Chapter 3: Traveling

Days later, Colleen seemed the least of my worries. When I got up that morning and came into the kitchen, my family was staring at a letter as if it was going to bite them. "Mom?" I said concerned, "what's going on?"

Everyone startled and I knew it must be bad. That was hard to do to any of them, especially Alice.

"We are going to have to take a trip," Grandpa Carlisle said quietly.

"A trip?" I said perplexed. That was all, I thought, confused. "Where and when?" I asked as I reached into the fridge for my food. I wrinkled my nose, only packets of B+, definitely not my favorite. It tasted sort of salty. I grabbed the packet and turned to the cabinet.

As I took a glass out, Carlisle said," Italy." The cup drop from my hands and shattered on the floor.

"Don't move," Bella said and she had the glass cleaned up in seconds. I turned toward Grandpa Carlisle as she was dumping the shards into the trash. I looked at him questioningly.

"Yes, the Volturi has invited us to visit," Carlisle said in a calm voice.

Flashes of vampires with ghostly white skin in long flowing black robes flashed into my mind. I had not seen them since I was an infant but I heard my family discuss them enough to be afraid. "Why?" I said in a voice just above a whisper, "They want me?"

Edward was at my side then and took me in his arms, carrying me to a chair near the table. He was stroking my hair. "They just want to meet you, Renesmee. That's all," Edward said softly.

I looked at him skeptically and I could see that the others weren't convinced of this either.

"Alice," said Bella," What do you see?"

Alice frowned and closed her eyes. When she opened them, she had a smile on her face. "They do just want to see her. I see us all coming home after a few days." Shoulders visibly relaxed then but not mine. I didn't want to go to Italy.

"Send a note that we will be there after Christmas. Tell them Renesmee is in school till then and we want to keep up our appearances. They will understand this and it will give us a little time to prepare," Carlisle said.

A week before Christmas, Esmee asked if Jake and I would get a Christmas tree from the forest. We headed out in the snow with Jacob complaining about the Italy trip for the hundredth time.

"I'm going with you, Ness," he said firmly.

"Jacob," I said in an exasperated tone," you can't go with me. They would kill you. It's only going to be for a few days anyway. Jacob made a growling sound in his throat. "Plus, absence makes the heart grow fonder, right?" I tried to laugh.

In truth, I hated the thought of being away from Jacob that long too. We were a good way into the forest now and Jake grabbed me hand saying," I don't think I can grow any fonder." A second later I felt something wet and cold hit my ear.

"You jerk. What a way to show me," I shouted as he started to lob another snowball at me. I picked up a handful of snow and Jacob ran behind a tree. Something moved a few feet away.

Jacob was back to my side in a minute, standing in front of me. 3 wolves stepped out from the shadows. There was a dark black wolf that was smaller than the other two but stood in front.

Jacob said, "Colleen and her boys," in a voice only I could hear. "Ness, take the tree back home." He never looked at me.

"No, Jake. I'm staying with you."

"Don't argue, Ness. Something must be going on. I will call you later.

He arms were shaking now and I knew that in seconds he was going to become a werewolf. He started to run and within just a few feet, where Jacob had been was now a huge russet color wolf. He looked back at me once and I touched my fingers to my lips and then toward him before I turned.

I reached the tree we had decided on and grappled with the trunk. Fortunately for me, the half vampire side was very strong and I was home soon. Alice saw me from the window and stepped out to help me drag the tree up the porch.

"Where's Jacob?" she said puzzled.

"He had to go. Looks like their may be something going on at the reservation," I said in a worried voice. Alice and I both wished she could see what was going on with the wolves but they were blinded to her.

Jake did not call that night and I slept little. The phone rang early the next morning and I sighed with relief until I heard the voice on the other end of the line. It was Emily.

"Ness, Jake wanted me to call you. There is another boy missing from the reservation and they are out looking for him. They all gathered back here very early this morning to eat and then head back out. Jake didn't want to wake you."

"Oh, no, I hope that they find him," I said earnestly, "thanks for letting me know."

"I'll call again when I hear anything," Emily said and I thanked her gratefully. I told my family what was going on when I got to the kitchen.

"I wonder if we should offer our help again," Emmett asked.

