Time Skip - 1 week later


Bella's Point of View

This past week has been productive, to say the least. I was getting close to fully controlling my abilities. However, Casey didn't believe that I was ready yet to face her father, Caius. She thinks the only way for me to have complete control would be to recover the rest of my memories. So from this point on it was up to me. There was nothing else Casey could do to help me.

The days had been long, Casey, Edward, Darius and I would go out early in the morning to train in the forest. We would remain there into the afternoon. While Casey and I worked together, Edward helped Darius train his abilities. At this point, Darius could create a physical barrier that was completely impenetrable. This was another part of Casey's plan, Darius' shield would assist me in getting close enough to Caius to use my ability on him.

I wasn't thrilled at the idea of my son getting anywhere close to danger, but Darius was the only one that could keep me protected. Of course the thought of him being on the front lines of battle excited him.

After training, Darius and Casey would spend the remainder of the day together. They spent hours taking walks together, going fishing with Charlie, practicing fighting with Emmett and every night, Casey would come over for dinner. She would stay and play videogames, or watch movies until Rose would stop over and walk her back to her house; where Casey was staying.

They truly appeared to be bonding and enjoying each other's company. It was nice to see, but not everyone had the same feelings on that subject. I haven't seen Alice much in the last several days. She has been spending most of her time with Avery, helping with Elijah. I knew she was hurting and didn't want to see Darius with Casey. I didn't blame her for feeling that way. I only hoped that Alice and Darius could remain close friends. I knew that Darius hadn't yet noted Alice's disappearance, because he was so focused on Casey. But when he notices, he will be hurt as well.

But Alice wasn't the only one that was upset with Casey walking into Darius' life. Ezra wasn't the biggest fan of Casey either. Darius had spent a lot of time with Ezra in the past, they were always together. But now, Darius spent most of his time with Casey.

Even though things were changing there was one thing that put my mind at ease. Demetri still hasn't woken up. It was wonderful, there are even times that I was able to forget that Demetri even exists. I knew that it was wrong for me to get so much delight from this fact, especially since Avery was taking his absence so hard.

But, with Demetri out of the picture, I was able to reconnect with Avery over the past few days. Our friendship was still a little strained, but it was getting better as Avery was beginning to accept that Demetri may never wake up.

It has only been a week now, but Elijah already appeared to be older than little Greg. He was walking, but still unable to speak. He looked to be a year old already.

Casey mentioned that Tidas would be coming to see how my training was coming along today. This would be the first that I've heard from him, since Casey joined us. We all were a little on edge. We didn't know who, or what Tidas was. All we knew was that he was old friends with Caius. His motive was unclear as to why he was willing to work with us, against his friend.

Regardless, everyone gathered at the very center of our community. Alice had created a structure that stood in the very center of all of the houses in the area. We had begun using it as a meeting hall. Since our community was steadily growing, Alice continued to build. With Carlisle taking role as leader, Alice wanted to make a place for Carlisle to call meetings.

This building was at medium size, with a wrap around porch. The building had two rooms. A private study on the second floor, just for Carlisle and a large conference room on the first floor. A large granite table stood in the center, with several matching chairs. A small kitchen set-up was at the very end of this room, where blood was stocked.

Carlisle had decided on a system of power within the community, each of the covens that had joined our community would have a single representative from each group attend these meetings as official members of the council.

The council was made up of Carlisle, the leader, Edward representing the Cullen coven, Tanya representing the Denali coven, Charlie representing the Swans, and our newest members the Egyptian coven Amun represented for them.

Benjamin, Amun, Tia and Kebi were very much divided, Amun and Kebi weren't keen on staying in our community, but Amun didn't wish to leave Benjamin here alone. Their diet was a concern, but with some long talks, Carlisle permitted them to continue their human consumption as long as it wasn't in New Zealand. If they wished to hunt, they would hunt in Australia, the closest country to New Zealand.

Benjamin and his mate Tia seemed to fit in well with the others. They were very friendly and openly curious with the half vampire children. Amun on the other hand, seemed terrified. He wouldn't allow any contact between him and the kids, he even forbade his mate to even look in their direction. Kebi was very submissive and did as her mate demanded.

