Disclaimer: Twilight is the property of Stephenie Meyer
I'd like to dedicate this story to my new Beta Noble Korhedron, thank you kindly for helping me out :)
I would also like to dedicate it to my two main girls Minschen and Nikki, you rock! Thank you both for your continued support :)
I'd also like to dedicate it to LordXeenTheGreat and Rickmer. I hope this answers the questions you had about the character of Nikki Fey.
So without further ado I give you 'After the Flames'…
Bella
We were all sat in the living room, Carlisle and Esme, Alice and Jasper, Rosalie and Emmett and my husband Edward and me when Alice suddenly sat up strait with a look of worry on her face.
"I have a feeling." She announced grandly in her bell-like voice. "That Essie's going to pay a visit."
Immediately I felt thrilled that my granddaughter was on her way. I always loved it when she came up here, she filled the house with happiness that you only got from children. It also helped that she'd inherited Jake's grin, that one that was open and warm and brought light like the sun.
"She's running from the forest." Edward said suddenly.
"So she didn't hitch a ride this time." I observed.
"Not this time." Edward said with a smile.
Two minuets later the back door burst open and Esther herself staggered in panting.
"Grandma." She called.
My stomach did a strange little flip as she called me this, to think I was this girl's grandmother? I only looked nineteen and she was eleven, but that's what happened when you became a vampire not long after giving birth to your only child. Then the panicked tones in her voice registered.
"What's wrong?" I asked as she came running up to me.
"It's Grandpa Charlie!" She exclaimed. "He's ill and they won't let me see him."
"No." I gasped, my hand flying to my mouth as I dreaded the worst.
"Will you take me?" She asked.
"Yes. Come on." I said, rising quickly to my feet and swinging her up onto my back.
"Err Bella." Alice began.
"Later." I dismissed, and I was rushing out of the house with Essie on my back as I ran the familiar trail to my old house.
I was a blur when I reached the house and I didn't stop as I went inside quickly. I swung Essie off my back as I shut the door. It still seemed strange entering this house as a guest, even after thirty odd years. A lot had happened in this house that set my life on a course that was way beyond the norm.
I could hear low voices in the living room and I led Essie swiftly into that little room.
What I saw when I entered made me reconsider the urgency. Charlie, my father, was bundled up in a blanket cocoon on the sofa with a box of tissues on a little side table and crumpled Kleenex scattered around the place. There was a bottle of cough medicine sitting in its sticky runoff and a bowl smelling heavily of disinfectant at his side.
"He's got the flu." I pointed out to Esther.
"But…they made it sound worse, like it was something serious." My granddaughter said, frowning.
"No." My daughter Renesmee said in admonishment. "What I said was, you'd swear he was dying the way he's going on. It's man flu Essie. They get it much worse than us." Her last tones were a little sarcastic.
"Hey!" Charlie grouched, his throat sounding roar.
"I guess that's what Alice was trying to tell me." I said slapping my forehead, if only I'd taken the time to listen.
"Hey Bells, is that you?" Charlie called in his weak crackly voice.
"Yeah Dad." I said, moving to his side and taking his outstretched hand.
Charlie didn't know I was a vampire, not in the strictest terms. He knew I was no longer human; that I was something other, but he hadn't wanted to know the full details so long as I was happy and well. He was just thankful that I didn't turn into a wolf like Jake.
"It's nice of you to come visit your old father." He said, coughing slightly as if to make me feel even guiltier.
"You know we have to be careful on our trips into town." I said. "Technically we don't even live here anymore. We're staying near for Essie."
"I know that." Charlie said bluntly. "It still be good to see you more often. Maybe you could come after dark."
"I'll see what I can do Dad." I promised, and in that instant I meant it. "But right now I really should get going. I need to let Edward know you're ok."
"Cause we wouldn't want Edward to worry." Charlie said in tones that would have been too quiet for a human to hear, so I ignored the comment
"I'll come back as soon as I can." I said, planting a kiss on his cheek, which didn't burn my throat as much as it used to. "Bye Dad. See you later Nessie."
"I'll be up Mom." My daughter promised.
"Then can I come with you?" Essie asked.
I looked at my daughter, not wanting to undermine her. She shrugged her shoulders.
"Sure. Aunt Alice was looking forward to playing dress up." I said, hoping this might change her mind.
