Well my 'reading week' has been productive, although I haven't actually started any Uni work yet. I've had bucket loads of inspiration for this chapter, hence why it's out a little earlier. So thanks for the reviews, it was really down to you guys for this bout of fast paced ideas.
Some people suggested having Victoria change Rosalie, (I love that idea! How awesome would that be, I think Rosalie would be a little more grateful for having been saved once she got a taste of real vampire life) but unfortunately my Vicky is currently off having her own little adventure.
So thanks for the reviews, alerts and favourites. Keep 'em coming.
Disclaimer: I do not own the rights to the Twilight Saga.
Chapter Thirty Six: Si vis pacem, para bellum
It was incessant. A never ending barrage of noise, high pitched and abrasive. Regardless to the fact the walls were feet deep with stone, the sound managed to find its way through nooks and crannies. Traveling to every part of the house, so there was no respite or any place to hide away.
We had hoped the pain would eventually overcome her threshold, deliver a moment of calm and peace in the household. But Miss Hale was most adamant that we were to share in her change. A brash as she seemed to be in life was only amplified in her death.
The way in which she had been found was harrowing, we all felt her end was unjust, a tragic finish for a beauty.
And she would have become a tragic tale, the story of a girl raped and savaged, told by wary parents to their wayward daughters. A cautionary sermon.
Yet currently she lay in the spare room, becoming one of us. All because she had deliriously begged at the cusp of unconsciousness. We couldn't blame Carlisle; and we didn't, he possessed a human heart and had only the best intentions. There had been hope this could be her second chance. She was young, and if Edward and I had gotten another chance, why had fate not delivered Miss Hale to us with the same intentions? It was indisputable.
Esme and I had seen to her needs the best we could, washing away the blood, changing her into something more suitable. A difficult task, when she was determined to scream the walls down. We had persevered to success. But even with Esme's motherly powers and soothing words the agitated blonde continued to be heard.
Eventually when there was nothing more that could be done, Carlisle called a family interview and we collected in the dining room. Sitting diligently in our already designated spots.
"I am going to apologi-"
"Don't be foolish Carlisle, we don't need an apology." I replied over a shriek, immediately regretting that it had come out so brashly. Tactical support never my forte.
"We're not going anywhere." Edward affirmed, answering a question that had not been voiced aloud.
"Of course not." I waved my hand. "I'm not leaving."
"We just have to pull together, and make Rosalie as comfortable as possible." Esme said, diligently ignoring a particularly loud scream.
"Yes, quite right." Carlisle nodded. "For a start then, it's not recommendable for us to stay here. Our proximity to the humans is far too tempting for a newborn….that is if she chooses to follow our life style."
Whether he meant to voice that worry or not, the sobriety of his words were suddenly very daunting. She would undoubtedly be given a choice, and may not even wish to stay with us. As long as we doted and enforced the rules upon her, that was all that was required of a sire.
"May I make a suggestion?" I questioned in the awkward pause. Continuing when gestured to do so. "Rosalie has lost a lot of blood; we may not even have the full three days to make our move."
"How long?" Carlisle asked.
"I can't be certain, like I said before it was never a measured experiment. But we could be looking at a maximum of forty eight hours."
"So we need to move now." Edward interjected, his response a round of agreeable nods.
"Where do we go? The house in Waynesville is not ready, it's a day's journey running. An impossible journey to make with Rosalie in her condition." Esme reasoned.
"Your houses?" Edward asked me.
"Impossible." I shook my head. "All my properties are in the suburbs, too close to the humans."
"I can be of little help either on that front, this is as far north as I have ever bought." Carlisle said. There came a moment of lingering silence; save for Miss Hales moans, where we all appeared in deep thought.
"How about Allegheny National Park?" Edward said suddenly. "There's an abandoned camp about seventy miles from Erie, it's not pretty but it was far from civilisation."
"Do you think it's still standing?" Carlisle asked, so terribly interested in the news.
"It had been there for fifty years when I came across it, I don't suppose another decade will have made a difference." He replied.
"Sounds like our best bet." I agreed. "But what about the hospital, Carlisle? They will have to be notified."
"Yes quite right….I'll write them a notice. It will need to be delivered by hand in order to get there in time, I also need to sort out the car." He ran his hand through his hair, haggardly.
