Chapter 3
An hour later, my family and I stood outside the Summer's house. Carlisle in a soft gray suit and blue shirt with no tie. Esme wore a light purple lace dress that fell above her knees with nude heels. Rosalie, Emmett, Jasper, Alice, and I stayed in our school clothes. Esme had made Lasagna with salad, garlic bread sticks, and cannoli. Although to us, the food smelled repellant, and the idea of eating is a disturbing thought, Esme is an astounding cook. Carlisle knocked on the door three times, and we waited for a few moments before Alexander Harris opened the door.
I could hear his thoughts as he took in my family. Holy Gaia! They are all stunning. "Hi. You all must be the Cullen's. I can tell because you look like you stepped right off a magazine." He smiled and Carlisle laughed.
"We are blessed; that is true. My name is Carlisle. This is my wife Esme and our children." He pointed to each of us respectively as we stated our names.
"The Dawnster has told us about you all." He opened the door and gestured for us to come in. We smiled politely and thanked him as we crowded into the foyer. I'll tell Buffy to hide the stakes then. I furrowed my brow at his train of thought but then suddenly he was screaming. "DAWN! THE CULLENS ARE HERE!"
"We brought you and your family some dinner," Esme said smiling and nodding to the trays of food in her hand. "It's a welcome to Forks dinner if you will indulge us," She added.
"Thank you, so much! It smells delicious. I just thought it was you, folks." Alexander said as he took the trays in one hand. "I'll take this to the kitchen really fast. Why don't you all make yourself comfortable in the drawing room to the right of the staircase." With that, he rushed down the hallway, and we stood for a moment looking around.
To the left of us, a long staircase led to the upstairs portion of the house where I could hear Dawn saying she would be down in a moment. To our right, the foyer opened up into a large living room. The sofa and loveseat were set in dark wood and leather but upholstered in a dark brown and floral with gold touches. The coffee table and end tables matched the dark wood of the furniture but added the touch of clawed feet at the ends. The walls were painted a soft beige color with an eggshell trim around the edge. Gold and brown accents decorated the room, and a large bookcase was the predominate feature of the room. The dining table was dark brown and far enough away that people could mingle and dance with comfort. Like the coffee and end tables, the dining table had clawed feet and intricate wood work. Alexander found them moments later, his heartbeat alerting us of his arrival. Emmett turned towards him and smiled.
"Not much for television?" Emmett questioned as we sat on to the sofa.
"Well according to Giles, this is considered the drawing or waiting room. The living room is where the TV is at but man; I said we should have put it here." Alexander smirked as he leaned against the wall and between a door and a bookcase.
"Giles? As in the new World Civilizations teacher for next semester?" Jasper perked up at the idea of meeting the new teacher.
"Yes, Giles is quite the historian." Alexander laughed.
"When can we meet him! Oh and Buffy Summers? Dawn's sister? We look forward to meeting her. I heard she's astounding in martial arts." Alice squealed and jumped in her seat.
"You can meet me now." A soft female voice rang, and a door beside Alexander opened up. A woman, no older than 21, with long blonde hair, came from the dark room. She wore a red blouse, white pants, and black Milano ankle boots. Her long hair curled in long, thick ringlets and wore only a touch of make. Her green eyes stood out most against her tanned skin. They were bright green, but the way she looked at us made me feel as if she could see me for what I was. A predator. A vampire. "Hello, I'm Buffy."
"Hello, Ms. Summers. My name is Carlisle Cullen, and this is my wife, Esme. These are our children." We smile to her and introduce ourselves.
"You're a little young to have children, don't ya think?" She asks as she pulls up a chair from the table. I move to stand, but she waves me to sit down. "You're my guest, so please sit comfortably." She winks at me and turns her attention back to Carlisle.
"They are all adopted, but I love them all the same," Esme explains as she folds her hands in her lap.
"I see." Buffy nods and shifts her attention to Alexander. "Xand, where's Will? I'm sure she would like to meet Mr. Cullen's family." Buffy sends a smile his way. "She has spoken about how intelligent you constantly when she is home. That is of course when she does not have a medical book shoved under her nose."
"Here I am!" Dawn and a redheaded woman descend the stairs together carrying books and a laptop. "We got carried away studying. I'm sorry everyone." The redhead explained. "Dawnie, why don't you and your friends go to the parlor and study while the adults talk?" The redhead wore a pink floral skirt and a soft pink sweater that was crotched at the neck, hemline and cuffs. She wore a pentagram necklace and moon silver earrings that dangled close to her neck. She smelled strongly of sage but with a soft hint of strawberries.
"Don't you want to meet them at all?" Dawn smirked.
"I will be at dinner, besides it's not as if you didn't gush about them all afternoon." Willow sniggered, and my siblings, and I stood up smiling at the two's banter.
