Hello and welcome to the Tale of Years Series! (please see the Series Intro on my profile, if you haven't already)
This first chapter is mostly flashback; my way of quickly summarizing 1921. I didn't do a 1918 or a 1921 since those have already been done to perfection by other authors. Enjoy!
Disclaimer: Stephenie Meyer owns it all, I own nothing and make no profit.
We were strolling through the Glacier National Park after a late night hunt. The moonlight filtered through the trees, and I fell back a few steps so I could watch my parents as they walked, holding hands and glimmering slightly in the light of the full moon. I smiled, reflecting on how our family had grown. It had been five years since Esme had come into our lives. As I watched her now, my mind drifted back to 1921, and the quiet life that my father and I had been living, unaware of the drastic change that was about to come into our lives.
Carlisle and I had been living near Ashland, Wisconsin for about a year and had settled into a nice routine. He was an emergency surgeon at the local hospital, and for the first time, I had returned to high school, posing as the quiet sixteen-year-old son of the new doctor in town. At first I had found it difficult to be around so many humans every day, and in such an enclosed space. But Carlisle knew best as usual, and within a few months the daily exposure had done wonders for my self-control.
I was never bored; the thoughts of my fellow classmates and the teachers provided a stream of endless entertainment. I was in awe of the different types of thought patterns I encountered. Some people had a slow, almost elementary process that was maddening, and I was amazed that some of the teachers who thought this way were able to hold on to their jobs. In others, thoughts came only in quick snatches, never completing a sentence and constantly interrupting themselves- these just gave me a headache. Some minds were truly a pleasure to listen in on; there were budding artists and musicians at the school Carlisle had selected. Some people thought mainly in pictures, some in bright colors and others in black and white. I learned at least three new languages that first year just by listening to the thoughts of students from local immigrant families.
Most amusing were the girls at the school. Apparently I was something called a "hotsy totsy" and within a week of my arrival, I was being featured in daydreams all over the building, and the subject of notes passed daily behind the teachers' backs. I spoke to Carlisle about it one day, concerned I was attracting too much attention, but he just chuckled and told me to get used to it. We had a good laugh together as he ran through two hundred years' worth of consecutive memories featuring nurses and patients fawning over him. I loved when Carlisle did this for me – it was like sitting in one of the new picture palaces, except I could enjoy these motion pictures complete with sound.
"Seriously, Edward," Carlisle had said after we finished, "Your ability gives us a unique advantage as a coven; we will have ample warning through people's thoughts if they begin to grow suspicious of us, and we can relocate with plenty of time to spare."
I had startled at the word "coven"; Carlisle had never used the term for the two of us before. I supposed we were a coven, though at times I know we both fancied ourselves a little family. I certainly thought of him as my father, as he was the one guiding me through my new life, and the only authority figure I had. I had met only one other group of vampires so far, which he called the "Denali coven": a trio of Slavic women and one married couple. All five shared our respect for human life, and thus our diet.
I winced at the memory of our visit up to Alaska. It had been fascinating to meet others of our kind, and I had become good friends Carmen and Eleazar in particular. But my mind had been constantly bombarded with exactly what the others thought of Carlisle. These ladies made a habit of seducing men – human and vampire alike. To my surprise, their vegetarian philosophy held, even on their… conquests. Apparently Carlisle was the only game they had failed to bring down, and to my horror, their plots began focusing on me by the second day of our visit. Carlisle was angry, in his own quiet way, and we had departed quickly, though as friends.
Several times after that night when Carlisle had referred to us as a coven, I had wondered what the future might hold for us as a family. Would Carlisle ever choose to marry one of the Denali sisters? I couldn't imagine such a thing. There was a human girl that he had met seven years before changing me, and her face came up in his daydreams often – but that was never going to happen. Carlisle had no plans to change anyone else. Anyway, besides being the wrong species, she had surely grown and married by now. Carlisle had told me stories of other vampires he had known throughout the centuries, and sometimes I shuddered at the images he recalled. But he had met no other females, in all his years of travel, who held to our way of life. I supposed that we were both doomed to eternal bachelorhood, if our "cousins" in Alaska were the only options.
It was only two months after this incident that I was sitting in our living room, alone. I had finished the week's homework in a half hour, and was tinkering at the piano, composing my first sonata. I was jotting down the notes for the first movement when Carlisle's mental voice suddenly burst into my mind: Edward! I'm bringing someone home, and there's going to be blood. Take a breath now and, for God's sake, hold it! I was flabbergasted. Could it be that my father, the epitome of self-control, had finally slipped? Drawing the deepest breath I could, I ran to the front door and flung it open.
A minute later Carlisle appeared in the yard, carrying a young woman, covered in blood and hanging limp in his arms. Even as he ran up, I could hear her pulse slowing with every beat. He ran past me into the living room and gently laid her onto the couch, blood and all. His eyes were wide and his thoughts were racing. I can't let her die! Anyone but her, please! Can I do it? What will she think? What will Edward think? There's no time!
"Carlisle! Who in the blazes-"
"It's Esme! I can't… I'm sorry, Edward, we don't have time to talk about it!" He was already unbuttoning the top of her dress collar, and before I could stop him, he had sunk his teeth into her throat. I stood frozen, uncomprehending of the scene before me. Surely he wasn't going to kill this girl- her name meant nothing to me, but every human life had always been sacred to my father. He must be intending to change her… but why her, and why now?
Sure enough, he pulled away after just a moment and proceeded to bite the inside of both her wrists, as well. Then he collapsed back on the floor, and we both watched, transfixed as the change began to take place. Her whole body suddenly began thrashing and the screaming began. As Carlisle moved to hold her hand, I shouted over the noise, with the last of my breath, "What have you done?!"