I had always wondered about becoming a "vegetarian"; live off of animal blood for the rest of my life and conviently ignore humans and crimson sin they carried. The only problem was, I never knew how to make the change.
Then, I heard of the Cullens.
They had been brought up while I was talking to a friend of mine, a wanderer by the name of Laurent. He had said that, though he would undertsand the logic of it, the Cullens had trained themselves to be able to live among the humans without so much as the slightest ounce of bloodlust. Hell, one of the adopted Cullen boys had even managed to start a relationship with a human girl, a girl who (according to Laurent) was his singer as well!
It had not taken much more to convince me. I had pressed Laurent for information, contacted the Cullens, prepared myself for my journey to Forks, Washington
That was I why I found myself maneuvering through the dense green of the forests surrounding the tiny town.
It was raining pretty hard, great sheats of water soaking me thoroughly, and it was cold and it was dark and it smelled like human. Ergo, not the greatest traveling weather. I'd considered stopping for a snack (it would have been the human's own fault for hiking in the midnight torrent) but I was trying to change my life, not keep going the same diection, so I ignored the itching thirst clawing at my throat and kept up the journey.
I'd been running for days, across deserts and over mountains, and my legs needed a good, long rest. As far as I was concerned, the sooner I got to the Cullen's, the better.
In the forest, one loses all sense of time. I could have been "almost there" for a good week and I wouldn't have noticed, so finally seeing the massive Victorian house was the biggest relief in my life. That I hadn't noticed it yet offered me the comforting knowledge that, at least, I hadn't been going in circles.
I moved cautiously around the gargantuan structure, a looming shadow in the rain-darkened moonshine, until I was staring at the clean, white front door. I ducked under the overhang, listening closely for noises of the family inside; they were completely still and I knew they knew I was waiting only meters away. I raised my fist to knock, but it was pointless; a willowy, flaxen-haired vampire threw open the front door. I could feel his wary gaze travel over my tense, travel-worn face and he relaxed, smiled softly, and shifted his body to welcome me.
"You must be Julian, if I'm not very much mistaken, yes?"
His smile warmed further as I stretched my neck and peered over his shoulder at the rest of the house's occupants. However, the blonde vampire's familly did not seem to share his sunny disposion; all but a female, who had moved to their leader's side, positioned themselves protectively around a woman, hair the color of chocolate and skin an opaque and bloodless white.
She was, in turn, protecting a little girl, bronze curls framing an angelic face, eyes shimmering like those of a curious animal. The leader seemed to sense his family's discomfort and his amber eyes flickered to the man nearest the brunette, hair a simillar shade as his daughter's, like polished rust. For a moment nothing moved; then, suddenly, the familly calmed and the brunette set down the child.
I hadn't noticed that I had instinctively stopped breathing but, as the atmosphere lightened, I allowed scent to once more to flow through my nostrils. I tuned my attention back to the leader, still nervous about my tense welcome, and answered, "That's me. And that begs the presumtion that you are Carlisle and the woman next to you is your wife."
I turned to her.
"Esme, right?"
She clapped brightly and nodded with the same sort of happiness as that of an aunt meeting her beloved nephew for the first time, the corner's of her mouth pulling back into the most gentle of smiles. Carlisle chuckled and motioned for me to take a seat alongside his familly. I nodded in quiet thanks and settled myself in a massive, overstuffed, deep blue armchair across from a staunch, tan sofa where the rest of the Cullen's had positioned themselves, still cautious of my presense. Carlisle spoke first.
"So, Julian, what brings you to our humble home?"
The largest of the vampires, a man with cropped, black hair, snorted. A woman with waist-length, platinum hair sitting next to him smacked him gracefully on the shoulder with a resounding 'thwack'. I cleared my throat awkwardly, breathing deeply to calm myself.
"I, um...I want to stop drinking human blood. I'm just tired of the killing and I'm tired of being guilt-tripped by my stomach. It gets old after a couple centuries. I just don't......" I paused, too embarrassed to finish my sentence. Esme smiled gently at me.
"Don't worry, we can help you. Almost everyone here started in the exact same place as you are now; we all know how difficult the decision is." She smiled again and reached out to pat my hand, her maternal nature obvious. Relaxation was washing over me like a dreamy fog and I returned her smile shyly, my auburn braid brushing over my back as my body adjusted.
"Thank you, madame. That's very thoughtful of you."
She giggled and waved her hand about as if to wave away my thanks. Carlisle beamed at his wife proudly for a moment before he turned his attention to me.
