"I am Ambrose Pennington, the last surviving member of the Patagonian Coven, and I, and I alone can free you all from the dominion of the great covens."
The six vampires were not impressed with this declaration. Mateo, Jia and Rozamond openly laughed in response. Noah and Jabarl looked all the more annoyed. Sabeen was the only one of the six to show neither amusement nor disdain. Shortly into her companions' levity, she interjected a sharp request of the vampire, Ambrose Pennington.
"Prove it."
Ambrose gave his watchers a sly smile and then a second later he disappeared from their sight. The laughter and the looks of disdain were gone an instant after. In their places were six faces that were in awe of what just happened right before their eyes. Thirty seconds later, Ambrose reappeared in different sector of the room. All eyes turned towards him with looks of astonishment.
"Are you convinced?" Ambrose queried the table of six.
"We are intrigued," Sabeen pleasantly acknowledged with a hint of a smile on her face. "Tell us your story, Ambrose Pennington."
Ambrose told them of his time as a member of the Patagonian Coven and his battles with the Volturi and Olympic Covens. He explained their strengths and their weakness and how his coven lost to them. He then told them of his adventures on the Olympic Peninsula and the perils that he skirted there. The table of six listened without interruption. They were clearly interested in all he had to say. At the end of his story their interest was sufficed and all began to turn away.
"I am offering you a chance to change the landscape of our world," Ambrose insisted boldly.
"Your invisibility trick is amusing, Little Vampire," Noah mumbled under his breath as he looked away. "But it is not impressive enough to entice us into doing battle with the Olympic Coven."
"The Olympic Coven is nothing," Ambrose railed back. "The little vampire known as Bella is my only threat. Once I've killed her, the others will be no match for me."
"Then do it," Jabarl grumbled back angrily. "What do you need us for?"
"The wolves," Ambrose hissed back. "I need you to take care of those damn the wolves."
"That's it? …the dogs, nothing more?" Sabeen inquired with a curious inflection.
"It's hard for me to slip by them and they attack in packs," Ambrose stressed.
"And we will have nothing to do with the Olympic Coven?" Sabeen leaned forward and asked pointedly.
"Nothing…!"
"They will have no knowledge of us," Sabeen challenged in a voice stronger by twice. "Don't lie to me little vampire. I will see it if you do."
"You have my word," Ambrose responded curtly. "I just need you to get rid of those wolves."
Sabeen took a moment to examine Ambrose before leaning back in her chair and responding in a soft voice.
"I believe you."
The table of six mulled this over with shifting glances until Noah broke the silence with a drawled out question.
"How many of these werewolves are we talking about?"
"Eighteen by my last count," Ambrose responded succinctly.
"That should be no problem for us," Rozamond tossed out with a chipper inflection.
"There could be more," Jabarl grumbled.
"So, we take on some insurance," Noah responded dryly as he eyed the others at the table.
"And how do we do that?" Jabarl gruffly queried back.
Noah hesitated to give a response. The question first provoked an introspective look and a sly smile. After a few seconds of this, he craftily answered at a volume that was little more than a whisper.
"Vampires with repugnance for the watchdogs of the Olympic Coven should not be hard to find."
All at the table paused for a moment to digest this idea. A look of agreement began to form on each of their faces
"I still don't see it," Mateo pondered aloud. "Even if we do take care of the wolves, how do you plan to get your hands on Bella?"
"It sounds to me like those Olympic vampires are keeping a close watch on her," Jia pointed out snidely. "If she can make it possible for others to see you, then how do you plan to slip by her coven?"
The table of six went silent as all looked on in anticipation of Ambrose's answer to this query. He, in turn, scanned the faces of all seated at the table with a devious glare before voicing his response a dozen seconds later.
"I don't need to get past Bella's coven. I just need to get my hands on something she values and then she'll come to me."
14- The Advocate
Nessie had not seen her grandmother for nearly two weeks. Her daily excursions with her friends had taken up all of her spare time during this period. She spoke with her over the phone, half a dozen times, but that was the limit of her contact with Renee. She had even less contact with Charlie during this period. His job as Sheriff of Clallam County kept him busy during the daylight hours and often intruded into his evenings. Nessie had grown accustom to Charlie's busy schedule and never expected to see him if she did not put in the effort to do so.
She had no feelings of guilt about this long absence from her grandparents. Nessie knew if they had wanted to see her, they would have called and ordered her to make an appearance and she would have complied as usual. What was causing Nessie to feel a little guilty was the time she was spending away from Phillip. With each day that passed, Nessie became increasingly aware that her issues with Jacob and the shape-shifters were having an adverse effect on her relationships with others. Now that she was planning to leave the peninsula in another year, her time with Phillip had become quantitatively more important in her mind. Since the news of Sharon Cunningham's visit, the day before, she was the talk of the family. Nessie concluded that this would be the perfect day to make up for lost time with Phillip. The advantage that came with this was that she could also catch up on some family intrigue as well.
Sharon Dwyer-Cunningham was no one to Nessie personally. She had never met her and knew almost nothing about her. It was the level of discussion occurring between Bella and Charlie, and Bella and Renee, regarding her that captured Nessie's interest. For Nessie, she was simply something different from the norm and she was in the mood for some distraction.
