Chapter 11:

I unpacked my suitcase, well, shuffled through it to find my pyjamas. My almost-a-day-without-sleep was catching to me, despite that ten hours we skipped in there.

After a small talk, admiration and a lot of scolding the grandparents had lead us from the office and threw the giant mansion. Thank god for my new brain or I would have forgotten how we got here.

Her parents were not very proud that my mother hadn't warned me about who I was visiting, or even told me I was visiting anyone.

It was really me who was being escorted as I'd learnt my mother had grown up here. Then I also learnt that my family, immediate family not extended, were the ones who owned this entire place. It was all theirs — and they'd added that one day it'd be all mine — as my family had the strongest and oldest cat gene or something. Kind of like Jacob being special because his bloodline was the chief line.

So basically my grandparents were like the chieftains of the werecats… the royalty.

Couldn't grasp that yet so I shook the idea away for now.

When I'd been shown my room, I'd stood near the doorway for about twenty minutes just staring. The front room held two couches facing one another, a glass table in between them. A grand fireplace sat to their left with a mirror above it. Behind the couches was a giant glass wall, a door imbedded in it which led to a balcony. I could see a table and chairs on it. To the right of the couches was a sideboard and a door was on either side of the sideboard. The closest one to where I'd stood, lead to the bedroom. The bed was giant, and I mean it could easily fit me and my three musketeers, probably James too, comfortably in it. It was white with gold, the sheets the same. It sat on a raised platform with red wooded side tables on either side of it, both holding lamps. That seemed to be the theme of the suit, white gold and red wood. Well, it was probably more burgundy.

Anyway. To the right of the bed was a wall of mirrors. Alice would love that. The bed faced another fireplace, not as grand, and another mirror sat above that, a vase of flowers on one side of the shelf there, a nice clock in the middle. To the right of the fireplace, in the corner opposite the door was a television. I was wondering when they were going to add some entertainment into this giant place.

Not.

There was another small sideboard next to the TV along the wall, opposite the mirrors and another door beside that.

I didn't know what was in the two mystery rooms, I hadn't been brave enough to check but I sort of assumed one would be a bathroom. On top of that there was another room on the other side of the giant fireplace in the… sitting room I guess it was.

For now, I had taken a photo of the bedroom for Alice when I return and now I was planning to climb into bed with the mountain of pillows laying before me. Then I would venture the rest of the suit and anything else I believed necessary when I woke up and was sure I wasn't dreaming.

I was right about one of the rooms being the bathroom It was next to the bedroom, the second door beside the sideboard in the sitting room. The room behind the bedroom connected to it as well, and this was the closet.

It rivalled Alice's. What's worse is that it had been stocked for me, so it was full.

The bathroom, was huge. The whole wall that divided the bathroom and bedroom was a mirror, two sinks, cupboard space etcetera. And then, against the giant window opposite the mirror was a huge spa bath. It looked really inviting after my flights.

I started filling it as I went to check out the last room. It was an office. Books lined three walls, the last containing the windows and a nice red wood desk sat facing them. It had a desk lamp and a rather large desktop computer in one corner. It had been positioned so the view outside the window was still visible.

I moved over to the computer and booted it up in interest. It didn't have any lock on it so that was a good start. I looked through the programs until I found one I knew and I grinned. I input my log in details and then searched through the contacts till I found Alice's.

Clicking the video chat the webcam booted into life and it began to ring. It only took one minute for someone to answer and Emmett's face appeared on the screen.

"Oh god! It's too early to be cursed with such ugliness." I complained covering my eyes. He chuckled and I could tell he was rolling his eyes as I grinned at him through my fingers before removing them.

"Well I see you landed safely." he said

"I wonder if a plane crash would kill me…" I wondered absentmindedly and he laughed again.

"Alex is on guys." he said, though they probably already knew.

"Yeah and I'm pretty sure I called Alice…" I grumbled and he just laughed some more.

"Alex!" Alice appeared in the screen and I grinned "What's up?" she shoved Emmett out of the seat and took his place.

