A/N: So my excuse is actually legitimate, I feel; I just moved 3,000 miles. It took me a week to get here and I've had another week of unpacking and now waiting for my movers to come so I can have a bed to sleep in. It's been a fun, crazy, frustrating few weeks! But I'm back and ready to continue; I hope you are as well!
As a side note, I did enjoy getting some more insight from Midnight Sun; it makes things more full and interesting. I hope to utilize some of it in the this story, though probably not blatantly. Let me know your thoughts!
Chapter 16: Revenge
"Where's Beau?" Carine's question echoed through the hallway. Though her family would have heard her if she had whispered, the stress in her tone made the volume louder than was necessary. She moved swiftly toward the main floor, Edythe trailing behind her with both hands clasped around Carine's. Carine led her down the stairs, coming upon Earnest standing in the middle of the room.
It took Edythe a moment to realize Carine had been speaking to Archie, as he, Eleanor, and Jessamine had just entered through the back door. Her siblings' clothes were slightly damp from the light drizzle going on outside but it didn't bother them as their eyes were on Carine.
"Two minutes," Archie answered Carine's question robotically.
"And the nomad?" Carine hedged.
"Five minutes, probably less."
Carine nodded and then instructed Eleanor and Jessamine to follow Beau to the house; they nodded and quickly disappeared back into the night. Edythe forced herself to focus on the actions around her, to avoid having to process the why's. Carine stepped to Earnest, who reached for her.
"What will we do when he comes?" Earnest asked her.
"Get some answers," Carine responded tersely. She allowed him to hold her for a moment before she called Edythe to her. Edythe moved automatically to her parents, who placed themselves on either side of her, an impenetrable barrier. Archie stood slightly off to the side of the stairs, his eyes blank as he flicked through all the possible outcomes for this encounter. The frown on his face hinted at less than stellar options. Royal was there too, but he neither looked at or acknowledged Edythe's presence; his eyes stayed locked on the front door where Eleanor had disappeared.
The roar of Beau's truck came into view quicker than expected. Less than a minute before his truck came into view, he was inside, flanked by Jessamine and Eleanor. He moved to Edythe's side immediately, who reached out for him. Carine and Earnest readjusted, moving to stand in front of the humans. Earnest moved to stand to the side, while Eleanor and Jessamine moved into a tighter perimeter around Edythe and Beau. Carine stayed where she was, her body directly in line with the front door.
"What's going on?" Beau asked in a low voice, flicking from Carine to Edythe and back. Edythe glanced at her mother, unsure of what to say.
"The creature, the vampire that cornered Edythe, is coming here. He caught the trails and has decided to double back," Carine answered tightly, her eyes flicking to meet her newest son's gaze briefly. Beau seemed to go paler than usual and his hand on Edythe tightened. She squeezed it back, unnerved. No one moved; no one spoke. Until, after what seemed like a longer time than it really was, the Cullens' eyelines all shifted to the left of the door, looking out over the lawn and to the forest beyond. A moment later, a figure stepped out of the tress.
His dark hair was thick and curly, and clearly hadn't been brushed in a long time. He was tall, nearly as tall as Beau, but built thicker through the shoulders and arms. He wore only white slacks, though the dirt and bracken had long ago taken away the stark color from the garment, making it a yellowish brownish gray. He moved almost casually toward the big white house, seeming unaware of the coven of agitated vampires that stood just beyond the door. As he got closer, Edythe could see the large grin across his face, as well as crimson irises; she fought a shiver.
The vampire moved easily toward the door, turning the latch and stepping inside. The Cullens froze into stillness, more so than before, their bodies coiled like tight wires as they looked upon the newcomer. The nomad acted completely at ease, but Beau could sense he was much more alert than he wanted them to believe. He looked around at them all and then smiled, his arms coming up from his sides in almost a friendly hug.
"My, my, the Cullen clan, finally in my midst," he said in a fluid, deep voice; Edythe could hear just a touch of accent, perhaps Slovenia, Russia, she couldn't tell which. The vampire's eyes swept the room, stopping on the trio.
"Carine Cullen, I presume," he addressed the matriarch, making a small bow with his head. Carine looked at him, partially confused, partially guarded; the sight of the vampire did not clear her memories of where he may have met her before. She still kept her body between him and Edythe, unwilling to relax her stance.
"I have heard many things about you," the vampire continued as if oblivious to the tension. When no one spoke, he almost chuckled, though his face seemed a little too impassive for such a reaction.
