The Visitor

I didn't know the date when I opened my eyes again, conscious that I was breathing inside my body. I couldn't remember at once why I was feeling very tired and miserable.

When the memories came crashing in again, I had to remind myself that it's not just me that is affected. Max is even more in pain, seeing me like this.

Once again, as always, I have to be strong for Max.

Where is he anyway? Max?

He didn't answer. Maybe I wasn't thinking aloud in my mind.

Max, where are you? I repeated, almost panicking. He never lets me wait.

Still no response. That should mean that he's nowhere within a hundred miles.

But where in the world could he be? And why would he leave?

My breathing became heavier every second Max's mind wouldn't tune in to answer me. I tried again and again and again but he still wasn't answering.

"Where are you, Max?" I whispered, trying hard to keep panic at bay.

I got out of bed and went straight to the kitchen. There was no note tacked on our cork board by the refrigerator.

"Max!" I said out loud, just a few notches lower than a scream. I was crying now. I have never felt more helpless.

"Alex?" Finally, he answers me. Relief flooded me "What's wrong, baby girl?" He's definitely not beyond a hundred miles, but he wasn't anywhere near, too.

"I'm here at Ralph's Café. I'm sorry; I didn't think you'd wake up soon. Would you like me to go home now?"

Oh. But Ralph's is just two miles from here. Why can't I hear you?

Silence.

Max?

Silence.

Something's wrong. Are my abilities gone?

"Come home!"

"Calm down. Wait for me, Alex." Max soothed. "I'm sorry, I have to leave."

My sobbing stopped but the tears were still flowing. He told someone that he had to leave. He's with someone.

"Who are you with?" I couldn't help but raise my voice.

"Calm down, baby girl."

"Don't 'baby girl' me, Max! Who are you with?"

I felt a sudden urge to destroy the remaining good part of our poor sitting room. All my senses ceased to function and all I could feel was blood lust.

How could Max do this to me? He left me alone just to meet up with someone? On ordinary circumstances, Max would have waited for me to wake up before going somewhere. And he would ask for my permission first - or at least, he will make sure that I was notified.

I took steadying breaths to relax. Max went out without my knowledge and my connection with him was absent. What the hell was going on? I was still a demigod, right? I can still hear from a distance. It's just telepathy that's not working.

Could I still have Edward's mind reading ability?

I tried to focus. I was not hearing anybody's thoughts within a hundred yards. The panic that gripped me earlier was starting to crawl on me again. My head was buzzing with silence when I stopped and looked around our home.

I'm awake, right? But I couldn't just pinch myself to see if I was dreaming. That wouldn't work.

I spotted a calendar that Max crosses out everyday to mark our infinite age. It's a Saturday. Maybe that's why I can't hear our neighbors. Just their dogs and cats were left home, howling and mewing. They're all out - just like Max.

What? It's Saturday? That's how long I've been moping around like a zombie?

I sighed and tried again.

I was starting to get more frustrated when I heard the first thought, two hundred and fifteen yards away. Mr. Madison was contemplating on the menu for tomorrow night's family reunion. His only and beloved daughter and her husband would be visiting with their kids.

They're visiting for the first time - his mind quickly became out of focus. He thought of Dr. Jameson's diagnosis. He laughed humorlessly. It may well be the last time we would see each other. Although he didn't know if he had the strength to tell his daughter that he was dying of cancer soon.

I automatically thought of Anastasia. I would have been able to persuade Max to let her heal Mr. Madison. The poor old man has always been so kind and polite.

I shook my head. Max was just two miles away. He was moving fast but he was not passing through the woods. He was on the highway: driving. I bolted out of the backdoor to the garage. The car wasn't there.

I was on my way to go to the front door when I heard a muffled laughter after Max spoke. Female. So, Max was meeting up with a girl, huh? And he dares to bring her with him?

"I'm thirsty. I suppose you have stored blood in your home, right?"

My breathing caught but this time due to excitement. I'd know that voice form anywhere, especially her accent and her teasing tone. The relief was overwhelming.

"Valentina!" I exclaimed.

"Hello, Alexandra," she greeted. They were just a quarter of a mile away. "It's been so long. I've missed you so much, I had to visit. Maximillian here was supposed to pick me up at the airport later in the afternoon, but I was presented an... opportunity to get on an earlier flight. And I was so excited to see you."

Hang on. There's a few more scents in the car. Two more vampires.

"Alice? Bella?"

"Yeah, it's us." Bella said shyly as Max pulled over in front of the house.

