Well, this is it, my friends, a continuation of the vamp-fic I first wrote for the Thirst Contest. This is a somewhat well-trodden landscape, so coming up with a new plotline for these two that might capture the imagination was hard. I can only beg your indulgence and hope you enjoy it.

Helping me keep my Britishisms to myself and control my wanton and reckless use of punctuation is my old friend, Alice's White Rabbit, who has done sterling work. Whatever nonsense or errors you fall over below are wholly down to my endless and obsessive tweaking.

So, on your marks, get set ... gooooo!


One year later ...

Edward glanced up from his book and smiled at Bella, who had just burst into the living room of their small cottage on the Cullen estate looking windswept and wet. If she had been human, her cheeks would have been flushed with exertion and the glow that was Edward's beacon, a constant, inner light—he had once been a creature who sought out the dark, embraced it, lived in and by it. Now, like a moth or, indeed, a human, he was drawn to the light, and Bella was the brightest of lights, lit from within, and she was the only light he saw.

Edward placed his book on the small table beside his chair and held his hand out.

Bella shook her head with a laugh. "Uh, no, I'm wet and dirty and definitely need a shower and some dry clothes before I sit," she told him, turning to go upstairs.

"I'll join you. You know I love you wet and dirty." Edward's voice was low and sexy, and Bella had learned quickly that she had no defense against it. She merely reached for his hand behind her and led him to their bathroom. In a blur, they were naked and standing beneath the scalding water that cascaded down their smooth, marble skin as mud and woodland detritus was washed away.

Between kisses, Edward asked how her hunt had gone. These days, he was almost fully "vegetarian", as the Cullens called it, and one hundred percent so when they were back in the cottage, but, being the city boy he was, he really didn't care for hunting game animals in bad weather. Emmett and Jasper teased him relentlessly about it, calling him a wuss, but he stuck to his guns, especially as the Cullen ladies were in full agreement. He had fed in the city the previous evening but Bella, who was still in the final throes of her newborn phase, had needed to feed again and had gone out with the men when they had suggested it after she and Edward had arrived.

"You really are very, very grubby, my love," he whispered, trailing kisses down the long column of her neck.

Moaning softly, Bella dragged her nails down the hard plains of his chest and abdomen. "It's really … mmmh … muddy … out there … oh, fuck …" she managed to gasp before Edward lifted her up against the shower wall and guided himself inside her.

For a while, few words punctuated the sounds of their lovemaking, but they quickly reached the peak of their pleasure, crying out before uttering soft words of love and devotion. As the water cooled, they swiftly cleaned off the evidence of Bella's hunt and their shared passion before drying off and redressing with smiles and gentle touches.

Descending the stairs, Edward barked out a laugh just before there came a loud rat-a-tat-tat on the door.

"Here's that annoying little gremlin you call a friend." He rolled his eyes.

"I heard that, Edward! Let me in before I break your door down and you have to fix it in a storm."

Edward laughed loudly at the continued grumpy muttering that was coming from outside, but Bella elbowed him aside and quickly opened said door to let in her dearest friend and new sister, Alice.

"Sorry, Alice, ignore him."

"I would, but it's hard when the irritating little shit is always in my head," she retorted, sticking her tongue out at the object of her ire.

"Alice, even if I wanted to be inside your head full of Versace, Jimmy Choos and Murano fucking glass vases, you've become very adept at blocking me, which you're doing right now, so don't give me that shit. What do you want?"

"Oh, my God, stop it, you two!" Bella sighed, exasperated. Bella knew Edward and Alice had actually become truly fond of each other, but they had fallen incredibly and shockingly quickly into the roles of bickering siblings who fought constantly but who would fight anyone else to the death to protect the other. Still, it could be very wearing.

Skipping gracefully across the room and dropping onto the sofa, Alice's face broke into a somewhat smug grin.

"The Denalis are coming!" she cried, her delight obvious.

Edward and Bella looked at each other and then back at Alice. Edward spoke first.

"Ohhh-kay, Chucky, cool your heels. What's the big deal? Don't you see these people all the time?"

Alice pouted. "Oh, Edward, you're such a … a … curmudgeon! Actually, we only see them about once or twice a year, but they're dying to meet you and Bella, and Eleazar is as curious as Carlisle about Bella's gift."

Bella shrugged. "I've told you, Alice, I'm pretty sure I don't have a gift—"

"Oh, Bella, Bella, Bella … of course you do. How many times do we have to tell you?"

"Maybe it's Edward who's the problem, maybe we're just not on the same … I don't know … wavelength?"

