Jewel in the Crown
Disclaimer: All the characters in the story are the property of Stephanie Meyer. I have borrowed them for my entertainment and (hopefully) your reading pleasure. I make no profit from their use.
Chapter 25: Schemes and Dreams
My wife Sulpicia has just come to me with the most exquisite idea. She believes, after speaking with Esme, that she can convince Edward to change Bella if he is permitted to marry her first. Having seen his entire mind, I know that this is just the kind of chivalrous action that will appeal to him.
Sulpicia is more interested in Bella than Edward because she is so thrilled by the love story that seems to be retelling of ours. But I believe that she is missing the more romantic of the two young people. Edward is a good, old-fashioned boy. Even though I haven't been able to see inside of Bella's mind, her gutsy behavior so far indicates to me that she is a modern woman.
I could of course merely touch Sulpicia's hand to discover what she knows. But I am in the mood for a little entertainment. And no one is more entertaining than my dear wife when she is spinning out one of her schemes. It's not just her devious mind, it is her unique form of self-expression. It is so devastatingly simple that it masks the true brilliance beneath.
My brothers assume that I selected and married her purely for her lovely face and luscious body. However, it was her naive and innocent manipulations that ensnared me. Her looks are still incredibly fresh and youthful after thousands of years.
When I discovered her at the tender age of twelve, she was running an errand for her aunt. There was something about her huge, deep brown, doe-like eyes that was very emotive. Bella's brown eyes rival hers, but I strongly doubt that her mind does.
Sulpicia was caught up in the romance of my nightly visits to her bedroom. I didn't dare touch her. Once I decided that I wanted her, I couldn't risk losing her. She thought that I was courting her in a most unusual, but gentlemanly, way. And this appealed to her romantic sensibilities. Because she was an orphan, there was never any question of an arranged marriage.
She tried all manner of womanly wiles to entice me to kiss her, but I continually denied her. And this served to make the desire stronger. And it was she who taught me how intoxicating that desire could be. I never let on, but she captivated me long before I was convinced that I had captured her heart.
As we talked through the long nights, I discovered that despite her illiteracy, she had an amazing memory for the spoken word, including the details. These days they refer to those with such visual memory, "photographic memory." To coin a term, I would call Sulpicia's excellent recall, "phonographic." I decided that she was a worthy partner and made my final move. I told her that I must go away.
Needless to say, the tears flowed freely and copiously as she begged me to stay with her forever. I asked her if she would be satisfied with eternity and then revealed myself for who I was. She didn't care. All she wanted was to be with me. No price was too high. And she would happily exchange her soul for the beauty of eternal youth. At this point, I knew that I was ready to bite her without killing her.
My one condition was that she must marry me first. I did not want to risk losing her once the change was complete to another vampire. She was going to be mine. I sensed that I had found my true mate in her. But there was also a small part of me that was almost as prudish as Carlisle, and I am sure, the boy he raised.
So before I bit her, we found someone with the legal authority to say the words. And because she had no father, no questions were asked. I am sure that the man thought that I was mad to accept a girl without a dowry. Little did he know that the dowry was about to be paid in full with something far more valuable than money or property.
She withstood the pain of the transformation with fortitude. Like all of them, she screamed for me to end her life right then and there. But at that point I wanted her too much to give in to her wishes, knowing that she would be pleased in the end with the final result.
I sat by her side, proclaiming my love and swearing that I would be hers forever and she would be mine. And when the change was complete and she saw that her youthful beauty was frozen for all time in her new vampire skin, she was ecstatic. What woman does not want her beauty so enshrined at its peak?
I can see now that she is thrilled by the idea of replicating her own experience and vicariously living it again through her new "best friend." I don't blame for her occasional boredom. Corin is able to keep her content, but I know that she gets restless. Her only mental stimulation is when I have use for her devious mind. Once again, she has proven a most useful device in one of my schemes, completely intentionally of course.
"Sulpicia," I say to her. "I do believe that your romantic notion may have great appeal for this callow young lad who is besotted with your new friend."
