Disclaimer: All publicly recognizable characters, settings, etc., are the property of Stephenie Meyer, Joss Whedon, and Konami. The original plot is the property of the author. The author is in no way associated with the owners, creators, or producers of any media franchise. No copyright infringement is intended.

My editing team: Simaril, Mary-Alice-Brandon-Cullen, I.T.P, and JaspersDestiny.


Chapter Twenty-Eight – Lie to Me

Friday, May 28, 1999

"You knew." Elizabeth looked at her great-aunt with accusation shining clear in her eyes. "You knew all along."

"Yes, I did." Adele's eyes and tone were soft, understanding. "Richter approached me eight years ago, asking for my help."

"So everything was lies?" Elizabeth demanded. "I let my friend suffer because of you!"

"Not everything was lies," Adele said calmly. "I am sorry that Ella had to go through pain and suffering, but it was inevitable." Her heart contracted in her chest, shooting pain through her body, as she watched her great-niece's hurt expression.

"I can't believe you lied to me." Elizabeth leaned back in her chair. "Why? What was so important that you had to lie to me? To me, Aunt. Why?" She ignored the tears streaming down her face and looked pointedly at the woman who practically raised her after her mother's death.

Adele sighed. She ached to offer a hug but knew Elizabeth wouldn't accept it. "Richter first contacted me just short of twenty years ago. He had been searching for distant family members. As you know, there weren't many left, and those who were still living did not want to be found."

Elizabeth nodded, well aware of that fact.

"I was hesitant to trust him, but he knew things that no one other than our family knew. He knew of the existence of the Vampire Killer, and he also knew about the Keepers and what they were keeping. I was still cautious until two years into our correspondence, when he revealed a piece of information that finally allowed me to trust him impeccably."

"What was it?"

"He told me that he was the reason Christopher survived the night his parents were attacked. Richter was severely injured in the fight, but he was able to take Chris to safety. Elizabeth," Adele waited until her great-niece looked at her, "the people who attacked Chris were sent by the Council. They were looking for Belmonts, and they found Chris's family. Christopher's mother was a Slayer, a strong one, but the Council brought on very powerful demons to fight them. Richter brought Chris to our family because he knew that the Council did not know about us. We were too distant to appear in any official records they had, and Richter thought that it would be enough to keep Chris alive."

"The Council knew about Richter?" Elizabeth asked, pushing the pain of betrayal away for the moment. She needed to know these facts, needed the full story.

"Yes. They were looking for him, and while he was able to stay one or two steps ahead, he knew that it would not last for long. He deliberately attracted their attention in years to come, Elizabeth. He knew that he was in danger, but he still made sure to periodically show up on the Council's radar to keep them from looking for us."

"Why would he take that risk?"

"Because Richter knew that the prophecy you've found could only refer to Christopher's child. Richter himself could not father children of his own. Christopher was the last direct male descendant to the Belmont bloodline." Adele watched Elizabeth's shoulder slump. "I'm sorry that I could not tell you beforehand, but the risk was too great. When Richter came to me eight years ago, he knew that he was dying. Whether it would be the Council or his illness that caught up to him first, he knew not, but he couldn't hold on to the diaries and scroll that you're now holding. It was too important to let it fall into the Council's hands."

"Did he know about Ella?"

Adele nodded. "He told me that he'd found Katerina but that it had been too late. Chris was dead, and their child was already in the hands of the Council. He gave me the diaries and the scroll to hide where no one but my family knew. He told me that he was going to lead Katerina's child to us, and he did as he had promised."

"Why didn't you tell me this once we knew that Ella was the one? Why didn't you just give us the diaries and prophecy?" Not waiting for an answer, she continued, "For years, you've been talking about the one that would come to save our family, but when she comes, you hide this information. Why?"

Adele took a deep breath, reminding herself that Elizabeth was entitled to her anger. "Ella needed to master the Vampire Killer before I could tell her of the prophecy, Elizabeth. She needed to be able to yield the weapon to her will before she could truly fulfill her destiny. If we were to interfere, she would have shifted her focus, and I could not afford this. I am sorry for misleading you, but it had to be done."

