A/N: sorry for how long this took to update. The Holidays are a hectic time for my family and i'm also looking for a full time job right now so theres that as well. I hope you enjoy this chapter. Its kind of al over this place but tbh i kind of like it/
Kates POV
I stared at my ragged older sister as she stood in the doorway to our living room. My mind was running a million miles a minute as I studied my sister. Her hair was longer than it used to be. The blonde in her hair was almost brown from dirt, the ringlets coated in mud. Her normally perfect face looked very sullen.
She looked exhausted while we all stared at her from our positions around the living room. I saw a small shuffle out of the corner of my eye and saw Grace take a step back as Tanya on my other side jumped into our sisters arms and tackled her on to the ground screaming her name.
"IRINA!" Tanya screamed pulling Irina to a sitting position and held her close to her chest. I quickly joined the two blondes on the ground and pulled both Irina and Tanya in my arms. We spent about an hour sobbing into each other.
I couldn't believe this. Irina had been gone for so many years I thought she had died. Irina buried her head into my neck and inhaled deeply. The tickling from her curls made me relax into her more. I then sniffed her hair and pulled back, wrinkling my nose slightly.
"Rina I love you and you don't understand how much I missed you but you reek." I muttered into the dirty blonde hair under my face. This pulled a laugh out of my "older sister" as she pulled back from our arms. I stared into her eyes then noticed the small amount of red left in them and gasped. "Ree! Your eyes!"
She tore her face away from Tanyas hand and squeezed her eyes shut at the mention of the red. She took a large unneeded breath in.
"It wasn't my choice… I hate myself every day for it… I know I smell bad… I need to shower." She laughed looking up at us with a small smile on her face. We both nodded at this with small smirks on our faces.
"Upstairs first door on the right. You can borrow some of Grace's clothes. Her clothes are on the right side of the closet." Irina raised an eyebrow at me unsure of who Grace was but nodded anyways.
"Thanks Katie. Can I ask-"
"Grace is my mate. She's standing" I turned to point her out but she wasn't there. I groaned and slapped my head. "She was in here but doesn't do well with new people. It seems like Carmen, Eleazar and Grace left to give us space with you."
"Thanks Kate. I'll run up and take a shower now." She ran up the stairs and we quickly heard the water being turned on. Grace wandered back into the living room with her hands shoved into her jean pockets.
"Sorry I ran out… I wanted to give you three space." Tanya laughed as she ran her hand through her hair. I smiled and sat on the couch pulling Grace down on to my lap kissing her temple, Tanya sitting beside us with a small smile on her face.
"Rina is back. She's alive. I thought she died…" I nodded leaning my chin on Grace's shoulder as she buried back into my arms as Carmen and Eleazar wandered back into the room and settled down on the loveseat.
"So, Irina is back… our coven is whole again…" I felt Grace laugh against my chest. "How are we going to tell the Cullen's?" Carmen asked probably thinking out loud. "I mean we can't really just bring her over because they didn't know she was just missing… they thought she died." She continued her musing until Irina came back down the stairs.
The Hispanic woman jumped into the blonde's arms and held her close. Irina smiled and melted into the dark-haired woman. Carmen really felt like a step-in maternal figure to us. I watched as Irina looked at her the at Eleazar who just smiled and kissed her temple.
"It's nice to have you back Rina." The Spanish man said sitting beside his wife on the armchair again. Grace just buried herself farther into my lap hoping to blend into my lap. I laughed placing my chin on her shoulder looking over at my sister who stared a me and the raven-haired girl on my lap.
"Hi. I'm Irina." I felt a small giggle come from Grace on my lap.
"I'm Grace… I've heard all about you from Kat." I laughed at the raised eyebrow from Irina as the nickname from Grace that as Irina thinks I hate.
"Only Gracie can call me that Rina. Don't even think about it." I warned Irina who just laughed at the same time as Grace. I closed my eyes and laid my forehead against her shoulder blade.
"And only Kat can call me Gracie." Grace piped up from my lap pulling a small chuckle out of Tanya. She had learned that the hard way when she called her Gracie by accident and had to deal with the silent treatment from Grace for 4 months. Tanya swiped her hand on her forehead then hitting Grace with the back of her hand lightly which pulled a laugh from the 3 of us.
Irina watched the three of us interact with a look in her eye I couldn't quite decipher. She caught my eye and gave me a small smile and looked away looking around the house. There were pictures all over the house of the family. The main photo on top of the mantle was of Carmen, Eleazar, Tanya, Irina and myself. I was standing next to a chair that held both the Hispanics, Carmen on Eleazar's lap, Tanya on the other side, Irina standing behind the chair.
Irina stood up and walked towards the family portrait. She tilted her head as she looked at the pictures on the mantle, none of which contained Grace. Her eyes flitted towards Grace then back at all the pictures. Her hand traced one of the three of us sisters.
"Why is there no pictures of Grace?" She asked quietly still facing away from us. Grace sighed looking down at her hands in her lap, I snaked my hands around her waist and rubbed the knuckles on her hand.
