Prologue

The earth around me was relatively still for the amount of life in this forest. I think that that was a byproduct of my own nervousness to be honest. My sisters would find me, that am if they don't already know where I am. I had a feeling that they didn't really not want me to go as much as they made it seem. But it makes sense that they wouldn't want me to go off on my own yet. I wasn't century years old like they were.

I would be lying if I said that I wasn't scared shitless about what I was doing. But really after everything that had happened to me this surely wasn't nearly as scary as when I first discovered my powers. After all how was I supposed to explain that I wasn't exactly human to the mate that had drawn me from Texas?

A lot of things were dividing my attention at the moment. The near future that held too many possibilities to count, my sisters' wrath when they found me, and to a lesser extend the fact that it was entirely too damn cold. I was walking about 100 yards from the main road. And the only outward sensation was that I was cold, not that I should have been, I was wearing about ten different layers and still shaking like was walking naked. I was kind of glad that I hadn't brought with me more than three days worth of clothing, my family's book of shadows and my own personal notebook.

My sturdy hiking boots were just about the only thing that was really keeping me warm. My magic was on the fritz again, if I had it I could not only light my way but warm the stupid cold damp air around me. But magic was linked to emotions, right now I was nervous so my magic jumped and skipped like my own heart. I think that it had something to do with the fact that I was almost to my desired location, not that I really knew where my desired location was exactly but I was optimistic.

I had long ago let my feet walk in the direction that they were going to go in, but that didn't mean that I wasn't bored out of my mind and that I was giving myself mini panic attacks in the works.

After too long a time, my feet changed directions, and I got a sense that I was finally almost to my destination. I felt a sigh of relief coming on, the sun was setting and it was only going to get colder.

Chapter One, The Unexpected Guest

In the Cullen house everything was fine, Nessi and Jacob where playing a card game, in which Jake was losing terribly, though Nessi herself looked to be about 10 or so her poker skills told the truth. Edward was trying to teach Bella the rigors of playing hot cross buns on the piano. Rose feigned watching TV with Emmett but her attention was truly on Nessi, Rose wore a very proud smirk for Nessi's mad skills. Esme was in the kitchen cooking for the wolves that were there that night; Carlisle had gone to the emergency room. Jasper was humoring Alice in helping her find were to put the new clothing until the renovations to the extended closet were complete, she just couldn't help herself when it came to clothing.

"Alice, why did you get this stuff? It's not anyone's size here, and I dare say that it's not exactly the normal clothing that you buy." Jasper could be heard asking Alice in his own southern accent, she ignored him this time; the last few times she had said she didn't know was good enough for an answer in her mind.

Seth was the only one in the crowd that was not a usual patron of the house; he sat in a circle with Nessi and Jake, but had lost out on the game before it had really ever started. His dark eyes trying to keep up with their body language and how they were playing their mind game.

It startled everyone when Edward's hand hit the key a little too hard; everyone froze after jumping and waited for some sort of explanation.

"Someone's at the door." he said, which was probably the most startling thing that happened in that moment. Not one of their enhanced sense had picked up that someone was even on the road they called a drive way.

But sure enough a knock was heard at the door. Who ever was there had stuck to knocking instead of using the fancy door bell system that had been installed.

no one knew what to think for a minute, even if someone could have gotten past Alice's and Edward's gift then all of the beings would have heard their footsteps, their breath, or at least been able to smell them, since everyone was capable of doing this far better than any human could then you might understand the panic that went through their minds. The Vottuine wouldn't have been able to do this, nor would they have liked to, they get off on announcing their presence and all of the wandering vampires that they knew would have been known by Alice at least.

Esme slowly walked to the door; slowly she turned to the rest of her family and nodded when she thought they were ready for her to open the door. Each of them had made subtle adjustments to how they were sitting, who was closest to the door and the cloud of tense aura around them.

Now that they were all aware of the presence at the door the slow trickle of info that had been lost on them earlier was now apparently oblivious. The quick beating of the girl's heart and fast unevenness of her breath meant that she was human and could really posses no real harm to them than what they thought could happen.

Now, assured that her family was in no real danger Esme opened the front door.

The person at the door was simply unremarkable, but in a strange sense you know that if you entered a room that she would be the first thing you looked at, even a room full of vampires. though her heart beat was rapid it was steady like her gaze, her green-blue eyes were unlike any color that Esme had seen in a long time, like someone had rushed mixing yellow and blue together, the color was uneven and still had yellow left overs around the edge. She wasn't afraid like one would think, but almost blunt in the single mindedness not to look away from Esme.