"I don't think we should" said Edward," not with those other wolves there. Jacob was not sure what they knew about vampires."

Rosalie chimed in," Well, surely they know about vampires if they changed to werewolves."

"That was one of the things Jacob was curious and somewhat suspicious about this tribe," Carlisle told the others, "He asked me to research our knowledge of werewolves. We have not met other vampires that have come across them." That surprised me. Jacob hadn't mentioned any particular suspicions to me.

Two days passed and everyone was worried about the little boy. Jake had called me one time when he had gone home to rest. I could hear the exhaustion and anxiety in his voice. "We've looked everywhere, Ness. Tomorrow we'll move farther south," he said, "I miss you."

"Miss you too, Jake. Get some rest, OK. Night," I said and hung up the phone.

That night, Jake showed up at our door with the little boy in his arms. Jake looked exhausted and he had scratches all over him. He and Colleen had found the boy far south in the forest down a steep embankment. Carlisle rushed out of the house and took the boy in the house. He got him stabilized and with Jacob, he drove him to the hospital. Jacob returned an hour later.

"He's doing fine now," Jacob sighed. The Cullen's were in the living room. They had been getting ready to go hunting before we left for Italy. Carlisle had called also and he was going to meet the others in a few hours.

Jake was already asleep on the couch. I kissed everybody goodbye and then got Jacob a blanket. I curled up on the other couch and pretty soon I was dreaming about the vampires in black cloaks. There was a fountain and 3 cloaked figures were coming toward me. They floated next to me, grabbed my arms and I started floating away with them. I looked around for someone to help me but there was no one there. There was a castle and we were going into a large cavern on the side. Fear griped me and I opened my mouth to scream but no sound came out, at least in my dream.

Next thing I knew Jacob was leaning over me and shaking my arm. "Ness, wake up, honey. You're having a bad dream," he said softly. He sat down next to me and swept the hair out of my face. "Are you OK?" Jacob asked me.

I shook my head. The dream was becoming just a blur now and I couldn't remember why I had been so afraid. I tried to think about what had happened but it was gone.

Jake picked me up and we started upstairs. He laid me on my bed. He turned toward the door and that triggered the feeling of fear. "Don't leave me, Jake," I pleaded. He paused at the door.

"I hope I don't lose some limbs over this," he half smiled. He lay down beside me and wrapped his arms around me. I closed my eyes but minutes passed and I wasn't able to get back to sleep.

I whispered, "Jacob, are you sleeping."

There was no answer and I turned toward him. His eyes were closed. I studied his face for a moment and then kissed his jaw, down his neck to his collarbone to the middle of his chest. Then my trail went down to his naval. Umm, I loved his abs, kissing them again.

The room seemed too quiet then and I raised my head to see Jacob staring at me. He pulled me up to his face and we looked to each other for a long minute as he caressed my face. His lips touched me and my arms went about his neck. The sleep shirt I was in knotted about my waist. Jake took one hand and pulled it over my head. He kept my arms pinned over my head with one hand while the other traveled down my side making me shiver. His lips touched my collarbone as he murmured, "my turn," and started a his descent.

Sunlight streamed in my window as I squinted at the clock. 10 a.m. I stretched and sighed. Jacob's arm was thrown over me and I turned into him. "Jake," I said in a whisper as I shook his arm, "Jacob, we should get up. I don't know what time my family will be home." Jacob just pulled me closer to him and kissed my neck and then my lips lightly.

"You OK?" Jake asked looking at my face closely.

I blushed and smiled," yes, I'm great," and kissed him back.

"I'm getting in the shower," I said as I got out of bed, "and then I'll make you breakfast." Yummmmm was all I heard and I chuckled as I knew he was asleep again.

As I was finished up the eggs and sausage, Jake came down with his sweats on and a towel around his neck. His hair was still damp and I loved the way it curled just slightly on his upper back.

"Smells good," he said," but why do you guys have all these eggs in the fridge? " He looked puzzled.

I shrugged," my mom still likes the tastes of eggs." Jake grinned.

"Geez, that is all she would eat when she was pregnant with you. Well, besides blood."

"Ewwwww," I laughed.

