Disclaimer: Highlander belongs to Davis-Panzer Productions, Filmline International, Gaumon Télévision, and whoever else actually has the rights to it.
Twilight (series) belongs to Stephanie Meyer. NOT ME! (Obviously)
Summary: How might Bella Swan and Edward Cullen's relationship have played out if she hadn't been just a human, but actually a pre-Immortal?
Author's Note: OK, I started trying to think of a Highlander/Twilight crossover almost as soon as I finished reading the first book. I came up with one idea, but have—at least temporarily—decide that that one is a bit too AU. So I started working on this one.
The only other Highlander/Twilight crossover I know of is Kirallie's Love Eternal, but I'd love to see more. So if you know any, please let me know.
Now without further ado, enjoy the story! ^_^
An Eternal Life
By Jess S
Prologue: First Death
Edward's POV – Outside of Phoenix, Arizona – March 19, 2005
Edward winced as another whimper escaped Bella's lips, which for the most part had been tightly pressed together, holding in the tortured sounds behind her excruciatingly pained expression.
"It shouldn't be long now," Carlisle murmured from the bedroom's doorway, though it was something he needn't say. All of them knew the transformation took three days, and that it had been almost that long since James had taken Bella's mortality away.
Edward didn't reply.
I am sorry, Edward. I know you didn't want this for her.
"I know," the telepath replied to his father's concerned thought. The same thought that had been passing constantly through the heads of each of his family members in varying forms over the last almost seventy-two hours. "I can barely bare this," he shook his head. "Her agony."
Jasper hadn't been able to stand it. Or so he'd claimed.
Edward knew that his brother's experiences during the Southern Wards had rendered him rather used to what others endured during the change—or as used to it as anyone could ever get. At the very least, he knew that Jasper's gift wasn't needlessly cruel to him: that though he could sense the pain the transforming individual was going through, he was able to distance himself from it. Edward had seen him do it before, with Emmett, and had seen his memories of doing so countless—or deliberately uncounted times—in the past before then.
No, Jasper had really left because of Edward: not wanting his brother to be able to sense Bella's pain—his mate's truly terrible torment—through the empath's mind any longer than was absolutely necessary. Imagining it was awful enough, the reality of feeling each instant was needlessly cruel.
Jasper had returned less than an hour ago, though, forcing himself to bear the agony so that he could be here when his newest sister woke as one of them. He had, of course, also been deliberately focusing on pretty much everything else so that Edward wouldn't sense any more through him than he absolutely had to.
Edward, himself, was tempted to tell his brother not to bother. He might've done so, if he thought his suggestion would be treated with anything other than sympathetic scorn from the empath and strong objections from everyone else. So he'd kept the thought that he deserved to be tortured for allowing this to happen to himself.
Though he did deserve it: for not getting to her in time. He'd always prided himself on his speed, but when his beloved had needed him most he'd been just a little too slow.
Or more than a little, really. He should have gotten there before James hurt her at all. Instead he'd only just managed to keep the tracker from draining her, and still hadn't been fast enough, focused enough, to kill the monster and get to Bella's side before the venom had spread through her bloodstream.
By the time Carlisle and the others arrived to help him handle James, to give him the chance to return to Bella's side, she was already turning.
He'd wanted to try sucking the venom out of her, but it was too late.
Too late.
They'd been forced to simply focus on getting her somewhere safe to finish her transformation. And they'd ended up renting a large house several miles outside of Phoenix, a good distance away from any neighbors that might hear her screams. Not that she was screaming. No, his Bella was clearly concerting a lot of effort into not showing how much pain she was in. Undoubtedly not wanting him to feel bad for getting there too late.
For being too slow.
"I'm sorry, my love," Edward murmured for what well might be the hundredth time as he leaned over to place a gentle kiss on her forehead, the motion a little awkward as he was careful not to move the hand that she'd been gripping like it was a lifeline for days. "I'm so sorry."
That's not going to help her, Edward.
He barely suppressed a growl at Alice's intruding thought, not looking up as she slipped around Carlisle and over to the other side of the bed, sitting down on Bella's other side.
You know it's true. She needs you to be strong for her. To help her adjust to our lifestyle. To not think she's a monster.
Edward's head snapped up and he glared at the pixie, ignoring the waves of calm her defensive mate immediately sent his way from just outside the room.
Jasper would undoubtedly enter the room the moment Bella's heart—and the pain it was pounding through her body with every beat—stopped, to be at his mate's side when the newborn-vampire awoke, until then he still needed to keep his distance. But the false calm didn't fool Edward.
"Of course she's not a monster!"
You've always thought you are, Edward. That we all are. And you've told her that several times. If you reject her now, she'll probably think that's why. Even though she's never agreed with you.
"I'm not—"
I know. I haven't seen you doing that, Alice frowned, shaking her head. I haven't been able to see much of anything, actually.
It was true. Ever since James had bitten Bella, Alice had had trouble seeing into her future. They assumed it was because in her agonized state Bella wasn't capable of making decisions, so of course Alice couldn't see the outcomes.
That, and Alice had been anxiously awaiting her husband's return through the long hours of his absence: unwilling to leave Bella, but unhappy at his necessary departure, too. So it'd been hard for her to try and focus on Bella's future when she so much wanted to focus on her own, and her mate's. With Jasper back, though, her inner eye was turned towards her best friend's fate… but she still wasn't seeing anything.
None of that made them feel any better though. They all wanted Bella to be okay. And Alice not being able to see that she would be okay was almost as unsettling as Bella's obvious pain was.
"She's going to be dazzling," Alice murmured, looking down at Bella.
Edward growled at her, though he kept it quiet so as to avoid frightening Bella. Of course, his poor love probably wasn't aware of anything outside the horrible agony she was suffering. "She always has been."
Alice snorted, "You know what I mean. Look at her."
Once he'd gotten over the arrogant assumption that as a human Bella Swan should not be all that attractive, he had recognized that she really was quite pretty in a unique way. He'd been as captivated by her beauty as he was by her mysterious mind, surprising personality and torturously delicious, sweet scent.
He knew Alice was right as he looked down at his suffering love.
The venom was doing what it always did, after all: enhancing the beauty that was already there.
Her ivory skin was becoming even more pale then it had already been, the minute mortal flaws disappearing entirely, till it was as luminous as a pearl, a flawlessly smooth surface that glistened subtly over formerly fragile limbs that would soon be deceptive in their size and form, hiding the monstrous strength of a vampire.
Her long, thick, mahogany hair had gradually become more fluid. It would always be silky, shiny and perfect in a way that human models could only attempt to obtain through hours of grooming and countless hair-care products. For some reason, it was also painting highlights of red through her hairs: highlights that hadn't been there even to vampiric eyes before.
Her face, pale as the moon, looked even paler against that dark, silky frame. Never again would those cheeks be painted in a delectably wonderful blush when she was embarrassed, which had seemed so often but always wonderful.
Her full, slightly out-of-balance lips had paled a bit also. The rich, warm reddish tone they'd held before stolen by the venom's chilling change.
What little had remained of baby-fat on her body had melted away already, leaving her cooling limbs statuesquely shaped and firmer than firm, harder than marble. Harder than diamonds.
But he thought her eyes would be the hardest thing to accept. Her wondrously warm, chocolate-brown eyes would undoubtedly still be deep, still be curious and loving—provided she did not hate him for her fate, though he wouldn't blame her if she did. He hoped with all of his un-beating heart that that wouldn't be the case, of course, but he'd still understand. Though it would hurt if her never-brown-again eyes were filled with hate when they opened, turned to that terrible crimson shade so bright they actually glowed. But he would understand.
Edward, Alice hissed softly at him, though the reprimand was all in her mind.
Oh, right. He wasn't supposed to be thinking of himself as a monster now, because he didn't want to make it harder for Bella to adjust upon waking. Of course he didn't, but he'd recognized himself as a monster for so long that it was very, very hard.
