The jet's tires screeched against the wet tarmac of the small airport, a jarring counterpoint to the silence that had descended between them. The flight attendants interruption hung in the air like a foul odor. Jane's expression, moments ago soft with shared ecstasy, was now a mask of frigid marble. Her crimson eyes burned with a fury that made the cabin feel several degrees colder.
Without a word, she disentangled herself from Reina, the movement unnaturally swift. She snatched her discarded robe from the floor, her movements sharp and precise. "We are leaving. Now," she said, her voice a low, venomous whip-crack.
Reina, still trembling from the aftershocks of pleasure, could only scramble to follow, her own robe clutched in unsteady hands. Jane did not wait. She was a streak of pale motion through the airport, a predator unseen by the few humans present. Reina matched her pace, her new body responding with an effortless, powerful grace that was still a wonder to her.
They burst out of the terminal and into the cool, damp Washington air. The scent of pine and saltwater was overwhelming, a thousand times more potent than her human senses could have ever imagined. Beneath it all, a hundred different human heartbeats thrummed, a tantalizing, maddening rhythm that made her throat ache with a fresh, sharp thirst.
"The car will be too slow," Jane hissed, her gaze fixed on the dense, dark tree line in the distance. "We run."
In a blink, the world became a streaking blur of green and grey. The ground fell away beneath Reina's feet as she pushed her new limbs to their limit, chasing the flicker of Jane's dark robe through the forest. It was exhilarating and terrifying. Trees were mere shadows they wove between, the wind a roaring torrent in her ears. And through it all, the singular, intoxicating scent of Jane guided her, a beacon pulling her forward.
They slowed as they reached the outskirts of a rain-slicked town. A sign, weathered and mossy, read 'Welcome to Forks'. The air here was different. The human heartbeats were fewer, but other scents dominated. Strange, familiar, and utterly alien all at once. The smell of vampires, but unlike any she'd known in Volterra. It was the scent of sunlight on cedar and cold, clean frost.
And then they were there. Three figures stood waiting under the thick boughs of an ancient fir tree, perfectly still, as if they had been statues for decades.
Carlisle Cullen stood at the front, his kind, golden-eyed gaze the picture of placid patience. To his right was Edward, his topaz eyes wary, his body angled slightly in front of the third figure. Bella. Her expression was fiercely protective, a lioness guarding her cub. The stories Jane had told her on the flight did not do them justice. They were… luminous.
Jane came to an abrupt halt, her small form radiating an authority that belied her size. Reina stopped just behind her shoulder, her own posture instinctively mirroring Jane's defiant stance.
"Jane," Carlisle greeted, his voice calm and melodious, a stark contrast to the tense silence. "We've been expecting you."
"I doubt you expected us specifically," Jane replied, her tone dripping with icy condescension. "Where is the child?"
"There is no immortal child here," Carlisle stated, his words clear and firm.
A flicker of irritation crossed Jane's features. "Irina's claim was specific. We are not here for denials. We are here for verification." Her hand subtly found the small of Reina's back, a possessive, steadying touch that sent a thrill through Reina's core despite the gravity of the situation.
It was Edward who spoke next, his eyes flickering between Jane and Reina with intense curiosity. "Irina saw what she believed to be true. She was mistaken." He took a slight step forward. "Our daughter is not immortal. She is half-human. She ages."
Jane's head tilted. The claim was so audacious it momentarily stalled her anger. "Half-human?" The words were a skeptical whisper. "Such a thing is not possible."
"It is," Bella said, her voice stronger now, laced with a mother's unwavering conviction. "Her name is Renesmee. She is our daughter. And she is not a threat to your secrets."
The forest seemed to hold its breath. Reina watched the exchange, her mind reeling. A half-human child? The concept was as foreign to her empty memory as the feeling of sunlight. She focused on the Cullens, searching for deception, but their faces showed only truth and a desperate hope.
She felt it then, the faintest echo of that probing sensation from the jet. It was a light touch against the edges of her consciousness, feather-light and curious. Edward's eyes widened a fraction, darting to her. He'd felt it too. Felt her sensing him. She instinctively did what felt natural, envisioning a wall of smooth, dark obsidian around her mind. The probing sensation vanished, and Edward's lips parted in silent surprise.
Jane, attuned to every shift in the dynamic, noticed the silent exchange. A slow, dangerous smile spread across her perfect features. The anger was not gone, but it was now fused with a spark of triumphant curiosity. The mission was not what they thought. And her Reina… her Reina was already proving to be more fascinating than she could have dreamed.
Her fingers pressed just a little more firmly into Reina's back, a silent promise of a conversation to come. She turned her burning gaze back to Carlisle. "This is a extraordinary claim. It requires extraordinary proof. We will see this… Renesmee for ourselves." Her smile was all sharp, white teeth. "Now."