24Okay, so this story takes place back in the day, around medieval times, when people lived in little cottages/towns and only traveled around by horse. (Unless they walked. :D )
I came up with the idea when my brother was playing the video game, "Assassin's Creed", ( I know, I'm psycho ) and I figured if Edward were an assassin, that it would make it all the more interesting! Plus, Edward the vampire and Edward the assassin are both b-e-a-utiful and hide a deadly secret! Haha, enjoy! :)
Chapter 1:
Stranger Danger
I awoke to the sounds and smells of morning. The sun was gently filtering in through the open window and I distinctly raised my arm over my eyes. Chilled breezes rushed through the early air, curling around me, and forcing me to shiver. I tugged on the blankets that surrounded me, pulling them close around my body. I heard the rooster then, and I knew I could no longer prolong the day. With a sigh, I heaved myself from my bed, not allowing myself a second thought.
I hopped across the cold floor, fumbling for my clothes and heading to the bathroom. I combed my hair softly, not wanting to be too early and quickly descended down the stairs, stumbling on the last step.
"Good morning, dear Bella! How were your dreams last night?"
I looked up shyly to see Ms. Cope, who helped around the farm and cooked almost every meal. There were many others bustling around her, trying to help get breakfast ready.
"I slept quite well," I murmured. "Although the sun interrupted it."
At my last sentence she laughed, saying, "Well, that's what happens nowadays."
I smiled attentively. "Do you mind if I help out with lunch instead of breakfast today? I wanted to talk to my father."
Ms. Cope smiled warmly at me. I knew I didn't even have to ask, of course she would say yes. But Ms. Cope had always been kind to me and I wanted her to know that I respected her. Plus, I was being polite, as my father would say.
"Of course, my dear." She paused. "I think I saw him heading out towards the barn earlier this morning before heading off to town. Perhaps you'll be able to catch him before he leaves?"
I sighed. I'd have to run. "I'll try," I said a little timidly, and dashed thorough the open door, trying not to fall. I could hear Ms. Cope and a few others chuckling quietly behind me. I must look stupid when I run, I thought to myself.
When I had finally reached the barn after slipping and sliding on dew left over on the grass and pebbles, I realized from a few guys that were working in the hay field that I had just missed him. Feeling bored and disappointed, I went inside the barn. I walked over to my mare and began stroking her nose, murmuring sweet things to her. She had dark, rich brown color and pitch black hair. One of her ears had been born white, streaming white streaks down her muzzle from it. The streaks had reminded me of little streams, and so when my dad had first gotten her, I had taken it into my care to name her Streamer.
Call me weird; call me someone who needs to get a life. But I named her that and I knew with all my heart that I would forever care for her. I must have lost track of time while I continued to stroke her nose because before I knew it, my father was back from town. I could hear his horse approaching and I dashed out of the stable and into the beautiful day outside.
"Dad!" I yelled, tripping over a pile of hay. A few of the men working out in the field saw me and chuckled. I could feel my face burning up and I desperately ran to my dad, Charlie, so that my back was to them.
"Hey, there, Bells." He said gruffly. I looked up at him and noticed that he wasn't smiling. I began to worry.
"Is everything okay, Dad?" I asked nervously. He looked down at me and his eyes were full of worry. Oh no, I thought anxiously. What happened?
"Well…" he began. He looked away toward the house and I followed his gaze. There were a few kids playing and splashing around in the water of a little pond. I looked back up at him, but he hadn't turned back towards me yet. "There's been some news in town about… well..." he paused and turned to me. He took a deep breath. "Many believe that there is an assassin."
I gasped. An assassin?! In my personal town?! What were we going to do?! I began to panic. What would happen if innocent people, like those kids and the workers out in the fields were to get hurt because of him? Or worse. What if I were to get hurt because of him? My dad? And what about Ms. Cope?
I could tell that I was losing it. My father quickly shushed me and gestured for me to follow him. We arrived back in the barn and I was shaking, shaking bad. No assassin had ever been caught except for a very few. And now one of them was here! They were known to do the most worst, torturous things. I should know, my own mother was murdered by one.
"Bella," my dad said. "We can't tell anyone about this."I gasped.
