Chapter 15:
Lux's POV:
"Lux!" Gretchen called to me from the school steps. I smiled and gave her a quick one handed side hug.
"Hey guys." I greeted my new friends.
"Hey babe!" Corey said all flirty like and Gretchen scowled slightly. I had heard that Gretchen has had a crush on Corey since the fifth grade, according to Jackie. And Jackie also slipped that her and Mason have been going out for a year and a half.
And don't worry, I made sure to give her crap about it too.
I felt Carter's hand squeeze mine tight, and I gave him a bone breaking squeeze back, signaling to him not to freak out over nothing.
"Hey Mina did you do the Trig homework?" I asked the slender blonde, who kicked the pine tree next to her softly.
"Not exactly..." Mina trailed off and I groaned.
"Me neither." I admitted and everyone else look amazed at us.
"You guys got Trig homework on the first day!?" Embry exclaimed, clapping a hand on my shoulder in surprise. The two of us nodded and he sighed, shaking his head.
"Man I miss school on the Res." Quil pouted and Jared nodded.
"What was school like back on the La Push Reservation?" Mason asked, doing a hair flip similar to Justin Bieber's so I shot Jackie a "he's-adorable-for-you" look and she flared at me with her hazel eyes.
"Dude... Wind surfing on the beach, barely any school at all, running out in the woods with the pack... It was the life." Jared said and Carter, Quil, Embry, and I shot him daggers.
"What's 'the pack'?" Gretchen asked and thank the LORD, at this time a Freshman boy walked up to me with a Starbucks coffee in his hand.
"Hi, um, Lux." The boy murmured, shuffling his feet. Jackie, Mina, and Gretchen all tried to conceal their fit of laughter I could sense coming on. The boys all wolf whistled and made kissy noises at us, while Carter tensed up, clearly not amused.
"Hi... Can I help you?" I asked gently, trying to ignore my friends who wouldn't stop giggling. The boy held out the Starbucks that was in his hand, and placed it in mine. I looked confused up at the boy.
"I'm sorry who are you, and why am I holding your coffee?" I demanded, not liking the fact that a complete stranger was making me hold his coffee.
"It's Robert Lammers, and it's not my coffee, it's yours." Robert said walking away with a small smile. I cocked my head to the side in confusion.
"Check the note on the cup... See you around?" He asked. I nodded only the tiniest bit, and Robert walked off into the building.
"What does it say!?" Gretchen demanded as soon as he left. Mina, being the calm one, simply laughed, running a hand through her long hair.
"Go on Lux, read the love letter." Jackie cooed at me, and I scowled, but reluctantly looked on the side of the cup for Robert's note.
'Maybe we could get the coffee together sometime? -xoxoxoxo Rob'
The boys burst out laughing, though Carter still remained silent at my side. I groaned, and face palmed myself, handing the coffee to Jackie.
"Here, take it." I said, pushing the mocha in her hands. Jackie didn't question it, but simply downed the thing in three sips.
"God, your like a freaking Anaconda!" Mina exclaimed and we all burst out laughing.
Just then the bell rang and I picked up my purse, and waved goodbye to my friends.
"See you later!" I called. A chorus of "see ya!"s and "later"s followed me, and right as I took Carter's hand again and turned around, I saw Jackie holding Masons hand. I mentally awed at them. They would have really cute babies...
Just sayin.
I walked in the warm hallway of Fork's High and nudged my boy friend's shoulder with my head. (Yeah he's that tall.)
"What?" He asked slightly frazzled. I rolled my eyes.
"You know I would never leave you right?" I asked, running one hand through my thick black waves of hair. Carter sighed.
"I know."
"Then you have to stop thinking that some Freshman dweeb is going to take me away from you, okay? I am your mate and we've only known each other for four days. So don't go all sad puppy on me, because I like the hot wolf better." I said, smiling.
He smirked, his normal self coming to.
"Hot wolf huh?" Carter said smiling down at me. I nodded and grinned.
He bent down and kissed me lightly on the nose, before taking my books for me and walking me to Mrs. Hugh's English room.
Carter gave my books back to me at the door, and gave my hand a kiss before saying cutely
"Have a good day love, I'll see you at lunch."
and walked away into the school hallway.
