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Chapter 23
Gloria stood in her bar and looked with satisfaction at the coven she had just drained of their powers. She knew that it wasn't right of her to drain the coven who had risked everything to help her in her noble quest to rid the world of vampires by waking the Original witch but she saw an opportunity to get more power for herself in the process and she decided to take it. After so many years of seeing people around her getting what they wanted and being happy, she finally wanted that for herself.
The bodies were all on the floor around her. They were paler than some vampires were, some had bled from the ears or nose and none of them were alive anymore. Of course a few of them had tried to fight her but it had been pointless. She had been very well prepared. By the time they had realized that she was about to kill them, they were all linked to her and she was in control. They had been fooled.
The only other living person in the bar was Lucy, who was tied up to a chair, crying and afraid for her life. Rightfully so.
Between Gloria and Lucy laid Klaus' missing coffin, in which laid Esther Mickealson, the powerful original witch who had the power and the knowledge to destroy all the vampires in the world and to make Gloria a queen among witches. When your name was Gloria, you had to aim big and do something special with your life, something worth remembering you over and she felt like this was it. This was why she stayed alive for so long, this was what she lived for, even if she didn't know it at the time.
"You're crazy if you think I'm going to help you. I won't. This is wrong, what you're trying to do is wrong." Lucy glared at Gloria as she spoke, making sure that the woman knew she was being serious.
"We both know that you don't have a strong will Lucy, that's why it was so easy for Katherine to manipulate you into helping her. That's why I went after you and not your cousin Bonnie. Now that's a promising your witch. She surrounds herself with strong people that can protect her and is strong willed. You however, are very weak. You can't bluff, you'll end up doing what I want because it's the best way for you to be alive and deep down, you're as selfish as it gets. You'll do anything possible to stay alive and safe, you'll do what I want, because you don't want to die." Gloria declared with a firm satisfied and arrogant smirk on her face as she looked at Lucy who was still crying.
"You can't wake her up. The Original Witch is too strong, too powerful. She won't let you get what you want." Lucy replied, ignoring Gloria's attacks.
"She'll be grateful to me for waking her up, freeing her from her prison, and she'll reward me like I deserve." Gloria snapped before she crossed the space that separated them and forced Lucy to stand up on top of the coffin.
Then, after a few minutes of pointless struggle, Lucy and Gloria stood on each sides of the coffin and held each other's hands. Well, Gloria held Lucy's hands too firmly for the young Bennett to be able to escape her. With the Original Witch's necklace in her hand, Gloria started to say the antic spell that was supposed to bring Esther back to life.
The necklace was getting warmer in Gloria's hand and Lucy tried to fight her off but couldn't. Everything she tried to do was pointless, she could feel her magic going from her to Gloria, to the necklace and then to the coffin.
"It's almost done, I can feel it." Gloria said with a demented look on her face.
"This won't end well…" Lucy complained.
"Shut up. I can't concentrate with your constant complaining." Gloria snapped.
A few minutes later, it looked like an invisible barrier was lifted and, with a big breath, Esther opened her eyes and sat up.
"It worked! I did it!" Gloria exclaimed excitedly while Lucy took a couple of respectful (and a bit fearful) steps back, looking for any oportunity to escape this hell and warn her cousin Bonnie about what had been done.
"Who are you?" Esther asked, looking at the two women and at the bodies on the floor.
"My name is Gloria, I'm the one who woke you up. I'm the one you owe everything to." Gloria replied arrogantly.
"Are you the one who did this?" Esther asked in a neutral voice, pointing to the bodies on the floor.
"Yes, I am." Gloria nodded proudly.
"Very well then." Esther nodded, channeling the powers she had been granted and using them to kill Gloria, taking her powers in herself as she did.
Lucy had her eyes widely open and was wondering what she should do. Run or die?
"Don't worry young Bennett. I only killed her because she was a monster. She killed all these people for her selfish gain of power and she deserved what I gave her. You… Well, I won't kill you but I can't let you go either. For what I have planned, I can't have anybody knowing that I'm back…" Esther told Lucy as she circled her.
