Stephenie Meyer owns Twilight.

All plotlines, characterizations, and details in Eternally Intertwined 2.0: Blood Ties belong to the author: Bronzehyperion. No copying or reproduction of this work is permitted without the author's authorization. ©2011 Bronzehyperion. All rights reserved worldwide.

This is the sequel to Eternally Intertwined. I advise you to read/skim through it before you read this because otherwise most won't make sense.

CHAPTER ONE: READY? OKAY!

When your boyfriend is a vampire, you'd think there'd be little left to be scared off.

But there are always things…

"Ready? Okay! Give me an F, give me an O, give me an R, give me a K, and give me a S. What does that spell? FORKS! Go Team!"

In case you've ever wondered what hell looks like, try picturing it as a smelly gym filled with fifteen hormone fueled girls and one tiny pixie with the posture of an elf but the attitude of a drill instructor whose yelling cheers at you.

Welcome to cheerleading practice.

It certainly scared the crap out of me more than any vampire or wolf pack ever could.

I hated being a cheerleader and would've given up before even starting if all the, in my case uncoordinated steps and jumps didn't do great things for my ass and legs.

Plus the fact Edward had developed a fetish for role playing.

Kidding. Edward preferred old fashioned love making and not any kind of kinky role playing. Which suited me just fine since I didn't consider myself a porn star and having sex with Edward was already intense enough as it was with the connection between us.

He did like the cheerleading outfit though. In fact, he liked it so much he was often around to see it in action.

See, for him, cheerleading practice wasn't hell. Lucky bastard.

I suppose that made it easier, knowing it was me he came to ogle while the other girls on the team didn't stand a chance and turned ugly green with envy whenever he winked, waved or touched me. I guess I could afford feeling a little smug even though I truly was a cheerleading disaster.

So why was I on the team?

Two reasons. One. Under no circumstances – not ever – did you mess with Alice. So when she had demanded I join the squad and had unleashed the vampire version of puppy dog eyes and pouty lips on me, telling me that it didn't just benefit me – I failed to see how it would benefit me at all – but that since I was her BFF it wouldn't be so weird for her to join the team if I was on it too. All in the name of staying inconspicuous

Of course, Alice being Alice; she hadn't just joined. No. She had resurrected the entire team.

The other reason was more practical. If I joined the squad, I could drop Gym. And for some reason doing uncoordinated dances was more appealing than play sports and such.

Still, it was hell.

"Isabella Swan!"

Crap.

The pixie was tiny, but her voice carried weight; soft and bell like my well trained ass.

"Are you daydreaming again? You know I don't tolerate that!"

Yup. Cheerleading captain Alice Cullen was a tyrant. She was nothing like "Once you're a vampire, we'll be sisters forever- squee" Alice Cullen. It had been a huge indulgence on Carlisle's part to allow her to do something as human as becoming cheerleading captain. With Angela and Jessica gone the town had their general suspicions against anything unusual including the Cullens - that was nothing new - but most of them had dissipated after the summer. When Alice led practice, she managed to act as human as possible which resulted in an Alice who had decided to act like a drill sergeant who got mean when she had to.

Surprisingly Alice was not the odd one out, even if she looked different and moved more gracefully than an experienced ballerina. And most of the girls on the squad actually bought her act and they enjoyed her strictness because it gave them a feel of professionalism after years of barely having scheduled training.

Now me, I was the odd one out; I was as graceful as a swan with spasms and that was an optimistic view. People were often too busy rolling their eyes at me or drooling over Edward to notice Alice was a little too perfect.

"And you! Have I not told you over and over, you're nothing but a distraction!" I heard Alice yell.

I turned to see a grinning Edward sitting in the bleachers. He was holding a pen and a notepad - he always pretended to do homework when he was watching - and waved at me before he addressed his sister.

"Easy, Alice. I'm just here to observe. Enjoy the pep and all."

"Since when do you enjoy pep?" Alice yelled. It was all for pretences, Edward would even hear her if she whispered from that distance.

"Well, since I have you as a sister, I should be used to some pep.

"Shut up!"

"I could say the same, but then there'd be no pep," Edward retorted loudly which caused his drooling fan following to giggle.

It was always comical to see these two go at it. Sometimes I even forgot they were both vampires because their behavior was shockingly human.

"Leave, Edward!" Alice demanded of her brother.

"No can do, little pixie. I'm here to watch Bella. See, her pep I enjoy the most."

He flashed me his typical panty dropping, law licking, doing unspeakable things to him when he looked at me like that –smile and even dared to wink.

