Edward
We all stand silently, waiting to hear the door of Nessie and Alexa's room close. As soon as we hear the click, Demetri turns to me.
"Can you read her thoughts?" He asks, looking concerned and lost.
"I can, somewhat." I answer, once again Alexa is the only one Bella has left unshielded. Hoping I might be able to get a bit more insight into the girl.
"Why won't she feed?" Demetri questions, almost frantic. It's clear he's tried to have this conversation with her. I doubt he got anywhere.
"That part's not clear." I answer. Sometimes minds present themselves as a succinct inner monologue. Hers is more a jumble of emotions and occasional images.
"What part is clear?" Demetri interrogates.
"When she saw the blood bag she was overcome with fear." I say, worried about his reaction. "A lot of it. And also a bit of…" I hesitate, trying to find the words.
"A bit of what?" Demetri glares, making sure I know he's not letting this one go.
"Self-loathing." I finish, not able to find a more delicate way of describing it.
"How could that girl possibly hate herself?" He asks, in disbelief. It's obvious that when he looks at her, he sees everything good in the world. I'm guessing he can't even fathom the possibility that she looks in the mirror and just sees a lost, lonely, neglected little girl.
"I don't know. I can only read the surface thoughts. And even then, her thoughts are different to anyone else I've ever come across, somehow both more complicated and more fleeting. I suspect that a lot of what she's feeling has been repressed, quite deep actually." I tell him.
"How deep can it be, she's only been alive for six years?" He replies.
"You'd be surprised how much a hybrid can feel in six years." Bella offers Demetri a sad smile.
"Children need validation. When Ness was growing up, she was constantly eager to please us. A trait that I'm sad to say she's now outgrown. As a child, she would play the piano until her fingers were raw, soaking in the praise. Every time she did something she thought we would be proud of, she'd coming running in to show us, playing back the memory of her accomplishment for us. It was like a fireworks show in her head when one of us told her how much we loved her. Alexa didn't have any of that. And none of us really know what she did have." I explain. I used to lament my own existence before Bella, bound to wander the earth loveless and alone. I didn't know how much love I actually had. I was ungrateful idiot.
"She needs to feed." Demetri says, at an obvious loss for how to deal with the delicate situation. "She's in danger if she doesn't. She can run as well as the best humans, but no where near as quickly as we can. And she'll never be able to hold her own against one of our kind without drinking. Especially not a member of the Volturi Guard."
"We can't make her feed." I reply. "I don't know what happened, but I do know whatever it was, it was bad. If we try and force it on her, it will just get worse."
"So those are my options, subject her to emotional torment or leave her vulnerable to physical attack?" Demetri asks, trying to hold back his anger.
"There may be another way." Jasper offers.
"He speaks." Demetri says sarcastically, taking a jab at Jasper's quiet demeanour. And then I feel the atmosphere in the room start to lighten. It's subtle. I doubt Demetri even notices. "If you have some genius plan, then perhaps you should share it, I'm happy to try anything." He continues, his tone aggressive at first. But as Jasper works his magic, Demetri's hostility wavers, until he's all but ready to follow whatever orders he's given.
"Jasper has the ability to affect people's emotions. Right now he's calming your anger. Mine too." I explain.
"Jasper, Alexa isn't just angry over some fight. If she's dealing with deeply repressed fear and self-hatred, we don't know how your ability might affect those." Carlisle speaks.
"I'm not going to try and fix her. She's not broken. I just need to calm her enough to tell us why she won't drink. Then maybe we can find an alternative solution to emotional torment or physical attack." Jasper offers.
"It's a good idea." Alice says, always quick to champion her partner.
"This isn't going to screw her up, is it?" Demetri asks, trust is not his strong suit. I don't have to wonder why.
"Considering everything she's survived so far, you give me far too much credit to believe I could do anything to possibly, screw her up as you say." Jasper replies.
"What if it doesn't work?" Demetri questions, seeming more vulnerable than I'd ever thought possible.
"Then we'll think of something else." Bella smiles, trying to reassure him.
"How does it work?" Demetri asks Jasper.
"How do any of our abilities work? I focus on an emotion that I want someone to feel. It's easier if I can pinpoint their current emotions and try to subvert them. Normally that's quite effortless for me, but Alexa is admittedly a bit of an enigma. She's different. The emotions are all there, but they're not easy to sort through." Jasper explains.
"So Edward can't properly read her mind and Jasper can't properly sense her emotions? Is she a shield?" Bella asks.
"No, she's not blocking me. I can get in, but it's like reading a different language, I just need to learn it." I explain. Her thoughts are wide open to me, I just can't properly understand them. When we first met I thought it was just the craziness of the day and the situation that had her mind in a tailspin. But hearing Japer describe her affect on his power, I realise there's more to it than that.
"So are there other abilities she has this affect on?" Alice asks.
"There are." Demetri says. "Did none of you ever stop to question why the world's greatest tracker only had a vague idea as to the whereabouts of the girl who has consumed his thoughts for the past six years? It would drive me insane sometimes trying to find her. When I was in Volterra I could sense that she was nearby, and when I was far away I could feel the general direction her mind was in. But I could never track her. Even now. I can tell you Jacob is just about to jump out a window upstairs. Renesmee is a few feet away from him, also walking towards the window. Alexa is somewhere in the town of Forks."
