Unfamiliar
April, 2008
Elyse POV
I poked my head into Tessa's room. She was lounging on her window seat, staring at her sketchpad, her face contorted in a concentrated frown.
"Still stuck with only the eyes?" I asked.
She sighed, "I don't know what it is. Normally I have the hardest time with eyes, but this time it's the opposite." After a pause, she finally looked up from her sketchpad. She sighed again, "I just can't seem to get them out of my head."
"Sounds like you could use a distraction. Why don't you come hunting with us?" I asked. She stared at her sketchpad for a few more seconds before setting it aside, shaking her head. As she stood up, she glanced outside and said, "Wait. I thought you weren't going until later this afternoon."
"That was before your dad decided he wanted to go northwest."
"Northwest?" she asked. "Like toward the coast?"
"I don't know that we'll go that far. But yes, in that general direction."
"Oh. Ok," she shrugged. "I guess I could use a good run."
"Did you want me to braid your hair?"
"No thanks, I got it."
She walked over to her vanity and grabbed her brush, slowly pulling it through her hair. Like her siblings, Alee and Nick, she had black hair. However, she had also been born with a rare form of heterochromia that had caused her to have random patches of red hair. We had evened it out over the years so that she wouldn't stand out or get made fun of. While she finished getting ready, I went downstairs to meet the rest of our family.
"Is she coming?" Alex, my husband, asked.
"Yeah. She should be coming down any minute."
"Good," Alex replied, inclining his head toward Nick, who was currently bouncing from one foot to the next. I snorted under my breath, rolling my eyes.
"Why is it that you want to go northwest again?" I asked Alex.
"I just have a good feeling about it," he replied. "I can't really explain why."
"Ok. Sounds good to me," I said, shrugging. Alex and I had always alternated choosing our hunting direction. Eventually, we'd let our kids take turns, but as this life was still new for them, we had decided to keep it between us, just as we had been doing ever since I became a vampire nearly 17 years ago.
"Tess, come on!" Alee called, impatiently.
"What? I'm right here," she replied, locking the back door behind her.
"You know…" I said, looking at Alex, an eyebrow raised, my lips turned up in a half smile.
"You sure?" he asked. I nodded.
"Ok," he replied, shrugging.
"What are you guys talking about?" Nick asked.
"We're going to do something a little different this time," I replied. "Instead of you guys following us, you're going to take the lead."
"Really??" Alee asked, glancing from Tess to Nick and back again.
"Yeah," Alex replied. "But! There are some rules."
All three of our kids groaned. They hated rules, no matter how important they may be. Like a couple of years back when that serial killer was active in Seattle. We had told them that they were to come straight home from school, or to call and have Alex or I come and get them. They weren't happy about it, but being only 14, they didn't have much of a choice. And while we'd never confirmed it, we had suspected that the "killer" was actually a rogue vampire or two but because of the sheer amount of national news that whole situation got, it made it nearly impossible for us to step in without exposing our own unorthodox living situation. Neither of us thought the Volturi would care too much about a couple of vampires living close to humans, especially because we had never drawn attention to ourselves, but a couple of vampires with three human (at the time) kids? That would have gone over like a lead balloon. So we stayed out of it, even though we hadn't wanted to. And within a month, the killings had stopped as quickly as they had begun.
"So, what are these rules?" Nick asked, drawing me back to the present.
"Lets start walking and we'll explain them on the way," Alex said.
Once we were on our way I said, "The most obvious is to watch each others backs."
All three rolled their eyes, as Alee said, "Duh!"
"Hey!" Alex barked. "Watch it." I put my hand on his arm to calm him. He always got a little irritated when we hadn't hunted for a bit and with our latest investigation and homeschooling the kids, it had been nearly a month since we'd gone.
"Sorry, Dad," Alee said. "I wasn't trying to be snarky."
Alex sighed and hung his head, saying, "No. I'm the one who should apologize. I need to do a better job of not getting so lost in my work."
