CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE.

COVEN

The floor tiles of my shower were becoming oddly familiar. This time the shower was ice cold but it wasn't helping the violent flashes of heat that raced through my body every time a particular memory of La surfaced.

My head rested on the back wall of the shower, the water dashing into my chest as I tried to think of anything else. It was hopeless. Even considering the conversation I was about to have with my family didn't keep me from imagining the fun La and I would have once we were able.

The control I'd exerted during the night was admirable, I could allow, but soon enough I would not have to hold my breath, not have to keep such tight control of my body. Especially at first, when her newborn strength would be nearly equal to mine. She could throw me against walls and ride me until her legs were weak and shaking. The glory of watching her use me to make herself come would undo me. I shivered and my cock throbbed as I stroked it to completion and took a very deep breath.

The shower wasn't working at all, my thoughts were only getting dirtier. Since there was no helping it, I may as well start my day and just hope my cock wouldn't react to my thoughts in the presence of my family.

Fucking embarrassing.

I leaned up to turn the water off but stayed sitting on the floor feeling like the earth was moving on while leaving me in place.

La would make her official decision today. It was all very overwhelming, and while the lingering fear we were making the wrong choice hung over me, there was still a very distinct sense of relief and excitement. Soon enough, we would have a plan in place to get La out of Washington and on her way to transition. I would have to remind myself not to rush it, no matter how badly I wanted to for my own desperately selfish reasons.

I love you, she'd said I love you. La had been asleep and completely unaware of it at the time, but it still counted.

Feeling the oddest mix of self-hate and thrill, I dragged myself from the shower floor and toward my closet, choosing a forest green shirt and my usual leather jacket before venturing into the house to find the family.

"Bad news or good news?" Esme called trepidatiously as I slowly made my way down to the common room level. She must have been waiting for my return, from her eager pacing at the bottom of the stairs, her husband watching her indulgently. Alice was behind her, rocking from side to side, hands clenched together in front of her chest.

"Good news, I think?" I smiled uncertainly.

"Don't be coy!" Alice gave up trying to keep quiet. "It's great news!"

Esme gave a small cheer as Carlisle stepped forward to clasp my shoulder. "How can we best support you, son?"

"I'm going to invite her here today if that's okay with everyone?"

"Jasper and I have already hunted, and I'm currently making plans for the best date ever."

"Well that sounds terrifying," I laughed. "Thank you, Alice."

Edward slunk down the stairs as Alice dashed up in the opposite direction, onto whatever nefarious planning she had set in motion.

"Tell me everything," Esme motioned to the couch. To my surprise, Edward joined us as Carlisle took a seat next to his wife.

"She asked me to turn her, more or less," I said as a diffident beginning.

"Ooh, I do like her," Esme murmured.

"I didn't react very well," I admitted and explained what happened, my alarm, subsequent anger, and even the disappointment that we wouldn't be sticking to the timeline I'd decided would be the most conducive for the easiest transition. I skipped how we ended the night.

"There's no reason you shouldn't get some of that time, my love," she said. "While we are under a bit of pressure, some of that could be alleviated by taking her on exactly the trip you just described. Go see her family, meet them, maybe go on holiday overseas."

"That would be ideal," Carlisle agreed. "Take her to our home in the Highlands. There would be plenty of time, space, and game for her to adjust there."

"Could you…" I didn't know how to ask, but it didn't matter - he'd already agreed. "Meet us there?"

"We will be there waiting for you when you're ready," he said kindly.

"Thank you," I shut my eyes for a moment, that overwhelming sense of guilt sweeping through me, still unable to shake the idea that I would be robbing a woman of her future life.

"I will talk to her," Edward offered softly. "I'll tell her my experience."

"Honey, I would be happy to do the same, if you think it will be helpful," Esme added.

"That would be very helpful," I sighed, relieved. "It worries me that she's being short-sighted and I don't think I've been successful at communicating how permanent this choice is, that losing her family is a requirement, not an inconvenience."

"You are hardly an unbiased source," Edward acknowledged.

"We're happy to receive her tomorrow," Esme returned to the pressing subject of having a guest in the house. "But, you two have your day together first."

"Yes," Carlisle leaned forward to rest his forearms on his knees and looked at me seriously, but gave me an understanding smile. "Momentous discussions can wait until she's spent a few hours in our company."

"Will you be able to operate without my car today?" Edward asked. "I find myself in need of a visit to Seattle."

"Take mine," Carlisle offered to either of us or both of us.

"No need, we'll take La's," I waved him off, then added to Edward, "Care to share what's in Seattle?"

"I'm not convinced it is genuine," he stood up and brushed out the crinkles in his beige-colored slacks. "But if I have something to report, you will be the first to know."

