Chapter 2 – That's what friends are for…and all that crap

APOV-

Maggie and I walked into the house, and into the living room, where Siobhan and Liam were sitting, talking to a man with blonde hair. At our entrance, they stopped talking and turned toward us, and I froze. Beneath his blonde hair, his eyes caught and held mine…but they weren't red. They were golden, almost topaz, like mine. I had only met two others with golden eyes, Rosalie and Emmettt, but I still thought I was weird in my desire to spare humanity; apparently I wasn't. Just thinking of Emmettt, made me want to roll my eyes. He was so weird you couldn't help but love him. He was a big teddy bear wrapped up in a macho man skin. I wouldn't want to get on his bad side…if he had one. He and Rose came from America for a visit last year; and even though they were only here for two weeks, I felt like I finally had a real brother. He was everything one would think a big brother was supposed to be; even down to grilling Ciaran to see if he was "worthy" of dating me. He had a strange fascination with me and Ciaran…like he was comparing our relationship with someone else's – but what other vampire would dare date a human?

"Carlisle, you know Maggie, of course." Siobhan said, as Maggie waved, and went to sit on the couch by Liam. "And this is the newest member of our coven, Alizabet. Bet, this is Carlisle, a friend from America."

"You're a vegetarian..." Ugh! I must be in idiot mode! "Umm... I mean... hello?" Can I be any more of a moron? Just shut up!

"Well, hello Bet, I'm glad to finally meet you," he stood and stuck out his hand. I quickly shook it. "Emmettt has told us all so much about you." I rolled my eyes. I cannot even begin to imagine what Emmettt would have told them.

"Oh…you're that Carlisle…" A smile pulled at Carlisle's lips.

"Yes, I'm that Carlisle. I can tell Emmettt made an impression on you as well. He has that effect." The smile turned into a grin, and I grinned back. I missed Emmettt and all his shenanigans.

"Anyway Carlisle, now that we all are here. What did you need?" Siobhan said, quickly reigning in the conversation, and bringing it back on track. "You said it was very urgent."

"Yes, it is. Siobhan, my family and I need your help"

Family? I've never heard a coven called a family…I don't think even Siobhan considers us family, though we are extremely close.

"The Volturi are coming to Forks, and we need people to witness for us. I don't have time to really go into the details; I have to try to find others. Do you happen to know where Alistair is nowadays?" His face grew weary. "Anyway, please, just go to Forks, Edward will explain everything there."

Legilimens, I thought, trying to point an inconspicuous finger his direction. Instantly, I could see into Carlisle's mind. Sometimes having been a very talented, powerful witch in my human life was extremely helpful. I am glad I kept most of my magic. Carlisle's thoughts flashed thru my mind in a whirl. A beautiful bronzed haired man, a vampire about 17 or 18 yrs old I'd guess, was at the center, along with a beautiful little bronzed haired girl, who looked about 3 yrs old. This man must be the Edward Carlisle had mentioned, but who was the little girl? Other people, vampires by the looks of them; a blonde man and woman, a brunette woman and man, a black haired woman - all circled around the bronzed haired duo, as well as a human brunette woman. I knew the blonde woman, and the brunette man, but no one else; and the pictures weren't staying in place long enough for me to get a good grasp on who the others were, or what the issue was, in fact, the longer I stayed in his thoughts, the dizzier I became. I was beginning to feel like I was on one of those carnival rides that spins in circles really fast. More images flashed in his mind. More vampires, ones that he's talked to, ones he wants to talk to…and the Volturi. Aro. Carlisle clearly considered the man a friend. If you consider a psychopathic, self-absorbed "collector" a friend, you have major issues! I sneered to myself. Aro was the one Volturi member that I knew of, so far, that I never wanted to meet. Not that I wanted to meet any of them, but the man was just plain weird. He "collected" humans and vampires like a person would stamps, or stuffed animals – and he showed them off like that too. Aro didn't ever go out to annihilate a coven, without coming home with a new toy or two; each one, "grateful" to have been spared by the ever-merciful Aro. I rolled my eyes at the thought. Merciful my butt!! If he even knew of my existence, I'm sure I'd be on the list! How many other vampires are there that were powerful witches in their human lives? Talk about one of a kind!

