Chapter One

Renesmee Cullen. What a name. Or at least, that's what people would tell me. It wasn't my idea. I hated that name. I hated with all my heart. My mother had had the brilliant idea of combing both Renee and Esme, the names of my two grandmother's, producing the atrocity: Renesmee. That's why I went by Nessie. Whenever I needed to provide my full name, I volunteered Vanessa instead.

That's why when I was addressed by my real name at King's Cross, I was quick to turn my head and search for the owner of the voice.

When my eyes landed on Emmett and Rosalie standing by the platform, I could not help but give a small smile and light wave in their direction. Emmett, who had been waving both his arms above his head to get my attention stood in contrast to Aunt Rose, who stood silent, and gracefully at his side. She emitted an air of superiority. Whether she wanted to or not I couldn't tell. Someone as beautiful as she was often ill received by other jealous women and intimidated men.

I pulled my train case behind me, brusquely making my way through the throng of students and families that had been newly reunited after nearly ten months of separation, which made me ask when I reached them...

"Where's mom and dad?"

I was quickly taken out of my reverie when I heard my name being called from across he clearing where Aunt Rose and I now hunted.

"I'm over here." I shouted, not that I needed too. She would have heard me if I had merely whispered. But my hearing was not as acute as the rest of my family's.

"We're going back to the house now." She was a few feet away from me now. "It's getting dark." Another formality. The Cullen's didn't need to go back once the sun had set, but it was part of the charade. The more human we behaved, the easier it was to walk among them and act s if we were the same. Plus, I didn't have the perfect night vision of a vampire. It wouldn't be productive for me to continues hunting.

"Alright. I'm right behind you." She turned to run and soon caught up with Uncle Emmett. I watched them leap across the river and then made to make my own way back to the main house.

There was a reason that the main house was distinguished as such. Several other cottages had been built on the property. One for when Rose and Emmett had gotten married. Well, I think that they'd gone through several, but only one stood there now. There was a garage which was the size of a small house. The Cullen's had always had a certain inclination for cars. I think it must have been the speed that they craved. The final cottage, the last one I was aware of anyway, had been built thirteen years ago. It had been a birthday present to my mother.

And just like that I was thrown back into my reverie from earlier that day...

"Where's mom and dad?" I looked between Rose and Emmett, a questioning look in my eye.

They both looked at each other uncomfortably for a moment. Neither of them would look down to meet my gaze. They were both so much taller than I. Finally, Rose cast an uneasy glance my way.

What she said next would undoubtedly change me. The carefree attitude, my easygoing school girl mentality, the jovial buoyancy I had acquired at Hogwarts would be thrust aside. The gleam in my eyes would darken. Or at least that's what they told me.

"Edward and Bella...they aren't" she paused for a moment, very briefly to throw a nervous glance Emmett's way. If had been anyone else, they would hardly have noticed it. Due to my anxious state or already heightened vision or probably both, that moment seemed to drag on forever.

Rose eventually turned back to me, the worried red-head who's head only reached just below her shoulder, and continued.

"Edward and Bella aren't with us anymore. They aren't Cullen's." Her voice sounded strained. Both in anger and despair, and I thought that this is what a vampire would look like if they were able to cry. Rose would be crying.

"What do you mean, 'they aren't Cullen's'?" I had a feeling I knew what that meant, even if part of me was unwilling to except it. This is where Emmett chimed in.

"They aren't part of our family anymore." I'll never forget the way he said'our'. It was so full of contempt. So full of that angry despair I had heard in Rose's voice moments ago.

"Well if they aren't part of our family anymore," I tried to mimic the same inflection I had heard in his and Rose's voice. "who's family do they belong to?"

There was another one of those long, artificially drawn out glances between them. This time I was not so anxious to hear what their reply would be. Whatever their answer, it would be much worse then what I could come up with. This time it was Rose that answered. That unmistakable tone of grief more present then ever.

"The Volturi's."

And that was when everything changed. Or at least, that's what they told me.