Chapter ten
My disgrace / Expansion.
I was stunned. I actually didn't speak for about ten minutes as I tore my way through a good acre of forest, leaving a fifty foot wide path of destruction in my wake. I was pissed off. More than that, I wanted to kill someone who was responsible for half of that shit.
"Kali..." Alice said timidly. I was too blazing mad for her to get a fix on and she settled for talking to me. "Are you alright?"
"Alice, I can't believe half of the shit you just told me. How is that girl not dead yet? She should be. Think about it. Vampires and werewolves are her buddies. She has been hurt so many times and keeps coming back for more. How do we justify that?"
"We keep her safe." She defended herself and her family.
"Yeah, and so do the Boy-Wolves twenty miles away. Is she off her rocker?"
"That is up for debate on a regular basis. Your input would be greatly appreciated." She said earnestly. I finally cracked. This whole thing was nuts. I laughed my head off. I punched a giant Douglas-Fir and buckled as it crashed to the forest floor. The whole god-damn story was ridiculous. I couldn't control the laughter and I think I must have cleared the forest around us for a couple of miles. Alice eyed me like I had flipped my lid. I think I may have.
"You know, Alice, Romeo and Juliet haven't got shit on those two?" I pointed out as I turned and headed for home.
"Probably not." Alice conceded. "But Romeo and Juliet gave up. Edward and Bella haven't."
"They have fought harder than any other couple I can think of in real life or in fiction. Shakespeare himself would have had a fit over what those two nutters have gone through. No wonder he feels so strongly for her."
"He loves her with everything he has."
"Yes, I am aware of that."
"I don't know if you are, Kali. You have to see it. I told you about it, but you have to see it. Even though she is human, she is his mate. His other half. You know what that's like." Alice said.
I suddenly felt cold. I didn't know what that was like. I loved Euan, I really did, but when he was killed, I never felt the compulsion to destroy myself afterwards. No sense of vengeance took hold of me, I grieved, but part of me didn't go missing. My heart didn't break. I think it was starting to now though.
"You know Alice, thinking about it, I don't think I do." I said in a quiet voice. "I loved Euan, but my world didn't end when he died."
"He was your companion then." She deduced clinically. "Do you mind if I ask why he was killed by the Volturi?"
"You really don't want to know. You might not like me quite as much if you knew."
"Did you have anything to do with what he did?"
"I wouldn't be alive if I had." I said fairly. It was true enough. I would have been slaughtered with him. I should have been for even knowing him.
"Then what did he do?" She pressed. I took a deep breath. I felt Alice take my hand and pull me to a stop. I couldn't bear to look at her when I said the words.
"He turned a child. He created an Immortal child." I whispered. I closed my eyes and I was back there. I spoke in whispers as I told Alice what had happened.
I could see the Volturi chamber. Euan was standing in the middle, under guard. In his arms, was the most beautiful child I had ever laid my eyes on. A gorgeous little boy, about two years old. His blonde curly hair shimmered in the diffused light in the room. His pale skin was strong and hard. His face was immaculate and his eyes were a vivid, horrifying red. They almost glowed with their brightness. I knew instantly what this child was and I was terrified. Euan looked to me, pleading silently as he held the stunning child in his arms. I didn't move to them. I couldn't. My captors had brought me forward to kneel at the feet of Aro.
"My dear. Do you know what your mate has done?" In my memory, his voice was as clear as it would be if he were right next to me.
"Yes." I whispered. I knew who they were. I had heard the stories and I knew death was coming for me.
"Did you know what he was planning?"
"No."
He held out his hand to me, palm down, like he was royalty. I realised that, in this sense, he was. He was the leader of our world and as such, should be treated that way. I took his hand and bowed my head. His gift blitzed my brain as images, every thought I had ever had in either of my lives was brought forward. I was shown Euan in the soft morning light of a Scottish sunrise. I was shown my first decade as a vampire and the destruction I caused. I saw my creator, in pieces on the forest floor. I relived the burning that took away my human life. I saw my first family, My husband... my son. Oh, God, my son! I broke. Silent, tearless sobs rocked my body ad Aro pulled my hand away.
