บท 31: Chapter 31 - Vacation
BPOV
I explained to the Cullens everything about my history- with Felix and Demetri interrupting periodically with funny stories- "You should have seen the little spitfire; walked right into the castled as a four-year old girl, completely at ease. Then Felix calls her cute and she throws him into a wall!" Demetri laughed.
Felix glared at him. "Yeah, well then you called her an angry little kitten and she threw you into the wall too." He retorted. Everyone laughed at that.
Emmett and Jasper were especially interested in my mental shield. "Bella that's awesome! You can shield us from Edward and we can finally have a fair fight, or play games without him using his mind-reading to cheat!" Emmett loved that idea, and Jasper seemed to be considering how chess games would go when Edward couldn't read his mind.
Alice laughed hard when Felix and Demetri mentioned how Heidi had made me walk everywhere in stilettos for months until I could do it without tripping. Everyone found the fact that they'd had to continually catch me hilarious. All in all my two vampire families were bonding well.
It took nearly the whole day before my story was completely finished, and by the time it came to an end, the rest of my vampire family had migrated into the room as well. The nineteen vampires watched amused as I cooked myself some food for dinner, talking amongst themselves and getting to know the other family members. Once I had eaten Alice and Heidi, who had of course bonded over their mutual love of shopping, made me take them up to my room- I took the rest of the Cullens as well, since they all seemed interested in seeing it.
Esme and Carlisle adored the view of the city from my window, Alice was incredibly jealous of my closet- which was actually over twice the size of hers. Everyone seemed impressed as I rid myself of my cloak, tiara and necklace. Emmett of course had no problems making comments. He whistled in appreciation. "Damn Bella, this place is niiiiiice."
I just smiled and nodded at him. "Fit for a princess hey Em?"
He grinned, "Absolutely."
Eventually most of us went back down. I sent the Cullens down first, waiting until I was the only one left to come down. The Cullens- minus Edward, who had seen it in my memories, and Alice, who had seen the outcome, were shocked when I fell backwards off the ledge. I fell straight down on my back, the ground rushing towards me. I heard Esme's terrified gasp, and Emmett's urgent cry of "Bella! No!" About four feet from the ground I caught myself in a shield and brought myself upright; grinning at their shocked and fearful faces.
Edward and Alice chuckled along with my Volterra family- all of whom had seen me do that regularly. Esme rushed to me and hugged me. "Bella, please don't ever scare me like that again," she pleaded.
I felt guilty at making her worry. "Sorry Esme, I didn't mean to scare you," I apologised.
Of course, Emmett was the first of the Cullens to see the possibilities. "Bella, you have got to let me try that!" he boomed, sounding like an excited kid at a carnival.
Edward shook his head in amusement- nothing would ever change Emmett. "Some other time Em," I promised.
They soon settled with the other vampires, seeming to find others with their own interests amongst the bunch. Rose and Santiago had immediately struck up a conversation about cars. Jasper was challenged to games of chess by Caius and Marcus. Aro and Sulpicia were talking to Carlisles about recent developments in the human world. Esme was talking to Didyme, Jane and Renata about the castle decorating- especially my tower, while Emmett was playing video games with Felix and Demetri. Of course, Alice was still talking to Heidi about fashion and shopping, but they were joined by Alec when they started talking about different countries and places to go. Edward and I were content to just sit together. I loved the fact that they were all bonding so well.
When the time finally came for me to sleep I got rid of everyone from my room except Edward. I could hear Caius grumbling downstairs, "I still don't like the idea of that boy in her room at night." I rolled my eyes at Edward as I got under the covers and snuggled into him.
Sleep didn't come right away, so I turned to Edward, kissing him passionately, showing him how much I had missed him in the last couple of days. He kissed back with equal fervour. We continued in our make out session until we heard Jasper below. "Wow," he observed, obviously speaking to the others. "The amount of lust coming from up there is phenomenal."
We stopped as I heard the combined outraged roar of Uncle Marcus and Caius. "What!" they growled.
Felix's distinct whistle was next. "Woohoo, Bella's finally getting some!" he yelled.
"Awesome," yelled Emmett, "I guess that means Edward's not a virgin anymore."
I sighed, tucking my head into Edward's chest. "Way to ruin the mood guys!" I yelled down at them. They just laughed at me.
"Bella, if you can't behave Edward won't be spending any more nights in your room," Caius warned.
