Chapter Three: Bella Cullen

As I walked at a semi-maddeningly slow pace, toting Renesmee carefully in my arms, my mind wandered. Edward still wasn't very confident of the new people we had met, but I could feel that they were important, and were more frightened of us than we were apprehensive of them.

I turned as I walked, seeing that the one called Vasilisa, or Lissa as she said she preferred, was walking quite close behind me. The only separation was that of the larger bodyguard, who was staring at me in a very curious way, as though he couldn't quite mask his shock.

I could feel that if I had had blood, I would've been blushing by the amount of attention I was currently holding. However, it felt only fair to try to clear up the mistakes from earlier, so I would have to shoulder my embarrassment for now.

The trek took much longer than if we had been running, but by the way that they hadn't originally followed us, I wasn't sure if they had seen which way we had gone. None of them didn't seem quite as fast as normal vampires.

Renesmee placed her hand on my cheek to get my attention, and the images of the four people behind us appeared simultaneously.

"I don't know about that yet, Renesmee," I said, biting my lip lightly. I wasn't exactly fond of my daughter getting introduced so closely to people who had been so quick to pull out weapons. Even if their weapons couldn't really do anything, I didn't want to take any chances when it came to her safety. "Maybe later."

For now, Renesmee contented herself with smiling at the strangers behind me again.

Finally, we arrived at the cottage again. I could hear some approving murmurs behind me as the house came into their view.

"Oh Rose, look!" I heard Lissa say, in a voice that told me that she wasn't always as formal as we had originally met with.

"I see it, Liss," Rose said, though her voice sounded like she was frowning. "It's very charming."

I opened the door to find Edward waiting for us in one of the chairs, his brows furrowed and his hands clasped together as he thought about something. Seeing that I was back, he leapt lightly up to his feet and took Renesmee from me.

Dmitri was the first through the door, though he had to duck his head to get in through the doorway. He was followed by Christian, Rose, and then Lissa.

"Go play in your room for a little bit, okay?" Edward whispered to Renesmee, who nodded. She looked at me for a minute, and I nodded. I didn't want her here if these guests turned out to be hostile.

She jumped out of his arms, landing with barely a sound, and lightly sprang off into her room, before shutting the door.

I waved to the various scatterings of furniture. "Please feel free to make yourselves at home," I said as politely as I could.

The four guests all sat down. The way they all held themselves told me leagues about them. Dmitri sat forward as though he was ready to spring out of his chair, but the way he carried himself said that he didn't expect there would be any complications. Rose held herself like she was ready to pounce on the first thing that moved. She was frequently scanning the room for any threats. Obviously, she would be harder to persuade that we were friendly. The way Lissa sat held a sort of air of gravity. I could feel her inviting aura wanting to draw me in, and maybe have a nice chat about something inconsequential. She kind of reminded me of Jasper, actually. Christian was visibly leaning towards her, obviously very protective. He was definitely her boyfriend. Smoke rose from his hands, warning of a fire that could lash out, but his expression remained as cool as a cucumber.

Edward sat down in one of the chairs near to the hallway, while I remained standing to his side, both of us unconsciously positioning ourselves in front of Renesmee's door just in case.

"So," I began, trying to think of something to break the ice. "It's not often we get to host a queen. Can I get you anything?"

Lissa's expression of shock looked like she'd just seen a ghost, while Rose looked at me suspiciously. Dmitri and Christian's expressions only looked vaguely intrigued. Edward gave me a curious glance, but did not ask. Evidently, He hadn't heard this information yet in their thoughts.

"Um, no thank you, we don't really—" Lissa began, but Christian interrupted her.

"Do you have anything to drink?" he asked.

For a single moment, my heart leapt into my throat and I shifted closer to Renesmee's door, before I realized that he was probably asking for a human drink. I wasn't the only one, Edward nearly sprang out of his chair before he could come to the same conclusion as me.

Tension was very palpable as it had taken me much too long to figure out what he meant.

