AN: Just when you thought it was all said and done . . . .
Chapter 65 - Now What?
The wolves had returned to La Push for a while to introduce their mates to their families and friends and start planning their weddings. Of course, Sam and the others were totally shocked at the existence of the hybrids and all the wolves now mated to vampires and half vampires.
At first, they didn't want to listen and were convinced it was a trick, but Seth was able to reconnect with Sam and the others and showed them everything that had happened. The stories of Maggie and Marcus, along with Bella's theory about soul mates, were one of the biggest factors in changing their perceptions.
The other main factor was the undeniable sisterhood that had developed between Leah and Rose, and the resultant decrease in the unpleasant aroma allowing them to be close to each other without gagging. They were amazed by the memories of Leah and Rose sharing a kill, a deer, with Rose drinking the blood and Leah eating the flesh with no ill effects afterward. It was impossible to argue with Leah's point that the blood would be wasted if she simply drained it out onto the ground and that this way they could use the whole deer, reducing the number of animals killed to feed both supernatural creatures. It was a symbiotic relationship.
Sam's pack was also forced to realize that most vampires had no choice in being turned and simply tried to make the best of their new found existence. Through Seth's memories, they could see for themselves that every vampire was different, unique in their own way, like humans, with different personalities, lifestyles, and coping mechanisms. Seth's experience encountering so many different vampires highlighted the fact that vampires ran the spectrum from good to evil, just as humans did, indicating that vampires maintained a large number of their human traits and characteristics when they changed. It really wasn't fair to tar all vampires with the same brush.
This, as well as the ability to reproduce, to father living children with blood and heartbeats, called into question their beliefs, assumptions, preconceived notions, and prejudices based on the perceptions given in the legends. With all these new revelations swimming around in their brains, Sam and his pack were prepared to welcome their brethren onto the res, along with their mates, and allow them to go be with their families. As far as the wolves were concerned, Seth's thoughts had proven they were not a threat to the Quileute people.
The Council of Elders were a much harder sell. They couldn't experience Seth's memories in their own minds and had difficulty letting go of their own viewpoints on the situation. Their imaginations were unable to grasp what the wolves had seen and heard with their own eyes and ears.
The elders were baffled by all the discrepancies to what they had 'known' to be true all their lives. According to legend, vampires were dead, their soulless bodies animated by evil spirits who delighted in murder, violence, and destruction, with no connection to the human who previously occupied the body and mind. It made no sense to them how a dead creature could possibly produce life. Yet the evidence of the hybrids couldn't be denied. Not to mention all the emotions and relationships described by the returning wolves. Perhaps vampires weren't cold, emotionless, soulless monsters after all. Perhaps only some of them were. Admitting that would call into question the integrity of their legends though, something they were loathe to do.
Leah was the one who volunteered to sit down with the Council of Elders, answering their questions and responding to their concerns, in hope of convincing them to grant approval for vampire and hybrid imprints to be allowed on Quileute land. After a while, she decided to tell them Rosalie's story, knowing it would force them to consider a different perspective.
Indeed, they were horrified to hear what had happened to Rose at the hands of her fiance and his friends. Leah then looked her father straight in the eyes and asked, "What would you have done, Daddy, if that had happened to me? If my fiance wasn't Sam, but an evil bastard like Royce? If you found me, beaten, broken, and bloody, and I managed to whisper in your ear who was responsible before I died."
Harry was appalled, angered, and frightened. Why is she asking this? Did something happen to her? I know Sam wouldn't have done that to her, but did somebody else? Is this her way of telling me she was violated? "I would kill them, slowly and painfully," he growled menacingly. There were nods of agreement around the room.
Leah raised her eyebrow. "So you would take a human life? Destroy the sacred trust of your position in the tribe by snuffing out a human in cold blood?"
"They wouldn't deserve to live!" Harry snapped, slamming his hands down on the table. Again he received the support of his fellow elders.
"So by your definition, that would make you a monster, right?" Leah drawled, pointing out his hypocrisy.
