CHAPTER ELEVEN

THE CULLENS

Carlisle

Carlisle flicks his comms device to Do Not Disturb before sliding the tablet onto the recharging dock. His favorite moment of the day had arrived. Nothing or no one would be allowed to interrupt his pleasure, at least for the next hour or so. Every second of the coming experience would be relished, even though over half a million such moments had occurred during his long and eventful life.

This evening's display had been gearing up to be spectacular. The conditions - perfect. His lofty, west-facing viewpoint, the ideal situation to witness the awesomeness of nature's most spectacular performance. The first low beam had already grazed the city's furthermost tower, following which, one by one, the 30th-century monoliths that obscured his view of the lower slopes of the distant mountains, blazed in spectacular rainbow-like light.

Fifteen hundred years - each sunset a different wonder. The earliest he could recall - an English summer in the Malvern Hills. Pristine air, zero light pollution, magnificent. The spectacle of an unending cosmos that followed, even more so. Millions upon millions of stars - brilliant enough to light his way back to his parent's isolated farmhouse when he was old enough to venture solo. Even in this pollution-free world compared to the clag that shrouded the view of the night sky before the catastrophe, the people now living within sight of his lofty abode have no concept of what they are missing.

Relaxed into his favorite chair, Carlisle watches the golden orb gracefully descend toward the distant range marking the border between the Olympic Peninsula and the rest of the world. Touched by ever-changing hues of orange and gold, each peak is soaked by the last vestiges of light and warmth until a final flash of flame marks the passage of another day. For the first thousand years of his life, that traitorous globe had been his nemesis - the one constant that prevented him from posing as a full member of society. Now he was able to regard the sun as every other man who savored its life-giving features.

After the mountain tops have lost their firey glow, the city's cloudless dome leisurely morphs into a palette of turquoise and gold, through which the brightest stars gradually appear as liberally sprinkled diamonds. No matter how often Carlisle watches this spectacle, he is never bored of the sight nor does he cease to wonder if the catastrophic event that came from the sky had never happened, whether he and his family would still be compelled to live in the shadows.

Six hundred years had passed since the call went out from the hastily formed world government for anyone to come forward who had the knowledge and skills to save the surviving human and animal populations and the liveable parts of the Earth from what would be a second and this time an un-survivable catastrophe. With the agreement of his family and other Vampires, Carlisle dared to step from the shadows to offer their services even though Vampires had neither the skills nor the knowledge required. What they did have though was an imperviousness to radiation. A desperate government readily accepted Carlisle's offer.

After years of hard but vital work, and in recognition of what Vampires had done for the world, the 25th century's elected leaders offered a limited amount of freedom to the Vampires. For the first time in history, Vampires were allowed to walk undisturbed and unchallenged among mortal men. Carlisle had accepted the mantle as leader and spokesperson for their kind by that time and was involved in the negotiations. An agreement for Vampires to adhere to a strict set of rules laid down by the government was eventually reached by both parties. It was that agreement that was now in danger of becoming unstuck.

There were serious flaws in the original agreement, however, Carlisle had faith that these issues would be reconciled as time progressed. In some respects, they had. In others, not. Initially, the Vampires were monitored constantly despite their allowed freedoms. Also, as the centuries passed, new cohorts of security officials were sometimes not as relaxed as previous occupants of such posts.

Carlisle had always accepted that two of his adopted children did not support the terms of the agreement. Edward had been the most vociferous at the time stating they had done enough to earn their freedom without the need for agreements or an obligation to work for the government if they were needed again in the future. Alice, like Edward, felt the same, and when their involvement in the Lympi Experiment was put forward as a proposal, she declared it unworkable and unethical.

Even Esme, Carlisle's wife, had expressed caution. In Carlisle's mind, the trade-off was too good an offer to dismiss, which was to be able to come and go from their designated residencies as they pleased and without escorts for the first time. Carlisle by then had lived what he considered to be a frustrating and traumatic existence for a thousand years, and for him, that was long enough. When he sold the final deal to Esme and the others, he said he wouldn't wish such an existence on the rest of his family and this was their way out. They took a vote. Carlisle won.

