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Edward POV

I never expected to fall in love, and I definitely did not expect to fall in love with a human. My family liked to be around humans and tried to blend in as much as possible. But we didn't mingle with them or befriend them; it just wasn't wise or safe. Humans couldn't know about our kind, it went against the rules of the vampire code.

Katherine caught my eye the first time I saw her as she walked across the school parking lot. What initially drew me to her was not her beautiful shiny shoulder length black hair or her curvy long legs or her bright blue eyes, but because I could not read her mind. It drove me mad not knowing what she was thinking. We soon discovered that Alice could not see me and what I was doing when I was around Katherine.

I spent weeks talking to her and getting to know her. Before I realized it, I was in love. Of course this was a problem. Katherine was a human, and I was a vampire. I could not tell her what I was. If I spent too much time with her, then she would begin to put the pieces together, and figure it out on her own. I could not be so selfish as to do that to my family. We would have had to relocate; everyone was happy living here. I decided that I was going to end our friendship, but fate stepped in.

Katherine was standing on the corner waiting to cross the street. Suddenly, out of nowhere, a car that was driving too fast skid on some black ice and headed straight for Katherine. I could not stand there and let her die. I ran at vampire speed and knocked her out of the way before the car could crush her.

Luck was on my side. Everyone rationalized what they thought they saw, thought that I was standing next to Katherine, and pushed her out of the way.

Of course, Katherine didn't fall for that story. She wouldn't back down from what she knew she saw. I was relieved that she was so stubborn. She did her research, and when she realized what I was, she confronted me about it. She still wanted to be my friend.

I started bringing her over to my home and we hung out with my family. Eventually, she won everyone over, even Rosalie, who had never before had any compassion or a kind thought for a human. The more we hung out the more I realized that I wanted to spend the rest of my life with her. I was in love. It had been a hundred years and I had finally found my soul mate.

I eventually shared my feelings with Katherine. I was pleased to know that she felt the same way. To me it was an easy solution, once Katherine graduated from high school we would change her, then we could get married and spend forever together. It was simple to me; she was a ward of the state, and she didn't have any siblings or other family or friends that would even realize that she was gone.

Katherine however, did not want to be changed. She made it clear that she loved me and my family. She didn't consider us monsters, but she enjoyed being human. Maybe in a couple of years she might have changed her mind, but for now she was content with the way things were. I of course, did not agree. It was dangerous allowing Katherine to remain human and be in our world. If it was found out that she knew about us, it would be disastrous, and there was her safety to consider.

Katherine would not budge on her decision. She graduated six months later and we were married. During our honeymoon, Katherine gave me a wonderful gift. She promised that when we went back home, I could change her.

Her only stipulation was to allow her one last human experience; she wanted us to make love while she was still human. Of course, I wanted to tell her no. What Katherine desired was just too dangerous. I could so easily hurt or kill her, but I loved her so much. I could not deny her, so I gave in…

On our honeymoon she conceived. She refused to listen to reason and allow Carlisle to abort the monster that was growing inside of her. She had too much faith in me that when the time came we would be able to save her and the baby. She was so wrong. Yes, we saved the baby, but she died.

I was devastated. I blamed our child for her death. I could not even look at the baby. When I would hear the baby cry, the sound would make me cringe.

As the weeks went on, I began to bury myself in self loathing. I told myself that I was a monster and even though I went out of my way to go against my natural tendencies I still managed to kill a human. I began to ask myself why I should fight what I was meant to be. I made a choice to leave my family and go out into the world and be what I was meant to be, a predator, a stalker, a monster.

I lived that life for eighteen years and then suddenly I realized that I was not a monster because I was a vampire but because of the choices that I made. I walked away from my family and my child. I decided to search for them and hopefully they would be willing to forgive me.

That was six months ago. I'd managed to not talk about what my life was like while I was gone. But I couldn't hide from the horrors of my past any longer. There was one action that I did that could cost my family dearly. I just found out that we were moving back to Forks.

Carlisle POV

I was in my study sitting at my desk reading when I heard a knock on the door. I looked up and said, "Come in."

The door slowly opened and my son Edward walked through the door. He had his head down and he flopped into the chair in front of my desk. Ever since Edward had come back I didn't know exactly what I felt toward him. He was always a loner and he seemed to enjoy living in a state of depression, but when Edward met Katherine everything about him changed.

Katherine made Edward happy and he began to look at his vampire life with new eyes. She was the perfect mate for him, and we were so excited that she was a part of our family. Her death took a toll on every one of us. We all loved her very much and to see the pain that Edward was going through was almost too much for us to bear.

