Disclaimer. All publicly recognizable characters, settings etc, are the property of their respective owners. The original characters, ideas and plot are the property of the author. The author is in no way associated with the owners, creators or producers of any media franchise. No copyright infringement is intended. I only do this for fun.
Far Fetched Realities
A/N: Hey Guys! If you have any questions or comments, post them in my reviews and I will answer them in my next Author's Note! - B
Previously...
(Audrey's POV)
"So, it's settled. When everyone arrives, we'll go about the discussion of your change." Jasper concluded to which Bella nodded.
"Speaking of which, don't you think you should give them a call?" Bella insisted.
Dread filled me, but was soothed by Jasper's empathic ability as he nodded his head.
"While I do that, I will go upstairs an' get you both something to wear. I'm sure you would like somethin' a bit more comfortable ta sleep in. Am I correct, Bella?" He asked.
"Yes, please, thank you." She smiled in gratitude.
"I'm sure you will fit in somethin' of Alice's. Meanwhile, I'll get ya something of my own, Audrey." He winked and I knew exactly why he insisted I wear his clothes as opposed to someone else's. Since we were not mated fully yet and there were going to be other males in the home, he wanted to mark me as his with his scent.
I smiled at him and nodded my consent. He lifted me up and off his lap and set me on the couch in his spot, then headed towards the stairs, dialing their number as he went.
Chapter 5
(Audrey's POV)
I stood at the end of the hall as I waited for Jasper to return, observing an ornament hanging on the wall above my head. My hand raised automatically, one finger extended as if to touch the large wooden cross, its dark patina contrasting with the lighter tone of the wall. I didn't touch it, though I was curious if the aged wood would feel as silky as it looked.
"You can laugh," I heard from behind me. "It is sort of ironic."
I turned to see Jasper standing behind me, watching me in my observations.
"How old is it?" I asked curiously.
He shrugged. "Early sixteen-thirties, more or less."
I nodded, "I thought so." I paused, continuing to observe the cross. "Why do you keep this here?" I wondered.
"Nostalgia. It belonged to Carlisle's father."
"Did he make it?" I asked.
He nodded. "He carved this himself. It hung on the wall above the pulpit in the vicarage where he preached."
I nodded, looking down at the floor for a moment before looking back up at him. "Did you talk to them?"
"Yes," he answered. "They will be here tomorrow in the mornin', sometime."
I nodded again, pursing my lips. "And, they know about me?"
"Somewhat," he shrugged. "I figured that it would be better to tell them everything when they arrived."
"I guess that makes sense." I breathed. "Where's Bella?"
"She went to get changed into the clothes that I brought down of Alice's. The clothes I grabbed from my closet are in my study."
I returned to gazing at the simple, ancient cross and quickly did the mental math; the cross was over three hundred and seventy years old.
"How old is Carlisle?" I asked, still staring up.
"He just celebrated his three hundred and sixty-second birthday," Jasper said and I nodded thoughtfully.
"Tell me about him?"
"Carlisle?" He confirmed and I nodded before Jasper pursed his lips. "He was the only son of an Anglican pastor. His mother died givin' birth to him. His father was an intolerant man. As the Protestants came into power, he was enthusiastic in his persecution of Roman Catholics and other religions. He also believed very strongly in the reality of evil. He led hunts for witches, werewolves, vampires…"
"And sirens," I finished for him and he nodded.
"They burned a lot of innocent people – of course the real creatures that he sought were not so easy to catch.
"When the pastor grew old, he placed his obedient son in charge of the raids. At first, Carlisle was a disappointment; he was not quick to accuse, to see demons where they did not exist. But he was persistent, and more clever than his father. He actually discovered a coven of true vampires that lived hidden in the sewers of the city, only coming out by night to hunt. As you know, in those days, when monsters were not just myths and legends, that was the way many vampires lived."
I nodded, remembering those times that seemed so long ago.
"The people gathered their pitchforks and torches, of course" – his brief laugh was darker now – "and waited where Carlisle had seen the monsters exit into the street. Eventually one emerged."
