Why was I nervous? It's not the first time I've played meet the parents. Granted normally they're not my mate's parents and said mate and said parents are not normally Cold Ones, not that that fact scares me. I mean I'm stronger than them and everything - I'm rambling. Emotions are stupid.
Suddenly, I smelt my boyfriend's arrival and opened the door for him ready.
"Hey doll, you ready?" There was no use hiding my slight apprehension from Jasper, he knew me too well already (that and there was the small fact that he was an empath, but that's besides the point!)
I looked down to check my outfit for the fiftieth time before looking back up at him.
"I'm ready." I said, leaning up to give him a kiss.
It took us less than a minute to get to the Cullen house. Superspeed was both a blessing and a curse. I took an unnecessarily deep breath before I felt Jasper's cool hand link with mine. He looked down at me and I calmed as soon as our eyes connected. Ewwww, I have become that sappy girl who depends on someone. Gross.
Biting the bullet, I started to move towards the house with Jasper at my side. Rosalie opened the door before we reached it, smiling and nodding at me. I gave a small smile back before pausing at the threshold.
"What's wrong?" Jasper said, looking at me concerned.
"I haven't been invited in. Vampire failsafe that is a real pain in my ass."
"Well my lady, would you like to come into my humble abode." Jasper said, crossing the threshold while still holding my hand. I smiled as I moved, Jasper twirling me under his arm before pulling me in for a deep kiss.
"Get in there Jazz!" Emmett boomed from behind Jasper. Jasper pulled back as I gave Emmett the middle finger, pulling Jazz back down to me.
"Carlisle and Esme will be back in a few minutes. They're just hunting quickly." The Pixie said, coming downstairs.
"Tour?" Jasper said, pulling away again. I nodded quickly, taking his hand towards the stairs. As we were walking up the stairs, I looked at the pictures lining the walls. The Volturi - love those guys - took pride of place at the top of the first set of stairs but it was the next picture that would have made me fall if I'd been human.
I ripped my hand out of Jasper's grasp and tore it off the wall. Anger boiled inside me as I felt my eyes go red and veins appear.
"Arielle? What's wrong? Darlin' talk to me." Jasper begged, seeing the look on my face.
"Who's is this?" I whispered lowly. "WHO'S IS THIS PICTURE!" I yelled out causing the rest of the Cullen-Hale's to join us including Carlisle and Esme.
"Mine." A smooth baritone voice stated from behind me. I snapped. Suddenly Carlisle was pushed against the wall, cracks forming from the top of his neck.
"Carlisle!" Esme shrieked, at the same time as Jasper said my name.
"Arielle. You don't want to hurt him. Look at me darlin'." My face snapped towards him, my hand still around Carlisle's neck. "Let him down. He can tell you who those people are."
Suddenly, I snapped out of it and fell to the floor, grabbing the painting with both hands.
"I know who they are. My question is why their painting is here." I ran my finger over my father's face, tracing it down to the baby me beaming up at him. "They're my family."
Everyone's jaws dropped around me. Wow, so that's how you stun a room of Cold One's.
"Let's go downstairs. We can talk down there." Carlisle said, completely healed. I nodded rising to my feet, still holding the picture close to my chest.
Sitting down in the Cullen's living room, I looked at Carlisle to speak.
"I first met the Mikaelsons when I was human. In England. At that point there were only three of them together - Elijah, Niklaus and Rebekah. My father became obsessed with pleasing the illustrious Mikaelson trio, hoping for me to woo and marry the young Miss Rebekah. Of course, back then, we didn't know what they were. In fact, until my children came home with the stories of the new girl, I still didn't know that they weren't human." He took an unnecessary breath, before continuing.
"Rebekah was resistant, a challenge if you will, but soon I thought I had managed to successfully woo her and I began to fall in love with her. She was alluring, beautiful and unattainable. It all fell apart soon enough, I was turned on a Vampire hunt with my family and when I went back. Rebekah and her family were all gone. All that was left was a painting with the three in and a group of others bearing similar features. I figured they were extended family of some sort, there was never a child so they couldn't be close." He stopped, looking at me to explain the rest.
"Auntie Bekah has always been a flirt. The amount of stories I have heard about her many conquests is ridiculous - no offence." I started.
"None taken." Carlisle laughed.
"I guess the best place to start is to introduce myself properly. My parents were Tatia Petrova and Elijah Mikaelson," a small gasp was made by Carlisle, as if that was the last thing he expected me to say, "and that baby, in Elijah's arms. That's me."
"I was human at that point. The rest of my family were already Vampires and my mother had just been killed in order for them to become so. We are the Original Vampires, the first of our kind. It was the year 999 when they were turned. I had just turned one when my grandparents killed my mother for the spell that would give my family immortality." More gasps were heard from around the room, but it was Rosalie that spoke.
"Your own family killed your mother? When you were only a baby?" I nodded.
"My mother was the original doppelganger. She was the first in the Petrova line to carry the gene. Every hundred years or so another doppelganger is born, identical to my mother. They are the only one that my Uncle Niklaus can use to break his curse."
"Curse, what curse?" Edweirdo asked.
"If you would let me finish, I will tell you." Jasper placed his hand on my lower back to try and calm me. "My Uncle Nik is a bastard child. My grandmother had an affair with a werewolf in the village and my Uncle was born of it. When she turned them into Vampires, Nik's werewolf side was bound and the blood of a Petrova Doppelganger, or my blood, along with some crazy ritual, is the only thing that can free it. He has been trying to break the curse for over a thousand years."
"Why couldn't he just use some of your blood? We've seen you bleed?" Edward spoke again. I clenched my fist, ready to throttle him.
"Do you really think a couple of drops would be enough to break an ancient spell? The Doppelganger, or me, would have to die in order to break the spell. However if a Doppelganger gets turned into a Vampire beforehand they become useless. Except for me, my grandmother was a psycho witch bitch who didn't really care about her son's sprog. Especially when I was the spawn of the Original Doppelganger."
"Contrary to popular belief, my Uncle isn't this uncaring soulless monster he portrays. He would never hurt me. None of my Uncle's or my Aunt would."
"How many Uncle's do you have? Aunt's?" Carlisle asked, hanging onto my every word.
"Loads. Some died before I was born though. So the eldest was my Aunt Freya Mikaelson, she died a few years before I was born, then my Uncle Finn, he is a Vampire but he is an idiot so we don't really keep contact with him. Then my dad, followed by my Uncle Niklaus. Then my Uncle Kol, he is definitely the fun Uncle, he is a vampire too. The Auntie Bekah, a Vampire and the only mother figure I have ever known, then lastly my Uncle Henrik who died before I was born and was the reason that my grandmother created the immortality spell."
"I'll let you guys process that information for a bit. Jasper, I'm going to go home, I'm tired. It was nice to meet you Carlisle, Esme and I'm sorry for nearly killing you Carlisle."
"I understand dear. Thank you for sharing your story with us." I nodded at him in respect. Maybe I could like the Cullen 'parents'.
"Please. You couldn't have killed him even if you'd tried." Edward sneered. I swear if Jasper hadn't sent immediate waves of calm to me I would have murdered Edward right there and then. I smiled sweetly at him before nodding at Jasper to let my arm go and skipped over to Edward, pulling his arm off and sticking his hand in his other.
"Don't test me, Creep." I said, sweetness and light, before turning, taking Jasper's hand and heading home.