Disclaimer: The characters of Twilight are owned by Stephenie Meyer. The content, ideas and intellectual property of this story and the 'American Vampire Series' in its entirety are owned by Just4ALE. The red and blue pills are the property of The Matrix.
A/N 1: This chapter continues from where both Ch 7 and 8 leave off.
Chapter 9: Houston, We Have a Problem
BPOV
After staring at the portrait for a few moments, I turned off the computer and slowly tried to talk myself down from the ledge. Making the arrangements as soon as I regained my composure, I took a cab to the airport without bothering to stop by the Nob Hill apartment. I needed to get home immediately. Not one to partake in the wasting of our planet's finite resources, I regularly flew on the normal passenger airplanes to get around. However, on that day I decided to forgo my moral code and take the shortcut; I took advantage of my employer's considerable perqs and flew back via Cirque's private jet, bypassing Sea-Tac to instead land at Quillayute, a smaller airport close to Forks.
The pilots called ahead for me so that a cab would be waiting. As the airport was only ten miles outside of Forks, I was home fairly quickly. I paid the driver and watched as he pulled away, and then I ghosted into the dark house and into Edward's waiting arms.
He cupped my face as he kissed me softly and then pulled back to meet my gaze. He looked at me silently and I heard his thoughts as he replayed the key findings from the Convention. I lifted my shield and in turn let him hear mine. His brow furrowed as he took in everything I had to tell him.
"What does it all mean?" I asked.
He closed his eyes and pulled me close to him, squeezing me tightly into his embrace. I could feel his lips in my hair, kissing the top of my head. Finally he let go, reached for my hand and walked with me slowly up the stairs to our bedroom.
He sat me down on the edge of the bed and then stood between my legs. Suddenly, I needed him. I just needed to have him hold me, to love me, to tell me everything was going to be okay. I reached out and wrapped myself around him, hugging his body, my head resting against his stomach.
He dropped to his knees, still positioned between my legs, and began undressing me slowly. He caressed me gently as he unzipped my hoodie and pushed it off of my shoulders, pulled my tank top up and over my head, then put his fingers in the waistband of my yoga pants and started tugging them off of me. Once I was only in my panties, I helped undress him, unbuttoning his shirt and caressing his chest as I pushed the shirt off of him, loosening his belt buckle, unzipping his jeans and helping pull them down until he was bare.
I slowly scrambled backward on our bed. He climbed in after me and reached out to pull off my panties, discarding them to the side. Then he hovered over me on his hands and knees.
I reached up and my eyes followed my hands as I touched his neck and moved my hands across his strong jawline, across his cheeks and temples and then through his hair. Finally, I looked back into his beautiful green eyes and dared to think what I couldn't bring myself to say out loud.
I'm afraid.
He nodded and then lowered himself so that his body was covering my right half, his left cheek pressed on my breast, his right arm and leg draped over me, protecting me and holding me. His right hand lightly stroked my skin, skimming the contours of my hip, my belly, my breast, my neck. After several minutes, he spoke.
"I know, Love. We'll figure it out together. I won't let anything happen to you." He lifted his head off of my chest and looked at me. "I can't be without you again, ever."
I was overwhelmed with a flood of emotions rushing at me all at once. "Make love to me, Edward. Please." I whispered.
He pushed himself up and caressed my face as he positioned himself between my legs. He leaned in to kiss me slowly and deeply. His hands roamed: his touch was soft, his lips and tongue gentle as he worked his way toward my stomach.
We made love over and over that night, our couplings so different from the frantic sexcapades that had just taken place in San Francisco. We held each other, taking advantage of our time alone, putting aside all thoughts of legends and folklore before we faced the family. Before we tried to put together all the various pieces of the puzzle that swirled around us.
~#~
We flew up to Denali the next day on an early afternoon flight. Carlisle returned several hours later. Once we were all together, we gathered around their dining room table – used primarily as a conference table for family meetings – to get down to business.
"Let's just face it," I said. "It all points to us… and to me."
"We don't know that for sure," Esme said firmly.
I looked at her and frowned. "If it isn't me, all of this would be one hell of a big coincidence." I put my head in my hands and looked down at the table. "Look, as much as I'd like to hope that there is a Neville Longbottom out there born the same day and that this prophecy is about him, I don't think Ms. Rowling is writing this story."
Emmett's tone was gentle. "Okay, let's take it from the top. What do we know?"
I could see Rosalie out of my peripheral vision as she shifted to look at Edward. "We have that new stanza Edward heard," she said.
Edward reached over and grabbed my hand, forcing me to stop looking at the table. He squeezed it before he spoke. He took a deep breath and then exhaled.
A northern coven of seven,
A powerful immortal is born,
Bring forth either hell or heaven,
The dark world will be torn.
There was silence as their eyes shifted around to look at one another. Edward continued.
