Bella's POV

I stood up slowly, conserving time to think. What had caused Justin to be like this? He was all nice before, back in the shop. Why did he run away from us?

. . . us.

That was it. Us. Alice. He ran after he caught Alice's gaze. But what did she have to do with anything.

"Well?"

Justin was staring at me still, obviously waiting for a question. I just didn't know what to ask first.

"Well, umm, first, why are you here? And where is Rebecca? And how are you guys 'expecting'? And why isn't she here with you? And how is she married to you with all of the crap going on here? And how do you keep your eyes overshadowed like that? And how do you know Alice? Yes, I know you know Alice somehow. And why—"

"Okay, stop, STOP!" He cut me off. Words stopped flowing from my mouth, although I was still speaking them. Trying, to speak them. I reached my hands up to my neck, gaping for air. I must not be breathing. Why else could I not speak? I gasped, and miraculously, the air flowed in. I exhaled, and tried to speak again.

'And why. . .'

Nothing. I was just moving my lips. No sound escaped from them.

For the first time since he cut me off, I looked up at Justin. He was laughing. Why was he laughing!? I couldn't talk for God's sake! His laughter continued, and I glared at him. He was supposed to be nice, like he was earlier.

"Do you get it yet, Bella?" he asked.

I shook my head miserably.

Wait. I paused. I held my finger up, letting him know to give me some time to think about it. He was laughing about this. Why would he unless. . .

"That's your power," I stated. He must have let go on me. Even I was surprised that the words actually came out. "That's your power, because I know what you are. You're a vampire. Just like Carlisle and Esme, and Emmett and Rosalie, and Edward, and Jasper and Alice. And soon to be, me."

I noticed how Justin cringed when I mentioned Alice's name with Jasper's. He still had some questions to answer, and answer fast. I'm sure that Alice would be coming to find me soon.

"How. . . do you know all of that?" he asked slowly.

"For the reasons I just told you. I happen to know seven vampires. Well, vampires I know well. And that are still living. James, Laurent, and Victoria are all dead now. I guess you could count Tanya and her clan too, I sort of know them."

Justin stared at me, his mouth gaping. "So you know, everything about us?"

"Umm, I'm not sure us is appropriate. I know about them, not you. Are you going to answer my questions or not? Alice will be here soon to catch me with you, and I'm sure you don't want that."

He sighed, then agreed. "You're right. So here goes,

"I'm here because I'm visiting Billy. Well, Rebecca is visiting Billy. I'm not stupid enough to go into a house packed with werewolves, so I just told Becca that I wasn't feeling well, and was going to stay at the hotel. I decided to come get a present for her, and spotted you and. . . well, I'll get to that.

"We're expecting, yes, but it isn't exactly my child. I've told Rebecca about what I am, and she's not afraid of me any longer. She wanted a baby, however, so we went to a sperm donor for help, knowing that I couldn't 'get her pregnant'. That isn't to say we haven't tried. . .

"She's married to me for the same reason you're getting married to Edward. You love him and he loves you. I'm not going to let stupid old traditions get in the way of that, and neither is she. For the record, I'd marry her even if she was a dog. She's just, wonderful. . .

"My eyes are brown because of tinted contacts. Easy as that. Although in the right light, you can still see the gold shine through. I don't drink from humans, only animals like. . . Alice's. . . family."

Justin stopped there, hanging his head down. I put a hand on his shoulder, and he looked up at me.

"And how do you know Alice?" I prompted.

He stared me straight in the eye, and said,

"Because I loved her."

T o B e C o n t i n u e d . . .