A/N: So this was originally supposed to be one chapter but it would have been insanely long and I still have to figure out a few things about it so I decided to split it into two parts. Hopefully, I will have the next part written soon so you wouldn't have to wait too long.

Chapter twenty-six

Edward

Beautiful.

This word was playing on loop in my mind while I was watching Bella sleep in my bed. She looked like an angel, with her dark hair spread on the pillow around her head, which was turned my direction. Her mouth was slightly open, and her right hand was resting palm up on my chest. The heat from her hand made my body tingle everywhere. And I mean everywhere.

My body was seventeen, after all.

If my body tingled in her closeness, then my throat was on fire. I swallowed the venom that was pooling in my mouth but made no effort to get away from her. I relished every opportunity to be with her, so I tried to prolong the moment as much as I could. I knew I'd have to go downstairs to my family to discuss the last details of our strategy, but I just couldn't make myself move. I still had a little time.

I let my mind wander to the last few days. To the moment when I'd found out she worried about me. It felt like my dead heart might start beating again. It meant that she cared enough to actually be worried about my safety.

Then the pessimistic side of me made an appearance. Of course she was worried about you. You wouldn't be able to protect her if you were dead. I tried to squash down these thoughts. I knew she cared. She let me be close to her. She even let me kiss her. I was sure she wasn't that heartless.

But still. I knew she didn't feel the same way about me as I did about her. It was simply humanly impossible. Vampire feelings are much stronger than human. Everything is more intense.

I sighed and then took a deep breath, letting her delicious mouth-watering scent burn my throat. I had hated it the first day in that Biology class. I'd thought she was sent here by Satan himself to torture me. But now I welcomed it. It reminded me that she was here with me, safely sleeping in my arms.

The question was, how long would I be allowed to keep her that way. How long would I be able to keep her in my life. I knew that once she was free to go, she would leave me. At that thought sharp pain shot through my chest and I felt like I couldn't breathe. But it was bound to happen, eventually. I'd better be prepared for it.

Maybe if I left her first… The idea didn't make me feel much better but at least I wouldn't have to listen to her telling me she had to leave…

Jesus, Edward. Stop it. Why are you so depressed when you're with your girl? Jasper's thoughts screamed at me.

I didn't realize he'd still been keeping watch on this room. He'd helped putting Bella to sleep earlier, letting her relax into deep slumber. Now he was spending a few quiet moments with Alice before we had to leave, and my emotions had been putting him into a miserable mood.

"Sorry," I mumbled quietly, but it was loud enough for Jasper to hear me. Then I turned my thoughts into more pleasant things.

It was inevitable, since Bella chose this moment to turn her whole body to me and pressed herself to my side, throwing her left arm across my chest and her left leg across my legs.

I immediately stopped breathing.

Sudden moves still made my throat flare even more than usual but at least the urge to bite her had somewhat diminished. The same couldn't be said about another part of my body though.

I looked down at her, still not daring to breathe. She looked so peaceful in her sleep, her eyes fluttering slightly and her mouth open, her pink lips creating a small o. I looked at them for a very long time, imagining them on various parts of my body…

That's better, man. Jasper clearly appreciated the change of my emotions and took advantage of them on Alice. She didn't seem to mind.

I quickly jumped out of Jasper's and Alice's minds and returned my attention to Bella.

I took an experimental breath, finding out it was bearable, and tried to ignore the burning of my throat. The warmth of Bella's body felt like I was wrapped in a thick blanket. I smiled, reaching out to touch her hair and started playing with one of her strands.

It was nearly time to get ready to leave. Alice had told us to take a shower before we left to wash out Bella's scent so the strangers wouldn't be alerted to her closeness to us right away. I could as well use the shower to calm my overexcited body.

"We'll be meeting in the backyard in ten minutes," said Carlisle from his office. He didn't shout, everyone could hear his low voice just fine. …want to avoid Bella's scent after shower… everywhere in the house… I caught his thoughts, but I knew he meant well. And he was right. Bella's scent was everywhere since she'd begun spending the days here.

I gently and reluctantly untangled myself from Bella's body. Then I kissed her forehead and quietly, so not even my family could hear, whispered the words I never said aloud. "I love you, Bella."

After I'd taken the shower, I put on fresh clothes Alice had prepared for me and jumped out of the bathroom window right into the backyard. The others were already there getting ready. Emmett and Carlisle were saying goodbye to their mates so I tuned out their thoughts to give them some privacy, even though I could still hear their whispered words.

I focused on Jasper who was playing out the strategy for tonight so Alice could see what would happen. She couldn't see much further ahead though because there were other decisions to be made. However, she still had been able to give us a few pieces of advice based on her "hunches", as she called it.

