Author's Note: Voila, before New Years!

Have a fabulous last couple days of '09, and see you in 2010, darlings. I'd just like to note that I'm being very good and just gave you the biggest chapter ever! Yes, over 2,000 words.

Super special thanks to my reviewers: Wishes and Words and Etcetera, melaniecullen96, Jilly-Bean-Bug, the little sax that could, Andrea97, JRocksAnime, Eminnis, LordXeenTheGreat, and crazyypervampiregurl

Chapter Music: Light A Way, He Is We

Chapter Nine: Alien

Bella stared at her reflection in the expensive looking mirror in Jasper Whitlock's bathroom. She wasn't quite sure why she was directed to get freshened up, but even a super nose could be tricked into not noticing body odour after so long, she supposed.

Using the plethora of shampoos, conditioners, and body washes available, Bella got clean, washing away the smell of smoke, burning limbs and desert dust under the hot stream of the shower.

She thought back on her fallen comrades, of her slain leader, her invaded home and she was filled with a swell of sadness, a new wave of unshedable tears prickling at her fading red eyes. She could feel the burn eating away at the back of her throat and her fingers curled into claws instinctively, needing to tear into the deliciously soft skin to reveal her lifeline...

Bella shook her head and turned off f the water. She should know better, to get so distracted and to let her guard down so much in hostile territory. After spending so long in war, Bella learned she found it hard to trust, and she didn't trust this situation.

Jasper Whitlock was the reason her human life was snatched.

Maria was the reason she lost her humanity in the sands of the south.

The Volturi were the reason she lost her home.

Only one was accessible and, possibly irrationally, the focus of her emotions.

Bella stepped out of the shower and dried off. Ignoring the clean clothes that had been laid out for her to borrow, she re-dressed in her dirty, stained ones. She trusted them, knew how her limbs moved in them. She would need every advantage now, her military training told her. Don't let them throw you off. Keep the upper hand for as long as you can.

Quirking her head to the side, she listened to the multitude of conversations playing out on the other side of the bathroom door. The nice big one that led her back to the house was having an angry conversation with a woman. They were arguing about her and how she didn't belong in the house and how the girl thought he was being too friendly with Bella. Jasper Whitlock reassured another woman with a Tinkerbelle voice that everything would be okay and how he would help rehabilitate Bella into the Cullen's world. The tall one that looked like he had a stick up his ass was complaining to yet another woman, who soothed him with the tones of a mother. He thought Bella shouldn't be there, that she would be a danger.

Bella flashed a terrifying grin and sauntered into the main room with the other six, her sadness evaporating like a puddle in mid-day summer.

"Thanks for letting me have a shower." Bella said modestly, schooling her face into the most sincere expression she could manage. Jasper frowned, brow furrowing as he looked past Bella, or so it felt like. Almost as if he was trying to x-ray her.

A tall blonde woman, strikingly beautiful, sniffed and scowled, a look of outrage flashing on her Barbie Doll face. "You used my body wash!" She exclaimed, taking a predatory step forward. Was she really going to start a fight over the wonderful smelling gel in the shower? Bella couldn't believe it. In the desert, you fought over prey, shelter and territory. There were never ownership qualms over bath products. Even when she had been human, those things had seemed trivial.

"It was in the shower I was offered to wash up in. I assumed it was allowed that I used it." She replied, injecting just the right amount of venom to be biting, but not enough to provoke physical confrontation.

"Emmett!" She snapped, turning to face the nice, curly haired boy. "You let her do that!"

"How was I supposed to know, Rose? Just, relax. I'll buy you more if you want me to." He offered but she stuck her nose into the air and stalked off.

What an utterly selfish and spoiled girl.

With an apologetic glance to Bella and his coven, Emmett followed after the girl.

"Sorry about Rosalie, she needs some time to get used to the new arrangement." Jasper said, his arm slung around a petite brunette girl. The engagement and wedding rings nestled on the girls left hand brought about a surprising title: Wife.

She'd never met a married vampire couple before.

Stick boy with the red-brown hair stood next to a caramel colour haired vampire, who also had wedding bands on her finger. Were they married as well? No...that didn't feel right. She had too much of a maternal air to be betrothed to someone as young looking as him.

"Let me introduce everyone," Jasper said cordially, probably noticing Bella's probing gaze. "This is Alice, my wife." The small girl waved slightly, but seemed distracted, her odd yellow eyes looking somewhere else. "The woman that just stormed out was Rosalie, she's with Emmett, who chased after her." With as in married as well? A coven filled with married couples. How odd.

"This is Esme, her mate Carlisle is out. He works at the local hospital." The maternal woman smiled gracefully, and Bella tried to return it. That made perfect sense! A vampire working in a hospital. Genius. He had complete access to humans that couldn't fight back. Maybe the medicine in the blood was what caused their eyes to be so odd...

"And that's Edward." Stick Boy didn't have the attachment of his mate's name.

"No missus?" Bella asked, not able to keep the small barb out of her voice. In the company of humans, it would have gone unnoticed, but with the super-hearing bestowed upon them with vampire status, the entire room heard it.

Stick boy stiffened even more, if that were even possible and stuck his nose in the air, rather like Rosalie before she huffed off. "No."

Fabulous comeback, Bella thought sarcastically.

Jasper cleared his throat, and the awkwardness that had descended on them cleared slightly. "Everyone, this is Isabella Swan."

