Chapter 22

Disclaimer: Twilight and its characters belong to Stephanie Meyer

AN (1): To all of my readers, reviews and friends I thank you, for your continued support.

AN (2): I am closing in on the end of this story and hope to have the last chapter published by the New Year. I have started a new AU AH story called BulletProof and plan to complete that before starting the final in this trilogy, set after Recrortus.

AN (3): Please note that this chapter has been neither pre-read or beta'd, so all poor grammar is my own.

Demetri watched Edward very carefully as he detailed the final chapter of William Pearson's life. As he reached its tragic conclusion he looked for a reaction, any reaction that would show Edward understood what had happened. If he was honest with himself Demetri would accept he wanted to be able to comfort the young vampire, to support him through the inevitable shock, but Edward gave no reaction at all.

Edward sat, wondering at his own apathy. He did care for William Pearson, a lot more than he should, so why didn't he feel anything at the loss of the young man. He mused that it was possible he had already grieved subconsciously for the human, but on further reflection he knew that that was not the reason for his detachment.

Looking deep inside, he gleaned the reason and even touching the edge of it caused his body to shudder. The reason was not that he had no feeling on the matter; it was that he had too many feelings, too much pain and despair that should he try to pull at the threads of it, the whole mess would unravel causing him to fly apart. He needed time and distance, he needed Eleazar and Carmen, and as much as it physically hurt him, until he could understand the pain and keep it contained, he needed to be separated from Carlisle.

Edward looked up, meeting Demetri's concerned gaze. "Not yet," he breathed, "I can't talk about it yet."

Nodding at this response, Demetri stood and walked to the nearest window.

"It will be night soon; Eleazar is on his way here. What do you want to do in the mean time?" he inquired.

Edward stood with a long exhale, "I would like to visit their graves, pay my respects," the last was said with an ironic smile; graves were perceived by many in the vampire world as representing those who escaped. Edward saw graveyards as true places of the rest, the dead had no thoughts.

Edward looked around the small room in which events, both dramatic and domestic, had occurred. There was nothing left here, he was saddened by the fate of his piano, but even that was the detritus of the past, nothing to be remembered or mourned. Picking up his bag of objects he gestured to Demetri to leave, following closely behind, firmly closing the door; he would never return.

~*.*~

Edward stood in the graveyard, staring at the plots. He was not sure if it was accidental or on purpose to find the Maestro's and William Pearson's graves resting side by side.

He stood, without moving, his mind going over the events that he had heard, and seen, from Demetri in the house.

After a short time Demetri became bored and wandered away, without the close proximity Edward was able to send the voices around him into the white noise at the back of his mind.

Edward lost himself in memories, the first day he and Carlisle had arrived, his audition, coffees with his class and dancing at the hospital ball; but soon the images turned odd, they were from the wrong perspective and when the image of William Pearson kissing him flashed by he realised that the memories were not his.

Opening his eyes he looked sharply across the graveyard to see Carlisle standing strong staring at him, Eleazar and Carmen further back.

Dragging his eyes back to the gravestones, he felt a shift in air but did not react to Carlisle standing next to him.

"I am so sorry," Carlisle whispered.

"You treated me like Aro does," Edward accused.

"I know," Carlisle acknowledged.

Carlisle allowed Edward to see what had been agreed between Aro, Eleazar and Carlisle; how Edward's life would be for the foreseeable future. Edward was able to hide the relief he felt at the changes that would be made to his life. He could sense that this relief was not shared by Carlisle.

"I didn't want things to be this way," Carlisle whispered.

"I know," Edward responded. "But they are…" his voice and thoughts trailed off lost again on the recently tilled earth and the barely decomposing body underneath it.

Carlisle looked at the messenger bag on the ground, "Memories…?"

"Trophies…" Edward responded vaguely. Carlisle looked at him in a combination of shock and horror.

Edward dragged his mind back to the conversation, "I mean…I don't know. I have to have something…not to remember, but to ensure that I don't let myself…not forget…so I don't put these events out of my mind…that I never lock these memories up in the back of my mind, to be not opened or recalled."

Edward looked pleadingly at Carlisle. He hoped his mate, no not his mate, understood what he was saying.

Looking over his shoulder he glanced at his adopted father and coven leader. Eleazar would understand.

The mind reader had places in his mind were he could file away thoughts that were his and his alone, away from the thoughts of others that bombarded his so regularly.

He had created a memory system divided into; those things current or needed every day, that is his current library of memories; and the archive, old memories that needed to be consciously recalled and while never forgotten could be left dormant. Many memories in the archives were rarely recalled and he had discovered a worrying habit of walling off some memories effectively causing voluntary amnesia.

