Alright, here's the long-awaited chapter three! Okay, have you guys noticed that I start my A/Ns the same way? Let me know if I do it again with the next chapter. A virtual light smack on the back of the head would work, too.
So, just to keep things clear: It's been twenty-five years since Breaking Dawn. Jacob, Seth, Quil, and Embry now travel with the Cullens, and pretend to be adopted kids as well. Leah's stopped phasing and has pursued a human life, and has gotten married. Sam and the other pack stay in La Push, but keep in contact. Also, Jasper has gotten much better at his control, allowing him to be alone in a room with a human and not have to worry about going nuts.
DISCLAIMER: I do not own the amazing Twilight Saga. That belongs to the genius Stephanie Meyer.
WORD COUNT: 1786
Monday, April 19th, 2032
The house was huge. And I mean huge. I couldn't stop staring at it once I saw it from Mr Hale's – no, Jasper's car. It was built out of reddish brown brick, kind of like the colour of dried blood – now that's an ironic comparison right there – and was three stories high. The front double doors were surrounded by an archaic-looking frame that I realised was made out of granite when I got out and walked up. The windows were about as tall as I was, and the covered the building so much that the exterior wall was made more of glass than brick or wood.
"Wow," Elsie commented, "It looks like something out of a fantasy novel. Just like everything else that's happened today. I'm still waiting for a catch."
Quil tugged at the heavy-looking brass doorknob and pulled it open easily. The door itself looked to weight about two hundred pounds, but the werewolf had no trouble moving it aside. Embry followed in behind him, and both of them rushed off inside. I could smell some sort of meat cooking in there, and guessed they were hungry.
Elsie and I hesitated before going in. I had never been in a house this massive, and I kind of felt a little unwelcome. Jasper rested a very cold hand on my shoulder. Instantly, I felt a rush of calm run over me. I wasn't until then that I realised I'd had my fists clenched into tiny white-knuckled balls. Gingerly, I stepped in further, taking a better look around.
I'd seen a few vampire movies before, so when I stepped into the house, images of dark, dusty crypts filled with coffins and tombstones and gothic paintings were dancing around in my head. But instead, all I saw was a nice, well-lit room with marble flooring, a couple side tables holding beautiful flowers in intricately carved glass vases, a sweeping staircase, and a beautiful crystal chandelier hanging overhead. It looked like a pretty fancy, modern room, really.
"Nice, huh?" Jasper asked, "Your great-grandmother, my foster mom, renovated this whole place, with help from my sister Rosalie and my wife Alice. I've got to get her to redo my office."
"It's not that bad, is it?" Jacob asked. I should mention that he never strayed two feet away from me since we met, but I hadn't spoken to him yet. Seth had remained close as well, getting a few minor dirty looks from Jacob, for some reason.
"Three words, mutt: happy-faced suns." Jacob grimaced.
I heard them before they came down. Several footsteps sounded, and then suddenly a whole bunch of people were there, arriving faster than humanly possible. I counted twelve of us altogether. Good thing it was a big room.
"Jazz, is this her?" a tiny dark-haired girl asked, "Is it really her?" At Jasper's nod, she squealed and hugged me. It felt like I was being embraced by a moving stone statue. Her entire body was as hard and cold as icy rock, and she was a hell of a lot stronger than I could've imagined, especially considering her size. The girl eventually backed off and looked me over, her bright gold eyes mainly focusing on my face. "You look so much like your mom. Doesn't she, Rosalie?" A blonde with dark eyes nodded stiffly.
A teenager with bronze-coloured curls and brown eyes stepped forward. I realised right away who she was. "Mom?" I whispered. She sniffed and nodded, smiling happily. We stood there like a pair of statues ourselves for a second, then closed the gap between up and collapsed into a hug. I couldn't stop the tears once they started forming. My mom was here. After all those years, I'd finally found her. The dark-haired girl was right; we looked so much alike, especially our eyes. We both had the same shape and coloured eyes. I also seemed to have inherited her hair type, only mine was several shades darker.
Jacob quickly joined our hug, and at that moment, I couldn't have felt any happier. I had my Mom and my Dad with me.
Then a big, tall, dark-haired boy impulsively ran over and joined us. I looked up at him. What the hell? Who was this guy?
"Emmett," a guy with the same hair colour as Mom asked, "What are you doing? Let them have their moment."
'Emmett' sheepishly pulled away. "Sorry," he apologised, "They just looked really happy, and I wanna be a part of it."
Mom rolled her eyes. "Uncle Em, really," she laughed, "Can't you just give us a little time alone with our daughter?"
"But you guys aren't even alone! We're all still here. And just because you're her parents doesn't mean you can hog her from the rest of the family."
A girl with dark brown hair approached us. "Emmett's right," she said, "as hard as that is to believe." She held out her arms to me. "Come on over and give your Grandma Bella a hug, already."
