Renesmee's POV-
I bid my mother a goodbye, and collapsed onto my bed. My heart was still racing from the initial shock when I saw that my father was talking on my phone…to my mother! She didn't sound suspicious about who she had been talking to and she didn't inquire about his identity, but who knows what she could have been thinking. She could have recognized his voice and already begun looking for flights back home by now. The uncertainty was killing me! I guess I deserved it though.
What even made my father think it was a good idea to answer my phone? It was probably Emmett or Alice. They were always plotting something. I collected my thoughts and marched back into the base to confront them. I wasn't even sure if I was mad or not. As of now, I'm not sure my heart will ever recover from the panic that had risen, but I suppose that they could have had a good reason. I guess I would find out.
I walked into the base and they were all still seated in the same spots as before. They had stopped playing Truth or Dare, and were now just talking. I walked in front of where everyone was sitting and crossed my arms, alternating between staring suspiciously at my father, Alice, and Emmett.
"Don't look at me, Princess. It was all Emmett's idea." My father immediately spoke. I looked to Emmett who smiled and shrugged.
"Sorry Ness. The opportunity presented itself and I couldn't pass it up." He half-heartedly apologized.
"I'm so glad you're amused. I nearly had a heart attack." I told him. I heard Alice chuckle, but ignored it.
"Ah, c'mon, Ness. No harm, no foul. Your mom seemed pretty amused." He defended himself. I knew I couldn't come across as too angry because that would be suspicious, but I needed to make it clear that the incident was never to repeat itself.
"I suppose she was in a good mood today. I wouldn't test your luck though. On another day, the outcome might not have been so painless." I told him. He seemed to have gotten the point, but he was still smiling teasingly.
"I can't imagine that. She sounded wonderful and all you ever do is rave about her." My father added. I smirked, several memories coming to mind.
"That's because I've never been on the opposing side of her aggression." I told him. As soon as the words left my mouth, my smirk fell.
The possibilities of what would happen after she found out what I had done flooded my head. I could see it now. She would yell at me mercilessly until either Aro calmed her down or Alec spared me by cutting off my hearing. She would give me the "disappointed look" for weeks if not months or years. She would lock herself in her room and ignore everyone after realizing that I did not act alone in my plot. She would threaten to take me far away from the Cullens and the Volturi, probably to a remote place in Russia with a guarded tower. Then she'd come to her senses and realize that the Volturi could protect me better than she alone ever could. She'd ground me for a year, and she'd never leave me alone again. Then, on top of everything, she would sulk in her room and pretend that she didn't still have feelings for my father.
"Renesmee, are you okay?" Rosalie asked. I came back to reality and nodded.
"Yeah, I think I'm just tired. I should probably get some sleep. I'm sure it'll be a long day with all of the new covens coming tomorrow." I told them, gesturing that I was leaving to go to sleep.
"Oh, okay. Goodnight, hun." Rosalie smiled at me.
"Night, Ness!" Emmett beamed.
"Goodnight, Renesmee." Jasper and Alice added simultaneously.
"Sweet dreams, Princess." My father spoke softly, just loud enough for me to hear. I walked back to my room smiling and it didn't take long until I drifted off to sleep. There, I was met with a multitude of unpleasant dreams, despite my happy mood as I was falling asleep. I obviously dreamed about how my mom would take my betrayal, but I also dreamed about what would happen if the Cullens found out. That scared me equally as much. Would they hate me and my mom for hiding away for all these years? Would they even care? Maybe they wouldn't like me anymore after discovering who I was. The flip-side was almost worse! What if they tried to take me from my mother?
I was awoken from a particularly scary dream that involved a war between the Cullens and the Volturi by two cool hands shaking me awake.
"Nessie, wake up!" I heard Alice's voice call. I flipped over onto my stomach and buried my face in my pillow. "Oh, stop it! It's time to wake up. Jane sent me to get you. A new coven will be arriving soon!" She beamed. I flipped my head so that I could see her and she was smiling brilliantly at me. I threw my cover off of me and hobbled over to my bathroom.
"What time is it?" I asked. Alice pulled out a sleek black phone and checked it.
"A little before 7." She answered. Wonderful. I walked into the bathroom and splashed my face with water to wake me up. I brushed my hair and teeth quickly, and decided to put off showering until later in the night so that I could let my hair dry overnight. I walked back into my room and saw Alice sitting on my bed.
"So you know my plans for the day, but what do you plan on doing today?" I asked. Her face immediately lit up and I knew the answer before it exited her mouth.
"Shopping!" She beamed. This chick liked to shop even more than I did. I wondered how my mom survived being around Alice while she was human. At least now, she didn't get tired while shopping. Just to clarify, she was indeed undoubtedly bored, but at least I knew that she wouldn't fall asleep on me.
"Anything specific that you're looking for?" I asked her. She gave me a look.
"That depends. Is there anything specific that you'd like?" She asked. I rolled my eyes.
