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Chapter 8:
Ariella was watching as a very happy Bella walked in through the door. She briefly met Edward's eyes, only the day before he had been in a hurry to go, but he had stopped by again sometime in the night. The talk with Carlisle private enough that she had kept her distance for that one chat. Not that it helped, her mate shared afterwards anyway, but the resemblance of privacy was mostly what had mattered. After all, mates were open with each other (at least in most cases). She walked forward and gave her cousin a long hug.
"I missed you, Bells," she said and smiled softly towards her cousin. It seemed that her cousin was finding her footing with her own mate, judging by the light in her eyes.
"Missed you too," Bella muttered and her blush covered her cheeks.
"Now, nothing to be embarrassed by," Ariella said, followed by her light and warm laugh.
"Are you going to tell us why you wanted us here?" Bella challenged.
"Straight on point. Did we interrupt something?" Ariella had enough insight that she knew things were progressing well between her cousin and mate.
Walking to the dining room, everyone sat by their own mate, though Carlisle was at the head of the table. Ariella remained standing by him, as she pulled her phone, ready for the incoming call.
"You are on speaker, Aro, Marcus, Caius," Ariella said as she clicked accept on the phone before it had much time to ring at all. "Now, I do believe I should share my story about how I became a vampire."
"Maybe I should start?" Marcus suggested.
"No, you may jump in eventually," Ariella responded and grinned towards the rest. "I started my travelling quite young. Fascinated by the supernatural, I wanted to do research in Europe. Both for the sake of travel, and for the sake of learning more to gather information that I could use for my books. What I wanted the most was to become a successful writer. My parents let me leave on a tight budget, not knowing I would meet people and creatures that would take a liking to me. One of my first trips had me landing in Italy and I went to Volterra before the last school year, not able to enter the special tour I left and found a local bookstore where I met Marcus. He was intriguing for sure, and we discussed a few books over several different myths. Days passed in a blur and I knew I had to return home. At the time I had no cellphone, and Marcus seeing the promise of a bond – not that I knew – decided he wanted to keep in touch. Therefore, wherever I went, I sent him a card, sharing where I was and what I was up to, especially after I finished my last year and took up travelling again. Your turn Marcus."
"Yes, the bond was promising, but I was not sure in what aspect it would impact me or the other members, nevertheless, after she left Volterra I had a few of the guard keep an eye on her and where she travelled. They were the best to blend with the shadows, and yet she figured it out. It puzzled me how she suddenly one day had managed to deflect the guards tailing her, and then she was gone," Marcus explained.
Ariella nodded. "I had a strange feeling and just thought about staying unnoticed and then suddenly the feeling went away. I continued my search and stumbled over the mermaids. Let's just say that things changed a lot from there."
"Mermaids!" Bella gasped.
The other family members seemed surprised as well but did not voice it in the same way, more stunned than anything.
"You really thought vampires were almost the only supernatural out there, didn't you?" Ariella asked drily.
"Well, we never encountered any other, except for the shape-shifters," Carlisle answered.
Aro's laugh came clearly through. "Oh, you were not the only one surprised there, old friend."
"The merpeople are less friendly than vampires for sure, but since the guard had lost me, Marcus decided to look for me and ended up having to come to an understanding with the merpeople. They wanted me as I knew of their secret, and I had no interest in joining them, and he had just discovered that other creatures were perhaps better to hide in the world than vampires ever were. This made me aware that Marcus clearly wasn't human, but I would not ask his secret or demand it. The truth is, the merpeople come from a different world as so many others, and travel between the worlds. Even if they do live here as well, they would be so few that it is not likely to stumble across them. It doesn't help that long ago there were vampires that tried to kill them alongside humans – before the Volturi time. It made most flee to the other world and what was left was the myths. Though just as myths and stories on vampires, a lot of the mermaids and sirens are just that. Myths and stories to lead others away from the truth."
"I asked them to send a few agents to work in our underground community," Marcus then said, continuing on.
"Underground community?" Edward asked and raised a brow in question towards Carlisle.
"I have no idea," Carlisle responded.
"The underground community is the highest secret on this planet. Vampires work with humans and a few other creatures to keep the secrets and humans unaware. Some of the most gifted vampires work there, some of them currently trying to find a way and make artificial blood," Ariella explained.
"Is that even possible?" Jasper wondered.
"Yes, Hannah has the gift of turning any liquid into blood that sustains a vampire. If there is a way to manufacture this without raising too much notice, it will certainly help," Aro explained.
"We do of course have a few willing test subjects," Caius said, if a bit sinister.
Aro and Marcus seemed to sigh at the same time.
"Not all the tests have gone well, no, but most just end up being uncomfortable," Aro said.
"Humans are very much controlled by the supernatural, though unbeknown to most of them."
"Does it satisfy you that much, Caius?" Ariella stated more than asked with a tone that was disapproving. Leaving out the fact that it would be distributed to the vampires willing to drink it when and if they managed successful results.
There came no answer from Caius though as quiet murmur from the three made everything unclear.
"Alright. Now that you know about this, well, one mermaid joined, and because of that I learned a bit more about the merpeople later on. From there on I had a glimpse of fairies while drunk, and thought I had imagined them, and yet again, later I would learn they too were real. Now, I'm going to skip a bit. Marcus wanted to support my writing and created a publishing company all for the sake of keeping me close. He had his ways with getting the information out so I would be tempted to return to Volterra. It worked. Not long after I sent the first half of my first book, I had a reply that they were very interested to publish if I would complete the book, and they wanted to translate it into several languages. My father was sceptic, but no matter how he investigated he could find no fault with the company. Of course I would later learn why.
