Sorry it has taken forever to post. We had finals and graduation as well as a fellow member leave home for good. Thank you to all of you who have stuck with us.
Aro collapsed on the ground screaming in agony. Jane didn't care. She was too angry. Aro had lied and lied and lied too many times. She was too focused on Aro she didn't pay attention to Caius until he coldly slapped her across the face. Stumbling backwards down the steps, she wished she was still able to cry. "You stupid little girl! Did dawdling away off in dream land make you forget your place?" Caius hissed. There was a very important rule amongst the guard. No friendly fire. They were not allowed to use their gifts against each other in the form of an attack. The punishment was death.
Aro now rose to his feet stunned, "Jane? My dear child, we thought you were dead. We mourned the death of you and your brother for weeks. I don't believe I understand why you attacked your loving father?" His voice held a fake innocence.
Jane ran towards him ready to strike. She was so done with all his shit. But she was stopped by an invisible barrier. Renata's shield. They were scared of her enough to require a shield to protect their Masters with from her. "My dear child? Loving father?" she was so angry she was laughing, "What about your other children? The one's you created by cheating on Sulpicia! The one's you have not even given a second thought about! One of which I killed in a subway tunnel! I heard his heart stop! I watched his eyes go dull! Alec and I called you and you left us, just like you left Hadley, YOUR NOW DEAD SON!"
Aro didn't know what stunned him more now. He was unaware he had any offspring. Yes, he had indulged himself in the warm, welcoming flesh of human women several times over the centuries. The same old face got tiring after a while. But Jane should not know any of this. Scandal would erupt. The Volturi name would be spat upon. "You killed one of my children? Well I expect nothing less. You always were my strong, strong girl. One of my favorites. I still remember the day I saved you. Gave you this gift. Made you Immortal and more beautiful than any girl could dream of," Aro cooed, "I missed you terribly in your absence. You and Alec both. It gives me great relief to know our family is whole once more. "
Normally when Aro praised her, told her how special she was to him, she felt warm and happy. Now she only felt disgust. He was proud she killed Hadley. Only happy she had returned to her dust shelf. Happy he had yet another pawn to barricade the King and Queen. He wanted her to be quiet and do what she was told. He didn't want anyone to know what he had done. He walked up slowly towards her, his hand out stretched. She was familiar with this gesture. He wanted to read her mind. Knowledge gave him power. Knowledge of the dhampirs and their operation, her infatuation with Donovan, her feelings of utter helplessness in the subway tunnel, Josephine and the unsolved mysteries of her mother, and most of all he would see her kill Hadley and how she wasn't the strong, cold, fearless killer Aro wanted her to be. Aro would see her weakness and guilt. She was not going to let him have that power. Her mind was her own.
Aro waited for Jane to offer her small hand. Instead she crossed her arms in defiance. This wasn't good. He needed to know what she was thinking and what all had happened while she was away. It was maddening. "Jane?" He asked opening his palm more. His voice betrayed more anxiety that he desired. Already having her attack him with her dark gift was enough to leave him paranoid. He could feel control slipping with each passing second. Why was Chelsea's influence not affecting Jane now? Why was she questioning her loyalty to him? Jane had always been his good girl. She never questioned anything. She did what he told her. She and Alec were his two greatest accomplishments and relics. He was not going to give that up now. "Jane, your hand, darling," he ordered.
Jane took a step backwards. Her master's eyes held an unhinged look. Like he had just spent days setting up the most intricate pattern of dominos and someone had just knocked one over. It scared her. Her master had never been angry with her before. Only looks of pride and hunger. Caius and Aro both marched towards her. Both grabbed her forcefully. Jane screamed and kicked, in shock as her masters fought her. She wasn't allowed to use her gift on them and already risked the death sentence if she attempted again. Aro violently snatched her hand. He saw nothing.
"What is the meaning of this? Why can't I read your thoughts?" Aro roared. Jane whispered a silent prayer of thanks. Donovan must be shielding her. That was why Chelsea had not effect on her. Why Aro could not read her mind. Her mind was her own.
Taking a deep breath, she asked, "Would like to meet the newest addition to our family?"
