skydancer2ooo, Arianna21, Guest, Dimples-3, killer4853, Yas334, P. Cythera, Team1DUnionJcat : Here is your update!
Dark Neko 4000: You'll see, :)
Willow101: I can't tell you anything, but I want and will slowly develop my story to that stage, however I will not rush Riley to 'hunt' Hermione straight away just like that. Though you could say that I'm just about to finish laying the base for their 'stage' to start. So stay tuned.
EmmaM21: I won't say anything about Hermione being a vampire, but about Slash? I'm not sure yet. There won't be any obvious ones, but there might just be some implications. Who knows~
AN: Here is the next chapter! hope you guys like it, and thank you for all of your support! :)
Heaps of love and gratitude!
Lea
Ps. Just to inform you, I'll be rewriting most of the previous chapters soon. I'm not satisfied with it, so look out!
-BELLA-
Edward's icy fingers brushed my cheek. I looked up, blinking owlishly, coming back to the present as he leaned down and gently kissed my forehead.
"We're home, Sleeping Beauty. Time to wake up." he whispered.
Looking around blearily, I was surprised to notice that indeed we are here. He had stopped the car right in front of the house. The porch light was on and the cruiser was parked alongside Hermione's rented car in the driveway. As I examined the house, I saw the curtain twitch in the living room window, flashing a line of yellow light across the dark lawn.
I sighed. Of course Charlie was just waiting to pounce. I just hope Hermione will lessen the upcoming confrontation… somewhat…
"How bad?" I asked when I noticed Edwards mixed expression between hesitant and amused.
"Well, Charlie's not going to be difficult…" Edward Promised. "Don't know why but I think Crooks got something to do about it… He keeps on muttering about a 'deranged puff-ball' and an iron skillet." He said with a hint of humor. "Oh, Hermione and Charlie missed you."
I snorted. Leave it to the cat. Got to remember to give him a treat later. Although the little tiger do need to go on a diet with how round he's becoming as of late.
Walking to the front door, Edward insisted on carrying my bags into the house, although it was light. When we knocked on to the door, Charlie was the one who held the door open for us with Hermione peering behind him holding Crookshanks in her arms.
"Welcome home!" Charlie shouted while giving us a smile.
"Welcome home, Bella." Hermione grinned, giving me a quick hug and a kiss to the cheeks. "And you too Edward." She added, also giving him a brief hug while messing up his hair in the process.
Edward frowned good-naturedly and rolled his eyes, "Missed you too Hermione" he grinned back.
"How was Jacksonville?" Charlie asked.
"Moist and buggy."
"So Renée didn't sell you on the University of Florida?"
"She tried. But I'd rather drink water than inhale it."
Charlie's eyes flickered, a little bit unwillingly, to Edward. "How about you Edward, did you have a nice time?"
"Yes," Edward answered in a serene voice. "Renée was very hospitable."
"That's . . . um, good. Glad you had fun." Charlie turned away from Edward and pulled me in for an unexpected hug.
"I'm Impressed," I whispered in his ear as I hugged him back.
He rumbled a laugh. "I really missed you, Bells. The food around here sucks when you're gone."
"I resent that!" Hermione yelled.
"The roast chicken was burnt! My roast chicken!"
"That was only one time!" Hermione said huffed.
"How about that botched up stew!"
"And whose fault do you think that was! You put mustard! Mustard Charlie! Not to mention that you poured half of the salt in the jar into the soup when I wasn't around to supervise!"
"Hey now, that was an accident. It was the damned cats fault!" Charlie grumbled.
"Don't you go and blame it on poor Crooks! Don't you worry love, uncle Charlie was just being mean," Hermione crooned.
"Merrow" Crookshank purred while secretly giving Charlie the stink-eye.
Charlie returned it.
"Deranged puff-ball..." He muttered.
"What did you call him?"
"A Cute cuddly little ball of fluff." Charlie said innocently.
Hermione narrowed her eyes at him.
"Alright guys, cut it out." I said in amusement. "Dad, did I receive any calls?"
"Oh! Now that you mentioned it, you did. Jacob called." Hermione piped up.
"Yeah, He's been bugging me every five minutes since six o'clock this morning. I promised I'd have you call him before you even unpacked." Charlie added.
I didn't have to look at Edward to feel that he became rigid beside me. So this was the cause of his slight tension.
"Jacob wants to talk to me?"
