I want to thank everyone who has added this stroy to his/her favorites and alerts. It means a lot. Also, a huge thanks to those who have reviewed. If I didn't get to respond...I'm sorry my computer was wacky this week. But those reviews mean a lot. I hope you like this chapter...I was nervous about it, that's for sure! :)

Also for those fo you who love to read books in general, a couple friends of mine have a new book blog. They shed the light on some writers and fictionpress writers...I was featured today along with another friend of ours. They also have intereviews with authors. Cassandra Clare was the first. She is an amazing writer. But if you love to read and would like some recommendations of good books and authors, this is the place.

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AdPOV

I felt pretty damn proud of myself right now. I wasn't sure how much it took to surprise a vampire but I managed to shock an entire room full with four little words. I briefly wished that I had a camera but I was not sure if they would show up on film.

"An angel?" Esme whispered. Her golden eyes widened in awe.

"Guardian Angel," I repeated. "Only we are allowed on Earth."

"How?" Carlisle asked and I looked at him. I sighed.

"I'm not too sure. I remember you telling me that Dawson was dead and the next thing I remember I was with a woman, Sherry, and she was driving me to an abandoned church outside of Chicago." I recalled. "She gave me the same reasons you just gave for wanting to change me. She said it would be a waste to let me go now."

"I understand completely. I just never thought that an angel would take you." he chuckled. "I guess this outcome was better." All I could so was smile a little. At first, I will admit, it scared me when he said he was going to change me. Then I find out that he wanted to make me a vampire but. Oddly enough, I found myself trusting him.

"So like they told you that you were a Guardian?" Rosalie inquired.

"Yes. I, of course, thought they were full of crap but for the first two years no one could see me." I whispered. Those two years were the worst. "I'd walk around the towns and no one could see or hear me. It was quiet annoying and very lonely. Eventually, I believed them and I started my training."

"Training?" Carlisle asked and I nodded.

"Yeah, Guardian Boot Camp, sort of." I chuckled. "I was assigned a charge and had to protect them. What I did not know was that my first charge was an angel and it was my test. If I passed, I got my wings and was able to get a real charge and get real assignments. If I failed, I had to study more and simply walk around the Earth like a ghost."

"But she passed," Bryce piped up with a smile. "She got her wings and was able to be seen again."

"Wait!" Alice exclaimed and pointed to me. "You are her Guardian, aren't you?"

"I am," I smiled and grabbed Bryce's hand.

"That's what you meant when you said Adeline protected you," Alice smiled as some of the pieces came together. "But what did you mean when you said she fixed you or healed you?" I snapped my head towards Bryce and glared at her.

"What have you been telling her?" I demanded and she shook her head.

"Nothing. It was riddles, I swear." she answered and I looked over to Alice.

"She's telling the truth. I did not get a word that she was saying until now. Anything more supernatural than us was no on my list of theories." she told me honestly.

"Being a Guardian means that I have to protect her. It was not until about a year and a half ago that I actually introduced myself to Bryce. I had been watching over her since she was 13 years old. The power to protect her comes literally when she is hurt." I explained. "I can heal her."

"Heal her?" Edward repeated.

"Yes. If she is cut, I can heal it. If she's sick or wounded, I can fix it." I nodded.

"How?" Carlisle asked. I held up my hand and wiggled my fingers.

"She touches me and poof, it's done." Bryce smiled. "She goes overboard though. I like a few bruises and cuts, makes me feel human," she added and I knew that this conversation was about to change.

"Before we start interrogation Bryce, I have to explain something." I announced and everyone looked at me. "I am the only Guardian to expose herself to her charge. We took a huge risk telling Bryce what I was and letting her come with me but it a life or death situation. Bryce's story is far more complicated and pain filled than mine. I have to know that what we say in this room will stay in this room alone. I cannot risk anyone knowing who we are."

"Are your names not real?" Emmett asked and I shook my head.

