Standard ownersip disclosure, the characters are not mine but the plot is. Yatta yatta.
After breakfast, we lounged around in the great room with the family. We had nothing planned for the day because the cars and Rosalie's project were all being delivered. A few things had already arrived, Carlisle's books, Rosalie's tools, a few of the family's pieces of art that could be crated and shipped. Several packages a day had come, and been unboxed, hung up, or stored away in the house or the garage. Today the majority of things would be arriving with or stored within the cars. All hands were needed, they told me, so that the movers wouldn't feel obligated to stay and help. It was all due to arrive late morning, and until the moving company left, my vampires would be expected to move at a snail's pace in front of the unsuspecting humans.
Emmett and I played his video game a bit more, and started getting into some more of the complicated quests when Carlisle's phone rang. Garett would be back in the area the next day, and said that he'd like to spend more time getting to know Carlisle's coven before heading back up toward Maine, and then ranging around the great lakes for the summer. With the stipulation that he would not hunt in the area, Garett agreed.
"This will be a new experience for him," Edward said, "I heard through his thoughts that he's never been in the presence of such a large and civilized coven."
"How big are covens usually?" I wondered.
"Two to four members," Carlisle answered, "Usually mated pairs, and they tend to fight amongst themselves. My theory is that the compounds found in human blood cause more aggressive tendencies, whereas animal blood, lacking certain chemical compositions, makes us more able to bond together."
"That makes sense. Are there any covens bigger than ours?" I felt myself blush after I realized that I'd placed myself in that category. No one corrected me, so I supposed it was fine.
"Just the Volturi that we know of. A close second would be the Denali Coven with 5 members, but again, they're animal drinkers. Vampires are usually solitary creatures, even when in groups. That I saw Garett three times within a hundred years is quite rare for a vampire who follows a traditional diet. That's not to say another large coven doesn't exist, we just don't know of any."
"So if the Volturi hunt humans, how are they so big?"
"They have 2 members who have talents similar to Jasper's."
"By design," Jasper supplied.
"What do you mean?"
"Aro collects talent fer the Guard. Durin' the Southern Wars it was a great honor to be spared and asked to join 'em. Not many refuse th' way Carlisle did."
"You refused Carlisle?"
"I did. While I was honored by the offer, and appreciated their civility, I didn't feel that I could add to the organization with my talent for resisting human blood. Aro agreed when I explained this."
"Wow, so how many members do they have now, Carlisle?"
"Five members, the three ancients, and two of their wives. In addition there are ten core guard members at present, but that number fluctuates at times."
"So the guard members aren't coven members?"
"Technically, no. They don't participate in decisions, and are told what actions to follow. They are valued by Aro, Caius, and Marcus, but they are not what you'd call friends. There's a strict hierarchy in place… the guard members are actually in paid positions."
"Huh, interesting. Sorry for the twenty questions."
"Think nothing of it child, as a member of this family, your education is important to me."
"Good because I'm sure I'll think of more." I smiled and he smiled back.
"Alright Bella, enough talk." Emmet commanded my attention, tapping away at his controller, "We're going into a delve, and I need your special psychic brain to focus."
We continued to play while the family read, sketched, or played games around us. Faster than I'd realized, the movers had arrived. One truck full of cars and another smaller truck full of boxes. They had a little trouble navigating the circular driveway, and Rosalie seemed personally affronted about their driving skills.
When they'd finally circumvented the drive, Emmett and Jasper helped unload pallets of boxes from the truck while Edward and Rosalie aided in unloading the cars from the transport trailer. Emmett's Jeep, Esme's Audi, Rose's BMW, Carlisle's Mercedes, and Edward's Volvo and Vanquish were all carefully unloaded. Meanwhile, Carlisle, Alice, Esme and I slowly started bringing individual boxes into the house.
It was funny to see Emmett fake being a weakling, and sliding things around the truck. He caught me openly laughing at him and played into it. "Ya know little sis, I could use a hand with this one."
"Sure, I'll help!"
He smiled big and handed me up into the truck. "We need to push this onto the lift so we can lower it down. Ready?" We positioned our hands on the large pallet of boxes stacked and wrapped together in plastic. "One, two, push!" It moved with ease and Emmet pretended to be shocked. "She's stronger than she looks!" Alice laughed at our antics but Esme had her hands on her hips looking stern. She pointed at us and walked away. The movers didn't seem to be paying attention, talking to Edward about the Vanquish, so supposed we weren't really in trouble.
