Disclaimer: I do not own Twilight.
A/N: I do not have a Beta and I'm too lazy to read over my work. So, sorry in advance for what I'm sure will be numerous grammatical mistakes and probably some missing/wrong words in several places.
When we first left, it wasn't that bad. It wasn't that hard. I imagined that I was just going on vacation that would last a few short days. I pictured that I wasn't about to leave forever. I didn't want to leave Charlie, but I had no choice. It was the safest thing to do given the different variables in the scenario. I hadn't decided on a lot of the details because I didn't want to think about it. I just decided when I wanted to leave and how. That was all I wanted a say in. Planning on how I would be permanently leaving Charlie and even Jacob, I was sure we would have eventually reconciled and become friends again, hurt too much. I didn't want to plan that.
So, the day I was to leave, after having spent the previous night spending time with Charlie as he watched TV and I read a book next to him on the couch, Irina slipped into my room and woke me up saying it was time. We had decided that since I wasn't going to take anything with me when we left, I would just sleep in some clothes I wouldn't mind traveling in and they would take me straight to their car as soon as they woke me up. To cover their tracks, I had said goodbye to the Cullen's cousins before hanging out with Charlie for the rest of the day. That way, he wouldn't think the Denali's had anything to do with my disappearing. The Cullen's would also be leaving a false trail for the pack to follow. I wasn't sure how they would do it without the pack picking up their own scent, but they had done the same thing when James was after me, so I suppose they had the means to do it.
Since I had gone to bed dressed to be ready to leave right away, I didn't have to bother dressing before I followed Irina to the window. She quickly dropped to the ground and easily caught me before I hit the ground after her. The biggest thing, appearance wise, that was bothering me was my hair. I had already been told that a brush would be waiting for in their car so that I could tame my hair even though I would more than likely fall right back asleep.
Irina shifted me so that I was piggy back on her and then raced off into the forest. I knew she wasn't running as fast as she could because she was conscious of the fact that I wasn't used to moving as fast as she can go without something, like a car frame, being around me. She was still running really fast, but it wasn't fast enough to make me uncomfortable. It didn't take long to get to their car and when we did, I immediately climbed into the backseat to sit with Kate while Irina sat up front with Tanya as the coven leader drove.
"We'll try to get as far as possible so that if Charlie does think we're involved in you disappearing, we won't be anywhere near Forks." Tanya said as she started to drive as fast as she could.
The Cullen's would have to stay in Forks and do everything they could to stay out of the news, but to also make sure that Charlie didn't think they really had anything to do with me leaving. I didn't know how long they would stay in town until they moved on, but I knew they were walking a fine line. They had to make sure they left before anyone noticed they weren't aging but they had to stay long enough to make sure Charlie didn't find them suspicious of anything if they left too soon. I was shocked when I realized that I really didn't mind what they did. I wasn't nearly as worried about them as I would have been before this whole thing happened.
"You should try to get some sleep." Kate said as she wrapped her around my waist and pulled me closer to her. My instantly fell onto her shoulder as I wiggled next to her to get comfortable. "When you wake up, we'll stop someplace to get you something to eat."
I could feel my nerves pick up from waking up in the middle of the night to being run at a vampire speed to the car. The anxiety I was feeling was because everything was finally happening. Everything that we had been talking about for the last few days was coming to fruition and I was nervous. I was sure there would be news reports about the police chief's daughter going missing and I wasn't sure if I wanted to watch it or not. I knew I wanted to know when I was in the clear, when I wouldn't have to worry about if my mates or even the Cullen's were at risk of being exposed or not. But, I didn't want to watch Charlie, who would no doubt make several press conferences about the situation, talking about how much he missed me and was concerned about me. I couldn't stand to watch that.
"I'm not sure I can sleep." I quietly said as Tanya raced the car off towards their home.
