~~Rebekah~~
"Rebekah Natasha, will you take upon the honor we are asking and become the newest Cullen?" His words echoed over and over again in my head. This moment was burned into my memories forever.
After what happened to them, and what happened with them, I knew that I would never open up my heart again to another family. But that had all changed once I met them. I knew that I tried to keep my distance at first, but Esme was too sweet to keep out of my life, Carlisle was too understanding, and Ness had been my only friend prior to the transformation.
I averted my eyes from the floor and stared at the golden crest, which stared back at me. It was a beautiful piece of jewelry, don't get me wrong, but it was this big thing on a short, choker-length chain. That would have to be modified, I thought.
"We'll get a longer chain." I heard Edward say. "Then it'll be more like a pendant." Carlisle and Esme nodded.
"I think I have one in my room, always destroying various things for fabric." I tucked a loose curl back into place.
"Well, how do you like it?"
"It's really beautiful…" It truly was, and it was also very unique. The crest's frame and chain were pure 24 karat gold, while the enamel in the crest was a deep emerald shade. Tiny diamonds were scattered around the frame.
"Rebekah, you're not answering us." Edward replied sternly. "Tell us if you will accept our offer."
"I will," I saw them all visibly sigh with relief. "But you're going to accept me as well."
"Oh honey, we already do!" Esme replied happily.
"No…" I replied bitterly. "There's something I've been keeping from you. Something that I intended to tell you tonight."
"What is it?" Carlisle inquired. For some strange reason, I felt like he and Esme already knew.
"Stay here, I'll be back in five."
I dashed out the front door, being mindful that I was in a long dress and thin shoes. Why of all nights to let Ness talk you into wearing gladiator sandals… I made my way into our house and made my way into my room, approaching my bed carefully. Don't bail, don't bail, DON'T BAIL. I chanted in my head over and over again.
"Thank God Esme let me get the bed with storage underneath." I muttered to myself as I pushed the end of my bed up into the air, revealing the contents underneath.
I studied my five gigantic binders filled to the absolute brim with research from the past three years. My eyes moved to the memory board that was so full of pins and papers that looked like it should be on some mystery show. I noticed that my drawing of my potential-biological-parents' appearances was missing. Then I remembered that Esme wanted to make a copy of it for some odd reason, and it was now sitting in her study. I'll get it later…
When I got back to Alice and Jasper's place, most of the people there were notably confused. Carlisle, for some reason had this… knowing look on his face. It was like he knew what I was cooking up, but hadn't told anyone.
"Rebekah, what is all this?" Alice gestured for me to drop everything on the kitchen table.
"Project Heritage."
"What?" Rosalie asked. She opened one of the binders and began to flip through it.
"Three years ago, I first became interested in genealogy, ancestry, and DNA. We were doing some family tree project and for some reason, while researching my adoptive parents' past, it just clicked. With the help of my mom I traced back their heritage, but then I started wondering about mine."
"That's interesting. How close are you getting to finding them?" Ness asked.
"Funny you ask that. Every time I've gotten super close to finding their names, it's always a dead end. Three years I've been doing this, and I'm only three-fourths the way through." I chuckled from mild pain and irritation.
I turned to Rose, who was flipping through the first binder. Emmett looked over her shoulder and his face was contorted with confusion. Edward, Bella, and Alice were flipping through the most recent binder while Jasper and Ness were looking at my memory board.
"Who are these people?" Esme held up a small picture of me and them.
"That's my mother and father, and then there's me." I pointed to the pudgy toddler in my father's arms.
"Your mother- is she really that young? She looks like a baby next to him!"
"My father was fifty and she was twenty-eight when they got married. Five years later, I came into the picture. Everyone criticized her for marrying a man almost two times her age, but she didn't care. She was young, beautiful… gold."
"What do you mean by was?" Alice asked, taking the picture.
"She died in a car crash roughly seven years ago." I fiddled with my crest in its box. "I was ten, she was only forty-three. Daddy went into despair afterwards and became unbearable to be around, so I ran away and changed my name so he wouldn't find me."
