A/N: Final chapter of this three-part story. Another couple of places named for my Facebook group xx Alexis
Is He's A Little Slow, I'm Death? Remember!
"You murdered her! You can't do that, you had no right" Carlisle screeched,
He was for some reason foolishly yelling at an Angel of Death while in the process of handing out justice. This made Ceorl flap his wings rapidly pushing the now cringing Carlisle away from him. He was beside the still naked Edward who was too terrified to move.
"Damn dude, he's trying to tell you, you who is Death how to do your job! What an absolute asshole!" Emmett sneered as he stared incredulously at his sire,
"Yes, the mighty Doctor has fallen far! Since turning Edward Masen, Carlisle Cullen has gone from being admired for his convictions to a laughing stock amongst our brethren. It's piteous and downright sad how one child can destroy a grown man's soul! And for no real reason, other than he just wanted to" I say and see Carlisle shudder and Edward flinch knowing he wasn't as slick as he thought,
"Anyway, would you take Mr Jenks outside please Mrs Cullen? Even though she's gone we still want the paperwork filed so Jasper can get married" I explain and they all stare at me,
"Who would ever marry that uncouth barbarian?" Edward demanded haughtily,
This looked ridiculous since he still had no clothes on. I glared at him my eyes flashing with green fire and was happy to see him lean back looking a little afraid.
"After Alice you mean? His true mate, of course, you know her by the way, a Miss Isabella Swan!" I say and that starts everyone shouting,
"But she's Edward's mate, Alice said so!" Carlisle had the temerity to growl at me,
"SILENCE! Maybe it's time for me to reclaim your soul Carlisle. A mere vampire who queries the business of God himself! What need has this world for one as small-minded as you?" Ceorl said getting larger in size with his anger at the fool,
Could a vampire get smaller, because Carlisle was trying very hard to become invisible at this moment! He was constantly forgetting just who he was dealing with! Suddenly everyone was frozen in place except for Ceorl and I and the room was filled with the purest white light. Aha, things are about to get a little interesting I think. Standing before us was the other type of angel, all white-winged and shiny, but even she nodded to Ceorl respectfully.
"Sir, I have been instructed to aid you in dealing with these fools! I am *Mnemosyne" she said respectfully,
What she really meant was she was sent to stop Ceorl doing something drastic to Carlisle Cullen, drastic as in causing his death!
"Oh, a spot of forgetfulness? How lovely but who forgets what?" I ask now and she smiles at me,
"Yes Sabé, it's quite the pickle, isn't it? We were thinking they all forget about Edward, but that he remembers everything, but no one will believe him! We will wipe him from the memories of everyone who ever knew he existed, humans and vampires alike. But he will no longer have his gift to fall back on, that too will be gone, that is his real punishment" Mnemosyne reeled off and we nodded,
"Plus all his interference will be laid at Alice and Carlisle's door; the only ones who will know the truth are Isabella and Major Whitlock. Of course, by extension his brother and his mate, but they will say nothing!" She continued,
"Wow, yeah he'll be devastated and will know he brought it on himself, but won't be able to prove it! A fitting fall from grace for a spoilt brat of an adolescent!" I tell her happily,
"Plus we thought a little change in coven dynamics would also be in order. First, that it was a coven and not a family and no more decisions were made by just Carlisle. As there are only four of them left it has to be a three-to-one consensus from now on and attending school is now off the table" Mnemosyne explained,
"Good Idea, can they forget about me as well, I mean me being Charlie Swan!" Ceorl enquired,
Over the next hour, we set the stage, removing all signs of Edward from this and all other houses and recouping all the monies to the coven's coffers. All he has left is his home in Chicago, his Volvo and the clothes packed in the trunk! His line of credit was now in his own name of Masen and the amount is no longer in the hundreds of thousands, it's barely in the low thousands! So the stage was set, Ceorl got the job of dressing Edward and removing him from the house, not that hard with our abilities I suppose. When he woke he would be far from Forks and all he once held in his greedy childish grasp! Now our job was done, this was where the others took over and it had nothing to do with the death side of the business. It was a rare treat to work with the other types of angels and Mnemosyne agreed.
