Chapter 20
Problem Solved
He must have lost his mind! I thought I had seen Stefan at his most passionate while we were building our empire, but it is nothing compared to what she has done to him. She is beautiful and alluring, and I would never confess that I desire her myself. Never would I act on such a thought – I feel dirty just thinking it. The girl truly does inspire physical attraction, but Stefan has gone beyond the physical. He loves her. Of course I forced him to admit it with my threats. It amazes me that I knew even before he did the depth of his feelings for her. That he was willing to change for her was the biggest red flag, but the panic I saw in his eyes when he first discovered me with her told me all I needed to know.
Still I wish I had killed her the first minute I saw her. It's not because there is something wrong with her, or even the influence she has on him; it is her refusal to be changed. She's human, and she insists she will stay human, and that could get him killed. Me too if I'm honest – not that I have ever been accused of being honest. Still, it is that very talent which will save me. It's my ability that will give me plausible denial when it comes to how much I know. I consider turning her myself, and though he has begged me not to, I have not ruled that out as an option.
Alive Summer is all kinds of trouble, from her need to eat to her knowledge of our secrets. We are working on a plan that might save them. They have shared the fear of her illness with me and I imagine it will be at most forty years before she is no longer a problem. The Volturi have been known to go much longer before investigating an issue, and if we're careful he could indeed get away with keeping her for that time. But the risk kills me. I won't lose him! We call one another brother, and that is close to how we feel. But we have shared over a thousand years and brother in no way encompasses the depth of our relationship. I love him. Of course not in a mated or sexual way, but he is Damon and I Pythias – I would die for him.
I feel so torn. I plot against her in my mind, and yet she delights me. She has taken my warning to heart and she never even steps out of the room without him. I can't begrudge him the happiness she has given him, he is almost a different person. I watch them together and I feel the double edge of a sword pierce me. He deserves to be happy, as does she after so many losses in her too-short life. I watch them together and it's easy to recognize that they truly love one another. And though I am happy for them, I feel empty myself.
I'm surprised that she has not tried to pull him away from me. We still talk and discuss like always; the girl truly does understand friendship. But she has added something as well. She listens to us, and in some ways I wonder if it was always missing – an audience. Our tired jokes, and stories have found new ears to hear, and she never grows tired of listening to us.
Of course she does grow tired, and when I first saw it I was caught off guard by her yawning and drooping eyes. And when Stefan took me aside and asked if I would mind going for a drive for a bit I was more than confused. It only became clear when I watched her wrap her soft arms around him and kiss him. He wanted time alone with her. Time alone not witnessed by supernatural hearing. And so I start my nightly ritual of driving. When I come back we can spend the rest of the evening as we always have when it was just the two of us. Unless one of us needs to hunt. He needs to go much more often than I do, whether owing to his animal diet, or what I suspect is his increased liveliness, I'm not sure. On hunting nights he asks me to leave as well – neither of us trust me alone with her.
It is on one of these drives that I find the idea that might just save us. As soon as I return home I hunt online for what I want to show him, and the idea seems perfect as I present it.
"You can't stay here, since they will eventually find out. I've made contacts around the world and it's always possible that someone will have an issue with the Volturi and come to find us. It's possible that they will send someone to check up on us, or that a wanderer will discover us. You can't keep her here." I hate to say it. This has been our home for a hundred years. Much of the stuff that clutters the estate is his as I've traveled much lighter in my lifetime – well except for the modern conveniences.
I show him my computer screen and we both smile. "This could work," he grins. We spend the rest of the night making plans and by the time she wakes up we have a presentation.
I watch him as he details all the problems with our living arrangement. She looks upset as she thinks of the risk he's taking to keep her here. I of course have to let her know that Stefan is not impervious to destruction, even after so many years. Of course my lurid tales of our kind being ripped to shreds by others of our kind, and how their still living parts are then incinerated, even as they attempt to escape from the flames, may have gone a bit too far. I can almost see her imagining him ending in such a way, and the horror on her face tells me she is starting to feel some of my own worry.
"Summer..." I know it's up to me to present the bad news. "You can't stay here. Neither can Stefan if he's with you. It's too dangerous and I can't protect you. The truth is, just like Carlisle told you, there really isn't a place where you can go and never be discovered. As soon as you stay in one place for a couple weeks, they can find you. But right now they don't even know you exist. Carlisle won't tell them and neither will I. But it's too easy for you to be discovered. If we get visitors they will hear your human heart beating even if you hide – just like I did." I watch her face. She knows I'm telling her the truth, and Stefan holds her on his lap kissing her neck in a way that should disturb me, but it doesn't.
