New Rise - Book 4

Chapter 19

Since that day we danced together in the ballroom of his parents home we haven't shared another kiss. From that night it had been four and a half weeks, long weeks. It wasn't long before college started up and my classes started a week later than the others so I got an extra week to myself which was a plus.

I was laying out in the meadow, my head in Nicholi's lap when I felt him tense up before me. Suddenly he slid my head from his lap and was on his feet in seconds, hovering before me.

"Nic, what is it?"

"Vampire...." In half a second he straightened himself out of his crouch. "It's Jake and Sili." He nodded towards the back fence and sure enough they were coming towards us.

I jumped to my feet, tears streaming immediately from my eyes and ran the length of the yard before throwing my arms around him.

"Oh my goodness, Jacob I missed you so much!" He lifted me from my feet and spun me around like he used to before setting me to my feet.

"I missed you too Ness."

I wiped my eyes with the back of my hand. "But how are you here, did you run away?"

Jake shook his head.

"We told them that if they want our undying loyalty to their coven we want to be able to come back here and visit atleast for a couple days a few times a year." Sili replied.

"And they didn't oppose?" Nicholi asked.

Jake grinned and shook his head. "Not at all. As long as we are loyal to them they have no problem."

"The only catch is Aro want's to see our memories when we come back and if we were unfaithful to him the consequences would be killing our families." Sili's expression was sour.

"Despite the fact I hate being a blood sucker I won't make waves, I love you guys too much." Jake replied. "It's not as bad as I thought though, I mean my gift is amazing."

"Can I see?" I asked curiously

Jake moved back a yard and a half and then the air around him began to ripple. Suddenly there was a deep growl and he burst into a large white wolf. This wolf form was bigger by three times, his fangs were bigger and sharper and his eyes were a blood red.

"His eyes are red...." I said as I moved to stand behind Nicholi.

"I know."

"Don't be afraid he won't hurt you." Sili said as she ran her hand along his mane.

It was weird seeing her stand beside him, his wolf form was insainly large and she was shorter than myself.

Jake phased back into his normal human form and grinned. "One of the best perks of phasing in this vampire life, my clothes don't shred anymore." He wrapped his arm around Sili and pulled her to his side before pressing a kiss to her cheek in which she smiled.

"You and Sili?" I asked.

Jake nodded. "Yeah, it happened shortly after we left to head back to Volterra. A nomad crossed us while we were hunting in the forest and I saved her." They exchanged a kiss on the lips.

"We just wanted to stop by on our way to La Push to say hi."

"La Push? Jake your family seemed upset about your turning."

"My dad will be fine."

"Except you have red eyes."

"I don't hurt humans."

I took a couple steps forward and pointed at his eyes. "Your eyes are red Jacob I am not an idiot."

"Niether am I and I know if my family knew I killed humans I wouldn't be allowed back."

"YOUR EYES ARE RED!" I shouted at him.

"Renesmee-" Sili began.

"SHUT UP!" I snapped.

"Excuse me?" Sili's eyes narrowed at me. "Don't think you are going to talk to me like that and get away with it half breed."

I hissed at her. "You are on my property so I will address you are I please."

"Renesmee you need to calm down. I will explain myself but first you need to relax." Jacob cut in.

"Don't waste your breath Jake she isn't worth it."

"Shut up Sili, you don't understand her like I do." Sili rolled her eyes. "Renesmee I don't kill humans I just drink from the dead. When the morgue closes I sneak in and drink from the dead bodies. But that's only when I feel like I am about to slip."

I bit my lip as I looked at him. "You need to leave."

"Ness..."

I shook my head. "You are lying to me."

He was at my side, wrapping his arms around me. "I would never lie to you Ness."

I broke his grip and pushed him away. "I can see it in your mind Jacob, I can read your thoughts and I see it there." Tears were falling down my eyes. "The last people you hunted were some children walking through an abandoned lot to get home from school." My lip quivered. "You murdered those children and you lied to me about it."

