Chapter 3 - Forks

Bella saved many of her stories for the long flight. She filled Tara in on the Cullen family and their history, carefully avoiding certain details of events that she felt should be protected for the time being.
She didn't mention their involvement with the wolves, nor did she tell her about their past dealings with the Volturi. She also held back on telling Tara about Renesmee. Bella wasn't quite sure how she might react to the news of their half-human, half-vampire daughter. She felt that chapter of their lives might be best kept for a later time.
Tara took great interest in the account of Bella and Edward's love for one another. She became completely absorbed in all the details as Bella described her move to Forks, meeting Edward and the rest of the Cullens. She told her about all the times when Edward saved her life, from Tyler's speeding van to her near attack in Port Angeles and she even told her about their encounter with James, explaining how she nearly died when he bit her. Bella gave no more stories past that point and allowed her to absorb it all, leaving the rest for another time. Tara automatically assumed it was James that turned Bella, never questioning otherwise.
"That's absolutely incredible. I mean, your story would really make a great book…fictional of course," Tara said to them.
"Of course," Bella winked.
Heavy rain and dense clouds greeted them when they arrived in Forks. Alice showed up at the airport to pick them up. She came alone knowing there would be three of them arriving and needed the extra seat space. As the trio came into view she cheerfully pranced over to meet them at baggage claim giving Bella the first and biggest hug. "I totally missed you guys!" her voice sung.
Bella rolled her eyes at her. "Really Alice… it's only been a few days."
"I know but I've been thinking about what it would be like if you actually lived there… you know… all the way across the country….far, far away….at college." She put on her best pouty face not liking the idea of them leaving Forks to attend college. It was hard enough having Rosalie and Emmett gone, she didn't want to lose them too so when Edward and Bella began touring some of the more distant colleges she started laying the guilt on quite heavily.
Tara peeked out from behind Edward and Bella and once Alice’s eyes quickly spotted the girl, her frown lifted. She was excited to finally meet the girl she’d seen in her visions. "Hello Tara, I'm Alice!" She gave the girl an overly friendly hug. The second she stepped back and took a good look at Tara's frumpy attire, the fashion Nazi began to ramble on in her mind about the girl's appearance. "Ugh! Geeze Edward, you sure can pick em! I see her and Bella even have the same fashion secrets. Well, looks like I have more work to do…Hmmm, bet she's a size four…Oooh, that lacy pink dress I just bought would be darling on her!"
Edward just groaned. Bella stifled a chuckle as her instincts told her that Alice was already plotting something. She clearly had that look in her eye that said "a make-over is coming".
Tara remembered Alice from Bella's stories. "So…I hear you can see the future. You see anything good in store for me here?"
“Oh I already see a new wardrobe in your future,” Alice rambled on in her head.
"Uh, Alice?" Edward nudged her.
"Oh…um, hmm well, I already know you are gonna love it here in Forks with us," she said sweetly. "…but other than that, your future seems very cloudy now for some reason. That's so odd." Alice looked a little frustrated by her inability to see Tara's future.
"Really? Well, I suppose that just means I'm not very exciting," She shrugged. Tara thought perhaps her life was too boring for Alice to read. After all this time, nothing extraordinary has ever happened to her, so why should moving to a town like Forks make any difference, she assumed.
As requested, Alice drove Edward's car for the ride. Edward and Bella packed very light, sharing only one suitcase between them and Tara only brought a small backpack, containing a few sketch books and her iPod. It was all she owned.
Knowing Edward would insist on driving home, Alice strategically placed several brochures for the University of Seattle and a few other local colleges on both front seats. Bella grabbed hers off the seat first, gazing at it with a smirk on her face.
Once Edward opened his door, he also noticed one on his seat. He grinned then shoved them in the center console. "Nice one Alice," he said.
"Oh, well I'm not worried anymore. You guys are staying here. I'm positive of it now," Alice said smugly after confirming their future.
When Edward pulled into the driveway at the Cullen home, he leaped out and zipped around to open the doors for each of the girls. Tara stepped out of the car and nervously scanned her surroundings, absorbing in all the new sights and smells. She detected an unfamiliar scent in the air and thought perhaps it could be an animal nearby. Bella and Edward mentioned something about mountain lions but she thought it smelled more like a coyote. When Edward scanned her thoughts he suddenly realized they would need to fill her in on a few things right away. He then led her home to meet the rest of family that eagerly waited for them. Esme and Carlisle stood in the great room as they entered both smiling. Esme instantly greeted her with a warm hug. The idea of having a new addition to the family thrilled her. "Hello Tara, I'm Esme and this is my husband Carlisle."