That day, long past, when the privilege that was granted to him and his family to emerge unaccompanied into the sun's blistering light remains a vivid memory. A day he never thought would come. The sun's effect on their skin still singled them out to an understandably wary human population and remains a constant reminder of when Vampires were forced to live like nocturnal animals and exist on the edge of society. But Carlisle considered being easily identifiable was a small price to pay for acceptance.

While the sky darkens to black night, Carlisle reflects on the day just passed. Alice had warned him some time ago of trouble on the horizon. The contented, purposeful existence he and his family had enjoyed for the past five centuries was in danger of slipping away. Only recently had the family become aware trouble would not come from the community that had accepted their kind into their fold. Instead, it would be from Edward, who had crossed one of the non-negotiable lines their current existence depended upon. Reluctantly, Carlisle had concluded that this would result in one or both of two possible outcomes – the banishment or incarceration of his son by the government, or, most likely, the end of Vampire's participation in human society.

Edward's long-time but low-level infatuation with the Swan girl, which Carlisle had initially put down as a minor irritant, had exploded into a major issue within the family because of the privileges they could lose because of Edward's perceived selfishness. Within a week after Isabella's grandmother's removal from the Peninsula, Alice had told Esme that Edward had returned to the Swan farmhouse the night after the extraction. This was the first breach of protocol Edward could be charged with. Over the years, Carlisle and Esme had pleaded with him to discontinue his visits but to no avail. Alice hadn't needed to utilize her diminishing foresight skills to guess Edward's motives. Someone in that house had reawakened either their kind's repressed instincts, or, like had happened to her with Jasper, there was someone in that house that Edward was romantically drawn to.

Carlisle had no doubts that when the government found out that Edward had broken the fundamental rule regarding communication with the people of Lympi, the agreement would be in serious jeopardy. No amount of diplomacy would satisfy the governing powers if it got out that Edward was currently breaching the bond of trust by communicating with Isabella Swan, and, the government would claim, most probably giving away their secrets. But even after eleven years of constant violations, the Elders and the current government remained unaware of that visit and all of Edward's subsequent visits.

Alice had originally been assigned to undertake Charlotte Swan's extraction. Carlisle always preferred to send females to take females, but sometimes that wasn't possible. On this occasion, Alice was sulking. Her infatuation with Jasper, whom she had recently removed from another town on the peninsula, had caused her to become belligerent. She had stated to Carlisle she would refuse to extract another human until Carlisle agreed to make representations to the New West's government on her behalf. As Esme and Rosalie were away on a trip, Carlisle had no option but to send Edward.

Esme … Carlisle's mouth turns up in a smile whenever her name enters his thoughts. Contentment in human, or vampire, form - life without her by his side, unimaginable. As far as the New West's government was concerned, Carlisle Cullen headed the family business, which is how they preferred to describe their contribution to society. In reality, Carlisle accepted that Esme had become the undisputed head of the family – the sun every member orbited around. Wife, lover, mother, psychologist, psychoanalyst, and, most importantly, supreme diplomat. Carlisle had taken on the role of patriarchal spokesperson for their kind, but Esme from the beginning had been his speechwriter. He readily accepted that negotiating the pathway that had been laid before them in the first years of acceptance would have been impossible without Esme's skills. Her high intellect, coupled with a calm understanding of the hurdles they would be required to jump, led to winning the freedom to leave their tower and even to wander unaccompanied outside the city and certain parts of the New West. His fear now was if that privilege was snatched away after five hundred years, Edward's actions could destroy the family.

Carlisle had come to accept it was only a matter of time before news of Edward's crimes reached the ears of the security services. They were already suspicious of Edward's constant need to leave the city for his mental health. Also, the current Head of the service had been the only dissenting voice when Alice was seeking permission to save Jasper. Luckily for Alice, this man was only a junior official back then, but it was obvious he still held a grudge against the family. Carlisle could therefore confidently predict there would be no final chances granted for Edward if he was held to account for his behavior.

