Chapter One: The World Is Larger Than You Know
Disclaimer & Story Warnings: The characters and the world of the TWILIGHT UNIVERSE belong to Stephenie Meyers. The plot is mine. This story plot is rated MATURE. If you are not 18 years or older, this story is not for you. You have been warned!
January 2006
Charlie Swan sighed as he pulled his cruiser up the long driveway outside of his hometown of Forks, Washington. He'd lived in this small town his whole life and he loved it. On normal days, he could not even think of a different way of life. Good job, house that was paid for and well kept, fishing every weekend and sole control over the remote. This was it for him.
But on days like today, he second guessed himself and wondered if he had the guts to just pack up and never return, leaving all the responsibilities of being Chief of Police in a place like Forks behind him. Though the thought might be nice, the truth of the world reminded him that life could be much worse outside of his neck of the woods.
Dangerous even.
You wouldn't think that a small town like Forks could hide anything more dangerous than a few local drunks, bored teenagers and tons of wet weather of all varieties that could wreak havoc on the roads. He had learned otherwise the same year he became police chief. He still remembered vividly when his best friends Billy and Harry from the Quileute reservation picked him up from his home after his second week, with promises of beer and fishing all weekend. He had been amused but confused when they showed up that Friday evening, since they had spent the previous weekend doing the same, but he wouldn't turn down fishing and a few beers with his best friends for anything, so he went along, not expecting their detour.
* August 1995*
"Are you lost or are you taking us to one of those secret fishing holes you refuse to share?" Charlie asked as they turned off the highway onto a winding road. He knew that through this part of the woods the Calawah River could be accessed, but to his knowledge this road led to private property and he didn't know much about the fishing average in this stretch of the river anyway.
Billy chimed up from the back seat of the rusted green '78 Ford Scout. "We...need to introduce you to some people we know. They plan to move back to the area in the future and there are some issues that need to be discussed with them."
Charlie had turned around in his seat to look at his old friend, suddenly on alert from the tone of Billy's voice. He said, "What is this, Billy? What aren't you telling me?"
Billy looked his friend in the eyes and said, "My friend, there has been much I haven't shared with you over the years, but today we will tell you everything." Charlie continued to look at him for a few moments, and seeing the seriousness in his friend's eyes he began to worry, his mind cooking up all kinds of theories that would cause trouble for him, his friends, the reservation, his town. But nothing could have prepared him for what he was to learn.
Moments later they reached a clearing in which stood a large old house that looked as if it had belonged on a plantation in the old south. Harry pulled the Scout to a stop in the driveway and they all got out of the truck, Charlie hanging back behind Billy as they approached the large house. "Who lives here? I wasn't aware of any family wealthy enough in this area to own or build a house like this," he said, looking around to see if anything suspicious might catch his eye.
Harry waved them up the steps, ignoring his question as they approached the door and knocked. Before his hand could leave the surface of the door, it was opened by a pale young woman with short black hair and a smile on her face. Charlie stared in awe at the woman; her golden eyes were so vibrant and strange he thought she must have been wearing some of those expensive colored contacts that some young people wore these days. "Welcome, Harry, Billy, Charlie. Come on in!" she said, seeming happy to see them. "The rest of the family is in the dining room, if you would like to join us please," she added as she shut the door behind them and gestured for them to follow her through the extremely large and open living area.
Charlie, bringing up the rear, stopped in his tracks when they entered the dining room and saw six more equally pale people staring at him, some with genuine smiles, some with curiosity. All with the same colored eyes. Thoughts of cults and criminal activity started darting through his head, making him even more cautious about what was going on. The young man with the bronze hair gave him a small smirk and looked from Charlie to his hands, giving Charlie the strange feeling that he might have spoken his thoughts out loud though he knew he hadn't.
The oldest looking male with blond hair and a large smile stood up from the head of the table and gestured for them to take seats around the table, which was bare except for a large black binder lying in the center. Charlie slowly took a seat at the other end of the table, Harry and Billy flanking him. "Welcome, Harry, Billy, and Charlie. It's a pleasure to meet you finally," the man said, his gaze lingering on Charlie's guarded face. "My name is Carlisle Cullen and this is my family," he continued, starting the introductions. "This is Emmett, Rosalie, Jasper, Alice, Edward and Esme." He pointed to each, not missing the way Charlie looked at each of them as if he was remembering their names and features for a future police report. Charlie finally nodded his head before giving his two serious-looking friends questioning looks, though several people noticed how his gaze had briefly lingered on Esme's.
"Forgive your friends for not enlightening you about this meeting beforehand," Carlisle continued. "I am afraid I insisted that they wait for you to arrive before they spoke of what we have to discuss today. Before we get started, would you like some form of refreshment? We have coffee, tea, colas, juice...we were unsure what your preferences might be," he said with a smile, taking a seat now that the visitors were seated and folding his hands in front of himself.