"Hi, I'm Elinor Wicca." she stuck her hand out to Esme; the movement was graceful for a human, but rushed and nervous under the vampire's eye.

Esme carefully took it and shook it. She had the sudden thought that if she wanted to she could have hugged the girl and the girl wouldn't have thought any different.

In the house everyone tried their best to appear unconcerned by her arrival, but the girl had been able to sneak up on Vampires and shape shifters.

Jake looked up at her on her arrival, not having the decency to care that he was staring at her, or sizing her up. The girl was a pale face, but she was tall, almost taller than Rose in heels. She was wearing clothing that looked appropriate if she was freezing and by the shivers that worked their way up her spine every so often she was probably frozen.

"Come in for a minute dear and tell me why your here." Esme asked, and the girl obeyed. Once she had taken off her hat Jake noticed that she had a pretty color of red-brown hair, like someone had split a cedar tree and showed the red heart wood inside. Her face was oval shaped, and her top half of her body looked a bit fragile compared to her wide hips and long legs. Jake noticed that this was the first time that he had really seen another girl since his imprinting but noticed that he didn't care that she was pretty just that she looked nice, like a good looking sister.

"Yes, I'm sorry to drop in on you without any warning but I'm not really sure what to tell you as to why I'm here; I've only a vague idea myself." she answered a moment later once she had caught her breath.

"Its fine dear, is there anyway we can help you?" Esme couldn't find any answer to give other than that, the girl wasn't much younger than how old Jake and Seth were, and they were really just children in reality. But she wanted to help this girl find what she was looking for anyway and get her home safely.

"Um, I'm sorry I guess there's not, but I could really use a glass of water and some directions, I'm a bit lost really."

"Of coarse dear. I'll be right back." Esme walked to the kitchen. Calling out to Elinor on her way over, "so miss Wicca where are you from? Wicca isn't a name from around here."

Elinor brushed her hair out of her face in a nervous way, she could feel the fact that everyone in the room was tense and on edge at her arrival. She could also tell that they weren't human. She didn't know this from experience but she would wager to guess that most of the occupancies were Vampires and at least the woman talking to her. She could feel the difference in the aura around them.

"It's not a name miss-?"

"Esme, Esme Cullen, but Esme is fine."

"It's an occupation. Wicca is the term used by witches now. I didn't know my mother's last names and true witches use their mother's last name. My father wouldn't tell me his last name so that I could use it."

Esme, if not a vampire would have dropped the glass she was holding. She hadn't met someone that would tell a complete stranger that. And magic wasn't real, not that she knew of anyway. Though she thought her husband might have some theory that he thought so silly he wouldn't tell her it.

"That's unfortunate, I'm sorry about that. But where are you from dear?" unable to make a comment on the last she tried to try a different way to find out more about this young girl.

"Oh, I'm a Texan." her bright eyes lightened even more when she said that, Elinor was exceptionally proud that she had those southern roots. It made her real in her mind.

Now that she mentioned it, everyone did notice that she a bit of draw that wasn't very promiant. Jasper up stairs was most likely the only one to really noticed that she had a Central Texas pronunciation.

Seth unable to ignore the curiosity that swarmed his mind finally turned around from his sitting position. Once his eyes hit her he stood up and walked to her, his eyes would forever remain glued to her and everything about her; like she was the very ground that he stood on.

Elinor herself noticed the movement of a body from the floor to standing next to her, she was very observant of the fact that he was the sole reason that she had even walked several miles from the bus station in this cold for.

Once she looked up to him the her world tied completely to him, her magic that had been on and off since the dreams had started came to her in a rush of excitement. She could barely keep in controlled in herself now, and was only distantly aware that a set of roses had caught on fire with the intensity of his brown eyes.

The only thing she cared about at this moment was the fact that she had found him. The one that would forever be the source of her strongest magic and the very center of her world, her lover. She didn't care that he had something more than human in his aura. It didn't matter that everyone in the room was staring at them and the burning roses that didn't even flicker when water was dosed on them.

"Seth! Get away the house is about to be set on fire!" danger, jarred her from her intense little world, and with drew her from the pleasant look in Seth's eyes. She was about to reach back and touch the fire, the only way she could put it out with the amount of magic that coursed through it, but before she could even reach her hand out she was snapped back protectively into the warmest embrace that she'd ever had. Beyond the put of its safety and comfort Elinor tried desperately to get out of his iron hard strength.

"No! I'm the only one that can put it out!" Seth unable to resist her command let her go enough that she could bat at the now 3 foot flame. Elinor, not use to catching that much energy in one touch crumbled to the ground, with a headache so fierce that she was better to be considered knocked out.

