Oh my gosh. I haven't updated for weeks! :( Sorry folks. The laptop that had my latest chapters died and the charger broke. BUT I'M NOT DEAD! Which is good news. Oh, and the laptop's back up. Obviously. :)

Last chapter's quote: "After all, you might scratch the paint or something." -Matt Vampire Diaries, The Struggle

People who got it right:

Twilight Diaries

If anyone else did and I didn't mention your name, congrats.

DISCLAIMER: I don't own any of this; just having fun.

And now...what you've all been waiting for!

Stefan POV

"Thank you for flying Delta Airlines. Please, enjoy your stay in Seattle," the man over the intercom said.

"I really wish they wouldn't say that every single time. How many times do they actually mean it?" Elena huffed. Bonnie nodded in agreement.

"Hey, do you think the pilots are actually vamps in disguise?" she asked softly as we walked off the plane. Damon snorted from beside me while I shook my head.

"None of us would be stupid enough to spend all of eternity as a pilot. Besides, we'd have sensed them if they were strong enough- and weren't shielding themselves."

"Or if they're Bella," I added. We followed Elena and Bonnie through the crowd to the luggage rack.

"What do you mean?" Elena asked.

"Bella has this mental shield that keeps everybody out of her head, unless she takes it down," I explained.

"Good for keeping unwanted guests out of your head-"

"Sucks when you want to get in touch with her," Elena finished for my brother. We nodded. I grabbed Elena's suitcase and mine when they came around, and Damon snatched his and Bonnie's. He led the way to the buses, and before long we were filling out the forms to rent a red Mustang until Damon's Ferrari got here. The blonde at the front desk was flirting with him, which resulted in Bonnie giving her the death glare.

What's so funny?

I was trying to fight a smile as I answered. Bonnie is not too happy right now with the way- I looked at her nametag discreetly- Jennifer is looking at you.

Damon leaned up and handed Jennifer the papers with a smirk while simultaneously grabbing the keys off the counter. Her heart skipped a beat…or three. Then he slinked back over to Bonnie's side and wrapped an arm around her waist, kissing the top of her head lightly. Bonnie stifled a giggle at the look of fury on Jennifer's face and hugged Damon. He tossed me the keys as we walked outside. Elena outright laughed once we got in, and Bonnie soon joined her. Soon, I maneuvered us out of airport traffic and we were speeding away to Forks, Washington. It was nice and cloudy, so Damon and I didn't have to wear our sunglasses.

"You realize that pretty soon, we'll be having the last laugh, right?" my brother asked dryly from the passenger's seat.

"No, why's that?" Elena asked innocently.

"Because you look like a certain blonde the three of us knew very well (and Bella despised) and you-" he pointed to Bonnie- "are my unofficial girlfriend."

Bonnie's mouth dropped open in shock. "Actually, I think your sister will be having the last laugh," she said finally, sticking her head between the front seats to look at Damon in the eye.

"Why's that?" he asked as he stole a kiss.

She sat back, and in a satisfied voice said, "Because nobody that knows you would ever expect you to have a girlfriend!"

Bella POV

"When will they be here?" I asked, jumping on my toes.

"Soon. Depends on traffic, and a couple of other factors, but they will definitely be at this house by the time the sun sets," Alice said with certainty. "Carlisle's coming."

"Really?" Esme stood up and greeted him at the door with a hug and a light kiss. They looked like the perfect couple, I thought with a sharp pang.

"Hello, Bella," Carlisle greeted me, seeming unsurprised to see me here.

"Alice called you, didn't she?" I deduced.

He nodded.

"Well, it's still a few hours till sunset," I observed, thrilled to see my brothers again. Although I wasn't really happy with Stefan avoiding me for all these years- I hadn't seen him since 1952.

Carlisle sat down in the recliner, and my eyes were drawn toward his wrist- like all the other Cullen men, he had a leather bracelet with the circular charm to hold vervain leaves. "I hear your brothers are coming for a visit, with two girls."

I nodded enthusiastically. "I can't wait to see them. It's been too long since I've seen Stefan."

"While we're waiting, tell us a bit more about them. How did they become vampires, anyway? And you, for that matter." Carlisle looked very interested.

I closed my eyes, the exuberance I felt fading fast. I collapsed on the couch next to Alice. "The blonde bitch-"

"What's wrong with blondes?" everyone interrupted at the same time, either offended or angered.

"If you'd let me finish- the blonde bitch, A.K.A. Katherine von Swartzchild, the sweet little darling of some idiotic baron from Germany who sent her our way to recover from a terrible sickness." I spat her name and the rest of the sentence, then finished in a mock-sad voice, "Poor girl."

"She turned you?" Jasper asked, confused. I was ready to just yell at them to shut up, when a wave of calm flowed through the room. He was the walking mood-ring, I remembered from their conversation not twenty-four hours ago.