In our last night meeting – which had taken place outside of Bella's house while she was sleeping – we'd agreed that it would be best not to reveal our Gifts to the strangers, or at least keep it secret for as long as possible. Carlisle wanted to approach them peacefully and try to talk to them first to find out if he could persuade them to give up their pursuit. Also we'd agreed that we wouldn't tell them that we were there to protect Bella. Alice thought that it might provoke an unpredictable reaction from at least one of them.

Alice's mind was now a whirl of images, a mixture of present and future. I always admired her mind. Besides Carlisle's, hers was my favorite. It was fascinating, the way her visions kept coming almost constantly and her ability to sort through them and store them away for future use or disregard them completely. Even though I had to similarly sort through all the thoughts that kept coming to my head from others' minds, I'd never had to deal with more than what was happening at the time. She had once told me that it had taken her years to learn how her Gift really works and how to use it without going crazy.

I heard a quiet moan and a rustling sound from my room – Bella just turned in her bed. She didn't wake up; her breathing was still steady and calm. Suddenly I felt an urge to stay at home with her, a strange anxiety was building in my stomach.

Jasper's head snapped to me. Are you alright?

"I don't know," I mumbled, frowning in confusion. It was true. I knew that it was best for Bella's safety that I went with them; they needed me, with my mind reading ability we should be able to resolve the whole situation either in peace, or in fight where my help would be greatly appreciated. But still, I felt like leaving Bella was wrong, like something was about to happen if I left.

I glanced at Alice. She was still scanning her visions in the back of her mind, but her eyes were on me. I concentrated on the images of the near future in her head, but there was nothing about Bella being in immediate danger. I saw Bella talking to Rosalie at some point, but it was blurry like it was just a possibility, something that was yet to be decided.

Esme just finished saying goodbye to Carlisle and turned to me. She reached her hand to cup my cheek and smiled. "Be careful, Edward."

"I will," I murmured, giving her a reassuring smile back.

We'll take care of her, don't worry. She added in her thoughts.

"Thanks, Mom." I knew she loved when we called her that and she often felt like we didn't do it often enough. She beamed at me, patting my cheek, and moved to Jasper and Alice.

It was foolish to expect the same from Rosalie and sure enough, she didn't disappoint. She looked at me for a long time, her mind swirling with various things she wanted to tell me. Most of them were rude or plainly vulgar. She knew I could hear her, but she didn't care. Rosalie hated my mind reading more than any other member of my family and she didn't hesitate to say it.

To my surprise though she settled on something completely unexpected. "I hope she's worth it."

I stared at her. In her mind I could see her sincerity and genuine worry about me. In the back of her mind there was an edge to it, she worried what would happen to her if her family was left in ruins because of Bella, but her foremost thought was about my well-being.

"She is," I assured her.

She nodded and turned to say goodbye to Carlisle. I really hope so. She sent me one last thought and focused on our father.

After all goodbyes were said, Alice grabbed a duffel bag that had been laying by her feet and we took off. I knew what was in the bag and I thought it was an excellent idea. It was Jasper, ever the strategist, who'd come up with it. He'd said that it would be suspicious if we appeared in front of the strangers out of the blue, demanding answers and looking like we knew they were coming. It would be better, and Alice agreed, to make it look like they accidentally ran into us while we were in the middle of something. Carlisle had suggested hunting, but we never were all together while hunting – it was just too distracting, and we had natural instincts that made us very territorial and defensive of our prey. So Jasper's idea was simple, and it was perfectly fitting for tonight's weather.

Baseball.

A few days ago, Alice had finally seen the definite direction the strangers would be coming from. We had decided to make use of the opportunity and meet them at the clearing where we often played baseball during stormy weather. It was only logical to play – or at least pretend to – today when the weather was right.

It was drizzling but we knew that the heavy rain would be here soon. Even if we didn't have Alice, I could smell the rain in the air. It took me only ten minutes to get to the clearing; the others were slower and by the time they arrived a minute later, I had already started pacing around the clearing impatiently.

"Relax, Edward," said Alice, rolling her eyes, "we still have time."

"How long?" asked Emmett eagerly, stopping next to Alice who had started unpacking the bag. Hope at least one of them is a good fighter… love challenge for a change.

I internally rolled my eyes at him. He stubbornly refused to admit that both Alice and I had beaten him in our last practice match. I stopped pacing, picking up Alice's answer from her mind before she replied to Emmett.

"Fifteen minutes," she said, tossing at us the baseball caps she had packed. I raised my eyebrows at her, and she just shrugged. We have to look the part.

I suppressed a sigh and put the cap on. Then I walked to the edge of the clearing where I stopped, closing my eyes. I focused my mind reading as far into the woods as it would reach. My range was about three miles which meant that I should be able to read their minds before the rest of my family could hear them.

