Disclaimer: I don't own these characters.

The Edge of Hope

Chapter 2: Daughters

A LONG TIME AGO

He got out of the canoe and felt along the edges of the slippery cavern. He carefully found his footing until he reached the large rock jutting out from the wall. Several moons had faded into the empty sky and then from the void, birthed a new. The winds were colder now and carried with them the bite of winter. He and his brothers had just come back from their annual hunt, to sustain them through the desperate season. Their long journey to the plains and back cost more than what they were able to bring back. One of his men had died, killed by the wild boar they were tracking. Their findings were meager and their journey home took longer than normal because they ran out of provisions and had to hunt for their day's energy.

His body, weary, he leaned his head on the wall, letting the cool damp soothe him. He dragged a bandaged hand across the wall, following the familiar patterns that he had etched into them. Just as much as his dwelling on the mainland, this too, felt like home. He was glad to be back, though he hoped he wasn't too late. He hoped that she had not abandoned him yet.

He leaned back, then he felt something in the wall that was a stranger to him. After so many hours of blood and sweat going into his work, he knew the shrine he made like the back of his hand. But this-the lines that his fingers now followed were foreign. His hands did not toil over this. His sweat didn't help to make this new addition. He got on his knees to more thoroughly investigate. He gasped at the intricacy. Every line was smooth and consistent, taking shapes he didn't dream of making with his little rock of a chisel. The carved goddess was now outlined in a circle of branches and trees, each so detailed he felt ashamed of his attempt. He thought that perhaps one of the villagers had followed him and was making fun of his feeble attempts. Anger and humiliation began to form in his chest. Perhaps he was a fool like he heard his family whisper about.

He felt for his goddess again, wondering if this time, instead of a homecoming, he would feel some type of betrayal in his own handiwork. But he only grew more sure of himself.

And then, besides his etching of the goddess, he felt another strange carving. He felt what had to be a head and then perhaps a torso and arm. The detailing was so much more ornate and obvious. He could even tell that in the left hand, was a fish.

He blinked, though he couldn't see in the darkness.

From his pouch he pulled out the fish he had caught earlier for this occasion. He had secretly wrapped it and fried it while the others weren't looking. If they knew, they would reprimand him for his wastefulness.

The carving of himself. Next to the carving of the goddess. He felt once more and in the other hand of his likeness, was hers.

In surprise, he dropped the wrapped fish. It made a soft patting sound as it hit the rock he kneeled on. When he reached down to pick it back up, he didn't touch the filmy leaves wrapping the fish. He hit rock. He searched for it with one hand absentmindedly until he heard a crunching sound, followed by the sound of meat being separated and then chewed. He froze, but he suddenly didn't feel cold anymore. There was a warmth emanating from his side that took away the winter's bite from the wind.

Finally, after what felt like hours, though only a few seconds had gone by, she wiped her mouth and whispered "You came back to me."

Present

Bella perused through Alice's closet. Violently, her hands shoved the coat hangers one by one as she sorted through them.

"What's the occasion?" Alice put her finger to her mouth, a little upset by the way Bella was manhandling her clothes and frustrated that she wasn't finding anything.

"Family reunion." Bella sighed and Alice's eyes narrowed.

"Charlie's?" Alice guessed.

"No." Bella answered curtly.

"So your. . ." Alice trailed off. "Your. . ." She continued with Bella didn't supply the second half the the sentence. "Mom?"

Bella shrugged. "Maybe." She frowned and then pulled something off the rack, a brown cotton dress with beige designs. She held it up to her body, then ultimately put it back on the rack and continued forward the the seemingly endless closet of clothes.

"What sort of attitude are you trying to convey?" Alice asked. "Friendly? Hospitable and approachable?" Alice wasn't the only one that noticed since Bella's transmutation, that her normal human classmates had begun to be subconsciously fearful of her as they are to the rest of the Cullens.

Bella shook her head. "That's too nice. I don't want to be nice. I want to look formidable. Bad ass."

"You are badass." Alice smirked and Bella rolled her eyes.

"Right. So I need to wear something to accentuate that."

"Hmm." Alice hummed and flickered around Bella like a dainty ballerina. She spun in the air as she leapt to grab something on the high rack. "I've never worn it. Is this sort of the look you're going for?"

Bella beamed. "Perfect."

Bella climbed into the passenger seat of Edward's car. She checked herself in the mirror and for the second time that day taken aback from her appearance. This was the new normal now. Glassy like features that looked as beautiful as porcelain but stronger than diamond. All the beauty bloggers in the world were trying to get that perfect highlight, which she achieved naturally in the sun. A more subtle skin shimmer than her boyfriend.

Edward bounded into the driver's seat, his smile creeping up one side of his face. He eyed Bella hungrily and his smile burst out the other corner. "Going to a funeral, Ms?" He teased.

"Actually yes." Bella smirked back. Edward shifted the car into reverse and swirled out of the garage.

"Oh, really? Someone close?"

"Very close." Bella nodded. "My boyfriend, actually."

