8.0

The next day, Edward picked Bella and Kate up promptly at six and took them to his house. Despite the tough exterior, Kate was truly nervous for tonight. Tonight would be the night that she told Bella the truth. The drive to the Cullen's house was through many trees and off the beaten path so she had plenty of time to think of how she was going to tell Bella.

"Kate, calm down," Edward told her.

She looked at him in the rear view mirror and saw him looking at her with worry. Kate knew that he had read her mind and was responding to what she was thinking.

"What if I lose my sister? I've lied to her this long," she thought

"You'll be fine," he said smoothly.

All plans and worry were out of her brain the moment that the saw the Cullen's house. It was stunning. It's glass walls and open exterior were the stuff of dreams. The Swan girls were in awe.

"This is incredible. It's so light and open, you know?" Bella said.

Kate was still whirling around looking at the place.

"What did you expect? Coffins and dungeons and moats?" Edward laughed.

Kate said, "Yes," at the very same moment Bella said, "Not the moats."

Edward led the girls upstairs and Kate was filled with a glorious sensation of heaven in her nose. Spices of all sorts filled her nostrils and even without Edward she was sure she could find her way to the kitchen. They rounded the corner and Kate was face-to-face with four vampires. She smiled at Rosalie, Emmett, and Carlisle when she saw them. The fourth vampire was a beautiful woman who, when Kate looked at her, reminded her of her own mother. She strode toward Kate and Bella with a huge, warm smile on her face.

"Bella, Kate, we're making Italiano for you girls," the woman said.

Kate's face lit up, "That smells amazing!"

The woman's smile grew even more.

"Bella, Kate, this is my mother Esme for all intents and purposes," Edward explained.

"Bongiorno," Bella greeted her awkwardly.

"Molto Bene," Esme replied.

Carlisle joined in, "You're giving us an excuse to use the kitchen for the first time."

"I hope you're hungry," Esme added.

Kate nodded hear head while Bella shuffled awkwardly.

"Bella already ate," Edward quietly told Esme.

What happened next was more of a reflex more than anything else. Rosalie and Emmett had been preparing a salad but when Edward said this, the glass salad bowl shattered under Rosalie's angry grip. Before Kate could stop herself she flung out her left hand and stopped the bowl and its contents from crashing to the floor.

The room seemed to pause as what just happened set in. Bella jumped back away from her sister with a little squeak and looked at her with wide eyes. Realizing what she had done, Kate let everything fall to the floor and she too backed away. No one said anything. Carlisle recovered first.

"Bella, there's something your sister needs to explain," he began.

Kate and Bella would not look at each other. Rosalie flitted to Kate's side while Edward put his arms around Bella.

"Tell her," Rosalie said right next to Kate's ear.

She looked up to see Bella looking at her almost scared.

"Bella, do you remember the day that I got sick and collapsed?" she asked.

Bella nodded her head.

"Well something happened that day. There's something inside me. Something I couldn't control and when I met the Cullens it sort of reacted and I changed."

"What do you mean changed?"

Carlisle stepped in and helped at this point, "Bella, her whole body changed its very DNA. She's special. Very few in the course of history have had this gift. You see, just like us, she's supernatural."

Bella shook her head like she was trying to change this fact simply by doing that, "No, she can't be."

Kate took a step toward her sister who stepped back causing her to stop short, "I am."

Carlisle continued, "You sister is a siren."

"What is a siren," Bella asked.

"A siren is a being that was born to protect supernatural creatures from themselves. To do this, they have immense power like you just saw and more."

"More?"

Carlisle looked at Kate who nodded. Edward seemed to read Carlisle's mind because he stepped forward in front of Kate. She took a quick look at Bella before taking a deep breath and closing her eyes. When she opened them, based on Bella's quiet scream, she knew that it had worked. Kate looked Edward right in the eyes and said, "Clean up the glass."

Edward immediately used his vampire speed to clean up the glass that was across the floor. Kate did not look at Bella this whole time fearing her reaction. When Edward had finished he took his place beside Bella and whispered something to her that Kate couldn't hear.

