all_inclusive | (no subject)

Entry tags:

(no subject)

The problem with being a vampire, Bella thought as she surveyed the two uprooted trees and pile of kindling at her feet, was that there wasn't ever a break. Maybe the pent up anger, frustration and sadness wouldn't have been as intense if she could have just slept. Just a few hours away from it to reboot or reset herself.

She remembered Carlisle telling her once that vampires felt things more completely, that just as their vision and hearing and speed were enhanced, their emotions were, too. Considering the state she was in now, even days after meeting Adrian, she was pretty sure she knew why. There was no relief from it, just day after day, night after night of dwelling on it.

Today she'd decided to go to her forest, to run, to hunt. To see if she could find something to distract her expanded mind, to get away from seeing that face across the hotel and experiencing the same dashed hope that this time it wasn't someone else.

The run had helped a little, pummeling a few trees to kindling had, too.

But even now as she walked back to her room with twigs in her hair, she knew it probably wouldn't last.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

"Just stay with me? I sort of demolished two trees just now because I've been in my own head with this for too long. Help me take my mind off it."

She turned to face him and look up at him with big brown eyes.

"Not a problem," Adam promised. "Besides, I would probably do that anyway considering you're like my only friend here." And the friend he would have chosen, if given the option of numerous friends. Bella was loyal and funny and those were qualities he always sought out in the people around him.

Nodding, and careful to keep her movements human and her arms light, Bella shifted and wrapped her arms around Adam's waist. She rested her cheek against his chest and listened to the steady thud of his heart.

"Thank you," she said in a light whisper.

Adam had never been this close to Bella before and he tried to ignore how nice she smelled and even though it was strange she was so cold, it did not seem to bother him. Not at all.

"It's all going to be fine," he promised.

She knew she should move away, release him, but Bella couldn't make her feet move. Instead, she raised her head a little and turned to look up at him with a smile that was a little more genuine than the one before.

"Let me know if you start feeling like you're getting frostbite or something."

"It's not that bad right now," Adam said, trying to tamp down how cold he felt. It was nothing he hadn't experienced before and it was absolutely worth it if she got some comfort out of it. "Out of sheer curiosity, though, can you tell that I feel warm or are you impervious to all that in your body now? Because it seems like such a minor thing, being able to detect differences in temperature, but I bet I'm taking it for granted."

"No, you feel warm to me. I still have all my senses, touch included. You feel warmer to me than you probably do to another human."

Bella considered for a moment, then raised a hand to his cheek, touching it with the back of her fingers. "It's almost like the time my mom got really sick, and I kept feeling her forehead to see if she was getting better. To me, it feels like you've got a fever."

Adam smirked a little, hoping that hid the way his face flushed when she touched him. This was a bad idea all around.

"Well, no fever here. One perfectly healthy witch."

Bella noticed the flush and heard the increase in his heartbeats. "You sure? Your heart is racing all of the sudden."

That racing heart made the burn in her throat a little more noticeable and she swallowed the pooling venom.

"Maybe a little lightheaded," he conceded. There was no lying to her, it seemed.

"But I'm good, I don't have any problems."

Bella nodded, remembering what it was like to be around...well, she remembered it used to mess with her system a lot. She broke away from him and moved about five feet back in an eye-blink.

"Sorry. I should have probably moved away sooner."

"I'm not cold or anything," Adam promised quickly. "Everything is fine, you didn't have to jump away or anything like that. It's good. Everything is good."

"You're sweet," Bella said, grateful that he was still trying to make her feel better even though part of him had been clearly uneasy with her so close. "I just forget sometimes that I'm the whole scary vampire thing. I still feel like me, the same klutzy Bella I was for eighteen years."

"Oh, no, it wasn't that." Now Adam was even more embarrassed because his reasons for being nervous were entirely rooted in the fact that he had feelings for Bella that he shouldn't, not because she could technically kill him.

"I know you wouldn't do that. My reaction was not about that."

Bella's brows knit together and she cocked her head to the side to study him. "Adam? What's going on? Something seems kind of off about you, I mean aside from having an ice cold vampire grab you without warning."

"I care about you and I don't like seeing you upset," Adam said. It wasn't exactly a lie but it wasn't entirely the whole truth either. Hopefully Bella wouldn't be able to see through that though as far as he was aware, she did not have any kind of telepathy.

That jibed with what she sensed from him and she nodded, grateful for the comfort. "Thanks. So does that mean a hug every now and then would be okay?"

"More than," Adam promised. "I don't think you're going to eat me or anything. If you were, which you wouldn't because you have morals and standards, you would have done it already."

Adam felt this particular line of logic was sound and was comforted that Bella would probably adhere to them. Otherwise, well, that was a problem to deal with when and if it ever came up.

Bella's shoulders relaxed in visible relief. "No, I wouldn't do anything like that to you, Adam, I promise. If I ever came even close to losing control I'd run away. I swear it."

She smiled and took a step closer again, took his hand. "Thank you, Adam."

"For what? Not wanting to preserve my own skin?" he asked, chuckling a little. "I have kind of a death wish if you think about it logically. Then again, being a witch, most of my life doesn't deal in anything remotely resembling logic."

"Logic is overrated anyway," Bella laughed back, feeling better than she had since running across Adrian in a hallway. "And to think, earlier I thought I'd be all mopey, emo vampire for days just a few hours ago."

"I'm pretty good at curing bad moods," Adam said, laughing along with her. He didn't know if he was any better or worse than the next person but he did try, and he guessed that definitely counted for something.

"You are. It's almost...," Bella paused and an impish smile curved her mouth, "magical."

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only