Chapter Two: Outrunning a Storm - Angela
"Yesterday, and days before. Sun is cold and rain is hard. I know, been that way for all my time. 'Til forever, on it goes. Through the circle, fast and slow. I know, it can't stop, I wonder. I wanna know, have you ever seen the rain?"
- Creedence Clearwater Revival (Have You Ever Seen the Rain?)
Saturday, September 17, 2005
"I'm the first vampire." He said completely seriously. I found myself falling back with a loud sigh, because of course he was the first vampire. I stared up into the sky, lazily plucking grass for a few minutes thinking about everything, before I finally sat up and met his gaze.
"I don't even know what to say to that. How do you know?" I asked curiously. "Actually, before you start your story let's head back, I think everyone should hear this." I desperately wanted to know more, but the Cullens needed to know his story as much as I did.
"Of course. I think I can move now." He started to get up, and it looked to be a bit of a struggle.
"Are you alright?" I asked, feeling very worried about him, had he pushed himself too hard to save me?
He stood and offered me a hand, I took it and braced myself as he gently lifted me onto his back. Then we were moving so fast. Behind us I heard a crack of thunder, and risking a glance behind me, I found the rain was falling in sheets. I wondered if he was faster than the clouds could move, so I kept looking back to see the storm literally chasing us. For a while it felt like we were keeping pace with the oncoming storm, until eventually it overtook us, and I felt myself laugh, despite the ice cold rain soaking me to the bone in seconds.
"What's funny?" He asked looking over his shoulder.
"I hoped you were faster than the storm." I said with a touch of disappointment.
"That's one I've never tested; I understand clouds move quickly in a thunderstorm." He said with a small laugh, his smile giving me a boost of joy.
"I have no idea how fast they move; I could just see the rain coming and I was hoping you could outrun it. You were so fast when you killed…" I knew I had said the wrong thing but couldn't take it back. He stopped and gently let me down under a tree which provided a bit of cover from the downpour. He took off his coat and draped it around my shoulders.
He looked away from me for what felt like an hour, although it was probably only a couple of minutes. I wanted to reach out to him, find out what was wrong. He eventually shook his head and turned towards me.
"I killed for you. I swore to myself centuries ago that I would never take another life. I learned to be a doctor so that I could develop patience and resistance to the pull of human blood. I actively try to source blood from butchers, rather than hunting in the wild. The game holds no excitement for me, the hunt means nothing to me anymore. What does mean everything now, is your life." He looked tortured as he explained, and his words held a weight I wasn't sure I could bear. He had killed for me, and my stomach was twisted into knots knowing how much pain it caused him.
"That's too much, I'm not worth…" I looked down and started to stammer out an apology, but he moved to me, and gently cupped my chin bringing my face up.
"Look at me." He said softly, and slowly I brought my eyes up to meet his. Then he stepped back, but kept eye contact with me.
"Worth." He let out a half-defeated laugh. "Even if I hadn't gotten to know your wonderful mind or seen you accept horror and tragedy with grace and understanding, I would have sensed your soul. I know it's a silly thought, but how else do I feel the gifts of vampires? It isn't telepathy like what Edward has, it is far less tangible and for the most part I cannot do anything useful with it. When I first realized your importance to them, I reached out. Most human souls feel like echoes, forgotten voices heard after bouncing off a canyon wall a thousand times. Some, usually those that are gifted when they turn, have presence. They shine."
"Are you saying I shine, why do I suddenly feel like I'm in a Stephen King novel?" I said breaking eye contact for a second.
"My poor descriptive skills, plus I've always loved that book. And yes, I can tell you will be gifted. It's hard to tell what you will be able to do, but it will be wonderful." He gave me a happy smile as he spoke, but I don't think his words hit me the way he intended.
"Is that why?" I finally said after spending time searching his expression, had I been a fool to think he liked me because of me? Was it all just some fascination with the kind of vampire I would become? I felt my stomach fall, and my heart ache. I hadn't realized how much emotion I had already invested into this bizarre… relationship? Could I even call it that?
"I don't understand." He said, cocking his head at me, I could see in his expression he was confused by my change in demeanor.
"You said I had a nice mind I guess, and I cope well with things. Thank you for that, but your interest in me started when you realized I would be a kick ass vampire. Isn't that right?" I said hoping he would say anything other than a confirmation I was right.
"No. I started to take an interest in you the moment I heard you sing last year, and when you struggled with your faith after Bella's accident, and when you defended the Cullens. A human, knowing the risks, threatened a vampire she hardly knew to protect creatures like us. When you said I had to choose between my heart and my mind, that struggle was all about you. Then he took you, threatened you. No, there are no words. I knew you had to live, more than anything I couldn't accept a world where you were no longer in it. It is strange to think that I had a life before I met you. I spent so long waiting for something, without even knowing what I was missing. I… it's too soon… I cannot put that on you yet." His words filled me with such joy, my heart felt like it was about to beat out of my chest. How could he feel that way about me? The girl who was not even good enough for a loser like Ben Cheney.
