Please Note: This was my first ever piece of fictional writing and was written when I was 12/13 years old.
Of course; All characters belong to Ms Stephenie Meyer and this book is my personal continuation of her 'Twilight Saga' books.
This story is set roughly four years after the end of 'Breaking Dawn'.
Burning Horizon;
Preface:
"NO!" someone else screeched. Their piercingly high pitched voice echoed around my head as if I was stood in a vast hall, the one word they spoke repeating itself again and again. All it was doing was forcing more and more terror upon me. Nothing anyone did now could help me - I was certain of that, I was too far over the edge for any return to reality.
Bella Cullen;
Introduction:
"Guess who?" His smooth, firm hands clasped slowly over my eyes from behind. Even his voice alone, dripping with subtle seduction, created such bold sensation within me that I often wondered if I was little crazy. Despite the deep feeling of warmth within me, I knew that part of my reaction was missing, as it would be for the rest of my personal forever. It was something that he would miss deeply, yet I was finally free from the burden of; my burning red blushes that never failed to push me to a point of extreme embarrassment. They had always made an appearance during awkward situations in my human lifetime, and it had never been a welcome one.
"I have absolutely no idea." I spoke quietly in a silvery voice that I was just about used to.
"I don't believe you," Edward whispered in my ear as he abruptly spun me around to face him.
Smirking at him was the only answer I could manage in my slightly bewildered, bewitched state of mind.
Nothing much had changed from before my excruciating transformation; all of my worries had evaporated along with my humanity. The only thing that had changed, I guess, was my species - which on thinking about does seem like a pretty major change. It was odd to speak about it in asuch a blasé, carefree way, but I had never considered it to be a massive alteration life. Immortality was me. I was made to be immortal. That was all there was to it. To look back now and think that I had been worried about the strength of my love for Edward faltering now seems to me to be the most ridiculous part. The delicate human passion I had held before had to have quadrupled itself at least. It seemed to me that each moment I spent with him, my desire to be by his side whenever possible would grow uncontrollably. Never before had I been able to comprehend the sheer vastness of space that you have within you to fill with love.
Feeling the electricity pulsing between us, I tilted my head up for one of those moments that I would be insane without, that I would have to die without. His lips found mine.
"Mom!" A demanding voice echoed down the staircase from upstairs accompanied by a faint swish of fabric on wood as she slid down the banister - a trick she had been taught by her mischievous uncle as a toddler.
Edward rolled his eyes with humour. "Here comes the monster."
It was less than a second until the heavy door swung open.
"Ugh, can you two please get a room?" Renesmee's large eyes glinted with a playful edge as she took in the intimate positions that we stood in.
"We already have, we do somewhat own this house you know." Edward smiled a loving smile, not sort the love that he showed me, but something different at our girl - it was something I could only describe as beautiful adoration. He let my hand slip from his, lurching forward to grab her. Or, to grab the air where she had stood previously...
"You're never going to give up are you Dad," Renesmee called from across the room, lounging casually on the couch. There was definitely a visual shudder as a flow of warmth rushed through Edward's body at her final word before she continued, pausing slightly after every word to taunt him further. "You are in fact slower than a five year old."
He straightened up from the hunting-style crouch, still smiling, but yet again absorbing the fact that he had lost his place as the fastest being in our extensive family, extraordinary group of friends and known enemies, to his own five year old half-human daughter. To ease his own pain, I know that he used the excuse that her young teenage appearance meant she was not classed as five years old in this situation almost every time - none of us would accept it.
"Never." Edward never gave up on things easily: he had never given up on protecting me, he had never given up resisting my blood and he had never given up on loving me, through all that I'd done to him. Through all the times I had hurt him with my constant indecisions - which more often than not used to involve Jacob Black, our most regular visitor nowadays. Edward chuckled, turning back to me to resume the moment.
"Out please, you!" I kept my voice as stern as I could whilst holding back the bubbles of laughter that I had to release. Slowly but surely I was realising that I was about as good at the serious side of mothering as Renee had been.
Renesmee somersaulted from where she lay, swept across the floor, scooping up her thick, green fleeced sweater from the couch and with a roll of her deep eyes, stalked out of the room.
Edward walked back over to me slowly, his gaze on the door where she'd exited. "I think she's definitely inherited your stubborn gene, Bella."
"And your speed," I whispered. He turned his head to the side to lock his eyes with mine and his expression was priceless.
