Chapter 11
Never Have I Ever...
The trip to Phoenix wasn't supposed to take long but being in the car with three man-children made it feel that much longer. Alice was quiet, waiting for another vision, so I retorted to going into my thoughts to silence the stupid debate that the guys started two hours ago.
We arrived at Beau's mom's house just before sunrise. Pretty. One-storey, box-shaped, painted white house with a regular dark-green roof. I looked around to see that all the humans in the neighborhood were still in their houses sleeping and pulled my wand out, pointing at the garage. After I casted Alohomora and our car was safely hidden away inside the small one-space garage, I casted the same spell on the front door and we all walked into the house. Jasper was the first one to get deeper inside, checking the perfect spots that we could hide in when the tracker comes.
The inside of the house looked very homey. There were pictures of Beau and his family on nearly every wall, the furniture looked slightly out of place. Different colors mixed in together, a large burgundy sofa was the biggest thing in the room, right next to it stood a decoupaged coffee table, clearly homemade. In the corners, there were some very strange things that one would not usually see in the house, a pottery wheel in one and an old typewriter in the other. I guessed those were Beau's mom's most recent hobbies.
"When James comes, I'll hide in the kitchen with Edward to be both close to the entrance and the living room, Bella you hide in the bedroom, closest to the back door. Alice, you and Fred just sit on the couch, watch some TV or something, and look distracted." Jasper instructed, coming back. "We might be waiting a while, so get comfortable. Alice, when you see him coming here, alert us."
"I'll call Ness and Savi while we wait, and someone should check in with Carlisle," I spoke, going into the furthest bedroom.
My daughters picked up soon and we told each other what was happening. Esme, Rose, and George relieved them for the night, so they could get something to eat and sleep. Charlie was safe, Victoria hasn't shown herself while they were there, and I was very glad about it. No need to risk my daughters' lives.
We waited for quite some time; the sun was setting in the window. I was so bored; I found some games on the phone and was winning my match in 'Midnight Pool' when Alice called out from the living room. The tracker will be here in twenty minutes. I got into the position, hiding my phone back in my pocket and taking my wand out to cast a Notice Me Not charm around myself.
I jumped when I heard the front door fly open. He was here, his melodic voice was playful.
"I didn't think it would be that easy. You're honestly ruining a really good game for me, not like it's your first time doing that though, little one." James's footsteps hollowed in the air.
"Don't do it, my family will never let this go." Alice's voice sounded genuinely scared, she was a great actress. "They will hunt both you and Victoria down if you hurt us."
"But that would only make this so much more fun, besides, I'm not here for you, I'm here for the human, so you are free to go."
"I'm not leaving him with you!"
"Oh and I suppose you think you're strong enough to stop me?" James chuckled sinisterly.
"She is, but we are here to help too," Jasper spoke now, revealing himself. I took it as my queue to appear.
As I emerged from the bedroom, I heard things breaking and people growling. When I made it to the living room, Fred was back in his original form, helping Edward hold James still. Jasper was crouching over Alice, who looked very disoriented, and it bothered me why she was like that, but it wasn't the time to comfort her right now. I jumped up onto James's shoulders and dipped my nails under his jaw. James yelled out in pain as I twisted his neck in my hands, ripping his head off his shoulders. Edward and Fred tore his arms out and all three of us worked together disassembling his body and dragging all the pieces through the back door and into the backyard, which was thankfully grass-less. Edward started the fire and stayed to make sure it all burned to ash.
I rushed back into the house, crouching right next to Alice.
"What's wrong with her?" I asked Jasper sheepishly.
"Edward read James's mind. He knew me, back when I was human." Alice was whispering. "When Edward made a decision to tell me everything that he heard from him, I saw that conversation." Alice was shaking her head slowly.
I couldn't find anything to say to comfort her. Jasper could neither, but I felt the waves of calm radiating through my body.
"I had visions when I was human, my parents locked me up in the asylum. The treatment was gruesome, and inhumane. I can't believe they would do that to their own daughter!" Alice's voice grew a little louder. "It was so bad I lost most of my memories, even forgot my own freaking name! James was tracking me down before I got admitted and continued after. Someone in the asylum was a vampire and he changed me before James could get to me. That's why he said I evaded him once before, I thought he meant the field when we played baseball…"
"What can we do?" I asked her after a few minutes of silence.