"No! She turned my brothers, and Damon turned me."

"Why?" Rosalie was disgusted. "Why would your own brother damn you to this life?"

"There are four reasons why my kind of vampire turn someone: one, we need someone to do our dirty work. I've met some that were turned for that reason. The vampire wars in the South- the humans were turned for that reason. Two, revenge-never really understood that one. Three, boredom, but we all know that never turns out well. Then there's the obvious; that you love someone so much that you would do anything to spend all of eternity with them."

"So was he bored?"

I looked at her sadly. "You don't get it, do you? He turned me because he knew what I was going to do. He wasn't ready to lose me."

"What do you mean?" Esme asked. I could hear the fright in her voice.

"How many of you know what life was like for a woman over four hundred years ago?"

"I don't remember my human life at all," Alice said in a whisper.

"That might actually be a good thing," I answered.

"Do the thirties count?" Rosalie asked dryly.

"Nope, can't say I do," Emmett said.

"Civil War era. Women had very little rights back then," Jasper recited seriously.

"You sound like you swallowed a history textbook," Emmett complained.

"You don't know." It was a statement, but almost everyone shook their heads no. Carlisle looked at me with sympathetic eyes.

I inhaled sharply. "Yeah, it was bad."

"You don't have to tell us if you don't want to," Esme said kindly.

"No, it's the only way you'll understand why my brother turned me. My father was an aristocrat. He thought just about everybody was below him. Including his own daughter. He was never satisfied with anything I did- be it sewing or behaving like he thought a proper lady should act. The men of that day thought ladies should be seen and not heard; like dolls on display. He started lining up suitors for me when I was ten. He almost succeeded, too, a few months before my seventeenth birthday." I smiled vindictively. "My brothers scared them off, though. And then we became vampires."

Something brushed my shield, soft like a bird's wing. I stiffened and dropped my shield.

Damon?

Bella! my brother greeted me. I could just imagine the way his face (mainly his eyes) would light up- even though I hadn't seen him that way in centuries, I still held onto the memory. Where are you?

I closed my eyes and pictured a three story Victorian-style white house surrounded by trees and a river out back. Find me.

Bella!

I slammed my shield back into place.

"Was that your brother?" Edward asked.

"Yes. He is in town, and looking for me."

It's a small town; it won't take long, especially if they ask around," he said doubtfully.

"But how many people have you invited over for dinner?"

Alice grimaced. "We don't eat humans."

I rolled my eyes. "Neither do I." My brows furrowed; I should probably tell Damon to lay off the hunting, though.

I dropped my shield for a second. No hunting in town, I thought, then put it up again before he had a chance to respond. I felt a surge of satisfaction from his end of the link, though. My eyes widened in realization.

"No!" I whined. "Damn it!"

"What?" Esme asked, concerned.

"Now they'll be on me like a bloodhound with a scent. We can feel essences- that's how we know if another vampire's around. And I let my shield down, meaning he can track me." I sighed and leaned back.

"What's the big deal? I thought you wanted to see them," Emmett said.

"It's a game. Every time Damon and I are close to each other, I send him a clue as to where I am, and he follows it. But I have to stay put until he finds me. And if I trail him, he can move around all he likes- as long as he stays in town and doesn't enter a human's house. Those are the rules."

"What about when you meet your other brother? Stefan, was it?" Carlisle asked.

I shrugged. "Him, I go out and find."

"Why?"

"He'll tell you for himself," I said evasively.

"Okay, what happened with Katherine von What's-Her-Face?" Emmett asked.

"Long story short- she played with both of my brothers like a cat with catnip. She exchanged blood with them both. They asked her to choose, because they both wanted to be with her forever, and she chose both of them. So they hated each other from that moment on. and the next morning they went to talk to her. Her maid told them she went out to the garden to think. They went out to find her, and Stefan found her. Or, what she left for them." I said all this emotionlessly, but anyone who knew me would be able to see the scorn in my eyes switch quickly to sadness.

"I saw Katherine earlier that morning, just after sunrise, going into the garden. She had her white dress over her arm, a piece of parchment in one hand, and an urn in her other hand. I hid behind the bushes and watched her lay her dress on the ground, right underneath her tree. She took the urn and poured some ashes in and around it. I could smell the ashes from my hiding place- it smelt like burnt flesh. She put her ring on a rock a little ways away, and the parchment next to the sleeve. It didn't make sense to me at first. She ran away faster than I could see. Then it hit me. She was faking her death, probably hoping that her death would heal the rift she herself had created between my brothers."

I drew in a shuddering breath. "I went to chase her- I searched all over for her, until I heard Stefan and Damon calling for her. They were out by the lemon tree."

