A/N:

A meeting is about to happen :-D

What I expected to happen happened! I was absolutely spent last night after I'd traveled and that's why you didn't get this last night, but it's here now :)

Title: Origins: Destiny in the Mountains

Author: MarieCarro

Beta: Alice's White Rabbit

Pre-reader: BitterHarpy

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 14

MONDAY, OCTOBER 16th 1939

We had barely started the hunt when all of us froze simultaneously because of the new scent in the air. Unlike when we encountered the wolves in Washington, this scent was unmistakable.

Vampire. Several of them.

The problem was that Carlisle didn't recognize any of them, and that caused all of us to feel somewhat nervous. If the territory had been claimed, and the vampires felt we'd trespassed, it could easily turn into a fight.

While I personally wouldn't be against it, I didn't like our odds. Edward, Rosie, and I were the only ones truly willing to fight, and on top of that, neither of us really knew what we were doing. With Carlisle being our mentor, any violence except the occasional mock-fight wasn't accepted.

These strangers could very well be expert fighters, and with our track record, they could even be soldiers from the Southern Wars who had fled up north. Carlisle had said that, occasionally, one or two would wander, but their start to this life often made them unfit to move comfortably around humans—a requirement in order to live higher up. They'd expose themselves, and the Volturi would end them quickly.

Edward, who had gone off to hunt by himself, approached us, but Carlisle stopped him with his thoughts. In response to whatever he'd said, Edward narrowed his eyes and most likely tried to focus his gift to see if he could hear if the strangers were close by.

"Carlisle," Esme said softly. "What are we going to do?"

He was quiet for a moment, but then it was obvious he'd made up his mind. "We should investigate further. It's a large coven, so I doubt they're regular nomads."

Esme shook her head in disagreement and stopped Carlisle from walking away. "I don't like that idea. What if they aren't friendly?"

He immediately turned around and cupped her cheek lovingly. "We'll make our approach as amicable as possible, okay?" he said to calm her down. "If they feel cornered, Edward will be able to tell by their thoughts, and we'll leave immediately. I promise."

We all remained rather reluctant, but we followed him anyway as he started to follow the trail of scents. As we walked, I looked at Rosie from the corner of my eye. I had no doubt she could hold her own in a fight, but it didn't keep me from feeling worried and protective.

If a fight ensued and it came down to fighting or getting Rosie to safety, there really wasn't a choice to make. I'd prioritize her every day for the rest of my life. At the same time, I felt torn because the others were my family, and I wasn't certain I'd be able to abandon them if they needed me.

I knew what my worry boiled down to because I had never truly seen Rosie fight. She was an efficient killer of her prey, but hunting animals and fighting another vampire were two vastly different things.

The trees in front of us thinned out until we emerged into a field with a large hill at one end. On top of the hill was a house that looked like an overgrown hunter's cabin. It was obviously not abandoned despite the fact that there wasn't even a hint of human in the air.

"It's a coven with a permanent residence," Edward breathed out in confusion. "How have you not heard about them?" he asked our leader, but Carlisle was as surprised as the rest of us.

"I don't know."

Still feeling very cautious, we slowly approached the house, and it only took a moment before five vampires exited and walked at an equally slow pace toward us. I was shocked to see that the opposing coven had something in common with us, except for their numbers.

They had golden eyes.

While I was suspicious, that feature made me feel a thousand times more relaxed. Of course, that didn't mean they weren't still a threat to us, but at least we had some common ground.

The one male in the group appeared to peruse over us until he stopped at Edward, and when he smiled, I got the feeling that he somehow knew of my brother's gift. It was eerie because it looked like they were already having a conversation despite not knowing each other.

One of the females stepped forward with an open expression, although it wasn't hard to see that she was just as suspicious of us as we were of them. "Hello. What can we help you strangers with?" she asked politely.

"My name is Carlisle Cullen, and this is my family," Carlisle spoke for us. "My wife, Esme, and Rosalie, Emmett, and Edward. We recently moved to Fairbanks and came across your scents while hunting. We naturally got curious."

"Naturally," the woman echoed in agreement. "I'm Tanya, and these are my sisters: Katrina and Irina. The couple over there are Carmen and Eleazar."