"I hope that's not why you're going shopping. You've gotten me enough, Alice." I turned and she shrugged at me.
"Well the rest of my family still needs to get gifts." My eyes widened. I didn't need to be reminded that I'd be gifted with thousands of dollars worth of gifts from the Cullens that my mother would undoubtedly burn out of rage or make me return. "And Aro said it would be a good idea, anyway, since you're going to be preoccupied with the other covens." She said, trying to hide her apparent jealousy.
"Tell your family that as thankful as I am, I don't really want anything else. I have everything that I need." She pondered my words for a few seconds.
"What about a piano?" She asked. I shook my head and scoffed.
"Absolutely not. My mom would never approve, and that is way too much. Maybe a piano cd." I told her. She rolled her eyes and groaned.
"Why must you make this so difficult?" She fell onto the bed dramatically and put her hands over her face. "You are literally Bella." She mumbled. I froze. That was the first time I'd heard her undoubtedly mention my mother. She sat up and looked at me. I must have seemed confused because she started explaining.
"I'm sorry. That just slipped." She said, looking sad. She shook her head, probably at something she was thinking about and continued. "Bella was Edward's mate." I listened to her intently, eager to hear what she had to say even though I'd heard the story enough times from Aro. "She was so damn stubborn about everything—her clothes, her car, her refusal to any time we spent money on her…" She smiled sadly at the memories, shaking her head. "It didn't matter what we said or did, she did her own thing. It was extremely frustrating…but we loved her for it." She paused and looked up at me. "You remind me of her. Not just because you're being incredibly stubborn, but because you're courageous and loving and…I don't even know why I'm telling you this. Edward would kill me." She looked conflicted.
"It sounds like you really care about her." I added and she gave me a slight smile, venomous tears filling her eyes.
"She was my best friend—my sister. She was a part of our family and when she died…" I looked up at her quickly. I'd never heard this side of the story—what had actually happened to the Cullens after mom left. "…after she died, we were all broken—especially Edward. We all loved her dearly, and nothing was the same without her. It still isn't. I think about her everyday. God, Edward nearly rips his own head off whenever he hears me. He's still as broken as he was the day he'd heard that she killed herself." She said the last part so quietly, I wasn't even sure I'd heard it correctly. They thought she'd killed herself? "I really need to stop before Edward hears. He'd flip his lid. I'm sorry for depressing you before you're about to go meet all these new people." She joked. "I'll see you later?" She asked, hopefully and I nodded. She left and I was once again left to my thoughts.
It hurt to see Alice so upset. She was the one that was always so happy and excited about everything. I didn't even know it was possible for someone like that to be so unhappy. I couldn't even imagine what that meant when she said that my dad was far more distraught than she was. That didn't seem possible based on what I'd just observed. Did that mean that he still loved her? Was that ever a problem? I can't imagine why my mom would have felt the need to leave in order to protect me if she knew my father really felt this way. NO! Stop it, Nessie. Stop it right now. I thought. I have done enough scheming for my lifetime, which I'm not even certain will go beyond next week. I cannot get caught up in the hope that my parents will get back together. I just can't.
I wiped the thought from my mind, although my heart still sung at the idea, and walked into my closet to find something to wear. I decided on a short white and blue romper that had a floral pattern on it. I let my hair down and wore white sneakers with it. I made my way to the throne room, where I knew the new coven would be waiting. I figured I would eat breakfast after I at least introduced myself.
I walked in and I saw about ten new faces in addition to the familiar faces of Aro, Marcus, Caius, Jane, Alec, and Renata. I walked over to Aro and he addressed the unfamiliar vampires, introducing me in the process. Some seemed intrigued and others such as a tall strawberry blonde from what I later learned to be the Denali coven seemed rather concerned.
Aro had each of the new vampires introduce themselves, and I respectfully welcomed them to Volterra and thanked them for attending my ball. The first group I met was the French coven which was just two vampires named Yvette and Henri. They seemed a little hesitant to meet me, but they were nice. The next person who introduced their self was a single nomad by the name of Garrett. He on the other hand, was extremely friendly. I liked him right away. The last group consisted of seven. They went by the Denali coven. Aro made a note to mention to me that this group and the Cullens were very close.
The strawberry blonde introduced herself as the head of the coven. Her name was Tanya. She proceeded to introduce the rest of her family rather then let them speak for themselves. Her sisters were named Kate and Irina. They both gave me a polite smile that almost looked as if it could double as an apology smile. She then introduced mates, Carmen and Eleazar, who I had heard much of. He used to be part of the Volturi from what I'd heard. After that was Laurent, Irina's mate. He looked at me suspiciously and nodded his head. Last was a boy that looked to be about twenty. His name was Jordan. I couldn't tell if he and Tanya were together. She seemed to think so, while he didn't look so sure.
