BPOV
We waited impatiently until Carlisle finally came back from the hospital just after midday. We were sitting in the lounge room- where I was comfortably settled on Edward's lap, his arms wrapped securely around me as we all tried to watch the movie showing. When Carlisle finally walked in we all jumped up excitedly. He took one look at our exited faces, and the bat and ball Emmett was holding and grinned. "I'll go get changed and then we can head out," he said before dashing upstairs.
In no time at all Carlisle was back downstairs, ready to go. I jumped on Edward's back, securing myself for the ride. Emmet watched me, amused, "Aw little Bella's getting a piggy back ride," he cooed.
I snarled menacingly at me and the family burst out laughing. Alice looked at how comfortable I appeared to be on Edwards back and smiled, "Good idea Bella," she exclaimed, jumping up onto Jasper's back, "This is way better than running." I grinned at her.
It was raining as we headed out, the whole family running together as the forest whipped by us in a blur. When we reached our destination I was impressed. Their playing field was an enormous clearing the size of ten football fields. Alice and I quickly got off our mates backs as Emmett ran to set up the field. The bases were about 200m apart- and I was glad that I was fit because I was planning on getting quite a few home runs. Out here there was no rain- although the thunder and lightning still roared overhead.
I decided that I should hurry up and claim my team before Emmett stole the ones I wanted. "Edward, Esme and Rosalie are on my team," I called.
Emmett spun around in surprise, "How come you got to pick your team?" he complained.
I smiled sweetly, "Because it's my first time playing with you guys. Besides, we're fairly even- you have two gifted people on your team, I have two gifted people on mine." I explained.
He frowned, though it over, then ran an appraising eye over my team. He shrugged, "You're never going to win with that team Bella; Esme hardly ever plays, and the only good player on your team is Edward. All the good players are on my team," he boasted.
Rosalie glared, "What are you implying Emmett?" she demanded.
He gulped, "You're a good player too," he protested weakly, cowering under her gaze, "I didn't mean it," he pleaded.
She just turned and stalked off to the home plate while Emmett stared dumbly after her. I snickered, "You are going down Emmett." Before following Rosalie, "Oh and we're batting first," I called. He just grunted in acknowledgement.
Finally the game got underway, with Rosalie batting first. Alice stood the pitcher's mound, deceptively still, but like the strike of a cobra her hand slapped out and Rose swung the bat. It hit the ball with a resonating crack- which merged perfectly with the thunder currently roaring in the background. Rose raced off as the ball flew into the forest- Jasper chasing after it. She made it to first base and stayed there as Jasper came back with the ball. Edward went next and hit the ball hard and low to the ground. Using his incredible speed he was soon standing on the second base, while Rosalie was on the third. I let Esme go before me, and despite Emmett's claim that Esme wasn't very good- something he probably thought due to the fact that she wasn't an aggressive player, I found that she was really quite skilful. She hit the ball low to the ground similar to Edward, only with less strength it didn't go as far, and she only made it to first base.
Rosalie was home, and Edward was on third when I stepped confidently up to the plate, my shield wrapped around me. Emmett ran up to Alice and said something to her. She heaved a sigh and handed him the ball before sitting down in the middle of the field- obviously she knew what was going to happen next. With the exception of Edward- who had seen what Alice knew, the others were all giving Alice curious glances.
I confidently gave the bat an experimental twirl before facing Emmett, "Bring it on Emmett," I taunted. He grinned before throwing the ball in a soft underhand arc towards me. I looked at it disdainfully and let it pass. "Come on Emmett! I know you can throw better than that," I commented scornfully, "That's just insulting, gave me a real throw!" I demanded.
He didn't, sending me another soft throw. I sighed and I hit it hard, aiming it high into the air. I heard Emmett's shout of glee as he intended to catch it and make me out, but I slowly dropped my bat and headed at a sedate walk towards the first base. I sent out a shield to catch the ball and spin it teasingly over Emmett's head, just out of jumping reach. I continued smugly on my sedate walk around the bases as Edward and Esme made it to the home plate. I shot an amused look at Emmett, who had given up trying to jump for the ball, and was now staring at me, sulking. "That's not fair Bella," he complained.
I smiled sweetly, "Yes it is Emmet, I'm just making up for the fact that I can't run as fast as you. Besides, you didn't mention that I couldn't use my shield."
He glowered and turned to Esme, "Mum, Bella's cheating," hew whined. Everyone burst into laughter at that.
"What are you, seven Emmett?" I asked, "Are you telling on me?" I choked out.
Rosalie rolled her eyes at him, "Grow up Emmett," she scolded.
By this time I'd finally made it back to the home plate before dropping the ball. "Home Run BABY!" I yelled excitedly, "In your face Emmett!" I grabbed Edward and leapt into his arms for a passionate kiss in celebration.
"PDA!" Emmett yelled.
