Yeah, I don't own.


"Kenda. We need to talk" Kenda was immediately put onto high alert.

"Alice, what's wrong?"

"We're going to be at your house in eight hours, forty-five minutes, and thirty-six seconds."

"Could you explain why?"

Alice sighed. She and her family were already on the flight on their way over. She wasn't sure if Kenda would want to know the truth, she prepped herself hoping this would go over well, even though she knew that it wouldn't. "My visions. They've gotten strong. I can see everything except for the vampire attacking you. And before you ask I don't know why."

All of the Elementaurs could clearly hear Alice's explanation. Kenda moved the phone from her ear. "We're staying home until they get here. If there is a hostile vampire near here, it's a better idea that we're safe." She returned the phone to her ear. "I'm assuming you heard that right?"

"Yes I did. You're future seems fine for now either way. Just, all the same be careful. We'll see you soon." A click seemed to reverberate around the house.

Aidan was thinking. He didn't want to start another fight, but he wanted to warn Alexis. He looked at his wife who seemed content sitting back on the couch working with a plant. He didn't want another fight. He looked to Kenda.

She could see in his eyes what he wanted to do; she shook her head ever so slightly. It wasn't a good idea. At this point she couldn't be certain that it wasn't the other coven. That and there had been enough problems within their family. She didn't want this to start another one, especially between Aidan and Claiborne.

Kenda walked over to Cielo who had been sitting in the kitchen working slowly on a crossword puzzle. She nestled up against his side, moving his arm around her. She wanted to ask him why he worked so slowly. But she already knew the answer. 'To take up more time.'

Hours passed. Claiborne had been working on her plant non-stop, trying to change its basic form. She had stopped for a second to watch the sun rise. She glanced over at Aidan. She wanted to go over there and hug him. She wanted to apologize for being so closed off, so unhappy. But she couldn't, she didn't want to take that risk. So she sat, staring at the colorful sky, wondering why she couldn't just fix her relationship.

They heard a car pulling up. The motor rattled, it was a rental, besides it wasn't like they even had that many visitors. Aidan was opening the door and half-way down to the car by the time that they had parked. He opened the back door of the car and waited for Carlisle, Esme, Jasper, Emmett, and Rosalie to get out. Edward and Alice had already opened their doors and were greeting the others.

After the initial greeting Alice spoke up. "Really quickly, this is just a safety precaution. I can't see anything after this vampire shows up." Jasper reacted to her unhappy tone. He was soon holding her, trying to calm her down.

Carlisle took over, mostly speaking to Kenda. "We have worked to get at least one of our children in a class with one of you at all times. We don't doubt your talents; we just feel it would be safer to be in a group."

They spent their first day together catching up. Aidan filled the group in on the little 'problem' of Alexis and her two person coven. Kenda showed everybody their own rooms. Claiborne tried to start up a game of some sorts. Cielo watched as everybody interacted with a slight smile on his face.

They all traveled to school the next day, everybody except for Carlisle and Esme, who were in charge of watching over the house and monitoring the town. Kenda introduced everyone to the lady in the front office and asked for schedules. As they left the room they all quickly compared schedule's noting who was in classes with whom.

Ally had entered the school minutes after the large group of vampires and was instantly wary. She had been taught to trust vampires because of the Volturi, but her interactions with the Elementaurs had put her slightly on edge. She glanced around herself before going to class.

She walked once again into her fourth period class and stopped cold. There were two more vampires sitting with Kenda. She stared at them, not knowing what to do. When the bronze haired boy made eye contact with her she looked away and went straight for her desk.

She turned to the girl next to her. "Elizabeth, do you know who they are?"

The girl just shrugged her shoulders. "They're new here?" It was half a question and half an answer. It seemed everybody was just as clueless, at least until the teacher made them introduce themselves. "My name is Alice and this is my brother Edward, we're part of the Cullen family." Said the short girl with the spiky black hair.

Ally recognized the names from her mother's detailed history of her own life. She gasped, and the teacher looked at her, as did the rest of the class.

Ally glanced at the Cullens once more. "I'm not feeling well. May I be excused?" The teacher nodded before absent mindedly starting the lesson. As Ally ran into the hallway almost gasping for breath before struggling to find her cell phone, Edward turned to Kenda.

"Was that her? The girl who you said we were suspicious about?" Kenda nodded.

"She seems harmless." Alice said with a glazed look in her eyes. "As far as I can tell it isn't her. Then again, I can't really see anything." She pouted.

Meanwhile Ally had run into the nearest girls bathroom and had found her phone and called her mother. "Hello, this is Marie."

"Mom, we have a problem."

"What is it?" Bella's voice was suddenly hushed and worried.

"I don't want to scare you." Ally was trying to warn her mother.

"Alyssa, just tell me. I don't want you to drag this out. Why are you calling me, I know this has to be important."

"Mom, the Cullens are here. They're at school and some of them are in my classes. Edward is with Kenda and Alice in my Biology class."

There was a moment of complete silence as Bella thought. Ally could hear her mother's grimace over the phone. "I hate to ask you to do this, but could you set up a meeting tonight? Somewhere neutral if possible, in a worst case scenario I suppose we could have them at out house."

Ally nodded before replying, remembering that he mother couldn't see her. "Okay. I'll call you once it's set up."

Ally shut her phone, and sighed composing herself for what she would have to do. She pulled a book from her bag and sat herself down to wait out the rest of the period.

When the bell rang she raced off to lunch. She waited for a couple of minutes before entering the cafeteria, wanting everyone to already be in place. She opened the doors and marched over to the table that the Elementaurs and the Cullens were sitting at.

