26. Blood Work
The sun was rising when Edward crept into the tent and settled down beside Bella. A chemical smell lingered on his skin, and Bella wrinkled her nose at it.
"How did it go?" she whispered to him.
"Not well."
She adjusted the blankets around Alexander and rolled over to face Edward. "What happened?"
"The ultrasound can't penetrate the placenta. Carlisle tried every angle, but we just couldn't see anything. Except . . ."
"What?"
"It looks like the fetus isn't relying solely on the umbilical cord for sustenance. Which I guess makes sense. It couldn't get blood from a human mother's stomach if it did."
Bella frowned. "I don't understand. How does it get blood?"
"There are . . . connections. Of some kind. We can't get a good look at them, but the uterus seems to be attaching itself to the other organs and to the spinal cord."
"What does that mean?"
Edward shrugged. "I wish we knew. Carlisle is worried that severing those connections will damage the organs, though. Enough that he's advised the girls against terminating their pregnancies."
Bella winced. They couldn't have been happy about that. "How did Maysun take it?"
"She's furious. She wanted him to do it anyway, but he asked her to think it over for a day or two."
"What about Amelia?"
"I don't think she cares whether she has the baby or not. She just doesn't want to die."
"She's got to be close. Do you know how far along she is?"
"It's hard to tell without an ultrasound, but Carlisle's keeping a close eye on her."
Bella sighed and sidled closer to him. "I had to explain abortion to Alexander last night."
He let out a low whistle.
"It was awful. He's too young for this."
"I think I'm too young for this."
Bella buried her face in his chest and breathed in his scent. "Can we just stay here in this tent? Forever, maybe? So we don't have to deal with all the hard stuff?"
His chest shook with quiet laughter. "Sure, baby."
Silence closed over them, and Edward ran the back of one finger down her cheek. Bella let out a soft moan and turned her face into his touch.
"I'm sorry about last night," she whispered.
"Yeah. I guess it wasn't the smartest thing to start making out in front of Alexander."
His name must have woken him, because the little boy stirred behind Bella. He yawned and climbed over her, wriggling himself between her and Edward.
"I'm hungry, mother," he mumbled, and then drifted off to sleep again.
Bella smiled down at him. "We should take him hunting later. He probably ought to have some blood to balance out that bottle of jalapenos he ate."
"No sign of indigestion," Edward said with a grin. "Kid's got an iron stomach."
Bella shot him a reproachful look.
"What? He liked them. And we should take advantage of the fact that he likes human food, if it means he'll be less anxious about restrictions on blood."
Bella smiled. Which probably made him think he'd won some kind of argument, but that wasn't it at all. She just liked that he'd said "we." Like he was in it with her. Like he didn't think it was such a bad thing if Alexander was her first priority. Like he might be willing to make Alexander his first priority, too.
"I'm not so sure about him hunting wild animals," she said. "Maybe I should bring something back for him."
"Catching them is half the fun."
"Sure, when they can't eat you. He's just a baby, Edward."
He shot her a skeptical look.
"Let's start small, at least. With rabbits. If he does okay, we'll move on to some larger herbivores."
"Good call. I wonder if he'd like the rabbit meat . . ."
Bella grimaced. "That's a good idea. I just . . . wish I didn't have to smell it cooking."
Edward grinned and leaned closer to her over Alexander's head. "A necessary evil." He gave her a quick peck and then pushed himself to his knees. "I'm going to go help Alice set up a few more tents. Last day before we get this meeting started. I'm betting we get a lot of new people today."
"Okay. I'm going to stay with Alexander until he wakes up."
"Let me know when you're ready to hunt," Edward said, crawling through the torn screen door. "I definitely want to come with you."
Edward was right. Minutes after Bella had finished getting Alexander bathed and dressed for the day, a group of four vampires made their way to the house. Bella peered at them from across the river as Carlisle moved to intercept them, curious about the similarities in their features.
"That's Luca's coven," Edward told her, since they were a little too far away from the action to hear Carlisle's introduction. "They're probably the last people who would violate the rules against harming humans."
"Why is that?"
"They've been working with them for hundreds of years. Luca is the head of a very powerful family. He looks out for their interests, and occasionally he chooses one of his descendants to turn."
Carlisle was pressing Luca's hand, speaking earnestly, and Bella shot Edward a questioning glance.
"He's offering his condolences. Two of Luca's family were members of the Volturi. One was Aro's personal bodyguard, in fact."
"Mother, come on," Alexander said, tugging at her leg. "You said we were going hunting."
"You're right, we're taking forever." Edward crouched in front of Alexander. "Shall we run?"
"Yes!" he cried.
Edward swung him up into the air and placed him on his shoulders.
"Ready?" he asked.
"Yes!"
"Watch his neck," Bella told him.
Edward winked at her. "I got this." He started them on their way jogging so slowly that Bella wondered what he was doing. "How's that?" he asked Alexander.
"Faster!"
"Are you sure?"
"Faster!"
Edward increased his pace a little. "How about now?"
"Faster!"
They continued like that, slowly building up speed, and Bella realized that Edward was keeping Alexander entertained while also being careful not to injure him.
He really couldn't be more perfect.
As it turned out, rabbits were a little bit too fast for Alexander. He could scare them out of their warrens, and he could even keep up with their speed, but his reflexes weren't quite developed enough to follow their quick direction changes. Edward and Bella helped, heading them off and scaring them back toward Alexander, but in the end, Edward had to catch one and flip it into the air so Alexander could catch it. He barely managed to hang onto the squirming animal, hugging it against his body while he sank his teeth into its fur.