Edward broke our kiss and glared at him, "Like you can talk Emmett," he scoffed.
Emmett thought about that for a second before he grinned sheepishly. "Right, sorry, carry on," this brought on another round of laughter, and even Emmett joined in this time.
"Little Sis, we're so glad you're a part of the family," he proclaimed, "Everything's so much more fun now."
I smiled, "Thanks Emmett."
We continued playing- I continued to get home runs on my turns, but eventually we had three outs and we changed places. I stood at the first base, while Esme pitched and Rose and Edward meandered in the field.
Emmett stepped up to the plate, buoyant and self-assured. Apparently he was sure he could hit it hard enough to get himself a home run. I was sure I could stop that from happening. Before Esme threw the ball I wrapped a shield around it, but allowed it to be thrown through the air as usual. Emmett swung the bat and it connected with the ball; a sickening crack resonating. As Emmett took off running towards me I tightened my shield around the ball, stopping it midair and bringing it straight to my hand. It hit my hand just before Emmett reached me. He was running so hard that he ran into me and fell back as my shield anchored me to the spot.
I snickered at him, "What was it you were saying before we came Emmett? Something about me not being able to make it to first base? It seems you have more of a problem trying to reach it than I do." Emmett looked at the ball in my hand, then at the ground, finally taking in the fact that he hadn't managed to reach first base. His jaw dropped. He turned, "Mum, she cheated again!" he complained loudly.
Everyone snickered at him as Esme commented, "Emmett dear, don't blame poor Bella for the fact that you didn't make it. There's a first time for everything."
He stalked off back to the home plate muttering, "Poor Bella, hmph."
I allowed the others to bat and run without my interference- letting Rose and Edward catch the balls and try to tag people. When it was Emmett's turn again I perked up, and saw Alice look slyly in my direction and give me a thumbs up, even though she was on the opposing team. Apparently the whole family liked to make fun of Emmett- I suspected that it was probably revenge for a few pranks he had no doubt pulled on them over the years. As he gave the bat an experimental swing he glared at me warningly, "No cheating this time Bella," he called.
I simply smiled angelically at him, "No promises Emmett." I yelled back.
When Esme threw the ball to him he swung, but at the last minute I used a shield to tip the ball so slightly that not even a vampire would notice that the ball had changed trajectory. It was a small enough bump though that the ball flew just under Emmett's bat as he swung. When Emmett realised that he had not hit the ball he looked stunned. "Come on Emmett, can't you hit the ball?" I taunted. His eyes narrowed into determination and he took his stance again, nodding to Esme. She threw again, and again I tipped the ball so that Emmett would just miss. "Good try Emmett, I'm sure if you work on your hand-eye coordination for the next, oh-say fifty years, you might actually manage to hit the ball." I choked with laughter and could see that the others were trying to stifle their giggles too.
I could see from Emmett's face that he still hadn't realised that I had anything to do with it. I figured it was time to take some credit. When the next ball was thrown I pulled it up and hung it in the air in front of his face as he swung. He stopped and looked at the ball levitating in his face. His gaze swung furiously to me and he stalked over. "Cheat one more time Bella and you won't like the consequences," he threatened, "I can be very very vengeful if I want to- how would you like your Maserati to have pink polka dots all over it?"
I cocked an eyebrow at him, "About as well as you'd like your Jeep crushed into a cube of scrap metal," I said sweetly- the warning in my voice unmistakable. Nobody touched my cars and survived. Emmett huffed and stalked off.
We continued playing again, everyone having a good time, until suddenly Alice froze, her eyes taking on a glassy look as she had a vision. Edward whipped around to look at her, his eyes widening and becoming fearful as he took in whatever Alice's vision was. Suddenly Alice and Edward were beside me, the rest of the family rushing over, noticing the panicked looks on their faces. "What's going on?" I asked warily.
"The nomads," Alice whispered, "They were leaving and they heard our game. They're coming towards us- they want to play." She looked scared. My heart dropped at the thought. No doubt these nomads would in all likelihood try to hunt me- or at least be far too curious about why I was with the Cullens. I had a bad feeling that this was not going to end well.
Carlisle turned to Edward, "Do you have enough time to run her away from here?"
Edward shook his head, "No, and even if I did, the last thing we want is for them to catch her scent and start hunting her."
Emmett looked unperturbed, "How many are there?" he asked.
"Three," Edward answered shortly.
"Three?" Emmett scoffed, "Let them come," he stated, flexing his enormous muscles. If the situation had been any less serious I would have rolled my eyes at Emmett's obvious enthusiasm for a fight.
"Are they hungry?" Esme asked worriedly. Edward shook his head no, but he didn't look comforted by it- I wasn't either.
As we chatted Edward warned us that they were nearly there. We moved back to our positions, pretending that we were oblivious to their arrival until they stepped out of the forest.
