Author's Note: Thank you so much to those of you who have reviewed and have continued to read this story. Sorry, it seems to take me forever between updates. Anyway, here's the moment that you've all been waiting for. Please leave your constructive thoughts and keep coming back for more.

Disclaimer: All recognizable characters, places, and events are the property of the awesome Stephanie Meyers. No copyright infringement is intended.


She's waking up.

Edward's head popped up from the magazine he was reading as he heard the long anticipated thought from Alice two days later. Things had been much quieter in the Cullen home since the incident with Renesmee, a thing for which everyone was grateful. And Edward had chosen to take advantage of the silence by catching up on the latest issue of "American Songwriter." He would have normally skipped the article on the latest interview with Sugarland, but Bella seemed interested the group, so he had decided to go ahead and read it this time. Maybe he would learn something new with which he could impress his love. Bella. He really missed her. He didn't know that he could miss her this much. After her failed attempts at trying to talk to Nessie on the first day of Cassie's changing, she had decided to find Emmett and go hunting with him like she had originally planned. Nessie. That girl was starting to become a very big handful. She was giving everyone else in the house the silent treatment, not talking to them, and not bothering to communicate in her other unique way. She had all but locked herself in her room during the duration of Cassie's change. As soon as this was all over, he was going to have to confront her. This couldn't go on forever. Rosalie had agreed to talk to her on Edward and Bella's behalf, but so far, Nessie had refused to converse with her. But Rosalie could be extremely persistent when she wanted to be. And apparently, so could Alice.

Edward, where are you? Get Carlise and Jasper. It's time. Alice thought to her brother for the second time. What is taking you so long?

"Sorry, I wanted to finish reading the Sugarland interview. I hope nothing changed during the extra thirty seconds that it took us." Edward apologized as he came into the room with Jasper and Carlise. Less than a second later, four vampires were surrounding the bed on which the newest member of their family would soon be waking.

"Not much longer now." Alice promised and watched as Jasper tensed for the expected initial violence Cassandra would have upon waking into her new existence.

Cassandra woke up slowly, much more slowly than Carlise remembered ever seeing before. It was hard for everyone to watch the young girl look around herself with the bright red eyes of a newborn, seeing things in a way that was so different from any way she had ever seen them before. No one spoke, but Edward thought his head would explode with all the thoughts bouncing around the room. He could hear Jasper fighting to stay focused in the sea of mixed emotions that were pouring from the young girl, who still sat silent and motionless on the bed. And he could hear Alice's quick frustration with her inability to see Cassandra's future. There were no blurs, no flashes, just blackness. He met her eyes, but at a quick shake of her head, chose not to share the bit of information with the other members of their family gathered in the room.

"My throat burns." Cassandra wheezed as her eyes darted impossibly fast between the three men and the one woman that were at her bedside. The three simple words were a relief for everyone to hear. They all watched as the child's awareness of her new body slowly took shape.

"Here. This will help until you're ready to go hunting." Carlise said kindly, offering the girl the bag of O-negative blood that he had brought home from the hospital in anticipation of these first few moments of Cassie's new existence. They all watched as the girl hungrily devoured the full contents of the bag. "Better?" Carlise asked as Cassie licked the last of the red substance from her lips.

"Yes. Thank you." Cassie told Carlise sincerely, but a split second later, she was looking at Alice. "Did it work? Am I one of you now? Am I a Vampire Angel? I must be. I don't feel sick anymore. In fact, I feel like I could run forever. Can I? Can I run forever? And my throat does still burn a little. I want more of whatever was in that bag. Was it blood? It's a lot better than I thought it would be. I like it. Can I have some more of that too?" The words were spoken fast, so fast a human would have never understood them.

Alice grinned widely at the beautiful young woman in front of her. Cassie was more gorgeous as a vampire than Alice had thought possible. "Oh, yes, you are one of us. You are a beautiful angel. And yes, you can run forever and then some. Just not all in one day. You still have to learn how to listen to your instincts so that you can hunt. Unfortunately the blood you'll get when you hunt isn't quite as good as what you just had, but it'll do fine. And then we have to go shopping for an entire new wardrobe for you, and decorations to make this room more yours, and we'll have to teach you how to blend in with humans, but that'll be easy enough. Vamps are fast learners after all. I can't wait to show you everything that's possible now that you're one of us." The small pixie had started talking at a normal human pace, but as her excitement grew her words sped up, and by the end of her speech, she had started dancing in place.

Jasper smiled as he enjoyed his wife's excitement. But he was always aware of the now overwhelmed look on Cassie's face, and the slowly growing nervousness from the young girl. Before Jasper could react and stop his wife, Alice moved forward and reached to embrace Cassie. He knew would happen next, but could only watch as the expected event unfolded in front of him. Cassie hissed at the sudden approach, and faster than a speeding bullet, she was off the bed and across the room. Alice froze in place, startled by the reaction. She cautiously cut her eyes to the side to meet Jasper's. He nodded at her, conveying without words, that he was calming Cassie enough now for her to speak to the girl without worrying about frightening her again. "I'm sorry, Cassie. I forgot how easy it is to be startled by movement when you aren't use to everything yet. I won't hurt you, I promise. Come sit back on the bed. I won't try to hug you again until you're ready."

Cassie was trying to watch all four of the other vampires in the room at once. She knew that she was safe with them, and that none of them would ever hurt her, but something in the pit of her stomach told her to be careful, to be weary. That feeling was what had caused her to retreat so suddenly when Alice had approached her. Seconds later, however, she was feeling calmer and more comfortable and more trusting than she could ever remember. Something in the back of her mind told her that it wasn't real, that it was just Jasper manipulating her emotions. But just the same, she nodded slowly at Alice's words and obeyed by reclaiming her spot on the bed. "I'm sorry. I was just surprised. I know you won't hurt me." She mumbled to those gathered in the room.

