Chapter Four

Samuel

I left Galveston that night, too hurt to stay any longer. I had no interest in exploring the Southern States any more. I just wanted to get away, go somewhere completely different. I decided to head for South America now, I could be there in a day.

I travelled though Mexico, Central America and into Columbia. I had kept away from the main towns so that I didn't have to hide. I could travel easier if I kept off the main routes.

Columbia was pretty much dense forest, which helped and I was able to travel easily, sheltered by the shade from the canopy of the trees above. I took my time now, travelling through Columbia to Venezuela. I wasn't really sure what I was doing, or where I was going. I wasn't really in the mood to take in any scenery, or look for tourist attractions. I just wanted to be left alone, yet I was beginning to regret leaving the company of Steve and Shelly.

I barely noticed then the scent of an approaching vampire. I didn't really care that much. So much for immortality if this was what it would be like. What was the point of it all? I couldn't be with any of those I loved. I was all alone in this wilderness and thus it would always be. Suddenly a voice called out "Hey, you there"

I spun around, instinctively turning on my repulsive skill so that by the time I was facing the large jovial looking character he wasn't able to look at me. He held his hand over his mouth and tried to peer in my direction. He did look comical. He was dressed in an array of clothes that looked like something from a history book. His face was screwed up in disgust. He didn't look dangerous so I relaxed. Maybe this was a mistake, but as I reminded myself, so what?

"Good grief man, what was that?" He asked

"Er sorry," I spluttered. "Reflex reaction I'm afraid. It comes in handy sometimes"

"Disgusting," he wrinkled his nose again. "I couldn't even look at you"

I walked over to him extending my hand in friendship "Fred," I announced, smiling.

"Samuel," he replied as he took my hand and shook it firmly. "Can you turn that on and off then when you want to?"

I nodded. "But instincts take over sometimes," I explained. "Survival techniques I guess. I haven't entirely figured it out yet."

He nodded, seeming to at least pretend to understand. "So Fred, you passing though, or is this your territory?"

Good, at least I hadn't inadvertently stumbled into another vampires patch. He didn't belong here either.

"Just passing through," I told him and then asked ,"you?"

"I never stay very long in one place," he said, looking up to towards the sky as if looking for inspiration for his next destination. "Been around for almost a couple of centuries and been to most places on earth at least twice, except Antarctica," he mused, "Nothing much there but penguins," and then he leaned back and let out a loud raucous laugh.

"Wow, two hundred years." I paused to think about that for a minute. Two hundred years of what? So I added, "By yourself?"

He nodded, "Yeah, mostly. I prefer it that way. Keep myself to myself and then I'm not beholden to anyone."

"Yeah, I know what you mean," I agreed, although I didn't know what he meant at all. I had always been good at amusing myself, but right now, the thought of being alone for two hundred years filled me with dread. Right now I was grateful for the company, albeit temporary, of this giant from the past. He was indeed huge, in height and stature. He was older than me in human years too, mid-thirties I guessed.

"So where you heading?" he asked

I shrugged, "Not sure, I haven't really got a plan yet." My shoulders slumped and I lowered my gaze.

He paused and then put his head on one side and looked at me quizzically "What are you heading from then?"

His question took me aback. It wasn't the kind of question you expected from a complete stranger. I wasn't sure how to answer, how much to tell him, how much he was really interested in knowing, however, I decided I might trade some information with this very old vampire. As I pondered this I noticed his eyes weren't yellow. They were a similar dark red colour to my own. So I guessed he wasn't as old as the vampires in Forks. How old must they be?

I thought it was about time I answered his question as I didn't want to appear rude or evasive, but where to start? "It's a long story," I replied, unconvincingly.

"That's ok, I've got all century," he replied laughing again.

So I began with my creation, told him all about the army of newborns, the chaos, my desertion, the mystery of the yellow-eyed coven, the werewolves, the fear of being found by Riley and his female companion known only to us as she or her. I was surprised at how easily the story rolled off my tongue once I got started. Samuel was a good listener, not interrupting once, just listening and nodding and encouraging me to continue.

