Hi everyone!
Sorry for taking me so long to update a new chapter, but I was out of town this week on vacations and I'm once again leaving on monday, but I'll be back the next week and hoping I have something ready, cause my grandma doesn't have a PC or laptop, and I don't have a laptop myself either, :( so sad, but what am I gonna do? Ha, just wait to be back to keep writing.
Oh, yeah, I'm still getting very little reviews, but you know what? I'm so happy that at least get to get those few reviews, THANKS SO MUCH to all those ones who do review, makes me love you more, even if I don't know you guys, cause your words and support are amazing to me... thanks to Wolfpup14, Reznil, munkijs, sholtsclaw698, missionarycook and katt who reviewed the last chapter.
Well, here you have the new chapter, hope you like it and review.
STEPHENIE MEYER OWNS ALL TWILIGHT!
Alright, enjoy!
CHAPTER 28. The future
I had to endure the entire way back my own negative guesswork about this matter with Irina, while I was listening to Carlisle struggling between the negative and the positive, none of the two wanted to think that this would lead to a bad outcome, but we couldn't help it.
While we were running back, we kept searching for the scent of Irina or her footsteps, or her thoughts about the house or the surroundings, maybe she had come back, or something, but we never heard anything.
It was beyond obvious that Irina didn't have planned coming back, not soon at least.
I wasn't sure if I should get worried or just stop thinking about that. What could possibly happen, that Irina wouldn't want to get back the old friendship with the Cullens? Well, we had already lived without knowing anything about her, or seeing her, more than five years, and I for more than two years since the last time I had been in Denali, so, maybe, this wasn't as bad as it seemed.
Of that I was trying to convince myself, but there was something, that was bothering me, and I couldn't find that little headache that I was having because of this Irina issue.
Maybe she will come back to Tanya and Kate? Carlisle wondered.
"I don't know. Maybe." I told him, not wanting to assure anything that I wasn't sure of.
Carlisle shook his head, his tone was sad. "It's a shame that Irina had reacted that way. I hope that she has come back to Tanya and Kate, so that way we could speak with her and apologize." It was obvious that Carlisle would want to apologize, but, of what? We had not done anything wrong.
"We do not have anything to apologize for," I told him, a little brusque.
Carlisle guessed because of my tone that I was still mad about what Bella had told me, that she had growled at her.
"It's not because of that, Carlisle. But we hadn't done anything that deserves an apology from our side. It's her who should apologize, don't you think?"
Carlisle sighed, knowing that, again, I wouldn't change my mind. Remembering too, how I was, the many reasons that Irina had to apologize to our family than the reasons we had towards them. The wolves, under our protection, was because of a strong reason, and fair. They had saved Bella from being killed on Laurent's hands, I couldn't believe that they would have thought on the possibility of us allowing them to have revenge over Laurent's death, when he had it well deserved. "Maybe, son. But it's always better to try to make peace, instead of war." He said at the end.
I didn't answer. We were about to arrive home, and I could read the anxiety in every member of the family, including Renesmee. Though it was more because of the lack of news, and that we weren't still back yet.
I didn't know how Bella felt, but I could guess.
Seth and Leah leaned over out the road from where we were coming into the house, and I could see that Jacob was still in his wolf form. He wasn't going to allow that Renesmee were in any danger, for as minimal as it were, so he had decided to stay behind with Seth and Leah, just in case. As soon as he heard my steps, he went back to the place where he had his clothes stashed to phase back to human and got ahead into the house and listening to the news. He wanted to be one hundred percent sure that Renesmee were going to be fine.
Before getting into the front lawn, everyone's eyes turned towards the glass wall when they heard our footsteps getting nearer.
Only two sets of foot?
Didn't they find Irina or they got into a fight?
What would have happened?
My family's thoughts were a mixture of confusion and a little bit of fear because of what would've happened and we came to tell them. I rolled my eyes when I realized that they were expecting a fight. It was ridiculous that that would've happened, much less in Carlisle's presence.
As soon as we walked through the door, Emmett yelled at me in his head.
Why didn't you call to us, Edward? We could have helped...
I frowned, and taking into account that we hadn't found her, for a moment I considered that with Emmett's and Jasper's help we would have reached her, maybe she had taken a different path than the one we had followed.
"What happened? Did you find her?" Bella asked anxiously. Her arms stretched over Renesmee.
"No," I answered her simply, shaking my head.
"We followed her trace until the beach," Carlisle started explaining more deeply. "and we got out on the other side of ocean, we didn't find her scent for miles. We thought maybe she had taken a straight line, but nothing."
She should have been very upset to escape out of our reach so fast... Jasper was musing.
I knew you should've called us. Emmett thought.
"Upset enough as to growl Bella when she saw that she was with a wolf," I answered to Jasper, while I was listening to Jacob almost running into the house.
"What happened? How did it go?" his voice sounded a bit agitated, out of anxiety.
Bella, who hadn't said anything, answered him. "They didn't find her."
Damn! Jacob thought, not wanting that Renesmee listening to that expression, and then he added, "It's a shame. Do you think Nessie'll be fine?" that was his biggest concern, as it was everyone's at that moment, probably.
"I don't think Irina comes back. At least not very soon." Bella said.
"Why do you think that, Bella?" I asked her. Her voice sounded completely sure of what she was saying.
"I saw her expression, Edward. She was really mad." Bella assured me again.
I nodded slowly, even when I would've wished to be able to contradict her. "I know, love."
"Well," Esme interrupted. She didn't like talking about enmities, much less with a family that we had been very good friends of until recently. "It's not worth it trying too hard on thing about what could've happened. Let's hope Irina comes back, and lets us explain her everything."
Alice was very quiet, exceptionally quiet. "Do you see something, Alice?" I asked her.
She turned to see me, her expression a bit upset. I could see why. "Nothing. Not for the moment. Maybe she's too upset as to make any decision."
"It's the surest," Rosalie said, indifferent.
After that, Rosalie and Esme went alone to the second floor. Emmett and Jasper went out to hunt. Carlisle excused himself to go to his office and Alice stayed with us in the room, trying to see something in her visions that involved Irina. Bella and Jacob sat on the couch, Renesmee on Bella's lap.
I stayed close to Alice, we were both wishing that Irina made any decision based on reason so we could see something, but there was nothing. We both supposed that it might be too soon.
I listened to Carlisle, he was still worried about what this could cause to our friendship with Tanya and her family, that maybe Irina would go to them and break any kind of family bond that there was between us.
He was the only one who was still thinking about her that way.
