Disclaimer: I am not Stephenie Meyer and I do not own Twilight or the characters featured here. I'm just using them for my own devious ends. :) Please read and review...and enjoy!

Alice turned out to be elusive. She seemed to have disappeared and Bella searched for nearly half an hour before she gave up. She ended up sitting in the living room, staring at the floor unhappily. Edward had disappeared just as thoroughly as Alice had and Bella was feeling very left out. She was sure that they were up to something, but what it was, she couldn't even begin to guess at. She had been staring at the floor for quite some time when she heard someone enter the room.

"Hello," said a quiet voice behind her. Bella turned to see an unfamiliar male striding across the floor towards her. He was tall, with light brown hair, and looked to be in his early twenties physically. He was as graceful as Alice in his movements and Bella couldn't help but stare as he danced toward her. She offered him a small smile as he took a seat across from her.

"Hi," she said as brightly as she could. "You must be Eleazar."

He smiled and nodded slowly, a brilliant smiling lighting his pale face. "Yes. I am Eleazar. Jasper has told me a great deal about you."

Bella smiled, slightly embarrassed. "Whatever he's been telling you, I swear it's not true."

Eleazar laughed. "So he was lying when he said that you are not attracted to human blood?"

"Well…not about that," she amended.

"Tell me about it," he said, curiosity lighting his eyes.

"There's not much to tell," she admitted. "The night I…woke up, I ran out of the house so I could go think in the woods. As I was sitting there, a bear came along and I had never smelled anything so heavenly. Later on, after I learned that an animal smelling good is not normal, we tested out my ability and found that I am actually repulsed by the scent of human blood."

"Fascinating," Eleazar whispered. "Absolutely amazing."

Bella frowned, feeling rather annoyed. "I don't understand why everyone thinks it's so amazing," she said broodingly. "It's not anything like Edward being able to read minds or Alice seeing the future. It's actually rather boring."

Eleazar shook his head, smiling. "Jasper told me you like to underestimate yourself. It really is an amazing gift, Bella. I've been a vampire for nearly 200 years, and studying vampire abilities for almost as long, and I've never seen anything like your ability. Most abilities, those that are above and beyond the norm, are deeply rooted in physical or cognitive abilities, such as precognition and being able to manipulate emotions. Your ability, however, seems to be an enhancement of your genetic make-up. Tell me…were you adverse to the sight of human blood when you were still human?"

Bella thought for a moment. "No. Not the sight of human blood. It was the smell of blood that always got to me. It was like rust and salt…and it never failed to make me sick. I can't count the number of times I fainted because of it." She broke off as she looked at Eleazar's shocked face. "What?" she asked.

"Amazing," he reiterated. "You could smell blood, even as a human? That's very atypical. Human's can't smell blood."

Bella frowned again. "Edward said the same thing when I told him that."

"It's quite unusual," Eleazar said. "But that seems to be the story with you, Isabella Swan. You are a very unusual individual."

"Thanks?"

Eleazar laughed again. "You're welcome. Now," he said, getting to his feet. "I believe you aren't going to want to talk to me much longer. Edward and Alice have returned and I'm sure you're going to want to pounce on them the moment they step in the door."

"Thanks, Eleazar." Bella smiled at him warmly. "It was wonderful talking to you. We'll have to do it again sometime soon."

Eleazar smiled as he glided from the room and Bella could feel the makings of a great friendship there. The next moment, however, she scowled angrily. She could hear Edward and Alice in the driveway and she stood as she heard them come in the door and start toward the living room. She could hear them talking as they came nearer and she listened intently.

"…you don't just ask her, Edward," Alice was saying.

"Because I want it to be special, Alice," was his short reply. "Now be quiet. I'm sure she can hear us."

Bella growled and she heard Alice laugh and Edward sigh. She was crouched down, still growling, when Edward rounded the corner and came into the room. True to Eleazar's prediction, she pounced. Edward fell to the floor with a thunderous crash and Bella put her hands around his wrists and held him down in her iron grasp. She put her knees on the floor on either side of him and brought her face very close to his. His eyes were wide with shock and she smirked at him triumphantly. Alice laughed gleefully from the hallway.

"You're next, Alice," Bella shouted, never taking her eyes from Edward's face. Alice merely laughed again and pranced down the hallway and up the stairs. Bella distantly heard a door shut and she returned her focus to Edward, who was staring up at her warily. He opened his mouth to speak, but Bella's furious snarl silenced him.

"Where have you been?"

Edward's wariness melted away and a dazzling smile took its place. Bella fought to keep her angry expression.

"Out."

"Out where?"

"Shopping, with Alice." His smile widened and she forced herself to shift her gaze to his forehead, determined to keep her train of thought.

"What were you shopping for?"

Edward's eyes sparkled. "You'll find out later tonight," he said evasively. Bella frowned, but loosened her hold on his wrists just slightly. Edward took the opportunity to switch positions with her and suddenly she was the one pinned against the floor. Her breathing was ragged as Edward's body pressed her into the floor. Edward grinned devilishly.

