"Blessing?" I muttered, shock breaking through me as the fear slightly ebbed away. Gaia gasped, her hand still extended like it was when the phone had been plucked from her grasp.
She nodded at her name, confirming my thoughts, before she finally spoke. "Did Mama never tell you… that you have a sister?" She looked stunned for a moment before shaking her head.
"I wasn't told a lot of things." I breathed out, trying to focus my eyes on the envelope for a second before trying to pin back on her. She still shimmered in the light, making my eyes squint slightly against it as she stepped forward hesitantly, entering a small shadow and easing the effect.
"Grandmama gave me this after Mama died, well she gave me the letter that had it inside." Blessing said tentatively, an obvious nervous energy radiating off of her as she remained a few paces away from me. She held up a locket that I could just make out the picture in. It was Alice, and I knew it for a fact, even though it was an old picture she always looked the same.
"How did you… become a vampire?" I asked as I stared at her, turning the cream colored envelope over in my hands and pulling the letter out slowly.
"A few days after Mama's funeral there was a vampire at the house." She paused, clearly trapped in the memory. "Her name was Maria. I don't remember much because that was when she bit me. Don't think she knew I had this letter in my back pocket, because when I woke up… I was what I am now, and she said I was her new soldier."
"Why did she want you?" I shook my head, unfolding the letter as I kept my eyes glued on Blessing.
"Maria had said something about hearing stories of our bloodline." Blessing said the word "bloodline" with an almost bitter tone. "And she is one of the southern covens who build armies."
"Armies?" I shook my head in disbelief. "And what stories, none of this makes any sense." It took everything in me to not crumple the paper in my hands, now fully unfolded, despite the fact that I kept my eyes glued to Blessing. My awareness for my surroundings entirely dropped, as now I realized I had lost track of Gaia and her movements as she remained entirely silent.
Blessing just nodded, like she had gone through all the confusion I had already. It seemed like she was now finding some kind of sick comfort in the idea that I was just as confused as she had once been. "After Mama's funeral, Grandmama told me that everything would make sense eventually. Said that in her last moment's Mama told her I had to go to Washington. Said that's where you were." She tipped her head forward and sighed. "I think Mama would want you to read that letter."
I nodded and tipped my eyes down to the paper, the familiar swoop of the writing made me chew my lip. The paper of this letter looked almost like it wasn't as old as mine, like maybe my bio mom had lived longer than she suspected. But she never came back for me. My brain angrily nagged.
Dear Beatrice,
My sweet little Blessing. I am so sorry I have to leave you, but I hope it will keep you safe, my love. Grandmama will watch over you, but I had to take your baby sister somewhere else years ago. She will come back to you one day, make sure you are ready when she does. Tell her all about me baby, tell her about her Mama and Papa.
I will watch over both of you, I swear I will. If I do everything right I will never have to give you this letter and we can find Arabella together, I would love to have you grow up together. You deserve a family.
My heart shattered and I took a deep breath, feeling Gaia's supportive hand stroking my back gently. I had almost forgotten she was here, but the sun still shone down on us and the time for the parade still ticked down. I tried to calm myself as I focused on the facts. I had a sister? I have a sister. Her name is Beatrice, my bio mom, our bio mom, called her Blessing. She's… real? She stands right in front of me and yet it still feels like a dream, even now as I watch her glimmer in the sunlight and create spots in my vision. I have a sister. The thought just didn't feel right, so I kept reading, skimming past the words of endearment and love for the daughter "mama" actually raised.
If I fail, if you really do become a vampire, then take this locket and find the girl in the photo. She should look exactly the same, she will be like you, and I hope for your sake you find her sooner rather than later. I believe in you baby girl. I gave you her name for a reason. Beatrice Marie. You have a gift like no other, the talent you were blessed with will attract attention. It already has. I'm not sure if you'll remember this, but this week you just got in trouble for using one of those talents. I'm not sure where you got it from, but you sure do love using it when you're not supposed to. You've got your father's spirit, you little dream walker. Maybe he's who you got it from, maybe Arabella got it too. Only time will tell, but you can't keep entering her dreams, it's not safe. Leave your little bird where she is until she can fly with you, that is all I ask of you Blessing.
