Shifting Moon Ch 19

The Cullen's as a group watched as Thomas walked into the woods. Each had their own thoughts about this experiment. Edward found himself comforting Alice.

"I know you are nervous, but Jasper is far from helpless. If anything goes wrong, I am sure we as a group can handle it."

Alice looked up at Edward, they had a special bond. Him being able to see her visions helped them to relate to each other. "I am just so used to being able to see. I know I sound like a broken record but it's so frustrating to not have my sight. Especially when Jasper just fades from view anytime Thomas is involved. It scares me, to not know."

Edythe placed a comforting hand on Alice's shoulder. "I trust Thomas, Alice. If he wasn't in control, then he would simply not come this way. I have done some research on tigers, and they do not look for trouble. So, if his mind is wholly tiger, it won't volunteer to walk into a den of vampires. Just coming our way will show if Thomas is still in somewhat control."

Carlisle's voice sounded approving, "That is a well thought out theory Edythe. I never would have thought to look at it from a predatory point of view. No predator looks for trouble without reason, only humans do that."

The family stood quietly and still as statues, waiting for Thomas to appear. Moments later, they all heard the sound of a roar coming from the forest. Edythe thought it sounded joyful for some reason.

Emmett was the first to speak out, "Wow, that sounded intense. He has to be huge to be that loud. I wonder if he would give me more of a fight than a bear?"

Edythe shook her head, "The way he described tearing apart the British vampire, I don't think you want to find out Emmett."

Emmett gave a snort, "That was just a boy bragging to his girlfriend. How much trouble would a one-armed vampire be anyway? I tore his arm off easily enough and would have done more if it wouldn't have made Carlisle unhappy. No one touches my Rose without her permission."

There was another roar from the forest that sounded a bit closer, or at least directed our way. Edythe blocked out Emmett's bragging and focused on Jasper's mind, knowing that he would be the first to see or hear Thomas.

After a couple minuets of silence, "Wait, Jasper thinks he hears something. He can't hear any steps, but a faint growling. He thinks its Thomas breathing maybe."

The group focused more on the lone vampire standing in the backyard. The security flood lights made little difference to their eyes, but Esme insisted they were part of the house plans and needed to be there.

Edythe focused on where Jasper was looking with her eyes, but her mind was still trying to see everything Jasper could. Jasper took a large intake of air and slightly squatted down. Emmett recognized the stance as a fighting one that Jasper used when he was serious.

(Jasper POV)

I could hear a great thudding heartbeat and the rush of air that was soon accompanied by an exhaling rumble. {Either my hearing has gotten better, or that is one big animal headed my way.}

I heard the sound of fur brushing past tree bark and focused where I expected to see Thomas's head, but to my surprise, I was looking at a white and black leg joint. I have seen tigers before, never hunted them, but I knew their average size was about waist high to a person while walking. However, as my eyes slowly rose to take in this white and black beast, I realized that I was looking at it eye to eye, and it was slightly lowering its head to do so.

My lips pealed back slightly, and I tensed up even more. This was an apex predator, no doubt about it. I watched for any sign that it had hostile intent, and my mind reached out trying to ascertain its emotions. All I felt was a weariness of a predator coming into contact with another predator.

The giant tiger slowly left the edge of the woods and showed himself fully to the whole family. When breathing is not necessary the idea of gasping is a foreign one, however everyone found that little bit of humanity once again as they all gasped at the size and outright majesty of the animal in front of them.

Jasper heard Emmet speak with awe in his voice, "Jesus, look at the muscles on that thing, its an absolute monster."

Thomas must have heard him as he turned his great head to the house and gave a low grumbling exhale that showed his ivory teeth. He then returned his attention towards me and started to sniff the air once again. I could tell his muscles were tense, but there was no aggressiveness to his emotions, just a weariness and cautious hope.

I watched him for a few moments, careful not to lock eyes too much as that could be seen as a challenge. Keeping my mind on his emotions, I slowly relaxed my body and held out my hand to him. He took another step forward and took a large inhale through his nose. His sky-blue eyes looked at me, and I knew there was intelligence behind them. These were not the eyes of a wild beast operating on instinct.

Suddenly, from the house I heard a squeal of delight from Edythe, "I CAN HEAR HIM!"