Carlisle nodded. "It's a pleasure to meet you. Welcome to Forks. Please… make yourself at home."
"Thanks. I really appreciate your hospitality I've heard so much about you on the trip here."
Just then, another vampire strolled towards them, stopping alongside Alice. "You must be Jasper," Tara said, remembering from Bella’s stories.
"It's a pleasure to meet you," he nodded. He was just glad they didn't bring a human home.
"So, how about a tour?" Esme offered. "I can show you all the rooms. We have a couple extra you can use if you just need some privacy."
"That sounds great." She smiled."You're both so kind. I can see why Edward and Bella speak so highly of you both."
Edward knew she felt pretty good about coming with them now. He could see that was taking to Esme right away. Her warm smile and benevolent demeanor made her very likable.
As Esme walked Tara through the entire house, showing her every room, they stopped at Edward's old room. The walls had been repainted a soft crème color with lavender trim and a floral border wrapping around the perimeter of the ceiling. A Rembrandt painting hung alone on one wall, while two botanical ones hung on the adjacent wall, accenting the color scheme. A new Bose system replaced Edward's old one. Several stacks of CDs sat on a shelf next to it, neatly arranged in perfect alphabetical order. The neighboring shelves contained piles of books, all neatly alphabetized as well. A dresser stood in the corner, with a purple lamp on top of it. Behind the closet door was a variety girls' clothing. Last but not least, Tara noticed the frilly canopy twin bed, centered in the room and neatly made with giant lacy pillows propped half way down the lavender bed spread.
“Very girly,” she thought. Tara didn't bother to ask why it was there since three of the other rooms also had beds as well. She assumed they belonged to the couples, but didn't bother to inquire about it knowing vampires needed privacy at times.
As she strolled through the house with the family, she kept looking at their eyes. It fascinated her. "So you're all on this animal diet I see."
"Yes, that's correct," Carlisle answered. "We've all vowed not to kill humans."
"I've never heard of such a way of life. But… you're a physician, so why don't you just consume human blood like I do? You have access to it so easily."
"It's much harder to control urges when you live among humans. We've weaned ourselves off human blood to decrease the risk of accidents. I believe it's more tempting to fall off the wagon, so-to-speak, if you're consuming it every day."
She shrugged. "I don't find it so hard. Every city has a hospital and as long as I have a food source, I'm fine," she spoke quite sure of herself.
"And if you're not..?" he pondered.
"Well, ah…” Her eyes panned down. “I have resorted to an animal or two in the past. Guess you gotta do what you gotta do, ya know?" she admitted.
Carlisle admired her willpower to abstain from humans completely on her own. "It's not so bad really. It also gives you the sport of the hunt. Animal prey is a bit more challenging, not much, but they are faster and have better senses then humans, so the hunt is much more thrilling for us."
She wrinkled her nose. "Yeah, except they kinda taste like crap."
Jasper snickered at her comment, making the others giggle as well. He liked the new girl already.
"Yes well, you get used to it," Carlisle replied with a chuckle. "Trust me, the game here is pretty good and a carnivore's blood is a lot closer to human blood."
"Oh…” She sounded a little disappointed. “So I guess that means you won't be hooking me up while I'm here then?" After she found out he was a physician, she hoped she would no longer need to steal her food any longer. But as it looked now he wasn't about to help her in the way she had thought.
He patted her shoulder. "We'll have to work on you, I see."
They finally finished the tour out in the garage where Alice took the opportunity to proudly show off her shiny yellow Porsche. Tara's favorite item however, was the black motorcycle next to it. It happened to be the same one that Edward purchased to go riding with Bella. He never used it even once. Jasper assumed ownership of it when Edward abandoned the idea of riding with Bella. Tara looked over at Edward with a childish grin hoping she could take the bike for a ride some time. The face she made, reminded Edward of one Renesmee would make when she wanted something.
"So, what do you think?" Bella asked, hoping Tara started to feel more comfortable. She remembered her first visit to the Cullen home and how much she really wanted to feel accepted by them, hoping they had achieved that with Tara as well.
"Your home is beautiful. I just love how open and spacious it is." Tara noted. "There's just one thing I can't seem to figure out though."
"Uh-oh". Edward thought as he scanned Tara's head again.
"What is it Tara?" Esme hoped there was nothing wrong.
"Well, please don't be offended but, what is that peculiar… odor?"Tara stressed the last word trying not to be rude, but she really didn't refer to it as a good smell.
“Damn!” Edward thought, as he picked up on the voices that came from the forest. He knew exactly what odor she referred to now.