"Oh, my goodness," Esme breathed. I barely heard her. I was watching the dreaded scene play out in my mind.

"I raced after them as they ran to the house, blaming each other for her little trick. It seemed they were fooled. Stefan was clutching something in his fist; the ring- and Damon was trying to get it. They were shouting the most horrendous things at one another. I tried to stop them, but they were too fast for me, and it didn't help that I couldn't walk without tripping over my own feet back then. They had their swords in their hands, and they were fighting in the courtyard. Father was shouting at them to stop from the third story- like that would help, I remember thinking. But then he started down the stairs.

"Servants were wondering what could have happened to make them act like this. I screamed at them, begged them to stop; but either they were too busy trying to stab each other's hearts out to hear me, or they just ignored me. They were stronger and faster than usual that day- the vampire blood was still in their veins. As Father reached the second story window, Damon slipped past Stefan's guard and stabbed him straight through the heart."

Everyone gasped. Alice lightly touched my shoulder.

"I saw Stefan collapse, as Damon yanked his sword from him. I was at the edge of the courtyard, frozen, but I ran to him as he fell. Everyone was screaming, except for me. I was too shocked by what had occurred. Damon leaned over him…"

"And Stefan stabbed him," Jasper finished.

I blinked, realizing for the first time that tears were silently pouring down my face. "Through the heart. They were both lying on the ground when I reached them. Stefan was already dead. I turned Damon over, and he blinked. I saw the light go out of his black eyes." I laughed bitterly. Someone handed me a tissue, and I dabbed at my eyes with it. "It took them over twenty minutes to get me away from the bodies. Even though I knew they drank vampire blood, I didn't know how it worked. They laid the bodies next to each other in the family crypt. Damon and Stefan told me they barely had enough of her blood in them to change; they were too weak to fight. Stefan tried to talk to Damon, but he ran into the night."

"Where'd he go?" Emmett asked.

I grinned, the tears dry. "My room. He crept around back, scaled the walls, and found me ready to hang myself from the chandelier. Father was going to marry me off to a fifty year old pedophile and I didn't want to live like that if my brothers were 'dead'. I told him to drink from me, because he was really thirsty. He took a little too much, so he fed me some of his blood before he left. Then I heard the maid shouting that she saw Stefan. I ran downstairs, tripped over the hem of my dress, and died falling down the stairs."

Esme gasped.

I grinned. "Worked out for the best. I got away from my father and traveled the world. Occasionally I ran into my brothers. But they still ho-held a grudge against each other because of you know who. But now, if Alice's vision is correct, they've finally made up."

As if on cue, a wolf howled outside. My head swung around to face the wall made completely of glass. Out on the other side of the river was a black wolf.

"Damon!" I cried excitedly. I was out the glass doors before any of the Cullens could speak. The wolf's form was shifting, shrinking. A crow emerged from the darkness and flew straight at me. I laughed in delight as the crow became a man before my very eyes. Straight black hair, eyes black as a starless night, about a head taller than me.

Damon grinned at me and grabbed me, swinging me around in a circle. "It's good to see you again, Bella. And not only for ten minutes."

I reached up to tap his nose as he set me down. "Not my fault you talked to me for a mere ten minutes before setting off for Virginia. It's been how long since we've had a proper conversation? Twenty years?"

"Something like that."

I looked around. "So, where's Stefan? And those two girls?"

"Stefan is driving the car. How do you know about-"

"That would be me," Alice cut in. She stepped forward, and I saw Jasper was keeping a wary eye on her. I realized all the Cullens had come outside.

Damon noticed Jasper's look, too. "Who's the blonde?"

"Which one?" I asked dryly.

"The one that looks like he's ready to take my head off if I make one wrong move," he said lightly.

"Oh, that's my husband, Jasper." Alice stuck out her hand. "Alice Cullen. Psychic of the Cullen family."

"Damon Salvatore. Pleasure to meet such a charming young lady." He greeted her as they had back in the sixteenth century- he took her hand and kissed the back of it lightly. Alice smiled. "You're sweet," she said. "But not sweet enough, I'm afraid."

Damon actually looked impressed with her.

"Damon, where's Stefan?" I asked again; really unnecessary, because he walked around the corner of the house as soon as my sentence was out. He was about three inches taller than Damon, with wavy hair instead of straight, but the same shade of black as Damon's. His green eyes twinkled as he smiled. I hugged him tightly as soon as he was close enough.

"Good to see you, Bella."

"You, too, big brother," I whispered into his chest.

"She knows about the girls," Damon told Stefan from behind me.

"Not all of it," Alice sang. "She knows one of them looks like Katherine, but that's it."

Stefan pulled out of the hug, but kept his arm around my shoulder.