He loved every second of it. He didn't want to stop, even after he'd had his fill, which prompted a conversation with Edward about wastefulness and respecting their resources.
The campground was nearly deserted when they returned. Edward and Bella wandered past empty tents, swinging Alexander between them, and Bella shot Edward a questioning glance.
"They're all watching Carlisle and Peter."
She froze. "What's he doing?"
"It's not bad. Jasper's worried enough about his excessive paranoia that he asked Carlisle to look him over."
"What, like a medical exam?"
Edward shrugged.
"Do vampires get sick?"
"Not in the same way that humans do, but you never know. Something's changed in Peter, and they're trying to figure out why."
Peter's exam was taking place in the amphitheater. Most of it was filled with curious spectators, excepting several yards to either side of Carlisle, Peter, Charlotte, and Jasper. Carlisle was shining a light first in Peter's pupils, and then Charlotte's. He tested their reflexes, both by tapping sensitive points and by throwing pebbles at them. After a handful of tests, he sat back.
"Hm. Well, there are differences between the two of you. Peter's reflexes are slightly quicker, his breathing is faster, his body temperature is higher, but he responds to light more slowly.
"What does that mean?" Charlotte asked.
"I don't know. I don't even know if there's a standard deviation. Jasper, come here."
Carlisle ran through all his tests again and frowned. "Better light sensitivity than Peter or Charlotte. Slower breathing. Reflexes just a touch slower."
Jasper snorted. "Slower?"
"It's the animal blood," Charlotte shot back with a grin.
Carlisle frowned thoughtfully.
Edward extracted his hand from Alexander's grip and jogged toward Carlisle, still carrying a pair of rabbits that he intended to cook up for Alexander's dinner. "Do me."
Carlisle ran his tests and scratched his head. "Closer to Jasper's numbers. Bella?" He looked up to where she was standing at the rim of the amphitheater. "May I test you?"
She glanced around at the crowd, but decided the process wasn't really all that invasive. She weaved her way through the audience to where Edward was sitting and passed Alexander to him before taking a seat beside him.
Carlisle ran through his list of tests and then stood and clasped his hands behind his back.
"That looked more like Peter," Edward said.
He nodded. "So Bella and Peter could fall in a similar place on a perfectly normal scale, or something could be driving Peter to behave like a newborn. I need data . . ."
"Volunteers?" Edward asked the group.
Benjamin shrugged and stood. "Why not?"
More followed his example, most of them looking mildly curious, as though this were a pleasant enough diversion. After all, Bella thought, what else did they have to do? Emmett was doing his best to keep everyone entertained with games, but there had already been several long days of that. Vampire medical exams were new and interesting.
"Edward, make me a graph," Carlisle said as he started performing his tests on the volunteers.
Edward jumped up and ran for the house, returning a moment later without the rabbits, but with a clipboard and a stack of paper. He hastily drew a handful of perfect graphs, then started filling in numbers.
It quickly became apparent that Peter and Bella were outliers. Most of the vampires fell in the same cluster for reflex speed, light sensitivity, breathing, and body temperature, but Bella and Peter were separated. And they weren't the only ones. Six more vampires showed stats like theirs, out of sixty-seven that volunteered for testing. Ulka, Pythia's companion, was among the six.
Alexander, meanwhile, kept himself entertained by building a tiny city in the dirt. Benjamin was helping him, drawing groundwater up to dampen the soil and make it more moldable.
When he was finished, Carlisle took the graph from Edward and stared at it for a long moment.
Edward started laughing, and Carlisle met his gaze with raised eyebrows.
"Yeah, but they're human."
Carlisle shrugged.
"Okay," Edward said. "Okay. You're going to sound like a lunatic, but whatever."
"What are you thinking?" Charlotte asked.
"Look at this." He showed her the clipboard. "My family are on the slow end of the reflex scale—excepting Bella, of course. And so are Tanya's family."
"Oh. Well, maybe you're a little rusty. You live pretty quiet lives."
"Maybe, although I would argue that the way we hunt actually requires better reflexes. Animals are faster than humans."
"But not faster than vampires," she countered. "How often are your territories challenged?"
"Fair enough. Maybe we're too sedentary. But maybe you were right. Maybe it does have something to do with the animal blood."
"Peter," Jasper said, "when we had that little brawl the last time you came through, did you let me win?"
Peter snorted. "Why the hell would I do that?"
"If your reflexes are supposed to be so much faster than mine, why couldn't you beat me?"
"Maybe you're stronger," Ulka said. She had suddenly become a lot more interested when she realized she was being lumped in with Peter and Bella.
Charlotte shook her head. "Anyone who survived the Southern Wars knows better than to rely on strength."
Carlisle and Edward exchanged a glance, and Edward jumped up again. "Give me half an hour."
"What's he doing?" Bella asked, watching him run back to the house.
"He's making up some IQ tests. Anyone who would like to continue this experiment, please be available in thirty minutes."
"IQ tests?" Peter asked. "You're going to ask us trivia questions?"
"No, not trivia. Questions that need to be worked out. Math and logic problems."
"You really think any of us will get them wrong?"
"No, I'm sure they'll be easy enough. What I'm interested in is time. I want to know how well our brains are performing."
