25 years later
"Ha! Checkmate!"
I groaned as Nessie took my king, a smirk exactly like my father's gracing her lips. She teasingly held it in front of my face and I scowled, swiping at her hand.
"That's no fair!" I whined, seeing as I had lost the previous five games as well.
Dad and Carlisle chuckled from behind me.
"It is fair," Nessie corrected as she stood, still in a triumphant mood, "You suck at chess and I won. What else could you want?"
I copied her actions and huffed. "A rematch!" I demanded with fiery eyes, just as my mother and Aunt Rosalie entered the room.
They both smiled at me and as I pouted, I locked gazes with my mother. She looked at me, at Nessie, and then back at me when she saw more white than red on board.
"Ness beat you again?" She asked, a small laugh leaving her lips.
I pouted.
The more time I spent at home, the more I realized that I looked almost exactly like my mother.
While Nessie had auburn hair and greenish-brownish eyes like my father, I favored my mother with her dark hair and previously dark eyes.
Not only that, we also shared some of the same mannerisms. She was quiet, I was quiet for the most part. She preferred reading to the company of others and as did I.
And like her, I was also a very sore loser.
"I would've won had she not cheated," I grumbled slightly under my breath, though a smile peaked on the corner of my lips in spite of myself.
Carlisle chuckled as he came to pick up the pieces of the chess board. Squaring it away, he turned to Nessie and I with a smile.
"Why don't you both go help your Grandmother in the garden? I'm sure another game and Nessie will end up in a headlock, like last time," He laughed, much to Nessie displeasure.
She frowned at the memory and shirked away when I grinned at her.
And then, before I could even blink, she was racing off and yelling something about catching her.
I shook my head.
"If one of your daughters doesn't come back then I assume you know what happened," I turned to mom and dad giggling, before racing after her and catching up in no time.
* * *
A few hours later, I sighed in content as I lay back on the soft grass of my parent's meadow. All around us were different color flowers, plants and small specs of life.
It was peaceful out here, despite it being in the middle of the woods. And ever since I'd been home, I loved coming out here with Reneesme just to relax and talk.
It was one of the things I missed the most in Volterra. And briefly, I wondered if Caius would be opposed to planting a meadow like this back at the castle, before Nessie spoke again.
"I'm gonna miss days like these whenever you go back to the Volturi," She said sadly as she ripped out a random piece of grass.
I frowned as I turned to her, my heart dropping at her glum expression.
The sudden reminder of my return in two days hit me like a brick. I sighed.
"I'm gonna miss you too, Ness," I told her as my red eyes met her green ones. Dread danced behind them, replacing the happiness that was usually there. "You're always welcome to visit, though."
Reneesme scoffed at this.
"I think I'd rather jump off of a cliff, thanks," She retorted, causing me to roll my eyes.
Even with my connection to the Volturi now, my entire family was still wary and unwelcoming of them.
Nessie didn't like any of them, which I supposed was fair. They did try and kill us not even months after our birth, though Aro had sent a very apologetic letter to try and make up for that.
He favored my grandfather's friendship more than anything.
But I guess even that didn't work.
"They aren't that bad," I told Nessie, partially lying. "You just have to...get to know them, I suppose."
"Get to know them?" She gave me a look. "How can I get to know them when they're sneering at me half the time?" She paused before giving me a pointed look. "Especially Caius."
"Caius doesn't sneer," I frowned at her, semi-defending my mate. I pictured his face in my head and Nessie laughed when I mentally sent her the image of him not sneering.
"See? He smiles sometimes," I told her.
"Yeah but only around you," She pointed out. "But when he's not around you he definitely sneers."
I only rolled my eyes at her.
Things between Caius and I had been great, for the most part.
During the years and several months that I had been with the Volturi, we grew closer and explored our relationship beyond just being mates.
We became friends and lovers, alongside being rulers. And so far, everything had been calm after the incident we endured that fateful summer. Once people saw me, their Queen, they no longer thought of me as some ignorant child incapable of ruling. Now, they saw me. They saw Nadine, the Black Queen. And the very sight of me standing by Caius was enough to let every vampire know we were not to be messed with.
Even so, just thinking about what happened in India still left an extremely bitter taste in my mouth. It always did; especially when I thought of Prionka and Atul and how they had betrayed and exploited my trust in them.
I learned that day that nobody was worth trusting other than the people I already did. It was hard, but I got rid of that spot in my heart and it had been closed off ever since.
