I stepped back into the door, cautious of the lace letter that was in my hand, now weighing enough to the point where even an abnormally strong vampire like myself would be bruised. Everyone surrounded me with wary eyes.

"Why?" Carlisle asked aloud.

"To see the new Mrs. Cullen." I had quoted the letter almost perfectly.

"But shouldn't they know?"

"Apparently not."

"It just doesn't make any sense."

Alice, who'd been curled up on the edge of the couch, behind Emmett's ginormous body, finally stood up.

"They're moving slowly. They don't have very big intentions to come here immediately so that gives us some time," she explained.

"Time for what?" What would we need to hide from them?

"Time to hide Renesmee, duh." Rosalie cooed at the child as Jacob was eyeing her with fiercness. I couldn't blame him.

"Why would we need to hide her?" he finally spoke.

"Because the Volturi are coming." Rosalie moved her lips with oh so smooth gestures to Renesmee.

"Are those the leeches that you went to to commit suicide, like, what? A year and a half ago?" Jacob took a step forward as Renesmee reached for him, wanting to be held by him. Reluctantly, and with disgust, Rosalie handed over Renesmee, Jacob almost gagging when the enemies touched.

"At least I can handle being around a vicious beast," she snapped.

"Renesmee is not a viciouss beast!" Jacob flinched into a protectiv stance where half his body was towering over Renesmee, blocking her view from the rest of us.

"I wasn't talking about the child."

"Enough!" I finally said, sick of their bickering and bantering. It wasn't a good time to fight when Renesmee's life was on the line. "And, yes, their the same vampires."

"So you're going to let them come here?! Why not just hide her with me? I mean, she'll be safe in La Push because of me and my scent will disgust them so they won't even come near us." Jacob caressed Renesmee's cheek as she moaned for his attention, unable to understand what was going on. "Yes, we're talking about you."

"We can't have her in La Push." I stood next to Jacob, his heat radiating on me as we both tried to decide where Renesmee should stay.

"Why not?"

"Because Caius dispises and has annihilated every werewolf in the world. That's why you don't see many; therefore, he will immediately come after you and find her." Renesmee wailed again.

"Actually, the wolves that Caius had tracked down only morphed when it was a full moon. Jacob could shift now. So that would make him a shape-shifter, not a werewolf." Jacob cocked his head to the side.

What the hell? I glared at him, wondering the same thing.

"So he wouldn't go after Jacob or the pack."

"Yeah, but Caius doesn't know that," Alice mentioned, backing up my statement.

"True."

There was a silence as everyone tried to think of where to hide Renesmee.

"With the Denalis?" Jasper thought out loud.

"No, but you may be on to something." It took me a while to get out the full plan in my head but it finally entered. "What if Jacob and Jasper and Alice took Renesmee somewhere where the Volturi would never think to look. We can lie saying that Jasper and Alice went up to visit the Denalis and the Volturi have no idea about Jacob—though, you should probably warn your pack about the immediate intrusions—and then all is well. We tell them that Bella died because I couldn't do it right and then all is well.

Bella, may she rest in peace. Jacob's thoughts were loud and clear as were the memoirs running through his head.

"Please, Jacob?" I held up my hand, turning my head away from his huge body.

"Sorry," he mumbled, leaning back against the wall. Renesmee gently touched his face, his expression turning to disgust. "She's hungry."

"Then let's hunt. To be honest, I can barely keep my strength right now."

The two of us headed out the back door, Jacob handing Renesmee to me so he had the chance to phase.

They talked, well Jacob did, to Renesmee about catching the biggest prey. They always had fun this way.

It was hard to believe that one of my best frenemies would become my son-in-law one day. Even if I never died and neither did she. Would it be possible for them to have children? A half-werewolf, quarter-vampire, and a quarter-human? Totally one of a kind. A whole new species. Like the world needs anymore.

The Cullens' house should be right around here. Bet Edward can hear me now. Edward? Can you hear me? A small, ringing voice sounded in my head. At first I thought it was a delusion, but then a white, solid ghost appeared on the small cliff only a few miles away from me, standing in the glistening sunlight.

"Irina."

"Edward!" She recognized me. I could hear Renesmee's and Jacob's loud laughter in the distance, the other direction. Irina was startled by Jacob's laughter, pausing and searching around for danger. Her head turned every which way until it landed in their direction. Then her expression grew to shock.

Oh no!

After that she raced until I could no longer hear her, maybe even farther. My instant reflexes grew over for protection. It didn't take Jacob long to pop through the small clearing with Renesmee on his back, ripping many growls out of his throat, baring his teeth to the open space, warding off all danger. There was none. He looked up at me finally, ready to jump and leap and kill if the danger had attacked.

What, man?! What?!

"Irina. She was the almost-mate of Laurent. The black vampire that you'd killed to save Bella—very much thanks and gratitude—and now she's grieving, I think." He had slightly settled and calmed as I carefully explained the situation to him.

Where is she now?

"Too far for me to hear. She must be heading home."

Why?

"She must've saw you and either feared her own life or entered new, deeper emotions for Laurent. Strange love of theirs."

Then my phone buzzed. I instantly answered it.

"Alice? What is it? Anything new?"

"Edward! Something has triggered their decision to come here faster. And it's not about Bella!" I flipped down the phone, hanging up with my mouth wide open.

I looked into her brown eyes, wondering if we could ever find safety for her in time. "Daddy?" I was shocked that she knew the word. "What is wrong?" She was speaking straight, full sentences now. Jacob's ears perked up at the noise but I was too in shock. Then, as Renesmee walked along the grass to me, he switched between her dear face and my horrored expression. More ripped growls came out now, but to nothing he knew of.

We raced home, Jacob not even bothering to ask what was wrong because he knew that it involved Renesmee as well as the rest of us.

"What could've triggered it?" I demanded an answer, a possible reason, out of anyone that could give it. Handing Renesmee over to Rosalie, I searched through the vision that Alice was able to see.

She saw them on top of their throwns. And then with immediate action, they fled to the airport, trampled through the woods and met us face to face. But a figure was unsure. There had to be some sort of clue.

And then, as I looked over the vision again and again, I saw it. Just in the beginning, a white figure had gone to their throwns to speak to them as a witness of a crime we'd committed. Irina.

"Irina was out there today."

"She was?" Carlisle now looked more interested and curious in the situation.

"I thought she saw Jacob but I was wrong. She heard Jacob, but saw Renesmee."

Jasper only spoke one line that made my whole body freeze—no pun intended. "An immortal child." With those words, I knew all was not well.