~*~ Chapter Ten ~*~
It was quiet but for the rumble of the truck's engine as Bella drove down the road, following the directions of the redheaded vampire beside her. Maggie was non-emotive, neither friendly nor unfriendly. Two things quelled Bella's fears about whether she was blindly trusting someone who could turn out to be the dispatched Cullen assassin: Carlisle's friendliness and the fact that Alice had saved her once. Alice could easily have lied to fool Bella into complacency, but it didn't seem too likely when Alice had always been friendly, if aloof, and Carlisle definitely didn't strike her as feeling threatened after their conversation in their office.
Maggie was watching Bella intently.
"What did you want to talk to me about?" Bella asked.
"Your intentions. What are you after?"
"I'm not after anything."
"That's a lie."
"Excuse me?" Bella looked over at her passenger, astonished.
"My family will not trust you if you don't tell the truth, Bella. You might as well know right now that lying to me will get you nowhere. You went into Carlisle's office yesterday for a reason. What was it?"
Bella hesitated. "He thought I had a crush on him."
Maggie's mouth quirked a bit. The phlegmatic veneer had cracked to temporarily let some amusement through. "You had to make sure that you dispelled him of that notion."
"I was embarrassed."
"So Carlisle knows that you aren't looking for kisses, now what?"
Bella didn't know if it was resentment at being considered entertainment or the obvious fact that the next move was not hers that made her speak so defiantly. "You tell me."
Maggie looked Bella over before speaking again. "You're scared of me, aren't you?"
"Well, I've never met you. You appeared out of nowhere inside my truck, and you can kill me within the blink of my eye."
"I won't hurt you, Bella, but you should be scared. Not all vampires are like our family. We are more the exception than the rule."
"Are there many other vampires nearby?" The thought had never occurred to Bella, and she could feel her blood run cold.
"The nearest set are friends of ours and share our taste preferences. Yet nomads occasionally do pass through."
Part of Bella was vaguely aware that the houses they were driving past began to thin out, becoming farther and farther apart as she tried to process this information. Bella wasn't sure she knew how. She was scared. She was glad that the Cullens were more humane. She was very grateful for the kindness that Carlisle and Alice had shown to her.
"Now that you've told Carlisle that you know our secret, what do you want now, Bella?"
"I can't say that I know what I want right now."
Though Bella didn't see it, Maggie's eyes twinkled with appreciation. "Nice wording. Let's try this. What did you plan to do next?"
"Plan? I haven't planned anything."
"Is there someone else that you want to tell about us?"
Confirming the currently straight and empty road before her first, Bella turned and looked right into the golden eyes of her interrogator. "No."
Maggie nodded. "Good!"
Something about that smile and nod broke the tension for Bella. She no longer felt wary of this little woman, firing questions at her as though she could see right through her. "Is that all you really wanted to know? Maggie, I have absolutely no intention of revealing your secret. Your family is an amazing achievement as far as I'm concerned. I would never want people to know the truth about you, because they'd doubt you and shun you, and none of you deserve that."
Maggie's smile remained in place. "I know you mean every word of that. Yet, let me ask you this, Bella. In the five months or so that you've known about us, have you done anything that might raise suspicion?"
Bella started to instantly deny, then held her tongue. She thought of Billy and Jacob. Billy had believed long before Bella came on the scene, and Jacob held himself away from the whole thing with a touch of amusement. Yet she couldn't say that she was entirely blameless for what had happened earlier that very day.
Bella looked up at Maggie, who was patiently awaiting her answer. "I want to say no," Bella began, "but I'm not sure I can. A friend caught me looking at Alice and Jasper in the cafeteria at school today. Somehow that started a conversation at the lunch table about how odd your family is. I said nothing, and it drifted onto a new topic almost as soon as it began – but I don't think anyone would have said anything if Jess hadn't noticed where I was looking."
"Did your friends say anything that wasn't already in their thoughts?"
"Um, no."
"Do you think that they had these thoughts before?"
"Probably."
"Have you been around every time that they might have talked about us?"
"Well, no, probably not."
"Then don't feel so guilty. You cannot personally prevent attention coming our way."