After a while they had both of the trucks unloaded, and a pile of boxes were neatly stacked in front of the entrance. Carlisle assured the movers that with this many hands, there was no need for them to stay. With the way they thanked him profusely, I'm positive it was due to a hefty tip. As soon as they were out of sight, Edward put an arm around my shoulder and led me to one of the porch chairs. "Sit, Love." kissing my cheek, he and the others made the boxes disappear within minutes.
The cars were unloaded of their contents, and keys were tossed in the air by Carlisle, seemingly at random, before being caught by their owners and the cars were removed from sight. The magic of vampires, I laughed to myself. "You guys could start a very lucrative moving company."
"We'll move your house in 30 minutes or less, guaranteed!"Alice trilled, suddenly appearing in the seat next to mine.
"Or you get a free pizza!" Edward said, appearing at the banister, making me laugh. "Speaking of which, would you like to go out for lunch with me?"
"You'll have to wait, Edward, Rosalie's new project will be here in 11 minutes. You'll want to see this." Alice winked at me.
Jasper appeared next to her chuckling, and I felt some anticipation creeping up. By now the Cullens were all out of the giant garage and walking the 30 or so yards toward the porch. All, except Rosalie, who was sliding a giant door open at the end of the garage, where I assumed her workshop was located. No doubt anticipating her delivery.
Esme rushed into the house for a moment before coming back out to stand by Carlisle's side, I assumed to unlock the gate. As the tow vehicle pulled up, Emmett ambled over to speak with him and followed him to the side to let down the ramp by pulling a lever. When it was fully unloaded, Rosalie folded back the Canvas covering the front of the car and smiled directly at Edward.
"Rosalie Hale." Her smile got brighter at his use of her full name.
"Oh Rosalie, how on earth? That will be exquisite when it's done!" Esme said with a hand on her cheek, "Will you keep the blue?"
Rosalie was still looking at Edward when she said "It depends on what Bella wants. It's her truck." But then she turned to me and smiled in a way that seemed like she knew something I didn't.
"Sorry, what?" I was sure I was confused.
"Are you giving this to Bella when it's done?" Esme gasped, looking incredibly moved with a hand over her silent heart.
"I just thought she should have something to commemorate starting her new life with us." She said and winked at Jasper, who seemed to barely contain his merriment. Carlisle and Esme lovingly surrounded her.
"What a thoughtful gift Bella!" Alice slid her arm around me.
"Oh my gosh Rosalie, that's insane! Are you serious?"
She nodded and smirked at me, looking more genuine. "Don't be weird about it, Bella."
"I'm just- shocked! Thank you Rosalie," I said gratefully.
"Emmett, let me help you with that cover." Edward calmly walked up to him and they half folded it, half bunched it up. I thought it odd. I also noticed Emmett wasn't being his normal lovable, obnoxious self. He was incredibly polite, tipped the driver and sent him on his way. As the driver pulled off, the family entered the house, still speaking animatedly about Rosalie's generosity, and leaving the truck sitting in the driveway.
"Carlisle," Emmett handed him the canvas.
Carlisle smelled the corner of the canvas, "No one I recognize."
"It's about two days old. It has the same potency of all three of their scents." Edward sounded livid.
"I know Edward." Carlisle put a calming hand on his shoulder.
"One of our kind?" Esme took the canvas and smelled it, then passed it to Rosalie. She then handed it to Alice and Jasper.
"Another vampire?" I wondered aloud.
"Let's not overreact yet. There are many of us, and only one of them, as far as we know. We haven't been in the area for a long while with any permanency. There may be others who range in this area." Esme suggested.
"Emmett, would you and Jasper mind going back to the area where you were with Bella? See if you can find a trail."
"Let's run, Em," Jasper suggested. They were gone the next second.
"Edward, would you and Rosalie run a perimeter? I doubt you'll find anything but it couldn't hurt to check."
Edward, stone-faced, nodded and turned to me, "I'll be back in less than an hour." He kissed my forehead and they were gone too.
"Alice, do you see anything? Or have any strange visions?" Carlisle asked her.
"I didn't notice anything until Emmett smelled the canvas and made the decision to bring it up. I was so focused on Charlie's visit that I didn't pay attention to anyone else that day."
"Bella, how do you feel about this? Or at this moment in general? Be honest, even if it doesn't seem related."
I let out a slow breath and let myself feel. I wasn't sure what I was doing. All I knew was that my family and my mate were out there looking for clues that could lead to potential danger. "I feel like I want to run after Edward right now. I know I can't run like him, but I feel like I want to do something. Like I want to work at something. He asked me out for lunch and I still want to do that too. I feel safe, ultimately, but I want to know that everyone is safe. There's no way of knowing that every second of every day, unless we ask Alice."
