Aleera POV

I hadn't wanted to tell Bella, and this was why. It looked like she'd gone into shock, totally still, wide eyed and unblinking. I cringed a little, I knew if we put too much on her plate she might break or freak out. "How do you know?" she asked finally, voice an octave high and breaking slightly.

"Maybe now isn't the best-," she cut me off abruptly.

"Tell me!"

I gave her a reluctant nod, this was not going to end well. "I researched your family, I had to. They're listed as your parents on the birth certificate, but it didn't feel right so I dug a little deeper. Renee never had any ultrasounds, no listed midwife and she never had doctors appointments until after you were born. There also weren't any records of her signing into a hospital. Even then, your doctor noted that Renee didn't show any post-birth side effects and informed CPS and they talked to the police but there weren't any reports of missing children your age at the time. Then there's the lack of resemblance, I found pictures of both Renee and Charlie at three different stages of there life. One when they were five, when you were ten and now. I merged yours at the same ages, and they didn't match up. Not in facial structure, nothing."

She had an unreadable look in her eyes and I felt horrible for dumping this on her. She had enough going on. She stared for a few minutes, processing this, "and what else?"

"There are no family links to anything pertaining to the world I live in, not as far back as I can tell, no weird history or occupancies in your family tree. They're completely normal and I didn't sense 'Other' on Charlie when we met, so that left Renee. Well, there was one thing, your second cousin got married to a demon a few years back, but aside from that your family is as human and as normal as they can come. Charlie wouldn't have let you leave with me if he thought you were different and it didn't look like he was waiting for you to develop whatever it is that's happening. He's clueless, at first I thought maybe it was dormant and you'd triggered something, but again, I didn't feel anything inhuman about him. Based on what you've told me about Renee, I'd bet on her being human too."

She was real quiet after that, "I can't believe you didn't tell me."

"I didn't want it to interfere with your training, the training alone is stressful enough," I said flinching at her hostile gaze. Oh god, shit was about to hit the fan.

"occurrances, you found out that the people I've been calling mom and dad for the last eighteen years aren't my real parents and you kept that to yourself. Or worse, you spoke to other people about it before you even told me. How long have you known?" she asked, standing up and crossing the room. She went into the closet, coming out fully dressed a moment later, "answer me!"

I sighed, "the second night we got here."

"You've known for weeks? Are you fucking kidding me!" she shouted angrily, "you know, I thought we were equals in this! I tell you everything, how could you keep something so important from me?"

I stood up, surprised with how angry she was getting, though I knew I deserved it. "I wanted to tell you, it just seemed like bad timing."

"Bad timing? I trusted you to be honest with me, want to know who would go that far in the name of 'protecting me'. Edward, he did crap like this all the time, and your no better. 'Oh yeah, Bella's human, let's keep her safe and sound under my careful watch just in case she finds trouble. Know what else we can we do to keep her safe? Not tell her stuff, wouldn't want to upset poor fragile human Bella, she might not be able to handle it, she's too weak'."

"We've just established your not human, and I never thought you were weak. Would you calm down? I didn't say I wasn't going to tell you. I knew you would have questions, I was going to wait till we had some answers and we don't. Once we tracked down your parents, then I was going to tell you," she glared at me angrily.

"I can't believe you would take things that far without my approval. It's my life Aleera, you had no right, no fucking right to keep me out of the loop on this!"

"Bella, would you just relax for a minute and let me explain," I said pleadingly, completely thrown for a loop on this. I hadn't thought she would react this badly.

"Explain why you let me run around with no answers for a whole fucking month? No thanks," she pushed past me roughly and stormed out of the room.

I opened my mouth to speak, and then flinched when I heard the downstairs door open and slam shut. I blinked again, completely confused and lost for a moment, "What the fuck just happened?"

Bella POV

I strolled into the bar, feeling kind of naked. I wasn't of course, it was the fact that Aleera was gone. Like that feeling you get when you take off a ring or necklace that you'd refused to leave your home without for years. I couldn't feel her presence, it had faded out a while ago. I'd noticed it about twenty minutes ago, and I figured she must've taken off and gone in the opposite direction of me. I wonder where she'd gone to cool off. Probably a bar too.