Jane could not leave the throne room fast enough. She still wanted to check on Alec, since he wasn't in his room, and Damien who would be deep asleep still. She caught Alec's scent when she made her way down stairs. Opening the door halfway, she found both curled up together under a nest of blankets, breathing in sync. It seemed to snap her out of the empty feeling. It was one of the cutest things she had seen. Alec even seemed like he was asleep. Eyes closed, face relaxed, breathing even and steady, hair ruffled slightly. He groaned lightly when Jane tapped his shoulder. "Just five more minutes," both grumbled at Jane. Damien rolled over and hid his face in the pillows while Alec opened one eye with a goofy smile. "I know all three of us are small, but I don't think we can fit another body on this bed if you are looking to join," Alec half joked. "Nah, I was just checking on you two. Better head up to my room before Donovan gets too lonely," Jane turned towards the door. "Don't get pregnant," Alec joked again. Jane stuck her tongue out at him. She liked it when Alec made jokes.
Dawn came quickly and the children would be waking up early to open presents. Many of the Guards were excited too. Christmas seemed more exciting thinking of small happy faces lighting up at the sight of a new toy. Demetri had been walking towards Marina's room. He knew she would be awake soon. Already her littler heart was beating quickly with excitement. "Merry Christmas, Marina Elena," He whispered sitting on the edge of her bed. Her round wide blue eyes opened slowly. She sat up and hugged her Father smiling, "Merry Christmas, Father." She kissed his cheek and looked at the long and narrow box in her father's hand. "What's that?" she asked curious. "Why don't you open it yourself?"
Marina carefully pealed the tape of the ends of each end, careful not to rip or wrinkles the shiny red paper and white ribbon. Lifting the lid, her breath caught. A silver recurved bow lay begging her to pick up and strum. It was the most beautiful thing she had ever seen. Snarling wolves and trees were hand carved into the grip and clouds decorated the upper and lower limbs. The bow string was a glowing ivory, serving without a fray and knocking point a color of the richest rubies. "It's a little heavy for you, but hopefully you will grow into it. The arrows are downstairs in the Combat Room," Demetri memorized the joyous face of his angel. He had never seen her so happy. She quickly wrapped him in a hug thanking him. "It's gorgeous. I love it!"
Heidi knocked on the door as she gracefully walking in. "I have something for you too, tochter," she smiled holding a medium sized box with a light blue ribbon. As carefully as she did the last present, she opened it. Inside, shielded by white tissue paper, were ballet shoes. "Every princess should know how to dace. I already talked it over with your father and he said ballet lessons would be a great gift," Heidi beamed. "Thank you so much," Marina sprung up, kissing Heidi's cheek lightly, and hugged her thank you. They were the only two gifts she got for Christmas and they were perfect. But the best gift was seeing Heidi sneak a quick little kiss on Demetri's cheek and watching his shocked expression. On the outside, it seemed like a friendly, innocent kiss. But Marina knew better. When Heidi left for the Great Hall, Marina's face bloomed into a mischievous smile. "You should have kissed her on the lips. Like a prince kisses a princess in fairy tales," Marina giggled. "It's complicated. She doesn't see me as anything more than a friend. A fellow employee even," Demetri sighed. He didn't know why he was telling his daughter this. It was a completely inappropriate subject. "She really, really likes you. I think you two should get married and live happily ever after. I like her as a mommy," Marina's innocent voice made him smile. Life was so much simple for young children. But maybe she was right. Someday Demetri would ask Heidi out, just not today.
Olivia and Tiago ran to the tree. The Guards watched them shred the wrapping on the presents. Another football. A dress. Books. Make up. A watch. Some jewelry. Lots of clothes. The wives immediately wanted Oliva to try on the clothes they bought for her. "Where's Chelsea?" Olivia asked instead. She wanted to wish Chelsea Merry Christmas, but she couldn't find her anywhere. "She's busy doing more important things," Athenodora snapped. Olivia's spirits sank. Felix was too busy paying attention to Tiago. He had given Tiago an old Brazilian hunting knife that had been Santiago's. They were both admiring it as well as holding up different XBOX games energetically. They settled on playing the newest Call of Duty, leaving the carnage of wrapping paper and consumerism to play the newest game.
