AN: Hello My People!
Gargantuan thanks to: AubriannaRose, traceybuie, asia joanna 7334, Dee, and Babysis64, for reviewing Chapter 9!
Mega thanks to all who read, review, follow and fave!
Warnings on this one: *Brief scene of domestic abuse and mentions of would-be pedophiles.*
Disclaimer: I do not have any firsthand knowledge of genital piercings. If anyone reads this chapter and decides to go get their genitals pierced, I am not responsible for any outcome that may arise. LOL!
And as usual, I own nothing of value ;P
And with that, I give you Chapter 10!
Chapter 10
Char's POV
As I helped the others torch all the vampire parts except Ferdinand's head (which Carlisle was busily stuffin' into the backpack Alice brought him), Emmett began ta sing.
"Backpack, backpack. Backpack, backpack.
I'm the backpack loaded up with things and knickknacks too.
Anything that you might need I've got inside for you.
Backpack, backpack. Backpack, backpack."
"Emmett!" Isa growled. "What is yer sudden fascination with Dora the Explorer?"
"Well, we're gonna be Whitlocks now. That means I should probably learn Spanish, right?" He shrugged.
"Ya do realize, there are a lotta better, more efficient ways to learn Spanish though, right Em?" Jasper smirked.
"I guess so. But probably no other ways that include singing cartoon characters." Emmett pouted.
"Well, as interestin' as it is discussin' children's television programmin', we should prolly all go into the city so that those of us who haven't fed, can," Jasper instructed.
"I'll stay here with Cindy and the other two humans." Carlisle offered.
"Emmett and I will stay too, since we also fed recently," Alice told us. "And I'll keep him from singing cartoon songs," she vowed.
"Thank you, Alice." Jasper nodded. He took Pete by the hand an' I grabbed Isa an' as the four o' us left ta go hunt, I heard Em start singin' again.
"Who will get here first? Who will get here first?
Denalis from Alaska, or Edward from Nebraska?"
"Emmett." Carlisle sighed. "I really don't want to have to put your head in the backpack with Ferdinand's."
At least if they were bickerin' that was prolly a good sign.
As my mates an' I got into the more populated area o' town, I heard a scream from one of the houses.
A human man was beatin' his wife, violently.
"You worthless bitch!" He growled. "Can't even suck my cock properly, what the fuck are you good for?"
"Isa, you can eat this asshole, all you've had since yer change was Cindy." Jasper offered.
"Thanks, Baby, but you three haven't had anythin' to eat since bein' dismembered, so you go first." She smiled.
"Alright, Pete, Char, you share this fucker, I'm gonna use my gift ta keep the woman calm," Jasper insisted.
We quickly an' quietly entered the house through the unlocked back door and Pete an' I pulled the man off his woman, so quickly she couldn't see us, though I was fairly certain she was unconscious anyway.
We pinned him up against a wall in the next room outta her sight just in case.
"Now, is that any way to talk to a lady?" Pete growled. The man looked terrified but he was clearly drunk and belligerent.
"That cunt ain't no lady!" He spat. "She'd be spreadin' her legs fer half the town if I didn't beat some sense into her on occasion."
"I'd really like you ta shut up now!" Pete growled, bitin' into his neck on one side while I bit down on the other.
He was clearly warrin' with himself since he obviously knew he was dyin' but he'd turned an' was lookin' at me an' I could tell he was gettin' aroused in spite of himself.
"Eyes over here, asshole, she ain't yers ta look at!" Pete snarled as I finished drainin' the man, lettin' his body fall to the floor with a thud.
"Man, he was a jerk." I frowned.
We headed back into the other room, where Jasper was usin' their landline ta call the girl an ambulance.
"Yeah, I beat my lil' bitch real good but you won't find me, cuz I ain't ever comin' back here!" Jasper spoke into the phone, imitatin' the loser's voice perfectly.
We loaded the man into his vehicle and Pete an' I drove his body outta town. We moved him to the driver's seat an' got behind the vehicle ta push it at vamp speed, rammin' it into a pole. Then we lit the gas tank an' ran like hell, so it would seem like the man died in the explosion, while drivin' drunk.