Nessie arrived outside the front door of the Swan home a quarter after ten in the morning. Renee knew of her coming and quickly answered the bell in anticipation that it was her. They exchanged hellos and quick hugs. Phillip was in the living room when the doorbell rang, engrossed with a video game. He instantly set down the object of his intrigue and ran to the front door. He had no prior knowledge of Nessie's coming. Someone knocking at the door was reason enough for him to be excited. The instant he set his eyes on Nessie, his excitement doubled. He quickly ran up to her side while jubilantly calling her name, "Nessie."
"Hey, guy, how are you?" Nessie responded with a large smile.
Phillip grasped her hand and immediately began tugging at her.
"Come on, you have to play my new video game," Phillip insisted enthusiastically.
Nessie resisted the tug for a moment and then pulled her little uncle into a hug. "Wow, this sounds like a great game," she exclaimed with a grin.
"It is, it is," Phillip persisted as he writhed within her hug. A second later he pulled away and began tugging at her arm once again. "Come on, let's play."
Nessie continued to resist as she responded to his assertion. "Okay, we will, but let me talk with Renee for a little bit. Okay?"
Phillip agreed to this and quickly ran back into the living-room. Nessie watched him run off and then followed Renee into the dining-room. Her grandmother had been relaxing there with a cup of tea, a bagel and a magazine. Renee offered her the same to which she accepted. They both sat down across from each other. Renee waited on Nessie's lead.
"So, she's being nice?" Nessie probed slyly.
"Well, she's actually being nicer than I've ever known her to be," Renee responded ponderously.
"You think she no longer blames you?"
"I think she's trying not to," Re
nee surmised with a wrinkle of her brow. "I believe she always gave me the benefit of the doubt, in the back of her mind. I think she was just too angry to listen to it before."
"Are you sure?" Nessie queried with a crafty glare.
"You and your mother are so alike," Renee reacted with playful disdain. "You get your suspicious natures from your grandfather, you know."
"Charlie does have a talent for reading people," Nessie reinforced with a smile.
"Your grandfather thinks everyone is a criminal until proven otherwise," Renee snidely countered.
Nessie had no retort for this and simply reacted with a grin. Grandmother and granddaughter took a time out to take sips of their tea and then Nessie continued her probe into the lives of her grandparents with intrigued curiosity.
"You really want this to work?"
"She's Phillip's aunt," Renee responded with incredulity. "Yes, I want Phillip to know his aunt and through her, his father."
Nessie did not want to say anything that might burst Renee's bubble of hope, so she made no reply to this. She had no reason to doubt that this hope would come true. She was, however, reluctant to jump on this bandwagon in view of Sharon's decision not to stay the week in this house. Nessie took another sip of her tea and then presented a new query.
"So, where is she?"
"She's coming over at noon," Renee reported nonchalantly. "She's dropping Brian and Julia off to spend the afternoon with Phillip."
"That's strange, don't you think," Nessie queried a little surprised. "I mean, if it was me, I would want to spend as much time as possible with Phillip."
"She's going to do some shopping for Phillip's birthday," Renee explained with a hint of admonishment.
Nessie took the rebuke with a momentary smile and then responded with a feigned look of hurt feelings.
"Well, just the same, I think it's a little presumptuous to just dump your children off on someone else."
"She asked and I said yes," Renee explicated with finality.
Nessie accepted this with a grin and then took another sip from her tea. After a moment of silence, Renee concluded that her granddaughter had exhausted her queries on the matter and then began her on inquiries about her.
"So, how are things going with you and Jacob?" There was no humor behind Renee's inquiry. She was inquisitive and looked every bit of it.
Nessie's humor quickly faded in turn as she braced herself for the new topic to be conversed. This had more to do with Renee than Jacob. Nessie's position on the subject had already been buoyed by her talk with Bella. She feared Renee might do more harm than good and considered, for a moment, evading the subject altogether.
"I think it might be getting worse," Nessie confessed reluctantly.
"How can it get any worse?" Renee questioned with no little amount of surprise.
"He's been following me around," Nessie explained with another confessional inflection.
Stunned all the more, Renee perked up with alarm before pushing for more details. "What? Do you mean he's stalking you?"
"Mom thinks he's guarding me," Nessie reported for clarification.
"From what…?" Renee questioned back with concern in her voice.
Nessie quickly noted that she had started down a course that she did not want to go. She knew that her vampire relations deliberately kept her grandparents in the dark about some things and she had no doubt that this was one of them. Thinking quickly, she fashioned an answer designed to dissuade her anxiety, hopefully.
"It's just more Jacob drama, really," Nessie tossed out with a touch of theatrics. "Now that we're not seeing each other, daily, he's afraid some harm might come to me when he's not there."
Renee gave her granddaughter a suspicious look before giving a response to this answer. "That doesn't sound like Jacob," Renee cross examined with a studied look. "Is there something you're not telling me?"
"There might have been a strange vampire on the peninsula, briefly," Nessie relented with a flick of her hand. "But it was nothing. He's gone."
