[Chapter Seven]

With the acceptance of coming to terms with being the mate of Demetri Volturi, I am thankful Renee is free. She won't have about having to be dragged to Volterra in order to have a trial, all because her daughter couldn't be a grown up and accept her fate.

I should have known that I wouldn't get off easy, since Renee hadn't gotten off easy in the beginning.

It's just what happens when someone has karma.

Mine just happens to come in the form of an Ancient Greek warrior vampire with smug crimson eyes and a charming smile.

"I do want to walk with you though, Demetri. Can we go into the gardens? So, we can make some ground rules about being mates?"

I probe, earning a nod from him before he motions for the others to stay where they are. Carlisle steps up as I walk away, to converse with Felix along with the twins. I almost want to shoot a finger at the twins for having the audacity to torture Renee.

Demetri comes forward and offers his arm for me to put mine around him.

I sigh but decide to accept this also.

I wrap my arm around his and we go around the side of the house, behind us there is the low sound of voices, perfectly clear and ethereal voices that remind me I am the only human in a sea of vampires. I can't do shit when I am around them.

When we reach the back garden where everything is in bloom, I let my eyes wander over all the flowers that had been lovingly planted. I wondered if Renee had helped with the design for the garden this year, because now she could actually be able to take care of plants without them dying on her. Or it could have followed her into immortality, and she could not have a green thumb.

"So, what's this about ground rules between you and me? Mates don't have ground rules," Demetri speaks, making me turn my head towards him and arch one of my eyebrows without saying anything. He chuckled and gently tugs me so that I jolt a little bit. I righten myself up and don't elbow him in the side lest I want an injury from it.

"We do, because if there's any chance of me reciprocating these feelings towards you then you'll have to lay some groundwork to reap the benefits of our bond. I'm doing this for my mother, she is what comes first. And no, I'm not saying that I shouldn't put myself first. I'm just saying, I'm taking things one thing at a time. And for the moment it's towards being there for my mom. We haven't always had the best relationship with each other, in the past. Her being turned into a vampire gave us a second chance. I want to build on that relationship with her. I also want to spend some more time here before I end up going to Italy with you and you want to make me your bride," I remark to him, all the while I try to keep myself from shivering at the unnerving look, he is giving me.

He nods his head as he stops by one of the stone benches and motions for me to sit. I do so and he sits down next to me, his eyes caught on the way the sunlight peeks over the meadow. He glances over at me and gives me a smile.

"You know, that's a good thing. Sticking up for yourself and your beliefs, your goals. I'm not going to take you away like those God-awful movies and books where just because we are mates that means I have to drag you away from everything you know and force you to become my bride. That isn't how a true relationship works…at least that's not how I believe it should."

"Am I supposed to be flattered that we have the same belief system? What if that is the only thing that we have in common? We both know what we want and what we believe in but that's it? That would be a pretty low point for the both of us. Forced to be mates to each other just because we can stand up for ourselves and others," I state, as I look down at my hands and fight the urge to start picking at my cuticles. I bite the corner of my tongue gently, so it doesn't hurt and chew it a little bit.

"Nah, that's not how the mate bond works. You've got to trust it. The Fates didn't pluck our strings out and observe them only to cut them when they saw ours intertwined," Demetri counters, a seriousness in his voice makes even me pause and consider his words.

"There's also that. You're from a completely different time period than me. I mean, you must have been around during Julius Caesar's Ruling. There were different beliefs when it came to multiple things. Sexuality, open marriage–I wouldn't be surprised if you have lovers from every corner of the world," I point out, making Demetri shrug his strong, warm brown shoulders at me.

"I was changed in 1000 A.D. So, you are way off when it comes to that. You're thinking of the B.C. Era. I have an older school belief system, if you take it into account. I don't like to label myself when it comes to my sexuality. Let's just say I'm not picky, gender doesn't bother me one bit. I would have still accepted the bond if you were a male. I also have had multiple lovers, but they have long since perished or moved on to other lovers. Some lovers are their destined mates and the other ones just because we decided to part ways," Demetri admits as the wind comes and blows at his black curls, they tremble from the wind before stopping.

I study him some more, imagining his features being softer, more feminine.

Where there would be pectorals there would be actual breasts.

Hips wider and long legs.

Hair that cascade down his back, and a voice soft so seductive that any mortal man or woman would fall onto their knees and give their loyalty to him no matter what.