"All but the last names." I answered. "Dawson was my brother's name. My last name is Carmichael and Bryce's is Davis. I had to change hers when we first left and then mine when we moved again. But do you understand?" Everyone's head nodded and I looked down at Bryce. "Do you want to leave?" I asked and she shook her head.

"I can explain it better than you can," she told me and I nodded.

"There are quite a few reasons that I was assigned to protect and look over Bryce. Some are going to be for her to tell but the other reason is more complicated." I told them. "Bryce isn't a normal human being. She's different."

"How different?" Carlisle asked and I looked over at Bryce.


BPOV

"How different?" Carlisle asked. Adeline looked over at me and I bit my lip.

"When I was 13 I had this dream. Well, I thought it was a dream. I was having lunch at school and I grabbed my knife to start eating. Well, I had the dream when I touched it. Kind of like a day dream or whatever." I tried to explain and cleared my throat. "So in the dream I saw my mother in the kitchen. She was cutting something up for dinner and I walked in. I asked her what we were having for dinner and she got really mad. She threw the knife at me and it killed me."

"Oh my God." Alice whispered. I saw her tiny hand cover her mouth and I saw Jasper looking at me with wide eyes.

"I got home that after noon and I walked into the kitchen. It was like deja vu." I laughed a nervous laugh. "She was cutting something up and I asked what we were having. She got mad and the next thing I knew, she threw the knife at me. I moved out of the way before it hit though."

"My advisor's told me she was different and that I needed to watch over her. You might have guessed it already but her family life wasn't so great and they wanted her in good condition." Adeline interrupted.

"You can see the future." Carlisle stated with a huge grin. Alice and Jasper were staring at me intently.

"You were expecting us today, weren't you? You knew we would show up." Jasper asked in a whisper. I shook my head.

"No, my visions aren't like Alice's." I told them and everyone gaped at me.

"You have visions too?" Adeline asked. "Wait, how did you know that?" she asked me and I bit my lip. "Oh Lord, Bryce! How many have you kept from me?" she yelled and I flinched.

"A few." I whispered and she scoffed at me.

"Let's keep this civil." Carlisle warned and I smiled. "Please keep going, Bryce. I'm very interested."

"Mine aren't like Alice's. I cannot focus and get a vision. Mine are strictly by touch." I explained and Alice smiled.

"The first day at lunch, when I touched you, you had one then didn't you?" she asked and I cast a wary glance at Adeline.

"Yeah." I answered and flinched, waiting for the explosion to come.

But it did not.

"You said it was a false alarm." she replied calmly and I gaped at her.

"You aren't mad?" I asked and she looked at me confused. My mouth formed into a small O shape and I looked over at Jasper with a smile.

"Thank you." His face showed shock now, as did everyone else's.

"Okay, how much do you know about us?" Edward asked and I smiled.

"I know that Alice has visions and that Jasper can manipulate emotions. I know that you can read minds and that Emmett likes grizzlies." I told him and Emmett laughed aloud.

"Back to the first day." Alice said and turned to look at me.

"I did." I nodded and looked at Adeline. "I didn't tell you because you would have flipped out and tried to make us leave." I explained and she sighed.

"It all depended on what you saw." she told me.

"Bryce, would you tell me more please?" Carlisle asked. He looked like an excited child.

"Well, like the first day at school when Alice touched me, it caught me off guard but I can also look for them. If I try and find a vision it's easier on my body." I explained and Alice made an oh sound.

"So the fainting spells?" she asked.

"The longer they are the more it takes from my energy. And if they catch me off guard. If I'm prepared I can hold them longer and they are clearer." I told her with a smile.

"You said you had one the other day in your room, that's how you got your bruise." Jasper pointed out. "Was that one too?" he asked. I smiled at him and nodded.

"That's another difference between Alice and me." I told them. "I can see the past too."

"Really?" Carlisle and Alice exclaimed.

