I do not own the rights to the content in Stephanie Meyer's "The Twilight Saga"

Vail POV:

I make it into Forks right as the sun starts lightening up the clouds. There is dense foliage everywhere and it protects me from sight as I try to scent out my family. The closer I get to the human population, the more potent their trails are. I'm floored that they are able to get so close to the humans without slipping up. Near the edge of the forest closest to what would be considered their downtown, I guess, I shifted my clothes into something more presentable. Instead of shorts and a tank top, I'm now wearing faded denim jeans, a long sleeve shirt, and a leather jacket.

Forks is just a tad colder than Yellowstone national park right now. The humans would be weirded out if I was dressing like it was 80F instead of 50F. Not that I could feel a difference.

I follow my nose down the street and pick up the scent of my brother. I have not forgotten his scent through the centuries. I remember his scent, his face, even his voice as if I just saw him minutes ago. It get stronger the closest I get to Fork's hospital. Like he spends a lot of time there. It puzzles me, honestly. I can't imagine why a vampire would hang around a place of dying humans if they were trying to abstain from human blood. Not even just hang around, but actively stay here for long periods of time.

The rest of his family seems to congregate around the high school. Another puzzle. Why would they all throw themselves in the middle of temptation? Especially around human children. This would be the worst place to slip up. I lightly jog around the school, trying to pick up a scent that spokes out, but I get nothing. They drive in. That's unfortunate. Makes scenting them out even harder.

Around 7:30, the parking lot starts filling with humans and then I hear the light purr of a finely tuned car before a silver Volvo pulls around the corner and into the lot. 5 vampires get out of the car, 2 females and 3 males. Almost immediately, they all tense and glance around the surrounding forest. One of them, the male with the reddish brown hair, looks directly at me. Immediately after him, the female with the pixie hair also looks at me. I lean against the trunk of the tree next to me and nod at them. The male nudges the large male next to him and nods imperceptibly in my direction. The big one turns to look at me and the action is repeated by the others with them. They all make their way over to me, casually.

They all look young, except for the large male. That's the first thing I notice and it breaks my heart. So young, too young to have to deal with this life of death. I was 25 when I turned in 1647, near middle age for the women of my time. As the centuries wore on and humans began to live longer, I always pitied vampires who were turned in their late teens and early twenties. Such a loss of youth.

The first one to reach me is the girl with the pixie cut. She immediately pulls me into a hug and I'm a tad bit perplexed. The blonde man moved right behind her but it didn't look like he wanted a hug. More like it was a move designed to keep me from attacking her. It was designed to make me pause. Probably because he looked like he had been bitten thousands of times all over his body.

How many vampires had bitten this boy? Why? He looked like the poster child for vampire wars. How does a vampire survive that many fucking bites? Did he kill every vampire that sank their teeth into him? My instincts were screaming that he was deadly, like a viper. For Carlisle's sake, I suppressed my immediate desire to tear myself from the female and run.

The reddish brown haired one was just... staring at me. Looking at me like I held life's secrets and he had the key. It was a bit unnerving. So was the fact that the fairy girl was still hugging me. The rest of them looked as uncomfortable as I felt. My reason for being uncomfortable was the girl hugging me. They just kept looking at my eyes, eyes that were a vivid red, unlike their light gold. It's like they could scent the sin on me. Yet, the tiny one was still hugging me. Ugh. The second I decided to try to step out of the hug, the girl let me go. Almost like she knew. Carlisle's family is fucking weird.

"Hello Vail, it's nice to finally meet you." She said.

"Uh, hi." It wasn't exactly the introduction I was going for but seeing as they already knew who I was, I was kind of stumped.

"Alice saw that you would come here. We've been expecting you." The reddish brown haired one informed me.

"Saw? As in premonition?" I squeaked. I had never met another gifted vampire before. I mean, I didn't exactly hang out around our kind a lot. I'm not agoraphobic, but I'm not exactly peak extrovert material either. I had Moira and then my crippling depression, what did I need other people for?

"Yes, Alice sees visions of the future. They aren't always the most stable but yours seemed incredibly concrete. You would come here and we would meet you. The where we would meet always shifted though, along with the when."

My mind was still trying to process a fortune telling vampire. Could she have seen what was going to happen to Moira? Was it a mistake not coming for Carlisle sooner? Could he possibly have saved me from this agony? Him and his talented family? I should have come for him 200 fucking years ago.

The boy was shaking his head sadly.

"Alice was only just turned around the 1920's. She wouldn't have been able to save your mate."

Another gifted vampire. A mind reader at that. My first reaction was annoyance at the invasion of my privacy, which got a sympathetic look out of him, but my next was curiosity. Questions about their gifts, if the others had gifts, did Carlisle have a gift too?

The boy was already shaking his head again.

"Jasper is the only other gifted one. Carlisle and the rest are normal."

That got a light snarl and a glare from the blonde woman in the back. She was devastatingly beautiful. Too beautiful.

The boy ignored her and continued on.

"We have to attend class. I'll call Carlisle and let him know you're here. Please meet him at our home." He proceeded to give me directions to their permanent residence. Permanent. I haven't had that since the 1800's. Well, since Moira, actually.

They all backed away, turning back towards the high school and I turned in the opposite direction and ran to the address they gave me. When I broke past the tree line and got my first real glimpse of their home, my jaw dropped. It was beautiful, open. Windows lined the back of the house and inside I could see light colours everywhere. I darted around to the front and bounded up the steps. The second I raised my hand to knock, a young woman opened the door.

She looked... incredibly sweet. Kind. This must be my brother's mate. I'm glad he found her.

"Hello, please come in. Carlisle will be home soon." Even her voice was kind.

I politely smiled and walked past her into the house. Jesus, this was a lot of open space. I turned and looked at the woman again figured I should probably introduce myself.

"Uh, well, my name is Vail. I'm Carlisle's sister."

Shock widened her eyes before she trampled it down.

"My name is Emse and Im Carlisle's wife." She reached out and I thought she was going for a hand shake but she just hugged me. A family of huggers. Great. When she pulled away, we both heard the sound of a car turning off the main road and onto their drive. It was going pretty fast, it had to be Carlisle.

If I had a heart beat, it would be hammering.

Fuck, I wish Moira was here with me, she would make this so much easier.

I listened to the sound of a car door closing in the garage before the door opened and there he was. My little brother. Blonde hair and golden eyes. Beautiful. I took in a deep breath.

"Hello, little brother. It's nice to meet you."