(Edythe POV)

Taking in the sheer beauty and strength of Thomas in his tiger shape, I heard Jasper's conclusion that Thomas's eyes were clear and showed intelligence. With gritted teeth to prepare for the pain that always accompanied attempting to read his mind, I focused on Thomas. My mind leapt in happiness as I could feel the joy in his strength, his weariness of confronting another predator, and the happiness that he was still in control. All this told me one thing.

"I CAN HEAR HIM!"

I pulled the sliding glass door open and ran to Thomas a fast as I could. In a blink, I stood before his great head and looked into his eyes. I saw at first his surprise that I was there, and then his moment of concern before it filled with the affection I had become used to seeing him look at me with. I reached for his face and ran my hand through the fur on his cheek, which turned out to be bristlier than I thought it would be.

He pushed his head into my body and rubbed his face on me. Then I heard his voice, {"I'm in control. I don't have to worry about hurting you. I wish I could tell you how great this feels."}

I spoke out loud, "I can hear you, Thomas. I am so happy you are in control. You don't have to worry about hurting anyone by accident."

I saw the look of surprise and happiness cross his eyes, and then he was suddenly worried as his mind quickly ran across a few things he thought I shouldn't know. He made the classic mistake of thinking about what he didn't want me to know before trying to bury it so I couldn't see. When I had read those thoughts from other guys, I found them irritating and immature, but now they took on a whole new meaning.

He wasn't thinking anything too crass, rather tame compared to many thoughts I had heard over the years. But since it was him thinking like that, when I followed the ideas in my head, I felt anticipation instead of the disgust others made me feel. It was comforting to know he felt attracted to me. To hear it in his mind, not just his words, but to truly know what he felt with no filter.

I stepped into his body, past his head, and wrapped my arms around his neck. I buried my face into his fur and finally admitted to myself that I truly and fully loved this person, with a passion that scared me a little. Thomas suddenly started making a stuttering sound from his mouth, like a forced breathing. It took a moment to realize that it was a tiger's equivalent to a cat's purr called Prusten or Chuffing. I read that it was a sound associated with contentment or relaxation.

Slowly, everyone stepped out of the house and approached the hugging pair and Jasper, who still stood near Thomas and Edythe. He was feeling almost drawn to their emotional connection.

Carlisle was the first to speak, "It seems that many of our worries have been put to rest. Do you feel any discomfort being in our presence, Thomas?"

Thomas shook his head, and then I spoke the thought he was having. "He says the anger he felt from Henry is completely absent from his mind. It surprised him a bit when I ran up to him, but there was no hostile reaction from any instinct he could feel."

Esme smiled, "That is a relief."

Following Thomas's thought directed at me, I let him go and joined my family. "He wants to approach each of us in an effort to memorize our smells. He says that we each have a distinct smell to him in this form."

They all stood still as he approached them individually, then with a glance and a few thoughts at Edythe, he turned back the way he came and quickly ran off.

"He is headed back to change and get dressed, it should only take a moment."

Everyone walked back into the house, but Edythe stood there waiting for her Thomas to return.

(Thomas POV)

Walking back towards the house after getting dressed again, I could barely keep my feet on the ground, I was so happy. I was not a danger to my friends and family, it seemed like I had complete control over myself as a tiger. There definitely needed to be a few more tests, but at the moment, I didn't want to think about that.

Before I could even clear the trees into the backyard of the Cullen house, Edythe caught me in a near-painful hug.

"You looked so amazing in that form, and the idea that I can hear your mind is beyond awesome."

I smiled down at the beautiful girl in my arms, "I am happier than you can possibly imagine right now. The thought of losing control and hurting you was too frightening to think about. What about you? Did my animal blood have any appeal to you in that form?"

Edythe chuckled, "I didn't even think to take note of that. Too many other things on my mind at the time. Let's go inside."

Once inside, I went directly to Jasper as he stood next to Alice, "I can't thank you enough for putting yourself at risk like that. If there is ever anything I can do to repay you, just ask and I will do everything I can to get it done."

Jasper just smiled, "I don't hold debts for family, Thomas, but you better make her happy. She deserves it." As he spoke the last sentence, he turned his eyes to Edythe.

