Disclaimer: I don't Own twilight

Authors Note: Sorry! Sorry! Sorry! I know I keep saying im sorry for taking so long to post a chapter but sometimes I just cant b bothered to drag my lazy ass into the computer room.

CHAPTER 16: Introductions

We were nearly at the mansion now; and I was breathing hard. Edward looked down into my anxious face but I rearranged my features so I didn't look so worried. He wasn't fooled.

'What are you stressing about?' He asked.

'Nothing, I'm fine!' I said a little too loudly, my voice raising an octave higher each word I spoke.

'Bella, I've met most of them, if they're all as nice, im sure it will be fine.' He smiled. Uh-oh, he still didn't know how many vampires were actually at the mansion… I should say something about it but I have already said enough this afternoon, I don't want Ariella to kick me out.

'err…' was all I could manage. Edward looked down at me again puzzled. I sighed, and then Ariella saved me the awkwardness.

'Edward, the reason I invited you to come back to the mansion with us was so you could meet the family, and so Bella didn't have to hide anything from you. Bella – feel free to tell him anything and everything you want.' She said.

I was stressing again, I didn't know where to begin. I looked out the window trying to decipher the dark shapes, we were moving incredibly slow, not like Ariella's normal driving; but a second later I realized she had purposely slowed down to give me time to explain things to Edward.

I looked back into his light butterscotch eyes, he was getting impatient; I could see his eyes darken slightly.

'well…' I started. I didn't really know where to begin. 'There aren't really only a "few" other vampires at the mansion. More like close to one hundred…' I trailed off to look into his eyes. His eyes were as round as coins and his mouth was wide open. Definitely not a normal Edward reaction.

'What?' He said hoarsely.

'Ariella is known as the Coven Queen, so to speak; and she has many followers…' I paused to check his reaction. He was gaping again.

'What do you mean "followers"?' he asked, looking from the back of Ariella's seat to my face.

'People that support her rule. She's the strongest and oldest vampire in existence. She's Dracula's daughter.' I stopped.

'Dracula? You've got to be joking.' He muttered and a low oath reached me ears.

'I know it is hard to believe Edward Cullen,' Ariella put in. 'But what you choose to believe is purely up to you. I am only sharing my history with you on Bella's account, the last person to find out about who I truly am was Bella, back ninety years ago.' Her statement put Edward into place. A small grin of pleasure played across my lips.

'So you have roughly 100 vampires under your control? All of which live at this mansion in the forests?' Finalized Edward.

'No, there are currently close to three hundred living under my rule, but only one hundred live at the mansion; the other two hundred have divided into their own covens and are currently living around the world.' Said Ariella. I'm sure that if Edward was human, he would have probably gone into shock by now.

'Anyway,' Ariella continued, she had taken the reins from me and chosen to explain the story herself. I have to say this was a wise decision; I kept stopping after every sentence to see Edwards expression to my words.

'There are currently one hundred vampires living at my mansion. Within the mansion, there are separate "social groups". Just like a high school, everyone knows each other but there are simply too many people to all hang around in one group.' She paused and Edward nodded to show his understanding. Even though she had her back to him, I am sure she knew he nodded.

'Now, the ones who attend your high school with me, are those who are in my "social group" –Bella included; and within the coven, they are sort of the second rulers. As you might have been able to imagine, we are treated with a certain respect and I warm you, and embarrassment on your part will have you immediately thrown from the grounds.' At this her soft flowing voice became stiff and she swiveled in her seat to turn around and look at him. She wasn't watching the road but the car didn't swerve an inch.

Edward nodded again. I have to say I was kind of enjoying this, for once Edward was made to feel like the child. The strong coldness he used to display to people outside of his family when I was human was always shunned to the side whenever Ariella spoke to him.

'Also, to keep a sense of equality among the coven, while in the mansion, any vampire with special gifts or abilities will be unable to use them while under my roof – excluding those in my group. But I'm sure I will be able to trust you not to boast your power about and please be sensible with it. I understand your ability is to hear thoughts and have a certain insight to other's minds, well you have probably noticed that you are unable to read Mine, Willis's, Harrison's, Elijah's, Rachels', Merrindene's, Adrian's or Bella's thoughts, that is because while at Forks High, I placed us all with a certain protection to keep us hidden from other vampire's gifts. That is why you were not able to hear our thoughts, Alice did not see us in any of her visions or why Jasper could not feel our emotions, but I do understand that you have never been able to read Bella's mind.' He nodded again.

