Alrighty folks. Here it is. I really hope you enjoyed the last chapter which featured mentions Toni, Alex's hybrid sister. There's more to build on that in this chapter as Nessie explores the mysteries of her kind and the side of her that's human… And what the f**k is up with Mr. Russo? What's his deal? I don't know… you'll have to find out (; Review, please! Reviews are like crack to me! (Not really, but you get the comparison…) I'm already planning a sequel and I think I'm really onto something. I'm planning some FOR REAL SHIT for this story, so don't abandon it! It's TOTALLY AWESOME! And for Nessie/Jacob fans, you'll get your fix in this chapter for sure! I just love what Jacob brings out in her (: It's adorable. You'll also get to formerly meet Antonia, or Toni, Alex's sister! :D

OH! BTW, I haven't done any disclaimers, so…

Disclaimer: I do not own Twilight! Stephenie Meyer does! I own my original characters! (Mr. Russo, Cristina, Alex, Lana, Valerie, Faye, and Toni)

Chapter 5:

FOR THE NEXT WEEK, I tried to do too many things: Learn more about Alex, spend time with my human friends, sort out my feelings for Jacob, and figure out the wolf dilemma that had long since been forgotten. The first of those on my list of priorities was to learn more about Alex. I'd spent quite a few afternoons on the phone with Alex, and on one of the few days that he wasn't spending with Lana after school, he invited me over to his sister, Antonia, or as she preferred to be called, Toni. It was cute, short, and spunky, and I could tell just from her first name that she was Italian.

Friday – the day my paper about Jacob was due, which was not helping me ignore my humanity over him – I followed Alex to his house from school. His house wasn't too far away from mine, and I memorized the directions there as I went. I had a funny feeling that we'd be spending a lot of time together. We really, honestly, had a lot to learn from each other and I hoped Lana wouldn't get jealous. I didn't peg her as the jealous type, but judging from the amount of time I would have to spend with her boyfriend to learn everything I could, it was quite possible that she could get envious.

His house was beautiful – small, but classic and very well kept. It was older, but you wouldn't be able to tell from the excellent condition it was kept in. It was a gorgeous pale blue and the vines growing up the one side of it made me want to steal it. It was very charming. The gardens and short, white fencing around them gave the whole place a sense of safety and care. I could tell just by looking at the freshly-cut grass that they cared deeply about their home. It reminded me of how hard Esme worked – on top of working from home – on keeping up with our large home and making it outstanding.

I parked my car behind Alex's, following him up the unique stone pathway to the front door. He simply walked right in and hung his backpack and jacket up on a coat rack, and I did the same. The house was even more beautiful inside. The dark hardwood floors were polished and shiny and looked brand new. The walls were blue, like the outside, and were a similar shade to it. Looking around, I saw a staircase leading to the second level of the house and I wondered what the upstairs looked like. Probably like the rest of the house, I thought.

The plants on the windowsills cast a shadow on the white carpet in the living room, a direct result from the sunlight pouring in through the rather large window. Walking into the kitchen, we found a tall, ravishing girl washing dishes. She looked up from her sink full of soap bubbles and smiled at her brother.

"Hey, kid," she greeted. Her voice took me by surprise. I hadn't expected such a deep, wise voice to come from such a sweet and innocent-looking girl. "How was school?"

"Good," Alex replied. "How was your day?"

"Just grand," she said with a smile.

So this was her. This was Toni, the sister that Alex spoke so fondly of. She wasn't at all what I expected. She was very unique-looking. She seemed to have features from not only Italy, but German and English features as well. She should have been a model – her pale blond hair, full, curvy figure and marvelous face could've landed her on the cover of any magazine. Her height surpassed my own, and by my guess, she was about five-foot-seven or five-foot-eight. She was definitely a whole lot of woman.

"Is this the hybrid you've been talking about so much?" asked Toni, her smile now directed toward me.

Alex nodded. "Yes, Toni. This is Nessie Cullen."

"It's nice to meet you." She crossed the room and shook my hand. "It's been a long time since I've met another hybrid. It's so great to find another one. I'll thoroughly enjoy spending time with you." She laughed nervously and looked at the floor. "I haven't been able to get close to many hybrids."