"Do you have any prior experience hunting animals? It's fine if you don't, but it will make the transition a lot easier if you have the gist already."
Had I any blood in my veins, I would have blushed as red as a beet at the memory of my vague attempt at hunting a deer. My usual strategy was find a target (usually a woman or a girl), seduce my overly willing prey, and dine to my stomach's content. Animals were vastly different; I had picked a target, a brawny male, but I hadn't even moved to attack when he sensed me a sprinted off. It had taken a good twenty minutes to catch, maneuvering around the trees and rocks to catch up with. By the time I managed to take him down, I was cranky and overtly hungry, and the hikers in the distance were starting to seem very appealing. I don't need to mention the awful mess I made of the poor animal.
"A little but I would prefer not to remember it." I answered, my cheeks prickling. The rust-haired vampire smirked and his mate, the brunette, shot an amused glare at him.
Carlisle flapped his hand, his eyebrows knotting at his son's amusement, and said, "Don't worry, I have a tutorial waiting for you on the couch. Nessy," he gestured towards the little girl. "Could you show our new familly member how to hunt, please?" I tried to draw myself inwards and out of existence as the child stood, as gracefully as a dancer, and nodded; I was going to be taught how to hunt by a seven-year-old!
Of course, I had heard of the mysterious child and her bizzarre ability to grow and change with age; part human, part vampire, she was the subject and cause of much speculation and sceptisism throughout our world.
She walked smoothly over to me now and stood before me in all her tiny, bird-like glory. She looked to her mother momentarilly for reassurence and moved to touch my temples. Suddenly, her father was at her side, staring blankly at me. "Edward," Carlisle cautioned but the young vampire merely smiled and replied, "I want to see how he reacts to what Nessy's about to do." He smirked at me and then gave a bark of laughter, the deep timber of his voice reverbating through the otherwise silent room. He turned to his daughter and said, "Don't show him that one, it makes me look bad." The daughter didn't move, instead choosing to roll her eyes. I stared blatantly at him, astonished, and managed splutter out, "You have a gift!" Edward laughed again and looked over at his smiling wife.
"Everyone here has a gift of some sort. Even Rosalie, though her's is just extreme annoyance." The blonde on the couch glared icilly while her mate let out a hearty guffaw.
I gulped nervously and quickly tried to think if I had ever had a gift too. Edward, seeming to hear my thoughts, smirked and said geneally, "It's not required so don't get so bent out of shape over it. Anyway, Nessy is going to use her gift to show you how we bring down dinner." In a flash, the little girl turned and kicked him sharply in the shin. He winced, but the smile remained plastered to him marble face.
"I told you not to give it away."
He chuckled, massaging his bruised leg, but he backed away in surrender when his daughter glared at him vicously. Her miniature hands reached for my temples again and I tensed as I mentaly prepared myself to expeirence her gift first-hand.
The moment her hot skin touched my forehead, an clear image of her father and mother bloomed in front of my eyes. They were in the same forest I had been in earlier and the mother was carrying the daughter on her back, jumping swiftly from branch to branch, the browns and greens of the forest a blur on all sides. A wolf raced along beneath them, chasing a massive, tauny lion. The cat was sprinting, it's head swerving erractically as it fought, bravely, to stay ahead of it's persuers.
However, from the childs eyes, I could see that it's stamina was fading; veins pulsed against it's skin and it's tongue lolled out of it's mouth as it panted. Suddenly, a blurred Edward launched over the wife and child and onto the doomed animal; a loud crack rippled through the air. The lion's neck snapped like a twig in his grasp and the corpse dropped like a stone, Edward somersaultering gracefully over the body. The wife and child jumped from their tree and gathered around the dead cat, the wolf from before approaching quickly as they all bent to drink.
The little hands left my face and the vision ended. Nessy was smiling at me and, clearly pleased with herself, she danced back to her mother who her promptly lifted her into her arms. The child touched her mother's temple and they giggled, the mother hugging her daughter tightly while the child smirked mischieviously at secret memory. The father chuckled under his breath, clearly in on the joke, and moved to join his familly. I sat pin-straight, stunned; from the corner of the couch, a pixie-like girl with spikey, jet-black hair smiled at me.
"And that, my dear Julian, is how the Cullen's pick up take-out!"
It took a moment for the shock to wear off, but when it did, I shuffled my feet and muttered, "Yeah..." embarrassment prickling painfully in my cheeks.
Carlisle walked over and grasped my hand, a gesture of fatherly concern.
"Please, feel free to stay with us while you get the hang of it. Or, you can move in permanently, if you prefer."
