I sincerely apologise for the wait for this. If anyone is still reading, THANK YOU and I am sorry. I will finish this story even if it kills me.
You meet a few generations of the Cullen Family in this chapter, it might be a good idea to look at the wiki my sister made for my stories to help you understand if you're struggling.
Bellanessiecullen. Wikia. Com (remove spaces)
In simple terms, Renesmee had a son called William, he had a daughter called Phoebe, she had a daughter called Aurora, she had a daughter called Priya (Clara's grandmother) who had a daughter called Madeleine (Clara's mother). I wont be introducing any of the other generations because it will just get way too confusing but try to remember this 'line' of the family.
This starts right after the end of the last chapter, you may want to read it again if you cant remember what happened.
Esther
I left the room after the revelation that Liana was after me, or at least knew that she had to get through me to touch the Cullen's. I found solace in the gardens of the Volturi Mansion. I remembered this place being built sixty years ago, it was purposely built in a 21st century style. The brick work was old, at least for the 22nd century. There were barely any brick buildings around anymore, that resource became far too expensive to make homes out of but my son in law and his father wanted to make sure it was sturdy and hard to destroy. The surrounding homes were also brick and each looked onto large gardens in the centre. I walked through the largest one and found a figure on one of the benches. It was Jasper, I didn't see him run from the room when Clara started to bleed out but I guess the smell of his singers blood would have been way too much for him to handle.
It was nice to have Jasper back, he had become a close friend of mine over the years, his mind was so interesting and I was the only one that could share his pain of feeling emotions of others. We often found each other like this when the other needed a chat.
"you okay?" I asked him sitting down next to him.
"yeah just needed some air."
"where is Alice?" I was surprised she wasn't at his side.
"she's gone to get me some blood. I was going to hunt but I wanted to work on my tolerance. The longer I sit here fighting it the better I am around Clara" he explained.
"I see" I said softly and let his ability run through me. I was struck with the thirst coming from him and the immense control he was displaying. I gripped his hand and the feelings coursed through me stronger than before. I had to drop his hand and turn off the ability.
"I don't know how you can handle it" I said to him almost having to gasp for air. He had smelt his singers blood and still managed to run away.
"me neither" he mumbled.
"well im proud of you." I said to him and rested my head on his shoulder. Jasper wasn't bothered by human blood like he used to be, not anymore but I didn't blame him for the resistance he held for being near Clara. It was excruciating for him. He spent so many years of his life in the human blood lifestyle. Even centuries later, most of the Cullen's didn't spend that long on human blood, he had troubles every now and then.
It wasn't long before Alice arrived and Jasper and Alice left me to go back to their house.
I stayed on the bench and thought about what had happened today. The information the young werewolf had told me was still sinking in and my brain was still trying to find a way around it. I couldn't hand myself over, who knew what power Liana possessed and if she knew my weak spots she would have me at her disposal but on the other hand I couldn't let her destroy the family that I had helped build. I couldn't let her touch the Cullen's, not one of them. So what would I do?
I heard someone approaching long before I saw them, then I could smell him before he finally stood at my feet. It was my husband. Of course it was him.
"Esther my love" he spoke in Bulgarian, the only language he spoke to me when we were alone. I didn't reply, I remained sitting there staring at the pond in front of me.
"Esther you are not to give yourself up" he told me strongly. He knew better than to tell me what to do, but he tried anyway. I smiled at him softly.
"you know you couldn't stop me if I wanted to do that Aleks"
"doesn't mean I wont say it" he said and sat next to me, his hand entwined with my own and I sighed in content.
"I have to protect our family" I said softly.
"I understand that my love, but think of another solution. I will not have you walk into a trap. Who knows what she plans to do with you and whether she would just give up after she has you. She wants to remove the Cullen's power. That's you, the Volturi and pretty much anyone gifted."
"that's 80% of the Cullen's"
"exactly" he reinforced.