"Then there's the portrait that Carlisle found," he said. He flipped the laptop around and let everyone take a look at the picture on the screen. Along the top of the photo, above each of the men, we could see that Carlisle had added text to the photo. It was their names: 'Marcus', 'Ubricius', 'Aro' and 'Caius'.
"I recognized this one," he said, pointing to Marcus. The vampire was standing on the very left of the four, his dark hair falling across his shoulders, blending in with the dark cloak he wore. "I saw him several times in Santorini, but he spoke to me only once when Bella went shopping one afternoon. He was very interested in her. I tried to read his mind but it was a jumble. His major thought, however, was about the two of us."
"I recognized him too," I said quietly, looking at the photo. "This was the weird guy I saw at the Millsite in Ward about six and a half years ago. He came into the bar with a sword slung around his back, wearing an animal hide coat and weird woolly boots. He kept staring at me all night long."
I looked at Edward and he nodded as he squeezed my hand again. I looked around the table. "The legend says that the Shri is a powerful female vampire who retains her humanity…"
"What does that mean? We have all tried to retain some element of our humanity by blending in and not feeding off of live humans! We're not monsters," Rosalie said.
"Maybe a halfling?" Jasper suggested.
"Eleazar thinks that Bella's extraordinary control, her blood color and the clarity of her human memories address the retention of humanity," Edward said.
"These God damned legends and prophecies are so vague," Rosalie muttered, "and so subjective!"
I nodded and gave her a small smile. "In addition, yesterday at the auditions, I hurt myself." They were all still – even more so than usual, if that was possible. I looked at Alice. "Right before you called me. I came down hard from a turn and got a slight sprain. It healed itself almost immediately, but being a vampire, I shouldn't have been hurt to begin with." I paused. "Why DID you call me, Alice?"
She looked at me, her eyes wide. "I had a jumble of images of you. I saw you fall. I saw you sleeping. I saw you getting sick. I saw you writhing in pain!" she cried. "None of it made sense. When you answered and you were okay, I didn't know if something happened to change the future." She shook her head. "I still don't know."
"You saw her sleeping?" Edward asked.
"Well it could have been sleeping. I don't know," she muttered. "My visions don't come with subtitles you know!"
"Alice," Jasper said gently, leaning over to put his arm around her little form, "we know it's hard to interpret sometimes."
Everyone fell silent again. Then Carlisle cleared his throat. "Speaking of sleeping… the dreams?" he prodded.
I looked at him. "Right. The dreams… or whatever they were. Edward thought I was sleeping when he found me on Thursday in the lounge. And then yesterday, after the sprain, it happened again."
"What was the dream?" Emmett asked.
I leaned back in my chair and closed my eyes. "Edward and I were walking down a dirt road, and the ground around us was white with the first snow. On the path ahead of us, we encountered a man standing with his back to us. He had long dark hair and was wearing a duster coat and boots. His dog sat next to him looking up at him. His first words came in whispers. "One code… one coven."
"His next words were more clear and he began to speak louder, letting his voice ring out as he slowly turned to face us. "It is all a misunderstanding. You must protect them, Bella. They are the light. Only you have the power. It was foretold…" When he finally completed the turn, he looked up at me and I gasped in surprise. That's when Alice called and the 'dream' ended."
The family was silent, allowing me to continue. "When he turned around and looked at me, I knew him. He was from Ward too. He was the strange guy who Angela and I passed while we were driving back from the Millsite one night. He was walking down the dark road with his dog. I saw his profile as we passed him and then he disappeared when we looked back at him in the rearview mirror."
"It was this guy, right here," I said, pointing to one of the two seated men in the portrait, the one known as 'Aro'.
"So you believe that you've seen the two remaining ancients?" Esme asked.
"I don't believe… I know. I have seen them… and I guess they saw me, back when I was human. But it's more than that, Esme. When he spoke, I recognized the voice. I just needed to hear it to make the connection."
I looked at Edward, who in turn looked back at me steadily. I nodded. "It was the voice of the 'ghost' in Ward, the same one that spoke to me while I was sleeping in my cabin." I looked around at the rest of them. "As soon as I heard that voice in my dream telling me that it was a misunderstanding, I realized that he was the one who had whispered in my ear back then.... and I finally understood the actual words he spoke: 'Be at peace, my sleeping beauty. All will be revealed. It was foretold… Two, together as one, talents possessed so great…'"
"And that's when I woke up that night, thinking 'Ghost!'" I finished.
"What was that last part again?" Carlisle asked. "Two together…"
Edward ran a hand over his face and then clasped both hands together on the table. He looked down as he spoke. "The one in Santorini was thinking the exact same thing: 'Two together as one'."
