A/N: A quick thank you to everyone who added this story in their alerts and/or added it to their favorite list. It truly means a lot to me.
Chapter 19- Carlisle, Oh Carlisle!
"How could you?" she glared at him, the accusation clear in her eyes, as her red eyes pierced into his golden ones. "How could you steal away my life from me like this?"
His eyes narrowed in response, as he crossed his arms over his chest in defiance. "I didn't know you were his mate. How was I to know that? I am not the seer here."
His eyes turned to glare at the seer in the room, who just huffed in reply. "Oh. Don't you dare pin it down on me! You take responsibility for your own actions, Mister."
"You could have warned me." he glared at her- the seer in question- once again. His eyes and mind searching desperately for a way out from the situation he had found himself in. There had to be a way out. There was always a way out.
The seer's response, though, was only to roll her eyes. "I wish I would have known so, my dear brother, but unfortunately I didn't know that my husband was going to fall in love with the one woman you were hell bent on killing."
"Hey! I had not planned any of this." The husband in question spoke up from his place, his arms wrapped around his new mate, the one he had tried to stay away from, only to fail miserably. He and his mate connected in a way he had never connected with anyone else in before. He loved her, probably more than he had ever loved anyone before.
The seer once again sighed, rolling her eyes, as she turned to look at her ex husband. "I know. And I am not blaming you. I know what I said, and I truly do mean it."
"Can we come back to the topic now if we done blaming the wrong people?" the victim asked her culprit. "You mercilessly killed me. You tore my life away from me. I had a human life, however imperfect it was I still loved it. I did not want this. You forced me into this."
"I have already told you this before. I slipped," The accused stuck with the excuse he had formed in his mind. "You were my singer. I could not resist myself. I tried to stop myself, but I was caught at a weak moment. I did not know that I had accidently changed you, though."
"Oh bullshit!" the woman in question growled out. "You tampered with my truck, cornered me in the middle of the road, knowing well that I would not be able to get any help from anywhere, and then tricked me into following you into the woods and mercilessly drained me apart."
"How are you here then?" he shouted back at her. "If I was really the monster you make me to be, then how come you are standing in front of me. You do realize that if I had planned all of this, I would not have stopped till I would have drained you dry of every drop of blood?"
She huffed back at him. "Well, I am probably your death returned back to make you pay for what you did, and trust me, you will pay for doing this."
He rolled his eyes at her, not believing a word of what she had said in those dramatics of hers. "I have told you before, and I will tell you again. I slipped. You were my singer. Your blood sang to me. It was an accident. You are lucky that you are alive. You were just a human. You would have died sooner or later. You should be thanking me here."
Simultaneous growls could be heard throughout the room at this statement of his, the loudest coming from the one woman who had been wronged the worst in her human life. She hated this life. She would have chosen to die in the middle of that road any day over living this prolonged life she was now stuck in, but her sire, her sort of father in this eternity of hers, had never given her the choice. Just like the woman standing in front of her, now accusing her brother, had never got the choice. Living till Eternity had never been her wish, but you didn't always get what you wished for. Either way, she was not going to let wrong win over right. A lie could never win over the truth, and if her brother was wrong, she would be the first in line to rip his head away from his shoulders. She was not afraid of anything or anyone, and she made sure that everyone around knew this about her.
"I should be thanking you?" the accused spat out at him in disbelief. "For what exactly do you want me to thank you? For killing me and forcing my parents to believe that their daughter had died? For punishing me to an eternity I had never known existed and had never wished to be a part of? You want me to thank you for that?"
"You… you found your mate." He tried his best to show her his way of thinking. He had done her a favor, hadn't he? She would have never met her mate if it hadn't been for him. She should be down on her knees thanking him at the moment.
She sighed, shaking her head in disbelief. "I cannot believe you. Yes, I love him. I really do, but…."
Her mate's arms tightened around her as he heard the words flow from her mouth. He had felt it from her before, well obviously, considering that he was an empath, but hearing the words out loud made his dead heart want to jump out in joy. He sent back his everlasting love for her, and smiled when she leaned into him a bit.