"Uncle Caius," I grumbled, "It's the twenty-first century!"
Things finally settled down a little later and I was soon drifting off to sleep with Edward humming my lullaby to me.
The next two weeks passed by far too quickly for my liking. I loved how my families managed to get along seamlessly. All of us females went out for all day shopping trips a couple of times while the guys played football together.
Jasper had found worthy opponents in both Caius and Marcus, and they often played strategy games together. The times that I joined them I usually teamed up with Jasper against my two uncles and we often beat them- I knew every one of my uncles' usual tactics and with Jasper's help we were unstoppable. Edward often looked on proudly.
In Didyme Edward had found a fellow lover of music, and when Edward wasn't shadowing me I could often find him with Didyme conversing about their favourite music over the last hundred years.
Rose of course, adored my cars. When I first took her down to our enormous underground garage and she spotted all the sports cars stored there- my Audi R8 and Bugatti Veyron, Santiago's Pagani Zonda, and a plethora of other Lamborghini's, Ferraris etc. she bounced up and down like Alice and squealed in excitement. "Oh Bella, I'm in heaven," she sighed when she finally calmed down. Santiago and I took her to our private track and all three of us raced each other around the track. By the end of the first week Rose had driven all of the cars in the garage and was now plotting ways to get Carlisle to let her get her own Bugatti Veyron in Forks. Somehow I doubted Carlisle would like that idea, since it wasn't exactly an inconspicuous vehicle.
The real fun came late in the first week when Emmett finally asked the question he had been burning to ask since he first saw Felix and Demetri. "So would either of you like to wrestle?" he looked at them both hopefully, excitement and anticipation sparkling in his eyes.
They chuckled at his eagerness. "We'd love to," Felix said, his eyes glinting evilly, "But it's up to our princess of course," he turned to me expectantly.
I sighed, annoyed that he felt the need to remind everyone of my status and how they answered to me. "Sure, go ahead," I said, "In fact, I think I'll come and watch- if you're lucky Emmett, once you guys are done I'll take all three of you on at one," I winked at him and he looked at me in disbelief.
"Ah, no offense Bella, but even with your shield, there's no way you can hold back all three of us," there was concern, tinted with arrogance in his voice- he really thought I had no chance. At that moment I was thankful that Emmett had never seen the full extent of my powers- it was obvious that he was convinced that I could only take on one vampire at a time. Edward looked on amused; he had seen through my memories other times when I had taken on the whole Volturi coven at once just to see whether I could. He certainly wasn't worried, in fact I got the distinct impression that he was looking forward to me taking Emmett down a peg or two- again.
I simply smiled at Emmet, "We'll see Emmett, we'll see."
Both families all came with us to the large practise room Felix and Demetri had used over the years when they taught me to fight. It was just a huge empty room with a very high ceiling and about the size of a basketball stadium.
They decided that Emmett and Demetri would fight first, and Felix would fight the winner. "My money's on Felix," I remarked.
Emmett turned to look at me, "Aw Bella, aren't you going to back your favourite brother?" he whined.
I laughed, "Not when you're going to lose Emmett, I only bet when I'm going to win," I stated confidently.
Beside me Rose snorted softly. "Well I have to bet on my husband, so how about one hundred thousand Bella?"
I grinned, "Deal," I said, shaking her hand confidently, "I hate taking your money like this," I joked. She laughed.
Demetri looked at us in mock sadness, "What, nobody's going to bet on me?" he asked.
Heidi rolled her eyes at him. "Fine! One hundred thousand on Demetri," she declared, looking at Rose and I. "Three way bet?" she asked. We both nodded. "Awesome."
I looked over at the three vampires. "All right, I'm sure you know the rules. No biting, and no leaving the room." They all nodded in acceptance as Emmett and Demetri squared up. "Alright then, on three. One. Two. Three."
The immediately started circling each other, their eyes raking each other for a weakness. Simultaneously they launched themselves at each other, playful growls and snarls coming from them.
We watched avidly as they wrestled together, muscles rippling as they used their strength to try and get the other to submit. Eventually thought, much to Demetri's surprise, Emmett gained the upper hand and won. Heidi groaned, "Demetri! You just lost me $100,000!" He shrugged, looking a little annoyed that Emmett had actually managed to beat him.
I laughed, "Geez Demetri, you've let yourself go. Maybe i should hire Emmett as my guard instead," I teased. He growled at me, his eyes sparkling with amusement. He knew it was a I'd never replace my guards, but it had been a common joke amongst us since Felix and Demetri had first been assigned to me.
