Sorry that I haven't updated for so long, guys! I hope this chapter makes up for it...

Take note that this chapter, as all of the other chapters so far, is coming to you guys UNBETAED. This will change for future chapters, but for now, enjoy it for what it is.

If you spot any mistakes that can be very easily fixed, let me know by review or PM.

Enjoy! ^_^

Appeal of the Forbidden

By: Lucas McDrake

Chapter 10-Alteration

Kieran's POV

I was in a meadow, overlooking the distant ocean. The meadow was apparently on the slope of a mountain, for I could see a peak above me, and the meadow sloped downward.

I was there with Emmett, and this was obviously at a point of time way in the future, for I was much older, and more mature. For some reason, there was a lot on my mind, and it was apparent that Emmett was overly thoughtful today, as well.

"So, this is your secret?" I asked, trying to lighten the mood for both of our sakes.

He forced a smile, and sighed, "Yeah."

My disappointment at something or other turned into pain for his well being. Why was he so sad? This wasn't like him.

Scooting myself closer to where he was, I breathed, "So...what are we going to do?"

He shrugged, as if he couldn't think of much else besides his current thoughts. "Whatever you want, I guess."

Okay...This was too unlike him for me to ignore. Leaning my head against his shoulder as to offer solace, I asked, "What's wrong?"

After a moment of hesitation on his part, I looked up to see why he had stiffened, and wouldn't answer. What I found was an expression of surprise. Then I remembered; he doesn't think of me the way I think of him. "Sorry," I immediately muttered upon this realization, abruptly taking my head away, my eyes downcast.

Misery tore me in two as I reminded myself for the umpteenth time that day that Emmett doesn't love me.

"Kieran..."

Though it was Emmett's voice, it sounded far off in the distance. Odd...wasn't he still sitting next to me.

"Kieran..."

Turning towards Emmett, I confirmed that he was still sitting beside me, looking out towards the sea.

Before I could ask why I was hearing his voice, his voice echoed once more, "Kieran...it's time to wake up..."

Wake up? This is only a...?

Dream.

Abruptly, the meadow melted away before my eyes as I was shaken awake by none other than Emmett, whom I had been seemingly conversing with a few moments ago. It was slightly disorienting...It had felt so real...

"Kieran."

I was officially awake, now. "Yeah?" I mumbled drowsily.

"Why are you crying?" he asked, sitting next to me on the bed, making it dip.

Rolling over in his direction due to the sudden slope of my mattress, I yawned as I collided with him, "Huh?"

"You've been crying," Emmett stated. I looked up into his eyes, and saw that he was confused, for some reason. I was extremely disoriented. A moment ago, I had been looking into those eyes, and thinking that he was...

Attractive.

Ugh. I knew that I wasn't supposed to be thinking mushy things like that until I was older, but...If I didn't think about it so much, and recalled the way I had looked at him before, I found it quite pleasant. Just to look at him that way...forever...

"Kieran?"

Suddenly brought back into my right mind, I breathed, "Yeah?"

"My question...Are you gonna answer it?"

"What was it again?"

Rolling his eyes, he repeated, "Why are you crying?"

"What?" Quickly wiping away at the moisture that I now noticed on my cheeks, I replied, "I don't know..."

Now that I thought about it, he wouldn't understand, anyway. I couldn't understand it myself.

"If you're sure..." He still looked confused, as if he didn't believe me, but quickly added, "Anyway, Alice saw that Bella is going to be coming here pretty soon, and we'll all need to be up for this."

"Okay." I already felt awake due to my disturbing thought processes.

"Would you like me to..." Suddenly, he seemed slightly unsure about himself. "Cradle you?" he finished after the moment's hesitation. I wondered why he would be so...not-so-confident, all of a sudden.

"Sure..." I confirmed, looking at him strangely. "I'm still a little sleepy."

Quickly cradling me, as if it was totally natural, his confidence seemed to be up and running again as he stated, "Here we go."

Then, I remembered Edward's ability. Gasping, I mindlessly whispered, "Is Edward here?"

"Yeah..." He returned my strange look promptly. I instantly reminded myself that I'm supposed to be happy of Edward's presence, not loathing...

Quickly putting my thoughts in check, I quickly mumbled, "Well, I only asked that because..." I trailed off when Emmett's look of confusion/strangeness persevered. I quickly shut up as we arrived into the dining room behind Rosalie.

Sitting down in one of the eight chairs next to Rosalie, he let me sit in his lap. I realized, as I looked around, that all eight chairs were already occupied, so the only available spot for me, unless I asked someone else to sit in their lap, was Emmett's lap.

I much preferred this spot, anyway.

"What's this for?" I asked Emmett.

"I'm not sure, yet," Emmett chuckled. "Alice didn't tell me the details..."

Bella glanced at Emmett and Alice curiously, but composed herself after Carlisle stated, "The floor is yours."

