Chapter Twenty Four: Casa Del Sole
I handed my virgin passport to the immigration clerk and she processed it with practiced speed. "Welcome to Italy." She said, giving me a smile as warm as the sun.
"Thank you." I looked at the first stamp in my passport. Finally, I could say I'd been somewhere. I walked over to where Charlie and Heather were standing, they'd been first through passport control.
"There's something to be said for hanging out with these guys." Said Heather. "I couldn't even dream of flying first class on an internal flight, let alone all the way from Sea-Tac to Florence, by way of Paris.
Charlie shrugged his shoulders. "It's just how it is. When you've been earning money since the early part of the eighteenth century, it has a tendency to pile up. Just wait until you need to get someplace in a hurry and they hire a Gulfstream. Now that's the way to travel."
I looked over at Daniel, Bella and Edward as they came through passport control. Did these people on the desks have any inkling of what they were? Or that he guy who looked the youngest was older than the terminal building?
We exited into the Florence night, following Edward as he walked over to where two black SUVs were parked. Into one I saw our luggage being loaded and as we approached, a uniformed driver handed a key to Edward. They conversed in Italian before the six of us got into the front car.
"They'll take the luggage, I thought we'd get there a little quicker." Edward and Bella got in the front, with Charlie and Heather on the middle row of seats and Daniel and I behind. As Edward eased the car out into the traffic, Daniel pulled me to him and I rested my head on his chest. I thought back over the last few days.
Since Saturday I'd found myself in a very different world, and one that for good reason existed away from the notice of everyone else. I quickly learned how fundamental it was to protect Ness's real identity. If anyone guessed what or who she was, the whole family would have to pull out of Forks and disappear extremely quickly. The suggestion that Ness was Charlie's daughter was something that Edward and Bella were aware of and weren't doing anything to quash. Speculation that kept people's minds away from the truth was a good thing.
I'd spent most of the week at the Cullen's house, discovering more about Daniel and the rest of the family. To my delight, I got to look through some of Carlisle's books and paintings from the seventeenth century. Daniel took me through some of the early family photograph albums, with amusing pictures of Edward, Esmé, Carlisle, Rosalie and Emmett all looking the very model of fashionable early twentieth century people.
"You look so much older than seventeen, here." I said to Edward one evening, pointing to a picture of him that was taken in 1935.
"That was how it was," He replied." You were either a child or an adult, there were no teenage years."
"Do you prefer things now or back then?"
He held his hand out to Bella. "I prefer now. There's no contest."
There was one member of the family whose pictures I was not allowed to see. Those albums had to wait for Charlie to guide me through them. He arrived from work with a stack of pizza for the humans and, suitably stuffed, Charlie started on his specialist subject: Renesmee Carlie Cullen.
There was no doubt that he was a proud Grampa; he knew everything about her. He went through every picture, telling me and Heather all about her amazing development, her special ability to let people see her thoughts, how fast she could run (59 miles an hour), how strong she was, how fast her hair grew and what she did when Emmett gave her chocolate for the first time – even at six weeks old she'd fought him tooth and nail for the rest of the bar. That Ness was precious to Charlie was indisputable. That she was special in every other way wasn't either. Charlie emphasized her rarity value and at one point I thought he'd stopped talking about Ness and gotten her mixed up with a Ming vase.
That night, as I settled down to sleep with Daniel lying beside me, it struck me just how amazingly normal the Cullens were. They really were a family!
"You think vampire and automatically your mind goes to imagery that you associate with that word: Coffins, darkness, blood, threat and fear. I don't think a day looking through photo albums and browsing the art collection is what I had in mind at all."
"It's the life we want. Plenty of vampires want the traditional life, but we want to be more than that. We want to contribute to society instead of sucking the life from it, if you'll pardon the expression. So we live in a way that meshes itself with humanity as far as it can. I'm sorry if it's too normal for you." He smiled.
"I'm not criticising, I'm just saying that it's hard to get my head around."
