Chapter 12 — Hybrid
BPOV
About two or three feet down was a brown and brass chest. Holding my breath, I opened it.
Staring up at me was the tiara I had seen only once. My stomach rolled as I peered down at it. It was pure evil and it seemed to be calling out to me to put it on. Somehow I knew by putting it on, it would take control of me.
A familiar voice spoke. Maribella.
Isabella, the tiara do you get damage. It does control but it was not made for a hybrid, but just not any hybrid. The mages fear what you will become. That is why they controlled me. They wanted to prevent my marriage to Ewan because through us, you would be born and become what they did not understand — a magical being that would live forever. It is through you that the clans, McGregor and McCullough, will be healed. Embrace your destiny.
My destiny? Edward was my destiny. The prophecy told me as much. No! It was more than Edward.
Setting my mind, I mentally snapped. Within seconds I appeared at McCullough keep when my mother's great-great-grandmother was still living, but I'd still considered her my grandmother. I needed her help and I wouldn't have to explain anything to her, she would know.
I found Grandmother in the solar reading.
She looked up and smiled at me. "I wondered when I would be graced by a visitor from the future," she said.
I laughed as I shook my head. "You never will cease to amaze me."
"It's time for your final transformation then." She stood. "You found the tiara, right?"
I lifted it up, confused. "Why is it so important?"
A long sigh left her as she walked to the door. "In order to break its hold on you, it needs to be present when you are bitten."
Understanding was slow to come, but when it did... "Oh! My becoming part vampire is something the mages of the past could not plan for."
Grandmother nodded. "None of the mages could find a vampire."
I chuckled. One was in plain sight all the time.
"So they could not test any spells to see if they could control a vampire."
"And once I become one, no spell will be able to control me."
Grandmother's smile widened. "Exactly! And you are just in time. Edward is here."
My face fell. "He will not know me," I admitted with sadness in my voice. "He drank a potion to forget me years ago."
Grandmother chuckled. "All is as it should be. And from what I know about Edward, he will beat himself up for taking your life."
How I knew that.
"But," Grandmother continued, "in this case, magic will intervene and he will not. He will not remember until you tell him about your adventures."
He will not be able to beat himself up I realized. He will see that I was perfectly fine.
"Go and search for him, Isabella. Then take him to the room that is used by newlyweds."
After handing Grandmother the tiara, I left without a word. She would see that it got into the bedchamber.
EPOV
"Edward," I heard a sweet voice call and I looked up from what I was reading. "I have looked far and wide for you."
The young woman was beautiful. Rich, chocolate brown hair brushed the middle of her back. She was dressed simply in jeans and a blue sweater. She looked vaguely familiar, but I couldn't place where I had seen her before or if I even had.
"You have," I said confused. I had never met the young woman who stood before me and yet she knew my name. "Who are you?"
"Bella, just Bella," she said to me with a sweet smile that slowly faded.
Her smile, no matter how brief it was, drew me in. I would do anything to see her smile that way again.
"Why have you been looking for me?"
"Not here," Bella said, taking my hand sending an electric shock up my hand and into my arm before she suddenly let go, "follow me."
I stood and quickly followed her out of the library, down a few long halls, and finally into a breathtakingly beautiful room. "Where are we?"
"A very special room, reserved only for newlyweds. No one will bother us here, not that we will not be here long, besides the Lady of the Clan gave me leave to stay in this room for a time."
I looked at her for a moment and curious as to why I could not read her thoughts before asking again, "Why have you been looking for me?"
I waited as she sat and took a seat next to her when she patted the spot next to her.
"Edward," she started and smiled that same sweet smile, "I am ready."
"Ready?" I was even more confused, "Ready for what?"
"For you to bite me, to change me," Bella said, looking straight into my eyes.
"Change you? I don't know what you are talking about," I started to get up and she placed a gentle hand on my wrist, making me pause.
"Edward, I know you're a vampire."
"Me… a vampire," I restrained a laugh. "I don't know who you have been talking to and what they told you, but I am not a vampire."
"Believe me or not, Edward, but nobody told me anything about you. I figured it out on my own."
