Carlisle

That silver ring. I never thought I would ever see it again.

I remembered the day I met that Kalderash girl, Magdalena, like it had happened the day before. She swore to me her family would never forget me, and it seemed like she had been right… And those green eyes were another proof that that girl, Elizabeth, was a real descendant of Magdalena. They were the same exact shade as hers. Incredible…

Elizabeth was clearly waiting for me to talk. She was holding her breath in anticipation of my words.

"I don't think we're in the right place to talk about something so important, Elizabeth."

"What do you suggest then?"

"If I assume correctly, you've never been to my family's house."

Everyone was at school in that moment except Esme, and I knew she was deadly curious to meet Elizabeth, the girl that Bella liked so much and Edward hated with the same intensity. I had recognized the surname as soon as she had said it.

"And risk meeting Edward? I see him at school, that's more than enough for me!"

I couldn't help myself, and I started laughing. Edward had more or less the same reaction when Bella asked us if she could invite Elizabeth to come to our house. We walked to my car and we got in. Elizabeth was looking at me with a curious expression, certainly due to my reaction, and then she smiled.

"Uhm. Let me guess. A certain red-haired boy reciprocates what I feel for him."

"Quite literally. But I'm confident you and Edward will get along just fine once you get to know each other."

"That's what Bella says, too. I would go insane overnight if I were to do a thing like that, but I could make an effort out of respect for you. Oh God, I can't believe it… you're all vampires! And not normal vampires… vampires with ties to my family! It's worse than a fantasy novel."

I laughed again. Edward had described her as sarcastic, unpleasant and rude. Usually I trusted his judgment, but this time I feared he was wrong. Like Bella, I found that girl fascinating, and not only because of her family. She survived the loss of her parents, of the world she had always known, and she was still there, fighting. This trait of hers reminded me of Rosalie, somehow, and that was probably another reason why Rosalie couldn't stand her. They were too similar.

Fifteen minutes after, we were already at my house. Like I suspected, Esme was more than happy to finally meet Elizabeth. She was always partial to the girls able to provoke a reaction in Edward's heart and mind, even if this time such reaction was the opposite of what he had felt when he met Bella.

"I'm really glad to meet you at last, Elizabeth. I've heard many things about you."

Elizabeth

"I can imagine what you could have possibly heard about me… and from whom."

Esme laughed, and said she was waiting to know me better before deciding which of her children was right about me. Her eyes lit up with pride when she mentioned Bella and the others, like a real mom. I decided I liked her in that instant.

"May I offer you something? I have some tea and cookies in the kitchen…"

"I'm fine, really…" I said, trying to stop her, but Esme disappeared in the kitchen and I found myself speaking at the void. Carlisle put a hand on my shoulder and invited me to sit on the couch. I sat opposite him, and I replied to his questions about my family. How did we end up in the United States? Did I know what happened to Magdalena? How many people knew about that legend, and believed it was true?

Esme joined us with my cup of tea and a giant plate of chocolate chip cookies when I was still answering the first question. Carlisle listened in silence, nodding to my words once in a while, while I told him about my family getaway from Central Europe to the United States during World War 2. Magdalena's story was interesting as well. She became a healer, and resisted all attempts of his father to marry her with some rich gypsy man until she was sure he wanted her and not her father's gold. She ran away after discovering the man was not who she thought he was, and ended up in Paris, where she became a dancer. She became the lover of a young poet and they lived poor and hopelessly in love for the rest of their days. She had three children, and after her death, Magda's mother welcomed them in the family, even if the scorned husband and her father were contrary.

"But like her daughter, she was stubborn like a mule… or so I'm told. It's quite a dominant trait in the woman of my family."

Carlisle nodded. "I remember. Magda decided she would help me, like I helped her with the vampire that tried to kill her… and no one made her change her mind. Quite the opposite… she convinced everyone I was worthy of their trust. It was thanks to her if I found the Volturi."

"The Volturi?"

They exchanged a look. Like they were talking about something that maybe I shouldn't know. But the damage was done, so to speak. Esme invited me to take another cookie and then she replied to my question.

"They are the oldest and most powerful of us all," explained Esme. "A sort of royal family."

"Are they… I mean, are they like you? Magdalena was attacked by a vampire that wanted to drink her blood… but how is the situation now? Do all vampires drink animal blood, like you?"

"No," replied Carlisle. "We are considered… outcasts, because we made the choice of not killing human beings in order to survive. The other vampires, the majority of our kind, still feed on human blood. The Volturi are no exception."

"So… their irises are ruby red because of this, like the legends say?"

"Yes."

"But they could try and conceal that, right? With glasses or contact lenses…"

"Someone might, in order not to give away his or her true nature. Why are you asking this?"

"Curiosity. You're the first real, honest-to-God vampire I have ever talked to after all!" I said with a smile and a little laugh.

