Hunting Season
What is he doing here? He's supposed to be gone! Her jaw dropped as he sauntered to the seat behind her, lazy grin shattering her image of a callous young man to a relaxed teenager. And she was not the only one ogling the change; her fellow students were gaping at him as well. It was hard enough to have a large population of vampires in one area, considering the Volturi were constantly watching for the slightest discretion. Nico di Angelo was going to endanger everything her family had done by staying and Renesmee could not help but want him to stay.
She had never felt this need before. A thirst for knowledge outside of what she had known—more about the other half-bloods he had been staying with prior to his visit to Forks, how he and his sister had come to find these safe havens, their adventures. It all seemed like an impossible fairy tale, a silly story spun to make others sleep at ease that they might not be the only kinds of their race in existence. And now that she knew it was not a tall tale, God, did she want to be a part of it too.
Renesmee ducked her head when he slid into the seat behind her. Nico should have been gone. The thought of his reappearance had not only rendered a bright flush, but an indescribable anger. Her family were grating her nerves for associating with him, Jake fought her because of their familiarity, and he had cleared the area with no reassurance of his health after almost bleeding out in her arms. The Cullens had checked repeatedly, running daily patrols just to verify that he had in fact dematerialized into the shadow he has summoned. Carlisle had wanted to study how his powers worked, but Renesmee could not keep projecting the images of her experience with him. Her memories were forever marred by his blood spread across her childhood floor, the dizzying scent of sweet, ripened pomegranate, and his face lying slack on the ground. How dare he enter here unscathed? Yet, her ire was unfounded. She was pleased to see him, she knew that much. Renesmee's heart thudded in her chest at the implication he was sticking around, making her home his. She never thought she was be so glad to see his pale skin smooth as their disastrous first meeting. But she had to warn him. Her family and Jake's pack were after him and it was not the safest idea for Nico to be here.
"Nessie, he is staring at you," Jessica leaned to whisper in her ear and she turned around to see him raising a dark eyebrow into the fringe of his unruly hair. Her friends gave her imploring looks, but she shook her head. This was not the best place to discuss matters with him, and her friends would only pester her at lunch, so the conversations could wait. She turned around with a drawn-out sigh and gave Nico her full attention.
"What are you doing here?"
"I thought you would be happy to see me. You seemed so upset the last time I saw you."
"You were bleeding out on my floor," she hissed.
"So, you weren't?" He smirked and she felt her blood boil.
"Of course, I was upset!" Renesmee blushed as the nearest students stared at her following the outburst.
"Stop blushing. You might as well save it for Halloween when you can be a tomato," he scoffed as she blushed even harder.
"Stop distracting me. You know I have a fair complexion," she brushed a strand of hair behind her ear. "I meant, why here out of all places. You don't have to come to school, Nico."
"I'm seventeen, doll face. And why wouldn't I want to experience the public education system?" He chuckled darkly. "As if anyone wants to be here, but my father decided I have to go to school."
She opened her mouth, but was interrupted as the bell rang to signal the class transition. The first thing Renesmee wanted to do was wrap her hand around his wrist and drag him out of the school building and into the meadow. Instead, she was halted by Jessica.
"You two are quite friendly," she remarked.
"We met shortly after you guys left the grill. I didn't know he was attending this school, though. I was surprised." Jessica hummed.
"Sure, I'm sure he's not linked to your fight with Jacob." Renesmee frowned. "As long as you introduce us later," the pair watched as Nico stood and gave Nessie a small nod as he walked away. He turned back last second to give her a wink.
"Meet me by my bike later, doll face."
"And I thought you were dating Jacob," Renesmee scowled at her friend.
"I'm not dating him!" Her voice was shrill as she took after Nico. "I'll see you girls in class."
"Where are you going?" Angela called out.
"He's new. He doesn't know where he's going."
By the time she caught up to him, Renesmee grasped his wrist tightly. Nico turned around and raised an eyebrow.