Beatrice Marie… Marie… Mary Alice Brandon… She really is my sister. Bio mom really did try to make sure we both had family. I chewed my lip and pinned my eyes to the letter to read the rest.
Assuming your Grandmama gave you this letter and you didn't swipe it from my things, that means I really am gone, and you really are one of them. I hope you get past nineteen but that doesn't look like it's gonna be the case. Not from where I stand while you're nine.
I hope I get to see you grow up more, and I hope I get to see Arabella when it's safe to see her, but for right now I'm gonna just cherish the Blessing and Prayer for what they are. Stunningly beautiful daughters.
With all my love,
Mama
Suddenly everything made sense, every dream, every vision of the future, it was all her. It was all Blessing. "I…" I shook my head as I looked up from the letter officially, its edges soft in my hand from the repeated unfolding and refolding of it. "I can't handle this… right now." I looked from Blessing's- Beatrice's- eyes to Gaia's. "I've got to go be in a parade. I'm sorry. I'll see you after?" I dragged my eyes back to Beatrice with a sigh.
"Of course, I knew you wouldn't be able to stay Little Bird." Beatrice smiled at me, her voice sounding exactly like it did in those dreams. "This was just the only moment I could meet you without conflict."
"What do you mean?" I asked as I pushed the letter back in the envelope and handed it back, as I did so she pressed Gaia's phone into my hand.
"You'll see." She smiled, and something about that smile just felt like home.
When we finally broke away from Beatrice, having made a plan to meet up at the fireworks later tonight, and made our way out of the woods, I felt numb. Gaia silently guided me back to the float, my flats now firmly on my feet and hidden by the dress. As we stood by the edge of the float, waiting on someone to bring the step ladder around to let me up, Gaia looked at me with an abundance of concern. "That was… a lot."
"I'll say." I scoffed as I looked down at my hands, noticing that I still held her phone, my knuckles white as I gripped it like it was the only thing holding me back down to earth.
"Do you want to talk about it?" She asked as she coaxed her phone out of my hand.
"I don't think I even have the vocabulary necessary to process what the hell I'm feeling." I blinked a few times, fixing my eyes on the weeds that stubbornly pushed through the pavement. It was taking everything in me to not sink to the ground like I had the last time I read a letter from my mother. It took even more to acknowledge that I had just met not just the person who had haunted my dreams periodically since around the time I started dating Edward, but also that that person was my sibling.
Just when Gaia was about to open her mouth and give me some words of encouragement, Tyler Crowley walked around the edge of the float and grinned at me as he held up the step stool. "Sorry, the girl scout's float was using it really quick." He set it down and held out his hand to help me up the stool. "Parade time Princess."
Oh boy… Parade Time.
The Fireworks
The parade was a success, and now it was dark and I was standing by the fence that signified where the concessions and football field began, waiting for the Cullens and Denalis to meet me. I was already nervous about what would happen when Beatrice reappeared, let alone how I was going to explain everything to both the covens. I had changed back into my shorts and tank top, my hair now pulled up into an exceptionally messy bun due to the hot iron curls, and I continued to pick nervously at the raw edge of my shorts. Gaia had left me to meet up with the pack and give them a brief rundown of her knowledge, which left me bored and lost in a crowd as I waited.
My phone dinged in my pocket, once I fished it out I found a text from Jake sitting bright on my screen. It was two photos that I immediately saved to a memories album on my phone. The first photo was a group selfie, the entire pack squeezed into the frame, including Leah and Kim. All of them wore huge smiles, Paul even held a red white and blue pinwheel, Sam wearing a shirt that was hand painted that read "the queen is my bestie!" I couldn't help but laugh as I swiped over to the second photo. They had snapped one of me standing on the float, a huge smile plastered on my face while I waved to the group of children in front of them. I stopped laughing when I got my first really good look at the dress. It was the dress, the one that I wore in those dreams with Blessing- with Beatrice. That's what she had meant. I thought as I stared at the picture of myself. She always said soon, she always told me I'd figure it out.