"I would never have chosen this life; if I had got the choice….It is not the same. You will not understand." she finally chided him. He was just a seventeen year child after all, an over pampered child who believed that he deserved every pleasure and every richness that the world could provide him with. He did not know what working hard meant, and he certainly did not know what it meant to mature before your age. He was nothing but an overgrown child, still brooding over his adolescent years, and she could not help but not think very highly of him. She had never liked him, not even when she had seen him for the first time in her biology class, and needless to say, her opinion of him had not changed a bit.
"And, my mate, who you believe I should be thanking you for, for being a part of my life, understands what I am trying to say, because if given a choice I am sure that even he wouldn't have been here. None of us would have." She concluded. She did not regret meeting or falling in love with her mate, but this was not a life path she would have purposefully chosen, and her mate understood that and accepted it.
He glared at her in response. "I told you I slipped. What more do you want from me? I can't go in the past and stop it from happening."
The woman on the other side just gave out a bitter laugh. It was not like she had expected anything much from this overgrown child. She knew that it would have just been a waste of time. "An apology or at least an 'I didn't mean it' could have been a start, of course though we all know that you are lying and you did not slip but purposefully murdered me, so it is a moot point now, isn't it?"
He growled back at her. Who was she to insult him like this? He was the golden boy of this family- the oldest son of Carlisle and Esme who never did anything wrong- the one everybody blindly trusted, and here she was trying to take that away from him. He would not let that happen, not at any cost. She was not going to take his life away from him. It was a mistake, he could admit, to not check if she had been completely drained or not, and now this mistake had come back for him. But, this was still not the end for him.
"And, who are you to give me this lecture? You obviously are a monster because you feed on humans. At least I don't go around purposefully killing humans. I told you I slipped. It was an accident."
Her eyes were deep dark red- the obvious sign of a killer. It was a valid point, in his eyes.
Once again several growls resounded through the house, not only from the woman in question and her mate, but also from her friends, more like family, who while followed the traditional diet like her, were far, far away from being considered a monster.
The victim in the scenario just laughed, shaking her head. He was a child, through and through, a child who blamed others when things did not go his way.
"Well, even if I am a 'monster', I pride myself for having the guts to say it out loud. I am not hiding behind any mask, or being a wolf in sheep's clothing."
"I am no coward." He narrowed his eyes at her. He could not even bear to hear the thoughts of his family, and of her family, at the moment. His mother, the kind person that she was, was internally praying and hoping that he had not done anything wrong, and everyone would soon come to realize this. She truly believed that he was saying the truth. His other brother, not that traitorous almost a brother of his who was cuddling the woman throwing accusations at him, was trying not to reach to any conclusions before everything came to be known, and while his one sister was glaring daggers at him, his other one, the one he had always been close to, was exceptionally quiet- the quiet that screamed 'I know something I shouldn't'. He narrowed his eyes at her, but knew that this was not the time to delve further in it. He would talk to her after this mess was solved.
"Look," he finally spoke, pretending to act as a mediator in the situation. "I agree that I was wrong, and if you want, I can even apologize for it, but you have to believe me that you were my singer and I could not resist the pull of your blood."
"You tampered with my truck. You took me in the woods and tried to kill me." she folded her arms in defiance.
He huffed; these were minor details, weren't they?
"I told you, I tried stopping myself but couldn't. Look, anyways as a vulnerable human you didn't have much of a life ahead. You would have lived for say forty or fifty years more, and that is me being generous, I gave you a life of youth and extraordinary beauty. You should be thanking me for….."
He never got to complete that thought, though, because the very next second like a gust of wind that cannot be stopped, a flying body had come to attack him, with only one motive in mind- to tear him apart for even thinking of speaking his vile thoughts out loud.
How dare he even think something like this?
Did human life matter so little to him?
Was feeding on animals just an act of superiority for him, not concerning with why exactly was he doing so?
Did he have even one redeemable bone in his body?
Everyone started arguing and reacting at the same time, and then the room exploded….
Carlisle POV
I had been in my study, in the morning of my day off from the hospital, reading an article on how a human embryo had been cloned in Britain with the hope that cloned embryos could be used to extract stem cell lines tailored to individual patients, when loud noises from down the stairs assaulted my ears, making me frown.
I ignored them at first. In a house in which Emmett Cullen lived, loud noises were really not that much of a rarity. That boy had never learnt the meaning of indoor voice, to be honest. I went back to reading the article on my laptop, frowning once again when the noises from outside just did not seem to lessen.
