Epilogue
Italy, Volterra, 2056.
Rosalie's POV
"The architecture here is amazing," Renesmee murmured, hugging Jacob's arm to her chest whilst still looking around at the room, despite it only meant for waiting.
I nodded in agreement but couldn't bring myself to admire the artwork and history when my baby was here, buried somewhere among the murderous sea of red eyes and black cloaks. We hadn't heard much of Hazel after she left after the battle, or a confrontation as we now liked to call it. Scratch that, we hadn't heard anything from her, I wasn't even sure she was here anymore. Who's to say that she hadn't moved on? Alec included.
I felt Emmet gently stroke my knee beside me, stopping the nervous jittering I had picked up whilst living among humans. He tried to smile comfortingly at me, holding my hand, but I could tell he was as nervous and filled with the same amount as suspense just as I was.
Aro's intention of keeping tabs on Renesmee remained constant throughout the years, demanding frequent letters documenting every stage of Renesmee's life; it was only now that we eventually gave in to his request of a personalised visit. Jacob refused to let Renesmee go without him; he was persistent that Caius would gouge her eyes out or something else of equivalence.
Like before, Aro was fascinated by Renesmee. He stared at her as if he was an excited child and she was a sparkly new toy who amazed him on every level. He asked her numerous questions regarding her life and dietary habits, some of them completely pointless, some entirely relevant. Marcus looked bored by the whole interrogation, but I was pretty sure Caius was scared stiff of Jacob. It was somewhat hilarious, if it wasn't for the intimidating sneer he had on in defence whilst he was backed up against his throne.
After the visit we were left to wait in what seemed like the reception in the castle. It was nice enough. The room was made of dark mahogany with burgundy curtains. Persian rugs covered some of the surface area, leaving dark wood in between. The room let in no natural light, but it had a light atmosphere that left the room bright and not at all intimidating. Emmet, Jacob, Renesmee and I were sat on dark chocolate couches. We were supposed to be waiting for the sun to set, but we all knew we were here to see if Hazel would make an appearance.
Jacob and Renesmee had gotten married three years after Renesmee had fully grown; she looked beautiful walking down the aisle. Emmet and I watched proudly as if she was our own daughter. Jacob still hadn't stopped shifting he said it would be another 10 years or so; we hadn't discussed what would happen between them afterwards, though I could tell everybody thought about it. Nobody could see Jacob as a vampire, yet no one could see him without Renesmee. It was a puzzler.
"I don't understand why the old man doesn't like me," grumbled a male voice, causing me to return my thoughts back to reality. I looked up to see a vampire who was about 6'2 and dressed in what looked casual designer wear. His voice was British, with a slight American accent. His hair was styled fashionably and he looked awfully familiar. His looks sent my stomach spiralling.
"Perhaps it was the insults you shot at him," a female voice said, walking behind him, as he slumped down on the arm chair to my left. Her black cloak covered her scarlet red dress but made the pale white skin of her neck stand out as if it were a beacon of light. Hair, the colour of dark chocolate, hung in soft waves across her shoulders. Heidi.
"I don't think pointing out his lack of ability to generate a supernatural power like the, and I quote, 'special vampires', isn't a good enough reason to be part of the Volturi would certainly decrease your chances," she said, rolling her eyes yet she looked at him fondly.
She stopped short once she spotted Emmet, Jacob, Renesmee and I, seated on the leather recliners. The almost sarcastic expression on her face smoothed out to reveal shock and surprise. She quickly recovered from her moment of surprise and nodded briskly in at us, returning to the professional act everyone was used to.
The vampire noticed her switch to formality and immediately frowned at her, but after seeing her expression remained neutral, he turned his attention towards us. He gave us a once over, his eyebrows knitted together slightly, but from the puzzled expression on his face, I didn't think he had any idea who we actually were. We had no idea who he was either.
Heidi began to make her way out, using the staircase behind us. Her black cloak trailing like a cloud of dark smoke.
"Where are you going?" the stranger questioned, sounding like he would miss her if she were gone.
"I have business to attend to," she replied casually. "Just make sure you leave when it's dark," she added, before nearly disappearing down the flight of stairs.
"What about Hazelnut? I didn't get to spend any brotherly time with her," he protested, almost sulkily, at the direction of the stairs. My eyebrows shot up in a mixture of surprise and shock. My mind found it difficult to process all this information. Hazelnut. Brother. What?
The sound of Heidi climbing back up the stairs was mixed in with her sighing. Her expression was wary and slightly exhausted, but not because of re-climbing the stairs, because of us. I doubt the vampire and/or Hazel's alleged brother knew what the word 'Hazelnut' meant to us.
"Didn't Hazel tell you to stop calling her that?" Heidi asked wearily, staring at him almost expectantly.
