Chapter 2

We were sitting around the dining table. Edward's eyes were focused with fierce intent upon our new acquaintances, his vision never straying. Carlisle's face was composed as ever, a fabricated calmness shrouding his pallid face. The others simply sat, still and chary of any movement from our mysterious guests.

I appeared to be the only one who was tremulous from the current situation. I considered the scenario and came to a firm conclusion—and if I surmised correctly—they wanted me. Just like the first time. Just like every time.

The pressure was unbearable, and with a certain sense of dignity and gamely composure I slammed my fist against the table and cried,

"This is enough! If you want me, take me already! God dammit!" I spat. My chest heaved up and down in great spurts of breathes, my heart drumming heavily against my chest like a steel hammer against the broken trump of an evergreen.

Faye's eyes turned slowly to my face, scrutinizing me with her typical sharp, incisive eyes, and let out a sardonic laugh. The angelic girl beside her uttered not a sound, her eyes glued to the figure of the unconscious boy lying tranquilly upon the couch nearby.

"You? What could we possibly need of you?" Faye said, her tone fraught with mockery and contempt. "We came here for the vampire's help."

I blinked rapidly several times. Oh yeah. A member of their group had been hurt. Their situation had nothing to do with me from the very beginning. How could I possibly fail to notice that until now?

I felt my cheeks flush with embarrassment from my little gaffe, and my body did not relax despite Edward's gentle yet colds hands rubbing the back of my spine and caressing me softly.

"Bella," he warned. "Don't get paranoid now. This has nothing to do with you."

"Paranoid?" Faye asked, curious now.

"Yes," it was Carlisle who spoke this time, though in a soft, comforting tone in which I guessed was aimed toward me. "The first time we played this…Game of ours, three vampires appeared."

The pallid girl was smiling now, though it was hard to decipher the emotions behind her countenance. Joy? Mockery? Yet neither of them seemed to fit.

"I see," she said. "And they wanted her." A long, slender finger pointed toward me.

"Yes."

"But getting back to the real matter…" Edward intervened, and now my body did relax slightly. The recollection of events with James evoked a maelstrom of emotions within me. I was well past the James part, but the thought of him aroused the memory of Victoria as well, which in turn awoke the vision of what had happened between me and Edward while we hid from her evil grasps, and what happened between me and Jacob…I banished these thoughts from my mind.

The girl seemed to take into account my uneasiness, but inquired no further. Nothing seemed to escape her acute senses.

"What exactly are you guys?" Carlisle asked.

Everyone at the table sat suddenly taller, ears sharp and tuned fervently to hear her story.

The girl's eyes narrowed, and with reluctance she said, "I suppose I must keep to my end of the bargain." Her eyes flickered toward Carlisle. "But it is imperative that you do not tell anyone else of this."

Emmett laughed. "Who exactly can we tell without revealing our own secret?"

The girl ignored him and her story commenced.

"Our path has been…difficult," she began. "Neither of us are the same "class"—or whatever you may call it—of creatures. But to being with, I'm sure you have heard of the three other legendary beings, and one of them happens to live close by."

My mind was spinning in rapid circles with confusion, and to my greatest surprise, Carlisle merely nodded in consent.

"Yes. A family of wolves' lives near this city in La Push," Carlisle replied. "But you're telling me there are still two others?"

Faye nodded, grinning. It was hard to ignore the immense beauty of her pallid face beneath the florescent light of the chandelier that illuminated the dining hall. I glanced quickly toward Rosalie and saw upon her face the subtle line of jealousy.

"Could it be…" Alice whispered, her voice sounding remote and distant, her eyes deep in thought. "You are Magicians?"

"Magicians?" I blurted out without rationalizing my statement.

But Faye merely nodded. "Yes. Everett is a magician—a long generation of families with magic. But there was a great war between all creatures excluding humans, and since then their numbers have decreased significantly.

The magicians, you should know, are the oldest line of mythical creatures present. They existed long, long before your time."

She eyed Carlisle with a cynical grin. "Yes, doctor, even before you."

Faye stood from her chair now, pacing lithely across the dining room, observing the house as she went on, still speaking.

"The Magicians ruled for as long as anyone could remember. Yet as time went on, things began to change. Some decided to forget Magic altogether, and thus the first humans were born. Some focused primarily on certain aspects of Magic, and soon new, more sophisticated creatures developed from within the class of Magicians. Three of them you already know—the werewolf, the vampire, and the Magicians."