"You should sleep; you have a very long day tomorrow." Daniel grabbed a blanket, wrapped it around me and held me. Only in the height of a tropical summer when I was desperate to be cool could I be next to Daniel's skin. The rest of the time I'd be risking hyperthermia.
"It's my first time out of the US tomorrow." I said and not for the first time.
He grinned. "I know. I think Edward may have arranged a fanfare."
I rolled my eyes at him. He pushed me back into the pillows and gently kissed me, letting it build gradually as he gained confidence. For me it was still a struggle to rein myself in, I so desperately wanted him. But I had to go at his pace, one slip and it could end very badly.
He finished by planting a quick kiss on the end of my nose. "Sleep well."
"Are you hunting tonight?"
"Yes. I'll go when I know you're asleep and be back around four."
"OK, take care. Don't let those bears maul you." He smiled and I snuggled down.
"Hey sleepy head."
"Hmm?" I looked up at Daniel and the road noise got my attention.
"You dropped off."
"Did I?"
"Yes, we're nearly there at Casa de Sole, the house of the sun."
I sat back up and ran my fingers through my hair. I checked my watch, it was gone one o'clock in the morning and I could see little outside the car. After a few seconds the car slowed and Edward turned left. Looking out of the front window, I saw that the drive was bordered by trees. Just like the house north of Forks, it wound on for some time, but eventually it opened out into a wide gravelled courtyard where Edward brought the car to a stop under a stone porch.
"Hmm." Charlie scoffed. "Ness was right; this does look like a castle."
We climbed out of the car. Bella was already walking away from the house to get a better view of it. Heather, Charlie and I followed, but Edward went straight inside.
The house was three storeys high and curved away from us so that the door was the closest part of the building. It looked so classically Italian, grand and so unlike the white wood house in the forest at home.
"Shall we see what Esmé's done inside?" Bella asked and the five of us walked in through the wide wooden door.
Once through the door, although everything had a Tuscan feel to it, there was an overwhelming sense of familiarity, of modernity and space. This I now knew was Esmé's style. Underfoot was pale marble flooring and in front of me Heather tapped it with her foot.
"Oh my goodness." She said. "And this is just the lobby."
The door in front of us opened and through it came Esmé, a woman I had seen once before, on an ice rink in Seattle when she'd helped me to my feet. She embraced Bella and spoke too quickly for the rest of us to understand.
"And there's no word from him?" Said Daniel beside me.
Esmé came over to greet him, kissing Daniel on each cheek. "No. Carlisle's been out searching for hours and I can't even raise even him now either." She turned to me. "Stephanie." She beamed, holding out her hands to me. I took them. "I'm so thrilled you could come. It's lovely to meet you properly." He hands were familiarly cold and hard and she kissed me on each cheek too. She kissed and greeted Charlie and Heather as she had done me. "Come through, I'm afraid we have a bit of a situation on our hands."
We followed Esmé through to an enormous living area and I saw more familiar details. The entire front wall was glass. To the right there was a library area, with bookcases, tables and computers. In the middle of the bookcases was a passageway leading off to the right wing of the house. On the opposite side an identical passageway leading off into the left wing. To the back of the room, either side of the door we'd come through, staircases ran up and down to the other floors. Edward was on the far right hand side of the room and on the phone, although he wasn't speaking. Bella went over to him.
"What's the matter?" Asked Charlie.
"Dan's gone missing." Replied Esmé. He gave us the slip on the way to the airport. I'm afraid it's been an extremely tense thirty six hours. There was an ugly scene in Volterra last night. Jane came back from Bulgaria early, having heard that Dan was here. Jane and Dan had the mother of all fights and it very nearly ended in something awful. Jake and Ness tried to intervene, this guy Rolf who seems to be Jane's bodyguard, bit Ness…"
"What! Is she OK?" Charlie was not happy.
"There was a bit of a delay, but she used her phial within the time. Carlisle will check her over when he gets back, or Edward can do it."
"Where is she now?" Charlie asked.
"She's asleep." Replied Bella. "Let her rest Dad, bites take it out of her."
"I can't raise him either." Said Edward.
