Chapter 49
December 31, 1806 Cambridge University; Cambridge, UK
The sky above was overcast in grey clouds, fat snowflakes falling all around to land in the powdery mess covering the green landscape with soft whispers that human ears were too dull to hear. He lifted his foot carefully, amused by the sight of the damp cuff of his suit pants and shook his head before continuing to trudge through the soft snow that was nearing knee-deep in places. He honestly wasn't certain what time it was, in his haste to escape Volterra and Caius' sadistic madness; he had left his pocket watch behind. It saddened him not to have the time piece, it had been a gift from Marcus, something the mourning ancient had made specifically for him and Carlisle felt the absence of his four friends dearly.
Aro had always been pleasant, infinitely intrigued by everything that made Carlisle who he was and his wife Suplicia had been engaging to talk to and company that always left him feeling peaceful and happy. Marcus had offered him few words, but the things he had said were full of a wisdom that comes only when one has lost everything they ever loved. And Felix, Carlisle shook his head as he let an amused chuckle pass through his parted lips silently. Felix was nothing if not playful and jovial. He had a youthfulness to him that Carlisle doubted he would ever lose and the more time he had spent with the Volturi guard, the more he realized the one thing Felix truly wished to be – a teacher. Carlisle studied his hands, frowning when he saw that they were shaking slightly, not enough for a human to notice, but his eyes could see the trembling that rippled through his muscles.
The sound of the child's screams still sounded in his mind and he hadn't been able to bring himself to enter another hospital or sick ward. Medicine was his passion, his life's work; it allowed him to help people with the senses that would otherwise have made him little more than a monster… He clenched his fists before slipping them into the pockets of the heavy wool coat he wore for show. He had tried to work in a hospital in France, but as soon as he had stepped inside the doors the only thing he could see was Caius torturing that poor child. He had tried to enter a hospital in Spain only to have the same result. Now, six months after the night he had fled Italy with only what he could carry on his back, here he stood on the campus of Cambridge University. He had been auditing a few lectures, but no matter how hard he tried, he hadn't been able to pick up a scalpel or listen to anyone talk about medical treatments. He needed more time, he supposed, to mourn her death and to allow himself to move past the memory of Caius' actions.
His brows drew together, delicate lines of spun gold hair coming together and causing deep furrows between his eyes. He looked up from the snow covered ground trying to determine what it was that had broken through his musings. No one was walking near him, he had wandered off the shoveled path and when he turned around he saw her. There was a gentle, graceful beauty to her. She stood staring at the stone walls of the university with such sadness in her crimson eyes that he felt his own silent heart ache in response. Stepping through the snow, he moved to stand next to her and looked down into her pale face, framed by waves of cinnamon red. Willowy and petite, he almost felt like a giant when he stood next to her, the top of her head barely coming to his bicep.
"It's New Year's Eve," Carlisle commented, his voice smooth and soothing. "Isn't today supposed to be full of hope for the year to come?"
"I fear all hope is lost," she whispered and he could hear the traces of an Irish accent that she hadn't yet lost. "I want so much to go back inside," she said mournfully, her emotions betrayed upon her face as well, "but I cannot."
"Why not?" Carlisle asked as he turned his attention from her face to the university in front of them. "What's stopping you?"
"Control," she said with a sad laugh full of doubt and self recrimination. "Or rather a lack thereof. I used to teach here, did you know? History, it is my favorite subject. The human males, so proud to be the ones in charge, let me be their assistants which in turn means teaching their classes for them. I've done so for nearly a century now, switching back and forth between here and three other universities when my age becomes suspect."
"Why have you stopped?" Carlisle asked curiously and looked down when she gasped in wonder.
"Your eyes," she said and shook her head. "You are like me, are you not?"
"I am," he nodded slowly only once. "I am a doctor, or I was."
"A doctor?" she shook her head, "but how could you? The blood alone would drive you to feed."
"It doesn't," he said with a sad grin. "I've never tasted human blood and I've no intention of ever doing so either," he told her and looked down into her eyes before nodding at the building. "Why did you stop teaching?"
"The classes, the students," she said and looked down at her hands. "I've always prided myself on my control, but I hadn't fed in a fortnight and the student I was working with, he slipped and cut his hand on a bit of broken glass I had been cleaning up. I nearly attacked him; I know I fairly scared him half to death before I was able to make myself leave. It is the closest I have ever come to…I can't go back. How do you do it? How can you stand to be around human blood as you must be?"
"I told you, I don't drink it," he said with a wry grin and looked down at the snow. "I only drink the blood of animals. It gives me strength and allows me the control that I need to help my patients," he told her.