"That's not fair," Bella said breathlessly. "You're keeping something from me."

"Don't worry, love," he said, kissing her forehead gently. "You'll know soon enough."

Edward pulled himself up and extended his hand to Bella. He pulled her up from the floor and then put his arms around her and hugged her to his chest. She closed her eyes, sighing as she breathed in his sweet scent. The comfortable moment was fast becoming electrically charged, but it was broken a moment later when Alice suddenly called out.

"Edward, it's time."

Edward sighed and Bella huffed angrily.

"Alice always picks the worst moments to intervene," she complained. Edward grinned.

"I agree, but she's actually right. It is time."

"Time for what?" Bella asked.

"Time for you to come with me," said Alice from the doorway. "I've got to get you ready for tonight."

Alice danced over and seized Bella's arm. Bella waved at Edward glumly as Alice dragged her out the door and up the stairs to her and Edward's room. Bella barely had time to register the huge pile of shopping bags on the bed before Alice had hauled her into the bathroom and locked the door behind her. Bella gasped in astonishment as she gazed around the room.

The bathroom was huge. Bella guessed that it was roughly three times the size of her bedroom at Charlie's house. There was a huge Jacuzzi-like tub over in the corner. The sink was also huge and the countertops around it were made of white marble. The décor was much the same as the bedroom – soft blues and creamy whites. There was a small toilet in the corner and Bella frowned at it. As far as she knew, vampires didn't use the toilet. Alice noticed the direction of her gaze and grinned.

"We have to keep up appearances," she explained. "And, plus, if we ever wanted to sell a house it would have to have all the necessary commodities for humans."

"Does that happen very often? Selling your houses, I mean."

Alice shook her head. "No. The Denali coven has been here in this house for about 90 years. Kate is something of an interior designer, like Esme, and she goes on renovation sprees ever 10 years or so. I imagine she'll be redecorating sometime soon. When we move, we usually keep the house, just in case we ever want to return. We didn't sell the house in Forks for that reason. We may return there someday."

Bella smiled briefly at the thought, but then her expression became thoughtful agian.

"Where were the Denali before they were in Denali?"

Alice began unloading things out of a drawer under the sink as she spoke while Bella watched and listened in amazement. "Somewhere in Europe, I think. But they were still called the Denali coven even then. Tanya, Kate, and Irina were all here in Alaska long before any of us were even born. Long before Carlisle was born, even."

"And where were you all at before Forks?" Bella asked as Alice began brushing her hair.

"We lived here in Denali for a while and, before that, we were in Michigan, and before that, Maine. Beyond that, I don't know exactly where Carlisle and the rest were because they were in Maine when Jasper and I found them."

"Found them?"

Alice nodded, smoothing some mousse into Bella's hair and taking a curling iron to it. "Yes. Jasper and I were neither one changed by Carlisle – I met Jasper in Philadelphia. I knew he was coming," she added, smiling fondly as she picked out the curls she had just finished rolling. "I had seen Carlisle and his family in a vision and Jasper and I set off together to find them."

"Scared the hell of them, too," Edward said through the door. Bella jumped as Alice turned to glare in his direction.

"Go away, Edward," she growled, hopping up onto the counter and beginning to apply make-up around Bella's eyes. "You're not allowed to see her yet."

"Don't worry," he said evenly. "I'm not going to peek. I'm just grabbing a change of clothes."

Alice frowned and concentrated for a moment. Then she broke into a happy smile. "That's perfect, Edward!" she squealed, bouncing up and down, but still managing to apply mascara to Bella's eyelashes perfectly.

Edward chuckled and Bella distinctly heard his shirt hit the floor in the bedroom. She was sure that her still heart was going to start pounding again. Alice raised an eyebrow knowingly.

"Are you torturing her, Alice?" Edward asked after listening for a moment. "Her breathing is as ragged as her old night shirt."

Alice watched, intensely amused, as Bella's cheeks turned pink. "I think you're torturing her more effectively than I ever could," she laughed. Bella muttered incoherently under her breath about annoying older sisters. Alice laughed harder.

"I'll see you in a bit, Bella," Edward said through the door. Bella smiled.

"See you," she said softly as she heard their bedroom door open and shut. She sighed then and glanced over at Alice who had just gained control of her laughter. Grinning brightly, Alice seized Bella's arm.

"You'll see him soon enough," she said, dragging Bella toward the bedroom. "Now, come on. I want to show you your new wardrobe!"

A/N: A long chapter, I know. :D But the next chapter is the big one, the one where you find out what Edward is hiding! No playlist for this chapter. I was too inspired to be bothered choosing music. hehe.

Oh and just one more thing. So many of you put this story on alert, but you've never reviewed! There are 88 alerts on this story. Surely I can do better than an average of 11 reviews per chapter. I don't really mind, but I would love to know what all my lovely readers think of this story! Thanks for reading and, please, review!! :D