"There was a girl in middle school…I was curious. She had invited me over to a sleepover and I went over, expecting her to invite some other girls. It was the first time that I had been invited to one and Renee was being way too invested in the ordeal. She made me go to the mall with her and buy some new pajamas because she liked the mall's newest styles more than my old and comfortable ones. I went to that house, and I had just gotten my braces taken off…"

My head is tucked down, my fingers playing with each other, and I think of how Demetri is the one who would be hearing this instead of my own mother or father. No one else knows about what had happened, except for me and obviously the girl.

"Anyway, she was dressed up more than what was needed for a sleepover, especially at her house. I think she even stole some of her sister's perfume and sprayed it on. We ordered pizza and watched some cheesy romance comedy movies, nothing too exciting. Then we were playing truth or dare. We were mostly telling the truth, and neither of us were very brave when asking other questions than just normal boring ones. When I chose to dare, she dared me to kiss her…"

In the distance I can hear the front door opening and closing, perhaps some of the family members decided they had enough time standing around and acting friendly. It's probably Rosalie that had gone inside since she knew that her family wasn't in danger with the Volturi anymore. Emmett followed after her most likely.

"I kissed her…and I liked it. I went home that same night, saying that I had forgotten some of my medication I take, which I don't, and her mom let me go back home. It's the first and last time that I ever kissed a girl. I don't know if that makes me bi…or just curious or what. I can't be confident when it comes to that, I can't just openly tell people like you could about my history with my lovers when I ran away from a girl that gave me my first kiss…"

I sigh as I reach my hand up and yank that denim headband off of me, throwing it uselessly next to me.

"Bella, I am not asking you to hypothetically think of me being a girl instead of a boy and making you tell me if you would accept me if I were a girl coming to you as a girl, telling you that you are my mate. I was merely wanting to let you know that no matter what you are, I would still adore you. Even if you decided that you would rather be a boy than a girl," Demetri reassures me, while a frustrated tear falls down one of my eyes. He wipes that away.

"I can't be like that, Demetri. I can't be so solid in my beliefs of our mating bond like you are. I need to put my mother first–"

"No, you don't."

That isn't Demetri's voice.

I look up and see Renee standing in front of me with her arms folded against her chest.

She studies the scene in front of her before coming over and placing one of her hands on my cheek. Goosebumps erupt upon my skin from the coldness she gives me. She glances over at Demetri, who gets up from the spot on the bench and wanders off a little bit. Far enough to give us privacy but not far off enough that he can't be gone from my sight.

"You know, I had a feeling something had happened with you at that girl's house. I'm not going to ask you to tell me anymore about that. I just kind of had a gut feeling," Renee adds a moment later. She sits down next to me and reaches behind her to pull out a flower. She begins to twine it into my dark hair, making sure to weave it just right.

"You have a horrible habit of taking care of me, Bella…

"I've had a horrible habit of not taking care of myself either.

"I forced you to grow up faster than you should.

"I would joke how you are middle-aged instead of a teenager and that was cruel of me.

"You were the child, and I was the adult.

"Maybe I just thought I wasn't ready to be a parent, and it took me almost losing my life to realize that. Even though I was not a good mother, that doesn't mean that I don't love you. I was so desperate to look like I was your older college sister instead of your divorced mother. I'm learning to be better, and I've been given a second chance to be with Charlie. He likes to act like he wasn't traumatized or done dirty when it comes to how I left him with you, or how I only let him see you in the summer," Renee announces, she is a cup sitting in a sink with the faucet running. Even when her cup feels she will continue to pour more into it.

"I know that I got off point with my speech, but what I'm trying to say Bella is it's only to be selfish for once. For once in your life do something that you want. You keep doing what everyone else wants, but you never put yourself first. So go, go to Volterra. Go and explore the world. Or stay here, finish high school, and then go with him. But don't just put things off. Put yourself first."

My eyes flicker towards Demetri, where he's still having his gloved hands in the pockets of his pants, his crimson eyes showing a dullness towards everything around him. He's not comfortable being here. It's not his home and he's only here now because I'm the only thing that links him to this place. Renee wasn't his mate, none of the Cullens were his mate, but I am.

"Thanks, Mom. I think I want to talk to Demetri again, alone."

Renee brings out her hand and places it on my shoulder, allowing me to know she understands without having to say anything, and gets up from the bench. She shoots a warning glare towards Demetri, again not saying anything, but he ducks his head down in a bow of respect before he straightens up and heads in my direction. Renee goes around the rest of the house in a blur, barely here one second and the next she's gone. It's obvious her becoming a vampire has been for the better and not for the worse.

