"So, why're you home early?" Kieran Bray Smith asked of his twin sister, rubbing the elbow of his hunter green sweater against the shiny-red surface of a Red Delicious apple. He leaned against the doorframe, his legs nonchalantly crossed at the ankles.
Warren blew a stray section of her shocking red hair out of her eyes and bent down to pick up the duffle bag she'd just plopped down on the hardwood. Instead of offering a satisfying explanation, she merely shrugged and said, "Are you going to help me with my luggage?"
~*~
Renesmee Cullen knocked stiffly on her big brother's bedroom door. He'd spent the last four weeks all cooped up between the room's calming seafoam green and periwinkle walls, but she doubted that those walls had been very calming at all.
Pierce had found the love of his life and then was forced to lock himself away in his room in order to save her life. It was all sort of romantic, but also completely unnecessary at the same time. She knew that with a little practice and lots of determination, Pierce could keep the both of their souls intact and achieve what he longed for. It was 100% realistic – Pierce just refused to accept the statistic.
Nessie cleared her throat, her palm slowly enveloped the doorknob, "Pierce," she sing-songed in her sweetest of voices, "I've got good news for you!"
Before she could even twist the knob, Pierce twisted it out of her grasp, appearing in front of her in a mess of inky black hair and thick, wet onyx eyes to match. "She's home, isn't she?" The corners of his mouth twitched irritably and then sunk into their usual full-lipped pout.
"Yes…" Nessie started carefully, "But that's not necessarily a bad thing, Pierce. You can get to know her better now, besides your stalkerish every-five-minutes Google session."
"That was just once, Ness. Besides, I can't get to know her because I'll… I'll hurt her. I know that and so does everyone besides you. You're just fooling yourself so don't have to get your head out of the clouds." In his agitation, a flash of his rambling Old English accent slipped; paired with the random puffs of hair sticking out from his head and wide, ashy eyes, he looked and sounded like the movie stereotype of a drug addict.
"Dad sucked it up for years and now look, he and mom are nauseatingly happy. If you really do love her, you'll never let someone else snatch her up before you get the chance to even shake her hand and that's what's going to happen if you don't get your ass out of this room, go out for a snack, clean yourself up, and go give it a shot." She clawed her fingernails into his shoulder forcefully and shoved him around so that he was facing the full-length mirror, "You know, the whole black-eyes, black-hair look isn't working for you." She whipped across the room and opened the large window that was wide enough to allow two full-grown people pass through it.
"Thanks," said Pierce, gingerly kissing her pale cheek before shooting out of the window in a fuzzy flurry of light.
Renesmee grinned and spun around on her heel, bumping nose-first into her aunt.
"You know, Ness, for a psychic, I'm dreadful at keeping secrets," Alice Cullen said, a thin smile dancing across her tightrope lips. "If I can't tell Pierce about Warren, then I'm going to have to tell you."
Before she could go on, Nessie cocked her head to the side and gave the obligatory, "Tell me what?"
Alice took a deep breath, stalling in order to give herself some extra time to think things over. If she told her niece then, she might accidentally let Pierce in on it, which would make everything even more complicated and if she didn't, then the finger would most definitely be pointed towards her when the news finally broke.
"The Bray Smith twins… well, they're not entirely human."
~*~
"You went to Greece for four weeks and you're still not tan! Jesus, you've got a shitload of Irish in you, huh?" Bea Bizmark took a giant step backwards and held her best friend's arms out in front of her. "You look gorgeous though, as always and I'm sure your pleasantly Israel Pleasant boyfriend will agree once he gets a good look at you at the Shame and Fortune Ball."
"The dance's titles are always great. Who came up with it this time?" Warren asked, slumping down in one of the ultra-comfortable sofas in the living room. Absently, she began picking at a loose thread in her cotton-candy pink textured tights.
Bea gave a heavy sigh and rolled her thickly lashed hazel eyes, "Cruz Wellington. Such a bitch, but I've got to admit that she does have a talent for naming things."
"She's also fucking fantastic at using her tongue… for everything." Kieran descended the stairs four at a time, loping into the room, his floppy red hair hanging like a curtain over his gooey caramel eyes.