"Oh! Of course, wait here a minute, please," I said, and I could almost feel the burn that I would never feel again in my cheeks as I rushed off towards the small kitchen area.

"Queen?" I heard Edward ask, polite as always.

"It's a title I don't care for much, and I came here to escape from it for a little while," I heard Lissa say. "I'd rather you mentioned it to as few people as you could."

"I can respect that," Edward said, suddenly sounding much more laid-back than a moment ago.

"Momma, can I come out now?" Renesmee said in her tinkling-bell voice. Though it probably wasn't loud enough for our guests to hear, I could hear her pretty easily.

"Not yet sweetie, just a few more minutes," I said, at the same volume filling up a spare glass with water and ice. We didn't have a great selection of consumable liquids, because it wasn't necessary. We mainly drank blood, and there just wasn't much else to it. We didn't really host very often here, except for the occasional visit from Charlie, Sue, and Seth. Jacob came over pretty much every day.

Oh crap. Jacob was coming. Would our guests be frightened into hostility? Time to find out.

I spun around as I heard his footsteps on the doorway.

"Please, Momma?" Renesmee asked again in a quiet voice. I was sure she could hear Jacob too.

"Don't worry, I'll send Jacob in to see you," I said, sighing slightly.

It surprised me to hear that Jacob was talking to someone. Their footsteps were light and rhythmic, like they were dancing.

Alice pranced through the doorway, Jacob right behind her.

"Heya Bella! Who are the guests?" she asked, not even bothering to wait for me to explain that we had guests.

"I… don't really know yet, Alice. They were out in the woods, and got scared when I appeared. But not like the normal way. Now we're just trying to talk calmly and figure out what the problem is. They attacked me, and one of the girls said that I was a Strigoi. Ever heard of it?" I said, speaking quickly. Not exactly waiting for an answer, I turned to an impatient Jacob. "Renesmee is in her room."

This was all the information he needed. He bounded off. Despite the surprised and partially confused murmurs in the next room, I could hear that he didn't stop until he was in her room.

"Strigoi, huh?" Alice said, tilting her head. Her eyes got blank for a minute. "I can't say that I have. Weird. Well, she's probably mistaken. Well! I'm going to go say hi!"

I grabbed her hand as we both walked back into the room. She waited on the threshold of the door as I handed Christian his drink, which he looked thankful for. Then I walked back to Alice, who smiled and waved as I introduced them all.

"This is my sister Alice Cullen. Alice, this is Rose, Dmitri, Lissa, and Christian," I said, pointing to each person in turn.

"Hi!" Alice said, being Alice. She skipped over to the only available seat left, and plopped down. "Nice to meet you at last!"

I had no doubt that this was confusing to our guests. Such was Alice. And I didn't think that our guests had enough patience to deal with that explanation yet.

"So, we were going to discuss the problems at hand?" Lissa said, once again her diplomatic self.

Rose, obviously not exactly the diplomat, broke in at this point. "Who are you people? And don't take this the wrong way, but why aren't you attacking us?"

Edward chuckled. "We don't like to live like monsters. Besides, you smell too much like vampires to be suitable for consumption."

Rose was about to launch another question, but Christian beat her to it this time. "You keep saying that we 'smell'. Does that mean that Strigoi have heightened senses of smell?" He said as he fingered the glass in his hand.

"I still don't know what a Strigoi is. I've never met one before in my life," I said, interjecting, "But your blood has a scented edge to it that reminds us of vampires."

Dmitri seemed to be deep in thought. Rose looked at him like she was waiting for some kind of signal, obviously reading his body-language.

"Then… what are you?" Christian asked. Lissa smacked his arm. He shrugged, not fazed. "I mean, you're definitely not moroi or dhampir. If you're not Strigoi… what are you?"

"Well, we're…" I said, but looked to Edward for confirmation. He just shrugged and nodded. Guess that was the 'all-clear'. "…we're just… vampires."