The rain had picked up, so it was pouring down now. There was thunder not far from us and lightnings illuminated the dark sky above our heads. I heard the others talking quietly while they waited for me to give them a sign. Emmett was swinging the bat impatiently, chanting Come on, come on, in his head, so I tuned him out and once again focused my mind into the woods.

The minutes ticked by slowly and everything was quiet now, except for the thunderstorm and rain pounding down around me. Then I finally heard it.

One by one, three unfamiliar minds entered my range.

I raised my hand, giving the others the sign and focused on the strangers.

The first one was obviously a male; his mind had this characteristic masculine feel. I couldn't distinguish any thoughts though; he was completely focused on where he was going. It looked like something in his mind was giving him directions.

Right behind him was a female. Her thoughts, which had quite unpleasant high-pitched undertone, were focused on the male in front of her. She was wondering where exactly they were going and was annoyed with whatever it was that made him not paying her enough attention. I could also detect that a part of her mind was constantly on alert, scanning her surroundings and trying to find a way out.

The last one was also a male. He kept a short distance behind the other two, like he didn't quite belong to them. In his mind he was contemplating how to tell James that he wanted to go his own way.

Now, that was interesting.

I pulled out of their minds and quickly told the others what I'd found out, still partly paying attention to the strangers' thoughts.

"So you think he's not part of the coven?" asked Carlisle, looking thoughtful.

"It looks like it," I said, nodding. "And I think the female might be gifted as well. Some sort of evasive talent."

"Hm." Jasper frowned, and I could see more strategic schemes playing out in his head.

"They are going to run across our scents in three seconds," Alice piped up and sure enough, right after another lightning pierced the sky, I heard the alarm in the thoughts of the three vampires.

... vampire… more than one!

… didn't know it was someone's territory…

… might complicate things…

They stopped running and turned to face each other to discuss what to do. The Tracker pointed at the other male, telling him to lead the way and talk to us. He and the female – Victoria – would be watching and trying to find a way around us to go and find the object. I could see Bella's face flicker in his mind. It was clearly a photograph in some kind of a file with her name written under the picture.

I let out a low growl but at the same time Emmett and Jasper ran into each other with an ear-splitting crash so the strangers would think we actually did play baseball.

It worked. All three of them snapped their heads our direction and started running again. It didn't take long before we all could hear their approach. Emmett and Jasper had stopped the fake baseball game, but Emmett still held the bat in his hand. We formed some sort of defensive semi-circle around Alice at Jasper's insistence, facing the woods.

A minute later they walked into the clearing, stopping about two steps in. We all stood still, not moving, each group warily studying the other. I heard their inner surprise when they saw our strange eye color but none of them said anything. Then the man in the middle, with black hair and slightly olive toned skin, stepped forward and put his hands up in a peace offering gesture.

"We mean no harm," he said calmly, his eyes fixed on Carlisle, who he had correctly identified as our leader since he was standing a step in front of the rest of us. "My name is Laurent, and this is James and Victoria." He waved behind him and the other two just nodded when their name was announced. "We were just passing through, but we heard your game and became curious." He pointed at the bat in Emmett's hand and offered a friendly smile. I could see that at least his curiosity was genuine.

"I am Carlisle Cullen, and this is my family," said Carlisle, "Edward, Emmett, Jasper and Alice." He pointed at each of us, but his eyes remained on Laurent. "We live nearby. You can pass through, but we have to ask you not to hunt in this area."

"I have to admit that it surprised me that such a large coven lives in such a sparsely populated place," Laurent continued conversationally, while James and Victoria carefully studied our faces. "Wouldn't it be more… convenient… to settle in big cities where the food is more accessible?"

Carlisle started to explain our diet, but I barely heard him. At the mentioning of Alice's name, she'd peeked out from behind Jasper and that was when James's eyes landed on her. His mind became blank with surprise and then a memory started to unfold in his head.

It was a moonless night, and he was standing in front of an old looking building surrounded by dense forest. There were still a few windows lit but he knew that the one he was interested in was long dark. He crept to the window that was just above ground and peeked inside between the bars. He could still see her, even in the dark. She was tiny, with a short black hair standing in all directions. Her thin body was curled up in a ball on a small, metal-framed bed and she was sleeping restlessly. It was then when he caught the scent of another vampire, which made this game even more exciting…

… my little Mary-Alice…

It was that last thought that almost made my head snap his direction. I gritted my teeth and silently gathered all my strength and willpower so I wouldn't jump at James' throat and thus reveal my mind reading ability and ruin our carefully laid plans.

He knew Alice and from what I next heard in his mind; he'd just found his next challenge.