Prepare yourself, this is the longest chapter I've written so far.
Why? For different reasons. But mainly I've had a bad case of the flue and Rose just wouldn't shut up. (LOL)
No, it's just so Rose, at least the way I see her. But, if for some reason you don't like her, you can skip to the last part with the car race.
x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x
Music:
Suicide Blond – Inxs
Bootylicious – Destiny's Child
Shut up and drive – Rihanna
Uprising – Muse (I thought this was on one of the soundtrack-CD's, but couldn't find it anymore)
x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x
Chapter 14: Rose – Fierce sun goddess
It's been a year since Alice got her vision of the Volturi. And now things couldn't be more different. We're so happy and at peace now. Feels to good to be true. These are some of the things I'm thinking about right now. While servicing Edwards Volvo. Not that it really needs it, I just need something to do. I was restless getting up this morning, don't know why. Emmet sensed it and let me be. Last night we just cuddled in bed. I only wanted his strong arms around me, that was enough.
Maybe I was bored. My pixie sister calmed me down some by doing my hair. She combed it slowly and braded it in such a way, I looked like a queen. Beautiful and practical, it wouldn't be hanging in my face while working. I wasn't used to feeling happy all the time. Renesmee and Timmain had influenced my state of mind greatly. The first for obvious reasons, she was like a daughter to me. Watching her grow up, play and learn was just wonderful. My life felt more complete with her here. May was something else. To weird, to happy, to likable. But she was like a female version of Emmet. Mixed with a bit of Jake. So I just gave in to her charm, eventually.
That first week I resented her, felt a bit jealous, yeah I admit that. She got so much attention. The shiny new toy. Emmet playing with her and looking at her with admiration. I hated her for that! Ugh, and Jake got a kick out of that. I caught his laugh that day of the seal-hunt! But then, at the beach, she gave no indication she was interested in him. As my eager guy dove in, she just let him go, shaking her head. Starting her lessons. Her instructions were clear cut. Jasper went in first, following her lead. Emmet had a hard time catching a seal. They were fast and agile. He stopped chasing them when May asked him to, realising his mistake.
He grinned at me, bobbing in the water. I smiled back a sexy smile. He liked that, his eyes lit up. Then he copied Jazz and May for a while. But my boy had no patience and went after his big target again. I waited until they all were finished. They moved to shore as I went in. Walking across the bottom I caused little disturbance. Slow but certain I awaited my chance. I chose a young, medium size specimen. Letting my inner predator take over I shot to the surface. Knocking the animal out the water. He was unconscious and I sank my teeth in the artery on his tail. Draining him, I focused on the taste and feelings I got. The oily, salty flavour of his blood was quite gross, but then I started to get satiated so fast.
Never before did my throat stop burning after a hunt, not really. But now it did and I felt powerful. Letting the carcass float away I walked to shore. Rising from the water I thought of that James Bond-girl and rocked my hips. Emmet gulped with his hand over his mouth and turned away. Huh? "Please, May pleaded, don't do things like that." Not if you don't want him heaving all over his shirt." I frowned, not understanding why that would happen. Jazz was standing next to them, grinning like a damn fool. But he was radiating power and beauty, satiated, just glowing. I realized we all had that going on.
"Alice warned me this would happen, Jazz said, him overdoing it." May added: "That bull was way to much." He's filled up to here," she marked her own throat with her hand. "Oh really, I replied smiling, hmm that's my man." I moved closer, but Jazz stopped me. "I don't think he can handle you touching him right now," he said. Em turned towards me, his hand still over his mouth. He gave me an apologetic look. Batted his eyes, that puppy-dog look, was him telling me he loved me. I sighed and surrendered.
On the way home I took the passenger seat up front. Emmet was in the back behind Jasper, who was driving. That left May in the back too. I checked myself in the little mirror, wow, I thought to myself, you look smoking girl! Behind me May giggled and I turned towards her. "You see why Brother Bear can't handle you, she beamed. "He's no match for a sun goddess." Now that's something I like to hear. I smiled at her in response and glanced at my husband. I felt his eyes on me and caught an admiring twinkle. When I looked back at the passing landscape, I got the idea his eyes never left me the whole ride home. That felt so good!
