Title: Violent Delights
Rating: T but will progress to an M as time goes on.
Paring(s): Naruto / Edythe / ?
Summary: Telepathy and Precognition, such talents would be difficult for even the most inconspicuous vampire to hide. But for the Olympic Coven, it was all but an impossibility. Enter Naruto Uzumaki; Volturi elite guard, enforcer, and Forks' newest resident. Naruto/multi Multiple X-Overs (Underworld, Harry Potter, etc.)
Warning(s): For those of you who don't know, the author of Twilight wrote a special Tenth Anniversary story in which almost all of the characters had their genders swapped. Bella became Beau (Beaufort), Edward became Edythe, and so forth and so forth. None of that matters beyond the inclusion of Edythe in this story as Edward's twin.
AN: This begins in book three of the Twilight saga, but in this story, Edward, Alice, and Bella never encounter the Volturi. Naruto will be their introduction to the broader world of the supernatural.
Chapter One: The devil at your door
"Some would call it blasphemous to invite one such as myself to a place like this."
St. Jerome's Church set upon the edge of the quaint village of Godric's Hollow, nestled between the local cemetery and one of the three pubs the village boasted — a misfortunate, or depending on who you asked happy mistake.
The beauty resting on the front pew turned guarded, almond-shaped eyes upon the new arrival. The fear that resided within their enviable depths vanished at the sight of the tall, cloaked figure, giving birth to a smile that could save the damned.
"Those same people would have seen me burned at the stake a hundred years ago," she mused, unconcerned by such thoughts. "Neither my kind nor your own are exactly welcome upon hallowed ground."
Naruto Uzumaki tossed back his hood, revealing crimson eyes and whisker-like scarring set upon angular features, a wry tilt tugging on the corner of his lips as he inclined his head, conceding her point. "Why has my flower beckoned me?"
Lily Potter nee Evans' smile faltered, a remorseful frown marring her bewitching features. "I am no longer your flower."
"You will always belong to me," Naruto corrected. "No matter what filth you lay with, name you take… or spawn that calls your womb home."
The Lady Potter froze, absently resting a hand upon her heavy with life stomach. "How did you know?"
She had taken a seat on the front pew and cast a subtle 'notice me not' charm about her middle for a reason. Though she denied the thought, a part of her had been afraid of his reaction to her pregnancy, not that he might harm her or her unborn child, but that there might be disgust or disappointment in those ancient eyes of his. Yet what she found sent a thrill of excitement through her instead. Longing and desire. A primal want.
To distract herself from such thoughts, she rose to her feet, the movement slow and unsteady as she waved her wand about her person, dispelling the charm that obscured the swell of her belly from the first man she had ever loved. Naruto eyed the proof of her union with another with a mask of apathy, a hidden desire to find James Potter and end him slowly nagging at the part of him that was still very much in love with his cantante.
"I could hear its heartbeat even outside."
"Harry," she corrected, green eyes narrowing at his referral to her unborn son as an 'it.' "His name is Harry James Potter."
"After your father," Naruto nodded, approving.
"And his father," she added softly, gaze no longer able to hold his own.
"So you've called me here to antagonize me with what I lost? To show me the product of you having spread your legs for Potter?"
"Never," she denied, recoiling as if she had been slapped before finding the resolve to once more meet his gaze. The hurt she found there, staring back at her nearly robbed her of the ability to draw breath.
"Or perhaps you've changed your mind?" It was to the whisper of a breeze that Naruto appeared before her, taking her lovely face into his large, icy hands. "My offer still stands," he whispered as he buried his face in the bend of her neck, his lips ghosting along her pulse as he breathed deeply and greedily. "I would still take you as my own. You may keep your mortality. And even your… offspring, should you desire. I can show you an eternity of bliss or a single lifetime of ecstasy. All you need do is say the words."
Lily shuddered as his heady scent made her head swim. Lost in memories of strong arms and the type of ecstasy he was offering, she managed to scrounge up the strength for the second time in her life to push him away.
"I called you here because I need your help. Voldemort is after my family… my Harry."
Her warmth still lingering on his hands and her intoxicating scent clouding his senses, Naruto took a further step away from his flower, fighting the inseparable temptations to feed upon her life's blood as he took her then and there. "The affairs of your kind are none of my concern."
Lily flinched at his cold tone but pressed on. "No one's sure why, but Dumbledore believes he won't stop until he sees my child dead."
