Received a lot of disappointed and excited reviews regarding my last update not being Bella's, so I pushed myself to continue as quickly as I could! Happy reading!
"Good evening." The center nomad began.
"Good evening," replied Carlisle. "If you don't mind my asking, how did you stumble upon us?"
"My coven members heard you playing. It is quite a different set of sounds than the storm, after all."
I detected the smallest mental recoil from both the blond and the redhead when the center nomad had said 'my coven'. Either they didn't appreciate being branded in such a way, or the arrangement in which the center individual had spoken to them was unnatural. He might not be their leader.
I don't think he's their leader Edward. Jasper chimed in, noting the same discomfort I had, only through feeling rather than mind. I'd go with the blond. He's resonating confidence and dominance, but portraying submission. I'm not sure if they're staging this, or if the center one legitimately believes he's their leader, but he's wrong.
I straightened my jacket in an absent minded fashion to let Jasper know that I'd noted what he transferred to me.
"My name is Laurent. These are James, and Victoria." Laurent smiled. From what I was detecting he was genuinely curious about meeting such a large coven.
Such strange eyes, and so many!
"I am Carlisle, leader of this family. Rosalie, and Emmett, Edward, Alice and Jasper, and this is my wife, Esme." He had pointed us out partially in pairs, and tried to deflect attention from how menacing Jasper looked, with the comment about his wife rather than mate. Jasper was always a point of wary unease with our kind. He was after all covered in bite marks. I honestly kept forgetting about it, until we met new people. Then I realised that the short cuffs of his baseball sleeves, and the open throat and face showed at least eleven distinct bite scars. When Jasper had originally met us, he had donned long sleeves, winter gloves, and a turtle necked sweater, to try and ease the passage into our household. These guests were receiving no such luxury. And Emmett wasn't helping with his flexing and causal neck rolling.
Jasper rolled out some very subtle calming influences and Laurent offered up another question.
"Do you mind if we join you? A friendly game? It may be a good ice breaker, as they say." We all need to relax a little, and we could get the judge of their characters in a more informal setting.
"Of course! We haven't been able to play equal teams for a while. Edward, Alice, would you mind joining our guests on the opposing side?" Play nice, be wary, don't throw the game by any means, but don't play your hardest. Carlisle said, patting my shoulder.
"No problem." Alice chirped, giving Jasper's hand a squeeze before she danced closer to the opposite team. She and I were the most likely to see anything coming, the most 'well defended' with regards to surprises.
We split into equal teams, and began playing. I honestly couldn't tell you how the match was really going. I spent most of my time trying to delve into their silent and wary minds. As the first inning progressed, and they tapped Esme out, the newcomers began to focus less on the potential for imminent attack and more on the game. As they relaxed, Jasper and I relaxed, enabling the rest of my family to feel more competitive and at ease.
When we were done all nine innings, and the 'away' team had won – how could we not with Alice and I? – we all began to walk back to home plate. Rosalie was nervous enough still that she didn't even complain about the pairing of Alice and I on a team, as we were usually separated for good reason. I retrieved my phone from Esme, something I hadn't yet done, and briefly checked it. There were no messages. Perhaps she had fallen asleep. I doubted very much I would be seeing Bella tonight. I thought about sending her a text as we ran home, but a light mental voice chimed at me.
I'm sorry Edward – she's dropped her phone. It's smashed for the time being. You'd be better off calling the house, and I wouldn't do that until after this lot are gone. Alice sighed at me.
"Would you care to continue this meeting inside? We hold a permanent residence nearby, and we'd like a chance to explain, and talk, out of the incoming rain." Carlisle smiled, indicating the direction we were all about to run in. The new coven agreed, and we were off.
Permanent residence? A coven this size?
How far does their territory range? We had no idea that a territory that large could be claimed.
Their eyes are unnatural. Disturbing.
My family's thoughts were no more trusting. We were all a little more irritated than we would usually be. We had no qualms meeting new friends, usually, but this had been an already trying month for all of us, and we wanted to be off of the radar at least until things had settled. Even our distant family in Denali had no idea that I was dating, DATING, a human. We were trying to get into a flow again, one that I had so casually disrupted. The good news about my little escapades were that my family was freshly fed, and stronger because of it. The newcomers had fed recently, judging by their eyes, and the murder/disappearance spree we had tracked, but not in the last few days.
As soon as we got back to the house I bristled. Bella's scent was clinging to the house like wet to water. Ironically enough, if Esme had not just cleaned everything, and if today had been filled with rain instead of sun, it might not have been noticeable. I tried to reassure myself that the others would not notice, that I was so attuned to the smell, and so drawn to it, that I was hypersensitive. But then Emmett, of all people, spoke up.
"Ugh. You can still smell that delivery guy from earlier. We'll have to clean the house again." See what I did there? BAM. Bet you thought I wasn't smart enough for that.
I could have hugged him with relief. It gave us a solid alibi for the scent. The coven shouldn't look into the smell any further, not with this many of us in the house. Alice and Jasper walked through the entryway and sat abruptly on the stairs, barring any entrance. They looked casual, but the intent was clear. They weren't to track a scent through our house. Rosalie, tactfully, in my opinion, took a place on the piano bench, fingering a few keys from a composition I usually played on her birthday. It would prevent them from examining the piano, or bench too closely.