The room fell silent once again.

"Why didn't you tell me?" Bella asked sounding hurt.

Kate opened her mouth but found that she couldn't find the words to say.

Carlisle took pity on her, "I told her not to tell a soul. That power you just saw puts your sister in a great deal of danger. The supernatural hunts sirens because they fear to be controlled. There are so few sirens left if any and they are rare to appear. It would have endangered you to know but now that you know about vampires, you should know about your own sister. Only you and this family know about her."

It took everything in Kate's power not to look at Carlisle. They both knew that the wolf pack knew and were training with her but neither of them wanted to expose their secret to Bella.

"Do not be angry at your sister. If anyone needs blaming, it's me," Carlisle finished.

Bella finally looked at Kate who stood there looking ashamed at scared at her sister's verdict. Bella's shoulders finally relaxed and she nodded.

"I just wish you would've told me," Bella said quietly.

"I'm so sorry, Bella," Kate said quickly before rushing over and hugging her. Bella wrapped her arms around Kate and her world finally felt better.

"Now that that problem is taken care of..." Rosalie muttered.

Edward shot her a glance before turning back to Bella, "Just ignore Rosalie. I do."

This made Rosalie furious, "Yeah let's just keep pretending like this isn't dangerous for all of us."

Emmett tapped his wife on the arm. Kate had to agree with her that this was dangerous.

Bella's face flushed, "I would never tell anybody anything. Especially about my sister."

Kate gave Bella a small grateful smile.

"She knows that," Carlisle said giving his daughter a stern look.

Emmett threw a hand up, "Yea well the problem is...you two have gone public now so..."

"Emmet," Esme said.

"No she should know," Rosalie continued, "The entire family will be implicated if this ends badly."

"Badly?" Bella paused, "As in I would become the meal."

The rest of the Cullens laughed but Kate didn't think it was a laughing matter. If it came down to it, she would take down all of the Cullens if they were going to hurt Bella. Edward looked at her sharply. Edward simply nodded at her.

Light footsteps were heard behind Kate and she spun around to see Alice and Jasper come into the room via a nearby tree branch.

"Hi Kate!" Alice said chirpily.

"Alice," Kate was still a little upset with Alice after their last practice session.

Edward began to laugh out loud as Kate replayed the whole scene in her head.

"I'm glad I can amuse you, Edward," she snapped at him.

Edward put his hands up but still kept chuckling.

"Hi Bella!" Alice bounced over to Bella with Jasper trailing behind her.

Jasper came to stand next to Kate. Almost at once a sense of calm washed over Kate. A few weeks ago Alice had told her about Jasper's powers and Kate was grateful that he was using them on her at the moment.

"I'm Alice," the girl said as she hugged Bella tightly.

Alice backed away quickly, "Oh, you do smell good."

"Alice what are you...", Edward began but was cut off by Alice.

"It's okay, Bella and I are going to be great friends. Just like Kate and Rosalie."

"No we're not," Kate and Rosalie said at the same time. This caused a round of laughter.

Jasper stiffened beside Kate.

"Sorry," Carlisle began, "Jasper is our newest vegetarian. It's still a little difficult for him."

"It's a pleasure to meet you," Jasper said painfully.

Alice smiled up at him, "It's okay, Jasper, You won't hurt her."

Edward was looking very uncomfortable.

"Take her on a tour of the house," Kate thought.

Edward looked at her quickly before catching on.

"Alright...uh...I'm going to take Bella on a tour of the rest of the house," he said before pulling Bella quickly from the room.

"Well I'll see you soon," Alice called after them.

Once they were out of the room Alice and Esme went into a fit of giggles.

"I think that went well," Carlisle said sarcastically.

Kate patted him on the shoulder, "Well look on the bright side, nobody ate her."

Carlisle cracked a smile and went back to doing dishes.

Alice bounced over to Kate, "Since you're here we can practice some more."

Kate groaned as she was lead to the living room by an overly excited Alice.