All four sets of our guests' eyes swiveled to face us, confusion the dominant emotion in the room. I knew instinctively that there was a question that needed to be asked. What that question was, I had no idea, but I knew that this would be a situation that could easily be cleared up, if the right question was asked to the right person.

"But not traditional vampires?" Rose asked somewhat bluntly. "You don't have fangs."

"Are any of us traditional vampires?" Edward said.

Dmitri chose this moment to look at Rose, and subtly shook his head.

"Fair point," Rose said, sighing as she flopped backwards, taking this as some kind of cue to stand down.

This was the waiting point I'd been waiting for. Rose seemed to have given up on the idea that we were going to attack, though she still seemed wary. I sighed, preparing myself mentally. As I prepared, my brain also brought a question for me to ask in the meantime.

"You say that you are a dhampir…" I began slowly, trying to process what I was hearing. For clarification, I turned to face Rose. "And that there are Strigoi, and moroi as well… does that mean that… there are different kinds of vampires?"

Instantly, I could see that this was the right question to ask. Everyone in the room suddenly seemed to straighten with understanding. I saw the look on Dmitri's face transform as his mind began racing through the possibilities.

I was sure that our worlds were vastly different now, but they would quickly be merging together.

"Dhampir, Moroi, Strigoi…" Dmitri whispered, almost silently, thinking hard. Suddenly, he gave a little gasp, and straightened ever so subtly. "—the Avalir?"

Edward and I both glanced up.

"Avalir?" we both asked at the same time. "What do you mean?"

Rose, Christian, and Lissa all looked up at us curiously. None of them knew what Dmitri was talking about obviously, or that he had even spoken.

Dmitri cleared his throat, still looking at me and Edward in fascination as he began his story.

"There are stories and myths of another species of vampires called the 'Avalir'. They are… different, in many ways. The stories say that there was a Strigoi at one time, but his name was lost to the legends. He killed many lives, took many guardians, and many moroi. He relished in the blood of humans, especially. He was rumored to be as fast as a strike of lightning, as strong as a hurricane, and as quick-minded as speed itself; the guardians' worst nightmare.

"But after nearly a full three centuries of being completely unstoppable, he suddenly came back into his mind. Strigoi inherently kill, and are evil. The instincts are impulsive, and when a moroi or a dhampir becomes Strigoi, their minds are lost to the impulses. But when his original mind finally returned, it was far too late to make amends for what he had done.

"He vanished off of anyone's radar for a long time, probably hiding in a cave or something, trying to starve himself. But he survived, though he didn't wish to. His skin hardened by the damp cave he lived in, and he became like hardened iron. But his instincts would not let him die.

"It's rumored that he might still be alive, still hiding in some cave, but that is where the legends of the Avalir come from. I was just wondering if possibly, you might be some of them." He said, closing that note.

Edward and I looked at each other. Neither of us really knew who the first of our kind of vampires was. Nobody was that old, it seemed. But based on the description of this vampire/Strigoi/whatever-he-was, it seemed kinda accurate in relation to us.

I pushed my mental shields down so that Edward could see my confused thoughts. Did he know? 'Cause I sure didn't.

"We don't really know, to be perfectly honest," Edward said, staring into my eyes as he concentrated. "None of us has memory back that far."

Over the past few minutes, the tension in the air had slowly begun to leak out. I could feel it diminishing as the four guests began to feel more at ease than before. Dmitri already looked like he had nothing to fear from us (which I suppose he didn't), and Rose seemed to be taking his lead, even if she was still wary. Lissa and Christian seemed to be taking their cues from Dmitri and Rose as well, everyone reading the rest's body language.

I remembered Renesmee's wish to be introduced to the strangers. I glanced at Edward, and found to my surprise that he was totally at ease. Their minds were obviously not threatening. Hesitantly, I steeled myself to allow Renesmee out here. My instincts seemed to find the four guests non-threatening as well, which made it all the harder to try to be wary of them and their threat-levels.

"Jacob, can you bring Renesmee out here?" Alice asked, reading what I was about to do. Sometimes, having a psychic sister-in-law was grating on my nerves.

