Music:
Colours of the wind – Vanessa Williams
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Chapter 3: Esmé – Wolf family
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Timmain's still talking, telling her story. Esmé will comment and speak later.
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"After three years moving along the shoreline, hunting in the sea mostly, I came across a pack of wolves on a hunt." I decided to watch them and admired their teamwork." I wanted to see more, study them up-close."
"I'd already experienced a day in the life of a Siberian tiger, an awesome memory." Now I was going to add another." I followed them to their den and watched them interact with each other, a real family."
"I had already decided I didn't want to be a vampire, I was glad my creator didn't introduce himself, I liked how I saw myself already." I stuck around for a few days, wanting to be part of their world." I started copying their behaviour, to edge a little closer each day." The pack consisted of seven adults and three pups." I quickly gave them names, they had such personalities."
"The alpha pair, Alexander and Katherine, were weary of me of course, but allowed me to come within three yards." I decided the most submissive position, which indicated the least of a threat, was lying on my back, being very still."
They came to check me out, probably I looked like a rock and the boldest pup climbed on top of me." I let him play and the others followed his lead, after that they tolerated me." Two moths later they trusted me and I was happy, I cared for them a lot."
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I listened to her story, I could hardly believe what this girl had gone through. How lonely she must have been to go and live with animals. I felt sorry for her, she was sweet and needed guidance. I hoped she would stay, I had a good feeling about her.
But as she continued, I noticed the tone of her voice; confidant, loving, not a hint of self-pity.
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"I watched over them, protected them from danger, which seemed to come from humans more and more." A lot of times I could scare them away with threatening noises or destroy their equipment so they would be forced to go." I didn't understand why humans seem to hate wolves." We were no where near people or livestock." Later I thought they might be blamed for vampire-attacks."
"One time a hunter managed to get a shot off and the bullet grazed one of the wolves, Peter, badly on the shoulder." I grabbed the man's gun without him noticing me, but it scared him enough to retreat." I destroyed the gun completely, grinded it to dust." Then I rushed over to help Peter, I couldn't think of anything but using polarity-massage, though I used a light touch."
"That's when I discovered I had this gift – which I value the most – I could heal." It really worked, the wound started closing until there was only a scar left." I felt his body working with me and it was so easy." We were so relieved and overjoyed!"
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Wow, she could really do that! I looked at Edward and he indicated she was telling the truth. Then I looked at Carlisle, who looked fascinated and smiled at me, though I detected a tiny hint of jealousy. I could also understand her valuing this part of her gift more than the other, until now she had avoided other vampires, so the copying part seemed of little use to her. I could also tell she had a heart like Carlisle, kind and caring.
But her last sentence also made it clear, these wolves weren't like pets to her, she regarded them as intelligent beings, as family.
Luckily no one interrupted her and she continued her story.
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"We got even more close after that, they started to look for me when I had been out hunting in the sea." They greeted me like one of them." They howled to make contact with me at a distance." - Timmain paused and checked our reaction. I kept my expressions neutral, but I could tell some of the others found it hard not to think of her as weird. She reacted to that of course, being observant, it didn't pass her by. Her tone was defensive. –
"I know you think I'm weird, acting like this, but I didn't think about it, it felt good and natural to me. There was no one to judge me and even if there was, I couldn't care less. I was happy, I wasn't lonely or feeling sorry for myself. I was a predator among other predators, a thinking being among other thinking beings, living day by day."
These words cut off all looks of disapproval, pity and even the look of disgust on Rosalie's face. We just listened.
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"After a year had passed, I started feeling I might have to much of an impact on their lives." Also they weren't going to live more then ten years or so." I felt it was wrong for the new generation to start depending on me, if I was going to stay forever." This fact became very real about two weeks later." I had been out hunting and had travelled a long way." –~
Her voice started to tremble lightly. She focused on her breathing to control herself and glanced at Edward for a split second. There was something she didn't want him to see. She seemed satisfied he didn't and carried on. –~
"When I arrived home, the pack was in distress, I quickly noticed one of the pups was missing." He was a favourite of mine, the bold one who made contact first, I named him Boots, because of his black paws." I found his scent-trail fast, he'd been tracking a rabbit." But at the end of the trail I discovered I was to late…"- she swallowed a lump in her throat – Boots was dead, killed by a hunter."
