Love Sucks

I stretched and rolled over, smiling as I looked at my sleeping baby and husband. I knew the truth now, he had always, and would always be loyal to me. And my baby was beautiful and happy and healthy. What more could I have asked for?

There was a knock at the hotel door. “Who is it?” I called, getting up so as not to disturb Henry or Orla. I glanced through the peep hole. There was a small gathering outside the door of vampires. This must be the Cullens, I thought to myself.

“We’re here,” said a tall man, who looked like the oldest in the bunch. “I’m Carlisle Cullen. Are you the Carsons? We are here to meet you…”

“Hold on just a moment,” I said. I turned to sleeping Henry. “Get your ass up, we have company!”

The two of us got dressed, and I gently dressed sleeping Orla in a pretty pink dress that her grandma Greta had bought for her. I swear, Orla will sleep through anything!

I opened the door after throwing the bloodied and soiled linens in a pile in the corner, and beckoned them to come in.

“Let me introduce you to everyone,” said Carlisle, a man with brown hair and gleaming topaz eyes. “This is my wife Esmé. Over there, the blonde one with curly hair is Rosalie, the one next to her is Emmett. And the brunette with short hair is Alice, and that is Jasper standing next to her…”

“And I’m Edward,” said a very handsome guy with medium length hair. He held a little girl in his arms, and she, like my Orla, looked stunningly beautiful. “This is my wife Bella, and our daughter RenEsmé.”

“Wow, looks like a full house!” I laughed. Surprisingly, only Bella and I laughed at the joke. Everyone else just stared at us like we had just sprouted another head. “I’m being rude. Let me introduce you to my husband, Henry. And this is my new daughter, Orla. And I’m Gia. It’s nice to meet you all.”

We all made our exchanges, and then Renesmébeckoned her father to bring her closer to me. I gasped as she touched my cheek. Her hand felt warm, surprisingly warmer than Orla’s. I saw a vision of Bella, her mother give birth to her, and I cringed. Wow, I guess Orla’s birth was a cakewalk compared to that.

“What is she doing to my wife?” barked Henry as he strode over to protect me. Bella, Edward, and Rosalie hissed angrily, and Carlisle held up his hand.

“This is RenEsmé’s talent,” said Carlisle gently. “She can show you things, experiences that she has been through.

RenEsmé’s hand left my face, and I kissed her little hand. “Wow, I am in awe…”

“What did she show you?” asked Edward and Henry at the same time.

“Her birth,” I said, picking up Orla from the bed. She suddenly woke, and her eyes began to dart around the room, looking at the strangers who now occupied it. “Your daughter’s birth was way more violent than mine was. Were you a vampire?”

“I was human when I had her,” said Bella, taking a step towards me. “But then, how did you have Orla?”

“I was a newly fledged vampire when I gave birth to her,” I said. “George Carson thinks that since I still have some human left in me, I was still able to conceive. That and the fact that Henry is potent…”

Henry blushed, and Emmett and Jasper snickered. “Now, now, let’s not get off topic,” said Carlisle as he sat in the desk chair. “We are all here to-”

At that moment, there was a knock on the door, followed by some semi-drunken laughter, and scolding. I threw open the door, and there stood Greta, George, and Rollo Carson, and Fionghuala O’ Malley, who had been doing something naughty with Rollo before I had opened the door. Greta shot Rollo a very dirty look.

“Sorry we are late, but we had to wait for this one over here,” growled Greta as she gestured at Rollo. “He had to go back to Ireland to bring Fionghuala here. I swear…”

“Carlisle,” said George as he strode towards him and shook his hand. “As you know, this is Greta and Rollo, and Rollo’s girlfriend Fionghuala.”

“Hello,” smiled Carlisle. “Now, let’s get down to business.”

“Why have we all been called here?” asked Bella.

“Henry has told me of your experiences with wolves,” I began slowly. “We are having trouble with them in our neck of the woods. It’s a long story…”

“Well, we have all the time in the world, seeing as we are all vampires,” smiled Alice. “Go on.”

