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BATTLE AS OLD AS TIME

"This has been going on for too long. One more mishap like this, and I will have no choice but to suspend her."

Go ahead. I don't care.

"We've had some issues at home lately, and she's only acting out. Isabella is a good kid. She's just a little lost."

Just tell her what you really think of me, Dad; you think I am a spoiled brat.

"Maybe, but her behavior is affecting the other students. You either solve your family issues or I will request for Miss Swan to transfer to another school."

Please, do! Then I wouldn't have to deal with your shit anymore.

"We understand. We will talk with her immediately. We won't tolerate this either."

I rolled my eyes and slouched deeper into the uncomfortable, blue, plastic chair I sat in outside of the principal's office. My parents came through the door, and Dad tried to give me the I-am-very-disappointed-in-you-young-lady-look, but I wasn't falling for it.

They took turns shaking the principal's hand, or the Banshee as I liked to call her—she was certainly just as cold-hearted as one and her nasal voice could have been a high-pitched scream in my ear, so the nickname was fitting—and then Mom walked up to me and crouched down so that she could look into my eyes. "Bella, what's going on with you? Is there something you want to tell us?"

I rolled my eyes again and turned my head away from her.

Dad wasn't in the mood to play nice and grabbed my upper arm hard to pull me up from the chair.

"Charlie, don't!" Mom cried out, but he didn't care. He was livid.

"What the hell, Isabella Marie! Where did you get the alcohol from, and why did you bring it to school?" he asked through clenched teeth.

I pulled my arm out of his grip and glared at him. "Don't fucking touch me!"

"Answer my question."

I crossed my arms and cocked my head defiantly. "Why do you care?"

Mom stepped in between us. "Not here, Charlie! We'll take it at home." She looked around and smiled apologetically toward the receptionist, who was looking at the scene in front of her.

"Take a picture. It will last longer," I told her, but before I could see her reaction, I was pushed out of the office and toward the parking lot.

I walked angrily behind my parents with my arms still crossed and glared at their necks as they made their way to where they had parked their car.

"What are we going to do with you, Bella," Mom mused to herself, and I didn't feel she was entitled to an answer, so I remained silent. When we reached the car, I refused to enter it immediately, and while Dad sat behind the wheel and tried to control his anger, Mom sighed and rolled her window down.

"Just get in the car."

I broke eye contact with her and looked down at my black boots and still refused to make a move.

"Please, Bella. We'll talk at home."

With an exasperated exhale, I flung the door of the backseat open and ducked inside. Dad didn't waste any time and drove out of the school premises as soon as the door was closed.

"I don't understand, honey. Why did you think it was a good idea to bring alcohol to school?" Mom asked, but I was sulking and didn't feel like answering. "Bella, answer me," she said sternly.

"Because I just did, okay!" I cried out and then continued quietly to myself, "It wasn't even my bottle."

"What was that?" Dad asked, but since he wasn't my favorite person in the world at the moment, I only glared at his neck.

"Nothing," I said and started to dig in my bag for my headphones. I'd had enough of them for the rest of the ride home.

"You know, Isabella, it's time you start to act more mature. You're eighteen years old, and when school ends, there will be responsibilities waiting for you," he continued.

"Sure," I answered noncommittally and proceeded to insert my ear buds.

Music by my favorite band started to play in my head and I looked out of the window at the sky, which was beginning to go gray, and small droplets of water splashed on the glass.

When Dad stopped by a red light, a familiar car pulled up in the lane next to us and my eyes met the driver's. He smiled his beautiful smile and nodded toward the seat next to him.

I frowned, silently asking what it was he meant and in reply I got a raised eyebrow and a wink.

I understood then, and I also knew that I had to be really quick if it would work. I cast a small glance at my parents and neither of them had noticed anything yet, and so as fast as I possibly could, I threw the car door open and bolted outside.

"Bella?" I heard Mom ask, and a second later Dad yelled as well, but I had already rounded the car that was my destination, and the door of the passenger side was already open for me.

"Isabella, come back here this instant!"

I locked eyes with my dad for a second, and he seemed to dare me to enter the car, which I did without hesitating. As soon as the door closed, the lights switched to green and we sped away from there.

I threw my head back and laughed, rejoicing in my short and temporary freedom. I would still have to go home sometime tonight and meet my parents' wrath, but that was a problem for later.

When I couldn't see them in the rearview mirror any longer, I looked at my savior—his unruly dark hair and defined jawline—and the desire I always felt around him flared up.

"Thank you for saving me back there, baby," I said gratefully and leaned over to kiss him on the cheek, but he turned his head and took possession of my mouth for a few short seconds before releasing me again to concentrate back on the road.

"No problem. I figured you needed it when I saw your parents' car in the parking lot. What did you do this time, Angel?"

"It wasn't my fault!" I defended myself automatically. "Random locker search and they found that bottle you gave me."

"I'm sorry."

I shook my head. "Don't worry about it. I don't care if they said it was a random search. Banshee's been after me ever since I started in this stupid school, and if it hadn't been that bottle, it would have been something else."

"Probably, but Banshee's a bitch. She's always been, so don't think too much about it."

I looked down at my hands and started to rub them against each other agitatedly. "She threatened with suspension and a transfer. If she succeeds with finding enough dirt on me, I won't be allowed to graduate next year."

"Angel, it's only a month since you started your senior year. Do you really think you need to worry about that now?" He turned his head and looked at me with those mesmerizing eyes of his, and I instantly calmed down.

I smiled and sunk deeper into the comfy leather seat. "You're right," I agreed.

This guy was the center of my world. I would do anything for him, and I knew he would do the same for me. His name was Edward, and he was twenty-two years old, a criteria alone that made him forbidden according to my parents.

When I first laid eyes on him, he had been a senior at my school, and I had been a scared, flat-chested freshman. He hadn't taken any notice of me back then, and I hadn't dared to approach him because he'd had an aura of danger around him that scared me to the core, but at the same time, I couldn't stop thinking about him.

It didn't take long for me to become obsessed with being seen by him, and I tried everything, but to no avail because I didn't look like his type of girl back then.

I'd been rather mousy—gray and boring—but after crashing a senior party with a former friend of mine, I had found him, and the people he surrounded himself with, sitting on a couch in the corner. The girls around him had the same kind of dangerous aura, and I felt myself being pulled to them by an unseen force.

