Magic Bullet
Disclaimer: I don't own Twilight.
Ch. 8: More things in Heaven and Earth…
RPOV
I felt Bella's heart rate and breathing pick up and knew she was about to wake up. Her eyes fluttered open and they were their usual chocolate brown. A sated smile graced her lips as she snuggled closer into me. There were many things we needed to discuss; answers that I wanted. "We should talk," I commented hesitantly.
She lifted her head so that she looked into my eyes. After a minute, she nodded and looked over at the clothes on the cart. "Let's get dressed and go upstairs, I'm starving. While I eat, I'll answer your questions. Besides, it's about time for Leah to hear all of this too," she responded softly.
The two of us got off the table and retrieved the clothes. Her outfit was a pair of blue yoga pants with a matching cami; mine was the same but in green. We both knew that things would never be the same once we got upstairs. I sensed her hesitancy as she dressed and when she looked at me, her eyes held old suffering.
Upstairs, Charlie cooked breakfast while his girlfriend, Leah, sat at the table and watched him. She smiled at us as we had taken two of the empty seats. Charlie put three plates loaded down with mountains of scrambled eggs, pancakes and sausages. It was an insane amount of food for just three people, but then Charlie and Leah were probably as far from being normal as Bella was.
After the third mouthful slid down her throat, Bella took a deep breath and looked at Charlie, who nodded slightly. "I was born Isabella Marie Blackmore in London, September 13, 1896. My father was Dr. Jonathan Blackmore, a noted physician of his time. He was also an occult scholar. Papa moved to London, from his native Boston, in order to study with The Golden Dawn," she began and her voice had taken on its native British accent. Leah and I were both a little shocked.
"To supplement his income, Papa worked at King's Cross Hospital. Eventually he met and fell in love with Marie Holmwood, the daughter of a career Army Officer. They were married and traveled the world together. Until my mother became pregnant with me, that is. Because of his occult studies, my father had been recruited into an organization that called itself the Cabal.
"The Cabal was dedicated to protecting humanity from supernatural threats. Two of their most noted members were Harry Houdini and Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, both friends of my father. When I was sixteen, my mother and I became afflicted with Consumption. Within a year, she died from it. Papa had taken the loss very badly and threw himself into trying to find a cure for me; he failed.
"On my eighteenth birthday, he dragged me to Vienna. Papa had been in contact with an Austrian Alchemist named Heinrich Treager who claimed to have a cure. We met the Austrian at his home. He ushered us down into his laboratory and gave Papa a syringe that was filled with something called the Fire of Prometheus. I was injected, but there was an explosion in the lab and a piece of shrapnel pierced my back. The entire house went up in flames. A maid dragged me from the conflagration.
"Harry found me in the Hospital and eventually took me home to London. The Fire of Prometheus had changed me into something other than human; therefore, the Cabal had taken it upon themselves to look after me," Bella continued.
She explained that the Fire of Prometheus was supposed to convey immortality. The only one to make it successfully was the Comte St. Germaine. He realized that people would misuse his formula, so he destroyed it. Since that time, Alchemists have tried to recreate it. The Fire was believed to be a synthesized balance of the Five classic elements: Earth, Air, Fire, Water and Spirit. Representations of the first four elements were distilled and injected into the patient, who was the embodiment of the fifth.
In Treager's version, the representation of Water was vampire venom and the one for Earth was weretiger blood. Nobody had figured out what he used for Air and Fire. The result is that Bella is eternal; she can't be killed. As for abilities, she has a vampire's strength and speed; the weretiger's senses, and healing. She is non-venomous and can only partially transform. Bella also suffers the vampire's bloodlust and a berserker's rage.
Bella can still reproduce like a human, but her children will be either human, vampire or weretiger. Charlie, a weretiger, is her youngest son; Thomas, a human, passed away six months ago of old age, was her middle son; and her daughter, Victoria, a vampire, is the oldest. Victoria is currently a Nomad but still visits at least twice a year.
It was a lot of information to process and I went back home to think. Bella understood, so she gave me my space. There was more things about her I wanted to know, but that could wait. She walked me to the door tried to turn before I saw the fragile hope in her expression. Obviously, she has done this before and it hadn't ended well. Part of me wanted to assure her, but it was too soon. She wanted me to think before I committed myself to her.
The Cullen house was empty when I arrived home. It would remain empty because everyone thought Bella was dead and Edward thought it was best to move. Wait, not everyone…Jasper! Jasper told me to take Bella's body back to her home; back to Charlie. Jasper knew what would happen! I needed to have a long chat with my "twin." But first, I was going to take a hot bath.