"Stop me if you have had enough," I had told him at one point.

"No, carry on son. Sounds like you got some questions buried in that there story of yours. Carry on, right to the end, and then I'll help you out, if I can..."

So I finished by telling him about my visit to my family in Texas and the sadness it had left me with. "How do you cope with that?" I shrugged.

"Awww well, I can't help you with that one I'm afraid. All my family have been dead for a couple of centuries. Even when they were still alive I didn't know them. Left home at the age of fourteen to work on the rail-road, and never went back." He patted me on the shoulder. It was intended to comfort me, but he was very heavy-handed and it almost hurt, even though my rock-hard body was designed not to feel pain.

"Come, walk with me for a while. I can help you with some of your other stuff," he said kindly.

Samuel knew of the family that Riley's army had been created to destroy. "Well, actually, I don't know the entire family, I only know the good doctor. I knew him before he had a family. Must be a hundred years ago, maybe more."

"He is a doctor?" I asked. "Do vampires get sick?"

"No, he is a doctor for humans, I believe he currently works in a hospital back in Forks, Washington." Samuel gestured vaguely in the direction of north, "although he has practiced medicine in many places. I hear about him in my travels. I've heard a lot about his family too. He is well known in the vampire world. One of a kind really."

"A doctor for humans?" I repeated in disbelief. "How does that work?" How could a vampire work in a hospital? I tried to picture myself in that situation and decided the patient mortality rate would be rather grim.

"It's true," Samuel nodded. "You see, Doctor Carlisle Cullen, and his family too, I guess, do not feed on the blood of humans. They feed only on animals."

"What?" I wrinkled my nose up in disgust and snorted, "Don't be daft" and I shook my head in disbelief. But Samuel was holding up his hands nodding.

"Their belief is that by feeding on animals they are not monsters, and it enables them to live an almost human existence."

I snorted again.

"Don't knock it 'til you've tried it." Samuel chided me.

He waited for me to stop shaking my head before continuing ."I tried it for a while but animals aren't very satisfying." Now he was wrinkling his nose and shaking his head.

"No kidding?" I let out a little chuckle.

"No kidding. Anyway, I am not that determined to be good. I'm a nomad. I don't have any desire to put down roots anywhere." He paused and then looked at me to see my reaction. "Incidentally, that is why their eyes are yellow."

He had my full attention now. He continued ,"Of course that was one of the reasons Carlisle left the Volturi. " Samuel continued. "He didn't like their ethics, and couldn't persuade them to follow his diet."

I was sure this guy was making this stuff up, just to see my reaction. But it was too incredulous to make up. I resisted the urge to laugh because I didn't want to offend him. My face must have been an absolute picture though.

"The Vol….what?"

"Volturi," Samuel confirmed. "An ancient Italian coven that rule the vampire world, sort of like royalty. They make the rules and then punish anyone who doesn't follow them."

"Oh ok," I nodded. I supposed this was the vampire police that Bree had warned me about. But I was more interested in their diet. "So, he completely survives on animals? No humans at all? Is that even possible?"

"As far as I know, none at all. It has taken him centuries of practice to be able to do what he does. Don't ask me how or why, it is just the way he is. It is his thing."

"Fascinating," I whispered. "Cool." I pondered for a moment ."I wouldn't mind having a go at that." I had always felt repulsed at killing humans, even when I was first created. I mean, I had to, instincts and all that, but I still felt ill at ease with it, even back then when the bloodlust was so strong. "I hate being what I am," I added.

Samuel just sighed. "You get used to it after a while," and he absent-mindedly kicked a rock into a tree. It hit the tree with such force that the trunk snapped in half. A flock of birds fluttered noisily above us in the canopy, angry at having their resting perch disturbed.

I screwed my face up a little at the thought of feeding from animals. It really didn't seem terribly appealing. And then I thought about the human girl they protected and suddenly it made sense, well, sort of. They didn't kill her because she wasn't part of their regular diet, but I couldn't imagine what kind of self-restraint would be needed to achieve this. I could remember the scent of the girl that Riley had passed around to us, recalling it instantly like it was just yesterday. How could they ignore the sweet smell of her blood, the sound of her heart pumping all that delicious human blood around her body? It would be too much to bear. After all why bother? What was so special about this particular human?