From that moment on May complimented me more often. 'Sun goddess" became my new nickname. I liked that, but sometimes it felt a bit to much. Calling her a 'kiss-ass' made her tone it down some. She interacted with everyone, adapting to their personality when needed, always happy. I liked watching her play mind-battles with Edward. She had a big imagination and controlled her thoughts well. Most of the times she was calm and serious while doing that. But when she was with me she had an attitude. We shared banter, like I did with Jake too, but different.
One afternoon she came into the kitchen while I prepared something for Nessie. "Hay, I greeted her, what's up?" She didn't answer, but had a mischievous glint in her eye. Holding up her hand she did something and somewhere in the house I heard Edward hiss and knock something over. I gave her a puzzled look. "Knock out!" she grinned and we high-fived. Then she explained; "I punched him in the face mentally." Just to check if he was snooping." "Good one, I told her," unable to stop smiling. And I'll remember that, I thought to Edward. We were used to little privacy, but still. He and Alice had no right to really to poke around our minds and futures whenever they felt like it.
Sometimes May really disgusts me. Because when I said she interacted with everybody, it really was everybody, including all seventeen wolves. Their stink often lingered in her clothes. Last summer, one night it was particularly bad. After several days of rain it suddenly got warm and sunny. Smells were strong everywhere. As soon as she opened the door my nose cringed. Humans who've been at the receiving end of a skunk now what I mean. Reluctantly I made my way over to her to give her a piece of my mind.
"God, May, I said pinching my nose, what did you do?" Kill one of them and wear his skin?" She grinned at me wide and flicked her hair back sending more stink my way. "What? She chided, don't you like my new perfume?" I rolled my eyes in response. "No, she said more seriously, we had a training session." "Huh, I questioned, what do you mean?" I knew in the back of my head, but still. "You know, she answered calmly, on how to fight a vampire." It's best with one actually there." I frowned, not liking that at all. She noticed and added: "Oh come on, you've done it before, it's no big deal."
"Well I'm not sure about that, I all but snarled. "They're on our side now, but you never know…" In my opinion they have enough knowledge." She stared at me in disbelief. And well, I understood that, because I exaggerated. Jake was bonded to Nessie and therefore to us. Sam and the others wouldn't harm their 'brothers' or an imprint, so we were pretty safe. But she didn't know about werewolf-imprinting. And I would never trust Sam completely. Though he'd been real happy ever since May healed his mate. And told him he would be a father.
My mind went back to the wedding a moment. I hated their happy faces. Again reminding me of what I could never have, a child of my own. Sure, I danced for a while at their stupid party, but left as soon as possible. Back home Emmet tried to console me. Showered me with affection. It didn't help, I sulked until the next morning. May came and found me in the garage like now. Busying myself with the cars. She hugged me and pleaded with me to tell her what was wrong. She couldn't stand to see anyone unhappy. Especially because she felt so wonderful herself. When I stayed quiet, she whined like a little puppy. I gave in and spilled my gut.
After that we talked about the pro's and cons of being a vampire. That was the first time she gave me her motto: "No use sobbing over things you can't change." She repeated it often, reminding me to enjoy all the good things we had. 'To smell the roses.' She really liked that one for obvious reasons. It helped me to get into a good place, a pleasant state of mind. Also, May, and Emmet too, now and then came up with something fun to do. Like playing dress up Halloween style, when it was still weeks away. Alice got them both in a poufy dress. I was amazed she had one that fitted my guy. We laughed so hard, I think Jake almost shit himself.
Today I was on Bella's radar first. She came in and watched me from the doorway. "You know, she said, if you want some real work, you can take my old truck." I didn't look up to see the twinkle in her eye. I sighed and replied: "That old thing?" He's dead, beyond reviving." Above my head May inserted herself in the conversation. "Awh, I'm sorry to hear our sun goddess say that, she chided playfully, I was just thinking about a Build-off." I stopped working and looked up at her, she was hanging up side down from one of the support beams. "Will you stop doing that!" I scolded her. "You're not in the woods. "I'll start calling you monkey or chimp, instead of 'Wolf-girl'." That was the nickname I gave her after the 'werewolf-stinkbomb' incident.