The following days, weeks, and months proved to be more of a challenge than anyone had thought possible. The atmosphere within the Cullen home was vastly different than before. It was clear that like Bella, Cassandra wasn't the typical newborn. Part of it was due to Jasper and Bella's intervention, but a much larger part of it seemed to come from Cassandra herself. The outcome of her transformation had lent more and more credence to Carlise's ever growing theory about vampires in the modern world. Namely that the attitude in which one enters their change affects a lot more than just their initial post change attitude. If he could sit down with each carnivorous vampire in a face-to-face, one on one conversation, maybe he could lead each vampire to adopt a vegetarian lifestyle, one at a time. It would be a slow process, and the Volturi would never agree to let him try, and the other vampires, even those he had considered friends for many, many decades, would never be open to letting him try to change their attitudes. It was too difficult to change a vampire, they would argue with him. But it could be done. His whole family was a case in point: they had each changed in very subtle ways. First when they met Bella, and later when Renesmee was born, and now with Cassandra. Each change was small and wouldn't have been of much consequence if Carlise hadn't been looking for it. But he had been and his looking had paid off. Vampires could change and if they worked at it enough, they could all become vegetarians. Esme and Emmett were close now, very close, all so close, to being able to handle human blood in moderate amounts without going completely crazy. Alice, Edward, and Rosalie were now nearly as immune to it as Carlise. Even Jasper had shown marked improvement in his control around humans. With a little more work, Carlise was certain that he could reach Esme and Emmett's current level of control, and maybe even his level some day. If Jasper could do that, then Carlise was certain that there wasn't a vampire on Earth that couldn't become a vegetarian. Human life would be preserved from their kind forever. The horror of newborns would be virtually eliminated. The possibilities in Carlise's mind were endless.

It was with these thoughts in mind that Carlise retired to his office that evening, leaving Esme to a new project of her own, curtains. They would be yellow this time, not white. Esme was tired of white, but yellow would be perfect. All the Cullens had thought so when she first brought up the idea. Rosalie had even volunteered to help her sew them, and Emmett had promised not to rip them to shreds within a month of hanging them like he had the last new set.

Two doors down the hall from his office, Alice and Jasper were spending some much needed alone time with each other. Alice was curled up in Jasper's arms, perfectly content to just lie next to him and breathe in his deep scent, and let him feel the love she had for him. They both needed the quiet moments like this one to re-charge before facing another day of training Cassandra.

"Jazz?" She finally spoke.

"Hmm…." He sighed without changing his position to let Alice know to continue.

"What were you talking to Carlise about earlier today?"

Jasper, not sure how much to tell Alice about the conversation with Carlise, hesitated before answering. He had been trying not to think about it too much for fear that Alice would see what he intended to try. Finally he spoke, if only to keep her from looking ahead too far. "Change."

"And?" She prompted when it became clear the one word would be his only answer.

"We were talking about how Vampires can change, and how much they can change and how attitudes are related to hunger."

"Carlise's theory on making all vampires into vegetarians by examining their attitudes at the time they were changed and then relating that to something in their current existence in an effort to control their hunger." Alice summed wisely, already knowing the outcome of the famous Carlisian Theory on Vampirism.

"Yeah. How did you know about all that?" Jasper asked surprised. Alice gave him a coy smile and shrugged. "You've seen it! How? I mean, does it actually work?"

"Oh, Jazz, don't look so surprised. Remember, I saw you decades before we met. Some things are just meant to happen. And Carlise's theory is one of them I suppose. I'm just surprised at the timing of it. I mean, I didn't expect Cassandra to be the catalyst for it. As for how it turns out, that I can't see. There are just too many variables. It's impossible to know at this point if it'll work or not. I really hope it does, especially for you. But I can't see it. At least not yet. I suspect I'll a get headache thinking about all the different outcomes before the end. Promise me, you'll really work at this one. The harder you try, the more clear the vision will get, and I can't wait to see how it turns out."

"What if it doesn't work? What if Carlise's theory is wrong? And what if my control just gets worse by trying too hard?"

"I don't have all the answers Jazz. But I do know that you don't have it in you to fail. You do want better control, don't you?"

"Of course I do, Ali."

"Then you'll get it. Either this way, or just with more time, you'll succeed. Because you want it. You want it for Cassandra. Everyone's noticed how you keep watching her so closely. But it's because you don't want her to make your mistakes. I know that you keep saying it's for her own good, but I think a big part of it is for your good too."

"Yeah. I guess you're right about that. I am watching her pretty closely. And it is for my sake as well as her own. And I know that it's starting to bother her, but if I slack off in watching her, and she messes up, then we'll both feel guilty, and I don't think that anyone in this family wants that. I think Cassandra may be starting to develop an ability. I think she may be a mirror. She probably doesn't realize it yet, and I don't know how strong it'll get, but there's definitely potential there. I considered calling Eleazar to help identify it, but every time I've tried to contact him lately, Carmen says that he's busy. In the meantime, I don't want her to ruin her chances of developing her ability properly because she messes up early on."

"I love you." Alice said honestly as she listened to Jasper's explanation. His careful watchfulness over Cassandra made more sense to her now. A mirror ability was very fragile and Jasper was right to monitor her so closely.

"I love you too," Jasper whispered to his wife and bent forward to kiss her lightly on her forehead.

After a few more minutes lying quietly together, Jasper heard a small intake of air from his wife and a short exclamation of surprise. Recognizing that she was having a vision, he held her closer and patiently waited until it was over before asking her what it was about.

"I think that you're going to get your chance to talk to Eleazar about Cassie. Tanya's coven is coming for a visit. They'll be here in the morning."

"All of them?"

"Yes."

"Why are they coming?"

"I'm not sure actually. Eleazar will want to speak with Carlise in private, but I can't see what about. Tanya and Kate are going to ask me to go dress shopping with them, probably just to get me out of the house, and Tanya comes back with new shoes. Esme will ask Carmen for her help with the curtains, and they manage to finish them this weekend. I can't see anything else about the visit."

"There's only one reason I can think of that Eleazar would want to see Carlise in private like that with you out of the house."

"I thought of that too, but the Volturi don't have any reason to come after us."

"Have you been watching them?"

"For a while after we changed Cassandra, but when there was no reaction from them, I stopped. It was giving me too much of a headache."