Oh, please, I found myself begging. Please, believe me, Carlisle…

That conversation made me realize many things, but one in particular: the Cullens were not the first vampires I had met. But sure as hell, they were the first with golden eyes. I shivered, realizing just now the danger I had been in. The danger I was still in. Carlisle was smiling politely at me, and I forced myself to return the gesture. They were nice people. Good people. They would help me if I asked them. But like I said… it was my problem. I caused it with my naïveté, and I would have to deal with the consequences alone.

I heard the door open, and Bella's laugh filled the air. I looked at the watch… school was just over. How long had I been sitting there talking to Esme and Carlisle? A long time, I answered myself, since the cookies were all gone, much to Esme's approval. When I tried to stop eating, she gave me a 'mom' look and told me I was too thin in her opinion.

I mentally counted back to five till the moment Edward would notice me in the living room. Four… Three… Two… One…

"What the hell is she doing here?"

Rosalie's angry tone didn't surprise me. God, if she was jealous of her little sister… or at least of the girl she pretended she was her sister. Bella, on the other hand, was more than happy to see me. Maybe a little surprised to see me having tea and cookies with her adoptive parents, but definitely happy. Emmett was smiling, amused by the situation. Jasper had his usual seraphic expression on his angel face, like he knew something that us mere humans (or vampires) would never understand. And Edward… well, like his sister, he wasn't happy to see me there either. Carlisle smiled, ready to explain my presence there, but I stopped him.

"No, Carlisle… not now."

I touched his hand like I was talking to a friend, and I knew that gesture would annoy Rose and Edward. Bella gave me a curious look, but she knew me well enough to realize I was having fun at her brothers' expense and that she would be the first to know what had just happened in that room before their arrival, if Carlisle didn't talk.

I gathered my things. "If you wanna tell them, go ahead. Just wait till I'm far enough not to be affected by the fallout, ok?"

Carlisle smiled and hugged me. I bit my lip trying not to laugh, and I started again to think of my Romanian childhood fairytales. With a mind reader in the room, better be careful. His expression was serious but his eyes shined with my same unexpressed laughter. Esme, always adorable and in control, escorted me to the door (walking right in the middle of her astonished children) and invited me to stop by again, that she was happy to have finally met me, and things like that. I got inside my car and drove until I was sure their vampires ears couldn't hear me anymore, then I stopped the car at the side of the road and laughed so hard tears came out from my eyes. The morning after, Bella would have to give me the minute-by-minute description of what was happening in that moment at the Cullens'...

Edward

"She's WHAT?"

Rosalie couldn't believe what Carlisle had just said, and, honestly, neither could I. Bella, who was sitting next to me on the couch, was thinking ecstatically that she had always known there was something special about Elizabeth. She rolled her eyes at her sister's words.

"Come on, Rose… she knew the crest in every detail. How many times does a thing like this happen?"

"But it doesn't mean a thing. She's human, an intruder. I don't want her here."

Bella lowered her eyes. She was trying to hide it, but Rosalie's words hurt her. She perfectly knew she wasn't referring to her but to her mother, but it didn't hurt less because of that.

"Elizabeth's family helped me in a moment when no one in their right mind would give me shelter. I might not have survived without their help. As far as I'm concerned, Elizabeth can come here to see Bella any time she wants."

Bella barely kept herself from exulting.

"But I'm hopeful, Bella, you won't fill every blank she has on our nature, at least for now. She needs time to adjust, and so do we."

"Carlisle, I don't think she has blanks to fill. Not after what you told us. And now she knows about the gift thing, too!"

"But she doesn't know about yours."

Bella was wondering why her gift had to be taken secret. I didn't need to. Her gift was too extraordinary, too rare not to be of some interest for the Volturi. Keeping her gift (and to an extent, her own existence) secret was the best way to protect her. I didn't even want to think of what they could do to a sweet, harmless girl like Bella.

"Yet. But I have every intention of telling her. She lost her parents two years ago… and I don't think they left this place. It has been a violent death after all."

"If and when you'll meet them, we'll resume this conversation. Do you agree, Bella?"

Bella nodded, and left the room with Jasper to go in the library. Once we were alone, Rosalie spoke once again her distrust in letting Bella have Elizabeth as a friend.

"Come on, Rose," said Emmett. "Now you're going to tell me she had a pointy tail and horns, too?"

"Bella is too kind, she is not good at judging people. And she deserves better. I'm just saying that."

"Bella can decide for herself," Carlisle reminded her.

"Last time she did, you and Esme didn't see her for twenty years."

In that moment I realized that Rosalie would never forgive me completely for what I had done. Before our discussion degenerated into a fight, Carlisle said that our meeting was over and that we were free to go.

