23

Bella was able to pick up Renee's scent the minute they stepped outside. She was heading east, toward the closest town. She and Edward shared a look before they took off, hoping they would be able to stop her before she found a human, before she fed off them. Bella should have been better prepared, she thought. She should have had a plan in place for when her parents woke. She had just taken it for granted that they might not be as blood hungry as normal newborns were, according to everyone else. Bella had never been tempted to taste human blood, and even now, the thought of it had her mouth burning and her stomach aching.

"Hurry, sweetheart," Edward urged, running ahead of her.

"I am," she snarled, knowing if she had hunted like everyone told her to, she would be able to run faster. It had been almost a week since she last hunted, and the events in the days prior had been tense, exhausting, and had she still been a human, she would probably would have slept for three days straight.

Bella could hear the people in town just as she spotted Renee, perched at the top of a tree, picking her mark, so to speak. She and Edward shared a look before they parted ways, coming toward her mother from two different sides. She hit the tree hard, digging her fingers into the bark as she climbed it, finding herself crouched on the same branch as her mother, whose sole focus was on the humans below them.

"Momma," she said, cautiously.

Renee's eyes were wide, full of fear as she tore her attention away from the small, Alaskan town and looked right at her, almost like it was the first time she'd ever seen her. "Bella?"

"Yeah, Momma, it's me. It's Bella," she said, smiling as she stretched her hand toward Renee. "Can you take my hand, Mom?"

"Bella," she murmured, her eyes shifting back to the town. "What's happening to me? Why do I feel so . . . so thirsty?"

"Because I . . . because I changed you, Mom. Into . . . into a vampire." Bella scooted closer, moving slowly as not to startle her. "Tell me what you last remember."

"I. . ." Renee shook her head, her eyes closing. "I . . . Pain. So much Pain. And hitting and screaming. I was screaming, begging for help, pleading with them to stop, to leave me and Daddy alone. Where's Charlie? Where is he?"

"Daddy's okay, Mom. I promise. We came and helped, remember?"

Renee's eyes opened and she looked at Bella. "They were looking for you. They were mad that . . . that we let them change you. Why would they be mad about you living, Bella?"

"I don't know, Mom." Bella stretched her hand out to her again. "Take my hand, Mom. Take my hand, and we'll go get you something to drink."

Renee shifted her eyes back to the town, her tongue slipping from between her teeth, licking her bottom lip.

"Mom," Bella said, this time with more force. Renee snapped her eyes back to Bella. "Take my hand, Mom."

Renee nodded and placed her hand in with hers. Bella closed the gap between them, wrapping her other arm around her and leapt from the tree, causing Renee to scream. They landed easily enough, and in an instant Edward was by their side.

"She's thirsty," Bella said, giving Edward a look. "Very thirsty."

Edward nodded, his nostrils flaring in an effort to get a scent that wasn't human. "West. We need to take her west."

Bella kept her arm wrapped around Renee as the three of them took off west. They were ten miles from town when Charlie, Jasper, and Carlisle met up with them.

"Charlie!" Renee exclaimed, yanking herself out of Bella's grasp and throwing herself in his arms. "I thought . . . I thought they killed you!"

"They tried," he murmured, placing his hands on either side of her face. "I'm sorry, baby. I'm sorry I let them hurt you."

Renee shook her head. "I'm not. She was worth saving." She looked back at her. "Look at her, Charlie. She's so beautiful and healthy. She's alive, Charlie. She's alive!"

"She is, and so are we."

Renee closed her eyes for a moment before they opened and she looked back at Bella. "It hurt you, didn't it? Changing us. You said . . . you said your mouth burned."

Bella felt Jasper sending out waves of calmness, though they didn't affect her at all. He was doing what he could to keep Charlie and Renee calm, docile even, though she wasn't sure it was helping, and Jasper needed to feel helpful.

"It did," she admitted. "We don't know why."

"But you're okay now, right?" Charlie asked, frowning.

"Yeah, of course I am," she lied. Or maybe not lied, just not sure if she were really okay or not. "Look, there's a lot to tell you, but right now, we need to hunt, okay?"

"Not . . . not people, right?" Renee asked, her eyes flickering back into the direction of town. "I don't . . . don't want to hurt anyone."

"No, we feed on animals," Edward told her, placing his hand on Bella's back, which did not go unnoticed by either of her parents. "Bella has a particular liking for caribou."

"Okay." Renee and Charlie shared a smile. "Let's go hunt?"

Bella laughed and held her hand out to her mother, who placed her hand in with hers. "Let's hunt."