"Because of Renesmee?"

"No, this was something else."

"Can you try looking again? Now. I mean just to reassure me that that's not why Eleazar is coming to talk to Carlise? If it hurts too much, then stop and we'll deal with it when he gets here. But I need you to try." Jasper hated asking Alice to do something that he knew would hurt her, but this was just too important not to look into.

"I can try. Hold me." Alice said quietly and snuggled closer to her husband. She looked into the distance, unseeingly, focusing her attention on the Volturi. After a moment she shook her head and gave Jasper a pained expression. "It's all very sketchy, and I'm having trouble seeing them at all. I couldn't get anything substantial from them. And now the headache's back."

"Do you want my help with that?"

"No. You're right, with Eleazar coming and Cassie possibly being a mirror, I need to stay focused on the Volturi now. If they make a move, we need to know about it."

"Ok. Let me know if you change your mind."

"I will." After a short pause, "by the way, whatever dangerous thing it is that you and Edward plan to do, please wait until Tanya's group goes home. None of them deserve to be mixed up in our mess."

"I didn't know that Edward and I were planning anything dangerous."

"You will be. The scene keeps changing, but the words stay the same. You approach Edward and ask him if he's ready, he says it'll be dangerous, and you say that you don't care, it'll be worth it."

"Alice, I don't know what you're talking about, but I can promise you that I won't put anyone else in danger. You know as well as I do that I wouldn't. If it can wait until Tanya's gone, then it will."

"Where is Edward anyway? I haven't heard him and Bella for a little while." Alice asked unable to explain the dread she felt.

"I'll go find him. Now stop worrying before I have to make you stop. It's messing with my system."

"Ok, just find him." Alice said with a sigh.

Jasper reluctantly raised himself from his position on the bed and left to find his brother. He found Edward a short time later in the living room where he was setting up for a game of monopoly. Although, the couple still spent most of their time together at their private cottage, it wasn't uncommon to find them in the main house playing games, or simply spending time together. Bella had mentioned once how much she liked the feel of having her entire family nearby. Monopoly, huh? Is that for you or for Bella? He thought to his brother.

"Bella. She doesn't like chess." Edward answered aloud.

"Isn't it great that you finally have an opponent you can't cheat against?"
"Yeah. It's great to finally not be accused of cheating."

"Ha, ha. Funny. Anyway, Alice just wanted me to find you and make sure you were ok, and that you weren't about to do something dangerous."

"Dangerous? Unless you consider me risking a perfect Monopoly winning steak dangerous, then, no, I'm not. Did she see something?"
"Yeah, kind of. Tanya's coming tomorrow. With the full Denali clan. And Eleazar wants to talk to Carlise alone."

"Should that worry us?"

"I don't know. Alice hasn't been able to clearly see the Volturi for awhile now. Since just after Cassandra was changed."

"Oh, now, that can't be good."

"Look, we don't know anything for sure, yet." Jasper said aloud and silently added, but be ready for anything, just in case. Edward nodded his silent understanding and offered his brother and friend a weak smile. "Bella will be back soon. She went to see if anyone else wanted to play."

"I must have just missed her."

As if on cue, Bella came dancing down the stairs followed by Alice. "I told them we would join in." Alice announced. "Monopoly for two was never much fun anyway."

"I made her promise not to cheat." Bella added.

"Not that you can cheat at a game that is all chance and no skill…" Alice countered with a smile. She gave Jasper a meaningful look to let him know that she had already seen the future and knew that he would try to manipulate Edward's emotions to get him to sell Boardwalk to him for a dollar.

"What did you see?" Edward demanded when he caught Alice's look. His sister just smiled at him and started reciting the constitution in Greek to keep him from reading her mind. Unfortunately her actions were too slow and Edward caught just enough of her thoughts and turned toward Jasper with mock anger. "Maybe we should have your no cheating agreement in writing."

"Ok, ok, I won't cheat." Jasper said truthfully and watched Alice's subtle expression alter as her vision of his original plan faded.

The foursome spent the next couple hours playing the board game, and just when Edward's top hat token was about to win big, the game came to a sudden, screeching halt.

Oblivious to the monopoly game in the living room, Cassandra was busy stewing in her room next to Jasper and Alice's. It was really starting to bother her how Jasper continued to watch her every move despite her strengthening control. She had asked him about it once, and his only answer had been, "I watch you so closely because I care so much. I don't want you to have to live with the regret if you make a mistake." She could tell that he had been holding out on her, that there was another reason for his close monitoring of her actions, but she didn't know how to get it out of him, so she had simply retaliated with the same excuse she used for not messing up so far.

"I won't mess up, Jasper. I promised Alice, my Vampire Angel, that I wouldn't mess up, so I won't. If I do, then I'll be letting her down and I can't do that to her." But he had refused to relax even after her constant reassurances.

Now she was venting to the only other person in the house who could understand her, Renesmee. The youngest two Cullens had become quick friends and it was clear that it benefited both parties. Nessie had become much less rebellious, and Cassie had someone closer to her age who could understand her control issues. "I just don't get why Jasper doesn't trust me." She said, complaining to her cousin.

"For the same reason that he doesn't trust me." Renesmee explained. "He loves both of us, and he knows that if anything goes wrong, the Volturi could show up. And he wants to avoid that for our sake. So, he watches to make sure that we don't make a mistake, and thus won't get in trouble with the Volturi. I could show you if you'd like."

"How?" Cassie asked her cousin.

"Easy. I heard Dad and Aunt Alice talking about it earlier. About how much Jasper was doing without them knowing, or at least he thinks that it's without them knowing, but you know that's impossible."

"Ok. Show me." Cassie demanded and Nessie complied by placing her hand on the other girl's cheek. Instantly Cassie was mentally transported to some point in Nessie's past memories and saw Edward talking to her Vampire Angel. It was odd to actually hear them speaking aloud since they so often talked silently to each other in their minds.