Edward snaked his arm around her waist and nuzzled her temple. "Oh, babe, you know that's not true. We are so on the same wavelength," he drawled, making Bella shiver and start to turn toward him.

Alice made a harrumphing sound. "Focus, you two. They'll be here in the morning, and Carlisle would like you to come over to the house when they arrive."

She jumped up and giggled suddenly.

"Oh, we're going to have such fun. I think I might sic Kate on you, Edward, and then we'll see just how 'irritated' you can be," she said, using air quotes, which she knew Edward really hated, and immediately filled her thoughts with the latest designs from the Paris Fashion Show and literally danced out the door.

"Fucking evil little goblin," Edward grumbled. "I should have burned those damned letters," only to be met with Alice's tinkling laughter fading away as she ran back to the house.

"She adores you, Edward … although I do sometimes wonder why." Bella smiled up at him, patting his chest and rising up on tiptoes to kiss him lightly. Of course, the kiss quickly escalated, and Alice's taunts were pushed far from their minds.

~o0o~

The following morning, sitting in front of the massive 85-inch TV in the Cullen's living room, Edward had long since decided that Alice's level of excitement was bordering on the psychotic as he caught sight of her once again flying downstairs, only to immediately fly back up in a blur that would be impossible for a human to see.

He was currently playing Death Stranding with Emmett and Jasper while Bella sat on the porch, chatting with Esme and Rosalie.

Edward's relationship with Emmett had been as easy as falling off a log. He rarely, if ever, blocked his mind from Edward and seemed to care not a jot that his new brother could read every thought in his head. For Edward, Emmett's clear, guileless mind-set was an easy place to be, although he did balk at Emmett's pretty constant running commentary on his sex life with his wife. Indeed, Edward was pretty sure he did it on purpose sometimes just to wind him up. Of course, if Jasper was around, he started involuntarily exuding lust and passion, which then sent each couple to their own individual sanctuary to act on it. Again, Edward would have bet good money on the fact that this was precisely Emmett's intent. At first, Edward, who had a somewhat cerebral bent that gelled perfectly with Carlisle, had assumed Emmett wasn't particularly bright, but he quickly ascertained that there were absolutely no flies on the big man. His open, breezy persona was merely the candy coating on a man who felt things intensely, cared deeply for his adopted family, and, as with the best fighters—and Emmett was assuredly one of the best—he could strategize and plan. He was certainly the strongest vampire Edward had ever met, and he'd met plenty. He sometimes wondered if his strength was, in fact, his gift.

There was no doubting Jasper's gift, of course. Edward had struggled, in the beginning, to connect with Jasper. His empathic powers were disconcerting at best and sometimes really annoying. In addition, there was the fact that he had clearly been in many, many battles. Edward knew little of the history of the Southern Vampire Wars, but he knew enough to understand that any vampire with that many scars had fought often and, more impressively, won every time. He and Emmett would be a formidable, possibly unbeatable, team. Of late, however, Edward had come to enjoy Jasper's natural laissez-faire attitude and his sharp intellect. Over the last year, he'd learned much from the man and had reveled in their lively discussions, as well as the very competitive game nights he got dragged into with his adopted brothers.

As for Carlisle, the patriarch of this extraordinary band of animal-feeding vampires, Edward was in awe of his intellect, his compassion and his astonishing choice of career—a vampire doctor? What the hell was that all about? The more he talked to Carlisle, the more his admiration grew, and the two of them often talked through the night. On one subject in particular, Carlisle was a fountain of knowledge—the Volturi in Italy. Edward had known of them, of course, all vampires did or, if they didn't, they quickly found out if they fell afoul of their laws. It was hard to get his head around the fact that their leader, Aro, and his two brothers were over 3,000 years old. Carlisle had told him that there were still two Transylvanian vampires, Vladimir and Stefan, who were possibly older, but they rarely moved and had been overtaken by a kind of stultifying ennui some 1,500 years ago, which had left the vampire world ripe for Aro's takeover.

Carlisle explained how he had spent many years in Volterra when he first made his way from England to Continental Europe in search of some kind of sanctuary, but Aro and his cohorts were never comfortable with his refusal to drink human blood; indeed, he himself had struggled to ignore the fact that his companions dealt in the death and destruction of innocents. He told Edward how once one had been pulled into Aro's web, it was hard to break away. Nevertheless, despite Aro's claims of fraternity and friendship, Carlisle's very nature had meant that the Volturi were glad to see Carlisle depart for the Americas. He supposed it was because he didn't have a gift—Aro collected gifted vampires—but Edward had to disagree. As far as he was concerned, Carlisle had an amazing and unique gift; that of being able to treat human injuries and illnesses and to do so with a compassion that was often sadly lacking in many human doctors.