"Oh… Why is that?"

Her eyebrows shot up. "You haven't heard?" She turned to Alex. "You didn't tell her?"

Alex looked nervous and guilty, which was not a good sign. "Well… I didn't want to scare her. We barely know each other, you know."

"I don't care!" Toni snapped. "She has a right to know! She's being hunted down, too!"

"What?" I exclaimed, looking back and forth, from one sibling to another. "What are you talking about? 'Being hunted down?' By who? Alex, what the hell is going on?"

He sighed, taking me by the arm and dragging me into a room off of the kitchen, which appeared to be another living room-type area. I couldn't let its elegance distract me, because I was more focused on the situation going on between me and these two people than I was on anything else. I didn't really know what was going on, but from the sound of it, it wasn't good.

"Nessie," said Alex softly. "I want to let you know that no one knew about this until about five years ago, and you family doesn't even know yet."

I nodded. "Alex, whatever it is, just spit it out already."

He took a deep breath to prepare himself for what he was about to tell me. "The Volturi… Aro, more specifically…" I heard Toni make a noise of disgust, but didn't look up from Alex's blue-green eyes. "They want to create an army of hybrids. They've been collecting them up for a year. Toni and I should have been the first ones to go, but we've been cleverly hiding out here for a year and a half and no one has discovered us yet. Aro knows about you. The only reason he had me, Toni, and my other siblings was because he wanted his own hybrids. And now, he wants even more. I'm sorry I didn't tell you sooner."

I felt and heard me heart begin to beat faster. A sob built up within me, but I only allowed a few tears to escape. The world worked in such a funny way, didn't it? I'd wanted to meet other hybrids my whole life, and I was going to – as a result of being kidnapped and being forced to serve in a Volturi-run army. I'd be getting what I wanted, but not the way I'd wanted it…

When I saw that vacant yet hopeless expression on Toni's face, I knew it was serious. I didn't know how much it impacted her, but it must have if she'd handle it this way. Alex had told me a few days earlier that she'd been raised by Aro and the Volturi, but she'd asked for permission to leave on her eighteenth birthday, and they'd allowed her to go. From there, she met Alex and they lived on their own together. Alex was a few years younger than her, but they'd both been at their maximum for physical maturity and they soon turned into great friends.

There was more to it than that, though. I could see it in Toni's eyes. What could it be, though? A lover? A sibling? Someone else taken from her by the Volturi? It had to be. There was no way she was this worried about getting stuck with the Volturi forever. She'd lived with them before for eighteen years, and they let her go. Why wouldn't they this time? Aro was her father, after all.

And then I remembered that while Aro might be someone's father, that didn't necessarily make him a good one.

After a good amount of time, I drove home as fast as I could. Despite this bad news, I felt like a bad bitch in my awesome car. It was still my pride and joy, my baby, my token to popularity. I couldn't care less about popularity, but it was still nice. The attention was both flattering and exciting.

Parked in the garage with my car off, I allowed myself to cry a little, trying not to think of what I'd just been told, but I couldn't. I knew that if my father was home, he would know about it before I even walked into the house. He'd become so accustomed to listening to my thoughts that he knew my mind like the back of his hand. He'd been able to hear my thoughts before I was even born.

I didn't want to get out of my car, though. So I just didn't. My world certainly wasn't ending, but this wasn't the best day of my life. I dozed off a bit, and when I woke up, I checked my phone for the time and discovered five missed calls and two voicemails from none other than Jacob. It wasn't the best way to avoid him, but I felt bad for missing his calls. I genuinely liked spending time with him.

I listened to the voicemails with a tiny smile on my face. He was rather adorable, the way he'd spoken, concerned about me. I didn't really blame him for worrying – if I called someone seven times and they didn't answer, I would be worried, too. He didn't really have any reason to be, but it was still sweet.

"Hey… You haven't been answering your phone… This isn't really urgent, but call me back, okay? I, um, want to talk to you… Alright… Later."

