Disclaimer: All characters belong to the great Stephenie Meyer. None for us. Boo-hoo.
A/N: So. I know there have probably been other Beauty and the Beast/Twilight fanfics out there, but you can't blame a girl for trying out her own! So here you go, people -.
Part I is all about the Cullens and their troubles, and how Edward is eventually known as the "beast" of the village. FYI, there are two chapters to Part I. Read and enjoy!
Part I – Chapter One: Tribulation
"The greatest productive force is human selfishness." – Robert A. Heinlein
--Late 17th Century France--
Darkness slowly, almost reluctantly, settled upon the deep pines, leaving the craggy cliffs mysterious in darkness. One couldn't have known the difference from dawn to dusk in such an overcast setting. But there was always the comfort of hearing the steady rhythm of the pendulum of the village clock, ticking away the minutes, the seconds, the hours in perpetual steadiness. Counting the day away as the sky flashed its final brilliance, and then no more. The laughter and voices in the narrow streets dwindled away into nothingness, settling down into a peaceful quiet rivaling that of the nearby church.
All this was observed in a castle presumed to either be haunted, or left as a picturesque ruin on the outskirts of an idyllic town. Indeed, it was a pretty little medieval site; its own inhabitants echoed the very glory the castle suggested, and more. They were—all seven of them—ethereally beautiful, with angelic complexions and wanted for nothing. All were quick and graceful, but unlike the previous castle owners, possessed tawny eyes like warm honey, a result of a diet on animals as opposed to humans. As a result of a revulsion to the ideals that vampires naturally followed, they abstained—but not without the pain of resistance.
"Esme," a diminutive figure emerged from the shadows. Her short, inky hair stuck about in all directions. The long waves had long since been done away with at a witch trial.
Esme lifted her head from her embroidery with a warm, maternal smile. "What is it, Alice?"
Alice hesitated for a moment. "Where's Jasper?"
"Well, dear, I would have thought you'd be able to keep track of him." A small frown line marred Esme's flawless features.
"And I have. It's just that… I honestly never thought that it would—!" Alice cut herself off, suddenly dazed. "And Edward…."
"What about him?"
Before she could respond, a strange, blank look came over her face, one that immediately sharpened Esme's senses. It foreboded many things, and not all were minor. They all knew how uncertain the future was. As the vision passed, a thin, grim line unfolded across Alice's mouth.
"We were all gathered around the door discussing something."
"Is that all? No…visitors?"
"That's just it—they were just a blank void," Alice said hollowly. "But—"
"I have a good guess," a velvety voice, roughened by disgust and tension, floated down the stairs.
"Edward!" Esme flew to him at once, anxious. "Who? Where is Carlisle?"
Edward's perfect face was bleak, but he would not allow himself to lose control before his mother. Esme was too gentle to hurt, too gentle for any of this. "He's fetching Jasper and Emmett from hunting. Rosalie should be arriving soon," he assured tonelessly.
Alice exchanged a swift glance with Esme before meeting Edward's eyes, unable to conceal her horror any longer.
"Edward—you swore you would be careful—even when you rebelled, you swore…"
"Enough, Alice," he shot threateningly, looked at Esme's disquieted expression, and ran a hand through his hair as he paced. He refused to meet the eyes of his audience.
"Edward, we welcomed you back into our lifestyle with open arms because we love you," Esme started in measured tones. "But what precisely were your activities in your…phase?"
He released a harsh laugh. "I'll spare you the gory details."
Esme blinked at him in horror. Alice placed a hand on her arm.
"It's not what you think."
"I know that more than you do," Edward said under his breath, then stopped pacing. "The dogs will arrive as soon as Carlisle enters the room."
"Ah." Alice hopped down from her perch on the table with a humorless smile. "It makes sense now, the blindness."
"Werewolves?" Esme whispered, and then turned her head imploringly in the direction of the west archway. Carlisle stepped through serenely, flanked by a bewildered Emmett and a grim Jasper. Rosalie glided down the stairs to stand next to her husband, expressionless. She'd listened to the entire conversation from above.
"It stinks out there!" Emmett complained. "They scared off a bear. Couldn't they wait until, oh, I don't know…never?"
"No, they thought it necessary to come at this ungodly hour to pester us with things best forgotten," Edward spat.
"Ironic, that," a dry smile graced Rosalie's face.
"Hush," Esme murmured, even as her son looked daggers at his sister.
Alice skipped to Jasper and looked up at him in consternation; he returned it with a grave look, but forced a calm out to the room that merely brought a gloomy acceptance to fall heavily on their shoulders.
"Carlisle, they're—" Edward stopped himself with a glower at the door.
There was an intrusive pounding on it that just barely bordered on a demand. They all looked upon one another, tense and uncertain. Carlisle broke the silence by striding with purpose across the highly-polished hardwood floor to the door; Edward followed at his elbow, his face like stone.
As the door came open there was a sudden silence, a pause per se, and one so absolute that even the dark brown, sentinel owls that sat upon the pine boughs seemed to blend into their trunks. It was a wonder that they did not flee right then and there; they were perfectly aware of the werewolves skulking amongst their trees, their ready, serrated jaws prepared to kill. They also knew of the vampires that were deadly in their own right, with all the speed and attraction that came with a carnivorous bog plant. Most certainly they knew that a fight was absolutely expected tonight, as their bright, shrewd eyes continued to watch the scene. Their attention could have almost been suspicious.