Alec and Damien didn't feel like getting out of bed. Alec guessed it was part of being forever fifteen that made a warm bed seem like his own personal paradise. He really wished he was capable of sleep. But he settled for just closing his eyes and blocking out the world best he could. Damien was out cold until nearly eleven in the morning. It had been weeks, hell months, since he last had a solid night's sleep with no weird dreams, no waking up in the middle of the night, no stress, no worries. He felt safe. When he finally was able to wake up, he lay their groggily for another half hour before the two of them pried themselves away from the safe, warm protection of the blankets. "Am I too young to start drinking coffee?" Damien grumbled sitting up. His voice startled Alec. It was no longer the thin, toddler voice. It was more present and an octave deeper. His face was no longer lined with baby fat and his features had become more defined. His hair was no longer the angel fine, baby softness, but rather thicker and coarser. His eyes no longer seemed too large and had a slight hollowness to them. His body was slimmer and more proportionate like an adult. When Alec had last fully seen him, his son looked like a small kindergartener. Now he looked like he was in second grade. It startled Alec how much Damien had grown in his absence. They both stood up, ready to go upstairs. Before Damien had been at his hip. Now he was at his mid-torso. It astounded Alec as well as reminding that he was trapped in his small frame forever. He would never grow taller nor older. "Nope. It'll stunt your growth," Alec teased. "Being a vampire will stunt your growth," Damien laughed sarcastically. Alec gave him a death glare showing a line had been cross. They both agreed to not make fun of each other's lack of height again.
Once upstairs with everyone else, they stood on the outer circle of people to avoid attention. Alec didn't want to get swarmed with nosy questions about their last mission. He really didn't feel like talking to people or the spotlight. Damien noticed Joan was working on cleaning up the wrapping paper since none of the other Guards wanted to do it. He went to go help her but was stopped by Sulpicia, "Just let her do her job." Damien ignored her and helped gather the balls of paper. Joan smiled holding the black plastic bag open for him. Sulpicia and Athenodora rolled their eyes at the boy ignoring their warning. That human was here for reason. To clean up after them and do what she was told. Why was the boy helping a mere human? Didn't he understand how being a vampire worked? You were vastly superior to these measly blood sacks. You were not to act like one. The Guards were baffled by Damien's desire to help Joan. Regardless of their criticism, the mess was cleaned up five times faster than if Joan had done it herself. When they were done, Joan noticed one present sat under the tree un-opened. It was for her. Damien watched as she knelt to pick up the red box, curious. It was slightly heavy as she shook it, but easy enough to cradle in her lap. He watched her gasp, opening the box in shock, covering her hands with her face, hiding her happiness and emotions in embarrassment to act like a giddy school girl. She took it out of the tissue paper lined box and hugged it close to her chest like it was a newborn infant. "It's beautiful," she whispered to herself. "Merry Christmas, Joan," Damien smiled. He felt really happy seeing her so excited. It felt nice knowing he had used his gift to make someone happy. He had never seen this sort of spark in her eyes. Joan quickly hugged him with the doll still in her arms. "Merci, I love it," Joan beamed. The Guards were even more confused. Why had he given her a gift? Did the boy not understand that Joan was just a HUMAN? The way they were hugging and smiling. It wasn't right. It wasn't natural.
Alec felt slightly embarrassed as he heard several of the Guards criticize Damien's love for the human. Had no one explained to him that vampire and humans were not to intermingle? He was happy someone had taken care of him. But his son's attachment to the mortal was problematic. People started to disperse in whispers laughing at Damien's empathy for humans. He was just happy it meant they were too occupied to realize that he had been in the room. Already it had been a shock to find out everyone thought he had died from Damien. Soon the room was happily empty.