And then there were the women of this house: Esme, their matriarch and Carlisle's mate, Rosalie, Emmett's mate, and, of course, little Alice, Jasper's mate and both the bane and joy of his new life.

Edward barely remembered his own mother; he merely retained a vague, nebulous impression of a beautiful lady with auburn hair and a stunning smile. It was that smile and the feeling of being comforted and cared for more than specific memories that helped Edward believe he had been loved, but in Esme it was as though he had found the reincarnation of the nurturing mother he had rarely allowed himself to miss. He adored this woman who had welcomed him into her home and had simply showered him with love and care.

Rosalie was very different. She was utterly striking, her beauty that of a Nordic ice queen and certainly one of the most beautiful women Edward had ever laid eyes on. The thought hadn't escaped him that if he'd met her in a bar or club back in his old life, he would have made it his mission to bed her. Now, of course, Rosalie's looks held no attraction for him, not when his world revolved around Bella. But Rosalie would have definitely fallen into that category of women he would have struggled to spend more than a night with. Her thoughts were cool, at best, and she seemed to mistrust everyone except the Cullens. She wasn't an easy woman to like, but Edward admired her fierce loyalty to her family, and there was no doubt she had tentatively accepted the addition of two new members into that family, even if she seemed to struggle somewhat with Bella choosing this life rather than being forced into it, as had everyone else.

Lastly, but certainly far from least, was Alice. She had been a thorn in his side even before he ever met her and, now that she had drawn him in, it felt like she'd made it her mission in life to annoy him. The dichotomy of Alice, of course, was that it was impossible not to love her, even if he sometimes wanted to throttle her. He never would, of course, not least because she had instantly become his beloved Bella's best friend, and the two of them were thick as thieves. Their relationship both amused and irritated him in equal measure.

The thing with Alice was her psychic gift. Edward had never before believed in psychics and mediums, knowing that at least 99.9 percent were charlatans and con-artists, and he wasn't sure about the other 0.01 percent either. But Alice was the real deal and he found that difficult to deal with, especially as he was privy to so many of her "visions" on the occasions they were all together. If he was honest, it spooked the shit out of him—and Alice knew it. Fortunately, she had quickly become the most proficient at blocking him, so it wasn't as bad as it could be.

Now, however, he caught sight in her thoughts of a large black Mercedes swiftly approaching the house and shook his head with a smile when Alice flew back down the stairs and stopped dead at the bottom.

"They're here!" she cried, as if they could have missed the approach of their visitors' car.

Moments later, Alice darted to the door and threw it open as five new vampires climbed out of the vehicle and approached the house.

Edward and Bella stood back, allowing the others to warmly greet their Alaskan "cousins" as they filed into the house.

Introductions were soon completed and the whole family made themselves comfortable in the Cullens' huge living room.

There was a good deal of catching up between the two families, the conversation flying around them all at a speed that no human would have been able to pick up. Being on the periphery of the established family dynamic, Bella listened intently while Edward merely observed the interactions. Eleazar's mate was a raven-haired beauty, probably of Spanish heritage, and, like Esme, he detected a calm and kind-hearted demeanor. The three blonde sisters, however, were an altogether different kettle of fish. Irina seemed pleasant enough, if a little cool and aloof. It was clear she and Rosalie were good friends, and they certainly had similar personalities. Kate was more open and outgoing and seemed close to Alice, and he was pleased to note that she seemed keen to include Bella in her conversation whenever possible.

And then there was Tanya.

Again, Edward had to admit to himself that he would have been attracted to all three sisters in the past, but it was Tanya who exuded an overt desire. Indeed, she barely took her eyes off Edward despite the fact that her thoughts were hugely conflicted; on the one hand, she very obviously wanted him—badly—but on the other, she was very conscious that he was a mated vampire and that pursuing her desire was absolutely verboten. Edward, having had no prior experience with the vampire mating bond, would once have been utterly skeptical of the principle, but now he could only frown in annoyance at the woman's apparent inability to rein in her lust. He knew Jasper had noticed—how could he not?—and even Kate had cast a few questioning looks her sister's way.

Making a concerted effort to block out Tanya's thoughts and ignore her, he turned to Bella and pressed his lips to her temple, causing her to turn to him with an arched eyebrow. However, before she could ask him what the kiss was for, Eleazar suddenly swiveled in his seat and smiled at them both. It was a welcome distraction, as Edward saw immediately in the older man's thoughts that he wanted to talk about Bella's gift.

