Chapter Two: B for Blasphemy
or
Of Birthdays, Bullies, and Stories
Devorah never seemed to quiet down after she learned to talk at a year old. It was right on time, or at least, that's what the baby books that Esme bought said. Rosalie told her that they were unnecessary, but soon ate her words when she realized that none of them knew what they were doing.
Rosalie had caved when they almost burned the house down trying to introduce her to solid food. Emmett thought that the baby food they bought at the store had to be cooked on the stove and he'd set the temperature far too high. When Esme saw the damage done to her kitchen, she readied her Cadillac and drove to the book store in town herself.
The Cullen's moved back to America after six months of being in Germany. It pained Rosalie to take her child from her homeland, but it had to be done. Every day, survivors were brought from all over Europe, some carrying new and deadly diseases. They were lucky, Devorah had caught none of them, but they packed their belongings when a colleague of Dr. Cullen's was diagnosed with bubonic plague shortly after he infected and killed his wife and children.
The journey over the ocean was horrendous for Devorah, whose sharp cheekbones had only just begun to round out. She was sick for the entity of the three-week endeavor. Most of it spent vomiting and screaming while contained in Rosalie and Emmett's first-class room. Being vampires, the rest of the family did not get ill, and had to listen to their newest edition while she suffered.
This was especially hard for Carlisle. He grew very much attached to his first 'granddaughter', even going as far as to sacrifice his hunting time when she refused to sleep.
Devorah loved her adopted grandfather just as much as he loved her, and she loved listening to the sound of his voice. He'd talk about anything when he was with her, his early life, the stories he remembered, the people he'd met. The list was endless. He knew that it helped her to have someone to learn from, and her cries seemed less bloodcurdling when he was rocking her in his chair.
The trip had ended faster than expected, but no one in the family was complaining as they disembarked from the ship, all of them steady as rocks.
They found a house in Alaska, where the sun shone as often as Christmas. In a word, it was perfect, but for Rosalie and Emmett, to have a life after a life with a child of their own was beyond perfect.
The couple was given their own home, right beside the home of their family. Rosalie found her libido waning as she cared for her Devorah and Emmett didn't seem to mind. Dev was her father's daughter, and she soon had the buff, grisly-like man wrapped around her little finger. A look was all it would take to have him rush out and get whatever she needed, which never happened very often.
But as much as Devorah loved her father, nothing could replace her mother. She thought of her as an angel, frozen in time and spared from the cruel hand of age. The way her golden hair would shine in the frozen light through the large windows, when Emmett would sweep her off the couch and waltz with her to imaginary music only made her image complete. There was none save the rest of her adopted family that Devorah cherished more.
On her first birthday, before a cake and presents, Devorah spoke her first words.
"Make a wish, Dev." Carlisle told her and she nodded, pausing to think. She opened her mouth and Rosalie shook her head.
"No, dove, don't tell us, or it won't come true." The blonde explained and Devorah nodded again.
She went back to thinking what her wish would be again when she suddenly turned to Edward, her mouth set in a firm line.
"Don't peek." She said in a voice filled with determination. After Edward promised he wouldn't look, she made her wish.
Emmett almost choked on the glass of milk he knew he would regret drinking later when she spoke for the first time. A grin spread on Esme's face while Carlisle gave her a proud smile. Rosalie… well, Rosalie flew into action.
The vampire had saved a notebook where she would write down all the developments that Devorah made. Her first smile as a member of her family with the date was in that book, along with a lock from her first haircut and the date of the first time she walked and how many steps she took.
She ran as fast as she could to her bedroom, where the notebook was sitting on the bedside table and she grabbed it, zipping back down to the dining room. A frantic scribble later, and Devorah's first words and the date joined the other information.
It was unknown what Devorah's actual birth date was, as the family was only guessing when they said she was six months. They decided to go by the day that Carlisle brought her home, September 4th, 1945.
Devorah was no stranger to her family's lifestyle, in fact, she knew from the beginning that they were different, and that she was not one of them… not yet anyway. It didn't seem to bother her. She never voiced it if she felt uncomfortable about the way they lived, with the obvious exception of loudly complaining about Emmett's severly underdeveloped cooking skills.
It was the dawn of a new year when Jasper and Alice found the Cullen's, who were living in Twin Peaks, and a new world opened up.
There was a knock on the door of their home at seven o'clock at night sharp. Emmett was reading Devorah a story, who wanted nothing more than to turn on their new TV. Rosalie was the one who answered the door, closely followed by Emmett and Esme.
"Hello." Said a voice that made Dev lift her head and look to the open door. Standing just outside in the pouring rain was a young woman with amber eyes, her medium-brown hair cut to her shoulders. A man stood behind her. He had light, almost golden hair, with eyes a smilar hue to the woman's. The only difference was the bloody tint. "I'm Alice. This is Jasper, and we've been waiting to find you."
