CHAPTER FOUR
ʜʏʙʀɪᴅ

I'd spent months without a mirror when I lived in Mrs Rochester's bed and breakfast. It'd been hidden in the back of the wardrobe from the moment I moved in and had not been moved again until the day I left. As a vampire, there was something eerie about seeing one's own reflection. It was unsettling in an unplaceable way. Like something was off in my own appearance- different to how I once remembered.

It didn't take long to realise that not all of our kind lived that way, being so uncomfortable with our own impressions. Rosalie was a fine example, so shallow and (mostly) harmless in her vanity. There was reason behind it too. Rose held an otherworldly type of beauty- so ethereal, even for a vampire, that we'd all thought it may have been her gift. She knew she was beautiful.

Kachiri held that knowledge too and walked with it. It was different to Rosalie though. Like the others in her coven, who now stood to her side, Kachiri's skin was a beautiful, dark brown, though altered with signs of some maturity she must have had before the change. Her limbs were long and muscular, wide shoulders hidden by tight, black curls. Even her eyes- red and wild- could have almost been called mesmerizing, had I not known what they signified.

"Alice has informed me of your situation," she said and my eyes flickered to Alice, who emerged from the overgrowth behind her, looking so small against her height.

My own conversation with Zafrina and her sister had gone somewhat simply. They had not been startled by the proclamation of the existence of a human hybrid, nor had they been worried by the threat of the Volturi. Something about their reactions made me wonder if they'd had such altercations with the coven before, but it seemed unlikely. Even still, the pair had been somewhat open to the idea of coming to our aid, and I had to soundlessly thank Carlisle for his neverending ability to make companions.

Kachiri's eyes settled on Zafrina's for a moment, speaking conversations with their gazes, before lastly watching Senna, and returning to look at me with a nod.

"We may be able to assist with your cause."

Alice stepped forward then, her eyes so big and wide and hopeful that I almost felt my heart crush with what I then realised was fear. Fear of failure. Fear of racing back home to find the Cullen family decimated by the Volturi, their yearning for change dissapearing along with them. Torn apart while thinking we'd abandoned them so swiftly.

"There's another. A hybrid- that's why my visions went so blurry."

Just as she'd hinted at. It was so sudden, that our own piece of the world- our home amongst the trees in Forks, wrapped so contently within one another- seemed so small. For their were wonders we were just discovering, coming across them like solutions to all of our questions or problems.

A hybrid, hidden away here in the Amazon, where the Volturi would be so unsuspecting of them. I wondered how he would appear, whether old and frail but carrying in with the vampire's gift of immortality, or as youthful as us, with the same uncanny hint of humanity that Renesmee held. It felt too good to be true, to find someone who would help strengthen our own witnesses against the Volturi.

"I can take you to them," Kachiri said, her voice even and level, but sounding all the more deeper, as if hinting at something. "But I will do no more. It will be up to you to persuade them to help you. They are private people."

"We will go to Carlisle and his family," Kachiri said. She didn't seem to be the type to miss out on conflict. "The more witnesses the better."

Kachiri would tell us nothing of the vampires we were racing to meet. Only their names: Nahuel, the hybrid, and his pure-vampire Aunt, Huilen. There was something in that fact which was foreboding, and I was left wondering how well Kachiri really knew these people. Alice and I ran hand in hand. For courage, we called it, but really I just needed to be close to her. Proximity made me feel stronger. Like planets around a sun.

I could tell we shared the same thoughts, as our destination grew closer and the forest grew darker and damper. Knowledge of this other hybrid unlocked new questions. How old was he? How old did he look? All questions about Renesmee that could only be answered by Nahuel.

Kachiri slid to a stop without warning, her dark eyes scanning the expanse of forest beyond.

"I go no further."

There was something ominous about her voice, as if she expected us to fail in our persuasions, but we ignored it. Alice thanked her and pulled me on, sliding between the thick of the trees, eyes seeing every movement in the bush around us. It took only a moment for the elusive pair to reveal themselves, sliding out from the shadows of evening cautiously. The two eyed us apprehensively, gaze searching the darkness behind us, as if expecting an attack that would not come.

But my eyes zoned in on Nahuel, the brown-skinned boy with eyes the same colour. Black hair fell loosely down his back, braided on one side, wrapped by a tan, leather strip, matching that of his Aunt's. So human-looking, with the flush of skin and beating of his heart, even if to my ears it was erratic and unnatural. To look at him was to be unsuspecting, even to our kind. A hybrid. There was no doubt about it. So like Renesmee and so unlike the amber-eyed woman who stood beside him.

