AN: Hey again everyone. I'm not super happy with this chapter so it might be updated later. Please let me know what you all think. I'm a little bummed that the last chapter didn't get any reviews. Believe me, I don't mind when people say they don't like it. If that's the case, let me know. I haven't started on next chapter yet so it might be a little bit before next update.

Chapter 13

Venom is Thicker

"Jeez Beau," Archie joked when I got back to the house after my little chat with Julie just after dawn, "you really reek." He even sniffed again since his visions were blurred by the wolves but somehow he guessed it. "Even your breath stinks. You weren't making out with that dog were you?"

I thought about lying for a sixteenth of a second but realized that I still was a horrible liar. It made more sense to just tell the truth, even if I knew Edythe was in the house. I just hoped she wasn't near anything that was super expensive and breakable. "It wasn't exactly my choice. She kind of forced herself on me."

Edythe's voice was low, just above a hiss. "That bitch!" She cursed at Julie and then, with an ear-spitting crack, I heard the breaking of something made of glass and plastic, and then the arcing of electricity followed by a curse from Eleanor directed towards Edythe. It didn't take much to figure out what Edythe had done. She had broken one of the TV's in the house and, judging from El's reaction, it was probably the large on in our front room; the 84 inch super high definition one. "I'll kill her," Edythe threatened and I knew she didn't mean Eleanor.

After Edythe's threat, she ran upstairs into our room and I heard her almost sobbing. I sunk in on myself from the pain I was sure I was causing her.

Archie's reaction surprised me; he almost laughed. Had he seen this coming? "What's so damned funny?!" I all but snarled at him, my lips pulling back from my teeth.

Archie raised his hands in surrender. "Yeah B, I knew this was coming. I just wasn't sure why. But it looks like Edythe and I have a couple things we need to talk through. He looked just outside the door. "Jess?" He called for his wife at just barely louder than normal volume. I was certain that she would hear him no matter where on the property she was.

Jessamine entered the living room with a grace I had never seen before. "Yes trouble?" She answered to Archie as the two hugged with Archie giving his wife a peck on the cheek.

"Do me a favor and help Beau through what we talked about earlier. I gotta take care of Edythe."

Surprisingly, Jessamine smiled back at Archie and then me. "Sure thing. Come on Beau; let's go for a walk."

Jessamine led me outside to the outbuilding that served at the Cullen's garage and we sat there looking at my used Honda Civic that was about ten years old. I had finally gotten Edythe to relent on the kind of car she wanted to buy me after showing her a couple of The Fast and the Furious movies, showing her just how much an old four cylinder Japanese car could be suped up. She had insisted on buying me a new one, but I didn't want something that conspicuous, so we compromised on one that was a few years old. Royal insisted on doing all the work to it in an effort to apologize to me for his initial animosity towards me. I tried to tell him that it wasn't necessary and I insisted on helping him any time he needed it. It was still probably a week away from being finished based on the pace that Royal had been working on it. He actually liked the project. He hadn't worked on many Japanese cars before this and it was a challenge; how fast could he make it? His goal was to double the power that it made and even had it put on a dynamometer to test the power before he started.

"So what's on your mind, Beau?" Jessamine asked, her voice smooth and caring like always.

She, no doubt could feel the apprehension I had for what was to come but wouldn't be able to know the reason for it unless I told her. In an instant, it went away and I knew that was Jess using her not so subtle gift.

I didn't want to tell her. It was something that should remain inside of me but unexpectedly she added, "Is it the fight with the newborns or worrying about tripping over your own two feet dancing with Edythe when you're married?" She almost laughed at the second part.

I knew what had me worried and it wasn't really either of them; not really. It was, in a sense the former but not really. I didn't want to see anyone get hurt because of me. What if it was Julie? Emma or Quinn? Sam? The bigger question, what if it was Edythe? She had been my rock of normalcy for the last 98 days, keeping me out of trouble. Well, her and Archie.