—Stay—

Bella wished she could tell you that Charlie and Renee's first hunts were as smooth and effortless as hers had been, but that would be a lie. After three fairly large moose, Charlie's clothes were covered in blood and torn from the struggle. Bella laughed, however, watching her normally calm and relaxed father taking down each one. Renee, like Bella, appeared to like caribou, and like Charlie, came out the other end messy and dirty. She was timid and nervous as she approached the first one, but by her second, she was more confident. Bella managed to feed off a couple, feeling stronger than she had before, yet weaker at the same time.

As they approached the house, Bella could feel the tension coming off Renee and Charlie, despite Jasper's attempts to ease their nerves. When they walked inside, Bella was unsurprised to find everyone sitting around the living room. Tanya and Jacob sat away from the others, who still hadn't gotten used to the newly formed relationship. Rosalie, Emmett, Esme and Alice were closest to the two lovebirds while Garrett and Kate, Irina, Eleazar, and Carmen were as far away as they could get. When they walked into the house, everyone stood, and she knew they were wondering Renee had compromised them or not.

"There's a bathroom just off the bedroom down the hallway," Bella said. "I'll lay some clean clothes on the bed, and then we can fill you in on everything, okay?"

"Yeah, okay," Charlie said, his eyes flickering around the room, stopping at Jacob, but he didn't call the man out as he wrapped his arm around Renee and led her down the hallway to the bedroom.

"I'll keep an eye out," Rosalie said, following. "Just in case she takes off again, and leave them some clothes on the bed. You just focus on . . ." Rosalie gestured to everyone before she followed Charlie and Renee. She had surprised Bella, who had thought of the woman as stiff and snobby. Maybe there was more to Rosalie than Bella had given her credit.

Bella waited until she heard the door close before she said, "She didn't feed off a human, though she got very close to town."

"That's good." Irina shifted her eyes around the room. "Look, I'm going to say this as nicely as I can, but you can't stay here."

"What?" Alice asked.

"Why not?" Esme questioned.

"She's right." At Emmett's words, everyone turned and looked at him. He shrugged his shoulders before shoving his meaty hands into the pockets of his pants. "There's too many of us here. The humans in town, they're going to start noticing all the extra people up here, not to mention all the hunting we've been doing is going to start affecting the wildlife. We need to split up."

"Emmett's right," Carlisle said, and when Bella looked at him, he shrugged and said, "Besides, not all of us are willing to fight the fight so to speak."

Rolling her eyes, she looked over at Irina, Eleazar, and Carmen, who almost looked ashamed. "Suppose you're right there."

"It's not that we don't believe," Eleazar said. "But your quest, Bella, it's . . . it's going to gain attention from those we don't want."

"The Volturi," Edward said. "Say their name, Eleazar."

"Fine. The Volturi are going to hear about this war you're so ready to jump into with the Quileute. It won't take long for them to hear about their writings, to hear about your girl's power, and when they do, Edward, there will be nothing stopping them from coming here and killing all of us in their mission to get her, and they will get to her. When the Volturi decide they want someone, they get them, no matter who gets hurt."

"What power?"

Bella closed her eyes, looking back and finding Rosalie standing in front of Charlie and Renee, both of whom were cleaned up, in fresh clothes, and looking at her with expectation.

"What power, Bella?" Charlie asked again.

Sighing, she shared a look with Edward before turning and facing her mother and father. "Sometimes, when we're changed, we are reborn with gifts," she said before gesturing to Edward. "He can hear almost everyone's thoughts."

Charlie's eyes flickered to Edward, who simply nodded and said, "Yep."

"Oh, shit," Charlie muttered under his breath, and though Bella wanted to know what he had just thought, she didn't ask. This wasn't the time, nor the place.

Instead, she gestured toward Alice. "Alice has visions. She . . . she saw the attack on you, and where to find you."

"I don't see you as clearly as I do everyone else," Alice admitted, giving Bella a look. "He's clouded, like you are from me. Must be a family trait."

"Yeah, maybe," she murmured, shifting her eyes to Jasper, who was so tense, so rigid, she worried about him. "Jasper can feel emotions and, sometimes affect those around him, calm them down, or incite a riot, I suppose if he wanted to."

Jasper gave her a crooked smile, confirming he could do some real damage, if he wanted.

"What are your powers?" Charlie asked, putting his hand up. "Not that I don't care about everyone else, of course, but he," Charlie gestured toward Eleazar, "said you have powers, and these . . . these Volturi want you because of them? What was he talking about, Bella?"

Bella put her hands up in front of her as she closed the distance between herself and her parents. "I have a couple of powers. First, I'm a shield, which I still don't understand, but this shield prevents Edward from hearing my thoughts, or Alice from seeing visions of me specifically. She only sees visions if they affect one of the others, like when Carlisle agreed to change me. She saw his decision, but not me. Jasper can't alter my mood, and Kate," she said, shifting her eyes to the tall, leggy blond, who seemed to shy away from the attention, "can't use her electrical current on me, like she can everyone else."

