42. MEETING
We just stood there, struck dumb with a penetrating fear. Where had we gone wrong?
"You've all caused quite a great deal of trouble for us, haven't you?" Sulpicia continued, taking another step towards us. Edythe squeezed my hand, bringing me behind her back. I saw Ivan lurking behind Athenodora, anger filling me up at the sight of him. Your fault, I wanted to scream. How could you do this to us? But maybe it was at least a little unfair of me to say; maybe deep down - deep, deep down - he had some valid reason to do what he did; that maybe he really did think he was doing the right thing. But sometimes it was easier to have someone else to blame. I searched his eyes, willing myself to understand. His gaze found ours and the look he gave us was that of pure devastation; all trembling eyes and lips. It was only then did the anger in me begin to subside, receding like a wave.
At the head of the group which cornered us, I saw Sulpicia's eyes moving across the field, like she was looking for someone. I think I knew who that was. The only person who really mattered to her, I'd wager.
"You won't find her here." Edythe growled. For a split second, I swear Sulpicia's face looked… relieved. But then she focused on Edythe again, taking a scraping step closer to her through the crisp snow.
"Look at you. I've yet to offer my congratulations on your marriage in person, but it appears you've given me yet another happy occasion I must extend my felicitations to you for." She smiled again, stroking Edythe's cheek with the back of her hand. "Motherhood looks radiant on you, my dear."
Edythe pushed Sulpicia's hand away, hard. "You've assessed your situation, Sulpicia. Yes, what my cousin there told you is all true, every word of it. We didn't even know it was possible. Please, just let us go, no law has been broken here."
"Perhaps," Sulpicia went on, unphased. "But the danger here is still great." There was an edge to her voice now. "And bear in mind, the fact that your husband here is still human-" Sulpicia's eyes fell on me, "we already have more than enough grounds to punish you all, so I suggest you cooperate."
"Why should we?" Edythe cried out, defiant. "Why should we be punished for your mistake? Because you couldn't handle your own -"
Sulpicia's body went rigid. Her lips parted, eyebrows furrowing in distress. Her breath came out a short burst and she lunged forward, seizing Edythe's wrist before she could say another word. I knew then we'd hit right where it hurt.
"What do you know?" She whipped out low and quick with a pang of desperation. But, feeling the others' eyes on her, she released Edythe's wrist – there was no way she would cause a scene; make her innermost shame - and torment - known like that on the outside. Looking right at Sulpicia, Edythe swallowed hard and took a breath.
"Edythe, don't!" Eleanor hit her arm in warning.
"Everything." Edythe took a step closer to Sulpicia, one foot in front of the other. I tried to pull her back to me, but she didn't move. "Let me do this, Beau." She whispered. Then, reaching into her coat pocket, she drew out a silver flash of metal.
It was Adelaide's rattle. It was our bargaining chip.
Sulpicia startled and lurched forward, all but snatching the little toy from Edythe. She brought the top of the rattle to her lips and kissed it, pressing it to her chest like it were baby clothes an infant had outgrown that a mom would squeeze one last time before putting away. Like it was something truly precious to her. It earned her two aching, sympathetic glances from Marcus and Athenodora and confused ones from all the newer members of the Volturi and their witnesses. From here, I could tell she was shaking, rolling with sorrow in silent pulsations.
"Where on earth did you get this?" Her voice was thick, like she'd been crying.
"You know, Sulpicia." Edythe said in a pleading voice. A mother to a mother because, in every way that mattered, that's what Sulpicia ultimately was - is - to Adelaide. That's why she couldn't kill her. That's why she let her go. That's why we were here, in this situation, in the first place. But, it was also why we still had a chance. Because Sulpicia loved her.
"Give me your hand. Let me see that which you saw." Sulpicia breathed.
"No." Edythe shook her head.
"Give. Me. Your. Hand." The last word came out a rasped, threatening growl, her crimson eyes burning as they looked right into Edythe's same ones.
"Let us talk as we used to, Sulpicia." Carine interjected before Edythe could obey or disobey.
"Fair words my dearest Carine, fair words," Sulpicia nodded very slowly. All the light in her eyes had gone out. "But surely, you understand the position that I am in. Surely, you understand why I must do this." At that last part, her eyes sparked to life and her voice broke, like something hurt.
Edythe held a supplicating hand up and out which trembled in the wind. "You don't have to do anything, Sulpicia. Just let us go, and walk away. That's all. Please, I am begging it of you."
For a moment, another look flashed across Sulpicia's face – her eyes softened, lips falling open. Contemplating. In her eyes now shined this strange sadness, and a helplessness that went right along with it. And for a second, I was no longer afraid of, or even angry with, her.
But the next moment, those dead eyes were back again, and Sulpicia walked, trance-like, with slow, faltering steps back to her side of the field, facing the Volturi's black-robed witnesses. And I could tell in the silence that followed that she was spinning a tale in her desperation.
She took a breath and began to speak:
"The child which our young friend carries is wholly, utterly, and impossibly unique but, there is still grave danger here, danger that simply cannot be ignored."
"What danger would that be, Sulpicia?" Marcus began in a drifting, faraway voice, his face torn. Was he sort of on our side here? Did he also think it was cruel of Sulpicia to implicate our entire family for this? An injustice in every sense of the word?
"It is only that this child-" Sulpicia came back and touched Edythe's face, dropping her hand to my wife's stomach. Edythe pushed it away hard, her breath seizing up on her.