"I'm worried about him, Edward, and I know he's picking up on it which just encourages more worry since he thinks I'm worried about something I saw about the Volturi. He's taken this preoccupation with the girls and protecting them from the Volturi to a whole new level and I don't like where it's going. I mean, I know it's because he's so fascinated with them like everyone is with vampire children, and it's his way of loving them, and his way of blocking Rosalie's jealously, and his way of dealing with his own guilt over his past and trying to redeem himself in some way. But he loves them so much it's turned into an obsession. And Cassie at least is starting to notice and is a little bothered by his hovering for lack of a better word. He's so worried about the girls and the Volturi…" Alice rambled on until Edward finally interrupted her.

"Slow down, Alice. Take a deep breath even if you don't need it."

"Ok, I'm better now. Thanks, Edward." Alice said more slowly this time after taking the prescribed breath. "So, what do I do about Jasper?"

"Nothing. As much as I hate it for Nessie and Cassie, it is a good idea to let him keep watching them. I love them too. Enough that I'm willing to let 'Big Brother' keep monitoring them to protect them from the Volturi."

"Stop it! That's enough!" Cassie shouted and reached up to forcefully pull Nessie's hand away.

"What is it?" The older girl asked innocently.

"Don't you get it? Jasper isn't protecting us by doing this. He's hindering us. And your dad is letting him. He's not protecting, he's inhibiting. How can we prove our control without the freedom to choose it for ourselves?"

"Whoa! Cassie, calm down! Please, Jasper and my dad are only doing this out of love. You saw that for yourself."

"Love, my foot!" Cassandra screamed loudly and threw the closest object she could reach across the room and watched as it shattered against the far wall, cracking the plaster in the process.

Every Cullen in the home came running at the loud crash in Cassie's room. The concern wasn't really for her physical safety since they knew she couldn't be hurt, but rather the concern was for the cause behind the crash.

"What is going in here?" Jasper demanded at the same moment Alice asked, "What happened?" and Bella asked, "What's wrong?"

Both girls started to talk at the same time until Edward held up a single hand asking for silence. "One at a time, please, and Nessie, if you'll please go first since your thoughts are more calm." As Edward spoke, Jasper swallowed up the myriad of emotions flooding the room and replaced it with a streaming clam.

"Cassie and I were just talking and we accidently knocked something over." Nessie started.

"That's a lie!" Every other Cullen, except Cassie, said at the same moment. "How about the truth, now, Cassandra?" Edward said turning to the other girl.

"Um…Would you believe that we were having a friendly wrestling game and accidently knocked something over that way?"

"No!" Everyone else, except Nessie, said at once. "Now, you girls have one more chance to tell the truth, or else you're both being punished and it's my turn to deliver. And that means no arms for a week." Edward spoke again.

"What? That's not fair." The two girls protested as one.

"Then you have one more chance to tell us what happened."

As Edward spoke, Alice had crossed the room to clean up the mess and assess the damage. "Cassandra, this is the ballerina statue I got you. How'd it break?"

"I threw it, ok? I lost my temper and threw it across the room. Now, if you'll all just excuse me, I need to get out of here."

"Oh, no, you don't. We have to talk about this," Edward said at the same time Jasper said, "I'll go with you." He could feel her anger and knew that it would probably be best to get her out of the house. "Sorry, Edward."

"No, that's ok." Edward said quickly.

"No, I want to be alone!" Cassie shouted.

At a quick head shake from Jasper, Alice straightened and plastered a smile on her face. She understood Jasper's message that Cassie shouldn't be alone right now. "How about if I go with you, Cassie?" She asked quietly.

"No, no, no! I'm going alone!" Before anyone could stop her, Cassie was out of the room, down the stairs, and out the front door, running into the forest.

"I'll go after her." Jasper offered. "She can't be alone right now, and that little tantrum needs to be punished.

"What about discussed and then punished if and only if it's necessary?" Alice countered.

"Oh, it's necessary, all right." Jasper said more harshly than he meant to.

"Stop it!" Bella said stepping to the middle of the room. "Rose, Emmett, will you please take Nessie out of here, and find out if there's anything else you can get her to tell us, like why Cassie lost her temper. Carlise, Esme, will you please go after Cassie? But don't let her know you're there unless you have to. Is that ok with you three?" Bella asked looking between her husband and her brother and sister.

"Fine." The other three replied at once.

Rosalie reached a hand out to Nessie, "how about it? Let's go to the next room and you can tell us what happened. The truth. No more jokes."

"Ok." Nessie agreed, taking Rose's hand.

Carlise silently met Esme's gaze and took her small hand in his larger one before the two of them took off running after Cassie's scent.

"I should be the one going after Cassie." Jasper said with a defeated sigh as he plopped down on the edge of the bed.

"No, Bella's right. We need to take a minute to re-group and form a plan before we react." Alice protested.

"And I think that I should go with you." Edward continued.

"Fine. Have we re-grouped enough yet, Alice?"

"No. What are you going to say when you find her?" Alice asked logically.

"I'm going to find out why she broke that statue?"

"And then what?"

"I don't know. That's going to depend on her answer."

"Then, we should wait until Rose tells us what Nessie said, so you'll have some idea of what Cassie's going to say and can plan out an answer for her.

As if on cue, the next sound in the Cullen home was Rosalie's shrill voice. "Alice, Jasper, Bella, Edward, get in here now!"

"What is it?" The two couples asked in unison as they dashed into the next room, which happened to be Alice and Jasper's bedroom.

"Nessie, tell them what you just told me." Rosalie ordered the girl.

"Easy. Rose." Emmett cautioned from the corner.

Nessie's eyes darted rapidly around the room, and finally settled on Jasper. This would be difficult to tell him, and he needed the strongest possible connection to her when she spoke so that he would understand the full emotion behind the words that she was speaking. It would be so much easier if they would just let her show them, but her dad had made her promise not to use her ability unless she had to. He had insisted that most of the time words were better than memory pictures. "Ok. Cassie was mad because of Jasper. Because she thinks that he keeps watching us, not to help us, but to keep us from being able to make our own decision to have control. She thinks that he's just trying to make atonement for his own mistakes. And that he's ignoring the hindrance that he's placing on us."

"Honey, now you know, that's not true," Bella started and moved to take Rosalie's place at her daughter's side.