After a short break (Since neither of them needed to recover anyway) Emmett faced up against Felix. Once they started I began cheering, "Go Felix! Kick his ass!"
Rose immediately retaliated, "Come on Emmett! They'll be a nice reward in it for you tonight if you win," she purred seductively. Emmett immediately doubled his efforts.
I glared at Rose, "Come on Felix! If you don't want your arm disappearing for a week you'd better win!" I yelled. Immediately Felix focused harder, and with a strong, well placed kick he brought Emmett down hard, immediately wrapping him up so that he couldn't move. Emmett looked dismayed as he admitted defeat, while Felix just looked relieved.
I smiled smugly at Rose and Heidi. "I'll give you my bank details later."
Jasper looked confused. "Do you usually threaten your guards like that Bella?" He asked, "Both Demetri and Felix both had genuine fear when you threatened to take Felix's arm for a week."
Both Felix and Demetri grinned wryly. "Unfortunately," Demetri drawled, "Bella has a tendency to follow through on her threats- if Felix had lost she really would have torn off his arm and hidden it for a week. It has happened before to both of us when we annoyed her too much," he explained.
The Cullens gaped at me as I shrugged nonchantly. "You would too if you were constantly shadowed by a pair of irritating guards who act like five year olds most of the time."
Alice laughed "I've threatened Emmett before, but I've never actually followed through." She looked thoughtful.
Emmett glared at her, "Don't even think about it," he growled at her. We all laughed.
Then I decided that it was time for a proper demonstration of the full extent of my shield. "Okay, so come on Felix, Demetri, Emmett and Santiago, let's fight- all of you vs. me." I turned, figuring that I could use another person. "Jasper, you too," I decided. He looked at me sceptically, but when Alice nodded at him he joined the other four strong male vampires and they moved to the middle of the room. I grinned in anticipation- I hadn't had a good fight in a long time.
Esme looked worried for me, Carlisle looked thoughtful, and Edward and Alice looked excited- they knew what was coming.
I stalked out towards the five vampires in the centre; already shrouded in my shield. "Come on, attack me," I taunted them. Emmett of course, immediately launched himself at me in a direct attack, while the others had the sense to stay back and think of strategies. I waited until Emmett was closer before setting up a shield in front of him. He slammed into it hard, a resounding crack sounding through the room. He was sent reeling back, and behind me I could hear everyone snickering. I smirked at him, "You're not hurt are you Emmy?" I taunted. He snarled. The others all started closing in on different sides and at a nod from Felix they all ran full speed towards me.
I let them all come in. Felix, Demetri and Santiago immediately started trying to punch and kick me, knowing from experience that I wouldn't get hurt- it only hurt them to hit my shield. Jasper and Emmett hung back for a second until they saw that I was unharmed, and then they threw themselves into the fray. Jasper grabbed my leg, trying to trip me, but I spun and kicked him with my other leg, amplifying the kick with a shield to send him flying back.
I continued fighting all of them with my martial arts moves until I felt that I had gotten enough of a workout for the day. Then I just wrapped them up in shields and levitated them away from me. Felix, Demetri and Santiago immediately chanted, "You win," I let them go. I looked at Emmett and Jasper expectantly as they looked at me in confusion.
Emmett smirked confidently at me, "Uh, no offense Bella, but eventually you'll get tired and have to let us down, and when you do we'll win, so... we're not giving up," Emmett stated confidently. Jasper remained silent, but looked suspicious.
Demetri snorted, "Sorry to burst your bubble Emmett, but Bella isn't very patient. If you don't yield soon she'll squeeze you tight until she's nearly crushing you, and if that doesn't work she'll start taking your limbs off one by one."
Emmett looked at me, "Aw Bella, you wouldn't really do that to me would you?" he pleaded.
"Try me," I smirked.
Alice piped up then, "She would, I've seen it," she confirmed.
"I yield," Emmett sighed. I let him go then turned to Jasper.
I didn't like the confident look in his eyes. Suddenly I felt a strong desire to sleep. "Come on Bella," Jasper drawled persuasively, "If you let me go you can sleep."
I let my anger burn away the drowsiness as I glared at him indignantly. I squeezed him tight. "Nice try Jasper, but not good enough. Yield now or you'll lose and arm." He could feel my rage at being manipulated, and knew how serious I was. He gulped and I heard my two guards snicker- they knew better than to provoke me.
