Clara Cullen-Taylor

"There once was a man, he was powerful and cruel. He was a leader of a vampire coven called the Volturi in Italy, he had two other leaders that helped him but everyone knew he was the main spokesman. There was something this man wanted more than anything in the world. Power and he wouldn't stop to get it. He also wanted descendants, an endless line of cruel leaders just like himself. After the war with the Cullen's Aro and the entire Volturi was wiped out… all but one little boy that the Cullen's were too compassionate to kill. This little boy was innocent, he didn't choose his family, he didn't choose his upbringing and so the Cullen's took him in as their own and they raised him as a Cullen rather than Aro's son."

"And he married Chantelle Cullen! And they had babies and they now lead the Volturi together!" Sophie said excitedly.

"Sophie you have to let me finish the story," I rolled my eyes. I was sitting on the couch with my little sister curled into my side. It was nearly her bed time and since my mom ordered for me to stay on the couch with my sprained wrist Sophie had come down stairs for a story.

"You always drag them out," she giggled. I smile down at her just as the doorbell went. I frowned, who could it be at this time?

"I'll get it!" Sophie shouted and shot up before I could tell her no.

"Who are you?" I heard her ask, I stood up from the couch in case it was a stranger.

"I'm Axton, can I see your sister?" I heard Axton answer. I sat back down immediately. I knew it wasn't a stranger and Axton wouldn't hurt my sister.

Was it strange that I trusted him with my life, and more importantly my sister's life after just a few days of knowing him? Probably.

"Come in…. Clara! Is he your boyfriend?" she called coming into the living room with Axton following her.

"Sophie," I rolled my eyes. Axton smiled at me from the door. I saw my mom come in after.

"Hey," he grinned coming to sit at my side. My mom eyed me warily as if I had to explain.

"Mom this is Axton, he lives across the road. He is a friend." I explained.

"Axton, this is my mom."

"Hello Mrs Taylor," he said politely.

"You can call me Madeleine Axton, it's nice to meet you," she said and held out her hand. He shook it and smiled at her.

"My name is Sophie," Sophie said sitting down in between me and Axton. I laughed.

"Go to bed Sophie," I told her and gently pushed her off the couch. She frowned at me and I just laughed.

"Come on Soph, time for bed. Let Clara and her friend talk," my mom said and lifted Sophie into her arms.

"Night night Clara. Night night Axton," she said softly and waved at us. I waved back at my baby sister as my mom carried her out of the room.

"She's cute," Axton smiled at me.

"Yeah, she is." I grinned, he smiled softly but there was something hidden behind his smile.

"Do you miss your sister?" I asked him, I had never asked him about his sister, he only mentioned her once and I was scared to bring it up again.

"More than anything in the world," he said.

"What was her name?" I asked, at first I thought I went too far, his face flickered and he looked like he was in pain.

"Alena," he said softly and pulled out his phone, he showed me a picture of a girl, she looked about sixteen and she was beautiful.

"Was she your younger sister?" I asked him.

"By three minutes," he answered and took his phone back. They were twins, no wonder he was so sad when he spoke about her.

"What happened to her?" I asked, I definitely went too far then, his face dropped, all emotion gone.

"There's quite an age difference between you and Sophie. Do you have the same dad?" he asked me, changing the subject.

"Yes we do. I wanted a baby sister for my 10th birthday. Sophie was born 9 months later. My dad died when she was a baby," I said sadly.

"I'm sorry," he frowned.

"Let's change the subject," I laughed trying to lighten the mood. "why-?" I began to ask.

"Why am I here?" he laughed. I smiled back for a moment and nodded. He shrugged, suddenly nervous. "Do you mind me being here?" he asked.

"No!" I said quickly, my hand reached out involuntary to rest on his. "I'm just shocked you are that's all," I said I could feel the blush rising to my cheeks, he smiled crookedly at me.

"I don't have anyone to talk to at home, I thought I'd come check you were okay and offer you a ride tomorrow to school since you can't drive," he said with a wink.

"Thank you," I said.

