Chapter Twenty-Five: Surviving Flowers
Mason (POV)
I wasn't used to feeling such emotions, I felt hate for the loathsome creature in front of me in equal measure to the affection I felt for Angela. I looked at her, knowing I would wait for her. If she died, I would finally go into my end with her. If she rejected me, I would watch from a far and make sure she lived in security and comfort for the rest of her life. This threat put in stark relief how much this human meant to me… no, how much this woman meant to me. Of one thing I was absolutely certain, Angela was the love of my life and there was no reason to hide how I felt.
"She is the one thing in this world I cannot live without. I don't change her because she is not ready to end her mortal life, and I have the patience and time to wait for the day when she is. Can you understand respect? Morality?" There was no understanding in his countenance, no change in his reality. Even facing death, he existed outside of humanity. I shook my head in disappointment.
"Never mind, do you have any final words?" I asked, hoping he would plead with me, maybe to give him a chance to reveal a glimmer of something human.
"Fuck you." Was all he had, and it defined him perfectly.
"Classy to the last James." I severed his head with one terribly familiar motion. My body clenching in horror at taking a life again. I watched as his body burned, my power stretching out to finish this one last thing before it retreated into me and I felt the weight of its use. I collapsed to the ground and slipped neatly into a deep torpor.
I awoke a few minutes later and felt the warmth of someone holding my head in their lap. I looked up into Angela eyes and smiled, until I noticed the blood dripping down her chin. The old fire of thirst screamed at me and I laughingly repressed the impulse. She was injured and I couldn't physically move to check on her yet. My limbs were like lead, I had exerted myself in ways I hadn't attempted in centuries.
"Are you hurt?" I couldn't bear her injured.
"In a lot of ways yes, but the blood is only a scratch. I think James sprained my left shoulder, but I think I'll be okay." Her voice betrayed the shock she was in and my need to explain myself was put on hold until she could truly absorb what I needed to tell her.
"I kinda lost it for a minute, seeing you like that. I thought you were broken, and I reacted in a way I haven't in a long time. I'm not really sure how to say this, but you are definitely worth it. You have become the most important thing in my life in a very short period of time. I would like to... date you if I could" She started to laugh loudly, then self-consciously stopped and looked around for monsters.
"Were safe, Victoria ran far from here, and I doubt she'll return anytime soon." I said calmly, trying to ease her mind just a little.
"Date huh? Okay we can date. At least you have the courage to ask me out, the last guy I liked would never have even tried." She chuckled slightly to herself as she spoke. Then she leaned down and gently kissed me. Her soft lips touched mine for the briefest of seconds, but I felt alive from the contact. She pulled back and stroked my hair tenderly as she continued.
"That's for saving my life." She pulled her hand away and began to randomly play with the grass.
"Angela..." I hesitated, I thought about everything I could say. I knew that I would gladly sacrifice myself for her. It was an impulse that was dangerous to have. "It was my pleasure. I hope you can forgive us all for your capture. I know Bella and Edward are beside themselves with guilt."
"I don't blame them, they were tricked. James was gloating about it; I mean that's how I know." Then she paused for a moment and looked deeply into my eyes, "May I ask you a favor?" I nodded. "Could you distract me, from all of this?" She nodded towards the charred patch on the grass. I could feel my strength returning and I gently lifted my head from her lap. Then I sat opposite her and checked the cut on her forehead, and then her arm. She was right, all the injuries were superficial. Then I lifted her and carried her deep into the woods until we came across a much smaller clearing. It still mostly green, with odd surviving patches of wildflowers. As we broke the tree line the sun escaped through the clouds long enough to make the grass almost glow in an otherworldly light. I looked down at her and noticed she had her eyes closed, and her head was pressed into my chest. I placed her on the ground gently and then sat opposite from her again, our knees almost touching.
"What would you like to do?" I raised my eyebrows to express interest.
"Tell me about your coven, if it isn't too painful." I smiled slightly and nodded.
"Well there is a lot to tell. Would you like me to start at the beginning?" She grinned and nodded quickly.
"I had just left a bad situation and needed to find others who shared my ideals. I searched for a long time and found no other vampire who would give up their love of human blood. Then I realized that I would have to make my own coven if I were to ever find likeminded souls. It is too hard to change once the thirst has a hold of you. It is like asking a heroin addict to give up his fix, most are not going to do it voluntarily. But to give that choice to someone without a predisposition is completely different."