Hearing the very civil conversation Carlisle and Tanya had made me relax even further, but I kept my hold on Rosie's hand nonetheless.

"It's a pleasure to meet you. I wasn't aware there was another coven sharing our lifestyle," Carlisle continued.

"Neither were we," Tanya replied. "We thought we were the only one, but on the other hand, we don't travel much, so we don't really know a lot about the world outside of Alaska."

"Have you lived here long?"

"A few hundred years, give or take."

Rosie's grip stiffened, and as always when she wanted to know something, there was no way she'd stay quiet. "And you've stayed here that entire time?" she asked, and I immediately knew where her thoughts were.

The house in Portland had become our home, and she had hated to leave it, no matter the inevitability. I hadn't liked it either, and I did feel guilty for having driven us away from there sooner than necessary. We could only hope we'd be able to return there soon.

Tanya turned her eyes to Rosie. "Yes," she said with a slight smile. "There are rarely any humans this deep in the park, and we don't really see the necessity of venturing into the city." There was an exchange between Tanya and Eleazar when he cleared his throat, and she looked at him for a long moment. Neither spoke, but it was obvious they somehow conversed. Maybe one of them was telepathic like Edward. "Would you like to come inside?" Tanya offered and looked back at us.

"That would be lovely. Thank you." Carlisle accepted on our behalf, and we followed them to their house. What I'd first thought had been a cabin was much more of a lodge. It was bigger than what it looked like from across the field as most of it was obscured by trees.

Once everyone had gathered in the heart of the house, the sitting room, it didn't take long for Tanya to start up the conversation again.

"Eleazar tells me you have a talented member in your family," she said, and while I had suspected it, it was still strange to hear her say it since Eleazar hadn't spoken a word.

"Yes," Edward said. "I can read thoughts, but it seems he somehow already knew that."

Eleazar nodded as he took a seat. "I did know that. I knew even before the first word was uttered." His statement was quite odd, but he didn't take his eyes off Edward. "You're not the only one with a talent, Edward," he continued pointedly.

"What can you do?"

"Isn't it rather obvious?" he asked, but then continued without stopping. "I can feel when there are other gifted vampires close by. I know which gift it is from the start, but I need to be really close to know who possesses it."

"That's a very unusual gift. I've never heard of anything of that sort before," Carlisle interjected.

Eleazar turned to Carlisle. "As far as I'm aware, I'm the only one with this particular gift, and I have encountered many gifted vampires in my lifetime."

"How?" I asked, unable to keep my curiosity in any longer. "I thought you didn't travel."

"We don't, but I wasn't always a member of this coven," Eleazar answered. "I was created in Spain in the year 1741. My creator and I wanted different things, and only a few years after my birth, I left for Italy and was almost immediately taken in by the Volturi."

Carlisle gave him a questioning look. "You were a member of the guard? I'm surprised I haven't heard of you before. I stayed with the brothers myself for a couple of decades, although that was before your time. But I still keep in contact with Aro, and he never once mentioned you."

"Aro was quite anxious about keeping me a secret," Eleazar explained. "Since my gift is so unusual, he was afraid someone else would covet me if they found out. I stayed with them for about a century, but then I found Carmen. We wanted a different life than they could offer us, and while it displeased the brothers to let me go, they knew they couldn't force me to stay either."

"And then you came stumbling into our lives, and you're yet to leave," Tanya filled in with an amused expression.

"How exactly did you decide to start this … unconventional lifestyle we all share?" Esme asked. Carlisle's curiosity had rubbed off on her, and she often thirsted for knowledge as much as he did.

Tanya cleared her throat and a smirk stretched across Katrina's face. Both of them shared a look with Irina, but as Tanya was clearly the leader, she took it upon herself to explain.

"Before my sisters and I converted to this lifestyle, we ventured into the city more often than we do now. We were taught how killing was a lot easier when our prey found pleasure in their last moments instead of fear."

What she said was like a foreign language to me because I didn't understand what she meant at all. I wasn't the only one because the rest of my family, with the exception of Carlisle, looked confused.

