Chapter 12: Evidence

~Edward~

Two weeks ago, Alice and Jasper had gone to South America to help Rosalie and Emmett. Their travels had taken them to Belize, and there they found legends of the Incubus and of the offspring. The legends were nothing new, and my siblings had pressed on going deeper into South America. Alice had begun seeing things, but they were fleeting and none of us believed they had anything to do with the Werewolves. It didn't leave us with much other than frustration. Bella and I longed to be with our family, yet neither of us was willing to risk the safety of our children. With the whole family away Renesmee had all but stopped talking, showing us what she wanted instead.

As I finished off another deer, I listened to the conversation going on at the house a mile and a half to the east. Charlie had dropped by for a visit and today had brought a few presents for Renesmee, hoping to cheer her up. "Now, all we need to do is plug this in, and then we can add the pegs and make a lighted picture, better than the one on the box," Charlie was saying. In my mind I heard my daughter's thoughts. She was interested in what her grandpa was showing her, but kept thinking about her Aunt Rosalie and Uncle Emm, missing them. She was watching Charlie add the pegs to the Lightbrite Picture, and was beginning to like what she saw. The gift was something most two year-olds wouldn't receive, but Charlie knew his granddaughter wasn't like most toddlers her age.

By the time I got back to the house, Renesmee's thoughts were only on her new present and she was actually smiling. Charlie was sitting on the sofa letting Anthony stand on his lap, while Bella stood in the back of the house deep in thought. I found myself still wishing that I could read her mind, and after giving my baby girl a kiss and nodding to Charlie I went back to let her know she could go hunt. "She likes her new present," I said as Bella wrapped her arms around me.

"I know. Charlie's been just as worried about her as we have. I've been thinking we should go back to the Island. I know everything is crazy, but maybe sandy shores and warm sunny weather will be what makes the difference for Renesmee."

I kissed the top of my wife's head, "We need to stay in one place for a while. So much has happened, as you well know. I think she would do better for now just staying here." My wife sighed, nodding her agreement. "Why don't we go join them, or do you need to hunt first?"

"Hunt. Charlie's scent is a little too appealing."

Once Bella had gone, I joined the rest of my family. Anthony was now cradled in Charlie's arms looking up at him as Charlie read from a book. With him occupied I sat down next to my baby girl, noticing that she was following the directions Charlie had told her as she made her pictures. "Do you like this?"

She nodded and in her mind I could see how focused she was.

"Do you mind if I help?"

Her head nodded once and she moved over. I picked up a dark blue peg and put it in to place. Just as I was about to put another one in, my cell vibrated. I saw who it was and headed to Carlisle's office answering my father's call. "Edward, we found something new," Carlisle told me. He sounded excited and I listened as he talked about a legend of the beginning. "It says that the Werewolves had a beginning close to Renesmee's. Only one man was born into that life and from his rage others were forced. It's very old and the writing has faded, but maybe they are interested in Renesmee because she was born. I know it's all jumbled son, but if we could figure this out, or I could pay a visit to Aro."

"No, he would see them."

On his end I could hear Carlisle sighing, "I guess you are right. Esme and I just want this to be over so that we can all live our lives without fearing."

We talked a while longer and I told him there hadn't been anything new from Alice or Rosalie. Carlisle said they were going to stay another week before heading home and as I hung up the phone Renesmee laid her head against my lap. "Are you done with your picture?" I asked as I lifted her against my chest.

"Want to talk to Pop."

I dialed the number and once Carlisle answered I pressed the phone to her ear. "Pop, I got a present."

I could hear Carlisle's reply along with the quiet purr coming from the car he was driving.

Renesmee told him about her picture light before asking him when he would get back. "You need come home today," Renesmee whispered sadly.

"It won't be too much longer, I promise," Carlisle assured. After that she turned her head. I ended the call and for a few minutes cuddled with my little girl. "Do you want to go hunt with me after Momma comes home?" Renesmee had gone one time with me staying in her pack carrier while I took down a deer without scarring her. Again it seemed instinct played a big part into why that didn't bother her.

"Want to go with you and Momma," she said lifting her head away from my shoulder to look at me with her dark chocolate eyes, so much like Bella's before the turning.

"Momma needs to stay here with Grandpa and Anthony, but once Pop and Nanna come back we will all go together," I assured, hoping that would be enough.

My baby seemed to consider this before her small head nodded once. Her hand touched my cheek and I saw us in the kitchen with her on my lap while she ate some human food. When we arrived in the family room, Charlie was laying Anthony down in his playpen, and Renesmee leaned out toward him when he came to us. "I was about to fix her something to eat, will you join us?"

"I think I can stay a little longer," Charlie agreed. His mind was still foggy, but his thoughts were on that conversation he had with Bella about being turned.

As I began to fix some left over lasagna, I reminded Charlie that he didn't need to worry about making any big changes.

