Chapter 10
A/N: All right, short chapter, but absolutely necessary. I saw some reviews (FINALLY) and decided it was time to pick up the pace…you know…Anyway, here's what I got. Carlisle just got kidnapped by another fangirl but he had to go with her for a couple of hours. She was writing about him….Ah, he'll be back. Soon, I hope. So, we've established that Dawn don't care much for Pumpkin…she was such a ridiculously sweet character, so I HAD to do something about her…
Dawn was in her original form again. There was a fire in her gut that stung her soul and she was furious. She was pacing angrily back and forth by the fireplace in her room, the flames blotted out by her dark shadow. Carlisle and Edward both felt uneasy as they came into the room.
Dawn's wings puffed, making her seem larger than she really was. Her dark eyes seemed to glow with a strange, primitive light. Claws extended out of where her fingernails should have been and she bared some very sharp canine teeth that shouldn't have been there. A low growl issued from her throat until Carlisle stepped into the light.
He heard her heart beat three or four times before she could regain control of herself. Her posture was still rigid, but she looked much less...animal-like when all the sharp things were hidden away. Edward was only a second behind Carlisle.
"Sometimes I swear you have a death-wish," Dawn muttered. It was as close to apologizing as she was going to get.
"Tell us what's going on," Edward demanded.
"Find out yourself."
Dawn slumped into a nearby chair and closed her eyes. She looked exhausted again. Memories bubbled up into Edward's head and he spoke them aloud to Carlisle. The long story short was that the Volturi thought Dawn attacked Aro's wife instead of Sulpicia. Dawn hadn't told the entire truth the first time...Carlisle reminded himself to be angry at her later for that. Lies by omission were still sometimes dangerous. But they didn't have time for petty arguments now. It was clear that something bigger was going on.
"Pumpkin and Alex are spies," Edward said, "Aro knew that only Pumpkin would be able to recognize another Siren, so he sent her and Alex after Dawn. But so many years passed that they didn't think they'd ever find her. Pumpkin and Alex became mates during this time. And now, here they are back. And apparently, Aro knows the one way to kill a Siren."
"Yeah," Dawn said weakly, "I was afraid of that."
It surprised Carlisle to finally see a true moment of weakness. The belligerence, the arrogance, and the apparent invincibility were all gone. Dawn's shoulders slumped and her head fell into her hands. He could sense that she was truly afraid.
"There's a legendary sword that was said to only exist in myth called the Ravensong. The blade is made from meteor metal and is black with a purple glow to it. It's hard enough to cut through Siren skin and it was once used to chop their hearts out," Edward said, still remembering what he'd learned, "apparently, Jane found the thing by accident one day when she was hunting. Some old sword collector had it and she'd found it in his house while covering her tracks for said hunt."
Dawn had begun to tremble violently. She wrapped her wings around her body, shivering.
"Not that I don't deserve it," she said shakily, "but it looks like my past has finally caught up with me."
Carlisle realized he'd moved forward without even thinking about it. He was now standing beside Dawn's chair.
"What am I going to do? I can't keep running," Dawn lamented, "with all this technology, it's getting harder and harder to hide."
"The one thing saving you is that Pumpkin didn't recognize you yet," Edward reminded her, "just stop acting so...like you. She might eventually go on."
It was then that Dawn dissolved into tears.
"Be serious, Edward! This is no time to kid!"
Despite her obvious misery, Carlisle was surprised to find he had the urge to laugh. In fact, the harder he tried to squash that impulse down, the worse it seemed to get.
"I don't blame you for hating my guts, but have some compassion! My feathers depend on finding a solution!" Dawn snarled between a sobbing wail and an angry explosion.
Carlisle's laughter subsided.
"I'm sorry...it's just the way he said it..."
He took a moment and was completely serious again. Dawn crossed her arms, obviously displeased.
"There are a number of ways that we can get them off of your trail," he said, "and the safest way is to convince them you're a vampire instead of a Siren. I'm sure there are ways we can get past your scent."
