Seth took Nessie up onto his back while Jake lowered himself to me. I shook my head. The last thing that Jake needed was to feel like he had to watch out for me when things went wrong. He growled a warning and took my shirt between his teeth and tugged. "No, Jake. I'll walk," I said to him. He snarled again and pulled a little harder. "No, Jake," I said firmly. "No." He licked my cheek, his rough tongue gliding over my cheekbone. I leaned into his side, resting my head against the muscle of his shoulder, closer to his leg than his back. He really was a fearsome thing to behold. A wall of muscle covered in thick fur.
He knew that he couldn't change my mind. At least, that's what I think he knew because he stopped trying to force me onto his back and started walking alongside me. I watched the Pack's ears swivel and turn as the communicated. Somewhere in the middle of it, Jake turned around a barked at the rest of them, sending the rest of the Pack into silence. As soon as we were up with the lines of vampires that were waiting for this face off, Nessie slid from Seth's back and sprinted to the witnesses.
Having been banished to my room from the very beginning, I didn't really know the people that were standing there. Jake and the rest of the wolves were all growling quietly. Probably due to the stench of leech that was filling their noses. A tall amazonian woman picked up my niece and threw her in the air in a fit of giggles. But in the next instant, the laughter had died with a short glare from one of the others. This was not a day for glee and joy. We had to be serious today. We had to all be warriors and protect our friends and family. We hadn't been sitting there for very long at all when black smoke rolled in over the land.
No, not smoke. Hordes and hordes of vampires, all cloaked in black with hoods over each face. "We have to show them Renesmee," Bella whispered from her spot beside me. I flinched and wiggled my way closer to Jake. His head bowed to wrap around my waist and glare at my sister, a warning rumbling in him. "They're here because she's a danger. If we show them that she's not, they'll have to leave." I looked to Edward, wondering if it was even worth it.
He nodded. "And you, Rye-Anne." I narrowed my eyes and stared at him. It's Ryanne. It had always been that way. It would always be that way. "My apologies, Ryanne." He cocked his head to the side and stared at Jake. "I hardly think that this is the appropriate time to use that kind of language, Jacob. But for her safety, it would be best to show that she does not harbor ill will towards them." Of course I harbored ill will. These leeches were trying to kill me. "Of course, going up with us would also tell them that you are protected."
Once we are all in agreement that both Nessie and I would need to go up to the Volturi, Edward reached a hand out to his daughter. The little monster looked up at me and Jake. We nodded. The Volturi didn't need to know that there was any kind of faction in our group. We were here to stand as one unit, regardless of what we thought of each other. Bella took her daughter's other hand and, as a family for probably the first time since her birth, they started walking. I followed behind them, Jake at my side as we approached the group.
Jane's ruby red eyes stared at me as soon as she realized that I was there. Her mouth curved into that dangerous smile that had me hiding behind Jake's front leg as much as I could. "Bella, Bella," Aro said, the name rolling off his tongue. "You are even more beautiful in immortality than you were in humanity." Bella looked like she was afraid, scared. She was attempting to get herself closer to Edward without showing that she was afraid. "And this is...?""Aro, Caius, Marcus, this our daughter. Renesmee Cullen," Edward presented. He pushed his daughter a little farther forward. Nessie's bell-like voice tinkled as she greeted the men that had come to kill us all. "As you can hear, she has a beating heart. She was born while Bella was still human. She is not fully vampire nor fully human."
"Bring forth the witness," Aro said. I leaned back into Jake's wolf chest, wishing that it would all just go away. A blonde that I vaguely remembered from Bella and Edward's wedding came forward. "Is this the child that you saw?" he demanded of her. The Denali woman stumbled over her words, trying to get herself out of some trouble but ultimately had to admit that when she had last seen Nessie, the child was smaller. She apologized profusely, trying to dig her way out of this hole. "Of course you are sorry, dear heart," Aro whispered. With a jerk of his head, another black cloaked parasite came forward and placed one hand on her chin and the other above her ear. The snap resonated through the clearing, but it was quickly drowned out by the sound of two screams that turned to sobs behind us. The body hit the snow with a thud. "I see that you are quite well, Miss Ryanne," he said now.
Jake snarled, warning the king of all the vampires to back away from his imprint. I patted his front leg, closest to my body. "I am, thank you. It was not my intention to deceive you after our previous encounter," I replied. "Please, excuse me."
