Kate stayed away from me for a whole day, surprisingly enough. She was extremely stubborn in the book, so I'm kind of glad she actually listened to me. Kate was outside training Bella again, trying using Renesmee to see if she could extend her shield better if she was angry. It was working. Then, a few minutes later, Zafrina- -the one who can make illusions, stepped in. I was about 10 feet away from Bella, but not next to Kate. More like up against the side of the house like her.
"No one panic," Zafrina warned us who were near Bella. "I want to see how far she can extend."
There was a shocked gasp from everyone near her as our eyesight vanished- -everyone but me and Senna, who were prepared and/or expecting it. And I could no longer read my book. I was about to put my shield up so I could see, but…
"Erin, keep your shield down so we can see how far Bella can extend her shield, please," Edward said.
"Fine," I groaned. I stood up and leaned against the side of the house.
"Raise your hand when you get your sight back," Zafrina instructed us. "Now, Bella. See how many you can shield."
I heard a huff come from Bella. I knew the effort was exhausting her- -mentally, of course- -but she would get the shield ten feet in front of her first. Suddenly, I could see again, so I raised my hand, as did Kate. As if it was almost invisible, I saw some sort of transparent shimmering thing in the air crawling its way towards Garrett.
"That's probably the shield, Erin," Edward told me. "You can probably see it because you're a mental shield too."
"Fascinating," I said sarcastically.
Garrett raised his hand.
"Very good," Zafrina spoke too soon. "Now- -"
And just like that, I couldn't see anymore.
"Can I have a minute?" Bella panted after a minute.
"Of course," Zafrina said, and bada-bing, bada-boom, all of us near Bella could see again.
I took me, my book, and I inside the house where Briana was watching TV. She kept looking around nervously as if one of the nomads or another one of the human blood drinkers were going to attack her any second.
She jumped when she saw me, but calmed down after a second. "Oh, it's you."
"It's me," I said as I sat down next to her. "Are you sure you don't want to be changed?"
"Positive," She said. "Unless there's a reason."
"You could have a reason once the, er- -"
"Did Alice send you?" Carlisle asked from the front yard.
"They get here," I said, motioning to the front yard.
"Who's they?" Briana asked.
"Them," I pointed to two men standing by the door who could enter in a Dracula contest and probably win. I stood up, and so did Bri.
"No one sent us," one of them answered Carlisle's question in a deep whispery voice. Briana flinched away and hid behind me. Luckily, the Romanians didn't notice.
"Then what brings you here?" Carlisle asked warily.
"Word travels," the other one answered. "We heard hints that Volturi were moving against you. There were whispers that you would not stand alone. Obviously, the whispers were true. This is an impressive gathering."
"We are not challenging the Volturi." Carlisle's voice was strained. "There has been a misunderstanding, that is all. A very serious misunderstanding, to be sure, but one we're hoping to clear up. What you see are witnesses. We just need the Volturi to listen. We didn't- -"
"We don't care what they say you did," the first one interrupted. "And we don't care if you broke the law."
"No matter how egregiously," the second one inserted.
"We've been waiting a millennium and a half for the Italian scum to be challenged," said the first. "If there is any chance they will fall, we will be there to see it."
"Or even help defeat them," the second one added. "If we think you have a chance at success."
I hadn't noticed Edward had entered the room. "Bella?" he called. "Bring Renesmee here, please. Maybe we should test our Romanian visitors' claims."
Hesitantly, Bella stepped into the room, Renesmee in her arms.
The Romanian with the dark hair grinned when Bella came into view. "Well, well, Carlisle. You have been naughty haven't you?"
"She's not what you think, Stefan."
"And we don't care either way," the one I now knew to be Vladimir replied. "As we said before."
"Then you're welcome to observe, Vladimir, but it is definitely not our plan to challenge the Volturi, as we said before."
"Then we'll just cross our fingers," Stefan began.
"And hope we get lucky," Vladimir finished.
