"Well then, I'll see you around, Carlie." Rebekah said with a smile before walking in the other direction, boots clomping and hips swaying.
Renesmee watched her new acquaintance's silhouette grow fainter and fainter as she continued down the street. Once she rounded the corner, she released the breath that she had been keeping in all this time. Another one… She thought.
She quickly dove into the nearest bookshop and found a spot to sit in the Starbucks. She pulled out her worn sketchbook out of her bag and a pencil. Now more than ever was Renesmee thankful that she had watched her grandmother sketch all those hours. No more than fifteen minutes passed before Rebekah's face began to come to life on the paper.
Were her eyes red, golden, or a mixture of the shades? Renesmee thought. She remembered that she didn't smell any additional scents on Rebekah. But why? She seems like the type to thrive in a coven! She just brushed it off as being created recently enough that she hadn't formed any connections with others of her kind.
"Would you like anything to drink?" A barista came up to her table and asked.
"Oh," She was startled. "No- I'm good though. Thank you."
"No problem! Just let me know if you do!"
"I will."
After the girl left, Renesmee finished the rough outline and began to add details to her drawing. Rebekah was beautiful… In her fourteen years of life, Renesmee had never seen beauty that came close to rivaling her aunt Rosalie's. She knew that her aunt would also not be a fan of this new vampire, beautiful or not.
What will Grandpa say? He said that this town should be safe! Maybe he knows her, or at least knew her and could negotiate something with her! She began to add Rebekah's eyes and remembered their color.
The longer she worked on the drawing, the more she thought. What if she was just prematurely overreacting? Maybe Rebekah was too young to be considered a threat to their shared secret. No, that can't be. Her body language was just… off…
After adding the final touches of a highlight in Rebekah's eyes, the hybrid girl packed up her things and threw her bag over her left shoulder. She hoped that at least one of her family members was home when she got back, because they had to talk.
After adding the final touches of a highlight in Rebekah's eyes, the hybrid girl packed up her things and threw her bag over her left shoulder. She hoped that at least one of her family members was home when she got back, because they had to talk.
Rebekah pulled the lighter out of a drawer and lit various candles of the same scent around the house. She easily could've just had the lighter go off by itself and light the candle, but she preferred to do it manually. It brought back fond memories for her. After they were all lit, she tossed it back into the drawer and went into her room to get her stationary.
On her desk was a framed portrait from Cam and Katerina's most recent wedding. Recent. She snickered. More like 1988. She grabbed a thick piece of ivory colored paper, her quill and inkpot. Rebekah sat at the kitchen table and opened the inkpot. She dipped the quill in lightly and began to write.
My dear Candelaria,
I have located the Olympians, er- one of them. The hybrid. Renesmee. The interaction was short and sweet, just an introduction. Now I have a question; who the hell names their child Renesmee, and how the fuck do you pronounce that? Thank the good Lord that she goes by Carlie, though I'm sure that I'll be learning how to pronounce it eventually.
This girl definitely knows her stuff though. I could feel her coming onto me during our little chit-chat in the street today. Tell the Council to not underestimate her. No, the mission isn't compromised, I just have to be a little more careful moving into Stage 2.
All my love,
Regina Avalonia
Rebekah concluded the letter with her signature and placed the letter into its envelope. She stuck the fingertip of her forefinger into her mouth, gathering a little bit of venom, and used that to lubricate the wax seal and shut it. She placed it on her front porch, hoping that the winds would blow just right so that it would send the letter to its proper location.
She walked back into the house and flopped onto her couch. She picked up the coffee table book on her latest endeavor, Devandiré Dhampir and began to lightly flip through it and recalled her encounter that afternoon. Coming in contact with Renesmee had brought her the closest to a dhampir she had been in a very long time, and even then, she doubted it. That girl didn't look, nor act, like the traditional dhampir. She smelled more of a fragrant, floral human than she was a bloodthirsty monster of the night.
A memory from one of Candelaria's letters came to her mind. Her godmother had said that the Cullens had created one of those abominations almost fifteen years ago. From what she said, the people of the dimensions were shocked. She certainly was. Her initial reaction to hearing that news; kill the creature no matter what. None of them let her go through with it.
