PANCRAZIO
I held onto Bella's hand as we descended the stairs onto the ground floor of the house. It was nice to hold her hand, the only vampire who had ever shown me anything close to affection was my father's wife. She had never hugged, kissed me or shown me physical affection but she would tell me stories about her life and would say goodnight to me every night. Sulpicia is the only one of my so called family I would miss, I was glad she hadn't accompanied us to America. I suspect her death would have hurt my feelings.
Bella and I reached the kitchen. It was peculiar to be living in a house. Living under Volterra was drastically different. I had my own wing of the stone underground mansion. The place was always cold and eerie. Living in a mansion above ground, with soft beds and actual walls with paint and wallpaper on was something new. Walking into the bright kitchen, I noticed most of the Cullen's all surrounding the island counter in the centre, they were talking and laughing. I suddenly felt like I didn't belong, I had felt that a lot since I've been here.
"Good morning Pancrazio," The eldest female vampire told me.
"Good morning ma'am," I said politely to her. She giggled.
"Oh dear, you can call me Esme. Grandma if you really wish. You don't need to be so polite to us, it's our pleasure to have you here," she said with the warmest smile I've seen. I smiled back at her and I felt Bella squeeze my hand slightly.
"Thank you Esme," I said quietly. I never used to be shy. Not really, being Aro's son I was brought up to be a leader, he had taught me that I was in charge; I was the superior, but being with my father's enemies, living in their home had my confidence recoiling. I felt like I shouldn't be here. I wanted so much to have a chance at being a child. The Cullen's have offered me that, everything I wanted but I felt like I needed to watch my back. My father had done so much to this family, hurt their children, and had them living in fear, all because they wouldn't join him. Why were they so easy to forgive me? I was my father's son, I just couldn't understand it. Why were they being so kind to me? Bella led me over to the island and offered me a seat. I sat down and placed my hands in my lap.
"Okay, we have pancakes, waffles, cereal, pop tarts, eggs, bacon, toast, bagels, French toast, muffins, pastries, fruit and yogurt. And to drink we have fruit juice, water, coffee, tea, hot chocolate and milk. Or when in doubt. Blood." Esme said to me. I looked down at the table full of food. Renesmee and her mate were already taking food and placing it on their plate. I copied them and reached for a plate, placing it in front of me on the table; I watched what they were doing and copied them. Bella chuckled slightly next to me.
"Here…" she said taking a few things from the table. "You put the food on the plate and use the knife and fork to eat the food with. You could just use your hands though, it's much easier," she said winking at me, I smiled and watched her reach for some food. "Take what you think you might want and put it on the plate, pick your drink and then you eat," she said.
"Try these, these are eggs, they're Renesmee's favourite."
"Who made the eggs?" Renesmee asked stuffing what I assumed was a pancake in her mouth.
"I did," Edward said to her from across the table.
"Yes!" she replied enthusiastically then she turned to me. "You'll soon learn that you won't like much human food. It is bland and boring; however human food cooked by my grandmother is manageable. As a vampire that doesn't eat she sure knows how to cook and eggs made by my dad are the best thing ever." She grinned at me helping herself to more of the food. I smiled at her.
"None of it seems very appetising, don't you drink blood?" I asked her watching her put some eggs into her mouth.
"I do. But human food is much more convenient to eat sometimes. I go to school so I can't hunt everyday to satisfy my hunger." She said. I nodded then turned to Bella.
"Are you going to make me go into the human education system too?" I asked her almost horrified. She shook her head.
"No, you don t have to go to school if you don't want to." She assured me.
"Being around that many humans at the moment won't be very safe at the moment anyway. You're still craving human blood. When you can control yourself completely and when you can interact with humans the way you do with vampires we will consider it. That's of course if you want to, it's not up to us, we're not your parents," Edward said to me. I felt an odd feeling inside of me, some part of me wished so much that Edward and Bella were my parents. Aro had taken my childhood away from me too early. I had only been here twelve hours but I saw how Chantelle and Renesmee were treated, they were much older than me and they were still treated like children. I wondered if they knew how lucky they were. Chantelle had told me yesterday that being a child sucked. I didn't know if she purposely used the word 'sucked' in relation to the fact the family were vampires but the colloquialisms of this country were strange anyway. Something I'd have to get used to.
I watched Renesmee continue to eat her food, her mate had refilled his plate three times already.
"Here," Bella said using the knife and fork to take some of the egg she lifted the fork to my mouth and paused for me to open it; she grinned at me and nodded. I opened my mouth and she put the fork in my mouth for me to take the eggs. I started chewing the best I could, I had never actually chewed anything before. Renesmee was right though, it was bland and boring. I chewed it in my mouth, never having to use my back teeth before. When I thought the food was small enough I swallowed it.
"Well?" Bella asked.
"It was okay," I answered her. It wasn't as bad as I thought it was but I still preferred blood.
"Good morning," I heard from behind me. I span around to see Chantelle walk into the room. I smiled at her.
"Hello," I said and she looked at me and smiled.
"Hey! They treating you like a kid yet?" she asked and came to sit next to me.
"We can hear you Chanti," the biggest vampire said.
"I know you can dad, that's the point," she said to him with a smile. I looked at them and didn't see any resemblance.
"He is your father?" I asked confused. She turned to me and nodded.
"Emmett and Rosalie adopted me. They're not my birth parents. Your father killed my birth father," she said dismissively like she didn't mind that my father had killed hers.
"I'm sorry," I said to her. She shook her head.
"It's fine. I never knew my birth father. I only met him once." She said taking some food and placing it on her plate. "Emmett will always be my dad. No one else," she said happily.
"What happened to your mother?" I asked her.
"She died. Like yours." She said with sympathy in her voice.