"Well, if we're on the subject of our love lives… Hey, Bea, remember last year when that pervert pianist, Glenda Marshall recorded Ezra and I when we had sex on the Rosewoods' piano? She thought it was magical, 'like rogue fairies all coming together for a Celtic jig in the middle of a Brazilian rainforest', is exactly what she said. I s'pose that's what an orgasm –"
Kieran cut off his twin sister; "You did it, on the triplets' family piano? That's so nasty. I should tell Chuck that so the next time he's got his lessons, he'll start like, humping the keys in front of that bitch teacher, Miss. Thirshaw. God, I'd love to see her reaction to that."
"Aw, that way Glenda'll have two sex romp recordings for her nightly, private enjoyment." Warren cooed jokingly, slipping her feet in and out of her satin, cobalt blue Manolo Blahnik pumps.
Bea joined the siblings on the sofa, snatching up the remote on her way and turning the channel to MSNBC where two opposing Democrat and Republican senators were caught in the middle of a heated debate.
Kieran began whistling awkwardly, his head twisting in all directions of the room. "Are we even gonna mention what happened before you left?"
Bea and Warren's perky faces took on the same ashy, don't-go-there-grimance. Bea cleared her throat, "What's the point? If Warren had any questions, she'd ask. It's obviously not a problem considering that she's sitting in between us and she hasn't broken out in hives or anything."
Warren bit her strawberry-flavored bottom lip and said, "Bea's right, I don't have an issue about the both of you being mythical creatures. It actually makes sense, I mean, I did do a lot of hallucinogenics last year when 'shrooms were considered retro-cool."
Kieran let out a gigantic puff of breath in Bea's face and twisted around in his seat so that he was face-to-face with his sister. "You weren't home enough to see the changes, Warren. Ask Ezra, the Rosewood triplets, Elijah Carlyle, Mitch, Bertha, or Jordan. They're all one of us."
"Now you're saying that my ex-boyfriend's a werewolf? Don't you think he would've ripped my face off on that piano?" She shook her head, disrupting her perfectly coiffed, multi-toned auburn curls.
"This is all new," explained Bea, "None of us were werewolves then. Only Jordan was." Involuntarily, her heart fluttered fastidiously in her chest and her mood leaped up to a 10.5 on a scale from 1-10 just at the sound of his name emitting from between her neatly glossed lips.
She'd had a thing for the Yale freshman and pack leader, Jordan Xavier ever since she saw him chase after squirrels in Bataclan Park, trying to feed them uneaten bits of his lunch when they were in preschool. He'd always been the genuine sweetheart type, which was so rare to find, especially in a town like Notherumberland, Maine where it was considered cool to be jaded.
Warren's knees jerked her off of the sofa as her many-ringed fingers ran through her hair like they always did when she was stressed. "Kieran, we need to talk."
His twin-distress signals had started tingling well before Warren had verbalized anything, so he wordlessly followed his sister into the pristine, marble-floored kitchen that was stocked with the best all-organic vegetables, meats, and packaged foods money could buy and airplanes could ship.
"Is it even possible for you to be a werewolf? I mean, aren't we supposed to be enemies – vampires and werewolves? You can't contain two mortal enemies in your body. Plus we're human, so that's… impossible to handle." She spoke rapidly, like some hyper cartoon squirrel all jacked up on speed.
"You know how dad said that some vampires have abilities? Well, I think mine's morphing into animals. I can change into a wolf whenever I want to while everyone else's timing depends on their mood. I'm not a werewolf, just a vampire who can change into a wolf." He shrugged it off his buff shoulders like it made all the sense in the world.
Warren furrowed her flawlessly arched eyebrows, forcing herself to swallow the fact that the truth wasn't going to have any automatic guarantees. "Alright. Is there any news on the other vampires?" She asked, changing the topic to something that could be answered in a simple black-or-white, yes-or-no statement.
"Yeah, they're supposed to be crashing the Shame and Fortune Ball tonight, or at least the ones pretending to be kids are. There're eight of them; three are pretending to be seniors at Foxcroft."
Everyone was acting surprisingly cool about the whole, vampires-are-in-town thing. Apparently, they weren't as blood-suckery and dangerous as everyone had previously thought.
His little sister smirked coolly, "Then I guess we'll just have to invite them over to get all primped and proper before the big Ball."
~*~
Someone on the phone… for me? Renesmee asked herself, utterly puzzled with the news that had drifted from downstairs and up to her bedroom. She didn't recall bumping into anyone whom she'd ever share her phone number with and if it were Jake calling, surely he would've tried her cell first.
