Aiyanna
I bursted into a laugh I didn't know I had in me. I didn't know what was getting through me but maybe it was best for me to laugh it off. Otherwise, I would have probably been ruled by the bitter emotions hidden behind my laugh, and would have ended up hurting physically what I was made to protect : a human.
A vampire. As if having to deal with an army of new ones wasn't enough, Bella wanted to be turned into one. And the worst of it all, was that she wanted Edward to do it, as if she had forgotten how her blood was his biggest struggle.
Was she so eager to have him touch her during her last moments as a human, that she was willing to risk her life ?
After a few seconds, or maybe minutes, laughing, I managed to calm myself and found Bella's eyes again.
"You're not going to turn into one of them, neither will he change you." I said in a monotonous voice.
Bella tried to stand, but Alice prevented her from moving. Her face expressions hardened as she glared at me.
"It is my decision. If I don't get changed, I could be a collateral damage and be killed by Victoria."
"Even if Victoria is still alive, I'm watching her. If she ever tries anything I will see it." Alice tried to reassure her.
"Until when Alice ? Until when is this going to go on ? Shouldn't we lessen her chances to get to me ?"
"Bella." Carlisle called her, lowering the tension by his soft voice. "I understand that your fear has motivated you to make such decisions and we are truly sorry for failing to ensure your safety in the past. However, we won't change anyone if it is not necessary. I can't allow it. We will stay on our guards until we get Victoria to stop this revenge." Carlisle said his last words on the matter.
Instead of being reassured, Bella was still alert, seeking for help from the Cullen family. Searching for someone to be on her side.
Quickly, I understood that her fear wasn't the only reason why she took that decision. She wanted to be changed into one of them.
Did she actually realize what it involved ? None of them chose to be vampires. They had to be at the bridge of death to be transformed, and here she was, claiming she wanted to be like them.
"Edward ?" Bella called him.
"I follow Carlisle's decision. Besides, you're in more danger with me than with any of us. I can't change you."
"You sucked the venom once, I trust you." she insisted.
As soon as I parted my lips to retort, Emmett's hand covered my mouth, preventing me to do so. His scent made me cough against his hand, in an attempt to prevent it from going down my throat and burn my insides.
Emmett took his hand off my face, making sure to wipe his hand on my arm with his most disgusted face expression.
"You disgusting little..."
"Who sent you ?" I cut him off. "No one told you to interfere."
"Bella, do you mind if we discuss in my office ?" I heard Carlisle suggest, when I brought my attention back to what we were gathered here for.
Bella nodded, standing up and walking in front of Carlisle, as he invited her to take the stairs.
As soon as Bella was out of sight, I wriggled my shoulder, pressing Emmett to push his arm off of them.
"Thanks, Em." Edward told Emmett before he looked down at me. "Breathe, Aiyanna."
As if Bella's presence had taken my breath away, I found myself exhaling deeply. Once calm, I looked at the other Cullens.
"Changing Bella or any other human goes against the treaty." I reminded them. "I don't think I'll have enough authority to prevent the pack from trying to go after you if you ever trespass it. I, myself, won't allow any transgressions."
"I can't wait to see them try." Emmett answered, smirking.
"I already warned you Emmett." I said in between my teeth, glaring at him.
I was well aware that Emmett was eager to fight with literally anyone. No matter how I trusted the boys not to quiver in front of him, I doubted any of them would come out unharmed in a fight with him.
"I'm counting on you to do me the honor of being your first opponent during training." Emmett told me, to which I rolled my eyes.
"Should we take rounds around Bella's house ? Just to reassure her ?" Esme suggested.
"Maybe we should." Alice accepted.
Rosalie sighed, clearly not overjoyed by the situation. "Great, more babysitting."
You did tell them that I was not to be watched over now, right ? - I asked Edward, privately.
Edward looked at me defeated, clearly not happy with it, and nodded.
Thank you.
"I think it's time for me to go home. My mom is probably worried." I said out loud.
"I will drive." Edward answered.
Although I didn't want him to bother driving me home only for him to come back here, I found myself accepting his proposition when I remembered that Bella was still upstairs. If I could keep them apart as much as I could...
I said goodbye to the Cullens, taking Jasper's phone number on the way to settle our training, and Emmett's who insisted on having my contacts again, before I sat on the passenger seat of my car.
I let out a sigh while leaning my head against the headrest. I suddenly felt exhausted. That was a long afternoon. I wasn't going to do much studying today. I didn't even think I had the courage to open a book.
"Are you okay ?" Edward asked.
"There really is a difference when Jasper's there and when he's not. The last bits of this meeting took all of my energy."
Edward scoffed. "You're quite a handful. He caught you slipping several times."