"Nothing, we can all just forget about it, because it doesn't matter to me." She spoke bravely. "Parents who lock up their daughters in the asylums don't deserve to be remembered or grieved. I don't care what my real name was, I am Alice Whitlock."
"As far as I am concerned, sugar bun, you were always Alice Whitlock." Jasper's smile seemed to lighten Alice's mood significantly, or maybe it was his words, it didn't matter really.
"I love you," Alice murmured, slightly pushing my arms off her and wrapping hers around Jazz. Okay, intimate moment, maybe I should check on that bonfire outside.
We returned to the rainy Forks the next day and were very much surprised at the smell of shapeshifters at our doorstep…again. It was good news though; the pack was out patrolling their territories when they came across the vampire scent and tracked it down. Victoria was taken aback in surprise at the giant wolves and the shifters managed to attack and destroy her. Carlisle made sure that they burned the body. Emmett looked pissed. Two crazed vampires and he didn't get to fight any. I was beyond happy, with both of them taken care of, Tanya and Beau could return home and we could all go back to our normal lives, well, as much as a vampire's life can be normal considering we have one coven member dating a human.
Tanya and Beau returned safely by the end of the week. I got to do exactly what I planned for this Spring Break after all. Edward and I took the girls to the movies, and the whole family got to enjoy the whole day in Seattle's Wizarding World, shopping and having fun, I even retaliated and played Quidditch with the rest. The human shopping trip to Edmonton would have to wait until the summer, but I was happy anyways.
After the girls and Fred and George left Saturday evening, everyone, including Beau, sat down in the living room for a Never Have I Ever game. Carlisle has made a trip to the alcohol store and bought his first 6 pack of beer. To be fair, he wasn't going to drink it, Beau would, the rest of us were taking out our cash. If we couldn't drink, how else were we supposed to symbolize that we have done those things? With $20 bills, of course. At the end, Esme or Carlisle usually donated the sum to a charity of their choice.
Esme started the game.
"Never have I ever kissed a female."
"Not fair," Edward announced, pulling out a twenty-dollar bill out of his pile and placing it on the table. Carlisle, Emmett, and Jasper cheeped in as well, while Beau took a small sip and his face immediately turned to disgust. That brought forward the laughs until a swift motion to my right happened. All our eyes, except for Edward's rose in shock when we saw Tanya placing her own twenty-dollar bill on the table.
"Do tell!" Alice turned her face to our Alaskan friend.
"It was when we were still playing succubus with mortals. Her name was Trish, she played the organ in a church choir. Very very talented girl."
"I didn't know you love organs." Emmett laughed, stressing the wrong letter at the name of a musical instrument. I rolled my eyes at that.
"I don't love them, but they sound a lot better than pianos or fortepianos. More deep and passionate."
"I would stop talking right now if I were you, before Emmett's mind goes somewhere completely different." I chuckled.
"Never have I ever kissed a guy." Jasper switched topics, getting back at Esme, who chipped in her own twenty bucks with all of us girls participating.
"Never have I ever lost a bet," Alice spoke, too proud of herself. I noticed I wasn't the only one snorting at her words.
"Never have I ever got drunk," Rose spoke and I glanced at Edward, remembering that one time…He was straight out laughing now and the whole family was waiting for the story.
"Okay, it was during Christmas break my last year of being alive. Bella and I were seventeen already, adults in the wizarding world, so we had to try it." Edward started.
"You had to try it." I corrected.
"Whatever. My dad was out on an assignment, so I invited Fred and George to join Bella and me at my place. Don't tell Molly, they were still 16 at that time. I got us some fire whiskey at the shop and we…" Edward looked at me and I couldn't wait any longer.
"Got absolutely plastered, this idiot apparated us to Grimmauld place and started telling my father just how much he loves me and that he will be marrying me next year, as soon as we were out of school, and that right after we'll start making babies, 'such beautiful babies, Mr. Black, you will never believe it.'" I imitated my husband's voice. "And then, he apparated back home and I was on the home arrest until the holiday break ended."
"To be fair, your dad seriously exaggerated his punishment." Edward mused.
