OOOK people here is the brand new chapteeeeer This story is almost done, this chapter will be separated in three or four parts and the next chapie will be the last one, I know, many of you hoped and wished for this story not to end but her guys we got more than 20 chaps and my muse seems satisfied with what is done here so I will keep up with her wishes :) so please review this, the next parts and eventualy the last chapie of the story :)
HUGE thanks to my friend and beta Marla1 for her precious help :)
Chapter Twenty-one
Freedom or Death Part 1- The Vision of Death
Rosalie
I was under Alice's car, playing with the Porsche's mechanics, I was humming to myself as I heard everyone getting ready for the baseball match that was to take place in a while in a meadow close by in our property. As everyone got things ready I remained under the car waiting.
I grinned when I heard the door opening and closing, I could smell Emmett from miles away, his sweet smell intoxicating me, I felt a hand wrap around my ankle because my legs were half-covered by the car, my grin became wider when I felt him pulling me out from under the car.
When I was fully dragged from under the car I found myself face-to-face with my husband's familiar features. He smiled and kissed me, his hand traveling up my leg and close to my jean shorts.
'I love those shorts,' he whispered in my ear and I giggled as his hand caressed my tights.
'Don't even think of ripping them, McCarthy, you'll regret it,' I told him close to his ears as I could feel his hand tugging on my cloth. 'Besides, they're waiting for us to go to the match, Emmelie is ecstatic about it,' I said as I tried to stand up but Emmett pulled me in his hug and kissed me, I replied the kiss but we separated as we heard our daughter's heart and steps approaching the garage from inside the house. Emmelie burst through the door in her baseball clothes in a very Alicish way and frowned playfully.
'Oh come on, guys, it's baseball time, daddy-bear, let mummy go so that she can get ready,' Emmelie scolded and both Emmett and I laughed, after a pointed look, Emmett helped me up and gave me a last kiss before heading out, I smiled at my daughter as her father left.
'Is Alex here yet?' I asked playfully and got the result I was seeking, a blushing girl, sometimes I loved acting like Emmett. My daughter nodded her head.
'He just arrived in his dad's car, he is chatting with the uncles,' Emmelie said and I smiled and nodded my head as the two of us started for the cottage. In a few minutes we were there and I was changed in clothes appropriate for a vampiric baseball match. Emmelie looked above her head as she always did when we crossed the distance from the cottage to the big Cullen house.
'This time, we're gonna win, right mommy?' Emmelie asked and I grinned at her.
'If your aunts let me to be the captain this time, of course we will,' I said smugly and Emmelie grinned and nodded as she moved closer and I wrapped my arm around her shoulders. 'But it would be even more interesting if your dad is the boys' captain…' I said smiling and Emmelie moaned playfully.
'Oh, please, uncle Edward is right about you two,' she said and I laughed.
'What is my sweet little brother saying?' I asked and Emmelie grinned.
'That even after so long, you can't keep your hands to your selves,' Emmelie said and I laughed, 'And he is supposed to be older than all of your right?' Emmelie added and this time I grinned.
'Well he's stuck in his seventeen year old body, I was eighteen physically when I was changed, and your daddy was twenty, and we developed a bit more when we were expecting you so he's doomed to be my little brother forever,' I said and my smug smile was even bigger making Emmelie grin and laugh as she shook her head.
Everyone was waiting out of the house when we approached and we were ready to head for the woods, Alex grinned as Jasper piggybacked him as I did with Emmelie, Nessie wrapped her arms around Jacob's turned form and we all left for the place the match was to take place.
We arrived there in a few minutes, Emmett and Edward carrying all the necessary balls and gloves and clubs. When I came to a halt I felt my daughter sigh, she had got used to the speed ever since she was a little girl and Emmett and I were taking her for walks or baseball games in the forest. I looked at her and grinned as the sigh was caused because Alex was smiling at her from behind Jasper, probably sharing a personal joke with her. Edward would probably know too as he looked uncomfortable for a moment before getting distracted with Bella.
