A/N Thanks for all the reviews again … you are awesome.

In this chapter Peter finally returns … yeah … and part of his special gift will be revealed, which isn't the one he usually possesses in all the other stories involving his character. I thought it might be fun giving him a different ability for a change … but nothing unheard of though ;-)

Enjoy!!!

Chapter 4 Decisions and Reunions

Peter POV

It has been three agonizing days since I'd discovered the disappearance of my mysterious beautiful angel, Bella. First I thought, or rather hoped, that now that she was gone, my life would simply go back to normal, or as normal as it has been before I'd met her … for me being a vampire and all. I thought that it was just a silly infatuation, an obsession of mine, a distraction from my boring, empty existence. But the more time went by, the more I realized that I missed her more than I thought would be possible, and she was just a human girl. Although I didn't even know anything about her other than her name, I wasn't able to get her out of my mind. My every thought was filled with memories of the human girl … her long dark hair, the movement of her gorgeous body, her luscious scent … I knew I didn't crave her for blood otherwise she would be dead by now, but I hungered after something else. Her.

On the first two nights I roamed the city, hoping to pick up her scent somewhere, but that was like searching a needle in a haystack in a huge city like Phoenix, and of course I had been unsuccessful in my pathetic attempt of finding her that way. After that I simply gave up, assuming that she had indeed left Phoenix altogether. I felt like she'd taken something with her when she'd disappeared, and I was devastated to accept the possibility that I probably lost her forever.

Now it was Friday, and I couldn't take it anymore. I felt like love-sick puppy. I couldn't stay here in my house any longer. I needed a change of place … a distraction.

Jasper POV

It was Saturday, and for the first time in a very long time I had the house all to myself. Rosalie and Emmett had gone hunting for the weekend. Carlisle was at the hospital as usual, working a double shift. My wife Alice and Esme were shopping in Seattle, which I had been invited to, but politely declined though. Well, that left only one more member of the family. My brother Edward …

He had left Forks for the time being, visiting the other coven of vegetarian vampires in Denali, which wasn't an unusual endeavor in general but the reason behind this time was something entirely different …

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It was Monday, again, and all five of us 'children' were on our way to school in Edward's Volvo. Attending school was part of our disguise, an attempt to blend in … in a world that had used to be ours once upon the time but wasn't anymore, at least not completely. This sort of life we all had chosen for us implied acting as human as possible, not to draw any more attention to ourselves than we already did just by our outer appearances. Humans did look at us in awe, but they unconsciously knew that we were indeed something else, that was why they usually did stay away from us. And we didn't interact with them either, at least not more than necessary, apart from Carlisle. His strength to withstand the scent of human blood all together was simply incredible, allowing him to work at a hospital.

Of course, in the first few years after I'd had joined the Cullen coven I'd had my problems being around humans on a regular basis, so close, therefore constantly tempted by their scent. I'd had to struggle very hard not to succumb to my natural urges. But with time and practice I'd managed to get control of my thirst, and now, after decades it wasn't such a problem anymore. I hunted regularly, taking every precaution necessary. In fact, we'd all had our weak moments in the beginning, but we'd all learned to resist … for the most part.

None of us actually enjoyed repeating high school over and over again, but we'd accepted the necessity of this charade. Of course, having heard the same lectures a hundred times before, we barely paid any attention to them anymore.

Edward and I were posing as juniors, while Alice, Emmett and Rose were pretending to be seniors. Edward was still convinced that it would be better to keep a close eye on me, just in case I would have one of my 'weak moments' again. He thought his gift would be the better advantage than Alice's, with him being able to dip into my mind all the time. My brother was such a fool, like he would be capable to restrict me, if I would actually snap. But I was used to his fucking superior behavior and usually just ignored it, in order to keep the peace. I was done fighting hopeless battles …

Anyhow, every day was pretty much the same, nothing out of the ordinary used to happen … except for today.

The excitement I was able to pick up from the majority of the students was quite overwhelming, almost infectious to be honest, and all this because of the arrival of a new student, a girl named Isabella Swan. The first time I laid my eyes on her was during the dinner break, and I could see why most of the male were quite excited about her. She was beautiful … for a human. Not my type, but really cute. I could see that she didn't like the attention she was getting, the way she kept her head down, avoiding the curious gazes. None of my so-called siblings paid her any attention, not even after we'd heard her asking Angela Weber about us. Something about the way she was looking at us told me that she was more than only curious, but since Edward didn't make a comment on her thoughts, I let it pass.

When Edward and I entered the biology classroom, I could see that the new girl was sharing this class with us. She stood at the front desk, handing the teacher some sort of paper, before she took her seat at the table right in front of ours. All of a sudden I detected a radical change in Edward's behavior. He tensed up, emanating the purest of bloodlust I haven't experienced since I'd left my former life in Texas. Considering that he hadn't acted around these students even once before left only one explanation.