"Yeah, Jasper really is just looking out for you girls." Edward began as well.

Before Nessie had a chance to respond, Jasper had found his voice, and met Nessie's eyes with the same intensity with which he was meeting hers. His first words were in response to Bella and Edward's statements, but the second part was for Nessie alone, and he needed the half-vampire to know that. "She already knows that it's for their own good. That wasn't the point of what she was saying. Why do I feel pity coming from you, Nessie?"

"Because I do know. I know that it's for our own good, and I also know how hard it must be for you. That's why I pity you. I know it must hurt you to know that Cassie can't see that what you're doing is what you think is right and best for us. And I'm so sorry for my part in it, Uncle Jasper."

"Look, Nessie, there's really nothing for you to be sorry about here. You and I will talk about it later if we need to, after you talk to your parents. But for right now, it looks like this is my mess, and I need to go fix it. Try to stay out of trouble until I get back."

"Ok." Nessie promised with a small nod.

"Nessie!" Edward snapped at his daughter after reading her thoughts of being the one to show Cassie a certain conversation that she should not have been listening to in the first place. "You and I will be talking about eve's dropping later on, and since I was obviously a part of what set Cassie off, I should go help look for her as well."

"Fine, I assume that you'll explain what you mean about being part of it on the way. Are you ready to go?" Jasper asked Edward casually.

"Yeah. Are you ready? If what I what I read in Nessie's mind is any indication, this could be dangerous."

"I don't care if it is."

"Oh, Jasper." Alice called after her husband before he could leave the house.

"Sorry, Alice. We'll hurry back." He apologized misunderstanding her reason for calling him back.

Alice gave her husband a knowing smile and tapped a single finger against her temple before winking at him. "You don't care about dangerous, huh?"

"Oh." Jasper gasped as realization came over him. He had just fulfilled Alice's vision.

Cassie ran until she felt that she could stop without exploding. "It's not fair!" She screamed out to anyone and anything that would listen to her. "I can take care of myself. I do have control, I know I do." She continued to scream, and kicked a nearby stone, sending it far deeper into the forest. Ripping a tree up by the roots, she threw that as well. "What good is tearing up the forest going to do?" She lectured to herself, mimicking Jasper's voice in her head. "It's only going to make less room for the animals, and thus, a smaller population for us to hunt." She grunted to herself and threw herself down on the ground and buried her face in her hands. "Grr…why does he always have to be right? Get out, get out, get out!"

After several more minutes of mumbling to herself, Cassie became distracted by the absolutely most wonderful thing that she had ever smelled before. It was so pungent that her mouth instantly flooded with venom. Part of Cassie knew what was happening. An unsuspecting hiker or camper or perhaps simply someone lost in the woods had crossed her path. She silently cursed Jasper for not allowing her to be exposed to more human blood. This incredible smell was way too powerful for her to resist. Cassie's body began to act on instinct as she took off after the delicious scent. She ran as fast as she could toward the scrumptious meal that she knew awaited her just over the next hill. Part of her knew that it was wrong and that she should stop, but she couldn't. Her instinctual nature was just too strong.

The first glimpse she caught of the naive human was of his back. He was walking away from her, toward town. Cassie knew that she couldn't let him get away from her. She re-doubled her speed until she was in front of the human, cutting off his intended escape path. She crouched low and hissed at him. It didn't register with her then, but the man was old, and limping. He wouldn't have been the first choice in meals for an older, more experienced, more discriminating, vampire. But for Cassie, he was just the same as any other human, sweet, and rich, and warm. And hopefully not too metallic tasting. She hissed a second time, planning her attack on the man.

Carlos Domingo was in shock. He couldn't move, couldn't speak. He had heard about things like this in Mexico, but surely they didn't exist in the United States, the golden land of freedom for all. "Demonio!" He cried out at the female child in front of him. "Demonio!" For a demon she must be to act so fiercely towards him. Then Carlos Domingo knew no more as he felt a sharp knife like piercing in his neck, and looked up astonished to see the girl latched on to him, drinking his blood.

Cassie didn't understand what the man was saying. She wasn't sure if the man was even speaking to her in English, but she didn't care. All she wanted was his blood. She sprang forward, and planted her teeth deep into his neck, feeling the rush of warm red liquid in her mouth. She drank until she couldn't pull another drop from the now dry carcass. She fell back on the ground and looked up at the sky, almost giddy in her post-frenzy rush of feeding. Now, this was the good life. Oh, what she had been missing all this time because of the Cullen's stupid rules. Part of Cassie still realized that what she had done was wrong, but it was easy to suppress that part of her. Maybe she didn't want to be a Vampire Angel. Maybe the Vampire Angels were really the evil ones and she was the only one of the Cullens capable of fulfilling the real purpose of the Vampire Empire.

"Carlise!" Esme gasped when she saw Cassie jump up from her place on the forest floor and take off at a dead run. "She smelled it. We can't let her find him. She's so upset right now, she won't be able to control herself." Esme and Carlise had long since smelled the sweet aroma of human blood, but neither of them had been tempted by the scent. They had hoped that the child was too distracted by her anger to smell it herself, but unfortunately, they had been wrong.

"If we can catch her, let me be the one to approach her. There's no way to know how she'll react to being blocked from her prey." Carlise cautioned his wife as the two ran after Cassie. He didn't like this anymore than Esme, but realistically, catching the still newborn Cassie was going to be very difficult, and it would be even harder to stop her without getting injured themselves in the process. After thirty seconds of chasing the girl, Cassie had managed to outrun the pair by so much, that they could no longer see her. "Follow her scent." Carlise instructed, but knew that without being able to see Cassie, there was no way they could catch her in time. Tracking by smell took valuable seconds that they didn't have. Carlise's thoughts had turned from prevention to cleaning up the aftermath. Who was the human? Would they have to move? Could Cassie's indiscretion be hidden? How long would it be until the human was missed? How would Jasper and Alice deal with the emotional repercussions of Cassie's actions? Oh, how he wished that Cassie would simply be able to pull herself out of the instinctual chase in which she was engulfed.

