The Peace Keeper

The next morning, around nine o' clock, I found myself face to face with my twin, our concentrated expressions identical.

Tentatively, Victor reached forward moving a small cannon piece onto my territory of England.

"Now what should we do about him?" I asked as we rolled the dice. Victor shrugged, and swiped away my pieces when he got the higher roll.

I pursed my lips, looking down at the board. "Come on Victor. Bhaltair might be right around the corner, and we don't have a plan."

This was a ritual for us. Once we found information someone was after us, we pulled out a board game. The apartment came with a few that had been shoved in the closet and forgotten by the previous owners. Last time we had this dilemma, we played "Guess Who."

Risk is a much more... Strategic of choices.

Looking a bit annoyed, my brother replied, "We could ask the vampires for help. The wolves kinda owe us one too."

"Just because one of them pushed me off a cliff, doesn't mean we should pin them against my mortal enemy."

This time, I invaded some of Victor's territory and won the roll.

"Then just ask the vampires for help!" He was frustrated now.

"I don't wanna drag them down into this," I murmured, fiddling with one of the metallic soldiers.

Victor sighed, "Then what do you want me to do, MK?"

"Germany's mine." I muttered, moving my minuscule army there before answering, "I think we should get some arsenal, at least."

"We can just ask Ed and Bec to lend us some of their weapons or something."

I looked at my brother, shocked. "You know what kinda crap they carry around, don't you? That is heavy-duty, CIA-worthy, good-enough-to-Nuke-France-ten-times-over stuff."

He rolled his eyes, moving another piece across the board. "I'm not saying we get that stuff. Just the small stuff. He's just a fire demon, right?"

"With thousands of followers from the underworld." I added sarcastically. "Sure, absolutely nothing! Lemme just grab some holy water and a crowbar. We'll be fine!"

"Fine, take none of my advice!" Victor scoffed roll his dice. "Crap, 3-12... You win."

I glanced at the board, noticing for the first time that all of my men were covering it. "Sweet."

As if on cue, a knock came at the door.

"Come in!" My twin and I shouted in unison, both too tired to actually get up and get the door.

"Hello," Edward Cullen poked his head in. "We've come to check in, hope you don't mind."

I nodded, beckoning "them" in.

Edward strolled into the kitchen, standing awkwardly near the counter top. Bella was next to him, holding his hand. Lastly, Alice made herself comfortable on another chair at the kitchen table.

She looked down at the conquered board. "Who won?"

"I did." I said at the exact same time Victor said, "She did."

Alice nodded. "So!" The small girl changed the subject. "I had an interesting vision last night. I think it may have something to do with you two!" Her voice was awfully cheery.

I sighed, sensing immediately that it had to do with Bhaltair. "It probably does. What did you see?"

"Well," She paused, pouting her lips slightly. "An army of demonic creatures lead by a psychopathic fire wielder."

I nodded, "Yeah, that sounds about right." Victor chuckled at my expression. It was more annoyed than worried or scared. I smacked my hand against the table in frustration. "He has some goddamn awful timing, you know that?" I asked my brother in a huff. "I JUST got out of a frickin coma, and now-- boom! Bitch face decides to come waltzing into my life again." My Philadelphian accent was thick as my exasperation grew.

"Who is he?" Edward quizzed, far more concerned than anyone else in the room seemed to be.

I pursed my lips, slouching forward. Victor was in similar spirits, placing one elbow on the table and resting his chin in his large hand.

"You wanna tell the story?" He asked.

I shrugged, "Might as well... It's my story, anyway." Heaving another sigh, I turned to the two vampires and human. "So, you guys know I had a kid, right?" They nodded, "Well, my baby daddy is sorta like demon royalty... At least to other fire spirits. Now, that's just the exposition. You see, HIS father was the technical "king" of the fire realm, kay?" The three nodded, taking in my fairytale-rivaled story, "Now, the king had a child out of wedlock, which turned out to be his first born son. But since the son was born out of wedlock, the heritage he should have gotten was denied. My baby-daddy-- His name was Aidyn, by the way. So anyway, Aidyn was the first boy to be born within the marriage, and became the heir to the throne. There was also another son, who would proceed his elder brother in case anything happened." I sucked in a much-need breath.

"So the fire demon Alice saw in her vision was...?" Bella questioned, sick of the suspense.

"He's the illegitimate son, Bhaltair. Bhaltair had thought he got jipped out of the throne for no good reason. As an act of revenge, he killed off the king... and the first born son." My face had become absolutely emotionless, void of any solemness or regret.

Everyone was avoiding my eye, except Edward, "So Bhaltair killed Aidyn."

I nodded. "Luckily, the peacekeepers had a chance to step in, due to the fact that I was pregnant with Aidyn's child, so it affected me directly."

This time Victor spoke, "I was part of the group sent to take down Bhaltair. But... We were too late to save Aidyn. We fought him off to attempt to save the youngest son. Luckily, we stopped his tirade and the youngest lived. Unfortunately, Bhaltair was only weakened, and got away."

There was a moment of silence before I continued, "The youngest son has no intention on keeping the throne which he has now. Once the last heir comes of age, he plans to give it up."

"The last heir...?" Alice asked. She had been listening avidly to the story, completely entranced.

I smiled at her enthusiasm. "Aidyn's child."

"So he's not after you... He's after your baby." Edward pieced together.

"Yep." My eyes met Victor's. His face was just as passive as my own. "But, Bhaltair doesn't know we don't have her."