"Alright my darling," Esme stood as well. "You go on. Your father and I have some planning to do if she's going to feel safe in our home.

Upstairs, Jasper was alone in his room, but the door was wide open so I took it as an invitation to enter.

"Alice told me the good news," he said by way of greeting. "Tonight's the night?"

"Yeah," I shrugged. "I'm hoping to take some time to travel first - give her some time with the fam as well."

"Hoping we'll talk her out of it, you mean?" he chuckled.

"I don't think she'll change her mind at this point," I sighed and dropped onto one of the squashy leather chairs Jasper preferred. "But I don't want her to regret it, either."

He nodded but didn't respond otherwise, waiting for me to continue.

"Any idea what Alice has up her sleeve?"

"None," he smiled and joined me on a mirrored chair. "It won't be anything outlandish. She wants La to join the family too badly to risk scaring her off."

It was kind of sweet in Alice's strange way. Jasper gave me a level look, ready to discuss whatever had brought me into his space, so I told him my plans.

"Carlisle has offered us the Highlands home," I finished at length.

"Are you really going to try to keep her occupied for a year? Is it not best to simply get it over with?"

"No, I probably won't," I amended. "I do want to take her home to see her mom and sister first. Give her a chance to say goodbye, but ultimately it's up to her when it happens."

"It's a solid idea," he shifted, crossing one leg over the other. Jasper wasn't prone to human gestures so the forced motion put me on alert.

"What."

"Getting her out of state quickly is a great plan," he began. "But I don't think you should dally getting to the Highlands. We can find any number of places that are equally remote and quicker to get to…." He let the sentence drift off into silence.

"Pregnant pause?" I slumped further in my seat. "Really?"

"This talk of the il Divenire got me a little spooked," he admitted with a slight shrug. "I reached out to Maria to see if she learned anything useful in the last century."

"Interesting choice?" I was about to shake him. Considering her historic use of these types of people, alerting her to the presence of one seemed like an unnecessary risk.

"I didn't tell her anything about La," he said in a rush. "I asked if she ever learned what they were. She said she, and I'm quoting here, 'quit asking questions after an Italian kindly asked - her - to fuck off.'"

I blinked. "You don't mean…."

"No way to know. She got off the phone pretty quickly after that," he said reluctantly, then added. "But if it's true, the quicker you move, and the further you are from Italy, the better."

"Pasta isn't my preference," I attempted some humor, but Jasper didn't buy it. "I think I can do that. Is there any other way we can find out more about this?"

"Edward is following a lead in Seattle as we speak."

"He didn't say anything," I looked toward the stairwell.

"He didn't want to get your hopes up."

"And you couldn't care less about my hopes," I grinned.

"Oh," he smacked my shoulder. "Not remotely."

"Is there anything we need to do to prepare for her transition?"

Jasper leaned back and absently scratched his cheek in thought. He had an especially nasty scar there that ran from the middle of his cheek to his jaw hinge like his face had been ripped open. I'd never asked about any of his scars, leaving those firmly in the "not my business" category, but I wondered about how he managed to get that one.

"Has she shown any particular proclivities?"

"Aside from her dogged and persistent lack of fear?" I asked wryly. "No, none."

"It wouldn't be surprising if she didn't have an extra talent, like I said, we're very rare," he explained. "In that case, there is very little you can do save for the general precautions - make sure there's accessible game on hand and room to hunt far from any humans. You'll remember that sounds and smells are particularly overwhelming, so just take things slow. If she is il Divenire, it won't take her long to acclimatize, but she will be hungry."

"Thanks, brother," I told him and stood to leave. The sky outside his windows was brightening with the first dim rays of dawn. It was time to get back to La. "I'll see you later?"

"Wouldn't miss it for the world."


It wasn't surprising, I shouldn't have been so impressed. But I found myself watching the interaction between La and Esme under some form of stupefaction. First, La, though nervous as we walked up the stairs to the front doors, was now completely at ease without Jasper's help. Second, Esme had timed their introduction perfectly. Alice and Jasper were squirreled away upstairs, Edward was pretending to ignore us from the living room, and Carlisle and Esme kept a very careful distance until invited to approach.

It put all my demands and announcements of all this being "her choice" to shame. Esme made sure La even had the choice of a handshake. As they exchanged pleasantries I focused on Edward. He wasn't pretending to ignore us, he was wholly absorbed by whatever was on his tablet. The question in my head alerted him, and he glanced up at me with a grimace. Whatever it was, it wasn't good.

He schooled his features before approaching La, keeping his pacing even and slow. Alice didn't appear until exactly the moment La had finished coming to terms with the three new vampires before her. Her perfectly timed appearance was accompanied by a shriek of happiness and suddenly she was in La's arms. They embraced like reunited sisters after a long estrangement. Jasper, more circumspect, took his time on the stairs and didn't approach, using his talent liberally just in case. I could feel the blanket of calm pressing down on my senses.

