The cold arms suddenly tightened a little, but not nearly enough to kill me. That's when I heard the most welcoming sound ever, a soft and tinkly laugh that I recognized at once. My heart stopped and then ran into overdrive. An icy pair of lips pressed swiftly against my cheek, and I turned to prove my suspicions.

My heart burst with sheer elation the second my eyes lay on the girl. Beautifully pale, warm caramel eyes, about half a head shorter than I was and wearing a bigger and brighter grin than me. "Cait!"

The little vampire was bouncing up and down very fast on the spot, her sides becoming blurs. She was wearing cutoff jeans for shorts, and a white shirt with torn off sleeves. She was of course barefoot, and her pale slender feet were finely dusted with dirt. But I couldn't look away from that angelic face I'd come to love.

Cait's features were young, it'd be easy to mistake her for twelve if someone didn't bother to look at her more deeply. Turned at the tender age of fifteen, she retained every single physical feature she'd been changed with. Her hair was short and choppily cut, the auburn showing through with more red than brown. She was small and lithe, roughly about the same size as Alice if not a bit taller.

But her face betrayed the youth of her figure. As warm and childish as it looked at first glance, her eyes were ancient as they were bright but darkened with a secret pain that she'd always carry.

Cait bounded forward and wrapped her arms around me, still bouncing as she hugged me in all of her excitement. I laughed, winding my arms around her too. Her cold was welcoming. She hopped away, wide smile gracing her beautiful features. I smiled and touched her soft hair. "I'm happy to see you too."

It was easy to read her, speech wasn't needed between us sometimes. Her body language and facial expression normally told me all I needed to know. She was grinning, brightly from ear to ear, and she was bouncing. Clearly excited. She continued to bounce, blurring around the edges again, I had to cover a snicker.

She kissed my cheek again, giggling a bit when she drew away. It was hard for me to not giggle along with her. It was just so natural to be with Cait, she made it so easy. We drew away, and now she was intent on scanning me from top to bottom. I held still, understanding the serious expression on her childish face.

She reached out, her fingertips just brushing the hallow of my throat. They suddenly moved, as if pulled by some strange magnetic force, to the scar that I was sure would always exist on my shoulder. She felt it through my clothes, and a troubled mask flitted across her face for half a second. Then it was gone, and her hands dropped to her sides.

"Ah dammit!"

Cait probably heard the voice before I did, probably knowing that they wouldn't be far behind her. I guessed she took off the second she caught my scent, it was so like Cait to do that without warning anybody. I wondered if it was because of that quick breeze, if I'd been downwind the entire time then no one would have scented me.

Sara ambled through the brush, complaining angrily as she went, her dark strawberry blond hair pulled back into a ponytail to avoid losing it in the trees. Her eyes were bright gold, warm honey. She'd recently hunted. She hadn't noticed me yet, or she was ignoring me, or maybe both but the latter unconsciously. She wore the same clothing Cait did, except her shirt was a pretty blue.

Then another breeze blew softly through the trees, rustling my hair and sending my scent directly towards Sara. The vampire froze, eyes widening for an instant before her head snapped up and she stared at me. The expression was nearly comical. Sara was naturally beautiful, her pale angular face was fit for a smile, and her eyes were always warm no matter her mood.

"No way."

Cait was bouncing again, giggling as she went. Sara crossed the distance between us, giving a sharp cuff to the back of Cait's head as she went. She stood in front of me, her expression confused for a moment. Her arms were crossed tightly across her chest, I wondered if she was angry to see me. It'd make sense, considering how long I had been gone. And I did promise to come back as quickly as I could, but it wasn't quick enough.

I choked out an odd laugh, it sounded way too squeaky to my ears. Cait was still bouncing, ignoring Sara entirely, so like her. "Hi Sara."

Sara raised her perfectly lined eyebrows, the expression doing nothing to take away from those golden eyes of hers. At second glance I realized Cait's eyes were the same shade, they had been hunting when she scented me. I was grateful for the wind. Her arms were still crossed, and when she spoke her voice was heavy with her accent, "Well it's about bloody time you made it here you idiot."

I grinned. Forgiven then. That was good news. "It's great to see you too Sara." I opened my arms half-heartedly, fully expecting her to pop me one in the jaw. "Do I get a hug?"