No the bigger reason I was so nervous was that I was only 17. Getting married, or better yet the concept of getting married at only 17 was just so odd in the present, with normally only one reason for it. But I thought again about Edythe; her in her youth. She was a hundred years older than I was. Surely she was ready for it.

That brought me back to Edythe and me. We could get married right now; Carine or someone else could get a clerical license from the internet and officiate the ceremony but was that what Edythe wanted? What she needed? What about what I wanted and needed? I thought that all I needed was to tie myself to her. No, I thought as I shook my head, what Edythe wants is more important. And Archie is sure to know what she really wants. I gotta give him free reign here.

Then I heard Archie's voice, almost as if he was waiting for my decision. "Edy? I think the two of us need to have a talk." I heard them as if they were standing right next to us.

Edythe growled. I knew she would be upset at him getting involved in her business but that was just Archie. "Leave me alone!" She snapped back.

"Listen," Jessamine said as her right arm wrapped around my shoulder, "unless you would rather have a front row seat."

"I'm good," I answered back. We already invaded on each other's privacy too much as it was with the enhanced hearing, not to mention Archie and Edythe's abilities.

"Just a moment of your time, dear sister," Archie said back to Edythe.

She growled again. This time it was definitely annoyed. "Would you stop meddling in my business?"
Archie laughed quietly. "I think you know the answer to that question without you gift." I could picture Archie's mental response being something like "not a chance". "What's your problem anyway?" He asked again. "Why do I see you so set on leaving us?"

"Because I've stolen too much from him," Edythe said, her tone completely solemn almost as I she wanted to cry. "Way too much. All of his life, all of his humanity. He's scared about things and he won't tell me what. It's almost like he's doing everything that I want and nothing that he does."

"Edythe, you need to relax. Believe me, he wants it. He wants all of it… bad. He just doesn't know it yet. He just- you need to remember Edythe. You've got him by ninety years. Not only that, the world you grew up in; courtship, marriage, family. They were all so much more important. So much more… I don't even know how to say it."

This wasn't like Archie. He almost always knew what to say, a part of his talent no doubt.

"I know," Edythe sighed, "but he can't love me the way I love him"

"Edy, you're being ridiculous," Archie all but laughed. I knew he was trying not to, but failing. "Believe me, he loves you. He wouldn't put up with all of your crap if he didn't."

I smiled. I felt better and I wasn't sure if Jessamine was screwing with my emotions or not.

"See?" Jess asked. Now I was sure that it wasn't Jess.

"Now," Edythe asked, "what has him so worried?"

"Two things really. He's not scared of marrying you- he is a little worried about it but not scared. He's scared of slipping up." I knew what Archie meant. "He's terrified of letting Carine down. But what's he's really the most scared of, would be disappointing you. That's why he's ready. That's why he's been thinking about doing something that I will not allow him to do."

"Archie," Edythe growled back again.

"Edythe will you stop being such a royal pain in the ass for one second and listen?"

I knew the answer to that on as well. She wouldn't.

"I know what you want," Archie continued. "And I'm gonna do my damnedest to make sure you get it because you deserve it Edythe. You've waited 108 years for it. You deserve to have your happiness. You deserve your big day. But more that that, Earnest deserves to walk you down the aisle; something he's never really had the right to do with any of the other of us. Not like this. Yeah, he's walked El down the aisle a bunch of times but it's not the same to him. You were his first daughter. He thinks of Eleanor as more of a daughter-in-law. He sees you as his real daughter.

"He just- Beau just needs a little more time. He's almost worked through all of his apprehension. It's just a couple of more little things and then he's ready."

I pictured it again, my dream wedding at least. What might have been possible if I hadn't been so stupid to run off and meet Joss. It wouldn't be that bad. Edythe and I standing under a brilliant canopy of foliage waiting on Reverend Weber to lead us in our vows as we both promised ourselves to each other in front of everybody. That was impossible now with me now supposedly dead but still that would be my preference. With my parents dead or at the very least missing, that wasn't as big of a deal as before.

