A/N: So, to be clear, to assuage any concerns that I have received in reviews/messages: Bella and Rose will be together soon. They're stubborn but not that stubborn. It does involve a lot of talking, though, but don't worry, there is a plot here. Victoria will strike again, soon. Also, I'm changing the rating to T, for now, as even though there is serious subject matter in regards to Rose's life, I have no current plans for Lemons, though that could change (I doubt it will though.)
(Also, in regards to the Volturi, I've gone with the Life and Death queens, so yeah; glad to clear up any confusion)
Anyway, as always: I do not own Twilight or it's characters, they belong to Stephenie Meyer.
Chapter 12 - Information
"So…can I start asking now, or should I wait until we've arrived wherever we're going?" I turned to Alice, to see her face focused intently on the road. After school had ended, Alice had pulled me into a canary yellow Porsche and told me we were driving to Port Angeles to talk. I admit, I was alarmed, and almost complained about her doing it without my permission, before I remember I had requested this via a note I hope she'd see. I still was not fully used to having a psychic friend (or a vampire friend, but that's a whole separate issue), so I suppose I can be forgiven for forgetting I had made the request via vision. She had already called Charlie and gotten permission from him, of course; he was apparently thrilled I had befriended Alice. His admiration for Dr. Cullen seemed to have transferred onto his children, which I was surprisingly grateful for.
We had been in the car for only ten minutes, but we had made much more progress than I had initially expected, mainly due to Alice driving like a maniac. I knew she possessed incredible reflexes and she would see any potential accidents quickly enough to avoid them, but it still made me deeply nervous. I suppressed a sigh as I shuddered, while I waited for Alice to give me an answer.
"I can provide smaller answers for now, but the bigger things can wait a bit. So, what's on your mind?" she asked, winking, as though she didn't know. I rolled my eyes.
"I just want to clarify some things. About, er…vampirism? Is that what you'd call it?" I asked tentatively. Alice giggled in response, and it helped me relax, slightly.
"I think I've heard Carlisle call it that, but then, he's a doctor." I rolled my eyes, and she blew me a sarcastic kiss.
"So, are you all immortal?" I asked, trying to avoid a rude tone.
"Technically," she replied. Technically? What does that mean? Sensing my response before I said it (As always), she continued, "It is possible for us to be killed, but it's tough. You have to rip us apart, and then burn the pieces, because if you don't burn them, we can fix ourselves." I shuddered, and mentally imagined Victoria re-attaching her head to her body.
"But other than that," I said, steadying my voice, "you don't age?"
"We stop aging the day we are turned, yeah," she nodded, a slight frown appearing. "It makes living in one place for too long very difficult; we'll have to leave Forks in a few years, to avoid questions." I sighed, mentally dreading that day, whenever it came. Alice sensed this, and placed her hand reassuringly on mine.
"Sorry, I don't want to be rude in my questions, but there's still so much I don't understand. Some things I'm not even sure how to ask because I can't figure out how to put them into words." Alice nodded in understanding, and gave me a reassuring smile.
"I understand, Bella, and don't worry; I can help guide things once we're in a more comfortable environment. I do know what you want to ask, after all." She winked again, and I suppressed another eyeroll.
"Are you sure we can talk about this in a public place," I asked, as Alice, began to head towards our destination.
"We can - most humans avoid us naturally, and I've reserved a private booth."
"Booth?" I asked. "Are we going to a restaurant? I thought you don't eat human food."
"We prefer not to, but it's possible. We have to throw it up eventually," She shuddered, and I almost gagged.
"Ah, Alice, thank you; such a lovely image to have in my head before dinner." She snickered, and I once again, for what felt like the millionth time today, rolled my eyes.
We pulled up to the restaurant, and I looked at the name. I stifled a snort.
"Seriously? Bella Italia? A place with my name?" Again, I rolled my eyes. How tacky is that?
"Oh, shut up; that would only be lame if this was a date."
"It's still kinda lame," I muttered, which earned me an elbow in the ribs.
When we entered, Alice spoke to a very pretty but disinterested waitress, who lead us to the very back of the restaurant, where our booth had been reserved. Alice had reserved it yesterday, apparently; meddling pixie. Our waiter came over, and of course he was immediately dazzled by Alice, but who wouldn't be. He didn't seem to notice how she was ignoring him, even when she didn't look at him when she gave our drink orders. I stifled more giggles, and looked at the men, before I began to ponder my questions.
"Just ask, now, Bella, I know you want to." said Alice, dismissively.