"So, you turned some people to form your coven? Oh, sorry I didn't mean to interrupt." She bit her lower lip slightly; it was a nervous habit and it made me grin widely. She looked down at her hands and waited for me continue. I reached over and lifted her chin so that we could have eye contact again.
"You can interrupt anytime if you have a question, you are the last person who should be afraid of me." She met my gaze and tried to smile but she faltered slightly then took a deep breath and looked up at the clouds.
"Okay, please keep going." She looked at me again and smiled fully to urge me on.
"Her name was Katherine; she was intelligent and courageous. Accomplished in a great many talents at a time when a woman wasn't really allowed to be accomplished. I fell in love with her passion, with the false idea that she could teach me how to be passionate again. I confided in her with the truth about my past, and the concept of immortality and vampirism. She took it in stride and accepted it without hesitation, she even committed to my vegetarian lifestyle."
"Then I turned her, and it was as if she came alive. Which of course is incredibly ironic, but she took to the change like Bella. She was instantly in control of her impulses and emphatically cherished her humanity, curbing any instinct to hunt people. She never once fed off a human, it was a point of pride for her. Much like Carlisle, I believe if she was changed without me, she would've found a way to retain her humanity."
"What happened to her?" Angela ask, and I looked away from her in shame for a second. Could I tell her that it was my fault she was murdered?
"I'll get to that I promise. At first my goal wasn't really to start a coven; it was simply to have a companion. But Katherine wanted a family, so she urged me to turn another. I believed I was in love with her entirely, well as entirely as I could be then. I was not fully capable of that kind of emotion back then, so my obsession with her was my interpretation of love. I learned much later what the real emotion was, but I'm getting ahead of myself." Angela looked at me thoughtfully then nodded to prod me to continue.
"I gave into her wishes, and we found Michael. He was a beautiful young man who was also full of life and passion. Katherine was very taken with him, and I felt immediately jealous of their relationship. I turned him just as she asked me to, and we gave him the same choice to follow our way of life. He made it quickly, albeit for her, without fully thinking about the ramifications. To make things clear, as much as I cared for Katherine, I never pursued her romantically. I had traveled down that road many years before and I knew that I would have to be sure we were right for each other before going down that path." Angela closed her eyes and shook her head at me.
"Okay, so you over thought your relationship with her, and she hooked up with Michael, right?" She stared into my eyes again and gave me a lopsided grin. It made me want to lean up and kiss her, but I squashed the impulse.
"No not exactly. Michael desperately loved her, I found a strange kinship with him because of that, but she wasn't interested in him as a suitor, to her he was her child. Neither Michael nor I understood that at first, until she found Michael a mate so that he could find happiness. At first, he was resistant to Camille, but she was so infatuated with him that his defenses soon fell. After a few years Michael and Camille were deeply in love. Katherine and I were like their parents, perhaps without the depth of emotion of your Carlisle and Esme, but we... no I never shared with them a familial connection."
"Then we stumbled across Cain, quite by accident. He wasn't one of my kind, he was a werewolf, alone and hunted. We took him in despite the danger, and soon I found a best friend. He and Katherine had a unique relationship, they were antagonistic but were obviously in love with each other. However, they could never be together due to societal taboo, so they remained distant unrequited lovers. I was happy during those years and soon a century had passed."
"Then war surrounded us, we fought our way to safety, until a group of werewolves caught our scent and attacked us unaware. Michael fell during the fight defending Camille. Cain, who was a stalwart member of our coven by then, took off to destroy that pack in retribution for Michael's death. He never returned from his crusade. Katherine and Camille were never the same after that."
"For a few decades, the three of us continued our lives, broken and never really admitting that it wasn't working anymore. Until the Volturi came into power, and Camille had her chance to end it. She was the first to commit suicide by the Volturi's rules." I felt bitter sadness but tried to suppress the emotion from appearing on my face.
"That's horrible, and I don't mean to sound insensitive, but who are the Volturi? Everyone seems to be afraid of them, and while Carlisle has explained some, I still don't have context for who they are." Angela looked confused.
"Essentially they are the self-appointed ruling body of the vampire world. They also enforce the rules of our society, keeping wanton feeding and destruction of life in check. On paper they are a vital function of our society and should be a good and stabilizing influence. However, they are as soulless and corrupt as any other political organization. I know this because of what happened to Katherine. She was utterly grief stricken by Camille's death, so she went to confront the Volturi against my wishes and advice. I had a past with them, in fact they were the bad situation I had just left before my search for companions began in the first place."
