Author's Note : For my own benefit...Reid's best field is mental magic, Caleb's is offensive, Tyler's is summoning and Pogue's is promotion. Isabelle has defensive down to an art, making physical and mental shields.

Chapter Four;

I was upstairs when the doorbell rang, getting ready, both mentally and physically, for what I had dubbed 'the Big Coming Out'. Reid had rolled his eyes and told me I was being melodramatic, but we all knew that this was a big step. I mean, how would the Cullens react when they found out that their weak little human wasn't really a human, or very weak?

I felt my eyes flash black as the Power welled up inside me, and a small circle in the mirror fogged over. Seconds later, it was clear, though it didn't show a reflection. It showed the foyer, which was farthest from the hall of bedrooms, and the people inside.

The Cullens looked as amazing as usual. Rose was dressed in black jeans and low cut, almost sheer, golden button up. Emmett looked big beside her, in jeans and a navy button up, and you just knew that Rose or Alice had picked it out, based on the design and the material, which hinted at silk.

Jasper hung back, a cotton t-shirt hugging his frame, and a jacket to match. The jacket was a dark red color, almost black, and it matched Alice, who was wearing a black skirt and a shoulder baring top in the deep red.

Esme and Carlisle were more...reserved, Esme in a deep blue dress that could be formal or casual, depending on the person. On her, it looked formal, as did everything, but she seemed totally unaware of it. Carlisle wore black slacks, a light blue suit shirt under the dark sports jacket.

I cared nothing about the clothes, though, at least not on them. Edward, on the other hand...He wore dark jeans, almost black, below a long sleeved dark blue shirt. The shirt hugged his body, though not as tight as the first one I'd seen him in. Still, I could imagine the muscle under the cloth, the blinding white of his skin...

I closed my eyes as a whimper escaped me, then yelped as a hand landed on my shoulder. I jerked around, barely catching the Cullens jerk towards the sound in the mirror. "Tyler, you dumb ass! What's with sneaking up on me?" I shrieked, glaring at him.

He ignored my outburst, looking down at me with sad eyes. They all knew how hard this was going to be, but Tyler was the most sensitive one, not as hard or mean as Reid or the others. "I just wanted to make sure, you know, that you okay." The he hesitated, "Plus, I...saw that you were...upset."

'Saw' meant 'felt', at least in Tyler's case, and 'upset' was code for 'Using'. "Sorry, Tyler. I just want to see them so badly," I kept what I wanted to say to myself, knowing that the vampires could hear me. On a note...my eyes flashed black for a second, shutting off the mirror.

He sighed and walked backwards without looking, sitting on my bed. "I know, Isy." He glanced around my room, eyes landing on the outfit that was thrown over my chair. "You're changing?"

"Of course I'm changing," I threw up my hands in exasperation, "I'm not having this meeting in sweatpants and a tank top."

He shook his head and flopped back on the bed, letting me change without his eyes watching me. I drew the sweater over my head. The thing was silk and black, and pretty damn expensive; good thing I was loaded. The jeans, though, were off brand, a dark, almost black, blue with silver beading on the butt. They looked good, and both sweater and jeans showed off my body, which had lost some weight.

Frowning, I looked in the mirror. "Do I look gaunt in this?"

I could see Tyler rise to his elbows, looking at me with a raised eyebrow, but Reid spoke from the doorway before 'Baby Boy' could get a word in. "Yeah, but then, with all the weight you've lost, everything makes you look gaunt." I rolled my eyes at him, but he added something before I could speak. "Now come on, they're waiting downstairs with Pogue."

"I know; I saw." I snapped at my brother, then sighed, "Why isn't Caleb down there instead?" Caleb was the one who got behind people's guards, with that angel face and boyscout aura. For that reason, he was the one that usually greeted guests.

"He got a call from his mother and took a few minutes to...visit her," Reid shrugged, stepping into the room with a frown. "That's an awfully tight shirt, little Princess."

"Oh, shut it." I growled playfully at him, smiling a little. Damn, but it was nice to be cared about. "At least I'm not wearing that tank top..." The last time I'd worn that, at Nicky's, Reid and the boys had almost dragged me out. They'd only left me alone when I put a jacket on.

Reid and Tyler both chocked as they sat up, then Reid yelped and slammed his hands to his temples. Both Tyler and I left the joking air behind as we moved closer to him. "You okay, Reid?" Tyler was the one to ask.

"Yeah, yeah," He muttered, dropping his hands and scowling. Then his eyes flashed back, and he spoke to us. Pogue decided I needed a push, except his push turned into a shove. Oh, that explained it. Pogue was the worst at mind to mind contact, since he always pushed too hard. He wants us down there, though. Your vampires are getting antsy.

