BELLA
"Who's Sarah?" the entire Cullen family asks at once.
"She's only the coolest siren ever!" Bethany shouts as she bounces up and down in her excitement.
"Siren, huh. Do we have to keep a close watch on our guys?" Alice asks playfully.
"Probably not, sirens don't work that way," I can't help but laugh at the one question ever woman asks when she first learns about sirens.
"How do they work?" Emmett seems particularly curious.
"Well, for starters, they have to control their powers like every other mythical being," I answer.
"So, she's not the perfect woman?" Rosalie sounds relieved.
"Do you people seriously want a mythical being lesson at this hour?" Jen asks.
"If you don't mind giving one, of course," Carlisle responds.
"Okay, but let's take this inside," Jen replies. We all head to the kitchen.
"Well? Is she the perfect woman?" Rosalie won't let this go.
"Not exactly," I hedge.
"Is she beautiful or not?" Rosalie is annoyed.
"Oh, she's beautiful. It's just that the perfect woman is different from guy to guy," Jen explains.
"What does she look like?" Emmett asks. Of course a guy would ask that.
"You've actually seen her, probably. She's Sarah, the internationally acclaimed singer. She's quite the accomplished musician as well, of course. The girl with auburn hair on the billboard down the way," I inform them.
"The singer with no last name? Just Sarah. She's a siren?" Alice is confused.
"The abilities of a siren can be controlled. When she is using her powers her eyes and lips glow blue. There are also blue patterns that look ancient Greek in design that glow blue all over her skin. When she's using her powers she appears as the perfect girl to each guy that she is affecting. So, when each guy looks at her, he sees his own ideal embodied. Her voice, while exceptional under normal circumstances, causes the guy or guys she is affecting to fall under her influence," Jen tells the vampires.
"So, she lures them to her?" Carlisle inquires.
"It's not just luring those that are being affected. A siren can make them do whatever they want. Despite popular belief, sirens can be female or male," I answer.
"Really? That is so cool!" Emmett booms out.
"In fact, Sarah's brother married a woman in Jake's pack named Leah," I add.
"Are they coming too?" Jasper asks quietly.
"Probably, Sarah and her brother are practically inseparable, even on stage. Sometimes they sing duets, but mostly he plays guitar and does backup vocals. Eli, like every other siren, can play any and every instrument," Jen responds.
"Sounds more like a muse than a siren," Rosalie moodily says.
"The muses were sirens. Have Sarah tell you the story when she gets here," I say that like she should know that already, just to mess with her a bit.
"Will do," Emmett assures us.
"There's a woman in Jacob's pack?" Alice asks.
"There is more than one. Leah was actually seeing Sam rather seriously. He was the pack leader before Jake transformed for the first time. Jake's bloodline is the alpha bloodline, in case you were curious. Anyway, Leah was dating Sam when her cousin, Emily, came to visit. Sam imprinted on Emily…" I start to explain.
"Imprint?" Edward speaks up for the first time tonight.
"For a wolf like Sam, or me, when we meet our soul mate, everything changes. We become attached to them. We also become whatever they need us to be. For us, it's like gravity shifts and our lives revolve around them. We can't choose who we imprint on. Lucky for me I imprinted on Nessie," Jake fills in.
"What happened to Leah then?" Esme shows her motherly concern for her.
"Sam couldn't help it, and he felt terrible for breaking poor Leah's heart, but he left her for Emily. Leah was rightfully devastated. When she began to transform too, Jake asked us to help her as it would have been too painful for her to be a part of the pack that Sam once led. We took her in and tried to get her to move on with her life. She was very angry for a very long time. But, one day an old friend of Jen's came to visit. Sarah happened to have Eli tagging along. When Leah saw Eli…everything changed for her. She wasn't angry at all anymore. They dated for a few years before Eli proposed. Leah was truly happy. She and Sarah became fast friends too. Everything worked out well for Leah," I tell them.
"What ever happened to Sam and Emily?" Alice asks, sounding concerned. Those of us that know the story look at each other.
"The transformations are effected by emotions. Even those of us that have been transforming for many, many years occasionally have difficulty controlling them. One day, Sam got really upset about what people were saying about Emily. They were saying that she was a heartless hussy that stole him from her cousin. Sam tried to get out of the house before he transformed, but he didn't make it. The whole right side of their body got very badly scarred. She had those scars until the day that she died. Sam had to look at them and then be reminded of them every day until the day that he died," Jake answered.
"I thought wolves were immortal," Emmett responds.
"Only as long as they keep transforming are they immortal. After the accident with Emily, Sam stopped transforming. He was going to stop anyway to age with the woman he loved," Nestalia picks up where Jake left off. We start to head to our respective suites.
"WAIT! I almost forgot. Why isn't a guy with magical powers called a warlock or a wizard?" Emmett suddenly bursts out.