That left Alec, Damien and Joan alone in the room. Alec felt a pang of jealousy for Joan. She had been able to see his son grow and become closer in ways Alec had been unable to. He hated how he had been absent for a large portion of Damien's life. He remembered how it had been growing up with never seeing his father. Hell, he didn't even remember what he looked like. Just a name, Avi. He didn't wish that upon Damien. While Damien and Joan were busy examining the doll, Alec quickly ran downstairs to where he had left his bag. He found the two comic books he had bought in New York. Sadly they were slightly creased from being shoved in the bag with all Alec's clothes. But they still shined bright. Alec knew material items didn't make up for never being around and he wasn't trying to rival Joan's affection, but he just wanted to give his son something for Christmas and let him know he was thinking of him constantly during their mission. He had only read the summaries so he didn't know what they were entirely about. All he knew that the heroes were half-vampire and it seemed oddly appropriate. A joke if you would.
"I almost forgot. I got you these while I was in New York," Alec beamed, returning to the main hall. Damien looked up at Alec, in his hand were two soft bound books made of this colorful, shiny material. At first he thought they were picture books, which he had out grown months ago, but then realized the content of the stories were not appropriate for young children. Often there were gory actions scenes and the overall plot of both seemed rather dark on the surface level. They were perfect. "Thank you so much. They are awesome!" Damien gave Alec an awkward side hug. They weren't really a hugging family. "Happy Christmas, Damien" Alec smiled.
After all the excitement had died down, both returned to their own rooms. Alec wanted to run a load of laundry and unpack. Damien immediately went to reading his new comic books. Flipping through the pages, he noticed a small envelope tucked into one on the pages randomly. Curious, he examined it. There were no marks besides dirt stains on the off white envelope. Daringly, he cracked the seal. Inside was a folded sticky note.
Charlie watched Nessie decorate the tree. Last year, she had Jacob lifting her up as she carefully set the angel on the tree. This year she rolled gracefully to her tip toes to brush upon the tallest branches. Renesmee had grown so much since then. She now looked nearly eleven, just hitting her pre-teens years. She had chatted with him about how she had gotten makeup from Auntie Alice and Rosie. A curling iron too. Gift cards for many designer stores. But the most important gift she had received was Momma had promised she could start attending regular school with other children. They would be human, but she would need to learn how to control and conceal herself from them eventually. Carlisle had told Bella and Edward that Nessie had gone two months without growing in height and she had looked the same age for five months now. Ness had been wishing for a while to go to school. The work books no longer held her interest and she often felt lonely and isolated only being with her family and the pack. It was difficult constantly being the youngest. She needed to learn to be with kids her own age and live functionally in the human world too, as Bella reminded Edward. Edward was not convinced. But that morning Renesmee opened an envelope that held a letter confirming her enrollment for second semester at Forks Middle School. She was to be Edwards little sister that was adopted a couple months ago by Mr. and Mrs. Cullen after they were contacted by Social Services. If anyone asked "what for", she was to say "I'd rather not talk about it." She was going to learn how to be a human. It was the best gift ever.
Jacob kept offering to give her a boost and help her reach the taller branches, but his Nessie just laughed and said, "I got it". It made him both proud and sad to see that she was no longer the small child her was use to protecting. She had grown up on him. It was strange to think that exactly a year ago he had given her the Quileute promise bracelet. She had yet to take it off since then. Last year he had been so scared of losing her to not just the Volturi, but to time and age. The thought of now having endless Christmases made him feel warm inside but that could also be Sue's Special Eggnog talking. She had moved in with Charlie that summer. During thanksgiving he had asked Seth and Leah if they were comfortable with him proposing on Christmas morning. Seth had seen how much happier his mom has been dating Charlie. He hadn't seen her smile that much since before Dad had died. Leah didn't want her mother marrying the father of a Leech, but did well to hide her resentment. It wasn't Charlie's fault. Word spread quickly as soon as they shifted. Charlie did not know about the wolves' telepathic link. Jacob wished him best of luck. He had placed the ring at the bottom of her stocking.
After staying into the late evening, they went home with smiles. A new XBOX game for Seth, tools for Jacob, survival knife for Nessie from Grandpa Charlie (He had seen her in the woods a lot and thought it would be useful for all the camping trips the Cullens went on when the weather was nice), a recipe book for Bella from Charlie (It had been Grandma Swan's), a new watch for Edward and more clothes for Leah. Sue admired the engagement ring as she helped tidy up the house. She shook her head and laughed, swearing this place would be a Red Cross worthy disaster zone with out her.