She swallowed, like one of those cartoon characters on Loony Tunes would when facing an ominous enemy, and gazed around at her spectators occupying the room, obviously nervous about what she was about to announce. When her gaze landed on me, I gave her an encouraging smile, and she returned the favor for a brief second before glancing at Edward, who seemed to be in a dismal mood once more.

"Well." She hesitated, letting the word sink into everyone's minds. "I'm hoping Alice has already told you everything that happened in Volterra?"

"Everything," Alice assured me.

"What about Volterra?" I asked.

Alice quickly turned to me, and stated, "I'll tell you about it later."

Confusion remaining on my face, I glanced at Bella.

"Um...I'll explain if it becomes necessary," Bella pronounced. Then, she gave a meaningful look to Alice, saying, "And on the way?"

"That, too," she nodded. "Besides Kieran, of course," she added, glancing at me.

Why was I left out? What was I missing out on? I kept quiet despite the millions of questions that came to mind, deciding to listen, instead.

"Good," she exhaled. "Then we're all on the same page, mostly."

As she paused once more, we all waited patiently for her to continue.

"So, I have a problem," she started. "Alice promised the Volturi that I would become one of you." Refraining from gasping at this realization, I allowed my eyes to bulge slightly as she continued, "They're going to send someone to check, and I'm sure that's a bad thing-something to avoid. And so, now, this involves you all. I'm sorry about that.

She gazed around the table at each of us respectively, glancing at Edward last, who was sitting next to her. Then, she continued, "But, if you don't want me, then I'm not going to force myself on you, whether Alice is willing or not." Before Esme could interrupt, she held up one finger. "Please, let me finish. You all know what I want. And I"m sure you know what Edward thinks, too. I think the only fair way to decide is for everyone to have a vote. If you decide you don't want me, then...I guess I'll go back to Italy alone. I can't have them coming here."

As Edward growled barely loud enough for me to hear, I became slightly scared. I never knew that vampires could growl. I backed into Emmett's chest, and he hugged me to him a little tighter. Emmett leaned down so that his mouth was close to my ear, and breathed, "It's okay."

Taking comfort in his presence, I relaxed.

Seemingly unfazed by what commenced, Bella finished, "Taking into account, then, that I won't put any of you in danger either way, I want you to vote yes or no on the issue of me becoming a vampire." She smiled at something or other, and gestured towards Carlisle.

"Just a minute," Edward intercepted.

Bella narrowed his eyes at him as he explained, "I have something to add before we vote." After Bella sighed, Edward continued, "About the danger Bella's referring to...I don't think we need to be overly anxious." Placing one of his hands on the table, he pronounced, "You see, there was more than one reason why I didn't want to shake Aro's hand there at the end. There's something they didn't think of, and I didn't want to clue them in." Then, he beamed a grin, stopping all my worries that he had, for some very stupid reason, reverted back to his old mood.

"Which was?" Alice pressed, looking questioningly at Edward, along with a few others.

"The Volturi are overconfident," he informed, "and with good reason. When they decide to find someone, it's not really a problem. Do you remember Demetri?" He shifted his gaze to Bella.

She shuddered at the thought of this name, and Edward took that as a yes. "He finds people-that's his talent, why they keep him. Now, the whole time we were with any of them, I was picking their brains for anything that might save us, getting as much information as possible. So I saw how Demetri's talent works. He's a tracker-a tracker a thousand times more gifted than James was. His ability is loosely related to what I do, or what Aro does. He catches the...flavor? I don't know how to describe it...the tenor...of someone's mind, and then he follows that. It works over immense distances. But after Aro's little experiments, well..."

After Edward shrugged, Bella stated, as if this alternative was lame, "You think he won't be able to find me."

His confidence was too easily detected. "I'm sure of it. He relies totally on that other sense. When it doesn't work with you, they'll all be blind."

"And how does that solve anything?" Bella seemed to have millions of reasons why this would horribly fail.

"Quite obviously," he quickly explained, "Alice will be able to tell when they're planning a visit, and I'll hide you. They'll be helpless. "It will be like looking for a single piece of straw in a haystack!"

Edward glanced in my direction, and I quickly realized that he was sharing a glance with Emmett. When I looked up, I realized that they were on the same wavelength.

And, of course, I wasn't. I couldn't help but feel, though, that whatever they were thinking would go horribly awry. Whatever it was...

Bella seemed just as clueless as I was. "But they can find you," she reminded them.

"And I can take care of myself," Edward stated matter-of-factly.

Laughing, Emmett extended a fist across the table toward Edward, and shifting me awkwardly in the process. "Excellent plan, my brother," he declared with a gangster accent as their fists collided. Then, Emmett shifted back to his original position so that I could sit back in my original position.

"No," Rosalie hissed.

