Vengeance

Chapter Twenty One

Chapter 21

Breaking the Rules

My lips pulled upwards into a wicked grin and I chose not to fight the chuckle that came from within me.  Everything is finally coming together.  After my patience, planning, and suffering, I was finally going to get my just desserts—I was going to get my revenge.  I sighed and leaned back into the couch, still grinning from ear to ear.

“Freaky, Bella,” Emmett chortled beside me, and I turned to look at him.  “You look like the Cheshire cat.”

“I was going to say the Grinch,” Rosalie piped in, smiling affectionately at me.  “What’s going through your mind?”

“We’re finally ready,” I mused, letting the truth in my words soak deep. 

“Yes, we are,” Rosalie agreed, though she didn’t seem as enthusiastic as I was.  In fact, Rosalie looked downright depressed; what was up with her?  Before I had a chance to ask, she stood and exited the room.

“Don’t worry about her, Bells,” Emmett answered my questioning look before trailing out the door after Rosalie.

I shifted in my seat, feeling slightly uneasy now, and began flipping through the channels on the television.  Despite their home being in the middle of nowhere, the Denalis seemed to have every channel imaginable.  After a few seconds, I decided on the news station, seeing that nothing else was catching my eye.

“Knock knock,” Maria’s familiar, nasally voice called from the threshold, and I narrowed my eyes in her direction, curious to what she wanted—and why she was in the house.

“What are you doing here?” She had told me earlier that the Kate had forbid her from coming inside the house; so what was she doing inside?

“Well, hello to you too,” Maria snickered and rolled her eyes, a sly grin tugging at her lips.  “Do any of you yanks know how to properly greet someone?”

“I’m sorry,” I replied, instinctively, and cringed as I realized that she was the last person I should be apologizing to.  “I meant, why are you in the house?  Didn’t you tell me the Denalis wouldn’t let you in?”

“Oh, that,” Maria chimed, waving her hand in the air.  “They finally lifted that after watching Paulo get filthier with each passing day.  I knew it was only a matter of time.”

“Well, that’s good.” I had noticed that her newborn follower’s clothes had been getting progressively dirtier, but didn’t care to think why. 

“I actually had a reason for coming in here,” Maria said, and moved closer to the couch.  “I wanted to know if you’d go hunting with me.”

“Hunting…with you?”

“Yes,” she said enthusiastically.  “You are, after all, a newborn, and need to hunt more frequently than the others.  So, what do you say?  It’ll give us a chance to get to know one another.”

To be honest, the less Maria knew about me the better.  However, I figured if I knew a little bit more about her, maybe that would help me understand her.  Then again, I didn’t care to understand her either, but some part of me was saying this was a good idea, so, regardless of my trepidations, I agreed.

“Who else is going?”

“Zafrina, you, Paulo, and me,” Maria answered as she headed out the door.  “Meet us out front in an hour.”

“All right.” My face twisted in confusion as she left the room, and I wondered what I had gotten myself into.  However, regardless of the tiny voice inside telling me this was a bad idea, I returned my attention to my plans on attacking La Push, and ultimately killing Edward.