Chapter Eight: Fidelity

It was as if she hadn't spoken. No one moved, breathed, or even blinked. Time was frozen, so absolutely still that she perked her ears to listen for the quiet ticking of the clock in the kitchen. Sure enough, it was there. Topaz gazes glimmered at her, unseeing.

Jacob's eyes were limitless pools of ash; an internal battle of mind over matter ensued, pure fury begged to be unleashed while the rational voice of his conscience talked him down. He was impressed by his own control, knowing two decades ago he would've run off to kill something. The source of this control was Renesmee. He had to be here for her, support her, encourage her and be there as a comfort. She needed him to get through this. Her chest was heavy, her lungs aching as she continued to hold her breath and it was his hand curling around hers that expelled a sigh from her lips.

"It… it was an accident," Renesmee murmured, her voice soft yet ragged from the tears in her throat, "I didn't know that alcohol would affect me differently and I just wanted to fit in, to be normal back then. A boy from school singled me out, something I hadn't experienced before and I let him take me upstairs and I don't know, I couldn't control myself."

Jacob turned his head away, not wanting to hear the story twice. While it had been before their relationship had blossomed, the mere thought of another person putting their filthy, vile hands on his one true love nearly pushed him over the edge. He wanted to rip something apart, punch a wall, sate this blood-thirsty desire for vengence. He turned his neck, stretching the muscles as if it would relax the tension that was born from his discomfort.

"What happened upstairs, Renesmee?" Bella urged her to continue, eyes wide with worry. A moment of silence passed as Renesmee considered her words.

"Things became intense," Swallowing hard, she glanced at Jacob before dropping her gaze to her lap. "I remember feeling warm, excited, and then, I was out of it. I was so thirsty and his throat was- and I couldn't-I just… I bit him, but I couldn't let go. I don't know what came over me, but I couldn't stop and then, then he stopped breathing."

"What did you do with the body?" Emmett asked, earning a nasty look from the rest of the table, though Edward and Jasper were musing along the same thought.

"Nothing," she whimpered, shaking her head, "I left him there, I was so scared and ashamed and I didn't know what to do."

Hot, fat tears raced down her flushed cheeks and she turned into Jake's arms, sobbing against his chest. He held her tight in his embrace, rubbing smooth circles over her back. Bella shared a remorseful look with Edward, before each person at the table exchanged a glance; there was only one thing they could say. Bella stood and approached her daughter, kneeling before her. A cold palm laid gently against Renesmee's knee and squeezed ever-so-slightly. Turning her head to face judgement, bronze affliction met saffron compassion.

"It's okay, sweetheart," Bella said, smiling weakly at her broken child. Renesmee felt a new wave of tears fill her eyes, but it was relief that flooded her heart. She collapsed into her mother's arms as Bella continued to murmur, "It's okay, it's okay."

"I'm sorry, mama. I'm so sorry." Renesmee cried, but was hushed by the loving words of her family as they sedated her fear of being turned away, of being rejected and disowned, of becoming Eden.

This thought of Ness's dribbled into Edward's mind and he froze, pausing as the situation sunk in. Renesmee killed someone in a drunken blood lust, as punishment she received hugs and kisses. Eden killed someone as an ignorant child and as punishment, was locked away in a basement for twenty years. He tried to reason with his now weighted conscience, reasoning that Eden had been put in "time out" for an insignificant amount of time in life of forever, but even that cop out of a justification could not lift the internal guilt of comprehending his and his family's hypocrisy. Eden knew what Ness did and knew how they would handle it, but how did she have them figured out after such a short time in their presence? His typhlotic eyes cleared and he found Eden staring back at him, her gaze holding the answer to his question, even if she didn't realize it. Something of Eden reminded him of a myth he'd been told as a child, one of an all-knowing entity, born of two worlds and kept by neither. She was wise beyond her years, only to grow more intrinsically educated.

Eden turned away and took Alec's hand, allowing him to guide her into the forest. He heard what happened moments before, the story and the response. It was sickening to see the softest spot of the Cullen's was a pitiful hybrid, one who had no exceptional abilities and was on the path of an 18th-century housewife without complaint. As a man born in that common reality, he thought it odd that he found strong-willed independence fascinating and felt it held more substance than an easily placated flower. Intelligence over loveliness was uncommon, but he had found loveliness was a mirage that only lasted until the pretty lips began to bore him every time they attempted to elicit excitement. With Eden, he colored himself a man of extreme karma. She had more to offer than just her exquisite beauty, something he had originally thought to say so much of a person and yet, it said nothing of her.

Who she was was thicker than skin, buried so deep within her and completely apart of everything that made her an individual, one that had distracted him time and time again. They strolled in the calm drizzle, silent and comforted by one another's presence. Never in his life had he been so content and felt such completeness in his heart. Of all things he expected of his assignment, finding someone so perfectly crafted for him had not been on the list. He wondered briefly if he had found his mate, but brushed the thought aside. Such notions would tie him to an expectation and something he learned about Eden was that she never did what you would expect.

Quite the opposite, and by lord, he admired her all the more for it. His gaze wandered to look at the beauty beside him, his eyes caressing her pearl complexion. Though beads of rain dripped down her cheeks, dampening her clothes, and her shoulders were worn down from heavy burdens, she glimmered like an angel under the pale sigh of the fading sun. The immortal man was left breathless by her enchantment.

Feeling the weight of his wonder, Eden met his eye. Truly interested in what he was thinking, she attuned her senses to the quiet hum she felt within. She expected to hear his thoughts, or see what he saw as he gazed at her, but instead, the world turned to gray around them; she saw only him and what he felt in brilliant colors. She saw him surrounded by a lavender cocoon of serenity, painted with peach thrashes of admiration, soft violet-colored fondness, and lined with silver thoughtfulness. She could smell his loam complacency, and was refreshed by the taste of his cool satisfaction. When he smiled at her, his colors gleamed brighter, the radiance stealing her breath. She smiled back when she realized that he was just as tangled in her as she was in him.

She wasn't surprised by what he felt, because she felt it too.