"When was this?" Renee fired back with alarm.
"This was last year, Grandmother," Nessie quickly reassured.
"Last year, why didn't Bella tell me this? Why am I only hearing about this now?" Renee continued to question in an alarmed voice.
"Because they know how you are when you hear these things," Nessie asserted confidently. "It was nothing. It's over. He came and he went."
Renee studied her granddaughter for a few seconds more before responding to her declaration. "And that's it?"
"Yes."
"You're telling me everything?" Renee pushed for another response.
"Yes, Grandmother, that's everything. I promise."
Renee studied Nessie with a suspicious look for several seconds more and then backed away from the subject altogether.
"Well then, I guess you can't blame Jacob too much," Renee suggested with obvious relief.
"He's following me around," Nessie exclaimed in an exasperated voice. "He could be out there right now," Nessie continued with a point.
"Well, he's in love with you. What do expect?" Renee challenged with a look of surprise towards Nessie.
"I expect to have a normal life, or as close to normal as I can get," Nessie reacted on the defensive. "What girl wants to be stalked by some lovesick puppy?"
Renee noted the stress in Nessie's voice and stopped herself from giving a reactionary response. After taking a moment to hold her breath, she responded with a soft, "okay."
Nessie was not fooled by Renee's mild response and was all the more annoyed by her attempt to deceive her.
"Okay? What does that mean?" Nessie exacted peevishly.
Renee was reluctant to excite Nessie any more than she already had, but the question tendered felt like it was drawing her in. After a moment of thought, she elected to explain herself delicately.
"It's just that I think some people would be happy to find a love like that."
"He's stalking me," Nessie insisted with a hint of anger.
"He's protecting you," Renee responded softly.
Nessie was more than a little displeased with her grandmother's reaction to this. She suddenly found herself unable to endure it in silence.
"Why do you always take his side?" Nessie challenged heatedly.
Renee considered the question for a second and then responded in a calm voice. "I'm not taking sides. I'm just saying what I think you need to hear."
"No you don't. You advocate for Jacob every time we talk about this," Nessie asserted with less temper. "I want to know why?"
Renee paused to ponder the response she should give and then gave it with all the sincerity she could manage.
"I don't advocate for Jacob, really I don't. I'm just afraid that you're about to make a mistake."
"How can doing what I want with my life be a mistake?"
"I don't think you know what you want. I think you're too busy being afraid of what you think you might lose."
"Why can't you accept the fact that I don't love Jacob that way?"
"Because maybe this is more about convincing yourself that you're not in love with Jacob that way."
"Why would I be doing that?"
"Because you're afraid…?" Renee queried delicately.
"Afraid of what…?
"Commitment," Renee flatly asserted in a soft tone of voice.
Nessie pondered this for a moment, but could find no response for it. Renee decided to exploit the silence to sell her thinking on the matter.
"Nothing lasts forever. That's something we mere mortals understand all too well. When it comes to love, we hold on to it with both hands."
Nessie gave this last remark several seconds of earnest consideration before softly asking the question this engendered.
"But how do I know that I'm truly in love with Jacob?"
"You're the only one who will ever know the answer to that."
"I always thought love would be a feeling of bliss or a yearning
that I wouldn't be able to stop thinking about."
Renee had no response to this except to give it a bit of a laugh and a broad smile.
"What?" Nessie questioned for an explanation.
"I use to think that I was in love whenever I dreamed about a boy at night," Renee explained with a smile. "Later I decided that love was a feeling of fear that my affections would not be returned," she concluded in a ponderous tone.
"So is that it? Is that love?" Nessie queried with an intrigued inflection.
"I suppose, it's all love in a way," Renee professed in a humdrum manner. "But now I don't see love as some pretty sensation."
"What is it then?" Nessie quickly questioned for the answer.
"Now I think I'm in love when I find a person who feels like the best friend I'll ever have."
Nessie took Renee's answer and mulled it about in her thoughts for several seconds before responding with her analysis.
"You mean the kind of friendship that I had with Jacob."
"Yes," Renee responded shortly.
"I don't think I feel that way about Jacob anymore," Nessie puzzled out.
"Are you sure you're not just taking him for granted. You two were practically joined at the hip not so long ago," Renee responded after a thought.
Nessie thought about this for a moment before stiffening in her seat with a look of defiance.
"I'm not like Jacob. I'm not a shape-shifter. I don't imprint on people," Nessie insisted with finality. "I'm capable of finding new best friends."
"Then I suppose you have your answer," Renee suggested mildly before turning her attention down into her magazine.
Nessie suspected that this last remark was insincere. She knew Renee better than anyone else in the family. Sincerity and casual statements did not go hand in hand with her. Off the cuff remarks from Renee invariably meant, "Whatever you say, let's change the subject." There was, however, one thing that Nessie took away from this conversation as the truth and that was that Renee had no idea what true love felt like. She came to this decision because the feelings she once had for Sean Bowden, her high school calculus teacher. She knew that had to be love. She recalled how much more intense and thrilling those feelings were. Jacob was always just Jacob. Because of this, she concluded that Renee's idea of love was flawed and that true love was far more intense than what she felt for Jacob.
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