Pure of Heart
Disclaimer: Once again, this is SM's sandbox and I'm just playing in it.
Ch. 4: Revelations
LPOV
"Something that shouldn't exist… says the sparkly vampire to the few humans and whatever those La Push blokes, my LeLe and Seth are," Bella mused sarcastically. Alice and brought her a cup of water and it helped the rasp in her voice after she downed it.
If me and everyone else had been shocked by Carlisle's assertion that my imprint was a werewolf, the fact that she seemed to know about vampires or that the Quileute's were different scared the shit out of us. Instinctively, I pulled the brunette tightly to me partly because her presence calmed me and partly the need to feel her body solidly next to mine. The silence that had fallen started to become uncomfortable. Finally, my mate blew out a breath which snapped everyone out of their personal musings.
"I suppose you should hear my story but don't bloody interrupt, I'll answer questions at the end," she quipped and waited until we all nodded our capitulation.
"Anyone who's read Lovecraft or Poe will understand all about cursed families and the Stone family of London is one of them. Raymond Stone, like his father, parlayed his decorated military career into an equally decorated one in the Constabulary. By the time he retired, he was the Deputy Chief Inspector of Scotland Yard. His last investigation before taking a desk job was a series of murders that ended with him killing a Necromancer. With his final breath, he cursed Raymond and all of his descendents; the family would attract the supernatural like a beacon.
"He and his wife, Marie, had three children; Thomas, Harley and Renee. The boys followed in their father's footsteps and became PC's. For Thomas, the effect of the curse was mild. He married a Druid Priestess and had four children. Uncle Tom is currently Chief of Police in Leeds. Harley lost his first partner while hunting down a serial killer and was nearly killed himself. When he recovered, he was transferred to Division P.
"Renee had been what Grams called a happy mistake. She was born later in my grandparents' lives but that hadn't made them any less strict. She bristled under all the rules as she grew older until she finally rebelled. Renee moved in with some friends and ran wild to the point that she'd barely graduated High School. My grandparents' tried everything to get her to come home but nothing worked. Eventually, Gramps cut her off then disinherited her. That changed when she learned about her pregnancy. Both my grandparents died before I was born," Bella began then paused to collect herself for what was to come. Several members of our extended family exchanged confused glances while we waited.
"Let me preface this next bit by saying that my childhood wasn't exactly a happy one, no matter what certain people were led to believe. Renee was never a mother, at first she resented me for ruining her fun but later it grew to true hatred. As soon as I was old enough to be left with sitters or enrolled in various lessons, she was rarely home. Bouts of her indifference were broken up by periods of emotional abuse. Renee often ranted about how much I'd ruined her life. One night, when I was seven, I waited for her to pick me up from dance class but she never showed. The dance studio was on the other side of a large park from my house and I had a key. I thought I'd call Uncle Harley once I got home but never made it.
"Halfway through the park I was pulled into the trees then dragged to a secluded clearing. A hand over my mouth kept me from screaming. At the clearing, I was spun around and I noticed that my kidnapper was one of my neighbors. When he removed his hand, he told me that nobody would hear my screams. I tried to fight but he was too strong and ended up beating and raping me. He told me that little girls were so sweet and tender but he wanted to play with me before eating me. The sick bastard timed the assault so that it was over just as the full moon rose.
"My already fragile state got worse as I watched him slip his skin and become a werewolf. He savaged me with fangs and claws but I was in shock and didn't feel the pain. There were several loud noises then the attack stopped and I was surrounded by people in uniform. Division P had been tracking a werewolf that killed a number of young girls. They showed up before the monster finished me off. I woke up in the hospital the next morning to a very pissed off Renee. Apparently, Uncle Harley found her off shagging some stranger then dragged her to the hospital.
"Unlike vampire venom, it takes three months for the lycanthropy virus to spread through the body. Three months of fever and pain. Every bone, muscle and joint felt like mush as my DNA was altered. Renee continually told me how worthless I was as she was forced to help me. Uncle Harley came by every day and for a few hours; I was given the comfort that I longed for. He showed up with several members of Division P on that last morning and ordered his sister to pack a couple of bags of clothes for an overnight trip. We were driven out into the middle of nowhere to an abandoned SAS training camp.
