I DO NOT OWN THE TWILIGHT SAGA
A/N: I imagine Lilianna Kruk as Judith.
Judith and I only stay in town for an hour longer. Just long enough for me to call in an extended vacation at my job—which they only allowed on such short notice because in the twenty years that I had been working there, I've never taken a sick day, I've never taken a vacation, and a lot of the times I work eighteen hour shifts—and for me to tell the school that Judith would be out of school for a while. Then we went back to our apartment and each packed a backpack full of things that we don't want to leave behind and I explain everything to Judith. In my bag, I pack only things that I can't live without: an extra set of clothes, my old copy of "Of Mice and Men", a picture of my family, and my debt card which holds all of my life savings on it. Over the years I've made investments among other things and have acquired a good sum of money, on account of one of those investments being into a now extremely famous shopping center.
"You ready to go?" I ask the kid as I step into her room. Her bed sits against the big wall, facing her window seat, and her red and purple comforter is smoothed down and the edges are tucked tightly under the mattress in a way only housekeepers in hotels can achieve. In one corner, she has an egg shaped chair hanging from a chain in the ceiling that she spends most of her time in. The walls are lined with her artwork and she has several bookshelves lining the walls as well as a flat-screen tv hanging on the wall. Judith as kneeling by her bookbag, which is filled to the seams with shit I'm ninety-nine percent sure she doesn't need. "What the hell is all that?"
"I figure since I don't know when or if we'll be back, I should bring all my favorite books with me," she answers as she tries to close the zipper without breaking it. I raise an eyebrow.
"Ya know, we could always buy new books if it comes to it." She gives me a look, her blue eyes seeming to stare into my soul.
"Would you like it if I asked you to leave something behind because it couldn't fit into your bag?" I shrug and fold my arms over my chest.
"You would never need to because that would never happen."
"But—"
"You have five seconds to pick which books you're gonna leave here." I start counting as I watch her silently wish for my death for a moment before she takes five books out of the bag and zips it up.
"Now was that so hard?" She glowers at me as she makes her way out of the room. I swear she gets on my last nerve sometimes, but I'm hoping she'll get better with age.
After we lock up the front door, I reach out and stop Judith as she heads towards the car.
"We're not taking the car this time," I tell her. She raises her eyebrows at me. We haven't ran a long distance in a long time. But we're in New York and the address that Alice gave me is in Washington State. It'd be faster if we run.
I feel at peace as the wind whips through my hair, and as I breathe in a million scents at once as they pass me by. I haven't done this in a while, and I'd almost forgotten what it feels like.
"So who are these people that we're going to see?" the kid asks me as we take a break from running in Minnesota.
"The Cullens," I tell her. "I met them when I was only four months old to this life." She looks at me with curiosity.
"You've never told me about them. Why?" I shrug my shoulders.
"Because when I met them, I was in a very dark place. I was depressed and reckless. It was back when I still drank human blood…I didn't want you to think of me any differently." She snorts, her blue eyes filling with humor.
"I could never think of you any different, Mom. You're too nice and composed and self-controlled for me to think anything different. Yeah, you used to drink human blood, but you didn't know any different." I give her a small smile.
"Thanks." Sure, I'm not Judith's biological mother, but I've known her since she was born. I'm the only parental figure she knows. But it's still weird that someone calls me "Mom". I never thought I'd be a mom in the first place.
"Tell me about them." I smile as I remember my friends. I duck under a low hanging branch, and the squirrel that was resting there runs off as soon as I get too close.
"They also practice the vegetarian diet. They're actually the ones who introduced me to that way of life." I sigh and purse my lips. "The Olympic coven began with Carlisle Cullen. He was born in England in the sixteen hundreds, and was changed when he was in his twenties by a vampire that was living in the sewers near where he lived. And let me tell you, Jude, when you meet him? You'll automatically like him. He's kind and patient and so understanding. In a way, he had it a lot harder than most vampires."
"How's that?"