"It's most unlike him not to answer. I'm worried." Esmé said.
Edward was at Esmé's side in an instant and put his arms around the woman he thought of as his mother. "When's Alice due in?" He asked.
"Their flight's due in at three fifty."
"OK." Hopefully we can get a better sense of where they are by then."
"Do you want to go look for them?" Asked Daniel of Edward.
"Not right now, we'll wait 'til there are more of us here."
"So he's not in the vicinity of your head?" Asked Charlie.
"No and I didn't pick anything up on the drive in. The rest of them got away OK?"
"Yes. I'll need to call Susie Taylor later if we can't find him. Although I think we can all guess where he's headed."
"Volterra?" Said Daniel.
Esmé nodded. "Jake's nickname for him has proved to be horrifically true." She shook her head. "Poor boy."
"What went on between him and Jane?" Asked Daniel.
"Ness will tell you more when she wakes, but Dan decided it would be a good idea to cut himself in front of a room full of traditional vampires."
"Idiot." Said Charlie.
"Was he sober?" Asked Edward.
"He's not been sober all week. He's doing drugs too, did you know that?"
"Yes." Edward replied. "We've tried to intervene."
Esmé shook her head sadly. "I dread to think what Jess'll say when she sees him."
"We can only hope she can talk some sense into him." Said Charlie. "Stupid kid, what does he think he's doing?"
"He's in pain Charlie." Esmé said sadly. "From what Ness said, he riled and raged at Jane but she didn't care, there wasn't a flicker of response from her. I think he was trying to provoke some kind of reaction in her, anything. She's changed, she's not the Jane she was or the Jane we knew; she's something else now. I think Dan was clinging to the hope that if she saw him again she'd fall into his arms and it would be OK. Sadly, that's not to be." Esmé shook her head as if to shake away a dark thought. "But Rose and Emmett will be here soon," she said more brightly. "So let me show you to your rooms. One thing I need to mention." She gestured to the right hand passageway. "The right hand side of the house is the section where our students live. As you know, these are vampires who are making the transition between the traditional and our way of living. They are in various stages, but I must stress that's their side of the house and please respect that. Some of them are still uncomfortable with the scent of humans and it's easier if that part is kept human-free. You will meet some of them while you're here, but for others it's too early. Keeley for instance has been with us only a week; whereas Faisal and Alia are nearly ready to leave. But more of that later. Rooms!"
We all followed Esmé into the family's side of the house. The house was set into a hillside and the rooms on the western side of the house had the same full-length glass windows, but this time draped with voile. Esmé showed Daniel and I into our room and again I had my breath taken away. The main area was dominated by the most enormous bed, but other than that there at first glance appeared to be very little else in here, until a keener eye picked out the closet doors recessed around the room. Daniel opened one and pulled out a clothes rail far bigger than I would ever need. At the far end was a dressing table. Beyond that was the door into the bathroom, done out in white marble. There was a knock at the door. Daniel went to get it and Edward brought our cases in. I had already raised an eyebrow at how effortlessly the vampires carried cases that I struggled to pull along the floor.
"Would you like me to unpack for you?" Daniel offered. "While you go and look at the view."
"It's the middle of the night?" I questioned and Daniel furrowed his brow, giving me a look that suggested that I should think again. "Oh! The sky!" He laughed at me. "I'm tired, I forgot."
I went to the windows and unlocked one of them and stepped out onto a balcony. There was a balcony above and, as I looked over it, one below too. Below me to the right was a large swimming pool set in an enclosed courtyard off the central section of the house. The water was lit, giving off a gentle blue glow. Underneath the living room windows were an identical set of windows and the door was open out to the pool. Suddenly there was a blur and a splash. From nowhere a girl appeared in the water. She surfaced and made a couple of lazy strokes towards the far side of the pool. She had long dark hair that floated out behind her and she was swimming naked. When she reached the shallow end of the pool she stood up. She seemed to know I was here and looked directly at me with an unblinking gaze. A familiar chill crept through my body as I recognised my instinctive fear, now only reserved for vampires that I didn't know.
