Chapter 1

Puppy Love

My name is Renesmee Cullen, and I am a 14 year old girl. Most people call me Nessie. I am 14 on the outside, but in reality I am only 2. You see I come from an unusual family. My mother and father are vampires. I am only half-vampire. My mother was human when I was conceived, which I won't go into details because that is just gross. My mother died having me, literally. Then she was reborn a vampire. The reason I am only 2 is that when I was born I grew rapidly, due to the unusual nature of my being. My Grandpa Carlisle, who is a doctor and also a vampire, said I will stop growing soon, and then stay what ever age I stop. He figures that will be when I'm about 18 in vamp years. In human years, we haven't determined yet. I have slowed in my aging.

Anyway, I live with my mom and dad in a small town in New Hampshire called Weatherby. It's a quaint town of 300 people. We have lived here almost a year now. My parents are going to college nearby. I am a freshman in high school, and a straight A student. I hate it. Everyone calls me a book nerd. I can't help it though. I absorb everything I read or see. It is a curse in a way. If I took a test for geniuses, I would probably break the charts, not to brag or anything, but I could. Like I said, it sucks. I go to school with my best friend and soul mate, Jacob Black. He is older than me, by a couple years, well, vamp years anyway. He is 17 to my 14. But in a year or so our age difference won't matter much. Did I mention that Jacob is a werewolf? It is complicated and unusual as I have mentioned.

For starters, when my mother, Bella, was younger and human, she fell in love with my father, Edward, who is a vampire. Edward was forever 17, and my mother was 17, in human years, when they met. They had a turbulent romance, so you could imagine, with him wanting to gorge on her blood and all. But they fell madly in love, and had a whirlwind romance. But my mother had a tendency to have trouble follow her. After another vampire from a wandering clan, tried to kill my mom, then almost being eaten by my uncle Jasper in a freak accident on her 18th birthday, almost losing my dad to the Volturi, and again to an army of newborn vamps, she survived, always with love and protection of my father. Edward, my father, was her "guardian angel", so she says.

Along the way, when my mother was almost eaten by my uncle Jasper, my dad, Edward, left my mom. They all did actually. My family left my mom, alone in Forks, Washington. This is where I originally came from. Edward, my dad, thought that is was best, because they were too dangerous to be around her. This broke my mom's heart, and she went into a deep depression. Her childhood friend, Jacob Black, tried to comfort her and pulled her back from her depression. They started to grow closer, and nearly fell in love. But all along, a female vampire named Victoria was stalking her to take revenge on her mate, James. James was killed by Edward when he tried to kill my mom. This is when Jacob became a werewolf. Due to the vampire encroaching on Quiluete land, and puberty, he became a werewolf. The werewolf pack was supposed to be guardians of the land. They chased and hunted the female vampire, Victoria, but she eluded them. So in a way, Jacob was protecting my mom when my dad was away. My mother started to be reckless, and rode motorcycles and cliff dived with Jacob. But then something happened. My aunt, Alice, who could see into the future, and was also a vampire, misinterpreted a cliff dive for suicide. My father thought my mother was dead. He couldn't stand life without my mom, so he would expose himself to the sun in Italy, so that the Voturi, an ancient vampire clan, would destroy him. You see, it was against vampire law to expose yourself to humans. So my father decided to expose himself to the public in the middle of a festival in Italy, close to where the Volturi would find him. Alice, my aunt, found out my mom was not dead, and brought my mom to Italy to rescue my dad. They had to meet with the Volturi, afterwards, and nearly were destroyed anyway. But the Volturi saw something special in my mom's human abilities, and let them go, in promise that she be turned soon.

When they returned to Forks, WA, there was a love triangle between my mom, dad, and Jacob. Jacob and my father were constantly bickering, and wanting to kill each other over my mom. Jacob didn't want my mom becoming a vamp, and my dad couldn't have my mom be a werewolf's mate. It was all very complicated. They eventually worked together to rid the town of the vampire Victoria and her army of newborn vampires she acquired on her wanderings to Seattle. The werewolf pack and the Cullen vampire clan banded together and killed the newborns and Victoria. But Jacob was badly injured in the process. With his exceptional healing, he was better in a few weeks. But his heart was soon to be broken, when he found out about my mother marrying my dad. Jacob wandered in the wilderness for awhile trying to get over my mom, and trying to find his true soul mate, with no luck. Meanwhile, my mother and father got married at a beautiful ceremony at the Cullen house, prepared by my aunt Alice. Jacob finally showed up at the reception and actually danced with my mom. He wasn't pleased at the union of my parents, but accepted it. He knew they were meant to be together.