"Well I had some photos I wanted to show you of where I'm staying. I think you'd like it." I said and I sent the photos through to her.

"Wow! Your mother did well! Is she able to pay for that?" she looked worried

"She's not paying a dime." I mumbled wth a sigh

"Why? What happened?"

"Well it turns out that my mother did have an alterer motive to picking Greece as our holiday spot."

"What?" Alice asked eagerly, interested now as the other Cullens slowly made their way in behind her.

"We're staying with her family." I smiled and they all looked surprised "Yeah, my mother's Greek and she lived in a giant mansion a half an hour from Athens near Glyfada in a closed off giant estate with a hotel on top of it!" I said shocked.

"That must've been…" Alice began

"Awkward. For she didn't tell me. We got to the airport and there were guys in suits with black SUVs, then we arrive at this mansion and we follow one of the suit guys to an office where there's a man no older then sixty inside and he turns out to be my grandfather and he owns this entire estate! Him and my grandmother who came bursting in not long after." I explained, ending with a sigh.

"Wow…" Alice muttered

"At least she's taken the effort to introduce you." Emmett offered

"Probably wanting to mend old ties." Carlisle smiled

"Would have been nice if she'd told me but." I sighed "I literally worked out for myself that these two people were her parents before she introduced us."

"Couldn't have been that hard." Emmett grinned

"No, I have my grandfather's eyes so that helped…" I muttered

"Oh, how lovely." Alice smiled.

"Are you having fun though Alex?" Esme wondered

"Well, I haven't seen much, I haven't met anyone else, it's still morning and I'm running a bath to try and calm myself down before my mother introduces to me all her old friends and favourite places… I'm looking forward to a visit to Athens as a break." I said and they all chuckled

"You'll be just fine Alex." Carlisle assured

"And nothing interested has happened there I take it?" I sighed

"Nope, Edward and Bella have landed as well though and disappeared off the face of the earth." Alice said

"They're having fun?" I wondered and Alice giggled slightly. "Don't answer that." I muttered as Emmett bursted out laughing.

"Well we'll let you go and have your bath, call me and tell me everything!" Alice ordered as she moved closer to the camera, it did nothing to diminish her beautiful features.

"Don't worry, if things go sour I'm going to need someone to rant to." I grinned before waving. They said goodbye and I did too before I hung up and then moved back to the bathroom for my bath. It was rather full by now, and only now did I notice there were two taps, so I turned the other on as well before grabbing a robe, a towel and stripping down to hop into the warm water. It seemed that there was some product in it somewhere for bubbles had formed and foamed.

The bath was exactly what I needed and if I hadn't been staring out at the view through the window I might have drifted off again. There was a magnificent garden below me, it gave Versailles a run for it's money. Trees, lakes, ponds, fountains, flowers, mazes. This however had the greek touch and the pillars were all of ancient greek as well as statues which looked like they resembled the ancient greek gods. Lining a few paths were arbors of flowers for people to walk under. There were a few early birds out there, walking, running or just waking up to the sun which was pouring down from the clear sky, but not many.

Content with my bath I emptied it and hopped out, drying off and grabbing the robe before walking into the closet. Many things were in designer bags and I went through quite a lot of them to find something. If I was going to be here and meeting people, which I expected, I was going be impressive.

Maybe it would be more impressive if I wore Alice's clothes… for they weren't bought by these guys. so I moved to my suitcase in the bedroom and fished them out, choosing one of the outfits and pulling it on, heels and all.

As I was putting on my make up by the vanity in the wardrobe I heard a knock on my door.

"Come in." I called. I was sure whoever it was would be able to hear me.

"Um… hey." It was an unfamiliar voice, male.

"Well, definitely wasn't expecting a stranger," I confessed not worrying too much about it. He heard my voice and moved through the suit after closing the door to find me.

He peaked around the doorway and I noticed him pause as he looked at me. When he said nothing I turned to him somewhat confused.

He was staring I'll admit it. Wasn't everyone supposed to look gorgeous around here, wasn't that the point of it all?

