Place of the Lost

A/N: Sorry it took forever to update, very busy weekend. Edward learns a lot in this chapter. Hope you enjoy!

Disclaimer: Twilight and all of its Characters belong to Stephenie Meyer

Chapter 15: The Witch of the Mist

EPOV:

She scoffed at my question, "What do you want from me?"

I sighed and pleaded with her, "Ma'm, you have my word. I mean you and everyone else here no harm." Her gaze was piercing and her tone was stern, "Your word is no good here." She suddenly hung her head, "But I have no choice. I can't outrun you. You're much stronger than me, and at least the death will be swift."

"M'am!" She was making me feel like a monster again not to mention getting on my last damn nerve. The self-loathing began to creep back into my fragile psyche. "Look, I'm not going to hurt you. I understand that you don't trust me, but I need your help."

She wore a perplexed expression. "What can I possibly do for you?" Her tone was demeaning.

She really was an irritating old witch. "This isn't a conversation that should be shouted over the river. Can we move it to a more private location?"

"Fine, follow me." She sneered. I put my hands on the wet rock and lifted myself to my feet. I lithely skipped across the tops of submerged stones to the opposite river bank where she stood waiting on me. Her expression looked as if I was marching her off to the guillotine, and her thoughts weren't much better. When I made it to her side, she refused to look me in the eye. Instead she turned away and stomped angrily towards her cabin. When we reached the front door, she pushed it open with one hand and motioned for me to come in. "Have a seat at the table." She pointed to a room in the back of the cabin.

I stepped into her living room. The interior of the cabin smelled of pine. There was a small black couch in front of a large rock fireplace filled with gray ashes. On the mantle above the fireplace, sat a glass vase filled with a large bouquet of red wildflowers. There were no pictures on the wall, and only two windows. Instead of curtains, she hung a long white sheet in front of each window. I continued out of the living room through the doorway into the kitchen and dining area. There was a square dark wooden table with four chairs. I pulled one of them out and sat down; she wasn't far behind.

Her voice was calm and her face expressionless. "Now, tell me your name and why you're so eager to talk to me."

I sighed deeply, " My name is Edward Masen. I'm new to this life, and I want to know everything, you know about my kind." I hesitated on the second part of my question.

"Is that all?" She asked.

I tried to put this as delicately as possible. "Um… I heard you were involved in supernatural pursuits."

"You think I'm a witch?" She answered curtly.

"I heard something like that, yes. Is it true?"

"Well I guess that depends on your definition of a witch." She was being deliberately evasive, and her thoughts didn't clear anything up.

"So you don't fly on a broomstick?" I chuckled lightly.

Her face was stern, "So you don't sleep in a coffin?"

"Why don't you tell me what you do do? I said in an annoyed tone.

A wry smile broke out across her face. "I dabble in divination. I've experimented with various hexes, curses and potions, with little success. But I mostly work with ordinary herbal remedies. People like to call me a witch, until their baby gets pneumonia. Then who do you think they're running to?"

I hung my head in defeat, "Oh. So you can't help me then?"

"What exactly did you think I could do for you boy?"

"I just hoped that maybe you'd know how to reverse this and make me human again. Maybe there was some magical cure to my impossible condition. I thought you might know how to stop my depraved cravings for blood."

She laughed sarcastically, "Child, it's going to take a lot more than an old mountain woman to get rid of what you got. You are new to this life aren't you?"

I nodded, "Yes m'am. It's only been about a week."

Her chin nearly dropped to the floor, "When you said new, I thought you meant five or six years. But for a week, you have remarkable control. But let me give you a piece of advice Edward. Don't spend your time searching for someone to reverse this. That would be sentencing yourself to an eternity of disappointment." Her thoughts revealed that during the course of our short conversation she had started to develop compassion towards me. It made me feel good, like maybe I wasn't a terrible person.

I shrugged my shoulders in defeat. "It was a worth a try."

"You don't know what you're asking do you?" I shook my head. "I'm not certain how much truth there is in this tale, but it's what I've always heard." I motioned for her to continue. "Are you familiar with Genesis?"

"I've read the first chapter of the Bible."