"That's not my name." Bella said on rote, used to having to correct everybody on the use of her full name. Before she could tell them, the entire mood of the room shifted to distrust, as Jasper shifted in nervousness and a special kind of pity filled Esme's eyes.

"Did...Did Maria re-name you?" He asked slowly. Comprehension dawned on Bella. They thought she had been brain washed by Maria? Given a slave name and all that?

She snorted. "No. Even as a human I went by Bella instead of my full name." Jasper rightfully looked embarrassed.

"Would you like me to take you for a tour?" He asked her. No, she didn't really want to go on a tour. She was starting to feel her anger rise again as she thought about his life, with his friendly coven, and his nice house, and how if he had just stayed with Maria, her father wouldn't be dead and she would be the married one, the happy one, human.

But then suddenly, her emotions flip-flopped on her and anger drained away like it was never there and was replaced by a startling bout of curiosity. She wanted to see the house.

"Yes, thank you." She said, startling herself. But she was so curious.

The rest of Jasper's coven melted away, dispersing to resume their regular activities. Bella could still hear Emmett and Rosalie fighting upstairs. Well, Rosalie fought, Emmett tried to placate.

"Well, let's start here. This is the living room." Jasper said. High ceilings, big windows, a glass door that led to a secluded back yard. It was gorgeous. Filled with antique and nouveau furniture, it made Bella's previous base look like a dump. Which it was, but that was beside the point. The room was airy, with bright fresh colours dominating the walls.

"Esme built and furnished the whole thing herself. She's the mother of the family." Jasper explained, leading Bella into the kitchen. Impressive state of the art washing machines and food prepares sat on expensive counters. She sniffed, and count smell human food sitting in the cupboards and fridge.

"Are your eyes so odd because you eat human food? How do you stand it?" She asked, holding her breath as much as necessary. She had only been exposed to the stuff when she made her annual trip to Charlie's. It was disgusting, smelling like rotten eggs and dead carcass and gasoline from when she was human.

Jasper laughed, "No, our eyes are this colour because we drink from animals, not humans." He said, leading her back into the hallways and into a side room, where the only piece of furniture was a gorgeous grand piano.

"But then what is the point of one of yours working in a hospital if not to acquire weak and easy prey?" Jasper coughed in surprise as they made a quick pass of the dining room, where a lovely oak dining table sat, seating eight.

"Carlisle, the head of the family, works there because he cares about people. He wants to help them, so he became a doctor. He's almost completely immune to the smell of human blood now." Jasper explained as they climbed the first flight of stairs.

"Why do you keep calling your coven a family?" They skipped past the first door on the left, because the heated voices of Rosalie and Emmett came from that room, their bedroom.

"Because we are a family, Bella." He said, stopping the tour to look at her intently. "We may be vampires, but we try to live our lives as humans. We love and care about each other, which is why we call ourselves family. Carlisle and Esme are our parents, Alice is my wife, Emmett and Edward are my brothers, and Rosalie is my sister."

It was a bizarre concept to Bella. She only half paid attention as Jasper restarted the tour, showing her Carlisle's study, Esme's workshop, his parent's bedroom, his study, his and Alice's bedroom, up another flight of stairs, a spare bedroom, Edward's bedroom, and finally, the last door on the right. Jasper made to skip it, but Bella's intense curiosity took over, and she moved ahead without him and opened the door.

Inside, millions of hand drawn pictures and sketches adorned the walls, organized into some kind of timeline, which ran around the room, painted in black.

"This is Alice's room. She's been trying to map out the future as best as she can, but it keeps changing." He said, gesturing to the large recycling bin filled with crumpled sketches, futures changed and discarded.

Bella scanned the room, her interest piqued when she spotted dates that hadn't occurred yet. Hydrogen cars officially replace fossil fuelled ones, the first successful human clone. Those and more took place in Alice's future.

"How does she know?" Bella asked, completely engrossed in the drawing of the first Oriental president of the United States in the future.

"You know that some people are born into the vampire world with gifts. Yours in mental silence, yes?" He asked. Bella nodded, well aware that people could be super-powered. It had been one of her tasks to track down those who exhibited early stages of it in their human states.

"Well, we have three super-charged people here, not including Emmett's strength, Rosalie's vanity, Esme's capacity to love and Carlisle's compassion. Alice can see the future as based on other's decisions and Edward can read minds." He explained, painting the picture of a very powerful family.

Bella turned around to face Jasper, confused that he hadn't included himself in his explanation. "And you? What can you do? What made you so special to Maria?"

Jasper shifted uncomfortably. "I'm an empath. I can control other's emotions."

Bella's brow furrowed, confused. So he could make people feel things? Why was he so nervous about that?

Then it dawned on her. Her flip=flopping emotions, how her anger would disappear and would be replaced by something less violent. Her curiosity, her overwhelming grief...

"You've been manipulating me." She growled, and when Jasper didn't deny it, she knew.

And then she attacked.

Author's Note: Oh snap! Yes, yes I did just leave you with a cliffhanger for the new year. Such a meanie, I am.

Anyways, I didn't really edit this, cause I was in a rush to finish before I went to my little nephews first birthday (what a cutie!) and alas, I'm tired and really want to play wii. I think I did okay, oui? I got a little lazy with the house details, but use your imagination :)

Expect a new chapter in...two weeks. Yes, that sounds good. Feel free to abuse me with your words if I forget.

Hope you enjoyed it. Have a fantastic new years, stay safe, and see you in 2010!

-Maggie