"Yeah, yeah." Sara laughed, a beautiful chirping sound that reminded me of a bird's morning song. She hugged me close, her arms loosely draped around my waist to protect my fragile body from harm. When we broke, she gave me a quick once over, her eyes taking in everything she needed to know in an instant. She smirked once, glad to see I was still fairly me, then turned on Cait, hands on her narrow hips. "And as for you, you little weasel..."

Cait winced and then teleported behind me, slumping down to hide her petite form behind mine. Which wasn't hard for her, she was tiny enough to hide behind a rock. I knew that Sara wouldn't lay a hand against Cait, no one would. There were three reasons for that in all honesty. First, she could be annoying as all hell, but the girl was terrifying when she became angry. Second, she was too cute to hit, and too cheerfully honest. And third, Stephen would personally burn anyone who touched her.

"You ran off without so much as a bloody warning, you didn't even have the honest decency to poke to say you were vanishing. Just upped and left you did! I nearly had a blasted heart-attack wondering how I was going to explain to Stephen that I lost ya!" Sara ranted, absolutely no venom whatsoever in her voice. She couldn't ever be truly angry with Cait, maybe it was the midget's charm. She never did anything wrong. I could only imagine what hell Stephen would cause if Cait disappeared.

Cait stood on tiptoe to peek her wide eyes over my shoulder, her small hands pressing gently against my back. I almost laughed, this had been a common joke between her and Sara for years. Sara could never play the heavy for very long, Cait always did something to make her laugh, and they'd be best friends again.

It worked, Sara's icy scowl broke in two as her upper lip quirked into a tiny smile. Cait dashed around me, giving Sara a swift hug before she was back at my side, arms wound around my waist and face buried in my shoulder. I giggled, ruffling her hair with my one free hand. Cait wasn't always so affectionate, but it was cute.

"So how you been?" Sara asked me casually, now that her and Cait's fight was over she was back to her normal carefree and cheery routine. She leaned against the boulder I'd been sitting on awhile ago while Cait toyed absently with her shirt, still glued to my side.

Cait glanced up at me the moment she heard my lungs inflate as I readied a breath for answering. I was used to that behaviour from Cait, mute or not, she never wanted to miss a word of action even though her hearing was impressive even with vampire standards. "You know the usual." I answered just as casually, deciding to earn myself a good clip on the ear, "Werewolves, newborn army, a visit from the Volturi..."

Sara raised her eyebrows until they were in danger of disappearing into her hair, and Cait was the one who gave me a sharp smack to the back of my head. She snorted in disapproval, and Sara fought to hide a smirk. Nice to know I was loved. "Well you have quite the bit of explaining to do then, don't you?"

"Can we wait till we get back home? I'm kind of tired of the wilderness." I asked with a laugh, glancing around at the green and brown that engulfed me. After being surrounded by it for roughly fourteen days straight, I really was hoping for a relatively warm home to sleep in, or at least somewhere with a roof over my head.

That's when the moment fell flat. They probably had hoped that I wouldn't notice their movements, just an quick glance to the east, past the trees and onto something I didn't see. Their expressions flickered from amusement to worry in half a moment, then back but the strain was there, deep in their eyes. Something was off.

My suspicion flickered, and I glanced out to look at whatever it was they'd seen. That's when I froze the moment my eyes met a pair of orange-red ones. It felt like I'd been hit with a hammer in the chest, the air rushed out of my lungs in a hard gasp and I staggered backwards instinctively. My heart started to race, annoyingly loud in my ears, and I was looking for means to escape before I could kick myself.

It took half a second to calm myself down, the old Skye kicking my inner coward into shape immediately. I stood where I was, feet planted firmly into the ground but no matter what I did, I couldn't tear my eyes from the pair that had been in the trees moments ago. They'd vanished, whoever the eyes belonged to having bolted as soon as my gaze was torn from them.

Sara sighed in defeat, rubbing her temples lazily with her right hand. Cait shook her head, her expression was a mix of impatience, annoyance and -did I read it right?- disgust. Sara saw that, and an odd light lit her eyes and she hissed warningly at Cait.