He was definitely proof. His hair as dark, close to black but was brown. His eyes were blue but had a touch of green to them and his skin was fair. I could see why we were somewhat on the pail side, it had such a more appealing effect for some reason. Although my wolves were by no means not but, with the bright eye colours we all seemed to have it just worked better.

"Hey," I said after another minute.

"Hey…" he managed to say before he cleared his throat and composed himself "Sorry, just… and he looked at me again "Wow."

"Wow?" I asked

"Yeah," he smiled a bright smile and I somehow found it contagious, despite my confusion.

"Here I thought the stares would stop when I arrived," I couldn't help but mutter as I turned back to the mirror, touched up slightly and then closed everything happy with how I looked now. I was too used to my new appearance to stare at myself in the mirror anymore.

"Yeah, well, you're a little more special." he smiled at me as I stood up

"How so?" I wondered confused

"Well, I guess you could say you're the princess of the castle." he grinned as he straightened up. I couldn't help but raise an eyebrow before he held a hand out to me.

"I'm Luke." he said

"Nice to meet you." I shook his hand "Alexis, as I'm guessing you know." and he nodded in reply.

"Your mother sent me to come and get you for breakfast." he admitted as he backed out of the doorway and I followed him to the exit of the suit.

"Is that normal?" I asked

"What? Having an escort?"

"My mother telling people to do things." I corrected

"Sort of." he shrugged "But she hasn't been here for quite a while so she's catching up with a few people." he explained

"I guess that can give her a pass." I sighed as we walked down the corridor. Most of the corridors had shiny floors of white, the walls were carved with archways and pillars. Lights hung from the celling and sat on the walls. A few hanging baskets of plants which drooped down were around. Most smelled like ivy to accommodate the white walls.

"This is really new to you isn't it?" Luke asked

"Understatement." I said as I glanced down another hallway. There were a few people walking through it, turning in and off down other passageways.

We turned down another hall and this one contained pictures. I noticed they weren't exquisite paintings or anything, but portraits and people within this house. I noticed my mother in a few.

"So, how well do you know my mum?" I asked him as he continued to lead the way, hoping we'd be there soon.

"Not too well, I was only small when she left." so he was older then me, but quite a few years. He didn't really look it.

Immortality. I sighed

"It's my dad who knows your mother best." he grinned

"Really?"

"Yeah they were best friends growing up, went through everything together." Sounded like me and Jacob. "Actually the two were engaged their whole lives, arranged by their parents." Except for that bit.

I stared at him shocked

"Seriously?" I asked and he nodded

"Until your mum left and met your dad." he admitted "Her parents were not happy about that in the slightest."

"And what about your dad?"

"I don't think he was too broken up about it, after all, it was arranged."

"But still, marrying your best friend's gotta have it's perks right?" I thought

"Probably, but it's also easier to break off." I nodded in that respect

"So why were her parents so angry about it?" I wondered

"Well, one of the reasons your family are the kings of the jungle around here is because they're all… I guess you could call it a purebred."

"You mean like in Harry Potter?" I asked somewhat annoyed

"Sort of, there's no hostility or anything about it like with the wizards." he chuckled "Your ancestors had just never married humans, they always ended up with their own kind, so your blood isn't… diluted I guess you could say." Luke explained

"Until my mum broke it." I sighed. But she didn't really I mean it's not like my dad's blood is normal. He might have been human but his genes weren't.

"Exactly." Luke nodded "Your grandparents were furious of course, breaking that tradition. But your mother had always been a stubborn cat and she didn't give in." he shrugged "One of the reasons she left and went so far away, to get away from traditions and rules,"

"And because her parents didn't like my father." I rolled my eyes. I wonder if my mother told them about dad being descended from canines and if that contributed…

"Say, am I really so different from everyone else?" I wondered biting my lip.

"Sort of. I don't know what it is, there's something about you that sort of… radiates."

"So," I began and was cut off by a whistle. We glanced up a corridor and a guy winked at me. I glared at him and he seemed to shy away.

