened my eyes. I remembered that he held my hand and embraced me a few times. I knew he kissed me twice. But the only touch from Edward that truly brought up any feeling inside of me was when he bit me. "I don't know..." I looked confused at expectant Carlisle. "He even kissed me... but I can't recall any feeling except for fear and anger when he attacked me."

  Carlisle looked tense when I mentioned that Edward kissed me. Then, to my regret, he pulled his hand away. I wanted to curse myself for allowing Edward to get so close to me but the next instant Carlisle grabbed my hips and sat me on my desk. "You are not his mate." He stated firmly and leaned down to me. I let my eyes close again, expecting him to kiss me. I could sense him barely inches away but his lips never reached mine. "What do you feel now, Ellie?" He whispered instead. Feeling his breath brush over my lips, I nearly jumped out of my skin with excitement.