She let her features harden into a cold uncaring face before she turned to them and in a matching cold tone she said, "My coven leader would like to request a meeting tonight." Her eyes had flickered from one face to the next, resting only momentarily longer on Edward's face. She was trying to see where she had received her looks; she couldn't fault her mother on that front at least. She was also glad that Bella had taken such cares to guide her mind. "Is there any place we could meet?" She waited for a second and when she received no answer she sighed. "You will come to my coven's house at eight pm sharp."

With that she turned on her heel and left the room. Once she was far enough away she leaned up against a tree and tried to regain her breath. No matter how confident she had looked dealing with the other vampires had scared her. She pulled her cell phone out yet again.

Bella answered on the first ring. "Are you okay?" Was the first question out of her mouth.

"Yes, I'm fine. They're coming over to our house at eight."

She could hear her mother sigh, before she muttered, "I wish it hadn't come to this." Remembering her daughter was on the other line. "Did you give them directions?"

Ally almost scoffed. "I think they'll be able to find us. They've been wondering about us since the start… Do you mind if I go home now? I just don't want to have to be with them for the rest of the school day."

Bella thought about it for a moment. "Sure, do you want me to come too? I'm sure it wouldn't be a problem. I can finish my work fast."

"It's your choice. I'll be waiting at home."

Ally ran the entire way home and beat her mother by a couple of minutes. Ally ran up and hugged her mother as soon as Bella had walked through the doorway. She may have been mature but everyone needs a maternal hug in tough times. The hug only lasted for a couple of seconds before Bella and Ally pulled away to plan.

They knew what they had to do, and after they knew they cleaned. There wasn't too much mess, but it was still enough that straightening couldn't hurt. It was mostly Bella cleaning. Ally just got in the way, always getting side-tracked; she guessed that it was some sort of safety mechanism, to keep her from completely freaking out. She knew that when she freaked out she lost control of her illusions.

It didn't seem long enough before there was a knock on the door. Ally glanced at her mother who looked very calm and together before she ran to open the door. Ally tried to keep her expression under control, but the large group of vampires made the unshakeable exterior difficult to maintain. All the same she pointed them into the den.

She followed the eleven vampires in and watched as they stopped in shock when they saw Bella, or as they would know her Marie.

Ally walked carefully around them. "Cullens, Elementaurs" she said glancing at each family. "This is my coven leader; Marie. I expect that you will show her proper respect."

Bella watched as Rosalie's eyes tightened. "Respect? Why should we respect her?"

Ally growled in response. Emmett laid a hand on Rosalie's arm. The enraged blonde quickly molded herself to her husbands' side while still glaring. Alice had been glancing between the two vampires and almost jumped at Ally's growl.

Bella looked at her daughter with commanding eyes. Turning back to her guests, "You'll have to excuse her; she's a little bit stressed. Now, we need to talk. You're 'family'" she said aimed at the Elementaurs, "Has grown considerably. I'm going to require that you limit your family to fewer than six people. If there are more of us people will start to get suspicious." She looked around the room, into all of the topaz eyes.

"Why should we leave? You were here first." Claiborne started. Bella looked into he ex-sisters eyes and was surprised at the venom.

Without being able to control it she whispered, "You used to be so nice." She was lucky that only Ally and Aidan heard.

When Ally heard her mother whisper her head whipped over. "Marie." She said harshly. This reaction surprised Aidan.

Bella snapped out of it. "We are here on business. We have to be here for a while. As soon as our assignment is over we will leave, but we do not decide our fate."

"Fine! Hide behind authority like the cowards you are." Rosalie snipped.

"We are not cowards. We are here for a reason. Unlike you, why are you here? You need another place to live because one of your pathetic family slipped. Maybe it was you." Bella pointed to Edward, "Or maybe you. You might have a fondness for 'slipping' then going and acting all remorseful as you ruin their lives."

Ally took a step back. She had never seen her mother act this way, Much less provoking a room full of vampires. Ally wanted to know what was running through her mother's head. Unfortunately there was no thought, only years of anger and betrayal coloring Bella's words.

"We try to keep them safe while fitting in with them." Carlisle had to have his input, trying to calm down the situation, while motioning to Jasper to calm the tension. Jasper though was angry about 'Marie's' little quip and couldn't control the atmosphere.

"Yeah, great job. How many humans have you actually turned, how many vicious vampires have you actually kept from killing humans." She said this directly to Edward who returned her gaze with blackened eyes.

"How would you know?" Asked Aidan.

"The Volturi. I was a member of the guard before they sent me here on a mission. Oh, and I met your precious Bella. The one you all betrayed. She was a broken shell. You destroyed her."

This drained all the fight out of the other vampires. "What do you mean 'was?'?"

Bella mocked them. "Oh you mean you haven't heard? She's no longer with us." Bella was toying with them. Not wanting them to recognize her. "But do you remember her, how you couldn't protect her. How she was savagely turned and had no one to turn to. Or how she murdered the bitch that stole her life, ripping her into tiny pieces…"

Cielo stepped forward, snarling. "How dare you talk about her like that!"

Bella looked surprised. "Who, Bella?"

"No…"


Yes, I know it's a cliffhanger, but I needed a place to end this chapter and start the next. So now to the important stuff. This story is almost over. It's been an interesting story and once it ends this time I will not be starting it again, not like last time.

That being said, for the most part I have enjoyed writing this. I hope that you have enjoyed my story and I would love to hear from you.

cryptic-yet-simple