A Bond That No One Expected

banner by Tathy Guitton

 A Bond That No One Expected

by idealskeptic

Disclaimer: All publicly recognizable characters, settings, etc. are the property of their respective owners. The original characters and plot are the property of the author. The author is in no way associated with the owners, creators, or producers of any media franchise. No copyright infringement is intended.

Sam

Emily and I lay on our backs in the sun that warmed the clearing on the edge of the reservation. Things were so quiet, so peaceful since we had stood with more vampires that I had realized existed in the world and forced even more vampires to back down and leave the Pacific Northwest.

I turned over and propped myself up on one elbow. I traced my finger gently along the scars that marred her beautiful face; the scars that I had put there.

“Stop it, Sam,” she whispered lazily, her eyes closed peacefully against the sun. “I like them.”

“I hurt you, Emily,” I whispered back. “How can you possibly like them?”

She rolled over and looked into my eyes. “Do they make me ugly, Sam? In your eyes?”

“Of course not,” I replied honestly. “You’re the most beautiful thing I’ve ever seen.”

“I had hoped you would say that,” she said with a slow, happy smile as she lay back down, this time on her side. “Since you did, it’s only fair to tell you that you are forbidden to touch the scars on my face unless you use your lips.”

“My lips? I don’t understand, Emily.”

She smiled mischievously. “If you are so convinced that you hurt me, Sam Uley, you have to make it feel better. Everyone who was ever a child knows that kisses make any hurt feel better.”

“I’ll kiss them, Emily. I’ll kiss them until the end of time,” I vowed solemnly. “But that won’t erase them.”

“Are you planning to un-imprint anytime soon, Mr. Uley?” she questioned me, her dark eyes teasing.

“No,” I said slowly, wondering if I was losing my mind as she asked such silly questions.

“Good,” she declared, turning onto her back again and closing her eyes against the warm sun. “Then I don’t have anyone to impress. No need to worry about my scars.”

I had to give up then. Her logic was foolproof. I leaned close and ran my lips gently over the length of each scar. “Is that better, heart of mine?” I murmured as my lips stopped over her ear.

“Much,” she sighed happily, pushing against my bare chest until I was on my back and she could curl into me, her face, the scarred side, pressed into me.

We had only three minutes more of peaceful silence.

The howls of my pack rang through the air, sending flocks of birds up from the pine nests in defensive circles.

“Phase,” Emily said as we flew to our feet and she kissed me hard on the lips. “And be safe. I’ll see you at home.”

I nodded and felt myself begin to quiver. Seconds later, I was pounding the earth on four feet as I established the mental link with my brothers.

Took you long enough, Leah snapped in greeting.

I ignored her. Where’s Jacob? I demanded as I realized that he hadn’t phased.

Human, Leah replied. Apparently she would be the spokesperson for the group. Nessie showed up at Billy’s all by herself. She showed him some kind of surprise attack on the Cullens by a dozen leeches. Not much in the way of details, though. Not even why she’s alone. He phased long enough to tell us that.

Alright, they may still be in the area. We’ll go to the Cullens. Be ready to fight. It was the last thing I wanted to tell my brothers, but I didn’t have any other choice. If they’re gone, we’ll look for scents. Paul, Leah and I will lead three groups. Embry and Collin are with Paul. Jared and Brady are with Leah. Seth and Quil, you’ll be with me. Everyone else, stay on the rez under Jacob.

I wasn’t prepared for what I saw when we reached the Cullens’ property.

Leah

The curls of purple smoke reached nearly to the top of the tall pine trees that ringed the house. But the fire wasn’t even the most alarming thing in sight, though it did mean that some vampires had been destroyed. The lawn, so smooth and well-cared for while I was on leech guard duty, was pock-marked with massive ditches and divots. Countless trees were uprooted and smashed into sawdust.

Shit, man, Quil muttered as he skidded to a stop behind Sam. Could anyone have survived this?

Maybe, Sam allowed slowly, pacing tensely as he thought out the plan. I don’t smell any in the direct area so I want Quil and Seth to phase. Carefully put out that fire and see if you can recognize anything in the ashes. Remember anything you see and then start the fire again.

Collin, Brady, I want you to go back to the rez. One of you needs to phase and tell Jacob what happened here. The other should stay in wolf form to keep contact with us. Take turns reporting to Jacob. Tell him that I understand that he needs to stay with Nessie.

I coughed a hollow laugh as the pair started to protest and then pricked my ears in interest when Sam snapped impatiently at them.

You’ll also be in charge of the rez and your brothers there, he reminded them, to their delight. Now, go!

I got a fresh scent! Paul shouted as he scouted the river’s edge. Leech was going straight along the edge here but veered off damn suddenly. Must have caught wind of us coming.

Jared, Embry, follow the trail that veers off with Paul, Sam ordered him as he trotted to my side. Why hadn’t he given me an assignment yet? Idiot. Leah and I will try to figure out where he was going before he changed his mind.

So Sam and I scouted slowly along the river’s edge. It wasn’t long before I caught the scent of something, er, someone, very familiar.

That’s Jasper’s scent, isn’t it? I asked Sam as we both stopped, suddenly overwhelmed by sadness and desperation.

Yes, and he’s still here. Close by.

I found him first. Hidden behind a large granite boulder, he was lying flat on his back. His gray sweater had been ripped in half and there was a crack, more than an inch deep, that stretch from his right collarbone down and across his chest to his pelvis.

Recoiling a bit at the bite mark scars, damn my wolf eyes for allowing me to see them, that feathered over every inch of his body, I looked at Sam. Is he still…alive? Or whatever they are?

I think so. He’s the one that can influence emotions and I definitely feel something coming from him. Sam was carefully moving closer. He was quickly close enough to nudge the still vampire with his paw.

Jasper’s coal black eyes flashed open and his body tensed more than it already was but he didn’t move. I wasn’t honestly sure if he could have moved if he’d tried.

I’m going to phase, Sam told me, shushing my howl of protest before it started. Just to talk to him, Leah. I want you to stay like you are, just in case.

I wasn’t an idiot. I knew he didn’t really need me to watch his back. I knew he was just trying to keep me happy. But I didn’t really care. So I swished my tail importantly and paced a small circle around the area, with my eyes closed until Sam put his shorts on, of course.

Sam knelt next to the injured vampire; ready to spring back in an instant.

“Jasper?” he said, his voice deep and calm. “Can you hear me?”

I hadn’t thought that a vampire could sound hoarse. But Jasper’s voice was definitely hoarse with what I had to assume was pain when he answered Sam’s question.

“Yes. Did you find anyone?”

“Renesmee came to us at La Push. She’s with Jacob now. As far as I know, she is not hurt,” Sam explained quietly. “What about the rest of your family. Do you know what happened to them?”

“No. My neck was broken early,” the vampire explained, closing his eyes against what I could guess what mental and physical pain. “It’s healed now but I don’t remember anything except Nessie finding me. I told her to go to La Push. I’m glad she made it.”

“We are too,” Sam agreed as he reached out and touched Jasper’s shoulder. “Quil and Seth are putting out the fire to see if they can figure out who was burned. Paul and Jared found a trail, I think someone was looking for you when we got here, that veers off. We’ll find out what happened to your family, Jasper. I promise you that.”

Damn. I had something to say to Sam! It was important too.

Better phase, Le, Paul snorted from his run along the river. Got your tank and shorts? When you do phase, tell Sam that it smells like the little blonde one that was with the Volturi and another Volturi or two came along this way. We don’t smell any Cullens yet. We’ll keep going until we find them or Sam tells us to stop.

Pipe down, moron, I growled as I trotted into the brush; best to keep my modesty around injured vampires, of course. I’ll pass the message and tell Quil or Seth to phrase and reply.

Leah! Wait a sec! Jacob’s booming yell nearly knocked me back on my haunches. Sam’s human?

Do you hear him anywhere in here, Jake? I snapped sarcastically before remembering his connection to the Cullens and calming myself somewhat. We found the scarred one. He’s got a nasty crack but he’s…alive, or whatever you want to call it. How’s Nessie?

Worried sick. She won’t say anything but she showed me blurry images of a crazy battle. She wants me to go and look for Bella and Edward. Tell Sam that I’m joining Paul, Jared and Embry. Oh, and Nessie’s with Billy, Sue and Emily. She’s desperate to see Jasper. If you and Sam think it’s safe, she really needs him.

Alright, Jake, I’ll tell him all that, I agreed. Was I really feeling concern for Jacob and his merry band of vampires? Pigs must be flying somewhere. Don’t get yourself killed, okay? If the Cullens lost this fight, Nessie’s gonna need you.

I know it, Leah, Jake said with worry in his thoughts. Thanks.

I phased and quickly threw on my shorts and tank top before kneeling on the other side of the cracked, literally, vampire from Sam. I ran through Paul and Jake’s messages, keeping a close eye on Jasper’s reactions.

“Quil!” Sam shouted before turning to Jasper. “My promise stands. We are still allies. Is that going to heal?”

“In time,” Jasper answered quietly. “The deeper it is, the longer it will take.”

“Feeding would make it heal more quickly?” Sam guessed.

“Yes, but I can’t move much or it won’t heal.”

“Don’t worry about that. We’re taking you back to the reservation. Seth will be in charge of catching deer for you.”

I know my mouth dropped open at the idea. I didn’t care.

“If the attackers come back for you, I don’t want them roaming all over the area,” Sam explained quickly, answering Jasper’s unasked question, as Quil finally appeared at his side. “If you’re under our protection, we can dictate the terms of any fight. Also, Nessie is Jacob’s imprint. We don’t allow the objects of the imprinting to be hurt. She needs you.”

“Sam,” I hissed impatiently. “Injured vampires are dangerous!”

“He can’t move, Leah. He’s weak,” Sam chided me before turning to Quil. “Join Paul’s group. Tell him and Jacob to go as far as Jacob thinks they can or should go. Leah, Seth, Collin, Brady and I will stay at the reservation. And tell Jacob that we’re taking Jasper to Nessie; they’ll both stay on the rez. Nothing will happen to her.”

“Right. Got it,” Quil said as he started to quiver but suddenly dropped something into Sam’s palm. “Oh, and Sam, we only found one identifiable object in the ash. We started the fire again.”

I gasped when I saw what was in Sam’s hand. A melted leather cuff with the Cullen crest emblazoned on it.

Seth

“There wasn’t an arm attached to it,” I announced for the third time as Leah and I walked, human, on either side of Sam’s wolf form; we had lifted Jasper carefully onto his broad black back, as we ventured back to the reservation. “It might not mean the worst.”

“Seth,” Leah hissed; she carried the cuff in her hand. “Cut it out. We’ll talk about it when we get back.”

“Sorry, Jasper,” I muttered, kicking a stone with my bare foot.

“Thank you for finding it, Seth,” Jasper said quietly. “Please don’t apologize.”

“Sorry,” I mumbled, hanging my head.

It took forever to get back to the reservation, but that was okay because Jasper couldn’t be bounced much. I know it bugged Leah, but she was starting to warm up to the vampires. She’d never admit it, but she was.

Emily met us in her backyard. She kept her distance as Sam lowered himself to the ground and Leah and I carefully lifted Jasper off his back and set him in a patch of thick grass.

I was about to say something when she held a finger to her lips. “Nessie doesn’t know you’re back yet,” she whispered, finally approaching us. “I don’t want her to know until I know if she can see him and until I know what else is going on.”

“Quil and Seth found this,” Leah said in a harsh voice as she held out the leather cuff. “Jasper, Emmett, and Edward all wore them. Jasper, obviously, still has his. There wasn’t any trace of the other Cullens. Just ash from some anonymous vampire donors.”

“Leah!” Sam and I growled in unison as he reappeared in his tattered shorts. I stepped back and let Sam take over. “The child has half vampire hearing abilities. She doesn’t need to hear that kind of talk. She’s a child who may have lost her parents.”

Leah rolled her eyes and looked down at Jasper before tossing the cuff to me. “I’ll go catch our guest his dinner,” she said with half a curtsey. “If that’s permissible, oh great leader.”

Sam jerked his head toward the forest; Leah took that as her cue to go. “Jasper,” he said, crouching down, “do you feel able to see Nessie?”

“Yes. I won’t hurt her, Sam,” he promised quietly. “But I completely understand if you want to have someone in wolf form close by, just in case.”

“I’ll phase,” Sam agreed thoughtfully. “But I won’t be too close. There isn’t any reason to make her afraid to be near you. And that will give me time to catch up with Jacob and Paul’s search. Seth, go inside and see Nessie for a few minutes. I’ll get something to cover that crack with and then phase.”

I followed Emily into the house, hoping and praying that Nessie wouldn’t ask me any questions that I couldn’t answer.

She was sitting quietly on Billy’s lap. Her wide brown eyes opened a bit wider when she saw me and, maybe I was seeing what I wanted to see, but I swear that the corners of her little red mouth twitched upward for a split second.

“Hey Nessie girl,” I said, kneeling in front of the wheelchair. “You okay?”

She nodded her head slowly, bronze curls slowly bouncing.

“We’ll figure this all out, you know,” I declared kind of lamely.

She nodded slowly again, leaning forward a little bit this time.

“Wanna go out and see your uncle now?” Sam had better have the crack covered and be phased. No way could I stall for more time.

Nessie craned her neck at Billy and he nodded. “Emily, Sue, Seth, Sam and I will all be out there with you, sweetheart,” he promised her.

Jasper

Sam had helped me into a plaid shirt and propped me against a tree stump. Oddly, the crack in my chest hurt less if I was slightly propped up. I worked carefully to control the anguish and pain that I felt; Nessie didn’t need to feel my emotions. I only hoped I could handle hers. As long as I didn’t think about…

No, I wouldn’t think about her right now. I couldn’t. Soon. Not now.