After Alice's most recent update about Edward's increased contact with Isabella, Carlisle now suspected it might only be days before he and other family members would be questioned about what they knew. When Alice reported she had witnessed Edward's encounter with Isabella on the beach, Carlisle sent her back to Forks with an instruction to order Edward back to the tower before even more damage was done. He wasn't holding out much hope that Edward would comply. During the past weeks, it was plain that Edward was on edge. Carlisle realized now that he had been waiting for Isabella to turn eighteen to make his move on her. He shakes his head in despair when he contemplates how his family will react if they are once again only allowed to leave the building with escorts, or, even worse, only to extract Lympians.

Edward though? The handsome American boy whom he'd rescued from certain death over a thousand years previously was now on course to scupper their steady way of life. Alice's gift of foresight was no use in this circumstance though. Her psychic abilities no longer stretched to family members, just as Edward's ability to read minds had waned over the years. Maybe his family was regressing and becoming more human due to abstaining from human blood, or simply because of the passage of time. For many reasons, Carlisle dearly wished this. Deep down though, he relished his long life, especially since he'd found Esme to share it with.

The crystal device flashes. An image of Alice entering the security doors at ground level and then making her way toward their elevator appears on the screen set into his desk. The fact that she is alone confirms Carlisle's fears. Edward had not returned with her as directed. He had anticipated this would be the case. Carlisle's head is in his hands when Alice appears at the door, where she shrugs.

"Sorry, Carlisle," she says and throws herself onto his white-leather couch.

Alice

Alice watches Edward until his speeding form is swallowed by the forest. Her brother hadn't allowed her the time to compose an appropriate response to his cutting remark.

"You of all … people … must understand what I'm going through."

Edward spoke the truth.

She did understand more than anyone in the family what he was suffering. Acute frustration, desperation, and pain. When she was pleading with the government for the right to be with the love of her life, the memory of those traumas would never leave her, despite the eventual happy ending. Two years of gut-wrenching torture before permission was granted to change Jasper still lingered like a persistent ache.

Throughout her own long life, she had experienced her fair share of pain and loss, but nothing comparable to not being allowed to help Jasper, especially knowing she possessed the ability to save him and then restore him to the man he once was. Watching the human she adored enduring the agony of a muscle-wasting disease as it slowly ravaged his body had been excruciating, even to the point where she was contemplating ending her own life if he succumbed before a decision was made. Almost ten years after permission was given, the agony she suffered, which she compared to what she experienced during the transition, is still as vivid as when it was happening.

Despite Alice's loss of foresight, she was certain where Edward would be heading. The location - a closely guarded secret between him and her.

Before Alice's predictions about Edward's mental health fizzled to almost nothing, she had been able to warn the family when he needed to take time away from the family. Vampire bodies are virtually indestructible, but that benefit did not protect them from the scourge of mental illness. Like many others of their kind, Edward had issues. Severe depression coupled with guilt and anger had dogged his life over the centuries. Add eleven years of frustration to that toxic mix and the family accepted it was only a matter of time before he blew. Whether now was that time Alice still wasn't sure. She only hoped Edward's confidant would once more be able to soothe the troll that occasionally roared within him.

In previous years, the security services had reluctantly accepted the excuse for Edward's absences. Recently though, this new, more suspicious government, had chosen to increase surveillance on their movements and refused to give a reason why. Yesterday, Carlisle had been obliged to present both her and Edward with security devices that would track by satellite their whereabouts whenever they were in Lympi or the city. This was the first they had been told of the new arrangement and Edward was furious. Even more so when he was informed there were no specific reasons why he and Alice had been singled out. Consequently, Alice wasn't surprised when she spotted Edward ripping off the device and tossing it into a plant pot before leaving Cullen Tower. In solidarity, she had done the same when she followed him. Her mission to stop him from seeing Bella again had failed. She was not looking forward to facing Carlisle.