Alice and I simply saw any kind of decision that she were making, neither coming back to Forks nor going to Denali with her sisters. None of them seemed very likely.
Renesmee had already forgotten what had happened. She was comfortably playing and laughing with Jacob, who was trying to keep her distracted of the tension that could still be felt about what had just happened. It was easy to distract her, and soon there were only laughter and happiness in her mind. Jacob, too, seemed to let it aside, deciding to focus only in Renesmee.
Bella didn't say another word, but Jacob sometimes looked at her, and I could see that he didn't take his eyes off of me and Alice. He was maybe expecting as much as Alice and I that she saw something.
At the end of an hour, Alice sighed heavily. "I don't think Irina is going back to Denali, Edward."
Before I could say anything, Bella spoke. Her voice sounded almost tormented. "This is my fault. I can't believe that-"
Renesmee and Jacob stopped when they heard her.
I interrupted her before she kept going. How could she think that? "It's not true, Bella. Is regrettable that Irina had reacted that way. But this isn't your fault in any way, love. Don't blame yourself."
Bella shook her head. "If it hadn't been because of my camaraderie with Jacob," she turned to see him. "no offense, Jacob. But," she continued, turning her face to me. "that only caused to upset her. She came to make peace with you, and she had to see us. Why didn't I pick a different place for hunting? Why didn't I realize that she was there before Jacob phased?" her voice had risen in volume, almost in an hysterical way. And Renesmee was getting anxious of hearing her.
"Bella, love, calm down. Things aren't like that. You didn't have any way of knowing that Irina would see you. Besides, she was aware of our friendship with the wolves. What was she surprised for?"
I really didn't understand. Alice noticed the same thing I had said.
"You're right, Edward." Alice supported me. "He is, Bella. Stop worrying. Everything will be fine."
There's something odd here, but I don't see what...
Bella didn't look convinced, but still, she nodded, and turned to Renesmee to calm her down, too.
Carlisle was coming downstairs at that moment, the phone in his hand. "Are you calling Tanya?" I asked him when I see what he was thinking.
He nodded, and then said. "I think it's the best. They should know that Irina came, but we couldn't speak with her. She may go back to Denali. They have to be ready."
I didn't share his opinion, but maybe Tanya would have some idea of where Irina could have gone to.
Seconds later, Carlisle and everyone else were expecting for Tanya to pick up the phone so he would speak with her about her sister.
In the second ring, Tanya answered.
"Hello?" Tanya spoke. I could hear the conversation much better through Carlisle's thoughts.
"Tanya, it's Carlisle."
"Carlisle! It's so nice hearing you. Is everything alright?" it was obvious that Tanya would know that something wrong was going on than it were just a phone call to know how they were doing.
"In our family, yes, Tanya. It's about yours."
There was a short silence, and Tanya answered, a bit tense. "Ours? What's wrong with our family, Carlisle?"
"I was wondering if I could speak with Irina?"
Tanya sighed, and then her voice changed from tense to sad. "We hadn't known anything about her since we decided to attend Edward's wedding, Carlisle."
"It's such a shame to hear that, Tanya. We didn't imagine that Irina would react that way. I'm so sorry, really."
"I know, Carlisle. Don't worry. We told Edward, and I'm telling you. You are more a family of us than what Laurent could have been. We don't understand how is it possible that Irina reacted that way. But what do you need to speak with us about her for?"
"Irina came to Forks, Tanya-"
Before Carlisle kept talking, Tanya interrupted him. "Really? Did you see her? Did you speak with her?"
I wish I had better news, Carlisle thought before answering to her.
"Bella was the one who saw her, but..."
"What is it, Carlisle?"
"Bella was out, hunting in the company of Jacob-"
"Jacob? The wolf?" Tanya asked, remembering maybe the day our wedding, when she knew about Jacob the first time.
"That's right, Tanya. Jacob was in his wolf form, and Bella thinks that she was very upset when she saw him. After that she sprinted off without waiting for some explanations or anything. Bella called Edward and I immediately, but by the time we arrived she was too far already, and we even tried to look for her, but we weren't able to find her." Carlisle sighed. "I'm so sorry, Tanya. We were hoping that perhaps Irina came back to Denali with you. Alice hasn't been able to see anything yet."
There was another silence, a bit longer than the last one. When Tanya spoke again, her voice was saturated with sadness. "We are distraught, Carlisle. None of us can believe that Irina had gone to Forks and still, hadn't returned home." Tanya sighed. "It's difficult for us to lose our sister, for as shorter as our separation is. Let's hope it will be short."
"Of course, Tanya. We also hope that Irina decides to come back to you soon."
"Thank you, Carlisle." It didn't seem that Tanya were of the mood of keep talking, and Carlisle felt it, too.
"Well, Tanya, I said goodbye. And once again I repeat you my wishes that you family would be united again and soon."
"Thank you again. Take care, and please, give our regards to your entire family."
"Of course, Tanya. Our regards, too." And then Carlisle hung up the phone. "They haven't heard anything of Irina since Edward and Bella's wedding." Carlisle said to everyone, even when we had already heard.
The room became silent for a moment.
Alice, was the one who spoke. "Well, I guess there isn't much that we can do now."
Everyone nodded, and they all retired from the room eventually, after having gone back to the room when they had listened that Carlisle would call Tanya so inform her about what had happened with Irina.
Bella turned to see me and then she got up with Renesmee in her arms, half laid down and she was falling asleep, Jacob moved to her side. Bella stopped by my side, and she wrapped her free arm around my waist. "Everything will be okay, right?"
"Of course it will, love. Don't worry." I told her, placing a kiss on her cheek. "Do you think we should take her home?" I asked her, looking at Renesmee.
Bella nodded, and Jacob offered to go with us. He just wanted to make sure that Renesmee were fine, even when he knew that neither Bella nor I would allow something to happen to her. He would be more calmed.
Renesmee slept quietly, the incident with Irina seemed to have banished from his mind, which Bella and I thought it fine. Jacob was for a quarter of an hour rounding the house, watching that everything were fine, that Renesmee were completely safe. At the end he decided to go and rest at his home and come back tomorrow morning. Bella had sighed heavily when she listened to Jacob ran farther than the three meters of radius that he had been running, and then she had shot me a tremendously naughty smile when I told her that he was gone.
Once again, the night did not have the enough hours. But they were definitely the best one from the day.
The next day, we came back a little earlier than usual, Renesmee was still asleep, and not even Jacob or any of the other wolves were near the house. Alice came downstairs immediately, with Esme behind her. Her face seemed worried
"Did you see something, Alice?" I asked her, when I couldn't see anything.
