Chapter Twenty Five
Prepare Yourselves
"No one fights dirtier or more brutally than blood; only family knows it's own weaknesses, the exact placement of the heart. The tragedy is that one can still live with the force of hatred, feel infuriated that once you are born to another, that kinship lasts through life and death, immutable, unchanging, no matter how great the misdeed or betrayal. Blood cannot be denied, and perhaps that's why we fight tooth and claw, because we cannot—being only human—put asunder what God has joined together."
-Whitney Otto
Taramina Cullen
It had only been a few days since I had found out I was pregnant and the chances were that I would give birth in the next few days to a week, because one of the babies were a witchblood vampire; as if that wouldn't have been dangerous enough for me, I was also carrying twins of different species who could potentially kill one another or even me.
But despite all that I was actually excited to be a mother, I couldn't wait until the day I could hold my babies in my arms like Renesmee could, I couldn't wait until the days I could look into their eyes and just love them unconditionally, out in the open rather than having to endure the pain of them in my womb, because honestly it was agony.
Everytime they moved it was like I couldn't breathe, like I was been crushed from the inside out. It was even harder to deal with the fact that although they caused me pain, I loved them way too much.
I couldn't wait to be a mother, I guess even though these babies were causing me pain, they were a happy accident and I wouldn't have wanted anything different to have happened.
I was now in my grandpa's house under the constant watch of my best friend, Renesmee and my husband, Eddie. Both of them were being overprotective asshats to be honest, every time I moved or even squeaked they acted as though they were treading on eggshells.
I winced in pain again as one of the babies decided to re adjust their position in my womb. I groaned a little as the air was knocked out of me, and I saw Renesmee freeze up in the corner, a small, tense gasp coming from her lips as her eyes shot to my stomach.
"Jesus, Nessie! I'm not going to break anytime soon! You must have felt some pain when the twins were moving about inside you!" I snapped, and the Renesmee glanced guiltily at her Twins.
"Yeah, I did." She muttered, "Look, I'm sorry, Tara. It's just… I know what is suppose to happen to mothers of hybrids." Renesmee looked glum as she said this, "And you can't be turned."
"But I'm a hybrid, Nessie. I've had my spine snapped for gods sake, I survived that; and I'm apparently more human than the rest of you! And you know what else I survived, Eddie. So you stop being an asshole too and get over here." I grumbled at my husband, he clearly knew what I meant, referring to our brief mission in another dimension, but that was best kept to ourselves as I glared at him.
"You know, you don't have to be so pissed off." Eddie sighed, "We just want to protect you because we love you."
"Where's Winnie?" I asked suddenly, a little curious about their sister, she had stayed behind because she said that she couldn't' have dealt with the memories that laid in Volterra, she couldn't stand the fact that she was locked up there away from her family from so many years.
"I don't know, probably at the beach again with Evan." Renesmee rolled her eyes and then grinned, "I swear those two are.. you know." She wriggled her eyebrows at me.
"Eww, no." I felt a shiver run up my spine at the thought of Winona having sex with a wolf. "That just seems so wrong. He's a shapeshifter. She's a vampire."
"I'm a vampire. Jacob's a shapeshifter." Renesmee rolled her eyes and then I shook my head.
"You're half human. That's more… normal."
"What about Maddie and Benjamin then?" Renesmee chuckled darkly and I felt a little shocked. I had alway presumed that Maddie was still a virgin… but she was married. She would have had sex.
"That's another weird thought… but not as weird as a vampire and a shapeshifter." I giggled a little and I saw Eddie's disgusted face.
"Apparently Benjamin's pretty good. Can't be as good as Jacob though." Renesmee smirked, and I knew she was trying to wind up Eddie.
"Hmm. I wonder what Evan is like." I wiggled my eyebrows suggestively at Eddie and I saw his lip start to twitch in annoyance.
"I know right? And what about Leo… I mean… Mary seems to have a lot of-"
"STOP IT!" Eddie growled, "You're not suppose to talk about stuff like that with your brother! It's weird! I don't want to know about my brother and sisters sex lives!" Eddie looked horrified.
"But Leo and Mary-"
"Are my brother and sister… more or less. Please! Just don't!" Eddie begged us, Renesmee glanced at me and then we both began to chuckle at Eddie.
"Oh, Eddie. For somebody who knocked your wife up, you're such a prude." I grinned at him and then bent forward to kiss him on the cheek.
"I'm only a prude when it comes to my Sister's sex lives. Theres no point in me knowing what awful tidbits my siblings get up to in their bedrooms." Eddie's face still had a look of horror on it as he glanced around at me and Nessie.
"Or the forest in your case." Renesmee smirked at us both, and I felt my cheeks roar into flames, because that was a slightly embarrassing fact about our sex life that my best friend shouldn't know.
