Chapter Twenty
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Renesmee
"What do you mean, my family? That's not possible."
"They must have figured out that we got a plane ticket to Italy. It wouldn't be hard to do. You are a minor still, after all," Nick told me. If he knew I was scared, he wasn't showing in his face or body language.
"How did they know we would be in this forest?" I tried to hide the doubt in my voice, but I seemed to be overtaken with it. Was he lying to get me to go into the forest with him? A forest that may have been beautiful at first glance, but was filled with darkness the further you stepped into it?
"If my family is here, I don't want to see them," I lied, trying to sound calm. "All they are going to do is drag me home, and I still have more questions. Can we please head back to your uncle's house? I am going to rest for a little bit and then..."
Suddenly, I heard a familiar voice. The sharp sound echoed through the sky, causing a group of birds to fly away in fear.
"Renessmee!" called the distinctive voice mother. I could not see her inside the forest, but somehow she knew that there was at least the possibility of me being nearby.
"She is here." Now, my voice was a mix of heartache and relief at the thought of facing my family and letting everything right itself again.
His look now was curious as he took my trembling hands into his. "Did you doubt me?"
Heat rushed to my cheeks. I took a deep breath as my fear was quickly replaced with embarrassment. "I'm sorry. I suddenly got nervous."
"Are you ready to see them?" he asked me gently, as understanding as always.
"Yes," I replied with a nod. The sound was barely above a whisper; it was all I could manage. Every single ounce of my energy now was being used to take that first step forward. And then the second. And then the third.
As we made our way toward the forest, I reminded myself that whatever happened, however angry, disappointed, or frustrated they were, I was not going to regret what I had done here over the past 8 hours. For once, I had taken my life into my own hands. Gone was the old Renesmee Cullen, too scared to speak up, too worried about her family to ask questions. The girl entering this covering of trees to face her family today was whole once more. No amount of anger, disappointment, or frustration could take that away from me.
The trees started out thick, but began to thin the further we walked. And suddenly, they were there. All of them.
All of them.
Standing about 50 feet from my family were the inhabitants of the old house, in their long, charcoal-colored cloaks just as they had been a little while ago. Aro was the first to notice us; as he turned toward me, his eyes met mine. Only this time, instead of golden like those of my family, they were as red as blood. The sight sent shivers rolling through my body as another outline of a memory came rushing forth; it was the feeling that something similar had once happened, but not being able to actually recall it.
My aunts, uncles, parents, grandparents, and Jacob were standing in a defensive position. My father, grandfather, and Alice in the front with the rest of them scattered in staggered rows behind them. Their eyes, a mix of black and gold in the group, were as intense as ever. They looked ready to fight. Ready to kill.
"No!" I yelled, instantly stopping them as each side took a deadly step forward.
"Nessie!" my mother screamed and even from a distance I could see the utter relief plastered upon her face. And then, a look of terror.
Suddenly, I felt enormous pain in my left side. I barely had time to process that I was being carried before I was dumped carelessly onto the cold dirt. Now, instead of walking toward the middle of the two groups, like I had been a moment before, I was on one distinct side of the fight. I realized with a gut-wrenching pang of familiar fear that I wasn't on the side of my precious family. When I looked up, all I could see was a foreboding wall of black cloaks.
"Nick," I managed to choke out. The wind had been knocked out of me when he had tossed me to the ground without a care.
Looking up at him, I could barely hold his glance. The look on his face was one that I had never seen before. It was as if I were looking at an entirely new person. Not the same boy who I had gotten to know over the past few months, the boy who I had clung tightly to as we flew through town on the back of his motorcycle. A different person than the one who had swept me off to Italy to discover the truth about who I was. The boy who stood above me, towering over me now, was a stranger; a stranger whom, I assumed, was perfectly content with getting his nourishment from my blood. And I had a feeling he had dropped me off in the middle of a group of vampires who felt the same exact way.
I heard my father's thunderous voice, snarling in almost an animal-like fashion. "Let her go!" he screamed.