All the men of the family gathered in one team along with Alex and started talking, trying to decide who should be the captain, as we did. Emmelie smiled at me and I winked at her as she stole glances with Alex, glances that weren't unnoticed by Emmett who had his eyes pinned on poor Alex's back.
'I think Rosalie can be the captain this time,' Esme said and my sisters shrugged and agreed, like my daughter did, I smiled and nodded my head. 'But no funny business, Rose, you play fair, do well to remember it.' Esme warned me and I grinned but nodded.
'Fine,' I said simply.
'Fine,' Esme repeated, knowing I would at least try to cheat no matter what.
'Come on guys, it can't take that long for you to decide!' Alice called out as the men were still trying talking, Edward fighting with Emmett about who had led the men's team to victory over the decades of our existence more times. Emmett eventually won the argument, reminding my brother of a humiliating loss he had inflicted on the team back in 1966, I still remembered the winning, because I was the captain.
Emmett grinned at me, not talking; just grinning boyish as everyone started taking their position, I grinned back at my husband and laughed as the grin never left his face.
'Be careful, McCarthy, I won't let you win this time,' I told him playfully, pocking my finger against his chest, Emmett made a few steps back as I kept moving, he towering me all the time.
'We'll see Hale, you weren't so tough the last time we were captains…' Emmett told me and the grin left my face for a moment as I remembered the last time my team had lost because to his.
'Bite me…' I said huskily and Emmett's grin turned into a smirk as I felt his hand grazing against my butt.
'How hard?...' he asked huskily into my ear, making me shiver.
'Oi! You two, get your hands in your pockets and join the game!' Edward shouted from across the field, I laughed as I kissed Emmett on the lips once, my hand brushing against his chest as I moved away. 'And stop thinking so loudly!!' Edward added and I sighed and moved further away.
I was ready to give some instruction to Alice as the last time it was both mine and her fault that we lost but I froze as I saw her looking at nowhere, her hand clutching her chest. I rushed close to her as I was the first who noticed her, all the other occupied with other things or being too far away or facing Alice's back to see her.
'What's wrong, Alice? Talk to me!' I said as I held her by the arms, she looked at my direction but her eyes were still empty.
'The Volturi, they're returning!' she almost screamed and in a flash everyone was around us, Emmelie and Alex being the last ones joining after a few seconds from across the field, I felt my heart stopping at my sister's words.
'What are you talking about? They have no reason to come!' I said in panic and felt four hands touching me, only then I realized I had shaken my sister who was still in the vision, Jasper took my place in front of my sister as my husband held me a step away, trying to calm me.
'They're coming for Emmelie, they will require her turn and upon the outcome of it, they will decide on destroying her… or all of us, they knew she would be different, they had kind of guessed it. They will also turn against the Denalis; I can see Aro, and Caius ecstatic about this all. If Emmelie is unstoppable they will kill her and everyone who will try to stop them, if she's controllable Aro will take her in his collection and will kill anyone on his way.' Alice said and all of us were frozen, I could hear the racing hearts of my daughter and Alex's, the Volturis were coming, to kill my child, to turn her two years earlier and kill her if they didn't like the outcome, the outcome, the one thing I always feared of.
'They won't bring witnesses, they're…' Alice froze and Jasper held her tighter, silently asking her to elaborate. 'Newborns, they will turn humans into vampires the moment they have crossed the ocean; they don't want to draw any attention so they will turn them when they will be nearing this area!' Alice said and her eyes finally focused on us.
I looked around at my family; we were all frozen, feared, numb, perfect statues as we looked at each other. We knew the Volturi one day would come again, we knew they would try to take us down once and for all, but things now were so different, my child had no reason to be taken down or away from me, she was just eighteen, young, small, she had lived almost nothing of this life, things were so different now, so much more important.
The next think I knew was all of us rushing to get back to our house, we needed to be there as to start talking about what Alice had seen, we all felt venerable in the middle of the meadow, Emmelie was like hypnotized and I shook her in my arms trying to get her to come back to reality, she wrapped her arms and legs around me and I started running, I could see the rest passing me by and then I realized was moving slower, still hazed by the realization of what was to happen to all of us.