I could always feel Aleera, feel just how close she was. It was why sleeping had become so easy for me. I used to have the nightmares, and when Aleera didn't sleep in the bed with me I would be restless. I usually tried to match up our sleeping patterns. She didn't sleep a whole lot, none of them did, but still, she normally remained in the bed for a few extra hours just to stay with me. It was all the little things she did like that.

Or when I finally did get up and she'd had to leave the bedroom, she'd always just seemed to know when I'd wake up, and there'd be hot coffee on the night table. Sometimes if I just wanted to read, but felt like I'd needed to be close to her, she would stay on the bed and do research of some kind without my needing to say a word. I was curious as to what she was going through, but it was never in English, so I hadn't bothered to ask. Sometimes she'd look really troubled, but again, I figured if there was a problem she'd talk to me about it. In hindsight it could've been about me. Man I was oblivious sometimes.

If she hadn't planned on doing any research she'd just lay in the bed with me and I'd read aloud to her, she'd play with my hair and lay there eyes closed, and just listen. Sometimes I'd think she wasn't listening or that she was drifting off, and then she'd look at me,grin and ask me why I'd stopped reading. Or I'd just caught up in staring at her and she'd just give me that amused look that she always got when it came to me and I would blush a little.

I'd asked her once why she never asked questions and listened to me read, but she'd remarked that she'd read millions of books and many of the ones I'd read aloud to her, she'd already read. Then I'd asked her why she wanted to listen to me read books she'd already gone through and she said it as if it were obvious, "I just love the sound of your voice. You make the books come alive when you read, so it's worth re-reading anything with you."

I felt horrible now. I hadn't meant to take my frustration out on her. I'd said some pretty awful things too. I moved up to the bar, sitting on a stool and just ordered a coke and rum. "ID?" he asked, eyebrows raised. Of course I wasn't twenty one yet, I would be in a couple of years still. I wouldn't be nineteen for about a month still.

"Sure," I said, pulling open my wallet and handing him one of the fake ID's Kade had provided me with.

I was pretty sure Nate had made them for me, considering he hadn't given me total crap names like Jessica Smith or something. I'd seen Aleera use about five or six different names and she always carried different wallets. I understood why when Kade had given me six different sets of ID's. There were about five or six pieces of identification that matched one another, so I had six different identities I could use. All of them were variations of one another, and you couldn't tell at all they were fake. I'd had to buy a bunch of wallets to organize them. You know, I wouldn't even be surprised to find out they had stolen the technology that made the real ID's.

He handed it back after a quick glance and then left and returned with my drink. I moved to sit at a booth in the back alone. It was a habit I'd picked up from the Kale's, in fact, I was picking up quite a few of their habits. I always remembered how many weapons I had, where the extra clips were, my senses had peaked over the training and a long list of other things. One of them being their cautiousness. Trouble always seemed to find them and I wasn't thrilled over the fact that I'd probably fall under the same category. Trouble just seemed to find me all the time, though now I was confident I could handle trouble if it came my way.

I stared at the half full glass, lifting it up and eying it thoughtfully. I'd overreacted. Of course I had. I didn't even know why I'd gotten so angry. Maybe it was all that pent up frustration, all the stress just finally bursting out of me and I'd taken it out on the one person that I never wanted to upset. Great, worlds worst girlfriend ladies and gentlemen.

I sighed heavily, shoulders slumping as I pulled out my cell phone and began dialing Aleera. Before I got to hit the talk button it was snatched out of my hand. I tensed, eyes shooting straight up to Kaylee and Edward. One set of devious blood red and another of serious golden. Could this day get any worse?

Both of them were still beautiful in the way only vampires could be, Kaylee with her long blonde hair, sweet innocent and beautiful smile. She looked like an angel, or rather a demon, maybe because of the eyes and how dark her gaze was. No wonder why Aleera seemed to avoid discussing what happened back in Volterra so much. Kaylee looked like the kind of girl who would cut deep and knew exactly how when it came to Aleera. I didn't like that prospect much. She was definitely pretty, could even give Rosalie a run for her money in the vampiric beauty department. But still, she was nowhere near as beautiful as Aleera was. Aleera had a unique beauty all to her own, completely unmeasured in my opinion.

