Edward’s house was very well managed and seemed nearly uninhabited from the outside, as usual.  I had breathed a sigh of relief when we had turned down the well-hidden path and found no lights or streamers in the trees—nothing at all to indicate that Alice had blown our homecoming wildly out of proportion.  When we reached the expanse of lawn leading to the entryway and I still saw no sign of a celebration looming, I almost permitted myself a smile.  Perhaps Alice had seen my impending discomfort and had decided to tone it down.  My hope lasted as far as the front porch.

As Edward led me up the steps, a tiny flash of red and yellow, close to the ground and to the side of the door, caught my eye.  I glanced over at the distraction and found a cheap miniature Spanish flag, strikingly similar to the six I’d bought as souvenirs for all of my human friends in Forks, poking mysteriously out of the porch floorboards like a strange silver tipped marigold.  My brow furrowed in confusion and I turned to Edward for an explanation.  His eyes met mine, but his attention was elsewhere, no doubt momentarily lost in the thoughts of the eight or so vampires waiting just inside—gauging the atmosphere.

“It’s a warning,” a sweet, melodic voice rang out from my right.  I looked over to find Rosalie, lying on the porch swing with her head in Emmett’s lap.  He waved at us as Rosalie continued.  “Esme knew you’d be uncomfortable with another big party just after your wedding so she limited Alice’s decorating privileges to strictly indoor activity.”  She indicated the flag with a quick movement of her eyes.  “That’s just a little taste of what’s inside though.”

My heart sank.

“Thanks for the heads up,” I stammered.  Emmett’s chuckle was barely audible until Edward joined him. 

“Emmett.  Rosalie.”  He nodded faintly in their direction with a smile on his face.  “How was India?”

“The same as the last time.  Everything fun is endangered.  It sounds like there was more action over here.”  Emmett’s good natured grin became a smirk.  “How was Spain?”

There was no mistaking the intonation in his question.  Edward shot his brother a warning glance that melted quickly into a resigned smile. 

“Beautiful sunsets.” 

I smiled too.  Emmett snorted, as Edward’s arm slipped around me and he ushered me through the door. 

Rosalie hadn’t been exaggerating.  The last time I had seen the spacious family room, it had been adorned in white satin and the smooth scent of roses had been thick in the air.  This time, it was bathed as tastefully as was possible in the same red and yellow as the little Spanish flag, and instead of roses, the air offered the much less pleasant odor of curry carried from a table in the center of the room that was full of steaming dishes, plastic plates, and, much to my mortification, an enormous pile of colorfully wrapped packages. 

Carlisle and Esme were waiting on the raised section just in front of the piano, exactly as they had been only two weeks ago to greet the unprecedented amount of humans that had been invited into their house for our wedding.  The two Denali Sisters could have been marble statues behind them.  Carlisle approached first with Esme close behind, and I was delighted to see that the estranged carefulness that had altered their natural movements at our first meeting had been all but forgotten.   They greeted us both warmly, Esme pulling me into a hug that was completely natural for her, and together the four of us turned toward the two figures standing silently by Edward’s piano, watching our miniature reunion with supernaturally attentive eyes. 

I recognized Tanya’s strawberry blond curls immediately.  My mind flashed to a picture of those curls streaming behind her as she blazed toward my fragile half-human friend in the moonlight.  She was tall, stunning, and still incredibly intimidating even without a look of fury distorting her features.  The woman beside her was shorter, with pale blond hair that ended perfectly at the line of her jaw and partially concealed high cheekbones and mysterious almond-shaped liquid amber eyes that reflected more severity than curiosity.  They were the sharp features of what I could only describe as the stereotypical Russian princess.  She moved fluidly toward Edward, and bent in silently to kiss him once on each cheek.  Then she turned to me nervously and extended one long porcelain hand.

Edward smiled triumphantly.  “Irina, this is my wife, Bella.”

I took her hand and shook it awkwardly, not knowing what else to do.  Her unnatural stillness put me immediately at unease.  Everything suddenly seemed so proper, as if I were greeting a queen instead of a relative.

“Nice to meet you,” I managed, though a smile did not quite make it to my lips.