"But what could you possibly see in the Civil War?" Adeline asked and everyone looked at Jasper.

"I was a soldeir then," he told her and she bit her lip.

"Oh." she whispered. "I didn't think they could go back that far," she sighed.

"I didn't either." I added. "It caught me fast though. I picked the book up and it all flooded."

"What did you see?" Jasper asked curiously. I took a deep breath and pursed my lips together, trying to remember the vision.

"I saw you in uniform. It was some ceremony and everyone's family was there." I told him and he looked shocked.

"I was human then. It was like an admission's ceremony. The day we presented ourselves as soldiers." he explained and Carlisle's eyes shined.

"What else can you do?" he asked. Adeline held her hand up when my mouth opened. She had a serious look on her face and I frowned.

"Bryce, can do more but it's dangerous." she started.

"It is not! I just haven't perfected it yet." I protested.

"It's dangerous. She almost died the one time she tried it." Adeline told them and Jasper stiffened. "She can share her visions. Also, by touch. We tried it once and it took a major toll on her body."

"I would expect so." Carlisle interjected. "The fact that she can see the future and past in her human body, it's extraordinary. Nevertheless, I do suspect it takes a toll on her. But I guess that's why she has you."

"Yes. I try and keep up with all her visions but it seems she has been keeping some from me." her eyes shot daggers at me and I shrugged my shoulders.

They were my visions damn it. I had a right to keep them private.

"So we have vampires, a Guardian Angel and a vision seeing human in our house?" Rosalie asked and everyone chuckled.

"It seems so." Carlisle smiled and looked at everyone. "But there seems to be one more thing we have not discussed." he sighed and looked at me. I cringed, knowing what he wanted to know. It was the same thing that Jasper wanted to know.

Where did my pain come from? Why was I in danger? I looked up at Adeline silently asking her to tell the tale and she nodded.


AliPOV

I knew this was not going to be a good conversation. I did not know what it was going to consist of but I knew it was going to be bad. I had a feeling that after it was all said and done, something would get broken and someone would run off. I also had the feeling that it would be Emmett breaking things and that Jasper would run off. I could already feel his body tense as he soaked in all the emotions in the room. I would hate to have his ability.

I wrapped an arm around Bryce and she let me pull her to my side. I rested my chin on her head and breathed in her honey sweet smell. It was actually calming.

"As I said before, Bryce's past is difficult. If you thought my story was bad, you'd best leave now." Adeline warned. I felt Bryce tense and I pulled her closer.

"I was given orders to over see Bryce when she first started having visions at 13 years old. Everyone was surprised that she has such a real and true gift and they wanted her to be safe. However, it wasn't the only reason was sent to her." Adeline told us.

"Bryce was born December 15th 1990 in Las Vegas, Nevada. Her mother, Carline, was a stripper and an alcoholic. Before she met Bryce's father, Charles, she was married and had a son, Kevin. He was four years older than her and one mean boy. Her father was not any better either. He loved to abuse drugs and barely stayed sober.

"They never really paid attention to Bryce while she was growing up. It wasn't until she was older that they took notice."

My skin crawled when she said this and then I heard a deep guttural growl. My head snapped over to the piano bench where Edward was on his feet with his teeth gleaming and off for show. I half expected Adeline to flinch but when I looked into her brown eyes, they mirrored Edward's pure anger.

"Kevin was a cruel boy and when Bryce went to her parents, they called her a liar. It all happened at once. Charles started to hit her and Kevin kept up his game. Carline just watched and stayed quiet." Adeline whispered and you could hear a pin drop fall as she let those words sink in. The pieces started to fall together and I tensed.

I was not so sure that I wanted to hear the rest of this.

"From then on, Bryce was in and out of the ER. She had broken ribs, a broken arm, a leg, and a fractured jaw. Between them, they did some damage to her. Each time I was there but there was not much I could do. I had to wait until they left her alone to intervene. That part killed me," she confessed.