Bella nodded. "Okay."
Smiling again, Maggie reached out and gave Bella's shoulder a slight squeeze. It was more a sign of support than a demonstration of strength. Her light touch made Bella think of Carlisle. The thought that must go into every movement to make sure that someone as comparably fragile as her did not get hurt. Bella inhaled and smiled back on the exhale, taking the reassurance from Maggie, and feeling a new surge of pride in this unusual family.
Maggie tilted her head to look Bella right in the eyes. "Your own attention to us, however, must be addressed. We really can't have you watching us from across the room every day like we're something worth keeping an eye on. Not only would it draw attention to us, but it creates a little oddness about you as well."
"You think I'm odd?"
Maggie laughed, exuding a charming youthfulness belied by the intelligence of her speech. "Most definitely. We wouldn't be in this situation if you were the normal run of a teenage girl. That isn't what I meant to convey, however. I meant that your own social respectability must not diminish because of what might appear to be a strange obsession with Alice and Jasper."
"That's a strange way of looking at it."
"A true one." Maggie smiled again, and somehow her curls gave a little bounce around her face. It made her look adorably cute. "Perhaps the solution is to not have Alice and Jasper so far away."
Bella frowned at her. "What do you mean?"
"My purpose today is to determine whether or not you are a threat. In all honesty, the family is mostly confident that you aren't because of Alice and Carlisle's faith in you. The only thing about you that might cause us risk is what you do unintentionally, like today. I think that you, Alice and Jasper should be friends in your little high school society. It would make things less suspicious."
"You want me to pretend to be their friend?"
"Not pretend, silly. Be their friend. Alice already saw that coming."
"She did?"
Maggie smiled at Bella. "Alice can see the future."
"Of course she can," Bella muttered under her breath, earning a hearty chuckle from Maggie. Giving Bella's thigh a couple of light taps with her left hand, Maggie pointed to an upcoming side road that was barely visible. "Turn here."
Bella obeyed, and had to focus on the road ahead of her. The trees crowded in, making it difficult to see the twisting dirt road.
"Where are we going?"
"You're coming over for a visit."
Bella wanted to look at Maggie in surprise, but didn't dare take her eyes off the road. Somehow, it seemed appropriate that the vampires would live down this road, secluded and obviously difficult to reach. It was the most gothic thing about them that she had encountered. Bella wondered what other surprises she felt almost guaranteed to still come across.
It was a few miles before the woods thinned enough for Bella to see that they had arrived. Six monumental cedars formed a semi-circle around the house. The home had to be at least a hundred years old, which was somewhat surprising, considering how secluded it was. The faded white sides rose up three stories in a perfect rectangle, a large porch hugging the base. Turning the truck off, Bella could swear she heard the sound of a river nearby.
"You like it?" Maggie asked, pleased.
"Yes, wow."
"Come on in, then, and meet the family." With a wink she was out of the truck. Bella couldn't help but feel that Maggie was a bit of an odd one herself. She was a strange combination of steely wisdom and perky cuteness.
Climbing out, Bella's feet made a crunching noise as they settled onto the fallen leaves and pine needles on the ground beneath her. It made Bella realize that no noise came from the bouncy redhead as she led the way to the porch. Excited and no longer apprehensive, Bella followed.
"Bella!" came a happy cry from the doorway just as Alice bounded out. She wrapped her arms around Bella in a fond embrace. It was the most vampire physical contact Bella had experienced, and it was like being hugged by clothed statue. Who put a dress on the Savannah Bird Girl?*
"Um, hi, Alice." Bella grinned as the tiny vampire pulled back. It was funny how Bella had never noticed before that she stood almost half a foot taller than Alice. It was a little surreal, for the last time she'd seen Alice was just over an hour ago, and Bella had been left with such a sense of foreboding. The conversation that she'd had with Maggie since, while tense for her at moments, hardly seemed like it had been worth all the worry. Bella almost laughed at Maggie over the shoulder that Alice threw an arm around to guide Bella inside.
The inside of the Cullen house was spacious and elegantly decorated. Bella couldn't say that she knew much about interior design, but she felt the general impression of quiet wealth amidst the bright openness. The back wall had been replaced entirely with glass, and Bella could see evidence of the river she'd heard from the driveway.