She looks confused when Stefan smiles at her. He kisses her cheek and takes over the presentation. "We have a plan mi flor delicada, we will just keep moving and make sure they can never get a true location for us. We can go where they won't find us, and if they do we can make it easy to get away." It's then he hands her the sheets we've printed out. She looks at them one at a time, and the corners of her mouth turn up into a smile.
"I love it! This is a great idea... will it really work?" She looks first to Stefan and then to me.
I gather up the sheets with the photos. "Of course it will work. It's going to take a little time, but I imagine in a week we should be ready to go."
"We?" She looks confused. "You want to come too? But you just got back home, you want to go running off again so soon?"
"Of course. It sounds like fun; I haven't had fun in... well not since the Cullen's sent the Volturi home with their tails tucked." I look at her suddenly comprehending. "Unless you don't want me to come with you? Oh, how thoughtless of me... of course you two want to be alone." They look at each other questioningly.
She startles me with her movements as she slides off of his lap and throws her arms around me. I grip the arms of the chair. "Of course we want you to come with us Vladmir!" She kisses my cheek and my eyes lock onto his. He has to know the affect she has on me. I swallow the venom pooling in my mouth and smile. He eagerly takes her back onto his lap and I try not to notice the scent of passion fruit and orchids that drifts away with her. I know that underlying that scent is a sweeter, richer fragrance than anything she wears.
The plan is a simple one. We'll purchase a yacht and set sail. The only thing we need to do is choose the boat. Stefan argues for a sailing vessel, and I of course want something with fast engines, batteries, and modern conveniences. Summer is the one who pulls us together as she negotiates for a smaller boat with both sails and engines. She points out that much of the luxury of the larger boats will be lost on those who don't sleep, cook, eat, etc. "It might become necessary to get to shore in a hurry if someone becomes hungry," she jokes.
We put our people to work right away to find us just the right boat. They send us several choices and we look at them together and in a couple days we have chosen a fifty foot cabin cruiser with new sails and engines. It has many of the modern conveniences I enjoy, two bedrooms, plus a master I assume the two of them will share. The galley is tiny but should serve her well. We book plane reservations to take us to our new home away from home.
We also need to see about having the house locked up. The cars need to be put in storage, and when I ask Stefan which of us should finish off Aro before we leave she gets upset. I mean I like the animal, but she has truly grown attached; something I never do. She calls the animal doctor and makes arrangements for them to take him and find him a new home. It would have been so much easier for Stefan to have him for a snack, and maybe save him a day before he needed to hunt again.
We all pack up our belongings to get ready for the trip. The plan is to sail from Constanta on the Black Sea, through Marmara to the Aegean and then into the Mediterranean. Stefan wants to show her his human homeland. Of course Stefan and I are both accomplished sailors, and Summer claims to have some experience on smaller vessels. It surprises me how excited she is about the adventure ahead. It takes a lot of work behind the scenes to get everything ready. We have a course laid out that will take us into open water for two days at a time, then put us near land on the third day for food and hunting.
The week passes in a flurry of activity, and we take a chartered plane to the airport nearest our boat. The agent in charge of the sale meets us and takes us to sign the papers and make the official transfer. When we get a look at it Stefan smiles broadly. It sits in it's berth and it is beautiful.
It's named the Ladyhawke and Stefan makes noise about wanting to change it. I'll have to talk him out of it since there is a charming movie by that name I recall. A couple in love is cursed; she is to be a hawk by day and he is to be a wolf by night. The only time they can see each other is in the slivers of time between sunset and sunrise as they change. I still remember when someone asked her who she was, she said 'I am sorrow.' I'm sure he'll appreciate it once he sees the movie.
And of course we will have time to watch. I hope to watch many movies, to keep me distracted from watching her. They are so sweet it sickens me sometimes. Not that they try, in fact they are quite mature in the way they deal with one another. But they are always touching. I know I told her to stay close to him, and he is overly protective of her, even though he is more likely to lose control than I am.
She reminded me to take my paint supplies. She says she thinks my paintings are good, and she would like me to paint something for her. And he rolled his eyes. I know it is the paintings his Daniel did that have soured him on art. The child was indeed gifted.