Bella touched her hand to her face as she started realize what she meant also. "Oh yeah… that."
Jacob got news of the new vampire in town and wanted to scope things out. Even though she was a guest of the Cullens, the treaty didn't apply to her and he needed to see for himself if she could be trusted in Forks. He and Renesmee were together and headed straight for the open garage door. Renesmee squealed and laughed as she held on to the scruff of Jacob's neck while riding on his back.
Tara's eyes widened with fear as she watched the enormous reddish-brown wolf barreling in her direction. She only heard about the stories of werewolves but never actually saw one, nor was she sure they even existed - until now. She hissed, leaping in the air like a cat and hurling her body backwards and landing on Alice's Porsche. Her feet made crushing dent in the hood.
"No! Not my car!" Alice screamed as she jumped right in front of Jacob, stopping him in his tracks. "You stupid dog! Look what you did! Why did you have to show up looking like that?" she fumed.
"Oops"! Renesmee thought as she slid off his back with an enormously guilty look on her face. "Sorry Alice," she apologized, since it was all her idea. Jacob just barked a wolfly laugh.
Edward stifled back a laugh himself. He couldn't help but be tickled by his daughter, even when she misbehaved a little. She wanted to run over and give her parents a hug but Edward shook his head at her as soon as she thought about it, letting her know to hold off until it was safe.
Just then, everyone noticed - Tara had disappeared.
“What the… where'd she go?” Jacob thought.
Edward knew she only cloaked as a defensive tactic.
Two more wolves, Leah and Seth strolled in together, overhearing the commotion.
Bella, the only one who could still see Tara, tried to convince her to come down from Alice's car as she stood there frozen in a crouched position, barring her teeth. Seth and Leah both looked at her like she lost her mind. Though they couldn't speak, they communicated telepathically.
“So umm, why is Bella talking to Alice's car?” Leah wondered.
“Whoa! Did Bella do that to her Porsche! Man, Alice looks pissed too!” Seth thought.
“Hey where's the new blood-sucker at?” Leah asked.
“She was just here! She must've run off.” Jacob answered.
“Oh great, now we'll have to track her,” Leah complained.
"She hasn't left. She's on the car, that's who Bella's speaking to." Edward explained after reading their thoughts. They all looked at him as though he were crazy now too.
"Tara, could you please stop doing that. They won't hurt you but they do need to see you," Edward said.
"No! What are you all mad!" she thought to Edward.
"It's okay Tara, you can come down. They're friends of ours. They didn't come to hurt you. They just wanted to meet you," Bella said, trying to convince her.
"Friends? With werewolves? But why? They kill our kind!" Tara remembered the stories she heard about werewolves many years ago. She thought they were only legends though.
Jacob started to step towards the car to get a closer look and she backed up further up onto the roof of the Porsche. Flicks of yellow paint fluttered to the ground.
"That's it dog! You owe me a paint job!" Alice growled at Jacob, pointing out the dents and scratches on her car.
"They aren't real werewolves, they are shape-shifters. They are protectors here in this area and they only came to make sure you aren't here to hunt humans. We are totally at peace with this Pack. They won't hurt you. I promise," Edward explained.
Bella held her hand out to Tara, still trying to coax her down. She worried more about the physical harm Alice might do to Jacob if she stayed up there any longer. Everyone needed to refocus their eyes for a minute as Tara came into view again, stunning everyone.
“Wow, and I thought the others were freaky!” Jacob thought.
She finally leaped off but remained close to Bella. Esme came over and put her arm around her.
Everyone just stared for a moment to wait and see what the girl would do next. Tara just glared at Jacob, watching his every move until her attention was distracted by the girl he was with. She noticed the young teen's remarkable beauty but also something else, something unusual - her skin. It was less pale than the others and her scent seemed all wrong - more human, but not entirely. When Tara heard the sound of a pounding heart beat she counted. To her surprise however, there were a total of four!
Jacob took notice to Tara's darting stare. He tensed up, nudging Renesmee to get behind him. Tara wondered if she was human but when she turned to Bella to ask, she suddenly noticed the resemblance in both their features. She did a double take just before turning to Edward and noticing the same thing and gasped in disbelief.
"What…what IS she?" Tara asked.
Edward decided to explain, since he knew every thought in her mind. "Tara, I know you have a lot of questions. I think it would be best if we took this inside so we may fill you in on some details." He thought it might be easier if the wolves phased and met Tara in human form instead to put her at ease. Jasper worried about the current state she was in and felt the need to help. He hovered near the girl until she calmed down so they could move inside.
Poor Alice stood in the garage for a few minutes staring at the enormous dents and gashes on the hood of her favorite gift from Edward. She let out a huge sigh before she shut off the light and joined the others.