"I would never assume that you deception was your main course of action," he said. "Clearly there has been much about you that has changed. You are the mate of a child of the moon?"
"Impossible," the corn silk haired one declared. "The children of the moon are but extinct."
"They are not children of the moon," Edward said. "You said yourself that you have persecuted the werewolves. Besides, this is not a full moon." Jake growled behind me. "My daughter is not a danger to the vampires. And these wolves are friends of the ours. They will not do any harm to any that don't threaten their tribe and the community."
"How do we know that these vermin are not dangerous?" the blond one demanded. Jake snarled and barked in response.
"They are not a danger," Aro determined. "She, however," he pointed a finger at Nessie. "We have yet to meet one like her. We do not know what will become of her."
"No!" Bella screeched. She pulled Nessie protectively in to her side. "You can't hurt her!" Edward rushed them back to the side where all the witnesses were standing. Jake's mouth closed around my arm and jerked me towards the group as well. Leah was sitting on her belly, waiting for something or another.
Jake's head came up underneath my butt and lifted me up so that I was on top of Leah's back. Leah rose and back away from the rest of the Pack. "Leah, put me down. Leah, please!" I shouted as I began fighting her. "Please!" she kept backing away, starting towards the forest. "Leah we can't leave them."
"Stop!" I looked up at the voice to find Alice Cullen, the bitch that I hadn't seen in so long, stepped into the clearing. "I have another witness," she announced. She kept walking in, Jasper by her side. Behind her, I could see a man in a loin cloth with a tooth necklace. A woman walked in behind him, her hair wild around her face. "This is Nahuel. He's a hybrid like Renesmee." The Volturi eyed him speculatively. There were a few tense moments and then Aro stepped forward.
"Do you age?" he demanded.
"Not any longer."
"When did you stop aging?" Aro asked then.
"Fifteen years after my birth. I have not aged since," he said.
"And who is this?" And so it went, on and on. They asked him about everything and anything that they could, trying to discern Nessie's fate. He explained that his aunt raised him because the birth killed his mother. I could see him eyeing Nessie with a certain admiration. She was the first of his kind that wasn't related to him. Or at least, the first that he had met.
"You see. The child is no danger," Alice finished. "Let them go." There was a pause then, Aro looking at Caius and Marcus but saying nothing at all.
"No," Edward hissed. "It should have worked." Jake nodded to Leah and Seth. The kid bent down to the ground. Jake strode over to the little girl and helped her up onto Seth. It was all planned. The entire thing was already set up. Leah was supposed to get me out and Seth was supposed to take Ness.
"You don't want to do that," Alice said. "If you make that decision, you won't like the outcome." Aro looked at her sternly. Both Caius and Marcus looked like they couldn't believe what Alice was doing. "See for yourself." She slid her glove off her hand and took Aro's.
There was a tense silence between us all. Bella looked like she was about to vomit at any moment, her hands clenched in tight fists. And then I noticed that Jane was in fact glaring at us. She looked livid, like whatever she was trying to do was failing miserably. My sister was actually managing to do what she'd said. She was protecting us. That shield of hers was in fact keeping us all from feeling the pain of Jane's torture. "Enough," Aro decreed. "There is no threat here." He smiled wide. "Although we would be loathed without offering our friends a chance to come and join our family."
I wondered briefly what had happened, what Alice had seen that made Aro regret his decision. It was abundantly clear to me that they were going to attack, that they wanted to kill us all. But what wasn't clear was why Alice had been able to change out minds. The friends that were gathered around us came forward with a brief chorus of no thank you's. And then, as soon as all of this had started, as soon as everything in my life had spiraled out of control. "It's over," Edward announced. I didn't have to run. My life wasn't going to end at this battle. My friends and family were going to live. And I'd been right; Ness was going to be immortal.
A very naked Jake wrapped his arms around my waist and pulled me down from Leah's back. He lifted me from the ground, his hands under my butt and my legs wrapped around his waist. Over his shoulder, I could see Nessie hugging both Rosalie and Emmet. Bella and Edward were both absorbed in each other. They didn't seem to care about the fact that their daughter wasn't embracing them. The wolves had all taken off. I'm sure Jake had given them some silent signal. But they all had imprints to get to. I turned my face into Jake's neck and pressed my lips to the soft skin there. "It's over," he whispered.