Chapter 8:

The screams only lasted one day until they died down into nothing. This was a great relief to everyone in the house. Carlisle spent the majority of his time locked in the upstairs room while everyone else stayed downstairs. Alice sat on the couch with a vacant look on her face. Try as she might, their future was full of clouded faces, hazy settings and muffled voices. There was too much uncertainty to get anything clear at the time being. She scowled.

"Its okay, Alice," Jasper assured from his seat on the arm of the couch.

"No it's not, Jazz!" she sighed as she leaned against him. After all this time, she still wasn't used to the large holes in her foresight. Over the years, however, the holes gradually changed into a haze as she became more and more familiar with beings like Nessie and Jacob.

"Just give things a little more time to clear up; they will soon." She smiled. Leave it to Jasper to try and make her feel better; he didn't even need to use his powers for her, he knew her that well. "I love you, Ali." She smiled at his own personal nickname for her.

"I love you too, Jazz."

The steady heartbeat began to race; it was a sign of the beginning of the end. Carlisle looked up from his book for a second. Emmett walked past the doorway, stopped and entered the room.

"What's up, Carlisle?" he asked.

"Hello, Emmett. The transformation should be complete in a few hours." Carlisle gently closed his book.

"Then what?" the younger Cullen asked as he leaned casually against the wall with his arms crossed over his broad chest.

"We'll have to wait and see. Apparently Alice is having trouble seeing day to day, so anything could happen."

"That sucks." Carlisle nodded in agreement.

"Alice certainly is frustrated with this. In a few hours, however, things will begin to clear up for her." Emmett nodded. That would really put Alice in a better mood. Tensions weren't particularly high with her, Jasper made sure of that, but her stress level was evident to everyone else. This had to be tough for her; there was no doubt about that.

Meanwhile, Nessie and Jacob were spending some time together in her room. He was sprawled out across her bed while she was perched on the window seat.

"So much for a wonderful evening together," he commented bitterly. The faintest hint of a smile graced her lips.

"Next time, Jake, I promise. We'll have the best date possible." A goofy smile spread across his face, causing her to giggle. He rolled onto his side to face her.

"We'll go hunting, then down to the beach at La Push, and then…" he trailed off.

"Then this?" Nessie asked innocently before launching herself at him. With surprising stealth, she managed to roll him over and pin him under her. Her rusty curls hung around her beautiful face like a curtain. She smiled down at him mischievously, reminding him that she was no longer the child she appeared to be.

Right when Nessie leaned down to press her lips against Jacob's, there was a sharp knock on the door. They both sighed. Edward always made a habit of interrupting at the most inconvenient times.

"Renesme, we're going to head up to the house; everything's going to finish up there any minute now," Bella explained through the door. Nessie rolled her eyes.

"'Kay Mom, be right there." She left a lingering kiss on Jacob's slightly parted lips. "I love you," she whispered. Her warm breath tickled his deeply tanned skin, which caused his heart to race even more.

"Renesme!" Bella snapped. Nessie rolled her eyes once again.

The Cullens, Jacob included, were all gathered in the spacious bedroom waiting for the end. Nessie eyed the young man from behind both Edward and Emmett. He had light brown hair streaked with blonde highlights. He had sharp, defining features but wasn't all too handsome like other vampires. It was almost as if something from his human life had caused him to look this way.

"Carlisle's thinking the same thing," her father told her softly. Part of Nessie wanted to shrink back behind the protection of Edward and Emmett, but something much stronger kept her captivated by the stranger. Deep down inside, she knew that she had seen him before, but the memory was too hazy to properly recall.

The young man stirred in his simple double bed. Carlisle looked to Edward, who nodded. Alice scowled in frustration for not knowing what was going on in their future. Carlisle took a step towards the bed. it was then that Nessie noticed that their guest was awake. She silently slid from behind Emmett and Edward to get a better view of what was going on. Everyone was too busy to really notice.

