Chapter 2 – Return to Isle Esme

When Esme and Carlisle returned home they were pounced on by their family. After they unpacked, they listened to Jasper and Alice update them about their plans to help some of the pack redecorate their homes at La Push. Rosalie and excitedly announced they planned to have another wedding soon and Renesmee relayed all the fun she'd been having with Jacob, whilst they were gone.

Edward and Bella updated them on their plans for Dartmouth. Edward had been in touch with them and they had agreed to let them start in the New Year, as long as they completed all the preparatory work and catch-up that they would be sent in the post. Edward had convinced Dartmouth of a great personal tragedy they had faced, which caused them to miss the start of term.

They patiently answered all the questions about how their holiday went and once everyone seemed happy they asked to speak to Edward and Bella alone.

Carlisle and Esme explained all about their encounter with Kaure and how badly affected she had been when she last saw Edward and Bella. They explained that they had tried to convince Kaure that Bella was okay, but that Kaure would not listen.

Edward didn't have to read Bella's mind to know exactly what she was thinking. Bella fidgeted a little in her seat and turned to Edward, just as she was about to speak he put his finger gently to her lips and said "Of course, we can go to Isle Esme".

Edward and Bella embraced as Carlisle and Esme looked on fondly. It took a few days, but soon enough all the arrangements were made. Edward and Bella were set to return to Isle Esme for a second honeymoon. They decided to take Renesmee with them.

Jacob made it abundantly clear that he couldn't bear to be apart from Renesmee for any length of time. The bond they shared was just too great. He explained that the pack would be fine without him for a little while. for any length of time and, although Edward sympathised with Jacob he wanted it to be just the three of them, but Renesmee used her gift and filled his mind with visions of Jacob and how happy that made her feel. She also showed him visions of her feeling lost whenever they were apart. With a heavy sigh Edward agreed that Jacob could come with them.

******

The journey to Isle Esme was pretty uneventful. Renesmee and Jacob did a lot of sleeping and that gave Edward and Bella plenty of alone time. Bella was determined to set things right with Kaure, she was very anxious; having remembered just how badly Kaure had reacted when they last saw each other. Edward shuddered at the memory of a frail human Bella carrying their child and looking pale and weak.

Edward and Bella had discovered enough from Carlisle and Esme to suspect that Kaure knew a lot more about their kind than she had initially let on. Edward remembered clearly that Kaure knew roughly what he was due to her tribes legends of the Libishmon, but it appeared that her understanding went far beyond that. They agreed to be cautious, but not to hide too much for Kaure.

Once they were on the island they made their way to the house. Renesmee was busy running from room to room taking in all the scenery. She had Jacob following her like a little lap dog. He did feel a little silly, but he would do anything for Renesmee. Edward and Bella took their time to take in the familiar sights that greeted them.

They weren't sure when Kaure would come, but they knew that she would be well aware of their arrival to the island. Aside from their phone call to Gustavo to work out the cleaning arrangements, word travelled fast.

*****

Edward was in the house cooking some food for Jacob and Renesmee, who were busy exploring the island, with Bella. He couldn't see them, but his extra sensitive hearing could pick up their excited voices and laughter as they enjoyed taking in all the new sights.

After a while he heard a boat approaching. Edward stopped preparing the food for Renesmee, which Carlisle insisted Renesmee eat at least once a day, despite her obvious preference of Blood. He made his way to the launch and watched as the boat got closer and closer, after a while he could see that it was indeed Kaure

He listened out to her thoughts as she neared, but was surprised when he only got snippets. She wasn't as silent as Bella was, but her mind certainly wasn't fully open to him.

Edward was sure though, from the odd thoughts he could read that Carlisle and Esme weren't wrong about Kaure not believing them about Bella. All the thoughts he could pick up from her were about him and she was very angry.

Edward started to feel inexplicably nervous as he waited. He watched as the boat pulled up to the launch and Kaure jumped off, she tied the boat off then paced towards him. Her eyes were glaring and there was something a little strange about them.

