Chapter One: Bella Cullen

I did not expect to start the day by getting attacked by a madwoman.

It all started when I "woke up" that morning. In reality, all that really happened was that the night ended, and so did the events tied to it… for now. Despite being up all night, I wasn't tired or even mildly fatigued, and neither was my husband. Neither one of us ever was.

Edward tightened his embrace around me as he sighed, partly in contentment and partly because he knew that it would be time to be presentable again, when the sun rose. I was perfectly content to stay here all day long as well, but I knew that there were certain responsibilities that I had to fulfill as a young, vampiric mother.

Probably should mention, we're vampires. Me, my husband, half of my relatives… my daughter was only half-vampire, but it still counted.

"Renesmee should be up soon, love," Edward sighed again, as he kissed the top of my head. "She'd probably like to go out again by now."

I sighed, for a moment more enjoying his arms around me. I was perfectly content just lying here, but I knew that I was always as content to spend time with our beautiful daughter, just like Edward was. But despite this knowledge, I still hadn't quite gotten my fill of Edward yet. Though I never needed sleep anymore, I had closed my eyes to better enjoy the other senses at my disposal during the night.

"Well, until she is up, no sense in getting up yet…" I sighed against his chest. But even as I said the words, I could hear Renesmee's breathing in the other room change ever so subtly, starting to fluctuate a little from even breathing to the sounds heralding her awakening. "Well, shoot."

Edward laughed softly. "I'll meet you back here in twelve hours, love. Now let's attend to our smaller mouth to feed."

I opened my eyes and looked up at his darkly amber-colored eyes.

"You need to hunt too. Might as well come with us," I said giving him a quick peck on the cheek. But as soon as I gave him a peck, I'll admit got carried away by the smell of his satin-soft skin, and the sensations I always felt when kissing him. I started peppering him with kisses again, when I heard a slight sound from Renesmee's room again, anchoring me back. Feet hitting the floor. She was definitely up now.

"Mrs. Cullen, you do have an appointment to keep," Edward joked lightly. "We'll continue this discussion later."

I huffed as I got up, and darted into the closet to get some decent clothes for the day. "Hmph. Waiting sucks."

"Ah, the pains of delayed gratifications," Edward joked, kissing me back as I emerged wearing jeans and a flannel shirt.

I gave him one more peck on the lips before sauntering out to the main room of our cottage. As I walked over to Renesmee's room, I caught a fleeting glimpse of myself in the reflection of the window.

It had been a few months since the Volturi had visited us last. My eyes were finally dark enough of a red that it wasn't really bothering me anymore. Soon enough they would turn amber, and then gold like Edward had promised me when I was turned into an immortal.

Renesmee was already waiting in front of the door to her room, and jumped into my arms as I walked out the door to our room. I nestled her on my hip, her normal perch in the mornings.

"Good morning, Nessie. What do you want to do first?" I asked her as I carried her to her closet to dress her for the morning. Unlike me, she seemed fond of the fanciful clothes her aunts obtained for her, though she wore no set of clothes twice.

She placed her hand on my cheek, while smiling up at me. I smiled back at her.

"Yes, I know, but Jacob won't be up yet for a little while," I said, internally sighing. Through means that neither Edward nor I had been able to guess, she already knew that Jacob was pretty much going to be very significant in her life. Even at the age of eight months, she wasn't really concerned about keeping her feelings about it secret from us. "But I'm sure that he'll be up in an hour or two."

Renesmee shrugged, before holding still while I slipped a light sundress over her head. She almost had the hang of dressing herself, but to my relief she decided that it was more fun to have me help her dress herself for a little while yet. Edward came into the room wearing his own combination of jeans and a dress shirt, which looked exquisite on him.

"Hey Sunshine," he said, giving Renesmee a peck on the cheek as I lifted her up again. She gave him a peck back before we all began heading out of the house. Before I shut the door behind me, I grabbed a large sunhat hanging on a peg on the wall. Just in case someone saw me today.

It was pretty early morning yet, so there wasn't much chance, but you had to be careful. I let Renesmee down as she began getting a scent of what she might like for breakfast. The sun peeked out from the horizon and glimmered weakly over Edward and I, turning us into the shiniest couple in Washington. The glimmers radiating from my skin still didn't cease to amaze me, and Edward gave me another quick kiss.

"If you'll excuse me, Bella, I can smell a mountain lion nearby that smells good," he said. I nodded.

"Be right back, huh?" I asked, giving him a wink.