"How did you do that?" He demanded. I didn't answer. I couldn't stop the racking grief long enough to ask him what he was talking about. "How?" He demanded.
"I don't know what you mean, Sir." I honestly didn't have a clue what was going on. All I knew was that Euan, MY Euan, had created an abominatin and we were all going to die.
"You saw what I saw. Are you gifted?" He asked. His tone had completely changed now. Instead of the demanding, commanding tone from before- a calmer, more intrigued tone took its place.
"Yes." There was no point lying. If he had been in my head, read every thought I had ever had, he would know.
"How are you gifted?" He asked me, ignoring the calls from the ancient vampires to his right and left for my destruction.
"I can mimic the gifts of others." I said simply. it was the only explanation I had for what I could do.
"Can this be demonstrated?"
"I think so. I need a tangible gift though. One that either extracts aspects of a vampire or alters them. Your gift is the best example here." I had felt the gift coming from one of the ancients. I instinctively knew how each of the vampires in the room were related to each other and the strength of their bond. That wasn't useful to me though. I needed something I could prove.
"Demonstrate this please." Aro demanded. The 'please' was for pleasantries sake, I was sure.
"I need someone to test it on." I said quietly. One of the other ancients stepped forward. He was older than Aro, I could tell from his skin. He held his hand out to me in much the same manner as Aro had. I took his hand, focusing on Aro's presence and his gifts.
Images and sounds and feelings flooded through me. I saw the most beautiful vampire I had ever seen. Her long flowing black hair fell down to the small of her back in soft curls. Her delicate frame was draped in the black cloak of the Volturi coven. Her eyes were the colour or red roses, deep and filled with spirit. Her ability to love was her gift. She and the one who's hand I held now were the greatest couple ever to walk the earth. The combination of their gifts gave them the strongest mated pairing in history. I felt the devastation, the gut-wrenching despair when the female was killed. I tore my hand away and a fresh round of sobs ripped their way through my chest. I felt nothing but grief for the vampire who had now turned his back on me and move to sit on one of the thrones in the room. I turned and held my hand out to Aro so he could see what I had.
"Fascinating." He mused quietly. The whole room fell silent. This was it. I was going to be killed and Euan would follow me and the beautiful baby boy in his arms would go last. I closed my eyes and bowed my head again. I heard the familiar metallic shrieks as immortal arms and legs were separated from the main body. I heard the crackle of the fire that blazed to dispose of the what I knew to be twitching limbs. I heard the child scream. It broke my heart to hear a child in agony. It was an abomination to our kind. No child should have this burden placed upon them, but it damn near killed me to hear it scream right up until the end. The screaming stopped soon after that. I waited for pain and fire but it didn't come. I opened my eyes and found Aro to be staring at me with mild amusement.
"Young one, you are free to go now. You are however, welcome to stay with us. Join our family."
I didn't think about it. I ran as far and as fast as my legs could take me before I was halted by the sun. I ran because my life depended on it. I ran to escape the screaming. I just ran.
Alice's face had fallen to the floor. Her hand tightened around mine and she stopped breathing. Yep, that was the reaction I was expecting. I flinched when I looked at her face for the second time and saw that it hadn't changed yet. I slipped my hand out of hers and started to walk. I was forced to stop and suddenly had a small, pixie-like, limpet of a vampire stuck to the front of me in a bone-breaking hug.
"I didn't know." she murmured.
"That's because I didn't tell anyone."
"I'm so sorry, Kali."
Those words were simple but they gave me what I needed at that point. I had to live with what he did for nearly three hundred and fifty years, feeling in someway responsible for it. I felt the sobs coming and I tried to force them down. my eyes began to ache and sting. Having venom-filled tears and being unable to shed them was painful and it would only add to my misery. I felt Alice's little hand pat my back and try and comfort me. I finally got a hold of myself and started to get confused.
"Where the hell did that come from?" I asked, more to myself than anything else.
"Angry tears. Sad tears and tears that should have been shed hundreds of years ago." Alice explained. She still hadn't climbed off of me yet.
