Longest chapter this story's gotten so far, hooray! It actually wasn't meant to be this lengthy, but I ended up putting in more than I'd originally planned in order to move things along. I also borrowed a bit of dialogue from the final scene of 1x13, specifically the part where Bo and Kenzi are discussing where they stand with Trick and Dyson, though I added and tweaked a few words to make it fit better.

FYI, the first aid information in the opening scene is legit, in case you ever have to help someone who's bleeding profusely. If the blood's spurting from the wound or doesn't stop after you've applied pressure for a few minutes, though, do call 911. Thanks for reading this little PSA from yours truly; now on with the story.

The Dal Riata was locked up tight when they arrived, of course, but Kenzi was proficient enough at picking locks that this was no obstacle to them.

"Trick?" Bo called out as they made their way through the darkened, empty bar. "If you're here, I need to talk to you!"

There was no answer, so they proceeded to the door at the back that led to Trick's private living space. Bo knocked while calling his name again, then tried the doorknob. To her surprise, it turned easily, and the door swung open, light spilling out into the shadowy barroom. She took advantage of the illumination to look over at Kenzi, silently questioning whether they should be alarmed at finding Trick's door unlocked, to which the human girl merely shrugged uncertainly.

Pulling out the dagger she always carried in her thigh holster, Bo cautiously inched forward, making sure to stay in front of Kenzi. "Trick, are you there? I need to- Trick!"

The room they had entered appeared to be his office or study, and he was slumped in a chair next to a large desk, with rivulets of blood running down one arm and dripping from his fingers to form a sticky crimson pool on the floor next to his chair. Dropping her knife, Bo ran over to him, took his face in her hands, and attempted to rouse him with a couple of light slaps. "Trick, can you hear me?!"

He didn't respond, but she was able to ascertain that he was alive, just unconscious. Fighting through her panic to recall what she knew of first aid, she raised his arm so that the wound was above the level of his heart and pressed her free hand over the cloth he'd wrapped around his arm to increase the pressure.

"Should we get him a fresh bandage?" Kenzi asked, her hands fluttering anxiously as she searched for something to do, some way she could help. "That one looks pretty saturated."

"Yeah, but if we peel it off and the blood sticks, it could reopen the cut. Why don't you see if you can find some more sterile gauze or a clean towel, and we can put it over this one."

Grateful to have a task to focus on, Kenzi nodded and darted off to the bathroom, returning with a couple of hand towels. Then, not wanting to look at Trick's blood or his slack, lifeless features – seeing him like that caused her insides to squirm guiltily when she thought of her last words to him earlier, how she'd called him a coward for balking at using his blood to help with the Aife situation and basically accused him of not caring whether Bo lived or died, at least not enough to do anything about it – she turned her attention to his desk and the items strewn across its shiny surface.

The first thing she noticed was a small jar with a feather stuck in it, though upon pulling it out she discovered it was actually an old-fashioned quill pen like the ones Hogwarts students used. Why am I totally not surprised Trickster has this?

Next to the jar was an open book whose pages were mostly blank except for a few strange symbols, which were written in bright red ink that was only just beginning to fade to maroon as it dried. The guilty feeling in Kenzi's stomach intensified when she realized it wasn't ink, that Trick had taken her urging to heart and used his blood magic in spite of his misgivings. "Bo, look at this."

Her uncharacteristically somber tone instantly got Bo's attention, and she nudged Trick's chair closer to the desk so she could see what Kenzi was pointing at while continuing to apply pressure to his wound. Her eyes widened when she too realized that the weird glyphs on the page were written in blood, especially when she saw the last one.

"Is that-? It looks just like the symbol I saw on Aife's forehead right before she changed her mind about trying to kill me."

"Yeah, it does." Kenzi quietly explained how she had berated Trick for being reluctant to use his Blood Sage abilities on Bo's behalf, then stormed off to help Bo herself when he apparently refused. "Except it looks like he did," she finished, her eyes fixed firmly on her boots, "so now I feel like shit for saying that stuff."

"I'm sure he knows you didn't mean it," Bo consoled her, flashing her a reassuring smile before looking back at Trick, whose arm she was still holding aloft. "Hey, I think the bleeding's stopped."

