Hello! I'm sorry this chapter took so long. The original idea I had was too crazy to be believable. Can you believe I thought about making Bella be related to Caius or Aro? Like men who are thousands of years old.

I hope you like this chapter better. There will be a third chapter, but I don't know when I will update it.

Also, I will be taking down "An eventual imprint" to rewrite it because it has sooo many errors, that's embarrassing :)

Give me love, please :)

RED MOON

CHAPTER 13. The locket, part 2.

The locket is from Garret's family.

She still had no idea who Garrett was or whatever. The book Jane had given her contained some of the history of the locket. It didn't say much.

"A young girl was given a locket with a secret message inside. The girl never knew of the secret, but her mother had lived long enough to bare another daughter.

Suffering from birth complications, the woman promised to pass on the only tangible memory left of her only son to the rest of her descendants. However long her family would live. She placed the locket on the baby's neck, and after kissing her one last time, she let go of the last tie keeping her in this world."

That was all the entry this book had on the locket. It didn't explain anything at all. Bella still thought it might be a coincidence. With mass production being a thing now, what were the odds of her locket being that unique? These vampires were losing their minds over nothing and making her look at books containing information about people she'd never met. What was the point, really?

She didn't know what to do really, so she indulged them.

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After hours of looking through books, she managed to find the Garret she was looking for.

Garret, with no last name, was born in the 1700s in New England. He had a sister named Lottie and another one named Nathalie. Lottie died at ten years old, whereas Nathalie grew to adulthood and formed her own family, passing down the locket from daughter to daughter and sometimes to granddaughter. Only one time there had been no women to be born; therefore, the locket had passed to a man, who passed it to his daughter when she was old enough. And so on and on. The tree stopped eventually. The last few generations were not recorded. She wondered why. Marcus seemed an avid biographer, and judging by the number of books he had, he didn't strike her as one to cower from the challenge of an unknown turn.

No, something had made him stop looking. Something pressing enough. But then, he had no reservations about showing Bella her family. So, whatever had made him stop, wasn't demanding enough to hide the truth from her.

She frowned at the last entry. It was her great-grandmother's name. Late nineteenth century, early twentieth. This was definitive proof that she did descend from this Garret vampire. Well, one of his sisters, at least.

There is not much more to it, and Bella feels like she hit a dead-end. She found proof of her ancestors and their link with her locket, but she finds the lack of details very disappointing.

She reread Garret's information. Born somewhere in the mid-1700s, changed in 1780 by a vampire during the American Revolutionary war. He must be good at fighting, she thought. She briefly remembered Jasper giving instructions on how to kill James, and even through the pain of the venom cursing through her veins, she vaguely remembered Jasper being the one delivering the fatal blow at the ballet studio. Was Jasper as skillful in fighting as she imagined Garret to be?

There was no physical description of the man nor a picture of him. She only had her imagination. Based on her looks and how her grandmother looked, she imagined a brown-haired man with blue eyes and a gentle smile. Would he be like that? Of course, changing the blue for red. The normal color of vampires' eyes.

Would she want to meet him?

The answer to that question was easy-yes, she wanted to meet him. But not now. She'd want to be in equal conditions before hunting any relatives.

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She put down the book, eyes burning with tiredness. She stood up and walked around, trailing her hands on the books that decorated the library. Marcus was not only an avid biographer. His collection extended beyond his own academic work. He had numerous books varying in genre and thickness. She sighed happily. This is a good library. There were even modern sci-fi books. She smiled at the irony of a vampire who lived with other gifted vampires enjoying the plot of a descendant from a mythological Greek God or that one about hunters who slay anything that does not belong on this earth. She wondered briefly if she ought to search for a Buffy comic book among one of the sections.

Snorting at her silliness, she leaned against one of the shelves, trying to reach one of the sci-fi books. She nearly faceplanted the floor when the shelves gave way into a secret room.

Excited at the mystery of a secret room in an ancient castle, she darted inside. It was cold and humid and clearly untouched for many years. There were spider webs almost everywhere and dust collected on a table. There was no electric light in this room. It was clearly isolated from the heat of the adjacent room.

She wandered around, spotting a chair similar to the ones in the throne room. Only this one had a name. Diddyme. She hadn't met all the vampires in this castle, but it didn't take a genius to know that this Diddyme had died, hence the abandonment of this room.

She shuddered from the cold and eerie feeling this room gave her. She braced herself and rubbed her upper arms in an attempt to warm herself.

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Similar to the library, this room was decorated with shelves. Intended to be a hideaway, the room was small. It only had two shelves but didn't contain as many copies as the main library.

In reality, this room had only a few leather-bound books. She grabbed one, coughing at the cloud of dust that lifted with the movement.

Bella opened it at random, reading a passage.

"He gave me a chair with my name on it. He said if he was to be king, I was to be his queen."

She sighed at the romantic notion. She wondered who Diddyme was and who had given her this chair. Was it the theatrical Aro? The academic Marcurs? Or the military Caius?

She fanned the pages and stopped at random. She read another passage.

"As if the chair wasn't indication enough of his feelings, he proposed to me. I said yes, of course. There is no question in my heart that I have found my one true love. We are to be wed in a few weeks. And if my heart could beat, it would have left my chest after his beautiful words and gentleness."

She stopped reading, blushing at the turn this passage took. She had no intention of violating anyone's privacy more than she already was. She looked around, searching for a clean spot to put down the book. But the task was futile; there was nothing clean in here. She set the book into its original spot and randomly chose another one. This one looked different, sturdier.