I stared at her in disbelief. For her to make such a bold statement as me being a vampire… I shook my head.
"How could you have figured such a thing out, I've never met you before today."
"Yes, you have but you don't to remember."
I stood up and moved towards the door and Bella's next words stopped me in my tracks.
"Edward, I am your future. I was there when Maribella told you the girl on the bed was not yet your future. I am still not your future. We will meet twice more and it will be years from today. I will be younger when we next meet. Fourteen and it will still not be our time. Two years will go by and you will not be able to get me off your mind, and you will haunt my dreams. When I am sixteen, we will meet once again and it will finally be our time." She paused, taking a breath. "I want to show you something."
She stuck her hand in her pocket and pulled something small out. I cautiously walked over and looked at what she held out to me. A ring, and not just any ring, it was my mother's ring. "Where did you get that," I asked, leaving the ring sitting in her palm.
"Please sit," she said, motioning to the bench.
Once I was sitting again, she continued.
"Like I said several times, Edward, I am your future. On February 14, 2217, after a school dance you will ask me to marry you."
I looked from her to her open palm where the ring still lay.
"I believe you when you say I will ask you to marry me, but what does that have to do with me being a vampire."
"Edward, what is today's date."
"May 31."
"The year?"
"2010."
"In 207 years, you will ask me to marry you. 207 years, don't you see? How is it possible that you will still be alive in 2217 unless you are a vampire or some other magically creature?"
I was baffled into silence. She had me there. How else? "Scientific breakthroughs," I said. "People could live longer."
"Okay, let's say that some scientific breakthrough happens. What do you think you would look like?"
I shrugged. "Old with wrinkles, I guess. Still vibrant, though." I watched as she reached into her back pocket and pulled out a picture. She urged me to take it.
"Look at it."
I looked down at it. It was Bella and me and was dated January 14, 2217. In all my years, I had never seen a more pristine picture. Picture printed off of film had a roughness to them. The more recent digital photos were a lot more vibrant and truer to life. A new technology in picture processing, perhaps, still being tested could explain this photo. Couldn't be or Alice would have said something about it. But that didn't explain why Bella and me were the subjects of the picture. Did I have an argument as to how this picture came to be? It didn't look Photo-shopped. I looked at it closer. No, definitely not alternated in Photoshop. There was no other explanation. It was a picture from the future and I hadn't aged a bit.
"Okay," I admitted, "you got me. I am a vampire but why should I change you."
"I wish I had time enough to explain, Edward, I really do. All I can say is that for some reason the McGregor Clan mages are trying to stop me and for some reason cannot get to me on McCullough lands. Then there is something about this particular day."
"Mages? As in magic," I asked confounded.
"Yes, but I can't get into right now. There is not enough time. It is nearly midnight. I wasted enough time in looking for you."
I stood and thought for a moment about walking right out the door, but I had a feeling she wouldn't like that or find another vampire… a vampire who wouldn't have the restraint to stop before killing her. Heck if I was being honest, I wasn't sure I wouldn't kill her. "I'm not sure I will be able to stop once I bite you."
"I know that you feed on animals, Edward. And I trust you. You will find the strength to stop."
I took a step toward her. Placing my hands on her shoulders, I drew her to me. She tilted her head to the side, giving me access to her neck. "Are you sure?" I asked, drawing back to look into her eyes.
"Yes, Edward. I'm positive this is what I want."
I slowly moved to her, swallowing once and took a breath. Her scent overwhelmed me. It was so intoxicating and called to the monster in me.
"Oh, one more thing, Edward," she said right as I was about sink my teeth in her carotid artery. "You will not remember. Once you bite me, you will place me on the bed and leave. Send Carlisle to me. Tell him someone is hurt and you can't get near them because of the blood. You will forget."
She fell silent and I bit her. An image of her floated before me. The image of her and me in the picture she had shown me. I felt my venom mix with her blood. She tasted so good and I wanted more but I found myself pulling away from her. "Thank you," she said as she fell.
I caught her and swung her up into my arms. Place her on the bed, Edward.A voice told me. I did I was told and gazed down at her.
What have I done?
Now forget and get Carlisle.
Again, I did as the voice told me.