"Patience, my young friend." Aro's voice, as smooth and calm as it had been back at the old house. Except that there was something more to it; something that terrified me beyond belief. An intense pain suddenly pulsed through my wrist. I became dizzy, disoriented. I was in terrible danger, and now I was cut off from the only people who could save me. I began crawling my way out of the wall of evil that surrounded me, clawing my fingers at the dirt to pull myself forward. I felt a burning sensation through my ribs; someone was kicking me, pulling me backwards. And they were winning, for they were stronger. They were vampires, after all. And I had fallen for their evil plan.
"Nessie, I suggest you stay where you are, unless you want us to break every bone in that pretty little body of yours." Nick's voice. A cruel snarl, the complete opposite of the angelic, endearing voice that had told me to pack my things. That had told me that he loved me. That had told me he would never hurt me—ever. I had fallen for every single one of his disgusting lies. It had all been a con; and he had been the bait, luring me into this trap.
"What do you want with her?" My grandfather's voice. I had never heard it filled with so much uncertainty and panic.
"You will find out in due time, Carlisle," Aro replied. "First, let me take this time to congratulate every single person here. Twelve years, we have been working on this. Waiting patiently for everything to time out. Sure, we hit some bumps in the road along the way, such as when your family decided to move back to Washington. We had to completely rework our entire plan. But everything had worked out perfectly in the end, as you can see.
Thankfully, your future-teller over there cannot see any visions with half-breeds in it, or else, none of this would have been possible. You see, that's the genius of this plan; I had to work around the mind reader and the crystal ball. Otherwise, it would have been foiled from the very beginning."
I felt heat rise in my throat, and I coughed, watching with repulsion as the color red spilled onto the ground in front of me. Terror filled me at this sight, not only for my health, but for the fact that I was now surrounded by vampires who most likely lied about their animal-based diets.
"You can have anything you want. Just let her go." My father's pleading voice again. At the sound of it, I used all of my strength to lift up my head, just so I could see his face. However, I could see nothing around the group that surrounded me.
"We are getting to that part," he said patiently. "We did not go through the unpleasing trouble of luring your pathetic little daughter to us without having something that we wanted in return in mind.
After we had come seeking to destroy your precious little daughter, the time when you gathered all the covens you could to join against us, we began contemplating how powerful you truly were. You understand, we could not have a small, insignificant little family threatening our immaculate power. So we formulated a scheme. We sent in the handsome stranger, hypnotizing him so he could be near blood-filled Renesmee without the desire to consume her, and then ultimately luring her to Italy where you, of course, would run around the world twice simply to rescue her."
I felt the air surrounding me become lighter, and I lifted my head up to see once more. Standing only ten feet away was my family. I watched as Emmett grabbed my father's arm, stopping him lunging forward to grab me. Alice took my mother's hand into hers, both of their black eyes wide with worry.
They were so close, and yet, so completely unobtainable. And to think, just a short time ago, what I wanted most in the world was to be away from them.
"Dad. Mom," I cried weakly, tears streaming down my face as I reached out my hand, as if I truly believed simply displaying my desire to be freed was going to liberate me from my frightening entrapment.
"It's okay, Nessie. You'll be back with us soon. Just hang in there." My father's response was bright and full of hope. However, I could sense a discrete lack of conviction in his voice. He knew as well as I did that wasn't getting out of this situation anytime soon, and if I did, it might be at the expense of someone I love.
Suddenly, my family was gone, once again swept behind the thick black barrier.
"As you can see by Renesmee's many injuries, this is far from a game. You will do what we say, when we say it or…" he paused, and I could picture the masochistic smile on his face. "…or we will dispose of her our own way. And I'm sure you understand exactly what I mean by that. We are well within our rights. After all, she is an abomination. Half mortal, half immortal. It's unnatural."
A chorus of angry growls rang throughout my family.
"What is it that you want, Aro?" my grandfather snarled. It was a wonder I even recognized his voice. The anger that permeated it was so unfamiliar, so unlike the loving man I knew. But I realized that a kind voice was not the only way to express love. My grandfather, the man who was determined to heal rather than hurt, was ready to kill any moment now.
"I suppose we now have come to that time," Aro said quietly, laughter filling his voice, sounding out of place. "You see, there was once a time when I made a very generous offer. However, that offer was not taken up on. I would like to make that offer again—with Renesmee's death as a consequence of the wrong choice."
"What are you saying?" my grandmother asked, the sound weak with grief.
"I want the service of Alice, Edward, and Isabella. Forever."