DISCLAIMER: I don't own Twilight. Sad face.

A/N – Massive apology. I am a horrible person for not uploading sooner. This chapter took ages to get finished, but it's extra long, so please don't be too mad at me?

Chapter 29

"No." I whispered. "She wasn't. She isn't going to kill me." I closed my eyes to stop the tears, and clenched my fists.

"Don't hurt her, Dad. Don't hurt Delilah."

Renesmee's POV:

Nobody moved. Not an inch. In the small clearing, less than a mile from our house, there wasn't a breath that could be heard. We were like statues, frozen in time. Delilah was the first to move, bringing her right arm up, reaching towards me. She whispered my name as my dad slammed her arm back against the tree.

"Edward!" My mum squealed, moving towards him, placing a hand over his that still held Delilah by the neck.

"She's a newborn," he seethed, "she has no control. Look at her eyes; red. She'll hurt Renesmee, even if she doesn't mean to." I shook my head at his words.

Delilah was a vampire. It didn't matter, she wouldn't hurt me. She couldn't hurt me, of that I was sure. My dad turned to me and shook his head. He'd heard my thoughts.

Confidently, I walked towards them. Jacob, who had phased back into a human, grabbed my arm.

"Don't."He pleaded, "It'll be okay, just stay here just now." He started guiding me backwards, but I pulled against him.

I got to the tree, and my dad turned around, still with a hand around her throat. "Renesmee, it isn't safe. Go back to the house with Jacob." It took me a moment to realise that this was the first time my father had ever asked me to do anything with Jake, but my mind was preoccupied. I was watching Delilah.

My dad was right; she was a newborn. Strong. Strong enough to easily throw my dad away from her neck, and into the ground. No doubt, she could do a considerable amount of damage to him, too. It would only take one flick of her wrist to break the arm that held her prisoner. But she didn't. My dad was wrong. She did have control. She wasn't fighting him one bit.

My dad obviously heard the reasoning going on in my head, as he responded immediately.

"That may be true, Renesmee, but it doesn't matter. I'm not moving my hand. You have warm, thick, sweet blood pulsing through your veins. She wouldn't be able to control herself if she breathed your scent. She's holding her breath right now."

There was a long silence again, and nobody moved. It was like someone had pressed the pause button, and time its self had ceased to move, to exist.

"I wont hurt her."

Her voice was croaky, yet beautiful. She had the voice of an angel, or an actress plucked right out of a Shakespeare play. When she spoke, her round lips parted to show perfectly glistening white teeth, not her familiar, yellowing teeth she'd always had. Straight teeth were something she'd always dreamed of; she had told me often.

"When I was still in Italy," She gulped for more breath, and my dad loosened his grip ever so slightly on her neck. "I hunted," She continued, "but human blood holds no desire for me. I don't want to be a monster. Aro told me when he first brought Renesmee to me that your coven drank animal blood. I caught a deer. It's blood was ghastly, like drinking pure lemon juice, but I'm not a monster. I wont hurt my daughter." She paused, before closing her eyes, and whispering, "Your daughter. . .I meant your daughter."

"Well?" Carlisle asked, stepping forward, "How do we proceed?" He looked between my dad and I. "Can we be positive that she isn't lying to us?"

I was about to step in, saying that Delilah would never lie, but my dad spoke before had the chance to.

"She's telling the truth." he admitted, sliding his hand away from her neck, "But please," He looked back at Delilah, "don't go to close to her. Instincts can take over, you know." Delilah nodded, but I ignored my dad, if I was going to die, it was worth trying. I ran towards Delilah and hugged her as hard as I could.

I felt a pair of very warm hands pelt against my waist, and try to pull me away, but Delilah hugged me back, and in that second, I was sure. She wasn't ever going to hurt me.

Delilah's POV:

I hugged Renesmee with all my strength, though I tried my hardest not to hurt her. That was the last thing I wanted, and I think that her family had finally realised that: I wasn't going to hurt her, in any way, shape or form. I pulled away from Renesmee, and held her at arms length. I gazed at her lovingly.

She had changed so much since we had last seen each other, yet she was still the same. Her hair had grown, but it was still the rich, dark colour it had always been, with flashes of copper corrupting her curls – from her father, I now knew.

She looked sufficiently like both parents, though. She was dainty, like her mother. The only thing I couldn't determine the roots of were her eyes. Her parents' eyes were golden – the animal blood, I presumed. Renesmee's eyes were beautiful, like deep pools of pure chocolate.

Seeing everything so brilliantly was still shocking to me. I had been a vampire for only a matter of weeks, and the bright colours of the trees and leaves and waters of the forest still glided through my pupils with a jolt of beauty. It was like I had been living my entire human life with mud in my eyes, and a bag over my head.

I looked around at those who all stared at me, waiting on me snapping, and plunging my teeth into Renesmee's neck. I shuddered at the very thought. They were all beautiful, of course, as pale as death its self, but all the same, eternally youthful. The only one who stood out, the shape-shifter, was tanned, and shockingly handsome, I assumed to human eyes too. He stood just inches from Renesmee, eyeing me cautiously. I smiled suddenly, remembering Renesmee's nightmares. She hadn't forgotten all, it appeared.

One of them – the tall, blonde male – spoke, in an authoritative voice.