I heard the creak of the wheelchair’s wheels as Seth pushed Billy toward me. Nessie climbed quickly down and hurried over to me, kneeling in the dirt next to me. Her brown eyes were as wide as saucers.

“Uncle Jasper,” she whispered with a relief that I felt. “I came, just like you told me to.”

“You’re such a brave girl,” I whispered back, not using my gift on her. I wouldn’t have known which emotion would help her and which would hurt her if I tried. “I’m sorry that you’re scared.”

She touched my cheek and showed me how she had seen me when she found me and how she saw me now. I was apparently much calmer than I had been. But my eyes were coal black. She showed me that three times.

“Leah said that she’s going to catch a deer for me,” I reassured her.

She showed me a vision of herself catching a deer and wondered if she could bring one to me. She was desperate to help.

“Of course you can catch me a deer,” I said as I forced myself to smile. “Promise that you’ll only go with Leah or Seth, though. Don’t run off by yourself.”

Nessie nodded her head in agreement and showed me how she had told Jacob to go and look for her, our, family. She sniffled at the end of the vision.

“I know, sweetie. I know it was hard to send Jacob away. But I think it was right,” I said as I looked past her to Billy for help. “I think maybe you wouldn’t have sent Jacob away if there was no hope of your parents ever coming home.”

“He’s right, Nessie,” Billy said, mercifully picking up for me. “You know that you have a special connection to Jacob, don’t you?”

Nessie simply nodded as she kept her hand on my cheek though she wasn’t showing me anything.

“I think that, just maybe, you sent Jacob away because you thought that he just might be able to find your parents,” Billy continued as I, along with Emily, Leah and Seth, watched Nessie hang on every word the older man said. “He might find them and he might not. But I think that maybe there wasn’t anyone you trust quite as much with this job.”

She showed me that what Billy said was true; that she trusts all of us, of course, but that Jacob came a distinct third behind Bella and Edward. She was very worried that I might be upset by this.

“You have to have someone to trust outside your family, Nessie,” I told her quietly as I went ahead and tried to easy her worry over that particular thing. “And Jacob is a very good person to trust.”

She gave a tiny sigh and touched my cheek again.

“Emily, Nessie wonders if you have any food that she might be able to eat,” I said, translating her pictures. “And she wonders if she’ll be spending the night at your house. She would very much like that.”

Emily looked slightly taken aback that Nessie would ask those things of her but she quickly composed herself and came to crouch by Nessie and I. “You can have whatever food you like, sweetie,” she promised Nessie, surprised again when Nessie reached out and touched her cheek. “I do have blueberry muffins like Jake told you about. I made them just before you got here. And you can sleep at my house if you’d like.”

Nessie turned back to me and touched my cheek again. She was worried about me being outside and wondered if the crack she had seen earlier would heal.

“I’ll be fine out here for a while, Nessie,” I promised her. “And it will heal. I promise. Now you’d better go and eat and then go to sleep, hadn’t you?”

“Good night, Uncle Jasper,” she whispered as she leaned over and kissed my forehead. Her small hand fell to my cheek once more and she ran through her, our, family. We were almost equally worried.

She was halfway to the house, her hand in Emily’s, when she suddenly turned around and hurried back to me. She laid down on her stomach and put her lips close to my ear. “Daddy told me to hide, Uncle Jasper,” she whispered as she tried not to cry. “So I hid in the house. I didn’t see what happened to anyone. I’m so sorry!”

It hurt very much, but I put my arm around her and kissed her curls. “You did exactly what you should have done, Ness. I’m glad that you didn’t see the fight. I’m sure that your parents would be to. You’re very brave. I’m very proud of you.”

She sniffled again and then tried to compose herself. She took Emily’s hand again and let herself be led to the house.

“Thank you, Billy,” I said as Sam and Leah, with a deer in her arms, walked out of the forest in human form. “That was a very good way to explain things and I didn’t have anything else.”

“She’s a part of this family, this tribe, as much as she is a part of your family,” he replied honestly. “She probably would be even if Jacob hadn’t imprinted on her.”

“Did she show you anything about what happened?” Sam asked as Leah held the deer to my mouth.

I drank the deer before I answered; it eased the pain in my chest in the tiniest degree. “No. Edward told her to hide and she did until it was over, then she came to find me. She feels terrible about not being able to tell us anything else.”

“Jacob’s group split into two because the scents split. They’re still following and they’ll follow until there’s no more trail or they run out of land.” Sam was pacing the yard as he spoke. “Jacob, Quil and Embry are following the trail that has more scents and heads into Canada. Paul and Jared are following the smaller trail that goes South. Can you think of any reason that the attackers would have split into two groups?”

“Other than to confuse anyone who might be following, which they could have thought was just me, the only thing that I can think of is if it was an alliance,” I answered with careful thought. “Paul said that he thinks he smelled Jane, the blonde one, right? She may have made an alliance with another vampire, not from the Volturi.”

“That makes sense,” Sam decided as Leah, Seth and Billy watched and listened. “I’ll let them keep going then. Unless you’d rather I didn’t.”

I shook my head and chuckled hollowly. “No, Sam, if you want them to keep searching, I, and my whatever is left of my family, will be forever in your debt once again.”

“Do you need anything, Jasper?” Seth asked as Sam fell back into silent thought. “I can get stuff from your house.”

“Maybe just clothes, especially for Nessie,” I answered uncertainly. “And the cell phone that’s on the mantel over the fireplace in the main room. I can call our friends in Alaska to see if they’ll help in the search.”

“Clothes, cell phone, got it. You sure there isn’t anything else?”

“I don’t know how long we’ll be here so you should empty out the copy of War and Peace on bookshelf next to the fireplace.”

I had confused him, that much was clear. I had confused them all. “It’s money,” I clarified. “That copy of War and Peace has money in it. In case Nessie needs anything or the pack needs money for anything.”

Seth looked to Billy for guidance; Billy nodded that he should just go. Leah, ever the protective sister, ran after him.

Sam nodded at me before disappearing into his house. Billy and I were left alone in the now dark yard.

“Jasper,” he said quietly, seriously, “Charlie has already called here looking for Bella twice. I said I didn’t know where she was. He’s going to call again. What should I tell him?”

“Tell him to come here,” I answered as I rest my head on the rock. “Will he be alright if we tell him everything? If they’re gone…I think we have to, don’t you?”

“I do,” he agreed slowly. “And I was hoping you’d say that.”

Billy

The sun was rising in the east. The new day would be warm and filled with sunshine. I could only hope that it would bring some good news.

“Charlie?” I said tentatively. My friend hadn’t spoken in almost ten minutes. He simply sat on a tree stump and looked back and forth between me, Jasper, and Sam, who sat in wolf form at the edge of his yard. The color was returning to his cheeks. He would survive the news that his daughter was a vampire.

“Bella’s a vampire,” he whispered in a voice almost too quiet to be heard. “An immortal vampire. And now she might be dead. Completely dead. Is that right?”

“I’m sorry, Charlie. I really am. I wanted to tell you, but I couldn’t,” I explained slowly, allowing him to think through each word. I wondered if Jasper was helping to keep him calm. “My grandfather, Ephraim Black, made a treaty with the Cullens that the Quileutes would not reveal to the outside world what they are. If I had broken the treaty, they would have had cause to attack us.”

“Would you have attacked?” Charlie suddenly demanded, staring intently at Jasper.

“No, we would not have attacked the tribe,” Jasper answered soberly. “Carlisle is far too compassionate to have attacked over something like that, especially you, Bella’s father. We would have just moved on sooner than we hoped or expected.”

“What could you have attacked them over?” Charlie demanded of me.

“Their part of the treaty was that they not bite a human for food or to make another vampire.” I looked deeply into his eyes before I answered the question I knew he was struggling to ask. “Bella was dying, Charlie. That’s why we allowed the change. She wanted to be like Edward, ever since they began dating, according to Jacob. But she was pregnant with Renesmee. It was killing her. The only way to keep her here, in any way, was to make her one of them.”

“Is that true, Jasper?”

“Every word,” he confirmed. “Edward didn’t want to change her. Not so soon, anyway. He fought hard against it. She was…insistent. And if there had been any other way to save her, Edward and Carlisle would have done it. She made all of the choices, though. Please know that.”

“Did you ever become a wolf?” Charlie asked me, calming slightly now.

“No, fortunately or unfortunately, I did not. There weren’t any vampires in the area when I was that age. It only happens when there are vampires around.”

Charlie turned back to Jasper. “You’re old enough to have known Billy’s grandfather?” he asked incredulously.

“Alice and I weren’t with the Cullens then,” he replied hesitantly. “But yes, I have been a vampire long enough that I could have known his grandfather.”

“And Nessie? She’s Bella’s biological daughter?”

“Bella and Edward’s daughter,” I answered for Jasper. “She’s immortal as well.”

“What’s Jacob got to do with all of this?” he asked, more curious now than angry. “Is he immortal?”

“As long as he phases once a day, he will be.” I was both saddened and proud of this fact. “Jacob has a very special relationship with Nessie that will be best explained later. But I will tell you that, as long as Nessie lives, Jacob will be by her side. No matter what happened yesterday or what will happen in a century.”

“You two, you’ve decided to tell me this now because Bella might never come home?”

I suddenly felt a deep, stabbing pain that I knew wasn’t my own. Jasper was thinking of who else might never come home. “Yes, Charlie,” I answered gently. “We don’t know if any of the Cullens will ever come home. We can only wait. But Nessie needs you now. And she may need you more than you know soon. So it seemed only right to tell you now. I’m sorry.”

“Don’t apologize, Billy,” he said, much more composed now. “Nessie needs me. I can be strong for her.”

Jacob

Embry, Quil and I had been halfway to Alaska when the trail we were following split again. There was no way that any one of us should travel alone; Paul and Jared really should have a third with them, so I wasn’t splitting us up. Luckily, just as we reached Alaska, far-out of mind connection range with the rest of the pack, we ran into the vampires from Denali that the Cullens were good friends with.

I vaguely remembered that their leader was the strawberry blonde one so when I phased, I talked mostly to her. It turned out that Jasper had called her and told her the little that he knew. I was relieved that he had told her to tell me, if she saw me, that Nessie was okay, missing me and her parents, but okay. And I was happy that Billy and Jasper had told Charlie everything. It was about damn time.

We ran together, three wolves and five vampires, back to where the trail had split in the hopes that the vamps might recognize some of the scents or have an idea of what to do next.

“You were right,” the darker skinned male, Eleazar or something strange like that, announced. “Jane is in one of the groups. She went straight north, into the Yukon. And I’m not completely certain, but I believe that Caius was in the group that went into the Pacific just north of here.”

“Caius?” his mate said in disbelief, I knew her name was Carmen; Nessie talked constantly about her. “Without Aro and Marcus? That doesn’t seem right.”

“I’ve been expecting Caius to make a move against Aro for a few centuries now,” Eleazar said ruefully. “I think that is what we are seeing here.”

“Yeah, but why the Cullens?” Quil asked; I had given my brothers permission to be human or wolf as they chose at the moment. They had good opinions, and questions, and I wanted the vampires to hear them.

“Carlisle’s coven is the largest, by far, next to the Volturi themselves,” the strawberry blonde, Tanya, I remembered now, replied. “And when the talents of Edward, Alice, Jasper are combined with Bella’s shield, which will only get stronger, and the questions about what Renesmee will be when she reaches maturity, the family is certainly seen by someone like Caius as incredibly dangerous to his power.”

“Not to mention the immense respect and admiration that Carlisle earned among the red-eyed vampires who were always friendly but suspicious of his diet when we all gathered in December,” the other female…Kate, added. “More of our kind look to Carlisle as a leader of our world than ever before.”

“So Carlisle himself, and by crappy luck, was the target?” I demanded with a touch of impatience.

“There was more than one target,” the last one in the group said. All I remembered was that he had apparently been in the Revolutionary War and had just joined Tanya’s coven. His eyes were golden now, rather than red, so at least he was making it work. “Otherwise, there wouldn’t be so many trails to follow. And I don’t think any of them are working with the official approval of the Volturi.”

“All that’s just great,” Embry said as he threw a rock into the gorge that we stood on the edge of. “But it doesn’t answer the most important question. Are there any Cullens still alive enough to be saved?”

Eleazar looked at each of us carefully before answering. “I think so,” he answered hesitantly. “If Caius were traveling alone, he would not lower himself so much as to swim the Pacific. He must have at least one of them that he is, perhaps, taking back to Volterra.”

“If he’s making a move against Aro, why would he take anyone back to Volterra?” Carmen asked quietly.

“As a show of power,” her mate answered easily. “To prove that he won’t be walked on by Aro anymore. If I had to guess, which I suppose I do, Caius is traveling with two guards, probably corrupted from Volterra. And I believe that he is taking Esme, for absolute certainty, with him. There may be others. But I recognize her scent.”

“And the other group?” I asked, trying to keep the hope that had begun to bubble in me to a minimum.

“Jane and her brother, I’d guess,” Eleazar said as he leaned close to sniff a pine tree. “Jane is Aro’s pet and therefore she hates the Cullens because he likes them. She worries that it might be more than he likes her. They also have two or three guards. And there is at least one other scent that is too faint for me to recognize, but it travels with them.”

“Can you cover up your scents?” Quil asked and I kicked myself mentally for not thinking of it. “To avoid tracking and all that type of thing?”

“Only if we don’t touch anything at all,” he answered, smiling grimly at my brother in arms. “Which simply means that any hostage of Jane’s is likely being carried, not that the hostage has been destroyed.”

“So we keep going?” Embry asked as his hands quivered.