"she wants you all dead" he added, Aleksander still had trouble referring himself to a Cullen. I got past correcting people a long time a go when they called me a Cullen but I still viewed them as my family, Aleksander did not. I was his family, me and our daughters. He had little attachment to the main family of Cullen's that weren't married to our daughters. I didn't blame him really, he was used to being the leader of his own coven, now he was just Lidiya and Anelie's dad who had their own coven falling to their knees around them. Aleksander hadn't been alive for long, only recently resurrected and he found attachments hard as it was.
I wasn't sure how long Aleksander and I sat there hand in hand. We were timeless beings and I found it hard to sense time passing when I wasn't thinking about it. It was beginning to get dark so I knew it must have been a few hours later.
"have you decided what to do?" Aleksander said to me in a whisper. I paused unsure whether to tell him the truth or lie. "you can tell me Esther. I will support you in everything. You know this" he whispered to me in the dusk. I turned to look at his face next to mine. My eyes locked with his and all I could see was devotion and support in him. This was a very different Aleksander to the one I had first met a hundred years ago.
"I'm going to talk to Zio and suggest we take the war to her. Fight on our own grounds. She's made it clear with the wolves and with Elijah that she plans on attacking us and taking me from the Cullen's so why wait? We should take the fight to her at least then we wont be taken off guard."
Aleksander nodded and his eyes fell to our entwined hands.
"then lets go talk to Pancrazio" he said before kissing the back of my hand and standing up. I followed him and we walked through the back door of the main mansion ready to tell the most powerful man in the world he was going to have to go to war with an immortal witch to keep me.
A Month Later
Clara Cullen-Taylor
I always thought that if the legends of my family were real that my ancestors would be these timeless, old fashioned, beautiful creatures that didn't do anything all day but talk and be with each other.
I never imagined the organisation, the skill, the power and the authority that surrounded each and every one of them. I had been more or less banned from the Volturi mansion as they planned to protect what they had. Certain members of the family were relentless and some of the plans I heard were unbelievable, there was talk of sacrifice and death and abduction and running away and it scared me. It scared me that my best friend was right in the middle of it.
Last night had been a full moon and my family had failed to protect Elijah yet again. He woke in the same place as last time. My family that were on guard simply 'couldn't remember' what happened. There were immediate theories or spells and deception and I knew that Elijah was in so much trouble if even vampires couldn't protect him. Our only hope was that this Cain person would protect him, he didn't seem to want to kill us but we weren't exactly sure.
Everyone was talking about Elijah and Liana and Cain and the wolves and I was just fed up of it. I had been spending a lot of time with Axton, just to get away from the supernatural. It was nice to have someone know about it but not be a part of it, talking of which, my family had a fit when they found out Axton knew who they were. Well only some of them. Most of them were fine, Bella and the women were supportive of me, they saw how much I liked him and since I hadn't told him directly they were happy with the situation. The Volturi weren't happy though, Zio was angry, I had never seen him angry before but I realised why he was the leader of the Volturi. Luckily Edward pulled me out and Carlisle managed to sort it out for me and express that Axton and his aunt were barely a threat and if anything they could help.
Edward wasn't angry more like cautious. He reminded me that he and Esther couldn't read Axton's mind and that it was a very frustrating situation for everyone when they didn't know Axton well.
"we have many enemies Clara, and we are blind when it comes to Axton and his aunt. I hope you know what you're doing" he warned me.
"I do I trust him" I assured him.
"and I trust you" he smiled softly before hugging me fatherly.
Spending time with Axton made me realise how right I was. He was just so sweet and interested in me. He didn't give much about his past but we were getting there. He was telling me things bit by bit, like how his father that died with his mother was his adoptive father and his birth father had died when he was a lot younger, how his mother and aunt were identical twins and that whilst he loved his aunt he didn't spend a lot of time at home because she reminds him of his mother and that he missed his sister terribly. When I saw him talking about Alena it brought an ache to my heart. From what I could gather, she wasn't dead. She was missing and I vowed that once everything was over with Liana that I would get my family to help find her. We had trackers in the family, in fact we had the best tracker in the world, she would find her, she had to.