"Please… I don't want to die… I need to get back to my life." Lucy pleaded, still crying.
"Didn't I just say that I wouldn't kill you? No, I'll simply erase these events from your mind. You came in Chicago for a small vacation and had a great time. Now you're going back home. You'll act as if nothing ever happened." Esther informed Lucy before she started working her magic.
She watched with satisfaction a few minutes later as Lucy walked out of the bar like nothing happened and she was simply going home after a break from work.
"What a mess…" Esther shook her head with one last look around her.
She went to the cash register and took all the money that was inside before she went to Gloria's bedroom and changed into some of her clothes. Now all she needed was to make her way to Mystic Fall's discreetly. She had seen technology and fashion coming from the other side and she knew how to use it all now. It would take her a while to get to Mystic Fall's because she needed to get a few things on the way and she couldn't allow anyone finding out that she was back before she was ready to make her first move.
It wouldn't be easy for her to get what she wanted done. She needed to find a way to speak with Finn and get him away from his siblings so he could help her but in case he was still daggered or had changed his mind on vampirism, she had to be ready to act on her own.
.
"Hey Alice, what do you know about Carlisle's new patient?" Emmett asked her as they all found themselves together around a video game.
They were playing in rounds and right now it was Rosalie against Jasper. The big winner would choose what everyone else would feed on for the next month.
"They're friends of Aro's. Original vampires. And humans. Maybe even witches and werewolves, I'm not completely sure, but there are definitely witches around." She replied, trying to be truthful while hiding the real truth.
"Why are you working so hard to keep it hidden from me Alice?" Edward asked her suspiciously.
He hadn't been back since long and had found weird that nobody knew where Carlisle and Esme really were. He also knew that when Alice kept secrets from him, something was up.
"Can't you all just trust me when I say it's for the best if you don't find out? All you need to know is that it will keep them away for the biggest part of the next year but that they'll come back with jewelry that will allow us to walk in the sun without sparkling. We might even get to join them eventually, but I'm not sure, the decisions are still being made. Not all of us might get to go." Alice replied.
"So they're powerful then, the people they're working for?" Emmett asked her.
He and Rosalie had an idea as to who it could be, but they wanted to be sure, without Edward finding out.
"Yes. And it's just Carlisle working. They allowed Esme to come with him because they're together and they respect a mated couple enough not to separate them for long, but she's not needed there."
"So they need a supernatural doctor then… Is it dangerous for them?" Edward asked.
"No, they're safe as long as they keep the secret of who they're helping, which is why we can't get too curious about this." Alice replied, starting to get annoyed at having to repeat the same thing over and over again.
Couldn't they just listen to her ?
"Makes sense." Emmett nodded.
"But I don't come home often, I was hoping to spend some time with them! If I knew where they were, I could pay them a little visit. You know I can keep a secret. I don't care about who they're helping." Edward complained.
"You don't care about much anymore." Emmett rolled his eyes while Rosalie thought about the fact that Edward didn't care about much since he had left Bella.
"Don't bring her up Rosalie!" Edward snapped, throwing a cushion at his sister's head.
"You're the one who left her Edward, you made your bed, now you have to sleep in it. She's moved on and so should you." Rosalie snapped back.
"How do you know she even moved on? I told you all to stay away from her." Edward snapped.
"I can't always control the visions I get Edward, especially when they're about people I care about. And no matter what you do, you can't force me to stop caring about Bella Swan." Alice replied softly.
"What did you see?" Edward asked her.
The video game was paused now and everyone looked between Edward and Alice.
"She graduated from college a while back, top of her class. Now she's a licensed doctor in psychology, she works as a therapist and helps people who…" Alice stopped, hesitating.
"What? She helps people who what?" Edward asked her, annoyed that he couldn't read her mind and that, apparently, nobody else knew anything about Bella except for Jasper who was blocking him by translating Justin Bieber songs in Ukrainian.