I didn't meet his gaze, out of respect for his generosity, and replied, "I'd like to stay here until I get it right, if you don't mind...?" Esme laughed, a sound like the tinkle of a wine glass shattering, moving to put an arm around my shoulder.
"Splendid! Everyone introduce yourselves please." She beamed, motioning encouragingly at the seated figures of her other adopted children.
The spikey-haired, pixie-girl rushed over and began shaking my hand enthusiastically. "Howdy! I'm Alice," she said with a voice like a music box. "I've been here for couple years now and, believe me, Carlisle and Esme and everybody else are great!"
She skipped lightly back to the couch and threw her arms around a blonde, scars riddling his exposed arms and stoney face. "This is Jasper! He's pretty new too so, I'm sure you'll have a lot in common!" Jasper nodded stiffly in my general direction, his eyes boring into my face as though he were searching for something; I managed a nervous wave in return. Iglanced down at my feet momentarilly, Jasper's eyes still drilling holes into my forehead, when suddenly I felt myself being lifted up and swung around in a crushing embrace. When I was finally released, I found myself staring that the broad chest and equally broad grin of a muscular vampire, his oustretched arm placed dangerously close to my nose.
"'Sup, li'l buddy?!" His grin widened and I gulped, clutching at the sofa as he leaned over to grin into my face. "I think we're gonna get along just fine, right?"
Suddenly the willowiy blonde was beside him and she huffed, pounding him on the head with one graceful fist. "Back off, Emmett! It's really obvious that you're making him uncortable."
Even the anger in her voice managed elegance andI felt very, very small when she smiled gently at me and shook my hand, beauty radiating off her in waves.
"Just ignore him, he always acts like a five-year-old (Emmett 'harumphed' in the background). By the way, my name's Rosalie."
"It's a pleasure to meet you, mademoiselle." I mumbled, shocked into formality. She giggled and Emmett smirked proudly, threading an arm around his girlfriend's waist. Edward chuckled and took his wife's hand who, in turn, nudged their daughter into movement. Together, they came forward for introductions; I marveled at the strength of their clear bonds.
"Hello Julian; my name is Edward and this is my wife, Bella, and our daughter, Renesmee or Nessy, for short." Bella smiled and waved while Nessy curtsied, bronze curls draping in front of her face as her small head bowwed
As she turned her head, the light from the crystal chandelier caught Bella's eyes, flashly briefly rust-red before reutning to a murky topaz. Edward, sensing my puzzlement, cleared his throat and announce, thoroughly buisness-like, "Bella's a newborn; hopefully that explains the eyes. She's a little strong still too, so be sure not to get on her bad side." Bella whacked him on the shoulder and he winced. I gulped.
As the conversation lulled, all eyes in the room flickered to me; I gulped and took a deep breath, standing at my full height.
"It's very nice to meet you all. My name is Julian Desmarais and, up until three weeks ago, I was wandering around the south of France. I'm very grateful for your hospitality and I pray that I perform in such a way during my visit that you feel you haven't made a mistake in inviting me." I bowed deeply to my hosts and, fumbling with the hem of shirt, continued standing awkwardly in my place. For a moment there was silence; then, Alice burst out in hysterical laughter. Her face pinched up and she clutched at her stomach, doubling over as she laughed raucously. Hurt and confused, I asked, "What? What did I say?"
Gasping for breath, Alice sputtered, "It's just...you're so formal!" and collapsed once more in a fit of giggles.
And just like that, the atmosphere broke, everyone breaking down in laughter, Emmett's loud guffaws echoing over the delicate tinkling of Esme and Rosalie. Alice rolled around on the ground, giggling like a maniac, while Jasper chuckled good naturedly at her side; Edward and Bella snickered at their family's antics, Nessy joing Alice on the floor. Gradually, laughter faded into small-talk and I finally relaxed, the warmth of my new familly seeping into my soul like hot chocolate on a fozen night.
Eventually, the hour grew late and Esme ushered Bella and Nessy upstairs, Nessy yawning sleepily. Emmett and Rosalie wandered outside, presumabley for a walk leaving Edward to slouch languidly against a wall and myself; Jasper and Alice had seemed to vanish into thin air. Carlisle, lingering in the wake of his wife and children, continued to smile contentedly at me.
Instantly, I became extremely self-conscious noticing how was slouching and flciking my eyes around like a scared animal. Carlisle sighed and offered me his hand, standing. "C'mon," he said. "I'll show you where you can stay while you're here."