"A bit too much of that for my liking," he murmured. "I don't appreciate being beaten at one of my most impressive talents."
Then, his lips were on mine. Two cold, marble figures blending together with such electricity that it felt as if the world might go up in flames.
Times seemed to pass by like a trickling stream; it seemd to have been hours at least when we released each other, but the moon hung exactly where it had been before outside in the ebony sky. When I was younger, my friends had always dreamt of being a princesses. Much like any other girls would do at that age - they wished for a life of luxury and diamonds, living in a castle with a heroic prince and a fairy godmother to watch over them forever. Personally, as a shy, introverted kid I had never really believed in this future. For me, it had just seemed too far fetched to dream in. There was no doubt about my future. I would be ordinary, like my parents, in a small town with a normal jobs, a normal husband and normal children.
In the present, I still can't believe how much my old theories had been flipped on their heads. I was not royalty by any means, but in a way all this, all that I have, makes me feel like the princess that my friends had always wanted to be. Edward was my prince and my guardian all in one perfect package. There was no need for a castle or a never ending supply of jewels and money. Not when I had him. He fulfilled every need I had, except one - my thirst. When he was with me I could very nearly extinguish that burn completely, but it was inevitable that eventually it would always have to be relieved, meaning a hunting expedition. Hunting had become my least favourite activity. I detested killing innocent animals; it made me feel exactly like the monster that was hidden inside me.
My arms slid down to find Edward's waist while he entwined his fingers around my left hand, my diamond wedding ring glinted in the silvery moonlight.
"I love you so much Bella Cullen."
Five words that made my life more than anything else, the last two meant the most to me because they made this all seem so much more real. They made me sure that I was the one he wanted, the one that he truly loved. I repeated them in my head in his breathtaking tone; 'Bella Cullen' and I couldn't think of one single thing that I would rather be doing at that moment.
Chapter One; A Perfect Beggining
I gave birth to Renesmee over five years ago now and the agony that pregnancy put me and Edward through, both physical and mental was haunting - but I don't think I could have had a more perfect child. That afternoon at the Cullen's house had been the absolute worst and best in my entire life and that was a quite a tall order. I had humanly died that day, but I felt my whole entire life had begun on that day too. The time when I was bed-bound at that house because of my little nudger were so torturing for Edward - I couldn't describe what it did to him in words because his depression was far beyond them. It was only afterwards that I understood how the guilt he felt must have been unbearable to live with and my internal pain felt like a minor problem to me compared to the state that it left him in, that I left him in. My stupidity - or what I called instinct at the time - had so nearly killed me and I knew that if my heart had ceased forever then, that if I had fallen into a never ending unconsciousness, he would have perished with me. I truly couldn't imagine this world without him. Never mind a world without him that was my entire fault. What haunted me the most was the fact that he was willing to die with and for me, and he always would be, no matter how many times I tried to persuade him otherwise. He would never have forgiven himself for my death if I had not been saved by his burning venom, or forgiven Renesmee for that fact. Sometimes I wondered how I had, though it was never a fault of hers what had happened to me and she had sped up the fulfilment of my ultimate wish - my transformation. However, I don't hold grudges.
My life was so perfect now. It was like this was why I had been born. To be placed in this fantastical whirlwind. Sure, there were the ups and the downs but how boring would everything be without them? If I had to live my life as a human, never discovering this secret world that lurked in the shadows of reality, I would have married an ordinary man, followed an ordinary routine every single day and then died an ordinary person. After my first taste of what I could have, of what I could do with my life, there was no going back. Edward had been so determined to change my course and I had never fully understood his motives. At the time, I guess, nothing else matched the strength of my feelings towards the matter but now I had something I could relate that feeling to. My first experience of this world that drove me so hard to get what I wanted was like a droplet of shimmering human blood, it started a mad frenzy. My success still filled me with elation - this was who I was born to be, this was the part I was destined to play.
The two anchors of my life were stood before me, braced for what had now become a fairly regular feature on our schedule.
"You actually aren't going to give up are you."
Edward replied to me with a breath-taking expression, "I don't give up that easily, you should know that Bells."
It took me a moment to gather what he'd said, to unearth the amount of truth and meaning in that one sentence. It took my supposed suicidal death to stop him from his attempts of keeping away from me - death. I swallowed suddenly and brushed a lock of my hair softly from my cheek.
"Ready?"
