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Chapter 3:
Edward, we know you're out there. You might as well come inside and be sociable. The longer you wait the more things Emmett might break.
He rolled his eyes at Rosalie's weak attempt at humor as he stopped running and watched Isabella and Jacob trudge home; he happily, her begrudgingly. A low growl rumbled in Edward's chest as he saw the wolf roughly shove her along, and he shook his head in disbelief at the sound. He had just laid eyes upon this girl… Woman. He wasn't quite sure just how old she was, but regardless, and he found he was not quite ready to let her leave his sight.
The notion was most perplexing to him. That he might find a human woman, barely out of childhood and with most certainly no formal education at all, of any interest to him at all was simply mindboggling to him. Perhaps the banishment had scrambled his brain just a little, he thought as he silently trailed behind the pair.
Edward kept his distance out of concern the wolf might scent his presence. But there was no need for him to be concerned. Jacob was focused on getting home and images of him and a woman filled his mind, some were particularly graphic, making Edward shudder and once again rue his ability to read minds.
Suddenly, Jacob paused, his nose pointed toward the air.
Edward froze in his place, preparing himself to fight if he needed to do so. Vampires and shifters of any sort were not on the best of terms, especially those that took on wolf forms.
Jacob sniffed the air loudly.
Squirrel! Good eating.
Taking advantage of Jacob being distracted, Isabella turned around to get one last look at the castle as she insisted on calling it. Edward could hear the questions going through her head at breakneck speed and was rather impressed by them as well as thankful for a reprieve from Jacob's lust-filled daydreams. Instead of the expected how much something had cost or how much gold might be hidden inside his new home, she wondered about architectural features and if there was a library. This Isabella, as he had heard the wolf-man call her, was not your typical pretty face.
And she was pretty. He had to admit that. Long, dark brown hair pulled back in a simple braid with a peaches and cream complexion and bright red lips. Her linen and cotton dress was well-worn and a little too short in length, barely reaching her ankles, telling him she did not have the means to replace it. The bodice was snug—pleasingly so in his opinion, with a few neatly mended tears in the fabric and a bright blue ribbon laced up the back that his fingers itched to untie.
A sharp whistle pierced the air, and Isabella sighed and hung her head for a moment as if she knew her time to explore was over. She quickly whistled back in response and let Jacob lead her home.
Edward wondered where she lived and with whom, and he entertained briefly the notion of following her.
Edward, I'm serious. Get in here now. Emmett wants to find your music room.
With a deep sigh, he decided it best to return home to his unexpected guests if for no other reason than to send them on their way to anywhere else but here.
No sooner had the front door of the house closed behind him than it began.
"Lovely home you have, Lord Masen," the woman who had emerged from the carriage said properly, holding out one hand. "Or are you Lord Cullen this decade?" She raised one perfect eyebrow in question. "Duke? King? Prince? Crotchety old recluse who wishes nothing more than to be left alone? Or is that a perpetual state?"
"So glad you find all of this amusing, Rosalie," Edward replied equally as coolly, not accepting the hand presented.
Her face shone with a radiant smile as she turned away to admire her surroundings. If the glare she received from Edward bothered her, she did not acknowledge it in the least.
"Amazing what one can do with nothing but time on their hands what with you being banished from Volterra and all," she continued, making a show of inspecting the foyer.
Rosalie's elaborately brocaded dress whispered across the floor as her hips swung back and forth with each purposeful step. Her blonde hair pulled back in an elaborate bun shimmered in the late afternoon light that filtered through the windows. She paused for a moment to look at a small carving of a swan made out of ebony before she turned toward Edward and continued her exploration.
"Did you really have to kill Marcus in the town square? I mean, really. Yes, he was a crass, over-pompous windbag, and I'm sure he deserved it, but during the festival with the entire town around? Even that is a bit extreme. You're quite fortunate they didn't kill you in retaliation even after the townspeople's memories were changed. Carlisle must have been very convincing."
Marcus had deserved it, Edward thought. He had tried to insinuate himself into Aro and Caius' good graces just one too many times, and they were shallow enough to bask in the attention and flattery. That had to end so Edward ensured it did.
"They just sent me to the middle of fucking nowhere under orders to reform." He waved his hand toward the view outside, hating all the rurality of it all.
Edward missed the city with the variety of prey and pleasures at his fingertips as well as the never-ending entertainment available anytime. He wondered if he sent for Tanya, would she come or was she busy screwing his replacement with the Guard. Not that they had anything other than a physical relationship, but what a satisfying one it had been.
This godforsaken little slice of hell was silence after decades of music, and he was certain he was going to go insane before he was back in the Volturi's good graces. And now it appeared all of his 'family' was going to descend upon him in order to aid in his reformation.
Wasn't that just ducky.
"Well, we are here to ease the transition, dear brother," Emmett said with a huge grin and a slap on the back.
"Lucky me. Well, you can go back to wherever you were and report to Caius and Aro that I am well on the road to reformation."
"Oh, we aren't here for the Volturi's sake," Rosalie said over her shoulder.
"Then whose?"