If we didn't depend on this girl and her family for survival, I probably would act the next time I saw her. She thought while skimming the page more. There was nothing in this book that she didn't already know.
She slammed the book shut and looked at the clock. It's not hunting time yet. She huffed in a bored manner and stood up. I guess that I could train… She placed the book in the spot where she was previously sitting and walked over to her fireplace. Rebekah twisted the golden apple tree sculpture that she had placed on the mantle and walked down the dimly-lit staircase, the wall shutting behind her.
While she descended the stairs, she stared at the pictures on the walls. There had to be at least a thousand memories tied to each and every one of them. Where they were living at the time; what notable incident went down there; the odd looks that they got from neighbors because of their trans-racial family. Rebekah bit back the venom welling in her eyes and pushed the portrait of her godparents aside. A key clanked onto the cement floor. She picked it up and shoved it into the door in front of her.
After a moment of jiggling, Rebekah pushed it open and inhaled the diverse scent of metal that hung in the air. With a raise of her hand, her thirteen daggers fell under her command instantly. They swirled around her, awaiting her command like directionless puppies.
Even though Rebekah had been doing this craft longer than she had been an undead being, she still didn't know where to start. One dagger turned to her, as if asking the same thing that she asked in her head.
"Why not start with target practice?" She asked.
"Renesmee, you're back early." Her father said when she walked through the side door. She avoided his gaze.
"Carlisle, I don't know enough to know that she's dangerous!" Alice's fruity voice rose in volume.
"Look harder." The hybrid heard an unusual coarseness in her grandfather's voice.
"Carlisle…" Her grandmother gently scolded. She could tell that Esme was rubbing her slender fingers against his palm in a soothing manner.
"All she knows is that she met Nessie while she was on her way to get some ice cream!"
"Who did she meet?" Rosalie asked.
"Some other vampire, Rose. I don't know her name or what she wants though." Alice protested as they floated out of Carlisle's office.
"Her name is Rebekah Perrington." She said once they settled around her like sharks at feeding time.
"An elegant name." Her grandmother murmured. "Did she act like a newborn?"
"The only indication that she is otherworldly were her red eyes. She was not physically uncomfortable about humans, and if she was, there was no indication."
"So she's probably more than seven years old then." Jasper said from the top of the stairs.
"And?"
"This "Rebekah" is not a threat as long as she doesn't hunt too many at a time. Do you know if she's with someone?"
"There was no other scent on her. Just leather, silk, denim and Gucci Bloom." She said. "Physically, she looked to be about sixteen and twenty. It checks out; she says that she's a junior." Renesmee swung her backpack around her side and pulled out the crumpled drawing.
"I managed to sketch her face before it left my mind completely. Rebekah's skin tone is a light-to-medium tan with golden to olive undertones."
Carlisle unfolded the paper that his granddaughter had handed him. When he saw the face that she had created, he nearly dropped the paper. The face of a girl he had not seen in a very long time stared back at him with a hard glare that he had only seen in her eyes.
"Carlisle?" His wife asked in a concerned tone.
"It's nothing." He replied through gritted teeth. "Ness, do you know if-"
"Yes." Carlisle nodded and began to form a plan in his head.
Edward began to read his father and sister's minds at the same time. For now, the plan was to either scare/intimidate the girl somehow, or have his daughter confront her straight from the start. As Carlisle came up with more and more possible solutions to their situation, the more rapidly the future changed for Alice, who was probably getting a seer's version of whiplash. He chuckled at Alice's widened eyes at one of Carlisle's more comical ideas.
"Carlisle!"
"We're not going to do that," He snickered. "Well- not yet at least. For now, let's just act like we haven't caught onto her, let Ness grow close to her. Who knows what she's capable of?"
Esme seemed to agree with these statements and added, "Maybe Rebekah is completely harmless and we're just radically overthinking things!"
~~..2 Days Later..~~
"First day of school; round seven." Rebekah said to herself as she dragged herself in from a long night of hunting. She had managed to rid a cave that was infested with Warlicis and fought off a large bear that was headed for some innocent campers' food.