Seriously, could Jasper get any more annoying than this? Where did he get his ideas to keep his mind blocked and did he plan them in advance? Did he have a list of things to do to keep Edward off his mind? And if he did, what else was on that list ?
"She helps people who've been hurt by the supernatural world." Alice admitted in a small voice, knowing that Edward would understand.
"Because of me… Right? She changed her life because I left her…" Edward shook his head.
"You couldn't possibly expect her to get back to the life she had before you came in it, did you? You can't possibly be that dense." Rosalie chuckled.
"Shut it!" Edward snapped.
"Edward, Bella did something she wanted to do. She's happy, really happy. She has moved on. You need to let her go and move on as well." Alice told him.
"Why are you insisting on the fact that she's moved on? What are you hiding from me?" Edward asked Alice, standing up tall in front of her while Jasper rushed to stand between them, growling in defense of his mate.
"Why can't we forget about this discussion and go back to missing Carlisle and Esme? I don't even know how we got to talking about Bella…" Emmett suggested and Edward snapped his head right back at Alice.
"What was that?" He asked her.
"What do you mean?" Alice asked him, trying to act as innocent as possible.
"Right then, while Emmett said that he didn't know how we got from talking about Carlisle and Esme to talking about Bella… There was something in your head, Carlisle was standing under the sun, not sparkling and a beautiful woman that looks a lot like Bella was standing in front of him. I want to see more. All I could see was her face and him laughing. Was this in the past or is it in the future?" Edward asked, trying to get to Alice but being stopped by Jasper.
"I don't know what you mean. You must have dreamt it." Alice shook her head while Emmett and Rosalie looked at the two of them as if wondering who they were going to support on this one.
"Yes you do! Stop lying to me and answer this instant" Edward yelled, making Jasper growl protectively.
"Change your tone now if you don't want me to get angry." Jasper warned Edward who took a couple of small steps back to show that he was listening.
"You just have to trust me when I say that you don't need to know, Edward. This vision has nothing to do with you and is just a short moment, a chance encounter that won't last more than 5 minutes because Bella has work to do and Carlisle needs to go back to what he traveled for." Alice ended up admitting, trying to keep as much of it as possible in the dark without lying too much.
"So she's wherever Carlisle and Esme are then?" Emmett asked her.
He and Rosalie had been right, but they couldn't let Edward see it in their mind so he concentrated on memories of their last night together.
"No, she traveled there to help a colleague of hers with someone that she's the best to help and he only went there to get more equipment and medicine for the people he came to help because what he needed wasn't available closer to where he is. 5 minutes, that's all it is. I won't tell you if it's in the past, present or future because you can't look for them. You can't see her again, not unless she comes to look for you. And trust me, she has ways of getting in touch with you if she wants to, no matter where you are." Alice explained as calmly as she could, knowing that Jasper would hide his thoughts not to tell Edward that she was lying.
So what if this was a complete lie? It was for the best. Edward had to forget about Bella, to move on. Maybe she'd allow him to come as well, but maybe she wouldn't, and they had to prepare for this eventuality.
"Is she happy without me?" He asked Alice.
"Yes, of course she is. It's been over 10 years Edward… She's 29 now… You're eternally 17. She's a grown woman. You would have no hope to get back with her anyway." Alice replied, unable to stop a second long vision of Bella shopping for baby furniture with a woman that looked about her age and two teenage girls, one blond, the other with brown hair (Jenna, Rebekah and Elena).
"She's pregnant?" Edward asked Alice, sitting down and looking as if he had been punched in the stomach and couldn't breathe properly.
"You weren't meant to see that." Alice looked down, sorry to have slipped.
