{… I was hesitant to enter the factory floor from the sounds that came from within. It was a metallic sound – like cutting into a car door. I raised my hand to knock, but decided to just walk through; Emily had a tendency to know when I was around.
Her back was to me as the door opened, and I was hit with a wave of heat. I turned my head to catch my breath, before turning back to watch a most peculiar scene. Emily was throwing what looked to be pieces of a statue into one of the incinerators.
"I wasn't aware you were working today, Dr. Stein." Emily stated, not bothering to turn around. I halted my procession toward her and swallowed.
"You killed them? Did you do – was it you?" I stuttered out. Emily shut the lid to the incinerator and wiped her hands on her pants before turning to look at me.
"Probably; you'll have to be more specific," her eyes glinted with a sort of playful malice, and I had the thought that she knew exactly who I was talking about.
"Chicago," I clarified. I didn't want to imagine what it would mean if I needed to narrow it down further.
"You ask too many questions," she smiled, but that was the only confirmation I got. "But you're in luck. I need you for one last job, and then you'll get your…reward."
"Name it." …};
-Chapter 6: (Franken) Stein's Monster-
Things were very boring these past months. Nothing especially huge had happened since we nearly fought with the Volturi, and I could see the vamily around me slip into its own sort of mundane, everyday existence. Carlisle would work at the hospital, Esme would work around the house, Rosalie would work on the cars and stare at herself in the mirror, Emmet went through several game consoles, Alice flitted about in between her shopping adventures, and Edward and Bella were off doing married-couple things. Which is code for screwing, with small amounts of parenting sprinkled in to mix things up.
Ryan had asked me to help him with his ability, which was slightly irritating but also killed a good chunk of my downtime. He was certainly better – nowhere near my surgical-precision-level telekinesis – but he was making steady progress; he could fly without effort now. I ducked my head to hide my grin from Ryan as I remembered just how many trees he knocked over trying to beat me in a race. I really should have recorded it.
"Are you packed, Emily?" Alice questioned, practically appearing before me, in my bedroom. "That's OK, I know you aren't. And I know you are going into Seattle for a day or two to deal with your company, so I took the liberty of packing for you!"
I purposefully kept my expression blank as I stared her down. Alice's idea of clothing was skirts and frilly shirts and high heels. And since our destination was tropical, that would mean she packed bikinis and other useless things. I made a very concrete decision to set fire to any clothing items that I did not approve of, and snorted out a suppressed laugh when a look of pure horror crossed Alice's face.
"You're worse than Bella!" Alice stormed out of the room with her hands in the air.
The plan was for everyone – even Jacob, Seth, and Leah; though we all knew Leah would never go – to fly down to Esme's own personal island for a week or two of fun in the sun. I protested, of course, not wanting the Volturi to come back for round two while we were so isolated from any help. In the back of my mind, though, I was celebrating. I was lazy by nature, and just thinking about doing absolutely nothing for an extended period of time – on a tropical island, no less – made my muscles relax on their own.
I didn't even have to convince Alice to use our private jet this time. She never questioned me about my avoidance of commercial flights, though her thoughts would sometimes circle around the issue. I know for a fact she had seen several visions of me setting off the metal detectors, and my lame explanation that I had a pacemaker. I wasn't about to question it, though, and I knew she knew I would never answer her questions about it.
My head swiveled around to the window and I caught sight of Ryan blurring out of the forest and toward the mansion.
"Hey, Ryan," I said in a normal voice as I slipped on my shoes and watched them lace themselves up. "Want to go on an adventure with me to Seattle?"
Yeah, I'm in, Ryan's thoughts sounded out with a hint of humor. Though I hope you're not trying to squeeze in a few kills before we leave.
"Business," I huffed out in response. Sometimes I was amazed at how well my brother knew me. It was true, I was feeling the tell-tale signs of withdrawal creeping in on me. I felt more enclosed and was growing more and more irritable.
Ryan's thoughts briefly flickered over the possibility of me trying out 'vegetarianism,' in a sense. There was no way in hell I was going to go slaughter animals – it just wasn't the same. I shook my head and pushed the gnawing desire down; I would find someone to play with after our vacation. I could tough it out that long.
I took my phone off the charger and put it in my pocket and headed downstairs, grabbing my car keys on the way out the door. Edward and Bella were sitting together, playing the piano, and they both glanced up as I walked past them and into the kitchen for my caffeine fix. Ryan met me in the garage, arms folded across his chest as he looked on at the collection of cars. I took a swig of soda and headed for my car.
This car of mine happened to be a Dodge Viper – black, of course, with a white double stripe running down the center. Rosalie was horrified when I changed the transmission from manual to automatic – and she had let me know anyone who knew anything about cars would be crazy to do what I did. I'm just not a manual kind of person – shifting gears looks cool on TV, but it's just dumb to deal with in real life. Besides, everything is tuned as perfectly as realistically possible, and it's plenty fast. Which is a good thing.
I entered the sleek vehicle and shut the door, giving the steering wheel a firm grip with both hands and grinning like a fool. Ryan opened the passenger door and sat down next to me, glancing at the door and making it shut without touching it. I rolled my eyes at his display and didn't give him the praise he was looking for. Closing a car door isn't exactly difficult in the grand scheme of things. I opened my palm and let the key fly into the ignition, tilting my head to the side as the key turned on its own. I gave my brother a smug smile and shifted into drive before taking off and speeding down the winding driveway.
"Show off," Ryan said loud enough for me to hear.
Once we were on the highway, I punched the gas and relaxed my grip on the wheel. We were going about 195 MPH, not quite up to the car's full speed, but according to my visions, keeping the car at this speed would prevent the only police officer we would come across from noticing us. I turned to look at my brother, who was sitting back in his seat with his eyes closed, enjoying the peace and quiet. His thoughts were even muted.