"Oh honey, Aleera's unavailable at the moment," if I could've tensed anymore at Kaylee's bell like sympathetic tone I would have. I didn't like the way she was talking about Aleera, as if she knew something I didn't, both their eyes said the same thing.

I gave her an angry look, "what are you talking about? What are you doing here?"

"Well I figured now that we've finally got a moment to ourselves, we could have a little chat," Kaylee said sweetly, sliding across the bench from me and I took the opportunity to snatch my phone back from her. She'd destroyed it in the short seconds she'd had it. I had no way of calling or even texting for help. I didn't like this at all.

I ignored her, addressing Edward as he slipped into the table across from me. A plan was forming in the back of my mind, "what are you doing here Edward? And try not to fuck with me, I've had a very long day."

Sure I probably shouldn't take his word for anything considering all he'd done to Aleera, and honestly I was tempted to reach over and kick the crap out of him. But I didn't know if I could take the both of them. I didn't know what Kaylee was capable of, and I knew Edward was one of the fastest vampires I'd ever met, not saying I'd met a lot, but that's saying something. Even the Cullen's thought he was the fastest one out there.

"We came to talk," Edward said, giving me an honest smile. Yeah, I'm sure. "We've been waiting to talk to you alone."

"Yeah, that's not creepy at all," I muttered under my breath, and then mentally cringed when I remembered they could hear me. They pretended not to here, I took a long drink from the glass, checking the time on the clock at the bar. It was going on nine. "What do you want to talk about? Lying and telling me Aleera was dead, having them trapped and held captive in Volterra? Or how about the way you teamed up with this psychotic nightmare and plotted against my family?"

"Excuse me?" Kaylee snapped, eyes darkening, I gave her a bright innocent smile. I couldn't wait to hit her, and by god I was going to by the time this discussion was over.

"Relax, I told you she'd be a little hostile," Edward said knowingly and I rolled my eyes at his tone, sitting back in the seat. I flagged down the bartender for another drink, "Bella you shouldn't be drinking, your underage."

"Really? Huh, that's so weird, my ID says I'm twenty two, how strange," I said in a mockingly confused voice. "Get the point Edward, her perfume is giving me a headache."

"I don't wear perfume," she said confused.

"Oh that must be your natural stink," I said amused. "You should look into that Lady Speed stick." The bartender appeared, giving Edward and Kaylee an odd look, I smiled at him flirtatiously, just because it would piss off Edward, "don't worry about them, there my younger siblings, can't drink and drive."

"I see," he gave me a quick once over, giving me and appreciative nod and I smirked a little, before taking a drink from the offered glass.

I turned back to the vampires, "so you were speaking about something I probably don't care about."

Edward didn't look pleased with my pointless flirting, but Kaylee did. "I don't see what any of them see in you. Your not pretty, at least, not as pretty as me," ego much? "Your not funny, you don't understand Aleera, what does she see in you? What did you see in her?" she asked Edward in a condescending tone.

"Your ego is making you blind to my amazing charm, don't worry you'll catch on," I said amused, taking another drink from the glass.

"Doubt it, back to the point though, your human scent is mouthwatering and I promised Eddie here I wouldn't suck you dry. Tell me little Isabella, what would you do for Aleera?" Kaylee asked, eyes gleaming and leaning forward a little.

"You came all the way to Moscow to ask me that?" I asked skeptically, honestly, I was getting a little freaked out. I rolled my eyes at them pointedly, and then took a long drink of the glass in order to cover up my deep breath. I needed a good plan, I also knew drinking wasn't helping much, but it was assisting in my panic. I didn't want them to think I was scared of them and at least I could blame my stuttering heart on the alcohol.

"No, we came all the way to Moscow to bring you home," Edward said evenly.

I gave him a dark look, "I'm not going anywhere, and certainly not with the likes of you."

"Bella, you've always wanted to be immortal, I can give you that love. Your family misses you, you belong with me," Edward said giving me a smile that would've made me swoon and lose my breath years ago. Not so much anymore. Now I just wanted to punch him in the face or laugh in his face. Instead, I took another calming breath.

"I don't want to be a vampire anymore. I've changed, I made my decision when I found out you betrayed me," I said coldly.