"Nessie, stop embarrassing Tara." He smirked down at me, and now the siblings began to torture me.
"You know how much she likes to experience the natural world… in ALL it's glory." He grinned at me cockily, and I felt the redness in my cheeks burn even brighter.
"I know, she tells me all the time how much she likes walking in the forest." Renesmee nudged me a little and I felt my cheeks flare up even more.
"Shut up." I mumbled and they began to chuckle. "I mean, you can't really say much with your monthly council meetings. I mean… who puts the fire out when everybody has gone again?" I asked her sweetly, and I saw her cheeks turn red to match mine.
"Ohh, if you weren't pregnant you would be so getting it right now." Renesmee growled playfully.
"Bring it on." I heaved myself up, much to the horror of Eddie, and Renesmee stood up too.
"Right, on the count of three… One." I said.
You do realise Eddie will kick our asses for this? Renesmee said in my head.
"Two." She said out loud with a glance to Eddie.
"Yes!" I made only hear hear with my power. "Three." I said outloud.
Then we both sprung forward, and I saw Eddie's eyes widen, he looked panic stricken as he bounced off the couch and prepared to drag Renesmee away from me as she pulled me into a hug.
Eddie froze and realised what we were doing. "You're just winding me up."
"No shit." Renesmee rolled her eyes and let go of me, "Do you really think I'd kick a pregnant woman's ass?" Renesmee smirked at me again.
"Oh… you'd kick my ass would you? I think you will find it would be the other way around." I winked and then sat back down on the couch.
"I'll kick both of your asses unless you stop trying to scare the living crap out of me." Eddie growled at us both, and I suddenly felt a little guilty because of his tone. It sounded like a parent scolding a child. Clearly Renesmee felt the same because a look of guilt passed over her face too.
"Sorry, Eddie." We both muttered in sync.
In Volterra
Edward Cullen
"It's barren." Bella whispered to me as we entered the desolate streets of Volterra. Usually, it was a lively town full of people, tourists and music, sweet smells and different spices filling the air. Now it smelled like smoke and decay. I could almost taste death in the air as I walked around the barren streets with my family.
There was me, Bella, Alice, Emmett, Jasper, Rosalie, Carlisle and Esme, Mary and Leo. The Racluses had gone separate to us, including Lilith and Madison, because they wanted to be close to their partners as they went looking for the source of the problem.
Our most promising bet was to find the Vampires, us being vampires would help the situation. The others would be best finding the witches and trying to form some kind of alliance with them, and maybe diffuse the situation as the Werewolves already had.
"We need to find the vampires and hurry, because if we don't then the witches will initiate their attack; and then all could be lost." Mary said, the grimness in her voice reflected her mood.
She didn't look forward to seeing the witches again, nor did she look forward to having to fight again if that is what it came to.
"I don't even get why the witches would attack though, they will be outnumbered, weak, defenseless." Leo looked at his girlfriend and tried not to patronise her former species.
"Hey! You don't know how powerful witches can be. They will call the most dangerous and most powerful witches to war. Believe me, this is a last resort, they are suppose to be peaceful people." Mary looked at the floor sadly.
"How would you know, you've lived with vampires most of your life." Leo said coldly, and that made Jasper mad.
"Say sorry to my daughter, now! You will not talk to her like that!" Jasper hissed at Leo, he hated that his nephew had defiled his little girl.
"Why should I say sorry? it's true! She knows nothing about the witches!" Leo argued with Jasper, hating the fact that he always got involved in their arguments.
"Yeah, well… I wish I still was a witch!" Mary growled, and she knew that what she said would hurt Leo, because that meant that she would have aged and died.
"Yeah, well, maybe you should have stayed a witch." Leo said coldly and then he turned away from Mary, going to join his parents.
"What's wrong with them?" Bella asked me.
"It's the tension, Mary feels like she had betrayed her species by becoming a vampire and she also feels left out because she didn't feel the call to war, only real witches did. And she isn't a witch anymore. She's finding herself regretting turning into a vampire; apparently she told Leo this and he didn't like it. So they're a little pissed at each other now." I explained to Bella as I read both of their thoughts.
"Mary, honey. You do realise that it isn't your fault you were turned, right?" Bella said to her, and I saw her look up. Bella and Mary hadn't really ever been close as Niece and Aunt, but I could see in her mind that she wanted comfort off somebody, and not her parents or Leo's parents.
"I know, Aunt Bella, but it's hard. Everything I ever dreamed of has happened to me, and yet now I find myself regretting that dream. Been a vampire isn't all it's cracked up to be. I wish I was a witch again." I heard the sob that caught in her throat and I didn't know what to say.
"Well, honey. This is a thing that's going to stay with you for the rest of forever. You need to either accept it or not." Bella said to her with a sad smile.