"When he woke up as a vampire, he was all alone. The vampire who created him didn't stick around to tell him what he was or teach him all the things he needed to know. He knew a lot, because back then a group of humans had gathered "evidence" of vampires and were hunting them, one of those humans being Carlisle's father. And when Carlisle had realized what he was, he was disgusted. He didn't want to be a monster, so he tried to kill himself. He jumped from great heights and tried to drown himself. When nothing else worked, he went and hid in a cave, and hoped to starve himself to death. And he eventually got so thirsty, that he attacked a herd of passing deer. And that's how he found that we can survive off of animal blood."
"Wow. Imagine being all alone like that…to have no one to keep you company." I smile.
"You forget that vampires aren't very social creatures. Plus our sense of time isn't the same as a human's. We don't mind being alone and ten years feels like two days to us because we don't age. We don't get older and so none of us really pays attention to time…at least I didn't until you came along." She smiles.
"It's weird, but I understand," she tells me. "Tell me more." I laugh and shake my head.
"The next person to join the Olympic coven was Edward. He was born in 1901 in Chicago, and when he was seventeen, the Spanish influenza hit. Him, his mother, and his father were all infected. His father died first, but Edward and his mother held on longer. And just before she died, Edward's mother asked Carlisle, who was their doctor at the time, to save Edward in a way that only he can." Judith's eyes widen.
"Do you think she knew?" I shrug.
"We'll never truly know. She died not long after, and then Carlisle changed Edward. And remember how some of us have powers? Like how I can create illusions and do compulsion and you can—"
"Yeah." She cuts me off before I can finish the sentence.
"Edward can read minds. So if there's anything you don't want him to know, try not to let it cross your mind." She snorts.
"That's easy. There's nothing to hide. I'm an open book."
"Except for…ya know." She nods.
"Then came Esme. She was born in the late eighteen hundreds. Carlisle changed her after she had thrown herself off a cliff in an attempt to take her own life after her baby died."
"Oh my god, that's morbid," she gets out. "I can't believe she survived jumping off a cliff. Do you think I'd survive jumping off a cliff?" I look at her, eyebrows raised.
"Is there something I should know?" I question. She bites her lip and looks away.
"No."
"Judith Christine…" I say, my voice warning her to tell me the truth.
"I was just wondering about what I could do, ya know? We've never tested anything out."
"That's because I don't want to risk it. Not while you're still young. We'll come back to this topic when you're older." She sighs.
"Fine. Can you at least finish telling me?" And I do, happy to change the topic.
"Rosalie's story is a little dark, and I'm not going to go into a lot of details. If she wants to tell you the rest someday, then she can. But she was born in New York in 1915. When she was eighteen, she was walking home from a friend's house at night when she was attacked by her fiancé and his friends. When they were done, they left her for dead, and that's how Carlisle found her. He brought her back and changed her." I close my eyes and say a silent prayer to the universe. A prayer that Judith never experiences something like that. "Out of the whole group, she's the one who detests this life the most. Mostly because she'll never be able to have children, which was something that she looked forward to greatly when she was human."
"Did you ever want kids when you were human?" I think that through. Try to remember how I felt, what I believed. I can't remember.
"Honestly, I don't remember. I was sixteen when Germany invaded Poland. Nineteen when I arrived at the concentration camp. I was more worried about books and my studies than boys and starting a family. But it wouldn't have mattered otherwise."
"Why not?" I shake my head, not wanting to give up what they did. The experiments that they put me through that I hadn't realized until years later. Even if I had survived the concentration camps as a human, I would have, in no way, been able to have biological children.
"It doesn't bother me, because now I have you. I know I'm not your mom by blood, but I love you as if I was." She gives a sincere smile.
"I know, Mom. I know." We walk in silence for a few moments. "Is there any more? Vampires, I mean?" And then I finish telling her about Emmett, Jasper and Alice.
"So you're saying Alice can see the future?" She sounds impressed. I smile and nod.
"Don't get too excited. What she sees isn't definite. It's always changing depending on people's choices. And if something were to happen, like someone were to change their plans at the absolute last second, Alice might not get a vision in time to do anything if need be."
