Chapter 6: Meetings and Confrontations

It's finally here! Sorry, about the wait- my brother graduated, and it's the end of the school year so there's testing, and I rewrote the chapter once, so that's why it took a little longer.

But now I'll have more time to write when school gets out!

I'll put a disclaimer here, since I haven't done it in a while and some people might have, for some reason, not read the last ones or forgotten: I'm not James Patterson or Stephanie Meyer and therefore, the two books' ideas and characters that are used in here are not mine in any way. /disclaimer

Enjoy!


'''Carlisle'''

There were numerous questions whirling through my mind as I looked down at the boy on the table before me. I am sure that this is why Edward was giving me his stop-thinking-so-much look.

Sorry, I thought for his benefit, but my mental questions continued regardless. The main questions in my mind were focused on the idea that Fang and his family were only 98 human. Not being human myself, this was easier to accept than it would be for most people. And, this would explain why their blood didn't smell as strong to us, since avian blood was rather unappetizing for a vampire.

I noted that his heart rate was elevated as I listened with my acute vampire hearing and asked Max about it.

She checked his heart beats by placing her hand on Fang's bare chest. I noticed absently that her hand remained on his chest for a few seconds longer than absolutely necessary. Well, far be it from me to interfere with young love.

"No, that's just normal for us."

"The avian DNA increases the heart rate." I muttered, mainly to myself since Edward could read minds and it was too low for the others to hear.

I thought about the structure of their wings while I listened to the abnormally fast heart beat. Wings that seemed so natural on them, but were so unnaturally made.

Thoughts of Itex experiments reminded me of the name they had mentioned in their story: Dr. Ter Borcht. I had met Roland Ter Borcht briefly before he was hired by Itex, but I found his ideas of experimenting with humans revolting- both as a doctor and a father.

I concentrated once again on Fang. It was obvious to me as to what needed to be done.


Max

"Tell me Max, are your heart beats always this fast?" Carlisle's voice snapped me out of my daydreams.

I placed my hand on Fang's bare chest, trying to act casual about it. If it's possible to act casual in my current situation.

I felt his heart beating under my palm steadily. If only I could keep my hand hear a little longer and just…

I pulled away as I remembered that the two mind readers in the room were quite possibly listening to my thoughts.

"No, that's just normal for us." I replied quickly, hoping no one noticed my slight blush. At least Fang wasn't awake to tease me about blushing. Fang was too observant for his own good sometimes. I bit my lip as I realized that Fang was lying in front of me with a gunshot wound that could easily have been fatal.

Just then, Gazzy yawned loudly, completely shattering my thoughts. Oh well.

"Where are my manners? Of course you all must be exhausted by now." Carlisle said. "Esme, could you find somewhere for them to sleep while I finish with Fang?"

Esme wasn't in the room, but as we filed out I saw that she was smiling like she had heard... These people must have super hearing.

"Oh, I don't know- I mean we wouldn't want to take your beds or anything-" I protested lamely as I looked longingly at the soft couch. Heck, even the floor looked great after sleeping in trees.

Emmett, Jasper, Edward and Alice laughed and even Rosalie smiled at me for a few seconds.

"Nonsense," Esme told me. "Iggy can sleep in Alice and Jasper's room, Gazzy you can have Emmett's, Max can take Edward's room, Angel and Nudge can sleep in our room." She directed everyone and pointed us off to our separate rooms.

My flock watched me closely while she gave directions and I nodded to reassure them. Mostly I was reassuring myself though- I knew none of us wanted to be separated from the group, but we all needed rest and they seemedtrustworthy enough. Angel smiled at me and squeezed my hand before walking off following Esme and Nudge. I heard Esme reassure them that their king sized bed was definitely big enough for both of them.

I watched silently as my flock members spread out and found their rooms with help from this strange family. Soon, it was only Edward and I left in the large living room.

"Third floor, last door on the hallway." he said, answering my unspoken question.

"Uh… right." I muttered. That's going to get annoying if he does that all the time.

"Sorry, habit." Edward said as I followed him up the wide staircase.

I looked around curiously as we walked, taking in the layout memorizing the possible exits almost without thinking.

"Speaking of annoying," Edward noted, interrupting my thoughts. "You seem to be memorizing the exit strategy instead of listening to me."

"Sorry, habit." I responded automatically. And that's when it clicked. Mind reading. Super hearing. Edward and Emmett, fighting in the yard as a blur, crashing into trees and not being hurt. And what was it that guy had said about 'visions'? The events seemed so clearly inhuman now. How was it possible; are they like us? Suddenly, Angel's comment about vampires, which I had ignored as just Angel misinterpreting things, seemed a lot more important.

"Who… what are you?" I whispered in alarm.

He muttered something as he opened the door at the end of the hall, but didn't reply otherwise.

I looked quickly around the room, it wasn't white like the living room, or wood paneled like the hallways; instead, it was black and gold. My eyes took in the large bed and extensive CD collection as I glanced around. There were floor to ceiling windows on the south wall, which offered an impressive view- as well as a possible escape route.

