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The next morning the Cullen's and the Denali's were sitting in the lounge area discussing the way the Volturi may operate during the interaction. Edward was happily surprised to see his sister with them during the talk taking in mind she had been doing everything in her power for them not to interact with each other and he understood that. He was going to give her as much time as she needed.
But the girl didn't hold anything against him anymore, he was her brother at the end of the day and she would always love him she was just not ready to speak with him right now. It was too early. So the blonde stood by the balcony instead of the couches like the rest of the family
"Aro will want us incapacitated before he attacks. Jane and Alec will try and take me out first because I can anticipate their moves." Edward said looking between everyone present in the room.
"Too bad we don't all have your shield," Garrett said looking at Bella.
"Doesn't help me fight though." Natalia shook her head at Bella as she moved away from the wall she was leaning on.
"It's not for attacking purposes, Bella. It could help protect the rest of us if you could project it." Bella looked over at Natalia confused not understanding what she meant.
"What do you mean?"
"I mean shield someone other than yourself. You would need to develop your gift just like Kate and I did." Bella looked between Kate and Natalia with wide eyes, she didn't know that this was even possible.
"That's possible?" Bella asked excitedly.
"Gifts can be developed, over time," Carlisle replied nodding.
"At first, mine was just in my palms. Now I can radiate it all over my body." Kate commented and Natalia nodded now standing beside her.
"And with me, I had to look directly at the object with my hand out. And now, all it takes for me is to think about the object." As she finished the sentence the ornament beside Bella started to move up in the air before going back down to its original place.
"How do you do it?" Bella asked eagerly causing Kate to let out a sigh as she shared a look with Natalia before looking back at Bella.
"Tell me." Bella was so eager to know how to develop her gift that she got over-excited and grabbed onto their hands way too strongly forgetting how strong she was as a newborn.
"Ow."
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Standing a couple of meters away from them Natalia watched as Kate taught Bella, Natalia thought it would be best if Kate was the one that taught Bella how to do it, she was always the better teacher when the two practised back in the days that they lived together in Alaska.
"You need to visualize it. See how it moves. What colour it is. Now picture it expanding. Will it to go beyond you." Natalia watched as Bella focused on Edward for a matter of two seconds before losing focus and causing the shield to no longer project over him.
"I think she needs something to motivate her." Natalia's eyes widened at Kate saying this, Kate used the same technique when they practised together. Kate would walk around her room and pick something valuable that Natalia owned before throwing it into the air and Natalia would need to catch it with her abilities.
Quite extreme yes but in the end, it worked.
Edward looked over at Kate before moving forward to Bella.
"No," Bella said immediately.
"It's all right, I can take it," Edward reassured his wife which caused Garrett to roll his eyes amused and share a look with Emmett.
"He says that now." Garrett snickered.
"Focus Bella, or he's gonna be hurting," Emmett said enjoying this too much. Edward held his hand toward Kate sharing a look with her but Bella wasn't ready yet. She didn't even like the idea of her husband putting himself on the spot like that.
As Natalia watched that interaction a smell travelled around her captivating her. It was a familiar smell, one that should bring happy memories while it sends her body into lockdown. It's smoke, but not the kind that comes from a dirty car, it's the kind that comes from the burning of timber. To most people, this would smell bad but to her it was soothing. She knew right away what it was, she didn't even have to turn around to know who was standing right behind her.
"Edward, I'm not ready to do this yet." Bella's voice caused Natalia to get out of the daze she got from the smell and look back at what was happening in front of her.
A chuckle right behind her right ear made her freeze up for a split second before she rolled her eyes and spoke up quietly.
"I know what it means when you smell this way... I hope you didn't hunt anywhere near Forks." Ace looked down at the girl who still wasn't looking at him with amusement but also with admiration that she would remember such a small detail about him. He moved down to her ear so his lips were right beside it and his warm breath caused all her limbs to stiffen. Ace, of course, felt the way that he affected her causing a smirk to appear on his lips as he watched Edward grunt on the ground from the shock Kate gave him. Ace lets out one last laugh before speaking up.
"No need to worry Love, you know I wouldn't cause you this trouble." Her response was only an eye roll, even though he was completely different around her because he was much calmer it didn't mean he lost his character.
"But it appears you guys were also having fun." Natalia knew he was referring to the fact that Bella and Kate were practising Bella's abilities on Edward.
"I don't know what you classify under fun but this isn't it." Instead of a frown his smirk only widened as he twirled her around so she was now facing him with wide eyes not expecting him to do this. Ace grabbed her waist and moved down to her face so he was only inches away as his smirk stayed on his face.
"Oh but I think you do Darling, don't you remember that night?" He raised his eyebrow as he moved his head to the side.
Of course, she knew which night he was talking about.
She could never forget that night.
She didn't want to anyway.
*Flashback*
Being guided with a blindfold is something that you should do with someone you should have complete and utter trust in. So the sole fact that Ace is guiding Natalia up the stairs says a lot. For some reason the blonde trusted the male vampire, she wouldn't think twice about him asking her something.
With her hands stretched out and Ace's hands on her hips the girl walked up the stairs. One side of her was beaming with excitement just waiting to see what was about to happen. This night so far has been one of the best nights of her existence. And that's saying something taking in mind she's 217 years old.
"Are we there yet?" Ace rolled his eyes but smiled. Normally he would groan and be grumpy towards the person but when it came to her he couldn't, anything she said made him smile, even if it would normally annoy him with her it wouldn't.
As they got to the spot Ace leaned down to her ear and whispered gently with his warm breath making her breath hitch. "We are now, you ready love?" The shorter girl nodded with a contagious smile on her face.
"I'm more than ready." Ace grinned widely when he heard her answer. He reached behind her head and untied her blindfold. Natalia's eyes fluttered open and when she saw the sight in front of her mouth hung open.
They were standing on a roof that overlooked the busy streets of New Orleans. Natalia walked a couple of steps forward before stopping beside the small wall and putting her hands on it.
While all of that was happening Ace was watching the girl intensely, he didn't know if she liked it or not, and it was eating him alive. This girl was turning his world upside down and he didn't know if he liked it or not.
"Thank you, thank you for showing me this." Natalia turned around and smiled at him sweetly making him smile.
"The pleasure is mine, love." He said as he walked over to her and leaned on the wall as she watched the stars with a mesmerized look.
"It's so beautiful here...the stars oh my...I haven't seen such beautiful stars in a very long time." Ace chuckled amusedly with her comment making her turn her head to look at him with a raised eyebrow.
"What is it?" He looked up into her eyes with a teasing smile.
"You just described the stars as beautiful." Natalia rolled her eyes and looked back up at the stars with their light framing her snow-white face.
"Well, they are, what do you think falls under the beautiful category?" The question took him by surprise. Beautiful... Such a strange word that can mean so much. He hasn't ever thought about anything or anyone as beautiful. But there was no denying the fact that she was beautiful. Her smile could brighten the whole room. She made the world amazing just by existing. She was like thunder and lightning, beautiful yet frightening.
"You." That one word made everything stop for Natalia. She couldn't believe what she just heard. Did she hear him right or was it just her imagination? She turned her head around to come face to face with Ace. She could feel his breath on her face making her self-conscious of this situation. He looked down at her lips before smashing his lips into hers making the girl's eyes widen shocked before closing back accepting into his embrace.