Forever or Never?

Edward nodded and closed his eyes.

"Go, please," Bella's gentle voice said as she wrapped her arm around Edward.

"Thank you, Bella. I'll start as far back as I can. It was 1632, Bavaria, Germany. Before I was born, my parents, Becky and Mathesius Stern, moved out of Bavaria in the middle of the Thirty Years' War to the country near Volterra, Italy." Edward's eyes flew open when I said the name of the home of the Volturi. "Can I continue?" Edward nodded and closed his eyes. "I turned sixteen in August of 1648, and my parents decided it was time to take me to the festival of St. Marcus.

"I was taken in a group of twenty or so people into the tower and led into a room with three large wooden thrones. The people seated had crimson eyes, and I remember being frightened, as I should have been. One of the dark haired ones came straight at me. He had his hands grasping my arms, but as soon as his lips touched my throat, he froze. He straightened up and scooped me into his arms. He carried me to a little dark room and said he'd be back.

"When he came back, he introduced himself and his brothers and explained what he'd seen. I didn't understand any of it. He said I had an amazing mind, and was an incredible personality judge, and had been giving people courage and strength for as long as I could remember. It scared me so much. He fought with his brothers about keeping me. Caius wanted to change me right there, but Marcus and Aro wanted to wait. I still didn't understnad it. It made no sense.

"Aro explained that they had to get back to the festival. He said they'd be back to talk to me later. He left me in the dark little room. I became more and more terrified as the hours passed, probably days with as much as I slept. There was a man who brought me food and would keep me company while I ate. I never found out his name, but he was kind, and he liked Aro. He found Aro fairly civilized. I never did. I couldn't see it. Maybe it was that he was there because he wanted to, and I was held against my will. Maybe.

"Aro finally came back. He said it was time to move me, it was almost time for the next festival of St. Marcus. I'd been there a year. I'd been held hostage for a year in a dark little room. Aro led me to a bed chamber, and I was scared out of my own head. HE told me to lay down, so I did, not wanting to make him mad. He complimented me on how I'd "filled out" in the year he hadn't seen me, and it pleased him that he had waited. I was still ridiculously thin, but not quite a board from head to toe.

"Aro walked around the bed a few times, "admiring the view" as he had put it. He stood at the foot of the bed, about two feet past my own feet. Before I knew what happened, Aro was on top of me, with his teeth in my neck. As soon as I realized he had bitten me, he was gone, completely. I blingked and he was out of the room. And then I felt it. The burning, all the way through my viens, all the way through my body. I felt it, and hated it. I tried not to scream, I tried not to move. Aro had done this to me for a reason, so I tried to think of that. Then I lose my memory.

"Aro was there when I woke up, reassuring, me. Aro touched my arm through the thin sleeve of my dress, and jumped back. I was vaguely aware that I could tell his talent was reading minds, but through skin contacts only. I checked my sleeve for holes, but there weren't any, and Aro told me to stay where I was. He was going to get someone. When he came back he had a vampire with him. The new man had the ability to identify other vampires' talents. Aro introduced the man as Eleazar. Eleazar gasped the same time I did. He told Aro that I ahd the ability to identify and intesify others' abilities. Aro's face lit up at my ability.

"The day I woke up was the festival. Aro led me down the stairs and through tunnels and hallways and rooms until we got to the chamber with the thrones. He said it was time to eat. The door opened and the two cloaked figures led a group of humans in. The fire in my throat was unbearable. I --"

"Skip that!" Jasper yelled.

"Jazz is kinda sensitive on that subject. Can you please skip that part?" Alice pleaded, trying to comfort Jasper at the same time.

"Yeah. No problem." So, after the first day, Aro explained the rules to me. He said he had a job for me, a very special job that no one else could do. He promised it was my choice, but it would help our kind if I did it to my best ability. He told so many things it would help and how it would be good, so I did. He sent me place after place finding talented vampires and bringing the willing ones back to him. He wanted the biggest and most talented to fill his guard. I ran around the world with Eleazar for him for almost a century. HE sent Eleazar with me after we discovered that Eleazar could tell what talents a human would have when changed. He was never wrong. Then Eleazar met Carmen, and he left the guard.