"When you and Rose said it was dangerous for me to know the truth, what exactly were you referring to?" Alice sighed, as though she were preparing for something awful.
"I'm just going to be blunt and tell you: The Volturi. That's why it's dangerous."
"The Volturi?" I asked, dread in my voice; I could tell this was bad.
"The Volturi are essentially the law keepers, of our world, Bella; yes, we have laws. They've ruled for several thousand years, though in the last thousand, they've become stricter. They're not cruel, but they are very firm in their laws. The main one is simple: keep the secret." I gulped. So Alice and her family were breaking laws in telling me about their existence.
"So…what happens if you break the law and tell a human?"
"You're executed, unless the human has been turned. Then there's no crime." I sighed. So death and vampire life really were my only options. Alice nodded in response to my unspoken thought/question, and I sighed.
"So if I were to become a vampire, you'd all be safe?"
"Yes, though if we didn't turn you, it's unlikely they'd learn of it. We don't visit them a lot. The Volturi Queens are fond of Carlisle, but they are eager to have me, Edythe and Jasper join the guard." Queens? Guard? This is all getting somewhat confusing. "I've seen a vision of Carlisle explaining the Volturi to you in the future, so I won't go too in depth now," Alice added. I sighed.
"So is this dinner to give me answers or not?" I replied, exasperatedly.
"It is, but hush." She pressed a finger to my lips, and I turned around. Our waiter returned with our drinks and some breadsticks, still leering at Alice. Only looking at her, he leaned down, and asked: "And what will you ben having?"
"We'll both have the mushroom ravioli," responded Alice, not looking at him. He nodded and left, still staring at her. "Don't worry, Bella, I saw you'd order it and enjoy it, so I figured I'd order it for you."
"This whole psychic friend thing is odd." I sighed, sipping my coke.
"You get used to t after a few decades," winked Alice. "So, next question?" I paused, and then thought back to what Alice said about the Volturi ruling for thousands of years. So, there were vampires that old? I knew what I wanted to ask.
"Okay, so I don't know if this is rude, but how old are you?" I asked. Alice gave me a grim smile, and I wondered if I had offended her.
"We think I'm around 109, the same age as Edythe - she was born in 1901. But honestly, Bella, I don't remember any of my human life."
"None of it?" I gasped, before I covered my mouth and muttered an apology. Alice sighed and patted my hand.
"It's okay, Bella, but no, I don't. The truth is, when you become a vampire, you lose a lot of your human memories. You have them, but they're hazy. For some reason, I lost them all. The first thing I remember is waking up in an asylum, and what I'm pretty sure was 1920." I felt extremely guilty for asking. It clearly troubled Alice that she had lost so much of her human life. I tugged her hand in what I hoped was a reassuring gesture, and she gave me a sad smile.
"I'm sorry I asked. So you and Edythe are both over one Hundred? Who's the older?" I asked, trying to be more light hearted.
"Carlisle is the oldest, he was turned in the 1640s. Jasper is next, he was turned during the Civil War. Esme was turned after Edythe, but she's older than her - she was born in 1895. Rose and Emmett are the youngest, turned in 1933 and 1937." She didn't find this information as interesting as I did, so I moved onto the most pressing question.
"So, do all of you have gifts?" I asked. "How often do vampires have gifts? Do they carry over from when you were human, or…"
"Not all of us have gifts, no. Of our family, the only other person besides me and Edie with a gift is Jasper. He can feel and manipulate the emotions of those around him. He couldn't do that as a human, obviously, but we believe he was very charismatic as a human, and this carried over through his transformation." Alice saw my raised eyebrow, and explained. "Carlisle believes, and we all agree, that through the transformation, we bring our strongest traits, and those are amplified. Edythe was very perceptive as a human, so that lead to her mind reading. Emmett brought his humor, Carlisle his compassion, Esme her maternal instincts, and Rose, her beauty."
"And what about you? Were you just as cryptic as a human?" I asked playfully. Alice smiled, before her face turned serious.
"We think I had visions as a human, actually. It would explain the asylum." So, it was possible to have gifts as a human? So, if I turned, I'd have a gift? Is this what I have already?
"Yes. But still ask." Goddamn pushy instincts...
"So, Alice…hypothetically, let's say I have a gift?" Alice nodded, and smiled tentatively.
