AN: Greeting All!

Thanks to everyone who reads, follows, faves, and reviews this, especially the reviewers for last chapter, asia joanna 7334, Siobhan Whitlock, catgrl, traceybuie, ckaren09, reading shaky, nickaroos, and twi nana! Y'all make this buckin' bronc worth ridin'!

*Warnings for this one: The second scene in Emmett's POV is a vigilante sequence and several rapists get eaten, some of their crimes are described, though not in detail. Also a child dies. Please skip that section if it bothers you.*

Here comes Chapter 14, Folks!

Chapter 14

Emmett's POV

Okay, so I had to admit, I was loving the single life so far. Yeah, I missed Rosie, of course, don't get me wrong. She'd been my wife since 1938. That was longer than probably like ninety-five percent of human marriages. It was definitely gonna take some time getting used to the fact that we weren't together anymore.

But between Irina's amazing dick-sucking skills and Elvira's total willingness to do anal, I was having more fun than I'd had in a long time!

And don't even get me started on Kate. We'd only been at the new house for two days and I'd already started fantasizing about what it would feel like to have my cock electrocuted. I know, weird, right?

And then there was Alice. Man, I wanted Alice. And she was the only one of the single girls who could totally identify with the whole losing your spouse of many decades thing, so I was pretty sure we could help each other a lot. But there was this one huge stumbling block preventing us from hooking up.

Every time I thought about it, those thoughts came with this feeling of guilt and anxiety. Guilt because Alice was like a little sister to me. It never felt like Rose and I were siblings because we had already been a couple before the first time we had posed as siblings. So the siblings part felt like an act while the couple part felt real.

But when Alice and Jasper came into the family, they were already a couple and neither of them were newborns, so we all went to school right away. Our very first cover story was that she and I were biological siblings because we both have the same dark hair that looks either black or brown depending on the lighting.

So I'd started thinking of her as a little sister right away. And even though I was fairly certain that we wouldn't be going to high school anymore, now that we were part of the Whitlock coven...it was still gonna take a hot minute for me to reconcile our past as siblings to our present as single, heartbroken coven mates.

I had to hope that she understood that was why I hadn't invited her to The Love Bed yet. It definitely wasn't for lack of desire. Alice was sinfully sexy. No fully functioning, single, hetero male could look at her without getting a hard-on. I know I couldn't. Man was I conflicted.

Not that I should be thinking about any of this right now since I had just finished having a three-way with Irina and Elvira, but hey, I'm a vampire. Our minds tend to wander.

Just then, I heard Alice go into Marble Skeleton's room and tell them all that we were about to get visitors from the other wing and they had some important things to talk to us all about. So I got dressed while Irina and Elvira did the same.

Kate came in then from wherever she had been and changed her clothes right in front of me, which was not making it easy to stop thinking about sex and my pants remained slightly tented when the band and Alice all walked in. Edward and Alice seemed off but I couldn't place why.

I guessed the meeting was happening in our room because it was a big bedroom with a ton of seating. The Denali group walked in from the guesthouse a moment later.

Once we were all assembled, Jasper, Pete, Isa, Char, Carl, and Cindy walked in. Carl and Cindy were holding hands and they seemed pretty cozy. I had to admit that it bothered me a bit to see him replacing our mom so quickly. Maybe he was rebounding like I was, but she died. They weren't just divorced so it seemed disrespectful to me.

Jasper began to speak and all ears turned to listen intently to our coven leader. "Okay, everyone. Y'all need to listen up because the person we've been callin' Cindy, is actually not. She's changin' her name to Luna, but she needs to tell ya who she used ta be. Former Cullens, please pay close attention especially."

"Thank you, Jasper." Cindy (or Luna or whoever she was) began. "Alice, Honey, you've obviously already seen everything I'm about to say. I just want you to know first, that it wasn't your fault what happened in that cave. You couldn't have seen the hybrids or known they were there, any more than I did. I know what your father said to you, but he was angry and didn't mean it. I don't hold you responsible for my death, Sweetheart." She smiled.

Alice was about to go to her but I shot up like a rocket. "Is this some kind of sick joke? You're posing as our dead mother now?" I growled.