The only things I could understand from Carlisle's thoughts were:

They were all in a lot of trouble.

The trouble centered around the bronzed haired man and girl.

and

Carlisle was extremely worried; about both his family, and the friends that he was dragging into this.

"Of course Carlisle. What are friends for?" Siobhan's voice broke my concentration, and ended the spell. My mind reeled as I tried to slow everything down. I was never very good at keeping that spell going when my concentration was broken…and I think Siobhan did it on purpose, this time. Crap!! She knows! She'll rip me apart for sure, for invading a friend's private thoughts. Darn it! How did she know!?!?!

"I need to continue searching for others. Seriously, do you know where Alistair has been keeping himself?" Carlisle smiled again.

"Last we heard from Alistair, he was in a cave just outside Glasgow." Siobhan replied. "Are you sure you can't stay and relax for a bit? You look…almost aged."

"Thank you Siobhan, but I really should get going…Liam, Maggie, and Bet. There is only one thing I ask of you, and that is to listen to Edward, and keep an open mind. Things are not always as they first appear." With that, Carlisle stood and was gone.

EPOV-

After I explained the situation to Tanya and her coven, and let Nessie touch them to prove the point, I all but ran to my room to sort through my thoughts, leaving Nessie with them. What was she remembering? What was-- I turned toward my door and rolled my eyes. Tanya had followed me, and was about to knock on the door. "Uhh, Tanya, can you go away, I kinda want to be alone right now."

"Oh, yeah...of course, Edward. I just wanted to let you know that a few of us are going hunting, and if you want... you can come too."

"No thanks." I rolled my eyes and leaned against my wall. Having Tanya here was going to be hard…especially since she couldn't, or wouldn't I never could tell, control her thoughts. Some of the images in her head were completely inappropriate, and highly disturbing. I tried to focus on what I saw in Annalise's flashback. I just didn't understand...How did I know the man? Then it hit me... Phil. The picture of the man Anna had hunted in Jacksonville stood still in my mind. Annalise killed Phil… Bella's step-father…and Kyle, Bella's brother. I had only met them once, but I'd know those eyes anywhere. They were Bella's and since she and Kyle were twins, naturally he would have them as well. I needed to clear my mind; I needed to talk to Anna, but didn't want Tanya to be around. I waited for Tanya to go hunting, but it took a while. I could hear her almost begging for the others to wait until I wanted to hunt. I rolled my eyes. Rose told Tanya it was now or never, and reminded her (in a not so sweet tone) not to touch the humans. They were forbidden, and anyone that went within 10 feet of one, would see a side of her they didn't want to. I looked out into the forest and saw that Tanya was by Rose's side. I smiled, good. I opened my door and quickly ran down the stairs. Only Anna was here, with Reneesme. She looked up at my entrance.

"Hey Edward. What's up?"

"Everyone left?"

"Yeah…Seth took a small group into the other side of the forest."

"Oh, okay. So about earlier... I've been meaning to ask you…What was that?"

Anna switched Reneesme around to face me. "You saw that huh?"

I laughed. "I see everything, even when I don't want to."

Anna grinned. "I bet that must stink sometimes. Especially around Tanya... I don't even have the power to read minds, and I already know what she's thinking."

I smiled and shook my head. "Yeah, it's a curse, but I'll survive, and you never answered me."

Anna set Reneesme down, and patted the cushion next to her. I like being around Anna, mainly because she's nothing like Tanya. She doesn't think of kissing me every 5 seconds for one thing, and she cares about a person's feelings. Nessie just sat there, looking at each of us, as if she expected us to explain ourselves to her.

"Daddy…what did Anna show you." Since she had a gift of her own, I wasn't surprised she picked up on that… "Is everyone okay?"

"Of course, Ness. Everyone is fine. Anna just has a gift to see the past. Can you see everyone's past, or just your own?" I was curious…if she could see everyone's past as clearly as she had seen her own, maybe…

"No, just mine…and I don't think of it as a gift…or at least not as my gift. Maybe if I could see others past, then I would…I just think it's irritating."