Edward handed her the little, white phone and continued on his conversation with his two brothers, Emmett and Jasper.
"Hello?"
"Hi, Renesmee, this is Warren Bray Smith," The voice on the other end had a silky glaze to it over its cheerful, husky core. Renesmee felt her heart warble then scramble to get back on track. There was no other Warren Bray Smith in the area; it had to be Pierce's Warren she was talking to. Warren's lovely voice continued on, "Since your family is new in town and will be attending the Ball tonight, I was wondering if maybe you'd like to come over and get ready with us?"
Pierce's going to go apeshit!
"Yes!" She replied breathily, "We'd love to!"
Nessie could practically hear Warren grin over the phone as she said, "Fantastic, we'll see you… around five, is that alright?"
"It's perfect, Warren. See you then." She politely waited for her new friend to hang up first and once she did, Renesmee almost sent the phone clattering onto the floor in excitement. "Dad!" She cried, "Pierce, Emmett, Jasper and I have been invited over the Bray Smith's house to get ready for the Ball tonight!"
Edward Cullen cocked an eyebrow. He happened to be in on a crucial bit of information that his son was not, but he wasn't willing to let his internal knowledge get the best of him and so he grinned supportively and nodded his head, "Wonderful, hopefully Pierce will recognize this as the perfect opportunity to get to know Warren better."
As if right on cue, Pierce swept into the room, his eyes now settled into a clear caramel color. He even looked washed and dapper despite the violent strike of blood caressing his right cheek. "What'd I miss?" He was even smiling again.
"We're going over Warren's house."
Pierce's smile only grew wider as he plunked himself down on one of the kitchen's bar's stools, "What time? I can't wait."
~*~
The Bray Smith's mansion looked like its very own-gated community with a fairytale-themed water fountain, iron-wrought gates, and acres of sprawling, crisp green grass surrounding the actual home.
The building itself was made of the same white stone as the White House, only without the pillars and almost twice the size. They had a six-car garage, a horse-equipped stable, a building that looked like it contained an indoor pool, a house for special guests to stay in, and the most impressive flower garden Renesmee had ever seen. The entire estate was unspeakably beautiful and glorious.
Intimidation was the last thing that read across Pierce's handsome face; he was a confident soldier about to enter a battle that he would undoubtedly win. He felt like a swollen, helium-pumped balloon after hunting so much, but the sensation fit the situation perfectly. It took constant pestering from his conscientious to remind him that girls were not attracted to enormous egos.
"You ready?" Jasper asked, calming Renesmee's nerves and humbling Pierce's cockiness with one of the instinctive mood sweeps he was known for.
"Are we allowed to touch anything?" Emmett joked, leaping out of the Aston Martin Vanquish that was only supposed to be used for special occasions, but had been leased out to them by Edward on the promise that it would be returned in the same condition that it had been lent.
Nessie giggled nervously as she tugged down her poppy red, rose-printed Lafayette 148 New York dress and stepped onto the crunchy gravel of the walkway. She carried her real party dress, a bumblebee yellow, Shoshanna ruffled number in a zipped-up bag over her arm. True, she'd dressed up for the occasion, but impressive surroundings always called for impressive clothing.
When they got to the door, it wasn't answered by a maid, but by a pretty girl with skin the color of cinnamon and a smattering of chocolate-brown freckles across her cheeks and nose. Her dark, wavy hair was pinned messily at the nape of her neck. She looked dazzling in a high waisted, ivory-and-scarlet-blocked Oscar De La Renta dress and black leather heels.
"Hey, I'm Bea," she introduced herself and a brief smile fluttered across her painted lips. "Warren's upstairs and Kieran's killing aliens or whatever somewhere with the guys. Come on in." Bea stepped back and motioned for them to step into the glossy-floored foyer.
"We aren't killing aliens, Bea and video games are quite respectable these days now that you can make a career out of it," a boy with a sweet face and soulful, doey brown eyes said teasingly. It was quite obvious that whoever he was, he had a crush on Bea. "I'm Jordan Xavier." He heartily shook each of their hands and then bluntly said, "Let's not pretend here, alright? We're werewolves, you're vampires and there's a deal that needs to be made in order for everyone to remain safe."