The Egyptian coven only just arrived a few days ago, they had wanted to join forces against Caius and leave when the battle ended, but Benjamin fell in love with the unity of our people and wanted to be a part of it. I knew that Amun would have left, even without Benjamin, but the moment that he saw Demetri, he changed his mind.

I faintly remembered Demetri mentioning that he and Amun had a close history together, before he was forced into the Volturi. Demetri thought of Amun like a father. However, I wasn't sure if Amun felt the same way. I wasn't sure if he truly cared for Demetri, or wanted to regain Demetri's abilities to add to his coven. Either way, I had know interest in getting to know Amun. We kept our distance from each other.

There was a council meeting going on right now, Darius and I were waiting patiently outside of the meeting hall. We just sat on the porch.

"When is Casey coming back?" I wondered, keeping my eyes trained on the forest.

Darius sighed, his expression looked pained. "She should have been back by now. She went out to meet with Tidas and bring him back here."

"I'm sure she is okay." I said giving his shoulder a rub. "She's strong."

"Yeah, I admire that about her." Darius nodded with a small smile. "I just don't want anything bad to happen to her, out there all alone."

"I don't think we have anything to worry about." I said, attempting to soothe my son's worrying.

We chatted back and forth for a while, until finally Casey and a man next to her walked out from the tree-line. Dauris' face brightened, but he didn't move a muscle.

I stood, as the two of them approached us. I couldn't help but inspect the man, now towering over all of us. He had to be six foot tall. His skin was sun-kissed, tattoos decorated every inch of his forearms. He peered down at me with the bluest eyes I've ever seen. But there was something about him… his features were so perfect and well defined.

"Bella, Darius, I'd like you to meet Tidas, he is like a second father to me… the better father." Casey said with a smile.

"And the better looking." Tidas' voice was so rich and deep it sent a chill down my spine. He offered his hand out to me with an open smile. "Nice to finally meet you Bella."

I took his hand, giving it a shake. I was unable to hold back my grin. He was charming, with an infectious smile. "Nice to meet you too." I couldn't help but notice that his skin felt normal to me, it wasn't warm… like how most humans feel.

"She wants to know what you are." Casey spoke as she bounced over to Darious and took a seat next to him.

Tidas chuckled, folding his arms across his chest. "I think it might be more fun to show you what I am. Words tend to fall short."

"What do you mean… show us?" Darius asked, raising his brow.

Tidas took a few steps back from the rest of us and slowly began to disrobe.

I averted my eyes. "What the hell are you doing?"

"Just give me one second," Tidas said with a laugh.

I kept my eyes away from him, until I heard the sounds of bones cracking and an awful snarl. The sound made me jump. I quickly turned back around to face Tidas, only to see a huge wolf standing in front of me.

I gasped and in complete shock.

The wolf was completely black, only it's silver eyes could be distinguished. The sounds that it made, would have caused the hairs on the back of my neck to raise.

All the commotion out here must have gotten everyone's attention inside the council room. Edward was the first to come flying out. He instantly moved in front of Darius and I with a protective stance.

"It's okay, he isn't going to hurt anyone." Casey spoke lightly. "He has complete control over himself."

Edward didn't move.

Carlisle and the rest of the council now was standing outside as well.

"What the hell is going on here?" Charlie asked in complete shock. "Is that a wolf?"

Amun, and Tanya both seemed just as surprised.

The wolf nodded his head to the others, before he began to transform again, right in front of me. He was back into his human form, completely naked.

I put my hands over my eyes as fast as I could, until he got dressed.

"So, you are a werewolf?" Darius was the first to comment, fascination colored his face. "That is the wildest thing I've ever seen."

Tidas laughed freely. "Well you are only half right."

"Care to explain that?" I asked, taking a small step back from him.

"You don't need to be afraid of me," Tidas stated, a look of concern coming to his face. "It's true, I am half werewolf. But I'm also half vampire."

"Impossible," Amun snapped, his eyes widening. "There is no way."

Carlisle stepped forward, a huge smile on his face as he analyzed the brute of a man standing before us. "Please, tell us how this happened."

"My mother was a werewolf and my father was a vampire. This was just how I was born." Tidas explained with the shrug of his shoulders.