"Of course, allow me to introduce myself. I am Edric." He bowed once more, deeper and to the entire room this time. The Cullens' eyes followed his descent and back up, not saying a word. Edric again searched through each face, before choosing to settle on Edythe; though he could not see her clearly.
"Ah, my child, I see you have done well so far," he said approvingly, eyeing her as if she were his pupil who had outdone his expectations. Despite her stance, Carine glanced back at Edythe, wondering if somehow she recognized this nomad. But Edythe shook her head minutely, knowing her mother's question even without the benefit of mind reading. Tentatively, though trying not to act like it, Edythe moved a half step to Carine's right, to look at the vampire who had addressed her.
"Do I know you?" she asked; her voice was firmer than she expected, considering how petrified she felt facing an unfamiliar, non-vegetarian vampire.
Edric laughed a little heartlessly; it was an empty sound, meant only for the superficial purpose of a response, not like he had any real pleasure.
"No, and I don't know you. Not really, anyway. Only as the little vampire that I needed to locate," Edric said dismissively, waving a hand slightly. Edythe's eyebrows pulled together.
"And why did you need to locate me?"
"Why, so I could convert you, of course," he said, as if this were the most obvious thing, "or have you not noticed that you're on a slightly less bloody diet recently?" The question was rhetorical and condescending. Edythe's chin jerked up slightly at the tone.
"Convert me?" she clarified, her eyes, stronger and burning more akin to her former self than ever before, looked evenly back at Edric. His grin stretched wider, and it was an unnerving expression.
"My little talent, just as you had, my dear," he said. "While you may have had a certain telepathy, my abilities are slightly more, shall we say, substantial." With one hand, he gestured to Edythe again, to her new form.
"A talent, I will say, has come in quite handy over the millennia. I never thought when I discovered what I could do that such an ability would become my bread and butter, my profession, one may say."
"What do you mean?" Carine asked cautiously; she did not like that there was a clear line between Edythe and the nomad, but she feared acting defensively would cause a fight. She suddenly ached for Edythe to be able to read her thoughts, her mental command to return to her original position. But she didn't; Edythe was still watching Edric with confused, cautious eyes. Edric turned to look at her.
"I'm sure you can guess for yourself my abilities"—another brush to Edythe—"and I use it to my own advantage, through offering it out to the advantages of others. You wouldn't believe what many others of our kind are willing to pay to achieve retribution, to settle debts. Or avoid them. To me, it makes no difference. They wire the money, and then tell me where to go. It's an easy life, I'll admit." Edric's explanation was far from specific and not very clear, but Carine started to understand. As did the others.
"So you're some sort of vampire bounty hunter?" Jessamine asked smoothly. Edric glanced at her her; he seemed unfazed by her garish scars and slightly aggressive stance.
"Such a detestable term," he countered, "I prefer to call myself a huntsman, taking down game as those who see fit."
"Who sent you after Edythe? What do they have against her?" Eleanor asked; Edythe could see the agitation in her sister, that there wasn't just this vampire to worry about, but whoever had hired him.
"Against her? Nothing," Edric said with an exasperated sigh. "I will admit, my customers very rarely want someone other than their own foe to be the victim, but I couldn't resist the juiciness of this trip. It is not with this girl that she has a qualm about." He looked at Edythe appreciatively, as if looking over his finest work.
"Then who?" Eleanor demanded; Earnest and Carine gave her a warning look; she met their gaze, flashing to Edythe and Beau for a split second. Edric laughed hollowly again.
"Why, your coven leader, of course," he said simply, his eyes on Carine. Carine looked back at him blankly.
"Me?" She asked.
"Yes, you," Edric replied, then added, "Does the name Alison mean anything to you?"
Carine froze, her body suddenly ramrod straight, and the Cullens looked at her warily; obviously, the name had meant something to her.
"No," she whispered almost to herself. Edric smiled again, the devilish grin satisfied at the look on Carine's face.
"It seems she finally chose to follow through on her promise," Edric told Carine unnecessarily. "She felt that it was more justified this way. To put it into her words: 'To have you suffer the way she suffered'. Regardless, she made it very clear that you were not the target." Edric's eyes strayed to Edythe once more, but all eyes were on Carine, who seemed to have frozen into stillness. Her golden eyes were wide, scared, and a million miles away.
Without thinking about it, she reached out and grabbed Edythe's arm, pulling her back between herself and Edric; Edythe was thankful the centuries of practice had allowed Carine to automatically know how much force to use, but she felt the strength in her mother's grip all the same. Edric seemed to smile wider at Carine's reaction.
