Disclaimer. All publicly recognizable characters, settings etc., are the property of their respective owners. The original characters, ideas and plot are the property of the author. The author is in no way associated with the owners, creators or producers of any media franchise. No copyright infringement is intended. I only do this for fun. –B
Chapter 5
(Lilly's POV)
Looking around the inside of the Cullen's home, I was amazed at how light and open everything felt. The whole feel to it just radiated a homey feeling. I looked around at all the beautiful art work and arches that decorated the home as Jasper led me into what appeared to be the living room. There, two people, who I assumed to be Carlisle and Esme, stood to greet me.
Carlisle had blonde hair and like the rest of us, pale skin. His gold eyes were very warm and welcoming and he stood about 6'2. Esme had reddish brown hair with natural golden streaks; giving it a sun kissed look. She was about 5'8, pale, with the same beautiful golden eyes the rest of the Cullen's have.
"Esme, Carlisle, I would like you to meet my mate, Lillian McLean. Lilly, these are my parents, for all intents and purposes, Carlisle and Esme Cullen." Jasper said, introducing me to the couple with his hand on my lower back.
"It's wonderful to finally meet you Lilly." Carlisle said, shaking my hand.
"It's nice to meet you too." I smiled.
"Hello Lilly, welcome to our home." Esme greeted me, pulling me into a hug.
"Thank you, Esme. You have a very lovely home." I complimented her.
"Thank you, dear. It's my favorite hobby, interior decorating." She smiled.
Just then, I noticed Edward walk down the stairs and into the living room with the rest of us.
"Hello Lillian, it's nice to see you again." He smiled, taking my hand and placing a gentle kiss on my knuckles.
Jasper began growling and pulled me behind him with his arm around my waist. Edward looked slightly stunned for a fraction of a second before he too crouched down and began growling out of instinct.
"Now, boys. Knock it off." Carlisle insisted. "Edward didn't mean any harm to your mate and Edward, you should know better than to approach a newly mated pair and greet the female the way you did; regardless if it was a harmless gesture or not."
"Yes sir." They both mumbled apologetically.
"Well, now that we are all here, why don't we get started? We do have a long night ahead of us and Carlisle has to be at work by eleven for the night shift." Esme suggested.
We all took our seats around the room, Jasper and I on the loveseat with his arms around my middle, Edward on a chaise, and everyone else on the sectional couch.
"To start, why don't you tell us what you know about yourself, Lilly?" Carlisle asked.
"Um…" I looked at Jasper nervously and he gave me a gentle squeeze. A burst of confidence suddenly wrapped itself around me. I looked up at Jasper wide-eyed.
"I'll tell you later." He smiled, kissing my cheek.
"Ok." I nodded. "Well, I have a very good memory. I remember every moment of my entire life from the time I was in my mother's womb."
"That's interesting." Carlisle mused. "Most don't remember their human life after they were turned."
"Turned?" I asked confused.
"You know. The torturous three days of hell that changed you into a vampire?" Emmett cocked his head.
"Vampire? Is that what I am?" I asked rhetorically. "I guess that makes sense, considering the fact that I drink blood."
"So you remember your entire life, but you don't remember the transformation?" Rose asked.
"I don't think I went through a 'transformation.' I would have remembered that." I told them all, very confused.
"Then how did you become like you are?" Edward asked.
"Well, all my life I was extremely smart, with an amazing memory and a knack for my school work or any hobby I picked up. People were always drawn to me as a little girl and it took a law suit for my adoptive parents to get me out of the orphanage." I explained to them. "When I hit puberty, I began to develop cravings for blood. It started out with me eating very rare, almost raw, meat and it developed from there. One night, I just lost it on a taxi driver who was driving me home from the airport after visiting a friend who had moved. Shortly after that, the extra speed, strength, stronger senses, and my gift of course became known."
"Gift?" / "So you were born a vampire?" Rose and Carlisle asked at the same time.
"I guess so. I mean, the way I was born wasn't very traditional. I killed my mother." I ended in a whisper, grabbing hold of my locket.
"How?" Esme asked gently.
I went on from there to fill them in on my mother and how I was born. I told them about the golden eyed man who took me from my dead mother's arms and grabbed things that he knew would be important to me, before setting the house on fire and dropping me off at Bishop Shannahan. I filled them in on everything, aside from my gift, which brought me to where I am now.