"Technically we're not in the town, we're just outside." Emmett says, a feeble attempt to lighten the mood.
"Not the point Emmett." Rosalie scolds him.
"So what do we do?" Alice asks.
"We learn to speak her language." I reply. "Which hopefully starts with getting her to open up to us about why she won't drink blood. You think you can do it Jasper?"
"I can certainly try." Jasper promises.
"Demetri, you said her vampire abilities were lessened by her lack of appetite, does that include her special ability?" Carlisle asks, an intriguing question I hadn't even considered.
"I believe so. She didn't have nearly the same affect on our fellow passengers that I had expected. Nothing close to what I felt the day she was born."
"She would have been feeding off her mother then, perhaps stronger than she's ever been in her life." Carlisle theorises. "Bella, maybe try lowering the shield. Let's see what happens."
Almost as soon as the words have left his mouth I begin to hear everyone's thoughts again. The shields down. Rosalie's disappointed at the lack of childish giggles and nursery rhymes she had been expecting, I could see that one coming from a mile away. Emmett's ready for a fight, what else is new. Alice is scrolling through the Volturi's decisions, trying to get any sort of a vision that might provide some insight. Carlisle is running every possible hypothesis and experiment in his head, ever the scientist. Esme's thinking about her grocery list and what foods Alexa might enjoy, ever the mother. Demetri's genuinely terrified for perhaps the first time in his lengthy existence. But Jasper's thoughts are the most interesting. The way he senses Alexa's emotions is very similar to the way I hear her thoughts. He's trying to work through them, noticing patterns and trying to make sense of them as best he can, but never quite cracking the code.
My thoughts are disrupted by the sound of the back door opening. I hear everyone mentally prepare for whatever magnetism Alexa might exude, but there's nothing. Even when she enters the room, the only pull she seems to have on us is a natural one. The pull of an innocent's laughter, the pull of a bright smile, there's nothing supernatural about it. Unfortunately that laughter and smile fade as soon as she sees the worried looks on our faces.
"What happened?" Ness asks almost immediately, trying to cut the tension before it can mount any further.
"We need to talk." I say, knowing she's already aware of this. Her thoughts are practically screaming it.
"Yeah, I gathered that. About what?" She asks. I glance at Jasper, he's concentrating on the girl, I can feel the extreme amount of effort he's putting in through his mind. It seems to be working a bit. Alexa's thoughts are still dominated by fear, but little by little I sense a calmness start to break through. I give Demetri a nod, signalling that it's now or never.
"Lexa, we need to talk about your diet." He says gently, afraid to offend her.
"What about my diet? If this is about protein-"
"No, your human diet's fine. It's your vampire diet, or lack thereof that we're concerned about."
"I don't need blood, so I don't drink it, what's the big deal?"
"You might not need it to survive now, but there may come a day when you do."
"What all of the sudden I'm just going to keel over because I haven't been drinking blood?"
"No. Maybe, I don't know. But I do know you're in danger. Lexa, we haven't really talked about your father since that first day on the boat to England. But he might come, or send someone after you. If you can't run or jump or defend yourself, I don't want to think about what would happen."
"I have you here to protect me."
"Alexa your father is the most powerful vampire there is. He's smart, he's manipulative, and he has an army. I think you might have something in your arsenal that could rival him, that could bring him down if necessary. But we can't know unless you drink blood."
"Please don't make me." She begs. Demetri looks up at me, lost. I can hear him begging for help in his mind.
"No one's asking you to do it right now. We just want to know why you don't like it. It's not just the taste is it?" I ask gently, trying to evoke every paternal instinct my own daughter has equipped me with over the years.
"No." She admits
"You can tell us. We can help." Bella says, reaching out to her and lightly gripping her shoulder.
"They hated it when I drank blood." Alexa cries, burying her head in my wife's shoulder. Bella wraps her arms around the girl, running her hands through Alexa's hair in a calming manner.
"Who's they?" Bella asks softly.
"Giulia and Allesandra." Alexa tells us through her tears.
"I thought they were your friends." Demetri asks, not quite as gently as Bella or I.
"They were. I guess. Never like you were though. They talked to me. Most of the time like I was a stupid child. They'd answer my questions, but they also never missed an opportunity to tease me for asking such silly things." Alexa replies.
"What did they do when you drank blood?" Bella coos in her comforting mother voice.
"A goblet full of blood would arrive every few weeks when I was little. After I drank it they were always so nice to me. They'd braid my hair and tell me they loved me, that we were the best of friends. But they'd become crueller as the weeks went on. Whenever a new goblet arrived, they were at their worst. One day, they stopped giving it to me. They'd make a point of pouring it down the drain right in front of me, smiling and laughing as they did. When I begged them to give me some, they would slap me, and tell me I was a monster for wanting it. They said people like me killed their parents and all I'd ever be was a murderer." Alexa answers, he breath uneven as she tries to control her tears.