"Duty! Is that the only thing you care about?" Elizabeth cried. "Family should be more important, is more important."

"It is for the sake of the family that I did my duty."

Elizabeth felt her hands begin to shake with anger and hurt. How could her great-aunt claim to hurt them for their own sake? It was sick! "I'm leaving."

"Elizabeth, wait!" Adele called after her as the young woman stormed out of the room. "Please, Elizabeth, let me—" The rest of the words remained unspoken as the door was shut in her face.

She sighed heavily and collapsed on the sofa. She tried reminding herself that things had to be done this way, but the hurt expression on Elizabeth's face continued to haunt her thoughts long after the door was shut, bringing tears to Adele's eyes.

o.O.o

As she made her way back to her apartment, Elizabeth thought back to the way her day had begun. She'd been going over the contact list Ella had found in the cemetery for the umpteenth time—the list she'd found on the first night they'd met—and just like in previous times, Elizabeth had found nothing new. Finally, she decided to call Adele for help.

Adele's question, "Have you looked at the other side of the paper?" had seemed innocent then.

She hadn't, and when she did, she found markings there. Murmuring a quick, "Thank you," she hung up the phone and returned to examining the note. Deciphering the markings was not easy, but she had a breakthrough around noon.

"Pray for forgiveness, for mercy, and for strength. Information given to us by God cannot be, by man, replaced."

It was obvious to her that she needed to find a place of worship, a place where someone could pray, and that there was something to be found there. It was only a matter of where to start. When Adele called after lunch to ask about her progress, Elizabeth told her of her finds. After a short consultation, it was decided that Apostelkirche—St. Aposteln church, the largest church in the area—was the best place to start.

She had suspected nothing when she had made her way to the church or when it had taken little more than a simple inquiry with Ms. Angela Eckhart, one of the officials in the church, for Elizabeth to be led to the attic and handed a small box. She had opened the box in the privacy of her car and found a virtual treasure—diaries written by Ella's mother and a scroll containing a prophecy about the Belmont bloodline.

She'd suspected nothing up to the point when she opened one of Katerina's diaries only to find a letter from Richter Belmont concealed between its pages. Richter wrote that he'd left instructions with a close friend, exact orders of how to find the diaries and the prophecy. It had been that note that had sent Elizabeth lashing out at Adele, throwing the deceit in her face. It had been that note, the diaries, and the prophecy that had led to her flying out of Adele's apartment and booking tickets to Seattle for the following day.

The plan had formed in her head before she'd made it to her apartment. The need to inform Ella and Carly of her discovery was only part of it. The need to put some distance between herself and Adele was a major contributor to the urgency.

Once the suitcase had been packed and everything was ready for her departure, Elizabeth sat down to examine the diaries again. With rain falling outside her window, adding to her melancholy, she spotted familiar words in the writing. Reading carefully, she knew that she had indeed stumbled—or had been led to—a treasure.

o.O.o

Carlisle watched Ella and Jasper with worry, his body rigid.

Ella kept a smooth face, her eyes on her opponent as she waited for his next move. His face gave very little away, and she found that she enjoyed the challenge.

Jasper was relying on his years of training as a soldier rather than his instincts. He had learned early in his life as a vampire that instincts were good only as a basis. With his training with Ella, he learned that her instincts were attuned to his, and he found himself working much harder than he had expected when training with her.

He lunged, moving almost too quickly for her to see, and she evaded at the last minute before his fist made contact with her face. She pulled on his outstretched hand before he could retract it and threw him over her head.

Twisting in midair, Jasper landed on his feet rather than his back and was ready to block the kick she'd sent toward his torso.

His next punch reached its target, and Ella felt the breath being knocked out of her for a moment before she recovered. She jumped to dodge a low kick and squatted to dodge a high one, and she used her fists whenever she saw an opening in Jasper's defense.

Jasper watched her every move, displaying no emotion as they sparred. He managed to knock her off her feet and pin her down, but she turned the situation around in the next fraction of a second, using his own weight against him.

Carlisle had to grit his teeth to keep himself from responding every time Ella took a hit. They'd been practicing for weeks, but it was the first time Carlisle had been able to watch without interfering.