Elizabeth

As soon as I was home, Grace dressed me down for 20 minutes because she had received a phone call from… my grandmother. Apparently, not even the discovery of being somehow related to a vampire family wasn't enough of a reason to skip school. I sighed deeply and reminded myself of the reasons why I adored that woman, so I wouldn't have to kill her the following Saturday. I pretended to be sorry and walked head down to my room. Once I was sure no one would come looking for me till dinnertime, I got out of my window with my camera and climbed down the tree. Ms. Wilkins, the neighbor, gave me a distracted look and went back reading her novel. I guessed she was used to me sneaking out of the house that way by now. Usually I tried to respect Grace's rules, but this time I felt I didn't earn the punishment… so to hell with it. I had better things to do, and Mick was waiting for me in the only property the authorities didn't take away from my family. It was a little studio downtown that my mother used when she was busy at the college. For some reason, it completely went unnoticed during the listing of the family properties that had to be taken and auctioned.

Since I was afraid someone would take that place away from me if I tried to change the name on the contract or things like that, I simply kept my mouth shut and used it in secret. My mother and I looked pretty much the same, so no one noticed the difference: a black haired woman used that place before, and a black haired woman used it in that moment. Just for a different goal: it was the place where I developed my photos and where I kept all the printed copies, more than enough to cover all the walls up to the ceiling and then some. My secret sanctuary. Well, not so secret since Mick knew of its existence, but no one else knew beside him. And Mick was already waiting for me inside, with coffee and cake and homework to do.

"Are you going to tell me why you got mad all of the sudden today?"

"All of the sudden?"

"Haha. So?"

"You always say my Grandma has lost it, with her stories on good and bad vampires..."

"And?"

I sighed. No, I couldn't ask him that. I couldn't. "Forget my last sentence. You wouldn't believe me in a million years."

"Try me."

No I won't, I thought.

"Really, Mick… it's completely crazy. Unbelievable. I still have problems believing it myself."

Mick thought about it for a few seconds, then he put together my words and what I had said about Grandma.

"Again?" he said, laughing. "Come on, Lizzie… vampires doesn't exist."

I could tell him the names of the vampires I knew. Mick would never tell a soul, he could be trusted. Instead I went for the name that I knew would catch his attention.

"Gabriel is a vampire. Don't ask how I know this… but it's the truth."

He stopped laughing immediately. "Elizabeth, have you seen him again? Is he back in town?"

"No, thank God. But all the strange things about him now make sense… his cold hands, the strange color of his eyes, his appearing out of nowhere… his strength."

Especially his strength. I gently clutched my left wrist with my hand. Gabriel managed to break it with the same gesture. He couldn't believe how fragile I was to him… and he loved this power he had over me. I knew he did.

"Liz, come on…"

"It makes sense," I repeated. "Only a predator could hunt someone in that way."

And it scared me to think how many times I had gotten close to being changed, since the night I had met him. I was still in a care home, waiting for a foster family to take me… and I hated it. It was then when I mastered the art of sneaking out at night. I wandered in the streets with my camera, taking pictures and wondering what the hell did I have to do with the rest of my life, or if there was a life for me after all that had happened. Then one night I raised my eyes from the camera, and I inadvertently caught a couple passionately making out in an alley. I knew I shouldn't have watched, but the boy was so handsome… when he met my eyes, I ran away. Then I met him again the following night. And the following. And we kept on meeting like that, at night, keeping it a secret from everyone. He was smart, handsome, caring… It was like someone had sent me an angel to give me hope. Yeah, right… Mick hated Gabriel since I first told my friend about him, I should have realized. Gabriel was very jealous of my friendship with him, too. No… He was very jealous, period. And when he realized he couldn't oblige me into complete submission, I started to show around on my face and body the signs of his anger.

The fact that I was living with other twelve teenagers that couldn't stand me, 'the little spoiled princess', somehow helped. I blamed them for the black eye, the bruises on my body… the broken wrist and ribs. Luckily enough, a social worker took pity in me and sent me to Grace and Allen's. I thought it was over… I was wrong. He found me again. Somewhere in his twisted mind, he was even happy for me to have found a safer place to live... He didn't like my previous accommodation. Gabriel didn't break any other bones, but the bruises were becoming too difficult to conceal. And I was going through too much… so I made the mistake of telling Grace, Allen and Mick what was happening. Like Gabriel needed a reason to get more jealous and angry at me. My freedom to move was revoked till further notice, but I didn't care, not in that case.

The black roses started to appear everywhere in that period. Lots of expensive, beautiful black roses I trashed every time I saw them. I found them at school, on the windshield of my car, in the house. I resisted as long as I could. When I found my room completely filled with roses, I packed a bag and ran North, leaving a note in Romanian that just my Grandma would understand. As far as I knew, Allen and Grace still ignored what I had done from the end of the school in June till my return, in October. Not even Mick knew the whole story, and it was better that way. I got what I wanted after all: Gabriel followed me to Canada… and was still looking for me there.