What on earth was going on in the house?
It did not seem like just Emmett and Edward engaged in a playful banter. This sounded much, much worse and louder than that, and usually Esme was much better at making sure that silence was maintained in the house.
I minimized the page on my laptop and concentrated fully on the sounds coming from outside the door.
It seemed as if two people were talking, or rather shouting at one another, one clearly being Edward and the other… I could not say who this was. I did not recognize the voice. It definitely did not belong to one of my children.
I frowned to myself. Had I been so busy in my reading that I hadn't even realized the presence of guests in the house, and why hadn't Alice or someone else from the family informed me of this?
They knew better than that. The entire coven was always assembled when unknown vampires made their presence known. I should have been informed of this change in our routine.
I quickly got up from my chair, pushing it back a bit, and walked towards the door of the study, making my way towards the living room from where all the noises were emerging.
I scented the air, frowning even more when I realized that there was not just one unknown vampire whose presence I had missed. Other than my family- and Jasper's, who must have come back home a short while back- there were another seven vampires in the living room- a huge number for it not being considered a threat. I recognized Kate, Garrett and Tanya's scent, and Peter and Charlotte's scent, but could not figure out the remaining two scents that were invading my nostrils, from down the stairs. It could be friends of Peter and Charlotte's who had decided to accompany them and Jasper till here. It was rare, but a possibility.
But, then why all of this noise? If they were not a threat, why make it to seem like a threat?
I walked the last few steps to reach the living room… my eyes widening in shock and disbelief at the sight in front of me.
Edward had been saying something in his defense, when all of a sudden Rosalie pounced on him, clawing at his throat with those long nails of hers.
Everybody was talking, or rather trying to get their words out, in this mess that had been created, while Emmett was now trying to pull an adamant Rosalie away from Edward's throat.
"How dare you!" Rosalie growled out loud at Edward. "Say that again and see what I do to you. I will make you regret the day you were born."
Jasper was trying to console the unfamiliar woman who was standing close to him, as he whispered something in her ear, his arms wrapped tightly around her torso in a gesture of intimacy.
Oh. So, this was his mate.
Alice had told me about Jasper finding his mate, and deciding to end his relationship with Alice, and while I was not completely accepting of this change- divorce being unimaginable to even consider in my books- Alice had assured me that this was what she and Jasper wanted and needed. They were not completely happy with one another, a fact that I had noticed over the years, never grasping the true intensity of, but Alice had assured me that while Jasper had already found his happiness, Alice would soon find hers. I could only hope that Jasper's new mate would be willing to see us as her family. Esme and I could never wish for our family to split. I knew that Esme would definitely fall apart if it were to happen so, and if my mate was not happy, needless to say I would not be a very happy man.
Emmett was still miserably failing to pull Rosalie, who was determined on leaving close to a million venom filled scratches on Edward's skin, away from Edward, as the rest of them argued within themselves. Esme was trying to defend Edward, for what I had no idea, while Tanya was arguing back with her. The Whitlock's and Denali's were talking amidst themselves, while Alice, she was standing mute in a corner…. so unlike her usual self.
Why did I feel like I had entered a madhouse, instead of walking into my own living room? Where was that ray of sanity when I needed it to be?
"Enough," I let the word reverberate through the air, silencing everyone at their place. "Rosalie, get away from your brother."
She gritted her teeth at me, her grip not loosening a bit, her eyes challenging me with their intensity. She would not be letting go this easily.
"Now," I put all my authority as a coven leader in that one word, making her understand that I was extremely serious about this. She could not attack her coven mates like this. She knew the rules of this house, and she better follow them.
She glared at me, but did as was asked. Esme rushed over to check Edward's injuries and helped him in getting up, rubbing her hands over his face and hair in a way only a mother could.
"Now will someone let me know of what was going on here? Why this ruckus? Rosalie, explain why you felt the need to attack your brother?"
Rosalie just huffed in reply, crossing her arms over her chest in protest. I sighed to myself, like always she did not think the rest of deserved an answer to the things going on in her mind.
I turned to look at all the faces in the room, trying to assess who would be the one to answer me, my eyes stopping and widening when they reached Chief Swan- the police chief of the small town of Forks.