"No," she said, shaking her head. "Nothing concrete. The only thing I could see, is that Irina won't return to Denali. Her face looks so... upset. I think that she is still too devastated as to make any decision about her course. So I don't know where she'll be going to."
I nodded. "Where's Carlisle?"
As soon as I asked her, Carlisle showed at the top of the staircase. "I'm here, son. What's going on?"
Bella turned to see me, just like everyone else, as if they were expecting me to say or bring some bad news. That way Bella looked at me, and so did everyone were thinking.
"Bella would be leaving to Italy in a few days," I started explaining them. "so I think, that we should have every detail about our trip to Rio settled."
"I thought you had said that we would be waiting for the Christmas holidays to pass." Rosalie asked while she came downstairs towards the room.
"Yes, that's right. But Bella and I were talking about it last night, and we thought that we can go be going ahead, and when December comes return to Forks."
Bella nodded, and then she walked to the couch to settle Renesmee, who was yet asleep.
"It seems good to me," Carlisle said.
"Not everyone have to come back. Only Bella, Renesmee and I. When the holidays are done, we would come back to find you again and keep researching the most we can."
"Jacob would come with us," Bella said, her tone was an affirmation, not a question.
Everyone became silent, waiting for me to respond. "I thought we had agreed that Jacob wouldn't come, Bella."
"Well, we had. But I don't think is fair, Edward."
I can't believe she's standing up for the dog again. Rosalie complained silently.
"Jacob is just as interested about this as any one of us. His whole life is at stake, just like mine is."
"But Bella-" Rosalie started, and she stopped when she heard Jacob's footsteps walking into the front lawn.
"Jacob's coming," Carlisle announced.
At that moment, he walked into the house.
"Hey guys. Are you talking about me? I heard you." He said in a quiet tone. His eyes quickly slid to the couch where Renesmee was sleeping.
She would soon be awake. Better to fix this once and for all. "That's right." The confirmation stopped him for a moment.
"What is it with me?"
"We were considering the option of allowing you to come with us to Rio."
"Considering? I thought it was a fact I was coming, too. Do you really think that I would have let you go without me?"
I shook my head, not very anxious of confirming what he had just said.
"I'm coming," Jacob said.
"We know, Jacob," Bella, again, supported him. "That's what I was saying a moment ago."
Carlisle, that had been analyzing the advantages and disadvantages of taking Jacob with us, decided to intervene in his favor, too. "It may be a good idea."
I read what he was thinking.
Consider it, Edward.
"It may be..." I started, not very willing of admitting it. "that... you're right, Carlisle."
"What you're talking about?" Jacob asked, a bit upset, because he knew that he was the matter in our conversation.
Edward, son?
I sighed, giving up. Carlisle was right, at least in that point. "Carlisle believes that it's convenient that you come with us to Rio."
Everyone, including Jacob, were surprised. But deeply, they weren't completely surprised, they knew that Carlisle always looked for making everyone else happy, while he could do it. That Jacob went with us was something that would make him happy, and plus, it was of help.
"What?" Rosalie gasped, remembering her joy by imagining herself away from Jacob for a while, away from the stench he brought, rather.
"Yes, Rose. And in part, he's right."
"Ugh. I cannot believe this."
"Listen. Do you think that the people we'll go look for, the people that believes in the legends they have and in vampires or whatever is it, are going to tell us what they know about us. Maybe it's a good idea to take Jacob, and they'd be more willing to tell what they know to him."
Everyone thought about it for a moment, and nodded. Rosalie was the last one on accepting that what I had said was true, and slowly nodded.
Yes! Jacob celebrated. "You're right, you're absolutely right."
At least I'll be able to do something active... Jacob was thinking, while he considered the information he would get to help Renesmee if it was necessary. "When are we leaving?" he asked, suddenly anxious to start doing his part of the job.
Bella answered this time. "In a few days I'm leaving to Italy, as soon as we're back we're leaving. Is that okay?"
Jacob snorted. "Of course it is. I was asking because I had to let Billy and Leah and the pack know."
"What about Sam" Bella asked.
"Yeah, him, too. Leah, Seth and everyone else would have to stay with him while we come back."
Leah won't be too happy, but I'm not staying behind because of her. Nessie is my priority...
"That's right." Jacob repeated for himself.
Bella was uneasy during great part of the morning after Alice had announced again that she had seen Irina but, again, without a straight path. After a while, she had calmed down by holding Renesmee in her arms. Jacob and Renesmee were playing around great part of the afternoon in the front lawn along Rosalie and Emmett. Bella stayed with us this time, planning her trip to Italy and what would she tell to them, we reminded her who formed part of the guard and how should she behave; part of me was tranquil remembering that Bella couldn't be tracked when she left, neither Jane nor Alex could do any harm to her.
Several days passed before we were all in agreement that every detail of every one of all the trips that were going to be made in very little time from now were perfect and ready. Charlie had come every day to visit his daughter and granddaughter – sometimes even to me, very rarely he called me son, but he seemed to be getting used to it -, and he still didn't know that our family would be out for a few months before he saw us again. It was settled already, that at least Bella and I, Renesmee and Jacob would be back before the Christmas Holidays so we could spend them with Charlie and probably, Billy and Sue and the other wolves from La Push.
Renesmee was almost as excited as the last time that we had gone out, the day that we had done that short trip to our meadow. She had asked to Jacob and Rose to show her images of the places that we would be visiting. Sometimes, surprising me, she would ask that to me. Bella was always hanging out with us when we were sitting in front of the computer seeing the landscapes that we would be witnessing for ourselves in a few days.
And though bit by bit, the rage I felt every time when I saw the excitement that Renesmee felt by Jacob's side or they took a walk or some game he played with her caused her, I felt another pang of rage when I saw the excitement that it caused her the news that Jacob was coming with us.
You had to get used to it, I repeated myself. But it was difficult to know that my daughter, of barely three-month-old, already had her soul mate by her side, waiting for her to reach an adequate age to be loved.
It helped, that none of them, Renesmee because she didn't have any idea that that was her destiny, and Jacob because in genuine sincerity, of the only thing he worried about was of Renesmee's happiness, the only thing he wanted, was to make sure that she were the happiest girl in this world, and at the end, how different was that from what Bella and I wanted?
It had been a while since Jacob had left to La Push, thinking that at any moment we would also be leaving to our homes, to speak with Sam to arrange some of the things during our absence.
"Well, guys, I'm leaving. I gotta see Sam," Jacob had announced before leaving.