"Yeah." he nodded "It's not that you're more…"

"Mesmerising? Enchanting?" I suggested

"No, those you definitely are." Luke said and I shot him a look to which he grinned "But you're change isn't more alluring then the rest of us, it's just slightly different, probably because of your blood, but what lures everyone to you, that is different. It's more potent then the rest of us."

"Why?" I wondered

"Don't know." Luke shrugged.

I don't suppose it had something to do with my father? His wolf gene couldn't have reacted inside me as well could it? Would the two not clash? And I wonder why it seemed what the vampires had was more noticeable within me then anyone else.

"I'm assuming we're including my mother in all of this too." I said

"She was definitely something before her appearance diluted but yes we are." he answered as we reached a large set of doors.

"We're about to walk down the middle of a large dining hall aren't we." I sighed

"Yes we are." he grinned, somehow enjoying my somewhat discomfort at the idea. The door opened for us and I followed Luke in. The room was rather full but at the same time, not stacked. There were empty seats and even an empty table. All the tables were round with white cloths and shined silverware, intricately designed plates and glistening glasses. Bouquets sat on the tables in the middle of the chatting people, all who sat on white and black chairs. A giant chandelier hung from the very high ceiling which was carved and held thousands of mirrors to reflect the floor and settings beneath it. My heels clicked on the shiny polished floor which was black and white to match the chairs and walls.

At the head of the room was a long table and on it sat Magnus and Thaleia. One one side of them was my mother, beside her sat a man who I instantly believed was Luke's father. He had the same dark hair and fair skin, but his eyes were green, shining like emeralds. Beside him was another women. She had long blond hair, half of at pinned up in a crown and her eyes seemed silvery blue. I guess the two had mixed together for Luke to get his. She as gorgeous, probably giving Rosalie a run for her money if she wasn't careful.

On Thaleia's other side, where two empty chairs.

"Those are our seats." Luke whispered

"Of course they are." I muttered. Why were we sitting seperate from my mother? I felt sort of awkward now.

"Are these seating arrangements all assigned?" I questioned

"Just the table. You only have assigned seats at dinner." Luke answered as we walked through the giant room, a few people turning to look. By the time we'd crossed half the room, almost every head had turned.

"Let me guess it's in hierarchy?" I asked as I looked around calmly

"Narr, it used to be. Only the head table is really emphasised now." Luke answered and he walked with me around the table before pulling out the chair next to Thaleia and I sat in it. He then sat beside me and within a minute a plate was being placed before me.

I ignored the change in atmosphere in the hall and picked up my cutlery to begin eating the boiled eggs, bread bun and yogurt covered in fresh fruit put before me. It all looked very Greek.

"You aright?" Luke asked me as he ate his breakfast.

"I'm ignoring the stares and mutters."

"Impressed, that can be difficult with the hearing." he grinned

"Lots of practice." I admitted.

"Did you sleep well Alexis?" I turned to Thaleia and smiled

"How could I not on that giant bed?" I asked and she chuckled slightly "It was very comfy thank you."

"I'm glad you liked it, I hope your room isn't too…"

"No it's great." I assured. I didn't need to be moved or have any renovations done, it was already above hotel standards.

"Later, after breakfast we have a gift for you." Magnus said and I looked confused

"Gift?" I asked

"Well it was your birthday a few weeks ago was it not?" Thaleia smiled. I looked somewhat surprised. They knew my birthday yet I knew nothing of them.

"Yeah…" I confessed

"Well we have to make up for nineteen years of presents." Magnus grinned.

My heart sank. Nineteen years of presents, all of which would probably have been extravagant. I leaned away from them and to Luke.

"Please tell me I'm not going to be given a Vilar or an island or anything stupid like that." I said and he sighed quietly.

"From your family it could be possible."

"I don't suppose there's somewhere around here I could run to and not be found." I muttered and he smirked

"Don't worry, they'll have talked to your mother all about it already to get an idea on what to give you." He assured.

I thought about that… if my mother grew up here, could she easily be persuaded into extravagant presents or would the last twenty or so years have put some sense into her?