"I'll go." Esme offered good naturedly. "It will be much more legitimate if the reason is delivered by one of us… but we better have a good enough reason."
"Our mothers died." I blurted out. "No one argues with the grieving."
"As macabre as that is, I suppose it is a good reason for our hasty travels." He agreed. "Right, we should pack the necessities. Once settled we can return for the rest and make the move to Waynesville. Isabella can you write to Jenks again, request blank documents? We may need some for Rosalie."
"Of course." I replied.
"Edward could I commandeer you to help me clean up the car?"
"I'll go fetch the methanol."
With jobs now delegated around, we parted ways promising that by ten o'clock this evening we would make our move for Erie. Esme; with letter in hand, left for the hospital. And while writing to Jenks, I had the joy of watching Edward and Carlisle attempt to un-upholster the seat, before giving up and burning the entire thing. Men.
Once or twice I checked up on Rosalie, grateful that as time wore on she had begun to quieten down. The human body; now unable to cope with the pain, had started to shut down. Her skin had significantly paled, not into the attractive marble of the vampire yet, but into a sickly, sallow pale. She was beautiful in human regards, a trait that I had no doubt she found especially unique to herself. As a vampire she would be stunning, yet this was a common trait we all shared. And although I was quite sure she would be a very handsome vampire, our kind had become indifferent towards the trait.
It did not fail my attention that this young woman and myself had crossed paths before, each time we had never beheld each other in any high regard. In fact I was quite sure I disliked the woman before me. But we knew nothing about each other. I wasn't aware she was the niece of Geneseo's mayor, or she was engaged. I didn't know her wedding was a month away.
All I knew was the man she had chosen to marry had left her in such a state, half dead and abandoned. And that was enough to make me angry on her part.
After replacing the cold flannel on her forehead, I set about continuing with the required work. Walking to the nearest post box in Geneseo to post my letters; any papers sent by Jenks were to be forwarded to the new house. The second was to be sent to Alaska; it was only smart to let our extended family know of the sudden change. And in case their help was required.
It was all going well so far, we had been decisive and smart with our plans. But even as vampires I feared we were in a period of shock, this after all was a drastic change to our routine. We ploughed through with supposed stately calm and poise, adapted to the carnage and the bloodshed. But it didn't mean we liked change. Adjustment meant things were out of our control, we had to rely on instinct to ensure a safe and pleasing outcome.
The wedding I had anticipated so highly was now under question, its location and date were hanging. The suitability of North Carolina was under jeopardy, for its proximity to the humans would have to be decided upon. Everything we had planned, now all depended on Rosalie Hale.
And this indisputable fact found me sitting next to my open traveling case, with the undesirable task of packing necessities and leaving behind by beloved pointless things. Because where we were heading there was no need for silk dresses, diamond earrings or fur coats. Just breeches, shirts and boots. I would not deny several ribbons were tossed in, maybe some colourful barrettes. The plain green day dress I was to travel in would do if I ever needed to venture into the city.
My half of the case was done, it now merely waited upon Edward to make an executive decision as to what he would pack. Once the rear seat was reduced to a smouldering wreck of twisted metal and ash, and the fire no longer a hazard to the house. The two came back inside, Carlisle headed straight to his office but quickly backtracked. No doubt finding Esme's hand written instructions.
"You finished yet?" Edward asked standing at the thresh hold to our room. A sarcastic comment caught on my tongue upon regarding the state of him.
"So help me God, Edward you step one foot on the cream carpet and I will kill you." I threatened, narrowing my eyes at the soot that seemed to cover him entirely. "Did you roll in the ash?"
"The wind changed direction, blew the smoke right at me." He said.
I rolled my eyes. "Go get clean, I need you to pack your things."
"Can you pass me a towel and a change of clothes then? Seeing as I will meet my maker if I attempt to do so myself."
"Here." I passed him his delegated traveling clothes. "But use the towels in the linen cupboard, you're not using the good towels." By the time he had returned, I had already packed his side.
With an apprehensive mood, I watched the little blips of Geneseo's lights get smaller in the wing mirrors. It was pitch black now, the sun having set some five hours previously, and the moon hidden behind great billows of cloud. The dark never hindered us, we had hunted regardless, moved a human body into a car and set to move across the state. All under the guise of night.