Jasper, who almost never seemed to be far from Alice's side, waited to the left on a raised portion of floor, several paces from the door that Maggie was now closing. He stepped forward with a modest smile. Released from Alice, Bella took his outstretched hand. Jasper's grip was easy and solid. "Hi, Bella."
It was his smile that Bella focused on. It was the first time she'd seen it, and she'd never seen Jasper look friendlier, even if there was still a level of cautious aloofness about him. "Hi," she said. Jasper's smile widened as he removed his hand. He gaze was caught by something above her head, making Bella turn around.
A woman that could only be Esme was descending from the wide staircase that dominated the other side of the room. She had the same features as the rest of the Cullen family: pale skin, golden eyes. Perhaps it was the fact that Bella was watching her come down a set of stairs, or maybe it was her delicate features and slender frame, but Bella found herself being reminded of a silver screen ingénue.
"Hello," Bella offered shyly and Esme smiled at her.
"You must be Bella Swan."
"Guilty."
Esme stepped forward once she reached the bottom of the stares and grasped Bella's hand in both of hers. "It's very nice to know you," she said, beaming in such a way that had Bella grinning back at her.
"It's nice to meet you, too."
"Oh, honey, it's more than meeting you. We're going to get to know you better."
"Exactly what I had in mind," Maggie said. "Alice, you see what I'm thinking?"
"But, of course," Alice grinned, and coming up on Bella's other side, helped Esme to steer her into the dining room. Maggie and Jasper were not far behind. "Come on, Bella. We're taking you on a tour."
The dining room held a huge wooden table, which surprised Bella. Did they eat here? Did they need something this big to lay a buck across while they all sucked it dry? That image was a little disturbing.
"Carlisle has a bit of carpentry in his background. He crafted this table himself," Esme volunteered.
"Where is C - Dr. Cullen?"
"You can call him Carlisle, Bella. He's already told you to." Alice almost chuckled at her. "Carlisle is still at work, and will probably be home later this afternoon."
"Does he know that I'm here?"
Alice looked over at Maggie. "Not really. He knew that Maggie was going to talk to you today, but we rather decided that she would bring you here after he'd already left. Don't worry, he won't be put out by your presence."
"Okay." Bella looked at the table. It was really beautiful, especially now that she knew it was handmade by Carlisle. She was also relieved to see that there were no bloodstains. "So… I'm guessing that you guys don't eat here?"
Everyone chuckled.
"We like to gather here to talk. It's comfortable for us." Maggie explained. Her eyes were on Esme beside her, and the two shared a sort of secret smile.
Oh, Bella thought, observing the obvious affection between them. Perhaps that was why Maggie didn't venture into town so often. Posing as cousins would not work well if that was the way that they looked at each other. Looking over at Alice and Jasper, Bella wondered if Carlisle ever felt like a fifth wheel.
"Oh, Bella," Esme said as if a thought had just struck her. "I'm so sorry. We didn't think to get anything to offer you for refreshment." She gave a sheepish little smile that both expressed embarrassment and encouraged Bella to forgive. "We're not used to human guests."
"Perhaps you'd like something out of the garden," Maggie volunteered.
"You don't have to get anything for me. I'm fine. Your tomatoes were delicious, though."
"You've had our tomatoes?" Maggie asked, surprised.
Bella nodded. "Carlisle passed them out one day when I was at the hospital. Why do you have a garden, if you don't mind my asking?"
"Why not?" Maggie answered. "I've always enjoyed working in the earth, and Esme made me see that I could turn the hobby into a way to help a little. Helping those around us is an important aspect of this family I've discovered. Well, for the adults at least," Maggie tossed over at Alice and Jasper as they all moved out of the dining room.
"I beg your pardon, I think I've been helping out quite a bit lately, thank you very much," Alice retorted.
"By getting your lessons done? When was the last time you gave a stock tip to one of your teachers, Alice?"