I'm only doing this because I don't want to put up with you moping. She informed me, and looked once again at our guests.
"Please, make yourselves comfortable." Esme offered, pointing around the living room to the various couches. She guided Emmett to the place Bella had been curled up in earlier, to again, try and mask the scent.
I was on edge, and stood closest to the door, while pretending to hang up my jacket. I leaned against the wall, and watched.
"How is it that you have come to own such a residence?" Victoria asked, her eyes looking over the place with both disdain and envy. She disapproved of settling down, but also wished for a stable place she could bathe, change clothing, a bed she could make love in. I skipped out of her head, focusing on the next one.
Laurent seemed to be oblivious to the scent, accepting the wash away story Emmett had thrown out. He was enthralled by the premise of a stable, rich, luxury filled life. And he would listen to how he could possibly achieve that.
The house smells of someone. Someone tantalising. Delicious. They seem at ease around the smell. Curious. My throat is alight, as theirs must be, so why do they not appear to care? The large one just sat in a pooling of the scent. What had he said? Delivery guy? Unless the delivery required a break on the couch, I find that highly unlikely. These thoughts I would keep focused on, without blowing my temper. That was my mate he was so casually tasting on the air. Jasper sent a cooling wave towards me and I settled against the wall in a more determined way.
Carlisle began his story. He skipped over vast amounts of details, merely focusing on the important aspects, such as dietary changes, and semi-nomadic, relatively permanent housing arrangements. He also made a point to note how their presence had made us extra alert, that we would be lying low for a while because of their hunting in such a sparsely populated area.
"We are sorry to have inconvenienced you in such a fashion. My coven will not hunt again on your territory." Laurent said. Both Victoria and James snarled mentally, while glancing at each other. That was a promise that they would not uphold. Laurent was definitely not in charge. By the dynamic that Jasper had sensed, and the way that Victoria oriented herself, James was definitely in charge. And unfortunately, he was unlikely to fulfill that bargain.
We talked long into the next day. Our own stories, their travels, people we'd both met. We informed them of the other clan in Alaska that we had met who had come by this way of feeding of their own accord, and how there were likely to be others. We talked about eye colour changes, and temperament changes, that allowed more of us to live together because of the lack of territoriality.
"It enables us to be more civilised, at great personal cost." Carlisle explained. "To many, this is not an equal sacrifice. To our family, it is."
"It is intruiging." Laurent said. "I would also be interested to meet the other coven in the North. See how it is that they came around to this – uh – lifestyle." Perhaps find a mate of my own. Three unmated women in one place…
"They'd be happy to host you. It's also a larger hunting territory than we hold here. All of the artic to run around in after all." Esme said, kindly.
"We thank you for your hospitality." James said. "Perhaps we will head north now."
"If you head north directly from here, you will have to swim across the border to Canada. After that, there aren't too many places that require a lengthy dip." Carlisle offered.
"That doesn't disturb us." Victoria said.
Laurent seemed disappointed that they would be leaving so soon. I could not wait to get them off of my hands. The three of them made their way out of the door again. James taking in the scent once more. My stomach writhed in unease. I looked at Alice.
They're heading north. I see them skirting Port Angeles, and making the border crossing. I see them arguing about it too. Alice filled in.
We watched as they took off in a northern direction. North was away from Forks, away from Bella. I started to relax as I waited and watched them go. I listened to their mental mutterings for about a mile, before I lost them. They were indeed heading north. I watched in Alice's brain as the general path they took shifted and changed, but their destination was firmly set.
Esme thanked Jasper for keeping all of our heads cool and calm. "That blond one seemed more primal, more prone to agitation. I'm assuming you are to thank for keeping us all calm?" she asked, as she tousled his hair affectionately. Jasper frowned at the hair tousle, and smiled at his mother-figure.
"It wasn't overly hard. I was already generating calm to keep Edward from flying off the handle. Whenever someone caught a glimpse of Bella's scent he was ready to kill."
They looked over at me. I rested my head gently against the wall. I should probably apologize, but was it anything less than what they would have done for their loved ones? It was my turn to thank my family.
"I owe you all a lot. Thank you for covering her scent." I spoke aloud. "For the most part, they accepted. Laurent and Victoria were too distracted by everything else to care much. James cared about it, as she has such a – unique – scent, but because Alice sees them running north now, Bella is out of danger. Thank you."
The rest of my family relaxed and I ran my hand through my hair.
"She's at home?" I clarified with Alice as I unlocked the door.
"Ummm…" she browsed through Bella's decisions. "I don't know. She's driving, but I can't see why. I saw Charlie ask for a ride this morning, so probably into, or out from La Push. That'll put her East of Forks…." She frowned and looked harder. "Uh, she seems set on talking to you again, but not actually coming here. I think she's going to get a new phone."
My stomach dropped. The closest, and most fully stocked electronics store around was in Port Angeles. I looked at Alice as she came to the same realisation. "I should have seen her decide to go to Port Angeles though. I didn't see that. She can't be going yet. She's probably going home." But even as she said the words, she had another vision.
In that vision I saw a bright red pickup truck, idling empty on the side of the road.