"I don't understand. How can you see me this way? I am only important to the Cullens because of Bella. I'm one of those people in the background of a movie, a bit player at best. I was never even asked to prom, I'm nothing. My life isn't important, I've done nothing, and I will probably do nothing amazing. Maybe live a painfully normal life with some guy I haven't met yet. Have a couple of kids and die of cancer at sixty like my grandmother. I'm a statistic, a number, a nobody. How can you see me as anything other than food?" I knew it was denial, but it was far easier to deal with than the idea of a man in love with me. No, not a man, a vampire who was alive when the Pyramids were built… was in love with me!
"Answer me this, and I will leave you alone forever." He requested, folding his arms across his chest. I pulled the coat around me tighter, the cold rain running down my chin. I nodded in response. "Is your mortal life enough for you? Or do you want more?"
"I don't know. I've accepted the fact that I will be turned sometime soon, out of necessity." I said with a small sigh.
"I have connections, I could arrange a job offer for one or both of your parents. Something they couldn't refuse. You could start somewhere else, away from here. Safe from our kind and this life. I imagine you could keep in contact with Bella long distance if you like. But it would mean you have a choice." He spoke in a friendly tone of voice, but there was something in his eyes I couldn't quite pin down.
"You would do that for me?" I said feeling overwhelmed, the offer was a lifeline. He was giving me an out, a chance at a normal, human life.
"You need only to say the word." He gave me a reassuring smile, but I finally understood the look in his eyes. It was pain he was not expressing, and it meant more than anything else he had done. He cared enough to put my happiness above his own.
I wanted to say yes, but the word felt like acid on my tongue, and I couldn't say it out loud. Yet this had to be my choice, I had to choose life over becoming a monster. I wanted to be a mother, I wanted to live… a normal… mundane… human life. Didn't I?
I had been turning over my eventual transformation into a vampire again and again, I had come up with a thousand reasons why it was better to stay human. I would be there for my parents, my brothers. I would go to college, start a family. My human family. Parents who I would eventually have to bury no matter what I chose. I couldn't do that to my brothers though, I had to be there for them. Except they were so young, I would be off to school and another life in less than a year anyway. I wouldn't see them grow up. I would just be their older sister who lived in the city. Or maybe I would have a kid of my own who would be close to their age… No, they were another excuse. So, what was I really fighting against? My faith? Was I worried about my soul? No, there was almost nothing left of my beliefs, and what little I did keep close to my heart was spiritual and not religious. So what was my real answer?
I mulled it over for a while, until it suddenly dawned on me that I already knew my answer, why rejecting his lovely offer felt so wrong. I realized three things all at once. First I couldn't leave Bella, no matter how much it hurt to think I would have to give up my humanity. Second, I loved the Cullens like family, and knew there was no way I could leave them to venture the short road to my mortal death. Third, and most importantly, I was completely and totally in love with Mason. Three days was all it took. Three days and I was head over heels for him.
I just needed to articulate my choice.
"No. I choose you." I felt tears sting the corners of my eyes, only to get lost in the rain as they fell. He opened his mouth several times to say something, but it was clear he couldn't find the words.
"I would very much like to kiss you." He finally said after several seconds of clear shock.
"Please." I said feeling a warmth spread across my chest, a need I hadn't ever felt before that moment rocketed to the pit of my stomach. I felt small, overwhelmed and not ready or worthy of what I was asking for. Yet in the next instant he closed the distance until barely an inch of air separated us. He lingered there, waiting, staring into my eyes. His offer was made and without hestitation I leaned forward and kissed him, softly at first. And then I felt my passion for him overwhelm reason and I wrapped my arms around him and pulled him against me.
I don't know how long we kissed; it didn't matter. We were lost in each other's embrace. The only reason we stopped was because my body started to shiver. At first, I thought it was from emotions, but I quickly realized I was freezing. I broke our kiss, and he pulled away and looked at me quizzically, then looked at my lips and fear crept into his expression. He immediately scooped me up in his arms and we were moving through the woods so fast the rain was pelting us like a firehose. I buried my face in his chest and pulled his coat up around my head.
The rain stopped after another ten minutes, and soon after that we found ourselves near the Cullen house. As we approached, I could see Bella standing in the rear patio window, watching the woods. She was out of the house to greet us before we even made it to the edge of their back lawn. She looked happy to see me, and as Mason set me down, she pulled me into a tight hug. Yet, there was something in her expression that had me concerned. As we separated, I searched her face for an answer, but I couldn't figure out what was wrong.
"What happened?" I asked, but she just shook her head.
"The woman attacked Charlie." Rosalie said from beside Bella, I hadn't even heard her approach.
"Damn it." Mason cursed with a look of frustration.
"Is he?" I started. Bella just shook her head.