"Pretty bad, I'd say. He wouldn't tell me what it was about, just said it was important."
The phone rang then, shrill and demanding.
"Speaking of, I bet that's him right now." Hermione snorted. Placing Crookshanks on to the floor when he became a bit fussy, and let him wander around.
Charlie chuckled. "No need to bet. I know it's him."
"I got it." I hurried to the kitchen.
Edward and Hermione followed after me while Charlie disappeared into the living room.
I grabbed the phone mid-ring, and twisted around so that I was facing the wall. "Hello?"
"You're back," Jacob said.
His familiar voice sent a wave of wistfulness through me. A thousand memories spun in my head. It felt sort of like homesickness, this longing for the place and person who had sheltered me through my darkest night.
I cleared the lump from my throat. "Yes," I answered.
"Why didn't you call me?" Jacob demanded.
His angry tone instantly got my back up. "Because I've been in the house for exactly four seconds and your call interrupted Dad and Hermione telling me that you've called."
"Oh. Sorry."
"Sure. Now, why are you harassing them?"
"I need to talk to you."
"Yeah, I figured out that part all by myself. Go ahead."
There was a short pause.
"You going to school tomorrow?"
I frowned to myself, unable to make sense of this question. 'Am I going to school tomorrow?' is he serious?
"Of course I am. Why wouldn't I?"
"I don't know, just curious."
Another pause.
"So what did you want to talk about, Jake?"
He hesitated. "Nothing really, I guess. I . . . wanted to hear your voice."
"Jake. If you just wanted to hear my voice you could have called me through mom's phone when I was in Pennsylvania. You have her number; you do realize that, right?"
"… I guess I might have forgotten about that one tiny little detail…?" he said sheepishly.
I snorted.
"Yeah, I might have figured that out by now. Glad you called, Jake. I—"
"I have to go," he said abruptly.
"What?"
"I'll talk to you soon, okay?"
"Wait, Jake -"
He was already gone. I listened to the dial tone with disbelief.
"Well that was short," Hermione muttered. "Considering he was calling nonstop since this morning I would have thought it would be longer."
"He hung-up on me." I said in bewilderment.
"Is everything all right?" Edward asked. His voice was low and careful.
I turned slowly to face him. His expression was perfectly smooth - impossible to read.
"I don't know. I wonder what that was all about." It didn't make sense that Jacob had been hounding Charlie and Hermione all day just to ask me if I was going to school. I mean seriously, there are many things you could ask.
"Your guess is probably better than mine at this point," Hermione shrugged. "You knew him since he was in nappies"
Edward stayed silent but there was a hint of a smile tugging at the corner of his mouth.
"Mmm, that's true I guess…" I murmured. I knew Jake inside and out. It shouldn't be that complicated to figure out his motivations.
With my thoughts miles away I started combing through the fridge, assembling ingredients for dinner with help from Hermione. Edward chose to watch and leaned against the counter.
The school thing seemed like the key to me. That was the only real question Jake had asked.
And he had to be after an answer to something, or he wouldn't have been bugging Charlie so persistently.
Why would my attendance record matter to him, though?
I tried to think about it in a logical way. So, if I hadn't been going to school tomorrow, what would be the problem with that, from Jacob's perspective?
Charlie had given me a little grief about missing a day of school so close to finals, but I'd convinced him that one Friday wasn't going to derail my studies. Jake would hardly care about that. My brain refused to come up with any brilliant insights. Maybe I was missing some vital piece of information.
What could have changed in the past three days that was so important that Jacob would break his long streak of refusing to answer my phone calls and contact me? What difference could three days make?
I froze in the middle of the kitchen. The package of icy hamburger in my hands slipped through my numb fingers. It took me a slow second to miss the thud it should have made against the floor.
Hermione had wandlesly stopped its descent and quickly placed it onto the counter, afraid that Charlie would come in any second. Edward on the other hand drew his arms around me, his lips by my ear.
"What's wrong?" he whispered.
"Is something the matter, Bella?" Hermione asked worriedly.
I shook my head, dazed.
How could I have been so stupid! Three days could change everything.
Hadn't I just been thinking about how impossible college was? How I couldn't be anywhere near people after I'd gone through the painful three-day conversion that would set me free from mortality, so that I could spend eternity with Edward? The conversion that would make me forever a prisoner to my own thirst. . . .