When my parents returned from their honeymoon, she returned pregnant, with me! But they had only been gone for a few weeks. Due to my mom being human, and dad being vampire, her pregnancy progressed quickly. When they returned to Forks, Jacob found out my mom was pregnant, and still human! He was mortified, and concerned. I was slowly killing my mom, because I was half-vampire and sucking the life from her. At first Jacob wanted me dead. Then soon changed his mind and protected me. It was actually Jacob who came up with the idea for my mother to drink human blood. This was provided by my grandfather, Carlisle, who had access to blood, being a doctor. This worked for awhile until I started to grow stronger and faster, and nearly broke every rib in my mom's body. But I started to grow so rapidly I was aware of my mom being hurt. I was aware of everything outside her womb. I can still remember some things. I remember my dad's voice talking to me before I even saw him. My mom would talk to me too, as well as some other family members. Jacob still hung around the Cullen house like an obedient house dog. He had left his wolf-pack and was now a loner with his friend Seth as a back-up.

Then the day came I was born. I nearly killed my mother coming out of her womb. I chewed my way out, and she nearly bled to death. My father and Jacob were the only ones around when I was born. Carlisle, my doctor grandfather, was hunting that day. My father injected her with vampire venom in her heart, and also by his mouth by biting her, to speed up the process. He nearly lost her. When my mom became a newborn vampire, she wasn't the normal newborn. She progressed much quicker than most. She didn't lust for human blood as bad as they thought she would. She didn't act like a wild animal, but was more serene. I didn't get to see my mother for the first few weeks of my life. They were afraid she would try to attack me, since I still smelled human to her, having human blood and a heartbeat. But slowly we were introduced to each other, and she instantly bonded with me. She had no lust for my blood. Jacob had an instant attraction to me as well, but in a different way. It was like kismet, which my parents did not like at first. My dad and mom wanted to kill Jacob for imprinting on me, but he couldn't help it. That was why he hung around my mom, and nearly fell in love with her. He was waiting for me to be born. Werewolves imprint on their mate when they first meet. It is fate, and that person is to be their soul mate forever. It just so happened that I was Jacob's soul mate, half-vamp, half-human, freak of nature that I am. But he didn't care. He loved me and I loved him.

We were instant friends. I thought of him as my big puppy dog, at first, and he would give me piggyback rides, and protect me from bad people, like when the Volturi tried to kill me. The Volturi thought I was a baby vamp, which is an abomination and to be destroyed. I think they called it the seraphim. But baby vamps don't age. There was a huge battle. My vamp family, the Quilete werewolves, and some other vampire clans joined together to pay witness to my existence. There were clans from other countries, and most if not all stood up for the Cullen clan. My mother was the main protector then. When she became a vampire she was named "the shield". When she was a human she was able to block the thoughts of others, and now that she is a vampire that ability was enhanced. The main Volturi, Aros, was a mind reader, like my dad, but stronger. Some of his cronies had abilities that they used with their minds. One named Jane had the ability to "torture" you with her mind, causing excruciating pain. Another was able to sedate you with his mind and then allowing the other Volturi to destroy you. My mother was able to block all these, and maintain a shield around our army. It was a gift we were surprised and glad she had. It saved us all from imminent doom. The Volturi were finally convinced that I wasn't a threat, and left us alone. We had made new friends of the other clans because of it. After the Volturi had given in, my mother, father, Jacob and I moved to New Hampshire. Jacob couldn't stand to be away from me, so my parents agreed to let him move with us, with much persuasion and crying on my part. You could say I threw a tantrum.

I was only a mere 5 vamp years when we arrived in New Hampshire. I was home-schooled for a while, until I aged to now. My parents thought I should be immersed in the human world as long as I was slowing in my aging. I had stopped growing in the last few months. My parents want me to at least experience High School.