Edward fake gasped. "That's so horrible."

"Tragic." Bella murmured. "Killed in a car accident."

Edward held in a chuckle. "You don't say."

"Mhm."

"What happened?"

"Couldn't stop staring at his girl's boobs long enough to keep his eyes on the road."

"Well. That's a good way to go." Edward shrugged, then made it a point to obnoxiously stare with wide eyes at Bella's chest. He let his left hand turn the wheel, sending the car careening to the side.

She laughed and threw a hand at Edward to turn him away. He righted their path on the road.

"Sorry." He crinkled his nose and eyes in an awkwardly adorable apology.

"Don't be. I like the attention. I like tempting you out of your good behaviour."

"You're dangerous." Edward sighed, but his velvet voice caressed around the words deliciously. Bella leaned into the side of his face with her nose and breathed along the side of his neck. "And you. . ." She whispered. "Should wear a seatbelt."

The both cackled at the joke, but before Bella could lean back into her own set, Edward pulled her closer and kissed her, parting her lips open urgently. She smiled into him and let his tongue dig until it found hers. Then too soon he let go. "I'll put mine on, if you put yours on." He panted, somehow short of breath.

"Mmm." She hummed. "How about, I put mine on yours." Suddenly she was in his lap, her legs straddling him, in the small space of the car.

"Something tells me you're not talking about seat belts." Edward grinned.

"Something tells me you're right." Bella kissed down Edward's throat and began to undo the buttons of his shirt. He growled softly, not in a way to deter her, but in approval, in pleasure. Edward kept both hands on the steering wheel, but it became apparent that he wished they were placed elsewhere on her body. Bella slowly came back up his chest, licked along the decorative veins in his neck, and found Edward's lips again. Then Bella's hands started to trail down from his shoulders, down past his pecs, creeping towards the top of his pants. Before she could get halfway, Edward sighed and grabbed her wrists.

"What?" Bella popped her eyes open innocently.

Edward rolled his eyes. "We're here."

"Oh." Bella sat up and shimmied over to the passenger seat again. "That was fast."

"Cursed by speed." Edward shrugged.

"You should really learn how to slow down."

"Maybe you can teach me." He grinned and leaned towards her seductively. Bella let him drag his nose along her hairline, his movements were painfully and directively slow, then giddily she whipped her head around and playfully bit his nose.

"Gotcha. Let's go." She chirped and hopped out of the vehicle.

As he watched Bella get out of the car and walk towards the field, Edward held a hand up to his nose and rubbed it. "Ouch." He muttered under his breath. It stung a little, so Edward made mental note to at some point to compare their teeth. Everyday, it seemed like there was more to Bella to learn about. It always surprised him, no matter how often it happened, that there were parts of him now reflected in her. She was somehow a soft copy of a vampire, though blood of her father still ran through her. . . and something else that kept it all together. That third thing, Edward knew nothing about other than what Bella had told him that fateful night when the three day storm had lifted. When he stepped out of the car, and walked towards Bella, he grinned. Whatever type of creature Bella was, or is, or will be, he would always love her the same way.

"So, what now?" Edward asked as he leaned against the the hood of the car with Bella.

Bella bit her lip then pulled her small designer back pack around to grab something from the top. She pulled out large pocket knife. Edward eyed her curiously. After flipping it open, Bella sauntered over to the tree line. She began carving into the surface of the wood. Diagonal lines connected to five corned shapes. She made the same design in the tree next to it. Then she pulled her hand up to her mouth. She she pulled her hand away, a small fire danced along her finger tips. She traced the lines in the wood with her flaming finger, singeing the wood as she went. As she walked back to the car, she shook he hand out, and the flame extinguished. Edward was careful to hide his shocked feelings, arranging his features into a calm "nothing to see hear" expression.

"Now we wait." Bella jumped up on the hood and set her feet on the bumper.

It was quiet. Eerily quiet. Not a bird in the sky or forest made a sound. No crickets chirped, no bugs buzzed. Even the wind had stopped whistling. Edward even fell quiet, forgetting to breath. Bella leaned back, and looked at the way the dying sun overhead affected the red in Edward's hair.

"Should I be nervous?" Edward finally spoke after a few minutes of silence.

"Are you?"

"I think, perhaps. I am. I just don't know what to expect."

"It's selfish, I suppose." Bella mumbled and fiddled with her own hand. "You don't have to be here."

"I want to."

"I want you to stay too." She smiled coyly. Edward wrapped his hand around both of hers.

"Whatever happens. We do it together. Promise?" Edward looked up from his eyelashes, creating his own kind of spell.

"Promise." Bella replied sadly. Before Edward could lean in for a small sincere kiss, the sound of lightning exploded behind him. Edward jumped and turned. In the tree line, a football field away, black embers floated towards the sky. The sound of a raging sparking fire rang through the quiet, ripping through the air. But he couldn't see the flame. Then, he couldn't see anything.

