DISCLAIMER: All publicly recognizable characters, settings, etc. are the property of their respective owners. The legends of the Quileute belong to them. The original characters and plot are 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.
A/N: I apologize for the delay in resuming posting of this story. Shortly after posting the last chapter I learned that I needed to have surgery and my recovery from that took some time. As far as future chapters are concerned, I intend to post as soon as I have a chapter ready, rather than on a given day as has been my practice until now. The story is complex, and each chapter from now on will be more difficult to write. Also one of my betas has a project in RL that is taking up most of her time. What I can say is that the story will be finished.
1992
Charlie POV
I hated to admit it, but it was becoming harder for me to have Bella come and visit me in Forks. Billy and Harry were my dear friends, but they belonged to a world that I'd never inhabit; the world of the supernatural.
Once Bella was of school age, she'd have less time to spend with me. She was an observant little thing, and I didn't need to run the gauntlet of a call from Renee if and when she encountered the half-vampires in town. She'd be sure to go home to California, regaling her mother with stories of who and what she'd seen.
The La Push shipwreck had marred Bella's visit, although it did give her some extra time to spend with Jacob Black. I'd also carefully shielded her from the strange things that happened on the Rez in the wake of it.
Then I'd taken her to Seattle, hugged her to me for as long as I could, and handed her over to the care of the stewardess who was going to look after her during the flight. She cried a lot, dabbing away her tears with a handkerchief, and I cried a little too; I hated saying goodbye knowing that I wouldn't see her again for months.
Before she boarded the plane she took her hanky back out of her pocket, wet with her tears as it was, and handed it to me.
"Here Daddy, keep this. It will remind you of me when I'm not here."
Such a sweet and thoughtful child; at least a handkerchief was easier for me to carry than the teddy bear she'd tried to give me before we left Forks. It was white, and embroidered with a white letter "B" but otherwise plain. Bella was not one for fancy things.
As I watched her disappear around the corner into the boarding area, I thought about waiting for the plane to leave but in the end I shrugged and set off for the car park. Why make things harder than they already were.
By the time I was back out on the road, I could hear the roar of an aircraft passing overhead and wondered if that was Bella's plane or not. Dismissing the thought, I put the radio on and let the miles and hours fall away.
On the way home, I stopped to pick up some beer. Billy was coming over to watch the game with me this afternoon; I needed a distraction, a way to fill the hours now that she had left.
The house looked empty when I returned to it, and I felt the cloak of my lonely life settling back over me as I pulled the car up in the driveway. It wasn't a good day to be alone, so I was grateful that I wasn't going to be.
About half an hour later Billy arrived, with his father Bill and grandfather in tow. I wasn't expecting to see them, but perhaps they needed or were being given a distraction as well. After all the pall of grief that hung over the Rez, that I'd seen the evidence of on the day of the funerals, was so thick you could cut it with a knife.
Ephraim seemed shrunken somehow. He was by far the tallest man I had ever seen, but he walked not as the confident Chief of my experience. Instead his shoulders were slouched, his head bowed and he walked with a slow shuffling gait.
I lost my awe of him for a moment, and put my arm around him, hugging him and offering my condolences. As I released him and stood back, tears rolled down his cheeks.
I took my handkerchief, the one that Bella had given me, and offered it to him. His response to that surprised me greatly; his nose twitched, and his eyes suddenly sparked to life. I was pleased that he'd responded in some way; but then he covered his nose with it, as if to wipe away the tracks of his tears, and inhaled deeply.
He smiled and then turned to me and said, "Where did you get this? The scent of this handkerchief, it's so beautiful."
I laughed and replied, "It's only Bella's. She likes to scent her handkerchiefs with something her mother buys for her; I'm not sure what it is."
Ephraim thought for a moment. Then his next words floored me. "Would you mind if I kept it? I know this seems funny but the scent of this handkerchief soothes me in some way. I haven't smelled anything this good since Bill's mother died."
It was a strange request, but I gave in to it. As much as I would have liked to keep the hanky, I had other reminders of Bella in the house; her pillows, her toys and my pictures of her. This broken man seemed to find comfort in a scrap of cotton; who was I to deny him?
I looked over Ephraim's shoulder to Billy and his father, both of whom were wearing expressions of amazement, and in Bill's case, a hint of a dawning awareness of something else. I waited for an explanation of this exchange, but none was forthcoming. After an awkward silence I invited the men inside and we sat down in front of the TV, beers in hand, to watch our team win their first game in a month.
Later, as they were leaving, I took Billy aside. "What was that about, my friend?"
He looked blank. "I have no idea but I think I know who does."
We both turned towards Bill. He returned our gaze, shaking his head infinitesimally, and headed for the door. He obviously had some idea of what had gone on but wasn't going to let us in on the secret.
As for Ephraim, he had brightened considerably and by the time they were ready to leave was able to chat a little and follow our conversation without flagging. It wasn't much, but it was a start.
