Trials of a Child
Cullen Residence
The Irish Coven was coming back from their hunt. Likewise, Alistair had decided to hunt far enough outside the border to feed on humans, but close enough to spy on the Olympic Coven. When he felt the distressing intruder closing in on the Olympic border, he went immediately to Forks. Fifty miles from the Cullen residence, they smelled something foul. Similarly, the ones that stayed in the area smelled the danger.
"Whatever it is, it's coming straight to us," Riley asserted. Like usual, he and Bree were with the group while Edie was away training. "Oh fuck," he gagged. "It smells worse than the pack!"
"Wait, Riley. I've smelled this before. Remember? We were in California."
"What is it," the alpha demanded.
"It's a," she paused. The creature had arrived. "Werewolf."
The werewolf's cheeks and forehead were prominent. It's snout, teeth, hands, and ears were canine, but the way it stood was human. Overall, it looked like Jacob when he transformed except this werewolf was leaner and female and it lacked Jacob's markings. Though, from its voice, it couldn't be known.
"This is a surprise. I expected only one of you, but a whole coven? Unthinkable," she gleefully cried.
By the time the werewolf spoke, the Irish and Alistair had arrived. It was Siobhan who exclaimed, "A Child of the Moon! I thought Caius had done away with your kind centuries ago."
"It can't be; there is no moon out," Alistair retorted.
"My kind has evolved to be able to shift during the rest of the month, though we are still at our most powerful during the full moon." It strutted closer to the vampires. "I can't believe it. I was right. Your kind doesexist."
"Yeah, we do. Now," Jacob roared "get off our land."
"I will, just as soon as you hand over the Guardian."
Edie's parents and grandparents went still. "You believe the legend?"
"Shut up, Eleazar," Jacob pleaded.
"Know it? I intend to fulfill it. Iam the Supplanter. The Guardian and I will bring forth the Ulrika, and then we will rule."
"The Guardian isn't here, so leave!"
"Who are you to tell me to leave?"
"I am the Alpha of this land. You are trespassing."
The werewolf huffed, unimpressed. It moved to attack Jacob, but she was caught by Sam. "I don't think so. You should listen to him."
The trespasser kneed Sam in the gut. This allowed him to shift completely into his wolf form. The other pack members followed his lead. "Shifters," she laughed. "You are no better than common mutts, whereas I am purebred."
They put up a good fight, but unbeknownst to them, the werewolf had enhanced herself to give her ten times her normal strength. Jacob was furious and eager to avenge his pack. However, the vampires stole his chance. They wanted to see if the Child of the Moon was truly designed to kill a vampire. The short answer was that they were.
Edward wanted to take his chance when he saw an opening. However, his husband had other plans. Already morphed into his own werewolf form, Jacob shoved him away. "Stay there," he growled.
Jacob's transformation made no difference to the intruder. They attacked each other ferociously. They slashed at each other's skin. None of the attacker's claws connected with Jacob. Jacob tried biting the she-wolf. Edward saw the Child of the Moon make its own bite attack on Jacob's neck.
In a moment of panic, Edward yelled, "STOP!" He caught his breath once more. "Stop," he breathed. "It's me. I'll go with you. I'm the Guardian."
"Ed," whispered as much as he could in his guttural voice.
"Let him go and I'll leave with you." His mouth was pressed in a thin line. No other part of his body moved.
"What the hell are you doing?!" Riley's voice covered the entire field.
"There is no point in fighting it. I have to fulfill my destiny." He offered his hand to the she-wolf. "Let's go." He sent a private message to his mate. 'I'll be back as soon as I find a way. I don't want to go, but I need to for you and our little girl.'
"LIAR!" An impregnable force sent Edward and Jacob, who was behind him, flying far away from the werewolf.
Edward landed on top of Jacob who had been forced out of his Moon Child form. "Jake? My heart, my wolf. Are you alright? Is Edie alright?" His cold hands went from his wolf's warm face to the tiny dome that houses his offspring.
"We're okay, but Edie…Look." Edward turned back. He saw Edie's half-wolf form for the second time in his life. This time, the changes in her appearance were minor such as the tattoos on her face and body. She still resembled a humanoid wolf with glowing green neon eyes, but where last time she carried an aura of protection, she now carried one of death, destruction, and regality.
Her transformation burned off her and was carried away in the vapors that sizzled her pale, russet skin.
Angry, the intruder ran to claim her Guardian again. She was struck by lightning. The act forced her to transform back into her human form. Her auburn locks were singed at the end and patches of her olive skin were necrotic. She passed out.
The pack and the vampires were recovered, but frozen. They watched the hybrid telekinetically straighten the body laterally and move it to the wider area of space on the site. The body hovered in suspended animation while Edie manipulated the dirt on the ground. She took water from the air and combined it to make mud. The mud shot from the ground like ropes.
Edie went to the backside of the unconscious body. She touched the ground with two fingers and a large wall of mud erupted. "Think, think. What was the combination? Oh yeah!"
