A/N:
I had planned to put this up yesterday, but I didn't feel well at all. Headaches, period cramps, and on top of that, I'm still recovering from a surgery I underwent 2 weeks ago. So instead, I went to bed early.
Anyway, time to get a look at newborn Emmett ;-)
Title: Origins: Destiny in the Mountains
Author: MarieCarro
Beta: Alice's White Rabbit
Pre-reader: OnlyInValhalla
Genre: Family/Supernatural
Rating: NC-17
Summary: Emmett Brian McCarty never had much in life, but growing up poor didn't stop him from enjoying life and all its pleasures.
However, always seeking thrills most often means it will end badly, and one day, while hunting for game in the mountains, Emmett meets his destiny. Canon. ExR
Disclaimer: All publicly recognizable characters, settings, etc. are the property of their respective owners. The original characters and plot are the property of the author. The author is in no way associated with the owners, creators, or producers of any media franchise. No copyright infringement is intended.
CHAPTER 4
WEDNESDAY, APRIL 17th 1935
I guardedly looked around the curiously defined room I was in and took notice of the pristine and expensive furniture, the décor that screamed wealth, and the clothes on the people in the room.
There were four of them, which explained the four sets of breathing I'd heard. Two of them were completely unfamiliar. A teenage boy with a wistful and cautious expression, a woman with toffee-colored hair who watched me with kind curiosity, and then there was a blond man who looked no older than either of my brothers, yet the air around him spoke of maturity and wisdom. I recognized him as the one I referred to as God in my head while I burned.
Lastly, there was my angel. I would never forget what she'd looked like when she found me, but she was somehow even more beautiful now as she sat on her knees next to the couch I'd apparently been lying on.
Her eyes weren't black anymore, though. They were browner but still not a color I'd ever seen on another before. When I thought of it, all of them shared the same eye-color yet they didn't look related.
Except for maybe my angel and the blond man.
Then, the sweetest smile stretched over her face, and she was gorgeous. I couldn't take in and process her beauty. It was almost too much.
"How do you feel?" she asked, and I had to collect myself before answering. She had me completely spellbound, but she'd asked me a question, and I wanted to answer.
But how did I feel? Did she mean physically?
"I feel confused," I replied honestly, and when I spoke, I was also made aware of a scratchy dryness in my throat. "And my throat is very dry. Could I get a glass of water?" I asked, but as soon as the words left me, I cringed.
I didn't want water. I was thirsty, but the mere thought of water repulsed me for some reason. Apparently, I was craving something else. I knew it was some kind of liquid, but that was it.
"We're all rather confused at the moment," the blond man said, and the soft tones of his voice had me thinking of how wondrous all of this was. I was in a strange house, with a bunch of strange people in it. I was positive I had died, yet my angel said I hadn't. But what else could explain what was going on?
If I was in heaven, or hell, why was I surrounded by people I didn't know?
A tender hand touched my arm, and the touch caused intense tingles to shoot through my body. I looked down, and it was my angel who had put her hand on my arm.
That was when I noticed for the first time that the color of our skin matched, which I thought was very strange. My angel was as close to being completely white as anyone I'd ever seen, but a life working outside had caused my own skin to always sport a slight golden-brown hue to it.
Not anymore. My arm was as white as her hand. How that had come to be, I couldn't explain.
"I'm Rosalie Hale," she introduced herself, and I was delighted to finally have a name, although, she would always remain my angel as well. "What's your name?" she asked.
It confused me that an angel didn't know the name of her charge, but maybe she was just being polite.
I gave her a smile back. "It's a real pleasure meetin' you, Miss Rosalie," I said and meant every word. "My name's Emmett McCarty."
Her smile widened, and I found no reason to say anything else. Just looking at her was everything I needed, and for some reason, she appeared to feel the same thing. Forever could have passed by and I wouldn't have noticed as I looked into her eyes.
A throat was cleared, and I turned toward the sound. It was the blond man.
"I'm certain you have many questions for us. We want to do our best to clear up your confusion," he said, and I realized he was right.
