Disclaimer: I don't own Twilight, if I did, I'd slap some sense into Edward.
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Chapter 4 – The Meeting.
I was frustrated, I had been looking forward to slaying something and Edward had denied me the opportunity. Now I was all riled up and it was hard to think. I needed to stab something, rip something, anything, to get rid of the tension. Faith had suggested other alternatives on her visit to Scotland, but I was not comfortable doing that anywhere near Charlie's house. I needed a vampire, a real one and fast.
Where there were people there were vampires, it surprised me I hadn't seen any here. Maybe the Evo-vamps had marked their territory. On the weekend, or sometime soon, I needed to go to a real city, I needed some action. For now I had some phone calls to make.
When I got indoors I grabbed the phone and dialled, trying not to think how much this would cost me.
Ring, ring, ring ring...click.
"Giles, I've made contact ... no actually it didn't come to that, they seem fairly civilised...well they're convinced they're vampires, don't think they've ever met a real one...they call themselves vegetarians...I know right! Anyway they don't drink human blood, at least not for a while, they sparkle in daylight ... no I'm not "pulling your leg" ... well I know vampires don't do that but they sure don't! Their leader wants to meet with me. He's a doctor you know, the rest pretend to be high school students...I've set it up for tomorrow...I don't need backup, I can take care of myself...yes I'll bring something combustible. I've not had a chance to talk to Professor Black, he's not answering his house phone...I'll have to go it alone and do some research, can you help out on your end?...Thanks so much Mr Giles, I'll call back again, thank you. If I don't ring back tomorrow send my replacement! ...Yeah... that's not joke-worthy...Goodbye!"
Click.
So that was the check-in sorted. Willow would most certainly keep tabs remotely; she could do it across continents now. If things got hairy, she could pull me out.
Charlie arrived home shortly after my phone call and I started dinner, tacos, which Charlie was slightly sceptical of before tasting. He then commented that his waistline would expand as long as I lived here. It felt good to do something for my Dad; I'd been a bit of a brat the last couple of years.
I often forgot that it was Renee who had ended things; Charlie had been the victim in that respect, not that Renee was completely to blame. The times I had refused to see him probably felt like abandonment. I would make up for it. Maybe telling my secret would give us a new bond, we'd have to see. I needed to spend some more time with him before that.
Over dinner we talked about school and Charlie commented that Jacob, Billy's son, had Mono. That would explain my inability to contact him, maybe I'd go down to the reservation to see him in person.
We discussed the possible extracurricular activities at Fork's High, Charlie seemed happy at my interest in sports. I was definitely taking up track, maybe that'd give us something to talk about, and get rid of some of my excess energy. One thing Charlie liked was sports, and before my mother had left he'd coached little league. Maybe I'd let him "coach" me, if only to give us time together. If anything it would give him bragging rights at the station and me something to add to a college application.
Buffy said it was important to make sure your life wasn't completely about slaying. The best cover story was actually having a life. Your life tied you to this world and gave you that little extra reason to come home every night because every slayer had a fatal flaw.
Every slayer had a death-wish.
Maybe that was why I ...I had to admit it, "liked" Edward a little. If the negotiations didn't work out, he could probably give me a glorious death.
Now I sounded Klingon.
I needed to get out more, well, with more living people.
That night I researched the "Cold Ones" Professor Black was supposed to tell me about. If he was off the radar then I needed to go it alone for now. Not many legends online, not anything I didn't already know, but a bookshop in Port Angeles had a few interesting titles. I suppose I knew where I'd be hunting next.
Apparently I was right in my fire theory, tear them apart and burn the pieces was the "cure" in many cultures. The zippo and the liquor bottle would come in handy then. Stakes were out, but I'd need some form of scythe eventually I doubted I could tear them apart with my bare hands. Edward's skin had sparkled, but now that I thought about it, it had been like diamonds. Only diamond can penetrate diamond, so perhaps only an Evo-vamp could penetrate an Evo-vamp's skin. I'd have to get a hold of something, maybe a tooth, to test the theory.
I was secretly wishing I wouldn't have to end Edward. Perhaps only dance with him again, a little banter. Verbally sparring with a guy was the slayer handshake, fighting with him was practically first base; unless you were Buffy and it became first base.
First base with Edward sounded good. I needed to stop being such a chick. Kill something, that'd help. Jane Austen definitely wasn't helping my Cinderella complex. Violence was the answer; a little assertion of my own physical independence would be good.
But first, my homework, I took out my English homework, an analysis of whether Beatrice from Much Ado About Nothing was a "feminist" character. Time to set my internal "angry feminist" to work.
...
The next day in school I remained on high alert. I could smell the Cullen's, I was sick of calling them Evo-Vamps, all around. I had yet to see them. The first few classes were uneventful. I met up with Angela for lunch and took a look over at the Cullen table. They were talking amongst themselves and the raven haired pixie looked at me and had an excited and smug expression on her face. Edward looked frustrated and glared at the pixie. Barbie looked sour as ever despite the joviality of the Bear. The Texan was strained as ever, I'd hae to watch him tonight.
