HUNTER'S POV
I hate my gift. It's not a gift, it's horrible. All it does is get people killed. I hate not being able to control it. Stupid memories. I hate what I am too. That just makes people want to murder me even more. Stupid hybrid thingy. Mike called me 'Thingerella', I liked him. But he's dead now. It's not fair. Everyone hates me, even my own father. And I don't know what I did wrong. Mike and Gabby and me were playing and then They were just there and everyone was dead. They wouldn't come near me because of the fire. I didn't mean to, I promise. I don't know how I did it. I'm scared someone will find me. I don't want to hurt anyone. The sky began to cry with me.
JASPER'S POV
Deer, 4 to the north. It's not carnivorous but it will have to do, we're leaving soon. Alice and Rose want to get back and go shopping, what's new there?
"Well, Bella's considering going with them" Edward answered, reading my thoughts. He was glad she wanted to go.
"Wow, wasn't expecting her to have been converted quiet so soon. Have fun" I said, turning and heading for the deer. I breathed in their scent. I froze. The scent of another like Renesmee was fresh here, from the early hours of the morning at the oldest. It was weak, so I'm gathering the hybrid is young. Alone too. I ran in the opposite direction and another disconcerting scent hit me. The Volturi. Two days old, maybe three. Four at the most.
"Jasper, are you sure?" Edward asked, coming up behind me. His interest and concern were piquing. I nodded. Their scent was unmistakable. Edward, lets go back and see if we can find the kid? I suggested. He nodded. We turned around.
A girl. She looked to be about four, blond hair, shot through with pale red and grey-blue eyes. She could only be a few months old, tops. She was scared of us. Her eyes wide and wary. Apprehensive. Edward nodded. I went and slowly knelt beside her. The others had just come to stand behind Edward.
"Can you tell me your name darlin'?" I asked gently. She nodded, shaking. I calmed her down a little. She looked at me.
"Hunter," she said quietly, "Just kill me already, I'm sick of waiting." She was really scared and just slightly sarcastic. Everyone was shocked by what she had said.
"Why would I want to do that Hunter?" I asked. A single tear fell to the ground.
"Cause that's all anyone else wants to do. That's why They came, I'm not like Renesmee"
"How do you know about Nessie?" Bella asked, almost defensive.
"My power is to see the past. I saw when They came for her," Hunter replied quietly. Esme came and knelt behind me.
"Why are you out here alone Hunter?" She asked.
"Because They decided it would be fun to kill Mike and Gabby and my father ran off. They tried to kill me as well, but failed," Hunter shrugged. She doesn't like her dad at all. How had she managed to survive the Volturi?
"Good question. Hunter, how did you run away from Them?" Edward questioned. Hunter giggled softly.
"Must be fun having a mind reader around huh? Anyways, I don't know. Well, I do, kinda I was waiting. And then all the fire was just ... there" She said, speculating,
"And they just left?" Alice asked curiously. Hunter nodded.
"It was really weird. Mike and Gabby were dead. And they were about to start one, and suddenly it was surrounding them. Jane and Caius didn't like it," She smiled quietly.
I laughed softly, the strong distaste radiating from when she mentioned Jane.
"You don't like Jane much do you?"I said. She laughed too.
"Does anyone?" Emmett shrugged.
"I guess not. Except Alec. And Aro," I said.
"True. But thats cause they're majorly not right in the head. I mean, what is with Aro? He takes pleasure in everything," She said, confused in a good way.
"He's happy doing that. But why was he trying to kill you?" I asked. It didn't make sense. They let Nessie and us go, why not Hunter?
"They didn't trust my father. And my mother used to be a part of their guard, Flame," I knew Flame, not from the Volturi, but from my time with Maria. Flame had been a good friend. I could see the likeness between her and Hunter.
"Being half of each of them, the risk was too great. I inherited her gift. And his power, " She said sadly. I nodded slightly.
