I'll be home for Christmas

Chapter 22

Chapter 22 - I'll be home for Christmas

Disclaimer: the characters and all recognisable situations belong to Stephenie Meyer - this is a work of fan fiction, except for the legends and histories of the Quileute that, of course, belong to them. I pay my respects to their gods.

Thanks to BanSidhe [ruadh sidhe] and Feebes86 for betaing and pre-reading.

Bella stood nervously, in front of the hall of seated visitors. She held a bottle of water in her hands. She hoped it would stop her waving them around. She could see her father. She was sick of lying to him and now he and Sue were together, he needed to know everything.

"Some of you may know parts of this story, but others need to know all of it. I have run and hid and kept so many secrets for so long that I have almost lost myself under the weight of them all. I have destroyed my life, lost my friends and my family to try and keep everyone safe." She inhaled. "And it doesn't seem to have worked. The last few weeks have been very odd, even for me, and the last few days odder still. Things happen that shouldn't and people are where they shouldn't be for no reason other than they felt like they should be there. It has happened over and over and I cannot explain the coincidences away any more.

"Tonight we have seen people come home after years… simply because their dreams told them to. I don't have an explanation."

She paused.

"A long time ago, Billy Black told me that the tribe knew when trouble was coming. I think that trouble is even closer now."

She twisted her hands together nervously. "I-I am not very good at telling legends, like some others, mostly because this is a story that is so secret that sharing it with you condemns you all to death."

One of the younger members snorted derisively.

Bella looked at them but couldn't see who it was.

Sam glared at Collin and his head dropped.

"It sounds crazy, I know that. And maybe I am crazy, but for five years, I have kept moving; staying away from friends and family; not letting anyone get close to me. I couldn't go to college or stay anywhere permanently, because I know this secret."

"Start at the beginning, Bella," Billy suggested quietly.

She nodded. "Right. Good idea."

She took another breath and ran her hand through her hair nervously.

"Some of you may know that I dated Edward Cullen in High School. We were engaged to be married and I called it off. It was a really big decision to make, because I not only canceled my wedding, but I broke a promise to someone else. What some of you may not know is that Edward is a vampire, a cold one as you call them. Like the rest of his family."

The room was suddenly filled with small noises and movements.

Aware that many of them were new wolves Billy ordered, "Nobody phases. You need to keep calm!" It had an alpha order weight even though he hadn't phased yet. He glanced at Jake.

"My pack should be fine."

Charlie looked stressed. "I knew there was something weird about that family."

"Edward was here and present at the treaty signing in 1936 when the Cullens made an agreement with the tribal chief at the time, Ephraim Black and the leader of the last wolf pack. They moved on but had recently come back to this area when I moved here. I met him and we fell in love." She shifted slightly on her feet.

"I seem to be very attractive to supernatural creatures." She laughed nervously. It sounded too high and too forced. No one laughed with her. Josh twitched in his seat.