Supernova - Chapter 7: I was not alone

Sorry for the delay, will be updating daily now. Only a few chapters left. You will get to know Ignacio a little more by the end.

 Amirah Cullen

 

I didn’t know what it was like to imprint. I had heard the stories and seen the memories, but I could never have been prepared for experiencing it myself. Whilst it was strangely euphoric, there was also a growing sense of dread in my stomach. It was all real, the coming war, the threat. If I imprinted on part demon shapeshifter, the only one of his kind, there was more to this than just an imprint.

The sickening feeling in my stomach only grew the longer I stared at Ignacio a few feet away from me.

It was that moment I realised that most of Ignacio’s pack had left the room when Zio had dismissed the guard. There were but a few of his pack remaining and all of them were on their knees behind their leader. Their heads were bowed to me.

“Mia,” Ignacio said softly, the smile that covered his face was childlike and full of adoration. The way he said my name was like a prayer. I tore my eyes from the man in the room and looked to Zio. He gave me a nod, almost of sorrow and defeat. He knew id imprinted without me even having to say a word.

“We shall provide rooms for you and your pack,” Zio said turning to Ignacio.

“thank you, that will be much appreciated” Vicente responded to Zio when Ignacio said nothing. He was still staring at me, but I had looked away and turned back to Axton. My mother had dropped her grip on me now as I stared at the man I loved.

Everything was the same. I expected something would have changed, would I now see him as a brother? As a nobody? But no. I still felt what I felt when I looked at him. I still loved him. I still wanted him at my side. It was all the same.

He finally looked at me and it was as if he was waiting. Even though he knew it had happened he wanted the confirmation, the permission to our agreement. Tears in my eyes as I gave him a nod and with one blink both he and Alena were gone from the room.

I didn’t let the emotion overcome me, I pushed it back and turned to Ignacio and his people in the room.

“we shall plan the unification immediately” Vicente announced with a clasp of his hands as he looked between me and Ignacio.

“no” I responded and stepped down from the stage.

“I’m sorry excuse me?” Vicente asked a little confused as to my response.

“unification sounds like marriage to me and I’m not being funny, but I’ve just met the man. When exactly is this war supposed to be happening? Do I at least have time to get to know the man you’re going to bind me to?” I asked and Vicente immediately bowed his head in response to my words.

“the prophecy isn’t clear.” He spoke.

“then we could have years” I said watching him.

“or hours” he responded.

“why did you wait so long to come for me? If you knew I existed, if you knew we were destined why didn’t you come sooner?” I asked turning to Ignacio.

“you weren’t alpha” he responded with a small tilt of his head and his gaze fell on my mother on the stage behind us.

“how did you know I became alpha?” I asked trying to get his attention back.

“I dream of you. I see you. I have my whole life.” He said and I would almost think it was sweet, but it also freaked me out a little. He’d been watching my entire life in his dreams and I had no clue he even existed?

“All we know is we had to wait until you became alpha of your pack. After that the prophecy is vague and uncertain. We know to merge our packs and our power. And to do it before the enemy arrives” Vicente said but he seemed submissive to my presence as if he didn’t want to question me but also needed to answer the question.

“Mia is right Vicente. There is time. She hasn’t had the time to get used to this as we have. We have been waiting for years for this moment. She was reading books on a clifftop only a few weeks ago.” Ignacio spoke and his hand clasped onto his friend’s shoulder. He wasn’t kidding about that dreaming me thing. “I have been in isolation my whole life; my only experience of the western world has been in books and film. I hope to learn more about your culture, to see your life first before I become a part of it” he said with a sideways grin as he turned to look at me. “will you show me it? With permission from your master of course” he said with a glance to Zio.

“he’s not my master” I responded and turned to Zio.

“I must insist you remain in the Volturi mansion, at least for the time being until we learn about you and your people. If you cooperate, if you help us understand what is to come, we may be able to discuss some level of freedom” Zio said before pausing. “I hope you understand. Seeing what you can do, I cannot let that free. Not until we have built a level of trust”.

“I understand. Can I have visitors though? Mia? can she still teach me?” he asked hopeful, and my heart swelled at the words.

