TRYSTS AND TALES
"Why so quiet, Edward? Contemplating new ways to kick the bucket?" Irina smirked. Edward rolled his eyes. She had always felt vulnerable due to the fact that he could read her mind and tended to mask it with contempt.
"Irina," Tanya glared at her. "Don't you have a date with Jaden?"
"It's Caden. And yes, I'm leaving. I should probably head down before his friends get there. They can't resist me at all. The poor boy gets so jealous."
"Can't blame them. Low prices do always attract a lot of customers," he deadpanned.
"Edward!" his mother exclaimed from across the room. But he was already out of the door. A good sprint would clear his head. Running a hand through his hair, he wondered if he should apologize to Irina and then decided against it. She would probably use the opportunity to pick another fight with him.
The entire family had arrived in Denali a few months back after spending approximately the last decade and a half in various parts of Australia. It was a nice change from America, he supposed.
It had all started twenty years ago, when Bella died. Afraid of how he would react, his family had chosen to hide the truth from him. It wasn't a hard task considering he had permanently left home in favor of traipsing the globe to hunt Victoria. In his case, trying to hunt Victoria. He was terrible at it. This task kept him very busy but he was thankful to have a reason not to visit his family. They were better off without him moping around in the background. He didn't find out about Bella's death until two years later when Rosalie blurted the truth to him over the phone. Knowing Rose, her intentions were probably selfish but he was glad that she told him.
Without further ado, he left for Italy. Aro was very surprised, to put it mildly, by his request. He tried to talk him out of it. He even tried to persuade him to join the guard.
"No thank you, Aro. I already want to kill myself. No need to put me through further torture." He honestly didn't think they would take offence to that comment. However, they were ready to kill him now, so he wasn't really complaining. This is it, he thought and closed his eyes.
He was quite startled when his entire family came barging through the doors of the throne room. He cringed at their thoughts. Their appearance was followed by a long debate. Aro finally agreed to let Edward go, out of respect for his old friend Carlisle. Caius menacingly informed them that if there was a repeat of that particular spectacle, he wouldn't hesitate to exterminate the entire Cullen clan. Aro just smiled at them apologetically.
His little suicide mission had failed. He really had no choice now but to return home and face the music. To his bewilderment, there was no fury. Just plain, sweet relief. He had underestimated just how big a part of this family he was. They had just lost Bella. Already, his family was in pieces – no longer quite together. If they lost him too, he knew without a shred of doubt that the damage would be irreparable.
And so, he drove away his thoughts of dying. He had to be there for his family. It was what Bella would have done.
The shrill sound of his phone ringing shook him out of his thoughts. He checked the time. He had been out for two hours. Alice was calling to remind him to come home. The Irish coven would be arriving soon.
"Edward!" Siobhan greeted as he walked in. "You look well."
"I look like crap," he corrected, "but I do appreciate the sentiment. Liam, Maggie, it's good to see you both."
All the Cullens and Denalis, save for Irina, were present in the living room of the enormous ski-lodge turned house. He was surprised when Siobhan had called to tell them that they were coming to visit. The Irish coven was an old friend of theirs and he was glad to have them there. They were great fun to be with and Liam always had the craziest stories to share.
By midnight, the three covens had gathered around a huge bonfire, which Emmett and Eleazar had built at Maggie's insistence. Liam began a tale form his years as a newborn vampire.
"Well, I was turned on the battlefield by accident. I wasn't alone though. The vampire who turned me was called Ian. He was quite new himself. A bit bonkers he was, that fella," he said with a laugh. Siobhan chuckled, obviously having met this Ian.
"So, about three months after our transition, Ian decided that he wanted to get completely bladdered for one night. At the time, we had no idea that vampires couldn't drink alcohol. We went to a local tavern. We had no money, of course, so we'd had to steal. Now, Ian had a special little talent. He could turn invisible."
"Whoa! How cool is that?" Emmett broke in enthusiastically.
Liam grinned, "Not as cool as you'd think. It worked flawlessly on him but on his clothes? Not so much. He had to strip to his birthday suit every time he wanted to conceal himself. So, he took off his clothes and sneaked in invisible. He managed to get his hands on few bottles of whiskey and started making his way out; all the while trying to make sure no one noticed that the bottles were apparently floating in mid-air."
