Thirty-Eight

Renesmee's heart was still pounding. She and Alice had followed Rosalie up to the room she and Emmett shared in the Cullen house, watching as she gingerly took the steps slowly. Too slowly for a vampire; moving more carefully than Renesmee had ever seen from her more fiery Aunt Rosalie.

"Rose?" Alice had questioned, her voice hushed, even though Renesmee was close enough to hear.

Rosalie was still gripping her side, where Jacob's claws had slashed three wide gashes through her skin. The blouse that she had been wearing was shredded at the side, and the once lovely fabric hung from her shoulder loosely on one side.

"Alice, I'm fine." It was less of a statement, and more of a command. Rosalie's tone, immediately causing Alice to back off.

Esme and Carlisle had both been inside the house during Jacob's attack, and had only come out after Emmett, Jasper, and Alec had dragged him away.

Dragged away, Renesmee thought, on her orders. Both of her uncles knew how close she had always been to Jacob. How entrenched he was with the whole family. She bit her lip. Trying to make peace with her decision.

"Ness?" Rosalie asked, holding out her hand to Renesmee. "Will you stay with me? Help me get changed?"

Renesmee smiled, feeling delighted to be needed and wanted. Alice stayed behind on the landing of the stairs as Rosalie and Renesmee continued up, hand in hand. Outside the window, Renesmee could see the dark shapes of her uncles, Emmett and Jasper, reappear onto the lawn, with Alec, slowly coming up behind them. She wondered, briefly, where Jacob was now, and if any of the male vampires in her family had hurt him, but when Rosalie winched, taking the final stair up to the third floor, Renesmee refocused her attention back onto her aunt.

"Are you bleeding?" She asked as Rosalie stepped into the bedroom that she shared with Emmett.

"No. No blood, sweet girl."

Rosalie pulled off her shirt. It had once been a light heather grey, the material silky and shiny to the touch, but now it was slashed and darkened to the color of mud. Renesmee could see the three long slash marks healing to a shimmery white against Rosalie's creamy skin. She felt a phantom pain against her own ribs, even though she had been untouched.

Downstairs, Renesmee could suddenly hear the voices of her parents. No doubt her father had heard the commotion from the billowing of the thoughts of the rest of the Cullen's as the mayhem occurred. Her father was calm, yet stern, while her mother was loud and insistent. Rosalie had stripped down to her bra and underwear and Renesmee watched her grimace—not from pain this time, but from the thought of her overbearing parents swooping in to the sanctuary of Rosalie and Emmett's bedroom.

Renesmee was sympathetic. "They're going to come up here."

Rosalie pulled a maroon cashmere sweater from one of the bureau draws and tugged it over her head. It was oversized, probably Emmett's, and it fell down to her knees. She crossed her arms comfortingly around her body. "They won't," she reassured her niece.

Renesmee watched as Rosalie tapped her index finger against the side of her head, indicating that she had telepathically communicated to her father that both she, and Renesmee were fine. "Well," she reasoned, after Renesmee sent her a dubious look, "Your mom might come up, but not Edward."

Like clockwork, the commotion downstairs quieted. Renesmee could no longer hear her parents, or any other member of their family.

"Are you sure you're alright?"

"Yes," Rosalie said, as she pulled back to the covers of the bed, and settled inside. She gestured for Renesmee to follow her into the bed and cuddle. "I was more worried about you, sweet girl." Brushing Renesmee's hair aside, she placed a delicate kiss on her niece's brow. "I could see that Jacob was about to turn. I wanted to protect you. Make sure you were safe."

"I remember," Renesmee confided. But in a way, she wasn't sure. She had seen Jacob snarl in anger at her uncles. She had heard him tell her to get back. But she had stepped forward anyway. She had caused this. All of this.

Renesmee gripped onto her aunt tighter. "I know, sweet girl," Rosalie soothed. "I wish you hadn't seen that."

"Why did he do that?" Truthfully, the image of Jacob hurtling her aunt away against the tree burned in her mind. It didn't matter if her eyes were open or closed, she still saw it. She still felt the sinking of her stomach, as if she had gotten the wind knocked out of her.

"He was angry," Rosalie reasoned.

Sighing, Renesmee added, "Dad told him that we were going to go to Canada."

Rosalie stroked her niece's arm. "You know Emmett and I are going to go back to New York for a little while." Renesmee lifted her head. Rosalie continued, insistent, "Just for a little while. We'll be with the family again in no time."

Renesmee searched her mind. "You want to see your family?" Rosalie had spoken a few times about the great-grandniece that she had, a direct descendent from one of her younger brothers, who bore a striking resemblance to Rosalie herself.

