The two vampires instantly drop down into the middle of our loosely positioned circle. One of the vampires was female with long black hair and a slightly olive tone to her chalky complexion. The other vampire was male and he was black-haired too with the same olive toned skin although his hair was substantially shorter. I noticed immediately that both vampires had piercing golden eyes, the exactly same shade as every vampire in the clearing with the exception of myself.

"You are kidding." Edward murmurs at exactly the same time as Alice speaks.

"No way is this happening." She chokes.

The man smiles bashfully as he meets the shocked gazes of the Denali sisters. "Hello, my name is Eleazar and this is Carmen." The dark-haired woman smiles warmly as Eleazar continues, his voice gentle. "I must assure you that we are not of any threat to you. Just ask your mind reader if you have any doubt." He says, gesturing to Edward.

Edward frowns, looking at Eleazar. "He is speaking the truth." He admits quietly. "Now tell them why you're here."

Eleazar chuckles before turning to look at the Denali sisters. "I must confess we've been following you for a while. A couple of weeks now. We were so intrigued to find others like us, who abstained from human blood, that we followed you to observe. Never did we dream that there would be even more like us." He looked at Edward and Alice as he spoke.

Kate spoke first. "You've been following us? How did you manage that without our noticing?"

I notice Eleazar stiffen slightly but his voice is friendly as he answers. "We have our methods." He says figuratively.

"You were part of the Volutri guard?" Edward gasps.

All eyes turn to Eleazar who sighs. "I'd forgotten about your ability." He says quietly. "Yes I used to be in the guard. It's why I was able to follow you three without you knowing I was there – training and practice from the Volutri." He finishes, looking at the three sisters.

"But you left them." Edward says, with an odd tone to his voice.

Eleazar looks at him curiously. "I did." He admits. "I'd learnt all I could from them. I'd found Carmen and I wanted a peaceful life that they didn't offer. So I left."

Alice snorts sceptically. "A peaceful Volutri guard? I've never heard of such a thing."

Both Carmen and Eleazar give her a sharp look. "It is possible." Carmen says, speaking for the first time, her voice thick with a Spanish accent. "My Eleazar is a gentle vampire."

Edward nods. "She's right Alice."

"I can't believe you are both vegetarians too. Wait until Carlisle hears about this." She says excitedly.

"Carlisle?" Eleazar frowns.

"Mine and Edward's father. He kind of runs our family." Alice sings, shrugging.

Every vampire except Edward looks shocked. "There's more of you?" Tanya breathes.

Edward grins. "I haven't yet mentioned – we have a big family. Besides Alice, I have another sister, two brothers and Esme who we think of as our mother, who is Carlisle's wife."

"There's seven of you in total?" Eleazar breathes, his golden eyes shocked.

"Indeed Eleazar." Edward answers.

"That's an impressive amount." Carmen comments, smiling softly.

Edward smiles back at her. "I'm very sure Carlisle will be delighted to meet others like himself. He was the one who discovered we could sustain ourselves with animals. If you wanted, you're welcome to return back to our house with us. It's a fair while away, about eighteen hours."

"You have a house too?" Kate questions incredulously.

"Yes. It helps us fit in with the humans that we socialise with." Edward answers.

Eleazar murmurs to Carmen for a brief moment. "Yes, both Carmen and I will return with you."

"As will me and my sisters." Tanya says instantly, not even glancing Kate and Irina's way.

I can't help rolling my eyes at her enthusiasm. I knew it was simply because of Edward. He must be aware of it too so why wasn't he telling Tanya to shove it? He hadn't given any signs that he was interested.

"We should get going then." Edward says, flitting out of the clearing. Tanya was straight behind him.

I fall behind, attempting to distance myself from Edward, partly because of Tanya and partly because of my scent. Alice falls into step besides me. "Edward's too much of a gentleman to turn Tanya down so quickly." She murmurs quietly.

I look at her in surprise. "How did you…" I begin.

"Oh please." She rolls her eyes, interrupting me. "It was written all over your face Bella."

