Disclaimer: I do not own Vampire Academy or Twilight stories or their characters.

Chapter 2

Rose POV

Lissa and I were in her suite packing for college. Lissa had changed her mind on what college she wanted to attend and chose to go to Dartmouth in New Hampshire. I never really liked the idea of her going to a school as large as Lehigh anyway so when she was accepted to Dartmouth I was happy for her. Eddie and I were accepted by default because we were her guardians. Apparently someone in the admissions office knew about our world and accepted the three of us without question. The school was smaller and the town was much smaller in population than that of Bethlehem Pennsylvania so it would be slightly easier to guard her there.

Once we finished in her room we went to my room. I didn't have all that much to pack for school, but Lissa decided that we would rent a house while we attended school so we wouldn't have to worry about others discovering the feeders and that she was the Moroi Queen. The council was in charge of making minor decisions while she was at school and she would have to come to court every so often to make the larger decisions. She would have several council meetings via conference calls and receive written transcripts of all council meetings. Lissa already had a house set up for us and Christian and Dimitri would also stay there with us. Christian wasn't attending Dartmouth but was taking some online courses from a local technical college there. He also took some culinary classes locally. I was happy because after everything, we would be able to live together and I still had Dimitri. I felt bad about Adrian, but we had come to an understanding. Deep down he knew that I would never get over Dimitri and when he was restored he knew I would never love him like I did Dimitri. We had an uneasy relationship at the moment, but we had forgiven each other for the thing we said and did. Adrian was coming with us for the first couple weeks to help us all get settled. Mia stayed at court with her father and Jill was at the academy. Everything was coming together. Hell even mom and dad were getting along. Mom and I had gotten a little closer but I was still closer to dad.

We had everything packed and ready to go. We loaded everything onto the jet and got seated just before the jet was ready to take off. I was glad that I didn't have to worry about the darkness and the ghost headaches anymore, but I hated that Lissa had to deal with those things on her own now. Sometimes I felt like I could sense slight emotions from her but I thought it was my imagination and I disregarded it. We taxied down the runway flying to what would be our new home for the next little while. I fell asleep in Dimitri's arms before we were in the air five minutes.

Bella POV

We had everything ready to go at the house and Jacob had left to get his things from his house and tell the pack he was leaving. I knew they wouldn't like it but he had imprinted on Renesmee and they wouldn't blame him for following us. We loaded everything in the cars that we could and the movers would get the rest. I would definitely miss our little cottage in the woods and I made Edward promise that we were coming back soon to visit. We decided to drive so that we wouldn't have to have the cars shipped there and it wouldn't take that long anyway, seeing as the Cullen's drive like speed demons anyway.

Driving across the country is hell. It didn't take as long as humans would take to get there, but I was still frustrated from sitting in a car so long. Since we don't sleep, there was nothing for me to do but watch the world go by. Edward laughed at my rant of not doing anything. Renesmee slept most of the way. Sometimes I envied her because she didn't stand out like we did. I also wanted to be able to sleep again but I wouldn't change my life now at all. I had the best family and friends to support me and most importantly, I had Edward and our daughter.

We arrived at our new home and we were slightly surprised that there were several people moving things into the house down the street. I cast a wary glance toward Edward and he didn't look phased. We spent the next couple of days getting things prepared and when we were finished we addressed the topic of our new neighbors.

"Something seems off about them, that's for sure, but I don't know what." Alice said. "I don't think that they would hurt us but we have to be very careful." We all nodded in agreement. We were to start with orientation this week and classes started. Just then there was a hesitant knock at the door.

Rose POV

When the jet landed, we hurried to get our things and get to the house. Lissa had rented a furnished home close to the school, but far enough out of town so that we wouldn't draw any attention from the humans or the Strigoi. We started to bring our things in as soon as we arrived and Lissa was inside placing things where she wanted them. As we were taking things inside, several cars came down the street and parked in front of a house down the street. I watched them out of the corner of my eye as they unloaded their cars. They all seemed to be paired off except for a little girl and a tanned muscled teenager. The first eight were even more pale that the Moroi. I thought that they could be Strigoi, but they wouldn't allow the other two to stay alive this long. They were all happy and laughing. There was a dark headed woman that reminded me slightly of a farie, she looked straight at me and I could see that she didn't have red eyes. Her eyes were a golden honey color and they were beautiful. I turned back to unloading the stuff into the house and they went inside. Once we were done, I talked to the others about the strange neighbors. They had all noticed something different about them, but like me they couldn't figure out what it was. We decided to act normal and neighborly. Lissa, Dimitri, and I went over while the rest of the boys stayed at the house. Lissa knocked hesitantly on the door and we waited for it to open. Soon after, the door opened and the tall blonde man that appeared to be the oldest appeared with a woman similar in age.

