Chapter 7

Jasper's POV

Alice sat in our plush white bed, a prop that she had become attached to over the years, her lips drawn down in a frown. I didn't have to be an empath to be able to know what my wife was feeling. The fact that I can feel her anxiety and discomfort makes it worse.

I moved behind her, wrapping my arms around her waist and planted soothing kisses on her neck. The gesture wasn't merely sensual, but also calming towards her. Every time my lips touched her skin, I would send a wave of peace and happiness and relaxation.

I hated when she felt upset about something because it made me feel upset too. Other people's emotions were much easier to ignore; but I am so connected to my Alice that I can't shut down my connection to her emotions.

"What's wrong, Allie?" I asked, using my special nickname for her that I saved only for private moments, and she turned around to where she was sitting in my lap, my arms still around her.

"I hate being blind!" She exclaimed with a vampire whisper. "With the Flock here, I can barely see what I'm going to be wearing tomorrow, let alone what is going on with the rest of the family." She paused, her eyes clouding over before returning to their normal color. "They're coming."

"Who is?" I whispered back. Despite it being the middle of the night and not needing to ever sleep, we had to be quiet because the Flock were sleeping upstairs. Rosalie and Emmett knew that they couldn't keep it down so they were in the basement, two floors in between the Flock and them.

"The Volturi." She mumbled, burying her head in my cold hard chest. "It was a partial vision but it seems our good friends want to visit us soon."

"Do ya think they know 'bout the Flock?" I asked, my southern accent slipping out. Her face remained the same but I could feel her confusion and doubts.

"How could they?" She asked. "Unless they have spies that we haven't caught on to, then they don't know that we're 'harboring humans.' Oh God, what if they know the Flock is here? What if they're on their way because they think we're trying to expand our 'coven?'" Alice looked at me panicky.

I sent her more reassuring waves, this time kissing her lips softly. Sure, I could just think the calm emotions in her direction, but really where would the fun be in that? Alice smiled against my lips and I felt her gratitude towards me for the distraction.

I pulled away, sensing someone else's emotions heading towards our door. I picked up the sound of a faint heartbeat and listened closer to try and distinguish which partially human houseguest it was. Angel, maybe? Definitely not one of the boys or Max; they had stronger heartbeats.

"I have a strong heartbeat too, Jasper." I heard Angel say from the other side of the door. Alice giggled, her laugh sounding like wind chimes on a summer night.

"I know ya do, sweetie." I commented sincerely and Alice got off my lap to open the bedroom door. "The others just have strong-er heartbeats. Its nothing to be 'shamed of Angel. It just comes with a human's age."

"Oh, I know." Angel said, her blonde curls bouncing as she came bounding into the room behind my wife. "I just wanted you to know that I'm strong too. I may be a child now, but one day I'll be as strong as Max or maybe even Fang." For a ten year old, she sure knew what she wanted.

"I couldn't sleep and wanted to ask you guys about something that's been bugging me. Seth won't tell me, says its not his story to share and that a Cullen would tell it better, and everyone else is always too busy to talk to me. I might be the youngest physically but I'm a lot smarter than most of you could even imagine." Angel didn't have trouble speaking her mind.

"What's upsetting ya, sweetie?" I asked, motioning for Angel to take a seat on one of our matching white couches, both props that Alice decided she had to have on our trip to Alaska a few years ago.

Instead, Angel jumped on the bed next to me, her little barefoot toes dangling off the edge of the bed frame. Alice just giggled again when she saw my expression. If she had been human still, her cheeks would have been flushed in guilt. "Sorry." Alice apologized, although I couldn't feel her sympathy. "I told her in my mind that she could sit by us."

Angel looked at me, her baby blue eyes suddenly becoming serious-their playfulness gone. "What is a Volturi? Max keeps seeing the word in her mind from a brain attack-"

"A brain attack? What's that?" I interrupted, not able to stop my curiosity. It was a habit from my human life. I always seemed to have a question at the tip of my tongue but I usually was able to hold back.

Angel put her hand to her chin, clearly a 'thinking face' that she copied from someone older (probably Max from the way she admired their leader), and scrunched her brow.

"Brain attacks are hard to explain…" Angel started. "Its like, like 'having a whole bunch of random memories that haven't happened yet and images from places you've never been and random words that don't mean anything to you shoved into your mind in the most increasingly painful way that you can imagine'…well that's how Max explained it to Fang once."

"That sounds just awful." Alice said, feeling sympathy. Angel just shuddered and replied, "I've only been in her mind once when she's had a brain attack…and I'll never do that again. I don't know how Max stands it."

"But what is this about the Volturi?" I asked, thinking of the royal vampire coven that had threatened our family on more than one occasion. But if Max thinks that they're coming then that just confirms Alice's partial vision.

"The Volturi are vampires?" Angel asked, obviously having read my mind. No matter how many times Edward has done the same thing, I still couldn't get used to anyone inside my head other than myself.

"Not just any vampires." Alice said with a dark tone. "The Volturi are a heartless conniving bunch of vampires that rule over the rest of us. They usually come in on 'friendly terms' and we make one tiny mistake or say something wrong and suddenly its WWIII."

I continued where my wife had left off. "We've encountered them a few times over the centuries. The most recent visit was just after Renesme was born. The Volturi got word of an 'immortal child' and sent the entire guard plus dozens of witnesses. We, thanks to my cunning wife," I winked at Alice who giggled modestly, "proved that Nessie wasn't a threat and we weren't creating an army of newborns."

"But from what I've heard of your thoughts, if the Volturi are coming, its probably because of the Flock…right?" Angel stated skeptically. Alice patted her back reassuringly. "We don't know that for sure, honey. Right now, your guess is as good as mine. They could actually be coming to check Nessie's progress; she is nearly full grown now." She said and Angel smiled weakly.

I glanced at the digital clock on the wall and was shocked to find that we had been talking for an hour. "Now run along to bed before Nudge notices you're missin.'" I said and Angel nodded. She hopped off the bed and headed towards the room that she shared with Nudge.

At first the girls had had separate rooms but after the first week went by (and they kept sneaking into each others' rooms), Max told them to pick a room and stick to it. Apparently, their old habits die hard. Every time the Flock stayed in a hotel (which had become more frequent as the Eraser/Flyboy sightings lessened), the girls would share, Gazzy and Iggy would bunk together, and Max and Fang would be in their own room.