Benjamin watched as his gift was used in a manner he hadn't conceived possible; he saw Edie turn the wet dirt into solid steel. Before, she had called upon lightning from the sky and he wondered if he could do that as well.
They watched the hybrid secure the Moon Child. This time the electrical charge that woke the werewolf up came from her hands instead of the sky. "You're using my gift!"
"Silence." Kate's lips disappeared from her face and she had one less hole on her head. "My business is with her. I don't want to be interrupted. You can stay and watch, but one more disruption, and I'll take your teeth out," she addressed everyone else.
The Moon Child began to stir. "Where?"
"Forks, Washington. My turn now. What's your name?" Silence. "Fine. Don't tell me." More silence. "So, Anabel Packard. Relax, I'm not a telepath. Why did you come here?"
"Why don't you read my mind? Yaaaa!"
"I told you, I don't read minds. I see memories and I don't really feel like doing that right now," she pouted. Zap! Zap! "Oh, don't be such a baby."
"You will regret this," Anabel's breath was ragged. Leaves that were attached to the surrounding trees slashed her body and drew blood. She screeched and waited for the wounds to close, but it didn't happen. "What did you do to me?"
"It's just a little paper-cut. The electricity did the rest by cutting off your healing factor. Didn't you know this? You're a werewolf, aren't you?"
"When I get out of this, you will be th– Yaaa!"
"Answer my question. Why will I regret doing this to you?"
Automatically, Anabel answered, "Because I am the mother of the most powerful being to ever walk the earth. I am the Supplanter," she grinned thinking she had won and intimidated her torturer.
Edie cackled, she whooped, she nearly rolled on the floor laughing. "You–ha! You," she wheezed. "You're the Suppla–ha ha-ha!"
"That legend is a complete hoax. A fairy tale we used to tell New–blawnth," Liam commented.
"I warned you," her voice was cold, barren. "You are not the Supplanter," she bore her sight to Anabel. "I'll put it in terms that your kind understands. You are barely a beta wolf. Less than that, you lean towards the omega bracket. The only reason you were able to touch my students is because you were pumped with magical steroids. Which, by the way, I've stripped you of."
"Who the hellare youto say that," she screamed. "I amthe Supplanter!"
"You are not. The Supplanter's destiny is to walk with the Guardian, not fuck him and kill him like you planned to do, not like what you did with that poor wizard." Edie got that last part from Anabel's memories. "The Supplanter is an Alpha. Do you think you could ever match their strength? Their tenacity? The Supplanter is the most powerful wolf ever." The sky was thunderous, and the rain poured. Her eyes were neon and the rest of her body glowed red. "The Supplanter is my mother."
The pack and the entire Olympic Coven, including Riley and Bree, stared at Jacob. Alistair noticed this, when the others were captivated by the hybrid's show.
"Of Lilith. Of Hecate. Of Remus and Romulus," Edie recited. "Royalty born; royalty made. Born of Claw and Fang given freely–"
Jacob and Edward remembered the night of their shared proposals. 'The Ice Prince…You're the chief's son? So, you're like a prince,' they recalled from other memories of Edie.
"–Claw of Legacy. Fang of Magic–"
They recalled their genetic chart.
"–Fruit of the Supplanter. Sired by the Wealthy Guardian," she finished. Dangerously, she hissed, "Take a guess. Who am I?"
'It can't be, can it?'Eleazar expressed to himself.
"No," Anabel whimpered. "No," her voice was definite. "You can't be."
"Look into my eyes." The truth was there, along with unimaginable horrors.
"I'm sorry," Anabel Packard repeated reverently. She was released from her metal prison. Her palms flat and her nose pressed on the muddied ground.
"Once I release you, you will forget everything that happened here, but you will feel the effects of being struck down by lightning if you ever come too close. Go." Anabel Packard had no control of her limbs as she sped away from the Cullen property, away from the forest, away from Washington.
The rain stopped pouring. Kate's mouth reappeared, and Liam's teeth returned to his mouth. From a distance, Edie healed all the vampires of any remaining ailments. She inspected Riley and Bree closely, healing them as she touched their bodies. Similarly, she went to each wolf and rebroke their bones, so they would mend properly.
Once she was done, she headed elsewhere. She never spared a glance at her parents.
"Are you the Ulrika," Eleazar spoke up. Edie slowed her pace until she stopped to face him and the rest. "I suspected there was something unique about you."
"Everyone always says that," she smirked. "They never seem to know the reason why, though."
"I do. 'Claw of Legacy and Fang of Magic' refers to your shifter heritage and your eventual Change, doesn't it? Your sire, the one who bit you, he must have been urged by destiny to bite you. I could see no other reason. I mean no offense, but with the way the pack smells, there is no other way a vampire would come near you otherwise. Do you remember your Guardian at all?"
Edie crossed her arms across her chest. "You really believe that. Fine, I'm not going to tell you otherwise."
Edie was baffled when the Spaniard scholar dropped to his knees. His hand was over his heart and his face was bare. "I pledge myself to your service, my Queen."
