Chapter 26

Claire opened her eyes and gazed around in amazement. The sharpness and clarity of her vision enthralled her; she could see every minute detail of the wood in the ceiling above her, the brightness of the lights - which would have blinded her to look at directly had she been human - now simply was just...there, and yet she could see thru the light to the filament core, glowing white-hot. While this seemed to last forever, only a few seconds had past. Claire's mind had not yet grasped the vampire sense of time. Then, a gentle squeeze around her hand brought her mind into sharp focus.

Instinctively, she jerked her hand free and leapt away, ready to face her unknown assailant. Her vampire-sharp mind brought to its forefront the need to protect one's self; as the face in front of her registered in her brain, she was flooded with a sense of calm and, above all, happiness. Claire took in the perfection that was her Louis with new eyes: she could see every strand that made up his golden locks, the smooth ivory plane that was every inch of his divine countenance, and his soft coppery orbs that had entranced her from the very beginning. She felt an odd sensation tingle in her throat as she realized that she hadn't taken a breath since leaping away from the table.

She inhaled deeply and tasted a mixture of the sweetest of fragrances: Louis, the closest to her, smelled of jasmine, herbs, freshly-laundered linens dried in the sun, a touch of freesia and daisies, and the lightest hint of citrus; other smells in the room included a woodsy musk, fresh parchment, roses, lavender, a whiff of mint, a dash of fresh cotton and a sweet aroma that Claire couldn't identify mixed with a sharp edge that her nostrils burn. She watched with keen interest as Louis slowly moved around the table to stop a few feet in front of her.

"Claire?" Louis' magical voice rang out, Claire's ears hearing it clearly for the first time. "It's all right, my love. I know it can be a little disorienting at first. No one here means you any harm." Claire locked her eyes on Louis' face, slowly yet gracefully stepping forward to meet him.
"Louis?" she said, her voice tinkling like a set of tiny silver bells.

"Yes, chérie. I'm right here." Louis took another step forward, now standing directly in front of Claire. Suddenly, Claire threw her arms around Louis, relief filling her body. Louis put his arms around her in return, picking her up and swinging her around in pure exhilaration. He set Claire back on her feet and kissed her passionately, not having to hold back any longer. Claire felt the same electricity course thru her body that she'd felt while she was human and was supremely thankful that the connection between her and Louis had not been lost in the transformation.

"Ahem..." someone cleared their throat, attempting to remind them that they were not alone. Louis reluctantly broke their kiss and unwound Claire's arms from around his neck. Claire felt embarrassed, waiting for the rush of blood to her cheeks to give her away. Then she remembered that she would never blush again. A small pang of regret registered in her mind, but that was quickly dismissed by a feeling of calm and contentedness. She then began searching the room and quickly found Jasper standing in front of a large group of others.

Tiny, pixie-like Alice peeked over Jasper's shoulder with a brilliant grin on her ivory face. Behind her stood Edward, Bella, Carlisle and Esme, Jacob and her best friend/sister, Renesmee. To the left of the group Jasper was guarding was Garrett, standing in front of the Denali clan: Kate, Carmen and Eleazar, and finally, Tanya. Claire slowly smiled as she realized that she was surrounded by her family, and she replied in her new silvery voice, "Hey guys." A collective sigh went up as everyone breathed their relief that the transformation had been successful.

Carlisle stepped out from between Edward and Esme, held his hands open at his sides to show he wasn't going to attack, took a few steps and asked, "How do you feel, Claire?"

"I feel..." Claire paused as she thought about it. "I feel everything all at once: I'm happy, relieved, excited, scared yet safe and I feel..."

"Thirsty?" Carlisle offered.

"Now that you mentioned it," Claire said as a burning sensation engulfed her throat. "But, I wanna know what happened. Where's Quil? What happened to him? What about Lestat?"

"Whoa, slow down," Garrett interjected, holding up his hands. "We can only answer one thing at a time."

"Oops," Claire giggled. "I guess I got carried away."

"Don't worry," Kate replied, smiling. "We get distracted easily; you'll get used to it."

"All right, then. What happened with Lestat?" Claire inquired, squeezing Louis' hand.

"Well," Jacob began as he stepped out of the group Jasper was still guarding. "Edward, Bells and I chased him after he took off. After a few miles, Bells and Edward decided to go back to the clearing and see if there was anything they could do to help you. I chased him for hours and we finally made it to the ocean. He jumped in and took off."

