John Montgomery was a nomad by nature. His joy in his immortal life came from travel and visiting friends across the world. When he'd made the offer to the girl, it had occurred to him that a change may be necessary but he hadn't really stopped to contemplate what that might mean. But he could do this, at least for the next decade. What were ten years in the life of a vampire anyway?

"Okay, kid," John said as he sat a plate of pasta in front of her. "I got the paperwork I was waiting on so tomorrow I can enroll you in school. Hopefully you can start next week."

Lily choked on the bite of food in her mouth and looked at him with wide eyes. "Why? Why would you do that?"

He chuckled. "Listen, I get that school is the last place any kid wants to go, but you kind of have to. For one, you're too smart to let those brains go to waste. For another, it's the law."

"That's the law you choose to follow? Me going to school?"

It was everything he could do to not bust out laughing at the look on her face but he was trying not to encourage her behavior. He'd have his hands full with this one, that was for sure.

She waved her hand through the air in dismissal then took another bite of her food. "I didn't mean I didn't want to go to school."

A frown pulled at his lips. "What did you mean then?"

"Online school. All I need is the internet and I can attend from anywhere."

Now, that sounded like a great idea. They could travel. He could introduce her to people at least all over the country, if not the world. "Don't you want to meet some kids your own age?"

And that look she gave him, like he was the stupidest man in the universe. "Why would I want to do that?"

So, he'd found an online private school so the curriculum would remain the same from state to state. He'd bought her a top of the line laptop and a hotspot and they were good to go. She'd log in from whatever hotel or temporary home they were at and happily do her work. In fact, she was already 6 months ahead of where she should have been in her studies and showing no signs of slowing down.

And when she wasn't engrossed in her school work, he'd show her landmarks and natural wonders and introduce her to some of the greatest people he knew. He started to train her to defend herself from attacks from human and vampire alike and fostered her interest in languages. He often had to remind himself of her youth as she acted far older than any of her peers. He was uncertain if that was due to her past or if she'd always been an old soul.

They spent countless hours training her gift as well. She was constantly finding new things she could do with it. Eventually, John wanted to work his way up to the Denali's home and have Eleazor see what he thought of her gift. His findings were more accurate with vampires, but it wasn't as if he had the opportunity to use it on a human very often. John had also taken the initiative to contact that very old friend of his to discuss Lily's unique gift and managed to secure her humanity until she was twenty-one. He was thrilled he could offer her at least that little piece of protection.

***

Lily kicked at the snow as she walked next to John. They were heading to visit some friends of his that he thought could help her train her gift. They'd driven most of the way, but their old sedan was no match for the unpaved, snowy roads. He'd pulled off the main road and they'd been walking ever since. Her dad could have put her on his back and ran them to the house but she was happy for the walk after the long drive.

"How you doing, princess? Still okay walking?"

She smiled at him, her nose scrunching with the action. "I'm fine, Dad. We can run if you want to get there faster, though."

He shook his head then held out a hand to stop her as something caught his attention. She went still without question and did her best to keep her breathing shallow just as he'd taught her. Three figures blurred to a stop in front of them and the tension eased from her when she saw their golden eyes. The brunet in the front of the trio appeared to be only slightly older than the other two but that didn't mean much when it came to vampires. His hair was shorter on the sides and he had the top pushed back so it stuck up. He also appeared to be overdue for a shave, but that was most male vampires normal state as they could look that way for months.

Behind him stood a very large man with what she could only assume was an ever-present smirk. He just had that air about him. He noticed her looking at him and gave her a wink. Yep, she was right. His hair fell more into the dark dirty blond category. The last man was shorter than the giant beside him, but most would be. He was lean with spiky reddish-brown hair. He was also clean shaven. His brow was furrowed as he looked her over. He looked frustrated if she were honest.

John dropped their bags and took a step forward. "Hello, Carlisle. Been awhile."

The man in question smiled wide and stepped forward. The expression on his face was friendly and welcoming. Lily couldn't help smiling back as he shook her dad's hand. "It's good to see you, John. You remember Emmett and Edward," he said as he gestured to the giant and the grumpy one respectively.