"Let's make the next ones somethin' more of a grab n' go." Jasper suggested when we met back up after Pete an' I were finished. Jasper an' Isa had waited back at the human's house fer the ambulance ta make sure the girl got medical attention. "Damn paramedics always take so long, I get hungry waitin'."
"We passed a meth lab on our way outta town," Pete suggested.
"Perfect. Much easier ta drain a bunch o' losers an' light it up." I agreed.
"Won't they taste terrible?" Isa asked.
"Druggies do, but the ones cookin' it shouldn't actually be on drugs, they usually aren't. Those places are highly explosive, so they need ta have clear heads so they don't blow themselves ta smithereens." Jasper explained.
"Cool. Let's go. Cindy took the edge off fer a while but now I'm hungry." She laughed.
Rose's POV
I began running as soon as Emmett told me to.
I couldn't believe how stupid I had been! I spent decades assuming Em was my mate, and why? Because he fell into my lap? I of all people should know that nothing real is ever that easy.
I had spent so long clinging to the ideal life I had dreamed for myself as a human. Dreams of a husband and children. My change destroyed half of that dream, my chance at motherhood. So I had desperately clung to the part of that dream I could still have. My life with Emmett. And in fact, he was always the perfect husband. But it was never enough.
And yes, I had felt drawn to Tanya, when we first met. Incredibly so. But I'm ashamed to admit that at the time, I thought it was simply due to the trauma inflicted upon me at the hands of men. That I would crave a woman because women were safer. I thought it was a sign of my brokenness, not a sign we were meant to be.
Oh, how wrong I was!
I had to hope, as I ran through Canada, faster than I had run in decades, that she was just as clueless about us as I was. I had to hope she hadn't been patiently waiting for me to come to my senses this entire time. Because the thought that I might've hurt her? Well, it caused me a heartache like no other I had ever felt as a vampire.
The ever present ache in my chest was crippling now. I needed my mate. I needed to throw myself on her mercy and hope that she would love and accept me in spite of my decades of stupidity. And most of all, I needed to hold her in my arms and tell her what was happening to my family.
The only mother I had ever known during my life as a vampire, was dead. My father had held my sister by the throat and accused her of being responsible for my mother's death. The brother I had known the longest had fucked off to the Midwest and become a weirdo. And Jasper, who I thought I knew like the back of my hand, had divorced Alice, returned to the South, and was now part of some crazy four-way relationship.
Everything in my life as I knew it was changing. I had no idea what would happen next for me or for my family. I needed my mate.
Finally, as I ran through northern British Columbia, the agonizing ache in my chest slowly started to subside.
Tanya's POV
I had just said goodbye to one of my human lovers and watched him drive away, when the ache in my chest began to intensify, to the point that I was doubled over in pain, and I knew, something was upsetting my Rosalie!
I had never come right out and told my family that Rose and I were mates because I was deathly afraid of Edward hearing something in their thoughts and bringing it up with her. I never wanted my Rose to feel pressured, not after everything she had been through.
I had even gone so far as to make Edward think I had a crush on him, to keep him out of my mind. And I always made sure my emotions were in check around the Cullens so that Jasper wouldn't know. And any decisions I had made regarding Rose were made long before Alice had joined the family, so I knew she had not seen anything about it in her visions.
I was always fairly certain that my family suspected though, or at least that they realized I knew whom my mate was, even if they themselves had yet to discover whom.
"Tanya?! What is the matter?" Carmen asked, rushing to my side.
"It's Rosalie! Something is wrong with her," I admitted.
"Rosalie? But how would you...oh Tanya!" Carmen gasped, realizing my secret, just as my sisters came rushing over, followed by Eleazar.
"I've never felt her in this much distress before! And it feels like she's coming here. I have to run. I have to meet her. Can you all please stay here, until I've had a chance to speak with her?" I pleaded.
"Of course, Dear." Carmen nodded. "We'll only be a phone call or a text away if you need us."
"Thank you! I'll call once I know something unless we're coming right back." I nodded, taking off at a run.
As the pain in my chest subsided, due to her proximity… the knowledge that she needed me, and the awareness of her agony, never went away.
When I finally saw her as she came over the ridge, I ran to her. Her pain seemed to both increase as well as decrease when she saw me, and I was suddenly filled with one thought. A certainty.
She knows.