“yes.” Zio said with a nod. “if she wishes.” Ignacio turned to smile at me again and I noticed his black eyes weren’t completely black. They were much like Vicente’s, only they swam with orange. Like the sun instead of the ocean.

A few moments later three members of the guard entered. Zio nodded and they walked over to the door at the back of the room that led back to the lobby and the entrance to the guest quarters in the mansion.

“please follow my guard, they will show you to your apartments, there are only four in this area of the mansion, but we will provide board in a local hotel for the rest of your pack. I must insist that you, Vicente and your seer remain in the Volturi mansion. We will have to work together to understand what is to come.” Zio announced. Ignacio nodded.

“thank you for your hospitality.” He spoke. I knew he was being polite, but I wondered if Ignacio could hear the threat and fear behind Zio’s words. Yes, Ignacio was now protected by an imprint, Zio understood the basics of it but it didn’t mean that the unknown and the promise of a war did not terrify him.

“ill come see you later” I said to Ignacio when he looked at me expectantly. He frowned slightly at my words.

“I need some air.” I explained because honestly, I felt like screaming and I needed to be in a big open field of some kind before I did that in case, I lost any kind of control. He nodded understandingly and I wondered truly how much this man knew about me. It felt almost unfair.

I turned and walked straight into my mother, taking her hand and pulling her with me out the opposite door to Ignacio and out to the gardens of the Volturi.

She didn’t say a word as I led her into the depths of the forest that surrounded the Volturi.

When I was sure we were safe enough away that any wave of power wouldn’t hurt anyone, I let go of her hand, made sure she was behind me, and then I screamed.

“did that make you feel better?” she asked me.

“yes” I sighed as I came to sit next to her on a root of a large tree. “where’s dad?” I asked her after a moment of silence between us.

“we figured you didn’t want both your parents following you around so he’s keeping his distance for you” she explained as I leant my head on her shoulder.

Daddy? Can you come sit with us? I asked, using some of my magic to send him a message telepathically. It only took him a moment and suddenly he was sitting next to me on the root. I had both my parents each side of me and his arm wrapped around us both.

It didn’t matter how old I was in that moment. It didn’t matter that I was a fully grown woman with my own pack and the world on her shoulders and all the power that I had. Time didn’t matter when it came to family. As a kid I never needed a sibling, I had the wolves as my brothers and in that moment, I was grateful these two people were just mine. I was their world and, in a world, where I didn’t fit in or know who I was that was all that mattered to me growing up.

“did you know? Or did you wonder?” I asked after a moment of silence as both my parents just held me.

“no” my mother responded but she looked up at my father as if she was hiding something.

“please. Just tell me” I said, and the emotion cracked at my voice. Had my parents been keeping something from me my entire life?

“we didn’t know,” my father began but he pulled away so he could talk to me properly. “but my mother, the grandmother you never met. She was a witch.” He explained. I nodded.

“she cursed you so you couldn’t be a wolf, so you turned yourself to stay with mom” I finished the story. Id heard it a dozen times.

“after a few years of her trying endlessly to break me and your mother up I asked her why. Shed never given me a straight answer but there were a few things that stayed in my mind years later” he explained.

“and what were they?” I asked carefully.

“she would talk about abominations and unnatural forces. She was honestly crazy towards the end. I didn’t think anything she was saying was true. I just thought she hated our species. But she said that I couldn’t get in the way of other forces that were to come to earth. I don’t know if she had seer powers but the things, she said seem to make a little more sense now if she was scared of me being in this world”.

“but if she didn’t want you to be with mom and make me, she wanted the demons to win. If Ignacio and I are the answer to this, that means she wanted the world to end” I frowned.

“probably. She was a bit psychotic” he said.

“well, I’m glad you didn’t listen” I said with a small smile.

“me too” he said with a small chuckle and pulled me back into his side.

Amirah. When you’re ready, Zio would like to talk to you. There is no rush. Esther’s voice suddenly filled my head.

Ill be there soon. I replied and turned to my parents. I stood and faced them in front of me, each one of my hands held one of theirs between us.

“I know you’re going to want to protect me through this. I know you’re going to find it harder than anyone.” I began. These two had done so much to keep me safe. Sacrificed so much.

“but I need you to trust me. I need you both to let me go” I said.

