14) Surprise
Warning in this chapter for mention of abduction and abuse of a minor and also a warning for death of an OC
As soon as the intruders hands touch my chest I feel all angst and suspicion leave my body."Catherine?" I ask incredulously as I hit the wall.
"Hahaha! I got you I really did it! Sensei will be so proud of me when I tell him!" Catherine jumps up and down in excitement, then does some backflips and finally ends up in the couch.
"It's good to see you again. How have you been? Bella will be so happy to see you again."
I talk too fast to really give my youngest sister a chance to react to me. But it has been five years since her last visit. I'm so happy to have her here.
"Nice to see you again too! I thought it would be nice for Bella to have a sister with her when she goes to school. Someone to back her up when she's stuck you know? So you're niece is yet again abandoned by her busy parents and left in the care of her uncle." Cathy has always been good in making up backgrounds for herself to justify her sudden presence in our life's and if necessary her sudden disappearances out of them.
Cathy was 16 when transformed and took her carefree, exploring nature with her to this world. Due to this she had difficulties sticking with one place long. She had lots of places she visited when she was too bored with small town life. One of them is the temple of her sensei Chen, he was a monk when transformed and led a coven of vegetarian vampires who, like him, had been monks (or the likes) during their human life's and struggled with the fact that they had no choice but to kill something to survive.
They were all masters of material arts and a lot of them had a connection with the world that went beyond anyone's imagination. It is not really a gift, for some acquire it during their time as a vampire. They say anyone can reach it through 'enlightment' and some vampires already have without being aware of it. Cathy seems to have spent the past five years trying to find such enlightment.
"You mean you'll really stay?" Cathy hasn't ever managed to stay long enough to finish highschool with us before.
"Yup. Meditation and training helped me realize that I can travel the world forever and a day and never see everything if I don't… have a home." Cathy curls up in one of her sudden bursts of sadness. Now her thoughts were happy memories filled with homesickness. But before she left her mind would be plagued with nightmare like images of her past during her down times.
Her last year as a human had been a hard one, we didn't know who changed her or why, but that person send her to us.
When Cathy woke up (somewhere on a secluded island in the ocean) she found directions to the place we were hunting at that moment, and they brought her there without coming across a human soul. We were of course baffled by her sudden appearance. A little scared girl that looked like she was terribly lost.
(flashback)
"I bet I can toss him over the lake without damaging anything! Not even his bones- more than they already are."
Emmett said, already lifting the carcass and measuring the force and angle.
I doubted he could muster the concentration he needed for that. He's way too impulsive. Alice didn't want to spoil his fun so she didn't search for the outcome and instead looked for how the wedding of some celebrity turned out.
Suddenly strange thoughts entered my awareness. I stood up and looked in their direction.
'The letter said I would find answers here, but why couldn't whoever wrote it help me himself?
Everything is so strange. I'm strange, this doesn't feel like my body at all.
And I'm so thirsty but water doesn't seem to help. Where am I even?
What if this is a trick? What if I won't find help, just more pain? I'm tired of pain.
I was dying it should have stopped. He had finally pushed me far enough to set me free. But instead of sleeping forever everything got worse. It hurts so much. Why? What did I do wrong?'
I immediately felt sorry for this little girl.
The others had noticed how distracted I was and listened for the slowly nearing footsteps.
'I'm almost there, I don't want to scare them, I'm so fast, they might think I want to hurt them. I really don't, but how to tell them? I want my mom and dad. They'll be so worried.'
Then one bare foot appeared from between the thick forest, followed by an almost completely bare leg, then the rest of the small 16 year old girl followed. She was a couple of inches' taller than Alice, had wild curly red hair and blood red eyes that looked at us shocked and scared. She was dressed in nothing but a bathing-suit-like gymnastic costume
'There are so many, I don't know what to do. Should I talk? Can I talk?'I decided to help her out.
"Hello," I said in a soft voice, but the sound still startled her. She hadn't heard anyone talk to her in a couple of days, and she wasn't used to a vampires smooth sound.
"Don't be afraid. We don't mean to hurt or scare you. My name is Edward Cullen, this" I point to Carlisle
"Is my father Carlisle, the woman beside him is Esmé, our mother. The big guy holding the bear is Emmett, my brother, he looks tuff but don't let that scare you, he is really nice, and if need be Rosalie, the blonde by his side, my sister and his mate, can reel him in. My other brother Jasper is the tall blond man and my sister Alice (his mate) is the little one by his side. We are all family, and will answer any question you have. I know you are scared and confused but that will pass. Who are you?" The girl takes all of us in carefully, confused by Jaspers scars –since she doesn't know what to make of them- and overall baffled by our beauty.