"Billy agrees, which he would I guess. I just know that if things get stirred up it's going to be hard to sit around while the rest of you deal with all of that."

"If that happens we need a safe place for our children," I said bringing two plates of food to the table, glad Renesmee's thoughts were on her new present and not on the current topic of discussion. Bella and I had talked a little about the possibility of having to leave our children to keep them safe. Now that Charlie knew our secret we both felt they would be safest with him, though where they would live would be another question we would have to find time to answer. I watched Charlie's expression as he processed this and when he did he looked right at me.

"Would I be able to handle something like that?"

"We would have previsions for that eventuality."

He nodded as he took a bite of food and Renesmee glanced from him to me. For now we let that drop, but at some point Bella and I would need to sit down and talk this out with him. Our safe world seemed to be teetering, and the safety of our children was paramount.

~Alice~

My head hurt as it did when the wolves were around, making it difficult to see where we needed to go. So far everything I was seeing was based in the deep forests of the Amazon, and we were on foot most of the time tracking a scent close to those of Anthony's and Renesmee's. Rosalie had come across it when we arrived in Belize not long after dusk when we were able to venture out of our hotel. Since then we had been going further away from any cities and towns like we were be led on a wild goose chase. Ahead of us Jasper was attempting to track what ever it was or whoever it was we were following while Rose stayed close to me knowing that I was too focused on trying to get a glimpse of something to really pay attention if any immediate danger popped up.

We both snapped to attention when we heard another voice asking us who we were. It was a girl's voice and she smelled different.

"Alice?" my husband called out to me. Emmett stood back with Rosalie and when I arrived by Jasper's side I saw the face I'd seen in my visions.

The girl standing before me didn't look much older than fifteen or sixteen. She was frightened but not by who we were. We could hear a heart beat though she wasn't entirely human.

"We won't harm you," I assured.

"You are a vampire, you all are," she whispered softly in perfect English.

"We aren't the kind who hurt others," I said hoping to gain her trust. Her blue eyes were as wide as saucers, and it was evident by the way she shifted from one foot to the other that she was thinking about running even though it wouldn't do her any good.

"Why did you follow? I have done nothing to you or your family."

"We are trying to find answers," I said, not knowing if we could trust her.

"There are none. Please, just let me go now," she pleaded.

I could feel Jasper trying to calm her, but for some reason she wasn't responding.

"We will leave now. We are staying in the city," I said hoping she would come find us again.

Once she had gone Emmett grumbled and I spun around, facing him, "We couldn't just force her to stay or tell us what we wanted. At least we know now why I couldn't see, and what this means for Renesmee and Anthony."

We were all quiet as we made our way through the jungle toward the city. When we got back there was still a lot of activity going on in the streets and I could focus on anything I liked which meant there were no half vampires or otherwise anywhere close by. Rosalie and Emmett chose to go a different way to hunt while Jasper and I headed back to the hotel.

"What are your thoughts?" Jasper asked the moment we were in our room.

"I'm not sure I know where to begin. Surely there are more than just that one young girl. We need to call Edward and let him know, but I don't know about doing it until we can find more answers for them. She didn't look very old," I pointed out as Jasper came to sit next to me on the sofa.

"No. It surprises me that she was on her own."

"What do they have to fear. Isn't it obvious? This is a perfect place to hide. There is plenty of jungle life and it would be hard to smell them without knowing what you were looking for as we were," I said.

"I wonder if her family is like Edward and Bella or if it was an accident," Jasper asked putting his arm around me. It was something I wanted to know as well, along with several more questions that we all wanted answers too.

After two days we weren't sure we would ever get those answers. I was still seeing everything clearly monitoring things in England with Carlisle and Esme and in Forks with Edward and Bella. My brother and Bella were talking about things that made them both sad and in a way relieved in efforts to keep the babies safe, and I couldn't imagine what it would be like to have to think of not being there for them as they grew up. So far things in Volterra were as normal as it ever got so at least that was one thing less for me to see.

Jasper and I were hunting when my head started hurting and the future disappeared. He left his kill coming straight to me when he picked up on what I was feeling. "I can't see," I told Jasper as he hugged me. Both of us picked up on footfall heading our way and we both got down in crouching positions ready to fight if need be. Time seemed to stand still as first the girl stepped into our small clearing followed by a boy not much older than her. An older woman was with them and Jasper and I got to our feet.

"You are not here to harm?" the woman asked in her native Portuguese tongue.

"No," I said wondering if the two were hers. She was human through and through.

She said something to the two young ones before looking at me speaking this time in English. "Marie tells me you come needing answers. She says you and your family tracked her but let her go, why?"

"It wasn't our intent to scare her or to keep her hostage," I began. Jasper put a reassuring hand on my left shoulder and I continued. "We have some in our family that are like Marie and the boy," I said praying they were ones we could trust.

