Chapter 21: Ira & Dante.
I awoke the next morning with a sense of all encompassing jubilee and enthusiasm. Not only had I taken two major steps in my relationship with Eric—kissing him and agreeing to be his girlfriend—but I had also gotten a wonderful night's sleep without any nightmares. My stomach erupted with a swarm of butterflies as I thought about the kiss I shared with Eric the previous evening. It had started out gentle and slow, but rapidly became rushed and passionate—something I'd never experienced with Edward.
More and more, I was realizing that the differences between Edward and Eric were pleasing to me. While Edward had been guarded in my presence, always worried that he might lose control, Eric was free and blissful with me, which made me feel wanted. I showered and dressed quickly, opting for a purple long sleeve shirt and
a pair of jeans, before heading downstairs for breakfast. I wasn't surprised that Charlie was already at work, he was normally gone by the time I awoke, but was a little confused when I found a note taped to the refrigerator.
Bella, let me know what you want to do about Thursday –Dad.
My head tilted sideways as I tried to think of what I had obviously forgotten. Thursday? My mind had been so consumed with the McRaes and Eric that everything else seemed to have slipped by unnoticed. Despite all my hard concentrating, I couldn't figure out what Charlie meant, so I decided to ask him about it later.
I settled in at the table with a bowl of cereal and a goofy smile plastered on my face. If I was being honest with myself, I couldn't recall the last time I'd felt this way. Even with the Cullens, I'd felt awkward and inadequate; why was it so different with Eric and his family?
A knock at the front door shook me from my musings, and, after tossing the remains of my breakfast in the sink, I opened the front door. Much to my surprise, I found twin pairs of honey colored eyes staring at me, belonging to the most unlikely pair of vampires: Ira and Dante.
"Good morning, Bella," Ira chimed and smiled at me, her arm linked with Dante's.
"Your car service has arrived," Dante said with a wide grin and gestured to the waiting SUV behind him.
"Car service?" I quirked an eyebrow and inspected the expensive looking vehicle, which I had seen before, waiting in a patch of fresh snow. Sometime in the past eight hours, Forks had been shrouded in a winter wonderland of fresh snow. Despite my loathing for all things cold and wet, my mood couldn't be dampened.
"Are you ready?" Dante asked, after half a minute of silence.
"Oh," I stuttered and my face flushed a bit. "You guys don't have to do this, I mean, I have a truck."
I pointed to my red monster, which looked frozen solid under a bed of fresh snow and ice. Balking at the sight of it, I found Ira and Dante chuckling at my appearance. Rubbing my hand behind my neck, I weighed my options; I could get dressed and spend the next half an hour trying to defrost the outside of my car, and, in the process, probably slip a dozen times, or I could ride with Ira and Dante.
I didn't have to be a rocket scientist to see the obviousness of my choices. So, with a resigned smile, I invited them in while I finished getting ready. Ira and Dante were still very mysterious to me; I had gotten to know almost all the other McRaes except them. Whenever I sat with their family during lunch, they seemed to disappear into their own little bubble, which made the desire to learn more about them than much stronger.
"So, where are the others?" I asked as I carried my backpack down the stairs and found them snuggling on the living room sofa. It was wonderful that the sight of such affection didn't cause an intense in my chest.
"The family went…hunting." Ira's voice faltered a little bit but, when I looked in her direction, her face was perfectly composed. "Avarice, Argos, Dante, and I stayed behind."
That meant that Skye, Melena, and Eric were gone. An unsettling feeling washed through me and I felt the distance between Eric and I briefly. I pulled my heavy jacket on and sighed as I buttoned it, wishing that he was here.
"How long will they be gone?" I implored as I picked up my backpack from the floor, ready to leave for school.
Ira and Dante rose, in the same graceful manner, from the couch and began ushering me out the door. It wasn't until we were outside, and I had locked the door, that they answered my question.
"They should be back very soon," Dante said, his crisp English accent soothing me. "They weren't planning on going very far."