"You probably don't even know where you are going," she reasoned. "What is your next class? I'll take you there."
"Calculus," he stated as he relinquished his schedule.
She nodded. "Ok, I'll give you a quick tour, but we are going to talk later."
"You going to let go of my hand?" Nico tilted his head toward her classmates who were staring at the two of them. In fact, half the females were gawking and whispering about their "apparent flirting". She almost thought they were lying until she realized she was still clutching to his chilled skin like a lifeline. Nico snorted at how she recoiled and she started to feel the heat rising in her face. Why does this keep happening? She wet her lips, aware that more than half the school population were listening as they walked down the halls.
"The last time we spoke, you said you were from New York. I thought you would have returned there." She stated after they passed the government building.
"My cousin lives in New York," he corrected. "I stayed in the area for a while, much longer than half the homes I've had over the past few years, but it's not home. I'm constantly moving around."
"After…after what happened at my house, where did you go?"
"A friend of mine patched me up." She reached for his shirt and put her hand on his shoulder.
"I thought you wouldn't come back." Her voice cracked. "Not that I would blame you. What happened with my father was unfortunate."
"Did you tell him to attack me?"
"No," she tightened her grip. "Just, now that you are here, you need to be careful. I don't want to see you like that ever again."
"And my family is probably already aware of what occurred in homeroom and are possibly listening in on this conversation. They canvassed the areas you were at; they're marked and everything. The pack and my family have united to get rid of you after what happened, so if you intend to stay in the area, you need to have a conversation with my grandfather. He's rational and he won't hurt you."
She should have been more distant in how she interacted with him, but she couldn't help it. Not that it would mean much more now. She could already hear rumors of her apparent intimacy with Nico spreading like wildfire through the classrooms they were passing. Nico did not give any indication that he either heard or cared that people were talking about them. And she had done nothing to dissuade those preconceptions when she had grabbed him in the hall. Nessie did not need to touch him—she chose to. The chill of his skin was enough to convince her he was real, he was real, they could be friends, and she was undeniably attracted to his mystery.
"Thanks for the heads up. I'll think about it." Nico nodded.
"Uh, this is your class. I guess I will see you during lunch then." She wanted to demand his attendance at her lunch table, even if it meant splintering from her regular group.
He shrugged, "Possibly."
"You know I still have questions about you. You're too much of a mystery." She folded her arms and pouted.
"I'm not obligated," he huffed and rolled his shoulders. "You don't need to worry about seeing me around. If I need to, I'll seek you out. I'll consider your offer about your grandfather first."
"Thank you," she nodded. "But how would you know where I'll be. You won't know where I'm at," she giggled. Nico leaned in close and pulled her chin up with his cool fingers. Renesmee's breath stopped short, laugh dying in her throat as a gasp left her lips, shocked by the sudden action as he stopped just a breath from her face. She could feel the minty breath rolling against her cheek and she shivered involuntarily.
"And that's where you are wrong," he smirked at her reaction and tapped his nose. "I'll always know." With that, he released her face and pushed open the door to walk inside, leaving Renesmee in the hallway, her hand over her cheek. Her mouth rapidly opened and closed like a fish. Did that just happen?
She moved quickly to her own class, unsure of what he had meant when her tapped his nose. It had been sudden, the way he moved; both bold and almost flirtatious to anyone who had a mind. She was just lucky they had been the only ones there and not her father. But she had to stop thinking about it in case Edward passed by. She didn't want her father to misinterpret the situation more. Nico was not attracted to her so he was just…teasing her. Yeah, let's go with that. Most of her classes passed with Renesmee's thoughts drawn to the memory of a stone cold prince with dark eyes and refreshing air caressing her face. She needed to get a hold of herself and her blush needed to relent. But it was futile. She was going to have lunch with him and the thought of Nico made her flush brighter. I'm going to be a tomato for the rest of my life.
