Chapter 5: A New Family
Alice wanted to run but she seemed to be rooted to the spot. Not knowing what to say however kept the girl quiet. The giant held out his hand and said, "Names Emmett. Emmett Cullen." Alice turned her head to the side and slowly held out her own hand, giving her first name. "Alice." She chose to give him that name because that's the name her Sire gave her. It's the name her creator gave her. "Nice to meet ya Alice." The girl looked up at him and smiled sheepishly.
When Emmett saw the girl's eyes he frowned and called out a single name. "Carlisle." He yelled out into the woods. Another man seemed to appear out of nowhere. "What is it son?" Emmett nodded over to Alice and said, "This is Alice. I think she's a newborn." Carlisle looked at Alice and she shifted a little uncomfortably. He walked over to her and put a hand under her chin. "Look at me Alice. I promise I won't hurt you."
The same voice...this man had the same kind voice as her sire. Alice did as she was told and looked up into the eyes of a kind man with pale skin and bleach blond hair. "It appears to be that way Emmett. Thank you for calling me." Emmett just smiled and said, "Anytime dad. Do you know where the others are?"
Carlisle thought for a moment and said, "Yes. Rosalie was looking for you actually. She just finished her hunt. Edward and Jasper are with Esme. They were following me when you called and should be here any second."
As if on cue, a woman and two boys appeared out of the trees. They were all so beautiful. "What is it my love?" The woman thought to be Esme asked the man in front of her. "Esme, boys, this is Alice. She ran into Emmett a little while ago." Esme walked to Alice and hugged her tight. "Wonderful to meet you Alice." Alice for the first time in a long time it seemed felt warmer than she had ever been in her entire life as a mortal. When Esme let go, she looked all around and asked, "Are you all alone dear?" Alice nodded and said, "Yes ma'am. My Sire and I were separated. Another vampire was hunting us and he saved me. I don't know whether he's still alive or dead."
Esme looked shocked as Alice told her story. "Oh my goodness you poor dear." The mother exclaimed as she took the newborn into her arms once more. "Would you like to stay with us?" At that moment Alice blacked out into a vision. It was the same one she saw her first night at the asylum.
Tears came to the girl's eyes but would not fall as she once again watched her Sire get beheaded by the nomad. Alice moved her hands up quickly to cover them, not wanting to worry the others.
Esme's voice rang through her ears just as the vision ended. "You alright dear?" The motherly figure asked her. Alice didn't want to tell her what was going on through her mind's eye. She kept silent, but when she looked to the right of her, the bronze hair boy, Edward she thinks his name is, is staring at her rather intently. It makes her shift her feet a little uncomfortably.
Esme realized what her son was doing and scolded him. "Edward Anthony Mason Cullen, you stop that now!" The boy in question ducked his head and Alice looked very confused. "Um I'm sorry but what's going on?" Carlisle glared at his first born, and spoke to the confused vampire. "I'm sorry Alice, our son Edward has the gift of telepathy. He can read minds and he can be a bit intrusive at times. Apologize please Edward." The boy in question looked up and did as he was told. "Sorry Alice. It's ok though. You can tell them." Esme looked at Edward, then back at Alice. "Tell us what dear?" At that moment, a blonde girl appeared from within the trees. "Hey guys. What's going on? Who's this?" Emmett smiled and kissed the girl on the cheek. "Sorry Rose. This is Alice. She just ran into me a few minutes ago."
Emmett got Rosalie up to speed. Edward once again advised Alice to tell his family about her vision. 'Alright fine.' She thought as she glared at the boy knowing he would be able to read her thoughts. "Thank you for telling me that your son had a gift. I do as well. I have visions. Visions of the future and ever since I was turned, I started seeing the past. I had a vision of my past with my Mother and sister when I fed from her."
Tears came to Alice's eyes as well as Esme and Rosalie's when Alice told her story. "The last vision I saw was one I've seen before. My Sire, the man who created me, was killed. He was killed by the one hunting us." She wanted to cry after everything she went through but she knew better.
Alice continued on telling her part of how she got to where she was. "Before he attacked us, my Sire told me to run. I begged him to let me stay and fight with him, but he turned me away. In the last vision I had, he told me to live. He told me to live a happy life and be happy with my new family." Alice ducked her head to avoid the gaze of the Cullen's.
After a moment of looking at the ground, Alice felt a pair of arms around her shoulders and when she looked up, she was met with Esme's shoulder. At first Alice didn't know what to do. She had just met this woman a couple of minutes ago and now she was telling her life story. Maybe Esme had her own gift; the gift of making someone so comfortable to be around her. After feeling that motherly warmth surround her once more, it reminded her of her own mother. Alice started to sob tearless as she grasped onto the older woman
She clutched at the Esme's back trying to find some anchor to the world. Alice screamed at the top of her lungs and cried. The older woman smoothed Alice's hair back and made soothing shush noises in the girl's ear. The young girl could barely stand and when her own weight was too much for her, she slid down onto her knees and cried some more in Esme's arms. Esme and the rest of the Cullen's stood by the young girl as she cried; for they knew what she was going through. Not necessarily the losing a family member or losing a Sire, but for the loss of self.
Esme held the girl in her arms and comforted her. "It's alright Alice. How about you stay with us?" Alice looked up into Esme's bright amber eyes with tears that would never fall as she questioned her. "Is it alright with everyone else? I really don't want to intrude on you and your family." Esme chuckled and said, "Oh it's nothing darling, I'm sure everyone would love a little sister running around the house."