"Do you really think that he is besotted, Aro?" she asks. "He obviously loves her, but I am not sure that he is infatuated."
"I have seen into every corner of his mind," I reply. "Every inch of his being is utterly devoted to her. You cannot imagine the devastation to his consciousness when he believed that she was dead. It was so awful that I very nearly granted his request to let Felix and Demetri tear him apart."
"Oh what a tragedy that would have been!" she cries with her typical drama. "Poor Bella's reckless journey to save him would have been for nothing."
"And you would never have even known that she existed," I reply fondly. "So aren't you glad that I was merciful? At the time it was all for Carlisle's sake. I simply could not betray him by destroying his beloved son. Caius would have taken him apart immediately, just for the sheer pleasure of it. But the moment that I peeked into his mind and saw his potential, I knew that I had to have him for the guard."
"Then it was lucky that dear Bella wasn't dead," she says thoughtfully.
"Lucky for us," I say. "He only hesitated because I had planted the idea of Carlisle in his mind. However, the girl rushing into his arms was beyond lucky. It made him want to live again, but only as long as she was alive. I wonder at this silly idea that he has that she must stay human."
"I was talking to Esme," she answers. "And she told me that he is a very idealistic young man. Despite the fact that Bella has been literally begging him to change her, his moral perception of the world will not permit him to commit what he believes is an atrocity.
"He has this ridiculous idea that he would be stealing her soul. But Aro, she has already given him her heart and soul. He doesn't want to damn her to hell, as he believes that he has been damned. Yet, she cannot imagine that there could be a heaven without him. She is just so delightfully enamored with him, just as I was with you.
"And he seems to have no concept of the misery that he put her through by leaving her in the first place. Esme told me how wretched the poor child was without him. She very nearly died of heartbreak. He wanted her to have a normal human life, but from my point it would have been an abnormal human death."
"Yes," I sigh. "He does keep saving her from death now, doesn't he? First he managed to escape from her the day that he met her without killing her, despite the fact that she is his singer. Then, he prevented her from being crushed by a large vehicle. Then a group of street hoodlums nearly raped and killed her. And following that, there was the business of that vampire, James pursuing her and nearly turning her into a vampire."
"I thought that he nearly killed her," she asks puzzled.
"That was his original intent," I explain. "Edward, Carlisle and three of his siblings barely got to her in time. But he did manage to bite her before they dragged him off of her. Carlisle saved her from bleeding to death, but it was Edward who prevented her from becoming one of us."
"How in the world did he do that?" she wonders.
"When humans get bitten by poisonous snakes, you know, like Cleopatra did," I say. "The only way to save them is to suck the venom out through the mouth. When it became obvious that Bella was bitten, the only way to prevent her transformation was to suck the venom back out of her veins. Somehow, our young hero managed to accomplish that feat. Even though he must have been in agony the whole time that he was doing it."
"He must love her so much!" she sighs. "Oh, this love story is even more romantic than I had imagined! If only it had a happy ending. I know that I can make sure that it has a happy ending. Such sweet young love deserves it."
"And what do you call a happy ending?" I ask curiously.
"Why Edward would change Bella and they would live with us here forever," she says as if this is the most obvious thing in the world. "Edward could help you by reading the minds of those you need to discipline for their crimes and Bella could be my best friend!"
"That's an interesting notion," I muse, as if I hadn't thought of it myself (she loves to think that she can inspire me with her ideas). "Bella as your best friend, hmm, I think that is quite possible. However, if her shielding gift is as strong as I suspect, I may have to borrow her from time to time when I need her."
Now Sulpicia pouts prettily, one of her more endearing expressions.
"And if she can't shield anyone but herself?" she asks. "May I have her then, all my own and not to share? Do you promise?"
"I promise that if Bella's talent to shield is not as powerful as I hope, then you may have her as a friend, and not have to share her" I promise, knowing that it's a promise that I won't have to keep. "She can attend to you just as Corin does."
"Must I share her with Athenadora?" she continues. "After all, I share Corin with her."