– She paused again to control herself – "I snatched his body up and took him home." After that I decided it was time to leave, I coaxed them to a new territory, where no humans had been, because of the rough terrain." They didn't want to let me go and howled for some time." It was hard for me, but I ran fast, so I wouldn't change my mind."
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There was more to this emotional ending, I could tell by the way Jasper reacted. But it probably was to painful for her and she didn't want Edward to feel that too.
Then I had questions, of course: "What happened next? How did you end up here? What about the other part of your gift?"
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"Well, she answered, I decided to do something I thought I would never do; look for other vampires." After meeting Nick I realized there might be more living like me." I walked into a town when it was dark." There were so many streets and allies, but after a while I smelled a vampire, but also fresh human blood." This one was living the traditional way." Still, I was curious, maybe I could help the victim."
"In a dark, filthy ally I found her, she was feeding of a rough looking guy, who was beyond saving." But on the ground there was a woman with her throat cut, she was still alive." The female vampire didn't stop me when I approached the injured woman, who probably was the victim of the man she was draining."
"Of course she was surprised when, instead of feeding on the bleeding woman, I started to help her." When the woman was out of danger, but still unconscious, I asked for the nearest hospital or doctor."
"The vampire, named Anoushka, was willing to help me and after we dropped of the woman she invited me to her place." There we talked and although she fed on humans, she restricted herself to killing only criminals or dying, ill or old people." She was amazed about my gift and how I was living of animal-blood only."
"She was well connected in the vampire-world and even knew someone close to the Volturi." – Nick told me about them – "So, I asked her if she heard about others, living like me." And she had, her contact in Italy told her of an upcoming expedition from the Volturi to America." Something about punishing a big clan of yellow-eyed vampires."
"Of course I wanted to know more about them, you" – she looked at all of us – so Anoushka helped to get plain-tickets and papers."
"At some point, when I was preparing the trip with her, I accidently touched her hand." I felt an unusual energy run through me and suddenly I was singing at a strange, low frequency." I saw Anoushka was freezing up, unable to move, immediately I stopped and broke contact."
"That's when she told me she had a gift too." When she was still human, she was an opera-singer and after she was turned, she found out she had this gift." Humans fall asleep when they hear her sing like that, vampires just freeze."
"We were both stunned, but I quickly understood the connection between these, on the surface, very different looking gifts." They really were the same in the sense they both had to do with energy in a body, the difference was how I reacted to it."
"When I'm healing I'm using more of my own energy to activate and amplify someone's own ability to regenerate." When I copied Anoushka's gift, I made her energy flowing into me my own." The flow stopped when I broke contact."
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Then she went silent, she had been talking for a long time and we all needed time to process all this information. Timmain was really something special. At first I thought we were going to be the ones teaching her, but now it seemed we could all learn from her too.
I looked at Carlisle, who's eyes were full of wonder and curiosity. I gave him a smile and he smiled back, taking my hand, he knew what I wanted. I looked at the rest of the family, they could also read my face and seemed to agree with me. So I asked the question: "Timmain, would like to stay? You're welcome for as long as you like."
She looked at me and Carlisle, who nodded – we were serious – she then looked at all of our faces, but stopped at Jacob's. I could tell he wasn't completely sure, of course I knew why, new vampires near Quileute-territory could mean more werewolves. Was Timmain aware of this?
She looked down for a moment and then she looked up at Jacob again, her eyes pleading, she was looking for his permission. This confused him, so Edward reacted: "She knows who you are Jake, she recognizes your scent." You're the alpha and you have the final say in this."
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Comment:
Why didn't Timmain take charge of the wolves? She had the power to make them do what she wanted. She didn't because she felt she was a guest, a visitor. She wasn't going to disrupt the existing pack-structure. So she acted like a low ranking member, accepting boundaries set by the alpha pair. By nature she isn't dominant, so it wasn't hard to do.
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