"Now I can never be one hundred percent sure, but I believe Aro tried to use Katherine to get close to me. When she wouldn't give me up, he executed her, drumming up some false excuse to justify her death." I looked down, unable to meet her eyes for a moment. When I did, she looked terrified. My first impulse was to take her hand, or caress her face to try and comfort her, but I wasn't sure it was the right thing to do.
"God, I hope I never cross them." She said, the fear in her voice matching her expression.
"Hopefully, that will never be an issue. When I heard that Katherine was destroyed, I was devastated, I hadn't realized what she meant to me until that moment. I felt love truly for the first time, and very nearly went to Volterra in an attempt to destroy their entire coven, or more likely end my existence as Camille had. I waited for centuries for the anger to abate, but it just grew colder. Eventually I went back to the Volturi and accused Aro of murder, he simply deflected the accusation, and managed to convince me that she had committed suicide. He welcomed me back as family, not that he had the vaguest clue what that word meant. I was about to leave when he baited me with news of another with my ideals. Carlisle had just left them, and I was drawn into Aro's world for a short time while he drug out revealing the information I wanted to know."
"So that's how you knew about Carlisle?" She asked with a curious glint in her eye, she looked enraptured, and I almost sighed at how beautiful it made her look.
"Yes, eventually I grew tired of Aro's games and fled while they were distracted feeding. They have been trying to find me ever since, because Aro wants more than anything the secret I have already shared with the Cullen's."
"The gifts?" She furrowed her brow at me. I smiled at her again and nodded, and this time gave in to my impulse and pushed a stray hair from her face. She didn't retreat from my touch at all, so I rested my hand on her cheek. She brought a hand up and covered mine, and then she closed her eyes contentedly.
"Your skin is so cold, I thought with the fire you would be at least warm." That's when I realized she must be cold, the temperature outside hadn't bothered me, but I hadn't ever had to consider the comfort of humans before.
"I can change that if you like." I pushed a candle sized measure of the element within me to my hand. Her eyes lit up as warmth blossomed in my palm. She smiled shyly and met my eyes again. I felt a pull towards her, like she was dragging my soul closer to her, and I wanted to give into it completely. Instead, I shook my head and pulled my hand away from her face.
"We need to take things slow; I am not going to force you to make a choice. If you choose this life, I will welcome you. If you do not, I will respect your wishes fully."
"How does the power thing work?" She asked curiously, changing topics.
"Honestly, I'm not really sure. I can feel gifts, that's how I know every vampire has one. It is just that most require a push, and it takes the right kind of desire and intuition to bring it out. Some already possess that ability innately which is why their power manifests when they are turned. For others it is buried much deeper, Rosalie was keeping hers suppressed out of a, never mind that is not my information to share."
"I understand, you promised Rosalie you wouldn't tell anyone that she cares a lot more then she acts like she does." I raised an eyebrow in surprise, I knew she was perceptive but not that perceptive.
"Actually yes, how did you know that." Angela smiled mysteriously, and then shook her head in laughter.
"It isn't about words, it's about actions. She loves her family deeply; she just hates herself. I didn't understand why until I learned about their vampire nature. She can't have children, can she?" I shook my head in confirmation. "Well that explains it, she has this deep maternal instinct inside. I could see it when Bella and I were talking about children once."
"Okay I think I understand. Would you like to know another secret?" I asked playfully, she cocked her head slightly to one side and then inhaled slightly.
"I think so. Well I guess it depends, is it going to upset me?" She nodded as she spoke, hesitation in her expression and voice.
"I'm honestly not sure. Would you still like to know?" She thought about it for a moment and then nodded confidently.
"I'm the first vampire." Her eyes practically bugged out, and then she fell backwards and stared into the sky with an exaggerated sigh.
Author's Note: I still don't quite know how long this story will turn out to be. I'm aiming at book length which means we are maybe a third of the way through the story. I don't think that means we'll have 75 chapters (dear god), but it is possible.
Thank you reading, and I know I say it every time but I do really love reading your thoughts on the chapters, so please leave a review.
I keep my profile updated with release dates for all my stories. I also published a new story to check out called Scattered Ashes. If you like Bellice, you might like that one.