She and Kenzi carried Trick to his room, laid him on his bed, and found a blanket to cover him; then they returned to the study and settled down on a small sofa that had been pushed into a corner along with a floor lamp to create a cozy nook for reading to wait for him to wake up (in the meantime, they helped themselves to a bottle of wine from the Dal's stock, figuring they deserved it after the day they'd had).

"So," Kenzi began after clinking her glass against Bo's in a toast to one more battle survived, "now that the dust's starting to settle, is this a good time to talk about how we feel vis-à-vis the other members of our posse?"

Bo responded with a long, audible exhalation and set her glass down; with all that there was to say on this particular subject, it would be a few minutes before she'd be able to take another sip. "I don't know, Kenzi. When Aife said Trick still knows things he hasn't told me, including the fact that I have a sister he never even bothered to mention when he knew how badly I wanted to find my family, I have to admit I was pissed."

"And now?" Kenzi pressed, noting her use of the past tense.

"Now…" Bo shrugged. "I still want answers, but after seeing what he did for me, for Aife, I can't help thinking I was right about him being one of the good guys. At least I know he cares."

Kenzi nodded in agreement – after all, most people didn't bleed themselves to the point of unconsciousness for someone they didn't care about – before moving on to the next person whose standing was still in question. "What about D? You gonna forgive him?"

"Well, he's a stubborn bastard." Bo paused to take a drink, swirling the wine around in her glass as she thought. "I don't know how, but he helped me tonight too. I could feel him with me when I was fighting my mom."

"So you guys are good?" Kenzi verified, the corners of her mouth curling into a grin as she wondered how long it would take before the two of them were shaking the walls of the Clubhouse and raining dust on her head again.

Bo, having correctly guessed where her mind had gone, grinned back. "We will be, finally. Next time I see him, I am going to ask if he knew about my sister, and we still have some things to work out, but at least there are no more secrets between us. We deserve a fresh start."

"I'll drink to that."

They both picked up their glasses, raised them to each other, and finished their wine in companionable silence.

###

Bo and Kenzi took turns checking on Trick late into the night, but they must have both fallen asleep at some point, because they suddenly found themselves being awakened by the persistent clearing of their patient's throat. Bo blinked and sat up – not exactly an easy feat, since the awkward position she'd sunk into when she dozed off had left her rather stiff – to find him standing in front of the sofa, watching them with his arms crossed over his chest.

"Hey, Trickster," Kenzi mumbled. "Sorry about all the shit I said to you last night. I'm really glad you didn't bleed to death."

"Thank you, Kenzi. I'm glad my wine was able to ease your worry over my health," he said dryly, glancing at the half-empty bottle at her feet. Then his features softened. "I can't tell you how relieved I am to see you both safe, even if I was surprised to find you in my study. Does this mean Aife is…?" He trailed off, not quite knowing how to ask if Bo had been forced to kill her own mother.

"We don't know," she answered with a helpless shrug, before recapping their epic battle and its shocking conclusion. "I'm guessing I have you to thank for that," she finished, fixing him with a knowing look. "I recognized the symbol in your book."

"Yes." Trick nodded, somewhat uncomfortably. "I was afraid of the consequences of using my blood again – perhaps too afraid, as Kenzi pointed out – but in the end, I was more afraid of losing you."

Bo's throat tightened, and it was a moment before she could speak again. When she did, her voice was more than a little choked up. "Thank you, Trick. Not just for stopping Aife from killing me, but what you did for her. For a minute there, I think I got to see the person she was before all the bad stuff happened to her; I got to meet my real mom."

Now it was Trick's turn to get emotional, as his eyes grew suspiciously shiny. "I'm very glad to hear that," he said softly, "more than you know."

Bo wondered at his reaction; aside from the obvious explanation that he was happy for her, hearing that Aife's sanity wasn't completely gone seemed to have struck a chord with him, which only deepened her curiosity about what kind of relationship they'd had prior to their falling-out, why he of all people was the one who knew Aife's remaining secrets. She waited a moment, then cleared her throat and got down to business.