"It's done." Daniel said, softly beside me.
"Already?" I exclaimed but he didn't reply. I turned and he too was watching the girl in the pool.
"Bright red." He voice had a tone of warning. "That's Keeley." I knew he could see colours just as clearly as in daylight. He gave a little scoff.
"What?" I asked.
"She likes what she sees." He was amused.
"Well, she can't have you."
"She's not interested in me." I looked back at Keeley and saw an expression on her face that I didn't quite know what to do about. "I have some competition." He snickered.
I turned my back on her, seeking to bury myself in Daniel's chest and then becoming aware, to my horror, that my cheeks felt hot. Daniel backed away from me and I knew that as much as I wanted him I had to let this blush fade for my own safety.
"Emmett and Rose are arriving." He said.
"I can't hear anything." But a few seconds later I heard the car.
"Come and meet them." He reached for my hand.
"But my cheeks?"
"It's only me who struggles and they're fading." He ran a cool gentle finger down my face. As I left the balcony I turned back to the pool, but Keeley was gone.
Back in the living room Esmé was already deep in conversation with Rose at vampire speed. Emmett was greeting Heather and Charlie. He was as physically intimidating to look at as Rosalie was breathtakingly beautiful. They all were. I'd never had any particular hang-ups about myself, but this was like being surrounded by supermodels. Did only beautiful people get to be vampires or did the conversion process do something to you?
"The latter." Said Edward, walking in behind me.
"A fresh head for you Edward? That must be nice." Emmett walked over to his brother and there was an alarming blurred tussle between them.
"Boys!" Esmé warned. "We have guests." Edward and Emmett broke apart.
"It's good to see you all again, it's been too long." Said Emmett, embracing Bella. "Great idea of Ness's. Looks like she might have a use as our social secretary. She got bitten again, huh?" Emmett's face fell into worry and he looked at Edward.
"I know," said Edward. "And don't think Bella and I don't share your concern about that."
"We really should think about her future," Rosalie walked over. "More bites and she might not have one. For what it's worth I think it's time. She's out of school now and you know it's all she wants, much as it grieves me to have a dog as a nephew-in-law."
"You love him really." Emmett hit her shoulder playfully.
"I do, but don't ever tell him that." Rosalie turned to me. "And here you are, finally." She smiled broadly at me and held out her hands. "It's nice to meet you properly Stephanie. I'm hoping you can encourage Daniel to take more care of his cars."
Edward snickered. "Rose you're so transparent."
She looked at him. "Oh come on! You know how much fun they are to have around."
"I think it's a little early for that." Edward replied. "And this isn't the time."
"Is she thinking what I think she's thinking?" Daniel asked.
"Yes." Emmett replied. "The serial Aunt strikes again."
"Emmett, don't…" Edward warned.
Rose turned to her husband. "I like being an Aunt, it's all the fun of parenting, but you get to give them back."
I suddenly clued into to what she was talking about. She thought I was going to have a baby with Daniel. What, already? I barely knew the guy.
"Thanks Rose." Growled Edward.
"Well, it's what happens when humans have sex." She said.
"Not always." I replied. "Some of us take precautions and choose when we want to have our babies." I was on the pill; I had a career to think about. A baby making an unscheduled appearance was something I could do without.
"Standing your ground against Rose?" Laughed Emmett. "Nice work Steph!"
"…anie. I corrected. I'm never a Steph." I grinned.
Rosalie swatted Emmett in the stomach. "That told you." She returned a dazzling smile to me. "I think you and I will get on just fine." And she stepped forward and kissed me on both cheeks. She pointed her finger at Daniel. "Don't bite her." She admonished.
"What do you think I'm trying not to do, here?" Daniel wrapped his arm around me and laughed.
With Rosalie and Emmett here, the gathering family sat down on the sofas and the discussion turned back to whether or not they should join the hunt for Dan. Bella thought that they should now and Rose agreed with her.
"Edward, how about you, Daniel and I go?" Asked Emmett. "The three of us could cover a substantial area before dawn."