I raised my eyebrows. Grandma? She had to be... what, eighteen? Nineteen? Well, Jasper had told me not to judge this group's ages by their appearance. So I took it all in stride, ran over, and hugged Grandma Bella tightly. The guy who'd spoken to Emmett earlier joined us. He looked a lot like Mom, so I assumed he was my grandfather. What had Jasper said his name was? Oh yeah, Edward.
Just then, Quil and Embry came back from what I guessed was the kitchen, both carrying a hotdog in each hand and two sticking out of their mouths. "Do you have to be such pigs?" The blonde – Rosalie – snapped.
Quil swallowed both of his hotdogs in one go. "Someone's cranky," he commented.
"No, I'm just thirsty. I haven't gone hunting for a few days, all right?"
"Thirsty?" Elsie repeated, taking a few steps back, "Like... for blood?" Her hands shot up to guard her throat.
Jasper chuckled. "Relax. I told you, we're vegetarian vampires. We don't drink human blood. Edward's the only one who's had any in the past fifty years, and that was an emergency."
I looked up and Grandpa for an explanation, but it was Grandma who responded. "It happened while I was still human," she said, "A vampire named James had bitten me, and Edward wasn't on board with changing me just yet, so he sucked the venom out of my blood. Of course, it only really delayed the inevitable."
"Yeah, but you did taste good," Grandpa commented.
A woman with caramel-coloured hair laughed. "Enough of that," she chided, "The poor girl looks like she's about to faint!"
For the first time, the other vampires seemed to take notice of my best friend. The small girl smiled sweetly and darted over to stand in front of her. "Hi! I'm Alice," she greeted, giving Elsie a quick hug, "Miriam's great-aunt of sorts."
Elsie just looked around at all of them, looking mildly terrified. "Hi," she replied in a shaky voice that was barely above a whisper, "Umm... I'm Elsie O'Laskey... Miriam's best friend." The vampires all said hi to her, then Rosalie took Emmett's hand and they ran out the door at an amazing speed.
"So, to finish off the introductions," the caramel-haired lady continued, "I'm Esme, the mother of this whole crazy bunch, and my husband Carlisle's still working at the hospital, but you can meet him once he gets home."
Home. Uh-oh.
"Aw, shit!" I cried, "I was supposed to be home right after school to look after Brooke and the twins!"
"And I've got a study date with Anthony Hammond at five!" Elsie gasped, "I''ve got to get home, take a shower, finish up my flash cards..."
"I"ll give you two a lift back," Jasper offered. Elsie quickly bolted out the door without looking back. I turned back to my family, not really wanting to leave.
"I can come back tomorrow, right?" I asked hopefully.
Esme smiled warmly. "Absolutely. You're always welcome here, and so is Elsie. And anyway, most of our coven will be starting at your school tomorrow, so you'll see them then." I grinned and gave my parents a tight hug each before turning and following Elsie.
I stood on the sidewalk, breathless, watching Jasper drive away after dropping me and Elsie off in front of my house. "Did that past hour really just happen?" I asked her, feeling giddy.
"I hope not," she replied.
I snapped my head around to stare at her, shocked. "Why not?"
"Uh, hello? We were in a house full of monsters that could've sucked our blood at any time!"
I took offense to that. "Monsters? That's my family you're talking about!"
"You actually believe all the bullshit they were saying?" Again, I was surprised. Elsie never swore. "It was obviously just a trick to lure us in! You're not some kind of monster freak, you're a regular human being! They're just spouting that story so that you think you're one of them!"
"Okay, you've been watching way too much TV."
"Well, you know what? If you want to hang around with those... things, then fine! But I'm going back to the world of logic and sense, where we both belong!" She stormed off to her house next door, leaving me in a very bad mood.
I watched her go until she was inside, then I felt the hot tears beginning to form. I rushed into my own house, only to be greeted by a very angry Maman.
My adopted parents, Andrew and Catherine Darville, speak more French than English, since Maman is from Québec, and Papa is French on his mother's side. We tend to speak French in the house.
"Où étais-tu?" (Where have you been?) Maman demanded, "Brooke et les jumeaux ont eu besoin à me téléphoner de chez O'Laskey parce que tu n'es jamais arrivée!" (Brooke and the twins had to call me from the O'Laskeys' house because you never showed up!)
I knew I was in super-big trouble, but I pushed past Maman and went straight to my room. I locked the door behind me and threw myself on the bed. Only then did I really start to cry.
The main reason I have Miriam knowing French is just because I've been studying it since I was eight, and I wanna show off what I know. Someday, I hope I'll be able to do the same thing in Japanese. I'm going for that as my third language. I watch a hell of a lot of Super Sentai (the original Japanese version of Power Rangers), so I'm now fascinated with the language. I know a handful of random words, but pretty much no grammar rules and not a lot of words that are actually used in a normal conversation.
Anyway, keep an eye out for the next chapter: The Cullens and vampires go to school, and Miriam confronts Elsie. Until then, R&R!