Listen.
Again, Alice's mental command was very concise, but this one was easier to obey. Especially since he'd noticed the same thing she had.
Bella's beautiful heart, which had been beating far too fast for far too many hours, had sped up even faster: so that it sounded more like a hummingbird's than a human's. Her hands were already cooling—the venom having completed its task there.
"Ah," Carlisle murmured, sounding relieved. "It's almost over."
Edward already knew that. He'd witnessed the transformation three times before, after all. With Esme, Rosalie, and then Emmett.
He'd never been able to stay for the whole process: the fiery pain in their minds too great, each time, for him to withstand. But like Jasper—in those first three times—he'd returned for the end, shortly before they woke up.
It was a bit ironic that the one time he was more than willing to inflict the torment of the transformation on himself again, to be at his soul mate's side the whole time, her own gift rendered his useless.
Or maybe not. Maybe it made sense that his mate wouldn't hurt him, even indirectly, through his own gift. He knew Bella certainly wouldn't want to, anymore than he'd want to hurt her. And if they were made for each other, as most vampires insisted their mates truly were: whether it was by nature, when they were born human, or by the venoms' influence when they were immortalized…
"Soon," Alice agreed eagerly, though she was bothered by the fact that she still couldn't see Bella's future. "I'll get the—" she stopped, shaking her head slightly as they all heard the same thing.
Carlisle moved the rest of the way into the room so that Jasper, Emmett, Esme and Rosalie could follow him in.
"Alice…" Jasper called softly, his tone firm. He didn't want her to be so close to Bella when she woke as a newborn.
Alice sighed, but obediently rose after giving Bella's hand a gentle squeeze, "It'll be okay soon, Bella." Then she moved over to her husband and reluctantly let him push her behind him and Emmett.
His two brothers' had taken understandably defensive positions in front of the other members of their family.
Understandable, though Edward himself couldn't see Bella as a threat. But he hadn't fought newborns as Jasper had.
Nor had Emmett, he was just following Jasper's wary lead, the idea of any harm coming to Rosalie forcing the most-childlike member of the family to assume his role as the strongest again.
Again Bella's heart beat sped up, faster event then the hummingbird's as it continued its last-ditched effort in a loosing battle with the vicious venom. Her lips remained locked together, a stubborn refusal to emit any sounds of pain even as her back arced up off the bed and her grip on his hand became painfully tight with newborn strength already there.
Finally it came.
A deep, hollow-sounding thud that ended the crazy beats.
Her heart stuttered out two more desperate beats, before emitting a soft, pitiful thud and stopping all together.
Immediately, her grip went slack and that tortured expression finally slipped off her face, her features relaxing as though she was only sleeping.
Everyone stopped breathing as Bella did, watching anxiously for their newest family member to open her eyes.
Edward tried to prepare himself for the demonic shade, not wanting to make this any harder for Bella than it was going to be already. He gave her hand a slight, hopefully reassuring squeeze as they all waited for her reaction to her new state of being.
…When the bated, breathless seconds passed into minutes they all started to get worried.
She should have arisen by now, Carlisle thought worriedly. Pushed into frenzy by her newborn bloodlust if nothing else.
Wow, little sis is doing a pretty good impression of a corpse, Emmett marveled, making Edward wince. Oops, sorry bro.
What's taking so long? Alice wondered, her mental voice now a little desperate. Why can't I see her?
"Bella? Sweetheart?" Esme called softly, worriedly, as she leaned around Emmett. "Can you hear me?"
Emmett immediately caught onto the idea of talking to her, "Hey, little sis, it's time ta get up!"
Edward, Alice hissed mentally, seemingly afraid of saying anything aloud herself. Say something!
Hypocrite, he thought, but then drew in a slow, deep breath, to talk.
Only to stop with the breath half drawn; more than a bit surprised by how sweet—how human—Bella's blood still smelled. Even more strangely, it was still tainted by venom, which made him frown.
He glanced over at the others, catching Carlisle's gaze. "Her blood hasn't changed?"
The others eyes all widened and they all drew slight breaths in through their noses to catch the scent themselves, before looks of puzzlement and worry twisted their features.
How odd… Carlisle thought as he moved forward, ignoring Jasper's half-hearted effort to hold him back. She should smell like a vampire now.
"But she doesn't." Edward said aloud, "Not quite."
Her blood smelled a little different, but not Vampiric. It still smelled warm and rich like a human's, and still smelled delectable.
No, Carlisle agreed, frowning slightly as he looked down on Bella's still, relaxed features; confusion predominant in his thoughts. "Bella? Can you hear me?"
They all watched her, waiting anxiously for her response.
Carlisle glanced down at his watch, which he'd done earlier too, as no response came. It'd been just over six minutes since her heart stopped.
Did something go wrong?
Could the venom have killed her instead of immortalizing her, despite the fact that her heart had kept beating through every minute of the required three days the transformation typically took?
It's been almost seven minutes since her heart stopped, Carlisle thought with another worried glance at his watch just a moment before exactly that amount of time had passed.
And it was in that instant that the hollow thud of another heart beat reached their ears. Followed by more slow beats that sounded less and less hollow as they increased to a horribly frantic tempo.
"What the hell?" Jasper muttered, actually shocked into swearing in front of the ladies.
Bella's eyes snapped opened and they were all stunned to see the beautiful brown Edward had grown to love so much; though he hated the agony that was in them and was quickly distracted from the color as her mouth opened to release one of the cries she'd so bravely held back before.
Methos's POV – Papago Park, Arizona – March 19, 2005
The world's oldest immortal released a disgruntled sigh as he stared out at the Hole-in-the-Rock. But his attention wasn't anywhere near the park's popular formation of red arkosic and conglomerate sandstone. It was on the sweet girl he'd returned to Phoenix to check up on. (1)
Bella Swan. He'd met her just over half a year ago, the day before her seventeenth birthday at the Phoenix Art Museum. She was there trying to finish up the necessary research she needed for a history project that hadn't been due until the first Friday of October, three weeks away.
It was the barely-there-buzz of a Pre-Immortal that first drew his eyes to her, and it'd been her catastrophic clumsiness that'd led to them actually interacting. It had been very innocent, just as she was.
…FLASHBACK…
Methos had just set one foot on the stairwell that led up to the museum's Mezzanine when the weak buzz had made him pause. He instantly recognized it as the barely-there-buzz of a Pre-Immortal, and looked around carefully for who it might be.
One typically found another Immortal by looking around for whoever was also looking around warily, but Pre-Immortals were a little more tricky to spot, since they couldn't sense the buzz through the spark of a Quickening that lay nestled in their heart, waiting for the day it would make them an Immortal.
But Methos had been around a long time, and had met many Pre-Immortals. He knew that, with how weak it felt, the person he was looking for had to be very close…
It wasn't any of the people behind him: the only two who were close enough were the old man staring at an ugly piece of impressionist art, and a little girl getting a drink from the nearby fountain. Methos had been nearer to them both earlier, and hadn't sensed anything.
So his eyes went up the stairs, where one individual was making her way down.
It was teenage girl; her womanly shape but slightly too long limbs—not fully developed—telling him that though she was undoubtedly in high school, she couldn't be more than fifteen or sixteen years of age.
She was a pretty little thing, with long dark hair and seriously set, but perfectly formed features. Her lips were a little out of balance; the lower lip bigger than the upper one, but that was the only part of her face that marred her otherwise classically shaped beauty, and it lent her face character rather than blemish.
She was paler than was common in this very sunny area; perhaps she was a visitor, like him? Though she was a bit young to be traveling without a guardian of some sort, be it a parent, older sibling, teacher, etc.
