Disclaimer: I do not own Twilight, The Short Second Life of Bree Tanner, nor any of the characters therein. This is not for a profit, it is for enjoyment and to improve my skill as a writer.

Bree's Point of View

I stared at the yellow-eyes and they stared back. The relaxed much more when they heard my statement.

"I think that conversation would be better suited for my home," Said the blond one. "Come, follow me and my family, and we will talk when it is safe to do so." He took off, running through the woods.

A dark-haired male vampire looked at the human girl. "Get on my back, Bella, we need to travel quickly."

The human girl with the intoxicating scent, her blood like a drug for vampires, nodded. "Right. Hurry Edward. We don't know if there are more of them."

The one Bella called Edward smiled a sad sort of smile. "Don't worry. We killed them all. All except for those… three, I think, but they seem to mean us no harm." He picked her up piggyback style, and took off after the blond vampire.

The rest of the vampires took off except for a short pixie-like vampire, who looked her over before smiling faintly. "I think we can expect a lot from you, newborn. Follow me." She then took off, leaving Bree behind. Bree motioned for Diego and Fred to follow her, and she took off, catching up to the pixie-like vampire in no time at all. And a few minutes later, they were at a large house with glass walls for one side of the house. Everyone else was inside already, and when she and the short vampire she was with walked inside, Bree went stiff as a board at the scent of the human girl, now within ten feet of her. Her nostrils flared, and she rocked back and forth trying to control herself. She moaned, and bit her lip, but managed to keep herself from leaping for her.

"You have extraordinary self control. Everyone here knows your name, Bree Tanner, but who are your friends?" The blond vampire asked.

Before she could answer, Fred spoke up for her. "She's our coven leader, got that? It means we trust and respect her. My name is Fred. Don't try anything funny, cuz my gift will make you so repulsed you'll either collapse on the ground, not even see me, or just groan and hold your stomachs in discomfort, depending on the intensity I put it at. That's my gift, see, I can make people be repulsed by me to varying degrees. I'm nine months old." He had said all this in a monotone voice, and had toned down his gift so much that the yellow-eyed vampires had no trouble seeing him.

Diego stepped forward, smiling. "My name is Diego, and, well, what Fred said. My gift is, well… I can sense if a human or vampire has gifts. Undiscovered or not, I know if they have them. I'm eleven months old." He put his arm around Bree, who promptly shrugged it off, shooting him a 'we are so not a thing, that was just a childish moment YOU caused' kind of look.

Bree was more adjusted to the human girl's scent now, though it was still VERY enticing. "I'm Bree Tanner. I don't really have any gifts, and I'm only three months old. I guess that's it."

The blond vampire smiles at her, now in a no longer guarded way. "I am Carlisle Cullen. This is my family. My son, Edward, a mind reader, my son Emmett, no gifts, my son Jasper, who can sense and manipulate emotions, my daughter, Alice, who can see the future, my daughter, Rose, no gifts, and my wife, Esme, also no gifts. This is Bella Swan, Edwards… girlfriend." He gestured to each person as he introduced them, never once taking his eyes off of her. "So, what do you need to know?"

"We were all misled by Riley, the head of the coven. All we really know is that our skin sparkles like diamonds when we go into the sun. Blood keeps us alive, and going to long without it causes us to become more and more… aggressive and crazy. Why are your eyes golden? How common are gifts REALLY? How come the people I fed on never turned? And who the HELL were those dirty vampire cops?"

Carlisle took each question in turn. "Our eyes are golden because we feed only on the blood of animals. Gifts come in a rate of about one in every fifty people. The reason you never turned anybody is because you were probably subconsciously preventing yourself from releasing your venom. As for your last question… Well, the Volturi are… They are essentially the closest thing to royalty are species has. They enforce the laws."

"Vampires have laws?" I asked, wondering what they were.

Carlisle nodded. "Yes. Not very many. We don't make spectacles of ourselves. We don't reveal ourselves to any humans we don't plan on turning. And we don't kill conspicuously. Anybody who steps out of line gets killed. They don't give mercy, and they don't give second chances."

Bree frowned. "Technically, I didn't break any laws then. They really are dirty cops at their core…." She said, thinking back on her first encounter with them, seeing them from afar. "They wanted to kill you. All of you. They still plan on it, eventually. They hoped that the opposing coven would wipe you out. They'll come for you sooner or later."

Edward stepped forward. "Then I guess we are lucky we met you, and we hope that in our time of need you will assist us."

She looked at Fred and Diego, watching her. She looked back at the Cullens. "Definitely. You can count on us when it counts." From their looks, they seemed startled at her looks, all except for Carlisle.

He spoke up then. "I suppose it makes a sad sort of sense. They think we're actually strong enough to challenge their authority. That our way of life makes us more careful, more clever, whatever. Normally I would say that is nonsense, but from what you say, it may be our only choice. When the time comes, we may have to overthrow the Volturi…"