"What?" I half screeched. "What are you talking about? We have to tell them! We have to tell everyone!" How could he say such a thing?
"Bells," he said, exasperated now. "We cannot just go around blabbing that there is an assassin in our midst." My head was spinning. Why not? I wanted to scream.
He continued. "What would happen if it turned out to be one of the workers here on the farm?" I froze.
He didn't pause. "A lot of the men down in the town think it's best to not do anything." He saw I was about to argue and hastily carried on. "Perhaps if we leave him be, he won't hurt us and he'll leave."
"But why would he leave?" I could barely hear my own voice. "If no one is after him, why would he leave?"
"I don't know," he spoke quietly. "But we can't put the others in danger. You cannot tell anyone else, you understand? No one."
"But if we don't tell them, then we're still putting them in danger!" I couldn't keep from screaming. This was wrong. It was insanity.
"Bella, please." He looked at me cautiously. "I don't want you going out to the town for awhile. I don't want him to see you and get you hurt." He didn't have to tell me twice.
"I won't," I promised. But then another train of thought caught my attention. "But wait. What if I were to just stay here? Aren't I still in danger of being near the… the…" I couldn't say the word. "The assassin?" I choked out. The thought of my mother filled my head and I had to blink tears away. Sure, it had been many years ago, but it wasn't something you could easily forget.
He nodded. "I want you to stay near me at all times." He bent down and took something out of a bag he had been carrying. "Here," he said. "I got this especially for you."
I looked down and gasped. I was a knife.
He held it out to me and I carefully curled my fingers around the crude weapon. "For your protection," he stated.
"Th…thanks." I was definitely scared now. My father hadn't liked it when I was in the kitchen cooking with knives around, and now he was giving me one to carry on me at all times. This was even more serious than I had originally thought.
He looked at me in earnest now. "Don't worry," he told me. "Everything is going to be just fine." I nodded. He sounded so sure, how could I deny him? But then again, how could I not?
The day went by slow, and I often found myself worrying about the future. Mostly having to do with the assassin. I wonder why he's here, I would think. Or, Is he planning on killing someone? Someone I know? These thoughts constantly floated in my mind, and I would always add another. I wonder what he looks like… Do I know him? Am I even sure it's a 'him'?
I couldn't get rid of the feeling that I wasn't being honest to the people around me. But then again, I wasn't. They would ask me how my day was, or if I was okay, as they always did. One girl who had helped me carry some vegetables from the garden broke my heart when she told me that she loved me and my father and that she would forever trust us.
Run! I wanted to scream to her and the rest around us. Go! Run! But I knew I couldn't and I wouldn't, even though I was dying inside. I just smiled and nodded, hoping that nothing bad would ever happen to her or the others.
When she had left, I looked across the fields and the landscape, watching everyone as they did their daily work. A sickening feeling coursed its way around my heart when I considered that the assassin could be out there, right before my eyes, and I wouldn't even know it.
A few days passed, and nothing was out of the ordinary. Not until I met someone by the name of Edward.
I had been walking back toward the barn again to visit Streamer, when I turned the corner and ran into someone carrying a huge bundle of hay. I stumbled back and fell butt first into a hay pile, my face full of shock and stuff sticking out of my hair in every direction.
"Oops! Sorry!" The person behind the hay stack had a beautiful voice, almost like velvet, and although his face still wasn't visible, I smiled.
"No, no," I assured him. "I'm fine." I quickly got back up, neatly almost falling over again. I hastily brushed myself off and brought my hands up to my hair to try and take out all that had embedded itself in it. When I thought I was done getting it all out, or at least as much as I was going to get, I turned back to the person, but he was gone. I frowned.
I had continued to walk to the stable when I heard his voice again. It was coming from my right, and I cautiously sneaked up around the barn to peer at the owner of the voice. His back was to me, and he was talking to someone in front of him. I couldn't hear what they were saying, but it looked as if the man in front was giving him directions on how to do something.
So, he's new, I thought. I studied him. He was quite tall, maybe around six feet, and his hair was an odd bronze color, all messy looking. He looked fairly strong and his arms flexed beautifully as he talked. I heard him laugh, and it was almost like music. I stifled a sigh. That's when he turned around.