Then he perceived movement, and slowly color drained back into his sight. He blinked and from the treeline, a large black cat stalked through the high grass of the field. Then a woman stepped out from the tree that Bella marked. Her hair was long, reaching down past her navel, the color of corn silk, a sickly off colored white, and straight as a needle. Two more women appeared on either side of her. One with full red hair that curled at the ends. The other had brown hair twisted up into milk maid braids. A crow landed on Edward's car. And soon the field was full of small to large creatures. A large misshapen bunny. Two cobras with flared angry heads had their tails twisting together. A sun bear, with the a white necklace of fur across her chest ambled through the field, paying no mind to the other animals around it, including the black peacock riding it's back.

Belled leaped from the car. And stood tall and firm. Her high waisted black skirt gently lifted with the gust of air coming from the treeline, exist eating her asymmetrical cropped top, that had straps wrapping around under her bust.

The crow on Edward's car flapped forward into the gust of air, and when it landed, Tessa's barefeet touched the ground. Bella made no move to greet Tessa, but they stood side by side as the creatures walked forward. The three women moved closer. When they were standing just a few feet away, the blonde one asked.

"Who called us, the daughters of the single mother?" Her voice was airy, but stern.

"I did." Bella answered.

"And who are you?" The redhead asked, her voice just as ethereal, and just as solemn. She blinked her eyes, but it wasn't a human blink. The sides came in stickily over her yellow eyes, that were trained on Bella, sizing her up.

"I am Isabella, the youngest sister, reborn of blood drinkers, daughter of Renata the destroyer, daughter of Marie, mother of all." As she spoke a blue light twirled around her figure then vanished into the air.

The redhead nodded, accepting this answer.

"Why have you called us?" The brunette in braids asked.

"I have called you, because, the sickness is growing." Bella answered, putting as much charisma into her words as she could.

There were mutters among the creatures. The two cobras hissed.

"I've seen it." Tessa backed Bella up. "I'm Tessa, reborn of crow, daughter of Renata the destroyer, Daughter of Marie, mother of all." She paused as the women accepted this introduction. "It's just a few now, but the reaction has already been set off."

The three sisters appraised Tessa then looked at one another.

"And who are you?" The women in braid's locked past Bella and Tessa to the young man by the car.

"This is Edward." Bella smiled, but didn't turn back to look at him. She kept her gaze on the three women. "Of ancient immortal blood drinkers, enemy of the werewolf-"

"You know the rules, young child." The blonde interrupted her. "No man-"

"-And keeper of my heart." Bella finished.

A hush fell over the field.

Bella turned back then and held out her hand. Edward carefully took it and stepped to her side.

All eyes were now on this new man creature and the hand holding one of their sisters. Bella could feel the jealousy rising from them.

"I was reborn from his venom. The vampires, as they call themselves, are virtually indestructible and immortal as we are."

"You are so young." The redheaded woman tisked. "You trust him with your many years?"

"Yes." Bella said without hesitation.

The sisters held back for a moment.

"Back to the matter at hand." Bella continued. "This is my burden set by my mother, for my shoulders to bare. But I need guidance. I've been kept from you, hidden by my mother, but I will not hide anymore."

The blonde tilted her head. "How can we help?"

Bella squeezed Edward's hand and a devious smirk spread across her lips.

1 Week Later

Bella hopped out of her truck and sloshed through the lazy rain. She entered into the little convenience store and slowly meandered through the selections of energy drinks. She heard rummaging in the employee area in back. Bella grabbed a drink from the cooler and stood by the register, waiting for the attendant to come back. There were old magazines on the counter. And a recent Seattle newspaper was perched on a stand. The headline read something about heat on the police commissioner to crack down on the recent string of disappearances. As she waited, she began to ring her hands around the bottle nervously. Then, not used to her new strength, she used too much pressure and the bottle exploded.

"Oh, hell." She muttered.

Just then the attendant walked from the back. "Oh, what happened?" A sweet voice asked.

Bella held her arms out, her new blouse soaking wet in blue PowerAde.

"I don't know. It just kind of busted." Bella sighed.

"Let me get paper towels." The young woman rushed off in the back again. When she emerged with the cleaning supplies, she kept her head down as she kneeled to the floor to wipe up the mess.

"Oh, hey. It's my fault, I guess. I can do that." Bella kneeled down and began helping her. She looked up at the girl, barely flinching at the long horrible scar ranging across her face and down her neck to her chest. The stitches were still in, giving her a ghastly appearance. The skin puckered and swelled along the black lines.

"I guess I don't know my own strength." Bella glanced down at the broken bottle in her hands. "I'm so sorry."

The young woman laughed. "It's alright. I'm used to it. My fiance has the same problem." She laughed and then went quiet again.

Bella smiled warmly. "I'm Bella."

"I know who you are. I'm Emily." The young woman tentatively reached a hand out and shook hers. She seemed slightly nervous, like she was doing something taboo.

Bella made sure to keep her hand partially covered by her overlong sweater sleeve. "It's nice to meet you, Emily."