I'm sorry for not updating this story sooner, but I was quite busy with life and I sort of lost motivation to pick-up where i left of for a couple weeks. Though, one day I just started to writer where I had left off and I came up with lots of awesome potential ideas for this fanfic. I'm liking the direction I'm taking my alternative ending.
I hope you all enjoy this next installment of Chapter 34 of Twilight Alternative Ending! I love to get your feedback on you comments and opinion. Thank ya'll for staying with my story! Enjoy! R&R!
Chapter 34
The Cullens returned to the tasks assigned to them by Carlisle and Esme to help set up for tonight's meeting. Esme was busy preparing and cooking a hardy meal consisting of a massive mouth-watering steak, mashed potatoes with potatoes skins, and carrots. Carlisle and Rosalie were preparing the studio to become a den as they moved out all the instruments including the grand piano to another location temporarily, so they could use the spacious room appear similar to a boardroom. Alice ordered furniture immediately after the impromptu assembly ended and requested that it be sent to the house by four o'clock in the afternoon which allows them more than enough time to set up the room with all the furniture pieces and decorative paintings. Carlisle had wanted to convert the studio room because the piano was a constant reminder of Edward and it was impossible to enter the room without seeing the white grand piano in the middle of the room. The studio held too many memories that were unbearable to deal with as it reminded him of the loss of his adopted son, Edward. The studio was Edward's favorite place to spend hours where he would play beautiful, melodious music pieces on the piano when he needed to think about things. No one dare disturbed him when he was in the studio. Sorrow hung densely in the air of the studio which made it almost impossible to be in the room for a long time, but Carlisle knew that no matter what he converted the room to the memories of Edward skillfully playing the piano as his fingers glided smoothly over the black and white keys would never cease to dissipate from Carlisle's memory. Jasper and Emmett continued to clean the house, so it was super clean that it would be impossible to find a speck of dirt or dust.
When it was four-thirty in the afternoon, everything was ready to go with the house impeccably clean and the studio rearranged into a boardroom. The Cullens had been quite occupied with getting the house ready for the meeting that they had completely forgotten to check up once in awhile on Bella to see how she was.
Upstairs in her room, Bella sat on her bed pondering about many things. No on was telling her the reason for the meeting, but she had to be there. She had not left her room since the day before and didn't want to either. The extra guest bedroom was now her permanent room. Alice and Rosalie had helped her to decorate the room so it felt more comfortable by adding bookshelves with all of her books which they smuggled out of her dad's house somehow. Also, the drab white walls were painted a light, sky blue and a variety of paintings depicting breath-taking European scenery were hung up around the room. The room had a friendlier and inviting atmosphere, yet Bella could not call it her room. Bella appreciated all of their efforts, but it was taking time to adjust living in the Cullen household. It wasn't the same when she would frequently visit to see her boyfriend or once in awhile stay over for a sleepover Alice was hosting for a girl's night for them. It was now a week that she had been residing in the Cullen household since the night of her transformation. It was now becoming a reality that she would be living with the Cullens forever which made her glad because there wasn't other family she would rather spend an eternity with. Without the help of the Cullen family, Bella did not know how she would be able to endure this arduous newborn phase. She was able to curb her insatiable thirst by drinking small amounts of blood from the storage baggies of human blood that was taken from the hospital. Alice told her that she would be able to go hunting in a couple weeks because she was making wonderful progress with her unbelievable control over her bloodlust.
Over the past week, Bella was thoroughly enjoying her time spend with the family getting to know them more. She was not a fan of Rosalie especially when she was dating Edward because Rosalie would shoot her nasty, spiteful looks and completely disregarded her importance to the family. Though after becoming a vampire, Bella had bonded with Rosalie and began to understand why Rose was the way she was. Even as a human, she was a vain person striving be the best and get the best there was to have including the perfect husband. Rosalie believed she had found the perfect husband when she met Royce King II, a son of affluent, wealthy bank owner. This all changed after Royce became a workaholic spending long hours at the bank leaving Rosalie to find ways to soothe her loneliness. She would often visit her good friend, Vera, and was envious of her sometimes. Vera had a wonderful, loving husband and a beautiful baby boy. This envy intensified every time she saw that baby boy. Her mother became increasingly worried about her daughter's prolonged morose mood because Rosalie was engaged to Royce, but she did not show any joy about it. One night after Vera's husband accidently kissed her unfortunately mistaking her for Vera, his wife, Rosalie came to realization that she was in a loveless relationship with a man she had not the slightly feelings for. She decided to take a walk to help clear her head. Unfortunately, Rosalie happened to pass by a tavern where her drunken fiancé, Royce, and his equally drunk friends were creating ruckus outside with their obnoxiously loud voices. She tried to walk away from the tavern before Royce recognized her, though he was able to identify her in his stupor. He dragged her over to his drunken friends raving on about her beauty, while Rosalie felt uncomfortable the entire time being around him and his friends in their drunken state. That night Rosalie became a victim of gang rape and left on the streets bleeding out to die. It was Carlisle, the man she had seen during on of her walked in the forest, who saved her by turning her into a vampire. Now, Bella understood why Rose would frequently mutter how Bella was taking her humanity for granted not realizing the beauty of it till it was gone.
