"I have found a spell," Baba Yaga announced. "It will return you to your era."
"So it will be as if we never left?" Bella asked hopefully.
"Don't be stupid. Of course it won't do that. Do ye have any intelligence at all?"
"Baba Yaga," Abraham spoke in a cautionary tone, glancing over at Edward whose nostrils were flaring upon hearing Bella insulted. "Considering that this is their first encounter with magic and spells, it might be reasonable to go easy on them."
"Did I not just tell you to never question me, Abraham?" Baba Yaga snapped. "As I was saying, magic must not contradict the flow of time. To do so would be to make time flow backward, and to force that occurrence would risk unraveling the very fabric of nature and reality itself. I am able to send you back, but at a point equal to the amount of time you spend here."
"So, we'll return home only a day after we disappeared from our time," Carlisle mused.
"Only a day?" Baba Yaga repeated. "You think I can just wave my hands and send you back, just like that? The potion required to send you back calls for ingredients that need preparation. The lacehopper wings alone need to be boiled for a day and a night before being allowed to completely dry out."
"How long is it going to take to make this potion?" Edward asked, seemingly anticipating an unfavorable answer.
"If all goes well, it will take a week to get everything ready," Baba Yaga declared.
"A week!" five voices cried in unison.
"Ye can always take the slow path," Baba Yaga retorted. "I do not care either way." For a long moment, Carlisle, Edward and Bella exchanged glances. Finally, Carlisle took a deep breath.
"If… a week is the fastest amount of time we can return home, I suppose we'll have to take it."
"Very well." Baba Yaga nodded. "Then it is agreed. I will come fetch you when the potion is ready."
Everyone was absolutely silent as Nightmare pulled the wagon back in the direction of the estate. It was only when Epping Forest came into sight that Bella broke the silence.
"Everyone back home must be worried," she began. "Rose, Emmett, Jasper, Esme, Charlie..." Her words trailed off upon noticing the expression on Carlisle's face.
"Carlisle," Edward said, leaning forward to place a comforting hand on his shoulder. "I… I'm really sorry."
"We were only supposed to be gone for a few hours," Carlisle spoke sorrowfully. "Just long enough to find and ask Jacob a question, and then return home. I can't even imagine what Esme and everyone else are going to think when they come looking for us and find our scent trail ending abruptly, with absolutely no sign of us. Especially when we're still recovering from the recent confrontation with the Volturi. I wish there was a way to send word to them. Anything to let them know that we're unharmed."
"Why can't we?" Bella asked. "We could write a letter with instructions to not deliver it to our family until the day we disappeared."
"The mail system didn't work that way in this century, love," Edward answered. "There won't be places to hold a letter for that long for quite a while yet."
"Except you're not putting me into consideration, Edward," Vermundr spoke up. "Don't forget that I'm hopefully going to be around when this mail system of yours is put into effect. I would be more than willing to write this letter to your family when the time comes."
"Thank you, Vermundr," Edward said with a single nod.
"Think nothing of it. I know what family means, after all. It was a founding principle for my people, if you'd recall."
As Vermundr spoke, he removed the sword that he'd been carrying on his back and casually began to polish the blade.
"I've been wanting to ask about that sword," Carlisle stated. "It seems unusual for you to carry it around, especially since vampires usually have no need for conventional weapons."
"That is true," Vermundr responded. "But Abraham and I have a saying we live by. You might think of it as a family motto."
"Never play an ace when a two will do," Abraham proclaimed.
"But why a sword?" Bella questioned.
"Because it's my last remaining link to my people," Vermundr explained. "I distantly can recall my father saying that it was originally wielded by my grandfather's grandfather. Of course, the blade had to be replaced, seeing as it was broken on the night I was bitten. But the hilt is still the same. Just as well, I suppose. It's even stronger now. Even strong enough to be effective against that Red Eye, once we catch up to him again. I made sure of it."
"How can a sword blade harm a vampire?" Edward asked. Instead of replying, Vermundr carefully handed the sword over to Edward with a solemn expression.
"Take a good look at the blade," he requested. "Let me know if you can identify the source material I used." For a minute or two, Edward looked closely at the blade before gasping in shock.
"This… Vermundr, this is… made from vampire teeth! How did you forge a sword from vampire teeth?"
"It wasn't easy," Vermundr stated, shrugging.
"How… Vermundr, did you kill that many vampires?" Carlisle asked, staring at the blade in shocked horror.
"Rather squeamish, aren't you?" Vermundr commented with a dry smile. "I've seen your past, remember? How many of those Seattle newborns did you help bring down again?"
"If there had been another way, I would have chosen it," Carlisle insisted, regret and sorrow etched over every inch of his face. Once again, he glanced at Vermundr's sword, letting out a heavy sigh.
"If you are feeling sorry for the vampires whose teeth ended up in my blade, then you best stop right now," Vermundr retorted, his face clouding over in barely suppressed fury. "From what I've seen of your past, you haven't had much opportunity to see the very worst of our kind. Take some of the Red Eyes Abraham and I faced over the years; just knowing exactly how they went about in their feeding would scar you for eternity. And I've had the misfortune of seeing what happened to every single one of their victims, in minute detail."