"Dumbledore," Naruto repeated, a jaded, mirthless chuckle coloring his tone. "The bee at work once more."
"But there's a way for us to hide, a way that Voldemort could never hope to find us," she pressed. "It's why I called for you."
"A selfish, soulless monster," Naruto intoned, quoting the exact words she had spoken the last time he saw her.
"I'm sorry," Lily choked out in a silent sob. "I never meant to hurt you... I was scared. You had just killed Severus."
"The vile, little man who attempted to force himself upon you after learning you had dirtied yourself by lying with the likes of myself."
Lily's turmoil grew, the truth of his words like a lead weight.
"I knew what you were and all that entailed, but I was frightened. Watching as you… fed upon him…"
The waves of dark red tresses that first garnered her his attention swayed violently as she recalled watching him feed on her one-time best friend.
"If I had it to do over again, I would do things differently. I know that now," she confessed as tears began to fall. Despite her love for her husband, she stumbled forward and fell into the blond's marble embrace, welcoming the all too familiar strength and bone-deep chill that could be found there.
"But I have a husband now, and a child on the way. And I'm asking you one last time, please, save us. Save my family."
Eyes trained on the moonbeams and the way the stained glass twisted and mutated them, Naruto buried his face in her hair, relishing in the feel of her in his arms one last time.
"What does my flower ask of me?"
"A secret keeper..."
Violent Delights
Sixteen years later…
"To what do I owe this honor?"
Pausing in his ministrations to give the trio of new arrivals a dispassionate glance, Naruto returned to his meal, drinking heavily from the pale lass in his arms.
One of the figures made a keening sound of desire as they savored the scent of the innocent the blond had spirited away from her friends for his own indulgences, shuffling eagerly forward with the intent of taking a taste for themselves. Yet before he could take more than a step, a deep, hair-raising growl bubbled in the blond's throat, freezing the offender where he stood.
A single bead of ichor stained his lips as he pulled his head back, turning his sights upon the trio. "Speak."
It was the smallest of the three to react, stepping forward with her head inclined respectfully.
"Aro requests your assistance in a matter of great importance," Jane hastily explained. "A coven's negligence threatens us all."
"And for what possible reason has Aro chosen to call upon me?" Naruto inquired, carefully depositing the beautiful, bare corpse at his feet with the utmost care. "Does he wish for an example to be made?"
"He said you would want this mission. That it involved an old friend."
A touch of curiosity sparked to life in the crimson depths of his gaze.
"Who?"
"Carlisle."
Violent Delights
They likened him to a miracle worker.
In all manners, it was paramount that he and his family maintain their anonymity. This meant keeping a low profile, as difficult as that proved to be for their kind, whenever they moved to a new, temporary home.
The only facet of life where he abandoned this cardinal rule was during surgery. Though not often discussed in their field of work, it was a known and accepted fact that most level-headed surgeons would pass on any patient with less than ideal conditions, or who had a low chance of surviving a procedure.
But Carlisle Cullen was different. No matter the chance of success or failure, if the patient was willing to place their faith in him, he would do everything within his power, bar a single, terrible act, to save them. The eyes and hands of someone like himself could perform what seemed like miracles compared to the capabilities of a human surgeon.
Though that didn't mean he was capable of saving every life he came into contact with. Some were, as hard as it was to accept, beyond saving. And though it had taken him a long time to come to terms with this fact, it was the lives he could save, the ones who left his operating table to live a full, healthy life, who he dwelled upon when he proved incapable of preserving the life placed in his care.
It was the chart of one such patient—a man sent from a hospital a few towns over for a double bypass—that the immortal was pouring over when he turned as rigid as a statue. Amidst the stinging scent of chemicals; the sour stench of unwashed bodies going on their thirteenth hour of a nine-hour shift; the sickness permeating the air that no amount of cleaner and disinfectant could combat, was a familiar scent.
His kind possessed perfect memories. Could recall the taste of every creature they drank from, never forgot a text they glanced at in passing, and knew every scent they had ever encountered with perfect clarity. And the scent wafting through the small corridor—an intoxicating mixture made up of a summer's breeze, petrichor, and hours old human blood—was one he hadn't experienced in a handful of lifetimes.
"Stregone."
