"Alice?" Esme's voice was tense.

"I didn't see, I couldn't tell," Alice whispered.

The others were clustering around Alice now, but it was unnecessary, they could hear her perfectly. I shifted uncomfortably; the air was thrumming with stress.

"What is it, Alice?" Carlisle asked with the calm voice of authority. The calm was a lie. He hid his anxiety better than the others.

"They were traveling much quicker than I thought. I can see I had the perspective wrong before." She murmured, frightened and guilty.

She was frightened. Fright was not an emotion I ever wanted Alice to feel. I moved closer and leaned over her, desperate to protect her from anything and everything that ruined her peace of mind.

"What changed?" I asked.

"They heard us playing and it changed their path," she answered, her guilt intensifying.

"They heard us playing and it changed their path." It changed their path? They were coming here? It's not like I didn't already suspect as much, but to have it confirmed… My eyes weren't the only ones that flicked involuntarily to Bella's confused and frightened face.

"How soon?" Carlisle asked, turning to Edward.

A look of intense concentration crossed his face.

"Less than five minutes. They're running. They want to play." He scowled. Edward was afraid too. And angry.

"Can you make it?" Carlisle asked.

"Not carrying--" He stopped short. "Besides the last thing we need is for them to catch the scent and start hunting."

"How many?" Emmett asked Alice.

"Three," she answered tersely.

"Three!" he scoffed. "Let them come." His anxiety shifted, almost immediately, into anticipation. He flexed his muscles in preparation for a fight.

Carlisle was quiet for a moment, deliberating. We all watched him closely as he tried to decide the best course of action. He was nervous as he thought, but when he spoke again his answer sounded confident.

"Let's just continue the game," Carlisle decided. His voice was cool and level, and I couldn't help but admire the strength it must have taken to keep his tone calm. "Alice said they were simply curious."

"Are they thirsty?" Esme whispered below Bella's hearing range.

Edward shook his head. That relieved her. Not me. I knew how quickly thirst could change. All they needed to do was catch a whiff…

"You catch, Esme," Edward said. "I'll call it now."

I headed back to the pitcher's mound, pausing to search the vacant looking tree line. Nothing was there, not that I really expected to see anything. We'd hear them coming long before they arrived. As I turned to throw the ball I thought about Emmett preparing to fight. Would it come to that? A fight?

"Take your hair down," Edward commanded and Bella silently obeyed.

As she shook her hair out she whispered, "The others are coming now." It wasn't a question.

"Yes, stay very still, keep quiet, and don't move from my side, please." He instructed her with swift words laced with stress.

It was almost ironic.

Not too long ago, I had planned on fighting Edward, incapacitating him so that I could kill Bella, so that I could protect my family from the threat she posed. Emmett had been in agreement with me. His love for his family drove him into agreement, but for me it was different as it always would be. My history gave me a different take on things. I had viewed Bella as a threat to my life and my family's lives and I analyzed her the way I had been trained. I had been trained that threats could not be tolerated. Eradicate the threat. It was so simple.

"That won't help," Alice said; watching as Edward attempted to hide Bella's frequently scarlet cheeks behind her hair.

"I know," his answer was clipped. His face was more miserable than I had ever seen.

I pitched the ball softly to Carlisle, not really attempting to strike him out, just praying for a peaceful ending to the game.

"What did Esme ask you?" Bella soft voice drifted on the breeze along with something else. Her scent. Alice was right. A change in hairstyle was not going to fool them for long. Bella could stand stiller than a statue and it wouldn't make much difference. There was no hiding the sound of her heart.

"Whether they were thirsty." Edward answered without meeting her eyes.

I shivered but I wasn't cold. I shivered because it wasn't simple anymore. When the strangers arrive it would be three to seven. They weren't dangerous to us, not really. Nobody is stupid enough to mount an attack that outnumbered. So these newcomers shouldn't be considered a threat at all.

Then there is Bella. If Bella still posed a threat to my family, and truth be told she probably did, I didn't really care about that anymore. Bella was Edward's Alice. How could I destroy her, when her existence saved his? Bella was family too.

So I'll make it simple again. Bella is family. The strangers were a threat to her. They were a threat to my family. Threats must be eradicated. If it came to fight then yes, I would fight. If it came to a fight then they would die. They would not be allowed to harm my new fragile sister no matter how delicious she smelled.

A smile spread across my face and I didn't have to check to know that I was the only one smiling. I was surprised and oddly pleased at how after living in peace for so long, how easy it was to slip back into my old frame of mind. To be able to view the world as black and white, calmly and rationally plot the destruction of another. Imagine all the ways in which I could take them apart, the sounds they'd make as their limbs ripped from their bodies, the sickly sweet odor as they turned to ash in the flame…

Bloodlust. Both beautiful and monstrous, it never truly fades no matter how long you suppress it. It meant I could never be trusted alone with my appetizing sister, a fact I knew and accepted. But it also meant I could always protect my family, I could do what needs to be done to keep them safe.

Alice will never have a scar on her perfect body to rival those on mine. Bella's heart would continue to beat until old age or immortality took it from her. Carlisle and Esme could continue their lives of love unhindered by the loss of it. Emmett and Rosalie could continue to revel in their passion and numerous vanities without disturbance. Edward could continue to explore the humanity reawakened within his unbeating heart as long as there was breath in his body.

I would see to it.

My smile grew with my determination and anticipation and increasing bloodlust. I was glad no one was really paying attention to me now. I probably looked as psychotic as the townsfolk thought me to be. If Bella cared to look, I bet I'd look dangerous to her now. Her poor human eyesight could not miss the maniacal look that controlled my face. She was not looking at me though, Edward was talking again. It gave me a chance to rearrange my face into a more appropriate expression of concern.

"I'm sorry, Bella," he muttered fiercely, "It was stupid, irresponsible, to expose you like this. I'm so sorry."

It was stupid of him to apologize. He didn't know they would come here. How could he when even Alice couldn't know that.

Don't worry, Edward. They won't touch her. They won't be able to, I promised him.

If he heard me he didn't acknowledge it. Instead he moved to put his body between her and what was coming. I could hear them too, they were that close. The three of them running in the distance, drawing nearer. We all turned to watch their entrance. I braced myself for the clash.