Emmett chose this time to speak up. "Yeah I'm sure a little pixie like you would be loads of fun". Alice smiled at the bear of a boy and nodded her head. "Thank you all so much." She got up off of the ground and smiled at the family of vampires standing all around her. When she saw the tear stains on Esme's shirt she gasped and said. "Oh my goodness, I'm so sorry about your shirt!" The other woman waved the girl off and told her that there was nothing to worry about. This had happened a lot in the past.
Alice looked to the sky after a moment and thought to herself knowing Edward wouldn't look in on this one. 'Thank you Eli.'
Just then Alice and the Cullen's heard footsteps coming toward them. Most of them, Alice, Emmett, and Rosalie, covered their noses in disgust. Carlisle, Esme, Edward and Jasper, all stood up straight and kept their guard up as the intruder or intruders came closer. A boy with short black hair was accompanied by a rather large grey wolf. The boy and Carlisle just stared at each other for a good moment before the vampire spoke. "William Black, what brings you to these parts?"
The boy sneered and the wolf growled at him before conversing. "I see you have a new member of your coven Carlisle Cullen. You know the laws of the treaty between our kind and yours." Carlisle walked closer to the young boy and spoke again. "You misunderstand William. No member of my family changed this young girl. She came to us from down in the south. Running from a hunter." He said matter of fact-ly. William huffed and said to the vampire family. "Still, the seasons are changing and the people are starting to become suspicious of your presence. I think it's time you and your 'family' moved on Carlisle."
The man in question nodded and turned to his family. "William is right everyone. It's time we moved on from this place." Rosalie spoke. "But why dad, we haven't once trespassed onto their land, nor have we ever drank a single drop of human blood. You raised us better than that." Carlisle smiled at his daughter and put a hand on her shoulder. "I know Rose, but the years are going by so fast and the people are starting to suspect you're not who you claim to be. Who knows, maybe we'll be able to come back here when all the people have lost all memory of us or they have moved on to the next world."
Alice blacked out into a vision. She herself knew it would be many years until they returned, but in the vision she saw the same forest that they were standing in now, but there was more to it. Alice heard two voices in this vision, one was indeed her own. The other was a beautiful young girl. Alice didn't know what to make of this at first but when she saw the girls face she was spell bound.
This girl had bright green eyes, a heart shaped face, and long brown hair falling just passed her shoulders. Alice was in a tree, looking down on this girl, chuckling that she was unable to find her. The girl was looking all around. She closed her eyes and spoke softly, 'I know what you are...' she whispered. Alice then jumped down from the tree she was in with a mass amount of grace. When she hit the ground, Alice walked behind the young girl and whispered in her ear. 'Say it.' She felt the girl shake and she felt a heat run through her entire body that settled in her belly.
Alice was aching to hear this girl tell her what she was. She wanted her to know without having to tell her directly. Alice knew it was against the rules to involve humans into their world but she could see that this girl would be a big part of her immortal life in the years to come. Her fingers twitched to touch the girl and just as she was about to reach for her, she spoke again. 'A vampire...'
Alice then shook herself out of the vision and touched Rosalie's shoulder. She smiled and said "Don't worry Rosalie, we'll be able to return here someday." Rosalie smiled back at the young girl and hugged her tightly. When she looked over at Edward she knew that he too saw the vision of her and the girl. He jesters her over to a small gathering of trees not far from the group. Edward put an arm around her shoulder and spoke quietly to her. "Listen Alice, I know you don't want anyone hearing about the vision you had so I'm just going to tell you right now. Us as vampires need to be kept a secret. No mortal can know about us. For their own safety as well as our own. Regardless of the fact that we're our own coven, all vampires have a leader. They're called the Volturi. They're vampires that survive off of human blood. Carlisle himself was part of them but he left when he discovered he could sustain himself on animal blood."
Alice looked at the boy intently, listening as he tells her what the law was. "The point is Alice, if a mortal were to ever discover our race, it would give them leave to destroy anyone who would be a threat to us." Alice thought about this for quite some time but she saw the logic in this. She nodded and promised her new brother that she would try to keep this secret to herself. No mortal would know of her existence. No matter how much that mortal would mean to her. "Alright. No one will know." Edward nodded his head in thanks. He was grateful also when he read Alice's thoughts making sure she was telling the truth. "Ok. Let's get back to the others."
Alice and Edward walked back to the group of vampires noticing that the boy had left. "Alright gang", Carlisle said with a huff. "Looks like we're heading back to Alaska." Alice looked at her new family confused. "What's in Alaska?" She asked. Alice gasped as she felt herself being picked up from the ground and was put on a set of broad shoulders. "Why there's a family of vampires just like us. Don't worry Alice, we'll have tons of fun where we're going." The pixie girl smiled and giggled looking very much toward the future. The vision of the mortal girl with the heart shaped face would have to wait for another day.
Still Alice had one question that needed an answer. "Who were those people Carlisle?" She asked high above on Emmett's shoulders. Carlisle rubbed his brow and sighed. "Those boys my dear Alice, are known as the Quileute's. They are a race of shape-shifters that have the ability to change into a large wolf when they feel intimidated by our race. Their race and ours happen to be mortal enemies but when we came across them so much in our past, we've formed a treaty with them."
Alice stared at her adopted father intently listening to him as he spoke. "If we don't venture onto their lands or change any mortal here in Forks, they don't bother us." Alice nodded in understanding. "However, when time moves on and we don't age like the humans do, they remind us of that fact and we move on to either another territory or we go back to Alaska where our old friends the Denali clan lives." Alice jumped off of Emmett's shoulders and walked into the clearing. She turned her head back to Carlisle and her new family and said, "Well what are we waiting for? Last one there is a rotten egg." She smiled and ran off into the distance the Cullen's not too far behind her.