Their eyes narrowed as they glared competitively at each other, and then softened instantly as they laughed in beautiful harmony, bending further towards the swaying grass below them.
"To the border and back!" I had to laugh at how tense Edward was as he crouched closer to the ground; he was acting more like a child than she was and she was five! "Three, two, one..."
Edward shot of into the trees out of the comfort of the meadow and into the threatening darkness of the forest that surrounded us.
"Hey, false start Edward!" I yelled after him, taking a couple of steps along his trail. "Get back here! I'm warning you!"
"Don't sweat it mom, I could catch him any day of the year!" Renesmee grinned and turned elegantly on her heels to shoot after Edward like an unstoppable bullet from a gun.
I sat down with my legs crossed and lay back. The colourful wildflowers bent sideways to make way for my slender body and then closed around me like a protective blanket, bobbing with the cool breeze. With their speed I only had two minutes to myself at the most, if that! My fingers wound themselves into the grass like they would always find themselves doing in Edward's hair and my eyelids slid shut as I breathed in the delicate fragrances that swum in the air around me. It was only too easy to let myself slip into daydream. This meadow would never be the same as our meadow back near Forks but it would always hold a part of us, all of us. Ever since we had left Washington an exact year from Renesmee's birth, I had never returned. Though the longing to revisit the places from my past was incredibly large, they would bring back such perfect memories from my human life if I was to see them again. The very first place I saw Edward at Forks High School, the place I discovered the mythical truth that made my life how it is today, the place he proposed to me formally (and I had predictably been unable to refuse) and the place I'd married him. However, along with those memories, there would surely be memories that would be unearthed from the lower moments of my life. Where Edward had left me all alone on the winding forest path, where James had started to hunt me down, craving desperately for my death simply for his own pleasure and where Edward had fought Victoria, twisting and turning at an unbelievable speed while I watched on, utterly helpless. However, the worst thing, had been leaving Charlie and Renee and knowing that I wouldn't see them again. We'd agreed between us that it was just too dangerous to involve them in this when we still had groups of blood craving enemies fighting to end our existence. Not if they were human and they were both staying human. I wouldn't tug them into any single part of this, I may have been created to follow this path but my natural parents, definitely were not. Charlie as a vampire, well, was a ridiculous thought. I did have Carlisle and Esme now, they were amazing but somehow, I'd always feel that something wasn't right. Maybe that would change in a couple of decades when the ones I knew were my true carers were... dead. Alice would watch out for their futures but we would leave them untouched unless absolutely necessary. I could finally understand one aspect of why Edward had been so reluctant to change me. The thought of taking away their humanity and plunging them both into this blur of constant threats and fantasy was unbearable to even imagine for a single, lonely second.
From deep in the forest a rushed sound of crackling dead leaves emerged with a sweet scent in the air.
"God, she's getting fast," I mumbled to myself, straightening up and strolling to the edge of the trees. Renesmee's childish laugh greeted me as she stopped suddenly by my side with no sign of having exerted the slightest bit of effort on her run.
"You're impossible," I laughed, taking her hand to pull her into a tight, one armed hug.
"I can't wait to see his face!" She giggled into my shoulder. "And it seems like I don't have to wait that long, for once."
Edward emerged from the darkness and paced slowly over towards us. "Beginner's luck".
"Of course, that's only the 42nd time we've done that race. The unfortunate truth... cheats never prosper." Renesmee grinned. She was enjoying this immensely; it was the same every single time. She would win, he would get teased.
His face was trying to disguise the defeat with a false smile. I could see straight through it so easily that it was hard to believe he had even been trying to hide it. With one swift movement he lifted me up onto his back and swept Renesmee into his arms as she continued to laugh to herself. He carried us both gently to the pine that overshadowed the west corner of the small meadow and before she could reject, Edward sat Renesmee on the wide branch over our heads. With his arms around my waist, he swung me round into his arms like cradling a baby then sitting me too on the moss covered bark.
"Never mind." I attempted to hold back my amused grin, but I've never been too good at will-power. "There's always next time."
He gave me a disapproving look that soon morphed into a crooked smile too. I shuffled to one side leaving a gap between me and Renesmee. He swung himself up to sit between us, arm around my seemingly delicate waist and the other pulling his daughter's head softly to his shoulder. With one fingertip, he traced my cheekbone slowly to my hair which he twirled around his finger, where I had placed his ring over four years ago. Scents of beautiful wild flowers, sweet honey and lavender floated through the cool air around us.