And then Sulpicia let out a trembling gasp. She touched the place on her wrist where Edythe's skin brushed hers and continued. "I have seen the child's thoughts in its mother's memory. Truly an amazing, miraculous creature. Beautiful." She choked out in a shaking voice, and I couldn't help but wonder if it made her think of Adelaide. But then she went on, her voice reclaiming its composure, "If only we could but know the child's potential - know with absolute certainty that they could always remain shrouded within the obscurity that protects us. But we know nothing of what such a child will become! Its own parents are plagued by fears for its future. We cannot know what they will grow to be." Obviously, that was an outright lie. Because she did know. And maybe, just maybe, some small part of her actually thought she was doing the right thing, too.
"She doesn't want them to know." Edythe whispered, reading the truth in Sulpicia's head and realizing it the same time I did.
That's right - she only wanted to eliminate us in order to protect Adelaide. To rewrite the narrative of her family's history; make it safe for Adelaide to continue living in that darkness.
I tried rationalizing it – Sulpicia wanted to get rid of Edythe and our child. Is it because if she didn't, she knew she would potentially have to come clean about Adelaide and kill her, too? Because our baby was solid proof that someone like Adelaide could exist at all in their world; to eliminate her chances of exposure by eliminating the one thing that can expose her in the first place by simply existing? But most of the witnesses and the Volturi guard she'd brought today didn't know a thing about any of it at all. And she was desperate to keep it that way. She was, it seemed, willing to sacrifice us to protect the one most precious to her; the one whom she loved most - Adelaide. And she could never let anyone else know.
But it still didn't make sense to me, and I was certain it never will. Because all I wanted was to take my family home.
"We did nothing wrong." I proclaimed our innocence; shouted it out loud. "Please – don't do this to us."
"It's true." Carine insisted, clasping her hands to her chest. "Though you say we may not know what the child which my daughter carries can become," a pointed look at Sulpicia, "we still have not broken any laws, it is as simple as that. Just give us the chance to raise this child well. That is all I ask of you." I saw what Carine was doing – it was a pivot. If Sulpicia wouldn't come out clean with it, with Adelaide's existence, then we were going to play along, ensure grounds on which we cannot be found guilty of anything, at least not yet. This way, then maybe, just maybe, we can buy ourselves a little more time. It was all we needed, because I was certain then we can ensure this would be our final meeting with the Volturi for the rest of our lives; to keep on running and to keep on moving so they stay in the dark for the rest of all time and can't ever touch us again. Our own practicable version of freedom no matter how flawed; the version that I could see was most within reach now.
"You are right, there is no broken law," Sulpicia continued, "but, does it then follow that there is no danger in letting you go? I think not."
Finding something in Sulpicia's head, Edythe's eyes flew open and she faltered backwards with a trembling gasp, her hands tight over her stomach. Like she was protecting it.
"You can't do this!" Edythe wept. "At least give our child a chance. He is innocent."
"I'm sorry, Edythe." Sulpicia answered. It almost sounded like she meant it. "But, as I'm sure you are aware, only the known is safe. Only the known is tolerable. The unknown is… a vulnerability." She said with a cool shrug but clenched her fists at her side then clasped her hands together in front of her to hide their shaking. Marcus and Athenodora took a step closer to her, their strange, lingering glances on us, their witnesses, and each other saying something without the words. Getting whatever it was that she got from their eyes, Sulpicia, after a moment, took another breath and turned to look at the crowd gathered behind them. "Or, how about this?" She tilted her head thoughtfully, moving her eyes over all the vampires on her side of the field. "Let us ask our witnesses, then. Let us hear their thoughts before we make our decision." She turned her back on us, moving a few yards towards the mass of nervous observers hovering close to the edge of the forest. What could she be thinking now? "What are your thoughts on all this? Do we take the risk and let the child and its mother live? Do we put ourselves in jeopardy to preserve this coven here; let the fate of our entire world rest in their hands?" A hushed throng of panicked voices started up immediately, deliberating whether my pregnant wife and our unborn child should be executed on the spot. It was barbaric to even think about. I was bursting with everything I wanted say; with my urge to scream out and proclaim my family's innocence over and over again and that the true monsters were them; all of them, for even considering the murder of Edythe and our child. My child. I wrapped my arms around Edythe, bringing her close to me. Her hand was on my chest and I covered it with mine, lifting my gaze to meet Sulpicia's eyes which tried hard to appear cold and indifferent – like how she thought a level-headed ruler should be, I suppose – but when I looked at her again, closer, my throat went dry and no words would come out, because behind that look I swear I saw something… something more in them than the monster. Pity, and sorrow. Sadness. Maybe she really did feel bad for us. She took a breath and clutched the rattle to her chest in a subtle movement, her thumb and forefinger tenderly rubbing its handle before sliding it into her robe pocket, patting it twice afterwards to make sure it was still there.
"We shall counsel, then." Sulpicia motioned with both hands to the throng of red-eyed vampires behind her then gathered Marcus and Athenodora in a small circle, putting their heads together discussing who knew what. Jonathas and Alecia's hostile gazes were fixed on us, eyes narrowed and teeth grit just lying in wait for a chance to use their powers on us should we even dare tweak a foot in another direction to make our escape. But I also remembered, too, that I had power of my own. Trying to make my movements as subtle as possible, I leaned down towards Edythe. "Should we-?" I turned my head in the direction of the tallest snowcapped peaks of the mountain range at the opposite end of the field and traced a mental escape route in the snow; through the twisting trees of the vast, dark forest. First, we would distract the Guard somehow and get Archie back, and then I could shield us all from the twins' powers. We could make a run for it right here, right now. All I needed was a lift, and everyone else could hold their own, speeding through the forest at 100 miles per hour to the ends of the earth where the Volturi would never find us. They'd chase us for a while, of course, but we'll lose them eventually. We'll split up into smaller groups then meet back up again somewhere far away from here and start life anew, where nobody knew us. In hiding, but at least we'll all be together; at least we'll all be alive. And if the Volturi ever were to come back for us, Archie can just warn us about it and we'll move again and elude them every time until they give up. By then, I'll probably be like Edythe, too, so I can protect her and our child even more effectively because who knows what I'll be capable of once the Change happens, right? I was confident in that now. And then we'll finally be free.