"But you stopped," she reminded him with a frown. "Why did you stop?"
"I…lost a patient, she was very young. Her injury hadn't been too severe," he shook his head even as he felt his throat tighten. "I never expected her to die. There was nothing I could do to save her."
"Aye," she nodded sagely. "The young ones would make it a fair bit harder, I suppose…You don't drink human blood, you never have?" she questioned what he told her.
"Not a drop," Carlisle said as he met her curious gaze. "Not ever."
"And it doesn't make you…thirsty…to be around human blood?" she pressed further and he chuckled silently.
"No," he said, his smile genuine. "I have never been tempted. I've always known who I want to be."
"How old are you?" she asked as she stared into his gold eyes.
"Physically or…? Ah, I was…reborn in sixteen sixty-three," he told her with a touch of humor.
"Over a century with no human blood at all?" she asked with wide eyes marveling at his control. "And you can be around humans, treat them as a doctor?"
She looked down at her hands, her mind spinning with the revelation that he had made. He had enough control to be a doctor. He could treat injured humans without being tempted by their blood. He could cut into them, perform bloodletting and never once be tempted. It went beyond his own personal control and she knew that. Looking back up and meeting his golden eyes, she bit her lip before voicing her request and hoping that he wouldn't turn her away.
"Would you," she stopped and grew silent, her pink tongue slipping out to wet her lips. "Would you teach me?"
"Medicine?" Carlisle asked with a confused frown.
"No," she shook her head with a hopeful laugh. "Your diet. Teach me your control, please," she begged taking his hand and staring up into his eyes. "Please, I don't want to give up teaching. Please, teach me how to be like you."
Carlisle stared down at her with wide eyes. In all his one hundred thirty-six years he had never once been presented with that request. It had always been the other way around. He was considered the crazy one, the defective immortal, but she…she wanted to be like him. He saw her expression fall, the hope dying from her eyes and he realized then that he had yet to speak.
"I don't even know your name," he said with a smile and watched as her crimson eyes sparkled with the light of hope once more.
"Monica," she said in rush a laugh spilling from her lips in a breathy whisper. "Professor Monica Jamison. And your name, sir?"
"Carlisle Cullen."
:::::
Angela bit her lip as she looked over the few notes she had been able to compile regarding Alice's human past. In truth, she didn't have much and feared that she wouldn't find anything unless she physically went to Biloxi, Mississippi, but that wasn't an option right now. Narrowing her eyes on the computer screen, she brought up the instant messaging program that she used and smiled when the historian she worked for was online. Opening a message window she typed quickly and hoped that the woman still thought enough her to send a reply.
ProfJam: Angela Weber, is that really you? Where have you been?
Angela released an amused breath and messaged her back, letting her friend know that she regretted her time away and apologized for her absence. She bit her lip, laughing silently at the new message, the declaration that her updated contact information in the online system showed her physical address had changed and Angela's fingers hovered above the laptop's keyboard.
'I guess the easiest explanation, Angela typed into the window slowly, is that I was adopted.
She rolled her eyes with amusement at the sight of the alert to receiving a video call and clicked on the blinking button to accept it. The woman's familiar face filled the screen and Angela looked around the high school library to make certain that she had relative privacy before greeting the woman. She had to admit a slight jealousy to her beautiful cinnamon curls, the way her hair seemed to always be perfectly styled. Blinking as she shook herself from her thoughts, Angela smiled at the woman who paid her quite a hefty sum when more often than not; she really hadn't done much at all.
"Angela," Professor Jamison greeted her with a teasing frown. "I thought I told you to call me Monica. And what do you mean, you were adopted? As far as I knew, you have or at least had parents."
"I do," Angela answered hesitantly, a haunted look filling her eyes. "Let's just say that we never truly saw eye to eye. I was…Papa took me in."
"Oh," she said curiously. "And does Papa have any other name?" she asked and smiled when Angela laughed.
"Carlisle," Angela said with a grin. "He's really been amazing. What?" Angela asked at the sight of her friend's thoughtful frown.
"Nothing, I just…I knew a man once with that name," she said and pursed her lips. "I doubt it's the same person, the name is familiar that's all. So, tell me: what is this research project that you're having difficulty with?"
Angela talked with her for nearly the entire hour of her free period, explaining what she could without revealing what Alice was. It was hard to skirt around the topic and even though there were times that she could see the suspicion in the professor's light hazel eyes, she did everything she could to keep from saying too much. As their conversation was drawing to a close, Professor Jamison nodded slowly with a thoughtful frown.
"Unfortunately, you are right," she told Angela. "The only thing left to do is travel to Biloxi. You would only be able to access the microfiche for that town's newspapers at their public library or country hall of records. There is a chance that there might not be any records if there was a fire."