Rosalie had sighed with relief. Ridiculously, she still had trouble with Jacob. Didn't she understand, that the surest thing was that we would have him in the family during eternity? Well, at least there would be a lot of time to get used to that idea.
"To Sam?" Bella had asked.
"Yes, we gotta arrange some things. Leah, Seth, Quil and Embry are going back to his pack for a while, so..."
"What did Leah say?"
"She almost ripped my head off," Jacob said sarcastically, at the same that he remembered the moment in which he had announced the news to his pack. Nobody had been surprised by Leah's reaction, everyone knew that she was happy, the happiest she could, being in Jacob's pack though that meant taking care of the Cullen family. She convinced herself that it was to take care of Seth, of Jacob, and now Renesmee, but deeply, she obviously did it because of Sam. Everyone had known from the moment she abandoned his pack to join Jacob and Seth's.
Bella laughed, and nodded. "Sure."
Renesmee had been playing with him, and she was yet in his arms while he said goodbye.
"Nessie, I'll see you tomorrow," he told her, and then kissed her on her forehead. I had to exert some of control when I saw the show of affection, again, it helped that I read in his mind that he saw her almost like a sister. "Take care of her," he told Bella and I in a way a bit, very little, authoritarian.
"Always," Bella and I answered at the same time, then we both turned to see each other and smiled at our response.
Jacob rolled his eyes and then walked out the door.
"Are we taking her home?" Bella asked me as soon as we heard Jacob's footsteps disappearing.
I made a face, because I knew that Renesmee was starting to feel tired and we wouldn't be able to take her soon enough into her crib so she would sleep quietly.
Bella realized what would be my answer. "It doesn't matter. She can sleep here, while we wait." She included herself, knowing that she wouldn't be part of the matter that held me here more than usual.
"It's just for today, love. We have to have all the details ready." I assured her.
"I know."
"You can take her to our bedroom," I told her, referring to my old bedroom.
"It's fine. Renesmee finds very comfortable the couch, too." She told me laughing.
It was true, so I nodded.
After an hour of the usual time in which Renesmee slept and Bella and I already had her in her crib on our cottage, we were still on the house with everyone else, planning the last details of the trip. Renesmee had fallen asleep and now she was laid down on the couch. Rosalie had excused herself with Esme and went to Rosalie's bedroom first, after having see Renesmee falling completely exhausted on the couch and then falling asleep. I could hear them while they talked to Carlisle.
I couldn't see the concrete reason why Alice wasn't with them picking up the clothes they would take with them, but it was easy to make a conclusion. She was looking for something in the future, especially Irina, yet.
I felt my mind divided in several sections; part of me was listening to what Carlisle was saying, another one was listening to the argument between my mother and my sister; another one was listening to the excitement of Jasper and Emmett for the new prays they would find in Brazil; another one was listening intently to what Alice was seeing; and the last one seemed to be bond, only listening to Bella's breathing and Renesmee's dreams.
Sometimes, well, most of the time, it was very annoying not having just one mind¸ but the thoughts of everyone else stuck inside my head.
Only Bella kept herself out of my head somehow, that it seemed, I would never find out.
Rosalie and Esme had taken all the clothes they had on Esme's and Carlisle's wardrobe for starting to pick out, they would then go the huge – though not as big as ours – Rosalie's and Emmett's wardrobe to pick up the clothes that they would take. Only Alice and Jasper didn't seem to be interested on that matter. Though I was sure that Bella and I were on the same page that they were.
"I think that we would have to go shopping as soon as we get to Rio, Esme." I heard Rosalie, almost beg, while she saw the few summer clothing she had.
What was she expecting? I wondered. We lived in Forks not in Florida.
"Yes, I think so." Esme wasn't a fan of shopping as my sisters were, so the idea didn't excited her as it would have if Rosalie would have been talking to Alice. "Do you have enough on your wardrobe or would you need to go shopping for you, too?" Esme asked her, fondly, knowing which would be her answer.
Rosalie smiled at her. "For me, too." She shook her head and then added. "It's like another world. I know we won't be able to get out as much as I'd want to, during the daylight. But I also know that we won't go out during the night if we had the chance when being researching." Her priority, too, was Renesmee.
Truly, Rose wouldn't go back to be the most selfish person in this world. She was still being selfish, of course, but she didn't have the first place.
Sometimes it amazed me the changes that my daughter had done in some of us.
She was special in more than one way.
"We're leaving in a few days, I think we'll be in Rio… mmm, approximately, one week." Carlisle said. "What do you think, son?"
"I agree. Bella-" I stopped to clear my throat, I suddenly felt as if a lump prevented me of thinking of Bella in front of Felix or Jane in five days. "would be leaving in four days, and as soon as she comes back we're leaving; the trip to Rio would take us more or less than twenty fours hours, so yes, in a week, maybe less."
Easy, Edward. Nothing will happen to her. I'll be close to her, and I think that Aro want to break the friendship that there's between us. Carlisle smiled sarcastically when he said friendship. As if that concept really existed in Aro's vocabulary.
"I know."
"Esme already called to the cleaning crew so they would go back to the house in Isle Esme, the tickets are already booked, we already have the first place where we're going and a traced route, we already talked to Jacob and explained to him what is it that he have to ask and search in the village when we get to Rio…"
The list of activities in Brazil that Carlisle had enlisted to me went becoming every time less strong. Any way, I could hear what he was thinking.
Emmett turned to see me and raised his eyebrows. Jaguars, panthers… anacondas. I already want to get to Rio, little bro!
I smiled curtly at him, and then turned to Carlisle.
"We have to talk to Jacob again." I added to Carlisle when he was wondering about my silence. "Remind him what he must do. We can't take any risks."
"We will. But I don't think that Jacob had forgotten. He doesn't want to take risks either when it's about Nessie, Edward."
"Yes, well, it's never too much."
Sure. Carlisle nodded.
"The first one to catch an anaconda, wins," I heard Emmett telling Jasper. He was orchestrating one more of his bets.
"Deal," Jasper agreed.
This'd be quite interesting. A change at last… mmm, Alice. Jasper thought, bringing his attention suddenly on the emotions emanating from Alice.
I could see why. Something was changing, something that was related to Irina, and she didn't like it at all.
I couldn't see the reason of that change yet, it was as if she didn't decide on doing what she was planning, she was undecided.
Damn! What's she waiting for? What is she going to do? Alice growled inwardly because of the future, while she was walking around from side to side slowly. She was more focused on what she was seeing in her mind than what she was seeing in front of her, like garlands and vases. In that moment she could have walked into anything, so she was trying to walk carefully and be unnoticed. It was hard to fool Jasper, and much more to me. Her face said it all, even more when we knew the different expressions that she wore when she was seeing the future and when she wasn't.
