Good to know that you all love Embry and Tanya. Without further ado, I give you the consequences of Tanya's mating mark. Thank you for all of your lovely reviews, messages, faves, and alerts! They made me smile over and over again.

This story is AU/OOC/OTT.

All characters belong to Stephanie Meyer. No copyright infringement intended.

Mature readers 18+ only please.

Paul's POV

"Embryyyy!" I heard Tanya shriek. It wasn't a cry of ecstasy either. It was a cry of desperation. I bolted out of my bed, phased, and started running in wolf form across our yard to Peter's house. I noticed that Leah was on my heels as were Felix, Jane, Demetri, and Maggie. When we arrived at the house, Vicky, Jasper, Bree and Riley were at the door. We all bolted inside, Leah and I had phased back to human form, of course, and ran upstairs. Where is everyone?

Demetri flung open Tanya's door where we found her crouched over Embry's prone naked form. "What happened?" he questioned. Everyone was murmuring in the background

"I don't know. I marked him and he...he...he..."

"You marked him?" Leah asked, aghast. "Tanya, vampire venom is poisonous to shapeshifters!"

"I...I...I d...didn't know," she was sobbing uncontrollably now.

Oh my fuck! Oh my fuck! Fuck! Fuck! Holy fuck. Fuck! Fuck! Fuck!

I was completely at a loss. I didn't know what to do.

Leah went to check on Embry. "Shut the fuck up! I'm trying to listen!" We all instantly fell into a dead silence. "His heart's beating and he doesn't seem to be in any distress. Embry! Embry!"

There was no answer from him.

Jasper went to check on him. Tanya began sobbing loudly again. Jasper motioned for us to take her away for a second so Felix grabbed her and held her to him. It looked like he was honing in on Embry's emotions. "You know, if I'm not mistaken; he's changing."

"Changing?" we all blurted simultaneously.

"Yeah, but it's weird. Instead of heating up, he's cooling down. I hate to say this, but we need a doctor that's familiar with vampires."

"We're not calling Cullen!" Leah shouted.

"No, shit, Leah! Do you think I'm that stupid? Don't answer that!"

"Who else do you guys know that's a vampire and has medical training?"

"Marcus," Jane, Felix, and Demetri all stated together.

"Call him."

Twelve hours later...

We were all sitting vigil around Embry and there was still no change in him. Bella, Peter, Rose, Emmett, Heidi, Garrett, and Esme had returned home from their hunt about an hour after our arrival. Jasper had knocked Tanya out using his gift. Bella, Bree, and Esme reluctantly went downstairs to cook brunch for us. Leah had called Quil regarding the situation with Embry. He was on his way.

There was a knock on the door.

"You girls stay put in the kitchen," Peter warned. I went down with Jasper and flanked Peter who opened the door.

"Hello, I'm Marcus Volturi. I was invited." A raven haired vampire in his mid-twenties stood at the door along with a blond haired vampire and a petite native looking vampire with long, braided black hair. The latter two looked to be around Jane's age—maybe eighteen or nineteen at the most.

"Oh, come on in. I'm Peter Whitlock and this is my brother Jasper. This is Paul Lahote, Jane's mate."

"Very nice to meet you all. I've brought only two guard members with me for my trip over. This is Alec, Jane's twin brother, and his mate and wife Huilen."

Jane came barreling down the stairs and ran into Alec's arms to hug him. "Ooh, I missed you so much! You too, Huilen. Have you met my mate, Paul?"

I held out my hand to shake Alec's. Jane grabbed it and sniffed. "Okay, you can shake his hand now. It doesn't smell like his balls."

"Why would his hand smell like his balls?" Alec asked.

"He keeps scratching them."

"Perhaps you've developed a heat rash of some sort due to your high body temperature. I'll examine your testicles later," Marcus stated.

"Dude!" I gasped, horrified. I actually hid behind Peter and Jasper.

"I'm a fully certified physician."

"I'm good, dude."

"You will submit to the examination. That's a royal order!"

Peter stepped in. "Dude, those are his balls!"

"Yes, but frequent scratching alerts me to the fact that there may be a skin condition that needs to be treated."

We heard three voices in the kitchen laughing uncontrollably. Esme was the loudest out of the bunch. I can't believe she was the acting mother of the Cullens at one point. She was the worst out of all of the girls. Since she's moved in, we've all been a victim of her pranks. I mean, for God's sake, I fell for the good ol' bucket over the door frame trick along with Rosalie. We were walking inside after a hard day's work and we both got soaked. Rose was so pissed off that we had to hold her back from ripping Esme apart. Esme simply stuck her tongue out her.