I did have loads of questions because my angel's introduction of herself, while nice, hadn't exactly explained anything of what was going on. "Yes, well, I obviously ain't dead, so I'd appreciate havin' that one explained to me," I said and then paused momentarily when I took notice of the new, much smoother resonance of my voice. It still sounded like me. It was my words and my accent, but it was just more pleasant. "I reckon I'd also want to know who, or rather, what you guys are."
"Excuse my manners," the man replied. "My name is Carlisle Cullen, and this is my wife, Esme." He gestured toward the kind-looking woman, and lastly, toward the boy whose expression had changed into one of amusement for some reason. "And my son, Edward. My daughter, Rosalie, has already introduced herself. We are, simply put, a family of vampires. You, Emmett McCarty, aren't dead because you've been turned into one as well."
His blunt words should have shocked me. I wasn't generally a believer in stories about trolls and goblins or other mythical beings, yet I couldn't contend with his words either.
"Vampires?" I asked, and the tone of my voice belied my feelings. "They exist?"
"We sure do," the man, Carlisle, replied with a chuckle. "And we've been around for quite some time."
I nodded and did my best to process the information. "I reckon that answers most of my questions," I said. To tell the truth, I didn't know how I was supposed to feel. More frightened than I was, perhaps, but I simply couldn't bring myself to feel bad about what had happened.
I couldn't say becoming a vampire was something I'd ever dreamt of, but now that I apparently was one, it was quite fruitless to resent the situation. I was certain there was nothing that could be done about it anyway. Besides, if Rosalie, my angel, my savior, was a vampire, how bad could it truly be?
A thought that didn't really work with what I saw before me had me smiling widely. "So was that author … uh, Bram Stoker, right? Do you guys sleep in coffins and all of that?" My knowledge of vampires was limited, but Sam had read Dracula once, and he'd told me all about it.
Carlisle laughed softly, and the other guy, Edward, joined him, but I instinctively knew they weren't laughing at me. "Emmett, look at us. Do we look like Nosferatu to you? As for the coffins, I'm going to give you the short answer for now, which is no," he said, but before I could ask him to explain further, his easy smile fell and he continued. "Although, there are those of our kind who live in a much less civilized way down in the south. In fact, most vampires live off of human blood."
I had already understood that we weren't in Tennessee anymore, and from the way Carlisle spoke, as well as both his and Rosalie's accents, they were both northerners. I couldn't pinpoint where Carlisle was from, but Rosalie sounded like a proper Yankee.
However, I was more interested in Carlisle's statement about blood. It had answered my question of what it was I was craving so badly, and his words didn't sound completely right to me. "Most vampires?" I asked for clarification. "What do you mean? Are you an exception?"
"We are," Carlisle nodded. "The four of us only drink from animals."
I briefly wondered if my angel had drunk from the bear that had attacked me. It was difficult to piece together the thought of my fair angel, Rosalie, killing and drinking from that humongous beast, and for some reason, the image in my head became humorous with the bear begging for her mercy.
Edward suddenly laughed, and I looked him up and down, wondering what had set him off. He calmed down and looked right at me. "I've never seen a bear beg for mercy before, but if it would, it certainly would be to Rosalie. She can be quite frightening."
From the corner of my eye, I saw Rosalie glare deadly at him, proving his point, but I was more focused on the fact that the guy had somehow known what I was thinking. "How did you know what I was thinking?"
"There are a lot of things we need to explain to you, Emmett," Carlisle said and sat down on the couch next to me. "One such thing is that some vampires develop special abilities, like Edward, who can read minds."
"Special abilities?" I asked and saw how Carlisle looked at Edward, who instantly nodded, and I understood they'd talked through thoughts.
For the first time since I opened my eyes to this new world, I was feeling afraid. Not over what he could read in my mind because I didn't have anything to hide, but over what other people in turn could keep from me. I didn't like that an entire conversation could take place in secret while I was still in the room.