It was going to be a long trip. The trip would take a couple days as we were traveling strictly by car. We would drive to Seattle, to Canada and then travel straight to Denali National Park where the Denali's lived. From what I understood, they didn't live near any near towns or cities so it really would be the perfect place for me to be changed. I would have the comforts of civilization through their, or I guess our, home and at the same time, I would be able to 'trash the forest in a newborn rage', as Kate had put it, whenever I wanted or needed to. I was honestly hoping that with how long it would take to get to my new home and with how secluded their home was, I wouldn't hear anything about Charlie and his search until after the Cullen's told the Denali's that they were in the clear and that everything was done. I didn't know how long that would take, but I was hoping it wouldn't take. In reality, I knew that Charlie would never give up looking and that I would have to stay hiding until long after he was gone. At least I would be an immortal soon and the wait wouldn't be that bad for me, emotions aside of course.
"Everything will work out in the end." Kate murmured into my ear as she nuzzled the side of my head.
I wanted to argue that everything wouldn't work out because I was losing my father. But as they had pointed out, something I didn't even want to think about, in the end I really would lose Charlie. Being turned into an immortal vampire aside, it was inevitable that I would lose Charlie. The big problem was that I was going to lose him sooner than what I would have if vampires weren't involved with my life. It really sucked, but I would rather lose him and he get to live than lose him because the Volturi decided to kill him to make sure their secret was kept. So, technically, everything would work out in the end in exactly the way it would have even if I had really been Edwards mate because I would have eventually lost Charlie.
"I wish I didn't have to lose him so soon." I whispered as a tear fell down cheek.
"Just remember that this way you're keeping him safe." Kate whispered back as she pulled me tighter into her.
There wasn't anything else to say after that, and I especially didn't want to say anything given how depressed I was feeling. I knew that eventually I would, not necessarily get over it, but I wouldn't be nearly as sad about it. It was just a matter of time before I would back to normal. It didn't take long for me to fall asleep from the movement of the car and from how relaxed I was from being snuggled to Kate.
I wasn't sure how long I was asleep for, but when I woke up it was already nearing noon and I was definitely hungry. Instead of sitting and leaning against Kate, either I moved or Kate had moved me so that I was lying across the small backseat with my knees bent so that I could fit and my head in Kate's lap. Even though I was a bit annoyed that she had moved me, I really didn't mind. I knew that this position, my head in her lap and her fingers combing through my hair was a more intimate position than I would have been comfortable with if I had been awake. But, I liked being so close to her. It felt nice.
"I didn't think you would appreciate sleeping in the position you were in." Kate said after a few seconds of me being awake. "It probably would have put a kink in your neck."
"Thank you." I didn't even bother to try to move. Lying on her was a lot more comfortable than I was willing to admit out loud. Thankfully I knew she was more than willing to let me lay my head on her.
"Are you hungry? It's definitely after breakfast." Tanya asked from the front seat. She was no longer driving. She and Irina had switched seats, so when Tanya asked me about food, she had turned around in her seat so that she could look in the back.
"What time is it?" I asked.
"It's about one thirty." Irina answered. "We can stop someplace for a late lunch."
"Yeah, that sounds good." I agreed. I was definitely hungry and wouldn't pass up the opportunity to stop.
After I agreed to stop, Irina drove for another ten minutes or so before she pulled over and pulled into a small diner. The four of us got out and piled into a booth. The place was practically empty, so the Denali's were forced to at least order water and something small to 'eat'. Naturally they wouldn't eat anything, it was all for show.
"We'll get into the first stop around eight. We'll spend the night and then leave the following morning at six. With as fast as we drive, we should be able to get home ahead of schedule. As long as we don't run into any bad traffic or weather." Tanya said after we had placed our orders for food.
"Carmen and Eleazar will get there with plenty of time to stock up on food and prepare the house as much as possible to house a newborn." Irina said.
"What are they going to do?" I curiously asked. I wasn't what they would have time to do that would help avoid damage caused if I were to go into a newborn rage of some sort.
"Our room is on the second story." Tanya started. "They are making a room on the bottom floor easily accessible to the outside and making sure that they put as sturdy as possible furniture in there. They will also be picking up furniture that we ordered."
"Extra furniture?"
"Of course, extra furniture is near the top of the list for newborn vampires and their maker if they live in a modern home." Irina answered. "You'll need to get used to your strength and it will take time. We're predicting that there will be a lot of destroyed furniture in the near future until you get used to your strength."