They each muttered their declines. Charlie kept looking around the table, his nerves starting to get the best of him. "Why don't we cut to the chase and you all tell me what the hell is going on?"
Carlisle barely held back a smirk, instead showing a small smile while holding up his hand in a "we are harmless" manner. "Of course, Charlie, forgive me for stalling. Billy," he said, turning to the man to the right of Charlie. "Why don't you start with your part of the story and then I will jump in at the appropriate interval," Carlisle said, nodding toward him.
Billy motioned for the large binder to be passed to him and he held onto it for the first ten minutes as he started telling Charlie about his people, starting with Taha Aki and the Cold Ones. When he got to the part about Ephraim Black and the treaty, he opened the binder and pushed it in front of Charlie, whose eyes grew large as he looked. He realized that in the picture, beside a man who looked very much like Billy, was a man who looked exactly like Carlisle, as well as mirror images of Carlisle's family except Alice and Jasper. Charlie stared at the picture for a few moments before raising his head and looking at the Cullens, then at his friends.
His face betrayed his shock, confusion and growing fear of what might be going on when he asked, "Who—how—what are you?"
Carlisle motioned to the binder filled with photographs and articles as he explained how he had met the Quileutes and what they were. He explained some of his history and that of the rest of the family for the next thirty minutes or so. Charlie, for his part, was extremely quiet and listened to every word, though it was obvious he still couldn't wrap his mind around what they were telling him.
Wolves [aren't they werewolves?] . Vampires. Normal vampires versus "vegetarians".
As soon as Carlisle was done with the basics they all sat in silence while Charlie looked at the binder full of pictures, articles, evidence of the truth in their words they had specifically put together to show him.
After maybe fifteen minutes Charlie raised his eyes, cleared his throat and shakily asked, "Not that I believe a word of this...stuff...but why would you tell me if this was something you wanted to keep a secret?" He looked briefly at his best friends, his feelings of confusion, disbelief and a bit of betrayal in his eyes.
Carlisle looked at his family, and after receiving a nod from each one he replied, "We are extraordinary, or should I say several of my family members are extraordinary, even among our kind. Jasper is empathic; he has the ability to sense and manipulate the emotions of those around him. Edward is a telepath and can hear every thought we have when he is within range of us. And Alice is psychic, she sees the future in a very unique way; she sees what happens after decisions are made. So if someone she focuses on changes their mind, the future changes."
Charlie looked at the three of them in turn, growing even more skeptical and guarded by the minute as he tried to digest everything they were throwing at him. "Why are you telling me this?" he asked again around a nervous lump in his throat.
Carlisle leaned forward and looked at Charlie. "We own this house and land, but we don't live here. For now. But living here is what we will do in the future, probably ten years or so from now. We came to visit and renew our treaty with Billy and Harry's tribe because Alice has seen several visions that are still unclear, but clear enough that we need you to know about us. We are just a small...coven," he said carefully. "There are multitudes of vampires in this world and the majority of them are not like us, they don't feed on animals. Among those is a very powerful Coven in Italy—the closest thing we have to rulers, or royalty, in our world. They are self appointed enforcers of the one law we follow: keeping our existence a secret. But my family and I, we don't look at humans the same way as they do, like cattle," he said, his tone a mixture of sadness, disappointment, and revulsion.
"When my family made the original pact with the Quileute Nation, it was a simple treaty that protected the reservation and our family's existence, allowing us to live for quite some time in this ideal climate. Even having done that, we could invoke the wrath of the Volturi. If they were to discover the existence of the wolves, whose sole reason for being is to kill vampires, not only would they eradicate the entire Quileute Nation but they would kill every member of my family as well." He paused as he watched the stiff postures in the room stiffen even more at the idea of the dangers in Alice's visions of all their futures.
"Alice has seen that no matter what we as a family decide, even if we choose to never come to this area of the world again, the wolves yet to come will be discovered and endangered. The best chance for them, whom we consider our allies—friends—is for us to return and fight by their side if need be. The Volturi will face opposition the like of which they have never dreamed possible, and our family and the wolves will be caught up in the coming storm. We have many paths before us, but Alice has seen that if we stick with the Quileutes—as we would do regardless—we have the best chance to survive the war that will come."
Charlie sighed and dropped his head in his hands, shaking his head while everyone gave him a few moments to digest. Finally raising his head, he looked them in the eye and asked, "I take it, since you are sharing this with a man of the law who is responsible for the area, that I am to be dragged into this...this mess too? If this is true—and I can promise you I find it very hard to believe you aren't all nuts—what could my knowing possibly do but put me in danger as well, if this Volturi group is so against anyone knowing?"