The bath and been just what I needed. It calmed me down enough to look at the situation from every angle and make an informed choice. I changed into a pair of black skinny jeans, green fitted blouse and a pair of green stilettos. A quick glance in the mirror, then I got into Edward's Vanquish and drove hell bent for leather back to Bella's.
The brunette opened the door and pounced on me with a radiant smile on her face. She must have read my decision in the expression I wore. I wrapped my arms around her and carried her to the couch. We were cuddled together on one corner of the comfortable piece of furniture. Leah was doing laundry and Charlie sat with a pained look as he watched us.
"Just what every son wants to see, his mother making time with her girlfriend," he said teasingly. Bella stuck her tongue out at him. Then with an evil glint in her eye, she licked my cheek. Its cat-like roughness sent made me shiver with pleasure.
Charlie laughed and shook his head. He turned on the television and watched the Mariners game. He turned the volume down as a signal to the rest of us that it was okay to talk. Leah sat down on the opposite side of the couch and waited.
"Bella, how long has Jasper known," I demanded. That was the only thing that bothered me about the whole situation.
"Minuteman has known for seventy years," she replied with a smile.
"Wait, her brother is THE Minuteman," Charlie asked in awe. Obviously, Jasper had been a topic of conversation between mother and son because Leah looked about as lost as I did.
Bella ran upstairs to her room and returned with a photo album. She placed it in my lap then sat on the coffee table so that Leah and I could look at it. I opened it to the first page and there was a grainy black and white picture of Bella, looking like a man, dressed in a British Army uniform. She told us about her short life as Pvt. Reginald Sinclair. Next to the picture were newspaper clippings of the Battle of the Somme.
The next three pages were filled with pictures from her time as Capt. Duncan Newkirk. I had to admit she looked hot in her officer's uniform. I wondered if she still had it? The next page was filled with pictures of her as Sgt. Maxwell Cooper. Bella explained what happened during those "incarnations," and it surprised me a little that she was such a seasoned veteran.
The Next page had a sticker that said China, 1939. The picture on that page showed a group of smiling men standing in front of their aircrafts. A banner flying overhead had a symbol I recognized from World History class. This symbol was for a group of American Volunteer pilots that fought against the Japanese in China before the U.S. entered World War Two; the Flying Tigers. Two of the pilots caught my attention, they were Bella and Jasper.
"Jasper and I joined the Flying Tigers in '39; my name was Capt. Alfred Davis. We flew mostly night patrols, he was my wingman. For the next two years we kicked a lot of ass and had a ton of fun. I'll have to tell you some stories sometime," Bella commented. I wanted to know more but we had all of eternity to talk about it.
She had me flip through a few more pages then stop on one with a picture of her in London. Her uniform in this one was that of a U.S. Army Nurse.
Bella continued, "When America finally joined the War, the Cabal requested that I return to the European Theatre. I left behind Alfred Davis and joined the Army as a nurse. I used my real name for the first time. As Lt. Isabella Blackmore, I was assigned to a military hospital in London. Actually, I was engaged in Occult Warfare in France and Italy under the command of the Office of Strategic Services, or OSS.
"The OSS was the first real intelligence agency. One of President Roosevelt's top advisors was a member of the Cabal and when he explained to the President the occult nature of some of Hitler's attacks, he pressed for the formation of a covert agency to deal with the threat. Most of those agents that worked for the OSS didn't know about the secret purpose of the agency. At the insistence of President Truman, the OSS was "dissolved" and the CIA was set up to deal with the espionage stuff. That allowed the OSS to evolve into the Office of Supernatural Security.
"I've been an agent ever since the War. The name may have changed slightly but the mission brief is still the same; protect the Country, and the World, from supernatural threats," she finished then took the album back upstairs. I couldn't help when I stared after her in awe, my lover was Emma Peel and Wonder Woman all rolled into one.
Bella came back down and waiting patiently for me to ask questions, I took an unnecessary breath and started.
"Witches?" "Yes."
"Ghosts?" "Yes."
"Zombies?" "Yes, but just the traditional ones. That Romero crap is all Hollywood."
"Angels and Demons?" "Yes and yes."
"Aliens?" "Don't know, but I had a lot of fun faking that Roswell Incident. I was really bored that day."
Leah and I laughed when she said that. I could see Bella doing something like that. Emmett's going to be upset, though. He really believed Aliens crashed in Roswell. I guess I win the five thousand he bet on that. Bella's stomach rumbled and I decided to take out for lunch. We went through the McDonald's drive through then back to my place. As much as I liked Charlie and Leah, I wanted some private time with my mate. By private time I meant her screaming my name until she was horse.