When I entered their area, Edward had looked up and we'd locked eyes for the first time. His eyes had darkened and one of the girls had whispered in his ear before he stood up and walked up to me.

My heart had flown up into my throat and threatened to stop, and it hadn't helped any when he was close enough for me to smell him. The scent was too alluring, and I had gone weak in the knees, forcing him to grab me so that I wouldn't fall to the ground.

"Are you okay?" he had asked, and I had silently nodded, too intimidated to talk. "Do you want to sit with us?"

My eyes had widened in disbelief. "Are you serious?"

"Yeah."

"Um, sure. I'll sit with you."

That night had been the first in my new life. I found friends I had been too scared to acquire before and Edward became a new constant in my life, but we didn't start to truly date until I started my junior year.

My outer appearance changed a lot after that night—my plain t-shirts were replaced with band shirts and leather jackets, my hair came down from the typical ponytail, and my jeans were replaced with skirts and stockings—and rumors began to circulate that Edward's gang was into occult rituals, and I was their newest member.

I didn't care so much about the rumors at first, but since all of my new friends were seniors, the past two years had been rather lonely, apart from my bestie, Alice, and filled with ridicule by my fellow peers.

Alice was the same age as me, but she transferred to my school months after the night that changed my life.

She had also been accepted into the gang with open arms, almost more so than I had been, and now we were the only two left.

Edward drove to our favorite spot—a secluded part of the local park—and placed the car in park before he turned to me. "Now, when there is no risk for traffic accidents, I better get a proper hello and thank you," he said with a smirk.

I giggled and once again leaned forward to kiss him, and our lips joined in a passionate lip-lock that made my toes curl and my temperature rise.

One of Edward's hands snaked around my waist and the other loosely gripped around my throat to hold me in place, and my own went to his hair and grabbed fistfuls of those beautiful dark strands.

The short seconds we parted, our breaths mixed in the space between us, but we were in a very uncomfortable position, and my back screamed at me to do something about it.

When the hand that had been on my waist started to sneak its way underneath the hem of my shirt, I knew I would have to say something.

"Edward, I-"

He groaned. "I know, you're not ready." He released me and inhaled deeply to calm himself.

I started to shake my head. "But I am," I insisted, and his head whipped around toward me so fast I feared he would get whiplash, and I understood why he was so shocked. It was the first time I'd uttered those words in this situation.

I smiled. "What I was going to say was that I needed a different position or my spine would snap."

He blinked. "Are you serious?"

My smiled widened, and I nodded. "Yeah."

He cocked one eyebrow. "Backseat?"

I bit down on my lower lip and looked at the backseat and then back at him. "What are we waiting for?" My door was already opened before the sentence was completely out of my mouth, and Edward wasn't slow to follow.

Once in position in the backseat, we didn't waste any time. Our mouths met again, but this time, it was even more rushed and impatient than before, and it didn't take long for me to become so hot and bothered, I just had to start to shed clothes or I would combust. There was so much heat around us and it all seemed to emanate from Edward's mouth and skin.

I didn't feel nervous at all to be with him despite the fact that I was a virgin. I had complete faith in Edward, and I knew that there was a chance it might hurt, but I was too horny to care about a few seconds of pain, when I knew I would feel so much pleasure by just being connected with Edward in the most intimate of ways. I had waited for this day since I first saw him.

He had me pinned underneath him when his torso was exposed to me, and I couldn't stop my hands from roaming all over him and down his back, which caused a violent shudder to go through his body.

He had a tattoo of an inverted five-pointed star inside of a ring right over his heart, something I'd never seen before, and it caused me to stop.

"When did you get that?" I asked, and Edward froze his movements and looked down at the tattoo in question.

"Oh, I had it done two weeks ago. Why?"

I frowned. "I've just never seen it before, and it looks older than two weeks." In fact, it looked like it was years old and had always been a part of his skin.

He smirked at me. "I have a good healing flesh, but does it really matter? Weren't we in the middle of something more important?" He rolled his hips slowly against me, and a throaty moan erupted from my throat. The tattoo was immediately forgotten.

"Do that again," I demanded, and he did so. "Oh God."

"He's not here, but I am," Edward replied, and it caused me to laugh.

When the last of our clothes had been removed and the only thing remaining was for Edward to actually enter me, I suddenly got a strange feeling that I shouldn't do this, and not because I didn't want to. It was more as if there was some outer force that told me it was too dangerous.

It shook me up a bit, and Edward noticed my change of mood. "What's wrong?" he asked, but the feeling had gone away as suddenly as it had appeared and was replaced with a different feeling, one that told me this was exactly right.

I shook my head to clear it and looked into Edward's dark green eyes. "Nothing," I assured.

He stroked my cheek softly and then lined himself up before pushing inside agonizingly slow.

"Uh, please, Edward, go faster," I moaned, and he complied with one quick thrust.

It felt slightly uncomfortable for a few seconds, but once I had adjusted to the intrusion of having him inside of me, a radiating warmth flowed through my body, but there was something else there, something dark, and it grew in size.

A part of me wanted to fight that feeling, but the other part embraced it, and that was the part I decided to listen to this time, because there was not a chance in hell I would stop this now. It felt too good, and I had waited for so long.

Our bodies became slick with sweat and the sound of our hips coming together rhythmically resounded through the small space of the car.

Edward pulled my hands above my head, interlaced our fingers and started to kiss my throat and collarbone.

All the sensations became too much for me, and I cried out when my lower muscles clenched around him. His thrusts became jerkier before he stilled and groaned deeply.

We had forgone a condom, and so I could feel his release inside of me. It made me feel like a part of him, and I reveled in the feeling.

Afterward, I was lying on Edward's chest and he was stroking my hair. I felt so utterly safe and protected in his arms.

"Your parents are going to kill me when they realize I've corrupted the last pure thing in you," Edward said and chuckled.

I smiled against his skin. "I'd like to see them try. They'd have to go through me first."

We decided to call it a night when it darkened outside, and Edward drove me home.

"I'll see you tomorrow," he said and gave me one last deep kiss through the window before he drove off.