Axton stayed over for another hour at least, I didn't even realise how fast the time went as we talked. We spoke about various things, not just school. He avoided his home life as much as possible so I didn't push the subject. I knew he lived with his aunt Caroline who was his mother's identical twin sister. He didn't tell me what happened to his parents just that his aunt took him in as a child and she's been like a mother to him ever since. After a few hours my mom said that Axton had to leave and he promised to pick me up early so we could go to the library early. I fell asleep with a huge smile on my face, the last thought I had before I fell asleep was that I forgot to call Elijah.

"Clara wake up, Axton is outside waiting for you!" my mom's voice called through my bedroom door. My eyes snapped open and I saw seven thirty am on my clock. I had completely slept through my alarm! I shot out of bed, regretting it immediately as pain shot through my wrist. I dressed, washed my face and brushed my teeth quickly before grabbing my bag and taking the steps two at a time down stairs.

"Slow down Clara," my mom said at the door. She held out a banana for me. She knew better than to argue with me about breakfast. She knew I liked to be at school early.

"Thanks momma, see you later."

"I'll come pick you and Elijah up, don't walk home," she told me.

"What are you talking about?" I asked her.

"You'll see," she smiled slightly and opened the door.

"What do you mean mom?" I asked her but Axton pulled my attention by calling my name. I couldn't help but smile back.

"You'll be leaving school at lunch time today, don't worry I've already talked to Elijah's mom about it," my mom said and closed the door. What on earth was she talking about? I was quickly distracted by Axton coming and taking my bag off me.

"Thanks," I giggled at his gentlemanly behaviour and we walked to his car. It was working today which I was glad about because I couldn't drive with my wrist.

As soon as I saw Elijah at school I asked him about what was happening and he too had no idea what was supposed to be happening at lunch. I wondered about it all morning, going to and from my class in a blur.

"Is something wrong?" Axton asked in between classes, we'd just had one together where I barely paid attention at all.

"Not at all. I'm going to head to the library. Meet me there?" I asked him with a smile.

"Sure you don't want lunch first?" he asked.

"No, I'm not hungry. See you in a bit," I smiled at him and we went separate ways, he went to the cafeteria and I went straight to the library. I knew I'd have to find Elijah and find out exactly where we were supposed to be going but at the same time if I was supposed to be going somewhere wouldn't my mom come find me? Or Elijah's mom?

I sat down on my usual table in the library. I had just pulled out my sketch book when I heard a voice.

"Hello," I heard someone say, I looked up from my drawing book to see Bella smiling at me.

"Er hi, do you want me to move?" I asked, the library was empty so I don't know why she wanted my seat, I hadn't had much interaction with her and she seemed like one of them popular girls that just wanted to make people bend to her will. I had noticed though that not one of the Cullen's was in school this morning.

"Oh no, I came to introduce myself properly, I know we've met but I don't even know your surname. There's always been someone around and I'd like to be your friend." she smiled at me again, it was almost painful to look at her this close, she was so pretty.

"Well hi," I managed to smile slightly.

"I'm Bella Cullen," she said and offered me her hand. I already knew her name but introduced myself anyway.

"Clara Taylor," I introduced myself, she frowned slightly but hid it well as she took my hand. Her hand was freezing.

"Are you cold?" I asked bluntly.

"No I'm fine, I just have bad blood circulation," she said with a smirk, like she was hiding something. "Can I?" she asked and motioned for the seat next to me.

"Sure," I mumbled and shuffled my stuff away, I had no idea why she wanted to be my friend, she and Edward were very strange to me.

"You're really good!" she exclaimed looking at my drawings. I quickly closed my book, I had been drawing Alice without realising; she fascinated me the most out of the Cullen's. I wondered if she noticed, probably not, I'd drawn wings on her.

"Er thanks," I mumbled, she was just trying to be nice but I didn't understand why. We sat in silence for a few seconds before Edward came in. Bella smiled widely at him and motioned for him to come over.

"Hello Clara," he greeted me sweetly. I smiled at him, he had cared for me when I hurt my arm and I won't ever forget how gentle he had been with me.

"So you know Edward, my boyfriend," Bella said softly.

"Boyfriend? You're not siblings?" I asked. I couldn't help myself I had been dying to ask them.

"Adopted," he responded and sat next to Bella.

"So, do you have any brothers or sisters?" Bella asked me.