I half expected her to stop when she saw me. I thought she might freeze in her tracks, but I kept running to her anyway. She didn't stop. She ran to me!
My Rosalie, my mate, my love, ran to me!
I was so relieved! It was by far the happiest moment of my life, overshadowed only by my worry for her.
When we reached each other, she flung herself into my arms. After catching her up in my embrace and pulling her tightly against me, I began checking her for injuries. "Are you alright, Rose?" I cried. "I felt your pain, it was crippling!"
Then she did something she had only ever done in my fantasies before. She kissed me.
It wasn't a kiss full of hesitancy or uncertainty as I often feared our first kiss would be. It was a kiss full of need and love and desperation and I returned it wholeheartedly.
"My Rose," I breathed. "I'm so sorry I didn't tell you! I was afraid you'd feel pressured and I never wanted to make you uncomfortable."
"I'm so sorry I never realized sooner! I was an idiot! I thought my feelings for you were because of my fear of men! It never occurred to me that they came from a deeper, much more meaningful place!" She cried, kissing me all over my face.
"Think nothing of it, Darling. I knew you would come to me when you were ready. I knew all I needed to do was wait." I sighed happily, nuzzling her against me, stroking her hair. "All of that pain I felt from you, was that because of this? Because of us?"
"No!" She vehemently shook her head. "Of course not!" She took an unnecessary breath, clearly steeling herself. "So much has happened! There are things I must tell you. Some of them are awful things. That pain you felt from me...a lot of it was grief."
Oh no!
"Grief? Oh Honey, what happened?" I asked, beginning to worry.
"Tanya...I'm so sorry to have to tell you this. Esme is dead!" She sobbed in barely a whisper but I heard it clearly.
"No!" I choked, hitting my knees, reminded of my own mother's tragic death. "What happened?!"
"It's a long story. And not one I'd like to tell twice. So either we can go back to your house now and I can tell you at the same time I tell your family, or I can tell you now, and you can tell them later?" She offered, sitting down in the grass beside me.
"Tell me now, because I want to comfort you. I will tell them later," I asked softly.
"Alright. Well, we told you about Bella, the human girl we thought might be Edward's mate? And obviously, she wasn't, because as you know, he left her and has since found his mate in Nebraska. And you know that Jasper and Alice finally divorced. And that he went down South to be with Peter and Charlotte?" She began, clearly leading up to something.
"Yes, that is about the last we had heard." I nodded, stroking her back in small circles.
"Well, it seems that Bella moved South after all of that too. I think it was the mating pull. Because she and Jasper are mates. But not only that, Peter and Charlotte are actually their mates too. I know how weird that sounds but it's true.
"Alice explained to us that Peter had always known by way of his gift that Jasper was meant to be a mate to him and Charlotte, but that they had a fourth mate they needed to find eventually and they couldn't be with Jasper yet because he needed to follow a different path that would lead him to their other mate, which turned out to be Bella," she paused.
"Oh! So if they had claimed Jasper right away, then he would have stayed with them and not been with the Cullens when they met Bella?" I confirmed.
"Yes, and I think also, Bella needed to go through a lot of other life experiences before she would've made sense as a mate for them. The Bella whom Edward loved was a way different creature than the woman she is now, who goes by Isa. And during the years after Edward and prior to the Whitlocks, she befriended other vampires down South.
"Some of those were not good people, and one of them, a former lover of hers, a creep named Ferdinand, kidnapped the four Whitlocks just after Isa was turned. He used gifted vampires to freeze them and render them unconscious and then had her mates dismembered and sent to separate outposts under guard, while he forced himself on her.
"Alice saw all this in her visions but they had their phones off and we couldn't warn them, so instead, we all headed South to rescue them. They're safe now and Ferdinand's crew are all destroyed. But that's how we lost Esme. We all split up and went to the outposts first. But some of the guards were half-human, half-vampire, and Alice couldn't see them in her visions.
"I guess they are a blind spot for her, so Carlisle and Esme thought they had killed all the guards at their location, but while Carlisle was reassembling Peter, the two hybrids got the drop on Esme. They torched her right in front of him. He's...not...okay. He's broken and full of more anger than I've ever seen. He throttled Alice. His eyes are red now too if you can believe it." She sighed, collapsing in my arms.