The school buzzed with chatter. Annoying chatter about homework, school events, and town gossip filtered through the air, filling Edward's ears with unnecessary clutter. Not that he truly minded. It occasionally allowed him to have unparalleled access to what Renesmee had experienced during school every day and it revealed strange town occurrences, such as the appearance of a new student. Typically, this would include a profile: a face, gender, parental status, and possibly influence in the town. Any peculiarities would have been revealed with a precursory swipe through everyone's mental frame. Yet, this student, from what Edward could tell from the thoughts surrounding him, was very different and relatively unknown.
He remembered when his family had first become the new students at Forks High School. Carlisle had been just been hired at the hospital; the town nurses had taken it upon themselves to tell their children to treat them kindly at school. The Cullens had been fully welcomed and taken through the school building, everyone gushing about their attractiveness and apparent affluence. Their sob story had also made the full page of the school's newspaper. For a couple of weeks, the Cullens were all the students could talk about. Now, there was nothing.
Normally Edward would not have been suspicious. New students are common across all fifty states and foreign countries, but in Forks, it was emblematic. Most covens avoided the areas the Cullens settled in, due in part to their renowned status and the threat from the Volturi. The only other vampires that entered the area were nomadic and did not stay long. Unless, the new student was one of the half-bloods. He was certain that they had chased them off, and neither had returned to reclaim the items they had left behind. The increased patrolling from both the Quileute pack and his own had ensured that no stone was left unturned during their search. So far, the only information about the new student included a flashy motorcycle, a music mogul father, and the knowledge that the student was male.
That certainly changed after his first period class. By then, everyone had heard about the new student and Edward had grounded the corner of his lab bench into fine powder. Nico di Angelo, the half-blood, had returned and had consequently been flirting with his daughter. The image of her holding onto his wrists in the hallway and how they walked together replayed constantly in his mind. His daughter's affection for the boy was obvious. The way her eyes constantly flitted across his face, usually settling on his eyes, or how her hands reached for his bare skin more often than not. The vampire seethed in his seat and glanced at Bella. Her lips were pursed in a frown and she sucked on her tongue, making a small "tsk" sound. Although he could not read her thoughts, he knew she was irritated. But they would not be able to talk to Renesmee until lunch, so he had to bear another class before then.
Fortunately, he could use gym to vent out his frustrations—physically. He entered, changing out of his clothes and into the designated uniform. He was lucky that Alice and Jasper shared the same class, so he could slightly rougher than usual. He would need to be able to vent.
Alice grimaced at his face. "Edward, I don't think it will be as big of a deal as you and Jake make it out to be. If he's here permanently, he'll need to be in touch with us and there is no way he can on any of us. You remember last time."
"But you know what he did to Sam,"
"There's no proof that he did it. Even Carlisle attested to that." She argued.
"He did say that the energies were different between the two weapons, Edward," Jasper mused. "And he would certainly never lie to us about that."
"So you've changed your mind about them?" he asked incredulously. "Alice can't see the future clearly with half-bloods in the picture. How are we supposed to know if he's truly an ally?"
"It's called using reason and having a hunch." Alice replied calmly, not at all angered by the slight against her abilities. "And most of your anger is driven by Renesmee's crush on him. What would the rest of us expect for your behavior?" Edward growled, low in his throat, as Jasper clapped an arm around his shoulder.
"He's here." The trio tuned around to see the half-blood walk into through the gym doors. Nico looked odd in the white, blue rimmed tee shirt and shorts. Various small nicks decorated his legs and arms, but there were a few marks that stood out to Edward's naked eye. Three thin lines covered each of his inner forearms, each thin black slits. There was a silvery scar about his collar bone that extended down below his shirt and a raised scar over his right thigh. It was strange, seeing old injuries on the skin of a vampire. Renesmee had no scars: her protective parents sheltered her enough to avoid any kind of injury, and coupled with her indestructible skin, they never had to worry.