I looked at my house; the yellow light in the windows and the fluttering of the living room curtains alerted me to the fact that my parents knew I was home.

After inhaling deeply to give myself some strength, I started for the front door, which opened before I had put a foot on the first porch step.

In the doorway, my parents stood close together, but not really touching each other, and their expressions were surprisingly neutral. I had expected unspeakable wrath from both of them, but they didn't even appear angry.

"Isabella, will you join us in the living room?" Dad asked, and after making sure that he wouldn't yell at me, I nodded and followed them.

I noticed that Mom's wooden chest had been opened and the contents puzzled me. I had always believed it was filled with memorabilia and heirlooms, but instead there were stacked books, candles, glass bottles, and vials filled with colored liquids. I could also see the blade of a dagger when the light caught the silver in it.

I stared at the things with wide eyes and tried to understand what was going on.

"Honey?" Mom said and I looked over at her. "Come and sit." She patted the seat on the couch next to her and I slowly did what she said.

"What's going on?" I asked, suddenly feeling very worried. They were both just so serious. "What's with the chest?"

Mom looked down at her hands. "Your father and I have something to tell you, and we need you to enter this conversation with an open mind. It won't be easy for you to hear, but it's time. We can't put it off any longer."

I frowned and felt my pulse quicken. "What are you talking about?"

"I am talking about you and your destiny."

"My destiny? What destiny? To reach graduation so that I can go to college?" I looked between my parents and tried to understand what Mom was saying, but I got nothing.

Mom shook her head. "No, it's something quite different from that." She turned and looked at Dad, but all he did was nod with the same serious expression as she wore.

"Honey," Mom started again. "Firstly, you need to know that your father and I..." She struggled with the words and appeared to be rather distressed. "We, uh...we are not your birth parents."

My jaw dropped and my eyes widened in disbelief. "What?"

Mom grabbed my hands in hers and squeezed, but I was too stunned to react. "We were assigned to raise you when your biological parents passed away. You were just a baby when it happened, and it was agreed that you needed to grow up in a safe home so that when the time came, the choice you have to make wouldn't be as difficult."

I stared at Mom and couldn't comprehend what she was babbling about. "I don't understand. What choice?" I felt an unexplained anger begin to build inside of me, and as it always did, it targeted my parents. "What do you mean 'assigned?' What the fuck are you talking about? You are my parents!"

Dad shook his head. "No, we're not. We're your Protectors."

"Huh?"

Mom sighed. "Charlie, how are we going to explain it? She's so young still. Will she be able to handle it?"

"She has to. We only have six and a half weeks until she has to be ready."

"Ready for what?" I still felt very angry, and it didn't help that they talked about me as if I wasn't there, but my anger was slowly withdrawing and gave room for panic to grow instead.

Dad met my eyes steadily, but the longer he waited to answer me, the more blurry he became, and I realized it was because my eyes had teared up. It was my body's first reaction to the panic attack I was about to have.

"To choose between Good and Evil," he finally said, and I was shocked into silence for a few seconds. When I felt my voice coming back to me I couldn't help the laugh that erupted.

"Okay, how many glasses of wine did you drink after dinner?" I asked with my laughter still evident in my voice, but the tears in my eyes remained because I was still scared.

"He's not making a joke, Bella," Mom said, and I stood up from the couch and began pacing in front of them.

"Yes, he is, because if he's not, that means he's serious, and I don't know how to handle that." My laughter faded and my breathing became irregular as I stared at Dad. "What are you saying?"

"I'm saying that you descend from two long lines of powerful witches."

I stopped my pacing and alternated between looking at Dad and looking at Mom. Neither of them looked to be joking, and it caused me to explode.

"What the hell is wrong with you!? Are you crazy?" I screamed at them. "How can you say something like that?"

Dad didn't even blink as I screamed at him. "Because it's the truth, Isabella. Your birth parents were witches, and you are one as well. It was time for you to find out."

I bent over and gasped for breath, clutching at my chest, and tried to get as much air down my lungs as black spots began to appear in my vision. I knew I was hyperventilating, and that it didn't help the panic attack, but I couldn't calm down and control it. In just a few seconds, I would pass out.

Suddenly, Mom stood next to me with a paper bag in her hand that she handed to me. "Here," she said. "Just take slow and easy breaths."

I placed the bag over my mouth and did as she told me, and she continued to calm me down my stroking my back.

Eventually, my heart rate slowed down, and the black spots disappeared, but the feelings remained.

I was sitting on the couch again, leaning against Mom's shoulder, but I had no memory of her leading me there. Dad wasn't in the room anymore, and I wondered where he had gone.

"I don't believe you," I said, but Mom only answered by stroking my hair away from my face and humming a melody that echoed vague familiarity in my head.

"That song...I recognize it," I mumbled.

"It's the lullaby your mother used to sing to you when you cried as a baby," she replied, and I froze up.

"Stop that! You are my mother!"

My tears started to fall from my eyes and Mom looked at me sympathetically and wiped them away with her fingers. "I'm sorry, Bella, but I'm not. Only on a spiritual level, and you need to accept that in order to embrace your destiny."

I hit her hand away from my face. I didn't want her to touch me anymore because it hurt too much. "I don't want my stupid destiny if it means I have to lose you!"

"You won't lose me, Bella," she said reassuringly. "I will always be here for you."

I couldn't stop crying, and Mom opened up her arms for me. At that moment, I didn't care about the million fights we'd had over the years, I just had to be close to her and feel her comforting warmth, so I crawled up beside her and let her hug me to her chest.

"Why is this happening?" I asked against the skin of her throat.

"Because it was decided that you had to know after you'd turned eighteen. If your parents had been alive today, you probably would have found out sooner."

I sniffled and tried to calm down, but it took a long time for me to get my breath back to normal.

"What happened to them?" There were a gazillion questions in my head, but that was one of the things I had to know now. Why did they die?

"Do you really want to know? Do you think you can handle it?"

I shrugged. "Maybe not, but I have to know."

Mom sighed. "They were killed by Evil Witches who were after you."

I straightened up and frowned. "Me? Why did they want me? You said I was just a baby when they died."

