Chapter 16 — Interrogations

Jacob

"What the hell are you all doing in my house?"

I had opened the door after a long day at work and almost had a heart attack. My entire living room was full of the top members of the tribal council. Sam, the chief, in the center. Leah, Seth, Quil, Embry, Paul, and even my sister Rachel were all there.

"Why do you think?" said Leah, dryly as ever. "You're getting an intervention."

"Sit down, Jacob," said Sam with quiet authority. He had never been my alpha again since I defected from the main pack, but I listened to him out of habit more than anything else.

"Intervention for what?" I sighed, sitting in one of my arm chairs.

"Jacob, you're miserable!" said Quil.

"Yeah, you've been a real downer lately," Embry agreed. "Something has to change."

"You have to change," said Seth.

"What do you mean I have to change?" I said, agitated, although I already knew what this was about.

"Okay, yes, it sucks that you imprinted on a half vampire spawn," said Leah. "It's actually downright illogical—"

"You're not helping, Leah," said Sam.

"Hang on, let me finish," she said. "Yeah, you imprinted on a half vampire and that feels wrong but guess what? It isn't wrong! It's exactly right. For you. Otherwise, it wouldn't have happened."

"Besides," said Seth. "As far as vampires go, the Cullens are actually really nice."

"It's more than the fact that she's half-vampire and you know that," I growled.

"What? Is it because she's Bella's daughter?" said Paul. "I thought you'd put all that behind you, man."

"I had," I murmured. "I thought I had. But… you weren't there. You don't understand. If I was with her, how could I stop myself from thinking about that day when Bella died everytime I look at her? How could I stop myself from seeing the gore and carnage and the bloodshed? How could I not feel that pain every single time I looked at her?"

"You'd find a way," said Sam. "It's a difficult situation, but you'd find a way to get around all of that if you just allowed yourself to be in her presence."

"It's hurting her, too, Jake," said Rachel, quietly. "To be apart from you. Trust me, I know. Imprinting isn't just a one-way thing."

"The point is, we can't allow you to do this anymore," said Seth firmly. "You may not age because you still phase, but that doesn't mean you can't die."

"Die?" I repeated. "What are you talking about?"

"Look at you, man!" exclaimed Quil. "You're skin and bones! And you look like you haven't slept in weeks. You drink too much, you don't eat. This isn't you. This isn't who you are."

"Dad would have hated to see you like this," said Rachel, tearfully.

"And you think Dad would have wanted me to be with a half-vampire that killed his best friend's daughter?" I shot back.

"Nessie didn't kill Bella, Jake," said Seth. "Bella became a vampire. Which was what she wanted. Yeah, it wasn't the way it was supposed to go down, but everything happens for a reason, right?"

"Yeah, so stop making it about that," said Leah. "That's an excuse. To be honest, I think you've gotten so used to being unhappy that you don't even know how to be happy anymore."

I stood up, feeling anger pulse through me.

"What are you going to do? Phase and attack me?" said Leah, raising her eyebrows.

"I'm thinking about it," I said, my teeth gritted.

"Leah, stop," said Sam. "Jacob, sit down. Everyone needs to calm down."

"Jake, this is the way it was supposed to be," said Seth earnestly. "I remember those days when Bella was pregnant. You had always loved Bella, but when she was pregnant it became so much stronger. You could barely leave her side. It became obsessive. Hearing your thoughts, it almost felt like you had imprinted."

"It's true," said Leah. "It began then. It's like this whole time in between has just been the waiting period. Why do you think you never stopped phasing? Because you were waiting. Waiting for her to grow up. Waiting for her to find you. Because really, what are the odds that you would meet? Only in this crazy, magical world we live in would that happen."

"So you expect me to believe that me and Nessie met because of magic," I said, disbelievingly.

"Of course it is," said Seth. "After this life we've lived, how can you not believe in magic?"

Renesmee

Nahuel did decide to stay with us after all. It was awkward at first. I knew that he was still hurt by my rejection, but he also really seemed to enjoy our family, which was so different from his own. He especially liked talking to my mother. I think he liked to imagine what it would have been like if his own mother had been able to survive his birth. I tried to imagine a life without my mother, a life where I had really killed her. I couldn't fathom the guilt he must carry, even though it wasn't truly his fault. I already felt somewhat guilty about how difficult it must have been for my mother to carry me, how she had almost died giving birth to me. I thought about Jacob, how he had witnessed my birth and it had so traumatized him that he couldn't look at me without thinking about it.

My father seemed annoyed that I had already given up on Nahuel. But my mother was pleased. One day, my mother asked if I would go hunting with her. It had been awhile for me. I hadn't been interested in blood, perhaps because I was still subconsciously trying to be human. But I agreed to get away from my father and Nahuel.

"I'm sorry about all this," said my mother once we were well away from the house. "If I knew what your father had been planning I would have put a stop to it. Of course, he just wants you to be happy. But I know where your happiness lies. And it's not with Nahuel. It's with Jacob."

"There's no happiness with Jacob, Mom," I said wearily. "He made that abundantly clear last time I saw him."

"He is stubborn," said my mother knowingly. "But even he can't dig his heels in with this one."

I didn't say anything. I found it annoying that my mother seemed to know Jacob so well.

"You know, it all makes so much sense to me now," my mother continued thoughtfully. "I thought the reason I stopped caring about Jacob was because I had changed into a vampire. Before that, when I was human, he was my best friend. I could barely stand to be apart from him. That feeling was especially acute at the end of my pregnancy. Then, you came into the world and I became a vampire and the feelings vanished. I was disappointed in Jacob, for his vendetta against us. I even became nostalgic for the simple days I'd spent with him when we were truly just friends.