"You ok for fishing next weekend?" I asked Billy.
"Sure thing, and Harry's coming too. He needs a break from Quil. It's heavy going for him and Sue since Quil has no will to live."
"You could bring him if it would do any good."
"I don't think so, the last thing he needs is to be reminded of the sea. But thanks for offering. See you then."
The three of them disappeared into the night and as I headed into the kitchen to make myself a snack, the house again became the cold and lonely roof over my head that it was for most of the year. I sighed, and ate my food.
After that, things seemed to settle down around Forks and La Push for a while. The period after the shipwreck had been a fraught time, three women had died and the Rez seemed to have lost its heart. One of the losses had been Aunt Molly; more of a cousin to me than an Aunt but all of us boys had called her that as we were growing up.
Uncle Quil's heart had been broken when she lost her life and in many ways, so had his mind. I hadn't been there, but I had vaguely heard about the time he had stayed in wolf form guarding her dead body, and how he had thrown himself sobbing onto her grave.
My love for Renee, and my heartbreak when she left me, had affected me deeply; but I'd never lost the will to live. I looked at my Uncle's situation and feared for his future. If he survived in the long term, he'd never be the same again.
The Chief, Ephraim Black, had been affected almost as badly, but it seemed he was made of sterner stuff. After a mourning period of some months he picked himself up, shook himself off, and resumed his duties as the leader of his tribe.
How much help Bella's hanky had been to him, in that process, I'd never know. I liked to think that it had played some small part in his recovery. I had not seen much of him in the time following the tragedy. To him I was just the hokwát friend of his grandson and therefore someone of little consequence in his life. But Billy seemed to be more cheerful and as the months passed the Rez resumed its normal rhythms.
News eventually came through that Sue had given birth to her baby, a boy named Seth, and that was something to rejoice in after all of the heartbreak that had preceded it. I knew Harry and Sue would be happy with whatever they had, but I had hoped for their sake it was a boy, and I got my wish.
CarlislePOV
I was in my office, writing up some charts, when Charlie Swan showed up to talk to me. He wasn't happy at all. I welcomed him in my usually friendly way; there was no need to antagonize a member of the town's Police Department. The smile faded on my lips as he began to explain why he was there.
Josie and her peers weren't seen around much, and the sightings of them had become rarer once they had started their own families. It was a surprise for Charlie to have an encounter with Josie's children at lunchtime, when they were out shopping with their mother.
As he told it, he was heading out from the Police Station to go to the diner, when he noticed a couple of the kids walking along the street towards their car, Josie's Audi. As they were walking, a stray dog ran up to them, and nipped at their heels.
He would have only been playing, everyone knew that Forks sometimes had a problem with strays and dogs that weren't walked on a lead, but apparently the children hadn't seen it that way.
Charlie told me that he watched as they looked around, not noticing him for some reason, and then turned towards the dog, which was running around in circles, yapping and wagging its tail.
He said he kept watching, horrified, as the dog seemed to stop in its tracks. Its eyes glazed over, and before he could say or do anything, it ran out onto the road just as a pickup truck was driving past. The poor dog had no chance according to Charlie; it ran straight under the front wheels.
I'd seen similar, but much less serious things, happen at home between the children. They were wilful, and liked to have their own way in things. But the instances I'd seen had not resulted in any loss of life, human or animal, and I'd made sure that they were taught to have respect for life.
They didn't hunt; we couldn't all hunt the normal way anymore; there were too many of us. Instead, my blood bank supplied the hybrids with the majority of the blood they used, and they of course could also eat normal food. The full vampires in our family still hunted animals; if we didn't, our eyes would turn red, unlike the hybrids. Occasionally we went on our famous "camping trips" which were in reality out of town hunts in wilderness areas and large forests.
So as a family we had no expectation that the children would have so little respect for life; that they would take it for no good reason, just out of pique. Given that Josie's generation had proven to be good-natured and malleable, this was a disturbing development, and one we as a family would need to deal with immediately, to ensure it never happened again.
I could tell that Charlie had been frightened by what had happened. After some prompting by me, he reluctantly continued to describe how he had seen the children look around again, maybe for the dog's owner, but seeing nobody, had kept walking.
He shivered as he related to me his impressions of what had happened with their eyes. Their normal golden color wasn't the eye color any of their parents had. That was for Charlie creepy enough in itself, but then he saw them glow with an unearthly cast when they were sending the dog to its death.
He was here to get my explanation for all this, and I felt inadequate to the task. More to the point, I didn't think that this turn of events was something I wanted any of the humans to know about.
I had entertained hopes of maybe one day being able to enroll the children in school, but obviously I was going to have to wait a while before doing that. The first order of business would be to teach them how to behave, and only then could they be allowed to mix with other children.
As for Charlie, although he was discreet, I couldn't afford to take the risk that he might disclose what he'd seen to his colleagues or his friends in La Push. I had not changed my mind about leaving Forks, and I didn't need anyone to find a reason to send us away.