"You think that might be the difference?" Jasper asked.
"It's a hypothesis worth testing."
"I don't understand," Charlotte said.
Carlisle sat down beside her. "Do you remember what it was like to be a newborn? All frenetic energy?"
"Sure."
"How good was your focus?"
Charlotte smiled ruefully.
"Bella," Carlisle said, "tell me what you think. Do your physical reactions ever get in the way of your ability to think?"
Bella grimaced. "There's a scar on your hand that ought to answer that question for you. And some major repairs that we've had to do to your house . . ."
He grinned at her.
"So you think Peter's problem is that he's reverting to a newborn state?" Charlotte asked.
"Not reverting, no, but something has got him in a state of hyper-excitation."
"Any idea what?"
Alexander crawled into Bella's lap, listening intently now. Bella wasn't sure why he was so interested, but he obviously found the conversation more compelling than his sand sculpture.
"Maybe," Carlisle said to Charlotte. "When you mentioned the animal blood, it reminded me of a surprising study I came across recently."
Alexander sucked his thumb into his mouth, still staring fixedly at Carlisle.
"Human children, expelled from their schools for violent behavior, were sent to a school where they were fed foods with high nutritional value and no preservatives, and were denied highly processed foods with excessive amounts of sugar. Their behavior and their grades improved dramatically."
"Because their diet changed?"
He nodded. "And that, in turn, made me think of a conversation I had recently about whether our instincts really drive us to make the healthiest choices."
"What do you mean?"
"Bella?" Carlisle said.
She tore her eyes away from her son and looked at Carlisle. "Of this crowd, you're the one who has most recently been a human child. Can I borrow your opinions for a moment."
"Uh . . . sure."
"Which is a better food for the health and performance of the human body? Broccoli or jelly beans?"
She laughed. "Broccoli, definitely."
"And which, as a young child, would you have chosen to eat? Assuming your parents weren't being consulted."
"Jelly beans."
"You're sure?"
She grinned. "Absolutely sure."
Carlisle turned back to Charlotte. "We call young vampires newborns for a reason. They're like children in many ways. A responsible human parent would never allow a child to make dietary choices based on taste alone, but that is exactly what vampires do."
There was a brief silence, broken after a moment by,
"Have you completely lost your mind?"
Garrett dropped from a nearby tree and strode over to them, plopping down on the step above Carlisle. "You cannot possibly be telling her that you think human blood is causing her mate's paranoia."
"Why not?"
"We all drink human blood. Do you think we're all paranoid?"
"Paranoid, no. Territorial, yes. Quick-tempered, violent, and lacking in empathy, yes. It's generally considered impossible for vampires to live in large groups, and yet I drink animal blood and here I am, living comfortably with eight vampires in one house."
"With slow reflexes," he shot back.
"Maybe so. But we're not really so far removed from our human origins. What if we discovered that drinking animal blood gave you better mental acuity?"
"I don't care if it makes you fly, I'm not touching it. That stuff is disgusting."
"Bella," Carlisle said again.
She smiled. "Hm?"
"As a human, was there a vegetable you disliked."
"Onions. I couldn't stand them."
"Still better for you than jelly beans, right?"
"Definitely."
"Is drinking animal blood worse than eating onions?"
She considered that for a moment. "No. Maybe not a lot better, but not worse."
Carlisle spread his hands and turn back to Garrett. "The vampire race makes childish dietary decisions. Responsible humans eat their vegetables because they know it's good for them, but vampires? We only want what tastes good."
"Except for you, you smug bastard." Garrett was grinning, and Carlisle smiled back.
"Let's just see what the test results say. This is all still entirely hypothetical."
Edward returned a little while later with several copies of his IQ test, each a hundred pages long. Carlisle passed them out, face down, instructed everyone to write down their answers before moving on, and then gave them all the command to get started.
Esme finished first. Eleazar, Alice, Tanya, Carmen, Emmett, Irina, Kate, Rosalie, and Jasper completed their tests within seconds of her. Excepting Bella, Jasper was the last of the animal hunters to finish, and he set his pen down a full thirteen seconds before the next person in the group.
The last test completed was Bella's, but she was only a fraction of a second behind Peter, who finished his exam right around a second after the other five of the six outliers.
Carlisle graphed each one of them meticulously, smiling at the results.
"Smug bastard," Garrett muttered.
"I can't believe you're doing this."
"Shut up, Garrett."
"I can't believe you're letting them sucker you into this ridiculous exercise."
"You didn't have to come."
"Of course I had to come. Who else is going to tell you how stupid you are?"
Charlotte rolled her eyes. "We should have brought Kate along. She seems to know how to stop your mouth."
"Kate," he said, shaking his head sadly. "Poor Kate. A beautiful, misguided nymph, that one."
"Shut up, Garrett."
There were thirteen of them running through the woods, making their way toward more fertile hunting grounds. Peter and Ulka had agreed to be part of Carlisle's nutrition experiment, as had a woman named Maureen, one of the other outliers. The rest would be the control group—mostly because they weren't the slightest bit interested in changing their diets.
Esme and Tanya had volunteered to lead a hunting trip, and Alexander begged to go along. Bella thought it was for the best if she hunted anyway, since Charlie was coming over again that evening, so she tagged along with Alexander and Edward. Charlotte had agreed to switch to animal blood to support Peter, so she was there too. Tia couldn't stand the idea that human blood might be impairing her brain, and Benjamin was just curious. Minh had wanted to join them and do a little hunting herself, but her presence unnerved Peter so badly that she'd had to promise she would keep to her human form—much to Alexander's disappointment.