If I could breathe, looking at him would make my breathing stop. It was a unique sensation- that realisation that Renesmee may not be as strange as we thought, nor as temporary. This boy could be proof.

Alice held her chin up, but the woman- Huilen- spoke before she could get a word out. I tried not to be surprised by the kinder nature of her eyes, a deep, brown tinted yellow, that marked her diet as being like ours.

"Why does Kachiri bring you here? We do not welcome unannounced visitors." There was a hostility in her voice that I recognised as protectiveness. It was evident in the way she shielded the boy with the angle of her body.

"And we are sorry that you had no warning to us coming here. But we must ask for your help," Alice said softly.

The woman's eyes narrowed. "Why would we help you? I don't know you."

"We wouldn't expect you to..." I began, switching my attention then to the boy, watching as he stiffened under the focus. "...if this did not involve your kind, Nahuel. You're a hybrid, we know. We need your help."

"What do you want?" Nahuel said, but there was not the same viciousness in his voice nor suspicion in his gaze.

"Only your help, we promise," Alice said, smiling kindly. "We have a hybrid in our family too. Just a young girl. Her name is Renesmee. A girl as sweet as her name. But her existence is being threatened by people who think her to be dangerous. You, Nahuel, are proof of what she will be. Please, we just need your story, and your help. For Renesmee."

"I love this boy like my own son. But this should not be allowed to go unchecked," Huilen said. A dark glare shadowed her face. There seemed a threat behind her words. "How did it happen? How was Renesmee created?"

"No one knew that such a thing was possible. My family are all like us and live amongst humans. My brother Edward fell in love with one. It was love, that created Renesmee, I'm sure," Alice said, and when she stepped forward the two did not flinch. "If you would tell us your story, I'm sure it would help."

"What good would a story do?"

"Words and histories hold power. Often more than physicalities," I said, moving to join Alice's side- a united front. "If we could just convince the Volturi of the fact that hybrids bare no danger, then we will win without a fight."

With thinned lips, Huilen took a moment to pause, eyes warily scanning us again. Nahuel let his hand rest against her shoulder and his Aunt nodded, finishing their silent communication.

"It was my sister who gave birth to him. Pire," she said and both of them stiffened at the beginning of her story. "It was her beauty that made the monster come after her. We had to flee to the forest when she finally accepted that the baby had been fathered by a vampire. But even in the end, she thought he was heroic. Pire died during the birth, ripped apart by teeth."

Nahuel didn't flinch, only raised his chin as if he'd heard the tale of his mother spoken with such harsh words many times before.

"The baby came into the world on his own terms, and when I lifted him, he bit me, making me the way I am now."

I wondered if that was bitterness I detected as if Huilen still held a slither of blame for the boy who stood beside her. It reminded me of Rosalie again. Of the blame she still held to Carlisle, even if she never voiced it, even if she loved him now as her father.

"I think the vampire- Joham his name was- knew what he was making. There was another, a sister, that came for him, once he was full grown. I chased her away."

"Others? As in other hybrids?" Alice exclaimed. The enthusiasm that leaked into her voice was not welcomed by Huilen.

"Serena her name was. We met with her when my father still wanted me to join them, but that was a century ago now and she hasn't been seen since," Nahuel instead answered.

"And for good reason," Huilen spat with a glare.

There came a warning from the boy. "Aunt." He glanced over to us, forcing his Aunt to do the same. "Look at their eyes." Yellow eyes stared back at yellow. "I want to help them."

"Of course you do, my boy," Huilen said. "You understand the danger, don't you? You'll be exposing yourself to the people hunting another hybrid."

"That's why I want to help. They're going after another of my kind. What if that was me?"

"We'll go. But the moment things go sour, we leave," Huilen affirmed, not looking pleased with their conclusion. But either way, she saw our amber eyes and saw something trustworthy behind their colour. I had to wish that it was warranted.

"Understood," Nahuel said, a placid smile covering his face. "Thank you."

It felt too easy, that mode of convincing. But perhaps that was my pessimism talking. Motivation had been drawn to its end, striking nerves as we thought of the coming days instead. But Alice was as permanent as a tattoo, nodding her head with a determined smile as we decided what our next move would be.

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I hate this sm but I'm going to go back and edit EVERYTHING soon so it doesn't really matter
Also there's another chapter after this out already too so don't miss that xoxo