'So I will allow you to use your power, and I warn you, it will be useless to try to read my thoughts, with much thanks to my father, I am an extremely strong breed of vampire.'

'I understand you Ariella, thank you for sharing your history with me, I have to say I am honoured.' He was sincere, I smile and gently squeezed his hand. He kissed me gently on the forehead.

After that Ariella sped up, accelerating to such a speed that we were thrown back into our seats. Edward chuckled beside me.

'What?' I asked him.

'I never got around to thanking Ariella for scaring us out of our skins, on your first day of school when your silver Mclaren sped past us, almost putting us into a tree.' He smiled.

Ariella's bell-like laugh sounded from the front and the car temperature seemed to become warmer and more pleasant.

'Sorry about that, I just wanted to give you a scare.' I was shocked.

'You knew they were in the car?' I asked.

'Yes, of course I did Bella, as soon as we saw your school I saw that Edward and his family attended there, I enrolled us there for you.' She finished, and if I was human, I knew I would have cried out of gratitude.

'Thankyou.' I whispered.

I could almost feel her smile from the front.

'Thank you for bringing me back my angel.' Said Edward.

'You're very welcome, I have to say, I had fun playing match maker, well "re-match maker".' We all laughed at her. It was just too easy to like Ariella. I could tell that even Edward had warmed to her, though im not sure if it was out of niceness, or whether he liked her personality or whether it was out of admiration.

'We're here.' Said Ariella. I took a deep breath and looked over at Edward. He kissed me passionately; I understood that as a sign of 'let's go'.

Ariella turned down the inconspicuous dirt path and flew through the tree's which formed a thick barricade either side of the small road.

I could hear Edward's gasp as the beautiful mansion I've come to call "home" came into view. It looked as beautiful as ever. I loved the mansion at night, you could see the flames from the torches which illuminated the house from inside throw shadows onto the crimson curtains which were plastered over the windows.

'You have a beautiful home.' He complimented.

'Only the best.' Was her response.

Ariella pulled a massive drift around a fountain which landed the car on the gravel and at the base of the stone steps leading up to the massive double doors.

We got out of the car fluently, not breaking a stride and shut the doors. Me and Edward paused when we exited out of the car and we eyed the doors apprehensively.

Ariella came around from her side to stand next to us.

'You ready?' She asked Edward.

He smiled a heartbreaking smile, although it didn't even faze Ariella, and he placed an arm around my waist. I returned to favor and Ariella started walking in front of us. I was glad she was going first; she always set of a commotion when she entered the house. The guys all went bleary eyed and hurried forwards to kiss her and the girls all shouted welcome and came to give her hugs.

At lease the attention would be taken off Edward for a split second.

I didn't even know why I was stressing so much, it was like I was taking him to meet my parents, or like when he first took me to meet Carlisle and Esme.

We started to ascent the stone steps and Ariella swung forwards the door.

It wasn't too bad. There were only a few people in the hall, looking through the book cases or seated in small groups around small tables. About 16 of them.

As I anticipated, most of them made moves to Ariella, showing her welcome and bowing. I caught my name a few times and heard a growl from Edward when a cute blonde vampire winked at me.

At the growl, the room went quiet and all of them turned to face Edward. After deciding he didn't live here, a few of them exchanges glances with each other and began to approach him carefully.

My grip tightened on his hand scared that they were going to attack him, but after reading a few minds and tasting the atmosphere, I decided they were just curious.

I stood by his side loyally as a few of them introduced themselves and shook hands. Edward was quiet and polite and I hear a few impure thoughts coming from the girls in one of the corners who were all eyeing Edward with lust in their topaz to black eyes.

I sent a menacing hiss their way and they turned their heads.

After a few more minutes of socializing, Ariella said we should go upstairs and change.

'Change for what?' I asked her, Edward was standing with a few guys over around a table discussing music.

'I though we would have a little bit of a party, nothing big, just a small social gathering. What do you think?'

'Sounds good.' Came Edwards's voice from behind me. He wrapped his arms around my waist resting his head on my left shoulder. I smiled at his relaxed expression. He felt comfortable being at the mansion, I hope it would last; he still had about ninety more to meet.

We started the ascent up the many staircases with a hint of anxiety. Sure, the knot in the pit of my stomach lessened because everything down in the hall went well, but I was nervous about how Edward would be treated by the rest of the coven, Willis in particular.

As we walked –vampire speed- up the stairs, we had to pause a few times to introduce Edward to some curious on lookers. I was annoyed by the lustful thoughts of some females. It seemed Edward was a natural at socializing. I breathed.

