The Peace Keeper

After Bio, I didn’t have another chance to talk to Bella or one of the two Cullens. This was all despite the fact I had classes with each of them throughout the rest of the day. The period after Bio was English, which I shared with both Edward and Bella, again. Then came an art class elective, Alice sat across the room from me. But no, no conversations were able to take place in the extremely small amount of free time between each class.

In fact, it wasn’t until after the final bell rang that any of them approached me.

I was walking out of my final class, art, when Alice fell in step beside me. She gave me a dazzling smile, which I returned in greeting. “Edward and I were wondering if you could stop by our house later tonight.” We turned the corner of a building, now in the parking lot. “To meet the rest of our family, maybe stay for a bite?”

“You have no idea how creped out I get when you say that.” I gave her an odd look.

Raising a perfect little eyebrow, the vampire mulled over her words. Quickly realizing her mistake, “Oh, not like that! I mean for dinner or something! A human dinner with human food…and stuff.” The smaller girl became slightly flustered, but continued anyway. “Bella’s going to be there, also, so you have nothing to worry about.”

‘I wasn’t too worried to begin with…’ I corrected Alice silently in my mind.

“Well,” I shrugged. “I have absolutely nothing to do, guess it wouldn’t hurt.” I observed her out of the corner of my eye. “Besides, I’ve been curious about your…um, ’family.’”

Alice didn’t quite catch what my words meant. She might have inquired to them, but never got the chance.

There was a crisis of which I could not ignore, therefore had entirely no time to continue on a tête-à-tête.

This crisis: someone was touching my car.

A boy, with a fairly generic features, along with his friends were obsessing over my baby. The rest of the school population gathered and stared, but smartly didn’t touch.

Nobody touches my car.

“Hey, hey! Hands off the shiny!” I called. Immediately, the boy’s had flew from the contours of my car to his side, wide eyed and fearful of being caught. Slightly embarrassed, the boy and his friends scurried off into the midst of the crowd that had gathered to admire my automobile. Anyone not in the crowd itself, was still gazing longingly or astonished at the Ferrari from afar.

Alice and I pushed our ways through. The spectators, seeing as the mysterious owner had been identified, returned to their own business, murmuring lightly about the expensive roadster.

Edward and Bella stood beside the silver Volvo that I’d parked next to, their expressions and reactions were hardly different than anyone else’s.

“Nice ride.” Bella commented, more stunned at the sheer beauty of the car, rather than envious. I always pictured her as more of a mint-green Mini-Cooper type girl myself. Maybe a classic style motorcycle if she feels spontaneous.

Edward on the other hand was envious. I made a vampire—whom of which obviously had a lot of money, as told by his car and clothes—jealous!

“Is that the new model?” He asked, completely indulged in the sight before him.

“No, just a 599 GTB that I customized myself.” I glanced at the car he stood in front of, one of his hands rested against the open driver’s side door. “What’s that? A S60 R Volvo? ’98 Right?” Edward nodded, seemingly surprised that I could precisely identify his car. “You should try the new 2005 make. It has exterior updated with body-colored side moldings and bumpers, as well as new headlamps. The T5 engine received an increase of 10 bhp, pretty sweet ride, actually.”

Edward smiled, Bella and Alice both groaned.

“Not another one,” Bella muttered.

“I’ve been thinking of getting my hands on one,” Edward replied, ignoring the two exasperated girls that stood together behind him. “But I prefer to remain a bit more conspicuous.” Eyeing my ride once more, the added, “You might want to, also.”

With that, he stooped down into the Volvo. I raised an eyebrow at his statement, but followed suite. Bella joined Edward, and to my surprise, Alice didn’t. She just passed a few words with him through the driver’s window, and slipped in beside me in the Ferrari.

Rather protesting, I gave her a quizzical look.

“I’m just here to help you find our house. We could go strait there, if you like, or if you have to stop at your place first…” Her innocent tone trailed off when she noticed the incredulous look I sent her.

“You just wanted to ride in the Ferrari, didn’t you?” I mock-accused.