What was he doing here….. and why was he a vampire? When had he been changed?
"Chief Swan?" I asked in confusion and surprise, looking at the man in question- a definite newborn.
"Charlie is my mate." Tanya answered firmly from beside him, surprising me with her words and the meaning behind it. Tanya and Chief Swan were mated.
Now, that was unexpected.
I frowned in response. Obviously I was happy for her, but I was still confused as to how, when and why.
"I didn't know you had been visiting Forks." I questioned her.
How else would they have met, right?
Tanya rarely ever left Denali to visit another place, and what reason would Chief Swan have to visit Denali, Alaska.
She gave me a small smile in return, a smile that screamed 'you could not have been any further wrong', confusing me even more.
"Actually," she lovingly looked into the eyes of her mate. "Charlie and I met in Denali. He had come searching for his missing daughter, and somehow managed to reach our house, and to me."
The grin on her face was one I had never seen before in all these centuries of knowing her. She was truly beyond happy, and it was completely visible from the way she looked at her mate.
"Wait," I stumbled over my words. Chief Swan had been searching for his missing daughter… his daughter was Edward's singer….. the girl he had accidently slipped and killed….
Oh!
Why hadn't Alice seen any of this happening?
We could have fallen in trouble with the Volturi because of these unexpected circumstances.
A human entering a vampire's den was not taken very kindly in our world…
We should have dealt with this before it went out of hand.
Did Chief Swan know that Edward was responsible for draining her, or was he in the dark yet?
Had Tanya brought him here to introduce him to us, like she would have if it would have been anyone else, or did he already know?
Hmm…. It had to be the former. How would he have known?
"Your daughter…" I whispered more to myself than to anyone else, my eyes narrowed down in confusion, worry and hesitance.
"That would be me." Jasper's mate spoke, surprising me, from by his side. She took a step ahead in my direction, letting me see and confirm the similarities between her and Chief Swan's features.
My eyes widened once again in response. She was definitely his daughter, no doubt in that. They did look extremely alike.
"Bella Swan," she introduced herself, confidently, forcing me to take a step back in disbelief.
"But…. you were dead. Edward…" my voice faltered as I attempted to speak my disarray thoughts out for everybody to hear.
She gave out a bitter laugh. "Yeah, apparently the golden boy forgot to check over this minor detail of whether I was drained or changed. A big blow to his reputation, I tell you."
"Edward," I pushed the word out in shock.
He knew better than being this careless. Not that I had wished for the girl to die, but he should have figured out that she had been changed instead. This was a big mistake to be ignored this easily. He had sired her, unknowingly.
"How could you?" I questioned my oldest son and first companion. I was closest to him in the family, and I could not believe that he could be this irresponsible.
"I didn't know." He protested loudly. "I thought I drained her. I was not aware that I had pushed enough venom into her to begin her change. I stopped mid hunt when Alice arrived where I was."
I nodded my head, a sigh on my lips. I rubbed my forehead with my hands, a human gesture that I had seemed to adapt to in the past years.
"Okay." I said slowly, deciding to face each thing as it came up. "Jasper not that I am not happy to see you here, but any particular reason that all of you are gathered here?"
I could understand Jasper and even his mate's presence, but why would the rest of them come here like this?
He rolled his eyes. "Well, Carlisle, my mate, Bella, had wanted a few answers from her sire, and so the both of us have come here, but my brother here," he looked at Peter, showing him the finger. "He refused to stay back and miss the fun. He tried to convince me of how it was absolutely essential that the rest of them, too, travel with us. Nosy Fucker that he is."
Peter just stuck his tongue out in response, as I sighed to myself.
"Okay," I nodded my head slowly.
I turned to look at Bella. "I am assuming you wanted to know the reason of your change."
She smiled at me, an untrusting smile. "Yes, I knew that Edwierd…. Sorry, Edward had sired me, but was a bit confused over a few minor details, but don't worry those memories came back to me as soon as I saw him for the first time again."
Right…. the unclear newborn memory….
"If I may ask, what were you confused about?" I asked her, anxious to hear her response. If she had already known that Edward had sired her, what else was her confusion about?
I had always been a curious person, and learning anything new interested me.
"I was Edward's singer, and it is nearly impossible to resist your singer's blood."