It was a miracle I even hung out with anyone but Nessie and my family, but sometimes whenever I visited I would venture out with the wolves of La Push, too.
These visits were always kept a secret from Caius, of course, but I couldn't deny that I had a lot of fun whenever I did hang out with them. Especially if Paul was there, who I learned was quite a good friend underneath his hot headed exterior.
Or maybe I just liked men that had a rough edge to them.
Whatever the case, he made a good distraction on the days Nessie wasn't available. And speaking of which-
"Jake says that Paul asked to go cliff diving with us before you left," Nessie snapped me out of my thoughts.
At this I sat up, raising an eyebrow at Nessie and sticking my hand in my -her- jacket pocket as something crinkled when I did.
"Jacob is actually letting you go cliff diving?" I asked with a shocked tone, knowing how protective the wolf was of my sister.
She nodded.
"I gave him a piece of my mind this time so he can't stop me," She grinned, "And I promised him we'd jump from the lower cliffs, too."
"He knows that Paul will try to get us to go on the high ones anyways, right?"
"And he also knows Dad will kill him and us if we say yes," She said. "They've been...conspiring. I don't like it."
I laughed at this, knowing that the only time my father and Jacob got along was when it came to protecting Nessie. And when it did, all of sudden they were like BFFS.
"Dad always changes his attitude so fast," I chuckled. "I never know if he hates Jacob or actually loves him."
The crunching from my jacket pocket caught my attention again and I toyed with the crumbled paper before pulling it out.
Nessie had begun to say something but I was focused on the piece of parchment in my hands, frowning when I realized it had my name it.
"Ness?" I cut her off and looked from the parchment and then back to her. "Was this supposed to be for me?" I asked her, and I got my answer when her cheeks turned a sheepish red.
"It came last Friday," She confessed as I began to examine the letter. "I got it from the mailbox when were coming back from our hunt."
"And you didn't think to, you know...give it to me?" I asked her.
She simply shrugged her shoulders.
I rolled my eyes at my sister's antics before tearing the letter open, thinking maybe it was from Caius.
I didn't recognize the handwriting on the front so I highly doubted it, but I still had hope as my eyes the scanned the parchment.
Nessie nosily leaned over my shoulder to sneak peak but the more I read, the more confused we both were.
"To Nadine of the Volturi," I read the title before scanning down to the scare wording in the middle. "I have sent this letter to let you know that Venom is Coming. When the moonlight hits and your enemies emerge, do not say I did not warn you of this sooner. Signed..."
"No one," Nessie frowned as the end of the letter was left blank and we both stared at each in confusion.
"Is this some kind of a joke?" I wondered as I flipped the letter front and back. "Did you do this? Or Jacob?"
"I've never seen that paper in my life," Nessie confessed as she took it in her hands. When my twin grasped it and read it over, she grabbed the envelope that it came in and suddenly gasped.
"What? What is it?" I questioned hurriedly, my heart beginning to pound in my chest.
"There's a symbol on here!" She suddenly exclaimed, her eyes glued to the front of the envelope. When she made no move to show me, I crawled over to her and examined it myself. "Well actually, there's two!"
"What the-"
I had never been more confused in my life as I first looked at the stamp of a Red Viper devouring its own head, and then at the second symbol of a wolf howling at the moon.
My fingers traced over both but my mind couldn't place them.
Even after reading nearly all the books in the Volterra library, I had absolutely clue what I was looking at.
"Dude this so freaking weird," Nessie mumbled as she continued to look over the letter.
I agreed; this was definitely weird.
"Do you think we should take it home and show Carlisle?" I wondered. Maybe he knew something about the symbols or at least could place them.
Nessie shrugged. "It might just be a prank for all we know," She said.
And while I wanted to think that my sister was right, the feeling of dread pooling in my stomach somehow convinced me otherwise.
I took another look at the symbols and something about them made me feel uneasy.
'Venom is Coming,' the letter had said, but what did that mean, then? And why did they address it to 'Nadine of the Volturi,' and not 'Nadine Cullen?'
The sinking feeling in my stomach had me second guessing if I even wanted the answer to that.
* * *
A/N: anddddd we're back! Or more like Nadine is back, but nevertheless part two is here! As you can see, quite some time has passed but I thought it was necessary for Nadine and Caius' relationship that she grow. Physically she is 20-23 now. And as you can see, things are already starting to heat up! What did you guys think? Let me know in the comments! Also, if you're a marvel fan check out my new Steve Rogers book! It's called blue and it's on my profile 💛
As always, thank you for reading! Be sure to, comment and follow!