Pierce visibly flinched and he felt like he was about to wretch. Warren… a werewolf? His whole body felt like it was being stabbed with frozen ice picks.
"We're not going to hurt anyone," Jasper said, remaining calm. There were no mood adjustments to be made on the werewolf side of things, they were all quite content with the situation, he was surprised to learn. "And we're certainly not looking for a fight. In the past, we've lived – and worked besides werewolves. There's no need for things to be different now."
Jordan nodded, his floppy hair falling into his eyes, "We'll talk later, when everyone's around to speak their opinion. Right now isn't about being at odds with each other or discussing treaties, it's about having fun," His eyes sparkled and he clapped Jasper on the shoulder, "I s'pose you three are looking to be schooled in the art of alien killing?"
The boys left, already filling the downstairs with hoots of laughter and rough housing. Bea looked at Renesmee warmly, "I guess boys are boys, no matter what species they are." She started treading up the stairs, hopping up the steps like a gazelle. Meekly, Renesmee followed, feeling even more out of place now that she could wholly see the expansive front-side of the downstairs.
The entirety of the ceiling was made of buttercup yellow glass so that the room had soothing yellow tint to it. Renesmee could make out the modern, sleek furnishings of the sitting room and the just as modern, only a lot more lived-in décor of the room where the boys were playing their video games. There were windows everywhere of all shapes and sizes, though they all seemed to coordinate perfectly with one another.
Bea led her to a room, painted a quaint coral pink with all-white furniture, a comfy-looking queen bed, and a closet the size of Renesmee's bedroom at home. There were a pair of slightly opened, glass doors that lead to a balcony at the far end of the room. The whole room smelled of rose petals, as did its occupier, who elegantly stepped out from the balcony and into the room, holding a half-full glass of bubbling champagne in her hand.
"Hi," she said, grinning and flashing an adorable set of dimples, "I'm Warren, it's so nice to finally meet you." She wore a blue, silk Donna Karan Taffeta dress, a golden, long-chained locket that was nestled right above the twisted bust of her dress, and Louboutin ruched pumps. She looked like an old time movie star with her cherry Tootsie Pop lips, vibrant green eyes, and flawless porcelain skin.
Warren swiftly kissed each of Renesmee's checks, filling her lungs with the sweet scent of roses. It was easy to see why her brother had fallen in love with her scent.
"Jordan told them about the whole situation downstairs. He said that they should just focus on the fun and save the business for later." Bea looked down at her French manicured fingertips, biting back the urge to rub them between her teeth to fulfill her nervous habit.
Warren's emerald eyes widened. "I'm not involved in that business, by the way. I'm just… human, as boring as that may sound." She perched herself neatly on the edge of her bed, taking a hefty sip of her champagne although the party wasn't set to start for another hour and half.
Nessie struggled not to ask why she'd lied and said that she was human. Since when was it a bad thing to be half-vampire? "You remind me a lot of my aunts Alice and Rosalie," she blurted out, feeling immediately embarrassed after saying so.
Bea swore she saw her friend grasp her crystal glass to the point where a tiny little crack appeared in its side. Why would she be so ticked off about receiving a compliment? Vampires were incredible-looking, Bea knew. Being compared to one was definitely nothing to break crystal about.
A tense, little smile appeared on Warren's voluptuous lips, "Thank you, I'm sure they're both amazing women."
She really is in polite hostess mode, isn't she? God, I hope she can keep it up longer than I can. These vamps are really making me nauseous. Bea thought, absently scratching the bridge of her nose. She felt like vomiting the whole house smelled so saccharine with the Cullens' reeking stench.
With one last gulp, Warren polished off her champagne and excused herself to get more from the kitchen. She'd have to be absolutely wasted to deal with Israel tonight and it was certainly going to take a lot more than the two glasses already swishing around in her stomach to fuck up a half-vampire.
One of Renesmee's uncles or her brother was just a few feet in front of her down the hallway, his hands stuffed into his pockets and his fierce caramel eyes glued to the floor just before they swept upwards to meet hers.
It was an instantaneous attraction, the kind that only usually occurs during friction. It was an uncontrollable lust, a burning desire. But that attraction, friction, lust, and desire wasn't just going to be used for tearing each other's clothes off. No, it was going to have to be used for more than just that. They'd have to use all of that passion to stay together after the clothes had come off and the promises had been made. For better or for worse.