Author's note: Time for the story to pick up again - it can't all be lemons!
Day Forty-Four of Forever:
Light turned to dark and turned to light again as the newlyweds took their continued pleasure in each other. After a stretch of time they were sufficiently filled of their desire for each other - at least for the moment. Beau and Edythe then curled into each other again under the baby grand piano, touching each other in every way they possibly could, carefully and not carefully in equal parts.
They lay together like that for an insurmountable amount it time, connecting physically, emotionally, spiritually. Under the reflection of the ivory body of her piano where beams of sunlight found them. The dim light filtered into the space around them as they bonded, rainbows bouncing off their skin in brilliant light displays. It was as if they were in their own world, cocooned in their love.
But all good things had to come to an end.
Eventually, Edythe sat up, her eyes narrowed as she freed herself from her husband's embrace. Without a word, she drew Beau's shirt around her body and fled into the bedroom. He even didn't have the time to ponder her behavior before he caught an approaching scent.
Beau sighed, dressing quickly in his discarded pants again. He looked over to the bedroom, confirming the door was firmly shut before going to entrance of the cottage and opening the front door for their unwelcome guest.
Archie's arms were crossed across his chest as he tapped his foot impatiently. From his glare you would think he was the one whose honeymoon was being interrupted.
"Sorry we don't want any," Beau chanted, ready to close the door in his face. Archie stilled the door before he got the chance, however.
"Just how long do you two think you can ignore your phones?" he demanded.
Beau shrugged. "Indefinitely is not the answer you're looking for, I suppose?"
Archie rolled his eyes. "No it's not. We've been trying to reach you for days!"
Beau was puzzled. "Why? Wasn't the whole point of giving us our own place supposed to be so we could enjoy ourselves a little?"
"Does three weeks seem like enjoying yourself 'a little'?"
He frowned. "It can't have been that long already."
Archie looked at him in disbelief. "You're joking, right? Or do you really not know that it's already the end of May?" He stepped around Beau who was too shocked to stop him. "Edythe? Are you decent - or decent enough at least?"
As he called her, she emerged from their room, fully dressed in a black wrap dress and with her hair combed. It was the most put together either of them had bothered to get since the wedding. Beau couldn't help but be a little disappointed; he had a feeling seeing her dressed was a sign they would have to return to reality soon.
"What do you want, Archie?" she asked, not bothering to hide her annoyance.
He ignored her tone. "I sent in your finals for you since you couldn't be bothered, but you're expected to at least show your face at the graduation today or people will think it's odd - or that you've skipped town completely."
Edythe sighed. "Is it really necessary? I don't care if the town thinks I'm a recluse."
"We are going for normal here, Edy," Archie said clearly frustrated with her attitude. "Show your face for an hour, congratulate your siblings for matriculating for the hundredth time or so, and then you can return to your little extended raunchy vacay."
Beau shoved Archie lightly while Edythe hissed in the background. "Take it down a notch, Arch. We've been distracted."
"I'll say," he relented, scrunching up his nose. "Don't think you're getting off the hook either, Beaufort Swan - I'm already seeing some damage to repair in this room alone. I shudder to think what you've done further inside."
"The bed is still standing," he said defensively.
"Small miracle." Archie turned back to Edythe. "Come on, you. The ceremony is starting in seven minutes and thirty-eight seconds. Eleanor is already going to use up 79 of those seconds making fun of you so we can't lose any more time."
"Can't wait," she mumbled.
"Suck it up. Meanwhile Beau will stay here and be waiting to welcome you home graciously," Archie finished. His tone became stern now. "But that doesn't mean you guys can just go another 23 days without contacting us. Earnest nearly came down here half a dozen times to check on you. Thankfully he was too concerned about intruding on your privacy because I did not want to be forced to foresee a future where he catches you two in the horizontal act."
"Yeah I wouldn't exactly be keen on that either," Beau replied. He shuddered to think what it would have felt like to not be able to look Edythe's father in the eye for the next century if he had caught Beau bending his daughter over the piano as he had been recently. It wasn't exactly like they had been mindful of potentially having an audience.
"And you need to get better about feeding too," he reprimanded, taking in Beau's jet black eyes. "Seriously, when did you last hunt?"
"Uh..."
"That's what I thought." Archie shook his head.
"Yes, yes," Edythe interrupted airily. "We are horrible and careless and you're very disappointed in us. We will do better. Can we just go already? So I can come back and take my husband hunting and then we can get our honeymoon back on track that you so rudely interrupted?"
"And here I thought you'd be more tolerable now that you weren't sexually frustrated."
