BPOV
Zafrina arrived as promised just after sunset. She was in several ways the opposite of the Cullen women, tall, dark skinned and absolutely gorgeous. She had defined, muscular arms that were accented by a mixture of gold and handmade stone bracelets and bangles. She wore her hair long and its silky strands accented her high cheekbones. I was momentarily speechless when she walked onto the beach, her skin lightly sparkling in the twilight. Her red eyes didn't bother me. They looked lovely against her skin tone.
"Hello Zafrina." Edward said with a smile. "Welcome to Isle Esme. This," he reached behind him to put an arm around me, "is my Bella."
"Hi Zafrina, nice to meet you." I said shyly.
"Hello there Bella. Pleasure to meet you." she said, smiling at me. "I promise not to stay too long. I wanted to meet the lovely woman who had stolen young Edward's heart. He's been alone for far too long."
I blushed. Edward smiled.
"Won't you come get comfortable?" Edward let us to a patio set where we could lounge and watch the waves. I knew it was mostly for my benefit. They could stand in place for hours.
"How do you know Edward?" I asked Zafrina, curious.
"I'm an old friend of Carlisle's. When you're around as long as we are, you get to meet a lot of people. I remember meeting Edward here just a few years after he was changed. He has always been so charming and full of life. It makes me happy to see that he's found himself a mate. Although, it is interesting that you're still human." She looked at him with questions in her eyes.
"I did promise an explanation, didn't I?" He laughed. "I had every intention of changing Bella after our wedding, or after our honeymoon one. Alice had a vision though of us holding a baby. In the vision, Bella was a vampire, but she was clearly the baby's mother. We decided to delay Bella's change until we could learn more about it. We didn't think such a thing were possible, but we didn't want to rush into it and risk Bella's safety either."
"Oh, it is possible." Zafrina said. Edward gasped at something he saw in her thoughts. "I've met a hybrid child like that before." she explained for my benefit. "Only recently, actually. I don't really know much about him, but he had a heartbeat, yet survived by drinking the blood of humans. He said he could eat normal human food too, he just found it repulsive. He was fascinating."
"Do you know if his mother survived?" Edward asked, but Zafrina shook her head.
"I'm afraid I only met him in passing for a couple of minutes. I'll share with you all of my memories though to help you on your quest for information." Zafrina gazed at Edward and appeared to be showing him the memories she promised. I watched the waves gently hitting the beach, so as not to make them uncomfortable.
"I'm sorry, Bella. I don't mean to leave you out." she said politely.
"It's alright." I smiled. "Edward and I share a special gift as well."
"Oh?" she asked.
"Bella and I are both able to read each other's thoughts sometimes." he answered.
"But she can only read yours?"
"That's right."
"Interesting." Zafrina stated.
"But I couldn't read hers at first." Edward said. "We believe she's a shield of some sorts."
"Well, there's an easy way to find out, isn't there?" she smiled at me, focusing on me it appeared, but nothing happened. I wasn't in the least bit uncomfortable. "You don't see anything but the beach?" she asked me after a minute or two.
"No."
"Then I suppose you are immune to my power."
"What is your power?"
"I project images to others. I can make you see a different place as if you were really there rather than here."
"She is too modest." Edward said. "She not only projects images, but sounds, scents. It's amazing. It looks like I'm sitting in a tree deep in the jungle right now. If not for your voices, I would seriously doubt where I really was."
"Wow." I said.
"May I try something, Zafrina?" he asked.
"By all means."
"Bella, come here. Come share thoughts with me." Curiously, I did as I was asked and touched his face as he reached for mine.
This should be interesting. I thought. I like her.
Me too.
"You all can hear each other now?" she asked.
"We can." we answered.
Suddenly, I wasn't on the beach anymore. I was sitting on top of a snow topped mountain as a blizzard flew around me. I shivered, feeling cold. The stars were sparkling brightly. In the distance, I smelled a wood fire and perhaps some baking bread.
"Woah! What a cool power!" I exclaimed. Zafrina giggled. The image changed. I was standing in a jungle. I could smell a river nearby and lots of different types of plants and sweet flowers. A toucan was perched above me, its colors vibrant. I reached out to pet it, accidentally breaking my hold on Edward. He laughed.
"Oh! I thought it was real for a second!" Zafrina was smiling at me. "That was awesome."
"It's one of my favorite places. It misleads people and throws them off my trail easily, if needed. It's also pretty fun to watch. Will you tell me more about yourself, Bella? What do you do for fun?"
She sat with us on the island for a couple of hours and then wished us well before she went on her way.
"I hope we can see her again, Edward. I really like her."
"Me too, love. Maybe after your change we can come back for a visit."
"I would love that. Her power is so cool!"
"So, you want to pet a toucan?"
"It was so still and pretty. I thought it might let me." I answered. Edward laughed.
"Her visions are very realistic. I've seen her fool many a person with them. She can also choose to take away your senses if she wants to, putting you in total darkness."
"Wow."
"It appears that there might be such a thing as a hybrid, half vampire and half human. The one Zafrina ran into seems to be with a group of South American nomads, but they originated from Chile she believes. I'll call Carlisle and see what he knows about it."
"Can we go look for them? In Chile?"
"You're still human, love. It might be dangerous for you. But we'll keep trying to find out more about them. I promise."
Edward's cell phone rang. "Hi Alice." he said, barely even looking at it before putting her on speakerphone for is.
"I saw you ran into Zafrina! I miss her."
"I did. She just left after visiting with us. If that's why you called, why didn't you call when she was here?"
"I didn't want to bother you! The lead she gave you is promising. Carlisle said he was familiar with a group of nomads from that area. Him and Esme are going to go down there this weekend and see if he can find out more. He figured you wouldn't want to leave the island just yet so early into your honeymoon."
"Thank you, Alice." I said.
"Bella! I miss you!"
"I miss you too! But not enough to come home early. I love it here."
"Yeah, uh huh, it's definitely just the island you are talking about." she said. "Edward Cullen! If you destroy any more of Bella's lovely lingerie!"
"Bye Alice. Love you." He said quickly, ending the call with a laugh.
"Do you intend to destroy more of my lingerie?" I asked with a wink.
"Naturally. It gives Alice more of an excuse to go shopping." He growled and reached for me. My arousal was instant. His eyes were sparkling as he put his hands on my shoulders, but I slid out of his grasp and took off running outside, doing my best to not fall.
"You'll have to catch me first." I called behind me with a laugh. His answering growl told me that I had definitely done the right thing.
"Oh, I'll show you what doing the right things means later, little one." He said, running after me at a human pace, the strange combination of his laughs and growls turning me on more each second.