“Yes,” the five vampires answered in unison before Tanya became the leader again and spoke for them. “Obviously, you can’t swim the Pacific, so Kate, Garrett, Carmen and Eleazar will follow Caius. I will follow Jane with the three of you across Canada.”

“Can you call Jasper back and let him know all this?” There were times when a wolf really needed a cell phone. “And ask him to tell Sam?”

“Certainly,” she agreed easily as she pulled a phone out of her pocket. “I can also call two friends of the Cullens who generally stay in the south near your pack members traveling there. They were at the Cullens with us so your brothers should recognize them. They would be more than willing, I’m sure, to help with that part of the search.”

“Peter and Charlotte, right?” I guessed, happy when she nodded that I was right. “Great. They’ll recognize them for sure. Just have Jasper tell Sam that too, in case he still has a link to Paul and Jared.”

All that quickly taken care of; I was relieved that Nessie was asleep and I didn’t have to tell her that I didn’t know anything, the vampires said goodbye to each other and to us and we went our separate ways. Tanya was nice enough to put our shorts in her backpack so that we didn’t have to bother with tying them around our legs.

Damn! Quil cursed as we ran into snow covered Canada. I forgot to ask a stupid question.

If it was stupid, why’d you want to ask it? Embry asked and I snickered my agreement.

Because it makes sense, idiots. Can vampires actually follow a trail across an ocean? And, if they can’t, how will Eleazar know where to go ashore to pick up the trail?

Neither of us replied. It was a good question. Only stupid because who the hell would think to ask a question like that.

Told ya! Quil snorted smugly.

We had been so caught up in our thoughts we almost didn’t notice that Tanya had skidded to a stop next to a frozen lake.

“Smell that,” she commanded me, pointing to what could only be described as plain old snow. “Right there.”

I dutifully put my nose to the ground and took a long pull. My mind reeled as I began to dig through the hard packed snow. There, just inches below the surfaces as a small scrap of cloth, obviously torn off a shirt sleeve. And the stench as all too familiar. Boys! I shouted to my brothers as I held up the cloth for Tanya to take. It’s Edward’s! He’s with Jane! And still…alive!

Recently, too, Embry added as he looked to the sky. It hasn’t been snowing long and the wind only just picked up.

Do you think we were close enough that he could hear our thoughts? Quil wondered, once again making me kick myself mentally for not thinking the same thing.

Don’t worry, bro, Quil said quickly in reply. You got a lot on your mind. And that’s why we run in packs with our brothers. To pick up all the details. You’d do the same if I was freakin’ out about Claire.

I rammed my head into his shoulder to tell him I owed him without speaking the words.

Tanya looked at me and smiled grimly. “Edward heard us, didn’t he?” she asked as I nodded in agreement. “Then we’d better get a move on, hadn’t we?”

Light a fire under your tails, boys! Embry shouted as his huge paws began to pound the frozen ground. Time to save some vamps!

We ran in complete and total silence as miles of snow crusted ground passed beneath our feet. We lost minutes when my brothers and I had to skirt lakes that wouldn’t hold our weight, but we moved faster than Leah ever dreamed of going.

Sue

Nessie reached over and touched my cheek, she was sitting on Charlie’s lap, but she didn’t seem quite ready to show him her thoughts though she was very happy that he knew all about her now. Just having Charlie there, not having to pretend to be something she wasn’t, had done a world of good for the little girl. So we sat in the sunny backyard and made silly small talk while we all worried.

This time, though, Nessie was concerned. Seth, and Leah even more so, were frustrated that Sam was keeping them home, away from the search parties. I was happier with him than I had been since before he unwillingly broke Leah’s heart. But Nessie was worried. In their frustration, they seemed to be bringing Jasper more deer to drink that I had realized were in the area. Nessie was hoping that her uncle wouldn’t get sick from the blood that he dutifully drank each time it arrived, she had even drunk one deer for him, but was too full for any more, and she was hoping that they weren’t wiping out the deer population. She knew that her family was careful about things like that.

“Nessie thinks that perhaps you two should catch something else,” I told my children as they moped around the yard. “For the sake of variety and so you don’t wipe out the entire population of deer in the Pacific Northwest.”

“Oh, right, sorry Nessie,” Seth grinned sheepishly at her. “Didn’t think about that. We’re just wishing that we could do more to help.”

Nessie huffed impatiently and opened her mouth. Aside from the first time she saw Jasper and when she spoke very quietly to Charlie, she hadn’t said a word. “You are doing important stuff,” she announced decisively. “You and Leah protect all the people here in La Push. You help me. And you help Uncle Jasper lots even though Leah doesn’t like him.”

“I’m that obvious?” Leah muttered as she threw a twig she had been breaking into the fire that we had going to keep us warm. “Your vampires are growing on me, Nessie. I can’t believe it, but they are.”

“I wish I could do more to help,” Nessie said sadly, turning her big brown eyes to the fire.

“You’re just a little girl, sweetie pie,” Charlie said quietly to her as he wrapped his arms around her. “Besides, you’re doing a lot too. You helped Uncle Jasper drink that deer he couldn’t finish. And you helped catch some of the deer. And you brought all of us together.”

“But if I was bigger and could help look,” she sighed sadly.

“You would have been in the fight,” Jasper finished quickly. “And no one would have wanted that.”

She snarled ever so daintily at him. “But if I just had venom,” she argued quietly, “like a real vampire. Then I could help.”

“What does she mean?” I asked, speaking to Jasper for the first time ever.

“Venom heals our wounds faster,” he explained reluctantly. “Nessie knows that if she could put venom on the crack in my chest, it would heal faster and then I could be more useful.”

Next to me, Charlie drummed his fingers on the arm of his lawn chair thoughtfully. “Can you spit?” he asked, directing his odd question to Jasper. “Spit venom, I mean. If you could, it seems to me that you could spit into a cup and then we could put it on your…er…crack.”

“I honestly never thought of that,” Jasper admittedly slowly. “It might work.”

Nessie slid off Charlie’s lap and hurried into the house. She returned a few seconds later with a tall glass. “I’d better do this,” she announced importantly as she knelt next to her uncle. “If any venom gets on me, it won’t hurt me like it might any of you. Spit, please, Uncle Jasper.”

I shuddered slightly as I wondered what he was thinking about as he worked up enough venom to spit. Leah obviously shared my feelings; she hovered closer to Nessie than before as her hands quivered the tiniest bit. But he spit into the cup, enough to fill it, without a change in his demeanor.

Leah bent down and pulled back the plaid shirt that he was wearing and Nessie carefully poured the venom into his gaping wound.

Oddly, he smiled slightly when puffs of smoke rose from his chest. “It’s actually working,” he declared in amazement.

Peter

“Are you sure that you don’t mind waiting here?” I asked Charlotte as we stood on the banks of the Rio Grande River and looked into Mexico. We had caught the trail that Jasper had told us might be leading south. Our worst fears had been confirmed when we detected the unmistakable scent of Maria and traces of Alice. The group traveling with them was growing slowly the further south the trail went. We had stopped when Jasper called to tell us that two of the Cullens werewolf friends were also on the trail.

“If we’re going to rescue Alice, and hopefully another Cullen or two, from Maria and her apparently rapidly growing army, I’d much prefer that we wait for as many wolves as want to come,” Charlotte said firmly as she kicked a rock into the river.

“Unfortunately, it’s just two,” I commented dryly. “But Jasper said that they are two of their best fighters.”

“They’d better be,” she snarled into the rising sun.

“Char, darlin’, we don’t have to do this,” I said as I put my arms around her tiny body. “Jasper and Alice would understand. So would whatever’s left of their family. You saw how they didn’t really want any of us to fight when we were there in December.”

“They’d understand, sure. But what would they do if their friends, us, for example, were in need? They’d fight, even Carlisle with all of his compassion.” Charlotte clung to my arms as we stood, frozen in time.

“That’s not the best reason to fight, Char,” I whispered into her white blond hair.

“That’s not why I’m willing to fight, Peter,” she scoffed as she pulled my hand to her lips and kissed it. “I’m willing to fight because, aside from you, Alice and Jasper are all I’ve got in this world. It might be different, I suppose, if we didn’t know that Alice was with Maria. And I know she’s a fierce fighter, but I can’t imagine her in the midst of all that. She’s too sweet, too good. I have to help her.”

“Maybe you should stay back here,” I suggested, futilely, I was certain. “I’ll go with the wolves and then come back.”

“Get that thought out of your head this minute, mister,” she growled menacingly. “I won’t be protected like that. I won’t sit here and wonder if you’ll come back to me; like Jasper is doing in Forks right now, wondering about Alice.”

“We have to take her back to him,” I said, finally settling into our plan. I couldn’t imagine the pain my brother felt now; unable to fight for his love, his reason for being, and not knowing if she would come home to him. And Charlotte was right, as always, Jasper and Alice would do the same for us. I only prayed that we never had to ask it of them. “We will take her back to him.”

“He’ll want to be destroyed if she doesn’t come home,” Charlotte murmured sadly.

“And if he asks me,” I replied just as quietly, “I would do it.”

“I know you would,” she said, turning in my arms to smile sadly at me. “We shouldn’t talk about that, though. She might be able to see your decision to destroy him if he asks. She’ll be furious.”

“She will,” I agreed with a sigh. “But I’ll risk it. That’s part of the reason I thought we should wait, though. If she can see that it isn’t just us, that we’re waiting for two wolves, maybe it will give her more comfort than if we immediately tied our future to theirs and everything went blank.”

“Good thinking,” Charlotte said quietly as I felt her tense in my arms. “The wolves just arrived behind you. Well, one did and one’s human. I don’t have any idea what his name is.”

I turned around and kept Charlotte behind me. I hoped that they remembered our smells; Jasper had warned me that aside from being two of the best fighters, they were also two of the jumpiest pack members.

“I’m Peter,” I said, resisting the urge to sink into a defensive crouch. “This is Charlotte.”

“We remember,” the human one said as he resisted the urge to get defensive. “I’m Paul. This is Jared. He’s staying wolf.”

“As you wish,” I replied evenly. “We picked up the trail here. Alice is being moved by the vampire who created Jasper, Charlotte and I. I don’t know if any of the other Cullens are with them. Maria, our creator, wants Jasper back and it only makes sense that she would want to get Alice out of the way.”

“We’re in,” Paul said as wolf-Jared nodded in agreement. “Whatever you’re doing, we’re in.”

“There will be newborns,” I explained as they both fidgeted impatiently. “Remember that. Maria won’t fight herself unless she has to. And Alice, and any other Cullen, will be close to Maria.”

“So if we can manage to sneak to the back and take down Maria, the newborns will just turn on each other?” Paul guessed.

“Precisely,” I said, quite pleased with his strategic mindset. “We may have an added advantage with you. We were careful not to make up our minds about working with you right away in the hopes that Alice could see us thinking and then see us disappear as we linked our futures to yours. If she can, she should be able to try to move Maria to where we might have a better shot at her.”

“Let’s get going then,” he answered quickly. “Lead the way.”

He phased back into wolf form and followed Charlotte and I as we crossed the Rio Grande at a low point and made our way into the Mexican desert.

Maria, as I expected, had a small army of eighteen newborns camped in the Chihuahuan desert. Six newborns were brawling amongst themselves when we arrived and no one was stopping them.

“Less for us to worry about,” Charlotte muttered under her breath as we stayed downwind so Maria couldn’t catch our scents, though the wolf stench should have adequately muffled us.

Paul rammed his massive head into my shoulder, almost knocking me off the ridge in surprise. I followed the line of his eyes and saw Maria in the valley below. She and two guards were alarmingly clustered around a small fire, two hundred feet back from the brawling newborns and the three hundred feet from the calmer ones. On the other side of the fire, I saw a blonde haired male that I quickly recognized. In his arms, a tiny, black haired female.

“That’s Alice,” Charlotte gasped at my side. “And Carlisle. She’s going to burn them. We have to move. Now.”

“We’ll go down together,” I said, turning to Paul and Jared. “I’m guessing you wouldn’t be opposed to taking out Maria and her guards?”

Both wolves barked a laugh and I knew they would like nothing better.

“Get in. Destroy them,” I instructed them. “I’ll start the tent on fire when I go by for you. Charlotte and I will get Carlisle and Alice out. Kill them and get out before the newborns see you. Alright?”

Both wolves dipped their heads in agreement.

“See you in Forks,” Charlotte said quietly as we drifted away from them.

The wolves, even in such small numbers, were very good. They flew down the ridge and went straight for Maria and her two bodyguards from behind. Carlisle rolled out of the way of the oncoming attack, Alice clasped in his arms, and crouched behind a large granite boulder.

Paul and Jared were battling against the bodyguards, who were obviously well-trained enough to be past their newborn years yet still young enough to be flailing against something they had never seen. Maria moved almost slowly around the area, screeching at her guards to destroy the wolves and find his prisoners. Charlotte and I jumped effortlessly off the ridge and stopped briefly behind the boulder.

“If you can run with her,” I hissed at Carlisle; not wanting to look into Alice’s vacant eyes, not wanting to know why they were vacant, “run north. We’ll help the wolves here and catch up with you.”

I turned away before I saw his reply. I turned in time to see Paul fling a torso and Jared a head into the fire I had started. I turned in time to see my precious, tiny Charlotte standing on Maria’s hips as she ripped off her head and tossed it into the fire. I helped her finish burning Maria as quickly as possible before the newborns noticed us. Then, with the wolves out our side, we set out after Carlisle.

“Was she even alive?” Charlotte sobbed as she gripped my hand tightly enough to crack a bone. “What did that witch do to Alice?”

Emily

It had been three and half days since there had been any word from the pack. Three and a half days of not knowing where five of our boys were. Three and a half days of not knowing if Jasper and Nessie were the only Cullens left in the world.