Beau stepped between the siblings then, shooting Archie a disapproving look. "Play nice, both of you." He gave Edythe a quick peck on the lips before ushering them both out the door. "Tell everyone I say hi and let Earnest know we'll stop by soon."
Archie nodded. "He will expect you tomorrow afternoon. There's still the wedding gifts to go through."
Edythe groaned but was silenced by another kiss from her husband. They were gone a second later, taking off like lightening as Beau watched from the door frame, lingering even after they were well out of sight.
He missed her already but tried not to dwell on it. She had obligations still and no matter what she said it was most important to keep their cover above all else. And besides, Archie had promised to bring her right back after. He could wait an hour or so couldn't he?
The sharp longing that ripped through his chest disagreed but he ignored it, taking a deep shaky breath. It would be difficult but he just needed to distract himself. Besides, he didn't want to be too clingy because logically he knew it wouldn't always just be the two of them - he needed to learn to share her with the family, too. It would be tricky to balance their time together with their time with the family but it had to be manageable somehow. Everyone else walked that line and managed to get dressed every day as normal. It was hardly like Beau and Edythe could spend the next ten years holed up in bed.
Well maybe they could but it wouldn't really appropriate.
So instead of waiting pathetically at the door from like an abandoned puppy, he resolved to hold himself up in his library until her return. He hadn't had a chance to really explore it since its completion and he didn't want Earnest to think he was ignoring the generous present. He figured he should at least open one up so he could honestly tell the older man the next day that he had enjoyed his present.
But no sooner had he plucked a first edition copy of 'Into The Wild' off the shelf, he caught a scent. It was unlike anything he had ever smelled before - warm, rich, so fragrant it enveloped all his senses. He couldn't think, couldn't do anything but let it flood his mind and throat. The book dropped from his hands; he was out of the cottage before it hit the ground.
He wind rushed through his hair, whipping across his face as if he was in a vacuum. He thought nothing and saw nothing, carrying on as if being dragged by a mysterious force. Somewhere in the back of his mind he knew he should be frightened by the intensity of this pull, should know what it meant but he couldn't turn himself off. This scent, so tempting, so impossible to ignore, held him hostage. He couldn't fight it, not until he was sure...
The scent carried him deep into the wilderness, growing stronger with each mile he traveled. He somehow knew he had to be nearing the Canadian water boarder though that didn't really bother him - he really doubted he'd be there long enough to need to check in through customs. The only important thing in that moment was finding the source of the scent.
He didn't even register the second scent, not as strong as the first but much more familiar, until he was there just across from the origin of the aroma. Only then did he realize he was also standing across from another of his kind, another vampire. But the eyes glaring at him were not the golden hue he had come to expect.
Red eyes, red hair, red blood dripping down his chin.
Victor.
Beau reconciled the blurry face in his memories almost instantly with this one before him. It hadn't been a face he had been in the presence of except for that one moment, but it had haunted his dizzy dreams during their time in Phoenix. This was the one who had stalked his father and tracked down his records from the high school, who chased the chase that ended in the ballet studio. The final member of Joss's coven.
The other vampire smiled triumphantly with all his teeth, dropping a drained body to the ground - a dead human, Beau realized with acute horror - as he licked his lips. "I knew you'd come. I didn't have to wait too long - I picked some good bait, it seems." His smile widened. "Sorry I couldn't share but it won't matter soon."
Beau was revolted as he stared at the stranger's corpse, the warm smell all but gone now. With it no longer in the air he could think more clearly but a large chunk of his mind was still wrapped up in the fragrant aroma. He had never dreamed fresh human blood could smell so appealing and it sickened him to have that knowledge now. He didn't think he'd ever be able to forget it.
Beau forced his eyes away from the body, from the lifeless eyes that seemed to stare at him accusingly from beyond the grave. He felt his frame tense as he observed the other vampire, calculating the danger he was in on one hand and the rage he felt for being drawn in so expertly on the other. "What do you want?"
Victor's smile soured. "To get what I am owed." He straightened out of his feral pose, sizing Beau up. Victor's eyes seemed to assess him for only a tenth of a second though, taking in Beau's dark eyes and torn sweatpants from frantically diving through the trees, before dismissing him. "I've been patient. And now I will finally avenge Joss."
"She targeted me," Beau growled, for some reason thinking he could reason with the wild vampire. "We just finished what she started."
"You killed her!" he howled with rage, his pale face contrasting sharply with his hair and eyes. He looked like a demon. "She was my mate and your clan killed her!"
Beau hadn't realized the two were mated and for one second found himself sympathizing. But then he remembered the gleam of her teeth as she tore into his hand and Edythe's agonized cries as she tried to save his life and failed. He clenched his jaw. "Your mate tried to kill me first."