"Protect her all you want; my work here is done," he told Carine almost impishly, "I am surprised she survived this long." Carine seemed to break out of her trance, her eyes looking on Edric's. The gentleness in her eyes seemed to be gone, replaced with a hardness none of the Cullens had ever seen before.
"What are you talking about?" she demanded; the sound was like steel clashing against concrete.
"Well, unlike most of my victims, who dread being changed back to their former, lesser selves," Edric shuddered a little at the thought, "Alison knew the idea was not as reprehensible to your coven. But she knew my track record with my talent has a certain flair, shall we say."
"Meaning?" Carine pushed, her eyes boring into the nomad's. The tone made his grin almost senseless with glee.
"None of my victims survive very long; if they are strong enough to survive the conversion, they only last a few days, at most. Which is why I am very impressed; she's the longest one by far." Edric was eyeing Edythe once more; Edythe shrank back at the scrutiny, as well as his words.
"What do you mean, 'survive'? What happens to them?" Carine asked urgently; her tone was just as sharp, but there was an undertone of desperation she couldn't quite hide.
"I have no problem telling you, only because I know it won't make any difference," Edric responded. "Once returned to their human forms, my targets all eventually relive their vampire transformation; but this time, they don't make it out the other side. It's a long, painful way to die. Perfect for those who want vengeance."
Edric's words were met with silence. No one knew how to respond, but as Beau looked at the Cullens' faces, he could see each of them relieving their own transformations, imagining it worse, and then dying slowly from the process. Yes, it was certainly the most vengeful way to die.
"Why?" Carine asked, and her voice sounded broken, helpless. "Why did you do this?"
Edric shrugged, nonchalant.
"I am merely the messenger," he said casually, "I am paid to do a job, and I do it. I feel nothing toward you or the girl or the rest of your coven. But it's part of the job." Edric had been turned to leave at this point. But Eleanor had moved to block the door. Edric held up a hand, his back still toward her.
"Careful there," he said, "If you hope to have any information, it would not do well to kill the only being who knows what was done to her. And how long she'll last." Eleanor rocked back on her heels, her eyes flitting to Carine and Earnest. Jessamine, as much as she wanted to follow her sister, nodded in agreement, knowing Edric was right. Earnest shook his head at her, but his eyes quickly turned downward, where Carine had pulled Edythe to her the moment Edric had moved, her granite body curling around the human girl protectively. Eleanor backed off, but kept her baneful eyes on the nomad. Edric laughed another of his humorless laughing coughs.
"I will say too, that I am very curious to see this play out. I've never seen one last so long. It will be interesting." With that last remark and a final leer at Edythe that she didn't see, Edric was gone, his figure disappearing into the trees as quickly as it had come.
Eleanor moved to where her family huddled around Carine and Edythe; the human had seemed to collapse on herself, and Carine went down with her, supporting her weight while the rest of the family watched, the tension in their bodies showing their confusion and nervousness. Eleanor hadn't registered Edythe's hitching breaths until then and she looked to see that Carine had her hands on either side of Edythe's face, and that Edythe's heart was beating much too fast. She was reminded of the first day she had seen Edythe in her human form, how terrified she had. How she'd nearly had a panic attack from their very presence. But this time, it wasn't her family that had caused this.
Edythe didn't hear Carine's words trying to calm her; her body continued to shudder vigorously and the pounding in her head continued. She couldn't seem to get air in, and black spots started to dance across her vision. Edythe's heart rate continued to rise, reaching nearly a hundred and fifty beats per minute, and her breaths came in short, gasping pants. Carine became more alarmed as Edythe didn't react to her. Her hands were on Edythe's, rubbing soothingly up and down in ways that had calmed her before.
"Edythe, breathe. You need to breathe," Carine pleaded urgently, but Edythe did not even shift her gaze, her eyes locked and unfocused. Carine's fear grew and she looked back to meet Jessamine's gaze, who stepped forward automatically, She knelt behind Edythe. deliberately placing her hands on her sister's shoulders, and pushed as much calm into her as possible. Jessamine's fingers slid down Edythe's arms, replacing Carine's as Edythe's body buckled under her gift. Her head dropped to Jess' shoulder, eyes glazed over as her body was forced to relax. Carine let out a grim sigh of relief as Edythe's heart rate lowered to a more normal tempo and her breathing pattern reverted to normal.
"Relax, Edythe, breathe," Carine murmured to her, knowing that underneath the psychic calm Jessamine was forcing on her, Edythe was panicking just as much as before. But she couldn't bring herself to stop Jessamine; she needed Edythe to calm down, the stress on her even more dangerous now than before.