“Okay then,” I said, rocking Orla gently. “It all started when I entered college. I met Henry there, and we fell in love. That was back when I was human…”

“My ex-boyfriend was also in the same college as me, and as usual, he tried to get back together with me, but I obviously refused him,” I continued. “But it wasn’t enough for Andrew. Somehow, he had gotten the Brethren to capture me on my way to school. I was put into a dingy cell, and then later thrown into a torture chamber, bleeding half to death. Then they captured Henry, and threw him in there with me…”

The Cullen’s looked back at me with wide, open eyes. “How could she have survived that?” asked Emmett.

“Unbelievable, those flea-bitten dogs!” hissed Rosalie.

“That’s not all,” I said, handing Orla to Henry. “They then took me out of the room, and Andrew led me to another room. He tried, and almost succeeded in seducing me right in front of Henry. He was a wolf, a second in line to Cicero in the Brethren.”

“We managed to escape eventually from the prison, and a few days later, I was attacked,” I said, shuddering as I remembered.

“Do not be sad,” said Renesmé in such a sweet voice that melted my heart.

“Thanks, angel,” I smiled back at her. “Well, I was put in a trance as I walked out of my house late one night. Then, a wolf bit me. Cicero had bitten me, and made me a wolf…”

Rosalie cringed, and all of the Cullens with the exception of Bella, Edward, and Renesmé stepped away from me. Henry began to growl viciously.

“I came to George, seeking help, but he told me I was no longer human, and that the only way to not be a wolf was to kill the one that had bitten me, and become a vampire. Well, Cicero is dead now, and as you can tell, I am not a wolf…”

The tension in the room died down, and everyone took one step forward, relieved I was not a wolf. “Andrew Blood is now the new chieftain over the Brethren, and he warned me at my wedding that war is imminent for the wolves and vampires. This is why you are all here. We need as much help as we can get.”

“And why should we help you when this is YOUR problem,” said Jasper icily. He walked up to me, and gave me such a glare that I thought I would turn to stone.

“I have a daughter,” I said, trying to gather some courage. “She means the world to me. I would hate for her to lose any one of us to this war. Bella, you know how I feel. Tell Jasper!”

Bella bit her lip, and looked nervous. “She’s right. I would do anything for Renesmé, and even protected her from the family as soon as she was a part of me. It’s a mother’s instinct, and it cannot be broken. But I still want to know why you think we could defeat the Brethren as you call it. What gives us the upper hand?”

“Bella, you are forgetting that you had to deal with wolves yourself,” said George. “Or do you so easily forget when you had your situation with the Quileute tribe… and Jake Black?”

“Do not mention the name of that scum in front of me,” growled Rosalie. “He is thankfully under control, although he had imprinted on Renesmé…”

“Imprinted?” asked Henry, Rollo, and I together.

“It means that Jake has bound himself to Renesmé,” said Carlisle. “They are now soul mates, and when she comes of age, he will have her for his bride…”

“Ew,” I said. “That’s sick. I would have killed him if it were me.”

“Trust me, most of us wanted to do the deed,” said Edward, smiling his perfect smile. “But Bella still cares for him, so we couldn’t…”

“Ladies and gentlemen,” said George as he cleared his throat. “War is on the horizon, and we must be gathering our troops up to make our stand. The Carsons will stand and fight, but the question is, will the Cullens help us fight?”

The room fell silent. “You all have to be ashamed of yourselves!” said an angry voice making us all jump. It was Rollo who broke the silence. “All of you have power, power that would help put us in the advantage. Like you Edward! You are just like me! You’re a mind reader! And Alice, you can foretell the future, another advantage to our side! All of you are fast, agile, cunning, intelligent, and the BEST vampires on the face of the earth, and you are going to let one of your own kind just DIE? You are all a bunch of pussified cowards!”

“SAY THAT TO MY FACE!” shouted Jasper as he slammed Rollo against the wall, and threw the first punch. Rollo began to hit him back, and chaos began to ensue.

I shook my head as Carlisle and George pulled Jasper and Rollo off of each other. “I’m more of a man than you’ll ever fucking be!” shouted Jasper as he nursed several cuts and a fat bleeding lip. “Step to this mother fucker!”

“Sorry, didn’t catch that, I don’t speak PUSSY!” shouted Rollo as he held a bloody nose. Jasper lunged at him, but thankfully Emmett, Carlisle, and Edward held him back.

“I’M GONNA KILL HIM!” shouted Jasper, trying to wriggle out of their grasps. “LET ME AT HIM!”