"Alice. Get off me." I laughed. My eyes stung and I began to rub them. I had to get the venom to move back into my system and the only way to do it was manually. Alice reached up and moved my hands out of the way. She took over and starter to massage under my eyes in a loving, sisterly kind of way.
"I'm sorry." Alice stated after a couple of seconds.
"What for?" I was confused again.
"For not telling you all of that stuff sooner. We should have told you before you decided to stay with us."
"I should have been told. But then again... It wouldn't have made a blind bit of difference."
"You lost me." Alice admitted.
"I already told Carlisle. I felt a change when I came here. I changed. " My voice became fierce, just like it did the first time I said this." I will kill and be killed to protect this family, MY family." Her elfin features lit up with the most ridiculous smile. I couldn't help but return it.
"Now." I said, my own grin falling as I thought about the task in hand. " When is this red-headed bitch coming for my little sister so I can rip her miserable head off?"
"This weekend." Alice said. " I showed Edward some airline tickets that Bella got for her birthday and didn't use. He is going to be taking her to Florida to see her mother and we will be hunting her."
"Good. Lets get home. I have to get a shower." I said, surveying the damage I had done to my clothes during my rampage.
"I'll help her pick out some clothes." I heard.
"Alice, I can dress myself. You don't have to help me every time I change a pair of socks." I was getting pissed off with the Kali Barbie thing.
"I didn't say anything!" Alice proclaimed. Her face was the picture of innocence.
"Don't give me it. I heard you. You said 'I'll help her pick out some clothes.'"
"I didn't say that."
"Yes you did!" I heard her. I know I did.
"No, you misunderstand me. I didn't say it. I thought it." Alice said in a rather confused voice.
"Pardon me?" Now I was confused again. I also noted that I had stopped moving...again.
"This is strange. We should talk to Carlisle." I was now scared. I was staring at alice. I heard her say Carlisle's name, but her lips didn't move. I was freaking out now.
"Should we call Carlisle?" Honestly, I would have happily drove to the hospital and captured him and have him explain exactly what was happening to me.
"I'm not sure. You are copying Edwards gift right now, right?" "I think so."
"Then stop thinking about it. focus on something else." Alice suggested. I tried. I focused on my cars. All of them. It took me a couple of seconds to compile the list and then sort them by class and engine size.
"Kali, did you hear that?" Alice asked lightly
"Hear what?"
"Good. Just don't focus on Edward's gift just now. We will talk to Carlisle when he gets home from the hospital."
"Alice, I'm going to be honest with you. I'm scared. My gift shouldn't do that. We should call Edward and make sure he can still hear minds." What if I had taken it? I hadn't been around other gifted vampires this long before. He might be hurt.
"Edward will be home with Bella about half past six. He is fine and will be fine. A little 'wigged' out, but otherwise okay." Alice confirmed for me.
"let's just get back to the house. If you must, you can help me get dressed or something."
"Yay!" she squealed, dragging me through the forest back to the house. I could only hope the boys would have an explanation as to what was happening with me.
"Welcome home, Carlisle." I called over my Biology homework. I was six hundred years old and doing homework. I had officially gone mad. I suddenly felt rather mutinous, so I shoved it away and waited on him entering the dining room where I was 'studying'
"Thank you, Kali. How was your day?" Carlisle moved into the room and sat next to me, every inch the interested father. I snorted once before I could stifle the humour in the situation.
"In a word, Carlisle, eventful. I had an eventful day."
"Do tell." He urged.
"Hold on a second. Alice, would you come here a minute?" I heard her breeze downstairs as Carlisle looked on with confusion scrawling across his Adonis-like features. "She will be able to help me explain better." He nodded once and offered Alice the seat opposite us so we were facing each other.
"Now, tell me about your interesting day." Carlisle said. Not knowing something that could be interesting was almost physically painful to him. I smirked a little at his discomfort before we began.
"First off, you should probably know that Alice had a vision today. Edward will be gone this weekend." I said in a very matter-of-fact manner.
"What was the vision of?" Carlisle asked, suddenly wary.
"Victoria" Alice said in a very small, little voice. She explained what we all saw. Victoria would be in Forks this weekend and Edward was going to be taking Bella out of town to visit her mum as a precaution.