His voice was very quiet now as he spoke, but of course, I didn't have any trouble hearing him. "He must have been ancient, and weak with hunger. Carlisle heard him call out in Latin to the others when he caught the scent of the mob. He ran through the streets, and Carlisle – he was twenty-three and very fast – was in the lead of the pursuit. The creature could have easily outrun them, but Carlisle thinks he was too hungry, so he turned and attacked. He fell on Carlisle first, but the others were close behind, and he turned to defend himself. He killed two men, and made off with a third, leavin' Carlisle bleeding on the street."
He paused before continuing on. "Carlisle knew what his father would do. The bodies would be burned – anythin' infected by the monster must be destroyed. Carlisle acted instinctively to save his own life. He crawled away from the alley while the mob followed the fiend and his victim. He hid in a cellar, buried himself in rotting potatoes for three days. It's a miracle he was able to keep silent, to stay undiscovered.
"It was over then, and he realized what he had become."
Feeling my interest and curiosity, he smiled down at me before reached forward to take my hand in his, leading me into a room that he then described as Carlisle's office. It was a high-ceilinged room with tall, west-facing windows. The walls were paneled again, in a darker wood – where they were visible. Most of the wall space was taken up by towering bookshelves that reached high above my head and held row after row of books. A huge mahogany desk with a leather chair sat as the centerpiece to the room. A thick volume with a bookmark sticking out of it sat in the center, reminding me of a college dean's desk.
Jasper gestured to a wall that was different from the others. Instead of bookshelves, this wall was crowded with framed pictures of all sizes, some in vibrant colors, other dull monochromes. I searched for some logic, some binding motif the collection had in common, but I found nothing in my hasty examination.
Jasper pulled me toward the far left side, standing me in front of a small square oil painting in a plain wooden frame. This one did not stand out among the bigger and brighter pieces; painted in varying tones of sepia, it depicted a miniature city full of steeply slanted roofs, with thin spires atop a few scattered towers. A wide river filled the foreground, crossed by a bridge covered with structures that looked like tiny cathedrals.
"London in the sixteen-fifties," I observed and he nodded. "What happened then; when he realized what had happened to him?"
He glanced back to the paintings, and I looked to see which image caught his interest now. It was a larger landscape in dull fall colors – an empty, shadowed meadow in a forest, with a craggy peak in the distance.
"When he knew what he had become," Jasper continued, "he rebelled against it. He tried to destroy himself. But, as you know, that's not easily done."
"How?" I murmured quietly.
"He jumped from great heights," Jasper told me, his voice impassive. "He tried to drown himself in the ocean… but he was young to the new life, and very strong. It is amazin' that he was able to resist feedin' while he was still so new since the instinct is more powerful then, and it takes over everythin'. But he was so repelled by himself that he had the strength to try to kill himself with starvation. So, he grew very hungry, and eventually weak. He strayed as far as he could from the human populace, recognizin' that his willpower was weakenin', too. For months he wandered by night, seeking the loneliest places, loathin' himself.
"One night, a herd of deer passed his hidin' place. He was so wild with thirst that he attacked without a thought. His strength returned and he realized there was an alternative to bein' the vile monster he feared. He had not eaten venison in his former life?
"So over the next months, his new philosophy was born. He could exist without bein' a demon. He found himself again. He began to make better use of his time. He's always been intelligent, eager to learn. Now he had unlimited time before him. He studied by night, planned by day. He swan to France, and continued on through Europe, to the universities there." He paused and reflexively, his eyes flickered to another picture – the most colorful of them all, the most ornately framed, and the largest; it was twice as wide as the door it hung next to. The canvas overflowed with bright figures in swirling robes, writhing around long pillars and off marbled balconies.
"By night, he studied music, science, medicine – and found his calling, his penance, in that; in saving human lives." His expression became awed, almost reverent. "I can't adequately describe the struggle; it took Carlisle two centuries of torturous effort to perfect his self-control. Now he is all but immune to the scent of human blood, and he is able to do the work he loves without agony. He finds a great deal of peace there, at the hospital…" Jasper stared off into space for a long moment. Suddenly, he seemed to recall his purpose.
He tapped his finger against the huge painting in front of us. "He was studyin' in Italy when he discovered the others there. They were much more civilized and educated than the wraiths of the London sewers."
He touched a comparatively sedate quartet of figures painted on the highest balcony, looking down calmly on the mayhem below them. I examined the grouping carefully and realized that I recognized three of the four men.
