2025-02-02 A/N: Thanks to some reader feedback, I've fleshed out the ending to the last chapter a bit more. The main point is: unlike Bella, Laurent won't charge headlong into a fight he doesn't know how to win, so he won't be able to use Alice's power to iterate on the combat. Bella will have to keep looking for another solution.
My first impression of the Denali clan was that they were all fantastically, breath-takingly beautiful. I wondered how long it would take me to stop being distracted every time I met a new vampire. You'd think I'd be used to it by now, but there were simply so many details to take in, from the perfect waves of Tanya's strawberry-blonde hair to the gentle curve of Carmen's shy smile.
When we arrived at their home–a rustic wooden lodge nestled against a stone outcropping, decorated with ivy and pine boughs until it almost appeared to have grown out of its surroundings–Laurent stepped up to perform the introductions. Tanya, Kate, and Irina each hugged me and Miranda as they welcomed us to the family, then moved on to embrace their long-time cousins. Carmen and Eleazar were slightly more reserved, but still gracious and friendly, as they shook our hands.
"I had no idea you were a vampire now, Bella," Tanya said as she stepped back from her last hug. "I was so delighted to hear that Edward found a partner"–here her enthusiastic tone sounded slightly forced–"but I was under the impression that he had decided to leave you human."
I wondered at the dissatisfied note in her voice. Had this golden-haired goddess wanted Edward for herself? How had I ever managed to compete with her? Had she been hoping to make another pass at him once my limited human lifespan came to an end?
I bit back a defensive retort and scolded myself for being uncharitable. If she was a bit jealous, well, that was her business; her words were welcoming enough. I settled on saying, "It's quite a recent change."
"It was actually my doing," Laurent admitted sheepishly. "I stumbled upon Bella while hunting, and almost killed her, but managed to refrain. She was gracious enough not to hold it against me, and asked me to help her become a vampire."
Everyone but Alice looked at him in silent surprise. The Denalis were hearing about this for the first time; the rest of us had not expected Laurent to own up to his actions so promptly. I supposed he anticipated the truth coming out, and wanted to be able to tell the story with the most favorable possible spin. No one called him out on his slightly slanted version of events–I was certain Edward would have, but he was still off chasing caribou with Jasper.
"I hope you'll pardon me for not mentioning it before," he continued, his eyes flickering between the Denalis to gauge their reactions. "I was nervous that the Cullens would be upset with me, since they preferred to keep her human."
Kate shrugged, sending her long blond hair tumbling over her shoulders. "If it's what Bella wanted, that's what matters," she said. I instantly took a liking to her. "How have you found the supernatural world so far?" she asked me.
"It's great," I answered honestly. "I'm so glad I had Alice to introduce me to everything." The girl in question beamed at me.
"And the thirst? I know it's quite a transition to our diet," Irina commented sympathetically. Laurent's shoulders relaxed as she spoke: she didn't seem particularly upset by his revelation. He stepped forward to wrap an arm around her waist, and she leaned into him.
I grimaced. "Being around humans is certainly painful, but I've managed so far."
"Impressive," Tanya grinned at me. "Even after I went vegetarian, it took me decades to stop slipping up."
I suppressed a shudder at that. Most of the Cullens had spent their entire lives on a diet of animal blood; I'd forgotten that the Denalis had taken centuries to come around to the vegetarian lifestyle.
"Speaking of slip-ups…" Kate tilted her head to the side. "I think I hear Kyle coming back."
"His hunting is hardly a slip-up," Laurent muttered.
Kyle was tall and broad-shouldered, not quite as big as Emmett, but muscular like a football quarterback crossed with a male model. His irises were a deep red, bright from a fresh kill, with none of the hints of gold that I'd seen in Laurent's face. He sauntered in and planted a loud kiss on Irina's forehead, ignoring the way Laurent's eyes narrowed, before turning to face us.
"Hey babe," he said. "Who're all the newcomers? Not more competition for your hand, I hope?"