"She pinned me against the wall and threatened to rip out my eye sockets actually," he said, voice and face filled with content and satisfaction. Heidi raised an eyebrow. "But that was after I threw Chinese at her." He paused for a moment. "And pizza. But that was only because she stopped responding to me!" he protested.
"Ever thought that was a sign that you stop calling her that Luca?" Heidi said, as if she were talking to a child before disappearing into the darkness at the bottom of the stairwell.
Luca, so that was his name, sighed before pulling out an iPhone and scrolled through it, he was either oblivious to our presence or chose to ignore it. Minutes passed by, Luca chose not to say anything to us and neither did we, though I had to force myself not to. I wanted to know who he was. I wanted to know how on earth he was Hazel's brother. And I wanted to know why he called her Hazelnut.
"You know, if Aro hadn't made Alec to bring you to Volterra, then you probably would still be together," a voice I recognised drifted from the doorway from the hall on the far left. This was followed by two people laughing.
"Imagine," another voice began. "You could have been married to Brandon. Brandon De Clancy."
Brandon De Clancy was this generation's most gifted director. He had directed masterpieces that had won numerous academy awards. And he was also Hazel's ex boyfriend.
The footprints and voices grew even closer
"Which means that Hazel would have probably made it as an actress..."
The voices were in the same room now.
Demitri and Felix stood either side of Hazel and Alec who had their fingers intertwined with one another. They both had scowls on their faces with Demitri and Felix looking mocking and amused. I could tell Hazel was about to snap something at them, but when her eyes met mine; all signs of defence were gone.
Her eyes were wide in surprise, they were light brown. A clear sign that brown contact lenses covered golden eyes. Alec's eyes were golden without the need for artificial colouring. I thought for a moment that the Volturi had turned vegetarian, but Demitri and Felix's eyes shone like a fire against the starless night sky.
Her mouth dropped slightly leaving her rendered speechless. Her face softened and looked like she was about to cry. All I wanted to do was to wrap her in my arms and tell her how much I loved her.
Demitri and Felix took this as their queue to leave, taking the same staircase as Heidi. Luca was now alert and staring at the situation with curiosity. Alec gently murmured something reassuring in her ear but Hazel remained shell shocked.
"What's up Hazelnut?" The voice didn't belong to Emmet like it should have, it belonged to Luca.
Hazel gently tore away her gaze away from Emmet and I to stare blankly at Luca. She blinked at him confused before turning her attention away and back to us.
"Hey," Emmet said softly, directly to Hazel.
She re opened her mouth to respond, but no words came out. Her eyes showed that she had about a million and one different things to say, but she didn't know where to start. Her jaw trembled in defeat and bit down on her bottom lip to stop screams of frustration.
I couldn't take it anymore; I got up and wrapped my arms around her, holding her close. I was distantly aware of Alec moving away from her, respecting her privacy, going over to stand beside Luca looking away from us. Luca didn't take the same approach, and instead stared with bug eyes, obviously confused. I felt Hazel bury her head into the crook of my neck, her hair touching the skin of my neck. I gently rocked her back and forth, too slow for any human to see any movement. My hands stroking the black velvet of her cloak.
I felt Emmet walk over to us, I gently let Hazel go, giving her a small smile. Emmet slowly stoked the top of Hazel's hair as she buried her face in his chest.
She blinked upwards at us both once we had let her go. Her brown contact lenses had started to fade away revealing hints of golden yellow. She nodded once we had both let her go, starting up at us, her eyes filled with sadness.
"I'm sorry," she began, almost whimpering. "I'm sorry for everything, and..." she broke off, not knowing how to continue. I wasn't entirely sure what she was apologising for, but I assumed it was for leaving.
I cupped her cheek, wiping away tears that would have been there if it wasn't for me. Me, meaning me being a vampire. I softly kissed her forehead before she looked up at us one last time, smiling a smile to show that she was okay, trying to reassure everyone. She almost convinced me. Almost.
The sound of her shoes against the dark wooden floor was the last thing I saw of Hazel. Her black cloak trailing behind her, enveloping her presence in a cloud of darkness.
That's it, the final did you think? And of the story as a whole, now that it's finished?
I know people have invisioned the ending differently, but that's how I wanted the story to end since I first got the idea, including most of the content within the story.
To be fair, I did add some things that I hadn't originally thought of writing about, like Luca. I had no plan to give Hazel any biological family, but there you go.
I was also debating whether to include Valentina in the final chapter, finding out that Demitri hadn't killed her and instead turned her into a vampire, but I decided against it.
I won't be writing anything until after June because of GCSEs, but after then , who knows.
Thank you so much for reading, I'm really grateful, especially if you've enjoyed and kept up with the story throughout, it means a lot. I really appreciate all the follows, favourites and reviews I've recieved for this story, so thank you so much :)