Benjamin went down in the same way. Then Siobhan, Kate, and eventually, everyone else followed suit. Some did it because they recognized that she was someone with a lot of power. Others did it out of respect and loyalty for Edie, and the rest kneeled out of a combined reason of the two.
"All of you, get up." They did. "I didn't do this because I wanted to rule." She paused. "If you have enough energy to make these unnecessary declarations, then you can train until dawn tomorrow," she ordered.
Those outside the Cullen family and the pack chorused, "Yes, my Queen." Once again, she walked away.
"Edie? You don't have to go." Jacob was ignored. "Train with us. We can do it together, as a family," his gentle voice carried, but his daughter didn't acknowledge it.
Edward caught up to Edie and his hand was about to land on her shoulder. "Sunshine–" She slapped it away before he could.
"DON'T TOUCH ME! DON'TEVERTOUCH ME!" Her voice cracked as she shrieked. Realizing what she did, Edie covered her gaping mouth to drown out any lasting whimpers. She gulped down any remaining whines. She cleared her throat to speak again.
She intended to reiterate her intentions of going somewhere else, but when she saw her father's hurt eyes, anger surged through her. "You lied to me. You promised me. I beggedyou to never leave Jacob's side no matter what. Even if it means saving his life. You broke that promise, Cullen!"
"He was in danger. You were –"
"He wasn't. He was close to killing her until you got in the way." Her face was less than a foot from his. "God! You are such a self-sacrificing, idiotic…" She pulled at her hair, "I can't even, FUCK!"
"Hey! You can't talk to him like that," Jacob pushed her gently from Edward. "He did what he could with what he saw. He was worried about us."
Edie scoffed. "Of course, you defend him. He is your husband, your lover, your imprint, your everything!" She threw a ball of lightning at a tree. The fire was quickly put out. "He has your entire heart, body, and soul and that leaves no room for anyone else." Her chest heaved.
The others witnessed that this was not something for them to watch, but they couldn't look away. The sheer drama planted them on the spot. Their conclusions of those outside the Coven Pack were as followed: Edie was in love with Jacob, and hated Edward because he took what she wanted, so she kept her distance hoping to lessen her heartbreak.
"By the way," Edie continued. "Once you remember that you don't want your little gift," she eyed Jacob's abdomen, "just know that Charlie is ready to take it off your hands."
Jacob couldn't believe what he just heard. Whereas Jacob was rendered speechless, Edward was not. "We are not handing anything over Charlie Swan. We love you, Edie."
"That's bullshit!"
Delicate stone hands hovered over father and daughter. Tanya had placed herself between them. "Let's take a breath so that we don't use words we will regret." She put her cold hand on Edie's naked arm.
"Get your hands off me, pedophile." Edie set Tanya's hand on fire. It turned to ash then returned to its normal state when Edie snapped her fingers. But by then, the Denali had come to aid their leader.
"Do you know why I stay as far away from you as possible, Tanya? When I was sixteen, you took my virginity and the whole time you were fucking me, telling me you loved me back, you were thinking of my father; imagining his dick inside you, fucking you desperately."
The Irish coven, Benjamin, Tia, and Alistair for a moment wanted to be able to eat popcorn as they saw the drama take a new twist.
"That's not true! I would never –"
"Am I lying, Maggie?"
"No," the Irish vampire answered meekly.
"If you hate us so much, why did you bring us here," Kate questioned.
"I don't hate you. I am indifferent to Tanya, but the rest of you are dear to me. You helped me after grandma died and you hid me from Aro while you could. Hell, I even brought Garrett over because I knew you two would be a great match for each other." She pushed her argument further. "Irina was the one who found me after shit went down and she helped me, even though I'm pretty sure she hated my kind. For killing Laurent, I mean."
"Rose, no!" "Seth, get your shit together!" Leah and Emmett were trying to hold back both godparents. Similarly, Jasper and the other males were holding Edward back.
"You can't kill her, Edward! The consequences –"
"Screw them!"
Tanya was flung on the ground by an invisible force brought forth by Jacob. "How dare you touch my baby?!"
"Are you insane?" Edie appeared in front of him. "You have no idea what killing her would do to this world. Besides, why do you care?"
"Why do I…I love you, Edie! You're my Sunshine, my–"
"Stop lying to me! You haven't said more than five words to me since that day. And now, suddenly, you're spouting this crap. You were the one who left me."
"That is out of line, young lady," Esme reprimanded. "You apologize to him, right now."
"Why should I? In fact, why should I listen to you? Any of you?! You were so eager to leave me. What? Were you just waiting to know that I was immortal, that way you can leave without the guilt? Fuck that!"
A clap made the leaves shake from their trees, Edie's burning cheek was tinged pink. "I don't know what is possessing you to act like this, but this attitude ends now," Edward's hiss sent shivers down Edie's spine. "I know your grandmother did not raise you to be this disrespectful."
Gold lasered green. Still unable to match his gaze, Edie down-casted her sight. "You're right. I'm sorry, Esme. I'm sorry, Jacob. I'm sorry to everyone for my behavior today. None of you deserved it." She made eye contact with those she made apologies to.