"That's actually why I'm here – in those last minutes when she was herself again, she said there were still things I needed to know, things you haven't told me…like the fact that I have a sister, Isabella."

She watched him closely as she said this, alert for any tiny shift in his expression that would indicate the name meant something to him, but such vigilance was unnecessary; the pain that flashed across his face was plain as day.

"Ah." It was uttered less as a word than a soft sound carried on the rush of air that entered his nose as he inhaled sharply. "I'm sorry, Bo. I wish Aife had kept that particular piece of information to herself."

"Why?" Bo leaned forward, frowning. "Why didn't you want me to know I have a sister?"

Instead of answering, Trick asked, "In the time you've lived among your fellow fae, perhaps you've noticed that succubi aren't one of the more common breeds?"

Confusion deepened Bo's frown, but she decided to play along for the moment, to see where he was going with this seemingly unrelated tangent. "Yeah, I've been here a few months and only met one other succubus who was deliberately looking for me, plus Dyson and Hale said I'm the first one they've met, so I'm getting the idea that we're not exactly a dime a dozen."

"No, you're certainly not. The reason succubi are so rare is that, as long as you have access to an adequate supply of chi, your species can halt the aging process indefinitely, making you functionally immortal-"

"Whoa," Bo interrupted, leaning back in her seat. "I knew fae can live a really long time, but forever?"

"Not all fae live forever, and the rate of aging differs among species," Trick corrected. "For some, a mere millennium is all they can hope for-"

This time it was Kenzi who butted in. "Like this old guy that was at that party where the banshee wailed – La Shoeshine or whatever…"

"You mean La Shoshain?" Trick asked pointedly, raising an eyebrow at her butchering the name of one of the fae's most sacred festivals.

"Yeah, that one." Kenzi waved her hand dismissively. "Anyway, everyone thought the old guy must be the one whose number was up since he was like nine hundred…" Her voice trailed off as she remembered that he hadn't been the one who was doomed to die after all, and how she had befriended the person who was.

Trick's face softened as he realized where her thoughts must have gone, and he tried to distract her from the sad memory by returning to his original point. "As I was saying, a succubus' agelessness is dependent on her feeding habits; one who was deprived of chi long enough would eventually die, but because the potential for immortality exists and most succubi don't lead the sort of violent lifestyles that result in natural culling of the species, nature has decided to prevent overpopulation in a different way: by lowering the birth rate."

"This isn't about to get gross, is it?" Kenzi asked apprehensively.

Pushing aside the weight of eternity that had crashed down on her with Trick's revelation that she might live forever – after all, there was nothing she could do about forever in the next five minutes – Bo forced her mind back to the topic at hand and tried to catch up. "So basically you're saying it's hard for succubi to have kids? Yeah, that tracks; I always did my best to be safe, but there were a few times – more than a few, to be honest – when I was on the run that I wasn't able to use protection. In all those years, though, I never even had a single pregnancy scare."

"Gah! I do not need to hear this!" Kenzi exclaimed, clapping her hands over her ears.

Trick also looked uncomfortable, though he limited his reaction to an awkward grimace. "Yes, well, that's…fortunate… Anyway, the vast majority of succubi never reproduce at all; for those who do, one child is generally the most they can manage. Less than one tenth of one percent have a second, and when they do… It almost always ends badly."

Even though something in his voice told her she didn't want to hear any more, Bo sensed that they were approaching the crux of the matter, so she pushed through the feeling of foreboding coiling around her chest and quietly asked, "How badly?"

"Miscarriages, mostly," Trick replied with a heavy sigh. "In the vanishingly rare event that they reach full term, the infants are either weak or suffer from horrible birth defects – the runts of the litter, one might say. Most of them only live an hour or two."

"Is that what happened to my sister?" Bo choked out, blinking furiously as moisture suddenly gathered in her eyes. "She didn't make it?"

Trick shook his head sadly. "I'm sorry, Bo."