Jake was still downing the eggs when my family came home. "How was hunting?" I asked.

"Good, fine," said Edward distractedly and I could tell he was staring at Jacob. Oh, boy, I thought. Jacob must have been thinking the same thing as he got up then and took his plate to the sink.

"I had better go and see what they have found out about this disappearance," Jake told me," when are you leaving for Italy?"

"Three days," I said sadly.

Jake put his arms around me and tilted my head up," I'll call you later, OK?" He kissed me lightly on the lips and left.

Carlisle stopped Jacob on his way out. "Jake, I wanted to ask you something. On the last boy, did you notice any odd marks?" Jake thought for a minute.

"Now that you say that, they both had two little puncture marks on their arms. Why?"

"This boy did too," Carlisle said frowning," I just can't figure out what they mean. None of them were in the same place."

"I'm going to meet Sam this morning and I will see if he has any ideas," Jake said.

"Let me know if you guys have any ideas, OK?" Carlisle said in a worried voice.

"Sure, sure," Jacob said. When he had one hand on the door, Jacob turned and looked toward Carlisle with a slightly embarrassed look on his face. "Doc, I know I should know the answer to this by now but those marks wouldn't be, huh, from vampire bites."

Carlisle started laughing and smiled a big toothy grin. "No fangs here, Jacob," he said amused. Jacob blushed, grinned back and left.

"Ness's got a boyfriend, Ness's got a boyfriend," Emmett sang. I threw the dish towel at his head. You could always count on Emmett to lighten the mood.

But my boyfriend didn't call later that day or the next. I was worried and starting to get angry. You don't sleep with a girl, promise to call and then don't without her starting to think some very angry thoughts. I finally called Billy but no one answered which worried me even more.

The second day with no call, I called over to Emily's. She told me that they had found some clues to the last boy's disappearance and we out. I felt just a smidge better after talking with her. We were leaving in tomorrow for Italy and I really wanted to see him. Alice had seen us coming back but the dreams with the cloaked figures were still happening every night.

Jake did call that day. In a very curt voice, he told me he would be coming over tonight around 9 and then hung up. I sighed. I guessed he was just busy and preoccupied with all that was going on at the reservation. I wished he could be here earlier so we could spend more time together but I was so relieved I was going to see him before I left.

My suitcase was open on the bed and I was standing in the closet debating what to take. What you wore when you visited the most powerful vampire coven in the world, I thought ruefully. It most likely didn't matter what you wore on the outside but how tasty you were on the inside, I said to myself, laughing nervously.

I turned to look at my bedside clock and then out the window. Jacob should be here any minute. Stepping to the window, I looked toward the drive but didn't see headlights. Something moved off to my right. Jacob, I thought excitedly and ran down the stairs to meet him. There was no one on the porch and I called out," Jacob?"

No answer but again something seemed to move into the shadows on the right near the trees. "Jake," I said again as I wandered toward the trees. A slight way into the trees, I froze. There were Jacob and Colleen standing naked in the clearing.

Naked, why in the hell were they naked, my mind ground out. I was about ready to take an angry step forward when Colleen reached up and ran her arm down Jacob's arm. Almost at the same moment, Jacob lifted the side of her hair and bent his head to her neck. Oh, my, God, I thought, he is kissing her neck. I wanted to run to them and scream. I wanted to run back home but my feet wouldn't do either. My brain had ground to a complete halt.

Colleen spoke in a husky voice," we are good together, Jake. We would be perfect mates."

Mates? I said to myself. Oh, God, soul mates, they must have figured out they are soul mates. Jacobs description of imprinting ran through my brain. Jacob spoke in a low voice that I couldn't hear and then he smiled widely and Colleen threw back her head and laughed. She reached up and threw her arms around his neck. That broke the spell for me. I was horrified and heartbroken. My feet finally seemed to work and I ran back to the house. I didn't see Jacob push Colleen's arms off him or the dirty look she threw him as she phased and ran away.

When I got home, I bolted up the stairs. I nearly slammed into my mom. "Mom," I said breathlessly," can we leave tonight? I just want to go and get this over with. I can't take another night of those dreams. " I was pacing agitated in the hall.

