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TWO CENTURIES LOVE

Chapter 7: Gifts.

After the first meeting with Carlisle and Esme, everything seemed to have fallen into place. Carlisle had asked me one day into his study and had profusely apologized for the role he had played in keeping Edward away from me. I told him exactly what I was thinking, and exactly what I had tell Edward.

"Carlisle, while I appreciate the sentiment, you do not need to apologize to me. I understand what your thoughts were at the moment, and I understand your believe system towards not taking a life that has another chance. I may have not taken it lightly when Edward first told me, but I've had time to think about it, and I understand why you did it."

He seemed at loss. I smiled at him. He stroke me as a passionate man. His study was full of art, I recognized some figures in certain paintings, but I wasn't keen in sharing that knowledge yet. He also had a compassionate soul, he cared deeply for his patients, and had the patience of a saint. So, I understood more than ever, why this was so heavy on his heart.

"The important thing now, Carlisle, is that Edward and I found each other again. We love each other very much and we plan on being together forever. It is unnecessary to keep carrying this burden. Let it go. We're happy and it's all water on the bridge."

He smiled sweetly at me. "You are something else, aren't you?"

I shrugged unsure what to say to that.

"I meant it when I welcomed you into the family the other day."

I beamed at his words. "It means a lot to me. Thank you."

He kissed my forehead in a very fatherly way and allowed me to leave.

It had been a touching conversation despite being a short one. I really didn't need anyone feeling guilty about something that had solved itself. It was really in the past. From then on, I felt as another Cullen. Edward and I didn't speak about marriage again. My stupid insecurities had been eradicated at his thoughtful and loving second promise.

Emmett tried to shoot as many sexual innuendos as he could, and I took them with grace, shooting back whenever I wanted. He was waiting for them, of course. He was the happiest person on earth. He loved Rosalie to death and loved to annoy her as well. You would often hear her curse him from the garage. You would also hear his booming laughter as he avoided or was hit with any mechanical equipment. Jasper and Alice were an intriguing couple. They seemed to have their own language. They barely spoke to each other, but you could tell they knew what the other was feeling or thinking. Jasper was quiet, but a fun quiet. Alice was her own bubbly person. Rose was fierce and protective. But she also gave very good advises.

She was my favorite Cullen (after Edward) and I often sought her company for hunting and talking. It's not as if Alice wasn't a good friend, but she kind of had that vibe of being more Edward's friend and confident. And I felt more comfortable with Rose.

A few weeks had passed since my arrival. I was no longer news, but any new thing that occurred at school would become the subject of conversation until something new came along. I finally understood that it hadn't been about me they were whispering. They just did it because I was the new thing. It was a small town, and news were lacking sometimes. That made me relax a little and be friendlier when I had to be at school. Still, I hadn't made any friends outside the Cullens, and I wasn't trying to, either.

It was so strange being in the Cullen house while everyone was just doing their own thing. I mean, I could hear Carlisle mutter fancy medical words from his study. Esme was thinking out loud about house renovations. Jasper and Rose were the quiet ones in fact. Emmett was just loud, he read loudly, he played loudly, but everyone seemed to ignore it, being used to his peculiar way of working. Alice was always doing something, muttering about fashion weeks, the weather, baseball, and many more things that were unrelated to each other. Edward didn't mind her at all and went along with whatever she chose to do.

For instance, the other day, she knocked on the door and without waiting for an answer she strolled in, holding some things in her hands, and just waltzing towards Edward's closet. I found it a bit…rude, to just waltz into someone's closet. I mean, it's their intimacy. But Edward was as unbothered as if she had just walked in to borrow a pencil. She left with clothes on her hands and closed the door behind her. It was the strangest thing ever.

Edward didn't explain. In fact, he never looked up from his computer.

Jasper kept staring at me at school, and at the house I could feel his eyes following me around sometimes. It was creeping the hell out of me. I kind of started hiding from him when I went to the house. I hid in Edward's room, or in Carlisle's study. I didn't know how to breach the subject to Edward. It's not like I thought Jasper was looking at me with lust or thinking of cheating on Alice, but it was still weird.

But the weirdest thing one day was Alice yelling from her room to Edward, using his human name. "Don't you dare Masen!"

But Edward was with me in his room. He chuckled quietly.

"Stay out of it, then." He spoke again after a few seconds of silence. I looked at him over the book I was reading. It was like he was having a silent conversation with someone, probably Alice, since she was the one who yelled.