Now she turned to Aisha. The soft, delicate features of her face brought upon her an enthralling charm. Otherwise, she looked as any other human girl. Neither Everett nor Aisha could even compare to the rare pulchritude that adorned Faye's features. When Faye called her name, her eyes snapped up in alarm, as though her mind had been completely disengaged from the current conversation weaving out in threads before her.

"Yes?" she said, her voice full of exhaustion and a tint of annoyance. Faye glowered back, her eyes unwavering.

"Tell them the rest."

Aisha's feeble, treacly voice was no surprise to my ears, as they matched her angelic features perfectly.

She signed heavily and began. "Magicians have three distinct types of magic. There is the Sage, who can only perform magic with a spell book. There is the Oracle, who can foretell the future, and finally, there is the healer, and healing, obviously, is his primary role."

"That's right," Faye intervened. "Aisha is a healer and Everett is a Sage."

The Cullens were silent for some time, each pondering the information and processing it in whatever direction their minds weaved. I gazed up toward Edward, but his gaze was remote, his forehead furrowed into deep concentration, though his arm clutched tightly around my waste.

Carlisle broke the silence. "And you?" he said, turning to Faye. "You are?"

The girl blinked several times in what appeared to be shock, and once more I felt that hesitation before she spoke, as though she were deliberating upon whether or not to tell the truth. The aura which radiated off her body gave me a fierce sense of foreboding, and I decided already never to trust the words that flew so smoothly from her mouth. It was as though she were a precursor of darkness and gloom.

Faye simply let out a cynical laugh and replied bitterly, "A magician, of course—a Sage. What did you think?"

From the corner of my eye I felt Aisha's body tense, then relax ever so subtly. I drew my gaze to examine her expressions, but all I found was the same, solicitous, distant look in her eyes as she stared longingly toward the boy, still sleeping calmly upon the sofa.

"But that is enough," Faye's sharp voice sliced through the atmosphere. "I held my end of the bargain. I told you parts of our story. Now it's your turn." She turned toward Carlisle.

"Not so fast," he replied. The girl tensed. "You didn't tell us the situation which brought you here."

Faye relaxed again, seeming to be relieved that Carlisle inquired no further about what she had just told him. Then she began.

"We were traveling—naturally—in the southern states when we came upon a coven of vampires. We had seen the likes of you before—your ruthless desire of human blood and warfare—and so we kept our distance. This time we got too close, and they attacked. We didn't want to fight, and so we tried to escape, but before Everett could use his magic to teleport us from the danger, he was bitten."

I saw Aisha's sudden change of countenance, as her face was distorted into a fierce expression of anger and her hands were balled into tight fists as she clutched her sides.

Faye began again. "Where Everett teleported us, neither of us had a clue, and so I went about asking for directions while Aisha stayed by Everett. The effect of the vampire venom on him was confusing. The part of him that was a Magician naturally repelled the poison, but the generations that came about after the Magicians were stronger, and already we knew that the subtle effects of the vampire venom would prevail, but its effects are much slower than an average human.

But the way it changes a human and a Magician is different. Instead of creating a new creature from the pervious one, the venom mixed in with a Magician's blood will kill him eventually.

Aisha and I both knew that the only way to save him was to locate a vampire who could help us, for your kind is the only ones who can reverse the effect.

I went around for information, gathering, questioning, and the existence of any vampire who would be willing to save Everett without fighting us on instinct or demanding something in return seemed slim….until we came across forks."

To my utter surprise, Faye's slender lips drew into a smile of relief, and beneath those sharp eyes I traced a slight tint of happiness that caused her features to sparkle and glisten. Next to her, Aisha's body relaxed and I heard her heave a soft sigh.

Carlisle nodded twice, the same strength of imperturbability across his carefully composed countenance. I truly admired him.

"How long has he been in this state?"

Faye deliberated. "About a week."

Emmett's face broke out in a grin. "Dang, you travel fast don't you?"

Once more to my surprise, Faye's eyes sparkled as she requited the grin, her face dazzling. "You have no idea," she replied.

"Emmett," Esme ordered in a reproving tone, and he backed down.

Carlisle began again. "How exactly are we supposed to save him?"