"Sorry."
Edward turned on the ignition and drove off. I let myself close my eyes during the ride that lasted half the time it took me to drive to the Cullen's residence.
"Do you want me to come up now, or should I wait until you're ready to sleep ?" Edward asked me.
Taken aback, I opened my eyes and looked at him. "You're not going back home ?"
"I don't have any more reasons to stay there."
I nodded slowly. "I'll open the window when I'm ready."
"I will wait as long as it takes." Edward answered with a grin.
~~
I passed the exams. I was officially free from high school. I had to admit, I almost cried when I got the news that I was graduating like everyone else. I never would have imagined senior year to be this difficult. Maybe if I hadn't changed into a huge wolf that required lots of energy and time, and if everything that followed after didn't happen, then this last year would've taken it easy on me.
Besides, I also received an acceptance letter from Syracuse for next fall, last Friday. I had never been more excited about going to school than I did when my parents opened the letter with me.
I passed out, exhausted, on my bed after the adrenaline exhorted my body at once, without the strength to wake up again until Saturday late morning.
As expected, I was awaited in La Push. When I came back to my duties, Sam's relief could be visible on his face expressions. For the past two weeks, he took on the responsibility to lead the others by himself. Having me around would allow him to take a rest he well needed.
Therefore, I prohibited the boys from going to his place during the weekend and brought them to my house. It would leave Sam the time to enjoy his place but mostly Emily, alone. Besides, my father was more than happy to have the boys around.
The battle with Seattle's newborns had been received as good news among the members of our pack. I had no doubt that they would be thrilled to have the opportunity to kill vampires, although ten was two short for us. It meant only one newborn per wolf.
Sam, Jasper and I agreed on having our first training on Tuesday evening. Although Alice didn't see the newborns coming to Forks yet, it was better for us to be prepared as soon as possible.
After patrolling non-stop this weekend and sleeping while keeping my senses on alert, in the woods, I went back home on Monday morning to prepare myself for Graduation ceremony as well as the party Alice was organizing for this evening.
I hopped in the shower as soon as I came home, remembering how refreshing it felt to shower after patrol shifts. I wrapped a towel around me while brushing my teeth with one hand and drying my hair with another towel with my left hand. I had asked my father to cut my hair shorter before I went back to La Push this weekend. If I had known short hair was this convenient especially with my lifestyle, I would have cut everything even before I changed. Someone as lazy as I was couldn't afford the time to take care of longer hair.
Contrarily to other days, I decided to put more effort to go to school for the last time today. I pulled out the abandoned makeup bag I haven't paid attention to for almost a year, and decided to take on the challenge to do my makeup.
"Just do the bare minimum, it's the only thing you can do anyway." I reminded myself.
And with these words of encouragement, I started.
I heard my parents from up and downstairs as they also got themselves ready. They were both taking me to the ceremony, and like last week, a few of the boys would be coming to my graduation ceremony this time. Jacob, Leah, Quil and Brady that I got to know better along with Collin this weekend, were the ones who took their shifts this morning.
After carefully putting on mascara as my last step, I walked to my wardrobe only to end up laughing in front of it. I almost forgot about the raid that happened in there. There were more hangers than clothes inside.
"This is so ridiculous..." I murmured.
Thankfully, the clothes I bought during my trip to Port Angeles with Alice, Jessica and Angela were still there. I didn't know what I would have worn if it hadn't been the case.
The clothes I bought, well the ones Alice made me buy, consisted of a medium denim skirt with a slit starting from my left knee and stopped above my ankles with a bright red top. I couldn't remember the last time I wore a skirt. I was thankful for Alice's choice, though. The fact that I could wear something out of the ordinary and that I haven't worn yet showed the effort I put to say goodbye to the walls of Forks' High school.
Reaching for their separate hangers, my whole body froze at their touch.
Clothes I haven't worn yet...
As if all of my neurons were put back in order, I felt something click in my mind. All the events that happened recently, the information that were given to us, my constant need to link everything that was happening to Victoria...it all made sense now.
"Knock, knock !"
I startled at the sound of Alice's voice, who was standing beside the open window as if she'd been there since the beginning.
"Sorry. I figured you'd need help with the makeup, since you barely ever put some. But I see you did it, already. That's good enough." Alice said, with a proud grin that slowly disappeared once deciphering my face expressions. "Is something wrong ?"
"It's all related, Alice." I whispered, slowly putting two and two together so it could make sense in my head before I shared my theories with Alice.
"What is ?"
"The intruder, the missing clothes, the newborns, Laurent and Victoria, your blurry visions. All of this is related."
Alice's back straightened, her voice suddenly sharp. "What makes you think that ?"