"It was a pleasure working with you both, something that doesn't happen often to be sure. Until we meet again" she said before disappearing in another flash of white light,
"Damn, she just saved Carlisle's life! I was about to go above and beyond my pay grade" Ceorl huffed and I just squeezed his arm,
"So do we just leave and let them get on with it or maybe give them all one final warning we are always watching!" I asked finding it quite amusing,
"I really want nothing more to do with that fool; he just rubs me up the wrong way!" Ceorl huffed and I smiled,
"Leave it to me" I say changing into my Fae form,
He stepped closer smiling down at me and wrapped his wings around my body. Thus pulling me right up to his chest.
"This is by far my favourite of your iterations" he said his voice low, almost rumbling in his chest, before leaning in to kiss me for the first time,
Everything just felt right, I felt complete, even though I had never felt incomplete before. But as he did that, I had in return poured myself into the embrace and the kiss. In my mind, I also sensed the two houses join as they had tried before. I idly wondered what changes to our story that would effect, because it would do something! So as Ceorl disappeared I touched my lips smiling, before I awakened the fool and his coven slowly. Mrs Cullen enters first saying Mr Jenks had finally left with all his documents. I wasn't hiding, but I was in the corner of the room sitting, okay I was really floating in mid-air and they seemed not to see me. Carlisle appeared to be trying to pull himself together whilst ignoring the blatant filthy looks from Rose and Emmett's disgust.
"What on earth were you thinking Carlisle? Only a fool challenges an Angel of Death's word! I can't believe we haven't seen this decline in your intelligence, dropping into outright stupidity that you have got going on" Esme angrily demands of her husband and he does not look happy at the disgust in her tone,
"I couldn't agree more Mrs Cullen. A truly epic blunder on his part, I'd wager. If Carlisle wasn't being watched closely before he will be now!" I say and they all jump,
"I'm sorry dear, but who are you?" Esme asked me, the obviously Fae woman before her,
"You saw me before, that was my work-wear shall we say! This, I guess is my less formal appearance. Now down to business, Alice was drawing far too much attention to your coven from all quarters. You, I'm afraid are left to repair the damage. I'd suggest withdrawing from human circles for a few decades or maybe even more!" I explained and just knew Carlisle would complain,
"But I'm a renowned Doctor!" he states pompously,
"Are you? What groundbreaking contributions to medical science have you made in the last three hundred years, Doctor?" I sneer at him,
He blusters at the insult but has no answer for me, mainly because he has done nothing momentous in the field of medicine.
"You are right of course, we will leave here and to make this fair we'll vote on it. All in favour of leaving the human world?" Rose states in a no-nonsense voice, before continuing,
"Against? Just you then Carlisle, so it's three to one!" She concludes with an air of righteousness,
"So even with Jazz's vote, that's a go!" Emmett says looking pleased,
"Major Whitlock will be rejoining his own coven with Miss Swan I'm fairly sure. Esme, Rose and Emmett, you all have online businesses so they can be done from anywhere" I say before turning to the pompous ass, who was once their leader,
"That just leaves you Carlisle to find yourself a way to redeem your tarnished reputation. Not with the humans or the Volturi, but with God himself!" I say with a little contempt in my tone and his head drops in shame or is that mortification,
"Thank you, my dear; we will take your advice. Please believe we are taking this seriously" Esme replied on behalf of them all,
"Yes, I do hope so! Trust me you don't ever want to meet us again. If there is a next time we won't be stopping to hear any of Carlisle's excuses!" I inform them and suddenly have a thought,
Oh, while I remember, this wanton killing of animals that are neither dying, sick or too old to run with the herd, has to stop! You are interfering with the local ecosystems everywhere you go. It's lazy, it's entitled and it's inhumane! Find areas with overpopulation; stop imagining you are at the top of that food chain. You are not, because animals are part of the human's food chain, not yours!" I say before I too disappear from their over-the-top mansion,
