A/N I have had to go back and edit some of the previous chapters to put {} in to denote thought that can be read by Edward. This is to distinguish it from vampire speech which will be just italicised in quotes.

Thanks again to all of you who take the time to review. Sorry I don't answer more of you.

15

April 2009

Edward Masen paced in front of the building containing his 'cousins'. The house was closely surrounded by trees with large canopies so that it wasn't even visible from the air, it gave the area a warm, womb-like feeling even in the sub zero temperatures. He hadn't meant to head into Alaska when he had set out from Ithaca to hunt during the Easter holidays, but somehow he had traversed the whole of Canada, 4.5 thousand miles! And for what? His golden eyes narrowed as he read the minds behind him. If only they would realise that he had no intention of travelling to see the Cullens things would go a lot smoother. But as usual they were going to try and convince him to visit with his 'family'.

He scoffed at the notion. More than half of his life he had been separated from them, but still the Denali's consider him a Cullen. Maybe it was that even though he had left them he still lived the vegetarian life? But then, so did they. Admittedly he was the only vampire he knew without a coven who did, but that should not automatically make the others assume he belonged to one or the other known covens.

"I don't know why I came here." He said, the door opened behind him and the beautiful succubus Tanya stepped out. The peace of the area was shattered by her presence.

"Maybe you missed us?" she offered, her hand raised as if to touch him.

"I don't miss you nagging at me." He snapped, stepping back so that he was out of her reach, she often tried to touch him and though he did not really want to hurt her, he didn't want to be touched by anyone if he could avoid it.

"When are you going to admit you were wrong and go back?" This was a new tack. Usually the Denali's tried to convince him that the Cullen's were sorry, or that they missed him. Blaming HIM for the split was new.

"I was wrong?" he shouted. "I wasn't the one who allowed a total stranger to come in and move all my stuff out of my room! I wasn't the one who allowed her to rearrange everything and didn't protest!"

"No, you were the one who took umbrage and left without giving her a chance." Tanya told him. "Alice is a good girl. And I know you would like Jasper if you gave him a chance."

"Why should I?" he sounded petulant even to himself. When had he actually turned into a child again?

"It's times like this I'm reminded that you are 17." Tanya said. "I thank the powers that I was totally out of puberty when I was changed. I don't think my family could cope with centuries of pettiness and hormones."

"We don't have hormones." Edward corrected her.

"Whatever we have!" she snapped back, at the end of her patience. "All I know is that you need to grow up!"

"I'm 108!" he told her, as if she didn't know.

"Then act your age and not your shoe size!" she snapped back.

Edward grinned, "That sounded like Emmett," he said wistfully.

"Yeah, he said it a while back to me and I liked it." She smiled back at him.

"I do miss them you know, but how can I go back now?" Truthfully he had been thinking of finding his family for several years. He really did miss them tremendously and everyone he had met who had seen them since he left had said what a nice couple Alice and Jasper were.

"You know they would welcome you back in a heart… second." She changed the saying, grinning at him.

"I don't know, I'll think about it, that's all I'm saying." It was so tempting. He had thought that he was lonely when he had been the only singleton in the family, but recent years have shown him what lonely really meant. The kids at school tried to be friendly but he had no interest in the things that interested the youth of today. Sex drugs and rock and roll were as popular in the universities in the 2000's as they had been in the 1960's, and just as incomprehensible to his Edwardian mind as ever. The more things change the more they stay the same, he sighed.

"Here," Tanya broke into his musing as she handed over a piece of paper. On it was an address of an attorney and a name, J. Jenks. "That's the man Jasper uses for papers, he's very good, we started using him after the family visited back in 2000, don't worry about questions, Jasper has him so terrified if you tried to tell him anything he didn't want to know he would faint away! You just have to attach photos after, Jasper doesn't want him knowing what any of you look like."

"Thanks, I usually do my own." He told her, but pocketed the address any way. It was getting harder and harder to forge good papers as technology advanced and paranoia increased. "Where are they?" he asked, the whole family had been very careful around him, trying not to think too much of the Cullen's in his presence.

"Forks, they moved there earlier this year. Emmett, Rosalie, Jasper and Alice are all attending school and Carlisle…"

"Is a doctor at the hospital?" Edward interrupted, he hadn't been back there since the family was there in the late 1930's but he clearly remembered the cottage hospital that Carlisle worked in before. He figured that it had been updated some, but maybe not, the population probably wasn't that much more now from back then.

"Yeah." She put her hand onto his arm, he flinched. "Go visit them Edward. They really do miss you, even Rose has said so."

"Ok, maybe it is time I grew up." He grinned at her, moving back a pace "I'll finish off my degree and then go." She handed him tickets to Ithaca with a change at Boston. He raised an eyebrow at her.

