A/N: Soooo, Jake is a little out of character in Chapter 8 and possibly in this chapter as well, you might have noticed. I don't think that, in the real Twilight series, Jake would be, like, so arrogant, thinking that Edella would still be in love with him. Or maybe he just wanted to annoy Nahuel, what do you think? There's no correct answer, you can interpret it the way you want.

Chapter 9

Edella POV

A huge russet wolf stood in the place where Jacob Black had once stood, just seconds ago. It was lucky that Nessie had escaped from the werewolf-exploding "impact area" just in time. Nahuel and I were far away, not near enough to get hurt if Jake exploded. Although I wasn't sure if the force of a werewolf transformation was enough to scar our almost-vampire skin, it wasn't like any of us wanted to experiment…

Nessie whimpered and hid behind the post of the staircase, her lips trembling. Jacob-Wolf turned his head around and stared at her intently. His dark eyes must have had some message in them, because Nessie nodded and scampered to where I was standing with Nahuel. I couldn't see it; much less comprehend it because Jake had his back to me. But now he turned to face Nahuel, his expression dangerous once more.

"No." I said in a firm voice, walking towards Jake. Jake didn't move from his advancing position, but deep in his eyes he showed some fear. Unlike Mom when she was human (who had unfortunately broken her hand while trying to punch Jake after his attempt to kiss her), I was probably strong enough to break his neck. I wasn't going to do that, of course, but hurting this damned werewolf guy (okay, so he was kinda my first love) would hurt my sis and, well…

Jake looked me in the eye and then downed at my feet. Like my toes had dripped blood all over the hall floor. Every step was menacingly carried out, for me it was. Every movement of mine, even the tiniest blink, seemed to erupt volcanoes inside Jacob. I didn't know if it was good or bad, didn't know if this was showing his fear, his anger, or whatsoever. He seemed to feel…threatened. As if keeping him from his Nessie wasn't that much. I knew Mom and Dad weren't ready to give her away yet, especially to a…a mongrel. A dog…whatever you called him, Aunt Rosalie especially. Their relationship hadn't gotten better over time. Nessie and I had always tried to stop her from calling Jake nasty names. And now, I think I agreed with Aunt Rosalie.

And as for me, my parents were okay because it was Nahuel. My species, my kind, he understood me well. Or…was it because I was their second-choice, less-preferred daughter?

Nessie stepped out from behind the staircase post and took me by my arm. "Don't do anything, Edella. One wrong move and it could injure anybody. All of us present, we have the strength to kill. Preventive measures only, but…"

I looked into my elder sister's wise brown eyes. I saw my green eyes reflected in her own. She sighed quietly, but didn't look away. "Nessie…"

Jacob stood up and walked over to Nahuel. He appeared to be quite composed but his jaw was set tight. Nahuel looked wary. I would have stopped Jacob if I hadn't known that he wouldn't do or say anything that would hurt Nahuel. Don't ask me how I know, but I just do. Sometimes my Aunt Alice says I have some sixth sense, similar to hers, but of course hers is a million times stronger. I already have a power, it wouldn't make sense for me to have two special gifts-even full vampires don't, or at least not that I know of. Sometimes I just know that somebody is going to, or not going to do something.

Nessie took my wrist up in her hand and gazed at it gently. With her other hand she took a bracelet from her skirt pocket. "Mom wanted you to have it," she said softly.

I glanced down at the bracelet and gasped. A ring of small diamonds revolved around a large purple-pink amethyst. The bracelet must have been expensive, and very. Okay, so my family kinda has an unlimited supply of money, but this was way overboard. Nessie fastened the bracelet around my wrist. She took something else out of her pocket. "I have a similar one too," she told me. I saw that her bracelet had the same diamonds, but they were around an emerald the same size as my amethyst. "Mom wanted us to stay linked through this bracelet. She says it contains powers, but that we'll find out by our own, in time."

Hmm, it wasn't like Mom. She didn't like to keep secrets, especially from her own family. So mysterious. But maybe, just maybe, she didn't know the powers that it contained, too? I suddenly had a feeling that these bracelets were powerful. Very powerful. More than all my talented family's gifts added up together. Nessie looked up at me, and instantaneously knew that she felt the same thing as I did.

Carefully, I touched the amethyst on my bracelet to the emerald on Nessie's bracelet. Immediately a flash of bright golden light leapt up from the joint jewels, and reminded me of a startling flame, licking its way up a building. The golden light was bright enough to be blinding, but it didn't touch either Nessie or me. It washed over us and surged through our bodies. Jacob and Nahuel looked over in shock. The golden light swept once more over our shoulders and calves, and then it was gone. Before it was finally and utterly and completely gone, although it was from the outside, I felt it still inside my body, washing through our blood and veins like water.

Nessie was awed, too. Her expression was even more awed than that when we first got our birthday cars. "Wow, that was amazing," she whispered to me, that only I could hear. I grinned back. Her breathtaking brown eyes met my own.

She reached over and squeezed my hand, but the jewels were just slightly apart. The surge of power felt fantastic-for a moment, it was like we were invincible (powerful enough to beat all the Volturi guard at once, that's what I mean by invincible).

We stayed there, grinning at each other like a pair of idiots, but we didn't care. Mom had given us a priceless treasure. How powerful they were, combined they would be ever more. Eventually, we would find out. We had forever, with our boyfriends, and perhaps husbands. If the Volturi didn't come…

Jake and Nahuel (not that they didn't bother, of course they did) let us have our own little sisters' private moment. Nessie and I, with our gazes interlocked, walked down the hall to our bedrooms.

"More powerful than I had ever thought," Nessie whispered to me. I nodded and couldn't help but laugh. Then we parted ways. I went to my purple-yellow bedroom and snuggled down under the purplish-white duvet. Before my eyes closed and I drifted off to the peaceful world of non-reality sleep, my last thoughts were, now the sisters' bond between Nessie and I is stronger than ever.