Just as I did for the Cullens, I showed all of them around the castle, and then went to eat breakfast. I walked into the kitchen and was pleasantly surprised to find my father sitting at the table talking with Carlisle and Esme. When I walked in, they all redirected their attention to me, although I was curious to know what they had been talking about before.
"Good morning everyone!" I said first and made my way to the pantry.
"Good morning dear! How did the introductions with the other covens go?" Esme asked and I smiled.
"As well as I could have hoped. The Denali's are here." I mentioned and my father noticeably froze. "Aro said that you're close with them." I added. Carlisle and Esme looked pleased, and Carlisle gave a look to Edward telling him to ease up.
"They're very dear friends of ours. I'm not sure if you noticed, but they share the same lifestyle that we do." Carlisle responded. I grabbed a banana from the fridge and I could hear my father mumble something under his breath.
"Speaking of the Denali's…" He trailed off and as I was walking over to the table, Tanya and Jordan Denali appeared. Carlisle and Esme stood to go hug them while my father remained glued to his chair.
"Carlisle, Esme, it has been much too long!" I heard Tanya say. I started eating my banana, listening to the conversation between everyone. I looked up again at the Denali's. The first time, I hadn't noticed how truly breathtaking Tanya was. Even for a vampire, she was very beautiful. She had long, curly, strawberry blonde hair which complimented her complexion wonderfully. It made me wonder why Jordan was struggling to escape from her grip. I would've thought he'd be happy to have such a beautiful lady on his arm.
Jordan had slicked back dirty blonde hair and amber eyes. He was obviously handsome too, but he seemed to be more average for a vampire. I noticed that he had full lips and a strong jawline. Next, I looked to his eyes, and found him staring at me. I immediately diverted my gaze and continued eating. I heard my dad growl and I looked up at him.
"Are you alright?" I asked. He looked pissed. My heart raced in my chest, hoping his anger wasn't directed toward me. I saw that he was glaring at Jordan, who in return was smirking at him.
"Edward." Carlisle said in a warning tone. My dad quickly stood up from the table and excused himself. To say that I was confused would be an understatement. Soon enough, Jordan walked over and took the seat across from me where my dad had been sitting.
"Hello." He spoke for the first time. His voice was smooth and pleasant to listen to.
"What was that?" I asked, referring to what just happened with my dad. He smiled, arrogantly.
"Just trying to teach Eddie boy to stay out of my head." He responded. I raised an eyebrow.
"I'm not so sure that's how his gift works." I told him. He shrugged and smiled at me.
"Well, it's still fun to mess with him." He added. I couldn't tell if he was joking or not. I threw my banana peel away and began walking back to the throne room where I knew more covens would be waiting. Jordan stood and followed me.
"So, are you and Eddie boy together?" He asked me. I shook my head quickly.
"No." I answered very quickly. I paused for a few seconds. "Are you and Tanya?" I asked. He made a gagging noise.
"God no! She's horrendous. I can't get away from her." He added. I chuckled.
"Then why did you join her coven?" I asked him, jokingly. His hands shot up quickly.
"I don't know. She was cool at first. Now she's crazy! Everyone else is awesome though. It'd be a shame to have to leave them just because of Tanya." He defended.
"She seems pretty normal to me." I told him, trying to get a reaction. He chuckled.
"Well if you don't believe me, you can ask Edward. She used to be crazy about him too before I came along." He added. I suddenly wasn't such a big fan of Miss Tanya Denali. "In fact, that's probably why he hates me so much! He's jealous that I stole his girl." He smiled smugly and I didn't say anything. "Well, he can have her because I'm not interested." He continued.
Not surprisingly at all, I was too caught up in the words he was saying rather than my surroundings and tripped. Jordan quickly caught me and I stood up straight again, blushing madly.
"Damn, if you can't even walk in a straight line, how are you going dance tomorrow?" He asked. I shook my head, glad to be on a different subject.
"That's a good question. I think I'm just going to wing it. Everybody else in attendance are vampires so at least I won't have to worry about hurting anyone." He smiled.
"Well I could teach you to dance if you'd like?" He offered. I wasn't sure what to say. I guess it could be useful.
"That would be great. Thank you." I said before entering the throne room and jumping in to more introductions.
Author's Note:
So here is a longer chapter to make up for last week's short chapter. I think the next chapter may even be longer than this! There was originally supposed to be more in this chapter, but I think the next chapter would have been super short if I didn't move it.
So drama arises…how are you liking Jordan? Love him? Hate him? Let me know ;)
Edward doesn't seem to be such a big fan. What do you think happened in the kitchen? Do you think Edward really is jealous of Tanya's new love interest?
Thanks to everyone who has favorited, alerted, reviewed, etc! You are the ones who motivate me to stay up until two in the morning writing so I can update on time.
I'd love to hear you're thoughts or predictions, so be sure to leave a review! I will be jumping for joy if Life Unexpected can hit 160 reviews before the next update. I know we can do it!
Until next time, Taylor