Monica grew quiet as she looked at something out of sight of the camera and Angela could hear a slight scratching sound that made her think the woman was taking notes with a pen and paper. Turning her attention back to the video conversation, she asked Angela if she wouldn't mind a bit of assistance as she had nearly a month of vacation time that the college was threatening to take away if she didn't use soon. She wasn't certain what response she would get, but laughed at the sight of the girl's quiet excitement.
"I'll stop through Biloxi on my way to see you," she promised Angela. "It shouldn't take me much more than a day or two to find the records you're looking for and I'll bring you whatever raw data I can find. The only name you truly have is 'Alice'? No family name? And the birth year for your friend, you said that nineteen oh-one is a guess. Do you have anything concrete?"
"Nothing," Angela shook her head sadly. "She doesn't remember her hu-early, she doesn't remember her early years," she corrected herself quickly and hoped that the woman didn't question her near slip of the tongue.
"I'll find what I can," Monica promised and chuckled when the sound of the school bell echoed in the microphone of the computer. "Go to class, I'll let you know when I've made it to your town."
"Ok, thank you!" she said before the screen went dark and Monica allowed a frown to furrow her brow.
"Angela, my dear," she thought aloud. "Did you almost say 'human years'?"
:::::
The ancient vampire smiled as he looked down at the finished product. It was a painstaking task, but one he had always enjoyed no matter how much time he had to spend on each piece. Lifting the jeweler's monocle to his right eye and peering through the glass, he checked that each rise and hollow was perfectly formed and delicately rounded to leave no sharp edges. Pleased with his craftsmanship, he set the magnifying piece down on the bench beside him and lifted the soft cloth as he carefully buffed the hard carved stone to a beautiful shine. He grinned in amusement as he set the carved stone into its platinum setting and carefully fused the stone and precious metal into one flawless piece.
There weren't many covens that had formal crests made; in fact, there were only two aside from his own that he could think of. One was the family he had just finished a piece for, the other was the one that his master – both in this immortal life and the man who had trained him in the art of jewelry making and stone carving – worked for. He could still remember the very first crest he had ever made for the vampire and shook his head with humor at the memory. It had been a personal request from his daughter, Monica, a gift to repay him for everything that he had done for her. She had never told him exactly what that was until nearly twenty years later when she had come home for a visit, but what Carlisle had taught her had allowed her to return to teaching at the colleges without any fear of losing her control.
Until now, all of his communication with Carlisle had been through letters, over the telephone or, most recently through email. He had always simply shipped the finished product to his friend, or advised him of which jeweler he had sent it to so that it could be picked up in a timely manner, but this time he would deliver it personally. He was curious, he admitted to himself as he delicately placed the necklace onto its bed of black velvet and folded the long platinum chain over the satin beneath to keep it from tangling in itself. His friend had never ordered two crests in such quick succession before and never had they ever been the exact same specifications. He wanted to meet this new vampire.
Placing the silk covered box, as long and wide as his hand, into the small travel bag he stood from the work bench and moved out into the open space of his privately owned jewelry store. The only human working for him was the girl working behind the left counter and the only reason for that was due to the placement of the window. Some of his best designs were over there and the glass encased counter stood in direct sunlight to cast the best possible light on the pieces held within. She smiled as she looked up at him and he nodded in return only to have his attention drawn away by the vampire that he was honored to call his wife who also served as his personal assistant and go between for the rest of the world.
"Your flight leaves in three hours and the taxi waiting outside is already paid for, tip included," she told him and sighed once more. "Frederick, are you certain you must go? Forks seems to be such a…quaint town," she said, her words chosen wisely even as she rolled her eyes. "This is Paris! What could such a little town have to offer you?"
"A visit with an old and dear friend, Veronique," he tapped her nose in a teasing manner and she rolled her eyes again. "You are so young," he chuckled lightly.
"I'm almost as old as you are!" she protested and he laughed heartily.
"You, my darling, were but twenty-nine when I changed you," he reminded her with amusement. "I was forty-five, hence – you are younger."
"Fine, fine," she laughed and pushed him toward the front door. "Get out of here while you can, old man. I'll be sure to have your walker and slippers waiting for you when you come home."
"Oi!" he looked back at her and laughed at her teasing. "Careful or I'll have you fetching my pipe."
"Your pipe!" Veronique put her hand flat against her stomach as she laughed harder. "Oh that I'd love to see! A vampire with a pipe. Scotsmen, you can't live with them and you can't live without them."
"You certainly tried to though, resisted my wooing for two years!" he teased his wife. "I'll be home soon."
