A/N: That was absolutely cruel of me to leave everyone hanging for a month and I apologize for the delay. I got sick for almost two weeks, my nephew had his one year bday and on top of that my sister had false contractions. Don't you just hate it when the baby fakes you out? I also entered a writing contest where I had a whole month to come up with a novel of 50,000 words, and time for fanfiction simply slipped away from me. Anyways, I'm back, and hopefully here to stay, that is if you'll take me back? :) I hope I didn't lose any of ya'll with my absence. For those of you who do come back, please accept my apologies. You can tell me how much you hate me but LOVE my story when you review. Hahaha
Jshai
"Visitors? No, I'm going with you," I began arguing.
"No Bella. Don't you remember the last time we had visitors? One of them tried to kill you right there on the spot. And he almost succeeded when you slipped away from Alice and Jasper in Phoenix! I will protect you better this time." Edward's pained voice cut through me.
"Edward, whatever it is we'll face it together. I can't stand not knowing whether or not you're safe. We were separated once and it just about killed me. You can't make decisions for me anymore. You promised."
"Well I'm breaking that promise. I have to keep you safe at all costs."
"Even at the cost of my heart, Edward? What if something happened to you? Would you really expect me to go on? I'll jump off of a cliff before I moved on without you. I know you heard me talking to Angela earlier, and you could see that I've warmed up to the idea of getting married so soon because of that talk. We do this together." I stomped my foot and I tried not to smile as I caught Rose stifle her own laughter at my tantrum.
"Now how do you know we're having visitors?" I asked, stressing the
"Alice had a vision. It looks like three vampires are coming, but they're not sure of where they're headed. All Alice could gleam was that they were looking for us. We're going to head them off at the clearing," Rosalie interjected.
"Why thank you Rose. I'm glad you were able to apprise me of the situation." My eyes narrowed as I walked closer to Edward. "Now I know I'm not your equal when in regard to species-wise. But if you really want to make this work, you have to start treating me as your equal here." I placed my palm over his heart and looked into his eyes. "Keep me informed when something involves all of us, and let me help make a decision on what's best for me." Edward nodded his head and closed his eyes to acknowledge his agreement.
"I don't know why I never liked her in the first place. Bella, I love that you seem to be the only one to talk some sense in him. I wonder dear brother who told you the same thing." Rose said smugly as she picked me up and collected me into her arms.
She started running before he could answer, and I had to immediately shut my eyes tight when I felt the air rustling my hair in fiery waves. I could barely feel her legs moving beneath me and I couldn't help but nuzzle into her neck when she picked up speed. When she stopped and placed my feet back on the ground, I had to steady myself before letting go of her arm. I smiled when Rose seemed to realize that, and she held me by the waist to lead me closer to where the others were standing.
"Bella, I'm so pleased that you made it." Esme said in her motherly tone. I walked over to her and she pulled me into a hug. Edward became visible from the woods and stood close to Carlisle in a conversation that I couldn't hear.
"Edward finally came to his senses I see." Emmett ruffled the top of my hair. I remembered the run with Rosalie and immediately set out to make sure that my hair was smoothed out.
"Actually, our little Bella set him straight." Rosalie said with a smile that was befitting of a proud mother.
"Yeah, well I seemed to be the only one that was concerned about this being a danger to her." I scowled at Edward as everyone growled in my place.
"Edward, we all heard about how bad she was when we left. If these visitors are a threat to us, how do you think she would fare if she knew something happened to us?" Rosalie offered, but Edward quickly had a response.
"She has Charlie, Renee, and friends at school that would worry over her. She has more to live for than a couple of vampires."
"Can you guys shut up? They've caught our scent, and they're not sure if we're the ones that they are looking for yet." Alice said in a slight whisper that I only caught because I was standing near her.
"When will they get here?" Jasper asked of his wife.
"They're here."
I looked to where Alice's eyes were trained but I could only make out three figures that stood still. The two males were tall and quite handsome, but they also seemed to be only slightly older than me. The smaller one was definitely younger than I was and my heart went out to her for being turned so young. Who would even do such a thing?
"Hello, my name is Carlisle, and this is my family. I apologize for meeting you three in full force, it's just we're protective of our territory since we keep a permanent residence here."
The vampires before us had the same inquisitive look that James, Victoria, and Laurent had when Carlisle mentioned a permanent residence.
"My name is Diego, and this is Fred and Bree. We've come because we are looking for the Cullen Coven. Would you be able to direct us to them?"
I looked to Carlisle, waiting to see if he was going to say that we were the Cullen's but he seemed to be deliberating himself on what his next words should be. "We are the Cullen's that you speak of, but we are a family, not a coven." Edward spoke up. Everyone, including Carlisle was shocked that he spoke up. "They haven't come to bring us harm, but to warn us." Edward explained to the rest of us, effectively leaving the three new vampires stunned.
Diego softly whispered. "Forgive us, but how did you do that?" He asked.
"I'll explain later, but please continue with your visit. You came to warn us, warn us of what?" Carlisle said to take control of the conversation once again.
"The others and I were turned by a female. We never saw her face, but we were all made by her. Diego thought that she was using us for protection, but we didn't know what for. Soon Diego and I suspected that Riley, the vampire who watched over all of us, was lying to us. He told us that sunlight would kill us, but after a long night out hunting, Diego and I discovered that wasn't true. There were other consistencies." The small one, Bree stated. I turned my attention to Fred who seemed extra nervous with his surroundings but remained quiet.