Oh my gosh! I sucked in a startled breath and quickly darted away toward the stable again, sure that he had seen me. I kept my pace so fast, I was almost running. I tripped a few times along the way, dashing into the stable that held my mare, Streamer. I was breathing hard and I tried to quiet myself in case someone could hear me.
Oh my gosh! My mind repeated. He had been so gorgeous! His face had been so perfect, not a single flaw in it, and his eyes… his eyes! His eyes had been a startling green, full of an emotion I didn't know. God, pull yourself together! He's going to notice if you drool over him every time he sees you! But I didn't care. Not really, at least, for I had good reason to drool.
Once I had settled down and had been stroking my mare for quite some time, I walked back outside. I wasn't expecting to see anyone, since the sun had already gone down, but I did. And it wasn't just anyone, either.
It was the 'Sorry!' guy that I had ran into and sneaked up on. Oh god.
He was staring up at the sky, his back towards me yet again, resting against a fence that surrounded the field. I tried to sneak past him without him noticing me, but he did, and he turned around to see my eyes glued on him, just like earlier. I gritted my teeth. Crap, I thought. I was sure he was going to ask me what my problem was, but he didn't say anything. He just stood there, his eyes never leaving mine.
I could feel my cheeks starting to burn up again, and I stupidly chose that moment to talk.
"Hi...h-… hello." Wow, just wow, Bella, I told myself.
He still didn't say anything and I was beginning to grow uncomfortable at a startling rate. When I finally couldn't take it anymore and I was definitely sure he wasn't going to say a word, I started to walk away. It wasn't long until I heard footsteps behind me and my hand instinctively went down to the knife that I held hidden between my belt and waist. What if he is the assassin? A voice inside my head screamed.
I picked up my pace, but a strong hand fell on my shoulder and I gave a loud squeal.
"Eeeeek!" Had that just come from my mouth? Geez…
"Shhhh!" The velvet voice assured me. "Don't worry; I'm not going to hurt you." I turned around and was stunned silent when I saw how close his amazing face was to mine.
"I'm…I'm sorry," I muttered. I smiled sheepishly up at him. "I guess I, er, overreacted."
"You guess?" His tone was mocking, but his face was teasing.
"Ye…yeah." Would I ever be able to say a full sentence without stuttering while he was around?
He chuckled and let go of my shoulder. I hadn't realized it had still been there until the cold hair blew across the skin he had warmed. I shivered.
It was hard to see his face in the darkness, but I could tell his his face had grown very cautious. His eyes smoldered.
"I…" I began, and then stopped. Should I be giving this total and complete stranger my name? It couldn't hurt, I thought. Besides, even if he were to turn out to be the assassin, knowing my name wouldn't really make it any easier for him to kill me, would it? Or so I hoped.
He lifted one of his perfect eyebrows, probably wondering why I had stopped talking, and I forced myself to continue. "I'm Bella," I said. There. No need to tell him my last name just yet.
His brows furrowed together and he drew a breath. God, he even smelled amazing!
"I'm Edward," he said with caution. Edward.
"That's an interesting name," I told him, feeling completely idiotic. I noticed that he hadn't given me his last name, either. He just chuckled.
"So, you're new here?" I asked. That's a stupid question, my mind scolded me. Of course he's new.
"Yes…" Again, he was still cautious. "You know," he said, so abruptly that I forgot my own train of thought. "There is supposed to be rumors about an assassin in town." He looked amused. "Shouldn't you be inside where it's safe?"
I sucked in air. "How did you know about that?"
He shrugged. "Words get around, I guess." He smirked. But who was passing the words? "You should be going now. You never know who you can trust."
I eyed him curiously. "Are you saying that I shouldn't trust you?"
He shrugged. "I'm saying that you should think before you let a complete stranger's words convince you otherwise." I blushed. Of course he was talking about when I had let him convince me that he wasn't going to hurt me. But what was he trying to say by that?
"Goodnight, Bella." And then he quickly walked away, leaving me along in the cold dark.
Sooooo… what do you think? Are you disappointed? Interested? Do you want me to write more? ;) I'm not exactly sure what I think of this story so far, but I hope it gets better as it goes... I love it when you all review, so please don't leave me wondering whether it was truly good or not! :)
Thank you so much for reading!
-Natasha