Chapter 3: The Cullens
They were all incredibly beautiful, even by vampiric standards.
From the way that they were standing together, I felt like I could easily match up all the couples. A beautiful blonde woman stood beside a man with enough muscles to intimidate any human bodybuilder. Next to the bodybuilder was a woman with a very kind face and dark hair tumbling down her back in soft curls, and to her left was a tall man with blond hair who held himself with a sense of authority—leading me to believe that he was the head of this coven. Next to the blond man stood Jasper, and then standing slightly separated from the rest of the group was a slim man with bronze coloured hair.
I assumed that he was in a relationship with the human that would be joining their coven soon, which piqued my interest. In all my years of travelling, I'd never heard of a relationship between a vampire and a human. I'd had my share of one-night stands with humans through the years, but I'd never revealed what I was to them. It was forbidden by the Volturi to reveal our existence to humans and I wondered if they were aware of this situation.
Just thinking about the Volturi made my skin crawl and I had to force myself to stop thinking about them.
I soon learned everyone's names; Rosalie was the beautiful blonde woman who was with the burly man, Emmett. The kind looking woman was Esme and the blond man was Carlisle and I'd been right in my assumption that he was the head of the coven. The bronze haired vampire who had stood on his own was Edward.
At Esme's suggestion, they told me about their past lives so that we could all get comfortable with each other.
Alice spoke first, sharing her upbringing in Biloxi, Mississippi. In her human life, she'd seen visions of the future, causing her family to lock her away in an asylum. She'd resigned herself to the fact that she was going to die in there, however a kind vampire who happened to work there was able to get her out. Upon leaving the asylum, she discovered that she was being hunted by a tracker and the kind vampire turned her to save her life.
Jasper spoke about how he'd served in the Civil War prior to being turned by a woman named Maria, who enlisted his help in creating a newborn army. His time in the military was a precious asset to her as well as his ability to manipulate emotions. He was able to use his power to keep the newborns in check and stop them from losing control. Eventually, he needed to break away from her and found peace in his life with Alice before they found the Cullens through one of Alice's visions.
Rosalie's story broke my heart—she'd been set to marry the man of her dreams until one night, he and his friends had their way with her and left her to die in the street. Carlisle smelled the blood and found her, turning her to save her life. She was able to get her revenge—when she awoke from her transformation, she hunted down the men who had nearly killed her and returned the favour to them, saving her ex-fiancé for last.
Emmett had been mauled by a bear and Rosalie had been the one to find him, begging Carlisle to save his life. Emmett spoke with a child-like glee as he recounted the memory, mentioning that he was sure he would've been able to take the bear down on his own.
Edward had been suffering from the Spanish Influenza and was on the brink of death when Carlisle had turned him. Carlisle's treatments on him weren't working and Carlisle was quickly losing hope, but it was Edward's mother who begged Carlisle to save him through the only way that he could. Edward awoke from the transformation with the ability to read minds and I had to stop myself from throwing up mental blocks to attempt to keep him out—that wouldn't do any good now.
Esme's story was another heartbreaking one and it hit a little too close to home for me. She'd given birth, but had lost her baby to lung fever. She was so distraught over the loss of her child that she'd attempted to take her own life. Carlisle found her just before it was too late and turned her, saving her life. The two of them fell in love and cared for their new family together.
However, it was Carlisle's story that sent a chill up my spine.
He'd been the son of a preacher and would hunt vampires. He was trailing a few of them but one caught on to what he was doing and ended up biting him. He crawled away to hide, thinking that he was going to die, but awoke from his transformation three days later. Soon after he was turned, he encountered the Volturi and joined their guard for years before leaving them. He spoke about the first time he'd come to Forks and how he'd made the treaty with the wolf pack and how he'd been able to create a home here for him and his coven.
When he spoke about the Volturi, I couldn't help but stiffen at the mere mention of them, and I was sure that the rest of the family noticed it.
As Carlisle finished his tale about his life, I knew that it was my turn.
"Well, as Alice and Jasper already know, I grew up in Boston. When I was little, I'd always felt this…connection to the dead. I could sense another presence in the room or I'd see a shadow in the corner. Sometimes, I could even speak with them. The earliest incident that I can remember was when my grandmother passed away and I could still speak to her. I'm sure that my parents and sister thought that I was crazy, but they probably just accepted it as a coping mechanism.
"As I got older, I learned to keep my mouth shut about my conversations," I continued. "However, when I was nineteen, the mother of the man who I'd been dating appeared to me. She'd passed away years before I'd met him and he never wanted to talk about it with me. When she appeared to me, she wanted me to speak to him for her—to tell him that she loved him. I didn't want to do it but she kept insisting that I did.
"Finally, I gave in and told him. As it turned out, he was a vampire with a bad temper. He got extremely angry with me and then bit me. I can only assume that he didn't mean to turn me, because when I woke up, he was gone. His mother appeared to me again and explained everything that had happened."
Of course, there was part of that story that I was leaving out but I had never spoken to anyone about that part of my history, let alone a group of vampires that I'd just met.