The conversation took them about the house and the tour continued. Bella was very amused to see the teasing and affectionate banter between the four vampires. It was a type of family dynamic that she hadn't ever really experienced for herself, and it fascinated her. Bella also got a lot of small questions answered, for instance when she saw the bathroom and Esme explained about the need to clean up, and to have a functioning toilet installed so as not to look suspicious to the plumbers.
They were in the garden when Carlisle arrived. Already bypassing Bella's truck, he picked up on the scent of waterfalls and flowers as he stepped out of the garage. Hearing the conversation and light laughter, he immediately moved in the direction of the garden.
The family stood around Bella Swan, who was watching amused as Jasper and Maggie sassed each other in challenge for their next sparring round. Carlisle felt both surprise and, unaccountably, pleasure at the sight of her.
"Bella."
He watched as Bella started and took an unconscious step backwards, tripping over the cold frame on the raised bed behind her. It was the most charming thing that he'd seen in some time. Laughing, Alice caught Bella before her bottom ruined the cabbages. "Don't fall too hard, there."
"Oh, sorry. Thanks," Bella muttered, a blush coloring her cheeks. Jasper took a step back as Alice helped Bella onto her feet again. Carlisle moved forward, and smiling, he took Bella's hand in his.
"I suppose this is a little late, but welcome to my home. I see that my family has approved of you."
"Oh, um," and Bella's blush increased as her eyes darted around the five standing around her. "Thanks. I guess so. It's nice of them to invite me. I'm sorry it's a surprise."
"Bella, quit apologizing," Maggie ordered.
"As far as I'm concerned, you are welcome here anytime." Esme smiled, her arm around Maggie's waist.
"I agree." Carlisle confirmed, and he lightly let go of Bella's warm hand.
Bella smiled at all of them. "Thank you. To be honest, though, I really ought to get going. I need to be home and getting dinner ready, especially before Charlie wonders where I am."
"I understand," Carlisle said. "Since I just got here, why don't I walk you to your truck?"
"Sure," Bella nodded. "It was really nice talking with you all. I had a good time."
"We enjoyed meeting you, too, Bella."
"Bella, don't be afraid to tell Charlie where you've been this afternoon," Alice advised. "It's just the first of many."
Bella nodded awkwardly over her shoulder as she and Carlisle walked away. "Alright."
Carlisle guided her around the exterior of the building to get back to her truck. Bella seemed to have really enjoyed her visit, and was genuine with her goodbye. Though he knew that his family could easily hear them, Carlisle probed Bella. "I imagine that you were taken by surprise this afternoon when Maggie showed up."
"As she showed up inside my truck, yes, you could say that."
Mentally, Carlisle laughed at Maggie's dramatic flair, but kept it hidden from Bella. "I hope that she didn't frighten you. Maggie really is a sweetheart."
"I was scared, but it doesn't matter. I like Maggie a lot, and Esme as well. And I suppose I was destined to like Jasper and Alice, as we're supposed to be the best of friends at school now."
"Really? Why is that?"
"For our mutual protection, apparently. No one is going to question my noticing Alice and Jasper if we're hanging out all the time. Which, actually, is just going to be lunch, since that's the only time I ever really see them." Bella's steps slowed.
"Is something wrong?"
"No. I guess I just didn't think about how lunches are going to change. It'll be weird, but okay, I'm sure."
Carlisle was thinking along the same lines as he opened Bella's door for her. It certainly would be out of the ordinary to have Bella in their company more often. Yet, the warm feeling he had told him that it would indeed turn out all right.
(~*~)
So it was that Bella found herself becoming more involved with the Cullens. Charlie had raised an eyebrow and shown a spark of interest when she informed him over dinner about where she'd been that afternoon, but he was also pretty laid back about it. Charlie thought that the Cullens were good people, Bella recalled, and she couldn't help think of them that way herself.
There had been surprise and whispers when Bella sat with Alice and Jasper at lunch the following school day, but interest died down fairly quickly. The three of them would vary lunchtime up, Bella would join her usual lunch crowd and sometimes Alice and Jasper would sit with Bella at Jessica's table. They kept those occasions to a minimum, though, particularly when Jasper hadn't eaten in a few days. Bella had learned that Jasper, not having converted to his all animal diet until shortly before meeting Alice in 1948, was the newest to avoiding humans. Bella couldn't help but admire his and Alice's self-control, being surrounding by students most of the week.
