Animal I Have Become

"I've decided to marry Damon," I broke the news only to be greeted by the silence in the room.

"What?" Jacob finally broke the silence and he sounded furious, as he grabbed me by my arms and stared at me. "Have you gone completely mental?"

I kept quiet and felt someone resting their hand on my shoulder. I turned to face Carlisle who looked disturbed by my decision.

"Why would you do that, Nessie?" he asked in his formal tone.

"The other vampires would be here in a few hours. You don't have to do this," Daddy stood up, his voice showed signs of desperation.

"Don't you get it? He's stronger than anyone of you!" I screeched.

"We can take you away," Daddy started again, "To Alaska or Greenland."

"He'll find me and the whole ordeal would start again," I felt tears again as I turned to look at my family. "I don't want anyone to hurt because of me. He made that pretty clear! And if you ask me to close my eyes and let the event happen - I can't!"

"We'll go to the Volturi," Carlisle suggested but I shook my head.

"If they don't see any problems in the rapid human decline over at Forks, I don't see why they would even bother helping us."

"This is too much, Nessie!" Jacob was breathing heavily and I turned to look at him, taking his hand in mine.

"I love you Jacob. But I can't just stand back and watch things turn sour," red water was blinding my eyes but I ignored it.

"If you love me, you wouldn't think of things this way! You're crossing a line, Nessie. And it's breaking my heart," Jacob glared at me with cold eyes.

"I'm sorry, but I have to do this," I apologized and he jerked his hand away in anger.

"I've had enough with falling in love with a vampire," his voice was emotionless. "Two heartbreaks is -" He took a deep breath. "Goodbye Nessie."

I watched Jacob walked out of my life - probably for good. And quickly wiped my bloody tears away before turning to the family.

"Please Nessie. We love you. And if you stay with Damon, you won't be safe." Alice looked sad.

I shook my head, my decision final.

"If you treat me like family, you'd respect my decision. Please Carlisle. You know that we have only two options.The Volturi and this," I pleaded with my grandfather with desperation in my eyes. "I can't let anyone else suffer because of me."

Turning to Alice, I asked her, "Do you see him attacking anyone in a few minutes?"

She stood in silence before shaking her head. "He seems to be sitting in his car watching people walk by."

I turned to look at Carlisle again. I knew he had the final say in things.

"I told him not to attack anyone," I paused when Daddy balled his fists. "And he didn't! He kept his word."

"How can you support the idea!" Daddy hissed, standing.

"I don't like this idea either, Edward. But your daughter has a point," Carlisle's lips was thin as he glanced at Daddy.

"So we're just going to give up the fight? Is that it?"

When everyone else was silent, Daddy huffed and shook his head. "Then I'd rather die than give my daughter away to an animal."

Daddy turned to walk out of the house. I looked at the others who seemed to be digesting the gravity of the situation. Then, I ran out after Daddy.

He was sitting by the branches of the tree, looking up at the sky. With one swift move, I was on the tree branch, sitting next to him.

There was silence between us for the next couple of minutes before Daddy start laughing softly to himself.

"The day I brought your mother here on this tree, I knew that she was the one for me," he muttered in a soft voice and I turned to look at him. "She was the clumsy type, no doubt about that. But that's what I love about her."

I didn't know where this conversation was going but I kept quiet anyway.

"You have no idea the number of times she'd ask me to turn her into one of us. And I'd always tell her no. I didn't have the right to take away her life to bring her into this curse of a life - I didn't want to see her suffer for three days during her transformation.

"But despite her nature, she really loves the people around her. She'd even sacrifice herself for them."

I felt my heart tear when I heard the sorrow in Daddy's tone. I reached out and held his hand and he squeezed them gently.

"I mean that literally, Ness. Once, a tracker caught her scent. And even tricked her to meet him telling your mother that he had your grandmother. Your mother braved her fears and found a way to slip past our eyes to meet the tracker. I was lucky to get there and destroy him before he could drain the blood out of your mother."

I froze when I heard of that story. No one's told me that story at all. I heard him sigh and turned again.

"The point is, I can see that you have one of her traits. You'd sacrifice yourself for other's safety. And then, you have my stubborness," he reached out to push a strand of hair behind my ears. "After your mother, I promised myself that I would not let any harm come unto you. You're making me break my promise."

I shook my head, feeling warm tears engulf me. "I know my decision is heart-breaking. But I know what I'm doing, Daddy. You have to trust me on this. I don't want anyone else to hurt because of me. You know that."

Slowly, he nodded his head and kissed my hand. "I know, sweetie. I know."

He pulled away and looked up at the sky again. "But if he lay a hand on you, we leave this place."

Slowly, I gave him a hug. He is finally giving me the permission.

I ran towards the meadow and waited there, thinking of my decision again.

Was I right to do this? In the expense of everyone else's feelings? I know I've cut a deep hole into Jacob's heart and Daddy had some difficulty accepting my decision.

Other people lives are at stake. You're the only one who can stop this from happening, the voice in my head told me.

"I was beginning to wonder if you ran away," Damon was in front of me within a second, causing me to jump backwards.

"Why would I do that?" I snapped, in irritation.

Instead he chuckled. "You're fifteen minutes late. And I don't like waiting."

His eyes was so dark, he looked really evil when he stared at me without blinking. After a minute, he shrugged and started pacing.

"Even if you do run away, I'll find you," he said in a casual tone.

"Why are you doing this?" I asked and eyed him as he circled around me. "Why me?"

He stopped pacing and titled his head up and laughed.

"Because what I want, I get." He shook his hand and pointed to me. "So I assume you come here to me with good news?"

When I kept quiet, he knew that he was right. He walked over to me and caressed my face again, this time, I didn't move away.

"Then let's plan a grand wedding." He bent down and his lips touched mine.