Come on! Do something I can see. Alice kept begging, when the worry that Alice felt by not being able to see anything and not being able to do anything to make Irina to decide once and for all, made Jasper to reach his limit.
Alice, I've told her to stop worrying about Irina; as always, she wouldn't listen to me…
Jasper turned to see Alice, desperate. "Let it go, Alice; she's not our concern."
I hope she calms down once and for all, he was thinking while he sent a wave of serenity through the entire room.
Alice and everyone else forgot for a moment about any of ours concerns. Even Renesmee started having dreams much more colorful than usual.
I didn't understand well why Alice was so obsessed about the Irina issue.
Does he have to know who I'm thinking in, too? Alice complained while she stuck out her tongue at Jasper after his comment and when she felt him using his gift to calm everyone down in the room, but knowing that his main goal was her.
To distract herself, and please Jasper for the moment, Alice took one of the vases with flowers that she had in front of herself; that – according to her opinion – were starting to wither.
Carlisle and I continued with our conversation; just like everyone else did with their own stuff.
I suddenly turned, as if something forced me to, when I saw the peaceful face of Renesmee sleeping on the couch, Bella was by her side staring at her little face sleeping, too. The two of them looked so serene, so full of peace, that something in the bottom of my mind told me to etch that memory for the future. I didn't quite understand the feeling and the strength of what asked me to, but instinctively I did.
Carlisle noticed my distraction and stopped the gush of words.
Then, my head snapped towards Alice and what she was seeing in her mind. Irina. How could she be seeing her now, when she had been struggling to see her before? She simply came to her mind.
The two of us froze up when we saw the next image in her mind. It didn't have anything to do with her…
The vase that Alice had been holding slipped from between her fingers and fell into the ground, making it shatter in pieces and causing a scandalous noise. Esme and Rosalie sprinted downstairs immediately, half-scared for what they had heard. When they came into the room, they froze when they saw our frozen expressions.
What is going on? Rosalie and Esme wondered.
We all stayed frozen looking intently at Alice's back. We couldn't see her expression.
I had only been able to see a second before the vase had fallen from her hands, how her expression suddenly changed, pure horror.
Alice turned towards us then, and I saw it.
The Volturi, all of them. They were coming to us.
How could…? What was happening? I didn't understand.
Neither did Alice.
I gasped when I saw that it wasn't just the guard; it wasn't just Jane and Alec, Demetri and Felix, even Aro, Caius and Marcus, but the wives, too.
Alice and I were frozen while we were seeing the scene where we were condemned to a sure death, not only to my family, but to Bella and Renesmee, too. What had we done? My sister and I were wondering over and over again.
Jasper reacted when he heard me gasping. "What?" he said and without even thinking, he jumped and was by her side in less than half a second. By her side, he took her from her shoulders and started shaking her a little brusquely in his desperate attempt to know what had terrified Alice. "What, Alice?"
It's something bad, something really bad. Emmet was thinking while he moved towards the window, ready to attack anything that had scared so much to Alice, and had ripped that gasp from me and got on us masks of horror in our faces while they kept wondering what was happening, and the anxiety kept growing even more when they didn't get any response from us.
The silence lasted only two seconds, before Jasper insisted again.
We looked like real statues. Everyone were petrified while they were waiting for us to react, but the strangest things, it wasn't just their bodies, but their minds who were also petrified, as if they didn't want to imagine the scenario we would be forced to face. Because there was something in us that made them believe, almost being sure that something wrong was falling on us, and soon. Sooner than anyone of us could have wished.
"What is it?" Jasper insisted while he shook Alice again, trying to finally listen to what was happening.
Alice's mind seemed to work again, when the vision stopped. There wasn't much to see, everyone was here, to destroy my family.
After all that time, the Volturi would be the cause of my extermination.
"They're coming for us," Alice and I answered in a whisper to the uncertainty of our family, at the time that we were wishing we could have another answer. "All of them."
Again, the silence flooded through the room with more strength than a moment ago.
This silence was different, it had in it, the taste of defeat, of sadness, and most of all of doubt. What had provoked such reaction in Aro and everyone else against the defenseless vegetarian Cullens? Our kind of life, rarely, had caused some disturbance in our world.
None of us could see what reason could be so powerful as to bring down on us such reaction.
The only thing that I knew is that I had to protect my two angels from such destiny. I had fought so much against cruel destiny, that for the first time in my existence I had thought that it already had had enough of my suffering to pay for my sins, that I thought that for the first time there would be more light than darkness in my life, that for the first time I felt like having wings to fly by my Bella's side, by my angel's side. All those hopes were crumbling down in front of me while I repeatedly look in my mind the image of the Volturi finishing up with the reasons of my existence, with my family…
I could hear cruel destiny, laughing and having fun at my expense, You already had too much happiness, it's time for it to finish.
But, did that have to include Renesmee? Bella?
My mind got eventually clearer, the screams of desperation that seemed to be coming from my inside when seeing the image of my two angels being annihilated didn't seem to really be coming from my inside. Everyone had understood that it was the Volturi who would come to us.
And like Alice and like me, anyone understood the reason.
My eyes moved around for a second, the still asleep face of my daughter, that little person who had become in my second reason for existing in less than a second when I had heard her love thoughts towards her mother and towards me, her father, when she was still in Bella's womb, since I had touched her with my hands when she had born, since I had listened to her saying 'daddy' for the first time, since I had had her in my arms next to Bella, since I had formed, thanks to her, a family with my angel.
Bella was frozen by her side, and though I had no way of knowing what was going through her mind, I knew that it was the same thing that was going through mine, our daughter's life, Renesmee's.
In this moment, I knew that there was something that I should always have asked life for: to allow me to live for the rest of eternity with my two angels. What else did I have to ask for? Just seeing my daughter growing, seeing Bella happy to have her and have me by her side, as we had always dreamed; as we had always thought we already had.
All that future I was now seeing it crumbling down. Like the sweet dream that never came true.
"The Volturi," Alice said what we already knew.
"All of them," I growled, while I tried to understand the reason of this vision, of this future.
"Why? How?" Alice whispered, making echo of my thoughts and everyone else's, too.
But that didn't matter anymore, the reasons didn't matter. "When?" I asked.
"Why?" Esme said, her thoughts were only looking over all our faces and the possibility of never seeing them again.
"When?" Jasper repeated.