Mom nodded. "Yes, but you see, there's this centuries old prophecy about a double blessed baby descended from two powerful families that was to be born in the middle of the harvest moon cycle. This baby would become one of the most powerful witches our world has ever seen. However, the powers would be so great that it couldn't be determined if they would be claimed for good or for evil. That choice would be up to the baby after maturity had been reached and it was all to take place on All Hallows Eve after its eighteenth year."

"What is All Hallows Eve?"

Mom smiled. "It's the original name for Halloween. That holiday is about so much more than tricking or treating and collecting candy in plastic jack-o-lantern or pumpkin buckets. For witches, it's the most sacred holiday of all because the barrier between our world and the spirit world is at its weakest, and it makes it possible to tap into the power and knowledge of our ancestors."

I felt fascinated with everything she told me, and I wondered if this was the reason I had always loved Halloween. It was my favorite holiday of all, but I had never been able to explain why.

However, I couldn't let my thoughts of the prophecy go. "But about that baby in the prophecy, what do I have to do with it?"

Mom strokes my cheek lovingly. "Bella, you are the baby in the prophecy." I had suspected as much, and I swallowed hard. "That was why they wanted you. They killed your parents in hopes of taking you with them and raising you in evil, but before they got to you, you were transferred into mine and Charlie's care," she finished, and I felt oddly drained.

"And now you've raised me to choose Good instead of Evil," I stated. "Didn't the prophecy say that it was a choice I had to make?"

Mom nodded. "Yes, it is, which is why Charlie and I haven't raised you in either Good or Evil."

I felt so confused already, but I had to ask anyway. "What do you mean? You took me from Evil, so you must be Good, right?"

"Well, that's another thing you need to know. Charlie and I are not really married. Both of us are Witches of the Old, which means we are Originals. We have retired our powers and ceased to age in order to direct and protect witches new to the craft. Charlie is an Evil Original and I am a Good, which was why it was decided that we would raise you on neutral grounds until you came of age. We haven't inclined you in either way. The choice of which side you'll take still lies with you."

It all became so clear when she explained it that way. I could suddenly understand why they had always played the "good cop" vs "bad cop" act with me whenever I misbehaved. Dad had always screamed and been in my face, his emotions often clear and evident on his face, while Mom had been calm and collected as she tried to truly understand what was wrong.

"What will happen after I've chosen?" I asked, but I felt scared to know the answer.

"It depends on which side you choose. Either way, you will become a leader, and those underneath you will follow the new order of life."

I stayed silent for a couple minutes as I tried to let it all sink in. "Were my parents Good or Evil?" I then asked with sudden urgency. The choice I had to make in only six weeks suddenly dawned on me, and I felt that my heritage perhaps could make it easier for me to choose.

Mom shook her head. "I'm not allowed to say. It can affect your choice too much. It has to be your choice alone."

I threw my arms into the air in frustration. "And how exactly am I supposed to choose?"

Mom stood up from the couch and walked up to the wooden chest. "This chest belonged to your parents. It has been passed down through generations in your family, and now it belongs to you. In it, you'll find everything you need for rituals, spells, potions, a few crystals, and a weapon or two. From this night and up until All Hallows Eve, Charlie and I are going to teach you everything about the craft. When the night is upon us, hopefully, you will feel where your heart lies."

"Hopefully," I mumbled, and then a thought occurred to me. "By the way, where is Dad?"

"He felt that I would be able to explain this to you in the best way. You know how he is. He became too impatient when you almost fainted."

I rolled my eyes at that. It was classic my dad, and it felt good to know now that he was that cold not because he didn't care about me, but because he was evil.

"Well, this certainly explains a whole lot."

I thought back on my day and couldn't help but to laugh. It was surreal. I had been threatened with suspension, given my virginity to my boyfriend in the backseat of his car, and found out I was adopted and a witch. I couldn't exactly say that happened every day in a teenager's life.

"What's funny?" Mom asked.

"This day and night started out so very normal, and now all of a sudden, everything's changed. It's a lot to take in, but I guess I always sensed I was different." The truth rang strong in my words as soon as I said them. I had never truly fit in anywhere until I found Edward and his friends, and even then I had felt just slightly out of place. Not as much as usual, but there was still a lingering feeling of it.

Mom nodded. "Yeah, and about that, there's one more thing, and I know you won't like it."

I was instantly on guard and waited for what she would say.

"I'm afraid you can't stay together with Edward."

I paled and all of my blood disappeared from my head. "Excuse me, what?" I asked for confirmation even though I'd heard exactly what she said.

"I'm sorry, honey, but you have so much to learn and six weeks isn't very long. You can't afford any distractions at all during this time. Charlie is going to call your school tomorrow and pull you out of it with the excuse that we will homeschool you until we know what to do about what happened today, and we'll move to the summer cabin where you can practice uninterrupted."

"You mean I am going to be stuck in the cabin for six weeks without friends and no boyfriend? That's crazy! I can't just abandon everyone! They'll wonder where I am," I insisted.

Mom shrugged. "I'm sorry, but it's the way it has to be."

"No!" I disagreed. "I won't do that, and especially not toward Edward. Not after tonight!"

Mom frowned. "What was so special about tonight?"

I bit my tongue and just gaped at her. It didn't matter that I'd just found out she was more my mentor than my mother, it was still awkward to tell her about my sex life. "Uh..." I just couldn't get the words out.

"Bella, it's me. You can tell me everything."

I hesitated but decided to just do it. "I gave myself to Edward."

Mom's eyes widened. "You did what?"

"Edward and I had sex earlier today."

"Did you use protection?" I felt a bit confused, because while I understood her concern, I can't say that was the first question I expected to get from her after my revelation.

"Um, why?"

"Just answer me."

I swallowed as I suddenly felt very ashamed. "No, we didn't. It wasn't planned. It just sort of happened."

I saw anger in Mom's eyes, but it wasn't directed toward me. She stood up and walked to the base of the stairs. "Charlie! Come down here this very second!"

Dad descended the stairs slowly. "What are you screaming for, Renée?"

"Oh, I don't know," she replied sarcastically. "How about I just found out that one of yours has tainted Bella."

Dad frowned. "What are you talking about?"

"I'm talking about Edward."

As soon as I heard his name, I stood up and walked up to my parents. "Look, he didn't taint me," I tried. "I was a willing participant. I initiated it."