"To celebrate, my parents and I were meeting in Rome and they wanted a vacation as well, and we were making a trip out of it. Marcus was on his way to meet us at the same time when the accident happened. To be honest, I don't remember much as I passed out, I just know from Marcus that I was badly hurt and barely breathing. My parents dead. I remember the pain from the transformation, but only the last half of it, more or less."
Silence.
"How is that even possible?" Rosalie asked.
"We suspect her shutting down along with her gifts as a human helped shield her under her transformation, though closer to the end she was conscious and after she let out a scream, that was her first and last, right before her heart stopped. Under the transformation I kept telling her of what I knew to keep her memory alive. A lot became blurry for her as she had no time to think of her loved ones," Marcus explained.
"And then?" Bella asked, wanting to know.
"Then I woke up, completely confused. I struggled to understand what had happened, and how I was staring at Marcus, but yet he looked different. I kept calm enough, and the thirst wasn't bothering me as I asked all the questions I felt that I could at the time. From there on it was a year of practicing my control, or so we thought."
Ariella smiled brightly.
"My powers manifested quickly and helped me so I easily could type out my books. Ideas spurred and my fingers moved quickly. The first few books were completed within a short amount of time, the rest followed after I explored the myths a bit more and followed up by meeting a few other creatures. My gift that made me look more human and yet other; drew in the otherness I guess we can call it. I was alone most of those times, but it gave me a way to connect the worlds a bit more. I have learned how to fight. I have been part of the Underground community for a bit. Being close to Hannah helped me the most in my first years. It is so much information and I think that this is enough for now. I have no doubt you all have questions, Aro, Marcus and Caius – if he's willing – can answer a lot of them."
Ariella walked over to Bella and gave her a hug before she walked out to take in the fresh air.
Carlisle had many questions, he always had them, but he embraced his mate from behind, knowing that for now, this was what she needed as she leaned against him with a content sigh.
Edward stood and hurried to lift Bella so he could take her back to the house. Her eyes met his in understanding. While his siblings fired questions at the Volturi kings, he knew he would be updated later on. It was more than fine. Now, all that mattered was being close to his mate and making sure she got the rest she needed. And getting her home before Charlie returned.
Ariella smiled softly as she noticed Edward running with her cousin in his arms. Carefully she twisted in Carlisle's arms and rested hers around his neck. Softly she pressed her lips against his and she loved how right everything felt. She still wanted to have her mate all to herself and hide from the world just a bit longer. However, she knew it was not an option and eventually she would have to pick up work again. Amused by her own line of thought she wondered how everything eventually would fit together.
Carlisle understood that it was more to Ariella than what had been covered within the short call. He admired her though, more than he could express in that moment. He had a long time to learn everything. Even if what shaped her to be the person that she was to this day was partially blurred, he knew his older friends could help him a bit too. Amused he thought of the kings. How amazing it was the change that had happened and with the dynamics.
Ariella was listening to the family as they were going over Alice's vision. Newborns of all things! And in Seattle! Anger clouded her vision and she felt her hands clenching and unclenching. Days and weeks had gone by and she had grown closer to the family. Bella's graduation was not far off and she was still working on softening her uncle towards her cousin's boyfriend – mate, not that Charlie knew of that.
Apparently it hadn't helped that she introduced Carlisle as the man of her dreams so to speak. There wasn't supposed to be a big age-gap, but that she also had found herself a Cullen – as her uncle had said it – seemed to put Charlie off a bit, and her sway lessened a bit, as if she was blind to Edward's previous mistakes. And not to forget the family in general. What Charlie couldn't deny was the fact that he saw love between the couple. He had said as much to Ariella, but it didn't mean he liked the match. He had no say, but when asked an opinion he was honest. She admired that of her uncle.
"Bringing the pack into this is inevitable," Alice said. "They have blinded my sight of the future, it is set, they will be part of this. The sooner the better... Hm…" Her eyes glazed over. "Did you call the Volturi?" she then asked and looked straight at Ariella.
"No." She sighed. "I was going to, but if someone's already here we might as well get in touch. Ignore my grumpiness soon though," she said and stood. Meddlesome brothers, she thought.
Dialing the familiar number, she left the room. Marcus did not pick up. Neither Aro. Gritting her teeth, she called Caius.
"Ariella," he said, not bothering with a hello.
"Tell Aro I said I would call! And that I am quite frustrated he wouldn't listen!" she growled into the phone.
Caius chuckled. "Ah, noted. However, Aro did not send anyone. I did."
Ariella gaped. Shaking her head, she closed her mouth. "What?"
"This situation seems to be growing out of hand and even with a large coven, and shifters on your side you are no closer to capturing the redheaded Victoria. All signs point towards a newborn army, and we can no longer overlook this. I sent Jane, Alec, Felix and Demetri. Of course Aro and Marcus are aware. They however, are busy elsewhere."
"You sent the four of them?" She did not hide her surprise.
"We do not know the scale of this army, but the deaths in Seattle are drawing attention. Enjoy the company while you can, sister," he said and finished with a low chuckle. The line went dead.
Ariella stared at the phone in her hand. She knew he cared more than he would ever admit, nevertheless it did not stop her from feeling touched. No matter how frustrated she also felt at the same time.
Either way she would not let it bother her too much as she would finally see the twins again! It was the closest she would come to have children unless she adopted. And she loved showering them with her love. She just hoped Carlisle would be open to them.
Ah, what was she thinking? Of course he would! If he managed to love a bunch of teenagers, closer to their own age, he would love the twins. She was sure of it.
Her mate had so many wonderful qualities. She adored him. And she now held the coven he was part of close to her heart. They were her family as much as the Volturi. Now it was all about how to blend the two together without making it all too strange. But first of all, her life in Forks had to come to an end, and that could only happen after Bella had been changed.