La's heart rate maintained an elevated, but steady rhythm the entire time. Her smiles were natural, and her happiness at hugging Alice was perfectly genuine. She even spared a heartfelt smile for Jasper, who seemed to draw a little strength from it.

Esme was delighted. She beamed at La, at me, at Jasper's uncharacteristic affability. I could almost hear her screaming in happiness on the inside. Carlisle rubbed her back in slow circles, communicating in the way only lovers of many years could. They were eager to get to know this woman who had deigned to choose their son, and I found I was just as eager to get on with it myself. A little piece of the guilt that I had been holding on to shook loose and fell away.

It left me feeling lighter than I had in weeks. I no longer cared what Alice was planning - I just wanted to move on to the conversations that were promised for the evening.

My excitement must have been palpable because Carlisle gently tilted his head at me in a sort of "get started" motion. Taking the hint, I suggested a tour of the house and pointed toward the garage. The family let us take our leave, silently finding their own interests. Alice tugged Jasper out the door onto any sort of unknown and untrustworthy errand. As we passed, Edward grabbed my arm to pull me aside.

News on the il Divenire ? I asked him wordlessly.

"Yes, I think Maria was correct in her assertion." He said it low and too rapid for human ears to detect. I was left to assume Jasper had filled him in on our earlier conversation.

They were made by the Volturi?

"I am still reading. There is much to detangle." I took his caution as confirmation. "More pressing, we have visitors on the peninsula. They are close by, but seem to be unaware of our presence and Alice sees no indication they should interfere with us."

He let me go at my nod, allowing me to take La through the garage first to appeal to her interest in cars. She oohed over Jasper's Ducati, and paused to pet Esme's Aston, then cooed about our collection of vintage pieces - particularly the '67 GTO. From the second level of the garage, I took her through the residential floor of the house, discovering the family had indeed left us alone, closeted away in their own spaces. I led La up the stairs, stopping occasionally to point things out.

At the end of the first hall, we paused. La gazed down into the communal living space. I tried to take it in as she would see it - full of light from the windows making the white furniture glow, and offset by the deep black of the grand piano on its dias.

"Not what you expected, is it?" I leaned against the railing next to her.

"No, but I'm not entirely sure I was expecting anything, really. It's just full of so much light, it's so open…" Her wide eyes swept the space, taking it all in.

"This is the one place in the world we can truly be ourselves without any fear," I explained. She hummed in response and turned away from the piano.

"What did Edward have to tell you?"

"Some visitors are coming," I told her easily, not remotely surprised she'd managed to pick up on the brief exchange.

"Is that bad?" she wanted to know. I thought about how to answer. Her only experience with vampires were the friendly neighborhood kinds. Whoever these visitors were, they probably weren't on Mr. Roger's rolodex. I decided to skip Edward's other news entirely; no need for her to worry about those theories until we knew more.

"Not really," I responded. "They're not like us with their hunting habits. But it doesn't look like they'll be going near Forks at all. Either way, I'm not letting you out of my sight until they're gone."

La accepted this and turned around to find Carlisle's massive crucifix on the wall. Her face blanched as she took it in - ancient with a deep, resinous patina from old age and repetitive touching. It was odd that Carlisle insisted on carrying it around with him from place to place, rather like Jesus himself. Odder still the thing hadn't crumbled to dust, but I supposed if I had something remaining from my birth parents, I would be loathe to lose it as well, morbid as this particular piece was.

Predictably, La's insatiable desire for as much historical information as possible drove the story out of me. She was as horrified as I had been upon first learning of the difficulty of Carlisle's transition; attacked by a wretch from the sewers of London and forced to keep silent as he burned, buried under rotten potatoes for days. She carefully filed away each detail I offered up. I could see the cogs turning as I dropped the tidbit about the pain of it and the time frame.

I watched her absorb the information, looking out for any signs she'd had enough. She gently tapped her lip as she thought then shook herself out of it and returned my gaze.

"How are you feeling?" I asked.

"Weird," she frowned. "That's an intense origins story. What happened after that? How did he get from rotten potatoes to Forks?"

"I can show you." I led her back down the hall toward Carlisle's office and paused outside the door. He called us in and stood behind his desk to welcome us. He had on a very soft, knowing smile as we entered. I noticed the copy of William Cowper's book was still on his desk, now open to a page somewhere in the middle where a diagram of what looked like an organ was printed.

He gently shut the book, picked it up, and came out from behind the desk, still using those slow movements from the initial introduction in the foyer. Carlisle listened politely as I described La's desire to understand more of his history, to which he smiled and demurred. I looked at him quizzically, but he gave a minute shake of his head, disentangled himself from our conversation, and left the room with the book, shutting the door behind him.