Edward jumped at the slight touch of Carlisle's hand against his own. Snapping his gaze to Carlisle and then to Eleazar and Carmen, Edward sighed. Looking again at the grave of William Pearson he moved to gently touch the gravestone and then turned to head toward his new coven.

All of a sudden he was distracted by thoughts, strong thoughts, coming from the direction of the hospital.

Without warning Edward dropped the bag from his shoulder and raced away from the cemetery, heading in the direction of the hospital. He was vaguely aware of Carlisle and Eleazar calling to him and was unsurprised to find Demetri matching him stride for stride.

"Where are we going, Edward?" Demetri inquired; there was no anger or judgement, just a calm request so to understand what they were heading into.

Edward threw Demetri a look of devastation, "Mary…"

He need not continue; Demetri understood.

On arrival at the hospital the pair secreted themselves into the ward and found the unattended body of Mary Pearson. She had clearly stolen and hidden a scalpel from somewhere and despite her frailty had taken the opportunity that Edward had provided by releasing her hands to find it and thrust it into her jugular vein.

The bleeding had ceased with her heart, but the medical staff had not removed the weapon or cleaned up the splatters and pooling of blood around her neck and ears, waiting for the coroner to perform the final examination.

It devastated Edward that she would be left in such a state; Edward struggled with the desire to clean her of the gore. This woman, who lost everything was collateral damage in the tragedy initiated by Aro, aided and abetted by his immaturity and Carlisle's jealousy, she deserved to be treated better, with respect.

Edward cringed from the fact that he had provided her with the opportunity to end her life, the quiet thoughts from Demetri provided no consolation in their suggestion that they had done the mentally disturbed woman a service by allowing her to make her own choice.

Edward could not escape the fact his actions had caused the deaths of both mother and son. While he had not been present at eithers death, he was as culpable as he had been in his time hunting human scum, except this was worse; they were not guilty of anything other than meeting Carlisle and himself.

Edward felt a light touch at his elbow; he turned to find Carmen at his side. She gently touched his face and then wrapped an arm around his waist, "Come Edward, come home."

Her gentle touch and calm voice was more effective than any order, all tension dropped from Edward's body and mind as he allowed himself to be lead out of the room and then the hospital.

He followed Carmen without thought, arriving with detached bemusement at the outskirts of town. He was vaguely aware of Carlisle and Demetri's presence, but was focussed on Carmen and Eleazar. They were his coven, his adopted parents; with that knowledge he felt safe and protected, feelings he had not felt since before the events of Oberlin.

Moving towards Eleazar, he realised that he had not let go of Carmen's hand. Sensing his dilemma, Eleazar moved towards his wife and son and wrapped his arms around them both.

The love and promise of protection, from the couple only just muted the distress emanating from Carlisle. Edward was vaguely aware of his own whimpering, then murmured conversations after which the weight of Carlisle's thoughts dissolved, leaving just those of Eleazar and Carmen. After an unknown length of time, the couple relaxed their embrace and stood back from Edward. It was only then that he became aware that both Carlisle and Demetri were gone.

"Where did…?" he started to ask.

"I asked Carlisle and Demetri to head to the New York house ahead of us," Eleazar explained, "we need time together to tighten the bond between us, and Carlisle needs some time to accept this new reality."

Carmen added, "We must admit we were a little surprised at how quickly you accepted the coven bond with us. We are pleasantly surprised."

Edward looked down at his hands, still joined with his parents, "I trust you, I trust that you will do what is best for me and Carlisle," leaning into Carmen's side like a child looking for comfort he continued. "I knew that Carlisle and I could not continue as we had and was hoping that you might be willing and able to help. I want to be yours."

Eleazar smiled, ruffling Edward's hair affectionately, "you were always partly, but now you are fully ours. No matter what happens in the future, no one can take this from us."

The trio sat quietly, Eleazar and Carmen gently soothing their new coven member. After a time Eleazar sat up, "we need to hunt and then head home."

Edward looked up nervously; previously home meant the apartment with Carlisle, how would this work now, he would be an intruder in both apartments.

Eleazar watched Edward carefully, waiting for the young vampire to ask for help as a younger coven member should. Eleazar knew that he would need to dictate the rules for an obedient coven member to Edward, but hoped that his young son might work out some of these for himself.