Upon entering the house, they all convened in the living room and Tara huddled very close to Esme. Alice quickly took her place next to Jasper and Edward and Bella stood together with Renesmee guarded behind them. Edward signaled for her to keep her distance until he was ready for her.
Within a few moments, three more people entered the room from the front door. The two tall males, wore only a pair of cut off jeans. Their feet were bare. The third, a female, wore an old t-shirt with cut-offs as well.
“Humans?” Tara thought. Their beating hearts gave them away. Her eyes widened as they walked in her direction. She could only wonder what the Cullen's could be up to. Their affiliation with wolves and humans was completely aberrant to what she was used to. Now she started to feel she got more than she bargained for by coming to Forks. Finally Tara wondered if the humans were the wolves. As she looked at Edward for confirmation, he nodded then began introductions. He first introduced Jacob as head of the pack who only nodded with an unfriendly glare. Leah also gave her a cold stare when Edward said her name but when he introduced Seth, he just stared at her like a deer in the headlights. Edward picked up on something strange but just ignored it and continued to talk. He went into an apology for not explaining things to her before their arrival and began to fill her in on the history of the Pack, why they exist and how they came to a truce with them. As Tara listened, she kept looking over at Renesmee who moved from Edward's side over to Jacob and clung to his arm. She could smell the half-human blood that ran through her veins.
Edward listened to all the questions rambling through her head. "Tara, I have a much better way that this could all be explained to you but I need to introduce you to someone first," he said. Then he turned toward Renesmee and stretched his arm out to signal for her to come over.
Jacob tensed up, grabbing her hand before she got too close to Tara but Renesmee turned and touched his face. The fiercely worried look in his eyes faded and he instantly relaxed. Then Renesmee turned to face Tara again as Edward spoke. "I would like to introduce you to our daughter… Renesmee," he said with his hands on her shoulders.
Her sweet, warm smile didn't reduce the tension Tara felt however. Her mouth dropped when she noted Edward's precise words, our daughter. She looked at the three of them again.
"Your...daughter?" she gasped.
“But…the resemblance is remarkable. She's adopted too?” She thought, knowing Edward would hear.
"No, she is not adopted Tara. She is our biological child," Edward said very seriously.
"How is that even possible?" Tara questioned as she listened to the thumping heart beat right in front of her.
"I could explain it to you myself however I would like to allow her to do it, if you will permit it. She has a much better and well….unique way of telling stories and can fill you in on every detail."
Tara stared blankly at the girl who started to approach her. Renesmee smiled at Tara. She looked harmless enough she thought. "Um…okay," she replied. "Renesmee…that's quite a name."
"You can call me Ness or Nessie, if you like. Everyone else does." Tara just nodded at her.
Bella cleared her throat to get her attention. She still hated the nick names. Renesmee chuckled. "Sorry mom."
She stopped right in front of Tara and extended her hand to her and spoke in an angelic voice. "I'll need to touch you for this. It won't hurt though, I promise." Her chocolate brown eyes looked right into Tara's. Something about Renesmee's eyes instantly softened a person. Tara nodded giving her approval. Then, Renesmee stepped in and placed her hand on Tara's cheek. She jumped a little as the images began flowing through her mind.
Renesmee showed her every event, starting with her birth, all the way up to the last week just before Edward and Bella left. Tara gasped when Renesmee showed her a vision of the Volturi. After several minutes, Renesmee finally released her. "That was just… incredible," she said, astounded by the visions. It all seemed very unreal for the moment. The images Renesmee implanted in Tara's head seemed very much like dream, but for the Cullens, it was reality
"I know this is a lot for you to absorb Tara. I'm sorry we didn't fill you in sooner than this, but we felt you might not even believe it without proof and Esme worried you'd be afraid to come with us had we mentioned any wolves to you," Edward said.
"Yes, that might have made me think twice," she admitted then she turned to face Jacob. "I saw the Volturi in her vision. You actually stood up to them? I have to admit, you’ve got some balls to do that.”
Several chuckles came from around the room.
"Yeah well, there was no way in hell we’d let those blood suckers her from us." He said trying not to smile.
His courage stunned her. She knew no one stands up to the Volturi, unless they have a death wish. "Well I can tell you …Aro never forgets anyone whose talents he admires and I assure you, he will be back to check on your daughter in the future," she warned knowing Aro all too well.
Carlisle spoke up. “Alice is our eyes when it comes to that and she will let us know if and when return."
"That's good then," she said. “You have quite a good defense here. I bet Aro just hates that.” She smirked.