"I knew Flame. You're a lot like her," I smiled. A small tear formed in her eye.
"Do you know why they called her that?" I asked. She shook her head.
"Because she could control fire. Maybe that's what happened when the Volturi were here. You had to watch her when she was angry, or it hurt," I laughed. Flame had been like a sister to me. I still felt I owed her, " And her hair was red. Like yours will be. It's a dark red. And it used to look like it was flickering, like a flame." Hunter smiled. She looked almost like Alice did when she had a vision, though not blank, she was full of emotion. As Flame always used to be.
It begun to rain. Hunter looked up and groaned. Bella laughed. Then we all started laughing and Hunter pouted.
"Come on Hunter. Come back to our house, so you don't get wet," Esme smiled.
"I'm already wet though. And I don't want to bother you," She said honestly.
"You won't bother us. Please?" Esme said. Hunter sighed and smiled. We stood and Esme picked her up gently. I looked to the east, something small was running this was. Smelt like a wet dog. It was running towards the clearing. She froze in fear.
"Noo!"
"What's wrong Hunter?" Esme said quickly. She shuddered.
"My father," She trembled. She turned into me and I wrapped my arms around her.
"Bastard," Edward spat angrily.
"Esme, Alice, Rose. Take Hunter back to the house and stay there until we get back. Bella, go with them. Now," He continued urgently.
"Edward what's going on?" Rose asked, worried. Rare for her.
"Just go," He said urgently. Alice nodded. I gently passed Hunter to Esme. She clung to Esme and buried her head in Esme's neck. Esme whispered soothingly to her. It was helping, my gift wasn't having much effect, she was really bad.
The girls left quietly.
"Edward, what is going on?" Carlisle asked calmly.
"Her father is coming. He can't have her. He's not going to hurt her again," Edward was furious. Hunter must have been thinking about him.
"What did he do?" Emmett asked, serious.
"Yeah, you're all thinking it," Edward growled. Poor kid, I thought sadly. Emmett hissed.
HUNTER'S POV
I leant further into Esme's neck, under her hair. She smelt nice, safe. Something I hadn't felt in a long time. I yawned, shifting slightly.
"You can sleep honey, it's okay,you're safe now," She whispered in my ear. But I couldn't, the worry was gnawing at my stomach.
"Will the boys be okay?" I asked timidly. Esme rubbed my back gently.
"Yes, they can handle themselves, they'll be back soon," she soothed.
"Are you sure? He's another vampire, with no aversion to killing, and he wields the aid of Earth and Water, he can't be stopped, the Volturi didn't manage it-" She cut me off.
"They'll be fine, and back soon. You need to sleep Hunter," she said earnestly. I pulled my head up groggily.
"They're lucky he can't wield fire, with Flame, he was unstoppable, at least to vampires," I said. Esme smiled at me.
"They will be okay. If I didn't know that I'd be out there with them," she laughed. I frowned.
"I want to go and help them," I said quietly. Esme looked at me.
"No," she said firmly, "they can handle it. The boys know what they're doing. And you, missy, need to sleep." Fine then, be that way.
"But I can help, I have Flame's power. I'm not even tired," I argued. And right on cue, I yawned widely. Esme laughed again.
"No Hunter,you might get hurt. I can't let that happen," she said, serious.
"Come on, you need to sleep. When was the last time you slept?" I sighed in defeat.
"A few days? I don't know, two, maybe four?" I shrugged. Esme frowned.
"See, you need to sleep, or you'll get sick. Please?" she asked.
"Can we at least wait till they get back? I need to know they're okay." I insisted. It was Esme's turn to sigh. "Okay, but then straight to sleep. Deal?"
"Okay," I agreed happily.
We went downstairs and sat on the pretty white couch, where Alice and Rose were sitting. "Lost that one, eh Esme?" Rose laughed.
"Hmm, yes," she smiled at me, "but I'll win the next one." I laughed, and so did Alice.