"Do you need my help at all?" Added Charlie. "I mean once the sun's up…"
"Thanks Charlie, but we'll need to be back before dawn." Replied Edward. "Yes, I think we need to get out there as soon as possible." The three vampires were out the door like a shot.
"My, people come and go so quickly around here." Heather said with a twinkle in her eye.
"I'm sorry," replied Esmé. "We've considered both you and Stephanie members of our family for so long now, that we feel relaxed in your company. Look, it's going to be an hour or so until the rest of them arrive. With all of them together it can get noisy, so why don't you get some rest until then?"
"Will Jess be OK with us around?" Charlie asked.
"She's doing fine. She's managed Fairbanks on a Saturday, so I think she'll be OK. Will, Jasper and Edward will keep an eye on her."
"I can't believe she's alive." Said Heather.
"There was no way for her to go back." Said Bella. "Her re-appearance would start off too many questions. I know how much pain it's causing Susie and Brian, but Jess is happy to be with Will and Ben on a full time basis. Trying to split herself in two was causing its own stresses."
"And Ben's OK with us?" Heather asked.
"Oh yes, don't worry about him, he's like Ness. Hybrids have impeccable control." Replied Charlie; clearly now a world authority on vampire hybrids.
"Unless they get drunk on Vodka." Rosalie reminded him.
"She won't do that again." Charlie stated.
"She did it at Christmas." Said Bella.
"You never told me that." Charlie furrowed his brow at his daughter.
"Dad, she's not as perfect as you like to make out. She's a teen, she pushes the boundaries. This is the girl who stole and maxed out your credit card, remember? Don't put anything past her, she's a vampire."
"I know." But he sounded put out.
"And don't put her on a pedestal; she gets compromised like the rest of us. She went for Dan the day Ben was born and there will be other times in the future where she won't manage to be perfect." Bella turned to Heather. "Ben's fine, Jess was human for the first six months of his life so he's got very good control. But Esmé's right, you should rest before they get here. When all the boys get together it can get loud. "
We took their advice and retired to our rooms. I kicked off my shoes and lay on the top of the bed covers. I closed my eyes and imagined Daniel there with me. I dreamt I was kissing him, keeping myself tightly in check so as not to cause him any difficulty. He was running his hand around the outside edge of my breast. My dream felt wrong though, something was off and it took me a second or so to realise that it smelt wrong, this wasn't Daniel's scent this was… I opened my eyes to bright red ones only inches from mine. I froze in terror.
Keeley broke off the kiss but continued to touch my breast. "He really shouldn't leave you alone; I might very well steal you away. You're so beautiful." I didn't dare move or speak in case I did something to provoke her. She bent to kiss me again but didn't stay on my lips, she moved down over my jaw to my throat, somewhere Daniel would never kiss me, it was far too dangerous. "Oh my…" she sighed and she moved her kisses towards my jugular.
Suddenly she was off me and for a split second the shock of her removal did not alert me to something worse. There was snarling and growling and angry voices, but that was not the worst thing; that was the indescribable pain that was now spreading through my body. I gave little whimpers which didn't seem to alert the person holding Keeley, but someone else's face appeared in my line of sight.
"Oh my God she's bitten her, crap!"
"Alice?" Bella was there. "Oh no, Stephanie!" Bella was on the bed next to me holding my hand. "Alice phone Daniel now! I'm sorry, I know this is awful." Awful didn't even come close. "The pain was steadily increasing within me I couldn't keep still from the pain and my gasps were turning into yelps.
Rosalie was suddenly there. "Stephanie? Oh no! Suck it out Bella! Suck it out!"
"I can't! We need to get Edward or Carlisle!"
"They're miles away. We've got to do something, suck it out! You've got better control than I have."
"I don't trust myself. Alice?"
Alice was holding a phone to her ear. "I can't get either of them, the service is crap around here!"
"Did you see this happening?" Bella asked Alice.
"No, Jasper caught Stephanie's mood as we were arriving, all I got was…" Alice gestured at Keeley, now being securely held by Jasper. "Her… plans for Stephanie."