"Oh please, it's time we all stopped babying you, Edward. It was YOUR choice to leave her and to break her heart. Why don't you tell him how miserable she was for the first few months after he left her, Alice? How she went through the motion without really living and then buried herself in her school work to forget about him? Tell him how she couldn't listen to music for over a year because it reminded her of Edward! YOU broke her heart and she managed to put herself back together, she's even stronger than before, and she chose a new goal for her life. She would have been happy with you if you had changed her when she asked you to do it, Edward, but you ruined it, on your own, and now she's managed to find something else that makes her happy and makes her life worth living. It's time you moved on Edward and stop being such an immature baby. With the way you left her, I'm starting to think that you never really loved her in the first place because if you really did, you wouldn't have been able to stay away for so long, you would have come back for her, like she was waiting you to do for over a year. Yes, Alice kept on having visions of her and no, she didn't tell me. I know about this because Emmett missed Bella after we left her and was worried for her so every once in a while, we left to check up on her. Starting 2 months after you forced us to leave a place we all loved. She doesn't know that but Charlie does because he saw us, even if he's pretending he didn't see anything because he's not willing to find a believable explanation for what he saw." Rosalie snapped, surprising everyone.
"Please, you didn't like her anyway." Edward shook his head.
"You know exactly why I was being distant with her Edward. And you know what? I think I know exactly where she is now, because I've kept interest in her life but I won't tell you and you won't be able to get it from my head. Grow up and move on." She snapped back before she grabbed Emmett's hand and walked to the door.
Once they reached it, she turned back and said:
"We're going hunting. Don't wait for us."
"Edward… Rosalie might have been a bit harsh with her words but she's right… You chose to leave Bella even though I warned you… It's time for you to accept that it's over. If you do, then I promise you'll be able to find happiness again." Alice told him honestly.
"I'm going in my room." Edward replied after a few long seconds of silence.
Edward had heard their words and though they registered in his mind as the truth, he wasn't sure if he was ready to accept them yet. He needed to see Bella for himself, to see if she had really moved on and if it was really too late for him to win her back. he needed to see if she was truly happy and safe.
All he had to go on was Carlisle and Esme. If he could find out where they were, he'd be able to find a clue as to where Bella was. Unless he went to Forks and looked into Charlie Swan's home while he's out… Yes, that seemed like the best option yet.
"Don't even think about it Edward. Charlie has a special alarm system on his house, Bella found it for him. It's a mix of magic and technology. You won't be able to get inside, or to read his mind." Alice warned him.
He had forgotten to take her gift into account but he wouldn't do the same mistake again. He would manage to hide from Alice and look for Bella. He'd track down Carlisle and find out where he bought his equipment. Then he'd be one step closer to finding her. He didn't care how long it took him, he would find her and fix his mistakes.
A few hours later, Rosalie and Emmett came back.
"I had a vision, Carlisle will call you soon and ask you to come for a visit. Both of you but especially Rosalie. There's someone where he is that wants to speak with you." Alice told her sister when she walked by her.
"Me ? Are you sure you're not mistaking ? I think I know where Carlisle is and I figured you'd be the first one to be able to go..." Rosalie asked in a whisper to make sure Edward wouldn't hear, surprised.
"I think you're right about your suppositions, but it's not Carlisle's patient that needs to speak to you, it's someone else, a friend of the patient. It's someone you can truly bond with and become life long friend with. An original vampire. Though Carlisle's patient is the one who suggested introducing the two of you. I can see that there's a second person you'll be able to bond, but differently than the first. The first, you'll be friends, equals, the second, you'll be some sort of guide, rôle model, because she's new to this life. The second, she's a teenage girl and, once her mother dies, you'll become a second mother figure to her." Alice explained.
"Thank you, I'll wait for his call then." Rosalie nodded with a smile, surprised but happy.
« I can't wait either. » Emmett added, excited about the fact that he might see Bella again.
He hoped Bella would forgive him and that they'd be able to be friends again. He truly did miss her, leaving her had been hard, just like when he had to leave his human life behind. He had loved her like a little sister and he was excited for the opportunity to recreate that bond.
Review please? Even if I can't answer them yet, I'll read them and if you have a question I can answer, I'll answer in the next chapter.
What did you think of the Rosalie part I added?
Any ideas of what the babies' names will be? I might change them from the ones in the original version.
Lorelei Candice Black