Head Above Water (Twilight)

Chapter 61

"What is the werewolves' part in this?"

Tanya's voice is clear to Kelby's ears as he stands in a tree at a fair distance. He watches as the Denali woman eyes Jacob. His eyesight as clear as day. He can see them as they're standing right before him.

"If the Volturi won't stop to listen about Leo," Jacob says before Edward can, "we will stop them."

"Very brave, child," Tanya says in response, "but that would be impossible for more experienced fighters than you are."

Jacob merely shrugs. "You don't know what we can do"

Kelby watches as Viviaca flirts with Leah shamelessly while Sergio gazes at Tanya. It turns out, he and Tanya are mates and they are just now meeting. Tanya would be staring at him, too, if her mind weren't elsewhere.

Tanya shrugs at him. "It is your own life, certainly, to spend as you choose," she remarks.

Jacob's eyes flicker to Leo, who is still on Carmen's arms with Kate hovering over them. He can easily read the longing on them.

"He is special, that little one," Tanya muses. "Hard to resist."

"A very talented family," Eleazar murmurs as he paces, his tempo picking up as he flashes from the door to Carmen and back again every second. "A mind-reader for a father, a shield for a mother, and then whatever magic this extraordinary child has bewitched us with. I wonder if there is a name for what he does, and if it is norm for a vampire hybrid. As if such a thing could ever be considered normal? A vampire hybrid, indeed!"

"Excuse me," Edward says in a stunned voice. He reaches for Eleazar's shoulder before he can go back to the door. "What did you just call my wife?"

Eleazar looks at Edward curiously, his manic pacing forgotten for the moment. "A shield, I think," he says. "She's blocking me now, so I can't be sure."

Kelby jumps down out of the tree. He winks at Viviaca and Leah before heading inside where the others are. Leo runs over to him when Carmen lets go.

"A shield?" a bewildered Edward repeats while Leo snuggles with his uncle Kelby.

"Come now, Edward!" Eleazar ensues. "If I can't get a read on her, I doubt you can, either. Can you hear her thoughts right now?"

"No," Edward murmurs. "But I've never been able to do that. Not even when she was human."

"Never?" Eleazar blinks. "Interesting," he says. "That would indicate a rather powerful latent talent, if it was manifesting doo clearly even before the transformation. I can't feel a way through her shield to get a sense of it at all. Yet she must be raw still — she's only a few months old." He's almost exasperated as he looks at Edward. "And apparently completely unaware of what she's doing. Totally unconscious. Ironic. Aro sent me all over the world searching for anomalies, and you simply stumble across it by accident and don't even realize what you have." He shakes his head in disbelief.

"What are you talking about?" Bella asks. "How can I be a shield? What does that even mean?"

Eleazar tilts his head to the side and he examines the mom. "I suppose we were overly formal about it in the guard," he says. "In truth, categorizing talents is a subjective, haphazard business; every talent is unique, never exactly the same thing twice. But you, Bella, are fairly easily to classify. Talents that are purely defensive, that protect some aspect of the bearer, are always called shields. Have you ever tested your abilities? Blocked anyone besides me and your mate?"

"It only works with certain things," Bella claims; her new brain works in seconds now. "My head is sort of... private. But it doesn't stop Jasper from being able to mess with my mood or Alice from seeing my future."

"Purely mental defense." Eleazar nods to himself. "Limited, but strong."

"Aro couldn't hear her," Edward interjects. "Though she was human when they met."

This information makes Eleazar's eyes widen in surprise. Aro couldn't get a read on Bella either?

"Jane tried to hurt me, but she couldn't," Bella says. "Edward thinks Dimitri can't find me, and that Alec can't bother me, either. Is that good?"

Eleazar nods, though he's still gaping. "Quite," he says.

"A shield!" Edward has a deep satisfaction in his tone. "I never thought of it Nat way. The only one I've ever met before was Renata, and what she did was so different."

"Yes, no talent ever manifests in precisely the same way," Eleazar says, having recovered slightly, "because no one ever thinks in exactly the same way." He glances at Kelby and back. He's as excited over Bella's 'shield' ability as he was about Kelby's ultra rare humanity ability.

"Who's Renata? What does she do?" Bella asks.

Leo turns and he looks, also interested in who Renata is and what she does.

"Renata is Aro's personal bodyguard," Eleazar responds. "A very practical kind of shield, and a very strong one. I wonder..." He muses. "You see, Renata is a powerful shield against a physical attack. If someone approaches her - or Aro, as she is always close beside him in a hostile situation - they find themselves... diverted. There's a force around her that repels, though it's almost unnoticeable. You simply find yourself going in a different direction that you planned, with a confused memory as to why you wanted to go for other way in the first place. She can project her shield several meters out from herself. She also protects Caius and Marcus, too, when they have a need, but Aro is her priority." He listens as Bella talks. "I've never heard of Aro's or Jane's gifts being thwarted."

"Momma, they're special," Leo says gently as he leans back against his uncle as Kate and Carmen walk over and join them.

"Can you project?" Kate asks with interest.

"Project?" Bella frowns.

"Push it out from yourself," Kate explains. "Shield someone besides yourself."

"I don't know... I've never tried," Bella replies. "I didn't know I could do that."

"You might not be able to."

"When I was in Italy, Caius told me that a gift can manifest itself and grow," Kelby says. "At first, I cried. Real tears. And I ate human food. Then I slept. He told me that as time goes on, I could possibly become fertile. I don't know. Carlisle's running tests."

"I've been working on mine for centuries and the best I can do 8s run a current over my skin," Kate says.

Bella stares at her, mystified.

"Kate's got an offensive skill," Edward says. "Sort of like Jane."

Bella flinches away from Kate automatically, making her laugh.

"I'm not sadistic about it," Kate assures her. "It's just something that comes in handy during a fight."

"I'm going to hunt," Kelby says. "Leo, you stay here, okay?"

"Okay."

Kelby ruffles the boy's brown hair and he leaves in a rush without so much as a goodbye since the others are distracted by Bella, Leo, and abilities.