Sam and Leah patrolled constantly, preferring to stay in wolf form in case Jacob, Paul, Jared, Embry or Quil was ever close enough for the mental link. Charlie hadn’t been to work since he had been told what Bella was and what she might be. We kept Nessie from Jasper as much as possible; their worry and fear was too much for the other to bear.

So on this foggy afternoon, Nessie was hunting deer with Seth, Billy was trying to distract Charlie with fishing in the reservation lake, Sam and Leah were patrolling again, and I sat in my kitchen.

Jasper was well enough to move around a little bit now. So he had joined me, at my invitation, in the house while Nessie was away.

“If I’m not controlling myself very well, just tell me,” he said quietly from his seat at the table. “I’ll leave.”

“Don’t leave. You’re fine, Jasper,” I replied as I set a bowl of blueberry muffin batter in front of him. “But make yourself useful and stir that, please. It’s the only human food Nessie will eat.”

He stirred the batter dutifully as I sat down to eat my lunch, a tuna fish sandwich.

“Thank you for allowing me to stay here, Emily,” he said with his eyes firmly fixed on the batter.

“Stop it, Jasper. What’s that saying? A friend in need is a friend indeed.” I laughed softly at my own silly cliché.

“But my family and I have been very needy of late,” he answered with his own soft laugh. “We must be great friends.”

“With me, yes,” I answered seriously. “We have a lot in common. You and me, I mean.”

I couldn’t help but laugh as he looked at me with intense skepticism. “Yes, the battle scarred vampire has a lot in common with the shape-shifter werewolf’s fully human fiancée,” I elaborated slightly. “For one thing, the scars that we never asked for, didn’t deserve, don’t particularly want, but wouldn’t be the same person without them. For the second thing, we both have someone in our lives that we didn’t see coming, that we probably can’t exist without.”

“I can’t, Emily,” he said as his voice cracked with pain and he stirred the batter with a little more force. “I can’t exist without her.”

“I know,” I whispered, pushing my plate to the side. “But you have to have hope.”

“I didn’t know what hope was before I met Alice. I can’t seem to have hope when she isn’t by my side.”

I stood up and walked slowly around the table, sitting in the chair next to him. “What would Alice say if she were here, Jasper? You have to think about her.”

“She would tell me to stop wallowing in self-pity,” he answered with a hollow laugh. “She would tell me that she always promised me that we’d spend eternity together and that’s just what we’ll do.”

“Don’t you believe that now?” I asked as I reached out and gently took away the spoon he stirred the batter with. “You’ll hurt yourself again you if put more force into that.”

“Not to mention break your bowl,” he said sheepishly as he pushed the bowl away. “And I don’t know what I believe now. Someone wanted to destroy all of us, Emily. How am I supposed to have hope that Alice will come home? How?”

“Have hope for Alice,” I answered firmly.

I would have said more, but Collin appeared suddenly in the doorway. “Sam said to tell you that Paul and Jared are in range,” he announced quickly, warily, as though he wasn’t supposed to say anything in front of Jasper. “Dr. Cullen and Alice are with them. But Paul’s not sure what’s wrong with Alice.”

I felt the pain, anger and fear flare in the vampire next to me. I instinctively put my hand on his arm and tried to calm him. “She fixed you, Jasper. You know that she did. Maybe she just needs you to fix her.”

Carlisle

Peter, Charlotte and even Paul and Jared had offered to take a turn and carry Alice part of the way home. But I couldn’t let them. I couldn’t let go of her. She was my daughter and I couldn’t let her go. I knew they wouldn’t hurt her. Not like Maria had hurt her. But I had to take her home. Me. No one else.

“We’re almost there, Carlisle,” Peter said as he fell into step at my side. “Paul and I arranged that he’d bark three times when he had established the mental link. They know we’re coming.”

“Did you hear that, Alice?” I asked the tiny girl in my arms whose grip on my neck might have killed an ordinary man. “We’re almost home. Almost home to Jasper.”

Her only response was to move her small mouth to silently form a single word. Jazz.

“That’s right, angel,” I gushed, ecstatic that she had finally, after nearly a full day of running away, the western United States had been blissfully overcast, from her waking nightmare, responded to something. “Jasper’s waiting for you. He loves you, Alice. More than anything. Remember that.”

“What did Maria do to her?” Charlotte whispered as she appeared at my other side.

At the woman’s name, Alice whimpered and clawed at my shirt. “Hush now, angel,” I murmured, pressing my lips to the crown of her head. “She can’t hurt you ever again. I promise you that.”

Charlotte drifted away with a murmured apology that she needn’t have given.

It took less than an hour for us to complete the journey. Paul and Jared led the way around Forks and onto the edge of La Push. We all stopped so that they could phase and then they led us to Sam and Emily’s home. Peter and Charlotte stayed veered off to stay at our house.

Someone must have passed the message about Alice’s condition; only Jasper, Sam, Emily, Billy and Leah were there to meet us. Nessie was out of sight.

Jasper didn’t stand to greet his wife; his plaid shirt was partially unbuttoned and I could see the remains of the crack that ran the length of his torso. Instead, he held out his arms for her.

I carried her through open kitchen and set her on his lap. She quickly snaked her arms around his neck and buried her face in his throat. He gently wrapped his arms her small body and began to murmur quietly to her.

“Sit down, Carlisle,” Billy said quietly from the corner. “For an immortal, you look awfully tired.”

I sat in the chair next to him and sighed wearily. I was tired. “Thank you,” I said, looking around the room. “All of you. For everything that you’ve done and what you’re still doing.”

“I think perhaps it is time to recognize that we are no longer just allies,” Billy said as Sam nodded in agreement. “We are a family. One big, strange, supernatural family. And families do whatever they have to do to remain a family.”

“Have you heard from the others?” I asked him warily.

“Jacob, Embry and Quil are chasing the one called Jane across the northernmost part of Canada. They think that they were close enough for Edward to hear them because they found a torn piece of his shirt. And your friends from Denali, aside from Tanya who is with Jacob, were swimming the Pacific after the one called Caius,” Billy answered solemnly. “Eleazar believes that your wife is with them.”

I said a silent prayer to whatever god listens to vampires that there was some hope that my family would be reunited and whole once again. “Is Nessie alright?” I asked, mostly to distract myself.

“Very scared and even more worried,” Emily answered quickly, “but alright. We knew that Alice wouldn’t be herself so we had Sue and Charlie take her to Charlie’s house for a while. She thinks it’s just for a visit.”

“Jasper and I decided to tell Charlie everything,” Billy informed me cautiously. “I didn’t see any other way. She needed him and we didn’t know who was coming back when.”

“You decided right,” I assured him as Alice began to whimper softly into Jasper’s throat. “I’m glad you told him.”

“Carlisle?” Jasper said suddenly. “What happened to her?”

“Maria made it clear, physically and mentally, that she felt that you belonged with her.” I felt his anger flare as I explained and I moved quickly to put a calming hand on his shoulder. “Maria is dead, son. She can’t ever hurt you again. She can’t ever hurt Alice again.”

I felt relief flare in him then as he tightened his grip on her. “It’s alright, Alice,” he murmured into her hair. “I’m here. We’re going to get through this together. You’ll be okay. I promise. No one, nothing will ever hurt you again.”

I squeezed his shoulder knowing that Alice was more than safe in his weakened, but capable arms. “Jasper?” I hated to interrupt, but I had to ask. “Is the crack in your chest healing?”

“Much more quickly now than it was,” he answered with a small laugh I didn’t understand. “I could barely move until Charlie suggested that I spit venom into a cup and have it poured on the crack. Nessie’s taken over that job. And it’s nearly healed enough that I could run if I had to.”

“I see,” I said slowly as it fully dawned on me that Charlie Swan, who we had been so careful around, had given advice on healing vampire wounds that I had never thought of. “Well, keep it up.”

“You should go and see Nessie,” Jasper said quietly as Alice nestled closer to him. “She’s trying to be strong, but it’s hard.”

“I’ll drive you, if you want,” Emily said hesitantly. “Unless you want to run.”

I smiled at her. “I would very much appreciate a ride. I think I’ve done enough running for a few days.”

Emily was surprisingly talkative on the drive to the Swan house. She reported every detail of Nessie’s time at the reservation; her strength in sending Jacob away, her strength in demanding that she be able to help Jasper and even her strength in agreeing to eat human food most of the time. Perhaps even more surprisingly, Emily seemed to have formed a true friendship with Jasper. She didn’t come right out and say it, but I knew that they had bonded during his time at her home.

Nessie was standing on the porch, her hand in Charlie’s, when Emily parked the car on the street. She flew into the yard and launched herself at me. I caught her without a care as to what neighbors might have seen this most inhuman of actions from her and relished the warmth that her small body radiated.

I’m not certain that she meant to do it, but her hand touched my cheek and she was thinking about the rest of our family. She was wondering if they would be coming home soon.

“I don’t know, my love,” I whispered as I wondered the same thing. “I hope so too.”

She snatched her small hand away and I knew that she hadn’t meant to worry me; it broke my heart to know that she was trying not to worry even the adults. But then her face crumpled a little and the child in her came out. “You don’t know about anyone?” she murmured sadly.

“Alice came back with me, but she doesn’t feel very well right now,” I explained as gently as possible. “So Jasper is taking care of her at Emily’s house. You can see her soon.”

“Soon,” she scoffed softly, already aware that we were patronizing her. “Okay, Grandpa Carlisle. You tell me when I can see Auntie Alice. But remember, I really want to see her.”

“I’ll remember that, Renesmee. I promise. And you should remember that it isn’t right to doubt that the others, even your parents, won’t come back just because they haven’t yet.”

She nodded solemnly and jumped down, taking my hand and leading me to the porch. “I was just about to eat my dinner, Grandpa,” she announced with a slight touch of pride. “Steak and mashed potatoes. You can come with me if you want.”

“You go on ahead, Nessie girl. I want to talk to your other grandpa for a minute,” Charlie said as he held the door open for her. When she had disappeared inside with Emily and Sue, he turned to me. “I know Bella wanted this. Well, not this precisely, but she knew what she was getting into. So don’t even think about apologizing or anything like that. And, Carlisle, I’m praying for the rest of your family, my family, I guess, to come home safe and sound too.”

His words touched me more than he would ever know. I simply nodded my thanks and stepped into the house.

Eleazar

Garrett and I stood at the edge of the Vladivostok and waited while Carmen and Kate purchased clothing more appropriate, and drier, to eastern Russia. Caius and his small but deadly band of supporters had been in the area. My contacts outside the city had told me that. They hadn’t spoken to anyone in the group, however. So we had no idea where Caius might go next. We would have to waste time scouting for his scent.

“Eleazar,” Garrett began, startling me out of my thoughts. “I don’t have much experience with the Volturi aside from when I joined you all in Denali, how likely is it really that Caius will either not kill whoever he has or, better yet, let them go?”

“It depends on what he wants them for,” I answered honestly. “I have to admit that I don’t understand why Caius, the most warlike of the three, would take Esme of all the Cullens. She’s less likely to fight than Carlisle and that’s truly saying something.”

“Maybe she’s a pawn of some sort,” Garrett guessed. “Something to lure Carlisle and the fighters in the family to Volterra?”

“It is possible. I’d really like to know if Caius has only Esme. That would tell me a lot.”

“He doesn’t have Carlisle, Edward or Alice,” Carmen announced as she returned from the shopping trip. “Carlisle called us. Jacob and Tanya found a piece of Edward’s shirt that had been torn off. Carlisle and Alice are already back in Forks. The wolves and Peter and Charlotte worked together to destroy Maria and rescue them.”

“So Rosalie, Emmett and Bella are unaccounted for,” I finished.

“And probably with Caius, though Jane may have taken someone besides Edward,” Garrett sighed. “That seems like an odd threesome for him to take.”

“Or it proves you theory about pawns and lures right,” I said, perking up a bit. “He could be banking on the idea that Carlisle would do anything to keep peace; disband his coven, agree to live more quietly, though that doesn’t seem possible, or even stop suggesting that others follow his diet.”

“And it is certainly clear that Edward would do anything to protect Bella,” Carmen added thoughtfully. “So pawns are definitely a possibility. Take the weaker ones to bring the strongest ones to you.”

“Except for the fact that he isn’t taking anyone to Volterra,” Kate said, suddenly appearing in our group. “At least not yet.”

“Where were you?” Garrett shouted indignantly even though he hadn’t noticed that she had not returned with Carmen. “We’re supposed to be sticking together.”

“A vampire approached me on the street and said he had heard that we were looking for Caius. He had information about Caius’ destination,” she explained smugly. “He’s going to Sighisoara.”

“Dracula’s birthplace?” Carmen asked incredulously. “Caius isn’t going to Italy. He’s going to Romania. To Stefan and Vladimir’s territory. I thought the Volturi avoided Romania like the plague.”

I shook my head. “There are loyalists to the Volturi in Sighisoara. Stefan and Vladimir have the rest of the country, but Sighisoara is like a mini-Volterra. Stefan and Vladimir keep mostly clear of the city. Mostly for Caius, though. Aro and Marcus try to avoid Romania at all costs.”

“Can we succeed in rescuing them from Sighisoara?” Garrett asked, already flexing his muscles at the thought of a fight.

“Yes. Definitely,” I answered confidently. “Caius barely knows how to fight anymore and loyalists there are old and lazy. The only problem will be the guards he has traveling with him.”

“Would it be easier if you had five on your side?” a different voice said from behind us.

“Emmett?” Kate gasped, spinning to face him and throwing her arms around him. “We thought you were with Caius!”

“I was,” he replied with a grim smile. “Esme and Bella are with him. They convinced me to get away to get help if I could. So let’s do this.”