Had Charlie told Billy that I'd vanished for three days? Had Billy jumped to conclusions?
Had Jacob really been asking me if I was still human? Making sure that the werewolves' treaty was unbroken - that none of the Cullens had dared to bite a human . . . bite, not kill . . .?
But did he honestly think I would come home to Charlie and Hermione if that was the case?
Edward shook me. "Bella?" he asked, truly anxious now.
"I think . . . I think he was checking," I mumbled. "Checking to make sure weather or not I'm still human."
Edward stiffened, and let out a low hiss by my ear.
"Checking to make sure that you are still human?" Hermione inquired.
"We'll have to leave," I whispered. Not hearing a word Hermione said. "Before. So that it doesn't break the treaty. We won't ever be able to come back."
His arms tightened around me. "I know."
"Bella what is going on?" Hermione asked again in a stern voice, finally gaining my attention. "What are you not telling me." Hermione narrowed her eyes at us.
Well crap, how am I supposed to explain this, "Um…"
"Ahem." Charlie cleared his voice loudly behind us.
I jumped, and then pulled free of Edward's arms, I thank the lord for Charlie's timing though it doesn't change the fact that my face is getting hot. Edward moved to lean back against the counter. I stole a glance and noticed that his eyes were tight. I could see worry in them, and anger. While Hermione shifted and crossed her arms, her face contorted to one who's in deep thought.
"If you guys don't want to make dinner, I can call for pizza," Charlie hinted when he saw our lack of progress.
"No, that's okay, we just started."
"Okay," Charlie said. Instead of going back out of the kitchen, he pulled out a chair intending to sit on it, not realizing its current sleeping occupant.
Crookshanks yowled and hissed, taking a swipe at Charlie's backside as he accidently sat on his tail. Charlie yelped in shock and pain and quickly jumped off, glaring back at the hissing cat as he muttered profanities. In the end he chose to brace himself against the door frame, folding his arms grumpily.
Hermione fussed over her distressed familiar, temporarily distracting her while I stifled my laugh and sighed, shook my head and got back to work, I'll deal with this later.
-HERMIONE-
Nursing the steaming hot cup of tea while sitting on the counter of Ginny and Harry's newly rented house, I couldn't help but absentmindedly mull over the information I received last night after dinner, where Bella had practically told me everything. With some input from Edward of course.
To think that she was planning to become an immortal.
A vampire to be specific.
Bella Swan as a vampire.
I snorted at the thought. "Sweet merlin, of all things…" Shaking my head in disbelief. I've come to love the girl during my short stay, but I just can't wrap my mind around her turning in to a vampire.
"Something wrong Hermione?" Ginny asked from her place on the sofa, snapping me out of my musing.
She was running her fingers through little James unruly baby soft hair as he takes his nap on her lap. Poor dear caught the cold during the night. Teddy, on the other hand was out with Harry, heading for the beach as they decided that it was a good time for exploring.
"No, it's nothing. Don't worry." I said as I shook my head with a sigh.
I had hoped that she would drop the matter, however I seem to be out of luck as Ginny stopped and turned around, giving me her infamous look that practically said 'tell me or else'.
I stared at her in return, not wanting to give up, but after a while I sighed and relented.
"Oh, fine!" I huffed.
Ginny grinned triumphantly and quickly stood up from the couch without jostling it to much–which amazed me as it is quite an achievement considering how pregnant she is– and carefully cradled the sleeping toddler into her arms.
"Just let me tuck Jamie in and I'll be right back with you in a moment!" she called as she waddled down the hall to the kid's bed room.
When she returned, I was already sitting on the sofa, with two cups of tea ready on the table.
"Took you long enough" I joked as I handed her a cup.
Ginny shrugged "James woke up, and the little mister wanted his Snuffles."
"Now spill!" she demanded, taking the remaining space on the sofa, a tucked her feet underneath her.
I sat quietly for a while, pondering on how to start.
"You know my cousin Bella?"
"Bella Swan? The one you're visiting right?"
I nodded, "Yes, well… to cut things short, she is now dating a vampire."
Ginny gaped "A what!?"
"A vampire" I sighed, "Not to mention, she is also planning to become immortal…"
Ginny frowned, "Isn't there some kind of law here or anything?" she asked. "After the war, I know that our ministry had passed a couple of laws about vampire restrictions back in England. But do they have the same here?"