"What's happening?" The voice approaching from the side belonged to Jasper. Carlise could also sense Edward running next to them. "You're both very panicked. And where's Cassie?"

"She outran us." Carlise admitted with a deep sigh, and slowed his run, defeated.

"What?" Jasper was overcome by the emotions coming from Carlise and was forced to slow his run as well. "She outran you? Please tell me that doesn't mean…?" He spoke slowly, and sniffed the air, only to discover that it was filled with the unmistakable scent of human blood. He was wounded at the idea of Cassie chasing after a human, but he had to maintain control if he was to find her in time.

"Yes. She smelled the human, Jasper. We couldn't catch her." Carlise answered Jasper's unfinished thoughts.

"No. I refuse to believe it. Maybe she stopped herself, and maybe there's still time. Edward!" Jasper was beside himself with worry and concern.

"I've got her scent. I'm on it." Edward was already ahead of what Jasper was going to say. But after reading Carlise and Esme's thoughts, he knew that there was little chance that he could stop Cassie, even if he did get to her before she got to the human.

Less than a minute later, to the group's horror, they all heard the shout of Cassie's victim. "That was Spanish." Esme commented aloud. It was the thought that everyone had. It was the one ray of hope in this awful mess. If Cassie's victim spoke Spanish, then there was a very good chance that he wasn't even in the United States legally, and thus wouldn't be missed, and even if he was, then it wouldn't be reported.

"There she is." Edward announced when he finally found Cassie. The others were still several yards behind him and couldn't see her yet.

"She's…happy…" Jasper said, bewildered, as he felt the emotions coming off his adopted daughter. "How…?"

"It's her instinct, son." Carlise said, placing a hand on Jasper's shoulder. "Don't be too hard on her. We'll leave you alone if you'd like."

Jasper nodded his head. Edward, you should stick close. Just in case. He added silently for just his bother to hear.

"Remember where you came from, son." Esme whispered quietly before taking Carlise's hand and running off with him.

"I'll stay out of sight unless you need me." Edward promised.

"Ok. Thank you." Jasper could just whisper and nodded his appreciation to Edward.

"Cassie." Jasper spoke quietly as he approached the girl. "I think you and I need to talk."

"What's there to talk about? And by the way, you are so wrong about human blood. That was the best meal I've ever had. Vampire Angel! What a joke! How could I have been so stupid!" The girl rolled her eyes to herself, but didn't move from her lounged position.

"Cassie." Jasper sat down next to her, and took a few unnecessary breaths, partly to figure out what he was going to say, and partly to calm down. This was killing him. Cassie's words backed by her even more honest emotions were like tiny waves of flame licking at him and burning him, eating him alive. It was painful to hear her say something like that and just as painful to feel her lack of regret. "Cassie, I was wrong." Jasper finally managed to find some words to say. "But not about what you think. I was wrong to keep hovering over you, and watching everything that you've been doing. I think that I pushed you into this. And for that, I'm sorry. I know that just a simple apology won't make up for everything that I've put you through, but it is a start. And I hope that someday, I'll be able to re-gain your respect."

Cassie rolled her eyes at Jasper, and blew out a lung full of air, releasing a growl at the same time. "You are so pathetic. As if I'm even going to let you have anything to do with how I choose to live my life now."

"Cassie. This has been a very long night. Let's go home and we can talk about this more in the morning." Jasper tried changing tactics. He didn't want to have to manipulate Cassie's emotions to get her to comply and go home with him, but he would if he had to.

"Forget it! I'm staying out here. I'm not going anywhere with you." Cassie stubbornly refused to budge.

Jasper sent a wave of compliance in Cassie's direction, followed by trust and obedience. "Let's go home." He repeated.

"This isn't fair!" Cassie shouted, knowing that she was powerless to stop the agreeableness flooding her emotions thanks to Jasper's intervention. "But I won't do it!" She screamed even louder. Unsure of exactly what she was doing, Cassie suddenly realized that she once more had control over her own emotions. And Jasper's influence was non-existent.

Jasper was shocked and was forced to take a few steps back when all of the manipulation that he was pushing onto Cassie suddenly came flying back at him like it had hit a brick wall. "Cassie, what was that?" He asked astonished.

"I…I…don't know." Apparently the sudden appearance of her ability was enough to throw her for a loop and knock her out of her rebellious attitude. "But…but…I don't care. It's none of your business anyways." She tried to recover her composure.

"Yes, it is my business. I can help you with this. I think that was an excellent display of your ability. I know that we haven't actually talked about it before because it usually takes much longer for an ability to surface, but I've been noticing the signs of one in you for some time now. I've seen something similar to this before. It's commonly called a mirror ability. I would really like to be able to explain it to you in more detail, but you're not in any kind of shape to handle that conversation right now. Mirror abilities are very powerful, but they are easy to control with practice. I want to help you with it. You're scared. I can feel it. Now, let's go home and we'll talk about this for as long as we need to. Please, Cassie, don't stay out here like this…scared." Jasper knew that it was a weak tactic, trying to capitalize on the sudden appearance of her ability to get her to go home with him.

"I'm not scared. That's a false positive." She tried to deny her own emotions. "I just…I need to feed again."

Jasper stepped into Cassandra's path, blocking her way into the town. "Ok, fine, there's a herd of deer over that way. Let's go eat, and then we can go home."

"No, not deer. Human." Cassie grinned in a way that Jasper could only describe as evil.

"Edward." Jasper whispered, knowing that both his brother and Cassie would hear the utterance.

"What?" The single name had surprised Cassie, thus slowing her reaction when Jasper reached for her and pulled her into a tight bear hug. "What are you doing? Didn't you just promise to let me have some freedom?" She demanded.

"Not if it means killing a human. You got lucky this time. He's probably an illegal alien, so no one will miss him. We'll burn the body, so there won't be any chance of it being discovered and questions being asked. But Alice and I may still have to answer to the wolves for this. And it won't help matters if I just let you go off to do more killing."

"Help me get her home, Edward, then come back with Emmett to take care of the mess." Jasper instructed his brother. Edward nodded once and took one of Cassie's arms so that the two of them could drag the struggling girl back to the Cullen home.