“To Sighisoara then?” Garrett announced in the form of a question.

Quil

This is going to hurt, isn’t it? I hadn’t really meant to let the thought slip out but, truth be told, we all knew it would.

Maybe not, dude, Embry offered with the teeniest bit of optimism. We don’t know if her power works on us.

But we’re about to find out, I argued as we peered warily down the path that led deep into the dark boreal forests of north eastern Canada. Tiny, little, unassuming Jane was down there.

Both of you can leave, if you want, Jacob spoke up suddenly. I’m not making anybody do this. In fact, you should go.

I’m in! Embry shouted. Dude, Jake, this super soft, super nice pack leader stuff is getting old. Sam doesn’t order us anymore and neither do you. We get it. We are all perfectly free to come and go as we please. We have come. Deal with it.

Jacob snorted a laugh. That would’ve been a great speech without the ‘dude.’

Aw, pipe down, man, Embry grunted, nudging Jake’s shoulder with his snout.

I, too, sir, am in, I announced grandly to lighten the moment. I shall fight at your left flank, my dearest, oldest friend. And I shall do it proudly.

In the words of someone else, Jake thought with thick sarcasm, pipe down, man. I’m starting to miss Leah.

Tanya had been scouting the strength of Jane’s group and she returned then, her palms out so as not to alarm us.

“Jane has only her brother and Felix,” she announced quietly. “You know, of course, that Jane can cause extreme pain. Her brother is talented as well. I don’t know how well the Cullens explained it to you in December, but he can put his opponents in a fog of sorts. You lose your sense of direction, purpose, even being. You may start fighting each other instead of him. That is his goal. Felix, on the hand, is basically the enforcer. He can crush any one of you, or me, in an instant. You would barely see it coming. He is an extremely well-trained fighter.

I did see Rosalie and Edward,” she continued quickly. “Both seem uninjured and able to help us. So, if you are all staying, we should go soon.”

She’s not a mind-reader, is she? Embry asked curiously as we all simply stared at her expectantly.

Nah, I sighed dramatically. Just another over-dramatic, compassionate vegetarian vampire.

That’s enough, guys, Jacob announced firmly. Time to focus. Because we’ll all going back to the rez. All of us. Promise me that now.

You got it, Embry and I chorused. No doubt about it.

The four of us crept slowly along the overgrown path. Jake and Tanya were in front. I was on Tanya’s side and Embry was on Jake’s. Formation wouldn’t matter in what we were about to do, but it made us feel better in that fleeting moment.

My brothers and me, and Tanya, I’m sure, were all calling out to Edward in the hopes that we could warn him of our advance so that he and Rosalie could be ready.

As my eyes adjusted to the gloom, I saw that they were ready. Both Cullens were tensed and ready to spring at their captors.

Jane had others ideas.

As soon as she saw Tanya, who had stepped in front of Jacob, she screeched a single world in an unnaturally shrill voice. “Pain.”

Tanya crumpled to the ground, she had sacrificed herself, and we leapt over her in a single, perfectly choreographed motion.

The huge one, Felix, immediately wrapped his tree trunk arms around Edward’s head and prepared to take of his head. Alec stepped in front of Felix and crouched defensively. “Back off,” he hissed menacingly. “Leave now and we won’t kill him. Stay, and we will kill him.”

A furious snarl rippled from Jake’s chest and he stood his ground; Embry and I stood on his flanks.

“Go, Jacob,” Edward said in a voice tight with tension. “Go back to Forks. Go back to Nessie. Take Quil back to Claire and take Embry home to find his love. Don’t fight here. Please.”

He’s kidding, right? Embry muttered in his thoughts. Trying to fake out the big guy?

If he’s not, he’s got another thing coming, Jake growled. On the count of three, I’ll take Felix, Embry you get Alec and Quil, you and Rosalie take Jane. Tanya can help whoever needs it after Jane’s hold on her is broken.

Rosalie? Where is she? I wondered, suddenly realizing that Rosalie had disappeared; Jane and her henchmen didn’t seem to care. A soft tug on my tail answered my question. Were all vampires mind-readers now? Never mind. She’s behind me.

One, Jake began steadily. Two. Three.

Rosalie jumped in front of me, distracting Jane and taking her own dose of pain to give me a split second to make a surprise attack. Jane and I rolled to the edge of the clearing in a fight. She was trying every way she could to make me feel pain, but it was obvious that, as long as I kept her from focusing, she was powerless.

She figured that out pretty quickly too. And then she started trying to bite me. Jake had ever so kindly informed us after the Volturi had left in December that vampire venom was poison to us, so that wasn’t a good thing. So I started nipping at her neck. I didn’t really know if that would be poison, but it seemed like a good way to keep her from biting me. And maybe, if I was lucky, I could snap off her freaky little head.

Before I knew it, she had me pinned to the ground, writhing in pain with her teeth inches from my throat. I was going to die. I hoped Claire would remember something of me.

And then I wasn’t pinned anymore. Rosalie had ripped Jane off me and smashed her into a nearby pine tree. We both latched onto one end of her and pulled, sort of like the wishbone in a Thanksgiving turkey. We split her in a second.

“Help the others,” Rosalie hissed at me. “I’ll finish her and put her in the fire.”

Tanya was helping Embry so I scooted to Jake and Felix, cringing when I noticed Edward’s arm on the ground. I carefully scooped it up into my mouth and launched it at him. Get out of here, Edward, I shouted to him over Embry’s nearby yelp of pain. And put your arm back on before it gets burned. I’m coming in, Jake!

I was darting around, distracting Felix and waiting for the exact right moment to attack when I suddenly became aware of a very strange smell, and that was saying something when surrounded by vampires and burning vampires.

There was blood dripping from Jake’s left hind leg. But it didn’t smell like any old blood. Get to Edward and phase, Jake! I barked in panic. We got this!

And we did. Embry had recovered quickly from a broken rib; he and Tanya had all but shredded Alec in the hurry to get him burned. With Rosalie on my side, Felix took a little bit longer, but he had a definite weakness in that he had trouble focusing on two opponents at once. I crushed his midsection with a single bite and Rosalie yanked his legs away from the rest of his body. He was in the fire in seconds.

Rosalie and Tanya were with Edward and Jake, who had phased to human like I told him, before Embry and I phased and got there. I always prided myself on my disbelief on horror stories, but I saw two things that scared me like nothing I had ever seen before.

Tanya held Edward’s arm and was…licking his shoulder, his body and the now detached arm. She quickly pressed it back into place and looked at us cautiously, as if we might suddenly attack her.

But we were looking at Rosalie.

She was kneeling next to Jake. Her mouth was clamped over his left thigh.

“She’s trying to suck the venom out,” Edward said in response to our panicked, unspoken thoughts. “She’s trying to save his life.”

“Will it work?” I asked warily.

He shook his head slowly and shrugged his complete shoulder. “I honestly have no idea.”

Charlie

“Grandpa?”

Carlisle and I were standing in Billy’s yard together and I wasn’t sure which of us Nessie was talking to until he gave me a gentle nudge toward our granddaughter.

“What is it, Nessie girl?” I said as turned and crouched down to her level, which, in reality, should have been a hell of a lot lower than it was. But, then again, what could I expect with a half vampire granddaughter?

She tiptoed even closer to me and pressed herself close to me so that she would be, literally, whispering directly into my ear. Maybe Carlisle wasn’t supposed to hear what she had to say. “Grandpa, you liked me before, didn’t you? When you thought I was Daddy’s niece.”

“Absolutely adored you, kid,” I assured her, looking over her shoulder to see if Carlisle knew where this was going; we all knew he had heard her question. But he just shrugged his shoulders. “You didn’t know that?”

“No, I know that you liked me,” she said, scuffing the toe of her pink sneaker in the dirt. “I’m just worried now.”

“About your Momma and Daddy?” I guessed helplessly.

She shook her head furiously. “I’m worried that maybe you don’t like me now. Now that you know I’m not Daddy’s niece and that I’m…” her voice trailed off and she touched my cheek instead; showing me the vivid pictures, that I still wasn’t used to, of her racing across the forest and taking down deer four times as large as she was.

I carefully kept my face calm and unaffected as I set her in front of me so we were looking into each other’s eyes. Looking into Bella’s eyes, eyes that she didn’t have anymore, there was no doubt about my answer. “I love you even more, Nessie girl,” I promised her solemnly. “Who else can say, well, not really, but you know what I mean, that he’s got such a special girl for a granddaughter? No one. That’s who. You’re stuck with me until the very end of my days.”

Nessie blinked her beautiful brown eyes at me and smiled tentatively. “Promise?” she whispered softly.

I pulled her into my arms and hugged her more tightly that I could have hugged any other girl her size; I knew I wouldn’t, couldn’t break her. “That’s the most important promise I’ve ever made,” I whispered back, breathing in her sweet scent as I kissed her curls. “It’s an unbreakable promise.”

“How come?” she asked as she nuzzled into my chest.

“That’s easy. If I broke that promise, my heart would break,” I told her. I knew I spoke the truth. “And I don’t want my heart to break.”

“Me either,” she murmured. “If…I mean, when…Momma and Daddy come home, I think I’ll think it was good that this happened. Won’t you?”

“Because I got to truly know you? Absolutely.” I lowered myself into a sitting position, crossing my legs, and pulled her into my lap. “Even if the worst happens, the silver lining in this darkest of clouds would be that I get to know you. That you don’t have to leave. That I can love you, see you, as much I want to. And as much as you want to see me. You might get tired of me, you know.”

Nessie giggled softly, a sound strangely similar to wind chimes on a warm summer day, I would never get tired of that sound, and touched my cheek. I saw myself with gray hairs and wrinkles that would get worse every day. And I saw her other grandfather, frozen perfectly in time. I chose not to feel offended; after all, he was the vampire born goodness only knows when.

“You think you’ll get tired of Grandpa Carlisle first?” I laughed with her as he put on a playful pout, guessing rightly what she had shown me. “That’s fine by me. Which reminds me, Nessie girl, just how old is Grandpa Carlisle?”

I was glad I had sat down when she answered.

“He was born sometime in the 1640s,” she announced proudly. “In London.”

“Yep,” I sighed dramatically as I processed that one, “I can see you getting tired of him first.”

Edward

Our trip home took longer than any of us really wanted because Jacob couldn’t travel as a wolf. None of us minded though; he had nearly died trying to save his natural enemies. Again. His temperature had dropped to almost normal, for a normal human, but it was again on the rise and almost back to his normal. That, unfortunately, meant that he was feeling well enough to gripe vocally and mentally about being indebted to Rosalie.

In any case, the six of us were relieved to see the familiar mountains of home. Jacob still couldn’t phase, but he could run. So we ran.

Embry and Quil had obviously announced our return. Sam and Leah stood to the left in wolf form. Seth stood behind Billy’s wheelchair with his mother and Emily. Alice, Jasper and Carlisle were waiting on the right. Charlie stood in the center of the odd group, Nessie grasping his hand tightly enough that he was wincing.

I fell to my knees thirty feet in front of her and held out my arms. I needed to feel her in my arms.

She let go of Charlie’s hand and began a slow approach. Will I hurt your arm if I run to you? she asked me softly in her mind. I don’t want to hurt your arm.

I vaguely wished that they hadn’t told her I’d been hurt. But it didn’t really matter. My arm was certainly healed enough to hold my daughter. I stood up and crossed the thirty feet almost instantly. I fell to my knees again and pulled my daughter into me. “You can’t hurt me, Renesmee,” I murmured as I pressed my face into her hair, kissing the crown of her head. “Not now and not ever. Please, darling, hug me.”

Her small arms snaked around my neck and she buried her face in my neck. She didn’t cry. Would she cry tears if she cried? I had never seen her cry. I wondered if she had cried at all since the nightmare began. Had she had nightmares? Had she seen the fight? Oh God, had she seen something horrible happen to Bella?

“Edward,” Jasper said quietly as I felt a calm wash lightly over me. “She’s okay, but you can’t get that upset.”

I calmed myself some and saw my brother nod in approval. I couldn’t, wouldn’t, lose another moment with my daughter.

“I love you, Daddy,” she whispered suddenly, touching my cheek to show me how I told her to hide and how she had done as I asked. She showed me how she had been brave and done as her Uncle Jasper had told her and gone to get help at the reservation. She showed me how she helped heal Uncle Jasper with his own venom. Then, she moved onto her happier moments; her reunion with Carlisle, Charlie telling her it would break his heart to ever not have her in his life.

“And I love you, too. More than you’ll ever know,” I whispered in reply, relishing every second that her warm body was pressed into my cold one. I felt alive again with her arms around my neck. “Is Uncle Jasper all better?”

In answer, she showed me how deep the crack had been and compared it to the faint tracing of a scar that he had now. “Maybe I’ll be a doctor like Grandpa Carlisle,” she giggled happily.

“What do you think, Jasper?” I said, finally acknowledging the rest of my family. “Would she be a good doctor?”

“Definitely,” he said confidently. “I’m actually surprised that she let me stand here to meet you. She’s very persistent and firm. Plus, she’s been eating a lot of human food since we’ve been here. So that wouldn’t be a problem.”

“Human food?” I said, looking at her skeptically.

“Emily makes the best blueberry muffins! I think they’re better than some blood, maybe even human!” she gushed happily. “And I had steak and mashed potatoes. And then, when I stayed at Grandpa Charlie’s when Auntie Alice didn’t feel well, he ordered takeout pizza. And guess what!”

“What?” I repeated with an honest, completely unforced smile; her happiness was infectious. “You didn’t eat it, did you?”

Her bronze curls bounced as she nodded in confirmation. “I did too eat it! It wasn’t as good as Emily’s muffins or steak, but I didn’t cough it back up.”