"I had seen you asking me about it several times about it," she said, "but they were always fuzzy because you were unsure. What is it you have, exactly?" So explained my instincts. The voice in my head, al the times it had helped me out of trouble as a child, how it had warned me not to talk to Rose, and it had hinted at Alice's gift. Alice looked truly and genuinely surprised; for the first time in the time I had known her, she was speechless. She barely even noticed our waiter bringing our food, which was, as she said, excellent. As I ate, her faced switched from surprised to glazed; I theorized she was searching the future for possible explanations. I wanted to ask what she could see, but I didn't want to interrupt. After I had finished my plate, and moved onto hers, I gently nudged her. She shook her head and blinked several times, before she came back into focus.
"Sorry about that; I was trying to look ahead to see if I could find the manifestation of it in you as a vampire, but that outcome is still uncertain, though it's more likely than death at this point."
"Lovely," I deadpanned. She giggled before switching to serious mode.
"After that, i decide to tell Carlisle and Eleazar, who's a friend of the family, and I looked for their theories; they settle on several, because your gift is sort of unheard of."
"Is that a good thing or a bad thing," I ask, uncertain.
"Good. They think what you have is some form of shield, but more powerful and complicated.
"Shield?" I asked.
"It's a defensive talent, it's not very common, The Volturi has a shield, Renata; she shields the Volturi leader from physical attacks, but it only works if she's touching them. We think you're a mental shield, but with something else; you'd call it an information web."
"Information?"
"Yes, it could work in tandem with your shield," Alice nodded, still looking uncertain, though slightly more confident. "Essentially, it provides your shield with the information that can best protect you. It happens rapidly."
"Both times Victoria chased me it was telling me to run," I said, thinking of the voice in my head. So, I had a shield and a web of information? How does that work? They're not instincts? Alice shook her head.
"Instincts is more like what Victoria has - instincts for self preservation. What you have could be much more powerful - as a human, the shield and web only work part of the time. Well, the shield is always protecting you from Edythe's powers, but the web is more complicated, Carlisle thinks," said Alice, frowning slightly.
"How so?" I asked, getting excited. Could I use it willingly, I wondered.
"We think because you're human, it operates at a slower pace, and only provides certain information. If you were a vampire, it would provide ou things almost instantly; hypothetically, you could look at a person and learn everything you could about them to protect you. Their weakness, fears. It wouldn't be a voice then, though - Eleazar's theory on the voice will be that its manifested in that way because it's the least harmful way for your human brain." I scoffed at that.
"What, like my human brain is too weak to handle the information?" I sneered, annoyed at myself.
"It would overwhelm you," said the web. (Not viewing it as instincts would definitely take getting used to.)
"It would overwhelm you," said Alice, hardly two seconds later. "If you had been three and had visions or pictures or however it is vampire you would see these things, it probably would have scared you." Alice shuddered, and I knew she was thinking of her own visions. "Although you did seem to have some sort of visions in your dreams, about Victoria and Rose? Mostly Rose, though." She looked at me with an amused expression, and I felt my face heat up.
"Yes, I did."
"Well, imagine getting those a few times a week or day, as a 4 year old child," said Alice gravely. I tried to picture it, and couldn't - my imagination as a child had been slightly underachieve, so images like that in my brain would have been deeply confusing. And if I had told anyone…I shivered at the thought. Things had changed since the 20s, yet I likely would have received a similar treatment to Alice.
"I suppose you're right," I said, conceding to her, "Still - an information web. That's bizarre. But extremely cool." I sighed with immense relief, at having a slight explanation for what had been plaguing me for seventeen years.
"So, have I answered all your questions?" Alice asked. "Besides the ones about Rosalie," she added quickly. I groaned and almost slammed my head into the table.
"Dammit, Alice, just give me something; at least explain these weird physical things I've been feeling." Alice snickered, and I blushed. "Not in that way, I just mean…I don't want to sound crazy, but every time she touches me, I feel like an electric current is pulsing over my skin. Not in a bad way, though, it feels amazing. But it's so confusing. And there's the thing in my chest…" Alice's look of total elation stopped me. "What?"
"You feel that? You're not exaggerating, you actually feel that?"
"Yes? Am I supposed to? Am I not supposed to?" I was a bit confused.
"You are, but as a human, I wouldn't expect it." I was about to ask what that meant, but she, in typical Alice fashion, decided to interrupt. "This thing in your chest? Do you feel it now?" The coldness in my chest throbbed as she mentioned it, and I reflexively hugged my chest.
"Yes. Sometimes if I don't focus on it, I can ignore it, but its always there. It's only ever okay when…" I trailed off, not wanting to tell Alice that her sister made me war in the center of my chest.