"Are you saying that you had unprotected sex with Edward tonight?" Dad asked, and it felt creepily strange that his reaction was almost amused. Not at all what you expected from your father.

"Yes," I simply answered and the smirk I'd seen the hint of broke out on his face.

"Well, I didn't think that boy had it in him," he said and sat down in his chair.

"This is not funny, Charlie! You know what this means!" Mom continued to scream.

"Just chill, Renée. I'm sure everything will be fine."

Mom refused to calm down. "For you it will because that boy has made her more inclined to Evil now! I tolerated it with her friends because they never did anything, but Edward went too far!"

I didn't understand what they were talking about at all, but it was starting to freak me out. "What the hell are you talking about?" I asked as calmly as I could, and both of them turned to me. "How can I be more inclined toward Evil by having sex with Edward?"

Mom sighed. "Bella, I didn't want to have to tell you this, but after what you just told me, I have no choice." She paused to grab both of my hands in hers and squeezed them lovingly, but this time I pulled away from her. I didn't like what she was saying, and until she told me the truth, I wasn't going to play nice and pretend it didn't bother me that she talked about my boyfriend like that.

"Edward is an Evil Witch. By having unprotected sex with him tonight, you made yourself vulnerable, and when the act was completed, he released dark magic inside you. Not much, but enough for your choice to be swayed."

I stopped her right there. "Hold on. Did you just say that Edward's an Evil Witch?"

She nodded. "Yes."

I looked over at Dad and hoped that he would laugh and tell me she was lying, but he wasn't. He simply shrugged, and I began to gasp for air again.

"But how? I don't-I mean, he's...and I...but we..." This wasn't happening. It couldn't be true. It just couldn't.

Mom placed her hands on my upper arms and rubbed them up and down. "I know it's difficult to hear, and as I said, I didn't want to tell you because I know how you feel about him, but after this betrayal I had no choice."

I started to cry silently, but my tears had no effect on Dad. He snorted and rolled his eyes.

"Oh please, Renée! You're taking it a bit too far by labeling it as a betrayal. The other witches didn't make the same promise that the Originals did. I'm positive that if Edward had been a Good Witch, he would have done the same thing then as well."

Mom twirled around on the spot and glared at Dad. "No, he wouldn't because Good Witches do not commit such dishonest actions. They may not have given the same promise you and I made, but the prophecy clearly says that Bella has to choose for herself without outer influences. Good Witches have honored it, so why can't Evil Witches do the same?"

Dad rolled his eyes again. "Because they're evil," he said as if it was the most obvious thing, and I guess for him, it was.

There was something comical about the way my adoptive parents spoke to each other, but I was too distraught over this new information to truly take it in.

"Has Edward always known who I am?" I asked in a small voice that barely carried, and my tears didn't exactly help.

"Probably," Dad answered. "Witches recognize each other by their powers. It's an air around them that has a certain taste to it. Edward must have sensed that you are an Undecided, and since you are the only Undecided alive at the moment, it can't have been too hard for him to figure it out."

I thought about the aura of danger I'd felt around Edward from the beginning—a taste I still felt—but I had always explained it as a part of his image. Apparently, it was deeper than that.

A bitter taste erupted on my tongue, and I knew it was the taste of betrayal. "So he's been manipulating me this entire time?"

Dad shrugged. "Depends on how you look at it. Evil Witches can only manipulate those with evil already residing in them. It's the way we keep balance in the world; to only have control over the equal-minded. He wouldn't have been able to get as far as he has if you hadn't let him."

I believe Dad's words were meant to soothe, but they did nothing for me.

"But now when I have his dark magic inside me, won't it be easier for him, then?"

"A little bit, yeah."

I turned to Mom. "Is that why I need to break up with him?"

"I never said that you have to break up with him," Mom said. "You just have to keep your distance for the upcoming six weeks. Once you've chosen, the answer will be inside you."

I felt very down, all of a sudden, and nodded forlornly. I was exhausted and my body was still aching after my afternoon with my, apparently, evil boyfriend. It was a reminder I could have done without at the moment.

"I think I need to go to bed."

Both of my parents agreed, but before I could disappear upstairs, Dad told me we would drive toward the cabin before lunch, and so I'd better be packed and ready by then.

Once again, I nodded and I couldn't help but to smile at Dad's mild threat, because if there was one thing that hadn't changed tonight, it was my parents.

I threw myself backward on my bed and let my body bounce up and down with the mattress. My ceiling didn't give any answers, but I continued to stare at it as if the solution to everything would come dimpling down if I focused hard enough.

"Hey, are you all right?" I heard from the window, and I had to hold in the scream that threatened to bubble up before I saw that it was Edward. He was just climbing through as if nothing had changed, but then again, he didn't know I had just found out that I was a witch and that he was one as well.

I sat up and turned away from him. "What are you doing here?" I asked with the hurt I felt all too evident in my voice. I couldn't understand how he could have manipulated me so thoroughly without blinking. I thought we loved each other.

Edward sat down next to me and tried to kiss me, but I pulled away before he could, and it caused him to frown. "I didn't want to be away from you. I couldn't wait 'til tomorrow," he said, and normally, words like that would have melted me, and I would have done whatever he wanted to, but I was starting to feel pissed off.

How dare he play so innocent?

I stood up and walked to my vanity without even looking at him. I grabbed my hairbrush and started to go through the tangles of the day. They were worse than normal because of the escapades in the backseat of Edward's car.

"Angel, what's wrong? Did something happen?"

I gave him the silent treatment and continued to ignore and brush my hair.

He walked up behind me and placed his hands on my shoulders before leaning in to nuzzle my neck. He definitely knew what he was doing, because that always caused tingles all over my body.

"Is this about this afternoon? Do you regret it?" He placed a light kiss behind my ear, and my eyes closed on their own accord. My breathing picked up and my brush fell from my grip. Everything he did to me just felt too good.

"Stop," I whimpered weakly.

He didn't and used his nose to trace my jawline. "What was that, Angel?" His hands traced over my back and encircled my waist before one hand started to fiddle with the button in my skirt.

"Please, stop," I tried again, but my resolve was weak. I wanted him to continue badly, but I was unsure if it was because I wanted to or if he was controlling me.

