Disclaimer: All Characters belong to Stephanie Meyer. The plot is all mine.
It goes without saying that it was completely and utterly embarrassing to be feeling inhibited in your very own home. But what is a man to do? Carlisle wished he knew as he sat on a large stump of a fallen tree, in a circle surrounded by his family, each pair of eyes looking to their patriarch for answers or a word of solace.
But no words were said, as the silence grew heavy upon their heads. Finally after a long wordlessness span Jasper spoke up with a saucy smirk.
"Edward would flip his lid if he came home to this scene."
"Bro," Emmett sighed shaking his head although he couldn't help but smirk. "I think we are all 'flipping our lids' - that just to get a little privacy we have to hide in the woods like the very animals we hunt - Can you call it irony?"
Carlisle agreed, and was relieved that he wasn't the only one that felt like so. However he was filled with verisimilitude about this predicament – that he owed at the very least one of the leaders (if not all of them) the extended courtesy of opening his domicile to them.
After all, in those initial years following his awakening to immortal life, he was lost and without any purpose or a scope to guide his fate. It was Aro, Marcus and Caius that pulled him from his mislaid journey. Showed him that there was more to their life than believing it was a barbaric road of never ending quench for blood. And that ultimately gave him the push for independence to go forth and build a life of his own, and do to some good for all the bad his race has done to humankind.
And even when the brothers disagreed with his resolve, they still told him that he was welcomed to come back to them if he so desired – if he was unsuccessful in what he was searching for. Since then, Carlisle vowed he would extend the same respect and hospitality the brothers showed him.
Rosalie scowled. "I hope he remains right where he is. He will only make a scene. I don't want us to be forced to move again. I like it here!" She leaned into Emmett's side as he placed his solid arm around her waist.
"That depends." Carlisle shifted. "Alice ..?"
The dark haired girl furrowed her brows in concentration, but within a second her features relaxed back to her serene smile. "Not likely. He is very determined to stay away from his cute singer."
She caught the confused looks the family was giving her. Except her husband because he knew her best and quietly sniggered at her antics.
"What?" she genuinely questioned them with a smug smile. "She really is very lovely. Well, her fashion sense could use a bit of work but she seems very interesting – I even saw that we will become good friends."
Carlisle frowned. "You need to hold that thought for a while, Alice," The coven leader placed his hands on his parted knees. "There is a difference between blending seamlessly among humans, and favoring just one of them. You can be her friend after we sort through our current affairs."
Alice pouted in disappointment. Esme reached over and patted her daughter's hand. "It's for the girl's own safety, dear. She isn't going anywhere for you to rush, right?"
"I guess so." Alice huffed.
"Anyway …" Emmett awkwardly cut through the conversation to bring them back on track. "What do we do about, well, all this?" he waved his hand in the several kilometers direction of their house.
The good doctor crossed his arms in front of his chest. "We can't have meetings anymore. Not with all of us presently together, and none to tend to them at the house. That would only create room for suspicion which we cannot risk."
"What do you suggest, daddy? We need to communicate freely with each other at some point." Rosalie frowned.
Carlisle pursed his lips in consideration for a moment. Rosalie was right. "We will split off into groups. Two to four of us can go 'hunting' while the rest stay behind at the house. And during the next group's turn to leave, one from the former group can tag along to rely what we discuss with the former party."
"Why cant we just use our phones to text each other? Wouldn't that save us a lot of hassle?" Emmett suggested.
"They do not understand that this generation we integrated in is tech-savvy. And They still write letters the old school way. If they catch us walking around and constantly palming our smart phones – it wouldn't take long for them to figure it out. They may be traditionalist but they ain't stupid." Jasper sniffed.
"Very true." Carlisle nodded in agreement. "Although, and only in immediate circumstances, we can use our phones."
"And Alice …" Carlisle's whisky kissed eyes stared pointedly at his daughter.
Alice smiled with a bit of lament. "I know, I know – I'll stay away from Her."
Some things were easier said than done. Alice was in a down right churlish mood. She sat at their usual cafeteria table during lunch rush, her short legs swinging back and forth. Pretending to eat an apple when she was really picking at its scarlet soft skin with her neatly manicured fingernails.
The entire mess hall was drowned with the sound of an army of teenagers, shuffling, running, chewing loudly, and chattering in their respective cliques. But among the plethora of noise her sharp ears picked up a gentle laughter from across the crowded cafeteria space.
She became upset so badly that she pressed her sharp nails right past the flesh of the fruit she held and pierced straight to its seeded core. Her gaze lingered on what she did to the apple for a moment before her eyes searched for the source of the sound that permeated her senses.
Her golden eyes locked on their target easily. Because in this sea of normal, She was a unique individual in her own right.
Alice's eyes darkened shade by shade the longer she stared at Her. The vampiress' sharp hearing made it quite easy to eavesdrop on the conversation. Within a minute her golden eyes were as dark as bottomless pits – jealousy-fueled anger tended to exude that affect on her kind.
Isabella Swan, ever since Her first day at school sat with the same group of humans. Today She sat next to Angela Weber and the two girls seemed to be enjoying each other's company.