“STOP THIS RIGHT NOW!” I shouted as loud as I could. I stood in the middle of the fight, and the guys stopped their advances. “Is this the proper way to behave? IN FRONT OF WOMEN AND YOUNG CHILDREN?! It is strange, but maybe the longer you’ve been a vampire, the longer you forget your MANNERS! Both of you are acting like SAVAGES! This is the last thing we need in a war is to have our allies divided! Now, we are all going to at least TRY to get along, or else I will bring the smack down, understand?”

“Well spoken, Gia,” said Carlisle and George. George took his son’s face in his hands, and closed his eyes. Rollo’s bloody nose cleared instantly, and then George moved over to work on Jasper.

“Seeing as to what has happened,” said Esmé, finally speaking after Jasper was healed. “I think we should all take a break, and go for a walk and regroup. Does this sound fair?”

Everyone agreed, and we all left the hotel room to go out . Henry handed me back Orla, and I walked with him on the beach. “Could that have been any worse?” I asked miserably. “God, why does Rollo have to be such a prick?”

“Would you love him any more than you do now?” asked Henry as he kissed the top of Orla’s head.

“No, but it would sure as hell cause less problems!” I growled. Orla laughed, and I almost dropped her out of astonishment. “Did she just-”

“I could have sworn she had just laughed,” said Henry, looking at the smiling baby in my arms. “I guess she thinks you’re funny.”

“Well, I’ll be so funny when I kick Rollo’s behind all the way to the moon if he doesn’t quit with the whole ‘I’m a macho man, and you are a wimpy girly man’ deal!” I hissed.

Orla giggled her little baby giggle, and this time, we saw it. “Oh my gosh,” I said. “That is the cutest thing I’ve ever seen and heard. Do you think she understands us?”

“She must,” said Henry as he shrugged his shoulders. “That, or she just really thinks it’s funny when you get mad. I think it’s sexy when you get all fired up and angry…”

“And I think it’s sexy how you are father nature,” I smirked as I kissed Henry. Orla made a raspberry noise, and then laughed once more. “Orla my darling daughter, what is the matter? What are you making noises at?”

“Ma ma… da da!” exclaimed Orla joyfully. My mouth dropped open in utter shock. “Ma ma! MA MA!”

“Her first words!” said Henry and me together.

“She’ll have talent yet!” I smirked, kissing Orla all over and spinning her around in my arms. “After all, she gets her intelligence from her mother…”

“And she will get her powers from her father,” said Henry as he held Orla’s tiny little hand in his own.

“I just wish there was some way to know what powers she will have,” I said as we walked back to the hotel.

“Hey you guys!” said Bella as she strode towards us from the opposite end of the beach. Edward came in tow carrying RenEsmé. “What’s going on?”

“Our Orla just said her first words,” said Henry, beaming like a proud father. “She said ma ma and da da!”

“How sweet,” said Edward. “How old is she?”

“She’s got to be a day old,” I said. “I gave birth to her yesterday. Let me tell you, during the pregnancy, it was all pain and misery. But it was all worth it for my Orla.”

“What pain did you experience?” asked Edward gently.

Henry looked uncomfortable. “When I found out the news, I went to tell my mother and she flipped out on me and disowned me. And when I came home, I found that Henry had cheated on me.”

Bella and Edward shot Henry such a dirty look, filled with loathing and hatred. “But it was all a setup. But at the time, I didn’t know. I fled here to Italy, and starved myself of human and animal blood. I barely came out of this alive, but I am grateful that Rollo had found me and saved me and Orla here. Without Rollo, we would have been long gone.”

They smiled back at us. “It seems fate has played into your hands, as it did ours,” said Edward. “You two have a binding love like Bella and I do. And no matter what comes in between, the love you share overcomes all obstacles.”

“Were you ever a writer or a poet before you were turned?” I asked incredulously. “Surely you must have been from the way you have with words.”

“I know, I am so lucky to have him,” smiled Bella as Edward wrapped his arm around her. “He is amazing, just like your Henry.”

“Thank you,” I smiled. “Maybe one day Renesmécould have a play-date with Orla? Wouldn’t that be nice?”

“Yes, please,” said Renesméas she nodded her beautiful head gently.