"Sister, shes five," I told her. "I have four cousins that are like my siblings though."

"Your family are close?"

"They always have been as far as I'm aware. My mom lived by all her cousins and her dad before her. Supposedly I'm descended from some legendary family. I don't believe it at all though," I told them, why was I getting into my weird family? Part of me wanted to test if they were related; if they were they had the same weird family. Maybe they were my distant cousins or something, I refused to believe they were the vampire part of my family but they might have been told the same legends as me growing up.

"Oh really?" Bella laughed. I frowned slightly, why was it funny?

"So your family has legends?" Edward asked. Both he and Bella were smiling like they knew something I didn't.

"Yeah, they're all really stupid though, you wouldn't believe them," I told them.

"Oh you never know," Edward said to me with a smile. His smile made me realise how attractive he was, like really attractive. Edward's smile dropped as if he had heard my thoughts and didn't want to encourage me. Heh he had nothing to worry about, I wouldn't be going after him when he was dating someone as beautiful as Bella. I had no chance plus he was probably related to me anyway.

"So who is that guy I always see you with? Not Axton the other one, Elijah is it?" Edward asked.

"Er, Elijah, yeah, he's my best friend," I said, why were they so interested in my life? "So if you're adopted do you stay in the same house?" I asked, there goes my involuntary mouth, sometimes I just couldn't help but say things I shouldn't.

"Yes," Bella answered.

"Like together? Your parents let you?" I asked.

"Well Carlisle has rules, but Edward and I have been together for a long time," she said, there seemed to be a hidden meaning.

"Carlisle?" I frowned. Carlisle Cullen? Are they serious? Was this a prank that Elijah was pulling? Getting someone to pretend to be my vampire relatives?

"Yes Carlisle, he's our father," Edward said smiling at me again. He needed to stop smiling, the second I thought it his smile dropped instantly. I stared into his eyes longer than I should have, they were really gold, not just a light brown, gold, his skin was flawless and incredibly pale. He was beautiful and yet there was an aura about him that screamed 'danger'.

"How old are you?" I suddenly blurted.

"seventeen," Edward told me but there was a smirk and something hidden behind his words. "But I feel like ive been seventeen for two hundred and twenty eight years," he added. Two hundred and twenty eight years? Why such a precise number? I decided to count back, two hundred and twenty eight years…. that was 1918. The year Carlisle Cullen turned the first member of his coven, the boy that was only seventeen. That was something I didn't tell Elijah… that was something my OCD mind remembered out of the obsession I had for the legends I didn't even believe in. I looked to Bella and It shocked me how much of my mom I saw in her. I jumped up.

"I have to go," I said quickly. This couldn't be happening, it wasn't true! Vampire didn't exist, shape shifters and human vampire hybrids!

"You have really fast mental arithmetic," Edward commented as I quickly grabbed my things. I ignored him and walked towards the door of the library.

"Clara!" Edward exclaimed as I went to the door. "Clara stop," he said, his hand was on my wrist. He had moved so fast. His golden eyes bore into mine.

"You're not real," I told him.

"We are, let me talk to you."

"What are you like my great great great great times twenty grandfather?" I asked him, it sounded so unbelievably stupid saying it out loud, the boy holding my wrist looked barely older than seventeen. Seventeen. That number again. But he couldn't be who I thought he was. He just couldn't.

"My name is Edward Cullen, my wife is Isabella and our children are Renesmee, Edward, Alexandra and Elizabeth. You are descended from my hybrid daughter Renesmee, and her son William Black. Your great grandmother is my great great granddaughter," he told me. I shook my head. No way. "You haven't noticed the similarities between yourself and Bella?" he asked, I looked back at Bella sitting at the table watching us.

"She had your brown eyes, just like Renesmee, William, Phoebe and every daughter born after her." He explained. "Your hair, your mannerisms they're the same I would almost say you were Bella reincarnate," he laughed.

I stared at Bella as he spoke and he was right, I saw myself in her. Distantly, but I did. My eyes, my mother's eyes and my grandmothers.

"I need time to think," I answered, my voice shaking. I was in a room with two vampires and I had just had it confirmed to me they were related. My great something grandparents.

"Clara we would never hurt you," Edward said kindly and dropped his grasp from my wrist.