"I didn't want the Cullens to know I was part of this family so the only pictures of me are up in mine and Kates room." She said after taking a huge deep breath. "Esme was my step mom when we were human and she didn't know I was alive until September. My father was very abusive and I was scared she wouldn't want me around because I reminded her of him to much."
Tanya's eyes were trained on Grace's face as she told our sister the story. I nuzzle my nose into her black hair keeping her grounded. She was never this open with anyone. It took her months to be this open with me, and I was her mate. She wasn't even turning warm and her hair kept cool. Tanya couldn't stop staring at the young girl until Carmen coughed so her eyes shifted to the Hispanic.
I felt Grace shift forward and pull her sweater off. This action alone drew a huge smile across my face which Grace pulled an eyebrow at when she turned to throw the sweater across the back of the couch. I could see the question in her small smile and behind her eyes.
"You haven't worn short sleeves since the Derek incident." I pointed out as Grace ducked her head, unconsciously covering her arm with her hand. Irina turned to look at us confused. "Don't be ashamed G. We won't stare."
"What happened? Who's Derek?" I heard in a quiet voice come from Irina who looked unsure if she should ask those questions. Tanya and I both shot glances at Grace to see how she would react but instead of her flaming hair going up or her ice picks forming in her hands she gave a small smile to Irina letting her know it was okay for her to ask.
"Derek created me… he saved me from 2 things. 1 being drained by a nomad vampire and 2 dying painfully and slowly from my father beating me." Her hands started to frost over at the mention of her father, I rubbed her arms nuzzling my nose into her neck to calm her down. "As to what happened, Derek tried to attack me and managed to get me tackled with 3 bites on my arm before mom got him off of me."
Irina's POV
I couldn't believe my ears at what Derek had done to Grace. What had caused him to attack her? What drew me so much to this girl? Why had her hands started to look frosty? I heard a smack and was quickly pulled out of my thoughts and turned to look at Kate who was pouting at Grace who looked angry as Tanya smirked to her side.
"Stop picking on T!" Grace said with a raised eyebrow. I shook my head confused as hell and turned to look at Carmen and Eleazar who looked just as confused as me.
"What just happened girls?" Eleazar asked standing to pull Grace up off Kates lap with a stern look on his face. "Grace you do not have a right to smack Kate like that. Even if she annoyed you." Grace pouted looking down at the ground crossing her arms over her chest. Kate smirked puffing her chest out at her girlfriend with pride.
"Kate muttered a rude comment about Tanya being protective of me when my hands frosted." Grace stated looking up at the Hispanic man in front of her. "Then she zapped me when I turned to look at her and held me still."
"You still don't smack people Grace." Eleazar started.
"But Kate-" Grace interrupted the man mid sentence.
"I'm not talking about Kate right now. You are not to hit other people. You are to young to be trying to fight me on this Grace. I want you upstairs in your room now." Graces mouth gaped opened staring at the man. "I said now Grace Denali." Grace whipped around and stomped towards the stairs. "Drop the attitude young lady. I will not tolerate it."
"You. Are. Not. My. Father." Grace said quietly turning slowly to look at Eleazar with a icy cold glare. "I'm leaving." She turned to look at Kate who looked shocked at the situation. When Kate didn't try and defend the raven haired girl or try and stop her Grace's face dropped. Ice flew out of her hands as she clenched her fists closed. She ripped something off her wrist and chucked on the ground and stormed off.
Kate quickly composed herself and ran off after the younger girl. I turned to look at Tanya who noticed me turn and looked at me.
"Did- did she just shoot ice out of her hands?" I asked glancing over at the little puddles on the ground where the bracelet sat. Tanya nodded wordlessly as she stepped over and picked up the leather bracelet. "What just happened?"
"Grace has a lot of things she needs to get help with and she struggles getting over her past. She feels like shes not part of this coven and when Kate didn't immediately defend her after making a comment about how I shouldn't be so protective of her. She took it that shes not part of the coven so it doesn't matter." Tanya sat back on the couch, I sat beside her glancing over at the Hispanics who were sat on the love seat.
"E she didn't mean it. Shes frustrated and you know she doesn't take to being parented by men very well especially when she gets pushed around." Carmen said towards Eleazar who just nodded rubbing his face in his hands.
"I messed up. I shouldn't have pulled her up like that." Eleazar stated in a small voice as someone stepped in the door quickly followed by someone else. All our heads whipped to the door to see Grace and Kate standing at the door, Kate's arm around Grace's waist looking at the small girl. Graces gaze at the floor as she wrung her hands.
"No E… I shouldn't have reacted like that…" Grace said looking over at the man. They made eye contacted and Grace bolted into his arms as he rubbed her back. "I just… I got angry and I didn't mean it."
Tanya stood beside them and she clasped the bracelet back around Grace's wrist. The black haired girl looked up and gave a small smile to the blonde coven leader.
"You are part of this coven Grace. Even if you and Kate hadn't been mated, you still mean the world to all of us. Even Rina and you've literally just met. You are my little sister and we all know Carmen and Eleazar see you much like their child. You can't just up and run away from us. Youre stuck kid." Grace laughed at the older woman in front of her.
"We all love you a lot G and you aren't allowed to just run away anymore." Carmen said to the small girl as we all piled in on her and created a group hug.