"Oh Bekah…" Alice hugged me. "I'm so sorry."
"It's fine. She was a good mother, and he was a good father. They didn't pay much attention to me on a day-to-day basis, but I still have good memories." I smiled through the pain and fiddled with the crest more.
"What were their names? And what was yours?"
"Colette and Richard Keenan." I turned to Carlisle and his face turned from calm to shock. It soon registered in everyone's minds.
"Rebekah, you're…"
"Amelia Michelle Keenan, yes I know. But my time as Amelia is over, and she is dead to me. She died when my mother did and my father went off the rails. My identity is now Rebekah Natasha." I breathed. "Sorry…" I mumbled. "Didn't mean to be such a Debbie Downer. Especially since it's my own party."
Seth, whom I completely forgot was there, coughed uncomfortably. Leah and Jacob looked at him with daggers in their eyes. Jacob turned to me with sympathy in his eyes.
"I know how it feels." Jacob said quietly. I nodded and sighed.
"Well that's an unfortunate thing to bond over." He smiled and hugged me, and I felt the warmth of his skin.
I pulled the crest out of the box and held it in the center of my palm and smiled. This is home, I thought and turned to Edward, who replied with a smile.
"Help?" I unhooked the clasp of the chain. Seth stepped forward and I pushed my hair out of the way. He took one side of the chain and I held the other. He pulled both sides to the back and clasped them together. His hot touch lingered on my skin.
"It's official, Rebekah Natasha Cullen. Welcome to the family." Carlisle stated. I smiled at all of them, and that smile didn't leave my face for the rest of the night.
Thirty minutes before two, we'd decided to end the party with a hunt. The Quileutes had decided to hit the hay, but Seth said he'd come by around noon tomorrow, which I was excited for. Bella had already hunted a few days prior and Ness needed to get to bed, so they decided to not join us.
The hunt was actually quite productive in my opinion. I have never hunted with anyone else, so I was quite unfamiliar with a large group surrounding me. But Esme, being the pure woman she is, assured me that it would be fine and to change out of my dress, as that would limit my movement. I didn't change and still managed to nail down three deer, one being a big buck. When we did get home, I changed into more comfortable clothes, as wearing a dress for that long made me mildly uncomfortable.
For now, I was working on a drawing of Esme and Carlisle from a picture I'd found while flipping through old photo albums. Judging by the fashion it was from the 1950's, as Esme sported the New Look and Carlisle looked like a film star.
"Rebekah," I heard Esme whisper, knowing that I would hear her.
"Yes?"
"Do you want to watch a movie with us?"
"Which one?"
"Your choice; Gone With The Wind, Seven Year Itch, or Breakfast at Tiffany's?"
I gathered my sketchpad and various pencils, markers, and erasers and headed downstairs. I walked in on the sight of Carlisle and Esme in an intimate moment. It wasn't as bad as the ones that the rest of the family had described. It was sweet and tender, far from scandalous. Esme rested her head on Carlisle's chiseled chest, while he had his nose pressed into her caramel curls.
"Aww…" I made my presence known. The two of them scattered.
"Rebekah!" Carlisle nearly jumped up with shock.
"You don't have to scatter for me," I sighed. "I've seen and heard worse; dead agents, blood-"
"Is that supposed to reassure us?"
"I thought it would, but now I'm not too sure." I came and sat next to Esme on the couch and pressed my head to her shoulder. Her eyes averted to my chest.
"See Carlisle, I told you the gold would look better! It compliments her barely-there golden undertones." That's when I realized that I had retained a tiny amount of pigment in my skin.
"It also makes her stand out." He smiled. "As she should, you are a unique part of the family." I nodded.
"I still can't believe it's real though." I fiddled with it more. Esme brushed her cold fingers against my warmer skin and wondered why I wasn't as cold as she was.
"We'll get you a longer chain, I can tell it's too tight." Esme nodded. "What did you mean by 'I still can't believe it's real'?"
