The final chapter of Part 1! This hasn't been edited as much as I'd like, but knowing me, I'd hold it off for weeks before I like it. So, it's being posted now :)
Dearest Cousin
Why don't you ever respond anymore? I've needed answers to questions only you know, but not once have you contacted me back. Lucian, please, Reneesmee is sick. You said you wouldn't let her be hurt, you promised.
I think she's dying.
From, Bella
23rd December
All heads whipped to the side to see Lucian sitting in his seat calmly, watching them without worry. He smiled at them genially and took another gulp out of the cup in his hands.
" Oh my, they must be coming to congratulate you, Bella. For both your turning and the birth of darling Renesmee."
" Lucian, please, call them off." Bella turned to him with wide eyes, looking terrified at the news. She could swear that her heart was attempting to come to life once more, a strange throbbing feeling emanating from where it sat, still and cold. She stared at her cousin, pleading with him inside her mind.
" I was the one who told them. I already knew that they were coming." A pin-drop silence fell over the room, the Cullens stopping their usual attempts to appear human, and Lucian had never once thought about how much effort they put into those gestures. They stilled, sitting straight and alert, silent and watching like the predators they were. Even Renesmee turned, her eyes dilating, heartbeat sounding thunderous.
" What?" Carlisle's face clearly displayed his feelings of betrayal, his voice sounding as broken as something so perfect ever could, and it made something in Lucian soften slightly.
" It was the only way I could stop them from bringing the whole guard at the end of the year to exterminate your coven. I foresaw the future, and I didn't like it, so I did what I could to change it to something acceptable. If I hadn't, Irina would have died from telling the Volturi false information." He took in a deep breath. " I did this to protect you, all of you, my mates and the Volturi included."
" What has Irina got to do with this?" Carlisle sat forward slightly, wringing his hands, and Lucian watched with relief as the room seemed to come alive once more. Well, as much as it could, being filled with vampires as it was.
" Irina saw Renesmee when she was three months old. If I hadn't told the kings beforehand, the only information they would have had was from Irina's memories, who believes her to be an immortal child. Now they also have mine and are only coming here to confirm it with their own eyes. I promise you, they mean no harm, and if they did, I would help you to protect Renesmee to the best of my abilities." He looked to Bella, her amber eyes clashing with his eerily glowing green, and she sighed.
" I believe you, Luce. You...You better not betray that trust, this is my daughter we are talking about, your baby cousin."
" I know, Bella. I won't let anyone hurt her as long as I'm around to protect her. You have my word."
25th December
The Cullens, it seems, had decided not to trust him fully. They sent out word to some of the closer covens they are on friendly terms with, but only the Denali Coven responded, having heard that Irina was being escorted by the Volturi to the Cullens' house.
" This is madness! Irina, gone to the Volturi to betray you, a half-vampire child conceived by Edward and Bella, and a witch who is mated to not one, but all three of the Volturi Kings. Kings, who are coming here soon, possibly with the intent to kill you all!" Eleazar threw his hands up into the air, sending a scowl in Lucian's direction. He sat with Renesmee in his arms, cuddling her as she fiddled about with one of the many presents she had received. Lucian's lips twitched, and he hid his smirk in unusual bronze hair, not that it stopped Eleazar from seeing it.
At his movement, Renesmee looked up and gave him a dazzling smile. " Uncle." She uttered, reaching out a hand and placing it upon his cheek, filling his mind with emotions and fleeting visions.
" Hm, I don't know about that." Lucian grinned down at her teasingly.
" Don't know about what?" Bella had been a constant shadow for the past couple of days, seemingly suspicious that he'd run off and call up the Kings to tell them to attack if she left him alone, or perhaps kidnap Renesmee for the kings himself.
" Nothing~" He drawled, sticking out his tongue, delighting in the giggles it pulled from his baby cousin. Bella huffed but smiled down at her daughter with tenderness.
" Mr Swan, how can you be so relaxed knowing that your mates are coming to decide whether to kill your family or not, and you were the one who advised them to come or not?"