"Alice." Was all she said. He nodded and grinned ruefully, the person he most blamed for the split with his family was the one who tried to look out for him most; this wasn't the first time she had sent things she thought he needed to him via the Denali family. He didn't need them, of course, he was well able to afford them and buy them himself, but it was Alice's way of letting him know that even after everything she still considered him a part of the family and she was looking out for him. Unlike the first time it happened, when he had thrown the gift away in a temper, this time he mouthed a silent thank you, knowing she would have already seen it.

A phone call from Tanya with a message from Alice as he was about to board the flight from Seattle to Port Angeles, some months later, changed his plans. He booked in his luggage but rather than make the change to the onward flight, he slipped out of the airport and ran. His luggage would wait for him to collect it. He had missed being with his family, and now that he had finally decided to find them he couldn't wait. He ran north knowing exactly where the clearing was that they would be playing baseball. If he hurried he may be in time to actually play? It had been a long time since he had played baseball. He startled a herd of deer but bypassed the free meal. He had hunted a week ago and had taken 2 animals then so, though his eyes were dark, he didn't really feel his thirst needed to be slated right then. He just wanted to get to his family at long last. Then after the game they could sit down for a serious talk, it was almost certain that there was trouble headed their way. After that he could hunt. He missed Emmett and Carlisle's company when running through the forests of the state park.

He slowed when he got within ten miles of the place. There was no need to rush in; he could just pick out Carlisle's thoughts at this range if he concentrated hard. His talent allowed him to read most people at up to 2 miles away, and vampires up to 5, but if he was particularly familiar with them he could stretch that to double the distance.

A wave of conflicting thoughts hit him and he stopped dead. Both Carlisle and Esme, the only two he could read at this distance, were worried, hopeful, worried, joyous, worried! He tried to read why they were having such reactions but could not catch the reason from their minds as they were too busy concentrating on what was happening around them, which seemed to be nothing more than a baseball game.

He started to run again, but at a reduced speed trying to figure out what was wrong, other thoughts intruded on him as he got within range, Emmett, was of course enjoying the match, that had just started, but was distracted by someone that he was determined to protect. Rosalie was complaining of the dirt on her uniform to a petite woman with long brown hair? It was the same face he could see in Emmett's thoughts. He rolled his eyes at the unchanging vanity of Rose. As he got even closer he could read that Jasper was planning tactics, but not for baseball, his mind was filled with plans to defend one of their number, the same person Emmett was visualising. Alice was shouting at the top of her mind for him to hurry, that there wasn't much time, she showed him a vision… and his blood ran cold. Jasper, so intent on protecting the other person of the group that he was distracted… she was shouting that the trouble that had finally sent him here would take advantage of this and her mate would be seriously injured, Carlisle would then step in and he too would be severely hurt. He sped up to full speed, if there had been a human in the area they would only have seen a shadow passing, something they could dismiss as tiredness or blurred vision.

Eventually, as he got closer he realised that on top of the 'voices' of his family he could distinguish two more approaching. A chill ran through him as he recognised that the tone of one of them was the one that had interrupted his study last year! Alice was right. The trouble he had worried about had found his family first! But two of them? Everything he knew told him there was only one, so who was the other? However no matter if it was one or two, they were here, he was right. They had decided to try their strength against his family. The man was arrogant in the extreme, confident that he could take on any number of 'human lovers' and win. The woman was not so confident of winning a pitched battle, but she knew her talent for escape would ensure that they survived. She would rather pick off the coven one by one than confront them all at once. But she was overruled by the male, the tracker. She was the one that had to be dealt with first or her talent could cause major trouble.

Edward stayed out of sight and listened as Alice called the family together, he could see in their thoughts the stranger in their midst. This was the person Jasper and Emmett were so eager to protect? He noted her brown hair tinged with flecks of copper first, then he noticed her blush and brown eyes, she was human? Edward tried to reach her thoughts but for some reason he couldn't seem to locate her. He had more important things on his mind than that, carefully he probed the two strange vampires' minds.

The nomadic pair approached the family and disassembled, they pretended that they had not known of the coven, Edward edged closer to the clearing cautiously, wary of setting off the redhead's talent and perhaps losing the opportunity to stop the tracker. When the male fixated on the human girl he judge that it was the best time to step in, the redhead, for some reason suddenly had no thought but to drain the girl, her talent was swamped by the overwhelming need to feed. The Cullen's made a non-threatening barrier between the human and the nomads, and Edward flashed in between them. He crouched into a hunting stance and the Cullen's behind him automatically followed suit.