Harry flushed and hotly protested, "No! The rapists are monsters! I would be protecting my people by destroying them, so they couldn't do it again to someone else! It would be justice!"
"So a vampire who feeds exclusively on rapists, child molesters, and those who delight in abusing women and children, would be delivering justice, right? Protecting the good humans from the human monsters," she challenged.
The elders were taken aback, flustered and uneasy. Several opened their mouths as if to speak, but then simply closed them again.
Harry huffed indignantly. "It's not the same! I wouldn't be drinking their blood."
Leah frowned and rolled her eyes. "So what? The person is still dead, either way. The blood is going to be drained from their bodies, either way. The only difference is whether it's drained out immediately or when it gets to the morgue. The vampire is simply doing the mortician's job for him."
"Still," Harry insisted with a shudder. "It's unnatural to drink blood. It's disgusting, immoral, monstrous." The expressions of disgust on the other members faces showed their agreement with his feelings.
Leah scoffed. "Unnatural? As in contrary to nature? So the animal kingdom isn't full of creatures who consume blood? There aren't any mosquitos, fleas, leeches, vampire bats, ticks or bedbugs? Does a fox drain the blood of a chicken before eating it? A bear drain a fish? A cat drain a mouse or bird? A snake drain its prey before swallowing it? It seems to me the consumption of blood is very natural. In fact, there are humans who consume blood in Africa, Asia, Europe, North America, and South America. There are lots of different recipes involving blood. A number of cultures are fine with humans drinking blood. Does that make them monsters?"
All the elders were staring at her wide-eyed. There was no refuting her logic or her plain and simple facts.
"Damn," Harry muttered under his breath, forgetting about his daughter's super hearing. He sighed and shook his head. "You've given us a lot to think about, sweetheart. Let us sleep on it, and we'll meet again tomorrow."
The others slowly nodded and shuffled away, some whispering quietly to each other.
"I know you've been taught to hate and fear their kind, Dad. Hell, I don't think anyone was more hostile toward them than me initially," Leah implored. "But Rose helped me heal from the bitterness and hurt caused by Sam's defection. She was the only one who truly understood how I felt and didn't judge me for using bitchiness as a protective measure and coping mechanism. Even the wolves who could see my thoughts and share my memories didn't understand the depth of the betrayal I felt. Rose helped me to overcome the hurt, to recognize it wasn't my fault, that I couldn't have prevented it by being prettier or smarter or anything else. She helped me open up to others, to let them into my heart, to risk caring again, when I was vulnerable and shutting everyone out to keep from getting hurt again. She is truly a sister to me and has saved me both physically and emotionally."
Harry sighed and nodded, thinking back to how broken Leah had been when Sam had broken their engagement and her heart, due to imprinting on her cousin/best friend. She had lost two of the people she loved and replied upon the most, all in one fell swoop. He and Sue had wondered if their little girl would ever recover.
Then she had become the first and only female wolf, forced to witness Sam's and Emily's intimacy in nauseating detail in Sam's mind. When she left on the mission to help Billy and Jacob, her parents feared she might never return, even if she survived. Now here she was, loving and whole again, the life back in her eyes, her spirit restored, and her demeanor animated once again.
Still, he was hesitant. "Leah, you know what having vampires around does to our young people. You weren't the only one who felt like your life had been destroyed by the supernatural world. Sam and Emily will never be the same - she wears a reminder on her face of what he accidentally did to her and it tears him apart every time he sees it. Billy and Jacob left the tribe, choosing vampires over their own flesh and blood. What about Jared and Kim, Paul and Rachel? You know better than anyone how the inescapable consequences of imprinting affects everyone, not just the imprinted couple. If we allow these vampires to stay her, to visit, to come and go as they please, the tribe will pay for it. Even if they never lose control, the harm is done simply by existing. Their mere proximity will force more of our teenagers to become protectors, causing chaos in not just their own lives but in the lives of everyone around them."
