True knowledge exists in knowing that you know nothing - Socrates
Stephenie Meyer owns everything Twilight related
Chapter 3
"Going to leave? But you just got here"
Bella turned around and saw her Uncle Henry standing by the front door, with a smirk on his face.
"Uncle Henry" Bella exclaimed and she ran over to him and pulled him into a big embrace. Uncle Henry is her fathers younger brother, they are inseparable but they couldn't be more opposite. Bella's dad is calm, level headed, and conventional. Uncle Henry is impulsive, sarcastic, and slightly passive aggressive. He's extremely loyal though, to Bella and her parents. "How is my favorite niece doing" He asked as she pulled away
"I'm your only niece" Bella said as she rolled her eyes
"Oh and she's a smart ass" He teased tapping her chin twice "How was your first day back at school"
But before she could respond, Bellas mother interrupted
"Language Henry" Her mother shot back, "perfect timing, join us" she gestured to the table
Uncle Henry and Bella walked back in the dining area and joined her parents, Bella's father gave him a squeeze on the shoulder
Uncle Henry gave his sister in law a quick peck on the cheek and then took a sit next to Bella at the table
"What's going on? Uncle Henry said in a low voice, realizing something must have happened today
Bella spoke first, "I saw our kind at school today"
"Another vampire playing house?" He responded, "I'm sorry but to live for eternity and have to continue to repeat high school over and over, sounds like hell on earth" He said leaning back in his chair, trying to ease the existing tension.
"Lets focus, please" Her mother said, trying to keep the conversation on track
"Just one?"
"No, five of them" Bella responded
"Hm I wonder how big their clan is, to have five of them in one place seems rather risky" Uncle Henry said
"We were wondering if you have heard anything about them in passing, or if you personally know them" Her father asked, finally breaking his silence.
One of Uncle Henry's roles is to be the eyes and ears for the family. He travels around, meets our kind, and keeps tabs on the Volturi.
The Volturi are the largest and most powerful coven of their kind, and because of this they create and enforce vampire laws. They are manipulative and power hungry, they get what they want no matter who they have to hurt. Bella's family has made it a mission to stay off their radar. If there are rumors circulating in the vampire world Uncle Henry is going to know about it
"What's the name"
"Cullen, I know one of their names is Edward" Bella answered, "He talked to me at school today"
"Do you think he caught on?" Uncle Henry said leaning over the table
"He's curious, he knows there is something off about me"
"I've never met them before but I think I've heard of them from the Denali coven out in Alaska" He said, racking his brain, "If we're talking about the same coven then in total there's about seven of them. The leader of their clan is Carlisle Cullen" He said
"From what I've heard, which is very little, mind you, they stick together, hunt animals, and choose to live among humans" Henry said with an eye roll
Uncle Henry doesn't feel like living directly with humans and "playing" house is necessary
Bellas parents disagree with him but Bella thinks it's only because they want her to have a relatively normal life
"Where do we go from here" Bella's mother asked
"After we handle the Cullens, will need to leave" Bella's father said
"And go where Charlie" Bella's mom asked
"Stay with me in Vancouver" Uncle Henry said with a shrug
"Any place you reside won't be appropriate for a young teenage girl"
Uncle Henry's eyes narrowed " Well you don't have much of a choice, Renee." He smirked "Besides it would be temporary and I promise to be on my best behavior" he added throwing a wink at Bella
Her family is extremely close but not when it comes to living together. They tried when Bella was younger but it ended up with Bella's mother slapping Henry and Henry breaking her favorite vase. They fight like brother and sister
"It's not you I'm worried about, it's the people you acquaint yourself with Henry" she popped back
"Alright enough, this is getting us nowhere" Bella's father said "we need to strategize not argue"
"I don't want to leave" Bellas mother said
"Sweetheart, none of us want to leave but we have to" her father said taking her hand
"I think we should befriend them, make them our allies" Her mother said in what felt like slow motion
Silence…
"What the fuck" Uncle Henry shouted out
"Language" Her mom said
"No to hell with language, Renee have you lost your damn mind?" Charlie raised his hand up at Henry as if to say Calm down that's my wife
"No but you're about to lose your tongue" her mother said quietly
"Where is this coming from Renee" Charlie demanded
"Look, the Volturi are going to catch on eventually and we are going to need allies" she said looking around "there's only four of us"
"3 1/2" Uncle Henry said with a quick glance in Bella's direction
"Hey" Bella said "I resent that" pushing Uncle Henry on the shoulder
"They could help us" She said
"And why would they do that?" Uncle Henry asked "We know nothing about them, why would they potentially put themselves in harm's way for us?"
"We don't have to tell them Bella's full ability not at first" She said
"No, we made an agreement sixteen years ago when Bella was born that we would protect her" Uncle Henry said shaking his head, he stood up and started pacing back and forth "we agreed Renee, we don't want the Volturi knowing Bella exist and with Aros special abilities, our kind can't know about her either"
Aro one of the leaders of the Volturi, his gift is tactile telepathy, he's able to read someone's thoughts and memories with just one touch.
Bella can one-up him though
"Can we stop talking about me as if I'm not in the room?" Bella asked with a big dramatic sigh, Bella's pretty used to the three of them making the decisions and leaving her out
"If Aro-
"When Aro" Bella's mother cuts Uncle Henry off
Uncle Henry ignored her and continued "Finds out about Bella and her abilities, they are going to do everything in their power to take her away" Uncle Henry slams his fist on the table, sending a shocking crack up to the head of the table where Bella's father sat.