"Eric said he'll try to be back by lunch," Ira said with a tiny smile, which I assumed meant she knew that Eric and I had decided to officially become a couple.
"Well, there's no need to rush," I insisted and shrugged as we all climbed into the warm SUV. "I mean, hunting is important, I'll be fine."
Ira and Dante exchanged looks before we headed to school. Some part of me couldn't help but wonder if they were telling me the truth. The glances I received from Dante in the rearview mirror, and the flighty responses Ira gave me were starting to sound odd. Regardless of what was going on, I felt best not to push, I didn't want to annoy them—and I could always ask Eric when he resurfaced.
Upon arriving to school, I was surprised by how quickly my chauffeurs ushered me into the school and out of the frigid weather. They talked continuously about their classes and inquired as to my plans for Thursday.
"Why?" I asked, curious how everyone could have plans for Thursday when I wasn't even sure what it was. "What's on Thursday?"
"You don't know?" Ira looked at me in disbelief and, after I shook my head, she added, "Bella, it's Thanksgiving. I thought all American's celebrated that holiday."
I stopped as I walked right into a reality check; it was already the end of November? My mouth gaped wide as I marveled at the fact that so much time had gone by. It seemed like just a few days ago that Ary had introduced herself to me and I had found out all about the McRaes.
My hand came up to my forehead with a soft smack. "That's what Charlie was talking about!"
"Who's Charlie?" Dante responded with a curious cocked head, which almost made me laugh.
"My dad," I replied and groaned as I realized I would probably be cooking all day on Thursday. Making a large meal actually didn't sound that bad—I hadn't been able to cook since Ary came over—so I made a resolve to stop by the grocery store after school. I refocused on my current conversation with the McRaes and found them both staring at me with playful smiles.
"You call your own father 'Charlie'?" Ira's eyebrows rose and she snickered at me, which, in turn, made my cheeks flush a bright red.
"Y-Yeah," I stumbled a bit, and, after a beat, added, "that's what happens when your parents are divorced."
"I'm sorry, we don't follow," Ira replied after a short look to Dante that ended with a simultaneous headshake.
"Oh." I exhaled, wondering how much I should delve into my personal life. I didn't want to bore them too much. "Well, growing up, my mom would always refer to my dad as 'Charlie', so that's what I knew him as."
"How very odd," said Ira with a disapproving stare.
"Were your parents any better, dear?" Dante quipped humorously, which caught her attention in less than half a second, before turning to me. "Ira's parents sent her to live with her wealthy Uncle, so she'd have more of 'a chance'."
"A chance?"
"Dante," Ira warned and narrowed her eyes. "I've told you, leave my family out of this."
"But they only reason they sent you to your Uncle's estate," he challenged firmly, "was so you could impress one of the local Lords."
Ira's eyes fell to the floor and a disheartening frown spread across her face. With a deep sigh, she closed her eyes and wrapped her arms around herself. The sight reminded me of myself; whenever I'd wanted to fortify myself against the pain of my memories in the past, I would do just such a thing. I would close myself off.
I reached forward and tenderly touched Ira's shoulder, and, as her eyes
opened and found mine, I smiled at her. "I'm sure your parents were sad to see you go, Ira."
The smile she gave me was small, but it was there nonetheless. She exhaled loudly and threw an agitated look at her husband, who stroked her long dark hair. He leaned in and whispered something to her. Whatever he said, it did the trick, because her smile became larger and she kissed him softly on the cheek. All was right again.
At some point, I had apparently become the official liaison for the McRae family, for, as soon as it became apparent that Ira and Dante were the only ones in school, all my human friends came to me with questions about the absence of the others. While I sat in Spanish class, Jessica attempted to get more and more information from me about the McRaes, their lack of appearance in school, and my newfound relationship with Erickson.
"Bella!" Jessica whispered loudly as the teacher wrote a practice sentence on the board. Seeing no way of avoiding her, I turned to her and raised my eyebrows in a questioning manner. "So, where are the McRaes at?"
at?"