"Emmett, Sweetheart, I can prove it's me. Every pair of underwear that each of you owns has your name stitched into them. None of you know that because I was very discreet about it and the letters are nearly invisible. But it made it much easier for knowing whose was whose for folding laundry. If you go to your dresser drawer you'll see that I am telling the truth." She grinned.

I walked over to where my clothing was and found one of the few pairs that I'd had for longer than we'd been here (since we'd had to buy some new clothes to supplement our wardrobe until we could either arrange for our belongings to be delivered or had time to go get them).

I pulled my drawers out of my drawer, which is a weird statement, I admit. And after inspecting nearly every inch of the fabric, just when I was tempted to call her a liar and punch her into next week...I found it.

Lying along the seam, in tiny, unobtrusive, embroidered letters the exact color of the fabric, so even Alice with her penchant for fashion would never have found them, was my name. I had never in my life been so happy to see those six letters before!

I spun quickly, planning to hug her, but she held up a hand to stop me. Was she mad that I didn't believe her?

"Before we rejoice, I have to confess something, Em. Because I'm afraid that my being here is at your expense, Sweetheart." She said, looking like someone ran over her puppy.

"At my expense? No, Mommy, I'm glad you're here, of course, I am. I don't understand how, but I'm definitely glad!" I nodded emphatically through my tearless blubbering.

"I know you are. But you might not be when I tell you the how." She sighed, stepping closer and taking my hands as she began to speak again. "The girl whose body I have...the one whom Isa changed...the girl called Cindy...I traded places with her. She has to wait for a new body and then be born again. But Emmett, Sweetheart...Cindy was your mate."

…

…

I must've opened and closed my mouth several times before speaking. I had a mate? A real, honest to goodness soulmate? And my mom took her place? My mate sacrificed her own happiness so that our family could have Esme back?

"She must've known we needed you," I said in barely a whisper.

She winced. "Actually, Emmett...I didn't tell her about you. I was afraid she might say no, and I knew your father was suffering, I needed to get back to him. So I let her think she might not find her mate for a long time. She didn't know what she was giving up."

"Oh." I deflated.

I had never known Esme to act selfishly before. It was almost enough to make me doubt her story. But obviously whatever Edward had read in her mind and whatever Alice had seen and Jasper had felt, all corroborated the fact that this was my mother standing before me, breaking my heart.

Of course, I understood enough about the mating process to know that there was nothing this woman wouldn't have done for her mate, so I got it, really I did. But by that same coin, I knew that there was nothing my mate wouldn't have done for me, and by extension for my family.

"I don't know her yet, but I do know you could have trusted her with the truth. If I was the one burning, and she was the one sitting here grieving her mother, I would have sent her mother back to her in a heartbeat. Although, that would be weird because then her mother would have been walking around in a man's body." I admitted.

Then I looked at her. Truly looked at her. Not just her eyes. I looked at the body that had originally belonged to my mate. So beautiful. But yet so young. And she'd been living on that awful compound. I turned and looked at Isa. She was the only one who'd known Cindy. "Did Ferdinand…?"

Isa nodded slowly. "Probably most of his guards too," she said in barely a whisper. My heart broke even further.

I looked back at my mom. "Will she remember all that stuff?"

"No, Emmett. I assure you, the only reason I remember my life as Esme is because I hijacked the process. Cindy, being born the natural way will have no recollection," she vowed.

I threw my arms around her then and hugged her so fiercely that I thought I might break her, in spite of her newborn strength. "Thank you, Esme! Or...Luna? I'm just gonna call you, Mom. Thank you, so much!" I blubbered.

"You forgive me?" she asked quietly, seeming surprised.

"Forgive you? Mom, I watched one woman go through the grueling process of recovering from that bullshit already. And Rose was an adult. And her attackers were human. Cindy was thirteen and those were vampires. And it wasn't just one time. I have to assume it happened a lot, based on what we saw there. You spared my mate from those memories. You made it so she didn't have to suffer anymore. There is absolutely nothing to forgive," I assured her.

She sobbed tearlessly on my shoulder for a few minutes and then she looked at Isa who nodded slowly. Mom seemed relieved.

"What was that all about?" I asked.