"Oh Baby, I'm so sorry. Why didn't you call us to come help? We would have joined you, you know that," I asked gently.
Rose looked at me in horror. "So that I could have lost you instead? Without ever even knowing you were my mate? I don't think I would have come back from that. That would have killed me. No, I'm grateful Alice never involved you. That you were never in danger." She smiled sadly, stroking the side of my face.
"I am sorry for coming to you with red eyes though. I know that's probably not your preference." My Rose apologized.
"I actually don't have a preference. The reason my sisters and I switched to animal blood, was because as succubi, it was easier to get our other needs met if we could avoid draining the humans and go back to the same ones more than once. Plus it seemed a little cruel to use them for sex and then eat them." I laughed nervously.
Rose had always known what I was, and she never judged me for it before, but I had to wonder if it would be different, now that we were mates.
She must've sensed my concern because she took my hands in hers and gazed into my tawny eyes with her red ones. "Hey, you know that has never bothered me and it's not about to start now. You have different needs, that's okay. It's part of who you are. And I love who you are." She smiled reassuringly.
"Thank you, My Beloved. And I will do my best to keep that part of my life separate from us, assuming that's how you'd prefer it?" I confirmed.
"Actually no. It isn't. I'd rather...be there. I know that physically a human could never hurt you, but frankly, the idea of you lying with a human man and me sitting idly by somewhere, having no idea how he is treating you...is the most terrifying prospect I have ever faced. Even before I knew we were mates, I often found myself wondering who you were with and if you were okay," she admitted.
"Okay." I nodded. "Then if that is what makes you most comfortable, I promise you may always be there." I smiled, actually very relieved about the idea of Rose being present. Not for the same reasons, but because having her there didn't feel like cheating in the same way that it did when she wasn't. It was especially bad before she knew we were mates because I always felt like I was betraying her.
My only consolation was that she had Emmett for all those years. Oh shit! Emmett. "Rose, may I ask...how did Em take this?" I worried.
"Emmett was understanding, actually. Peter was the one who blatantly told us we weren't mates and from there, I figured out pretty quickly it was you. Well...after Peter pointed out to me that I was wrong in assuming my mate was a man. As soon as he said that, I knew. And I started to ask Em if he would mind if I left and he just told me to go to you. So I did. We'll have to figure everything else out later.
"Yes, we'll have a lot to figure out. Cullens or Denalis, animals or humans, Alaska or...where are the Cullens now?" I began, thinking of some of the decisions we would need to make.
"Currently they're hanging out in the El Paso - Juárez - Las Cruces area at the moment with the Whitlocks. That's where I ran here from. They're waiting for a girl named Cindy to complete her transformation. Ferdinand brought her to Isabella to eat, but Isa didn't want to eat an innocent little girl, so she changed her instead." Rose explained and I began to panic.
"How young, Rose?" I asked, terrified because of what happened to my mother.
"Oh, Baby, no, I think it's okay. She's definitely older than the Witch Twins. She's probably thirteen or a petite fourteen. I can't see the Volturi stepping in." Rose comforted, holding me close.
"I hope you're right." I sighed. "Speaking of children...what on earth was that earlier about half-human, half-vampires? Vampires, as we know, can't have children so I didn't really understand that." I puzzled.
"Well...actually, it seems vampire semen must still be viable. Ferdinand's crew were rapping the humans and some of them got pregnant. We actually saved two pregnant humans. They're back at the compound." She smiled.
"And they age normally? They become adult vampires?" I questioned.
"Yes, the ones who killed Esme were apparently adults, though it sounds like they are half human. They have blood and a heartbeat." She beamed.
"Has anyone claimed them? The pregnant women? Their babies?" I asked excitedly.
"Um, I assumed the pregnant women would want to raise their own babies." Rose raised an eyebrow.
"Even if they survived the pregnancy, a human couldn't raise a half-vampire baby, Sweetheart. A half vampire baby would need blood, right? Where would a human get blood? She couldn't hunt for her child. And if the Volturi ever found out, she would be killed for her knowledge of vampires. That would leave the child motherless and at the mercy of the Volturi.
"Not to mention the fact that those children are a product of rape. I read somewhere that only about a third of women who end up in that situation choose to keep their baby. So odds are the women might not even want the children. Rose, don't you see? This is our chance! I know how much you always wanted to be a mother. We have to get back there, Rose, before somebody else claims those babies!" I pleaded.