As we look around the boat, the agent looks somewhat curious that there will be three of us sailing together, until Summer smiles and refers to me as her brother. With my blond hair perhaps we could seem related. It seems to work magic on the agent who warms to us as she shows us all the features. Summer seems most interested in the interior, Stefan is admiring the sails and the rigging, and I look at the navigation systems. We are all pleased. A few signatures later and we carry our things onto our boat.
The first night we spend aboard the Ladyhawke, we are anchored and tied. As the evening passes and our excitement dies down, I excuse myself for a walk along the water. I don't need to explain to Stefan that I'm giving them privacy; he knows. I can't remember what privacy was like when I had a mate, although I do remember for ordinary people there was no such thing as privacy in a family. Most homes were one or two rooms, and if a man decided to take his woman, well there was just no place to hide. Perhaps that's why the barn became such a popular trysting place.
The black sea is lovely in the moonlight. The waves almost have a glow about them and the soft sand gives the only evidence of my passing. Time to think is not what I need. I know that we are just deluding ourselves that we will be able to outrun our foolishness – or I should say Stefan's foolishness.
But no, this isn't just his folly anymore; it's mine as well. She is a part of us now, and we are no longer a pair, but a trio. She belongs to us, and I too love her. Of course not in the romantic way he loves her, but like she is my sister, just as she told the agent today. Our kind often leave our families behind in the change. So we tend to choose and create our own relationships. Some of us build covens, and some build families. I have done the coven; now perhaps with them we will enjoy being a family. Summer is my sister. I accept that without question. But one of the things I will keep from my dear sister, is that she will one day become one of us. Of course I know Stefan well enough to know that he also plans to change her. But I will be the one to do it; if she must hate one of us, let it be me.
I know that as much as we love the idea of sailing away from our troubles, they will find us. Our absence will be noticed. In many ways we are damned if we stay and damned if we leave. At least the boat will give us some warning when they come for us. And I have no doubt that they will come for us. Likely just Demetri and a handful of hunters; we are so small in number we hardly warrant a full assault like they did on the Cullen family.
"Scuse me friend... can you spare a little change for a soldier down on his luck?" The wretch staggers out from behind a resort umbrella. I should have smelled him before now, but I've been too deep in thought. He reeks – sweat, filth, alcohol, fish, and illness. He staggers and nearly falls but I catch him. He speaks Romanian and I wrap my arm around his shoulders to support him. He's not as heavy as he looks, owing most of his size to the layers of rags he wears. His heart is beating weakly in his chest and I can tell he hasn't eaten recently.
I carry him to the nearby hotel, passed out in my arms. I don't bother with the normal check in – too many questions. It's easy enough to find an unoccupied room, and I wake him up with a hot shower. He fights me as I remove his rags but he can't win. Clean and naked he collapses onto the bed. I gather up the rags and smile as I leave him locked in the room. An hour later I return and he's still unconscious. I dress him in clean clothes before I wake him up. He comes around, at first belligerent, but he brightens as he sees that I've brought him food. I watch him eat, and I remind him to slow down so he doesn't get sick. It's only after he's finished his meal that I bring out the bottles. I let him choose his liquor, and he chooses the Romanian wine. I set aside the vodka and the whiskey.
As soon as he begins to drink he opens up with his stories. I ask him questions about his life, his time in the military, any family he has, any friends. He doesn't make it long before the wine soaks into his brain and his words slur so badly I can't understand him. I make him comfortable on the bed, and lie next to him. I smooth the hair out of his face and pull him close. I think how sad it is, how people such as this man can go for years without anyone being willing to touch him. I kiss his cheek and hold his hand as he drifts off to sleep.
When I take him, he doesn't even wake up. His blood is tainted with the disease of his liver, but it's sweetened by the fullness of the life he lived before his decline. And the Romanian wine adds it's subtle flavor, or perhaps I just smell it on his breath. When his heart stops I pull every drop from him; I can honestly say I've never accidentally created one of our kind.
After being alive for centuries, I have come to realize that it isn't the venom in us that makes us monsters. Indeed it is the venom that makes us hunger and drives us to instinctively feed on humans. But it is the human in us that makes us monsters. It is the human that gives us such a casual disregard for life. It is the human side of our nature that still harbors jealousy, greed, fear, hatred and lust for power and control. It is the human that wants dominion over everything. The venom merely gives the human the power to take it.