“you know that’s impossible.” My mother answered.

“I’m fifty-four years old” I chuckled.

“years are nothing. You are our child.” My mother responded.

“I won’t pretend to understand how hard it is for you. but I guess I’m here for a reason and I need to be free to fulfil that reason without having people hold me back” I said watching their faces. They were confused why I was saying this. But I just had a gut feeling, that dread in my stomach after I imprinted was returning. Something inside me was saying I needed to be fully accepting of any potential fate to this situation.

“we’re not leaving you. but we will give you the space you need.” My father said with a nod. My mother turned to look at him in disbelief.

“I need you to say it too momma” I sighed. “I will have the wolves; I will have a new pack. I will always have the protection you strived to give me.”

“I can’t stand back and watch you lead a war” she said shaking her head. She stood, dropping my hand out of hers and she walked away from me.

“ill talk to her” my dad said standing before me. His cold hand rested on my jaw. He raised my head to kiss my forehead. “give her some time.” He added with a soft smile and went off to find my mother. He was gone in a blink of my eye, so I walked slowly, human pace, back to the Volturi mansion to find Zio.

I knocked on his study door, but the door opened under my touch.

“Amirah” he said with a smile as I entered. His wife was sitting on the edge of his desk.

“Esther said you wanted to speak to me” I said closing the door behind me. Zio walked over to one of the two armchairs that sat in front of the fireplace. His study was warm and cosy. I hadn’t seen Asta or Matthews studies but Zio had the largest one, I knew that much. It was decorated mostly black and white. It had a grand fireplace along one wall with a large map of the world above it. The other had some bookshelves and his large desk in the corner. One end had a floor to ceiling door that entered one of the many gardens around the mansion. There was also a secret passageway behind one of the bookshelves. Ophelia had told me that. The entire mansion had secrets and hidden security exits everywhere. Even if it was the most secure building in the entire world. It also housed some of the most powerful beings that might need to escape if the wrong person got let in. I also knew a lot of these measures were put in place in lieu of Matthew’s daughter being kidnapped centuries ago.

I sat in the seat opposite Zio, and Chantelle came to sit on his lap. I watched as their presence melded into each other. How incredibly natural it looked for her to be with him. It was timeless. Like so many other couples in my family.

“I know you probably want to be with people you’re close with right now, but I wanted to get this out of the way. Get things into the open and hopefully make you feel better about the situation.” He said. I had no idea what this conversation was for actually.

“the other day, I told you we’d never faced a foe Esther couldn’t ultimately defeat. We came close once, when we were up against an immortal witch and we nearly lost Esther. In fact, we did, for several months.” He explained I nodded. I knew the story of Lilim. It was how Axton became indebted to the Cullen family. There was a nudge from Chantelle. “what I mean is, I didn’t mean to scare you. I didn’t mean to put this whole thing on your shoulders. I know Ignacio said he was here for you, that we’re not important but we have experience here, I don’t want you to think we’re going to step back and make you do all this yourself. Anything you need, we will help. Even if we can’t risk Esther in there. There are many more here that can fight” he explained.

“you aren’t alone Mia” Chantelle said softly, and I saw that she regretted saying my name. She knew it was reserved for certain people. “I’m sorry. Nessie calls you that all the time.” She backtracked but I could see her maternal side was screaming to protect her sister’s granddaughter. My grandmother was everything to her and she would want to do everything to save me from a fate that would hurt Renesmee.

“it’s okay” I said and smiled at her. “thank you” I said sincerely. Hearing I wasn’t alone was something I didn’t realise I needed until she said the words. Tears were suddenly in my eyes and I felt like I had no control over the emotion building up.

“I feel like the whole world has been handed to me, I wasn’t raised for this” I barely said more than a whisper, but the hybrids in the room could still hear it.

I had my head in my hands, but I heard Chantelle move from the lap or her husband and she knelt before me. Her hands rested on my knees and I moved my hands to look at her.

I had heard stories of Chantelle my whole life. They ranged from the badass mind controlling wife of the Volturi leader, to the little girl that idolised Renesmee and got what ever she wanted as a child. I didn’t meet her until I was in my twenties. She didn’t even know I existed before then. I had never seen her maternal side; I had never seen her outside of the Volturi until a few months ago when she came to stay with my grandmother.