"Why?" he asked softly. "I can feel that you want to. You're practically shaking with desire." The tip of his index finger touched the skin on my stomach, and suddenly, the fog in my head dissipated. With strength I barely knew I had, I pulled his hands away from me and I used my body to push him backward and away.

The action must have shocked him because he stumbled and fell back onto my bed. "Bella?" he asked, bewildered, but I wasn't accepting his act any longer.

"Oh, just drop the act, Edward," I said harshly and re-buttoned my skirt. "Stop pretending, okay! I know." I stood in front of him with my hands on my hips and stared him down.

"You know what?" he asked, and I felt the urge to slap him.

"I know about you—what you are, and what I am—so stop!"

Understanding glinted in his eyes, and his expression changed from confused innocence to one of mischief. "You know, huh?" he asked, and I nodded. "Well, it was bound to happen sometime. Too bad it happened directly after our first time together. It would have been nice to have you a couple more times, but I guess that would have been unfair to the Goodies."

I narrowed my eyes at him. "Shut up, Edward," I said, but it only caused him to laugh. "How could you do this? I thought I meant something to you."

The laughter died out, and he stood up so that he towered over me. "Angel, you do mean something to me," he said with a serious expression. "You mean everything to me. The fact that I'm evil does not change my feelings."

I shook my head. "What feelings? All you've done is manipulate me so that you could infect me with your dark magic and make me choose your side."

He strokes my cheek, but I hit his hand away. "Can you blame me, though?"

I couldn't, because the truth was that he was evil. "No, I can't. But I know more now, and I want you to leave me alone." It hurt a lot to have to say those words because my feelings for him were still very real. No matter what he was, I loved him.

I walked to my window in order to put some distance between us, but Edward wasn't about to go down without a fight. "I wouldn't have been able to get this close to you without your permission. Evil can't manipulate Good. You were already partial to Evil the night I met you at that party."

"I do believe it was the allure of danger that pulled me to you. I was far from Evil back then, but you have slowly changed me, haven't you?"

I turned around to him, and he shrugged. "That was the plan at first, but four years with you has made me rather fond of having you close." He closed in on me and placed one hand loosely around my throat. It was something he had always done, but I had never been scared that he would hurt me because deep down I knew he wouldn't. "I'm not lying when I say that I love you. You're my Angel."

I swallowed but remained silent for another few seconds. There was too much insecurity in me, and he was slowly weaseling his way back inside.

"Don't say things like that to me, Edward. You know the prophecy. I have to make the choice alone." I grabbed his wrist and pulled his hand away from my throat, but I did bring it up to my face and placed a kiss in the center of his palm.

He took a step closer so that our bodies were almost touching and brought his hand up to touch my cheek again, and this time, I allowed it. "It doesn't mean I won't try to persuade you. I need you to choose my side. I can't lose you now."

"You won't lose me," I said, but he immediately shook his head.

"If you choose Good, I will. Good and Evil are not supposed to be together because they can't cooperate."

"Renée and Charlie are," I insisted.

"Barely," he said. "You've lived with them your entire life. You know they can barely be in the same room without going at each other's throats. It's the natural way of things; a never-ending battle. Their promise as Originals is the only thing keeping them together." Edward used the pad of his thumb to trace over my lips. "I don't want us to become like that."

Steps in the stairs alerted us that someone was coming, and Edward instantly climbed out through the window again, but before he left, he turned back to me. "We still have six weeks left. Can't we just enjoy it while it lasts?"

I hesitated to tell him the truth, but I had to. "They pulled me out of school. We're leaving tomorrow to live somewhere else until its time. I need to learn the craft without distractions before I choose."

"Where? I can visit you there without them noticing. We've done it before."

I shook my head. "I'm sorry."

Edward looked rather desperate when I started to close the window. "Angel, wait! Please, tell me! I can't bear it if this is the last time I will see you."

Something inside of me caused me to open the window again, although I couldn't explain what. "If you really do love me, this will lead you to me," I said and leaned over to kiss him.

There were sparks emanating from my lips and the wind swirled around us before once again calming down when we parted.

"I will find you," Edward promised before climbing down the tree outside my window, and I closed it and turned around just in time for my bedroom door to open.

Dad was standing there and frowned. "I heard voices. Is there someone in here?"

I shook my head. "No, I'm all alone."

He narrowed his eyes. "I can feel a residue of evil, so don't lie to me, Isabella. Has Edward been here?"

I sighed and slumped my shoulders. "Yes. I was just saying goodbye to him."

"Be careful, Isabella. The boy and I might be on the same side, but the consequences of his actions will haunt him. He's not allowed to go against the prophecy as much as he is."

With that, Dad closed the door again, and I fell back onto my bed. I was completely exhausted and I was asleep in mere seconds.

¤¤ToT¤¤

With a swipe of my hand, I watched in fascination as the sprout began to rapidly grow until the flower bloomed.

"Perfect, honey! You're a quick study," Mom praised me, and I beamed at her, but Dad made an impatient sound behind us.

"Yes, she does learn quickly, and therefore, you can't keep her at this level, Renée. You've wasted two weeks on basic things that children learn before they begin school."

Mom glared at him. "I believe you forget that Bella hasn't practiced any magic at all up until two weeks ago. We can't rush her. It could be dangerous."

"It's not dangerous for her. She's more powerful than other witches. She will be able to handle the surge of power," Dad insisted, and I sighed and studied my flower instead of listening to my teachers fighting.

"And if she doesn't? What will you do then, Charlie? How are you going to explain that you caused the most powerful witch of all time to go mad?"

I rolled my eyes and stroked the petals of the flower, but that caused the plant to wilt and die. I'd noticed that sort of thing always happened when I got frustrated with my parents. My Good magic always reversed itself or changed into something Evil when they fought about me as if I weren't right next to them.

"You should teach her to write spells and create potions!" Dad continued.

"How can she create her own when she hasn't been able to perfect an already existing recipe? Her powers are only just manifesting, and she's doing great. Give her some praise, for God's sake!"

Their fighting had gotten worse since we moved to the cabin, and I could now understand what Edward had meant. Good and Evil couldn't and wouldn't cooperate.

When that had truly dawned on me, I had almost chosen Evil then and there, because as the hormonal teenager I was, I didn't want to lose my boyfriend, but I came to my senses and realized I had to base my choice on something more than that.