She opened the first page and read. "Marcus loves to archive everything and anything that catches his attention. So far, nothing has come of it. He does it out of boredom, but it's like a game for him. Trying to connect dots that are so distant from one another that it's a wonder he manages to connect them at all. Who would have thought that whatever family living in whatever place would be connected to such a striking vampire? I often worry about my brother's obsession with gifted vampires. What if Marcus inadvertently drives him to one? One that doesn't want to join? I know my brother is not ruthless, but he is no saint either."

So Diddyme was either Caius or Aro's brother and had been Marcus' wife. This room had been her secret. No object indicated that the owner of the large library knows of this room's existence.

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Over the next week and so, Bella darted to and from the secret room to her own chambers to sleep and shower. She would dart to the kitchen to gather some food and lock herself back in Diddyme's secret study.

Out of respect for the late Lady, Bella cleaned the room from ceiling to floor. It took her an entire day to dust all the journals and understand the Lady's filing system. It was simple enough. She had filed her journals per date.

Curious enough, she found the answer to her forgotten question when she opened one of the sturdiest books to satisfy her curiosity.

As she had done with the first journal, she opened it at random. Gasping at what Lady Diddyme had written there.

Diddyme was the one who figured out the location of the locket. She never told one soul about it, wanting that family to live in peace.

"Perhaps it is wrong of me. As if I am deciding for him. But they're human, and they're happy. I can't allow my brother to interfere with their lives. And he would if he knew that Garret had taken it upon himself to guard his family."

Her stomach growled with hunger. Hesitantly, she put down the journal and went to the kitchen to gather food. She was ravenous now that she paid attention to her body. It was later than she'd thought.

It was on her way back that Demetri found her.

"Thank God, woman!" He hugged her, taking her by surprise.

She patted his back awkwardly. She didn't know Demetri held her in such high esteem to hug her so tightly.

He let her go after a few minutes of awkward patting. He grabbed her face between his big hands. It was such a sweet and gentle gesture that her heart fluttered, and she leaned toward his touch.

"Are you alright?" He asked eventually.

"I am. Why?" He didn't answer. He just pulled out his phone and fired a text message to whoever was interested in her presence.

"Where have you been?" He asked her instead.

She didn't want to betray the Lady's secret because it felt as if she had confided in her personally to guard it. But she didn't want to lie to this gentle man who was looking at her with concern on his expression. She was an outsider in this world. To whom did she owe her loyalty? A dead woman, or to the three brothers?

"I've been here." She gestured to the opened door of the library. She was not lying, after all. She had been there.

"Bella, we've come every day to this room, and your scent was not there. We couldn't follow your scent. There was no trail. I couldn't find you."

Just then, Aro and Marcus arrived in the company of Jane, Alec, and Renata. She cringed internally. Had she done something wrong?

"Isabella!" Aro exclaimed, genuinely happy to see her. Marcus gave her a small smile and a short nod, indicating his own feelings.

"I don't understand what's wrong. I've been coming and going to my room, the kitchen, and here the whole time. I swear!"

Marcus eyed her speculatively. "I believe her." He gave Aro his hand to read, and Aro's eyes widened.

"May we speak with Isabella alone, please?" His gentle question was only theater. He was issuing an order.

Demetri hadn't left Bella's side. Oddly enough, she found his presence comforting. "You too, Demetri." Marcus demanded softly.

He gave the brothers a nod and left without more interaction.

"Let's go inside, shall we?" Marcus pointed to the library with an upturned hand. Bella had the urge to courtesy at his words. She didn't courtesy but entered the room, followed by the two vampires.

Marcus sat in his chair behind the desk; Aro stood by his side. Bella suddenly had a flash to the painting hanging in Carlisle's study. It was so eerie that she shuddered.

"We want to know the truth, Isabella." Aro started.

She swallowed. "I am telling you the truth. I have been transiting these halls the whole week." She explained what Marcus and Jane had discovered and how she had been rummaging through Marcus' collection of books to find the truth about her family and the dead end she found in the genealogy chart. She did that on the first day of being left alone in this room. She was telling the truth.

Aro tilted his head to the side, observing her. "You remind me of someone." He said and smiled at Marcus. It was such a different smile. This one was void of any theater, pretense, and pomp. This was a genuine, soft, charged-with-meaning smile. Marcus nodded, laughing softly.

Before they could explain who she reminded them of, she diverted the conversation. "I want to be turned, and I want to meet Garret."

"Very well. Is there anything you wish to do before we settle on a date?" Aro asked.

Bella thought about it for a few minutes. "No. I'm sure Carlisle handled my departure with my dad. I have nothing else to do." She had abandoned her father without a proper goodbye. She had done to him what Edward had done to her. And she would live with the consequence of it.

"Very well. A week from today, you shall be turned." Another week? Why so long?

Bella nodded either way. Aro gave her another sharp look and left the room.

Marcus stood up as well. But before leaving, he said, "Whatever you found. I hope it gives you the answers you're looking for."

It was such a vague thing to say. As if he knew she'd found his wife's secret lair. As if he knew she'd found buried memories of their time together. She wondered if she should tell Marcus of the room. What if he already knew, but it was too painful to come inside, and therefore, he'd left it?

No, Marcus was too organized, too structured to let something as pain erase the memories of his love. If he knew and the pain was too hard for him to go inside, he would have ordered someone clean it and maintain it. It wouldn't bring back his wife, but it would keep her memory alive.

"Marcus." She called just as he had stepped outside. He turned around. "I have to show you something."