Midnight Sun(78)

accident. She was right to be afraid, despite my driving abilities...
"But you can't." With a sigh, I let the car drift to a crawl. "Happy?"
She eyed the speedometer. "Almost."
Was this still too fast for her? "I hate driving slow," I muttered, but let the needle slide another notch
down.
"This is slow?" she asked.
"Enough commentary on my driving," I said impatiently. How many times had she dodged my question
now? Three times? Four? Were her speculations that horrific? I had to know-immediately. "I'm still
waiting for your latest theory."
She bit her lip again, and her expression became upset, almost pained.
I reigned in my impatience and softened my voice. I didn't want her to be distressed. "I won't laugh," I
promised, wishing that it was only embarrassment that made her unwilling to talk.
"I'm more afraid that you'll be angry with me," she whispered.
I forced my voice to stay even. "Is it that bad?"
"Pretty much, yeah." She looked down, refusing to meet my eyes. The seconds passed.
"Go ahead," I encouraged.
Her voice was small. "I don't know how to start."
"Why don't you start at the beginning?" I remembered her words before dinner. "You said you didn't
come up with this on your own."
"No," she agreed, and then was silent again.
I thought about things that might have inspired her. "What got you started-a book? A movie?"
I should have looked through her collections when she was out of the house. I had no idea if Bram
Stoker or Anne Rice was there in her stack of worn paperbacks...
"No," she said again. "It was Saturday, at the beach."
I hadn't expected that. The local gossip about us had never strayed into anything too bizarre-or too
precise. Was there a new rumor I'd missed? Bella peeked up from her hands and saw the surprise on my
face.
"I ran into an old family friend-Jacob Black," she went on. "His dad and Charlie have been friends since I
was a baby."
Jacob Black-the name was not familiar, and yet it reminded me of something...some time, long ago... I
stared out of the windshield, flipping through memories to find the connection.
"His dad is one of the Quileute elders," she said.
Jacob Black. Ephraim Black. A descendant, no doubt. It was as bad as it could get. She knew the truth.
My mind was flying through the ramifications as the car flew around the dark curves in the road, my
body rigid with anguish-motionless except for the small, automatic actions it took to steer the car.
She knew the truth. But...if she'd learned the truth Saturday...then she'd known it all evening long...and
yet...
"We went for a walk," she went on. "And he was telling me about some old legends-trying to scare me, I
think. He told me one..."
She stopped short, but there was no need for her qualms now; I knew what she was going to say. The
only mystery left was why she was here with me now.
"Go on," I said.
"About vampires," she breathed, the words less than a whisper.
Somehow, it was even worse than knowing that she knew, hearing her speak the word aloud. I flinched
at the sound of it, and then controlled myself again.
"And you immediately thought of me?" I asked.
"No. He...mentioned your family."
How ironic that it would be Ephraim's own progeny that would violate the treaty he'd vowed to uphold.
A grandson, or great-grandson perhaps. How many years had it been? Seventy?
I should have realized that it was not the old men who believed in the legends that would be the danger.
Of course, the younger generation-those who would have been warned, but would have thought the
ancient superstitions laughable-of course that was where the danger of exposure would lie.
I supposed this meant I was now free to slaughter the small, defenseless tribe on the coastline, were I so
inclined. Ephraim and his pack of protectors were long dead...
"He just thought it was a silly superstition," Bella said suddenly, her voice edged with a new anxiety. "He
didn't expect me to think anything of it."
Out of the corner of my eye, I saw her twist her hands uneasily.
"It was my fault," she said after a brief pause, and then she hung her head as if she were ashamed. "I
forced him to tell me."
"Why?" It wasn't so hard to keep my voice level now. The worst was already done. As long as we spoke
of the details of the revelation, we didn't have to move on to the consequences of it.
"Lauren said something about you-she was trying to provoke me." She made a little face at the memory.
I was slightly distracted, wondering how Bella would be provoked by someone talking about me... "And
an older boy from the tribe said your family didn't come to the reservation, only it sounded like he