Arrival

Wet against her face and the chill of the wind sending her injured body into harsh trembling spasms was the first thing she noticed as her awareness returned. She blinked her eyes letting her blurred gaze move across the immediate area. It was then that she realized she was laying in the middle of a clearing in the forest. Carefully, she shifted her position, the sudden intense pain almost sinking her back into the deep blackness of unconsciousness.

Her companion lay not meters from her in a pool of dark blood, and it was plainly obvious that he was unconscious and in dire condition. His features were gaunt and as she studied him, she realized that he wore heavy manacles upon his wrists and ankles and his hands were secured behind him as he lay there with his face partially submerged in a grassy puddle.

She struggled weakly to reach him—fought to figure out their location-knowing that if they both didn't find help soon, neither of them would survive this ordeal to tell the story to their daughter. Angelica would not survive in this world as an orphan. 'What happened to her? 'Everything is so vague.' Did he kill her? I can't remember…' She squeezed her eyes shut against the brutal throbbing inside her skull briefly before once again attempting to make heads or tails of their surroundings. She scanned the area, her vision blurred enough that everything seemed as if it was shrouded in fog. 'Got to find help,' the sheeting rain broke for a split second allowing her to catch a faint glimpse of a glow in the near distance. Dragging herself to her knees, despite the excruciating pain, and taking hold of her companion's shirt collar, she began crawling in the direction of the light…

"Grandpa," Nessie tapped Carlisle on the arm as he passed behind her. She stood at the door watching the hailstones as they bounced from the steps back into the yard. "Look," She pointed to the ground at the base of the steps. The hailstones had accumulated there like a pile of golf balls waiting to be gathered into a bag.

"I see that," He studied the clouds watching for any signs of rotation that might signify something far worse than hail.

Another bright flash of lightning, the crackling pop sending Serrissa and Kailin bolting into their father's lap, their bodies nearly bumping against their mom who had managed to make her way up from the basement where the medical center was located and into to the living room.

"Careful you two, I don't need any more injuries," Alice insisted putting her arm around her daughter and pulling her close as Jasper did the same with his son. "It's not fit for man or beast outside this night," She muttered, the wrath of Mother Nature something that she had grown quite accustomed to out of past experiences.

"There is more than one storm and none of them are moving very…"

Nessie's blood curdling scream drowned out Carlisle's assessment. She stumbled away from her vantage point at the door, tripping over the rug and into his knees before landing on her rump on the floor.

"Nessie, what's the…"

"A stranger is out there," She motioned toward the door. "I saw…" she pointed again as a hand raised from the steps to softly tap against the door before disappearing once more in the sheeting rain.

"Go to Uncle Emmett," Carlisle ordered unlocking the door. He cautiously stepped out onto the porch…

"Please, we're in need of…" A young woman, covered in blood and soaking wet knelt on the steps, her hand gripping the collar of a male whom was obviously unconscious. Both looked as though they had been beaten as their tattered clothes were covered in bloody, mud-encrusted stains. "We…" The woman's voice faded as her strength waned, her eyes blinking raggedly several times before she sank into a lifeless heap at the crest of the stairs.

"Edward, Jasper, come give me a hand," Carlisle called kneeling to assess the injuries to the two strangers. Both had been stabbed multiple times, the wounds still relatively fresh and hemorrhaging profusely. "Let's get them to the basement." He ordered as his sons moved to carry out his command.

Jasper studied the male's features, his expression growing suddenly concerned, "Carlisle, he's not human." He lifted the unconscious victim into his arms. "Edward, is she…?" He questioned as they brought them inside and headed toward the basement.

"Seems to be, although her scent is a bit odd," Edward answered as Carlisle motioned for his sons to place their unconscious, bleeding cargo down on separate beds. "Take the male, I'll take her," He insisted as Carlisle, with his son's help began the task of attempting to save their lives…

(Edward's POV)

I watched as Carlisle worked feverishly to get the male stabilized enough that he could surgically repair the internal damage caused by the multiple puncture wounds. As I studied him, I realized, as Jasper had before, that he was far from human, in fact he was living undead—Vampire—and one of unknown origins. "He's vampire," I muttered catching a glimpse of his fangs briefly as Carlisle suctioned the debris and water from his throat and placed a tube in his nose.

With Jasper's help, we had managed to free both victims from the chains and manacles they had been wearing and as I placed an activated oxygen mask over the female's mouth and nose, I realized just how dangerous this situation could be. We knew nothing about these two strangers or what had occurred to leave them in our yard with such grievous wounds. Just the mounting risk of the unknown was enough to set my nerves on edge even if neither of them were in any condition to cause harm to anyone.

"She's beginning to come around," Jasper pushed the dirty, wet hair back from her face as I finished securing and starting an IV, making sure that her limbs were held in a neutral position on the bed with soft, cloth restraints.

"Easy," I soothed as her awareness flickered and she began to react to the pain emanating from her wounds. Her eyes fluttered open. Her gaze, glassy and unfocused, made one sweep of her surroundings before settling on me. "You're safe, just keep still." I placed a cold pack on the swollen contusion on her forehead knowing without testing her vision that she was suffering from, at the very least, a moderate concussion.

She tried to speak, her voice fading before she could form the words. Her expression turned confused and her color paled in response to the sudden stabbing pains that radiated across her chest. "I…can't…" She sucked in a heavy gasp of air, her breathing ragged and shallow.

"Shhh, hang on don't talk," I ordered immediately securing the oxygen mask to her face. "Keep her calm and distracted." I motioned for my brother to take her hand as I began the task of placing a tube in her chest in an effort to stabilize her breathing enough that she could withstand surgery to repair the puncture to her chest and the damage to her ribcage and shoulder.

"Just focus on me," Jasper soothed keeping her attention and utilizing his gift to send waves of calm across her. "Can you whisper to me your name?" He questioned leaning in close so that she would not have to strain or make any sound louder than the faintest of whispers. He kept an eye on her lips, even through the clear plastic of the oxygen mask; he would be able to decipher her answer even if she was only able to mime it.

She flinched ever-so-slightly as medication was injected into her chest around the now secured tube. Her breathing immediately eased, as the excess air was removed from her chest cavity and her lung was no longer collapsed. "Buffy and…" Her gaze shifted to the male whom she had been trying to pull to safety when she collapsed on the steps, "that's Angel, he's my…husband…we…" Her breath faded along with her awareness as the strain of trying to talk drained what little strength she had left.

"Buffy, I'm going to put you to sleep now so that your injuries can be repaired," I revealed injecting medication into the IV. She didn't acknowledge my warning, nor was she strong enough to fight against the anesthetic.

"How's the other that she called Angel?" I asked as I began surgically repairing the internal damage caused by the puncture wounds.

"Extremely weak from loss of blood and lack of proper sustenance, his condition for now is relatively stable," Carlisle answered checking the equipment and the active feeding that Angel was now receiving before moving to help me. "The continuous flow of medication will keep him lethargic and in and out of pseudo-sleep for the next couple days."

"Gives us a chance to figure out who they are and why they were in our yard," Jasper muttered watching Angel's awareness flicker beneath the medication. "And whatever it is, we need to find out before the Volturi do or else we may have more problems than we've solved by saving them."