Carlisle stood at that and told Dev to stay back as he neared the door, stepping in front of Rosalie. He motioned for Edward to sit with her.
"Why are you here?" The doctor asked and the pixie-like woman smiled brightly at him, barely containing her excitement.
"I have premonitions. I saw I would find you and here I am!" She chirped happily and Carlisle didn't seem convinced.
"Emmett, stay with dove. Edward, come here." His two sons complied, switching places as Emmett sat down on the rug beside Dev and Edward joined Carlisle at the head of the group.
"She's telling the truth, Carlisle." He told his adopted father, who nodded. He motioned for them to come in out of the rain. Both of them stopped dead when they saw Dev, whose eyes never left Jasper's. He inhaled as he stepped into the foyer, catching a whiff of something he'd been trying to avoid for the last two years: human blood.
"You kidnapped a child?!" The man exclaimed, his eyes widening as he tried to hold his breath. Alice stepped in front of him, blocking his vision and making him look at her.
"Jasper, listen to me, it's not what you think. Just calm down, okay?" She said to him, her voice calm, even while the rest of the Cullen's had long-since taken a defensive stance around their newest family member.
"She isn't kidnapped, we adopted her." Rosalie said in a dangerous voice. Alice led him from the house, back outside to their car. She opened the door and shoved him in, locking it behind him while he attempted to control his blood-lust. She turned and skipped back inside, a smile returning to her face.
"I'm sorry about that, I didn't see that you'd have… others. But he's trying, it's just hard for him." She stepped over the welcome mat and wiped her feet, confidently striding over to Dev.
Emmett stiffened as the strange woman knelt down beside his daughter. Esme placed a hand on his shoulder, letting him know she wouldn't hurt her.
Dev instantly liked this odd lady, with similar eyes to her Mummy and funny hair. She liked the way she smelled too, almost like chocolate and roses, it made Dev feel happy.
"Hello dove." The woman said with a bright smile. "I'm your aunt Alice."
Devorah's 'aunt' ended up moving in with her recent husband, uncle Jasper. The pixie-like woman dominated poor Edward's room at the first chance she got.
Jasper wouldn't go anywhere near Dev for the first little while. Her mother and father assured her that he liked her all the same and as time wore on, Jasper saw the little girl as a personal challenge. He liked to think that if he could resist her, he could resist anyone.
Alice became an important asset in deciding when to move on, as she could foresee just how the weather would end up. As it turned out, it was unusually sunny for their town of Twin Peaks that summer, uprooting the family from their home and sending them off to distant Alaska.
The Denali coven, who were long-time friends of Carlisle were frightened of Devorah at first, sure of the fact that she was an immortal child from a distance. Dev was just as scared of them and stayed far away, prolonging their fear.
When she was finally brought forward, her mouth shut tight, her face going paler as she met the strangers, Irina spoke.
"I can smell her blood, hear her heart. And she looks nothing like Vasili. Too ugly." She said and Dev's eyes narrowed. She instantly disliked this woman and the prideful air around her.
"She's beautiful, Irina." Rosalie said in an icy voice that made Dev shudder a little bit.
"But of course she is. Sister, don't be rude, she is a Cullen, she is family." Replied Tanya, the leader of the coven. She smiled sweetly at Dev, who noticed that she did so with her mouth, not her eyes. Tanya's eyes were fixed on Edward, who shifted uncomfortably. He seemed aware of her gaze although he kept his firmly on the house behind them.
The Cullen's moved on when Tanya, who was mate-less, began to pursue Edward, even after he'd made it clear that he didn't think of her in that way. She reminded Devorah of a disease that never fully went away. Despite this flaw, Dev still found her likable, as her playfulness rivaled her father's, which made playing dolls very interesting.
Irina was cold to Devorah. The little girl was sure that she wanted nothing more than to snap her neck when she went to sleep. She would constantly watch the child, sometimes going as far as to follow her when she was outside playing. However, she never said a word to her after their first meeting.
Kate was… Kate, a serene and complex woman who Dev liked to sit and watch. The lady could brood for an hour straight, and her favorite blizzard pass-time was to claim a seat directly in front of her, timing her to see if she broke her record.
But the two that Devorah grew to admire the most were Eleazar and Carmen. The European vampires were lovely to her, especially the female one, and they were the ones that taught her to read.
Eleazar had a study that could've doubled as a public library if it wanted to. It was there that Devorah would lie flat on the carpet and attempt to sound out words. In the beginning, Carmen taught her the alphabet, using simple objects to help the little girl remember.