Alice calculated the time in which the first snowfall would hit Forks before answering. She focused for a moment, and then we both answered. "Not long."
"There's snow on the forest," Alice said what she had seen. "snow on the town. Little more than a month."
"Why?" Carlisle asked.
Neither Alice nor I answered to that. It was almost silly to ask. We all knew very well that Alice could not see the reasons behind her visions, only the outcome that those reasons caused.
"They must have a reason. Maybe to see..."
In that matter, Alice had something to say. Something in her visions told her that they had nothing, absolutely nothing to see; and Esme meant about Bella. "This isn't about Bella. They're all coming – Aro, Caius, Marcus, every member of the guard, even the wives."
What? Of course not. There must be some mistake.
All of them?
But... the wives? How?
"The wives never leave the tower," Jasper said, refusing to believe this. With fear that something could happen to Alice if she saw herself face to face with the entire guard of the Volturi. "Never. Not during the southern rebellion. Not when the Romanians tried to overthrow them. Not even when they were hunting the immortal children. Never."
As much as I wanted to agree with Jasper, I couldn't. Alice had the reason.
"They're coming now." I whispered.
Carlisle was beginning to worry about what this visit would cause to the family he had created and loved for so many years. "But why? We've done nothing! And if we had, what could we possibly do that would bring this down on us?"
I had been thinking about it, and the only possible reason that I found was the increasing number of members since the last time that Aro had known of the Cullen family. He was jealous of the gifts that in our family we had. Aro was sure that we would be the first one in being able to give his guard some trouble, even when in truth it wasn't like that. He also knew about the friends we had, and of their gifts. He knew that Bella would be something beyond magnificent when she changed into this immortal life. I didn't know what he was expecting.
That should be it, or something more... but what could it be?
"There are so many of us! They must want to make sure that..." my voice shut off, considering the option of having them here and that they saw Renesmee. Bella had said it herself. Aro would covet the unique our daughter was when he met her.
"That doesn't answer the crucial question! Why?" Carlisle repeated.
We all stayed silent for a short moment, trying to find some sense in this, logic to this so dangerous situation. But no one could find it. It didn't have any sense.
Why had they decided to come for us, in such a hostile way?
My mind seemed broken. I could only think on Bella and Renesmee. Suddenly, the words of Bella from this summer, just after I had finished with Victoria, came to my mind.
"And it's not easy being the only helpless person around. Just you wait till I'm a vampire! I'm not going to be sitting on the sidelines next time."
"Next time? Did you anticipate another war soon?"
"With my luck? Who knows?"
It seemed that her suppositions were becoming reality.
"Go back, Alice," Jasper told Alice, getting me out of my memory at the same time. "Look for the trigger. Search."
Alice shook her head, there's no way, I don't think. "It came out of nowhere, Jazz. I wasn't looking for them, or even us. I was just looking for Irina. She wasn't where I expected her to be..." Alice stopped mid-sentence while she realized of what had happened.
No, no, no. Irina?
I held my breath while Alice raised her head. Full understanding on her mind.
Knowing that I could listen to her, It's the only explanation, Edward. I think.
"She decided to go to them," Alice started explaining. "Irina decided to go to the Volturi. And then they will decide... It's as if they were waiting for her. Like their decision was already made, and just waiting on her..."
The silence once again flooded the room, now with understanding while everyone began to understand what was it that had actually happened.
Irina had gone to the Volturi. But, to tell them what?
I felt that something very important was escaping me, as if I was missing some detail that would give me the answer, but kept escaping me. Refusing to give me what I needed. What had Irina done this for? What had caused her so much pain as to do this? The wolves?
Something in that answer didn't seem to me logical enough.
There's must be something we can do. Jasper was thinking.
The wolves? I wondered again to myself. But... Irina, Kate and Tanya knew about our alliance with the pack. Why was she deciding to go to the Volturi now?
It had to be something else, but I couldn't find that detail.
"Can we stop her?' Jasper suddenly asked.
"There's now. She's almost there." Alice answered.
"What is she doing?" Carlisle asked.
"I'm not sure." Alice said. None of us understood why Irina had taken that decision.
"She might have thought that we had broken our treaty with the wolves, and when she saw Jacob, she realized that it wasn't that way; and she decided to go to the Volturi." Jasper offered that theory, and it was something possible, I had to accept.
"Maybe. But there's something that just don't fit, and I can't understand what it is." Alice observed, almost repeating what a few instants ago had been going through my mind.
It was trued, but something didn't fit. I was almost sure that the wolves had something to do with this, but there was something else.
I growled, and everyone turned to see me. I noticed that Bella was like frozen, but before I could express my worry aloud, Alice interrupted me. "What happens?"
I turned to see her, "I don't know. It's just than I don't understand why Irina did this."
"Nobody does." Esme commented.
"So, what?" Rosalie asked, exasperated.
Yes, yes, we already know that Irina'll go to the Volturi, now we've got to decide what to do…
"It's not that easy, Rose." I told her through my teeth.
I couldn't imagine that the Volturi were going to be here in Forks in little less than a month, with the only purpose of exterminating our family. And now than included Bella and… Renesmee.
I had given immortality to Bella to have the rest of the eternity by her side. And now it turned out that I would have had more time with her if she had stayed human. How cruel destiny was. She insisted on taking away the happiness that gave us for whiles. It seemed like she was tearing off the petals of a rose and was saying: happy, sad, happy, sad…
And at those moments, it seemed, the last petal was sad.
"What?" Emmett asked confused. Obviously he didn't know what Rosalie had just thought.
"I just think that we should stop wondering why she did it and start thinking on what we're doing." Rosalie explained to them.
"Yes, I think we should-"
"Think of what she saw that afternoon," Bella said, interrupting Emmett and his plans of war against the Volturi. "To someone who'd lost a mother because of the immortal children, what would Renesmee look like?"
The silence became stunning in the room when Bella finished talking.
My goodness! Esme cried inwardly when she realized what Bella meant.
It was the only thought that registered in my mind. For a long second, I didn't listen to anything in my mind, only the words of Bella resounding in my head.
Immortal children.
What would Renesmee look like?
No, this could not be happening. Renesmee, she wasn't an immortal children, we weren't even sure that she would get to live the eternity or at least as much time as a human.
But Bella was right, once again.
When I heard her, I found the piece I was missing. The detail, that piece of information that was telling me that it wasn't the wolves what had caused that reaction in Irina. It had been that, according to her, we had broken the most unforgivable of the rules. She had thought that Renesmee was an immortal child when she saw her hunting that afternoon. And for her reaction, I guessed that she wasn't close enough to her to notice that she was half-human, to hear her heart beating, to feel the heat emanating from her body, the color of her cheeks could be a trick; that was what she surely thought when she saw her.