"How could I stay away from you for long?" he countered. In an instant, he was gone and I was left with Renesmee.

I inhaled deeply, smiling as I inhaled the scent of the honeysuckle and the roses in the small garden, the scent of the river flowing strongly to my left, and…

…a new scent I couldn't really place.

I straightened. It smelled like blood, but it was strange; diluted, sort of. It had a sweet edge where an animal one should be, but it didn't smell like a human's blood did.

Renesmee caught it too, and frowned. She jumped up into my arms again and clung to my neck as she asked me what it was.

"I… don't know," I said, cautiously. But I turned to her and put a smile on my face. "Let's go find out? It smells pretty… nice."

Renesmee seemed to like this idea, and clung fast to me as I turned into a living blur. The surrounding forest streaked past me as I rocketed by every tree. With a single leap, I was in the canopy above, trying to pinpoint the source of the smell. It smelled vaguely familiar, though I definitely did not know this particular scent before. As I approached, it reminded me more and more of the scent of a vampire. Perfume mixed with sugar. I slowed down, putting Renesmee protectively behind me. I didn't need her to get targeted if this scent was vampiric.

The smell told me that there were at least four of them, but there might've been more. An extremely large group of nomads? The scent definitely hadn't been here last night. And the numbers that I estimated were in their group would mean that this nomadic coven might be one of the larger ones.

Our kind rarely associated with one another more than a couple of us in one location. With few exceptions, Edward's family was one of the largest covens of vampires… ever.

I slowed down in the trees as I took in the scents before me. Smoke was overpowering, light fabrics, polished metals, sizzling meat, and light perfumes. It smelled sort of like a group of vampires… went camping? Evidently eating—was that bacon?

I dropped down to the forest floor nearly silently. Renesmee was still clutching me closely, so I told her to wait behind a large tree while I made sure that these people were not hostile. Now that I was closer, it turned out that it was just four… "whatever-they-were"s. I could detect that much.

I was pretty sure I could handle this. Maybe I should've waited for Edward, but my curiosity got the better of me. Slowly but surely, I peeked around the trunk of the tree.

Four people were walking about a small space where tents were set up. Two of the four were sitting next to each other near the fire as the male was holding a pan. The other two were watching them on the outskirts, talking to each other in low voices. The way they held themselves suggested they were lookouts.

None of them looked… threatening, really. Except for the size of the large lookout. He was easily the biggest visible threat. Thick rippling muscles bound his arms, and he looked like he could easily give Emmet a run for his money in terms of raw strength.

The lookouts walked over to the firepit, and I ducked behind the tree again. Did they see me? Should I wait for Edward?

I didn't dare to look around the tree again, so I focused on my sense of hearing to see what they might be near my family's town for.

"Don't you think you've burned the poor bacon enough?" I heard one of the females say.

"Depends on how the queen likes it, doesn't it?"

Queen?

"Christian, stop that! I came out here to take a break from all that!" I heard the other female's voice say. "Honestly, you're as bad as Rose is!"

By this time, I had once again worked up the courage to peek around the corner again. I couldn't shake the scent. They did not smell like humans, but when I looked into their eyes I saw a variety of colors, and I heard the sounds of their hearts beating, and blood pumping. Maybe the perfumes were messing with my head?

Well, seeing as they probably posed no real threat, I breathed outwardly. Might as well be friendly.

I put a friendly smile on my face and turned around, coming out from behind the tree.

"Hello there, I'm—" I began to say, raising my hand to wave politely. But before I could, something unexpected happened.

"Strigoi!" the female lookout, probably Rose, said. She reached for something on her person, and leaped at me.

What the heck was a Strigoi?

Chapter Two: Rose Hathaway

I gripped my silver stake tightly as I charged. The Strigoi before me did not seem to realize what danger she was in, but suddenly Dmitri was at my side, charging just like I was.

But this was going to be my kill.

Suddenly, my competitive nature got the better of me, as I drew my silver stake from its sheath.

As soon as her eyes zeroed in on the silver stake, her expression, which had been strangely open, suddenly frowned and turned defensive.

She suddenly sank into a low crouch.

So she's a fighter— I began to think, but before I could even process what was happening, I felt a rush of air swipe in front of me, and crash into Dmitri. I spun around, trying to assess where the danger had come from. Was there a Strigoi sniper!?

In the moment I had been distracted by the threat of a sniper, I also catalogued several other things. The Strigoi behind me didn't seem to move, as if she was waiting for me to make the first move. Then the sounds of scuffling and snarling behind me registered in my ears. I spun around.

