1I had barely sat back in my chair when my phone rang. Both my brothers looked at each other like they knew already. I just gave them a hateful glance as I answered it with reservations. I was pretty sure from their looks that I knew who it was.
"Hello? Hi Dad, gee I wonder what or who it was that prompted you to call me today?" I had to smile at the look of guilt on the two faces staring back at me. "Yes Dad, I'm ok. Let me explain what happened ok?"
After I had sat there repeating my explanation and mulling it over in my mind for the hundredth time, I was waiting on Carlisle's response. Instead of the usual questions that my brother's had about my vision, or asking how strong the surge was etc, he asked me if I remembered meeting my mother's grandmother Naomi. I had to stop and go back into my earliest memories to picture her, but yes I remembered her vaguely. Then he asked if I remembered any of the stories about her and that side of the family. I was ashamed to admit that I couldn't. He said he wasn't surprised because I had been so young. It seems that when the Carpathians are in danger of becoming extinct, either through results of war or supernatural causes, there have been a few rare times that they have found their soul mates in compatible species.
"Wait! What?? Soul mates, compatible species, what the Holy Hell are you trying to say to me Carlisle!!"
This part of the conversation made my brothers sit up and pay attention. So in order to keep from having to try and repeat everything, I asked him to hold on a second while I put him on speaker phone so we could all talk together. He decided that was a good idea and he called mom in to share the call as well. After all the mutual greetings I asked dad to please explain what he was talking about.
Apparently, back in Naomi's time, there had been a massive battle between the shape shifters and the Carpathians. The majority of females had either been killed or taken prisoner and used for the shape shifter's ungodly experiments. It was a deliberate attempt to get rid of our kind and give theirs the dominate force of the land. As a result our population was left in dire straits. It seems that the elders knew what had to be done and had to explain to the younger ones. Physically, and mentally, our kind is compatible to the humans. We still excel in strengths and gifts, but there are ways they can be transformed. They are painful and hard on the human, but it can be done.
Normally, our kind only feed from the beasts of the forest. It was our nature, our way to sustain our lives. In order to transform the humans however, we had to have a blood transfer between us. Once our blood mixed with theirs, it would more or less take over the inferior body and begin to rebuild the inner mechanisms. This is the most painful of things for the human, there was no medicine, no drug we could give them to lessen the pain. Their bones would strengthen, their muscles would build, their entire growth process would slow to ours.
The ability was there, but there had to be more than simple ability for it to work. If you tried to merge with a human that was not your soul mate and your perfect match, your blood will kill them instead of transfer them. Which completely went against the entire way of life for us. We were protectors of humans, not killers. So in order for our kind to know when there was a safe connection being made, we had an inborn alarm that would go off when we were compatible and ready for our soul mate. It would completely overwhelm you, body, mind, and soul. You had absolutely no control over it and no way to fight it. Naomi and Joseph were the perfect example. She had been born human, in the year 1004. She was a Hungarian girl who was daughter of the village blacksmith. She came from a loving family, though not a wealthy one. Joseph was a Guardian, well trained in defense and combat. He had survived the wars with the shape shifters and lost his entire family as a result of it. His father was tortured in front of him while they were being held captive, his mother was killed as they invaded the village he lived in, his brother died after being wounded critically in battle. And his betrothed was taken for experimentation and by the time he found her, she was on her deathbed.
He had moved on with his life, it had been hundreds of years, yet he was still aching and alone. Until he passed near her village and the draw was unexplainable. Some way, some how, he had to go to this village. As he entered, he was on alert. He had never felt this type of strangeness in his life and fully expected it to be a trap. He ran an area scan and it came in clean. No signals whatsoever of danger, this seemed to be a tranquil little village with friendly faces. He made his way to the livery and put his horse up for the night. The livery master told him of the nearest pub where he could get a drink. As he entered the room, it became silent as everyone stared at the stranger. Then out of nowhere he got the warmest feeling in his gut. He turned immediately and saw the brightest smile he had ever gazed upon. She asked if she could get him something to drink and showed him to a chair. She brought his grog and was away again to wait on others.
Who was this angelic being? He had to find our more about her, and the puzzling thing was, he had no idea why. It was like an internal pull, a need to find her again. He stood in the shadows and watched as she left the pub. Her sheepskin wrap was pulled tight around her as she walked, in attempt to break the icy wind. He could still see the sway of her hips as she maneuvered the puddles of the muddy path. She only went a short ways and turned to go behind the blacksmith shop, entering a door there. At first his hopes were crushed, but he continued to watch and listen as best he could, even with the wind howling. After a bit, he saw the door open again and a large older man emerged and went to the wood pile. When he opened the door to return, Joseph could see her standing inside with an older woman talking as they cooked. He breathed a sigh of relief as he assumed now that she was merely the daughter.
After going back to the livery to bed down in the hay for warmth, he made a declaration to no one in particular. He would meet this girl and proclaim her for himself. The following day he went to the blacksmith and asked for a job, to have an excuse to stay in the village for a bit. The blacksmith was eager for the help but could offer no continuous money, he was told that the blacksmith would get paid by the people that brought Joseph their work and if it was satisfactory then he would share the profits. It wasn't like Joseph needed the money, he had gathered many spoils of war from the years he was Guardian, but to refuse this money would make him the suspect of reasoning. It took longer than he initially intended. He was determined to make this girl fall in love with him at any cost. He simply could not live without her by his side. After several weeks of asking, she finally agreed to let him walk her home. Then slowly by slowly, her parents would invite him to join them in the evenings for a short visit before he went his own way for the night. Each time he was careful to emanate the best of intentions. Once he was sure he had won over her parents and their approval he began to work on Naomi. By spring there was a wedding. Her parents were most happy to allow him to pay for the banquet himself after he explained of his "savings". Then before they rode off in the wagon, he left a sum of money with her father as a gift. He realized it was not fair compensation for taking their only daughter from them, but it was the best he could do for now.