Finally, she turned back to Edward. Green pierced gold. "I could never win with you. You're Edward Cullen." A normal human wouldn't be able to hear her soft tone.
"Edie, you can't!" Alice emerged from a vision.
"I can, and I will, Alice. None of you can stop me."
Hours passed since Edie left. The guests demanded an explanation, but the Coven Pack was in no condition to give them one. Riley, Bree, and Edward were looking for ways to break the spell Edie cast on them to keep them from following her, without success. Feeling stifled, Jacob went to the second-floor balcony. He stared at the stars. Not really paying attention to them personally, he was thinking about his mom and Edward's mom, and wondering just how badly screwed up everything was.
He didn't know how long he was there when he felt a heavy cold hand on his shoulder and flinched. Humorlessly, he chuckled. "For a second, I thought you were Emmett. It's not that I think you look like a guy, it's the strength you have in your hand."
"You are deeply troubled," Siobhan observed not unkindly. "Perhaps I can help."
"No offense, but I don't think anyone here can really help me."
"You may have a point there. Few of us know what it's like to carry a babe, and none of us have an idea of how to raise one from start to finish."
Jacob shook his head. "I'm only six months pregnant. She's not even out and I already see how hard her life was without me and so far, all I can think of is that I gotta stay alive. I gotta because," he sighed. "All these horrible things happened to her and I think that if I somehow manage to survive then maybe those things won't happen to her. That's why I trained so hard. But today, I realized that it's not enough. I have to be able to do more and I don't have any idea what 'more' is."
"You can never be certain Jake," Esme advised. Carmen, Esme, and Tia joined them on the balcony. "Every choice you make, you have to believe that you're making the right one, and even then, they won't be. I lost my son; even when I did everything the doctor said to do, I still lost him."
"So, what you're saying is, that no matter what happens, I'll still screw up?"
"No," Tia interjected. "I believe that what Esme is trying to convey is that nothing is certain when it comes to a child. I cared for my siblings when our mother couldn't. Each of them was precious to me and I did whatever was possible for them to survive. I even married a man I did not love so that they may be adopted into good families, but I couldn't guarantee them the happy life that I wanted for them. Each of them suffered and died."
"Each mother suffers for their child," Carmen confirmed. "There is no other way to be a mother. I was never envious of them until I found Eleazar. I am envious of you. You not only get to conceive a child with your love, you actually see what she becomes."
"I appreciate what you ladies are saying. I just wish that I knew why she's resisting me. I want to know why! What changed? I used to think we made her happy and," his eyes scrunched up to keep his tears from falling.
"You know, I've never seen her cry; not even when Charlie almost died. Not when she freaked out on us, never." He laughed humorlessly. "I've been doing nothing but crying."
Siobhan silently wished to ease Jacob's heartache.
"Why are we doing this?"His lover stared at him incredulously. "You know what I mean,"the redhead sighed. "We've tried phasing through it, I've tried spells, and you haven't stopped trying to force your way out."
"We can't stop,"the Quileute urged. He pounded against the invisible barrier.
"I'm not saying we should, but we're running out of options here."
The russet entity dropped on the floor next to his partner. He molded himself on the pale crook of his neck. "We could try possessing them again."
"We'd never be able to do it long enough to catch up and even if we did, the spell she did was on their bodies. It would be useless."
"We don't need negativity, Cullen,"the Jacob entity spoke wryly. "We need solu–Edward, look!"
"Yes, Jacob, I see the leaves."
"Just…move your feet and look." When the Edward entity moved his right foot, the sparse leaves and the dirt moved. "Do you see it?"
"Can it really be possible?" Edward-entity dug through the loose soil and picked it up with his bare hands. "Oh, God! Jacob, we're corporeal! It means solid, dear."
"I don't give a shit," he exclaimed excitedly. "But, wait. How do we know for sure? We could just be like evolving in our forms."
"Only one way to find out," Edward-entity smirked his famous smirk.
"Seventy years, man. People still think I'mthe impulsive one."
"I simply hide it better." Edward-entity reached out his hand to his lover. Jacob-entity took it before he lost his nerve. Traveling to the house went quicker than they thought.
The people inside the house went to the porch hoping that Edie came back when they heard the crunching dirt. It wasn't her, but they didn't attack. They waited for Edward's queue.
"Son?"
"I'm not sure, Carlisle."
"It's good to see ya, Doc," Jacob-entity spoke first. "Last time I saw you, you and Emo Vamp were trying to save Pixie from that freak Aro."
Jacob squeezed between Emmett and Quil. "Who the hell are you?"
Jacob-entity strutted up to the crowd. "I'm the guy who's gonna do you a massive favor." His chocolate eyes shifted. "I'm gonna kill this bitch before she can touch our baby!" He grabbed Tanya from behind Jacob and threw her at Edward-entity's feet.
"Save some of her for me, will you?"
The Quileute spirit cracked his knuckles and neck. "No problem, babe." Then, the most brutal beatdown in current history occurred. Trees were knocked down, boulders were smashed, the ground was cracked, and Tanya lay pathetically on the floor.