"so what do you want to do today?" Axton asked, his hand wrapped around mine as we walked through the foggy streets of Chicago.
"its high pollution today, we need to pick something inside" I informed him looking into the sky. The warning beacons around the city were on amber. Most days they were green, which meant you could spend hours outside without it being a health issue but amber meant try and stay inside and only go out when necessary and red meant stay in doors at all times. I had only seen red once in my life, school was cancelled, shops were closed, deliveries were cancelled and you had to keep your doors and windows shut until the fog cleared. It was scary but my mom did her best to keep me distracted those few days. Amber was more common.
"yeah, could you imagine a world without pollution? A world were you can look up at the sky anywhere and see blue?" Axton said looking into the sky.
"My family tell me of those days all the time." I mentioned.
"I hope one day its like that again. They have to invent something that gets rid of all this pollution"
"I'm sure they will eventually but perhaps not in our lifetime"
"Oh you never know" he winked at me. I laughed not really taking his statement seriously.
"so want to watch a movie or something?" he asked as we came to the street with the movie theatre on.
"sure they play classics at this theatre" I smiled as we walked to the theatre.
After watching the extremely bad effects of the Divergent series, the second redo, we headed back to Axton's house. He had yet allowed me into his house but I tried to not let it get to me.
We kissed goodbye and I made my way to the Cullen's since I knew no one would be at mine.
Upon entering the Cullen's I was pleasantly surprised at the serendipity of the atmosphere. There seemed to be no talk of war or dates or tactics, there was music playing from the piano, the TV was on low on some kids show, which told me my sister was here and I heard voices in the kitchen.
"oh Clara! Just in time" Edward smiled at me.
"for what?" I asked just as the door bell rang. "who's that?" I asked.
"your great grandmother" he smiled wider and took my hand as he led me out of the room and into the hall.
Bella opened the door and immediately collided with a girl on the other end.
"grandma" the girl whispered as she hugged Bella tightly. The girl was about an inch taller than Bella, she was blonde and beautiful. As she pulled away I saw she had golden eyes. She was a vampire too. Bella then hugged someone behind her who I didn't even notice. She was blonde too but not a vampire, she looked human.
"Clara, id like you to meet my great granddaughter Phoebe, and her daughter Aurora." Edward introduced me. The vampire looked older than the human but only by a year or so.
"hi" I smiled at them, yet more Cullen's to remember. I vaguely remembered Edward telling me Phoebe was the daughter of William who was the son of Renesmee. She was an Immortal Human, because she was the daughter of a quileute and a hybrid. The wolf and vampire genes fused together to create a gene that rendered Phoebe immortal, at least age-wise. She was still technically human so she was able to die from injury or sickness. Aurora was her vampire daughter, who whilst born human wanted to become a vampire upon the birth of her daughter, my grandmother, Priya when she nearly died giving birth to her.
"Just need Renesmee and William and we have every generation leading up to you in this very city" Bella smiled at me.
"so you're my grandmas mom?" I asked the vampire.
"yes, my name is Aurora" the vampire said, she was very intimidating but I don't think she meant it at all.
"Hi" I smiled. "I'm Clara, Priya's granddaughter"
"I know who you are" she smiled. "I see my daughter in you" . It was strange meeting my great-grandmother and her being only a few years older than myself. My grandmother was in her fifteys, Auroras own daughter was double her age. I wondered what that looked like when people saw them together.
"Aurora!" Esther called coming into the room and the two embraced like old friends.
"they're sort of bonded." Edward explained to me. "they're both probably the most powerful members of our family. without them we would probably all be dead with the threats we've had over the years and we'll get through this one because of them too"
"Aurora's powerful?" I asked him. He smiled at me.