"I'm not sure if that's helpful…" I muttered and he laughed.

People arrived and left as I ate my breakfast and I found it interesting to look at the people around me. I noticed very quickly which people had gone through their gene changes and which hadn't. This was also an indicator as to who wouldn't. Of course those who aged were those who hadn't gained the gene.

I wondered if they were jealous of all the gorgeous family member around them, or did they pity them instead? After all, living forever can have it's down falls, look at Leah for example.

"Ready?" I turned to Magnus to see him looking at me. I looked at my empty plate and the looked worried.

"You didn't go ridiculously overboard did you?" I asked and he chuckled

"If you don't like it, don't worry." he assured

"Right because that's not ungrateful." I muttered. He looked somewhere between amused and as though I'd disrespected him. It wasn't meant to be disrespectful but I could see how. He was the King here and also my elder. Respect was something he probably expected.

Respect I'd give. Worship I wouldn't. I wasn't following their Hierarchy.

I glanced at my mother and she gave me an encouraging smile before she got up and walked over to me.

"Don't worry, he has a thing with presents. He's very good at giving more what you need then just to spoil you. You'll love it."

"Mum, he didn't spend heaps on me did he?" I asked

"Coming for the girl who received a sapphire rock from the Cullens."

"Yeah but that's Alice."

"Well this is my father." she said as I stood up, Magnus, Luke, his mother and father and Thaleia doing the same.

"Lex, I'd like you to meet April and Lucas." My mother said as Luke's parents stood beside her.

Lucas, hand-me-down huh.

"Nice to see you." I smiled

"The pleasure is all ours. It's about time Dia introduced us." Lucas smiled as he shook my hand.

"So I heard." I smiled raising an eyebrow to Luke who looked away innocently. His father looked at him slightly disappointed but said nothing as April smiled at me.

"You look so much like your mother, but I must admit there's a different air about you." she said

"Must be from my father." I smiled before casting a glance at my mother. She seemed to think that over.

"Come on then, I want to see Alexis' expression of her gift." Magnus smiled at us and we all turned to descend the stairs, walked round the table and left the dining hall.

I wonder why Luke and his parents were high up enough to sit at the table with Magnus and Thaleia… though they had to be somewhat important if Mum was to be engaged to Lucas… isn't that how it worked?

We walked through the decorated hallways until we reached a door that opened to reveal an elevator. Were we going to the roof or?

"I think I know what he got you." Luke muttered from beside me

"What?" I asked softly. The adults were all ahead of us.

"We're heading to the garage." Luke confessed as we filled in behind the five and Lucas hit the B button for basement. "It's under the mansion and there's a ramp that leads towards the driveway. There are so many people here that it was decided the motor vehicles home needed to be rather large."

Oh no.

"They got me a car!?" I had to restrain to keep my voice was rising too high as I whispered in his ear. What was the point in giving me a car? I wasn't staying here?

The elevator dinged and we stepped out. It was mainly just an underground carpark. Lights lit up all the spaces and most were all named. Everyone had a designated spot.

The cars were all glossy and I noticed a few high up brands, Ferrari, Porsche, Mercedes, Aston Marten, BMW, Nissan GTR, Bentleys, Jaguars, Teslas as well as Land Rovers and Volvos. Audi and Lexus made their way in and so did Chevy's and Toyotas.

We moved through the carpark and I could hear chatter and water running somewhere, people probably washing their prize possessions.

And then we came to a stop. I'd been so busy looking at what was around me that I didn't notice what stood right in front of me until Luke grabbed my wrist to stop me from walking.

To say I'd gone speechless was an understatement.

So I prepared myself for a car. I prepared myself for something way too fancy for me. And I prepared myself to be grateful but feel sort of weird about it. But I was not prepared for this.

Not one, but two cars sat before me. Both were a brilliant blue that shined and shimmered in their light and would probably match my eyes to a tee.

But what I was staring at was the logo on the grate at the front of both cars, plain and obvious, shining silver.

The trident of Maserati.

So its called a GRANCABRIO MC CENTENNIAL if you wanna look it up.