Edward stiffened a little and tried to compose himself. He couldn't quite understand why he was feeling so nervous; she was just a human, after all! Though something about her was rather odd, her scent was also off, he couldn't understand why, he never picked anything up when they last met, but then he realised all of his thoughts had centred on Bella at that time.

"Kaure" he said "It's a pleasure to meet you again, I am sorry we left so suddenly the last time". He backed up his words with a warm smile and decided that keeping it light and jovial was the best course of action.

Kaure stopped when she was almost next to him and her face was simmering in rage. "How... Dare... You" she screamed.

She shook her head and tried to compose herself, but she couldn't believe how flippant he appeared. "You dare show up here after what you did to that poor young woman". She moved closer to him and jabbed at his chest with her finger.

"You should be ashamed of yourself; instead here you stand before me as though you are not the monster that you are."

Edward stayed quiet and let Kaure rant at him, but he was finding it hard to bite his tongue. "You don't understand! Bella really is fine. You may think you know what you saw the last time we were here, but you are mistaken. I know Carlisle and Esme tried to explain to you, but they weren't wrong when they said you were too stubborn to believe them!"

Edward watched as Kaure's face contorted with anger. He tried desperately to zone in on her thoughts, but he could only hear elements and it was starting to make him nervous.

He was suddenly snapped out of his thoughts when he heard Kaure snarl "Of course I didn't believe them or you! Do you think I am stupid? Do you think I am just another weak pathetic human that you can fool into believing your every word? I know what I saw with my own two eyes and I have seen it before. There is no way that poor young woman survived. I can only begin to imagine how much she suffered before your child killed her. How dare you try to insult my intelligence or sully her memory with these lies?"

Edward was now starting to get riled. "If you had shouted at me like this, just before we left last time I would have stood there and taken it. I still remember all too vividly how Bella looked back then and whilst I went through hell watching her suffer as a result of our actions I cannot find myself to regret it as I was truly blessed with a miracle as a result of it".

Kaure was confused and couldn't quite comprehend what he meant. "What do you mean, you can't regret it? You took that young woman's life and sentenced her to death. Are you trying to tell me she carried the child to term?"

Edward nodded at Kaure and his mind filled with images of Renesmee. Whilst he still grimaced every time he got flashbacks of Bella during her pregnancy, he couldn't wish it never happened as he'd never have his beautiful daughter if he did that.

Kaure reeled back in shock slightly. Was it possible that the young woman, this Bella had his child and survived? Why did he and the others keep insisting that she was now one of them? She knew what she saw and she knew full well what that meant, given that she'd seen it all before, but why did he stand there and keep insisting that she was wrong?

"Are you trying to tell me, that this Bella, the young woman you married and continuously profess to love had your child whilst still human and did not die?" Kaure asked.

She stared at Edward watching him closely and studying him for any signs of lying.

"Not Exactly" Edward replied cautiously.

Kaure sighed and shook her head. "What does 'Not Exactly' mean?" she probed further. She was starting to lose her patience. She placed her hand in her pocked and placed the tri-let on her hand making sure the pendant was snug in the centre of her hand. She was starting to tire of his trickery. Either he started talking some sense or she finished the job she came to do and got the hell out of there.

Edward paused for a few moments and proceeded carefully. "How much do you know of my kind?" he asked.

Kaure was a little taken aback by the question but decided to answer. "My people have come across your kind many times. In fact many of my ancestors were known as the 'Guardians of Humanity'. It was their job to protect the norms or innocent humans from your kind. We were once greatly feared by your kind, due to the methods in which we dispatched you."

She paused for a moment trying to gauge Edward's reaction.

"There is one, slight difference between your kind that I and my people have come across and you and your 'family' and that is your eyes. Most of your kind that we encounter has red eyes, but yours are golden. Why is that?" she asked.