She saw a red-haired savior approach her. "Edward, help me," she croaked
"You know, cousin. My lover and I almost didn't touch you. After all, what you did didn't happen yet. However," Edward-entity grabbed her by what was left of her blouse. "We saw the same pattern forming in your thoughts and if you continued this way, it would have happened again. Your memories may be erased, but you will always feel fear of ever going near our child. Aistieada." (Restore) He let her drop.
"I thought you wanted a piece of her?"
"I did, but when I saw your breathtaking display of raw motherly rage, I felt it was enough."
"Well, aren't you a sweet-talker?" The entities kissed.
"You're Edie's parents," Jacob concluded. "You're us."
"Yeah, we are. I was bigger by this month." Jacob-entity touched Jacob's abdomen. "Come on, Cullen, when are you gonna get another chance," he enticed his lover.
Edward-entity gulped. He kneeled and hesitantly pressed his hand on the bulge. "Hel– Hello my darling," his breath was shallow.
"Ed, your eyes. Are you human?"
"This was the form I took when I died." Edward-entity stood. Jacob saw his counterpart was thinner, had longer hair, his cheeks were hollow, and his eyes were sunk in. "Let's go inside, if I remember Jacob's pregnancy, you should be craving bacon and eggs with pickles and orange juice right now."
"Wait! Did he just touch you," Alistair addressed Jacob "and called your stomach darling as if there was someone in there? And what do you mean by 'Edie's parents'?"
Jacob-entity grasped the astonished vampire's shoulder. "Cullen and I will tell you what we mean, but you might wanna sit down for it." He led them to the downstairs living room.
The entities stared at the couch for a while before they realized they could sit on it now. Edward-entity started their story. "The woman you call Edie is my biological daughter; mine and Jacob's."
"She lied then, when she said she was bitten," said Eleazar.
Jacob-entity protested, "You assumed she was bitten, she just let you keep believing that. Look, I'm sure you have a lot of questions, but I'm just going to give you the run-down. Cullen and I got together and because of this whole fate, meant-to-be crap, I got knocked-up. Then Cullen died, I died, and that's how we ended up here."
"But how did you end up here," Edward insisted.
"Upon our deaths, our spirits got attached to our daughter and when we came to the past, we separated and attached to our past selves," Edward-entity explained. "I feel we must apologize. Jacob and I may have encouraged those longing emotions in the beginnings of your relationship."
"Yeah, sorry. You too, Emo Vamp. For those times Cullen and I got too amped up and confused the fuck out of you. Sorry, Mama Vamp, I know you don't like the f-bombs, but I mean, I've been dead for a lifetime, so…"
Esme giggled, "You're forgiven."
"But, if you're dead, then how are you here," Benjamin voiced. "How are you solid?"
"Was it a spell," Edward asked. "You did one earlier on Tanya."
"That was something I remembered from our time with a witch coven. We don't know why, and we won't question it. We need to get our daughter back before she does something irrational again."
"What did she do?"
"She came here, of course. Instead of facing the problem in her own time, she came to the early 2000s and effectively erased her own time-line. She forgot that just because you can do something, doesn't mean you should."
"Alright, Cullen. In and out, you need to sit down." Jacob-entity placed him between his thighs on the couch and ran his fingers through his bronze-red hair. "Better?" His breath grazed his lover's ear. He got a moan in response. "Getting worked up won't help anything. So, Other-Cullen, whatcha got so far?"
It took a few seconds before Edward realized he was talking to him. "Nothing. Anything we find is a dead-end or a farce. We don't have enough in our library."
"We'll look again," Edward-entity determined. "A fresh perspective might help."
Instead of hitting the books or standing around doing nothing, Sam contacted the council to get some magic books from them. He had just come back from picking them up when he saw Jacob studying books and his hair had grown longer and coarser, his face looked sunk in, and he looked like he hadn't eaten in ages. "Jake, what happened? You look terrible!"
"Well," he began. "After you kicked me out of the tribe, my pack died, my imprint died, I had a baby, a vampire killed me, and my ghost wandered for a lifetime. Other than that, I've been okay. Why do you ask?"
Sam couldn't move. Then, another Jacob came out, he was more like the one he left behind a couple of hours ago. "Sam! You're back. This is–"
"I'm Edie's mom."
Sam connected the dots in his head. "I'm, I…"
"Save it, Sam. You're the same person you've always been," Jacob-entity crudely assured him. His contorted face relaxed. "I've had a long time to think about everything that happened. I don't need to forgive you. You're the same guy who would do anything for his tribe. We're okay, Sam." Jacob-entity clapped his shoulder.
Sam stood in the same spot until Edward asked him about the book in his hands. "The elders gave them to me. I thought they might have something."
A couple hours later, Edward-entity found his partner in his old music room. "Do you think she's met the Volturi yet?"
