Unexpected Imprint

"No way." I mumbled.

"Oh man." Jake muttered.

"Is that even possible?" Edward asked.

"Well, it is now." Emmett laughed.

"Well, this is awkward." Rosalie groaned.

"It is very interesting indeed." Carlisle commented.

Esme and Alice just stood there with shock frozen on their faces. Jasper was surprised to, but more composed, taking in the mix of emotions in the room.

The muttering stopped as we saw Seth and Scarlet staring into each other's eyes. Scarlet looked confused at first by Seth's obvious ogling, but she either read his mind, or knew from the way Jake had acted around Nessie before. The confusion changed to understanding, and she smiled shyly back at him.

It grew silent, and an awkward feeling spread across the room. Alice was the first to break the scilence.

"Well Seth, since you will obviously be here for a while you can help Scarlet unpack."

She grabbed Scarlet's arm and drug her back to her room with Seth following close behind.

The walk up the steps was not silent, but just as awkward. Alice talked the entire time. It would have not been that bad, except she went at a slow human pace for Seth's benefit.

"I really do hope you like your room. I was going to do some work on it before you came but Esme wouldn't let me. She said the closet was already big enough and you could pick out your own sheets and a new carpet if you really wanted. I did get to stock your closet, though I'm sure you brought a good amount of clothes with you. That dress is so cute by the way."

The chatter continued, but Seth and Scarlet seemed to ignore her.

"Oh. We ordered a cat tree for Starlight, and a bed too. They should be here tomorrow. I picked them out myself. They are really cute, and they really go with the room. They even match the bed.

"Speaking of matching, that reminds me there were some really cute cat accessories that I found online. There was this cute little dish, and I figured she would want some toys. There were also a couple cat outfits I got but I didn't know if she would like them or not. Don't tell Esme by the way."

The poor girl could not get a word in. Not that she wanted to. Seth and Scarlet just kept staring at each other like they had never seen another person before in their lives. The clear love and devotion radiating from Seth obviously had an effect on Scarlet.

When we got back to the room, Alice finally grew quiet. I followed her over to the boxes, and we took our time unpacking more books and CD's. Seth and Scarlet were on the other side of the room petting the cat and chatting.

"What happens now?" I asked.

"I wish I knew." Alice replied as she rubbed her temples. "Ug! Vampires are not supposed to get headaches! Werewolves, and vampire hybrids, and imprinting…"

"Oh my." I muttered in response.

Alice smiled at me lightly and sighed. If only I could see past all the clu…" She was cut off when a flood of calm rushed through her. "Scarlet, you are amazing." She sighed in relief.

"You're welcome." She laughed. "Just tell me any time you need me to clear the way." She smiled, and turned to explain what she just did to Seth.

We could hear Seth telling Scarlet all about Imprinting, feeling the heat in the air as he blushed, and Scarlet told him her history in return. Seth did not seem to mind that she had been married to Joel, and neither of them seemed to mind the smell.

The pair started out awkward. They kept their distance and avoided contact. Slowly they began to relax, and eventually Seth took Scarlet's hand in his. Their fingers were intertwined and they never left each other's gaze.

What shocked me was Scarlet. She looked…happy. Really happy. It was like she imprinted on him too, or at least had someone in her life that she could love. Love, a feeling she had not truly felt for hundreds of years, was making itself known again.

"So you really don't care that I…. imprinted on you?" Seth asked. "You're not mad, or annoyed, or disgusted?"

"No." Scarlet mouthed.

"And you don't mind the smell?"

"No."

"Why?" Seth asked, puzzled. "I mean, you got imprinted on by your natural enemy, and you don't care?"

Scarlet took Seth's huge hand in both of hers, and looked into his eyes.

"I have been waiting four hundred years for someone to take the pain away, and you have done that in just one moment. I will be grateful to you for that for the rest of my existence."

They gazed into each others' eyes for a long moment before Scarlet spoke again.

"And you? You don't mind that you imprinted on a vampire?"

"Nope." he mouthed. "I like vampires."

"But, a previously married vampire?"

Seth shrugged. "The past is the past. I can't do anything to change that. Besides, you are more important than anything."