Garrett, apparently, had come along entirely for the sake of being obnoxious.
"I'm not sure you understand how bad animal blood tastes."
Tanya stopped and turned around. "Garrett, if you don't shut up, I'm going to remove your Adam's apple."
"Is that where Kate gets her violent tendencies? Did she learn them from you? Listen, Peter, I'm not sure this little scheme is going to work. Vegetarians are bad tempered."
Tanya rolled her eyes and started forward again.
Esme fell back and took Minh's arm, giving it a familiar squeeze. "I feel terrible about how busy we've been. We've hardly gotten to know you and the other girls. I hope you don't think we're bad hosts."
"You have been more than generous," she replied.
"Tell me a little about yourself. Minh isn't a Chinese name, is it?"
She smiled. "No. My father was Vietnamese."
"You don't have to be full Chinese to become a shape-shifter, then?"
"Very little Chinese blood is required." She looked up at the sky. "The magic is in the stars."
Alexander wriggled out of Bella's grasp and dropped to the ground, running to catch up with Minh. He tugged at her skirt, and she swung him up into her arms.
"How does the magic work?" he asked her.
"It is very old. It started long, long ago when the men of China were called upon to work the fields and defend their lands against attack. The daughters of China had work to do in their homes, but many of them wished to serve beyond the hearth. One day, twelve daughters gathered to petition the Jade Emperor's favor. He heard their request and was pleased with their desire, but he believed they would need help."
"From dragons?" Alexander asked eagerly.
She chuckled. "Yes, from dragons. But not only them. He thought there were many animals who could help, but he didn't know which ones to choose. So he held a race."
"A race? To see who was the fastest?"
"Oh, it wasn't just about speed. The race was long and crossed difficult terrain. Each of the animals would have to be very resourceful to overcome the obstacles."
"Who won?"
"The dragon did, of course." She laughed, eliciting a giggle from Alexander. "But not just the dragon. The first twelve animals to reach the end were chosen to help serve the people of China."
"What animals."
She smiled. "The dragon, the snake, the horse, the sheep, the monkey, the rooster, the dog, the pig, the rat, the ox, the tiger, and the rabbit."
"I had rabbit for breakfast," Alexander said.
Bella winced. Was that going to offend her? She watched Minh for a reaction, but the old woman just laughed.
"I certainly hope you didn't have one of my friends for breakfast. Though, I think you would have known. I'm told our blood makes vampires sick."
"I'm pretty sure it was just a rabbit."
"That is good."
"What happened to the animals who won?"
"The winners were invited to a great feast, where the Jade Emporer joined the souls of the animals with the souls of the daughters of China. They became one, and were given many tasks. Some, like the rooster and the sheep, were asked to help on the farms, understanding and improving conditions and helping watch for predators. Some like the rat and the rabbit were to aid the warriors as spies. The Horse and the Ox were to assist in travel and trade."
"What did the dragon do?"
"What do you think the dragon did?"
"She was a warrior!"
Minh laughed. "That's right. She was a warrior. She helped her allies win many battles."
"Were you there?" Alexander asked.
That made her laugh even harder. "Oh, no, my boy. That was thousands of years ago. I'm a very old woman, but I'm not that old."
"How old are you?"
Bella wasn't sure that was a polite question, but . . . she was just so curious herself.
"I am one hundred and thirty-six years old."
"Wow, you're old!"
"Alexander!" Bella hissed.
"It's all right," Minh said. "To you, little one, I'm very, very old. And to me, you are very, very young."
"I'm growing up, though," Alexander said. "Someday I'll be a hundred and thirty-six too."
"Oh, I hope so. A hundred and thirty-six is a wonderful age to be."
"How does the shape-shifting trait get passed along?" Esme asked.
"It must be carefully planned. If a daughter born in the year of a dragon has a daughter born in the year of the dragon, and she also has a daughter born in the year of the dragon, the last will be a dragon. My line goes back nearly six hundred years, each generation producing a new dragon. My daughter is one, and in a few years she will try to have a daughter as well. If she does, my granddaughter will be a dragon."
"That's amazing," Esme murmured. "Is it very common?"
"It was, once. But it seems that we have performed our duties too well. Our people have grown too numerous for our lands, and births have been restricted. This makes a difficult task even more challenging, especially when a boy is born to the family first. Some still try again, to keep the legacy intact, but if they are successful the child must be hidden. It would be unwise to send a young shape-shifter to be raised by people who don't understand her abilities."
"That does sound difficult," Esme agreed.
Tanya stopped and turned back to the group. "This is probably far enough. Bella? Do you want to show them how it's done?"
"Me?"
"Sure. I don't need to hunt, and neither do Esme or Edward. That leaves you to show them how it's done."
"Please, Mother?" Alexander said, reaching for her.
"I can't hold you while I hunt, sweetie."
"But I want to see."
She took him from Minh and tucked him close against her chest. "Just until I find something," she said, cupping the back of his head to protect his neck.
Once he was situated, she dropped her head back and sniffed the breeze. She picked out the individual scents and—there. Elk. They must be near a stream, since she could smell the freshness of the water and the moss. She tightened her grip on Alexander and took off running in the direction of her prey.
