Lauren Black

25 December 2033


"Good news or bad news?"

"Bad news first." I said

"We still don't know what you are. The good news is we're closer than ever to finding out. You're something this world has never seen."

"So what am I?"

"We don't have a name for you. You're not human, you're not vampire and you're not a wolf"

"So what am I?" I asked again.

"A mixture it seems, all of you, your brothers and Isobel are the same. Sarah is an anomaly. Something I need to look into after. We took blood from all your siblings. Your mother for the hybrid, your father as the shape shifter, Emma as the human and your grandfather as the vampire although it wasn't exactly blood from your grandfather it was venom. We compared it; we also took cells to compare DNA and genes. You, Isobel and your brothers are all the same. Your genes are identical, more or less. Im trying to keep it simple for you. You have wolf genes, no vampire ones. None of you do. Even Isobel has wolf genes. Now all Quileute's have wolf genes, whether they transform or not, the activated form is a little different to the dormant form. Emma agreed for me to take Cassie's blood to compare because she's not a wolf but has the dormant gene. In theory she should be the same as you but she's not. It seems that the vampire bit of your mother activated the wolf gene from your father, but kept it dormant enough not to necessarily change you into a wolf" he told me.

"I don't get it" I frowned. "Im a wolf but not a wolf?"

"Yes. You have the genes of a shape shifting wolf. You are the same as your brothers, but you don't phase"

"But I didn't grow really tall or get moody or anything" I said.

"No you didn't because that part never kicked in like it did with your brothers."

"Izzy is the same as me?" I asked.

"Yes"

"What does this mean then?" I asked.

"Well… I don't want you to get your hopes up, but it seems like you may have the qualities of a wolf even as a human, you have their weaknesses, like vampire venom but you also have their strengths like immortality" Carlisle said to me.

"I won't grow old?" I asked, the realisation sinking in.

"You haven't aged in at least 6 months Lauren. Ive been watching you, taking mental notes and you haven't changed. It would seem you won't age any more than you are now"

"Seriously?" I gasped.

"It's a definite possibility" Carlisle told me.

"What about Izzy?" I asked with a frown.

"She'll grow until shes 16 like you did, then stop too. It also means, although this isn't for definite as we have no way to test it just yet, that if your brothers stopped phasing, I still don't think they'd age past what they are now" Carlisle answered me. My eyes widened.

"So we're part vampire part human part shape shifter?" I asked.

"Kind of. You have no vampire gene, there's nothing there but you have a evolved version of the wolf gene, it's not the exact same as your fathers, which has me believing something from your mother changed the gene to make it more advanced, gave it that little bit of vampire" Carlisle explained.

"So we can never die?" I asked then, my voice high in excitement.

"You can die. You can die of illness or injuries, you're still human on the outside but you can't die of old age." My grandfather Edward explained. "You are effectively, immortal humans"

I couldn't stop the grin that came over my face.

"How sure are you of this?" I asked them.

"90%" Carlisle answered me. "We've seen you react to vampire venom the way a wolf would, for you, I'd say a higher percentage, I wouldn't want to test it on little Isobel though, time will tell for her but if her genes told me anything, the same thing should happen with her" he told me.

"So I can literally live forever without having to drink blood or keep out of sunlight or ever feel the blood lust?" I asked in astonishment, all the reasons I didn't want to be a vampire were solved. I didn't have to deal with them; I just had to worry about getting a terminal illness.

My grandfather laughed at my thoughts.

"Yes Lauren" he said out loud. I ran to hug him and Carlisle.

"Thank you"

"Don't thank us, thank your mother for giving you immortality" Edward laughed.

"Right!" I exclaimed and ran out of the study, seeing my mom sitting on the couch smiling; she had obviously heard it all. I ran to her, and she opened her arms to accept me, I crawled up on her lap the best I could, which since I was an inch taller than her, it didn't really work but I didn't care. I hugged her.

"Thank you momma" I giggled, she laughed with me.

"I didn't have a say in it but you're welcome"

"Lauren, you want to go outside? They're playing soccer and some games" Nick said to me then.

"Sure" I replied and smiled at him. I let go of my mom to follow him out.

In the back yard most of my vampire family were playing soccer. Even Isobel was playing, except she was on Emmett's shoulders, he held onto her ankles as he ran around the back yard chasing the ball, she was giggling as she held onto his hair. I smiled at her; I was glad she was like me, that she wouldn't grow old and die. She'd be forever my sister, the one that was just like me, the only two humans.

"So what did your grandfather tell you?" Nick said, we sat down on the edge of the patio to put our shoes on. I told him about his theory and that I would never grow old.

"Seriously?" he exclaimed, a smile spread across his face. I smiled at his response.

"Yeah" I laughed. He was happy that I was happy.