Our home was quaint, in an old fashioned way. My parents loved it, but I liked more modern. They bought a two story home built in the early 1900's. It had 100 acres of land with it, in which we stocked with many types of wildlife. It was kind of run down when we moved in, but my parents enjoyed fixing it up to its original era. Plus they employed the use of my werewolf boyfriend. He was unusually handy with hammer and nails believe it or not. I knew he was mechanically inclined, but never took him for a carpenter. My aunt Alice helped with the decorating. My parents obliged her, of course. She decorated in early 1900's furniture, dark and ornate. The kind of furniture you didn't want to sit on or it would get messed up. Of course my father had to have his grand piano in the living room, of dark cherry wood. The floors were all hardwood cherry, glossy and slick. I loved sliding on them in my socks when the parents weren't home. Jacob would cautiously join me, and we always ended up laughing until our sides split. The kitchen was more modern in a way than the rest of the house. The cherry cabinets and black marble countertops were beautifully set with black appliances, all new, all modern. My father and mother enjoy fixing meals, although they don't eat human food. They hunt on the stocked animals on our property. I hunt with them occasionally. But my taste for animal blood has gotten less since I've grown older. I have a craving for it once a month maybe. They enjoy fixing large meals for me and Jacob, who could eat a 4 course meal himself. I think I was becoming vegetarian, which I think is strange, being half-vampire. My taste for meat of any kind has diminished. When I snack, I mostly eat soy or veggie something or other. Jacob's new nickname for me is "Squirrel", due to my new craving for nuts and fruit.

My room is more modern than the rest of the house, and light. My walls are painted a pale yellow, and bright and cheery. My furniture is all light maple, with white linens. I have a huge walled entertainment center on one wall with CDs and DVDs from one end to the other and a flat-screen TV in the middle. I have a full size four-post bed with down white linens, and lots of pillows. I also have a chaise lounge where Jacob and I watch movies from and cuddle or listen to music. One of my walls had large dormer windows overlooking the forest that backed up to our house. Sometimes on a clear day I could see the ocean just beyond the tree line. I liked watching the sunrise come up behind the trees. On my dresser mirror, I have an antique silver tray with a few fancy bottles of perfume, and a silver framed picture of me and Jacob together. I looked at this picture often, sighing with adoration. My wavy, long auburn hair, same color as my dad's, and chocolate brown eyes, like my mom's human eye color, pale peachy complexion like my mom's also, staring back at me. In comparison to Jacob's dark features, black spiky hair, bronze skin, dark brown almost black eyes, whiter than white smile. We were opposites in many ways, but we had fun together and never argued or fought. Jacob and I spent a lot of time in my room, watching movies or listening to music. Supervised of course, because my father was a telepath, and he was always checking up on us.

Jacob has his own room too, but it was like a den. He had dark walls, and posters of rock bands on every nook and cranny. He had strobe lights and black lights, and a loud stereo system. Instead of a bed he had a futon, black with pewter railing. He had a few bean-bag chairs strewn around his room. His room was mostly messy, unless I was visiting and he would quickly put his clothes away. I would catch him in there listening to his music loudly with his earphones on, bobbing his head to the rock music. I would giggle and stare at him until he noticed me, still giggling all the while. He would be embarrassed at first and then he would grab me and wrestle me to the floor. Then we would both laugh. We would wrestle around until my dad would yell at us for being too rowdy, or until I had Jacob pinned, which was often. Although he is a werewolf, somehow me being half-vampire, I am quicker and stronger than him. He hated that too.

"Ok, uncle!!! I give up!!!" Jacob would yell. "For once can you let me have some dignity and let me win?"

"Nope." I laughed, and let him compose himself.

"So what do you have in mind to do today, besides tormenting me?" He asked.

"Can we go for a walk to the beach?" I replied.

"It may be cold, winter is almost here you know." He claimed.

"Well, I always have my wolf heater."

He smiled and winked at this.

"Okay. But you have to wear your parka."

"Alright, if I must."