Her skin didn't sport any of the flaws one usually saw on teenagers: not a pimple or a freckle in sight, though that wasn't all that unusual in Pre-Immortals. Just as the spark of the Quickening in them was able to help their immune system shake off almost any illness with ease, it often seemed to help with the problems that tormented most mortals.
A small trade off, perhaps, for the fact that all Immortals and Pre-Immortals alike were born barren. Though Methos had known many who would prefer the gift of children to an attractive appearance or easy health all their days. There had been many times Methos, himself, would've liked to be capable of fathering children…
But that was neither here nor there; particularly since it wasn't something that could be changed, so Methos made himself focus on the present, only realizing just then that he'd been staring at the girl for several seconds from where he was poised to start climbing the stairs.
She hadn't noticed though. She was apparently much too preoccupied with making her way carefully down the stairs to notice anyone further down below her, though he'd be in her line of sight in a few steps.
Methos was starting to try and think of a valid reason to approach her, even reasoning that perhaps a direct collision—pretending he wasn't paying any more attention then she was—might be the best way of going about it. But the careful way she was walking distracted him, made him curious.
He wasn't sure he'd ever seen anyone take more care with walking before…
"Tommy! Karen! Ben! Slow down!" a woman's irritated voice called from behind him, just before three little children dashed around him, one of the boy's accidently hitting his let with an excitedly flailing hand as he ran by, but none of them really seem to notice—or care—about him as they hurried up the steps. "Walk!"
Methos chanced a quick glance behind him to see the woman who'd yelled hurrying after her errant charges. She was probably their mother, she was old enough and the resemblance between them was strong enough, but he had to wonder, if that was the case, why the woman wasn't able to control the brats? Three kids would be hard for any adult to control, but at their present age—all three looked old enough for at least kindergarten—most parents would have some semblance of control over them.
Such thoughts were banished though, when he heard further commotion from up above, on the stairs, and he turned fully expected to see one of the little ones had tripped and hurt themselves.
But no, apparently all three had made it to the next landing fine, but when they'd darted around the preoccupied Pre-Immortal coming down the stairs, they'd startled her, making her miss a step and start stumbling—head first—down the staircase!
It took Methos only three quick steps to come to her rescue, catching her slight form easily; but his grab for her backpack, which'd gone flying in the same direction her head had been headed, wasn't so successful.
"Th-Thank you," the girl said a second later, as soon as she realized she was no longer falling and someone had saved her.
At the same time, the kids' harried guardian had dashed around them after the little miscreants, calling back apologies as she went, though neither of them really cared for her words.
"You're welcome," Methos replied, giving the girl a warm smile that made her turn an even brighter red then she was already as he let her extricate herself from his arms, though she let him hold her hand in support till she had one hand on the railing and hurried the quick final few steps to the level he'd been leaving when he'd sensed her.
"S-Sorry," she stuttered, not meeting his eyes as she knelt down beside her bag and started picking up its spilled contents.
Methos had followed her, and knelt also, not willing to give up this opportunity to introduce himself, no matter how unexpectedly it'd come about. "Don't worry about it," he reassured her, his tone meant to sooth as he hurried to collect the heavier books and notebooks while she grabbed a countless number of pencils and pens.
"You really don't have to—"
"Don't mention it," Methos said again, deliberately letting a little amusement seep into the soothing words. He helped her put the books back in her bag a few moments later, giving her a gentle smile. "There you go. You okay?"
"Y-Yeah, I'm fine," she answered, as if on auto-pilot, before she blushed and added even more uncomfortably: "Believe it or not, I'm used to it. I think I'm the world's most clumsy klutz."
Methos laughed a little, still smiling at her, "I'm sure you're not that bad," he protested, though remembering the way she'd been so strangely careful on the stairs before the kids scared her into her fall into his arms, he honestly could believe it. Though it really probably had more to do with whatever growth spurt she'd gone through in the last few years, and not yet being completely used to the lengths of her legs then anything else. He didn't say anything about that, though, as he saw she was already starting to think she shouldn't be bothering him anymore than she already had—and really, that was the look on her face—so he kept smiling as he held out his hand. "I'm Adam Walker."
"Oh, I'm Bella; Bella Swan," she replied, accepting his hand automatically moving to shake his hand, and then blushing when he gently gripped her hand and turned it to bow and place a soft kiss on the back.
"Pleased to meet you," Methos grinned as he rose; fully expecting both the blush that Bella's cheeks now boasted and the clearly flattered look in her eyes. He was too old for her, even by appearance standards alone: he looked to be in his early to mid-twenties while she was jailbait just by that standard. Plus, he'd decided long ago that he'd never court a woman who wasn't at least in her twenties; any younger was just too young, no matter how pretty the girl was. But there was no harm in gentle flirting in flattery, particularly since she clearly needed a self-confidence boost and she brushed so prettily.
"Th-Thank you," Bella replied quietly, before adding quickly. "You too! And, thank you for catching me. I'm sor—"
"You're quite welcome," Methos cut her off, deciding then and there that if he was going to be spending any time at all with this girl he was going to have to help her build a heck of a lot more self-confidence.
Modesty and selflessness were all well and good, but no one should go through life apologizing all the time.
"What brings you to the museum?" Methos ventured before Bella could say anything, even as he let her reclaim her hand, and smiling more widely when he saw her decide to keep talking to him, but raising an eyebrow when she started by sighing.
"A research paper for school," Bella frowned, shaking her head. "I'm not sure it was worth the trip, though."
"Oh no?" Methos let his smile slip into a half-frown and let the rest of his face fall into curious lines. "I've always found museums excellent places to start, at the very least."
Granted, he frequently used museums and history books more to remind himself of just what mortals knew of the ages long past, and what he couldn't tell them about, but that didn't mean a museum wasn't a good place for even a young scholar to start a paper.
Bella sighed, shaking her head, "I thought it'd be. But everything's so much harder to translate then I thought it'd be—I thought the museum would have translations up of a lot of the scrolls they have on display, but maybe they prefer them being unreadable?"
"More mysterious, that way," Methos pointed out with a chuckle, before asking. "What do you need translated?"
Bella shook her head, "A bunch of the things upstairs in the new Ancient Roman exhibit. I brought a Latin to English dictionary with me—"
"Better to learn the language than to try muddling through it with one of those things, my dear," Methos cut her off again, his tone only mildly chastising. He hurried on before she could take offense, not that he really thought she would, but he didn't want her to be overly embarrassed either. "I can translate for you, if you like?"
Bella blinked at him, "What?"
"I dabbled in linguistics, ancient languages in particular, before I got my medical doctorate. I can read Latin as easily as anyone else reads English." Methos said nonchalantly.
It was true, technically.
"I couldn't ask you to—"
"I'm volunteering," Methos cut her off again, spreading his arms wide. "Ancient Rome's as interesting as anything else here, and I'm always up for a challenge." Then, not giving her time to object, he picked up her now closed backpack and swung it over one shoulder, and gently grabbed her hand with and looped her arm through his free one, pointedly steering her back towards the stairs she'd stumbled down moments before. "Please?"
The pleading look he gave her seem to do the trick, at both getting through her shock and getting her to accept his help and stay in his company for now.
"Thank you," Bella murmured with a small nod, before giving the stairs they were about to climb a forlorn look. "I'll warn you, though, I'm probably gonna trip again, at least once."
Methos shook his head, chuckling even as he gently led her up the stairs at the slow pace she set. "I won't let you fall," he reassured her, with a warm smile that grew a little as she returned it. As they climbed the stairs, he asked, "Do you go to school here in Phoenix?"
"Yes," Bella answered, giving him another little smile. "I grew up here. Mom and I moved here when I was four. I know I don't really look the part," she said, a bit of humor coloring her tone.
And she really didn't; neither tan nor burn marred her pale skin.
"Don't like tanning, I take it?"
Bella shrugged, "My skin doesn't seem to tan. Or burn all that often, actually." Her voice turned even more amused as she added; "Maybe one of my grandparents was an albino?"