"That's ok!" I interjected, before either of the could start trying to one-up the other, as they had a habit of doing. "Let's move on to the next rule, which is really the most important one."
"What is it?" Tess asked.
"If you come across any vampire scent that isn't your mother's or I's," Alex glanced at me and at my nod, said, "Hide."
"Hide?" Nick asked. "Why? Don't you trust us?"
"Of course we do!" I exclaimed. "It's just that our kind aren't known for being trustworthy of others. Most of us live nomadic lifestyles. It's rare that you'll find a coven with a semi-permanent or even a permanent residence."
"Really? Why is that? And how many vampires does it take to make a coven?" Tess asked.
"Two, technically. And the reason most vampires live a nomadic lifestyle is because we don't want to draw attention to ourselves. If too many humans go missing in an area, you'll draw the attention of the wrong people," I answered.
"So the only vampires that don't live a nomadic life are the ones that don't hunt humans?" Nick asked. Alex and I shared a glance. Shit! We shouldn't have opened this door but there was no going back now.
"Mm, sort of," Alex said. "There is one group that feeds on humans while maintaining a permanent residence."
"But if most vampires live nomadically so that they aren't noticed, how do these guys get away with it?" Alee asked.
"Well," Alex paused, pursing his lips. He glanced at me and closed his eyes in resignation. This was not a conversation we wanted to have at this moment. I rubbed my face and sighed.
"They get away with it because they are the "police" of the vampire world. They are the ones that set and enforce the law. And technically, they don't go hunting near where they live. Their meals," I shuddered on that last word as I hated thinking of humans as meals, "are brought in by another member of their group."
"Wait, there are laws?" Alee asked.
"Technically, only one. But there are many things that are outlawed to help keep this one law," Alex answered.
"So, what's this "one" law?" Tess asked.
"Keep the secret," I replied. "The easiest way to do this is by not drawing attention to ourselves."
"What happens when vampires do draw attention to themselves?" Nick asked.
"I don't know that I want to know," Alee mumbled.
Alex sighed. "You may not want to know, but you need to. Technically, your mother and I should have told you all this six months ago, but we didn't want to scare you any more than we already had. You all have adjusted remarkably well, and now is as good a time as any to share a few things that we cannot do."
"Like what?" Nick asked.
"Well for starters, any time a vampire creates a new vampire, the creator must keep the neophyte vampire, or newborn, under control. If they can't, the Volturi, that's the name of the "police," will step in. Typically, this means that the offending parties would be destroyed. Most of us only create one new vampire at a time, if at all, as it's usually easier to control only one newborn," I said.
"Has there ever been a time when someone created a lot of newborns and this Volturi stepped in?" Alee asked, apprehensively. She was, understandably, still on edge from the incident eight months ago when we'd nearly lost her. Ever since then we had to always be on our guard as it was often difficult to determine what might send her spiraling into panic.
"Yes, but that sort of thing hasn't happened for nearly 150 years. There were a bunch of covens down near Mexico and parts of Texas that created newborn armies in an effort to gain territory. Most were wiped out by each other, but some were wiped out by the Volturi. I'm not entirely sure, but there still could be a few covens down there that live this way. But if that's true, they've figured out how to escape detection," Alex said.
"Is this why you didn't turn us when we were younger?" Nick asked. Alex and I glanced at each other, before I nodded at him to continue.
"No. There was a different reason. Do you guys remember your Aunt Kate?"
"Wait, Aunt Kate is a vampire??" Tess asked.
"Yes," I replied. "She came down from Alaska to help your dad with keeping me under control during my first couple of years."
"You were really that wild, Mom?" Alee asked. I laughed, "No, but your father had three infants and a newborn vampire to manage. It was a lot, and he needed all the help he could get."
"But why Aunt Kate?" Tess asked.
"Like your father and I, Kate is gifted. She can create the illusion of an electric current over her skin. Depending on need, she can raise or lower the intensity, making it feel anywhere from static electricity to getting struck by lightning."