Edward wondered what trials Nico had gone through in order to gain those scars. It was hard enough to kill a vampire, but now there was more to learn about their kind. Perhaps half-bloods had more than one variation. Nico's mind was shielded, any possible thought blocked from probing. He turned his head slightly, and upon seeing the Cullens, he snorted and ran his hand through his fringe.
"If had known that the entire family was here, I would have enrolled in a different school." He smirked.
"Why are you here?" Edward folded his arms across his chest.
"Look, Eddie, like I told your daughter, I'm not here to stir trouble. If you're looking for a fight, then you're going to be very disappointed."
"Then what are your intentions with our Renesmee?" Jasper added.
"Nothing," he shrugged, genuinely uninterested with the turn of the conversation. He walked off when the gym teacher blew his whistle and Edward glared at his retreating back.
"I don't trust him." Edward seethed.
"None of us do," Alice agreed.
Nico left the gym with his jacket looped around the belt holes of his jeans and a thin sheen of sweat covering his skin. Usually he did not have a workout, but he forgot to factor in a passive aggressive volley ball game at the hands of Renesmee's overbearing family. Not that he really cared. He spent years bearing with the unbearable and he could handle rough jostling from Mr. Erwin Colon, but it was not really his problem. Nico elected to send the ball right back with a cool smirk despite the force it placed on his wrists. He noted, once again, that vampire strength was certainly higher than a demigod's and certainly higher than a mortal's. Compared to a cyclops, however, it was quite pathetic. If they had been more human, he would have entertained the comparison longer. As it was, their "invincibility" was enough to laugh at.
After returning, Nico managed to piece together a clearer portion of the story. Ignoring the fact that he was the first new student in approximately two years, the Cullens carried a lot of influence in the town. Apparently, Bella and her "sister" Renesmee were adopted along with the other Cullen siblings by Carlisle and Esme Cullen and when they moved to town, the pair learned of their relation to the Chief of Police Charlie Swann. And if Nico wanted information to track the feeding patterns of the red eyed creatures in the area, Renesmee would certainly be useful. He honestly did not mind the young vampire. Despite her eagerness, clinginess, and spoilt demeanor, Nessie contained a wealth of information she had no problem sharing with him. So he would keep her around until the job was completed and then leave. It would be most fitting.
The demigod lazed into the cafeteria, ignoring the questioning eyes of the student body. He had already created an aura that he was untouchable, aloof, and unaffected by the day to day teenage drama just by coming to school on a motorcycle. He snickered. If only Hazel could see him now. He strode past the lunch lines, not interested in the plain food fair or the unappetizing meal of the day: reheated freezer pizza and bean salad. He was not an uppity California vegan so he was going to avoid the salad bar and wait until he could buy something later. During his internal debate, he missed Renesmee appearing on his left and grabbing a tray.
"You look like you're struggling. Do you want a rundown of the food options?" She smiled a little, her face clear of any of the cherry tint that had dusted her cheeks all day.
"You lost the blush," he commented. "And here I thought I had been conversing with a cherry."
"Stop that. I don't want to blush again today," she looked down and sighed. "My friends have been pestering me all day to convince you to sit with us, but I kind of just want to talk one on one you know." She placed a slice of pizza on her tray and tilted her head toward an empty table.
"Wouldn't you prefer to sit with your friends?"
"After our incredibly brief adventures together, don't you think we can consider each other friends?" Nope, not at all. Instead, he only frowned but nodded and she smiled again, even brighter.
"I think I can stand sitting next to you for the next few minutes if just to piss off your old man," he snorted when she frowned and seated himself directly across from her.
"Do you want this apple? I noticed that you didn't grab anything to eat."
"Are you trying to feed me, doll face?" His voice took on a teasing lilt as he leaned in and grabbed the Granny Smith off her tray.
"You looked hungry." She pouted.