“Likewise,” she replied.  Her voice was small and sultry, which matched her model’s face and form perfectly.  She pulled me in for the same European greeting and I was shocked into immobility.

“You are just as Edward described you, of course.  I should have known that such discerning taste would also extend to his choice of mate as well.  I do so regret missing the ceremony.  I’m sure that you made such a beautiful bride.”

Edward came silently from behind me to slip his arms around my waist.  “Yes, she was beyond words,” he said, leaning down to kiss me lightly on the cheek.  “You missed a beautiful wedding, Irina.”

I did not miss the fact that Tanya’s eyes followed our every move speculatively from her place behind her sister.

Irina’s entire stature changed then and her grip on my hand became stronger.  “Yes…Bella, I believe that I owe you more than just an apology for my absence at your wedding.  It has been brought to my attention that my indiscretion only a few days ago caused a rather unpleasant revelation for your father.  I’m so very sorry to have caused him undue strain at such a time.  More than ever now that he is already suffering the figurative loss of his only daughter.”

She spoke too formally, in words that seemed to carry their own rhythm.  It reminded me strangely of a Shakespearian conversation.  I had heard speech like that somewhere before, but I couldn’t quite place it.

“He’s getting used to it,” I mumbled as casually as possible.  Her skin seemed to shimmer even in the dim light that had made its way into the windows through the thick cloud layer.  Her beauty rivaled Rosalie’s…and I had only been worried about Tanya.

 She persisted.  “Still, it is a situation that never should have presented itself.  I realize that my recent history has given you no reason to accept an apology from me, but I had hoped that you would allow me a chance to prove my sincerity over the course of this week.”  She was looking at me hopefully, her expression genuine. 

“Um…of course,” I stammered.  I began to see another ally in my current campaign against Edward’s new house arrest mandate.

Tanya appeared tremulously—or as tremulous as a vampire could seem—by her sister’s side.  “I’d like to ask the same consideration, Bella, even though my abhorrent behavior at your wedding has thus far proven unforgivable.”  She looked at the floor with a deep regret.  “I should never have become involved—more importantly on the day of your union.  It was impertinent on my part.”  

She looked perfectly sincere; even her position seemed deferring to me, but I was still much more reluctant to believe her than her pale sister.   As Edward had observed on our first night together, jealousy was a strange and irrational thing.  Tanya continued.

“I hope that my actions, and my subsequent decision to stay don’t sway your opinion of me too greatly.  There is a perfectly good explanation that I ask you to hear before you make your final decision.” 

“But not yet!”

Alice’s tiny voice was a welcome interruption behind me.  It was accompanied by a fresh, and highly needed, dose of calm.  I looked around to find Jasper with his arms wrapped casually around the waiflike hostess of our strange little party.  Her face lit up as both Edward and I turned toward her voice.  “I’ve heard and seen this story and its outcome so many times now that I’m bored with it.  First, I want to celebrate!”

Tanya and Irina both laughed—tinny, very natural laughter—as Alice flitted past Edward and appeared in front of me, her cold arms trapping me in a hug before I even registered that she had moved.  “Welcome home!”  she squeaked, and moved quickly to hug her brother.  Her eyes followed mine as I looked around at the decorations.  “I saw that you’d already be missing Spain this morning, so I thought I’d bring a little piece of it here!  Do you like it?”

“It’s great, Alice.  Thank you.”  I answered, not quite as convincingly as I had rehearsed in the car.  My eyes returned inevitably to the table full of strangely wrapped parcels and covered dishes.  “What are all those?”

“The food is from India,” she said regretfully.  “I wanted Spanish food to fit the theme of course, but Emmett insisted.  He said it smelled too unique to pass up.”  Edward tensed at my side.  I looked treacherously over at my large brother-in-law, who had followed us in, wondering if he’d been the cook and contemplating just how tactful it would be for the only human in the room to pass on the human food. 

“The rest are your wedding gifts, of course!”

