16. The Cullens

I drove the very familiar road, not paying any attention to the driving part at all, all my focus was to the girl sitting beside me. I replayed yesterday and today in my mind over and over again, luxuriating on the pleasant memories. I saw the shock crossing her face when we reached the house. "Wow", was all that she could say. "You like it?" I asked smiling; playing with her ponytail "It… has a certain charm." Sure I thought, if by charmed you mean inhabited by seven vampires. I chuckled at thought; it didn't seem to bother her for the right reason. "Ready?" I asked opening her passenger door. "Not even a little bit – let's go." Her laugher got stuck in her throat, she was very nervous; I didn't need Jasper to know that. I could feel it myself, nervous for all the wrong reasons, but still… She smoothed her hair nervously. "You look lovely", I reassured her, and took her hand. I gently rubbed soothing circles on the back of her hand to try and calm her, it didn't help though. I opened the door to the house, and watch the surprise spread on her face, we'll our house is not what you think, if you think of vampires houses. Carlisle and Esme were already waiting inside for Bella, then went down stairs when they heard her truck, like anyone could miss the noise that car made, super hearing or not. Carlisle already knew Bella, but Esme thoughts were radiating with joy, so happy that I found my true love at last. Jasper and Alice were upstairs, Alice was very excited, and Jasper was a bit worried. Her eyes were on our integrated hands and smugness flooded her mind. "Carlisle, Esme. This is Bella." Carlisle went first, "You're very welcome, Bella." He walking slowly towards her trying not to scare her off, he put his hand to shack her and she stepped forwards and shock it, and also I could feel that all her nervous went away so that was good. "It's so nice to see you again, Dr. Cullen." Hopefully she won't need to see him again as Dr. Cullen. "Carlisle." He corrected her, she grinned at him. Esme smiled and stepped forward she's just so lovely and polite, what a lovely girl she thought, and shock Bella's hand also, "It's very nice to know you." Bella had no idea how very much honest that comment was, but I think she guessed. "Thank you. I'm glad to meet you, too." I could hear Alice's thought beaming from upstairs might as well try and make it human. "Where are Alice and Jasper?" Alice and Jasper were at the top of the stairs before I finished asking. "Hey, Edward!" Alice called with enthusiasm. She was so excited to finely meet Bella that human speed wasn't fast enough for her and she flow downstairs and stopped straight in front of Bella. "Hi, Bella!" she called and bounced forward to give her a kiss on the chick, I was tens and Jasper tasted that in the air, relax Edward Alice yelled at me in her mind. Carlisle and Esme were also staggered, fearing that this would frighten her, I could tell from Jasper she was a bit afraid, a bit shocked, but nothing serious. Bella is going to make a lovely sister, I can't wait to have her in the family Alice thought and I stiffened in response, this isn't going to happen! Ow relax Edward, she internally grinned at me, pleased. "You do smell nice, I never noticed before," Alice commented, she was pushing over the line; Bella was just embarrassed by the comment, a little nervous. Jasper dissuaded to ease things up, and I sensed the wave ease that he sent towards Bella. I just raised one eye brow at him, she was doing fine even without it. "Hallo, Bella," Jasper called not getting close to her or shacking her hand, don't worry I'll keep my distance he told me in his mind. "Hallo, Jasper," She answered shyly. "It's nice to meet you all – you have a very beautiful home." She added. "Thank you, we're so glad you came." Such a brave and bright girl, and after all the difficulty's Edward had he can just hold her hand with no effort Esme was so dilated. Edward Carlisle thought and caught my attention I don't know if you should tell Bella so I'm leaving that choice to you. But I think you should know that Alice saw other coming. Three others, there just curious interested since there are so many of us and they have not encountered any of our kind in a long time. There is no danger, but there is a need for caution. He didn't think the name, but I saw in his mind that he meant Bella. I nodded once hoping Bella haven't noticed, there no need to tell her right now. Alice reassured me also, no need to worry Edward, I'm keeping an eye on them and Bella, they aren't going near town or her, so don't sweat it.

