A/N: Hope you've enjoyed the past 3 chapters. Things are going to start getting wilder and more exciting from now on, or so I think you'll find them to be so. Nessie's a great character and I really enjoy writing her POVs, which is why in Chapter 3 my Jake's POV didn't last for very long. Basically Nessie's still a kid and in love with Jake, well, kind of, and that's why she always calls him Jake instead of Jacob. Review please, you'll be doing me a big favor if you do! Thanks for reading, even if you don't review but just pwease, pwease review, okay? Pretty pwease?

Chapter 4

Nessie POV

I lay there in pain, but it felt like hours, a lifetime even, before I heard the light footsteps of my vampire family, sounding like whispering wind blowing past their graceful white feet.

Grandpa Carlisle rushed to me with his black "doctor" bag, and nearly crashed into Jake into his hurry, but Jake refused to leave my side. I could tell that Uncle Jasper, Aunt Rosalie and Uncle Emmett were holding their breath. It was a good thing that vampires didn't need oxygen to survive, because I wasn't sure what exactly would happen if they really took a breath and smelled my blood. All I knew was I was very safe with my family and Jake here. Grandpa Carlisle was in full control of himself, and even so my blood didn't smell like the pure humans' did. Now my almost-dried blood had littered the thin, wispy green grass on the forest floor, littering it with dark-reddish stains. I think my blood was slightly darker colored than that of the humans', because Alicia had tripped and injured her leg before in volleyball class and spilled her blood there and then, right in front of me. I'd made an excuse to be sick at the sight of blood, and, of course, Charlene, Kayla and Regina didn't let me hear the end of it. They'd teased me about being a coward. What they didn't know was that I could so very easily kill them, you know what I mean?

My parents were squatting down beside Grandpa Carlisle, Dad pinching the bridge of his nose carefully. Aunt Alice had disappeared off into the woods without an explanation, maybe to get something…?

Meanwhile, Grandpa Carlisle had started unpacking his black clinical bag. He'd taken out a piece of soft round cotton tissue and dabbed it with some kind of moisturizing liquid, and I saw that alcohol had been added to the ingredients list on the back of his bottle.

Grandpa Carlisle placed the cotton pad lightly on my skin, and the tingling sensation at the moment he put it there was replaced immediately by another sensation. This new sensation was not tingly at all; it was cold and felt like iced jelly. I remembered that the humans always felt cold in reaction to the alcohol, and I wondered if I felt this way as well because I was human…well, technically, part human.

"Renesmee," Mom crooned softly, her voice sweet like an angel's. "Are you alright, darliiiiing?" Strange. I'd expected her to be REALLY fussy, like she always did over me, but today she seemed strangely composed. Maybe she didn't want to act like there was no hope for me? I could just imagine her saying: "We have to stay strong, for Renesmee's sake." But, seriously, how selfish was I? I'd expected everyone to do everything for my sake just because some sadistic vampire bit me?

"I'm fine," I whispered. Even me myself, I didn't know what had caused the edge of pain in my voice. I didn't know why I suddenly cared so much that Mom's voice sounded so much better than mine. It seemed as though there was a voice in the very center of my heart, telling me to see things from a different angle, a different perspective, that things weren't what they seemed to be. Mom had told me to always listen to my heart, but right now things sure didn't seem that way. I didn't want my life to change. It was perfect right now, except for the fact that I'd been hurt, and I most definitely did NOT want to listen to the voice in my heart.

Jake's voice broke into my reverie. "Carlisle, I don't think her skin will react well to this chemical of yours. It's vampire skin, and it'll be quite uncomfortable for her skin to absorb this thing, won't it?"

I looked up, startled. "The chemical, Jacob, are you referring to my bottle of budaclereostyphrodite? (A/N: I invented that one!)" Grandpa Carlisle replied gently.

"Yeah, yeah, whatever," Jake shrugged. "That translucent blue bottle of medicine, ain't it?"

Grandpa Carlisle nodded. "But I think it's the only way to help Renesmee," he told Jake, a little privately. "Budaclereostyphrodite can help her body to prevent the bite's poison from spreading to her bloodstream and hurt her more, and to help her blood run purely."