"He's getting closer," Archie almost sang, no doubt clueing into the change in my attitude in the last few seconds. "Just a little bit longer."

"Archie, you're not gonna rush him into this."

I heard Archie laugh again. "I'll make you a deal. I won't rush him into anything he doesn't want."

He was right. I wanted it; wanted Edythe forever even if before the last couple of months it wouldn't have had the same meaning.

"So why are we having this conversation out loud?" Edythe asked. Apparently Archie thought the reason and she half growled, half groaned again.

I took this as my cue and within a second was outside of her- well, our door now. Knocking once then opening the door I saw her again. Her beauty hit me again, the simple elegance of it. She was mine, or at least she would be. In that moment, I knew I was finally ready; ready to make the commitment to her that I knew she wanted even more badly than I did.

"There's something that both of you need to know," Archie said as he stood but not before he patted the spot next to Edythe, inviting me to sit next to her. I obeyed and he slid back down next to me, wrapping his right arm around my shoulders. "Beau ever since the first time I saw you, saw how much a part of Edythe's life you would be, there were only two real possibilities. First was you being a vampire someday. Yes, the timing of it was suspect and all of us hate the way it actually happened but I think it was your fate all along. The second, the both of your futures ended in tragedy, much like Romeo and Juliet. If it wasn't the thugs in Port Angeles or Taylor's van, it would have been something else. I always saw you destined to die young. And when you died, Edythe wouldn't of been able to cope and would have wanted to kill herself much like Carine did when she was first changed."

"Whoa," I gasped.

Archie smiled guiltily. "I suspected that Edythe was going to find someone very special to her here now, that's why I insisted on us moving back here right now. At first I just assumed it would be another vampire, possibly a nomad but never did I think at the time that it would be a human. Not that any of us held that against you."

I half growled, half laughed. There was one who most definitely held that against me, at least when Edythe and I realized how much we meant to each other.

Archie chuckled. "Yeah, Roy can be a real pain in the ass, but he only was disturbed by it because of what it would mean for you if you felt the same way about her. He still struggles with what we are even if he's got El now. I know he's told you his story, including what he most ashamed about and also feels the greatest loss for."

I nodded. What Royal wanted more than anything was to be able to grow old with his wife and have a family.

"But I don't need any of that," I answered. "Edythe, all I want is for us to be happy for as long as we get together. I don't care if it's only a few hours or until the end of time." I was speaking nothing but the truth. "I just wish I knew how to show you."

Edythe gasped again. "What? Was? That?" She paused for several seconds between each word but all I could do was tilt my head. "What were you just thinking about Beau?" She seemed to ask out of nowhere.

"Our second date. The meadow."

Again, a stunned gasp from Edythe. "I heard you!"

"Well why don't I leave you two alone for a little bit," Archie sang out. "Jess wants to hunt. Later." He was gone less than a second after saying it.

"How?" I asked back.

She shrugged. "I wonder," she speculated out loud, "if you could expand and contract whatever protects your mind from me. Like if you could block out anyone else's thoughts from me." She looked at me longingly for a second before adding, "Or let me in."

"Huh."

"Earnest?" She called at barely over her normal speaking volume. There was no doubt he would hear us if he was within five miles of us.

"Yes Edythe?"

"Beau, see if you can block out Earnest's thoughts from me. Dad, I want you to think of something but keep changing it every few seconds."

It wasn't easy, but after a couple of seconds, I felt this elastic like band that fell over my body and tried to stretch it out from myself. Earnest was closest to me, only a couple of feet away but still, to stretch the band out took every ounce of concentration I had. And what made it even harder was the harder I fought to stretch it, the more it resisted.

"There," Edythe gasped.