The room was quiet after I finished. Jasper was rubbing soothing circles in my palm, giving me strength to talk about things that happened to me as a scared little girl, not only having to go through puberty and not understanding my own body, but developing my vampire side as well.
"I'm so sorry to hear about your mother. Did you say you had a picture of your parents?" Carlisle asked. I nodded my head affirmative. "If you could bring it with you next time, I would really appreciate it."
"So do you know what's going on, Carlisle? I mean about what she is exactly?" Rose asked.
Carlisle pursed his lips and then answered his hypothesis. "It appears that she is a half vampire, half human hybrid. She has all the characteristics of appearing human, but has all of our special abilities and immortality."
"So I will never age past adulthood?" I asked.
"Most likely, not. I will have to do some research, of course. But I am willing to bet that she won't age anymore, since she is now eighteen. From what it sounds like from your story is that your mother conceived you with a vampire while she was still human, and since her body is able to change and she has a minstrel cycle, she was able to get pregnant with you and raise you in her womb until you were ready to be born. Why you weren't born vaginally, I am not sure. But now that I know more about you, I know what I will be looking for." He answered.
"Male vampires can have children with human females?" Esme asked, placing a hand over her mouth in shock.
"Considering how uncommon that it is for the human to survive having intercourse with a vampire, I can understand why it wasn't discovered before. But yes, it does appear that way darling." Carlisle deciphered.
I noticed Esme and Rose had a sad look on their faces while their mates comforted them. I felt my eye brows knit together in confusion.
"Female vampires can't have children." Edward answered my unasked question, reading my mind.
"Oh." I said, looking at the two women sympathetically.
"Do you still have a…you know?" Emmett asked. I knew he would be blushing if he could.
I shifted embarrassingly, a light blush rising to my cheeks. "Yeah." I mumbled.
"So you can have children like you?" Rose perked up a bit. Probably at the thought of being an aunt.
"I guess." I shrugged. I can't say that I would want children right now, but in the future with Jasper as their father, I could definitely see myself considering it.
"Rose." Edward warned and shook his head. I looked at him then Rose curiously. This reminded me…
"Do any of you have gifts aside from Edward?" I asked.
"I can see the future!" Alice chirped.
"I can feel and manipulate the emotions around me." Jasper said with a slightly nervous edge. I turned to look at him.
"So you're the reason my emotions have been so mixed up!" I concluded, relieved that there wasn't something wrong with me.
"Uh…yeah. Guilty." He rubbed the back of his neck uncomfortably, probably thinking I was mad at him. "I'm sorry, darlin. I was only trying to help when you needed it. I wouldn't intentionally influence your emotions for my own gain."
I turned to face him and put both my hands on either side of his face. "I know that, Jazz. I was just confused all day because one minute I would be nervous and anxious, then next I would be calm and confident. Like just now before I told my story. You're not the type of man who would do something like that. Just promise me that unless I need you to, you won't mess with them."
He put his hands on mine and brought them down into his own. "I promise." He leaned in and placed a chaste kiss on my lips.
Every time he kissed me, it feels like the whole world falls away and it's just the two of us. We were so engrossed in each other that we didn't notice the other's in the room anymore until we heard a throat clear. Turning our heads and breaking the kiss, we saw that everyone wore different expressions. Emmett was smirking; no doubt he was the one who cleared his throat, Rose wore a small smile, Carlisle looked happy for his son, Esme was almost in tears, Alice was looking wistful, and Edward looked more indifferent. Though, he seemed to be hiding behind an emotionless mask.
"Um…how about anyone else?" I asked, trying to take the attention off of Jazz and I.
"Well, Emmett is stronger than any vampire I've met, but we don't know if it's a gift or not." Rose answered.
"What about you, Lilly? You mentioned that you had a gift." Carlisle prodded.
I felt myself get nervous and began to fidget. I felt a wave of calm and confidence from Jazz as everyone looked at me expectantly. I heard Edward and Alice gasp, probably finding out what my gift is before I opened my mouth.
"I…um…I can control things with my mind." I whispered, but I knew they could still hear me.
"What do you mean?" Jasper asked.
Deciding to demonstrate, I flicked my wrist and watched as the chair Edward was seated in levitated with him on it. Everyone gasped around the room at my display.
"You're amazing." Jasper whispered in my ear, then kissed my temple.
"So when you say you can control things with your mind, are you referring to just objects or people too?" Carlisle asked.