"Why couldn't you stop them?" Emmett growled. This was all a sore subject for Emmett. Even after all the years that he and Rose had been together, he was still utterly disgusted and pissed off at what happened to her when she was human.

"I couldn't just pop in there and yell at them to stop. They were not too sure what to do about it just yet. I think they wanted to hold off and try to build up a case and put all three of them in jail." Adeline told us. My brows furrowed.

"They?" I asked. She sighed and nodded.

"The people I get my orders from. They are a group of Angels we call the Counsel." she explained.

"So you watched as they beat her to a pulp?" Edward hissed and Adeline glared at him.

"I had no choice! Do you think I liked watching her father smack her around or watching Kevin touc-"

"Don't you fucking say it!"

The room fell silent. I was hesitant in looking over at him but I had to. If it was at all possible, he was almost red with anger and he was shaking. His golden eyes were gone and they were the darkest black I had ever seen on him. I knew his explosion was not because of everyone else's emotions. No, this was all him.

Jasper Hale was far beyond angry. He utterly and terrifyingly pissed off and disgusted.

"Don't finish that." he warned. I could see the veins in his neck starting to swell and in a flash, he was gone.

We stared after him but no one, except Bryce, attempted to move. I grabbed her as soon as she was off the couch. Her head snapped back to look at me and I saw the tears that were in her eyes.

"He's mad," she whispered and I nodded. "God, I knew I should have left." she cried and suddenly fell into my arms. I was confused.

"Why would you leave?" I asked and rubbed her back.

"He's disgusted with me!" she exclaimed and everyone's head turned to her. All eyes were wide. "I knew he would be. How can he not be?" she cried again. I slowly started to move toward the back door where Jasper had just left but Adeline tried to stop me.

"Let Alice talk to her." Carlisle spoke up and grabbed her arm. "We should talk more privately anyways." he reassured her with a smile. She reluctantly walked off with my parents. The last glance I had of the room before I left I saw Rose trying to calm Emmett down as he punched the walls and I saw Edward staring intently at the ground with a solemn expression on his face.

"Let's get some air." I whispered in Bryce's hair and she nodded. I walked her to the tiny creek that ran through our back yard and sat her down on the grass. Her knees drew up her her chest and she wrapped her arms around them.

"I don't want you to say you're sorry. I'm tired of hearing it." she whispered and I smiled.

"I wasn't going to." I confess and she turned her head to look me.

"Thank you." she breathed and I nodded.

"But I do want to talk." I told her hopefully and she nodded her head. "What did you see that first day?" I asked and she laughed a little.

"I saw us in a park or something." she told me and I grinned. "You were shining and I was laughing. It was great."

"I saw it too." I told her and she smiled. "I also saw a winter one. Have you seen that one?" I asked.

"The snow angel?" she clarified and I clapped my hands happily.

"Wow, this is great." I gushed. "I never thought I''d meet someone who had my talent, especially a human. But this is great."

"Alice?" she asked and I looked over. Her smile was gone. "Where's Jasper?" I looked at the vast forest in front of me and sighed.

"He's not too far away." I answered and she slowly got to her feet.

"If I start walking, will he find me?" she asked and I stood up beside her. I focused for a minute and sighed.

"Yes, but Adeline won't be happy about me letting you go somewhere alone." I told her and she waved her hand dismissively. "Go ahead and go. They are discussing you more and I have a few more question myself." She smiled at me and before I knew nit, she was in my arms and I was hugging her back.

"Thanks, Alice." she whispered and I patted her back lightly. "Be sure to tell Edward to keep his mind to himself." she warned. I laughed aloud as she took off in a sprint into the forest.


JPOV

I could not take it anymore. Between the feelings that were circulating in that room to the words that were coming out of Adeline's mouth, the words that spawned such cruel and sick images in my head of that beautiful blond girl and her family, it was all too much. I had to get out. I could feel the sadness coming from Bryce when I left and almost turned back but I could not. I figured Alice would explain to her the enormity of the emotions and eventually I would apologize.