"Ow," I groaned as her gasp had caused me to lose my concentration and the band snapped back to me. It hit me with such a force that I shot off the bed from it. "Sorry Earnest," I said after hearing the small cracks and then seeing them in the wall behind me.

"It's no big deal Beau. I can fix it in a minute," he said, not looking mad in the least sense. "With Jess and El's sparring, I have redone the walls around the house more times than I can count."

"Could you…" I started nervously. My over-cautiousness hadn't changed in the aftermath of my transformation.

"Yes?" He asked looking at me with genuine concern on his face.

"Could you teach me?"

His expression showed nothing but pride. "I'd love to. Any time you want."

I looked back and forth between him and Edythe as a silent wave of communication went between them and then Edythe nodded. Then Earnest left as quickly as he had shown up.

"Later," she whispered, looking at me eagerly. "First, can we try again?"

I wanted to be able to show her just exactly how much Edythe meant to me but it was hard to open myself up to her. I still felt kind of exhausted only after the few seconds I tried to also cover Earnest in whatever I did.

"How bout something else first," I said trying not to let on how beat I was. It felt weird, to be tired as a vampire. I never felt tire from any physical exertion since I was changed, but this absolutely drained me.

"Anything you want," she whispered into my right ear, with a playful nibble on the lobe.

"Why don't you tell me what I didn't hear you two talking about."

"Archie or Earnest?" She asked.

I scowled at her. I knew that Earnest had asked something like if we wanted some privacy. "Archie of course."

"He keeps trying to get me to back off of you; let you be your own man for a little bit."

I looked at her kind of confused.

"He keeps trying to warn me not to hover too much over you. It's not that he's trying to smother you either but he sees you two as best friends."

"We are," I said not sounding completely convincing.

"I know that you will be," she answered. "But there was something else that he thinks we should try with you too."

"Okay?" I said nervously.

"He thinks that you should experience human blood at least once."

I looked at her confused again. Was she really suggesting what I think she was? "I don't think that's a good idea."

"He didn't mean you should kill anyone Beau. There are other ways to get it."

I still looked stunned. I mean, I wasn't even out of my newborn stage yet and she wanted to risk this?

"All of us, other than Royal has tried human blood at least once. Roy's just scared that he'd like it too much and be hooked. And you know that El and Earnest have slipped a few times and… well, you know."

She couldn't bring herself to say that her sister and father had both killed people. "Carine?" I asked.

"She has tried it… once. That's why I think you'll be okay Beau. She bit one person after he died not long after she arrived in the new world just after the turn into the 18th century. The flavor was indescribable to her but she knew the price to get that fix was not worth the pain and suffering it would cause not only to her victim, but also to the human's family."

"So where do I get a corpse?" I asked somewhat joking. I still wasn't sure about this. What if I liked it too much and became a killer much like other vampires.

"You know that Carine can obtain donated blood. Any doctor can."

"I think this is a dumb idea," I said a little louder than necessary hoping that Archie could still hear me.

"So do I, but Archie thinks you're ready. And regarding us getting married, I'm ready whenever you are and am willing to wait as long as you need."

My arms automatically wrapped around her and hers followed suit. "It's not that," I said hoping she wouldn't misunderstand where my apprehension was coming from. "It's my mom."

She tried to not say out loud but I knew what her eyes were not able to keep silent; that my mom was probably dead.

"No, not that. I mean yeah, I'd love her to be able to come to the wedding, Charlie too, but I saw firsthand how crushed my dad was when Renee left him. She always tried to make sure I knew how big of a commitment marriage was and that it was not something to rush into. I just have to be sure that that won't happen to us Edythe because, if it did, I don't know what I'd do."

Edythe's eyes bore deep into mine and I knew she was trying to hear me again. "It won't Beau, at least I won't ever stop loving you. I can't. You've changed me too much. I've told you; we don't change much but when we do, it's a permanent change. I will never be able to stop loving you Beau." She looked guilty about something as she added, "When we were on the way to, hopefully rescue you from Joss I had vowed to end my life if I was too late to save you. I wouldn't have been able to go on without you."