But being the well of knowledge Carlisle was, he made a small, incredulous sound at the back of his throat before he voiced what he knew. "So you three are the origin of the succubus legends?"

"The original," Katrina said with a soft laugh.

"What's a succubus?" I asked as I'd never heard the word before, and Katrina turned to me with a grin.

"The legends depict a succubus as a female demon seductress who preys on men with whom she mates with before killing them," she explained, and I knew my expression was shocked because she laughed at me before giving me a wink.

Rosie read something else into Katrina's teasing because she hooked her arm tightly around mine and snarled in warning. I didn't mind her possessiveness one bit because I wanted everyone to know I was hers, but I didn't really understand why she saw Katrina as a threat. No one could measure up to my angel.

Katrina saw her display as amusing. "Don't worry, sweetie. I prefer human men."

Rosie didn't feel reassured by that and remained hostile. "You didn't answer Esme's question," she said with a glare.

"Engaging in sexual activity with humans takes more than strength to resist their blood," Tanya said, once again taking over the conversation. "You need to connect with them on an emotional level, motivate yourself to not kill them immediately. But doing so doesn't have a consequence-free ending. Once you feel that connection with someone, you can't help but mourn their death. It took its toll on us after a few centuries, and we decided to find an alternative way. Now our men get to live even after being with us."

"How about you?" Irina asked quietly. She was much more soft-spoken than her sisters.

Carlisle went into explaining his own story, and how he had found all of us. Eleazar, especially, took an interest in me as the youngest and Rosie because she had been able to resist killing me when she brought me to Carlisle.

"Your strength is nothing short of amazing," he praised her. "It's not even an enhanced ability of yours. How exactly were you able to do it?"

"I can't really explain it," she said, and I was happy to see that she didn't close up the way she usually did. She actually enjoyed speaking with him. "I had my reasons for saving him from the bear, but on the way home, there was just this voice in the back of my head that kept wishing he'd live. It was my life's most difficult journey, but ..." She turned to look at me, and the love shining in her eyes almost knocked me off my seat. "I'd do it again in a heartbeat because I know that's what he'd want."

There was no chance I could hold back from kissing her at that moment, and I was infinitely grateful she no longer had issues with showing affection in front of others. We had truly worked our way through those hurdles and gotten out on the other side as a very strong couple.

"You enjoy being a vampire, then?" Eleazar asked me.

I shrugged, as that was a complicated question. "I don't have anything against it because it brought me this incredible woman. Can't say I dislike the physical aspects either, although I would like to know more about how to fight properly. We're not exactly a family of soldiers," I finished with a chuckle.

"I could show you some moves, if you'd like," Eleazar offered, and I immediately felt my excitement grow. "As a former Volturi guard, I had to know my fair share of tricks, but keep in mind, I wasn't ever a frontline guard, and I don't have your enhanced strength."

"How do you know about my enhanced strength?" I asked, confused because I hadn't exactly displayed that skill of mine.

Eleazar smiled. "My own gift works in layers. It has developed over the years, and I can sense more than just formidable talents now. Since it is well known that every vampire brings some sort of ability to be enhanced into this life, I can sense that as well if I stay in the same room as them long enough. Your strength is very obvious in the air around you. Few possess that ability," he explained, and it made me smile. I liked that even though I didn't have a gift like Edward's, I had something that was somewhat unique even with vampires.

I would definitely take Eleazar up on his offer to teach me some moves, and I was looking forward to it, but for now, I was happy with staying inside with my wife and learning more about the people I was certain would become good friends to us.

A/N:

I've had people comment before on my other Origin story (Edward's story, A Lost Soul) that they thought Carlisle already knew Tanya's coven even before he created Edward.

According to the Illustrated Guide, they must have been at least 3 in the Cullen clan before this meeting because of this part right here:

"Tanya naturally took her place as the leader of the whole family. She was delighted to meet Carlisle when the Cullens finally encountered them, seeing him as her peer in many ways.

Since I couldn't fit a move to Alaska in between Esme's creation and Rosalie's creation because of Edward's rebellious period etc, it just felt natural to put their first encounter here as, after Emmett, it takes 15 years until Alice and Jasper joins them :-D