"You took her from me!"
"She made a bad decision." Beau kept his eyes on Victor but in the back of his mind was planning his escape - surely he wouldn't have to run far to get him off of his trail. And he had no doubt that Archie and Edythe would be on their way back shortly anyway after seeing this encounter with the redhead. He merely had to bide his time and find a chance to run. "She should have known how strong we were."
Victor spat a trickle of blood at him. "We could have dealt with all of them easily - divide and conquer. Joss was the ultimate hunter and knew exactly how to separate all of you. But you all tricked her! Used your other powers to trap her and kill her!" His words were mocking now as well as laced with fury. "Oh yes, I know how you did it now. I know about the mind reader and the future seer, know how the others kept me from circling back to Joss so she was alone. And I knew how to find you so I could get you alone now too. I know all you're little secrets - how far to stay away so that bitch can't hear my mind, how to keep from making choices so the other can't track me."
It clicked into place at once. "Lauren." Beau said her name like a curse and an explanation all in one. There was no other way Victor could have gotten so much information without inside help.
"She owed me a favor for not killing her for her betrayal."
He was reeling, part of him unable to process that the woman who practically begged for their forgiveness the day before his wedding had sold them out to Joss's vengeful mate. But he suspected her contrite words had been part of the ruse now, his expanded brain taking in her every calculated question and probing curiosity with a new understanding. She had been fishing for Victor, doing him one last favor.
In that instant he hated her even more than Victor; he was here because he had loved Joss, Lauren had helped because she was a coward.
Victor was watching Beau's furious expression with enjoyment. "I just had to wait for the perfect moment to set everything in motion. Watching you and your little wife, timing everything around the assumption that she would have to check in with the others at some point, keeping track of your feeding schedule." His glee was palpable. "Perhaps if you two hadn't been so wrapped up in each other, you might have noticed me - but I was banking on her distraction. You helped me with that," Victor said, his eyebrow lifting suggestively.
The implication made Beau sick - and even angrier. How long had Victor been spying on their private moments together? How much had he seen, heard? It was a gross invasion of their privacy, a horribly unwelcome intrusion on their first few weeks as a married couple. And something he had failed to protect his wife from, he realized, further upsetting him; Edythe had trusted herself to Beau and Beau alone and now he knew there had been another pair of eyes there all along.
Rage, pointless searing rage, filled Beau like lava in his veins. Everything was shaking around him in the face of his fury. He had to fight hard to resist the urge to grab the other vampire and take out all of his building newborn rage on him; Beau knew in the back of his mind that had to be smart and not let himself lose control. It was what Victor was counting on. He couldn't give him the satisfaction, no matter how badly Beau wanted to hurt him.
His priority had to be to get back to his wife.
Beau went to take a step back, intending to make his escape now that Victor was reveling in his victory. But Victor dashed forward, grabbing his arm before the brunette could do more than tense his foot. It was then that he remembered how Victor had evaded the Cullens before, that he had been so fast that Earnest and Royal couldn't keep up with him.
"You're not going anywhere," Victor snarled in his face as he yanked him in. Beau was several inches taller than him but still found himself being dragged with a doll. "I am going to make you suffer, make both of you suffer."
The threat snapped Beau's reason.
"You'll never lay a hand on her," Beau roared, ripping his arm from Victor's as he felt the familiar red twinge color his vision. All at once he was unhinged and pulsing with raw energy, controllable and wild. All it took was a single threat towards his wife to make him revert into a raging newborn, it seemed.
He took a powerful swing at him, but it was too obvious and Victor was able to duck easily before kicking him squarely in the chest. Beau flew back several yards, crashing through a couple of trees like they were tissue paper. Splints of wood decorated the air as his solid form pulverized trough the thick trunks. He didn't get the chance to right himself.
Victor was in front of him again, holding Beau by the neck as he ripped him from the wreckage. "I won't need to touch her," Victor answered harshly. "I'll make her suffer as I have. I will take her newlywed mate from her at the height of her happiness and then I will disappear. She will hunt me the rest of her existence but I will elude her. I have my ways.
"She will mourn you every day and be consumed by her grief," Victor promised, lifting Beau over head easily, despite how he struggled. His finger dug uselessly at the unyielding hands that gripped him. "And you will die knowing knowing her life will be the slow torture that comes with being abandoned." Victor slammed Beau into the earth powerfully, the ground splintering under his weight.
Beau hadn't known vampires could feel pain until then as Victor held him down, his nails digging into Beau's neck, his flesh suddenly much more vulnerable. The force of his ferocity seemed to be pushing Beau into the ground deeper.