"A is for apple, dove. B is for bone. C is for cat and D is for dog. Do you understand?" Dev nodded and repeated what the vampire had said to make sure she knew it before they moved on. Progress was slow at first, but Devorah managed to learn her alphabet at the age of five and a half. This gave her an advantage for when school would start next year. Eleazar took the reins from there and taught her simple phrases, like cat, hat, mat and so on, which came to her much quicker than the alphabet.
On the first day of school, Devorah walked out the door to Carmen's car with her lunch bag and backpack, ready for a new challenge.
Uncle Edward. She thought and the man looked to her just before she got in the car. Wish me luck. She hopped into the car after Carmen, giving her favorite uncle one last smile as they drove away, preparing herself for the adventure of her life.
Devorah was friendless for most of the first grade year. She sat by herself when it was time for lunch and read books alone on the front steps of the school at recess, nobody, not even the teachers wanted to be around her. She was supposedly a Jew, and Hitler's reign was rumored to be far from over.
Whispers of weapons of mass destruction –atomic bombs and the like- being made in large numbers by the Nazi's had begun to surface not long after the family left the Denali coven for Oregon. While Emmett and Rosalie tried their best to comfort their daughter, they knew she was afraid.
At school, most were frightened of her and what would happen to them if they even spoke with her, while some made it their goal to make her life as close to hell as possible. A group of boys would often call her names or make fun of her adopted status. This hardly bothered Dev, at least not in front of them.
At home, Devorah could cry as long as she wanted, usually in Emmett's arms while Rosalie threatened to hunt the boys down and kill them one by one. Alice knew she was serious and it was a rotating task among the adult vampires to calm her enough to think rationally. Talking to the principal was not an option, as the Cullen's wished to draw as little attention to themselves as possible during their stay.
"Am I filth, Uncle Jasper?" She asked one day while the family was out hunting. He had offered of his own free will, without any coaxing on Esme or Alice's part. This made Dev proud, he wanted to spend time around her. He had been silent for most of the evening, saying nothing as she practiced her button sewing, but when she asked this, his gaze snapped to her and his eyebrows flew up his forehead.
"Who called you that?" He asked the then-eight year old. A fierce anger was in his voice. The rhythmic clacking of needle against thimble stopped as she put her hands in her lap, her eyes cast downward.
"The boys at school. Henri, I think." She replied softly, getting a bit frightened as he tensed. He noticed her fear and tried his best to relax; he might not have said much to his niece, but his protectiveness of her rivaled her mother's and he showed his affection by making anyone who hurt Dev regret it.
"Whatever he says is a lie. Do you understand?" She nodded and he sighed. "Good, Devorah. I need you to know that because you aren't and will never be filth. You're a gift to this family and I thank your mother every day that she was smart enough to trust Carlisle."
"Still, uncle Jasper…" She trialed off, looking to her lap and exhaling.
"'But still' what, honey bee?" He asked and she shrugged her shoulders.
"I don't like it here, Uncle Jasper. It's scary to go to school. I'd never tell anyone as they'd just get mad, but it's true." She whispered quietly, her eyes filling with tears. She wiped them away and went back to her sewing. Jasper said nothing more.
The very next week, the family moved yet again, going to their home in Forks. Dev was happier. Even still, she was a shy girl. However, nobody seemed to take sides in Forks as it was such a small town. She remained without friends however, for her own personal reasons.
Devorah learned to grow a thick skin by being exposed to the bullies she had to deal with, and also figured out that school was as place to learn. Not a 'social escapade' as her Grandmother Esme called it. Her family wasn't worried in the least about her further lack of contact with other children who were her age. Rosalie thought she was independent. Dev liked things to be just so, and she much preferred the fictional characters in her story books to real people. At least fictional characters were consistent.
As she grew, Dev became fascinated with tales of the Volturi, an ancient vampire coven that Carlisle stayed with. She loved hearing about Aro, whose sanity was teetering on the edge of a high cliff. Carlisle would tell her about his wife, Sulpicia who that he locked away in a tower to protect her. She would get frightened by such things and much preferred the stories of Caius.
The youngest of the three, he was by far the most hateful. Humans were scum to him, lesser. It made Dev shudder just a bit, and she hoped never to meet him as she was.
But the ones that she enjoyed the most were not of the maniacal Aro, or even of the spiteful Caius. No, Devorah would always choose a story about Marcus. A vampire who fell deeply in love with Didyme, Aro's sister who could radiate happiness. Just as the two made plans to leave the coven so they could be together, Didyme was murdered and poor Marcus left with eternity to grieve.
The vampire did not like the way she was so fascinated by the coven, even after she knew how corrupt and vile they were. Actually, that only seemed to further her curiosity.