She herself had been forcefully turned into a vampire, but she could see the vampire who did this to her since it was too dark when she was roaming the woods. Still, Bella could not recall who had turned her which frequently bothered her. All she could remember from that night was walking in the woods late in the evening then being viciously attacked. Right before becoming unconscious, she felt immense sensations of pain flooding through her body. When she woke up, sunlight light up the woods and her vision and hearing became heightened with each detail of the woods coming to life before her eyes and a conglomeration of sounds flooded her ears. It took awhile before it registered to her that she was a vampire particularly when she felt her throat on fire with an insatiable thirst that was not sated with water instead with blood. She happened to encounter James while walking through the forest where they fought intensely. Bella killed that son of bitch vampire who had killed her beloved friend, Mike, for the hell of it just to provoke Edward. After that, she ran to the Cullen's house where she knew she was safe and with people who loved her and would help her.
In her bedroom, Alice was sprawled across her bed staring at the ceiling deep in contemplation taking deep breathes to remain calm though it proving to be quite difficult. Anger still boiled in her blood, even after an hour of doing yoga.
Alice was infuriated. She was not able to contemplate any effective methods to convey her dire message to Jacob. That werewolf refused to listen to anything that she had to tell him; instead he was curt with her before hanging up. Alice could not comprehend how Bella could call that jerk her close friend. Carlisle assigned her this task, but he doesn't understand that the mutt won't listen to her. Carlisle still believes that she can find an effective method to get stubborn Jacob to listen. Carlisle would be more successful than she would to accomplish this challenging task. Carlisle had always been the best at negotiating and making people listen, even if they were so damn stubborn like werewolves.
That was the problem with werewolves. They were pig-headed, impatient, and cocky creatures. Not to say that all were, though from her own interaction with many over the years this has been true. Werewolves considered themselves as superior to vampires. This superiority they strong felt caused much tension between them for they despised vampires with a passion. Just the very existence of those bloodsuckers made their blood boil with sheer hatred. Unlike themselves, they believed vampires were monsters and a threat to the human race as they prey on innocent humans for their blood. This sickened and repulsed werewolves who only hunted animals as their supply for blood. A werewolf who murdered humans was unheard of especially in the Quilette tribe. For centuries, this hatred between vampires and werewolves has become pejorative.
When Carlisle decided to allocate his family in Forks, Washington, he didn't want the Quilette tribe to give them hell for living in Forks. His family would be adjusting to their new environment, so he didn't want them to have to deal with the Quilette as well. Carlisle knew there would be tension with two powerful supernatural beings coexisting in close proximity to each other. So, Carlisle met with the leader of the Quilette tribe to negotiate a treaty that would benefit both sides. This treaty has alleviated the century-old tension between vampires and werewolves. Carlisle had seen how this centuries-old tension quickly escalated and only brought death and destruction. He had become an effective, diplomatic negotiator over four centuries of his existence. It was his kind, ambassadorial nature which was why he left the Volturi. Carlisle had never felt like he belonged among the small, elite group of ancient vampires who were in the Volturi. These ancient vampires were true to their animalistic nature, yet held a stoic, sophisticated stature. Humans feared the Volturi from the atrocious stories that circulated. The Volturi showed neither mercy nor value for humanity after centuries of their immortal existence.
Alice decided to talk to Carlisle and attempt to convince him to get Jake to listen. His eloquent and persuasive skills would convey the message more efficiently than Alice. Her attempts were unsuccessful. Suddenly, Alice had an epiphany of a brilliant method to get Jake to pay attention to their message. Bella would be most successful to accomplish this task! Technically, Jake is unaware that Bella was no longer human. This piece of information would not be disclosed, so Jake would remain cooperative and listen. He cared deeply for and was in love with Bella Swan, though she does not realize this yet. Alice could safely safe that Bella and Jacob were close friends thus he would listen to her if she conveyed the message rather than if any of the Cullens did so. "I cannot believe I did not think of this genius idea before!" She sprang out of the chair ecstatically dashing down the stairs to Carlisle's den.