"Did we surprise you?" Alice said, already out of the car. The other three were slamming their sides' doors in the next second. "The guys are out, so we girls are going to have some fun." Alice laughed, and then added, "Well, almost all the guys are out."

I was dumbstruck. I hadn't moved from where I was frozen so much as a millionth of an inch. Valentina, and Alice and Bella were with Max. What was Max thinking, bringing Valentina here in our home town - with our human friends - and meeting up (without me) with stranger vampires? What had happened during the last few days when I was in a stupor that has changed everything so much?

Through Max's eyes, I was able to see Alice smile at him sweetly, and elbow him on the ribs.

"Oh!" I was able to read Max's mind again!

The door opened and Max and the others went in. I sighed heavily when I saw Max's face. I was so relieved that he was back. I closed my eyes to keep me from crying. I thought that I had already died and my hell is that Max nor Anastasia were not there with me.

Max was in front of me when I opened my eyes, his hands on my shoulders. "I'm so sorry I put you through all that, Alex. I left in a hurry to pick Valentina up." And you know how she is when she gets bored... Hey, how long were you not able to contact me?

Since I woke up. That's about five minutes ago.

Huh. So that's why I wasn't able to hear you earlier. I had been checking every ten seconds to see if you're already up.

He hugged me tight then faced our vampire visitors. "Bella and Alice met up with us in Ralph's. Well, actually, they were more like, waiting for me and Valentina to pass by."

We'll talk later about that. It's your time to wait.

Max laughed. Of course, baby girl. I'm sorry.

"Valya, what brings you to this side of the world?" I asked, cutting off what Alice was going to say. Alice was thinking of commenting that she was thankful that finally her vision of coming in to our home in a friendly manner had come true.

Valentina can't know that Max and I just met the Cullens. If she finds out that they mean little to us, and gets so much as a whiff that they are gifted vampires, she might challenge them all to a duel. She seeks out strong vampires to fight – and kill. Of course, she will win against the Cullens. Valentina has never lost a battle in her twenty five hundred years - aside from us. Max just had to order her not to use her skill - she was no match for us without it.

"I just miss you. And it has been a very awful ten years without you. I had to come here sooner or later." And I totally screwed up. She smiled shyly, but an evil hint was somewhere in her eyes.

Max? How much have you told her?

We haven't gotten around to talking much when you called me. We arrived a minute ago that. I have just been able to introduce the new local vampires to Valya.

All right. She doesn't know about their abilities then.

"What's wrong, Valya? You never smile like that unless – what did you do this time?" My eyes grew larger. I knew that this would happen. An accidental addition to the English coven.

She didn't speak. But of course, she didn't need to. I was able to recall the vision I had while in class last Monday. I could see Valentina, draining her pretty prey but not finishing off. Valentina rushed away from the scene - carrying the almost drained body of her kill - as if running from something.

"Valentina?" I still had to ask her. She can't know that I have new abilities now. She would realize that I got it from the vampires we met within the last fifteen years. And in that period, we haven't met anyone else besides the Cullens – those who lived, anyway. We can't lie to her. The Winchester coven is our extended family. And even without Helena's lie detection, we also want to keep our family informed about pretty much every vampire episode in our existence.

Not about the Cullens, though, right? I asked myself.

But why do I feel so... what? Protective? I still can't figure it out. But it has to do with something that still hasn't happened yet, I'm sure. Nothing in the past and present could suggest that I would be so much as interested in their welfare. I even hate them for ruining our peaceful life.

"Oh, all right. If you must know, I just had a baby."

"What? But you're a vampire!" Bella said, not minding in the slightest that she sounded very stupid. What was she thinking? She knows that vampires can't rear children.

Valentina raised her eyebrows at her as if to relay my own thoughts. "I created a vampire." She told Bella then spoke to me directly again. "It was just an accident. There I was, minding my dinner when out of nowhere I sensed a couple of shadows."

"What? In Winchester?" Max cut in, shaking with fury.

"They managed to trace you there. I know, it's kind of very good, for them," she side tracked when she saw me frown.

"We were able to catch the guards when they foolishly followed me. Of course, they will come home to their masters empty handed because Anaphi wiped their memories out about anything that would lead them to you - or us. Brion let them go but not before Helena and Kurt had a go at them. They looked like they would cry if they could, the poor babies. Brion said he would just let your pals decide how they would punish their spies. Hayden also left them with false memories - like they went to the Bahamas and hooked up with humans before feeding on them like mad and dumping the bodies in a residential area." She smirked then added, "That should work Caius up."

