Act I
Chapter 10 ━━ Private Joke

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"What if they don't like me?" Shelley questions him as he drives to his home. 

Esdras laughs heartily. "You're worried, not because you'll be in a houseful of vampires, but because you think they won't approve of you?" 

"I'm glad I amuse you." She smiles and Esdras finally turns the car off the paved highway and onto a long serpentine dirt road, finally, it reaches a small meadow, in the centre of which sits a timeless graceful house. He parks the car and she climbs out, surprised. "It's… wonderful."

"You expected turrets, dungeons and moats?" He jokes and takes her hand.

"No… not moats." Shelley girdles herself before they head inside the house. Esdras guides her into the large, bright house. Walls of glass look out on the river. Everything's open and white. Historical objects are tastefully placed throughout. She is totally enraptured at the scene in front of her eyes. "It's so light and open."

"Thanks to the tinted windows… It's the one place we never have to hide." He says and she hears a clanging coming from the kitchen, making her raise an eyebrow. Esdras shakes his head. "I told them not to do this."

Esdras and Shelley, who enter to find the kitchen in full swing. Dr. Cullen, Emmett, Rosalie and Esme prepare elaborate platters of Italian pastas and antipasti. Esme rolls out a pizza dough and fans tomatoes around it in an instant. Rosalie stirs a pot, disinterested. 

Shelley sees brand new cookware boxes in the corner as all of them watching an Italian cooking show on TV. Emmett hits the DVD remote control as he notices the human.

Esme sees her and stops, emanating maternal warmth. Her heart-shaped face and billows of hair are reminiscent of the silent-movie era. "Shelley. We're making Italiano for you."

"This is Esme, my mother for all intents and purposes." Esdras introduces his adopted mother to the human.

"Bon giorno?" Shelley asks.

"Molto bene!" Esme replies with a smile. 

"You've given us an excuse to use the kitchen for the second time." Dr. Cullen says to the blonde.

"Second time?" She asks.

"Yeah. We had a guest the day before yesterday." Esme replies. "I hope you're hungry." 

"Absolutely." Shelley says and takes a seat on the dining table. "Esdras kept me starving all this time."

"Hey! I wasn't the one who said no when I tried to take you to a restaurant!" Esdras complains jokingly while Shelley responds to him playfully sticking out her tongue at him. Everyone laughs at her childish behaviour, but something shatters. 

Rosalie has thrown down a bowl and now strides out. "Perfect."

Shelley exits behind Rosalie, trying to explain. The others follow.

"Ignore her. I do." Esdras says to the human, glaring at Rosalie, who scoffs.

"Yes, let's keep pretending this isn't dangerous for all of us."

"I would never, ever tell anyone." Shelley admits.

"Shelley knows that." Dr. Cullen says reassuringly. 

"The entire family will be implicated if this ends badly." Rosalie argues.

"…Badly?" Shelley questions and this hangs in the air, uncomfortably. Realising, she says. "Oh. Badly. Like, where I become a meal."

Emmett chokes back laughter. Esdras grins and wraps his arm around the human. Even Esme has to chuckle.

Rosalie, exasperated, heads back into the kitchen, not even hiding the hint of envy inside her eyes at the sight of Esdras being too close to the human too much. Emmett shrugs, goes after her.

"Hi, Shelley!" On the balcony Alice leaps over the rail, holding a bouquet of wildflowers. Jasper follows her. 

She bounces forward to kiss the blonde's cheek and hands her the wildflowers. "I'm Alice. You do smell good."

"Alice." Esdras reminds.

"It's alright, Shelley and I are going to be great friends." Alice says.

Extending her hand at the blond, Shelley speaks. "And you're Jasper, right?"

"Pleasure to meet you." Jasper says, but he shies away from her hand. 

"You won't hurt her, Jasper." Alice says to Jasper gently encouraging but Jasper looks like he isn't so sure.

"We're late. Aren't we?" 

Shelley turns to see Edward standing in the doorway along with her own sister, holding hands.

"Bella? What are you-?" She starts but cuts herself off. "Wait! Edward told you about it before. Didn't he?" 

"Yes." Bella looks ashamed of herself. So, she's their guest the day before yesterday. Feeling betrayed and upset start to engulf the blonde. 

"I'll give you a tour of the house." Esdras takes the blonde's hand and leads her away from them.

"I'll see you soon." Alice says with meaning to cool the surroundings.

Esdras shoots Alice a look, which Shelley catches before he guides her up the stairs. As they ascend, she takes in the eclectic art pieces from around the world, Ethiopian

crosses, Dresden, China, Asian scrolls. They reach to find a wall of dozens of artistically arrayed silk squares with tassels. 

She looks closer at them. "Graduation caps?"

"A private joke. We matriculate a lot." Esdras says.

"What a nightmare, repeating high school." She says.

"True, but the younger we start out in a new place, the longer we can stay there." He states and she shivers at the thought of it, as they continue on.

"Welcome to my room." Esdras says as they enter to find a wall of glass doors open to a deck, with the river beyond. The rest of the room is covered with shelves filled with books.

"So you're obsessed with books. But…" She looks around. "No bed?"

"No sleep."

"Ever?"

"No nightmares, no drool, no snoring."

Shelley considers this, as she runs a hand along a shelf of books studying the titles.

"Do you have any favourites?" He asks.

"Depends. Romance? Fantasy? Horror? Mystery? Adventure?" 

"Ooh, she knows the taste of reading." He says. "Alright, Romance?" 

"I'd have to say... Pride and Prejudice, 1813 by Jane Austen." She replies.

He looks at her, surprised, smiles. "My favourite, too." He then notices her upset face and frowns. "Is everything okay?"

She shakes her head. "No. It's about Bella. We're supposed to share everything between us. But she's now hiding things from me."

He sighs. "Bella promised that she's not gonna tell anyone. Even you." 

"Are there any more secrets that she's hiding inside her, which I don't know?" She asks him. "You can read her mind right?"

"I can't read her mind, Shell." 

"What?"

"Her mind is totally blank for me and Edward."

"Oh." 

Emmett shows himself in front of them. "Food is ready."

"We'll be there." Esdras tells him, making Emmett nod and disappear in the next second, almost giving a heart attack to Shelley. She's really new to these vampire abilities. "We should go. It's time to feed your little stomach."

"I don't want to go." She frowns.

Esdras smiles mischievously. "I can always make you."

"You don't scare me." She rolls her eyes.

"You really shouldn't have said that." He grins, a low growling sound in the back of his throat, shifting into a half-crouch, about to pounce. 

"Don't you dare." She warns him, resulting in him to smirk devilishly.

"How about we check how ticklish you are."

"No!" 

Before he tackles her, she runs downstairs to the kitchen with her fastest steps and hides behind Esme. Esdras appears in the doorway, laughing heartily. She glares at him playfully, before sitting on the dining table for a vampire Italian meal.