Alice was getting worried that by delaying in approaching the Girl that she was losing her window of opportunity to being familiar with Her – and replacing herself with Angela Weber in her imagination as she was laughing with Bella instead of the other girl, wasn't uplifting her mood in the least.
No sooner had she daydreamed about it that it instantly fizzled from her mind when she felt a large hand settle atop of both her tiny hands, which were still holding onto the disfigured innocent piece of fruit.
The brunette looked around her own table and was met with the disapproving gaze of her family members. Even her own husband, when she looked to him last, was shaking his head subtly while squeezing the hand he laid on top of her own.
Feeling the frustration welling up inside her and being completely outnumbered, she pushed her chair away from their table. The legs scraped harshly on the linoleum surface, but the mayhem in the cafeteria smothered the sound. Knowing she couldn't be stopped, and needing to breathe in some fresh air, she marched to the double door exit of the cafeteria. But not before she was half way across the large room that she heard Her laughter once more. And it savagely grated on her tremulous nerves.
Without any forethought Alice turned toward Her, and she regretted that choice. Bella was looking directly at the petite pixie with confusion on Her face and a frown on Her lips. Alice stopped walking as they held eye contact for a second that seemed to have stopped time itself.
But something seemed to have clicked in the Swan girl's mind as She blinked and realized what She was doing. A delicate blush spread across Her high cheeks and She quickly looked away. Her thick, wavy hair covered Her face as she turned toward Her peers around the table, effectively blocking Alice's view.
Alice gritted her teeth and walked faster than before, pushing the doors to the exit with a force that could have easily unhinged them. But she didn't care anymore. And she needed to find a innocuous way to blow off some steam before her next class.
"Is there something wrong, gentlemen?" Carlisle inquired.
The last thing he expected, coming home from the hospital – and barely having one foot through the front door – was coming face to face with his esteemed guest and his entire unit of guards.
If he wasn't mistaken, it looked like Carlisle was running into them on their way out. But that was purely impossible, as hell would first freeze over before any of the Volturi leaders would step out of the comfort of a four-walled room.
Although, hell did sort of freeze over because one of the conservative Volturi leaders left the safety and sanctuary of his fortress to travel half-way across the world to live momentarily in a foreign region at the behest of his brothers.
One of the elite guards, Demetri, stepped forward and a smile stretched on his dazzling handsome face. "No problem at all, Carlisle. The Master merely wished to take a stroll."
The good doctor's eyes widened, "A stroll…?"
"Indeed. Master Aro expressed that Master Marcus had the liberty to go wherever he so desires – in his letter to you. Perhaps you may have forgotten?" Demetri quirked an eyebrow his lips stretching wider, looking like the cat that ate the canary. Behind him the rest of the guards seemed very amused.
Marcus's body seemed to be present but mentally no one seemed to be home.
Behind the guards Carlisle spotted his wife, wringing her hands together, flanked by the rest of his visibly distressed family. Their facial features ranging from disbelief, to worry, to panic.
"Is there something wrong, Carlisle?" Demetri echoed the question back to the coven leader with a teasing tone.
Carlisle turned his eyes on the taupe-haired vampire, his Adam's apple bobbing with ill-concealed apprehension. What was he even going to say? He couldn't reject them. He couldn't dispute them. He knew some things might be out of his control the moment he bound himself to Aro's request. He just didn't anticipate situations like this to happen so soon!
"By no means," Carlisle shook his head. "But perhaps I and a few members of my family can escort you since this is your first visit to this unfamiliar land." He offered and hoped to the high heavens they would acquiesce.
Demetri chuckled in a way that had an ominous undertone. "That will not be necessary. I am positive all of us, " he gestured to the large body of guards that looked like they enjoyed picking their teeth with the shattered bones of their enemies. "Can manage to find our way around this village, and even back to your humble dwelling,"
"We are leaving. Now. While the night is still young." Without waiting for a response from the blonde vampire. Demetri walked forward, past Carlisle and through the front door. The guards instantly followed behind with Marcus at the center of their huddle.
Once the Volturi entourage disappeared. The Cullens rushed toward the good doctor, each one protesting louder than the other. Carlisle tried to appease his family. He informed them that perhaps nothing consequentially bad would happen. After all, as he scanned every eye that left the room, including the wandering eyes of the stupor Volturi leader. He concluded that all of them appeared to be fully fed recently.
The guilt of human lives being lost should at least be placated from their conscious tonight. So, aside from that gargantuan worry that plagued them – what else could possibly go wrong with a twilight stroll?
A/N: Happy New Years! Hope ya'll have a blessed and prosperous year! One of my resolutions is to write more this year. Fingers crossed!
Oh! And just to beat a few of you ahead in the comments to answer the question of: Why didn't Alice see any of this coming?
Because having a "know-it-all pixie" that sees every. little. freakin. outcome is annoying! So her "gift" will conveniently make selective appearances. Meaning, some things will fly under her radar. Thank god! And in the words of Shangela from RuPaul's Drag Race; HALLELOO!