"People too, but I don't like to use it on them." I said.
"Why not? It's bad ass." Emmett chuckled, touching the chair that still was now gentle floating down tto the floor with Edward looking around amazed.
"Really, Emmett? You want to know? Here, I'll show you why." I growled, getting frustrated that he couldn't see the repercussions of such a talent.
I narrowed my eyes and began to think out commands of what I wanted him to do. I made sure he couldn't speak or move. I needed him to have his other senses so he could see what I was making him do. I had him walk across the room and into the kitchen. I made him pick up a knife from the knife block, then walk back towards us. Knowing that the knife wouldn't hurt him, I made him hold it to his throat as if he was going to slit it. I heard the room gasp as understanding settled in to the group as they watched Emmett.
"It's not right to take away someone's will power. I only use it when I have to. If Emmett was a human being, I could have him slit his throat and not be able to do anything about it, let alone call for help. I can make someone forget something, control their movements, make them think something is happening when it's not. It's not fair that someone can have this kind of power." I told them with conviction.
I released Emmett from my gift and I watched as he dropped the knife as if it had burned him. He looked at me wide eyed, as did everyone else. They were afraid of me. Jasper was afraid of me. Tears began to fall down my face as my body became wracked with sobs. My mate was afraid of me because I had to get upset and prove a point.
(Jasper's POV)
I couldn't believe what I had seen. I was in shock at how powerful my mate was. It scared me, not because she would use her gift maliciously on my, our, family, but because if the Volturi or the Romanians found out about her, they would attempt to covet her.
I heard a sob break out from Lilly and I immediately turned to look at her. I saw she had her head in her hands and she was crying. I immediately reached over and plucked her up and put her in my lap. I tucked her head into my neck and started to rock and purr for her.
"She thinks we are all afraid of her." Edward mumbled.
I pulled her away from me, just enough so that I could see her face and she could see mine.
"Darlin, I'm not afraid of you. We aren't afraid of you. Just shocked of the extent of your gift, and worried if the wrong people find out and try to take you away from me. Just like you know I wouldn't control someone's emotions and the way they feel to get what I want, I know you wouldn't either." I declared, wiping her tears away.
Little by little, with some help from me, she seemed to calm down. I gave her a small smile that she returned, and gave her a peck on the lips.
"We don't ask for the gifts that we are given. I would know." Edward said, squatting in front of Lilly and I, then taking her hand. "Every time I hear something personal in somebody's thoughts, I can't help but to feel like I am invading their privacy and that I shouldn't be able to hear them. For that reason, I keep what I hear in people's thoughts to myself, unless I am worried that they will cause harm to themselves or other's. It isn't the gift that makes you who you are, Lilly. It's what you do with that power."
She looked at him for a moment, then leaned forward and kissed his cheek and gave him a small smile. I pulled her closer to me, not liking that she kissed him. Even if I knew it was a harmless way to thank him for his kind words.
"Thank you." She whispered, her emotions showing that she was feeling marginally better. He just smiled and nodded at her, squeezing her hand before letting it drop.
'Thank you, Edward.' I thought to him. 'I really appreciate what you just did to make my mate feel better.'
He looked at me and nodded his head in a gesture saying that it wasn't a problem. Then, he walked back to his chair and took his seat. Everyone else looked at Lilly with warm smiles and it just made her feel all the more better about the situation. I noticed her focus was on Emmett, who was still standing where he was when she released him from her control. He was looking at her intently, before he approached her. He looked to me for permission just before he made it to us and I nodded my consent. Emmett enveloped her in his arms and held her tightly for a few moments before he let her go. She immediately came back to me and settled herself on to my lap as Emmett made his way back to his seat on the couch.
"So, I realize we still have a little more to talk about while we are all gathered together. Before we do that, we should get Lilly up to speed now that she is a member of our family." Carlisle began and turned to Lilly. "Lilly, our family does not feed on humans. I am not going to tell you how to feed. Whether you wish to stay with human blood, or try animal is completely up to you and is a commitment you should not take lightly. It is not easy and we have all had our slips. It's not a completely satisfying diet, but it keeps us from taking a human life. I understand that you only feed on criminals and those who hurt others and I believe you have made a very wise choice when it comes to the selection of your victims.