I smiled dreamily at his tan and fit body, in his striped v neck and cargo shorts.
I'll never get tired of hearing that.
&&&&&&&&&&&
When I got back to the Cullen house, I parked Kim in the driveway and walked inside to find a woman who looked like a mirror reflection of me, standing next to Carlisle and Esme in the kitchen.
I dropped my purse by the door and kicked off my heels in awe. I couldn't get over how alike the two of us looked, it was like staring in a mirror.
The girl had the same chalky complexion, same dark waves of hair, and unnervingly the same hue of sparkling violet eyes.
"Hello dear, we have someone who wanted to meet you." Esme said carefully.
Carlisle nodded curtly and gestured towards the woman.
"This is Elizabeth Thompson, your grandmother." He said and I gasped, walking shakily towards her. I studied the girl with wonder.
"How..." I trailed off in amazement.
No wrinkles, no gray hair, no hunched posture. She looked exactly my age.
To be honest I don't know if I could tell us apart if I didn't know myself. My "grandmother" chuckled.
"It's amazing isn't it?" Her smooth voice was almost EXACTLY mine, hers having a bit higher pitch though.
"Elizabeth you said?" I asked carefully, stepping towards her. My grandmother nodded, taking my hand. She had a firm hold, a human crushing grip. Definitely not the soft brittle elderly shake I was expecting.
"I have a lot to tell you Lux. When I found out you had become immortal I came as fast as I could. Four days old you said?" Elizabeth asked Carlisle who nodded.
"Wow. So well controlled, it's astonishing." She murmured and I cleared my throat.
"Shall we go sit down?" Esme asked, and I nodded, leading my grandmother to the living room, and sat on the large couch.
"So... What do you need to tell me? And how do you look so young? And why haven't I met you before? How do you know about vampires? Are YOU a vampire?" I rushed out and Elizabeth laughed, nodding.
"Yes Lux, I am a vampire, and you and your parents never met me because for the last 100 years I have been hiding."
My eyes grew wide open.
"Hiding from... What?" I asked, my voice barely above a whisper. Elizabeth closed her ageless eyes and shook her head slightly.
"Aria Anima, darling. I assume you've heard of her?" I gasped.
"The terrible vampire that made her proterra kill a school full of kids?" I asked stunned. Elizabeth nodded.
"The very one. I need to tell you our family history Lux, it won't be long before the Volturi come knocking on your door." My grandmother stated bluntly and my stomach dipped.
She's right. There isn't much time.
"Okay I'm going to run through this quickly, I need to get back soon. So don't interrupt alright?" Elizabeth asked and I urgently nodded.
"Now before I start, I assume you know that when a vampire turns a mortal immortal, the newborn takes the vampire's physical features, correct?" Elizabeth asked, and I assured her that I did.
"And I also assume that you know what a protector and protetto is?" She asked.
"Actually I am a protector to a mortal girl at my school." I explained and she nodded.
"Alright then, here it goes. In the nineteen hundreds there was a good Volturi member named Aria Anima, she had been in the Volturi a long time with her father Aro and her sister Jane." She started. I leaned forward in anticipation as did Carlisle and Esme.
"Not long after, Aria married a vampire and had a kid, an IMMORTAL kid. As you all know, these children were strictly forbidden, but Aria assumed her precious baby Jason would be protected by the Volturi."
"She was wrong. Dead wrong. Her own family was forced to follow the law and destroy their sisters child, to prevent an uprising in Volterra." Elizabeth said disgusted and the three Cullen's mouths hung open.
"Aria was so disturbed by her own family that she turned her mortal protetto into a newborn vampire. Aria wanted the Volturi to see how it felt to have innocent children die in front of their eyes, so she ordered her newborn into a school of 30 mortal kids, demanding that the proterra kill them all."
"...Well... I was one of those kids." My grandmother stated and I gasped again.
"WHAT!?" I exclaimed, standing up on my feet.
"But... How!?!?" I asked, when she shushed me and pushed me down to sit on the couch again.
