Chapter 12

Bella POV

I watched as he leaned away from me, his teeth glistening impossibly within the shade of the trees as if they were coated with some substance. I felt vibrations running through my body as Edward was rubbing up against me, all I wanted to do was push him away from me but no matter what I did he never budged. I heard a growl somewhere beyond my eyesight, all I could think of was the growl must of come from some sort of wildlife surely? Edward all of a sudden dropped to the ground before me, all I could do was stare at him with my mouth wide open. What the hell? I jerked my head to the stampede that was heading my way, expecting an elephant to come rushing out. Instead Emmett appeared, before my mind could register much else he had picked Edward up off the ground and had him in what I could guess was a headlock. Rose was at my side, she hesitantly held her arms out open for me. I ran into her arms and couldn't stop the tears from running down my cheeks, my sobs forcing my whole body to shake. I didn't even see Jasper enter the clearing, it shocked me when I heard him speak, his voice was deeper, rougher than I expected. "Rose, take her to our house. Get her away from him now." He didn't look towards us, but I could tell he was trying to keep his eyes on Edward only.

"Jasper!" His eyes darted towards me from the corner of his eyes, almost as if he believed if he was to move his head even a little bit away from Edward he'd strike. I felt a shiver run down my spine as I watched his muscles roll across his back. "Don't do anything you'll regret." Rose led me away from the scene before me, I couldn't be happier with that to be honest. What the hell had happened anyway, I knew better than to walk off with some stranger, even if he was brothers with a boy I was obsessed with.

Before I could tell exactly what had happened or how much time had passed I realised I was standing at the edge of a driveway, Rose held my hand and started walking. "Bella, I know you've just had a stressful moment back there, but please know you're safe here. Jasper, Em and I will protect you, I promise." I nodded my head and a giant house was coming into view, it was absolutely gorgeous, seemingly 3 levels with a wood centre, glass windows that went from floor to ceiling. I knew that if you were inside all you would be able to see is the surrounding forest and it's beauty.

I could see the wood section created a cover before the garage on the right hand side, it was amazing to see the craftmanship and attention to detail that went into this house, every rose bush and flower seemed to be perfectly sculptured. It was obvious from a simple glance that someone loved this house very much. The front door to the property was different from what I expected, where I thought there would be giant French doors waiting to be opened to greet the person, it was humbling to see a single wooden door set into glass, blending to the point of near invisibility.

Rose opened the door and guided me towards the stair case on the left, there was lots of noise in the rooms above me. My face must of betrayed the concern I was holding as Rose rubbed my back. "It'll be ok Bella."

When we got to the top of the staircase I was greeted with an open plan space, with a sitting room on the right, kitchen straight ahead and more rooms beyond. There was a lovely woman running around in the kitchen, I could smell the lovely meal she was cooking. There was a man standing at the end of the island watching her, his gaze was filled with love and adoration.

"Bella." The woman stopped cooking and came towards me, her expression was a mixture of worry, happiness and curiosity. "Darling, I'm just making you some Italian food, are you hungry?" Wow, why is she making just me food?

"Uh yeah sure..." I was stunned to say the least.

"Bella, this is Esme. She's our mum." Rose was hiding her smile behind her hand, how was I supposed to know?

"Bella," the young man stood next to Esme. "I'm Carlisle, Esme's husband and doctor at the local hospital."

"Oh, I suppose I was going to meet you sooner or later anyway." A quick replay of the recent times I've fallen over ran through my head.

"What do you mean Bella?" Carlisle had his head slightly tilted.

"I have a tendency to… Fall over, a lot. I've broken more bones in my body than I can count." I couldn't help but laugh at the expressions on their faces, they looked stunned, bewildered even.

"Well, that's not something I've had a whole lot of experience myself apart from patients." Carlisle laughed as well, shrugging his shoulders.

We all moved from the kitchen to the dining table whilst Esme brought me a bowl of pasta with tomato and basil sauce, it smelled fantastic making my mouth salivate just thinking of tucking in. Rose, Carlisle and Esme didn't have bother getting a bowl themselves which I found interesting. "Thanks Esme, but didn't you guys want to have some?"

"Oh no darling, we ate earlier." Esme looked at me, a warm smile gracing her beautiful face and I felt that I couldn't question her any further.

After finishing my meal under careful observation of everyone in the room, which I found very unnerving we all moved towards the sitting area, a plush white lounge dominated the space within the room. Several books were placed on the shelves behind it. I had to admit it, it was a perfect room, fireplace between here and the kitchen allowed it to be free flowing but separate at the same time. I was settled into the corner section of the lounge, effectively creating a little nesting spot for myself. Rose sat on my left and was looking towards the fireplace, the flames creating a relaxing atmosphere. There was a loud smack as the front door slammed shut, several voices could be heard as they continued to argue. Whoever started walking up the stairs first, silenced the other parties. Thud, thud, thud. Closer and closer they came, I shrunk back into the cushions and Rose moved closer to me almost as if she was protecting me from them.