Edward pinched the bridge of his nose, "Escape route, honestly!" he muttered.

"Answer my question, Edward. Who and what are you?" I watched him closely, ready for anything.

"Max, there's no time for an explanation now. You need to sleep; we can explain everything in the morning. Please, just… trust me." He hesitated before turning around and walking slowly out of the room. "Good night." He added.

"No way, I'm not taking that as an answer! Get back here and explain or I'll… I'll…" The words died in my throat as he turned around.

Wow. He is scary looking when he's mad. Scary, yet still totally hot. Oh god, I didn't just think that. Bad! No, no, no. Fang! I love Fang not Pretty Boy.

His words came out as a low growl, "Did it ever occur to you that the answer might not be what you want to hear? And Don't. Call. Me. Pretty Boy."

And then he was gone. Geez, freak out much? Whatever, obviously Pretty Boy had some issues.

I sat on the bed. It was amazingly comfortable. But after sleeping on the ground or in trees for a while, any bed feels like heaven. I lay down and was asleep almost before my head touched the pillow.


-)Edward(-

"I'm afraid I need to take him to the hospital." Carlisle said gravely.

My family and I were having a meeting outside while our guests slept. Emmett had suggested going outside to prevent Angel from listening in, should she wake up.

"X-rays. I need to be sure there is no additional damage internally. The bullet may have damaged his organs or wing muscles." He elaborated.

"No one at the hospital needs to know about them, and I can be in and out before they notice anything amiss." He said, when no one responded.

"It's not a question of 'why' or 'if,' dear," Esme spoke, "It's just the 'how' that I'm concerned about. Even if you do get in, someone might see you as you are x-raying him. And that would raise some questions."

I nodded, and I could hear the agreement in everyone's minds. Even Rosalie agreed that Fang needed x-rays, although she seemed to think that they would be a waste of time.

"I'll tell them I found him along the road and decided to bring him in." Carlisle stated, he had obviously thought of this scenario.

As I my thoughts turned to Max's suspicions, I heard Carlisle mentally preparing to leave, but I wanted to tell them about Max's questions. We must make a decision about how much to revile to these strangers.

"Max seems to think that we are some form of mutant like she and her flock." I said, interrupting the silence.

Alice smiled, "She's not that far off."

"'Not the far off?' We are not some kind of freaks!" Rosalie screeched indignantly.

"Yeah, perfectly normal, that's the Cullen family." Emmett said teasingly. Rosalie looked at him darkly and opened her mouth to reply, but was interrupted.

"Well, we have to tell them something about us, obviously." Carlisle said.

"No! They have no right to come in here, expecting us to tell them our secrets!" She spat.

"I was thinking… about telling them the truth." I told them, bracing for the inevitable chorus of angry responses.

Rosalie, of course, did not agree. Rather loudly. I winced slightly as she yelled and told me to do various things that sounded quite painful.

Carlisle held up his hands and asked her to be quiet. "I think Edward has a point."

"Carlisle! Are you saying we should just tell them everything? After all we've done to keep ourselves secret? How do you know they won't just fly off and tell everyone about us? Just because Edward is in love with a human doesn't mean-"

I growled quietly and my voice was icy, "Don't bring Bella into this. That was an entirely different situation."

"Edward, calm yourself. Rosalie, Bella has nothing to do with this." Carlisle rebuked us.

"As I was saying, I agree that we need to decide what we're going to tell them. They expect an explanation, as we did from them. It's only right that we tell the truth about ourselves in return for their truthfulness to us." He had to raise his voice to be heard about Rosalie's objections.

"How about we talk a vote?" Alice suggested. "I agree with Edward- they deserve the truth."

Jasper looked over at Rosalie and then at me. I heard it in his mind before he spoke, Sorry. "I think we should wait before we tell them about us. To be sure they won't tell anyone about us." Rosalie smiled triumphantly.

I looked over at Esme. I read her thoughts and learned her decision, "Perhaps it would be best if we waited. However, I think we should tell them, given the circumstances."

Emmett hesitated, and his mind told me why; This is not going to end well… I heard him think. "Well, given what's happened I thing we need to tell them." Rosalie hissed at him in anger. "But," He continued hurriedly, glancing at his wife "I'm not saying that waiting until later is a bad idea, I'm just saying that since they told us their story, it's only fair…" He trialed off as Rosalie stalked off. He sighed and walked away from us to try to sooth Rosalie.

"It is decided then, we will explain ourselves to our guests tomorrow." Carlisle said. "Now, I think we should all hunt, just to be safe."

Race you, Pretty Boy. Emmett, his thoughts were so typical, even when there are six mutants and a talking dog in our house, he's concerned about racing.

"You're on, little brother." I said grinning.


Ok, I lied, there wasn't a big Cullen reveal. Actually, this is basically filler, but I promise that the next one will be the reveal and hopefully some more action.

And Bella will (maybe) come in in one of the next 2 chapters.

Review please! They make me smile : )