"You suck the venom out," Faye replied, her tone a-matter-of-fact.

"No." Edward's voice surprised the entire room, as it was the first time he had spoke. The way he spoke the word gave it an authoritative precision, and his eyes glowered cold and hard toward the dark girl. Then he turned to Carlisle.

"We don't know what the Magician's blood can do to you. Don't take the chance."

Aisha's gaze snapped up instantaneously into Carlisle's eyes, her vision tearing and her tone desperate as she implored him. "No! Please, you must. You're his only chance!"

Edward let out a low, menacing growl. "Selfish girl! Your boy isn't the only thing that matters."

"And if it were that girl in his place?" Aisha indicated toward me. This threw Edward completely off guard. His mouth opened, but not a single sound was uttered.

"If it were for me," I said in his place. "He would try to find other means of saving my life without endangering others."

"Bella…" Edward warned me.

In all honesty, I was completely dubious to which side Edward would advocate. If it truly were for me, would he honestly endanger others for my sake? I shuddered at the thought.

"There is another way, Aisha," Faye said as she looked from one Cullen to another as her eyes landed finally on the grief stricken face of the angelic girl.

"No!" Aisha retorted. "You crazy. I would never put him in danger like that!"

"Ha!" Faye scoffed. "But you would willingly surrender the life of someone you didn't know, is that right?"

Every single one of us were shocked by the solicit recrimination Faye threw at Aisha. The way she had retorted against the girl hinted at something deeper than we all perceived. Perhaps it was an event that happened in the past between them? My mind burned with curiosity.

Faye's eyes were furious toward the angelic girl, and her mouth twitched dangerously with anger.

"No," Faye said, her tone final and concluding. "We will use the second approach."

"Who says?" Aisha stood up, and though her height did not match Faye's, an equal amount of resolution exuded from her emotions.

Faye snapped her head in our direction and said sharply, "Who hereby votes that we use the second method?"

All but Carlisle's hand rose, in which he merely shook his head and stated, "I think it's wise to hear what the second method is first."

Faye's fury intensified while Aisha's relaxed slightly. Both glowered down at each other with enmity and revulsion.

"Fine," Faye spat. "If you want to know, she can tell you." She accented the word in a contemptuous tone.

"There is a theory," Aisha began, "that Faye apparently believes in which a person injected with a vampire's venom will become normal again if another vampire injects his venom into the body as well. In other words, the two blood types will cancel each other out, and the person will recover as though nothing had happened." She rolled her eyes.

"No," Faye intervened. "Not just any person. It's someone with supernatural abilities. Human blood is too weak. And it can't just be any other vampire as well—it has to be one with a pure soul that can combat the stained one which bit Everett. None of you vampires, the doctor especially, smell as though you've drank human blood in a while. It will work perfectly."

Aisha scoffed, utterly incredulous, but said nothing.

"And you are certain it will work?" Carlisle asked. "There's no reason to endanger your friend anymore than he already is."

"Yes, I'm sure," Faye retorted succinctly, her tone sharp and cutting.

Somehow I had a feeling that her extreme solicitous expressions were directed more toward her heated vie against Aisha that was connected to whatever rift that occurred between them in the past than for her true care toward Carlisle. But which ever way it truly was, either worked out best for me. I could not bear Carlisle risking his life for a stranger that could prove to be detrimental to him and his family.

"Alice?" Carlisle indicated in her direction. She nodded, and I saw the familiar blank appearance in her eyes as she gazed off into an ethereal dimension. Then her expression flickered back into life, and her thin lips pressed into a smile.

"It will work," she said.

Faye flashed her a triumphant smile, and her eyes glistened beneath the florescent light. "It's settled then."

Aisha's entire body was tremulous with a passionate fury as she raised a finger toward the dark haired girl and said with immense contempt,

"If this fails, you'll pay."

Faye only shrugged.

What shocked me was that both seemed perfectly unperturbed by Alice's ability of divination. Then it occurred to me that they had come into contact with vampires before.

I looked to Edward, whose eyes were squinted into a tight focus, his eyes never wavering from Faye. I reached my hand out to stroke his face when suddenly, my cell phone vibrated violently within my pocket.

Edward's attention was averted to me now, and he smiled smugly. "We've kept you too long. Charlie's angry."