"We'll discuss your genital itch later, bring me to the patient."

We took Marcus Volturi to Embry. He was still lying in bed in the same position that we had left him in. "I need two of you to assist and the rest of you to leave the room. Alec, Huilen, would you two bring my equipment inside and find a place to set it up?"

Pete and I volunteered to stay. Marcus grabbed his medical bag and took Embry's blood pressure and pulse and noted it on a sheet of paper. Then he took out a tourniquet, needle, and syringe and drew a tube of blood from Embry.

"I'm going to go and analyze this sample. If I can draw some blood from you to compare with his, I'd appreciate it."

Shit. Anything for my pack brother. I held my arm out so he could take a blood sample. Marcus took both vials and brought them to Garrett's office where his lab equipment was set up.

About an hour later, there was a knock on the door. This time it was Quil. He had run here in wolf form.

"Ahh...perfect, a smelly wolf. May I have a sample of your blood, too?" Marcus asked a worried and terrified looking Quil. Embry was his best friend and he willingly submitted to the vampire's request. Marcus had taken a sample of Leah's blood a few minutes prior as well.

We were all waiting on edge. We had no idea what was going on with Embry. Bells was sitting in Riley's lap freaking out with worry while Pete and I assisted Marcus to the best of our ability.

"I think I have a general idea of what's going on," Marcus stated. "Peter, you mentioned that Leah, Embry, and Paul have no detectable scent and that we don't smell sickly sweet to them either. I noticed that immediately as well. Now, when Quil walked in, his scent instantly permeated the air. What's it like for you to be in this house with us?"

"Well, I like you guys, but you smell awful."

"Do you detect a scent from Leah, Paul, or Embry?"

"No, I never have. I think they have some sort of genetic mutation."

"Exactly," Marcus grinned. "I compared all of your blood samples and there's a chromosomal peculiarity with Leah, Paul, and Embry's. Are you three related?"

I decided to speak. "Well, Leah and I are descended from Thomas Uley, he never phased, but he carried the wolf gene. She and I are third cousins. We don't know who Embry's father is. Tiffany Call has remained mum about it to this day. We suspect that it's Joshua Uley, Sam's father."

"I'm assuming that he's descended from Thomas Uley as well?"

"Yes, definitely."

"Are there any more wolves descended from Thomas Uley?"

"Just my brother Seth," Leah stated.

"Is there a way to bring Seth and Sam over here?"

"I'll order them here," Quil said. "If they run here in wolf form, they can get here in roughly eleven hours."

Meanwhile, Marcus went to check on Embry. Pete and I went with him. He still hadn't moved an inch, but he appeared comfortable. The three of us kept a vigil over Embry. Hours after the sun faded, Seth and Sam finally arrived. Marcus drew their blood immediately and compared theirs with ours.

"I finally have the confirmation I need. Although, you four and Embry are descended from Thomas Uley, Seth and Sam do not have the chromosomal anomaly that Embry, Leah, and Paul do. For some reason, you three are immune to vampire venom. I don't have an answer as to why because you three have different sets of parents. It may be best for you to look at it from a human standpoint: Why is it that one sibling can be short and plump while the other is tall and slender even though they come from the same set of parents?"

"You said that Embry is also descended from Thomas Uley—how?" Sam asked. We all knew the answer, but I think Sam needed final confirmation.

"Embry is your half-brother, Sam. You share the same paternal DNA."

"Fuck me, my old man was busy."

Marcus continued talking, "Now, what I've discovered is that with Sam, Seth, and Quil's blood; if their blood comes in contact with vampire venom—the cells expire. Therefore, venom is poisonous to you three. In the case of Embry, Leah, and Paul; the only effect vampire venom has on them is that it further mutates their cells and they change into a hybrid vampire. Unlike with humans, the venom doesn't burn, in fact it cools their body temperature down closer to a human level. I suspect..."

"Hey, Bells, what's for breakfast I'm starved." Embry came downstairs stretching his arms over his head. He was still exactly the same only his tan had faded slightly. He was behaving as if he just woke up from a long nap. "What the hell are Sam, Seth, and Quil doing here?"

"Embry, do you feel different?" I asked.