But then the voices quieted, the silence so loud it pierced right through those images of freedom and a tall black-haired man raised his hand. Sulpicia nodded in his direction, motioning for him to speak. The man cleared his throat and my family and I turned towards the sound, holding our breaths as we awaited our fate.
"We have come to a decision."
The words made me freeze and my heart started pounding away in my chest. Sulpicia smiled, extending her hand towards him. "What is it you wish to say, dear Michael?"
"We think," Michael began, biting his lip. He looked to a blond male beside him and took his hand, motioning to our side of the field and looking at us with soft eyes that reignited that small kindling of hope in me. "We think that the Cullens are innocent. Let them live their lives and we shall live ours. Let us not break apart this family, for that is all I see when I look at them."
My heart felt like it literally stopped, paralyzed with the stirrings of deep relief. I held my breath as I watched Sulpicia. Would she show us mercy now? Spare us, at least for today? It was all we needed, because we were going to run afterwards, run as long and as far away as we can where the Volturi would never find us again.
Sulpicia let out a slow breath and half-nodded once, looking up a moment later. "So our witnesses have spoken, then." She put her hands together, motioning to us with them. "You are free to go."
Edythe dropped to her knees in the snow, sobbing in silence as I fell with her, the sting of hot tears rushing into my eyes. Her whole body was shaking, and my own heart felt like it would burst with joy as I held her so tight against me, cradling her stomach and kissing her over and over again everywhere my lips could touch.
"But!" Sulpicia's voice echoed out across the field. Edythe's breath trembled in fear and her hand tightened around mine as we turned to face Sulpicia. "Let it be known then that on this day, at this hour, you are summoned to our palace in Volterra immediately after the child is born and twice every year afterwards in which you will present them to me and I can assess the nature of their existence. I trust you will raise the child in good faith and that they will be kept away from the human world in order to preserve the integrity of our society until their twenty-first year, which by then I am certain they may no longer pose a threat to our kind and will have learned to live and to exist as discreetly as possible alongside the rest of us. I think that is just."
"We'll do it." Carine emphatically declared, but I wasn't sure if she was just saying it so we could leave or if we were actually going to eventually follow through with everything she'd said. I knew I didn't want to.
Sulpicia nodded. "Very good, old friend. Before I let you all go today, though, I have one final decree – that the child's father be turned as soon as possible or you will all be liable to punishment, and you may consider the deal which I have proposed to you today as null and void. That is not a request. Am I understood?"
Edythe leapt back, pulling me with her. She was rearing, I could tell it was going to be a hard "no" for her.
"Am I understood?" Sulpicia repeated in a booming voice.
Edythe's fists clenched and she took a step forward, defiance clear on every plane of her face. The thing was, I didn't want to give up my human life anymore either, at least not right now. I wanted to grow with our child and be a normal dad to them, at least for a little while. But if giving up my human life – my mortality, but also my father, my mother, and everything else about it even when it killed me to think about; what it would do to them to lose me like that because they could never know what I really was in order for me to keep them safe - was what it took, I knew I'd do it. I'd do it a hundred times over if it meant I could watch our child grow up; if it meant that we would all have a future together. That's just the way it was now. Because I had a family to protect.
"Edythe," I whispered, tilting her face up towards mine. "It's okay."
"Beau-"
I stopped her, putting a finger to her lips. Taking a step forward, I looked Sulpicia in the eyes. "Consider it done. If my wife refuses, I'll get someone else to do it then instead. You have my word."
"Very good." Sulpicia nodded, her lips pressed tight against each other. She walked over to where those two Volturi guards had Arch, motioning for them to release him. She took his shoulders in a very civil manner, gently leading him back towards our side of the field. "Forgive me for the inconvenience I've caused you and yours, my young friend." Sulpicia showed Arch a rueful smile, taking his hand apologetically. She left a final lingering touch on Arch's shoulder in a movement of comradery though he moved away from her quickly afterwards – I mean, can you blame him? If we were really planning on running, it would not do well for her to see that in his head. Arch held his breath, probably a little scared still, as Sulpicia's robes brushed past his pant leg and she started walking away slowly.
"No problem." Arch shook his head, and I wasn't sure if it was just me who heard it but I could've sworn there was something else in his voice when he said that, too, the last word tapering out at the end like he was catching his breath. Like he was holding something back but what, I couldn't imagine. And then for the flicker of a moment, his eyes found mine. They were wide; pulsing – scared. But I just attributed that look to his lingering feelings of fear and animosity directed towards the Volturi – the exact same emotions I was feeling towards them, too - for what they put us through and silently I watched as Sulpicia moved across the field, her steps light and controlled, her back turned on us, already on her way back to Volterra. Ivan followed them too, so I guess he was one of them now. As sad as that was, it was the choice he'd made and he was just going to have to live with it. So goes life. I was hopeful though that he'd be able to come back to us. One day. When the group finally disappeared into the shadow of the trees, Arch let out a huge sigh of relief, leaning over his legs with his hands on his knees. All of us there – me, Edythe, Arch, Carine, and Jules – found ourselves doing the exact same thing. The entire Volturi guard and their witnesses had left, and we were safe. Free to go home now, just as we'd hoped. Our plan had worked.