I grinned evilly as I plugged my phone into the dashboard and selected a song. I cranked the volume up past the point of reasonably loud and hit play. The fantastic sounds of Billy Joel crackled out of the speakers and Ryan jolted severely in his seat.
"Come out Virginia, don't let me wait! You Catholic girls start much too late!" I shouted over the music as my brother gave me a 'are you shitting me?' look.
"Seriously?" Ryan questioned. He moved to turn down the volume, but I gave him a small jolt of Jane's power to stop him. For good measure, I cranked the volume a little higher and laughed out loud.
"So come on Virginia, show me a sign! Send up a signal, I'll throw you the line!"
Ryan's lips twitched and after a few verses he started to join in. A few Billy Joel songs later, we were entering the city limits of Seattle, so I rolled down the windows and educated the good city on some good music.
As we rolled to a stop at a red light, a convertible – which isn't really a good idea in Washington – pulled up beside us. Unfortunately – or fortunately, depending on your sense of humor – my iPhone shuffled into the Power Rangers theme song. Not the horrible techno bullshit that today's kids don't pay any attention to. I'm talking the guitar-riffing, face melting opening intro to the original Mighty Morphin' Power Rangers.
We kept straight faces throughout the entire light.
I turned down the music a few blocks later, as we were nearing Brock Labs. The company didn't have as big a building as I would have liked, but it was tall enough to be considered a skyscraper. I pulled the car into a private, underground parking garage for the staff – and me, of course – and shut off the engine.
"So, what exactly are we doing here?" Ryan asked, following me up the stairwell and into the lobby.
"We never hang out anymore," I shrugged. "I have a few things to do if I'm going to be away on an island for a week or more, and I figured we could…bond or something." We walked past the receptionist and security guard, who nodded at us as we walked by.
"Emily," Ryan sighed. "I don't really…enjoy your idea of bonding." His face was screwed up in an apologetic grimace as I hit the elevator call button and stepped back to wait for our ride up.
"I'm not asking you to go on a killing spree with me, Ryan," I said. "Although I can't believe the vampire version of you is just as tame as the human you."
"We're not talking about this," Ryan ended the conversation and stepped into the elevator the second the doors opened. I followed slowly after him and stuck in my keycard, allowing us up to my office.
Ryan gasped as we walked out of the elevator. Unlike the rest of the building, my office took up the entire top floor – it even had a helicopter pad, although I'd never had use of a helicopter. Thick glass panels surrounded the wide open area, with my desk standing in the middle. It was very stark, if I do say so myself.
"It's just so…you," Ryan laughed out. "So what do you even do here, just play queen in the castle in your enormous office?" I put a mock-shocked look on my face and pressed my hand over my heart.
"We do science here, vampire," I extended my arms in an elaborate swoop. "The laboratories are on floors seven through nine. Well, the legitimate ones are. The more fun areas are in the sub-basement."
"I'm not even going to ask," Ryan shook his head. "So, what kinds of things are your legitimate labs up to?" He started sifting through some of the files on the desk. I'd have to remember to check in with the front desk for any items my secretary might have dropped off. I didn't allow her up in my office.
"I believe the biggest ones right now are a new insect repellant, medication for migraines, and a replicated formula for the red-colored Vault soda."
"You're ripping off of Coca-Cola now?" He cocked an eyebrow at me. I shrugged.
"That stuff was damn-good, and they discontinued it! My lab, my rules," I crossed my arms over my chest and nodded. "It's too bad you won't be able to drink it without hating it. That could be my next project, though, coming up with food-products that vampires can ingest." I looked over to Ryan, who was sifting through another file.
"Who's Virgil Stein?" Ryan asked. My eyes narrowed, and I pulled the files from his hands.
"He was one of my staff members," I said.
"Was?"
"He…died," I tried to keep my face from expressing any kind of emotion. Ryan sighed and shook his head.
"Of course he did. What were you working on that was so important that you had to kill the man who was working on it?"
"He wasn't working on it, at least not directly," I blurted out, opening up the file and sifting through the pages until I came to the right one. I handed him the stack and let him read through it.
"You were using vampire venom?" he questioned. "HLV-4? I'm not sure I understand – you continued your formula?"
"Yes," I sighed and sat down in the chair by my desk. "I needed an extra pair of hands, but I never explained the details to him. He…worked it out. He figured out the whole vampire secret – he was starting to dig into things he shouldn't have been."
Ryan shook his head and put the file back on the desk. "You probably would have killed him anyway."
"No," I said right away, but then backtracked. "Well, I might have. I don't know. He was a damn-good doctor and did his job well – I would have liked to keep him, but he just wasn't trustworthy."
"You didn't even give him a chance," Ryan countered. "Did he plan on doing anything with his knowledge?"
"No, and you're right. I should have given him a chance," I rubbed my forehead, trying to figure out what to say. "But…it was just easier to kill him. I mean, why risk it?"
"Maybe you should start trusting people," Ryan told me after a few seconds.
"I trust you," I parried. "And the Cullens."
"But you don't have any friends," Ryan continued. "You don't have anyone to connect to outside of me, and now the Cullens. Maybe you should stop trying to control everything and give people a chance. Make some friends. And for the love of your damn car, would you stop killing people who are trying to help you?"
"I'll give it my best effort."
End notes: Ok, so I wasn't super late on this update like I thought I would be. I may or may not have miscalculated when finals week was for my school, so I may or may not have an update next Friday or Saturday. It remains to be seen.
Also, I was just kidding about reviewing. I'm OK with people reviewing. Really. No joke this time. In fact, from now on I'll include a SARCASM disclaimer after each of my end notes if I was, in fact, joking.
Just to reiterate: It is perfectly fine for you to review this story. I will not hate you if you review this story.