Carlisle involuntarily glanced up from the chart at the sound of the backhanded alias the Volturi had 'teasingly' labeled him with during his tenor amongst their ranks, dread, and excitement in equal measure quickening his nonexistent pulse as he laid eyes upon one of his world's elite. The tale of the assassin before him had always fascinated the doctor, yet it was the man himself who proved to be the greater enigma. He adhered to a strange code of ethics of his own design that none, not even Aro, Marcus, and Caius, fully comprehended.
The blond cut an imposing figure draped in the garb of his station as a member of the Volturi guard. As tall as Carlisle's own height of 6'2, but younger in the face, despite the whisker-like scaring upon his cheeks that had carried over from his human life, there was something animalistic about him that went beyond what was normally found in most of the wilder, nomadic members of their kind. There was a sophistication and refinement to his movements that betrayed his eon amongst the cultured and cruel Volturi. Yet it was in his eyes, crimson like all those who fed upon the living, that spoke of the warrior he had been before receiving the bite.
"Naruto," he whispered, as close to shock as was possible for his kind. He ignored the buzzing in his breast pocket, his cell going crazy with calls and messages from Alice, who by now, thanks to her unparalleled gift, would know something was amiss.
"Or would Dr. Cullen be preferable?" the blond questioned, an impish tilt tickling at the corner of his mouth. Around them, nurses and orderlies passed, giving the blond a wide berth and his choice in clothing peculiar, eyebrow-raising glances.
"The offer stands as it always has, old friend," Carlisle breathed, firmly reeling in his anxiety as he inclined his head in a silent sign of respect. "You may call me Carlisle."
The blond nodded as he turned on his heel with all the breathtaking grace of a dancer and proceeded to make his way toward the exit. The command to follow was unspoken, yet hung between them like a tangible entity, brooking no room for disobedience.
"You should answer, Carlisle," the blond commented as the buzzing in the doctor's pocket continued, unhindered by his refusal to answer. "One with a family as lovely as your own shouldn't keep them in wait."
Without giving notice that he was leaving in the middle of his shift, the head of the Cullen clan followed him into the parking lot and toward the sensible sedan his scent clung to. Withdrawing his phone and keys in tandem, he unlocked the doors as he finally swiped the accept button.
"Carlisle," hissed a smoky, panic-tainted voice on the other end.
"Edythe, I'm—" Carlisle tensed, his words dying on his tongue as the large, powerful hand of his companion extended. When he didn't do as was expected of him immediately, the predatory smile of the man next to him softened in what was a genuine attempt at disarming any concerns he might have for his family's well-being.
"I'm not your enemy, Carlisle… not yet." Said man didn't attempt to hide his misgivings as he reluctantly handed over his cell. "Edythe?"
"Hello? Carlisle?" the other end spoke, faster and softer than a human was capable. In the background, he could make out the sound of the world passing by at a blur, a soft tug on the wind that was as familiar to him as breathing.
"I'm afraid not, my dear," he intoned in his husky drawl as he played with the radio's settings. "Given the distance between the high school and hospital, I'd suggest you meet us at your home. I look forward to meeting you and the rest of your family."
With a swipe of his powerful digit, he ended the call. Holding the phone out to his one-time friend, he patted the tense doctor on the shoulder. "Show me this family you've built yourself. I have high expectations."
Violent Delights
To the crackle of gravel under tire, Carlisle pulled onto the long drive that led to his home. He knew what awaited him inside, his wife, daughters, and sons, the only exception being Edward and Bella who were currently in Florida. And yet, instead of easing the cesspool of anxiety in his chest, this knowledge served only to strengthen his fears.
His family was strong, he knew this well. But the man next to him, as easy as it would be to buy into the meticulously crafted façade, was a flesh and bone monster.
Not for the first time during their too short drive from the hospital, Carlisle sent up a prayer, asking for strength and safe guidance through the coming encounter for his loved ones.
"Still you cling to your rosary," Naruto observed, a curiosity playing on his voice so idle it was almost nonexistent. "Just as you do your misplaced convictions. Admirable."
Carlisle managed to chuckle as his fellow blond broached the familiar debate on religion they had always gone back and forth on. "As skeptical as ever, I see."
"I have seen the rise of many such gods, yet they fade from the memory of man while I remain, unchanging and waiting for the salvation each promised should I fall to bended knee with their name upon my tongue. Your god is no different. A passing trend not long for this world."
The car was now silent and unmoving, Carlisle scrutinized the undead history book before him with the type of single-minded focus that only someone with multiple lifetimes of experience could. Not for a second did he believe the blond to be making false claims about the birth and death of religions. Even by the standards of their kind, he was ancient.