"It's an absolute delight to meet you both. We've all been looking forward to this, especially as my dear friend Carlisle speaks so highly of you both. Edward, I understand you're a telepath and that you don't have to be close to someone to hear their thoughts."

"Oh, yeah, that's right. I mean, if it's someone I know, I can be eighty or ninety feet away, maybe a bit more, although with strangers, I need to be closer, no more than thirty or forty feet, I guess."

"That must be very difficult for you, the constant cacophony?"

"It can be, although I've learned to block much of it over the years. I liken it to a human with tinnitus—it never goes away, and sometimes it's louder and more distracting than at other times, but you learn to live with it."

"I imagine you would find that … challenging at times, especially as Carlisle tells me you've lived in the city for most of your life. It must surely have impacted on your mental equilibrium. I wonder that you didn't seek out quieter environs."

Edward didn't respond immediately, shaking his head slightly and looking away. Bella's fingers sliding between his brought him back and he smiled gratefully at her.

"You're right, of course, Eleazar. A couple years ago, I wouldn't have given my mental health any thought at all, but since meeting Bella, I've come to realize that maybe my head wasn't always in a good place and that I was probably pretty depressed. I do have a place in the mountains that I'd escape to when it all got too much, but …" He looked down at Bella tucked into his side and wondered for the umpteenth time how he got so lucky. "Well, I guess you could say I was saved."

If Bella could still have blushed, she would be suffused in a rosy glow, but as it was, she just smiled up at Edward and snuggled closer, trying to avoid anyone else's eye.

"Well, I think everyone here is very grateful to Bella for that, Edward. Your gift is very powerful and very different from that of other telepaths I've come across."

Grinning, Eleazar turned his gaze on Bella.

"And it's very clear to me, Bella, that you, too, have a powerful gift." He frowned slightly, looking a little puzzled as he gazed at her.

"Ah, yes, I see. My goodness, Bella, that's quite extraordinary. Are you able to control it yet?"

Bella shook her head, her own confusion apparent.

"I don't understand, Eleazar. What exactly do you think my gift is?"

"My dear, you really don't know?"

Bella shook her head, looking between Edward and the Spaniard.

"Carlisle tells me that Edward can't read your thoughts?" He looked from one to the other.

Edward answered. "No, not at all, and that's never happened before."

"Well, this is amazing. Bella, you are a shield and that's a very useful gift to have. But if I'm not mistaken, your shield is pretty unique. Indeed, I don't believe I've ever sensed anything quite like it. Aro retains the services of a shield in Volterra—Chelsea. She can throw her shield around him as long as she's touching him, so whenever he's surrounded by others, she stands behind him with her fingertips lightly touching his back. The only time she drops her shield is when he wants to touch someone's hand to read their thoughts … so, unlike you, Edward, he has to have physical contact with someone to read their mind, but then he can see every thought they've ever had, whereas I understand you can only read a person's thoughts at the very moment they're thinking them."

"Absolutely. Jeez, I'd hate to know everything; that would be just … awful!" Edward shook his head at the idea.

"Ah, well, that's also where you differ from Aro. He really wants to know everything about the object of his attention. But I digress. Bella, your gift is very different from Chelsea's. I believe …" He paused, closing his eyes for a moment. "Yes, this is … astonishing! I think you may well have two shields—one that you can expand to enclose and protect others and an inner shield that … how to explain it? It's like a second skin, so even if you bring an enemy inside your outer shield, they would still be unable to penetrate your inner shield. I … I've never seen the like, Bella. Have you really not tried to use it?"

Bella shook her head slowly, still trying to take in what Eleazar was telling her and what it meant.

"I'm afraid I don't really get it. I mean, I wouldn't have the first clue what to do. How … I don't …" She looked around the room, everyone's attention fixed on her. Even Tanya, from whom Bella had been getting a very bad vibe, seemed to be fascinated. Focusing back on the Denali patriarch, Bella tried again.

"Help me out here, Eleazar. I have no idea what to do."

Standing, he beckoned her to him with a smile. With a quick glance at Edward, who nodded his encouragement, she joined the older man in the middle of the room and let him take both her hands in his.

"Now, just close your eyes for a moment and imagine your shield. Try and think of it as a part of your body, like your limbs, your skin, your heart."

Bella did as he suggested, concentrating first on her actual skin, the sparkling, impenetrable membrane that encased her body. Next, she tried to imagine another layer to it, almost like some kind of plastic food wrap. For several minutes, she felt nothing, could detect nothing. It was frustrating and a hiss from Eleazar caused her to open her eyes and lose concentration.