"Yeah, I'm not a virgin anymore. Can you tell?" He grinned hopefully. "Where's my imprint anyway?" Embry opened up the fridge and started downing a gallon of milk from the carton. "Mm...mm...good. Bells, I'm hungry."

Bella went into the kitchen, slapped together the fastest sandwich ever made, and shoved it into Embry's mouth.

"Yum, can I have another one Bells?"

Bella wordlessly started making another one. Meanwhile, Marcus reached into some sort of high tech metal storage case and grabbed a bag of human blood. He found a mug and poured the blood inside and handed it to Embry.

"Thanks, dude." Embry downed the contents of the mug. "Shit! This stuff tastes good. What is it?"

"Human blood," we all answered at once.

"Huh?"

"Embry," Quil asked, "What do you remember from mating with your imprint last night?"

"Quil, man, you're my buddy and all, but that's kind of personal, don't you think?"

"Okay, what do you remember from after you...you were done."

"She marked me, then I marked her before I...before I...holy fuck! She marked me!" Embry started slapping his neck where his mating mark was located. Then, he patted himself down. "Why am I so warm?"

"Open, please," Marcus stated and stuck a thermometer in Embry's mouth. It soon chimed, indicating it was done reading his temperature. "Just as I suspected, 100 degrees farenheit. He's only off by 1.4 degrees from a normal human's temperature."

"Am I human?"

"No, you're a vampire/wolf hybrid. The first of your kind."

Marcus approached him with a long cotton swab and swiped it on Embry's canines. He put some of the sample into a petri dish and some onto a slide and started reading it. "Ah, you're venomous too."

"Huh?" Poor Embry looked perplexed. "What color are my eyes?"

"You look the same Embry. You're just a bit cooler than we are," I explained.

"I've always been cooler than you, asshole!"

"Temperature wise, you dumb fuck!"

"Oh, where's my imprint?"

"We had to knock her out, she was hysterical. She thought you had died." Jasper brought Tanya in and placed her in Embry's arms. Embry cuddled Tanya to his chest. "I'm going to wake her up slowly."

Tanya started stirring awake. She opened one eyelid, then the second, and peered up into Embry's loving eyes. "You're alive."

"Yeah, you can't get rid of me that quickly. I can be really clingy, you know."

"And annoying, too." I decided to add my two cents. Slap! My imprint smacked the back of my head. "Ouch! Jane, that shit hurts."

"You can be so insensitive sometimes, Paul! They were having a touching motherfucking moment!"

"She woke up from a goddamned nap!"

"After thinking she had killed her mate!"

"Christ, Jane, why the fuck do you have to be so fucking sentimental all the time?" Alec joined forces with me.

Zap! He and I were both given one of her mini shocks. "Fuck!" we both screamed.

"You know what's insensitive, Jane? You and your fucking zap happiness. You've got serious issues!" Alec yelled.

What the hell? I stood up to my full height and got in the fucker's face. No one insults my imprint! "Hey! Don't you fucking tell my imprint that she has issues! Only I can tell her that she has issues!"

"Until you marry her, she's my responsibility, asshole!"

"Fine! So be it! Jane! We're tying the knot in Vegas!"

"That's right, brother! Now, what do you have to say for yourself?" Jane screeched.

"Only that I'd better see it with my own eyes." He narrowed his eyes at me.

"Oh, good. We're going to a wedding, then. I love weddings," Huilen chirped happily. "You remember mine and Alec's, don't you, Janey?"

"I don't want anything that lavish, though."

"Oh, this is so much fun! Let's start planning," Rose joined in.

The women became all excited, banded together, and started making wedding plans. Holy shit! I just asked Jane to marry me. How the heck did this happen?

Peter's POV

I was jealous. Insanely jealous. I wanted to marry my mate, but instead that option was taken from me by creepy Carlisle Cullen. Embry was in the same boat. We needed to discuss shit, but we couldn't because most of the girls were going ga-ga over an upcoming elopement in Vegas. I noticed that Bella and Tanya didn't join in the hoopla. They must both feel the same way as I do. Both of them were forced into a marriage unknowingly and, without an annulment, neither of them would ever be able to get married. It was so fucking unfair!

"What's the matter, little one?" Marcus asked Bella. "Why aren't you celebrating?"

"No reason at all. I've just had a rough few weeks."

"Forgive me, in all the chaos of the last twenty-four hours, I never got a chance to introduce myself. My name is Marcus Volturi. You are?"