"I know," I answered, his yellow eyes proved that, all the stories I had told my little sister were true, the yellow eyed and the red eyed vampires, the good and the bad but my mind was on overload. I just needed to get out of here and breathe some fresh air. I ran to the front of the school and sat on the steps. Breathing in the fresh air, I thought about what Edward had said to me.

I was descended from them… did they just happen to pick this town or did they come here purposely? Bella seemed happy to meet me and I could even see myself being friends with her but did she just view me as a child in comparison? I was technically her great something granddaughter.

Why the hell was I thinking about befriending a vampire?!

I shook my hair so it covered my face and put my face in my hands. I closed my eyes tightly trying to wake up from this crazy dream I was having.

If I was descended from their daughter who was half human half vampire did that make me part vampire too? The idea freaked me out but the more I thought about it the more I worried. I knew they'd know. If I went to find them again. I had loads of questions, wouldn't it be best just to get the answers and then decide if I actually wanted to know these people that were my distant family?

I walked back into the library to see Edward and Bella were still there, they were sitting at the table I was on, and they looked up the second I walked in the room. I took a deep breath and walked over to them, Bella smiled warmly at me. I don't know what it was about her but I felt oddly drawn to her, like she would be my best friend and protect me to the ends of the earth.

"We all would Clara," Edward told me, I frowned. How the hell did he know what I was thinking? He seemed to know what I was thinking earlier too. "I can read minds, both myself and my son have the ability to read current thoughts of anyone, anyone other than Bella," he said with a smile to Bella at his side.

"I can let him if I want though," she said then winked towards me, I involuntary smiled, they were cute together, it made me wonder how long they had been together and if they were always this perfect.

"We've been married one hundred and forty years," Edward answered my thoughts. Wow.

"I have some questions," I said and sat down at the table.

"Shh!" the librarian hissed.

"Maybe we should take this outside, we need to find Elijah too," Edward suggested and stood up from his chair, he held his hand out for Bella and she took it before standing up. They were so timeless, it seemed like they were straight out of the 1800s. I stood up quickly and started to lead the way out of the library, I was just about to ask why they wanted to talk to Elijah when he ran into me in the hall, he seemed to be running in the direction of the library.

"Where have you been? Aren't we supposed to be going somewhere?" he exclaimed then caught the sight of Edward and Bella at my side. "Er hi, im Elijah," he said.

"Edward Cullen, this is my wife Bella," he told him. Elijah's eyes widened, as did mine. He was going around telling people they were married now? I thought they were trying to pass off as teenagers. Edward smiled at me.

"He already knows what we are. Your stories have told him enough about us… Yes I'm the Cullen that married a human and had a hybrid daughter, you know I wish you'd have told him our names, Renesmee wouldn't like being called 'the hybrid' all the time," Edward said with a chuckle.

Renesmee? What a beautiful name. I hadn't caught onto it earlier when Edward listed his children, I was too busy freaking out over the fact I was talking to a vampire.

"Renesmee, Edward, Alexandra and Elizabeth," he told me again.

"Or Nessie, Eddie, Lexi and Beth," Bella laughed. "They barely ever get called their full names, only Renesmee and Elizabeth."

"I don't remember the stories saying you had four children," I frowned.

"Edward and I recently had Beth and we adopted Lexi, she is the only human but she is no less our daughter than Nessie or Beth," Bella told me. So the others were all their biological children?

"Let's go talk outside," Edward urged me when I saw people giving Edward and Bella lingering looks.

"So I was right?" Elijah hissed as he followed us out. "They're related to you, you're all Cullen's?" he asked.

"Yes," I told him.

"And they're vampires!" he squealed.

"Shhh!" I hissed at him and pushed him to walk faster. Edward was chuckling behind me.

"You two remind me of Bella and Jacob," he told me, who was Jacob?

"Your mind is very protective over Clara," he added looking to Elijah.

"She's my best friend," he announced proudly as we reached the parking lot.

"And Jacob is my best friend," Bella clarified for me, she must be able to tell how overwhelming this was for me. We continued walking away from the school and I frowned slightly.

"Aren't we going to get in trouble?" I asked.