"Oh," I was all I said, I didn't know what to say. I never knew my birth mother; my father had kept her prisoner whilst she was pregnant with me. My father had never told me this but I had asked one of the guard members late one night. They had told me what happened with my mother. Aro handpicked her for her beauty and personality; he had watched her for weeks, taken her one night and raped her. Kept her prisoner for weeks until I was born. Left her screaming and hungry in the prison of our home as I destroyed her from the inside. I looked over to Bella and then to Renesmee, I wonder what it was like with them.
"Renesmee knew what she was doing to Bella, she tried her best not to hurt her," Edward said to me and walked over to Bella who was sitting next to me. Bella stood up for Edward to sit down in her place. She perched on his lap and he turned to look at me.
"You shouldn't blame yourself for what happened to your mother," Edward said to me. I saw most people looking at me. Chantelle reached for my hand on my lap and took it in hers. I relished in her touch, feeling comforted. "It wasn't your fault. It was your father. Your mother should have been treated better than that and I'm sorry that he was so cruel, I couldn't imagine what she went through," he said to me.
"But If Renesmee knew what she was doing to Bella why didn't I?" I asked.
"You might of. I can't remember much from being inside my mom. It's really blurry, but my parents assured me I loved my mom, I'm pretty sure you did too."
"I'm pretty sure she didn't love me though," I answered sadly.
"You don't know that," Bella said. I shrugged, not wanting to talk about it anymore.
"Good morning, good morning, to you and you and you," I heard Eddie sing from behind me. A few people laughed.
"You seem jolly," Chantelle said to him.
"I am," he grinned and pulled his mate into his side. She laughed and playfully slapped his chest as she walked away from him and sat down next to Renesmee at the table. I watched the human collect her food, my throat burning slightly. I had smelt her scent all around the house, and controlled myself. Although I was only a few years old I was only half a vampire. It wasn't that hard to stop from killing people. At least I hoped it wouldn't be too hard. Edward patted my leg reassuringly.
"You'll get used to it," he said to me.
"Get used to what?" Eddie asked.
"Probably the cravings from your girlfriends blood," Emmett grinned. Eddie looked at me accusingly and was in between his mate and me in a second.
"I would never hurt her," I tried to assure him. I felt Chantelle squeeze my hand. I had almost forgotten I was gripping it so tightly.
"If you lay one hand on her I won't hesitate to rip you to shreds," he threatened.
"Eddie!" Bella scolded her son.
"I'm not kidding," he said back.
"I will not harm her. Nor will I try to stop you if I do." I said to him. I wanted to gain his trust; I was already worried enough they hated me for who I was.
"Pancrazio if we hated you we would have destroyed you along with your father. You don't need to worry about that," Edward reassured me. I looked up at him and smiled sheepishly.
There was suddenly a burst of sound, it was singing but it wasn't coming out of anyone's mouth. Chantelle dropped my hand and went into her pocket, pulling out an electronic device. She put it to her ear and spoke.
"Hello," she said.
"Hey babe, can I come over?" the device said.
"Sure, Chloe's here though, give us like an hour?"
"Sure, see you soon," the device said and Chantelle pulled it away from her ear and put it on the table.
"Alex is coming over," she said this time to those in the room.
"We heard," Eddie said just as a ringing noise started going off, it wasn't like the device Chantelle had.
"I'll get it," Bella said and stood up and walked over to one of the counters and putting another device to her ear. She began talking into it.
"What…?" I began but was interrupted by Edward.
"They're called phones. It's a way of communication."
"Oh," I muttered looking at Bella talk into the phone. She seemed happy at whatever she was hearing.
"You don't know what a phone is?" Chantelle asked me completely shocked. I shook my head.
"My father didn't approve of technology," I answered her.
"Does that mean you've never played any video games?" Emmett asked me. I shook my head, confused as to what he meant.
"What is a video game?" I asked, he boomed a laugh.
"Oh kid. We have a lot to teach you. You done with your breakfast?" he asked, I looked down at my still full plate and nodded.
"Thank you for all your hard work Esme but I think it's going to take me a while to get used to the human diet," I said to Esme as politely as I could.
"Don't worry, I understand. Go have fun," she smiled at me. Emmett stood up and walked over to me.
"Come on! I have lots to teach you," he said. I jumped off the chair and followed him into the room that was full of couches and seats. He walked over to the electronic device on the wall.
"What's that?" I asked.
"A TV," he answered.
"We've come to play," Edward said from the door, I spun around to see Renesmee's mate and the other tall blonde vampire male.
"Awesome!" Emmett boomed as he switched the various devices on. "Where is Eddie boy?"
"He's taking Chloe out." Edward said and sat down on one of the couches; he caught my eye and patted the cushion next to him. I walked over and sat down.
"Oh right, yeah forgot the newborn is coming over," he muttered, he seemed angry.
"Emmett, you've got to deal with the fact your daughter has a boyfriend," the tall blonde said.
"You don't know what it's like," Emmett said to him sitting down with what seemed like a controller in his hand. The tall blonde male's face twisted in sadness. "Oh man. I'm sorry," Emmett said apologetically.
"It's alright. You're right I don't," the room went quiet for a little bit after that before Edward whispered to me.
"That's Jasper by the way. And the one you keep calling Renesmee's mate is Jacob."
I turned to him and nodded.
Thanks. I remembered my father telling me that Edward was a telepath.
I spent the remainder of the morning and most of the afternoon in the room with the TV and my new family. I have to admit I loved it. Just being there with them and playing video games was fun. Emmett had me laughing most of the time, he hated that after an hour I started to beat him on the simulation. We were racing cars and I always seemed to come first or second, the others weren't so consistent. It was the most fun I've ever had in my life, and it was the first time that I ever felt like a child.