I nodded my head. She was correct about this.
"It had been my first day of school and Edward was sitting beside me in biology."
I smiled at her, silently telling her to continue, yes, Edward had already told me about all of this.
"And…." she looked down at her nails, disinterested, before she looked up again, directly into my eyes and glared at me.
"And then, he tampered with my truck after school ended, forcing me to get stranded in the middle of nowhere, offered me a lift in his car and then…. took me into the woods and bit me…right here." she pointed to a scar on her neck.
Jasper softly kissed her on the forehead, before kissing her scar caused due to the vampire bite.
I took a step back in shock, the implications of her accusations hitting me hard.
No, No, No…..
Edward would not do something like this.
"It was murder, plain and simple." She stated, glaring at me son.
Pin drop silence was what followed. Nobody knew how to react to this, especially not me or Esme.
This could not be true.
"You are lying." Edward protested loudly. "Carlisle, she was hardly coherent while she was being changed, and she is a newborn. How can you trust her judgment? Yes, I agree I sired her, but I slipped. It was not planned or decided upon."
"Stop lying asshole." Jasper interrupted him. "I am an empath, if you have forgotten. Bella is saying the truth. I can feel it, and even if I couldn't, I trust her enough to know that she is saying the truth."
"Is this true?" Rosalie glared at Edward. "Did you knowingly kill her?"
When Edward did not answer, she took a step ahead to attack him, only stopping when Emmett wrapped his arms around her in a protective manner.
"This is low, Edward." Emmett commented, shaking his head. "Have the guts to at least admit your faults."
"She is lying dammit!" Edward defended himself, looking at me. "Please Carlisle, trust me."
I looked from my son to Bella and back again.
Who was saying the truth here, I had no idea.
"Enough." Esme spoke sternly. "Edward, I trust you, even if nobody else does. Jasper, Rosalie, Emmett, you should be ashamed of yourselves for doubting your brother like this. If he is saying he is innocent, you should believe in him."
I walked to where my mate was standing and wrapped my arms around her, letting her silently sob in my chest, and take in the comfort of her mate being close to her.
Jasper scoffed. "He is no brother of mine, Esme, he betrayed me the day he tried to kill my mate. I should kill him for that."
Jasper crouched down to attack Edward; I. too, crouched down in response- no one was harming my son in my presence- only for him to be pulled back by Peter Whitlock and Garrett.
"Not yet, Major." Peter whispered to him. "You will get your time. Wait for it."
Jasper scowled at him, but stood back beside Bella.
I too stood back, waiting for them to take the first step.
It was clear now. Edward, Esme and I were on one side, while the rest of them were on the other side. Alice, though, still refused to speak a word.
"Alice," I looked at her in question. "Why didn't you see any of this?"
She gave me a sad look in return. "She is a shield, Carlisle. I can't see her clearly. She looks like a blur to me. Even Edward can't read her mind."
"Is that so?" I asked Edward, who nodded his head in return.
I had heard about mental and physical shields, but had never seen one before.
"But, still this doesn't prove how Edward is guilty." I asked the room.
What proof did they have to accuse my son of being a murderer? A newborn's memory could hardly be trusted. It could be a made up story, for all I know.
"Are you asking for proof?" Chief Swan walked to the centre of the room, all eyes falling on him. "I will give you the proof required."
My eyes narrowed in question. How was 'he' going to do this?
He chuckled to himself, coming and standing in front of me.
"Carlisle, if I may call you so instead of Dr. Cullen?"
I nodded my head in response.
"So, Carlisle, I am sure you must have heard of certain vampires having specific abilities, like Edward here is a mind reader, Alice can see the future, Jasper can…."
"I get your point." I sternly interrupted him. I was no toddler who was being spoken to here.
He nodded his head, smiling to himself.
"In that case, have you ever fed on human blood?"
I knew the answer. I was sure of it, but the word slipped out of my mouth before I could even think of answering it, like a compulsion- an unstoppable force.
"No,"
"Hmm, you are saying the truth." He said to himself.
"Why didn't you change anyone before Edward?" he asked me.
"I did not want to damn anyone to this life." the answer once again slipped out of my mouth, unable of being stopped. "He was dying, and so I changed him."