Then after a glance at Alice she looks back at me.
'So strange, I feel like I know them. As if they are childhood friends I almost forgot about.'
She looked at me with more concentration 'brave, loyal, musical,… I can see it all' Ah it seems our young one has a gift that allows her to 'know' whoever she meets. Interesting. A bit like mind reading, but not quite the same. It helped her to trust us faster and that was a good thing.
"My name is Catherine, Catherine Evangeline Jonson. I'm sixteen years old and… I used to live in a small village… it was… south of new York… It… the name… I've been so many places… I can't recall…" She started panicking.
"That is alright. It's perfectly normal that some old memories are vague now." She shook her head.
"How am I supposed to tell my parents I'm alright… they might think I'm dead by now or worse…"
I slowly approached her. Jasper, recognizing her as a newborn, was wary about it but he didn't dare to calm her down fearing it would only make her confusion worse. And while he would prevent her to loose control now it might make her more dangerous later on.
"Calm down, deep breaths. It will all be much easier after you've hunted." She looks up at me in confusion.
"You have undergone a change Catherine. You no longer eat or drink like normal humans. You are no longer human.
You've probably thought about that before but have not allowed yourself to believe or accepted it yet.
You are a vampire now Catherine. You drink blood. But you don't have to kill humans if you don't like the idea, which at this point I find most likely. You can choose your own path after we explained it to you but for now let's play safe and stick to animals. Alright?" Catherine looked at me, scared due to the word I used.
She realized she would never be able to make things right at home and this saddened her. But her throat would no longer be ignored and she had understood that she would get more answers after she had taken care of that need.
I helped her catch 2 mountain lions and a bear. After that she said she now wanted to hear more.
I led her back to the camp where the others had finished hunting and set up a bonfire to create a more friendly mood. Alice had found Catherine something more comfortable to wear than her current attire and she happily accepted. The clothes were a bit too big for her (they were Esmé's) but it would have to do until we had time to buy something her size.
After changing she threw her old outfit in the fire. A symbolic way for her to break with the man who had caused her so much suffering.
She sat down between me and Carlisle, feeling like she could trust me and instinctively wanting to be near Carlisle as the leader of this family.
"I have… had an older brother, Jordan. I loved him and he did anything for me and our younger siblings, Thomas and Elly. One of my big brothers friends- David, I liked him… a lot. He knew, my brother had seen it and I heard him warning David that if he hurt my feelings he would regret it
I of course understood that he was too old for me. He and I where four years apart and even as a human I was too much of a freak anyway.
But it was never in my nature to dwell on such things. I knew I would be sad for a while and then go on to something else.
Exept… a couple of days later I walked in on him putting the moves on my best friend, Sasha. He knew I liked him and then he did that?
I mean he could've at least waited until he was sure I was over it…
I was so angry and confused. I ran. I wasn't mad at my friend but I just wanted to be alone, I crossed a road…
Next thing I know I'm in a moving vehicle, trapped with other kids. A boy approached me, Martin, that's what he called himself any way.
All the kids there were picked up from orphanages or from the road while running away. I had apparently been hit by the 'scouting car' on purpose. From the way I ran they could tell I was flexible and in good shape.
They wanted me to perform in the shows. Martin held me as he explained everything, he was so nice and felt bad for me because I had a nice family I left behind. None of them was at the circus by choice but they didn't have a good home to return to. Only another variation of the same kind of hell.
I wanted to run away, to get home as soon as possible, but I was injured and by the time I was healthy enough to escape we were so far away that I would most likely get myself in bigger trouble if I left than if I stayed.
I hoped that someone had seen my abduction and sent the police on my trail." She took a deep breath Calming herself
"Months passed by and the director was mean and pushed me every day in new positions… I was so scared of him.
I did the trapeze with Martin. We didn't get a net just the two of us, if we fell we would be dead…" she shivered.
"I didn't understand why nobody had searched for me yet. Didn't they miss me? Of course I know that was crazy talk but if you were in that situation you'd start doubting everything you thought true and just too.
The director liked to use mental games on us. Once he figured out what you were afraid of he abused that to break you. With me that's dogs.
The moment I saw the dog trainer with her pets I went in a panic. Thus he had his punishment for me in case of misbehavior. He purchased a dog solely for my torment. A big one with mean teeth." She then told us about the man, his disgusting ways and thougths and the hell he put her trought. She shivered and felt sick telling about it and I would've made her stop except I had the feeling that she really needed to talk about this.