"Don't fight me, Edy," Jessamine murmured, "I've got you, you're safe. Take deep breaths." Once Carine was assured Jessamine would keep Edythe calm, she leaned back, finding the end of the couch and sitting there, her elbows on her knees and her hands clasped between them as she watched.
Jessamine held Edythe's body upright and there were several tense minutes as Edythe forced herself to calm, or, at least, to force her body to calm. Her green eyes never left Carine's, filled with fear and confusion. Carine met her gaze superficially, but Edythe could tell her mind was far away. She wasn't looking at Edythe's face, but at memories from long ago. Edythe dragged herself out of her panic, much as she had when she had nightmares, forcing herself to think logically, almost robotically. She could feel it working, her body uncoiling.
When Jessamine was satisfied that Edythe's calm was all her own, she nodded at Carine before easing off her human sister. Edythe moved immediately to Carine's side, staying on the floor beside the couch. Carine's hand ran through Edythe's hair absently, looking down at her daughter, her face blank.
"Who is Alison?" Edythe finally asked the question that everyone had been wondering. Carine closed her eyes for a moment, her face filled with guilt, and shame. It took a long minute for her to respond.
"Alison is a nomad I met in Europe two centuries ago; she was from England, turned during Edward the second's reign. We happened upon each other while I had been hunting. She…is not a very trusting individual, come from a hard human life and a harder start as a vampire. I thought it was just a passing encounter, until a few days later she had come upon me where I worked at the time.
"Though I worked only as a nurse, she knew I had training beyond those of the doctors at the time. She brought a human boy with her, one she had cared for dearly; his name was Lolek, and he was very ill with cholera. It was the first instances of the second pandemic that hit Europe and the States. Though he was young and probably had been healthy otherwise, he was too sick. She asked me, begged me, to save him; I couldn't. I found out later that she had watched him grow up, had loved him since he was a boy, watched him from afar all his life. She loved him…"
Carine's eyes trailed off for a moment, thinking about the parallels between Alison's stories and Edythe's. BUt she shook her head free of the thoughts after a moment and continued.
"She was angry, upset, and rightfully so. But, try as I might, he died within the hour. She was distraught, and she fled not long after his final breath. But, before she disappeared, she told me I would pay for my actions, at my apparent refusal to help. But I couldn't do anything; there was nothing that would have saved him, other than being infected in a different century…"
"It wasn't your fault," Earnest immediately insisted, squeezing Carine gently. She touched his hand on her shoulder, a small grimace on her face. Her head was still angled down, her golden hair falling to one side. She didn't meet any of their eyes, trained her own irises on the floor.
"Maybe, but that doesn't make her pain any less," she said. "I mourned for her, and for Lolek. But the pandemic had gotten worse quickly, and I was distracted. I hadn't thought much of it, maybe a passing thought every few decades. But our paths never crossed, so I hadn't let it bother me." She finally looked up, meeting Earnest's gaze; in the same instant, she crushed Edythe to her. Edythe let her mother hold her, feeling more calm than she had a few minutes ago, and much calmer than Carine felt. She felt a piece of small relief inside her that the slightly too strong hold from her vampire mother did not elicit any involuntary reaction in Edythe's body.
Her calmn now seemed to confuse them, most of all Jessamine; she had been ready to dose her sister again, but found it unnecessary. Edythe looked up to meet Carine's gaze that she felt boring into her back.
"I'm fine," she promised her, "Nothing is going to happen to me." Carine nodded once then hugged her tighter. Despite her assent, Carine shared none of Edythe's confidence; in fact, it made her that much more on edge. She remembered the pain, the grief in Alison's eyes that day, and she could ascertain exactly how those emotions could morph into anger, revenge. She later realized that the female nomad had mated with the human boy, and the loss had been insurmontable. And so, as a result and an only way to follow through to get some type of retribution for Carine's imagined wrong, it was to target those Carine loved. She had relayed to Alison her desire for a family, for companionship, and she was unsurprised Alison had used this against her. In the nomad's mind, it was best fitting to hurt Carine by taking away her first companion, her firstborn.
"You're right." Carine said, a strength and desperation in her voice that no one had ever heard before. But the vampires heard what Carine murmured almost to herself:
"If anything happens to her, it will be my fault."
A/N: So one could debate this is out of canon; but I will state that the Life and Death universe is not the same as the Twilight universe (Mele, for starters), so I feel certain liberties can be taken with this regarding Alistair/Alison's background. Please don't judge me too harshly :)
I hope you enjoyed and I will see you in the next one!