Disclaimer: Twilight is the creation and property of the brilliant Stephenie Meyer.
I'd like to dedicate this chapter to Minschen, thanks for the review and the get well wishes (:
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The present…
"Renesmee, get away from her now." The urgent terror of that voice snapped me from my reminiscence.
The strange vampire-girl Renesmee looked at me curiously, a frown playing about her forehead as she moved slowly toward her family. As soon as the strange being was near them they closed ranks around her, ensuring that she was toward the centre and back of them all. It was the most protected place she could be. Surprisingly they moved the red eye to this safe place also, perhaps it was because he was a newborn, little over two months a vampire.
Apart from Renesmee and the young one the vampires were regarding me with cautious hostility, which surprised me for surely they knew Mother was destroyed. Not even she could come back from that.
I sighed and dropped my head, "I see you have met my mother." I said despondently.
The brown haired female glared at me. "What trick are you trying to pull now?" She demanded.
"Honestly, I am not Victoria, I merely look like her because I am her daughter." I said calmly in what I hoped were convincing tones.
The brown haired female looked at me doubtfully.
"She's telling the truth love." The bronze haired male said in calming tones as he wrapped an arm around her and kissed her on top of her head.
The hair was the same colour as that of the strange vampire child, perhaps he was her father, but how could that be? His scent clearly marked him as being well over a hundred years a vampire, the girl was little more than nineteen as best I could judge, was it possible for a vampire to father a child? In my two hundred years I'd never heard of such a thing and I have travelled far and wide.
"What do you mean?" The brown haired female asked with a frown.
"She's not Victory, her mind is entirely different, believe me, do you think I would allow her this close if I was not sure?" He asked, looking into her eyes.
She looked dazzled for a moment and then smiled. "Of course." She said. "So she really is Victoria's daughter?"
The others visibly relaxed at these words, strange that they trusted his words so readily, especially considering their original reaction to me. They relaxed but did not move from their positions so Renesmee and the newborn were still the most defended. They had accepted that I was not Victoria but hadn't decided if I was a threat or not.
"As far as I can glean." The bronze haired male said, looking back at me. "You are Holly Ivy Stephens." He said calmly.
"How is it that you know this?" I demanded, perhaps Victoria divulged some secrets before she was destroyed, what has she told them of me?
"She told me very little." The bronze haired male said. "I'm a mind reader, forgive me, I sometimes get carried away when I am agitated." He added in a velvet smooth voice.
"A true mind reader?" I gasped, "I hear that the talent is quite rare."
"Not that rare." The red eye muttered.
"Masen is a mind reader too." The bronze hair explained.
So the newborn's name is Masen, so that's two names I know at least.
"Oh, how rude, please forgive us." The bronze haired male said aghast. "I am Edward Cullen and this is my wife Bella." He said, indicating his mate. "I believe you've already been introduced to our daughter, Nessie."
I nodded my head.
With his introduction the others relaxed even further, moving out from each other into a light grouping. They all gave off an air of friendship now that they were sure that I was no threat to them.
The golden haired gentle looking man and the motherly brown haired woman with the sweet face came forward, they looked the oldest out of those here, and the man smelt the oldest, he was probably the coven leader.
"This is my father Carlisle." Edward said, indicating the golden haired god. "And my mother Esme."
"Welcome to Forks." Carlisle said shaking my hand.
"Yes welcome dear." Esme said, hugging me as if I were an old friend.
"Thank you." I replied as I hugged her back uncertainly. I wasn't used to vampires being affectionate to those outside of their coven, I was expecting any minuet for her to turn the hug into a crush, but this did not happen, she merely stood back and smiled warmly at me.
Why couldn't my mother have been like her?
"This is Emmett and his wife Rosalie." He said, indicating the big bear like man with black curls and the tall exquisite blonde who looked as if she should be on the Paris catwalks, not in a hidden little town like this.