The door swung open, and Renesmee jumped out, giggling as Jacob chased her. She jumped into my lap, and I wrapped my arms around her as she tried to hide from Jacob. But as soon as she was in my lap, she momentarily forgot about Jacob, and flashed the guests another winning smile. Her smile was always dazzling, and truly I didn't think I would ever be used to it.

Lissa smiled back politely, but I could see in her eyes that slowly but surely Renesmee's natural charms were working their way into her heart. Christian and Dmitri seemed transfixed in wonder at the child's smile.

The only one who looked to be putting up any visible efforts of warding off Renesmee's charms was Rose. But it didn't seem to be working. She twitched, and tried to look away at other things inconspicuously, but her eyes kept wandering back to the child in my lap.

"Rose, Lissa, Christian, and Dmitri; this is my daughter Renesmee," I said, keeping my voice still.

Jacob seemed to finally, for the first time, notice we had guests. He went rigid for a moment and looked to Edward like I had.

"Who—?" he asked aloud, before finishing the question in his head.

Edward subtly shook his head. They weren't a threat. Jacob relaxed, and sat on the floor at my side, playing with Renesmee as I held her, pacified for the moment.

"Hello, Renesmee," Lissa said, smiling back at my baby girl. Rose tried hard to be wary as well, but Renesmee's smile was so contagious and disarming that it looked like she was fighting just as hard as I was not to chuckle at her attempts.

Renesmee looked up at me, and touched my cheek.

"I… I guess so, but be careful," I said, biting my lip. Now was the moment of truth, and I could see in Edward's eyes that he was being as wary of Renesmee's safety as I was.

Renesmee crawled off my lap and gracefully pranced over to Lissa. Lissa bent down to see what she wanted, and gasped as Renesmee gently and carefully placed her hand on Lissa's forehead.

"It's nice to meet you too," Lissa whispered in awe, obviously shocked by Renesmee's peculiar way of speaking.

One by one, Renesmee touched each of the four guest's foreheads, and one by one they all saw her strange power. She smiled again, and crawled back into my lap. I breathed outward in relief. It was just like showing her to the other vampires before. They were no longer a threat.

I ran my hands through Renesmee's bronze locks fondly as Lissa, Christian, and Dmitri finally let down their guards.

After a few more moments, Rose finally relented and contented herself with folding her hands together and standing behind Lissa. The way she had been standing when I first met them.

"I love your shoes! Where'd you get them?" Alice asked, bouncing forward and looking down at Rose's feet.

Rose looked honestly shocked that Alice would care about her shoes, or that such a normal topic of conversation could come around in a house full of vampires.

Edward smiled, though if it was at my thought or at Alice's flagrant antics I didn't know, as Rose cleared her throat.

"Lissa got them for me," Rose said awkwardly. "We went shopping for camping supplies, and she wouldn't let me take my uniform."

Lissa's face scrunched up in mock disgust. "You were seriously going to wear that thing while we were camping? This trip is to try to get away from all that stuff, Rose! You needed something more casual."

Alice nodded thoughtfully, agreeing with the fashion crisis that had been successfully averted.

"You're in a nice outfit yourself," Alice said to Lissa, studying her. "Tailored?"

"Yes," Lissa nodded. "I love this bit of stitch-work right here, can you see?"

Alice nodded appreciatively, observing the spot in question.

Oh boy, two fashion nerds in my house. Things might be getting dicey soon.

Rose gave me a pained glance, and for the first time since I met her, I felt that we were on the same page. Neither of us really cared for clothes much. Edward concealed another smile as he turned to look behind him at nothing in particular. Alice gave him a momentary look before returning to talking with Lissa, who seemed to be growing more and more comfortable around us.

Jacob took Renesmee from my arms, and I surrendered her for now. I got up and slowly walked over to Rose, who had moved further away from the two clotheshorses in the corner of our seating area. She gave me a sideways glance before returning to her stare on Lissa.