"Come on, you lot." Dawn smiled, and we followed her down the hall into a blue room with soft brown wood floors. The furniture looked similar to the ones in the drawing room except for its color combinations were light browns, beige, pale blues, and seafoam white. The smell of sandalwood and sea salt drifted from a small smoking pot on the mantelpiece above a small bookshelf. As we settled into the soft cushions of the sofa, we noticed the pictures on the walls. Each one included Alexander, Dawn, Buffy, Willow, and an older gentleman with glasses. Some of the images had a few other people involved, but the pictures were lined on the walls, on the bookshelves, or littered with the tables. "My sister has a love of the ocean and always wanted a themed ocean room. We couldn't talk her out of it." Dawn shrugged taking our staring as a question to the odd décor.
"Oh! I love the theme; I was just looking at the pictures. Are these, like your favorite memories?" Alice immediately responded.
"Yes and no." Dawn laughed. She went to the vintage desk in the left corner of the room and picked up a picture. "This is a picture of me, my sister, and our friends right after a gang from Los Angeles decided to attack us in New York. Buffy, being a martial artist, can handle her own. She took them down no problem. The rest of us had some trouble dealing with the underlings. However, the Scoobies always win." Dawn laughed and handed the picture over to Alice. Alice then passed the photo around. When the image got to me, I froze. There stood Buffy, dirty and speckled with blood, laughing with Dawn whose face had been slashed slightly in the fight. Blood dripped from the wound and onto her dirt purple sweater, but she was still smiling down at her sister. Around her shoulders lay Alexander's bruised and bloody arm. Alexanders face smiled brightly, and his right eye closed at the camera, but his grin was wide against the screen. Willow stood beside Buffy with a scythe in one hand and a beer in the other. The older gentleman stood in the background with his glasses in his hands, and he appeared to be cleaning them and possibly muttering when the image was taken.
"So are you a trained fighter as well?" I looked at her as I handed back the picture.
"I'm a red belt in Taekwondo, but Buffy assures me once I pass high school, I will be a black belt. I also practice portions of Muay Thai and various meditations, but that's because I am like the energizer bunny." Dawn laughs as she puts the picture away and sits back down.
"You'll have to show me that flying double side kick one day!" Alice jumps up and down.
"You betcha!" Dawn winked and then opened up the laptop. "Anyway, enough about little ole me, can we talk micro bacteria?"
Thirty minutes of studying and I felt confident that Dawn would succeed with all A's this semester despite being previously behind. She is a quick study and has an excessive thirst for knowledge that rivals Carlisle at times. Whenever she stumbled for an answer, instead of us answering for her, she delved into the books and notes until she had obtained the answer herself. Often smiling victoriously when we replied that she was correct. Her smiles were infectious, and her laughter was like a drug. I wanted nothing more than to bottle that laughter. When she looked at me, with her cobalt eyes shining and her face exuberant, the cold of my skin melted and all words failed me.
Buffy's head poked through the door of the parlor and told us it was time for dinner. Like Dawn, I noticed I couldn't hear her thoughts either. Unlike Dawn, there was no hum. It was as if there were no brainwaves to reach. Almost as if she was dead. If Buffy were a vampire, I would still hear her thoughts. I would have to talk to Carlisle about other possibilities. We headed toward the dining room quickly. At the table, Buffy showed us to our seats respectively. I noticed the looks Dawn gave her sister as she seated me between Dawn and Alexander. Midway through the seating, the gentleman from the picture Dawn had showed us early arrived carrying a briefcase.
"Oh, hello. I am terribly sorry. I was not aware we had guests." The man said as he glared at Buffy slightly. His voice carried a British accent, and I noticed Carlisle smile slightly. He wore a black suit with a green tie and black shoes. He had dark brown hair and oval glasses that gave him a senior appearance.
"I left you a voicemail, Giles." Buffy snorted as she folded her arms across her chest.
"Ah, well." He stuttered slightly and set his briefcase down next to the bookcase. "My name is Rupert Giles."
Rupert Giles. The name sounded familiar sang Carlisle's inner mind and then the memory hit us both. Rupert Giles stood in front of the bartender along with four young men. My eyes landed on the young men as they got on the stage and announced they were now performing. No one in the bar objected as the sound of punk music sounded through the speakers. Giles' voice was soft as he sang of the carnage of demons and watchers. Shaken by their song, I moved from the bar to a booth and watched intently as the men finished their set. As the set ended, I noticed that a pair of pale blue eyes walked over to me. "Hello, my name is Ripper…." I blinked back the memory of 1976 and looked at the now aged Rupert Giles and Carlisle smirked.
"I thought you preferred Ripper, old friend." Carlisle leveled his eyes on the aged gentleman and the air in the room became like a vacuum. No one breathed until Giles coughed softly and took off his glasses to begin cleaning them.
Words From the Author:
Hello, Readers! I hope you enjoyed the chapter, and that you are looking forward to seeing where I am going with the story. Please review because I would love to hear feedback from you! Stay 5by5!
Shout outs go to Marlastiano, LittleGnomette, and Mightymel30 who reviewed the first two chapters during their first few days open! Thank you guys for the review. Each one made me smile.
Until next time,
AndroidScout21