“Good girl,” I complimented her, squeezing her to me again. “I took a bite of your Momma’s pizza once at school when she was still human. It was disgusting.”

“You don’t have to worry about Momma, Daddy,” she told me in a serious, adult voice as she touched my cheek. “She’ll come home. I know she will.”

“I know it, too,” I answered with a sigh that I hoped didn’t sound as uncertain as it felt. I was relieved, though, to know that she hadn’t seen anything terrible happen to Bella.

Edward, Carlisle said suddenly in his thoughts. Maria did terrible things to Alice. Please don’t ask her to look for anything. She is far from ready for that.

I looked at my sister for the first time then. She was standing close enough to Jasper to be part of him. Her eyes, still wide with fright, had recently been coal black, but there were traces of gold in them now. Perhaps Nessie had insisted that Seth feed Alice as he had Jasper. I looked briefly into her thoughts; I felt guilty about it, but I was worried about her. I needed my Alice back.

Her thoughts were simple. She was relieved that Rosalie and I were home safely and that Nessie was happy with our return. But she would only think about that for a brief moment before Jasper, just Jasper, became the only focus of her mind.

“Daddy?” Renesmee voice’s returned me to the moment. “Do you mind if I go and see Auntie Rosalie and Jacob? I won’t leave you if you don’t want me to.”

“Of course you should see them,” I laughed softly. “Just don’t leave my sight, alright, darling? I couldn’t bear that. Did Seth tell you that Jacob is crabby because Auntie Rosalie had to save his life and now he owes her?”

“Jake!” she scolded as she hurried over to him. “Don’t be crabby! It’s rude!”

I laughed with Billy at the scolding my small daughter was giving the massive shape-shifter as I stood and walked to my family. Carlisle hugged me tightly without words, spoken or thought. I was happy to see that, when he let me go, Rosalie linked her arm through his again. I turned to hug Alice, but she wasn’t letting go of Jasper, so I hugged them both.

“Why did Jane take you?” Jasper’s question was one that had been in Carlisle’s mind since I arrived. “If you don’t mind my asking, of course?”

“You’re not going to believe this,” Rosalie announced, “but she wanted him to be her mate. She thought Chelsea could break his bond with Bella and he’d be her mate. She and Alec were so focused on precious Edward that they didn’t notice when I snuck away to attack behind Embry and Quil.”

Jasper and Carlisle looked to me for confirmation, Alice looked mildly interested. I nodded in response and shrugged. “That seems to have been her primary motivation. She was jealous that someone like me could fall in love with someone like Bella and decided that I’d be better off with her. And she hoped that, bringing me to Volterra would ease Aro’s desire for Alice.”

“Aro is never getting Alice,” Carlisle said resolutely, to Alice more than to anyone else, I imagine, as he linked his other arm through her free arm. “She belongs with us and she’s staying with us whether she likes it or not.”

Alice smiled hesitantly at that. I reached out and ruffled her hair before turning to look for Nessie. She was in Charlie’s arms, whispering in his ear.

“Nessie,” I called out. “Are you done with Jacob already?”

“He went to take a nap at Billy’s,” she explained happily as Charlie carried her over to me. “I have to take Uncle Jasper now and make him spit. Okay?”

Don’t look at me like that, Jasper told me as I raised an eyebrow in surprise that he still needed venom, he seemed healed.. I’m happy to make her happy and I’ll do it until she declares me finished.

“That’s fine. You’ll hurry back, won’t you?” I asked her as she jumped down and tugged on Jasper’s hand; Alice moved in perfect unison with him. She offered me a thumbs up and a grin in reply.

And then something happened that I didn’t expect, not in a million years.

Charlie hugged me, awkwardly, but it was a hug. “I’m glad you’re back, Edward,” he muttered as his cheeks flushed just as Bella’s used to do. “They told me everything and I’m glad that Bella, and Nessie, have you. No matter what you are. But I knew I was right to be worried about her dating you, wasn’t I?’

“More than you’ll ever realize,” I assured him, returning the hug. “Thank you for giving her to me.”

Esme

“Do you think that Emmett made it away safely?”

Bella and I had taken turns asking each that same question for days. Neither of us knew the answer, but there was little else to do, talk about or think about.

“If he did,” I answered her this time, “and I’m sure he did, it would take time for him to get all the way back to Forks. And we don’t know what’s left there.”

“I hate that we even have to talk like this,” she whispered as she leaned against me in the stone room that had become our most recent home.

“Then don’t speak of it,” a woman said, appearing suddenly in the doorway. “It might be easier to forget all that you have left behind than to remember and think of it.”

I hadn’t noticed a female traveling with us, only Caius and his two guards Corin and Santiago. “Who are you?” I demanded, defensively moving in front of Bella.

“I am Athenodora,” she said quietly, throwing back her hood to reveal waist length pale blond hair. “Wife of Caius. I have heard much about you, Esme. And I assure you that I shall not hurt you or Bella.”

I relaxed a tiny bit and watched her closely. “What do you want from us?”

“I?” she laughed a wispy, thin laugh. “I want nothing from you. Caius, however, wants your coven destroyed. He seeks to lure the most important members of your coven, your husbands, here to Sighisoara in order to accomplish that. Then, he plans to take Bella, Edward, Alice and Jasper to Volterra. Jasper, he seeks to keep for himself. Alice and Edward will be gifts to placate Aro after the destruction of his friend Carlisle. And Bella, well, Marcus has a fascination with you.”

“Athenodora?” I said calmly, trying to proceed as Carlisle would. “Why are you telling us this? Are you trying to help us?”

“Not help you escape, no,” she sighed airily. “I simply want you to know everything in case the opportunity should arise for you to escape.”

She was hinting at something, that much was entirely certain. But what? “Do you expect that such an opportunity might arise?” I asked her hesitantly.

“Not in Sighishoara, I do not think,” she said, still standing in her original spot. “But should you be taken to Volterra, it is possible. Just remember one thing. There is someone very close to the thrones who is more likely Bella’s precious child than you would ever dream. Talk to the right person and you may have a way out.”

I could tell that she wouldn’t say much more. She was obviously fearful of being found out. So I let the matter drop. “Thank you, Athenodora. I know you didn’t have to tell us all of that.”

“You’re welcome, I hope,” she replied softly. “On another matter, I do have some sway with my husband. I have got him to agree that you be permitted to keep to your vegetarian diet during your stay with us. The guards have gone to catch deer for you while I keep watch.”

“We’re in your debt, Athenodora,” I responded in total honesty.

“Repay me by paying attention to those near the throne and picking the right one to approach,” she answered, turning her back to us. “Repay me by getting out.”

She was gone then, replaced by the two guards who each carried a deer and placed them in front of us.

We drained them quickly; Bella must have been incredibly thirsty.

“Someone in the guard is like Nessie? Who could it be?” I asked her quickly and quietly. “I’ve never been to Volterra. I’ve only seen them that day that they came to Forks.”

“Not Jane or Alec,” she said thoughtfully. “Felix and Demetri seem to be the only other ones close enough to the thrones. It has to be one of them.”

Rosalie

My world had changed drastically. There really wasn’t any other way to describe it. My family had been attacked and we hadn’t been able to do anything to stop it.

Of the eight of us, five were safe and three were still out there, too far away for comfort. We knew that Emmett was alright, for that I thanked whatever god might be listening to me. He had been able to escape. But now he was with our friends, our extended family, who were going to risk themselves to save our final two. And now we simply waited for word of whether or not there was time for us to come their aid.

I hated that I wasn’t at Emmett’s side. I belonged at his side. I would go to him. Carlisle had convinced me that he and I should wait another day to give Emmett and Eleazar time to gather information before we rushed headlong in something we didn’t know. Alice, of course, was far from ready to go anywhere and Jasper, I was one hundred percent certain, would never let go of her again. Edward knew that his place, for the moment at least, was with Nessie; he had seen how fearful and scared she had been in too many people’s thoughts to even consider anything else.

So Carlisle and I would leave soon. Tanya had already announced that she would join us, after all, her family was in as much danger as ours. Even Peter and Charlotte had offered to go with us; they were staying with Tanya at our house while we Cullens probably overstayed our welcome on the Quileute reservation, but Carlisle asked that they remained behind in case Alice, Jasper and Edward needed anything.

And so, on a typical overcast afternoon in northwest Washington, I found myself sitting in a canvas camp chair between Carlisle and Billy Black. Nessie was showing some dance moves that she had learned from the reservation kids to Edward and Jacob; their relationship was oddly stronger than ever. Alice and Jasper were playing Chinese checkers with Emily and Sam; that was just another example of how the world had changed so drastically.

“I haven’t had a chance to thank you, Rosalie,” Billy said suddenly, breaking me away from my daydreams and plans.

“Thank me?” I responded in confusion.

“Jacob told me what you did to save him,” he clarified. “I know that the two of you haven’t always been each other’s biggest fans. And I wanted to thank you for saving my son.”

“No need to thank me, Mr. Black,” I sighed resignedly. “As I can’t say how much of my family would still be here right now without Jacob and his…brothers, it was the very least that I could do. And there was no threat to me from the venom.”

We both heard Carlisle gasp suddenly and turned to look at him.

“Sorry,” he smiled sheepishly. “I’ve just never heard Rosalie be quite so modest and humble.”

“Oh, be quiet, Daddy,” I drawled with a sarcastic roll of my eyes. “Way to ruin a nice moment.”

Billy laughed a deep, rumbling laugh. “You two are quite the father and daughter pair,” he commented as he laughed. “Very typical, you know.”

Typical must mean something different to the Quileutes. “I’m sorry, Mr. Black,” I replied politely. “Carlisle and I are anything but the typical father and daughter.”

“In fact, you are,” he argued, his voice honest. “I have two daughters just past their teenage years, you know, so I do know about this. I see the way you tease each other, the way that you, Rosalie, try to be angry and exasperated, and the way that you, Carlisle, tread softly around her so as not to hurt her. It’s very obvious, if you know what you’re looking for.”

“Try to be angry and exasperated?” I repeated skeptically. “I fail at being angry and exasperated?”

“No, not so much fail as never had a chance to succeed,” he explained calmly, “because you are neither angry nor exasperated. You want to be, yes, because it’s how you think you should be, but you aren’t.”

“How could you possibly know that?” Carlisle asked, voicing the question in my mind.

“I see the way she looks at you. She looks at you like a daughter looks at the father she adores. How Bella looks at Charlie, how I hope Rebecca and Rachel look at me.”

“She adores me?” he replied more skeptically that I had been. “How can she adore me when she doesn’t forgive me?”

I realized then, with sudden and painful clarity, that I had been very wrong and very hurtful for the last four or five decades.

I found myself nodding slowly at Billy Black as I wondered how he had got to be so wise and observant while I was so stupid and blind.

“I do forgive you, Carlisle,” I whispered, not looking at him; I was too ashamed. “I do. I’m so sorry that I never showed it properly. It’s my fault. It really is.”

“You forgive me for taking away the life that you’ve so desperately wanted since you were a child?”

“Yes,” I said quietly, stealing a glance and seeing that he wasn’t looking at me either. “I started to forgive you when I found Emmett. But it didn’t really happen until enough time had passed that the people I knew were dying and I came to the realization that I could never have had the life of my dreams. And then, after what happened with Bella and Nessie, I was completely and totally at peace.”

“Tell him why,” Billy pressed gently from my other side. “You have to tell him everything, Rosalie.”

“Right. Everything. After Nessie was born, I realized how hard Bella had been willing to fight for something she didn’t know. But she knew that she loved it. I was even willing to fight for something I didn’t know but knew I loved.” I paused to take a deep breath that I needed to calm myself more than anything. “After all that, I realized that you did fight to save me that night in the street, to save me as the ever aging, always dying Rosalie Hale. And when you knew that you wouldn’t succeed, you took me away because you knew I was important enough to you to fight for. You never once complained when I was a complete witch over what you did to me. I can’t help but hope that, maybe, you did it all because you loved enough to want me, even after all that.”

“I do, Rosalie,” my father whispered in response, taking my hands in his. “I do love you enough to want you. I did then. And I do now. Haven’t I ever shown you that?”

“You have,” I whimpered as tearless sobs began to shake my shoulders. “Maybe I just didn’t want to see. I think I felt like maybe I didn’t deserve your love because I’d been nothing but horrible to you. So I didn’t understand why you would love me. I’m all mixed up.”

“Maybe you don’t have to understand it,” Carlisle suggested gently. “Maybe you just have to know it. I do love you, Rosalie. You are my daughter. Nothing else in the world matters to me.”

“I’m scared,” I admitted without thinking. “I’m scared for our family.”

He had stood up as I spoke and now wrapped his arms around me in a tight hug. I hadn’t really ever hugged Carlisle that often, it was strange in a very, very nice way. “I know, Rose,” he murmured as he held me. “I am too.”

We sat and talked quietly for a while. Billy watched us discreetly with a satisfied smile on his weathered face. Get helped, rescued and saved, in more ways than one, by the Quileute nation was getting to be quite the pastime for the Cullen family.

Eleazar called two hours later and suggested that Carlisle, Tanya and I go straight on to Volterra in the hopes that Aro would side with us against Caius. He had reason to believe that Caius was only stopping briefly in Sighisoara, especially if Carlisle wouldn’t come there, and would arrive in Volterra shortly.

Nessie tugged on my shirt as I packed a few necessities into a bag for the trip. “Auntie Rosalie?” she whispered as I knelt down to her level. “You can take Daddy with you if you want to.”

“Sweetie pie, we already talked about that,” I reminded her gently. “Daddy is staying here with you, Auntie Alice and Uncle Jasper. Your Momma would be very, very mad if he left you again, wouldn’t she?”