"What happened? Alice's been stuck in some kind of vision for half an hour now." Bella asked when the two men returned home with Cassie. She could smell the scent of a fresh human kill on the young girl's breath, and gasped as the realization struck her. "Please tell me that I don't smell what I think I do. Cassie?" Bella addressed the girl with a wondered expression.

"Oh, there's nothing wrong with your sense of smell. And for the record, it was delicious. In fact…" But Cassandra didn't finish her sentence, instead choosing to take advantage of the sudden relaxing of Jasper's hold when they neared the house and he heard about Alice's vision. She turned her head just enough to bite deeply into his forearm, tearing off a fairly sizable chunk just below his elbow.

On instinct, Jasper growled loudly, and re-tightened his grip on Cassandra to keep her from escaping. Thankfully, Edward had managed to hold onto her and she never got the chance to run. "Bella, can you pick that up and bring it with you, please? We're going to lock her in her room for a few hours to calm down. And a word of warning. It seems that the taste of human blood has accelerated the appearance of her ability, so don't try bringing her into your shield anytime soon unless you absolutely have to."

Bella didn't respond, but did as Jasper asked and picked up the chunk from Jasper's arm, before following the trio into the house.

"Want me to rip her arms off for you?" Edward asked as Jasper started to close the door to Cassandra's room.

Jasper seriously considered the option for a split second and glanced once at Cassandra before making his decision. "No. It won't be effective." He said simply, and reached for the piece of his arm in Bella's hand. "Thank you, Bella." They closed and locked the door from the outside and Edward listened to Emmett's thoughts as he bolted the window shut from outside as well. He had heard the plan when they had talked to Bella and knew that this was something that he could help with, even if he couldn't do much else.

"When you're done with that Emmett, I also need you for a quick errand." Edward told him aloud, and listened for a response. He didn't have to wait long before his brother's thoughts reached him. Ah, yes, the evidence in the woods. I can smell it all over her. And Carlise mentioned it when he came back. Well, not exactly mentioned, so much as he had that look. I hate that look. Better tell Jasper not to hone into his emotions anytime soon. Then again, I bet the little empath already has enough guilt of his own, anyway. Edward shook his head at the turn in Emmett's silent musings.

"We'll know if she tries to leave. It won't be a very silent escape. Carlise, Esme, Rosalie, meet Bella and I in the living room with Alice please." Jasper spoke like the military commander that he once was. He was trying to block the waves of painful emotions around him, and the only way to do that at this point was to return to his roots of coldhearted leadership. He had to get to Alice. He had only gotten a brief glimpse of her sitting on the edge of the couch, lost in a vision, as he had dragged Cassie up the stairs minutes ago.

Massaging his arm gently to help the process of regeneration as he put his body back together, Jasper finally reached Alice's side. He poured what amount of love and courage he could muster into his wife's body, attempting to pull her gently out of her vision. It had to be awful for her watching the uncertainty of the next several weeks unfold. He knew that his struggles with Cassie were only beginning, and he hated that his gentle Alice had to watch the entire thing on instant pre-play.

Jasper sighed as he felt Alice coming out of her vision. "Was there a lot of venom?" She asked sadly, and took over massaging his arm.

He didn't have to ask for clarification on what his wife meant. Instead he slowly nodded his head. "Yeah. It's going to leave a pretty bad mark. But I'm not worried about that. We have more important things to talk about. Like what we're going to do about that daughter of yours."

"It would be easier if you made up your mind." Alice teased him.

"Sorry." He said lightly. "Have you gotten anything?"

She shook her head. "No. Nothing. It was so clear before, but now..." She shook her head again in frustration.

"I know this is going to sound crazy, and it probably won't make much sense to you, but try just focusing on my part of the next several weeks. Cassie just confirmed my suspicion that she has a mirror ability. So, if you try to see her future, it'll just get reflected back to you, creating a distortion."

"I see. Why didn't you tell me about this sooner? It would have explained so much." She pretended to be hurt.

"Like I told you earlier, I wasn't sure. That is, until a few minutes ago when she resisted complying. I've only ran across something like that a few times before. It's kind of freaky to be shocked with distorted compliance."

"I saw your reaction. Is there any way to override it?"

"No. Not with my ability anyway. In fact, I can only think of two vampires who could get past it. Aro and Alec. Aro because his ability works with contact, and the closer you are to a mirror, the less distortion there is, and Alec because he has a dark ability, and darkness doesn't reflect."

"So, in my case, since the future is very distant, if I try to see Cassie, it'll be very distorted."

"Exactly. And that's also why you sometimes only get black when you try to see her, and not the blur you do with Nessie and the wolves. It's so distant that your future vision misses the reflection entirely."

"I hate to interrupt this very intriguing conversation, and I do hope that the two of you return to it sometime. I have a few questions of my own, but I believe that there is a more pressing matter right now." Carlise began. He was standing at the bottom of the stairs, away from the couple on the couch to give them some privacy, but close enough to join in the conversation. "What time are we expecting Tanya's clan to arrive?" He directed the question at Alice.

"A little after 6 am." Alice answered, zoning out to double check. "Eleazar's been thinking a lot about what he's going to say to you, Carlise. He knows that he has to get the wording just right, and wasn't comfortable doing so without planning ahead even knowing that I would be able to see the whole thing. I think that you need to seriously listen his concerns, Carlise. It makes sense given what I can't see of the Volturi's decisions at the moment. He has an idea on how to fix it too, but refuses to decide to tell you about it, until he's here."

"Well, what is it, Alice? It must be really important. A personal visit, and all that." Jasper prompted.

"No. I can't say. Please, trust me on this, Jazz. Carlise needs to hear it first, and then be the one to tell the rest of us. If I'm missing anything that Eleazar hasn't decided to tell us yet, then I could really mess it up for everyone. Do not push me to tell you, Jasper Whitlock."

"I trust you with all my heart, with all that I am, and if you say I shouldn't know yet, then I believe you."