"And what's this for?" Bella asked quickly, hoping to steer the subject away from such a violent topic. Looking over, everyone saw she was touching a small rectangular flat stone that had been secured to the sword hilt with a braided cord. On one side of the stone, there appeared to be an engraving of an arrow pointing upward.
"Another relic from my human life." Vermundr glanced down at the small stone, a faint haunted look in his eyes. "All the village warriors wore a rune of their own choosing as a talisman of protection. My sister, Bryn, and I both chose this as our rune when we joined the village warriors. It's the Tiwaz rune. It was the rune of bravery and steadfastness in the face of any adversity, and fighting for what is right."
"You've kept it all these years?"
"Just because I'm not a human any more, doesn't mean I should no longer keep my vow. And furthermore, I..."
Vermundr suddenly froze, sitting ramrod straight. Turning his head, he sniffed at the air and instantly grew even paler than normal.
"Hold, Nightmare," he instructed, jumping out of the wagon.
"Vermundr, what's wrong?" Abraham asked, instantly reaching for his crossbow.
"Shhh." Vermundr held up a hand for silence. "Everyone, stay here for a second." Without another word, Vermundr dashed off into the underbrush.
"What's going on?" Bella questioned, glancing over at Edward.
"I don't know," he admitted. "All I could tell was that he suddenly picked up on a scent he recognized. I couldn't get much about it from his mind, but something about the scent set him off."
"Well, let's not take any chances then," Abraham decided, holding his crossbow at the ready. "In the meantime, Carlisle, I got the impression from your expression and tone when talking about Vermundr's sword that you disproved of some of his methods. I just wanted you to know that you shouldn't judge him too harshly. Even as a human, he lived by the sword. And not even I know the full extent of how many horrors he's witnessed throughout the centuries. But I imagine it would have been enough to even place a limit on your limitless mercy."
Before Carlisle could respond, Vermundr reappeared, dropping down into the wagon from an overhead branch.
"Did you find anything?" Abraham asked immediately. "Edward said you smelled something."
"No." Vermundr shook his head. "It was nothing. There's no scent trail out there. Perhaps I just imagined it. All the same, we should head back to the estate as soon as possible." Abraham simply nodded in response and asked Nightmare to continue on.
"What did you think you smelled?" Bella wanted to know, turning to Vermundr whose eyes remained trained on the forest around them.
"Something that you do not ever want to encounter, Bella," Vermundr replied in a tone that strongly hinted that he was not about to say anything more on the subject.
"Mommy! Daddy!" The instant she'd seen Edward, Bella, Carlisle and Abraham step into the withdrawing room, Renesmee, now wearing a pretty cream-colored period dress, had abandoned the thick book she'd been engrossed in, a wide smile on her face as she ran into the open arms of her parents.
"She wasn't any trouble, was she?" Bella asked Cassie, who had been sitting nearby petting Grimalkin.
"Of course not," Cassie insisted with a laugh. "She's a wonderful child, and very helpful." As if to prove Cassie's words, Renesmee promptly placed a hand over Bella's cheek, showing her how she and Jacob had found truffles in the nearby woods, and how Cassie had taught her and Alice how to make a dessert called Snow.
"Abraham, where's Vermundr?" Cassie inquired, noticing he was not present.
"He's out back in the stable with Nightmare. He said he wanted to make sure the horseshoes weren't coming loose."
"So, how'd it go?" Alice asked, appearing in the room with Jacob close behind. Like Renesmee, Alice was in a new period dress, but Jacob, due to his height, could only fit in a long jacket and trousers. His feet were left bare.
"Did Baba Yaga agree to help us get back home?"
As Cassie excused herself to start on the night's supper, which she'd been holding off on until Abraham had returned, Carlisle filled Alice, Jacob and Renesmee in on what had transpired that day, and how the spell that could send them back would not be ready before a week had passed.
"You've got to be kidding me!" Jacob exclaimed. "You mean we're stuck here for a week?"
"It's better than not having any chance of getting home soon," Bella pointed out.
"Yeah, I got that, Bells." Jacob groaned as he collapsed on the nearby loveseat. "I'm just not thrilled at spending so long in a time period I know almost nothing about. Besides, there are probably millions of illnesses floating around that are nearly nonexistent in our time. Like, what if Nessie comes in contact with the Bubonic plague while we're stuck in this century? I mean, she is part human. There's no telling if she'll be immune or not."
"Jacob, the Bubonic Plague was typically carried by the fleas on rats," Edward pointed out. "Since rats, like other animals, are repelled by vampires, it's very unlikely that one will get close enough to infect her."
"Are you saying rats caused that awful plague in London?" Abraham asked with wide eyes. "Everyone was saying it was the miasma."
"It would undoubtedly amaze you how much the understanding of disease and medicine is misconstrued in your generation, Abraham," Carlisle explained kindly.
"Well, we do have time before dinner is on the table," Abraham stated, clearly enraptured. "There is so much that I want to learn about the world you and your family come from."