"Good, then you know about Cain and Abel." I nodded yes. "They were of course the sons of Adam and Eve. Cain was jealous of Abel, because God favored his offering over Cain's. In a furious rage, Cain killed his brother and became the world's first murderer. As punishment for his crime, God banished Cain from the soil that was soaked in his brother's blood. Cain was worried that he would be killed in the wilderness, so God placed a protective mark on his head, and no one was able to murder him. He then left God's presence and was forced into a life of aimless wandering. Now, this where the story deviates from the Good Book." I nodded and continued to listen intently.

"Cain was wrought with guilt. He wanted nothing more than to die, but not even he could kill himself. He prayed for death, but he was no longer in the presence of God… Someone else replied to his pleas. Satan himself sent a demon to Cain in the form of a beautiful woman called Lilith. He took the woman as his wife, and she tried to kill him multiple times. Not even she could break through the protective mark of God. Lilith bore Cain a child, half-human and half-demon. It's said that their child was strong, pale and craved human blood. Cain hated the infant, and he left him in the desert to die. Years later, a woman found the pallid baby, with eyes black as coal, still alive in the sand. Her compassion wouldn't allow her to leave him. She had no way of knowing that this was no ordinary child. When she took him in her arms, he bit her. He was too small to kill the woman, but soon her skin became pale, and she too craved human blood." Her voice suddenly became soft, "Do you see Edward? You're asking me to undo an ancient curse brought about by the evil workings of Satan himself."

I tried to cover my disappointment with sarcasm. "A tall order isn't it?" She smiled compassionately. "So that means I'm damned already?"

"I'm certain that's not the case. We're all afflicted by the devil in some way or another. We all have impulses that are difficult to control. Your's are just a little less conventional than others. You can't be blamed for a life you didn't choose Edward. There's no use trying to change it. It's out of your hands now."

"So what do I do?" I asked.

"What do any of us do? We make the best out of what life has given us. We have no chance at happiness if we let our circumstances defeat us. It's about perseverance and fighting for what you want."

I could have left that second, and I would have gotten everything I had come for. She gave me hope and strengthened my resolve, but my curiosity wasn't satiated. "How do you know so much about our kind?"

"Edward, I've lived in this valley for a very long time. I've seen many things, and you're not the first of your kind to stumble on to Jocassee. This ground has been cursed since the day the Chief's daughter drowned. The mist is powerful, misery and evil are drawn here. I was under the impression that you were part of the second category, but my opinion is quickly changing. I can see that you're a tortured soul Edward… not unlike myself."

I furrowed my brows, "What do you mean?"

She flashed a sad smile, and a single tear flowed down her wrinkled cheek. "I wasn't always a widow, you know. I had a handsome husband." She got up from the table, shuffled across the kitchen and slid open a wooden drawer. She picked up a wrinkled sepia tone photograph and laid it on the table. "That's my Tyler." she whispered. "The day before we were married." He was a tall man with dark hair and bronze skin. He wore a white dress shirt and black tie. "He was half-Cherokee, part of the Long Hair Clan. They were the peacemakers of the tribe. We spent many happy years in this cabin, but he's been gone over twenty-years now."

I hesitated but I had to know the answer, "I don't mean to prod, but how did he die?"

She shook her frail little head, "It's a very long and complicated story."

"You don't have to tell me if it's too painful, but I'm not exactly pushed for time." I smiled wryly.

She giggled, "I guess you're not. But I must warn you Edward, this story is going to yet again change your perception of the world."

Oh God, what else was I going to find out this week? Nothing made sense anymore. "It's okay, I'd really like to know what happened."

"All right, I'll tell you if you're sure. He woke up to go deer hunting early one morning. The mist still laid heavy over the valley. He kissed me on the cheek and slipped quietly out the door. I had a hard time going back to sleep; there was a very uneasy feeling in the pit of my stomach."

"I get that feeling a lot lately."

She nodded and continued, "No one knows for sure exactly what happened next. He was walking by the river, and apparently he met one of your kind. It's likely that he too was being hunted. Tyler was attacked by a vampire, and bitten on the neck. But, he didn't die. Before the evil creature could drink the life from his body, he was scared away."