Jumping to my feet, I took her hand in mine. "Let's go get my family and I'll tell them everything on our run South, okay?"
Rose nodded and she looked like she'd be bawling her eyes out if she was human. I knew the thought that she might get to be a mother was finally just hitting her and I was quiet as we ran to get the others, allowing her some much needed time to process everything.
Carlisle's POV
Thankfully Alice had gotten Emmett to stop singing and they were attending to the pregnant human girls. I wasn't sure what my family intended to do with those girls but they seemed intent on keeping them.
At the very least, I was curious from a medical standpoint about the vampire-human pregnancies, but it wasn't my place to get involved. I knew I couldn't practice medicine anymore. Not without my Esme. A world without Esme made me want to kill things not heal things.
I could only focus on one thing at a time at that moment, and the thing I'd been tasked with focusing on thus far was Cindy. So I would continue to watch over her carefully, while my family conversed with the humans.
"Thank you for rescuing us from the bad vampires." One of the girls said quietly.
"Si. Muchas gracias." The other added. She couldn't speak a word of English.
"You're quite welcome," Alice told them. "Are you hungry? I can make you something from the human kitchen." She offered.
"We are, yes, but first, I have a question, please. What do plan to do with our babies after we are gone?" The girl asked.
"Gone? What do you mean, gone?" Alice puzzled.
"When we die giving birth to them. Will your people protect them? Will you raise them?" She asked timidly but insistent.
"Are you saying the human mothers don't survive the pregnancies?" I inquired, not taking my eyes from Cindy.
"Yes. The babies rip them open with their teeth to come into the world. It is the only way to get them out. The womb hardens, it's impenetrable by other means. We've seen the births before. The girls usually live long enough to name the babies and hold them and then they die right after.
"We are prepared for that. We just want to know our children will be safe. Ferdinand's daughter, Ravanica, used to raise the hybrids. She would see the births in her visions and come to collect the babies and raise them at her house. She did not live at the compound, I think her house is in El Paso. But she will not come again, now that everyone else is dead. So someone else will need to raise them." She explained.
"Carlisle, I can't see the babies in my visions but if you make a decision to tell the family about them, then I will probably be able to see who offers to raise them," Alice suggested.
"Very well, Alice." I nodded, resigning myself to having to be the one to tell everyone, but deciding to wait until everyone else had arrived to make the announcement.
Alice was silent for a moment, searching through her visions. "Oh my! It appears your children will have wonderful mothers indeed." She assured them.
"Thank you so much, Miss. That is a tremendous relief to us. Now if you are still willing to get us the food, it would be much appreciated. And the babies need us to drink blood too, which is kept in the larger vampire kitchen," the girl explained.
Emmett continued to speak with them while Alice went to prepare their food. "Vampires don't eat. Why do they have the larger of the kitchens?" He inquired.
"Partly, I think, it was to remind us of our place as the inferior species, as if we could forget. But they do keep food in the vampire kitchen as well. It is for the hybrid soldiers. They got to eat whatever they wanted and there was even a human chef to prepare the food for them. But we had to eat things we could make ourselves on the little stove or in the microwave. Our kitchenette did not have an oven," she clarified.
"Damn, we should have sent Alice over there instead! You can eat the better quality food now that they're dead." Emmett said. "Hang on, I have an idea!" He was quiet for a minute and I knew he was using Alice's gift to deliver the information to her.
"What did you do?" The girl asked him.
"Alice can see the future, based on decisions people make. So I just made a decision to go tell her about the other kitchen so that she would have a vision about it," he told her cheerfully.
"Thank you, Sir." She said and out of the corner of my eye, I saw him ruffle her hair.
"No sweat, kiddo. But none of this Sir business. You can call me Emmett," he corrected.
"Okay, then thank you, Emmett."
"Si, gracias, Emmett."
"De nada. I learned that from Dora!" Emmett beamed.
Soon, Alice came back with food for the girls and cups of blood for them to drink. Everyone was quiet while the girls ate and I continued monitoring Cindy.
Edward's POV
After Alice called and told me about Esme, I was in shock. It must've been an hour or so before I was able to gather my thoughts enough to speak.
