Chapter 5

Rosalie POV

Being concerned was clearly an understatement.

I was freaking the hell out!

Was there something against our good luck? Why do new threats always jump back up when old ones were taken care of? It felt complete as if someone somewhere had it in for the Cullen Clan and decided to put a wicked curse on us.

Curse the Volturi.

My thoughts were a mess, most of it about one thing: How could a sweet little thing like Grace, be destined to end up with a cold-blooded monster like Demetri? Demetri of all men?! Why not Felix? Hell, I'll even tolerate Alec if it was really necessary!

Looking down at Grace sleeping in my arms instantly made me relax a bit. I even became unaware of Carlisle speaking with the Volturi in his study. Currently, they were figuring out a way to get Demetri involved with Grace. I hated the sound of that. If I had my way, I'd disappear with her and Emmett and raise her alone.

Curse the Volturi.

My thoughts scared me and at the same time made me excited to do it. Instead, I listened in on the conversation going on in the study below.

"We both know we can't keep Demetri away from little Grace now that he's found her, Carlisle. Just look what good it did to Edward and Bella. Poor Bella, trying to kill herself just to see mere flashes of him. And Edward, so desperate not to live without her that he came to us to end his suffer. What do you think it will do to Demetri and little Grace, Carlisle?"

"You're being rash, Aro. Grace is too young to understand or even know that she's mated to your tracker. And what good will that do to Demetri? He can't possibly treat her as his blood singer yet. I say we wait until she has reached the age of eighteen and graduate from high school before we let the two of them meet."

I knew Carlisle was staling. He didn't like the idea of nine months old Grace being twenty-five year old Demetri's blood singer any more than the rest of us did. That was just wrong in so many ways...

Curse the Volturi.

"Come now, Carlisle. You can think of a better plan than that. And if you don't, you leave me no other choice than to take little Grace by force. We can easily overpower you and your mutts with Alec, and you know that."

Every fibre in my undead body screamed no. Every predator instinct in me screamed to attack the Volturi and rip them apart. They couldn't threaten us like that! I was ready to march down there and give them a piece of my mind when I heard a new voice in the study.

"No need to threaten us, Aro." Esme spoke up, "That will get you nowhere. We have a few properties in England, one of them being an old manor. If you give us a month, it will be renovated and we'll move to Europe. That way Grace will be closer to Demetri and everyone's satisfied."

I waited in anticipation for their answer, which came a minute after they thought about her negotiation, "Splendid, darling Esme. As bright as always. Well then, we shall see you in a month, Carlisle. Do not disappoint me or else..."

I rushed to the window with Grace still in my arms, seeing the Volturi leaving the house and marching into the dark forest. Demetri was the only one who turned around to look back before following his coven. As soon as everyone was sure the Volturi were gone, they assembled in the study to get answers for their own questions.

"So, are we moving to England?" Renesmee was the first to ask.

Esme confirmed it, "Yes. It was all I could think of. It's either that or they'll take Grace."

"And where's this mansion?" Bella asked next, "No one ever mentioned you having properties in England."

"It's in the countryside an hour outside London. There's a small town nearby for the necessary supplies." Carlisle explained, "Think of it as a mini Forks in Europe."

I snuggled Grace closer, "How long will we be staying there?"

Carlisle and Esme sent each other concerned glances, "We don't know."

That's how it's decided. We leave in a month, move to England and start a whole new life. I was used to it by now. Vampires moving from town to town, country to country to avoid humans getting suspicious was normal to me. But I didn't want that for Grace. I wanted her to remain in rainy, wet, depressing Forks Washington, go to school, graduate and maybe even get married here. Maybe I was thinking a little too far ahead, but I’d do anything to make this Grace's home.

Esme would make a few calls the next day to get a team to start renovating the old mansion, while in the meantime we had to start packing the necessary things for both vampires and babies. For the millionth time today, I cursed the Volturi in my head. All they ever did was ruining people's lives. That will never change.

Curse the damn Volturi.

The builders renovated the house in record time and the Cullens could move in a week early. Even though the furniture and most of the house supplies were already unpacked, there were still a lot of boxes of personal possessions that recently arrived there from Washington. They had no idea how long they'd be staying so Esme insisted they pack everything they didn't want to leave behind. That meant everything, cars included.

No one would admit it at first, but the manor itself wasn't that bad. It had a castle-like construction and was hidden in the countryside, a forest at its back and wide-open spaces at its front. Nothing would lead anyone there except for the road that brought them here, which was also well hidden.

