Chapter 4 - Family Issues

It wasn't Edward's "style" to be so blatantly obvious about being able to read someone's mind, but with Charlotte, he couldn't help but jump in every time he sensed that things were going in a dangerous new direction. He felt pity for the girl, it was true, but he also felt how she was more observant than literally anyone would give her credit for, and how some things weren't going to be as easy to hide when someone had the heightened senses that she did. She might not be able to see them, but that just made everything else about them like their voices, smell, and practically everything else to be exceedingly plain and obvious to her.

He'd have to have a talk with Adrian and warn him to be careful with how much he revealed and how close he got to the girl.

Already, Edward knew in which direction Adrian's thoughts were headed. It was clear that his adoptive brother was interested in the girl, particularly since he had that gift with controlling the senses, and thus was already in tune with how much she felt as opposed to saw. She was an anomaly in their small town of Forks, and Edward had known that for a while Adrian had been getting bored with life. His newborn years, while technically more desolate, had been full of trials and more action, something to get the adrenaline pumping, so to speak. And that was who Adrian was: an adventurer and a gamer always looking for the next big thing, the next most promising adventure. He had taken well enough to moving to Forks, but it was clear especially recently that he wanted more out of life than properly living it like a pretend-human like the rest of them were.

Maybe we should've introduced him to the werewolves by now, Edward thought. He was sitting up alone in his and Bella's room, as his wife had gone down to the beach to meet with their daughter. The werewolves, though allies of the Cullens, were still bound to keep the treaty of the old days, and so they took care to meet in neutral locations rather than on La Push or in strictly Cullen territory. There were exceptions to this at times, of course, but since they were facing no prominent threats from the Volturi or anyone else, there was no need to push anyone's limits.

I'll invite Seth here for the weekend and see if Adrian won't be more interested in a werewolf than in her, Edward thought. At least Seth will be able to keep up with his speed and Adrian won't have to hide anything from him. And while Edward didn't like how heavily he relied on Seth to be the go-between for pretty much any errand that needed doing, he was the most trustworthy of the wolves apart from Jacob. Or, at least, he didn't show as much of a repulse for the Cullens' scent or anything.

"I'm surprised you didn't go with Bella." Jasper's entrance was no surprise, of course, but Edward supposed that sooner or later his brooding attitude would draw the emotionally-sensitive vampire forth. Edward's usual state had been brooding for the majority of his long lifetime, and you'd think Jasper would remember that, but in recent years Edward's natural state had shifted to being all about contentment and peace now that he had Bella by his side. Therefore, any shift in that balance brought Jasper forth like flies on carrion.

"Much as I'd like to see my daughter, I think I can wait a day or two. We've got more important things to deal with now, anyway."

"About the girl, you mean."

"Adrian's taken an interest in her."

"Much like you did with Bella," Jasper pointed out. "I could feel him getting excited around her."

"He's considering her as a guinea pig for his powers," Edward sighed. "Maybe that's a crude way of putting it, but his thoughts are circling around seeing what he could do and get away with given that she can't actually see or tell what he'd be doing. And he knows that I'm onto him, so he ran off in the woods somewhere just as soon as we got home."

"Well, whatever you do, don't antagonize him," Jasper said.

"What?"

"Edward, he's pretty powerful. Besides being just barely out of his newborn phase, he's able to take away our senses at will."

"Adrian isn't vindictive like that," Edward said. "He's many things, but vindictive isn't one of them. You of all people should know that his newborn reactions don't count."

"Yeah, I do know that, but I also know that his newborn thinking processes are still there. He got over the bloodlust, I'll give him that, but he's still got the instincts of a newborn, especially those of self-protection. If he feels you're against him, who's to say that he won't lash out? At first, it was slightly easier, since at least he had to be focusing on one person to use his powers on them, but now he's expanding them and can easily take away, say, the sight of two people at once. It not a question of immobilizing him anymore and keeping him from harming humans. That time with the lost campers was all luck, and you know it."

"Yeah, and he also doesn't like me prying into his mind. Not that I can help it, but he's got this paranoia about spying, and that's why he prefers to stay away from me." Edward sighed. "My plan was to bring the werewolves in on this. I think it's time Adrian was introduced to them properly."