"We've already arranged this little meeting with your mothers." He answered. I didn't mean that, I meant just walking out of school with no question from anyone around us. Edward raised his eyebrows at my thoughts. "You have a lot to learn about your family little one," he laughed. "Ever wonder where all the money comes from? You know your mother doesn't work, your father is no longer with you and you live in a rather large house and you always get what you want," he told me, I frowned. He was right. "It comes from Carlisle, Carlisle supports all of our family including the countless descendants my children and niece have produced to make sure they are completely financially stable."

"Niece?" I asked with a frown.

"Your stories don't tell you of Chantelle?" he asked. I gasped.

"The Volturi. She married the leader's son and they had a son that leads it with him now," I gasped.

"Indeed, they're Cullen's too," he told me.

"I am so confused," Elijah moaned.

"We're nearly at our house; would you both like to come in?" Edward asked. Elijah looked at me warily.

"They wouldn't hurt us," I told him with surety.

"Ok," Elijah mumbled but I took his hand as Edward and Bella led the way.

"Edward, Bella why are you home so early?" a woman asked, seemingly older than Edward and Bella but forever stuck in her 20s. "You have brought guests?" she asked excitedly.

"This is Clara, Esme. She's the great great granddaughter of Phoebe."

"Oh my gosh," Esme exclaimed. "Yes I can see Bella in you," she smiled warmly, I wasn't expecting what she did next, she walked over to me and hugged me. It was strange hugging a stone but there was something so warm about Esme, she seemed so motherly I couldn't help but hug her back.

"You must be Madeleine's daughter," Esme smiled. I nodded slightly. "Carlisle! Carlisle you will never guess who is here," She called into the house, no louder than she was talking to me, it was seconds before the doctor that treated Elijah came into the room, he had blonde hair and seemed to be in his mid-20s.

"Clara Priya Cullen-Taylor," he smiled after saying my full name, he held out his hand and I took it, frankly awestruck that I was talking to the Carlisle Cullen and he knew my full name. He kissed the back of my hand before letting it go. "It is a pleasure to finally meet you properly my dear, my name is Carlisle Cullen and I have heard so much about you. Your mother speaks very fondly of you, although she mentioned you didn't believe I existed," he said with a warm smile.

"Er… I didn't," I managed to say, I was still awestruck, it was like seeing a famous person, someone you knew so much about and told stories about them all the time and you were finally meeting them. He smiled wider at me.

"Do you believe now?" he asked, I swallowed and nodded.

"I think Clara is a bit overwhelmed," Bella said softly and she led me over to the open living room where there were about four couches. Bella sat next to me which I was grateful for and Elijah sat on the other side.

"Am I part vampire?" I suddenly blurted, this was my biggest question, something that was bugging me.

"No you're not," Bella answered with a frown as if she didn't understand why I would make this assumption.

"You're descended from our part human daughter, she had mostly human children and her children had mostly human children, you're from her sons line who was a shape shifter, both her children and his turned out to be immortal because of Renesmee's vampire gene, but the generation after didn't get that gene. You're from William's oldest daughter's line, Phoebe," Edward explained.

"That must have been horrible," I frowned.

"What?" Bella asked.

"Being immortal and seeing your children die," I explained.

"Well William's children are here, Aurora, William's granddaughter was turned after nearly dying giving birth to her daughter Priya."

"Priya is my grandma," I gasped. "So Aurora is my moms grandmother?"

"Yes."

"My mom believed all this stuff but I didn't, I had never seen her grandmother or any vampires and I just used to tell Sophie the stories but my mom truly believed it and I couldn't ever understand why."

"Well now you know, your mother was the last generation to have vampire grandparents." He began to explain.

"I'm so confused," Elijah moaned. I giggled slightly.

"I'll draw you a family tree," I joked just as the door opened and two people walked in I didn't recognise. For some reason I knew they weren't Cullen's but at the same time felt like they belonged here.

"We haven't began to explain you guys yet," Bella laughed at the couple, the female was beautiful, she was blonde and I would even say she was glowing, she had her hand in the males, he was literally the definition of tall dark and handsome, he had black hair and a long face and he didn't look American at all. The female looked like she could fit in anywhere.