Esme noticed Bella staring at the piano, "Do you play?" she asked her and inclined her head towards the piano. "Not at all. But it's so beautiful. Is it yours?" Edward hasn't reviled her his talents yet? "No," Esme laughed, "Edward didn't tell you he was musical?" I putted on an innocent expression; there still so much she doesn't know about me. "No." Bella glared at me, "I should have known, I guess." Esme looked just confused at the comment; I'm not the only one that had a hard time understanding Bella. "Edward can do everything, right?" She explained. Jasper couldn't help but snickering show off. Esme just looked reproving, "I hope he haven't been showing off – it's rude." Edward it's not very polite she added in her mind. "Just a bit," and I couldn't help but laugh at the conclusion Bella made. Ow Edward she is just so wonderful, and you are so well in control just holding her hand… Esme thought looking at me I know I wanted to tell her back, but no one could hear my thoughts, luckily. "He's been too modest, actually," She corrected herself. "Well, play for her," Esme encouraged me, but I didn't really feel like it. "You just said showing off was rude." I said trying to avoid, what I saw through Alice was unavoidable. "There are exceptions to every rule." Esme answered I'm sure hearing you play would impress her very much. "I'd like to hear you play", Bella also added, see Esme urged. "It's settled then." Esme pulled me to the piano and I automatically pulled Bella with me, I just couldn't stand being away from her. I sat her on the bench beside me. I gave her a long exasperated look and turned to the keys to play.

I enjoyed her reaction of shock as I started to play Esme's favorite composition. Her mouth actually fell open and everyone chuckled at her reaction, I just enjoyed it. I think sometime alone would be needed here Alice thought and she tagged Jasper by the arm and went upstairs to her room. Carlisle and Esme also left the room leaving us alone, without Bella even noticing. I winked at her, "Do you like it?" I asked her. "You wrote this?" she gasped in understanding. I nodded, "It's Esme's favorite." She closed her eyes and started shaking her head, why did she do that? Did this make her think of something bad? "What's wrong?" I asked her aloud, I couldn't stand not knowing. "I'm feeling extremely insignificant." How can I show her how significant she really is, the center of my world. I changed the music to her lullaby maybe that will help her understand. "You inspired this one." I told her, just to show her; maybe she could start grasping how much she means to me. She couldn't speak, I liked the fact that I left her speechless, but I wanted to hear the sound of her voice. Thinking of her earlier insignificant anxiety I thought I should shove her completely, in case she had any doubt. "They like you, you know. Esme especially." She looked around noticing that we're alone now. "Where did they go?"

"Very subtly giving us some privacy, I suppose." I know. She sighed, why? "They like me. But Rosalie and Emmett…" Well she was right on one out of two, I frowned. "Don't worry about Rosalie, she'll come around." I said while trying to persuade her with my eyes. I'm sure Rosalie would come around, I just don't know when, I'm not banking on it happening in this decade the way thing are going with her. She pursued her lips skeptically; my attempt to persuade her hadn't worked clearly. "Emmett?" she asked. Well this wasn't bad; Emmett didn't have a problem with her, only with me. "Well, he thinks I'm a lunatic, it's true, but he doesn't have a problem with you. He's trying to reason with Rosalie." I hoped that's possible, but it didn't have my hopes high. "What is it that upsets her?" Bella asked a bit shyly. I sighed, I didn't want to talk about Rosalie and her issues and her problem with Bella, and well I guess I have no choice, just no need to mention she's jealous of Bella, because I want Bella and not her. "Rosalie struggles the most with… with what we are. It's hard for her to have someone on the outside know the truth. And she's a little jealous." I saw surprise and shock cross her face, "Rosalie is jealous of me?" she asked incredulously. "You're human; she wishes that she were, too." I shrugged, we all knew how much Rosalie wanted to be human, now I wanted it as bad as she did, so that I could be with Bella without endangering her. "Oh," she muttered in a stunned voice. "Even Jasper, though…" she went on when she recovered. "That's really my fault." Jasper had no problem with Bella, he thought she was going to be one of us, no rules broken, no problem, but it wasn't going to happen. "I told you he was the most recent to try our way of life. I wanted him to keep his distance." She just smelled too good to everyone, not as nearly as how much she smelled to me, but too much still. She shuddered, some normal reaction at last! "Esme and Carlisle?" she went on quickly as if not wanting me to notice, but of course I did. It was a bit strange talking like this knowing everyone in the house could hear me. "Are happy to see me happy." I went on to answer her question. "Actually, Esme wouldn't care if you had a third eye and webbed feet. All this time she's been worried about me, afraid that there was something missing from my essential makeup, that I was too young when Carlisle changed me… she's ecstatic. Every time I touch you, she about to chokes with satisfaction." She had no idea, even with the tragedy waiting to happen Esme was thrilled to have me find my true love. "Alice seems very… enthusiastic." Bella commented, like anyone couldn't notice how enthusiastic Alice is. In her mind Bella is already her best friend and sister. The memory of the vision of Bella with crimson eyes had me talking through tight lips, "Alice has her own way of looking at things." I wasn't going to tell Bella about it, no need to give her ideas. "And you're not going to explain that are you?" she commented, observant as always. We didn't say anything for a moment, I couldn't talk, she knew I was keeping something from her, something I have no intention on telling her, ever.