As Edward had said, there were three of them- two males and a female. All of them had rough, unkept clothes and rugged appearances- a stark contrast to the civilised Cullens and Volturi. I hadn't seen many nomads over the years. Instinctively I shielded my family and sent out a second shield to lightly touch all three of them so that I would be able to recognise them in the future.
The male in the lead had dark hair and bright ruby eyes. He was a standard build- certainly nothing compared to Emmet, or Felix and Demetri. The other male was built slightly stronger, but more wiry. He had long blonde hair and a sinister smile on his face. As I observed him closer I realised from his stance that he was actually the leader of this coven- he was just using the other male as a decoy. I paid closer attention to him.
The female was obviously the leader's mate- she kept stealing subtle glances at him and it was obvious from her body language. She had a mane of fiery red hair, her eyes wary as she examined us.
We had all converged into a line facing them as they approached cautiously. Seeing Carlisle's friendly expression they relaxed a little as they drew to a stop. "Hello," Carlisle greeted them.
The dark haired one pretending to be the leader spoke up, while I kept a wary eye on the blonde vampire- my senses telling me he was dangerous. "Hello, I am Laurent and this is James and Victoria," he said, pointing out his companions.
"I'm Carlisle and this is my family; Esme, Alice, Jasper, Bella, Emmett, Rosalie and Edward." He said casually, making sure that he didn't draw any special attention to me.
"We were passing through and heard your game," Laurent explained, "We wanted to know whether we could play with you."
Carlisle smiled, not showing an ounce of uneasiness, "Certainly, a few of our players were just leaving anyway. You can take their places." He threw them the ball, "Edward, Bella, Emmet, you guys can head back now." He reminded us.
Edward nodded and grabbed my hand. Just as we were about to turn around the wind changed directing, blowing my scent right at the three non-vegetarian vampires. They caught my scent and froze, James getting into a crouch and looking like he was about to pounce.
Edward immediately crouched in front of me, snarling- an automatic reaction to someone threatening his mate. Laurent placed a warning hand on James' shoulder and he straightened up. "You brought a snack?" Laurent asked incredulously.
The whole family stiffened, "She's not a snack," Rosalie snarled, and I mentally reminded myself to get her a big thank you present- perhaps some jewellery.
"She's part of our family," Carlisle stated firmly, disapproval in his tone.
"How can you be so close to a human?" Laurent asked.
"We keep a permanent residence nearby and we're in constant contact with them." Carlisle stated.
Their eyes widened in shock, "How do you do that without the humans becoming suspicious?" Laurent enquired with interest in his eyes.
"We hunt animals, not humans," Carlisle explained, "There's another coven up in Denali, Alaska that also has out feeding habits."
They looked shocked, "Really? It's actually possible to live completely off animal blood?" Laurent asked.
"Yes," Carlisle confirmed, "I have done so my entire life. If you are interested in knowing more perhaps you could come to our house and talk." He offered.
I looked over at James, my sixth sense telling me that I was still in a lot of danger from him. Then I saw a look in his eyes that I immediately recognised. It was the look of a tracker who had just decided on his next target. I was that target. It was a look I had seen many times on Demetri when we used to play hide-and-seek. Of course Demetri had an extra gift which allowed his tracking to be pretty much infallible with everyone except me. He caught the tenor of a person's mind and tracked that. However, his gift didn't work on me with my mental shield, so he tracked me the old-fashioned way- by scent, traps and deception. Over time Demetri had used almost every trick of the trade in finding me- although I often teamed up with Felix and shielded his mind as he carried me places- it was harder to get caught with Felix running us to hiding places.
I knew for a fact that once a tracker had a new target they would do anything to get them- the chase was what they lived for- and now it seemed that James wanted me to be his next meal. I contemplated killing him now- knowing that if I didn't he would inevitably try to get to me later. I certainly didn't want to lead him back to my dad, and yet I didn't really want to kill them all in front of the Cullens- especially when I couldn't explain properly to them why I wanted to kill him since I couldn't tell them about Demetri.
As I was contemplating whether to kill him now, and considering whether I would have to kill the others as well, I saw his eyes flicker over the rest of the Cullens before his gaze settled for a second on Alice. I saw a flicker of recognition in his eyes. I was surprised; I knew Alice didn't remember anything from her life before she woke up as a vampire, and she obviously hadn't recognised James. This led me to conclude that James had known Alice before she became a vampire.
That knowledge decided me. I couldn't kill James yet. I knew Alice desperately wished she knew why she couldn't remember her human life, and if James knew something I couldn't kill him until I found out what it was.
I was brought out of my thoughts by Carlisle, "I'm sorry, but given the circumstances, I think it would be best if you leave," he stated politely, but firmly.
Laurent nodded, "I'm sorry for the disturbance," he apologised before turning. "Come on James," he called.
We watched in silence as they all headed back into the forest. Just before he entered James turned to face me, and even at the large distance I could tell from the look on his face that this was anything but over.