"Absolutely not," Bella proclaimed.

"Nice," Jasper agreed.

"Idiots," Alice whispered.

I glanced at Esme, who was glaring at Edward.

"I think this will go terribly wrong," I stated, looking up into Emmett's eyes, and narrowing my eyes, crossing my arms across my chest. Then, I realized that I didn't know exactly what they were planning. "Whatever it is," I finished lamely, losing my confidence.

Bella, straightening herself in her chair, concluded, "All right, then. Edward has offered an alternative for you to consider." She stated this as if she was not-so-biased as before. "Let's vote."

She turned towards Edward first. "Do you want me to join your family?"

"Not that way," he firmly declared. "You're staying human."

"Alice?"

"Yes," she stated, grinning at Bella.

"Jasper?"

"Yes," he muttered, seemingly sad.

Some surprise flashed across Bella's face before she composed herself, and moved on. "Rosalie?"

Biting her lip for a moment, Rosalie shyly whispered, "No."

As Bella started to turn away, Rosalie held up her hands for her to halt her progression. I was slightly grateful, because I didn't know what I would say, yet.

She begged, "Let me explain. I don't mean that I have any aversion to you as a sister. It's just that...this is not the life I would have chosen for myself. I wish there had been someone there to vote no for me."

Bella nodded, showing her acknowledgment, and continued to Emmett.

"Hell, yes!" I jumped at his loud exclamation. Glancing at his face, I saw him grinning as he continued, "We can find some other way to pick a fight with this Demetri."

Bella was still grimacing when she turned her head slightly downward to gaze at me. "Um..."

"Kieran," Edward provided for her.

"Kieran," Bella repeated. "Um...Do you want to vote? From what I've heard from Esme, you are part of the family..."

My face twisted in concentration as I stated, "Yeah, I'd like to vote. Um..." I still wasn't sure which way! ...It seemed like she really did want to join... Why keep her from the family? She seems nice enough... "Sure," I muttered, smiling at her. "I'd like to have you as a sister."

Bella returned my smile, then moved on to Esme. Before she could ask, Esme answered, "Yes, of course, Bella. I already think of you as part of my family."

"Thank you, Esme," Bella mumbled as she turned to Carlisle. Carlisle was turned to Edward instead of Bella, however.

"Edward," he urged.

"No." Why was he growling? When my gaze turned on Edward, I shuddered away at the sight, hiding my face in Emmett's chest, who held me tighter against him in reassurance. His jaw was strained, and his lips were curled back as to reveal his ultra white teeth.

Why was he so...ferocious on this subject?

"It's the only way that makes sense," I heard Carlisle reason. "You've chosen not to live without her, and that doesn't leave me a choice."

I heard someone shove away from the table, murmuring under their breath as they took their exit of the dining room. I assumed it was Edward.

"I guess you know my vote," Carlisle sighed.

"Thanks," Bella whispered. From her tone of voice, I guessed that she was taken aback by Edward's reaction.

The deafening crash that resonated from outside the room made me shiver, burrowing even further.

"That's all I needed." The volume of Bella's voice showed that she was slightly intimidated by this, as well. "Thank you for wanting to keep me. I feel exactly the same way about all of you, too." Her voice was shivering with emotion by the conclusion of her speech.

"Dearest Bella," I heard Esme breathe, as if she was right next to Bella.

Emmett cradled me, and quietly asked, "What's the matter?"

"I'm scared," I mumbled into his chest.

"Edward scared you?" he repeated.

I nodded, rubbing my head against his quickly moisturizing shirt.

I rubbed my stupid tears away as Emmett whispered, "He didn't mean to scare you..."

Bella took me away from my thoughts as she asked, "Well, Alice...Where do you want to do this?"

"No! No! NO!"

I shivered as Edward yelled his objection. I heard him charge into the room.

"Take me away," I cried, tears spilling over once more.

"Are you insane?" Edward yelled. "Have you-?"

Then, as if I obtained instant wish fulfillment, everything was quiet once more. No more yelling, or arguing, or anything of the sort.

Sighing, I relaxed in his arms. "Thank you."

"Mm-hm," he mumbled.

I started to feel drowsy, and Emmett was just too comfortable for his own good..."I think I'm..."

"Tired," he yawned.

"Yeah..."

It was a second before consciousness left me that I remembered that vampires don't yawn.

~****~

...Okay. I would put some comment that fit the story right here, but I can't think of one at the moment...

So, I'll just go straight to the review business. If you would like me to update soon, give me 4 more reviews, and I'll gladly oblige. If I don't receive them, then I'll just go along with the 20 day type thing that I've set up (details in profile).

Either way, sooner or later, an update will be headed your way! Reviews are appreciated, though...

^_^

(Cue for reader to press review button, and give at least one word summarizing their thoughts...pretty please? With an Emmett on top?)