Jacob-entity slipped onto the piano bench. "She's been gone a while." He played a few keys. Since their deaths, they lost the ability to hear each other's thoughts, but it didn't hinder them knowing what the other pondered. Edward-entity slid beside him and began to play a small melody. The tempo was Adagio (slow and with great emotion).
Jacob-entity began. "I'm so tired of being here
Suppressed by all my childish fears
And if you have to leave
I wish that you would just leave
Your presence still lingers here
And it won't leave me alone
These wounds won't seem to heal, this pain is just too real
There's just too much that"His lover joined him "time cannot erase."
Then took over. "When you cried, I'd wipe away all of your tears
When you'd scream, I'd fight away all of your fears
And I held your hand through all of these years
But you still have all of me."
During the instrumental break, they gained an audience with the rest of the occupants in the house. A far away person, impossibly, heard them as well. Her chest heaved, but it was her heart that created the movement instead of her lungs. She turned back.
At his turn, Jacob-entity sang, "You used to captivate me by your resonating light
Now, I'm bound by the life you left behind
Your face it haunts my once pleasant dreams
Your voice it chased away all the sanity in me."
They sang together, "These wounds won't seem to heal, this pain is just too real
There's just too much that time cannot erase
When you cried, I'd wipe away all of your tears
When you'd scream, I'd fight away all of your fears
And I held your hand through all of these years."
A nearby female vocalist finished the lyric for them, "But you still have all of me."
The couple stopped abruptly and went to the modest terrace in the room. They saw their incensed teenage daughter and without thinking of the consequences, jumped from their current position. The landed without much injury or discomfort.
"Baby…" Jacob-entity breathed.
"How did…how do you know that song?" her voice was dense and cold. The solid ghosts were cut-off when they tried to speak. "It's impossible. Your husband is still alive, Jacob! So, tell me. What damned reason do you have to sing that song?"
"What's so wrong about that song?" The question came from the vampire Edward.
She turned to the voice. "It's annoying."
"You're lying."
Edie turned to Maggie, "I am not–" Rapidly, she turned back the Edward. Like usual, Jacob stood next to him, holding his hand. Except, they were at least one hundred feet away from her rather than ten feet like their clones. "What the hell?"
"Kah." (Mother) The Jacob look-alike pressed his right palm to his heart. Edward-entity did the same when he proclaimed, "Hayda." (Father)
"Chootsk." (Child) She croaked.
The hybrid had no idea how she did it, but she somehow made it to a breath's distance in front of the person who looked like her mother. Her warm hand glided underneath his frayed checkered button-down shirt. She didn't want to find what she felt as she went further down his abdomen. When her fingertips touched the raised scarring near the end of his abdominal area, her breath shuddered.
She didn't run fast, she barely walked. She turned away and consciously ordered her feet to move. A lukewarm hand held her wrist. "Edward, please," the hand's owner begged. The hybrid roughly took her wrist back and found enough strength to walk away at a normal pace. "Edward Sarah-Elizabeth Esme Cullen Black. Stop running away and talk to us."
"We know it may seem like we abandoned you." Edward-entity confessed, "but the truth is that we've been right at your side for your whole life. We are so sorry we couldn't do anything to stop what happened to you. Please let us help you now."
"No." Sharp air entered her lungs. "I've tried so hard to tell myself that you're gone
But though you're still with me, I've been alone all along.
When you cried, I'd wipe away all of your tears
When you'd scream, I'd fight away all of your fears
And I held your hand through all of these years
You still have all of me."Her last breath went into that final note.
"Even if I said yes, what can you do? Everything you knew before is obsolete. Alec hasn't been returning my mental messages, he probably dead for all I know. I recruited two souls that should've rested months ago, I practically alienated myself from my family, and I brought people to my ancestors' property who I've either directly or indirectly hurt." She exhaled, "That's a whole bunch of bad karma I've brought on myself; not exactly promising if you ask me. So, I'm asking you. What can you possibly do that will fix this whole mess?"
"We don't care about anyone or anything else other than you, Edward. We've watched this planet burn and the only thing we've ever cared about is you. You're our world."
"Shut up!" She screamed at her father. "You don't get to say that. You don't get to say anything. You're the most selfish person I've ever known. You don't think about how your decisions, your words, or, blah! Anything! I can't even think straight when I'm around you." She was less than five feet away from his face. "You took everything from me and the worst pa–" She took in a small fluid breath, "the worst part is that you weren't even there."
She huffed wetly, "You know, you probably know this since you claim to have been there the whole time. I used to go by my real name all the time. I loved it. I loved it when people asked me if I knew that was a boy's name. I would tell them, 'yeah, I know. I like it. If both men and woman can be Alex, then why can't I be Edward?'" Her fists clenched; the redness from the squeeze didn't disappear even as she dragged her palms across her face. "I think I was seven or six when I started to really acknowledge that people from our world kept comparing me to you. Then the whole Tanya incident happened and I just, I just couldn't do it anymore. I still liked my name, but I couldn't deal with being your daughter."
"It's not his fault, baby," Jacob-entity made to grab her face in his hands, but Edie flinched away.