"Whoever is behind the newborn army in Seattle isn't indecisive. He's playing with your visions so you can't see anything. Why ? Because Victoria, who was still in contact with Laurent before his death might have heard from him about the holes of your different gifts. You stayed at the Denali coven didn't you ?"
Alice shook her head, probably hesitant to agree with my reasoning. "Yes but Jasper and I were careful enough not to talk to him about it. At least, not in details."
"But he was close with one of them." I reminded her. "What was her name again ?"
"Irina..." Alice whispered, her eyes losing focus.
"I presume both of your families know each other enough to know everything about each other's gifts. Irina could have told Laurent, and he could have given the information to Victoria. If we believe what Bella said the other day, Laurent came back to Forks only as a favor for Victoria. That means they were close enough for him to disclose such information."
Because of her gift, Alice wasn't used to be taken by surprise. She stayed there still, without breathing or even blinking.
"It wasn't Victoria who came into your room." Alice reminded me, her eyes focused on the bed without actually looking at it. It was fair to say that she looked like a robot. A pretty one at least.
"No, she only served as a distraction. Whoever came into my room could be someone she created. It's not a newborn though. It must be someone she changed a long time ago..." I trailed off, trying to guess the timing until it came to me again. "Texas !"
Alice blinked as she finally came back to her senses. "Oh no..."
I remembered when Edward told me that he tracked Victoria in Texas, the same location where the Southern Wars happened. She could've gotten the idea there, probably even met Jasper's previous clan.
"But, I've been watching her. I haven't seen her since the last hunt." Alice told me.
"She would know by now that you'd keep an eye on her. Victoria isn't the one creating the army. She's letting my intruder who came in to steal my clothes do everything by himself, to stay in the dark. He made sure to take only clothes I wore, Alice. None of the new ones that I bought with you guys, were kidnapped."
"To serve as a lure."
When coming into my room, the intruder might have noticed my scent, and how unappetizing it would be to him and the newborns. Like vampires, all wolves had their own scent but still had a hint in common.
"You're right." Alice said in a hollow tone. Her eyes were wide with shock. "Of course you are, if you put it that way. If that's the case, Victoria might already know that you are a werewolf."
I nodded.
If my theory was indeed, right, the newborns were still coming to Forks, but the final motive was different this time. The army was created to go past the Cullens, so Victoria could kill me.
Very innovative. So this was the so-called revenge Victoria had thought of.
Discovering all this made different emotions flood through me. The situation was more personal than what I believed. Even though they took my clothes to familiarize with my scent, there was no way Victoria would be able to pick it out if I stood in the middle of my pack. It would be too confusing, just like her scent would, in the middle of her army. The pack was in more danger than I thought they would be once I accepted to involve them in this battle.
There was no way to go back on my decision. Sam wouldn't let me, neither would the rest of them. They have been talking about it since I told Sam about it. Moreover, once they'd know I was the one the army was after, they would never agree to sit out. Worse, they would probably want me to stay at the reservation with Collin and Brady, which I wouldn't accept either.
Suddenly, a fist hammered against my door, making both Alice and I jump out of surprise.
"Aren't you ready yet ? We're going to be late." my mother said from outside.
"I'm almost done. Give me five minutes." I answered, and soon enough, I heard her walk downstairs.
"If Edward hears this..." Alice trailed off.
"He'll go berserk." I said, to which she agreed. "The graduation ceremony is not the right place to tell him that. I'll try my best not to think about it."
"Me too. When do we tell him ?"
"After the party ?"
"If we manage to last that long." she sighed. "I better go."
I nodded, watching her jump out the window.
I quickly tossed the skirt and the top on my bed, before taking off the towel I was still wrapped into to dress up in a hurry. Once I walked up to my mirror, I realized that in the midst of all this, I had forgotten to do my hair. Alice must have really been in shock for her not noticing it.
Because of the lack of time, I only managed to put my hair products and do a small side part before I dashed downstairs to put on my sneakers.
"Finally !" my father exclaimed, after checking his watch in front of the door. "You do look nice, though."
"Thanks."
"Okay now, hurry. We can't keep being late to events."
"She takes that from your side of the family." my mother intervened, reminding him of the many weddings we had been invited to but never arrived there on time once.
The conversation continued during the ride when my mother mentionned how one of my aunts even managed to come late at my parent's wedding.
The three of us playfully argued as we all talked about the past. And I secretly hoped it would keep my thoughts away from Victoria's revenge for the rest of the day.
A/N : Let's not point out the fact that Aiyanna got accepted into a good school despite her grades and profile 😅 Again, it's not a subject I'm confident about, I just know Aiyanna needs to go to college AND I don't have time to do research on them for the sake of this story lol