"So, Rose fixes it?" asked Alice, still grinning. I sighed and nodded. Alice was practically bouncing up and down in her chair with excitement, clearly thrilled for some odd reason.
"Oh, Bella!" she exclaimed, nearly jumping. "This, this changes everything, do you know what this means, if you feel it, she can't fight it, because eventually it will be too much, and…" She abruptly trailed off, being lost in a vision. I sighed, wondering if she'd ever explain herself. But still…she said 'she can't fight it.' Did that mean Rose was feeling what she was too? Did that explain her behavior?
Suddenly, Alice left her vision, and a look of dread passed over her face. She pulled out a cell phone, and hastily dialed a number. When she spoke, she did it so rapidly that I couldn't make it out anything she said. I could tell when she was pausing for the other person's response, but that was it. Halfway through the conversation, Alice was briefly hit with another vision, and her face relaxed. She switched to telling the other person about a topic that based on her facial features made Alice quite happy, but Bella couldn't be sure.
"So, Bella," said Alice, startling me as she closed her phone, "I do have bad news, but then good news too. It's mostly good news."
"What is it?"
"Tell you in the car." She winked, and called the water over to give us the check.
"So, in the first vision, there's no other way to say this - I saw Victoria feeding on Charlie." I gasped, and began shaking; my dad. My dad was going to get killed, and it was my fault. I had brought a vicious, red-eyed vampire down on my father's head. I could feel the moisture beginning to build in my eyes, as Alice hit the highway and accelerated. "Happily, though, the vision changed." I stopped the tears, and glared at Alice.
"Seriously? Did you have to phrase it that way?"
"I wanted to build suspense," whined Alice. I didn't stop glaring, so she sighed and shrugged. "Anyway, Bella, Victoria changed her route last minute because Esme beat her there, so she's fine, but now she's making decisions rapidly again. We worry she'll feed in town tonight, but we don't know on who." I sighed in relief, before mentally chastising myself; the other person she fed upon was likely as equally important to someone else as Charlie was to me. Whatever happened, it would be someone's tragedy.
"So anyway, we'll be watching you tonight; so, onto the good news." Her mischievous grin returned, and I felt myself relax. "Things are going to be very different for you and Rose soon."
"Really?" I asked, before I flushed at how eager I sounded.
"Oh yes," said Alice. "She's going to be less stubborn. It won't be easy, still, but now that she knows you feel the pull, she knows it's inevitable. She has accepted fate."
"Fate?" I replied, snorting. Is Alice implying Rose and I were fated to be together? I was deeply drawn to her, and could easily imagine a long relationship with her, but I never believed in fate.
"Yes, Bella, and try to be romantic for once in your life," said Alice, irritation coloring her joy. "Do you remember what I told you about how vampires find their mates? They mate for life, and thats it. Once you feel the mating pull, you know they're your mate, and you're done for." My mind reeled slightly; so Rose felt what I was feeling?
"I'm…Rose's mate? You saw this?" I was stuttering and blushing. So, according to Alice, mystical vampire forces have decreed I belong with Rosalie Hale.
"It's not surprising, Bella," said Alice "I had visions of it the second you entered Forks, but Rose has been stubborn because you're human."
"Right," I said, remembering her telling me I deserved better. As if there were anything better than her. (I realize that was an intense thought, but I don't regret it).
"I think she thought that because you're human, you wouldn't feel it, and that would make it possible for her to fight. That if she stayed away from you, she wouldn't feel it, and she would be able to stop herself, But she can't." Alice clapped in glee.
"Alice! Keep your hands on the wheel for Christ's sake! I don't need to worry about dying in a car accident! I have enough on my plate right now." She scowled, but then returned to grinning. I admit, I felt like grinning too, but I was still hesitant. Would Rose really accept me and our connection, or would she remain stubborn as ever? I sighed, and the rest of the ride passed in silence.
We were about 20 minutes from my house (5 at vampire speed), when Alice suddenly pulled to the side of the road. I looked at her questioningly, before I peered out the window; there was Rose standing by my truck, looking equal parts irritated and fearful. I looked at Alice, unsure of what to do.
"Just get out - you two have a lot to discuss." She winked. The second I exited the car and walked over to the truck, she sped away. I was now face to face with Rosalie Hale, my alleged mate, and I had absolutely no fucking clue what to say to her. I was thrilled and terrified.
"So…let's talk," said Rose.