"It's a miracle we've kept him away for this long, but Alice was right in predicting that it'd turn out bad if he didn't get better control of himself beforehand. If anything might go wrong, she'll let us know ahead of time."

"I'll call Seth, see where that takes us," Edward concluded.

As for Adrian, while it was in part true that he was sort of running away from Edward, his main purpose in running off into the woods was just to be alone and think. He ran up the mountain on a whim and found himself in a snowy meadow near the peaks, entirely secluded from anyone else. He was thinking about Charlotte, true, but he was also thinking about his own reaction to her and why on earth he should suddenly be so interested.

Yeah, the first thing that got his attention was that she was blind, and it was absolutely fascinating to see things through her eyes—so to speak. But it was also that he felt he could talk to her without all the awe and wonder of people that he had tried talking to before. Maybe it was because he was the youngest of the Cullens, but he was also the most sociable; sure, in life he had been glued to his computer screen, but he had friends he actually talked to and gamed with, people he enjoyed being in the company of even if they were all wearing headphones and collecting coins. Heck, the hiking trip had been suggested by one of his friends, and even though Adrian hadn't been crazy about going, he still got sucked in by the promise of a bunch of dudes exploring the wilderness together like a real guild adventure!

Case-in-point, he needed people, and he needed to feel included and like he was part of something without having anyone judge him for anything either than who he was. And, with the vampire everything about him, that was impossible to do with most people; with Charlotte though, he felt like he had a chance.

Besides, it wouldn't be 'using her' if he brought something to the table, right? He'd definitely bring more excitement to her life than Forks ever could and even though she was blind and all, she definitely wasn't meek. Most people would expect that a girl like Charlotte would enjoy living a quiet life, but Adrian didn't buy into that. It was clear by the way she held herself, her head held up instead of tucked down, that she craved independence and didn't like being treated differently any more than he did. She wasn't helpless even if she did need help in some things, and it was refreshing to anyone to be judged in terms of how they acted rather than what people assumed about them based on one or two things about either their physicality or history. To him, both of those things about Charlotte were almost completely irrelevant.

They'll try to stop you, you know, he thought. He'd seen it in their faces as they looked from him to her. They saw danger and red alerts in it, for sure. It was a rule: no getting close to humans, do nothing to expose them. The last time that had been an issue, Bella had almost died multiple times, and even after she had been turned, the entire family had been in danger because of the Volturi. Yeah, the vampire kings of the world, from whom he must be kept secret at all costs lest they "recruit" him and maybe even try killing the Cullens in the process. Goodness only knew how much bad blood was between them already. So yeah, keeping his head down at all costs was definitely the preferred method here.

But Adrian just didn't see how making a friend, human or not, would be endangering any of them. It wasn't like he was going to step into the sunlight in front of Charlotte and expose himself, and heck, even if he did, what did it matter?!

Edward would say I'm not thinking straight, and Mr. Know-It-All will definitely rag on me about it, Adrian thought. In any case, he would have to change tactics and be more subtle if he wanted things with Charlotte to work out. At first, introducing her to his family had been only the natural thing to do, since Edward and Bella had both picked up on his interest in her from bio; but now, Adrian wasn't so sure if further associations with the Cullens would be more of a help or hindrance to what he wanted.

And what did he want?

Heck, he had no exact idea, but he did know that it involved getting to know Charlotte better and really trying to make a normal connection with her. It felt like so long since he had felt normal, and although he had been keeping it locked up inside, he missed it. He missed being human. Awesome superpowers aside, being a vampire came with a lot more restrictions and rules than Adrian's former life had been, and ultimately he knew that, unless he wanted to "die", he was stuck with it. And he didn't want to die, he still had so much to experience!

But on his terms. Yeah, he would live life on his terms and even if that meant bending the rules a little, Adrian was willing to do so as long as nobody got hurt.

And, with the way he was planning on doing things, that definitely shouldn't be a problem.

A/N: Okay, so more insights from the Cullens, as promised, though for now I'm focusing more on Edward since he's the most attuned to Adrian's thoughts and to how Adrian's feeling with wanting to get close to a human.

Anyway, next chapter we'll see some more plot progression with Renesmee's side of things and the werewolves, so stay tuned for that!

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And also, a big thank you and shout-out to aficionadoNYC and nav03 for being my first official fans! 3