"I know that," the hybrid exasperated. "Nothing ever is. Especially when it comes to you. I was so pissed at you. Even when I came here, I was angry. Almost every memory I have of you is tainted by him. I can't understand your obsession with him. Anyone's obsession with him," she said as if it was an afterthought. "I kept thinking, maybe it's the Imprint. The stupid Imprint…"
She lifted one of the arms that crossed her chest to her heart. "I wanted to believe all those things when I came here. I held onto those beliefs even when I became friends with Edward and Jacob. I tried, but I can't. Because…because it hurtsso much." She took in a rough breath, "I can't see him or hear him, but I can feel him. He's alive and I miss him so much. Oh God! I miss him. I want him back. I want to be where he is so bad. I need him so much. L'altra metà. That's why I understand."
Edie stalked to her father. "I understand why he needed you. I understand." Her laugh was self-deprecating. "I guess I always understood and that's my real reason for coming to this point in time. I wanted to know you. I–"
"I've known about you since nearly the moment you were conceived," Edward-entity confessed. "I couldn't let you continue talking without you knowing the full truth. I'm the reason Aro was so determined to find you. I'm the reason you were hunted for most of your life."
"What are you talking about? No. Aro found out about me by accident. Felix killed Mama and Grandma on Aro's orders to eradicate our coven. After Grandma died, Felix was determined to get me too."
"But he didn't come after you alone. He came with Alec, Chelsea, and Demetri. If they didn't know about you, then why would they need to send a whole team for one vampire? Unless, that vampire was my daughter." He was close enough to her that his hands hovered over Edie's forearms.
"It was a couple days after Jacob broke away from his tribe, a few weeks after we made love for the first time, but you didn't need to know that," he added lastly when he saw Edie scrunch up her face slightly. "Alice was panicking in the downstairs living room. I knew right away. The Volturi were coming. By the time Jacob and his pack came inside, we were beyond hysterics.
"We were about to form a somewhat coherent plan, but we were too late. Our house was decimated."
"I know this part already."
"Listen," his tone was stern. "When Alice was about to die, she sent me a vision. In it, I was on Second Beach. The waves were violent, but I never felt more at peace. My eyes were closed, and I had no other care in the world. Thundering footsteps approached me, and I instinctively knew it was Jacob. I felt his warm embrace and shifted myself to place my head on his lap."
As Edward-entity told his story, images flooded Edie's mind. It was like he had said. He and Jacob were on Second Beach with his head on Jacob's lap. The waves were crashing violently, and the cliffs were taller because years of erosion have made them thus. This was the same land where they dared to fall for each other. Suddenly, there was a crack in the air and then sand went everywhere.
"Hey guys!" Edie saw her clone chirp.
"Hey Sweetheart. Did you just come back from your date?" Edward scowled at Jacob's inquiry.
"Actually, it's still going on. I just came home to change. He said he has this big surprise for me."
"Then you probably shouldn't keep him waiting."
"I know, I just wanted to see you guys."
"Okay, weirdo," Jacob jested. "Just make sure you're safe."
"And home by ten!"
Edie pouted, "I'm not twelve." She left to change.
"Really, Ed? You gave him your blessing."
"Doesn't mean I have to like it." An abundance of images appeared.
"At the time, I was confused," Edward-entity confessed. "I had no clue as to why this girl was so important to me. The last thing I got from the vision was a sound, a heartbeat. I realized that I had heard it before. As I came out of the vision, I focused on it and I found that it came from Jacob, but it wasn't Jacob's. It was too fast and too faint.
"I thought back to the young woman in Alice's vision. There was something odd about her. She was familiar with us, but we've never met. She had Jacob's coloring, so she could've been a Quileute. However, what I found most odd was that she had my mother's eyes. After that it clicked in my mind, and the next vision solidified the thought."
The pouting image of Edie was suddenly younger and smiling and it changed younger still. The last image was Edie as a toddler. She was mouthing something, but she couldn't understand what.
"The man I loved was carrying my child inside him and I knew I had to do everything in my power to make sure Aro never got his hands on them, but it was in vain. After I sent Jacob and Esme away, and by extension you, I charged Aro with the futile intent of killing him. I had hoped that at the very least one of the guards would end me before I could touch him if I did fail. But, Aro wanted the honor of my death for himself. He saw everything."
His sinister grin plotted. "Do not worry Edward, I shall do my best to raise your child as my own. She shall be marvelous."
Edward-entity hung his head. Jacob-entity bit his lips.
"So, it really was you. You were the reason Aro wanted me so much. You're the root of all my pain." Edward-entity's head hung low and Jacob-entity squeezed his hand for reassurance. Edward and Jacob had done the same. "What did you think was going to happen when you told me that? What was the point?"
"It's for the same reason I'm telling you this," Jacob-entity promised. His head was level and strong. "Edward, you are no one's replacement. Your dad, your imprint, me, we see you and we see our saving grace, our world. I admire the way you keep getting up when you've lost pints of blood and all for the sake of others. I admire the way to care so deeply for others. Replacement? It's impossible.
