"~ Fire and Ice ~
A Flash Forward Fan Fic
Renesmee and Jacob
Chapter 1 Home
Atop a mossy rock face stood the russet wolf peering through the cover of brush. He watched the pretty young girl just below him preparing to pounce on the poor defenseless deer in front of her. If he'd learned anything about vampires from his time here he figured he was right to assume she would take him down without much of a struggle. She had changed, he noted as he studied the girl. She'd grown her dark hair nearly to her waist. It was a riot of curls down her back. When he'd left she'd been merely a child and now, he noted with some regret she was a woman. She had the look of her mother with all that dark hair and the fluid body a prima ballerina would be jealous of. He watched the girl tear into the deer with obvious delight. Blood spilled from her lips in a trickle while she fed. The wolf merely stared in a look that would only be construed as a cocky grin. He had known his girl would win. She usually did get everything she wanted and even some things she didn't know she had. For surely she had stolen his heart from the moment he'd first seen the tiny little babe wrapped in a pink blanket. He remembered how much he'd wanted to kill her, to destroy the thing that had ripped its way from his best friend's womb. Then he'd seen the dark curls that were so much like her mother's, the tiny bow shaped mouth that lay rosy against porcelain white skin that came from her heritage and those gleaming golden eyes had locked onto him. In an instant the tiny girl wrapped in the pink blanket had become everything to him. He'd known from that moment on there was nothing he wouldn't do for her and he knew now that there still could be nothing he could deny her. After being gone for so long he had thought his reaction to her might have dulled but he felt it vibrating there in his belly like he'd been punched in the gut. The love was absolute and as pure as the driven snow which he reminded himself was why he had left in the first place. The girl deserved a choice, a chance to choose for herself the kind of life she wanted to live. He gazed through beast's eyes as she dropped the animal to the grass. Blood dripped from her lips, her eyes still shone with the joy of the kill. She would forever be his dark angel the only true thing that the universe had seen fit to reward him. With a seething regret Jacob Black pulled back from the brush and turned to run back into the forest on padded feet. He would honor the pact he'd made with Edward and stay as far away as he possibly could but he knew it was only a matter of time before he could no longer hold up his end of the bargain. Since he'd come back to Forks watching her hunt was becoming a favored pastime for him. With the freedom his wolf form allowed him he ran through the forest darting around trees and jumping over rocks. As he headed toward the little cottage in the woods Jacob thought it was high time he and Edward had a little talk.
The meadow was calm with the eerie green glow of the sun filtering its light through the new spring leaves. She stood in perfect stillness against a crag of rock patiently waiting for her chance. She sensed him coming long before he came into view, smelled him even before that. Warm breezes fluttered her chestnut curls as she deftly molded her lithe body into a predatory crouch. The girl zeroed in on her target the irises of her golden eyes glistening like aged whiskey. That familiar arrogant knowledge draped over her silkily. She knew with absolute certainty that the animal grazing in the meadow before her would be hers. She could already taste his blood in her mouth, could already feel the warmth of it washing through her. As if suddenly sensing the danger that lay in wait, the buck lifted his head but it was already too late. Razor sharp teeth tore through the thick flesh ripping through muscle until finally breaking through the throbbing artery releasing the metallic liquid into her mouth. It was soothing and quieted the burn in her throat but it would never be as satisfying as human blood. She thought of that as she sucked the life from the once majestic animal that now lay dying in her arms. Thought of the night she'd taken a young girl's life back in Oregon. She remembered what it felt like to feel the force of human blood pulsing in her mouth recalled so clearly the way it had slid into her stomach and the vibrant energy she had gotten from it. To a vampire such as herself it was as potent as any drug could ever be but she had been younger than and so foolish. Her parents had freaked of course. It was well known that their family did not dine on the blood of humans and it was decided by unanimous family vote that they would move again to avoid any possibility of the death being linked to them. The body had been destroyed and the whole family relocated to Alaska. The obvious displeasure of her family even through their unwavering support had clinched it. No more humans for this vampire. She had vowed never to put them in that position again. Her hatred for Alaska had helped to cement that vow. Who wanted wander about bundled up in an unflattering parka that they really didn't need to wear anyways? As the memory faded so did the illusion of taste. The bitterness filled her mouth and the vision faded from her mind as the buck fell like a stone to lie at the vampire girl's feet. Through the haze of the kill a strange sensation washed over her. Her head whipped up instinctually to a sound in the brush above her. A foreign feeling trickled into her like a past long forgotten. It was a sensation she didn't recognize only knew that something about the scent coming from the spot atop the rocks was familiar. If she hadn't been so focused on whatever was standing on that rock she would have noticed the man stalking like a panther out of the woods to tackle her stealthily to the ground. A feral growl ripped out as she rolled gracefully to a half crouch across the meadow then turned to a laugh when she spotted her attacker knelt down directly in front of her. The hiss she'd intended to sound menacing came out in a kind of choked giggle instead.
"You know Talan, That act of yours is getting kind of tired" She moved to a sitting position in the grass wiping the blood from her ashen skin with the back of her hand.
"Yeah, but I always manage to get you don't I Ness?" A cocky smirk adorned the warrior poet face. Renesmee Cullen tossed her curls back in defiance.
"I was distracted. I'm an easy target when I'm thirsty" She watched the grin on his face turn to a flirtatious leer.
