Chapter 2 – A Much Needed Getaway

Three months later…

EPOV

In the time since finding my old photo album I had come to terms with myself. I made up for lost times my regaling my family with tales of Abigail. Like how once got up on the roof and dumped a bucket of water on our mother. It had been April Fool's Day. She always loved to play pranks, kind of like Emmett. In fact, when I looked at my new family it was like I could see a little bit of her in everybody. She had been selfless like Carlisle and Bella; had a love of life like Alice; been as beautiful and stubborn as Rosalie; as loving as Esme; and as intelligent and determined as Jasper. It made me feel better to know that I may have lost her before, but now I was getting her back in a way. It felt good.

I was also coming to grips with Chicago. Not much of the city looked the same as it once had, so that helped. Plus, last time I was here I didn't have Bella and Reneesme. With them around my outlook on things brightened considerably. I just made a point to stay away from my old house, as well as the hospital that my family, and myself for all intents and purposes, had died at. The one place I did frequent was the cemetery. At least once a week I brought flowers to Abby. I'd stand there and tell her that I loved her and would never forget her again. It seemed to help to alleviate my guilt as well.

Next month we would start high school again. This would be Bella's first time going back and Reneesme's first time period. She had always been home schooled. She was also the only one actually looking forward to it. Jacob looked way too old to pass for high school at all. Bella had no real desire to repeat high school. The rest of us were just sick of it.

At the moment Emmett, Rosalie, Bella, and I were seated in the living room. Emmett and I were sitting on the floor playing a video game, while Bella and Rosalie were on the couch behind us. Rosalie had insisted on painting Bella's toenails. Bella had resisted at first but you had better luck getting the Great Wall of China to move ten feet than you were to get Rosalie to give up on something. So Bella, having surrendered after about an hour, sat lengthwise on the couch with her feet on Rosalie's lap being painted, and her nose was in a book. It looked like Wuthering Heights again. I wondered idly if she would still be reading that book next century. Probably.

Suddenly, a tiny little blur stopped right in front of the TV causing both Emmett's and my characters to die.

"Damn it, Alice," Emmett yelled. "Look what you did. We were on level 83 and you made us die."

I just growled at her.

Bella and Rosalie laughed.

Alice being Alice was completely unrepentant. She just stuck her tongue out at us.

"Is something the matter, Alice?" Bella asked.

"We going on vacation," she said.

"What?" I asked. "We just moved here. What do we need a vacation for?"

"Because I saw us taking one. That's why."

Emmett jumped up. "Where are we going? Vegas? Amsterdam? Hong Kong?"

"New Orleans," she answered.

"Sweet."

"What's in New Orleans that so important?" I asked.

"I don't know. I just know that we have to be there. It's crucial."

Carlisle entered the room just then with Esme and Jasper right behind him. "I guess we're going to New Orleans."

APOV

I walked by myself through the bustling city. I found this place just simply amazing. The scents of chicory, gumbo, and incense were a heady combination. The people were colorful and diverse and the city positively screamed seduction and mystery.

But as amazing as the city was, it wasn't why I was here. I was a woman on a mission. I just didn't know what that mission was.

Emmett had dragged the rest of the boys to the multitude of strip clubs along Bourbon Street. Edward had complained while Carlisle and Jasper just decided it was worth arguing with Emmett and just went. Edward was dragged along despite his protests. Esme and Bella had gone to the Garden District to look at all the amazing mansions. I think Esme wanted to get some ideas for our new house in Chicago. Rosalie, being irritated at Emmett for wanting to see strippers, was trying her hand at the poker table at Harrah's. She was using Emmett's money.

I was looking for something. I just wish I knew what. I hadn't been able to get another vision since we arrived last night. Since we had been locked in our hotel rooms all day I had had plenty of opportunity to try, but nothing came. If vampires could get headaches, mine would be a definitely painful one by now.

Frustrated, I walked out of Pirate's Alley and entered Jackson Square. Since it was night time, all the little stands were shut down and the square was pretty empty except for one person leaning against the black iron fence. Only she wasn't a person. She was a vampire.

She pushed off the fence and approached me with a deadly swagger. There was no doubt in my mind that this one knew how to fight and fight well. I tensed myself up in preparation in case she attacked but she stopped about twenty feet away.

Even though I was intimidated by the woman, I had to admire the woman's style. She knew how to dress and she looked good. Her long legs were encased in stylishly ripped jeans that emphasized her curvy figure well. She had a white dress shirt on over a cropped black camisole that showed off her flat stomach while hugging her breast without putting them blatantly on display. Black stiletto boots and Ran Ban Predators completed the killer outfit.

Something seemed to tug at my mind, but I didn't know what. I took a look at her face hoping to grasp it. It seemed strikingly beautiful and vaguely familiar. She had the face of an avenging angel. Her hair was just a bit longer than mine and in total disarray, but seemed to be made up of a bunch of different shades. There was brown, black, bronze, dark blond, and even a hit of red. I'd never seen anything like it.

Suddenly she spoke, breaking my line of thought.

"I hope you are not out here hunting. I don't allow hunting in my city. There are enough humans killing humans here. We don't need to add vampires to the mix."

I was dumbfounded. She was trying to protect the humans? From me? I realized then that she was the only one in this picture wearing sunglasses at night. I reached up to pull mine off.

She seemed shocked by the gold color of my eyes. I was about to explain the reason why they were gold when she pulled off her own. Hers were gold as well.

"Holy shit!" I exclaimed.

"My sentiments exactly."

Suddenly a thousand questions ran through my mind and out my mouth in one breath.

"Do you have a coven? How old are you? How did you figure out about living off of animals? Do you have a mate? What's your name?"

She laughed at my rapid fire questions. "Let's see here." She squinted her eyes a bit as if thinking about it. "I have no coven; I've been on my own since I was converted. I'm about 120 years old. Um…I can read thoughts so killing people just wouldn't work for me. Not that I didn't mess up a time or two in the early days, but it bothered me. And I have no mate."

"What about you name?" Something was pricking at my mind again.

"Well you already know that Alice Cullen."

"Umm…." I was at a loss.

She pinched the bridge of her nose and shook her head.

That pose right there. This was it. The reason I was here was for this woman. It was why she looked so familiar. It was what had been tugging at my mind since I first spotted her standing against the fence. The shaped of her mouth, the cut of her cheekbones, the chaotic hair that contained so much of a bronze color, they all were exactly like Edward's.

"Oh my God," I said breathlessly. Then I couldn't help but yell. "You're Abigail Masen!"

Okay, so maybe it was a little obvious but there will be plenty of surprises in the future. Please Review, I love reviews, they are my friends.