They sat quietly, gazing into each other's eyes, until Seth broke the scilence.

"What was Joel like?" He asked timidly. "I mean, was he…you know…good looking? I mean, of course he was good looking. He was a vampire, but… you know…"

Scarlet giggled. The sound was like a sweet melody. She patted his hand gently with her left hand, and with her right, unclasped the locket from around her neck.

"I know it is probably not very close to how he really looked," She said as the sweet song floated from the open heart, "but this is the only picture of him that I have."

Scarlet handed the necklace to Seth. The heart that had looked so large on the girl looked so small in Seth's enormous hand.

Seth's forehead creased in thought as he looked at the picture in the necklace.

"What's wrong?" Scarlet asked concerned.

"Nothing." Seth chuckled

"Jealous Seth?" Emmett laughed as he walked by the room.

Seth rolled his eyes and looked back to the locket.

"Is that you when you were human?" He asked as he gave the locket back to Scarlet.

"Yes."She smiled at him warmly. Seth returned her smile, and held her hand up to his face. Her pale hand in his made her look even whiter. The contrast was amazing.

"It's not polite to stare, Bella." Alice giggled next to me as she continued to unpack.

I quickly turned my head, and went back to my work. If I had been able to blush, I would have been a bright shade of red. I did not like getting caught eavesdropping. Especially on conversations like this one.

I concentrated on unpacking clothing. Taking it out, folding, sorting. Anything to keep me busy. I worked slowly. I would fold every article of clothing perfectly, and then sort it by use, then season, then color.

I was slightly confused by how fast things had progressed. Scarlet could not be in love. Just like that? Maybe it was possible. She had been aching for love for so many years, and now Scarlet was Seth's first priority. Still, it looked like more than that. Scarlet had been altered by Seth's clear devotion, and once a vampire is changed there is no going back.

Thankfully, there was a knock on the door frame, and we looked up to see Emmett standing with Rose and Edward.

"Looks like you have a new pet." Emmett chuckled as he walked in.

Seth laughed and Scarlet looked away, and started playing with a dark brown strand of her hair. She looked like she would be blushing bright red if she could. I never thought of her a shy.

"Carlisle and Esme are downstairs talking to Jacob." Edward spoke as he went to sit next to me. "They are trying to come up with some logical explanation for the….incident. Jacob called Leah and asked her to come over to hear her theories."

I winced at the name of my new stepsister. Even though she was my sister now, Leah and I were not on the best of terms. I had tried to be nice to her and help her out when I could, but she never seemed to acknowledge me. At least in a friendly way. She had no problem when she was mad at me. I would at least get a glare. She still blamed me for hurting Jake even though he was happy now. It had been getting better, but we tried to avoid each other as much as possible.

Edward saw my reaction and smiled. "Carlisle does want to hear your opinions too since Scarlet has opened up to you the most. After that you can go back to helping her unpack."

I buried my head in his chest, and he rubbed my arm. I could tell he was smiling, and possibly laughing at my reaction. It was probably silly of me to be so immature about it, but Leah brought it on herself.

Jake stood up for Leah whenever I mentioned her rude manners, not just to me, but to everyone else too. He had explained it to me long ago. I could not blame her for trying to force the sadness and anger she felt from loosing Sam on everyone else, but Sam and Emily were happily married now with little Sam Jr. and baby Lucy. It was time for her to move on.

I could hear the heartbeats of Renesmee and Jacob downstairs. I listened harder so I could clearly hear their conversation.

"I just can't think of why this might have happened." I heard Carlisle say. "It makes no sense for a werewolf to imprint on a vampire." He sounded unnaturally frustrated.

"Well Seth has always been strange when it comes to vampires." I heard Jake laugh. "He doesn't mind them at all. He thinks of them as people."

I lifted my head to look at Scarlet. She was petting Starlight with her right hand, and holding Seth's hand with the other.

I stopped breathing. I wonder…

Edward tensed as soon as I froze. "Bella? What's wrong?"

"Seth, Scarlet." I called as I stood up. "Come with me."

I did not even look behind me to see if they had decided to follow. I ran downstairs to where Carlisle and Jacob were talking. I heard Edward, Seth, and Scarlet close behind.