"Because you can't fight them…It did come on pretty strong. It looked like you were gonna blackout. Rose said that your face twisted like you were fighting for consciousness. Do they happen often?" I guess Carlisle's curiosity finally rubbed off. I was curious about this semi-stranger that I really didn't know. When we lived with them, Tanya constantly hovered, so I didn't really get to know anyone...and they came down for the wedding but they didn't stay long. Of course at the time, I didn't care. If they weren't there, I wouldn't have to worry about Tanya; but now I wanted to get to know the newest "cousin" from Alaska.

"So... you want to know more don't you Edward." Anna said with a smile.

I grinned. "Yeah. Jacksonville?"

Anna looked down and crossed her arms. "Yeah, I'm not a monster, just so you know. I did what I did because I am still young. I was hurting, angry with myself, with Tanya, and Sam..."

I looked at Reneesme to make sure she wasn't listening. She wasn't, at least it didn't look like she was. She was playing with one of the Barbie dolls that Rose gave her. I shook my head. Alice and Rose are gonna raise her to be a fashion obsessed child, I was sure of it. I looked back at Anna. I could tell she wasn't having a flashback, but she was remembering.

Anna looked up. "It took me 6 months to find Sam, the popular girl that dared me to get the bear picture…"

I nodded, to tell her I remembered, and for her to continue.

"She had moved from Utah to Jacksonville. When I was in Jacksonville, it wasn't hard to find her at all, she had posters of her singing at clubs…she always did have a good voice. When I was done with her, I never had human blood before, I wanted more. That's when I found--"

"Phil." I finished her sentence.

Anna's eyes widened. "What?"

"The man, from your flashback, his name was Phil. He was Bella's step father, and the boy's name was Kyle, Bella's brother."

"Oh my goodness... Edward I had no idea, I'm so sorry!"

I smiled, "You don't need to apologize to me... I had only met Kyle once, and Phil, when I met him was kind of a jerk. But if Bella was here, she'd probably have your head."

We both laughed. ""But Bella's not here, so I think you're safe."

Anna grinned, "Still, I'm sorry. But to let you know, I've never hurt a human since."

I smiled, "That's always a good thing."

Anna nodded as Reneesme walked up to her. "Can I sit with you and daddy?"

Anna grinned. "Of course you can." Nessie smiled and hopped up on the couch.

"Daddy, I can't sleep..." Nessie curled in a ball on my lap and hugged me tight. "Where did Aunt Alice go?"

I sighed and looked at Anna. "I don't know honey, I don't know."

Anna looked at me, then at Nessie. "Aunt Alice and Uncle Jasper went to get me something, some old friends. I've missed them a lot, especially Aunt Alice. I liked it when she held me at night." Nessie said and looked at Anna with the saddest eyes; you could see the dark circles.

"Has she not been able to sleep since Alice left?" Anna asked me with concern in her voice.

I shook my head. "No, not fully. She'll doze off for a bit, but always ends up waking up from nightmares after ten minutes...twenty at the most... Hopefully Alice comes back soon though."

"Yeah… Nessie, I'm sorry if I made your Aunt Alice leave. I had no idea."

"It's okay, just don't do it again." Nessie replied, rather sleepily.

I looked up at Anna, she was laughing. "Okay, I'll try." We both laughed quietly, as Nessie's eyelids drooped. Maybe with Anna here we'll be able to get Ness to sleep more…but as Nessie started to softly snore, for the first time in over 36 hours, the front door was thrown open, and some one stomped across the floor…very loudly.

"Anna!" Tanya yelled, making Nessie jump awake. If I hadn't had my daughter in my arms, I probably would have ripped Tanya's head off…literally; but for Nessie's sake, I calmed myself down.

Anna and I looked up and saw Tanya in the doorway. I scowled at the improper thoughts that were running thru Tanya's mind. She thought Anna had stayed behind to seduce me. Gee whiz! Will she ever learn?

"It's not even like that Tanya; she didn't go hunting because she wanted to stay behind with Nessie. Ask Rose. Anna talked to her about it." I rolled my eyes, as Tanya narrowed hers.

"Anna, Kate wants you...now."

Anna sighed, I don't get why she's so possessive of something she doesn't have! She thought with a quick glance at me. I gave a little shrug and grinned. She grinned back and headed for the door.

"Thank you Anna, it was great talking to you." I had to say it; I couldn't resist Tanya's reaction. I stood, let Nessie jump into my arms, and walked after Anna. "You never said she wanted me too..."