His every instinct demanded that he protect his mate against the attack. However, he understood that in order for her to become a better fighter, there was no one better than Jasper to train her. So he stood back, his jaw clenched and his hands balled into tight fists.

The fight before him was not the only thing on his mind, though. The curse of his vampire mind was that he could think about more than one thing, feel more than one emotion at a time, and each could be equally as important and prominent in his thoughts.

The other thing on his mind this summer afternoon was a conversation he had had with Jasper two weeks ago. They'd been on a hunting trip, one that Alice had opted out of, and Jasper had approached Carlisle with his concerns regarding Ella.

"What is it?" Instantly, Carlisle was on alert.

"I don't know, to be honest, but I know that there is something going on." Jasper continued to say that he had noticed several changes in Ella, changes that were not natural.

"She was always strong, Jasper," Carlisle argued when Jasper pointed that as one of the changes.

"Yes, but she is growing stronger still."

"It could be the Vampire Killer. We know that it had an effect on her before."

Jasper was shaking his head even before Carlisle even finished. "She ends up dizzy and weakened each time she uses that bloody thing. There's more. Her scent is...different. It's more similar to yours."

"Of course it's similar to mine. I don't need to explain to you how that happens, do I?"

"That's not what I mean, Carlisle. It's not like it was in the beginning when I could smell you all over each other." He let himself smile at that when he saw the look of pride and longing in Carlisle's eyes. "She smells of you even after showering and being parted from you for a full day. It's like she carries your scent inside her body, inside her blood."

"I am not sure I understand what you're implying here."

"As Alice was going through the change, there were slight changes in her body—her curves grew slightly fuller, her pelvis widened just a fraction, her body lengthened a bit. The most prominent change, however, was her scent. Her unique human scent was intermixed with mine."

Realization quickly dawned on Carlisle. "You think she might be changing."

"I don't know. I've never heard it being done this way." Jasper decided against mentioning the fact that there were rarely survivors when a vampire took a human to bed. "I'm just worried. She's not a normal human. We don't know how her body reacts to the presence of venom, in any form."

"From what I've seen, it reacts like a human body," Carlisle said, recalling how her skin healed after he had bitten her. "The change in the scent could be attributed to the minute trace of venom that was left in her bloodstream when I bit her. It's not that prominent, anyway, and I have not seen the physical changes that you mentioned in Alice happening in Ella."

Jasper nodded, agreeing, and the subject was dropped for the rest of their trip.

Carlisle kept recalling that conversation in the following days, though. He'd been watching Ella, and the change in her scent, once pointed out to him, was constantly at the front of his thoughts. Every time they were close, he found himself inhaling her scent to track the changes. Every single time, he could detect them. She did smell more like him with each passing week. And his worry could never subside.

As he watched her lithe body slice through the air yet again as she avoided one of Jasper's attacks, Carlisle noted that there was a new roundness to her hips, one that hadn't been there last week.

The changes that Jasper had spoken of were staring him right in the face.

o.O.o

Practice finished, Ella walked with Carlisle back home. He was brooding again, she thought. She'd noticed him doing so more often lately, and she wondered if she should worry about it.

"What's on your mind, Carlisle?"

"Oh, nothing," he lied and forced a smile to his lips. He didn't want to worry her before he ran some tests to confirm his suspicions.

She saw the lie but decided to trust that he would come to her once he put his thoughts in order. "Come on, old man, let's get to the house. I'm starving!"

Carlisle chuckled—as she had hoped he would—and increased his pace to match hers.

They made it back to the house in a matter of minutes, and Carlisle suggested making her meal while she took a shower and cleaned herself up. He had been practicing several simple dishes and found that he enjoyed it. While others might have found it odd, he understood that the need to supply nurturing for his mate was part of his more instinctual side; he simply adapted to the needs of her diet.

His mood shifted again as he watched her eat and saw the obvious pleasure she derived from the meal.

"This is amazing! You are getting really good at this."

"Thank you." He couldn't help his tone from growing husky. His eyes watched carefully as she cut another piece of the steak and took it into her mouth, humming with pleasure at the taste.

He held himself in place by sheer will-power while she ate. It was a sweet kind of torture; she was enjoying something he had given her, prepared for her, but the sounds were making him want to take her right in the middle of the kitchen, company be damned.

