I don't Own Twilight!

Chapter Four: The Other Coven

Tanya was silent the first few minutes of the drive, which was fine with me because I didn't really know what to say, either. She did keep glancing at me, however, and this creeped me out just a little bit, because I didn't know why she was doing it.

After another few minutes she couldn't take it anymore because she finally blurted out, "How did you do it?"

"Do what?" I asked, the confusion clear in my voice.

"Get Edward to fall in love with you." Tanya said thoughtfully, and I could tell she really wanted to know. I felt bad that I couldn't enlighten her, because I didn't really know the answer myself.

"I don't know." I replied honestly.

"You don't know?" She asked skeptically, and I could tell she didn't believe me.

"No. I still don't understand why someone as perfect as him would fall for someone as average as me." I answered hoping she would drop the subject.

"I don't get it." Tanya said. "You don't understand why he loves you, but you believe he does, even though he left you?"

"I know it sounds messed up, but I really believe he still loves me." I replied.

"Why?" Tanya asked.

"Well, when he left he said he didn't love me, but I think he is really just trying to protect me." I said. I could tell that confused her even more, so I went on. "He also said it would be like he never existed. When I went back to my bedroom, everything I had that reminded me of him was missing. But then, minutes later, I found all the stuff under the floor boards."

"So you think that he really did want you to remember him, because he loves you?" Tanya asked, finally understanding what I was saying.

"Yes I do" I replied.

"What is he trying to protect you from?" Tanya asked curiously.

"Himself." I answered, with a roll of my eyes. "He thinks of himself as a monster, even though I have told him countless times that he is not."

"Yeah, that sounds like Edward." Tanya said, and I saw her roll her eyes, too. "But, why do I get the feeling that there is something else?"

"Well, there was one small thing that happened, with Jasper, which did freak Edward out." I explained, and shuddered as I thought back to that night.

"What happened with Jasper?" Tanya asked.

"He tried to attack me when I got a paper cut at my eighteenth birthday party." I replied with a shrug.

"You call that a small thing?" she retorted, and I could tell she thought I was crazy.

"I knew there would be risks that accompanied hanging out with vampires, so I was kind of expecting something like this to happen. When it did, though, I didn't think it was a big deal because I was expecting it." I tried to explain, praying she would understand.

"Wow. If that's the way you think, then you are braver then I thought you were." Tanya admitted.

"Thanks." I said, hoping it was a compliment.

"You really must love him, if you are willing to take so many risks to be with him." Tanya reasoned.

"I love him more than anything in the world." I said, and I felt a smile appear on my face as I thought about Edward.

"We're here." Tanya said, breaking me out of my Edward trance.

I looked out the window as we pulled up to the Denali coven's house, and I was surprised to see that it looked a lot like the Cullens' house. Tanya was out of the car and on the front porch before I had time to blink, so I followed and ran up the steps to join her.

"You ready?" Tanya asked, with her hand on the doorknob.

"Yes." I replied, and Tanya turned the knob and threw open the door to lead me inside.

"Have a seat on the couch. I am going to run this stuff up to my room and see who is home." Tanya instructed while running up the stairs with her shopping bags.

I sat down on the couch to wait, and suddenly felt really nervous as I realized I was in a house full of vampires I didn't know. Tanya came down the stairs a few minutes later with her entire family in tow, and I was surprised and horrified to find that I recognized one of them.

"Bella, this is my coven." Tanya said, pointing to the vampires behind her. "This is Eleazar, Carmen, Kate, Irina, and Laurent."

"It's nice to see you again, Bella." Laurent said, and I shuddered at the memories his voice brought, which made him laugh. "Bella, you can relax. I will not harm you."

I nodded in understanding, but his words did not comfort me like he thought they would.

"I forgot that you two had met already." Tanya said, and I could tell by everyone's faces that they all knew the story of how Laurent and I had met.

"I want you to know that I really am sorry for everything that happened, Bella." Laurent said.

"I know. I don't blame you for anything, it was James." I replied with a small smile.

I still didn't trust Laurent, but I figured I had better be polite to him anyway.

The Denali coven finally made their way down the staircase, and came to sit in the living room with me.

"Tanya tells us you are trying to find the Cullens." Carmen stated.

"Yes, and I was hoping you guys would be able to help me find them." I replied.

"I wish we could, Bella, but we don't know where they are." Eleazar said, and I could tell he felt bad.

"Do you know of any way I can get in touch with them?" I asked with hope in my voice.

"I am sorry, but they change cell phones so much, it's hard to keep track of their numbers." Carmen said, and now I could tell she felt bad, too.

"That's okay." I said and I could hear the sadness in my voice.

"I do have some good news, though." Eleazar said suddenly.

"What?" I asked with hope in my voice again.

"Alice and Jasper called us yesterday, and said they would be coming to stay with us in a few days." Eleazar said with a smile.

"You are, of course, welcome to stay with us until they arrive." Carmen added.

"Thank you so much." I said happily, because I knew Alice and Jasper would bring me one step closer to Edward.

AN: Ok first I want to say thank you to my new beta fnmom68 you rock! REVIEW REVIEW REIVEW REIVEW REVIEW REVIEW REVIEW REVIEW REVIEW REVIEW REVIEW REVIEW REIEW PLEASE :)