It makes me sad to see him lying cold and empty in the borrowed bed. It's unfortunate that the one who has treated him better than anyone else recently, is also the one who killed him. I look at him and the corners of his mouth appear to be turned up in a slight smile. Before I leave I write his name and his story on a sheet of paper and leave it next to him. He really was an old soldier, and I want someone to remember him.
When I get back to the boat she is sleeping. He notices immediately that I've fed, but says nothing. I check out all the navigation controls and instruments so that I will know what everything does and how to use it. Stefan uses his laptop computer to write. I wonder how long until he wear out the keys on the little machine. Before I'm finished playing with all the new toys, he disappears into the main bedroom. He seems fascinated with her. I can hear them together; his breath, her breath, and her heartbeat. He really should just change her and get it over with, but he insists she is to stay human.
The sun as it rises is beautiful on the Black sea. I can hear them below speaking softly to one another. It is a sound that goes well with the gentle swoosh of the waves. Eventually they come up, and they make plans to purchase food for the trip. I don't state the obvious, but I know that he will hunt before we leave.
She is again excited as she stands on the deck of the boat and looks out over the increasingly blue sea. "It's so beautiful! It reminds me of home, only I don't think the Pacific is this blue." I look at Stefan and I can see he's about to launch into an explanation of the mineral content of the water and the way it interacts with the sun to give it such a deep, rich, color.
I smile as I steal his platform. "It pales in comparison to the color of your eyes, my dear." Her eyes widen at the compliment from me. She still doesn't know what to make of me sometimes. I know she realizes I am still a threat to her, but she has relaxed her guard so long as she's with Stefan. She so completely trusts him to protect her. It is her trust in him that keeps me in line more than anything else. It is unspoken that he expects me to protect her as he would, and it would be a betrayal of my friend if I allowed her to come to harm.
Still it surprises us both when she kisses my cheek at the compliment. The little bit of softness and warmth unexpectedly bestowed on my hard, cold, face, sends a shard of jealousy slicing through me. For just a second I am overwhelmed with the realization that he enjoys her touch, her kisses, her warmth, her lovemaking, and her deliciously fragile human body, yielding and comforting next to him at all times. I turn to face the sea before he can see the guilt I feel over such thoughts.
We spend the early part of the day collecting supplies for the boat. Stefan wants books to read and I look at restocking my paint supplies. Summer insists that he dress more casually than he is used to, even though the white button down shirt is nearly formal by the beach standards. I myself keep covered up as well since our skin is quite distracting in the sunlight. Fortunately with my new blond hair, I can claim I am albino and it also explains the red eyes.
By noon Stefan has left Summer to enjoy the sun on the beach, and gone off to hunt. I keep an eye on her from a distance beneath the safety of a large beach umbrella. I wonder if I will ever get used to seeing people – women especially – wearing next to nothing as they expose their bodies to the sun. I remember days when a woman would be flogged for exposing even her ankles in public. Still the girl is lovely to look at, and her skin becomes a golden brown as she lies on the beach. Her hair even becomes lighter; though I'm sure only my eyes can see the slight change.
I am torn between wanting to be gone – out on the open ocean where we will be safe – and to staying here at the beach where I will not be confronted with them both in such close quarters. The day passes into evening, and we gather back at the boat. We go over our charted route and check the weather reports. There is a perfect window to leave right around midnight, when we will draw the least amount of attention, and all weather threats will have passed. I take one final walk on the beach, allowing them one last precious sliver of privacy.
Like a ghost, I step into one of the casino's and win several hands of blackjack before I become bored. It's easy for me to read what the other players are holding with my superior senses. They may present no 'tell' but I can hear their heart and breathing as well as catch the movements of their eyes. It's an unfair advantage I use shamelessly; even though not always to win. I've lost thousands to players who were interesting to talk with, or seemed especially desperate for the money. Tonight's vacationers are not very sparkling. I win a large sum and pass the winnings out to the wait staff as I leave.
As I approach the boat I can tell they are still... coupling. I turn and head back to the sand and lie back in the soft powder to gaze up at the moon. It's three quarters full and lends enough light I can see the landscape as if it were daytime. In the distance I see bottle nose dolphins leaping through the calm waters. I can see the shimmers below the surface of the fish they chase.
Summer's presence has brought back uncomfortable memories of her – my Sulpicia. It is my memory of her that allows Summer to remain human even though I know it is foolish. Even Stefan doesn't know that I was the one to turn her. I still remember her as the human I'd discovered in a farming area a weeks journey from Volterra. She was on a pilgrimage to the "holy city" and I remember thinking that she would likely be one of those the Volturi fed upon, as so many travelers were at that time. She was traveling with her crippled mother, who was obviously hoping to find healing in the infamous place.