"This is delicious! I don't think I've ever eaten something so good." Taking another bite of the steak, she asked, "What did you put on it?"

"Nothing special," he said. "Salt and pepper, and I cooked it till it was medium-rare."

"That's medium-rare?" Ella looked down at the meat before her, noticing how pink it was for the first time.

"Yes. I cooked it to medium last time, and you said that it felt overdone."

She took another bite, chewing it slowly and thoughtfully. It tasted just as divine as the previous bites had.

"Is there something wrong?" He noticed her frowning slightly and didn't miss how carefully she was looking at the meat.

"No, nothing." She smiled at him. "I should have tried medium-rare a long time ago. Nothing ever tasted this good." Her eyes darkened a bit as she looked him over. "Well, almost nothing."

Carlisle was already leaning down to kiss her when they were interrupted by Alice walking into the kitchen.

"Carly just called. We're going to have a visitor tomorrow."

"Who's coming?" Ella asked.

"Elizabeth Almond," Alice replied. "Carly said that she uncovered some information that we all needed to know."

"Did she say when her flight lands?" Carlisle asked. "I think we should pick her up from the airport."

"That's very thoughtful of you," Ella commented, smiling at him.

"Actually, Carly said that she and Daniel will pick her up and bring her back here so we could all talk. I told Carly we'll have the guest room prepared for Elizabeth."

"Thank you, Alice," Carlisle said. "What time is her flight?"

Ella listened only halfheartedly while Alice updated Carlisle on the details. She was more concerned with the news Elizabeth had to share. Something told her that she wasn't going to like it very much.

o.O.o

"How was your flight?" Daniel asked as he took Elizabeth's luggage from her and moved aside to let Carly hug the young woman.

"Long and tiring." Elizabeth tried for a smile. She was too emotional for it to reach her eyes, but she did hug Carly with all her might.

Pulling back, Carly gave Elizabeth a long, careful look. "Did someone run over your dog?"

"I don't own one," Elizabeth said. "I'm allergic."

"I can and will use force if necessary to get whatever's bothering you out of you."

Elizabeth managed a chuckle. "I promise to tell you everything—later. Right now, I need some rest and a shower."

"You can sleep during the ride—it's four hours long—and you can shower at the Cullens'. Just wait till you see Alice's bathroom. It's freaking huge!"

"Alice? Cullens?" Elizabeth was confused. "Did you guys move?"

"I think you have some catching up to do," Daniel said.

"Yeah, looks like it."

"It all started when we arrived back home from the airport," Carly began before filling Elizabeth in on everything that had happened since they'd left Europe.

o.O.o

Carly had called when they were passing through Port Angeles, so Elizabeth wasn't surprised to find four people waiting for them on the front porch when they arrived at the Cullens' house.

"I'm glad to see you again, Elizabeth."

"It's good to see you too, Ella."

Ella tried not to frown at the poor imitation of a smile that Elizabeth offered her and turned to introduce everyone while Daniel took her suitcase out of the trunk. "This is Alice, her mate and husband, Jasper, and this is my Carlisle. Everyone, this is Elizabeth, our friend from Germany and a distant relative of mine."

Carlisle smiled at the way she introduced him, loving the possessiveness, and he offered his hand to Elizabeth.

Having ample warning from Carly, Elizabeth didn't start at the cold touch of his hand.

"Welcome to Forks." Jasper stepped forward with Alice but offered only a nod of his head as he sensed Elizabeth's apprehension and didn't want to add to it.

"Thank you."

"You must be tired," Alice said. "Let me show you to the guest room so you can shower and unpack while we get started on lunch."

"Thank you, a shower and some food sound almost divine right now."

Ella grinned. "You have no idea! Carlisle cooks better than that fancy TV chef Carly has the hots for."

"I do not! Besides, you think he's cute, too!"

"Cute is the kiss of death for men," Alice interfered. "You definitely have the hots for him."

"On whose side are you, Alice?" Carly demanded.

Before Alice could answer, Daniel interrupted. "Oh, for the love of God, can we please come in?" He knew that, if allowed, the girls could stand there and argue for ages.