Alexander giggled.
"Shhh," Bella breathed. "We don't want them to hear us coming."
When she got close, she scaled a tree until she was high enough to see what she was after. All around her, other vampires were climbing as well, watching her closely.
A small herd was drinking at a stream, and Bella gestured toward them. "I think I'm going to try for the one with the injured leg," she whispered to Alexander.
"Why?"
Bella paused. She had chosen that one instinctively, though of course she wouldn't have a problem catching the strongest of them. It just seemed . . . right.
"Well . . ." she said, "I guess because I want the healthiest ones to keep breeding, so we always have plenty of elk in these woods."
"Okay."
Bella set Alexander on the limb. "Hold on tight."
"I will."
Edward moved to the limb below, which eased Bella's mind significantly. He wouldn't let Alexander fall. Once her son was settled, she turned and dove off of the limb, the power of her jump taking her right to the edge of the stream. The elk were already scattering when she hit the ground, but that only made it more fun. She zeroed in on the one with the limp and bolted after it, jumping onto it from behind and sinking her teeth into its neck while it was still running.
Fantastic. Hunting was always such a rush.
Once the animal had collapsed to the ground, she stopped drinking and slid to her knees on the ground. She turned back to where Alexander watched and beckoned to him and Edward. She wanted Alexander to taste some of the elk blood.
Edward collected Alexander and climbed down, running out to meet her as precious drops of blood oozed from the elk's neck. It was difficult to let them be wasted, but it was worth it to share the experience. Edward set Alexander down at her side, and he jumped at her.
"You ran so fast, Mother!"
She laughed. "I did. Do you want to taste the blood?"
"Yes!"
She set him down next to the animal's neck and he crouched down to drink. When she glanced up at Edward, he was grinning at her.
"What?"
"I was just thinking."
"About what?"
He sat down beside her and tugged her away from the elk and into his lap. "About how it wasn't very long ago that you were completely perplexed when Jasper offered Alice his kill."
Bella laughed at the memory. It had been a very strange concept to her. But then, she'd never had the privilege of watching her little boy explore all the things the world had to offer him. She smiled down at him and ran her fingers through his curls. "What do you think, little man?"
"It's pretty good," he said, smacking his blood-stained lips. "I like milk better."
"We'll make sure you get milk with dinner," Edward said. "Cool?"
"Cool."
The other vampires had scattered once she'd taken down her kill, chasing other game through the forest. Bella heard the yowl of a mountain lion in the distance and grinned. Someone had snagged a good one.
"One of these days, we'll get you a carnivore," Edward said to Alexander. "Might have to wait until you're older, though. They're pretty vicious."
"How old?"
"Oh, I don't know. Forty-four, forty-five maybe."
"That's too long!"
Bella scooped him up and deposited him on her shoulders. "We need to practice on the rabbits a little more before we go after big game."
When they got back to the house, more guests had arrived. The tents were full, and Alice was on the phone with Newton's Olympic Outfitters, checking to see how many more they had in stock. Alexander let go of their hands and ran to the amphitheater, where he began hopping down the steps with his feet together. He giggled at his little game and peered back to make sure Bella was watching.
"Look, mother! I can jump really far!" He turned back to his steps and made a mighty leap, jumping three of them at a time.
Bella clapped and made the appropriate approving noises while he beamed and continued his game.
Alice hung up the phone and wandered over to join them. "I can get eight more tents after the sun goes down tonight, but then that's it. They're cleaned out."
"Will that be enough?" Edward asked.
"Your guess is as good as mine."
"How are Amelia and Maysun?" Bella asked. She glanced toward the house, but what she saw through the window stopped her cold. Alistair was standing in the doorway of Maysun's room, staring down at her while she slept.
Bella grabbed Edward's arm and jerked him around so he could see what she saw. He looked toward the house and then back at her. "What? What's wrong."
"Alistair," she hissed.
"Oh. Yeah. It's fine."
"Edward!" She rounded on him, shocked and angry.
"Bella, it's okay. They . . . met. Last night."
"They met?"
He smirked. "It went well."
"What does that mean?"
"They like each other. A lot. Carlisle's over the moon about it."
"What, just like that? They're, like . . . a couple now?"
"It happens pretty fast for some of us," Alice said. "Rosalie fell for Emmett in roughly the time it took to blink."
"Faster than that!" Emmett yelled from somewhere in the woods.
"So she's okay?" Bella asked, looking back toward Maysun's window. Alistair was looking out at her now, but otherwise he hadn't moved.
"You don't need to worry about him. He's just making sure no one disturbs her."
"I think it's sweet," Alice said.
"You would, wouldn't you?" a voice drawled from behind them. Bella turned to see James striding toward them, with Victoria at his heels. "Those girls must bring back memories for you, Mary Alice. Oh, wait." He smirked. "I guess they don't."
"What do you mean?" She sounded calm, but Bella noticed that her hands were clenched into fists. Judging by the smug look on James's face, Bella figured that he must have noticed too.
"Oh, you know. Young girls locked up and at the mercy of their vampire captors. It ought to feel awfully familiar."
"Why? Because of the mental hospital?"
James let out a low laugh. "Oh yes. Poor little Mary Alice. Locked away to keep her from harming herself and others. Little Mary Alice, who always knew what was coming, but could never do anything to stop it."
Alice shivered.