"Of course." John shook their hands as well, smirking when he caught the expression on Edward's face. He gestured to her and she stepped forward. "This is my daughter Liliana. Goes by Lily."

Carlisle's eyes widened as he looked between the two of them. "Daughter?"

She offered a cheeky grin and little wave. Emmett chuckled as did Carlisle. Edward just continued to frown at her. Her dad had warned her the boy was a mind reader. Its why her block had been up before they even appeared. Besides the fact it was almost habit for her to just keep it in place all the time now anyway.

"It must be frustrating," she said, her gaze still on Edward.

"What?" he asked.

"Spending your life always knowing exactly what people are thinking and then to just suddenly...not." The corner of her lips curled up in a smile at the look of pure shock that covered the vampire's face.

John laughed beside her. "Be nice, Lil."

She put her hand on her chest as she gasped dramatically. "I will have you know that I am always nice, you ass."

Carlisle looked uncomfortable. Whether it was the language or her calling her dad that, she had no idea. John just shook his head and laughed again while Emmett let out a bark of laughter that startled her.

"Perhaps we should continue this discussion at the house. The human should probably get out of the cold."

She hated when he called her 'the human' and he knew it. "You're a dick," she muttered as she stomped past all of them toward the house she could see in the distance.

Emmett let out that boisterous laugh again. "I like this kid."

They arrived at the house in no time despite moving at her human speed. "We've got company," Carlisle said as he stepped into the house in front of them.

They were greeted by a room full of frowning faces. Lily leaned toward John. "Tough crowd."

That broke the tension and people began bustling around. Lily just followed them with her eyes. A beautiful petite caramel blonde with wavy shoulder length hair came down the stairs looking almost stunned. "But I don't understand. I didn't see them at all. When did you decide you were coming here?"

John glanced to Lily. "Three weeks?"

She nodded. "That's when we decided for sure, yeah."

"That's Alice," Carlisle introduced. "It's unusual for things to surprise her." Lily gave a nod. The introductions were for her after all. John had already met them all. Carlisle placed a hand on the shoulder of the woman beside him. "This is my wife and mate, Esme. Beside Emmett is his wife and mate Rosalie and Alice's husband and mate Jasper is standing beside Edward."

Rosalie offered a tight smile while Jasper looked almost frightened, staying as far from her as possible. Carlisle offered a small smile as he noticed her concern. "Jasper has a hard time with the bloodlust on occasion."

Lily elbowed her dad. "Why didn't you tell me?"

He shrugged. "I forgot?"

She rolled her eyes and ignored Carlisle trying to assure her that she would be fine. She closed her eyes focusing on what she wanted to do. Once she was fairly certain she'd blocked her scent, she opened her eyes and looked at her dad. "That do it?"

He motioned toward the corner where Jasper was and she glanced over to find the man in question looking much more relaxed and slightly in awe if she were honest. "Better?" she asked him.

"How?" was all he said which caused her dad to chuckle. John was always amused watching people react to her gift. She honestly thought that was the main reason he kept introducing her to new people all the time.

"Story time, yeah?" John said as he clapped his hands and rubbed them together. He was downright giddy.

"Calm down, dad." She shifted her gaze to the kind looking woman beside Carlisle. "Is there somewhere I could put my things?"

"Of course. Come with me," Esme said as she stepped forward with a smile.

Lily followed her to the stairs before looking back at her dad. "Can you put the food in the kitchen? I'm starving."

After Lily dropped her things off in a guest room and made herself something to eat, she joined the others in the living room.

"Okay, the kid's here. Start talking," Emmett said earning himself a smack on the back of his head from his wife.

