The Secret

Chapter One

"Bella," Edward said from the bedroom, "I'm going to head over to the house now. Meet me there when Renessme wakes up,"

"Yeah, sure" I replied. He gave me a quick kiss on the lips and then raced out of the door of the cottage. We had been living here for just over a year and life had been going very well.

"Good morning sleepy head," I said as my daughter walked into the room. "What would you like for breakfast?"

"Umm, can I have some toast and a glass of orange juice?" Renessme replied.

"Yes, of course," I said as I put the slices of bread in the toaster.

"Did Dad already leave?"

"Yeah. After this we will head over to the house. Ok?"

"Yep, sure." She sat silently as I served up her breakfast then went to pick out an outfit for her to wear today. I was no Alice, but she had knocked some fashion sense into me these last few years. I picked out a pair of black leggings, a white and blue striped t-shirt with a red coat and a pair of her favourite Converse.

Then I went into my closet and picked out my outfit for the day.

Renessme was just over two years old now, but she looked like a ten year old. Her intellect was that of a 14 year old, but had the maturity of a twelve year old.

When she was ready we went (or rather ran) to the house. As we approached the house, I overheard Edward talking to Carlisle.

"Carlisle, we have to tell Bella, all of them," said Edward, his voice getting louder as we neared the house.

"I know, but it will be a lot for her to take in," said Carlisle in return.

"They need our help, we can't keep this a secret from them much longer."

"What secret should we know about?" I said as I walked into Carlisle's study.

"Umm... Family meeting!" announced Carlisle as we all congregated in the living room.

Renessme sat next to me on the couch and Edward stood beside Carlisle as he started.

"Now, over the next few days we will be expecting some visitors into our home. We don't know exactly how many, but we need to take in as many as possible because they need our help. They are vampires. Edward and I met them after he was turned in 1920. We ran into him completely by mistake, and we became fast friends. We will introduce some of them to you but we don't know most of them. The first few will be here in about twelve hours so I am warning you all to behave," said Carlisle.

"Wait, Carlisle. You say we haven't met them before, but they are vampires, and there is a lot of them, so why didn't they come to witness for us against the Volturi?" I asked.

"It's complicated, but we will explain when they get here,"

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Renessme was really excited to meet the new people. We were told that they needed space so Renessme moved into Edward and I's room, leaving Renessme's room and the guest room free in our cottage for the visitors.

When the time finally came we all waited eagerly in the living room. We heard a car engine rumble and then three figures walked towards the house. I held onto Renessme tight as they knocked on the door and Carlisle let them in.

"Stephen, how great it is to see you again," said Carlisle.

"Hello Carlisle," Stephen said as he attempted to walk into the house, but an invisible barrier stopped him. "Would you mind inviting us in?"

"Sorry, I forgot. You may come in," said Carlisle.

"Thank you," he said and on this second attempt he walked right into the house.

I was puzzled, and so was everyone else in the room. It was obvious to me then that he was a different type of vampire, if that was even possible.

"Can we come in too?" Said a man with dark hair still stuck on the other side of the door.

"Damon, manners," said the girl next to him.

"Yes, you may both come in," said Carlisle.

"Thank you,"she said politely.

It was silent until Carlisle called for introductions.

"Yes, my name is Stephen, this is my brother Damon, and umm..." Stephen seemed to stumble on the relationship of the girl, obviously it was complicated.

"Their friend," the girl said.

"Yes, our friend Elena,"

"It is very nice to meet you," said Carlisle. "I am Carlisle and this is my family. My wife Esme, and our adopted children. Emmett and his wife Rosalie, Jasper and his wife Alice and Edward and his wife Bella and their biological daughter Renessme." We all waved politely at them, but Elena had seemed to have taken a particular liking to Renessme, she was looking at her funnily. "Well you three will stay at Bella and Edwards cottage which is not to far away. Emmett and Jasper can you get their bags?" They nodded and did as they were told, then Carlisle turned to Stephen, Damon and Elena, "Are you ok to run?" He asked.

"Yes, of course!" Stephen replied.

"Well follow Edward and Bella, and we will see you tomorrow morning. We will discuss more detailed plans then."

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When we got to the cottage Emmett and Jasper were already there with the bags.

"Thank you," Elena said to them, and then they raced off back to the house.

We entered the cottage and showed them to their rooms. After a few minutes they came back out, sat down in the living room and we started chatting. It was I who started the conversation. "So I have kind of figured out that you are different vampires than what we are, how?" I asked.

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