"I just want to check in," Rosalie explained. "Just make sure everything is alright. I want to create a scholarship fund in the area, something that she, and maybe a few other students, can use to help them go to college." Stroking Renesmee's hair she added, "I want her to have everything she wants in this world. I don't want her to regret anything."

They could hear loud clomping coming up the stairs. Still pressed as she was against her aunt's side, Renesmee could fell her aunt's giddy laughter as Emmett came into the room. As a vampire, Emmett could be the stealthiest of all of them, but in the comfort of his own home he liked to make the most ruckus as possible.

Emmett was lighthearted, as he usually was, despite the somber events of the night. When he entered the bedroom, Renesmee watched him give her a cheeky smile and a playful wink, before crossing the room to be at Rosalie's side. He planted a provocative kiss on Rosalie's cheek.

"Always up to mischief, wifey," he said, playfully.

Rosalie gave him a sly, secretive, smile. "Always."

Renesmee always felt jealousy when she watched her aunt and uncle interact. There was such a lightness to their relationship; a steady ease. Something she had never seen with her parents. Bella, her mother, always seemed to be on edge, and her father, Edward, always seemed frayed. They both shared a kind of hypervigilance on Renesmee and her behavior that made Ness' teeth grind at times. Rosalie, was intense, and Emmett was lighthearted, but their personalities echoed and enhanced each other. An intimate complimate. Something that she had hoped, for a while now, that she and Jacob might one day share.

"Are my parents mad?" Renesmee asked.

Emmett looked away from Rosalie, breaking their stare. Shrugging, he confessed, "Maybe a little."

"He means 'a lot,'" Rosalie noted, "When he says 'a little.'"

Renesmee grimaced, pushing herself up from the bed. She could remember just a few short weeks ago, on her birthday, when she and Emmett had danced in her room while listening to the new Taylor Swift CD, and Rosalie laughed and cheered them on from the bed. Where those days really so far behind her? Her illness had changed everything. She had thought, only briefly, since her recovery, that she had almost died, a notion that felt strange and unusual to her. In a way, the illness had taken what little remained of her childhood, and she had woken up as a completely new person. Her mother would call her 'a woman,' but to Renesmee that title sounded so forced and unreal. She was still herself, yet she knew she could never be that same girl who had come home from school that night a week ago forever.

"I should probably go," Ness reasoned. "Mom's probably just freaking out."

Emmett said, "Carlisle wanted you to check in with him before you head back to the cottage."

Renesmee rolled her eyes. "Another examination. Or he wants to take more blood."

"Will you come back to see me later?" Rosalie asked, reaching out to grasp her niece's hand.

Renesmee squeezed her hand back. "Are you sure you're going to be okay?"

Emmett tightened his arm around her.

Rosalie said, "Yes, sweet girl. Thank you for coming up with me."

Reluctantly, Renesmee left them. Taking each of the stairs back down to the first level where Carlisle's office was at a slow bemused pace, taking as long as she possibly could to get from the third level of the house, to the second, and finally to the ground floor.

When she got down to the ground level, she was immediately struck by how loud the television was. Her grandmother Esme was standing, arms crossed, close to the screen, with Carlisle at her side. In the corner, she could see Alice whispering hurriedly to Jasper. Neither of them seemed to care who else was in the room. She couldn't see either of her parents, but Alec noticed her right away. Taking a step forward he said, "Hey," prompting Carlisle and Esme to turn toward her.

"What's going on?" Renesmee asked, curiously.

The television was tuned to national news network. Several photographs of a pregnant woman and a man that Renesmee presumed to be her husband flashed across the screen. The news anchor was saying, "We have a shocking update on the case of a missing Italian women that we first broke to you last week. The body of Isobel Bianchi was positively identified this morning. Viewers will recall that the pregnant Bianchi has been missing for the last four weeks. She was last seen by her husband Angelo Bianchi on August 5th, when she left for work. Bianchi was eight months pregnant at the time of her disappearance. Immediate suspicion fell on Angelo Bianchi shortly after he reported his wife missing. Despite what appeared to be an idyllic marriage, it has sense been revealed that Angelo had secretly racked up over a hundred thousand dollars in gambling debts and the couple's lavish Volterra apartment was about to go into foreclosure. Bianchi's remains were found floating in a cannel just outside the city. The remains of her child, a son, have not been found. Authorities have not commented on the cause of death as of yet."

Esme muted the television, and Carlisle approached her. "Do you have time for a quick exam before you head back home? I just want to take another blood sample."