"You win," he finally conceded. I let him down and walked happily and victoriously back to Edward. He grinned and kissed me, wrapping his strong arms around me. I melted into his embrace, reaching up to deepen the kiss. We broke apart to Felix, Demetri and Emmett's hooting. I just smirked at them before leaning up to capture Edward's lips again. "You did wonderfully love," he whispered in my ear.
Of course Emmett soon decided that Jane's power, which he'd heard about over the years, was very cool and he begged her for a demonstration. "Idiot," I muttered, then I sighed and untangled myself from Edward, preparing in case I needed to save Emmett from himself; Jane wasn't known for her self control. Jane smiled viciously at Emmett, and he stared back, confident that he could handle any pain she dished out.
All of a sudden Emmett dropped to the floor; writhing in silent agony. He was still quiet though, so I knew Jane had only given him a low dose of her power. I stayed where I was, watching as Jane increased the pain until Emmett was screaming. Then I knew he was in unimaginable pain. Jasper was now also on the ground in pain- having felt Emmett's and Edward could hear it in their thoughts.
I quickly snapped a mental shield around Emmett, and his screams immediately halted. Jane pouted at me, then shrugged as Emmett and Jasper picked themselves up off the floor. Jasper glared at Emmett, "Don't ever do something that stupid ever again!"
"Ouch," Emmett muttered. His eyes held a new respect for little Jane, as did the rest of the Cullens.
"You're lucky," I commented. "She hadn't even gotten to the stronger thresholds yet."
"Yeah," Jane grumbled, "I didn't even give you a proper demonstration- I would have if Bella hadn't shielded you." Emmett looked at me thankfully. I just grinned and shrugged.
Later in the week Aro mentioned Laurent in passing and all of the Cullens tensed, turning to me for an explanation. I winced as I realised that in all the excitement I had completely forgotten to tell the Cullens of my meeting with Laurent. I explained my run-in with Laurent, what he'd said about Victoria, and then my confrontation with the wolves. "Aw Bella," Emmett complained, "You promised that you'd save the next vampire for me."
I rolled my eyes at him, "Sorry Em, if you'd been there I wouldn't have dreamed of getting in your way- although I doubt he would have tried anything if you had been there," I pointed out.
Edward was more upset at Jacob. He was furious that Jacob had lost control and attacked me- if I had been the normal human Jacob had thought I was I would be six feet under right now. To be honest, I was a bit miffed myself.
Rosalie and Jasper were indignant that the wolves had dared to cross the treaty line, while Esme and Carlisle were just happy that I was safe, although Carlisle was disappointed in Laurent. "If the Denali coven ever comes for a visit you will have to watch out for Irina," he warned me, "She got very attached to him when he stayed in Alaska, and was very upset that he'd left." I nodded in acknowledgement.
Of course, Felix and Demetri soon explained that they would be coming to visit soon to track down Victoria and kill her. Edward, Emmett and Jasper immediately protested, saying that they'd be happy to take care of it themselves, while Rose, Alice and I glared at them. "No offense, but you have three mates that will worry about you," Felix pointed out, "Besides, as Bella's guards it is our duty and right to protect Bella by killing off any threats." My guards' stances were firm, and the guys soon realised that protesting would be useless. They dropped the subject.
I loved my two weeks in Volterra with both of my vampire families. I had spent a lot of time eagerly showing Edward my favourite things to do and places to go. He loved the music room and the view from my bedroom window the most. I was understandably a little sad when the time came to head back to Forks- though I was looking forward to seeing Charlie again.
Alice had packed for me- shoving all sorts of 'necessities' into ten suitcases for me. Rose had raided my shoes, since I never wore pairs of shoes more than a few times each, and I had plenty in my closet that I wouldn't wear again that Rose loved. I packed a few books that I had pilfered from Aro's library of mythical creatures and then it was time to say goodbye to my Volterra family.
I hugged them all and promised to call them soon before we headed to the small private airstrip where my jet was kept. The Cullens had been impressed when they found out about my jet and Emmett had immediately started pressuring Carlisle into buying their own jet. Carlisle wasn't budging though.
And so, after an enjoyable two weeks with all of my favourite vampires, I found myself comfortably ensconced in Edward's arms as we looked out of the small aeroplane's windows at an aerial view of Volterra while Santiago and Alec flew us home.
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