His mouth hung open.

"You should go buddy." Nicholi said as he patted Jacob on the shoulder.

"I'm not going anywhere until you explain to me why you are treating me like this." Jacob retorted angrily.

"I don't have to explain myself Jacob."

He grabbed my shoulder and held me firmly.

"Jacob your temper. Please don't hurt her or we will have a battle on our hands." Sili said as she joined Jacobs side.

My eyes widened as I looked into the red eyes of the boy I used to know.

"What makes me any different from those vampires that came to your house during the fight with the Volturi?" He asked me, ignoring Sili's words.

"I didn't love them, they weren't my family they were just friends. You... Jacob you are my family." A tear fell from my eyes.

"Renesmee I'm sorry okay, I didn't want to but I had to do this."

"What lie to me? There is only one way you can get red eyes."

"Okay, yes, I lied to you but for a good cause."

"What. Cause." My words slithered from my mouth like the hiss of poisonus snake.

"Being a Volturi you have expectations and one of those is consuming human blood, properly. If I didn't do it then they'd punish me and kill our families and I'm pretty sure they'd make us eat their ashes."

"That's a bit dramatic Jacob... eating their ashes." Sili scoffed.

"Okay, minus eating the ashes but they'd torture me and kill everyone I've ever cared about. I may not be a wolf anymore but I still believe in doing whatever it takes to protect my family and you are my family Renesmee."

I nodded my head.

"Please tell me you forgive me." he murmured.

I pursed my lips to the side as I looked into his red eyes. "How do I know you are telling the truth?"

Jake shrugged his shoulders. "How did you know I was lying earlier, look for yourself."

Taking a breath I looked deeply into his eyes, then I closed mine and began to drift into his thoughts.

There I saw Jake, his eyes were a golden color just like my family. Then he was being pinned against the wall by Felix while Aro took his hand into his. I knew he was reading his thoughts.

"You have been bad." Aro's voice sighed.

Then Felix flipped Jake over his shoulder and slammed him against the floor causing it to shattered and explode against him.

"I don't want to drink human blood." he groaned.

Then Aro was at his side again, his mouth inches from Jake's ear. "If you had been drinking human blood like the rest of us you would have been stronger. This is why we do it Jacob, power."

Aro was replaced at Jacobs side by Caius. "If you value the life of your puppies back home I suggest you change your habits. The Volturi don't give second chances."

Caius joined the front of the room to stand beside Aro just as the door opened. In came Demetri dragging a girl behind himself by her hair. She batted her arms and kicked her legs as she screamed and pleaded in an Italian language.

Simultaneously Felix yanked Jacob up to his feet and pushed him forward. He stumbled forward and fell to his knees before the young girl.

"Do it or I will bring that Cullen girl here and kill her before your eyes, slowly." Caius hissed.

Demetri closed the doors as the girl tried to escape.

"I'm sorry." Jacob whispered as he advanced on the girl.

Her eyes were brown, her skin a gently ivory, her hair fell over her shoulders in waves of a bronze shade. Just below the dirt that coated her face was a faint trace of blush. From the way she was dressed she seemed to have come from a very poor home or a poorly kempt orphanage.

"She won't be missed, she has no one to look for her." Demetri said as he made eye contact with the girl and licked his lips. "Go on, she smells scrumptious, just sniff the air you can smell how appealing her blood is."

"I'm sorry," Jake apologized again as he grabbed hold of the girl. "if I don't do this they will kill her." Then his teeth sank into her neck.

Her screams rang out for several seconds as he sucked her blood from her. His face was screwed up in pain as if it hurt him to do this. His entire body shook and the girl trembled with him until he tossed her dry carcass aside. When he opened his eyes they were red.

"What have I done?" Jake said as he stared at his hands.