"How did you come to know her?" Edward asked. If he was bothered by this conversation, he didn't show it.
"I smelled her. Only faintly, and from far away, but the moment I caught her scent I knew I had to find her. And I did. Hidden away in a dank little cellar, with only a tiny window for us to talk through."
"Is that what you did? Talk?"
"For days. So many conversations at our little window. Mary Alice used to cry so sweetly. She knew what I was, and she knew I was going to kill her. But first I wanted to know what made her smell so sweet. And of course, there was Sebastian."
"Sebastian was the head of the asylum?" Alice asked.
He smirked. "An ingenious situation."
"Are you sure he drank from the patients?" Alice asked.
"Regularly. You were his favorite, as I recall—but I could hardly blame him for that. You smelled so delicious."
He was inching closer to Alice, and Bella's unease grew. He was too close. She had to resist the urge to snap at him and drive him back.
"Of course, it wasn't just your blood he wanted. He spent far more time in your room than he needed for feeding . . ."
That made Alice fall back a step, and Victoria laughed. "Aw, sweetie, did you think your ugly boyfriend was your first? How disappointing."
Alice exchanged glances with Edward and straightened her shoulders. "What happened?" she asked James. "If you were so determined to kill me, why didn't you?"
"I told you." His eyes darkened. "Sebastian got in my way. He wouldn't give you to me, and when he realized that I was determined to have you anyway, he took you away from the asylum and hid you. I found you, of course, but by then you were in the middle of your change."
"You're unique," Victoria said. "James always gets his prey. You're the only one who ever escaped."
James snarled at her and she flinched and backed away.
"But I made you a promise," he said to Alice, struggling to regain his composure. "Do you remember what it was? I whispered it in your ear while you were screaming."
Alice shook her head slowly, her eyes fixed on him.
"I told you I wasn't finished with you. I promised I would find you again."
She stared at him for a long moment. "Why?" she finally asked. "Why not just kill me then? It would have been easy."
"Easy is boring." He flashed his gleaming teeth at her. "I like a challenge."
"You might want to put a pin in that," Edward said. "Carlisle has forbidden us from killing each other during this little shindig."
"Of course," James said, his voice smooth and just a little bit oily. "Don't worry, friend. I always play by the rules." He turned and strode away with Victoria following in his wake, and suddenly Jasper was there beside Alice. Bella hadn't known he was even nearby, but he appeared the moment James was out of sight.
"Edward?" Jasper asked.
"It was true—mostly, anyway. He's not sure about any sexual misconduct on Sebastian's part, but he assumes."
Alice gave Jasper a small, secret smile. "He's wrong."
"How do you know?" Bella asked.
"I just know." She glanced at Edward, who only nodded.
That was good enough for Bella. After all, there was only so much she needed to know about her friends' private affairs.
"Mother, look!" Alexander cried from the bottom of the amphitheater. He was making his way back up now, hopping up one step at a time, but when she turned to look he squatted low and jumped two at once.
"Wow! Look how strong you are!"
"I'm going to jump all the way to you!"
Bella beamed at him. "Once you get to the top, we need to get ready for Grandpa Charlie to visit."
"Yay! Grandpa Chawlie!" He started taking faster hops up the steps.
"Oh, Bella, that reminds me," Alice said, "the first clothing delivery arrived. I put the box in the downstairs bathroom."
"That was fast. Thank you." She caught Alexander on his last hop and carried him to the house to clean him up.
True to her word, Alice had bought Alexander some of the cutest clothes Bella had ever seen. Alexander seemed just as gleeful about them as Alice did, too. He climbed right into the large box and dug through the clothes until he found his favorite item—a tiny leather jacket.
"Look, mother, I got one too! Like Carwile and Rosalie and everyone else!"
"Don't tell Edward. He might get jealous."
"Too late," Edward said from the kitchen. "I'm jealous already, and I don't even know what it is."
"It's a new coat!" Alexander called back, already digging for more. "And this one, Mother. And this." He presented her with a tiny pair of cargo shorts and a white button-up shirt with a red bow-tie attached. The shirt was part of a tiny little tuxedo set, but Alexander only shook his head when Bella pointed that out.
"I'll wear those later."
There was no harm in his awkward ensemble, so Bella shrugged and allowed him to have his fun. She got him washed and dressed and put a pair of shoes on him, but after a few steps he sat down and pulled them off again.
"Those don't work," he said.
"What do you mean?"
"They're in the way. My toes have to feel the ground." He tossed them back in the box, along with the socks Bella had put on him, then raised his hands to be picked up again.
Bella had to agree with him. It was easier to run with bare feet.
"Is Grandpa Chawlie here yet?" he asked as Bella carried him to the kitchen.
"Not yet," Edward answered, "but we should skin these rabbits and cook them up tonight. Do you want to help?"
Alexander hopped onto the counter and peered into the bowl, where Edward had apparently stashed the rabbits earlier. "How do you skin them?"
"Here, I'll show you. I'll do this one and you do that one."
"Can you watch him while I get ready?" Bella asked.
"Of course." Edward grabbed her hand before she could walk away and pulled her close. He treated her to a long, slow kiss, and when he released her, Alexander burst into a fit of giggles.
"That's not how you skin a rabbit!" he cried gleefully.
Bella laughed and kissed his forehead. "That's how you tease a girlfriend." She shot Edward a sly smile and left to get herself ready to see Charlie.
