fate unfolding in the palm of your hand °sam uley°

Chapter 12

The deaths in Seattle had been going on for a while now. Itoro knew that it was another vampire doing it, they all did. Carlisle was monitoring it as best he could. It was only four or so hours away by car, but the threat was there, and it was real. It was a threat to their lives, and if the newborns weren't aware of them, they would quickly.

Jasper was on high alert, and when that happened his accent got thicker. It would've amused Itoro, but they were also tense and on edge about the disturbances in Seattle. Even humans in the police force were noticing that things weren't quite right, which was usually a call for alarm since they were pretty oblivious to most supernatural happenstance. The whole thing was unnerving, and they hated it so much.

They'd all been on edge a little since Bella first came into their lives, but now with the growing killings in the closest city near them, it was getting worse. If things increased, chances were that Jasper would call in a favour with Peter and Charlotte and ask them for help to handle the newborn threat. That was if the Volturi didn't catch wind and send the guard, though Itoro doubted they would; let the newborns kill the Olympic Coven and get rid of the biggest potential threat to the Volturi and the throne.

Itoro hated royals.

Bella was suspicious of Edward too, as she should be. Itoro knew that Edward was being annoying recently, more so than his normal teenage angsty annoying way. He asked her to marry him and did so almost incessantly. Alice saw it clear as day, the vision that almost knocked her over. She'd seen other variations of it, the mild ones he thought of, the more serious ones he gave more than a second's thought. This one was more powerful, clearer to Alice. Itoro and Jasper steadied her, and she looked conflicted. She was excited but completely nervous.

"I don't know what her answer is," Alice admitted. "He – he keeps asking her to marry him, but she doesn't – there's no definitive choice. She tells him no but there's a part of her that wants to."

"She's seventeen. She wants to be a vampire," Itoro said, making sure Alice was stable enough so they could let go of her. Itoro frowned as Alice wrapped an arm around Jasper's middle. "Bella's not gonna be grounded now. Her dad's trying to be good to her."

Out of all the people Itoro knew or knew of, Charlie Swan seemed like he was trying his best with the shit cards he'd been given. She didn't understand how Bella could upset her father, but then again Itoro's parents never separated and were in a healthy relationship when Itoro was growing up. They loved their mum and dad and couldn't imagine trying to do to them what Bella was doing to her father.

Jasper frowned at them. "You're as bad as Peter now."

Itoro smiled at him despite the internal crisis of dickhead teenagers and caring parents. "Thank you very much for the compliment. Now, if you don't mind, I've got more food to drop off."

Emmett wolf-whistled. Itoro found him in the garage and threw a wrench at his head. Emmett let it bonk off his head and go flying into the drywall. Itoro really had no idea why Americans thought drywall was an acceptable type of wall. Absolutely awful. At least in an English house if you punched the wall hard, you broke your hand (her father used to say, "you punch the wall, it punches you back,"). Esme really needed to design houses with better materials; it bothered Itoro to no end. Even humans could punch through American walls, which was a show of how pathetic their houses were. Cardboard boxes not made to last the test of time.

Itoro was in the firm opinion that old English houses were built better. The more recent ones on council estates? More on par with American cardboard box houses. Those fuckers were weak sauce.

"Where's it gone?" Emmett asked, frowning. "What the fuck," he muttered quietly, and Esme called for the swear jar.

"It's up your arse, second shelf," Itoro answered and promptly left the idiot to find the damaged wrench.