"At least someone in here can relate to having a close relationship with a fashion critic," I whispered, smiling. "Shall we run while they're distracted? Maybe they won't notice."

Rose snorted a quiet laugh. "That's what you think. Soon as we move they'll pounce on us."

"Right," I said, chuckling under my breath. Rose seemed to be opened up a little more than before, so that was good. But I was never good with words, it felt like. Edward told me once that I was perfect in every way, but I doubted that extended to socializing. I got that from Charlie.

Charlie.

"Craaaaaap," I muttered. Charlie was going to the Carlisle and Esme's house today, and I needed to meet him. I seemed to be forgetting things left and right today.

Rose gave me another sideways glance. "What is it?"

I gave her a smile. "I forgot, my father is coming to visit Edward's parents later, expecting I'll be there. I have to leave in a few minutes."

Edward glanced at me, and nodded. It was time to leave soon, actually. Charlie would be at Carlisle in about ten minutes.

Rose shrugged. "Well, I suppose we can continue not moving next time, maybe."

I smiled. "Wouldn't miss it."

"Well," Alice said, standing suddenly. "It was lovely to meet you all. I hope to see you again soon."

Dmitri nodded, and stood. Rose stepped closer to Lissa, who stood with her hand in Christian's. They left in single file again, and began their trek back towards their campsite.

As I turned and began running with Alice, Edward, Jacob and Renesmee towards Carlisle's house, I couldn't help but feel chills run down my spine. For some reason or another, I had a feeling that we would be seeing those four more, under possibly less welcoming circumstances.

Chapter Four: Rose Hathaway

My mind reeled a little as we walked back into the forest, the way we had originally come. My conversation with Bella, Lissa's casual conversation with the one called Alice, Dmitri's ease around them all…

It just didn't add up.

And the little girl. Holy smokes, that child had been precious. I tried to be on my guard the whole time, but the whole time she was staring at me and smiling, I just couldn't feel anything but at ease, as though she were a spirit user.

And maybe she was, who knows? But I didn't think that even the most powerful spirit users would have been able to discover their powers at even that young of an age.

Dmitri was walking casually back to camp, as if nothing at all had happened. I walked faster to catch up with him, falling in step with his large strides.

"Hey comrade," I began, not exactly sure of how to continue. But the words eventually came out. "What was that about Avalir? Why didn't I know about this?"

"The Avalir were just a legend told by guardians around campfires. Nobody took them seriously. That is, nobody until now. Now I'm finding myself drawn to believe that we just met a handful of the Avalir."

"How on earth did we not know if the Avalir existed or not?!" I asked, my voice rising slightly above a hushed whisper. "We've got one of the most connected security networks I can think of, and they were still just a legend until today!?"

"We can't be expected to know everything, Roza," Dmitri murmurs. "The Avalir weren't seen as a threat, because nobody's seen one in… oh, I'd say at least four hundred years, supposedly."

"So, what are the Avalir? What are weaknesses?" I asked, my brain trying to figure out defenses if Bella and Edward decided to attack.

Dmitri shook his head. "I think they only fear fire. Other than that, with all their combined gifts, they are virtually indestructible. If one of them decided to attack, I'm not sure anything we could do would matter. Without their raw, crushing strength… well, it wouldn't end well."

I visibly gawked now. This was my Dmitri, saying that the only person of use in our group was Christian? This was my mentor, who sparred with the biggest, nastiest people I knew and could crush them with one finger, saying that this fight would be impossible to win.

"So, is there no hope if they attack?" I asked.

"Not likely," Dmitri said, frowning. But then his expression calmed again. "But they won't attack us. I'm sure of it."

I began to protest, but Dmitri held up a hand.

"They simply told us the truth; they don't hunt humans. They deny the thirsting for human blood, and since that was true, it's legitimate to assume they were also telling us the truth that they would not care to attack us."

I shrugged, not wanting to accept such an easy solution. But it made sense, and for now I had nothing to dispute it with.

Before I could let another word out, however, I felt something.

