DISCLAIMER: I am not Stephenie Meyer.
Hunting Shadows – Edward Cullen
Nomads? Here?
If they try anything they're dead.
Edward, can you hear anything yet?
The thoughts of my family drifted up to me in my bedroom. I sighed, listening for the 'voices' of the nomads. They were coming closer, only half a mile away now. I could hear fear in their thoughts, and I focused on the reason.
Is she gone? What if she followed us? Poor Victoria, nothing but ashes left. How did that demon do it? All she did was touch her!
I blocked my mind as images of the fallen vampire filled their heads. They were coming for help, trying to find this so-called 'demon'. I have to admit, it seemed an apt description, but I couldn't make myself feel sorry for Victoria. She was planning on killing a child, an innocent, helpless little girl.
Flowing downstairs at vampire speeds, I pondered what the unnamed demon might want with the little girl. I shuddered as I realized she might have been better off with the nomads. Carlisle was waiting for me when I appeared in the family room.
"Well?" he asked politely, hiding his impatience in a practiced manner. I nodded.
"They're coming fast. They want us to help them track something. One of their number was killed by it," I replied with certainty. All of my adoptive family were by his side in n instant.
"What do you mean by 'something?'" asked Esme. My gaze became unfocused as I tried to put into words exactly what I saw.
"It – it was a woman, but she wasn't a human," I began, struggling.
A vampire, then? Alice thought. I shook my head.
"She melted into the shadows like she wasn't solid. All she did was lay a hand on a female named Victoria and..." I paused, trying to describe what happened. "Victoria burst into black flames; she was destroyed in seconds."
Six figures stood before me at that moment, their minds empty but for the shock that they shared. And then they were pulled out of their spell by the scent of others of our kind fast coming to our door. Alice jumped to open it, greeting the stunned nomads by name and ushering them inside.
Jasper sent out a wave of calm as their fear hit him. Carlisle motioned for them to sit down. They nervously obliged, casting uncertain glances around the room.
"My name is Carlisle Cullen. This is my wife, Esme, and my children, Alice, Edward, Emmett, Jasper, and Rosalie. What brings you to Forks?" Carlisle gestured to each of us in turn as he introduced us.
"I – I see you already know who we are, but for formalities sake, my name is James, and this is Laurent. We, well, we've come to ask for your help," said one of them, clearly the leader. I didn't need to read his mind to know that he was terrified, but he was more afraid of being followed than of us. It was Alice who answered his unspoken questions.
"She's not a demon, not at all..." she said, her eyes glazed over in a vision. I listened to what she saw, amazed.
We are in a bright place, surrounded by figures. "No, please... Daddy, please don't do this," sobs a girl in the center of the crowd. The figures have created a circle around her and a man, the one she is talking to. The man glares down at her.
"Isabella Swan, you have been found guilty of high treason against the Creator, on the grounds of manipulating the Shadow. You are hereby banished to the Darkness, you may roam the Secondary Realms as you please. You will be stripped of your wings, and of your rank. Have you any last words?" he says to her. She changes suddenly before our eyes, from a helpless, broken creature into a fierce woman, looming and menacing.
"You blame me for what I cannot change, your own daughter! Have you no shame, Charles?" she growls at him. He shrinks back slightly, betraying his fear for a moment. Then his face hardens and he stands tall.
"I have no daughter," he says.
"Then I pray for you," she whispers, so that only he can hear. Then she says louder, for the rest of the figures, "May Lucifer have mercy on you, for he is whom you shall answer to for this deed." And then she leans backwards, and falls into the abyss below.