"You really need eat this slop?" He nodded towards the bars and lunch lines. "I can do better by asking Percy to cook and trust me; he is nothing like his mother. Sally is a blessing for both Annabeth and him."
"Who are they?"
"Percy is my cousin and Annabeth is his girl. They live near my sister in California. Sally is Percy's mom and she's the best adult chef we know." Nico didn't see the point in lying about that. She would never meet them.
"I asked if you want food because your eyes."
"My eyes?"
"Unlike me, your eyes and your sisters show when you're hungry. And right now, you are starving. Do you with to go hunting with me tomorrow. The sun will be out and I know we'll be taking the day off."
"Do you always do that? You wouldn't know how to have a confidential conversation if your life depended on it." Nico took another bite out of his apple. "But I do have questions I need answered. So we have two options: we can either leave now and I meet your grandfather or you stay here and I head off on my own. I'd prefer to have company to make sure I don't run into anymore obstacles, but I can find your house again if I need to."
"How about you stay here and we can chat," Nico turned his head to see a line of the Cullens standing behind him, a loose ring that looked confrontation even to a stranger. Nico let out a chuckle and turned to face them.
"If it isn't the eager crew. Forget your dogs this time, Eddy?"
"Nico, shut up. Dad, what are you doing?" Renesmee whispered. "Our classmates are watching you. We don't need to make a scene."
"Your friend says he wants to talk. It would be preferable if we left now wouldn't it." It wasn't a question. Nico merely smirked.
"I'll meet you in the parking lot, Edmund. See you later, Nessie." He lifted up from his seat and stopped when Edward grabbed his shoulders.
"I don't know what you are playing at, but you should know, it's not going to last long."
"And you underestimate what I am capable of. I'd be more worried about you after Sunday." Nico pushed away and left quickly the table, leaving behind the vampires. He would find answers by himself.
The meeting with Renesmee's family left him irate, vibrating in his skin. There was an imperceptible shift in his demeanor. One that didn't allow for distractions. He stuffed the homework from his last class into his backpack and set out into the rain, letting the freezing water chill the steam pouring from his ears. Waterworks dampened his radius, but he had to work with what he had. Nico still had to report to Thalia Saturday and his time table had been significantly shifted. He kicked the stand of his bike and took off to the woods. He was going to pinpoint where Thalia had encountered those other vampires and he was not going to waste another second with uncooperative parties.
The woods were damp and moist, unforgiving in their alien nature. Mist clung heavily in the air, making it difficult to breath and Nico wrinkled his noise at the scent of wet dirt. The scent was too heavy to try his usual tactics; he would have to resort to more unorthodox methods. I'm glad Hazel won't hear about this.
He slipped his dagger from his hip and slashed it across his palm, hissing slightly as the rain petered down onto the fresh wound. Bright red liquid pooled into the cup of his hand, trailing down his wrist in long planned out tear patterns before dropping to the ground in little drops. Drop…drop…drop, Nico turned in a counterclockwise circle, turning his palm toward the ground to let the blood flow out faster. He closed his eyes, feeling, breathing, and being. Percy was the best at tracking, but the son of Hades had eventually learned how to push his limits.
Carcasses of death animals lie beneath the underbrush, rotting and decaying after their short struggle with ice cold skin and variegated fur patters. Renesmee's family, Nico realized, and pushed forward. He did not care to find the remains of elk and mountain lions in these parts. Further ahead, he struck gold. A still body partially covered deep in a faux grave, no more than five miles from his position. He smiled, sick grin crooked against his pale pallor. It had been too easy.
At some point, Nico had fallen to his knees, reminiscent of how his mother would pray at the Cathedral as he and his sister stood behind her. She would kiss her rosaries and her hand before standing and begging them to do the same. "I don't care what your father says," she would say, "if he is real, so is my God." Nico chuckled at the memory and pressed his hand into the ground, leaving a stain of him on rocks and moss.