"They're doing some family thing," I said offhandedly and shrugged.
"Then why are those other two here?" she pressed, her eyes challenging me to find an excuse.
"How should I know?" I whispered harshly, thoroughly annoyed with Jessica's incessant nosey questions. Why couldn't she just leave me alone? "Ira told me that Melena, Eric, and Skye are out of town at the moment."
"I'd be careful if I were you, Bella," Jessica replied in a snobby, know-it-all voice.
The teacher turned around and glared at the two of us, forcing us into silence. However, I couldn't help the aching curiosity to know what Jessica meant. So, when the Senora turned her back to us again, I softly tore a sheet of paper from my spiral and wrote down a question before handing it to Jessica.
What do you mean by that?
Jessica read the note and scoffed softly before replying. Your boyfriend went out of town with two girls who are, let's face it Bella, more attractive than you. Aren't you just the tiniest bit curious what they're doing? Jessica's words were venomous and suggested that Eric would cheat on me with his own family.
The fact that she didn't know anything about them reassured me that she was, and always would be, an idiot. I rolled my eyes and folded up the paper knowing, wherever he was, I could trust Eric.
This wasn't the end of Jessica's interrogation though. As I headed out of Spanish, she practically latched onto me, questions spilling endlessly from her mouth, like a faucet. My head was spinning by the time I reached my next class and shook her off. She felt like a leech—draining all the energy and emotion from me.
Unfortunately, I was walking into math class, which meant Mike would be waiting for me. We hadn't spoken since Eric confronted him in the parking lot the day before, so I wasn't sure how he was going to act around me. I took a deep breath, as I caught sight of his back turned towards me, and headed in the classroom.
"Hey Bella!" Eric Yorkie chimed as I crossed in front of their group, and I stopped to smile at him and Mike.
"Hey, guys," I greeted them softly and acknowledged each of them: Eric, Ben, Angela, and, last but not least, Mike.
"Hi, Bella," Mike muttered without genuinely looking at me.
Part of me wanted to apologize for Eric's behavior, but the other part of me was happy that Mike was no longer panting over me like a thirsty dog. So, I merely heaved a sigh and returned my attention to the others who were speaking to me.
"Hey, where are the rest of your buddies?" Ben asked politely as he gripped Angela's hand under the desk. "They're usually in the parking lot when I get here every morning."
"Oh, yeah," I nodded and shrugged, "a few of them had to go out of town for the day, I think. But, they might be back before school ends today."
"Really?" Mike cringed as if I had said the McRaes had gone to steal cars. "Man, if I got the day off, I'd spend it relaxing at home."
"Same here!" Ben agreed and added, "Total X-box party!"
"Dude, word!" Mike jeered and high fived Eric.
The bell rang, startling me a bit, and I moved to take my seat next to Angela. She smiled timidly at me before opening her book and pulling out a pencil. Angela was one of my favorite friends. She didn't press like Jessica, and she wasn't overbearing like Mike—she was perfect.
For the next hour, rather than think about Eric's absence—as I would have with Edward—I completely engulfed myself in equations and numbers. Since I had been neglecting my studies, I found that I had a lot to catch up on. I leaned against my elbow and studied the problem in front of me intensely, trying to figure out if I was supposed to move the one to right or left of the equal sign, when a sudden chill swept through my body.
My brow furrowed as I turned my attention to my forearm, and noticed that all the hair was standing straight up. My skin was covered with goose bumps as well, which I found extremely odd, given I wasn't cold. This reaction only came with one other incident; I felt like I was being watched.
My eyes panned around the room, as I wondered if one of my classmates could be watching me, but everyone's eyes were facing their own papers. I turned my attention back to the worksheet in front of me, and, not knowing why, I turned my head to stare out the window.
The parking lot was devoid of any life, and, with the exception of the cars, it was remarkably empty. At this time a day, so close to lunch, it would normally see teachers hurrying to their cars or returning from picking up food. Today, there was nothing.