She dropped herself while flipping right side up. "Oh, she chided, I wouldn't mind either of those names you know." But I've got so many already." Giving me a big smile she proceeded. "But you're getting me off track." I want you to help me buy a car." – I gave her a puzzling look. She refused Alice before, said she'd use one of our cars if she needed it. What brought on the change? "What? I asked her, why now all of a sudden?" "Well, she answered, I saw a show last night, where two teams restored two classic cars in a match against each other." I liked it and thought about doing it for real." "Wait, I realised, so that means you're going car-shopping with somebody else too."
"Of course, she replied, and here comes the other team-captain." Turning towards the door I noticed Jake come in behind an exited Nessie. "What! I exclaimed, him?!" She gave me a frown and an eye-roll. "Well sure, she explained, who else knows more about rebuilding cars?" The corner of Jake's mouth curled up. He liked her compliment. "Hmm, he said holding his chin, me against Blondie, interesting." A gleam in his eye told me he was up for it, and well, so was I. The stinking mutt was going to get it!
"Good, May said, I see you're both on board." Now I'm going to explain the rules and stuff." She wanted to go on, but more family members started to come in. Alice was first, excitement on her face, she'd seen some things of course. Edward was next, until it got a bit crowded. Emmet moved in behind me smoothly. He wrapped his arms around me and gave me a quick kiss behind my ear. "I'm on your team babe," he mumbled. That was a given or I'd kick his butt. The wolf-boys were at Jake's side just as fast.
May called our attention, holding some papers in her hand. "I see teams coming together already, she said, but don't move to fast, there are limits to the number of people per team." But first let's start with your spending budget." It's a quarter for each of you, of what Alice had in mind when she wanted to drag me off that first week." She hasn't told me, so will you reveal it now please, Alice?" May asked. The little pixie had a big grin on her face. I knew it was going to be way more than wolf-girl expected. Alice had different standards when it came to 'a normal budget'. Even we considered it to be a lot sometimes.
"$ 75,000," she announced cheerfully. May eyes nearly popped out of her head as she stared with an open mouth. The rest of us Cullens grinned at her reaction. The wolf-guys were surprised too, though they were practically drooling at the possibilities. I'm sure they never had that much to work with. "Alice! May gasped, that's way to much, come on!" Alice shook her head and Edward said: "No, that's quite normal for us actually." Haven't you seen our other cars?" Several of them are worth a least that." May sighed and rolled her eyes in surrender.
"Alright then, she said then, that leaves $ 150,000 as prize money for the winner." Any money you have left from your budget you can keep." Embry nudged Jake with his elbow and whispered; "wow, dude!" "Now, May continued, each team will have four members, including the captain." "You can choose anybody you want, it doesn't have to be anyone we know." Eyes went to certain gifted members of the family quick. Of course that didn't go unnoticed. "No, no, she said, there are exceptions, and they are it." She marked Edward and Alice. "They will act as referee, making sure everyone plays fair." That's a big deal for me."
That was disappointing, but to be expected. Honestly, besides their gifts, I wasn't to sure what use they'd be. Oops, not a nice thought, I glanced at Eddy-boy, he frowned a little. I couldn't help the corners of my lips curling a bit. Loving the fact he reacted, arrogant eavesdropper(!). My thoughts were interrupted, because there was more to this contest of course. "Next, May announced, the cars." She handed me and Jake a print-out of an add. "I like certain old tv-shows, she explained, so that's why I picked these."
The car she picked for me was a real classic sports-car, a 1969 Chevrolet Camaro Z28. The one in the add had been neglected, but didn't look to bad. It's colour had faded to a pale yellow. Ideas started to pop up in my head.
"Jake, man, Embry exclaimed, you got a Mustang!" "That's an awesome machine," Quil added. There was a frustrated sigh from the crowd. Everyone looked at Bella. "Come on, she said, hold them up so we can all see." Because I'm getting nothing." We did as she asked.
Jake's car was a 1969 Ford Mustang Boss 429. It was in a similar shape as mine and used to be jet black. I wasn't sure how to feel about that. Resenting the 'boss' in it's name. But hey, shouldn't look for something in that. Right? Oh well. I shrugged internally. All in all a nice car too. Suddenly I felt an urge to get going, I was ready! But there was still more. I flipped through the other pages in my hand.