I nodded, and Reid moved so that Tyler could get past him, followed by myself. "You sure I look alright?" I voice the question, my voice soft.

Tyler glanced back at me, smiling comfortingly. "You look great. You kick all their asses in the look department."

Reid snorted, "True, and if anyone says otherwise, I'll kill 'em for you." He flashed a less comforting and more shark-like smile at me. The scary thing, though, was the fact that he would do so if I asked him to. We would all kill and die for each other.

We were silent as we made our way from one end of the huge house to the other, and I paused at the edge of the kitchen. Two more steps, and I would see them again, maybe for the last time. I looked at Reid, who squeezed my hair, then shifted my gaze to Tyler, who smiled and pushed me slightly.

I pushed the cracked door open and stepped into the entrance hall, blinking as seven pairs of golden eyes fell on. Okay, six pairs of golden eyes and one pair of slightly black orbs, the latter belonging to Jasper...who still looked pissed.

"Bella!" Esme was the first to move, ignoring how Pogue tensed. She wrapped me in a giant hug, pressing a cold kiss to my cheek. I felt a pang for what I'd now have to give up, because when this woman, this vampire, found out what I was...Well, why would she want me when our own mothers didn't?

Carlisle was the second to wrap me in a hug, followed by Alice and of course Emmett. Jasper and Rose stayed back because, of course, Rose hates me and Jasper can't stand to be close to humans. Edward stayed further away, though the reason...I have no idea why.

"Wanna do the intro, princess?" Reid spoke up from behind me as Emmett moved away.

"Oh, um, yeah, sure." I stumbled through the words, "This is my family," I stepped a bit behind, so that Reid and Tyler were visible, or maybe because having super powerful warlocks surrounding me made me feel good.

"My biological brother, Reid Garwin," I averted my eyes as I motioned to him. "Tyler Simms, a family friend," And fellow witch, "And Pogue Parry, another family friend. Caleb Danvers should be here soon, since he owns the house." Though why he wasn't here now, I have no idea.

"Guys, this is Carlisle, his wife Esme, Rosalie and Jasper Whitlock, and Alice, Emmett and Edward Brandon." I introduced them, leaving off Carlisle's last name, since I didn't know what they were using this time.

There was a moment of silence before Alice spoke. She sounded somewhat subdued, unlike her normal bubbly self, though still cheerful. "I didn't know you had family up here, Bella."

"Um, yeah. Half-brother, actually," I explained, stumbling through that as well. "Our dad were the same, but, um, moms were different. My mom was Renee's sister, and I went to live with her and Charlie as a baby..." I trailed off, leaning back as Reid dropped his hand on my shoulder.

"Why don't we move to the living room?" Tyler suggested, already stepping back into the kitchen. "More room in there."

Carlisle nodded, taking the role of leader once again. "That would be wonderful," He shifted feet, motioning for Tyler to lead the way.

I stood to the side of the door as Tyler led them through the large kitchen, only to have Alice grab my arm. Once again, Pogue and Reid tensed, and I couldn't help but wonder if they would ever calm down...of course, we were surrounded by vampires...

"Can I talk to you for just a second?" Alice stage whispered to me, casting a very human looking glance behind her, "Alone?"

I nodded, and added, "Sure. Hey, why don't you two go join the others? I'll only be a second." They looked annoyed, or at least Pogue did. Reid had shut down his emotions completely.

Still, they left me in the foyer with Alice and all her pixie glory. She looked up at me, eyes wide and cute. Then she started, a little hesitantly, "There are so many questions I want to ask you, but..." She paused and seemed to think, maybe even looking for a future that didn't show. "Did you know that I can't see your future, that Jasper can't change your emotions?" A very nice way of asking, 'Do you what the hell is going on?'

I wanted to answer, I really did, but that was Caleb's job, not mine. "I can't tell you, Alice, I really can't." My voice was sad, but firm, and we both knew that I would giving anything else away.

Didn't mean she wouldn't try. "So you knew?" She asked, sounding surprised. Maybe she was, maybe she wasn't; didn't matter to me. She still wouldn't get it out of me.

"Yes, Alice, I knew." I spoke softly, though I knew that the rest of her family could hear me. "I'll explain it all when we join the rest."

She perked at that, dropping the puppy dog eyes and grabbing my hand. "Well, then, come on! I wanna know!" She chirped, acting like her old self.

I laughed to myself, letting her drag me through the kitchen, or at least, most of the kitchen. "Hold on a sec, I need to grab some stuff," I interrupted her nonstop chatter.

She stopped and dropped my hand, looking around her. "What in the world do you need from a kitchen?" Her voice was bemused, and I smirked at her.