And this has been the running conversation for years. Bella is a hybrid, her family has never come in contact with anyone like her. Bella was conceived when Renee was still human, after she gave birth to Bella, Charlie changed her
It had been a difficult time, Uncle Henry had to take care of Bella for a bit. While Charlie and Renee worked on her self control. One of the many reasons Uncle Henry and Bella have a very closed bond
Renee couldn't be around Bella the first couple of months, it was too overwhelming but the love a mother has for her child will make impossible, possible. Bella's mother was able to reunite with her just three months after her change.
The original agreement was for Bella to stay hidden, they didn't want their kind to think Bella was a child vampire, changing a child into a vampire is against the unspoken law. Imortal children are reckless, dangerous, they lack the ability to control themselves. The Volturi will kill a vampire child and the creator as punishment for breaking the law. Bella's parents were terrified someone would get the wrong impression of Bella and go straight to the Volturi, so they kept her tucked away, hidden. Eventually she did stop growing, but once the family realized Bella's full special ability, they decided to keep her hidden.
"Let's take a vote" Bellas father said "I believe we should leave, cover our tracks" he said looking at Bella
"I second that" Uncle Henry said nodding his head
"Allies" Bella's mother said
"I think…we should stay," Bella said looking down at the rug her mother picked out for the dining area. It really does add more warmth to the room.
"Well looks like were deadlocked" Bella's father said
"Why" Uncle Henry asked looking at Bella
"Why what?" Bella responded
"Why do you think we should stay, we heard your mothers reason but what's yours" He asked tilting his head to the side
"Um" Bella didn't really know how to respond, why did she want to stay?
"You have got to be kidding me" Uncle Henry said, "She's got a crush on that Edward kid"
"WHAT?" she said, she could feel her cheeks filling up the blood, damn this blush she thought, "That's a ridiclous assumption"
"Well if she is allowed to base our decision on that, we're screwed" Uncle Henry said as he threw up his arms
"Shut up" Bella screamed "That is not true, I don't even know him"
"But you want to" Uncle Henry said under his breath
Just as Bella was about to charge at Uncle Henry, her father picked her up as if she was a feather and plopped her on the other side of the table
"We are all high in emotions, let's not make a decision tonight" Bellas father said putting his foot down
"Bella you are to stay home tomorrow, I don't want you around the Cullens until we have come to a decision" he said pointing at Bella "Renee if you could call the school and let them know Bella isn't feeling well and to ask for her school work, you'll do it here in the meantime. I'm going to take off work tomorrow so we can weigh the pros and cons, we all need to stay together." Charlie Swan always the voice of reason
"Bella why don't you go upstairs and clean up, I'll start making your dinner" Her mother said making her way to the kitchen
Charlie gave her daughter a kiss on the forehead and headed up the stairs to his office
"Are you going to stay" Bella asked Uncle Henry after a moment of silence
"Do you want me to stay"
"Yes" Bella answered and walked away
She feels most secure when her family is all under the same roof, even if it does cause an abundant amount of tension.
As Bella was walking up the stairs she heard her Uncle whisper "I love you kid
As Bella made her way up the stairs, she made an abrupt turn to the left and headed straight for her fathers office. She knocked on the door and heard her father say come in, she entered the room and sat down on the sofa by his desk. Bella loved being in her fathers office as a kid, one of her earliest memories is sitting on his lap while he read or worked on designs. She used to trace his blueprints with her finger, trying to engrain the design into her memory.
"No, some family business came up and It requires my attention….yes..of course, see you then" He hung up the phone and looked up at Bella
Seeing you sitting there reminded me of when you were little, you used to sit with me for hours. Though you're feet never touched the ground" His eyes lit up thinking of the memory "And now look I blinked and your feet are on the floor" He said with a laugh
Bella chuckled "Well I did grow a lot faster than a normal child"
"Unfortunately" he said "and what do I owe this pleasure"
"Are you mad at me for wanting to stay?"
"Bella, don't be ridiculous, I always want you to always be honest with us and to yourself, even if what you're saying isn't what I want I to hear" He said tapping his pen on the desk
"I guess I might be feeling guilty for those I've handled before" She said
Her father got up from his desk and knelt down in front of her taking both of her hands into his
"Bella I'm sorry that you feel this way, you did what we asked you to do" He started but Bella intervened
"No, don't do that, don't switch blame" She said shaking her head
"We wanted to protect you without taking in consideration how it would make you feel" He said "and for that I'm terribly sorry"
"We did what we had to do" Bella said
"Bella the world isn't just black and white, I wish it were that simple but it's complex. There is never just one perspective or one answer, I wish I had all the answers but I don't" He said
"We didn't hurt anyone, we just modified" She said
He reach out to touch her cheek "The only thing we ever wanted was for you to be safe and happy, you are our miracle"
"I am, I love you" she said and embraced her father, after a moment her father cleared his throat
"Also, I just want to reiterate that you're not allowed to date" Her father said trying to lighten the mood
Bella groaned "I don't have a crush on him" or did she?
After a rather uncomfortable silent dinner, Bella went to her room and opened her windows, it started raining and she hoped the sound would relax her. She definitely needed some zen after everything that happened today, Bella grabbed her journal from under her bed and tried to lose herself in her writing. Once she started, it all came flowing out. She didn't realize how late it was until her mom poked her head into her room telling her she needed to go to bed
Bella struggled to go to sleep that night, she doesn't necessarily have to sleep but she prefers to
And after what felt like ages, sleep finally enveloped her
That night, Bella had her first dream in a while, she dreamed of a boy with bronze reddish hair named Edward Cullen
Thank you for reading my story
Does Bella have a crush on Edward? Did Uncle Henry hit the nail on the head
I guess you'll have to keep reading to find out
Until next time!