VS&MOM
"Thank goodness that's over. Those were the strangest vampires I've ever had to deal with!" I said as I appeared by Ceorl's side,
"At least they are no longer our problem, now I remember why I chose to join the death side of our brethren. I don't care much for the false platitudes these fools offer us as excuses" Ceorl replied and I nodded,
"Yeah, me too! I find them all so annoying and petty! I wonder if I was like that once, but then I don't think I was ever human." I muse to both him and myself,
We appeared to be in a large house which was a cross between his and mine, I liked it. From what I could see our things had just blended, sitting side by side as if they had always been that way. I wondered what changes this had made in our previous story. Maybe not just us being engaged and living next door, but us having been living together for a while? Sometimes we don't know until someone else mentions it, which can be a little inconvenient and downright annoying! That's the problem when your home is sentient, it can have a warped sense of humour on occasion. Other times I get all the information right off the bat, I guess I'll just have to wait and see because it looks like Ceorl doesn't know either! Now there are two of them to drive me slowly insane, who said this job was easy? Not me!
"I don't think they've married us off, but I have a feeling we're a well-established couple" Ceorl informed me as he put his arm around my waist,
We don't need the human trappings like marriage, why? Because we aren't human, so they are irrelevant to us. Yes, we are together now, but we don't need it defined like humans do.
"Once Bella and Jasper are together what are our plans?" I asked as we wandered through our new abode,
"Back to work for me, I guess! I thought maybe we could work together from now on, but we'll need to ask upstairs for permission" He explained as we peered in all the rooms,
"Oh, I'd like that. I'm sure I could learn a lot from you and while you deal with the big stuff, I can clear up the smaller ones" I said confidently,
"You'll be changing your area, you okay with that? In fact, I'm guessing it'll be a new area for both of us as I was replaced anyway!" He mentioned and I nodded knowing that's what would happen,
"Yeah, it's fine I like variety, this has been a blast and I met you too," I say smiling at him,
"Okay then! Right house what's the plan? Is my early retirement underway and what do the locals now believe?" He asks in a tone that implied, don't mess with me!
We basically felt the house heave a sigh but the information came in fast and furious. We were a long-standing couple now and getting all our ducks in a row for a big move. Looks like I inherited a house in Parkersburg, West Virginia from my grandmother. Lovely, it would be wonderful if that's where we actually went, but in reality, our home will be in the ether! It's only when we come down for a job that our homes are on Earth, and it's usually for a very short time. It's only been Ceorl that I know of that has been down here for several years. Now we just wait for Bella to finish her last few months of High School and head to Peter and Char's place outside of Fairfield, Montana with Jasper. It will look like they are going off to college together and not be returning to Forks but joining us in Virginia.
So, that'll be us all sorted and leaving Forks as a well-liked family. Of course, Ceorl as Chief Swan will be remembered fondly and missed I have no doubt. I bet the Cullens won't be that missed in Forks or highly thought of. I'm sure Carlisle wished they, no he were so revered! Well, I best get out and about saying my goodbyes, searching for boxes supposedly for the move. Also, have a little moan about how stressful it all is and just make nice with the locals. In reality, once Jasper and Bella leave we will just pick up our new larger house and disappear from Forks and unlike normal be a vague but pleasant memory. This is due to Bella having been a human; therefore we will remain in the minds of the population. Neither of the Swans could just be forgotten having lived there for many years.
