A/N:
I guess liking Demetri makes me dislike Edward a little ... sorry ^^
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"Forgive me, please, do come in." Carlisle motioned with his arm and his welcoming smile was slightly apologetic.
I shrugged, it didn't really matter to me where I stood. I hadn't been inside a house in a long time and felt a little strange walking up the few steps of the porch.
The living room was one big area, easy lounge chairs and soft sofa's were situated around a large TV. Several smaller sitting area's made it possible to play chess, or read a book without being disturbed. The glass wall offered an amazing view outside, but what caught my eye was a young girl standing beside an other of those massive wolfs. She was no vampire, but not completely human either, I could hear the fast beating of her heart. Too fast, was she afraid? Her hand rested on the neck of the wolf, that looked at me like the white one had done. Other than that, there was no fear in the girls composure at all, she even smiled a little. I smiled back without thinking twice.
"This is our daughter, Renesmee", Edward said, walking over to the girl, while holding hands with Bella.
At that, my believe drew a line. There was simply no way that someone as young as Bella, could, even in her human life, have had a daughter that was around thirteen years old. Or did she have the baby thirteen years ago? That would make a little sense. Just a little. My mind came up with a thousand possible options, yet none of them seemed any more credible than the implied truth. I needed explanations and looked at Carlisle, the only one who had offered me some of those up till now.
He immediately understood my distress. "Yes, I know, it's very complicated. Sit down, I will try to explain it as best as I can."
Sitting down in a chair had been so long ago, that it took me a while to feel comfortable. The fabric was soft and gave me ample opportunity to slouch. A brief flash of an image of my sister, curled up in a ball in a chair very similar to this one, crossed my mind. A memory from long ago.
The friendly voice of the father figure vampire made me re-focus. "When Bella was still human, she was married to my son, Edward. She became pregnant, even though none of us even knew that was possible. She barely made it, but was turned right after Renesmee was born and as you can see, she's doing perfectly well."
Why in the world would she have wanted to marry a vampire? The second thing, that came to mind a tenth of a second later, made me question her sanity in wanting to marry so young at all. What I asked out loud was: "So, Renesmee is half vampire?"
"Yes. And she is only a little over four years old now. It seems that a human-vampire life only needs seven years to reach maturity."
I came here to learn about vampires, but apparently there was a lot more to that world than I first thought. For example, who were those wolves and what was their connection to the family. I couldn't imagine that their smell was any better for them than it was for me.
Edward chuckled. Again. I glanced his way, but saw nothing out of the ordinary.
"What's funny?" Emmet yelled, from his seat on the sofa, where he was watching a football game.
"Edward", Carlisle's voice was stern as he eyed his so called son, "it's not polite to keep a guest in the dark."
The grin disappeared and was replaced by a sincere apologetic look. "Forgive me."
My eyes were wide and I was quite willing to forgive, if only I knew what I was forgiving. His face was all scrunched up now.
"How to explain this", he began, his voice slow, as if he were speaking to a child. In fact, I just realized, the tempo of our conversation had lessened considerably since we moved inside. I was really beginning to wonder if this was normal for them or for the benefit of the obvious outsiders.
Edward grabbed my attention by saying: "You haven't been around vampires, so you cannot know this. When we are turned, every aspect of our human life either gets diminished or enlarged. Memories fade, former relationships as well, but certain ... trades, can be amplified. Turn into something more."
He paused a fraction of a moment and continued: "In my human life, I was always very conscious of other people's minds, like I could anticipate what they were about to say, like I could read their minds. When I was turned, I suddenly could."
I needed a second to process this, just enough for his words to sink in. Then I shook my head. Not possible.
"Yes." He smirked.
"No." I crossed my armes.
"It's the truth."
"It's impossible." I countered again.
"Try me."
There really wasn't much else to do for me than think about random stuff and of course he picked everything right out of my brain.
After the fifth example, I yelled: "Alright, alright. I believe you. Just ... not. Alright? You shouldn't read people's minds. There is this thing called privacy."
Emmet whooped without looking and the wolfs face got a little less angry. Even Bella smiled and I wondered how it must be for her to live with a husband like that. Blessing or curse?
"I actually can't read her mind, she has a shield that keeps me out", Edward mumbled.
I wanted to berate him for doing it again, but the meaning of his words distracted me. "You have a superpower too?"