"Then you should leave before I refuse to let you go," she said and shook her head as the bell over the door jingled. "And don't get any ideas about moving the store," she called after him teasingly. "It took me long enough to convince you that Paris was better than Edinburgh!"
"He is leaving?" Sophia asked as she stepped up to the woman's side. "I'd better let Monica know to expect him, after all he did promise to stop by Cambridge before he left completely," she shook her head and withdrew her cell phone.
Veronique laughed. "I do believe your sister's out on a hunt, Sophia," she sighed and rolled her eyes. "Honestly, she loves being a professor so much that she even adopted a diet of animal blood just so that she can have more control when around her students! You'd think the university would notice that she hasn't aged a day in the past fifty years."
"Professor Monica Jamison," Sophia spoke into her cell phone before covering the receiver and looking at her immortal mother. "You always say that as though you're surprised. She's been on her 'diet' for close to two centuries now. She loves teaching," Sophia turned back to her phone. "No, connect me to her office please," she turned back to Veronique. "She was a teacher when you met her, did you ever think that would change?"
"You changed," Veronique pointed out of the younger of the two women she had changed, both holding enough similarities in build and coloring to look as though they were the natural children of her and her mate.
"Not so much," Sophia shook her head with a laugh. "I may have been twenty when you changed me, but I didn't know who I wanted to be back then. Even now I'm still experimenting and seeing what it is that I truly love to do. Monica always knew." She turned back to her phone and rolled her eyes at the greeting. "Seriously, Monica? You do need to change your voicemail greeting once in awhile, that just gets boring. You should say something more exciting like I'm sorry I can't come to the phone right now, but I'm having the absolute best se – there you are," she cut off with a giggle. "I knew you were screening your calls."
"You will be the death of me," her sister proclaimed and Sophia laughed. "What do you want, brat?"
"Da's on his way o'er," she said, her natural Irish accent coming back before she rolled her eyes and corrected herself to speak with a more neutral tone, an accent closer to a light London accent. "He should've just left the train station," she said as she glanced at her watch. "He'll be arriving at the station in London in about two hours. If you plan to travel with him then you need to meet him there."
"He took the speed train?" Monica asked with a laugh. "I thought he swore he would never do that again."
"He did, but this was a last minute decision and the flight he booked was leaving too early for him to catch anything else. Get there, Monica," Sophia said and clapped her phone closed effectively ending the call.
"I know why Frederick is traveling to Forks, but why is your sister?" Veronique asked as she looked at the youngest of her two immortal daughters.
"She has a human student in the states there that she corresponds with," Sophia said with a roll of her eyes. "The University's threatening to put her on a leave of absence if she doesn't use her vacation time soon, so she thought she would plan a visit."
"Good a reason as any, I guess," Veronique said as she walked back toward the door that opened to the stairs leading to their apartment above the store. "What was the student's name?"
"Amber? Andrea? No, Angela. That was it, Angela something."
:::::
Aro stood motionless in the open doorway staring silently at the scene in front of him. Even with having read her memories two days prior, he still couldn't wrap his mind around what he was seeing. Not only did one delicate human girl find comfort sleeping nestled in between the twin embrace of her vampire 'brothers', but those same vampires seemed to prefer it that way. He watched as the early morning sunlight streamed in through the glass wall, the golden rays shining upon Emmett and Jasper and casting their marble skin in prismatic shimmers. Angela stirred slightly, a deep breath indrawn slowly as she made a soft sound of contentment and snuggled deeper into Emmett's chest while her right arm remained firmly entwined with Jasper's.
Emmett chuckled softly and kissed Angela's hair, shushing her as he told her she still had a few hours yet to sleep if she wanted to. She stirred again, moaning softly and Aro watched her frown, the corner of the one eye he could see crinkling in a wince as she slept. His eyes shifted slightly to the left, his gaze catching the hard set of Jasper's jaw as the southern vampire closed his eyes and took in a deep steadying breath. He heard Edward's voice sound downstairs as he spoke to Carlisle, but paid no mind to the conversation, his attention captured by the human girl instead.
"Excuse me," Carlisle said and Aro looked back at his friend with mild surprise before stepping into the girl's room to allow him to pass. "I forget that seeing this is new for you," he said as he stepped toward the bed and it was then that Aro saw the syringe in the man's hand.
"What is that?" Aro asked curiously as he watched Carlisle gently unwind Angela's arm from around Jasper's so that he could administer the injection.
"Toradol, her migraine medicine," he clarified as he removed the needle and kissed his sleeping daughter's forehead.