Jacob put a flannel shirt on over his tank tee. He never wore a jacket. His body temperature never went below 108, his normal werewolf temperature. He also wore sweatpants and no shoes. If I wasn't around he would probably only wear sweats. But he was kind of modest around me for some reason. My temperature fluctuated with the weather. I was more human in that respect. Unlike my parents who were always cold, but didn't mind the temperature, I was cold when it was cold and hot when it was hot, just like normal humans. I think I was more human than vampire sometimes. I was strong and had unusual abilities, and highly intelligent like a vampire, yet I didn't have vampire venom. When I bit, I didn't incapacitate my prey. Mostly when I hunted I was like a lion. I strangled my prey until they couldn't breathe. My parents would numb their prey with their venom until they were drained. It made it kind of messy for me. Maybe that is why I don't have the thrill to hunt anymore. Or maybe I'm becoming more human.

Jacob and I went on our walk to the beach. It was a few miles from the house, but we enjoyed running through the forest, chasing each other. When we reached the shoreline, it was a sheer cliff to the beach. There was small steep path leading to the beach, and we took this often. The jagged gray rocks Jutted up from the beach like daggers. The sand was a grayish white with lots of pebbles and shells littering the beach. We found a formation of flat rock near the edge of the water and sat upon it. Listening and watching the ocean. The sun was barely peeking through the morning sky, making the clouds peachy and purple swirls. The sea birds were flying around and walking up and down the shore. Further out in the ocean I could see the faint outline of whales skimming the water. I pointed them out to Jacob, in excitement.

"Look there is a small pod of whales!" I was jumping up and down on the rock. We listed to them calling in their language, faintly.

"That is the coolest thing I've ever seen, Jake!" I exclaimed.

"Sometimes at First Beach near my home, we could see Orcas. It was rare though. I think those are humpbacks."

"Wow. I can't wait to tell Mom and Dad."

We continued to snuggle close on the flat rock. The high tide was going out, and we had more beach to explore. We would see a crab here and there running into their little holes. The morning air was warming to a bearable temperature. It was nearly 50 now. Jacob was getting warm though, since he took off his flannel shirt and tied it around his waist. We walked along the shore holding hands and flinging rocks and shells into the water. We chased each other up and down the beach sometimes falling and getting wet. By the time we left, I had sand in my hair, and my hair was wet. My clothes were wet and cold. Jacob was wet and sandy as well. It looked good on him though. I just looked like a drowned rat. We laughed at each other and hugged playfully. He pulled away from me slightly and bent my chin to look at him. I stared in his puppy dog eyes. They were warm and loving. Then he kissed me for the first time. His lips were hot and salty from the beach. I was embarrassed at first, then his warmth surrounded me like a cocoon. Our lips continued to move, all the while he held my face in his hand. I started feeling dizzy and nearly lost my balance. He steadied me, and started to laugh.

"Well, that went well." He chuckled.

"Sorry, I lost my balance there for a second. I think you had me in a trance or something."

"Really? Well, maybe we should try that again?"

"Okay."

We kissed again, and this time, he pulled me closer to him with his hand pressed on my lower back. I could feel all this muscles in his body tense up, like rocks. His body heat rose, and started to make me sweat. I was surprised at this.

"What do you think you are doing?!" I heard in my head. It wasn't my voice, it was my father's voice. I quickly pulled away from Jacob, and looked to the rocky cliffs behind us. There at the top of the cliff was my father! He was staring at us menacingly, teeth bared. A shock of horror filled my face, and Jacob saw this.

"What is it?" Jacob asked quietly.

"My Dad saw us kiss. He is on the cliff's edge." I pointed to him. Jacob swung around to see my Dad sneering and gripping on the rocks, nearly crushing them.

"Oops." Was all Jacob had to say.

"You better get home now, Bella is worried sick about you." He told me in his mind.

I yelled to him. "We'll be right there, Dad."

"Now, Nessie!" He yelled in my head. I jumped slightly at this.

"We better head back, Jake. My Dad doesn't seem pleased." I warned him.

"I see. I'm sorry, Nessie. I didn't mean for that to happen. I just couldn't help myself. You looked so irresistible all wet and sandy." He giggled a little.

"Thanks. But we really better get back."

"Okay."

We sauntered back to the path through the rocky cliff. I didn't see my father ahead of us, so he must have left to go home. Maybe planning his punishment for me, who knows? But I didn't have a good feeling about this. Then it just dawned on me, since when could I read Dad's thoughts. I know he's telepathic, but I didn't know he could transfer his thoughts to me. Well, that is new. Maybe I shouldn't tell Jacob this one. We didn't hurry to get home. I didn't want to face Dad. We chatted quietly about this and that until we got back to the house.