Bella smiled. "It's not really a superpower."
"Yes it is", Edward interjected, looking at her with a love that made me want to give them some privacy.
"But you are right. It was rude of me. Please forgive me."
They were all very polite in this family. It made me think about how old they really were. I saw Edward open his mouth and close it again, which made me almost giggle.
"It is necessary, however, to determine whether someone is a threat to my family. Especially now that Alice isn't here."
"Who's Alice?"
Somehow that name made everybody relax. I had noticed how they moved every now and then and now they all threw short glances out one of the windows, as if this Alice-person would come in at any moment.
Esmee answered: "She and her partner Jasper are also part of this family. They are on a trip now, somewhere in Australia, I believe."
Australia. That had also been on my travel-list. "And she has a superpower too?"
"It's not a superpower", Bella repeated, but everyone ignored her comment.
"Alice ... can see the future." Esmee softly said, eyeing Carlisle with a slight frown.
"Come to think of it", Emmet said, as he turned his massive upper torso our way, "she could have called us. Give us a heads up. I'm sure the wolfs would have liked that."
The one next to Renesmee obviously agreed, because a low growl resounded from his throat.
"Alice is on a vacation." Carlisle admonished. "I'm sure she would let us know if there was danger, but I specifically told her not to call for every little thing that could happen here."
I agreed, even though I really couldn't believe that anyone could see the future. What would that be like? Was the future fixed? Or could she change it? Perhaps someday I would see for myself.
I glanced around, my head the only part of me that was moving, and asked: "So, any others with powers I should know about? Or is it just this family?"
"Oh no, I wish." Emmet replied, turning the sofa towards us with very little effort. Rosalie still sitting on it, crossing her legs the other way as soon as her feet hit the ground again. Apparently the game was finished.
"There's lots of vampires around the world and most of them a bunch of lowlife-."
"Emmet!"
"What?" He responded to Esmee's warning. "It's true. The red eyes are a lot less friendly than we are. Whatever you do, don't go to Italy."
As he failed to give me any explanation after that, and began to talk about places I should definitely visit, I rolled my eyes and turned towards the others. Edward was the one most willing to share his knowledge. Of course he was the only one who was aware of the true reason I sought them out in the first place.
In the middle of Emmets elaborate description about some place in Milwaukee, Edward said: "There is only one coven that you need to be aware of. They are the ones with the most power in our world." There was an edge to his voice that silenced everyone at once. As if there was a common memory they all shared. And it wasn't a nice one, considering Bella's hand that reached for her daughter's. There was a story there, but that would have to wait until another time.
"They are called the Volturi and they live in Italy", Edward continued. "They are not like us. They do feed on human blood and their masters are extremely old. Thousands", he elaborated, when I thought how many years meant extremely. The answer made my mind go blank.
Vampires existed for thousands of years? Would I live that long? What would the world look like in a thousand years? Or even a hundred? It was mind boggling.
"And ... and they have gifts?" I was almost afraid to hear the answer.
"Many of the most dangerous ones."
I suddenly felt the need to fidget, but my fingers remained still. "Like what?"
He was hesitant to tell me, but I demanded: "Tell me, I want to know."
He sat up a little straighter and began to sum up a list that made me shiver, even as I could no longer feel cold.
"Cause pain, cause numbness, read minds, read bonds, enforce bonds, shield, strength-"
"Alright, alright, I get it. The first one would have been enough, thank you." Cause pain. Somehow it sounded worse than the mere infliction of a bruise. Considering vampires couldn't actually bruise. I know that for a fact, considering the many times I let myself fall from a tree.
"And don't forget our tracker", Emmet's sneer again gave me the feeling there was a story there, but this time Carlisle put a stop to the conversation.
"There is no need to elaborate on all the negative sides of these ancients and their guard. I know you don't want to hear about it and I have not forgotten what they tried to do four years ago, but I feel it is my duty to also point out that they are not all bad. There is a need for upholding the law for our kind and for many thousands of years they have kept our identity a secret from the humans. These laws are necessary."
"What laws?" Nobody told me about laws. Should I know them?
I raised my eyebrows, but Carlisle squinted. "Did your creator not explain them to you?"
Edward coughed and this time I frowned at him. Again he seemed to know more about me, so I gave him a nod and he replied for me: "Victoria created her."