"No of course not," I say, once again knowing that it is a promise that will not be hard to keep.
Athenadora has been so pleased that Sulpicia's new "friend" has been occupying her that she has been begging Caius to convince me to keep her alive. Actually, I am not the one that needs convincing, it is he. He thinks that I am going soft after all these years. But that is because I have not shared with him my larger plot. He can be very careless in his thoughts, especially when he is gloating.
Therefore, I intend to keep the master plan to myself. If the Cullen child keeps both Sulpicia and Edward happy, I am more than happy to let her exist. And that is all I need to tell my wife. With Sulpicia, it is always best to let her think that she is getting her own way through my indulgence, not because I have ulterior motives that suit my own purposes. It makes her happy.
But Bella is not going to stay human. It would be far too dangerous to have any human actually living in the tower here. And it would set a terribly bad example for the vampires that we need to punish if we are breaking our own rules by permitting a human to live among us. It has also been rather inconvenient having to cater to her human needs. But more than that, she is most valuable to me as a vampire.
"Tell me, Sulpicia," I say. "Did the issue of diet happen to come up with Esme?"
"Oh yes," she says. "She is concerned that if they stay, you will not support their preference for animal blood. Carlisle has spent almost an entire century telling him and over again that it wrong to take human life. He even went off for a short period of time on his own do that he could satisfy his thirst for human blood."
"Yes, I did see that in the minds of both Carlisle and Esme," I say.
"But he came back to them," she says. "And he has been sticking to the diet ever since."
"Yes, apparently he was unable to overcome the conscience that Carlisle had helped him to develop," I say. "He even tried to justify his actions by only killing men who were murderers. He told himself that more people would have died if he hadn't killed them, but in the end he still felt too guilty to continue. It made him feel like the monster he was. So he returned to Carlisle and Esme and has been with them ever since."
"Well, we won't have that problem with Bella," she says.
"Why not, do you think?"
"You know that the newborn frenzy for blood is only satisfied by human blood," she says. "And we will provide her with plenty of that. If that is her diet then she will have a terrible time adapting to animal blood."
"It is possible though," I answer. "Jasper, one of the brothers, lived on a normal vampire diet for about eighty years before he and Alice found the Cullens. He is still struggling with it. Did Esme or Bella tell why Edward left her in the first place?"
"They just said that he felt guilty for preventing her from having a normal human life," she says.
"The full story is that his sister Alice threw a birthday party for Bella," I say. "In true tragic fashion, she cut her finger opening a gift and it began to bleed. Alice's mate Jasper couldn't bear the sight and smell of the blood and tried to attack her. In the process, Bella was even more badly injured. There was blood everywhere and they all cleared the house. Only Carlisle was able to stand it. He had to stitch her up."
"It really is not safe for that girl to be human," she says. "She is a tragedy waiting to happen. We must convince Edward to change her before something else occurs. I don't want to lose her."
"Neither does Edward, I can assure you," I reply. "I am willing to give them the time to work this out together. I will even figure out a way to get them married. It is times like these that Edward's mental abilities are an inconvenience. We cannot even fake a magistrate."
"Bribery is not out of the question, you know," she says playfully. "While they are working out their part, I will work on organizing the wedding. But first, I must tell them the good news!"
Oh yes, my dear wife, I think. You must tell them everything that I have said. And if you omit anything, Edward will discover it as he forages through your brain. Yes, my darling, unbeknownst to all around me, you are the most valuable jewel in my crown. And if fortune favors us, soon I will be adding more precious gems to my collection.
"Well, before you work on anything else, my beautiful Sulpicia, I am in need of your ministrations," I say suggestively. "All this talk of lovers has given me an appetite for your charms."
"Really?" she says, fluttering her eyelashes. "Well, we wouldn't want you to become famished now, would we? Perhaps it is time to put aside this discussion until later. I think that my news for the young lovers can wait."
"Then let us retire to our bed, wife," I say holding out my hand.
"Indeed," she says, as she takes it. "Let us retire and forget all about the Cullens for a while."
As if I could.