Methos laughed.
…END OF FLASHBACK…
He'd spent the rest of the afternoon helping the charming young woman understand the history she'd chosen to taste for her paper. And he'd had a wonderful time.
Looking back on it, he'd found himself feeling very protective of the young girl. Maybe because he'd had to rescue her from her own clumsiness several more times that day. Maybe a little bit because of the misfortune of birth they shared. It wasn't like it was uncommon for Immortals—the good ones at least—to feel obligated to protect mortals who might one day be like them. Pre-Immortals were really the closest thing their 'race' had to children, after all. Methos had even watched a few of them live peacefully through their lives and die safe, natural deaths.
But it'd only occurred to him after a few months of correspondence via email, and occasionally instant-messaging, that Bella reminded him of someone very special to him.
With how long he'd lived and how many, many people he'd known, liked, and even loved, it wasn't unusual for Methos to notice similarities to old friends and acquaintances in new ones.
Sometimes it was physical resemblance, maybe something as little as the shape of their nose or the easiness of their smile. There were really only so many shapes the human form could take, after all, and all humans were, in theory, distantly—very, very distantly—related through the common ancestors of the race.
More often, though, it was the personality traits that reminded him of those he'd once known and lost. And though he tried to not let such reminders of the past influence his present over much, there were times that it was absurdly hard.
Like now.
Bella was sweet and funny and smart and much too modest for her own good, but the protectiveness he'd already felt for her, stirring her so strongly even on the day they first met, was born from how much she reminded him of Alexa Bond: the mortal love who'd been snatched away from him by cancer mere months after they'd only just met. The dear lady who's loss still haunted him in his nightmares; and in his dreams. The reason he'd told Mac and Joe that some loves were one-in-a-hundred-lifetimes… (2)
Did he love Bella Swan because of that? No. Methos would never believe in the ridiculous concept of love at first sight. He hadn't even loved Alexa herself at first glance; he'd liked her, certainly. But love had been born from their time together, brief though it was.
Could he hope for such feelings from—and towards—Bella? Maybe…only time could tell.
For now though, she was still just too young to try. She was still a child in fact, and not just by comparison to himself.
But whether she would one day be his greatest love, a dear little sister, or just a good friend, Methos had been sure from the moment they met that he would never regret knowing Bella Swan.
Even if it led to him doing silly things like coming to check up on her without warning her ahead of time…only to find out that she'd moved. If he'd checked his email a little more often, he wouldn't have had the problem, but then again he did have over a dozen different accounts; and email was still a very new concept for his old mind to get used to.
However, momentary inconvenience or not, he was relieved to know that she'd moved away from Phoenix. It was the fifth most populous city in the United States, and therefore an area she'd been more likely to run into head-hunters than in a small town.
According to her old neighbor; a talkative little busy-body named Marta, and the most recent email she'd sent him—over two months ago, though he'd read it after an hour with chatty-Marta—Bella had moved to Forks, Washington, while her mother Renee Dwyer had followed her new, baseball-playing husband to Florida. Bella's father, Charlie Swan, was the police chief of Forks, and she'd decided to move in with him to let her mother and new step-father enjoy a few honeymoon years without needing to worry about a teenager. Self-sacrificing as ever; since she hated rain and cold, and Forks, Washington was supposed to have plenty of both.
He would have felt much better about it though if said small town wasn't in the state of Washington, the whole proximity rendered a bit more dangerous than it otherwise would have been because Macleod—the famous Highlander—lived in Seacouver some of the time. But a glance at the map had reassured him a bit. Forks really was a small, out of the way town. Not a place most headhunters would wander through on their way to Seacouver. Though she might run into some in Seattle, he knew she didn't really care for shopping; she'd be more likely to go to the city to see a museum or art exhibit, something most headhunters weren't likely to be visiting. (3)
So he'd sent an email off to her, the day before yesterday, and was waiting to hear back from her. While contemplating whether or not her police chief father would appreciate any man making a point of traveling hundreds of miles to visit his daughter. Never mind that Methos had come to Phoenix all the way from Paris, France to see her.
It didn't surprise him that Bella had moved, since she hadn't seemed overly attached to Phoenix, despite her preferring sunshine to rain.
Like some of the other perceptive—and honestly more interesting—Pre-Immortals Methos had met in the past, Bella Swan didn't feel like she fit in with her peers. Immortals were generally born to stand out and it sometimes made their lives hellish, or at least uncomfortable. Many of those children that'd been so uncomfortable in mortal coils had felt much more comfortable, much more alive, as Immortals. Immortality just suited them better than mortality did.
And with how clumsy dear Bella really was he didn't doubt she'd one day number among his Immortal friends.
Why had he come to check up on her now?
He hated to think of her trapped in the body of a seventeen-year-old. It would close quite a few doors to her that just a few more mortal years would keep open. Though with some acting, make-up and the like, she might be able to enter more mature circles still, if only because she'd have the more important thing: the maturity, down pat. Hell, the girl he'd met a few months ago was more mature then several centuries-old Immortals he'd known.
Staring at the natural wonders around him, Methos was wondering why he'd felt the need to be here. Silly though it may sound—and he'd never say it allowed—his gut rarely led him wrong. So why was he worried about Bella, when not a thing in the email she'd sent him had hinted at any reason for him to worry?
If Bella needed his help, she'd have called the paper number he'd given her along with his email a few months before. Or said something in her emails.
No matter what her eventual fate, Methos had wanted to keep in touch. Either so that he could be there when she became Immortal, or so that he could have the satisfaction of knowing she'd live a good, full life when she reached her natural death.
BEEP. BEEP. BEEP. BEEP.
Methos froze, his eyes dropping down to the pocket that held the pager he'd just been thinking about. A cell phone would be more modern, but the pager was just for those who didn't really know him; like Bella. Emergency cases he'd need to tailor his responses for. He took it out and frowned at the number. It wasn't one he knew, but it was a Washington area code. So he pulled out his cell phone and dialed it, knowing Bella was the only person it could be from, since Macleod, Richie and Joe were all in Paris at the moment.
RING!
The phone barely rang once before it was picked up and a beautiful but completely unfamiliar voice answered. "Hello?"
Methos frowned, "I'm sorry, I think I have the wrong num—"
"Are you Doctor Walker?" the girl—or maybe young woman—asked, and it was only then that he noticed the edge of desperation in her voice.
His frown deepened. That was the name he'd been going by when he met Bella. Though he'd switched to a different persona a few weeks later, having tired that one out. "I am. May I ask whom I'm speaking with?"
"Alice Cullen. I'm a friend of Bella Swan."
"Bell—"
"She needs your help."
Methos rose from where he'd been seated and glanced around him again, confirming that the only people nearby was still the pair that was hiking up to the Hole-in-the-Rock. "I beg your pardon?"
"In your note, you told her to call you—your pager—if she ever needed help. She needs help now."
He could hear other voices in the background, but couldn't make out what they were saying as he shook his head. "Alright. How can I help her?"
Unhappy suspicions were beginning to form in his head. He supposed the note he'd given her would be an obvious connection to another Immortal if a head-hunter had found her and chosen to take her head. This could very well be a trap.
"I... I don't know. Can you come to Phoenix, Ar—"
"Bella lives in Washington now."
"I know, my family does, too. But we were... visiting Phoenix and—Please. I know you can help her."
"Why? Is Bella alright?" he demanded.
"...No. No, she's not. Please, can you come? We'll be able to explain better when you get here."
By taking his head? Methos wondered, before saying firmly; "I'd like to speak to Bella, please."
"She can't talk right now. She's very ill."
Ill? Methos frowned. Pre-Immortals didn't catch illnesses any more than Immortals did. Or when they did, their immune system—perhaps powered by the small spark of a Quickening that gave Pre-Immortals their barely-there-buzz—made short work of any disease or virus.