When Devorah just turned eleven years old, she took her place in front of Carlisle for her story. He sighed when he saw her smiling at him, certain that she'd want him to talk about the coven that he'd tried very hard to forget, but he couldn't ignore her.
"So, what story do you want tonight?" He asked casually, upset that he'd have to talk more about Marcus. In the back of his mind, he was glad that she wasn't sitting in front of their TV, rotting her brains out.
"Tell me about the vampire kings… tell me about the Romanian coven!" This caught the elderly vampires off guard. He'd expected to have to recite the bitter love story of Marcus and Didyme for the hundredth time and although he'd never tell her, he much preferred this.
"You want to hear about Vladimir and Stefan? Them I know." Carlisle asked and she nodded quickly, shifting eagerly like she was five again. "Very well then, from the beginning I take it?" He sat down in his chair as she nodded again, completely engrossed by now.
"How did you meet them, grandpa?" She asked, her dark eyes bright, ringed with heavy bags that never seemed to go away no matter how much sleep she got. She looked rather like a curious raccoon.
"I first met them in 1775, around fifty years since my departure from the Volturi. I was studying in Romania when whispers of a darkness began to grow in the villages. All searches lead to the Hoia-Baciu forest. Suspecting vampires, I went in by myself and it is there that I found them." He said and Dev's eyes sparkled.
She had been digging in Carlisle's library when she found a book on vampire history. It spoke of a coven from ancient times whose leaders sat upon thrones made of obsidian and rubies and had their prey brought to them. Their founding members were Vladimir with his mate Daciana, and Stefan and his mate Cosmina. They were seen as vampire royalty a long time ago when vampires didn't have to hide who they were.
The history ended there unfortunately, with the rest of the book being dominated by the Volturi. She wanted to know more about the mysterious Romanians and who better to go to than Carlisle?
"Why were they in the forest grandpa?" She asked and he thought for a moment.
"After the Volturi took over their coven and claimed their power, Vladimir and Stephan went on the run, plotting the downfall of their enemies that took everything from them." He replied and Dev's eyes widened.
"What happened to their mates?" She asked, shifting closer as he exhaled, a sad look passing over his face.
"Cosmina was killed by Alec and later, Daciana by Jane, two of the most powerful vampires in the world." Devorah gasped when she heard this, instantly saddened by the information.
"That's horrible, they must feel awful!" She exclaimed and the doctor nodded.
"Vampires only mate once, dove, they don't grieve as humans do, it stretches on and on for thousands of years and with no chance to end it." Carlisle said and Dev frowned.
"Will you ever change me? Will I ever find my mate?" She questioned and Carlisle looked to the ground. He had been dreading this for some time, but it came quicker than he had hoped.
"I don't know if I'll change you. Maybe, when the time comes. Regardless of whether we do make you one of us, you'll find your mate, and it will be easier than expected. You are very lovable." Dev blushed and shook her head.
"No I'm not. Even if I was, I'm not pretty enough for anybody to give me a second look." Carlisle shook his head as if the notion was preposterous and moved to the floor, sitting parallel to her. He took her small, bony hands in his pale, cold ones and gave her a kiss on the forehead.
"You possess a rare kind of beauty, dove, no one can deny that." Again Devorah blushed and pulled her grandfather into a tight hug.
"Thank you grandpa." He hugged her back, but not as tightly as he could for fear of breaking her rake-thin form in half. Devorah never did have much of an appetite for human food, and her body suffered for it. Her collarbone stuck out like the skin over top was stretched to its capacity. Her joints were very boney and her chest was as flat as if she was much younger.
"I love you, dove" Carlisle began, looking over his shoulder to the door of his study, smiling when saw Rosalie. She appeared ready to scold Dev for not getting to bed on time. "But it's time for you to go to sleep." Devorah turned around too, groaning when she saw her Mummy standing there. She trudged to the door and gave Rosalie a hug and kiss before stalking off to the other parts of the house to say goodnight to her family members.
"You really shouldn't encourage all these stories, Carlisle, it isn't healthy." Rosalie started as Carlisle stood up and walked behind his cluttered, mahogany desk.
"I know, but I do love to see her smile." He said, looking at the door as Rosalie nodded in agreement.
"So do I, but I don't approve of you telling her about the other covens. They're not like us, they'll frighten her." She exclaimed and Carlisle gave her a soft smile.
"I see no harm in feeding her imagination, Rose. It's better than the TV."
"I see your point, carry on." She told him as she turned and left the room.
When she was gone, Carlisle stood and walked over to his bookcase where he pulled a book from the top shelf. He brushed over the cover and grinned at the silver lettering that spelled out the title.
"I have no intention of stopping, Rose."
