Don't lie to me unless you're absolutely sure I will never find the truth.
- Ashleigh Brilliant
-
In one swift motion, Edward flipped them around so Aris was now the one with her back against the door, his hand firmly around her neck as he leaned into her in a predatory way.
This was a motion that would've scared any sane person out of their wits, though Edward saw no trace of fear in Aris's eyes, but rather, just sheer amusement.
"What the fuck did you just say to me?" His voice was frighteningly low, threatening almost, like if Aris were to not answer the question, she would regret it.
"I said," she started, her voice quiet from the grip Edward held around her neck, "you're a filthy bloodsucker."
Aris peeled his hand away from her neck easily, as he wasn't holding on very tight in the first place. Plus, she was nearly as strong as a vampire at this point, now that she had been around the Cullen's pretty much everyday for the past two months or so because of school, and just hanging out with most of them outside of school as well.
She left Edward there speechless as she strutted over to the chair she was previously sitting in, looking at him expectantly.
"Go on then, I'm sure you have questions." She hummed, kicking her feet up on the desk boredly.
"Right," he said, clearing his throat, "how long have you known about me and my family, and how did you find out about us in the first place?"
"From the moment I first saw you all of course. What a silly question," she scoffed, "as for how I knew about your secret, my fathers a vampire himself, or rather, a vampire carrier. He actually works with your father too."
Edward remembered a few weeks back how he had seen through Carlisle's mind a man that looked to nearly be a vampire working with him. Carlisle had thought very fondly of the man, and was glad at the coincidence of them working together.
"And your mother?" Edward persisted, causing her eyebrows to furrow.
Aris could either lie and say her mother was human, or she could tell the truth and risk Edward somehow finding out through the genealogy that she was iridescent. However, if she lied, she'd need to make sure she kept her brother hidden from the Cullen's, as the genealogy wouldn't line up with him being a werewolf carrier.
"Human." She stated plainly, deciding to go with the first option.
Since Jack and her mother showed almost no signs of being werewolf carriers, considering they were never around werewolves in the first place for their traits to become more prominent, it would be easy enough for them to pass as humans, at least for a while.
"So then you're what? A human?" Edward questioned suspiciously.
"A vampire carrier." She corrected him, thinking that that would be a better explanation for her growing strength and speed.
"What about your skin? I've seen you in the sun, and rather than sparkling, it changes colors." Edward was sat across from her at the desk by now, his stress relieving as the nagging itch of trying to find out what Aris was finally started to settle.
"Genetic deficiency," she lied again, "my mom could be a carrier for something that caused that trait to mutate, or something in me could just be fucked up. I don't really have an answer for that one." She shrugged.
Edward hummed, thinking through this. He couldn't quite tell whether she was telling the truth or not, but everything she had said so far seemed to add up.
"Why can't I read your mind?" He asked suddenly, eager to finally figure this one out.
Aris sighed, wishing she could tell him the truth as she knew it must be very worrying for him that his gift wasn't working.
"I'm sorry Edward, but I don't have an answer for that either. Another genetic deficiency perhaps?" She shrugged.
Edward looked at her suspiciously, not quite buying it.
"Alice and Jasper's gifts don't work on you either-"
"Wait, Alice and Jasper have gifts?" She asked suddenly.
"Yeah. Alice can see the future, and Jasper can manipulate emotions. Did theirs never give you headaches like mine?" He asked curiously.
She shook her head, causing his eyebrows to furrow in confusion.
"Okay, well now that you know about me, stop trying to look into my mind, because that shit hurts." She grumbled, causing him to chuckle and nod.
His face quickly went serious again though as he thought of another question.
"How come you never told me, or any of my siblings, that you knew about us?" He questioned.
Aris internally started to panic, not prepared for this question. She obviously couldn't tell him the truth, that being that she didn't want them to somehow find out about her secret, but she also didn't have a lie tucked up her sleeve.
"Just fucking with you guys. I wanted to see how long it took you to find out." Her lie was absolutely pathetic, and she knew it too.
Edward didn't believe it for one second, but he decided to let it go for now, deciding that he had gotten enough 'truth' out of her for one day.
"I'll get it out of you one day Shields, but as for now, I'm glad there's finally some clear air between us." He smiled.
Aris sighed in relief, grateful that she'd at least have a small amount of time to come up with a better lie.
"However," Edward continued, a smug smile playing on his face, "I think I'll leave it up to you to tell my dear siblings about this. I'd hate to be the one to break the news to poor Alice and Rosalie that you had been lying to them this whole time." A small pout played on his lips, and it took all of Aris's self control not to smack it off his face.
"In my defense," she snapped, "you were all technically lying to me this whole time too, not telling me about you all being vampires."
Edward's mouth pressed into a firm line.
"Touché." He mumbled, causing Aris to smile triumphantly.
-
Telling the Cullen's that she knew about their secret had gone better than she expected, though they all of course asked her the same dreadful question that Edward had, that being why hadn't she told them sooner.
She gave them all a similar answer that she had given Edward, though to make it more believable, she added that she just "didn't know how to approach the subject" and she "didn't wanna make them uncomfortable".
None of them had fallen for it, except for maybe Emmett, but like Edward, they all pushed it aside, agreeing to let Aris come to them with the truth on her own terms.
Now that Aris had finally cleared some air with them all, she could focus more on the one thing about Edward that had been bugging her to no end.
Why he hated her so much that night they met.
She knew that it was obviously a very personal subject, as now they had known each other for several months and he still had yet to even bring it up on his own terms, so she knew that there was going to have to be a bit of convincing on her end.
It was going to take more than convincing though, and she knew it too.
It was going to take trust.
She was going to need to gain Edward Cullen's trust if she was even going to have a shot at getting him to tell her, and that in itself meant she was going to need to stop arguing, and start to become his friend.
Just the sheer idea of that made her want to bash her head through a concrete wall, but she knew there was no other way she was going to figure this out.
Like Edward, she wished that she could just let it go, but it was like a nagging itch at the back of her head that was absolutely desperate to be scratched, and no amount of time would lessen that need.
Aris groaned, flopping down on her bed with a notebook and pen in hand.
Even if it meant staying up all night long planning ways to gain Edward's trust, she knew that it would be worth it for when she finally found out his secret.
And she would find out, no matter what it took.