But the Cullens ignored the birds, instead fixated on the imposing figure that dared to come within feet of their doorstep. His black hair was tied behind his head smoothly, showing the sharp planes of his russet skin clearly in the moonlight. Dark eyes glittered tolerably from beneath his brow as he looked upon Carlisle's level, unflinching gaze. They made quite a comparison—he in his plain, woodsman's clothing, and they, dressed like the nobility in one of the larger cities.
Carlisle spoke first, his voice lucid, courteous and free of the aversion that unmistakably filled the air. "What can we do for you, Ephraim?"
The man slowly appraised his words, his head inclined towards them unwillingly. "Do for me? Interesting set of words…Carlisle, was it? As a matter of fact, yes, there is something you could do for me. And for yourselves," he added, his eyes flicking briefly to Edward and away.
Edward, naturally, didn't miss a thing. "Why don't you just come right out and say it, then?" he said tersely. He'd already read the werewolf's thoughts.
"Why don't you?"
Edward fell to silently seething, his fists clenched at his sides. He could feel his family's eyes burning a hole straight through him.
A small, taunting smile played along Ephraim's mouth. "I'm sure your 'family' would be very interested in knowing what went on in your—how do you all refer to it as?—rebellious period."
"We're very well aware of what went on during that time, and we'll kindly thank you not to dip your tail in our affairs, dog," Emmett came quietly from behind them.
"Emmett." Carlisle cautioned him without once turning away from the werewolf, whose smile ever so slightly froze and vanished. Edward's glare was like a fixture on his features.
Glancing between the three vampires, Ephraim's taunting abruptly switched to that of a hardened, business-like manner. His nose wrinkled, and he stepped several feet backwards before continuing. "Very well, then. I'll restate it in our view."
"Which is highly unreliable," Alice muttered from the very back.
"Carlisle," Ephraim began to pace slightly from his still stance, "I assume that you are aware of the promise that you made to us when you entered this land, yes? Now because of this incident, we've realized precisely what fools we've been in taking a vampire's word for truth—especially yours, parading around like the very mortals you hunt, wishing you were every bit as human as they." He paused for effect, watching the fists at Edward's sides tremble with suppressed fury. Emmett and Jasper moved forward to restrain him. "You were all fully informed of the damage that the last vampires inflicted upon this humble village, and yet, you broke the pact. You all agreed to hunt outside the vicinity of this area, lest you run the risk of our wrath and the humans' speculation.
"But your son," he scoffed at the term towards their unmoving faces, "killed an innocent. And therefore, you all must be punished. It is only out of courtesy that we didn't simply barge through your doors and finish our business, so be thankful that you were allowed as much. You deserved far, far less."
"Ephraim, we've told you that we do not hunt humans—" Carlisle began.
Edward finally broke free from his brothers and shoved forward, ignoring Carlisle's warning and Esme's cry. His anger threatened to boil over as he confronted Ephraim.
"If you expected to hear an apology from me, you were sadly mistaken," he snarled, "because you aren't going to get it."
"That's a pity." Ephraim's dark eyes bore into Edward's.
"That man was less of a human than I am right now. He had no shame for his acts, and reveled in the shroud of darkness that he carried around. It was like a prize to him. He would have murdered Lord Newton in his sleep if I hadn't stopped him when I did."
"And I suppose that that cancels out your punishment?"
Edward stared him down coldly. "It cancels my family's punishment."
"Not your own? I was under the impression that vampires were selfish creatures, with no regard to anyone but themselves."
"You were wrong."
"No, Edward, you're wrong," Rosalie fired off, coming forward for the first time to glare at her brother directly in the eye. "You're so selfish, that you'd take all of the blame in this crime."
"Rosalie, stay out of this." Edward gritted his teeth, willing her to move off. "And the blame lies fully on me."
"Oh, here he is—little heroic Edward, coming to save his darling, useless brothers and sisters from the nasty mongrels that he saw fit to provoke in his tantrum," Rose continued icily. "Frankly, brother, I've had enough of this. And if you plan to die, then we all go as well."
"I second that," Jasper added. "Handling your guilt is torture."
"Hell, yeah," Emmett scowled. "You're infecting us all with your misery. It's annoyingly irritating, trying to be purely saintly, when all that we can manage is—"
He was silenced by both Esme and Edwards' fierce expressions. Esme met her son's eyes pleadingly. "Edward, please. This is just as much our battle as it is yours."
Edward tightened his jaw, but could see no way to break through the determination that shone from their eyes. "This is my fight, and I'm trying to keep the rest of you alive," he tried again in vain.
Alice smiled at him angelically. "You're going to lose this argument, so you might as well drop it. Besides, I'd miss hearing the harpsichord if you committed suicide."
Their dispute was interrupted by Ephraim's low cough. His face was completely devoid of expression, but a sardonic amusement lingered in his eyes. He now stood at the edge of the forest motionlessly, but that wasn't what attracted the Cullens' attention so completely. It was the sight of a dozen pairs of eyes, ranging from a brilliant yellow to a pale orange glow, staring out at them with affected indifference from beneath the shadows. Edward stiffened to attention again, realizing that the entire pack surrounded the area—and that these wolves didn't cover the half of it.
"I apologize for interrupting your discussion, but there is something I must bring your attention to," the werewolf said conversationally.
They were outnumbered.
A/N: Ugh, I know. A cliffhanger-- how disgusting is that? Well, I figured this was a good place to stop...for now.
Hehe...Lord Newton. What goes around, comes around...
