A/N: Yes, Garrett does indeed move fast! As I told some of you fantastic reviewers, he is not a domesticated vampire. But…he's not heartless. Not entirely. Thank you so much for joining me!
"I will rip him apart!" The blonde growled, her body poised to strike as the Cullen Coven surrounded Garrett.
He wondered again what had prompted him to return to Carlisle's territory. This was a mistake. I should—
Carlisle held up one hand. "Garrett, old friend," he said with a strained voice. "What have you done?"
The metallic-haired one shook his head. "He was going to kill her," he said, his voice level. "But he changed his mind."
I wanted to know what you knew of her, Garrett thought. So I could make sure she didn't lose everything.
Edward's brow lifted in disbelief and the shock of realizing that the young man could read this thoughts held Garrett immobile for another significant moment.
"Let me go!" the angry female demanded. She struggled against her mate. "Emmett! He deserves to burn!"
Garrett was tensing up to make a break for it with the girl in his arms, until he felt blanketed by a calming, cool sensation. He relaxed. So did his aptly named angel, Angela.
"Thank you, Jasper," Carlisle murmured, nodding at the blond male with the tiny brunette who had just joined the cluster of sparkling vampires in the forest near the Cullens' headquarters.
Garrett shifted a bit to make sure that Long, Tall Sally's long, lean legs weren't too visible to the other males. Then, he took a second look at the male named Jasper. And drew himself up short, internally.
"Jasper...Whitlock?"
"That's right," the fellow said, rolling up his sleeves to reveal a plethora of scars that spoke of wars Garrett himself had stayed far from. "You've heard of me?"
"Indeed. Your name commands respect over the entire continent."
"Good. Have you managed a newborn before?"
A brief flare of guilt hit Garrett before fading as he watched Angela's lips move in silent agony. "No."
"I have. Better bring her along. Carlisle?"
"Of course, Jasper."
It was not what he had envisioned, but Garrett realized that his existence would never—could never—be the same, now that he had tasted and changed Angela. He knew, from the moment he had kissed her, that she would be everything he would need. Like the song said, "Long, tall Sally she's built for speed/She's got everything that Uncle John needs."
A moment of indecision gripped him as the Cullens reached their overwhelming house. Could he be what she needed?
"Though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil for thou. Art. With. Me. Though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death I will fear no evil for thou. Art. With. Me." She never shouted or cried - she only repeated these verses, grinding them out between clenched jaws. He didn't know whether to shake his head at her stubbornness or admire her fortitude. He was leaning toward the latter.
Her burn, he knew of. He had screamed for days and remembered every hellacious instant of his own turning.
"Bella, love, are you sure you want this?" In the room with Long, Tall Sally, the Cullen Coven hovered, along with one human. She was Edward's chosen, and Edward was Carlisle's first-created. "It's the worst torture in the world," the copper-haired boy murmured next to the human girl's ear.
"You know her?" Garrett ventured to inquire of the girl, keeping his speech at human speed. "You were at the ceremony yesterday, too, were you not?"
"Yes," the girl, Bella, said, her lips barely moving. "She's my friend." With a flaring of her delicate nostrils, Bella glared at him. "She's a minister's daughter, you know. She never would have wanted this."
The information was both tonic and torment to the nomad. "Tell me about her," he demanded, his eyes going back again and again to the girl on the bed at the Cullens' home.
Edward shook his head a little, but Garrett didn't know why. "She has the kindest human mind I've seen in a long time," the younger man said.
His chosen mate nodded, her eyes always focused on Angela's clenched fists. "She was my friend when. . .when I wasn't a good friend to her."
Edward nuzzled Bella's hair and Garrett passed their subtle exchange off as things that happen between pairs. He had had no such concerns.
Before. But perhaps that would be changing. As she was changing. Soon.
The sun rose on the second day of her change, glinting off the bodies of the vampires and waking the lone human in their midst. Garrett had to admit that Bella's blood was tempting; her heart beat steadily and he himself had not fed for a while because he had not satisfied his hunger with Angela.
His Long, Tall Sally was more than a meal. She might be his mate. If she chose.
He couldn't understand what had happened to him when he had tasted the young woman. What had supposed to be a meal had changed, somehow, when her rich, hot blood hit his tongue. The desire to possess her had consumed him and so he restrained himself to merely change, not devour her. He felt protective of her, even now. So much so that when the human girl, Bella, rose from her slumber and crossed over to Angela's side to take her hand, Garrett growled at her.
"No!" Edward protested, leaping to wrap the human in his arms and tug her from Angela. Speaking beyond the range of human hearing, the young man said, "You will not even think it. Not one thought of harm to my Bella. Your control is not to be trusted."
"Edward," the girl said, fidgeting in his arms, "I need to be with her, to let her know she's not alone."
Edward nodded and sat with Bella on the bed where Angela continued to chant her prayers.
See you in a couple of days!
