After a short trip, Edward finally slowed down and stopped running. He set me on my feet and held my hand as we walked in the front door of the house. When we got inside, Edward's entire family was present. Sitting on the couch were Emmett and Rosalie, hand-in-hand. Rosalie appeared worried, which was strange to me because I had never seen her show much emotion before. Carlisle was waiting by the fireplace, pacing. Esme was cleaning up the house, as always. Alice was sitting on the bottom step of the stairs, rubbing her forehead. She looked like she was trying to concentrate, probably on a vision she had. Jasper glanced at us, and then took a seat next to Alice, rubbing her back. Alice looked up at him, annoyed, and suddenly realized that we had arrived.
"Oh hey guys! Finally!" Alice said, her eyes full of concern.
"Okay, Edward," I said to him. "You told me you would tell me what was going on once we got there, and now we're here. What's happening?!" I demanded.
Carlisle took command. "There's a different breed of vampire out there, Bella. The D'Amican clan." He told me. It still suprised me how the word was used so casually.
"What do you mean by different? Aren't all of the..er...vampires all the same?" I asked, not specifically to Carlisle, but to anyone who would explain to me. To satisfy my confusion.
"Well..." Jasper cut in. "This group is a new group that we only recently discovered."
"But who are they?" I asked. "And why do we care that I had a stupid dream about them...my dreams have never meant anything before."
"I had a vision about them." Alice interjected. "I saw them putting postcards in the mail. And I saw...well..."
"Wait a second," I interrupted. "Postcards? What does that have to do with anything?"
"Every couple of months or so, it is rumored that the D'Amicans send postcards out to random humans around the world, inviting them to go on a cruise that brings the humans to them. They, well, aren't vegetarians if you know what I mean." Edward told me. I gasped. "You see, the D'Amicans live in some remote, undisclosed location that none of us regular vampires can find, so there's no way to stop them."
"These postcards claim that the receiver has won a free cruise, but only for one person." Rosalie explained quietly. "So the humans get on board, never to return."
"It's genius!" Emmett exclaimed. Esme turned to him, her face scolding. Emmett shrugged and went back to watching the game on TV.
"Okay, don't get me wrong, I think it's terrible what they're doing. But seriously, don't the rest of the non-vegitarian vampires kill humans anyways? What's the big deal about these guys?" I asked.
"Okay, don't freak out Bella. Remember, the future can always be changed." Alice said to me, looking me straight in the eyes. She began walking towards me. She then held my hands in hers.
"Okay, what is it? You're starting to freak me out." I said shakily. I tried to let out a laugh, but it came out as a squeak of fear.
"When I saw Horton, that's his name by the way, the D'Amican who was most likely in your dream, putting the postcards in the mail..." She paused, reluctant to tell me the truth.
"Mhmm..." I waited.
"I saw...Charlie's name on one of the postcards." She hugged me quickly and then retreated back to her step, rubbing her forehead again. My whole world started spinning. I had trouble seeing.Charlie? No. Couldn't be. Take me, take anyone but my innocent father. I started backing up...I needed to sit down. I felt nauseous. Then suddenly, everything blacked out as I crashed to the floor.