Aro was at his side again. "You have just secured the safety of your mutts and vampire friends. For now. Just try not to disappoint me again because I will not be so understanding."

I quickly wiped the tears from my eyes and composed myself before I allowed myself to face Jacob. It was true, they forced him into this diet of human blood by threatening his family and myself.

"You should stay." I pleaded. "If they try and come after you we can fight them."

Jake shook his head. "I can't do that Renesmee, I'd be chancing the future of everyone that matters to me."

"Jake it will take five days time to return to Volterra, if we are going to visit our families we must leave now." Sili said as she grabbed his hand and began towing him towards the gate.

Jake looked over his shoulder. "I'll visit you again soon Renesmee, I promise." Then they were gone.

I stared at the spot where he had just been for several seconds before Nicholi wrapped his arms around my waist.

"He's become a monster and it's all my fault. If I wasn't born he'd still be himself and there would be no problems with the Volturi."

"If you weren't born I'd never have you."

I turned around to face him and wrapped my arms securely around him. "I don't think I'm ready to go to college just yet, I'm afraid I won't be able to focus with all that is going on."

"You need to go Renesmee. If it makes you feel any better I will go with you."

I shook my head. "I don't want to force your hand all I need is a small break."

Nic took my hand into his. "You are going to school tomorrow and so will I. I don't want any excuses."

I sighed. "Why are you doing this to me?"

He pulled me back into his arms and held me, I felt his lips against my hair. "I'm doing this so you don't regret not doing it later. I want you to be all you can be without holding back, without fear."

"Okay, you win I'll go."

He laughed. "It was never a game Renesmee." He wrapped his arm around my waist and we began walking towards the house. "Something you said to Jacob earlier had me curious."

I stopped in my tracks near the gazebo in the garden just yards from where we had been. "What do you mean?"

"You told Jake that you could see it in his mind that he lied."

I nodded my head. "Yes."

"So you read minds?"

I teetered my hand a bit. "To an extent." I crossed my arms at my waist and took a seat on the white bench inside the gazebo. "My father reads minds, basically whatever any person around him is thinking he can hear as if they are talking to him. I on the other hand can't do that, I have to talk to their minds."

"I don't quiet understand."

I sighed as I thought of another way to explain it. "My fathers mind reading is like a river, everything that is being thought will flow freely to him. My mind reading is like a dam, only what is needed flows through to me. In order to read a persons mind I have to ask it what I want to know and then I just see what is relevant."

"That makes sense, only it brings up another question, how come your father didn't know I wanted to court you before I asked?"

"My mother, who is a shield, passed on that trait to me. My father can't read my mind unless I allow it and he can't read the minds of anyone that is within a close proximity from me because my shield envelops them."

He took my hand into his and began strumming my knuckles playfully. "Have you ever read my mind before?"

"Only once." I replied as I watched his hands playing with mine. How could something as simple as hands look so beautiful?

"May I ask what for?"

"The day you met me and asked me to accompany you I wanted to know whether your intentions were good or bad. Since that moment though, no I haven't."

He stopped thrumming my knuckles and moved my hand to his heart which was beating erratically. "Read my mind Renesmee."

I watched the color of his eyes turn from blue, to a grey, to a silver and then back before they seemed to radiate a sparkle. Then I dove into his mind.

The thoughts were simple, just of him and myself standing side by side in a room. On the wall in the background was a calendar that read the year 2087, almost 80 years from now.

Then I looked down at our entwined fingers and saw it, a ring. We were married.

I gasped as I exited his mind. Nicholi's expression seemed confident, smug almost but I could feel him trembling gently from what I suspected were nerves.

He nodded his head. "Marry me Renesmee."

Suddenly it was like I was standing on the sun. My tongue felt like it was too big for my mouth, that was so dry I desperately wanted to sink my teeth into the neck of a mountain lion or grizzly bear. To make matters worse my throat felt tight, too tight and I couldn't catch my breath that was stuck inside me just like my words