Jake looked uneasy, but he nodded anyway. "If it'll help Nessie…"

Grandpa Carlisle's face was strangely stern. "Yes, it will, I'm fairly sure of that." His voice became gentler, then, as he spoke in quiet aside tones to me. "Renesmee, this process…" he cleared his throat uncomfortably, "it won't be too pleasant for your body to accept this budaclereostyphrodite, but it will help you recover. This vampire's bite hasn't been too deep, fortunately, so in the maximum you'll be right and well in a week or so. However, the scar will always be there, just like a mark to remind you of this unfortunate incident. Just like when your mother Bella, she had a double-crescent bite mark from James, a tracker vampire who was killed by your father Edward soon after. It disappeared when she became a vampire. Unlike your uncle Jasper's, because he got his bite marks when he was already a vampire."

Grandpa Carlisle squeezed that weird purplish-blue chemical, which he called budaclereostyphrodite, onto his palm and rubbed it on my neck. Then he mixed it with plain water, told me to shut my eyelids and rubbed the mixture over my eyes, my cheeks, my whole face, apart from my lips of course.

When Grandpa Carlisle told me that it was okay to open my eyes now, I wanted to, but I couldn't. I was drifting, drifting…

The pain in my throat was dulling, and so was the pain in my heart. But deep down in my body, the flames still threatened to boil over my body, because my grandfather's chemical had only been an anesthetic. Then I was drifting again, but this time it was different. I wasn't drifting into an endless inferno. I was drifting into a world of dreams, where fluffy white clouds existed with pink candy floss and bubblegum. Where Jake was waiting for me, atop the tallest tower of a castle in the clouds…

Suddenly, everything stopped. My beautiful dream stopped. The pain stopped. No, my life wasn't even going in slow motion. It had stopped. Just in that split-second, everything had been frozen, and so were my memories. I didn't remember Jake, didn't remember my family, and didn't remember my name, my home, myself. Ignorance it was not, but they were simply gone. I still don't understand how everything could have happened so quickly, but it just did. Faster than anything could ever happen, even at a vampire's fullest speed, but how?

I didn't feel like I was asleep. I was just in some form of drift, but did I want it to stop? Moments ago I would have picked the "stop" option. And now, I wasn't so sure.

I jolted back into reality with a start. It took me a very long couple of minutes to realize that I was on my rose-petal bed in the cottage that I shared with my parents. I'd regained my memory after all. I couldn't really imagine a life without knowing anybody. Especially my Jake. Though I have to admit, I'd like part of my memory erased. I'd want all those wicked memories of Charlene, Kayla, Regina, Leanne and some others gone. Leave only those happy memories of me with Jake, my family, my best friend Alicia, and all those other people who'd shared fun times of joy, laughter and happiness together with me. But nobody ever got everything their way. Life had never been all sweetness and perks. Let's just be glad that at least most of us have more happy memories than bad ones.

Jake was the first one I saw since I woke up. "How long have I been…out?" I whispered to Jake, who was kneeling beside my bed.

Jake sighed and ruffled my bronze curls playfully. "A couple of days, no more, no less. We were all worried sick about you, Ness, don't ever come and scare us like that again. By the way, your doctor grandpa has already taken some blood-and-venom samples from the wound in your neck. You know, that vampires all have venoms unique to themselves, like how humans use saliva to check their DNA sometimes? Well, or so your grandfather said so. Anyway, he checked, and guess what? The vampire who bit you was…okay, it's a long story. Bella-your mother-she's told you The Story, right? About me and her and your dad?"

I nodded vigorously. I so did want to know who that stupid sadistic vampire who bit me was. Like I'd said before, two possibilities: either mistaking me for a human or getting revenge for something that my family the Cullens had done.

"Okay," Jake continued, his voice smooth, his tone serious now. "So you know when that leech guy, James, was it, tried to lure your mother in and nearly killed her?" He didn't wait for me to answer before he started talking again, but I didn't mind. I was too eager for him to reveal as much information as possible. "James' mate, Victoria the Redhead, was killed by your father in the plight of the newborn parasites. But, actually, none of us knew that Victoria had a wooer. His name was Richard, and he hated James deep in his entire soul. He loved that Victoria bloodsucker and gave her all his love, and so of course was enraged when Edward killed Victoria. He vowed to get his revenge on the Cullens. When he heard that Bella was still human, he'd wanted to give it a try, but she was too well-guarded by the other Cullens and he knew he couldn't possibly win this fight. So this Richard devised a plan, you see. When finally news reached him that there was a new member of the Cullen family named Renesmee Carlie Cullen, and that she wasn't even a full vampire, he knew had a chance. He sought for you all over the world, thinking that you had, by then, moved away from Forks. But you hadn't. And now Richard has finally found you, after five full years of searching, and he wasn't about to let his target disappear so quickly. His mind was full of vengeance, his heart yearning only for his love, Victoria, who had been killed some six years ago…By the very same family that his target belonged to."