"Well, what would you do if Fred or George suddenly appear at your footsteps absolutely rat-arsed and started talking about impregnating your barely 17-year-old daughter?" I laughed, looking at how the smile dropped from Edward's face.
"Didn't he impregnate your mom at 16?" Emmett chimed in, not making my point any less clear.
"Yeah, but becoming a dad at 16 and becoming a grandpa at 34 is completely different. I know you guys were born in the times when that was completely normal, so it's not such a big deal to you, but it was to him. Anyways, not a fun experience, completely ruined my holidays, and never did it again."
"Well…" Edward raised an eyebrow.
"I didn't get drunk then. You did." I laughed. "And I have a very funny story of you jumping into the Black Lake cannon-ball style in the middle of the night and then me rescuing your ass from mermaids."
"Hey, I got the clue to the second Triwizard tournament task that way." Edward looked offended.
"Oh yeah, I completely forgot how much you treasured that stupid egg." I continued laughing. "He took it everywhere with him."
"Whatever." Edward shook his hand at me.
"No, can we please talk more about what exactly Edward told your dad?" Alice pleaded.
"No. We can't. We have to keep playing."
"We definitely don't have to." Rose chuckled. "But we also don't need you to be in the room to know what happened. Bella will tell us later."
"Never have I ever given or received a lap dance," Tanya spoke.
Well, Rose and Emmett, Jasper and Alice, and Edward and I reached for our piles of money, but all six stopped as we saw Carlisle and Esme reach for theirs too, looking rather embarrassed.
"No way!" Emmett was jumping in his seat. "No way! No way!"
"Emmett, you will break my loveseat."
"Is that the nickname you use for Carlisle too?" Emmett laughed. I hid my face in Edward's chest. Nope, not going there. Carlisle and Esme might be just a few years older than us physically, but they're…well, parents. Papa Fang and Mama Patience.
"Who's next?!" Carlisle spoke very uncomfortably.
"Never have I ever dated a vampire when I was still human." I winked at Beau.
"You want tonight to be my first time getting drunk?" Beau looked at his beer bottle in absolute repulsion.
The night went on, and it was so much fun until Beau went and spilled his second beer bottle all over himself. Although, that was really fun too, now that I think of it.
"Come on, I'm sure we can find one of Edward's shirts for you to wear." I chuckled, motioning him to follow me upstairs.
"Your room looks nice!" Beau spoke when we got to my and Edward's bedroom.
"Thanks! You can sit down on the couch while I look for something for you to wear."
I left him sitting on the bed and opened the doors to my walk-in closet. I have only used maybe 20% of it, the other 80% were clothes that Alice got me that were too fancy for me or for anyone who prefers sweatpants and a simple T-shirt over a dress.
I walked to Edward's side and grabbed a pair of jeans and a beige wool sweater that I didn't particularly like. I would have to make Beau keep it.
"Not to make you feel weird, Bella." I looked up at Beau then. He was still seating on my bed but was now holding a picture frame in his hands. I couldn't see which one it was though. "But why do you have a picture of Garrett on your nightstand?"
"I don't have a picture of Garrett." I snorted, coming closer to check whose picture was he actually looking at.
He turned it around to face me before I got closer. "Then who is that?"
No. It couldn't be, could it? Don't get your hopes up, Bella. Don't get your… "TANYA!" I yelled out.
My bedroom door flew open. Both Tanya and Edward were looking between me and Beau. I grabbed the picture frame from Beau and showed it to Tanya. "That's Garrett?!"
Tanya looked at the picture for a few seconds. "Well, Garrett's hair is a little shorter and his eyes are still red. But yeah, looks just like him, why?"
Edward caught the picture frame mid-air. I didn't register when my hands released it. My mind was running 100 miles per hour. I was thinking of the next thing I should do. Can I just apparate to Alaska or should I drive so I could clear my head a little? Or fly? I didn't care for the means of transportation, I just needed to see it for myself.
"Edward, why do you have a human picture of Garrett?" I could barely hear Tanya's questions.
"That's a picture of Sirius Black, Bella's father."
My father. I found him.
Hey everyone! I'm sorry for not updating for a long time. I've started something new and got completely side-tracked, but this story is sadly coming to an end. I will post an epilogue very soon, promise:)) As always, please review!
