oh my carlisle. this is it. it's the official last chapter in Behind Closed Eyes. it's always kinda weird when a story you've been working on for a while is over. although, with the way i ended it, who knows? there may be room for a sequel...
but for now, let's just get through the last chapter, shall we? there's really no action in this chapter, i wrote it mostly to sum things up, you know, something to tie it all together before it's over for good.
Disclaimer: twilight and all of its characters, including the cullens, jacob black, aro, marcus, caius, jane and chelsea belong to the one and only, stephenie meyer. (although, jane was pretty OOC in this story.)
one last thing: this final chapter is dedicated to taylor lautner. even though he probably doesn't read my blog, i still want it to be out in the open that he has the support of his loyal fans and that if chris weitz had even a single working brain cell, he would cast taylor for jacob in new moon instead of michael copon.
on with the chapter!
“So, what you mean to say is, a member of my guard, whom I’ve trusted for centuries, used her power to influence a fellow guard member to kill you both, because she was afraid your telekinetic imprintee would replace her?” Well, when Aro puts it that way…
“Yup, that pretty much sums it up.” Onyx standing casually in front of the Ancients, arms around my waist. We had just finished telling Aro what had happened the night previously, and he didn’t seem to be taking it very well.
“Do you two honestly expect me to believe that?” he questioned. Yes, yes we did.
“You can see if you want to. No one’s stopping you.” I held out my wrist, and Aro lightly placed his paper-smooth fingers on my pulse. We all waited with baited breath for the head of the Volturi to reach a verdict.
Aro opened his eyes and gave a remorseful smile. “It appears that our friends are telling the truth. My apologies.” He turned to his guard. “Come, we have no more business here.”
“Wait!” Jane stepped forward tentatively. Aro gestured for her to continue. “Don’t you suppose we owe CJ and Onyx something? After all, had we not come, Chelsea wouldn’t have gone after them.” Aro placed a finger to his lips, contemplating the notion.
Finally, he said, “Well, Jane dear, what do you suggest?” She bit her lower lip for a moment, deep in thought.
“CJ?” I looked over at her. “If you ever need anything, anything at all, let me know and you’ve got it, okay?” I nodded.
“Thank you, Jane. That really means a lot.” She smiled back at me. For a semi-sadistic teenaged vampire, she was pretty cool.
* * *
Well, the Week of Twilight Night is over. Almost. It’s the last night of Twilight Night, and it’s taking place at a street fair. Mom, Dad and Billy were God knows where, Bry and Zach were on line at the Tilt-A-Whirl and Nikki and Luke were going on the Roller Coaster for the third time. Me? I was on the Ferris Wheal, sharing a soft pretzel with my hot werewolf boyfriend. Go figure.
“One week ago,” I swallowed, “would you have thought you’d have faced down a merciless vampire bent on torturing you to death?” He shook his head.
“Nope. Then again, I wouldn’t have thought I would meet the love of my life, either.” I blushed. I still couldn’t get over that. I was the love of his life. When the heck did my life get so dang good? “You have some salt on your lip,” he told me suddenly. He bent his head and brushed his lips against mine softly. Yep, no clue what I did to deserve this.
Suddenly I pulled back. “Wait. Tomorrow, my family, my friends and I are leaving. What will happen to you?”
“I’ll be wherever you are, of course.” As an afterthought, he added, “That is, of course, assuming you want me to be with you.”
I rolled my eyes. “Honestly, Onyx. For a smart wolf, you can be pretty oblivious sometimes, can’t ya? Of course I want you to be with me. The only thing is, how?”
His brow crinkled in confusion. “What do you mean, how? Chelsea’s dead, the Volturi are gone… what’s stopping us?”
I shook my head. “That’s not what I meant. I mean, where will you live? How will we see each other? I highly doubt Mom and Dad will let my boyfriend move in with us. For all of your strength and maturity, you’re still an unaccompanied minor. You’re too young to live alone, and you don’t have any living relations near me.”
He munched on his lower lip thoughtfully. “I could always say I’m 18.”
“Yeah, that’s gonna fly with the government.”
“I could live as a wolf and phase into a human when I wanna see you. Uncle Billy can take care of the complications with school and stuff.”
I shook my head again. “I’m a city girl. There’s hardly anywhere for a raccoon to live, much less a werewolf.”
“Well, you know the territory better than I do. Any ideas?” I thought for a while. How could I get a place near me that Onyx and his little pack could live in, no question asked? Hmm…
You know how in cartoons when a character gets an idea a light bulb pops up above their head? Cue light bulb.
“I’ve got it! Remember Jane’s promise?” he looked at me with bewilderment etched across his perfect features. “Jane said to me, and I quote, “If you ever need anything, anything at all, let me know and you’ve got it, okay?” I settled back in the Ferris Wheel cart with satisfaction. Wow, this was one long Ferris Wheel ride.
“So, what you mean is…” Onyx’s eyes widened in excitement.
“Exactly!” I nodded my head and bounced up and down in the cart. “Jane promised us anything in return for almost being killed by Chelsea. This is the perfect opportunity to do that! We need a place for you to live, and the Volturi can get us exactly that!”
He nodded his head thoughtfully. “That’s a great idea,” his mouth stretched into a grin.
“I just can’t help but wonder how they’ll do it…” I murmured, settling back with Onyx’s arm around me.
“Don’t you worry yourself over that, love.” He held me tightly to his chest as the Ferris Wheel made its last circle. “Everything’s going to be all right.”
And you know what? He was right. Everything was all right.
