Immortal Legacy

Ch. 9: A Kind of Magic

MPOV

I'd been driving to Dartmouth to surprise my daughter and see how she was holding up. Bella had just started her second year of college and I wanted to make sure she was doing okay. Imagine my shock when, unexpectedly, Amanda called me because the Cullen's were there and Bella might need support. I arrived on campus too late, my daughter and the vampires were nowhere to be found. Not that that was going to deter me, a conference call to Joe, who got a hold of Carlisle Cullen's Watcher, and I had their home address.

Thirty minutes later, I pulled up the long drive and parked in front of a three-story modern edifice that would've made Frank Lloyd Wright proud. My danger sense alerted me that Bella and several vampires were inside but the purple smoke billowing up from the fireplace told me the party had already started. It looked like I was fashionably late.

I strolled through the front door and was greeted by Bella as she ran into my arms. With a kiss to her forehead, I put her at arms length to get a good look at her. College life was doing her some good; the haunted look that often clouded her eyes was finally gone. My eyes drifted over to the fireplace and noticed the bits of vampire that were rapidly becoming ash.

"Hello, my darling, please tell me that isn't young Edward burning in the fireplace and I've missed the party," I said cheekily and was rewarded with a growl from a rather foppish looking fellow I assumed was the vampire in question. A naughty nymphish strawberry blonde that had been plastered to his side immediately extricated herself then gave me a coy smile and the fuck me now please eyes. I'd planned to hit some of the clubs in town later but if that doesn't pan out then she will definitely be getting a call.

The rest of the room had been abnormally quiet so my mental count of the number of Kama Sutra positions that minx and I would be able to get through in a single night was interrupted when somebody decided to break the silence. In all honesty, that was a good thing because Cassandra would kill me if shagged a vampire slut the next time she saw me. Besides, without knowing her name I wasn't able to contact her Watcher to find out where she'd been.

"Trevor… Trevor Adams," Carlisle queried as he tried to disbelieve the evidence of his own eyes.

"Yes, that was the name I used when me met. It's been a long time Carlisle. The name is actually Methos but I've used several over the centuries. Currently, I'm using Mark Adams," I replied good-naturedly and need to suppress a laugh at the confused expressions all of the vampires wore.

"You obviously haven't gotten too far with explanations," I stated to Bella when I looked back at her then added, "What did I miss?"

"Let's see, met the Cullen Bunch at school then came back here so the Mr. and Mrs. Could get in on the story time but found Laurent here when I walked in the door. So, I tortured his mate until he admitted The Monk was behind the whole Rochester thing then I made with the Ginsu impression and now his ex-sparkling ass is going up in smoke," she responded sarcastically.

The news that that psychotic Russian was behind the attack in Rochester was unsettling and meant things were going to get bad but that was something that could wait until I researched it in depth, I only prayed that he hadn't learned of the Prophecy. Instead, I chose to focus on the here and now. The air in the room with thick with shock, awe and questions that desperately needed answered. Then there was the whole killing Edward thing for what he did to my little girl. I freely admitted that for more centuries than I wanted to count, I was a total rat bastard but that wasn't who I was anymore. Bella was the best thing that ever happened to her mother or me and I wanted to punish the fool that tossed her aside as if she was garbage.

By now, the silence had become very annoying so I decided to initiate the flow of information. Before Bella had a chance to figure out my plan and stop me, I pulled out the silenced .9 mm that I carried in a shoulder rig to deal with rogue Watchers then put two shots into her heart. Her dead body fell to the floor and the vampires started to rush me. Please… I was a True Immortal; there was nothing these infants could do to me unless they were lucky enough to behead me. Calling upon my Quickening, I managed to avoid their attacks, which stopped when Bella revived.

"That hurt, you fucker, and you ruined my favorite tee shirt," the younger Immortal whined as she got up off the floor. Both shots had been through and through, they imbedded in the far wall.

"That was just a scratch; I was shot 47 times with musket balls at Waterloo. As for the shirt, Cassandra has blamed me for you adopting that little motto so ruining it was a bonus for me," I retorted. I was about to offer her my shirt when she opened her backpack and pulled out a fresh one. She removed the ruined one and used it to wipe off the excess blood on her chest then put on the clean one. Our banter was interrupted when the vampires shock and curiosity reached critical mass and started asking questions.

"How the Hell is that possible?" - Jasper

"What are you?" – Carlisle

"How the fuck did you get a sword to cut up a vampire?" – Emmett

"When did you become a dyke?" – Tanya

"How long were you married?" – Esme

I whistled for the questions to stop then gave Bella a look that said this is your show so get on with it already. There was a bar on the far end of the room, I made my way to it and was pleased to find it fully stocked. I poured two snifters of a very fine brandy and went back to my daughter and gave her one then found a seat to enjoy the show. With a rakish grin, she adopted a Supergirl pose after an exaggerated bow.