"But Aife said she's out there somewhere. She told me to find her…"

At that, Trick's expression somehow grew even more forlorn. "Oh, Bo… You know the years of captivity and torture Aife endured damaged her mind. I think the loss of her second child was more than she could bear, so she blocked out the memory, convinced herself Isabella was only lost… It seems not even my blood was strong enough to break through that delusion. But that's all it is, Bo." He reached out and took her hand, peering earnestly into her eyes. "I wish I could have spared you this pain, kept you from suffering the way I have, but now that you know, it would be best if you tried to put it out of your mind."

Bo yanked her hand back; although she knew it was irrational, having the prospect of finding another member of her family (one who was hopefully a bit saner and less homicidal than Aife) dangled in front of her only for it to be snatched away mere hours later had left her frustrated, almost angry. "What are you suffering for?" she demanded as she fought to hold back her tears. "This isn't your family we're talking about! Aife may have been 'of your clan', but she's not your mother!"

Her words hit Trick like a slap in the face, but he quickly composed himself. "No, she isn't," he agreed, holding his voice steady with considerable effort. He hesitated, but he knew it was time to tell Bo everything – knew, deep down, that he should have told her a long time ago. Drawing a deep breath, he finally divulged the last secret he'd withheld during their previous discussion about Aife. "She's my daughter."

Bo gasped, and Kenzi's whole body jerked, causing her to knock over the wine bottle next to her foot. "Holy shit," she whispered, her silvery eyes round with shock.

"Your…your daughter?" Bo stammered. "But that would make you…"

"Your grandfather, yes," Trick confirmed. "Aife named you after her mother, Isabeau."

Under different circumstances, Bo would've been thrilled to learn that she had inherited her grandmother's name, to have that connection to her family history, but right now there were more pressing issues on her mind. "Why didn't you tell me?"

"I wanted to. Like you, I thought my family was lost to me – my Isabeau died a long time ago, my daughter's thirst for vengeance led her to madness, and my granddaughters were either dead or had disappeared without a trace – so when you resurfaced, here of all places, you can't imagine how desperately I wanted to believe I'd been given a second chance…but I was scared. Your story of being raised by humans so that you knew nothing of our world was so outlandish that I wasn't sure whether to believe you at first; then, when you were so quick to turn to me for guidance, I wondered if Aife had already gotten to you, if she sent you to get close to me. She's used similar tricks before," he added softly, pain creeping into his voice again at the thought of how his relationship with his only daughter had deteriorated.

"But you must've realized I wasn't a spy pretty quickly."

"I did," he admitted, "but by then I was afraid of how you would react if you found out I hadn't been honest with you from the beginning or learned the truth about your mother, afraid she would play on your sympathy to lure you into joining her."

"She tried to," Bo acknowledged with a slight frown.

Trick nodded as if he'd expected as much. "I thought it was safer if you knew nothing about her, I thought I was protecting you, and I was terrified that the truth would drive a wedge between us. Please try to understand, Bo… I couldn't bear to lose you like I lost her."

Something in his face or voice convinced her of his sincerity, and she slid forward off the sofa, dropping to her knees and hugging him tightly. "You won't lose me," she assured him as he recovered from his surprise and hugged her back. "I'm glad you're my grandfather, but I'm still pissed at you for keeping all this from me. I wish you'd trusted me to not go off the deep end when I found out. Just because I felt sorry for Aife doesn't mean I would've gone along with her crazy plan to make the Light and the Dark wipe each other out so she could rule over whatever was left."

"I see that now. In fact, I've known for some time that you have a good heart, and that you're stronger than she was; you've never given in to your darker impulses. I just hope you can forgive me for not giving you as much credit as you deserve."

Bo nodded against his shoulder. "I do forgive you. Just don't try to protect me by lying to me again, okay?" Then she pulled back slightly, fixing him with a determined look. "And I'm not one hundred percent convinced you're right about Isabella either."

Trick looked into her eyes and sighed at the stubborn hopefulness he saw there. As admirable as Bo's optimism usually was, in this instance he was afraid she was setting herself up for disappointment, and he didn't want to see her get hurt. "Bo…"

"Aife didn't sound confused or delusional when she told me my sister's still out there," she insisted. "She sounded like she knew exactly what she was talking about."

"Listen, Bo… I don't want to discourage you from hoping," he began in the tone of someone who was about to do exactly that.