Edward looked over my way and if I didn't know better seemed happy to see me.
Too bad I didn't have Biology today.
Tonight would be interesting.
After school I parked the truck at home before taking a small bottle of body spray and taping a lighter level to the spout. If things got violent I had a few tricks.
The walk to the meet point went slowly but steadily, I listened carefully to my surroundings and made sure to leave a deliberate trail.
The Cullen's were already there, including two I had not met before, they must be the "parents". One was a very attractive blond man, probably in his early 20's when he was turned, and the other a auburn haired woman who made me think oddly of a 50's housewife. For all I knew she had been. They appeared calm and even interested to see me. The bond introduced himself first.
"Hello Bella, my name is Dr Carlisle Cullen, this is my wife Esme. I believe you already know our children. I'm afraid there has been an unfortunate misunderstanding between us and I hope we can resolve it peacefully."
He pointedly looked at the Texan, who was wound up like a spring and ready to jump at a moment's notice. I'd like him to try.
"I'm glad you think so, we need to clear things up. I'm Bella, the Vampire Slayer. I'm sure Edward has filled you in on the legend. It's my job to ensure that your kind to not pose a danger to the public, with violence if necessary."
Barbie scoffed at this.
"Want to try me Blondie? Anytime."
She looked ready to pounce and took a step forward before Carlisle stated calmly but authoritatively "Rosalie".
"Rosalie" stopped and sneered at me.
"The deal is simple, I catch one of you stalking a human, feeding on one or so much as taking a lick and I'm coming for all of you."
Carlisle looked horrified, whether at the thought of eating a human or at the destruction of his family I didn't know.
"You must know we would never do such a thing. We have all vowed to follow a different way, to drink the blood of animals and to peacefully co-exist with humans. In fact, we have a similar treaty with the werewolves of La Push, although it was created decades ago and it and their ability to shift have long gone into memory."
Okay, so there were werewolves now? It might explain Professor Black's absence. Also his expertise. But they couldn't be real werewolves, that was involuntary.
"These "werewolves" could shift voluntarily?"
Carlisle looked startled by the question.
"Yes, the ability has not been active for generations but the presence of vampires gave the men of certain bloodlines the ability to shift into wolves."
"Then they weren't werewolves, not really. Just like you aren't real vampires. Real werewolves are controlled by lunar shifts or in one case by extreme emotion, but that guy had gone to Tibet to meditate for a year. I'm sure Edward has told you about your non-vampire status?"
Carlisle nodded, but still looked sceptical.
"You are an evolutionary off shoot, from what is called an Uber-vamp. They were human's infused with the essence of a demon, it robbed them of their human traits and made them almost invincible. Over time these pure vampires bit humans and devolved to create regular vampires. It appears you're a mutated strand that has developed a tolerance to sunlight, perhaps through inter-breeding with demons. From what the research shows your kind are old but not as old as regular vampires. I believe that you have a hierarchy?"
"Yes, the Volturi, they assumed power over vampires and instituted a code of secrecy that cannot be broken on pain of death. I lived with them through part of the 17th century; they are extremely cultured but also ruthless."
I shook my head.
"Regular vampires are not that organised, they tend to fly solo, or if they do organise it's for another apocalypse."
At the vampires enquiring looks I continued.
"Every couple of years we Slayers have to kill something trying to take over or destroy the world, there is a lot of evil around and before the quickening not enough Slayers to stop it. Now we're organised and taking the world by storm. If you hadn't encountered me they would have probably sent a team, but as I'm native to the area I drew less attention. We have a code of secrecy too, to protect the families of the chosen. I'm surprised that having lived so long you have not encountered any other forms of demonic life. But I suppose because you have souls you would be shunned by the majority of the underworld."
Edward looked stricken and spoke up.
"Souls? What do you mean we have souls?"
"Regular vampires lose their souls because of the transference of a demon into their bodies, they become animated by it. From what I can gather you don't have another visage, no fangs or anything? How is your form of vampirism transferred?"
Carlisle spoke.
"Venom, we produce a toxic venom that upon contact with the human bloodstream begins the transformation process; it usually takes around 3 days."
"My point is that while you are being infected with something that animates your bodies, it's more biological than demonic. You thirst for blood because it sustains you, your baser instincts take over and the virus in the venom reanimates your tissue and transforms it. But you essentially retain the person you were, you keep your soul. Your actions may have been driven by instinct but they were essentially your own, just as your decision to work against them is your own. That makes you both more dangerous and more heroic than regular vampires. I've met vampires with souls and without; there is a lot of choice involved".
They let my words sink in and I decided to let them have their Dr Phil revelation.
"Think on that for a while and stay out of trouble."
I left silence in my wake and I walked out of the clearing.
I'd obviously dropped a bombshell.
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