I'd never seen anyone raise their lips to the small vampire, even Stephen who could set a fire to the forest when he was angry had never even so much as swore at Cait. It was surprising, and fairly confusing to see what would make Sara react like that. Cait, who selfishly would probably have gotten used to the glass treatment, didn't look the least bit surprised. Her lips turned down, increasing her scowl, almost like she was saying 'I told you so'.

Sara hissed again, but this time she spoke along with the low angry sound. "She can't help it, don't act all smug. It's not like you were able to control it either when you were born."

Cait snorted mirthlessly, rolling her perfect golden eyes to the sky before back to settle on the forest, once again on something I couldn't see. I was confused, the two never fought like this. I knew those eyes, it wasn't the first time I had seen a pair like that. And I could understand what Sara was saying, it was easy to piece the clues together.

There was another newborn. One who wasn't yet fully adjusted either.

"Kelly." Sara called kindly, turning her entire body towards the forest now. Cait stepped casually in front of me, her body tensing as she did, into a protective stance. So this newborn wasn't fully trained yet either? My brain twitched, Cait didn't trust this newborn, I was missing several big pieces of this new puzzle. I frowned. Being out of the loop wasn't fun. "Kelly, come here, it's okay."

There was silence for a long moment from the forest. Cait snorted again, indignantly this time. Clearly not okay with her. Then, like a ghost of a breeze, the leaves ruffled and the newborn appeared.

I was struck silent. I had to look up, she was taller than Sara was and she was near my height. Her eyes were a strange orangish colour, very new then and adjusting to the animal diet. Her hair was a wavy mess of brown and blond highlights that were tied back in a ponytail like Sara's. Her outfit was pretty much the same as the other girls' except her jeans were an off-white, and her shirt was navy.

Sara stood closest to her, her posture relaxed. The newborn stood stiffly, and I noticed she wasn't breathing. Her gaze was on me, but not at all hungry like I'd expected. It was... Scared? I blinked a few times as that registered. What newborn was afraid of her prey? Cait had her defensive stance still, and I noticed her upper lip was curling just a little, enough to give the newborn a warning that I wasn't a snack. It was almost territorial.

"Sara." The newborn's voice was low, but still oddly musical just like the rest of them. Her orangish eyes tore away from my face, from my blood, to the English vampire now, porcelain skin still tight with fear. "I shouldn't be here, Stephen will be angry with me..."

Cait barked a short and mirthless laugh. The newborn looked at her with confused eyes, and I realized she hadn't known Cait long enough to understand all her wordless gestures of speech. I knew Cait was annoyed, that she was unhappy and reproachful with this development.

"Cait, lighten up. Kelly knows better than to attack Skye. Besides, she's full fed." Sara admonished Cait gently, her voice lost of the venom it had previously had. I realized that Sara was oddly protective of this newborn, it could be very well that she'd changed the woman. She turned back to Kelly, her expression apologetic. "The human's name is Skye, she's part of our coven."

"A human?" Kelly questioned directly to Sara, sparing a mystified glance towards me. Very new then, she'd probably had no idea about this whole thing before her change.

Cait hissed, another low and warning one. Kelly skipped a foot back away from Cait, giving ground in a very animalistic gesture. I was reminded of the wolves I'd once seen playing in the forest with their pack while they rested. The new pups, not so much milk-pups anymore, giving way to their older members without a fight, showing the instinctive respect of a low officer to the captain. She knew enough then.

"Cait, cut it out." I said quietly, and she glanced at me with wide eyes, disbelief colouring her expression. Sara wouldn't let anything happen to me, she knew Justin would kill her without hesitating and not even Cait would be able to stop him if he wanted to do it. Cait knew this, and she calmed herself, but she was still tense. I gave my full attention to the newborn now. "I'm not technically a part of their coven, being a human and all... But Stephen accepted myself and my mate into it."

I only used that word loosely, but it sent a hidden thrill through me anyway. We never used that term to describe our relationship, it was mostly 'boyfriend' or 'girlfriend' with us, occasionally 'lover'. Mate was something vampires only would use when describing us. But it was a newborn, I figured she'd better understand the lingo.