Poison was far more likely than illness.
Poison; or deception.
"Just let me speak to her for a—"
"She can't," 'Alice Cullen' protested, before sighing as the other voices spoke in the background again. "Please, Dr. Walker. She's in so much pain. If you can't help her I don't think anyone can!"
Methos blinked, "Why?" his suspicious side—which was really most of his being—still wasn't happy with any of this.
"What do you mean why?!" though still hurting, now the girl sounded offended too. "From the note you wrote, it sounded like you might actually care about her. Don't you care about her being in pain?"
The thought made his ancient-but-ever-young heart ache. Pain and suffering was not something he could ever wish on someone as altruistic and good as Bella Swan.
"Yes, I care." Methos allowed himself to answer, before forcing his voice to firm again. "But I'm not sure of how you expect me to help her."
"She thinks you can." The girl replied, her voice firm—though it didn't sound entirely honest to his experienced ears. "Can't you at least try? Please?"
He sighed, "Very well. The address?"
"My brother will pick you up at—"
"Thank you, but I'd prefer to drive myself. Where in Phoenix am I going?" He committed her answer to memory before hanging up and sparing the park one last, long look. Then he spun on his heel and making his way back to the parking lot.
It shouldn't take him more than hour to reach the house this 'Alice Cullen' wanted him to come to. But he knew it was going to be a horrible drive. He'd certainly spend the whole time strategizing and trying to figure out what he'd be walking into.
Not that it really mattered. As long as this wasn't a trap set by another Immortal, he shouldn't have any trouble getting out of it alive on his own.
And if it another Immortal had hurt—or killed—Bella, he would be all too happy to kill them. Though he tried to avoid challenges as much as possible, there were times he had no desire to. He never backed down from protecting one of his students; his children, or friends. And in his mind Bella had become just that only a few too short months ago.
Still, maybe a call to Mac wouldn't be amiss right now. Not that the young warrior could do much from Paris, but he'd like to think that they were now friendly enough again that MacLeod would care to avenge him if he didn't survive this...
Edward's POV – Outside of Phoenix, Arizona – March 20, 2005
Edward shook his head, frowning at his pixie-like sister. "But who is he, Alice?"
"I already told you, Edward," she snapped back. "I don't know!" she shook her head. "I can barely See him. I just know he can help... and he's almost here. Maybe ten minutes."
"Maybe?" Emmett asked her, raising an eyebrow at the uncertainty in her voice. "What'd you mean 'maybe'?"
Alice sighed, "I just said I could barely see him. That makes knowing the exact time of his arrival difficult!"
"I honestly don't know what you expect this Dr. Walker to do for Bella, Alice," Carlisle spoke up, sounding as emotionally wearied as all of them were. Though not quite as effected as Edward, all his family was hurting with him and Bella. And it really bothered Carlisle that he couldn't help the girl he'd already accepted as his youngest daughter.
"I don't know how he can help her!" Alice hissed, choking back a dry sob as her husband closed her in a gentle embrace once again. "I've already told you all that!"
And she had. Though she hadn't been all that forthcoming as she'd made the call to the stranger-doctor's pager number and answered the phone a moment later. She had, however, tried to explain herself immediately afterwards. But they'd still kept badgering her over the last hour.
Edward had tried to help her out a few times. After all, he'd seen her vision. All Alice knew from her vision was that she was supposed to call a specific number she found in Bella's purse, which happened to be on a business card for this 'Doctor Adam Walker,' along with a nice note inviting Bella to call him if she never needs help with anything.
So Alice had called in Bella's stead, trusting her foresight's conviction that this Dr. Walker would be able to help their newest family member despite the fact that the problem was not a human one.
Bella had been screaming for over an hour now, and in far more pain than she was before, according to Jasper who was still trying to funnel calmness and numbness towards the poor girl. A job not made any easier by the emotions that were running high through all the rest of the family now.
"Stop it!" came Esme's quiet demand from Bella's room on the floor above them. When Alice had left Bella's side, led not by a vision but by instincts that her gift also had a hand in most of the time, Edward had dashed after her; hoping to find a way to help Bella. Everyone else had followed, save for Esme, who'd stayed to continue gently wiping Bella's brow with a cool washcloth. "This is not a time to be arguing. If Alice thinks he can help Bella we will, of course, welcome him when he arrives."
"Which, I think," Alice spoke up, suddenly pulling out of her husband's arms to run towards the door, "is now."
They all looked after her in confusion, Edward especially since she hadn't actually had a vision of any kind right then but then they all heard the car coming down the long driveway that led to this house.
Carlisle waived them to the living room, trusting that Alice was more than capable enough to greet their guest.
Alice was literally bouncing in place in front of the door, actually debating running out and just pulling the man outside into the house to get him here faster but almost immediately deciding that'd do more harm than good.
Though Edward was actually rather surprised when he heard the man not even pause outside of the house, he just walked right up the steps. Surely he could hear Bella's screams from the driveway?
It was then that Edward realized, his eyes widening a little in shock, that he couldn't hear the mortal man's thoughts.
His mind was closed, just like Bella's.
"What is it, Edward?" Jasper asked warily even as they all waited for their guest to finish the climb up the fairly long front stairs.
"I can't… I can't hear his thoughts," Edward told them at vampire speed.
Their eyes widened also, but Carlisle actually sounded pleased as he asked, "Like Bella?" When Edward nodded, Carlisle looked even more relieved. "This might be a good thing."
It took Edward and everyone else a few long seconds to realize what the elder vampire was getting at.
If the reason Bella's mind was blank to Edward had anything to do with why she wasn't turning into a vampire properly—for lack of a better word—then this Adam Walker might actually be able to help her.
"Alice," Esme called from Bella's room. "Come here and look after Bella, please. I'll greet the doctor."
Alice frowned, but obeyed. Esme was much better at putting mortals at ease around them, after all. Carlisle was good, too, but male vampires were always perceived as more dangerous than females. Though the females were obviously plenty dangerous too.
The moment Alice was at Bella's bedside, Esme was at the front door. And she opened it as soon as the man's hand had hit the wood once, a slightly nervous but still welcoming stretching her lips on command.
Methos's POV – Outside of Phoenix, Arizona – March 20, 2005
Methos could have shot himself.
As suspicious as he was by nature—a nature trained by too much time and too many experiences—this possibility hadn't crossed his mind.
Even when he'd thought of how poison was the only illness-like thing that could take down an immortal for a time, inflicting great pain like an illness, without leaving a mark. Injuries that would be fatal to mortals could put them down for a time, too of course; but only decapitation was permanent.
But it'd been a long time since his path had crossed with any vampires. A long time since he'd really heard of any, too, since the mortals now believed them the stuff of fantasy and horror stories.
Then again, he'd never heard of vampires saving and protecting their intended prey instead of just eating it. Or trying to turn a pre-Immortal into a vampire. Which were the only two scenarios he could think of that might explain vampires calling for help on behalf of a pre-Immortal.
They couldn't turn an actual Immortal, after all. The Quickening wouldn't allow that; destroying the venom the moment it tried to enter their system before lashing out at the vampire that'd dared to bite its Immortal.
Ordinarily vampires and Immortals instinctively avoided each other. Only those that knew of the other non-mortals out there, and were therefore aware of what their subconscious was warning them away from, could actually resist it.
Methos could. Darius had been able to. Amanda's mentor, Rebecca Horne, had too. He didn't know if Amanda had ever learned it. She was born after the treaty, so maybe not.