WHAT THE— I thought in near-hysterical wonder.

The rush of air had been that of another male Strigoi, evidently, even though I hadn't seen anything pass me. He was already on top of Dmitri, somehow pinning his giant form down. Though Dmitri was fighting back valiantly, the male Strigoi seemed… to be winning?

I'd seen Dmitri take down nearly twenty other guardians by himself, and throw Strigoi around like they were straw dolls. At our school, he had been described as a god, and many times I'd seen that come out in him. But right now? The male Strigoi sitting on top of him seemed to be only a young adult at best, but the way he was throwing Dmitri around was not doing my concentration any favors.

Though in the back of my mind, I knew that I had to protect Lissa, I was suddenly thrown into the horror of the reality of Dmitri gone. In that moment of weakness, I drew my silver stake, and rushed onto his Strigoi, which obviously didn't seem to hear.

I rushed on top of him, just as I felt the female start to make her move. Obviously protective of this one. I slashed downward with the stake, but as it came into contact with the skin…

…nothing happened.

It didn't pierce. I just stared for a moment, its sharp point against the white back of the Strigoi's clothes and I felt the female's cold, granite-hard hands suddenly wrap around me.

Uh oh.

Only a sudden burst of flame saved me from what was probably coming. The two Strigoi danced backwards as the flames came close to licking their clothing. I did a quick check to make sure, and I saw Christian standing by behind me, his hand extended and putting himself protectively in front of Lissa. Smoke curled off the ends of his fingertips.

"Rose, Dmitri, are you alright?" he asked quickly, his eyes locked on the two Strigoi.

I spun around, and Dmitri was at my side. Both of our stakes were drawn, and the Strigoi were standing in front of us. But that wasn't really the strange part.

The strange part was that they did not look like they measured us as a threat at all. They weren't really even paying attention, it looked like. They just muttered in low voices to each other.

Were Washington Strigoi always like… this?

"Bella, what… what are they?" The male said, glancing at Christian and Lissa first, then Dmitri and me. "They don't smell like humans."

What? My mind thought, positively dripping with confusion.

A thick layer of confusion settled around the campsite. Nobody really seemed sure of what to do. We stared at the two Strigoi, they stared back.

Then it suddenly hit me.

The man's eyes were bright gold, not red. And the woman's eyes were not ringed with red, they were red. Maroon, anyway. The twin dark-red orbs looked hesitantly at me, before glancing away at the forest. She bit her lip.

What's that direction? I wondered.

Christian was the first to react, surprisingly. He swept his hand out, and fire blazed again.

"Stay back!" he said, though the two strange-looking Strigoi didn't seem like they were keen on approaching anyway. "I will burn you!"

The two Strigoi turned to each other and looked at each other's eyes. Saying farewells?

Suddenly they turned and just… vanished.

It was as though they had turned invisible. Leaves from the forest floor fluttered down as if they had been kicked up, but there was no sign of the two Strigoi. There was only a very bare set of footprints leading off in one direction.

"Dmitri?" I asked, voice high. "What was that?"

For once, Dmitri seemed to be at a loss. His brow knitted and he went over to where the Strigoi had been standing. He looked at the tracks carefully, before he looked around him into the forest.

"I… don't know, Roza," He said, contemplating.

"I thought all Strigoi had red-rimmed eyes?" I asked again, hoping for answers while I searched like he was for threats of any more.

"As did I," he simply said.

Oh. Well.

"Should we go after them?" I asked, pointing to the tracks.

"No, we should just leave. Lissa and Christian could still be in danger if they decide to return with more…" he began, but when I began to say something, he held a hand up. From the look in his eyes, I saw that he was in hunter-mode. Something had hinted to him that set him off.

I checked. My stomach wasn't knotted like it had been, when the two creatures approached. It had been strange, but I'd brushed it off. Up until now, I'd always felt nausea when Strigoi came close, but this… this was new.

A little ways off into the forest, I could hear murmurs. Not enough to make out what was being said, but enough to hear them.

The two Strigoi were watching us.

Dmitri and I grabbed our stakes again. Maybe the spot I had hit was armored? That would not be good. But honestly, it was a smart choice to make as a Strigoi. Protect your heart.

Murmurs began to grow louder as Dmitri and I crept silently through the forest. I could make out words now. And the knotting sensation in my stomach was becoming more defined.

"Bella, we have to go back and warn Carlisle. Why would you walk up to them without any precautions?" the male's voice said.