Suck on it, fan following. He's mine.

Still, all the smugness in the world didn't prevent my cheeks from staining red and burning and Edward grinned at the sight and smell of it.

He knew how I responded to his flirtations.

"I'll talk to him," I told Alice.

"Tell him to leave, Swan." Alice warned. "And I better not see any PDA or I will make you stand on top of the pyramid again.

I shuddered at the memory of standing on top of Lauren and Jan's shoulders – wobbling and praying to whatever power was willing to listen that I wouldn't fall and drag an entire squad with me.

It had almost worked, until I had to jump down with the help of Lauren and Jane – both unwilling and had poked one in the eye and kicked another in the gut. Served them right for being bitches.

I straightened my skirt and tossed my pom-poms aside before walking – half skipping – over to my very gorgeous boyfriend who was smiling deviously.

He'd done it again.

"She falls for it every time," he grinned as he rose from the bleachers and pulled me into his arms.

I nodded. "Every cheerleading practice she asks you to leave, knowing you won't. Then I come over and try to convince you to go while you try to grope me under this tiny skirt..."

"I never do that," Edward interrupted with a smile.

"I know; I keep hoping that you do. Such a loss," I winked before I rested my head against his chest. "Anyway, you save me from at least 5 minutes of practice and I get to be close to you."

"NO PDA!" Alice yelled.

"Or not," Edward chuckled as he released me.

"Wow, you really fear her, don't you?" I teased. "Will you be like this when I turn into a you-know-what?"

Edward smile morphed into a frown. He did that lately whenever I brought up my impending future as a vampire. When he had first discussed it, he had said he wasn't against me becoming one but that he did worry about how I would cope with it. But back then he had always shown certain eagerness too, even if he was scared of some of the details.

Lately, every time I'd try to bring it up – subtly or not - he would shoot me down gently before we could truly talk about it. I had to wonder if he'd had a change of heart. And since communication often was an issue for us – my insecurities and Edward's occasional lack of understanding teenage girl emotions verbally crippled us on certain topics – it was hard to know how he really felt.

Right now, he decided to deflect with a joke. That was one of his tactics.

"I would assume you won't be as…"peppy" as my sister is."

The moment Edward said it he grinned; knowing perfectly well Alice would be able to hear him.

"Well, for all you know, I'll be horrible."

"I doubt that," Edward said before he gave me a quick peck on the cheek. "You're the most lovable woman I know. Of course, you also drive me nuts with your stubbornness sometimes."

"Thanks," I muttered.

"Bella, could you stop groping your boyfriend and get back here so we can finish practice!" Alice yelled.

"That's my cue," I sighed before giving Edward a hug and heading back to the squad.

"Wait for me?" I asked over my shoulder.

"Always."

"Well?"

I put a peanut butter brittle cookie in my mouth and chewed.

And chewed some more.

And then nearly choked because I could barely swallow the thing.

"It's no good," Angela sighed before she grabbed the plate with the intention to toss them out. Sometimes her baking experiments succeeded and sometimes they failed.

"Wait! Maybe Jacob will like them."

Angela put the plate back down and nodded. "He would eat anything," she mumbled.

Over the past few months, Angela had accepted her fate and seemed to be doing okay but I knew there were facets of her human life she missed. She did online courses, baked cookies for me and Jacob; well mostly Jacob and went hunting with the family but there was a freedom that she'd had before; going out walking about, that she had lost because she looked different and people assumed she was dead, even if her body had never been found.

Overall I suppose she had managed to adapt to her new life and her blossoming relationship with Jacob. It wasn't always easy on them because she had to stay close to home most of the time and wasn't permitted to set foot on the reservation which meant Jacob had to come here which had taken him a while to grow accustomed to.

Also Jacob had to sneak around because his father and his pack were very unhappy with his interactions with the Cullens and didn't understand how he could have imprinted on a vampire.

"I heard my name," a booming voice said. "Ladies, no gossiping please. You can tell me I'm awesome to my face."

Jacob entered the kitchen and instantly went to Angela. He kissed her on the cheek before he started pawing at the plate of cookies.

"See," I pointed. "It doesn't matter what it is, as long as he can chew and swallow."

"I don't just chew and swallow, Bells. I taste too!" Jacob huffed.

At 6"2 Jacob was much taller than both me and Angela. He also didn't care what he ate as long as his body got some sort of nourishment. Esme and Angela loved that.

"Peanut butter brittle. Awesome!"

"You like it?" Angela beamed.

Jacob smiled and put his arm around her. "Love it."