"So this was an accident?" Said Bella.
"It doesn't matter what it was! Rose yelled. "It's in progress now, we need to stop it! Bella, just do it, Alice and I will give you 5 seconds and then pull you away."
"But that's nearly a litre."
"That should be enough to get rid of it. It's what Edward took from you that time. Come on, we have do something."
"OK." Bella knelt by me and Alice and Rose stood behind her. Bella grabbed my jaw and pushed it over. There was more pain initially and then blissfully less.
"Three… four….five!" Alice yelled. Suddenly everyone was gone and so was the pain.
"OK, let's put this on." Charlie was there and he pressed a wet pad to a spot behind my ear. Heather appeared by his side and sat on the bed next to him.
"Well, it's all happening here." She said cheerily. "The rest of the family's arrived, they've found Dan, discovered why Carlisle wasn't getting in touch and now you've been bitten by a vampire." She looked at her watch. "And it's not even four in the morning."
"Is Dan OK?" I asked. Even lying down I felt light headed, which wasn't surprising when I'd lost nearly a litre of blood in five seconds.
Heather shook her head. "I don't know, they've not arrived back yet."
"And Carlisle?" I croaked.
"He was helping a woman who'd delivered a baby."
"Nice." I smiled.
Heather shook her head. "She didn't make it; he's bringing the baby back. It was Dan who found her and delivered it, Carlisle only found him at the end."
Charlie kept the compress on the bite for what felt like ages. It was only the three of us. There wasn't much talking and I really wasn't in a state to say much. I felt very weak and extremely tired. Finally, Charlie was satisfied it has stopped bleeding and dressed the wound.
"You're fortunate that she caught you where she did. That missed your jugular. You're going to need to get changed, there's quite a bit of blood on your shoulder and on the sheets." Heather helped me up as Charlie stripped the bed, walked through to the bathroom, dumped it all the in the tub and turned on the cold water. Heather sat me back down and pulled open drawers until she put together a complete change of clothes for me.
"Do you think you can manage?" She asked.
I nodded.
They left the room; I grabbed the clothes and went into the bathroom. I peeled mine off, throwing the bloodied ones in the tub with the bed sheets. I felt my neck and walked over to the mirror to peer at it. The dressing was huge; it covered the entire side of my neck. Bending down to try and put my underwear on made me dizzy, so I sat on the cool marble floor and wriggled into my clothes. By the time I was finished, I was exhausted and only had enough energy to reach up to turn off the water, push the fabric fully under the cold water and slump back onto the floor. As the start of vacations went, I'd had better.
I crawled back over to the bed and leaned up against it. There was a knock at the door. I answered with a weak "Yes?"
"It's Carlisle, may I come in?"
"Yes."
I recognised him immediately from the ice rink. This time he was prepared with a medical bag that he opened. He peeled off the dressing and taped the bite together, before applying a fresh, smaller dressing.
"I am so sorry." He said. "But I'm glad Bella managed to stop it."
"How is she?"
"A little upset. That's the first time she's had human blood as a vampire and it's unsettled her."
"Is she OK?"
"She's fine, although you might find her distant for a day or two."
"Is Daniel back?"
"Yes, but I don't think it's a good idea for him to be in here, the scent of your blood is strong. I can take you through to the living room if you'd like? You can see the rest of them."
"How's Dan?"
"Odd."
"What do you mean?"
"I'm not sure he's going to allow us to give the baby up for adoption. I think being the one who delivered it has had a profound effect on him. I got there right at the end, I tried to save her, but I couldn't. Do you think you can walk?"
I nodded.
Carlisle took my arm and escorted me back to the living room. I unclipped my hair from behind my ear to cover the dressing. It was starting to hurt now. The subdued chatter ceased as we emerged from the passageway. Daniel was over to me in a heartbeat and I went to him, wrapping my arms around his waist and feeling his familiar coolness through his shirt. As I rested against him I realised he wasn't breathing; that ability vampires had to shut down their breathing was useful. He guided me over to the sofa and sat me down next to him. Nobody said anything as the approach of footsteps had caught their attention. From the student's part of the house came a Middle Eastern vampire.