"It seems as though Edward has found his singer. A singer is someone whose blood is especially appealing to a vampire. The singer usually doesn't live past the initial meeting, but Edward's singer did. That's why he left yesterday night." He turned to Edward. "Anything to add, Edward?"
"I left because I was afraid that I would slip and end up hurting the girl. While I was in Alaska, I got to thinking that I am not one to back down and that I'm stronger than that. So I came back to overcome this and rise above everything." He said.
"That's right!" Emmett said, clapping him on the back.
"Do you have a plan of action, son?" Esme asked.
"I decided that I am going to try and desensitize myself to her scent. I am going to try to get to know her and be her friend."
"WHAT?" Rose exclaimed.
"Oh, honey. That's a great idea." Esme praised.
"This is perfect! I really like her!" Alice smiled, practically vibrating out of her seat.
"Good choice, son." Carlisle nodded.
"Good luck, brother." I smiled and gave him a small nod.
"Hope everything turns out alright, man." Emmett squeezed his shoulder.
Everyone said all of this at once and Lilly just looked on surprised at everyone's reactions. Immediately, Rose was on the attack.
"You better not screw this up if this is what you have to do, Edward, because I'm not moving again! We're finally seniors and I want to graduate! Not to mention, this is Lilly's first time in high school and she's a senior too. It's only fair that she gets to graduate." Despite her attack, I appreciated how she stuck up for Lilly and her right to graduate.
"Rose, take it easy on Edward. I think he is doing a very wise thing." Carlisle chastised her.
"Yeah Rosie, not that you don't bring up some valid points, but is it fair that a human run Edward out of his home? Away from his family?"
She sighed. "Alice?"
"Everything will be fine if he comes back to school with us tomorrow. We just will have to take it a day at a time. We will look out for you, won't we?"
"Fine, but don't fuck this up." Rose crossed her arms over her chest and didn't say anything more about it.
"If this is something you feel you can do and you want to try, I will support you, Edward." Lilly smiled at him. She is so kind hearted and I love that about her.
Me? I had mixed feelings on the topic. I was proud of Edward for coming back and pushing himself to do this, but I know it will kill Lilly if her best friend gets killed.
"Do you really feel you can do this, Edward? I mean, this is a human life we are gambling with here." I asked. 'Not to mention, that's Lilly's best friend that you are talking about.' I thought to him, not wanting to throw the news on her that way.
"I know I can do this. I wouldn't put her life at risk like that." He confirmed.
"Then it's settled." Carlisle disclosed.
"Um, who is his singer anyway?" Lilly asked. Everyone avoided eye contact with her and dread filled me knowing I was going to be the one who has to tell her. I know she cares for the girl very much, regardless of just meeting her yesterday.
"Lilly," I turned her towards me. "Edward's singer is Bella Swan."
She gasped, then whipped around to face Edward, wide eyed. "Please, Edward. Don't hurt my friend. I have complete faith in you, but please…be cautious. She's the first human friend I ever had that I actually feel close to."
"I promise Lilly, I will do everything in my power not to hurt her." Edward swore with determination.
"Thank you." She said. I could tell she was scared for her friend, regardless of her faith in Edward.
"Alright, you kids can go. I'm sure everyone wants some time to themselves. Not to mention Lilly and Jasper probably have more to talk about." Carlisle said, dismissing us.
I helped Lilly up off my lap and got up off the couch, pulling her towards the stairs towards my bedroom and study on the third floor. We still had a lot to talk about, namely what it means to be mates.
I still can't believe I have one. Every time I think about it, I keep wondering what I did to deserve one as wonderful and beautiful as her.
A/N: Well here you go, as promised! What did you think? Next up is the mating discussion and Edward's first day back at school. I know I skipped through the whole week that Edward was missing, but I really wanted him there for the family discussion with Lilly. Not but only that, I wanted to make some changes, not wanting Edward to go away for too long. If you have any questions, feel free to leave them in my reviews and I will answer them in my next author's note.
momoXvolturi – Will we ever find out who Lilly's real father is and will he make an appearance in this story? Yes, we will find out who her father is, but he won't be making an appearance in this story. He won't be showing up until the sequel. (hint hint) THERE WILL BE A SEQUEL!
If you like this story, check out my other ones! They are all Twilight based as of now and there are plenty of them in progress to get engrossed in.
Also, I am currently accepting Jasper/ any female lead stories to beta, along with Bella/ a few selected male leads. Just PM me for the det's!
Bella'Xo