The Immortals treaty with the Volturi; the Italian Vampiric coven that essentially ruled the world's vampires with marble fists. They knew about Immortals. The ancients had once fought alongside them to destroy the vampire coven in Romanian that was unacceptably brazen and flagrant. Afterwards, the Volturi had agreed to not let their kind reveal the supernatural to the mortals or hunt Immortals, which the Volturi brothers called the Bambini della tempesta, or Storm Children. (4)
Really, the second was more for the vampires' benefit, since it was much easier for Immortals to kill vampires than vice versa. One sip of the Quickening-laced blood would destroy a vampire and they supposedly smelled wonderful to the undead. And the older Immortals, who could actually control and wield their Quickening in various ways, could actually fight—and kill—vampires with it.
But if memory served him right, these vampires were as unusual in appearance as they were in their actions. The supernaturally lovely, conservatively dressed female vampire that answered the door seemed quite used to displaying human inclinations; she even looked a little nervous as she smiled at him, though she certainly had no idea of what he was.
And her eyes weren't red; they were a dark golden color. Strange.
"Thank you for coming, Dr. Walker," her voice wasn't the same as the one that he'd talked to on the phone; this wasn't Alice Cullen. Yet her voice was very similar; just as musical, but more motherly. Her small smile was friendly and warm as she moved to the side of the doorway, giving him plenty of space to enter without touching her. "I'm Esme Cullen. Please, come in."
Methos nodded slowly, keeping his expression carefully neutral even as his Quickening rolled uncertainly inside him. At least it didn't seem to be reacting as frantically to these vampires as it had before. "Thank you. Mrs. Cullen, is it?"
"Yes, I'm Carlisle's wife." Esme Cullen confirmed, nodding towards the living room where several other vampires had remained seated. Like her, they were all just as lovely as vampires should be. And their eyes were golden, too. "This is my husband, Dr. Carlisle Cullen."
The eldest-looking male rose, his smile just as warm under his halo of golden hair as he held out a hand to shake in greeting upon reaching his wife's side. "Welcome, Dr. Walker."
"Dr. Cullen," Methos nodded in reply even as he reached up to grasp the blond's cold hand, giving it a firm shake. He was a little surprised, again, that the vampire was actually willing to shake hands. As he could clearly resist the draw of Methos's Immortal blood, his Vampiric-instincts should be telling him to get away: far, far away.
"And these are our children," Esme continued, her tone still warm though there was that growing note of worry along the edge. "You spoke with Alice on the phone, but she's upstairs with Bella. That is Jasper, beside him is Edward. And that's Rosalie and Emmett."
"It's good to meet you all," Methos nodded towards them politely, before frowning towards the doctor. "But I believe it was Bella you wanted me to help? Has her...condition, improved?"
A muffled scream suddenly shot out of one of the upstairs rooms, and Methos glanced towards the stairs while Carlisle sighed.
"No, I'm afraid she hasn't. I'll take you to her, if you like."
Methos immediately nodded, "Please."
Then he followed the blonde doctor out of the room up the staircase, headed towards the muffled sounds of pain were still coming from. Though he had to wonder exactly how a vampire could practice medicine.
Dr. Cullen stopped outside the last door down the hall, frowning in visible consternation for a moment. "I look very young for my age, Dr. Walker, but I've been a doctor for quite some time. I've never seen anything like this and honestly I'm not sure how you might be able to help but we're honestly open to any suggestions you might have at this point."
Methos nodded, wincing as another scream came out from behind the closed door the vampire had led him too. "Of course."
He honestly wanted to ask how long the vampire had been a doctor, never having imagined the medical professions as something any vampire would be able to handle… Then again, these vampires obviously weren't quite like the ones he'd met. Their mannerisms were too different and their eyes obviously meant something. But what?
Dr. Cullen pushed the door open and entered the room, carefully holding the door open for Methos to enter behind him.
Methos did so, and his eyes immediately went to the vaguely familiar figure on the bed, who was writhing in agony, whimpering but only occasionally letting pained, heart-wrenching screams escape her mouth.
Bella clearly had a much higher pain tolerance than the one other Pre-Immortal he'd met that a vampire had tried to turn.
And that was clearly what'd happened.
Luckily he'd figured out the last time how to stop what was now happening.
The Vampire Venom was fighting with The Quickening. Ordinarily the Quickening wouldn't have any trouble winning, firm in its ownership of the Immortal's body. But Pre-Immortals only had the spark that exploded into the full Quickening the first time their heart stopped prematurely due to a violent death. And the Venom had already worked its way through Bella's body, changing it and claiming it as it went. Which meant both powerful forces were fighting for control now from equally firm positions.
The last time this had happened it had taken Methos and Rebecca days to figure out how to stop it. But by then it'd been too late, the poor girl's mind had already broken and Methos had been forced to take her head.
Rebecca had been heartbroken.
And that was when they and several of their friends had started hunting the vampires, only stopping a few years later when the Volturi made a deal with them. In exchange for their help destroying a rival coven, thereby making the Volturi the leaders of the vampire world, the first thing these vampire-leaders would do is make The Treaty. An agreement to not harm Pre-Immortals or Immortals and not allow other vampires to do so.
Aro had tried a few centuries after that, upon finding a Pre-Immortal, to turn the child—who was actually a young adult but in the eyes of the Immortals just a child—into a vampire. But had then had two of his guard members destroy the body when it was clear that it could not be done. And had promptly been horrified when—as soon as the two guards had torn the young Immortal's body apart to burn the pieces—they'd been engulfed in the young Immortal's Quickening. And immediately destroyed. Aro had barely escaped the Quickening's ferocious reach.
Methos had learned about it after the fact, and immediately warned Aro that that was the vampires' second offense against the Immortals and that a third wouldn't be forgiven.
One of his ancient friends, a pacifist, had agreed to live in a church in Volterra and keep an eye on the vampire royal family after that. Antonio had been there for almost two thousand years now, and the Volturi had never again done anything against any Pre-Immortals or Immortals. Even going out of their way, twice, when a Pre-Immortal had been accidentally caught up in one of the 'fishing parties' brought to their castle to feed from, to entertain the whole group and let them go, specifically because of the Pre-Immortal's presence.
It helped Antonio that he didn't have to stay holed up in his church while in Volterra, because the large vampire presence meant that most Immortals—and certainly all young headhunters—instinctively avoided the place.
When it came down to a fight, Vampires were likely to lose, but that didn't mean the Quickening liked being anywhere near the dangerous predators and their venom.
Methos sighed as he took in Bella's tortured expression, reaching out to gently caress her forehead for a moment, his frown deepening as his Quickening surged at the touch, effected by the turmoil Bella's own Quickening was in. He glanced up at Dr. Cullen, raising an eyebrow. "One of you tried to change her?"
Carlisle and Esme Cullen's eyes immediately went wide and a moment later, he sensed all of the other vampires quickly enter the room behind him, and they were also staring at him.
Carlisle's POV – Outside of Phoenix, Arizona – March 20, 2005
Carlisle forced himself to blink almost immediately after the rest of his family darted into the room, hoping the other doctor hadn't noticed them as they were all still behind him. "I-I beg your pardon? Change her how?"
Dr. Walker chuckled quietly, but didn't even look up this time as he answered, "Into a vampire."
"How do you—?"
"Did she ask for it?" the other doctor cut in.
"No. No, she didn't," Carlisle replied, though still shocked at the turn of events he was a bit more hopeful now that it was clear that this doctor might really know what was going on, as it'd taken him just a glance to know that someone had tried to turn Bella. "None of us bit her. A nomad did. Edward stopped him before he could drain her, but it was too late to stop the transformation."
"Hmm," Walker nodded, and then sighed. "It would have been kinder to just let him drain her."
"I love her," Edward protested quietly, shaking his head. "But I was too slow to save her from—"
"As interesting as that is," Walker interrupted, finally looking up from Bella again and pulling his hand back from her forehead, nodding to Esme to continue wiping Bella's head. She immediately complied. "And it is interesting, but it's also quite irrelevant." He cocked his head to the side, studying all of them for a moment before asking. "Why are your eyes golden? All the vampires I've met had red eyes after feeding."