This was far worse than what I'd imagined.
This was something the Volturi would never forgive.
There was no escape.
My mind worked again when I heard Carlisle whispering what we already knew at this moment.
"An immortal child." I heard him saying.
There was no hope, and if there was, I didn't know which was. Renesmee was just a baby, for the love of all that's holy!
Like we were already defeated, the pain that I felt in my chest when I saw my daughter sweetly and peacefully sleeping by Bella's side, made me fall down to my knees by her side. And as if somehow, by doing it, were going to protect them both, I wrapped my arms around them, both Bella and Renesmee.
Suddenly, I felt almost as miserable as I had felt on those days while we were waiting during Bella's pregnancy, because I would not only lose Bella, but my entire family.
"But she's wrong," Bella said, and she seemed to be answering my thoughts in a certain way, only that because of her words, I knew she meant Irina. "Renesmee isn't like those other children." I could see where Bella was going with this, but… "They were frozen, but she grows so much every day. They were out of control, but she never hurts Charlie or Sue or even shows them things that would upset them. She can control herself. She's already smarter than most adults. There would be no reason..."
Bella trailed off into silence just like everyone else was.
Each one of us knew that she was right, but what Bella didn't know, she had no idea, was that the Volturi would wait to make sure if Renesmee really was or wasn't an immortal child.
I knew that I had to tell her, but it as terrible to have to break down her hopes that way.
That won't help at all, Jasper thought.
I wish it was that way, Alice was wishing while she remembered it wasn't.
How to tell her?
It killed me not having an answer, or a sigh of relief for her when I heard what she was telling us, but the hope, even the possibility, of us succeeding on stopping the Volturi of exterminating our family for something we hadn't done, was almost nonexistent.
Edward, we have to tell her. Carlisle asked me.
"It's not the kind of crime they hold a trial for, love," I tried to tell her, without letting the agony nor the pain to be noticed. I wasn't sure if my attempt worked. "Aro's seen Irina's proof in her thoughts. They come to destroy, not to be reasoned with."
"But they're wrong." Bella insisted.
"They won't wait for us to show them that."
How is it possible that we go through this? Esme was wondering, heart-broken. Our Edward and Bella. Renesmee.
I didn't want to listen. It was like it was a fact. I knew it was, but deeply I wanted to wish that the end we were going to succeed on getting out of this as of many others. Of course, the enemy now, wasn't anything like the others. What could we do against Demetri, when he was a tracker a thousand times better than what Jasmes'd been? Against Jane and Alec that didn't have anything of Lauren in them? Against Felix that was a thousand times stronger than Victoria?
They were nothing. They had been easy victories if they were compared with the Volturi guard.
This is worse that what I could've imagined. I never thought Irina'd do this. Carlisle was thinking while he remembered the long friendship of the Denali sister with our family. Tanya and Kate had no idea, and I wasn't sure if they would have reacted the same way.
Maybe we would never know.
Something we did know, considering that, maybe, this wasn't about the wolves and Laurent. Irina had betrayed the friendship with the Cullens because of her strict respect for the law. At least that was what it seemed.
"What can we do?" Bella asked, anxious.
"We fight." Emmett answered as if he didn't understand who the fight was against.
Please, Emmett! It's ridiculous to even consider it. Jasper thought, his only fear was that something happened to Alice.
"We can't win." Jasper answered growling.
"Well, we can't run. Not with Demetri around." Emmett insisted, making a noise of disgust.
That is worse than being executed. He should know.
Suddenly, a new idea was starting to take shape into Emmett's mind, and for the first time tonight, I felt a pang of hope. It wasn't bad.
"And I don't know that we can't win. There are a few options to consider. We don't have to fight alone."
Bella's head snapped towards Emmett, and I knew what she would say before it came out of her mouth. "We don't have to sentence the Quileutes to death, either, Emmett!"
She's got worse temperament, now, brother. Emmet thought when he heard Bella.
I grimaced at him, and then he continued. "Chill, Bella." Emmett told her while he was thinking on what he was going to tell her. Again, my face froze in a grimace that didn't pass unnoticed by anyone, except Bella that kept looking at Emmett. "I didn't mean the pack. Be realistic, though—do you think Jacob or Sam is going to ignore an invasion? Even if it wasn't about Nessie? Not to mention that, thanks to Irina, Aro knows about our alliance with the pack now, too. But I was thinking of our other friends."
Carlisle reacted and understood what Emmett was meaning quickly. He didn't like it much. "Other friends we don't have to sentence to death."
And again with the sentence to death. Emmett thought. In that moment I could see what he was planning, which with every second that passed got more defined like a defense plan not an attack plan. And if we thought about it well, it might work.
"Hey, we'll let them decide," Emmett started explaining what was forming in his mind. I was impressed, I had to admit. "I'm not saying they have to fight with us." I could see the plan refining itself in his head as he spoke. "If they'd just stand beside us, just long enough to make the Volturi hesitate. Bella's right, after all. If we could force them to stop and listen. Though that might take away any reason for a fight..." Emmett started smiling, waiting for someone to applaud to his great idea.
Mmm, it might work. Yes, it had to. Esme thought, excited to see that there was another possibility for her family than to be annihilated by the Volturi.
Carlisle and everyone else were beginning to consider Emmett's idea as a good possibility of surviving, and they saw how it could work if everything turned out as they believed that Emmett was thinking. There were lots of friends that may do it.
Tanya and Kate, Carmen and Eleazar, another covens.
"Yes," Esme agreed with Emmett. "That makes sense, Emmett. All we need is for the Volturi to pause for one moment. Just long enough to listen."
"We'd need quite a show of witnesses." Rosalie said.
If those witnesses accept knowing that is against the Volturi. Rosalie thought, to herself, though it'd been Emmett's, the idea wasn't that good.
Still, Esme seemed to not listen to Rose's sarcasm. "We can ask that much of our friends. Just to witness." She said nodding.
My mind was divided in two at that moment. I was listening to my family beginning to be completely in agreement to Emmett's idea, and to Alice considering it too but like a fact. The time was coming quickly on us, and if we would have to look for our witnesses, it had to be now.
"We'd do it for them." Emmett commented.
"We'll have to ask them just right. They'll have to be shown very carefully." Alice whispered after Emmett.
"Shown?" Jasper asked Alice, confused by the word she had chosen.