"Ara!" I heard my name called out by Jasper as I spun around, eyes scanning. His hand was raised in the air to catch my attention. A spike of anxiety punched a crater in my chest and earned me concerned and curious eyes from Jasper as he began cutting his way through the crowd. I felt the calm waves ripple over me as he approached, his eyes scanning me as he got closer. "Alice sent me ahead to get you, what happened?"
I shook my head and locked my phone, sliding it into my back pocket as I spoke. "Nothing, I-" He cut me off as soon as I began speaking, ready to tell him about Beatrice and call her forward. His entire body tensed and he grabbed my shoulder, pushing me behind in so that my back pressed against the chain link fence.
"Get behind me, there's another vampire here." His voice was low as he took the protective stance.
"I know… I brought her." I moved my eyes to where Beatrice stood in the crowd, just a few paces away from me, her hair down around her shoulders and a pair of sunglasses pushed up on her head, blending in with the best of them. "Beatrice!" I called out just a little and motioned her over as I slid out from behind Jasper. "This is Jasper… Beatrice was changed a few years ago." I mumbled as I watched Jasper tense and almost seemed to become more bulky and terrifying.
"Wait. Jasper? As in, Whitlock?" Beatrice said as she got closer, her eyes twinkling with recognition. "Peter told me to find you." Jasper stood, staring with wide eyes and a dropped jaw as he looked at Beatrice. "Peter figured out who I was and sent me in your direction. Told me what I'd have to do to be around more." Beatrice chewed her lip nervously. "Said that you would know who she is." She dug in her pocket for a moment before holding up the locket she had shown me earlier, inside held the picture of Alice. "Peter wouldn't tell me who she was, just said I should hightail it to you."
"Wait, who's Peter?" I shook my head in confusion just second before Jasper spoke, though to whom I wasn't sure.
"What is happening here?" Jasper said as he flicked his eyes from Beatrice, to me, to someone in the crowd.
"She's my sister." I said at the exact same time that Edward broke through the crowd into our little clear spot we had found.
"Blessing?" Edward said breathlessly, being the only other person to have seen her as I did, and he squinted his eyes at her like he was finally putting together the family resemblance.
"Quit poking around my head. God are you always this nosey." Beatrice snapped out as I watched her eyes and face harden. "Those are private."
I had never seen such a shocked look on Edward's face before, and the crowd of vampires only seemed to be growing. Emmett had now joined, completing the protective semicircle in front me, I wasn't sure how I was going to talk them out of this one. I knew Edward was too amped up already, I could read the tension in his shoulders as his back pressed against me. "Edward." I said sternly as I felt him begin to move, I placed my hand directly between his shoulder blades and stared at him intently, even though he couldn't see my eyes I knew that he was aware they were on him. His shoulders relaxed ever so slightly and he turned just enough to allow me some space through the wall of testosterone.
"Hey! Whoa whoa whoa! What's happening here." My dad's voice burst into the equation, and I deflated even more. It's one thing to wrangle my boyfriend and his brothers, they were always relatively easy once they saw some reason. My dad. He was going to have way more questions than I even had answers to.
"Dad, it's okay." I shook my head and looked at him with calm but pleading eyes.
"Are you sure…" his words trailed off as he looked from me and the boys to Beatrice. Almost immediately I could see him figuring out the resemblance we held. "Who is this?"
"Dad, this is Beatrice." I sighed out, chewing my lip as he turned his gaze back to me, his eyes twinkling with wonder. "My… sister."
"Wait. What?" Emmett said as he spun to look at me. I could see the information process in his eyes before he looked up at Jasper, who appeared equally as shocked.
"How long have you, uh, known?" Dad scratched the back of his head and looked at me with concern.
"She found me right before the parade. Had a letter and everything." I could see him processing everything, the slow jerk in his brain as worry began to build in his eyes.
"And your… biological parents?" Dad said, nervousness lacing his breath like the alcohol on it. He was out of uniform officially now, so I bit my tongue on the issue.