"Hey, I was being cautious! How could I have known that that lady would attack?!" the female's, Bella's, voice said. "Besides, I don't think they're really a threat, except the fire-shooting one. I just wanted to say hi."

Not a threat, huh? I gripped my stake tighter as Dmitri began to circle around behind the male.

"Well, I don't want you or Renesmee getting hurt, and they fortunately don't seem to be all able to… cast magic like that. Now c'mon, before they—"

I jumped forward, clutching my stake as I flew towards the woman. But before I could even process what I was seeing, a surprised snarl echoed around me and a hand suddenly flew into my side, knocking me straight into a tree. The wind was knocked out of me for a moment as I shook my head, and leapt to my feet.

'Bella' was clutching something in her arms tightly as she stared at me, her eyes wide. It was as though I had been an unexpected spider found in her hair, rather than a guardian about to stab her through the heart. She stared at me as if she were more surprised than anything else. I finally realized after a few moments of my head spinning that it was her hand that had swatted me out of the air like that. She could definitely pack a punch. Yowch. The man seemed to be turned on Dmitri, having evidently heard his approach.

Then I had a moment of vertigo. Bella was clutching someone.

A small girl with the most beautiful bronze curls I'd seen was staring back at me with wide dark chocolate eyes. She was absolutely stunning, but unlike the woman holding her, she had a red hue to her cheeks. She was obviously alive, comparatively, and had blood pumping through her veins. But she clutched to Bella's neck almost as fiercely as Bella was holding onto her.

They just stood and stared at me for a few more moments, while we contemplated each other. This strange relationship between someone with life being so attached to a Strigoi and vice versa was throwing off everything I thought I knew. My mind was mostly short-circuited as I watched her for any sudden movements. She suddenly straightened, and her eyes flashed. She turned for a moment to glance at something approaching.

"Rose? Dmitri? What's going on?" Christian's voice came from the left. I growled under my breath. Of course Christian would've followed us. On one hand, at least we now had eyes on our charges. And fire. If I couldn't manage to outmaneuver the strange Strigoi, perhaps we'd just have to have Christian go at it.

On the other hand, they did just walk into the lion's den.

Dmitri and I began circling slowly back towards the way we came, in order to get in front of Christian and Lissa.

Bella's and the man's eyes followed us as we crept along. It was unnerving. They truly seemed to have no idea what we were really doing. Christian and Lissa were stealing glances around us at the Strigoi, trying to see what we were up against.

Finally, recognition flashed in Bella's eyes.

"Edward, stop," Bella suddenly said, though quietly. "They're just being protective."

The man turned to look at her, a question evident in his eyes.

"We're going about this wrong," Bella said, turning to look at the man. There was obvious chemistry. It took me a few more moments to realize that there was an elegant-looking ring on Bella's third finger. A wedding ring.

Since when did Strigoi get married?

"What the heck is a Strigoi?" 'Edward' whispered to Bella.

Bella just shrugged, locking eyes with me again. "She said it when she jumped at me."

Dmitri's scowl lessened. Obviously, he and I were feeling the same confusion. Weren't these Strigoi?

"I don't know what you're talking about," Edward said, a frown crossing his face. "We're no Strigoi."

Bella frowned. So did I. Who was he talking to? The way he was staring straight at me gave me shivers. Like he knew something I didn't or something…

Edward mouth barely turned up at the corners as Bella spoke up again.

"I don't know what a Strigoi is, but if you don't mind my asking, what are you?" she asked. "You don't smell right."

I frowned.

Bella evidently recognized the look that must be on my face. Her expression became abashed. "Oh crap, I'm so sorry, that's not what I meant. You just… smell different. Are you a human?"

I scowled again. "I'm a dhampir. And if anyone smells funky, it's you."

Truth to be told, I had caught a whiff of the three standing before me. It wasn't a bad smell. In fact, just the opposite. They had such a pleasing fragrance; I wanted to walk closer just to smell the freshness. Like if rain and roses and pine needles could be a natural smell on someone…

Bella's eyebrows knit together like she was thinking hard about something.

"What's a dhampir?" she asked. "And while we're at it, what's a Strigoi?"

She kept saying the word like it was foreign to her. I wondered for a moment if she and her apparent husband had been turned without knowing what was going on. That might explain why they were so… peaceful, as far as most Strigoi went.

"Uh, well," I began, suddenly unsure of how to continue. "Strigoi are… well, they are the undead Moroi, Dhampirs, and Humans. They hunt humans and dhampirs and moroi, and drink their blood, and…"

"Okay, so what's a moroi? Or a dhampir?" she asked, interrupting. She was frowning now, obviously connecting lines of thought.

