Author's Note : Personally, I like to think that the Twilight ship hasn't officially sailed. I myself am not a particular fan of the series (all except for the last movie, which I thought was decent), but I do think that it has some good things in it. For instance, the variety of the vampires and all of their powers is interesting, and easy to work with when writing a fanfiction. Now, trust me, I really understand if not a lot of people might be willing to read this fanfiction, but I'd personally like to try getting it out there regardless.

Generally speaking, I don't much like to make OCs if I can avoid it, because then it wouldn't really be a complete fanfiction, but instead it'd be more or less like my imputing myself into the story. For Twilight however, that's easily avoidable since Stephanie Meyer's provided enough decent characters to write a story with.

For this fanfiction, I will try to keep to everyone's characters as best I can, although some developments will naturally have to take place. These developments will be justified, however, and can hopefully be accepted as "realistic". For some of the characters though, I can see how it might be quite a stretch.

The timeline for this story doesn't change anything about what happened in Twilight, except of course to mention that there are some things that I'll assume our characters haven't noticed—and you'll see why after a while. Since my focus won't be on the Edward-Bella-Jacob love triangle, or focusing on the Jacob-Renesmee relationship, it makes it a bit easier for me to manipulate what's going to happen. The story's official starting point is around four years after the series ended.

Well, with all that finally out of the way, let's get started!

Chapter 1 – Siobhan Pays A Call

Everyone knew that the Cullens were an almost perfect vampire family. Not only to humans, but to other vampires as well. They had love, a strong enough bond in itself, an acute control of their thirst, a permanent residence, and, most of all, trust in each other, the most prized quality amongst vampires. Without this very key element, clans would continue to run rampant across the earth as they done in the past, slaughtering many and even killing amongst themselves. It would only lead to death and destruction in large numbers, neither of them prized by even the most sadistic of vampires. And so, with this quality in evidence, it was hardly a surprise that even 'vampire royalty' like the Volturi envied them this. Still though, after their last confrontation with the Cullens about four years back, they hadn't been met with any more trouble, and the Volturi had kept their distance. As far as Alice, the family psychic, could see into the future, the Volturi wouldn't be interrupting the peace of their lives anytime soon.

That is, until the summer before Bella Cullen, newest addition to the family's, twenty-third birthday would have come. Usually, the Cullens didn't much bother keeping track of birthdays, since, obviously, vampires didn't age. Bella still looked the same as when she was eighteen, nearing her nineteenth birthday. But since they lived near Forks, and encountered Bella's father, Charlie, very often, they continued putting up the front just so that nothing would seem more 'off' about them than it already did.

Better four years than forty, Bella thought as she drove back home from seeing Charlie on a cloudy—well, most days were cloudy in Forks, anyway—day in June. Because, after all, forty years from then she would still be alive and well, looking the same as she always had, but chances were that Charlie might be dead. It was just as Bella's husband and mate, Edward Cullen, had always told her: "In a few decades, everyone you ever knew will soon be dead. Problem solved." In a way, that was true, since it meant that they could give up the charade of pretending that Bella was still semi-human, and that Renesmee Cullen, Bella's daughter, was her adopted niece or something; but, on the other hand, Bella knew that she would miss both of her parents, Charlie and Renee, terribly. She had chosen the life of a vampire though, and she wasn't about to back out on it.

Parking their newest expensive car, a black jaguar imposed on her by Alice, in the garage, Bella headed inside into the main house, knowing that Edward would be waiting for her, as always.

"How was it?" he greeted, immediately embracing her and planting a kiss on her lips as she entered the main room on the second floor.

Bella shook her head, wondering how to answer. "Um, it was good, I guess you could say. This time Leah wasn't there to start complaining about my stink anymore, so it was a better occasion." She quickly returned Edward's kiss, and then glanced around them at the empty room.

Lately, the entire house had been getting emptier and emptier. Now that Renesmee was growing up, about to enter her sixth year—her last one ageing, actually, seeing as it was likely that she'd stop ageing altogether seven years after her birth—and now physically at fifteen years of age, she was making use of her newfound freedom and going to see Jacob Black more on the reservation instead of vice-versa. Rosalie Cullen, who was like a second mother to her, didn't complain much about this because she and her husband, Emmett, were off somewhere touring the world on their hundredth honeymoon or so. As for Alice and her mate, Jasper, they had gone up to Alaska to visit the Cullens' closest relatives, the Denalis. It seemed that Garrett, Kate Denali's mate and the newest addition to their clan, was having trouble adjusting to their eating habits, and Jasper was the best one to try and help him with that, having had sufficient trouble himself adjusting to an only-animal-blood diet. As for Carlisle and Esme Cullen, everyone's 'parents', they were still around in Forks, but Carlisle spent most of his time working at the hospital and Esme was currently studying to become a nurse, hoping to aid Carlisle in his quest to help people one day. She felt as though she had finally gotten her thirst under control as well, and was ready to go into the medical field; the Cullens couldn't have been prouder of her.