"Then I met Cassandra and Dan. Mates. Both talented. Dan can move things with his mind, small things, write a note without touching pen or paper, and with me big things, trains, bridges, buildings, mountains, et cetera. Aro would have loved him for what he could do. And Cassandra, sweetest lady I've ever met, could talk to vamps with only her mind. Hear thoughts, speak thoughts and the vampire she was concentrating on would hear it. With me, she could do it with anyone when she was concentrating. It scared me the first time I heard it. Aro would have gone crazy even to know someone like her exsisted. They were both so gentle, I couldn't see them fighting for the Volturi. I couldn't even see it. I wouldn't see it. I could never see Aro again. He would know they exsisted then. He couldn't know. I wouldn't let him. He would hunt them down if he knew. He would beg and plead. So I didn't go back.

"I sent him a letter that I'd found a mate, found a coven. I was happy. I wasn't coming back. I'd helped him all I wanted to. I was free. I would no longer hunt down vampires with talents. I'd done my good deeds for him, and I was done. I knew he'd let me leave, he let Eleazar leave when he found Carmen.

"My only problem with Cassandra and Dan was theior diet. They'd found a conscience. It blew my mind, but I was up to trying iof I could travel with them. It was hard at first. And my eyes started changing. I cheated, but they were supportive. They helped me through it. Dan started hunting with me. Following me around when I went to town.He'd move me if I got too close. I hated feeling weak and having to be drug around to be safe. I got better. We moved to a small town, a little village in France. I got better and better, and we moved to the city, London. When we could, we swam to America. Started out here just after the southern vampire scare was cleared up. We would have come over sooner, but I wanted to avoid the Volturi as much as possible. We lived everywhere possible. Rainforests, Antarctica, Canada, Alaska, tiny remote islands, northern regions, mountains, everywhere possible. We tried being nomads, but they liked living in more permanent residences.

"So, last time I graduated college, a Ph.D. in Psycology this time, we moved to Forks. I doubt they knew there were already vampires here. That is my story. From beginning to now." I finished my story and watched the faces change. Alive was the first to speak.

"You know Eleazar?"

"Knew, yes. I haven't seen him since he found Carmen. Why?"

"We know him. Well. He lives with Carmen and a coven like ours in Alaska," Emmett said.

"Really? I'd like to see him." Everyone watched Alice's face go blank. Jasper grabbed her shoulders and looked at her.

"Ed, what is it?!" Jazz asked loudly.

"Eleazar and Carmen. They're coming. Soon."

"We have to tell Carlisle and Esme," Bella said.

"Right. And we need to do it soon," Emmett put in.

"I'll get the six of us out of class the rest of the day," Edward told us as he walked towards the main office building.

"We'll get ready to go." Jazz opened the driver's door of the silver Volvo.

"We don't have room." Emmett stated the obvious.

"Then you'll come with me in my Camaro, and we'll follow Edward." I reached into my pocket and grabbed the key to my car. I walked over to my 2010 Camaro and pushed the button to unlock it. Its blood red paint glistened in the slight sprinkle, the chrome accents shone in the overcast light.

"This...is...YOURS?!" Emmett asked in utter astonishment. I got in my car and stroked the black Italian leather of the interior fondly. The tinted windows made the inside dark as night.

"Yeah. Who else would show up with a good car on the day the new girl from hte city appears?"

"Good point. How fast hve you gotten it?" His eyes flashed with excitement as the engine purred to life under my hands.

"Two hundred. And I wasn't near puching it. I only got it last week." I pulled out and followed the Volvo out of the parking lot.

"Then it's time to push it some." He looked at me with the excitement obvious in both his voice and his eyes.

"This weekend. I'm ready to push it. It needs pushed." I could hear the excitement in my own voice now too. "Are you gonna come
with me? See how fast we can get to St. Louis and back."

"Just St. Louis? Why not Tampa Bay?"

"Tampa Bay it is then. I just have to clear the trip with Cassandra. Dan won't care. He bought it for me as a graduation present." I pulled into the parking spot next to Edward's Volvo and we all walked into the hospital together.

"Carlisle?" Edward rapps his knuckles against a door that says 'Dr. Carlisle Cullen'.

"Come in." A voice calls from the other side of the door. The blonde man behind the desk rose his eyebrows when I followed Emmett, the last Cullen, into the room.

