Renewal [Emmett Cullen] (1)

[33- Need for Speed]

After unpacking everything, life began to settle down. Carlisle worked at the local hospital most week nights. His colleagues took an immediate liking towards him. How could they not, he was a brilliant surgeon who could probably work in any hospital in the world and make ten times the salary he gets here.

My relationship with Edward progressed. After hearing my slow progress in learning German, he offered to tutor me. Learning a language had been something I wanted to do, but it was difficult juggling school and sport. Now seemed like the perfect time to start. With my photographic memory and his tutoring, I picked up languages quickly. After mastering German, we moved on to other 22 European languages. He truely felt like a brother.

In the beginning of September, Emmett, Carlisle, and Edward decided to record my speed. Most of the human blood was out of my body and my eyes had slowly turned golden, like the rest of my family. They had set up a race track that weaved through the forest. At regular intervals, there were with sophisticated tracking cameras, monitoring my speed and acceleration. I had no doubt they probably costed thousands of dollars but that wasn't a problem.

My top speed was continually increasing. Carlisle hypothesised that a vampire could run about 100 miles an hour, but I was running at upwards of 150. If I ran from San Francisco to New York City, the 3167 mile journey would take less than 24 hours. I loved my gift. Sure, it may not be as useful as Edward's ability to read minds but the feeling of the air whirling against my face as my legs moved in a blur was indescribable.

One night, I was sitting by myself in the backyard, surrounded by rows of fragrant lavender. I was trying to make more of an effort to read. With a photographic memory, the more knowledge I could accumulate, the better. Carlisle's library was well stocked. I could always find an interesting read.

It was peaceful out here, the gentle rocking of the hanging chair in the midnight breeze, splotches of tiny stars against the blanket of blackness, illuminating the sky. I came out here often, something about looking at the stars was soothing, realising how small I am compared to the infinitely expanding universe.

Amongst the faint noises of animals in the distance, I heard a pair of foot steps. I knew it was Alice, the sound of her heels clicking the rock stairs, growing louder as she approached me.

"Can I join you?" She asked, her bell voice cutting the silence. I nodded and shuffled to the side and closed my book.

"Is everything alright?" I questioned.

"I wanted to ask you something," she paused, noticing the suspicious expression on my face, and then continued, "Do you want to go somewhere?"

"What do you mean?"

"Travel somewhere. We haven't really spent quality time together. Just us sisters."

Travelling with Alice would be fun. And besides from travelling to competitions in other states, I had never been on a real vacation.

"Sure that sounds great!"

Alice squealed, "Lets get ready!" Before I had a chance to object, she grabbed my hand and basically dragged me at vampire speed back to the house.

On the dining table, she clicked confirm for the tickets on the open webpage and shut the laptop.

"Wait, what?!? How have you already decided where are we going?" I said in disbelief. Jasper chuckled from the living room, he knew how persistent Alice was.

"I knew you would say yes. And we are going to London for 2 weeks!" I couldn't help but smile. It had always been a dream of mine to go but between my rigorous competition and training schedule, we never could make the time. Alice, of course, had already worked out the itinerary, which she insisted would be a surprise.

Our flight left at 6 in the morning so I had plenty of time to pack. Emmett helped me weed through our closet for suitable outfits, most of the clothes Alice had bought me were horrendous. With my secret stash of clothes and the most basic pieces from my wardrobe, I had barely scraped enough outfits together for the trip.

I spent my last hours at home lying on the bed in Emmett's arms, absorbing as much time with him as possible before I needed to leave.

"I'm seriously going to miss you El," he said, his voice a whisper. I looked up at the beautiful lines of his perfect face, his long, flawless body, every angle and every plane of him. Our lips met, I could taste his pure, vivid scent on my tongue and feel the unbelievable silkiness of his marble skin of his hands under my sensitive fingertips. A ringing noise interrupted our exchange.

"Alice," he scowled.

"Emmett, I need her. Now! You don't want us to miss our flight, do you?"

"That's not a bad idea," he murmured.

I reluctantly pulled away. My hands lingered on Emmett's, his ocher eyes begging me to stay. I didn't think it would be this hard.

"Don't have too much fun without me," he grumbled, waving gently before I grabbed my suitcase and took it upstairs. Alice was waiting by the door, passports in hand.

"Ready?" She asked, beaming.

I nodded, "Ready!"