"What's so important we need a family meeting?"Emmett asked as he walked into the sitting room where Bella, Rosalie and the rest of the Cullens were sitting with a redhead he had never seen before."I'm only halfway through looking through all the peep show machines."
"Emmett!" Esme yelled." You shouldn't be looking at those. I raised you better than that."
"Wait why are you yelling at me? Shouldn't you be scolding Bella for owning them. There has to be over fifty of the things in the arcade room." Emmett said causing everyone to look at Bella.
"They were gifts from my great great great grandmother Aileen to her husband my great great great grandfather Bernard."Bella told them.
"Why did your grandma give her husband porn?" Emmett asked earning a slap to the back of the head by Rosalie." What? That's what it is. Old fashion porn."
"It was actually a symbol of their devotion to one another." Bella continued before the questions started. "Bernard was out with his friends one night and had come home earlier than Aileen expected him to. When she asked him why the night ended so early he had told her that the other men were going to a burlesque show. Aileen wasn't a woman who was easily scandalized so she didn't see the problem with him going. Aileen told Bernard she didn't mind if he went as long as he only looked but didn't touch. Bernard told her that even with her permission he wouldn't want to go because the only woman he ever wanted to look at was her."
"Aww that so sweet but what do the machines have to do with them?" Alice asked.
"Aileen gave Bernard the first machine as her way of telling him she supported his interested in looking at other women. She was progressive like that. Well Bernard threw a fit. Telling her he would never put a nickel into a machine that had anyone else's picture but hers. So she had a photographer friend take some risqué photos of herself and had another machine made with just her photos in it." She held up a hand stopping Emmett's question "No you may not see that machine it is locked up in the secure archives."
"Oh come on. I bet your granny was wicked hot." Emmett grumbled.
"Anyway after that she bought a new machine for every anniversary to as she said offer him a little variety. But I was told that the only machine he ever put a nickel into was the one with Aileen's pictures in it." Bella told them.
"Oh my god. Even your ancestors are romantic." Alice glared at Jasper." You were alive during the same time period. Why aren't you more romantic? You've never bought me a peep show machine!"
"You want me to buy you porn?" Jasper asked confused.
Before Alice could go off on Jasper Carlisle interrupted. "Thank you for that story Bella but how about we get back to the matter at hand. Victoria you said you had information about my son Edward?"
"If it is ok with the white tiger I will share with you what I know." Victoria said looking to Bella.
Bella nodded. "Go ahead and please refer to me as Bella."
"Thank you Bella. My sire James, myself and a man named Laurent are nomads. While we were traveling through Oregon we came upon a vampire who told us his name was Edward and he was looking for help. He then explained that he had found a tiger shifter that was more powerful than a dozen vampires combined. When James asked him what he needed help with he told us that if we eliminated her mate then we could have control over the tiger and with it we would be more powerful than the Volturi."
Rosalie growled. "He thinks he can kill me and take my mate."
"I think the main thing we need to focus on is he seems to want to overthrow the Volturi." Carlisle said already thinking through the many ramifications Edwards actions could have on the family.
"This James what is he like? Would he want to overthrow the Volturi?" Jasper asked.
"As I told Bella he is a tracker. A very good one. He considers himself a hunter though. And when he catches his prey nothing good comes from it. His depravities are so extreme that until now I feared even thinking of running away from him." Victoria explained.
"And why are you coming to us now?" Emmett asked.
"The great white tiger."At the confused looks Victoria continued. "The great white tiger is the savior of all supernatural races. If there was ever someone to help me it would be her."
Emmett groaned. "Great more shifter Jesus groupies."
"First you need to tell us what they are planning." Bella told Victoria ignoring Emmett's comment.
"They are creating a newborn army to attack all of you. I was tasked with following Rene and waiting until I was told to kidnap her and bring her back to them to hold for hostage. They were going to use her as bait."
"What about Charlie? Is he safe?" Bella asked concerned for her father.
"They figured since you didn't know him that long that you wouldn't have much attachment to him so they didn't want to waste the man power as the newborns would have probably just killed him in their bloodlust." Victoria told.
Bella let loose a breath she didn't know she was holding." What are the others doing?"
"Edward sent Laurent to Alaska to befriend the Denali coven to gain their trust and convince them of the danger Bella poses to the vampire race. He should be there now actually."
"We should contact Tanya. I know we didn't want to involve them in Bella's business but this concerns them now." Carlisle said pulling out his phone.
"What of James and Edward?" Jasper asked getting back to the story.
"James is in charge of the newborns. He has been turning them and training them. Edward left after he sent each of us on our assignments saying that he was going to find more allies. I know nothing of what has happened as of three days ago. When I found out that you were here I decided to seek you out. Will you help me please?" Victoria pleaded.
Bella looked to Rosalie first. Her blue eyes burned with fury. She would not be good to ask an opinion of so instead she looked to the rest of the family focusing on Jasper. Meeting his eyes he nodded his head at her unasked question. Yes Victoria had been honest and sincere. She really did want to help them.
"I invite you to stay with us until a time you feel you wish to leave." Bella told her.
Victoria jumped up from her seat and picked Bella up for a hug. Only to find herself being thrown through a window before she could even wrap her arms around the girl. Once she gained her bearings she stood up and came face to face with a very pissed off Rosalie.
"Don't you dare touch my mate!" Rosalie growled.
"Rosalie!" Bella yelled grabbing Rosalie from behind to hold her back. "She didn't mean anything by it. She was just showing her appreciation. "
Seeing the rest of the Cullens gather around Victoria to protect her caused Rosalie's fury to grow. She managed to free herself from Bella's hold and as she grabbed Jasper by the throat she suddenly found herself being held to the ground by two very large paws.
"Let go of me." Rosalie said through gritted teeth.
"No. Not until you control yourself." Bella said through the mind link.
"I am in control." Rosalie glared at Emmett when she heard him laugh.
"We are going hunting. If you try to attack Victoria again I will grab you with my teeth and drag you away."
"You wouldn't dare." Rosalie said.
Bella roared in response.
"Fine. We'll go hunting. You can let me up now."Rosalie told her. Bella hesitated for a moment and got off Rosalie. "Bella and I are going hunting. I don't know when we will be back."
"What just happened?" Alice asked as they watched Rosalie jump on Bella's back as she ran towards the woods.
"I believe Bella just talked Rosalie out of murdering Victoria." Seeing Victoria about to apologize Esme explained. "It wasn't your fault dear. They have only been mated for a little over a week. Rosalie's emotions are running high with news of Edward and you were just an easy target for her rage. If it wasn't you she would have attacked one of us."
"What's up with her hair? I mean it doesn't look bad but if she was going to dye it I could have helped." Alice said.
Esme looked back at the house seeing the Victoria sized hole in the broken window frame."I know Rosalie is going to feel horrible when she sees what she did to the house."
Emmett laughed." She was so worried about us breaking some valuable artifact and she actually broke the house itself."
"I just hope she calms down soon. We need to make a plan and discuss the meeting with the Denalis I set up tomorrow. I'm hoping they won't mind leaving early." Carlisle said taking in the damage. Thinking about the amount of rage coming off of Rosalie he wondered if he should just invite them here. Rosalie wasn't fit to go out in public at the moment. He would ask them when they got back.