"One night, Bree and I followed Riley, thinking that he was going to meet up with her." Diego started but Emmett interrupted.
"Who is 'her'?" He asked impatiently. I couldn't even deny I was eager to know who she was also.
"We'll get to that. You see, just like we never saw her, we never knew who she was either." Diego looked over all of us briefly settling on me before his eyes raked over the Cullen's again. "We were right; Riley met up with our mysterious maker, making plans for us and the others to attack you. They were about to get into details but were interrupted." Diego paused and looked at Bree. "The Volturi? There were three of them, but from the conversation it sounded like there are more of them somewhere." Diego said, and I felt Edward tense up and saw him look at Carlisle. I could tell that Carlisle was having some sort of one way conversation with Edward.
"Victoria and Riley created a newborn army to come for us. The Volturi reacted to the killings in Seattle." Edward finished for our benefit.
"They killed Victoria and Riley after getting some information from them regarding you and your pet human. Who I imagine is this one right here." Diego continued as he leered in my direction, but it seemed sympathetic somehow.
"One said she wanted to speak with someone named Aro after dealing with the newborns. Diego and I did a fairly good job of covering our tracks while following Riley to his spot, so we weren't worried about the Volturi knowing that we were there. My only concern however was the rest of the newborns. They were going to kill them as well."
"Ugh, don't tell me there are a bunch of newborns out and about with free reign to do whatever they want just because you had a bleeding heart, figuratively speaking of course." Rosalie stepped up and confronted Bree face to face, who now looked scared of the blonde bombshell.
"No, no, no." She stammered. "We didn't get along with any of them. And they were horrible to me. The only one I cared about was Fred. I went back for Fred because he saved me a couple of times. He didn't deserve what the Volturi were about to do with the rest of them."
"So where does my family come in?" Esme asked.
"Like I said, they know that a human knows about vampires. Which I'm assuming is just as big of a no-no as making a newborn army. It seemed only logical that after speaking to Aro they're next stop would be here."
Carlisle looked behind at all of us as he took in the information presented to him. "Thank you for your warning," He simply said.
"Do you mind me asking you a question?" Bree said, stepping forward a few steps. "How can you stand it? Her blood smells so good." She licked her lips and I could see her eyes draining from red to black. I instinctively stepped away from her as every single one of the Cullen's pushed me back further to separate me from the thirsty vampire.
"I believe your visit is overstayed. If you must hunt, please refrain from hunting within a hundred miles of here. This is our home." Carlisle stated pointedly.
"I'm so sorry, please forgive me. That wasn't the question I even meant to ask." Bree held up her hands to her mouth. Edward sighed as he glared back at her.
"What's your question then?"
"The Volturi mentioned that you drink animal blood instead of humans. Is that better?"
"I've never tasted human blood before, even while making my family. But from what I've determined of our diet, choosing to show compassion for humans by dieting solely on animal blood, allows us to remain in close approximation to humans. We are able to play the role of a typical family for the most part because we are not driven by the bloodlust. I'm even a doctor by profession." Carlisle said answering Bree's question.
The vampires looked back at Carlisle with awe as they tried to make sense of what they just heard.
"If you like, you may follow us to our house and my husband will be more than willing to tell you of our lifestyle." Esme mentioned casually. "And to make you feel more at ease, our children will remain from the house. It'll just be my husband and me."
The thought of these vampires attacking Carlisle and Esme frightened me. I frantically looked back and forth between Edward and Esme, but no one seemed to share my worries.
Simultaneously, the three vampires nodded their heads without conferring with one another and started running after Carlisle and Esme.
"Alice, can you see anything about the Volturi's actions? More than likely the guards that were in that cabin were Jane and Demetri; I'm not sure who the third one would have been. Aro has so many guards to choose from, it could have been Alec, Felix, or someone we've never heard of." Edward kept talking while Alice gained a faraway look into the future.
"That's never going to happen!" Edward suddenly screamed with rage that I jumped away from him and sought refuge behind Rose.
"How about those of us who aren't mental get filled in as well? What's not going to happen?" Emmett looked between Edward and Alice, who were in a deadlock against each other as well.
"Edward, whatever it is, is not Alice's fault. Calm down." I whispered and he slowly but visibly began to relax.
"Aro is sending an invitation for us to go to Italy. Jane, Demetri and Felix will be here to deliver the message." Alice said nervously.
"So what's so bad about that? You go to Italy and talk to this Aro and come back home." I said matter-of-factly.
"No, when Alice says us' that includes you too. You're coming to Italy as well." At once, Edward's body contorted in such a way I never knew was possible. I leapt down to lay beside him, but he was in so much pain that tears were falling down my eyes for him.
"Edward! What's wrong? Somebody go get Carlisle, quick!" My eyes never left Edward's face and I couldn't hear if anybody started running towards the house. All of a sudden I felt a pair of arms wrap around my waist and yank me onto my feet. Jasper's hand immediately slid from my waist to my mouth, keeping me from screaming.
"Sorry about that." My eyes widened when I followed the angelic voice to a small vampire that seemingly appeared from nowhere. "But I just hate it when someone ruins my surprise."