"There's also the fact that, since we're mated, some newborns don't take kindly to obstacles in their way of getting to their mates." Kate added just before our food arrived. She stopped talking while the waitress unloaded our food and didn't start until the waitress left again. "To newborns, there are only two things newborns worry about."
"Three if a threat presents itself but you won't have to worry about that. You might see Carmen and Eleazar as a territorial threat, depending on how well your memory is, but they won't be around for a week or two, they'll be on vacation, right after you're turned." Tanya added.
I already knew where Kate was going with this. I could feel my face start to light up with a blush as I imagined how bad this conversation was going to get. Kate wasn't even teasing me, she was just warning me of what to expect in the future. She was just telling me without no regards to modesty… at least that's what I was predicting she was going to do.
"Food is a top priority for a newborn." Kate said, sounding like she was teaching me something very important. I already knew that newborns craved blood; that was an issue they had briefly talked about when we had first started talking about changing me.
"Your thirst will be strong and nearly unbearable for a while, but eventually you'll be able to ignore. Time will dull the burn and eventually it won't bother you; it'll be there, but it will be easily ignorable." Irina pitched in. "It'll take centuries, but it'll happen. It'll only take a few years before your newborn thirst is completely under control and you won't be at too much risk of attacking someone."
I was expecting to take a few years to get enough control of my thirst before I would be able to around humans again. I knew it took Jasper a while before he was able to go to school and even then, he still had trouble while going to school. I was sure that if he didn't go with Alice and feel her happy, carefree attitude all the time, school would be a lot harder for him. I had been told that the amount of time it took for vampires to be able to be around humans without wanting to instantly kill the humans they were around differed for each for person. So I wasn't sure exactly how long it would take for me to be around other people again; I just hoped it wouldn't take too long.
"The second thing, is when a vampire finds their mate." Kate said with a grin that sent warning bells off in my head. "For newborns, they only want two things: blood and sex. Blood is easily sated because there's only so much you can drink. But sex, for a newborn it's nearly nonstop for days. It's such a glorious experience that I can almost guarantee you'll never have better sex again."
I knew I shouldn't have asked what I did next, but I couldn't help it. Kate tended to have an ego and she seemed to love to talk it up. She was definitely someone that I would like to argue with and win the argument just because it would 'knock her down a peg'; not that she really needed it. She was appropriate with when, where, how and with what she decided to tease or argue about something. That was probably because she was definitely old enough to know better.
"Once you're turned and you see us, you'll crave both us and blood." Tanya said with a teasing smirk as my face grew redder. Tanya definitely wasn't as bad as Kate with her teasing, but that didn't mean she didn't like to tease. "I'm really curious to see which one you go after first."
"I'm thinking if we scare off all the animals within a few miles of the house, she won't smell anything and will go after us." Kate said with a wide smile. "I haven't had the pleasure of having sex with a newborn mate since Irina was changed."
"Nothing compares to newborn sex." Tanya said with a smile and look that said she was thinking of when Irina was a newborn. "In all fairness though, all of us were changed relatively in the same amount of time."
"It will be interesting to see how sex is when we don't have newborn strength on our side." Irina mused. "By the time I was changed, both Tanya's and Kate's strength was weaning, but they still had some."
"Even if you want blood first, it will just make sex all that much better." Kate said with a wistful look on her face.
"Can we please change topics." I begged as I willed my blush to go away.
"But sex is my favorite topic." Kate said with a pout. "Especially when it involves my three sexy ladies."
I decided that focusing on my food was just the best I had at that point. Thankfully, Tanya had decided to step in. I knew that Kate wouldn't have continued after that last comment, but she was definitely pushing the line. I was thankful she knew not to cross it, just push and probably expand it.
"Enough Kate." Tanya chided.
"We don't want to scare her too soon." Irina said just before she faked sipped from her glass of water.
Thankfully, Kate changed the subject to teasing me about letting me drive, then taking it back because she was sure that I wouldn't drive fast because I was so used to driving my truck that couldn't go fast. It hurt to hear about my truck, something that I really did like and had defended all the time. I would probably never see it again. Perhaps I could try to keep an eye on it so that whenever it was sent to the dump, I could rescue it and refurbish it. Or beg Rosalie to fix it up for me. Whichever.
