To Love and To Be Loved (A Jasper Hale/ Whitlock Love Story)

Closure

It was one day before we were booked for our flight to Chile. We stayed for two weeks, spending time with each family member, just having a good time with one another.

We were all sitting, proudly listening to Renesme play the piano when suddenly the peace was shattered.

Everyone could hear my heart burst into life, pounding hard and fast in my chest as Patrick ran to Alice, who just dropped a vase, letting it shatter into pieces around her feet.

"What is it?" Pat asked her worriedly, and she slowly turned to look at him before looking back to us.

"The Volturi. They're coming for us." My stuttered in my chest as fear seeped in. "Aro, Caius, Marcus, the Guard... And Irina." We had heard Irina had seen Jacob, Bella, and Renesme in the woods, but the last thing we expected was for her to go to the Volturi about something.

"Honey, come here," Bella insisted, and Renesme walked into her arms.

"Why?" father asked, stepping forward.

"What did Irina see in the woods?" Edward asked.

"We were just walking," Bella shook her head.

"Ness was catching snowflakes," Jake added.

"How?" I asked.

"She'd jump up to get them."

My heart skipped a beat.

She thinks Renesme is an Immortal Child.

"Of course," Edward murmured before reiterating my thoughts. "Irina thinks Renesme's an Immortal Child."

~:~:~:~:~

"The lmmortal Children were very beautiful," father explained to everyone, showing Bella the books he had on the beings. "So enchanting. To be near them was to love them. But their development was frozen at the age they were turned. They couldn't be taught or restrained..."

"A single tantrum could destroy an entire village," I continued quietly, shame filling me as I kept my gaze locked on the ground. "Even humans heard about the devastation they brought, stories spread across continents of these beings... The Volturi were forced to intervene. Since the Children couldn't protect our secret, they had to be destroyed... Which is why the Volturi were so diligent in finding me... They thought I was an Immortal Child with the destruction I caused..." I felt my lip curl in disgust in myself. "I was so lost in my own desperation, in my own self-pity, that I had lost any conscious I once had... The only reason I was spared was because Aro saw... 'potential' in me..." I shook my head, and Jasper pulled me to him.

"It's over now," he comforted quietly, and I let father continue as he placed a comforting hand on my back.

"Their creators grew very attached and fought to protect them. Long-established covens were torn apart. Countless humans slaughtered. Traditions, friends, even families. Lost." He continued to explain what happened with the Denali's mother. How she created an Immortal Child, and all the devastation he caused.

"So the Denalis' mother made an Immortal Child?" Bella asked.

"Yes... And she paid the price."

"Well, Renesme's nothing like those children," Bella insisted. "She was born, not bitten. She grows every single day."

"So can't you just explain that to the Volturi?" Jake asked.

"Aro has enough proof in Irina's thoughts," Edward denied.

"Once the Volturi decide they know something, there's little chance you can change their mind," I murmured, and there was a small silence.

"So we fight," Jake shrugged.