"Carlisle." I said, interrupting Carlisle in the middle of a sentence. "I think I know why Seth imprinted on Scarlet."

We could hear the sound of someone quickly approaching the house. When they got closer I could hear the beating heart of a large wolf. A few yards away from the house, the sound changed. The pace was closer to a human as well as the heartbeat. Leah walked in before I could get any further in the conversation.

"What did I miss?" she asked somewhat passively.

"Bella has an idea about what allowed the imprint to take place." Carlisle said quickly, and turned back to me. He nodded, motioning for me to proceed.

"Well," I began. "When Jake mentioned that Seth was odd because he did not mind being around vampires it reminded me of something. I remembered how Scarlet is able to have a relationship with Starlight, and animal vampire interactions just don't happen.

"I think that the odd part of each of them make them compatible. Seth likes vampires and Scarlet likes animals."

"I think I have something to add to that." Leah spoke up with a smile. "I have concluded that I am a genetic dead end when it comes to passing down the ability to become a werewolf. That is why I can become a wolf. Now, if I'm a dead end, then Seth could be a dead end too. Maybe he imprinted on a bloo- a vampire to keep from passing on a bad gene." Leah corrected herself when she saw Jacob's warning glance. You could see she hated being polite to vampires.

Scarlet giggled as she heard the word Leah was about to use. "Is bloodsucker a common term among werewolves?"

"Yeah." Leah said with annoyance. "So are leech and parasite. Which do you prefer?"

Jacob looked completely embarrassed by Leah's rudeness towards Scarlet.

Scarlet took no notice of Leah's attitude, and instead, extended her hand. "I prefer Scarlet."

Leah did not return the greeting, and instead turned away.

"Scarlet," I started to break the awkward silence. "This is my stepsister Leah."

"So you are Seth's sister." Scarlet's question came out as a statement.

"Until I disown him for imprinting on a leach." She replied coldly.

I could see the conversation was getting nowhere, so I decided to try a different approach. This could not be the only reason Leah came. I knew her better than that.

"So Leah, I know you would not come here just for this, so was there another reason you came down here, or did Jake make you?" I saw Jacob silently chuckling at my rather obvious observation.

Leah looked up in surprise. " Actually, there is." She muttered before her almost permanent grimace returned. "The council is considering letting Charlie take my dad's place on the council with my mom. They think since he is so central to everything going on he should be clued in. He has a vampire for a daughter and two werewolves for stepchildren. He needs to know."

As Leah spoke I felt myself freeze. They couldn't tell him! I wouldn't let them! I tried to speak, but the words would not come.

"That sounds like a good idea to me." Edward spoke up.

I turned my head to look at him. I did not know what the expression was on my face, but Edward laughed.

"If Charlie is on the council, then he will be able to know everything without the Volturi having an excuse to punish him for it." He comforted me. "He deserves to know. He is surrounded by everything and he doesn't even know it."

"But you know how he reacted when he found out about Jake." I argued. "What the hell do you think he will do when he finds out I am a vampire. He'll never look at me the same! Not to mention the fact that he knows I have know about this since I got to Forks!"

"He took it very well when he found out a family friend was a werewolf." Edward comforted me, ignoring my outburst. "You are his daughter. Besides," He said as he rubbed my back with his hand. "you had the same reaction when we decided to let Renée in on the need to know, and see how well everything turned out?"

I sighed, and leaned my head against Edwards chest in surrender. There was nothing I could do.

"Fine." I mumbled. "But, I will be there when you tell him the stories, and DON'T use the term 'Vampire'."

"The next meeting won't be for a while." Leah informed me. "Probably two or three weeks. It might be longer. We will need to talk about letting a vampire on the reservation."

I took a deep breath.

"I will be there." I said slowly as my eyes narrowed.

"I'll talk to the council." Leah said again.

I had a month to prepare for Charlie's reaction. I would think positive. Three weeks. The farther away the better. It seemed like everything was hitting at once.

I took another deep breath.

"Let's finish unpacking the damn boxes." I moaned as I tugged Edward up the stairs. Scarlet and Seth followed us at a slower pace.