"I began to travel the world, searching for the vampire who turned me. I was so consumed with hatred for him that I wanted nothing more than to get my revenge and I followed his trail right into Italy," I said, taking a deep breath before continuing. I hated thinking about this part of my life, let alone talking about it so openly. "The Volturi quickly caught wind of me and captured me. They offered to help me in my search for him in exchange for my services with them, but I declined and that angered them. They locked me up and starved me for months, so offended that I'd refused their offer that they wanted to starve me to the point of causing a bloodbath in their city so they'd have a good reason to kill me.
"When they finally let me out, I ran out of the city as quickly as I could and fed on an entire herd of deer to satiate my thirst. I hid in a cave in a mountain for weeks before my now ex, William, found me and helped me come to terms with everything. Since then, I've had multiple close encounters with the Volturi. Aro has sent Demetri and Jane and Alec after me—I think it's just to freak me out since they never actually catch me, but it's eerie every time it happens."
The room was silent as I finished my story. It had been a long time since I'd opened up like that to anyone.
Alice broke the silence. "Do you still have your power? To communicate with the dead?"
I nodded. "Yes, I do. Before it would only happen at random, but now I can summon them if I concentrate hard enough on a picture, description, or even a name. It can still happen at random sometimes, but I can control it a lot better now. It's why I believe Aro wanted me so badly—it would be an incredibly useful power for them to have on their side."
Silence fell over the room again and I had a feeling I knew exactly what they were all thinking: Could she do it for me?
It always made me feel a bit uncomfortable when a friend asked me to do it for them, but I would do it for any of the Cullens without hesitation. When I was travelling and needed money, I'd open little psychic shops out of my apartments and communicate with clients' family members who had passed. I was sure majority of them thought that it was a hoax, but they wanted that glimmer of hope that their loved ones were at peace.
"That is quite a story," Carlisle said. "The Volturi are difficult to deal with at the best of times and their punishments can be extremely unfair, but for them to starve you like they did…that is beyond cruel."
"I know," I agreed. "I never thought they'd let me out."
"Aro wants both Edward and me to join them," Alice said. "With you being here, I'm sure he'll be less than pleased."
"I don't have to stay," I said. "I don't want to make things worse for the rest of you."
"Nonsense," Esme said without missing a beat. "It will be easier for them to find you if you're isolated. The more people we have, the stronger we are."
"Especially with what's coming," Rosalie interjected.
I looked around at the group of vampires. "What's coming?"
"We believe that someone has created a newborn army," Edward explained. "Have you heard about the recent killings in Seattle?" I shook my head. "Over the course of the past couple of weeks, there have been random killings and disappearances in Seattle. The attacks are messy enough to be deemed animal attacks, but we know better."
"They're getting closer, too," Alice chimed in. "And we're pretty sure we know what they want."
"What?" I asked.
"Bella, Edward's girlfriend," Rosalie said with a slight scowl. "The Volturi also want her turned, so she'll be one of us soon enough."
"Why are they after her?"
"We don't know," Edward admitted. "There was a vampire in her bedroom a few days ago and they took a sweater of hers."
"To get her scent," I said.
"Exactly," Emmett said. "And when they come, we'll be ready for them."
"All this to protect a human girl who will have to be turned anyway," I murmured. "Why not just turn her before they get here?"
"My adoptive brother is stubborn," Rosalie muttered, shooting Edward a dirty look.
"They'll need to be taken care of regardless," Edward said, ignoring Rosalie.
"Well, I'll help you in whatever way I can," I said. "Do you know when they're coming?"
Alice shook her head. "They've been getting closer and closer but my visions aren't reliable enough to tell me when."
"We appreciate your offer to help, Natalie," Carlisle said, smiling warmly at me.
"Why don't I show you to your room?" Alice offered.
"My room?" I repeated.
"Of course!" Esme said. "We have more than enough room for you here. You've agreed to stay in Forks for a little bit and I wouldn't want to make you stay in a hotel."
"Thank you so much," I said. "It really means a lot to me."
Alice grasped my elbow and led me upstairs, giving me a tour of the huge house as she went. I'd been so used to tiny apartments over the years that just being in a three story house felt unfamiliar. She led me into a bedroom on the second floor at the end of the hallway that had a large bed right in the middle of it, a mahogany desk against the wall with an ornate mirror above it, and the entire south-facing was made of glass windows to allow the natural light to shine through the room. There was a white lounge chair in the corner of the room in front of the window and a mahogany coloured dresser next to the door.
"I'll leave you to get settled," Alice said, squeezing my elbow. "Call if you need anything."
I nodded at her and thanked her before dropping my duffel bag onto the dresser and gazing at myself in the mirror. My long, pale, blonde hair was slightly dishevelled from the rain but other than that, my appearance was nearly perfect—thanks to the generous helping of animal blood I'd had before my conversations with the wolves and the Cullens. There was a light in the depths of my now-golden eyes that I hadn't seen in a long time—not since I'd been with Will and somehow I knew that Paul was to thank for that.
I rooted through my duffel bag and found a hairbrush, running it through my locks to try and tame it. When I was pleased with the result, I stood at the wall of windows, gazing outside at the Cullens' massive property.
The past few hours had been a whirlwind of information and I wasn't sure how I would come to terms with everything. Between what I'd learned about each of the Cullens and what I'd learned about Paul…I wasn't sure how to process everything.
I watched as Emmett and Jasper strode out of the house to wrestle with each other, laughing and trash talking each other, and I wondered if perhaps I'd finally found a place that I could call home.