"Can you hear me?" Carlisle asked in his gentle yet professional voice. The young man's head whipped around, soaking everything in. When he caught sight of the crowd of people, he leapt off the bed into a defensive crouch. Carlisle held his hands up peacefully. "I know how traumatizing all of this can be, we're not going to harm you." The young man growled. His eyes continued to scan the room, freezing when he saw Nessie. Everything happened so fast. He lunged at her, but at the same time Edward leapt through the air to stop him. Edward, however, was the weaker of the two and was thrown against the wall. When Jasper and Emmett saw this, they tackled the newborn, pinning him to the ground. Between the two of them, he wasn't going anywhere. All of this took place in a matter of seconds. Nessie stood frozen in place, wide-eyed.

"Come on, Renesme," Bella gently insisted as she grabbed her trembling hand and lead her out of the room with Jacob hot on her heels.

Out in the hallway, Bella pulled Nessie into her strong arms and rubbed her back soothingly. Jacob stood back helplessly, not knowing what to do.

"Are you okay, sweetie?" Bella asked softly. Nessie nodded into her mother's shoulder. She was still shaking.

"Yeah, I'm fine, Mom." Bella was reluctant to let her go. someone had tried to go after and harm her baby. Her understanding of the unquenchable thirst was nothing compared to the actual thirst, so she couldn't fully comprehend why this ahd just happened.

The bedroom door opened and closed. The voices in the bedroom got momentarily louder, but Bella drowned them out.

"Bella," Edward said. She let go of Nessie and turned to face him. His attention, however, was currently on Jacob. After a few seconds, he nodded slightly.

"Come on, Ness, let's go downstairs," Jacob said as he took her hand. Although his voice was gentle, she knew that she had no say in the matter. She laced her fingers with his and followed him downstairs away from the turmoil.

Once Nessie and Jacob were gone, Edward turned his attention to Bella and the situation at hand.

"He's a newborn, he didn't know," he defended right away. She had almost no understanding about what it was like to be a proper newborn.

"I know." She paused. "Who exactly is 'he'?" Edward leaned against the wall with his hands shoved deep in his pockets.

"His name is Dean. From what he told us, he just moved to a place a few towns over, and he crashed his bike in the woods. He probably would have died." She nodded understandingly.

"How's he taking this?" Edward shrugged.

"It's a lot to take in. Carlisle and Alice are doing their best to ease him into it all." Bella chewed nervously on her bottom lip; there was more she longed to talk about.

"Edward, did you see his-"

"Dean."

"Dean's face? It's like its scarred or something."

"Everyone noticed that, but Jasper is scarred too."

"Those are scars from killing newborns, they came after he was a vampire. Dean was transformed and automatically looks…different than regular vampires." Frustration overtook Bella when she couldn't describe the difference in Dean's appearance. He didn't look like the vampires from Romania, but the deformities were similar in nature.

"I know; it puzzles us all." Edward cupped her face in his sturdy hand. Leaning into his loving touch, she closed her eyes and breathed in his wonderful scent. They could both hear the voices inside the bedroom wondering where they were.

"Let's go home," she insisted. "I don't want to stay." Her angry towards Dean for going after Nessie was still obvious.

"I'll tell Carlisle and Esme…" He turned to leave, but she grasped his hand firmly in hers.

"No, I just want to leave," she insisted before pressing her lips against his in an urgent kiss. "Please Edward," she breathed against his lips. He could tell that there was something off about Bella, but he couldn't quite figure out what.

Meanwhile, Nessie and Jacob were on the plush couch away from everything going on upstairs. Wordlessly, she reached over and ran her fingers through his shaggy waves and trailed her fingertips along his sturdy jaw.

"I think I'm going to cut my hair soon," he told her, causing her to pout.

"Please don't, Jake, I like it long. Mom always talks about when your hair was long, and I like it longer." He sighed.

"It's easier to transform." She continued to pout. There was no way he could resist her pout, and they both knew that. "Maybe I'll just trim it." She smiled. "Wanna go down to La Push tonight?" he asked completely out of the blue, catching Nessie off guard.

"La Push?" she repeated. Her slender fingers drifted back to his hair.

"Yeah, you know the reservation where I sometimes decide to live. It might be nice to have a night to ourselves." She smiled even wider than before. After the last few days some time at La Push might be nice and somewhat relaxing.