The rest of lunch, after Kate had teased me about my driving and my truck, we talked about random topics. I learned a bit more about how they lived before they were 'vegetarian' vampires. Apparently they were the cause of the 'succubus' legend because they took so many men to bed but the men never made it home. I learned that they had become vegetarian because they figured out that they could keep the men longer if they didn't die; and they didn't have to move towns as often. Apparently even as a mated… trio, they still craved others. Irina said she thinks that was because they were missing me. Since they've known about me, even though it hadn't been that long, they said they didn't crave for anyone else.
By the time we were getting back into the car, this time with Irina in the back with me and Kate driving with Tanya in the passenger seat upfront, we were talking about Kate's slight obsession with video games, Irina's need to read every book written and Tanya studying the stock market and business trends. I learned that Kate, like Emmett, liked to pass the time with the different video games that came out. But mostly she liked to defeat the players online, especially the boys that thought girls couldn't play video games that well. According to both Tanya and Irina, listening to Kate taunt the boys while they played whatever game it was, was very amusing.
I learned that Irina was a big reader. She read everything from the classics, which she's apparently read dozens of times, to the new books that have come out. She's everything in every genre; although she says she prefers reading history books because likes comparing the books to what had really happened. She liked to read the books from era's that she was alive during to make comparisons and she says they aren't always too far from the truth, but she likes reading what historians highlight as major factors of life compared to how it really was. She said that she was very thankful for e-books because she was getting annoyed with having to keep moving all her books to larger storage areas as her collection grew.
And Tanya, she was interested with the different business trends that have floated in and out of popularity throughout history. She likes to guess which businesses will do well and grow and which ones will die. That's why she plays the stock market; she figures that since she's usually right about which businesses will suffer and which will die, she decided to try and earn a profit out of it. So, even though she wouldn't be as successful as Alice would, she did pretty good and had fun doing it. She tried explaining how the market works, but I just couldn't keep focused. To me, it was very boring. I tried to sound interested, but thankfully Tanya was fully aware that most people didn't like her hobby of choice, so she didn't take offense that we changed topics fairly quickly.
The next time we stopped, aside from getting gas, wasn't until way later, until we got to the first 'check point' in our trip. I had decided to munch on the snack food they had bought me until we got to our first hotel check-in because I didn't want to be stuck in a car all night. When we had first discussed the plan, I had originally opted to go on the trip without stopping at night since they didn't need to sleep. But, then they pointed out that the car, and it was a car not an SUV or van or something large, would get very uncomfortable quickly. I quickly agreed with them. So, plans were made that we would stop each night at a hotel and by the third night, we would be… home.
For dinner I ordered something from room service, which worked out great for the Denali's because they didn't have to order something so that it didn't seem odd that I was eating and they weren't. As far as the bell hop knew, we were all splitting the food.
The Denali's had managed to book a room with a single large, king sized room. When I noticed that there was a large bed in the small room that was placed directly in front of the TV, I had no doubt that in a short time, especially once I started to eat dinner, we would all be sitting on the bed together watching something. I was surprised that the idea of cuddling up with them to watch a movie sounded like a really good idea.
By the time I was done eating, showered and changed to sleep, we were watching a second movie and I was cuddle in between Kate and Irina. Tanya was sitting at the single, very small table reading a newspaper. I had no idea where she had picked it up since I was fairly positive she didn't have it all day. She has watched the first movie with us but after that, she decided that she wanted to check on certain stocks and businesses that she had been keeping an eye on. That was when Irina told me that Tanya really just couldn't stand not knowing what was going on in the world and had to read the paper every day.
After the second movie, I opted to go to sleep. I already knew that I would have to wake up early so that we could be on our way and I didn't want to lose out on more sleep than what I was sure my dreams would keep me from having a decent nights' sleep. I was really hoping that the rest of the trip would be over quickly and that we would arrive at our home quickly so that we can get everything we need to do started and over with. It seemed that the closer we got to me being changed, the more frightened I became. I knew I wanted to be changed, that wasn't definitely not the problem. The problem was going through the three days on intense pain. I was terrified of it. I only a few short days, not even a week, until I would be changed.