"Where is Jacob today?" I asked, realising how strange it was not to be shadowing her everywhere today. Edward shuffled a little as if the mention of his name disturbed him. I understood how hard it had been for him to cope with having Jacob around nearly every second and despite them getting along, I still wondered whether the two of them would ever fully forgive and forget.
"His sister, Rebecca, came over from Hawaii for a while, he didn't want to go back home to see her but I forced him to." Renesmee smiled smugly and I could just imagine how easily Jacob would have given up his attempts to spend the day with her as soon as she started to persuade him otherwise. She thought it her charm that seemed to pull him round to her way of doing things so unbelievably easily, the rest of us knew otherwise - imprint. That was something that none of us had even dared to tell her about after Jacob had sworn he would personally murder the one who's lips let out that secret.
The silence was interrupted by the muffled sound of a yawn against Edward's shoulders. I suppose I had forgotten just how quickly the burden of exhaustion came on when you were human. Renesmee was definitely not human but she had picked up a lot of things from me, needing to sleep every night was just one of them.
"Time to sleep is it?" Edward brushed his fingertips along her eyelids, sliding them shut. "I am not surprised after last night."
Alice had kept us active every minute of last night with her so called 'birthday party' for Emmett's human birthday, all twelve hours of it. Baseball, soccer and football (which was the most amusing thing I had seen in years - a group of nine overly competitive vampires playing sport was unforgettable) had been on the agenda, followed by an hour of dancing and partying. It wasn't a shock to us that Renesmee was absolutely exhausted, especially as she had not got a minute of peaceful sleep. She sat bolt upright again, her shimmering chocolate eyes flickering open.
"It is actually quite embarrassing, having you watch me sleep sometimes." The corners of her mouth turned up into a soft smile. "I'm not a baby anymore."
"Don't say that." I leapt down from the branch quickly, struggling to comprehend just how fast she was growing up. Edward followed suit holding his hand out to help her down. "You are still a baby, our baby."
I truly meant that. Although she may not look her true age at all, that young teenage appearance was just a mask that covered her child like mind and heart. We walked at a fairly human pace with no need to hurry back, watching her stagger along with her stubborn nature preventing her from giving in to fatigue. Now I knew why Edward used to be so intent on watching me as I slept, I'd sat by Renesmee many a night, and it was stunningly beautiful. In fact, it took us a whole hour's walk to get back to the house. I hadn't realised that Edward was taking a detour for the simple reason that I was so absorbed in admiring them both to focus on anything else apart from keeping my legs moving. Ten minutes or so from the house he'd stopped to give Renesmee a break from walking, evidently sensing from her thoughts that she was pretty near the I'm-too-tired-too-even-walk stage he'd seen me in as a human. Silently, she knelt down on a padded patch of thick moss amongst the bushy ferns and leant against the rockface. Meanwhile, he'd taken me by the waist and let his lips caress mine so smoothly that my mind turned to a meaningless mush. The electric current that I'd learned to crave for every day had reinstated itself in my veins at his sliding touches on my back. It was incredible how something so ordinary looking to others could be so utterly extraordinary to me. That feeling that came with his kisses was something that nothing or nobody else could give me. It was so perfect.
Our home now was a large, near ancient and very traditional looking hunting lodge hidden in the depths of the forests of New Hampshire - near to where Edward had originally planned for us to live while at college. When they were first looking for houses to buy I had wanted one near to Forks, so that my past was never too far away. Also, Jacob Black couldn't be too far away from us now, for more reasons than one. Imprinting was unfortunately the main. However they'd persuaded me to move all the way to the other side of the US for 'safety'. I understood but it was hard to accept the concept of having to let go of everything I had. Jacob had rented a lodge somewhere nearby and so was around at every opportunity. Sometimes it was great, sometimes it really wasn't...
Alice had made certain that none of the interior of our new house was outdated, naturally replacing the rotting floorboards with brand new surfaces of shiny oak and polished marble. I had protested strongly about getting two separate houses although the cottage was so beautiful. Therefore we now lived as one as I more than often seemed to get my way nowadays, Carlisle, Esme, Rosalie, Emmett, Jasper, Alice, Edward, Renesmee and me. The Cullens, a vampire family full of star crossed lovers - completely bizarre.