Edward gave a small smile at Kaure and decided not to hold back. "My family, we're different to the others of our kind. The vampires you have come across will all have embraced the standard lifestyle for us. That is to feed on humans. My family, well we abstain from that, we refer to ourselves as vegetarians as we only feed on the blood of animals".

Kaure was astonished. "You mean you do not harm humans? You live among them?" she asked.

Edward nodded. "Yes we do. Carlisle is a doctor and has been for many years. I met Bella at the high school I was attending with my siblings. We aren't perfect and sometimes we do occasionally slip up, but we work hard at denying our natural instincts and controlling them with careful hunting".

Kaure found this quite fascinating, never had her ancestors or her people ever spoke of seeing any vampires with golden eyes. "Very interesting" she said.

"Was this Bella a 'slip up' then" she asked, finding his comments in quite poor taste.

Edward shook his head. "Bella and I are unusual to say the least. It is very rare for a human and a vampire to fall in love like we did. I know that your legends spoke of the Libishimon, that preyed on young women and impregnated them before devouring them, but that is not what I am, though I can understand how that looked".

"It's just... for some time Bella had made it very clear that she wanted to become a vampire like me and my family. I tried to resist her request for so long, but eventually I relented.

My only request was that she married me first and then I would change her; however she decided she wanted to add an additional demand of her own. She wanted us to consummate our marriage, whilst she was still human, before I changed her. She said it was a human experience she didn't want to miss."

"What?" screeched Kaure "How on earth could you have agreed to that? Do you honestly expect me to believe that you... a Vampire, with super human strength, would agree to any demands made by a human, even if you did profess to love her?"

Edward nodded his head and smiled. "I may have super human strength, I may be ultra fast and I may have other talents, but with Bella I have always been weak. I gave into her far too easily" he said.

Kaure tried to process all this information. Her people had dealt with his kind for a long time and she knew how deceiving they could be, but a part of her believed him. Could this Bella really have survived, or at least been turned into one of them?

"You said that you and your family are 'vegetarian' vampires and do not feed on humans. If this is true then how did you turn Bella? Surely that would go against what you stand for" she asked.

"Turning her into one of us was a necessity to save her. If I didn't do that then she would have surely died" he responded.

"So you are telling me that you both willingly made love, she got pregnant unexpectedly and that despite being a frail human she carried your child to term and successfully gave birth then you saved her by turning her into one of your kind" Kaure recapped.

"It wasn't quite as easy as you made it all sound, Bella's body really did struggle during the pregnancy, but yes that is correct" Edward replied.

Kaure's mind was reeling, could any of this be true? Was he speaking the truth or was he being deceiving like his kind was more than capable. She studied his face for a few moments and couldn't see any signs of deceit on his face.

"I can prove to you that she is okay" Edward said gently.

"How" croaked Kaure.

"Well she is here with me and….. Our daughter" Edward said.

Kaure took a step back and shook her head. "You're trying to trick me!" She accused.

"How can I be sure that you aren't just trying to get me inside so you can devour me in private?" she asked.

Edward was taken aback by these accusations.

"Don't be absurd!" he said his voice a little harsher than intended. He took a step towards Kaure and offered out his hand. "If I truly wanted to devour you I wouldn't need to go inside, we're on a private island after all. Please come inside Bella and Renesmee won't be long. Bella has been so keen to see you, to prove she's okay".

Kaure had heard enough, she took her hands out of her pocket and stepped towards Edward. She moved one hand to take his then swiftly moved the other hand with the tri-let pendant to his forehead.

Edward couldn't pick up her thoughts so had no idea what she was trying to do. She was too fast for him to react to. Although he shook it off after a few seconds Kaure managed to place it on his forehead, but nothing happened.

Suddenly Bella appeared alongside a long haired man and a young child.

She couldn't believe what she was seeing. There was that young woman Bella, only she looked far more beautiful and more robust. She realised with horror that he hadn't been lying. She couldn't believe she'd placed the bloodstone to his head, without going inside as he requested. She was so lost in her thoughts and gazing at Bella that she realised that she had held the bloodstone to his head, but nothing had happened

She took a step back and studied his face. "Are you... are you okay?" she asked him, full of concern.