"Did you go to Isabella's funeral?" she demanded, frustrated with his gloomy attitude. "See her coffin? Watch them bury her?"

"No," Trick admitted with a sigh. "I only learned of her existence, brief as it was, years after the fact."

"Then you can't be sure of what really happened," Bo said triumphantly. "I'm going to find out, and if she is alive somewhere, I'll find her. Then we can all be a family."

###

It wasn't long after Bo and Kenzi left the Dal that the succubus realized there was one glaring snag in her brilliant plan to locate her missing sister and reunite what remained of her family: namely the fact that she had no idea where to start.

"Would it have been too much to ask for Aife to give me just one clue?" she complained. "If I knew where Isabella was born or in what year, I could try going through birth records for that time or place, but the where could be anywhere in the world, and the most Trick could tell me is that she's younger than me – which leaves almost twenty-eight years to cover."

"Sounds like a problem for another time – like after we've gotten some shut-eye," Kenzi replied through a barely stifled yawn. "I don't know about you, but I for one did not get quality sleep crunched up on Trickster's couch, and after saving the fae world from civil war, we deserve some serious R and R."

"I don't think I could sleep right now if I had to," Bo said ruefully, "but you go ahead. I know I kept you up most of the night."

Kenzi nodded, yawning again, and sauntered off to her room. Bo gave her shoulder an affectionate squeeze as she passed, then watched her go with a fond smile that faded into a more pensive expression once the other girl was out of sight, as she contemplated the enormity of the task before her. She had just resolved to ask Trick what he knew of Aife's movements in the years following her own birth to see if she could narrow down the timeframe of her sister's arrival when her phone rang.

Seeing that the number didn't belong to any of her friends, she was tempted to decline the call – it was probably a potential client, and she wasn't sure she could focus on anyone else's problems until she'd solved the more personal mystery that had just been dumped in her lap – but changed her mind just before it went to voicemail. Some of her past cases had turned up tidbits of information related to her search for her mother, or at least helped her make useful contacts, so maybe this unknown caller would somehow get her a step closer to finding her sister.

"Hello?"

"Good morning. Have I reached Bo Dennis?"

The velvety voice that came through the speaker sounded like it was made for phone sex, causing her to wonder if this was some sort of prank, but she decided to hear the caller out for a minute or two before hanging up. After all, people with sexy voices probably needed help sometimes too. "Yeah, this is Bo. Who's this?"

"Pleased to make your acquaintance, Ms. Dennis. My name is Edward Cullen."

'Pleased to make your acquaintance'? Who the hell says that anymore? Keeping her mounting skepticism out of her voice with some effort, she said, "Okay, Edward Cullen, why don't you tell me about your case and I'll see what I can do."

"Actually, Ms. Dennis, it's your case that I was hoping to discuss. You were raised by humans, with no contact with the fae world whatsoever, correct?"

"What's it to you? Are you with the fae National Enquirer or something?"

"No," the obnoxiously honey-smooth voice replied with a trace of amusement, "I assure you my interest is entirely personal. I've recently learned that someone close to me is in the same situation as yourself."

A tingle shot up Bo's spine, causing her to straighten up from where she'd been leaning on her kitchen counter. "What do you mean?"

"My girlfriend – I first met her when she moved in with her father, who is human, and she appeared to be human as well until last week, when she manifested fae powers months before her eighteenth birthday in response to a serious injury. When her mother visited her in the hospital, I saw that she is also human, and she confirmed the adoption, which was arranged by a person or persons unknown who clearly used some form of mental influence to prevent the couple from asking questions."

His story was uncannily familiar; when Mary Dennis revealed that Bo wasn't her biological daughter after she accidentally drained her first boyfriend, she hadn't been able to tell her much about where she came from except that she hadn't been adopted through an agency, though admittedly Bo had been too upset to quiz her extensively, while Mary was less interested in answering her questions than in getting her out of the house as fast as possible.

Now she was being told that the same thing had happened to another girl – a girl who, if she wasn't quite eighteen yet, was definitely in the right age range… It couldn't be a coincidence. Hiding her excitement behind a façade of nonchalance, she asked, "Does this girlfriend of yours have a name?"