The girl was easily one of the most beautiful human women I'd ever seen. Her pale hair stood out among all those of Mediterranean descent and I wondered where they came from originally. Of course I followed them – stalked them is more the case. I saw the care she took with her mother, and similar kindness to strangers along the way. Her laughter was almost musical, and she often sang as they walked the road. It was easy to see she was as beautiful on the inside as she was on the outside, and I wanted her.
I joined their group in the evening, and took her place helping her mother along. Releasing her from her burden gave her permission to talk to me, and I discovered that she had a sharp wit as well as all her other qualities. Before much time had passed, I found myself singing along with one of her sweet songs, and it struck me that our voices blended beautifully.
That evening the group bedded down at a campsite along the road to Volterra. I knew that in a few days she would likely be shown to the circular room where the leaders fed. Aside from her extraordinary beauty, she and her mother were both unremarkable and had no one to worry over their passing. They were exactly the kind who would be separated from the rest of the group as they passed by Aro and he took the hand of each petitioner. She didn't know it but she only had days to live.
It was easy to get her attention and take her beyond the camp in a forbidden unchaperoned walk. A girl of marrying age as poor as she seemed, was wise to encourage the affections of a man such as myself, who had means and showed interest. She went with me willingly, with a promise that her virtue was safe with me. I lied. We traveled to a distance where her screams and cries wouldn't be heard, and I bit her. My venom has always been very potent, and the change happened quickly. Before morning, she knew what she was and had already fed. I was shocked at her choice – she'd fed on her own mother!
It was a side of her I hadn't had time to discover. She had been kind and sweet, but she was also practical, to the point of seeming cold and calculating. Her mother was a liability once she made the change, and she ended it. Oh she rationalized it; claiming that no one would carry her mother further and she was too frail to make the trip without her support. But I don't think I ever got over it. Sulpicia had a duality of nature that sometimes caught me off guard and left me in shock. It was that part of her that allowed her to go off into the night with me in the first place. She had a sharp mind for making the best of a bad situation.
Still she was mine. She came to me as a lover almost immediately, and her beauty allowed me to overlook any disquieting feelings I might have against her. In hunting I often look for those who have lived fully and are nearing their end. Sulpicia hunted the weak. It could mean they were old, crippled, ill, or even young and orphaned. She was a lioness when she hunted, seeking those with the least protection. But soon it didn't matter because I was in love with her.
After her change she became even more beautiful, and the things I appreciated in her grew even stronger. Her laughter was enough to quiet a room, and her singing was the most beautiful I'd heard up until Stefan. And she was still kind to those she saw as less fortunate. She once scoured the hills for a family of farmers who had lost their livestock when their fence failed. She brought back each animal and helped them make the fence stronger. And yet it wouldn't have surprised me to see her return that evening to feed on one of them. She ran hot and cold; she loved you or hated you. For a time she loved me.
I thought she shared my dreams, but I was wrong. I discovered Stefan and knew the difference when he truly shared my dreams, and was even able to expand on the ideas I'd had I only wish I'd recognized the jealousy in Sulpicia. You would think as beautiful as she was jealousy would be alien to her. There was no one who could compare to her, and I was her devoted servant. She never said a word. She never made it seem as if anything had changed, and she still behaved the same way she always had toward me. Still it was what Chelsea had worked on – that one chink in her armor.
It still hurts. Not the pain of losing her, but that I allowed it to bring me so far down. In looking back, I often wonder how I could have been so surprised. The woman was pragmatic to a fault, and she simply went with the better odds. I can't help but realize she found a soul-mate in Aro, who is arguably one of the most calculating creatures to infest the planet.
Still it's thoughts of my Sulpicia that keep me from transforming Summer. I worry like Stefan that she would be angry and rebellious, and want to leave or harm herself. But more, I worry that the very things which are sweet and charming about her would be magnified to a degree as to become monstrous. I imagine that one of our kind with the ability to draw men to her on a supernatural scale could be a horror beyond any that Daniel ever presented. I have no doubt that the Volturi would be interested in one like that, but would they want to keep her or destroy her? Either way it would destroy Stefan.
When I finally brush off the sand and go back to the boat she is sleeping. We cast off the lines and set out to sea without fanfare. It is a relief to finally be underway.