Disclaimer: I am not Stephenie Meyer and I do not own the rights to the Twilight Saga, Life and Death, or any of the accouterments in the series.

AN: Vote - an act of expressing a formal indication of choice.

Chapter 24 – Vote

"If you go back to Volterra then I'm going to go with you, Beau," Edythe said stubbornly, stepping up to the window beside me.

"That defeats the entire purpose of it."

"Beau, I made one mistake and left you. I'm not letting you run away now... not when I know what it feels like to believe you're actually dead."

I closed my eyes, leaning my head against the window. "Edythe, that isn't..." I didn't know how to explain what I'd realized about myself. I didn't know how to make her understand that I was fighting every instinct in my body just to stay and talk with her, because a very large part of me wanted more blood, and it wasn't animal blood I desired.

I knew that maybe I just wasn't looking at it objectively, after all... Almost every vampire in this house had killed humans before. As Edythe had said, it was just part of being a vampire. But the bloodlust, in my head, felt more encompassing than how even Jessamine described it, and I didn't know what it meant. Maybe it was because it was so new to me, and it would fade in time. I wasn't sure.

Oh, it was true, the very first time I got in close proximity with human blood – Bonnie's as it had so happened – I knew that I wanted it, and I wanted it badly, but I'd been able to resist. And I didn't think I could anymore.

Beside me, Edythe suddenly said, "Oh, that's an excellent idea."

I opened my eyes, turning my head slightly to look at her.

"Carine is mentally suggesting that perhaps we have a family meeting. There are choices to be made and options in front of us. Maybe it'll help you figure out what you want to do."

"Okay," I agreed.

…

Archie and Jessamine made it downstairs to the dining room table before Edythe and I did. Carine, Earnest, and Eleanor were also seated around the giant table, which only left Royal, who came in from outside a moment later. He was in a pair of jeans with oil stains on them, confirming what I'd assumed.

"I want to be the first to say that leaving was wrong. We shouldn't have done it, no matter how legitimate our reasons. We're a family unit, and you are part of this family," Carine said as she stared at me.

I nodded in acceptance of her words.

"And we're sorry." The words were heartfelt, and clearly honest. No one could doubt that she meant them.

And yet, I wasn't ready to accept them. So I looked away and didn't reply. There were several seconds of dead silence, while I saw Archie open his mouth only to close it again a moment later, out of the corner of my eye.

Finally Jessamine spoke, "Beau feels betrayed over the fact that we left. He's also overwhelmed. I don't think he's ready to accept that apology."

I stiffened for a moment but then let my shoulders deflate. I remembered one the first family meeting we'd had after I became a vampire and I'd been given fair warning at the time that they only worked when everyone actually talked when they were supposed to.

"And that's fair. But we now need to decide what we should do next," Carine said.

"I say we should stay here. There's no point in us moving, at least for now," Royal said.

"What do you think the wolves will do if they see Beau's eyes as they look right now, Royal?" Edythe snarled.

"I would think that would be his problem, wouldn't it? He didn't have to kill that human."

I placed my hand over Edythe's just as she stated, "You're right, you could have bothered to actually think about the consequences that your actions might have caused, because if Beau had actually been dead, then so would I. Likely Archie too, who never would have just let me die."

"I couldn't have possibly known you would pull some sort of modern day Iseult, Edythe." His words were both angry and contrite at the same time.

Edythe opened her mouth, but I beat her to talking. "No, he's absolutely right. It wasn't like I slipped up. I made a choice. I could have told Sulpicia no and watched you and Archie be killed. I could have chose not to even rescue to begin with. There's a whole lot of could haves, not the least of which is the one where you guys could have never moved to Forks to begin with. And perhaps that's what should have actually happened."

"I wouldn't have seen that vision if it was meant to happen like that, Beau. Do you know how weird it is for me to have a vision about somebody I don't know, living in a town I've never been to, and following that up by getting attacked by a vampire I've never met. It's not like it was a vision about one of us or the Denalis or any of the vampires that we actually know. It was about a vampire that, at the time, I'd never seen before. Joss never inferred that Lauren was with her at the time that she attacked me so I have no reason to believe I even knew Lauren as a human.

"And though I knew of Forks, because of the treaty and the interesting story there, I'd never actually been to Forks. This town meant little more to me than a sunny day in Florida would. And I had no relationship to you, Beau. You aren't a descendant of one of our human families, you aren't somebody who I accidentally bumped into when you were child, and you aren't famous. There was no reason for me to have a vision of you, unless I was meant to do something about it.