Leah huffed. "Well part of the problem is the whole secrecy factor. If Sam had told the truth to me after he became a giant wolf, which he certainly should have, considering he was still my fiance at the time, I would have been aware of the possibility of him imprinting on someone else. I would have known he wasn't my soul mate, since he didn't imprint on me. I would have understood that he had no control over it, that Emily didn't either. I would have been hurt, but I wouldn't have felt so betrayed! Anyone who carries the gene should be shown the truth once they reach a certain age. I mean, what happens if they go away to college or on vacation somewhere else and encounter a vampire there? They'd be all alone and have no idea what was happening to them. They could unintentionally expose us in their initial panic. Then they'd hate us for keeping the truth from them."
Harry frowned and furrowed his brows. "You have a point there. We still wouldn't tell the general populace, but I suppose those who carry the gene should have fair warning that changing is always a possibility. Especially with the amount of traveling and moving our people are doing these days."
"They shouldn't have to keep it from their families either. I mean, Embry's mom doesn't even know about her own son. That's just wrong!"
"We can't tell too many people," Harry protested. "If word gets out about the protectors, they'll be hunted and turned into lab experiments!"
Leah sighed. "Obviously we'll be discreet, but I seriously doubt Embry's own mother is going to shout his secret to the world. I mean, Sam didn't even tell the woman who shared his bed that he could turn into an animal. There's something seriously wrong with that."
Harry winced and grumbled in disgust, "Please don't tell me you're referring to yourself. I don't need to think about my daughter that way."
"We were engaged to be married, Dad," she reminded him. He closed his eyes and shook his head. She rolled her eyes and continued. "Besides, you're acting like being a shape shifter is a bad thing. As depressed, hurt, and bitter as I was before, I wouldn't trade it for anything now. I bet if you asked all the imprinted couples if they'd go back to normal if they could, they'd all emphatically choose to keep things as they are. It's awesome. So much better than a normal relationship. I mean, I loved Sam, but it was nothing compared to how Nahuel makes me feel."
Harry scowled. "I just don't feel comfortable around a monster who thinks of me as food. I don't want to be around them and I don't want you or anyone else in my family around them either."
"Dad," Leah pleaded, tears in her eyes. "Please reconsider. Nahuel is my soul mate, my husband. Wherever he goes, I will follow. It is impossible for me to leave him, as it is physically painful, debilitatingly so, for us to be apart. He's not a monster. He's not going to eat you, damn it! He is your future son-in-law, the father of any future children I may have! I'd love for my children to know their grandparents, but if you shut out my mate, you'll be shutting me and them out too."
Harry's own eyes were full of tears now, thinking about losing his daughter forever through his stubbornness and misplaced pride. "I won't lose you again," he declared, looking her straight in the eyes, full of determination. "I won't fail you. Just give me a little time."
She smiled widely, seeing the promise and the acceptance in his eyes, and nodded. Slowly his smile grew to match hers, and they left the meeting with their faith in each other restored.
The council did vote in their favor the next day. It helped that Leah had chosen to bring Nahuel to meet them face to face and answer their questions himself, thus forcing them to see him as a person, an individual, a warm, living, breathing sentient being, instead of a horrifying freak of nature. His compassion toward humans and his evident love and adoration for the girl they had known all her life was undeniable, quickly winning them over by proving their previous fears unfounded.
Over the next few weeks, all the legends were updated with the new information, and the new encounters, imprints, and battles were recorded for the edification of future generations.
xxxxxxx
Like many of the other survivors, Alice and Edward had gone off on their own for a few weeks to 'recuperate and reconnect as mates'. Charlie and Maggie had both confirmed there wasn't any malice left in them, and they weren't a threat to our family or my mate anymore. With the assurances of our lie detectors, Carlisle decided they had been punished enough and granted them full citizenship, so there was no reason to keep them from leaving. In the end, I didn't really care where they went, as long as they didn't upset my mate or cause trouble for my family and friends.
Frankly, my mate and I needed a little time to ourselves as well. It was nice not have to sneak time together or have anything hanging over our heads distracting us. I now knew her body better than I knew my own. In fact, I was intimately acquainted with ever inch of her.