"Papa?" Angela moaned softly, her eyes barely open as she looked up at him through the fringe of her lashes.
"Go back to sleep sweetheart," he soothed her and petted her hair. "It's not yet six."
She mumbled an unintelligible reply and yawned gently as she tucked her face back against Emmett's chest. It didn't take her more than a few seconds to return to sleep, Jasper's influence not needed as she took comfort in the safety she was afforded by having her brothers surround her. Jasper chuckled silently, rolling his eyes in affectionate amusement when she once again wound her arm around his in her sleep. He kissed her hair as he held her and looked at Emmett, both vampires soothed by the familiar embrace. Carlisle looked at his children for a moment longer before stepping out of the room. He was highly tempted to call her in for the day, but even with the makeup exam she had taken, the principal had assured Esme that nothing short of a GED exam would cover Angela for missing anymore days of school. She could be sent home, they had been told, but she had been called in too many times.
Aro looked back over his shoulder, watched as Carlisle simply looked at Edward and his son nodded quietly. It wasn't the first time that he had noticed how much the communication in Carlisle's coven was non verbal. He had wanted that, hadn't he? That ease of understanding, the simplicity of knowing what would happen and how it would occur. In his desire for power he had hunted out those vampires with talents and brought them into the Volturi to serve him with the help of Chelsea and Corin. He had always believed that he had everything under control; he had never realized that he had been the marionette on the string. It still baffled him to realize that it was Carlisle, who had no desire for power or supreme control, that had been able to accomplish what he had not.
Angela moaned again, the sound pulling him from his thoughts and he turned his attention back to the bed. She sighed once, whimpered softly before she began to move in a languid stretch, her brothers smiling down on her adoringly as though expecting her do something. Her eyes fluttered open slowly and Aro's eyes widened as he breathed in deeply. The subtle warmth that had been present throughout the night changed into a burning flame that seemed to fill him with the most pleasant feelings of love and acceptance. He knew now, without having to ask anyone, that this warmth was coming from Angela and he was still struck speechless by the power she wielded without knowledge. He heard a chuckle behind him and turned to watch as Edward walked into the room.
"Morning to you too, baby girl," he greeted with a smile.
That's the third time I've tried to tell him hello and he doesn't answer, she said with a frown and Edward laughed.
"Sweetheart, his power isn't like mine remember?" Edward said with a chuckle as he glanced back at Aro to let the ancient vampire know they were discussing him. "He needs to touch you; he can't hear you from a distance like I can."
If that's true, then how come he keeps acting like he can hear me? she asked and Edward shook his head.
"What do you mean?" he asked and couldn't hide the grin at the sight of the carefully concealed frustration on Aro's face.
He responds, Angela told him with wide eyes. Watch.
She called to Aro in her thoughts, told him good morning and watched as he straightened, his eyes growing slightly wider as he looked at her. She turned her attention back on Edward as though she were making a point, but it was Jasper who responded to her instead. He used his talent to call her attention to him, let her feel his curiosity and the soothing warmth of the love he held before he turned his eyes on Edward.
Wait, Angela glanced at Aro before looking back at Edward. You two are saying that he can't hear me, but he can feel me?
"Something like that," Edward told her with a grin. "You might as well come over here and take her hand," he told Aro. "She's been trying to talk to you like she does to me, that's why you've been feeling those pulses of warmth," Edward told him and watched as the man simply raised a single brow before moving to sit on the edge of the bed.
"Good morning," he greeted Angela as he held out his hand was genuinely surprised to see her smile when she placed her palm in his.
Can you hear me now? She asked and Aro met her eyes with a smile.
"Yes, I can," he chuckled. "I'm not used to someone who…appreciates my talent as you do."
Why not?
"You didn't truly understand what I was telling you the other day," he told her, believing that the revelation he was about to make would take away her easy acceptance of his talent as it had for so many others. "I don't simply see what you are thinking about as Edward does. I see everything," he frowned when he read her confusion. "All of your memories throughout your life, all of your thoughts, your hopes, your dreams, your fears," he spoke slowly as he explained his talent in detail. "I see everything."
Everything? She asked and he could feel her begin to pull away from him, feeling sorrow at what he believed to be her dismissal of him. Then you saw…I mean, you know…
Aro frowned as he read her thoughts, surprise and disbelief registering in his thoughts and emotions as he looked upon her. She wasn't pulling away from him because of his talent as everyone else always had throughout his immortal existence, she was afraid that with the knowledge of her memories he would see whatever flaws her human parents had. She was afraid that he would turn her away? It didn't make sense to him. She wasn't upset because of what he could do, but realized instead that she had always been afraid to reveal the true depth of her abuse. Not because of what her parents had done, but because she had truly believed them when they told her she was deserving of their actions.