Finally having some time to ourselves, Bella was at school and Jasper was at the Cullens collecting his belongings. I had seen Ceorl as Charlie Swan and as an Angel of Death, but not as himself and I was beginning to wonder why not! After all, he had seen me in all my iterations; he asked to see me as my hellhound specifically. So I decided to just out and out demand to see him in his true form and damn I was not disappointed! He was also Fae, but a warrior of some sort; he appeared to have a Mediterranean look about him. But most significantly he still had wings, not huge like his Angel of Death ones but smaller for flight and manoeuvrability. I smiled when I realised not only did he still have a moustache, but a beard as well. From the mode of dress and insignia, he was no mere soldier; no he had once been very important!
It turned out his kin oversaw the lands and mountains of Berchtesgadener Land in the German state of Bavaria. Schönau am Königssee was their base and during a battle with a rival group of Fae from the Austrian side of the mountains he was fighting their leader and had managed although hurt himself to defeat him. What happened next broke his heart, a comrade who he thought was a friend, and even a brother killed him. Why? To steal his thunder, saying Cerol was killed by the enemy whom he then defeated. Taking the leader's head and carrying the body of Prince Cerol home to his family. But his fame and accolades were soon turned to ash as his black wings started to lighten to grey and began to disintegrate! This was proof positive that he had lied and was the cause of his friend and Prince's death.
"Everything came right in the end; my younger brother married the daughter of the leader whom I killed. Funnily enough, it was me who was betrothed to her, but he disliked the idea and thus our war!" Ceorl explained,
"Did you love her?" I query, unsure why I asked,
"No, not at all. It was arranged without my input" he said with a sneer,
"Ah, family manipulations! Yes, they are nothing but trouble" I say knowing just how this can happen,
"Superstition is a cruel master even amongst our kind. They, the elders thought it was a great honour for you to be chosen as sacrifice!" He tried to reassure me,
"Yeah, well it didn't work out that way for them or him! I killed the bully and his offspring killed them! Unfortunately, they killed me too, but it is what it is" I state unperturbed after all the time that has passed,
"The way I see it we would never have met otherwise, so it was possibly preordained! The boss sure knows how to play a long game" Ceorl said with a smile,
"Well I'm happy the way things turned out and I'm looking forward to our eternity together. Oh, by the way, I like the real you best as well!" I tell him with a wink,
We carried on in this manner for another four months and finally, Bella graduated from Forks High School. Everyone told her they had never seen her so happy as when she was with Jasper, they wished her luck at the University of Montana and then it was time to go. The Cullens were long gone, slinking away under a cloud due to Alice, well really Alice and Edward but nobody remembers him. We have no idea if he came back looking for them as of yet and we really don't care. Jasper is going to change Bella in the next couple of months and they are both happy about it. She really wants to be like him and he will be relieved once she is. That means Ceorl's job is done here on earth and it's time for us both to report for duty once again. I'm quite excited about whatever our future will be.
VS&MOM
"How's your Italian Sabé?" Ceorl asked me out of the blue,
We had just been up top for a few hours, except time is different here. When we leave after however long no time has passed on Earth, yeah it takes some getting used to! Ceorl had been to talk to the boss and I was catching up with friends, who rarely left heaven due to their individual jobs.
"Italian! Yeah, it's good. Why?" I replied a little confused,
"That's our new area! With a special side mission of keeping tabs on Volterra!" He says grinning widely,
"The Volturi! We get to deal with the Volturi, oh my! Wow, this just made my day" I say ecstatically,
Most wouldn't want the hassle, but I'm not like most other Spectral Hounds. I like the unusual, the rough and ready, the obscure and so too it seems, does my new life partner. Or should that be Death partner? After all, he is one of the very few Angels of Death who have stepped down temporarily for a human. So we will now be moving to Italy, near Volterra I'm guessing. I doubt we will be lifting and laying the house every time they killed someone, it would probably be best to just leave it in situ. It's a tangled web of pure evil that really needs to be sorted out, but that's well above my remit. But I'm more than happy to put a spanner in the works when I can and of course, if I'm allowed. I'm sure I could give their fisher, a run for her money!
*Mnemosyne is derived from the same source as the word mnemonic, that being the Greek word mnēmē, which means remembrance, memory