"There is," I nodded. "But you need to know that some of the laws set by the American Ministry pertaining vampires are quite loose. One of them actually stated that if, and only if the muggle found out about the vampires existence without external aid, and wished to be changed by its own free will with no manipulations whatsoever, then they are permitted."
"I'm sensing a 'but' here…" Ginny said warily.
"But, for us is slightly more complicated. Though the American Ministry got no problem with her turning, the tribe of shifters in La Push—"
"La Push?" Ginny asked warily. "Harry and Teddy went to La Push beach… will they be alright?" she asked worriedly.
"They'll be alright, Ginny. They don't show themselves to people in their wolf form. Well not purposely. They only appear in their in their forms to the ones in the know. Other than that they wouldn't be a danger to anyone. It's what I read from one of the files in the American Ministry archive." I ensure her.
Ginny nodded in relief and told me to continue,
"Well as I was saying, the tribe says a different matter on the ministry law. A treaty was made roughly around a hundred years ago by the chief of the shifter tribe in La Push and head of the Cullen family, Carlisle. The Cullens are only allowed to hunt and drink the blood of animals, they are not allowed to harm the citizens. Should the Cullens break the treaty by biting or hunting a human within their surrounding area, the tribe will see fit to destroy them." She sighed, pinching the bridge of her nose in frustration. "And now here is the cherry on the top."
"Oh boy." Ginny muttered. "Let me guess. There is also a law that demands her turning?" she guessed.
"Yup." I groaned.
"By whom?" Ginny inquired curiously, taking a sip of her tea.
"The Volturi"
Ginny spat out her tea.
Protego!
"Sorry Hermione, but Volturi? The Volturi? Are you sure?"
"Positive" I said while vanishing the tea stains from the sofa and rug.
"Blimey, I remember Bill mentioning about them one time after he returned from that international Gringgots Bank curse-breaker meeting in Italy. Some of the rumors Bill told us about them are quite nasty." Ginny grimaced. "So what does their law stated?"
"It basically contradicts the first two laws that I mentioned. Their law stated that no humans –in this case muggles- must know of their existence. If broken, he or she must be eliminated. Bella was only spared because of Edward, he promised them that she will be turned after their wedding. However, if Bella is not a vampire when one of them shows up to 'check' on her, worst comes to worst the Volturi will destroy her and the Cullens all together."
"Can't you do anything about it? You are her cousin!"
"I don't know," I groaned, leaning into the sofa. "They're like the vampire versions of pureblood supremacist." I grumbled.
Ginny whistled, "Well bloody hell that is one hell of a situation…"
I snorted.
"She is almost as bad as Harry!"
"Almost, Hermione. Almost." Ginny chuckled. "I don't think anyone in this world could out match my Harry's 'luck' at this point sweetheart." She sighed while patting her stomach as if telling the baby as to not be like the father.
I chuckled and poured myself some more tea.
"Ginny! We're home!" A voice suddenly called, breaking the silence and startling us.
There was the muted sound of the door slamming closed, and shuffling in the hallway. Speak of the devil.
"We'll continue this on a later date." I said to her, and Ginny nodded in agreement.
"In the living room!" Ginny called back to Harry, "Hermione is here!"
There was an exited gasp, and not long after Teddy barged in, "Aunt Mione!" he cried as he ran and jumped in to my arms.
"Hello little wolf, did you enjoy your time at the beach?" I asked as I gave him a smile.
"M-hm!" he said, nodding his head rapidly. "Dad took me to a cliff and we saw eagles! Real life eagles aunty! Just like in the telly!"
"Wow, that must have been fun!" I said, grinning at his enthusiasm.
"Yeah! And we fed them some fish!"
Ginny raised an eyebrow at that and turned her attention to Harry who had sat himself beside her with one of his hands on her ever growing stomach, "I thought you two were just taking a walk at reservation" she asked.
"We were" he replied, giving her a kiss on her cheek, "There were some people at the beach, and this nice old bloke gave us some small fishes he caught when he saw that Teddy here was interested with the eagles."
"Did you say thank you, Ted?" Ginny asked, turning her attention to the now bright orange haired child.
Teddy quickly nodded in affirmative and continued to chatter about his amazing day at the beach, telling the story enthusiastically while waving his arms around erratically, trying to demonstrate some of the things that he did. By the end of his very long tale, he was grinning and slightly out of breath, his hair had turned into a blinding yellow.