"Renesmee, sure we can leave now. Whatever you want, honey." My mom was the one I was sure would buy my excuse about the dreams. Apparently she had them for a long time after she met the Volturi. After what I just saw, the Volturi seemed a welcome escape.

Bella told the others and we were packed and on our way to the airport in 20 minutes. The entire drive I shifted in my seat, restless. I didn't want to look into the eyes of my family but every time I stared out at the darkness all I saw was Jacob and Colleen in an embrace. My emotions cycled by the minute from fury to despair. How could he do this to me? How?

The flight was uneventful. We stayed in a beautiful restored palazzo for a day to get our bearings and let me recover from the flight. The next day we rented huge silver Mercedes SUV and drove to Volterra. "Let me do the talking, Renesmee," Edward said in a calm voice which I knew he didn't feel as my mom kept rubbing his arm and throwing glances at him. "And don't let Aro touch you, if at all possible. That is how he can read your thoughts."

"OK," I said quietly.

"And don't touch him, if he doesn't ask you to show your talent," Edward said again anxiously.

"Mmm," was all I could get out. I'm sure that Aro would ask me about this. My special "talent" was that I could show people things in from my own head if I touched their head or neck. Mainly memories or things I had seen and done. The Volturi knew that I could do this from when they came to Forks after I was born.

As we drove through the gates, it struck me how beautiful it was here. Jane and Dimitri met us outside the castle at dusk. My nightmares had come to life as they stepped out of the shadows in the long black cloaks.

"Welcome," Jane said in a lovely voice. I could see my mom cringe just a little and my dad pulled us both closer. They turned and we followed them down a dark alley and then into a little hole where we slide down a large pipe and came to land in a small cavern. Eventually Jane led us to a large elaborately carved wooden door. She reached for the heavy iron knocker and let it fall 3 times. A thin somewhat reedy voice called for us to enter.

In large velvet covered chairs sat Aro, Caius and Marcus. Their wives sat in another corner talking. Jane and Dimitri went to stand behind the 3 elder vampires. Aro stood, threw out his hands and moved forward.

"Welcome, welcome. Ah, you have brought them all for a visit, Carlisle." He grasped Carlisle's hand and kissed his cheek. I stared at Aro. His face did seem impossibly pale and thin, just as my mother described.

"And here is our baby girl," he crooned as he drifted toward me. He took both of my hands in his and held them out as if to look at me. "What a beautiful child you have created," he said to Bella and Edward. My chin rose just a little at the word child but I kept silent. Aro was quiet and still for just a moment. He gave a little shrug after a moment and said," I cannot read you. You take after your mother. Do you still possess your other little talent?"

I looked toward my father then. Edward stared at me for a long moment and then nodded. I touched Aro's cheek with one hand and thought of the view out my plane window as we were landing, seeing the little house and hills. It seemed the most benign thing to show him.

Aro smiled at me. "What a wonderful talent, my dear. It is so very interesting to see through young eyes again." We spent the day talking with Aro and the others. None of them seemed as interested in me as Aro. In truth, I found him fascinating.

The 3rd day, my family was growing impatient to go home. They needed to hunt again but did not want to bring that up to the Italians.

"My friend," Carlisle said to Aro that evening, "We must get back."

Aro's face fell for a brief moment, "I was hoping that you would all stay longer or better yet, decide to join our little coven." He looked hopeful and menacing at the same time.

Home, that word just brought a sick feeling to my stomach and a naked Jacob and Colleen flashed before my eyes. As my family was murmuring their decline of Aro's offer, I said more to myself than to anyone, "I don't want to go home."

My family's head snapped to look at me and my father hissed. It startled me and I looked up, not actually realizing I said that out loud.

Aro looked ecstatic and clapped his hands and said,"Oh, this is wonderful, wonderful, Renesmee."

"Could we please have a minute alone?" Carlisle asked in a calm voice.

"Certainly, take some time to say your goodbyes," Aro replied and nodded toward the others in the room.

"Are you insane?" my dad said to me inches from my face.

I gave a little shrug," they have been nothing but kind to me and well, I never really fit in at home, at school I mean." They all looked at each other, puzzled. I was making this up as I went along now. I wasn't going to tell them the real reason.