I stared at her, cautiously.  All of the Cullens, Edward included, had been specifically prohibited from buying any wedding gifts.  I had already accepted an in-home wedding, two cars, a twenty thousand dollar per semester college tuition, and a two week honeymoon in Europe.  They had all risked their lives time and time again to save me, and they had tolerated the innumerable amount of changes to their lifestyle that had come with a member of their family falling in love with a human.  I had already received too much from each of them, and I was still asking for immortality.  Wedding gifts would have been ludicrous.  Alice seemed to read my expression and responded quickly.

“Oh they’re not from us.  They’re from everyone else at the wedding,” she assured.  “I’ve been staring at them for days, watching your reactions.  My favorite by far is the one from your mother.” 

She grinned as I gazed doubtfully over at the gifts, calculating the possibility that Alice would simply allow me to take them home and open them with Edward away from prying eyes.  The odds did not look good.  Alice had me firmly penciled in as the center of attention for the day.  I decided that it would be much easier to get it over with quickly—almost like pulling off a band-aid. 

Alice’s eyes dimmed for a fraction of a second.

 “Oh good!  We’re opening them now.  I’m tired of waiting!”  And she fluttered over to a circle of plush chairs situated within arm’s reach of the table, circled once, and fell gracefully into one that was facing us.  I was inevitably reminded of sunny afternoons in a sunlit Phoenix classroom dancing around a circle of chairs and waiting for the music to stop.  I had never won a single game of musical chairs in my elementary years.  Something told me that my record would not have been improved against this group.

I cast a hesitant glance from Alice to the table beside her and the pile of seemingly harmless packages lurking dangerously in their bloodthirsty sheaths of paper and my arm came up involuntarily to grab Edward’s.  I knew perfectly well what happened when I went up against wrapping paper.  Edward did too.  I felt him chuckle silently and I knew that he had read my fears perfectly.

“I’ll open them.”  He assured me.  The smile on his face had not reached his eyes, however.  My history with gifts was a sore spot for him as well. 

“Oh, that’s right,” said Alice with a supportive grin, motioning for me to sit in the empty chair by her side.  “You just keep those little mortal fingers intact and everything will be perfect today.” 

She looked back lovingly at her silent blond counterpart and I could have sworn I saw Jasper blush.

Early afternoon found us all positioned comfortably in the family room.  Some were looming ephemerally around the large flat screen as the BBC news unleashed another daily dose of sorrow on its worldwide audience, while others were still seated amid the ocean of freshly unwrapped blenders, mixers, serving bowls, cutting boards, Coffeemates, and strange kitchen utensils that had only a few hours ago seemed like perfectly normal wedding gifts. 

The problem was, of course, that I had been thinking of a perfectly normal newlywed couple—something that Edward and I most certainly were not.  Nearly every gift had revolved around cooking or sleeping…or any number of normal human tasks that I would only be performing for another four months and that Edward never would.  Still, my increasingly confused reactions, and Emmett’s inevitable slapstick comments—reaching their pinnacle when Edward had opened the card from my mother and found a four hundred dollar gift certificate to Steve’s Pet Shoppe near Dartmouth for the purpose of buying a puppy when we reached New Hampshire—had lightened the mood considerably so that by the time it was my turn to test Emmett’s ethnic cooking skills, any bitterness that I had harbored for the two sisters had vanished nearly completely. 

I played my part as the house’s only ingesting resident quite well, courageously testing every last dish, much to the satisfaction of the nine vampires watching my every move with varying levels of wonder or disgust on their faces.  They laughed at whatever expression formed on my face when I bit into something unfamiliar, finally releasing me from human duty when one of those somethings turned out to be the spiciest pepper I had ever tasted.  

Edward flew quickly to my side, his face painted with worry as I wheezed and the tears began to stream down my face.  Emmett followed, apologizing profusely and disappearing to the kitchen for a glass of water when I asked for it.  The others looked on with puzzled faces for a while, eventually drifting away in twos or threes toward the television or to another circle of comfortable loveseats when they were satisfied that I was not about to die on them. 

“I warned you about that dish,” Edward soothed, wiping away the tears with one hand as I reached for the glass of water.  “I may no longer have functioning human taste mechanisms, but my sense of scent has rarely ever failed me.”

I was too busy drinking to respond.  Emmett ran to get more water.