"We should head back to the house, and help our new friend get settled here." He smiled at me "That is, if you wish to stay with us for tonight. We'd greatly appreciate news of the Volturi, if you have any to share." I nodded.

"Of course. We have some issues to discuss, I see."

The house was beautiful.

The exterior was mainly pristine white, and pale wood; a delightful contrast to the gloomy weather and forest surroundings. Inside, the glamour continued, with spotless white leather couches, and clear surfaces. The house looked un-lived-in, yet somehow homely. I ran my finger along the wooden banister beside the entrance in awe.

Renesmee caught my attention by hugging me again. "I'm so happy to see you!" She mused, before continuing in a muted tone, "When I got your letter, I thought. . . well, I presumed that you'd already be de-"

"Let us not worry about that, my gioia. Everyone is safe now." I hadn't spoken Italian in so long, yet the simple word seemed to roll off my tongue now. I looked down to where Renesmee held my hand in hers. "Aro did not intend on my becoming of an immortal, you see. But he. . ." I didn't want to tell her. It was such an odd power to posses, and in human life, too, when I hadn't even known my potential. I smiled brightly in hope of fooling her "He changed his mind, anyway. And yesterday I left, and came here. He thinks I am looking for my husbands grave in Tuscany."

Renesmee returned my smile warmly. "I'm glad you came."

We all gathered in a large living room. In total there was nine of us. Two that had been there in the clearing weren't present – The tall, beautiful blonde girl and the strong looking male. There was a short silence in the room until the two of them walked in, hand in hand. I suddenly remembered; they'd mentioned they were going hunting.

The male let go of his mates hand and came towards me, smiling. He punched me lightly on the shoulder.

"Hey there Delilah," He smirked, "what's it like in Volterra city?"

Everybody in the room snickered, and I felt embarrassed that I didn't understand the joke.

"Very funny, Emmett." Said the blonde, taking his hand again and sitting on the couch opposite the one I was on beside Renesmee. Emmett looked at me and smiled again.

"What?" He asked, "You never heard of the Plain White Tee's?" He saw the dumbfounded expression on my face, and laughed another booming laugh then. "Guess not. . ."

Jacob's POV:

After Emmett's pitiful attempt at humour, and Edward's introducing everyone, Delilah told us of how she'd become a vampire, and how she had escaped the Volturi to come here. We all sat silently, listening intently to her words. When she had finished, Carlisle looked at his watch, and then at Renesmee.

"It's getting late, Sweetheart." He said to her, smiling fondly. "Almost nine. You should get some sleep. You look awful tired." She smiled back at him, before yawning.

"It's been a long day." She looked at Delilah, then at me, and back to Carlisle. "but I don't want it to end."

I took her hand, and squeezed it gently. This was worth a shot. I cleared my throat before looking at Edward.

"Can I. . . have a word?" I asked him, and he eyed me suspiciously, trying to find out from my thoughts what I wanted, but I kept my mind clear of any hints. Eventually he nodded, and stood up. We both walked out of the living room and closed the door, walking into the dining room on the other side of the bottom floor.

As soon as Edward closed the dining room door, he turned around to face me, sighing. "Whatever you want, Jacob, the answers no." He spoke in a strained, annoyed tone, as if I was a total waste of his time.

"You don't even know what I'm going to say!" I seethed at him. He rolled his eyes and motioned with his hand for me to continue. "Well, I was just thinking. . ." I trailed off, trying to figure out how to word it so it didn't sound like 'I want your daughter to come stay the night with me'.

"Spit it out, Jake." He tapped his foot against the floor impatiently. I took a deep breath and said it all in one sentence.

"I think that because of everything that's happened today Renesmee shouldn't stay here tonight when Delilah's here, just in case anything happens, so maybe she should stay with me, just for tonight then I'll bring her back tomorrow."

Edward looked at me for about five seconds, and I could almost see it in his eyes. He was considering. . .for a second he was thinking. . .

"Do you think I'm insane?" He shot at me. Okay, he was done considering. "Do you honestly think that I'm going to let Renesmee stay with you?" He laughed, but there was no trace of humour on his face. "I wasn't born yesterday."

"Look, it would only be for one night and you know she'd be safe." I let out an exasperated sigh.

"No, I don't know that." He disagreed. I could tell that he was starting to get angry. I was about to get down on my knees and start begging when I heard a quiet voice coming from the doorway.

"I think it's a good idea."

At first I thought it was Renesmee, but when I turned around, Delilah was halfway through the door, chewing her lip nervously. Edward looked at her as if she had three eyes.

"What do you mean?" He asked her, his eyebrows raised in alarm.

"I agree with Jacob." She confirmed, nodding her head slightly, "You were the one who said that my instincts could take over. Maybe Renesmee is safer away for me, just for a little while, anyway."

Edward was stuck, and he knew it. He couldn't go back on what he said and tell Delilah that Renesmee was perfectly safe with her. I held back a smile, as Edward squared his jaw.

"Fine. . . just for tonight." He stormed out of the room, and I let the smile slide on to my face. When Delilah saw, she smiled to, and whispered so quietly I wasn't even sure she'd spoken.

"You're welcome."

Well, there you go :) hope you enjoyed it. Next chapter's written and will be up soon!

FailCullen, Over and Out!x