Edythe threw her arms around my neck. I brought her tight to me, pressing a deep kiss to her lips. When we pulled away, Edythe was still leaning into me, content and so incredibly relieved as we started back towards the cave hand-in-hand, since through it we'd be on our way to where we'd parked our car. I'd call the rest of our family then; fill them in on our amazing news. I felt a peace at last wash over me.
And then I stepped on my shoelace.
"Oh. Your shoe's untied. I would do it for you, but I can't even tie my own shoes right now." Edythe chuckled, pointing to my feet. Of course, I wouldn't have made her do that anyways regardless if she was pregnant or not and I laughed with her, giving her hand another squeeze. Still, I didn't need to be faceplanting into the snow anytime soon, so I bent down to remedy the situation promptly.
"Go ahead, you guys. I'll be right there in a minute." I waved them off, smiling as I watched them leave.
I pulled the laces tight on my other boot. But just as I was getting up, I heard a strange rush of feet pounding out of our side of the forest. I squinted my eyes, trying to find the face to whom those feet belonged.
It was Arch.
Shouts filled the air, so loud and so quick I couldn't make out what he was saying.
"Arch?" I called. "Arch, what's wrong?"
"Look out behind you!"
There was no mistaking his words now. I turned around on instinct.
One of Sulpicia's men, a guard who'd held Arch hostage earlier, leapt from a tree, descending upon us quick. I braced myself for impact, holding my arms up in front of me.
But then his course veered.
And that was when I knew.
He wasn't aiming for me.
"Edythe!" I screamed and screamed out – it was a cry to God. Halfway between me and Arch, caught in the crossfire. The true target. Her, and our child.
It was too easy. Far, far too easy. Maybe we should've known.
Edythe screamed, falling backwards into the snow and rolling out of the assailant's way with her hands tight on her stomach right before his body could make contact with hers.
It was the closest call I'd ever seen. "Edythe!" I cried out, lunging for her. I heard the whoosh of the guard's massive body sailing through the air again and covered Edythe with myself, shielding her from the blow I knew was coming.
There was a sound like lightning, and I looked up. Arch had tackled him in midair, and they fell to the floor together with a smattering of fresh powder that made my vision turn a blinding white. When the powder cleared, I saw Jules phase in the air, her phone which was in the middle of a call sailing into the ground some meters away as she collided with another Volturi guard, the second one that'd held Arch hostage earlier.
Yes. We were under attack.
Carine came running and swooped down beside us, helping Edythe sit up. Taking out her own phone, Carine called up the rest of our family and begged them to come find us, giving them our location coordinates – we wouldn't be able to face the Volturi's vampires alone. And I prayed to God they weren't far.
"On your left!" Arch cried out.
I rolled out of the way with Edythe, doing everything I could to make sure I wouldn't put any weight on her, bracing myself with my knee or elbow whenever I had to be on top of her. Carine slammed into the guard, flying into the air with him. Then another one, huge, burly, with black curly hair came in for me and Edythe. I stood us up and tried running away with her, my arms over her. We're about to make it to the safety of the forest shadows, but then I get ripped from Edythe.
And then I was flying into the trees. I heard the horrible crack before I realized it was my ribs, but at least they weren't broken. Not yet. I crashed into the ground and got to my feet as fast as I could, but the floor wasn't steady beneath me. On all corners of the field, a vampire had Arch, Carine, and Jules. It was up to useless human me with no super speed, no super strength, nothing at all to my name whatsoever to save my wife now. "Edythe!" I ran towards her, holding my side, my feet pounding against the drowning powder that made my steps sink and falter but then I felt something knock into me again to get to her, and that one blow threw me clear across the field, meters and meters from where I was last standing.
"Ah!" I recognized her cry and my eyes locked on her struggling form. "Edythe!" I screamed out, running, running, running towards her. Edythe's arm was twisted behind her now, the guard's other hand tight on her neck. She coughed three times, her one small pale hand, frantic, was helpless against his monster grip leaving nothing, not even a scratch, on that hard marble skin. He threw her down, bringing her to her knees and she's screaming and sobbing, screaming and sobbing. "Edythe!" I shrieked.
He's got her by the neck. His hand is raised high in the air. And I'm still yards and yards from them both.
Think, Beau, think. What can I do now? I had nothing to trade, or bargain. Nothing to get me to her any faster than my human legs can carry me. And she'd be dead, both her and our child, by the time I got there.
I looked down into my empty hands, then felt the throb of the bandaged one twinge through me.
And then it hit me.
This was not how it was going to end. Because there was something I could do.
Something only I could do.
My heart leapt in my chest and I tore off the gauze on my hand, letting the white fabric spiral onto the snow. Using my sharpest nail, I clawed at my stitches and felt the searing burn as my skin broke open.
But I wasn't bleeding fast enough.
"Come on, come on, come on…" My voice was frantic.
Then I got an idea.
From my biggest coat pocket, I drew out a scintillating flash of metal, running my hand over the shimmering handle. My golden pocketknife. My birthday gift. "To Beau, with Love. Edythe." The sanctity of that inscription burned me with what I knew I had to do.