Demetri sits down, patiently waiting for me to say something.

He picks up the denim headband that I had chucked onto the bench.

He studies it silently, his fingers rubbing into the material.

He can see every fray, every imperfection that is in that headband.

What may seem perfect, or in the best mint condition it can be considering the circumstances, he can completely show there are opposite things that are in that headband. He can tear apart the headband with just words and then the headband would just be worthless and not needed anymore because what's the point of wearing something that is not in the best condition that it should be, especially one that has been advertised to be in great shape.

"I'm not ready to go with you."

Demetri doesn't ask but I know he's quietly asking me the reasoning behind it.

His eyes are caught on the little stones that are sewn into the denim. I wouldn't be surprised if he could see little prisms in them when it wouldn't be possible for me. He could see every little etching in the stone, even the glue or whatever else is used to keep it attached to the headband. It's very enrapturing but disturbing at the same time, how his sight can determine what is truly there and not something that he will have to second guess himself.

"I'm not saying that you'll have to wait another year to come and get me…"

While he plays with my headband, I can't help but begin to pick at my fingers, knowing that before long I'll pull a part of my cuticle off of my skin. I'll end up causing myself to bleed next to a vampire whose sole diet is human blood.

"Honestly, I don't want to do that to be petty either. I'm not trying to hold some power over you, to truly test you to see if you would be loyal towards me or whatever. I'm not like that. I just don't think that it would be good for Charlie if I just randomly disappear while school is going on. Renee is basically legally dead in the world and there's not the chance for me to leave and head back to Phoenix to spend time with her…"

Demetri reaches his hand out and takes my hand that is still pulling at my skin and pulls it away from my other hand. He looks at our hands, at how pale my skin is to his. He still has that rich warm brown color, that sun kissed skin, but it's not as lively and vivid as it would be if he were human. There's this paleness to him, that you don't see at first unless you already know of the existence of vampires, but if you study him long enough it's obvious.

"Don't pick at your cuticles. I know it's a nasty habit. I used to pull wheat stalks out and stick them in my mouth, thinking that I wanted to be like the other men in the village. I was acting like a poser around the girls, claiming to have my own adventures. I hadn't seen the horrors of war, but when I did, I wished to have never lied about them. They are not something you should brag about," Demetri states, slowly but surely, his rich and velveteen voice holding that grumble in it. He lets his crimson eyes flicker and look at my brown ones.

"Well…. I think that's enough bonding for right now. You can't stay behind while the others go back to the Volturi and the kings. You need to go with them. You can come back on the last day of May, to come and pick me up. I won't be surprised if Charlie and Renee come to Italy by the end of the year, since there will be no reason for him to stay behind," I admit, before turning my head to look at him. He nods his head, agreeing with me.

"Yes, the kings aren't very patient people. They have a time limit for how long we can stay and get done with what mission we are currently on. It helps keep us from staying too long in one place at a time. Once we find our target then we've basically finished our time and we can't stay any longer. I would have to leave by the end of the day here whether or not we'd be mates. It just will make things a little more difficult, but not too hard. The bond that has been created between us won't hurt when we both voluntarily know that the other leaves and neither of us is leaving without the other claiming they're abandoning them," Demetri confesses, before turning and looking at me once more.

"Do the others have mates they will go back to?"

I can see the three remaining guards leave the house and slowly come around the house to reach us.

The twins are holding hands, a little too closely and intimately. I turn to look at Demetri and he nods his head, with where my train of thought goes. He shakes his head when my eyes go over to Felix, letting me know that he's the one that has the mate between him and the larger man. All three of them aren't impressed with me being the mate of Demetri, perhaps they would have rather there not been any strings attached or deals made when it came to the freedom of Renee.

"Well…I guess I'll see you in two months…"

I stand up from where I was sitting on the bench and gradually reach the three other members of the head guard. None of them look at me with a friendliness, there is just this cordial aura around them. They aren't here to be my friend, just because I'm bound to become one of them that doesn't mean they have any need to try and become friends with me. They will accept me into the group, grudgingly but they will do so, nonetheless.

"Don't find a boyfriend while I'm gone," Demetri jokes before he gets up. He comes over to me and places his hand onto my shoulder, sending pleasurable shivers down my body. He gives me a serious smile this time before stating, "thanks for taking this seriously though. I was afraid I was going to end up with a mate that was immature about the whole thing."