"Dead." Beatrice said, her voice cracking just a little. "Pa died just after Arabella was born, Mama was about three years ago." Her eyes connected with mine, heavy with the story I had yet to hear.
"Oh." He nodded, looking conflicted over the news.
"Three years?" My heart shattered as I did the involuntary math, learning both of my mother and my bio mom died was hard enough, to know it happened roughly the same year made it almost unbearable. I felt Edward's hand loop around my waist and pull me gently against his side, supporting my weight as I shook against reality.
Dad's eyes snapped over to me, softening immediately as he realized what I had realized. "Oh, honey." Just as he went to move forward, the stadium lights for the football field turned off and plunged us all into almost complete darkness. The fireworks were starting.
Some point during the fireworks, Dad had slipped away. He probably ran off to drink more. I thought bitterly as Edward rubbed circles on my arm. We sat in the grandstands where the two covens and the pack had commandeered a section. I sat with my head against Edward's shoulder, having numbly followed him to where his family sat. Beatrice had followed closely meeting everyone all at once, though all discussions were paused out of courtesy for those of us who did not have super hearing.
Once the fireworks ended a few quick words were exchanged between the group before Edward was ushering me towards my car. "What's the game plan?" I asked tiredly, the lack of sleep hitting me suddenly.
"Blessing is going to ride with Emmett and Jasper to the house." Edward said as he cut our way through the crowd. "You're too tired to drive so I've got you."
"Wait, but my dad?" I looked around, curious of where he could have slipped off to.
"I heard him tell Charlie he was going home." Edward said sympathetically as he cleared a pathway through the crowd.
My words felt bitter as they fell off my lips. "Of course he did." Once it was out of my mouth, even Edward looked shocked, he studied me for a moment as I did everything I could to hide how desperately I wanted to scream.
"Ara." He whispered in disbelief, as we broke out of the crowd and started making a direct path toward the car. Once we were inside and my stuff in the passenger seat was pushed off onto the floor he turned and stared at me. "What is going on?" I couldn't hold it in anymore, a few tears slipped from my eyes before I could give them even a little permission. Edward swiped the few that had escaped with his thumb, cupping my face as he stared at me.
Everything's changing. I thought as a sob started to rise in my throat. But none of what I want to change is changing. The tears truly fell as the thought registered in Edward's eyes, he pulled me into a hug and shushed me gently, humming in my ear lovingly until I calmed myself.
"Let's just go." I said after I finally got my breathing under control, the parking lot now entirely empty from the mass exodus of firework attendees. "I want to hear what Bless- Beatrice… has to say." I swiftly corrected myself, Blessing was a dream but Beatrice was the reality.
Edward tucked a loose strand of my hair behind my ear and gave me a smile that could sew together a broken heart. "Yes ma'am." He turned the key and started my car, turning the AC off just as it pushed out the clammy and hot night air.
"Drive a normal pace please?" I asked as I rolled down the window and looked out. "I want to feel normal for a moment."
"Anything for you." He said as he kicked it over into drive and pulled out of the lot and onto the now empty roads, doing something I had never seen before and following the posted speed limit.
Once we reached the house I started rolling the window up and feeling my nerves get the better of me. Just as my brain began to spiral, I felt the cold tips of Edward's fingers, then his palm. He laced his fingers with mine and brought my hand to his mouth, giving a small peck before resting my knuckles and back of hand against his cheek. His thumb rubbed gentle circles along my hand and he glanced at me with sympathetic eyes as he put the car in park.
"Let's get this over with." I groaned, climbing from the car and making my way into the house. Just as I got inside I was swept into a slightly unwelcome hug by Carmen. I couldn't be mad at her for her mothering instincts, I just very much did not want anyone to be in my personal space now that I was out of the car, even Edward had kept a small distance from me.
"Now that Arabella is here, we can start." Beatrice's voice carried from the corner of the room. As I pulled away from Carmen I saw her standing with her back to the walls, Jasper and Emmett flanking her on either side and blocking her from advancing on anyone.