"It wasn't your fault," he told her softly and brushed his free hand against her cheek. "What they did to you…there is nothing wrong with you," he promised her and kissed her brow before releasing her hand and rising from the bed. "We can always speak more later if you would like," he offered and smiled with amusement when he felt the soothing brush of warmth against his spirit.
How different she is, Aro thought and looked at Edward when he heard his answering chuckle. What of those of your family without active talents?
"Hey, Angela," Edward grinned and leaned close to whisper in her ear. "Felix is outside with Marcus, do you think you can get their attention?"
Their attention? She frowned at him and watched as he looked at Emmett. Oh! I don't know. I haven't tried before.
"Try," he encouraged with a grin.
Angela's gaze fell to the side, her lip caught between her teeth as her eyes lost focus. She thought over all the times that she had sat with Marcus inside their mental sanctuary, the stories that he would tell her and the way he would hold her. She thought of Felix's stories of ancient Rome, the way he had begun to teach her a few words of ancient Latin and how much he reminded her of Emmett. She leaned against her brother and wondered if it would be possible to skip high school all together and simply spend her days with them learning all she could about the history they had lived through. She giggled softly when she looked up to see both ancient vampires in question standing in her open doorway with matching looks of confusion on their faces.
"I swear I heard your voice," Felix said as he looked at her. "You did call for me, didn't you?" he asked her and Angela smiled.
"That," Edward said to Aro, "is how she is with the rest of us." Edward looked back at Angela, his smile fading into a worried frown and he leaned close enough to kiss her forehead as she sat leaning back against Emmett's chest, his brother's arms wrapped around her loosely. "Make sure you have your Toradol with you before we leave ok?" he requested and she nodded quietly.
"Alright boys," Alice said as she stepped into the room. "Enough with the bonding, get out."
"She may be tiny," Edward said, reading Felix's thoughts as he stood from the bed, "but she's damn forceful. It's best to simply do as she says."
"Out, out!" Alice shooed them from the room until it was just her and Angela left behind. "Finally," she rolled her eyes before giggling and skipping to sit next to Angela on the bed. "You're still in a lot of pain, aren't you?" she asked sadly and pursed her lips at the sight of her human sister's reluctant nod. "Go on," Alice tipped her head toward the door. "Go take a few human moments and then Rose and I will help you get ready for the day. Sound good?"
Angela nodded quietly, unable to speak through her emotions as she leant forward and wrapped her arms around Alice, the petite vampire returning her embrace easily. She had missed this, Angela thought as the first tear slid down her cheek. It was the little things that she had missed the most, the routines she had grown used to that had stopped cold when the family had been temporarily split apart. Alice shushed her gently, rubbing her back when she smelled the salt and felt Angela tremble in her arms. She tightened her embrace as Rosalie came over to the bed and sat down quietly. They both knew that as easily as Angela had welcomed everyone back, and as quickly as she had seemed to bounce back to her usual self, there was still a lot of emotional pain she was hiding.
Rosalie lifted her hand, slowly petted Angela's hair as the girl kept her face buried in Alice's shoulder. She was trying so hard not to cry, but both Alice and Rosalie knew that she needed to. It was the effort of bottling up her emotional pain, that they suspected was causing her migraine to be so severe this time. Looking up from the girl between them, Rosalie smiled sadly as Esme closed the bedroom door quietly and made her way to sit on the bed as well until the three of them had Angela surrounded. Their gentle ministrations, the soothing words of their love and reassurances that they wouldn't be leaving again broke through the barriers she had tried to build and Angela shook as she sobbed into Alice's shoulder.
"Just let her cry it out," Esme said softly to her daughters and rubbed Angela's back slowly. "If her migraine hasn't abated by noon," she said to Alice and watched her nod.
"I'll call you first," Alice said and offered her adoptive mother a lopsided grin. "Carlisle's going to be spending most of the day with our Volturi," she quipped. "Marcus plans to show Aro the video of Carlisle's surgery once we leave for school. He's going to be busy."
Esme nodded and turned her eyes down to Angela when the girl sat back slowly, smoothing her hands over her cheeks to dry her tears. She knew that her human daughter tended to be very self-conscious about crying in front of anyone and after Edward's revelations when he had read Aro while the ancient vampire read Angela, she understood why. For years, any sign of emotional pain had been met with harsh words or a slap to the face. More often than not, if she was found crying she would be locked in her closet and denied food. Wrapping her arms around Angela, Esme rubbed her back and kissed her hair.