Edward and I had been delegated the Ford, while Esme and Carlisle were to travel in the Cadillac with Rosalie. Now the back seat had been torn out, she was able to lie quite flat, with several pillows from the spare room to cradle her head. Morbidly quite an efficient method. It must have been comfortable because she'd finally succumb to complete silence, or maybe it was the realm of unconsciousness.
The car was also quiet for a while, too fraught with our own thoughts to strike up a conversation. The silent moment gave my mind a gratifying attempt to make sense of this harrowing quirk to our plans, morbid blip in the routine. I was unsure to all of the emotions that were running through me, maybe worry played a part, perhaps some dread, and I was pretty sure a large chunk was fear.
But my fear was not directed at the creature Miss Hale was to become; I had enough dealing with such things, and even as a newborn it was still four against one. But Rosalie was an enigma, an unknown being who had such a power over this coven. Unpredictability in the nature of a new vampire could lead to a threat to our lifestyle, according to the unwritten law, it was then Carlisle's duty or the duty of the acting coven to cull. But to ask such a thing from us a compassionate family, was a horrid thought.
Rosalie had the unknown ability to destroy everything we had worked for and the values that we chose to live by, it was that thought that accompanied the fear. It all came down to how she reacted, because not everyone was cut out to become a vampire.
The rapidly morbid progression of my mind was halted by Edward's infallible timing. "Good outcome or bad?" He asked.
My reply was a quizzical look, before realising he knew me too well, and the predictability of my mind. "Bad. It always seems to take a bad turn. Care to input your own thoughts?" I said, turning on the leather bench to give him my full attention.
"My concern lies with all of us." He stated. "I don't want Carlisle to be naive about this; I know Esme was able to overcome her trauma. But we don't know Rosalie, and we certainly don't know how she's going to react to this situation."
"Well, excuse my insensitively." I began. "But she'll have to accept it, because the only other alternative is….not exactly pleasant."
"He's adamant she can be like us. I just hope he understands it may not turn out like that."
"Either way it's definitely going to be interesting." I replied, watching the farm land and occasional houses pass by. "Not exactly how I imagined our evening."
"Moving across states was not high on my agenda either." He replied.
"This place we're going to, is it nice?" I asked,
"Define your meaning of nice." He replied, sending me a sideways glance that told me not to get my hopes up.
"Electricity?" He shook his head. "Running water?" Another shake. "Please tell me it has a roof and walls?"
"Some of the cabins had roofs and walls."
"Are you taking me somewhere unpleasant again?"
"When have I ever taken you somewhere unpleasant?" He exclaimed, eye brows raised in question.
"When you found me in Toledo, you made me follow you back to that horrid little dockland building. I had to enter through the roof and it was dusty."
"That was one time, love."
"One example of what happens when you live without me. This is another example."
"Yes, but I was in the process of looking for you when I came across the camp. I had no desire to stay there, but I needed somewhere to hide during the day."
"Fair enough, I suppose that's as good a reason as any." I sighed, giving up with the tangent of the conversation and taking to slouching in my seat. "How far is it?"
"From here...about a hundred and fifty miles, roughly."
"So that's about...four hours, give or take time lost with any necessary stops." I calculated aloud, grimacing at the thought of sitting in one spot for so long. "Sounds….amusing"
"I'm here too, if you haven't forgotten."
"Sorry, I didn't mean it like that. I'm just too antsy to sit for such a period, running would be preferable."
"Then be my guest" He said gesturing towards my door.
"And leave you all by yourself? What kind of self-centred fiend do you take me for?" I replied, absentmindedly pulling my hair from its uptight bun and twisting an odd snarl around my finger.
"It was more a… gentlemanly offer. I wasn't actually going to let you go off alone." He said, throwing a charming smile in my direction. "With your penchant for attracting trouble, an angry revenge seeking female still on the loose, and another half way through a change, you'd better stay in the car."
"Is that an order?" I grinned.
A/N: Another chapter done and I'm slowly getting closer to the hundred thousand mark, which is a scarily big number. I always wondered how they moved so easily, setting up new identities, Carlisle getting another job….seems like a lot of work. So I wanted to address (somewhat) realistically what needed to be decided upon, before upping sticks and moving on. Then get to the good old family feuds!
Reviews most welcome.