CHAPTER II
Our journey to Norway was quite uneventful. My father and Olivia kept silent the entire time while Lucinda and Talio spent their time organizing daily schedules with each other. Part of me was excited to show my sister just how much I had changed in the last 28 years, yet another part of me was growing increasingly worried about my father's silence surrounding the topic of why we were going to Serena's home in the first place. No one had ever mentioned the word Volturi to me yet the weight of it was clearly affecting my father and Olivia. Though they were both doing their best to keep me from feeling as if anything was wrong the closer we got to Serena the more I could sense there was a chance that something was terribly wrong. I began to wonder if my sisters already knew. From what I understand my father had not been in contact with either of my sisters since we left, not even to check in just to make sure they were still alive. They would not accept any form of communication from myself as well, I had written many times and never received a letter back. As for Nahuel, I hadn't heard from him or Hulien either, however they're contestant movement had always made it slightly harder to stay in contact especially as I grew older and began to take on more educational responsibilities once we left our estate in Norway. Perhaps I should've had Talio reach out to them before we left, but my father's sudden need to leave our home urgently threw me into a loop as I rushed with the others to prepare for our departure from the states.
"Where here." My father said grimly, interrupting my thoughts of my brother. "Jennifer, understand your sisters do not know we are coming and they most likely will be quite upset at our sudden arrival. Let me talk to Serena alone while you settle into your room."
"Master, should we not wait until Serena's approval of Jennifer's stay before we carry in her belongings?" Olivia chimed in.
"My stay? Are we not all staying here? Father, I don't want to stay here without you!" I replied as a small quake of panic, rushed through my gut.
"This estate is mine. This land is mine. Until the moment I cease to exist Serena's say holds no precedence over my own about what happens on my land or in my home. This home is Jennifer's just as much as it is Serena or Maysun's. Don't think for a moment my kindness in giving them their space as they battle over things that cannot be changed, things that happened hundreds of years ago will interfere with the current matters at hand. Talio, Lucinda, take Jennifer inside, ignore their servants if they try to deny you entrance, you have permission to destroy them and please help Jennifer settle in."
"Permission to destroy them?" Olivia said as if to confirm these were my father's true orders.
"Yes, let's hope it does not come to that." My father said as he got out of the car and walked up to meet Serena who was now half way down the entrance of the estate.
I knew the two would not talk until I had passed by. As I did I greeted, in a low voice, Serena and her protector Clarissa as I passed by them and my father then to Maysun who hung in the doorway with a face full of shock and perhaps a note of sadness at my sudden arrival. I decided it was best to hurry to my room to avoid any unnecessary conflict between the staff. To my surprise they all greeted me kindly and allowed Talio and Lucinda to pass without a single note of disapproval. It was as if they were all quite happy to see me again.
Each of us sisters have always had two main servants, one who was assigned at birth as a protector and one who was chosen over the decades as we grew up inside my father's coven. Clarissa our father's biological sister, was assigned to Serena at birth and spent nearly all of her time as Serena's shadow, almost never leaving her side. Clarissa was a magnificent hunter and had taught Serena the art of seduction which helped my sister become a great hunter herself. Maysun's assigned servant Kent was destroyed by my father after he was found and outed for sleeping with Maysun by Allison, Maysun's chosen servant and former best friend. Unfortunately this ended in Allison's destruction as well because Maysun could never forgive Allison for what she had done. Our father had chosen to destroy Allison as well to end the feud between the two. Since then Maysun has never had a protector or a servant and chose to continue her life without getting close to any Vampires within our father's coven besides of course Serena. Talio believes this distance she puts between herself and her coven is why she is so unhinged. Maysun is a violent hunter and enjoys fighting slowly to the death with her food. Her wild nature had sometimes gotten the best of her as she has often chosen men far too strong for a half-ling to defeat alone. However Serena's watchful eyes are never far and though Maysun hates when Serena's servants interfere with her hunts over the last 6 decades that she has been without a protector Maysun has became perhaps the best killer the human world could have ever known.
"Do you know why we're here yet Talio?" I asked as we entered my old room.
"No m'lady, I do not know the specifics yet." Talio responded as he and Lucinda began unpacking my things.
My stomach rumbled and I quickly was reminded I hadn't ate all day.
"I'll have Julian make you a meal. Talio can you finish this on your own or would you like me to send in help?" Lucinda said instantly, responding to the sound of my stomach.
"I can manage. Remind Julian to add a fruit or a salad to her meal." Talio responded.
"Yuck." I said as I threw myself onto my bed.
"Of course." Lucinda said before turning to head towards the kitchen.
"Do you think she'll be alright going to the kitchen alone Talio?" I said starting at my ceiling.
"Lucinda can make fire appear from her hands, she'll be just fine." Talio responded.
"Right because what a house full of Vampires needs is a little fire show." I replied with a laugh.
"I couldn't agree with you more sister." Maysun said as she entered my room.
I decided to stay where I was and Talio continued his work without stopping to greet her. Not only did Talio not trust Maysun he genuinely did not like her. After all she had put me through I couldn't blame him for not being able to look past her terrible behavior not even for his master.
"Talio, may I speak to my sister alone?" Maysun asked after a long moment of silence.
"No you may not." Talio responded.
"Excuse me?"
"I said no you may not, Maysun. I'm not going to repeat myself again." Talio said, staring into her eyes now.
"Well then, I see you've decided to grow a pair of balls over these last 28 years. Congratulations young man. I'll have Johanna bake you a cake." Maysun said through a fake grin.
"Maysun-" Talio began in a voice I knew meant trouble.
"Talio, it's alright. Could you please give us a moment alone?" I asked gently as I stood up from my bed.