"I've never betrayed you," he said surprised.

I snapped, slamming my clenched fists down onto the table and shaking it. The bang caught the attention of other people around us and they glanced at us. "What did you think you were doing when you sold out the girl I loved? You think I was just going to brush it off? You could've gotten her killed!" I said furiously.

"I was doing it to protect you. You think we don't know what happened in Brazil, what you did is all over the news. You could've been hurt or worse, and I wasn't there to protect you, you need me," Edward said as if that all made sense.

"You make it sound like she wouldn't come back," Kaylee muttered rolling her eyes at my outburst.

"And you wonder why she doesn't want you anymore," I hissed at her, and her eyes went black. I turned my attention back to Edward, "yeah, I almost was killed, but in case you haven't noticed I can fucking handle myself now and I'm sick of all you idiots pretending I'm weak!"

"Aleera will always love me!" Kaylee blurted out, eyes still black.

"And that's why she chose me right?" I said harshly, and when she lunged for me over the table, I took the opportunity to reach under it and then lift it up. It slammed into them and then sprinted for the parking lot.

Something collided with me and I crashed into the cold wet ground hard. I was still sore from early, so I had adjusted to the pain. "I can't let you leave Bella, I need you," Edward said in a strained voice as I struggled. He made the mistake of flipping me around and I threw my head forward and smashed it into his. I felt my eyes tear up and blur a little, that fucking hurt. It was like hitting your head off of a boulder.

I threw my palms forward as hard as I could and he stumbled backwards, taken by surprise by my new found strength. Kaylee rushed me now, and it was then that I noticed something odd in her hand. It was a syringe. "The fuck?"

We tumbled in my momentary pause and I scrambled away from her. She was trying to drug me! "What the hell is wrong with you people?" I shouted, and when she lunged for me again, I rolled and staggered up.

Arms wrapped around me and Edwards voice called out over my shoulder, "now!"

She rushed me and I kicked out as hard as I could, sending her flying backwards into another car. The car alarm went off, and I ignored it, angling myself perfectly and threw my fist downwards and into the front of his jeans. He hunched over, releasing his hold on me and I looked around for a god weapon. I saw the perfect one in the bed of the truck next to me. I reached out, grasping the end of the crowbar, and then spun, bringing it up under his jar as hard as I could. I felt movement behind me and swung harder as I got more momentum. It slammed into the side of Kaylee's face and I turned to bring it down across Edward's face a second time.

The hits had send sparks of pain down my hands, but I ignored it and got into the car, pulling out. Edward jumped in front of me, a little delirious and held out his hands to stop me, inside I just pushed on the gas and went straight into him.

He flew over the car, cracking the windshield and I skittered out of the parking lot, relief flooding me like a tidal wave. "That was intense," I muttered, searching for around for a radio or an extra phone I could use.

I got to a red light and pushed on the breaks, it did nothing, "Oh shit," I said in horror, slamming on the breaks as much as I could with no results. My breaks weren't working.

Car horns blared and I tensed as I went flying through the traffic, sending cars flying all over the place as they tried to get out of the way. I kept driving for a few minutes, unsure of where I was now and then let out a string of curses. What does a person do in a situation like this?

I didn't get a chance to ponder that as I flew through a stop sign and a car bumped the end of mine, sending both of us spinning uncontrollably. "fuck it," I muttered, unbuckling and then throwing open the door and then jumping out as far as I could.

I landed in an icy puddle, on my stomach and I let out a relieved breath when I realized I wasn't fatally wounded. "God, today sucks," I muttered, turning over and watching the car flip and crash into the side of the building. It burst, flames scorching and melting the snow around it and then someone was kneeling beside me.

She was speaking Russian, and at the moment it wasn't making a whole lot of sense. She had a phone in her hand and I snatched it, shoving her away from me and then began running. I hung up on whoever she called, realizing it was police and chuckled breathlessly.

I dialed Aleera's number first, and it didn't even ring, just went straight to voicemail. "Oh no, please be okay," I whispered, dialing her other cell phone and the house phone. I couldn't feel Aleera though. She was too far gone for me to track and if she wasn't answering then chances were she'd gotten a little visit too.