DISCLAIMER: I do not own Twilight or any of the story's characters.
They belong to author Stephenie Meyer. This is simply my obsession with the popular series playing out.
From Edward To Nessie – Vampirism 101
"Damned? Damned? Who is damned?"
Edward threw down the thick leather-bound book that he was reading onto a huge mahogany table, and fixed an intense look at his daughter.
"Vamps are, apparently…"
Nessie answered, casually, tossing her reddish-brown curls back and shrugging. She shut the door of Edward's study, walked over to the table and plopped herself down onto a cosy leather chair that placed her directly opposite her father. The half-smile on her exquisite face didn't match her gloomy mood or the even gloomier subject of her discussion.
"Wait… you've been talking about vampires? With whom?" Edward's eyes narrowed, his usually soothing voice hardening a little. He hardly ever sounded stern when he talked to his daughter. But lately, Nessie was becoming something of a rebel.
An inevitable change, he supposed, with the onset of adolescence. For the most part, she was incredibly advanced for a twelve year old. But emotional maturity was a more complex facet of growth. It could not be gauged with the measuring tape that marked her height at five-foot five, and it could not be encouraged only with books and other intellectual stimulants as her astronomical intelligence quotient could.
As much as Edward wanted to grant his daughter room to mature, to discover the world and experience life, their family's lifestyle was controlled by a set of strict guidelines which safeguarded them from the threat of exposure to the world. This limited Nessie's avenues to learn and blossom. Edward, fully knowing this, overcompensated by lavishing her with lots of attention and expensive gifts. And a twenty-four hour mental surveillance that carefully monitored her happiness levels. Quite a simple mission, for a telepathic father. Edward would do anything to ensure that Nessie was happy and healthy. He drew the line though, at letting her chat with whomever she wanted about vampirism.
"Oh, I was chatting with Uncle Em, dad… on the Magic Ultimo forum."
"Oh… and how did the topic come about?"
"I, as, Brigit, goddess of fire, easily destroyed the whole giant population of Kyros because they had kidnapped the moon fairies of Helion and ripped off their wings… for fun or for monetary value, who knows…"
"That's quite violent Nessie. What level of play is that?" Edward had no objections to his daughter playing her favourite online role-playing game. Typically. Her Magic Ultimo adventures usually involved creating spells and breeding quirky magical creatures. Now he wondered about all the wing-ripping and the population destroying… he would have to speak to Emmet, the game co-creator and his brother, about this.
"Uh… I'm not sure dad," she almost-always blushed a faint pink and dimpled when she fibbed. "The point is, after I destroyed the whole giant population, there was nobody but Uncle Em himself to talk to while the other online players logged off to reboot…" That was not surprising. Even as a half-vampire, Nessie's reflexes were too fast to contest with humans. It makes sense that the only one who could escape her (or Brigit's) wrathful fire, was her "uncle" Emmet, as he was the only other vampire who would be playing.
"Go on…"
"So I suggested to Uncle Em that he could create an emergency vampirization system, for anybody who was dying. He said that he'd consider it, but vampires would have to only be baddies in the game… Because everybody knows that we're damned." Her soft chocolate eyes were pleading with her father to contradict her.
"As in hell." She emphasized, revealing more of her horror at the mere thought.
"As in final destination for the villains of the world, dad," she stressed again, when he seemed to not hear her.
"Nessie… I know what damned means." Edward kept calm. He wondered how to go about this. The subject of vampirism was a touchy one, even for him, and every other member of their family. He would have to be open while he honestly expressed his views, and let Nessie some room to form her own opinions on it. He got up, walked to the door and called out softly, "Esme, can we have some chocolate ice cream in here please?"
Nessie swivelled in the chair and looked at her dad uncertainly.
"Errr…. Dad? You don't eat chocolate ice cream."
"I know, sweetheart. It's for you."
"I really don't feel like some chocolate ice cream right now…" she wrinkled her forehead in confusion.
"I think you should have some. It'll help you comprehend some of the things that I'm about to explain to you right now…"
"Really… Chocolate ice cream, dad?" Nessie was doubtful, but happily welcomed the icy brown scoops two minutes later. She so loved the cold sensation and rich, sweet taste in her mouth. While she was younger, she described the sensation of eating ice-cream as joy-dizzy. Now, on her third spoonful, Edward walked over to the window on the back wall of his study and looked out at the scene outside with a grave look on his face.
"Nessie," he began… By all fictional accounts, yes, we're damned.
"Fictional?"
"You see, if you'd like to believe that all vampires are doomed from the start, then you were probably informed by a source that also believes that we do not have mirror reflections because we're soulless."
"And… we're not? Soulless, I mean?" Nessie sounded as though she wanted the answer to be 'no'.
"No. Well… We do not have souls. But nobody does, not even humans. And that is because we all ARE souls."
"I'm… a soul?"
"Yes, sweetheart. Any being that can love, get hurt, feel passion, anger and joy… is a soul. If you weren't a soul, you'd be a hollow shell, or a robot."
"Hey… that's interesting…!"
"Who or what do you think Nessie is? The marble hard skin? The long curly hair? The brown eyes? No, that incredibly beautiful exterior is only a house, for Nessie. Nessie is the being that lives within."