I chuckled, shaking my head. Calling him wouldn't be a bad idea. He could probably take my mind off of things. He wouldn't take him off my mind, but he would take the Volturi thing off my mind for sure. I just couldn't think such negative things. I was a negative thinker naturally; I couldn't afford to spend the rest of my many, drawn-out years like that.

I was about to dial Jacob's number when someone tapped on my window. I jumped, shrieking and then slapping my hand to my chest. My father peered into the dark, tinted glass. I sighed, starting up the car and rolling down the window to talk to my dad about whatever the hell he wanted to have a heart-to-heart about.

He laughed humorlessly. "I'm not here for a heart-to-heart, Nessie. I understand that this is a lot to take it. It's nothing that we could have predicted. I wish I'd known about this sooner. What if Aro had taken you while you were away from us? I would never be able to forgive myself. I want to let you know that we're going to take immediate action. We're going to train and train hard to fight them off. And we're going to do everything we can to protect you."

I didn't want to talk to him about this. I wanted to go hang out with Jacob to forget about this entirely. However, I handled this maturely and I addressed my father calmly. "Does anyone else know?"

He shook his head. "I haven't told anyone yet. They know that this is a private conversation, but they might still be listening."

"Is Mom home?" I inquired.

"No, she's out shopping with Alice and Rosalie. Don't even ask how they convinced her to go. They even convinced Esme to go."

"Can you do me a favor?" He nodded, and I continued. "Don't tell Mom. I want to be the one to tell her. You can tell whoever is home. But when Alice, Rose, Esme, and Mom get home, do not mention it. I don't want her to freak out."

"Alright," he agreed. "I'll only tell Jasper and Emmett. Carlisle's not home, but if he gets home before the girls, I'll tell him, too."

"Thank you," I said, genuinely appreciating his promise.

He leaned over and kissed my forehead. "Go ahead and call that boy." He winked and patted my head before leaving the garage.

I dialed Jacob's phone number quickly and he picked up almost as quickly. I had to give him credit for being a good friend. Other girls might find it a bit strange that a boy would be that worried about them after only knowing you for a week. If it was Jacob, most of the girls at Forks High School would just faint. He was popular, and very popular amongst teenage girls. He just didn't really seem to notice it.

"Oh, hey, Nessie," he said casually.

"Five calls and two voicemails and you pick up with, 'Oh, hey, Nessie'?" I accused. "Nice."

He laughed. "What's up?"

"I don't know, you tell me," I requested.

"I just wanted to know if you wanted to hang out tonight," Jacob told me. "I was thinking we could go see a movie and just chill."

I laughed in my head at how ridiculously human that sounded. "Yeah, of course. Do you want me to come get you? My car is freaking awesome if you haven't already noticed."

"I think the whole town noticed, much less the whole school. That's probably the nicest car anyone in Forks, Washington has ever seen."

"Well, then, they haven't seen my sister's Porsche. Or my other sister's BMW. They're so spoiled. I bought my Mustang all by myself."

"Damn," he muttered. "You're only a junior. You must have had a really great job over the summer."

I giggled. "No, I've just been saving up. I'm smart with my money, like my dad is. Even though he's practically swimming in it, he doesn't spend it spontaneously. He's probably the smartest person I've ever met."

"He must be, if he's that successful of a doctor… So, you'll pick me up?"

"Yeah. Of course. I'll be there in five minutes."

"Five minutes? It's a fifteen minute drive from my place to yours," he pointed out.

"I drive fast," I revealed. "Be ready when I get there."

"I will. See you soon!"

"Bye!" I fastened my seatbelt, started up my car, and drove out of the garage. I tried as best as I could with the darkness to memorize the way to Jacob's house, just in case I ever needed it. I wasn't ready to spend every day with him, but it would be good to know for emergencies.

When I arrived there, I barely even had time to look at his house. It was small, cute, and modest. It made sense – there were only two people living in it, there was no reason for it to be any bigger. I noticed a motorcycle in his driveway that I assumed was Jacob's because his father was in a wheelchair and paralyzed from the waist down. And no one else lived there.

He ran out, ducking into the passenger seat of my car. "You were right," he told me, "even in the dark, I can tell this is a kickass car."