"So what was Carlisle telling you before?" She asked, and caught me completely off guard. "You noticed that, did you?" I asked incredulous, I can't hide anything from her can I? "Of course," she shrugged. Of course. Should I tell her right away? That might be too much, but then again nothing did seem to scare her. Then I decided I should tell her, slowly, since it would change my behavior and I didn't want her to think I was insane. And she should change hers, her walking alone in the woods scenario, would be very bad in this case. "He wanted to tell me some news – he didn't know if it was something I would share with you."

"Will you?" She asked. "I have to, because I'm going to be a little… overbearingly protective over the next few days," that was an underestimate, she's not going to be out of my sight whether she knows it or not, "Or weeks – and I wouldn't want you to think I'm naturally a tyrant."

"What's wrong?" she asked wary. "Nothing's wrong, exactly. Alice's just sees some visitors coming soon. They know we're here, and they're curios." Curios and Bella is a bad combination. These are not visitors like Peter and Charlotte who wouldn't come close to town because we requested them too. And if they come across Bella's scent… I almost chattered at the thought. But they aren't planning to come near town or us, still too wary for now. "Visitors?" She asked curios herself, but also wary. "Yes…" I was a bit reluctant to give her the full details. "Well, they aren't like us, of course – in their hunting habits, I mean. They probably won't come into town at all, but I'm certainly not going to let you out of my sight till they're gone." Bella shivered, "Finally, a rational response!" I murmured, mostly to myself but loud enough for her to hear, "I was beginning to think you had no sense of self-preservation at all." She made no comment at my remark though, but she didn't look at me. Instead she looked at the room around us, time to change topic of conversation and lighten the mode. "Not what you expected is it?" I asked. "No," she admitted it. Well the fact that we have a house was abnormal to our kind, but it also didn't fit with what humans thought vampires houses would look like. "No coffins, no piled skulls in the corners, I don't even think we have cobwebs… what a disappointment this must be for you," I went on slyly and teasingly. "It's so light… so open."

Yes there was no need for us to be careful from the sun around here, no goes this far out of town. "It's the one place we never have to hide." No human façade at home and this was my home, and now that I have Bella here with me I know no other house would ever be home to me. "Thank you," she murmured when I finished playing. I saw that there were tears in her eyes, this time I knew it was not from any form of pain, but from movement, I song touched her and moved her, like she moved me. Embarrassed she dabbed them and wiped them from her face, but she missed one. I very lightly touched the corner of her eye to the one she missed. I lifted the finger examining the drop of moist, it had no weight in my hand, and it smelled a little like Bella, mixed with other scent like salt and something else I didn't recognize at all? I wonder how it would taste like. I put my finger in my mouth quickly and tasted it. It was delicious, but also had an off flavor, like hunting predators it tasted better than ordinary animal blood, but not as nearly as good as human blood. It still had some of Bella flavor in it; delicious beyond anything I tasted before, tainted but still… Bella looked at me questioningly and I looked at her for a long moment trying very hard not to think of how she would taste like, and then when I won that battle, which was quite easy when I looked into her adoring chocolate brown eyes, I smiled at her.

"Do you want to see the rest of the house?" I asked her. That was acceptable thing to do, only in my room there was no comfortable bed waiting for her, only a couch, maybe I would change that. And then I looked better into my motivations on wanting a bed in my room and decided that after all it was not such a good idea, wanting her that close to me was dangerous. "No coffins?" she asked sarcastically, but there was still genuine concern in her voice. I couldn't help myself and laughed, and then took her hand to lead the way. "No coffins," I promised her. It still pleased me as we walked up the stairs to the second floor that I could hold her hand, and feel her heat, breathe her scent and resist all of my urges. Not without effort but it was worth it. We went to the second floor first. "Rosalie and Emmett's room… Carlisle's office… Alice's room…" I gestured to her as we passed near the doors. Carlisle was in his office reading, but he heard us passing and his thoughts were full of joy at my own happiness. Alice was a little annoyed that I didn't invite Bella into her room, but I didn't want to, it's too much, if not for Bella then for me. I wanted to take her to the next floor, but she stopped walking, so I looked to see what made her stop. She was staring at the cross. "You can laugh. It is sort of ironic." Considering most humans thought that crosses can scare us away having one hanged in our house could be quite a surprise. She didn't laugh she reached her hand almost to touch it, but she didn't. "It must be very old," she guessed. I just shrugged; nothing was old for us, "Early sixteen-thirties, more or less." She turned to look at me shocked and surprised, "why do you keep it here?" she asked. "Nostalgia. It belonged to Carlisle's father."