"So, what does that mean?" Claire asked, looking at Louis.

"We're not sure," Louis answered. "Alice will keep an eye out for him to see if he decides to come back. But I don't think he will, at least not for some time. And besides, he won't be able to hurt you any longer." Louis lifted his hand and cupped her cheek, caressing it with his thumb briefly before dropping his hand. "As for your other questions..."

"Quil! Is he all right?" Claire exclaimed, struggling to remember the details of that night. Her human memories seemed shrouded in a haze, as though a veil had been thrown over her eyes. She quickly realized that her human eyes had been veiled by her humanity, her immortal eyes seeing things clearly in perfect detail.

"Quil is just fine," Jake answered her. "It took him about eight hours to burn off the sleeping agent that Lestat had been giving him. He had a hard time dealing with what Louis had done to save you, but I talked to him and calmed him down. He finally accepted that this had been done to save your life and is waiting to see you, as soon as you're ready." Claire felt an immense weight lift off her shoulders, knowing that Quil was safe and unharmed. Then she began to worry about how Quil would react to her, now that she could be considered an enemy. Another wave of soothing calm washed over her and she smiled at Jasper in appreciation. Slowly, she drew in a deep breath, let it out and said, "I want to see Quil."

"Claire," Carlisle began, "are you sure? You haven't fed yet. We just want to make sure that you've been taken care of first." As Carlisle mentioned it, the fiery burn returned to her throat, causing Claire to forget everything else. Yet, even as the instinctive urge to hunt, to soothe the burn grasped her mind, Claire quickly pushed it down, ignoring the dry scratchiness of her throat and focused on Quil. The burn in her throat diminished, leaving only a small tickle of irritation behind.

"No, I want to see Quil," Claire announced, her now musical voice rich and full. "As long as I don't think about it, it doesn't bother me." A collective murmur began buzzing throughout the room yet Claire could distinctively hear every word.

"...seen nothing like this," Eleazar whispered to Carmen. "...just like Bella," Esme murmured to Alice. "...be interesting to see what else she can do," Edward said softly to Renesmee.

"Are you sure, Claire?" Carlisle asked again, his tawny eyes composed yet wary. Claire inhaled deeply, pushing her need for hunting deep down inside her mind, let out her breath slowly and answered, "Yes, I'm sure." Carlisle looked at Jacob, nodded his head and Jacob left the room. Claire could easily hear the pound of Jacob's feet on the stairs as he left the room, could hear his strong heartbeat, and could hear a quick flutter-like heartbeat nearby. Claire's eyes followed the sound to its source and gazed at Renesmee. Nessie smiled at her sweetly, and Claire returned the grin as she heard two sets of heavy footsteps begin to ascend the stairs. Claire's breath quickened slightly and she looked at Louis, who was smiling at her serenely, and asked, "You'll stop me...if anything bad starts to happen, right?"

"I'm right here, chérie," Louis assured her. "You're going to be just fine. I can feel it." He squeezed Claire's hand tightly and quickly kissed her cheek. Claire steeled herself and held her breath as the footsteps reached the landing.

A few seconds later, which seemed to take forever, Jacob re-entered the room followed by Quil, whose eyes were locked on the ground. Claire smiled with joy upon seeing Quil safe and unharmed. She was still smiling when Quil finally lifted his eyes to look at her. A relieved look crossed his face as he gazed at her anew, and a smile appeared, lighting up his eyes.

"Hey Claire," Quil breathed, his face scrunched up slightly due to the proximity of so many vampires.

"Hey Quil," Claire replied, exhaling slowly. She gripped Louis' hand and inhaled deeply, carrying the scent of Quil into her body. The sweetness of the human scent was mixed with a somewhat musty smell that burned in Claire's nostrils. Claire relaxed as she knew that she would never harm Quil, even in spite of her being a vampire.

"I'm glad you're okay," Claire said, the grin on her face broadening as he responded, "Thanks. I'm glad you're okay, too. Even if you do stink a little now."

"Well, you don't smell like a bushel of roses, yourself," Claire shot back playfully as the entire room erupted into laughter.

"Well, I'm glad you still look like you, except for the eyes," Quil said after the laughter had died down. "Your eyes are...pretty wild, Claire."