"And you." He added in a whisper.

Seeing Jacob like this, this lovingly and gentle was a surprise because he had never acted this mature with me. I was happy he seemed so accepting of Angela and that he had eased up on the Cullens. Jacob and Emmett were definitely not best buddies but had started to get along when they had started chatting about sports on Skype because Emmett and Rosalie were still travelling. I don't know how or when they had started doing that but it seemed to work for them. Rosalie hated it because she and Jacob were like water and fire because he always teased her about her looks and evil stares while she said he smelled like wet dog. In return, Jacob had started calling her "Techno Vampire Bitch" or "TVB" for short after that because he failed to see how she could smell anything through a computer even if vampires had great sense of smell.

Jasper and Jacob didn't interact that much respected each other. Alice demanded Jacob to be nice to her and since she apparently had the power to frighten anyone, Jacob was nice to her.

He was full of respect toward Carlisle and Esme because they were helping Angela.

The only problem was Edward because much to his chagrin, Jacob and I had restored our friendship for the most part. Jacob even started calling me "Bells" again, which pissed Edward off because he hated that particular nickname.

He also had trouble adapting to Angela and Jacob's relationship. Basically, what bothered him was Jacob's presence all together.

"I better get back upstairs. Edward is probably wondering where I am." I said as I exited the kitchen to go to Edward's room.

I knew Jacob and Angela didn't hear me; they were too busy being cute and flirty.

Edward was lounging on the bed he never slept in when I entered.

"Wet dog smell. I guess Jacob's here," he muttered.

I rolled my eyes as I joined him on the bed.

"You claim to be mature and being over a century old, you ought to be but here you are calling him names. Why is that?"

Edward pulled me down and into his arms. "Need I remind you what he was like when we first started dating? He can be dangerous, Bella."

I twisted my body so that I could look at him. "He loves Angela. And he's gotten better with the wolf changes. He's not the same guy."

Edward shook his head disapprovingly. "Remember when he knocked you out?"

He was referring to our first ever date. Well, technically it hadn't been a date since we'd been friends at the time. Well, trying to be. Jacob had followed us to Port Angeles where he and Edward had gotten into a display of who was the bigger badder supernatural being and I had gotten hurt in the process.

"Stop," I warned him. "Whatever grudge you're holding, you need to let it go because he's going to be around."

"Goodie."

"Edward!"

"Why do you defend him?" Edward snapped. "It's all great that he and Angela are in love and I'm sure that his imprinting has led to an improvement in his behavior but it doesn't mean I have to be nice to him. I don't like how all is forgotten and you are best buddies again. And frankly, I don't like how you're defending him and think I'm acting wrong."

"Best buddies" is an exaggeration. We're hanging out because of Angela. And I'm not defending him."

"He calls you Bells."

"He's always called me that. Don't whine about it. It's just a silly nickname."

"I don't like it," Edward grumbled.

"Look, Edward, I'm sorry if I hut your feelings. I'm not on anyone's side. You know I love you. Nothing will change that."

"Ever?"

"Never ever," I said before I leaned in to kiss him.

Like every night Edward drove me home in time for my curfew. Yes, I had a curfew now because Charlie was worried I'd end up the same way as Angela and Jessica.

Since they had never found the people responsible for Angela's disappearance and Jessica's murder – and how could they; they were burned to ashes - both cases were currently on hold. My dad was still in charge of both cases and he was obligated to follow possible leads if there'd be any. Of course, with the perpetrators gone and Angela changed, there never were.

That bothered Charlie because as far as he knew, the perps were still out there.

As a result he was being extremely overprotective and demanded I never spent a minute alone. This was very fortunate for Edward, because it provided him with an extra excuse to be with me. Charlie became a little more tolerant when it came to Edward's presence and even allowed me to stay at the Cullens and in Edward's room sometimes.

He was the biggest problem in regards to my upcoming transformation. His over protective nature meant he followed my every move and it would be very difficult to leave him behind once the change would happen. In his mind, knowing what he knew about the other cases, it would be too much of a coincidence once I would stop retuning calls or be in touch with him all together. And because I was his daughter, he'd never stop looking for me.

Graduation was months away and there was still plenty to prepare, including a decent alibi. Of course, with Edward's reluctance to talk about my change we hadn't reached a stage of planning yet.

We arrived at my house and it was easy to spot the police cruiser in its usual spot in the driveway.

"You better go," I said. "Charlie is home."

"I can walk you to the door. The Chief wouldn't want me to have you walk those few feet alone."