"So she's the reason. I couldn't pin point it, the reason something was going to change. I could only vaguely guess that someone was coming." a high female voice said, it was like hearing silk.

"Really she did that with the fire? It's all most too hard to believe." a lower baritone asked, that one was like listening to cellos play.

"Yeah, once she looked at Seth the roses went up in flames and when she touched them they where gone, like they never happened." a male voice asked, the only one that Elinor had heard that didn't sound like it was in perfect harmony.

Dislocated voices talked about her. The only thing that she really cared about now was that Seth had a worried hand on my forehead, chasing away the last remains of the headache that she had.

"I'm alive now you don't have to think that I can't hear Me." she was at least tired of being talked about.

"I'm sorry Miss Wicca." the cello sounding voice said, his face was as pretty as his voice.

"My name is Carlisle Cullen."

He was blonde and his face must have been sculpted out of marble. Elinor had never met many vampires but from what her sister, Saralin, had told her they all had red eyes, to reflect the blood lust. They were all ruthless and not to be dealt with unless absolutely necessary. Of course her sister never told her why she had dealt with vampires before. But it was shocking that this vamp had liquid gold eyes, not like the red ones she had imagined when she was younger. They were almost warm.

"Just Elinor is fine."

"Elinor, this is my family." He stood, gesturing to the people around the white and ridiculously comfy couch that she was lying on. For a second she wondered if her shoes had made an imprint on it and was relived to find that someone had taken her shoes off.

"you've already met my wife Esme." he gestured to her, Elinor hadn't really seen that she was so pretty earlier, she was really too busy being nervous and scared to notice anything else.

"These are our children; Rosalie and Emmett," his hand went to a blonde bomb shell and a guy that wouldn't be out of place in a hunk contest.

"This is Alice and Jasper, as well as Edward and Bella and their daughter, Renesme." he pointed to a short pixy-like girl, a blonde guy that looked like was in pain, and a guy that stood next to another exceptionally pretty brunette. The brunette, Bella had her arm around the child she saw earlier. They were all exceptionally pretty, but the kid was the real kicker. She had all the beauty her family had but her aura wasn't like theirs exactly, Elinor was at a loss as what to call it.

"And these are our family friends Jacob and Seth." he finished pointing to the two incredibly big guys that were the closest to her. They were both well over six feet and nearly as big as the couch it's self, that and they were both Native American, with almost the same color of dark hair and fathomless brown black eyes. But Elinor knew that Jacob was nothing like Seth, the one that had his hand on her forehead, almost like he knew that that would make her feel better.

"I guess I found what I was looking for." she reached her hand to the big warm one on her forehead. When she looked up to Seth, she was rewarded with his goofy smile. His face was younger than she thought it would be but it was still the most perfect in the room. Seth wasn't as big as Jacob but would still make her feel small. Something that Elinor was kind of glad for. She was almost five ten and most guys didn't look twice, but Seth made her feel like she was small and delicate. It wasn't something that she would never admit that she wanted but it was nice to feel like she didn't have to protect everyone around her.

"Why would anyone be looking for Seth?" Emmett asked. Esme gracefully reached up and smacked him on the back of the head. Which drew Elinor's eyes away from Seth long enough to see it and laugh, which in turn made Seth smile and want to laugh

.

"I told you I'm a witch. Witches are blessed with the mother earth's favor," she paused, trying to figure out what to say next. "I should probably tell you the myth behind us; we're not as strict as you vampires about our secrecy."

"Ah, Edward mentioned something about seeing the world as you see it." Carlisle mentioned.

"How could he?" her shock was evident, the fact that he saw what she saw scared her, even the most gifted witches could only get feelings through the ability to see auras, never actual thoughts or perceptions.

"I have the ability to read other's thoughts." Edward spoke up.

"That's amazing." Elinor gasped.

"Not nearly as interesting as how you see us now." he finish for her.

Elinor thought about what he must be seeing, what he must be feeling through her thoughts. She wonder for a second how that must be for someone that had never been able to see another's aura, the swirl of colors that made up the person's soul and character, as well as the love it has received and gives freely, the feelings that are reflected by that color and feeling. She wondered if he realized that because of choices that he wasn't as damned as he thought he was. His color was a nice new leave green, almost as nice as his daughter's ruddy gold color. But not nearly as wonderful as Seth's flawless white glow.

"The reason your here, is so pure. You wanted to know, what it'd be like to love someone so unconditionally." she looked up at him, he was perceptive she'll give him that.

"I came because I was haunted by a face and a pull that was so strong that I couldn't ignore it." She tried to correct but she knew he was right.