It was sad to say, but it was a relief when he left. We all thought that he would leave for a couple of months and once the grieving process ran its course he would come back. After all, he had a child to raise. Even though he'd lost Katherine, he still had a part of her left to love and cherish.

We were all devastated when Alice had a vision of Edward as he stalked and killed a human, and from that moment until now Alice had not been able to see any part of his future.

Edward had gone out of his way to make up for all of the hurt and worry he caused us over the years and he truly regretted leaving his child for us to raise. But when I looked at Edward I didn't know how to feel about him anymore. He came back different. He couldn't read minds anymore, but somehow he'd blocked Alice from seeing his future and he claimed that he didn't know how that was happening. Jasper couldn't manipulate his emotions, and he was able to come into a room undetected. Unless he made his presence known he was invisible.

My son had been very secretive about his life away from us and that had made me uneasy. I sighed and said, "What can I do for you, son?"

Edward did not raise his head but he raised his right hand and pinched the bridge of his nose and said, "I don't think that I will be traveling with you to Forks."

Edward took me off guard with his statement, I stood up and walked around the desk and sat on the edge and asked, "Why?"

"I don't want to be the cause of a war between you and the Quileute Tribe."

"I don't understand Edward, why would you coming with us to Forks cause a war?"

"Several years ago I was passing through Forks; I had no intention of feeding there. I just remembered it being a place that we lived before. I was curious to see what it looked like seventy years later but as I walked though the woods I ran across a young woman and her child. I had planned to just go in the other direction but the wind shifted and I caught their scent.

"The child's scent was like a drug to me. I couldn't resist her. I had never killed a child, but I was going to that day. To make matters worse, I wanted her mother, too. I wanted to change her and make her my mate. I was tired of killing alone. I wanted someone to share my misery with. But a Quileute woman came to their rescue. She cast some kind of spell on me that caused me to retreat. I followed their scent and waited a couple of days to finish what I started but the mother and child were gone.

"From what I could tell she did not tell her husband what she saw but the Quileute knew about what I did. She even referred to the treaty and I told her that I was no longer a part of the Cullen family. I don't want to cause a problem for the rest of you so I'll just stay here and decide what I want to do next."

"Edward, I wish that you would have told me about this sooner. This does complicate things but you are part of this family and we will deal with this together. I will get in contact with the chief of La Push and we will take it from there. You just rejoined us and there is no way that you could leave Chase again."

Edward POV

Of course I could not leave Chase again; I didn't deserve my child's forgiveness, yet it was given to me. I was so heartbroken and incapable of caring about anything when Katherine died that I hadn't considered how my actions would affect Chase.

Katherine and I created a miracle, but at the time I didn't appreciate it.

I was also ashamed to admit that I never took the time to remember what the sex of my child was before I left. I couldn't get past the hate that I harbored, knowing that my human wife died giving birth to our son.

When I saw Chase for the first time, I knew who he was right away. I could see Katherine and myself so clearly in his features. He had my wild bronze hair; high cheek bones, straight nose and full lips, but he had Katherine's ice blue eyes and her olive skin. Chase was about 6'2 and he was muscular, but slim like me. His appearance was breathtaking. He surpassed the beauty of any vampire I'd ever seen. He looked human, but at the same time he looked supernatural.

Over the next couple of days, I found out a lot about hybrids and was told that Chase reached his maturity by the age of seven. He had a heartbeat that was faster than a human's, his temperature was a few degrees below a shape shifter and blood ran through his veins. Chase slept every night and was able to eat human food as well as feed on blood.

Chase had marble skin like a vampire and he was venomous; he did not sparkle in the sun like we did, but his skin glowed somewhat in the sunlight. He didn't have to worry about being under cloud cover. Chase was immortal like us. To me, he had the best of both worlds; he could experience being a human and a vampire. His life was not taken from him but this was what he was born into.

Chase and I got along great. Chase accepted my return happily. He reminded me of the Edward that I was before Katherine died. He was a lover of classical music and he could play the piano better than I could. Chase loved to read books and he also liked to write. He tried to find the positive in every situation, and when he was in a room you couldn't help but to want to see life through his eyes.

Chase was a very gifted shield. If he chose, you could be made invisible. He could push his invisibility shield around anyone nearby. As long as you were under his protection, anyone outside of the shield would be powerless to harm you.

Carlisle speculated that some of the gifts that I now had may have always been there, but they were dormant. For whatever reason, when I lost my ability to read minds the other talents surfaced.