"Sheesh, you're getting grumpy in your old age, aren't ya?" Ella asked.

Carly raised a brow. "Sure you want to go there, Elleanora?"

Carlisle laughed. "I think she has you on that one, Ella." He wrapped his arm around her waist and kissed her temple. "Let our guest get settled in and come help me in the kitchen."

"Yeah...help you in the kitchen...is that what they're calling it these days?" Carly eyed the couple skeptically.

"I'll make sure they behave," Jasper promised.

"We're not that bad," Ella grumbled as they walked inside the house.

"You're worse," Alice said, smiling.

o.O.o

After lunch—which Elizabeth was surprised to note was just as good as promised—they all gathered around the large table in the dining room. It was time for her to get to the reason that had brought her across the ocean. She decided not to mention her small tiff with Adele and get straight to the diaries.

"I was working on the list that Ella found in the cemetery, and I made a discovery that led me to these." She indicated the books in front of her. "The first three are diaries. They are Katerina's recordings of the months following Ella's birth."

Ella took the three thin notebooks with unsteady hands.

"I didn't know what I would find when I first came across these, but once I saw what it was, I decided that you should be the first to read it," Elizabeth explained. "The last notebook contains Richter's notes. They contain information that I believe is important for all of us to know." She handed the notebook to Daniel. "I was able to ascertain that it speaks about the Vampire Killer, but my Aramaic isn't as good as yours, so I think it is best if you could translate it for us."

Daniel nodded but didn't open the notebook as he could see that Elizabeth had one more item in front of her.

"The last item I found was a scroll with a prophecy."

Ella groaned. She had a bad feeling about this. Elizabeth's eyes were sad and troubled.

"I'll just read it aloud." Elizabeth looked around to see everyone nodding in agreement before she turned to the scroll, taking a deep breath. "On the fourteenth day of the sixth month shall come a child to create and destroy, to be born and to die and to live once again. Conceived by two branches of the same tree, the child will be stronger than any other fruit. She will bear the hope for every living soul, and from her womb, a new bloodline will be born. Her spirit unbreakable, her soul old, she will be the one to bring light to the darkness of this world."

There was silence around the table for several long moments as each person in the room digested what they'd just heard.

"I'm guessing you think this prophecy speaks about me?" Ella finally asked. "Why? I wasn't born on June fourteenth. I was born in September. September thirteenth, to be exact."

"It is not the Gregorian calendar that this prophecy speaks of," Elizabeth said. "It's the Hebrew calendar."

"Hebrew?" Ella made a face. "Those guys have a calendar of their own?"

"Yes, they do," Daniel replied.

"What is your full date of birth?" Carlisle asked.

"September thirteenth, nineteen-eighty."

"The sixth month of the Hebrew calendar is Adar," Daniel said. "It's usually Elul or Tishrei that fall in September. The Hebrew calendar is a lunar calendar, so the months don't always correlate with the Gregorian calendar."

"Adar is the sixth month in the civil year, but it's the tenth in the ecclesiastical year," Carlisle corrected. "If you count the months that way, the sixth is Elul. I am not certain about the day, but the month seems to match."

"The day matches as well," Elizabeth said. "I checked this before I left. Ella was born on the exact day the prophecy says. Her parents, Katerina and Christopher, are both Belmonts."

"Of the same tree," Daniel murmured. "And you are stronger than any other Slayer on record."

"So? That means nothing," Ella insisted. "That weird date thing, it doesn't mention a year. It could be anyone, even someone who isn't born yet."

Elizabeth was shaking her head before Ella even finished. "You are the strongest of us all. There are very few Slayers left in the world, and none of them has a bloodline as pure as yours. It can't be anyone but you."

"It can't be me!" Ella cried, getting to her feet. "It's not me." With those words, she stormed away from the house, and everyone could hear the distinct sound of trees being smashed to pieces that soon followed.

"I was afraid of that," Elizabeth murmured. "I'm sorry." She looked at Carlisle and saw the hurt in his eyes. "I will go talk to her."

"Not yet." Jasper stopped her. "Let her calm down first."

Heeding his advice, Elizabeth returned to her seat.