Irina giggled, and I heard a few chuckles from beside me. "These are my cousins, the Cullens," she explained. "Carlisle, Esme, …" she pointed us each out in turn, and he greeted us one by one. "And Bella here is the newest. Edward fell for her while she was human, if you can believe it."
Kyle kissed my hand with an elaborate bow; it was far too showy for my taste, but none of the other women had seemed to mind. Esme had even emitted an uncharacteristic giggle when it was her turn. I reminded myself that he might have learned manners in a very different era.
"What brings you all to Denali?" Tanya asked when the introductions were complete.
Alice jumped in to answer before the rest of us could decide how much to say. "We were in British Columbia yesterday, so it was a relatively convenient time to stop by," she said brightly. "We've got two new family members, and so do you–it was past time for a family reunion. Edward and Jasper will be here in a few hours, by the way."
"Wonderful," Tanya said–perhaps too happily for my taste. "Come on inside. Bella, Miranda, let me give you a tour of our home."
I discovered that the house wasn't simply built against a rocky outcropping; it actually dug quite a ways into the cliff face, resulting in a home that was much bigger on the inside than it appeared. All the bedrooms were in this darker section, with thick stone walls providing soundproofing against even vampire hearing. The living room, in contrast, was bright with natural light from windows and skylights. I realized there was no glass separating us from the outdoors–but despite the lack of insulation, the early spring temperature felt normal to my icy skin.
"I take it you don't bring many humans home nowadays," I commented.
Tanya smirked. "The Cullens are telling stories about me, huh?" I didn't deny it. "I usually go to the homes of the men I seduce–or the women I seduce," she added, with a wink at Miranda. "I'm not picky."
Miranda looked down, flustered, and changed the subject. "Do you end up with huge snow drifts on your floor under the skylights?" she asked.
Tanya laughed delightedly. "We close the shutters when it's storming," she explained. "We don't mind the weather, but it would damage the hardwood floor."
The floor, like everything else about the house, was clearly made of the highest quality materials. Each wooden plank had been perfectly sanded and finished, and I surmised it had been done by a vampire, because I couldn't spot any rough edges. The pieces had been laid out such that the patterns in the wood grain made a subtle illusion of waves shifting along the floor. The more I looked around, the more details I saw like that; I couldn't imagine how much time this place had taken to build.
"You have a gorgeous home," I settled for saying.
"All the credit goes to Esme," Tanya said modestly, but her face glowed with pride. "She drew up the architectural plans and helped us find contractors for the highest quality materials."
"Does that mean you did the detail work yourself?" Miranda wondered. "This table is incredible!" I followed her gaze and saw a wooden twelve-seater, intricately carved such that the legs appeared to be gnarled tree trunks burrowing their roots into the ground.
This time, Tanya accepted the compliment. "Thank you. I've made a bit of a hobby of woodcarving."
"You're quite good at it," Miranda insisted.
"I do pride myself on being skilled with my hands. I'd be happy to show you sometime." Based on her tone, Tanya wasn't talking entirely about woodcarving anymore; I thought she rather enjoyed teasing the easily-flustered Miranda.
When the tour was finished, she guided us over to the couch area where our two families sat. Miranda and Tanya plopped down on the empty ottoman; I squeezed onto a chaise longue between Rosalie and Carlisle. We both showered praise on Esme for the design of such a beautiful building until she was smiling embarrassedly.
"You mentioned you were in British Columbia yesterday. What brought you there?" Kate prompted us.
It was a long story, and soon we were telling the Denalis not only about our fight with Joham, but also our conflict with James, Victoria's attempts at revenge, the blackmail she had on Miranda, the werewolves, and the half-vampires.
"Vampires can have children with humans?" Kate asked, her eyes comically wide.
"Was somebody not using birth control?" Kyle sniggered. This brought chuckles from around the room, and to my surprise, even Rosalie rolled her eyes good-naturedly.
"The men can," Carlisle clarified. "Vampire women don't have a menstrual cycle."
"And you say the children aren't human?" Tanya wanted to know. "We were all born human–I'm surprised that the genetic information in our gametes encodes anything about vampirism."