"Edward, if your dad died, I know that I would follow him in a second and never look back. It's just a fact. Our lives are tied like that forever. But, you? Edward, baby. My beautiful, strong, and naïve little girl, if something happened if you were ever hurt in any way, my heart would be torn to pieces. Spirits and God forbid you'd ever die, if that ever happened, then I wouldn't live. I'd be breathing, I'd exist, but I'd have no purpose. If we ever lost you, we'd lose our world."
"Edward," Edward-entity croaked to his daughter. "You are everything to us." Salted droplets rolled down his cheek. Edie found it to be an odd picture.
"That doesn't matter. It doesn't change my mind about anything. I can't regret what I did. I can't regret it because that would mean that I would've never met you." She pulled out her necklace with her rings attached. She rolls her fingers through each ring. "I miss him like crazy, but I wouldn't have this opportunity if I didn't leave him behind. It's kind of funny because I remember right before I left, I wanted nothing more than to take him with me. Now I know that it was meant to be this way."
Both pairs of Edwards and Jacobs held each other. "I was supposed to be here so I could learn and so you could know." Her strides were confident as she approached her now-solid parents. "I will never change my mind about you. I never have and I never will. It just took my brain a little longer to catch up to my heart." She looked directly into Edward-entity's eyes. "You were the person I wanted to meet the most, Dad." He opened his mouth slightly. "I love you, Daddy." Then, to Jacob-entity. "I love you, Mama."
Her inflexible body was then crushed between two softer ones. Her arms had nowhere to go but around those two bodies and her hands could do nothing except pull at their shirts so they would go more towards her body. Her parents inhaled her in as if she was the last whiff of the last of a species of a precious flower. They breathed, "We love you so much, sweetheart. You're my precious treasure. You're our everything," and other sweet nothings to her ear. She responded to them, "I love you. I love you. I love you."
The small family was given their distance for their intimate moment, but because Edward and Jacob of thistime were still connected to the other pair of them, they knew everything that was happening to them. They felt a panic rise with the trio.
"Oh, no. Please!"
"Please, God," Edward-entity echoed his mate. "Give us more time."
"What's happening to you?" Edie felt their slight weight go lighter against her, but her parents were still fiercely holding on and vice versa.
"Stupid afterlife rules. Leave us alone! We deserve more," Jacob-entity demanded. His futile grip held on.
"Mama? What's going on?"
"Please God, I know I don't deserve much, but please allow me to have this," her father prayed.
It suddenly clicked, "You're moving on, aren't you?"
"We don't want to leave, my darling," Edward-entity assured her.
"It's okay, Dad. It's time. You need to go. You and Mama have been on Earth for too long." She wasn't sure who she was supposed to comfort with those words. Her parents or herself. She almost added that she would be fine, but the words didn't come out.
"We can't. Not now," her mother insisted.
"Yes, you can. You have to." Edie buried her face as deep as she could in their embrace.
"You're our world." "We love you." Their last words faded.
"And you're my heart," Edie whispered to the bare space. "Always."
She breathed in and out until her breath was no longer shaky. She pointed her face towards the sky. Whether she hoped to feel a slight essence of her parents or even to calm her heart, she did not know. She was not surprised to see her group of comrades waiting for her yards away.
"We didn't listen to anything," Rosalee uttered before Edie could speak. "We thought that privacy was the least we could give you."
"Thanks," Edie murmured.
Jacob went to her. "Sunshine, why don't you stay with us for a few days or maybe you need us to call Charlie?"
She cleared her throat. "Thanks, but no. I need to be doing this. Completing the mission."
"Edward," Edward spoke to his daughter. "You must process this. It isn't healthy for you not to."
"I will. Charlie and I, we'll probably have a few beers later, and then we'll talk about it. We'll talk about how his daughter's dead and how my parents are g– How my parents are– They're…"
Edward wiped the tears rolling his daughter's green eyes. "This is so stupid. I'm glad they moved on. They needed to be at peace. Having them here is selfish."
"So, what?" Jacob grasped her arm. "You still want them here. You have every right to want them with you. You can be mad at them."
"I was already mad at them," she sobbed. "I was so mad, but we made up. I can't be mad at them again."
"Why not?"
"Because it's not fair. It's not fair to them that I'm mad at them, forgive them, and then get mad at them again. It's stupid."
"What about what's fair to you? You had them for one second and now they're gone again!"
"I'm not mad at them, Jacob!"
"Yes, you are." "I'm not." "Yes." "No." "Yes." "No!" "Yes, you are." "NO, I'M NOT."
"I'm not mad, I've fucking devastated."
"Why?"
"Because, they are, were, my parents and now they're gone. They are gone!" Her face caved into itself and let out waterfalls. Edward and Jacob were forced to let go of her when she involuntarily shifted to her Quileute wolf form. She howled to the heavens. Her mournful cry transformed the others in the pack.
Her canine legs gave up the strength to hold her up and she fell to the forest floor. Jacob, in his wolf form, curled around her as best he could. Edward fit himself in their small pile and stroke her face as she whimpered.