I sprung it open, flying across the field right towards the monster. The sharp blade glinted fiercely in the fading light of the sun and without another thought, I ripped it over the skin on the inside of my elbow. I felt the sting, and then a hot gush of red streamed down my arm, the fat, crimson orbs seeping into the blanket of white at my feet, staining it. I dropped the knife and raised my arm high in the air, feeling the cold wind slam into the gash I'd given myself. I smeared the red with my other hand, pulsing it open and closed like a beating, bleeding heart to make him crazy. It slid through my fingers, dripping onto the icy ground in more sizzles.
Eyes on me now, the guard's hand stopped just before it could touch the skin on my wife's neck.
"You want it? Then come get me, you bastard!"
And so he did.
He blasted forward through the snow, kicking up a trail of white blaze behind him. Wild thirst pulsed in his fire-red eyes as his arms extended and he slammed me into him, locking me tight in his steel arms like a vise. I struggled and fell onto my knees and then his face was right by mine, so close I could feel the icy chill of his breath on my nose. Jaw wide open, he dove.
But I didn't feel the teeth.
His face disappeared from view with the velocity of a spring-loaded punching bag. I knew who my savior was before I saw her face.
My wife did a full-on roundhouse kick, sending him flying across the field where he landed with a smattering of white powder like a tundra explosion. Edythe fell with me in the snow from the force and I helped her to her feet, but the sound of pounding steps made us look up.
The guard was charging right back towards us. No time to run.
But he'd have to go through me first. I tried bringing Edythe behind me, but she wouldn't budge.
"Beau, you have to let me protect us. I'm strong. I can do this." She shook her head and grabbed my hand.
"But Edythe-" She put a finger to my lips.
"I won't be a moment." Then she pressed her forehead to mine, her cool hands on my face.
"Promise?" I whispered, my arms tight around her.
"I promise." She'd kept the promise to me before, and I knew – or hoped, with everything in me – she'd do it again.
I kissed her one last time and let her go. I mean, did I really have a choice?
The next instant she jumped, and so did he. With her foot extended in the air, Edythe smashed it into the man's face, sending him flying once more. She leapt through the air in two bursts and when he was still down, she landed on top of him with one knee on his back, putting her hands round his neck and beginning to pull. There was a high-pitched squeal, but right before she could pop his head clean off, he overpowered her, changing places so his arms were around her neck instead, glaring at her, teeth grit. "Edythe!" I screamed, running as fast as I could, the effort making my splintered ribs feel like they were on fire. But the next instant, she sent her elbow clear into his crotch in quick invisible bursts until the guy crumpled into the ground. I winced involuntarily because I knew he was feeling that a hundred times its intensity, and it already hurt like crazy with normal human-level senses as I can attest from personal experience. And then despite the situation, despite the danger all around us and the evil vampires coming for us at every turn, I couldn't help but laugh, even when everywhere in my body hurt doing that. My wife, resident badass. In his agonized state, Edythe got him again in a chokehold. Carine, finally free now, jumped up and sank her foot hard into the guy's back, cracking it in two. Edythe went in to finish what she started and then I saw the guard's head bloodlessly rolling on the floor. Taking a lighter from her peacoat pocket, Edythe launched it in the direction his body parts lay and turned him into ash as white as the snow-covered ground so it was as if there was nothing there in the first place, not one trace of what happened here today.
And we still weren't done yet.
Out from the trees came five more, one for each of us. Sulpicia was nowhere in sight - we must've been on some invisible hit list, and she couldn't afford to be seen getting involved. But then why would she do this to us even after letting us go? Why did she still want us dead?
And then I remembered Sulpicia touching Arch's shoulder. His voice edged in fear like something was lodged in his throat when Sulpicia was walking away. Her strange, controlled steps, unnatural, that made the alarm bells go off in my head.
And then it hit me.
What could she have possibly seen to make her do this to us?
Another wave of panic surged in my chest.
"Look out, Beau!"
I turned in the direction of Edythe's voice but by then it was too late.
A vampire, wild-eyed, slammed into me with the force of a barge and I was airborne, flying into a cluster of trees on the outskirts of the surrounding forest and crashing through the hundred spike-like branches all along the length of the trunk on my way down. It felt like my body shattered on impact even in the snow and my face twisted in pain as I curled in on my broken everything.
A pair of bloodred eyes and hair so blond it was almost white. He yanked hard on my arm, his fingernails digging into the cut I'd given myself earlier and I screamed and screamed when the bone pulverized in his grip.
A sound like two rocks colliding, and the pressure immediately let up. A familiar voice cut through the air. "Beau!" And then Arch swept me into his arms and began to run, run, run. "Beau, Edythe's with Carine, we're trying to find a safe place to hide out until the rest of the family arrives, we're-"
He didn't finish his sentence. He gasped and launched us into the sky, holding on tight to my broken body.
Another collision. I'm knocked clear from Arch's arms with the force of a semitruck and another one's got him by the neck far down below me.
Still flying, still falling, a pair of bloodred eyes and hair so blond it was almost white fill my vision. He was after me. Again. Like a lion going in for the kill, he crushed his arms around me in the stinging cold air and then we're spiraling. I struggled to free myself, desperately trying to push his face away from mine but he wouldn't budge.
Somewhere down below, I heard my wife scream. Was another one after her? Our child? My heart clenched up in my chest when I thought of all the things they could possibly be doing to her, my wet eyes burning in the howling wind.
"Edythe!" I cried out, begging her to hear me. All that went through my mind was that I needed to find her; I needed to protect her.