"The love of a real family. I finally have a family that doesn't ignore me or take me out for ice cream because I won him a bunch of money. You know, the simple things. I have no hard feelings against them, in fact I think my dad's still searching for me. But, I'm comfortable here."
Esme got that sweet, almost-going-to-cry, sappy look on her face. Carlisle had the same look on his face, although he hide it from me better. Suddenly, the phone rang and Carlisle sprang up off the couch and grabbed the house phone. Landlines still are a thing? He whispered something to a man named Eleazar and a woman named Carmen.
"Who was that?" I asked once he got back.
"Our cousins the Denalis."
"Aren't they the blonde ones who are really hot? So, basically Rosalie?"
"Yes. Tanya and Kate are the leaders, and Kate has a mate named Garrett, and they are joined by Carmen and her mate, Eleazar." I'd heard those names before.
"Aren't they the ones who also had Irina and Laurent?" He had an uneasy look on his face. "You let me read your journals, remember?"
"Ah yes, them. That was… not a good time for us…" He sighed. "Rebekah, you know that some of us develop special abilities, right?"
"Yeah. Alice has her visions, Edward has his mind-reading, Jasper has his emotional manipulation, Bella's got her shield, and Nessie's got that mind-vision thing and shield penetration thingy. What is the mind vision thing called? She's used it on me several times, and I still don't know what its true name is."
"Ness' power is called 'Tactical Thought Projection', and it was very shocking when I first witnessed it. I'm quite surprised you know this much about our powers and how they work and when we use them."
"I've read your journals a lot, I'm actually finishing up the one from 2010 at the moment." I explained. "Those are some of the best works of literature I've ever had the honor to read. In there, you do an excellent job of explaining the powers and how they work and how they're beneficial to our side."
"Thank you." He said to me. "No one's ever said anything about them because they can't read them!"
"I'll admit that the ones from the 1600s are hard to read because of the ink fading, but I can make out what letters were there prior. My mom used to do a lot of restoring letters and journals from that time period, and I would always watch and think; how does she do that? But now I understand." He nodded.
"Another useful thing I've been lucky to learn from my time as a CIA woman's daughter is body language. Body language for me at least, is very easy to pick up on. Like I can tell when Alice gets a vision when her pupils dilate and when Jasper is trying to keep a calm mood, his eyebrows furrow ever so slightly."
"Really, the CIA let a child into their premises?" I laughed quite hard at this.
"The agents I knew were the ones my mom worked with, and they were big family men. The TV shows that incorporate a CIA with a family are always so inaccurate. Some of those men are big saps, don't tell anyone I said that. My mom's assistant had a daughter, Sherri, and we would always play together with one agent; Alex McCain. I don't know why I remember his name out of all them. Anyway, we're getting off topic, how are the powers related to this conversation?"
"Oh, yes, the special abilities. The Denalis, one of their members name is Eleazar, and his gift is to sense the gifts of other vampires. We were wondering if you perhaps have any."
"I have none that I acknowledge."
"If you do have one, it might be mental and you don't know you're doing it, or you'll develop one that is very useful to us, but it just needs a little coaxing in order to show itself. We're flying them in from Alaska and they should be here in a couple days. They're all very excited to meet you."
"You'll like them," Esme added. "You're a lot like Tanya in the way that you don't tend to show emotion and Kate; you're somewhat chill and laid back. They also have a gift for you."
I groaned. "Not another one. I've told you, you don't have to get me anything."
"The Denalis are family and they would love to welcome you. Now stop griping, okay Bella? Now what movie do you want to watch?"
"Breakfast at Tiffany's, of course. It's a cinema classic, and it would be criminal to not."
"Your wish is my command, birthday girl."
As soon as the movie ended, Carlisle immediately got up and went to finish up some paperwork. He'd kissed both me and Esme goodnight for no particular reason before he left.
"Does he just not like old Hollywood?" I asked Esme once we heard the door upstairs close.
"He likes them, it's just that the plots are too simple and predictable. He puts up with it for us, because we like the costumes."