"Isabella Swan."

"Ah, thank you for welcoming me into your home. You are the other victim in Carlisle Cullen's nefarious schemes. It's unfortunate that we have to meet under such trying circumstances. The man is a disgrace to our world. We must come up with a solution."

While the rest of the women chatted in the other room about weddings, we updated Tanya and Embry on what had happened during the last twenty-four hours. Embry was now half vampire, half shape shifter. Quil ordered him outside to phase to see if he could still communicate with the pack. He was definitely able to do that and accept Alpha orders.

The other issue was nutrition. Embry obviously needed both blood and human food. He would have to come on hunts with us. Marcus said that Huilen's nephew, Nahuel, was a human/vampire hybrid living in Volterra. He was created by Joham, better known as Buckley Fitzroy. Joham created three additional human/vampire hybrids who are Nahuel's half-sisters. All four of the hybrids are in Volterra for security reasons. Anyway, they all need both human food and blood as well. Embry had absolutely no bloodlust, apparently, that seemed to be the running trait with hybrids.

We, then, got to the topic of Tanya's marriage to Carlisle. She said that she went to Jenks to update her documents when he told her that they were already done and handed her a manila envelope. When she opened the envelope up, that's when she discovered that she was now known as Mrs. Carlisle Cullen and that, apparently, she and he were married in Saudi Arabia. She and Eleazar did everything possible to annul the marriage, but they were unable to. They didn't confront Carlisle about it because Eleazar, by then, knew that there was something crafty going on with his former friend. He contacted the Volturi instead.

Garrett took the envelope that Tanya brought with her. He assured Tanya that he would forge new documents for her. He now had all of Jenks' forgery tools to add to his own collection so documents were easy to come by for us. He was teaching Bella and Emmett everything about document forgery so, in the event that he was unavailable, the two of them could step in.

Sam, suddenly, decided to speak. "Embry, Marcus discovered something. I'm just not sure how you're going to take it."

"Go ahead, it can't be more whacked than me becoming some sort of a hybrid supernatural creature"

"You're my half-brother, Embry. Marcus discovered it when he took your blood and some of my mine."

"Say what?"

"You're my..."

"I know what you said!" Embry dropped his face in his hands. "It just pisses me off! My mom knew! I just can't understand why I had to find out this way! Why couldn't she just tell me herself?"

"I'm glad you're my brother, Embry. I couldn't ask for a better wolf to be related to. And, you know what? Our dad is a fucking bastard. He couldn't even stick around to raise us. That's what kind of a shit he is. You've got to respect both of our moms for raising us alone without any sort of support—financial or otherwise. Your mom not telling you was the best thing she could have ever done. Trust me, you don't want to grow up with people knowing you're the son of Joshua Uley."

"Yeah, you're right. I suppose she did the best she could."

We started discussing Cullengate in detail. Apparently, while the Volturi were involved, it was still on an unofficial basis. They would provide us with whatever assistance we needed—whether it was guards, cash, transportation, etc. For now, though, since it didn't directly involve them, they were leaving it to us to handle at our discretion. Marcus and his guard were planning on leaving tonight for Volterra.

"Fucker!" Brewmaster nudged my brain.

"You rang?"

"Yeah, bozo, I did. Listen, the Orlando Bloom looking dude can't leave and neither can his two guard members."

"Orlando Bloom looking dude? Who the hell are you talking about?"

Bella moved onto my lap, just then. I put my arm around my girl to hold her.

"Sparklepuss, Fucker has no idea who the Orlando Bloom lookalike is."

"Mmm...you're talking about Marcus Volturi, aren't you? He is so yummy looking."

"He's not really my type. I like them with tits, a pussy, and no dick."

"Babe? What the fuck do you mean by Marcus Volturi is yummy looking? Woman, you're only supposed to think I'm yummy looking!" I mentally chastised my mate.

"Hey, Pete, I may be your mate, but I still have eyes. I know a hot looking man when I see one. Anyway, what's up, Brewmaster?"

"I was just telling Fucker here that Orlando has to stick around in order to stay clear of the venomous elf's visions. They would be very interested to know about Embry. If they find out about him, all of the Quileute wolves would be put into danger. I know that they have a couple of shields in Volterra, but they don't have it locked down from invasive mental powers as much as we do in our town."

"Understood. I'll bring it up," Bella offered. "Um, excuse me, Orlando...I mean...Marcus..."