The disgust in her voice was apparent and affected all of us in our own way. Rosalie was very close to demanding a description so she could teach that beast some respect for women. I would like to join her. Esmé was, for the first time since I'd known her actually feeling hatred. Carlisle was once again blown away by the cruelty some humans can show towards members of their own kind. Alice was clutching to Jasper holding back tears. Jasper strugled to keep himself from subduing Catherines feelings, it wouldn't help her. Emmett couldn't handle the heavy atmosfere well and felt a bit trapped cause he couldn't possibly make light of it. Even if it wasn't absolutely distastefull he couldn't think of anything to say about it that would help. In fact the verry thought of it made him sick.
"Sorry, I don't know why I bothered you with that. I just…" I gave her a carful hug.
"You needed to get that out. We understand." She smiled gratefully at me and then at my family. She took a deep breath and continiued her story.
"But what none of us knew is that I had inherited my uncles week hearth… he was still alive when I left but maybe…
I don't know. He had to avoid stress. Your dear niece suddenly disappearing from the face of the earth might cause some anxiety…" She laughed nervously.
"Any way under normal circumstances I probably wouldn't have discovered it until well over thirty… but I was under a lot of stress, about 24/7 in fact and my hearth was telling my body to take rest… only I wasn't in the position to decide over that. I first noticed it during a show… we were doing our routine.
The crowd was cheering, blissfully unaware of the monster that was running the it. They didn't know how horrible the night would end… my sight got blurry.
It was terrifying, but I always snapped back just in time to grab Martins hands or the trapeze, until he jumped, and reached for my hands. I couldn't see where his hands were- until I grabbed for thin air. Like I said, there was no net.
It was horrible. I hurried down… so much blood.
I begged him to get up, my only friend out there- he was dead. The ringmaster was furious of course but he was too busy to punish me right away. People were trying to reach us, to offer help. Someone wanted to take me apart from the rest to check if I was alright.
But I shrugged them all of, carried my fried away and buried him, along with a couple of others, he was really nice to all of us you see. Our big brother. Nobody was mad at me for some reason.
I think they all thought that he had fallen on purpose. That maybe he had hoped that this way the police would investigate the circus and free us all. It sounded like him. I would turn 16 soon, the ringmaster seemed to think you're adult at that age. And everyone knew Martin felt extra protective of me. He had a sister my age. Somewhere…" She halted her story to sob for a while. This poor girl had carried the weight of the world on her shoulders.
"It seems like the police did go after the ringmaster now. There where cameras flashing all night. Maybe someone had recognized me from a milk bottle or something. I don't know...
The accident happened only a week ago, but in that week we were constant on the move, running we realized.
We had just set up camp, and to my fright I realized it was my birthday.
I was 16… was that the reason he had stopped? He was clearly planning on punishing me severely for causing all that trouble. He dragged me to his quarters by my hair and had ordered me in the most painful positions, a warm up, I feared. He had taken out a whip and was cursing at me… not even bothering to keep the dog routine. Last thing I remember is him raising the whip and… feeling like I fell to pieces.
One hit, that's all my hearth needed to be pushed over the edge it had been balancing on over the past week.
As I slowly started fading I did hear him curse at someone else. I thought I was having some sort of last dream. But I didn't want to think about him. So I taught about my family at home.
I imagined returning, safe and sound, and everything going back as if nothing had happened.
And Martin returning from the death, visiting with his family. They would've worked everything out, we'd be happy.
But trough those nice thoughts I heard someone speaking to the ringmaster.
He was calm and seemed to explain something. Briefly I hoped this stranger was a cop, reading the ringmaster his rights. Then I heard something falling and I decided that it didn't matter anymore. No one would be able to safe my life. No doctor, not even if I suddenly appeared in his operation room, would be able to do something. So I allowed myself to slide. I felt like I was flying and then…" she shuddered.
"I didn't get why I was suddenly in pain again, or how my hearth could possibly have so much energy… I tried thinking happy thoughts. Nice memories always helped me through the day, it was harder while being on fire, but I had lots of practice in thinking trough pain. Then I woke up…
and everything was strange. It was night and I was on an island. I found an envelope with a promise for answers to all my questions and help if I followed the directions exact and immediately." She looked at us, hoping that this would indeed be true.
"I do believe…" Carlisle started "that I heard something about a grave accident at a circus. Somewhere… Edward?"