My worries soon drifted away as everyone cheerfully helped the newcomer settle down. We all moved at a slow, human pace. The atmosphere in the once sullen house had changed. Everyone was really happy. All the joy seemed to be centered around Scarlet. She had brought them hope.

Everyone was counting on this small girl to save us all, but I knew by the look on her face that even she did not trust herself completely, though she covered it up the best she could. I could not put all my faith in the small girl. I would not let my guard down. Complete faith was a luxury that I could not afford. I trusted the girl, but not fully. I would not endanger my family that way. I would not let my guard down.

As the day went on, Scarlet showed us things from her past. There was an Ancient Egyptian necklace that had been given to them by a coven of vampires that had been hiding in a tomb in Egypt. She had a vase from India, that had been given to one of their great rulers long ago. There was a small statue from China, and a fan from France. Before we left, Scarlet told Renesmee a story about her adventure with Joel to the Mayan City of Gold that had been hidden for centuries from the rest of the world.

When Renesmee began to doze off on Jake's shoulder, Edward and I decided it was time to go home. We said our goodbyes, and started the peaceful walk home to our little cottage.

We watched as the sky changed the world around us from pink to a deep purple. The creatures hid as we walked by, and cowered in the shadows. The sound of the river faded behind us, but only slightly. The peaceful sound made Nessie yawn, her full lips forming a small "o" like they did when she was little. By the time we reached our purple tinted cottage, she was half asleep.

Edward picked her up in his arms like did when she was little, and carried her through the door and into her room, where he laid her gently on her soft bed.

Edward and I stood there by her bed for a while, watching her sleep. I knelt down and pressed the palm of her hand to my face. I saw her colorful dreams with the faces of loved ones appearing every now and then between the fluttering shapes and colors. She was dreaming sweet dreams for now. Edward and I kissed Nessie goodnight before going to our room.

The light from the full moon shone down upon us, illuminating the entire room. It was not like we needed the light. I could see everything in the purple haze of the night. Edward looked so wonderful as the moonlight glinted off his marble skin.

I could not believe I was so lucky. Every day I reminded myself how I got this amazing life. My husband, my child sleeping peacefully in the other room, an entire family who promised to love me and protect me for forever. I was the shield, the protector of the family, but would that be enough? I hoped desperately that with the help of Scarlet I could return the favor as I had once before.

Later that night, just before dawn, Edward and I heard Renesmee stirring in her room.

"The dream." I whispered, and ran to her room, with Edward close behind.

When we reached the room, Renesmee was sitting up in bed. She had a peaceful smile on her face, and she did not seem scared at all.

She looked at us as we stood in the doorway and smiled bigger than before.

I hesitated, but crossed the room to her bed so I could sit with her. Edward knelt on the floor by her feet.

"Did you have the dream?" Edward asked hesitantly.

Renesmee thought for a second before answering.

"Yes," she paused and thought again, " but it was different this time."

"How?" I asked calmly as I put my hand on her shoulder.

I waited for her to speak, but she shook her head, and placed the palm of her hand on my cheek.

The dream started the same. The dark figures, the crystal girl, the heart in the hand of the tall cloaked person.

Then it changed. Figures cloaked in white swooped in towards the evil shadow people from all directions, and in a burst of flame the dark figures were gone. The white people knelt around the crystal child, and grabbed the heart that was now lying on the ground. They put it into the figure, and when they did, the crystal girl became a white figure like the rest of them.

The image became one of joy instead of sorrow, and it faded away as quickly as it came.

Nessie lifted her hand from my cheek and smiled. I smiled back at her in relief, and so did Edward. We had seen the end of the nightmares that had plagued our daughter at night. We knew that we would not be bothered by the dream again.

We kissed Renesmee on the cheek, and watched from the doorway as she fell back asleep, not afraid anymore.

Hope had arrived.

A/N I am getting towards that part of the story that needs a lot of editing and two chapters of so from now I get to the stuff that has not even been written yet so it will take a loooooooong time to get stuff out between chapters. Thanks for sticking with me. Please Review. I love feedback and to hear what you liked or did not like so i can know for the future.

~Twily