"I admit, I didn't know that you were meant to become a part of our integral lives, at the time. I just thought it was something I was meant to take care of. It wouldn't be my first vision like that. I do occasionally get a vision of some future that has nothing to do with me, and it's always because it's something that's changeable – preventable even."

"And yet no one knew?"

"I knew Archie had seen something, and that was why he wanted to move here so badly, but I didn't know the details of the vision," Jessamine said.

Carine sighed. "Since Archie and Jessamine joined our family back in 1950, we've moved a few times based on Archie's recommendations, because of what he saw. Usually it has had to do with potential danger where we were at before the move. So I'm not saying that I was unaware we were moving on his suggestion. I just accepted that there was a good reason."

I couldn't be angry with such practicality.

"Archie, I am grateful that you interfered, truly. I got to know all of you because of it, I got the chance to learn a bit about what love is... I even got to meet someone who, in a different life, one where perhaps I'd had a chance to grow up a little more, that maybe the mate bond would have been enough. But if so many of your visions end with me being some type of actual monstrosity, then this isn't the place for me.

"I think, subconsciously, I always knew that I was balanced on a knife's edge. It might be why I was so good at resisting human blood before. But I don't see myself being able to anymore, because something up here feels very different." I pointed a finger at my head.

"Beau, you also used your gift consciously for the first time," Edythe stated matter-of-factly. "I was still able to hear Sulpicia's thoughts when you did it. She seemed to think, based on how you stopped Alec's assault on me, that you're a shield, similar to the man behind her that she pointed out to you. Reinaldo. He's a physical shield and can stop physical attacks. He can make a small invisible circle around him that can potentially protect him and maybe two others. It's not a very big circle, and it's a very subtle gift in that what it does is really just encourage people to turn around and go the opposite direction if you get too close. You're shield can obviously expand farther than his. But Sulpicia suspected, and I'd agree, that it's purely mental. Alec's gift doesn't actually cause someone physical pain. Instead, it's a mental illusion that causes the being pain. When you pushed that shield around me, it stopped his mental attack.

"It's possible the reason you feel different is because you stretched a muscle you didn't even know you had before now. I should have figured out that was your gift a long time ago, but it never occurred to me until her mind essentially spelled it out."

"That doesn't make sense though. You don't have more of a bloodlust just from reading people's thoughts." I wanted to believe her, because it would make my life so much easier – since, if it was a matter of learning to control a skill, I could practice until I did – but it wasn't jiving for me.

"I've always been aware of my gift, Beau, as have Jessamine and Archie, for that matter. Well Jessamine didn't know what she was doing when she was a young vampire, but she was aware that she was able to influence those around her. All three of us have always used our gifts, as do most vampires. It's hard not to be aware of a gift pretty much immediately when it's something like what we do. And I guess, in a matter of speaking, you've always used yours as well. Even as a human, your mind was protected from me. But you've been completely unaware of what you were doing. The reality is this is the first time you've ever consciously put it to use. That pretty much means that our experiences are moot if we use it as a comparison. It's an apple and an orange. Perhaps if you talked with Kirill, he might know better than us."

"You really think that could be why?"

"Yes, I do. Is it true that some vampires have stronger bloodlusts than others? Absolutely. But you've been fine for almost a year. It doesn't make factual sense that one taste of human blood would change you so completely."

"Okay." I wasn't sure I believed her, not because I didn't trust her judgment on this subject, but because it didn't feel like it was because of the use of my talent.

"So no running off to Volterra?"

"I won't, I promise."

There was a brief pause.

Finally, Carine spoke, "We'll discuss the matter of you having a gift later. But now that we've determined you aren't leaving, we should figure out what is better here. If we stay we do risk the wolves ire, but we also risk the fact that Beau will eventually be recognized by someone eventually, and perhaps it would just be better for us all to start fresh elsewhere... Even if you decided against starting in a new school at this time, Beau."

"I don't see us leaving," Archie said.

"I don't care, but if we're going to move again, then can we get it done. We've already move twice in less than a year," Eleanor said, amusement in her voice.

"I think I should stay. I can't speak for any of you," I said quietly.

"If Beau's going to stay, then so am I."

"We should move. It makes the most logical sense. But if Archie doesn't seeing it happening, then I'm not going to argue with him," Jessamine stated.