And for the first time since becoming a vampire, Beau felt weak. How long had it been since he had last fed? Was that the cause of his current state, why Victor could lead him miles away so easily and lie in wait for him? Was that going to be why he died again today?
Beau kicked up, sending Victor off him for a fraction of a second. He took his reprieve to make a mad dash for it, but was caught easily. With a thunderous sound, Victor dove at Beau, knocking into him powerfully, the sound like two boulders colliding. The shockwave from then impact rippled through the air and shook the forest.
The redhead stood over Beau triumphantly, his foot pressing down on the center of his back to hold him in place. "I guess Lauren was right about the limits of your diet. Even with your newborn abilities this won't be hard. Guess someone was a little hungrier than I suspected." Victor's gloating turned into murderous rage. "But I won't be able to drag this out any longer. Your darling wife is sure to be on the way soon and I plan to leave her your head as present. That ought to be sufficiently scarring, don't you think?"
Beau could feel Victor grabbing him by his hair as he kneeled over and knew he planned to slash his fangs through his neck then. He struggled against the hold, turning his head to watch in horror as the wild vampire duck in. His mouth was unhinged, his teeth glimmering dangerously.
Despite his hunger, Beau knew he couldn't let himself be killed, couldn't do that to Edythe now. She would never forgive herself. And then what would this all have been for? Finding her, loving her, dying in her arms, marrying her - all so she would only have memories after his death to drive her insane? He couldn't accept that.
He had to fight. More than that, he had to win.
A sharp prick against his neck jarred him into action. With his own roar, Beau gripped Victor by his forearm, channeling all his strength and anger into his throw. Victor's face reflected shock as he tore through the air this time, flying just as far. Trees quivered thunderously around them with his impact.
Not wanting to give him time to recover, something he had learned from training with Eleanor, Beau dove after him, bringing his knee down on Victor's chest. He hissed as the air was knocked out of him and Beau thought he heard a cracking sound from where he crushed him. He knew the damage would be enough to give him the advantage.
Victor reached for Beau again, but Beau anticipated this. He knew he had to predict rather than react to Victor, as he had when training with the his speedy wife. So when his arms shot out intent on digging into Beau's shoulders, he flung his body back and out of reach. At the same time, his hands gripped Victor's wrists, crushing them in a steely embrace as he jolted back. Beau was rewarded by a harsh screech.
"Release me!" the vampire demanded, his ruby eyes nearly popping out with rage. He thrashed wildly, spewing venom and profanities as he frothed at the mouth.
Beau pulled at his arms harder, bracing himself for what he knew he had to do next. He tried not to wince as he ripped both arms from Victor's body, but the echoing screams made that much harder. He quickly tossed the arms away, feeling as if he might vomit but knowing he could not stop now. This had to be completed or else Victor would simply come back again and again. And he couldn't risk Victor changing targets, hurting anyone else.
With detached precision, Beau raked his teeth across Victor's neck, separating his howling head from the neck. He pointedly focused on separating the rest of his limbs as quickly as possible, ignoring the jagged stumps he was leaving behind. For as solid as Victor's body was, Beau found he could tear him apart fairly easily now that he could not fight back. It was revolting how strong he was, how his rage could be channeled so destructively yet so efficiently. He barely had to think to kill Victor. And all he had to do was lose everything that had ever made him feel human.
Remembering Edythe's words from a lifetime ago, Beau began shredding up the fallen trees to build a fire on autopilot. When everything had been gathered, he got a flame going and began tossing the severed remains into the flames.
A disgustingly sweet smell filled the air as his flesh caught aflame and it took everything Beau had to not dry heave. He simply shut down as he went about his task, not letting himself feel anything - not even relief. He didn't want to think about how long it would take him to come to terms with what he had done, that he had killed another of his kind, even though he knew he had little choice. It was all Beau could do to simply feed the flames, holding himself up by blocking out everything else.
That was how Edythe found him, sitting in front of the flames, his knees to his chest and his eyes unseeing. She threw herself around him, hugging him tightly as she shook. He knew he should feel grateful to have her there with him, should at least comfort her with the fact that he had survived, but was still keeping himself in a state of almost comatose. Trying to preserve his sanity took everything he had. And so none of her hushed words reached him.
Archie and the rest of the family were on her heels, clearly informed already of what had taken place. They took in the scene with a mixture of horror and relief when they found Beau unharmed. Royal and Eleanor churned the flames, making sure he had gathered all the pieces first before throwing dirt over the fire to put it out.