In no time at all we had reached the topmost floor.

'This floor Edward, belongs to only our group, the other rooms which we have passed belongs to the others living here.' Ariella explained.

'Of course.' Said Edward in a smooth velvety voice, his arm still around my waist.

As we stepped off the last step of the staircase, our feet came into contact with the familiar wooden flooring. The top of the staircase ended in room the size of a small hall. It was an oval shape with different doors leading off it into more halls and lounge rooms with branched off into separate studies, rooms, bathrooms and kitchens – the last of which we did not need a lot.

The circular walls were plastered with pictures of our social group and mirrors. There were also portraits of Ariella and old gothic sculptors were situated in various positions. There were also three large double book cases.

'It's beautiful.' Edward breathed, smiling his beautiful crooked smile at me. I heard Ariella's soft chuckle from some where behind us.

'Let's go, we've got some familiar faces for Edward to meet.' And she walked through the door to the right of the staircase which led into the main lounge room.

We were still in the hall room when Ariella walked through the door. Edward made a move to walk through straight after her but I held him back. He looked down at me curiously.

I sighed and looked away. I wasn't even sure why I was so wound up, but my intuition shouted 'WILLIS!' at me.

Edward ran his pale hand through my soft brown locks. When his hand was free from my hair he rested his hand on my waist and pulled me closer, slipping his other arm around me also.

I reached up and rested my arms around his shoulders and leant in for a kiss.

My kisses with Edward were like nothing else I was used to. The sheer feel of his lips against mine filled my stomach with butterflies and still made my dead heart leap – it was like being human again.

After an eternity we broke apart.

'Trust me Bella, it will be fine. The worst is over anyway.' He purred, stroking my cheek. Just then Rachel threw open the door; wrecking the moment.

'Come on you two! We've been waiting ages, god!' And gave Edward a big cheesy grin before disappearing through the door.

I heard her thoughts a few second before her burgundy head disappeared.

'Hmm… he is kinda cute – GOOD ON YA GIRL!' I smiled to myself, knowing full well Edward would have heard her also.

'Lets go.' I said confidently, and took his hand in mine and walked through the door.

As soon as we walked through the door, Elijah and Adrian leapt on Edward. At first I thought they were attacking him but as I made a move to help, I saw that they were simply giving him a knuckle sand which.

I laughed and Merrindene came up and put an arm around my shoulders and laughed with me.

'Enough, you don't want to break him now.' Sneered Willis from the couch. He was spread out with his black boots resting on a coffee table. He had his black trench coat on and it looked lovely with the deep blood red of the couch.

Elijah, Adrian and Edward had already straightened up with smiles on their faces, but looked over annoyed at Willis as he spoke.

'I'm pretty sure you're more breakable than Edward, Willis.' I snapped back. I wouldn't let him be rude to Edward, no matter how beautiful he looked right now.

That wiped the sneer of his face.

'Yes, shut up Willis.' Rachel's voice came from the other side of the room where she was chatting amidly to Harrison.

Willis opened his mouth to retort when Harrison broke in.

'It's nice to see you again Edward.' He said with a smile. I did note that he completely ignored me. His thoughts wondered over to me.

'What is so special of him? He left her after all… but it is not my business, she has no time for me, I have moved on, but still – I have competition…' He trailed off with a careful glance in my direction.

'Likewise.' Edward returned his gesture with a polite smile. It was difficult to know whether Edward had indeed heard Harrison's thoughts.

Strangely enough, I found myself a bit offended by his coldness towards me, I already knew he was hurt by the fact I had chosen Edward over him, but to be honest, when did I ever express interest in him? I thought angrily. How selfish!

Ariella came in from her bedroom and announced that we should all get read for the party. In the corner of my eye I saw Willis throw the floor a contemptuous look. My senses told me he really didn't want to go, but for some reason he had to, although Ariella had made it clear that it was simply optional.

I gave Edward a quick kiss before Rachel and Merrindene had seized me by both arms and dragged me into the spare room that was the size of a shop and had the contents of a clothes store. This was Ariella's personal collection.

I smiled to myself, actually looking forward to finally spending a social date with my angel once more.

Authors Note: yay! finally finished the chapter! im so sorry it took so long, oh and in the last chapter i made a mistake, i accidently wrote: "emmet has become stronger..." when it was meant to say 'ELIJAH has become stronger" their so similar i get them mixed up, but anyway, thanks for readin my story so please REVIEW! PLEASE! thanx luv sharniexxox