I moved even faster and in a few moments we were all entering the big house. I looked at Emmett, I could see all the fear and all the worry over his face, and I knew his face was mirroring mine, everyone's faces. I hated this, one more bane in our lives, could it be the last one?
'Could you see how long we have, Alice?' Carlisle asked and Alice looked around her worried, her eyes stopping momentary on my child and on Alex.
'Not too long, they were probably trying to distract me all this time with changing and unchanging their minds but they decided just awhile ago, I think we have about two weeks, they're gonna be fast since they will turn the humans here in America, and again, all of them are coming here, even the wives.' Alice said and we all nodded our heads, Emmelie snuggling close to Esme.
Two weeks, it was all we had, to prepare… but for what? How could we fight them? How could we stop them? The last time many things worked in our favor, the fear of the witnesses, the truth about Rennesme, the other covens were here with us, now what? There were no witnesses and nothing to stop them, they were coming with an army of newborns, of course, the oldest and best method in vampiric wars over the centuries, this is how they had took down all the coven during the Immortal Children times, this is how they had remained in power for so long, by stepping on others, this time, by stepping on us. Victoria had done the same and we had won but the Volturis weren't like Victoria, they knew the art of killing and winning, they had been doing it for thousands of years.
'We need a plan,' Jasper said and everyone nodded, I looked around them like I didn't recognize them anymore, what could we do? The Volturis were coming here, to take down my child and then everyone else, my little girl, my daughter.
'We need to gather everyone again,' Edward said and Bella nodded by his side. Carlisle nodded as well.
'The Egyptians won't accept to come again, I'm sure of it, the Amazons, however will come here.' Carlisle said and everyone nodded again. 'Alex, you need to call your parents,' Carlisle said, addressing the young man, Alex nodded his head and with Esme and Emmelie, moved close to the phone, he called his parents and as it seemed, Eleazar picked it up, they talked briefly and everyone waited for the call to finish.
'They'll be here in a moment.' Alex said when he finished the call, Emmelie moved close to Alex and hugged him, not caring for pretences in front of everyone, she did well, she probably didn't have a lot of time anymore. We waited for a few minutes and then there was a knock on the door and Bella rushed to open, the Denalis arrived all together, after a brief explanation from Carlisle and Alice, they were also willing to make a plan for our survival as they were next to be taken down in the Volturi's list.
'We need to split again, search for the other covens, see who is willing to come here, even try to inform covens with children like Emmelie and Alex, we need help here.' Carlisle said and everyone nodded.
'Maybe…' Eleazar started and I looked at him, wanting him to elaborate, Edward looked at him alarmed and worried, glancing between him, Alex and Emmelie.
'Yes Eleazar?' I said and he looked at me, Emmett and Carmen before speaking.
'Maybe we should turn Emmelie and Alex immediately, see what the outcome is and if we see that things are difficult to handle, we can send them away, it will help them to have a two weeks time to travel as far as possible, and time for us to recruit and fight here.' Eleazar said and I felt like snapping at him.
'No,' I said firmly, 'I'm not turning my child at age of eighteen, I'm not risking her to be out of control and I'm not sending her away from me, not with Demetri alive, no.' I added and looked at Emmett for support, when I found none, I was shocked.
'Think about it, Rosalie, maybe it will be the only chance of the two of them to survive, even as humans, it will be hard for us to protect them during a battle, it will be like bringing two lambs in a fight of panthers, they will mean them to die and we won't be able to hide them.' Carlisle told me and I turned at him, desperate to make everyone see some logic in all this.
'If they're newborns and away from here, from us, they're gonna kill people because of their thirst, they're gonna draw attention and they will die the moment Demetri will track them down.' I snapped and looked at Emmett again, pleading him to support me.
'Maybe we can take Demetri down before he can see that they're missing and run after them.' Emmett said and I looked furious at him.
'Or maybe we won't make it and our child will be slaughtered like a dog in some dark corner!' I said angrily and looked at Carmen for support.
'As humans or newborns, they are at risk, at least as newborns, they will have the time to run away and we'll have the time to stop the Volturi or at least their tracker from hunting them down.' Carmen said quietly looking with pain at her son. I couldn't believe my ears.
'Mom, enough,' I heard my child's voice saying and I turned and looked at her, my beautiful, doomed child.
Emmelie
I was numb and frozen, when Alice said what she saw. I felt like my world came to a halt. We had ran back home in flashes, I could only remember the speed and my mother's ragged breath, trying to calm down as she ran through the forest with me on her back.
And then they all started talking about what to do, and the Denalis came and started talking about either changing me and sending me away with Alex or leaving us be here and trying to hide us. I knew my mother wouldn't want me to be turned yet, I knew she valued my human years very much and I knew she wanted me to be turned as late as possible but right now I could see the logic in the others' words that my mother's fogged with fear mind couldn't see.
'Mom, they're right,' I said quietly, knowing I, and now even dad would make her listen. 'You can turn both me and Alex, give us at least the option of being stronger,' I said and looked at Alex, my boyfriend, the man I once wished to spent the rest of eternity with, now eternity seemed different, shorter.
'When we're turned, if we're controllable, you can help us remain calm and you can train us, if we have some special ability you could help us work on it, two weeks is not too short, and the bloodlust will help during the fight,' Alex said, mostly addressing his own parents but letting the rest of us see his reasoning.
'If they're not, we can send them away, two weeks are also enough for them to head up,' my grandfather said and my mother looked defeated, worried and angry at everyone.
'I cannot believe this,' she said and I closed my eyes, I hated the day I would make my mother desperate and now the entire Volturi coven was coming to take me down or away, the first of my kind, Alex would follow, our families were about to be destroyed.
Of course the Volturi would do something like that, they would want to show to the rest of the world who's the boss by either killing or keeping for their service the first of the new kind in case someone thought of changing their minds and heading against them, of course, they knew what they were doing, I knew Aro could kill my family and keep me under his control because of Chelsea ruling my emotions, I shivered at the thought, I preferred to go down with the rest.
Everyone was talking around me, trying to reason with the dilemma of turning me and Alex or not, I felt like vomiting, I knew that in a couple of years, give or take, I would be turned, but not like this, I never imagined the family's destruction would be the reason of my turn, nor I believed that there was a chance for my turn to happen in a few hours. When I woke up in the morning I thought my day would include baseball, dinner and some TV watching in my bedroom in Alex's hug.
I felt an arm around my waist and turned my head, I smiled at Alex as he leaned his head closer to me, inhaling my shampoo's aroma, we knew that even if we tried to talk our opinion more to our families, we wouldn't be heard, the people in front of us counted decades and some of them even centuries of existence so we both decided to let them think of what was the best to happen.
'I love you,' Alex told me quietly and I smiled as I caressed his cheek with my own, we had never completed our relationship as we were both raised by old people with old fashioned ideas but still, our bond had been great ever since we had realized what we wanted from each other.
Rosalie
I looked at them as I heard the whispered "I love you" of Alex's to my child above everyone's voices, I wanted them to remain like that, humans, normal, with choices in their hands. I didn't want to turn my child yet, not yet, when she had the potential of living more as a human being if we made it and fought. I wanted her to have the best and being a vampire under the fear of getting killed wasn't the best in my opinion. After arguing over everything we finally voted and of course I was outnumbered.
'OK,' Carlisle said and all of us looked at him. 'Rose, Emmett, Eleazar, Carmen, Jasper, Alice and Bella, you should stay here with the children, help them through their first days as newborns and Alice, try to keep an eye on the Volturi, and I'll do my best to be back as soon as possible.' Carlisle started and I nodded my head frowned, I hated this plan. 'Jacob, with Bella go and find your pack, try to see if they're accepting to help and then come back and stay here with the rest as they will try to help Emmelie and Alex,' Carlisle went on and the wolf nodded his head.
'Of course they will, they would want to save Nessie no matter what.' He said and hugged his young wife tightly. Carlisle nodded his head and continued.
'Edward, Nessie, you need to go and find the Amazons and Nahuel, Esme you'll come with me so we can find the Irish, Irina, Tanya, Garrett, you should go and find the Romanians, they'll be happy to fight against the Volturis… We need any kind of help and since the Egyptians won't want to come we shouldn't waste time searching for them.' Carlisle said and everyone nodded again, they started leaving, Nessie with Jacob and Edward with Bella being the first ones to go to their cottages, like that everyone were having a mission, I felt like exploding.
'Wait!' I screamed and everyone stopped and looked at me, I could feel Jasper's attempt to calm me down but I couldn't accept it right now.
I fought against it, Carlisle looked at me with worried and sad eyes, 'Who is supposed to turn Alex and Emmelie?' I said through my teeth, Carlisle sighed as he looked at the two children.
'Esme and I need to leave right now as to get to Ireland…' Carlisle told me and I looked at him in disbelief.
'I could do it,' Eleazar offered but my eyes were now glued on my child, my little daughter, I had been listening to her heart ever since she was a newborn baby and now she was to be a newborn beast.
'I want mom to change me,' Emmelie said and I stepped back, my mind numb in fear of what she had said was true.
'No Emmelie,' I said, shaking my head as she came closer.
'Please, you're my biological mother, I want you to be my vampiric mother as well, there is no time for granddad to do it and I want you to turn me.' Emmelie said and I felt like crying my heart out. The rest started leaving the room again but I, Alex, Emmelie, Emmett, Carmen and Eleazar were frozen there. I didn't want to turn my child, I had never tasted human blood and I was so proud of it, now I couldn't taste my own child's blood, my own blood.
'Please, mommy,' Emmelie said and I looked at her eyes, the eyes I gave her, I could hear her heart beating fast, I hated that she was my weakness and when I was saying no it should mean no.
I groaned as I was defeated once again in a day, I couldn't imagine someone else turning my baby anyway. Emmelie hugged me tightly and carefully, knowing this was probably our last hug in awhile, if she was going to be uncontrollable, hugs will be the last thing she will need.
In a matter of minutes everyone was ready to leave as Alice and Jasper had moved in the kitchen, trying to prepare everything for the turn. Emmelie was in Emmett's hug, sharing her last human moments with her father who she loved so much. Everyone was gathered in the living room again, giving kisses and hugs of goodbye, wishing good luck to each other. Bella hugged me tightly like I did, desperately, she knew exactly how I felt, of course she did.
'You fragile, little human,' My sister said when she left me and hugged my child. Emmelie grinned, my brave girl being able to grin and smile in a situation like this.
'Not for long…' she said and I felt a stab of pain in my dead heart, her words making the whole thing all the more real.
Everyone left, others in the cars, others ran inside the forest, everyone left in flashes and in less than five minutes half of my family was running to find forces as to save us all. I could see Emmett being uneasy with the lack of action but with a heavy heart, I knew that action would soon be huge here the moment my child would be a newborn, Emmett knew this as well so he tried to remain calm as Alex and Emmelie were all the more affectionate and caring with each other in front of their parents. I looked at Carmen and we communicated in absent heartbeats.
'Mi sustantivo, you should go to sleep for awhile… go and have some rest.' Carmen said and I nodded my head, feeling even worse as I tried to push my daughter to complete her relationship with the man she loved before it was too late for both of them. Emmett looked uneasy but didn't say a word, knowing our child deserved to feel maybe her last pleasure in life, a pleasure that both Emmett and I had decades to enjoy though our love. Eleazar also didn't say a word, knowing what his wife and I were trying to do.
Emmelie and Alex nodded their heads silently, blushing but never saying a word and the moment they were out of the living room I informed Alice and Jasper and all of us left the house, going for a hunt before the turns, after all, I was going to need my strength for what I was about to do: turn my only child forever.
OOOOO some of you guessed that something would happen with the Volturis and the Cullens and well... here it is, i was inspired to do this twist from BD when everyone is sure of the Volturis returning one day and trying to finish what they started well i guess that time is now :) Tell me what u think of the chapie, what u think of emmelie? and rosalie's denyal to turn her so soon and what about the rest of the family's reactions to the news and most importantly tell me what u wanna see in the next parts :)
Christina