"Oh, your back!" Alice swept over to us as Edward pressed the heavy wooden door back into its frame with one hand, a sleeping Renesmee now held in his other arm. She took one glance at her exhausted niece. "What did you do? Did you make her run a double marathon or something?"
"Races again." I winked at her. "Renesmee wanted to reinforce the fact that she is faster than her dad but she's totally drained from last night as well."
I made sure I emphasised 'faster', just to see his face. He somewhat threw Renesmee into Alice's arms, grabbing me firmly round the waist and pulling me in like a deathly current so that his face pressed firmly against mine.
"No need to rub it in." He swung me around his body in the air so I landed on the sofa, I let out a high pitched shriek as he pounced up on top of me.
"You two are pathetic; you're going to wake her!" Alice's expression was somewhat disgusted but she was right. We were both parents now; parents did not wrestle each other and scream while they were meant to be caring for their baby. I sprang up immediately while Alice rocked Renesmee from side to side like an infant.
"Um, sorry Alice." It felt like being told of at kindergarten. Alice held her forward to my arms, her expression softened.
"No, I'm sorry Bella. You're perfect, ignore me. Just overprotective."
I took Renesmee, grasped Edwards waiting hand and dragged him out of the room. The top floor belonged exclusively to the three of us. Renesmee's room was second biggest in the whole house, second only to Alice's. Seen as Alice had done all the room arrangements, I hadn't needed visions of the future to see that she would gain the largest room. A wispy, cream coloured curtain hung over the frame of Renesmee's four-poster, the delicate wooden furnishings covered with embroidered tops, shimmering jewellery and her many colourful drawing sets. I laid her down in the centre of the bed, sitting beside her head, with both of my legs crossed.
"Hungry?" Edward asked, as he sat in front of me, inspecting my jet black irises.
"To be honest, I am craving chocolate, but I know I'll find it revolting." I grinned but his response had less humour.
His forehead creased. "Please don't say you have regrets."
Somehow I managed to find a little humour in the fact that he could he think I regretted becoming what I am now; no matter how much he believed he was soulless, I believed both of our souls had just become complete and nothing could change my mind on that matter.
"Would I ever?"
I stared admiringly at Renesmee's angelic face, so innocent in dream filled sleep and after a while, pushed Edward onto his back, no longer afraid of injuring him as much as in my first year of this life now that my burst of newborn strength had faded away. Sitting on his chest, my fingers glided over his eyelids like his had done earlier with his daughter. I knew he couldn't sleep but he obeyed me, freezing into a still and perfect marble statue. A statue of my own personal greek god, the one I worshipped and the one I would trust my life with. I leant my head on his neck, closing my eyes too and letting the time pass by in complete tranquillity.
"Ah!"
The noise startled me so much during the perfect silence that I rolled off Edward onto the hard, wooden floor beneath us. His face appeared over the side of the mattress, not concerned but filled with pure amusement.
"Unbelievable," he mused as he pulled me up onto his lap, his gleaming smile stunned me more than the noise. "Unbelievably unbelievable."
"What, me or her?" I whispered, trying to maintain full consciousness while he dazzled me as usual.
"Both of you really." His grin widened as he spoke. "She sleeps exactly like you used to and you are still extremely human for a vampire."
That couldn't be good news for her; nightmares and sleep talking did not make for a very relaxing night of rest. A small hand grasped my leg, squeezing it as tight as possible. I glanced down at where the pressure was coming from. Renesmee's faced was scrunched up into a slight scowl.
"What's she thinking?" I whispered.
Edward looked at her still body, and then his face creased.
"Nightmare I should think. Something about the Volturi and Jane, it's too dark, I can't make everything out."
"You can't see?"
"I can see, but it's so blurred. Maybe her nightmares are just unclear to me. Or maybe they're unclear to her..."
Great.
I had no chance to reply out loud. He took me by the hand firmly and shot downstairs to the open hallway so fast that I was nearly flying along behind him. Esme rushed frantically around in front of us, gathering coats, a tent and several walking rucksacks from different cupboards along the walls.
"Family outing?" I queried.
Esme calmed, "Yes, everyone's coming for once. Another of Emmett's birthday presents from Rosalie, he wanted a hunt so be ready in twenty minutes honey."