As my gaze roamed over the parking lot, a sudden burst of color caught my attention, and, what I saw made my mouth hang open. Standing beyond the lot, almost hidden among the thick brush, was the same white-blonde individual from the day before.
In the muddled daylight, I could tell that the stranger's hair was extremely light blonde, not white. The brilliant locks of hair fell to the shoulders of the strange individual, who was staring straight at me.
"Miss Swan?" I jumped as the instructor called my name, and cringed as I saw his annoyed expression. "Is there something interesting outside?"
My face flushed heavily as I shook my head and lowered my eyes to the math problems.
As I diligently returned to my studies, I chanced one last look out the window; the stranger was gone.
By the time lunch rolled around, I was still nervous about seeing the strange person again. I couldn't stop wondering whether I was really seeing him, or if he were a figment of my imagination; after all, it wouldn't have been the first time I hallucinated. To be honest, I didn't even know if what I'd seen was a man or a woman.
Regardless, I once again found myself debating whether or not I should mention it to the McRaes. I finally decided that silence was the best option. If there was a problem, then they would certainly pick up on it and warn me—that's what the Cullens always did.
But the McRaes aren't the Cullens.
In spite of my subconscious logic, I said nothing when Ira and Dante greeted me after math class. They both gave me inquisitive looks when I continuously looked around the courtyard, trying to see if the stranger was anywhere close by.
"Are you all right?" Ira inquired with a tilt of her head.
"I'm fine," I lied, not wanting to alarm them when I didn't know if there was anything to be alarmed about. "Just a little on edge today."
"I can understand that," Dante agreed and, after receiving a look of pure curiosity from Ira, added, "these teenagers are going to be the death of me!"
"Oh, come on," I teased, trying to stick up for my own generation. "Were things really different when you two were my age?"
"Much different!" Dante exclaimed with an overdramatized look of horror.
"Indeed, Bella." Ira nodded and her face took on a wistful expression. "Life back then was…simple."
"How so?" I asked as we took a seat at our normal table, thoroughly intrigued by Ira and Dante's history. Ary had told me they came from an entirely different world that the rest of them, and I was anxious to hear it.
"In my era, Bella," Ira began, leaning closer so that only she, Dante, and I could hear the conversation, "a woman's fate was decided when she was born. My job, as a female, was to marry by a certain age and bear my husband an heir. That was it."
"Whereas, my life," Dante picked up where Ira left off, "was completely free to do as I pleased. A man could marry at any time in his life; only women had a deadline."
"What a wonderful way of putting it, Dante," Ira said, with a hint of sarcasm in her words, and Dante winked at her. "He's definitely right, though. My parents were devastated when I was not married by the age of seventeen. So, they sent me to my Uncle's home."
"Why your Uncle?" I couldn't see how sending Ira to her Uncle's house would get her married any quicker. Unless they wanted her to marry her Uncle…that's gross.
"My Uncle Phillip was very wealthy," Ira informed me and her wide facial expression gave me an idea of just how wealthy Uncle Phillip was. "My mother and father believed that, if I spent enough time in his estate, I might be introduced to one of Uncle Phillip's rich friends."
I turned my eyes to Dante, who was tracing the contours of his wife's palm with his fingers, and wondered if Dante had been one of those rich friends. It made sense; how else could they have met?
"So, that's how you met Dante," I surmised with a nod.
"Oh, no, Bella," Ira said with a laugh and waved her free hand in front of her. "I didn't meet him until about ten years later. You see, unbeknownst to my Uncle, one of his acquaintances was a vampire. During a party, I was pulled back into one of the empty corridors by a strange, exotic looking man. Being a naïve teenager, I was instantly overwhelmed by his beauty and grace. I was the perfect target."
"What happened?"
"By the time they heard my screams," Ira lowered her eyes to the table, "it was almost too late. The man was about to finish up when my Uncle and a few others discovered us. I don't remember too much of what transpired, but, sometime in the struggle, my Uncle was bitten as well."
"Wait, your Uncle was changed into a vampire?"