"Hello, we just moved in a few houses down and we were out introducing ourselves to the neighbors. I'm Lissa and this is my best friend Rose and her boyfriend Dimitri." Lissa said in her queenly voice. The couple seemed surprised at us. They invited us in and I started to protest but that would only draw more suspicion. We stepped through the door and into the large living room of the house. There were a lot of people here. I looked around and saw all of the faces staring at us. The older man started to speak.

"This is my family and we just moved here so the kids can attend college. My name is Carlisle and this is my wife Esme. These are my adopted children Rosalie and her husband Emmet." He pointed to a pretty blonde and a huge man beside her. "This is Jasper and his wife Alice." He said pointing to the small pixie looking girl and a tall man. "This is Edward and his wife Bella and their friend Jacob. The child is Edward's niece." He finished motioning to the last pair and the tanned boy and the little girl. I could see the resemblances to Edward in the little girl, but there were resemblances to Bella too.

"Well perhaps we need to get the boys over here to introduce them as well since they will be around pretty often." Lissa said looking at me and Dimitri. We asked if it was okay and I asked Dimitri to go and get them. He didn't like leaving us here alone, but did what we asked. Moments later the boys were here and I introduce them.

"These are our friends. This is Lissa's boyfriend Christian and this is Eddie and Adrian." I said. I felt a little nauseated suddenly and I excused myself. I walked back outside where it had gotten dark. I didn't know how I was detecting the Strigoi since the bond was broken but the farther I got from the house, the worse it got. I pulled my stake and before I knew it there were three Strigoi staring me down with their red- rimmed eyes. They lunged and I exchanged blows with them for several minutes but managed to stake the first one. The other two put up quite a fight but I managed to get them staked. I was panting from the hard fight and hadn't noticed that I was being watched. I heard something in the tree line and I looked towards the sound.

"Show yourself!" I said. I was somewhat surprised when Carlisle stepped out of the tree line.

"What are you?" He asked. "You are certainly not human but not like us either. What are these things that attacked you?"

"Well what are you? There is something different about you and your family but I can't place it." I said. I wanted answers just like he did.

"You are injured, come back to the house and we will get you fixed up." Carlisle said. He grabbed my shoulder to steady me and his skin was cold as ice. I pulled away in shock but followed him back to the house. We all needed to sit down and talk about this that's for sure. As soon as I was through the door I saw Carlisle's family tense up and Lissa ran to me.

"Rose, what did you do to yourself now?" Without thinking she placed her hand on my shoulder and healed me. I started to protest but she had already finished healing me. Well hell I guess the cat's out of the bag now. I heard startled gasps and Lissa widened her eyes at what she had just done.

"How did you do that Lissa?" Carlisle asked.

"I think we all need to sit down and have a little talk. Clearly none of us here are entirely human so let's just get on with it." I said angrily. I started to feel some of Lissa's emotions and I knew the bond was reforming. I had inadvertently taken the darkness from her and that made me irritable. Adrian must have noticed too because he was sitting there with wide eyes too. I took a calming breath and turned to Lissa. "Liss, I think the bond is coming back." Her eyes widened further as we all took a seat.

"What bond?" Carlisle asked.

"We will get to that in a minute. First, we are different from humans. Eddie, Dimitri and I are Damphirs- half human and half vampire." As I said vampire they all widened their eyes and looked at each other. "Lissa, Christian, and Adrian are vampires called Moroi. Those things that I killed outside are also vampires called Strigoi. Moroi drink blood but do not kill the donors, whereas Strigoi kill their victims. Moroi are mortal and they are born, grow old, die, and have children. Strigoi are immortal and are created but will turn to ash if they encounter sunlight. There are twelve royal families of Moroi and we have a government and a Queen that rules. Damphirs do not drink blood and are trained to protect Moroi from Strigoi." I said. Carlisle's family looked confused.

"What is the bond you mentioned?" Carlisle asked.