"Caius? Caius of the Volturi?" Bella pronounced every word with fear and hatred.

"Who else? How many Caiuses do you know? I bet he'd have killed every human or vampire or any creature at all who had the same name as his and his brothers." Valentina continued with a snort. "I'm surprised you even know the Volturi. You don't seem the kind that's in the know, as what young humans say."

I'm sure Valentina's comment hit a nerve. Bella's eyes narrowed. A growl was starting to bubble in her throat and she was about to say something, but Alice beat her to it.

"We went to visit Aro in Italy about six years ago. Aro claims that our father is his friend. Bella here was still human that time. We gave him invitation to her and my brother's wedding that took place about two years after our visit." She smiled, reminiscent, as if their brief spell in the Volturi's lair had been all but horrifying.

"Oh, that's good for you, then." Valentina said, clearly not meaning that it was good for them at all. Valentina was already scheming on the best ways to trick Alice and Bella to reveal where Carlisle was so she could hunt him down to interrogate and eventually kill him if he doesn't talk.

She turned to me again. "Wait, do you think the Volturi would get mad if we kill your new friends' father?"

"Valentina," Max warned.

"Or," Valentina rolled her eyes, "you could just ask their father about your pals, Alexandra."

"Yes, I was planning to do that, too, Valya. But what could they tell me that we don't know yet, right? I can't be sure. Also, the circumstances these past few days -"

"You mean when you had been under some stupid trance, Lexi?"

"Well, yes, Valentina." I snapped, "I meant exactly that."

Valentina became whiter - if that were possible. "I am sorry. Don't bite my head off..?"

That caught me off guard. I turned to Max. Was I -?

He nodded.

I looked down at my hands. My nails were digging into my palms, and there were droplets of blood on the floor. I wasn't aware that my temper had flared up.

I know that I have told her pointedly not to call me that nickname, but I haven't ever reacted like this. Valentina is like a sister to me and I considered attacking her just because I hated being called Lexi.

There is something wrong with me. My emotions were all over the place like a roller coaster ride and I lost – even for a few minutes only – our infallible telepathic link. And I couldn't think of anyone else to blame but the Cullens.

I stared at my blood for a long second - too long. I felt my eyes quickly becoming vacant - my first vision since I woke up.

Aro was sitting on his throne in a platform on the north side of their high-ceilinged chambers. On his sides, on their respective seats, were Marcus and Caius. They were looking down at two heaps of rags in the middle of the hall. No other vampires were present aside from the two who were a few feet in front of the brothers. The two young guards were wearing darker shades of cloaks than those crumpled on the floor. One of them, the little girl whose hood was not pulled over her blonde head, smiled in an angelic but sinister way.

The rags moved as soon as her lips twisted up. I realized that they were not rags at all. They were the guards that the Volturi sent to search for us - the ones Valentina was talking about earlier.

The guards were being punished indeed. The they both writhed in pain, as the little vampire continued to smile.

Aro shifted in his seat. "That would be enough, dear Jane." He bowed his head then continued in a sorrowful voice. "It seems that they are not as dedicated to our cause as they pledged when they joined our family."

"No, master, please. Have mercy on us," said the first guard.

"Please give us another chance," pleaded the other.

"Do you not remember that this is already your 'another chance,' Basil? Lucius?" Caius said, pointing a chalky, slender finger at the weak guards. "Jane!"

The little vampire girl nodded enthusiastically then smirked at Basil and Lucius. They both trampled on the floor, screaming.

"You should have expected nothing less than this when you decided that you no longer wish to comply with the orders given to you."

"Brother, that will do." Aro stretched a hand to reach Caius. "They have suffered long enough."

"All right, I agree." Caius clapped his hands twice. Four gray cloaked vampires suddenly appeared on either sides of the still shaking Basil and Lucius, and pinned them to the ground. Basil's pleas were still echoing in the chamber even after Caius got off his throne and set their guards on fire.


A/N - WIP (Work In Progress)

Chapter's too short. Will have to add more school scens and Valentina's snarky responses that almost always earns her a growl or two from Alex and Max.

Alex will learn more about the Cullen gifts and how to better control those that she's already absorbed, while Edward will discover the deep connection between Alex and Max.

A little more about Anastasia and her relationship with Alex and Max will be revealed.

*sigh* It'll all come to you, Blair. Just hang on. =^_^=