“I promise you. I will be by your side. I’ve had some experience in people getting thrown into a position of power unexpectedly” she said with a sly smile to her husband at our side. I nodded, feeling solace in the fact Zio had a similar origin story to my own.

“you are not alone.” She said again and reached up to wipe the tear from my cheek that had finally fallen.

“thank you” I said sincerely as I stared into her blue eyes.

“I don’t know where to even start with all of this” I said looking to Zio at myside. He had been staring at his wife. He turned to look at me.

“we’ll consult with Ignacio’s people; we’ll hold meetings and get to know them. We didn’t even know a tribe of shapeshifters existed in Chile until now. As far as we were aware most of the shapeshifting tribes of the world had migrated to join Zac and Leah in their pack. I have invited the alphas to come join in on the meeting, to be involved with this. We’ll find out as much as we can and keep you updated. For now, I think the only thing you can do is to get to know your imprint.”

I nodded, appreciating that the understanding of the situation wasn’t going to be all on me.

“I need you to make sure they’re open to working with us. I didn’t mean to sound like I was threatening them before, but I can not let them leave this building. Not until we know what’s going on. I worry they will not entirely listen to me; they do not see the Volturi as a necessity in this war,” he said with an intensity of emotions. Fear was the strongest. I could see that undoubtedly.

“I’m sorry about before, by the way. For denying that you were my master in front of them. I know I shouldn’t have said that. It may have worsened the situation.” I said with a nervous smile.

“It was the truth. You are not a Volturi guard member. You won’t be treated as such. They will listen to you, and if we work together, we can be a partnership. You will have my full arsenal at your disposal. Minus Esther of course,” he said, and I was glad there wasn’t members of his guard around when I disobeyed their leader.

“if I tell him I have some power in the decisions, his pack will listen. They already see me as their alpha” I said remembering what Vicente had said about him being a friend to me as I was his future alpha. I believed him now. I believed all his actions were that of a pack brother.

“I put him in the grand guest house. Vicente is in the one next door.” He continued and I nodded again.

“Thank you.” I said and turned back to Chantelle who was still by my side. “when you talk to my grandmother, because I know you’re going to tell her, tell her I will be okay” I said suddenly optimistic for the first time in a week. She smiled at me.

“I will. I’ll make sure she knows you have me too.”

“I’m going to hold you to that promise.” I said and leaning forward to hug her.

“ill keep you update with anything Ignacio tells me,” I said to both Chanti and Zio as I headed for the door.

“we will do the same for you.” he said with a nod and he took Chantelle hand at his side.

“thank you” I said with a smile and left the Volturi leaders in the study.

I stood in the hall of the Volturi mansion and noticed it was empty. The leader’s studies were in the guard end of the mansion. This hall led directly to the guard lounge quarters and yet the wing was silent. The floor to ceiling windows into the rec room showed me no one was around. The room was normally buzzing with life. I followed the corridor round to the throne room and walked through it to the hall that led to the guest rooms. They were apartments really. They all had 1 bedroom, a small kitchen, bathroom, and seating area. They were for anyone due to stay at the Volturi for more than one day as a guest. It was either those rooms of the jail cells in the basement. I was grateful Zio didn’t seen Ignacio as enough of a threat to keep him in those.

I was fairly sure Zio was scared enough to try and stay on Ignacio’s good side.

I climbed the stairs to the top floor where the biggest guest room was. Each guest room was themed a different theme. The guest waiting rooms were colourised. We had the blue, green, yellow and grey rooms and then the main guest apartments had other themes. There was a beach room, a forest room, a mountain room and the largest was the space room. The bedroom ceiling was covered in LED lights to look like stars. It was almost ironic.

I stood at the other end of the door. I was scared. Actually, I was terrified to knock.

Behind this door was my destiny and part of me didn’t want to face it. For it to become real.

But then the other part of me was bouncing with excitement to meet the one person that would be by my side through it all. Chantelle's words echoed through my head as I knocked. The words I was sure would get me through this. They weren't just about Chantelle or the Volturi, or even Axton and Alena or my parents. I had my other half now. I had my imprint.

I was not alone.