Alice quickly said," Jasper and I will stay with her. Just for a few weeks, Renesmee, right? Then we will come home."

"Sure," I said in a flat voice, thinking a few weeks was vague enough for now.

My mom took my arm and pleaded," Renesmee you can't want to stay here." I looked away from her. I couldn't stand the look in her eyes.

"I'll be fine, Mom. Really. Especially with Alice and Jasper," I said with more confidence than I felt, "I can work on my talent."

The door opened and Jane and Dimitri entered. Jane smiled at us," We have come to escort you to outside of the city." Her voice was so lovely but it still sounded somewhat sinister to me. Butterflies started in my stomach. Maybe I was completely insane to stay here.

"Alice and Jasper are staying too," Edward said in a snarling voice.

"How lovely," Jane said was a look on her face that told me it wasn't lovely at all. Then she stepped a few steps toward Jasper and smiled widely.

Alice snarled but Jane just laughed. "We need to go now, unless you want to stay for lunch?" Her eyebrows raised and Dimitri let out a booming laugh.

I hugged mom, dad, Emmett, Rosalie, Grandma Esmee and Grandpa Carlisle as tightly as I could. I was fighting off tears.

From another door, one of Aro's guards stepped into the room. "Aro wishes you to visit him in the library," he said nodding in my directions. I swallowed hard and walked toward him. Aro spent the rest of the day with me, telling me many stories from when he first became a vampire and then when he met Grandpa Carlisle. I knew that he was trying to take my mind off my family leaving. This is how the next few days went. I rarely saw Alice and Jasper. I think Aro was keeping them away from me on purpose.

Edward and the rest of the Cullen's left Volterra but went back to the palazzo outside the city.

"We can't leave her here," Bella said pleadingly to Edward. Edward agreed but he had no ideas of how to get Renesmee out of here.

"Why would she choose this?" Esmee said to the room at large. None of them knew or had any ideas.

"Is it school?" Rosalie pondered.

"It was probably those wolves," Edward ground out. He was thinking of one wolf in particular.

"I doubt that," Carlisle said putting his hand on Edward's shoulder, "You know Jacob adores her." Edward expression said he knew nothing of the sort.

The next day while plans were being discussed to take Renesmee home, they got a visit from Felix and Alex. "Its lovely that you want to stay in our country and your are more than welcome to come back to Volterra. Otherwise, you need to head back to the States. We will escort you either way." The meaning was made clear and after a brief discussion with Alice that nothing seemed wrong with Renesmee; the Cullen's reluctantly boarded a plane home.

The second week in Italy, Marcus had come across a relatively young vampire named Declan who had a unique talent of manipulating the weather. Aro sent me with Declan one day to a large lake in the mountains.

There was a sailboat there and Declan was to practice his talent. Aro wanted me to show him what occurred when we returned. Declan told me that he was only 6 years old. He was Scottish and had been on a boat with friends when a storm came up and the boat capsized. His friends on the boat drown but he was able to grab a life vest that floated near him from the boat. He fell asleep and when he awoke there was a beautiful woman pulling him onto the shore. She bit him then.

He stayed with her for 4 years and then she had left him. He had been traveling all over Europe when Marcus met him. He was very good with manipulating some parts of the weather but wind was harder for him. He did manage to set the boat sailing and eventually we were flying across the water. This was new for me and I was enjoying myself.

Alice and Jasper joined me for supper one night. The Italian vampires had thought it hilarious that I preferred human blood but did not hunt for it. However, I found my blood packets in my room every few days. I introduced Declan to Alice and Jasper. Most of the time, I felt content here and Jake only filled my dreams at night. How ironic that the subject of my nightmares had completely reversed.

Declan and I spent nearly every day together. Aro sent us all over the continent. When we came back, I would show him our adventures. Declan was practicing his weather manipulation.

One weekend we went to meadow at the base of a mountain. Declan wanted to experiment with lightening. He started getting some thunder clouds to roll in. In frustration, he dropped beside me on the grass where I had been watching him. "This is more difficult than I thought," he complained.

"Well, I think if we wait for a little while those clouds you brought are going to start a decent storm," I pointed out. The clouds were becoming a dark gray now. Declan looked like his mind was far away.

