Disclaimer- Okay peeps. I do not claim any recognizable characters from anywhere and I would like to thank Endless Dawn again for her wonderfulness of allowing me to use her character Nikias from her story, Midnight. Read it if you haven't. It's awesome. You won't meet him yet…. But you will meet him.

Warning!!!!- I was sleep deprived when I wrote this and because of that it is full of long run-on sentences that may or may not make sense and there will probably be a lot of them…. A lot.

Together Again

Chapter 3

Max's POV

At first, the way they walked, I thought it was the Volturi, but as soon as I saw their faces, I knew it was definitely not them. They were not anyone I had ever seen before. Two of them were girls and one, the one who appeared to be leader, was a guy. They appeared to be between the ages of 16 and 17 to me but I might be off a couple decades.

Alice asked them to wait where they were and ran off to find Carlisle and Esme. I was still standing on the stairs…..waiting for something to happen or for a chance to leave. I knew from experience how good vampires' hearing was and figured that if I moved, I would be spotted. I was stuck… oh joy.

Carlisle, Esme, and Alice appeared in front of the three and Carlisle said, "Welcome. May I help you?" He sounded almost too polite to me, like he really wished they weren't here but was trying to hide it.

The guy smiled and said calmly, "We were just passing through when we smelled you. It seemed like you had been here awhile and we could not fathom how that was possible. We were just curious." He was still smiling and seemed almost innocent… or would have if I hadn't known better by now.

Carlisle maintained his oh-too-polite smile and said, "We do not live like most vampires. We are a sort of… vegetarian, if you would like too call it that." The two girls looked at him in shock, looking as if they had never heard such a thing could be done. The guy seemed much less shocked.

"Really, I thought they all lived in Alaska. We've never run into any like you before now." This guy was giving me a bad feeling, and not just because he reminded me of Kale… although that played a big part of it.

"Yes, there is a large group up in Alaska but there are others. Now, if you don't mind, while you are in this area, please refrain from hunting the humans. We have to keep up the act you know." The three nodded.

One of the girls asked, "May we stay here for the night. It would be nice to be around some other people we can actually talk to, just for a little." She had that look on her face that Angel gave me when she wanted something, not quite bambi eyes but close.

The other girl was looking over Alice and Esme curiously, probably envying their clothes. I will never understand why girls love clothes so much… oh well. Alice was also inspecting the two girls.

Esme looked to Carlisle and said, "Why not let them stay for a day or two? We have plenty of room, even with the flock here." The guy's eyebrows rose at the mention of our being here. I really don't like this guy. I was mentally begging, "Don't stay, don't stay don't st-" Of course that is when Carlisle gave in and said, "fine."

One of the girls sniffed and turned her head toward me, baring her teeth. My eyes widened and I prepared to jump off of the stairs if she moved towards me. My wings twitched a little and she let out a snarl.

The guy grabbed her arm and she turned to him, baring her teeth again. He shook his head no and she got a look like a little kid who was denied some candy. It was a little funny actually. She seriously looked like Angel right now.

Carlisle had looked up and noticed me and then said, "Ah, Max, you are here. These three will be staying for a day or two. Would you mind telling the others. Edward and Jasper are probably already on their way down here so don't worry about him. Just tell the rest." I nodded and worked my way back up the stairs and heard one of the girls say, "You didn't tell us there were humans here."

I could see Alice's face in my mind. She would be grinning. I heard her say then, "Well… they're technically only part human." Then I was out of range and could not hear them any longer. I knocked on Fang's door and he said, "What?"

"There are some people here… well, not people exactly." He opened his door and gave me a look that practically screamed "These people had better not turn out like the last guy you met that happened to be a vampire bent on either you killing the Volturi or the Volturi killing you which is probably all some sort of scheme made by the school to test you or they think that your ridding the world of vampires is the way to save the world. This had better not turn out like that again." (That is a lot to say with one look)

Wow… his looks say a lot. I moved on to Iggy and Gazzy's room and told them the same thing except Iggy actually said something. "These people had better not turn out like the last guy you met that happened to be a vampire bent on either you killing the Volturi or the Volturi killing you which is probably all some sort of scheme made by the school to test you or they think that your ridding the world of vampires is the way to save the world. This had better not turn out like that again." Wow… déjà vu. That is exactly what I thought Fang's look said… that's weird.

"Uh… okay. I don't think it will. We haven't had as much trouble with erasers as we used to. Maybe they are finally backing off. Who knows but we have to go meet these people. I want to leave Angel and Nudge in bed though. Now we have to go tell Emmett and Rosalie.

Iggy said, "We'll go on down. Come on Fang, Gazzy. Let's go meet these guys." They started to walk away and I said loud enough for them too hear, "and girls"

Iggy said then, "Let's go a little faster then." I grinned at his usual Iggyness. They walked off and I turned to go to Rosalie's room. They were probably in there… talking I hope. I do not need to see two vampires making out. That might be a bit creepy.

I knocked on the door and heard two people seem to fall and hit the floor. "What," yelled Emmett, sounding annoyed.

I called in, 'There are some visitors here." I put stress on the word visitors so they'd get my meaning. I could hear them run around for a second and then the door opened and they walked out.

"Alright then," said Rosalie and they ran downstairs. I followed behind them but at a much slower pace. When I got down there, everyone was seated. Alice, Fang, and Iggy were on the floor, all looking very relaxed. I went down and joined them on the floor. As I sat, I thought of the way the girl had reacted when she smelled me. I was really glad that Edward had taken Bella home as Alice showed us to our rooms. I felt a lot less comfortable than everyone else looked but that could just be my paranoia.