Renesmee's eyes wandered over to Alec, he looked like he wanted to say something, but he was strangely quiet in front of her grandparents.

She nodded, "Sure, I have time." She had no idea how late it was, but she knew it had been dark for hours. At any other time, she would have been tired, but not tonight. Not after everything that happened.

Giving Alec a sympathetic look, Renesmee followed Carlisle into his office at the back of the house.

"Where's mom and dad?" She asked, as Carlisle closed the door behind them.

"Your mother was upset," Carlisle confided. "Edward took her back to the house."

Frowning she said, "Upset about me?"

Carlisle's smile was genuine. "It's been a difficult night for most of us. Remember she and Jacob have been friends for many years."

Renesmee watched as he riffled through his desk drawer for an empty syringe. Wanting to change the subject, she noted, "Sad about that pregnant girl." She remembered suddenly that Emily, Leah's cousin, was very pregnant. Renesmee had never seen anyone who was pregnant before, and earlier, at her grandfather, Charlie Swan's house, she had been captivated by the shape of the women's body. That is, until everything had happened with Jacob.

Carlisle fingered the syringe, while she rolled her sleeve up. "Tragic," he confirmed.

The needle plunged into her skin. "Did you know Emily is pregnant?"

"Emily?"

"Leah's cousin."

"Oh, Sam's wife. I did not know that she was expecting. What a delightful miracle."

"I've never seen someone pregnant in real life," Renesmee confessed. "Just in the movies."

Carlisle pulled the needle out of her arm. From the corner of her eye, Renesmee could see that the vial was filled with her own blood. "Any cravings today or changes in appetite?"

She shrugged. Unwilling to tell her grandfather that her first period had started. "I guess a little more hungry than usual."

"There's nothing wrong with that," he told her. She watched him cross the room to add this new blood sample to the shelf that housed all the others. He moved the wall painting aside, exposing the hidden safe that was built into the wall. After punching in his keycode, she could see the same lining of human blood bags. Renesmee swallowed thickly. It was not the craving that struck her, but rather the sudden draining of her strength. She felt faint, dizzy. Sweat broke out on her forehead. Licking her lips, she said. "Could I?"

Carlisle had already grabbed a bag to hand to her.

Renesmee removed the cap slowly, not wanting to give away her sudden desperation. Once she brought the plastic to her lips, she refused to gulp it, taking in slow measured swallows. As soon as the salty mixture hit her throat, she immediately felt stronger. Limbs lightened, and the fog of her mind cleared. It was cold, which she still didn't like, but the taste was so invigorating when it got into her throat that she couldn't stop.

There was still half left in the bag when she pushed it down from her face, clasping the cork shut.

"You can have more if you want it," Carlisle offered.

Wiping her mouth with the back of her hand, she said, "I'm good."

"Tell me what you felt before you drank the blood, and now after?"

She could see his analytical doctors mind whirling. "It's not the taste," in this, she wanted to be honest. "It's like I can feel myself getting stronger."

"Interesting. Would you say you felt weak before you drank the blood?"

"Not before. Only when I saw it. It's like seeing it, reminds me how much I need it."

Carlisle made notes in the file he was keeping on his desk. His penmanship was full of loops and long angles. As timeless as he appeared to be, sometimes.

"Is it okay if I go now?"

Carlisle paused his writing. "Of course, Ness." He reached out to her, squeezed her arm. "I'm sorry if you feel like a medical experiment."

Shrugging, Renesmee said, "There's no one like me, we have to take notes." It was an adage that the whole family had taken with her for many years. There were only a few Hybrid children in the world, or so they knew. Nahuel, who came to assist them when the Volturi was going to attack, and a handful of others, all created by the vampire Joham. Each child had been a strange science experiment, a means to an end, a hybrid army bent on destroying all others. Besides the story that Alec had told her about Aleksandru and his hybrid daughter Desislava, born centuries ago, there had been no record of any others.

Alec was waiting near the door the Carlisle's office when she came out.

"Hey," she said by way of greeting.

He raised a hand, offering her a simple wave. "Hey. I was hoping I'd get to see you again before you headed back."

She stood in silence, waiting for him to continue. When he didn't, she said, "Well, my parents are probably freaking out, so I should…"

"Oh right," he stood aside, letting her pass. "Can I walk back with you?"

She didn't see why not. "Sure."