When the waterworks had stopped, and I was capable of feeling my tongue again, we joined Alice, Rosalie and Tanya in the corner.  Rosalie was busy describing the near impossibility of avoiding nighttime tourists in Bandhavgarh National Park—one of the largest Bengal Tiger reserves in all of India.  Tanya had obviously been there before and her elaborations added beautifully to the image that was being painted in my imagination.  I made a mental note to add India to my list of places to visit once I was finally free from the draw of blood.  Edward stroked my hair as we listened and I found myself slowly growing lost in his touch before Tanya’s voice, directed at us this time, pulled me out of my reverie.

“Edward, won’t you play something for us?”

Esme was nodding from her place in the corner beside Carlisle.  Edward kissed me softly before drifting off cautiously toward the piano with a suspicious glance toward Alice.  She nodded once, annoyed.  I didn’t recognize the song that filled the air, but it hinted at Chopin.  I glanced around at Tanya, whose eyes had closed to fully take in the music.  With Edward otherwise occupied, I could allow my mind to focus on my counter attack.  I would have to use every last bit of tact I had.  I would not be able to mention it to Alice flat out, of course.  Underhanded coups in the Cullen household were not possible. 

I had prepared a subtle conversation opener for just such an occasion, but just as I leaned forward to speak, I heard Edward’s low laugh, and the melody shifted to a very familiar tune.  Tanya’s eyes opened curiously.

“A new song?”

“Bella’s song,” Edward mused.  “A lullaby.”  His eyes drifted to mine and he held them there, not needing sight to find the melody to this song…only the feel of the keys beneath his fingers.  It was too beautiful to be bitter.

Tanya sighed. “It’s very soothing,” she said. “Such a shame that she won’t need it in a few months.”

Edward’s face grew grim and I heard the growl deep in his chest.  He switched to Mozart. I switched back to my game plan.

Irina’s voice put another quick stop to my plotting. 

“Edward, were the wolves terribly angry with my intrusion?”  she asked.  As if she didn’t already know.

“It was a test of their patience,” Edward responded, continuing flawlessly into the final movement of Mozart’s seventh symphony.  It was the only one that I recognized actual movements in. “They don’t like being surprised, but they are bearing it well.  I suppose you deduced as much from the conversation you observed last night, though”

His last line was spoken casually, almost as an afterthought.  Irina’s face melted into a tolerant smile.

“I should have known that I was within range of your talents.”

“Of course you should have.”

Edward’s voice, smooth and amused, blended perfectly with the music.  He switched to a composer that I didn’t recognize. 

“I still do not understand your necessity to negotiate with half-breeds,” Tanya interjected. “It worries me greatly that you place your trust in a verbal agreement with a race that has never been known to keep their word.” 

“Our treaty has been long-standing and mutually beneficial for several generations,” Edward insisted.

“Several generations?  So they are immortal as well?”  Irina’s interest had suddenly peaked.

“The treaty was not with them, but with their forefathers.”

“And therefore horribly outdated.”  There was muted frustration on Tanya’s face as she insisted.  “You are greatly limiting your hunting range and placing yourselves at risk based on a treaty signed by dead men?”

I drew a breath in protest, but Edward appeared behind me suddenly, his arms snaking around my shoulders and stopping me from voicing any anger provoking opinions. 

“The treaty was signed in good faith, Tanya,” he answered patiently.  “And we were the only ones whose hearts did not beat at the time of the accord.”

Irina joined in the debate.  “Still, Edward.  They are wolves after all, though strange ones, and their only purpose is to eliminate our kind.  Don’t you find it strangely coincidental that you should all have come together in this one harmless town?”

I felt Edward’s arms tighten around me and his hand curled into fists.

“No,” he growled ominously through clenched teeth.  “Your view of our arrangement with the wolves is grossly distorted.  I’ve already made that clear.”

Irina balked under his flaming glare.  I stood unmoving, confused by Edward’s sudden outrage and expecting to see resentment blossom across Tanya’s timeless face.  Instead, a broad smile appeared there.

“Edward, you become increasingly more confusing each time I see you.”  I could have sworn her next glance was directed only at me.  “Your capacity for patience and self control never ceases to astonish me.”

His arms slipped from my shoulders to my waist.

“Bella brings out the best in me.” 