Carlisle smiled slightly, tilting his head. "Alice has not yet filled us in, that is, on the details of your involvement. She says too much keeps changing. She just knows that it is important in the coming years for you to adjust to the reality of the things we are revealing to you today, so that you can be on your guard. When the others of my kind feed," he said, hesitating, "their victim usually shows up in a missing persons report, or as an animal attack and the like. While we will not be living here for quite a few years, you need to be aware of what is truly out there. Alice will be watching you, Billy, and the reservation. So if some kind of danger appears on her scope we will arrive quite suddenly and things could get alarming. It's best for you, as a man of the law who is entrusted to care for the safety of the area, to know everything...to be ready for it."
Charlie was silent, staring Carlisle down almost as he felt the words sink in. "I have a family too, you know. My daughter—my ex-wife took her away when we divorced but I have been working towards getting her for the summers in the next few years so that I can see her," he said, looking at Alice directly now. "Not that I believe this, but if it were all true, how can I keep my family safe? Short of kidnapping my daughter, I doubt I could get Renee to move back here and I would never do that to her, even though I miss Bells very much," he stated. "But on the other side of the coin, wouldn't it be more dangerous for her to come here, get attached to me again and get caught up in the danger?" he asked, still staring Alice in the eyes, his face betraying his fear at the idea.
Alice smiled lightly and sat forward. "Charlie, I can't promise anything, since my focus has not been on your daughter. But if...when the Volturi learn of our pact with the wolves, you will be caught up in danger as well, though we will do everything we can to protect you. When the time comes, I do know that we will have a sizable force to stand up to the Volturi. They have a lot of very talented vampires as well and several of them will try to seek out any weakness we have. We care for the lives of humans. We don't kill them—feed on them—we protect them. I will focus on your daughter as well, to see what the best solution is to keep her safe, but the best way for me to hone in on her is to meet her. When will she be visiting you?"
Charlie lowered his gaze. "I haven't convinced Renee just yet, but I'm hoping to have her for a month next summer."
Alice's eyes seemed to glaze over for a moment before she smiled and said, "Renee will give in and your daughter, Isabella, will arrive a week after her school year ends. I will be here and contact you at that time to arrange a brief meeting. I only need a few moments. You could 'run into me' at the local diner and then I will be able to tell you more in the future to help you keep her safe," she promised.
Charlie swallowed a lump in his throat and nodded. After a deep breath he rose from the table. "I need a few moments, just..." He shrugged awkwardly and left through a set of French doors behind Carlisle, where there was a wonderful view of the Calawah River several hundred yards away.
Billy and Harry made to follow, but Edward raised his hand to stall them and said, "He will be fine, I'm sure. His mind just needs a few moments to sort through everything. He is understandably shaken."
Billy looked at Carlisle and then Alice. "Has the timeline changed at all for the activation of the wolf genes?" he asked.
Alice shook her head. "That is still not quite clear, but it will be after we move back, probably around 2002 or 2003. It is our presence, over time, that seems to trigger the wolves. We will keep you informed once we know for sure when we will be returning, when the time is right," she said, looking away from Billy to Jasper, who had been quiet like most of the others during this whole meeting.
Esme came to her feet. "I will go see if there is anything Charlie may need, see if he has any more questions about the family."
Alice smirked and Edward's eyebrows rose, but neither said anything.
Out behind the house, next to the river, Charlie sat on a large fallen log staring at the rushing water and he started when Esme suddenly appeared in front of him. His eyes widened and his heart started to beat faster. She had arrived in the blink of an eye. They were quiet for several moments, Charlie trying to control the fear he felt at seeing proof of their words, Esme to allow him to absorb the reality around him. "Just what are you...vampires capable of? What don't I know?" he said, looking at her closely. He thought that besides the otherworldly [otherworldly is one word] pale skin and the golden eyes, she looked like a fragile woman. A very beautiful one.
Esme smiled, her mouth tipping up at one corner, and reached out her hand, nodding for him to take it. "I won't hurt you, I just need you to see and feel part of what makes us so different."
Charlie swallowed a lump in his throat and reached out his own hand, which she took between her own, causing him to gasp at the feel of her skin."You're freezing," he exclaimed as he held his hand still in hers, looking at their hands. He suddenly reversed their situation and took her hand in both of his. "You feel like a statue that's been left out in the snow," he commented quietly, causing her to chuckle.
