A/N: I wish I had some more traffic going through this story, or at least through the review section....that's all I'm going to say for now. And for those of you who wanted a plot twist, here you go.

Chapter 9

Dawn was still trying to keep from growling, but she did it. Sniffing subtly at the air, she caught Pumpkin's scent. The growl was so low that almost no one could hear it. Dawn's eyes began to darken from bright gold to a darker shade of topaz.

"Still okay?" Edward asked. She nodded.

I smell her...she smells familiar....wait...Edward, do me a favor. Tap into this girl's mind. Something's not right... Dawn thought. He could see her uneasiness. She was still angry, yes, but another thing was beginning to eclipse that. Fear perhaps? No...

They came into the living room. Pumpkin was sitting on the couch beside Alex. Her eyes were suddenly fearful when Dawn entered the room. She clung to Alex's arm like a frightened child. This reaction was not lost on Edward. Edward delved into her mind easily; having seen Dawn had knocked her defenses loose for time being.

She can't be a vampire, can she? She doesn't smell like one at all! Oh, no! She's a Siren! She's going to kill me! There's no way I could fight her off! I hope she isn't onto me! Oh, no!

Edward looked at Dawn and gave her the most subtle nod he could. Dawn's eyes had darkened more, making them an amber shade.

I knew it, Dawn thought, I've had a run in with this one before. She remembers me vaguely, but she hasn't quite recognized me yet. What are her intentions? If she's innocent, nod. If she's going to do something, shake your head like you're saying no.

Edward dug further.

What he saw made him feel strange.

What is it? Dawn asked.

"I'll tell you later," he mouthed.

What about Alex?

It took some time getting past Alex's defenses, but Edward managed to snatch a fragment of a thought.

He and Pumpkin moved in so that Pumpkin could have some people to feed on. He thinks vampire energy is stronger than human energy.

With a start, Dawn realized that she could hear Edward.

Edward! We can talk to each other this way! I heard you!

How much can you hear?

He frowned, wondering if this was going to be a problem.

I can only hear you if you're trying to tell me, she said, I can't hear anything that you're not directing at me.

Okay, well, it seems to me that they're hiding something, Edward told her, I think the two of us should talk later.

You got it.

Alex had soon gotten into a conversation with Rosalie and Jasper. Pumpkin had moved closer to Carlisle. Dawn's eyes narrowed at her, but she only moved closer towards him.

"Hello, Dawn," Carlisle said, noticing her, "I didn't know you were coming."

Dawn considered her next move carefully. Deciding to pack the territorial, bitchy side away for a moment, she drew a breath and decided to act civil.

"Edward tells me that there are some new people joining the family," she said, "I just came by to check out what was going on."

Carlisle gave her a probing look. He was no mind-reader like Edward, but he could sense that Dawn was not happy about something.

"Yes," Carlisle confirmed, "this is Pumpkin and that's her mate, Alex. They're vegetarian like us."

Dawn forced a smile and looked over at Pumpkin. Pumpkin had inched so close to Carlisle that her shoulder was pressing on Carlisle's arm.

"My name is Dawn," she said, stepping towards Pumpkin. Pumpkin instinctively backed away.

"Don't worry. I don't bite. Unless it's a mountain lion or a grizzly bear," Dawn teased.

I never knew that Dawn was such an actor, Carlisle thought, knowing she was very irritated at Pumpkin's presence.

She slowly, carefully took Dawn's hand. Dawn gripped it harder than was necessary, but they shook nonetheless.

Alex, on the other hand, had no problem with meeting Dawn. Upon noticing her, he got up to talk to her.

"My Pumpkin sings beautifully," Alex said, "she could call the angels down from Heaven with her voice."

"Really?" Dawn asked, pretending to be fascinated, "Let's have a song, then."

Carlisle looked from Dawn to Pumpkin. What was Dawn trying to do? He could see the seething anger underneath the cool, calm mask that she was now wearing.

Pumpkin looked down at the floor with her puppy-eyes. Carlisle noticed that Dawn's eyes were rapidly turning dark. They were now a cinnamon color. Pumpkin's eyes were starting to darken as well. He had never seen anything like this!

"Come on, baby. I'm sure they all want to hear you," Alex coaxed.

"I can play for you," Edward offered.

They made their way towards the piano to choose a song.

"May I talk to you for a minute?" Carlisle asked.

Puzzled, Dawn went with him into the kitchen.

"What's going on?" he asked.

Dawn sighed.

"Sirens are territorial creatures. I just wanted to see if she'd be trouble, that's all."

It was Carlisle's turn to be puzzled.

"She's a Siren? How can you tell?" he asked.

"Her scent, mostly. Every creature has a different smell. Humans smell salty to me because they release it when they perspire. Werewolves, or at least the ones we have, smell like dog fur, and vampires have a really sugary sweet smell. But Sirens have more fruity smells mixed with rain. You know that smell you get when there's a rainstorm coming and the wind blows the smell in ahead of the storm? That's how you tell. I don't trust either one of them."