"Okay well as the only human in the room, I'm gonna sit the fuck down." I said, no longer worrying out my language as I walked past the mix of stunned faces and plopped down on the couch. Emmett was the outlier with his expression, looking slightly smug at my spontaneous pottymouth, like he was an older brother who couldn't be prouder.
After a few seconds they seemed to all want to glaze past my comment and turned back to Beatrice. "So… I'm sure you have plenty of questions, and I have lots of my own… but you will answer those in time." She said it so matter of fact that I couldn't help but look at her shocked, every once and a while her accent slipped into a tell-tale southern one, but never for long. "For starters, My name is Beatrice Marie, Arabella is my little sister. I was turned three years ago by a woman named Maria because she heard some stories that suggested I would be useful in her army." Jasper tensed visibly, his eyes darting over to Alice as her jaw dropped and eyes softened. Beatrice continued forward, not caring about whatever was happening and meaning to only tell her story. "And I came to Washington because Mama told my Mamaw to make me…" She hesitated, looking down and digging out the locket again. "And she gave me this as proof, though I don't really understand why I have a picture of you." She looked at Alice as she popped open the locket and held it out, displaying the old picture of a human Alice.
"Because," I interjected as Jasper took the locket and handed it to Alice. "Alice's real name is Mary Alice Brandon, and Cynthia was her sister." I raised my brow as I stared at Beatrice, watching the names register in her mind. "Making Alice our Grand Aunt."
"Oh…" Beatrice seemed to lose herself in thought for a moment before her eyes flicked up to Edward. "Those are personal. Get out."
"That's such an interesting talent you have, Beatrice." Eleazar spoke up for the first time, his eyes sparking with interest.
"What?" She snapped her eyes over to Eleazar.
"Eleazar can see talents." Edward said with a smirk. "It looks like you can't block everyone from your secrets."
"Can't everyone feel you poking around in their head?" She said dismissively, eyes flaring with challenge.
"That would be a no." Emmett said with a slightly jealous smirk. "Though I can't say I don't enjoy watching you challenge him."
"Wait, were you the one who trapped Ara?" Rose said, her voice bordering on rage.
"I didn't trap her, and I was just mad she didn't listen to me. I showed her what was going to happen." Beatrice rolled her eyes as she looked at Rose, the tension between them incredibly clear. I could see Rose wanting to rip her head off, and I could see Emmett ready to intervene. A calm wave steadied over both of them for a second, just long enough for the next person to speak up.
"What do you mean… you showed her?" Alice stepped forward, holding the locket out as her eyes focused in.
Beatrice took the locket and closed it, shoving it deep in her pocket once more before speaking so nonchalantly that I almost believed I was hearing a totally normal conversation. "I've always had a tie to Arabella, but it wasn't until I was a vampire that I could show her my visions."
"You have visions?" Alice almost sounded excited.
"It doesn't look like it operates the same as yours does." Eleazar said as he continued to study Beatrice. It was odd seeing the look from outside it's scrutiny. "It looks like, like dear Ara, she has two abilities, but one is much more innate than the other."
"Arabella has abilities?" Beatrice's eyes snapped from Alice to me, curiosity deepening in the reddish-brown irises.
"I'm a free will stealer." I grumbled as I kicked off my flip flops and criss crossed my legs, pulling a pillow into my lap.
"She means," Edward looked at me with a borderline chastising look, "that she has the ability to compel people to her will, and that she affects perceptions to a slight degree." He used the fancy terms, but "free will stealer" still felt like an accurate description.
"Just like Mamaw." Beatrice's eyes lit up, a smile pulling onto her lips for a moment.
"Yeah, Ally mentioned something about that." She seemed genuinely taken aback by my use of our bio mom's first name, but as far as I was concerned she hadn't earned the honorific of "mom."
"Moving on!" Esme said, her hand resting on Carlisle's shoulder like the image of a true fifties housewife. "You mentioned the vampire who turned you, Maria?"
"Yes, she is the leader of a coven just outside Calgary, Texas."
"Oh my god." Jasper interjected, the words tumbling out of his mouth.
"What?" Beatrice stared, bewildered by his outburst.