"Dhampirs and moroi are the good guys. We don't kill when we drink blood, and—"

At this point, the couple's faces transformed. Suddenly they looked like they understood.

"Vampires?" Edward asked, like this was the code-word.

I shrugged. "I guess you could call it that."

"But you have blood!" Bella interjected.

"So does Renesmee," Edward whispered. At the mention of her name, both Christian and Lissa finally caught sight of the child, as though she had been invisible until then. Instantly, I could see the same masks of shock come across their faces, followed by curiosity.

"Well, you don't need to have any fear of us," Bella said, slowly and carefully. "We're, um, vegetarians."

At this, Edward and Bella looked at each other with a smile. Some inside joke?

For the first time since we'd seen these two, Dmitri stood up straight.

"Vegetarians?" he asked. It wasn't often that I got to see my mentor-turned-boyfriend/soulmate so confused.

"Well, we have a strict no-human blood diet," Bella said. She smiled at the four of us. "We only drink animals. 'Vegetarians' is our little inside joke."

Dmitri seemed downright shocked. I knew that being Strigoi had been a hard experience for his conscience to cope with, and I could almost hear the trains of thought he was having. The look on his face betrayed his inner thoughts. He was wondering why he hadn't thought of animal blood. So much more practical, and not nearly as destructive or wasteful.

The little girl in Bella's arms, which had up until now been very cautious about us, suddenly relaxed. She turned those big brown eyes directly on me.

I've never been a pushover in my life. I really wasn't anything of a very "girly" girl, and I didn't really care about stuff like that.

But my heart just about melted when suddenly the girl in Bella's arms flashed me a bright smile.

The child's face was so radiant that my vision automatically tunneled. It was so warm and inviting, I could've sworn it was like she knew she could melt butter with that smile. I could hear Lissa gasp directly behind me as she saw pretty much the same thing, but I couldn't help but gawk for just a moment more at the lovely all-encompassing smile.

Then the child turned to face Bella, and reached up and put her hand on her cheek. Bella nodded a few times, before she too smiled.

"So, if we're ever going to properly get to know each other…" Bella said, shifting the child to one hip, "… we should probably start the introductions. I'm Bella Cullen, and this is my husband Edward. This is our daughter, Renesmee."

The girl in Bella's arms smiled again at me and waved her toddler's chubby hand at me.

My mind blanked, still trying to put everything in the perspective about the Strigoi that I was so used to. It was all but ingrained in my head that all Strigoi were evil, none could see beauty or love or positivity, and they were all bloodthirsty murderers.

And yet despite all the experience I'd had, nothing could have prepared me for a couple of vegetarian vampires and their living, breathing, blood-beating daughter.

The first one to speak, go figure, was Lissa. She stepped forward, seemingly not at all daunted anymore by the fact that to all appearances, the two people in front of us appeared to be Strigoi.

"Well, my name is Vasilisa Dragomir, but I prefer to be called Lissa. This is Christian Ozera, Dmitri Belikov, and Rose Hathaway," she said, gesturing to each of us in turn. "Pleased to make your acquaintance."

Her greeting was formal and not necessarily threatening, but not promising vows of lovey-dovey friendships on the way. My short-circuiting guardian brain approved before going back to trying to remember how to function properly.

"Likewise," Bella said. She turned to Edward, who still appeared wary of Dmitri, Christian and I, and gave him a kiss on the cheek. Definitely major chemistry going on. "If you'll just follow us, we can continue this conversation in a more suitable place, perhaps?"

Lissa looked between Dmitri and I, but seeing us both just kind of staring at the two, just nodded, still retaining her diplomatic expressions. Bella and Edward turned, and once again nearly disappeared.

Um.

Then, just as quickly as they disappeared, Bella reappeared with Renesmee.

"Sorry, probably shouldn't run full speed," she said, glancing at each of us. She turned, and began walking at a normal-ish speed. "This way!"

I glanced at Lissa and Christian. Was this really a smart idea? Even if, for some reason, these were actually safe people to be around, then what if they were leading us straight into a den of Strigoi who weren't so safe? What if this was all a ploy anyway?

But before I could even voice my concerns, I was more than surprised to see Dmitri begin walking off after the woman, Christian and Lissa following close behind.

I sighed, hoping we weren't just walking into a bunch of open mouths of fangs, before following quickly after them.