Based on characters from the Twilight© by Stephanie Meyers. The original characters and plot are the property of the author. No copyright infringement is intended.

21 THE WILLS

Edward! Edward… Edward?

Oh joy, I thought glumly, unfortunately Edward was back for a visit. Fortunately I was facing west, so my head didn't have to turn as I heard the name pop into my head again and again as the whole household turned out to happily greet him. Edward Tell was his name and I hated him for intruding on my grief and melancholy. I sat there angry and desperately sad. I wanted to feel miserable for a while, I was missing my parent's funeral, my chance to say farewell. So I sat there staring at my flawless face with miserable and tearless red eyes, thinking of my family.

Carlisle was right I should have gone to the forest, here I could only pace the floor or stare into space. I didn't sit there unhappy for long as I thought of what I wrote about them and what I'd left out, recalling the great times we had. I joyfully struggled to remember both the blissfully mundane and special events of our lives.

The time went by remarkably fast and with a jolt, I felt the link with Carlisle's mind return as he drove home in the dark. I was still sitting on the dresser staring past my reflection into my memories. They kept me from dwelling on my fear that I would do something stupid while he was gone. Now he was back, all was well and I had happily pulled many foggy human memories forward into sharp vampire memories, so my mother and father would never be lost to me.

As Carlisle predicted no one came to the funeral except him and his aides. I watched and listened as he recalled the entire series of events. The only surprise was seeing his choice of aides. Both were middle aged women fashionably dressed in black. One was well mannered, statuesque and very pretty, she spoke like a scholar. The other was burly, brusque and muscular with a homely face but she had an agreeable personality. They kept a respectful distance from Carlisle but their obviously purpose was to support and assist him.

He read my eulogies over their graves for me and visualized the beautiful assortment of flowers that had been delivered. He brought home dozens of sympathy cards from their friends, my school friends, father's family, acquaintances and people who had worked with or were clients of my father.

I didn't want to hunt that night but I needed to get away from all the mental noise so we went to the forest. As soon as I caught the scent of a bear, I was running toward it, so much for not wanting to hunt.

I spent half the next day writing thank you notes. It helped me work through my sorrow and guilt that I had survived when they hadn't. It also helped to appreciate how much my parents meant to others. I had always thought they were good people so it was nice to have it confirmed.

The sympathy cards from my school and childhood friends were the hardest to cope with. I knew I couldn't continue our friendship. Carlisle told me I had two choices send a thank you note and just disappear, or I could write to them and let them know that I was still ill and that I would never fully recover. I was going to live with my uncle somewhere far away - 'just pick a place', he suggested. I wrote letters all saying the same thing, although I had more friends, these were the ones who saw the obituary and had responded. They would eventually see my other friends and pass the word along that I was ill, no longer living in Chicago. It shouldn't have mattered but I felt better, it wouldn't have been right just to disappear.

The afternoon after the funeral Carlisle called my parents' personal lawyer. Their lawyer, Robert Talbot, was one of the junior partners in father's law firm. He had been one of the sympathy card senders. Carlisle had copies of my parent's death certificates delivered to his office. Since I couldn't leave the house except to head for the wilderness, we made arrangements for him to come to Carlisle's house to read the wills. He made an appointment to come at noon three days later.

We hunted every night and I took more than I needed against Carlisle's insistence that it wouldn't help. Carlisle's thirst blazed as I made my first kill. I knew as I drained the last of the blood and it was as if I hadn't drank at all that he needed to hunt before I made myself sick.

"Carlisle," I called out. "I can feel your thirst and it makes me want too much. Please, go hunt."

I didn't think about that, he thought aghast and he was off toward a scent he had already identified. I tried not to focus on the target of his hunt and found another scent to follow. The hunt was over fairly quickly once he was sated. Each predawn morning I was miserably full for I was desperately nervous about our visitor so I was trying to make myself 'safe' for his sake.

We spent the morning planning and discussing, preparing and decorating. Noon came too quickly.

"Are you ready?" he asked me as we heard a car pull off the road onto the long winding gravel driveway. He fluffed the last pillow and tossed it at me. I placed it against the headboard behind me.

"Yes, I think so." I was very uneasy but he was confident and I leaned on his mental certainty, still I counted the days since I had been changed. Day one was when I stopped burning, and four was the day of the funeral. Now I was eight days old, was I ready for this?

I had no choice he was driving up now.

"Hold your breath and speak only when you must. I'll make sure he doesn't get too close to you." Carlisle lowered the flame in the bedside lamp, moved a few items on the table stood back and nodded. The stage was set.

"You know what to do. You will be fine," he said soothingly and went downstairs to wait for our visitor.

I ran over our simple plan again in my mind. I needed to act lethargic and use a rough voice to speak supporting the impression that I recovering from my illness. My room was dark, the drapes pulled closed but I was to keep my eyes squinted so he couldn't see the color.

I had met the man before so I knew he would recognize me as Edward Masen. I was only to confirm that Carlisle was my uncle and I wanted him as my guardian. Most important of all was to remember - Do Not Breathe!

"Easy, this will be easy," I said trying to convince myself.

I had practiced talking with only the air in my lungs. I wasn't very good yet. I used up too much air but I practice rephrasing my words until I could say what I needed to say using one deep breath.

I heard the car pull up to the house. I waited in my room for my acting debut. I sat on the bed in one of my nightshirts surrounded by books. A tray with medicine bottles and a glass of water sat on my bedside table for effect.

I heard the car engine stop, the car door open and close, and footsteps on the gravel. Then I heard the door bell ring, Carlisle's footsteps and the door open. Carlisle was calm as I watched him open the door but with each sound I had to suppress my apprehension. I took my last deep breath and held it.

"Hello. I'm Mr. Talbot, the Masen's lawyer."

I watched the little man introduce himself to Carlisle.

As soon as I heard his voice I found his internal 'voice' and I saw through his eyes, he looked up at Carlisle's face with surprise. I looked through Carlisle's eye to see the surprised look on his face. I focused back to Mr. Talbot's thoughts.

"Yes, we were expecting you. Please come in." Carlisle moved back and invited him into the house.

"Thank you. You have a lovely home." He looked around trying to discover what smelled so wonderful then he focused on Carlisle. Great! I thought in disbelief, so we smell really good to humans on top of everything else.

Carlisle fascinated Mr. Talbot. He thought Carlisle was the most handsome man he'd ever seen but something made him wary and he was uneasy, like he had walked into the wrong house. Although everything looked right something didn't feel quite right to him.

"Thank you. I'm Carlisle Cullen, Edward's uncle on his mother's side. May I take your coat?"

"Oh, yes," he replied, slightly confused. I could tell that it was Carlisle's presence that had him uneasy but not so much that he knew why he felt that way. In the back of his mind he attributed it to the long tree lined driveway and the aged and eerie look of the house.

I heard the rustle of fabric. I watched him remove his coat through Carlisle's eyes and watched Carlisle hang it on the coat rack through the lawyer's eyes. This was an entertaining game. I hadn't been around two minds like this so I hadn't been able to jump between minds before and found it very entertaining. Although I could hear and see through them both at the same time it was less confusing if I focused on one or the other.

Listening to him did not trigger my thirst at all, this was wonderful. My anxiety diminished rapidly.

"Edward is upstairs. I'm sure you would like to see him first before we get down to business." Carlisle guided him toward the stairs.

"Yes, I would like to give him my condolences." He looked around the entry hall and up the stairs, he was slightly nervous.