Part 1 - Chapter 3: Family Meeting
The whole Cullen coven was gathered in the living room. Everyone but I looked rather human. You could see they shifted once in a while. Maybe by crossing their legs, rubbing their chin, or folding their hands in their laps. But they all did some little tweak that left you thinking they were restless vampires. I tried to mimic them, but the meeting started before I could get a good representation going. Sitting beside Esme and Jasper, I awaited Carlisle's news along with everyone else.
He stood before us all calm as always. He started, "I got word from Vladimir and Stefan about the Volturi." There were several gasps and a few murmurs. There were a lot of us here. The largest coven after the Volturi. Edward, Bella, Renesmee, Jacob - we count him - makes four plus Alice and Jasper, Rosalie and Emmett, Esme and Carlisle, and me equals to a resounding eleven. That was a lot keeping in mind that vampires usually only travel alone or in pairs. We made more noise than most groups, to say the least.
Carlisle got a glimpse of my confused gaze. "You don't know much about our recent encounter with the Volturi. Well, our Denali friends had a sister named Irina before your time. You know of their mother's immortal child. Well, Irina saw Renesmee during her first few weeks of life and thought that was the case. She alerted the Volturi with a grudge against the werewolves because they killed her mate, Laurent, because he was attempting to murder Bella."
He paused as I digested it all. "The Volturi arrived, but we were prepared. We had gathered as many witnesses as we could. Our relatives in Denali, the Amazon, North and South America, Egypt, Europe, Ireland, and Romania. You will meet most of them very soon, I believe. Well, Vladimir and Stefan ruled alongside many other Romanian vampires as the Volturi do today. Until the Italian ruler burned their castles. Now, they stand with a grudge. And they witnessed for us in Renesmee's case. And they alert me with whatever messages they receive about the Volturi. Are you all caught up, Silver?"
I nodded slowly, still trying to wrap my head around this. He continued on warily, "They have a new leader." Alice's head jerked away from Jasper and to Carlisle in less than half a second. "What happened to Aro?" her voice was so low no human could hear it. Carlisle shook his head. "No no no, Alice. Aro, Caius, and Marcus are still leading, but they have just added a new co-leader. Diomedes." I saw Emmett roll his eyes. Carlisle kept on. "We don't know what kind of superpower he possesses, but it is sure to be great because of how sudden they introduced him as co-leader."
Every else started asking a bunch of questions, but I was frozen. If I had functioning veins, adrenaline would be pumping through them. But I was completely frozen. Suddenly, I jerked back to reality. I asked Esme, "What happened?" She sighed and replied, "Edward, Alice, and Carlisle got into an intense conversation theorizing about Diomedes." I nodded and added, "I doubt Carlisle knows any more." She silently agreed as we watched Carlisle, Edward, and Alice talk in hushed tones. I rolled my eyes before Esme asked, "Can you change your eyes to different colors?"
I answered with a few blinks before she cracked a broad smile. "Extraordinary! Purple, you said was the original?" I nodded before returning them back to their blood-red roots. Finally, Carlisle turned around and spoke to us all, "There is nothing we can do right now. But Alice will be watching out for their decisions. They will be back to us for some reason. We're going to move again." He sighed and I snarled my nose. "We're going to settle down in Washington once more. Anyone who ever knew or heard of us is dead so we'll have cover there." I glimpsed Bella cringe.
"We're going to rebuild the house we once had, but larger. And our Denali family will be coming to stay. And...others." He left it at that as he swept out of the room. Everyone else followed to their domain of the house. Eventually, I pried myself off the couch and went to my room. The portrait on my easel at the window sill called to me. Caius, Aro, Marcus, and Carlisle in Italy together. I sat in the chair beside it and gazed at it. Carlisle was no longer there, but he had a replacement. They didn't need one, but Diomedes was there nonetheless. I picked up a paintbrush and my brush moved over the paper effortlessly. I wasn't controlling it, but I didn't need to be.