The family was safe now, Mick was safe… and so was I. Or at least it was what I thought. I just hoped I would have time to finish school and disappear again before his return. Because he would return, I was certain of it, now more than ever. I would turn eighteen in a couple of months, and I couldn't wait for that day. It was my assurance that from that moment on I could do whatever I pleased. Like disappearing out of thin air because a sadistic vampire got obsessed with me and wanted to hunt me down and probably kill 

me. I was sure I could find a way to access my trust fund before my 21st birthday… I escaped a supernatural hunter for three months, it couldn't be more difficult than that.

Mick didn't want to believe me, but he knew from my voice that I was dead serious. I wasn't joking.

"So, you're basically telling me that… it's crazy, Liz."

"I have proof," I said. That conversation with Carlisle had been enlightening. The killing spree in Seattle ten years before, the one in Mexico city, plus the rising number of homicides in London in those days… all because of vampires. Red-eyed vampires, newborn or older, but still vampires.

"How do you know this?"

Before I could make up a lie, Mick realized the truth.

"You met others like him."

Told you. He could be damn perceptive at times.

"Not like him. They are the complete opposite of Gabriel. They don't hunt humans. They're… nice, good people," I said, thinking of Esme, Carlisle and Bella. "And you know them too."

"Definitely not."

"Sorry… but you do. The Cullens, Mick. The Cullens and the Hales… they're all vegetarian vampires. And I'm sort of tied to their family because of this ring."

Too much information. I felt sorry for him.

"You mean… Bella is a vampire? And Edward, too?"

I nodded. "Edward is 145 years old. Bella is…"

"What? Two hundred? More?"

"Bella is 38."

"Oh. Young. And you know this because…?"

"Because Carlisle, their father, told me. I showed him this ring…" and I let Mick take a good look at the crest on it, "And he recognized it. He was wearing its twin! God…" I said then, abandoning my head against the couch, "My head is spinning again."

"Yours is spinning? What about mine, huh? I've just discovered you're related to a coven of vampires!"

We both decided it wasn't good for us to keep talking about that. We switched to my latest photographs, the one I had taken the week before the Cullens' arrival in town and the ones I had taken of Bella and Edward. Needless to say, Mick went straight for the latter.

"I wonder what it's like," he said, looking at a photo of a laughing Bella. "I mean… she looks seventeen at best. But she's almost forty. Do you think she still has family around here?"

"I know about a father and a brother in a Quileute reservation, but she doesn't like to talk about them. They hurt her badly before she became… a Cullen."

"Look at her skin. Is it… glowing?"

"The light and the camera give this effect. Under direct sunlight, vampires sparkle."

"And now I know why they're never around during sunny days. Coffins? Garlic? Crosses? Are these things true or is your Grandma right once again?"

"Will you never learn? Grandma Helena is always right. And the myths are completely wrong."

"Stakes?"

"Too strong to be affected. Only fire and decapitation are effective if you want to kill a vampire."

"Good to know. I want to be ready."

"Ready for…?"

I stopped mid-sentence. I already knew where he was going with that.

"No way in hell! You did too much last time, and now I know you could even get killed! No! It's my problem, I'll deal with it alone! No one has to get hurt for me again!"

"Elizabeth, for God's sake, stop talking like that! I helped you against your will once and I'll do it again. Deal with it. Someone has to stay by your side."

Did I have other arguments to win the discussion? No. Unfortunately, no. If Mick had already decided to stay, he would stay no matter what. Damn stubborn that he was.

We resumed looking at my pictures, plus the one I had to check for the school journal, but I wasn't feeling right. Talking about Gabriel upset me. I took a nice box of photographs with me when I got home, so that I had something to do if insomnia struck again. I climbed the tree, and I went back into my room just seconds before Grace came knocking at my door, the signal that my punishment was over. I kicked the box under my bed and I came down to dinner with my adoptive family. Talk about a well-oiled machine. Grace was a simple woman that loved normality… you know, routine and discipline. I was raised by a Kalderash woman and a man born to two Hippies. Normality and rules would never suit me.

The morning after, I immediately went looking for Bella. I wanted to know everything about Edward and Rosalie's reactions! Before I could do it, though, I met Mick, with a panicked expression in his eyes.

"Lizzie, please, trust me. Don't go to your locker."

"Mick, what happened? Did someone read a thesaurus, discover one of the many synonyms of the word 'slut' and felt the burning desire to tell me… again?"

And I was laughing. Me. The one that usually took down names and planned revenge before removing the paint. Bella was definitely having an influence on me... But Mick wasn't laughing. No one was. They were looking at me with a strange look…

Before Mick could stop me, I pushed him away and went to my locker.

At its feet, there was a huge bouquet of beautiful black roses.