"Aren't you just the most precious!", I mumble, and Iris happily gurgles back at me. I wonder at the nonsense that comes out of my mouth. I hold my finger out in front of her face and she grabs it tightly with her little hand.
None of this came naturally to me. When we first arrived back home and Rosalie put her daughter in my arms, I felt incredibly awkward. I had to carefully imitate the pose Emmett showed me to ensure her head was properly supported.
"They have already had her for two days.", Jasper tried to reassure me. "And they have been anticipating becoming parents for over nine months, and wanting to be for decades. You will learn."
Eventually I realized that my real fear was not that I would hurt Iris, but that she would not like me once she grew up enough to have clear opinions. Her parents had picked me to be godmother, over Kate, over Charlotte, over any other female vampire in their acquaintance. What if she grew up to dislike me, and wish they had picked someone else?
It did help that the others needed just as much instruction. Not Carlisle of course, who delivered babies on a weekly basis at the hospital, or Esme who had had one of her own in her human life. Kate, Garrett, Peter and Charlotte all had to learn how to handle a baby. They picked it up so much faster than me though, and Emmett and Rosalie did not watch them nearly as closely as me.
"It is because of your newborn strength.", Emmett told me gently. "Until a couple of weeks ago you were tearing your clothes apart because you didn't know how hard you pulled at them. I'd rather that not happen to my daughter. But we trust you to learn."
So I was determined to learn, and I had been, this whole week. Currently I am in a rocking chair in the living room of the house Emmett built. Ostensibly the young parents are quickly running to the big house to pick up something they left there. In reality they are testing if they can leave me alone with her. I know how to read between the lines.
Iris seems happy enough to be here in my lap. As my confidence grew and my anxiety lessened, I noticed that my enjoyment of caring for my goddaughter also grew. I still wonder what I am doing when I try to play with her, but when I am rewarded with one of her laughs, it warms me in a way I never experienced before.
When Emmett and Rosalie return they come with Carlisle and Jasper in tow looking very seriously.
"Did anything happen?", I ask, worried.
"Phone call from Denali.", Jasper says tersely and moves to stand protectively by my side.
I hand Iris over to her mother so I have my hands free to hold his reassuringly.
"It was Eleazar.", Carlisle elaborates. "He asks if we have heard anything about Laurant."
"Victoria", I whisper.
It seems a lifetime ago that the three nomad vampires had come to Forks. Technically it was in my previous life. Victoria still dominated my thoughts, because of the threat of her presence in the area. Laurant however I had more or less dismissed.
Carlisle had at some point told me that Laurant had mated with Irina of the Denali sisters and moved in with the coven in Alaska. I figured that was that, but now it seemed not. The Denali's rarely came south, why would he?
"The only conceivable reason why he would leave Denali without his mate is that he is running an errand for Victoria.", Jasper confirms my thoughts. "That she has something to threaten them with, that makes leaving his mate behind the preferable option."
"Have we any news on Victoria's situation?", Peter asks.
Last we heard she was still in Portland. With the imminent arrival of little Iris our family had prioritized protecting the Forks area, and considered it fine if Victoria wanted to stew in her lair there for the time being. They kept an eye on her, mainly digitally by looking for suspicious activity in news reports, but had not run patrols in her territory.
Carlisle shakes his head. "She has not crossed our borders here, and to our knowledge Seattle remains clear as well. Portland on the other hand definitely houses multiple human drinking vampires at present."
"Any word from the wolves?", I ask, and Carlisle frowns.
"Not recently. Seth Clearwater dropped by while you were changing. We explained you had been bitten well outside of the treaty line, and that you were only bitten as a result of forming a mating bond with Jasper. Seth was very understanding about it, he said the wolves have a phenomenon similar to mating called 'imprinting'."
I smile softly. I can well imagine the enthusiastic teenager coming to my family's defense. However, I can also imagine the other wolves not sharing his open-mindedness.
"Unfortunately his pack leader was not happy.", Carlisle continues. "Sam Uley had recently been killed, leaving the pack to Jacob Black. There had been bad blood between the two, but the one thing they always agreed on was their hatred of us. Where Sam might have been reasoned with, Jacob's fondness for Bella strengthened his determination to cut all contact with us. As far as he - and with him the rest of the pack - is concerned, the treaty has been breached."