"Daniel? Do you think we can start on the book?" Jasper asked. "I think I might be able to assist with the translation."

o.O.o

While the gang inside was busy with the book, Ella's rage soon dwindled. It was replaced with a deep hurt in her chest, and she knew the sensation by now. It was the pain of being apart from her soul mate. It was the agony of thinking about the possibility of losing Carlisle.

She hated prophecies. The tricky creatures told just enough to turn her world upside down but never enough to actually tell her what was going on. This one was no different. She wanted to ignore it. She wanted to erase the past thirty minutes from existence, to un-hear the words, but she couldn't.

She knew that ignoring the words would change nothing. Prophecies did not care whether you acknowledged them or not. They either happened or were prevented—usually by her.

Her shoulders slumping, she sat down on the riverbank and stared at the water. She had been carrying the world's fate on her shoulders for close to three years now, had lost people whom she loved, had gained a family and a soulmate. She'd faced evil and had destroyed it. She'd hurt and loved. But more than anything, she'd fought.

She'd fought.

That was the only constant thing. But how could she fight now? How could she fight when she didn't want to? She had long since accepted that she loved someone who her very nature deemed as her enemy. She knew, with every fiber of her being, that Carlisle was her soul mate. As cynical as she was regarding prophecies, she believed he was destined for her. How could she abandon this belief now? How could she not, when there was a prophecy saying he wasn't the one for her?

She didn't turn when she heard footsteps behind her. The tread was heavy, and the wind carried the scent, allowing her recognition long before Elizabeth stopped next to her.

"May I sit?"

Ella nodded, not bothering with words. Her eyes were still fixed on the river. The water was clear enough for her to see the stony riverbed, the stones smooth from countless years of water erosion. As strong as a stone can be, even something as weak as water can wear it down. Ella always considered prophecies to be nothing more than a nuisance, a job, a task. She had always been stronger.

But was she strong enough now?

"I know that I can't possibly imagine how you feel right now, but would you allow me to give you a piece of advice?"

Ella shrugged.

Taking that as an affirmative reply, Elizabeth said, "The way I see it, there are three things that can happen right now. One, the prophecy isn't real, and nothing will change. Two, the prophecy is real, and Carlisle isn't the one you're destined to be with because he, as a vampire, can't be part of giving birth to a new bloodline. Three, the prophecy is real, but fate has more in store for both you and Carlisle. Either way, Ella," she placed her hand on Ella's rigid back, "you can't change the prophecy. What you can do is what you always do—follow your heart. You know better than any prophecy what your heart holds. Let fate take care of itself."

Ella looked up at Elizabeth then, her eyes nearly blinded by tears. "He is my soul mate, Elizabeth."

"Then screw the prophecy."

"Screw the prophecy," Ella repeated with a watery smile. Her head snapped to her right when she sensed Carlisle approaching.

"Go," Elizabeth said, having a pretty good guess—from Ella's expression—who was approaching them.

"Thank you," Ella said quietly. She gave Elizabeth a quick hug and jumped to her feet, sprinting and throwing herself into the arms of her soul mate once she reached him.

Carlisle held her with newfound desperation. He could hear her heart beating twice as fast and smell yet another minute change in her scent. She was changing before his very eyes—the accelerated heartbeat was yet another sign. The prophecy he had just heard meant that if this change was truly a result of a slow transformation, then he would have to talk to her about this sooner rather than later. If she was destined to give birth to children—something he knew she could never do as a vampire—then this process had to be stopped and reversed. He just hoped that it wasn't too late.


Oh-oh, what's wrong with Ella? Not too smart on Carlisle's part to be keeping something like that from her, is it?

Chapter 29 will be here on Friday, September 28. As always, reviewers will receive a short teaser, so make sure your PMs are allowed.

This story and the story "When the Twilight Never Comes" have been nominated in several categories in the Emerging Swan Awards. Please take a moment to peak into Emerging Swan Awards "dot" blogspot "dot" c o m (remove the spacing and replace the "dot" with a dot) and cast your vote.

Thank you for reading,

Alley Cat.

P.S. - if you're a Buffy fan, the name of the chapter is familiar to you. It's take from E07S02 of Buffy.