'The new girl … her blood must be calling to him … damn it … Edward you need to snap out of it.'

To my dismay I realized, that Edward was too far gone, totally lost in his lust for the poor girl's blood. He wasn't even able to pick up my thoughts anymore, or he didn't want to. Since I couldn't reach him this way, I used my own gift instead, pushing as much calm into my brother I was able to summon at the moment. It wasn't easy, because his desire was barely manageable for him, and I was able to sense it too. This wasn't good. I feared that I would become affected as well … just by proxy.

"Calm down, Edward." I hissed low enough for only him to hear. I could hear him growl in response, sensing his struggle between remaining in his place and pouncing on the poor girl. I gripped his arm tightly, holding him in place.

Unfortunately, our little exchange didn't go unnoticed by the girl. She slowly turned around, and her eyes widened in shock as she took in Edward's demeanor. I didn't blame her. He looked menacing. Luckily for her, she averted her gaze to the front fast enough, but I knew that it would be better if we would leave at once, before losing this battle, or drawing any more attention to us than we already had.

"Excuse me, Mr. Banner. My brother isn't feeling well. May I take him outside?" I asked the teacher very politely, trying to mask the urgency in my voice.

"Yes … of course, Mr. Hale." Mr. Banner allowed, and I dragged Edward out of the classroom as fast as I could.

I knew it had been a close call, a moment longer … I could hear Edward taking in unnecessary deep breaths of fresh, uncontaminated air when we finally made it outside. Finally, we both were able to calm down some.

"What the hell just happened?" I fumed, glaring at him.

"Like you don't know." Edward snapped, radiating anger. I knew he was more angry with himself than with me, actually highly embarrassed for acting like a … a real vampire. I couldn't suppress a chuckle. I knew that taunting him wasn't a great idea in that moment, but I couldn't stop myself. 'Now who is the weak one?'

"Fuck you, Jasper!" He barked, having picked up my thoughts. His eyes were still black. He should have hunted with us last weekend, maybe …

"Let's get out of here." He interrupted my thoughts impatiently, walking straight to his car.

"That's probably a good idea." I conceded, joining him. I quickly sent Alice a text message informing her of our immediate departure, without giving any reason. That part I left for Edward to explain.

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I frowned at the memory. Of course, the family had been shocked, when they'd heard what happened, but at the same time they were very relieved, especially Carlisle. He happened to know Charlie pretty good, and was very fond of him. Isabella Swan was his daughter. The chief of police would have been devastated, if something had happened to his only child, especially only shortly after their reunion. The other reason of course was that Edward could have exposed us, if he'd actually acted on his bloodlust. Needless to say, Carlisle and the rest of the family were very happy, that there was no reason to cover up our tracks and to leave Forks prematurely.

That evening we'd had one of our family meetings, and a quick and final decision has been made. Everybody except for Edward and Alice had agreed that it would be best if Edward would relocate to Denali … at least for the time being. It would be easy for us, to come up with some kind of cover story, why Edward suddenly has vanished.

Edward and Alice thought it was an unnecessary step. Even though my wife hadn't had a premonition to warn us beforehand that day, she was convinced that if she'd just concentrate hard enough she would be able to predict and thereby prevent something like that from happening again. I couldn't believe that she actually thought this would work … with the knowledge how unreliable her gift was … and if it didn't work she would put an innocent girl at risk. Carlisle, thank God, backed me up.

Edward, of course, had been acting like a child. Throwing tantrums, claiming this wasn't fair, that it wasn't his fault, and that he was strong enough to withstand. If it wasn't such a serious matter I would have laughed at him. His arrogance and stubbornness was simply astounding. But in the end he'd listened to Carlisle, and had left.

In first few days after Edward's departure the atmosphere at the house was a little tense. Carlisle and Esme felt guilty for sending their son away, even though they knew it was the right decision to make. Alice avoided me for a while, mad because I hadn't supported her. I kept my distance, waiting for her to come to her senses. Yes, I've never been as close to him as she was, but this decision hasn't been made to punish him for his action, but to protect a human. After all, this was why we had decided to change our way of life in the first place, wasn't it?

Like I'd expected, no one at school asked any unpleasant questions about Edward's sudden departure. The headmaster has been notified, and he did believe right away that Edward had been sent to a private school. Since all of the students stayed away from us, it was almost like Edward's leaving went totally unnoticed. Well, except by her …

Her frequent glances at our table at lunch time didn't get unnoticed by me. Without having a mind reader at hand it was a little difficult to decipher the frown on her face. I hadn't realized before, but I wasn't able to pick up any of her emotions. I wondered if she was immune to Edward's gift as well. Maybe even to Alice's, which might explain her lack of vision on Monday. There was only one other person I knew who possessed a similar ability …

I had just made myself comfortable on the couch, with one of my books, ready to enjoy the peace and quiet in my way. I knew that I wouldn't get the chance to have the house all to myself any time soon again, and I wanted to make the most of it while I could. Usually there always was someone around, distracting me with their feelings, especially Rose and Emmett. I sighed, savoring the moment.