“Can we go fast?”

~~~

I followed the Volvo into an almost invisible turnoff buried within the trees. Luckily it was paved, my car wasn't so used to off-road travel. After a winding piece of path, a large, Victorian style house flooded into my view.

Turning off the engine, I stepped out.

It was almost too perfect. The light hit the walls just right; in the background, a canopy of trees framed the roof; a stream could be heard, trickling in the distance. Yet, despite the sheer perfection of the scene, something quite unsettling loomed around my nerves.

Alice flew out of the Ferrari, and ran over to me, ready to lead me inside. Now that we were in private, she didn't hold back her vampirism powers. The only warning I had was the white burr rushing towards me.

Next thing I knew, Alice was roughly (though, of coarse, by her standards, it was really gentle) pushing in the direction of the front porch.

Edward and Bella stood at the front door, awaiting my arrival.

"Oh, they'll be so excited to meet you!" Alice gushed, dragging me up the few steps. I didn't bother to tell her I could walk on my own. “It’s so nice to meet new people, you know.”

Boy did I know.

The giant oak door was opened by Edward. Alice and I rushed by and Bella followed at a more slower pace.

A smiling couple was the beautiful center piece for the massive, yet airy, front room. It was mostly lighter colors, white, cream, occasionally beige. A flat screen TV complete with leather sofas was to one side. A half-wall divided that room from the splendor of a kitchen. Then, to complete the serene-like feel, a grand piano stood tall and proud on a raised platform in the corner.

It seemed even more perfect than the façade.

But, again, that feeling of unease still hovered above me.

“Emma,” Alice broke me out of my thoughts. “This is Carlisle and Esme. They’re who me and Edward call our parents.” She then turned to them. “This is our new friend, Emma-Kate Dawson.”

My head snapped to the vampire couple staring expectantly at me, as though I was going to fly off the ground or something.

“Nice to meet you,” I politely stuck my hand out for a shake.

The male stepped forward first. He was tall, a bit over six feet. Blonde hair, gold vampire eyes and skin. Carlisle wore a designer polo, tucked into a pair of khakis, not one wrinkle in sight. He grasped my hand, keeping eye contact with me. “It’s very nice to meet you, Emma-Kate.” Carlisle gave a grin of dazzling teeth. “Any friend of our children is welcome in this house.”

‘Glad you think so.’ I thought while smiling up at the older man. “It’s wonderful to be here.”

Esme then took over. She pulled me into a quick embrace, pulled back, and held me at an arms length. The woman proceeded to look me up and down, beaming in approval. Esme seemed ecstatic at my very presence. “It’s so nice to see them bring home a friend.” And she hugged me again.

I chuckled nervously. “How anti-social can they be?”

A chorus of laughter followed my question.

Esme pulled back again, “Let’s just say it’s rare to see this many people in our household. Besides Bella, you’re the only other human they’ve brought home.”

I grinned. “I feel so honored.”

“Who’s this?” A new voice entered stage right.

I glanced over to see a boy, tall and lean, blonde, obviously vampire (surprise there).

“Jasper,” Alice pranced over to him, taking a hold of his hand. “This is our new friend Emma-Kate. She just moved here from Philadelphia.”

For a moment I could have sworn Jasper gained a surprised yet disbelieving look on his face, but it was either my imagination or it passed to quickly. “It’s nice to meet you, Emma-Kate.”

“Pleasure’s all mine.” I replied.

I had seen five vampires so far. But didn’t Naomi say there was about seven or so?

“Is this the whole family?” I asked, trying to pull it off as an attempt of small talk.

Carlise shook his head. “No, there’s two more; Emmet and Rosalie. They’re…away right now, on a trip.”

“Oh, well, I hope I get to meet them soon.”

“You will,” Edward interjected from Bella’s side. “They’ll be home soon, anyway.”

A flash of silence passed over us, then Esme spoke. “So Emma-Kate, Edward said you were staying for dinner with us.” She smiled, joyous at the thought. “Alice, why don’t you and Emma-Kate go play while I prepare our meal?”

Play? I didn’t bother speaking up about her word misusage. Esme seemed quite content with her role as babying mother.

“Oh, goody!” Alice gracefully trotted from Jasper’s side to mine. He followed her like a lost puppy, though. “I’ve been wanting to show you our garage.”

My eyes…No scratch that, my entire face lit up at the thought. A garage full of rich vampire’s cars? “Okay,” I quickly agreed, all too eager.

At least down there things would be a lot less awkward.