"Right." I force myself to sound neutral.

I wasn't sure how that was working for me as Alice grins from besides me. "No need to sound ashamed Bella. You'd be better for Edward than Tanya any day." She signs

"I never said that I wanted to be with Edward!" I splutter.

She grins again, looking more like a pixie than ever. "You didn't have to. Your face says it all Bella. You hate Tanya."

"I don't hate her." I mutter. "Just strongly dislike."

Alice laughs in delight. "Have you thought about why that is?" I look at her blankly and she sighs. "I'm betting on you Bella and I'm rarely wrong. Take it from me." She taps her head.

A smile spark of hope filled me and I smiled at her as we sped up to catch up with the other vampires. The smile is instantly wiped off my face as I hear part of the conversation between Tanya and Edward.

"Mind-reading is a very impressive talent Edward." Tanya simpers.

"Thank you." Edward says, his voice genuine.

I grit my teeth as Tanya giggles and swings her strawberry blonde hair. What was up with all the blondness anyway? How many beautiful blonde vampires could you meet in one week? "I think it must be the most interesting talent I've ever come across. Imagine the possibilities." She pauses and looks at Edward expectantly but he doesn't reply. "And I've been alone for so long." She hints.

Alice digs me sharply in the ribs as I snort with laughter. "I'm sorry to hear it." Edward says softly. "I know how it feels."

I instantly scowl. Now it sounded like he was encouraging her! Tanya obviously wasn't bothered who can hear her because she continued, a broad smile on her face. "Well, it's great to know that you're not attached to anyone. I'm pretty sure you know what I'm thinking anyway but I think you'll be the ideal person to… you know, get to know better and then…" she trailed off but I got her meaning.

It was only Alice's sudden movement of grabbing my arm that stopped me leaping over there and ripping her pretty blonde head off.

"I'm really sorry Tanya." Edward says and his voice is not unkind. "I have no qualms getting to know you better but I'm purely not interested in a relationship like that right now." There was a brief silence from Tanya before Edward shook his head. "No." He said earnestly. "It's not that. You are beautiful but I've been alone for a very long time and I can't see myself in a relationship at the moment."

"Well one can hope." Tanya says softly.

"Your sisters want you." Edward murmurs and her sisters speed up suddenly so they are right by Tanya's side. Edward falls back as Alice lets go of me and dances forward to continue leading the Denali's. Carmen and Eleazar speed up too so that somehow Edward ends up right next to me.

He is breathing quite shallowly but seems fine besides that. "So…" I say quietly, struggling to find something to say that didn't involve what'd just happened. I failed miserably. "Tanya likes you."

As soon as I say it I want to crawl under a rock and hide. Now I sounded jealous, which of course, was exactly what I was.

Edward looks amused. "I didn't know you'd heard that." He grins. "Yes, I suppose she does."

"But you turned her down." I state as neutrally as I can manage.

Edward takes my statement as a question. "Yes. I did." He says quietly.

I find I have to look away from his golden eyes as I ask the next question. "Why?"

"A few reasons actually," he murmurs, glancing forward at Tanya and her sisters to make sure they weren't in earshot. "Tanya's too forward for someone like me. We met half an hour ago. Therefore, since she doesn't know anything about me as a person odds are she's only interested because of my appearance." He said it matter of fact.

I peer sideways at him. It was good to know that Edward wouldn't simply go after someone because they were attractive. "Yes, but you could get to know her."

"I'm not interested in her in that way." Edward's voice had a tinge of hardness in it and I frowned. It could have been my imagination and it probably was but I was sure I'd heard a slight inflection on the word 'her'.

I looked sideways at him again. "But Tanya's… very pretty." It killed me to admit it but it was true. Even Edward had admitted she was beautiful. "And blonde." I add, as an afterthought.

Edward's eyes suddenly meet mine and he meets my gaze, his golden eyes burning into mine. "Which leads me on to my last reason, Bella." He grins suddenly. "I much prefer brunettes."