"Let's do this…"
She set her trusty dagger in the spot right next to her car keys and trudged on to her fridge. She pulled out a bag of O Positive and a glass shot out from the open cabinet door and onto the kitchen island. She sliced it open with her diamond-hard teeth and poured out the thickened blood. Rebekah downed the entire thing within a few minutes without flinching. She held up a hand, a mirror instantly coming to her. She picked up the kitchen towel that she kept beside the sink and dabbed the corners of her mouth, ridding them of blood.
Rebekah walked out of the kitchen and into the bathroom where she hastily brushed her teeth, being extra cautious as to not swallow the artificial mint foam. She spit it out and rinsed out her mouth with water and examined her face in the mirror, looking for any potential scratches that the Warlicis might have left. They may be only six centimeters tall, but they have some damn good weapons… After finding no leftover evidence from Warlicis, she stripped off her clothing and popped into the shower. Rebekah was very excited to get the scent of those wretched creatures off of her.
She popped out a mere ten minutes later, wrapping a towel around her body and began styling her hair. To this day, she was still so glad that she had hacked off all that hair, leaving it just long enough to brush against the middle of her neck. Even though it was still very thick and tangled easily, her morning routine was significantly shorter and Rebekah knew that she would never yearn for its former length.
After blowing out her hair, Rebekah teased the roots in order to give it some of the fluff. If only I had cut it sooner- this hair would've looked amazing in the nineties. She finishes it off by covering her head in a coating of hairspray, the aerosol lingering around for a few moments after.
She then went to work on her makeup. Over the decades Rebekah had watched and learned how the humans applied their cosmetic products as the innovations and formulas changed. She found it to be fascinating when comparing it to the breakthroughs that some of the dimensions were making at the time. As she brushed out her brows, Rebekah recalled the time when her father absolutely refused to allow her to wear makeup. Not because he thought that she was putting on a mask, but because of the ingredients.
"My daughter will not be applying lead to her face!"
"But Dad!"
"I don't care if it doesn't affect us- you and your mother are not applying that shit to your face!"
As the number of toxic chemicals in makeup lessened, her father relaxed a little and Rebekah began to experiment. She watched girls at her school do their makeup in the bathroom because of similar rules that applied to her, and she copied from there. That was when the popular style of makeup was nude lips, bright and bold eyeshadow, and graphic liner. She was thankful that the style had evolved to be natural with dewy skin and glossy lips.
She worked a tiny amount of gripping primer into her rock-hard skin and dabbed some skin tint onto her neck, face and ears. She slathered on a concealer in order to hide the shadows under her eyes to no avail. When that was complete, she reached for her other face products in order to bring signs of humanity into her eternally unchanging face. Rebekah had not forgotten the time where she could blush and red would overtake her cheeks. Some days she longed for it while other days she didn't. As good she had gotten at mimicking it, it would never look natural. Once that step was done, she reached for her eyeshadow palette.
That needs to be blended more- the outer corner could use a little bit more depth. She thought while stamping the pigmented powders onto her eyelids. Humans who wear the stuff will never know what it used to be… She snickered.
Rebekah reached for her liquid liner pen and drew on two very-near-symmetrical wings. It would probably take her another lifetime to master the art of the cat-eye. She opened her mascara tube with so much force that she nearly broke the wand. Rebekah began applying it, knowing that even immortals were not safe from "ugly mascara face". She put the cap back on more gently and moved onto her brows.
So happy that I got more of Mom's features and less of Dad's- his brows were terrible! Rebekah continued brushing out her brows until she got her desired look. She hastily lined her lips with a pinky-nude lip liner and topped off the look with a shiny, glass-like gloss.
Rebekah retrieved her phone off the charger and realized that if she didn't hurry, she was going to be late. She hastily threw on the ensemble she had picked out last night after patrol, grabbed her things that were sitting by the door and ran out to the car.
"Okay, you've got this." Renesmee whispered to herself as she looked at the doors in front of her. "The gymnasium is where the freshmen are supposed to go. But where's the gymnasium?"