The wind whistled through my ears as I desperately searched for something, anything, that could get me to her fast enough.
And then I saw it.
Coming right up under my airborne body was a steep hillside where stone crags poked up out of the snow. I was literally between a rock and a hard place - well, vampire. But I knew I had to take the chance, because there was still one last thing I could do; one last thing I can potentially survive - if I did it right - to be by Edythe's side.
The timing had to be perfect. Calling on everything I ever learned in Physics, I leaned and leaned towards that cliff, begging the wind to take us eastward. It listened to me.
And then we were going down. The floor was getting closer and closer and a sickening thud echoed through the mountains as we crashed into the hill, the rocks making contact with his body first that initiated a landslide with an explosion of stone and silt. He howled in pain, his grip already loosening from the impact. And then we were just rolling, rolling, rolling; through the boulders, through the slabs of rock, through the jutting-out roots of age-old trees and the rubble of a fallen forest buried under a thin veil of snow. I tried to use his body as some kind of shield, maneuvering it this way and that as best I could in his death grip. Tumble down once, grab his ankles and use the momentum of the speed of our fall to throw him over me when I saw the deadly jags of rock sticking up from the land like spikes. Hit him in the head with a broken tree branch here by turning us this way, grab onto the lapel of his coat and roll us past the boulders, making sure his stone body made contact with the sharpest protrusions in our path first. But all the while, despite my best efforts, the rocks continually nicked my shoulders, dead-ends of branches pierced my skin leaving slash upon slash of red on every exposed part of my body, and my bones broke then rebroke on the hundreds of boulders and splintered trees when I couldn't get the angle just right as we fell down, down, down sprawling meters of stone and treachery like the site of a shipwreck. And then coming right up I saw it - a gray-white streaked boulder double the size of the mass we made. We were still falling, rolling down the steep hill at turbulent speeds and the blond vampire tried to grab me again, pulling me tight to his chest and squeezing, squeezing, squeezing until I couldn't breathe. I heard the cracking; felt the sharpest points of my injuries jab into everything vital inside me as I fought against his grip, desperately trying to angle myself away from the boulder and him towards it if I could, the mass just outside my reach every time we took a tumble. The winds seemed to change, and then our path started veering. By some sheer miracle or misfortune, we were headed straight for it now and I knew this could be how it ended for me if I hit it wrong. Life or Death. Now all I could do was wait and see.
I counted down until impact – 3,2,1.
A cataclysmic Boom like a lightning strike.
And then it tore us from each other, the vampire's stone body taking the brunt of the impact. But I hit it, too, and my body screamed as it made contact with the hard stone and it felt like all my bones fragmented in the breath of a moment. But despite that; despite the excruciation pulsating from every inch of my shattered body, I was finally free. I will survive this. I had to. For Edythe. Edythe, Edythe, Edythe. My wife, and our child.
I had to find her. But first, I had to find some way to break my fall; my descent.
I searched and searched for some kind of handhold on this sprawling death trap but whenever I thought I had one, the rock would crumble away, giving out each and every time. And then I was falling again, tumbling backwards with my back to the wind. Just when I thought the broken tree trunk I crashed into would finish the job, the decline of the slope appeared to me like a mirage the next second, flattening into a plateau of white powder. My broken body took to the air one last time, and then the sky at last stilled above me. I lay there, sprawled out like a rag doll, aching, burning, agonizing rolls of torment assaulting me on all sides from the inside out. But at least I was still alive.
Maybe not for long, though.
The blond vampire, my attacker, popped out of the snow-covered hills in the distance. Still on his feet, unharmed and unscathed. Not one scratch on his marble skin; his body built like a tank. And he was pissed.
He was over to me in three bursts, his movements so fast they blurred.
"You troublesome boy," he barked, his iron grip tightening on my wrists. A vicious sneer gouged his features as he threw me into the ground, pinning me down with his knee which sunk into the small of my back with a sickening crunch and a strangled sound like an animal's ripped from the back of my throat. My head slammed hard into something, a high-pitched squeal now assaulting my ears. The world spun and my skull throbbed, blood seeped through my fingers when they came up to touch my head. I struggled to get upright, coughing. Bright orbs of red burned into the white of the snow below me and my body was shot through with agony. I didn't know what – or how much – I'd broken. I tried to crawl away, trawling myself along the stinging snow. A sound of cruel, horrid laughter and he pulled me to him by the ankles, yanking me up to his face by the back of my neck, his ice fingers scraping down my wet cheek. My cuts wouldn't stop bleeding and they covered his hands in red. He brought his palm to his face and inhaled deeply, eyes sliding shut in rapture as he coated his lips with my blood. His wild red eyes locked on mine, and I screamed as he dove for my neck.
And then he was knocked from my sight.
"Beau!" An angel's voice cut through that brick wall of pain. Edythe. She was safe. Thank God she was safe. Behind her, I could just make out in a quivering blur three figures surrounding the gold-red haze of fire and I let out the breath I'd been holding. Edythe fell to her knees, holding a shaking hand out to me, afraid to touch me, her face contorting in horror. "My god, Beau, what have they done to you?" She sobbed, taking my face in her hands.
"Well, it wasn't all them." I chuckled, but it made my chest feel like it was on fire. So did breathing in general. I coughed, but it felt like I'd taken a blow instead.
