“Hey dad.” I stepped forward and he took a retreating step back, his face paled visibly even in the dim firelight. He was frightened of me. His own daughter, and his human senses told him to run away. Edward’s cold arm was suddenly around my waist, comforting me.

“Bella?” Charlie asked. “What…”

“Can we go somewhere and talk, Charlie,” Edward asked smoothly.

He nodded weakly.

“Mind if I tag along?” Jacob asked cautiously.

“Sure,” I answered. Anything to ease Charlie’s fear.

We were in the exact same spot were Jacob told me that we couldn’t be friends anymore. It felt like a lifetime ago. I pushed those memories firmly away and focused my attention on Charlie.

Charlie stood as far from us as he could get, his eyes roaming over my changed form. He looked like he was about to pass out when Jacob’s big hand steadied him. “What the hell happened to you, Bells?”

“Edward happened to her,” Jacob sneered, shooting Edward a scathing look.

“Jacob!” I admonished. That little jerk! Like telling my dad that I'm really the walking dead wasn’t hard enough, he had to go and make things more difficult.

“What’s he talking about?” Charlie asked, his face regaining color quickly at Jacob’s words. Like he needed more incentive to dislike my husband.

“How familiar are you with the tribe’s old legends? Has Sue filled you in on any of it?” Edward asked.

“Not much, why? What’s it got to do with anything?”

Billy’s chair made the twigs crackle as he rode over them. “Everything,” he answered. He sent me a searching look before turning his attention to Charlie. He told Charlie the same stories that Jacob had told me when I was seventeen.

Charlie just stared at all of us, taking in our expressions. “So you’re saying that the La Push boys are wolves and the cold ones are… that you’re a cold one?”

“A vampire,” I finished

“A vampire,” he repeated. He gave a nervous chuckle that quickly died as he took in our serious faces.

“The Cullens are vampires, Charlie,” Billy stated firmly. “And we’re werewolves. Natural enemies, but all that’s changed now.”

Charlie walked right up to me and reached out a hesitant hand. I took it and watched him flinch at my freezing touch, but he didn’t let go. He stared at my eyes then at Edward’s. “Why are yours red?”