There was a set of rules, which May started to sum up. There was one that bothered me, though I understood her reasons behind it. No.4.
1. Stay within budget. You can't spend one cent more.
2. Play fair. The other team's worksite is off limits. Any indication of sabotage or cheating means disqualification. And therefore a win for the other team.
3. Cars must be legal to drive on public roads. No stunts like in 'Fast and Furious.' Respect the car, do right by it.
4. No obsessing, you must give your loved ones attention every day. So your time working on the car is limited to 16 hours a day. That means no one does anything concerning this contest during the remaining 8 hours.
5. No switching team-members. Once you've picked yours, it's set.
Then there was the deadline, set two months from now. It seemed tight, but May mentioned it wasn't set in stone. If both teams wanted more time to really finish, it would be discussed. Also there was the question of what to do with losers car. It couldn't go to waste. May kept the winner for sure. So, sell it for charity? Keep it for everyone to drive? A difficult subject. To be continued.
How she would decide the winner. Well, looks were important of course. Mechanics too, she'd let us show off our work. She liked a fast and efficient car. Which could stand some off -roading. Referencing 'The Dukes of Hazard'. Geez! Rolling my eyes. There was going to be a race, me against Jake. It would be a big factor she said. Nice! I liked that. Where? Still undecided. Ideas were thrown around. Good thing us Cullens are well connected.
Last May talked about an extra prize for the winner. Maybe something personal, that couldn't be bought. Just a thought playing around in her head. She wanted to do something new, learn. She shrugged, we'll see. Unsure how to describe things.
Emmet raised himself up; "Wait, we could do some kind of bet." Of course, sigh, my man. "The loser should do something embarrassing, like, ehm, going somewhere fancy in a bunny suite." Huh? I arched an eyebrow and looked up at him. He caught that and gave me the 'what?'-look. I was about to ask what he was thinking, until I saw a gleam in his eye. O my god, was he envisioning me in a bunny outfit?! I jabbed him in the ribs and gave him an evil stare. No way! Edward chuckled and Alice also stifled a giggle. Then I thought of Jake in a pink, fluffy and hot bunny costume. Only his face wasn't covered and he was sweating like a horse. Ooo, that would brighten my day!
Wolf-boy kept a straight face while catching my smug smile. Edward had his lips pressed together, trying not to laugh at my image. "Well, Embry said, that's an interesting idea." But would it be fair to just dress up the leader." I think the whole team should join in." Emmet shifted behind me. He wasn't sure about that. But hey, wait a minute, we were not going to lose! And this bet was stupid, I'm not doing that! Or am I? It was tempting to think of all of them sweating their asses off in fluffy pink. Walking into a restaurant of clothing store. But, it wasn't going to happen, because May intervened. She said to save this stuff for another time. We hadn't even chosen our teams yet.
Well, right now, I could only think of two people, who were happy to join me, Emmet and Jasper. Jake chose Embry and Quil right away of course, but he also had to think about the last one. Time for some phone calls. Eventually we both found someone who wouldn't be coming here. They were to far away and not in on the supernatural. We'd communicate over phone and internet. My forth team member was Rick, my 'go to guy' for everything concerning cars. We had never met in person, but he knew me well. I just had to hint at what I was looking for and he'd find it. He was exited about helping me win this contest. His first job was checking out the one selling the Camaro. He came back with positive results. The guy was clean.
Buying the car was interesting. May went with us (my team) of course. She said nothing while we were there, just observed. I think she liked to watch me work. The hill-billy owner thought I was some dumb blonde, just a pretty face. He didn't even address me first, walked right over to Emmet. My man set him straight at once. He quickly realised I knew my cars and with Jasper there to pick out a lie, we soon settled on a price.
Then we loaded it on a trailer behind Emmet's Jeep. I wanted to start working as soon as possible. On our way home we felt good, a bit giddy. Jazz chuckled and May joined in. I looked back at them, they had smiles on their faces and a twinkle in their eyes.