"Go on," she encouraged as she stood and helped Angela stand from the bed. "Your sisters will be here to help you get ready for school and I'll have breakfast waiting for you. Alice," she turned to her psychic daughter after Angela had left the room.
"The extra bottle of her Toradol is already in my purse," she promised Esme. "Edward and I will take care of her and Bella, don't worry."
"Without Jasper there to monitor her pain, I'm worried that she won't admit to it or take her medicine when she needs it," Esme said with a sigh.
"Jasper's taught me how to read the physical signs that usually accompany the twinges he feels from her. I should be able to catch it if I'm in class with her," Alice assured her and nodded at the choice of outfit she could see Rosalie decide on. "That'll be perfect; I'll get the makeup to match."
"Alice," Esme began only for the girl in question to nod.
"Don't worry; we won't let Lauren near either of them, not if we can help it."
Esme nodded once and stepped out of the room, drawing the door almost closed behind her. She could hear Angela moving about in the bathroom, her human daughter preparing to take a shower and felt conflicted in her need to protect her. She had been through so much already and if it had been in her power to keep Angela home without drawing the community's suspicion, she would've gladly done so. Releasing a deep breath slowly through her nose, Esme stepped silently down the stairs and made her way into the kitchen. She had learned Angela's preference for berries and apples early on and smiled as she moved toward the fridge to retrieve the fruit she would need to make the girl's breakfast.
"Esme, could I ask you a personal question?" Suplicia requested as she stepped into the kitchen.
"Of course," she replied as she began peeling a green apple. "What's on your mind?"
"The ease with which you seem to take to all of this," Suplicia said and began slicing the strawberries at Esme's direction. "Were you a mother before you were changed?"
Her knife stilled for a short moment before she quartered the apple and cut away the core. She no longer felt the pain of her infant son's death, but talking about him still made her heart ache with the memory. Chopping the white flesh of the apple into chunks, she added them to a bowl before taking up another apple and repeating the process.
"For a very short time," Esme answered softly. "He didn't live very long, only two days."
"I'm sorry," Suplicia said sadly and Esme took in a breath as she smiled.
"I know this all must seem unusual to you, the formation of our coven," she clarified. "The way ours is fashioned more after a family than anything else. Our other children have always been independent, but Angela," she smiled with motherly affection as she grew silent.
"She gave you the chance to be a mother again," Suplicia finished and Esme nodded. "I've never seen Aro like this before," she admitted with a grin. "His talent has always set him apart. Aside from myself, Marcus and Felix, no one has ever truly cared to be around him for what he is able to do with a single touch, but Angela…she doesn't simply accept what he can do, she actually seems to like it."
"She does," Esme chuckled softly. "When it was revealed that Edward could read thoughts and Jasper emotions, she stopped speaking out loud for nearly two days. I had been worried that she was upset until I heard Edward chuckle and found Jasper staying closer to her. She delights in their talents. Speaking without words, or at least without giving voice to her words, seems to bring her a measure of comfort as though it's some secret world she's been invited to be a part of."
"Aro told me what he read from her," Suplicia frowned. "I thought our kind were monsters, how could anyone do that to a child? After all that he's seen and done even Aro is horrified by it. Her strength is amazing though, after all that she was made to endure, she's still so trusting and innocent."
"She is," Esme smiled and looked toward the entryway. "Hello, Sweetheart," she greeted Angela.
"Whipped cream?" Angela asked as she took a seat on the stool in front of the counter and looked at the bowl of fruit topped with the white fluff. "You don't usually give me whipped cream in the mornings."
"Consider it a treat," Esme chuckled and tapped her chin with a smile. "You've gained almost five pounds since we've been back. I'm making a pie for tonight," she told Angela and watched as her eyes lit up with excitement as she munched on her fruit. "Is there anything special you'd like for dinner?" Esme chuckled, "I know that look, what are thinking of?"
"Your eggplant parmesan," Angela admitted and carried her empty bowl to the sink to rinse before putting it in the dishwasher.
"I think I can do that," she smiled at Angela. "Go on," she said when she saw Edward waiting for her in the entryway. "Don't forget your lunch."
Suplicia watched the interaction, trapped in silence by the wonder she felt and smiled when she felt Aro wrap his arms around her waist from behind. She leaned into him, placing her hands over his and sharing the moment with her husband as they watched Angela embrace Esme, the room seeming to brighten as Angela's warmth filled every nook and cranny. The love she felt for her vampire family shined through in an impossibly strong array of emotion that burned through each person with the strength of a raging fire as it soothed them with the beauty of her soul. Turning her face up to her husband, Suplicia met his smile with an answering grin and a chaste kiss. She could see the changes, his amusement and merriment had always been somehow forced, the only time that he had been genuinely happy before now had been two centuries ago. He chuckled at her thoughts and kissed his wife's hair. It certainly did seem fitting that Carlisle would be the one to find and foster Angela. She was enough like his friend that Aro often had trouble remembering that the girl wasn't his natural daughter.