"Oh." Charlie frowned. "You said that was your first power. What's your second?"

Bella swallowed against the lump in her throat. "Apparently, my eyes glow red and when this happens, I can adsorb their powers, use them myself."

"So when your eyes glow red, you'd be able to hear our thoughts?" Renee asked.

Bella shook her head. "No, I can only hear Edward's, or I can see Alice's visions, or turn Jasper's power against him, but I can't use those powers on just anyone."

"Yet." Everyone turned and looked over at Jacob, who was standing with Tanya behind him, protectively. It would have been sweet, almost romantic if he wasn't trying to convince everyone that she was the end humanity as they knew it. "The writings are clear, Bella."

"The writings that nobody other than your father seem to know about?" she asked, shifting her body toward him.

"Just two days ago, you screamed, and it sent everyone to their knees, Bella. Whose power was that? That's right, none of them possess that one, do they?"

"Why are you even here, Jake?" Charlie asked, leaning toward him and sniffing. "And why on earth do you smell like . . . like a skunk's ass after a hard rain?"

Bella bit her lip to keep from laughing, given the moment was more serious than she cared to admit, but Charlie's description of the way Jacob smelled was fairly accurate. So, instead of laughing, she placed her hand on Charlie's shoulder, and said, "Jake helped you, Dad. You don't remember?"

"No, I remember him sneaking into the basement and trying to untie your mom and I before Sam Uley, Paul Lahote, and Jared Cameron caught him, but I also remember him turning into a giant wolf. I passed out, and next thing I knew you were there."

Bella frowned. "Yeah, apparently Jake came to help you, but the others stopped him. He, um, they beat him pretty bad, Dad. Almost killed him, too. He would be dead, if he didn't heal quickly thanks to his wolf gene."

"Oh." Charlie shifted his eyes from Jacob to Tanya. "Doesn't explain the smell, though."

Tanya growled, which again made Bella want to laugh, but again, not the time.

"Everyone just calm down," Edward said, rolling his eyes. "Charlie, Renee, the wolves smell like . . . well, a skunk's ass after a hard rain apparently, and to them we smell unpleasant, too."

Jacob snorted, but wisely didn't offer a rebuff.

"We brought Jake back with us for his safety," Edward added. "And apparently, he and Tanya," he said, gesturing to the strawberry blond, "imprinted on one another. We're still trying to figure that part out. It makes us all want to vomit."

"Oh." Charlie threw Bella another confused look before he shifted his eyes around to everyone. "So, we're all vampires?"

"Yeah, Dad," Bella said, motioning to everyone. "You know Carlisle, of course."

Charlie nodded. "I learned about the rest of the Cullen family during my, um, research. There's his wife Esme, and their children: Emmett, Rosalie, Jasper, Alice, and, of course, Edward."

Bella pointed to Eleazar. "The rest belong to the Denali family. We have Eleazar, Carmen, Kate, and Irina. That's Garrett next to Kate. Not sure who he belongs to, yet."

"I like to think of myself as being my own man, thank you very much," Garrett quipped, folding his arms in front of him. "And for the record, I'm not afraid of the Volturi. Let them come. We'd kick some ass with that super power of yours."

"No, no, no, no!" Eleazar insisted. "Don't you realize the Volturi won't come just for her? They'd want all of us with gifts: Kate, Alice, Jasper, Edward." He paused and looked from Charlie to Renee. "And I'm getting pretty strong vibes from you two, as well."

Bella gasped as the room quieted and everyone turned their attention to Charlie and Renee. "You think they have gifts, as well?"

"I do." Eleazar seemed to hesitate before he said, "Him more than her, but there is something there, something that the Volturi will be clamoring for. See, Bella, unlike you who I can't get a read on, they are intoxicating with the power coming off of them. You shouldn't have changed them, you should have let them die."

"How can you say that?" she snarled, clenching her hands into fists.

"Because when the Volturi hear about the three of you, they won't stop until they find you." Eleazar paused, almost seemed to hesitate before he added, "They have writings of their own, and trust me when I tell you they aren't as untrustworthy as the Quileute."

"How do you know this?" Bella asked.

And as all eyes shifted to Eleazar, he said, "Because for almost a century, it was my job to find you, Bella. Trust me when I tell you that the Volturi want you more than they've ever wanted anyone."

Thank you for all the AMAZING reviews! Eleazar is full of dirty little secrets, isn't he? Do me a solid and leave me a few more words.