"I need to eat, remember? Not a vampire." I sang at her, not bothering to look at her face as I opened the fridge. "Besides, if we're gonna tell this story, we're gonna need some relaxants."

Bottle clinked together as I pulled five beers from the fridge, spreading them out between my fingers as I closed the fridge with a pop of my hip. "Bella!" I looked up at Alice's annoyed voice, only to see her eyes narrowed into rather angry slits.

"What?" She'd been confused before, and now, apparently, it was my turn. "What'd I do?"

"Beer!" She threw up her hands, "You're drinking beer?" She sounded rather indignant.

Oh, wait...now I was getting it. I'd never touched alcohol when I'd been in Forks, mostly because I didn't trust the people there enough to get drunk with them. Later, with the Cullens, it'd been because they didn't drink.

Squeezing my eyes shut, I prayed to God for the strength. "Seems like tonight is gonna last a lot longer that I though," I muttered, bringing a bottle to my forehead for the cold. "Yes, Alice," I stated a bit stronger, though there was no need. She had heard me before, "I drink; I've been drinking for a while now."

"But..." Poor Alice looked a little loss, so I interrupted her once again

"Lets get in there. Its took cold in this kitchen, at least for me." I swung around the wall that separated the kitchen and living room, blinking at the eyes that stared at me. They had probably been looking before, but now it really felt like I was being watched.

"Yo. Isy." Reid's voice came through my daze. "Are you going to stand there and look startled, or are you going to give me the damn drink?"

"Oh, shut up, Reid." I snapped at him, glad for something to focus my emotions on. "Besides, who said I got one for you?" I moved over to plop them down on the coffee table, letting the familiar sound of glass hitting wood ground me.

"Who else would they be for?" Reid countered as he snagged one from the table.

I rolled my eyes at him, then turned to glare at Tyler as he muttered something to Emmett, who laughed. "And stop with the jokes, you two. God, just what I need, Emmett meeting my brothers." My voice was annoyed as I slammed down between Pogue and Reid.

Tyler and Emmett sat across from us, Rose on Emmett's other side. Jasper leaned against a wall, and Edward was perched on the fire place, watching me. I gulped and moved my eyes, finding Carlisle and Esme on the single love seat, or rather Carlisle standing behind Esme, who was on the love seat. Alice joined Esme, plopping at her feet and watching me with large pixie eyes.

We all looked up as the door slammed open, followed by another slam as it closed. "That'll be Caleb." I exclaimed, surging to my feet and grabbing the last two beer (Tyler and Pogue had already grabbed theirs). "I'm gonna go grab him." I sent a glare around the room, smiling and joking, "Now don't kill each other."

Okay, so maybe half-joking.

I bumped into Caleb as I re-entered the foyer, keeping my balance thank to his hands on my shoulders. "Isy? What are you doing home?" He looked frazzled, tired and at the end of his rope.

I shoved a beer in his hand as I spoke, "Must have been bad, if you've forgotten." My eyes were sympathetic. Caleb might have a closer relationship than the rest of us, but she was a little rough on him, emotionally. "Meet the Ex-Boyfriend and Family tonight, remember?" I added capitals for importance.

His eyes went wide, "Shit, Isy, I'm so, so, sorry." He sounded horrified at his mistake.

I glanced down and popped the tops of the both the beers, my eyes flashing black for a mere second. "Hey, its cool. Your mom and all," I shot him a smile, "Take a drink and come introduce yourself, since you're, like, way better at this stuff than me."

"You got that right," He shot me a smirk as he lifted the bottle to his lips. I joined him in his drink, and we both lowered the dark brown glasses at the same time. "Explains the beer, too." He sounded amused at the last part as he followed me.

Caleb stepped into the room without hesitation, not sparing a glance at anyone other than Carlisle. I'd explained to him how the group worked, with Carlisle as the leader, Jasper as the deadliest fighter, and the rest almost as lethal.

"Carlisle, right?" Caleb smiled charmingly as he held his hand out, "The father of this rather amazing family?"

I plopped down to watch, taking a small sip of heaven to slow the butterflies in my stomach. Carlisle took a second, as if surprised. The others boys hadn't been nearly as polite, not even Pogue when he had let them inside. "And you must be Bella's other friend, Caleb Danvers."

"Yes, sir, that's me." Another charming smile. I almost burst out laughing. "I want to apologize for being late. I had a slight family emergency."

Now I came to attention. I felt Pogue and Reid straighten beside me as well, and I felt rather than saw Tyler's eyes narrow. "I hope it wasn't anything too serious?" Carlisle inquired, seeming to be the mouthpiece of the group, which wasn't surprising.

"My mother..." Caleb hesitated, which was when we knew it was bad. "She tripped and fell down the stairs."

"Shit," Tyler muttered, eyes wide as he stared up at Caleb.