The inside of the manor was a lot bigger than the one in Washington. It was actually divided into a North wing, West wing and East wing. Carlisle and Esme chose a room in the North wing, while Alice and Jasper chose West and Rosalie and Emmett the East. Outside near the garage was a bachelor's cottage with two rooms, which Edward claimed as his and Bella's. Renesmee ended up with them eventually.

After everyone was satisfied with their new rooms, the mission to start unpacking started. Carlisle left Esme with their room to reorganize the living room, where Emmett was already setting up the flat screen and all the gaming devices he adored. Little Grace was, once again, in her pit of balls, crawling and sailing around in it like there was no tomorrow. The two men didn't pay much attention to her at first, too busy figuring out how to equalize the TV's sound to create surrounds. A tiny noise from Grace made Emmett steal a quick glance at her standing against the pit railing and back at the TV. Realizing something he did a double-take and looked again.

Was his eyes playing tricks on him?

"Oh sh- Carlisle, Grace is standing up!" he exclaimed.

Carlisle's head snapped towards her and his eyes grew twice their size. She was indeed standing up and peeking over the railing of her ball pit.

"Esme!" he called in excitement, "Grace is standing up!"

No need to repeat, the whole coven burst into the room, all equally excited to see the progress little Grace made. Just imagine the looks on their faces when seeing that Carlisle told the truth. The sudden audience made her fall back down on her bum and Jasper was at her side immediately. She only smiled, showing off the few teeth she had. He sighed in relief and joined her in the pit, sinking into his own little space among all the rainbow-coloured balls. Emmett followed soon after along with Edward.

"I don't think they'll be of much use to us now." Bella remarked, "Let's go. I'll help you and Rose unpack."

They had a nice start in the new house, thanks to Grace. Renesmee even forgot about her goodbye to Jake for a short while. It was decided that he'd stay in Forks for another month to convince Charlie that Bella's okay before he'll fly over and join them in England. Renesmee already prepared his room just in case he arrived sooner.

While on the topic, the pack was extremely heartbroken when hearing about the move. Mostly because they all grew to love Grace and considered her part of the pack. But they knew just as well as everyone else that the Cullens moving to England would be much safer for Grace. No one knew if they'd visit, but it was the least of their worries.

The Volturi expected them to arrive in a week, but knowing Aro, he probably already sent out a few spies to report back to him if they arrived sooner. After everyone was done unpacking and decorating their rooms, they joined up in the living room.

"I've spoken to Aro." Carlisle spoke softly, "He decided to let Demetri stay with us to be close to Grace."

That caused an uproar among the entire coven, except for Esme who already knew of this news.

"He can't just decide like that!" Rose jumped at the opportunity, "It's our house!"

"She's right, shouldn't we have a say in this thing as well?" Emmett backed her up.

Esme shook her head, "It was not negotiable. Aro didn't ask, he ordered."

"But if Demetri's going to be staying with us, what about Grace?" Alice worried, "He'll try draining her at every chance he gets and we won't be around all the time. We need to hunt."

"We'll take turns on staying with her as we did back in Forks," Edward answered what he read in Carlisle's head.

Carlisle nodded, "Yes, but there's more. To ensure that we keep our promises Demetri will be accompanied by one of the ancients and a guard member who will change every few months."

Anyone who knew how much the Cullens despised the Volturi could have guessed the horrified looks on their faces. None of them wanted to live under the same roof with either the witch twins or Caius. Felix and Marcus were bearable, maybe Aro too at some point, but the others... The same thought ran through each of their minds. How will this ever work out?

Everyone knew just as well that Demetri was a Casanova when it came to women. There probably wasn't one vampire female in the Volturi that he hasn't had a relationship with, whether it was an innocent flirtation or a one night stand. How could they be 100% sure he will wait eighteen years - while also forgetting his old habits, to have Grace?

"You know, this problem started the moment we decided to keep Grace," Rose said in frustration.

"Are you regretting it?" Carlisle asked calmly, remembering very well she was the first to vote in favour of keeping her.

Rosalie met his golden eyes in a stern stare, "No. Not even the tiniest bit. If you and Esme didn't find her in the woods she wouldn't have had a chance to live. We gave her that chance. Just like she gave us several other chances. You and Esme got the chance to be real parents, if this works out Emmett and I will have a chance to adopt a baby ourselves one day, Edward and Bella have another chance at parenting, Jasper had the chance to control his thirst, Renesmee got the chance to have a sister. Grace gave us several chances, so I intend on giving her another one."

Esme smiled, feeling proud of Rosalie's sudden change in character, "What about Demetri? Does he deserve another chance?"

The blonde frowned as she thought but came to an answer shortly, "I intend on giving him half."