More or less, that left Edward and Bella alone at the house for most of the day, and while she usually would have appreciated the privacy, Bella found herself missing the members of her family—especially Alice. Edward, on the other hand, hardly noticed their absence, having been separated from them many times before in the past.

But, because he couldn't read what Bella was thinking at will like he could with other vampires, he had to ask her directly what was bothering her.

"It's nothing," Bella assured him, sitting down and picking up her latest read, The Tempest, by William Shakespeare, from where she had left it on the coffee table.

"Are you sure?" Edward probed, sitting down next to her and beginning to twirl around a lock of her hair.

"Yes," Bella replied. "I'm sure. I just…sometimes feel like I'm still making most of this up, like I need everyone to be here to clarify what I know to be real. I…feel better to have Alice and especially Renesmee around. I don't really think I want to let her go just yet to…live her own life."

Edward nodded, understanding. He wasn't particularly the most partial to Renesmee's choice of mate, since Jacob was a werewolf and all, but he'd seen it coming and had plenty of time to adjust to the idea. Perhaps to Jacob it was all in the past, but Edward could still remember a time when he and the werewolf had fought over Bella, when they'd both loved her. It was still just a little too fresh in Edward's mind, especially considering that four years meant almost nothing to him who'd lived over a century.

He was about to tell Bella that, now that the treaty between themselves and the Quileutes was rendered null and void, they could wander onto the reservation with permission anytime they wanted, but suddenly he was interrupted by sensing two presences nearby. Well, they weren't really presences, they were two far for that, but he recognized the thoughts that he heard in his mind, and immediately tensed up.

"What is it?" Bella asked, not used to Edward freezing like Alice usually did when she experienced a vision.

"Two vampires, headed this way," Edward said. "I think they're from the Irish Coven."

"Were they invited?"

"No." And hence the reason why Edward was tense in the first place. Not that he had anything against the vampires who had once been allies to them in their time of need, but he didn't know the Irish Coven as well as Carlisle did, and would have known if they were actually invited. Caution, it seemed, was the best reaction, considering that their territory was now being invaded.

Barely a few minutes later, because the vampires were moving with great speed, they arrived at the front door of the Cullen house. Stepping inside they stomped up the stairs, not particularly subtle. Once they noticed only Edward and Bella in the room, the leader, Siobhan, blinked in surprise, and then turned to her mate, Liam.

"We apologize for intruding like this," she said, her Irish accent thick. "We want to see Carlisle."

"He's not free right now, but you're free to wait," Edward said, maintaining politeness, despite still feeling a hint of suspicion. Neither vampire was giving anything away with their thoughts, meaning that they were cautious so that he couldn't read them, and thus he only became more suspicious. "Why have you come?"

Siobhan shook her head. "There is much to explain, and I think that Carlisle needs to hear this. We will wait until he returns." So spoken, both she and Liam took a seat on the couch opposite Bella to be polite, both inclining their heads so as to greet her.

It was two hours later that Esme arrived home, and then another two hours until Carlisle was relieved from his duties at the hospital. Once they saw that Siobhan and Liam were there, they both welcomed them kindly and then sat down to talk.

"It's good to see you again," Carlisle said, nodding to the visitors.

"Yes, it's been a long time," Esme added, smiling.

"But where's Maggie?" Carlisle asked, noticing her absence. Bella and Edward had also noticed it, but when they asked earlier on, both Irish vampires had insisted that they needed to speak to Carlisle about it before anything else.

"That's what we came here for," Liam sighed, shaking his head. "I'm afraid we need your help."

"Or rather, the help of your daughter, Alice," Siobhan clarified.

"Why do you need Alice?" Carlisle asked.

Siobhan scrunched up her face in a pained way and for a moment it looked as though, if she was a human and still capable of tears, she would be crying. "We need her to find our little Maggie, to help us get her back."

"What happened?" Bella asked.

Edward was the one to answer that question, all former caution towards the Irish gone, now understanding of their circumstances. "The Volturi."

Author's Note : I know that this chapter maybe focuses on Edward and Bella a bit much for a fanfiction that's technically not supposed to be about them, but it's more of an exposition chapter, and I thought that Bella would be the best one to incorporate that through, since she was so central to all of the action in the series. From now on though, I think I can promise that we won't have as many Bella-related details in this fanfiction as in this chapter. Still, I hope that I didn't make her too unlikable, yes?

Reviews, follows, and favourites all appreciated, if you want, and are definitely encouragement to keep writing this story! ^^'