He nodded his head. "Once again- you are saying the truth."
My mouth fell open in shock as the puzzle pieces were put together to form the complete picture.
"You can tell when someone is telling the truth. Like Maggie."
Maggie of Irish Coven had the same power as him- the ability to tell when someone was lying.
He gave me a half nod at that. "Yes, but I can also make someone confess the truth. The compulsion that you felt while asked the question… Bella is the only one immune from it." he gave her a proud look. "Maybe because of her shield…."
I nodded my head, the implications of his words hitting me hard. That would mean…..
He did not wait for me to respond, though, as he turned to look at Edward.
"Edward Cullen, was Bella your singer or not?"
This was an interrogation, an interrogation I was forced to helplessly watch from the sidelines.
He gritted his teeth, shaking his head in an attempt to not reply, but was forced to answer.
"Yes,"
"Did you desire to drink her blood?"
"Yes,"
He looked at the floor as he answered.
"Did you tamper with her truck?"
No. Edward say no.
"Yes,"
I shut my eyes in disbelief. No, this could not be true.
"Did you plan to murder her or not?"
I opened my eyes again, waiting for his answer.
He took a deep breath in before he answered. "Yes, it was planned. I…. I did not slip. The monster in me took over, and I lost control over myself. But, she was my singer. How can you blame me for this? Jasper has planned and killed so many humans, even Emmett and Esme killed their singers. Bella, too, feeds on humans. I can see that in her eyes. I am not the only monster here!"
Jasper growled at him. "Edward, get this in your thick head. You are not a monster because you tried to kill your singer. That is not the problem here. You are a monster because you have fallen so low that you don't even know what wrong you have done. You took away her life, knowingly, and instead of helping her out when you sired her, you left her there alone to wake up as an abandoned newborn."
"Oh dear," said Esme in sorrow.
"I did not know that!" Edward protested. "I would not have done so if I would have known."
"No," Jasper shook his head. "No, you would have made sure to kill her, so that you can stick to your 'I slipped' façade."
Edward gasped and shook his head in denial; a denial that everybody knew was just an act.
"Alice Cullen," Charlie turned to look at Alice, the interrogation clearly not over yet. "Did you know that Edward was going to kill Bella?"
"No," she gritted her teeth and answered.
"No?" Charlie raised his eyebrow in question. "Think again, and don't give me half truths."
She sighed, but answered. "I mean I knew it was a possibility, but she was just a human. What difference would it make?"
Rosalie gasped at that. "Alice? Just a human! You knew and still let a poor girl lose her life and her chance at a future."
"I was not sure, okay?" she protested. "Yes, Edward leaving and going would have been the best possible outcome, but I did not want the family to split apart. There was a small risk of him killing her if he stayed back, but I thought it would be okay. I really did not know that he would plan to do so. I swear I did not see it till she was actually on the verge of being drained."
"You could have stopped it." Jasper growled at her.
She shook her head, looking at the ground. "I did not think it necessary. I did not want her coming in between our family."
Jasper growled at her, his eyes attempting to kill both Edward and Alice with just its glare. He took one step ahead in the direction of Edward, and I knew undoubtedly what he was about to do.
We vampires were revengeful creatures, and attacking our mate was a big 'No' if you wanted to survive.
"Jasper no," I stopped him in the tracks, my voice firm and leaving no doubt in mind as I crouched in front of him. "I am the leader of this coven. You owe it to me to listen to me. He has done wrong, I agree, but you don't get to punish him. That is my job as the leader of the coven to which Edward belongs."
Being the leader of a coven came with its own set of benefits- for one, you were the decision maker, and nobody could overrule your decision. It was the right of the leader. Jasper had belonged to my coven for close to six decades. He knew this rule well. In the end, in my coven, it would always be my decision.
Jasper gave out a growl, looking at the floor. He knew that he was helpless here. He could not kill Edward or Alice till I was standing in the way, and I was definitely standing in the way. Yes, maybe my son was wrong but he did not deserve something as harsh as death….not for this.
"What is going on here?" Charlie asked confused and even Bella had a confused look on her face.
Tanya sighed. "Coven rules, Charlie. The coven leader gets a few benefits. He decides the punishment for his coven mates. We cannot interfere unless we want a fight on our hands."
