"I can't keep them under forever, I need to wake them up", Jasper sighed, "This is going to be messy."

And a mess it was. Felix just returned to the house after being unceremoniously kicked out of the window by my mate, since Felix was very close to losing it and attacking Stefano. Stefano, on the other hand, was upstairs in one of the rooms, already starting to go through the change, judging by the agonizing screams he was letting out. We will have to find a secluded area for him, and soon. Stefano's screams mixed with Carlisle's screams. And this is to what Edward, Bella, Rosalie, Esme and Emmet will wake up to. Oh, and also, Alice's here now, and God only knows how she will react to seeing Jasper for the first time he literally left her to chase after me. Father and I exchanged worried glances.

Alice's eyes were first to open. She immediately stared at Jasper.

"Traitor", she accused deadly. My beautiful mate eyes were heavy with sadness.

"Alice", he said.

"Don't waste your breath. You've hurt me more than enough.", she said.

"Alice, please..", Jasper said as another one of Carlisle's screams interrupted him.

"What is going on?", Edward was already on his feet, pulling Bella close to him, "What is going on with Carlisle?"

None of us had an answer, and that infuriated the Cullens.

"We should've listened to Alice!", Rosalie yelled, and Emmet nodded in defeat, "Calling you was a huge mistake. You will destroy our family! This was done on purpose!"

I felt waves and waves of calm in the air. Jasper was doing his thing.

"You can't do that us, we're not puppets!", Bella screamed, and suddenly, I realized Jasper's waves failed to work. I realized Bella is putting some kind of a shield around herself and her family. Sober inside the bubble Bella has created, the Cullens now were furious. They somehow determined that we deliberately have cause Carlisle's state to worsen and they were ready to attack.

A short moment of dread washed over me. Father was very powerful, but could he fight that well? Felix was an excellent fighter, but so was Emmet, and nobody was as fast as Edward. I was only a burden; I couldn't fight at all – any of the Cullens would easily dismember me. I strongly suspected one could say the same about Gottfried. But then my eyes locked with Jasper's, and any trace of fear left me. If needed, Jasper would single-handedly take care of this situation. But I didn't want him to be put in the position of harming his former family.

"Stop it", I hissed, addressing everybody. Suddenly, after centuries of making fun of my own gift, and even denying it existed at all, now I was completely sure it was there. I was entirely sure I was right. "Listen to me. This all will make sense very soon. This all will end well."

Maybe it was the way I said it – I said it with sincerity and assurance, but also with unquestionable Volturi authority. The Cullens relaxed and the bubble vanished.

"He's dying", Esme sobbed and approached me, "How will this end well?"

"I am sure of it.", I nodded, and extended my arms to her. She accepted my invitation and we hugged.

"Ok, I am like, literally, a walking question mark", a voice was heard. It was Marek, bringing Verena back from the woods, "I was here a few minutes ago but decided to stay with Verena at a safe distance, since I saw Felix flying through a closed window and all..? So what's going on…?"

..and then Marek stopped talking and just stared in amazed disbelief. Alice approached him in slow steps, wearing the same expression on her pretty face.

"A question mark from Volterra", Bella quietly said. I looked at her, not understanding, and she explained, "Alice told me that for the last year or so, she is bound to watch towards Volterra, and it tormented her greatly because she kept on seeing you and Jasper…but also, she saw your royal guard, and one of them was in a form of a question mark."

"It was you.", Alice said and gently caressed Marek's face. Marek was not able to form a sentence, he just quickly grabbed Alice in a bone-crushing hug. Alice giggled happily, and then they kissed with as much passion as I have ever seen, and then they were gone through the door.

"See, darling?", my beloved mate smirked, "That's how you react when you meet your mate."

I rolled my eyes, "Oh, let it go already."

"I swam the ocean and run through Asia and Europe..", he continued teasing me.

"Hush, hush"

"Had to fight half of your family, and Caius resents me to the present day..", he dramatically rolled his eyes.

"Talk to the hand!"

"..follow you around the castle like a dog, beg for attention..", he took the effort to lean down and get into my face, his brows high. He can be a world-class troll when he wants to.

"Oh, let me get you the world's smallest violine..!", I laughed as he hugged me closely, and then I asked him teasingly, "So, was it worth it?"

"Ehhh..", he grimaces as if he was not that sure.

And then we realized everybody was staring at us. More correctly, the Cullens were staring at Jasper. I guess they never really had much opportunity to see him in a goofy, or even flirty mood. Or maybe they were just baffled by our very unusual story of how we started as mates.

But then we all experienced another shock.

Edward as first to point it out.

"Can you hear that?" he said.

We all listened.

"Is that..?", Father looked at me in astonishment. We both thought the same, but could not believe it.

"It's a heartbeat. Another one, apart from Verena's or Stefano's", Rosalie determined correctly.

"Carlisle", Emmet said and jumped over furniture to reach the stairs. We all followed in a very ungraceful vampire-stampede.

"Carlisle?", Esme elbowed her way in the front and she was the first to see him.

He was sitting, a bit sleepy, stretching his arms through a very long yawn. Then he turned his head towards us and opened his eyes, and we all gasped. They were a very unique shade of greyish blue.

And they were definitely human.

Sitting there was Carlisle Cullen, a young human male of 23 years.