I don't own any characters. They belong to Stephenie Meyer.

This blond female kept coming closer to me until we were standing mere inches away from each other. She turned her head to the side and kept staring at me for a few minutes. The silence was overbearing. Finally, she cleared her throat and reached her hand towards me.

"My name is Tanya."

"I am Bella." I took her hand and shook it. "Nice to meet you." This encounter was starting to become weird. Usually, vampires who we passed during our travels were either not friendly at all or just informed us that the land was claimed by them already. This was new.

"How would you like to follow me into my house? It looks like you can use a shower." She offered after looking at the poor state of my hair. I looked at her in disbelief, it's not every day that you meet one like us and they are so friendly.

"My brother is still hunting; he would be very worried if he doesn't find me on our place." My mentioning of Jasper was purely out of self-preservation. I still wasn't sure if I could trust Tanya.

"Why don't I wait with you for him, and all three of us can head to the house. You are done with your hunt, correct?" she offered.

"Yes, and of course. Why not?" I led the way to our designated spot and offered her a seat on the ground across me.

"So, Bella, how long have you been following a vegetarian diet?" she asked. I looked at her with disbelief. Were Jasper and I not the only ones who found this way of feeding?

"A couple of days," I replied. "Humans are too secluded within one another nowadays. It wasn't safe for us to hunt them, and after a week without any blood, I smelled animals and couldn't help myself. Is that the actual term? I made a joke after my first hunt that it's like we are becoming vegetarian."

"Oh, isn't that funny!" She gave me a big smile. "There is no actual term since there are not a lot of us who decide to stay away from human blood, but that's the name we like to use."

"Sorry, is special diet the reason your eyes are this color?" That particular feature of hers was bothering me this whole time.

"It is, yes. They get darker when we don't hunt, of course, but yes."

"Mine are still red, how is that possible?"

"It takes time. They will become orange in a month or so, and in three or four they will become golden." She explained. "It's a long process, but for one like us, it's beneficial as we can interact with humans without them figuring out. This diet also helps us control the blood lust better."

There were so many thoughts in my head now. Was that way of living not only beneficial to Jasper but for me too? Was it possible for me to communicate with humans? Were my dreams of having my own house, education, and job a possibility? No, not until I find Mary, but maybe in a further future?

"Are you alright?" Tanya asked. "Was that too much information to handle?"

"Yes, I'm fine, just a lot to think about."

"Isabella?" I looked up and saw Jasper coming out of the forest behind me. He came closer, but didn't sit down; instead, he was looking at Tanya, analyzing her face and posture. I knew that look, he turned on his overprotective brother mode.

"I am alright, Jazz, calm down. This is Tanya, apparently, we are not the only "vegetarians" in the world." I smiled at the female. "Tanya, this is my brother, Jasper Whitlock."

Tanya stood up and reached her hand to shake Jasper's.

"Very nice to meet you. I offered Bella…or is it Isabella?" she looked at me.

"Bella is fine," I replied.

"Alright. So, I offered Bella to come to my house and meet the rest of my family; however, she refused to come without you."

"You want to come to their house?" Jasper questioned me.

"She blackmailed me with the promise of a hot shower." I smiled at him.

"Alright, we'll follow you to your place." Jasper nodded at our new acquaintance, and all three of us started running North.

It took us about half an hour to finally reach the clearing in the woods. It was still fairly light outside; the sun however was hiding behind the clouds. The house looked big and majestic. Only rich people could afford a house this giant. It was made out of wood and marble stone; enormous glass windows were covering most of the first floor. On top of the driveway, I could see a modern car covered by a few inches of snow.

"Welcome to my home." She informed.

"It looks wonderful!" that was all that I could say.

"Thank you, the design was Carmen's. I'll introduce you to everybody in just a few minutes. Please, come inside." Jasper and I followed Tanya into the house. It was even more beautiful when we came in. Big fluffy rugs on the floor, family pictures on the shelves around the living room, and a giant fireplace that was surrounded by different colored armchairs and a loveseat.

Four people were standing in the middle of the living room. A taller woman with pale blonde hair, next to her a much shorter pale blonde female. Two others were mates, they both had an olive cast to their pale skin. The male was tall, not as tall as Jasper, of course, but he definitely stood out. The female was probably as tall as Tanya.