"What do you mean? What's wrong with my eyes?" Claire asked, looking around at everyone before Alice stepped out and answered, "It's nothing to worry about, Claire. It's the same for all newborns. Hold on just a sec." Then she dashed out of the room, returning a few seconds later carrying a huge gilded mirror that looked bigger than she did. Alice set the mirror down and called out from behind it, "Go ahead, take a look."

Claire released Louis' hand and strolled up to the looking glass. She saw a gorgeous creature looking back at her: long, shiny raven locks falling straight down her back with beautiful coppery skin that had a slightly powdered look to it. Then, and only then, did she look at the eyes, causing her jaw to drop. Fiery irises within her almond-shaped eyes looked back at her, reminding her of her now-fuzzy nightmares involving Lestat.

"How long..." Claire began before she felt Jasper's soothing gift seep into her body, calming her nerves. "It takes about a year for normal vampires for the brightness to dull a little," Bella explained. "A diet of animal blood will dilute it a lot quicker." Claire turned away from the mirror and took Louis' hand, who had moved to her side as she had her first look at her new appearance. She looked at Quil and said, "You were right, Quil. Those eyes are pretty freaky." Quil said nothing, but grinned broadly at her, giving her the feeling that Quil would always be her friend, no matter what.

"Claire, now that you have seen Quil, would you please consent to go hunting?" Edward asked. "Jaz is about to drive me nuts." Claire looked at Edward, who looked annoyed as he kept glancing over at Jasper, who looked extremely tense, staying as still as a statue. She smiled at them and answered, "All right, Edward. Sorry for keeping you wound up, Jasper." Jasper did not move, but he inclined his head in her direction to acknowledge her. Claire turned to Louis and said, "Let's go." She smiled at everyone and waved good-bye to Quil as she and Louis left the room and headed downstairs, hand in hand.

When they reached the door leading outside, Louis stopped. "Remember the run I took you on?" Claire struggled to think back through her fuzzy human memories, but she vaguely remembered being on Louis' back as he sprinted through the forest. "Yes, I remember...somewhat," Claire replied.

"Now you can run with me," Louis retorted. A sense of great anticipation filled Claire's mind as she and Louis stepped outside into the yard. The sun was beginning to set, the forest growing dark. As Claire looked at the trees, she realized she could still see perfectly clear, the darkness just taking on a shade of dark blue.

"Are you ready?" Louis inquired, releasing her hand. Claire nodded her head and then Louis said, "Then catch me if you can." He shot off through the trees like a bullet from a gun, yet Claire could still see his every move. She took off after him, reveling in the agility and speed she now possessed. She could hear Louis' footfalls ahead of her, the branches and limbs of trees like feathers on her skin as she tore through them. She soon caught up with Louis, the grin on his face wide with joy. Claire overtook him easily, then slowed down and ran beside him, every bit as easily as if they were walking. A few minutes later, they stopped within the shelter of the trees. Claire sat on a fallen tree log, amazed at the serene beauty of the night. Louis sat down next to her and took her hand.

"Is anything the matter, my love?"

"No, mon cher," Claire replied, looking around at the magical wonder of the forest thru her new eyes. "Will everything always be beautiful like this?"

"Yes, chérie," Louis answered. "And you will always be beautiful to me." He leaned over and kissed Claire on the cheek, then kissed her neck, took his other hand and turned her head to face him. Then he kissed her, softly at first, then more passionately. Claire threw her arms around him, pulling his body as close to hers as possible. She tore off his clothes roughly as he in turn removed hers as quickly as he could. Claire placed her lips on his once again, pulling him down on top of her as they rolled to the forest floor, the carpet of moss underneath them feeling like a blanket of velvet.

Louis took her quickly, moving against her in a rough, heady motion. Claire marveled at the feel of him, every sensation completely new to her now-immortal body. She kissed his neck and his shoulders until he lifted his head from her breasts to reclaim her mouth. Louis' hips moved roughly, driving his member hard and deep inside her. They came together, a perfect union of body, mind and soul. Louis lay on top of her, caressing her face. Their breathing resumed the normal rhythm slowly, despite their ability to go without breathing indefinitely.

"You were holding out on me," Claire accused.

"It was necessary at the time," Louis replied with a grin. "What did you think of it this time?"

"Absolutely amazing," Claire complimented. "And with no need to sleep, we could do this forever."

"Indeed," Louis agreed. "But forever is a very long time, you know."

"That's just fine by me," Claire said. "As long as you're by my side." And Louis bent to kiss Claire once more, beginning their perfect little piece of forever.

THE END