"Good. I need a new haircut." She replied with her Jake-like grin.
"Come on then." I said, beaten by my own granddaughter.
She followed me outside, but no sooner were we walking down the drive than we were accosted by a balding man with a beer belly. He smelt of stale alcohol and it took me a moment to recognise him.
It was the leer that gave him away as he looked me up and down. It was Mike Newton.
"Hey there Bella, how are you baby?" He slurred.
Baby? I had never been his baby! We hadn't even had the type of relationship that would have justified him calling me baby. Of course there was a more pressing matter than that at hand.
"I'm not Bella." I said promptly. "I'm Ruth, Bella's granddaughter and this is my sister Martha." I said, pointing out Esther thinking it the best explanation since I looked too young to have a daughter as old as my granddaughter.
"Sister?" Mike prompted.
"Half sister." I corrected quickly, and I put an arm around Essie's shoulder as I said, "We have different fathers but that doesn't stop us being very close."
I thought Mike would buy it for a moment, but then he shook his finger at me.
"Nooo." He crooned. "I know it's you Bella. You can't hide anything from Mike you know. I been doing research." And he tapped the side of his nose.
"Research?" I demanded as I suddenly felt a strange feeling of foreboding in my gut.
Mike nodded his head.
"Turns out the Cullens was here before, all with the same names except Alice an Jasper. But if you know where to look they turn up all over the place. An' you wanna know what? They never age. But I guess you know a lot about that now wouldn't you, Bella. You chose a vampire over me?" The last part was added in a hurt whine.
"Ruthy, he's scaring me." Esther suddenly piped in as she drew herself into my side and I was proud of her quick thinking.
"Are you happy now you drunken buffoon, you've scared my sister." I hissed angrily. "Now go away or I'll phone the police."
"Yeah." Mike snorted and wandered away.
I gave a sigh of relief, but then I became aware of the warmth still held under my arm. I looked down at Esther with a frown.
"I think it might be best if you go home with your mother." I said firmly.
She looked at me as if she was about to pout.
"There's no discussion over this my girl. I need to talk to Alice and it'll help if you're not in the way."
"Ok Grandma." Essie said despondently before trudging up to the house.
I sighed once more before I headed for the woods that encroached on Charlie's property before I ran for home. Edward met me half way, but he didn't say anything as we ran together toward the house.
Alice gave a little sigh as we entered.
"It's just possible we might have trouble." She said.
"What do you mean?" I asked as Edward and I resumed our seats.
"Mike's planning something, but he hasn't decided yet." She answered.
"What could he do to us?" I scoffed.
"You had a confrontation with him today. He might start spreading the word around." Alice said pointedly.
"But who's going to believe him? They'll just think the town drunk is talking nonsense again. Everyone knows there are no such things as vampires." I reasoned.
"Yes, but when people start to get suspicious we have to move on. Just because he's the town drunk doesn't mean people won't take notice at some subconscious level and people will start to look a little closer at the weird Cullens."
I shrugged, I guess if the idea was there you might start to notice the odd thing or two. I did after all.
"So what shall we do?" I asked.
"I think we should pack our things and close up the house in case we need to make a quick getaway." Alice suggested.
I frowned at this suggestion, but it turned out to be pretty good advice in the end.
It was around one in the morning when Alice gasped and said that we needed to fetch buckets of water quickly and take them around to the front of the house while she phoned Renesmee. I had no idea what my daughter had to do with this but the use of the water became apparent as the tongues of flame began to lick up the front of the house while Mike danced around with a bottle of something or other in his hand as he sang a gleeful song about destroying the bloodsuckers.
We ignored him as we worked quickly to bring the fire under control and finally put it out. If we had been human we would have been exhausted, but we were ok other than being a little sooty. The house on the other hand was no longer white and the downstairs windows had cracked with the heat.
"Cars now." Alice said, coming past us quickly while mike fell over in the grass.
We headed to our various cars to make our escape. As we were going down the long drive we passed a small convoy of trucks and cars. I recognised Renesmee's car and Jake was driving while she sat in the passenger seat. She gave me a wave while smiling sadly and I waved back as we passed. The rest of the wolf pack were in the other cars and I guess they were there as an explanation of how they got the fire out.
And that was how we came to leave Forks and ended up in Denali with Tanya's coven while we decided where to go next…
Thank you for reading
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Gemma x