"I swear to god; I'll do it if you don't stop pestering around." His face was serious, but he was smiling.

That was the final straw. It was like he was talking to a ghost only he could see. "Who are you talking to?"

He turned around on his desk chair and smiled guiltily. "Alice. She's being a pain in the ass."

"I am not!" Came a yell from Alice's room.

"Just shut up, you two." It was Rose who spoke from her room. It would have been funny how they were behaving like actual siblings; had I not been still creeped out by him talking to the air.

"You two are so weird sometimes." I shook my head utterly confused as to what happened that had caused this 'fight' between those two. It's not that it wasn't uncommon, it's just that it was the first time that they fought from a distance and out of the blue.

"There's a little something I haven't told you about us." By his grin I imagined it was nothing bad. I nodded. I figured that much. "Do you know about gifted vampires?"

"Yes, I have met a few." Oh, so he was gifted as well? That was cool. I had seen a few crazy things over the years. And a few crazy gifts too.

"Well, Alice, Jasper and I are gifted." I raised an eyebrow. "I can hear thoughts, Alice can see the future, and Jasper is an empath, he feels what people are feeling and can manipulate emotions."

That was not clarifying at all. It left me with more questions. "Can you hear my thoughts?" He has never reacted to them out loud like he had with Alice's.

"No. But Alice and Jasper can affect you."

"Oh?"

"Alice sees your future, and Jasper can read your emotions. The only time he has ever done anything without your explicit permission was the first time you came to the house. You were almost vibrating with nerves, he just sent you a little bit of calm. He hasn't done anything else since then."

I sent a silent thank you to Jasper. That still didn't explain his stares, but at least it explained the few instances in which I felt I was missing some piece of information.

"Were you always able to read/hear thoughts?" It was so weird that he could have that ability. I would go crazy just having to hear what everybody was thinking. It made me admire him more that he was still sane. But then again, I think Alice was the craziest of them too, probably a side effect of living in a future that hasn't happened yet.

"Ever since I became a vampire, yes. Carlisle has the theory that we bring to this life certain characteristics that were strong while we were humans. So, he has the theory that I might have been able to know what others were thinking." That was interesting.

"By that line, Alice might have been clairvoyant, and Jasper was good at reading emotions?" I asked insecure.

He looked proud. "Exactly like that."

I nodded, still thinking of it. If I hadn't met certain gifted vampires over the years, I might have had more trouble assimilating what he was telling me. Surprisingly, mind reading, clairvoyance and emotion-reading were the least strange gifts I had seen or heard.

"So, a few minutes ago, when you were yelling at each other…"I left the sentence unconcluded because I wasn't sure what had happened then.

"Alice and I tend to have silent conversations. Our gifts are too attuned to each other that we kind of do that a lot. She tells me something in her mind, and when I decide to answer she sees my answer and so on. It drives Emmett crazy." He had a mischievous look suddenly, which gave me the feeling that they might do it so often particularly to tease Emmett.

"Did Alice see me coming?" Had he known that I was coming?

Alice chose that moment to knock on the door. Edward allowed her entry and in came the rest of the Cullen siblings.

"I didn't know you were coming. I only started seeing your future the moment it intersected with ours." I look at her still not understanding. "I mean, that the moment you and Edward reconnected, your future appeared to me, because from now on, you're part of the family and whatever you do has effects on us." It made sense, but I still couldn't grasp her gift.

"How does it work?"

"It's not foolproof, and it's also not set in stone. It is mostly set on people's choices. For example, if Edward decides something that affects any of us, I'll see the outcome of that decision. Sometimes I get the gist of what the decision was based on the outcome. You didn't decide to look for Edward because you thought he was dead, same with him, and your arrival didn't mean anything until you saw each other."

I nodded, that made a lot of sense. "Alice is sometimes overconfident in her visions." He sent her a glare.

Emmett nodded energically and Rose rolled her eyes.

"Some decisions have clearer outcomes. Those are the ones that are most likely to happen."

"Do they become a reality because the person who decided it had a strong desire of seeing the outcome of it?" She looked at me surprised, and I hasten to continue. "For example, If I said I wanted to hunt tonight, but was unsure that I would actually go, would that decision ensue a vague vision compared as if I decided to stay home, desiring to do that more than going hunting?"

The three of them stared at me in surprise. So much so, that I was unsure if I had offended her by questioning her process. Edward was as stunned as Alice and Jasper were, so they were no help there.