He got a smile in return from his elder. "As I said, nothing to serious. She's staying a few nights at the hospital, that's all."

"How horrible," Esme breathed in, eyes full of compassion. She and her husband were probably the only ones truly concerned, but they all had polite masks of sympathy on their faces.

I could feel Reid's anger from my side. Moving my hand, I gripped his wrist and squeezed. A second later, his hand found my own and squeezed back, though he was still angry. Reid didn't like not being told everything, and Caleb had a habit of keeping things to himself.

"She'll be fine, Mrs. Cullen." Caleb smoothed over the ruffle he had cause, ignoring all of us, as in the Covenant, completely. "It is Mrs. Cullen, correct?"

"Yes, of course, but you must call my Esme, dear!" She fluttered from her chair, though only after Carlisle shifted to his left foot. She reached out and shook Caleb's hand, then pulled him into a hug that looked warm even from here.

Caleb hugged her back quickly, running with the greeting that, I supposed, was meant to offer comfort. Too bad Caleb wasn't the comfort type. They both stepped back, and soon after, Caleb had shaken every vampire hand in the room.

He moved back and perched against the couch arm, next to Pogue (Reid probably would have pushed him off). "So I hear that you and Isy dated for a while," Caleb directed the question at Edward, still sounding relaxed and approachable. "Amazing, all on its own, since Isy really doesn't date." He sounded questioning, though I knew better.

"We dated for a while, yes," Edward's voice was soft and smooth, and I shivered, my eyes closing on their own. "But Carlisle was offered a job, and we were forced to move." A glance at me, I saw through the half-open lips of the eyes. "Bella, of course, vanished before she could hear the news. Imagine my surprise when we both showed up here."

"I imagine it was a goddamn surprise," Reid muttered, ignoring the elbow that I shoved into his side, chocking as I managed to swallow my drink.

"Oh? And what do you do, Mr. Cullen?" Caleb directed the question towards Carlisle, knowing full well that the three hundred plus vampire was a doctor.

"I'm a doctor, at the hospital right outside of town." Carlisle replied, almost as smooth and wonderful as Edward.

Caleb nodded, almost knowingly, as he opened his mouth to speak. He was cut off, though, by Reid. "Hey, Doc, out of curiosity...ever eaten a patient?"

They stood so fast that they blurred. Rose, of course, was the first to speak. "I told you that she was going to expose us! I told you!" Her voice was high and angry, and almost burst my eardrums.

"Bella..." Carlisle looked honestly shocked, and Esme looked about ready to cry. Jasper and Edward were both made of stone, though probably for different reasons. Jasper was probably wondering how to kill me and my guys; Edward was probably just wondering why. Emmett was quiet, but I could almost see the anger on his face.

Alice was horrified, if the look on her face was anything to go by. "No, Bella, you didn't! You wouldn't have!"

Denial, thy name is Alice.

"Alice is right, actually." Tyler spoke, undaunted by the fact that both Rose and Emmett were mad enough to kill him, and that they were both standing beside him while he sat. "Well, mostly."

I felt the pull on the Power, though not enough to turn our eyes black. A glance beside me at Reid and Pogue assured me that they were keeping 'human', if only for a little while. Tyler was the same, eyes still normal and the white still there. Even Caleb, the resident warrior, was keeping fragile, or at least that appearance, up.

"We all would have known that you were vampires," Pogue stated, looking totally relaxed, "The moment you stepped into the school, we would have known."

"But you aren't shape shifters." Jasper spoke for the first time, and it was less question than statement. "Or Children of the Moon."

"We aren't that lucky, vampire." Caleb cracked a smile, and I felt the power building, "We don't get to play in the fun stuff."

Carlisle asked the next question, taking on the role of mouthpiece again. "Then explain what you are." Ooohhh, no more polite vampire, I though wickedly.

I decided to cut in, then. "Do you remember what you told me the last time you saw me, Edward?" I smiled, though no humor entered my face. My eyes turned to him, gold eyes meeting hard brown. "You basically told me that you feared vampires were damned, that you had no soul, and that was why you wouldn't change me. You told me you wouldn't condemn me to hell, just to keep me by your side."

Reid snickered at my side, and I saw Tyler smile, Pogue following the smirk on my other side. Even Caleb chuckled at my statement, though no true fun was held in any of our expressions.

My vision tunneled to Edward, the urge to Use so powerful, so loud and large in my anger, that I had trouble controlling myself. "Well, Edward," I spat his name, "Let me give you some news."

The Power was eating at me, and finally, finally, I let my body become the conductor once again. The fire of hell filled me, and my eyes became pools of onyx, showing bursts of fire every few seconds. A picture of hell.

"We're already damned!"