"Solimena was greatly inspired by Carlisle's friends. He often painted them as Gods." Jasper chuckled.
"Aro, Marcus, Caius," I murmured, indicating to the three I recognized, two black-haired, one snowy-white.
He nodded. "Nighttime patrons of the arts." He then pointed to the fourth man in the picture; a blonde man with a kind face and golden eyes. "This is Carlisle."
"He's friends with the Volturi?"
"Yes," Jasper spoke. "Carlisle stayed with them only for a short time, just a few decades. He greatly admired their civility, their refinement, but they persisted in trying to cure his aversion to 'his natural food source,' as they called it. They tried to persuade him, and he tried to persuade them, to no avail. At that point, Carlisle decided to try the new World. He dreamed of findin' others like himself. He was very lonely, you see.
"He didn't find anyone for a long time. But, as monsters became stuff of fairy tales, he found he could interact with unsuspecting humans as if he were one of them. He began practicing medicine. But the companionship he craved evaded him; he couldn't risk familiarity.
"When the influenza epidemic hit, he was workin' nights in a hospital in Chicago. He'd been turnin' over an idea in his mind for several years, and he had almost decided to act – since he couldn't find a companion, he would create one. He wasn't absolutely sure how his own transformation had occurred, so he was hesitant. And he was loath to steal anyone's life the way his had been stolen. It was in that frame of mind that he found Edward. There was no hope for him; he was left in a ward with the dying. Carlisle had nursed his parents, and knew he was alone, so he decided to try."
He turned back to me, a gentle smile lit his expression. "And so we've come full circle."
"Has Edward always stayed with Carlisle, then?" I wondered.
"Almost always." He put his hand lightly on my waist and pulled me with him as he walked through the door. I stared back at the wall of pictures, wondering about the other stories of the people that Jasper called family.
Jasper didn't say any more as we walked down the hall, so I asked, "Almost?"
He sighed, "Well, he had a typical bout of rebellious adolescence – about ten years after he was born… or created, whatever you want to call it. He wasn't sold on his life of abstinence, and he resented him for curbin' his appetite. So he went off on his own for a time."
"Really?" I was intrigued and I knew that he could fell it. I vaguely realized that we were turning down another hallway, but I wasn't paying much attention to my surroundings, despite my extra vampire senses.
"From the time of his new birth, he had the advantage of knowin' what everyone around him was thinkin', both human and non-human alike. That's why it took him ten years to defy Carlisle – he could read his perfect sincerity, understand exactly why he lived the way he did.
"It too him only a few years to return to Carlisle and recommit to his vision. He thought he would be exempt from the… depression… that accompanies a conscience. Because he knew the thoughts of his prey, he could pass over the innocent and pursue only the evil. If he followed a murderer down a dark alley where he stalked a young girl – if he saved her, then surely he wasn't so terrible."
I nodded, imagining only too clearly what he described – the alley at night, the frightened girl, the dark man behind her. And a pale figure, following behind them. Would she have been grateful, that girl, or more frightened than before?
"But as time went on, he began to see the monster in his own eyes. He couldn't seem to escape the debt of so much human life taken, no matter how justified. And he went back to Carlisle and Esme. They welcomed him back like the prodigal. He never felt he deserved that forgiveness."
We'd come to a stop in front of a door in the middle of the hall.
"My study," he informed me, opening it and pulling me through.
A/N: Another chapter finished! Audrey is learning a little bit about the coven that she is going to meet, so it only made sense that we start off with their leader. What did you think?! Any ideas on what will happen when the Cullen's return and learn the full story about Audrey and her relationship to Jasper?! Review!
If you have any questions or comments, post them in my reviews and I will answer them in my next Author's Note at the bottom of the chapter!
To see more, go to my FF page: Xo Bella Italiana oX
If you enjoyed this story so far, check out some of my other stories on my FanFiction page! Also, I am still accepting Twilight stories that involve Jasper/any female leads or Bella/selected male leads if anyone is looking for a Beta Reader. I will make exceptions on the characters depending on the plot. I am also accepting other story topics as well! PM me for details!
- Bellisma -
Xo Bella Italiana oX