First Meeting

Edward kept his face expressionless while Franz whispered to his brother. Every word played through his head and into Edward's and he mentally cursed at Jacey for coming so close. The wolves were supposed to stay 2 miles out- in range of Edward's ability but far enough to not be noticed. Knowing he couldn't do anything about it now, he plastered the same fake smile on his face that Franz was giving them.

More than anything, it was obvious Franz and Philip both wanted a fight. He wondered how Tomas had even gotten them to agree to come but didn’t dwell too much on it.

With a forced kindness in his eyes, Edward looked towards Franz.

“It may seem strange at first but you get used to it quickly. The almost constant cloud cover allows us the freedom to go out in the daytime without drawing attention to ourselves and there are plenty of wilderness areas to fit our needs.” Edward informed them, knowing the topic of diets could be a tricky one but he also wanted to subtly stress that the family lived off animals for a reason- to remain in one place for several years and not have to live the nomadic life. It also was an undeniable sign of a peaceable life, and that is exactly what the Calumny were investigating.

As I heard what Franz was whispering I watched the Cullens very closely. I didn't like that we only had 3 and they had braught wolves to creep in the woods. This was very mistrusting. I plastered a smile on as well so i didn't stand out from the group.

"hmm, very interesting and yet intriguing" i said this with a never ending smile

I didn't like the fact that there were wolves in the forest, creeping and probably spying on us right now. Next thing you know they'd be attacking us from all sides. I didn't like it. I didn't like it one bit. I was ready to tell the Cullens to call their mutts off.
But I kept a cool, straight face. I no longer smiled. I didn't care if they knew I knew about their attack mutts, maybe they'd tell them to go away.
I eyed Edward especially. He seemed to have been concentrating hard on me. If he had been reading my mind, what else could he have found out?

Carlisle didn't have to have jaspers powers to sense something had gone wrong.Looking slyly between his two sons as the conversed his body stiffened.Jacey had come to close, looking at the pair of vampires infront of him he forced a smile.

"We live very different to what you do." He looked to his sons and then back at them. "We would like to settle this fairly." For once in his life time he was stuggling with words, he was worried about the wolves and how these vampires were going to react.

" we would like to see just how your life is so different from ours if you don't mind. You will hardly even notice we are there." i tried using my matters to the best of my abilitiy and i figured they were a little rusty

Jasper wasn't sure he trusted the man's words but his face and body betrayed nothing. He wondered how a large group of vampires with bright red eyes would not be noticed but ignored it. Instead, his head tilted slightly to the side as his topaz eyes looked towards Philip.

"What, precisely, are you proposing?" He asked politely, knowing his natural charisma that had led to his empathy was shining through his voice while he emitted very small hints of ease.

I didn't know quite what to say or how to say it. "well my friends and i are courious. We would like to see more of how you live. How you do things. You never know it might be something we might be interested in. You see we have heard of your type of living and we traveled far to learn more about you all. Surely our stay won't harm you all or put you in danger. we are very experienced in staying under the radar." a sly smile came to my face

Jasper let the sense of ease increase, knowing it would effect the three before him but they wouldn't be able to detect it was happening. All they would register is a feeling that things didn't seem so bad and the Cullens weren't dangerous.

"I'm sure you understand the magnitude of what you are asking, given the large group you have brought. Our family alone has a hard time staying under the radar," Jasper pointed out openly with a welcoming smile on his face.

"We manage to stay in one location due to our diet- in respect of remaining under the radar, we ask that you travel far from Forks should you need to feed while you are here," he added, not only wanting to protect the townspeople around him but to also keep his own family out of the spotlight.

"You can imagine the supsicions that would arise of people from a small town and its surrounding areas suddenly died after the arrival of a large group such as yourselves," he finished before holding his hands out in an open, unthreatening gesture as if to shrug.

Jacey stayed as still as her body would allow, knowing by the fake looks on all their faces that the bad guys suspected somthing, she'd been to loud. Mentally beating herself, she continued to watch quietly. Maybe Jazzy would convince them to leave. Doc and his sons seemed to be keeping the respecting and friendly tones in their voices, now only if the others would fall for it and leave.

"of course, you have my word we will not feed anywhere near forks. We would not want to put our friends in danger." Where i stood with this whole situation was stilll up in the air. I just felt that i needed to do one step at a time. i looked at Franz and gave him a knowing look as if to ask if what was said was ok with him as well.

Jasper nodded his agreement and smiled easily at Philip.

"We have guests in town already and through our home is large, I must admit it is not this large. I am sure your group wouldn't mind consolidating into 1 or 2 rooms though," Jasper continued, knowing there would be little extra room and even the Denalis would be pushed into one room.

i was surprised to their agreement that came so quickly. "of course that would be more then fine. we appreciate your offer very much." i wondered who their other guests were. sarah had not said anything about them. there was one thing i was sure of. This would be an interesting visit

I bit the inside of my tongue, trying to figure out why they would have guests. I was sure they'd seen us coming, the mind reader is good at what she does, and if they thought we were going to attack why would they bring others who might be killed in the process? Surely endagering the wolves was enough. Now to endanger the others.
Reinforcements! That's what they were. I was pretty sure of it.
I looked to Phillip, a small, sly, smile creeping to the corner of my mouth so as only he would see it. Quickly and swiftly, I closed the gap between us so my shoulder was behind his. Then I pinched the inside of his palm. This meant "Something's up." I looked into his eyes and there was so much meaning in that one look I was certain now that he understood what I meant. They had brought reinforcements, so they were prepared for battle. If that was what they wanted, I'd give it to them....

Edward fought back an eye roll at Franz's attempt at subtlety. Apparently he wasn't aware of all that mind reading entailed but Edward was fine with that. It was no surprise that Franz was already considering a fight- this meeting alone was out of the ordinary and unexpected.

Staring at the three in front of me and their eagerness to jump into battle, Edward began to feel more optimistic about the outcome. They had only 9 opponents and that was assuming Tomas fought. Sarah would run before she fought with them and there was still the chances of her joining the Cullen side.

Edward look at Tomas who was considering Sarah in all this. His fondness of her was not well masked- at least not in his mind but it was obvious he hid it well from the rest of the group. There were no traces of anything in Franz or Philip's mind and that would come in handy.

"Our guests should be leaving shortly. They were merely passing through, cheking on the family on the way back to their home. By the time Sarah showed up with your message, they had arrived and it would have been rude to dismiss them so easily. They are as welcoming as the rest of us, however."

Turning to Carlisle, Edward portrayed the likelihood of the fight with his before smoothly continuing.

"Perhaps you would like to return home and let everyone know. Alice, of course, will want to welcome them as warmly as possible and I for one do not care to listen to her chirpings about not having enough time," Edward said with mock humor but wanted word to spread rapidly.

"Jasper and I will follow these three to the rest of their group before leading them home."

Edward knew it was a risky decision- he and Jasper would be walking headlong into what could end being an ambush but he saw little other way. This at least let Carlisle return home rather than leaving the family in the dark. Jasper's thoughts were even darker- first of Alice and the punishment she would inflict on him for this then to the chances of a 2 on 9 battle. Even Jasper had to admit it did not look promising.

"Are we ready?" Edward asked politely with an easy smile on his face, acting as though it was perfectly normal to lead 9 vampires out to eliminate you to your home.

Carlisle nodded at his sons decision.Looking at both of his sons he smiled before racing across the feild into the woods.