Jasper came around the corner and I wanted to get up and run to him, bury my face into his neck and cry my heart out to him, my heart was beating a million miles an hour wanting to jump out of my chest. However, that drastically changed when I also saw Edward behind him. The drastic and chaotic beating seemed to flatline.

Jasper POV

Walking into the house I could hear Bella's heart beat it was soft and constant, I looked through the window and I could see her lovely brown hair running down her back as she was nestled in the corner of the lounge. Edward tried to speed up to get to the house quicker, but Emmett clamped his hand down on his shoulder.

"Edward, we will sort this out. The only reason I haven't ended you now is that Carlisle would be distraught if you couldn't admit what you did yourself. Bella is in that room, and you WILL behave yourself.

"Whatever Jasper." Emmett tightened his grip on him causing Edward to flinch.

I opened the front door and we continued to argue just at a lower volume, "Shut the fuck up Edward." Emmett was holding back quite a lot of his strength, I could tell from his emotions the hurt and anger was getting tougher to control. As I started to walk up the stairs I gave Edward a look filled with so much anger and frustration he managed to shut his trap to give us another half assed remark. Thud, thud, thud. We set an almost agonising pace as we walked up the stairs, Bella my lovely little human had no idea about us although that was all about to change. We didn't need to scare her more than we already had. I could smell from the kitchen that Esme had started cooking for Bella, Garlic, salt, tomato and basil are the main things that I could smell in the moment. I wonder how they convinced her that we weren't hungry? Bella's heart beat had quickened significantly when we saw each other, she was making little movements as if she wanted to jump off the couch in that very instant. It warmed my cold dead heart that such a lovely girl had captured me so completely.

Rose was in a protective stance before her, which I was so very thankful for, between the three of us no one would ever hurt her, no one would touch her without her say so. I walked over to her, when she saw Edward she actually recoiled back into the couch, Rose hissed so that Bella couldn't hear. Carlisle and Esme looked astonished that Rose was so aggressive to Edward, as far as they were concerned we were siblings that loved each other very much.

I sat next to Bella, allowing her to hide behind my shoulder, Emmett moved to stand next to Rose. The room was totally silent beyond Bella's breathing and heartbeat, I allowed myself to put my hand on her leg giving a gentle squeeze. I was pleasantly surprised when she nestled her face into the crook of my shoulder, looking at Edward like a small child trying to hide behind a wall.

"Now, Jasper you've called for us to convene as a family but we're missing one." Carlisle broke the silence.

"No you're not. I'm here." Alice danced into the room, she reminded me of a ping pong ball bouncing from one side of the room to the other. "I covered for all of us, including Bella at school."

"Good, thank you Alice." Carlisle motioned for everyone to sit down. "Now, let's start from the beginning." He looked at Bella from the corner of his eye, speaking very quickly so Bella couldn't hear "How much does she know?"

"Nothing." I answered. We all nodded in agreement at this, no one had told her anything of our history and life yet, how I wished that didn't have to change so soon.

"Bella, we have something to tell you, can you keep an open mind?" His eyes portrayed all the compassion and love that he felt.

"Yes." She whispered, I had to move her out from behind me this conversation wasn't for the faint of heart.

"Then please, listen." I sent him a wave of confidence, and trust. "Bella, you've managed to capture Jasper's heart in a way no one in this world ever has. Because of how you've entered my family I feel as if you have the right to know everything." Bella was confused but curious. "You see Bella, we're not human." Fear, fear, fear. Oh dear god, please don't be afraid. I knew I couldn't fiddle with her emotions to calm her down, or make her stay, I want her to be here for me and because she wanted to be here.

"Now, don't be afraid Bella. We mean you no harm." Well, almost everyone. Bella moved out from behind me, stood slowly and walked towards Carlisle, sitting next to him and staring right into his golden eyes.

"I believe that." The fear was still there, but trust underlined those emotions.

"You see Bella, we're what is known as vampires." She actually snorted, holding back a laugh.

"Oh come on." You could practically hear her eyes rolling in her head. "Vampires eh? A vampire went to Arizona and DIDN'T burst into flames with the sun?" I knew that chuckling was a bad idea, but her level of sarcasm was hilarious.

"Bella. We don't burst into flames or sleep in coffins." Carlisle was frustrated, he didn't like people disrespecting him. "Can I continue with the story?"

"Sure, just don't take any ideas from Bram Stoker." Oh my little literary human.

"Anyway, so the oldest vampire I've ever met was Amun and Kebi, they were made before 2500BC, they live in Egypt currently, we don't know a whole lot about their coven other than they like to stick to themselves, Amun doesn't treat outsiders with hospital actions." Her emotions were calm, I think her humour was a way to distract herself from what was going on around her.

"Next was Marcus Volturi, he was born in Greece and was turned to a vampire around 1350BC, along with his brother Caius and Aro in 1300. Whilst they are 'brothers' it is in the sense of coven brothers, Aro found Marcus and convinced him to become a coven and he transformed his own sister in 1290-1280 BC, Didyme is Marcus's wife and mate."

"Wow." She just whispered out, we were all watching Carlisle as he told the story, it was a simplified time-line but we all had our own memories replaying at the same time.