"You don't think we will be in trouble, do you, Jake." I finally said as we got to the door.

"I should hope not. We are soul mates, you know. And it is inevitable. You may want to relay that to Edward."

"I'll try."

We walked in the mudroom, and took off my boots and coat. Jacob shook out his wet and sandy body like a dog in from the rain. I shivered a little and grabbed a towel from the cabinet near the door, and dried my hair with it. We cautiously walked into the living room where my Mom was sitting on the sofa, her legs crossed, and my Dad standing behind her with one hand on her shoulder, like he was holding her down in her seat, or bracing himself. They looked more like the over protective brother and sister than my mom and dad. They were staring us down, with more emphasis on Jacob. He ducked his head down, only looking up with his eyes.

"Jake, what do you think you were doing with Nessie on the beach?" My Mom asked.

"Bella, it was just a kiss."

"Just a kiss?!" My dad yelled. Jacob's eyes got bigger, as well as mine. I stepped in front of Jacob and confronted my dad.

"Dad, it was just a kiss. Don't get so bent out of shape. Please!"

"Kissing leads to other things, and you are too young to be that involved." Dad reminded me.

"Look, Edward, it was my fault. Blame me if you must." Jacob defended me.

"You're damn right, Jake. I will blame you!"

"Okay, let's not get carried away, Edward. They are young and in love." My mom defended us.

"She is our daughter, and you aren't worried what that werewolf would do with our daughter?" Dad was furious.

"They are in love, Edward. You know what that is like."

"This is puppy love, Bella."

"You know better, Edward."

"Doesn't mean I have to like it or approve of it."

Jacob and I looked at each other, and then back to my parents.

"Jacob, you may be excused, we need to talk to Nessie alone. We'll deal with you later."

Jacob looked at me with sad eyes.

"I'll see you in a little while?"

"Okay." I said quietly.

I watched him walk up the large wooden staircase.

"Okay, so what were you doing spying on us, anyway, Dad?"

"Excuse me? You took off without saying anything to either one of us. I didn't know where you went."

"You knew I was with Jacob. Why did you have to worry?"

"Exactly why I was worried, you are only 14 if that, Nessie. He is nearly a man. Well, man-wolf. He has passions, you know?"

"Dad! Come on! I'm not going to jump in the sack with Jake. I am still a kid. Give me some credit would you?"

"I'm not worried what you will do, Nessie."

"I can handle myself, Dad. You know I can." We paused. "Besides when have you been able to project your thoughts to me? You nearly scared the crap out of me."

Dad looked back and forth to me and my Mom. She got a surprised look on her face.

"You did what, Edward?" she said surprised.

"I talked to her in her head. I wasn't sure I could. But I did. It got her attention, though."

"I'd say! Just stay out of my head Dad! You may not like what you see."

I stormed out of the room and went to see Jacob.

He was reading a magazine on his futon when I came in.

"Are you okay?" He asked me.

"I'm fine. Are you okay?"

"Just a little embarrassed maybe. It's not fun getting caught kissing your girlfriend when her dad is watching, especially when he has a temper and is a vampire."

I chuckled a little. "It was a funny look on his face though. I thought he was going to fly off that cliff and strangle you."

"Ha ha, yeah, real funny. He probably could have."

"Naw, he wouldn't. He would have to deal with my wrath!" We laughed together. I plopped down on a bean-bag and looked up at Jacob.

"You want to watch a movie?" He asked finally.

"Maybe later. I better get a shower and get all this sand and saltwater off me."

"Okay."

I took a nice hot shower, and let the warmth flow over me. It almost felt like Jacob's kiss. I shook my head. No, I better quit thinking about that. I washed my hair with Strawberry shampoo, my favorite. When I was done, I wrapped up in a large terrycloth robe, and wrapped my hair in a towel and went to my room. I sat on my bed and combed out my hair. I looked in the mirror at my wet auburn hair, which was curling as it dried. I wondered as I looked, why Jacob picked me. Or why the gods gave me Jacob if that were the case. How did I get so lucky?

8

©2009 Erin Hartfile