Chapter One

"But Carlisle, we must go," Esme pleaded with her husband.

"No, Esme, love…I'm afraid it is much too dangerous."

Carlisle sighed.

"I just don't see the point it getting involved with any of this nonsense, The Volturi hasn't even gotten involved, it is much too dangerous, we cannot let our existence be known to these vampires, and especially to the public. We will be perceived as much more of a threat to the humans, our bite carries a venom, we are much more dangerous…they will find a way to destroy us."

"The humans?!" Emmett laughed out loud, "You can't be serious!"

"No you dimwit, the vampires…did you ever stop to think that our very existence could cause serious problems for these vampires?" Edward growled. "They already have a hell of a time being accepted by the humans as it is, and they are virtually harmless compared to us…throw a new breed of vampires that are a thousand times more lethal into the mix, and everyone has a real problem on their hands. We are immune to their synthetic blood. Our breed HAS to kill people in order to survive-"

"-and unknowingly to them, they are being blamed for our kind's killings," Alice interrupted.

"Yes, and if they were to find out about us, they would know that it's our kind that is responsible for the sudden jump in human deaths in their area," Jasper added.

"Plus, I can't seem to see past this new breed, I can't see anything, just fog. I won't be able to predict much of anything while we are down there,"Alice sighed.

"Someone is creating an army of newborns and unleashing them on Bon Temps. How long before our existence is known anyway, with this mess going on?! We have to do something!" Emmett stood up in a flash, his face seemed to turn an impossible shade of red, he was teaming with anger. Esme rubbed his shoulder soothingly.

"Calm down Son. Let's hear what everyone has to say, this family has always been a democracy." She shot an accusatory look in her husband's direction.

I remained silent, while our family always made our decisions together, I still felt reluctant to lend my thoughts. Besides, not much had changed since I had been a human, you could still read all my thoughts on my face, I was like an open book as my mother used to say. I glanced over at Edward, his face wasn't leaving anything to the imagination either, he was worried out of his mind.

"You have a valid point son, eventually this could end badly whether we go to Bon Temps and involve ourselves our not," Carlisle threw his arm around Emmett's shoulder and sighed.

"Well, I guess we will take a vote now," Carlisle added, nodding at Emmett, "You go first, Son."

"A thousand times yes, we have to do something," Emmett voted, eyes glued to the floor, trying to avoid Rosalie's death stare.

"Rosalie?" Carlisle asked, walking over to his daughter. Rosalie looked to be fighting back tears, Carlisle placed his hands on her shoulders, "Shall I assume that your vote is an obvious nay and move along?"Rosalie shot another deadly stare in Emmett's direction and practically hissed, "This does not concern us, it is not worth losing each other over, this will not end well. My vote is no."

I had never seen Emmett look so heartbroken, he was breaking Rosalie's heart and he knew it.

We continued to vote in turn, Edward voted no, Alice and Jasper reluctantly voted yes, Esme and Carlisle voted yes as well.

All eyes were on me now.

"Well it is not like my vote will make any difference, the vote is five to two," I sighed, looking at Edward, his hands were balled up into fists, the look on his face showed defeat…and fear.

I felt a hand on my shoulder now, "Your vote does matter, Bella, we all have to vote," Carlisle pressed.

"Well, uh…Yes. I guess…" I turned my head to look at my husband again, who was sitting next to me on the big green leather couch. I placed a cautious hand on his leg, "It will be okay, Edward, Jake will stay here in Forks and watch over Renesmee. Remember, right now this trip is purely for investigative purposes."

He looked up at me with those beautiful copper eyes of his and forced a little crooked smile, in a feeble attempt to mask his true emotions.

"That settles it then," Carlisle said, clapping his hands together, "Tomorrow we head south to Bon Temps."

"What are you all waiting for?" Esme added in her sing-song voice, "Better start packing."