Chapter 20: Stephen's POV

Apparently my new Escalade is fully loaded. I've got a GPS system, a DVD player in the back, AM/FM radio with a CD player in the front, OnStar and 2 cell phone jacks that let me use the phone and charge it at the same time… THIS THING IS AWESOME!!!!

We've been driving for 7 ½ hours straight… We need to hunt. I pull us onto the shoulder of the road. I take Lyssa's hand and run for a few minutes. We find a few deer… just enough to hold us til we get home. An hour later, she leads me back to the car, and we continue our trip.

Six hours after our short hunt, we pull onto our street. I see the beautiful brick house as we approach, but there's a cop car parked out front… I whisper quietly to my wife as I pull into our driveway. "Lyssa, act sleepy." I get out of the car and head to the trunk to unload the suitcases. The officer meets me at the porch. "Can I help you, officer?"

He looks at me as he answers. "Yes, we are looking for a Stephen O'Donnell and a Lyssann Roper, as well as a Regination O'Connell. Do you know where we can find these people?"

I give him a friendly smile. "Well, sir, Regination O'Connell is my cousin and she'll be here in a few hours." I unlock our front door with the key Lyssa had gotten from Justine. "I am Stephen O'Donnell… Lyssann Roper has become Lyssann O'Donnell…my wife… and she's over there, in our Escalade. Is there a problem?"

"Mr. O'Donnell, your sister has been reported missing… some of your neighbors have said they witnessed an argument between the two of you, in front of this very house. I have to inform you that this looks suspicious. Do you have anything to say about this, sir?" The officer speaks firmly.

"I'm astonished, sir. Listen my wife and I just got back from a very long trip. Can we get settled before we get questioned?" I act surprised.

"I'm sorry, but I need to get a statement from all of you before I can leave." He seems sincere.

Lyssa comes over to us slowly. "Is there something we can do for you, officer?"

"Jennifer is missing, Lyssa. They need a statement from us. Where were we? And so on…" I say.

She smiles at him; she does a good job of looking sleepy. "Well, officer, we were in Forks, Washington, getting married and visiting with my family. I'll get the pictures in a few days…if you'd like to see them."

I use my gift to make him friendly, as I take over from there, "Yes, Jenn and I argued in front of the house last week. Jennifer was never a good sister to me…She was away for the weekend when I asked Lyssa to marry me; she never thought I was that serious about her. I moved in here that same weekend. She didn't like that I moved out without telling her…Jenn felt that I was taking my relationship with Lyssa too far too fast. I did it all legally. I signed my portion of our family home over to Jenn and only took what was mine, when I left. She has nothing to complain about… And I have everything I could ever want, here with my Lyssa. Regination will be here shortly. She'll be living with us. If you'd like to wait for her… maybe you could do us a favor? I need to carry my bride over the threshold of our home… We'd be very grateful if you'd take a picture."

He smirks and nods. "Sure."

I open the door fully and hand him the camera from my pocket. I then scoop Lyssa off her feet. We pose and he snaps a picture. I step forward through the door and he takes another. I kiss her and that's the last picture.

He grins and says, "I remember when my wife and I did this…"

We smile at him. I use my gift again, willing him to listen to me as I say, "You should go and get her some flowers or something. I'm sure she'd love that."

He nods, lost in his thoughts. "I think I will. I'll be back tomorrow to talk to your cousin." He hands the camera back and runs to his cruiser. Lyssa and I share a look.

I sigh. "I hope Rapunzel gets here soon. Lyssa, we should unpack so we can hunt before we go to… What NOW???"

A truck pulls up with a strange ad on the side. *California Closets? What's that?* The man comes up to the porch. "Hello, miss, I'm here to install your new closet system. A Miss Alice Cullen set this up for you and she gave us a message for you." He says as he hands over an envelope. Lyssa directs him to the bedroom. As soon as he's out of sight and hearing range, we open the envelope. It's a letter…

Dear Lyssa and Stephen,

You're welcome for the closet… Justine says she'll unpack for you, as soon as she gets there… Rapunzel says you shouldn't wait… The place is on the left and the time is RIGHT. Don't worry, SHE'LL be there.

Lots of Love, Alice

Lyssa and I stare at each other for a second. I recall the numbers on the right hand… The number on the thumb is a 4 digit number… today's date! 8309… The numbers on the other fingers were 1628… in military time that's 428. I look at my watch. "We have just over an hour. Let's hunt and then we'll go to our destination."

She nods and calls up to the workman, "We'll be just down the street, my housemate and my husband's cousin will be here in a few minutes. Help yourself to soda or anything in the fridge. Thanks in advance for your hard work. Bye, now."

And off we go to meet our destiny's designer…

After we caught a few deer, we passed by the house to pick up the Escalade. We knew the girls were home because the BMW was parked out front. *We got here really fast*

"It's 4:20. Stephen, we're early…" Lyssa says as we pull into the parking lot near my granny's burial plot. I just nod as I scan the cemetery. I see random people, but nobody I recognize…

As we approach the headstone, I notice the same three symbols from the scroll-casing. The stone itself is the shape of an ankh. The double-hearts symbol is engraved in the loop of the ankh…and the infinity symbol is at the center of the cross.

All of a sudden, I hear a voice whisper out of the darkness. "JUSTICE! At last, the McCullen Clan has justice!" I freeze at first… I know that voice… but it can't be… I turn toward this impossibly familiar voice. A female vampire emerges from the shadows and steps up to me. She wraps her arms around me and strokes my face as she says, "I have so much to tell you, my boy…but first…Won't you introduce me to your lovely wife?"

I nod in a daze. "Lyssa, my love, this is Shannon O'Donnell… my mother."