"Penny for your thoughts," I teased.

"I was just thinking of the storm that caused my boat to capsize. I hope there aren't any lakes near here," he said scanning the area.

"Do you regret what happened to you?" I asked curiously. He twirled a blade of grass in his hands for a moment.

"No, not really," he said seriously," I do miss my friends and Elizabeth though."

Elizabeth was the vampire that had made him. I knew that he had fallen in love with her and he thought she had felt the same about him. During their travels, they had met another coven of vampires. Elizabeth had been seduced by an older vampire. Declan was furious and he decided to leave her. I had already told him all about Jacob and Colleen so we had something else in common.

He looked so sad then that I put my arms around him. Maybe he could go home with me and be part of my family. Discussing that with Alice and Jasper was put on my mental to-do list.

His arm went around my shoulders and when he turned his face toward me, I kissed him. We both blinked for a minute and then kissed again. His lips were cool and hard, very unlike Jacob's. I viciously shoved that thought to the back of my mind. Dimly I was aware that there wasn't that electricity like I had with Jacob. Declan's kiss didn't stop my mind from working as Jacob's had either. But this felt good and right.

Lightening struck 20 feet away and we both laughed still hugging. Declan stood then and tried to place the lightening where he wanted it. After several tries, he was able to do it. Rain lashed down on us now and he scooped me up and ran, changing us into a blur.

Reaching the castle, I slid out of his arms, soaking wet. Trying to be as quiet as we could, he took my hand and we went to his room. He took a shirt and a towel out of his closet and handed them to me. "What a day!" he exclaimed excitedly, "I got the lightening thing down and kissed a beautiful woman."

That he thought I was a woman and not a child made me happy. My head was bent over as I toweled off my hair. When I looked up, Declan was in front of me.

"Here let me help you," he murmured reaching for my wet shirt. Slowly I raised me arms, my eyes never leaving his and he pulled off the t-shirt, tossing it onto the floor. "You're beautiful, Ness, " he breathed quietly.

My mind was going in a hundred different directions. Jacob's face flashed into focus and my heart squeezed. Then Colleen and her smug little smile came along side and I was sure I growled out loud. Declan looked at me quizzically. I looked back into his eyes then and put my arms around his neck, kissing him fiercely. He didn't kiss me back for one moment but then returned the ferocity. He carried me to the bed and stroked my skin. I wanted to be reckless. I wanted to not think about what I was doing but when we were all but naked, panic filled me.

"Stop, Declan. Stop," I whispered. His smile faded when he looked at me. "I'm not ready for this," I said apologetically, "not yet."

He knew what I meant--not this soon after Jacob. He nodded and just held me. "We have forever to get to know each other, Ness." That thought nearly did stop my heart-- forever without Jacob.

Alice and Jasper seemed to find nothing shocking about the change in mine and Declan's relationship. I brought up taking Declan home to Forks with us. Both of them seemed really pleased. I think it was more that I had mentioned going home.

Jasper decided he would talk to him about the "vegetarian" lifestyle that they lead and see how Declan felt about this. Jasper was able to find Declan alone one evening. "Ness has mentioned you coming to the States with us when we leave," he said casually.

"She feels sorry for me," Declan said with a half smile," she worries that I have no home, no family."

"Her feelings seem a little more than just pity to me," Jasper laughed.

"Maybe," Declan agreed, "I'm hoping. She has been good for me."

Jasper's eyes narrowed a little when he looked at Declan's face. "You know she is half human, right? You have to be careful with her." Jasper said in a stern tone.

"We are taking it slow," Declan said coolly, "but she knows how to handle herself."

Jasper stared at him again wishing Alice was here to help him read this situation. Shrugging, Jasper detailed what it would mean to live in Forks as a vampire, hoping that this would all turn out OK. He couldn't imagine bringing home a brokenhearted daughter to Edward or Bella. He would have hell to pay. Declan sounded interested in the Cullen's unusual lifestyle. Jasper had noticed that Declan didn't participate in the Italians little feeding parties as often as many others did. This seemed like a positive sign to Jasper and he would mention it to Carlisle when they spoke again.