Of all the things that floated in my head, all the theories I had for what caused her pain, never would I have guessed that someone, her own family, would have hit her and touch…

It was too much.

"Jazz?"

My head snapped over to a tall oak tree and I saw Bryce standing next to it. I did not even hear her coming. I stared at her for a second and tried to focus on her feelings.

She was nervous and ashamed.

This made my blood boil for two reasons. One was that she felt ashamed because of what they did to her and the other was that I had brought out that shame in her when I left.

"I apologize for leaving that way." I told her and looked away. I heard the twigs snapping as she made her way over to me. "I was in no way trying to hurt or upset you. I was simply overwhelmed."

"It's a lot to take in," she agreed and I slowly sat down on the ground. Her warm body was next to mine a moment later ad I suppressed a shiver.

We sat there for a while, just looking around and enjoying the silence. It wasn't uncomfortable but it wasn't comfortable. I wanted nothing more than to take her in my arms and hold her but I was afraid to. I was afraid to touch her honestly. The last thing I wanted to do was scare her off by a mere touch but I knew that would be a possibility. She was harmed and touched in ways no woman...no girl should ever have to endure and now she lived in fear of a handshake or a loud voice.

"I started reading the book," she announced and I looked over at her. I was confused for a second but remembered giving her the journal in French a day ago. "You didn't think I would read it, didn't you?" she asked with a knowing smile. I chuckled lightly and shook my head.

"Not everyone is intrigued by the Civil War like I am but I'm biased." She laughed and I bowed my head to hide the huge smile on my face. She was calmer now and comfortable. No nerves, no fear, no pain.

"I told you I was interested," she reminded me and I wagged a finger at her.

"You were being cryptic with clues." I corrected and she laughed again.

"Yes, that is true. But I know I'll read it eventually so why not start now?" she grinned and I stared at her. Her bright smile slowly faded into a shy one and her cheeks turned a light pink. I turned away after a minute and she stretched her legs out in front of her.

"Their dead." she declared and I looked at her oddly.

"Who?" I asked.

"My family." she clarified and my eyes widened. "That's why I'm with Adeline. Well, that is why she had to reveal herself to me. Someone attacked me and my family that night and before they could finish me off, Adeline swooped in and we took off."

"Who did it?" I asked, trying to sound casual. On one hand, I was happy that they were gone and would never hurt her but on the other hand, I was mad that someone got to them before me.

"Not sure. I don't remember the night and Adeline didn't stay long enough to figure it out." she shrugged. "The police never caught them and they still consider me missing."

"That's why you changed your names and try to stay low." I stated. The picture was becoming more and clearer with each passing minute.

"Yep." she nodded and popped the P at the end. "Ade and her people think the person still wants me and is looking for me. I'm not sure why but they do. I think they are keeping something from me." she said and looked over at me.

"Maybe they want to keep you safe." I told her and she smiled.

"They just don't want me to know," she protested with a smile. "They won't be the ones protecting me when the time comes." she smiled and I returned it.

"How do you know that there will be a time?" I asked.

"I can feel it. I have not seen it but I can feel it. Through the visions I get from the future, I can tell that something has happened. I'm not sure what or when but it will happen." she declared again and I nodded.

"Do you think you will see it before it happens?" I asked.

"I'm sure I will. I will see something eventually but me not seeing it now is only telling me that I have a little bit of time." she smiled. "I can rest easy for now."

"There won't be a time that you won't rest easy." I growled softly. "I'll make sure of that." Another bright smile from her.

"I know you won't."


In the arms of an angel
Fly away from here
From this dark cold hotel room
And the endlessness that you fear
You are pulled from the wreckage
Of your silent reverie
You're in the arms of the angel
May you find some comfort there
You're in the arms of the angel
May you find some comfort here

-Arms Of An Angel by Sarah McLachlan