Lily smiled then started talking between bites of her food. There were parts of the story she told and parts John told. Over the years they kind of had it down to a fine art. "Three days before my ninth birthday my parents were murdered while we were on vacation in New Orleans. A vampire had chosen us for his evening meal. Perhaps I wouldn't be so bitter about it if he had just fed from them, but he took some kind of sadistic glee in it. There was blood everywhere. I backed away and hid in the shadows. That was the first time I blocked my scent though I didn't realize that's what I'd done until a couple of years ago. It's the only thing that made sense though as after he finished with my mother, he simply couldn't find me.

"Someone stumbled across the alley and the brutality and screamed for the cops. The vampire took off and I crawled out from behind the dumpster. I didn't talk when they asked me questions and they figured I was in shock. Maybe I was a bit, but mainly I didn't want that red-eyed fucker coming back to finish me off. My da liked gangster movies. I knew how this shit worked."

That earned her a couple of laughs and a pat on the leg from John telling her she was doing fine.

She sighed. "It had always been just the three of us. No family, no friends so I knew I'd end up with strangers. I wasn't completely opposed to that until the social worker arrived to take me and I saw the red ring around his irises. So I ran."

John leaned back in his seat. "Until eight months later when she quite literally ran into me. I let her go but felt guilty about it the rest of the day. Then she interrupted a couple of idiots trying to mug me and got shot for her troubles. I told the hospital she was my daughter. While she was there she told me she could block her pain and her hunger. She was too perfect to leave behind so here we are."

Lily rolled her eyes as she always did whenever he called her perfect. Or beautiful. Or brilliant. He had a tendency to exaggerate everything.

"So you decided to just keep a human and raise it?" the pretty one that Lily was pretty sure was Rosalie asked. "What about the Volturi? You are putting yourself and everyone you introduce her to at risk. Especially if she already has a gift. Aro will go ballistic if he discovers people knew and didn't tell him."

"Rosalie," Esme snapped.

John held up a hand. "It's fine, Esme." He turned his attention back to Rosalie. "None of you are in danger, I assure you. The Volturi are already quite aware of her existence."

Startled exclamations went up around the room.

"How? What happened?" Carlisle asked, speaking above the others.

He shrugged and Lily smiled. "I called them."

As usual, that announcement was answered with stunned silence.

"Liliana will remain human until she is twenty-one provided she continues to develop her gift. Keeping her with me and not in Volterra was a separate issue but it worked out."

"It worked out?" Rosalie asked.

Carlisle gave a lopsided grin. "John was a member of the Volturi during the time period that I was there. While technically a member of the guard, Aro considered him a friend, and likely still does."

John nodded. "I appealed to his better nature."

Liliana snorted a laugh. "He appealed to Aro's greed. Dad agreed to twenty years of service after I'm turned." That wasn't something they told everyone, but Lily knew from her conversations with her father that the Cullens were family.

"For her as well?" Jasper asked and she couldn't help but smile at the soft Southern twang that flowed through his words.

Lily answered for him. "Nope. I haven't talked to him, but Aro has made it clear to Dad that he hopes I stay after the change but he said it should be my choice. He won't force me."

"That makes him sound almost reasonable," Edward muttered though they all heard it.

"You'd be surprised," John responded with a small smile. "And as much as I love visiting, we're actually here hoping you could help Lils work with her gift. Alice and Edward have some of the strongest mental abilities I know. At least amongst those I would trust to work with her."

"What about me?" Jasper pipes up.

"I haven't tried blocking emotions. I don't know if that would even be possible. You could help me perfect blocking my scent though."

He grinned. "However I can help, ma'am."

"So she's not just a shield?" Edward asked.

She shook her head. "There's a reason I call it blocking. It's hard to explain as it has more to do with how I use the gift than anything else. But allow me to demonstrate." She removed the block that was keeping Edward from reading her thoughts. Hello, Edward. And then she thought about a purple unicorn dancing the tango with a puppy before promptly putting the block back in place.

The poor mind reader looked so confused. "What...Why would that be what you thought about?"

Lily giggled. "Just making sure you knew it was actually my thoughts you were reading." She looked over to Alice. "As for you, Dad had me put a block up before we started talking about coming here, and then he left the choice up to me. Guess it worked."