Carine sighed. "That makes a majority. I guess I'll work to get my old position back at the hospital."

"They'll give it to you. They still haven't filled your spot," I said, remembering a newspaper I'd read from about three weeks ago.

…

After that we all went our separate ways. Royal returned to the garage to finish whatever he'd been working on, while Archie and Jessamine went back upstairs. Carine and Earnest decided to go hunting, while Eleanor headed upstairs as well.

Edythe and I found ourselves on the living room couch.

"Why do you want to stay so badly, Beau?"

"Once my eyes are gold again I want to go back to patrolling the forest with Julie so that we can kill Victor. I need to try and find some sort of atonement for killing that human, as well as someway to find my humanity again. While you were gone, patrolling reminded me of what humanity stands for. Besides, Victor wouldn't be here if it weren't for me, and it's also personal for me now."

"No!" Edythe stated sharply.

"What?"

"I don't want you putting yourself continually in danger. I've already thought I lost you once. I won't go through that again."

"Edythe, I'm as immortal as you are and I'll have Jules and probably at least one member of her pack there any time we patrol. It's hardly dangerous."

"Then why do you have a scar on your neck, Beau? If they're always there then how did Archie have a vision of you fighting Victor? How come you were the one that killed that immortal child and not one of them?"

"I was patrolling on my own when I ran into Lauren. In part because I didn't realize who the vampires were, and in part because I was being foolish. As for Victor, he attacked me here. It wasn't like I was out asking for it." I didn't comment on the third question.

"Well he won't be attacking you here again, with all of us back. You going out hunting him down on the the other hand is just asking for trouble."

"Like what? He needs to die, Edythe. Surely you can't deny that. He's either going to continue coming after me, or he's going to start targeting you or someone else in the family. You can't be willing to let that happen."

"If he's that desperate for revenge then he'll eventually come here. Let him make that mistake and show up here where we can all fight him. There's strength in numbers."

I didn't understand what her problem was. She knew I was immortal. Unless... "Are you jealous of Jules?"

"Of course not. This is entirely about your safety."

I could hear the pique in her voice as she replied though. I grabbed the first thing I saw, one of Carine's heavy medical books – as it so happened. I threw it as hard as I could and it smashed through the screen of the television that Eleanor had put up. I remembered Archie's comment then.

My hands squeezed into fists as I turned to her. "Edythe, there's no way we're going to make a second chance work if we're going to revert back to what were doing before. You have to know that."

I stood up and dashed up the stairs. Slamming the door to my bedroom the instant I was inside.

…

Edythe knocked on my door about an hour later. Of course, I would have known it was her even if her knock wasn't so unique. I'd heard her light footsteps as they'd come up the stairs.

"Come in," I said.

She stepped inside and stepped over to where I was sitting on the bed, sitting down beside me, and taking my hands.

"You're right. I am jealous. You have something with Julie Black that we currently don't have, and I know it's partly my fault. I left and there's cause and reaction for everything, even this. I caused something that I didn't think was possible. And I'm not asking you to stop your friendship with her, I'm truly not. But please, don't expect me to be okay with the idea of you spending hours with her every day, because there's no way for me to be okay with that."

"Okay, I understand." It wasn't a full acquiescence, but it was as much as I could give at the time.

She smiled softy. "Come up to my room with me? We can listen to music tonight, or talk, or just hold each other."

I smiled back weakly. "Not tonight. Maybe tomorrow." I leaned forward and kissed her delicately on the lips, trying to infuse as much as I could into the kiss so that she'd understand that I loved her still, but I just needed a little bit of time.

She kissed me back before slowly pulling away. "I'll hold you to that."

She left my room, closing the door behind her. The instant she was out of my room, I reached down into the trunk I'd set on the floor and pulled out the small jewelry box.

I opened the lid and removed the note inside, unfolding it so I could read it for the first time.

AN: So here's the big deal. If you are looking for a Beau/Edythe happy ending and have no intention to read my next book, Rebirth and Affliction: Eclipse Reimagined, then this is your stopping point. The last chapter and the epilogue are going to completely negate the small amount of progress made in their relationship in this chapter. Because unlike in the original fantasy of The Twilight Saga, I much prefer real life where there actually is real growth and change and development in characters and in their relationships. So as is generally true for most budding relationships, for every one step forward there's two steps back. You've been warned.