We were left with a floor-to-ceiling wall of art. Reading the wall like a book, from left to right, one could see the visualization of Carlisle's life. Beginning in the 1600s, London, I took La across the wall, adding details to Carlisle's story as we went. Through 300 years of history, La didn't flinch once, though I could see a fiery desperation to know more building in her ravenous gaze as she absorbed the images.

As we got to the largest and most colorful of the paintings, I paused and gazed up at the beautiful figures.

"Eventually his studies took him to Italy where he discovered others. They were a coven of civilized, educated people completely unlike the wraiths in the London sewers." I said and brushed the edge of the gilded frame with a finger.

Solimena was a master of his craft most assuredly. He had captured Carlisle's likeness almost perfectly, only giving him and the others in the painting an angelic hue that wasn't realistic - especially for the others in Carlisle's company.

"Solimena was greatly inspired by the coven Carlisle had found in Italy. He often painted them as gods," I shook my head and wondered, pointing at each figure in turn. "Aro, Marcus, and Caius, nighttime patrons of the arts."

…And possibly of the sciences, I added to myself. This painting would have been completed sometime in the early 1700s. It occurred to me that the first edition book I'd now seen both Carlisle and Edward perusing was published in 1698.

"What happened to them?" La asked.

"They're still there." Still fucking with people's lives, and probably creating super-vampires, if that was, indeed, what Maria had been implying. "As they have been for who knows how many millennia. Carlisle stayed with them only for a comparatively short time, just a few decades. He admired their civility, their refinement, but they persisted in trying to cure his aversion to 'his natural food source.' They tried to persuade him, and he tried to persuade them, obviously it didn't work."

She nodded, continuing down the line to more of the paintings. Several of these were more modern and didn't hold the attention of the viewer the way Solimena's four angelic faces did.

Before leaving the office, I gave them another long look, wondering what secrets we were uncovering, and what those would mean for our future.

I led La up the last flight of stairs to another portion of the residence floors, listening to La's quick breaths as she looked around the hall.

"Have all of you always stuck to this strict diet?" she asked.

"Esme has. I think her compassion makes it as difficult for her to view humans as food as it was for Carlisle. Edward had a pretty typical bout of teenage rebellion right after I was found, and I joined him for a while during the '50s and '60s. Edward had this idea that since he could read minds he could pass over the innocent and only prey on the evil and twisted. I followed his lead because we both thought we were cheating the system, that we could escape a bloody conscience since we had this back door into the mind of evil. We were telling ourselves we were doing the world a favor by clearing out the rapists, pedophiles, murderers."

She nodded without further reaction, as though this was a completely normal and acceptable way to view the repetitive murder of humans. My response wasn't followed up with another question, so I slowed and let her pass me into the hall and watched her take in all the details of my family life. This hall contained portraits of all of us and landscapes Alice had taken during a brief fascination with photography in the 80s.

"That still doesn't freak you out?" I leaned against a wall, crossing my arms in disbelief. Surely something I said today, or something she would see in our home would scare her a little bit.

"No."

"I just told you I spent some time as what can ostensibly be referred to as a serial killer and you're cool with that?" I pressed in disbelief.

"You're not a serial killer," she said adamantly, barely giving me time to finish the question. At my skeptical look, she continued, "I'm serious, I mean, if you were human I would probably run screaming, but you're not so it's not the same thing."

I couldn't fault her logic, especially since I had been using a similar line of reasoning to excuse my stalker behavior just yesterday. Since I couldn't argue I motioned down the hallway toward the the last doorway.

"As Edward and I continued into the 70's we started feeling like the same kind of monsters we were killing. Justification doesn't negate hypocritical behavior, right? It felt dirty. So we came back to Carlisle and Esme who welcomed us with open arms."

Her head twitched sideways and she looked at me oddly for several long seconds. Her mouth opened, then closed, then opened again, as though she was deciding whether or not she could trust me with what she was thinking. I blinked, holding very still, waiting.

"You probably saved the lives of a lot of women, of countless children," she said the words with the exact amount of precision her forethought suggested, but the meaning behind those words was explosive. With such a pronouncement I expected her voice to be shaky, or quiet, or otherwise unsure, but she spoke with a deep-seeded conviction. "That doesn't make you a monstrosity, that makes you someone's hero."

"Thanks," I murmured, completely at a loss for anything else to say. It was more confirmation than I ever needed, and with the knowledge came an empty, hollow feeling despite my desperation these past weeks to know. I wished more than anything I could take that pain away from her, but all I could do was make the rest of her days better. "My room." I motioned her inside and shut the door.