One night I took Chase for a walk, and I answered all of his questions concerning the relationship between his mother and me. I was honest with him about my feelings towards him and my reason for leaving. He was hurt but gracious enough to understand how I felt. All that mattered to him was that I was here now and that I wanted to be a part of his life. It was going to take a while for me to accept that I deserved my son's love.

Chase POV

Sometimes I wished that my family did not desire to mingle with humans. It made life so complicated. We always had to be mindful of what we said and how we acted. It was a strange way to think, considering I was half human, but my family was totally vampire so that's was what I considered myself. I had the option of eating food, but I chose not to. I preferred the taste of blood.

Sometimes the human part of me made me feel weak. I had to sleep, and even though I was venomous, if another vampire were to bite me, I would die. I had a heartbeat and blood ran through my veins. I was never allowed to go hunting alone, because my family feared that if I ran across nomad vampires that my half vampire status would not matter to them. They would just view me as an interesting snack.

Of course there was also the Volturi to consider. They knew about me. We took a trip as a family to Italy when I was two years old. At the time I looked ten and my family explained how I came into existence. They wanted it on record that I was not an immortal child and that no rules were broken when I was created. Aro was very interested in me, and when I reached maturity he wanted me to consider being a part of his guard. My family never talked about it, but it was assumed that I would never consider being a part of the Volturi guard. I didn't know, I was undecided about if that was something I would want to do.

Because of something my dad did, our move to Forks, which should have been simple, was made very complicated. Everyone was already concerned about how the Quileute Tribe was going to react to my existence, but now they were worried about my dad also. We had a family meeting and it was decided that Carlisle, my dad, and I would take a trip to Forks and meet with the Quileute chief personally.

Alice, of course, was very frustrated, because she couldn't see the outcome of that meeting since both my dad and I blocked her visions.

I was a well mannered, respectful individual. I had always tried to see the positive in all situations but I was not as good as everyone had portrayed me to be. It was one of my many gifts. My faults just didn't show. I could have massacred a whole orphanage of babies and still would have come out smelling like a peach.

I really didn't want to go to this meeting and be questioned and judged about who and what I was. What right did these Quileute have to look down on us and demand anything from us? They turned into dogs and had anger issues but we were the bad guys...I'm just sayin'.

For the past five years, we had been in Alaska so we decided to drive down. Carlisle had a job at the hospital in Forks. He decided that the best place to meet would be in a public place that could also be private at the same time. So, once we reached the hospital we went to his office and Carlisle made the necessary phone calls. I hoped that the Quileutes would refuse to meet with us. After my grandfather hung up the phone, he looked at my dad and me and said, "Billy Black, Harry Clearwater, and Charlie Swan are on their way here to meet with us. Please, you two, be on your best behavior and no funny business."

Oh great, let the fun begin…

Billy POV

To be honest, I was relieved when Jacob woke up and he was himself again. He did not remember anything about what happened to him on the beach. The last thing he remembered was walking to the beach in the storm and seeing Catori standing along the shoreline. I told him that no one had seen Catori since that day.

Bella experienced the same thing. By the time Charlie got home the day of the storm, Bella was unconscious and she woke up about five minutes after Jacob. Sometimes the best thing to do was not to say anything at all. So every time Jacob had tried to find out why Bella and he had been unconscious for two days and nobody called a doctor, I just chose not to answer him.

I got a phone call from Carlisle Cullen a few minutes ago, informing me that he and his family were moving back to Forks. He wanted to meet with me and go over the treaty. He'd accepted a job as a doctor in Forks, so it was arranged that we would meet in his office. I asked him how many vampires were moving to Forks and he said eight. That was three more than our legends indicated. This had me very concerned. I informed him of who would also be attending the meeting with me and we hung up. I immediately called Harry and Charlie to let them know what was going on.

I realized that the weather went along with the mood of the day. It was cloudy and dark and rainy. That was exactly how I felt at the moment. I felt dark and my anger at what these monsters were about to put my family and friends through poured out of me like the rain bursting from the clouds.

I got myself dressed and made some toast and coffee. I woke Jacob up, and told him that I had some business to take care of in Forks and that I would be back in a while. I also told him not to leave the house for any reason. I didn't want to take the chance of him running into any of the Cullens before I met with them.

I heard Harry's truck pull up and I wheeled myself onto the porch. Harry helped me into the truck and put my wheelchair in the truck bed. He pulled out of the driveway and we were on our way to Forks.