"He collected antiques?" She guessed doubtfully. I guessed that humans had a hard time grasping the meaning of immortally. "No. he carved this himself. It hung on the wall above the pulpit in the vicarage where he preached." She turned to look at the cross again, as if to hide her face, but I could see the shock crossing her face. She didn't say anything, it got me worried. Will she understand that she shouldn't be with me because her life will go on and I will always be seventeen, even in three hundred years like Carlisle? "Are you alright?" I asked after a few minutes of charged silence, letting her mind wrap around all those years that passed, and nothing changed in them. "How old is Carlisle?" She asked in a small voice, but didn't answer my question. "He just celebrated his three hundred and sixty-second birthday." I answered her question, watching the answer sink in. She looked but at me her warm chocolate brown eyes sparkling with many questions. I monitored her reactions while I told her Carlisle's story in shortening time. "Carlisle was born in London, in the sixteen-forties, he believes. Time wasn't marked as accurately then, for the common people anyway. It was just before Cromwell's rule, thought." She still looked shocked, but a bit more composed as she processed the information I gave her. "He was the only son of an Anglican pastor. His mother died giving birth to him. His father was an intolerant man. As the Protestants came into power, he was enthusiastic in his persecution of Roman Catholics and other religions. He also believed very strongly in the reality of evil. He led hunts for witches, werewolves… and vampires." I noticed that she grow very still at the mention of the word vampire, how odd stillness was very unnatural for humans, but I went on anyway. "They burned a lot of innocent people – of course the real creature that he sought were not so easy to catch. When the pastor grew old, he placed his obedient son in charge of the raids. At first Carlisle was a disappointment; he was not quick to accuse, to see demons where they did not exist. But he was persistent, and more clever than his father. He actually discovered a coven of true vampires that lived hidden in sewers of the city, only coming out by night to hunt. In those days, when monsters were not just myths and legends, that was the way many lived. The people gathered their pitchforks and torches, of course," I couldn't help but let a dark laugh out, humans hunting vampires, though I was it in Carlisle's mind and had a perfect memory of it as if I were there – except for the blurriness that surrounded all human memories – and I still couldn't believe that they tried such madness. "And waited where Carlisle had seen the monsters exit into the street. Eventually one emerged." I looked at her and from some reason her face looked strained, but not in a nervous way, how peculiar. I went on, "He must have been ancient, and weak with hunger. Carlisle heard him call out in Latin to the others when he caught the scent of the mob. He ran through the streets, and Carlisle – he was twenty-three and very fast – was in the lead of the pursuit." Well he was very fast for a human, to compete with a running vampire, even a weak one, still… "The creature could have easily outrun them, bit Carlisle thinks he was too hungry, so he turned and attacked. He fell…" fell was not the right word, but I still had no intention on give her the full information on becoming a vampire, "On Carlisle first, but the others were close behind, and he turned to defend himself. He killed two men, and made off with a third, leaving Carlisle bleeding in the street." I paused, thinking from where to continue. I looked at Bella and I saw she understood what I was doing, but I wasn't going to explain it to her. "Carlisle knew what his father would do." I went on, "The bodies would be burned – anything infected by the monster must be destroyed." Like the pain of the burning is not enough, to add fire to the inferno, I almost shuddered at the thought. "Carlisle acted instinctively to save his own life. He crawled away from the alley while the mob fallowed the fiend and his victim. He hid in a cellar, buried himself in rotting potatoes for three days. It's a miracle he was able to keep silent, to stay undiscovered." I could still remember all too clearly the pain for the transformation, I wasn't quite. "It was over then, and he realized what he had become." She still looked a bit shocked and disbelieving. Have I said too much? Have I frightened her and made her see the monster that I am? "How are you feeling?" I had to ask her. "I'm fine," she reassured me, but I wasn't completely convinced. She bit her lips in hesitation, curiosity still sparkling in her eyes. I smiled, she wasn't afraid she wanted to know more about my father, about our kind; about me… this actually filled me with a strange kind of joy, letting her get to know me. "I expect you have a few more questions for me." She bit her lip again. This triggered a strange reaction in my body I was just starting to get to know, a tingling feeling of something like electricity, the need to get even closer to her, but now was not the time, I focused myself. "A few," She answered shyly. My smil got even wider as I thought how her wanting to get to know me, ignoring the horror of what if she knew me too well and didn't like the real me, the monstrous me. Her hand was still in mine so I pulled her very gently back to Carlisle's office. "Come on, then, I'll show you." I encouraged her, as I saw she was a bit staggered back by my response.