"It's complicated, but she had started to feed and was interrupted. Charlie is in transition right now." I blinked at him, the thought that Chief Swan was about to become a vampire sounded absurd. I felt as Mason intertwined his fingers in mine, and I squeezed his hand thankful for the support. We moved into the house then, mostly because I was still drenched and shivering from the chilly air.
Emmett was building a fire in the fireplace I had never seen them use, he glanced over at me with a wide smile as he lit the Firestarter log. Almost immediately I felt the warmth of the fire, as I searched the rest of the room and found Bella's father on the couch, writing in pain. The agony on his face, punctuated by the occasional whimper or groan.
Esme rushed over to me, "I'm so glad you're home, I don't know what I would've done if they had hurt you." She pulled me into a tight hug and I felt myself melting against her. A deep part of my mind was furious that I accepted her, but she would be a mother to me for the rest of my existence, which was a comfort I couldn't deny.
"Carlisle, she has some minor injuries." Mason said, and Carlisle nodded.
"Angela, let's get you into some warm clothes and check that cut on your temple." Carlisle offered, and I nodded easily. Esme led me upstairs to an empty bedroom already decorated with a bed and several nice pieces of dark wood furniture, a lot like the stuff I had chosen for my own room. "Alice took the liberty of filling out your wardrobe, this room is yours."
"What?" I said looking around the space as I realized they had done all this for me. "Thank you." I squeezed her hand in appreciation and she then left me alone. I almost sat down, but realized I was dripping onto an expensive looking throw rug. So, I went into the bathroom, which was not huge, but larger than the one I had grown up with. I stripped off the wet clothes and took a hot shower. The soaps had a scent I loved, and the products were higher end than I had ever bought for myself. Then I searched the closet and drawers and started to laugh at Alice's choices. They were all beautiful, but just one outfit would've cost more than three months of my allowance and paltry savings from my last summer job. I picked something simple and warm, and found matching shoes. I pulled my damp hair into a simple ponytail and cautiously opened the door. Carlisle was leaning against the opposite wall, waiting patiently for me.
"Shall we?" He said with a warm smile. I nodded and followed him down to his office. He had me sit down and checked my head, shined a light in my eyes and asked me questions. He worked quickly stitching up the cut on my head and gave me some medication which would help with the pain in my shoulder, then he gave me a sling to support it.
"Why do you have so much human stuff in here?" I asked, trying to figure out the oddness of him having medical supplies in a house full of vampires.
"You and Bella. I never felt secure having you here unless there were supplies and equipment in place in case either of you were ever injured." Carlisle gave me a small tired smile.
"This isn't your fault. What you did for Bella and me took a lot of courage. You risked your family and your life for us, and I'll never forget that." I said, trying to sound as open and sincere as possible.
"You have always been gracious with us, even before you found out what we are. I know being around our kind can be difficult for humans." He gave me a thankful smile, which did reach his eyes, even though I was sure I hadn't assuaged any of his guilt.
"I fantasized about living with your family before I was even Bella's friend. Being here is impossible, but I've made my choice now. However, there is something you should hear. Mason wants to explain his past." I said with confidence, even though the whole thing was still terrifying. Carlisle raised his eyebrows and nodded. Then we went into the main room.
Bella was sitting on the couch with her father's head in her lap, Rosalie standing next to the couch with her arms crossed. Alice was sitting on the floor in front of the couch, her hand holding Chief Swan's. Emmett was standing stoically away from everyone, and Edward was at his piano, except turned around to face the room. Carlisle moved over to Esme and she immediately wrapped an arm around his waist, and he put one around her shoulders. Mason was near the fireplace, staring into the now roaring fire, he turned and smiled at me as I entered.
"I ask only that you let me finish without forming an opinion. This isn't something that is easy for me to tell." Everyone nodded or verbalized agreement and he took a deep breath before continuing. I sat down next to Bella, and took her hand and gave her a sympathetic smile. She nodded once before returning her gaze towards Mason.
"As far as I know, I am the first vampire." The room gasped in shock, but kept silent as he started his story.
Author's Note:
So, I did a thing. After posting the last chapter I realized I wanted to do something drastic. So I went back and made a MAJOR change to the story. I also did a small editing pass on every chapter. In short, one of the main couples has been changed and this is no longer features Bella/Edward as a couple. If you want to be surprised please go back to A Long and Winding Road or if you don't have that kind of patience, start with Mirror, Mirror.
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I have been wanting to do a Bella/Rosalie romantic fic for a long time, and I was never really happy with Bella/Edward in this story. It started a couple of years ago when I added the scenes of Bella and Rosalie flirting and kissing, but never took it further. Now, they are a full couple just starting their romance. I hope this doesn't turn you away from this fic, I know some of you will be disappointed, and others will be deeply excited.
Next Chapter: Bloody Skeletons
Thank you for reading, posting will be more frequent from this point forward.