"Overdramatic much?" I half joked back.

"Not at all. When we were in Canada trying to corner Joss when she threw a false trail to us, I had some deep soul searching to do trying to figure out what I would do if I lost you. Like I told you before, that was the first time I started to think that changing you might not be a complete mistake. When Carine suggested that you might choose this life, I hoped- I prayed for the first time since I was changed that you felt as strongly about me as I did about you."

"You already know I do."

Her smiling was absolutely dazzling as she let her dimple shine. "You have no idea how relieved I was when we went on our first hunt and you said you still loved me."

My arms wrapped tighter around her. I wanted so bad to make sure she understood how much I needed her. She was my rock, my anchor to keep me moored in normalcy as to who I was, who I still am. "So why didn't Royal try it?"

She thought for a second, no doubt about wether or not she should share her gift's knowledge with me. "Royal's always had an addictive personality. He most likely would have become an alcoholic or drug addict if he stayed human. It terrified him; the possibility of becoming addicted to human blood. Being the absolute worse kind of monster in the world. The kind that doesn't care about anything but getting his next fix."

"Huh," I muttered. I had to admit that I was curious about what human blood would taste like. Sure, I'd smelled many humans before, even smelled their blood on an occasion or two, though not on purpose. About two weeks ago, just before school let out for the summer, I had gone back to Forks High. I couldn't go to class but I wanted one last look at all of those who I was becoming friends with. Not counting Archie, Allen and I would have probably been best friends. And certainly his girlfriend Becca would have been in the mix too. Jeremy was still super annoying, claiming that he was my best friend, which in no way was true. He and McKayla were in the on again, off again phase of their relationship. But the two of us weren't gonna be that close.

Archie burst through the still open door. "Just think about it Beau."

"What?" I asked stunned. How was I gonna slip up this time?

"Just be patient Beau. Sure I could throw a wedding together in a couple of days but to pull off the kind of shindig that is worthy of you two will take some time."

"Worthy of me?" I asked somewhat jokingly. I would have been fine if we just got married at some drive-thru chapel in Vegas. It wasn't as if we had to invite half the town anymore. I'd be good if it was just the family.

"Trust me," Archie said with a wink, no doubt thinking of something completely over the top. "Edythe's been waiting for over ninety years for you and your first wedding's the one that really counts. We want to make sure we get THAT ONE right," he joked back.

Sure, Royal and Eleanor had been married more than a dozen times in the seventy years they'd been with the Cullens. But I had a feeling that Edythe and I would be different; going through it once would be enough no matter how long we both lived.

"We still good for August 13th?" I asked. It didn't matter if Edythe heard or not. Surely had had already picked my preferred date out of Archie's head.

"Perfect. Should be light overcast but no rain. Just the right amount of light so we won't sparkle but the photographer can still get good shots."

Four weeks. I could wait that long. Besides, it wasn't as if I was barred from seeing her as much as I wanted.

"I thought you and Jess were going hunting?" I joked back at Archie.

"I said Jess wanted to, not that we were leaving this very second Beau," he quipped back. "As for trying human blood, are you game?"

My thirst flared at the mention. It had been almost a full week since my last hunt and the golden hue in my eyes had faded somewhat. "I guess," I said not completely convincing anyone."

Archie closed his eyes and searched. "You'll be fine Beau. Just trust me."

Archie ran out again. I kind of suspected that he might bring back a blood bad with him in a matter of seconds and so just stared at the door. But a few seconds later, he laughed and came back in. "It's not like I carry a blood bank with me. Give Carine a day and she'll have some." Archie left again.

I relaxed knowing that I wouldn't be tested today. "I really don't know about this," I whispered to Edythe as we both sat on the black leather sofa where I realized how helpless I was about her. It had nothing to do with the fact that she was just so much stronger and faster than I used to be, but that I was so completely and hopelessly in love with her.