"Woah. But wait, you said it's an illusion. So, she's not actually doing it, right?" Nick asked.
"Oh no, she's doing it. The illusion is the pain she causes. There's not much that can cause a vampire physical pain, but there are gifts that can make you feel like you're in pain. Even when you're not," I said.
"So, what does Aunt Kate have to do with keeping the vampire secret?" Tess asked. By this point, we had reached the Agate Pass Bridge, the bridge we would need to cross to get off Bainbridge Island. Without taking a ferry, that is.
"Let's cross the bridge first, and then I'll answer," I said. I didn't really need to wait, but I wanted the time to figure out just how much I was going to say. I didn't want to scare the kids too much, but it was important that they know the rules of the world they now lived in, even if this wasn't how Alex and I had originally planned on them living in it.
"Ok, we've crossed the bridge. Will you tell us now?" Tess asked a few minutes later. "Why didn't you turn us when we were younger?"
I sighed. "Because it's illegal. Immortal Children have been outlawed since long before your father or I were born."
Alee looked me up and down. "There's more to it," she said. "If it were that simple, you wouldn't have made us wait until we crossed the bridge. And you still haven't explained what Aunt Kate has to do with any of this."
"About 1500 years ago, some vampires had started turning children and young teenagers. In very few cases, it ended up being ok, so long as the newborn could be taught to control themselves around humans. But if they couldn't…" Alex trailed off.
"They were killed?" Nick asked. I nodded. "But the biggest problem was how attached covens became to the Children. Some fought to the death to protect them. Others were torn apart from the inside. But in the end, the Volturi decreed that all Immortal Children were to be destroyed. And while there isn't an age limit, most of us won't turn someone before sixteen or seventeen. But even that depends on the maturity level of the human."
"What does this have to do with Aunt Kate? Did she create an Immortal Child?" Alee asked.
"No, but her mother did," Alex answered. "Sasha wasn't her actual mother, but she was the one that turned Kate, and her sisters Tanya and Irina. And nearly 1,000 years ago, Sasha also turned Vasilii. The problem was that Vasilii was only about two or three, I think. He could have been slightly older or slightly younger. But that doesn't really matter because, one night, in a single temper tantrum, he destroyed an entire village."
"Wait, a whole village?" Nick asked. Alex nodded and then continued, "The Volturi heard about it and acted quickly. Both Vasilii and Sasha were destroyed. The only thing that saved Kate and her sisters was that Sasha had kept Vasilii's existence a secret from them. The first time they saw him was also the last. They felt betrayed. How could their mother do this? What had possessed her to flagrantly break the law, knowing it would mean her death? Unfortunately, they never got those answers. And ever since, they have been strict rule-followers."
"Wow," Nick whispered. He paused for a second and then asked, "So no has created an Immortal Child in over 1,000 years?"
"Correct, so far as we know. However, there were rumors that there was one a couple of years ago. But I don't know that those were true. Plus, we never heard anything else about it so even if it was true, it was taken care of quickly."
"Wait, the Volturi would have killed the Child even if the Child hadn't done anything? Seriously? That seems rather harsh," Tess said.
"Our kind don't forgive or forget easily, and the scars the Immortal Children left still run very deep. The mere possibility of one will bring a swift execution to all involved," I paused before saying, "Alright, enough dark topics. I don't know about the rest of you, but I could really use a good hunt."
The kids nodded, and as they crouched, I glanced at Alex, and after he nodded, I yelled, "GO!" but they were off before I'd even finished the word.
"How much of a head start should we give them?" I asked Alex. "Mm, maybe five more seconds," he responded.
We ended up giving them three seconds before we took off in the direction they had headed. While they had gotten faster, it didn't take us long before we had mostly caught up to them. However, in the time it took us, the wind, which has been gently blowing to the north, shifted ever so slightly, bringing with it the unmistakable sweet scent of vampires. The problem? The scents were completely unfamiliar.