Just then, Bella and I were reclining on a ledge in a hot spring, content to soak in each other's arms. I was feeling more peaceful, euphoric, and satiated than I had ever been, no doubt mostly due to the fact we had just completed three straight days of making love right there in that very spring.
Unfortunately, our peace was interrupted by an insistent caller. I let the phone go to voicemail three times before reluctantly realizing it must be something important after all. I sighed with aggravation at having to withdraw myself from my mate, even for a few seconds, and she giggled at my dramatics, erasing a small part of my irritation.
Glancing at the caller ID, I opened the phone and began speaking. I knew I was being rude, but my patience was rather short at the moment with my naked water nymph only a few feet away, her perky breasts peeking up out of the water and teasing me.
"This better be important, because I swear if you called about some fashion show you're sure Bella can't miss or a new line of designer clothes, I swear I will destroy every vintage wardrobe you've got stashed in storage all over the US."
"Cut the dramatics, asshole," Alice hissed. "We've got a problem."
"So what else is new?" I muttered, grimacing at the neverending stream of problems we'd encountered in the past few months. Can we never catch a break? Must there always be a problem on the horizon, gunning for us?
"The Romanians didn't join us in Volterra, at least not actively. Apparently, they were just waiting for the dust to settle before making their move," she explained bitterly, going on to describe her disturbing vision.
xxxxx VISION xxxxx
"The time of our triumphant return is at hand!" Stefan declared. "Our enemies have been vanquished, and the number of our kind still in existence is the lowest it has been in the past four thousand years. No one has stepped up to claim the throne. They have all grown weary of fighting and wish to return to their comfortable lives. None want to carry the burden of making all the rules and decisions for the rest of us. WE shall fill the void created by the decimation of the royal family. Any who oppose us shall be dealt with swiftly."
"Indeed, brother," Vladimir purred. "The people are looking for a leader, a king, and both Carlisle Cullen and Jasper Whitlock have declined the position. Fools! What can they possibly be thinking? Must be the animal blood. It clearly affects the mind in negative ways, causing one to relate more with the soft, pathetic humans than with their own kind. Why deny their nature? Why reject their superiority and treat their food as equals? If a human were to suddenly move into a barn and converse with the cows and goats as equals, he'd be thrown into a mental institution! Oh, well. Their loss is our gain."
"True," Stefan replied with a smirk. "I, for one, am grateful for their deviance, for it has cleared the way for us."
Vladimir chuckled and nodded. "Yes, it has. Still, I plan to outlaw the drinking of animal blood once we are settled on the throne once again. We must stop them from slowly poisoning the minds of the rest of us as they try to convert us to their unnatural way of feeding."
xxxxx END VISION xxxxxx
Oh, great. Two more old farts who want to rule the vampire world to suit themselves. We just got rid of the last two, I growled to myself, wondering what Dracula One and Dracula Two were planning. Sighing, I sent out a mass text alerting my family of the need to convene once again.
xxxxxxx
AN: This story is almost over, and I've been kicking around a few ideas for a new story. I'm tempted to experiment with an old fashioned 'Choose Your Own Adventure' book, Twilight style. Basically, the premise would be that you, the reader, wake up one day in Forks, in the Twilight universe, with all the knowledge of Meyer's work, plus many of the possibilities suggested in Fanfiction.
I have so many different things I'd like to do, but I don't want to write a million different stories, so this would be a good way to play around with them all in the same 'book'. So at the end of the chapter, I would give two or three options regarding a decision the character must make. Each option that received a positive response within 24 hours would be followed up in it's own chapter.
So, that would go something like this:
Intro: Blah, blah, blah description of you finding yourself in Forks and realizing where you are and that the Cullens are now real.
If you are in Bella Swan's body, go to Chapter 2A (review requesting Chapter 2A)
If you are there separate from Bella Swan, as an 'other character', go to Chapter 2B (review requesting Chapter 2B)
If both chapters are requested, then both Chapter 2s would be written. It would branch from there and might need to be separated if it got too unwieldy, but that's the basic premise.
Please let me know if any of you would be interested in reading and playing along with something like that. If not, I'll just go the more traditional route. Thanks!