"Yes," Ira nodded and chuckled before adding, "he's currently living in London."
"Wow," was all I could think to say. "So, Dante, how do you figure into all this?"
"Ten years after they were changed," Dante said, wrapping his arm around Ira and pulling her a bit closer, "I was sent to work in the house as a field hand and servant. However, once Ira and I set sights on one another, the plans changed."
"Despite my attraction to the help," she said and arched an eyebrow at Dante, who showed a little annoyance at being referred to as the help, "I tried my best to stay away from Dante, who found every excuse to see me. It was just as endearing as it was annoying."
"So, then what?" Ira and Dante's story was indeed very simple, so romantic.
"I figured it out," Dante leaned back in his chair, pulling his hands behind his head.
Ira let out an irritated sigh before nodding. "Yes, he did."
"How?" The only reason I had been able to figure out the Cullens were vampires were online research and worming a few bits of Quileute lore from Jacob Black. Since Dante didn't have those advantages, I wondered how he managed to figure out that Ira and her Uncle were vampires.
"He caught us hunting," Ira answered and crossed her arms, giving Dante a look of contempt. "I could have killed you, you know that?"
"She still gets like this, Bella," Dante laughed and kissed Ira on the cheek. "I love your irrelevant concern, darling."
"Well, either way," Ira said and waved Dante away. "My Uncle and I had started experimenting with hunting animals. He had heard about it on a trip to Italy. His estate had plenty of wildlife for us to hunt. This boy was wandering around late one night. I had taken down a decent size buck, and was sating myself, when I looked up and spotted him gawking at me through the moonlight."
"What did you do?" My eyes were wide as I tried to imagine what I would
have done in such a situation. What would've happened if I had seen Edward hunt? I quickly shut down the idea, given that he was so adamant that I would never see him in such a manner.
"She grabbed the deer and ran!" Dante chortled and laughed the hardest I'd ever seen him laugh before. "I had to keep myself from laughing."
"After that," Ira narrowed her eyes at her husband and he smiled broadly at her, "Dante approached my Uncle at the house and revealed that he knew what we were."
"How did you figure it out?" I asked, still unsure how Dante knew about vampires to begin with.
"I was obsessed with them as a child," Dante said, his eyes lighting up with enthusiasm. "My father and Grandfather would tell me stories about them. Of course they weren't fooled by the legends; they knew that vampires wouldn't burn in the sunlight or be killed by a piece of wood. They were smarter than the rest."
"What's it like, I mean, becoming a vampire?" I knew, from my many talks with Edward, that it was painful, but I still wanted to know more. Edward hadn't told me much, since he didn't want me to become like him. Now, I guess, I could see why; he hadn't wanted to deal with me for all eternity.
"It's very painful, Bella," Ira said seriously and, after she shared a look with Dante, added, "you'll know that pain one day."
"What are you talking about?"
"You belong to Eric now, do you not?" Ira looked at me with an exceedingly confused frown.
"I…yes…I guess," I stuttered a bit, still feeling a little weird saying such a thing.
"Then eventually you will be changed like the rest of us," Ira said in a nonchalant voice, like it was no big deal. "So, you will find out for yourself what the change is like."
"You're going to ch-change me?" I could hardly finish the sentence, it sounded too good to be true. Edward was so against me becoming like him that I had written off ever becoming a vampire.
"If it's what you wish," Dante said before adding, "it's what Erickson wants."
My mind was a whirlwind of emotions and thoughts, each one different from the next. My main desire to become a vampire was to be with Edward forever, and, since he obviously didn't feel the same way about me, now immortality seemed pointless. However, the chance to be with the McRaes—especially Ary and Eric—for eternity was sounding pretty darn good.
As I watched Ira and Dante retreat into their little bubble of happiness, I wondered if Eric and I could be like that. In fifty or a hundred years, would we be able to lose ourselves in our own little world, like the two sitting in front of me? The question, so vague and strange, seemed to be important, but, for the moment, I pushed it off and enjoyed the remainder of my lunch.
Author's Note: repost