By the time Cullen Tower is visible from the Wastelands, she has her story straight in her head. Carlisle would be waiting for her in his office after watching the sunset earlier, but even her eyes wouldn't be able to spot him at his window from this distance. While she speeds towards the copper-toned monolith situated close to the center of the new city that had been rebuilt in the shadow of Mount Rainier, she smiles at an oft-recalled thought. Since the catastrophe, Vampires have effectively swapped one type of lofty abode for another.

For centuries, Vampires resided in towers built of stone, not glass. Medieval castles that rose above ancient walled cities had not escaped the ravages of the catastrophe. Thankfully the Italian Vampires, which included Aro's clan of what amounted to 'enforcers,' had not been seen or heard from for centuries. Their loss had not been mourned by the Vampire world. Alice had never desired to live in a castle but at least they had charm. She considered this current monstrosity named by the previous government, 'Cullen Tower,' as having about the same amount of charm as a cardboard box.

Elevator doors closed, button P pressed, Alice shoots toward the heavens in less time than even she would take flying up the emergency stairs. As she makes her way across the glistening marble floor toward Carlisle's suite, she reverts to being human and draws a long breath. The only lie she would be telling Carlisle tonight would be that she has no clue where Edward is heading.

Edward

He'd never run so fast or so frantically in his life - his feet hardly making contact with the forest floor. His passage so effortless that he experiences the sensation that it is he that is motionless and the Earth is turning under his feet. To the birds and animals in the forest, Edward would be a puff of wind and a fleeting blur.

Nine hundred years this forest had taken to re-grow after the catastrophe. Before that happened, the peninsula had been populated predominantly by fir and pine. Through self-seeding after the calamitous storms that raged after the meteors hit and the resulting climate change, deciduous trees rarely seen in this part of the world now dominated these woodlands. Oak and Elm, Mahogany and Yew, plus Edward's favorite - Cedar, the scent of which he could distinguish half a mile away. These magnificent specimens had given the new forest a character it had never possessed before. Instead of regimented rows of trees grown for financial rather than aesthetic value, the new woodland oozed charm and variety.

The border fence lies only minutes away, but the first destination he's heading for is still deep within the forest. When rushing water smothers all other sounds, Edward skids to a halt on a high point overlooking a tumultuous cascade. In past visits, he would be able to spot what remained of a roof. This time he is gutted to see that the last truss has given way and no doubt would be lying with the others inside what is left of the disintegrating walls. After leaping the rushing flood that centuries ago would have been a gentle tumbling stream, he picks his way through the rubble, halting at what remains of a flight of steps that previously led to where a door would have been situated.

Even though he is in no danger of injury if he enters, he decides this time not to venture past the steps. He remembers the house as a beautiful, peaceful place – the only home his family looked forward to returning to whenever a suitable time had elapsed between visits. This house was where the family chose to live after the catastrophe, but only after more than a hundred years had elapsed and the water had receded sufficiently for the forest to be habitable. When Carlisle answered the call from the new government, the family was obliged to once again abandon the house and this time move to the city. They had always planned to return but only when the Earth was in less turmoil.

Within weeks of leaving though, the peninsula was hit by a series of destructive storms that ripped the majority of the roof away leaving the interior open to the mercy of the elements. Almost immediately, the rooms where his family had happily lived and worked for centuries, were inhabited by wild animals searching for shelter. Not long after the Lympi community was set up, an anonymous Border Guard reported to the newly installed Elders that feral, Wasteland people and diseased animals, would jump the fence and visit there. Edward knew this to be a calculated lie. Wasteland inhabitants were a myth dreamed up by the New West's government. A blatant but ultimately successful ploy to keep the people of Lympi from venturing across the wide stretch of purposely blitzed land that cut off the inhabited part of the peninsula from the civilized world.