My stomach suddenly rolled, nausea spilling into me. I lurched. This was bad. We were being ambushed by a lot of Strigoi.

Dmitri knew of my secret Strigoi-radar, and his stake was out in a moment. I shook my head, and the nausea became muted as I drew my stake.

Strigoi dropped all around us, as Christian drew Lissa behind him, his hands flaming. My eyes darted around, cataloguing everything I saw. Six Strigoi were surrounding us. This was most definitely an ambush. How did they get so close without my noticing?

"Well, well, well…" one of the Strigoi said, sneering at Dmitri. "Our fearless leader. What's this? No longer 'awakened' anymore?"

'Awakened'. The stupid term Strigoi used to describe themselves. Dmitri had once tried to convince me that the power was unlike anything I had ever known. I'd come dangerously close to succumbing, too. Dmitri scowled, and I could see the thick muscles in his arm ripple as he unconsciously recalled the painful memories of his time as a Strigoi.

"I got something better," he said, circling around to stand on the other side of Christian and Lissa. "Another chance at life."

The Strigoi looked past us, directly at the two Moroi between us. He smiled at Christian's scowl.

"So, you brought us the queen, eh? I thought she'd have been a little more of a challenge to take, but you make this almost too easy!"

My heart sank as I began to realize the futility of our position. Even if I could connect a blow on the first strike, every time, there were too many Strigoi in one place for Dmitri to handle alone. Christian's fire would help, but there simply weren't enough of us to retaliate. The Strigoi had us in superior numbers, strength, speed, and reflexes.

But I wasn't going to go without a fight. I gripped my stake harder, as I prepared to leap.

Just as the fighting was about to begin though, something surprising happened. The nearest Strigoi looked past me at something behind me.

"What's this?" he hissed, smiling. "Another snack?"

I turned, my heart leaping as I connected eyes with four different sets of familiar eyes.

Edward glared down at the other Strigoi as if he was annoyed. Bella clutched Renesmee closer, and snarled at the Strigoi who'd spoken. A massive, mind-blowingly large wolf stood at her side, echoing Bella's threat with a deep, bass growl. I couldn't decide which I felt threatened by more, Bella's terrifyingly graceful snarl or the horse-sized wolf standing next to her, hackles raised. Where the heck had this beast of a wolf come from?!

The Strigoi chuckled darkly. "I don't see why you walked all this way here if you weren't going to share. Help us take out the girl and Belikov, and we'll let you drink some of them, no questions asked."

I gulped subtly. Locking eyes with Bella, I steeled my courage to begin the fight.

Strigoi, I mouthed.

Bella's eyes widened. Edward's frown blossomed into a full-blown scowl of hatred.

"My daughter is not going to get a single scratch on her while I'm still here," Bella snarled. The wolf rumbled again, echoing the sentiment once more.

Most of the Strigoi around us blinked, confused for the first time.

"Er, wha—" The nearest Strigoi began, but before he could even finish the word, several things happened nearly at once.

In a single moment, I found that I was suddenly holding Renesmee in my arms. I wasn't good with children necessarily, but she made it easy by clutching onto me as I held my stake. The Strigoi who had begun to speak was suddenly blown completely off his feet, and Bella appeared in the same moment in front of him, her fist extended.

Had she punched the Strigoi?

The Strigoi flew clear through a large tree, toppling the trunk and causing the tree to come crashing down on top of another Strigoi, who struggled to lift the heavy trunk off its body.

Seeing this attack, the rest of the Strigoi launched themselves at Bella, and for a moment, I feared for her. A warning leapt to my throat as I started forward, but it was unnecessary. As much of a physical match for a Strigoi as I was, Bella outmatched the Strigoi ten times over in raw strength and speed.

She darted faster than my eyes could move, whirling around the Strigoi like a hurricane of pure fury. Loud cracks and pained shrieks rang out, but none of them were feminine. Well, not very at least.