"That means I'll never have to stop phasing. I love being a wolf" he grinned. I smiled back at him, this time weaker than before. We hadn't spoken about us or our future since the day he imprinted on me. We had decided to stay friends for now until he was older but things had been slipping, we held hands more than we used to, we hugged a lot longer and I had dreams about him in ways I shouldn't for just friends.

"You'd stay immortal for me?" I asked.

"Of course I would. I wouldn't go and die on you. We'll be together forever, if you want" he said then smiling shyly. I smiled back at him, this time confidently. I leant over and kissed his cheek, something I had never done before, before he could respond I had stood up and began running over to my family playing soccer to join in. Nahuel ran up to greet me by grabbing me by the waist and lifting me up to tuck under his side. I laughed uncontrollably and he ran to the other side of the back yard. I silently wondered where Zio, Bella and Esther were with Lidiya and Anelie. Nahuel put me down at the opposite side of the pitch. I loved that Nahuel treated me like a little sister, it was almost embarrassing remembering the fit I had when I found out he liked my sister. It just didn't make sense for me to ever think of Nahuel more than a brother now. I guess that was the imprint that did that, and whilst I knew I should care that it changed my feelings, I just didn't anymore. Things had worked out, even if part of me still screamed that the imprint was changing me, the other part just wasn't listening. Sarah was right, why would you fight against something that was so pure and good? Even thinking about Nick and seeing him as he ran towards me now. I didn't imagine it different, I would spend the rest of forever with him, whether I liked it or not. May as well just embrace it and move on with life.

We stayed outside for a good hour, the rain started to fall and we had to go back inside. Nick had hold of my hand the entire way into the house.

I led him up the stairs; I didn't know what I was doing. My heart was pounding as I did it but I couldn't stop myself.

"Laurie" Izzy said running up the stairs, she slipped at the last second, falling onto the landing, her hands out in front of her catching her fall.

"Izzy you ok?" I asked, I didn't rush to her, she wasn't crying. She stood up.

"Oops" she giggled.

"You need to stop running around. You're too clumsy" I laughed.

"I got carpet burn" she frowned at her arms. I walked over to her and kissed each of her arms.

"All better" I smiled at my little sister.

"Doesn't work like that" she frowned. I laughed; she was smarter than she used to be. She was growing up before my eyes and I hadn't really noticed it until now. I had been so busy thinking about myself, I couldn't remember the last time I spent time with her. My little sister who I adored and used to spend hours with.

"Did you want me for something?" I asked her.

"I was going to ask if you wanted to play" she said then looking up at me with her brown eyes that never failed to get her what she wanted. The most angelic of us all, she didn't know how powerful she was to those that loved her. "I was going to play with my new princess castle I got for Christmas" she said innocently. Part of me wanted to go be with Nick and tell Izzy to go find Avia or Cassie to play with but I couldn't resist her, and I really hadn't been spending much time with her. I turned to Nick and looked at him regretfully.

"Sure we'll play" Nick grinned at Izzy. My eyes widened.

"You want to play with my baby sister and her princess toys?" I asked him. He smiled at me.

"Sure" he added. I grinned back and turned to Izzy.

"Come on then" I told her, she smiled at us and put her hands on mine that was joined with Nicks; she forced us apart and took each hand in her own. Nick and I laughed as she led us to Nessie's old bedroom where all the Christmas presents were put from this morning when we opened them all.

I'd never really seen Nick with children before but I'll give it to him, he had a lot of patience with Isobel as we played with her princess dolls. He even played along and he was given the prince doll and Izzy and I had Cinderella and Belle. I smiled at him as he interacted with Izzy. I couldn't help seeing him in 10 years time with his own daughter. Our daughter.

He saw me looking at him and smiled back.

"I'm the only one that has the patience to play with Cassie. She always wants to play with me or Harry but he never says yes. I feel bad for her because she loves him so much and he doesn't give her the time of day. He's too busy fulfilling pack duties or going out with girls. I get that being a wolf is important but it's never too important to spend time with your family." He said to me.

"I completely agree, im often the only one that plays with Izzy. Cassie needs a sister." I told him with a smile. Since being imprinted with Nick I had learnt so much about him I didn't know. I was always friends with his brother Harry, to the point where I often wondered if I'd end up marrying him but the way Nick spoke about him I was glad that the younger brother was the one that imprinted on me. I saw more and more into the Clearwater's life every day. They had always been close to our families but I had a new insight now. I would be a Clearwater one day and I was really glad it wasn't Harry I would marry. It wasn't that I didn't like him as a person, it was just that knowing Nick, that he was so much like me I didn't really want it any different.

"Look at you. No more hating the imprint is there?" I heard from the door. I saw my grandfather standing there. I blushed at his words and he smiled at me. "You blush like your grandmother used to." He said coming into the room.

