…I was powerless to move, and I could not speak. I felt strangely…weak.

"I like your smell… it's…" He inhaled deeply, a long finger reaching out to touch my neck. "Wonderful."

He leaned forward, closer, until his lips touched the sensitive skin below my earlobe. My heart fluttered wildly, but I was still frozen. This was it. I was going to die. Even as the realisation dawned on me, I struggled to focus. He was kissing my neck. Something stirred within me, and a shiver ran down from my chest, all the way to my toes. My knees felt weak.

It felt good.

The shiver grew into a wave, and it carried on, like electric, up and down my body. I could only think of him, his presence, and his unique smell… I was inches away from dying. I knew it would only take one quick move with his teeth and he would suck me dry. The wave was both incapacitating and fulfilling. I couldn't move but I really didn't want to either. I managed to turn my face towards his, now trailing soft kisses down my neck, towards my collarbone. I heard a sigh as I began to fall toward his strong body, and realised with some surprise that it had escaped my lips. I wanted his lips to carry on exploring, to touch every inch of my…

Aalto let out a low growl, and seemed to force himself to take a step back. In that instant, I seemed to snap out of whatever trance he had put me in. I blinked, trying to clear the left over haze in my mind, as the waves of his power ebbed and faded. I blushed furiously as I realised what had gone through my mind. Never before had I felt such emotion, and never had I felt feelings or sensations like I had with this stranger.

"Whoa. What just happened?" I breathed, quite aware of my heaving chest and wide eyes.

"I… apologise. That was not fair of me." He seemed like he was still trying to compose himself. "I have this… power. You really did not stand a chance."

"What power?" I asked, curious now. Why was I still here? Why hadn't I run away screaming yet?

Because you wouldn't stand a chance running from him, a small voice in my head reminded me. Half human, remember? My eyes swept over his body again, taking in his tall, muscular frame. He was not as big as Emmett or as tall as Jasper; nevertheless, he looked fit. His strong vampire legs would catch me in two seconds flat if I tried to run.

"Why do you not tell me more about yourself, Renesmee?" He was evading the subject. He two more steps backwards, and then took a breath. I realised he had been holding his breath. He wanted to eat from me. I was used to visiting vampires acting a little strange around me, but never had I had this problem. Perhaps Aalto was very hungry. I looked at his blood red eyes for a moment and deduced that he had probably eaten yesterday, at the least.

He had not asked me what I was, though. Surely he must smell that I was different from normal humans?

"Okay. What do you want to know?" I asked, slowly, keeping my body still, so I didn't disturb the air and send his head reeling with my scent again.

"Well." He sat down on the ground and patted the space next to him. "You're not a vampire. But you're also not human."

"Wrong," I sat down next to him slowly, still cautious, though he seemed to be in control of himself. "I'm a bit of both."

"I am not sure I understand."

"Well, my mother got pregnant and had me when she was still human. She was changed just after I was born. My father is a vampire. I get the worst of both worlds really." I thought for a moment. "What power have you got?"

He looked up at me sharply. "You're making this hard for me." He mumbled.

I didn't understand. I was about to ask what was so difficult, when he looked right at me and showed me a dazzling smile. He had very straight white teeth and cute little dimples. I was completely distracted again. I could feel the waves starting to crash inside me again, and for a few seconds, I was lost to the feeling.

"My power is complicated." The waves disappeared as he looked away.

"I'm sure I can keep up"

He smiled at me again, but there were no waves this time.

"I can… control people. I can control their powers actually. I send waves that interfere with their minds… It is difficult to explain." He looked slightly unsure. Perhaps he was debating how much to tell me. A vampire's power is usually a closely guarded secret – at least when it comes to total strangers.

"Can I show you my power?" I lifted my hand towards him.

"What do you do?" He flinched a little when my warm hand touched his face.

I didn't answer. I tried to flood his mind with images of Forks. But I just couldn't. It was like I had forgotten how to do it. It scared me, until I remembered what he had said about his ability. He could control powers.

"You're shielding me?"

He grinned. "Tell me what you do and I will let you in."

"I won't hurt you, I promise… I… I have to show you it."

He regarded me for a moment, and then he dropped the shield. I knew, because everything felt different, though I hadn't noticed anything had changed in the first place. It's like when you are in a room and grow accustomed to a smell, like the smell of burning candles, or food. You walk outside and get some fresh air, and come back in and the smell hits you as if it hadn't been there all along.

Tentatively, I touched his cheek with my fingertips. I closed my eyes and concentrated on slowing down the images in my head. I showed him some of my early childhood memories, and I showed him my parents. I wasn't sure why, but I carefully censored Jacob out of the images. When I opened my eyes and pulled my hand back, Aalto was staring at me with wide eyes.

"You have a lovely gift."

"Thanks," I said, feeling myself blushing.

"What I do is kind of… different. It started when I was first changed. I could shield myself from…anything. I could go invisible to the people I wanted to avoid… and now I have trained myself to use the power – I think of them as waves – to control the minds of people. People – humans - are very easy to control like that. Vampires, a little more…challenging. Though if they have a power, I can harness that. I can use it to my advantage. I could make you show me your deepest, darkest secret moments. Or I could take away your ability completely." He stopped, aware that he had given away too much to a complete stranger.

"So, let me get this straight." I processed the information carefully. "You can control human minds… you manipulate vampire powers… and you can be invisible?" Something about that made the alarm bells ring in my head, but I couldn't think…

"Oh - " Now I had it. At the sign! The strange man in the distance!

I didn't trust my voice, so I put my fingers back on his cool skin and showed him the scene from the sign, and the strange man on the hill. He chuckled quietly and nodded.

"Yes, I was watching you. I was curious. It's not often one sees such a large coven. Especially around here."

"Why did you show yourself to me?"

"Like I said, I was curious. And you were different from the others. I was standing downwind from you all, and caught your scent. I knew you were not one of us."

Oh.

It seemed a little strange to me, but hey ho. My life had never been exactly normal. We sat in silence for a few minutes, and I wondered why I felt so at ease with this relative stranger. Perhaps he was manipulating my human half again. I searched within me for some echoes of the waves that he could send, but did not feel anything. Suddenly, I heard the faintest sound of footsteps running towards us.

Aalto was on his feet and in an animalistic crouch in front of me before I could even blink.

"Stay behind me Renesmee." He instructed, his voice tense. "This one's dangerous."

"Who is it?" I whispered, and then I froze. I did, in fact, feel danger.

"My brother."

A/N:

Hurrah! Yet another update. 2 in one day! You won't be so spoiled like this when I go back to uni next Monday. But maybe I can get most of the story done by then!

I got sick of reading about genetics, and saw the amazing reviews you guys had left, so decided to update again. Your alerts, favourites and reviews are spurring me on, so keep them coming. And if you like this story, let others know about it

I want one of you to tell me what Aalto's brothers' power is!! Come on! Have a guess! You're smart people!

The next chapter may have an 'M' rating, just to warn you. Or it may not. Tell me what you think I should do. ;)

Sara x