Irina laughed silently.  “Yes, your human qualities are definitely beginning to show.”  I didn’t know whether that was meant to be a compliment or an insult.

Edward growled playfully then, and disappeared from my side without warning.  I heard a sharp intake of breath, and suddenly, he was directly behind Irina with one smooth hand wrapped tightly around her neck and his razor sharp teeth dangerously close to her marble skin.  His eyes had gone black and I recognized the look of the hunter.  For a moment, I was drawn back to the battle for his life and mine against Victoria only months ago.  A severed head full of shining red hair bounced away into the tree line in my memeory once again.    

“There’s still a bit of predator left in me,” he hissed.  I froze, waiting for the backlash to come from either sister, but Irina only smiled submissively, and a ripple of knowing laughter echoed from various positions around the room. As I stared in disbelief, Edward’s eyes shifted back to me with a hint of amusement, and he winked.  He returned, quickly and invisibly, to my side.

“Besides,” he mused. “I believe you two prefer more…human qualities.”

Identical nostalgic smirks lit the faces of both sisters.  I blushed for both of them.  I knew exactly which human qualities had driven the majority of the Denali clan to their current vegetarian lifestyle.

Irina broke the awkward silence that followed

“Bella, do you play chess?”   Her request seemed good-natured enough.  I stared at her uncertainly.

“Oh yeah.  I’m especially good at the part where I lose.”

Irina laughed.  “I suppose you are playing at a slight disadvantage with a family who has been perfecting their skills for well over a century.  I myself have lost a great amount of money to Carlisle and Jasper over the years.  I refuse to play with Edward or Alice.”  She gestured toward one of the three chess boards that were always laid out in the family room.  “Come, please.”

I hesitated, my gaze slipping doubtfully back to Edward. 

“I promise to play nicely.” Irina pleaded.  “It’s more for the conversation than for the game.  I abhor idle hands.”

He eyed Irina suspiciously for a moment, and then, apparently unable to find anything in her thoughts that would discourage a healthy thrashing at chess on my part, he smiled down at me.  “I need to speak to Alice alone anyway.  It seems she may have some harsh words for me.  Something about an objection to our anticipated living situation over the next week.”

I glared back at him as I followed Irina.  Of course Alice had seen my plan.  Of course she would argue in my defense, but I had not anticipated Edward’s window into her mind.  Downhearted, I wondered how it was possible to even begin an argument that both parties already knew the ending to.

Irina stopped at the closest chess set—a smooth, shining board with pieces sculpted of black and white marble.  I sat down behind the white set--it had always reminded me of my new family.  Already resigned to a devastating loss, I closed my eyes and tried to remember which move Edward usually began with.  Clumsily, I moved a pawn.   

“Bella, I wished to have this conversation alone, to apologize to you without it seeming as if I were only thinking of diplomacy.” She moved her knight and ran a perfect hand through her sleek white-blond hair as if nervous.  “Sadly it seems as if Edward has planned to keep you to himself all week, so my only option is to attempt to speak with you out of hearing distance.”

I bit my lip, pondering.  We would have to be at least a half a mile away to be out of earshot of the others, and I wasn’t sure that I was willing to travel that far alone with Irina yet.  “I don’t think Edward would agree to that either.”  I mimicked her move.  “He’s kind of protective.” 

Her pawn came up to protect her knight and she laughed.  “Yes, Edward has every cause in the world to be protective of you.  You are a unique human without a doubt.  You’ve changed his every thought and every movement.”  I mimicked her move again with a frown, wondering for the second time that day whether I was being complimented or insulted.

“In any case, this conversation can be as private as I choose it to be.  My half of it at least.”  Her bishop made an appearance, threatening my pawn and she tapped one finger to her powder-white temple.  “Untraceable, as your husband is so fond of describing it.”  Her eyes held an amused smile as they turned momentarily toward Edward and Alice.  Edward had obviously tuned Alice out for the moment and was listening in to the best of his abilities.

 “Well, I suppose that with Edward’s talents, I’m not quite as untraceable to him.”  A flicker of a smirk appeared on Edward’s face and he turned back to Alice smugly.