"I guess. It's just frustrating though. I went my whole life feeling like a freak in our family for being a witch, and now I feel like a freak for not been a witch. What the hell am I supposed to do?" She sighed angrily and then she froze and turned to the sound of something. In her head, she seemed alarmed, but then she began to walk towards what was alarming her, which to me was seemingly nothing.
"Mary?" Leo asked, his voice filled with worry all of a sudden.
She didn't answer. She carried on walking in a trancelike state, walking towards the nothingness she could hear.
"It's calling me." She whispered, "It's calling me… necromancer." She whispered and then she stepped forward, into the wall.
Leo gasped and ran after her, walking through what seemed to be a wall too, and that's when I realised this was some kind of illusion; a shield on a doorway to make it appear normal. We had walked right into the witches trap, or more correctly, Leo and Mary had, and now we had to follow them. As we chased them into the building, they were no where in sight. Just a scent leading them deeper into the Chasm.
Deep within the inner chambers of the massive brick walls, I could head the minds of many people.
Suddenly, the gong in the temple made a shrill noise, alerting the witches that they were under attack from vampires. Within seconds witches surrounded us, and I knew better than to stand around and let them shoot the balls of pure magic they weld at us.
"We come to call a truce!" I said suddenly, and then all lowered their guard with pure shock on all of their faces.
"This way." One of them said.
She lead us down a dark hall way, and I couldn't believe my eyes when I saw who was also at the entrance to the door. Karamiz and the rest of the Racluses, including my daughter. They had gotten her too? But how..?
"Come in," Said a sweet voice. I had to take a deep breath as fear for my daughter and mate pulsed through me.
As we were all lead inside, a woman sat on a throne. She was young, in her late teens physically with a short blonde bob and intelligent green eyes.
"What do you want, vampire?" The woman asked looking vaguely bored. "I can tell you are not here to kill me, so what is it you would like to ask?"
"I have come to ask you a question, your majesty" I replied, trying to show as much respect as I could to the witch.
"What is your question?" she asked, yawning like she was bored again.
"We would liked to call a truce." Carlisle said plainly, and I saw her eyes widen.
"Trickery! I will not have that in my court! Destroy them!"
As the guards came to take away them, Mary suddenly struck out her hand and blew a fireball in the
direction of one of the guards, the witch jumped out of the way and Mary squared up to the Crone. The other guard started to run, but he couldn't outrun Mary as she threw magic orb straight at him. It struck right in the shoulder, pinning him to the wall. His shoulder bled immensely.
The Crone watched in horror as more guards came, and got mutilated at the hands of Mary as the Cullen's watched in mesmerisation at the full extent of Mary's power as a witch.
"Stop!" cried the Crone. The guards stopped attacking and Mary
walked up to the Crone. "What are you?" asked the Crone with a snarl.
"She is Mary, ma'am, the last necromancer- turned into a vampire!", said Deritroth.
"Thank You", said the king, "For helping me in this situation".
"Thank you, for that. Now… about that truce." The Crone said to the rest of them as the rest of the witches let them go.
On The Coast Of Itally
Third Person
Aurora nearly killed her horse riding to the edge of the sea. Once there, however, she abandoned the trembling animal and threw away her riding shoes. In waist deep water, she dove under the surface and swam far out to sea, diving under and going deep into the water, where the shafts of sunlight looked as golden pillars, sparkling and shifting in the mirror surfaces.
Totally alone, except for the various hand sized fish that swam back and forth in search of god knows what, she straightened her cloak so she was horizontal with the plainly visible ocean floor, and continued her journey. After six hours of endless swimming she finally got to where she wanted to be.
The long stretch of sandy beach looked familiar, and she realized she had been here before, when she had first been introduced to her heritage. She thanked her silver helper, who simply gave a sort of nod and dove under the surface, leaping in the air a few meters out, and continued on her way. Aurora stopped at an inn that night.
The next day she rode out to the second stage of her journey, a small settlement of Witches, ones who what been called to war and had called her to service in the name of the Crone.
"What took you so long?" Kathryn asked Aurora.
"Do you know what it's like to swim for hours and hours after been called to war? What is this even about? I had to side-track from my course a couple of hundred miles, there were vampires in the way." Aurora said to her fellow witch, her brows furrowing in disgrace at her.
"This is about some vampires! Some vampires who claimed to destroy the previous royal vampires have turned up on our doorstep and now we have no idea how to proceed, the Crone called you here personally seen as you were supposed to be next in line as crone-"
"No! My sister was supposed to be crone before me! She ran away and disowned her duties! Not me! I was never supposed to take her place." Aurora growled at Kathryn and then she turned away from her. "Tell the Crone I will be in Volterra at first light.