"What so funny?" I asked them. "Why are you making us feel this way Jazz?" He didn't say anything, but May did. "I was just thinking about how you handled that guy, she beamed. "The faces you and him made, … priceless!" I gave them a big grin. They were right, that was fun, negotiating with the redneck. Emmet suppressed a booming laugh. "That's one of many reasons why I love you, babe." He said. "Jeez, thanks," I replied and got a kiss on the cheek for that.
As soon as we arrived, we unloaded the Camaro into the garage furthest from the house. I decided to work on the engine first and started to pull it apart. I cleaned everything and checked what needed replacing. The basic structure was in good shape, but most of the loose components were rusted. I communicated with Jasper what needed to be ordered.
I got into a good rhythm pretty quick. Though at first I wanted to work all day, I realised fast I would be missing out a lot. Emmet helped in that respect, he wanted my full attention privately. When the sixteen hours were up, he would remind me with a not so subtle touch. Nessie also came in often, to hang out and talk about her day. She almost let things slip about my opponent. Of course she also watched him work on a daily basis. Sometimes I wondered how Jake was getting along. Where was he working from? Bella mentioned once he had a shack behind his house. If that was the place, then I was sure to be ahead of him.
A month had past, with several parties, it was the holiday season after all. The outside of the car was ready. Rust and dent free, sandblasted and painted. I chose electric blue, like the sky on those rare sunny days. With white racing stripes on the hood and back. For tires I wasn't so sure at first. May had talked about off-roading. So I decided to watch some of these old tv-shows she liked. They weren't bad, Emmet laughed his head off while watching with me. But those guys in the Dukes of Hazard, they'd welded their doors shut and could only get into the car through the windows. It supposed to look cool or something. I couldn't see that, it just looked impractical to me. They did make me decide on 17 inch all weather, wide, almost all terrain tires. And a good suspension. The Camaro couldn't rival Emmet's Jeep, but it would be able to get closer than any of our other cars.
Now for the inside of the car. I had some ideas, but it needed a personal touch. Something that said 'May' (or Timmain). For that I went to her room, which she hardly used other than for storage, showering and a change of clothes. She wasn't there of course when I went in, so she didn't see my surprised face. It wasn't a mess like I expected. The floor was clear of any rubble and had no dirt caked on it or anything. The bed was made and books were neatly stacked on the little desk.
The walls were covered in pictures and paintings of animals. Most of them were predators like tigers, lions, panthers and wolves of course. As I scanned them all, I noticed a few that weren't of predators. Though maybe you could consider them like that also, because they were the hunters of the ocean. A shark bursting out of the water, a gray whale making a splash and a group of orca's (killer whales). I had to admit they were high quality.
I moved over to the desk. The books on it were schoolbooks, for both our regular high school and the reservation high school. She never finished school when she was human, so she decided to do it here. She also encouraged Jake and the others to go back and catch up, so they at least had that. Studying with them had been fun for her, something new to learn. It irritated the hell out of me when they spoke Quileute amongst each other, her and 'the pack'. I was sure they were making fun of me behind my back. I shook my head to clear my thoughts. I was here for a reason. Hmm, picking one of these animals to feature in her car, would look good, but which one?
Her closet caught my eye. As I looked through her wardrobe, I discovered a shirt that I was pretty sure of, Alice wouldn't have picked. It was made of soft cotton, dyed in a muted orange tone. But most prominent was the big face of a tiger on the front. This wasn't what we would call fashion, but it was so her. I looked at it more closely, it was well made. The image wasn't just pressed on or something, it was actually dyed onto the fabric, so the ink would sink into the fibre. The tiger had a serene look about him, like a king overseeing his empire. It fitted! I was going to use him, this image. After snapping a picture with the camera I brought, I put it back.
Walking back to the garage, I called Rick for an address specialising in car upholstery. They could make my vision come true. Blue leather seats, matching the outside colour, with this tiger outlined in black on them. The dashboard was going to be black with lightning bolts and blue lights. Oh, and a chrome tiger head on the gear stick. To match the chrome grill and rims. Together with the sound of the engine, this baby would be 'roaring to go'! (Yeah, yeah, bad word joke.) I would be ready soon. Hah! Didn't need two months!