My mouth dropped in shock, "What? What could have possibly scared a vampire away from its prey?"

She paused for a second trying to gather her muddled thoughts. "This is where things get complicated. How much do you know about Jacob Black?"

Her question perplexed me. What did Jacob have to do with any of this? "Not much really, why?"

Her gaze was intense and her tone eager. "Did he tell you about his clan?"

"Yes, the Wolf Clan. They're the protectors of the tribe." I replied, as I recalled the stories he told me by the river.

"Right." She nodded.

I still didn't understand. "How big is the clan? It must have taken hundreds of them to frighten a vampire."

She shook her head no. "Two of them lived here at the time, Billy and his father Ephraim."

I threw my hands in the air in disbelief. "Two of them? Are you shittin' me lady?" In my extreme astonishment, I forgot my manners.

She chuckled lightly. "Jacob's family isn't normal. He too is connected to the mythical."

I was intrigued to say the least, but her thoughts were still worried. Jacob and I had even more in common than I thought, "Is he a vampire too?" He didn't look like any vampire I had seen before, but I didn't know of any other creature that could threaten the life of our kind.

She breathed a heavy sight, and spoke in a soft troubled tone. "No, Jacob's family aren't vampires." She closed her eyes and paused for a long time. "They're werewolves Edward."

My chin nearly hit the floor. It was so obvious, the Wolf Clan. I couldn't believe I didn't make the connection earlier. I thought the venom made my mind sharper. But what did this all mean? Did Jacob turn into a drooling, howling beast in the full moon? "So what are you saying? Do I need to leave during the full moon?"

"No, that's a myth. The Wolf Clan is proud, they only morph into their animal form when it's impossible for them to defend the tribe as men. It's an adaptation they gained out of necessity. Vampires have preyed on the Native Americans for many years. According to legend, the men of the Wolf Clan sought protection from the cold ones. So their shaman prayed to the Great Spirit for a defense. When the shaman went to sleep that night, he had a vision. He saw wild wolves ripping a vampire apart, and the next day he told the Chief what he had dreamed."

"Jacob wouldn't kill me." I interjected.

She raised her hand in the air, signaling for me to stop talking. "Hold on Edward, let me finish. The Chief ordered a brotherhood ritual with the wolves. This ceremony was normally used to make peace with a warring tribe. In the ritual the leader of each tribe cut their hand and let the blood drip into a clay pot filled with black drink."

I furrowed my brows, "What is black drink?"

She sighed in annoyance, "Don't interrupt, I'll explain everything." I couldn't help but crack a smile. I crossed my arms over my chest and nodded my head in compliance. "Black drink was a liquid made from brewing Yaupon Holly leaves. The Cherokees believed that black drink purified the soul. Each tribal elder drank the bloody liquid from the pot. By consuming the mixture, each man was purged of his transgressions against the other and accepted the opposing tribe as blood brothers. Then to complete the ritual the two chiefs gripped each other's bloody hands and raised them into the air triumphantly, signifying their permanent kinship. However in this case, members of the clan trapped a wolf. They cut his leg and collected the blood, pouring it into the pot with the blood of the chief and the black drink. The elders and the wolf all drank the mixture. It was said that the clan was so close to the wolves that the animal didn't howl or bark during the ceremony. The animal even allowed the chief to grip his wounded leg with his bloody hand, and the creature didn't release a single whimper of protest."

"So did they turn into wolves after the ritual?" I asked earnestly.

She huffed loudly, "I'm getting there Edward. The next time a member of the tribe saw a cold one in the woods, he alerted the rest of the Cherokee people. Naturally everyone was in a fearsome panic. And… As if I a roaming vampire wasn't enough, there was a disease spreading among the youngest, healthiest men of the Wolf Clan. They all had raging fevers, sore aching bodies and crippling fatigue. They didn't venture outside for days. Very late one night, the cold one snuck into the cabin of the sick men. But when he tried to attack one of them, they all changed… just like that." She snapped her boney little fingers. "They became gigantic fearsome wolves and ripped the vampire apart. In their glee, the rest of clan burnt the pieces and danced around the peculiar purple fire. They thanked the Great Spirit for sending them protection from the cold ones."

