Ch. 11

Alice and Jasper had just left when there was another knock on the door, but I was changing in the room so Malachi opened the door, "Bella, it's your dad."

"Hey dad I'll be out in a second." I called back as I ran a brush threw my hair one last time. "I thought we were meeting you at Billy's"

"Well I wanted to talk to you in private... if that's OK?"

"Of course dad. You know you can always talk to me." I turned to Malachi and said, "Why don't you head over to Billy's and tell the pack we will be there soon and to save us some food." Malachi looked at me, nodded and walked out of the house. "So what's up dad?"

"Well, I wanted to know if it was true?" He said sitting on the couch that I had taken a seat on.

"Look at my eyes dad.. what do you think?" I hadn't put in my normal contacts so my eyes were their normal shade of amber-red.

"Why are they that color? I saw you yesterday and they were brown..."

"Dad, you already know what I am... what the Cullens and Malachi are. I've been wearing contacts to hide the fact from you. It was for your protection."

"How could lying to me be for my protection?!" Charlie said.

"Dad, there are head vamps. Kinda like the Queen of England, they rule the vampires and if they found out that I had told you... not only would the Cullens and I be in danger so would you, Sue, and the baby. I had to either not tell you or wait for you to figure it out." I said placing my hand on his.

He looked at my hand and then placed his on top of mine, "So as long as I don't go announcing it to anyone we will be OK and you won't have to go away again?"

"Dad I won't leave you until I need to... but even then I wont be gone for long... As far as the people here in Forks know I'm a teacher in Alaska and that's what they need to believe. But at least for right now I'm not going anywhere. Malachi and I are staying here on the reservation, thanks to Billy's hospitality." I stood up, "Which I think we should par-take in. I bet your hungry."

Charlie's stomach growled causing us both to laugh, "Yea I think you're right Bells. Oh Bells.."

"Yes dad?"

"I'm glad that you found someone for you... I've never seen you so happy and I only saw you two together yesterday... I think there may be wedding bells sooner than I would want."

I jokingly stuck my tounge out at him, "Ummm... not anytime soon dad. Besides boys still have cooties." I said laughing and using a line that I used as a kid.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

(Billy's house later that night)

Everyone was sitting around Billy's small living room. It was over crowded but cozy at the same time. Billy and Charlie were laughing about weird things that they had seen their kids could do, "And I remember how Seth confirmed that he was a Wolf...." Charlie started, "He just stripped his clothes right there in front of me, Sue, and Leah and changed. I just about had a heart attack when I saw his strip, Sue thought it was the funniest sight even."

"It was pretty funny dear... but I did warn you just to believe me." Sue said rubbing her baby bump as she laughed.

"That's about the same reaction that I got from Bella when she finally figured it out." Jacob said. "She took long enough to guess it too..." he finished giving me a playful shove.

"Shut up Jake." I said laughing getting up to chase him to I could smack him. After Jake ran from the house I sat down next to Malachi on the tiny couch that was already occupied by Sam and his wife and Seth. While sitting there Malachi pulled me closer to him to that I was mushed against his side, so that Seth could have more room. After about 5 minutes Malachi started running his hand down my arm, touching it so softly that it was causing fluttering in my tummy, and I felt weak all over. "So when are you due Sue?"

"2 months. I can't wait to have my body back, I can't even see my feet anymore." She laughed.

"Do you know what you're having?" Malachi asked. I smacked his arm, "Bella I only meant if they knew if it was a boy or girl."

"Oh sorry." I said, looking nervously at Jacob who had just walked back into the house. "Welcome back Jake."

"Thanks Bella. Sam can I talk to you for a sec?" he turned to Sam.

"Sure." Sam stood up and walked out of the room after Jacob.

"Seth?" Sue asked.

"I don't know mom... want me to find out?" Seth gave her a look, which he tried to hide from me, that said 'I'll tell you later."

Sue looked from Seth to me to Malachi and then back at Seth. "No that's OK. I'm sure I'll hear about it later anyway."

"So dad are you excited to have another baby in the house?" I asked.

"Yeah, nervous b/c it's been so long since I had a baby to take care of." He said with a smile, "you still are the prettiest baby I ever saw Bells."

I laughed, "that's because I'm the ONLY baby you've ever seen."

While everyone was still laughing Jacob and Sam came back in and looked at Billy who suddenly stopped laughing, "What happened?"

Jacob walked toward his dad, "When I ran out of the house earlier when Bella was chasing me I came across a scent and followed it. It lead to the Cullen's place...."

"Jake what happened?" Charlie asked.

Jake sighed, "I'm sorry Bella, but there is a new vamp in town and she's not happy with you."

"Who is is?" I asked.

"I head Edward talking to someone named Jane... he was telling her how you left him..."

Malachi snarled and I started to shake, even though I'm a vampire Jane still has it out for me... "Is she coming here?" I asked.

"No, she ran when Edward yelled for me..." He said looking down.

"What did Edward want?" Jake shook his head, "Jacob Black tell me right now."

"He said that the Volturi are coming for you, for breaking the law of befriending a Wolf. Apparently we are supposed to be mortal enemies."

"Billy..." I looked at him.

"Go ahead Bella." he said nodding even before I could finish my sentence.

"Alice, Emmett, Jasper." I said in a quiet tone.

"Bella? What's going on?" Charlie asked.

"Dad the Volturi are the leaders I was telling you about. Edward is using them so try and get me to come back to him. He thinks I'm going to go running back to him to get the them off of my case." I said turning to the door where Alice, Jasper, and Emmett were standing.

"Heard you call for us Bella." Jasper said.

Emmett saw my face and sniffed the air trying to find a scent of danger, "What happened?"

Just then Alice grabbed her head and shrieked, "What the hell Edward!?" Jasper ran to her side and helped her to sit down. "While we were hunting Edward called Jane... he told her about Bella's friendship with the Wolfs. She's on her way back to Italy to tell Aro and the rest of them."

Emmett growled, "Why the hell would he do that?"

Alice looked at me too surprised to speak, "He thinks it'll help me to come back to him..." I said keeping my voice flat. Then realizing where we were, I explained everything to everyone else in the house about the Volturi and the vamp rules. "And if we break the rules there is only one punishment..." I looked at my father, "death.". I finished. Charlie was blue in the face with worry, "But technically I didn't break the rules at all." I looked at Jasper, "Dad guessed what I was, and there's no rule about not being friends with Wolves. Right?"

"Technically." was all Jasper could say.

"But we could try and stop them." Alice said, "If we get enough people to stand and fight against them... we may have a chance to win and be rid of the Volturi forever."

"Alice, maybe we should talk about all of this with Carsile." Jasper said standing.

"You're right... they will want to hear about this and Edward took off..." Alice said.

I stood up too and assured my father and step-mom that I would be safe and thanked Billy for dinner. Malachi and I ran at full speed to the Cullen's house to meet everyone there, well all except for Edward, to discuss what our options were. As we ran Malachi sniffed and said, "We have company. Looks like Jacob and his pack are coming to see what's going on and to help us." I nodded and gave a small smile in Jacob's direction.