He had taken her on a ride into the glen before the wedding and told her his story, he opened his life to her and let her in on his deepest and yes darkest secrets. She had complete control now on whether there would be a wedding or not. He was not about to force a human into the life he had without her knowing everything. To his complete dismay, she not only accepted it, accepted him, but announced her consummate intention of her own transformation as soon as possible after the wedding. She told him of the first moment she laid eyes on him in the pub. Her heart had bounced in her chest as he walked in and she had no idea why. The reason she had waited so many weeks before allowing him to walk her home, was her fear of herself. She wasn't sure if it was real or imaginary. All she knew was that she loved him with every inch of her person, with every breath she took now or ever would from now on. She wanted to become Carpathian and live with him for as long as time allowed. His heart and love for her doubled in size at that very instant. He knew he would die gladly for this woman.
They traveled hard and fast to get back to the Carpathian Mountains in the least amount of time as possible. He refused to change her without the elders there to supervise. He knew she would need the women with her during the hard times and he needed the reinforcement of the Elders' knowledge to do it right and take no chances. He also knew if anything at all went wrong and anything happened to this human he would need the elders there to take his life. There was no way he could possible live without her. Not a shred of doubt in his soul that he never wanted to continue without this female at his side.
The elders threw them a huge banquet of congratulations, and that very night, Naomi went personally to the Elder Circle and asked that they would help with her transformation as soon as possible. Her courage and dedication earned her great respect from them. It was agreed on and set for the very next day. During the weeks of transformation Joseph had to physically be restrained several times by the Guardians. The screams of pure agony coming from his beloved were searing his heart out one piece at a time like a fiery spear plunging in every time he heard her. The women would come and go from her room with cool water from the well to attempt to keep her fever down. Whenever he saw the door open, he would try to steal a glimpse inside. A few times he would see her writhing on the bed in fits of pain and fever. He sat beside the door wringing his hands, he paced up and down, he refused to eat or sleep until he just couldn't hold his head up any more. Finally giving in to sleeping on a blanket right by the door. He wanted nothing more than to take all her pain upon himself and give her the peaceful and painless life she so deserved. This human was voluntarily going through living hell to be with him, and he would remember this for the rest of his life.
Carlisle paused in his story, there was silence on our end. He asked if we were all still with him and you could hear a giggle from mom in the background. It's not like you ever got the three of us boys together in silence for any length of time. We were there, just in total and complete shock. Before we could ask any questions, he asked us if we were wondering what all this history had to do with us. Which of course we were, at least I was, but wondering more about what it had to do with the happenings of late.
He continued, promising to keep it brief. When Joseph was allowed to go to Naomi's bedside at last, he knelt beside the bed and took her hand in his. She turned to him weakly, and smiled. He laid his head gently on her hand and cried, unashamed of the show of his own weakness. The women left them to their privacy and he sat there for hours whispering his love and devotion to this amazingly beautiful woman, and he meant every single word of it. Her body grew stronger day by day and finally she was healthy enough to carry on in their travels to his own home. It had been one whole month that they were there with the elders.
Their lives were full and blessed with 5 children. They had hardships along the way, with wars, and battles and his carrying on with his job as Guardian, but along the way she stuck by his side undeterred in her cause. Their eldest son Thomas, was Esme's father. He had become the head elder and then worked his way up to exalted leader of the Carpathians. While Esme was still young there had been several kidnap attempts and several more attempts to kill her in order to cause a rift in the Carpathian way of life. That's when Carlisle was called in and offered the job of being her personal security. And we knew the story from there on out.
"But Dad, what exactly does that have to do with what has been happening?"
"Maybe your mother can explain this part to you, it was her talks with her Grandmother that revealed it." So mom took over from there, "Well, during a talk with my Grandmother when I was in my childhood, she was telling me the story of how they met and how he courted her. She said a few times when they would be walking or talking that he would reach out and take her hand or just lay his on her arm and when he did, she would get pictures in her head. She was frightened at first and then it became like a second sight to her. She came to realize that these pictures always occurred. Sometimes in near future, sometimes it would be a year or so before they happened, but they always came true. It wasn't until the later years of their lives that she asked him about them. He said he saw them too, but was afraid to say anything in case she would think him imbalanced."
I sat back and caught my breath as she told us the last part. I must have had a look of shock on my face because my brothers both reached to shake me and called out to mom to hold on a minute so they could make sure I was ok. She began to worry about me and make a fuss. Was I ok, had I been eating right, did they need to get on the next plane to the Americas? After I assured them I was ok, just in a little shock, they made me promise to give all this a long thought and then go hunting with my brothers for nourishment, then I was to call them back this evening so we could talk again with our minds all clear.
As we stepped out into the evening, the sun was just beginning to sink for it's rest. Before I could say a word, Jasper looked at me and said, "I take it we are going by the Chief of Police's house before we hunt?" I just nodded silently, grateful that my brothers were not looking at me in humor, but more in concern. I led the way. We hunched in the trees near her house not wanting to be seen. With our superior vision we could see them moving around in the house. I was most relieved that she was home and apparently feeling better. I needed nothing more than to see her through the window and know she was ok. The jolt that went through me as I realized how anxious I truly was about her, made me catch my breath. Both Emmet and Jasper turned their heads in unison as I did so. I think I was surprising them as well.
I said a silent prayer of thanks that she was safe and I had seen her. Then I turned and ran swiftly into the woods to begin our hunt.