Jessamine went to Beau, concern on her face as she reached out to Beau and sensed nothing. It was the first time she hadn't been able to get anything out of him and it unnerved her. She voiced her concerns silently to Edythe who hadn't moved from her protective position.
"We need to get him out of her," the blonde said gently out loud.
"Why isn't he saying anything?" Edythe wailed.
"I can't say but I think... I think he has retreated behind his shield completely." Jessamine put her hand on Beau's shoulder. He did not react. "It's the strangest thing - I can't feel anything from him. It's like he has completely walled himself off."
"Will he be okay?" Earnest's concern echoed through his tone.
"He might just need some time," Archie said, bleakly.
Carine crouched beside Beau, speaking in her soft, doctor voice. "Beau, can you hear me?" He nodded minutely after a stagnant beat. "We need to go. Can you stand?"
He did so robotically, Edythe standing with him. He tried to speak but couldn't find any words. Beau cleared his throat to try again.
His wife looked up at him sadly, shushing him. "We don't have to talk about it now."
Archie went to his other side as if to offer Beau his support. "I'm so sorry," he said in a hushed voice. Beau had never heard him so broken. "I didn't see - I don't know how - I didn't -"
Beau didn't want Archie to beat himself up too much. He tried to find the words again. "Lauren," he forced out. Edythe squeezed his arm. "She told him. He knew how to avoid your sight."
Carine cursed under her breath, the sound so shocking in her delicate voice that Beau couldn't help but to stare. He found her eyes narrowed in fury. "She betrayed us to him?"
"And after she danced at their wedding," Royal said in a hard voice. "Edythe was right to not want her there."
"What do we do now?" Eleanor was oddly contemplative. "How do we brooch this with Tanvir?"
"We demand Lauren's head for her part in this," Royal said immediately.
"And start a war between the covens," Jessamine stated, her eyes still on Beau. Her words were not meant to discourage, said only factually.
"If necessary." Royal was not off put by this, seemingly. "She knew well what would come of selling us out to that monster. She made a choice that could have resulted in losing part of our family; she has made her bed. I say we give her what she has coming to her - but of course ultimately the choice is Carine's," he tacked on quickly.
Carine shook her head. "No, the choice lies with Beau and Edythe." She turned her dark eyes on the couple. "You were the ones targeted and were nearly lost because of her assistance. I defer to you, as I should have before," she added in a self deprecating voice. "If I had perhaps this could have been avoided."
"Victor would have come regardless," Edythe finally said icily. "Archie saw. Joss was Victor's mate. It was just a matter of when."
"Lauren's assistance aided him," Archie argued. "If I had known he knew how my gift worked I would have been more careful. I never would have left Beau alone, ever, if I had known!" Jessamine took her husband's hand and poured calm into him.
He tried to shake her off but she held him tight. "This wasn't your fault," she said quietly.
"It was Lauren's." Eleanor cracked her knuckles threateningly. "So question is what are we going to do about it?"
Six pairs of eyes turned to Edythe and Beau.
She said nothing at first, her hands tracing the raised sliver of skin to the side of his jugular. It was a jagged scar that would never go away now, a reminder of how close she came to losing Beau yet again at the hands of Joss's coven. Her anger was only matched by her fear - she had somehow taken it for granted that he was strong like her, forgetting he could still be taken from her in this form.
Since Archie had seen Beau finding Victor here, Edythe had found herself in an unending state of panic. She was shaken, overcome with worry, as if on the brink of losing her mind. Even now that she knew he was safe and with her, she could not calm down. Victor's sudden appearance has taken their security from them, ripped them out of their rose-colored bubble. Nothing felt right anymore.
"Beau?" Her eyes were glassy as she observed her husband. His eyes met her's but he still looked too far away. Her panic grew.
He saw how he was frightening her, saw that she was falling apart, and sought to set himself right again. She needed him to.
Examining himself carefully, he realized his reactions were stunted somehow. He thought he could sense Jessamine reaching out to him with her gift, relaxing his muscles and trying to ease him out of his stupor - but he wasn't registering her calm as he normally did. He could only assume she had been right; somehow he had retreated behind his shield in an unfamiliar way. With some effort, he searched until he found the band of his shield wrapped tightly around himself in a way it never had been before; it was as if it was coiled instead of just stretched around him. It was extremely uncomfortable, almost like he was being strangled.
As he worked to undo the pressure that kept him separated inside his own being, Beau found he could twist the shape of his shield now. He could only assume he had accidentally unlocked some capacity of his gift when he tried to block off his confused feelings.
