The Girl Who Was Taken (Renesme Cullens Twin Sister)

Eleven

I sat in a window in the giant castle that was now my home. It was my bedroom window. I hadn't had a bedroom or home before. I didn't think they would be or feel the way they did, but it had been a couple weeks now, and I was settling in. There was one week where almost every one but the skeleton crew of the castle left. No one would tell me where, even after they came back, so I had to just let it go.

My bedroom was just the same as every other room. Casltey. I liked it. But it didn't feel right.

There was a draft in every room. Cold air always found a way to pool together and chill my bones. The windows were left open most of the time. I wondered if anyone else even noticed, or if they just didn't care because they were already colder than the surrounding air. 

I wasn't allowed to hunt either. All of the food was brought to the castle. They told me these little details in such a way that it sounded like they were helping me, making my life more content. They were so good at disguising their words that most of the time it took me a moment to understand the real meaning behind them.

"We will teach you our language so that you will truly belong here," they said. But what they meant was, "You will only be allowed to talk in Italian from now until you master it, and after that, you will have to master another language."

They also said, "You won't have to fend for yourself anymore. You can feast with us in our great hall." What they meant by that was, "You aren't allowed to hunt anymore, and you will be consuming a strict diet of only blood. No more human food."

I missed hunting. But I didn't run away. I really liked them. It was nice to have a family, to have people I could go to for help, or if I was bored. To not be stranded in a dark building with Daddy as the only person I knew I could trust. I even liked Aro and Jane, despite how scary they seemed. Despite that they killed my daddy. Tortured him until he was dust. But now I couldn't quite remember why I loved my dad. It seemed like a distant memory. All I really remembered is that I did.

Looking down at the vile in my hands I tried to remember. The small amount of dust I collected before it got swept up by a maid glittered even brighter now that it was in real daylight. Turning it over and over, it changed color almost. A trapped little rainbow.

The clouds outside roamed over the sky. The sun played hide and seek, running back and forth between them. Demetri sprang up into my windowsill from down below. It frightened me so much that I squeaked and fell backwards into my room. 

"Gotchya!" he laughed. I grabbed the vile quickly, once I realized I had dropped it in the commotion. "What do you have there?" he asked. He's going to be mad at me when he finds out so I don't say anything and look away. "Come on, you can tell me." I shake my head. "They're your fathers ashes. I saw you pick them up."

"He never hurt me."

"That's not what you said at the hospital," he pointed out. 

"I was angry. It wasn't his fault."

"He left you to die."

"No. He did the opposite. There was too much blood. He saved me by letting someone else save me."

"You make him out to be a hero. It was only a matter of time before he would have killed you." 

"He would never--"

"He kidnapped you." 

"No--" 

"He stole you from your crib, when you were just a baby. Small and helpless, and he raised you like a fugitive. He told you that you don't belong. That you were unwanted, and that he was the only one that would ever love you. He lied to you, Stormy." 

"Don't talk about him like that." I told him, a little caught off guard because he still used the name I told him I went by instead of the one that Aro had given me.

"I'm telling you the truth."

"He's my daddy."

"No--"

"Yes! He might not have been a good man. But he's my dad." 

Demetri looked down. "Okay," he agreed. He sat down in the window and beckoned me to sit next to him. I was hesitant, but I huffed out my frustration and went to sit beside him. He was only trying to help I knew. We sat in silence for a while. "Can I see it?" he gestured to the vile.

"No." I held on to it tighter. 

"I won't throw it or break it. I'll give it back." His face looked genuine. "I promise." 

I gave it to him reluctantly. "I had a father once, too," he said in deep thought. "He was a horrible man. A drunk. Beating my mother and brother and I." 

"I'm sorry."

"No, don't be. I hardly remember. One day though, he didn't come home. It was weeks before his body was found. My mother cried. She spent the rest of her life in mourning. I was furious at her. She was crying over a man who would spend all of our money on liquor, disappear for days, and then come home smelling of alcohol and feces. He would yell at us, beat the living day light out of us. She'd invite him to her bed so he wouldn't kill me or my brother, and then he'd rape her bloody." 

"My daddy wasn't anything like that."

He pulled a silver chain from his pocket and started attaching it to the bottle. 

"I know," he whispered. "I asked her one night why she cried for him. And she told me that she loved him. Forgive me for not remembering the details. She made me promise to avenge him though. And I told her I would. Not because he was my father. I hated him. But because she needed me. Because she was my mother."

"Are you saying that you understand?"

He swept my hair to the side and hung the chain that now held the vile full of dust around my neck. Demetri looked into my eyes without saying anything.

"Thanks," I said.

He nodded and then went back to watching over the world from our tall tower. The sun shined through the clouds again and set his skin aglow. Crystals bounced back and forth in the gentle breeze. 

"Did you keep the promise?"

"Hmm?"

"Did you avenge your father?"

He smiled, but he didn't answer. Instead he changed the subject. "Have you ever made a snowman?"

"A what?"

He looked at me again grinning, mischief clear in his eyes. He took my hand in his and then jumped.

A/n 

I love Demetri. I just really love him. He's so.. Idk, he's just... Demetri. 

And boy oh boy do I have a big biiiig BIG! thing for next time(; 

I bet you can't guess what it is:p 

Okie dokie 

I love you. 

I mean it. 

I love you even more than I love Demetri. 

.-. 

I really love him.