"I bet if we speak to Jasper about that, he could possibly install some kind of encrypted GPS software on our phones," Esme said. "He's very clever when it comes to that sort of thing, it wouldn't be his first foray into espionage"
"He'll do it." Alice said, "Bella needs a phone too, for emergencies."
"And you also say, you feel that you want to run. Perhaps you should begin running as part of your daily routine?"
I considered it and the option made me feel less anxious. Attempting to put some work into my health was a good idea. "Alright, Carlisle, I can try. As long as someone will be nearby to catch me if I trip."
"I'd like to run with you for a while if you don't mind. I'm curious if your balance issues are related to an inner ear problem, or possibly a compressed vasovagal nerve."
"Whatever you just said, you're welcome to try to diagnose it."
He chuckled and went on to say, "Now as for going into town for lunch, do you believe that going into town would be an issue?"
I thought about that for a moment, "I don't think so, I feel like it would be ok."
"Alice, do you see anything?"
"I see her and Edward returning with a bag, and watching a movie in their room before she comes down to eat dinner."
"Alright. I trust both of your judgments."
It felt out of place, allowing them to trust in how I perceive things, rather than following a more logical decision. When I voiced this, Alice rubbed my arm and Carlisle and Esme explained that though my gift is very subtle right now, it had been very accurate thus far. Apparently they'd all been paying better attention to my decisions, with their superior vampire intellect, than I had. Here I was, just going with the flow, and they'd all been watching me display my skills over all this time we'd been reunited. Combined with all they'd said I'd done before they realized I was clairsentient, I felt like they were probably right, but I still had trouble trusting myself when their safety was involved.
Edward and Rosalie returned and said there were no noticeable scents around the perimeter of the property, but there had been lots of rain for a few days, and may have washed away. Emmett and Jasper had slightly more information. It seemed that the vampire followed our trail for a short while, and then backtracked due east to the Naugatuck river. They think he or she must have swam away, because they couldn't find the scent again. This area of the country was crisscrossed with rivers, Jasper said, so it wouldn't be hard to disappear.
Plans were made to start my exercise routine before lunch, which Emmett was very excited about if his booming laugh was anything to go by. I assumed because he needed something to pick on me for. He'd been such a gentile brother until now, I should have known it wouldn't last. Alice said adding Yoga for balance would help too, and we went through some basics. Carlisle was next to me as I ran and walked for one-minute intervals, for 30 minutes. I tripped a lot at first. He brought me back into his study and looked in my ears, tapped around them, and determined that I had a buildup of fluid, especially in one ear.
"I believe you have chronic labyrinthitis caused by a genetic abnormality in your inner ear, which is causing your balance issues, believe it or not. I can hear the fluid ripple when I tap at your temple, and when you jog. I'm surprised you haven't suffered more ear infections, you may have additional abnormalities within the structures of your inner ear which prevent this. It could be confirmed by x-ray, and corrected with surgery, but with our plans to change you soon, I suggest foregoing the corrective surgery. It would help to dry up the fluid by taking a daily allergy medication," he explained.
I had no idea what he said, I just took the Doctor's advice. By 1pm I was freshly showered and famished. Edward took me for lunch, which consisted of a greasy burger and fries. We stopped at a pharmacy for the allergy meds and got home in time to watch a movie. We curled up alone in our room before it was time for me to eat dinner. When I was done we returned to our room and Edward massaged my sore muscles, which led to more attractive ways of spending our evening alone together.
The plot thickens! I wonder why Bella's parents never got her balance issues checked out. Ya just gonna assume this kid is a clutz for her whole life. That's her lot. Doomed to concussions, stitches, fractures, contusions, and physical pain for the duration. Case closed. If its been happening since birth, and the kid has a laundry list of injuries and emergency room visits, a parent who isn't a self centered ass is going to have that looked at. Everyone in healthcare will look at the ears first for a balance issue. SM built a character that really pisses me off, which speaks to SMs talent as a writer. Renee was the custodial parent. It should have been her responsibility to have her accident prone child checked, instead of, "ho hum, she was born to be a clutz." She built such a subtly neglectful character, that an entire Rats nest of Twilight fans (and Sewer dewlling Shitpoters) collectively think shes an idiot. Well done Steph. We love to hate on Renee. Not to say she wasnt loving, but shortsighted, mildly narcissistic, kinda lazy, terrible singer? For sure.