"Carlisle, this is Mateja," Emmett said, throwing his arm over my shoulder, or meaning to. His forearm landed on top of my head.

"Nice to meet you, Mateja. Now waht's all this about?" Carlisle sat back down at his desk and motioned us to follow suit. Bella sat
on Edward's lap, Alice on Jasper's, and Emmett sat in the last chair in the room. I sood undecided for a moment until Emmett grabbed my waist and sat me on his lap.

This feels kinda nice. I thought to myself.

Seriously? The thought came into my head, but wasn't mine. I looked around the room and saw Edward giving me a strange look.

"I am Mateja Luhmann. I'm the supposed transfer from St. Louis. I'm not transferring. I'm starting over, again."

"And you're one of us. Well, Alice --" Carlisle began asking Alice a question, but immediately Alice was on her feet closing the door.

"Thank you. Mateja, I won't ask for your full story now, but could you at least tell me a little about yourself?"

I took a deep breath and retold my story to Carlisle. I took another deeo breath as I finished my story again and let my shoulders drop a little.

"Eleazar? You met Eleazar?" Carlisle asked.

"He was the one who explained my talent to me. I haven't seen him since he met Carmen."

"Carmen and Eleazar are coming sometime in the next two months." Alice whispered, barely in the conversation. "And they're bringing someone, but I can never get a glimpse of his face."

"Thank you. Alice. So, Mateja, what do your parents do?"

"Dan's a carpenter. His talent helps him alot, espeically when I'm around. Cassandra, Cassie, usually works as a nurse. She just has to be careful with her ability whem I'm around."

"So what's your talent?"

"To identify and intesify other vampires' talents. For Dan, he cane move things like bridges and trains with his mind when I'm near him. Cassie can talk to people with her mind, both reading thoughts and responding to them. Aro doesn't have to touch you to read your thoughts. Other mind readers can "hear" further better or "hera" all the person has ever thought, and I couple can communicate with their mind."

"I can see the Quilettes!" Alice exclaimed, jumping out of Jasper's lap.

"Really?" Jasper questioned, taking her around the waist and pulling her back into his lap.

"Yeah. The holes are filled. I can see them all. Jake, Leah, Seth, Renesme." Bella took Edwrd's hand and stiffened her back at the last name.

"Wow. That's an impressive talent, Mateja." Jazz mentioned, rubbing Alice's arms.

"It really is. So, Mateja what grade are you in?" Carlisle wondered.

"I'm a sophomore. I took freshman year last year while I went to college at night. I have every class with Emmett, actually."

"Well, have you been excused from class today?"

"I did that on our way to talk," Edward said. "We're all excused all day. I think Mateja should meet everyone. Know how we all fit together. I mean all of us. The Cullens, Hale, Swans, Quilettes. She has to know everything.

"I think you're right, Ed. Especially since she noticed Bella's reaction to Renesme's name."

"Sorry." Bella's voice was quiet, and she bowed her head.

"It's ok, dear." Edward tried to cheer Bella up.

"It is okay, you're still fairly new to this. Compared to the rest of us at least. But, for being the smallest, Mateja's the oldest." Emmett
joked. I slapped his shoulder and watched as he winced theatrically. I turned to Alice to ask her a question.

"Yes. It's always like that. Emmett always makes fun of Bella's age. And short people. You'll get used to it eventually." Alice answered my question before I had voiced it. I felt an immense wave of calm rush through the room. The force of it would have put an insomniac to sleep.

"Ok. I'm not spending much time with you. No offense, we don't need to put the entire town to sleep," Jazzi said listening to the continuous beeps in the hospital slowing into even breaths and heartbeats.

"So, time to meet the family?" Emmett asked as he stood up and held me two feet off the ground.

"Em, put her down," Alice said as she went into a trance. "The pack will be thrilled to have three new vamps in town. This is so handy."

"We might as well get moving then." All seven of us left the hospital together and started running west. We ran until we could see the three wolves and one...vampire? Edward went forward first. Bella followed him. She embraced the one ... vampire... in the group.

"Jacob, Seth, Leah." Edward greeted, nodding to each of them in turn. "We come with news. Just wait until she's explained herself." The lead wolf, Jacob let out a growl, but sat on his haunches, followed by the other two massive wolves.

"Seth! NO!" Edward shouted out of the blue.