"That's how you met Peter?" Jasper looked like he might cry, somehow turning from the bodyguard for the family to a protective uncle. "She took you?"
"Hunted me down in Mississippi… When I woke up I was in Texas, funny considering I found out she was the one who killed Mama." Her accent thickened as her jaw set. "I was turned three days after her funeral, an hour before I was supposed to be on a bus headed to Seattle." I cast a glance around the room, and noticed that both Carmen and Esme looked like they wanted to sweep Beatrice up in a hug, Jasper looked shocked, while Alice looked conflicted. Rose had a slight amount of sympathy but overall still had no shits, and Edward was just looking at me.
I'm fine Eddie. I thought, locking eyes with him as I chewed the inside of my cheek. Just tired of the change. Tired of the constant turmoil. I just want to go back sometimes, back to what it was like in the inbetween. When I had you but it was also all okay. Edward moved and sat beside me, draping his arm over my shoulder as I instinctively dipped into his side, resting my head against him and feeling the weariness of the day begin to drag on me. I glanced down at Edward's hand and laced my fingers in his, no longer wanting to look at everyone in the room. His free hand toyed with my hair as we both listened silently.
"Peter saw my locket while he visited Maria, I guess he recognized Alice because he told me I had to go to Washington immediately, said to look for Jasper Whitlock, told me I had to get on an animal diet." Her voice was so matter of fact it made me question her attachment to her own story. "I found that easy enough, I never really liked the whole human thing."
"What exactly is it you're hoping to achieve here in Washington?" Carlisle asked, finally breaking his silence. Up to this moment he had been studying her words, but he must have found exactly what he was looking for.
"To protect and get to know my baby sister, of course." Beatrice somehow conveyed a shrug with her voice alone. "I didn't know where she was until Mama told Mamaw. Mama was always working behind the scenes, never telling anyone what might change the timeline. Pa only died because he was on his way to stop something she had accidentally let slip. Even when Mama warned him, he said he had to try."
I couldn't hear anymore, I looked up at Edward and scrunched my brow. I want to go home. He nodded and leaned forward, kissing me on my forehead right where my brows bunched together. I'll drive home alone, but I can leave the window unlocked. Just update me if there is anything I should know. I tipped my face forward and kissed him gently on the corner of the mouth, the shadow of the memory of this morning lingering as I pulled back and looked him in the eye. "I love you." I whispered, shoving my feet in the flip flops and excusing myself from the conversation and the house.
At some point the rain had set in as a light drizzle, and now I walked towards my car as my shirt plastered to my back and hair clung to my face. Determined, I was going to stretch the twenty minute drive into forty if I could.
Once I was home, I sighed and parked my car. Sitting in the driveway for a moment, I just let the rain coat the windshield before I found myself reaching forward to turn off the engine. Grabbing my makeup bag and purse from the passenger seat, I popped open my car door and felt the warm blast of air and the cold spray of rain worm its way into the air conditioned environment. The light from the kitchen shone through the windows, and dread filled me that Dad would also want to have a deep discussion. "Whatever." I mumbled as I climbed out, shut the car door, and began the walk up the stairs. At this point I had begun to desperately want to just go to sleep and maybe finally catch a minute or three of peace.
The rain that had been promised to me earlier when the day still held promise was now soaking my hair and plastering it to my head as I made my unhurried journey to the porch and then the front door. As I attempted to flip my keys around and unlock the door, they slipped from my hand and collided with the floor. "Of. Fucking. Course." I grumbled as I swiped them up and let myself in the house. I kicked my muddy and rain soaked flip flops off and spun to look into the kitchen, freezing in my tracks.
The sight of empty liquor bottles congregated on the countertop made my heart stop. I slowly squelched into the room with wet feet and looked down at my dad who was asleep at the table. Strangely enough, the smell of alcohol didn't come from where his head was resting, but instead it came from the sink. I wandered over, following the overwhelming smell, and glanced in the liquor cabinet to find it completely empty. The trashcan was overflowing with cans of empty beer, and there was even the flasks I knew he had hidden about sitting in the waste bin.
Dad had poured it all down the drain…
for me.