I'd never been hunting with all of them, not everyone in the family. Part of me yearned to hunt alone with Edward, but I liked the idea of a family outing. I loved it, like I loved all of them. No doubt Emmett would make it as hellish for me as he could, ever since I had beat him in that first arm wrestling match he'd become intent on issuing his version of revenge. His constant jeering analysis of my actions in front of everyone else usually humiliated me to such a point that I wanted to scream, but I loved him just the same - somehow, somewhere, very, very , very deep down.
Alice burst through the door, her face torn between confusion and anxiety.
"Vision?" I guessed, but it was more of a simple statement. There were only few situations where Alice looked like this. She had either had a vision of the future that wasn't so great, her plans for the day had been totally and utterly ruined or I had picked out clashing clothes from my never ending closet. She had chosen all of my perfectly matched clothes this morning so it had to be one or the other. Alice's response was a mere nod. My hand gave into a slight trembling due to the way she looked at me.
"Is it bad?" No matter what species I was, some of me would still remain part chicken.
"I'm not sure, that's the problem."
Why was everything so uncertain today? I had to know what was going on or it usually drove me insane, I wasn't one for shocks or any sort of surprises whatsoever.
Edward's body tensed as he stared out of the window into the sky.
"We're going to have a visitor, another vampire; I think she'll be a nomad." I heard a deep growl from his chest on the word 'visitor'.
"What if they're just visiting?" I whispered.
"Haven't you learnt more than to trust 'visitors'?" Edward smiled sarcastically, "Anyway, it's only one vampire. It'll be as easy as breathing if the worst comes to the worst."
I remembered of our visitors years back, James and Laurent and Victoria. Hardly to be trusted but all eliminated, by us. Not without difficulty I might add. There constant attempts at attacking had meant me coming as close to death as was possible, three times in a row. A loud thud from upstairs interrupted our rather tense conversation.
"How big does that girl's bed need to be?" Edward flashed his perfect teeth in a grin, darting upstairs. "I swear that one's bigger than king-size."
"You're sure we'll be fine?" I stepped towards Alice.
"Bella, I can promise that nothing will harm any of us today. One vampire is nothing." Her genuine smile eased most of my worries easily, "I've put some more clothes out for you, and we're going in ten minutes not twenty, you'll be ready in time."
"Brilliant!" She knew I was joking by the sarcasm in my voice. With no need for a sigh or reply from her, I swept up the curling staircase. Renesmee had the thick eiderdowns from her king size bed in a heap on top of her body, which was curled up in a tight ball on the wooden floor.
"Definitely a disturbed sleeper." Edward crouched down besides her, delicately unwrapping her from the tangled covers, "I'm surprised she doesn't sleepwalk already!"
I whispered in her ear, my hair brushing gently against her rosy cheek. "Wake up honey, we're going out."
Her eyes flickered open, then shut quickly again as she groaned and rolled onto one side.
"Will you wake up if I said we're going hunting?" Edward grinned, "I could carry you there so you can sleep longer, build your strength, if that's what you really want."
That made her sit up, eyes full of ravenous hunger.
"That's a different story and dad, it would almost certainly be quicker if I carried you!"
Edward lifted her up, tossed her onto the bed and pinned her down with his icy grip. If it wasn't for his amused expression, it would have looked like a threatening move. Her response was a whack to his head with the feather pillows, typical.
"Ten minutes, I'll be suffering Alice's fashion choices." I smiled and slid out of her room into my own. Our room was the attic of the lodge, transformed spectacularly by Alice, a whole side of the roof was a glass window with stunning views and an oversized flat screen covered the wall opposite our golden framed bed. Waiting on my couch was a perfectly folded pile of clothes. I lifted up the first item, letting it unfold in my hands; I stroked the silk material carefully. A blue pashmina, nice. One by one, I inspected the rest. A deep red gilet, skinny denim jeans, a white cotton blouse and a deep red and white baseball cap. For once, Alice had gone for something with at least a hint of practicality. A piece of patterned paper floated steadily to the ground as I inspected the last item. I scooped it up, reading the curly, perfectly sized hand writing.
I hope you like the clothes Bella. We're all coordinated of course, variations on your red. A.
Coordinated Alice, seriously? We'd look like a terrible, mismatched minor league baseball team. I could imagine exactly how she would have smiled when she was carefully selecting our hunting outfits and writing me this tiny note. From now on, she was my personal stylist, shopper and dresser and there was no way possible to worm myself out of that. Anyhow, I followed her words and pulled on the clothes before gliding back downstairs to make sure I wasn't late.