Edward narrowed his eyes a little and looked at Kaure. "I'm fine, but what was that thing you just put to my forehead?" he asked.

"Did it hurt you? Do you feel hot at all, is there any pain in your head?" she asked.

Edward shook his head, then backed up from Kaure a little, he suddenly felt a little afraid of that pendant that was held against her hand.

"I didn't feel anything, but what is that thing?" he asked. He looked over to Bell and smiled warmly. He put out his hand and beckoned her to join him.

Kaure was too busy staring at Bella to hear what Edward had asked. "You're okay, you are really okay" she said to Bella.

Bella hurried over to Edward's side and smiled warmly at Kaure. "Yes I am fine, I'm obviously a vampire now, just like Edward, but I am really fine and I am so sorry about how I appeared to you when we last met, it was under the most unusual circumstances".

Kaure studied Bella a little more closely and recoiled when she saw her red eyes. "Your eyes, they aren't golden like his. Does that mean you feast on humans?" she asked warily.

"No, it doesn't" Bella assured "It's just because I am what they call a newborn. My eyes will gradually turn golden over the next month or two. I haven't even touched a drop of human blood since becoming a vampire."

Kaure just nodded and smiled in relief.

"Edward did ask you a question though and I must say I am just as curious" she said.

"What is that thing in your hand and why did you press it to Edward's head?"

Kaure shook her head and quickly unhooked the tri-let from her hand and held it up to show Edward and Bella.

"This" she said, holding it out towards them "Is a bloodstone, held on a tri-let, which allows the holder to keep the stone pressed against their palm. My tribe, as I said were often seen as guardians to humanity and it was our duty to protect humans from your kind or at least the red eye version. When this is pressed to the forehead of one of your kind, by one of my people it generally results in some screaming, followed by spontaneous combustion, whilst the vampire is turned to dust". She finished.

Edward and Bella looked to each other astonished. "But, nothing happened to Edward?" Bella said her voice full of relief.

"I don't understand that myself either - My only guess is that it's down to your 'vegetarian' diet". She said

Edward shook his head from side to side trying to comprehend what Kaure was saying. "So, if I had drunk from a human recently then I would have been destroyed by that bloodstone" he asked.

Kaure nodded her head. "Yes, I am so sorry, it's just you were trying to beckon me into the house, I still didn't believe you regarding Bella at that point and I.... I, oh I am so sorry. I am so relieved that it didn't work on you, I have to admit though that until this day I have never seen it … not work".

Edward and Bella embraced and asked Kaure if she'd join them in the house, where it would be a little more comfortable. "I think we have a lot to talk about" Bella said, in a slightly strained voice. She couldn't quite get over what had just happened and felt a little sick to consider how close she had come to losing Edward.

"Please come inside and we can have a longer talk".

Kaure nodded and followed Edward and Bella inside. Her mind was spinning. She'd spent so long being haunted by the Bella she saw all those months ago and she had refused to listen to Carlisle or Esme or Edward for that matter and she felt foolish. She owed it to them to listen now and also to explain more of the reasons why she had reacted so strongly.

Once they reached the living room she sat on the couch and gladly accepted the glass of water Bella prepared for her. She noticed that there were a couple of plates of food prepared and left out on the kitchen counter. "I thought you didn't eat. I mean I thought you didn't eat normal human food" she asked.

Edward and Bella glanced at each other and silently agreed not to hold back. "That's not for us, it is for our daughter Renesmee and our friend Jacob" Edward answered"

Kaure had almost forgotten about the child and the long haired man, who were still standing outside. She discreetly sniffed the air and the scent of the child reminded her of so much of Tawémake. The other scent reminded her of one of the larger dogs that lived on the tribal compound.

"I see that we have much to discuss - where shall we start?" she asked.