A World Full of Strangers

Disclaimer: All the characters in the story are the property of Stephanie Meyer. I have borrowed them for my entertainment and (hopefully) your reading pleasure. I make no profit from their use.

Chapter 5: Renesmee's Hero

I have never been so confused in my whole life. Here I was, thinking that my life was absolutely perfect. My Jacob is my best friend in the whole world. I have the most wonderful Momma and Daddy in the world. My Cullen grandparents are the most kind and generous people that could possibly exist. My aunties and uncles are back in Forks, so that we are all together again.

Who cares if they are vampires? They are good vampires. My Grandpa Carlisle saves humans. He doesn't kill them. And they all have beautiful topaz eyes; eyes that tell the whole world that they don't drink the blood of humans. I feed on animal blood too, but I don't have those eyes. My eyes are brown, like Momma's eyes were when she was human. Daddy and Jacob tell that my eyes are lovely just like hers were. But I think that they might be prejudiced.

The Cullens only hunt and feed on animals and their blood. And there are plenty of humans who do the same, only they eat the meat. But what is the difference anyway? Animals are food. Humans are friends and neighbors. In the beginning it was hard for me to understand that. Human blood just tastes so much better than animal blood. But then Carlisle explained that humans donate their blood to help other humans who need it to live, not to feed me.

In addition to my vampire family, I have my Grandpa Charlie and his wife Sue. Poor Grandpa. Because he is a human, he can't know our secret. If he did, then the Volturi would certainly kill him, unless, one of us made him a vampire first. But I don't think that he would like being a vampire. He doesn't like being so close to our world. Every time that I grow another inch, he mumbles, "Need to know, need to know."

Momma always says that we are lucky that he married Sue. Sue understands these things because she is a Quileute Elder. She is even on the Council, the first woman ever. But when her husband died, their son Seth was too young. Now he is old enough, but he doesn't want the position. He said that she earned the position and he didn't. That's why we like Seth so much. He is good and kind.

Sue and Seth understand us, and so do all of the other Quileutes. According to Quileute history, the reason why the tribe members still carry the werewolf gene is so that they can kill vampires. That changed when the Cullens came here the first time. Carlisle made a treaty with Ephraim Black, Jacob's great-grandfather, and the Quileutes promised not to kill them if they stayed off Quileute land and didn't bite any humans.

The only time that they made an exception was when my Daddy had to bite my Momma (many times) to save her after she gave birth to me. My Jacob is the hero of that story. He even helped Daddy keep her heart beating so that the venom would spread after it stopped. And, as Ephraim's heir, he gave Daddy permission to break the treaty and save Momma's life. But that wasn't all he did.

The other Quileute pack, Sam's pack, wanted to kill Momma and me because they thought that I would kill everyone when I was still too little to know any better. They thought that I was a monster. But Jacob didn't. He knew that I was good, even before I was born. And then after I was born, he imprinted on me and that meant that no one in the pack could kill me. My Jacob saved me. But he also told me that I was never allowed to tell anyone that I knew that he had imprinted, and what that meant.

Momma and Daddy think that I am to young to understand it. But Jacob explained it to me and it all seems very simple. Jacob is my protector for life. He belongs to me now and will never leave me. I don't understand what the big secret is. Momma must know about it because when she was afraid that the Volturi would kill everyone, she made sure that Jacob and I could escape. She trusted my Jacob to take care of me.

My Jacob has also promised me that he had a big surprise for me on my birthday. But he also said that I had to keep it a secret from Daddy too. I don't like it. It is very difficult to keep secrets from my father. There are some times that I wish I was like Momma and could be a shield. But no-oh, she gets to be a shield, while I get the ability to show everyone every thing that I have ever seen. At least I can control that now, except when it comes to Daddy.

But I still don't like keeping secrets from my Momma and Daddy and the rest of my family. They have never kept any secrets from me. They have told me all about our vampire world and how dangerous it can be for us to go among the humans. I have often wondered why we live in secret in our little cottage in the woods. Momma said that someday we would leave, but until then, it was like living in a wonderful fairy story, wasn't it?

She told me that it is like there is magic all around us. The Quileutes are a magical people. They are shape shifters and understand the supernatural world. And the vampires are also special, because they are immortal and never grow old. Momma and Daddy and all my aunts and uncles will never look older than teenagers. And someday so will I.

And we can go among the Quileutes because they know our secret. And they will keep our secret because we keep their secret. And we stay off their land. Momma can go on their land because she is my mother. And Carlisle can go when they need a doctor. And Esme can go when she gives them things. But they must always have an invitation. I don't think that's very nice at all.