Edward and Alexander had just finished preparing the rabbits for cooking when a familiar truck turned off the main road and onto the gravel path that led to the Cullen's house. Bella raised her eyebrows at Edward, and he shrugged. "I guess Billy and some of the boys from the Reservation decided to accept Carlisle's invitation."
"The wolves are coming?" Bella asked, her anxiety skyrocketing once again. She remembered how hostile Sam had been the last time she'd seen him, and she didn't want him near Alexander.
"Hey." Edward moved toward her and gripped her arms. "I'll be right beside you the whole time. Nobody's getting through the two of us, right?"
She nodded. Edward's presence was a distinct advantage. It was awfully convenient having a boyfriend who could read minds.
He gave her a quick peck and then swept Alexander up onto his shoulder. "We need to make some batter to cook the rabbits in. Here." He moved to a cabinet and pulled out a bottle of garlic powder. "Smell that. Should we put some of that in the batter?"
Alexander took the bottle Edward opened for him and sniffed it. "Yes!"
"How about that?" he handed him some dried parsley to sniff.
"Ummm . . . okay."
Edward pulled out one spice after another, offering them for Alexander's approval. When he had a collection that satisfied him, he pulled a few more ingredients out of the refrigerator and started helping Alexander measure and mix them together.
Meanwhile, Carlisle and Esme had jogged up to the house from the campground so they would be there to greet Charlie and the others. Esme moved to Alexander's side to admire his cooking skills, while Carlisle stopped next to Bella and draped an arm over her shoulders.
"How are you feeling?" he asked her.
"Feeling?"
"Your thirst. Is it very difficult to control? With Amelia upstairs and Charlie visiting so frequently, I'm worried that we're asking too much of you."
"It's getting easier, actually. Sometimes I forget all about it."
"You're not just saying that so we won't keep your father away? I don't want you to push yourself past your limits over fear of the consequences."
"Really, I'm fine."
He still looked anxious, so Bella smiled at him. "I promise I'll tell you if it starts to get too difficult."
"Good. I'm here to help."
Bella heard the truck rumble to a stop in front of the house and Carlisle gestured toward the door. "Shall we go welcome our friends?"
She nodded. She reached for Alexander, who jumped from Edward's shoulder into her arms, and they all headed for the door.
Charlie and Billy were climbing out of the cab of the truck when they got outside, and five very large, foul-smelling young men in cut-offs were jumping out of the back, hauling three large ice chests with them.
"Hey, there's my grandson!" Charlie said. He managed to get his arms up just in time to catch Alexander, who had leapt at him as soon as he saw him.
"Did you bring some fish?" he asked eagerly.
"I sure did. Are you ready to fry them up?"
"Yes! And we have some rabbits, too."
Charlie cocked his head. "Rabbits?"
"I caught them today."
"You did? All by yourself?"
"Well . . . Mother and Edward helped me."
"Alexander helped prep them and make breading for them too," Edward added. "You don't mind frying them up with the fish, do you?"
Charlie jerked a thumb toward the boys. "With this crowd, the more food the better."
They all headed inside, and Esme went to find the Chinese visitors while the Quileute boys started unloading the coolers.
"You brought a lot of fish!" Alexander exclaimed.
"We have a lot of people to feed."
They pulled out pans and oil and started frying the fish, while Carlisle found the ingredients for coleslaw and threw some together. The kitchen was filled with chatter and the revolting odors of fish and wolves when the girls from China walked into the room. The moment they made themselves known, all of the boys went silent.
Carlisle glanced back and forth between the two groups. "Minh, Bo, and Mei Zhen, may I present my friends, Billy, Sam, Paul, Jared, and . . . I'm sorry, I haven't met the two of you yet."
"I'm Quil," one of the new boys said. "And this is Embry."
Embry was too busy staring at the women to answer.
"And you've both phased," Carlisle said. It wasn't a question. "Your pack is growing."
Sam glanced around at the other boys. "Possibly because of your numbers. We think it may be affecting us."
"Carlisle told us a little of your legends," Minh said, "but I believe he does not know them well. I would like to hear about them from you."
"And perhaps you'll do us the same kindness," Billy said. "I've never met any other shape-shifters."
"It would be our pleasure."
"Take a load off," Charlie said, gesturing toward the kitchen table. "I promised my grandson a proper fish fry. You're welcome to join us."
Embry practically fell over himself rushing to pull out a chair for Mei Zhen, the youngest of the three women who had spied on them as a rat. That seemed to break the tension, and conversation started up again. Bo, who looked like she might be in her thirties, wandered into the kitchen to help with the cooking while Minh drifted to Billy's side and started up a murmured conversation about the experiences associated with phasing for the first time.
Charlie had multiple pans arranged in front of him on the stove, and Alexander was on the counter next to him, while Bella hovered nearby to keep her son from getting too close to the spattering oil. Sam was there as well, a pair of tongs in hand, helping Charlie keep an eye on the sizzling fish.
Everything was going great until Charlie nudged Bella's arm and nodded toward the tall windows at the back of the house. "Who's that?"
A chill was already prickling up the back of her neck when Bella turned to follow his gaze. Outside, past the amphitheater and just this side of the river, Joham stood on the bank, staring into the house. He looked furious, his teeth clenched and his fingers curled into claws.