"Thanks for the memories," he whispered before disappearing into the mist.
He stepped out of the shadows by the dead body. He wished he was more in tune with nature, like Hazel, but he was not going to call his sister for something as simple as digging. His cut, scabbed over and healed by the licks of the shadows, had to be reopened, the slice deeper instead of shallow like he anticipated. He squeezed it over the ground and watched as the dirt erupted in a sprout, before funneling down. He smirked as the body slowly rose from the ground.
The man was grizzly, hair matted to the scalp. Dirt covered his cheeks and his mouth was slack from a stolen scream. On both sides of neck, the oval imprints of teeth standing out shockingly. Nico wrinkled his nose in disgust and placed his hands over the man's open stark blue eyes to close them. He must have been mid-thirties, at most. Nico swiped some of his blood on the open wound and closed his eyes.
"Help! Help me!" Tim rapidly hit the break on his car. The men in his truck let out dissatisfied grunts and Henry groaned when his head hit the seat in front of him.
"Really, Timmy!" he cried exasperated.
"Shut up, did you hear that?"
"Hear what?" Adam inquired. The cry came out again and Tim exited the truck, grabbing a flashlight to provide sight in the darkness. Henry frowned. Adam's uncle was an odd guy, stopping at the slightest of noises. Adam cocked his gun, muzzleloader nestled in between his legs. Tim returned shortly later, a half-naked woman. Her blonde hair hung over her breasts, her eyes closed as she shivered in Tim's fur parka.
"I'll turn on the heat. Radio the guys to tell them we'll be swinging back into town to drop this little miss off at the police station." Adam turned back to Henry who nodded. They helped usher her into the car, her ethereal beauty catching him off guard. Henry was surprised by her nudity and blood-smeared appearance. Red clung to her hair, soiled portions of Tim's jacket, and covered various parts of her body. He wondered where Tim found her.
The image blurred and Nico fed more energy into maintaining the connection. But it suffered a jump and he scowled once he was able to refocus.
She was a psychopath! Henry's breath left him in pants and he cried out as he scrambled away from the remains of the truck. It had been so easy. She was docile in the car and they had warmed her up, believing she was in shock when they couldn't get a response for their questions. Then a man came barreling toward the car and shouldered it hard enough to bank them and it had smashed into a thick oak. Then the woman cackled and bit into Adam's neck, leaving the young man crying out in pain. Tim shot at her as his nephew was dragged out the van by the woman, but was subsequently attacked by the male.
And in the confusion and panic, Henry had listened to Tim's final cry to run while he held them off. How many more of them were out in these woods, waiting to attack the hunting party headed to Forks. His breath came out in puffs and he grabbed his gun when he heard a twig snap nearby.
"Where are you? Show yourself!" He turned in all direction, pistol swinging wildly in his grasp. There was nothing but dead silence, and then complete agony as teeth pierced his flesh, the warmth pumping out into the hungry mouths of his attackers. And then the spread of fire through his veins, acidic poison eating at his insides at an incredible rate as he wailed in the throes of torture, the flaming heat licking at his very veins—
Nico let go with a gasp, turning on his side to vomit. He had felt that, every minute of the unpleasant experience that had been enough to warrant his apple to come up. He wiped his mouth as he stared at the dead body. The memories were fuzzy in the last moments, but he caught a clear glimpse of the man and the woman. He knew what he was searching for, but first he would have to find the other bodies from their party. He would bury them in honor of their bravery, and because it would be befitting of a son of Aries who went down with a fight.
"This just got immensely more difficult."
Nico had been in the process of reburial when he perked up and unsheathed his dagger again, two vampires behind him. He recognized their signatures—females from Renesmee's family that he had not had the pleasure of knowing on a first name basis. He hoped to keep it that way.
"You killed him," the blond spoke frankly. Nico shook his head mirthlessly.
"No, but I know who did," he returned to his work, making sure the dirt had buried the man deep enough. "Are you going to stand and watch or help bury him?"