I decided I didn't want to be close to my fighting parents anymore, and so I stood up from the couch and went to the wooden chest that was now mine. I dug out one of the many ritual books and took it with me to my room to read.

I flipped through the pages but stopped when I saw a symbol I recognized. It was the five-pointed star Edward had tattooed over his heart.

I looked at the text.

The Inverted Pentagram

Humans believe this symbol to stand for Satanism, but it's the representational symbol for Evil Witches who position themselves in the form of a pentagram during their rituals. The ring represents the protection around the new order of the elements, which has switched place, and a sixth person can stand in the element of magic in the middle.

This makes it possible for the sixth person to possess the power of all elements for the duration of the ritual.

It couldn't get clearer than that. There was no question as to where Edward's allegiance lay because he had the freaking symbol of Evil tattooed over his heart.

I continued to flip through the pages and stopped when something else caught my eye.

It was a spell to summon a spirit guide.

I didn't waste any time and ran downstairs where my parents were still fighting, but they had moved to a different topic now. They threw dirt on each other about things they'd done in the past, and I rolled my eyes.

If I hadn't known they weren't married, they sure could have fooled me.

I grabbed what I needed out of the chest and ran back upstairs, where I made sure to lock my door so that I wouldn't be disturbed. Then I placed six candles on the floor in a ring, and I kneeled inside of it before lighting them up.

The book was open in front of me, and when I had memorized the words, I closed my eyes and cleared my mind.

Spirit Guide from the other side

Hear these words, heed my cry

Come to me who call you near

Show yourself and settle here

I felt the power as it surged out of me, and a light breeze made me open my eyes. In front of me stood a tall and handsome man who smiled widely at me.

"I was wondering when you would find that spell and summon me," he said with a smirk, and all I could do was stare.

"It worked?" I asked no one, and the man laughed.

"Obviously. I am here. So, Bella, what can I help you with."

I exhaled hard and stood up. "I don't know how I'm going to be able to choose a side. I know it should be up to me, but this sucks. Can't I just remain with both?"

My guide took one of my hands and began to trace the deeper lines in my palm with the tip of his finger. "I don't think you have realized it, Bella, but you chose sides a long time ago all by yourself. It's already within you. All you have to do is listen to your heart. It's the only thing that can't lie to you."

I shook my head. "But all my heart wants is Edward."

"Yes, and?" my guide questioned, and I frowned.

"Doesn't that mean that I have to choose Evil?"

He smiled. "And would that be such a bad thing?"

I gaped at him. "Well, isn't Good supposed to conquer and win everything? It says so in all the stories."

"In fairytales, perhaps, but the real world is different, Bella. Everything is not in black and white, but there always has to be a balance. Just look at the world. A rapist murderer kills a young woman on the streets of Vegas, but at the same time, a volunteer saves the life of a young child in Asia that is meant to do great things in the future. It's simply the way of life."

"Won't there be an unbalance once I've chosen sides? If my powers are so great, how can it be fair that one side only gets to claim them?"

My guide agreed with me. "It's not fair, but as I said, where there is evil, there always has to be good. If one side acquires too much power, it will be evened out in one way or the other."

A calm settled over me, and I brought one of the candles up to my face.

"I release you," I said and blew the flame out. My guide gave me one last smile before he faded away. "Thank you," I called out into the empty room when he was gone, and a soft breeze against my cheek told me he'd heard me.

I collected all of my things and walked downstairs again to place them back in the chest.

My parents had finally ceased their fighting, but that also meant they were all over me again.

"Isabella, come with me to the basement. I am going to teach you some real magic," Dad said and placed his hand on my back to lead me where he wanted, but Mom crossed her arms like a petulant child while looking at us.

I stepped away from Dad and looked at them both apologetically. "Actually, I think I'm going to go to the kitchen and practice my potion making." I started to walk there but turned back around when I heard them follow me. "Alone," I said. "All this frustrated energy you two have between you does not have a great impact on my powers."

They looked at me with stunned expressions and I started to move toward the kitchen again. I don't think either of them had expected that, but I really needed to be alone. If what I had been able to do up in my room was any indication, I worked best when I was alone.

I ended up staying in the kitchen the entire night, and my parents didn't disturb me once, but around midnight there was a noise outside that put me on edge. I had the feeling that we were about to have company.

I held rosemary in my hand and let it hover over the pot of bubbling potion as I listened for any other noise.

A sudden knock on the door caused me to startle and the rosemary fell into the potion, which exploded.

"Bella?" I heard Mom call from upstairs.

"I'm fine!" I called back and tried to wave the smoke away with my hand.

I looked toward the door that led to the garden and saw Edward standing outside. When he saw that he'd gotten my attention, he waved, and I hurried to unlock and let him in.

"Edward? What are you doing here?" I asked.

He smiled widely. "I told you I would find you."

"Yes, you did, but how did you find me? There are no records of my family owning this cabin."

"Your spell led me here," he simply said, and I looked at him questioningly.

"My spell? What spell?"

He chuckled. "You don't even realize you cast it, do you?"

I crossed my arms over my chest. "No, I'm afraid I have no idea what you're talking about."

Edward walked to the stove and peeked at the failed potion in the pot and wrinkled his nose when the foul smell invaded it. "Angel, you have a lot of power inside you. When you kissed me in your bedroom and said that it would lead me to you if I truly loved you, you cast your very first spell."

I thought back to the moment he was talking about and remembered the sparks I'd felt on my lips and the breeze that had swirled around us. Had I caused that?

Edward walked up to me and placed his hands on my waist. "I wouldn't have found you if I didn't love you. Even if I'd come here, this place would have looked empty to me if my feelings for you weren't true."

I felt warmth from his words, and I wished that they could have solved everything, but despite the guidance I had received, and the fact that I had apparently already chosen, I wasn't any closer to knowing what it was I wanted.

"And what do you want me to do with that knowledge, Edward? I still have to make a choice in four weeks."

He nodded. "I know. I was hoping that me being here would help you."

"How? All you do is make me more confused." I stepped out of his hold and proceeded to pour the failed potion in the sink.

"Why is that?"

"Because when you are close, the only thing I want is to get this over with. Choose Evil and be done with it, but there is this part inside of me that says I can't choose Evil because I'm supposed to be Good."