"Do you want to field this one?" Jen asks Eliot as she holds his hand.
"No, I like the way that you tell it," he responds as he gives her have a little squeeze.
"Okay. Those terms predate the Council. Back when each type of immortal had their own separate government, witches had a sort of monarchy. Warlocks were the ones in charge of certain areas of the world, like nobles in mortal kingdoms. The one in charge of it all, like a king or queen, was called a wizard. Of course everything was hereditary. Witches didn't care about gender. The first born was the next in line regardless. The young witch that married a mortal was really the next in line to rule. After she cursed all witches so that they could not longer bear children, hereditary lines could no longer be the means of passing power from generation to generation. The noble families then put the war in warlock. The struggle for power was devastating. Not only witches were involved. Other mythical beings took sides in the war. A lot of blood was spilt. It seemed that this conflict consumed the entire world of immortals. No end was in sight for the power struggle for there could be no compromise for those involved," Jen started her tale.
"What happened then that ended the conflict?" Jasper asks. The entire Cullen family looks like children during story hour, so immersed in the tale that Jen was weaving.
"Do you know what an oracle is?" I ask them.
"Someone with psychic abilities? More so than us," Alice tries to answer.
"An oracle is the only true immortal. An oracle cannot die, or be killed, nor can it age. When an oracle gets a vision, it will happen that way…no matter what. Therefore an oracle gets fewer, more detailed visions. That's not to say that an oracle cannot look into the future at any time. No amount of interference can change the outcome of the visions. It's fate. Also, an oracle is all-knowing," I inform the Cullen family.
"I'm surprised that they didn't take over then," Jasper comments.
"There's only one," Eliot responds.
"Yeah, and up to the point where the entire mortal world was heading to hell in a hand-basket, she had hermit tendencies," I say.
"That's an understatement. She's very snarky and doesn't really like most people, mortal or immortal. She also believes strongly in punishing those that break the rules. Even though I have seen her show leniency," Jen adds.
"Did she have a vision?" Carlisle asks.
"Well, she saw the young witch falling for a mortal…" I start.
"Who couldn't? Seriously, it was completely obvious. Things always happen that way," a voice interrupts me. We had all been so involved in our conversation that no one noticed that the oracle had joined us. She leans against the doorway and cocks an eyebrow at us.
"Man, speak of the devil and in she walks," Jen teases her long time friend.
"My ears were burning, so I decided to drop by," the oracle doesn't miss a beat.
"Where are our manners? Cullen family, this is Mary Beth. She's the only oracle," I introduce her to the vampires. There is no need to introduce them as Mary Beth already knows who they are.
"Like the world can handle more than one of me," Mary Beth sasses me as she rolls her eyes.
"Would you like to take it from here?" Jen asks Mary Beth.
"Nah, I'm just here for the monster themed cereal," Mary Beth pours herself some strawberry cereal and sits with us.
"Feel free to correct any discrepancies," Jen says before she goes back to the story.
"Have you ever met me? Besides, you were there," Mary Beth responds as she starts in on her snack.
"Well, Mary Beth had a vision about the Council, a government where each immortal species had equal footing. She also saw herself as the head of the Council, but at that time she kept that little fact to herself," Jen continues.
"Why?" Alice asks Mary Beth.
"I foolishly hoped that part of the vision was not what I knew it was. I'm sad to say that it did," Mary Beth answers.
"Immortals were tired of fighting. The war was taking its toll, and it was way more public than it should have been. I mean, mortals and immortals once lived side by side, but that time had long since passed. That's where they myths come from, by the way. Aging people with sketchy memories told stories to their families. Anyway, when Mary Beth presented the concept, the vast majority of immortals were thrilled to end the war without losing a lot of influence. So the Council was formed. The first representatives on the Council felt that Mary Beth was the only choice to lead and mediate any problems. She is the only one of her kind, so there was no concern about one species dominating the rest. Plus, she's all-seeing and all-knowing. Those are good traits for the leader. So Mary Beth very reluctantly agreed to take on the position…"Jen says.
"I had to take responsibility for the Council. It was my idea, after all," Mary Beth interrupts to explain.
"What happened to those that didn't want the Council?" Jasper asks.
"Well, many proved to be violent and less than subtle around mortals. So, I started the organization of Hunters to take care of any and all security threats however they can," Mary Beth explains.
"What happened to the human records of the war?" Carlisle inquires.
"They were 'lost' to them," Jen says as we hold in our laughter.
"I don't understand. There is no way that big a chunk of records goes missing without mortals noticing," Edward responds.
"Oh, they noticed. They just accepted the loss, slapped a name on the period, and moved on," I reply.
"What did they name that period?" Jasper asks.
"The Dark Ages, of course," Mary Beth answers as we all crack up.