Immortal Bella

Chapter Twenty: Denali's

I had crossed the Canadian borders around midnight, and continued running far into Alaska. Still unknown with my surroundings, I decided to climb a mountain to look around. The morning sun was beginning to rise, making my already-perfect vision clearer. I saw a large cabin nearby, and decided to investigate it. I ran closer and hid behind a tree to listen if I heard any heartbeats signaling human's presence.

When I didn't hear one single heartbeat, I stepped from behind the tree and walked a little bit closer, but froze in my tracks as a voice was heard.

"Eleazar! Can you help me find that blouse I bought a week back?" The voice was coming from a woman, with a Spanish accent. 
"It is hanging in the closet, my love." A man replied with a lighter accent. I knew they were vampires as I couldn't hear a single heartbeat, and I could smell no blood in their veins. Not wanting to bother them, I began turning around. Before I could run off, though, three female vampires appeared in front of me.

"Bella?" One woman gasped, and I crouched down protectively. I didn't know if she would be a threat, not knowing her but she clearly knew me. At the sight of me looking like I was about to attack, the girls on opposite side of the woman who called my name crouched down as well as if they were to stop me from fighting. 
"Kate, Irina, stop it!" She demanded. The woman on her right stood up willingly, but the woman on her left was still in the same position, I could hear a small growl escape her lips and with that, the woman who called my name smacked her in the back of her head, causing her to snap her head up and glare at her. "I said enough, Irina."

When Irina stood up straight, I did too. We were quickly joined by the two vampires from inside, and I took this quick moment to examine everyone's looks. The three girls who still stood in the same spot looked identical; I believed they were sisters with their blonde hair and similar features, the woman who I heard from inside, I knew was Carmen, had long curly brunette hair, with an olive tint to her pale skin. The man who I thought was Eleazar also had an olive tint to his skin, with short brunette hair. We were joined by another man, who stood beside the woman with straight blonde hair and wrapped his arm around her waist. He had light stubble, and long brown shabby hair.

"What is going on?" He asked out, looking over at me. I watched as his eyes widen in surprise, and recognition. "Bella?" He asked. 

"Okay, who are all of you! How do you know my name!?" I was beginning to get angry, I didn't know any of these people.

"I am so sorry, let me explain." The woman who first named me began speaking. Her hair was curly like her other sister, only it was shorter. "My name is Tanya. These are my sisters, Irina," The woman who growled at me, "and Kate," The woman who wasn't much of a threat. "That is Carmen, and Eleazar. They are mates, and this is Garrett, Kate's mate." I could tell who were mates by the way they were attached at the hips, but it was nice to put names to faces.

"How do you know me?" I questioned, still curious. Tanya raised her brows before speaking. "We are the Denali clan, have you not heard of us?" Oh.
"The Denali's." I whispered out loud, mainly to myself, though everyone could hear me perfectly. Edward had mentioned them before, speaking of them as if they were distant relatives, they lived like us. I then took in each of their gold set of eyes; Garrett's was an amber color, meaning he was just learning the "vegetarian" vampire life. "I'm so sorry." I began apologizing for my behavior, feeling silly for reacting like that. They know of me because Edward had mentioned me to them; I was sure of it, but that didn't explain how they knew me right away as if they'd seen or met me before.

"Don't apologize, Bella. It was an acceptable reaction, you didn't know us and we caught you off guard." Tanya spoke, which made Irina scoff. I turned to face her, raising my eyebrows in confusion. "We caught her off guard? She's on our land, our territory, she caught us off guard." Kate glared at her sister before speaking, "Irina, there is no need to be so rude. She is our guest, and we promised Edward if we found her we'd be kind and bring her back to him." Now this I wasn't expecting. They saw Edward? When?

"What?" I asked out before Irina could reply. "When did you see Edward, and how did you suddenly know it was me when you saw me?" I needed answers to my questions. More importantly, the question about Edward; if he was still nearby, I wouldn't be able to say no to him if he begged me to return with him, or if he asked to come along with me. I needed to be alone for now.

Eleazar was the first to speak before the sisters, answering my questions. "Edward came to see us late last night, asking us if we saw you or crossed paths we'd talk to you about returned to Forks. He told us everything and said he was worried about you, and he missed you dearly. Tanya knew it was you when she first saw you by the way Edward had described you to us, acting as if you were the most magnificent painting he had ever seen, and I can see why. Immortality treats you well, Isabella." I smiled at his compliment, but the smile quickly faded when I thought of Edward. I did miss him, and I wanted to return, but I couldn't. 

"Thank you for explaining, I must get going now. Please, do not tell Edward of my presence here." I begged quietly, I didn't want him hurting himself searching for me. "Why don't you stay?" Carmen invited, reaching out to grab my hand and smiling a warm smile at me. The invitation was tempting, and although I didn't need it, a bath sounded nice. I also needed to call Charlie; let him know I was safe. Without thinking it through much further, I happily nodded my head. 

"That actually does sound nice, thank you."

-

After a long warm bath and calling Charlie, I met with the coven that was more of a family downstairs to talk. I learned a lot about them that I hadn't learned before, the way they were turned, Eleazar working with the Volturi for years before meeting Carmen and leaving to live a happy life with his love, the sisters and how their adoptive mother was killed for creating an immortal child, Garret's stories from the war and how he met Carlisle. The subjects changed back and forth, and we finally reached the subject of special abilities. I had learned that Kate had psychic electrokinesis, a power to electrify enemies and preys. Her and Eleazar were the only ones of the coven to have additional abilities, and his was to identify special powers in other vampires.

"What about you, Bella?" Tanya asked, looking over to me. 
"What about me?" I questioned curiously.
"Do you have any special powers?" I shook my head.
"None that I know of." Tanya looked up at Eleazar, and he spoke up.
"Bella, you do have a power." I looked over to him and raised my brows in wonderment.
"You're a shield." And with that, Kate grabbed my hand, I looked down as a soft buzz went through my arm, but it didn't hurt at all. An electrifying sound emitted from where her hand was placed, and I met eyes with her.

"Oh, she's a shield all right. That should have put her on her ass." Kate smiled as she let go of my hand, returned to her place beside Garrett. "Is that why Edward can't read my thoughts?" I questioned out loud, and Eleazar nodded his head. "It must be a defense mechanism. It'll come in handy in fights.
"It'll also help others if you learn how to manipulate the power, use it on someone else other than yourself." Tanya spoke up, smiling at me in amazement. "You can do that?" I questioned in wonderment. "Oh yeah," Kate received my attention. "I can teach you, if you'd like. At first my power was just in my hands, but with dedication and working on it, it can now radiate throughout my body." My smile widened in excitement as I reached for her hand.

"Please teach me." I begged, and she smiled happily.
"It might take a while." She sighed.
"I have all the time in the world." I said with honesty. 

Just then I made myself a promise. After learning how to manipulate my power to protect others, I will return to Forks. Then if any danger comes my way, I would know for a fact that I can protect my family.

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