There was some money left too, a couple of thousands. What should I do with that? Sure, I could go shopping, but I don't really need anything. Weird, that I felt this way. Usually I liked spending money on beautiful clothes and jewellery. It was May! Because of her.
Even though she just celebrated her one year anniversary of becoming a Cullen, she still didn't really act like one. She didn't throw money around on a whim. Never felt the urge to go out on a shopping spree. Alice still dragged her off. Come to think of it, this whole car thing was a bit out of character for her. But then again, she wasn't spending the money herself. And most of it was going to belong to me…or Jake. Wait a minute, was she favouring him from the start? With the prize money he could help his father, start his own business, maybe help out some of his friends too. Grr, I was going to ask her about that! That wouldn't be fair and she said it was important to her to be fair.
My thoughts were interrupted by an irritated sigh. My eyes flashed to Edward, standing in the doorway. He shook his head and moved towards me. "She didn't start this for Jake, he said, she really was inspired by that show." And you know how she likes to have fun with everybody." Look how most the family is involved." And she drew you from getting bored." Hmm, okay, he was right. Giving him a look to match that thought, I ushered him to continue. Because surely he wasn't done yet. Brother dear loved giving speeches. He rolled his eyes.
"But, he explained, she has been thinking about the prize money." If Jake would win, it would be like giving it to him without it feeling like charity." And she was wondering what you would do with it, seeing as you don't really need it." That's why she was trying to offer something else as a prize." He looked at me intently for a moment before adding more. "She was also wondering what to do if she couldn't choose." What if she liked both cars equally and you both finished at the same time during the race." Then it was quiet.
These things needed some thought. And maybe we should talk about them with the whole family. No, that seemed overkill. But to wait until after the race? I was a bit conflicted about it at the moment. Then a question popped up in my head; how was Jake doing, was he nearly ready? Eddy answered that right away. "No, he's not as far along as you, I think he's going to need ten to fourteen days." Oh, okay, I had some time left then to ponder. 'Maybe you should talk about this with Jake too,' I thought to him. Because I could see it happening, May being indecisive. He nodded and left.
Darn it, I thought I had time and suddenly a week had passed. Finishing the Camaro had consumed all my time. Along with spending time with my family, mostly Emmet and Nessie. The three of us had gone hunting. We found a big male moose. Of course uncle had to show off in front of his niece. Wrestling with the animal a bit and chasing it. She liked it and only encouraged him further. At the last moment she joined him for the kill. We fed together, because we weren't really that thirsty. Though we couldn't resist a herd of deer we came across. Each of us took one down for ourselves. Afterwards we cleaned up and played with our little girl. Emmet threw her up in the air time after time. Nessie had a laughing fit the whole time. The last few miles home she rode on his shoulders.
Right now I looked at my work. Satisfied, I passed my fingers over the hood. This project had been nice, restoring this oldie. Not at all what I'd expected. I've grown to like this machine. All the work I put in it, she was my 'baby'. A feeling of pride filled me. I wouldn't mind driving her once in a while. Sighing, I decided to leave things with May and the prize money up to faith. If that even existed. I still had no idea what I'd do if I won, besides dishing Jake. Hopefully someone else could come up with something. If it ended equally, an outcome I didn't prefer, then we could split the money evenly. And the cars could be driven by the teams when May permitted it. I was sure the wolf-boys would like that. They probably had a test-drive already. Hmm.
I opened the garage doors and checked for the others. There was no sign. Alice probably saw this and kept them away. I got behind the wheel and inhaled the smell of leather. Lovely! Starting the engine was heavenly, it sounded like new and resonated power. Speeding off I decided to go north. Turning on the radio, it blasted out 'Drivers seat' by 'Sniff 'n tears'. Not really my kind of music, but at this moment it fitted. I felt so good, it startled me a bit, but that didn't ruin the light rush. Everything went perfect. I stopped at a gas station to fill up and immediately got lots of attention. Five men gathered around my blue beauty. They gave praises and asked some questions, which I answered happily.