I looked at him and nodded. "Two, together as one, talents possessed so great…"
Jasper stood and turned from the table. "…Impossibility, daughter or son, danger to the coven of eight." We all turned to look at him. His back was to us. "One of the vampires who was on hand when Maria turned me, Lucy… her mind wasn't quite right." He turned back to face the table and he looked at me. "During the three days that the venom worked its way through my system while I was being turned, she kept muttering those lines."
The silence in the room was deafening, but I could hear their minds churning through the possibilities. Edward's thoughts were most jarring. Shit… I looked at him and he gazed at me, his eyes expressing concern and confusion once more.
At last he spoke. "I received an email from Eleazar earlier this morning. He said that after I left he heard more discussions about the Shri and the Prophecy, and there appear to be two schools of thought. Some believe that the Prophecy speaks only of the Shri. Then there are others who believe that it speaks not only of her, but about her child – her remarkably powerful child."
"Okay, now we know this can't be about Bella because she lost the baby years ago! This doesn't make sense! I think we're back to the notion that the Shri is actually a halfling," Esme declared.
"But can a halfling have a child?" Alice asked. "Unfortunately, we're not equipped to answer that," Carlisle responded.
"Wait," Rosalie said. "Do we have all four stanzas now? Do we have the whole Prophecy?"
"We have a version of it, it seems," Edward said.
Five and one hundred score years
Ides of month eight pass
Bring to light immortal fears
A wealth of powers amass
A northern coven of seven
A powerful immortal is born
Bring forth either hell or heaven
The dark world will be torn
Two, together as one
Talents possessed so great
Impossibility, daughter or son
Danger to the coven of eight
One child to rule them all
One child to find them
One child to bring them all
And in the darkness bind them
Everyone was quiet for a moment. Suddenly, Emmett stood and shook his head. "I don't know about this third stanza: it doesn't make sense. Maybe it's a fake as well. But the last part... maybe it isn't all bad." He started pacing. "Let's assume for a moment that the last stanza is a true stanza – contrary to what Bella believes – and that Bella is the 'child.' The guy in the dream says it is a misunderstanding. Maybe that's right."
He started talking faster. "The vampire world – the dark world – knows of the legend and the Prophecy. It sounds scary and many are afraid. All of these elements together lead them to believe that the Prophecy has come true and they're like a mob that comes to destroy the big bad scary monster. But it is the coming together – both for and against her – that binds them." He stopped pacing. "Maybe the binding isn't negative." He looked at me. "Maybe you unite the vampire world at last."
I stood up and went to hug him. I was enveloped in his burly embrace. Emmett's hulking frame and jovial nature could be so deceiving to those who didn't take the time to really know him. The big Hermione-loving lug was actually quite logical despite his child-like personality. And beyond that, he had such a positive outlook.
I stepped back from him and squeezed his hand. "Emmett, God bless you for your faith in me. As much as I don't relish the idea that an angry mob would come with their pitchforks and torches to destroy me, the notion that this whole Prophecy is about unity is a lovely vision."
I paused, steadying myself for the next statement. I had to get it out there. "However, this assumes I'm an innocent in this whole scenario. Have you considered that maybe something is wrong with me? Maybe it just hasn't manifested itself yet. I've absorbed other powers for God's sake!" I looked around the room. "Maybe I'm not the superhero here. Maybe I'm the bad guy."
Suddenly they all jumped up from their seats, agitated and upset. Their voices cried out almost at once.
"No, Bella, that is not…"
"I refuse to believe…"
"Love, how can you think…"
"There is no way…"
"Bella! Are you crazy?"
"We can't assume that…"
"We don't know enough about this…"
Their emotions were overwhelming me. Love, worry, insecurity, strength were all coming at me at once. I wasn't able to deflect it. I held out my hands in front of me to indicate 'Stop'. They quieted down. "Please… I can't… I need some time," I said as I turned to leave the room. My eyes met Edward's and I lifted my shield. I'm going to my studio. I just need to think. He nodded. Go, my love.
I walked slowly to the garage, listening to the gravel underneath my feet and the sounds of the forest all around me. Once inside, I made it up the stairs and turned the lights on to a low dim. I slowly walked around the studio, sticking close to the walls, making loop after loop around the room. My mind churned through the discussion we'd just had and I scoured the possibilities, looking for any unexamined angle that could lead us down another path.
I suddenly realized that it had been over a day since I'd fed. I went to the cabinet that Esme had obviously recently stocked for me and I poured a cordial. I looked out one of the windows that faced the house. I could see Edward standing by one of the windows in the living room looking back at me, his hands in his pockets, his eyes watching me, waiting for what he'd deem an appropriate amount of time until he could come be with me again. Alice stepped up to his side, looked up at him and spoke. "She needs the time, Edward."
I gave him a small smile and then stepped away from the window. I moved to the corner of the room, sank to the floor and drank. I tried to think peaceful, head clearing thoughts. My mind drifted to earlier days when everything was so simple… before I became aware of an entire world that I'd once imagined, but never truly realized existed.
