I enter the house and dad walks out of the living room and towards me.
"You know, Edward could at least respect mealtimes" Dad comments as Bella comes down with Zerachiel.
"Don't assume things. I was with Jake and the others in La Push" I tell him.
"Oh. Well, good. That's….good" Dad says, satisfied. Then there's a knock at the door. Dad mutters something, leaving the room, and Bella giggles while following him. I open the door and smile at Edward, who's frowning at me.
"Do you have any idea how worried I was?" He asks, intently.
"I was perfectly safe" I tell him condenscently.
"I almost broke the treaty to make sure of it-" Then he stiffens, and inhales. His face turns into an alarmed expression.
"I know, I smell like dog-" he cuts me off.
"Somethings wrong" Edward walks in and heads to the living room. He darts around, checking the room. Dad, thankfully, doesn't see because he's busy staring at a scratched out picture. Bella, however, looks at Edward confused. She looks at me and points at him with a questioning face. I shrug.
"What is it?" I ask.
"Stay here" Edward orders, knowing full well that I won't as he runs up to my room. I quickly follow him, like expected.
"Edward, what's wrong?" I ask him, as he fingers my dreamcatcher Jake gave me.
"Someone was here" He answers grimmly.
~Time Skip!~
"Who is it? Was it someone we know?" Carlisle asks. Edward had quickly gathered the family to the house after he found out someone entered my room. Jasper and Emmett had left to search around for the intruder.
"No, it was a stranger. I didn't recognize his scent" Edward denies. After a moment, he glares at Rosalie. "That's not helpful."
"Sorry" she says, putting up her hands in a surrender.
"A nomad passing through?" Esme suggests.
"A nomad wouldn't have left Bella and their father alive" Rosalie comments. Then Jasper and Emmett enter the house.
"His scent disappeared about five miles south of Ana's house" Jasper explains, when we look at them.
"Someone's orchestrating this" Carlisle tells us.
"Victoria" I suggest.
"No, I would've seen her decide" Alice says.
"It has to be the Volturi" Edward says.
"I don't think so. I've been watching Aro's decisions. However, he is rather eager to add Ana to his collection of guards. Apparently, she shows potential of a powerful gift because their mind powers don't work on her either" Alice explains.
"I'm still sticking to my Victoria theory" I mutter, knowing they can hear me. When are they going to realize I'm a genius without me reminding them?
"We need to take shifts guarding Ana's house" Carlisle tells us.
"No. You guys can't keep watching over me, Bella and dad, and search for the intruder, and for Victoria, and keep yourselves fed. Your eyes are all black. When's the last time you went hunting?" I ask.
"I'm not about to let you fend for yourself." Edward says, frowning.
"And I'm not about to let you starve" I retort. Then I get an idea. They aren't going to like it, but it's the best one we've got.
"What?" Edward asks, reluctantly, not liking the smirk on my face.
~Time Skip!~
Edward glares at Jake behind me as we walk out of my house.
"Whoever it was, they left their stink behind. It'll be hard to miss when we cross it again. We'll handle it from here" Jake says, glaring back.
"We don't need you to 'handle' anything. Or anyone" Edward says.
"I could care less what you need" Jake retorts, stepping towards Edward. I quickly get between them.
"Great, so we're finally working together" I say with forced enthusiasm, "Hey, we all have the same goal, right? To catch the bad vampires-"
"Like there's a distinction" Jake cuts me off.
"Jacob, I feel that someday, you and I are going to have some words" Edward says calmly. But after a moment he snarls, trying to step towards Jacob, "That's it! I-"
"STOP!" They both stop and sneer at each other when I shout that, "Just stop it! I've said it once and I'll say it again. I'm sick of being in the middle of this whole territorial dispute between mythical creatures. From now on, I'm Switzerland, okay?!" Jake is about to speak, but I cut him off, "I don't expect you guys to be throwing a football around together and be all buddy-buddy! I just want you guys to act at least civil to one another, do you understand?!"
After a long, tense moment of silence, Edward nods slowly, and then so does Jacob.
"Good. Now, would your pack prefer days or nights?" I ask.
"Nights" Jake says.
"Will days work for your family?" I ask Edward, who nods. "Good. See? How hard was that?"
Agonizing. But I'm determined to make this truce thing work.