"Right, that will be fine. We will hunt her this weekend. Jasper and Emmett will lead with Kali. Alice, Esme, Rosalie and I will follow." I knew that planning like this killed Carlisle. He abhorred violence.
"That doesn't explain why your day was interesting though, Kali." I felt my eyes roll.
"On the way home from school, Alice and I went for a quick hunt. She told me everything since Bella came to Forks."
"Everything?" Carlisle asked cautiously.
"Everything." I confirmed. "Then we talked about some other stuff and I got rather upset."
"What did you get ups-"
"Later Carlisle."
"Okay, Kali. Go on..." That was one of the things I loved about my adoptive father. He knew when to leave well enough alone.
"We were heading home after my... um... emotional breakdown?" I looked to Alice for the right word. She seemed to think that emotional breakdown was good enough. "Yeah, so we were heading home and I heard her thoughts."
"Was Edward around?" Carlisle asked flippantly.
"No, he was with Bella trying to convince her that Florida was lovely this time of year. No, Carlisle, I heard her all on my own."
"I wonder if she has been near talented vampires this long before?"
"No, I haven't." I replied.
"Pardon me?" Carlisle looked thoroughly confused now.
"No, I haven't been around gifted vampires this long before." I re-iterated.
"I didn't say anything." Carlisle defended himself.
"That doesn't mean I didn't hear it." "Well, this is new." He mused. "You're telling me." I replied, sighing.
"You're gift may be slightly different that you originally thought. Perhaps your gift is more like a sponge rather than a mirror. You seem to be able to copy and retain gifts as long as you have prolonged exposure to them. I think if you were separated from the gifts you are using for too long, they would bleed away." Carlisle surmised.
"Can you use Jazzy's gift?" Alice asked, leaning forward.
"Hold on..." I shoved Edward's gifts as far back as I could and dragged Jasper's forward. It was more difficult with his gifts. It was like clutching at smoke. I focused on trying to project a steady calm.
"Well that settles it, then." Carlisle said, a happy, relaxed smile had replaced his confusion from earlier.
"Do you feel that?" I asked, my voice cracked.
"Yes, we do." They chirped together.
"This has the potential to be rather cool." I stated, looking at my hands.
"Edward is going to be happy about this. He will explain why." Alice said, clapping her tiny hands together. "Speaking of, he, Bella and Jasper are coming."
"Time to test out my new talent then!" I beamed and shot out of the room, towards the trio walking through the front door.
When Edward and Bella and Jasper finally arrived that evening, I took Edward aside for a few moments to explain what had happened that day, minus the emotional train wreck. No-one needed to hear about that. Ever. Edward did seem pleased that my gift used his when he wasn't around. It meant I could hunt Victoria more effectively by following her mind as well as her scent. Jasper was equally as appeased by the notion I carrying around his shit like some weird emotional baggage. In his defense, he carried everyone else's.
We were all safe and well tonight. We were however at a total loss as to how to spend the evening. Bella suggested games and Jasper dived for a cupboard just off to the left and retrieved the Hasbro back-catalogue... or that's what it looked like. We ended up settling for chess. Myself and Edward went first after promising not to use each other's mind-reading abilities. Edward destroyed me; It was not pretty. Alice and Edward went next and it was the single most entertaining game of chess I had ever witnessed. They played the game in their minds, moving two pawns each before they went silent and just stared into each others eyes. I tuned in long enough to see Alice foreseeing moved and Edward reacting to what he saw from her head. It was bloody and Bella were up next and it was not pretty. A vampire mind had to focus completely just to beat him, Bella had no chance. In his and her defense, she played her absolute best and Jazz gave her a couple of pieces before decimating her forces, causing her to tip the king and graciously withdraw.
When It came time for Bella to leave, we all exchanged hugs and kisses and promises of seeing each other in school tomorrow for finals. I dragged Jazz back to out epic chess board on the pretense of playing again. In fact, I was watching his mind. If there had been a more strategically minded, more military ready mind, I didn't know it. He was truly a force to be reckoned with and I was fervently thankful that he was on our side for whatever the upcoming hunt would bring.