"I was kinda mad at her fer hijackin' Cindy's body. Told her I'd only forgive her if you did. I wasn't thinkin' 'bout all that other stuff." Isa admitted sheepishly.

"Oh, okay. Well, thanks for the concern of course, but we're all good here," I assured her.

She looked at Mom and smiled. "Then we're all good here too."

"Now that all that is settled," Alice chimed in. "The rest of us would appreciate it if you'd stop hogging our mother. We'd like to hug her too!"

"Oh right, sorry." I laughed as Alice stole her out of my arms and started hugging the squish out of her.

I watched as Edward and Rose and the Denalis all came forward and took turns hugging her. But I watched in a sort of haze as other thoughts began to take over my mind.

I remembered very clearly the sight of that vampire in the barracks brutally forcing himself on that girl Rose drained. I kept picturing my mate lying there instead. And not only suffering herself but having to witness the suffering of all her friends as well.

At least now she'd be reborn and have a fresh start. But where would she be born and what else might she suffer before I found her? What if she was born in a place where girls are mistreated? What if she was born with health problems? She could end up with anything from leukemia to down syndrome.

Or worse, she could end up getting abused again. I mean, Rose had been abused, Cindy had been abused, maybe I was only ever meant to end up with women who were victims. Maybe that's how I would find her, now that we were eating rapists and other criminals. Maybe the first time we met would be in an alley somewhere with her lying bruised and bleeding.

Maybe I just wouldn't find her in time and she'd die again and be born again. I had to wonder how many chances we would be given to find each other. What if I screwed this up? What if we never found happiness together? What if I was destined to miss her at every turn and never be with her?

I hadn't noticed Jasper was trying to calm me until he came over and set his hand on my shoulder. "You okay, Em? Yer emotions are all over the place an' some of 'em are pretty dark. I tried to help but nothin' seems ta be gettin' through."

"Yeah, I just need ta hunt. I'll feel better after I kill some rapists," I said, attempting to assure myself as well as him.

"Okay, but make sure ya have yer phone on, an' call if ya need anythin'." He insisted.

"Thanks, Man." I nodded and I was gone in a flash.

I thought I would feel better after sinking my teeth into an evil rapist. But the girl he was attacking was young. Close to Cindy's age. And so it just made me madder. I pictured her face in place of his victim as I rescued her. Of course, that face wasn't hers anymore it was Mom's now.

As I tore into the next rapist I found, about an hour later...I didn't have a face of my mate's to picture anymore so I just looked at the man's victim and pretended she herself was Cindy. The girl was clearly a street kid. A few years older than Cindy. She was strung out though, and physically quite unattractive. But for all I knew, maybe that's the kind of life my mate would be born into.

So I was very gentle when I walked her out of the alley and took her to a coffee shop. I bought her a coffee and then dropped her off at a women's shelter hoping she would get the care she needed. I wrote them a check to cover her expenses. The woman behind the desk called me a Good Samaritan, but I'd read that story and I didn't remember the good Samaritan murdering any rapists in a haze of rage and bloodlust.

Speaking of, I was apparently still hungry. I guess I was an emotional eater.

The next rapist I found made me so sick I couldn't handle it. They were in a house, not an alley. In an upper-class part of town. The girl was much younger than Cindy. She'd obviously been a virgin and he was not by any means being gentle. Not only that, but I was chilled to the bone when I heard the words she cried out.

"Daddy, stop!" Her feeble little voice whimpered.

His own fucking daughter?!

I couldn't, I just couldn't drain that man and drop that little girl off somewhere to live out the rest of her days haunted by a memory like that. I snapped her neck and drained her instead while her evil father watched in horror. Then I broke every bone in his body while he screamed in pain. And when I left, I took both of their bodies and all the evidence and incinerated them out in the middle of nowhere. I had to hope that God would be merciful and give her a much better life the next time around.

I was beginning to find that the more of these psychos I killed, the hungrier I became. Soon, I was acting on autopilot. Alice caught up to me eventually.

"I think that's enough, Emmett." She whispered softly, spinning me around to face her. I had just finished cleaning up after draining a man who had been raping an elderly woman. "I know you've been covering your tracks well, but these will all still be disappearances and it could bring the Volturi down on us if we're not careful. Especially if they think it's the covens of the Southern Wars coming further north...because they are closely monitored."