"And so most do," Carlisle agreed, nodding slowly as he held the other doctor's gaze. "But we don't feed from humans."
That clearly surprised Walker, as his eyes widened and his mouth literally fell slightly open before what was evidently impressive self-control took over and cleared his expression. "What do you feed from, then?"
"Animals; personally I prefer deer." Carlisle replied. "As do Alice and Esme. Edward prefers mountain lions, while Rosalie and Emmett like bears."
Walker nodded, "And Jasper?"
Jasper answered for himself, a slight southern drawl slipping into his words, "I fed from humans for several decades before being introduced to this lifestyle. Human blood is very addictive, and I've yet to completely overcome the compulsion, so I don't really like any specific kind of animal. Though predators taste a bit better than herbivores."
"It's getting easier for you, though," Edward spoke up.
Jasper shrugged. "A little bit, yes." Then he cocked his head to the side. "What are you?" He was frowning, but that didn't surprise Carlisle. Jasper was, by far, the most wary member of their family, with Rosalie in a close second. The ex-soldier's next words, however, did surprise him. "Why am I afraid of you?"
What?
Carlisle and every member of his family stared at Jasper for a moment, before their gazes snapped over to Adam Walker as the doctor chuckled.
"Ah, so you do have some sense of self-preservation. Or is it more protectiveness?" Walker glanced at Jasper's rigid, slightly aggressive stance.
"I have very well-trained instincts," Jasper replied, his tone harder than Carlisle liked, considering they really did need this strange man's help. "I'm the only one here who's fought in actual battles."
Dr. Walker blinked, smiling slightly. "The only member of your coven, perhaps. But not the only one here."
And very suddenly Carlisle was afraid of the mortal also, or at least deeply intimidated. Every fiber of his being wanted to run.
But in that same instant it just as suddenly vanished.
"Whoa..." Emmett let out a low breath, staring at the doctor.
"Wh-What w-was that?" Esme asked, her eyes again wide but now in the fear that'd suddenly risen up from her gut just an instant before.
Dr. Walker shook his head. "Not something you need to worry about. Not at the moment, anyway." He looked down at Bella as he continued, "I suggest you leave. I can look after Bella."
Edward, don't. Carlisle thought pointedly, glancing in his eldest son's direction before returning his eyes to the other, strange doctor. "We can't do that, Dr. Walker. Bella is a member of our family now. She—"
"She won't be turning into a vampire." Walker interrupted him yet again, looking up to meet his eyes steadily, clearly not remotely intimidated by any of the vampires in the room. Not even Emmett or Jasper. Despite the fact that all of Carlisle's family members were now glaring at him. "She can't."
"Why—" Esme started, but Edward cut her off.
"That doesn't matter. I'll love her no matter what she is."
Walker looked at the bronze-haired vampire, surprise clearly fixed on his face for a moment longer than the last time he'd expressed it. He stared at Edward for a few long, drawn out seconds, before shaking his head. "Again, that's very interesting. But your presence can do her no good, particularly if she wants you around anytime after this."
"What do—"
Walker cut Edward off, "I don't know if her venom-laced blood appeals to you at all, but once the venom's gone it will appeal to you quite a bit," he shook his head as he finished, seeming to consider something. Then he went on; "Perhaps that it what we were meant to be, at least in part; a natural trap laid for vampires. I don't know."
"Bella's always had very sweet smelling blood," Alice spoke up, her voice uncharacteristically hesitant. But then, she'd been having trouble seeing anything since Bella was bitten, so this was really uncharted territory for her.
Walker nodded, "Yes. Pre-Immortals usually do. But her blood before her Immortality had kicked in wasn't dangerous to you. It is dangerous now, with her Quickening at work, trying to repair her body and get rid of the venom."
"Her Immortality?" Edward repeated, his eyes wide.
"Her Quickening?" Carlisle asked at the same time, honestly fascinated, even as the small screams of pain Bella was periodically emitting between her constant sobs tore at his frozen heart.
Dr. Walker nodded. "That's what I am, a natural Immortal. That's what Bella is supposed to be, now that she's died her first death."
"First death?" Carlisle echoed before anyone else could.
Again the other doctor nodded. "Yes. No one knows where we actually come from, all Pre-Immortals have been foundlings. We age, just like all mortals, until we die from anything other than old age. Then the Quickening activates, repairing the damage and freezing their body…much like your venom does."
That information was all it took for Carlisle's quick brain to realize what was happening to Bella. "But the venom was already turning her into a vampire, so now this Quickening is fighting it?"
"Yes," Walker nodded, sighing softly as he glanced down at Bella, whose face was contorted in agony even as Alice continued to wipe her brow. "Vampire venom cannot affect an Immortal with an active Quickening. The instant it enters our bloodstream it'd be neutralized and the vampire it's from destroyed. Which is part of the reason it almost seems like we're designed to destroy vampires. It takes the Quickening considerably more time to burn through lesser, ordinary poisons, but the much more powerful Vampire venom is vanquished almost instantly." Walker sighed again, "But Bella wasn't an Immortal, she was a Pre-Immortal; her Quickening wasn't active yet. Thus the venom was able to spread and take root in her body, so when her Quickening activated it immediately had to start fighting the venom, which is now fighting back."
"How do we help her?" Alice asked, frowning up at the Immortal. She glanced down at Bella, before looking up again, a speculative look on her face. Edward growled slightly, obviously not liking what she was thinking, but she ignored him. "Should we drain her? Would her Quickening save—"
"That is basically what I will be doing." Walker cut in, nodding slightly. "Getting enough of her blood—and the venom in it—out of her to give the Quickening the upper hand. She'll probably go through a second death from blood loss, but that's something the Quickening can fix easily."
"But shouldn't we—"
"You can't drain her," Walker cut Alice off again. "Not only is her blood now laced with venom, but it also has her Quickening surging through it, trying to destroy the venom. If you tried to drain her, the Quickening would destroy you."
Methos's POV – Outside of Phoenix, Arizona – March 20, 2005
Methos was honestly more than a little surprised that the Cullens were still arguing with him. That they cared for Bella enough to do so.
The caring for Bella part wasn't at all surprising. He'd grown to care for her, feel protective of her, after only a few hours in her presence several months ago.
But from the time he'd spent in the company of the Volturi, he'd never really thought vampires were capable of gentler emotions.
"Please," Methos murmured after a long moment of silence. "Go. I will look after Bella." Seeing every single one was hesitating still, he went on quickly; "And if you return tomorrow evening you can probably still be here when she finally wakes. She may not even wake until the following morning. Her Quickening may need time to recover from this."
"We'll go." Carlisle spoke up before any of his family members could protest. "And we'll return tomorrow, after sundown." Then he cocked his head to the side a bit. "What should we tell her parents?"
Methos frowned, "Nothing."
"Nothing?" Esme gasped, shaking her head. "But she'll be like you, right? Like a human—"
"She will be an Immortal." Methos cut the lady off; ignoring the slight amount of inexplicable remorse he felt when he saw the hurt look on her face. "She'll never age again. And it's likely that many of the changes brought on by the venom will still be there. Not all, certainly. She won't need to drink blood and her strengths will come from her Quickening, rather than Vampirism. But it's still something her parents would notice. As far as all of the mortals of her childhood are concerned, she is now dead. Just as if she'd become a vampire."
"He's right," the vampire with war experience, Jasper, spoke up. "His kind has to live like us. At least a little. If they didn't, they would have come to humanity's attention—and the Volturi's—long ago."
"The Volturi are no threat to me, despite their endless efforts to horde power," Methos chuckled, again going on before any of them could question his amused retort. "But people fear that which they do not understand. And my kind wants to live among the mortals. It's the only way we know to live. Other than actively headhunting."