"Bella, Jasper, meet my coven. This is Kate, Irina, Eleazar, and Carmen." She pointed towards everyone. "I found them in the forest," she started telling her family. I noticed Eleazar looking thoroughly at me and then at Jasper. Probably thinking if we are dangerous or not. I don't blame him; our scars don't really scream: we come here with peace. Tanya continued, "They are trying to switch to our diet, so I decided to invite them to meet everyone."

"An empath and a shield." That came from the male.

"How did you…" Jasper started. A shield? Was he referring to me?

"I have the ability identification as a gift." He answered before my brother could even finish his question. "Although, Bella is definitely blocking me right now."

"I'm not doing anything!" I protested.

"Ah, she's a shield, I see." I found Kate touching my arm. It looked like shock waves were touching my skin, but I couldn't feel anything. "You would have been on your knees if you weren't one."

"What are you talking about? What shield?" I asked again starting to get impatient. A medieval piece of armor was starting to appear in my head.

"A mental one. You are blocking all psychic manipulations. Kate's electrokinesis isn't actually real, a regular vampire would indeed drop to their knees and scream in agony, but not you." Eleazar continued. "I've never seen anything like that in my two hundred years. The Volturi have a shield, but hers is physical. Such strong ability, I doubt even Jane or Alec could get to you." He mentioned.

"You know Volturi?" I took a step back.

"Nothing to worry about. I left them a long time ago, on good terms, may I add." He smiled at me, but I wasn't sure if I should return it. Italian coven wasn't something that can be slipped into the conversation easily. Everyone in the South feared them, and I wasn't an exception. Jasper looked stiff and was reaching for my hand. At least I wasn't alone in my fear.

"I think this was a bad idea." My brother said. "We should probably leave now, Isabella."

"No, please stay. Eleazar is telling the truth, we all had encounters with the Volturi, having lived such a long time, it's not necessarily a bad thing." Tanya mentioned.

Jasper and I looked at each other and nodded.

"Alright, we'll stay for now."

"Great! Bella, come with me, and I'll show you the bathroom. Irina, can you make sure Jasper takes a shower too?"

I noticed a nod from one of Tanya's coven members and squeezed my brother's hand as a reassurance that we can trust them, at least for now.

"The bathroom is the second door to the right." She informed me after we climbed the stairs to the second floor. "You can grab as many towels as you want, they will be in one of the drawers, soap and shampoo are underneath the sink. I'll also leave you some of my clothes in the spare bedroom. Yours don't look much…neat." I was about to object but when I saw my reflection in the mirror decided not to. The sweater that I stole was very loose on me, I had rolled the sleeves, but it was still too long. Pants were tied on my waist by a piece of my old blouse so I don't lose them while running. Yes, my outfit definitely didn't look very neat.

"Thank you," I spoke, Tanya just smiled and left the room.

I turned the water on and waited a few minutes for it to become hot, after putting the drain stopper inside and undressing, I looked in the mirror. It was humongous, taking up a lot of space on the wall. I noticed that my skin was stained with blood and dirt in a few places, my hair had some leaves that got stuck in the knots. Except for swimming in the lake, I couldn't remember when was the last time I properly washed and brushed my hair.

After some time, the bath was full and I slowly stepped inside of it. Modern-day plumbing was probably one of the best inventions. I also started to consider just how rich our new friends were. Getting a house this big, having a new car and indoor plumbing was very costly.

My body felt the warmth instantly, it felt as rapping oneself in the softest warmest blanket. I was laying down in the bath for what felt like hours and when the water started to cool down, I took one of the shampoo and conditioner bottles that Tanya offered me and a bar of soap. I scraped my skin until I couldn't see any tone difference on it. Dealing with my hair turned out to be more complicated. I never owned a brush, so it was very tangled from running.

In an hour or so I took the drain stopper out of the bathtub and watched dirty water disappear. It was quite satisfying, I might add. After drying myself with the biggest and fluffiest towel that I could find, I placed another smaller one around my hair and walked out to change into my new clothes. The spare bedroom looked rather big. There was a bed, few shelves, two bedside cabinets, and a small table with a mirror right above it. The whole room was painted with light pastel colors, just like the rest of the house. The only contrasts were the window blinds and bed sheeting.