"Yeah, okay, Ally." I nodded. "I guess I was getting pretty full anyway."

"Em...you've killed twenty-six people today. I think we passed 'full' a while ago. You've been binging and purging for the last several hours, Honey. I didn't think there was such thing as vampiric bulimia but you've proven me wrong," she explained gently. "I'm gonna take you somewhere and get you cleaned up before we go home."

I nodded slowly knowing that she was right. I had a vague recollection of puking my guts out a few times, which was something we never normally did unless we had to eat human food.

Alice took me to a motel. She took me into the bathroom and stripped me out of my blood-stained clothing and stood me in the shower stall. She was going to start the shower and leave the room, but I gently pulled her in with me. "Please?" I begged in a whisper. "I need to feel something other than rage and sorrow for a while."

She nodded, taking her own clothes off and turning the shower on. She stepped in beside me and didn't bat an eyelash when my arms wrapped around her waist. She didn't even flinch when I kissed her, in spite of how gross I must've tasted at that moment. She just kissed me back. Cautiously at first, then more deliberately.

She pulled back slightly and began kissing a trail down my neck, then my chest, sinking to her knees as she went lower. Soon she was taking my needy length in her mouth.

"Fuck!" I hissed as the intense pleasure she was bringing me became the center of my universe.

Alice looked up at me through her eyelashes as she continued servicing me. It was the most beautiful sight I had seen in a long time.

I mean sure, Irina was great at this type of thing, but she was a succubus. She was great because she had centuries of experience pleasuring a vast multitude of men. It never felt...special..when Irina did it. And Elvira wasn't really into blowjobs. Come to think of it, Rose never cared much for them either.

But Alice? Alice was making me feel like I was some sort of beloved king or emperor. Like I was the one doing her the favor. It was intense and amazing and meaningful. And it made me want nothing more than to return the favor.

I swiftly maneuvered us so that our positions were reversed and I was down on my knees in front of her. Her beautiful burgundy eyes darkened with desire before ultimately rolling back in her head as I made her scream my name.

And as soon as I had gotten her off, I moved to stand in front of her, lifting her up so her legs wrapped around my waist as I pressed her up against the shower wall. I looked into her eyes, lining up at her entrance, asking permission without words. She nodded emphatically, pulling my mouth to hers in a heated kiss as my aching shaft penetrated her warmth and soon there was only Alice.

My mind was temporarily distracted from the twenty-six people I had killed that day and the plethora of awful sex crimes I had witnessed. My thoughts didn't even drift to my mate, being born who-knows-where in the world and waiting for me to one day find her. Later when I reflected on how thoroughly, blissfully distracted I was with Alice, I would count it as a blessed miracle. A momentary break from all the harrowing emotions which would threaten to destroy me the next time I was alone.

And thus became the way of it. I still divided part of my time among Irina and Elvira, of course, and Kate was soon added into that rotation. But it was my times with Alice that I longed for and craved the most. The other girls I was with because they wanted me. As the only single male vampire around, I was kind of the stud, I guess. But Alice, I was with because she made me forget my pain and sorrow and anger. Alice, I was with because she soothed my wounded soul.

Cindy's POV

Heaven was wonderful. I wanted to stay. Everything about it was perfect. Singing Karaoke with Selena, painting with Frida Kahlo, I'd be a fool to want to leave. But I knew he needed me.

Emmett was hanging on by a thread. A thread called Alice. And that couldn't last forever. I knew that soon she would find her mate. And I needed to be by his side before that happened. I couldn't watch him lose anyone else from up here in paradise. I had to go to him.

"I'm ready," I told Gabriel with confidence.

"Wonderful. I have three placements for you to choose from. This is the one that gets you back to him the soonest. But it won't be without its challenges."

I looked over my options before choosing that one. "I like it. It's...unconventional. Just like us."

"Very well then. Conception in five, four, three, two, one. Have a nice re-birth, Child."

AN: Okay so I borrowed elements of this concept from a movie called What Dreams May Come. I liked their version of the afterlife. Cindy and Emmett's story will eventually be told in a spin-off fic so we won't see Cindy again until then!