"extremely."
"what can she do?" I asked in a whisper as I watched the two blonde women hugging, they looked oddly alike even though if my family history was correct I knew they weren't related. I watched the two looking at each other, they were clearly communicating I just wasn't sure how. Edward winked at me just as my mom entered the hall.
"Aurora" She smiled.
"hello my dear" she smiled and Aurora hugged my mother. This was my mom's grandmother and it looked like my mom was meant to be her mother. I realised then that my mom had known her before, she had met Carlisle and I never believed her. My mom knew for definite but she let my live my life thinking our family were just myths. She could have proven it to me at any point but she chose to let me believe it was fake.
I didn't want to feel resentment and jealousy but I did. My mom knew our family, she knew how wonderful they were and never took me to them.
I felt Edward kiss my forehead and I looked up to smile at him guiltily.
"you know us now, that's all that matters" he whispered and tucked me into his side.
Whilst these women were so clearly my family after a while I was feeling left out of the family all of a sudden, here were two other members of the family further up the family tree and therefore closer to Edward and Bella and the 'originals'. What ever Aurora could do would change things and people were more optimistic with her here. I took myself out of the family reunion where everyone was fussing over Sophie and she was loving it and decided to go and find my mom.
When I couldn't find her in the usual places I went to other rooms I hadn't been to yet. One was Carlisle's study. I paused at the door when I heard talking.
"are you sure?" it was my mom.
"there is no evidence so far.. she's a perfectly healthy girl Madeleine"
"she won't be what phoebe is?"
"only time will tell, you carry the wolf gene so it's a high possibility yes"
What were they talking about?
"Clara how can I help you?" Carlisle asked suddenly opening the door. Crap. You can't eaves drop on a vampire.
"er I was looking for my mom" I stammered looking at my mom in the office.
"what's up sweetie?" she asked.
"im going to go see Elijah."
"okay but are you coming back for dinner?" I saw my mom was reluctant but she knew id go anyway, even if she said no.
"sure, wouldn't miss it" I smiled at the thought of a large family dinner, even if half the family wouldn't be eating.
I wasn't really going to see Elijah at least not straight away, I wanted to run home to get some family albums, I thought it would be interesting to compare pictures now some more family members were here and I knew my mom wouldn't have let me leave alone without any hassle, plus home was on the way to Elijah's.
As I got home I heard yelling from Axton's house. I was unsure what to do as I stood outside my house looking at his. There was no light in the house except for one window. It was still amber alert so I couldn't see far, everything was foggy. I knew it was Axton yelling but I couldn't hear a reply or what he was saying clearly. I took hesitant steps towards his house to see if I could hear better.
I stayed outside for barely a minute when the shouting died down. I was just about to turn to go back to mine when I saw a flash of light through one of the windows and the sound of something smashing extremely loudly.
I wasn't in control of my feet as I ran to the house. The door was open and I ran into the house.
The house was dark, it wasn't decorated and there was barely anything in the rooms on the ground floor. The kitchen had basics in it but it looked like no one lived here.
"please just give her back to me. ive done what you've said" I heard him begging. I frowned to myself and made my way up the stairs. There were no pictures around, no photos, nothing you'd expect in the family home of parents with twins.
"there is an issue. One of the wolves is rebelling, hes being protected by them creatures because of you; you have become far too attached to these people."
"what does it matter to you? the deals done. You know their powers and their weaknesses, ive done what you asked, please give me Alena back."
Alena? His sister?
"Axton, you don't understand. Do you think that is all I wanted you to do?" this female voice was familiar yet menacing. I tried to be brave. What would Bella do? Esther? They'd go right in there and ask what was going on. But they were vampires. They couldn't get hurt. I could. Before I could retreat I heard noises, crackling and snapping and flashes like before. I lunged up the stairs and towards the room. I opened the door to see Axton standing there his hands out stretched towards the woman, lightning in the room aiming at the woman. The woman screamed and the lightning bounced off her and redirected to Axton.