Rome was our next destination. Declan had been there before with Elizabeth. I had been researching things to see. The car we borrowed from Aro's huge stable of cars was a silver maserati. Declan drove it fast and a little crazy.

We reached Rome in no time. The day happened to be sunny but Declan took care of that, bringing thick gray clouds to the area. We started with the Coliseum. It was huge and we both mused about what it would have been like in those days to be the spectators, the lions and the victims.

From there we moved to the Spanish steps, the Sistine Chapel and the Trevi fountain. Declan handed me a coin and we tossed them over our shoulder into the fountain. He held my hands and kissed me lightly on the lips, saying "Now we are guaranteed to come here again together."

I smiled at that. Saving the best for last, we walked to Villa Borghese. There was a little boat dock and we rowed around lazily. There were few people there due to the weather. I looked up at the clouds sprinkling raindrops now.

"You must be giving the weathermen fits." I told him. Declan laughed and agreed. Once, he rowed as fast as he could and caused a huge whirlpool. "Stop," I cried, "I am getting seasick." He stopped but saw that I was giggling too.

"This has been a perfect day," I sighed and laid my head in Declan's lap.

"Yes," he agreed stroking my hair.

I wanted to bring something up. "Have you been sitting outside my door at night?" I asked him. He looked guilty and nodded. "Why?" I puzzled.

"Some of the guards were snooping near your door at night. I think you smell a little too delicious," he said smiling with one corner of his mouth. I gave him a weak smile but that did make me a little afraid.

"Thanks for looking out for me. You could have told me," I said. He shrugged.

The wind was picking up a little, not due to Declan, so we decided to head home. It was after midnight when we got to my room. "Let me change and then come in," I told him.

When I opened my door he was there with a stack of books. "What are you doing with those?" I nodded toward the books.

"I read them," he said dryly, "They are books on meteorology. I figure if I knew some of the science behind weather patterns and such, maybe my talent would be more effective."

"Wow, I'm impressed," I told him.

He reminded me of Grandpa Carlisle so much, inquisitive and science minded. This made me homesick. I checked my computer and found an email from Anna. She thought I was doing a semester of school in Europe due to my family.

In her one email, she had asked about Jacob and me. I told her he was going out with someone else. She responded in her next email with all the appropriate slams to him and the other girl which made me smile. I missed hashing stuff over with her.

When I opened her new email, she asked if I had met any hunky Italian boys yet. My glance went to Declan who was reading intently on my bed. Not Italian but Scottish, I typed out and told her just a little about him. I attached a picture of Declan and I in front of a sailboat. Maybe Anna would pass along that I had a new guy in my life and Jacob would hear about it, I mused bitterly.

On a whim I added a P.S to the email, "Have you seen Jacob around?" As I scanned my other email, I noticed that he had not sent one the entire time I was here. This made me angry and more than a little hurt. Mom and Dad's email never mentioned him either.

I closed my email and went to snuggle with Declan on the bed. He put the book down and held me against his chest. "Stay in here tonight,OK?" I said sleepily, remembering what he had said about those other vampires coming near my door.

"Sure, love," he said, stroking my hair.

"Why is it that you can resist my blood so easily or really most human blood, for that matter," I queried.

"Umm, I'm not sure," he said thoughtfully, "Elizabeth thought maybe it was because of my gift. I have some control over the weather so possibly I can exert control over my thirst better than most."

"Makes sense to me," I said yawning.

"Sleep now. You'll be safe," Declan murmured and kissed my forehead. Closing my eyes, I did feel safe. Declan made me feel safe and warm. There wasn't the electricity or the heat that had been between Jacob and I. But warmth was nearly as good, right?

A little more than a month had passed when Jacob showed up at the Cullen's. He let himself into and walked into the living room. He scanned the room quickly.

"Who died?" he said jokingly. All eyes went to him but no one looked amused. "Whoa, what's up? Where's Ness?" he said in a worried voice.

"In Italy," Bella said sadly.

"Italy, what are you guys doing here then?" Jacob asked.

"She decided to stay there. Do you have any reason why she would not want to come home?" Edward glowered at him.