"As you wish. You have 5 minutes." Talio said as he exited the room quickly, keeping his eyes on Maysun the entire time.
"Well well well. I see some things have changed. The old Talio would have never disobeyed me under Serena's roof."
"This "roof" belongs to our father, not Serena." I countered.
"Right. If you say so. So, how are you? I see you still look about the same."
"Why do you care how I am?"
"Fine, don't answer then." Maysun said as she began opening drawers to see what I had brought.
"There's nothing of interest or of value in any of my bags."
"You think I want your jewels little girl?"
"I am not a little girl!" I shouted, slightly embarrassed that the word "girl" still had so much control over me.
"Gees calm down. You can't always be so quick to angry. The quicker you are to anger the quicker you are to losing focus and being killed."
"What is that supposed to mean?"
"Nothing! Oh my god! You seriously need to relax." Maysun replied, rolling her eyes with a sigh of defeat. "When was the last time you fed?"
Her words made my stomach growl again. "Lucinda is having a meal prepared."
"A meal? Great, you stay with father and he keeps you human and weak. What a surprise." Maysun said, rolling her eyes and sitting down on the vanity chair.
"What happened between you two and father?"
"I can't tell you that." Maysun said, looking away.
"Why not? What could have been so terrible that you two shunned us both?"
"We did not "shun" you Jennifer. Father insisted you had to go with him that you weren't ready to know- Well forget it. It's nice to see you doing well little- Jennifer. It's nice to have you home with us again." Maysun said, turning to whip away what looked like a potential tear.
"Uh- okay." Her words shocked me but I knew our time was running out and soon Talio would soon be back and my opportunity to question her would be over. "Have you heard from Nahuel by chance? I'd like to get in contact with him. I haven't been able to contact him since we left I've just been so busy I haven't had the chance. I do want him to know I'm here." I replied trying to pivot the conversation into a new direction, completely caught off guard by her kind words.
"Yes, actually I have. Father insisted we keep your location to ourselves until he felt you were ready to return. Nahuel didn't exactly receive that well but he knows Father and Talio have been keeping you busy with your studies." Maysun said as she stood and walked closer to me.
"Wait-Father didn't want Nahuel to know where I was? Why?"
"You should ask our father that." Maysun replied with a sigh as she took out a golden flask which she then took a large sip from.
"Really? I thought you quit drinking for good?" I asked, folding my arms to show my disappointment.
"Lots changed since you left Jen. A whole lot. Eventually I'll quit for good again but not today. Oh and definitely not tomorrow."
"Okay well tell me everything."
"What in our last 2 minutes of conversation time?" Maysun laughed as she drank another large sip.
"Well just give me the basics then."
"The basics?" Maysun said as her eyes began to look droopy as if she was already quite intoxicated.
"How much have you had to drink today? Does Serena know you're drinking again?" I asked lifting up her chin to inspect her eyes.
"Enough of that." Maysun replied, pushing my hands away. "Serena knows everything I do. Whether she approves of it or not well, that's an entirely different story." Maysun continued with a mischievous smile that I was all but too familiar with.
"Fine. Then tell me why did you and Serena reject my letters?"
"We… We had too. It was too hard to keep a relationship when we weren't being allowed to be completely honest about something that affected us both so deeply."
"Honest about what?"
"Look… Jen there is a lot to explain and I'm not the one who should be explaining anything to you. Definitely not while I'm like this at least." Maysun said before letting out a belch that burned my nose from the amount of alcohol that came off her breath. "I'm glad you're back with us Jen. I know we haven't always gotten along but it was strange without you here. Lonely."
Maysun's words shocked me again but her actions that followed completely confused me. At first I walked backwards thinking she was about to trick me into a surprise attack but then out of nowhere she hugged me. Maysun genuinely hugged me. For the first time that I can remember her kind words and her embrace felt genuine and compassionate. What the hell is happening? Are we all going to die or something?
"Are we all going to die, Maysun?" I whispered into her long brown curls.
"What?! No! Gees can't I just be happy to see my scrawny little sister?!" Maysun laughed as she punched me in the shoulder much more gently then I thought she would as I watched her fist fly still in shock.
"Times up." Talio said as he entered the room the moment Maysun's fist touched my shoulder.
"There is no way that was 5 minutes!" Maysun shouted in disbelief.
"It was long enough." Talio said as he signaled towards the door for her to leave.
"Fine, I need to hunt anyway."
"Are you not going to speak with our father to see what was in the note? Or do you already know?"
"What note?"
"The one from Volturi."
"What? Is that why you're here?" Maysun said, beginning to sound almost worried.
"Yes, I mean I believe so. Should I be worried?" I replied.
"No! No no no no no. It's just a small coven, nothing to worry yourself with." Maysun said, shooting a quick look at Tailor who looked away from her immediately, she then grabbed my hands as if to calm me and smiled in a way that was certainly meant to comfort me but mostly just confused me more. "I will go speak with our father and Serena now that you mention it. If I find out anything of interest I will let you know."
"Oh, okay. Thank you Maysun." I replied.
"Ah, here comes Lucinda with Jennifer's meal." Talio said interrupting Maysun's strange behavior.
"Well then I should go. Eat and rest sister. I will stop by in the morning to check on you." Maysun said kissing my forehead, yet another strange thing she had never done before.
Once Maysun was gone Talio and I exchanged quick looks of confusion at Maysun's behavior but my hunger was taking over and Julian had given Lucinda a large pitcher of warm human blood for the three of us. It was time to eat now. Tomorrow it will be time to continue my investigation into the Volturi and into Maysun's weird new behaviors.