She huffed as she mounted the horse, brought by another witch to her, Aurora wasn't impressed at this new development.
"I want you to send a message immediately, got that?." Aurora growled at Kathryn, the lower witch was none of her concern, but this new development was.
"A message to whom?" Kathryn's brows furrowed deep into the pit of her skull.
"The crone of course! Who else? Tell her I will be with her soon and that when this is through I will find my coward sister who would not take her true place as Crone and I will make her pay." Aurora spat in disgust. She hated her sister for her cowardice.
"I'll send the messenger pigeons out right away!" Kathryn yelled, and then Aurora set off again.
Back In Volterra
"How can we know to trust others who are not of our species after the one hundred year war?" The Crone asked Mary sadly.
"What do you mean, the legend of the one hundred year war?" Mary asked awestruck as she spoke to the crone who was now very much interested in the girl.
"The war that happened over six thousand years ago, Mary." The Crone looked a little shocked that a witch; or more precicely a necromancer of her power didn't know about the one hundred year war.
"I'll tell you, Mary. The one hundred year war started like this...
If within any Supernaturals mind there dwelled a Human voice, a voice that spoke up against any injustice that any Human hoped to know with their technology, it was that voice that began a terror to last a millennia within the core of Mother Earth, and scattered her innards across the galaxy of cataclysm and destruction. Man just could no longer live in a state of interdependence with Supernaturals and the natural world, a connection which was of course of a highly competitive character due to the question of natural survival, and animals could no longer hold an important position in the organisation of his psychosocial life. Each was suffocated by the existence of the other; a way of life so stifling it harrowed the birth of this terror, this war, in such a simple way as a leaf falling onto the ground.
Fighting for the dominance of the planet climaxed, species and their habitats were nearly driven to extinction for both man and beast alike, painting the mud of Earth red and clouding its sky. Nearly split apart from the never-ending violence, the only troubled mind on the planet, Mother Earth, felt weakened. As the soul of the very planet itself, she was the most affected by this war, and the tree at her core was only growing older and greyer, little power resting within her branches. Calling upon Mother Nature, the ethereal being that governed all natural things in the universe, they both ended the fighting. The process spilt Magic over the Earth's crust, granting it renewed strength and the power to fight back. Mother Earth rumbled and cracked apart, taking with it the lives of many hundreds of animals, supernaturals and humans to feed her magma outer core. Realizing that with the planet itself fighting for neither side, a stalemate formed.
As Mother Nature dictated, so that a tragedy could never taint the planet again, the remains of the Human populace were exiled to the Moon, cast into a Terraformed world of loneliness and despair. They were to be never again graced with the green of a tree, nor the taste of meat on their tongue, nor the sound of a chirping bird. The dull grey, blacks and whites of their technology that only sparkled pretentiously were forever lost in their purpose. Food grown had a manufactured taste, and within this claustrophobic atmosphere, Humans regressed. Mother Nature had left coolly, with only a single warning:
"Humans may not fly in the sky, breathe underwater, or increase their senses' capability. Failure to uphold will bring negative unto the positive, and only a desolate wasteland for your kind will remain for you.
Supernaturals, bring the positives of the war together, but also bring the negatives together. For only then whence you achieve balance, will Mother Earth be able to move on."
This cryptic message however, was soon forgotten to the Supernaturals, rejoiced at having the planet to themselves, huddled as they were within their own species and families in small communities across the globe. Yet, as time passed, they discovered that the Magic given by Mother Nature still remained with Mother Earth. It was slowly transforming their minds, their bodies, and each of them processed differently depending on how much interaction they held with the substance, holding and latching onto them in both positive and negative ways to achieve a balance that Mother Nature foresaw.
Human-like in appearance and mind, they became.
T'was only millennia afterwards though that this change was noticed after gradual evolution through the timeline. Humans existed only though in the dustiest, oldest texts left behind and hidden by that race, and Animals had little consequence to gaining a sharper mind; they needn't need Mother Earth's resources that way, they needed only Her Magic.
Unnoticed but forever making plans however, Humans had noticed this change, their depraved technology now knowing no moral bounds if it didn't lift them up into the sky. Yet it was something that could only be described as a lot worse...to catastrophic ends.
And that is the legend of the one hundred year war child. Now do you see why the witches have called each of their kind to war?" The crone asked Mary as she sat next to her crosslegged waiting for the final decided in the situation to come.
"I get it now, it's just complicated I guess." Mary said sadly as she watched her family stare at her from the sidelines.
"I see you wish to be a necromancer again." The crone said suddenly, "If you can truly help us, I will grant you your wish child. I will make you a necromancer once more, and I will gift you with immortality."
"Ma'am." Somebody said from the corner.
"Yes?" The Crone said with a smile to her younger servant.
"Aurora has arrived."