I nodded. I had heard it in a lot of thoughts too. I just hadn't paid too much attention to it. It's a good thing that even if I didn't listen the information was still filed away somewhere in the back of my mind.
"Yes that's right. It was in LA if I'm not mistaken… it was utter chaos, from what I've heard the crowd was in a panic 911 was called by at least 20 of the spectators, all the children and several adults were taken away in a state of shock.
I even saw video footage of it… yes a girl crying with blood on her clothes, she probably was sitting front row… poor thing must've witnessed as the body made impact. And even if she was shielded by an adult who somehow managed to realize it was not something a child should see, the blood all over her must be horrifying enough on it's own… in one news broadcast they even showed a clip of the fall itself… truly gruesome.
Dear god, I even saw you on another clip, kneeling at the body… there was a birthmark visible on your right shoulder… kind of shaped like a hearth, and a scar on your leg… if your family or friends saw any of that, which is very likely, they must've known it was you I think." Cathy nodded.
"That scar is the reason I'm afraid of dogs. One bit me when I was six," she explained focussing on something she could handle to think about. Carlisle put a hand on her shoulder. "We'll look into it more for you Catherine-"
"Cathy… my friends… they always say Cathy…" she smiled shyly. Carlisle nodded.
"Okay. First we'll relocate so we can guide you through your first year safely. Then we'll try to see if there is anything we can do for your family. To help them find peace." Cathy's thoughts where filled with gratitude.
"Thank you. That is so kind of you… but you don't have to move for me. I can sleep on a couch or something."
I laugh softly. "Cathy, it's not because of sleeping arrangements. In fact we don't sleep, so a room is solely for the purpose of having your own place. We move so we can go to a more remote place for you, that way you won't accidently run into human scents to tempt you." An image of her draining her little sister like she drained the bear flashed through her mind and she shuddered. "We don't want that to happen," she agreed.
We packed our stuff and drove to a secluded house that was also ours, we had a couple of those places around the country to use in case we needed to relocate unexpectedly.
On the way Carlisle called with the hospital and said that he wouldn't be able to return to the hospital after his vacation. When they asked why Cathy spoke up loud enough so the people on the other line could hear.
"You're sure they wont mind uncle Carlisle" making her voice sound like a six year olds.
"They'll understand." He said with a comforting voice. First rule of improvising never block someone elses initiative.
"But I can move to another school, I don't mind… the others have been on theirs much longer then I on mine."She argued again loud enough for dr. Gordon to hear.
"Yes but they're old enough now to adapt quickly to a new school, you on the other hand have enough on your mind."
He soothed understanding the set up. "Okay." She smiled with a kiss to his cheek. Carlisle smiled. The kiss was not a part of the pretence. She was showing that she liked him and trusts him to show her the way.
"Now get some sleep. We have a long way to go." He murmured after which he turned back to his phone. "sorry, that was my niece, her parents have a very busy job and they asked me to take care of her since they feel like they leave her alone too much. They believe it's better to have their child with a family member rather than a total stranger." I nodded in approval. Adding another orphan to the family would be a bit much indeed.
"Oh well yes I see." Cathy couldn't have known this but dr. Gordon would let pretty much any type of behavior slide if it was for the wellbeing of a child.
"I know it's a bit last minute but they left for an unexpected business trip to China tonight and Cathy has school on Monday. I will of course wrap up things at work but my family is busy moving their things to valley city, north Dakota…" I stopped listening to dad's story. And looked at Catherine who was seethed next to me. She was trying to pretend to sleep. I had a feeling that once Cathy learned to control her thirst she would be very good at acting human. If I hadn't known she couldn't possibly be at sleep she might have fooled even me. She acted exactly how a human acted when asleep. Even her thoughts were so like a humans while dreaming, it was almost scary. She had made herself dream of her family at home. About having lunch with her brothers her sister and her friends. There would be pancakes and fresh juice and everything would be fine. I didn't 'wake' her. Let her have some peace…
(end flashback)
Okay I would love to give you the rest of this chapter but it is insanely long as it is and I just know that I can keep writing this longer and longer. This is a good place to take a break. I hope you guys enjoyed it. Oh and let me know if you like Cathy. If you think she's annoying I can always do away with her at any point in the story. PLEASE LEAVE ME YOUR THOUGTHS! REVIEUW! I haven't gotten any reactions on the last couple of chapters and I feel like I'm lost in the dark here. I don't need all of you to yell 'amazing' just one little review that lets me know if the story is still interesting or something. Thanks a lot