"You mean you left her there? With those monsters," Jacob yelled incredulous. All sort of thoughts went through his mind. One was an image of Ness pregnant. He had been worrying about that since the night they spent together.

Edward's eyes widen with rage as he read Jacob's thoughts. There was a loud snarling sound and Edward leapt toward Jacob. Emmett and Carlisle flew across the room and grabbed Edward around the chest. They still struggled to restrain him. Jacob did look embarrassed.

Bella came and put a hand on Edward's arm. "Stop, Edward. We have all felt that same way," she chided him.

"You didn't hear his thoughts, Bella. He was wondering if she is......,"Edward hesitated, "they went a little too far and he wonders about the consequences." Snarling now came from more than one vampire in the room as Edwards meaning sank in.

"I love her, dammit. I am going over there and bringing her home," Jacob shouted over the noise, his hands balling into fists. The phone rang, startling them all. Edward opened the phone.

"What, Alice?" he bit out. "I don't know. We haven't made any plans," Edward said, throwing furious looks at Jacob. "Yes, I am sure we can arrange that. No, I will not bring that DOG!" Edward snarled, "Fine, fine, Alice."

Edward snapped the phone closed. "Apparently Alice's vision of us and Ness just disappeared-- 10 days from now. She found out that Aro will be sending Ness to a Regatta. Alice wants us to meet them there and she thinks we can convince Ness to come home. She wants us to bring the dog," Edward said looking at Jacob in disgust.

"I'm not waiting 10 more days," Jacob shouted toward Edward.

"I should let you go alone so the Italian vampires can eat you for breakfast but I think Alice has a point. They won't be able to see us coming if we have you with us." Edward said flatly. No one spoke for a few minutes.

Then Bella asked, "Jake, where have you been? Why are just now looking for Ness?" That got everyone's attention again.

"Long story," Jacob mumbled. "We've got 10 whole days," Emmett said grinning.

Jacob stared out the large glass window at the back of the house. "I was coming here the night before you all left for Italy. Colleen stopped me in the forest. She wanted to have me, Sam, and some of the others from the pack join her. The real reason that she, Trey and Dane were here was because they had been ousted from their tribe. These 3 had been using their werewolf strength to extort the other tribe members. When one of the new wolves in their pack caught on, they fought. It must of been a hell of a fight because it is very hard to go against your alpha but the 4 other wolves won and made Colleen and her henchmen leave. They had just heard about our pack no long before the fight and decided to contact us. It had been years since any of their members had changed. They were worried. On top of that Colleen noticed that Dane seemed to have more trouble changing and could do it less often. They wanted to see how we had come to have such a large pack. What a conversation that would have been, huh?" Jacob mused.

"I suppose fewer vampires travel down to New Mexico due to the sun," Carlisle speculated.

"Go on, Jacob," Bella encouraged.

"OK, where was I. We had all refused to leave with Colleen or be her stud for her pack. She thought that maybe her tribe had married outsiders too often and that was part of the problem," Jacob explained. "She was pissed off and they kidnapped Billy, Emily and Kim."

Esmee and Bella gasped. "Are they OK?"Bella asked quickly.

"Yes, we found them eventually but it took a long time. Colleen was smart. She, Trey and Dane didn't phase. They kidnapped them as humans and took them half way across the country, to North Dakota. It's harder to follow their trail as humans." Jacob turned his head toward Carlisle, "They were the ones who took all those boys from our reservation too. Carlisle, those marks we talked about were from their wolf teeth. I was so close to figuring it out," Jacob snarled as he slammed his fist against his thigh.

"When we were at a party one night, I was bandaging Colleen's finger and I smelled that odd scent that we were finding on the trails of the boys. It made me curious and I was starting to put two and two together. They were marking the boys and were going to take them to join their pack. Trey and Dane felt our pack was too strong in the end and so they decided to kidnap our families to get us to come with them." Jacob said.

"Where are they now?" asked Rosalie.

"In pieces, all over the hills of North Dakota," Jacob smiled savagely. Heads nodded in approval.

"So now what?" Emmett asked looking from face to face. "We leave for Italy in 8 days," Edward said glaring at Jacob.

"I AM coming with you," Jacob declared, glaring back at Edward. Edward said nothing for a long moment and then nodded yes.