"We are nearly indestructible, Charlie. We do not need to breathe. We move so much faster than you can imagine. Though we are immortal, there is only one true way for us to die. We do not sleep. We avoid the sunlight, but not for the reasons you may have seen in movies or read in books. We do not burn in the sun, we shine, like statues made of diamonds. So places like this that have nearly constant cloud cover are the ideal locations for we few who value human life and wish to integrate into society to a degree. Carlisle, for instance, is a doctor and steadily practices medicine at hospitals wherever we settle. Edward, Alice, Jasper, Rosalie and Emmett look much younger and usually attend high schools and colleges wherever we go so that they can do their part to seem normal," she said, smirking at the word. "I've done some schooling myself, but I usually teach myself, and these last few years as the internet has grown ever larger I've started taking online courses. Though my passion is for building things, restoring things and such. We may be immortal, but we still have many of our human qualities and desires," she said, finally releasing his hand.
"Why, if you can survive off of animals, do the others feed off of people?" he asked, still unclear.
She tilted her head and replied, "Human blood is almost like oxygen for us, in a way. We are hardwired to want it. A good comparison? It's like human food, for instance. Most humans love steaks, they eat meat. I would probable compare it to that. Imagine you crave steak, you want it, you need it to sustain you, but you choose to eat tofu instead, to spare the animals. That is why we call ourselves 'vegetarians'," she said with a chuckle. "Large game can sustain us, but the thirst for something better is always there. Most vampires see us as otherworldly, as you do but from a different perspective. They can't understand why we deny ourselves steak and settle for tofu," she added, smiling.
They remained for a few moments, Esme allowing him to absorb even more of the onslaught of information he was receiving. Charlie finally looked away from her and got to his feet. "I still find this all hard to believe, you know, though seeing you move so fast and feeling your granite skin makes it so much more convincing. Is there not something you all can do to prevent any of what Alice sees? I don't like the idea of living in a world where I can expect some insane supernatural battle. I...I am just a man, just human. Why couldn't you all have just kept me out of this and protected us without me knowing?" he asked, looking back up at her and seeing sadness on her face.
Suddenly Alice and the others were right there in front of him, and he felt a sudden calm that confused him until he looked at Jasper who Carlisle had said could manipulate emotions. Charlie frowned at him before looking at Alice when she began to speak, as Billy and Harry finally caught up and flanked Charlie again. "You would die if we left you in the dark and defenseless, never knowing what was going on around you. I've looked and looked and there is no way around us telling you, without accepting your death. There are...things that I see that I will not share with you now, as they may change. But suffice to say I know you would want to be alive to help your friends and protect your daughter. Your future is destined to twine with ours. That is why we are telling you this." She spoke calmly, though she could see the fear her words had created behind his eyes at the thought of dying in some horrible way, leaving his daughter behind in such a dangerous world.
Charlie nodded and looked away from them to his oldest friends. "I can't take much more of this. I guess, thank you for telling me. I would appreciate a heads-up as early as possible to any...things...that will happen before you all return to live here," he said awkwardly to Carlisle, ready to flee to and lose himself in some beers and fish in hopes of forgetting some if not all of this. Though he knew there would be no forgetting.
Carlisle nodded and smiled lightly as he gestured to Charlie, Billy and Harry to follow him back through the house and to Harry's Scout. "Thank you for allowing us to meet you today, Charlie. I very much look forward to working beside you in the future, though I regret that not all things will be pleasant when the time comes," he said. "Billy, Harry, we will be in touch with you as well, of course. Please pass on my good will to Old Quil and the Council," he added, bowing his head and raising a hand to his heart in respect.
Billy nodded as they climbed into the Scout, looking again at the pale family that was watching them leave. "We will be waiting," he said, and then Harry backed them out of the driveway and turned to take the road back to the highway.
*Back to present time, January 2006*
Charlie shook his head as his police cruiser pulled to a stop on the driveway in front of the plantation-looking home of the Cullens. He sat there for a few moments, remembering that first meeting and then his second, when in the span of five minutes Alice had met his daughter that first summer, and the occasional phone calls and letters they sent him to keep him informed if they could. He fought the image of Esme in his mind that had haunted him in the best and worst way since he had met her that fateful day, frowning because he knew that Edward would hear his thoughts and that Alice had probably seen him thinking about her over the years.
Grunting in self-loathing, he unsnapped his seat belt and got out of his car and approached the house, alone this time. He never got a chance to knock; the door opened as soon as he stepped onto the porch and a smiling Carlisle gestured for him to enter. "It is good to see you again, Charlie. Thank you for coming over as soon as I called," he said, letting Charlie in and closing the door while motioning towards that same dining room.
Author's Note: So even though I've been a fan of the Twilight books for years and Team Edward lol, this is the first time I've ever delved into the Twilight fan fiction world. I literally read my first TFF a week ago. Like my ships in the Harry Potter fan fiction world, I am unique and cannot seem to stick to canon ships for the most part. So bear with me, as this plot is new and still forming, but I'm extremely excited about it! I hope you enjoy this...please read and review!
