Ch. 43 Witness Protection

"Edward, you're here!" Hi, Tanya. Nice to see you again. Yes, that is me standing next to your main squeeze. Ugh. This is so not how I planned on spending my Saturday. Ok, this has been planned for a while, but still. I would rather be...almost...anywhere else. Edward leaned over to kiss the side of my head with a smile. We weren't that different in height now, maybe four inches. "Who's this? A new girl already?" She looked at me with polite indifference up and down—mostly up since she was practically fun sized. I never noticed before since Bella is pretty small herself.

"No, it's Iris, of course. You know about her ability, Irina. Please behave yourself." Edward defended me. Hah! Boyfriend stealing bitc—Edward froze, and I smiled sheepishly at him. Sorry.

I smiled as genuinely as I could muster. "Hello again, Tanya. Good to see you're as lovely as ever." Not. You suck actually. Edward bit his bottom lip, but his eyes were crinkled at the corners. "Thank you for inviting us to stay for a couple of weeks. I know what an inconvenience this will be for you all."

"Iris? You're human again? How? I thought—" She truly looked at a loss. Come on! Don't you smell me? Of course it's me!

"Long story that I don't feel like rehashing right now. Just know that I'm fine. The Cullens are fine. We're all fine. Ok?" Tone it down, Iris. You got the guy. Don't be a jealous witch.

"Iris!" Carmen came to the entryway where Edward and I stood, swinging me into an enthusiastic hug. The rest of the Cullen family was coming in behind us with their things.

This was phase one of us going into hiding until we could come up with a suitable plan for the Volturi. We would be moving on to New Hampshire in a few weeks once Esme and Carlisle had everything ready for us. Bella would be attending Dartmouth there in the Fall anyway, so we promised Jacob that we would stay close when he couldn't be there with her. I didn't technically exist on paper in this world, so I could go as "off the grid" as necessary with no repercussions. Plus, thanks to no more Demetri, we were a bit harder to find.

"Hi, Carmen! How are you? Where's Kate?"

"Good, thank you. She's—"

"Here! Wow hottie! Look at you, little blonde bombshell!"

"You're my inspiration, Kate." I laughed. She reached for me, and Edward jerked me backward.

"Kate, she doesn't have a shield anymore!" He sounded panicked. Can vampires have heart attacks? I bet Edward could.

"Oh yeah, sorry, Iris." She smiled sheepishly.

"It's ok. Edward wouldn't let anything happen to me. Watch this." I purposely fell over the opposite direction of where Edward was standing, and he rushed to catch me just before I hit my head on the floor.

"Would you please stop doing that?!" He said in exasperation.

"Why? You said I'll never leave your side, so why not take advantage of the twenty-four seven babysitting? I'm just testing you . Gotta keep you on your toes in case one of the guard shows up." I smiled angelically, but Edward didn't look as amused as Kate did.

"She's a real handful, isn't she?" Kate laughed. That's a bit of an overstatement...

"Yes. But she's my handful." He chuckled, and cupped my cheek. You love my antics, liar! He laughed harder and sighed while pinching the bridge of his nose and shaking his head. "I'm never bored anymore." Damn straight.

"Come on, Iris. I want to show you to your room. We had it redone just for you, but Alice did help us a bit." Carmen dragged me away from Edward as Kate followed and he frowned a bit. Don't worry, my darling control freak, you can keep mental tabs on me upstairs. I blew him a kiss, and he winked.

The room was gorgeous. Twice the size of Edward's back in Forks, and very open. It was on the top floor, so there was a skylight letting sun directly into the room from above. Since the house was sort of like a mansion version of a log cabin, the room was done rustically with basic off-white walls and wood finishing, but there were touches of jewel tones scattered around in the throw pillows and hangings on the wall, very boho chic. It was absolutely perfect.

"Amazing. I love it! Thank you so much for helping me feel so welcome here." I was truly touched by how much they had done when we would only be here for a short time.

"We were hoping you might want to come back to visit some day." Carmen said.

"Hey! I thought I was going to help show her!" Alice popped in the room suddenly.

"We changed our minds. You always hog her." Kate accused.

"You did that on purpose!" Alice screeched.

"You get to have her all the time, Alice. Just let us visit with her these few days." Carmen interjected. Whoa. Play nice, girls.

"I didn't realize that I was such a hot commodity around here." I laughed.

"Of course. We all love you." Alice answered like it should have been obvious.

"Thanks..." My eyes were filling with tears. I knew how much I loved everyone else, but it was amazing to feel so loved in return. It wasn't exactly a familiar feeling to me. "I love you all too."

"Love?" I turned to see Edward in the doorway. "I'm going to go hunt with Carlisle, Emmett, Jasper, and Eleazar. Are you going to be alright here for a couple of hours?"

"Are you ok with me being alone with your sister and cousins?" I countered with a smirk.

He narrowed his eyes at them, then smiled. "Yes, I suppose they will do."

"Then I'll be fine." I walked to him, and leaned in for a kiss. Oh I will miss you even for just a few hours...

He chuckled into my lips. "I'll be fast."

"Please." I answered breathily, and he was gone, leaving me dazed for a moment.

"Well, now that he's gone, let's go shopping!" Alice clapped. "We have to get you out of Rosalie's hand-me-downs. They do nothing for your complexion."

"Wow. Thanks, Alice. You're so sweet." I deadpanned.

"You will be thanking me for real when I'm done with you! Makeover time!" She was practically jumping on the bed.

I rolled my eyes, but laughed along. "Let's go, so I can be back before Edward returns." Flashbacks of the last shopping trip we made came rushing back to me, and I visibly shuddered. "And some ground rules—"

"I won't leave your side. None of us will." Alice's expression changed to guilt and determination. She placed her hand on mine and squeezed it gently.

"Thank you, Alice. Hopefully I won't be so breakable much longer." I smiled.

"Don't worry, it's all going to plan." Alice said cryptically with a wink. It was so strange sometimes to be best friends with a psychic...

It took just over an hour to get to town, but Alice assured me that we would beat Edward back to the house. Kate and Carmen had come along with Alice and I. Tanya and Irina went hunting with Rosalie and Esme. I don't think those two sisters like me very much, but oh well. I don't like them very much—or at all—either.

We first hit a couple of boutiques, Alice using her unique method of shopping once more which got us in and out of each shop in under ten minutes each with several large bags full of clothes. The store clerks were nearly spinning when we left. I could only laugh as I watched Alice in her element. Her face held the look of pure, unadulterated joy as she zipped up and down the aisles.

We were almost ready to head back home after about an hour when suddenly Alice dropped all her bags and gasped, her face taking on the blank expression I knew was her having a vision. Her reaction told me that this was a big one...maybe THE BIG ONE we had been waiting for. Great.

"Alice?" Carmen shook her shoulders a bit, and Kate looked alarmed as other shoppers in the outdoor mall took notice of Alice's strange behavior.

"It was them. The Volturi. They're coming. All of them. Here."

"When?" I gasped. Fuck you, Twilight! This was almost a year too soon for some Volturi show down. Holy shit.

"About three weeks from now. They're waiting for something... I can't see what it is...something needs to happen—to be decided—before they will come." Her voice was ominous.

Shit! Can't I just have a little bit of peace here?

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