"Ahem." I cleared my throat loudly to interrupt my mate.

"What?"

"Orlando? Seriously?"

"It was a fucking slip of the tongue! My mistake, the guy is a dead ringer for Orlando Bloom."

"Oh, yeah, he is. I never really noticed that." Heidi walked inside and peered at Marcus..

The other women piled into the kitchen and, suddenly, Marcus Volturi became the new vampire heartthrob of the hour.

"He can be in movies," Vicky agreed.

"No, he should be a cover model for vampire romance novels."

"Yeah," the women all breathed.

"Thanks a lot, Brewmaster," I seethed.

"You're welcome, Fucker."

"Marcus, my gift just informed me that you, Alec, and Huilen are going to have to stick around here due to Alice Cullen's visions. Apparently, if you return to Volterra now, she'll find out about Embry who will become a great source of interest to the Cullen's. It'll, in turn, endanger all of the wolves in La Push."

"I can see that happening considering that Joham purposefully creates hybrid vampires. I don't mind staying. I tire of the castle, it can be incredibly stifling there. Do you have room for us, though?"

"The three of you can stay with us," Jane offered. "We have plenty of space."

"Wonderful, it'll give me an opportunity to check on Paul's testicles."

Paul looked terrified.

"Why do you need to look at Paul's balls?" Quil asked.

"Apparently, he suffers from a great deal of genital itch," Marcus explained.

"Hey, can you check mine out, too? I'm kind of itchy there myself."

"Certainly, let's do it now."

"Come on Paul, let's go."

"Hey, no one is checking out my balls."

"Move it! It's an alpha order."

Paul tried to stay in his seat, but he couldn't. He sighed and headed to a different room with Quil and Marcus.

A few minutes later, the two of them were back. They both had a look of relief on their faces.

"Well?" I asked.

"It turned out to be a mild heat rash caused by our overly warm body temperatures. He suggested that we don't wear briefs, jeans, or denim shorts. They're too constricting for us. We have to stick with boxers and loose fitting pants," Quil explained.

"Phew!" Sam and Seth both let out a sigh of relief. Apparently, they'd been itchy too.

"Thanks, Marcus. Can we call you if any of us run into anymore medical problems?"

"Of course, it'll be my pleasure. I don't get much of a chance to practice medicine so I welcome any opportunity."

"That's good because none of us can really go to a hospital."

And so a partnership of sorts was born between the La Push wolves and a Volturi king who happened to be a fully licensed physician.

"Bells, can we stay the night? I think Sam, Seth, and I need to get some shut-eye before heading back to Washington."

"Oh my God! You don't even have to ask. Seth already has a room and Quil and Sam, one of you can take Charlie and Sue's room and the other can stay in Embry's cabin because I have a feeling that he's moving into Tanya's room. You are, aren't you?"

"Yeah, definitely. Hey, now that I'm half vampire, do I still need sleep?" Embry asked, curiously.

"That's a good question. I'm not so sure." Marcus looked perplexed. "You know, I think that you probably will need some sleep. The hybrids in Volterra all need sleep. I'm assuming that you will too. You seem to be the same as the human/vampire hybrids that I know of except your body temperature runs about five degrees lower. I have no idea why. It could be the result of your being changed into a hybrid. The others were born as hybrids."

"Okay, if it's okay with all of you, I need to meet with the wolves outside," Quil stated. "I'm going to have to call the ones on the reservation and order them to phase. Now that Embry is half vampire, changes are going to have to be made."

The wolves all followed Quil outside into the woods. I saw Esme sneaking out of the house after them. Oh no, she must be up to something. The woman is a prank pulling demoness. Where she gets her ideas from, I have no idea.

We continued discussing Cullengate and it was decided that Esme, Embry, Tanya, Demetri, Maggie, and Marcus should stay at home for security reasons. We didn't want to take any chances with the Cullens discovering that they were with us.

We were delving deeper into our plans when we heard several whining howls coming from the wolves. Esme came rushing inside of the house and dove onto my lap knocking Bella off and straight into Marcus's arms. "Hello, Orlando," she cooed to him

I rolled my eyes. I swear that Bella does shit like that to rankle my nerves sometimes.

"Well, hello, little one." He wagged his eyebrows at her.

Jasper grabbed Bella off of Marcus and threw her onto his lap. What a good brother he is.

"Esme, what did you do?" I asked with a sigh.

"Nothing. I did absolutely nothing," she giggled.