"No interrupting. Anyway, yes I was one of those kids. The protetto was especially frightening because, as I look to you, the newborn looked EXACTLY like Aria. The protetto killed all of the kids in my class, however she left me with only one bite in the arm by chance. I survived, but became immortal and grew up until I was 20, the "technical" age I am now." She concluded.
"Now Aria knew that she had put the vampire species in danger so the Volturi was forced to kill their own sister for punishment of her crime. So Aria went in hiding and let her look alike protetto be killed in place of her. When the Volturi had finished killing the protetto who they THOUGHT was Aria, they realized that she didn't have the Volturi family crest on her forearm that says "invisibile è eterno" meaning "unseen is eternal" in Italian." Elizabeth explained and I nodded, trying to wrap my head around all this.
"When the Volturi found out that Aria had tricked them, they were outraged. Ever since they had been hunting down for Aria Anima, while she had been hunting for me."
"She knew that I had escaped, even if I had to be a monster for eternity she still wanted to kill me for escaping her death trap. So I hid. The Volturi searched for her, as she searched for me. As the years passed I settled down in hiding and had a child with a mortal, the child was a half mortal obviously, and was your mother Lux." She finally dropped on me.
"I gave her up for adoption in fear that my vampire thirst would kill her, and she grew up not knowing that half of her was vampire and never met me. Carol then grew up and had you, and even you as a human were a half mortal as well." Elizabeth finished.
"...So is that why I have purple eyes? Because Aria bit her protetto, her protetto bit my grandma Elizabeth, Elizabeth had a baby who turned out to be half mortal, and then my mother Carol had me, another half mortal?" I asked, trying to keep up with this information.
"Yes many times the mortal who is bitten, tends to resemble the vampire who bit it." Elizabeth confirmed.
I sat there, at a loss of words. There was so much going through my head, I... I can't, think.
"So..." I croaked out. "Why did you come to tell me all this?"
My grandmother smiled sadly at me.
"Because Lux, you are the granddaughter of the girl who survived the biggest vampire attack on humanity. Aria escaped, she's still out there. Looking for me, looking for your mother, looking for you. She won't rest until we are all dead. The Volturi has stopped looking for her, they merely accept her as the mishap sister who escaped the death of a crime. They see her legacy as an embarrassment and don't tell anybody of her. Almost no one knows the whole story behind Aria Anima, but now you do, and it's your job to put an end to her before she puts an end to you."
I sat in silence, greeted by the grim expressions on Carlisle and Esme's faces.
I couldn't tell you how long we sat like that. Seconds? Hours?
It seemed that every second of time, a dagger passed through me. Just sitting as a laying duck, waiting for Aria Anima to come hunt me to death.
Someone was going to kill me. Someone who has already killed 30 plus lives already. Someone who had tried to track down my grandmother for their entire mortal life.
Someone who is still out there somewhere, with a disguise, and who knows how close she is to this very house right now.
Oh god I'm going to puke.
"Well I need to go, Lux. Cullen's, it's been a pleasure." Elizabeth said and swiftly jumped out the window and started running.
I simply stood there, my mouth hanging open like a set trap, ready to snap close at anytime.
I felt a chilled hand grab my shoulder gently.
"Lux if you need to talk about this or some-" Carlisle said sympathetically.
I shrugged his hand off my shoulder dismissively and walked away at a human pace.
"There's no time for talking Carlisle. Everyone I know is in danger. My mom, the pack, Jackie, Carter... You." I said firmly looking straight into the wise man's golden eyes.
"Lux we've handled other battles before, and you're just a newborn. Literally! It's only been four days since you were a normal 18 year old." Esme said all mother-like.
"Well I'll just have to grow up a little faster. I have to protect everyone, convince the Volturi that I am Lux Cullen not Aria Anima, and then catch the real Aria Anima before she kills us all." I said grimly, and Carlisle remained silent in thought. Esme however still was persistent.
"Lux we JUST found you, we can't just put you in battle with the Volturi and a murderer four days after your created! You barely know how to hunt!" She exclaimed worriedly.
I turned around and gave my beautiful vampire mothers hug. I soon released her and walked towards the huge living room window, stepping outside of the glass with one pale foot.
"Us vampires live for eternity Esme, but if I don't stop Aria soon, I won't even know what eternity is."
And with that, I turned to the window and jumped.