"Carlisle and Esme asked us to be here," Emmett said with a grin.
Edward tensed at the knowledge that his maker, the one he had spent the first fifty years of his vampire existence with and had once considered his father had arranged this. And Esme. The woman who had treated him as a son and who claimed to love him even when he knew she would never have approved of the direction his life had gone.
"A little bit of this house, a little bit of that one," Rosalie observed, making a full turn around the foyer. "Almost an homage to everywhere we've lived as a family. Esme will be pleased."
Edward bit his tongue, not wishing to argue because that would only result in them tarrying longer. Any familiar architectural similarities to prior residences were purely coincidental. Or so he told himself.
"How long are you staying? Or more appropriately, when are you leaving?"
"Now is that any way to greet your family?" Emmett asked in a teasing tone, the dimples in his cheeks appearing.
"Just the ones who unexpectedly move in, Emmett. How should I react? And yes, your furnishings arrived yesterday, and no, I did not unpack them. They are still in their crates on a cart, awaiting your departure."
"We figured Alice would tell you since she knows all, sees all, and tells all." Emmett wiggled his fingers as if casting a spell, a devilish grin on his face, earning a disgusted scoff from Edward.
"That would require him actually being around to listen," Alice said as she descended the stairs with a light bouncing gait. "He is either sending us out to find this or that or what not or sulking in the attic. Good to see you two."
"You knew about this?"
Alice smiled beatifically and nodded as Edward pouted even more, grumbling choice words under his breath.
"Or was it that lovely little thing and the wolf that were up on the hill that has you forgetting your manners?" Rose inquired after giving her sister a hug.
Edward swallowed the curse that threatened to escape his lips. He had hoped his 'siblings' had not seen Jacob and Isabella.
"You forget Edward here has never had manners, my dear," Emmett teased. "Being in the Guard did away with any remembrances of his humanity no matter how hard Carlisle and Esme tried."
"Are you quite finished enumerating my many faults?" Edward asked churlishly.
"Probably not, but we're here for the duration."
Emmett chuckled at the eye roll he received. He did so enjoy teasing his younger 'brother,' and there was a time, not so long ago, that the relationship was mutual.
"What lovely little thing?" Alice asked, looking out the window as if she could see what they were talking about.
"Some curious girl wanting to see the castle," Edward muttered, throwing his hands up in frustration and heading into the library. "Her and her shape-shifting companion were outside watching the two of you arrive."
"Castle? What castle?" Emmett asked anyone who would listen as they followed Edward.
"This house," Alice explained. "It's the biggest thing around so surely others think it's a castle. I told him to be a bit more subtle, but he didn't listen. Not that he ever does."
After years in the Volturi compound, it was difficult to imagine being cramped in a normal sized house even if it was merely window dressing. Edward had collected many beautiful acquisitions during his hundred years of existence, and he was not about to trust them to anyone in Volterra until his return.
And he was certain he would return. Aro needed his talents and it would only be a manner of time before they called him back to where he deserved to be.
"And others will be just as curious as your furry visitor and his friend," came another voice of reason from the second floor landing.
Emmett, Rose, and Alice all turned toward the stairs as a lanky, blond-haired man slowly descended.
"Jasper! Good to see you!" Emmett declared with a grin.
He nodded in acknowledgement of the greeting before motioning toward the library where Edward was sprawled across a high-backed chair, staring at a particularly interesting knothole in the wood floor.
"What I find most interesting is our brother here made no argument about the spy being a pretty little thing," Jasper observed.
"She's not a spy," Edward muttered. "She was just curious as to a new building. Now that she's seen it, she won't return."
Not that Edward believed that in the least but he hoped his nonchalance would convince the others to leave it alone.
"Really now?" Emmett chuckled before somewhat bounding into the room. Excitement at the notion Edward was showing interest in someone other than himself rolling off him. "So just how pretty is she, Edward?"
"I barely saw her," came the muttered reply as Isabella's face filled his memory.
"Liar!" Alice cried with a squeal before she groaned and glared at Edward, who had quickly changed his thoughts from the girl to what furnishings should fill the third bedroom.
She blinked her eyes a few times before they focused on a point far, far away.
"That never gets old," Emmett said, falling on to a red velvet divan with just enough grace that the wood merely creaked but did not break. "So what do you see, Alice?"
Alice remained silent for a few minutes, her brow furrowed as she waited for the rest of the vision to play out in her mind. As suddenly as it began, it ended, and she clapped her hands excitedly.
"So which rooms do you want them in, Edward?" she asked with a grin. "They need to get settled before you go see Carlisle tomorrow."
"I'm not going to see Carlisle tomorrow," Edward said adamantly, glaring at the empty fireplace.
"You will if you want to see your Isabella."
~She tames the beast within~
Quick note…The next chapter may be a little late. I'm going to try my best to have it ready for next Monday, but I'm single parenting it this week while DH is out of the country. He apparently took my muse with him to Mumbai, so even though I have it all outlined out, the words are not coming. Maybe once the girls go back to school, they will. *crosses fingers*
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I will do a teaser again with reviews or PMs asking for one so show me some love, please!
DeJean