"Why?" Carlisle demanded.

The guilt came onto Dawn's features.

"Because...well..."

She was trying to choose her words carefully.

"We know each other, but we're not on friendly terms at all," she said, "the Volturi were tracking her and they found me instead. The little brat framed me for a lot of things. She's on their most-wanted list. I think Aro would have let it slide had she not injured Aro's wife."

Carlisle glanced through the crack in the door at Pumpkin. Was she really capable of such a thing?

"I'll explain it later," Dawn told him, "but she's getting suspicious. She recognizes my scent, but she hasn't made the connection yet. Sirens are always kind of mistrustful anyway. But watch out...if she can get your energy, she will."

The look on Carlisle's face made Dawn mentally flush. If she hadn't been in her vampire form, she would have.

"I know, I know," she sighed, "what difference does it make when I did the same thing? It matters because I'm trying to protect you in my own selfish way."

Before he could respond, she left. Trying to make sense of the situation, Carlisle was just a few steps behind her.

Edward and Pumpkin had finally decided on something and Edward was playing the beginning of the song.

"You were once my one companion...

you were all that mattered....

you were once my friend and father...

then my world was shattered..."

Pumpkin was singing so softly that they could all scarcely hear her and staring at the floor.

"Wishing you were somehow here again...

wishing you were somehow near...

sometimes it seemed if I just dreamed...

somehow you would appear...

Just as she was beautiful on the outside, Pumpkin also had a beautiful singing voice. Her sugary sweet soprano made a dark cloud of jealousy rise up in Dawn's soul. Gradually, Pumpkin managed to sing louder when Alex gave her an encouraging smile. The others were all looking at Pumpkin with genuine interest.

Carlisle was standing right beside Dawn. Dawn turned to look at him, but his gaze was fixed on Pumpkin. It didn't help Dawn's mood in the slightest. She was getting more irritated by the second.

"Wishing I could hear your voice again...

knowing that I never would...

dreaming of you

won't help me to do

al that you dreamed I could..."

Carlisle's energy glowed around him, the most beautiful shade of gold. Dawn almost lost her temper when she saw that energy being drawn towards Pumpkin. Little by little, the glow around Carlisle shrunk as Pumpkin sang. Her eyes began to lighten from their previous cinnamon color, turning back to gold. No one besides Dawn seemed to notice.

You little tramp! Dawn's fists clenched at her sides. What had initially started out as jealousy rapidly evolved into full-blown anger.

The others enjoyed the song and applauded her. Dawn did, but only because she didn't want Carlisle to have another reason to despise her. Knowing that she had reached her threshold, Dawn started to walk away.

Carlisle gave her a questioning look.

"I should probably go...we're going to be working tomorrow and I'm kind of tired."

She slipped quietly out the backdoor.

"What on earth just happened?" Carlisle asked when Dawn had been gone for an hour and Alex and Pumpkin had gone upstairs.

"I felt strange about Pumpkin and Alex being here, so I asked Dawn to help with a little investigation," Edward explained, "something about Pumpkin was just...off. Before I managed to even ask Dawn, she smelled Pumpkin's scent and got very irate. It was all she could do not to attack Pumpkin. She left because her resolve for self-control was slipping."

"But why all the secrecy?" Carlisle asked, wondering why everyone bothered to tiptoe around each other.

"She did it for you," Edward informed him, "the only thing keeping her off of Pumpkin was you being here. There's more to it than just Siren instinct."

"Like what?"

"Dawn says that Pumpkin did something to Aro's wife and then framed her," Edward said, "I also found out that Dawn and I can talk telepathically."

Carlisle was puzzled as to how Aro would have gotten the wrong Siren when he could read minds just by touching someone.

"Apparently, Sirens have the abilities to manipulate memories to a certain extent," Edward said, equally as confused, "Aro swore up and down that he saw Dawn attack his wife in her head. Dawn swore she didn't remember doing it even though the evidence suggested otherwise. Thankfully, the wife was never actually hurt. They locked Dawn up only because they didn't know how to kill her."

What a mess.

"It's days like these that I really miss Forks," Carlisle sighed, trying to untangle all this new information. In a strange sort of way, he didn't blame Dawn for being upset by Pumpkin's presence.

Back in Forks, things were never THIS complicated. The only major choices he'd ever faced were biting people. But this was...bizarre.

"I promised Dawn I would tell her later," Edward said, "feel like going?"

Carlisle thought that over. He still wasn't thrilled with Dawn. In fact, he still resented her trying to control him at first. He was also irritated at her for bringing so much trouble to his family. Since he'd met Dawn, he'd been plagued by situations that he'd rather have not been involved in.

But the image of her laying in the hospital bed also haunted him. He remembered smelling her blood. The primitive vampire instinct that caused some vampires to bond with la tua cantante overrode whatever negative emotion he was feeling towards her. Maybe it would be in all of their best interests to try and untangle this mystery.

"I'll come."

He wondered, as he walked in silence beside Edward, if he was making a big mistake.