With a deep breath, he pulled his shield back into its natural state. Jessamine's head shot up towards him as he was overcome with the complexity of his emotions - rage, guilt, and insurmountable fear about what he was capable of. He sagged under the weight.
Edythe caught his emotions second hand from her sister. She pulled him into a tight embrace, too tight, her fear for having almost lost him consuming her.
Beau hugged her back, stroking the top of her head as she all but collapsed into him. He looked up at Jessamine, worry clear on his face for his wife. The blonde was more concerned for Beau, however, blanketing them both in her soothing balm double fold. It did not take away their hurts, but it did help them function through them.
Beau took a breath as it washed over him, turning to look at Carine over Edythe's head who was still waiting for his decision. "I can not forgive what Lauren did," he said heavily. "She put everyone in danger by telling Victor what she knew. He knew how Archie's gift worked, and Edythe's too. He knew where I was and how to lure me," Beau choked out. "He had killed a human and was using the blood to get me to find him so he didn't have to decide to attack me." Archie hissed again at that. "Victor would have come regardless but she made it easier for him and he nearly succeeded because of that." Beau brought his free hand back to his neck, to the scar that he knew would match those that Jessamine carried with her. "There should be punishment of some sort - but I don't think it's our decision to make towards what that is."
"Then you ask me to decide?" Carine looked at him heavily, acceptance in her mournful eyes.
Beau shook his head. "It's not your burden to bare either, Carine. She is in Tanvir's coven now, and so she is his responsibility. I think he can be fair when he assess her betrayal and can decide for himself how this should be handled."
"He won't have her killed," Edythe said into his chest. "It would destroy Ivan, and Tanvir won't be able to bring himself to do that. Do you truly think she deserves to live after what she did?"
"I'm not going to play god here, Edythe," he said in a raw, broken voice. "I won't end her life, too."
She nodded, understanding at once his hesitance, his burden. It was one thing she had never hoped to share in common with him - the feeling of having taken another's life. "You're right. We will not be made responsible. Tanvir can chose what to do with her. But let him know," Edythe added, turning her head to face Carine now as she spoke. "That as long as she lives I will hold her personally responsible for the danger she put my husband in. I will not track her down but should she cross my path I will not hesitate to end her."
"I understand," Carine answered in an equally hard voice. "I am of the same mind myself. She was nearly directly responsible of the loss of my newest child - and the subsequent loss of my eldest, I know, if you had lost Beau. I am holding Tanvir responsible as her patron as well and I will make sure he knows it." Her eyes softened as she took Beau in. "But for now we have things to take care of here. Royal, Eleanor? Clear the rest of the fallen trees, erase tracks, cover everything up."
"The dead human," Beau reminded her quietly.
She nodded. "I'll take care of him, see if I can find their family." Carine turned to Archie. "Can you see where Lauren is now?"
"Alaska," he answered bitterly. "For now anyway. I've already looked to see what Tanvir will decide to do with her - but it won't matter. She will run before he decides."
Carine put her hand on Edythe's shoulder. "Does that change your decision?"
She shook her head though clearly disgusted. "No. Let her run. Victor came back because Joss was his mate but Lauren will not be so foolish."
"Will Ivan follow her?" Beau couldn't help but to be morbidly curious; which would win out, his loyalty to his coven and family or his love for his traitorous mate?
"He won't decide right away. He will be torn." Archie did not look any more pleased. "Even if he goes after her he will eventually come back. She broke his trust as much as ours."
"Can't really feel too bad for him," Eleanor snorted. "He insisted on bringing her into our lives - this is his fault too."
Carine looked to Archie again. "Will Ivan bare a grudge against us because Lauren is going to flee to escape retribution?"
Archie shook his head. "He won't blame us, just himself for caring for her."
"He told Lauren about our ways, our abilities," Earnest said sadly. "He must have thought she loved him. Perhaps it had always been her intention to deceive him."
"Regardless," Royal said coldly. "I think it's best we spend some time apart from our cousins for the foreseeable future."
The other members of the family nodded solemnly in agreement before splitting up. Royal and Eleanor went to take care of the clean up, Carine and Archie to find and dispose of the dead body. Jessamine stayed with Beau and Edythe to be their emotional crutch, as did Earnest because he could not stand to be away from his children in the wake of Victor's rampage.
They were leading the way back to the cottage at first before Beau quietly asked to be taken home instead. Edythe was of the same mind, wanting the comfort of their family and the familiarity of the white Victorian home; she was afraid the magic of their cottage had been tainted with the knowledge that Victor had spied on the couple there, unbeknownst to them. It wasn't enough to take away her affection for their home away from home but she needed a break from it to separate the association.