"My name is Isabella Marie Adams, and I cannot die," Bella proclaimed in a passable impression of Duncan then started to laugh when I chuckled at the inside joke.

"Seriously, I'm an Immortal and had been a Pre-Immortal when we first met in Forks; that should answer the first two questions. As for the sword thing, my Quickening enhanced the blade so it could cut through a vampire. I suppose I'd always been a lesbian but never realized it until after my first death, Amanda was more than willing to be my guide in that area. My wife and I had been married ten months before she was killed," she answered the initial questions honestly.

"What is Quickening," Jasper asked (I was glad there were pictures of all the Cullen's in Carlisle's file when I read it the first time) with the concern of a military man assessing a possible threat.

"It's a kind of magic," was her reply and I laughed at the old joke then she continued, "The Quickening is what makes us Immortal and gives us our powers."

BPOV

It took me a few hours to explain everything and Dad provided details whenever there were gaps in my information. I told the Cullen's and Denali's all about the differences between Pseudo-Immortals, Pre-Immortals and Immortals. My father provided an interesting sidebar by telling them vampires came to be when humans were accidentally exposed to the Quickening. Then I explained all about The Game, Headhunters and the Watchers. I told them about Immortals being infertile so my conception was some kind of miracle. Dad's eyes tightened slightly and I figured he was hiding something but knew he wasn't going to tell me until he was ready.

After giving them the full crash course in Immortal 101, we moved on the catching up portion of the evening. Each member of the Cullen family apologized to me, including Edward who I learned had been thrown out of the family. I was pissed at the mindreader for all the pain he caused everyone but had to laugh when Rosalie told me how she tore off his schlong and burned it when they had heard about my death. Alice and Tanya had taken perverse pleasure in asking me about my relationships with Amanda and Jenny. I tried to gloss over the Soul Mate thing but Esme had picked up on it and eventually asked if I had one. Of course, as much as I wanted to lie, I told her that I did but that she didn't know about it yet. All in all, it'd been a day full of all kinds of emotional closure and the groundwork was laid to repair my ties to my former family.

Dad and I left the Cullen house then headed to dinner at a pizza place near my apartment. While we ate, he asked if I wanted him to come with me to visit Jen's grave this weekend but I told him that I'd be fine. He left after we finished eating to go clubbing but he'd gotten a text and I knew from the way he acted that he was going to go hook up with Mom.

"Didn't your mother tell you breaking and entering was a crime, Rosalie," I said when I opened the door to my dark apartment and I sensed a vampire inside. She had the decency to look sheepish when she turned on the lamp next to my couch.

"Sorry but I wanted to talk to you without everybody hearing," she offered and I made my way over to sit opposite of her on the over stuffed piece of furniture.

I noticed the pictures that Amanda had given her spread out on the coffee table. The vampire pointed out one and asked the obvious question.

"Who is this," she wanted to know.

"Jennifer Ann Hale-Swan, my wife," I sighed then watched her stiffen slightly at the name Hale.

"She looks like me," Rosalie whispered thoughtfully.

"She is your brother, Trevor's great-granddaughter. I never sought her out, if that's what you're thinking," I told her and prayed she'd drop the subject.

"From the way you answered Esme, Jennifer wasn't your Soul Mate. Did you even love her? Did you tell her what you are or that she was just a temporary thing until you found the girl of your dreams," the blonde demanded hotly.

"FUCK YOU! I loved her wholeheartedly and told her everything. She knew about Amanda and that she wasn't my Soul Mate. She accepted you as part of our life together and made me promise to find you after she died," I shot back angrily then wanted to tear my tongue out over my slip.

"Why did she accept me," the vampire started to ask but understanding dawned in her eyes and she breathed out in wonder, "I'm your Soul Mate."

"Yes," I whispered back. This wasn't the right time for the current discussion and I turned away. She flashed in front of me then pulled me into a kiss similar to the one I'd given her earlier today.

"Bella, it took me a long time to figure out that I loved you. I'm not going to lose you again. If Jenny could embrace my ghost, I can do nothing less. We'll take it slow because your going to court me properly. Now tell me about my niece," she said.

AN: Alright, some of you might get pissy about Rose wanting to jump into a relationship with Bella but that doesn't mean there won't be issues of insecurity on her part. In fact, there are going to be an interesting chapter with Emmett and Amanda. One reviewer of the last chapter asked if Laurent was Immortal; no, he was a vamp that had been a Watcher when he was human. It will be explained further in later chapters.