Edward shrugged. "That's just your heritage speaking," he said, and I whirled around to look at him.

"What did you say?"

"Your heritage. Don't you know?" He frowned. "Hasn't Renée or Charlie told you?"

"Told me what?"

"The reason that you are so powerful is because you are half of each. Your mother's bloodline was one of only Evil Witches, and your father's was one of only Good. Usually, witches marry humans in order to procreate, but your relatives were an extraordinary family tree of pure magic."

I soaked up every word like a sponge because this was the first time I was told anything about my ancestors, but I was also wondering how Edward knew all of this.

"Your parents went against the rules of Good and Evil to be together and fell in love. They eloped and disappeared from everyone's radar. There was a bounty on both of them, but no one could find them before the day you were born. Your power alone put them back on the map."

Sadness gripped me, and I understood why Renée didn't want to tell me much about my parents. It was my fault they got killed, but there was something else, too.

"Are you telling me that my mother was killed by her own kind?" I asked with despair slowly growing inside of me.

Edward hesitated a few seconds but finally answered me. "It was an accident. The spell that was meant for your father took your mother when she jumped in front of it to protect him. Your father was so blinded by rage he couldn't channel his powers anymore, and the next spell hit him in the chest."

It made me feel uneasy that Edward knew what had happened in detail, and I just had to ask him about it. "You're talking about as if you were there. How can you know so many details?"

He looked down on his shoes. "I wasn't there, but the memory is in my head because my father was."

I looked up at the ceiling as I tried to hold my tears. "Just great. This just keeps getting better and better," I said to myself.

"Bella?"

"I'm sorry, Edward, but I need to be alone right now, so I have to ask you to leave."

He nodded, but before he left, he walked up to me and gave me a kiss. "Just in case," he said, and I knew what he meant.

He wanted one last kiss if this meant the end. The thing was that I still didn't know.

I couldn't help despising Evil for killing my parents, but from what I could understand from Edward's story, the bounty was on them because they had broken rules that weren't meant to be broken. They would have been held accountable for that sooner or later. My birth just hurried up the process.

I rubbed my face in frustration and then turned off the lights in the kitchen and went to bed.

¤¤ToT¤¤

The sweat was beading on my forehead as I concentrated on the knife going through the flesh of the huge orange orb in front of me. The design had to be perfect, and it was something that kept my thoughts away from the fact that it was Halloween, or All Hallows Eve, today.

Finally, the pumpkin was sporting the classic laughing grin and I was pleased with my creation. I grabbed it in both my hands and proceeded to place it outside the front door.

However, before I had the chance to do so, I felt a sharp pain in my midsection that I could only compare to the feeling of being stabbed with something very sharp. I lost my grip on the pumpkin and it smashed against the floor.

I couldn't breathe and stood bent over in hopes that it would help.

"Bella?" I heard Mom say as she came down the stairs, but when she saw me, she started to run and call for Dad at the same time. "Oh my god! Charlie, it's happening!"

She placed an arm around me and led me to the couch and helped me lie down on it.

Dad came running and looked at me with confusion all over his face. "Now? But it's too early!" he insisted.

Mom got angry and turned to him. "Well, her powers don't seem to agree with you," she threw at him, but I couldn't have them fighting now. It felt as if I was dying and I needed their help.

I grabbed Mom's arm and she turned to me. "Don't...fight! Help...me!" It took everything I had to muster up the strength and get those words out.

Both Mom and Dad immediately got into action and collected one book each, which they opened up to a marked place.

"You have to choose now, Bella," Mom said. "The chant in my book will claim your powers for Good and the chant in Charlies will do the opposite. You have to place your hand on one of them and choose."

I was out of time, and I had no idea what to choose. I wasn't ready for it, but I had to be.

I slowly sat up on the couch and looked between the chants.

Neither of them seemed to call more for me than the other because I didn't want to be either good or evil. I felt comfortable with both as they were each a half of me, and I just couldn't choose.

The chants didn't differentiate too much from each other, and after I memorized them both, I mashed them together in my head. I wasn't going to settle for one side if I could have both.

With new determination, I placed one hand on each book and held on to them so that my parents wouldn't try to withdraw either.

"Bella, what are you doing?" Mom asked and tried to do exactly that, but I refused to let go.

Power of this witch rise

Path unknown shoot across our skies

On this day and in this hour, I call upon all Ancient Power

"She's calling for both sides!" Dad exclaimed, but he didn't try to withdraw his book.

"But that's unheard of," Mom cried out.

To come to me who call you near.

Come to me and settle here!

There was a whirlwind around me that threw both of my parents backward as if it was protecting me, and I could feel how my breath came back to me. The pain disappeared and a feeling of strength began to grow inside of me.

When it reached its peak, it took my breath away and I gasped for it until the whirlwind faded away and I could breathe normally again.

"Wow," I said to myself when I understood it was over. I could feel the power, both good and evil, course through me.

Mom and Dad looked at me with wide eyes and waited as if they expected me to do something.

"What?" I asked.

Mom blinked. "Uh..." She swallowed and tried again. "How are you feeling?"

I smiled. "I feel great."

"Isabella, what you just did has never been done before," Dad said from his spot on the floor.

I looked at him. "Yes, and?"

"And we don't know what this means. You're the first witch ever to be claimed for both sides."

"I know what it means," I said.

"You do?" Mom asked.

I nodded. "Yes! It means all those old stupid rules do not apply to me."

A knock on the front door resounded through the room, and I went to open it.

Edward stood outside and looked worried. "I felt a huge amount of energy from here. I thought that..."

"Shh!" I shushed him. "It's okay. It's over."

His eyes widened. "It is?" I nodded. "Well, what did you choose?"

"You can't feel it?"

He shook his head. "No. The energy around you feels the same, maybe a bit stronger, but other than that, nothing's changed."

I grinned at him. "Exactly," I said and then I stood up on my toes and kissed him deeply. "Fuck, I've missed doing that," I breathed against his mouth when I let him go.

"Angel, could you explain what's going on?" Edward asked, but at the same time, his hands settled on their place on my waist.

"I sure can, because we have all the time in the world," I said with a mischievous smile and kissed him again.