"Which reminds me…" I pulled out my sketchbook. "I was wondering about the story behind this." I pulled out the photo.
"Wow… that's an oldie!" She took it from me. "This was in the garden in our London house, and I think Alice took this."
"That's Dior," I pointed to her dress. "And that's Chanel," I pointed to her blazer and bag. "And those are Gucci?" I pointed to her kitten heels. "Carlisle's wearing entirely Dior."
"Wow… how do you know all of that?"
"Mixture of too much free time, which results in a lot of research time and a love of historical fashion. The face that I'm a seamstress might play a role too." She nodded.
"Of course." Esme took the picture. "Alice and Jasper had just come to the family, and we threw a party that night. That dress was a little too small, but only in the waist, so it wasn't too uncomfortable to wear. The color was either lavender or lilac with a white floral pattern. Now that I say it, I think I still have that dress."
"Your hair is perfect for the 1950's curls. You just have to pin it up a little here and there in order for it to be slightly shorter, but otherwise…"
"The 50's was a wonderful time. The war was over, we gained Jasper and Alice… So many things have happened to our family over the years, both wonderful and tragic." She stared off into the distance.
"Is it true that Ness almost killed Bella while in labor?" I asked very bluntly.
"Yes, but we don't tend to talk about it. It upsets Edward." Well he needs to get a damn grip. I could see that she could somewhat see what I was thinking and rolled her eyes. We sat in silence for a couple minutes.
"I'm going to finish working on the drawing, maybe get a little more of Project Heritage done." I stood up and gathered my supplies.
"Okay, night Bekah." She pressed a soft, cold kiss to my temple.
"Love you, Mom." I replied as I ran upstairs. By the time I reached the top of the stairs, I could've sworn I heard her quietly squeal with happiness.
I managed to make it into my room and lock the door before she came up to run and hug me. Sure, I liked Esme's hugs as much as the next person; they were tender, warm (How ironic), and maternal.
I set my supplies on the bed and saw that the binders and memory board had been returned. Alice must have stopped by before we got home and put them there.
"Never mind…" I sighed out loud. For some reason, I felt too exhausted to work on either. I turned to my beautiful gray desk and noticed that it was quite the mess.
I walked over and started cleaning the main work area, which was covered with things ranging from Copic markers to makeup. Then, I sprayed it down with horribly odorus Pledge and dusted it down. I moved everything back into their rightful drawers; sewing things on the top left, makeup on the top right, drawing supplies on the bottom left and stationary on the bottom right.
I must have made a lot of noise putting Project Heritage back under my bed, because as soon as I shut it, Esme came running.
"What happened?!" She asked, looking around.
"I'm cleaning?!" I offered.
"Oh… sorry to interrupt, thought you fell or something. Must be my imagination or something... Do you need any help?"
"Could you organize the books over there, please?" She nodded.
"Thank you..." I continued to move things around my desk while Esme rearranged various books that Bella had let me borrow. I thought that I had finished cleaning, but a particular piece of paper caught my eye.
"Esme, look at this!" She cam over and read over my shoulder.
"Wow, this is some good paper." She touched the edge. "I think this is one of Carlisle's notes, he must have left it here. I'm going to go do some work on our next house, can you take it down to him?"
"Sure." She walked out and down the hall to her office.
I looked at the paper some more, and I definitely knew it wasn't it. It was slightly thicker and quite fancy, it had a gold seal keeping it closed and my name written out in fancy script on the back. Carlisle did have nice handwriting, but it wasn't as good as this! It looked like a computer typed it. I swiftly shut my door silently and cracked open the seal. It definitely wasn't a medical note.
Dearest Rebekah Natasha,
You don't know me, but one day you will. Let me rephrase, you don't know us, but one day you will. We are people from your past, people whom you trusted with your secret and your life, but our joys with each other were taken away. Two weeks from now, we shall reunite and you will remember all.
For some reason, I felt like I recognized the handwriting... I remembered something that Colette had taught me in that moment and quickly identified the author as a female with a thin, flexible wrist.