"I thought Clara would like her wrist repaired," the woman said, her voice was like music. I noticed Elijah was gawking at her; the male's eyes flickered to Elijah as if a warning to back off.

"We haven't told them about abilities yet," Edward informed her.

"Well what a great way to explain," the woman said coming over to me, I felt like flinching away and cowering behind the couch. The couple had an aura of power and it made me want to run and hide. Elijah seemed transfixed by the beautiful woman.

"Hello, my name is Esther, this is Aleksander. We're not the kind of vampire you're used to but we're here to help," the woman said softly, I felt immediately relaxed in her presence, I wasn't afraid of her now, she was less intimidating when she was closer to me, she was alluring. Aleksander however… wasn't. I was still a little scared of him.

"He won't hurt you, he's here to heal you," she said and knelt in front of me. I looked to Bella at my side for confirmation; she took my hand and nodded in encouragement.

"Heal me? How?" I asked with a frown.

"Some vampires have special abilities, I can read minds, Alice can see the future, Jasper can influence your emotions, Bella has a shield to protect you, and Esther…. well she can do pretty much anything you can imagine. Aleksander can heal." Edward explained. I believed him; I knew Edward had read my mind earlier. I remained silent but I heard Elijah laughing in disbelief.

"Okay," I said and extended my arm out. Esther said something in a different language. I wasn't sure which one, either Russian, Bulgarian or something similar and Aleksander stepped towards me. He looked at me for permission and I nodded. He reached out and his hands clasped around my bandage on my wrist. He only held me for a moment before he let go and took a step back to stand with Esther again.

"That it?" I asked with a frown, I dropped Bella's hand and removed the bandage. There was no longer pain coming from my wrist, I could move my hand freely and wiggle my fingers and lean on it.

"Holy shit," Elijah mumbled.

"Would you like him to heal your bite?" Esther asked. I wondered why Esther spoke for him.

"Er yes please!" Elijah said enthusiastically.

"You'll have to keep the bandage on for a while, so your mother doesn't get suspicious of it magically healing," Edward told him, Elijah nodded as Aleksander's hands grasped Elijah's arm, he flinched slightly at the contact before Aleksander let go again. Elijah unravelled his bandage to see the wound was completely healed, only minor scarring.

"Wow dude!" Elijah said happily. "Thanks!"

Aleksander nodded once as if he was saying you're welcome.

"I will ask you back when we explain about your kind Esther, thank you," Edward said to her, she smiled to him and led Aleksander out of the room.

"Is Aleksander okay?" I asked in a whisper.

"He's not a very social person. He shadows Esther because he doesn't really know us that well. He's a long story… they both are," Bella laughed.

"We'll explain everything but right now we need to explain to you about something different to Esther and Aleksander. There are not just vampires in our world, there are witches and shape shifters…. and werewolves," Edward said with a pause.

"Werewolves?" I asked, I didn't like where this was going.

"You met one," he began. The yellow eyes. My breathing hitched. "Yes Clara, that dog that bit Elijah was a werewolf."

"What?" Elijah laughed, "Does that mean I am now too?"

"I'm afraid it does" Edward said sadly.

"No," I gasped and looked over at my best friend

"I can't be," Elijah frowned. "I'm fine I don't feel any different!"

"You won't until the next full moon; this is why we had to tell you, to prepare you and to warn you."

"Warn us about what?" I frowned.

"There's someone after the wolves, there's someone controlling them and I'm so sorry Clara but you seem to be in the middle of it. We don't know why they want you, we just know who wants you and we will protect you. We promise."

"Me? Why me?" I frowned.

"We don't know yet we just know that wolf was after you. It could just be because you're our descendant or something different. Cullen's have a target on their backs but they also have the most protection. You will not be harmed and we will not let Elijah become a pawn in Liana's games either," Edward explained, the name sent a shiver down my spine.

"Liana?" I asked with a frown.

"Yes… you recognise the name?" Edward asked.

I nodded in response. I had been having nightmares about that name every night for the past week. Why was it that I only just remembered that?


Pictures are on my blog as well as a family tree explanation, I know this chapter may have been confusing, especially to new readers but just keep with it, things will get clearer, don't hesitate to ask me any questions.

And I want to clarify Axton's sisters name is pronounced 'a LEE nah' not like Elena.