Earnest was only too happy to oblige, keeping a hand on both Edythe and Beau as they ran through the forest as if afraid to lose sight of them. Jessamine stayed close too, alert, as if waiting for another attack to befall them.
Though she was doing everything she could to hold her siblings together emotionally she could still feel the cracks in their psyche, their turmoil too raw to contain. It was frightening. She almost wished Beau would retreat into his comatose state again because even as unnerving as it had been to sense nothing from him at least she hadn't have to feel him falling apart.
She reached out to Beau then physically, keeping her emotional feelers to herself still. "How did you turn off your emotions before, Beau?"
"I don't know," he said honestly. "I just... Did."
"It was strange," Jessamine said after a second of thought. "It wasn't like when you calmed yourself down after being angry - it was like you just didn't feel anything at all."
"That's what I was going for."
Jessamine heard the hard edge in his voice but couldn't contain her curiously. "What did it feel like when you did that?"
He tried to give her an accurate picture without disturbing Edythe, who was listening closely. "I felt like a zombie. Like I could function if I needed to but I was just going through the motions. So I wasn't feeling anything and just focused on shielding myself." It had been very similar to how he felt when he shut down before going to meet Joss in Phoenix, knowing he didn't have the luxury of feeling his full terror and despair at the time.
"Wow." Jessamine mulled that over. "I didn't think it was possible for you to block my gift too. It didn't feel like you were there at all."
"That's how I felt when I first met Beau and couldn't read him," Edythe sighed.
"I wasn't blocking you though, Jessamine," Beau said thoughtfully. He could clearly remember his muscles relaxing at her touch even through the calm that should have followed didn't register in his mind. "I think you couldn't read my emotions because I was actively blocking them from myself, but you could still influence me physically even though I couldn't feel it working."
Jessamine nodded slowly. "That makes more sense. My gift is two-fold but I often forget that as both parts are related."
"You can feel Beau now." Edythe's voice was bleak.
"Yes..." Jessamine didn't look pleased to have the ability again though. "And Beau? Putting it frankly, you're scaring the daylights out of me."
His voice was far from detached. "I scare myself now, too."
Earnest gripped Beau's shoulder. "I know, son. This will be the hardest part."
"You did what you had to." Edythe's words were carefully controlled as if she had to force herself to stay calm. "If you hadn't-"
"I couldn't leave you alone like that, Edythe," he admitted. "Even if it meant I had to do what I did... I couldn't leave you."
"Thank you," she whimpered, her words breaking half way through the sentiment. Jessamine took that as a cue to up her dosage.
Before returning home, Beau was led on a quick hunt. He feed without thought, felling a herd of deer under his family's watchful eyes. The blood filled him but he somehow still felt hollow. He doubted it was a feeling that would ever truly go away.
When the finally reached the house the collectively decided to stay together in the living room space after Earnest ushered Beau upstairs to change his clothes. Jessamine turned the television on to something they could ignore. Earnest returned and sat Beau on the couch beside him, with Edythe curling her head on his lap, never letting go of his hand. Her sister sat on the floor in front of them, leaning against Beau's leg.
Jessamine was still extremely curious about Beau's new ability, asking him questions about what he might think the limits of his shield could be. He tried to answer as best he could but didn't understand how he did it well enough to know for sure if he could even do it again. She was not discouraged, however, already planning on testing the shield out at a later time.
Edythe stayed silent as they discussed the merits of Beau's gift, just absorbing the sound of his voice, clinging to it like a lifeline.
Royal and Eleanor returned only an hour later, joining the family in the main room unceremoniously. At first El did her best to force a reaction from Beau - any sort of reaction - but had to admit defeat when she saw how checked out he actually was. Rendered useless to her brother, all she could do was give him her proximity and fill the silence with her comments about the Mariners game that was on screen.
Even Royal did his part to try to diffuse the room. He tried his best to distract Beau after his wife failed, letting him know what he had missed in the past month in an oddly soft voice. Beau responded when required but with no more substance than he could have mustered in regards to the game on screen. He might as well have been a robot. Eventually Royal gave up too, frustrated but equally saddened to see Beau in such a state.
It was like he was carved out inside, hollow.
Edythe had to agree with her brother's assessment of her husband as the day waned. She could see him most clearly of all, see the pain that raged behind his eyes even as he tried to feign some semblance of normalcy. She couldn't help feeling something inside him had been lost.
Edythe didn't know what to do though; it was the first time she felt at a complete loss, didn't have a plan or direction. How did one recover from what they had been through, from the crash that Victor's return had been in the face of the high that was their honeymoon? It was like being tossed into the Arctic after walking through fire. She didn't know how she could fix anything but she held him close dutifully all the same. Though clearly still shaken herself, it did not stop Edythe from attempting to comfort him as best she could despite her broken state.