"Did you say 6 am, Alice? That only leaves me two hours to finish cleaning the house." Esme said as a way of busting the moment between the two. "Will you please help me?"

"Sure. And Rosalie will too. Jasper, you have 90 minutes to convince our little Cassandra to behave while we have company, otherwise I will, and it will probably involve Edward ripping her arms off. But either way, it needs to be resolved before Tanya arrives. I know that you wanted a little more time with it. But that just isn't going to happen. And Bella, don't worry about going to talk to Nessie again. It won't be necessary. Jasper doesn't even have to talk to her anymore, at least not about everything that's happened tonight. She really gets it this time. I saw you and Edward talking about how proud you were of her."

"I still think that I need to say something else to her." Jasper started to protest.

"No, you don't. I promise. I hate to bring it up, but you never had to say anything else to Bella after the birthday incident. This is the same type of thing. Nothing else can be said to help Nessie, she's gotten there all on her own. Just like Bella did."

"Like mother, like daughter." Bella summed.

"Exactly." Alice quickly agreed before grabbing Rose with one hand and Esme with the other and taking off.

"Hey, Bella, if you aren't busy, can I get your help with something?" Jasper asked, slowly, and a little shyly.

"Sure, what is it?"

"Can you listen in on me and Cassie and back me up if I need it? I would have normally asked Edward, but he's not back yet, and…"

"Tick, tock, Jasper. The answer's yes, now just get on with it." Alice shouted from upstairs.

Jasper and Bella laughed shortly, and the two ran up the stairs, the first disappearing into Cassandra's room and the second to her room just down the hall to listen in.

"Unless you're here to tell me that it's ok for me to leave and make it on my own without you losers hanging around, then go away." Cassandra sassed without turning around from where she sat staring at the wall.

Jasper swallowed to keep the girl's anger from penetrating too deeply. Planting himself against the wall to her back, Jasper crossed his arms in what he hoped was a casual pose. "That's not why I'm here, and I'm not going away." He raised his eyebrows slightly at the responding curse that slipped from Cassie's lips, but continued. "I want to tell you a story, Cassie." He paused, but there was only silence so he continued once more. "When Alice first mentioned changing you, I was against it. You were too young, and it would have only ended badly. She fought for you. Said you would be fine, that were mature for your age. We had one of the worst arguments of our life together. The only other one that comes close was the one we had about Bella. I'm really glad that she won that one. I can't imagine this family without Bella now. But I'm even happier that she won the one about you. Cassie, you have such amazing potential, and I don't think that I want to know what this family would be like without you. You fit in perfectly, and I don't want that feeling of wholeness to fall apart or blow up in our faces. I'm trying really hard not to compare you to Bella because I know that it's not the same. Every newborn is different. I know that better than most. But there's also a lot more that I know thanks to my experiences. And one of those things is that support helps. I've done everything that I can to support you during the past few months. But I don't think that it's been enough, or at least not the right kind of support. I've failed in my duty to you as your trainer, as your surrogate father, and as your friend. If I was still under Maria's control, she would have the right to destroy me, and justly so. If you're unhappy, then I haven't been doing my job. And actually, that's part of the problem. I'm looking at this like a job. A duty. I'm not looking at this in the way that I should be. I should be looking at this like something that I just do, not because I have to, or because it's expected of me, but because I want to. And when someone wants to do something for someone else, like I do for you, then they should treat it like a partnership with that other person. Not like a master-teacher to servant-student. I think you can understand that difference, and if you honestly look at everything that's happened today, then I think you'll understand that's the real reason behind it. You didn't mess up today, Cassie. I did. And not because of what I've been doing, but because of how I've been doing it. And again, I know that you're smart enough to understand the difference. So, this is what I purpose, let's start over. Let's make this a partnership. Will that be ok with you?" Cassie didn't respond, but Jasper felt that she was still listening to him and following what he was saying. "So, first order of business in this new partnership is for me to stop talking. It's your turn now. Talk to me, Cassie. Tell me what you're thinking. How can I help make this training easier for you? What do you need me to do?"

Cassie took a deep unnecessary breath and slowly turned her head to face Jasper. If she could cry, she would have rivers of hot tears running down her cheeks. "What am I thinking? I'm thinking that you are so much better than me. It would have been so easy for you to come in here and rip my arms off, and tell me to shape up because I was hurting Alice and you with what I was doing. It would have been so easy, but you didn't do it. You didn't take the easy road. Nessie was right. Argh, I hate that." She shook her head in frustration. "All I can think about right now is human blood. It was so good. But it's like eating half of an ice cream bar. I can remember that from when I was human. I never could just eat half. I got a taste for it, and had to finish the entire thing. Does this ever go away? Will I ever be satisfied now? Now that I know what it tastes like?"

Jasper fought the urge to rush to Cassandra's side and bring her into a comforting hug. "No, you won't ever be fully satisfied. It'll always burn, every time you're around it. You'll always be hungry. But it does get easier to control, easier to handle. Think about it like those strong men you've watched on TV. Every single one of them starts to pant, run out of breath, sweat, groan with the effort of what they're doing, but they do it. And every time they complete an event, it gets easier for them. Experience, practice, that's what enables them to keep on going, to keep competing despite the effort. It'll get easier, I promise."

"I hope you can keep that promise. Can we go hunting now, please? Preferably for carnivores."

"Sure. I'll rip the bars off your windows, and meet you in the backyard."

"Thanks, Jasper. And I'm sorry for biting you, but I was just so angry, and I didn't know how else to release that anger. Oh, and one more thing, and I'm only going to say this once, so listen closely. Today, that man, it was my fault, my mistake, not yours. So, please don't feel guilty about any of it." Cassie didn't wait for a response, instead taking off in a dead run for the backyard to wait for Jasper. She could hear Edward and Emmett entering through the front door after taking care of the evidence of her mistake. They exchanged a few hurried words with Alice who was back in the Cullen living room watching for the arrival of the Denali coven. Apparently Rosalie and Esme had all of the cleaning under control.

"Let's go." Jasper said coming into the backyard moments after Cassandra arrived. "I have a lot more stories to tell you while we hunt."