Deciding to leave Carlisle and Abraham to their devices, with Carlisle starting off on telling Abraham about the advances in transportation, the others quietly filed out of the room, navigating to the estate's library instead.
"So, you've had a busy day, have you?" Bella looked down at Renesmee, who had retrieved the book she'd been reading before their return.
"I did. Jacob and I even found a river nearby where we caught fish for Cassie. She was planning on cooking them tonight. And when we were in town looking for new clothes, the tailor looked like he was going to faint when we walked in."
"I can imagine." Edward grinned at the image of Renesmee's memory of the event. "Not only is Alice a vampire, but the average height of a full-grown human these days was around five feet and five inches. Someone taller than six feet was almost completely unheard of in the 1600s. So of course the sight of Jacob would cause additional alarm."
"Hey," Jacob said.
Thinking he was voicing an objection to the statement about his height, Edward started to inform the shape shifter that he'd merely stated a fact, but upon reading deeper into his mind, he realized that Jacob's attention was elsewhere.
"Where's he going?" Jacob asked, staring out the window. Joining him, Alice, Bella and Edward all saw Vermundr slinking back into Epping Forest alone.
"I thought so," Edward muttered, his expression giving away the fact that he was reading Vermundr's mind. "I had a feeling he wasn't being completely truthful earlier, after he caught that scent during the journey back from Baba Yaga's. He's going to try and make a more thorough search for the scent's origin."
"Maybe we should help," Bella suggested.
"That's not quite a good idea, love," Edward replied gently. "Vermundr's going alone because he doesn't want to draw too much attention to himself if there is something out there."
"But what if he runs into something he can't handle?"
"I'm with Bella." Jacob agreed. "Even vampires can be outnumbered. The stories of my tribe prove that. I don't know about you guys, but I'm going with him."
"If you're going, then I'll have to go, too." Edward announced. "If you have to phase for any reason, Vermundr would need someone to translate for you."
"Since you two are going," Alice said. "I'm going to take Bella upstairs. I found quite a few nice dresses for her to wear in town, but I need to make some alterations on them."
"Alice," Bella moaned, grimacing at the thought.
"Besides," Alice continued. "Nessie hasn't seen you all day, Bella. You're not going to run off and leave her behind again, are you?" Instead of replying, Bella fixed Alice with an exasperated glare. Leave it to Alice to use her love for her daughter to manipulate Bella into agreeing to stay behind and try on dresses.
"It's alright, Bella," Edward reassured, briefly kissing her forehead. "Jacob, Vermundr and I won't be too long. I'm sure of it."
"Just be careful," Bella instructed.
"I will be. I promise."
Once Edward and Jacob had slipped outside to go after Vermundr, Alice went to work in herding Bella to the upstairs guest room to try on her period dresses. As they made their way through the entryway, however, they passed by the wall-mounted plaque where Abraham and Vermundr had hung their weapons the night before.
"Alice?" Bella asked, stopping in her tracks as she remembered. "While we were gone today, did Cassie mention anyone with a name beginning in the letter 'H'?"
"No, she didn't," Alice replied. "Why do you ask?"
"Because of the letters on the plaque," Bella explained, pointing at the engraving. "'A.V.H.' I've been wondering what it meant since I saw them last night. I thought it might be the first initial of three different people. 'A' for Abraham and 'V' for Vermundr, but so far, no one's mentioned anyone with a name beginning in 'H.'"
"That's because it's not three different people, Mommy," Renesmee stated. "They're Abraham's initials."
"How do you know?" Bella's eyebrows raised in surprise at Renesmee's matter-of-fact tone.
"Because he wrote them in this book, too." To prove her words, Renesmee showed Alice and Bella the inside cover of the book, where the letters 'A.V.H.' had been printed in a simple script.
"I asked Cassie about it when I found the book in the library. She said Abraham had gotten into the habit of only writing his initials instead of signing his full name, because he preferred keeping a low profile. Cassie said that he was getting very well known as a monster hunter a few years ago, and a lot of people started to hound him all the time for favors. So he started to only use his initials instead, because it made it easier for him to live here without people realizing who he really was."
"I guess that makes sense," Alice decided.
Bella, on the other hand, started feeling uneasy. She felt as if there was something obvious right in front of her, but she just wasn't seeing it. She continued to mull the information Renesmee had revealed to her in silence, which kept her silent as Alice went to work in making alterations to her new period dresses. It wasn't until Alice had finished up and packed away the sewing kit that Bella gasped, a sudden epiphany washing over her.
"Of course!" Bella cried, placing a hand over her mouth in stunned surprise. "It was obvious! Why didn't I think of it before?"
"Think of what?" Alice asked, frowning in concern and confusion.
"'A.V.H.,' Alice. They're Abraham's initials. Initials he started using instead of writing out his full name because of how well known he was becoming as a monster hunter."
"Yeah, I understand that."
"Oh, Alice, don't you get it? A famous monster hunter with the initials 'A.V.H.!' Think about it! 'A.V.H.' Abraham Van Helsing!"
AN: So be honest. Did anyone see that coming? Anyway, the plot really starts rolling from here on in. Hope you're still enjoying the story, and please don't forget to review.