Our ride was quiet because we were both lost in our own thoughts. Our lives were about to change and we were both going through the motions of what that would mean to our families and friends. We pulled into the parking lot and Harry parked next to Charlie's cruiser. Harry got my wheelchair and helped me into it. He then proceeded to push me to the hospital entrance.

Charlie was already waiting for us in the lobby. Poor guy, he looked like he hadn't slept in days. His hair was greyer; he had deep bags under his eyes and worry lines etched between his eyebrows. Charlie nodded toward the hallway on our right and said, "His office is down there."

Charlie began to walk in that direction and we followed. We approached a door that had a sign that said Doctor Carlisle Cullen and Charlie knocked. I was expecting to hear someone say, "Come in." But instead, the door swung open and standing before us was, I assumed, Carlisle.

Charlie jumped back, and placed his hand on his gun. My heart jumped because I thought Charlie was going to let loose and empty his pistol trying to shoot this creature. I couldn't blame Charlie for his reaction though, seeing a vampire up close was a little shocking.

This creature was the most handsome being that I had ever seen. He was about 6'2, muscular build, golden eyes, blond hair, and very pale skin. No matter how handsome this vampire was, I could never forget that he was a killer. Because of his kind, our children were going to have to pay a dear price with their lives.

This vampire looked at us and smiled. "Hello, I'm Carlisle, and I am very pleased to meet you. Please, won't you come in?"

He backed into the office and we came through the door. The office was a nice size. Carlisle walked back behind his desk and sat down. He pointed toward the couch that was along the wall and said, "Please, gentlemen, have a seat."

Charlie and Harry both sat down, but stayed very close to the edge. I wheeled myself in front of his desk and said, "I am William Black, the descendent of Ephraim Black and the current chief of La Push. Sitting on the couch are one of the Councilmen Harry Clearwater and Chief of Police Charlie Swan."

Carlisle went still for a few seconds and began to stare at Charlie. This was making Charlie nervous again, and I could see him moving his hand toward his hip. Carlisle cleared his throat, and while still looking at Charlie he said, "Did I hear your introduction correctly? I am a little confused, why is someone who is not Quileute here for this meeting?"

Charlie's face turned red. He stood up slowly and walked toward the desk. "I'm here because one of the vampires from your coven tried to murder my wife and child. Because of your coven my family was torn apart. I am here to make sure that my family and every other family in Forks and La Push are safe from the likes of you. Someone in your coven exposed your secret and that is why I am here."

I cleared my throat to catch Charlie's attention. He looked at me and I gave him a stern look and jerked my head towards the couch. He said, "Sorry Billy", and walked back to the couch and sat down.

I looked at Carlisle and said, "Our legends record only five of you. Where did the other three come from?"

"Yes, at one time there were only five of us. Seventy years ago it was Esme my wife, Edward, Emmett, Rosalie and I. After we moved away from Forks, another couple joined us, Alice and Jasper.

"Some years back, our son Edward married a human, and she conceived a child. The mother died during childbirth but the infant survived. His name is Chase."

There was silence. None of us expected to hear this craziness. How was it possible for a vampire to father a child?

I began to grip my arm rests very tightly and said in a very strained voice, "You want to bring your sick experiment to Forks and let it loose among our people? To honor the memory of my forefathers I was obligated to allow you to reside here. But I draw the line at letting a half human, half vampire among our family and friends."

Carlisle shook his head and said, "It's not what you think. Yes, he does have vampire qualities but he is also human. His heart beats, he has blood running though his veins, he eats food, and he sleeps. If he is bitten by a vampire the venom would kill him."

I wasn't buying this crap. He said he had vampire qualities. So I asked, "If he bites a human will it change them?"

"Yes."

"Does he drink blood?"

"Yes."

"Is he immortal?"

"Yes."

"Then he is a danger to our people. To me he is more dangerous because he will blend in more. The council is going to have to talk about this, but I do have another question. The vampire that went rogue and began to kill humans, is he back with you?"

"Yes."

"For how long?"

"Six months."

This was unbelievable, was he serious? We were supposed to trust that he had these bloodthirsty killers under control?

Carlisle leaned back in his chair and he said, "Before you meet with your council and make a final decision, Edward and Chase are here. They came with me so that you could see them for yourselves. Is it okay if I call them in?"

"Go ahead."

Carlisle picked up his cell phone and dialed a number. As he continued to look at me he said into the phone, "Edward, you and Chase can come up to my office now."

I hope you liked this chapter. I know I hopped from Bella and Jacob to Edward but you had to know his background to prepare for the next couple of chapters. Like always thank you for the reviews.

Next chapter will have a little Bella-Jacob interaction.