Edward was the next to speak. "Emmett, I know you've noticed that all of your senses have grown stronger compared to before your change, right?" he asked, and I nodded. It had been quite hard to miss those changes. "These special abilities work in the same way," he continued, and I realized with a start that he also spoke in a way that made it obvious he was much older than he looked. "All of us have something extra we bring into this life, and we can only speculate as to why they manifest in the way they do. We believe I was very perceptive when I was human, and that's why I can read minds today."
It was another statement that left me feeling lost. "You believe you were perceptive? You don't know?"
He shook his head almost apologetically, but I didn't understand what he was apologizing for until he spoke again. "No. I'm afraid we lose our human memories over time."
I thought about my family—about Bea and my brothers, and Sammy and Jack—and I understood what he meant. The memories I had of them all were difficult to reach.
Edward continued. "I can read in your mind now that while you think about your family, the memories are dark and murky. That's just the beginning. Eventually, everything will be lost."
"Not necessarily," Rosalie said and squeezed my hand. "If there is a memory you really want to keep, all you have to do is think really hard about it, and it will be with you forever."
I took another look around the room we were in and then studied my own worn-out boots. My past wasn't anything to brag about. It had been filled with hardships and struggles, and because I was such an easy-going guy, I had always made it seem as if we managed just fine. But that was the thing. Humor was how my family had gotten by without sinking into despair, but all of us knew that on the edge of the laughter, there was always a hint of tension and worry about the next day.
These people obviously didn't have that worry, and I didn't want to drag them down with my problems. Still, it saddened me I would forget about my family. They had meant the most to me my entire life.
"I don't know if any of my memories are worth keeping forever," I said quietly, but when I briefly met Rosalie's gaze, there was a fierce light in them that told me she wanted to argue against my statement.
Before she could, though, Edward spoke up again. "We all want to hear your story, but if we don't take you out hunting soon, we might have a problem."
"You're right, Edward. We should leave immediately," Carlisle instantly agreed. The four of them started to move, and it was a bit of a shock to see how fast Edward and Esme moved up the stairs.
I felt out of my element as I followed Rosalie and Carlisle to the hall, and I stood there and just waited for them to tell me exactly what we were going to do. I understood hunting better than everything else that had happened since the bear, but how vampires hunted was completely new territory.
It was obvious we wouldn't use traps or rifles the way I was used to since neither Carlisle nor Rosalie took out any of that. Edward and Esme were also empty-handed when they came back downstairs.
Their clothes didn't look appropriate for hunting either. Esme and Rosalie were wearing dresses, while made from common cotton material, they weren't suited for the woods, and Edward and Carlisle were in finely pressed dress trousers.
Rosalie came up to me and deftly took my hand in hers, and I immediately felt strangely comforted. "Don't worry," she assured me in a whisper, somehow sensing how out of place I felt. "Everything will come to you naturally. It's instinctual."
"Are we ready?" Carlisle asked, and the other three nodded. He and Esme disappeared through the front door in less than a second, and Edward offered a grin my way before he, too, disappeared.
Rosalie gave me an encouraging smile and tugged on my hand, and suddenly, we were flying through the forest with the others. Not literally, but even with my heightened senses, that was what it felt like.
In fact, I wasn't completely convinced yet that I hadn't died after all.
The forest we were in was completely unrecognizable, and for a brief moment, I wondered where exactly we were. The plants and trees weren't like back home, and I could tell that the air and the temperature was completely different.
"There are no humans around for miles in this direction," Rosalie said, obviously wanting me to get into the mindset of hunting. "I'm not going to lie to you, animals don't smell good at all, but I usually shut off and try not to think of it."
I stopped running and so did she. "Then why do you do it?" I asked. "If this isn't the life that you want, why do you live it? Who's stopping you?"
She was about to answer when the both of us heard a growl that I easily identified as a cougar.
"I'll tell you everything later," she promised me before she urged me to go after the cat.
A/N:
I know you're waiting for teasing, and playful Emmett. He's coming, don't worry. He's not altogether comfortable with the Cullens yet, but as that changes, he'll become the Emmett we love :-D