Nessie giggled softly and nodded in agreement. “Maybe he can help Auntie Alice some, anyway. Do you think she’ll ever be okay again?”

“Once we’re all back together, as we will be,” I told her confidently, “I think we can all work together to help Auntie Alice. And she’s fought through worse than this before, I think that she will be okay again. Maybe even soon.”

“One of the kids here, Jessi, gave me this,” she said as she dropped a small red stone on a leather string into my hand and fixed a worried gaze on me. “She said it’s for good luck. I think it might just be a plain old rock. But take with you, please.”

Demetri

It had been the most exciting day in centuries in Volterra. Aro was devastated by the news from nomads in northern Canada that his precious Jane had been destroyed by the Cullens pet shape-shifters. Alec and Felix were destroyed as well, but Aro really on cared about Jane and we all knew it. And then Caius, the wayward one, paraded in with two females from the Olympic Coven and announced that he planned to destroy Carlisle.

Aro, naturally, was furious. As a result, Renata was nervous about how close Caius kept getting to her master with his fire gun and Santiago was at Caius’ elbow. Marcus was guarded by Corin. I stood back, wondering idly if the three would survive this particular argument.

So caught up was I in the argument that I was momentarily surprised when Athenodora drifted close to me.

“Help them, Demetri, my son,” she whispered as she passed me.

I reluctantly turned my gaze to the Cullen females. They had seen Athenodora approach me and the look of shock on their faces was priceless. I lazily wandered to the center of the room where they stood, torn as I was between watching the argument and wondering what would happen next between the three of us.

“I imagine they’ll go into a private conference soon, provided they don’t burn each other first,” I said idly in a normal voice; no one listens if you talk normally, whisper and your secrets are as good as gone. “Watch me. When I stretch one arm out, go that way quickly. I’ll guide you out of the city. Go home. And try to find anyone who might be coming after you on your way. I don’t know how many I can help escape.”

They looked skeptically. Rightly so, I’d imagine. And they were going to ask why. That much was obvious. “Not now,” I hissed. “Watch me. And then follow me. Maybe I’ll answer your questions. Perhaps I won’t.”

I returned to my post by the heavy oak doors and noticed that they watched me closely.

It was mere minutes later that the Volturi disappeared into their private chamber, to make peace or destroy each other, I wasn’t certain. Renata, Corin and Santiago were huddled around the door so I coughed and stretched my arm to the left.

The Cullen females hurried ahead of me. We stayed close together until we were outside in the dark public square of Volterra. And then they both asked me the dreaded question. “Why?”

“Your daughter, I suppose,” I sighed in reply. “If I had to pick a reason. I’m like her, you see. Half vampire, half human. It isn’t easy. She needs you to make sure that she doesn’t make the mistakes I made.”

“Mistakes?” Edward’s mate whispered, as though we were keeping an ever so important secret.

“This,” I snarled, gesturing at the clock tower we had just come from. “All of this. Though I imagine following your parents through life might not make it your mistake, but theirs. At least she’ll have better parents to follow.”

“Your parents are here?” Esme asked as I cursed myself for mentioning it. “In Volterra?”

I thought about how best to answer the questions. I thought about my options. I thought what my parents might say if I made certain decisions. Mostly, I thought about how I hated what I did; hunting down the good as often as the bad because someone else told me to do it. I wanted freedom. I wanted out.

“Yes,” I replied calmly as I watched Bella. “Athenodora is my mother. She survived my birth, just as you survived your daughter’s. My father changed her the next day. Caius is kind like that.”

“Caius?” the females chorused in unison. “Caius is your father?”

“Precisely,” I smiled grimly. “But enough about that. Go. I won’t track you.”

“Why are you doing this?” Esme insisted as she began to drift away. “What do you want in return?”

My opening had arrived, just as I had hoped. “I want to come with you. I want to join your coven. I want out of here. I’ll be a vegetarian, as you call it. You can let me come or not, but I won’t track you. I just want to join you.”

I had shocked them. That much was clear. Now, how would they reply?

Emmett

I stood in the parking garage of the international airport in Vienna and shifted nervously from foot to foot. Eleazar, Carmen, Garrett, Kate and I were impatiently waiting for Carlisle, Tanya and Rosalie to arrive. Well, truth be told, I was a lot more impatient than they were. I’d never spent this long away from Rose and I didn’t like it. Not one bit.

She was in my arms before I knew it. Then I pushed her away and carefully looked over every inch of her beautiful body. Not a scratch. “That’s my girl,” I said huskily as I pulled her back into an embrace. “Not a scratch on you.”

“Edward lost his arm,” she laughed into my neck. “And I sucked venom out of a wolf to save his life. So Jacob is eternally indebted to me.”

“I’m proud of you, baby,” I chuckled as I chastely kissed her cheek. And then I realized something. She was holding Carlisle’s hand. “Something’s different, though.”

“Billy Black explained why we are the typical father and daughter,” she said, casting her eyes shyly to the floor. “I apologized for being a bitch and, officially, forgave Carlisle for changing me. It’s fine now. I know he loves me and he knows that I forgive him.”

“Incidentally,” Carlisle said, clearing his throat in a thinly veiled attempt to distract attention from Rose, who clearly didn’t want it, “Esme called me.”

“She called you?” Kate gasped in surprise as she clutched Tanya’s hand.

“Yes, from Milan,” he explained. “All she would say is that she, Bella and a friend would meet us in Munich. We are not to go on to Volterra until we meet with them.”

“A friend?” Eleazar mused curiously. “Esme and Bella are well, aren’t they? She didn’t sound like she was under threat?”

“No, she sounded perfectly fine. In fact, she used a code word that we long ago agreed on to tell me that she was fine and I should just do as she asks. And yes, they are well. I can’t help wonder who the friend is, though.”

“We’ll find out soon enough, I imagine,” Carmen sighed as she stroked Eleazar’s arm to stop his pacing. “Shall we just go on to Munich?”

All that was quickly agreed on. Carlisle, Tanya, Rosalie and I went in one car while the other two couples rented another.

Rose and I were in the backseat, wrapped happily in each other’s arms, when she suddenly leaned back a little and looked at me. “How did you escape, Emmett?”

“Mostly, I think Caius accidentally grabbed me and didn’t particularly care what I did,” I answered with an honest chuckle.

“We’re quite a pair, babe,” she laughed back. “Jane and Alec felt the same about me even though just Edward was there.”

“Let’s face it, Rose, we’re always going to be last on the totem pole in this family of annoying overachievers,” I muttered playfully, grinning at Carlisle’s grimace in the rearview mirror. “So, fill me in on the news from Forks.”

“La Push,” she corrected me quickly. “We’re all still at La Push. Jasper had a crack from his collarbone to his hip that Charlie fixed by suggesting that Jasper spit into a cup and Nessie pour the venom on. He’s almost healed. Edward’s arm is healed. Jacob will survive thanks to me. Jasper’s new best friend seems to be Emily and, by association, Sam. All the kids on the reservation want Nessie to stick around so they can turn into werewolves. And Billy Black knows more about me than I now about myself.”

“Sheesh, man,” I whistled in amazement. “Miss a few days and everything changes. But what about Alice?”

Rosalie chewed her bottom lip and sighed. “She’s not so great. She won’t talk much at all. Even to Jasper, though she’s all but attached herself to him. Carlisle promises that she’ll be okay, in time.”

“She will,” he agreed with a quiet confidence. “In her own time, she’ll talk to Jasper, and perhaps others, about what happened. And then she can begin to heal.”

“Once we’re all back together, things will be easier for her,” I declared with certainty. “That’s a fact.”

“That’s what everyone keeps saying,” Rose muttered doubtfully.

I draped my arm over shoulder and we sat in thoughtful silence as Tanya and Kate literally raced toward Munich. It had been too long since I had driven on the Autobahn; I saw a trip back in my future.

Esme and Bella were waiting in the park on the outskirts of Munich for us. We all turned, somewhat awkwardly, away as Carlisle and Esme enjoyed a brief mini-reunion of chaste hugs and soft kisses. Rosalie and Tanya passed the time by reporting every detail that Edward and Nessie had entrusted them with to Bella.

“Sorry,” Carlisle said as he and Esme joined our group. “We didn’t mean to make you uncomfortable.”

Eleazar waved him off impatiently. “Where is this friend that you spoke of?” he demanded.

“Right here, Eleazar,” a voice said from the shadows.

“Demetri helped us escape Volterra,” Esme said quickly as he drifted to her side. “Carlisle, he’s a hybrid like Nessie. And he wants to leave the Volturi guard.”

“And do what, exactly?” I demanded with a growl. It was easy to guess where this was going.

“Join your coven, of course,” Demetri said with a thin smile in my direction. “I don’t want to be the predator anymore. I want something different. I promise, solemnly, to abide by all of your rules.”

“A hybrid?” Carlisle said slowly, ignoring the second growl that I let loose. “In the Volturi guard?”

“Yes,” Demetri replied with a cringe. “I suppose I’ll have to lay it all out, won’t I? Caius is my father. Athenodora, my mother. He changed her after my birth. She wants me to leave. He, frankly, couldn’t care less as long as I never threaten him.”

“You aren’t going to allow this, are you, Carlisle?” Eleazar demanded angrily. “He’s clearly got some ulterior motive!”

“Please, Eleazar, calm down,” Carlisle scolded him. “Demetri, my entire coven votes before we accept new members. You would have to be accepted by all members of my coven. And I would, against Eleazar’s advice, it seems, give you the opportunity to talk with them. I do, however, have a condition that you must agree to and complete first.”

“And the condition is what?” Demetri replied slowly.

“I won’t entertain the idea of constantly being on the run from the Volturi because you require hiding. Therefore, you must, on your own, inform the Volturi that you are leaving and that you intend to try and make it work with my family.”

“They’ll never let him out,” Eleazar argued forcefully.

“They may,” Demetri countered back. “My father sees me as weak because of my human half. He’s only kept me this long because of my mother. Aro will be eager to smooth Carlisle’s feathers that were ruffled by Jane and Caius. And Marcus, he’ll side with Aro because he won’t like the fact that the Olympic coven survived a three-pronged attack so well. I’m willing to try my luck.”

“Esme,” Carlisle said, turning to where she stood with Rose and me. “I need to talk to Aro, to make sure that he knows we won’t stand for this again. I have to go to Volterra. I want you to take everyone else home.”

“No,” she replied simply, crossing her arms over her chest. “I’m going with you. It’s where I belong and we’ve been separated long enough. Rosalie, Emmett and Bella can go home. And the Denalis should return to Alaska.”

“We will,” Tanya agreed. “I don’t think Eleazar wants to be around when Demetri announces he’s leaving the Volturi.”

“I can see it’s no use arguing,” Carlisle conceded as he squeezed Esme’s hand. “You and I will go to Volterra. I’m certain there will be no threat to us. Rosalie, you’re the next senior member so you have to make sure that everyone stays at La Push, if the Quileutes don’t mind, until we get back. Please don’t mention Demetri, or think about him if possible, until we are certain that he will be allowed to leave the guard.”

Rose, happy with her position of authority, easily agreed to Carlisle’s instructions and, with Bella, we headed to the airport to fly home to our family.

Bella

It was the sweetest, most welcome word in the English language. In any language, really.

“Momma!”

My daughter almost literally flew into my arms the very second I got out of the car. I knew I had missed her fiercely. But, until she was back in my arms and I could feel her warm body, smell her fresh floral scent, hear the beating of her strong heart, see her deep brown eyes, and even taste the innocence and love that emanated from her.

“I love you so much, Momma,” she cried happily as she buried her face in my hair. “Don’t ever do that again!”

“I love you so much, too, baby,” I cried in reply. “And I promise that I’ll never, ever do it again.”

I cried harder, then, as Edward wrapped his arms around both of us. I don’t know how long we stood there; my vampire brain didn’t even bother to count the seconds. It wasn’t until Nessie daintily cleared her throat that I found myself back in the moment.

“May I get down, please?” she giggled quietly. “That way you can hug Daddy without squishing me.”

Edward laughed, just as beautifully as the first time I heard it, and gently set her on the ground. “You can get down for a minute, but then come right back so we can hug you again.”

Renesmee nodded in happy agreement and darted up into Emmett’s outstretched arms. Edward returned his arms to me.

“Are you sure you want to hug me?” I teased him gently. “Rosalie said that Jane wanted you for a mate.”

“She did,” he allowed slowly as he rested his chin on the top of my head. “But she’s been destroyed so I suppose you’ll just have to do.”

I stood on my toes and crushed my lips against his. I don’t know how long we stood there, either. I was, however, pleasantly surprised to note that, after a time apart, Edward could still dazzle me into losing my mind. Even the vampire me.

“Gross!” our daughter squealed from beside us. “You told me to come back you’re doing that? I even brought Grandpa!”

“A vampire, Bella?” Charlie asked me, hands on his hips and shaking his head. “Seriously?”

“Are you okay, Dad?” I asked him, nervously holding out my arms to him.

“My daughter’s a vampire, by choice, I’m great!” he laughed as he hugged me. “I torn between being angry that you didn’t tell me and being thankful that you didn’t tell me. But really, I’m just glad you’re home safe.”

“Really?” I pressed gently as I was careful not to hug him too tightly.

“Really,” he promised me. “And, honestly, I’m glad I know about you and Nessie. Carlisle and Jasper told me that now you wouldn’t have to disappear on me.”

“Nope. So long as you don’t mind seeing me never change, we can see each other as much we want.”

“Always,” he said, ruffling my hair with a one-armed hug.

“Momma?” Renesmee said from Edward’s arms. “Where are Grandpa Carlisle and Grandma Esme?”

“Yes, Bella,” Edward said with clear interest. “Where are Carlisle and Esme?”