Eleazar was pleased when Edward looked him in the eye and asked, "What will the living arrangements be? I don't want to intrude." He looked so sad at the thought,

Carmen wrapped her arm back around him and looking up to Eleazar spoke from the couple, "Oh sweetheart, you would never intrude, yes there are times where Eleazar and I will need privacy but we want you to feel at home with us. That being said we have spoken to Carlisle and have made some alterations to the apartments, giving you your own space. While you will never be allowed to lock Eleazar or myself out, we will respect your privacy if you should request it. However your time with Carlisle will be supervised and you will not have direct access to his rooms until we feel it is safe."

"But what about his thoughts, he can hide them sometimes, but not all the time?" Edward whispered raising that thing that he was dreading the most with the new arrangements.

Eleazar cupped Edward's chin in his hand, fixing the young vampires gaze to his own. "We know it will be challenging, I have already spoken to Carlisle about his self-control and you and I will work together to see if we can look at muting your talent."

Eleazar looked into the worried gaze and was please that it also contained absolute trust and belief in him, it pleased him that Edward had fallen into his coven role so easily, and it would make reporting to Aro so much easier.

"What you must do Edward, is promise me that should Carlisle purposefully try to contact you with his thoughts or make you uncomfortable with ideas or suggestion, whether they be conscious or unconscious, you tell me immediately."

As much as he understood the need Edward shifted at the thought of snitching on Carlisle, his expression clearly showing Eleazar his discomfort with the idea.

"I know that you will not want to get Carlisle in trouble, but this is as much to help him as yourself. Do you promise me?" Eleazar held Edward's gaze firmly, not letting the other go from his intense stare.

Edward found it was impossible for him to escape the scrutiny of his coven leader; he tested this trying to shift his gaze away, which only resulted in a firmer grasp of his chin and a hand on his shoulder holding him down his leader waiting for a response.

"I promise Eleazar," Edward responded in a quiet but firm voice. At his acceptance his body sagged as he was released from Eleazar's power.

"I am sorry to have to do that to you, Edward. However as a member of my coven you must understand that my word is law, and while there will be few time I exert that power over you, please understand that when I do it will be to ensure your safety and the safety of the coven," Eleazar explained quietly but firmly, knowing that the residual control would still be effective within Edward's mind, he knew that he needed to be careful however as the young mind reader vampire would be susceptible to any ideas at this time.

"I let you test the binding," Eleazar explained, "as I know that you would never have experienced this consciously before now and I wanted you know the sensations, to feel what it will be like to test me."

Edward waited for Eleazar to finish, enjoying the timbre and tone of his coven leader's voice, the feeling of protection and love resonated through his body. He would do anything for Eleazar, and would do anything to not feel the disappointment he felt in his coven leaders mind when he had tested the binding. Just then something from Eleazar's comments flagged in his mind.

"What do you mean experienced consciously?" he asked, however the moment he voiced the question he found that knew the answer. His recent experience and the sensation that he was now very much aware of, along with the tightening of Carmen's hand in his grip, made him hyper alert.

"Carlisle!" he breathed, the sound hitching in his throat.

It was only when he felt Eleazar's arm around him, did Edward realise that he had not only stood, but had moved away from the couple in the direction of New York. Eleazar allowed him to struggle for a moment before tightening his physical and mental hold on the young vampire.

"Edward, Stop!" Eleazar ordered, effectively removing all fight from Edward, who sagged into his leaders embrace.

"We knew that Carlisle had little to no training as a coven leader, and it wasn't until we lived together in Canada, that Carmen and I saw Carlisle exerting the control over you, even when technically you were coven leader at that time."

Eleazar picked Edward up and carried him back to where Carmen was seated, rather than sitting Edward next to his mate, Eleazar sat resting the youngster on his lap.

"I confronted Carlisle," Eleazar continued, "He acknowledged that he had discovered it by accident when you were a newborn. Not realising what he was doing, or understanding that in a normal coven you would have been aware of the binding and knew what it meant."

"However after much pressing, Carlisle admitted that he discovered more about it whilst you were in Volterra and even more when we had spent time with you both. Instead of talking to you about it, he worked out a way of keeping it concealed from you and manipulating you over time," Eleazar paused as Edward started to growl under his breath, "I know you are upset and understand why, but I will caution you against growling at me," Edward calmed and earned a parental kiss to the top of the head by Eleazar.

"I can promise you, that this will be included in Carlisle's re-education, I will handle this. All you need to do right now is to be a part of Carmen and my family, be the wonderful and talented being we know and love," Carmen interrupted "…and heal." Eleazar smiled at his wife, "Yes, and heal."

Eleazar looked down at his son to find Edward in a trance like state. One only achieved by a coven member who absolutely trusts and loves those around him.

Eleazar smile grew wider as he shifted closer to his mate, wrapping his free arm around her. The couple kissed briefly and then watched their son have an overdue moment of peace.