Alice turned to see Renesmee instead of answering, and I with her.
This's got to work out, Edward. I can't see, you know, but it's got to work.
"Tanya's family," Alice started enlisting some of our friends and acquaintances that could help us with this. "Siobhan's coven. Amun's. Some of the nomads—Garrett and Mary for certain. Maybe Alistair."
Maybe… well, I hope not, but, "What about Peter and Charlotte?" Jasper asked her, hoping that the answer were no, but knowing that they would be very useful.
"Maybe." Alice told him.
"The Amazons? Kachiri, Zafrina and Senna?" Carlisle asked.
Everyone started thinking about the acquaintances that could help us, and they thought would be willing to come.
Alice didn't answer, instead of that she focused on a vision that came suddenly to her, it seemed to have something to do with what Carlisle had said, and being a decision of Alice, maybe, for how it came to her mind as soon as he mentioned the Amazons.
I couldn't see right what Alice saw, she seemed decided for me to not see anything.
But, why?
Alice turned to see Carlisle who kept waiting for her to answer him.
She lowered her look before speaking. "I can't see." She answered him. To me it seemed like she was trying to prevent me from seeing the vision she just had. The only think I got to see was some of jungle, and I imagined that it was the Amazon or something close-by.
"What was that?" I asked her. I didn't understand why she didn't want me to see. What was she hiding? If it was something bad, I rather know. "That part in the jungle. Are we going to look for them?"
"I can't see." Alice repeated again, but her eyes never met mine. What they hell was going on? What was it that she couldn't tell me? "We'll have to split up and hurry—before the snow sticks to the ground. We have to round up whomever we can and get them here to show them. Ask Eleazar. There is more to this than just an immortal child."
Alice and everyone else became silent for a moment while we processed what we had just been told, and while I was trying to see the same thing that Alice was seeing in that moment.
Again, I couldn't see clearly her visions.
As soon as it appeared it seemed like Alice hurried to pass it through and leave it somewhere in her mind to see it later when no one else but her could. Jasper felt the confusion and turned to see me.
I don't have any idea of her silence, either. He assured me when he saw how Alice didn't allow me to see.
"There is so much." Alice began telling after blinking and left her visions hidden. "We have to hurry."
In that second I heard Jacob's thoughts getting closer towards they house, but I didn't have time to listen to what he was thinking.
But Alice wasn't going to leave me this way, she had to tell me what was happening, what she was hiding from me. "Alice? That was too fast – I didn't understand. What was-?"
"I can't see!" she answered me with a shout. "Jacob's almost here!" it seemed more like an excuse to not show me anything than an explanation.
If it's because of that dog, no problem. Rosalie thought while she took a step towards the front door to delightedly stop Jacob. "I'll deal with-"
"No, let him come." Alice told her while her voice raise in volume, tense. Then, she took Jasper's hand and I saw she'd go out with him. "I'll see better away from Nessie, too. I need to go. I need to really concentrate. I need to see everything I can. I have to go. Come on, Jasper, there's no time to waste!"
Alice was impatient to leave, but I wasn't sure if it was because she would see better away from Nessie and Jacob or because she was trying to hide better what she'd seen. Jacob was already on the porch stairs, he would get in at any moment; Alice, too knew it, so she pulled Jasper again so they would get out of the room as soon as possible. The same confusion that I was feeling, was feeling it Jasper by seeing the strange behavior of Alice. No one understood why she was acting that way, what could be happening for her to be acting so strange and tense, impatient.
Everyone, just like me, were wondering why she was insisting in that she could see anything, when, clearly, she had seen something in her visions.
At that moment, before anyone could say something, they walked out the door, and Alice said: "Hurry! You have to find them all!"
Jacob walked in through the front door, and having listened to Alice, he soon asked. "Find what? Where'd Alice go?"
None of us answered. I didn't know what was going through Bella's mind, but I was sure, that like everyone else, she didn't have any idea of how to explain Jacob what was happening, what would be very soon be happening, too soon.
I still had Bella and Renesmee in my arms, and for an instant Jacob didn't think of our position as strange nor the expression that my family still kept.
Now I could see what he had been thinking when he came to the house.
"Hey, Bells!" he said while he saw Renesmee, still asleep, on Bella's arms. "I thought you guys would've gone home by now..." his voice stopped, finally looking at Bella's expression.
What? What is it? Nessie! I wanted to answer him, to tell him that everything was okay, that my daughter was fine. And she was, at least on what he meant, but I couldn't say anything, anyone could.
His worry calmed down a bit when he rested his eyes on the place where Alice had dropped the vase with the flowers, and he saw all the shattered glass and the mess left.
Still, Renesmee was her priority and his only concern.
"What? What happened?" Jacob asked, his voice was emotionless.
How are we telling him? Esme wondered quickly, and then her question changed. How are they telling him? Knowing that it was our obligation, whether it was Bella or me who would tell him.
When he saw no one answered him, Jacob got a momentary panic attack.
What is it? Why aren't they telling me? Why don't you speak? Nessie?
Without being able to stand it anymore, Jacob walked forward toward us and was on his knees in front of Bella and Renesmee after three long steps.
His hands were trembling with the fear of hearing an answer that were going to destroy him, that was something bad about Renesmee, that we had found out something in his absence of what he didn't have any idea yet. Still, even when I wanted to tell him that it wasn't anything of what he was fearing, I couldn't find my voice.
Renesmee seemed to react to the sound of Jacob's voice, in her dreams, his face was showing more often than a moment ago.
How to tell him, that it wasn't her accelerated growth that we should fear now, but the Volturi who were coming to destroy her, to destroy us all?
"Is she okay?" Jacob asked while he touched her forehead and listened to her heart, searching for some sign that told him why we were that way. "Don't mess with me, Bella, please!"
"Nothing's wrong with Renesmee." Bella finally spoke, but her voice was choking while she spoke. It was obvious the fear in it, but Jacob didn't notice.
"Then who?" Jacob insisted.
"All of us, Jacob." Bella explained to him, and her voice sounded exactly like my voice had sounded like when I told her there was no hope of stopping the Volturi. "It's over. We've all been sentenced to die."
To die, the words resounded in my head while I watched Renesmee's face.
I couldn't allow it, but, what could I do?
Suddenly, I knew that I would do whatever it took to save my daughter's life, because I couldn't allow that her life ended before it had even started.
Even if she were the only one in this world, she had to live.
We would find the way to save her.
And this chapter is dedicated to Wolfpup14, Reznil, munkijs, sholtsclaw698, missionarycook and katt. Thanks guys for your support!