"Grandpa! Have you come to play? You can be the other prince!" Izzy gasped handing him another doll. He smiled at her adoringly.

"Sorry sweetheart no im not here to play, we're about to sing happy birthday to Holly if you want to come down" he said to us.

"Oh" Izzy said sadly and put her doll down. Seeing Izzy sad made anyone want to throw themselves in front of her to protect her from anything that might hurt her. No one could resist melting when they saw her sad or crying.

"We can play later" Edward winked to Izzy, clearly not wanting her to be upset and held his arms out to her. She smiled and let him lift her into his arms.

"What was he talking about you not hating imprints?" Nick asked me as we all left the room.

"Nothing" I mumbled.

"She was thinking about how she was glad you imprinted on her not Harry" Edward said.

"Grandpa" I moaned, trust him to embarrass me, he was worse than my dad.

"It's my job as your grandfather to embarrass you" he said and winked at me.

"Do you and Uncle Emmett have a contest or something 'who can embarrass the most out of their offspring'?" I mumbled, I remember my mom telling me that Edward wasn't that bad when it came to embarrassing her, but I think the older he got the more bored he was and the more time he spent with my uncle Emmett. He was clearly rubbing off on him. My grandfather laughed as we reached the bottom of the stairs. Edward put Isobel on her feet and she started running into the living room.

"Izzy slow down" he grumbled as we followed her in. She had crawled up on Sophia's lap on the couch.

"It's time to sing happy birthday now!" Avia said coming into the room too. "Holly" she added with a shriek.

Although Holly was technically born on Christmas day we tended to celebrate it on the 26th so that she didn't have to share her day with everyone else, but one thing we did do was sing happy birthday to her at the exact time on Christmas day that she was born.

As Nick and I entered the living room Holly appeared at the opposite door that led into the grand dining room hand in hand with Phoenix.

"Wait a second we still have a minute" Avia smiled as everyone else came into the room. Anelie and Lidiya included. Nick and I walked over to our moms who were sitting with each other on the couch and sat down.

"Ok" Avia said. Holly and Phoenix sat down on the two dining room chairs Avia had put in front of the fire place where everyone could see them and we all sang happy birthday to Holly. Chloe was the first to hug her daughter when we had finished.

"I can't believe you're 18" she sighed. Holly smiled as she pulled away from her mother.

"Im older than you" she laughed. Chloe narrowed her eyes.

"How do you work that out?" Phoenix laughed.

"She was 17 when she was turned" Holly answered.

"But shes like 40 technically" Phoenix laughed.

"How old are you?" Avia asked him then, his smile dropped.

"250ish" he answered her.

"Ew Hol" she said looking at her sister. Holly laughed.

"Eddie" Esther suddenly gasped from the other side of the room; she was standing by the door leading to the front hall.

"Yeah?" he asked; everyone's attention turning from Holly to Esther.

"Did you feel that?" she asked.

"Feel what?" he frowned.

"There- nothing" she mumbled.

"Esther!" he exclaimed, clearly reading her mind.

"I didn't feel anything, do you know where?" he asked.

"Europe somewhere, north. Probably England" she said "I'll be able to track them when I get closer, that's what happened with Aleksander and you"

"Are you going to go" he asked?

"Is anyone going to clue us in on your conversation?" Chloe asked turning from her daughter to her husband and friend.

"A new moon pool child was just born" Esther told her.

"How do you know that?" Holly exclaimed.

"I felt it. I can't explain it. I just felt it and I know where. I guess it's because im the original. I don't know" she said.

"Are you going to go see them?" Lidiya asked.

"I have to. The parents might want some questions answered, it's exciting that there's another one of us" Esther said then smiled widely at Eddie.

"I agree" Eddie smiled back.

"No longer just the two of us" Esther added.

"When are you going?" Lidiya asked; her voice sad.

"As soon as possible" she said and left the room.

"Esther!" Lidiya shouted after her. Lidiya and Anelie followed her.

"What's that about?" Nick whispered to me. I shrugged. I think Lidiya was upset that Esther was leaving, even if it was only for a little while.

"Dinner will be ready in 30 minutes" Esme announced and left the room for the kitchen.

"How are Lidiya and Anelie?" Holly asked Zio.

"They're amazing. You don't need to worry about Lidiya, shes alright now. She was just scared." He told her. She smiled at him.

"Im really happy Lidiya has Anelie" Chloe said.

"Im going to go find them" Eddie said then, he looked nervous for some reason.

"I'll come too" Chloe said, kissing Holly's forehead and following him out.

"I want to come" Holly said standing up.

The next few minutes seemed to happen too fast for me to understand how people were coming and going. Nick and I stood up from the couch and left the room, just in time for Esther, Lidiya, Anelie, Chloe and Eddie to appear in the hall. I heard the front door swing open and a very fragile looking old woman came into the room, she swayed on her feet.