"Hey," Another female voice said from behind her. She had two other girls with her. "Are you lost?"
"Completely." She admitted.
"It's totally fine! We are too. What's your name?"
"I'm Carlie Cullen, probably have heard of me by now."
"The cousin of the doctor's wife, right?" She nodded.
"It's nice to meet you, Carlie. I'm Taylor Rydel, and this is Nicki Spearman and Elle Mitchell."
Renesmee surveyed the group of four. Going off of purely first impressions, they seemed to be nice, average girls. They certainly didn't stick out unlike someone she knew. Taylor had a pale complexion that was littered with freckles, deep blue eyes and light brown hair and was dressed in a casual floral sundress with gladiator sandals. Nicki had a flawless medium-dark complexion, hazel eyes and dark, kinky hair that was styled in cornrows. She was dressed in black jeans and a band t-shirt with soft boots and carried something in a case. Elle had skin the color of milk chocolate, brown eyes and dark hair that was styled in a similar way to Esme's. She wore stylish rose gold cat-eye glasses with a pleated tennis skirt, t-shirt and Air Force 1s.
"Elle, your last name should've been Woods." Renesmee chuckled.
"Legally Blonde is one of my favorite movies, so I would've liked that." Elle replied in a high, fruity voice that had hints of a Southern accent.
"Anyway, does anyone know where we're supposed to go?" Nicki asked as she held the door open for the rest of them.
"We go to the gym, but where's the gym?"
"Does anyone have a map?"
"Not me." Elle and Taylor replied with the same thing.
"Guess we're just going to have to find it ourselves…"
Renesmee blinked and inhaled the leftover scent of multiple feet walking throught the entryway. Even though her hearing wasn't as perfect as the rest of her family's, it was still better than the average human's. She surveyed the surrounding rooms for any signs of other people. After a few moments, she began to hear sounds of chattering voices.
"I think the gym's this way." She said, pointing right. "Down this hallway."
Taylor pulled open the door and they entered into the extremely crowded gym. Renesmee suddenly began to feel overwhelmed by all of the different aromas of the student body's blood. She considered booking it back outside, but didn't for fear of strange looks from her classmates. She looked high and low for the acquaintance she met on the street the other day.
"Carlie, we found a spot!" Taylor called to her.
"Coming!"
The group of four settled into an end spot near the door. While her newfound acquaintances chatted amongst themselves, talking about the latest trends and their crush, Renesmee searched for Rebekah. There was only one high school in this tiny town, so she couldn't have gone anywhere else…
Then the scent hit her. It was smokey and seductive, but at the same time light and innocent. She turned and saw the dark-haired girl sitting alone at the other side of the gym. From what she could see, Rebekah looked to be reading. Renesmee turned back to the three other girls, who were looking in the same direction as she was.
"That's Rebekah Perrington," Nicki said. "She lives a few houses down from me. Really polite, but very mysterious."
"I ran into her on the street the other day, what's her deal?" At this point, she would be taking any form of suggestions to help.
"Elle and Nicki think she's a witch."
"Because she is!" Elle whisper-shouted.
"What makes you think that?"
"Well I don't want to assume anything, but she just gives off the vibes." Nicki continued. "My mom and I went to her house to give her some guidelines about the town, and she's got all these symbols and what-look-to-be spell books all over her house."
"Has she cast any curses on you?" Taylor asked jokingly.
"Not yet, but it wouldn't be surprising if she could cause an earthquake. I saw her lift up the coffee table like it was a paperweight while searching for something; she's really strong."
"Huh." Renesmee replied. "Do you know what she eats?"
"Rebekah said that she's on a special diet, which surprised me and my mom because she doesn't seem like the type to be vegan, pescatarian or any other kind of diet."
That was the last nail in the coffin for Renesmee. Yep, she's a vampire…
AN: Do I acknowledge that the makeup application scene was overly excessive and prolonged? Yes. Do I also want to include one very descriptive makeup scene, and make the others more swift? Also yes. Makeup scenes will be kept short from now on.
Thank you for reading. Please leave a review or follow if you would like!
Sorry for not updating in a while- been busy with finals.