"One day I'll rebuild you," Edward shouts at the wreck, knowing full well there wouldn't be a soul within five miles to hear him. "One day soon," he repeats before setting off east just as the moon appears above the mountains.

After crossing the border fence, he speeds toward the most southerly point of the mountain range and then across the Wastelands, heading for the northern district of the rebuilt city. His thoughts, as always, turn to Bella while he's running. For over a thousand years he had searched for a soulmate, so there was no way he was giving up on her now. Carlisle had Esme, Emmett had Rosalie, Alice now has Jasper - well she almost has Jasper. Even that asshole, James, had hooked up with Victoria before they moved back to Europe to assist the government there. Why should he be the only solitary vampire left in the tower? More importantly, why should his family not accept his need to be with Bella was just as desperate as Alice's with Jasper?

Edward had recently learned from Carlisle that ten years previously after the New West's government had relented to allow Alice to turn Jasper, the government had insisted that there would be no further transitions, however powerful the argument. 'Never again' the government had stipulated, and Carlisle had agreed without any discussion with the family. This occurred just over a year after Edward extracted Charlotte Swan and consequently discovered the existence of her granddaughter, Isabella. The timing couldn't have been worse for Edward.

He wants to scream with frustration, but already he is too close to the security fence not to be overheard. The one spot where he would be able to jump over without being spotted by the guards is now only yards away. He lies flat on the ground until the searchlight passes behind him before he springs into the air.

Catching the top edge of the thirty-foot fence in his palm, Edward propels himself towards a dense patch of ornamental shrubs planted to screen the ugly fence from the residents. He stays still for several minutes, giving himself time to listen to his surroundings before moving on. A voice emanating from a nearby bungalow is as clear as if the resident was standing next to him. An elderly lady by the sound of it petting either a cat or a dog. In another bungalow further along the street, someone is crying. In the distance, classical music is being played, but other than that, no sounds can be heard other than the constant hum of air conditioners and heat pumps.

Edward patiently waits until he's confident he won't be spotted by one of the walking security patrols before crawling toward the darkest wall of the closest bungalow. After brushing himself down he dashes from yard to yard, avoiding the spots where from experience he knows cameras are trained. He'd done this journey many times before without incident but couldn't take a chance that tonight was the one night the watchmen in the control room were awake at their posts.

Lights are still on in the bungalow he's heading for, which makes approaching the door even more dangerous. The side gate has been left open, which is unusual. Rocky, her elderly but still sprightly poodle, is known to take every opportunity to escape. Using a neighbor's low hedge as cover, Edward crawls close to the ground until he halts directly opposite the gate. A glance at the live camera aimed directly at her front door precedes his dash across the road. Once inside her pretty backyard, he remains still for several minutes until he's satisfied a security patrol has not been dispatched to investigate.

Keeping close to the wall he shuffles up to the garden door where he taps on the glass twice, then once more, then twice again. Immediately, the door opens a crack and an arm shoots out. Edward flies through the gap and into the arms of the woman he guesses has been waiting for him.

"I knew you'd come soon," she cries as Edward clings to her. "This is it then? Do you really think it's time to tell her everything now?"

Edward cannot speak as he looks around the room which over the years has become a shrine to the girl he loves. On every surface that could hold a frame, there are pictures of Bella that he'd secretly taken as she grew, including the latest one taken from the top of the Owl Rock – her glorious hair blowing in the wind as she hauled in the crab pots.

"Yes, Charlotte," he replies. "The time has almost come. Even if I hadn't fallen in love with your granddaughter, the people of Lympi have suffered long enough.

So Gran is alive - as if we hadn't already guessed.

The Cullen family has a lot to lose if Edward is found to have broken their agreement with the government, which was not to make contact with the Lympi people unless they are extracting them. And what is the 'Experiment.' (No, they are not being filmed like The Truman Show).

Next, Bella is off to see Eric. Is he cheating on Angela or is it for another reason? See you on Friday,

Joan x