You belong to me. [Alec Volturi love story]

5. Venuta

Warm waves of a burning fire break through the rough material entrance of a tent. Bright fiery shine invades our sight and reveals dark marble shadows crowding around the core of the warmth. Unzipped ends of the fabric dangle in the cold breeze of the woods and lets in cold whiffs of air. The silver moon illuminates the intensively black sky and enchants the fascinating stories that float and reach our ears.

Small, fragile hands fiddle with my chocolate brown curls. Slight warmth, that comes from a precious angel lying in my lap, engulfs me and brings a smile to my face. She lets go of my hair and lies there gazing up at me. Her deep dark eyes bore into my soul. Her tight grip on my arm withholds me from leaving her. I gently stroke her forehead and her silky locks.

“You need to rest, Renesmee. Go to sleep.” I whisper and keep stroking her hair. Her face expression suddenly changes and a slight nervousness invades her countenance. Her grip tightens around my arm as a slight whimper escapes her lips. “No, no, don’t worry. I won’t leave you.” I whisper again.

A sudden movement outside the tent tears me away from my thoughts. A pale hand opens the covers and golden eyes peer into the small shelter. Renesmee’s face glimmers with glee as she stretches her hands towards her mother.

“How is she?” Bella enters and sits next to us.

“She won’t go to sleep.” I laugh. “Maybe you will be able to make her get some rest?” I ask her while carefully passing Renesmee to her. The little girl tries to struggle against me leaving but to no avail. It’s better if I leave her alone with her mother.

“Thank you.” Bella looks at me and I send her a smile as I gracefully exit the tent.

Cold wind hits my body instantly. I walk slowly towards the fire as small snowflakes float down from the sky. The stories of wars and history of the world reach my ears yet again and turn into a brisk dispute that spreads through the creatures surrounding the fire. Laughter rings through the dark woods as I approach them and join in their discussion.

“Name any war! I was in it!” Garrett boasts loudly and laughter follows his motions. Everyone smiles and tells funny stories trying to conceal their anxiousness and marginal fear. I let out an occasional laugh from time to time so I wouldn’t seem so frozen. Even so, I reattach myself from the conversations and just stand there smiling while my mind wanders elsewhere.

Throughout the night we sit around. Waiting. We don’t know when exactly to expect the arrival so all of us grow more anxious with every hour. Bella and Edward look like their counting every second that ticks closer towards the inevitable. I share a talk with Carlisle, Rosalie, Edward, Kate, Eleazar.. with almost everyone. But conversations are flatulent. Hollow. Artificial. Because that is how I feel at the moment. For the first time in my existence I feel fear consuming my heart.

I feel something approaching. Something that is going to strike me harder than Edward or Bella. Or all of us. I don’t like this feeling of absolute.. obscurity. It makes me feel concerned and alert. But I also feel excitement. I am not able sort out my feelings anymore. And I don’t wish to.

First grey illumination reaches our eyes from far away in the horizon. A gloomy day is approaching us. The light draws near and the morning comes unnoticed. We extinguish the flame and silently head out to meet our fate. We reach the snow covered field. Trees surround the vast meadow as we silently walk further ahead. It stopped snowing.

All our alliance stands rooted in their places waiting for the uninvited to come. Fear sprouts in my heart again, but gets consumed by anger as I feel a small hand grip mine. Deep and scared eyes meet mine as the little girl snuggles closer to me. Bella holds her other hand and gets into the same protective stance in front of Renesmee as I am.

“We will withstand this.” I whisper to Bella, but I am certain that each one of us heard it. She and Edward send me a sad smile. Carlisle puts a hand on my shoulder, smiles and steps in front of all of us.

Now there is nothing else left. Only the green, tall trees all around us, cold breeze of wind that brushes our stone cold faces, grey sky above us and the sound of unnaturally fast footsteps and cloaks dangling in the wind. I take a deep unneeded breath and clench my jaw.

“The red coats are coming. The red coats are coming..”