"Shh, Beau. Don't talk." She shook her head, putting her finger to my split lip. "Carine!" She cried out, looking behind her. My mother-in-law came running, her doctor bag from the cave earlier now in hand. "Oh, no. No, no, no, no, no." She whispered in quick bursts, looking me over. That bad, huh? She threw the bag open, yanking out gauze, scissors, ointment, even one of those oxygen bag valve masks you see in those medical dramas on TV. Her cold hands were on the tattered remains of my shirt, my skin peeking out between the shreds as she palpated her hands up and down then length of my chest, and everywhere she touched me made me hiss. "Your ribs, and your spine…" her mouth fell open in shock but then she took a deep breath, trying to be calm for my sake. "And you've also punctured a lung, Beau, but the damage is minimal compared to your other injuries, I think we can fix it. You just keep on pumping this-" Carine handed Arch the oxygen mechanism, "-and Edythe and I will try and patch you up. Jules, you must keep him still. Make sure he does not move; do you understand me?" Carine pleaded, and Jules nodded emphatically. Edythe's terrified eyes were wide on me. With those eyes, so broken they broke me, she began to speak. "I'm so sorry, Beau. For everything. Everything, everything. It's all my fault." I tried to speak, to hold her hand, to touch her face. But my body was incapable of following any commands. I felt something cold and sharp jab hard into my arm, it made me gasp. "For the pain," Carine answered regretfully. Somewhere in the back of my mind, I knew what she meant by that. I guess she was right to pack that morphine. You'd think by now I'd be used to the whole "dying" thing, and maybe I was. It was the story of my life. And yet, for all that I can't bring myself to regret the decisions that brought me face to face with death. They also brought me to Edythe. If it meant that I could see Edythe's beautiful face looking back at me just once, then it would have been worth it every time, and I knew I'd do it all over again. For her. For her, for her, for her. My love, and my life, were entirely, unfailingly, and irrevocably hers.
For a moment, I drifted. Maybe it was the morphine. Or the injuries. But above all that, it was how much I ached with my love for her. Because the most unassailable pain of all, the most omnipotent torture to me would be losing her, and our child, forever. The ending of those two sparks of light - I knew it would kill me.
Passively, I felt the slight pressure of gauze wrapping round my arms. My broken leg – both my broken legs – being tied tight with belts and scraps of cloth. The sting of antiseptic as it brushed in cold strokes over my open wounds. The bursts of scalding pain attacking me from the inside out if I even so much as twitched. How Arch had to help me to breathe. And yet, through it all, the only thought that pulsed in my mind was whether our family would make it out of this forest alive, even if I'm not around to see it. And I could feel it coming. The light of the sky was fading now, my eyes couldn't stay open. Edythe's face was disappearing from view. It was like I was falling down a black tunnel just waiting and waiting for impact, knowing that each creeping, crushing moment could be my last. That I might never see Edythe again. And that was what terrified me most.
But death wasn't what separated us first.
Edythe was knocked clear from my view, her scream carrying further and further away into the shadows.
"Edythe!" I cried out, breaking the dizzy spell I was under. Carine and Arch sprinted towards her but Jules held on tight to me. Her eyes were wide, looking from me to Edythe and back again. "Beau! You have to stay still, you have to -"
"They're going to kill her! They'll kill her, they'll-" I couldn't finish the sentence, afraid to give it solid shape and form. No. I knew I couldn't live through that. And I wouldn't want to.
"Please, Jules, you have to go help them, help Edythe, help her…!" I screamed out. Jules nodded once, soundless, and phased before my eyes. Her paw nudged the oxygen mask closer to me. "Don't worry about me." I assured her. "Now go." And she did. Everything continued to burn. The morphine wasn't spreading as fast as I needed it to and I grit my teeth, jaw clenching, desperate to fight against the darkness and to not let it take me under.
Just keep breathing. I brought the mask to my face and continued to pump the oxygen bag, it helped some to quell the mounting wave of pain radiating out from my core and I willed myself with everything in me to move. When I was finally able to bear that burning sensation, I put the mask aside and dragged myself across the snow-covered floor, leaving a trail of red to make it to them.
"Beau!" Edythe screamed in the distance, so far outside my reach. She started running towards me, arm outstretched. But just before our hands could touch, she lurched back like she was yanked from behind, the whiplash of the invisible force bringing her to her knees. "Edythe!" I shrieked, tearing at the snow with my fingernails.
Helpless, I watched the scene unfold in horror. How she crumpled into the ground. How her panting breaths became wild screams of agony. How the invisible force assaulted her from all sides, waging war on all her senses; shooting through and wrenching out of shape the walls of her own mind. And then it was like there was some magnetic force linking the sky and Edythe's stomach; a string tied round her waist yanking her up towards that cold, cold blue and she tried to fight it, her body writhing and twisting and contorting in horrific shapes just screaming out in pain on the floor, eyes squeezed shut and hands everywhere, touching her shoulders and her stomach and her head like everything was on fire. Twisting, tossing and turning like she was in a fever dream, and then there was a sickening CRACK that echoed out in waves - her spine was no longer a gentle, rounded curve but a horrific, nearly angular upside-down V and her stomach lolled to and fro, like something was let loose inside just trying to break out of it and she cried out, letting out a raw, bloodcurdling scream that tortured me with its intensity. With a pang of horror, I realized what it meant – that our child could feel that burning, too, and was desperately trying to flee from the assault. Maybe it was killing him. And he wasn't strong enough to get out by himself but couldn't realize it – and it was agony for them both.