"All Moroi have elemental magic. There are five that each Moroi could specialize in- Earth, Air, Fire, Water, and Spirit. Spirit is the rarest and has only been recently rediscovered. Spirit has several abilities but healing is the most prominent. Lissa is a spirit user and that's how she healed me. When she heals someone bringing them back to life, it creates a bond. Several years ago we were in a car crash with her parents and her brother and Lissa was the only survivor. Lissa brought me back, creating the bond." There was a sharp intake of breath from all of those that didn't know this. "The bond allows me to feel her thoughts and emotions. Sometimes I can see through her eyes but the bond is both a curse and a blessing. Using spirit creates darkness that causes the user to go crazy if not properly controlled. Because I am bonded to Lissa, I can take the darkness from her and I often do so both intentionally and unintentionally. This causes me to experience the effects of the darkness, which usually included sudden anger and unexplained depression." I finished and looked over to Carlisle since he seemed to be the spokesperson of the family. "I've told you about us now what about you?"

"We are not Strigoi and we can go into the sun, but we try to avoid it so that we don't attract attention to ourselves. We are vampires but our family lives on animal blood alone. Others of our kind have bright red eyes instead of the red-rimmed creatures you fought. We are immortal and If we bite a human, that person would be turned or have to be drained. Our thirst for human blood is still there for most of us, but is controlled. Renesmee is similar to the Damphirs you described but she grows at an accelerated rate. We are governed by the Voltori, who live in Italy. They are the equivalent of kings in our world. Most of our kind are like the Strigoi in most senses but we keep our human emotions and morals."

"Okay, what about the Jacob kid that's glaring holes in us over there?" I asked.

"Jacob is not a vampire but he won't hurt you. He is a shape shifter. Most of them don't like our kind but he tolerates us since we don't kill humans. They have even helped us in a few battles." He answered.

"Don't count on me not hurting them if the hurt humans." Jacob stated.

"Relax, Moroi saliva is different from theirs. Moroi saliva releases endorphins that don't hurt the donor. They just get a slight high from the bite but it can be addictive. They get there blood from feeders. These are basically human junkies that voluntarily give blood for the high they get." I explained.

"Our saliva is like a venom that begins to turn the person as soon as it is in the bloodstream." Carlisle explained. "So how do you kill the Strigoi?" He asked. He was clearly interested in the fact there were different species of vampires.

"Well they can be staked through the heart with a magic infused stake, decapitated or set on fire." I said simply. Or they can be restored to their original selves but that's just because of Liss I thought.

"What do you mean restored?" Edward asked. WTF did he hear my thoughts? I looked up and he nodded.

"How in the hell can you hear my thoughts?" I asked.

You aren't the only ones with 'magic'." He said smiling.

"Anyway, Strigoi can be restored of they are staked in the heart by a spirit user who also infused their magic into the stake. Our stakes are normally not infused with spirit, but the four other elements. It has only been done twice that I've witnessed."

"You said that you are Damphirs. How does your kind get Damphirs?" Bella asked. "I had Renesmee before I was turned and it was either that or die."

"Two Moroi create more Moroi. Moroi and Damphir create Damphirs. Moroi can also breed with humans creating Damphirs but it's frowned upon. Damphirs cannot reproduce with other Damphirs." I stated the last part sadly and Dimitri wrapped his arms around me. I hated it. I've already died twice and still can't have kids with the one I love.

"Wait you died twice?" Edward asked. Damn him and his mind reading. He just smirked at me.

"Yes, the first time was in the accident when the bond was formed. The second time was more recent. I was framed for the murder of the Queen and when I called out the real killer, they fired a shot at Lissa and I jumped in to protect her. I was shot in the chest and died, but I fought it and wasn't healed by spirit. The bond was silent since then but seems to be reforming." I said and my phone started to ring. I looked at it and groaned. I lifted a hand for everyone to be quiet and answered the phone.

"Hey old man. What are you doing calling so late?"

"Kiz I was just wondering where the hell you are? I decided to come for a quick visit but you aren't here and I got a little worried." He explained. Shit he was at our house.

"Sorry dad, we were meeting the neighbors and swapping stories. Stay there and we will be there in a minute. Don't go wandering around in the dark. You know there could be Strigoi around." I said. He laughed.

"I could say the same about you kids. Hurry up, I brought us dinner." My stomach growled so loud I swear he could hear it over the phone.

"Yeah, yeah be there in a minute. Hold your horses old man." I hung up before he could say anything else. The whole room burst into laughter at the exchange.

"Roza." Dimitri said in exasperation.

"Is she always this…." Jasper groped for the right word. "Outspoken I guess is the word?"

"Yes." My friends said simultaneously and we all laughed. We stood and said our goodbyes. We went over to our house to see Abe standing just outside with his two guardians. We went inside to eat dinner with my dad. I hoped we could avoid the topic of our new neighbors.