I listened to the story, wide-eyed. Richard sounded ferocious. "How did Grandpa Carlisle know all this?" I breathed, trying not to look like my whole body was frozen in place inside.

Jake shrugged. "Apparently one of the European nomads who had come to witness for the Italian Volturi killers after Irina reported you as an immortal child, Charles, and his mate Makenna, they belonged to another coven, which was home to another pair of vampires. This pair was old friends with that Richard guy. So Charles and Makenna told that pair, that pair told Richard, and of course you know how this kind of news spreads quickly. Richard had a plan all laid properly out in place after he knew that you would be the easiest target, since you weren't full vampire. And you also know that your ridiculously twenty-three-year-old grandfather has a thousand ton of books in both his office and the Cullen library, right? He's got some on Vampire History as well, marking some vampires' journey from era to era, and that happened to include Richard's. He was born a millennia and two centuries before us, making him approximately 1200 years old…And he's been through many things. Why, he's even been a member of the Volturi guard before and-"

I remembered Eleazar with his peculiar gift of knowing what kind of gift other vampires had. "Does Richard have a particular ability, too?"

Again, Jake shrugged. This action was starting to get really annoying, though of course I couldn't stay mad or annoyed at Jake for long. "Uh, I guess, Nessie…I'm not really sure. You can ask your grandfather, he's still here. I think it's something to do with patterns…yes! He's able to sense when something he's desired is drawing near. Perhaps it's why he found you so easily…"

But my sharp hearing heard otherwise. "When you referred to my grandfather, Jake, what did you mean by "he's still here"?"

Jake looked uneasy again, just like when Grandpa Carlisle had wanted to apply that purplish-blue chemical on my vampire-comparatively-sensitive skin. "Um, Ness? Edward, Emmett and Jasper have gone to find Richard…"

He trailed off. I didn't need Dad's mind-reading talent to know that they had gone to kill Richard for revenge. There was no other possible explanation for this behavior. Even though it was three against one, I didn't want any killing today. And killing just because I got injured was totally not worth it. Do you know? Actually, it feels REALLY horrible when people have to kill because of you. Have you ever felt this? I'm not sure I've ever felt worse. Not even when Charlene called me a loser and that I was ugly in fifth-grade. Charlene had insisted that she'd meant these as compliments because I was way more a total lose and hideous than just plain "loser" and "ugly", right then. Well, did she even notice that I'm much smaller than I'm supposed to be for fifth-grade? I seriously don't think Charlene would say the same things if she ever saw Grandma Esme, Aunt Rosalie, Aunt Alice, and Mom. It would be, like, Hey, Charlene Scherable! Did you know? That young lady over there is my GRANDMOTHER! Those three absolutely drop-dead gorgeous women are my two aunts and mother respectively! Hah. It was fun imagining my human classmates' faces if they knew the truth, even with Alicia. Of course, they'd never believe me…oh, well. Yeah, we've gotta keep the secret, don't we?

As I lay in bed, thinking about everything that has ever happened to me, I heard a soft growl coming from the front door of the cottage. Mom and my two aunts rushed in, followed by my great-looking Dad and refreshed-and-relieved-looking two uncles.

"Richard is DEAD!" Uncle Emmett boomed. Uncle Jasper bounded into the cottage kitchen and brought out two whole bottles of champagne; enough for everyone to go around. Nobody noticed me standing in the doorway, but suddenly I jumped out with Jake and ran into Mom's arms.

Mom was taken aback, and so was everyone, but they soon recovered from their astonishment and everyone gathered together around me and hugged tightly.

"My little princess Renesmeeeeeee," Mom crooned over and over.

And so, as I'd mentioned before already, life is just perfect.

And even more perfect when you're healthy, with your beloved family around you, hugging you.

Most importantly, when the boy of your dreams is waiting for you.