“Volterra,” I answered with a hopefully hopeful smile. “Carlisle wanted to make sure that Aro knew everything that had happened. He thought it would be best if they shared everything. Esme wasn’t leaving his side.”

“And he thinks everything will be alright if Aro knows the details?” Edward asked with a slight skepticism.

I shrugged my shoulders and took Renesmee from him. “As good as it ever will be, I suppose. As long as the Volturi are in charge. But I trust Carlisle, don’t you?”

Alice

I was going to have to buy Sam and Emily a new floor. But I couldn’t stop tapping my foot and, unfortunately, denting their hardwood floor. Unbeknownst to anyone, even Edward who had been otherwise occupied with Bella and Nessie, I had my first vision in almost a week. I didn’t really trust myself yet. Not after what had happened. So I would wait and see if my vision came to be.

If it did, I would know that everything would be all right. If it didn’t, I would know that nothing would ever be the same, or good, again.

“Alice?” Jasper’s soft voice called me back from my thoughts. “What’s wrong? Did you see something? Why are you suddenly so nervous?”

I was sitting on his lap, of course, and I twisted to look at him. “Nope,” I lied, smoothly, I hoped. “I didn’t see anything. Except the dents I’m making in the floor. Do you think they’ll let me buy them a new one?”

“Alice, please don’t lie to me,” he insisted gently. “I saw your eyes glaze over for a few seconds. And then you started tapping dents into the floor. I don’t want you to keep things from me. I want to know what you’re thinking.”

“I can’t, Jazz, I’m sorry. I don’t want to jinx anything.” I leaned my forehead against his and kissed his nose. “Please understand that I want to tell you, I do. I just can’t.”

I could see him fighting to disagree with me. But he couldn’t and I knew he wouldn’t. “It isn’t anything bad or dangerous?” he asked with a resigned sigh.

“No. I promise that it is nothing bad or dangerous.” I smiled at him and leaned against his chest. “Thank you, Jazz.”

“And I can wait for you to tell me what happened when Maria took you, too,” he whispered into my hair.

“All that doesn’t really matter, Jazz. But I will tell you now. She tried her very hardest to convince me that you loved her more than me, that she was your true mate. I worried about it for a little while, but then, when we got home and I felt your incredible relief when Carlisle told you that she was dead, I knew it couldn’t be true.”

“It isn’t, Alice,” he interrupted me softly.

I put my finger on his lips and then kissed them. “You really don’t have to tell me that, Jazz. I knew it then and I know it now. So please let me finish.”

He turned an invisible key against his lips and threw it over his shoulder.

“That’s better,” I nodded as I leaned my forehead against his again. “As I was saying, Maria wanted you back. And she knew that, if I didn’t want you anymore, her chances of getting you back were much better. But I wasn’t having any of that. I argued with her, of course. And, to Carlisle’s dismay, I tried to attack her. It probably wasn’t one of my best ideas ever. She had guards, of course, who held me down while she tried to convince me other ways to give you up.”

“She had them bite you?” he whispered as I felt the tension flow from him.

“Hush, Jazz,” I whispered, willing him to feel my love. “She did. But bites heal. Everything heals when I’m with you.”

“You were hurt because of me,” he moaned quietly, wrapping me tightly in his arms. “That isn’t okay, Alice.”

“It is, though,” I argued firmly as I rolled up the sleeves of my black cashmere sweater and holding out my arms for his inspection. “I was hurt fighting for you. And sure, I’ll have scars on my arms. But it is just my arms, Jazz. Not my face, not my heart, not my soul, not me.”

“If it isn’t you that’s hurt, Alice, why haven’t you been your usual self?” Jasper demanded, his voice breaking with frustration and anger. “It’s been almost a week since Carlisle brought you home. You haven’t hunted for yourself, you haven’t laughed, you haven’t talked to anyone. I’m not complaining, but you haven’t left my side once. Nessie’s been wearing two different shoes for two days in the hope that you’ll snap out of it, Alice. If you aren’t hurt, what the hell is going on?”

I craned my neck and noticed, to my horror, that Nessie was indeed attired in one pink sneaker and one blue sneaker. I turned back to Jasper and scrunched my nose. “I am so very sorry about all of that, Jasper,” I sighed in defeat. “I guess I just needed time to adjust and get back to living. But I am back. Or at least I will be soon. I promise you that, Jasper.”

“I don’t know why,” he relented with a reluctant smile, “but I trust you. I’ve seen that look in your eye before. I like that I see it there again.”

“Let’s go for a walk,” I suggested happily as I saw what I had been waiting for. “Let’s walk to the highway.”

I knew that everyone was watching us as I leapt up and dragged Jasper out of the house. I didn’t care.

It took all I had to not expose what I was when I saw the taxi come around the curve and race, vampire speed, to the car. But I managed to wait until it had come to a complete stop before running, human speed, into Esme’s waiting arms.

“It’s going to be okay now,” I gleefully assured Carlisle over her shoulder. “I saw you come home. I knew that, if that came true, I was going to be okay. We’ll all be okay.”

He hugged me around Esme and ruffled my hair as the rest of our family surrounded us with hugs.

I ducked under Emmett’s arm and found Jasper again. “This is what I saw, Jazz,” I whispered in his ear. “I just had to see it come true before I told you.”

“I completely understand, darlin’,” he drawled with a wide smile. “I just want you back the way you were.”

“And I will be,” I vowed then and there. “I can’t ever forget what happened, but it won’t define me. I’m still just Alice.”

“Positively perfect in every way,” he laughed, leaning down to kiss me.

“Alice! Jasper!” Esme called out over the chatter of voices. “You are supposed to be in this family hug! Get over here now!”

“Yes, ma’am,” Jasper said dutifully, pulling me back to the group.

“Sorry, Mom,” I laughed easily, looping my free arm around her waist.

Emmett had just whacked Carlisle on the back. “Where’s our friendly neighbor Volturi guard?”

“Denali,” Carlisle answered quickly as we all, save Bella, Rosalie and Esme, turned to look at him. “He was given permission to leave Volterra. Tanya and Eleazar decided that he should begin his training there while our family has a chance to recover and heal. He may still come later.”

“Demetri?” Edward shouted in shock, startling Nessie in his arms, as he responded to something in Carlisle’s thoughts. “Demetri wants to join our family? You’re not serious.”

“I wouldn’t even entertain the thought if I weren’t,” Carlisle explained patiently. “Demetri is a half-breed like Renesmee, Edward. He seemed sincere about wanting out of Volterra and wanting to experience a completely different life.”

“As sincere as Caius’ son can be,” Emmett grunted, rather unhelpfully.

“He won’t join us without the approval of every member of the family,” Carlisle informed us all, ignoring Emmett. “And, after spending time in Denali, we will have a better idea of his intentions. In any case, Aro has assured me that we have nothing to fear from the Volterra and, honestly, I trust him.”

Edward glanced at me as I saw our family grow by one in the fall. “You’re back,” he whispered, pulling me into a hug before turning to Carlisle. “We’ll vote if he comes here.”

“Now that all that is taken care of,” Sam announced as Jacob pushed him toward us, most of the tribe following close behind him, “the Quileute nation would like to officially extend an invitation to all of you to join us at a ceremony of celebration tonight.”

“You aren’t ready to be rid of the vampires?” Carlisle asked him with a smile.

“Not until you start biting humans that don’t want to be bitten,” Sam laughed in reply as he winked at Bella.

“Then we humbly accept your gracious invitation,” he replied formally. “Some of us haven’t hunted in a little while, I hope you won’t mind if we hunt and then return. We promise to be quick.”

Epilogue

Billy

The vampires hadn’t objected to the large fire that the pack had got going in my yard. Maybe they were as comfortable now with us as we seemed to be with them. Either way, it was nice to sit like we were. Sam was in his usual spot on my right, as official chief, with Emily next to him. Dr. Cullen and his wife sat on my left, a place reserved for honored guests. As a tribal elder, I felt that all of the kids from the tribe were, in a way, my own. And, as much as I struggled to believe it, I was extremely happy to seem them mixed in with the “kids” of the vampire coven. It just seemed right.

“Now that the vampires have hunted and the wolves have eaten us old folks out of house and home,” I said loudly to quiet the group, “perhaps it is time that we consider adding to the rich and colorful library of Quileute legends.

The council, Quil Ateara, Sr., Sue Clearwater, Sam Uley and I, have decided that the time has long passed to revisit the stories of old and create new beautiful and meaningful traditions for our children and our children’s children to follow.

Most of you know that the young men, and now the young women, of the Quileute nation chose to become one with the Great Wolf when the Cold Ones came to our lands and caused much sorrow and death. It is a thing of honor for the young to become as strong as possible to protect their people. It is not a duty that is taken lightly.

For many generations, the changing of young Quileute men from simple boys to extraordinary beings signaled a great danger to our nation. It meant that the Cold Ones were near. And the Cold Ones hunted and killed with no regard to anyone or anything but their own desire.

In the time of Chief Taha Aki, a Cold One came and was destroyed after destroying many among us and our brothers the Makah. The Cold One had a mate and she returned with a mind to revenge his death. When she came, only Taha Aki could defend his people. But she was fast and dangerous. It fell to the Third Wife to distract the Cold Woman. So the Third Wife spilled her own blood and saved her people, dying in the same instant as the Cold Woman.

For many, many years after that, the Quileute have been wary of the Cold Ones. We carry pouches of ash around our necks so that we never forget the danger.

More than a hundred years after the Cold Woman was destroyed by Taha Aki, a new Cold One was detected in the area. He left no path of destruction. No bloodless bodies. No mourning mothers. He was gone before any young men could undergo the transformation. He sits among us this night.” I paused here and looked to my left, smiling at Dr. Cullen as many of the people circled around the fire gaped in surprise.

“The strange, silent Cold One returned decades later,” I continued, bringing the attention back to the story. “This time, though, he came with four others. They, too, sit among us this night. My grandfather, Chief Ephraim Black, found them before any of our young men could protect their people. These Cold Ones were different from those of our legends. They vowed that they would not bite a human, for food or to create a new one. They promised never to set foot on Quileute lands. In return, they asked that no wolf attack them and that no Quileute reveal their presence to the humans.

A treaty was forged between the two natural enemies. A tense peace ensued while the Cold Ones lived in the area. Ephraim Black, Levi Uley and Quil Ateara were the only three to transform. And the Cold Ones stayed true to their word. No death and sorrow was visited upon the land.

Decades later, the five Cold Ones with the strange yellow eyes returned once again. This time, their number had grown to seven. Without speaking to me, they carefully kept to the treaty forged so long ago. We knew that they were here and they knew that we were watching.

It took a girl, caught between two very different worlds, to bridge the gap between our people.” I didn’t have to look at Bella to direct the attention of the group to her. It was too bad she couldn’t blush anymore. “A Cold One captured her heart and she captured the heart of a Quileute. It seemed that disaster would surely result.

But the universe, in her wisdom, had other plans. She created something magical.” I looked at the beautiful child that sat eagerly on her father’s lap as I said those words. “And that magical thing needed the protection of the Cold Ones and the shape-shifters. And alliance had earlier been forged, but it was tenuous. At first, it ripped apart our pack. Brother was very nearly pitted against brother.

But that was not to be.

A threat came that endangered us all. The pack stood with the Cold Ones against a common enemy. It was not a true alliance of friendship. It was an alliance of common interest. The threat was defeated with no blood, literally or figuratively, spilled on the Olympic Peninsula.

Somewhere in all of that tension and struggle, a bond was formed between the Quileute people and the Cold Ones. It was a bond that no one expected but few would turn down.

When the Cold Ones were attacked, the pack responded. Our young men ventured far beyond their lands to aid the Cold Ones. And the Cold Ones were grateful. All returned home. All returned home stronger for having known the other.

And so it has been decided that the Cold Ones with the yellow eyes are no longer the natural enemies of the Quileute. The Cold Ones with the yellow eyes, the Cullens, are friends of the Quileute. They will be always welcome on Quileute land. And should they need aid again, they need only call upon their friends, the Quileute.

We welcome Carlisle, Edward, Esme, Rosalie, Emmett, Alice, Jasper and Bella to the Quileute nation.”

The pack brothers and sister, Sue, Quil Sr. and Emily stood up and opened their arms in a traditional sign of welcome.

Carlisle

When the tribe members had returned to their seats, I stood and shook the hands of Billy, Sue, Quil Sr. and Sam. Billy, the elder, had spoken from his chair so I returned to mine before speaking.

“I was born in the 1640s,” I began, suddenly aware that I was actually nervous. “And in three hundred and seventy odd years since then, I cannot ever remember being as truly humbled to be called friend as I am now.

You have given us your friendship when it is us that have needed you now three times. Not once have we had the chance to prove our friendship. And I certainly hope that the Quileute people never need our help.

But should you ever need our help, we will be at your side in an instant.

Vampires have no legends to describe their history as brilliantly as your legends describe yours. I thank you for sharing your history with us. And I will cherish your stories always.

It is right to be wary of those who would threaten you and do you harm. But is equally right to recognize that, in every sort of man, there are those who are good and those who are bad. No man should be judged by anything other than what he and only he is.

I think it is fair to say that all of us here tonight have learned that, when you take the time to consider the man or woman standing across from you, you will most likely find a friend, even if you vehemently disagree over what might seem to be deal breaking matters.

The French writer Antoine de Saint-Exupéry said that;

The friend within the man is that part of him which belongs to you and opens to you a door which never, perhaps, is opened to another. Such a friend is true, and all he says is true; and he loves you even if he hates you in other mansions of his heart.

We will never be the same, but we will always be the truest of friends. We thank you for opening your hearts and your world to us as few others have ever done.”

THE END

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