"My name is Lily, these are my children. They have been this way since they stopped growing fifty years ago when I was in my early thirties."

We all sat down, all feeling safe for the moment and Lily told us her story of the man who raped her leaving her nearly for dead in Belize. "I got home and tried getting on with my life only to later discover I was pregnant. I didn't realize what he was until after they were born and promised never to ignore the old stories. Marie and her brother Micah are twins though they don't look like that. She was a quiet baby, but he was always so fitful and sickly."

The sun was coming out by the time she and her two children left us again unwilling to bring us with them but agreeing to meet us again here in the evening to talk more.

"Do you think they live with others?" I asked Jasper as we got back to the city.

"Where ever they are from it is far enough away not to be able to feel them or smell more of them, not unless they have found a way to mask their scent," he answered.

With my vision slowly coming back I shut my eyes glad that my head was also beginning to hurt less and that the haze was beginning to lift. Jasper had the phone for me before I could ask and I hit three holding it to my ear as I waited for Edward to pick up ready to tell him at least that one of our worries was gone.

~Edward~

As I finished the conversation with Alice, Bella entered our room holding Anthony against her left hip as she gently bounced him. It was early morning and he was awake ready for starting his day. "They met two half human half vampire children who stopped aging when they were fifteen. They have been that way for fifty years," I told her seeing the relief washing over her beautiful features.

"How did they meet them?" Bella asked sitting beside me as Anthony leaned away from Bella wanting me to hold him.

"Rosalie smelled someone who wasn't quiet human and they tracked her deep in the forest outside of Belize. They let her go and last night or at least when it was their night, while Alice and Jasper hunted the mother and her twins sought them out. Jasper is unable to tell us if there are more of them, but the woman was raped by a vampire who did nothing more than to impregnate her."

"I don't like that," Bella said letting Anthony hold one of her fingers as he gurgled.

"Nor do I. If there is someone like that then it means the Volturi will find out if they haven't already."

We were both quiet as we leaned back on the bed, and while Anthony sat on my chest gurgling at us, we talked more about what this meant for our children. "Is it selfish to feel relieved that we won't one day lose them," Bella asked.

"I understand how you feel, and I don't know if I have an honest answer. A part of me is relieved, another part is saddened that they will share our fate and be on this earth for an eternity."

Bella settled on her side stroking my cheek with the back of her fingers, "I think that was a very honest answer," she said as Anthony began to fuss. Our son was hungry and it was time to get our day with our children off to a good start. While I headed down stairs with our son, Bella went in to check on Renesmee. Since Charlie had brought her the Lightbrite, our daughter had something she loved doing which included making her own pictures not preset by the papers.

In the kitchen I made up a bottle for Anthony cradling in my arms once it was ready. While I held on to him he held the bottle on his own shutting his eyes as I walked to one of the windows. For me something felt off. It wasn't that I didn't trust what Alice and Jasper had told us, but there was something that wasn't right about it all. Maybe it was as Bella said earlier about not liking what the one vampire had done to Lily, and perhaps it was because with someone like that in the world the Volturi would know sooner rather than later.

"Daddy, I go outside and find flowers." Renesmee said as she entered the kitchen wearing a pair of jeans and a long sleeved green shirt. Her hair was pulled back into a pony tail and her feet were bare.

"It isn't raining today," I said handing Anthony to Bella before lifting my daughter into my arms. I looked right in to her eyes and realized that I did feel relieved that they would always be with us, and didn't feel the guilt I had earlier. Now all we had to do was find a way to make the future safer for them, and that would start with finding out more about Lily's attacker and possibly trying to seek him out to find out why he would have done such a thing.

Once Renesmee was in her seat I made breakfast for her. She sat on my lap while she ate talking all about what kinds of flowers she wanted to find, some that were not in season. "I got get flowers and make it pretty so Nanna will be happy when she come back," Renesmee explained as she ate another mouthful of pancakes.

When she was done and Anthony was settled in his exersaucer with Renesmee content to play with her Lightbrite Bella and I got the kitchen cleaned while I told her my thoughts. "It almost seems to good to be true," I said as she took my hand while we walked into the dining room.

"Do you think Lily wasn't telling the truth?"

"Not that, just what I said before about the risk this vampire has taken by doing this. Maybe he just stopped with her but then why would he rape her and leave her for dead instead of killing her?" I whispered mindful of young ears.

"We have more to try and figure out now," Bella said and I nodded. It was like taking one step forward and three backward. Our lives were far more complex than I wished them to be, and I was again grateful for my family and all they were doing for us.

~*~

AN: Here we go. It took a while to get this one out because I kept rushing some things, but I'm happy with it now. I hope you all like what you read and let me know what you think. Thank you everyone for all the reviews and hopefully more will come sooner rather than later.

~Ella~