" Please, call me Lucian, I'm not into all of that title stuff. And, for the record, the Kings and their guard would have come anyway, probably more of them too, if I hadn't have intervened. You're welcome, by the way. It's not like I saved you all the hassle of getting together tens of witnesses or whatever!" He cupped a hand a called out, despite the fact that everyone in the house would have heard him even if he'd whispered.
" Thanks~" Alice's chirp came as she bounced through the door, Jasper hanging off of her arm with a strained expression on his face. As usual. " The Volturi are nearly here now, I just received a vision. Caius has made a decision to stop off and get you some flowers, Luce."
" Aww, how sweet. I hope they're something useful." Such as sunflowers, or roses. He was running low on the petals of both, them being more expensive now that they were out of season. He hummed in thought before his attention was once again gained by the girl on his lap.
27th December
The Volturi's dreaded arrival came sooner than they had been expecting, although right on time for Lucian's planning. Hopefully, he would be back in Volterra by New Years' day, ready to start his new life. He wasn't quite sure how his disappearance would be explained away, but he had a few ideas on how to trick the world into believing he was dead. That, however, was a last resort. He wanted to keep in contact with Charlie for at least a few more years, fearing what the man's reaction would be if his dead brother's only son also died young.
The sight of Caius, tall, handsome, ruthless Caius, walking into the Cullen's sitting room whilst holding a massive bunch of red roses was a hilarious sight to see. Lucian accepted them with a smile, noticing how the thorns had been chopped off. There was a letter stuffed in the midst of them, so he plucked it out before setting the bunch into a vase filled with water he'd summoned moments before. " Caius, they're beautiful. I can do so much with roses, even more, once they've dried. Thank you." He reached up with a hand and cupped his mate's face, placing a chaste kiss on his lips.
Caius looked dazed for a moment, soft and satisfied before he straightened and gave him a nod. " I knew you'd appreciate them. Aro had informed me of the uses of roses in potions and spells." As he said this, he let cold eyes rove over the occupants in the room, all standing stiffly and in various defensive positions. He allowed his gaze to linger upon the gifted in the room, deeming them as the greatest threats, before he zeroed in on the child tucked away in the arms of the newest Cullen. " And that is the child?"
" Yes, her name is Renesmee, the child of Bella and Edward."
" I see."
" Can you hear her heartbeat? Her breath? See her brown eyes?"
" My darling, we did not doubt you, we only came to see it with our own eyes." Marcus stepped through the door next, followed by a pair of guards he immediately recognised as Jane and Alec. He could almost feel how the atmosphere became tenser with their appearance. They only ever left the castle when there was going to be some sort of battle, which didn't sit well with the vegetarian vampires.
" She, Marcus." He remained silent, looking boredly towards the on edge vampires littered around.
" And what a strange sight she is. How marvellous. Half mortal, half immortal. Conceived so, and carried by this newborn while she was still human. My, I've never seen anything quite like it." Aro was the last king to appear, as dramatic and merry as ever. He was followed closely by Renata, Demetri, Felix and another guard Lucian didn't recognise. This totalled the number of Volturi present to nine, although he could be considered the tenth, a far cry from how many would have arrived in canon.
The unknown guard was dressed in a dark black cloak, and his vibrantly coloured hair, a bloody red, made his equally red eyes seem startlingly menacing. He wandered past Aro to stand silently by Caius' side, with a sharp nod towards him. Lucian wondered momentarily why he had never seen him before, his bright hair not easy to miss or forget.
"You were correct, my dear, this does not go against any of our laws." Aro smiled at him, before turning towards the Cullens." Unless, of course, her control is less than satisfactory?" He held out a hand to Edward, who placed his own into Aro's with a grimace after blurring closer.
" I can assure you, that is not the case. She appears to have better control over her bloodlust than any of us."
" Yes, that is to be expected, seeing as how she indulges in human blood from time to time. Bagged as it is, it is still much more fulfilling and nourishing than your 'vegetarianism.'" Aro could not help but take a dig at their diet, and Lucian snorted behind his hand at Caius' smug expression.
" You know full well, Aro, that drinking human blood only makes a vampire fractionally stronger than if they drank human blood, right?" Edward looked straight into the ancient vampires' eyes and raised a single, condescending eyebrow.