"But one thing I'll never forget was one of your first memories that you showed me — remember when you used to show me your thoughts? I still miss that, although I can't blame you for wanting them to be private. Anyway, you showed me a memory from when you were still inside me. You were listening to a voice. Jacob's voice. You were so curious about it. You played it over and over to everyone, as though asking 'who is this?'. It used to drive your father and Aunt Rosalie insane."

"We're not soulmates, Mom. We're not like you and Dad."

"Your father left me once," said my mother, quietly.

"What?" I said, shocked.

"It was the worst time in my life. I was still human. We had been together for 6 months, and then he left because he thought it would be better for me. He was dead set on me staying human."

She rolled her eyes.

"But in the end, he came back. And Jacob will, too. He's stubborn, but he always does the right thing in the end."

Slowly, we made our way back to the house. I wasn't sure what to make of my mother's point of view. Part of me wanted so badly to believe her. Another part of me dreaded the disappointment each day brought when he didn't come looking for me. As we got back to the house, however, Jacob was momentarily driven from my mind. There was an unfamiliar scent in the air. Another vampire. A stranger.

"Stay behind me, Renesmee," my mother said in a low voice, her body tense.

As we entered the house we heard a low, wispy voice speaking.

"—so fascinated to hear that you invited my son here to visit your daughter. Such a unique species, are they not?"

I heard my father growl and saw his teeth barred at a tall, white haired vampire standing in our living room.

"Ah, the mind reader, yes," said the stranger, laughing lightly. "Well it was just a thought. I am, ah, clinically curious. I am a scientist after all. And you — you must be curious about whether your daughter can have children. Are these hybrids a different species or just a different breed? So many questions still to be answered!"

He turned to look at me.

"Here she is! How beautiful! Young Renesmee. Isn't she beautiful, Nahuel?"

Nahuel nodded stiffly. The look on his face was as if he had just smelled something sour and rotten.

"You two must be quite the couple," said the vampire I now knew to be Joham, Nahuel's father.

"We're not," said Nahuel quietly. "Renesmee is in love with someone else."

"Surely not another vampire? Or a human?" said Joham, curiously.

"No, he's a werewolf," said Nahuel.

It seemed as though this vampire was pulling information out of Nahuel, as though he wasn't saying it quite of his own freewill, but via strong persuasion.

"Werewolves? Children of the moon?" said the vampire. "But there are none here in North America—"

"Not children of the moon," said my grandfather. "Shape shifters. It's a coincidence they turn into wolves.."

"How fascinating! How could this — ah— fascinating genetic mutation come to be?"

"To protect their tribe," said my grandfather, "from vampires."

"Tribe?" asked Joham.

"The Quileute Tribe," said Uncle Jasper.

My mother was looking confused. I didn't have to be a mind reader to know she must be wondering why everyone was feeling so obliged to answer Joham's questions so thoroughly. My mother, of course, was immune to his effects, but I could feel it. I could feel myself wanting to confess things to him as well.

"But shifting into wolves could hardly help them," said Joham. "Wolves are no threat to our kind."

"They are extremely large and strong," said Carlisle. "Their teeth are one of the few things in this world that can penetrate vampire skin."

Joham looked unnerved at this.

"Kill vampires? That's impossible. How many of these creatures exist?"

"There's only one left," I said, speaking up. "But more teenagers will transform if a vampire stays in the area too long."

Why am I speaking? I thought.

"And why hasn't a strong coven such as yourself gone down and destroyed these monsters?" asked Joham. "Surely one of these creatures would be no match—"

"They're our allies," said my grandfather.

"They aren't anymore. They wanted to kill Renesmee. They thought she was unnatural," blurted my father.

"Unnatural? What could be more natural! Supernatural, in fact!" Joham said, flustered. "Well, these creatures will not be afforded the opportunities to hurt my hybrids, no. If you had had any sense they wouldn't have been allowed to live in the first place."

Joham stormed from the room before anyone else could say another word. I exhaled.

"What was that about?" exclaimed my mother.

"My father has a uniquely powerful ability to persuade those around him," said Nahuel. "To force people to speak truths. I think that is how he gets his human women and how he gets my sisters to stay with him. I am lucky that my bond with my aunt is too strong even for his kind of persuasion."

"We need to hurry," said my father, urgently. "He's planning on gathering an army, other vampires, to try to kill Jacob and the teenage boys of La Push."

"What?" I cried.

"We'll take the car," said my father. We'll beat him there. Besides, he's still strategizing. Deciding—"

But he stopped talking abruptly, shuddering.

"What?" I urged him.

"Deciding whether he'll keep one to experiment on," my father finished, looking sick with the thought.

"I am so sorry this has happened," said Nahuel. "It is my fault. I brought him here."

"Nahuel — of course not!" said my grandmother.

"Yes, it is," Nahuel insisted. "But I will stand by you. Help you protect these creatures. If they truly are your allies?"

"They are," said my mother firmly, shooting my father a look.

"I know that," said my father in a low voice. "I didn't mean to say… I regret it."

"Nevermind!" I said. "We need to go—"

"We?" Repeated my father. "There is 'we', Renesmee. You're staying here with your mother—"

"Excuse me, but why am I staying behind? And for that matter, why is Renesmee?" said my mother.

"Renesmee is half human, Bella," said my father, irritated. "We can't let her near this fight, if a fight is what it comes to. And someone needs to stay with her—"

"To babysit me?" I growled.

"I agree, she shouldn't fight," said my mother, shuddering delicately at the thought. "But she should be nearby. It's not fair on her to be left here. I remember all too well what that's like. And she definitely doesn't need a babysitter, Edward. She's 40 years old."

"We're wasting time!" I said. "Let's just go."