elegance | victoria sutherland

quinze

"you're engaged?" sequoia asked, frustration evident in her voice.

"yes?" bella questioned her sister's annoyance.

"are you out of your mind?" the witch raised her voice, "you are eighteen, that's way too young to be getting married bella!"

"but i'm his mate!"

"i know you are, but does that really stop the boyfriend-girlfriend process beforehand? i mean sure, you've dated for nearly two years now, but must i remind you that you've just graduated. hell! you're going to turn into one soon, what are you gonna tell dad, huh? you just going to say that you're dead?"

"probably-"

"bella! listen to yourself, you're choosing death over family, why? just live your life a bit longer-"

"i've already had this stupid chat with rosalie, besides, you're immortal."

"and i didn't have the choice. compare my life to yours, do you really think i want to be here forever?"

"don't bring some suicidal shit into this-"

"my suicidal shit? you're the one who jumped off a fucking cliff!" sequoia shouted, fuming from her sister's ignorance.

"and look who's getting married."

"well look who's getting hunted by an army of vampires."

-

standing in a line, the cullens waited and watched the army rush towards them. as they made their way to the clearing, the family matched their pace. they punched through the skulls of others, ripping their head from their necks.

it didn't take long for the wolves to arrive, they ran in, immediately taking effect on the fight. pouncing on the newborns, flipping them away and biting their heads off. neither creature seemed to notice the redhead in the background, scanning the scene for who she wants - bella.

another wolf appeared on the scene, attacking the first newborn they saw. the fight went on, none of the wolves or cullens being hurt. more bodies were being thrown to various places, not doing much damage on the other vampires. footsteps were stomping on every inch of the clearing, the vampire's increased hearing abilities easily allowed them to tell when someone was coming.

the fight was carrying on cleanly, not for the newborns necessarily. the shattering of body parts was heard on multiple occasions. victoria's army was depleting fast, but it still gave her the chance to escape without anyone noticing. she fled towards the cooler, higher altitudes, seemly following a scent she got a catch of.

-

"do you want me to put myself in danger or something alice?" sequoia hushed through the phone's microphone.

"of course not, we just-"

"haven't you seen the vision? you'll be fine."

"but i can't see you in my visions remember, i won't know whether we did need your help or not. i also didn't see anything on victoria, does she come to the fight scene?"

"i don't know-" the witch started to lie.

"or does she find bella? do we need to find a different-"

"i don't know alice, i haven't seen anything on victoria, my visions are usually similar to yours anyways," the witch responded. she was honestly sick of alice's attempts to make her fight, they would be fine with the wolves. but why was alice so adamant to get her into the forest?

"you'll keep me updated right?"

"sure?" she questioned, not totally set on giving alice any extra information, it just seems at the moment she's using her for her magic.

without a goodbye, the vampire hung up the phone. sequoia couldn't help but notice the strangeness of alice's nature, it was unusual for her to act this way. she never did before bella made her advanced stay, of course, alice is a social butterfly, but the witch just thought her friend would take her side, instead of her sister's.

maybe it was because bella will be in the family soon, in-law and by adoption later possibly, after her turn. but it seems as if the rest of them are following in her footsteps, as each day went past, her friendship with the cullens grew weaker and weaker. was her sister just better? more likable? why would alice get mad at her for not protecting her sister?

'why are you saying such bad things about your sister, i'm sure she's nice.'

yeah, to you.

'why didn't you protect her?'

well, i tried to, didn't i? she didn't get hurt in the end.

'why did you let her jump off a cliff?'

not my fault that her precious edward left.

"god, i need to get out of forks," sequoia mumbled, figuring just how toxic this environment is. bella got money from her parents to attend university, unlike sequoia, so she was stuck at a low paying job nearby. she had money, yes, but she also had to pay for her own food, necessities and for part of the bill. sequoia understood this, but what she didn't understand was if charlie wanted her to move out so bad, then shouldn't he help her get into a university, or at least obtain some more job experience?

her sister was an adult now, why didn't she have to pay for her own stuff? then, of course, she'd have the cullens allowance in her hands soon, money was nothing for her to worry about. if she was going to become a vampire soon, what's the point of getting funded to go to uni? she'll just follow the cullen family around, well mostly edward.

sequoia got more frustrated the more she thought about it. why should her sister deserve so much more than her? she's still charlie's daughter, sure, he may not have loved her mother, but shouldn't the child's care be there no matter what?

maybe he really hated my mother. well, then he would've put me up for adoption then, right?

maybe, maybe not. he used to care a lot more when bella wasn't around. maybe sequoia was acted as a replacement while her sister was back in phoenix.

"hey, sequoia."

"hi dad, what's up?"

"bella's spending the day with alice, the rest of her family are going camping," charlie started, "why don't you join them?"

"it's alright, i'm working later anyways."

"you spend an awful amount of time working, how many hours are you doing?"

"as much as i can," the witch replied, "i need as much money as i can to move out." she decided to be truthful to her father, after all, he's the one that doesn't want her to live with him anymore. it was 'time to be a proper adult', according to him.

"you need to balance your work and social life, otherwise you'll start having an unhealthy lifestyle." it was rare moments like these where charlie actually his eldest daughter life advice. sequoia was almost going into her adulthood blinded, hoping what she was doing would lead her to a better path. he was horrible to explain times like puberty, periods and the talk, so much so, she was behind most of her peers, attempting to catch up with any small pun they may of said.

the times where the father-daughter relationship was long gone, the two could barely remember them. sequoia was lead to believe it just wasn't meant to happen. especially not now, the chief was all over the place with the murders in seattle.

maybe he should take some of his own advice.

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