"Eee, Bella!" Alice squeaked, running over in matching clothes, a lemon colour replacing my red. Rosalie was in a deep purple that complimented her light, flowing hair, Esme in a warm olive colour and with Edward by the doorway, Renesmee in blue, her tousled hair draped over one shoulder. Edward looked as mind-boggling as usual in dark trousers and a plain white shirt, but that wasn't a surprise and by the way he was gazing, he thought the same of me. Although truthfully I knew that he didn't give a damn about what my clothes looked like.
"Are you ready?" Esme asked, glancing at each of us in turn. I wondered if they'd decided to ignore what Alice saw completely. A chorus of agreement echoed around the circle.
"Meet at the lake, due west." Carlisle smiled humorously at Renesmee. "I know it's almost impossible to run as a group."
"I'll race you," Emmett challenged, elbowing Nessie gently in the ribs. Before she could respond, he had already begun to sprint out of the doors and with a short sigh of boredom, she followed him outside with the knowledge that she would beat him by miles without even trying.
Everybody else flitted outside quickly, but before I could, Edward's perfect arms were around my waist, lifting me up to perch on his back.
"I can keep up!" I was rather disgruntled by the fact he thought I was too slow to run by myself. Just because he had incredible speed, could he not slow down by a couple of milliseconds for me?
"I know," I felt his cheeks lift into a grin under my fingertips, "For old time's sakes Bella." He shot off, tapping the door shut behind us with his foot. My hair flew back like an explosion in the wind.
"Has Alice told everyone?" The wind carried my voice away but he would hear.
"Of course she has."
I gripped onto his shirt tightly as he swerved from side to side around the maze of trees and undergrowth. "And you don't think it's any threat to us?"
"If I did, would I willingly be carrying you right towards the danger," he responded, "hm?"
I didn't reply because I was certain he already knew my answer. Edward would never, under any circumstances, personally take me anywhere near the slightest hint of danger. To him, almost everything could morph into a threat, he was such a pessimist. I nearly fell right off his back when he came to an abrupt halt by the waterside. Emmett and Carlisle were setting up the dark navy multi-compartment tent with ease, the boys Christmas present from Esme and Carlisle. Personally, I didn't see why they needed a tent, never mind one of this ridiculous size but Jasper had insisted that it was a 'boy's thing' and that us girls didn't understand or appreciate the truth of the outdoors. That had triggered a ferocious debate and a half, one that lasted three days, two hours and thirty two minutes to be precise, over which gender was ultimately the best. We girls had won of course, primarily because of Alice, Rosalie and I charming our hopeless opponents and the addition of the slightest bit of blackmail, which may have involved some threats about the boy's cars... and mallets mixed in too - something that brought an immediate and pathetic wave of panic over Emmett, Jasper and Edward. The thought of their precious BMWs, Volvos and shiny Aston Martins being reduced to piles of shattered glass and crumpled metal was too much for them to bear.
"Careful Mr Cullen," I warned, jumping down.
"Sorry love." His crooked smile appeared again. "I mean, Mrs Cullen of course."
I didn't shudder at the mention of that name as I used to do so much before the wedding. Even the mention of being a 'Mrs.' used to terrify me. Five years on, all of the terror had faded, just about.
"What's for tea, any mountain lions roaming around tonight?" I whispered.
He leant back his head, smelling the cool evening air.
"Only deer I'm afraid, and if you're quick enough, there's some grizzlies out there somewhere down near the waters too."
I smiled, although the idea of hunting was still strange to me. The rusty, salty smell of blood that used to instinctively set off a feeling of nausea in my stomach now smelt so delicious to me that it still laughed every time I thought about how one thing could change so much in such a short time. Along with remembering the unpleasant smell of blood when I was human, I could also still remember the tastes of human food, cravings for sugary sweets and treats, salted chips and fresh salads in the summer. Edward can remember the taste of blood and blood alone now that it had been over a century since the taste of food had appealed to his senses. I sometimes wished it was that easy for me.
"Carlisle, we're hungry," Edward announced, clearly he was speaking for the rest of the group as well as himself. Emmett stood up, the keenest for action packed fights with ferocious grizzly bears.
"Then we'll hunt." Carlisle smiled, gliding into the threatening darkness of the forest that was teaming with wildlife. We followed suit, ready for our food, ready for the taste blood of blood to reach our lips.
It didn't take long before the first pack became our victims, my razor teeth sinking into the warm throat of a frantic doe.