"So you just stopped drinking blood? You weren't craving it?" Carlisle asks, clearly intrigued, but gentle as always.
"One day the thirst got too strong, and I tried to feed off Allesandra. Giulia knocked me unconscious. They locked me in my room and wouldn't come in, wouldn't even talk to me. They couldn't leave the tower though. So I'd hear them outside my bedroom door talking about me, about how it was my fault they were stuck there. How the world would be better off if I just starved. I don't know how long they left me. It could have been weeks or months. It all blended together. Eventually they tricked a guard into coming into my room, probably to test whether or not I'd feed on him. But human blood had lost all of its appeal by then."
"I'm sorry that happened to you. Living off of blood is an unfortunate part of our existence, but it doesn't have to be a shameful one." Carlisle says. "As I told you, my family and I don't feed off of humans, only animals."
"I won't do it to animals either. Animals have never done anything to hurt me. I won't be a monster."
"There is a food chain Alexa." Demetri pleads, clearly out of his depth.
"And we're supposed to be on top, is that it? Well I'm doing much better now that I'm not a part of it." She snaps back at him.
"You're always a part of it. If you're not on top, it means you're the prey." Demetri's gentle demeanour has all but disappeared. Part of me wonders if it's a good thing. We can't all coddle her, and lord knows Bella and I won't be able to help ourselves. She's clearly not the small child we all expected. It won't help the situation if we treat her as if she is.
"Alexa, what if there was a way you could drink blood without ever hurting an animal?" Carlisle asks. I try not to laugh at the thought that has just popped into his head. It's a good idea, but still humorous, especially considering who the girl's father is. "Edward, Emmett." Carlisle says, silently completing the rest of his request so only I would hear it.
"Come on Emmett." I say, leading the way.
"What are we doing?" Emmet asks, following me out of the house and into the woods.
"Be very very quiet. We're hunting rabbits. And by hunting I mean catching, don't hurt it." I laugh. He just rolls his eyes at me, wondering if this is really what his life has come to.
It doesn't take me very long to find and catch one. Emmett is less successful, clearly his hunting prowess wasn't made to be honed to this fine a target. I run back to the house, Emmett on my heels. Carlisle and the rest of the family are already outside with Carlisle's medical bag.
"What are you going to do?" Alexa asks horrified, tears welling in her eyes.
"Don't worry, we won't hurt it." Carlisle says taking out his phlebotomy kit. I hold the rabbit in place for him while he very carefully draws a small vial of blood. As soon as he's done I let the rabbit go, and it hops off back into the woods.
"See no harm done." Carlisle tells her. "Will you drink it?"
She hesitantly takes it from him, looking around anxiously at our faces, finally landing on Demetri's, he gives her a reassuring smile and nod.
"Okay, I'll try." She yields.
"Bella, shield. For everyone except me." Carlisle orders gently.
"What?" I ask surprised, disagreeing with his experiment. Leaving him unprotected could be a costly mistake if her ability really is as strong as Demetri says.
"We need to know. Go ahead Alexa." I feel everyone's mind close off except Carlisle and Alexa's. She inhales and closes her eyes tightly before downing the vial, clearly trying her best not to take in its scent.
"Are you okay?" Demetri asks. She's not. She hates it. You don't need to be a mind reader to see that. It's written all over her face. She's upset.
"Of course she's not okay. Can't you see she's miserable? Alexa you don't have to do this. You don't ever have to drink blood again. We'll protect you. Better than he ever could." Carlisle says, an intense look of love and devotion in his eyes. It's not the way he looks at Esme, it's not as deep, but it is more extreme. There's something not quite right in it, as if his mind knows it's forced but simply doesn't care.
"What's that supposed to mean?" Demetri tries to defend himself.
"Is this some sort of sick joke to you? Re-traumatise the poor girl. I won't have it." Carlisle says angrily, marching toward Demetri.
"Bella shield." I command desperately. Carlisle's ordinarily peaceful and controlled mind is a mess of protective rage. Without Bella's ability we're about to have a fight on our hands, and it won't end well. Luckily Bella's quick with the shield, and we all watch as Carlisle stops abruptly in his tracks.
"What was that?" Alexa asks, horrified.
"That was remarkable. And dangerous." Carlisle answers.
"Bella, how long can you keep your shield up?" I ask her, knowing it's going to be necessary with Alexa around.
"As long as you need, but only if we're all together." Bella explains.
"It's okay, we can teach you how to control it." Carlisle tells Alexa in a comforting manner.
"Control what?" She asks, still terrified by what has just transpired.
"My dear, you are a living, breathing magnet. I have little doubt you could bring the whole world to their knees if you wished it, except maybe Bella. The truth is, you may be the only thing powerful enough to rival your own father and his guard. But that won't mean much if we all tear each other apart first. Not to worry, though, every ability can be controlled with a little bit of practice. We'll start tomorrow." Carlisle smiles.
I hope he's right, even just experiencing her power through Carlisle's thoughts was enough to show me that I never want to be on the receiving end of it. Not that I thought she would ever try to use it for evil. The girl literally wouldn't even hurt a rabbit. But if she's not able to control it, it could topple empires. Which I guess is exactly what we're hoping for.