"Perhaps salvation alludes you because you've yet to give yourself completely to anything, be it greater than yourself or otherwise."
Naruto inclined his head, conceding his point as he reached for the door. In a blur of motion, they exited the car and crossed the dived to the porch. As they ascended the steps, the door swung open on silent hinges, revealing the famous, or infamous given one's perspective, Olympic coven.
There were six of them in total, not including Carlisle. Strategically scattered in the hopes of replicating nonchalance, but failing to deceive his knowing gaze. There was no doubt their strongest fighters were closest to the door, and subsequently himself.
"Allow me to make introductions," Carlisle said as he swept gracefully into the room, taking up residence next to a stunning brunette. "This is my wife, Esme, and our children, Emmett, and his partner, Roselle. Alice and Jasper. And finally, Edythe."
"This," he continued, waving a hand in his direction, "is Naruto Uzumaki, a member of the Volturi and an old friend." Naruto inclined his head in way of greeting.
"Now that Carlisle has caught you up, allow me to tell you what it is young Edythe has already skimmed from my thoughts."
There was no dramatic intake of breath or concerned glances shared at his revelation, yet the way they tensed, indiscernible but to the eyes of the most perceptive immortal, was all the betrayal he needed. They hadn't expected him to know of her gift. They were blind to him, just as he had meant for them to be.
"Aro, Marcus, and Caius chose myself to play ambassador… I've been tasked with informing you that your family and its way of life has become an increasing concern for the Volturi."
"What have we done to warrant the Volturi's attention?" The speaker was the lone member of the coven without a partner, Edythe. She, unlike the others, was closest to him and the door, the unanimously elected mouthpiece of their coven. A perfect job for one with a gift like her own. "Surely, they can't be insinuating that sustaining from human blood somehow makes us a threat?" she inquired, unmasked accusations ringing clear in her tone.
"Course not," the blond smirked, setting them all on edge. "Continue to adhere to your masochistic vow of celibacy. Your oddities are none of our concern. The attention you draw, however, so many of our kind taking up residence together, and before the eyes of mortals no less, is another matter."
"We've gone to great lengths to maintain a low profile," Carlisle hurried to assure.
"Yet you continue to draw attention. Your eldest, Edward, is courting a human girl. La tua cantante. Can you truly claim to be doing your all to assure our existence remains but a myth when he insists upon clinging to his singer?"
"I admit the situation appears precarious. But Edward's control rivals even my own," Carlisle assured him, attempting to explain. "There was a hunter by the name of James who attacked her, his Bella, and almost succeeded in killing her. He would have succeeded had he not taken the time to assure she suffered as much as possible. Yet Edward was able to save her. He drained the venom from her bloodstream without killing her."
"His dedication to his singer is admirable, if misplaced. But instead of letting his chosen turn, he actively halted the change, despite the knowledge that in doing so was a crime," Naruto summarized.
"He didn't feel it was his right," the one known as Alice interjected. Her mate, a sharp-eyed blond, hissed, snaking a protective arm about her middle. "…taking the choice to turn from her."
"And in doing so, potentially robbed her of the chance to join him at his side for eternity. I was sent here to observe your family and ascertain whether or not you pose a threat to our continued anonymity. Luckily for your family, Carlisle, Aro knows nothing of the girl. Their relationship would greatly concern him, however."
Though impossible, Carlisle looked as if his frozen heart once more beat, only to stutter to a halt.
"That sounded a lot like a threat," growled the largest of the Cullen clan. Emmett's broad chest vibrated as he stepped forward, drawing further attention to their startling difference in height. As tall as Naruto was, the more powerfully built vampire was large enough that it seemed unnatural. His stature was one you saw on television, on a basketball court or football field tearing past linemen to flatten a quarterback, not in a small, backwater town.
"Emmett," Edythe hissed at the burly undead, turning to send his mate, a stunning blonde, a look that made it clear the very real danger he was antagonizing.
Yet it wasn't her reaction or even Naruto's amused smirk that caused the mountain of an immortal to pause, but that of his sire. The perpetually collected and mild-tempered Carlisle had abandoned his post at his mate's side to appear before his most impulsive son, his hand splayed firmly upon his chest.
"Enough." Like his tone, he wore a look that was uncharacteristically stern. "You will show our guest respect."
Naruto made a sound that could have passed for amusement or, as was just as likely, apathy.