Emmett was grinning widely in a welcoming manner while Rosalie watched me with narrow eyes, still suspicious of my intensions no doubt.
"This is Jasper and his wife Alice." He said, indicating the tall lanky blond with a thousand war wounds visible on his neck, how many battles had he seen to earn those gruesome marks? Alice was the small pixie girl with the spiky black hair who was grinning widely as she stood next to her gently smiling mate.
"Well I didn't see this one coming." Alice remarked, and this drew laughs from the others, although I didn't quite see the joke myself. "Thanks a lot Nessie."
"Sorry Auntie Alice." Renesmee said, grinning unrepentantly.
What had the girl to apologise for?
"And this is Masen, the newest member of our family." Carlisle said, indicating Masen, the other mind reader.
Masen smiled at me and pushed his messy blond hair out of his eyes. "Hi." He said with a little wave.
"Hi." I replied, smiling back at him.
"You're the first Nomad I've met." He said, shaking my hand.
I smiled again, funny how it was hard not to smile at him.
"Would you care to sit?" Carlisle asked as he and the rest of the other Cullens moved around to sit on the sofas.
I followed and sat in a fairly comfy armchair that gave me a good view of all of them.
"So what brings you here?" Carlisle asked in a friendly manner, it was true curiosity not annoyance at his territory being breached that drove his question.
"I was tracking someone and the trail ended here." I answered lightly.
"So you are a tracker." Carlisle stated intrigued.
"Of sorts. Scents to me are like colours and everyone's colour is different, especially those of immortals. When it comes to the scents of immortals I can smell them for up to fifty years even more when I know the scent, after they have passed through the area. Sometimes I can almost see the incident in my head as if it is happening at that moment, however if the scent is of an unknown I must use my imagination of how they look." I said, pointedly looking at Edward, for now I had time to identify their individual colours I knew who had destroyed Victoria.
"Who were you tracking? Was it on behalf of someone?" Carlisle asked.
"No. This was purely a personal errand, I was searching for Victoria." I said lowly.
"You were?" Edward asked, sounding a little guilty.
"Yes. About twenty years ago I had this strange notion that I should meet up with my mother once more, that she required my assistance. I went to the last place I knew her to be and picked up the scent from there, it was a thirty-year-old scent. I have been tracking her now for the last twenty years, she had been here before, came back before going to Seattle for a couple of months, then returned only to meet her demise." I took a breath and looked Edward strait in his gold eyes. "Why did you feel the need to destroy my mother? Was it simply over protecting what I assume was a human? Was it to protect your food?"
The temperature in the room seemed to plummet and Edward issued a low hiss.
"I was protecting my mate." He said darkly.
I frowned, was it possible that I had got it wrong? No there were definitely only three vampires in that clearing and only one of them walked away.
"I could have sworn it was a human that you were protecting, the scent is long gone."
"Yes, I was protecting a human, I was protecting Bella." He said, indicating Bella.
"Forgive me." I said, grabbing her hand and sniffing it. "You were made vampire a couple months after the scents in the clearing. So you were what he protected. A vampire in love with a human, how could you stand to be around her for so long without giving into temptation?"
"Because I love her." He said simply and without a trace of irony.
"You were protecting the girl you love, I understand why you faced the both of them. Why was Victoria after her in the first place? Was she that irresistible?" I asked, trying to ascertain the reason my mother would go all out against one human girl, even going so far as to die for it.
"To me she smelt like the most delicious thing you could imagine, to others not so much."
"Then why did she risk her life to go after one human girl?" I voiced my question aloud.
"Because we destroyed James the year before and she had a vendetta against me personally, she wanted to punish me by taking away what I loved the most." Edward answered quietly.
"James is dead?" I asked astounded, hardly daring to believe such a thing possible.
I felt a shameful thrill at the thought that monster was dead. How long had I wished for his demise for all those decades I was enslaved to him?
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Thanks for readingGemma (: