Foreign
I was beginning to get used to the routine. Pretty simple. Wake up. Leave hotel. Head to some different country in the next five hours. Repeat. There wasn't much interesting about my life right now. But today, I was preparing for a possibly pleasant change. Or an unpleasant change. Just some variation from my regular day.
We pulled up to a little village in the depths of the forest. Russia sure had impressive forests. Even thicker than Forks. Home. We were never going to see that huge white mansion again. Or the little stone cottage. Or- no, I didn't want to think of that. Of my family. Of the rest of the werewolves. Of the rest of the humans to which I'd become attached. I tried to see the brighter side of this. I'd see Mom and Dad again. But I'd be forced to cooperate with the Volturi- and Jane- to earn that privilege. We'd all finally be free from harm. But some of us might not be allowed to come. I could find a punishment to every upside of this situation. It was officially going to become a living hell. Unless they decided to kill us instead of take us in. But I'd be in hell either way.
An Indian man walked to the car; he looked nice enough. Carlisle and Emmet were on either side of him. Esme followed close behind.
"Hello," the man said, "You may call me Blackwater." I hated hearing that. It sounded just like another family I longed to see again. I couldn't bring myself to be able to stand seeing their faces in my mind.
"We are honored you have come to us for help," he continued, "And we are sorry you have come out of your way to get here. We realize our sister tribe is in danger, but sadly, we are not able to help. We apologize. Please understand." I didn't think we'd need any help. The plan was for the Volturi to accept us.
"Thank you, Blackwater, we fully understand. Thank you for considering, though. We truly appreciate it." Carlisle must have a gift with making treaties or something.
"Good luck," Blackwater muttered. He turned and walked away. I hadn't realized the Volvo was here as well until the others began piling into it. Esme came up and pulled me into a tight embrace, if that's considered the correct wording. She said nothing, just hugged me a while longer and then set me back in the seat. I could never really think of Carlisle and Esme as grandparents. I guess you had to have the signature grey hair and wrinkly skin to truly fit the profile. They could never hit that mark. No one I knew could. Well, actually, a lot of people I knew could- and it was inevitable that they would. The majority of people- although people would be the wrong term- would never age. Ever. I would. For about five years. Then it would stop. That's assuming I get to live for another five years.
We had gotten past the Russian border about five minutes ago. I wasn't sure what country we were in now. Italy was a few hours away. Hours. I never wanted to pick up the driving habits of a vampire. Eighty miles per hour was generally all I could ever see myself driving. But it was a pretty efficient method of transportation- one-fifty MPH. You could get across the U.S. in under a day if you were riding with the Cullens. Of course I'd never be able to be completely sure of that, now that I'd be living in Italy…
Maybe that could be proven. We'd gotten to the Italian border about an hour after leaving the Russian village. Volterra was relatively close. Only a few hundred miles left. An hour or so.
"Hey Ness, you okay? You haven't talked since-"
"Yeah I'm fine." They usually shouldn't have been worried about my talking. They should have been worried because I hadn't communicated since we left Russia. I always felt the need to point out the difference.
We came up on Volterra shortly. It was a beautiful city. Looked distinctly Italian. The wall around the city limits I wasn't expecting, but I figured I'd better get used to my new home.
"Renesmee, we're going to stay at a hotel for tonight and head to the palace tomorrow. Is that okay?" Jasper hadn't talked much either.
"Yeah, I don't mind. I'm getting kind of hungry too."
"We'll order something when we get to the room." The car slowed as we entered the gates. The city was even bigger looking here. We drove to the hotel, which was actually relatively small. It was smaller than the one I had been in just weeks ago. The lobby was full. But there was something strange about the residents. And the staff. They didn't look as tanned as most of Volterra's citizens- and tourists- did. In fact, they looked positively marble. I shouldn't be surprised by this, but the only vampires I'd seen and been able to remember were my family. Seeing others was just somewhat strange…especially their eyes. I was used to golden. But these…were bright red. Just like their food.
The room was smaller as well. One bed.
"Where'll Jacob slee-" But he wasn't there.
"Where'd Jake go?"
"Renesmee, this is kind of a…vampires only hotel. Jacob would be in too much danger here. Carlisle went to get him a room at a normal hotel. Plus having a half human here is dangerous enough, having double the scent would give us away too easily. The woman at the desk could probably smell you alone a mile away," Alice explained. I plopped myself onto the bed. It smelled sweet. The signature vampire sweet. The phone was just across the bedside table, along with the room service menu.
"What do you want to eat?" Alice questioned.
"Ravioli." She should have guessed that. She dialed the number to the front desk on the phone, and ordered.
The food tasted bland. Flavorless. Nothing compared to blood. Speaking of which.
"Alice, can we go and hunt soon? I'm perishing of thirst."
"Ness, we might perish of thirst, but human food supplements you fine. I am getting pretty thirsty as well, though. Maybe after we meet with the Volturi," she said. Then a knock at the door made me jump. Carlisle, Esme, and Emmett walked through the door. I ran up to Emmett to hug him. We didn't exactly get to have a good reunion before. Everyone said hello and walked over to the couch. It was a pretty classic setup, I guess. Esme was on one end, then Emmett, then Jasper. Alice was sitting in front of the sofa with her head resting on Jasper's knees. Carlisle was standing near the door, on the phone with someone. "Hello, Gianna. Is there any chance we could get in to see Aro any time soon? Tomorrow if the time is open," he said into the receiver.
"Wow, they haven't killed her yet. She must be pretty special," Emmett muttered. I could hear Alice's hand smack against his granite skin right after he finished.
"Yes, ten would be perfect. Thank you," he finished, and hung up. Then he continued, " Alice, maybe you should take her to say goodbye to Jacob…"
"What?" I was dumbfounded. I'd never known a life without Jake. Everyone else had even grown to love him. He was family.
"Nessie, he's getting a plane home tomorrow morning. He can't live in Italy with us, especially with Volterra being the vampire capitol of the world. It's not safe," I couldn't believe it was happy-go-lucky Alice who had said it. The tone was too grave, too full of sorrow. I'd never heard it matched with her before.
"Renesmee, why don't you get some sleep, sweetie. We must get to the castle early tomorrow," Esme suggested. She rose to help me into bed as I nodded lightly. I was more tired than I thought.
"Goodnight, Ness," Emmett muttered. I couldn't believe it. For once, his voice wasn't joking. Or flat out playful. That would give me something to dream about. And that's exactly what happened that night.