I looked up. Frantically, my eyes searched the trees; the surrounding wilderness of blackness in the decaying forest for that blond child; the twin witch. Jonathas. He was the one who was doing this to them. It was only a matter of time until another vampire came to kill my wife, working as a pair to carry out the execution. As soon as I thought that, a shadow jumped down from a cluster of dying trees which lined the far end of the foot of the rocky hill I was at the bottom of – my horrific confirmation. And then he was coming in quick bursts, his deadly-fast strides turning miles into minutes.
I looked to Edythe again, and with my burning, aching body I willed myself to become her protector. I remembered the rain; the wet, muddy field at Adelaide's house in those beautiful mountains, purple in the light of the setting sun, Nisa's training and my family's part in it. To do the one thing only I could do, now, to protect what I loved most. Reaching a hand in her direction to center the gravity of my shield, I took a shaking breath, trying to run away from the dark cloud forming in my head to see things more clearly.
"Beau." The face of an angel smiling at me manifested like smoke in my mind's eye. Edythe. I stroked her visage, willing myself to feel the coolness of her soft skin like I could reach out and touch it on the hill, in these mountains. And then I tried imagining the other light; the moment when I'd hold our child in my arms the very first time. The moment I wanted – no, needed – to see. About our strange, wonderful conversations; that gentle fluttering and the way I felt them move for the first time, and all the times after.
I felt my shield separate from me, rushing in to cover them both. To push through that brick wall of pain; all the dull thrumming coming from my shattered body leaving me so I could embrace my wife again in mind; in spirit. To protect her until my dying breath. It was all I wanted to do.
My muscles tightened, and I acted automatically. I threw my shield out with all the force in my mind, flung it straight across that aching stretch of space between us like a javelin. My breath rushed out in a huff with the exertion and everything in me hurt.
The horrific thrashing stilled and Edythe lifted herself onto her elbows now, taking deep breaths as her body repaired itself. It worked. And I was so happy I thought I could cry. Her eyes, filled with love, and utter relief, found mine again. Thank you, her look seemed to say, I'm so proud of you. I returned that look; tried to show her a smile. But I couldn't distract her, I knew that. She saw the advancing shadow before I did and dodged his blow, getting to her feet in an invisible movement. I kept my shield on her, just waiting for Jonathas to reveal himself and for someone – anyone – to take him out. Arch started towards us, but then saying something to Carine without the words, his eyes snapped up to the trees on the hill and I followed the line of their gaze. A pale, blond child with cold, piercing red eyes scowled at me in furious disbelief. There was another stab of pressure, this time directed at me. But I felt none of it, and both he and I knew I never would. Arch, now under my protection as well, started advancing on the little boy and, face still furiously defiant, he started running away, deeper into the forest shadows. And then closer to me, Edythe and Carine had the other vampire cornered now, tag teaming him and Jules leapt down from the trees on top of him, taking a bite out of his arm. Once he was taken care of, they flew to my side to continue where we left off, doing their best to counter the damage that'd already been done. I coughed again, spattering driblets of red on the snow which had since seeped crimson below me. Ounce by ounce, I felt it drain from me. The world was getting dimmer; the colors running into each other to create a blur of dark, muted shades like popsicle juice melting in the sun. It felt like my body was shutting down on me, I could no longer move. The pain slowly began thudding away to a low murmur, I was losing all bodily sensation to the morphine. When I thought the world was getting too dark, I'd try and wake myself up again, but the colors never got clearer; the shapes never got sharper. I inhaled, and it felt like I'd gotten stabbed by a thousand knives instantaneously. The snow which once numbed me with cold was hot now, a sea of warm, sticky red. I've lost too much blood. Everything was falling down around me, a pain that throbbed in my head stealthily drumming into a pounding roar and I shuddered, slamming a hand into it to keep it from shutting down on me. Sounds were fading away, voices crackled in and out like a radio station during a stormy night. It felt like I was losing it. I closed my eyes, and I began to float.
"Stay with me, Beau, stay with me." A whisper. A cool hand took mine, bringing me back down to earth again.
I glanced up towards the sun. The beams bent around Edythe's head in delicate shapes, a bright white halo of light shining around her visage.
Beautiful.
The vision shimmered for one brief moment, but then it started fading again even when I tried with everything in me to hold on.
Reaching, reaching, reaching. I stretched my hand out, twining our fingers together. And right then and there, all I could see was an angel; all I could see was Edythe. I smiled; touched her beautiful face. So many words that I needed to say but I couldn't make a sound.
Oh. This is where I leave you, isn't it?
Don't be sad.
I love you.
I'll always be with you.
I'm sorry. I'm so sorry.
Goodbye.
The darkness overtook me, and I couldn't wake up this time.
Author's Note:
Hi everyone!
I'm back! I just want to apologize once again for this extremely late update and my unofficial hiatus there, senior year was extremely busy for me but I'm officially graduated now! :D I've also just started my first job, so I'm super excited about that! Thank you so much for your patience and for sticking around, I promise this story's almost done (finally!) lol. Y'all, I had the hardest time writing this chapter, not just because of the time crunch college left me in but also because it was such a big one, and so many things were happening in it. It was definitely a challenge trying to balance the pacing, action and detail and honestly I feel like I'm still working on it haha. I also just wanted to give you guys a heads-up on a little narrator switch-up I'm doing in the next few chapters, which are going to be alternately narrated by Jules and Edythe as there are a few huge plot points that can only be most effectively told by one or the other, and I'm excited for you all to have a look at that! It won't be long enough to constitute as its own "book", but there's still quite a bit going on in them. I've been enjoying getting back into Jules' headspace and exploring Edythe's for the first time as well, it's challenging but a lot of fun!
As always, thank you again for reading and for all your support! Until next time :)