"Elena, Bonnie," he called loud enough for humans to hear. I heard hearts pounding, two presences on the edge of my shield- they were nervous.

"What did you tell them?" I asked with a raised eyebrow. I faced Damon as they came around the corner.

"Stefan looked nervous when we talked about coming to pay you a visit." He smirked.

I rolled my eyes and turned around, then froze mid step.

"Damn! Puck wasn't kidding," I exclaimed when I saw the blonde.

"Bella, I'd like you to meet Elena Gilbert." Stefan waved his hand in the direction of the blonde, even though she and the other were still about an arm length and a half away. I noticed the Cullens had slipped back inside.

She had dark blue eyes, hair even more pale gold than Katherine's had been, her eyelashes darker. Her eyes held independence, not the childlike and submissive look Katherine had.

I pursed my lips and my eyes narrowed on their own accord. She met my eyes. A shiver went up her spine, but she held my gaze.

"Bella," Stefan warned. I blinked, releasing her, and smiled.

"I like her," I said simply. "I can tell she's not like her doppelganger at all."

"And the redhead behind her is Bonnie McCullough," Damon said with a wave of his hand. A girl with curly red hair that came up to Elena's chin rolled her eyes and walked straight up to me, holding out her hand. She was trembling slightly, but her brown eyes met mine unflinchingly, and I smirked a Damon-like smirk as I took it. I had respect for both this Bonnie girl and Elena.

"Bella Salvatore. Pleasure to meet you." I turned my back on them, catching my eldest brother's eye. "She your new flavor of the week?"

Bonnie snorted. "Please. We've been dating since July 19th. Going on two months." She grinned smugly as my eyes flickered between her and Damon.

"Seriously?"

They all nodded.

I started laughing. Once I started laughing, I couldn't seem to stop. Pretty soon, I was on the ground at Stefan's feet, clutching my sides.

"You done?" Damon asked.

"You, with a permanent girl? I never thought I'd see the day."

"Told you she'd get the last laugh," Bonnie said.

"So, Bella, how exactly did you find out your brothers were crushing on a vamp?" Emmett asked some time later. We were all sitting down in the living room again.

"Ah, the beauty of being seen and not heard. Helps you blend in more," I smiled. "And the fact that I saw her bite one of the servants one evening."

Stefan shook his head. "You amaze me."

I rose and curtsied. "Thank you."

"That reminds me!" Alice cried suddenly. "We're having a Renaissance era-themed dance at school. You guys should come."

My face lit up. "That's a great idea!"

"I don't know…" Stefan looked at Damon warily.

"He's not going to kill anyone, are you, Damon?" I asked pointedly, raising my eyebrows.

"Hey! I only killed Tanner because he stuck a knife in me. If he hadn't done that, I'd have wiped his memory and left him alive." Damon raised his head arrogantly.

"Yes, well, we have a truce with the werewolves down at La Push-"

"Wait, there are real werewolves in Forks?" Damon cut Carlisle off.

"Shifters," Edward corrected.

"Ah."

"And that means that we can't bite or kill a human without starting a war."

"You mean I've gotta watch what I eat?" he complained.

"Damon," Bonnie and I said warningly.

"Fine. I'll behave." He grinned maliciously. "But if I've got to go on a temporary veggie diet, Stefan's got to get more meat on his bones."

We were all confused, until understanding dawned on me. I growled.

"Stefan…"

He raised an eyebrow. "Yes?"

"What did you last eat, and when?"

He bit his lip.

"Couple squirrels and half a Bambi the night before we left. Maybe a couple of Thumpers," Damon supplied cheerily. The Cullens' eyes widened.

Stefan scowled and glared at our brother. "Thanks."

"Outside. Now." I pointed to the glass doors. When he didn't move, I grabbed him by the back of the shirt and yanked him up.

"Are you forcing me to go hunting?"

"Yep. And I'm going to watch the whole time." Carlisle perked up. I knew what he was thinking. "And if you come with us, you have to stay in a tree." He nodded.

Stefan groaned. "Now I'm going to have an audience?"

"Yep," Damon said, sitting back smugly. I glared at him.

You're going to keep your mouth shut if you join us.

"Watch your back, Damon," Elena warned. "If you don't behave, I'll wreck your Ferrari when it gets here."

Damon looked at her, appalled.

"She would, too," Edward said, speaking for the first time in a while. First, she'd take the key and scratch it all over. Then she'd find the nearest cliff with rocks under it and push the Ferrari in."

Elena's eyes widened. "How-"

"Mind reader," the Cullens chorused.

"Let's go, Stefan!" I dragged my reluctant brother out the door, with Carlisle and Damon behind us.

You like?

I rewound the DVD five times to make the quote almost correct; I added a bit and changed a word or two. So if you loved her, it shouldn't be too tough to find.

3 ASHLEY