"And given that it does, it's shocking that it would be compatible with human DNA," Kate added. "The differences must be contained to relatively few codons. Still, this throws a wrench in your research, huh?"
To my left, I could feel Carlisle trying to shake his head subtly. But it was too late.
"Research? What research?" Rosalie asked.
"Ack, sorry, I forgot that was a secret!" Kate bit her lip.
"It's no big deal," Carlisle said calmly. "As you know, I've taken the last six months off from working at a hospital, to pursue my own research. I've been investigating the feasibility of gamete construction from arbitrary cell samples, possibly by transplant of cell nuclei."
There was a brief silence.
"Are you trying to distract me with technical wording?" Rosalie accused. "I have a medical degree too, you know!" Her face contorted, and I thought for a moment that she was angry, but a second later I was ducking out of the way as she launched herself at Carlisle for a hug. "You were trying to help me have kids, even though I don't have any egg cells of my own. That is the sweetest thing anyone's ever done."
He patted her back. "Don't get your hopes up, Rose. Even if I get it working on human cells, it seems like there will be some complications with vampire DNA. And you know you wouldn't be able to carry the fetus yourself."
She shook her head, face still screwed up with emotion. "I know. I know it'll be hard. But at least I have a hope, now. Thank you for doing this, Carlisle."
"He'll be even more likely to succeed with you egging him on," Kyle quipped. I didn't think it was that funny, but Rosalie was startled into a deep laugh, and suddenly the whole room was laughing as the tension dissipated. Kyle wore a self-satisfied smirk.
Once we were done sharing the stories of the past few days, we split off into smaller groups of conversation. Esme, Tanya, and Carmen wandered off to discuss a new room that Carmen wanted to add to the side of the house, with Miranda tagging along curiously. Irina, Laurent, Kate, and Alice started a spirited discussion about the latest fashion from Paris. I stayed on the couches with Carlisle, Emmett, Rosalie, and Eleazar, listening to Kyle regale us with stories of his hunting trip.
"And then, after seeing what I did to his buddy, the other hiker didn't even try to run. He dropped down and played dead! Like I was a bear!" Kyle's laugh boomed out. Emmett matched him with a roar of amusement, and the others joined in.
It was a warm and vibrant atmosphere–two halves of a family catching up in the cozy living room–but I felt cold inside. For the first time, I questioned my decision to join the vampire world. I'd always admired the Cullens' diet, but most of their fellow supernatural beings did not share the same approach. Most people I met from now on would tell funny stories about the humans they killed.
Every one of Kyle's hunting anecdotes made my stomach churn–and apparently, I was the only one. I would have thought Carlisle, at least, would be put off by the non-vegetarian vampire's tales, but he seemed to be in every bit as good a humor as the rest of them.
I desperately wished for Edward's company. We didn't always see eye to eye on some things, but I knew he would agree with me on this. I wanted him to hold me and tell me I wasn't crazy. I wanted the comfort of his lips brushing my forehead and the smell of his sweet breath. But Alice had said he would be gone for several hours, and only about one had passed so far.
I settled for excusing myself and walking over to the fashion conversation. Spring clothing trends suddenly seemed like an unusually appealing topic.
Alice was rifling through a magazine that the Denalis subscribed to, while Kate and Irina pointed out their favorite items. Irina bemoaned the unoriginality of the designs–apparently the same styles had been in vogue a few decades earlier. Kate was more preoccupied by the difficulty of finding colors that paired well with her pale skin and pale hair. I couldn't fathom why they cared so much; all three of them would look like supermodels no matter what they chose to wear.
Laurent had about as much to say on the subject as I did. But despite his lack of interest in fashion, he listened raptly whenever Irina spoke. They sat next to each other, thighs touching, on the loveseat. When she leaned back after articulating a particularly impassioned point, he reached up to stroke her shoulderblades, and she turned to smile softly at him. It was the picture of domestic contentment–except that whenever Kyle made one of his too-loud jokes on the other side of the room, Irina spun her head around to grin at him, and Laurent slumped in frustration.