"She's in her room."
"Thank you Faisal." Replied Esmé.
"You're not kicking her out?" Questioned a blond-haired vampire who I knew was Jasper from his photograph. He was the one I'd seen with Daniel last December in Seattle.
"No, not just yet." Replied Carlisle. "Edward has concerns about her."
"What do you mean?" Jasper continued.
"This isn't the time." Esmé said, looking uncomfortable.
"If she's a danger to our family then she shouldn't be here." Said Rose.
"Edward will be happier knowing where she is." Replied Carlisle.
"And is Stephanie happy with that?" Rose asserted. "She was the one who Keeley attacked."
Everyone was suddenly looking at me. I looked at Daniel for reassurance.
"What do you want us to do with her?" He asked me.
"I don't know. I thought she was here to learn how to live the human way."
"She is." Said Edward, coming down the stairs. "But she's doing it for no other reason than to get close to human women. Others here are doing it for more genuine reasons which is the aim of this facility. My concern is that she's extremely predatory and I don't feel comfortable with her roaming around."
"Can we get the Volturi to make themselves useful and babysit her for a couple of days?" Asked Rose.
"Possibly." Replied Edward.
"I'd feel happier with that." Said Rose. "Stephanie?" I nodded in agreement with.
"OK, I'll call them." Said Carlisle and pulled out his phone.
"How's Bella?" Asked Alice.
"A little subdued." Replied Edward.
"Please tell her thank you, from me." I said.
"Of course I will."
"And is Ness still asleep?" Alice griped.
"Yes."
"Are you sure she's there?"
"Yes." Edward smiled.
"I might have to go in there and drag them out." Alice continued and then a small blond-haired boy appeared spontaneously in her lap. I was getting used to their sudden arrivals. Alice stroked his hair and he looked directly at me. He was about four years old and had the most startling blue eyes. Eyes that I realised I'd seen before – on his mother.
"Ah ha, young Mr Cullen; finally." Said Charlie. "Are your parents joining us?"
"Yes, when Mummy's put some clothes on."
"Did something happen to the ones she was wearing?" Charlie continued.
"Daddy ripped them off."
Everyone snickered, even me. "I'm sorry I asked that." Charlie pinched the bridge of his nose. Ben remained unfazed. To the side of me I saw movement and a term paper suddenly appeared at my shoulder.
"Sorry it's late." Her voice was familiar, but yet different. I hesitantly turned to see the unmistakeable sight of Jess. Her eyes were deep amber but her cheeky smile was every bit her. "I had a bit of trouble with death."
"It's good to see you." I said, taking the paper from her.
"And you too. Welcome to the family. I won't kiss you; you smell a bit too much like breakfast."
Will joined her. There was a blur and Ben appeared, clinging to his father's shoulder. "Nice to see you again. Will said, he bounced the little boy on his arm. "This is Ben."
"Hello Ben." I said simply.
"Hello." He replied. His eyes were mesmerising, I couldn't take mine from them. "You were Mummy's History teacher?"
"I was."
"Daddy's told me all about being in the Civil War. What's your favourite bit of history?"
"I'm fascinated by the medieval."
"Eleazar could tell you all about that, he was there. Auntie Jane would be better, but she's not here anymore." The sadness in his voice told me that Jane was missed by more people than Dan. "Mummy, could we go see her?"
Jess shook her head. "I'm sorry sweetpea; she has a new life now."
Ben jumped down from Will's shoulder and ran off upstairs.
Will sighed and pulled Jess to him.
"If I ever see her again, I will personally be the one to set fire to her pieces." Jess said softly. Then she pulled away from Will and looked at Daniel. "But that's by the by, you need to fill me in on what the hell's being going on in Forks. I could get naff all sense out of Edward and Bella and Ness is permanently on planet Jake. So tell me; what's going on down at La Push?" Jess still retained her brusque northern-English way of speaking.