"Then why haven't they attacked?", Peter wonders.
"They must know they can't beat us.", Jasper reasons. "Sam Uley, was he killed by vampires?"
"Yes.", Carlisle confirms. "Seth told us that a human eating vampire matching Victoria's description, usually accompanied by a few unknown ones, has been attacking the reservation. Unfortunately, when Seth returned home with the news about Bella's change, the pack was given an Alpha order to no longer contact us. Jacob Black's pettiness runs so deep that he won't even accept help with protecting the regular humans on the reservation."
Jasper lightly grabs my arm as if to calm me down, and I realize that while I am upset at the news I am more so at apparently being the last to hear it.
"Why am I only hearing this now?", I frown. It had been weeks, surely my family could have told me what an ass my once-best-friend was being.
Carlisle looks at me sheepishly. "Considering how volatile newborn vampires usually are we thought it better not to tell you when you were just changed. And once you proved to be in control of yourself the subject just didn't come up anymore."
"Never again.", I huff. "I am a full member of this family, a vampire and Jasper's mate. You will tell me if anything is going on."
"We will.", Carlisle solemnly promises.
"Good.", I say. "Then you can't have any objection if I join you when you are going to talk to Jacob."
Carlisle hesitates, and I can feel Jasper stiffen up behind me. Off to the side Emmett is smiling gleefully.
"Come on, you will need to check with the pack if they have any information on Laurant. And if Jacob is being an uncooperative idiot, I need to be there to kick some sense into him."
I can tell neither Carlisle nor Jasper is particularly happy about this prospect, but neither can come up with an argument against it so soon I am running between them towards the treaty line.
The smell of wet dog is noticeable as we approach, but not overwhelming as the others said it would be if I were on a regular blood diet. Gradually I become able to distinguish between different scents. One of them is much fresher than the others, and soon I hear a heartbeat. A young man is standing in a clearing at the treaty line, but not the one we had been expecting.
"Hello bloodsuckers.", says my old friend Quil Ateara.
"Good afternoon Quil.", says Carlisle politely, clearly trying to hide his surprise. "I am happy that you are willing to talk to us, after your alpha orders previously did not permit that."
"New alpha, new orders.", he answers brusquely.
Carlisle frowns. "What happened to Jacob Black?", he asks.
"A vampire crossed our lands. A familiar scent, he was there when that redhead first came to Forks."
Well, that answered the question if they had heard anything about Laurant.
"We attacked of course. Jacob tore the vamp apart, but was badly wounded in the fight. He had a lot of broken bones, that with our accelerated healing powers fused together incorrectly before we could align them. We couldn't take him to a regular hospital in that state, and he refused to ask you for help. Then of course he refused to stay put, even with bits of ribs sticking in places where they shouldn't. We are not completely sure how he died, but most likely a shard of bone pierced through his heart. Even our werewolf bodies cannot heal that."
We are all struck silent for a moment, thinking of how Carlisle could likely have fixed him up if only Jacob had not been too stubborn to accept his help. He had considered this a hill he was willing to die on, and died on it he had.
"So who is the new Alpha?", Jasper wonders.
Quil snorts. "I am. And I need all the help I can get. You better come over to the rez."
Over the next few hours we learn just how many young werewolves have been killed by Victoria's lackeys. How few of the vampires have been killed by them. How many innocent human tribe members have died, either as a vampire meal or simply as collateral damage. While Victoria has stayed clear of our lands where she would be easy to track, she has clearly had no scruples about making her vampires swim from Portland to La Push beach. It had not occurred to us at all to monitor the water.
We also forge an alliance. With Iris' birth behind us it is time to put an end to Victoria for once and for all, and the pack's help is welcome. We are reunited with a tearful Seth Clearwater. When my other old friends, like Embry Call, see how humanoid I am despite having changed into a vampire, they quickly come around as well. Quil Ateara proves to be a more sensible alpha than Sam Uley and Jacob Black combined.
We soon have plans, strategies, patrol rosters. We will restore peace to the Olympic Peninsula, and we will do it together.
After Carlisle makes a dreaded phone call to Denali.