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Chapter Three: Three Strange Men

Esme pulled the reigns on the wagon to pull it to a stop. Carlisle had heard them coming up the trail. He ran out of the house to embrace his children.

"Welcome home!" He shouted as they gave him a group hug.

"Hello Carlisle!" They shouted back. Everyone laughed and they walked into the house together.

To anyone who asked, Esme and Carlisle had adopted all these children and it just so happened that they found their soul mates by being brought together by Esme and Carlisle. Every one was perfectly matched, except for Edward, the lone wolf of the family. Esme was worried that he would never find anyone. He told her she worried too much.

But there was also something else that bonded them something that explained the golden color of their eyes and the paleness of their skin, that's why they all went their separate ways and only came together once every ten years. They couldn't risk other people finding out.

Once they were all in the house, the children told each other about their adventures.

"Rose and I had our latest honeymoon in Paris!" Emmett said excitedly.

"Jasper and I spent some time with Tanya and her sisters." Alice said after her brother.

"And Carmen and Eleazar too." Jasper reminded her.

Edward hadn't shown up yet.

Alice and Jasper showed them a dance that was all the rage in the north and Carlisle and Esme joined in.

"Do you want to dance Rose?" Emmett asked cheerfully.

"No." She replied flatly. She was trying to figure out the best way to tell them the news. Emmett would not take no for an answer, after the fourth time he asked her. She pushed off the couch angrily and went into the kitchen. Carlisle noticed and followed her.

"Good to have you home, Rosalie." Carlisle announced himself. "I'm glad to see you." His family had been torn apart for ten long years and he missed them terribly. "And the family's together."

"But don't get used to it." Rosalie disagreed. "I want to visit with everyone and then get as far away from this place as I can." She hated to be in the place that held such bad memories for her. This was the place where her dreams became nightmares. She had Emmett now, but still….

"You think that'll solve things, do you?" Carlisle asked her, his golden eyes touched with sadness. "You haven't had enough killing for two times?" He reminded her of events in her past. She glared at him, flinching at the memories that clouded her thoughts now, shattered hopes, broken promises.

Carlisle leaned back in the chair he had sat in while Rosalie pulled up another.

She sighed. There was only one way to do this. "Somebody's on to us, I know it. There are three men who've been following us and we've lost them several times but…" She hesitated. "they keep coming back. I think they know something. These men…" She was interrupted by Emmett and Esme's laughter. Carlisle and Rosalie turned to look at them.

"Were being tracked." Rosalie announced grimly. Alice, Jasper, Esme and Emmett stopped laughing and dancing, their faces turning serious.

"Rosalie, we lost them." Emmett said, trying to regain that festive mood. "Don't go spoiling everything."

"Yeah, we lost them, Emmett…" Rosalie agreed with his first statement. "but they keep coming back." She added bleakly.

"It was only a matter of time before someone found us." Carlisle said solemnly. "We've been hunting a little too frequently. The world is closing in. The entire forest is almost gone." He and Esme were having trouble finding a place to hunt without drawing attention. "All except this little wood." He smiled at his little piece of paradise, gazing over the river. He looked at their house and then at his family before he continued. "I saw a couple of human footprints on the lower wash a few weeks ago. There'll be more." Carlisle continued. "I don't want anyone going into town. Not for anything, and that's that."

"Carlisle!" Esme whispered. The children were only in for a few days and they would only leave sooner if they had to be cooped up here the whole time, especially Rosalie. Esme looked at her daughter and then squeezed Emmett's hand for support, though she didn't need it.

"You see any strangers in the woods getting too close you know what to do." Carlisle said to them all, but looking at Rosalie. "No exceptions." He looked at Alice. She had such compassion for the humans. But Carlisle could not afford the humans finding out the truth, finding out their terrible secret. "Our time here is almost done." He told Esme. They all understood. Carlisle and Esme would have to move again, uproot their lives again, and start over again. "I can feel it."

. . .

Back at the Swans, Bella was outside, in the fence, catching fireflies.

"You'll never catch one that way." A man called out to her from the other side of the iron bars.

She turned to see a man in a yellow suit, a black hat, and black hair to match. There were two men standing behind him, dressed in black suits, one had black hair, like the first, and the other had snow white hair. They all had strangely colored red eyes.

"Do you know about catching fireflies?" Bella asked as she approached the three men.

"Afraid not, never tried." The man in the yellow suit replied.

"We prefer… bigger game." The man with white hair grinned like he was enjoying a good joke. The other man elbowed the white haired one and rolled his eyes.

"Though I suspect the strategy is much the same." The man in the yellow suit said as his lazy gaze went from his associates back to Jasper.

"Strategy?" She questioned. She had always thought that catching fireflies had always been a hobby, not a hunting excursion.

"One must never announce one's presence to the prey." the man said, catching her in his hypnotizing stare. "One must become part of the scenery, invisible almost disappear. And be patient until the exact, right, moment arrives." Without Bella seeing, the man made a noise and trapped a firefly in his grasp. Bella had been startled. "Take your prisoner." He offered her the firefly. "For you?"

"No, thank you sir." Bella said with a small smile. She was starting to feel frightened of the three men. One of the others was eyeing her hungrily, like he would eat Bella if not for the iron bars.

"You're quite right." The man said as he released the firefly. "A girl your age should find… trapping suitors more interesting than trapping insects, anyway. Far easier, I might add."

"Have you lived here long?" The man with white hair asked impatiently. He was tired of the formalities it seemed.

"Forever. Why?" Bella answered him with another question.

"We're looking for some old friends who live hereabouts." The man in the yellow suit answered her before the other could. "Thought you might help me find them." He smiled. His teeth were gleaming in the rays of the moon.

"My grandfather practically built Forks." Bella told them proudly. Her father was the constable in these parts, a position he took over when his father died. "And my father knows everyone. Perhaps he can help you."

"Perhaps." The man agreed. "I quite like talking to you."

"Isabella?"

Bella turned to see her mother coming up to them. "Isabella, who are you talking to out there?"

"I don't know!" Bella called back to her. "They haven't told me their names yet."

As the woman approached them, the man with the yellow suit took off his hat in acknowledgement. "Good evening, madam." He told her. "Please forgive my intrusion, my name is Aro Volturi, and these are my brother's, Marcus and Caius. This young girl tells us you've lived here forever. We thought you might know of a certain family that goes by the name of…"

"I hardly know everyone." Mrs. Swan told him sternly. "Nor do I want to. And I don't stand outside discussing such a thing with strangers."

"Then we beg your pardon." Aro said unruffled by her harsh comments. "Good evening, young lady, Madam." He smiled at each of them.

The women turned to leave the three men.

"This is why I worry about you, Isabella." Mrs. Swan scolded her. "You don't have the sense not to talk to men like that."

Meanwhile, Marcus started to whistle a wistful song, one that matched the melody that came from Esme Cullen's tiny music box.

You knew the Volturi would be involved in this some how! ;) Do you like the breakdown of the parts between the Cullen family? Tell me below!