"Renee was led to a bunker but Uncle Harley took me out to the middle of a large field. He told me what I'd become then explained that the serial killer that nearly killed him had been a werewolf as well. That night, when the full moon rose, I slipped my skin for the first time. My uncle helped me through it then the after affects. On the drive back to London, I saw the horror in Renee's eyes whenever she looked at me. Despite her fear, the emotional abuse she heaped on me only got worse. She kept me close but was relieved every time her brother came to take me away for the full moon.
"Through Uncle Harley, I became a member of the Lawrence Talbot Society. According to their records, I was the youngest person to successfully survive becoming a Child of the Moon. I'd always been advanced, all of my teachers wanted me to skip the lower grades and go straight to high school but Renee never allowed it. I devoured all the folklore about my kind that I could get my little hands on. For my ninth birthday, Uncle Tom's wife, Holly, gave me some books about herbalism and homeopathy. There was something about natural healing that called to me so I threw myself into studying those topics with the same fervor as I did with folklore.
"Those studies combined in a flash of insight that led me to create Eclipse. That serum and Renee's marriage to Phil made my life easier. Until the day Phil caught me dosing and like you, he thought I was a junkie. Renee showed him a recording of me that had been made during my first change but instead of horrifying him, it only made him more sympathetic to my condition. He became an environmental activist so that people like me would have a place to go away from people on full moon nights. Renee grew jealous of how close Phil and I were and her hatred grew.
"She suggested that fateful camping trip. I hadn't understood why until the full moon rose. The bitch replaced my Eclipse with water. It was her plan to shoot me with some silver bullets during my change. Unfortunately, I changed before she had time to react and Phil paid the price her stupidity. Uncle Harley found me the next morning because Renee left a note that detailed her plan. I was covered in blood and had a full stomach from partially eating the bodies.
"The taste of human flesh is a hundred times more addictive to lycanthropes than crack or meth is to humans. For the ten years that I lived with this, I never once tasted human flesh until that bitch pushed me off the "Wagon." I spent the next several days in a secure holding facility while I fought my instincts from taking over and giving in to the addiction. I only held on to my humanity by the skin of my teeth. As soon as I was stable, Uncle Harley suggested that I come live with Dad and Mum. There's a Den close by for full moon nights or times I felt like I was losing it.
"I never thought about how the stress of moving, on top of the guilt over what happened, would effect me. Things kept just piling up after that; Newton's constant harassment, the other students' stares and whispering, then finally the deaths the authorities are blaming on Eclipse…," she told us but let her last sentence trail off.
Bella had tensed up during her story; I stroked her hair and whispered soothing words in her ear while the others processed what we'd just heard. My imprint relaxed into me with a sigh then turned her head into the crook of my neck. She kissed my neck softly while inhaling my scent. Mom and Dad were the first ones to recover; they came over then pulled us into a hug. Slowly, the others approached and followed our parents' example. Emotions were running high, not just from Bella's tale but because she'd never received this much affection.
Esme and Mom retreated to the kitchen to start dinner for everyone who ate. The emotional atmosphere of the house ratcheted down to near normal levels as we ate. When the food was gone and the dishes cleaned, we went back into the living room. Bella resumed leaning into my side while she waited for the questions to start. Rose sat close by, during dinner she had told the other girl her story and they bonded.
ChPOV
Listening as my little girl explained her past nearly shattered my heart. From Sue's expression, I knew my wife felt the same way. Never in my life had I ever raised a hand to a woman but if Renee was already dead, she'd be the only exception. My emotions, like the rest of family's, were raw by the time she finished. Bella had a long way to go before she got over her past but I was proud when Rosalie explained her own story to her. The two girls were so much alike and I was glad Bella now had someone who understood her situation better than the rest of us. It was going to be a long night so Carlisle and I had both called off from work in the morning.