"And your diet?" Carlisle wondered.

"Anything and everything." Tidas said with a laugh. "I can survive on regular human food, or I could drink blood. I prefer human food, it tastes much better."

"That is incredible." Darius said with a huge grin. "I didn't even know that werewolves existed."

"There aren't many of us in the world. As for others like me... I'm the only of my kind… at least I haven't met anyone else like me."

Edward sighed, frustration on his face. "I can't read his thoughts."

Carlisle looked to Edward with curiosity. "Really? That's interesting."

"I can assure you, that isn't interesting. This makes him very dangerous." Edward muttered, shaking his head.

"Honestly, out of everyone here… Tidas is the closest thing to a saint. He has never taken an innocent person's life. He walks a high moral road. You have nothing to fear from him." Casey said calmly.

"A saint, wouldn't be best friends with Caius." Amun said with a glare towards Tidas. "He can't be trusted."

"Caius wasn't always a bad guy. There was a time in his life that he was kind, and gracious." Tidas said with a slight frown coming to his face. "His relationship with Aro has changed him."

"I find that hard to believe." I said shaking my head.

"It's the truth. When I was growing up, there were times that Caius was actually… a decent father. But he is just an old stubborn man… he doesn't know how to cope with negative emotions." Casey said with a glum look.

Darius noticed her discomfort and gently rubbed her shoulder.

Casey glanced at Darius, her cheeks starting to turn pink.

Tidas cleared his throat, throwing a look towards Casey. "Caius is my biological father. But I wasn't raised by him. I was raised in my mother's pack for most of my life. I didn't even know he was my father for decades."

"So you are… Casey's brother." Carlisle said with a smile. "I have to admit, I didn't anticipate that."

I didn't see it coming either. Casey and Tidas look nothing alike.

"When I was born, Caius reconnected with Tidas… I guess to recruit him to help raise me. Caius trusts Tidas more than anyone in the world." Casey said, throwing a smile to Tidas.

"Well I suppose it makes sense now, why these two want to finish this battle peacefully." Tanya spoke up with a thoughtful look. "We can't always choose who our family is."

"That's right, I know this is how it should be." Carlisle said softly. "I know this is how Esme would like it to end."

This was the first time that I had ever heard Carlisle mention Esme. The sound of her name filled my heart with grief. Even Edward's expression changed ever so slightly. I knew Esme was like a mother to Edward. Everyone mourned Esme's kind soul.

Amun seemed to be the only one that wasn't warming up to Tidas. He kept his stance rigid, his eyes stayed on the man with distrust.

Edward was now at my side, wrapping a single arm around my waist. His body was still a little tense, but a calm look was now on his handsome face.

Casey walked Darius over to Tidas for them to meet face to face. At first I was nervous. Tidas was always double the height of my son. He was visibly just as muscular as Emmett, if not more.

"This is the boy huh," Tidas smirked. "The one you don't shut up about."

Casey punched Tidas in the gut with a huff. "You are so embarrassing." She growled at him.

Her punch didn't seem to affect him at all, his only response was a low, throaty chuckle. "Easy kid," He patted the top of her head.

This seemed to calm Casey, almost instantly.

"It's nice to meet you Darius. I've heard a lot of good things about you. I look forward to working with you." Tidas said place one hand on his shoulder.

Darius nodded with a nervous smile. "It's a pleasure to meet you sir."

"Nah, just call me Tidas." He said with a look of amusement on his face.

"Well Tidas, would you like to sit in on our meeting, we are discussing battle tactics." Carlisle said with an eager smile.

"I'd love to." Tidas said, shrugging his shoulders. But he paused, looking in my direction. "After that, I'd like the rest of the afternoon speaking with Bella, she is the most important piece to this battle."

Edward narrowed his eyes at Tidas only for a moment.

"Of course." I nodded, leaning into Edward's side. "I'll just be waiting outside."

"Excellent, then I'll see you soon." He said with a wink, before he followed Carlisle and the others back inside the meeting hall.

Edward paused, leaning in to give me a gentle kiss, before following after them. He didn't t have to say a word, I knew that he didn't want to leave.

With Tidas showing up, I felt a pinch of hope. Maybe this plan was going to work.


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