But then, suddenly there was a knock on the door, startling me. Me … a vampire. The whole thing was something quite out of the ordinary, for one because we weren't used to getting visitors around here, and secondly I hadn't picked up anything in advance. No sound, no smell … nothing.

The only thing my senses told me was that the person behind the door wasn't human, but other than that I couldn't sense anything. I braced myself, a natural response in my kind. Of course, I perfectly knew, whoever was behind the door could hardly be a threat to me, but I sure didn't like the feeling of anxiety. I made way straight for the door.

Peter POV

There was only one place I could go and that was Forks, Washington. My brother and best friend Jasper lived there together with six other vampires. That alone was something quite out of the ordinary for our kind, well except for the Volturi coven perhaps. But what was even more bizarre was their choice of lifestyle. Instead of keeping up with the natural diet of feeding of humans, they all had decided to quench their thirst with animal blood instead. When Jasper had first told me about it, I thought he was making some sick joke, but when I'd visited him shortly after it turned out he hasn't. I could see that he was fully committed to this new life, and apparently enjoyed it, finally having found a place he'd belonged, and a family that loved and accepted him for who he was … or at least tried.

I packed a small bag and hit the road. I hated wearing a helmet, but driving as fast as I used to without a helmet would draw to much attention. I tried not to get involved with the human law or any humans for that matter.

Hence my reluctance to make contact with my beautiful angel …

I parked my bike in town, and made the rest of the way by foot. I knew perfectly well that not one of them would sense me coming, and I took great pleasure in the fact that I was able to surprise them by just showing up. Normally I would have called in advance, announcing my plan to come visiting, but I needed this right now. I felt a little mischievously.

Being a vampire had its perks. Moving stealthily was one of them, and one that really came in handy to completely accomplish my goal to surprise my brother. To ambush a vampire was actually an impossible task. Not for me though. First of all I had no scent, which was quite unusual to begin with, but not completely unheard of. But what made me real 'special' was my other gift. Simply put, I was able to block the abilities of other gifted vampires, even stop them from working altogether, and on top of that even more than one at the same time. It was sort of a permanent thing. Usually, I kept it on a slow burn so to speak, which allowed them to use their gift on others but not on me. Dropping that shield was possible, but very hard, because it required a lot of concentration and strength, as did the opposite. The intensity of my gift was tied to my emotions, which wasn't that strange, with Jasper being my sire and all. And I guessed that it was normal. I'd discovered the full capacity of my gift only after I'd already left Maria.

Without making any noise at all, I finally reached the Cullen mansion. I could sense that the only person home was Jasper. I stepped on the porch, knocking lightly on the door. A moment later my brother opened the door and the look on his face was simply priceless.

"Hey, bro. Surprise!" I said, grinning at him victoriously. Once again I had succeeded to render him speechless.

"Peter." Jasper said, trying to sound indifferently, but failing. I knew he was happy to see me, despite his sullen demeanor. "Well, come on in."

I followed him into the living room. "Where is everybody?"

"Don't tell me you've expected some sort of welcoming party?" Jasper answered, raising a eyebrow.

I snorted. "Hardly. I'm just curious."

"Well, Carlisle is at work, Emmett and Rosa are hunting, and Esme and Alice went shopping. And I was enjoying the peace and quiet that went with being alone. That was until you showed up, of course." Jasper mocked.

"Sorry, dude, to spoil your fun." I chuckled darkly, not really meaning it, of course. "Wait … what about Edward?"

Jasper's answer was a low grumble. "Well, let's see. After trying to convince everybody for years that he would never fall of the wagon …"

"He slipped?" I interrupted him, startled but not really surprised. No vampire was immune to scent of human blood, open wounds or not.

"No, he didn't, thanks to me. But it was a close call. Some new human girl transferred to our school, and she smells a little too good." Jasper affirmed my suspicion. Wow, the golden boy finally had learned his lesson, the hard way, but still.

"So, where is he now?"

"In Alaska, with the Denali clan." Jasper shrugged his shoulders, like he didn't really care, which I knew was actually the case. I didn't feel any differently about the mind reader. Fortunate for me, he had never been able to dip into my head, and every time I had been here, I had made sure all of Jasper's family members had profited from my gift as well, giving them some peace from his constant invasion into their privacy. And I knew for a fact he didn't like being at a disadvantage. Not at all.

"So, who is the girl anyway?" I asked curiously, actually considering sending her a thank-you-note.

A/N Hmmm … what do you think?