Dusk (Edward left)

What is That?

Thank you to all of the votes and comments on the previous chapter, you guys are the BEST! Dedicated to MelanieHughes for the great comments. :)

________________________________________________________________________________

Bella's POV

Flashback:

"Cool name. So, do I get to hold her?" He asked.

"Uh, sure. Here you go." I held her out and he took her, cradling her gently in his big arms.

"Isn't she the most precious thing?" Natalie asked softly, joining her husband at his side.

"Not as precious as you, babe." he told her, winking, and making her blush.

Then Carlie touched his face to show him something. Shock crossed his face as his eyes unfocused slightly.

Two seconds later he snapped out of it, and blinked. "What was that?"

"What did she show you?" I asked eagerly. He was the second person she had shown her thoughts to.

"Umm, me. Was that her doing that?"

I smiled. "It's her gift."

Chapter 22

"Woah, that’s amazing."

"I know. It’s like...." I pondered, then an idea hit me. "It’s like what Edward can do, except in reverse!"

Caelan looked at me with a puzzled expression. "Edward? Your...vampire guy?"

His words pained me a little. I winced, realizing that even though it would be easier if I could, I would never truly escape Edward. "Yeah, her father. Do you think he could have passed her the gene, but switched?"

"It’s more likely than not." He said, pursing his lips slightly in thought. "Still, it’s just a theory, since I never inherited any gifts from my father. He didn’t have any."

"That’s not very surprising. There are plenty of vampires without gifts." I informed him.

Carlie was being squirmy, so he handed her to me. I rocked her gently. "Oh, I know." He said, A broad smirk on his face. "Out of the twenty-eight vampires I have met, only nine had gifts. The nine including Gavin."

"Twenty-eight vampires, that’s all you’ve met in your two hundred year existence?" I asked, rather surprised.

"Yeah." He said sheepishly. "My dad was a bit of a hermit after my mom left. We lived quite far from civilization for a long time. But before that, he had an awesome life- about four hundred years to roam the world. He even lived a while with the Volturi."

"Walter was a member of the Volturi?" I asked in disbelief.

"Yeah. Those creepy paper-skinned old-guys." He said casually, as if it was normal or average to have lived with the Italian royalty. "Wait, you’re not impressed, are you?"

"A bit, I will admit. How long did he live there, and what time?" I asked, still rocking my daughter gently. She was falling asleep again.

"Oh, it was just before he met my mother, so probably about two hundred and fifty years ago. Why do you ask?"

"Just wondering." There was no real reason, but I felt as if there was a connection to my own life that I was missing, that had something to do with the Volturi. It frustrated me unbelievably.

"Oh. Well, he didn’t like it there anyway. He hated the way that they harvested humans, even though he is a traditional vampire, himself."

"Er, harvested?" I asked nervously. This was not sounding very good.