Twenty minutes later, Seth, Sam, and Quil came back into the house in human form and sopping wet.

"What the hell happened to you guys?" Riley asked.

"I don't know. We were all phased and talking with the pack. The next thing we knew, we were all being hosed down with water. We would have changed back into human form, but we wanted to maintain connection with the pack in La Push so we waited until we were done with business," Seth explained.

They all ran for showers. Fifteen minutes after that, all of the wolves were dressed, freshly showered, and glaring at Esme. One look at them and the rest of us started cracking up.

"Esme, what the fuck did you spray us with?" Leah asked with her new bleached blonde tresses.

"Why do you always think it's me?"

"Well, gee, maybe it's because no one really played pranks on anyone until you came around."

"That doesn't mean that it's always me. I'm actually hurt that you'd automatically assume it's me."

Really? She was going to play that game. We all fixed her with a glare.

"Oh, alright, I give. It was Clairol Perfect 10 Haircolor in the shade Blondies to Go. I thought you could use a change"

"Esme, my fucking pubes are blonde!" Embry yelled.

"Well, you were only supposed to leave it in there for ten minutes. It said so on the boxes," Esme stated innocently.

The rest of us couldn't help ourselves and Jasper started projecting the humor. Even the wolves were laughing and they were pissed off. A few minutes later, after we were all composed again, Heidi told the wolves that she'd color their hair back to their normal black shade in the morning. She refused to touch their pubes, though.

It was then that I noticed that Marcus was eyeing Esme with a look of curiosity. He seemed absolutely intrigued by her. I saw him look away and chuckle to himself; then go back to observing our group as a whole. Geez. How the hell are we going to handle royalty living in our house until Cullengate is over?

"Easy, Fucker, you don't put on any airs and you don't treat him any differently than you would the others living here. He may be a king in Italy, but in Hillsgrove, he's simply Marcus Volturi—vampire. Remember, this is your lair and Sparklepuss is your queen."

I decided to take Brewmaster's advice. I glanced at my mate, she smiled at me motioned with her chin towards the bedroom. I took her hand and decided that it was time for us to call it a night. Royalty be damned.

Ten days later...

Marcus's POV

I'm enjoying my time away from Volterra immensely. Things are so casual and relaxed here. There's no such thing as formality or unnecessary airs put on by these vampires. To them, I'm simply Marcus, they don't treat me as royalty and expect me to contribute my fair share to running the rather large household that they have going.

They were a happy bunch of vampires. I've been observing all of their bonds and the mated couples all have strong ties and they all had a very close sibling bond developing. I was absolutely delighted when I saw that same bond begin to form with me the other day. There was another bond that was of bigger interest to me, though. That bond is the one I shared with Esme.

She is my mate. I haven't told her anything yet, though because I want our relationship to develop naturally. I always thought that we were destined to be with one mate for eternity, but I now know that it isn't true. Maybe the heavens grant you with a new mate when they feel you've suffered in solitude long enough or perhaps I've changed. In the last eight years, especially, I've learned to enjoy life a little more and not take things so seriously. I've also stopped brooding about the fact that my Didyme was taken from me and start living my life and doing things I've always wanted to do.

Esme was very different from Didyme. Through my conversations with everyone here, I've learned that she's nothing like the formal, docile wife of Carlisle Cullen that she used to be. No, Esme was a fun-loving, brash tomboy that loved being outdoors and enjoyed playing pranks on everyone. She was responsible, though. Everyday, she helped Bella, Bree, and Tanya cook for the three wolves. I've even taken to helping them out in the kitchen. My new favorite television channel has become the Food Network. In fact, two nights ago I baked a few apple pies for the wolves for dessert. They seemed to enjoy them immensely and for the first time since I my transformation into a vampire, I was proud of myself.

Some of the members of our extended family are in Las Vegas snooping on the Cullens right now. Jane and Paul are taking the opportunity to get married while there. We all wish we could go and help out, but we would do more harm than good if the Cullens were to discover us at this juncture. Garrett and Peter are being careful and meticulous with their actions, every movement is timed to the best of their ability so as not to alert the Cullens to any of their activities. I had the utmost confidence in them all.

"Marcus, I want to go to that Walmart place that Bella took me to again. Is that a possibility? Maybe we could all go. There are only six of us so we can fit inside Jasper's Escalade."

"Sure, why not. What is this Walmart place anyway?"

"I don't know, it was like heaven under one roof."

"Well, if it's heaven, we absolutely must go there." I gathered everyone in the living room and declared that we were going to Walmart.

"You're shitting me?" Embry asked, aghast.

"Tanya states that it's heaven under one roof. I'd like to see a place like that."

"Okay, let's go."

The six of us piled into Jasper's Escalade. Tanya remembered the way so she drove with Embry sitting in the passenger seat. We walked into the store and were immediately greeted by the sentry. "Welcome to Walmart. Have a nice day."

I was very surprised that they only had one sentry in such a large structure.

"Thank you, good man. Would you direct me to your masters please? I'd like to alert them to our presence."

"Do you mean the manager?"

"Is that what you call your master?"

"I guess." He took out his communication device out of his vest pocket and called his master for us.

We were greeted by a balding man in his fifties with a large name tag that read Don. "How can I help you folks today?"

"Ah, my name is Marcus Volturi. I wanted to inform you that we will be visiting your structure today. Would you have a spare guard member available to take us on a tour?"

"Oh, you must be the team from district. I have the sales figures ready for you. Come with me to my office and we can discuss them in detail there."

I scratched my head. I had no idea what he was talking about, but I followed him to his office. Demetri and Maggie were standing respectfully by my side, but I noticed Tanya looking horrified at me. Esme and Embry were clutching their stomachs laughing. "Behave! You're representing the Volturi!" I chastised the latter two.

We arrived in the man's office and he handed me a few computer printouts and started going over his sales figures. I had no idea what this had to do with my visit, but I gave him my opinion to the best of my ability. Two hours later, the man ordered lunch in for all of us. He said that we were having some sort of a working lunch. Five of us didn't exactly consume human food so we threw everything Embry's way and he devoured everything for us at vampire speed.

"Wow! You guys are fast eaters, I haven't even unwrapped my sub."

"Ah, we are experts at efficiency. We find that it increases productivity."

"That's why you're at district and I'm just a lowly store manager."

"Yes, well, perhaps. In any case, Don, thank you for lunch. It was nice to meet you. We shall take our leave to survey your domain now."

"Uh, great. When will I hear from you?"

God's teeth! I wasn't planning on contacting him again. I just wanted to visit his structure. I suppose I shall have to appease him. "Demetri will contact you after we take stock of your store."

"Master?" Demetri asked, horrified. One look from me silenced him.

"Thank you, Mr. Volturi."

"You're welcome, Don."

We left the office as fast as we could. "Can we go shopping now, Marcus?" Tanya asked.

"Of course, I didn't realize that we'd have such an in depth welcome."

"Marcus, dude, we need to talk." Embry put his arm around me as we strolled through Walmart. "I know that you've been cooped up in your castle over in Italy for a while, but I didn't realize how bad it was until now. How long has it been since you've been out and about?"

"Hmm...well, I attended medical school in Florence in 1992, but I commuted so I lived at the castle. Other than that, this venture in Hillsgrove is it."

"For over two millennia?" Esme asked, horrified.

"Yes. Do you think that I should have ventured out sooner?"

"Dude!" Embry stated. "The world around us changes everyday. It's good to get out and see things. I mean, I thought Tanya was behind in the times, but you take the cake. Let me explain some things to you. You are in Walmart. It's a store. You browse, pick what you want, pay for your purchases, then leave. It's that simple. There are thousands of Walmart stores just in the United States alone."

"So, they are a merchant?"

"Yes, the manager of this store, Don, thought that you were a corporate bigshot. It might have something to do with the way you're all dressed. Esme and I are the only casual ones here. The rest of you look like you're going to some sort of a business meeting."

"Ah, well, maybe you two can assist us in that department."

"Gladly, I'm feeling stifled just looking at you."

"Well, then, why don't you and Esme show us what to do at a Walmart."

"First you take one of these shopping carts, then we pick what we want and put them inside," Esme explained. "Also, if you want clothes, I think that we need to hit a mall. They'll have a larger selection."

"Well, let's do it, then. Will one hundred thousand dollars suffice for today's purchases. I have more, but it's at the house. I also have my black credit card with no spending limit. I've never used it before."

"Fuck me. I don't even have a credit card," Embry noted.

"I used to have Carlisle's, but Garrett shredded it," Esme added.

Good. My mate shouldn't be using another man's credit card. I'm responsible for her. Of course, she doesn't know this yet and, technically, she's still married to Carlisle Cullen. Oh, woe is me.

"Purchase whatever you'd like courtesy of the Volturi—all of you. God knows we have an overabundance of cash."

Embry and Esme acted as our tour guides. Walmart was like an emporium filled with merchandise for sale. I had never gone shopping before in my existence. We didn't have stores when I was human and in the Volturi, we have guards that do our shopping for us. As vampires, we didn't really need much except for clothes and toiletries.

We purchased everything from groceries to toiletries to house paint and even a portable basketball hoop at Walmart. Unfortunately, when we got to the Escalade, we found that there wasn't enough space for us and our purchases so we hired a U-haul truck. There was plenty of space left inside so we decided to go to a mall to fill it up. The mall was extremely crowded with humans. Christmas was coming in less than two weeks so people were in a frenzy purchasing gifts for the loved ones.

We generally didn't celebrate Christmas in the Volturi, but my new family apparently did. I hope they don't mind me inviting myself into their family. I, do, so enjoy this new camaraderie. At eleven pm, the mall finally closed and we made our way back to Hillsgrove. We unloaded everything and put the groceries away. Peter and Bella's living room was littered with purchases that we needed to organize. We all purchased new clothing in a more casual style too. Demetri, Maggie, Tanya, and I looked more our age.

We decided to settle in for the night and watch some TV. The mated couples disappeared off to their rooms so it was just me and Esme. We chatted for a bit about our histories. She showed me a photograph of her infant son that had died abruptly and how she mourned his loss to this day. I, in turn, told her about Didyme and how she was once the light of my life. How the hell am I supposed to tell this woman that she had me mesmerized from the moment I saw her?

My cell phone buzzed with an incoming text message.

From: P Whitlock

To: M Volturi

Kiss her, right the fuck now!

God's teeth! I can't just abruptly kiss her, can I? Then again, Embry did inform me that time has kept moving forward while I stayed cooped up in our lair. Okay, I'll do it. I'll go in for the kill. I haven't kissed anyone in over two thousand years. I'm not so sure if I remember how.

I leaned into Esme and cupped her face with my hands. I licked my lips then, slowly, moved in and placed my lips on hers. Suddenly, it was all over for me. I knew that I was done for. The sparks were overwhelming, even more so than with Didyme. Esme pulled away shocked and stared at me for a moment then attacked my lips with a vengeance.

My vampire instincts shifted into high gear now. I had a need to claim my mate and from the looks of it, she needed to be claimed. In one fell swoop, I ripped off both of our clothes, then succumbed to the raw desire running through our veins.

A few hours later...

"Holy fuck. What the hell did you guys do?" Embry asked, peering around at the shambles that was once Peter Whitlock's living room. Tanya, Demetri, and Maggie joined him with equally stunned expressions on their faces.

"It's possible that we were a bit overzealous in our love-making," I stated, nonchalantly.

"Overzealous? There's no fucking living room left, the furniture is in about eight hundred pieces, and the TV is completely shattered. We're gonna have to fix this up before the others get home from Las Vegas—especially the TV. You have no idea what the women are like if they have to miss True Blood. They become different creatures."

"Don't worry," Esme stated. "If there's one thing that I'm good at it's home renovations. We still have that U-haul truck, I say we drive down to Home Depot and work on it together. I'd like to pick up a Christmas tree while we're out, too. Oh, and maybe a bigger TV. It would be great if we could see a life-sized version of Eric."

"Whatever you wish, my heart. Oh, and um, I can tell you for a fact that home renovations is not the only thing you're good at." I winked at my mate who growled back at me. Wait a minute? Who the hell is Eric?

"Good going Marcus, you finally busted a nut after over two thousand years." Demetri slapped my back. "I bet you feel relieved now."

Do I ever! Two thousand years of pent up sexual frustration all released in one night of incredible passion with my mate. Now all I had to do was have Garrett fast-track a divorce between her and Carlisle Cullen so I could marry her myself. I was just so happy, I don't even know if I ever want to return to Volterra.

So, are you satisfied with the new and improved Embry? And Paul, how the heck did he lasso himself into marrying Jane? They're good for each other, though. How did you like Marcus? I hope he's a satisfactory mate for Esme-mistress of pranks. Did you enjoy Marcus and company's trip to Walmart? Let me know what you think. I will always respond to your reviews. XOXO mama4dukes

On another note, I've posted a one-shot called "As You Wish..." I'd love to hear what you think of it.