The clothes that Tanya left me looked to be my size. There was a white blouse, black pants along with some undergarments and a pair of black shoes. I liked the simplicity of Tanya's wardrobe, so I quickly put my new clothes on and grabbed a hairbrush from the table. I looked at myself in the mirror while I brushed the rest of the knots, and after doing that I ran downstairs.

Jasper was already sitting on one of the armchairs, but when he saw me, stood and gave his seat up for me.

"Thank you, brother." I smiled at him. His still wet hair looked a little bit lighter and he smelled like lavender now.

"Now, after both of you had gotten yourselves clean, let's exchange stories." Tanya started. "I'll start. I was born sometime around the beginning of 1000 in Slovakia. Nobody except for royalties had their birthdates written down. My great-aunt Sasha turned me into a vampire when I was 22, she later turned Kate and Irina. Since we look alike, it is no wonder that everyone assumes we are sisters, and although I consider my coven a family, none of us actually share any blood connections. Our first encounter with Volturi was in a few years after my great-aunt created an immortal child. She never told us about him, so when the Italians came, we were found innocent, thus didn't receive the punishment. Our sire wasn't as lucky though. We were traveling throughout Europe for centuries getting involved with human males. I am not so proud of that but the legends about succubus were written because of us. After some time, we started to regret the lives that we took and found this alternative diet. We met Eleazar and Carmen in the mid-1700s and I offered them a place in my coven alongside a new diet. All five of us then moved to the New World and settled here, in Alaska." Tanya finished. With her big cheeks, she didn't look a day older than 20, and yet she had lived for nearly a millennium now. I never knew anyone so old, hell, I considered Jasper to be very old. "Of course, if you'd like any members' detailed stories, you can ask them directly."

I saw all four of them smile at us and nod their heads. Carmen was most enthusiastic, I felt motherly energy literally beaming off of her. Jasper and I didn't consider ourselves to be a coven, and as such, we didn't have a leader, so being much younger than him, I let my brother tell our story.

"I was a soldier in the Confederate army, joined before I even turned 17. I was eager to take my part in the war. I was always good at persuading people, so in two years I became the youngest major in Texas. I was riding my horseback to Galveston after evacuating women and children when I noticed three young ladies walking in the desert at night. I, of course, stopped to ask them if they needed assistance. These three women turned out to be vampires, and one of them, Maria, was the one who turned me. She needed another soldier for her army. I spent decades as her right hand, controlling newborns' feelings so they don't kill each other too soon, as well as disposing of them after a year of their new life. Everything changed when I met Bella of course. I saved her from another one of us in Mississippi, and she became my best friend and a sister in just a few months. We both escaped Maria's army after 13 years and started to look for Isabella's parents and sisters. We found all of them except for Mary, the youngest one. She is a vampire now, and we are still searching for her." He finished.

"So does that mean you can't stay with us for long?" Carmen asked.

"Unfortunately, no. I…we have to find her."

"I understand," Tanya said. "Damn, and I finally thought that I'll have more coven members than Carlisle again."

"Carlisle?" Jasper asked.

"Yes, he has his own coven. They are the only ones like us that we know about. Vegetarians, I mean." She explained. "Their coven has five too."

"Maybe, after I find Mary, the three of us can join you and you will beat that Carlisle." I smiled at her.

"Wouldn't that be nice?" she giggled. "Are you at least going to stay for the New Year?"

"If that's alright with you," Jasper said.

"More than alright. We can also teach you two how to properly hunt, so you don't have to change clothes so often. Maybe even work on expending your shield, Bella." Eleazar mentioned.

"Expand it?" I asked.

"My gift used to be concentrated only on my palms, now I can run the current over my entire body. Maybe, your gift can be expended beyond yourself and be used to protect others." Said Kate.

Until two hours ago I didn't know that I had any powers at all, and now I was actually considering using it on somebody else. It could definitely come in handy with others like Kate and Eleazar. Maybe I had the power to not only protect my mind but Jasper's too. I had to try it.

"When do we start training?" I asked eagerly.

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