"Around 1200 and 1100 BC the Volturi coven was established, Aro and Marcus were joined by Caius and his wife Athenodora. They had several members join their coven in that time." A low rumble was heard from the vampires in the room as they remembered what the Volturi are to us.

"Now Bella, there are two members of a coven that do resemble Bram Stoker's Dracula and probably where the man got majority of his ideas from, those would be Vladimir and Stefan, they form the Romanian coven, they were once the ruling class of the vampire world. We're not sure when they were made, but they were ruling around 1000 BC."

"Do they turn into bats?" The words were out of her mouth before she could stop it, her beautiful face blushed a gorgeous red.

"Not that I am aware of Bella. Around 400-500AD The Volturi destroyed the Romanian coven, thus changing the ruling class, they only left the two brothers to look after Romania. After they won that war, they started a war against Amun, whilst it did not last a terribly long time Amun was left with a heavy respect to follow every rule set out by the Volturi."

"Rules? You're immortal but still have rules?"

"Yes Darlin'. You can guess what rule is our most important right?"

"Don't tell humans?"

"Yes Bella, you're right." Carlisle looked slightly ashamed, here he was breaking one of the most important rules. We all turned and glared at Edward, this was his fault.

"But you're telling me? A human." She was suspicious now. "Why?"

"Because you would of found out anyway." Carlisle shrugged. "We trust you not to say anything."

"I wouldn't anyway." She turned to look at me, I swelled with pride at her words. Is it because of me that she was so trust worthy?

"Moving along our little history lesson, around 800AD the Volturi began involving themselves in human affairs, this was around the time people were being massacred for witchcraft. They found two children who were condemned to being burnt at the stake, these were Jane and Alec. Both twins were turned without a second thought."

'How old are they…."

"Around 12-13 years old. But older than that in vampire years."

"Oh."

"Around 1000AD Kate, Tanya and Irina were turned by their mother Sasha and they formed the Denali Coven, they are what we classify as cousins in this crazy world. But unfortunately their mother is no longer with us."

"I'm sorry to hear that." A surge of sadness ran through her, she was always so genuine with her emotions, it was refreshing.

"Thank you Bella, it may surprise you but I was only created in 1663 AD."

"Oh only? I thought you were at least 1 million years old." Bella giggled at her own joke, and we all chuckled along.

"If only Bella, I was created after my father told me to hunt down local vampires. I'm sure if you payed attention in class, majority of people burnt or convicted of nefarious acts were falsely accused. It was by pure luck that I found the old hungry vampire living in the sewer systems in London. When I was turned, I repelled against what I was turned into, I fought against every instinct I had. You see Bella the only thing that we have in common with Dracula is our feeding habits."

Her eyes went wide, horror and fright made a quick appearance before being shoved back down so only curiosity is left. I couldn't help myself "What the hell are you doing to make those emotions go away Bella?"

"What do you mean Jasper?" Her brown wide eyes made contact with my own golden ones. Curiosity, humour, embarrassment back to curiosity.

"You were terrified, horrified at what Carlisle just said, but it was gone so quickly I barely even registered it." Suspicion from Bella, but humour was coming from everyone else.

"How the hell do you know that?" Her eyes narrowed slightly.

"Uh… Just good at watching?" Oh dear god, how was I going to explain this?

"Bella, I'll happily explain at the end of the timeline if you'd like?" I sent Carlisle all my appreciation and gratitude. He smiled at me, it clearly conveyed his humour at that upcoming conversation.

"You see Bella, whilst I was gaining more and more control over my vampire side, I eventually began to travel. I made my way to Italy and stayed with the Volturi coven. I enjoyed my time so much there but we had a difference in opinion on several things, but my title in Italy is Stregoni Benefici. Meaning, beneficial vampire, or good-natured vampire."

"So you're good, and their bad?" She's asking lots of questions.

"No, not necessarily. I honestly believe with every fibre in my being, that it's only differences of opinions. I left Italy and made my way over to the new world, America. This was around 1780 BC. I travelled often, playing the role of a doctor in every epidemic, crisis and war. See, as Vampires we don't get sick, age and it's difficult for us to die."

"You're immortal. Stuck in the age you were turned at." We all nodded, watching her body language and facial expressions. So open, so trusting.

"Yes Bella. Now I think it's best that Jasper tells the next line in the story." All eyes turned to me, the one part of the family with the darkest history. A shadow that was always overhead until she came along.

"Would you like to hear my story Bella?" She turned, got up from where she sat and walked over to me. Never breaking eye contact, she held out her hands and I took them in mine bringing her down to me.

"Of course Jasper." When she was seated next to me, I ran my finger tips down the side of her face, breathing in deep I began my story, hoping and praying she didn't run.

AN:

Oh my goodness!

I know we've all heard twilight backstories a million times before, but it is mandatory for the story to continue.
I wrote and wrote till my fingers cramped but I tried to get this out for you before my Sunday finished up.

I hope you enjoyed it, I know it's different from how she normally finds out, but with Eddie trying to take a chomp I felt she needed it explained.

Next is Jasper's story, and we'll go by age to who next tells their story. Lets hope Bella doesn't run!