LOVE AND IMMORTALITY (RILEY BIERS X F!READER) Book 1

Chapter 20

Narrator's POV

While (F/N), the Cullens, and the wolves were training, Riley Biers and some of the compatriots Victoria had amassed were watching Bella Swan's vacant house while she was with the Cullens and Charlie was at work. Riley stared at the house and didn't notice anything odd about any of the houses around it apart from one of them oddly smelled of a vampire. Was there another coven here Victoria hadn't told him about? He made a mental note to ask Victoria about it the next time he saw her. As he contemplated the meaning of this new smell, one of the men next to him whined, "I wanna go inside, Riley! Can't we go inside the human's house like Victoria told us?"

He sighed, knowing this one would keep whining if he didn't answer him, and answered, "Yes, you may go inside. But don't break anything! We can't let the humans know we were here!"

The man frantically nodded and said, "Of course, Riley! They won't suspect a thing!" Riley groaned at this dude's enthusiasm for breaking and entering and watched him and some others with him walk up the human's front steps. Compatriot One twisted the front door's knob and easily opened it; Riley chuckled and wondered if the human Victoria was after cared about her safety enough to lock the door since another vampire lived next door, but he didn't dwell on that. Riley followed the newborns into the house and watched them scatter around the first floor, disregarding the front steps leading up to the second floor where the human-Isabella Swan's-bedroom was. He walked deeper into the house and stopped when he found the set of stairs not covered in newborns' bodies and noses; that was something Riley wanted permanently burned from his memory. Riley decided to search through the house's second floor and headed for the steps' base, taking them two at a time. When he got to the second floor, he looked down both sides of the hallway, stopping when he noticed a faint glimmer of moonlight in what looked like the second bathroom. He decided to search that room first before going through the others since that door was open and to be honest, Riley was almost strangely scared of the other ones. As he went to try and get to the room without anyone knowing, someone yelled, "Riley! Where are you?"

He jumped almost two feet in the air and bashed his hand against the door to his destination, sending it flying off its hinges onto the ground. "Fucking hell!" Riley cursed and stared at the door and broken hinges. Sighing, Riley didn't move while answering, "I'm on the second floor! Come upstairs, and bring more people! I found her room!" He heard silence for a few minutes and then elephants stomping up the stairs. He glared at the gathering newborns and growled, "What did I say about keeping a low profile? Someone could've heard you!" A few newborns winced and no one spoke. Riley looked into each newborn's red eyes and said, "I trust you didn't break anything or move anything around." The newborns nodded and Riley smiled happily for the first time all day; the idiots he was forced to drag around hunting the human finally did something right! The waiting newborns stared at him and he said, "Go look in that room there. Find anything you can on Isabella Swan." The group nodded and went to work invading the human's room, looking at everything she could've touched while Riley sauntered inside. He spotted a dream catcher hanging from behind her bed and grabbed it; studying every minute detail before letting it go. He then ran his hand down her silk pillowcase and scanned the rest of the room for anything that could be useful in finding her. As he stared at the bed, something the color of his eyes caught his attention and he stopped to study that thing a bit more. The item he'd found was a red blouse discarded from the closet probably a few days or hours ago in a ball on the bed. Riley made a beeline for that garment and picked it up, sniffing it and inhaling the human's scent Victoria told him to find. He turned to the newborns, showed them the blouse, and said, "I found what we need. The human's scent is all over this." They stopped what they were doing and studied the article of clothing he held. Riley spoke again, "Use this to find her scent and track her." They sniffed the blouse and nodded to both Riley and each other when they picked up the human's scent. Riley held the blouse in his hands as the newborns fled the house both through the backdoor and the human's window. Though he wanted to follow them, something about this place made him stick around and further study it. While still holding the blouse in his hands, he slowly walked through the house and exited the front door.

As he sauntered down the front steps, Riley inhaled the crisp afternoon air and subsequently smelled the same unfamiliar scent of a vampire in the area. He first noticed it before he entered the human's house as it blew in the breeze, but forgot about it when the human's scent overwhelmed him. His eyes traced the forest line behind the house before locking on the house next door. Something about that house's scent spoke to him more than Victoria's scent did. Riley hadn't ever experienced that before in his young vampire life, so Victoria must've planted something in this house to test him. And he knew deep down in his undead heart he'd never fail Victoria and risk his newborn life. However, he felt himself walk toward the house and stare at it; it was as if there was someone in that house he had to see that wasn't Victoria. What was pulling him to that house? Riley didn't know the answer, but he did know he'd try to find one. As he approached the house, he studied every visible detail, from the windows down to the front door's frame. The house itself wasn't anything out of the ordinary; it honestly looked like any other house in Forks Riley found while searching for the human. As he studied every aspect of the unassuming house, Riley stopped dead when he saw the vehicle in the driveway. Though one could argue that the blue Honda Civic was so bland and normal it was embarrassing, the car that made Riley engage statue mode was in front of the aforementioned Honda Civic. The neon green Ashton Martin glimmered in the setting sun, and something about that car reminded him of a person-no, a vampire-who he hadn't seen or spoken to for a year after he joined the undead. As he continued staring at the bright and very out-of-place car, Riley wondered if the unknown vampire had been in Washington longer than he'd been turned. His eyes flashed toward the front door. Was she staying here? And was it too much for him to knock on that door and speak to her? Though Riley didn't know what to do, and he probably never would, he did know that Victoria was waiting and the newborns with him were staring at him. They wanted to know if he was done with whatever he was doing, and Riley also wanted to know what he would do; this wasn't something he'd planned on, and yet, something about what he found made his undead heart beat. One of the newborns, a young one who looked about sixteen or seventeen, gently tugged on his free hand's sleeve and asked, "Are we heading back, Riley? Or are you going to ogle at that house for the next hour?" He cocked an eyebrow at her and she said, "If you'll pardon my saying so."

He said, "Get moving back to Victoria. I'll follow behind." She nodded and ran into the forest with the other newborns. Riley looked at the house one last time before slowly turning and walking away. Part of him expected (F/N) to exit the house and speak to him, maybe tell him why she'd lied to him about being a vampire when they first met. He knew her leaving was the right thing to do, and yet, he also knew she partly was protecting herself from possible prejudice. When he realized she wouldn't do what he desperately wanted her to do and she wasn't even home, he ran after the newborns to Victoria's hideout. Clutching the red blouse in his hands, Riley wondered if what he was doing was the right thing. After Victoria turned him, Riley'd been itching to find (F/N) and speak to her about what Jason told him the night he entered the undead ranks a year ago; he strangely remembered that day like it was yesterday. He rounded a cluster of trees and saw Seattle piercing the sky before him; the newborns had stopped as well and were waiting for his next order. Riley inhaled, put on his steely exterior they were used to, and said, "No one tells Victoria about what I was doing at the other house. Is that clear?" When the newborns didn't answer, Riley growled, "Is. That. Clear?" Everyone nodded and dashed away to where Victoria had set up shop for that night's hunt. Riley followed behind and slowed down when Victoria appeared. He smiled at her and internally ground his teeth, praying to whatever god was watching him to bring (F/N) to him so they could clear the air and maybe start fresh, wherever she was and wherever their endless future led them.