"We probably should wait for Jake," Replied Daniel. "It's had major repercussions on the pack and he's better placed to explain it."
"The sleepyheads are still not up." Grumbled Alice.
"Oh I'll go and wake 'em." Jess giggled.
"Ness got bitten last night Jess, let her sleep." Esmé soothed.
Jess pointed to me. "Stephanie got bitten just now; I don't see her flaking out. Nope, I'm getting her."
Just then a thin, pale figure came down the stairs. If I didn't know better, I'd have said it was a ghost. But it wasn't anything other than the very emaciated figure of Dan. His clothes hung off him; his skin didn't look like he'd seen the sun in years and looked almost albino.
Esmé stood up. "You look much better for a wash and a shave." Wow, if this was better, then I hated to think what he looked like before. Dan smiled weakly at Esmé.
"You look like shit." Said Jess walking towards him. Dan made the sign of the cross with his fingers to ward his sister off. "I'm not going to drink from you, I suspect with all you've put away that your blood's sixty per cent proof by now. However, I'm very tempted to smack you around the head for getting yourself in such a state. Mum and Dad must be going spare." Dan shrugged his shoulders. "That's a yes then? So you saw her?"
Dan nodded. "Didn't go well."
"No, trying to cut yourself at vampire central wasn't one of your better decisions, you prat."
Dan shrugged. "Seemed like a good idea at the time. At least the pain would've stopped."
"Good job Ness was there, although not good for her that she ended up getting bitten."
"I didn't ask her to intervene." Dan said, churlishly.
Jess lost it. "Well she's going to isn't she?" She shouted. "It's what we all do, try and care for you? And all you do is throw it back in our faces!"
"Shut up, you'll wake Sophie!" Dan hissed, looking back up the stairs anxiously.
"Sophie? What're you doing Dan? You can't just suddenly be a Dad to some random baby you picked up."
"I can." He snapped.
"You can't! What about the woman's family? I don't suppose for one minute that you've thought this through. What about getting her back home? You can't rock up with a baby, Mum'll have you sectioned!"
"You managed it."
"I had all this lot to help me!" Jess roared. Will was over to her instantly and Jasper moved in closer. "Who's going to help you?" Dan looked uncomfortable and scratched his neck. "You're expecting us to take her in aren't you?" Jess said quietly. "This isn't an orphanage, you can't grab any waif and stray off the street and give them a home with us. That's a human baby;" Jess pointed upstairs. "I can smell her and Edward will tell you the havoc it's playing with my throat. There are implications beyond the logistics of buying milk and nappies."
"I know that."
"Do you? So what's your plan then?" Jess folded her arms. "Come on knobhead, amaze me with it." Dan said nothing, but something outside was catching everyone's attention and they were looking at Edward.
"Who is it? " Asked Carlisle.
"I don't know," said Edward. "They're shielded. I know they're there but I can't hear them."
"I can't hear anything." I whispered to Daniel.
"There's a car coming down the drive." He replied.
"That's someone who knows you're here and doesn't want you to know what's on their mind." Said Emmett standing up. "Gotta be one of the Volturi." I got the impression that Emmett was up for a fight.
"They're called the Solace Foundation now." Said Esmé.
"Yeah, whatever," replied Emmett tersely. "Different name same old heap of trouble."
I heard the car now. Over the other side of the room, Jess's quarrel with Dan was forgotten as she flitted back over to stand with Will.
"They've sent someone with a shield to collect Keeley?" Alice said in a confused tone.
"Is that what you sense?" Asked Jasper.
"Yes, they've come for Keeley; that much I can pick up."
"She doesn't need mentally shielding, she needs physically restraining." Grumbled Edward.
"Well, I'm sure we'll know in a second." Said Carlisle.
"Should we leave the room?" Asked Charlie, I noticed Heather was looking concerned.
"No, you're our family," Said Carlisle. "This is our home. Whoever comes through that door would be very unwise to pit themselves against all the vampires in this room." There was a knock at the door. "I'll get it." Said Carlisle and walked out into the lobby.