"Axton!" I called.
"Clara!" he gasped and managed to dodge the lightning. I didn't know what I was doing, the woman screeched louder. "Clara!" he strained and grabbed my arm. "im sorry" he gasped and suddenly my whole world was spinning. I wasn't in the room with that woman anymore I was somewhere else. I opened my eyes to see we were outside Axton was on the floor gasping but also crying.
"Axton!" I gasped and walked over to him, I was insanely dizzy though and I collapsed right by him. He was sobbing and punching the ground. He was chanting im so sorry over and over.
"Axton!" I yelled and pulled him into me, he wrapped his arms around me and started to breathe softer. "what the hell just happened?" I asked him in a whisper. I was scanning the area where we were. Where was that woman? Were we safe now?
"im sorry Clara. I'm so sorry" he told me as he looked up. he knelt next to me.
"you're a witch?" I asked. He nodded slowly.
"a warlock" he corrected me.
"why didn't you tell me?!" I gasped.
"because im not good Clara, ive done really bad things" he said.
"Axton, there is nothing in this world that will stop me loving you. explain. Please" I coaxed him.
"loving me?" he asked questioningly. Crap.
"Clara!" I heard a gasp. Edward and Bella came into view. Bella collided with me on the floor and hugged me. i hugged her back and watched as all the other Cullen's came outside. We were in the back yard of their house. How had we got right across the city? I looked over at Axton. He had taken us here to be safe. I relaxed into Bella's arms just for a moment but then thing happened too fast for me to catch up. Edward had Axton in a death grip. He had him in the air and Axton was squirming.
"stop it!" I screamed at Edward.
"he's a traitor! He's been spying on us!" he growled. I flinched.
"what?" I gasped.
"Clara im sorry" Axton said to me.
"how dare you use Clara to get to us?! she loves you, you used her!" Edward was fuming.
"I love her too! I do. I was spying at first yes but I fell in love with her. I realised that you're good people and I regretted every moment of it but I had to! She has my sister. My twin sister is all I have left of my family! and if I didn't mean any of this I would have zapped you on your butt the second you grabbed me. you know this! You can see it, in my mind. I'm letting you in, see my memories. I'm telling the truth Edward." Axton tried his best to say. Edward dropped him after his little speech.
"what did he mean zap you?" Bella asked.
"he's a warlock. He's been spying on us for Liana." Edward announced to everyone that was now in the yard.
"she has my sister" Axton begged. I pulled out of Bella's grasp but she tried to stop me going over to him.
"let me go" I begged her. she frowned but did and I walked over to Axton who had tears in his eyes again.
"I forgive you" I told him.
"what?! Are you serious?" I heard my mother call.
"why is he still alive?" I heard Zac say in passing. I glared at him.
"you don't know him like I do." I glared at my family. I wrapped my arm around his waist and he smiled down at me. "I don't care what he did. I believe him when he says that he didn't mean to do it. he loves his sister and I don't blame him one second. I would do anything for Sophie." I said and eyed my baby sister being held by Phoebe.
"what did you tell her?" Edward growled although people seemed calmer now.
"I had to tell her your abilities, and your weaknesses."
"how did I not know this?" Esther growled.
"you were the hardest to fool. I thought you caught on quite a few times actually. I made sure that I never came in contact with you, that you never touched me. I knew you would know who I was if you touched me, even with the block on my mind." Axton said warily.
"I had no idea" Esther said.
"I don't know why or what she's going to do with the information but she needed to know, I made an agreement with her that id help her in exchange for my sisters life." He explained then turned to me. "Alena's not as strong as me, she's far more powerful but it overcomes her, she's vulnerable that's why she took her. She helped us, made us more than what we were"
"more that what you were?" Esther asked.
