Fight
We all stood on our side. Edward, Carlisle, Jacob, Renesmee and I all in front. Aro stepped ever closer and then stopped a few feet from where Edward now stood. Edward put Renesmee on Jacob's back and Jake, with his eyes always on Aro, walked back to my other side. Even if we would win in a fight, I didn't want Renesmee anywhere near the line of fire. My left side had the easiest escape route, and I was grateful when Jake neared ever closer to the safety of the trees. He stopped of course, not to cause suspicion. Then all my attention was on Aro.
He stood in front of us, surveying the scene before him. "So. This is quite a gathering. I doubt a union like this has ever been so much as thought of in all of history. Wolves, Vampires, half breeds, and albeit a Dragon." He laughed one of his too gleeful laughs. "Oh this is marvelous. Perfect. An exquisite discovery indeed. I have to wonder though..." He stared up at me with his deep red eyes. "Do you perhaps, know if there are others of your kind?"
"There are always five of us. When one dies, another is born. There are no relations or spells or anything to ensure that any one person will be a dragon. It's just random." I liked getting the knowledge out there. I knew that no one could attack us or do anything to our kind so there was nothing to hide.
"So you have met with another of your kind then?"
"No. They are spread across the world. I have only been out of America twice, nether time did I hardly communicate with any of the locals." I remembered the time I had gone with Alice to Italy to save Edward, and the time, not so long ago, when we had left for our honeymoon.
"Fascinating. Truly wondrous."
"Might I ask of question of you now Aro?" I asked with as much grace and respect as I could muster. He nodded up at me.
"But of course."
"Would you please tell us what your final decision is for the fate of my child?" I tried my best to keep calm, but the anger was starting to fester inside of me like an open wound. Aro simply nodded.
"I have judged not to destroy the child. She could be a great teacher, and it will be interesting to see how she progresses. It would be far too much of a waste." He turned then and flitted back to his brothers' sides. Caius was the next to speak.
"I see the child as a threat to our secrecy. A threat cannot be tolerated. We must keep the secret safe." He smiled devilishly, though his eyes were focused on me. Marcus made the last of the votes.
"I see the child as only a small liability. I say that if anything happens, then she will suffer the consequences. Just as any other immortal would." Aro nodded and looked back at us.
"And so we leave you in peace. Though I do hope you will visit dear Carlisle. It has been far too long and now it is your turn to come and see us. And the invitation goes to all of you. Visitors are always welcome in Voltaira."
"We will see Aro." Carlisle said. "As you can now see, our lives will be quite busy for a while."
"Yes. The offer still stands to join us if any of you desire it. Though I will say that if you do not make a visit we will most certainly have to come and check to see how the child is progressing. And with that we bid you adieu." The Volturi turned and left the way they came, their witnesses flying in all directions. Heading in different paths back to their homes.
Only when we were surely alone did the cheers start to erupt from behind us. We had won, though a fight never did ensue, we still won. I was so filled with such absolute, overwhelming joy that I knelt down and jumped into the air. Shooting into the sky like a rocket. I flew in somersaults and barrel rolls letting my joy spread through every part of me. It was bliss. I looked down and saw Edward, holding Renesmee and looking up at me in the sky. I folded my wings in and let myself fall strait towards the ground. I snapped my wings out just in time and glided only a few feet from the snow covered ground. I raced across the clearing and let myself begin to revert back into my vampire form. Reverting back was much quicker than the other way around. I quickly shrunk and felt my body tighten up as the long limbs and such disappeared into my body. The scales disappeared and I landed running into Edward's arms. Our lips met and we kissed lovingly for what seemed like hours. It was passionate, but not sensual. It was a show of true, perfect, love. Nothing more. Renesmee's giggling was the only thing that broke our loving embrace. I turned and took her from Edward and I twirled in circles holding her above me and smiling happily. We were safe now. Nothing on the planet could hurt us. Not a vampire or any other creature could tear us apart. I stopped spinning and held her close to me.
"Were safe now." I said in her ear. "Nothing can hurt us now. We are finally safe." I felt an arm wrap around my waist and looked up to stare at his glorious, pride filled eyes. Our family was happy now. We were all safe and well.
We all went back to the house to hear more of what was going on. A lot had happened and most of us only had our sides of the story. Of course, Edward's story involved all of the Volturi's secrets and thoughts as well as everything else. Everyone listened intently to his side of the story. He was enjoying this chance to tell what he had seen and witnessed through the others minds. When he was done with his elaborate story all attention seemed to turn to me. Red eyes focused on me thinking questions I couldn't hear or answer. I knew what their questions would consist of. I let out a sigh and rolled my eyes.
"If you have a question then just spit it out. It will all be in the open soon enough." I waited. Carlisle was the first to speak.
"How long have you known about this?" I shrugged.
"Since I was twelve. There's this big desert area behind our house in Phoenix and I went there to just get away. I just went there to think. One day I started looking through my own head and felt this overwhelming part of me. It was like it was caged in my mind, trapped there. I let it lose and..." I smiled. "It's like another entire soul, not trying to take over, just enjoying the times it gets to be out and free. It just makes me feel, good. I've only ever changed three or four times, but it's totally controllable. It's not genetic or anything, it's just there." I smiled up at Edward who had his arm around me. He smiled back, but I could still see the questions flaming in his eyes.
"What?"
"Why didn't you tell me?" He asked, keeping his smile. His question wasn't harsh or angry, just truly curious. I smiled back.
"I just didn't want you to know. You never would have found out if I didn't think it was necessary. I can keep it locked up as long as I want. It could have stayed dormant for centuries and you would have never known. You liked me when I was human and you liked me even more when I was a vampire. More like you. I just didn't want to have you see me as something totally different. Something so alien and strange. You know how much I hate being the center of attention." This made me look around at all the staring faces. Some began to turn away and move away from the scene, but others didn't seem to get the hint. I waited. Carlisle had a sea of questions for me.