"Bella – Bella Swan."

Bella… Isabella?! The tingle that had started in Bo's spine now surged through her entire body, lighting up every nerve from her fingertips to her toes, but her flash of elation at this unbelievable stroke of luck rapidly dissipated as she realized that it was, quite simply, unbelievable. The timing was just too perfect, and it suddenly occurred to her that her initial misgivings about Edward Cullen – if that was even his real name – could have been right…except maybe he was up to something more nefarious than a mere prank.

"Uh-huh," she said flatly. "Well, isn't that convenient?"

"I beg your pardon?"

He sounded genuinely confused, but Bo wasn't ready to accept that as proof that he was on the up and up. Maybe the guy was just a very good liar. "I just found out I have a sister named Isabella, and less than twenty-four hours later some stranger calls and leads me right to her? That's one hell of a coincidence – too much of one, actually. Besides, you know what they say about things that sound too good to be true."

She heard her mysterious caller inhale sharply at the mention of her sister, and a long moment passed before he spoke again. When he did, he sounded as stunned as she had been when Aife first dropped the bomb on her. "So you…you think Bella might be the long-lost sibling you're looking for?"

"Maybe. Or maybe this is some kind of trap."

"Why on earth would I want to set a trap for you?" Edward demanded, now sounding indignant as well as puzzled.

"You tell me. All I know is that ever since I got mixed up in the craziness that is life with the fae, it seems like I can barely go a week without somebody trying to kill me, so you'll understand if I'm not willing to trust a total stranger right off the bat – especially one who falls into the aforementioned 'too good to be true' category."

Edward considered this for a moment, then said, "A simple DNA test will settle the matter one way or the other. We'd be happy to send you a sample which you can submit to the source of your choice for comparison, if that will increase your confidence in the results."

"That sounds fair," Bo cautiously agreed. "I guess I can send you one too, if you want it." She'd heard that giving away parts of yourself, such as blood, hair, and nail clippings, was generally not a good idea since certain people could use those things to put a curse or hex on you, but surely they couldn't do much with a few skin cells. Besides, if they were willing to offer up Bella's DNA, she figured she should reciprocate as a gesture of good faith.

"That would be appreciated. If there is a familial match between your DNA and Bella's, will you consider meeting with her? She has a lot of questions, as I'm sure you can imagine."

Bo was instantly on guard again, particularly when he went on to say that he and Bella lived south of the border, in Washington state, and that he couldn't bring her to Toronto – the reasons he cited, that Bella was still a minor who lived with her adoptive father and attended high school, sounded reasonable enough, though conveniently they also necessitated Bo venturing into unknown territory, where people she wasn't sure she could trust would have the home court advantage – but in the end she said yes. If Bella Swan really was her sister, there was no amount of risk that would dissuade Bo from getting to know her.

###

After hanging up, Edward went upstairs to report the outcome of the conversation to Bella, who had intended to make the call herself, only to find that her fingers' nervous trembling made it impossible for her to dial the number. At last, she had thrust the phone at Edward with a pleading look, then retreated to her room. He found her sitting on the edge of her bed, reading a book – or more accurately, staring blankly at a fixed spot on the page while furiously chewing her thumbnail – though she snapped it shut the instant he came in.

"Well?" she asked breathlessly. "Was she able to tell you anything about who might've been responsible for me ending up here?"

"No," Edward said slowly, unsure how she would react to what he'd learned, "our discussion took a different turn…but it may not matter who arranged your adoption. We might not need them to help us track down your biological relations after all."

"What are you talking about?"

"Ms. Dennis mentioned that in the course of her investigation into her own background, she recently discovered that she has a sister…named Isabella."

Bella promptly dropped her book, her frown disappearing as her face went blank with shock. "Me?" she squeaked, pointing at herself as if to confirm that she was indeed the Isabella in question.

"Given the similarities in your circumstances, it seems like a strong possibility. Of course, we'll need to compare your DNA to be certain. She's agreed to provide a sample, in return for us doing the same."

"Will you have to draw blood?" Bella asked worriedly.

"No, a swab from the inside of your cheek will suffice," Edward assured her, much to her relief.