"What about my heartbeats?" Dawn asked, "Those are...ahem...rather hard to stop."
"I didn't hear them beat when you transformed," Edward commented, "that wouldn't be much of a problem."
"But what's my alibi? I can't just show up out of nowhere."
"You won't."
Dawn almost jumped out of her skin. Rosalie and Alice had appeared right behind her.
"Doesn't anybody freaking knock anymore?!" Dawn asked irritably.
"Alice had a vision," Rosalie said, ignoring Dawn's death-glare.
"Let's have it," Edward said, "we need all the help we can get."
Alice grinned, looking more like a naughty pixie than ever.
"Dawn can be Carlisle's mate."
Dawn and Carlisle looked at each other and both burst into laughter.
"Hon, let me remind you that he can't stand me even if he thinks I smell good. We can talk, but he still thinks I'm a spoiled brat."
Dawn turned back to Carlisle.
"Isn't that right? You'd sooner take the venom all over again than date me."
The uncharacteristic smirk on Carlisle's face told her everything. It had been a long, long time since Dawn had been at anyone's mercy.
"That's it. I'm freaking dead already. I might as well be," Dawn sighed, talking more to herself than anyone else, "they might as well dig me a grave right next to Esme's. There's no way they're going to help me, no way-"
She was surprised when she bumped into Rosalie during her muttering and pacing.
"Oh, we'll help you, but you have to agree to our terms," Rosalie said.
Dawn's wings drooped. She looked from Carlisle to Edward to Alice to Carlisle to Edward to Rosalie to Carlisle to Alice to Carlisle to Rosalie. Her dark eye seemed too big for her pale face in that moment.
Carlisle actually willed her to shelve her pride for a change. Every fiber in him wanted to believe that she wasn't all bad and that she could be right for a change.
Okay, maybe not about the Volturi hunting her. But about the other things...
"Okay," she sighed heavily, "throw the book at me."
"Carlisle, you're the one doing the acting, so you get to-"
"Not me," Carlisle said firmly, "I can't do it."
"Carlisle, I hate to remind you of this, but you're the only single one in the family right now..." Alice said.
The reminder stabbed him in his still heart. What would Esme have done?
The answer came almost immediately, and of course, it was the hardest one. She would have wanted to help. Of course....
He looked at Dawn, who had dropped to her knees and was now staring at her hands in her lap.
"All right," he said, exasperated. Dawn raised her head and brushed away the tears that had leaked onto her shimmering cheeks.
"Stop draining my energy. I don't care which kind it is," he said firmly. Dawn nodded.
"Since we're protecting you, you can't force us to stay. We will move if we have to," Carlisle said, his voice carrying the firmness of an authority figure, "and that includes you, too. You're going to have to do whatever it takes to pass as a vampire and not give us away. That means you'll have to be careful how and when you feed on energy. If you can see when Pumpkin drains it, she can see yours too. Speaking of Pumpkin..."
Dawn groaned. She knew what he was going to say.
"You're going to have to be friendly to her. If you allow your anger to show through, she's going to figure you out sooner. Besides that, I don't want any unnecessary fighting."
He didn't ask her if she understood because he knew she did. Dawn stared up into his golden eyes. The firelight shone orange-yellow on him, throwing dark shadows in places that the light didn't touch. She could tell that he was dead serious.
It was the first time in her life she'd ever been at the complete mercy of somebody else.
"Don't give us a reason to turn you in," Rosalie warned her, "and don't think we won't if you get out of line."
Dawn's wings had wilted so much that they covered her shoulders and dragged the floor like a cloak. Once powerful and so sure of herself, she knew she was caught. One way or the other...
"All right."
Carlisle couldn't help but enjoy the small sense of victory that he had. There would be no more mysterious sleeping spells, no more terrible dreams, no more constant wondering how much trouble she was going to get him in....
Wait...
Oh, never mind, he reminded himself, at least you got her to listen to you.
Alice and Rosalie shared a knowing grin.