I offered him some tea, stalling for time. He laughed and politely declined, but said he'd like some coffee if I was offering. I buzzed my assistant, and while I was waiting for the coffee to be delivered to us, engaged Charlie in some small talk.
He talked about Bella, about how she'd gone home, and how much he missed her. I got the feeling that there was something else about her visit that he was toying with idea of telling me, but he ended up not talking about it. Since Edward wasn't here, and since I had no powers other than my charm for getting answers, I let it slide.
Bella was a young child, her visits to her father weren't any of my business and they could hardly be of any significance to us. No, my main order of business would be with her father.
The coffee for Charlie arrived, and as he drank it we continued to make small talk about Forks in general. Gradually, as his responses reminded me how whip smart he was, it became clear to me that there was only one thing I could do about this issue. Because although it was only a dog that had been harmed, that was the thin end of the wedge. A human might be next, and I needed time to come to grips with the problem without interference from outside the family.
I had to dazzle him; make him forget that any of this had ever happened, and then come up with some other reason for him to be here once I'd finished. Although the Police were often at the hospital to talk to injured accident victims and criminals, there weren't any here at the moment.
I'd have to rely on my old standby.
I changed the register and tone of my voice, lulling Charlie into a false sense of security. Then I concentrated my full attention on him, asking him questions about what he had told me and putting words into his mouth.
I began by asking him again what he'd come to see me about.
"Charlie," I said. "What was it that brought you here this afternoon again?"
He shook his head and replied, "A dog, I came to see you about a dog, one that was run over when one of your family's young children did something to it."
I concentrated harder, looking deep into his eyes, and spoke again. "Charlie, are you sure? Tell me again, what was the reason you came here?"
He blinked, and met my gaze, seeming to have trouble collecting his thoughts. "I came to see you about a dog that was run over...dammit, why would I need to tell you about that?"
My eyes bored into his with renewed intensity, and he recoiled a little from me. I repeated, "I'm not sure I understand why you've come here this afternoon."
He stared at me, confused and incredulous. "I can't remember why I'm here, it's the darndest thing. Not like I had anything I needed to tell you, last thing I remember is heading out to get a bite to eat."
I smiled my most brilliant and engaging smile, and opened a drawer of my desk, producing a checkbook and beginning to write.
"I think you were here to get a donation for the Police Department's fundraising drive that's on next month. You came to the right place."
I signed the check and handed it to him, made out to the Department in the sum of ten thousand dollars. He smiled broadly, folded the check, and placed it in his pocket.
"I'll make sure this gets to the right people. Thank you Carlisle; I don't know how I got the idea to come and see you, but your support is appreciated. We can help out a lot of young kids with this money."
"Think nothing of it Charlie. It was my pleasure, believe you me."
He turned to leave, pausing to pass on his best wishes to Esme, and then showed himself out. I put my head on my desk, feeling more than a little tired, and unclean.
I had a great deal invested in my image of myself as Carlisle Cullen, the compassionate vampire, living and working among the human population and swearing to do no harm to them. Times like this shook that self-belief more than a little.
I'd go home, confess my sins to Esme, and take whatever comfort she had to offer. Edward of course would pick the whole thing out of my head and Jasper would sense my torment, but I'd deal with them and the family later.
We'd all need to sit down and talk. Talk about how to control these children and how to show them the difference between right and wrong. They didn't have the right to decide who, or what, lived and died, and especially not for such a stupid reason.
I didn't want to go off half cocked so I'd take counsel from the whole family before anything was said to the children. Maybe, since this was so minor compared to what might have happened, all was not lost. Maybe they could be reasoned with.
I clung to that hope as I finished my shift, handing in my paperwork, checking my patients one last time and heading out the door.
As I slid behind the wheel of my Mercedes, I shuddered. The strain of the past few hours found its way out of my system, and I gripped the wheel a little harder as I started the engine, backed out of my parking spot, and began to head for home.
Edward's eyebrows shot up as I walked into the living room, and Jasper looked up from the newest of his Civil War books as he assessed my emotional state and found it wanting.
I kept walking. I headed across the room to where my wife stood, and wrapped her in my arms. I put my head on her shoulders and she ran her fingers through my hair, soothing my ruffled feathers.
Edward began to speak but I put him and Jasper off saying, "Later, you two. It can wait."
And with that, we untangled ourselves and left the room hand in hand. Tomorrow was another day.
A/N: Tricky Raven recently held the Fandom Choice Awards. In the Quileute Wolf Pack section Gods and Wolves was placed second in the category of Best Historical Drama, and third in the category of Best Action Sequence. I was also placed third in the category of Best Breakthrough Author. Thank you to all of my readers, to those who nominated me and then voted for me, and to everyone who continues to support this story. It is much appreciated, especially as Ephraim is not one of the more popular wolves.