I laughed, pulling out of his driveway and heading for the nearest movie theatre. "Thanks. How are you?"

Jacob smiled. "Bored. That's why I called you."

I didn't look away from the road, but my expression became one of confusion. "Don't you have guy friends for that? I mean, you know, like Quil or Paul?"

"Yeah, but I hang out with them all the time," he said. "I don't get to see you as often."

"You see me every day in English. And at lunch."

"I know." Glancing over at him, I could see he still had that smile on his face. That smile automatically made me want to smile back. I shook my head mentally because he shouldn't have that kind of effect on me.

The car ride was quick, despite the distance between La Push and the movie theatre. Conversation between us was practically effortless. When he turned on my stereo and discovered a whole CD of songs by The Beatles, and then found eight other ones, he accused me of being obsessed with them, and I didn't disagree. He thought that my fascination with them was funny. He said it was rare for a teenage girl to know that much about past musicians and he admired it. If only he knew that I wasn't seventeen, like he thought I was. That I had been two-hundred-forty-eight years old when I'd first discovered The Beatles.

We ended up seeing Titanic, which was a film I'd seen thousands of times. It had recently been re-released in 3-D and we both decided it was worthy of sitting in a seat for three hours. It wasn't uncomfortable at all, as I'd expected it to be. It was actually quite nice. We laughed at a few parts that weren't really intended to be funny, but there weren't that many people there. We also mocked Jack and Rose during the whole last hour of the film. It was the most fun I'd had in years.

By the time the movie was over, I was so tired I could barely walk in a straight line. This hadn't happened to me many times before, but I was almost fully functional otherwise. My half-vampirism gave me a leg up on humans when I was exhausted or intoxicated, which I appreciated greatly. Back in my car, we both began hysterically laughing for absolutely no reason at all. I blamed it on the exhaustion that we were both feeling, but it was also possibly because of our immaturity.

He was done laughing before I was, and when I finally finished my hysterics, he leaned over and kissed me. Not a kiss on the forehead or cheek, but a kiss full on the lips. It took me by surprise at first, but after a few seconds, I got into it. It felt nice to kiss someone whose lips weren't colder than mine. Whose lips were strong and sure, but still gentle. It was a nice kiss overall, but that didn't mean I was ready for anything more. I didn't know what this kiss meant to him, but to me, it was just a kiss between two friends. I'd meant it when I'd decided – unwillingly – that I liked him. But I didn't like him this much. Not yet, anyway.

I let him finish patiently. When he was done with me, he apologized immediately. It was actually a little bit cute the way he felt like he had to make up for catching me off guard. I really didn't mind the kiss at all, though. It gave me a lot to think about. I would have a lot of soul-searching to do over the weekend.

"Jake, it's okay," I said for the millionth time. "I actually kind of liked it. You're a good kisser."

"Really?" he said with a laugh.

"Yeah. Probably the best I've ever met," I answered. "But that doesn't mean that my feelings for you are above friendly. If you want that, you'll have to work for it." My words were entirely true. I wasn't super into falling for a human – it didn't work out great for my parents at first – and I didn't want to drag him into my world, but he would be nice company for a while. Who knew? I could've possibly even fallen in love with him.

"Oh… Okay."

We didn't say much the rest of the way to his house, which was short, thanks to my fast driving. He commented on my speeding once the whole time we were in the car, saying that I should slow it down in case there were police officers out, but I waved it off, saying, "Fuck that. I drive like this all the time. I've never gotten a ticket. I've never even been pulled over."

We arrived at his house, and he gave me a quick goodbye, rapidly getting out of my car. Before he was too far away, I called out the window, "Jake?" I realized that this was the second time I'd called him this so far. And in one night. I could get used to the cute little nickname.

He turned around, waiting for me to continue. When I did, he became completely dumbstruck.

"I meant what I said. That kiss was great. And I never told you to stop."

:D Cute, huh? Sorry for the delay, my computer had a virus that took a while to get rid of. Please enjoyyyyy thisssss! (: I'll get to working on the next chapter soon!