"You misunderstand, child. The Volturi do not make threats. They lay in wait. Anticipating their enemies' mistakes so that they may seize the moment of least resistance with overwhelming force, taking what they want and ridding the rest from existence. To threaten you would be to alert you to their ill-boding gaze."
The blond's lips pulled into a lazy smile at the larger vampire's shock. His perfect teeth startling white and more terrifying than the entirety of Emmett Cullen's imposing, supernaturally strong form.
"No, the purpose behind my presence here — for the time being — is to observe. I've watched from afar long enough to familiarize myself with your routines, and to recognize any attempts at deceit."
"If you've been watching us all this time, why come forward now?" Alice demanded, her pixie-esque features twisted in a rictus of anger at him for having the audacity to circumvent her sight. "Surely you've seen enough to know no laws—"
"Beyond dear Edward's indiscretion," Naruto quipped and was promptly ignored by the smallest member of their impromptu meeting.
"—have been broken," she finished through clenched teeth.
"Indeed, I have," he conceited without preamble. "But I would be remiss in my duties if I didn't assure I had a full scope of the situation," he crooned, vanishing from sight and reappearing behind them, seated at the piano that sat as the center focal point of the living room. "Should my investigation into your coven be called into question, another would be sent in my stead. Make no mistake, fledgling, no other member of the elite guard would be as forgiving of your brother's circumstance."
Naruto ghosted his fingers along the keys, absorbed in a melancholy hymn none present recognized, missing the looks shared amongst the family of immortals.
"And," prompted Jasper, speaking for the first time, his poisonous glare fixated on the back of the blond's skull. "What happens if you find we're a threat?"
"Complete and total annihilation, I'm afraid," Naruto supplied as if commenting on the weather. "Well, that's not exactly true," he confessed, turning to regard them, his gaze falling upon Edythe, who stiffened, her fair features hardening dangerously, and then Alice. "Some of you, I imagine, would be offered respite."
"What is it, Edythe?" Carlisle questioned with an indiscernible look toward their uninvited guest, having picked up her reaction to whatever thoughts it was she had plucked from his mind.
"Aro," Edythe gasped, mind moving a mile a minute. "He wants our gifts for himself."
Naruto inclined his head, confirming her words.
"It doesn't matter what you report, does it?!" she accused with a growl, avoiding her sire's attempts to hold her back and getting right up in his face. "Now that he's aware of what Alice, Edward, and I are capable of, he'll never stop coveting our abilities. Even if we're found innocent today, it won't take long for them to orchestrate events to fit a narrative that gives them the opportunity to not only claim us but to be rid of the threat our family represents."
"Well deduced, my dear," Naruto smirked up at the petite, bronze-haired beauty, earning a snarl as the thought filtered through his mind. "You managed to piece together all that from the insignificant tidbit I shared. Well done. You're a credit to your family."
"A family you intend to rip apart for the selfishness of your master," she bit out, on the verge of attacking him. Behind her, her siblings all looked as if they were poised to join in her assault.
Naruto made a chiding sound in the back of his throat, shaking his head in disappointment. "And you were doing so well, too," he lamented, causing her to momentarily forget her righteous, indignant rage to arch a single perfectly sculpted brow. "Tell me, love, if that were my purpose, wouldn't I have attacked the moment I learned of your pet human's existence?"
Edythe made to object, but the words failed to form, her golden eyes appraising as if seeing him properly for the first time.
"Please excuse my family," Carlisle interjected, stepping forward to place a hand on his daughter's shoulder. "They meant no disrespect. They're just—"
"Protective of their own, I can see as much," Naruto nodded. "No offense taken, old friend. Such loyalty is a rare commodity, and as such should be valued above all else. After all, those who break the rules are scum, but those who abandon those with whom they share ties are less than scum."
AN: This is a snippet of a story I wrote a while back that I come back to from time to time. It's something I would love to delve into further, but not sure there will be any demand for it to continue. So I'm throwing it out there to see what the response will be.
The second reason I'm updating this story is more personal. A few months back I lost my previous account here on FF, email, and contact with a beta and friend I was working with on this and a handful of other stories. It's my hope that they'll see this and reach out. I don't remember my former account name or theirs, though I'm certain that when I see it, theirs that is, I'll recognize it.
Also, be sure to check out my main story at the moment 'Blackburn'. It's a SI/OC Pokemon fic that I'm quite proud of.
If you enjoyed this, be sure to leave a review.