"The fact that it's adolescents helps," Jasper confided in her once. "Not only morally, but the smells really ruin the appeal of the blood. Sweat, unwashed bodies, unwashed clothes, not to mention bodily fluids of a more personal nature."
Bella kept her face blank, having decided not to go there, but Jasper pressed. "It's not just girls and guys getting turned on by a daydream, or making out in dark corners, but some of them come to school with stains on their pants and underwear."
"Yuck, Jasper!"
Jasper laughed, having gotten the rise out of her he was looking for. Bella's classmates had never felt dirtier to her than they had the next day. She'd scrubbed thoroughly in the shower both nights.
Alice was an interesting element to Bella's new social life. Unlike the rest of the family, Bella didn't gradually get to know her more. Alice was instantly by her side, bubbly and chattering away as if they'd already known each other for years. Despite their short acquaintance, Bella felt comfortable telling her anything, which was just as well since almost nothing was private with a vampire family that could hear, smell and see just about everything about you. Alice would return the favor and frequently share what was on her own mind. Bella sometimes wondered if the fact that the other females in the house were changed at older ages made Alice turn to her, as though she filled a gap Alice had in her life. Yet, Bella never felt that her – or any of their - maturity stayed at the age in which they were changed. The vampire venom may have frozen their bodies, but their minds were ever alert and growing.
That's part of what made talking with Carlisle so fascinating and enjoyable. He was something of the scholarly type (which she'd gleaned already based on their conversation in the ER) and he was wonderful to turn to when certain philosophical questions came to mind. She'd actually talked with him once about that very subject, the ever-growing vampire mind.
"If your mind never stops taking in the new experiences, do you just become more evolved? Like the monks in Tibet trying to achieve enlightenment."
"That's an interesting theory," Carlisle answered. "I don't particularly consider myself more evolved, but I can respect the wisdom of those older than myself. Maggie, for instance."
"Maggie's older than you?"
"Yes, by almost a thousand years."
Bella was dumbstruck. She literally felt her body still as she sat in Carlisle's office, and felt her tongue go numb. She had no words, though her mind was racing.
Carlisle found her reaction interesting. It was much different than when he'd informed her of his own age, and yet much the same.
"Bella, you are alright?"
Bella slowly nodded. She felt grateful that she had gotten to know the Cullens better before learning this. "Maggie is…" The words came out almost strangled. Bella took a swallow and tried again. "Maggie is thirteen hundred years old?"
"Yes, she is."
"Oh, well… I guess that explains why she's so short."
Carlisle blinked at her before he burst out laughing, and soon Bella joined him. Their laughter made the other vampires in the house smile, and Esme cupped her hand tenderly around Maggie's cheek.
It was an evening similar to that when Bella first learned of the two other members of the Cullen family. Maggie and Jasper were out, sparring in the woods. They both enjoyed honing their athletic skills, as it were. Bella understood that their bodies never changed, but being athletic was also a discipline of the mind. The thought of mental discipline reminded Bella of Maggie's age, and the fact that Alice and Jasper had joined the family at a later point. Following this thread of thought, Bella asked Carlisle and Esme about how they had found each other.
There was an odd silence in the room.
"Carlisle turned me into a vampire, Bella." Esme spoke calmly. "I was not the first. We are a family of seven, though only five of us live here."
Hesitantly, Bella asked, "Where are the other two?"
"I think that's something Carlisle should tell," Alice said, and Esme agreed. Carlisle's face held a resignation as Alice and Esme left the room.
Well, this isn't ominous or anything, Bella thought to herself as her own way of breaking the tension. Carlisle watched Bella, his face schooling into something that showed no emotion. Bella didn't like it.
"I have made three vampire progeny," Carlisle began. "While I consider them all my family, only Esme lives with me."
Bella waited quietly for Carlisle to continue.
"I have lived on my own for most of my existence. I had already become learned as a doctor when the Spanish Influenza hit Chicago. Edward was the first I changed, the first to become a member of my family. That was back in 1918.
