AN: Yes I know it's been a long time, but as I say in my profile, I will always eventually come back to my stories even if it takes a while. I'm hoping that my current yen for this story will get more of it written in the relatively short order. But, you know, life happens so no promises.

Chapter Four

"So let me just confirm that I'm understanding things correctly," the young woman that Carlisle had introduced as Bella spoke up, breaking the brief silence that had settled over the group following the Doctor's unusually short and succinct description of the situation.

They had moved into the house, settling themselves in a comfortable living room, following introductions in the meadow and Rose wasn't sure whether to be more awed by the family who sat around her or the house itself with its floor to ceiling windows overlooking the forest outside, designer furniture and roomy interior. It was not what Rose would ever have thought of as a vampire's home. She tuned back into the conversation as Bella continued to speak.

"A group of between 30 and 50 alien hunters," she paused briefly at the word 'alien', obviously a little thrown by the concept, which Rose considered odd given the company in which she sat - surely aliens couldn't be a stranger reality than vampires – before continuing, "is on their way here as we speak and should arrive around 45 hours from now. They're highly skilled fighters, difficult to kill, and obsessed with winning." She waited for the Doctor's confirmation nod before speaking again. "They've followed you because of your technology, but if you leave – run away – they are likely to decide to hunt and slaughter the local population instead of give chase. As such, the best option is for us to fight them? Did I miss anything?" She gave a grim little smile as she finished speaking and shifted her daughter slightly in her lap, freeing a hand to entwine with Edward's, who sat beside her.

The Doctor gave her a big grin, obviously pleased that she was taking the news as well as she was, before shaking his head in response. "No, that's about the sum of it really. I mean, certainly the more fighters we can recruit between now and then, the better, but even if that's impossible, it should be a very even fight. While the Cravor are difficult to kill by human, or even Time Lord – he gestured briefly toward himself and Rose saw Bella's eyes widen slightly in surprise – standards, they'll barely present a challenge for your kind. The biggest challenge will be to ensure that none of them get missed and are left to run amok among the humans."

Carlisle nodded as he stood from his spot on one of the rooms many comfortable sofas. Before he could open his mouth to speak Edward had already taken out a cell phone and dialed, speaking to Bella and Alice on either side of him as he did so in a low tone that Rose couldn't hear, but which had each of them also reaching for phones. Carlisle grinned at Rose's confused expression and answered her unasked question, "It's one of the peculiarities of have a son who can read your thoughts, he often starts things before you can ask him to." Edward glanced at her from where he sat speaking into his phone and smiled briefly – at least Rose assumed that he was speaking, his lips were moving, but she could hear no sound. Carlisle continued, "They're calling several other covens to bring together a fighting force. The Denali coven are likely to join us, but I am not sure whether Amun and Kebi or Siobhan, Maggie and Liam will."

He looked questioningly over at Alice as she hung up her phone. Closing her eyes for a few brief moments, her face took on an expression of intense concentration. She opened them moments later with a slight smile and spoke in the impossibly musical tone that seemed a defining feature of all of them. "Tanya and her family will come, as will Siobhan's, but I can't yet see whether Amun's coven will do so. They haven't made the decision yet. Benjamin has set his mind on helping us, whatever Amun decides, but that could change."

The Doctor nodded happily at this pronouncement and it was Esme who took pity on Rose's once again confused expression, "Just as Edward can read thoughts, Alice is similarly gifted. She can see the future as far as it has been decided. It's not an infallible talent, but certainly a useful one." Rose could do nothing but nod at this, the various shocks of the afternoon starting to catch up to her and she wondered what else might be coming.

Her question was quickly answered as each of the vampires turned in the direction of the front door, presumably hearing something that her human ears were not sensitive enough to pick up. Reneesme jumped out of her mother's lap and ran out of the room, followed more sedately by the others. Rose and the Doctor glanced briefly at each other before standing and heading after the family.

They made it to the entry room just in time to see Reneesme, who had obviously been waiting somewhat impatiently to do so, open the front door wide and dart out of the doorway. Rose was just about to ask what was going on when a massive animal dashed up the front stairs and through the front door to the apparent great delight of Reneesme, though the reactions of the rest of the family varied greatly from Bella and Alice's large smile's to Rosalie's disdainful eye roll and Emmett's light chuckle. Rose's own reaction was extreme fear and horror that they would let the gigantic red-brown wolf in the house. The Doctor's reaction was not much different and he stepped in front of her protectively.

Carlisle gave a short laugh at their shocked and worried looks, "It's okay. He's a family friend." He laughed again as the wolf picked Reneesme up in his paws and tossed her in the air, rolling onto his back to catch her. Rose continued to watch in mild horror as he rolled her under him and laid still on top of her. The Doctor also looked a little concerned, but his experience with the Cullens allowed him to give Carlisle's words the benefit of the doubt and he had other questions on his mind now that the immediate problem of the Cravor was being taken care of.

He'd known the Cullens and various other vampires through many of his incarnations and had grown to know a great deal about them, both as a species and as unique cultures. Reneesme was obviously not fully vampire – he could hear her heart beating and while her skin was the same pale white as Edward's it had held a pleasant flush as he played with the large wolf, who still had not let her up – and yet her father and mother both were vampires and Edward, at least, had been for longer than the child appeared to have been alive. As far as he knew and had encountered, vampires could not reproduce.

His musings on the subject were cut short as Reneesme finally managed to crawl out from under the animal, who had been watching Rose and the Doctor with an expression akin to curiosity. She stood next to him giggling for a moment before she spoke.

"Bad Jacob. Bad Wolf."

TBC

Yes, I know, and yes, I had to.