"Head—"
Methos cut the largest vampire off. "We'll save further explanations for later. Now you'd all best be going. It's better not to put this off anymore than we have to."
"Why?" the very pretty blonde asked, speaking for the first time since he'd arrived.
As if in answer, yet another scream burst out of Bella's mouth, making every single vampire flinch, though most of them covered it up almost too quickly for Methos to spot. Almost.
Methos sighed, "I'd rather not prolong her suffering any longer. Now go...please."
Slowly each of the vampires turned towards the door and left the room, each shooting a glanced towards Bella's tortured form as they went.
Dr. Cullen stopped at the door to wait for the one vampire that hadn't turned to leave. "Edward…"
"I won't attack her," the bronze-haired boy protested firmly, his eyes desperate, locked on Methos, as he spoke over his father. "I swear. I just want to be here for her."
Methos stared at him for several long seconds, honestly surprised at the honesty and the depth of the sincerity and desperation he saw in the child's eyes. Finally he answered, "If you attacked her, how would you feel?"
"Awful, of course, what does th—"
"And do you imagine Bella would feel any better if she attacked you? If she was in any way responsible for your death?" Methos pressed, calling on the more ruthless side of his nature to drive the young lover off.
Edward gulped unnecessarily, "But it's her blood that's dangerous. And I won't—"
"It's not her blood." Methos shook his head. "It's her Quickening. And yes, that's in the blood. But it's also suffused in every cell of her being. A defensive force that attacks super-human threats, like vampires, when it feels threatened. And while she's like this she can't control it. Right now, she doesn't even know she needs to. Not yet."
"But you said we could be here when she wakes!"
"And you can." Methos confirmed, now letting his tone take a turn towards calming rather than harsh. "Because when she wakes the odds of her Quickening lashing out at you are very low. But immediately after it's finished fighting off vampire venom and the changes that that venom caused? It could very well strike out at you, and destroy you." He nodded towards the door, where Carlisle Cullen was still waiting. "Think of how you'd feel if you hurt or killed Bella. And imagine making Bella feel that way."
Edward looked down at the floor for a moment, and then glanced over at Bella for a much longer couple of seconds. Finally he looked up at Methos again, "Take care of her, please."
"Of course."
Then, his expression tremendously tortured, Edward turned and left the room.
His father—Sire, or whatever Carlisle really was to Edward—followed him out, nodding to Methos before closing the bedroom door behind him before he, too, exited the building.
Methos looked down at Bella's suffering form again, and sighed. "Okay, kid. Time to get to work."
Bella's POV – Outside of Phoenix, Arizona – March 21, 2005.
Bella didn't know how long she had been screaming and whimpering.
How long she'd wanted everything to just end.
She felt every second of it.
Fire and acid were coursing through her veins and through her heart with each of its frantic beats. The acid seemed to be sinking into her body while the fire shot through it in powerful pulses.
Occasionally her hearts frantic beats would stop for a moment, and the pain would go with it. But then the fire would explode in her heart, and it would start all over again.
Every now and then the acid in her veins would loose its purchase on different parts of her body, and those body parts would start to feel better. But then her frantic heart beat would push more venom into that body part and the struggle began anew.
But worst of all, she couldn't hear Edward any more.
When the change had first started, he'd been there every time she'd been aware of the world around her. Carrying her, holding her hand or stroking her brow. Talking to her, encouraging her. And apologizing, a lot of apologizing, which was clearly something they'd have to talk about. This wasn't Edward's fault, after all.
Yet at least she'd been able to hear the wonderful timbre of his voice. Feel the cool, comforting touch of his skin. And every now and then her nose would catch a note of his smell.
But any awareness she had of the outside world had vanished a long time ago.
She couldn't see him—her eyes had been locked shut not long after her change had begun. Carlisle had encouraged her to close them and she'd complied. Then she'd never had the desire to open them again.
She couldn't feel him. All she could feel was the fire—pure fiery energy and the liquid fire that were fighting for dominion inside her body. Nothing existed outside of that fire.
She couldn't hear him. All she could hear was the terribly frantic beat of her heart, pounding in her head.
And she couldn't smell him. As far as she knew her nose wasn't even there anymore.
Bella let out a loud scream when something suddenly stabbed into her chest, momentarily distracting her from the all-consuming pain of the fires. Her heartbeat somehow accelerated with that strike, and the fires seemed to rush towards it. She screamed again as whatever had stabbed her was yanked out of her body, sobbing as the fires continued to congregate around the wound.
After several long moments, however, she realized the pain was starting to ebb. The liquid fire: the acid or poison or whatever it was, was starting to go away. Out the hole.
But the fiery energy was still burning frantically around the wound.
She didn't know how long she was like that, either, waiting for the fires to go out.
But finally the world went dark.
The End of Prologue: First Death.
AN: Well, there's the prologue. What'd you think? Is it worth continuing?
Notes From Within The Chapter:
(1) "Hole-in-the-Rock as a natural geological formation in Papago Park, a municipal park of Phoenix and Tempe, Arizona.
(URL: wiki/Hole-in-the-Rock_(Papago_Park))
(2) Are Bella Swan and Alexa Bond really all that similar? I don't know, we only saw her a little bit in Highlander. Was she even in any episode either then the one Methos found out she was dying in and decide to take her traveling around the world? I don't remember. But what I do remember is that she didn't want to start dating 'Adam Pierson' because she was dying, and that it took a lot of persuading from Methos to convince her that she didn't have to protect him by not allowing a relationship to form. A key point of Bella's personality, to me at least, was that she was always much more concerned about others than she was for herself: very self-sacrificing. The main exception being Jacob, since she wouldn't pick him over Edward, and could only be a friend to him… So in that respect, at least, I think they're similar. And I wanted to give Methos a reason to be really protective of her. Will this lead to romance between them? Probably not. I'm pretty committed to the canon Twilight pairings, for this fic at least. But who knows, my muses may throw me a curve ball later on…
(3) Phoenix, Arizona "is the capital and largest city in the US state of Arizona, as well as the fifth most populous state in the United States. Phoenix is home to 1,567,924 residents, and is the anchor of the Phoenix metropolitan area (also known as The Valley of the Sun), the 12th largest metro area by population in the United States with 4,281,899 residents... Residents are known as Phoenicians. Located in the northeastern reaches of the Sonoran Desert, Phoenix has the hottest climate of any major city in the United States. The average high temperatures are over 100F for three months out of the year, and have spike over 120F (50C) on occasion."
(URL: wiki/Phoenix,_Arizona)
(4) Bambini della tempesta*, or Storm Children – Honestly the idea of Immortals and Vampires existing in the same world but never running into each other or seriously hearing about each other didn't make a lot of sense to me. So I started thinking about how they might've met.
Add to that the idea of vampires, as Stephenie Meyer wrote them, needing or even just wanting to hide from humans—keep their presence unknown, seems ridiculous to me. OK, so humans might, someday, invent something capable of harming a vampire. But why would the Volturi enforce that one rule thousands of years ago?
Thus the idea of the 'Immortals Treaty with the Volturi' was born. The Immortals don't want mortals noticing vampires, because then mortals will be more likely to notice the more human Immortals amongst them.
Then I started thinking about the Quickening. And how that might interact with vampires. The idea of the Quickening being able to kill a vampire really just appealed to me and my muses. I'm not sure where it came from, but I do like it. At first I was just going to say that any vampire that tries to kill an Immortal is pretty much guaranteed immediate destruction. If the drink any of the Immortal's blood, which is full of the Quickening, they explode. They kill the Immortal without feeding, the Quickening activates and still goes after the vampire. They manage to decapitate the Immortal, and the Quickening really goes nuts—and the vampire definitely dies.
I don't know, that's where I am so far on all this. Let me know what you think, about the story and my ideas.
Thank you!
Bye for now! ^_^
~ Jess S
Next: Chapter 1: Welcome to Eternity.