"Angel?" I asked, looking around frantically when I didn't see her. I quickly realized though that she was sitting behind me rubbing my shoulders, waiting for me to pull myself together.
"Are you okay, Ed?" She asked softly, her sad red eyes filled with concern. "I heard your conversation."
I turned around to face my mate. "I don't know. Esme was always a mother to me. It's shocking to think she could just be...gone. I never even got to say goodbye." I sighed, brushing her gorgeous hair back.
My stunning mate wore her beautiful, black locks with blood-red highlights in a medium length bob and accentuated her pale vampiric complexion with even paler foundation and cherry red lipstick accompanied by kohl-lined eyes, black mascara, and red eye-shadow. The first time I ever saw her, I was sprung.
"Well...I can't say I know what that's like. My human mother was a crackhead and I haven't had a mother since becoming a vampire. I imagine I should go pack? We're probably going to visit the bunny munchers?" She confirmed.
"Would you mind terribly if we did?" I asked hesitantly. I knew Angel didn't want to live with my family because she was repulsed by their diet, but she was my mate and I knew she would support my decision to visit them. Whether or not she liked the idea was another question.
"As long as the others can come, I don't mind. I don't go anywhere without my droogs," she insisted.
"Of course they can. Where is everyone?" I asked. They obviously all made themselves scarce during my phone call. I hadn't seen or heard them since.
"Herman and Lily went for a quick hunt in Omaha. Elvira is painting in the woods," Angel explained.
"Alright well let's text them the plan and then quickly pack so we can leave as soon as they get back." I nodded.
"Do you have time to fuck me senseless first?" She pleaded, dropping to her knees.
"Always. We have to be quick though." I nodded, stripping my black leather pants off. Angel never let me wear underwear. She liked to have easy access to me at all times. It was quite the adjustment for me at first, but we'd been together long enough that I had gotten used to her incredible appetite for sex.
My cock sprung free, eagerly awaiting her ravenous mouth as she batted her eyelashes, looking up at me. She began by slowly swirling her tongue around my Prince Albert.
That was a conversation I would never forget. The day she told me she had never had sex with anyone who wasn't pierced and wasn't about to change her mind. I was horrified at first, but she assured me that as a vampire, I would not have to experience the one to six month recovery period that humans did for a Prince Albert piercing. And she was right. It healed right away.
I was a little terrified at the time that Herman, her former lover, was the one piercing it, but he had found his mate in Lily and theoretically bore no resentment or ill feelings. And as it turned out, he did an exceptional job.
It was said that a Prince Albert could enhance sexual pleasure for both partners. And while coming into this relationship as a virgin, I had nothing other than my own ministrations to compare it to...I definitely felt...enhanced pleasure every time we had sex. And blow jobs? Wow!
Angel had a multitude of piercings, including a tongue stud, which when it clanged against my Prince Albert, sent shudders right through me and I do mean the good kind. Which is what she was doing at that moment and bringing me to the brink of orgasm.
But my favorite thing to do was whenever she would graciously allow me to return the favor. My Angel had a vertical clitoral hood piercing, so any amount of attention I paid to that particular part of her anatomy was always quickly met with my mate's powerful, mind-blowing orgasms.
As she laid me down and lifted up her skirt (underneath which she was bare, believing all underwear to be overrated), my Angel straddled my hips. Sliding her eager warmth down on my thoroughly, painfully aroused shaft, she sighed in relief as we began to move our bodies in tandem.
She lifted her shirt, exposing her bare breasts to me. As a vampire, for whom gravity was no longer a factor, my mate also believed that bras were unnecessary and never wore one. She pulled a set of nipple clamps from her skirt pocket, practically begging me to use them on her, so I did.
It wasn't long before we were both crying out in ecstasy. Just as we reached the peak of orgasm, Herman and Lily came in.
"Want us to start packing? We're probably going to visit Edward's family, right?" Lily asked Angel.
Lily, whose human mother was from India and whose father was from Russia, had floor length straight black hair with long straight cut bangs and currently had it pulled back in her usual French braid. And unlike Herman, she came by her name honestly.
Obviously, Herman Munster was not his real name, but Herman, much like my sister, Alice, had no memories of his human life and probably never would since he was very, very old. So he changed his name every few decades until Lily came along, at which time he became Herman Munster for her.