Intently concentrating on his hospital files, Carlisle was so deep in thought that it didn't register to him for nearly ten minutes that someone was knocking on his den door. Initially, the knock startled him, which was rare. The door swung open and Alice, who wore a wide grin that stretched across her face, was standing in the doorway. Carlisle was curious of why Alice was extremely elated. Normally, Alice was perky, but this was sprightly than she typically was.
Reclining back relaxed in his chair, Carlisle asked, "How can I help you today, Alice?"
Running to his desk, she replied animatedly, "I just though of the most ingenious idea!"
Now, he was curious to hear of Alice's plan. Arching an eyebrow in intrigue, he responded with a hint of curiosity in his voice, "Oh I see. What is this amazing plan of yours?"
"It is sheer genius! I have devised a plan of how to make that damned, mulish werewolf to come to this evenings meeting."
Carlisle was trying to comprehend what she was talking and who she was referring to. "Do you mean Jacob Black, Alice?"
"Precisely!"
"Okay…what is the plan? I though you dealt with him already." Now, Carlisle was thoroughly confounded.
Alice sat down on one of the patented leather chairs facing Carlisle's desk. A few minutes of awkward silence passed as she mused to herself of how to explain her plan to him, so it would make sense. "Alright, my couple attempts to call Jacob at his house to communicate the message utterly failed, she began. "I was infuriated at his damn stubbornness, so I lay on my bed for hours contemplating other plans to make him listen. I came up with nothing that would be effective. Then, I pondered if you would better communicate the message to Jake, but he despises all the Cullens so it will not work. During these hours, I would occasionally wonder how Bella could be friends with that rude, impolite boy."
Alice had a tendency to ramble and sometimes stray from the topic on hand. Carlisle acknowledged this and continued to listen, since she will eventually get to the point. He would filter out the extraneous information that was not pertinent to her topic.
"Right then I had an epiphany! Instead of trying to send the message myself, Bella can more effectively communication the message since they are good friends. We all know that mutt is head over heels in love with Bella, so he will trust her more than us."
Carlisle mused about this for a couple minutes and realized how ingenious Alice's idea was. It surprised him that he hadn't though of assigning this task to Bella, who would most successfully accomplish this feat than the Cullens. Though, there was one slight complication. Bella would be able to get Jake to come to this evening for the meeting, but he would immediately realized Bella was quite different and no longer human. That was the problem. Since Jake was going to come to their house, he would instantly assume the Cullens had transformed her into a vampire. Well, technically that assumption would be correct since Rosalie accidently transformed Bella. None of the Cullens would disclose that information to Jake for good reason. The only way to pull it off was that Bella would have to alter the story of how she became a vampire. Although, Carlisle wasn't entirely certain Bella entirely knew how she lost her humanity. This had to be delicately handled because no one had ever specifically asked what Bella remembered of her transformation plus she was horrible at lying. He hoped that she could damn well lie to her best friend otherwise Jake would unleash a vicious wrath on the Cullens.
Sitting idly and glancing around the room, Alice remained silent. She noticed that Carlisle was deep in thought and would not disrupt his pensive thoughts. He did this often. Though, now Carlisle was deep contemplation everyday. It was as if he was constantly, silently reminiscing or his mind was racing a mile a minute. She got worried sometimes when he was unusually quite. "Carlisle?"
The more he thought about the idea it seemed to be a brilliant plan even if it involved withholding vital information from Jake. Vaguely, he could have sword Alice called his name, yet wasn't entirely sure of this. Snapping out of his inner thoughts, Carlisle replied politely, "I'm sorry, Alice, did you have something else to say?"
Still slightly concerned, Alice asked with a hint of worry in her voice, "Are you alright, Carlisle?"
"Yes, I am perfectly fine. I was just pondering how to execute this plan because we can use it to our advantage. First, we need to discuss with Bella how much she remembers that night she became a vampire. I believe she can easily persuade Jake to come here, though he will be under the false impression that he is just visiting his friend, Bella. The slight complication arises when he arrives at the house and sees Bella. He will immediately realize she is no longer human from her atypical pallor and from the repulsive scent vampires give off to other supernatural beings. All that will verify that she is most certainly a vampire. This is why we must know what she remembers of her transformation. The story she will tell Jake is that while taking a casual stroll through the woods one evening James approached her. The story must depict James as the one who viciously attacked her then forcefully transformed her. Jake will become incensed at James, since he knows Bella would never lie to his face. The alteration to the story would divert the Cullens as the culprits. He already despises us and if revealed that any of us were the one who transformed Bella even if it was accidental there will be hell to pay for it. Also, Jake would unleash his wrath on us."