The Nomads were suddenly less certain of their prey for some reason. The addition of one more vegetarian should not have made such a difference, but both were distracted by the human. Edward easily read their intentions, if they left the field they would hunt down the girl, and then the Cullen's one at a time. He couldn't allow that to happen he gave a quick gesture to Jasper, hoping he understood. He read that he did and that he switched his focus from protecting the human girl to attacking the female vampire, they both jumped onto the woman. Jasper held her shoulders and with a quick twist, Edward tore her head off and threw it on the ground. The tracker, moved as fast as he could away from the field, but in seconds Edward used his superior speed to overtake him and dispatched him as well. Emmett appeared at his side as he finished and they carried the remains into the clearing where a fire was burning, waiting, the ashes of the woman already swirling around in the frigid air coming off the mountain range. As soon as the danger was over he felt an almost overwhelming pull towards the back of the family that crowded around him. He shook it off as they all moved to greet him.

"Welcome back brother!" Emmett said and offered his hand for a high-five. Edward grinned at him and their hands met with a resounding slap.

"Why did we need to kill them?" Carlisle asked, curiously, {wouldn't they have listened to reason?} Edward was pleased to note that even in his mind Carlisle harboured not a single thought that Edward did not have a good reason for what he did, and that he trusted his son implicitly. He just wanted to know why it was necessary to dispatch the pair.

"They were hunting you from the start. The male was a tracker, and has been travelling the States for over fifty years taking out anyone he sees as either stronger than him, or weaker."

"I won't ask what category they put us in, it was stupid of them to attack so many." Jasper said.

"I don't know how he thought he would get away with it, but the woman was confident that they would survive, her talent was evasion, that is how they have survived and killed so many over the years, she may have caused serious problems, and they planned on taking you all out one by one if they didn't manage in one battle." Edward shared the knowledge that he had gleaned from their thoughts.

"I'm glad to see you, son." Carlisle enveloped him in a crushing hug, made all the tighter by Esme seconds later, though he was uncomfortable with their touch he would not have stopped the hug for anything in the world, it showed, more than anything else, how much they missed him and how welcome he was to join them again.

"We missed you." His mother cried. Edward grimaced and patted her awkwardly on the back.

"It's about time you stopped sulking." Well he didn't expect sympathy or hugs from Rose so that wasn't a surprise, however her thoughts showed him how much she had missed him and he was touched by the fact that she allowed him to see it.

"I'm sorry." Flashes of visions assaulted him as he turned to Alice. The way things should have gone. Her dismay at the way they went, and her heartfelt apology for her actions.

He nodded his head. Not quite ready to accept her totally and call her sister.

"And this is Bella!" Emmett told him, dragging the human into the fold.

Her scent hit him, his eyes flashed black. Thirst roared in his throat as the most delicious smell he had ever encountered assaulted him. It was freesia, honeysuckle and woman all subtly masked by the rather astringent smell of a mix of chemicals that humans may consider smelled like strawberries, but vampire senses were too keen for that to work and he could smell each chemical in the mix. It did nothing, however, to lessen the pull the smell of her blood had on him.

He backed away quickly, the girls eyes widened and a blush suffused her face as she read his rejection of her, the scent on the air grew even stronger, making his inner monster roar in delight at the thought of her blood. Jasper at his side groaned and fell to his knees, his hands holding his head. Edward read his thirst, which added to his own, which Jasper felt added to his. The exponential expansion was only going to end one way, with the death of the human. Jasper struggled to his feet and sped off in the direction of the Cullen home in Forks.

As soon as he was out of sight Edward tried to block his mind to give them both relief, he felt the sudden lessening of Jasper's thirst as the warrior's talent got out of range of Edward. Jasper pulled up and edged back to the clearing, determined to protect the girl if necessary.

Though the thirst lessened substantially the pull of the human was still more than he had ever known in his very long existence. He sent a despairing glance at Carlisle, who seemed, for once, to read HIS mind. He flashed to his side and grabbed him by the arms, holding him. As soon as he felt the restraint he started to struggle, the animal in him fighting to get to the food that he had just backed away from voluntarily. Emmett and Esme joined in, holding him away from the girl.

"Bella!" Alice grabbed the girl and sprinted to the far side of the clearing just as his struggle succeeded in freeing one of his arms. The cloying stench of burning vampire filled his lungs and cooled the burning in his throat slightly as Alice took the human out of the range of his sense of smell.

"What the hell?" he asked, shaking his head to clear it, looking at the girl, trying to read her mind and find out how she had affected him.

"Edward?" Carlisle loosened his grip slightly as he seemed to get more control.

"Her smell!" he explained. "It's like… I don't know, I can't describe it!"

"We know she smells good, but you have to resist, hey man if Jasper can you should be able to." Emmett received a slap on the head for that comment.