There was a part of Bella that understood exactly how he felt. A part of her was hyper-aware of her son, here in the kitchen, surrounded by creatures with whom she was on questionable terms. At that moment, in fact, he was sampling a sliver of fish that Sam was holding out to him—eating it right out of his hand. She was ready to snatch him up and flee at the first sign of hostility, and Joham, banned from their presence, didn't have the comfort of being near enough to protect him.
Another part of her took perverse and intense pleasure in his helplessness.
"That's Joham," she murmured.
Charlie froze. "That's him?"
She nodded.
He put down the filet he was breading and reached for a towel to wipe his hands.
"Charlie, don't," Edward warned.
"I just want to talk to him." He headed for the door, but Carlisle stepped in front of him.
"Charlie. No. There is a strict non-violence policy in place. I can't tell you how important it is—"
"I just want to talk to him."
"Talking is fine. You can say anything you want, but you must not allow it to move beyond words."
Charlie pushed past him, and suddenly the boys all around Bella were . . . they were taking off their clothes. They were getting naked, right here in the kitchen, and not one of them seemed to think it was even worth mentioning.
Edward caught Sam's eye and nodded. "Just don't start anything."
Charlie and five naked boys filed out of the house, and the moment they were outside, each of the boys . . . changed. They sort of rippled and fell forward, suddenly replaced by the biggest wolves Bella had ever seen.
"Look!" Alexander exclaimed. "Did you see it, Mother? They turned into wolves!"
Carlisle looked like he was considering following them, but Edward cleared his throat.
"Trust them, Carlisle." He dropped his voice to a whisper and added, "If they provoke Joham into attacking, we can be rid of him."
"Attacking?" Bella asked in alarm. That was her father out there, and she was all too familiar with Joham's temper.
"He'll be fine," Billy said confidently.
Bella picked up a spatula and poked at the fish, but she couldn't keep herself from watching Charlie and the wolves cross the yard to the river. It was comforting, she had to admit, that his back-up had such large teeth.
"You're Joham?" Charlie demanded, stopping a couple of yards away from the vampire.
Joham straightened and lifted his chin, but said nothing.
"You're the gutless sack of shit who kidnaped my daughter?"
Alexander scooted closer to Bella and tugged at her sleeve. "Mother, is 'gutless' a bad word?"
"No."
Joham snarled. "I'd watch my tone if I were you."
"Or what? You'll hurt me?" Charlie took a step closer. "I'm not buying it. Not from a spineless little cunt like you. You don't have the balls to come after me if there's a chance you'll get hurt."
"Is 'cunt' a bad word?" Alexander asked.
"Yes."
"Who do you think you are?" Joham hissed. "You're human. You're nothing. You'll be dead tomorrow, but my work will remain."
"I'm human, but I'm more of a man than you'll ever be. Does it make you feel like a bad-ass, abusing little girls? Does it make you feel like you're something more than a limp-dicked, pansy-ass shitstain?"
Charlie had an audience now. Vampires were taking notice, watching him from across the river, and most of them looked highly amused.
"Silence!" Joham yelled. "Or I will silence you."
Charlie met his gaze with an icy stare. "Try it."
For a moment, Bella thought he would. Joham was so furious he was trembling, and she really thought he would snap and go for Charlie's throat. But his eyes flicked toward the wolves and he let out a roar of frustration.
"Listen up, asshole," Charlie said. "I'm putting you on notice. I can't do anything to you right now, but I owe you. I owe you for every tear my baby cried, and for every second of pain she endured. When you leave this town, it had better be for good, because if I ever see you again I'll make sure that my debt is paid. I'll have you torn to tiny little pieces and I'll burn them all, one by one. Do you understand me?"
Joham looked murderous, but he didn't answer. He spun around and leapt back across the river, to the delight of the watching vampires. They laughed, and a few of them even applauded.
"You're all just as bad," Charlie grumbled, but he was smirking as he strode back toward the house.
Alexander looked awestruck. "Grandpa Chawlie doesn't like Father, does he, Mother?"
She shook her head.
He screwed his face up in concentration. "Lots of people don't like Father."
"That's true. He's hurt a lot of people."
"He does good things too, though."
"Does he?" She stared hard at the fish filets she was turning. "Like what?"
"He read me books and gave me my lessons."
She nodded grudgingly. "You're right. Those are good things."
"I think . . ." He folded his tiny hands in his lap. "I think sometimes people can do bad things and good things."
"You're on to something there. In fact, I think that's true of most people. But the bad things that some people do are so bad that it's not worth putting up with them while you wait for the good things to come."
"Do you think Father is too bad?"
She sighed. She didn't want to place herself in direct opposition to Joham because she was afraid she wouldn't win. But at the same time, she didn't want to let Alexander think there was any moral ambiguity involved in what Joham had done. "Yes, sweetie. I do."
"Do you want him to go away?"
"Yes."
Alexander poked his thumb into his mouth, and Bella started to worry that she had been too blunt. "Do you want him to stay?"
"I don't know," he said around his thumb. "I have to think about it."
Charlie and five naked boys strolled back into the house, and the Quileutes all pulled their shorts on again. Charlie returned to the stove, and they picked up right where they'd left off.
"This batch is ready," Charlie said, lifting one of the frying pans off of the stove. "Embry, come over here and help dish up some plates for the ladies. Edward?"
Edward pulled a clean pan out of the cabinet. "Here you go."
Charlie accepted it and poured some fresh oil into it. "All right, Alexander. Let's get started on those rabbits of yours."