"How do you know that there are only five of you at any time? You said you had never met another dragon, so how could you know that?"
"It's complicated. You know how I was saying that the dragon part of me is like another soul? Well the way I see it is that she has always been one of the five. It's the same soul, passed on to the next life. I can sometimes see memories or her past lives. At one point she and the others were together and then they all split up to be in their own lands. All her memories of others consist of the same four dragons and herself."
"Can you communicate with this other soul then?"
"I'm not sure. She never has spoken to me, but I can feel when she is happy to take her own form. And her memories only come when I question something specific that she has the answer to. I've never really tried to speak to her. It's like we are really one person, but at the same time it is obvious that she is her own being entirely. She bends to my will like it's her own."
"How did you know that this part of you was still there?"
"I didn't. I just went out on a limb and tried it out in the last minute. I had no idea it would still work after I was a vampire. Just a special surprise I guess." Then a thought occurred in my head. "So if I am a dragon then why can Alice still see me in the future? She can't see the wolves." Carlisle pondered for a moment.
"Maybe it's the two souls issue. She can see you and your being, but the other is a totally different being. A separate soul, like you said." I thought for a moment. It made perfect sense. Jake was always the same person, he just changed his appearance based on anger. I thought about this a little longer and looked back up at Edward. He just smiled and lightly kissed my forehead. He looked out the windows for a moment and then turned back to me.
"We can discus this tomorrow. We should get Renesmee home and in bed." I looked over to where Jake was sitting in the corner with Renesmee. She was messing with some of his hair, but the sleepiness in her eyes could not be mistaken. Jake picked her up in his cradling arms and walked over to us. Knowing that we could take her home tonight, when it had been in doubt this very morning, was enough to make my heart swell. Jake put her in my arms and gave me a friendly hug around the shoulders.
"I'll see you guys tomorrow." He waved as he padded out the door and into the forest where Seth, Leah, Quill, and Embry were all waiting for him. I couldn't help but smile at the perfection of the moment. Edward nudged me to the door and we broke out in a run to the house, leaping over the river and reaching our little cabin in just a few seconds. We rushed inside and put Renesmee in her bed. She had already gone off to her little dream world for the rest of the night.
Edward and I spent the night talking more than anything else. He wanted so many answers about all of this dragon stuff and he knew I was unable to focus when I was 'distracted'. We kept it to a minimum and I let him ask me as many questions he could come up with.
"So there are no rules at all for you?"
"Nope. We have no laws, rules or any bonds to keep us from our wills. If I wanted I could change right in front of a new station and let the world know about it all. The only problem would be my ultimate desire to blend in and be another insignificant person." He chuckled.
"You are very significant. If not for you then where do you think we would be? Where would we be if you never smelt so good, and I had never decided to be nice that day in Biology." I thought about that.
"I would still be a semi-normal girl, trying to get into some kind of community college and maybe be looking for a suitable boyfriend. Not Mike Newton!!! Or any of the other guys at the school." I shuddered at the thought of Mike in a suit and me in a plain white dress from his parent's store. I looked into Edward's golden eyes and he stared back into my crimson ones. "What about you?"
"I know exactly where I would be. I would be going about my life as I used to. Just the usual routine, school, home, repeat, hunt every two weeks. By now I would probably be thinking of which degree I should get this time at Dartmouth. And I am positive I would still be the loneliest vampire on the face of the planet." He brushed some of the hair from my face and tucked it behind my ear.
"I guess it's a good thing that you wanted to kill me that first day." I smiled and he smiled back.
"I guess it is. But I think the moment I decided, a life was more important than my own pleasure, was the best thing that kicked it all off."
"And the Van." I reminded. He laughed.
"Yes, that did set the overly protective instincts in gear, didn't it." I thought for a moment.
"Every time I was in danger, and you saved me just in the nick of time, we got closer and closer." I snuggled up to him as I said this. "And after what happened today. I don't think there is a couple on this planet or the next that could love each other more than we do. Fangs, scales, and all."
He laughed and we spent the early morning hours just loving each other. I was entirely happy and content. Only one thing brought me back to the world of normality. Edward whispered in my ear, tickling it with his soft lips.
"Jacob will be waiting for us to get to the house. You wouldn't want him coming to look for us, would you?" I sighed and sat up, never taking my eyes off of his. We stared at each other lovingly for a few minutes. I sighed again.
"Fine. Let's get going." I smiled and jumped out of bed, heading to the closet. I had gotten fairly good at finding some jeans and a few shirts in the massive closet. I was dressed and ready to go in seconds. Of course Edward was already waiting by the time I walked out. I rolled my eyes at him and we walked to Renesmee's room. She was in her crib leaning against a small pile of pillows and reading Little Women. She looked up when we entered and closed her book, jumping into my arms halfway across the room.
"Are we going to see my Jacob and Charlie today?" She asked happily.
"You see Jake every day. And I think Charlie would like another visit. We haven't been by his place in a while." I looked up at Edward. "Would you like to join us this time?" He smiled and wrapped his arm around my waist.
"Oh, why not. I'm interested to see what he is thinking about all of this." I smiled as we walked out of the cabin and headed for the house. I set Renesmee down and she ran alongside us. One tiny hand in mine and the other in Edward's gentle grasp. Just before we got to the river I caught Jake's scent on the air. He barreled between Edward and I and Renesmee jumped up on his back as they passed. We all jumped over the river and I wished so much that I had a camera. This was one of those perfectly, corny 'Kodak Moments'. We reached the house and took Renesmee from Jake so he could make himself presentable. This life was going to be perfect in every sense of the word. I just knew it.