"Your mate." She spoke oddly coolly, but not without emotion. The coolly as in she was taking my words in an oddly detached way, studying them. She verified my words by repeating them, and studied my curiously. She turned to Sara, and I sensed the relationship right from that one gesture.

Siblings. Sara was treating her almost with adoration, like an elder sister would to their newborn one. Kelly had absolute faith in Sara, without missing a beat she would turn to the elder vampire and Sara was ready to answer in that same beat. It was strange to see that, but almost reassuring at the same time.

"Yes, my mate." I answered just as calmly, worried to slip and start laughing. Mate. I could only imagine what Justin would say if he heard me. The idiot.

"How would that..." Kelly faded off, looking intensely curious. She looked at Sara, silently pleading for an answer to her raging wonder. It would look impossible to her perspective, wouldn't it? With her newfound strength that even outdid her elders, it would like mighty crazy.

"I'm not sure myself." Sara admit sheepishly, glancing almost enviously at me. She'd never made a protest about my relationship with Justin, she pretended not to care really. But I knew deep down, she was a little bit envious. She'd been alone thirty years, sisters were nice but I knew everyone hoped for some companionship. I knew Cait did but that was a bit of an unmentionable subject.

"It took a lot of practise and a hell of a lot more self-control." I answered. Well, it was partly true. I remembered the first few times we had tried it, I had bruises that looked like ink had stained my skin. It had taken quite a but of practise before I only woke up sore. I still didn't escape the occasional bruise though.

Kelly was examining me, still not breathing. I had to commend her behaviour, most newborns might have attacked me by now. I'd travelled with Justin long enough to know their behaviour quite well now. I realized that Sara was quite right about her.

I couldn't hide my curiosity, and I asked quietly, "Who changed you?"

Kelly winced visibly, the memory of the change was still fresh in her mind. Cait looked hard at Sara, blame and annoyance radiating from every diamond-like pore in her body. I glanced at Sara too, waiting for her to confirm my suspicions. She did, with a short sigh through her nose. She didn't look up at Kelly and muttered in her light voice, the emotion clashing with her accent, "I did... She'd been attacked by a pack of wolves when she was hiking." It was obvious that she would know more than Kelly, the memories were probably so faded she didn't remember much either. "I couldn't just leave her there to die..."

Cait was silent, something strange for her. She was looking away, her eyes slits as she did so. Something more about this story annoyed her, I wondered what.

All three of them suddenly whipped their heads around, and by the time I looked too, a rush of wind nearly knocked my flat on my ass. Cait had been shouldered aside, but she didn't look too surprised, and crouched in front of me was Justin, snarling angrily at Kelly.

Sara hissed back at him, sinking down into the more leonine crouch she preferred over the wolfish one. Kelly looked shocked dumb, blinking in alarm at Justin. I'd noticed she'd jumped another foot backwards, out of his arms length. But what surprised me was she hadn't once gone for a crouch, she reacted... Well, in a real human way instead of a vampire way. I knew from everyone that newborns were ruled by their instincts alone, it was weird seeing her act like... Well, like a human.

Justin was still snarling when Sara's hiss ended, his upper lip curled over his glistening teeth. I was slightly surprised by his fierce show of anger. Kelly stared dumbstruck, not moving and only after a loaded silence did Justin stop snarling. He snapped out, "Who's the newborn?"

"Her name is Kelly." Sara replied angrily through grit teeth, teeth still bared and hands still curled. "She wasn't going to attack Skye."

Justin snarled softly, but he glanced up at me anyway. I smiled ruefully, letting my expressions speak instead. He fluidly got to his feet and wrapped me up in his arms to press me securely to his chest. My breath left me with a 'whoosh', but I didn't care. I hugged him back, resting my head on his shoulder as his lips pressed gently to my hair, his cold seeping into me.

I was well aware of Kelly's shocked stare on my back, and Cait's wry smile as she watched us. I could only wonder what the hell else was next.

AN

It was getting too long, lol... And now I have a question for my readers (I'll always ask this, I have readers?) I had no idea it was actually possible for a human to get pregnant with her vampire lover!! (starts crying) Now that I have that plothole thrown at me, is it alright if I beg forgiveness and sidestep that minefield for the moment with Skye? Please? At least till I decide what to do...?

Evie