"Darling Nessie, I'm proof that you aren't that easy" The light that came in to his eyes was all challenge. In one single movement she was on her feet and pacing. His affections toward her were a constant pain in the ass plus she despised being called Nessie. The look she threw over her shoulder was like hellfire and twice as potent. Talan knew that a lesser man would shrink under that stare but he simply dashed across the meadow and closed the distance between them laying his hands on her bare shoulders. His touch was like a window to his past. Even from birth Renesmee could see into a person's past with just a tiny bit of contact. With both of his hands clamped down on her like vises she could see it all right back to images of him in his mother's womb. It was annoying but she never could learn how to stop the flood. She flicked through images of his childhood, a few awkward puberty moments and saw the faces of the many women he'd been with before he'd been reborn a vampire. She saw her father his face full of doubt an instant before he bit the young man he'd found left for dead on the back roads of Juno. She saw herself standing over him her face full of concern, saw them hunting together, arguing over something or other and finally of the way she'd looked to him while she'd just fed. Renesmee sighed with the effort it took to pull back from the visions. It was just too hard to see herself through his eyes, to feel what he felt and know that she could never feel as strongly about him.
"No I certainly am not. I'm not going to give myself to any man without a fight" Deftly she shrugged out of the iron grasp he had on her. Talan simply ignored the brush off and leaned into her taking in the scent of peaches and blood. Hers was the very first smell that had caught his attention after the blaze of the venom had subsided. She'd smelled just like the southern orchards where he's spent his summers as a child. It seemed only right that he had been made for her.
"Why fight? It could be so easy between us if only you'd let me in" She felt his marble hard lips graze the nape of her neck and closed her eyes. It was hard to refuse the romantic contact having had so little of it. It wasn't as if there were a ton of vampire men out there who shared her families tastes that she cared for. Maybe, just maybe it could be enough to be with Talan. She turned into him tilting her gaze up. His bronze colored hair fell to curl in layers just beneath its strong jaw. His eyes were the same golden hue as hers. He was built like a bear all muscle and sinew stretched over a bulky 6ft frame. Certainly he was beautiful, strong as he looked and nearly as fast as her own father. He was kind, funny, shared her taste in literature and he loved her. However she looked at it Renesmee knew in her heart that he simply wasn't her destiny. After so many years of watching the eternally burning love between her parents, Alice and Jaspers quiet warmth, Rosalie and Emmett's seemingly never-ending hunger for one another, and Esme and Carlisle's easy affectations she knew she would accept no less for herself. A sigh of defeat escaped her lips.
"Why me, Talan" she said seriously. "I know I'm the only single female around in your league but…" Before she could finish his lips were pressed to hers silencing any hint of protest. She wanted to pull back as much for his sake as for hers but her curiosity was getting the better of her. He moved his mouth over hers smoothly nipping her bottom lip just a tiny bit with his teeth. It was just like sinking, like falling languidly into a deep lagoon. Renesmee's arms came up to wrap around Talan's neck despite herself, her lips quested for more but it was Talan who pulled back just a fraction keeping his forehead lightly pressed to hers.
"See, that wasn't so bad, was it?" he asked. That charming little grin was back. A light of triumph shone in his golden eyes. He seemed so darn proud of himself.
"You didn't answer my question" she replied quietly. Talan shifted to look into her eyes. He held her face in his hands as if she actually might break.
"Because you were the first girl I ever really saw" he said tucking a few wayward tendrils of hair behind her ear. She started to protest but was silenced by the pleading expression he wore. "I can barely remember my human life, Ness. Probably wouldn't be able to even name one of the women I was with then. When I woke up and saw your face it was as if my life had truly begun" His hand laid palm up just waiting for her to clasp it with her own. "Be with me Renesmee Cullen. I promise I'll always love you, I'll always protect you" There it was all laid out for her. To many others the choice would be simple but Renesmee still had that strange gut feeling that there was something else out there for her. For pretty much as long as she could remember it had felt like a piece of her was missing. The choice was simple. Take the man in front of her and live a comfortable life caring for one another or risk losing him and never finding that illusive ideal. Could she take the hand Talan had outstretched in front of her or could she deny him and live out possible eternity alone.
"I have to think about it, Talan" she said, neither accepting nor declining his offer. The sound he made was caught somewhere between a huff and a hiss. He was angry. He tried to hide it but the hand fisted in his hair and the stone face was a dead giveaway. He spun to pace the meadow kicking a rock up from out of the moss and sending it flying towards the forest. Renesmee could still feel the tingle of his lips on hers. He had been wrong before. It wasn't easy. "I just wonder if maybe you aren't just settling, Talan. Did he ask you to do this?" The reference to her father had Talan snapping his head up. They both knew that Edward had changed him partly to give her a mate.
"For once, just once could you actually try to believe that I want this? I want you, and Edward has nothing to do with it" he hissed seething with a fury so strong Renesmee could actually see him shaking. "Are you denying me because it's what your father wants you to do?" He demanded.
"You think that I'm denying you because of childish rebellion?" She snapped back barely suppressing a snarl. "I do what I please. To hell with everyone else, this is about my life, our life if that's what we choose" She sighed and laid both her hands out palms up and pleading. "I just need time to think"
The angry breath he'd been holding huffed out and he relaxed, fractionally. "If that's what you need Ness, you can have eternity. I'm tired of begging for you and getting nothing" Talan's face was as cold as a stone, his poet's mouth set in a grim line. "Next time you'll have to do the begging. I'm over this" He sprinted off into the trees so fast all Renesmee could see was a blur. Rather than follow him she merely leaned up against the huge tree at her back. She had a lot to think about.