Back home there was still no one there when I pulled back into the garage. I took a rag and quickly polished of some dirt spots. Then I went into the house. It was quiet, but I could sense that some of my family members were home. After I freshened up and had a change of clothes we all spend some quality time in the living room. A few days after that Jake had finished too and we both presented our cars in front of our house. It got pretty crowded with sixteen people there. Charlie had been curious about the build-off. He watched as both teams assessed their opponents work.
The Mustang looked good, I couldn't deny that. His midnight blue colour shone in the light coming from behind the clouds. On a darker day, to human eyes it would seem black. The roof had a gotten a coat of silver flex paint, so it looked like a starry sky. On the inside were black leather seats with white racing stripes. The dashboard was black too with white accents. But most noticeable were the wolves, prowling down the hood, on either side of the air-intake. They had a pale blue colour and were semi-visible to the human eye. It depended on how the light hit them, if you saw them clearly or not. I noticed a small moon above the intake too, done the same way.
I wondered what technique Jake had used and who the artist was, because the wolves looked realistic enough. Hoping May would ask, we all moved aside to let her judge our work. Jake and I ended up standing next to each other. We turned at the same time to speak and were probably looking like fish out of water. Shutting our mouths, we wondered who should go first. Jake made a bit of a mocking gesture of 'ladies first'.
I told him he did a good job, but I'd like to hear the engine first before giving him my full assessment. He grinned and said the same about my work. May appeared in front of us, beaming. "Wow, she said, you both did an amazing job." She looked at me. "Rose, I love the colour and the tiger.., you went into my room, my closet?" I nodded; "I was looking for a personal touch to add and well.., 'he' caught my eye." She smiled wide.
Then she went to Jake. "I like your colour too, Jake," she said. "It suits the car. "And the sparkling roof, she added, a nice touch." But the wolves stand out." You must tell how you did it." He gave her a brilliant smile, obviously loving her comments. "Well, he answered, my fourth team member is super at airbrush painting." A real artist, a friend of a friend from the Makah reservation." He knows his paint too and came up with this." May nodded; "certainly a good choice, huh."
She paused a second before ordering us to pop the hood and start the engines. We did as she asked and both cars sounded like new. We proceeded to give our 'sales pitches' and point out more details. She said nothing and just listened like she often did. Only asking for a bit more explanation at the technical parts. She knew little more than Bella about cars.
Afterwards Charlie got his chance. He even sat behind the wheel of each car, revving the engine. He looked like a teenager again. About to buy his favourite, the one he always wanted. Only he found two to choose from. Well, maybe he could drive them both sometimes. May's face said 'yes' to that. Then we all piled into different cars, each team in theirs of course. And set of to the Grays Harbor Raceway in Elma. We rented the track for an hour or so. Everyone stared at the scene, having never been to a car track before. The emptiness made it seem bigger. Jake and I drove to the starting line after dropping off our team-mates. Emmet was exited, the ride over here made it worse. He was cheering for me already.
Edward would flag us at the start and finish. We waited impatiently for him and pressed the gas to let the wheels spin. As dust clouds started to form behind our vehicles, he dropped the flag. We sped off, flooring them. I was faster, but Jake caught up soon. Each of us took turns in the lead. Wow, this felt exhilarating, we should do this more often! Soon we going to finish and I glanced at Jake, who was keeping up with me. Hell no! I was going to win!
But as we crossed the finish, Edward wasn't there. Jake and I stopped and got out, looking around. Everyone was standing around Alice. Her blank stare said enough, a vision, and not a good one. We rushed over to join them.
Edwards darkened expression gave another clue, I'd seen it before. "The Volturi are coming back," Alice whispered with a shock. "Soon, Edward added, but things are clouded, like with Victoria and her army." He paused, checking Alice again. "I see Santiago and… Chelsea, I think." There are more, but their faces keep changing, and I don't know them." We all just stood there a moment, staring into space.
Bella was the first to react, her hands clenched into fists at her sides. "No, no, she said, shaking her head, why?" So soon." It doesn't make sense." Have they changed their minds about Renesmee?" Emmet surprised me, fire in his eyes. "They will not touch her, he exclaimed, we will fight them this time!" The muscles on his shoulders bulged under his skin. May shifted uneasily behind us. She wanted to say something, be decided not to. Edward read her mind and encouraged her to speak up.