My Jacob's pack can come and go from Carlisle's house and they don't need an invitation. And Esme always makes sure that she has lots of food to feed them, because they eat a lot. I asked my Jacob about it once, but he just said that the Quileutes had to be more careful than the Cullens.

Then he got annoyed because I rolled my eyes. But he didn't stay annoyed for long. He never does. Momma tried to tell him that it was normal for girls to roll their eyes when they got older. She said that she used to do it to Grandpa Charlie all the time. Then my Jacob got mad and told her not to compare him to Charlie. I guess it is one of those human things.

Carlisle is so right when he says that I have no experience in the human world. Everything that I know about life, I have read in books or learned from my very limited experience. I know that it always made Momma sad when I wondered why I couldn't have friends my own age or even go to school. But by the time I was four months old, I could already read and write and play the piano. What did I need school for when I had so many people to teach me?

My earliest memories after Momma giving birth to me are of the family sitting around watching me. Even then, I knew that they all loved me. I didn't see much of Daddy then, because he wanted to be with Momma. But I remember sitting with him while Momma finished changing. Every hour, she grew more beautiful and stronger.

And of course there was Auntie Rose to take care of me. After I bit Momma I remember Daddy yelling at someone who was very mad at him. But then Auntie Rose was there to hold me in her arms. I was crying loudly because they took me away from Momma. I had spent all that time inside of Momma waiting to see her, but then they took me away so quickly. I barely heard her speak.

But Auntie Rose was so gentle as she washed me and swaddled me, the whole time telling me what a sweet little girl I was. She told me not to worry about my Momma. Daddy was doing everything that he could to keep her with us. When she was done, she held me close. I wanted to tell her that I knew what she meant, so I touched her neck.

I can still recall the look of wonder on her face when I showed her Momma and Daddy. But she smiled when she realized what I was saying and told me what a clever girl I was. And then Aunt Alice was with us and said that everything would be just fine. Bella's (Momma's) heart was beating.

But the next thing I remember is seeing my Jacob. He looked at me as no one else did. There was so much love. He made me feel so safe and warm, not like Momma and Daddy did, different. And he couldn't stop looking at me. But it was very odd because he kept demanding that the others let him hold me. He was very insistent. I remember Uncle Emmett said that he would toss him out on his ass if he didn't cut it out.

Until Momma woke up, things were rather odd. Auntie Rosalie held me the most and was always happy if one of the others wanted to (especially Esme because she lost her own little baby), but not Jacob, never Jacob. They used to fight about it. Then Momma woke up and I finally met her. And then she threw my Jacob out if the house. That was the first time that I heard the word imprinting.

But then she yelled at him because he called me Nessie, after something called the Loch Ness monster. He thought it was cute, but she thought it was awful. When I was old enough, I asked what the Loch Mess monster was. Daddy told me that it was a mythical sea serpent that lived in Loch (Lake) Ness in Scotland. Then he showed me a picture in a book.

As soon as I saw the picture, I cried and said that I didn't want anyone to ever call me Nessie again. The monster looked like a big, ugly dinosaur. But I was a pretty little girl. And Momma had named me after my two grandmas. And Auntie Rose said that my name was perfect. I had one vampire grandmother and one human grandmother. My name was unique and I was unique.

But it was a long time before anyone talked about imprinting again. I heard about it when I was visiting on the reservation. So I asked Jacob. I said that I remembered that Momma had yelled at him imprinting on me when I was a baby. I wanted to know if it was good or bad. In my memory, it seemed like Momma thought that it was very bad.

Jacob said that she changed her mind and now she thought that it was very good. He said that it meant that we would be together forever. He said that I would grow up soon and then we would get married. I told him that I was too young to get married and he said that he knew that, but someday I would be old enough. Until then, he was still going to be my best friend. He said that as long as he was there, I never had to worry about anything hurting me.

But I still feel kind of funny about it. I mean, why did he tell me so many times that I couldn't think about it in front of Daddy? He said that it was a secret. But I know that Momma knows all about imprinting because she has talked to Emily about it. Emily is Sam's wife and she talked to me after Jacob did.

She told me that Jacob was my man and I didn't have to worry about anything ever again. It was weird. I wasn't really sure that I wanted a man. I have Daddy and I don't like keeping secrets from him and Momma. Then Emily told me not to tell them that I had talked to her. She said that they wouldn't understand. But I think that she's wrong. Momma and Daddy understand lots of things. Why wouldn't they understand this?