Things went from bad to worse when Carine and Archie finally returned that evening. The news they bore was chilling, paralyzing Edythe as soon as their thoughts swept over her. In the back of his mind Beau registered the change in her demeanor but wasn't able to will up the curiosity to ask.
The twosome entered the home soon after, both solemn as they joined the ranks of the gathered family.
Carine went to Earnest first, wrapping her arms around him tightly; she was clearly weighed down with something from the way she clung to her husband for support. The display of fragility was unusual for the head of the family, setting everyone on edge instantly. Jessamine reached out to Archie, unnerved to find him almost as pained as Beau and Edythe in that moment.
"Archie?" she asked hesitantly. "What is it?"
"Carine and I found the man's wallet not far from his body." Archie turned his eyes on Beau gravely. "We found out who the human was."
Beau braced himself, not sure if he was ready yet to find out whose death he had inadvertently caused. "Who?"
Archie clenched his jaw, unwilling or unable to reveal his identity. It was like he was fighting with himself.
Carine answered his question finally, her voice hoarse. "His name was Charles Swan."
The world blurred around him in that instant, blaring loud in its silence. "It was-"
"No," Edythe and Archie said together. He went on quickly to clarify what they had discovered. "It wasn't your dad, Beau. It was a stranger from a few towns over."
"But he had your father's same name," Carine explained apologetically, her eyes sad as she observed him. "Victor chose him as bait purposefully it seems. He knew we would find the man's wallet and see the name and know what it meant."
"Is my dad-" Beau choked out.
"He's fine," Archie promised. "He's at home. Safe. Victor never even went near him."
"It would have alerted us to him game," Edythe said in a low voice, steeped in anger. "He never went after the real Charlie but he was hoping to send a message - that he could have."
Edythe's voice faded out; Beau couldn't hear anything over the pounding in his head. the guilt that had been insurmountable before was now hot coals embedded in his flesh, torturing him from the inside out.
The man's face burned across his mind. Sandy hair, dark dull eyes, nondescript features. He was no one to Beau when he had first saw him, though he had probably been everything to someone else. But now he was someone to Beau, too - he was a needless victim, a man used as a substitute for his own father. He was a man sentenced to death for the sake of revenge against Beau.
Suddenly, the stranger was no longer a stranger. This was a man who died because of Beau, because of his name, that was meant to torment his family if Victor had succeed in his quest for vengeance. The Cullens would have naturally assumed Charlie was Victor's next target - and he very well could have been. The thought churned Beau's stomach, brought red spots to his vision.
Jessamine gripped Beau's free hand, squeezing tightly. She forced Beau to meet her eyes, conveying wordless reassurances while easing his sudden rush of emotion. Her influenced dulled his nausea but he still felt like he couldn't breathe.
This was not once but twice now that his proximity had nearly been the cause of his fathers death. When would Charlie's luck finally run out? When would enough be enough?
Edythe watched solemnly as her husband all but fell apart beside her, knowing there were no words that could ease the guilt he felt; it would linger inside him as hers always would as well, easing only with time. She knew, too, that if anything should have happened to Charlie it would have directly been her fault for involving his son in such a dangerous world. The guilt Beau bared was not his alone.
She pulled him into her embrace, stroking his hair as she willed her apology into him silently. Edythe had never wanted this pain for Beau, but then, nothing had worked out the way she planned when it came to him. All the horrors that came with associating with their kind, with being what they were, had latched him expertly as if intent on forcing him into misery despite all the optimism he had conveyed prior.
He had come into their world with eyes wide open, the only member of their family who knew what to expect from this life before it was thrust on them - but even he couldn't have been fully prepared. How could he have been? He had only seen the benefits of this world, only focused on the promise of being with Edythe forever.
Did he understand now what it truly meant to be one of the damned?
It had been what Edythe had wanted him to grasp before - but not anymore. Now she only wished she could take this knowledge away from him and let him live in blissful ignorance. If she could she would bare all of it for him, take in all his suffering into herself indefinitely. She would have traded anything to be able to do that for her husband.
For how many times could he be beaten, broken, and defeated before he eventually just gave up? Edythe was afraid she was going to find out soon.
Author's note: I'm going to be incorporating some themes from New Moon into the story now, in case y'all couldn't tell. Just think of Beau's current state of mind as akin with Bella's 'Three Months Later' state of comatose - I've always thought it was a direct result of her shield in action and wanted to bring that into my story.
Tell me what you think below!
