Soul on Fire [3]

Trouble

"Melaina Rose Cullen, you could have died."

Letting out a groan, Mel blinked her green-grey eyes open to see several faces staring down at her. She shifted on her bed so that she was leaning up on the stack of pillows. Her Eiffel Tower blanket was tucked around her legs.

Her voice was scratchy when she spoke. "I know, I'm sorry. I panicked." 

Carlisle handed her a glass of water from the nightstand. She thanked him and sat up fully to drink it without spilling on her face. 

Seth moved closer when she set the empty cup down and pulled her into a warm hug. He breathed in her scent deeply. "Promise you'll never do that again?" 

She didn't know what part Seth was referring to, but she likely wouldn't be in that situation again. "Promise."

"Also, you're grounded," Carlisle added. Mel groaned. What was she -- sixteen again? "Since you're already trapped in the house and Seth is a guest, you'll have to be without electronics for three weeks."

Carlisle was taking his role as her father very seriously. It warmed Mel's heart, but still, she protested. "I'm eighteen," she tried.

"You're living under my roof." Carlisle raised his eyebrows. She grumbled, but he was right. He collected her laptop, cellphone, and music players while she watched.  

When he was leaving her room, Mel hopped up from the bed. She stumbled, light-headed, but made it into Carlisle's arms for a hug. "I am sorry, and I love you," she said. "I'm so relieved everyone is okay."

~*~

When the door closed behind Carlisle, it was just her and Seth left in the bedroom.

Melaina's head was throbbing, but she forced her brain to think back to last night. "So much happened... Bella, the baby, Jacob? Please catch me up to speed, 'cause I'm confused." She sat back down on the bed beside her imprint.

"I'm sure your mild concussion doesn't help," Seth said with a look of disapproval.

Mel shrugged sheepishly. "Whoops."

"I can't believe you parkoured from the balcony to Paul. You scared me half to death."

"Hey good thing you're immortal." Her voice was light. The look that he sent her way was not amused. Her lips pursed in response; she missed happy-go-lucky Seth. "So what happened?"

Seth sighed, then brushed a hand through her dark hair as he spoke. "Well, Bella is still transitioning. The doctor said that it would take three or so days for her to wake up. The baby is a girl -- Renesmee, like Renee plus Esme. And... like Quil with Claire, Jacob imprinted on Ness."

Mel nodded along, green-grey eyes wide. "Shit."

"Basically. It all worked out though."

"What about Sam's pack?" she asked.

"Jacob is planning to have a meeting with Sam and the Elders to officially settle their differences. There can only be one Alpha in a wolf pack, so instead of Sam stepping down, Jake was thinking about two packs that work together to protect the lands."

Mel raised her eyebrows. "Sam would agree to that?"

Seth shrugged. "Our reach is further now that we're protecting the Cullens too. We could keep the eastern side and Sam's pack would patrol on the western front. We don't have all the details worked out, but that's the idea. We all have the same goal in the end."

"Does this mean our families' feud is over?" Mel's tone was hopeful. It only took decades to get to this point of civility between the Cullens and the Quileutes.

"I hope so. Thank goodness for Ness, the miracle baby that binds both sides."

"I want to see her. Renesmee." Mel smiled widely. "I have a little niece!"

~*~

Melaina met Renesmee and instantly fell in love with the newborn angel.

The half-vampire baby was a beautiful little creature. A perfect mix of Edward and Bella with her fuzzy reddish-gold curls and chocolate brown eyes.

Renesmee had blood in her veins and a beating heart; she was warm and had flushed cheeks like a human. Her teeth, on the other hand, were sharp like a vampire's.

"Ow!" Mel snatched her hand back from Renesmee's mouth. Her baby teeth were growing in rapidly, so she was endlessly teething on toys and, sometimes, fingers that were pulled away too slowly.

Jacob, always hovering a few feet from his imprint, picked up Renesmee as Seth tended to Mel's bitten finger. "It stings," Mel mumbled. She knew the baby didn't mean it, but still, ouch.

"No, Nessie! No biting auntie Mel. That's not nice," Jacob reprimanded gently. She was intelligent, so there was a good chance the day-old baby did actually understand him.

"Carlisle, is Ness venomous?" Seth called lightly through the house. Carlisle and Edward were up in his study where Bella was in transition from human to vampire. The teeth marks on Mel's finger weren't deep, but Seth worried.

It was Edward who answered. "No, she bit Bella and there was no venom."

Seth sighed in relief while wrapping a Band-Aid around his imprint's finger. "Thank goodness." He wrapped his warm hand around hers with their fingers intertwined. She smiled at him, then turned back to Renesmee.

~*~

Melaina cuddled up next to Jasper in his and Alice's bedroom. She missed his calming aura; everything had been tense for too long since Bella returned. Now that Renesmee was born and proved to be innocent, things had finally calmed down.

"Ness doesn't bother you? Like... make you thirsty?" Mel asked curiously. The baby was downstairs, probably in Rosalie's arms.

Jasper shook his head of long blond hair. "Her scent is different. Watered down, almost. Plus she's covered in wolf stench." He crinkled his nose, causing Mel to laugh.

"What about me? Is it as hard to be around me as it used to be?"

"Your scent is familiar now. I can almost tune it out, in a way, like it's desensitized. I have little trouble controllin' myself around you; I never want to hurt my little sister."

Mel smiled up at her empathic vampire brother. "I'm glad that it doesn't bother you anymore. I hated causing you pain."

"I know, Mel. It's all okay now, and the pain was worth it. You're worth it. I wouldn't have this life any other way."

~♡~♡~♡~♡~♡~♡~♡~♡~♡~♡~♡~

Comments? Complaints?

Anything in particular that you're looking forward to before Breaking Dawn Part II begins in the final book of this series?