I nod my head before he walks away from me, pulling the hood of his cloak back over his head to make sure to cover his features once again. I stand there awkwardly with my feet tapping against the grass and the dirt underneath the soles of my shoes. The wind that blows from them leaving with their vampiric speed hits me and makes my hair flow around me. Then a second later they are gone, almost as though they weren't there to begin with.

Later, I arrive home from the Cullens and notice that Charlie is pacing back and forth in the front room of the house. I don't have time to say anything before he comes over and hugs me, making me grunt some from the strength of his hug. I'm not surprised when he says how he had gotten a call from Renee earlier about what had happened and how I decided to sacrifice myself for my parents. There's no mention about Demetri, Renee knows that's a topic that is going to be troublesome between him and me.

"Dad…you need to sit down because there's something else that happened when I was over at their house. Mom did the right thing not telling you before, because if anyone needs to tell you what I'm about to say then it should come from me."

Charlie gives me a curious, almost confused look as he goes over to the plaid couch.

He sits down and puts his hands together in a fist against his lap.

He sits there, entirely human and vulnerable, reminding me that I'll have to be leaving him within two months so that I can step up and take my place as the mate of Demetri. Yet I know he's strong, he's not weak, and I know he has Renee with him, so she'll take care of anything if something tries to break him apart from our small family.

"I know that we were in for a shock when Mom suddenly appeared those months ago, as a vampire, and we learnt that you and she were mates. I'm also certain that you've been informed about the Volturi, most likely by Carlisle," I start off, earning a gruff noise from him but he nods his head a moment later to allow me the acknowledgement he was informed about it.

"Please don't tell me what I think you're going to tell me."

"One of the Head Guards of the Volturi that came to pass judgment on Renee because of all that went down during the manhunt and disappearances of her and Phil, ended up being my mate. His name is Demetri, and he has the ability to be a sharp tracker. He can get a person's scent just by someone they know. He doesn't have to meet them personally to know it. He thought that it was brave of me because I tried to–"

"Isabella Marie Swan, do not tell me that you were going to sacrifice yourself for your mother. It would be one thing if you were a vampire already, but for you to do that when you are still human–"

Charlie reaches one of his hands up and rubs part of his forehead, as if he's getting a migraine from hearing what he's hearing from me.

"I didn't sacrifice myself for Mom. The twins decided to test their abilities on Mom, and I decided to stand up for her. Their abilities didn't work on me because I think that I'm a shield. I can shield anything mentally, and Demetri was the head of the guard for the time being. He came forward and said that we were mates and he said that if I accept our bond then nothing would happen to Mom. I accepted it and now I'm leaving in two months to go to live with them in Volterra," I rush out, all of it pouring out of me at a rapid speed. I almost wish I could curl up in a ball and go away for a while, knowing if it weren't for the obvious fact that Renee will change him eventually (probably within the year) he would end up going into cardiac arrest.

"And your–"

The front door opens, and Renee comes through, a tired look upon her face.

She has a traveling bag with her, and she has this freedom in her eyes.

It's obvious that she was finally able to get away from the Cullens completely.

She doesn't have to be babysat any longer by one or all of them at the same time. She is protected by the Volturi now, and the Cullens know that when I leave Forks there's nothing that is keeping Charlie and Renee here any longer. They will leave, though not as soon as I leave, but soon enough afterwards. She can be a proper fixation in Charlie and I's lives now.

"Charlie, sweetheart, it's just one of those things that you had to be there to understand. Besides, I was thinking of us leaving together by the end of the year anyway. I can change you and we can travel and do whatever we want with each other. We don't have to worry about the Cullens, and we can be what we want to be, not what everyone wants to be," Renee says, coming over and placing one of her hands down upon one of his rough cheekbones. He closes his eyes and puts one of his hands over her cold hand, obviously he's putty in her hands.

I smile at them, though inside I wonder what will happen when these two months are over.

How will Demetri and I be when it comes to defining our mating bond?

How long will it take for us to just naturally do these things like Renee and Charlie do?

Will I automatically start feeling the difference since I accepted the bond, or will it take longer than either of us expected?

Most of all, will I find love with him?

AUTHOR'S NOTE: TWILIGHT DOESN'T BELONG TO ME

-IT'SEMMYNOTEMMA