LENA RETURNED TO the Cullen household in Jake's car a little later than she'd planned. Her detour that consisted of going to Paul's, running away from Paul's and then going back to Paul's took quite a while. When she got back, the family were no longer in the house and had ventured out into the woods where Lena and Benjamin were earlier.She walked up to the family, but just as she was about to greet them, she heard something. It was running, from afar, and it was definitely a vampire - only these ones weren't invited. Almost as soon as she heard them, she sprung into action, sprinting towards where they were coming from and shifting on the way.
Her growls echoed around the forest as she got closer. She could hear other wolves around her now, hopefully chasing them right into her trap. She could sense some uncertainty from them, making her believe that they could be some newer shifters. She sped up.
The two men were dressed in odd black clothing, one with dark hair and the other with bright white locks. They both had shining red eyes, and their grins were obvious tells of their intentions in Forks. They spotted her quickly, and moved to leap over her, but Lena quickly switched up and stopped herself from running too far before moving to chase them from behind once they had landed on the other side of her.
Before she could, however, the wolves that were behind her crashed into her instead of going around and they landed in a heap. Lena could briefly spot Jacob running in front of them before she untangled herself from the newbies and followed behind. When she caught up, the men were perched on a tree and the rest of the Cullens had caught up too.
"Vladimir, Stefan." Carlisle spoke, "You're a long way from home."
"What are they doing here?" She heard Kate mutter.
"We heard the Volturi were moving against you." Stefan's Romanian accent was thick as he spoke, "But that you would not stand alone."
"We didn't do what we were accused of."
"We do not care what you did, Carlisle." He rolled his eyes.
Vladimir put in his two cents, "We have been waiting a millennium for the Italian scum to be challenged."
"It is not our plan to fight the Volturi." Carlisle commented, but Lena saw Edward make a face.
"Shame." Stefan muttered, "Aro's witnesses will be so disappointed."
"They enjoy a good fight." The two men laughed with themselves, smirking.
"Aro's witnesses?"
It wasn't long before everyone was gathered in the Cullen's living room - it made Lena and Jake a little uneasy, which caused them to uncharacteristically stick together in one corner of the room whilst Eleazar explained what he knew.
"When Aro wants someone from a Coven, it isn't long before evidence turns up proving that coven committed some crime." He spoke gravely.
"So he's done this before?" Bella asked.
"It happens so rarely, I never realised it was a pattern." The man responded.
"Apparently he always pardons one person who's thoughts he claims are repentant." Carlisle added.
"This person always has an ability." Eleazar continued, "And they're always given a place with the guard."
"This is all about Alice." Edward said, "He has no-one like her."
"Which is why she left." Bella deducted.
"Why does he need witnesses?" Lena asked, "Aren't they, like, the Royal Family of the Vampire community or something?"
"To spread the word that justice has been served." Aliaster jumped in, "After he slaughters an entire coven."
That last sentence made all of Carlisle's guests share their own fearful looks. It was Benjamin's parents that stepped up and claimed they were leaving, but Edward wasn't having it.
"Where will you go?" He said, "What makes you think they'll be satisfied with Alice? What's to stop them from going after Benjamin next, or Zafrina or Kate or anyone else with a gift? Anyone they want. Their goal isn't punishment, it's power, it's acquisition. Carlisle might not ask you to fight, but I will. For the sake of my family, but also for yours. And the way you wanna live."
There was a moment of silence, everyone sharing looks on what to do. Lena and Jacob did the same, and the former stood, "The packs will fight. We've never been afraid of vampires."
After them, it was a canon of others. First the Denali Coven, then Garrett, Benjamin despite his father's protests, and soon everyone was standing and agreeing to fight the rule of the Volturi.
"Let's hope it doesn't come to that." Edward reasoned, against the moral views of the newest Romanian guests, who were alive at the thought of a fight. Lena and Jacob went off to call Sam and explain the situation, and he too seemed all too ready to murder a bunch of vampires.
As winter got closer, the household grew tense. Lena tried to split her time - between Bella, Paul, Bex, Teddy, her head was spinning. Rebecca was understanding, she was more than aware of the supernatural creatures that lured in her town after a freak accident involving Embry where luckily nobody was hurt. Teddy, too, knew the importance of the situation, and was using his new free time to spent with Luke, his boyfriend. Paul was a little salty that she was spending so much time with the Cullens, but only because she was leaving him alone to deal with Marcus in all of the pack meetings at Sam's house. Bella was just grateful Lena was there for her, a voice of reason whenever things got too tense.
Renesmee was getting bigger by the day, now looking like a solid preteen. She split her time between her parents, Jacob and Lena. Whenever Edward and Bella were busy, Lena liked to take the reigns on babysitting, to ensure Jacob stayed away until he had a much-needed psychological evaluation.
Today was one of those days. Despite the Autumn weather wearing into something colder, the trees were still an amazing place to be. Lena and Renesmee were gathering stones and leaves for...whatever the younger girl had planned while Bella worked on expanding her shield.
"Lena." The girl drawled, kneeling on the ground and arranging the sticks into a formation.
"Rey." She responded, sitting behind her, watching the little girl in her element.
"Do you have a boyfriend?"
Raising her brows in amusement, she tilted her head at the girl, "Yeah. Why do you ask?"
Renesmee stood, huffing out a breath and sitting cross-legged in front of her godmother, "Are you and your boyfriend like Mom and Dad?"
"Uh," Lena chuckled, tucking a stray piece of Rey's hair behind her ear, "No. Not exactly. Your mom and dad are married, me and Paul are just boyfriend and girlfriend."
"Do you have a best friend?" Was her next question.
Confused as to where this was going, Lena replied slowly, "Yeah. His name is Embry. Why?"
"Does Embry like Paul?"
"Yeah. They're super good friends." Lena laughed, "Why do you ask, Rey?"
The little girl huffed again, fiddling with her shoe laces, crease between her brows, "Then why does Jake not like Daddy?"