He followed her to the backdoor, where she slid the screen door open into the blackness of the night. The chillness of the air hit her suddenly, and she crossed her arms around her chest. When she took a few steps down the porch, she noticed a plastic tub that had been left open on the lawn. From the light filtering down from the first-floor windows she could see that the plastic had been decorated with a plush black and silver fabric. It had the look of something her aunt Alice would make, and she wondered why. If it hadn't been so late, and if she didn't have Alec walking with her, she would search Alice out to ask about it.

Alec broke into the silence of her thoughts. "So, I wanted to make sure you weren't mad at me for earlier?"

"Earlier?"

"Yeah, when Jacob was here."

Renesmee didn't want to think about it, but suddenly, her mind was back to the moment when Jacob had thrown Rosalie against the tree. "Oh, yeah," she said simply.

"Is Rosalie, okay?"

"I think so, or at least she will be. It's hard to keep a vampire down."

Smirking, Alec went on. "True. Still coming up against a beast like that can't be easy, I remember…"

"What? What do you remember?"

"You were much younger. Maybe you don't remember… When the Volturi were here. When I was here."

Renesmee remembered. She could still recall the way she had clung to Jacob's fur while her parents brokered an uneasy peace with the Volturi. She had no memory of noticing Alec there, but she knew, that he would have appeared unchanged in her mind to the way he was now. "That was a long time ago," she offered. "People change."

"People and vampires," he joked, as they passed the last lighted stretches of the lawn and walked into the darkness of the forest.

They continued on in silence for a few footsteps. The cottage was slowly coming into view in front of the them. "Sad about the body of that pregnant women."

Alec raised an eyebrow. "Interesting that the killing was in Volterra."

Renesmee hadn't even realized that. She stopped walking, and Alec turned back to her. "Do you think Aro was involved in that?" She could still remember the feel of her hand against Aro's cheek, showing him the simplicity of her thoughts, as they were when she was younger. Showing him her own memories of being inside her mother's womb, and her own conception of birth. Aro's human birth had long been a mystery to him, and he had been grateful, at the time, for the insight.

"It's difficult to say," Alec explained. "Almost everything that happens in Volterra has Aro's fingerprints on it."

"She was just a human." Looking back at the photograph that the newscaster had splayed on the television Isobel Bianchi hadn't looked much older than her parents, or even much older than Renesmee looked now, and her name, so similar to her own mothers. "She was defenseless, vulnerable. I can't imagine what her husband is going through."

The image of Jacob's face splintered into her mind again. He had warned her to stay back, she had ignored him. Rosalie had been hurt because of her stubbornness.

"You're sad about Jacob, aren't you?"

Renesmee noticed for the first time that Alec's hands were in his pockets, with his chin slightly tucked in. He seemed nervous, somehow, awkward like a teenage boy her own age, not a vampire who had walked the earth for more than a millennium. "He's my friend," she argued. "My protector."

"Protector? What is he, like your bodyguard?"

Shrugging, Renesmee said, "Something like that." She bit her lip. "It's his imprinting thing."

"So, his obsession is one-sided? You don't feel the same?"

"I wouldn't call it obsession," she stressed. "He just has a protective streak that he can't ignore."

Alec didn't seem convinced. "I think it's way more than that. At least from my end."

Renesmee had often wondered what Jacob's deeper feelings for her were. She had never asked, and he had never offered his own set of truth. They had been at a stalemate for months. Playing a strange, slow game of chicken, each one waiting to for the other to make a move.

They had left the woods now, and the front door of her parents' cottage was just a few steps away. She could see the silhouette of her mother behind the curtains, no doubt, her father had heard Alec's thoughts and warned Bella that they were approaching.

"My mom is just right there," she pointed at the window, where the tiniest slit was spread by Bella's thin finger.

Alec nodded. "I was wondering if you wanted to hang out again?"

Renesmee blinked. "Hang out?"

"Yeah, do things together. I'm not going to lie—I'm not strong enough to go to the movies with a bunch of humans or anything like that, but maybe we could hang out here," he pointed at the cottage. "Or at the big house, or even, go for a walk in the woods."

She chuckled at little. Not at the prospect of spending more time with Alec, but at her parents' overreaction if she tried to explain that to them.

Alec looked taken aback.

"Sorry," she explained. "I'm not laughing at you. Just thinking about what my parents would say to that."

"What?" he argued. "I helped save your life. Surely they won't object to me taking their daughter for a walk?"

Renesmee raised her eyebrows. "You'd be surprised."

"Well, barring helicopter parents, aside. What do you think?"

A rustling from the bushes made Renesmee turn. Slowly, a calico cat, big bellied, pranced toward her. The cat sidled up to her, rubbing its head against her calf slowly. When it caught side of Alec it looked up and hissed.