"I'm sorry, Bella, but you clearly still have a good deal of newborn strength and I feared for my hands!" He gave her a rather sheepish smile, but Bella was mortified.

"Oh my god, Eleazar, I'm so sorry." She dropped his hands and stepped back, but he grabbed her again and pulled closer.

"None of that, my dear, I'll survive. Now, let's try again. I think maybe you were close?"

"Huh, I don't think so, but I'll give it another go, if you're sure. But if you don't mind, I'll keep my hands to myself. I think I need to do this without anything touching me."

He nodded, releasing her. Again, Bella closed her eyes, hands by her sides, and focused all her thoughts on that second skin she had started to conjure up in her mind.

All around her, the two families were rapt. Edward, now on the edge of his seat, found himself wondering whether he would get a sense of his lover's thoughts if she succeeded, and he could barely contain his excitement.

Minutes passed as Bella remained utterly still, as only a vampire could. In the back of her mind, she was aware that this exercise would have been impossible for her as a human. As a child, she had never questioned the fact that she had been able to cope with the pain of her mother's abandonment, and later, as a young adult, the loss of her father and her home and then the betrayal of her surrogate father and his son. Events which might have beaten down another woman had merely spurred her on, and she wondered now if her so-called shield had protected her even then. As this thought began to gel in her mind, so, too, did the image of that very shield. As her vampire brain zeroed in on the idea of a protective layer, suddenly she felt a kind of snapping, like pulling at a tight latex swimming costume and feeling it slap back against her skin.

"That's it, Bella!" her mentor cried. "Do it again."

Excited now, Bella focused back in on the task. As if she now knew the route to where it was, she was able to find it more quickly, and imagining that she was planting both hands against it, she pushed it out. She was now thinking of it in terms of a thin, pliable, and opaque film. She remembered from when she was 11 or 12 years old, watching a few episodes of a weird British spy show from the 1960s called 'The Prisoner' with her dad. This spy dude was kidnapped and taken to a creepy village where everyone was given a number instead of a name. To keep the inhabitants from escaping, there were these huge bouncing bubbles that were unleashed every time someone made a run for it. At the time, she'd thought it was pretty silly, but now this was exactly how she had begun to picture her shield.

Oblivious to all around her, she pushed again, harder this time, but felt it snap back as she became distracted by a loud crash and gasps. Surprised, Bella opened her eyes to discover utter chaos. Eleazar was prostrate over a sofa that had been hurled across the room into the opposite wall, taking side tables and another chair with it, while Carlisle and Esme, who had been sitting there, had disappeared.

Bella's eyes widened, her hand came up to her mouth, and she looked on with dismay.

The first to break the silence, inevitably, was Emmett.

"Holy shit, Bella, that was fucking awesome!"

She glanced around at him just as Eleazar jumped to his feet and lifted the offending piece of furniture. Both Carlisle and Esme stood and dusted themselves off before gazing in astonishment at their newest daughter.

"I'm so, so, sorry … oh my god, I … Carlisle, Esme, are you okay?"

Bella looked around as the room filled with laughter. At first, she was confused but immediately became centered as familiar arms wrapped around her from behind and Edward's soft voice tempered her horror.

"They're vampires, babe, they're fine."

He turned her around and looked down at her with eyes full of wonder and awe.

"And you are … fuck, I have no words … you're amazing … just incredible. I've never, ever seen anything like that"—he paused, his eyebrows lifting—"and you've only just started!"

Behind her, she felt Eleazar's approach.

"He's right, Bella. This is just the start and you nearly sent three vampires and half the furniture through a wall. You may well turn out to be the most powerful vampire I've ever encountered in nearly 500 years."

Startled, Bella instinctively pressed herself closer to Edward as Eleazar turned to Carlisle. The urgency with which he spoke his next words wasn't lost on those present.

"Carlisle, it's imperative that news of Bella's gift never reaches Volterra. Aro will move heaven and earth to have her join the Guard."

Edward and Bella looked at each other with a sense of foreboding.


A/N: So, there you have it, the first piece of writing I've managed to produce in over three years, and the first multi-chapter work I've embarked upon in nearly 10 years ... yay me!

This won't be a long story - a dozen or so chapters, hopefully - rather, it's been more about getting back in the saddle and seeing if I could even do it! I will post new instalments on Saturday mornings UK time, which will hopefully be a nice little start to your weekend, and chapters will be around about this length. Anyway, thanks for making it this far and I look forward to sharing my little story with you over the coming weeks. If you have a mind to let me know what you think, I'd love to hear from you.