"I don't either," she said agreeing with me, "but Archie is right in one way. Knowing what you're missing in human blood makes the sacrifice so much more meaningful. Actually tasting blood, knowing how much it makes your throat feel but still refraining is someone that not many of us are capable of. Only those of us with a very strong moral compass would be able to do it."

"You have so much more faith in me than I deserve," I said taking her hands again.

We looked into each others' eyes again. It was easy to forget that there were three others in the house that could hear us no matter how quiet we would be.

"I would argue that it is the other way around."

"Ok," I said ready to try and make a compromise, "how about this. Assuming that I'm able to control myself with human blood, how about you and I just hope that Carine is right."

"About what in particular?"

"About weather or not we can get into heaven."

She looked into my eyes again. I could see how bad she hoped that it was right and I could see the burning desire in her for the first time. "Okay," she agreed after half a minute.

"But even if we can't, if I get to spend the rest of our lives together, that'll be enough. I won't need heaven."

"You say that now-"

I put my right index finger to her lips stopping her. "I'll say that as long as we get to be together."

I heard Eleanor's laugh. I knew how corny it sounded but everything I said was one hundred percent true. I knew in that moment, I was ready. Understanding her insecurities on why she was reluctant to change me made me love her even more. She always wanted to protect me, to protect my soul. But still I wondered.

"Hey Edythe?"

"Yes Beau?"

"Why didn't you just change me before?"

She thought for a second. "My beliefs."

I worried about it for a second. Did she regret doing it?

"Changing you might have been the most selfish thing I'd ever done in my life, but it also might have been one of the most important."

"When Archie told me about how it works, I wanted it, Edythe. I wanted it bad." It was the first time that I ever admitted it to her. I wondered if she knew that I knew anything about the transformation when she asked me at the dance studio.

"I know," she admitted. "And, for the record, that was about the same moment I realized how much I wanted you… wanted you forever. Carine and El weren't able to completely eliminate my worries about what happens to us but they were able to give me hope for the first time that we weren't so destined to eternal damnation as I feared."

"I wonder," I started but didn't want to continue any further. I couldn't let Archie get in any more trouble than I might have already gotten him into.

Luckily, she answered my thought even though I hadn't done whatever I did last time. Was it that obvious? "Yes," she said looking downstairs where Archie still was waiting on Jess to go hunting, "he saw it. That was why he told you actually. It was the first time that your future as a vampire solidified in his mind."

"Wow!" I gasped.

"Indeed."

"Ok, well I have one other thing to ask you to try to do."

Her look was nervous. "What?" She asked.

"Just try to be nice to Julie, kay?"

"I promise," Edythe said, her voice sounding completely genuine, "I will be as nice to her as I can be. But first, why don't you call her. We never told her what time tonight."

"Okay. What time?"

"Ten."

"Wouldn't that be too early?" I asked. This could be risky; I mean, what if someone heard us and came to check it out. Seeing… who knows how many horse sized wolves plus all of the Cullens moving way to fast to be human, that would be something that we wouldn't be able to just explain away.

"We'll be fine Beau. Archie didn't see any issues and besides, they need to rest."

I ran downstairs, taking them five at a time. I debated just jumping down from the railing but dismissed it. I'd probably just wreck the floor downstairs. The wall was enough to fix now.

I was a little relieved when Bonnie answered the phone. "Hello?" She asked as she picked up the receiver.

"Hey Bonnie, listen Edythe wanted me to tell Jules when were meeting tonight. Is she there?" I trilled very fast but she was able to understand me.

"Yeah but she's taking a nap right now."

"That's fine, just tell her ten. But ask her to call me later, okay?"

"No problem Beau," she said. I thought she sounded like she had a smile on her face.

This night might be more interesting that the first with us together.