It took a long time after that for everyone to calm down after that and act like normal. Bri was still hiding by me, and it was obvious she was scared of the Romanians. As if the day couldn't get any more worse, Stefan noticed her.
"Ah, you have a pet human, Carlisle?" he asked, taking a step towards me and Briana. Instinctively, I stepped in front of my friend, completely hiding her from him, and snarled a threateningly at him.
"She is not and never be anybody's 'meal,' Stefan," Carlisle said firmly. "Is that clear?"
"Very well," the old vampire said grumpily. "It's a pity to pass up a tasty smelling meal, though. She smells better than any human I have come across."
Now that he said it, Briana did smell really good…No! You are not going to attack your best friend!
"Stay away from her," I growled. "And maybe you'll live a little longer."
"Very well," Vladimir said.
LINE BREAK
Thankfully, the Romanians kept to their word. If they hadn't they wouldn't take part in our little 'standoff.' Not that I cared.
All in all, we'd come up with seventeen witnesses- -the Irish, Siobhan, Liam, and Maggie; the Egyptians, Amun, Kebi, Benjamin, and Tia; the Amazons, Zafrina and Senna; the Romanians, Vladimir and Stefan; and the nomads, Charlotte and Peter, Garrett, Alistair, Mary, and Randal; and then me- -to supplement the family of twelve. Tanya, Kate, Eleazer, and Carmen insisted on being counted as part of the family, and Carlisle insisted that I be apart of the family also. We didn't know what to do with Briana yet.
We were going to see Charlie today, though- -for some reason, Bella had insisted that I'd come along, Briana also.
~Flashback~
"This morning will be perfect," Bella said into the phone to Charlie.
"Is Jake coming with you guys?" I heard Charlie through the speaker.
"Probably. I'm going to bring a couple friends over, too."
"Which friends?"
"Do you remember Erin?"
Charlie hesitated. "You mean the strange girl who had the red eyes?"
"That's her. I'm bringing her and her best friend with," Bella answered.
"Maybe I should invite Billy, too. But…hmm. Maybe another time."
Smart of him.
"See you in a few," Bella told him, and hung up.
I went up to her. "Exactly why am I going with?"
"It's so we can discuss where Briana will be when the Volturi get here."
"Oh."
~End of Flashback~
"Why can't we take your Ferrari?" Jacob complained at Bella when she got in Edward's Volvo with Renesmee. Briana and I piled into the back seat.
"Too conspicuous," Bella answered. "We could go on foot, but that would freak Charlie out, and wear Bri out."
Jacob grumbled but got into the front seat. Renesmee climbed from Bella's lap to his.
"How are you?" Bella asked him as she pulled out of the garage.
"How do you think? I'm sick of all these reeking bloodsuckers." He saw both mine and Bella's expressions, and spoke before Bella could answer. "Yeah, I know, I know. They're the good guys, they're here to help, they're going to save us all. Etcetera, etcetera. Say what you want, I still think Dracula One and Dracula Two are creep-tacular.
Bella smirked. "I don't disagree with you there."
"Why the hell is she coming with, though?" Jacob asked, turning a little in his seat to sneak a glare at me.
"Well, I don't think we're going to let the Volturi see Briana," Bella began. "So we need to figure out where she's going to stay until they leave."
As Bella drove out of the driveway, Jacob asked, "How long do we get to hang out with Charlie?"
"For quite a while, actually,"
"Is something going on here besides visiting your dad?"
"Jake, you know how you're pretty good at controlling your thoughts around Edward?"
I noticed he raised an eyebrow. "Yeah?"
Luckily, Bri was taking a nap; I could tell, because her breathing was deep and even, and her heart was beating slowly like a sleeping person's.
Bella nodded her head, and I knew she kind of gestured towards Renesmee with her eyes. Also, I knew Bella had the feeling that I knew what she was up to. I quickly searched through her daughter's mind, and found out she wasn't paying attention, which was a good thing.
And so we drove in silence to Charlie's house.