"Okay," she agreed, visibly relaxing. "Then what, we put it in the mail and wait to hear back from her?"

"I'm afraid so; Ms. Dennis wasn't willing to consider a face to face meeting until she's verified your identity. She was rather suspicious of me, actually – even accused me of plotting to entrap her."

"I guess I'd probably think it was a scam too, if someone called me out of the blue claiming to have found the long-lost sister I'd just found out I had," Bella acknowledged, though not without some concern. She hoped her potential sibling wasn't a paranoid nutcase.

"I think she suspected something more sinister than an attempt at extortion." He hesitated, wondering if what he had to say next would frighten Bella, but she should know what she was getting into. "I don't know her well enough to tell if she's prone to exaggeration, obviously, but she claimed that since she joined fae society, attempts have been made on her life on a near-weekly basis."

Bella's eyes widened to saucer-like proportions, but she wasn't stunned into silence this time. "Great," she said facetiously, her voice rising to an almost hysterical pitch, "just great. You don't think I'm related to some kind of fae mafia, do you? Do the fae even have a mafia?"

"Our world has its criminals just like the human one, though the power structures of both the Light and the Dark seem to be a bit more efficient at reining in the worst offenders – probably because they're a lot more liberal in their use of capital punishment than the human authorities." Seeing her look of alarm, he added, "Rosalie may be jaded and pessimistic, but she wasn't wrong when she said life among the fae can be dangerous."

Bella shivered and drew her good leg up to her chest, wrapping her arms around her knee. Without looking at him, she asked in a small voice, "What if I'm not cut out for this? Not just the part about feeding on humans, I mean. If the whole system is as 'fae eat fae' as it sounds…I don't know if I can make it in a world like that."

"It's the world you belong in, though." He put an arm around her and pulled her close, and she happily leaned into him. "Whatever happens, I'll protect you. I know I failed with James, but I swear I'll never let anyone or anything hurt you again."

"You didn't fail me," Bella countered sternly. "You saved me, even after I made it harder by giving Alice and Jasper the slip and running off to meet James."

Edward disagreed, still feeling that he should have done more, arrived in time to prevent her from getting hurt so badly or, better yet, not brought her to the sadistic tracker's attention in the first place, but he could tell by her disapproving tone that she wouldn't appreciate him arguing his guilt in the matter, so he let it drop in favor of a (hopefully) cheerier topic.

"So, notwithstanding the possible risks of associating with her, how will you feel if Bo Dennis does turn out to be your sister?"

"Oh, well, that's… I have no idea." Sliding out from under his arm, she flopped onto her back, sighing loudly as she stared up at the ceiling. Edward stretched out beside her, propping himself up on one elbow so he could watch her face while she worked through her thoughts.

"I've been dreading having to confront the parents who ditched me so much that I never even considered other relatives. I definitely wasn't thinking about siblings; I mean, I've been an only child all my life."

"You've led a privileged existence," Edward agreed with a crooked grin, "being the oldest and the youngest all at once. Still, I can say from personal experience that having brothers and sisters is also nice."

"I used to wish I had a big brother sometimes – someone fun like Emmett, someone who'd look out for me. I never imagined having a sister, though." She finally turned her head to look at him, her eyes alight with curiosity. "Apart from when she accused you of being a con artist, what was she – Bo – like?"

He thought it over for a second, replaying his talk with the fae sleuth in his mind before settling on what seemed the best word to encapsulate his first impression of her, which was: "Shrewd. If what she said about the number of assassination attempts she's survived is even partially accurate, she must be tough too…and she seemed to share your proclivity for sarcastic humor," he added, recalling her National Enquirer jibe. "I think you'll like her, if the two of you do end up meeting."

Bella nodded thoughtfully, turning her gaze up to the ceiling again as she mulled over what Edward had told her. Although the idea of having a sibling still felt strange, like stepping into a new pair of shoes that weren't broken in yet, she had to admit that Bo Dennis sounded like a pretty cool person to be related to, possible paranoia aside. Then she wondered what the other woman would think of her, how she would feel about having her as a potential relative…and hoped she wouldn't be too disappointed.