Herman had been living in Transylvania at the time of his change and was originally part of the Romanian coven, which the Volturi all but destroyed. They had tried to make him a part of the Guard, thinking his gift would be useful, but they sent him away when they realized he couldn't control it.
Herman's gift was to manipulate the weather. But, it wasn't on demand, it was according to his moods. And back then, he was always in a terrible, terrible mood. So, Volterra, which was supposed to be warm, due to its location in sunny Italy, had started having snowstorms.
Since that was a little hard to explain to the locals, they sent him away to live as a nomad so that he could travel to places with climates that matched his moods. Of course, ever since he had found his mate, Lily, in the 1980s, he was always happy, so he needed to live in sunny places.
That was why, since I had joined Angel's coven, we had been going South to Georgia for the winter months but the rest of the year we were based in Nebraska where Angel was originally from.
"Yes, please. Pack for us too? You know what I like. Ed and I should probably go hunt quickly, so we don't have to stop on the way down South. Can you guys tell Elvie the plan when she gets home please?" Angel asked, dragging me to my feet. Herman and Lily still hadn't looked away. They were a little voyeuristic and Ange was a bit of an exhibitionist.
"Yeah, you bet." Herman nodded.
We headed into town to hunt quickly. We found an unmarked white panel van parked near a playground and the thoughts of the men inside easily confirmed our suspicions. We quickly yanked them out of the vehicle and drained them in the nearby bushes. Then we threw them into the back of the van, drove it out of town to a nearby wrecker's that was closed because it was the weekend.
We turned on the machinery, crushed the van and dumped it in one of the piles of wrecked automobiles. Then we threw the men on our backs and ran home. Angel had a very specific way she liked to dispose of our meals. She would burn the bodies until there was nothing left but the bones, and then the bones were used in the construction of our very own version of the Parisian catacombs, which began underneath our home.
It truly was a work of art, though some would call it grotesque. But the crime rates in Omaha were far lower than many other American cities of a similarity size, so clearly, we were performing a valuable service.
"What were they planning?" Angel asked on our run back home, referring to the thoughts of the men we had killed.
"You don't want to know." I winced.
"Tell me?" She prodded.
"They were stalking a ten-year-old boy. If it had gone according to plan for them, he would have been the first of many," I informed her through gritted teeth.
Angel took my hand in hers as we arrived home. "See? And this is why being a bunny muncher was a complete waste of your gift. That little boy is sitting on a swing set right now blissfully oblivious to the horrors he just escaped. Doesn't that make you feel at least a little proud?"
"It does." I smiled, squeezing her hand. I just wish my family felt the same way.
When we got home, we quickly torched the bodies in our fireproof barn and stashed the bones in a locked chest for the time being. When we headed around to the front of the house, I couldn't help but smile at the sight that met us there.
"Elvira is back. And it looks like we're all packed." Ange nodded, gesturing to our three bandmates, standing on the porch with oversized hiking backpacks strapped to their backs.
I saw my Yamaha Montage which had been lovingly stowed in it's carrying case, along with Herman's bass, Lily's theremin, Elvie's violin, and our amp and mics. And my backpack and Angel's were packed and ready too. We were all set.
"Thank you, guys." I smiled as we walked up. "I know no one is really excited about meeting them, but they were my family for a long time. I owe it to them to show up and pay my respects at least."
"They still are your family Ed. It's just that now so are we. And we would have been meeting them eventually. I know you wanted to wait until the drama from the situation with the human girl had subsided, but I imagine no one is thinking about her anymore," she assured me.
"True. I'm certain none of them have thought about Bella Swan in years. I know I haven't." I smiled, helping her into her backpack and handing her the amp and mics. I picked up my own backpack and put it on, grabbing my synthesizer and taking my mate's hand in my free one.
"To Oz?" She smirked.
"To Oz!" I laughed. "And I promise when you want me to bring you home, all you have to do is click your heels three times." I smiled.
And off we ran.
AN: This was a long one! Hope it wasn't too long? So, what does everyone think of Tanya/Rose and Marble Skeleton? And who should get the babies?
Hit me back, I love to hear from ya!
Blessings,
-BMW