Edward laughed out loud at the scene in Liam's head. He rolled his eyes at everyone's dumbfounded expressions at hearing him laugh. Everyone but Esme, who was beaming.
"Everything was going on without a hitch and then, it all literally came crashing down. He once told me that his ability could be very unpredictable. Ian suddenly reappeared in the middle of the room. Naked. He was so stunned that he accidentally dropped the bottles!" He gestured wildly with his hands.
By now, everyone was in hysterics. "A clumsy vampire? Is that even possible?" Kate asked, clutching her stomach.
Liam guffawed loudly, "Clumsy was a bit of an understatement. That poor fella was so embarrassed that he stood frozen in place for a minute. Then he bolted out of there so fast that even I missed it!"
"He ran out at vampire speed?" Rosalie frowned. "Wasn't the tavern full of humans?"
"It was," he agreed. "But they were all so bloody drunk that they thought they were seeing things."
"Then what? Did you drink the whiskey?" Emmett asked, eagerly.
"We sure did, lad. And we also spent the next hour getting it all out of our systems. Disgusting, I tell yeh."
Carlisle spoke up, "What happened to Ian?"
"Oh, he's still around somewhere. We parted ways a few months after that particular incident when I met Siobhan." He replied, putting an arm around his mate.
"We ran into him just last month," Maggie supplied. "And that brings up another interesting story. Tell them, Liam."
"Another one? Do tell," Tanya smiled.
"Ian's control over his ability grew over the years and so did his penchant for sticking his nose where it didn't belong. War councils, secret government meetings, Marilyn Monroe's bedroom – you get the picture. A few years back, he was in Volterra on St. Marcus day."
A lot of their kind visited Volterra out of curiosity to see the famed seat of vampire power.
"Aro had met Ian centuries ago and found him harmless enough. He thought that his ability was too unpredictable to pose a threat. Luckily for my boy Ian, Aro did not insist on reading his mind or he would've insisted on adding him to his collection."
Edward's jaw tightened as he recalled his own time in Volterra. Jasper shot him a sympathetic look sensing the shift in his emotions.
"He was walking down the street when a conversation between two members of the guard caught his interest. Naturally he pulled a vanishing act and followed them. He had to be careful because they could still hear and smell him. But his scent was lost among the countless other vampires in the city. After a while, they stopped walking and Ian perched himself on a rooftop close enough to hear their conversation. They were talking about two people-twins, actually-who had defeated the Volturi."
"That's impossible," Eleazar interjected. "The Volturi are ancient. There is no damn way they could have been bested by two vampires."
"Aye. You're right. But they weren't vampire, you see."
"Well, what else could they have been?" Irina asked, haughtily.
"Half-human and half-vampire, Ian heard them say. And more powerful than either. He hardly believed it himself. He didn't pick up much after that but he did get that something big had happened. The Volturi were forced to sign a peace treaty!"
"Unbelievable as it sounds, Ian was telling the truth," Maggie said referring to her own talent of lie detection.
Everyone wore matching expressions of utter shock. Carmen's jaw had dropped.
"Maybe they can help us catch Victoria," Emmett exclaimed.
Siobhan knitted her eyebrows, "Victoria?"
"We had a bit of a scuffle with her coven over twenty years ago," Carlisle chose his words carefully. "Ended up killing her mate. She fled at the time but returned five years later with a few new friends. She took us by surprise and nearly managed to kill Alice."
"We haven't seen her since. We've been trying to find her but had no luck. We can't find a trace of her nor can I see her in my visions," Alice frowned.
"Fifteen years is a longs time," Siobhan raised an elegant eyebrow. "Perhaps she has given up?"
"No," Edward shook his head vehemently. "I got a clear read of her mind. She was hell-bent on destroying us. She's just biding her time, trying to get our guard down. Our best option is to take her out before she strikes again."
Maggie got the distinct impression that there was more to their history with Victoria but she trusted them enough not to ask.
"Where do you suppose we can find them, Liam?" Carlisle asked.
"Well, according to Ian, the guards mentioned something about them living in London among humans. Can't be sure if they're still there."
"It's a start," Edward muttered. "London it is, then."
