A/N: I know it's been almost two weeks since I've last updated. I'm sorry, I was just extremely busy.
I had to change Bella's power in order for the rest of the plot to come together, or else it just wouldn't make sense. So now she can read minds and emotions. Sorry if this upset any of you. If you want an explanation, one is included in Chapter 1: Car Crash.
RECAP (EMILY POV)
Right before lunch, we went to our lockers to stuff our books from the morning classes into the locker and pick up the books for the afternoon classes.
I asked, "Hey Rurik, why don't you eat with us today?"
He said, "Who's 'us'?"
"Just my family."
"Your family as in all six of your siblings."
"You can bring your folks over too. Edward wanted to meet them because he 'wants to know exactly whom his little sis is befriending'."
"If I were to assume Edward is the most protective of your brothers..." he trailed off.
"...you would be absolutely correct," I finished off.
"Do you think all of us could fit at a table?"
"Don't be ridiculous. There's only ten of us."
"Alright, let's go get Adrian and Lina."
RURIK POV
I was afraid that she might know about my family's secrets. Sure, everybody thought Adrian and Lina were attractive, except maybe me. I wasn't into incest. Even though he would flirt, or rather charm, nonstop, he was utterly loyal to his wife, or as the rest of the world saw it, his fiancée.
Every school we went, Adrian would introduce me as his brother and Lina as his recently orphaned fiancée (you don't keep a male of any even somewhat monogamous species away from his mate under any circumstances). Seeing as how I looked almost exactly like him, people believed it without thinking twice about the difference between our complexions. Everybody except Emily.
She asked, and I made up some random thing about being a genetic freak. I don't think she had completely believed it, but she didn't bring it up again.
Adrian and Lina were at their lockers in the senior hall. Their (they had the same schedule) "before lunch" class was at the end of another hallway, so they had a long way to go and they had to do it all at "human speed", which was believable but just barely. Speed and stealth are vampire instincts.
We caught up with them just as they were pulling out the books for the class after lunch because even though they could race to their lockers and back in time or just carry all their books everywhere, they had to act human.
I was the only one in the family who didn't have to act. Even though I was weaker and slower than both of them, I was still stronger and faster than most humans. That's what happens when you spend all your life under the care of teenage-minded vampires.
Adrian called, "Yo, Sladester, wassup? See you got your girl with you." Lina walked with him, her books in his hands.
I replied, "Adrian, she is not my girl, but her brother did threaten to beat me up unless we all ate lunch with them. Now would you let your favorite human get beaten up?"
Emily's eyes widened, but I tried to give her an 'everything will be alright' look. I think it worked because she visibly relaxed.
Lina answered for Adrian, "Of course, he wouldn't. So Emily, how many brothers do you have?"
Not like Lina didn't already know; she was a tracker and her vampire allure allowed her to find out the secrets of a person. She used her tracking mostly when somebody was following one of us.
Emily responded, "Three, or three who I can count as brothers, and three sisters too. My parents took them all in."
Adrian, who could easily calm anyone down, smiled and commented, "So your parents have seven teenagers to take care of."
Emily responded, "You speak as if you weren't one."
She couldn't possibly know that they were vampires, could she? But then again, Adrian and Lina were talking about there being vampires in the school; they said something about smelling something that wasn't sweet like human blood or gross like werewolf blood, but something that smelled vaguely like they smelled to each other. Of course, I, being human, could not distinguish any distinct scents.
Lina and I could tell Adrian's chuckle was forced. "I'll legally be an adult in about six weeks; I think I'll start enjoying the role now." I could see in his eyes that he was scared.
"Adrian, I'm hungry. Since you're the adult, get me something to eat," I said.
Emily joined me and said, "Yes, I'm famished."
Adrian, all tension gone from his face, laughed again and said, "Let's go get you little ones something to eat."
I grumbled, "I'm not little."
OoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOo
When we got to the cafeteria, Emily and I quickly got into the long line. Today it was moving a little faster than usual, for which I was thankful. Every time I'd think about asking Lina to start making me lunch, I'd also think about all the problems with forgetting it and squishing it and finally decide that buying it was easier.
We were out of the line in five minutes, and Emily led us over to the table where her family was sitting. Six people were already seated with trays in front of them, food half-eaten. So maybe they weren't vampires, just really pale people, except for the fact that vampires could eat vampire food.
"Hey Edward, this is Rurik and his family," Emily introduced us.
The guy she called Edward stood up and said in a formal tone not befitting his outward youth, "Pleasure to meet you. I am Edward Cullen."
"Adrian Slade."
Lina looked thoughtful for a second and then exclaimed, "Cullen, like Carlisle Cullen by any chance?"
Adrian had absolutely no idea what Lina was talking about; Edward looked a little taken aback before he responded, "Yes," a little unsure.
"Do you believe in vampires?" Lina asked. I could tell this was a veiled attempt at trying to figure out whether or not they were vampires; if they didn't believe in vampires, they couldn't possibly be vampires.
Adrian, surprisingly, stayed silent and allowed them to answer.
Another one of Emily's brothers, the brawny one, said, "Of course, we do. Only fear of vampires kept Emily in her bed when we were younger."
A faint pink blush covered Emily's cheeks. "Emmett, that and the sandman."
Lina once again asked, "Do you know Dr. Carlisle Cullen?"
Emmett responded, "Yeah, he adopted us."
I chose now to look up into their eyes and saw five pairs of topaz eyes glaring at Emmett.
A/N: So there you have it. The Slades all have their suspicions of the true nature of the Cullens. Lina is a tracker, so I figured she would know one of the most prominent names in the vampire 'race'. It's mentioned somewhere that the Cullen clan is the biggest after the Volturi.