The conversation was light as we all introduced ourselves. No one mentioned angel and Nudge who were still upstairs. Edward raised his eyebrows every now and then and looked at the youngest looking of the vampires, the girl who had first smelled me. The girl kept staring at Fang, whose hair was hanging in front of his eyes and making him look… Gah! I really need to stop getting sidetracked.

All in all… it was pretty normal, or as normal as conversation can be when bird kids and vampires are having it. The guy, who we know now, is named Hunter. He is about 6 foot 1 with this dark brown, almost black hair, the kind like Fang's that hang's in front of his eyes. He didn't say much about his past. He looked to be slightly older than the two girls who had said they had been sixteen when changed. Their names were Katherine and Alexandria.

They were sisters, one year apart, and had both been changed within a few days of each other by the same vampire. That vampire had been visiting the town and got to know them. Hunter had known this vampire and was there with him. They were there about a week before the vampire had changed the sisters. He was just going to leave them to wreak havoc but Hunter had taken them on instead and ever since they had stuck close to him. They were no more than friends though, they said.

After learning about them more, the last bits of tension in the room seemed to disappear. They seemed like nice people actually but still, I didn't trust them. This all seemed like one big fabrication, one huge lie, to me. Even Fang seemed to have relaxed though so I tried to calm myself down and to just relax… it didn't work.

After all the introductions were out of the way and everything, the conversation turned to us. The girls were completely fascinated by our wings and I was pretty sure that when Katherine, the younger one that had been staring at Fang, asked Fang if she could feel his wing, it was just so she could be closer to him. He agreed though and I was trying to refrain fro glaring at here.

We evaded answering most questions easily and then finally the conversation turned again to how they passed the time. Hunter said that any time he got the chance, he played piano and that when he didn't have a piano, he wrote music for it. Alice's eyebrows raised and said, "Really? You should play for us then!" She stood up and grabbed his arm, dragging him over to the piano. Then she sat on the floor back in her original position.

He looked a little uncomfortable for a moment but then he saw Alexandria and Katherine smiling at him and turned to the piano. He started to play and an instant hush felon the room. It was the most beautiful thing I'd ever heard. Iggy's jaw dropped and Gazzy started smiling like the little boy he is. Fang looked as enraptured as everyone else.

He ended one song and moved onto another. The first had been light and joyous. This one was haunting and sad. It sounded as if it had been written during a tragedy. Like, if the music was in a movie. The first would be played when two people in love danced and this one would be played as one of the two who were in love held the dead body of the other in their arms.

The melody, as haunting as it was, was still beautiful and everyone sat, entranced by the music, until he finished the song. When he was done, no person in the room moved. Luckily, Iggy had already closed his mouth again o he wouldn't embarrass himself but still… He stood up from the seat and the trance everyone was in seemed to be broken.

A voice from the top of the stairs said, "Who was playing piano? That was really beautiful but sad and it was so pretty but it was so good and everything but I wanted to cry cause of how good it was. It woke me up at first and I was all like, 'hey! What's that noise?' but then I was like, 'wow it's beautiful,' and now I'm here and I mean wow it was like so awesome and I wish I could play like that but I don't know how to play at all but I wish I could cause then I could like play and people would pay me to play for them and I'd be famous and have a house like this except bigger and I'd have a lot of clothes and a huge closet for my-" But at that point, Iggy yelled, "Nudge! Shut Up! We get it already. It was amazing okay."

Hunter seemed unfazed by her talking rampage and said, "If I have time, I might teach you to play some on a piano." He smiled at her and Nudge was beaming.

"Really? Thank you so much! Who are you anyway? I'm Nudge. Max, Fang, Iggy, Gazzy, and Angel are my family. We're not actually related though. We were-"

This time everyone except Hunter, Alexandria, and Katherine yelled, "Nudge!" She grinned sheepishly and said, "Oops" I sighed as Angel walked out the door behind her, holding Celeste as she did and looking like a little angel.

"Max, who was playing?" she asked and before I answered she looked to Hunter and said, "No. I am not her daughter, I am like her daughter." She looked back to me and waited for my answer.

"Angel, Hunter was the one playing piano." I pointed as I spoke and her eyes widened. "This is Hunter, Alexandria, ad Katherine." I said, pointing as I went down the list. "They are going to stay her for a day or two. Why don't you two and Gazzy too," I said as I noticed him yawning, "go back to bed." I said it, not as a question but as an order. They all listened and went to bed. Iggy and Fang both agreed to go with them.

After a while, Alexandria said to Hunter, "Can we go hunt? I'm really thirsty." He looked to her.

"If you want to hunt, you will have to settle for animal while we're here," he said. She nodded and said, "That's fine." I heard her mutter a really quiet, 'As long as it's not permanent"

Carlisle looked to Rosalie and Emmett and they offered to take them to a good spot. They agreed and soon it was just Edward, Esme, Carlisle, Alice, Jasper, and I left in the room.

Esme said once they were out of earshot, "Well, they seem like a nice enough bunch to me. That one girl, Alexandria, though, I don't trust her." So I wasn't the only one… except, I didn't trust any of them.

The rest nodded and then Alice said, "Uhh…Max, you should probably go to bed. You look tired." I nodded and got up without any protest.

I trudged upstairs and then I heard Jasper ask, "Did you see something?"

I don't think I'm doing a very good job with this story. I feel like my writing muse is gone… (Sigh…) Oh well. Review please… Or Edward is blown up! Mwahahahahahaha (cough cough) No more evil laughter…