"It's still badass." I roll my eyes at her, but decide to let it go.
"Okay, Jude. Let's start running again. I don't want to still be running next week." She sighs, but we both begin to run again, and I'm happy to have a break from talking.
We arrive in Forks a couple of days later, and Judith is over the traveling part of our trip. She just wants to settle in one place, and I regret not driving. At least if we were driving, I could just drive all the way through while she could just sit in the passenger seat and do whatever. But I also know that she would have complained about being cramped in the car for so long. Honestly I couldn't win in that situation.
I can already smell the scent of vampires. Dozens of them, and I had a heartbeat, it'd be pounding against my ribcage right now. I don't like being around so many vampires, especially with Judith. It means that I have to be on my guard at all times. But there's also another scent mixed in with the vampire scent. I frown as I sniff the air, and I'm automatically brought back to when I was twelve, when my dad, who I called Papa (in English anyway), brought back a stray dog he had found on his way home. It was a mangy thing, starving and wet and shivering from the pouring rain. We managed to get him fed and handed him to a neighbor that could take care of him, but our house smelled like wet dog for days after.
But why would I be smelling wet dog this strongly? I've smelled the scent since I've become a vampire, but it's never been this strong. I have a bad feeling about this.
"Stay close to me," I tell Judith, and position her so that she's practically walking on top of me.
"Why? What's going on?" As soon as those words leave her mouth, I hear it. Growling coming from behind us. Directly behind us. I look back to see several horse sized wolves growling, hunched to attack, and their eyes focused on us. Holy shit! What the hell are those things? I've never encountered them before. But I do know that they're dangerous, and they're about to attack us. So I turn to Judith, and nod, knowing that she'll know what to do. We've gone over it. We break out into a run, the wolves following too close behind. And then the two of us climb up separate trees, knowing we'll be safe up there.
But they don't give up, it's like they know what we are and want to drive us away or something. I've never seen a dog this persistent. Judith and I jump from tree to tree, the dogs finally giving up a few miles from our destination, and a few dozen yards from where I know the house is, I stop, and hold Judith back from going any further.
"I want you to wait here, okay? Wait here until I can explain to them what you are. I don't want them to get the wrong idea and try to hurt you. So just stay here, and I will text you when I'm ready for you to come out." She looks like she wants to argue, but she decides against it, and nods.
"Okay. Be careful."
"I will. I love you." I continue to jump from tree to tree, and within a second, I can hear voices. They're talking about blocking and some other stuff that I don't pay attention to. I know when they've heard my presence when the talking stops.
"Someone's here," a female voice states. I don't recognize the voice, but she has an Irish accent.
"Who could it be? Everyone we've contacted is here already." That's Esme's voice, and I smile in anticipation of seeing her.
"Maybe Alice and Jasper sent them like they did us," a Romanian accent suggests.
"But who did we miss?" Rosalie questions.
"I know who," Edward finally cuts in. He can hear my thoughts, I'm sure of it. "I can't believe we didn't think of her in the first place." A second later, the other Cullens catch on.
"You mean—" At that exact moment, I jump from the last tree, and land in the back yard of my oldest friends. And when I straighten up, I look around, and in the sea of unfamiliar faces, I spot Esme, Edward, Carlisle, and Rosalie.
My face breaks out into a big smile at the sight of my friends, and I take in the others, too. Countless of other vampires stare back at me, curiosity on their faces, no doubt in reaction to my eyes. And when I look at Edward, I see him with his arm around a newborn brunette. His mate, I realize. My smile turns humorous as I remember all the times Edward swore that he didn't need a mate. And look at him now. I'm so gonna rub it in his face later.
"Max!" I turn to see Esme taking a step towards me. I can tell she's surprised and delighted to see me.
"Hey, guys," I say, my breath light and airy. "Long time no see."
A/N: What did you guys think? Sorry for the lack of uploads these past few months. I recently got a full-time job and it's been taking a lot out of me, as I'm working a lot to save up for school. But I hope to get on a regular upload schedule of at least one chapter a month, if not more. Please review!
~Gina