Edward and I held hands as he led me to the door. Once we reached it, I turned and stood up on my tiptoes to kiss him.

Edward lifted me up a little to have better access and deepened the kiss by mingling his tongue with mine. Things were about to get a little hot and heavy when Edward suddenly let go of me – which caused me to almost fall over which he prevented by grabbing my waist and steadying me– because the front door opened. I expected Charlie to reprimand us and tell me to get inside but to my surprise my dad wasn't alone. Next to him stood Sue Clearwater and she was straightening herself a little and her cheeks betrayed that she was either embarrassed of very flustered.

In fact, I may be mistaken but my dad seemed a little flustered himself.

"Bella you're home," he said and he sounded a little surprised.

"It's my curfew," I reminded him.

"Oh yeah, right."

Weird.

"Well, I better go," Sue announced as she moved past Edward and I and turned to give a small wave at the end of the driveway.

"I must go too," Edward said, before he placed a small kiss on my lips and turned to walk back to the Volvo.

Shockingly Charlie didn't have a snarky or threatening come back about PDA like he usually did.

"You okay, dad?" I asked once we were inside.

"Fine," he muttered as he closed the front door and locked it. "You better get ready for bed; it's getting close to 10:00 PM"

I nodded and bid my father goodnight before I headed up the stairs and straight to the bathroom to take a quick shower.

Once I was done I wrapped a towel around myself and listened to make sure Charlie was watching sports downstairs. We had this kind of "half nekkid" run in once and while it didn't bother me so much, I knew it would make my dad realize I was a girl with girl parts and that would put the idea in his head that Edward knew about my girl parts and liked them (which he did) and well…it was better if my dad didn't think of me as a girl too much. I knew it killed him to let me sleep over at the Cullens and I was certain he had convinced himself that Edward and I never shared a bed.

I found Edward waiting in my room when I came out of the bathroom. He was lounging on my bed.

"You're wet," he smiled. "I love the way you smell when you're wet."

"Well, hello innuendo," I teased him as I searched for some underwear and pajamas.

"Oh Bella, I don't know where that mind of yours wanders off to but I was referring to the fact you just took a shower. Nothing else."

I rolled my eyes. "Yeah, sure. Me too."

"Okay, so maybe I enjoy your arousal too. And speaking of that…your father and Sue; what is going on there because I could smell…."

"Stop!" I interrupted him a little too loudly. "Don't even think to use the word smell, arousal and my dad in the same sentence!"

"I'm just saying; he and Sue Clearwater looked very cozy….."

"Don't talk about that either," I hissed my voice lower now so that I wouldn't alert Charlie. "I don't want to know about my dad's love life because I'm a firm believer he doesn't have one."

"You'd be surprised," Edward teased. "It sure looked like he does."

"Edward you have to stop, because I will send you away and then call Alice to tell her you're mean to me."

"Scary."

"Oh, I know you are scared," I pointed out. "Now, turn around so I can get dressed."

"If I must," he obliged before flipping on his stomach and burying his nose in my pillow.

"Smells good," he murmured. "So good."

I quickly finished getting dressed, brushed my hair and left my room to yell another goodnight to my dad from the top of the stairs before I joined Edward – who had flipped back the covers for me – in my bed.

I yawned involuntarily which made Edward chuckle because he knew how much I hated that sleep deprived me of a long make out sessions in the dark.

"Stupid cheerleading wipes me out, I muttered as I snuggled close.

"Just sleep," Edward said and he started humming some Coldplay, knowing it would pull me under.

In no time I did find myself in a state of sleep.

And with sleep came dreams.

Vivid dreams.

They were always the same lately.

There was a hunter.

There was a prey.

And amidst a chaos of colors like green, muddy brown and red and objects I could never see clearly, there was the incredibly strong desire for blood and one strong heartbeat pounding away like a beckoning in the madness, calling out to be silenced.

I knew I was the hunter; I could feel the adrenaline rush coursing through me subconsciously, taste the copper of blood on my tongue and feel the alluring overpowering call to find my prey.

To silence the heartbeat.

A/N: We're back! For those who've waited for this: I'm sorry it took longer than planned. For those new to the story: it would make sense to read or skim through Eternally Intertwined first.

I need a BETA because my spelling sucks, so if you're game; send me a PM. :)

RE: Eternally Intertwined; I know it has major grammar errors. I hope to get to a point where I can clean those up but at the moment, life and writing keeps me busy enough as it is.

I am almost done with chapter 2, which will be up in a few days.

Every writer loves reviews, as do I. ;)

Happy Hump Day!