"My sister and I were born from a warlock, I didn't know my father was a warlock. He died when we were young but when Liana found us she told us what we were, she taught us magic."
"can I?" Esther asked coming towards him he nodded as she placed her hands on his temples.
"he's an immortal warlock" Esther answered stepping away.
"like Cain and Liana?" Bella asked.
"yes, they are far more powerful than any witch you've ever met. I've only met one in my life, her name was Grace. She helped me a long time ago" Esther said reminiscent.
"grace? Like the name you took?" Edward asked her. she nodded.
"what makes him more powerful then?" my mother asked glaring at Axton.
"he's immortal, he cannot die and will not age. Normal warlocks have a life span, Axton wont die⦠but I don't understand. You said you were born like that, from what I heard immortal witches were made."
"she took me to this place, this cave with my sister. Some guy was there called Cain, he and Liana cast a spell on me and my sister, it unlocked our powers that we were apparently born with. It made us better. My sister was gifted stronger than I, she became overwhelmed with her power. She cant control it. Liana took her away from me. Said she'd help her but I haven't seen her since. Liana says that I can have her back when ive done what she asked but I don't think that will be possible now, she's probably dead after what I just did" Axton explained.
"you just saved my life, we will get your sister back" I told him then looked to my family. "right?" I asked, some were reluctant, as if they didn't believe his story.
"right" Bella was the first to say, I smiled at her.
"we'll get her back" Esther said next.
"what?!" Zac asked her in shock.
"I will get her back for him. I believe his story." She told him.
"Esther I know you have a soft spot for wounded and sad teenage boys but this is ridiculous, you know how powerful Liana is plus she wants you. She's already said she's after you, should you really be putting yourself in danger for a kid?" Zac said from my mother's side.
"I don't have a soft spot for teenage boys. I had a soft spot. For you. I am doing this to save a child's life. His sister is still with her and she is innocent and frightened. I will bring down the world before I let some witch murder a young girl, you know me better than that, I would absolutely put myself in danger for a child!" she told him, she didn't shout but had an eerie sense of anger and power in her voice as she spoke.
"im not saying let the girl die, I mean why does it have to be you who saves her? You're important and its probably exactly what Liana is expecting now," Zac tried to explain himself. He clearly cared for Esther, they must have had a thing.
"because I have to" she explained softening at his concern for her.
"she's powerful, you have no idea" Axton begged.
"I have an idea don't worry" Esther said.
"no you don't understand. She's like me. she's an immortal." He explained.
"we already know that" Esther answered.
"we'll find a way" Aurora said. "ill weaken her and we'll kill her." Weaken her? Was that Aurora's ability? To weaken people? I saw Edward nod subtly to me.
"no you don't understand, she cant die. She's like Esther, she's the original. The guy in the cave didn't call her Liana he called her Lilim" Axton explained.
"we're aware of the legend of Lilim and Cain but until I meet them I am not fully convinced that they're the real deal" Esther answered.
"they're real I know they are, you haven't seen what they can do" Axton's voice shook.
"even if they are we can distract her long enough to get your sister back. This I promise you" Esther said strongly.
"why would you help me when I betrayed you? I told them what you could do"
"they already knew what I could do Axton, Elijah said Cain knew my surname, something you were never told. You only informed them of our numbers and friends, not of me or Aurora, we are public knowledge."
"she's got a point" Jasper said to those listening. "he couldn't have told her more than what she could find out herself from others that have met us. She could walk into the Volturi court and find out herself if she wanted"
"It still doesn't forgive using my daughters love to get into this family" my mother said nastily. I was glad that everyone ignored my mothers comment.
I was angry at Axton, yes, but I understood. I knew why he did it and I knew that his feelings for me weren't fake. He was telling the truth, Edward had seen his mind now, he knew and I knew Axton wouldn't still be living if Edward had seen any indication that what he was saying wasn't the truth.
"so what do we do now?" Aurora asked and everyone's eyes fell on Esther.