Then one day I saw Edward on the pond, and I was forced to swallow the red pill. I thought back to our first open conversation about his talents and the true meaning of what he was.
"Can you actually levitate things or grab them from afar?"
He hesitated for a moment. He let out a deep breath and said, "Vampires, not as a rule. Me, yes."
I gasped. "Too cool!" He turned his head to look at me, a surprised look on his face. I shrugged. "Ice skating and the Force. Vampirism is looking better and better all the time."
He uttered a low growl. "Bella…"
"I was kidding."
Ha! How silly was I back then? If only it were that simple… if only our existence could be spent just ice skating and using our Jedi talents to enjoy each other's company. If only we weren't here now, trying to stumble blindly around Prophecies and visions and legends and darkness.
If I could turn back the hands of time and were given the choice, would I have chosen the blue pill back then?
I conjured up that old image I used to love of the pond of perfectly smooth ice. Of the two skaters reaching for each other, twirling and dancing, only now they had faces. Edward reached for me and spun me into his embrace. I looked at him and took in his perfection: his beautiful eyes, his wonderful soul, his amazing mind, his fabulous body.
I let go of the cordial I was holding and held it in the air with my mind, using the Force to float the empty glass over to a table across the room and set it down.
No. Even with all the near-death experiences and the heartbreak, I had found my soul mate, and I would take the red pill willingly all over again.
I leaned my head against the wall as I felt the blood being absorbed once again. I hated these 'off' feelings. I needed to talk to Carlisle about possibly getting a different supply for me. The cordial was leaving a sour taste in my mouth. This was one of those times I wished I could eat a medium rare hamburger. I closed my eyes to ride out the feeling.
Suddenly, I felt myself being pulled down and under, into another deep meditative dream state. It was the same vision, the one of the dirt road, the snowy landscape surrounding us. There in front of me was the man in the duster – the ancient known as Aro. I was nervous. Everything moved in slow motion. I could hear my heart beating as I slowed my gait and watched him turn.
Thump, thump.
As he lifted his head to look at me.
Thump, thump.
As his gaze met mine and he smiled.
My heart felt like it was going to come out of my chest, it was beating so fast.
Thump, thump…
THUMP, THUMP, THUMP, THUMP…
It hurts. Oh, it hurts.
"Bella…"
It hurts!
"Bella, Love!"
I bolted upright. "Edward?" I cried, realizing that he was kneeling in front of me. I put my right hand over my heart and looked at him. "Edward, it HURTS!"
Edward's eyes were wide open as he nodded and gasped. "Bella, your HEART!"
I nodded in return. That wasn't all that was hurting. "OH!"
I clutched my stomach with my other arm and scrambled up to ghost to the bathroom in the other corner of the room. I barely made it to the toilet as I leaned over and threw up the blood that clearly hadn't sat well with me. Then I sat down on floor and leaned against the wall. I could feel a light coat of venom pooling in my mouth, actually trying to counteract the shock that was going on in my system, trying to protect my body. Edward was there immediately; he knelt next to me, his eyes wild, his hands reaching for mine. We stared at each other, trying to absorb what was happening.
My heart was beating. It was beating faintly and irregularly, but it was still beating. And my stomach… no, my abdomen…
Within seconds, Carlisle and Alice appeared in the doorway. Carlisle joined us in the bathroom, knelt down and reached over to start taking my vitals. "Bella!" Alice cried, coming over to my other side and kneeling as well. She reached out to touch my hands that were still clasped in Edward's. "You're…"
There was no need to tell me. It was all swirling around me like a tornado:
Edward's insatiable desire; our increased activity…
Two, together as one, talents possessed so great…
My deep meditative state and the bizarre dreams…
Retains her humanity…
Impossibility, daughter or son…
I swallowed down another small pool of venom. Nope, not a halfling because halflings weren't venomous in adulthood.
A pregnant vampire.
~#~#~
I am the Shri.
Goo Goo G'joob.
A/N2: Yep.
NOW will you leave a review???
Thanks again to wonder-beta-woman Irritable Grizzzly, and another epharisto to MrsEdwardCullenP for her help with the fourth ancient. She's the flight crew on this crazy plane I'm flyin'. Thanks Pen!
BTW: I have noticed a dramatic increase in AAVIC being favorited. As always, thanks to all of you who have been reading the series.
Post A/N: For those of you who haven't seen or are rusty on The Matrix, take the blue pill if you want to stay blissfully unaware of the mess around you and take the red if you want to see things clearly.
The original info on Bella's first encounters with Marcus and Aro in Ward can be found in Chs 11 & 12 in Sleeps With A Vampire.
Finally, if you haven't figured it out yet, Ch 7 title 'Or Are We Dancer?' is from The Killers' song – Human. (Look at me - I used a song from the 2000s!)