"I bet," Rose chuckled. Esme joined in and soon we were all cracking up. For some reason.
"What's so funny?" Bella said from upstairs.
"Nothing," Alice yelled back. Which made the rest of us laugh harder.
Bella and Nessie appeared at the top of the stairs. Nessie looked older than the last time I'd 'seen' her, but that was to be expected. She was looking at me too, studying me. "Ah, she's so cute!" Nessie said happily. I blushed self consciously. She bounded gracefully down the stairs and sat besides me. "It's a gift and a curse. But it's mostly good," she nodded.
"I think I'm starting to see the good side," I said quietly. She laughed.
"Can I show you something?" she asked eagerly. I smiled.
"Only if I can show you something back," I replied. She smiled back at me and gently placed her hand at the base of my neck. She showed me everyone, even her boyfriend Jake. And she showed me the beauty of being half vampire, the pros. It was amazing.
"Wow, that's so cool," I said, smiling wickedly. I placed my hand over hers, and I showed her my power. She gasped. My power was strange, possessive. I could tap into every other power, that existed. It was confusing. Her eyes were shut, and she was just watching. I showed her my conversation with Jasper and Esme and Edward, in the clearing. Last month, I'd meet the shifters. They emerged from the forest edge in their soul sharer, it was beautiful. All the different shifters together, united. I want to be one of them, a shifter, I said to Ness happily. Amazing. "You are already!" she said truthfully.
I showed her what I'd seen, of my father. I want to be out there, with them, I said, serious.
"No," she laughed, still watching. I rolled my eyes, pulling back my hand.
"So was that my power you hijacked?" she asked. I nodded sheepishly.
"Sorry. I've used it before, I was practicing," I said, shying back against Esme.
"I don't mind. Hey, it's probably because we're similar you can do that. How cool is that?" she said, totally blissed out.
"Pretty awes. Tell me more about Jake, I want to know more about shape shifters, I haven't heard much bout them, because, yeah," I said, trailing off.
"Yeah, I know. Well,they just shift into wolves. Not like the ones you met. But the legend said the wolf had shared his body with Taha Aki, so, they'd be soul sharers right?" she said. I nodded.
"I'd say so. Sounds right," she laughed. I shrugged, whatever.
"Stop it Hunter! That's freaky!" she said, smiling. But I can't help it. It was the first power I fully grasped. Yours was second, I replied.
"I'll stop if it's that bad. But it's really only the reversal of your dad's power. It's pretty much your power! It's Melrose's thing," I said, reasonable.
"What are you two on about?" Rose asked, eyebrows raised.
"Just discussing Hunter's power And werewolves. And Hunter's freaky power," Nessie replied angelically.
"It's not freaky!" I argued.
"What is it?" Rose asked.
"Well, I can possess other people's powers. But I can only use a few properly at the moment," I shrugged, yawning. Esme smiled smugly. I'm not going to sleep!
"Okay, that is freaky. And you will Hunter, promise," Esme said, confident. I frowned, looked out the window, and cracked up. Ness followed my gaze, and gasped.
"Hunter!" she exclaimed.
"Whoops," I giggled. Just out the window, over the middle of the river, floated a fair sized fire ball, a quivering one. It was dissipating, shrinking. I dropped into the river, bored. Ness nudged me, "I was watching that," she said, sighing.
"Sorry, I'll make you another later. Maybe I can teach you. Depends," I said, shrugging.
"On?" she asked curiously. I put my hand on her neck. If you're a fire-raiser,an arsonist. Or a yielder of wind,. A hurricane. Earthies and Waves can't do it. Well, Waves can, but I can't teach you that. She laughed, her hand on my neck.
A what? What does it all mean? I sighed, shaking my head.
Your element. Everyone has one. Some people have more than one. I got two, for instance, my mothers. It rocks, I thought, indifferent.
TEACH ME! She demanded. I sighed.