I stroked my chin as I pondered the implications of her story. "So we aren't as invincible as I thought?"

"That's how nature works Edward. Everything is about balance. Things survive because everything has the potential to be destroyed. Jacob's family is God's answer to Satan's curse of the indestructible creature." Her voice became stern, as she stared coldly into my eyes. "He is your balance, and thus your one mortal enemy." Her thoughts told me that she was telling the truth, but I didn't believe what she was saying. She was wrong; she didn't understand us.

I scoffed at her, "Jacob isn't my enemy. He's my friend."

She shook her head. "Edward, I'm warning you. His heart beats with the hot blood of a wolf. If you ever cross him, if he ever feels threatened by you, he will change. Both of your lives will be in danger."

I took her warning seriously, but I didn't see any problem with remaining friends with Jacob. I didn't plan on making him angry, or telling him my secret. I'd be careful, and I wasn't going to stay in Jocassee forever. Oddly enough, it wasn't the fact that he was supposed to be my enemy that baffled me, but the fact that another mythical creature even existed at all was mind boggling. What else was there in this world? I sighed deeply and instinctively rubbed my eyes with my fists.

"Are you all right?" She asked with a concerned expression on her wrinkled face.

"I'm fine. It's just that these things shouldn't even exist. Last week's impossible is today's reality, and it's so hard to deal with."

Her mouth formed a half-grin "You're surprised that werewolves exist?" I nodded yes and she giggled. "Edward, you're a vampire. Nothing should surprise you anymore."

I smiled and shook my head in disbelief, "Good point."

"I've found that the older I get, the more fairy tales I believe in. The world is a mystical place, people just choose to ignore the incredible wonders occurring right before their eyes. That's why I walk in the mist in the morning. When my physical sight is at its worst, my spiritual eye is sharp. That's when I first spotted you. Open your mind Edward, nothing is impossible."

I nodded in agreement, and suddenly I remembered she never finished her story. "If you don't mind, will you finish telling me what happed to your husband? You said he didn't die."

A sad expression crept back into her weathered features. "No, he didn't die, but he was bitten. I'm sure you understand what that experience is like. I was told that he writhed on the forest floor in agony, screaming to be put out of his misery. The wolves knew what was happening to him, and they couldn't risk the safety of the rest of the tribe. It hurt them deeply, but they were forced to kill their own. Ephraim and Billy came to the cabin early that afternoon and explained what had happened. I wanted to hate them, but they were trying to save him. If it hadn't been for them, he would have died anyway but that doesn't take the anger away. I'm still so sad and bitter over what I lost." Tears flowed down the creases in her face. I pursed my lips and reached my hand out across the table to comfort her. She gripped my cold fingers in her trembling hand, and I could feel the blood rushing through her veins. It made the flames roar in my throat, but I managed to control the urge. There were more important things on my mind… Bella.

"I'm very sorry you lost your husband, and I truly apologize for asking this question but I have to know the answer." She wiped a tear from her cheek and nodded. "If you could have chosen what would have happened to your husband that day, what would you have wanted? Would you have let him become a vampire, or did you want him to die a mortal's death?"

She rested her head in the palm of her hands. Her face was wracked with worry. "This is very selfish of me, but if he had become a vampire we would have still had a chance. Especially now seeing your strength, it's obvious that it isn't impossible. Vampires can live safely among humans. We could have been together for the rest of my life. Then if he wished, he could have provoked the wolves. They would have killed him. I never got that choice, others chose this life of solitude for me. I guess that explains some of my bitterness. He didn't have to die, but neither he nor I was given the opportunity to choose…Why do you ask?"

A small, longing smile broke out across my face. "I have a girl back in Chicago. She's beautiful, and I love her. We were going to get married, before all of this happened. I'm incredibly torn. I know it isn't completely safe to be around her. Her blood is the most intoxicating I have ever smelled, but I don't want to give up on the life we planned to spend together."

"I see." Her expression was contemplative.

"What do you think I should do?" I asked.

"I can't tell you what to do, this is a delicate situation. But as I said before, I always wanted the opportunity to choose."

A/N: Oh our poor Edward. His life is so complicated! Thanks for reading! Please Review!