It could've easily been Esme who wrote this, as she did have a thin wrist, or even Alice. She had an even skinner wrist and her penmanship was flawless. But according to Carlisle, Esme didn't like to play pranks, unless she was feeling particularly feisty. The name Esme and the word 'feisty' did not fit into the same sentence in my brain. And Alice would've seen this coming… She would've known my reaction…
I tucked the note into my pocket and slipped downstairs. No one was in the common areas, so that made my mission a lot easier. I quickly slipped out the back door before Carlisle noticed something.
Once I stepped out onto the porch I noticed that the wind was a lot louder and stronger than I had expected. From inside, it sounded like a gentle breeze. No time to change. I grit my teeth and pulled my thin cardigan around myself and ran towards the dense forest, hoping to find those voices I'd heard. The deepness of the female's voice still stuck with me for some reason. It was like I had heard it before.
I looked towards the sky and realized that the full moon was out, just like it had been on the original night when I had discovered the voices. Maybe they'll appear tonight, I thought. I walked into the middle of the dense forest and waited for them to make a sound.
"Rebekah…" One of the male voices whispered. Yes, they're back! "You're here..."
"Uhh... Yeah, I'm here, hello." I pulled the letter out of my pocket and fiddled with it.
I heard incoherent whispering from them. The only words I managed to catch were "memories", "return", and "parents". The word parents gave me hope, maybe they could lead me to them and I could meet the people who brought me into this world. I also heard the girl call one of the guys "lover boy".
"I'm so confused..." I muttered.
"What?"
"I've read the letter." Dead silence followed.
"Dear god, you're like the Cullens. I ask them question on anything and their answers are always so mediocre! I can handle all forms of bullshit, believe it or not! I've heard a lot in my life. Now, I have no idea where the female of the group is, but I know she wrote it."
"Damn it..." I heard her mutter.
"And why exactly did you do it? What the hell does 'Two weeks from now, we shall reunite and you will remember all.' mean? You don't just drop that on a person!" They didn't answer.
I suddenly heard three sets of footsteps hitting the ground, meaning they were probably hiding in the trees above. I got good glimpses of two slender, but also somewhat muscular male figures, and one petite, skinny female figure. Due to their cleverness and the shadows from all the branches, I couldn't make out any facial features.
I pulled out my pocket-knife. "If you want one of them, take me instead. They won't bother looking for me."
"We are not here for them, and we are not here to capture you. Although, you are important and we do care for you." The female stepped forward, but still kept her face hidden. "You're our number one priority."
"You three sound like CIA agents and not in a good way. If I am some humongous asset to someone, well I'm not. I'm just a girl looking for her place in this world."
"Rebekah you don't understand!" One of the men said in near-whining tone. "Horrible people want you dead, and are looking for you one every inch of the world. They have been your whole life." The more he went on, the more this sounded like insanity.
"Are you sure that you three are completely sober?"
"Katerina had three glasses of wine but that's not the point…" I heard the same male mumble. Katerina! The short, skinny female has a name!
"So, Katerina…" I finally addressed the female. "What possessed you to write me this letter?" No response. "Tell me what. Come on, I can handle it."
"I can not reveal too much yet, Princess." Her voice held onto the last word. "Just wait two weeks, and we'll talk again." I could feel her smirk as the three figures disappeared into the night.
"Damn it they got away." I hissed under my breath and headed home. Luckily Carlisle and Esme weren't by the door waiting to bombard me with questions, but I knew that they would need and want an explanation in the future. Just not now...
AN: I apologize that this is so late... Finals before winter break, having trouble with the last scene etc. It's a lot. Also, I've listened to Taylor Swift's new album, evermore, twice while writing/editing and proof-reading this chapter. Please help my brain.
Next chapter will be from Tanya's POV. I just thought and felt like it would be useful to see another outsider's first-impression of Rebekah. I also chose Tanya to write this chapter because feel like she'll be the best one to judge on whether or not to trust and accept Rebekah, she'll do the best for her coven.