-BACK TO THIRD PERSON-
After a nice dinner with the children and watching a movie on the telly, Ginny saw the young ones trying to hide their tiredness and chuckled, claiming that it was now time for bed.
"But mummy…" Teddy whined, while scrubbing his eyes. "We're not tired, see!"
By this point, Teddy let out a big yawn while little James was still trying to valiantly sit upright to prove his point, despite the fact that his eyes are drooping. In the end it was a losing battle for the little guy as he finally succumb to sleep, and slumped forward.
The three adults and Teddy stared at the blissfully slumbering child and Teddy finally sighed and admits defeat. "Fine…"
Chuckling softly, Ginny gently picked up the slumbering James and hummed to him as he fussed slightly in his sleep. Harry went to pick up Teddy, however Hermione stood up and shook her head, "Let me," she said as she picked up the child into her arms and followed Ginny to the children's room to tuck them in.
Once the kids are snug, the adults decided to gather back into the living room, Harry had already prepared more tea and some biscuit to eat to pass the time.
"Hermione," Ginny started, placing her cup down on to the table. "I know that you said you came here to keep me company while Harry and Teddy are away, but there is more to it, isn't there?" she asked.
Hermione sighed and placed her cup on the table. Harry sensing the change in atmosphere just glanced between the two in confusion and placed his own cup down.
"Harry, you remember about that time when we went to the Flamels, right? When that boy, Josh came up to speak to me?"
Harry's eyes widened in understanding and nodded in affirmative.
"Yes. And just to inform you Ginny knows, I can't keep any secrets from her." He admitted sheepishly.
Hermione snorted, "Figured as much…" she muttered. "Well, I now remember what the purple stain on the jacket is." She spoke a bit louder.
"Then what is it?" Ginny inquired curiously.
Hermione bit her lip and took a deep breath.
"Venom. Vampire venom to be exact."
"Oh, Hermione…" Ginny gasped.
"Well at least now we can conclude that he is either turned into vampire food, or a new born vampire." Harry said while reclining in his chair.
"I'm pretty much sure it's the later harry." Hermione said seriously. "You remember all those missing people in Seattle?"
Ginny was about to nod before her eyes suddenly widened in realization as she connected all the dots and let out an exclamation, "Oh my Merlin an army!? They're building an army!"
Harry sat up straight, and quickly become tense and confused, "What army?"
"But the ministry! Surely the American Ministry of Magic would do something about this!"
"I don't know Gin, I've sent them a letter but they've not replied."
"But people are dying! The army would have to feed!"
"Hermione!" Harry bellowed. "What . Army ." he asked sharply.
Hermione took a deep breath and game him a hard stare. "A newborn vampire army, Harry." She said. "Someone is creating a newborn vampire army in Seattle."
"Bollocks."
-SEATTLE-
Two weeks have past, and the prone male figure face down in the middle of the room stayed lifeless. The spectators in the room grew anxious, it was only a second ago that the figures heart stuttered its last beat. It's only a matter of time.
The door suddenly opened and a porcelain like woman with flaming red hair entered, two men behind her followed, each hauling a person over their shoulders.
"Has he awoken yet?" She asked in her beautiful bell-like voice to the guards in the room.
"No, but his heart just stopped beating a few seconds ago." One of them replied.
She gave no response, she glance at the two following her with the bound soon-to-be victims and told them to place them by the walls.
Once done, she dismissed the four. The men nodded and silently left the room.
A whimper suddenly broke out from one of them, and the red haired woman was quickly upon him and smacked him down in a single blow, the man fell unconscious while the other hostage, a woman, just shook like a leaf, not making any sound least the red eyed demon before her turned her attention towards her.
"I see you're awake." She suddenly said, turning around to face the prone figure.
Then everything happened in a blink of an eye.
Flinching so bad, the only conscious hostage, Anna, could barely let out a squeak of shock and terror as she was now suddenly face to face to another demon, but this one with inky black eyes.
"So thirsty…" he rasped before roughly grabbing Anna by the neck and sinking his razor sharp teeth onto her neck without a second thought.
Surprisingly, Anna did not scream as the demon before her sucked her blood dry with terrifying speed. She had known that she was going to die the moment she was trapped in that alley. Her only last thoughts before darkness could consumed her was of her family, her poor husband who now would have to take care of their infant son alone.
Letting out her last breath, Anna Dylan nee Coleman was no more.
To Be Continued