Lyssann's POV

I am shocked, to say the least. After what we went through before the wedding… his emotional breakdown…I'm really not feeling the love for my mother-in-law. I nod curtly to her and say, "We should get you out of public view. Come to our car. We'll discuss things at home." I turn away and begin walking toward the Escalade. We all get into the car and the ride home is silent. We pull up to the house, where Rapunzel is waiting for us. Stephen and I get out first. We look around and I open the car door for her.

Rapunzel stares and whispers, "Aunt Shannon?! What are you doing here?"

I grab her arm and start to ask about Justine, when I hear Shannon say, "You know, Stephen, I don't think your wife likes me!"

I whirl on her. "I can't imagine why not? Could it be that you left Stephen at the tender age of 15 and damaged him?? Did you know that he tried to kill himself? Before we married we had to go through an extensive counseling session with my family members, because he felt abandoned! He needed constant attention from me… not that I minded. When we did part, even for a short while, he was nervous and clung to the person he felt closest to in the room. He was a mess… to say the least. I thank the Cullens every time he's able to leave my side for more than a minute without a panic attack. All of this is no thanks to you!" I look at him. "Look at him, now… Just seeing you again has him dazed and tense. Rapunzel, please get her inside and fill her in on recent events while I try to help Stephen get calm and focused." I step cautiously closer to him. His breathing is choppy. I wrap my arms around him and hold him close. "I want you to look into my eyes, Stephen." He does. "I love you." He nods. "We belong to each other. Do you hear me, My Love?" He nods again. He hugs me back. "Stephen, love, we really need you to focus here. Jennifer needs you to focus. Now listen, Shannon will have a story… We will listen and interpret things we don't recognize or understand. If she says or does anything to provoke you, and you feel like you can't control yourself just say 'stop' and go to the music room. Ok?"

He closes his eyes and keeps his arms around me. A car drives past the house. He whispers. "Let it rain, love. Your sweet rain relaxes me." I stroke his back and glace to the sky. The clouds darken and the sky begins to open.

Justine opens the door behind me. "Hey, Lyssa! Stephen, your mother is very catty. I don't think I like her much. Rapunzel said she'd settle her in. I'm just going to get some Taco Bell and then visit a friend from work. So, I'll see you later, K?"

I nod as my husband takes my hand. We walk into the house and up the stairs slowly to give him time to compose himself. "Shannon, I'm sure you heard our talk outside… so please just try not to upset him. We really don't have time for what I'd need to do to calm him down further." She looks distressed but agrees with a silent nod. "Rapunzel, she knows everything?" She just nods. I continue. "I think you'd better fill us in now… What's the story?"

We focus on this woman. She is tall with orange eyes and a round face. Her mouth is small and looks like it's in a permanent pout. Her nose is cute as a button. Her hair is a pale silvery blonde and falls to her waist. Shannon begins to speak…

"My name you know… from this life anyway… We… the four of us have been reborn several times. By 'the four of us' I mean of course, yourselves, Felix and me. Stephen, your granny had the gift of sight. When I met her she shook my hand and said 'You will give life to "platinum" but when his teens hit five then you must hide… Do not despair! You will return to him after he holds the "gold".' I thought nothing of it til you turned 14. Your granny then showed me a journal that had been passed down through the ages. It had an entry from about a century ago. I had been told a few times by psychics and fortune tellers that I had an old soul. But the passage in the journal, told the reader the description of the mother of "platinum"…It matched me to a 'T'. I didn't want to leave. One night I found myself lost in the city. You remember right? I had business in Detroit. I never came back because I was bitten… by a vampire. So then I really did have to hide. I called your father a few times but whenever he wanted to see me I had to say no… I lied to him countless times, telling him I didn't love him anymore…He told me you were all better off without me. I've missed you and Jennifer so much."

Stephen's breathing is becoming erratic. I grasp his hand and say "Back to the story, please?"

Shannon nods. "Sorry… So I noticed when I touched a person, I could see that person's past lives. During my change I re-experienced my past lives…all 9 of them… In the first I was your grandmother Stephen. You and Lyssann were about to be handfasted… sort of engaged. We were in a lovely field. Lyssann, you had long, flowing, jet black hair and blue eyes. Stephen, you had flaming red hair and emerald green eyes. Felix was your father, Lyssann…with blonde hair and hazel eyes. He came forth from woods and interrupted the ceremony. He never liked that you 2 were so close and wanted to see you married to a rich Viking stranger. He stabbed and killed Stephen and dragged Lyssa away. I was in the field; I managed to grab a piece of his and Lyssa's hair as they struggled. I stood over Stephen's body with tears in my eyes and in my hands took a strand of my hair mixed it with Felix's making one swath of blonde hair, one of black and one of red… yours Stephen. I was a druid priestess so I knew spells. I spoke words in Gaelic as I braided them together. Translated the spell was this:

'Dearest Gods above grant me and mine the justice we seek! Let the times go forth. Let the souls who possess a loyal friendship for each other develop a love that can last throughout the ages. Let them become stronger than the hardest of metals… that together they may stand against the evil in the world and shine brighter than the stars…from my mouth to the ears of the Gods… So Mote It Be…'

As I said the last few words I sealed the spell by tucking the braid into Stephen's pocket, and then called a group of men from our clan to bury him. Throughout the other lives, I watched the both of you get stronger. I was always in one of your lives. In my last life…Lyssann, I was your mother. Felix was the man who 'made' you…'molded' you into a vampire. So in a sense he 'fathered' you. This is my ninth life… and I'm here to see the justice so deserved by our clan, the McCullen Clan, for the loss of both of you, become complete."