The large wolf leapt into the fray at some point, and added to the chaotic storm of snarls, fangs, and gleaming pale skin. There were several more screams than before as spine-tickling growling ensued, and loud sounds of ripping.

The four remaining Strigoi were on the ground. Some of their legs were bent at an extremely odd angle, and some… holy smokes, some Strigoi's legs were completely ripped off of their bodies. Bella stood over them, staring at her work, the wolf's breathing barely fluctuating beside her. It wasn't for a few more moments until I realized something was still wrong.

The Strigoi who had initially been knocked down was creeping up into an ambush behind Bella, but before he could even leap, Edward was suddenly there, his hands gripping the two ends of the Strigoi's torso as though he were holding a stick he meant to snap over his knee.

In that moment I understood what he was about to do, and I tried to look away. I wasn't fast enough, and I watched as Edward tore the Strigoi in half, as easily as if he had been ripping a cardboard tube in half.

One of the Strigoi attempted, futilely, to grab at Bella's ankle, but he received a kick to the face that sent him flying across the ground fifteen feet away.

Dmitri did a double take, before calmly staking each of the Strigoi, who were in no position to even move, much less fight back against the inevitable.

Bella glared around her, her eyes wild as she scanned for more threats. Her glare flashed onto me, holding Renesmee in my arms.

For a moment, I felt an indescribable thrill of terror run through me. Those eyes were frantic with rage, and I could feel the power she exuded from here. I got the distinct impression of being caught holding a baby bear with 'Mama' watching.

But suddenly, she straightened, and the furious glint in her eyes died down immediately, replaced with reason.

Slowly, she smiled, and stepped forward.

"Thank you for watching her for a minute," she said, holding her hands out and taking Renesmee back from me.

Just like that, she was normal again. As if nothing had happened. Renesmee was giggling in Bella's arms like she hadn't just watched her mother take down six guys by herself, and her father rip a man in half. I blinked, and swallowed.

"Well…" I said, totally flabbergasted. "That was… that was something."

Edward looked at me for a moment with a grin threatening to bloom on his mouth, before resuming his mission of stacking all the bodies up in a pile. Maybe making it easier for the Alchemists? Would they know about that?

Then he set them on fire, and I understood what he was doing. He didn't know about the Alchemists, but he had been in this situation before. He knew what to do.

Bella flipped her hair over one shoulder, and Renesmee began absently curling it around her fingers. "Yeah, I know. It's a little disorienting the first few times."

Dmitri snorted. "You have no idea."

What he was referring to was beyond my brain at that point. Whether he was talking about his time as a Strigoi, staking his first Strigoi, or watching what Bella and Edward had become, moments ago, I couldn't say.

Finally, a question that was relevant to the recent events arose in my head. "How did you guys know that we—?"

Bella looked at Edward. "Well, actually we were coming to see if you would like to join us tonight. When we got close enough, we could hear those things surrounding you, and we decided we'd better come check it out. Those were those Strigoi things then?"

I nodded. "I'm glad you came when you did. I don't know how they snuck up so closely."

Bella nodded, as though she also knew about my secret (not-so-secret) Strigoi radar. I shrugged. I was going to have to get used to odd feelings around Bella and the rest of her family.

"Anyways, would you like to come? With us, I mean?" Bella asked, looking back up from Renesmee, big smiles on both of their faces.

My brain blanked for a minute. What had she just asked me? I couldn't seem to remember. Oh wait, something to do with family. Join them? I gave it my best guess.

"Thanks, but—" I said, about to explain that we should probably not risk Lissa's and Christian's safety.

But before I could say another word, Dmitri leapt in, cutting me off.

"We'd love to," he said, turning right around.

I gave him a glare. He'd probably pay for that later. I was vaguely aware of Lissa and Christian, who were silently laughing behind their hands behind me. They began walking off after Bella, Edward, Renesmee, and the giant wolf. I frowned, but followed close after. Dmitri seemed to have some sort of strange curiosity-based obsession with these Avelir-people.

Hopefully he wouldn't accidentally get us killed.