The Swan Has Horns

38

Back at home, Antonio worked on packing a couple of bags. They were moving out as soon as possible, and both Bella and Charlie were going to have to stay in the guest rooms while the house was being worked on. It most definitely wasn't his best moments, but it wasn't his worst either, it was something he would take the time to learn from, and this was just the beginning of it all.

It frustrated him greatly that he was going to have to move so soon again, but it was all going to be worth it in the end when everything started going back to normal. It'll take a while, take a long time considering Jennifer didn't like sudden change, but this was going to be the best thing for them. His father would heal, and get a change of scenery, and both his wives could relax after this stressful event. It was a win, though a win with a ton of work that would need to be completed before they could claim victory.

"Isabella's in the hospital in Phoenix Arizona." A ghoul had dropped a blood stained medical gaze into his palm, its long nails barely scraping its palms as it waited for its next order before dispersing. Leah had stared horrified at it, face all drawn up in aversion as she watched maggots squirm within its open 'wounds,' this ghoul had obviously been a soldier of a very horrible group in World War II, but it still looked so disgusting. The armband was still attached like a marker of its past, she didn't want to look at it, didn't even want to be in the same room as it, but it made no move to look at her. Made no move to look at anyone in the room as it waited for Antonio to order it to do something else.

"And the report on Kyrie?" He sniffed the cloth, aggravation lining up against all the other emotions that he had piled away. Venom was laced within the blood still, vampire venom, Cold One venom. Obviously her little vampire boyfriend couldn't be trusted with the most basic tasks when it comes to protecting her, that was something that would need to be handled unless he wanted to be seen as a pushover when it came to his status. He should've handled it accordingly when he first discovered that they were 'living' around the corner, but the deal with Aro was that they wouldn't kill off his people themselves, they would send for a guard to collect them, and they'd handle it if they broke a law.

"Fine, my grace. Though she's in the arms of two Cold Ones." The pacifier at this point was falling apart, but the ghoul still presented it to the Nobel before him, embarrassment fleeting quite quickly as Antonio questioningly took the chewed up plastic. Leah had also stared at that in disgust, she didn't know if it was because of their background, or if it was because the sight of a talking dead body was far too much for her at the moment. It made her sick, had her choking a bit, but Jennifer gave her back a good pat.

"You get used to it." And to a certain extent, Leah hoped she was talking about death, and not appearance. She couldn't see herself getting used to this, but she also wasn't considered to be forever in her twenties while actually being in their mid sixties. It weirded her out to think that Antonio was dating women that could be his grandparents, but it also made sense considering that he too would never age past thirty. It irked her in a way she couldn't explain at first, she figured it was because they made a promise to grow up together, and he obviously couldn't do that anymore, but she also figured it had to do with the fact that he wasn't human at all anymore. The concept that her brother was from another mother, was something beyond her comprehension at the moment, and that frustrated her. She wanted to understand the things going on around her, wanted to be included, and that stemmed even farther to how her family excluded her from certain events that they knew she would be more than happy to join.

"Do you really?" Her eyes had wavered so slightly that it would've been missed, "do you really get used to it? Get used to this? H-How do one even get used...to something like this?" She didn't want to be used to death, how could she when she was terrified of dying? She didn't want to die, she didn't want to end up like the elders on the beach that did nothing but talk about their regrets, and pass onto the next life. She wanted something more than that.