Everyone turned to look where Jasper had disappeared, he was stood right on the edge of the clearing, his body rigid, but determined to return and flood the place with calm if needed. However the vampires could all see that his eyes were black as coal, shining with thirst, he grit his teeth and refused to allow it to overpower him. Edward took a very quick read of the man's mind and had every sympathy for him, not only having to deal with his own thirst, but having to cope with Edward's unreasonable response on top.

"Help me." He turned to his father, "I'm sorry I have to get away, I'll kill her if I stay."

"Let me go Alice!" The girl's voice floated towards them on the air.

"No, Bella I'm sorry something has gone wrong." Alice told her, puzzled.

"If Edward cannot stay because of me, let me leave. I don't mind, it's more important that your family is back together. I'll be fine, just point me at the closest road."

"Don't be silly Bella," Rose sped over to them on the other side of the clearing. "Everything will be fine. Edward is just overreacting as usual." He could read her thoughts though, she didn't think he was over reacting at all, she was remembering a woman that Emmett had attacked years ago, an overwhelming smell, a sudden overpowering thirst, a dead woman, her husband wracked with guilt over taking his first human life.

He could see from Emmett's eyes that he too was remembering. Edward shied away from reading his brother's thoughts; he didn't need any additional thirst on top of what the girl was sending his way.

"I thought I was supposed to help bring Edward back, not drive him away." The girl was almost in tears, Edward focussed on her face but no matter how he tried he could not read her mind.

"You did, you have!" Alice and Rose assured her.

"If it hadn't been for you being here, we wouldn't have been, if we hadn't been here at this time, the nomads would have hunted us down later, somewhere else and Edward wouldn't have been around to read their intentions. You saved us all Bella." Alice shook the girl slightly, wafting her scent onto the air, an eddy of wind at that second brought the delicious smell to Edward again and he had to lock all his muscles to stop himself attacking her. He groaned as his vampire self struggled with the remnants of his humanity.

Alice was sending him memory after memory of the girl, her life as the Cullen's watched her grow, her personality, her accidents, her mother, her father… a full history of the girl. He sunk himself into these memories, trying to block the smell that was overwhelming him.

"I'm ok," he told his family. He relaxed slightly but was a bit peeved when he noticed them all look at Alice before releasing him fully.

{Are you sure son?} Carlisle asked silently, his thought betraying his worry over the girl. Edward was shocked to read that both he and Esme thought of the girl as another daughter. She was just a human! But Edward nodded, he was sure he would be fine as long as he didn't get too close to her again. {We will head back to the house; do you think you can cope with her close by?}

He shrugged, it depended how close. Alice nodded again at the family and they turned and headed back to Forks. Rose helped Bella onto her back and they followed. Jasper and Carlisle kept pace with him as they made their way to the house. At least with him being in front and travelling so fast there was no way of catching her scent. He took the time to once more try and hear her thoughts, but she was a complete blank to him, as if she wasn't there.

When they reached the Cullen house Edward moved to the door, as the others arrived, surely they would not risk her bring in an enclosed space with him? Bella climbed off Rose's back and he was relieved, but at the same time strangely disappointed, to see her head straight for a rather dilapidated truck.

"Where do you think you are going?" Rose asked catching her arm.

"Home, Edward is back, you don't need me anymore." She sounded surprised that they would ask. The Cullen's were aghast, Edward actually shared their shock. Did she really think that the only reason they made friends with her was to get Edward home? It was obvious that she did, and he could hear the thoughts of several family members as they realised they should have thought of it earlier, knowing her background. "It's been nice to meet you Edward, I know you will be very happy now you are back with your family, they have missed you loads." She smiled hugely at him, with no sign of regret at being so used, as she dug her keys from her jeans pocket.

"You are just going to leave?" he asked, trying once again to penetrate her silent thoughts. If he concentrated hard enough on trying to read her mind her scent didn't bother him quite so much. That didn't mean it wasn't exceptionally strong in its allure, just that he could cage the monster inside if he made the rational side of him totally dominant. It was exhausting though, he doubted he could keep it up for long. The vampire mind was designed to be able to concentrate on many things at once; keeping the whole of his mind focussed on one thing was harder than it sounded. His concentration was shaken slightly as the human… Bella started to speak again.

"Well, yes. You all have some catching up to do, and Charlie will be wondering where I am," she looked at her watch, frowned and then looked up at the sun as if to verify the time.

"Charlie will not be wondering where you are for a good 6 hours Bella!" Alice protested, latching her arm through Bella's.

"You are a part of this family now Bella, it wouldn't be the same without you my dear." Esme said, Rose latched onto her other arm.

"But…" she gestured to Edward and lowered her voice to a whisper, "I don't want to make him uncomfortable." She blushed.

"Please, don't leave." He couldn't understand why he wanted her to stay. His throat was burning and it was taking all of his willpower to stop himself from attacking her, but he definitely didn't want her to leave after all.