Aro's lip twitched minutely, and he stood up straighter, calling upon every regal particle in his body to showcase itself. " Ah, but did I mention strength?" The purr in his voice was chilling, yet probably the most attractive sound Lucian had heard in his years on earth. He leaned closer, enthralled, the movement not going unnoticed by the vampires present. " A Vampire will always crave human blood, it is our natural nourishment, and not drinking it leads to a lack of control around humans. Besides, that fraction is a huge one, young Edward. Now, from what I have seen, young Renesmee seems to have quite the gift. May I?" He stepped closer to her, holding out his hand, but crouched when instead she reached her own hand up towards his face. Renata was close behind him, silent as all the guards were.
Aro closed his eyes as she took him through her memories, marvelling in her ability that overrode his own. When she pulled back, he slowly opened his eyes and smiled down at her gently. " How lovely, miss Cullen."
" Renesmee." She shot him a quick glance. " I'm not into all of that title stuff." Silence stretched after that, no one knowing what to say to such a remark.
" It is strange." Lucian went to open his mouth at Marcus' seemingly random comment, but stopped and tilted his head when he saw him staring at Edward and Bella.
" What is strange?"
" That you and your wife can tolerate being near each other so intimately whilst not being mates."
His heartbeat sped up, eyes widening. " What did you just say?" Bella's hiss raised goosebumps over his body, and when she turned those amber eyes onto him, darkened closer to black, he shuddered. She looked ready to lunge, and he could see many in the room getting ready to intercept her.
A little hand to her face, however, stopped her. " No." Bella stiffened, staring down at the child in her lap who would have surely gone flying if she had attacked her cousin. She looked horrified and slightly tightened her hold on Renesmee.
Caius, however, did not appear mollified by Bella remaining in her seat and seemed to take a vicious step forward, before stopping with a grimace. Lucian watched, intrigued by the strange occurrence. He seemed to zone out, which was odd, especially in a place that was filled with vampires Caius perceived as his enemies.
" Caius?"
" I'm alright, darling. I'll tell you later when there isn't a mind reader trying to take a peek at my thoughts." He looked to Edward. " Did you enjoy touring that burial site?" Edward simply grimaced as Caius took his arm. " Come, we are heading back to the car."
" Ah, but I wanted to stay for a little longer. Surely we can stay to talk, you haven't been here for even five minutes yet."
" And I don't want to be here for a minute more, not with you surrounded by that many possibly hostile vampires. Aro will catch up by the time we reach the plane, he has something to discuss with Carlisle." They were out of the house by then, the guards surrounding them, and the Cullens and Denali's looking on in confusion. He looked back, meeting Bella's eyes.
" But, my things-"
" Some of the guards have already been sent to collect it all."
Lucian looked down, tearing up slightly. " But Charlie, I have to say goodbye to him. And won't it be suspicious that I've just upped and left suddenly, with no one to witness me leaving?"
Caius sighed. " It will make it harder for everyone, my darling. Your Uncle will grow suspicious, and your last meeting with him will be soured. It will be easiest if you leave on a whim, and leave a note." He passed him a pen, and Lucian sobbed as he took it, and began to write in his notebook.
Dearest Uncle
I know this will come as a shock to you, but I'm leaving.-
Leaving that suddenly, with no chance to say goodbye, was one of the hardest things Lucian Swan had ever done. But, he was eventually glad it had happened that way. Charlie took his word, although according to Bella, not without much sadness and regret that he had seemingly chased away the last connection he had to his deceased brother. He moved on, in the end, and began searching for other bonds, people who could help fill his void of loneliness. That was not until months later, long after his departure to Italy, however, and for the time being, Lucian was still wracked with guilt and anger.
" How could you! I didn't want to leave like that!"
" It was for the best. Your Uncle is a police officer, he would have noticed that something was wrong if you had gone to speak with him yourself."
" I could have acted! I'm not that obvious! And now, I can't contact him again because I've already told him that I no longer want to talk with him."
" You wrote that yourself, I didn't make you tell him that."
" Fuck you, Caius! ."
Yes, It had taken him a while to realise the benefits of taking such a brutal and abrupt route. But, it was all for the best in the end. Charlie was just much too human to be involved in the carnage his life turned out to be in the next few millennia.
To be continued