The hard part of the evening was over with and when we returned to the living room, the air was charged with excitement. Before Bella could be cross examined, I suggested she learn about the rest of the Cullen's and the Protectors. Each of the vampires told their stories in turn, and then Billy and Old Quil told the Tribal Legends. After they finished, Leah stepped out of the back door then phased to show Bells what she looked like in wolf form. Her reactions throughout the stories were full of awe and admiration but when she saw Leah's wolf, tears of joy streamed down her cheeks because she knew she was not alone. Then she phased back, got dressed and sat next to her imprint.
My daughter raised a hand to stall the inevitable questions as her face adopted a focused expression. I read her eyes and knew she was organizing her thoughts. Leah rubbed what was supposed to be soothing circles on Bella's back but ended up distracting her. After a few minutes, she pulled herself from her thoughts and started to talk.
"I have a feeling that most of your questions will be linked so maybe I can answer the more general ones at one time. I think giving you some history might cover them. The ancient Children of the Moon, with a few rare exceptions, were vile creatures that reveled in death and destruction; the human and the wolf separate entities that warred for control of their shared body. At first they stuck to the wild places but eventually made their way to the more populated areas which brought them to the attention of the vampires. One of their self-styled kings, Caius of the Volturi, believed in the superiority of his race and felt the only threat the werewolves posed was in thinning out their "herds." He was out hunting on the night of the full moon and got caught out in the open. An "inferior" werewolf nearly destroyed him but his brothers arrived to tip the balance. After that, the Volturi kings declared open season on Children of the Moon.
"Those rare exceptions among my ancestors had seen the writing on the wall and banded together to save our race; they went into hiding then through centuries of selective breeding forced several evolutionary jumps that assured our survival. The Children of the Moon today are deadlier than their ancient kin but have nearly as much in common as modern humans have to Cro-Magnon man. What our progenitors accomplished was nothing short of shocking. Carlisle obviously had taken a blood sample while I was unconscious but stop testing it when he discovered the Lycanthropic virus. Had he done a full genetic work up, he would've learned the truth. There is nothing human about me other than what you see before you.
"Those centuries of selective breeding fused the human and wolf into one single entity. Imagine it; Homo Lupus, a human intellect completely merged with the wolf's senses, instincts and cunning wrapped up in the perfect disguise. We look and smell like normal humans, until we change. There is no beast inside of us that fights for control with our human half, we are the beast. The only time we become "monsters' is when the full moon stimulates our adrenal glands and forces us to slip our skins into our more bestial forms. It is the only time our instincts are given control. Nature balanced the scales by increasing the potency of our weakness, however.
"Where vampires are venomous, my kind is infectious. Children of the Moon are either born or changed after having been infected by being savagely bitten. Werewolves can only breed together; if one of us falls in love with a human then they normally end up being infected. It's not something that's taken lightly. First, it must be true love because anything less wouldn't be worth it. Second, the potential wolf must pass a psychological evaluation to ensure they won't surrender themselves completely to their new instincts. This, in a way, brings us to my little helper.
"Eclipse is a combination of Belladonna and Wolfbane that suppresses the stimulation of the adrenal gland during the full moon and prevents the change. It also blunts our senses down to normal human levels and calms us. Since its creation, the infected have used it to ease their transition into a new way of life, though older wolves use it as well. Like any other medication, doses can be modulated to strengthen or lessen the effects. Renee had been so frightened by what I'd become that when I created Eclipse, she made me take the strongest dose possible to complete suppress everything. After the… incident that she'd forced, I've been too scared to modulate the dosage. On an intellectual level, I know that ten years of totally burying my condition meant my instincts would be uncontrollable when I missed an injection but it hasn't eased the guilt," Bella told us, her voice laced with sadness at the end.
Her body began to shake and her skin took on a greenish tint. She staggered to the bathroom where she threw up over everything. Sue cleaned her up then helped back up to bed. Leah was about to follow when Alice placed an old journal and a slim DVD case on the coffee table. My wife rejoined us as the pixie vampire explained the significance of both items. The journal was a detailed account of the development of Eclipse and the disc was the video footage that Phil once watched. Our two resident medical professionals agreed to look through the book after we watched the DVD.
Jasper put the disc into the DVD player and we say in silence as the most surreal thing I'd ever witnessed flickered across the television screen…