"Esme I had treated as a young lady before I met Edward. Three years after Edward joined me I came across her in a different town, a different life. Her body was broken, but there was a spark of life lingering."
Carlisle broke out of the story mode, and spoke intently. "I want you to see, Bella, that I have never brought someone into this existence unless their human life was already over for them."
Bella nodded. It was clearly important to him, and truthfully it didn't surprise her. Carlisle was a caring man, and it seemed exactly like the type of thing that he would do.
"I took Esme and Edward with me to visit Ireland, as a way to sort of embrace Esme's freedom when she was no longer a newborn. We visited friends I had made there, and that is when Esme and Maggie met. Maggie returned with us to the New World, giving up her way of life for ours."
"You mean she…"
"Yes. Love made Maggie choose to leave behind her own coven and a way of life she had been accustomed to for centuries. She became the third to join my family.
"Rosalie was the fourth. We were living in Rochester and Rosalie was a member of society there. So I had seen her before she… got hurt. Being society didn't protect her from becoming a victim. The scent of her blood led me to find her broken and abused body in a side street. There was nothing I could do for her; she was too far gone.
"I felt very strongly the sorrow of it. She had been a beautiful girl, in love and about to marry. There was no giving that back to her, but I could still give her something. So in that alley I made the decision to save her the only way I could.
"Edward is also a vampire with a gift. He was able to see in Rosalie's mind that the very man she had been about to marry was the one who had hurt her- he and four of his friends. What Rosalie went through that night, only to have it followed by three days of the excruciating pain of having her body change into one of us…"
Bella put her hand out and lightly touched Carlisle's knuckles before quickly withdrawing it. Carlisle nodded at her kindly, acknowledging.
"Rosalie's first decision as a new vampire was to track down the men who had hurt her."
"She fed on them?"
Carlisle shook his head. "No. Like myself, Rosalie has never eaten human blood. She abhors the whole concept of being a vampire. She would rather have died that night. Rosalie killed each of those men, slowly and painfully. I could not have stopped her if I tried."
Bella took a moment to process this. The guilt that Carlisle felt over Rosalie was obvious. Yet he had said that they were still family- which meant that they loved each other. He also said that he had never consumed human blood. Three hundred and thirty-nine years as a vampire and he'd never eaten anything other than animals? There was so much more to this man that she still had to learn. Yet, one story at a time.
"I have never tried to force my choices on my…children," Carlisle continued. "I hoped that they would choose the path that I have taken. Edward did for a while, as does Esme. Yet Edward's gift was a burden to him. Every time he would happen to hear a thought of a less than savory nature it would catalyst his natural vampire desires and urges. He left Esme, Maggie and I for a time, but he came back. He had not enjoyed how feeding on humans made him feel, even if he only fed on criminals. He returned to the family heavy-hearted and kept to himself more than ever. This was before Rosalie came to be a part of our family."
Somehow Bella knew where this story was going. The vampire who had sought out vengeance and killed those that hurt her meets the vampire who chose to kill and eat those who hurt others.
Carlisle was watching Bella's expressions and he nodded at her sadly. "I see you understand. Rosalie can be very persuasive."
"So she persuaded Edward to…"
"Yes," Carlisle answered. "She wanted use of Edward's gift at reading minds. In turn, she can hold him back, keep him from indulging his need to feed when they kill."
"They're vigilantes," said Bella Swan, daughter of the chief of police. "Vampire vigilantes."
*The Savannah Bird Girl is a famous statue that once stood in Bonaventure Cemetery in Savannah, GA. Most of you will likely recognize it; there's a link on my profile under Alice.
A/N: How many of you caught the hints with Rosalie's pictures? To be honest, I don't know how much of a surprise Edward and Rosalie's situation is, as I've had this in mind all along. You'll have to tell me. :) Obviously, you'll find out more in the next chapter, for which I still have some period research to do.
Quick word of thanks to those awesome people that support me as the chapter is in progress, whom I neglected to thank last chapter: Aryanna, Kristine, Kendall and my Ichabod.
Review if you liked it!
Next Chapter... A flashback to 1934, and the "Birth of the Dark Duo," as I laughingly called it when I started the doc several months ago.