Mackenzie Cullen

Chapter 3

Mackenzie's POV

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Thoughts rush through my head, taking all of my focus away from the movie on the TV. What are they? Cannibals? No, they'd have killed me by now. I had one theory; but it was too embarrassing and stupid for me to even consider. This has got to be some kind of joke, with all of them in on it. 

But even I am not that stupid; I know something strange was going on. Those wolves, Jacob and Leah, can turn into humans. Renesmee had shown me that. And, I may not know many humans, but Harriett definitely couldn't do that. 

Jacob clear his throat, snapping me out of my thoughts and causing me to jump.

"Stupid dog" I mutter under my breath.

"I'll take Ness out to hunt, I think she might be getting hungry" the mutt says, looking at Renesmee.

"Nope, I'm staying here" she says, sitting next to me and snatching the remote off of the table.

"I'll race ya" he counters, jogging to the door. Renesmee's mouth was pressed into a strait line, it was easy to see that she  wanted to go.

"Offers only available for 10 more seconds, Ness"

She debates this for a second, before turning her gaze to the TV. "Nope" she replies, her voice emotionless.

"Fine" he says, walking to the chair opposite Renesmee, completely ignoring my existence.

"Ugh!" I exclaim, wafting my hand in front of my face. I hear a chuckle from behind me, and guess it was Rosalie; she has the same hatred of the dogs as I do.

"Renesmee, we need to speak to Mackenzie" the girl, who I think is called Bella, said. 

"You can, I won't listen. I'll watch the movie, instead" she replies, her eyes locked on the screen, but her expression implied that she wasn't interested.

"Renesmee, come on. We've got to get back to the cottage" 

"No, I'm staying here with Mackenzie" she replies, her eyes not moving from the dull movie on screen.

Bella considers this for a moment, her brows knitted together in concentration, before swiftly exiting the room. I hear a fridge door open, then close, and something being pulled from a plastic wrapping. When she returns, she had a polystyrene up in her hands, with a red plastic straw sticking out from the top. Renesmee sniffs the air, and runs over to Bella.

"Gimmie Gimmie Gimmie!" she shouts, bouncing around, trying to grab the cup.

"Only if you come out to the cottage" Bella replies, holding the cup up higher. I couldn't help but laugh a little at Renesmee, jumping around like rabbit. Why is she going so crazy over a cup? What's in it that's making her act that way. I notice a few faces missing; the pixie like girl, who I think is called Alice from previous conversations with Renesmee, and the boy that Alice was always with, we'ren't there. Rosalie was standing by the door, with Edward, watching Renesmee bound about. Carlisle and Esme were sitting on the sofa nearest to the stairs, a worried look on both of their faces, whilst Bella's and the dog's expressions were the complete opposite: smirking.

But, even still, I can't help but wonder what's in that cup.

I'd been breathing through my mouth to keep the retched smell of wet dog out of my nose, so I wouldn't know. But curiosity got the better of me, this time. I tentatively sniff the air; and instantly regret the decision. It stunk! It was as though some one had cut their finger, the smell of metal was so intense my eyes watered, and I began to gag.

"What is that?" I choke out, holding my breath for as long as I can, before switching back to breathing through my mouth. Renesmee stopped bouncing around, and turned to face me. Someone coughs uneasily, I turn my head to see the mutt on his feet.

"Come on, Ness. You can see Mackenzie later" he says impatiently. Renesmee looks back at me, and mouths 'sorry' before turning and chasing Bella and the dog down the wooden stair case, and out the doors.

I sigh, and grab the remote. I stop flicking through the channels when I see the horror channel, unlucky for me Dracula was on. I groan and shut my eyes; my previous theory just won't leave me alone. I hear footsteps on the stairs, and see that Alice had come back, on her own. She mutters something incoherent under her breath.

"Alice" Esme scolds.

"Whoops, sorry! Forgot Mackenzie was still here" Alice replies, her heels hitting the wooden floorboards like miniature bombs.  

"It's just I keep getting these stupid headaches, it's blocking my visions---"

"Alice, shut up" Rosalie says, looking at my confused expression. 

"What does she mean, visions?" I ask, suspicions about my earlier theory creeping back to the front of my mind.

"Nothing" Esme says quickly, glaring at Alice. I didn't believe her for one second, but something told me not to push my luck.

"What was in that cup?" I ask, changing the subject.  Then came the awkward silence that trailed on for what felt like hours, but from the clock on the TV shows that it was only a few short minutes. I shifted uncomfortably, my eyes moving between each cautious expression to the next. 

A few stray beams of bright morning sunlight pour in through the window wall, casting long, dark shadows off the light furniture. Carlisle and Esme step back from the sunlight, as do Rosalie, Emmett and Edward. But Alice just stands there, looking confused.

"Alice, she doesn't know! Get back" Rosalie shrieks, grabbing the sleeve of Alice's black cardigan and tugging her out of the path of the light, but she wasn't quick enough. I saw it, presumably what everyone of them was trying to prevent me from seeing; the light bounced off of their skin like thousands of tiny diamonds, filling every corner of the room with light.

"What are you?" I ask, my mind rushing through possible theories, scary stories and tall tails that Harriett had told me. Each one of the Cullens looked guilty; even Alice, who usually always was smiling. All of my instincts told me to run; far, far away. But something else was holding me to the ground, curiosity? No, even I wasn't that curious to risk my life. But there was something else, something that kept me from running.

"She'll never believe us" Esme whispers, her voice so low that I struggled to hear.

"If the Volturi find out she knows, she could be in serious trouble" Rosalie states.

"But she's not human, is she? She's barely been here two days and the scratches have already healed, she can't be human, she just can't" Edward says, 

"Well she's not an immortal child, she's grown since the attack" Esme says, her eyes flickering to me for the tiniest fraction of a second, before turning back to the others.

Ok, so now they've officially lost me. Volturi? Blood drinking? Immortal Children? If this was a practical joke, this takes the biscuit.

Even with my mind trying to comprehend the situation, my earlier theory lingered. Suddenly, somethings start to make sense; blood drinkers, immortal, speed. I mean, how on earth did Esme almost catch up with me? I could easily out run Harriett without even trying, and she's human, right? So what does that make the Cullens, then? The television answers my trail of thoughts, as the on screen character shrieks:

Vampires.