"This is bullshit!" Charlie growled at me. "This is a matter of my daughter's life."
"And this is a matter of my coven." I argued back with him, taking a step ahead, standing in front of Edward and Esme protectively. "Unless you are ready to fight me and my entire coven, you cannot harm a member of my coven."
I knew that the odds were not in our favor, but I had to try.
Charlie growled to himself, from where he stood facing me.
"This is wrong, Carlisle." Emmett spoke up. "He is guilty."
"Yes," I agreed. "And he will be punished for it."
Rosalie muttered a few curse words under her breath.
"We will go to the Volturi." Peter spoke up, threatening me with the power of his words.
"Sure," I said in reply. "Just know that technically he has not done anything wrong. Edward did not know that Jasper and Bella were mates, just like Jasper himself did not know, and about the sire abandonment rule, Aro can read minds. He will know in less than a minute that Edward did not mean to sire her. It was a mistake, a mistake he had no idea of, and so cannot be held responsible for."
I trusted Aro. He had been a good friend to me all those centuries back. I knew that he would be on my side. I had a few connections in the Volturi to make sure of that.
Nobody was going to kill my son…. my first child…. my first companion.
Jasper shut his eyes in anger. He knew that he was in a tight spot here. He knew that the Volturi would not do anything against Edward because according to the actual formed laws, Edward had not committed any crime. He had not known that Jasper and Bella would turn out to be mates, and he had also not meant to abandon her, breaking none of the rules in reality.
"So…. that's it?" Bella turned to look at Jasper, who hid his face in her hair.
Jasper loved his mate, but he was also loyal to me and Esme. He would not try to kill me. He would not try to kill Rosalie or Emmett. He was stuck between two hard places.
Edward smirked to himself at the supposed victory, and Esme gave out a sigh of relief.
"Alice," I turned to look at my daughter. "You hid something this important from the rest of us, and you will be punished for it."
"But Carlisle," she protested, stomping her feet harshly. "I did not know that this would happen."
"You will not leave the house for an entire year, unless for hunting, and no shopping for you. You will also have to promise to not use your visions to manipulate another person into doing what you want them to do. Do I make myself clear?"
"Fine," she nodded her head, a pout on her face.
"Edward," I sighed and turned to look at my son.
I had to save him.
He was my first child.
Esme loved him more than anything.
Esme would fall apart if anything happen to him.
His life was in my hands now. I had not given him this life to take it back from him, but purposefully killing a human was still unacceptable in my eyes.
"Edward, leave. You are no longer a Cullen. You knew that killing a human purposefully like this was unacceptable, and still you did it. You could have told me the truth and I would have supported you, but you didn't. And so, I break all ties with you. You are not my son from this day onwards, and have no family to go back to. Anybody from my coven who supports him can leave with him."
I knew that it was harsh, but I had to save his life.
The decision had been taken, punishment had been laid.
Edward was no longer a part of my coven.
I could hear grumbling coming from the rest of them. Jasper was calming Bella down. She was a newborn. She would soon learn the rules of a coven. A vampire coven definitely does not work on democracy. Aro always has the last and final say in anything concerning the Volturi, and so does Tanya when it comes to the Denali Coven.
This is just how it works.
"This was ridiculous." Rosalie spoke up. "This was a lame punishment, and everybody knows that. You just saved your son's ass and your guilty conscience by doing this. But, you know what; I cannot be a part of such a pathetic coven any longer."
"Rosie," Emmett asked her.
"No, Em. Your choice- me or this coven?"
No.
No.
He pulled her closer to him. "You, always you,"
Esme sobbed into my chest. This was not supposed to happen. My family was never supposed to split. We were supposed to stay together.
I stood in my living room as first Emmett and Rosalie left to pack their bags, and a while later Edward left the house with all his belongings.
"I am disappointed in you, Carlisle." Said Jasper, before he and Bella went up to his room, probably to pack the remaining of his stuff. The rest of them, though, left the way they had come.
It was over. It was all over.
Bella Swan had finished everything.
Edward POV
It is not over, Jasper Whitlock.
It is not over till I call it so.
You destroyed me, took away my family from me- I will do the same to you. You will be alone, like I am alone today.
You took my family from me. I will take your family away from you.
You started it, but I will end it.