It was amusing, Aro thought as he watched Angela leave the kitchen and walk beside Edward and Alice. When she stood next to Esme and Carlisle, Angela shared enough physical similarities and she was so much like each of them that she truly appeared to be the natural child of the vampire couple. Looking to the side he met Marcus' gaze and nodded at the truth he could see held within his brother's crimson gaze. Never would the dawn have been so beautiful, if the night hadn't been so dark.
:::::
"You don't have to stay with me, you know," Monica said as she looked at Frederick. "I don't know that I will be here more than a few days at any rate."
"We haven't had time together in a few decades, daughter," he told her with a teasing grin. "I've missed you and I will assist you with your research here in Mississippi if only to spend more time with you."
"Well the help and company are always appreciated," she said as she met his crimson gaze. "In truth, I've always been a bit afraid to come home for too long."
"Why ever so?" he asked as he stared at his child as though trying to read her thoughts.
"I'm the only one of the family to feed on animal blood and renounce our natural diet. I thought…" she looked down at the table top between them. "I was afraid of your disapproval."
"Tell me, my dear," Frederick waited for her gold gaze to meet his once more. "Are you happy?"
"Yes, very happy," she answered honestly and he could see the truth of her words in her eyes.
"Then that is all that matters. All I have ever wanted for you or your many siblings," he grinned, "is for you to be happy in this existence. If adopting an odd diet and teaching is what brings you that happiness, then how could I ever be upset?"
"Thank you," she said and he smiled.
"So, what are we researching here in Biloxi?" he asked and watched her smile grow.
"The girl I told you about, the student from Forks," she clarified and he nodded, "she's trying to help a friend remember her early years. From the sounds of it, the woman is either nearing or over a century old, so it's most likely age that has taken her memory from her."
"Ah," he nodded. "Genealogy and personal history then, do we have a name or birth year to go on then?"
"Angela said her friend's name was Alice and the best guess she had for a birth year was nineteen oh-one," she said as she glanced over her hand written notes before reaching for the top box of microfiche and looked through the canisters for the year.
"Alice, you say?" he asked with a thoughtful frown.
"What is it?" Monica asked as she looked up from the canisters.
"Oh, I'm sure it's nothing," he dismissed as he took the next box and began helping her look through the reels of newspaper.
"Tell me anyway," she requested as she set aside two possibles for later review.
"Carlisle, our old friend, he has a daughter named Alice."
"You've stayed in touch with Carlisle?" she asked excitedly as she held his gaze. "The last time I heard from him was nineteen twelve. I have always been afraid that he had met his end."
"Oh no, certainly not," Frederick told her with a dismissive shake of his head and a smile. "In fact, he is the one I am going to visit. He lives in Forks."
"Carlisle lives in Forks?" Monica asked slowly as her hand stilled halfway to the box in front of her.
"Yes," he nodded to her and frowned at her stillness. "He is the one that I have been making the crests for. Why?"
"It couldn't be," she shook her head slowly as she looked at nothing, her thoughts turned inward. "It's impossible."
"What is?" he asked her as he tapped her hand to remind her to move when her stillness drew attention from the elderly librarian.
"Angela," Monica said, her voice below the range of human hearing as she ran her hand through her cinnamon curls. "She said she was recently adopted, or that it was the easiest explanation."
"There has to be more to it than that," he prompted at her distracted tone.
"She called him 'Papa', the one who adopted her and she looked the happiest I've ever seen her. When I asked his name, she said it was Carlisle. But that…that can't be," she said as she met her father's gaze. "Could it?"
"Stranger things have happened," Frederick commented with a thoughtful frown. "We won't know for certain until we get to Forks. Besides that, my dear, Carlisle is not an uncommon name. I can't truly see a family of vampires adopting a human, can you?"
"No, I guess you're right," Monica said with a grin. "Ok, I think I've got the only rolls of microfiche that there might be any information on. I'll start looking at these."
"Then I shall go over the county record books and see what I can find."
They worked together for nearly three hours, accomplishing in that time what would've taken humans more than eight hours to do. Gathering the last of the documents from the printer, Monica thanked the elderly librarian and offered her a smile as they left. The things they had discovered and the revelation that Carlisle Cullen lived in Forks only made her more suspicious of Angela's slip of the tongue when they had spoken a few days ago. It seemed impossible. Could her friend truly have adopted a human?