"Two of Carlisle's family were in these parts a few weeks ago actually." Samuel told me, changing the subject quickly before I could dwell on the strange alternative diet of the Cullens.

"Really?" I asked cautiously. "So, they must have survived the fight then?"

"Yeah, suppose so, they never mentioned it," Samuel continued ."A petite dark-haired female, I think her name was Alice, and a blond male companion, covered in battle scars. More scars than I've had human dinners!" He laughed and then paused. He was trying to remember something. "I didn't really pay too much attention to him, the girl was much more interesting. She had some kind of special power, like the ability to see into the future or something – she was very anxious about something"

"What were they doing all the way down here?"

"Trying to drum up some support for a child they have in their family. I'm not really sure. They are in trouble with the Volturi or something over it. I didn't get too much of the story, having made my apologies to them, they moved on pretty quick. They were in a real hurry. They were off to the rainforest . I think they were going to seek out the Amazonian coven. As I said, this Alice was extremely anxious."

"A child?" I immediately assumed they had another human addition to their family. Or maybe it wasn't exactly a child, maybe it was connected with the human girl they protected. You could hardly call her a child, but I knew how stories could get twisted sometimes and Samuel was obviously one for telling colourful stories. Maybe this was why they were in trouble with the vampire police. After all, vampires were not allowed to expose themselves to humans and hadn't they done just that, by keeping this human as a pet, as Riley had put it?

"Look, I don't really know much about it, I didn't want to get involved. They didn't bother to give me the full story once I made it clear I wasn't going to help them. I don't court any trouble with the Volturi. It wasn't my battle to get involved in. I feel bad, because Carlisle is good, through and through, but if he is in trouble with the Volturi, anyone who sides with him risks death."

"Yeah, that's why I didn't want to get into the fight with Riley. Not my battle." I agreed

"You got that right son," Samuel agreed.

I spent a few days with Samuel in San Fernando, Venezuela. He was such an interesting character it was hard not to keep asking questions. For a newbie like me, he was astonishing to listen to. He told me many stories about the Volturi and how they put a stop to illegal practices. He told me about the armies of newborns that had been created in the Southern States of America round about the time of the civil war. There had been massive fights for control over the towns and the right to feed in them. The Newborn armies had grown so fast and they were out of control. The Volturi had stepped in and put a stop to it. "The Volturi are an effective and powerful force," he had told me. "Many of them are selected for their special powers and skills. These days though, they are corrupt to the core," he had added. "Power had gone to Aro's head." He shook his head sadly.

Samuel, whilst claiming not to know anything about Carlisle's child, had a theory about it. I wondered whether this was based on something Carlisle's envoy had actually told him, or whether it was pure speculation. He thought they may be keeping an immortal child. He went on to explain that a while back some vampires had created vampire children, to make their families complete, so to speak. The immortal children had been too young to learn how to behave and had gotten out of control, risking exposure of our kind to the humans. The Volturi had destroyed them all, including their creators and had thereby decreed that the creation of immortal children was illegal. "So, you see why I didn't want to get involved. If Carlisle has been foolish enough...well, I just wasn't keen to travel thousands of miles to face the wrath of the Volturi. It's not my business."

"How do you create an immortal child?" I had asked.

"You simply make a vampire out of a child. But of course, the child never matures. If the child is three years old, it will stay three years old for eternity. You do know how vampires are created?" He asked.

I nodded, "yeah sort of." My memories of it were pretty vague. All I could remember was the horrific pain.

Samuel smiled sympathetically. "So you see the children were frozen at whatever age they happened to be at the time. It's a bit sick."

I admitted the idea of taking the life of one so young was pretty sick. I thought of my little sister Karen and shuddered to think of her remaining eight years old for ever. If indeed, if this was what Carlisle had done then I guessed he had it coming to him. It was inexcusable and I couldn't see what good it was going to do sending two members of his family half way around the world to find allies.