Alice listened attentively to Carlisle. He brought up valid points that needed to be considered and addressed. Depending on Bella's memory of that night, they would not need to worry about Jake discovering the truth. If is often said that the truth will set you free, unfortunately in their precarious situation it would not. The truth would spark a destructive war between the Cullens and the Quilette werewolves. The werewolves would not attack the Cullens if they didn't break the treaty. This treaty had been recently updated in the past year. It included that if any physical harm comes upon Bella or if any of the Cullens make her vampire, then they have a right to unleash hell on them. Given that Bella longer human, the Cullens had technically broken the peace treaty.
"Do you really believe the Quilette wolves would hunt us down if they discovered one of us have taken Bella's humanity?" Alice now understood why Carlisle was taking extra-precaution to delicately execute this plan.
"Yes, Jacob's family holds much influence in the tribe, thus indirectly giving Jake authority and power in the wolf pack. Even though, Paul is the official leader of the wolves, Jake still wields much influence over Paul. It would be in our best interest to pin the blame on James, so the Quilettes will not know that we have broken the treat," replied in a staid tone.
"Good plan, Carlisle. Plus, they would easily believe that James would make Bella a vampire against her will just to play sick and convoluted mind games with the Cullens. James tries to provoke us every opportunity he gets. A prime example is the ballet studio fiasco showdown between James and us. The wolves are aware of how sinister and sadistic James is. This would work, but we have to chat with Bella. We need to know how much she remembers of her transformation. All of us don't remember much details of our own transformations, even after hundred of years of our immortal existence. I clearly cannot recall much of my own transformation. I mean all I remember is being in my depressingly drab room at the insane asylum staring at the wall blankly. Somehow, I became unconscious. The next thing I know when I regained consciousness was I had doctors and nursed surrounding me around my bed. Intently observing me, the doctor examined me asking me slew of questions. Suddenly, the doctors and nurses ran out of the room screaming in terror. I didn't understand why until I took a look at myself in a mirror. What I saw was a short girl with extremely pale skin and menacingly glowing red eyes staring back at me. It took me awhile to register I had become a vampire. After completely draining the blood out of a nurse and three patients, I realized the truth. The bloodlust was overwhelming. Before sunset, I had escaped the insane asylum through the window in my room."
While Alice reminisced, Carlisle attentively listened. He had never heard complete version of the story about her transformation. Alice still has not discovered who had changed her into a vampire. He could tell that it still bothered her as he read her grim facial expression. Her typical perky smile had faded into a sullen grimace. Immortality had its disadvantage since it amplified the memories of you past. When you live forever, time is anything but a concern. Often, vampires are haunted by their pasts especially when one things about their newborn phase was the worst. This will last for about fifty to seventy years, before a vampire can successfully master their bloodlust and self-control around humans. The Cullens and few others were the only "vegetarian" vampires among their immortal race. Instead of living off human blood, a "vegetarian" vamp's diet consists of purely animal blood. When a vampire decides this lifestyle, the memories of the past particularly the amounts of humans they have drained and killed are painful. This was a constant reminder that they are still monsters even if they don't drink human blood anymore.
The jubilant, pleasant mood of the room had shifted to a morose, grim mood. Deep in thought, Alice remained silent as her painful past memories haunted her. Carlisle understood the internal emotional battle Alice was dealing with at the moment.
Breaking the silence, Carlisle reassured her in a soothing tone, "Alice, all of us have done things that we have regretted or things we want to efface permanently from our memory. In order to move on, we cannot dwell on our past. We need to concentrate about the present and the future only, no the past. You have come a long way since then."
Staring blankly at the wall, Alice replied, I know I should, but it is not always easy. It's easier said than done."
"That is true." He got out of his chair taking a seat in the empty chair next to her. "Though, we figure out a way to make it happen. I've been around for over four centuries and in time I have learned to reconcile my past. You are still relatively young vampire, Alice."
Catching her attention with his comment, Alice snapped out of her daze. Raising an eyebrow, she asked incredulously, "I am a young vampire?"
"Relatively young," Carlisle clarified. "In comparison to my nearly four hundred years of immortality, you are considered relatively young."
"Oh."
"Alright, back to the matter at hand," commented Carlisle, trying to get back to the main topic. "I think we need to discuss this plan with Bella, though first we must know how much she remembers the night of her transformation."
Alice rose from the chair. "I will go retrieve her. Bella was with Rose, who was giving her fashion tips," she said with a smirk attempting not to burst out laughing at the hilarity and irony of the situation. "It will not take long to find Bella." Alice dismissed herself from the den.
I am doing my best to multi-task as I currently working on two fanfics and a freelance story at the moment. I will try my best to update the next chapters as soon as I can!