"One thing we've discovered is their tracker has difficulty seeing us when we are around the Pack. I have this problem too. It's very hard for me to see Renesmee's future because she is with Jacob so often. The pack seems to cloud my visions. We think the same goes for their tracker as well," Alice explained.
"Since the wolves cloud their sights on us, you can sort-of say we have the upper hand," Carlisle hoped the information would relieve worries.
The mention of Alice made Tara think about what she had done to Alice's shiny new Porsche in the garage. "Oh your car…I’m so very sorry...” she started to apologize.
Her remorse echoed in Edward's head. "No worries. I'll take care of that immediately. It's was entirely my fault for not explaining the situation to her first," he said.
"Really?" Alice perked up. "Cuz I was thinking about changing the color anyway. Maybe a hot red!" she said, in an excited tone.
Edward rolled his eyes. “How convenient”, he said.
Jacob had patiently waited his turn to speak and finally stepped in and began to discuss the matter they came for. "Okay so, now that you know all about us, we need to know about you."
"Well, what do you need to know?" Tara folded her arms, trying to look unthreatened by his presence.
"I wanna make sure you're not gonna be a problem for us here in Forks. Edward and Bella filled me in on some of the details and they seem to trust you but we are the Protectors here so I just need to establish that you're eating habits don't cause a problem. We don't want anyone getting hurt." He glared at her red eyes.
"You have no need to worry about me. I'm sure they explained to you I spent most of my time blending in with humans on a daily basis. The Cullen's have been very kind to me and I have no intentions of giving them any trouble, if that's all you're concerned about."
"Yeah well, we'll be watching you."
Bella snickered remembering how embarrassed Jacob was the time when Billy had paid him to say the exact same words to her at the Prom.
"Be my guest," Tara said sharply, glaring at Jacob. She had the feeling he was going to be trouble for her.
Jacob exchanged glances with Seth who was looking very uncomfortable suddenly. He avoided making eye contact with the girl the entire time and kept looking off in space like he was on another planet.
Edward had been so busy listening in on Tara's thoughts he did give much attention to the others. Jacob and Leah displayed heavy distrust in the girl. Seth however, kept running very unusual things through his head. When he started thinking about the Blade movie he'd just watched, Edward finally just rolled his eyes and just tuned him out.
Renesmee didn't like Jacob intimidating their new guest so she stepped in. "Hey Jake, be nice to our guest. My parents trust her and so do I. I have the feeling we're gonna be really good friends," she smiled.
"That's because I already said you would!" Alice bragged.
Renesmee rolled her eyes. "I have my own room upstairs. Feel free to make it your own if you ever need your own space," she told Tara. Renesmee slept at the Cullen home more often than she stayed with Edward and Bella since she'd grown older. She knew they enjoyed their privacy and their little cottage felt too small for the three of them.
Then she leaned in and whispered in Tara's ear. "Aunt Alice decorated my room so try not to mind the décor."
"Uh, I can hear you," Alice snapped from across the room with a frown on her face. Renesmee giggled making Tara smile, finally.
"How long do you think you'll be staying?" Renesmee hoped it was going to be a while. It excited her to have a new friend closer to her age.
"I don't know really, I guess as long as you guys want me to."
"Or as long as you can stay out of trouble," Jacob added.
Tara decided she really didn't like this one.
Renesmee wanted to get to know Tara and make her feel more comfortable. Her charismatic demeanor captivated anyone that surrounded her.
When Esme appeared from the kitchen with some food, setting a large tray of sandwiches on one of the tables in the living room, Jacob finally started to relax enough to leave Renesmee's side momentarily to grab one. He couldn't resist anything Esme made. He had to admit he really admired her talented culinary skills for someone who didn't even eat food.
So much attention had been put on Tara, that no one noticed that they were short one person until Esme made mention of it. "Where's Seth?" she asked, expecting him to be fighting Jacob over the food she brought out, and worried that he might not have liked what she made.
He shrugged his shoulders. "Um, I'm not sure. Maybe he just went out for some air. I don't think he's been feeling so well."
"Oh well… I hope he's alright, I've never seen him pass up food before."
"It's nothing personal, I'm sure. Don't worry about him. I'm sure once he's feeling better he'll be back over here more than you want him to."
Esme chuckled. Leah wasn't hungry but came over to ask Jacob about Seth too. She was so busy watching the new girl she didn't even see him leave. She looked over at the front door noticing it was ajar. Then she headed outside to look for him and stared out at dense forest. It began raining heavily and she detected no sight or smell of Seth.
Worried about her little brother, Leah leaped off the porch and ran into the forest to search for him.