"Well, she said hesitantly, you don't know if they're coming for her." It could be the pack, or the Denali's?" I furrowed my brows, confused. Why would she think that? Of course she noticed. "I was thinking this because,… what if it wasn't Aro's idea, she explained, but Caius'." He maybe even went behind his back." Again it got quiet, while thought about this. She had a point, though it seemed less likely to me. The others voiced their opinions briefly. They all looked concerned. Jake reached for his phone and called Sam. I heard his growl coming through. Anger was welling up in me too. Why couldn't they just let us be? We had one peaceful year, one! To them it was a game. Aarrgh!
We went home, forgetting the race. The cars were stored in the garage and covered. Then the waiting started. A week passed by as Alice kept looking. Getting a headache in the process. The big house became our fortress, everyone resided there. All the wolves were patrolling heavily. Bella asked for training again, especially now she wasn't a newborn anymore. The Denali's were on high alert too, but wouldn't come until the last minute. May joined in the training sessions and also patrolled with the packs. She was constantly on the move.
Another week passed and I was getting angrier. I punched down trees and demolished rocks. Let them come already, get it over with!
I couldn't find relief, even in the bedroom. The bed protested, creaked and moaned as I rode Emmet. His hands clasped my waist in trying to stop me. "Please honey, he begged, you know I like it rough, but lets not destroy things." And think of Nessie, you'll wake her." Sighing I slowed down and stopped. Flopping down on his chest, I wrapped my arms around him. "I just feel so helpless, I told him, so frustrated." He kissed the top of my head. "I know honey, I know," he replied. In the early morning, it was still dark, as we emerged from our room, I spotted May coming out of hers. She was dressed in a thick leather coat and pants. "Hey, I called to her, where are you going?" She turned to me: "to train, with wolves, the young ones can use it." She preceded to move downstairs.
Irritation flared up in me. Why did she care so much? They were able to take care of themselves. I ran after her, caught her shoulder and asked her. She looked at me in disbelief. "They're fiends, she said calmly, practically family and a potential target." They're helping us too, you know," she added. "And we surely aren't rookies either." She moved forward, pulling herself from my hold. But I wasn't done yet, why was she so calm? The first week she'd been anxious, but after that she was herself again. Maybe less cheery. Outside I gave her shove. She turned around slowly. "Why aren't you pissed off or something?" I demanded. "How can you do normal things?" Suddenly I was raging mad and punched her down. Everyone was stunned. May got up quick and held up her hand.
She looked straight into my eyes. "What good does it do, being angry?" she asked, arching an eyebrow. "It's a negative emotion, I don't want to feel." Huh! I scowled at her. "So you've been angry? I spat at her. "Because it seemed you hardly heard of it." She flashed towards me, got right up in my face. Her eyes were darker as she growled low, the sound rumbled and vibrated in my chest. And not like when she used that with Emmet. It wasn't playful, the angry undercurrent was clearly palpable. "You don't want to see me angry," she hissed at me ice cold. And then she was gone. Leaving me speechless. Edward brought me back to reality. "She's right, you know," he said. Jazz nodded and added: "And what you just felt, saw, that was nothing." I'm pretty sure it's way worse if she's really mad." Don't make her an enemy."
Esme came over to me and put a hand on my shoulder. "She's feeling more protective too, she said, with Sam's new baby." Okay, I thought, that was quite understandable. I calmed down and decided to train with Bella. Jazz felt a bit overwhelmed and decided to patrol a bit. Emmet went with him, wanting to do something too. He expressed that back when the wolves were a threat to Bella and Nessie.
They were gone an hour when Alice zoned out. What she saw was real bad, because Edward gasped and immediately grabbed his phone. "Jazz, he said, go find May, she disappeared just now, Alice can't see her anymore." I heard him answer that it wasn't unusual for her with the wolves around. "No, Edward pressed on, I mean she really disappeared, Alice looked as far ahead as she could and saw nothing!"
Now they were rushing, the wind echoing through the phone. "Should we go and help?" Bella asked. Alice shook her head. "They might still come here." Jake's pack reacted and spread out through the trees. And it dawned on us, the wolves could really be the target.
x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x
I've added another chapter to my other story too. Check it out!