"I met a vampire once, that could create illusions. She succeeded more often when she learned anything personal from the one she was creating the illusion for. So, she would create something she thought you would really desire to see. For instance, if someone was from a tropical place, she would recreate specifics from tropical weather and ambiance, etc." I finished. Alice looked at Edward and he shook his head. Another silent conversation. Jasper's expression was unreadable, but then, he wore that expression most times. I wondered how he had lived his human life to always require the same expression.

"I never thought of it like that. But I suppose you're right." I realized that I like the bubbly kind of crazy Alice more than this pensive Alice. It was like getting a vegetable when you were craving a chocolate.

"We could test it sometime, if you'd like." I offer hesitantly.

She beamed at me, and her bubbly personality returned. I took her hug as a yes.

"So, Jasper. What's it like reading emotions?" I asked him.

He smiled charmingly, but friendly. "Sometimes it's same old, same old. Sometimes it's very hard. If someone is feeling something very strongly, it's dominant from other feelings in the room. I try to ignore it, but teenagers feel too much sometimes, and sometimes they feel too deep." I could imagine it's not easy feeling someone's depression, or lust.

I would have been an insufferable person to live with while I thought Edward was dead. "Yes, it's hard if someone's mourning, because it's different than normal sadness." Edward hung his head, and I knew he had understood what Jasper was saying. "That's why I'm glad you two reconnected and found each other again. It's nice having everyone being happy in the same place." Edward took my hand and winked at me. Had I been human, I would be blushing now.

"Edward said you could also manipulate feelings." I continued.

He nodded. "I'm not getting into the technical part of how I do it, because it's complicated to explain." I didn't mind at all that he skipped that part. I wasn't asking for a full report, just satiating my curiosity. "It's as if I pushed any feeling toward someone. If I wanted them to feel happy, or to concede about something, I would push that emotion in their direction. If I wanted to void them of any feeling, I would then, pull, you may say. But that leaves the person feeling… well, numb."

I would have enjoyed some periods of numbness in my life after that horrible day at the hospital. Edward squeezed my hand.

"Thank you for answering my questions. If It bothers you, just tell me. I might get overenthusiastic at times."

The three of them dismissed my request, saying it didn't bother them at all.

Rose and Emmett had remained quiet as statues the entire conversation.

"What about you too?" I asked them. "Any special abilities? Aside from issuing jokes at the drop of the hat?" Emmett pouted and Rosalie rolled her eyes good naturedly.

"Not at all. We're pretty conventional." Rose shrugged. She seemed unconcerned about it.

"Three gifted vampires under one roof might be tough, right?"

They all shook their heads, but for some reason they all looked at each other as if trying to decide who was most annoying. They truly behaved like biological siblings. It was funny seeing Alice open and close her mouth and look between Emmett and Edward, it was equally amusing seeing Edward look from Emmett, to Alice, to Rosalie. I took it as a meaning that they were all annoying to each other. Like siblings were sometimes. But I could also see that behind all that good nature ribbing, they would do anything for the rest.

"What were you two fighting about moments ago?" I asked to no one in particular.

Edward shook his head. "Alice likes to meddle in other's affairs from time to time." He shot her a glare that was full of meaning. I looked around and everyone was equally as puzzled as I was.

"Spill it." Emmett ordered looking annoyed.

"I don't want to." Edward answered. I looked at him curiously, why was he being so secretive about it?

From the corner of my eye, I saw Jasper give Edward a very significant glance. Was he manipulating him?

"Jazz, stop." Jasper nodded and stopped. It wasn't a joke anymore. Edward really didn't want to tell.

"So, it's something you don't want to share now, and Alice was…what?"

"Bothering me. Trying to make it say it out loud." Edward looked like a kid whose favorite toy was taken away. He looked very adorable.

Alice looked unrepentant. That's one of the things that bothered me about her sometimes. She sometimes forced her way around (of course she didn't do it with ill intentions) but when you spoke your discomfort, she sometimes looked unrepentant. But I ignored it as she didn't have ill intentions. It's just the way she was.

I had to learn to take it easy with her and get used to her ways. She was quirky and unique, she was a good friend to Edward, and he loved her very much. If he wasn't very bothered by her behavior towards him, it was not my place to do anything. She wasn't seeking to hurt him and that's all I ask of her.

However, I think I saw her wink at me when she left the room with Jasper in tow.