My second knight came out of hiding.  “So no one can hear you if you don’t want them to?” 

“I can take my scent and sound out of their minds if I choose to.”  She smiled, and I sensed an edge of frustration.  “Not with you, though.  You’ve got a very…private mind.”  She castled.  I hadn’t expected that.  “As I said, you are a very unique human.  Edward was wise to wait so long for you.”

“You can’t…hide from me?”  I moved my knight closer—probing, not yet threatening.

“Well, for the moment I suppose I should give thanks that you are still human, and in possession of only the most basic senses.”  Her pawn moved up two spaces, threatening my own. “And of course when Edward turns you, I’ll be thankful that you are on my side.”

I moved my bishop up to threaten hers and said nothing.

“Bella, I would ask you to please forgive my behavior as of late.  I know that my presence has caused trouble for you, as well as for your family and…friends.”  Her eyes narrowed infinitesimally at the last word.  Her bishop took mine.  First blood. 

“I do not desire conflict with this particular pack of wolves.  It was never my intention to surprise them into revealing themselves, nor to catch them off guard at all.  I was only following their scent.  It is rather…rare, you understand?”  Her eyes narrowed in anticipation as my pawn took her bishop.

“I don’t really notice the smell,” I replied, remarkably self-assured for someone who was snubbing an immortal.  Irina smiled neutrally.

“You know, you are not at all what I expected you to be, Bella,” she mused, and I wondered if I was imagining the impressed tone that colored her words.  “I expected someone weaker I suppose—more prone to petty human reactions.”  She moved her queen forward.

“Check.”

My king retreated shamefully.  I looked up into her strangely puzzled eyes, and told the truth.  “You’re not exactly what I expected either.”

“And what exactly were you expecting?”  Her bishop crowded in.

“Well,” I blushed.  Was I really going to tell her what I had expected? "Maybe a Russian accent. Edward said you were from somewhere near Russia. And…” What exactly had I expected?  Fangs? Horns?  “Someone a lot more…vampiric?”  It came out a question and I regretted it immediately as soon as Irina’s laughter began to echo around the room.  I looked around, embarrassed, but no one turned in our direction.  She was still blocking their ears.  Edward’s back was turned toward me, but even from behind, I could see the smile that lifted his cheeks.  My king retreated as far as he could.

“The accent disappeared quickly, of course,” she clarified jovially.  “My mother…my immortal mother…was educated by the Volturi, as were Tanya and I eventually.  If we speak with any accent now, it is probably theirs.”

I jumped.  “The Volturi?”

I knew I had heard such a smooth rhythmic pattern of speech somewhere before.  A vision of a surreal white face against jet black hair smiling idly as his battalion of black cloaks ripped a frightened newborn to pieces in a field not far from here appeared in my mind, causing a shudder.

“Of course.  We spent decades with them.  Hasn’t Edward told you our story?”

“No. I…I never asked,” I admitted.  It was an oversight that I found myself regretting at the moment. 

“But how can you understand our curiosity with the wolves if you know nothing of our transformations?  Our pasts?”  She was suddenly frustrated, staring down at the board with a furrowed brow.  I did not believe for a moment that her frustration had anything to do with my superb chess-playing skills.

“Bella,” she whispered after a long silence.  “I’d like to tell you our story, if you’ll hear it.”

Eight heads turned suddenly in our direction.  I gulped and shifted my glance awkwardly toward the chessboard again.  Irina had let them all hear her last statement.   They were all to be incuded in her story, and yet I would be the only one hearing it for the first time.  I blinked, unsure that I was ready to hear another story that was already destined to end badly.  The telling of Rosalie’s and Jasper’s turnings had left me scathing.  There was so much tragedy already residing inside the walls of the Cullen home.  Did I really want to add to it on a day that we were supposed to be celebrating?

But Tanya was already by her sister’s side, and Edward was above me with one hand on my shoulder, his eyes grim and reflective.  The others were listening calmly from their places around the room.  They wanted the tale to be told.  With one long, contemplative breath, I looked up again at Irina. 

“OK,” I breathed.

A flicker of a smile came to her lips, and her eyes were both tortured and triumphant as she moved her queen in for the kill.

“Checkmate.”