Chapter 4
Everything was silent.
Vladimir and Stefan, having taken their anger out on their only companion, grudgingly plodded into the kitchen. They sat down across from each other at the kitchen table, sighing heavily as they did so.
Vladimir, his head in his hand and his elbow on the table top, muttered, "It's not...fair..."
"I know," Stefan's disbelief at the long day's events matched that of his companion's. They were both mentally exhausted. If they were able to, they believed their frustration might have driven them to tears. The amusement that they had felt at the sight of the Volturi cowardly fleeing from a fight was, in the big picture, not enough to make them feel better about their deep hatred for the hooded tyrants. For Stefan and Vladimir, nothing seemed to turn out right.
They stared down at the table for a long time, in deep thought. They were in a bad mood, but they didn't want to be. They just wanted to calm down, so, for the time being, they forgot their misfortunes of the past twenty-four hours.
"The Cullens didn't like us very much, did they?" Stefan smirked, his whispery voice clearly showing that he was delighted by that fact.
"They treated us like the bubonic plague," Vladimir laughed.
"Ugh, the plague. The Black Death was a horrible time to hunt. Do you remember how stale the blood tasted?"
"I do," Vladimir frowned as he recalled the memories. "…That daughter of the newborn was very nice."
"The nicest of all of them, I think. She was very interesting."
"Renesmee was her name, wasn't it?"
"An odd name."
"Very fitting for an odd individual," Vladimir finished.
"She really was a half-vampire..." Stefan mused.
"The young Edward Cullen boy was her father and the newborn was her mother."
"I can't believe that boy would put his mate through so much pain."
"Shouldn't he know to be more chivalrous than to let a woman suffer like that?"
"I agree. I can't imagine how someone could do such a thing. That type of behavior is despicable."
"Disgraceful."
"Disgusting."
"But," Vladimir added, "if he had been more reasonable, we never would have met that strange Renesmee."
"So some good did come out of young foolishness," Stefan chuckled.
They found these conversations very relaxing. They always liked talking without an obligation to say something too meaningful. Chatting might have been a better term for it, though Vladimir and Stefan simply preferred the term "talking". In their opinion, "chatting" was something that gossipy teenagers did. They did not want to be compared to the younger generation, which they found, although interesting, foolish.
Seeing that the sun was not going to rise anytime soon, Stefan asked, in a much better mood than earlier, "We should go hunting now."
"Yes, let's go," Vladimir agreed, also in better spirits, as they rose from their seats.
In one fluid movement, they passed through the kitchen and parlor room and out the front door, where the silent forest waited for them.
