"She's related to me?" I gaped at Edward. "How on earth did you make that conclusion?"
"She told me," Edward said.
"She told you? But how does she know?"
"Well… she kind of told me. She told me a bit. A very little bit. I figured the rest out by myself," he shrugged.
"So you don't know?"
"Well… I'm pretty certain," Edward said, and then changed the subject, "La Tua Contante? What do you mean, Bella?"
"Edward, I want to kill her… so, so badly," I whispered, not wanting to admit it.
"Don't worry, Bella, you don't have to leave," Edward murmured, "We'll get through this. Together. Like I said this morning."
"Edward… I don't think I can… restrain," I felt so ashamed of myself for feeling so weak.
"You will, Bella, you will," he soothed.
"Related to me how?" I asked, desperate to get the conversation off of me and on to… well, me, but in a different light.
"Your mother had a baby just after you… disappeared…"
"I have a sister?" I gasped, interrupting him.
"Well, you did have a brother," Edward corrected me.
"I had a little brother?"
"Yes."
"What was he called? What happened to him?" I questioned, while Alice and Jasper listened to our conversation with mute interest.
"Well… he was, ironically, called Edward," my Edward stifled a laugh, but then became serious. "And he… disappeared. Just two years after his son was born, he mysteriously disappeared. Never turned up again. But, anyway, his son is Cassandra's father. So Cassie is your great niece," Edward concluded.
"Are you sure it's not just a coincidence? How did you know that it was my mom that had this Edward, anyway?" I asked, sure that there must be a mistake.
"Four reasons," Edward said, staring into my eyes, "First, the woman that gave birth to this Edward had a daughter called Isabella, with a different man, who disappeared just before she found out that she was pregnant again…"
"That doesn't prove anything, Edward," I sighed.
"Will you let me finish?" he cried.
I clamped my mouth shut.
"Second, she has the most gorgeous colour eyes I have ever seen… but they looked much better on you when you were human," Edward smiled at me.
"Coincidence, Edward!" I rolled my eyes.
He raised his eyebrows at me so I apologised and pretended to zip my lips.
"Thirdly…" he continued, somewhat reluctantly, "I cannot hear her thoughts."
"But I thought that we had figured that out?" Alice piped up, "Isn't that because of Bella's shield?"
"Bella didn't have a shield when she was human, Alice, and neither does this Cassie," Edward shook his head, "That may be the reason now, but I'd bet that it's some genetically inherited thing that Renee had."
"Are you saying that there was something wrong with my mom?" I couldn't stay silent any longer.
"No," Edward laughed, "I could hear her fine. But I'd bet that I wouldn't have been able to hear your brother or Cassie's father."
"What's the fourth reason?" I wondered aloud.
"Her name."
"Cassandra?" I puzzled. "What about it?"
"No! Her full name," Edward said, "It's Cassandra Isabella Dwyer."
Dwyer… that was my Mom's surname. Now I was sure Edward was right. I mean, Dwyer wasn't a common surname, and I doubted that all of this could be a coincidence anymore. But, still, this didn't change the fact that I wanted to drain this girl's body of her blood.
"But…" I was lost for words, "Edward, what can I do?"
"What I did," Edward suggested gently, but firmly. "Ignore it."
I laughed sarcastically, "I can't do that. Edward, we don't all have super self-control."
"You can, Bella," he said, squeezing my hand. "I believe in you."
"Your belief isn't going to save Cassie's life, Edward," I sighed, making up my mind about what to do.
"Oh, Bella…" Alice moaned, seeing my plan, "We have a lesson together this afternoon."
"Sorry, Alice," I said, "I'm going home," I told the others.
"I'll come with you," Edward offered.
"No, don't worry about me. You stay here, or you'll get into more trouble," I told him.
"Getting into trouble is the least of my worries…" Edward started.
"I'm not human anymore, Edward," I interrupted him so quietly that no human could have heard. "I don't need constant supervision, okay?" I needed some time to think alone right now.
He stared at me for a moment and then nodded, "But if you want me, just call and I'll be right there."
"Okay," I agreed. He kissed me quickly before I left.
I ran home the long way, wanting to draw it out. I didn't want to ever have to face Cassie again, but I also knew that it was inevitable, unless I left Forks… No. I couldn't run away from my weakness. I should face it and get over it… I opened the door to the house and shut it again. Almost immediately, I could tell that Jacob was back.
"Jake!" I called, relief saturating my voice.
"Bella!" his voice was just as urgent. I went upstairs, where his voice was coming from, and found him throwing things in a suitcase.
"Jake, what are you doing?" I demanded, "We only just moved here. You're not leaving, are you?" I realised, horror-struck. "Oh, Jake, don't leave. We can work through this together. Just because the Cullens are here, it doesn't mean we can't be friends…"
"Bella, I'm not leaving. We are," he told me.
"What? Why?" Had he heard about my weakness already?
"Because there are people coming, Bella. Vampires. Another coven of vampires is coming here. From Texas."
"What? How do you know?" I was confused, not for the first time that day. "And why does that constitute leaving?"
"Because they are coming to kill, Bella," Jacob told me, his eyes wild with anxiety. "I ran into them. They are coming to Forks."
"So? Jake, we can look after ourselves."
"But they were… different than you and the Cullens. They just want to kill. One of them told their leader that the Cullens had this bit of land and their leader said that they'd kill all the vampires in the area." – he threw me a pointed look – "Don't you know what vampires from the South are like? They're ruthless killers, Bella. We can't stay here, we can't let this happen…"
"You're right," I said.
"What?" Jake was surprised that I had agreed so quickly.
"You're right; we can't let this happen. And that's why we'll stay here, okay? We'll defend Forks, and we won't let them kill us. How many of them were there?"
"Too many. More than us." It was good to hear Jake use the plural; it was almost funny. Just a few hours ago, the Cullens had been `them' to him and him and I had been `us'. Now we were all in this together.
"We can beat them," I said surely.
"But…" Jake started.
"No," I interrupted him, "Jacob Black. Are you forgetting who we have on our side? Edward can read minds, Alice can see the future, Jasper can control their emotions and I can stop them from doing any of this. Don't you see? However many of them there are, we probably have the upper hand. Our coven is almost as powerful as the Volturi, if not more so."
"Bella…" Jacob began again.
"I'm not buying it, Jake, any of it. We stay," I told him in a very final tone and, to my relief, he gave up and went into the kitchen to find some food. Now all I had to do was figure out what I was going to do about Cassie…
Edward POV
School felt boring again now that Bella had gone. I pushed some spaghetti around my plate, never intending to eat it. I didn't understand how humans could actually like this stuff.
Suddenly, Alice froze, and the slice of pizza she was holding slipped through her fingers. I looked up into my 'sister's' non-seeing eyes, watching the same pictures she was. Another coven of vampires crossing the boundaries of Forks, their burgundy eyes narrowed and their faces showing only one thing: determination. There were loads of them, many more than us, and I could tell that they were not here on a friendly visit, or even just being inquisitive - as James and Victoria had been in the first place – but they were here to fight; to kill.
The pictures disappeared and Alice gasped.
"Edward…" she whispered.
"I know," I said, aware of the rest of our siblings watching us, "We have to leave," I told them, "Now."
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Okay, I know I always say this guys, but I am so so sorry for the delay. I really mean it. I know where I'm going with this now so hopefully updates will be quicker.
Mega thanks to Leon Mcfrenchington for beta-ing and putting up with my slowness and seeming inability to attach a file to an email XD
I know I also always say this, but please review. I'd love to hit to big 1-0-0 and I'll be eternally grateful to you all.
Please?
Steph