"Why would you bury your meal?" She countered.
"Look, I don't have the time to sit around and play mind games with you both. Either you help or you don't, your choice." Nico shrugged. He waved his hand and watched with satisfaction as the dirt began to pour into the makeshift grave. The vampires watched in silence as he held out his hand until the mound had reached his liking and placed two pebbles on top. "Seems like you made your choice. What do you want?"
The brunette spoke up this time, her voice strong. "We followed your scent here. You leave behind an impressive blood trail in certain areas. That and a lot of dead greenery" Nico nodded at the shriveled lichen and moss around him. It was not widespread yet, but if they pushed him, he was guaranteed to turn this lush green emporium into a memorial of death.
"Anything else I need to know."
"How can you be so flippant when we caught you with a dead body?" the blond sneered.
"Because I don't care for your attitude or your questions. I have a job to complete if you don't want your vampire problem escalating."
"The only problem we have here is you," at that, Nico snorted and began to walk away.
"You might want to keep an eye out for the real threats," he disappeared into the shadows, satisfied that he had gotten the last word in. Upon returning to his bike, he saw Renesmee and another brunette standing next to it.
"Nico," Renesmee ran toward him but stopped short. "You're bleeding. Why do we always meet like this once we've been separated?" She reached out toward his hand and frowned. The blood was barely trickling at this rate and would close up shortly. He ignored the pursed lips of Renesmee's appointed guardian.
He let out a loose chuckle. "I believe it has more to do with what I'm doing than fate's preference of how we meet. By the way, I think now would be a good time to meet with your grandfather."
"Follow us on your bike then." The woman frowned. "Nessie let your friend go. I think we all need to talk at the house."
"In a minute Mom," the young girl lifted her gaze from Nico's hand to gaze into his eyes. "Uh, is it just me or is it…"
"Shit, give me a sec," he muttered, pulling a pair of black shades out of the pockets in his jacket and slapping them over his eyes. "Better?"
She nodded. "That was terrifying."
"In moments of high emotion, I'm prone to release fear receptors. They pick up on what a person fear and manipulate it to make it a reality. I might have accidently used it on my cousin before I figured out what was occurring."
"No, you're eyes. They're bright red, like you've just fed. But half-blood's eyes don't usually change when they've eaten."
Nico shrugged at her unspoken question and climbed onto his bike. "You climbing on?" Renesmee grinned and threw herself onto the back of his bike, wrapping her arms instantly around his waist.
"My family is going to be so pissed."
"Good thing I don't like them either."
Renesmee's roaring laughter continued as they chased after her mother's vehicle. Pealing laughter in his ears, ringing like the carillon near his old home in Venice, Nico felt himself relax in his seat…just a little.
Did I tell you all that I was not going to give up on this story? Blame college applications and midterms for the lateness of this update. All I have to do is wait to hear back and the anxiety can certainly be felt in chapter 10, which will be released next weekend after I finish checking for some grammatical errors. Thank you all so much for your support and I will see you for the next installment.
Smhmari: My best friends can attest that Leo and I don't get along when it comes to fic writing, but I will endeavor to get a quick peek of him into this story if it kills me.
Peppei: Percy will definitely turn up and I believe he'll love Renesmee. Who said the location was exclusive to Forks, though haha. It will be interesting to see how they interact.
32: Your constant makes me happy and thank you for that. Yes, Eddie will certainly have a reality check, but watch out for Jacob. He's not one to relent easily.
Tysedon: All of the Seven will appear at some capacity. Expect more Hazel than anyone else, but Percy is certainly going to be present. Frank for obvious reasons. The other appearances I will keep secret but I hope you enjoyed this chapter.
Inheritance1990: The beginning of this fic left Percy and Nico's relationship very underdeveloped, so we will just have to wait and see.
18Dragon: Ok, a little too far. We have to let some live for the final battle.