"Esther your daughters… careful… demon" she managed to say before she fell, Eddie caught her in his grasp.

William and Sarah were already trying to get Nick and me to leave the room but I stopped them, wanting to know if the woman was ok.

"Shes dead" Eddie said sadly.

"What was she talking about? A demon? Like the one that possessed Emma?" I asked then looking to Esther.

"No. she was warning us." She said then.

"What did she mean daughters?" Eddie asked looking to Esther.

"They're vulnerable to demon possessions, especially Anelie. She was warning us because she's seen it. If I leave for England without the girls something very bad would happen, she died trying to tell us" Esther said, her eyes still on the dead woman.

"Anne" I heard my mother gasp entering the room.

"Shes dead" Eddie said then, laying her on the floor carefully.

"What do we do?" I heard people talking and wondering what had just happened but I was too busy watching Lidiya and Esther.

"She said your daughters" Lidiya said to Esther. Esther turned to look at Lidiya carefully.

"You'll be fine so long as I stay near you." She told her.

"What do you mean? Why?" she asked.

"Because you're safe as long as you're by me, you can't ever go out of control; you're at your strongest with me and your sister. Don't worry about what she said."

"But why you? Shes strongest with you, shes in control when shes with you and you're immune to their abilities. Why?" Eddie asked then, coming over to them. Esther sighed.

"I just am. You're safe. Stop worrying, don't pay attention to her" Esther said turning to Lidiya.

"What are you hiding?" Eddie said then.

"Nothing" she growled to him.

"What did she mean 'your daughters'? She wasn't talking to Eddie, she was talking to you, and you said she was talking about Anelie being vulnerable to demons"

"You're their mother" Eddie said in utter shock.

"What?" Lidiya asked.

"You're their birth mother, not Jane. You are!" Eddie exclaimed.

"You're my mother?" Lidiya asked; her face pure shock.

"What's going on?" Carlisle asked coming into the room. "Anne!" he gasped running over to her, immediately checking her pulse. His head bowed. He lifted her into his arms.

"We should bury her" Esme said sadly, her hand on Carlisle's shoulder. He nodded.

"At the old house, not this one" Esme added. "With Lauren"

"I agree" Edward said.

"Everything ok here?" Edward turned to Esther, she nodded.

"I need to talk to Esther" Lidiya said.

"Me too" Eddie added, they were both looking at Esther like they didn't even know who she was.

"Take the rest of the children upstairs" my mom told my dad.

"No. I want to hear this." I told her. She sighed at me. I noticed that Anelie was gone, so was Will, Sarah and Sophia and no other kid apart from Nick, Holly, Lidiya and I were here.

Carlisle, Esme, Emmett, Rosalie and Edward left the house with Anne's body. The only ones in the hall now were Esther, Eddie, Chloe, Lidiya, Holly, Nick, my parents and me. Nicks parents and my grandpa Billy and Charlie must have stayed in the living room.

"I think we should leave them alone" my mom told me. It was moon pool business. I understood that.

"It's alright Nessie, you can stay" Lidiya told her. "I think everyone deserves to hear this."

"Are. You. My. Mother?" Lidiya said, emphasising the words as she locked eyes with Esther, they were exactly the same height. Esther sighed and nodded. I could see it now, looking at them side by side how much they looked alike, I had never even thought about it before, I suppose it was the way I looked like Avia and Holly, if you didn't know we were related you wouldn't immediately think so but knowing that we were cousins you'd be able to pick out the similarities.

"But…" Lidiya shook her head, her hands going to her head; she closed her eyes tightly as she tried to explain it in her head. "As in you gave birth to me?"

Esther closed her eyes; finally opening them she had a new expression on her face, defeat.

"Yes Lidiya. I did."


Little bit of a cliff hanger on possibly the biggest twist I've ever had in my stories. All will be explained.

Next chapter will be half Lidiya and half Holly's POV. Lidiya is of course going to have a bit more to say about Esther's secret and i wanted to get Holly in there to explain the mysterious Phoenix. It will be the last chapter of this plot segment in my story; I'll be skipping through months again soon.

If you're curious about the new moon pool child, they will be introduced later in the story, i have though, updated my blog about them, so if you want to know name/family/nationality/small family history etc ive added it to the Luna Bambini tab.

Thoughts about Lauren? Did you like what ive done with Nessie's kids or not? I will be evaluating more on why Sarah is different in chapters to come. I hope i explained it enough, essentially they're all the same except Sarah. I couldn't bring myself to ever make her kids completely human, she will still have her kids a hundred years from this story, something ive been very careful not to mention in Living in Paradise so I didn't spoil this chapter.

Living in Paradise will be updated by the 1st of June. Thanks to everyone that went over and read it! Really nice to see familiar names in the reviews and praise on twitter. Cyber hugs :)