"I want to fight you! You looked strong, so it could be fun." Emmett barged in with a smile covering his face.

There was no hostility in his eyes or actions, just a childlike exuberance. "We can do that, but we will have to take it slowly. Build up to actually testing ourselves. The potential for hurting each other is outrageously high, and Rosalie has a vindictive look about her, so if I accidentally hurt you too badly, I don't want her coming after me."

"No worries there, I'm the strongest in the house, so I think I can take yah."

I just smiled, "Then we will have to make a plan for it, Emmett. But for now, it's getting late, and I still have to have a talk with your dad." I patted his shoulder and looked at Carlisle, who nodded his head, then tilted it in a motion for me to follow him and started making his way up the stairs to the third floor.

I brought Edythe's hand to my lips and kissed it, "I will be back soon, Sunshine." Then I followed Carlisle. We walked up the stairs and down a hallway to what I soon realized was his home office. It was by far the darkest room in the house I had seen yet. The back wall was one big built-in bookshelf that was almost completely full of what I would later learn were medical texts from all ages. The rest of the walls were covered in paintings; at first glance, they appeared to be done in each popular style over the decades, lasting back into the mid-1600s.

My love of art pulled me to appreciate them. "These are wonderful, Sir. So much history and in such a variety."

"I remember Alice telling me that you loved the arts. I am glad you appreciate them. Please have a seat, son." Carlisle gestured to a pair of chairs in front of the desk as he sat down in his own chair.

Pulling my eyes away from the paintings, I took a deep breath and sat down, giving him all my attention.

After a moment to collect his thoughts, Carlisle started to speak. "I do not mean this to be the stereotypical discussion about your intentions with the young woman I consider my daughter, but there will be bits of that in here, I'm sure. She was truly my first created child, and as such, she holds a special place in my heart. I can see that she cares for you very deeply, and that is enough for me. Your own inclusion in the supernatural world makes this much easier than if you had been a mortal."

He paused for a breath, "But I feel I must inform you about our peculiar emotional traits, as a vampire, I mean. Much of this is information I have gathered over my life, and a bit is what I have heard from others, so nothing I say is 100% accurate.

When a person is changed to a vampire through the venom of another, they are subjected to a cellular change. The Venom overwhelms and changes the cells it comes in contact with. It slowly changes the body into what you have seen with us here. The pain of the transformation is immense and beyond my ability to describe. It makes us stronger, faster, and frees us from the ravages of time. We no longer need to breathe, and if injured, we heal rapidly with only another vampire's venom leaving scars. We do, however, need to feed on blood an average of every few weeks after the first year. The easiest and most plentiful source of blood is obviously humans."

He watched for my reactions before continuing. "It also in a way… Locks us mentally into who we were at the time of the change." He paused for another moment, "I don't think I'm describing it very well, but what I mean is that we don't change easily. Yes, we can still learn and mature mentally, but who we are in our minds stays the same, unless something comes along and creates enough of an impact on us that we change in response. For the longest time, I feared that I had made Edythe and Edward too young and that was why they had so much trouble finding a mate to share their life with, but this last year has happily proven that to be wrong."

I thought for a moment, "Are you speaking of emotional maturity?"

Carlisle smiled, "Yes. Our emotions do not change very often, and when they do, it is a powerful and intense experience. An apt description would be that in terms of finding a life mate, we can go from a complete lack of interest in the idea, to utterly obsessed when the right person comes along. Because we don't have practice with certain emotions, they tend to override our self-control when first feeling them again."

"It is a bit academic, but when a vampire is a newborn and in its first year, all emotions are overwhelming and distracting to the point one needs to constantly suppress them. In doing so, some emotions that are not used for a while sort of get buried, and when uncovered, they can almost totally overwhelm us. If a mated pair loses one, the other will often go into such a rage that it overwhelms all caution in the need for revenge. I have seen it happen more than once, and it has left a lasting impression."

When Carlisle took a moment, I broke in. "You spoke of the most plentiful source of blood being human, but I understand you… Pioneered the use of animals as a substitute. May I ask why you even thought to do that?" It was a question I felt only he could answer, so I had been looking for an opening to ask it.

Carlisle looked over my shoulder and his eyes lost focus for a moment, "When I received the bite that turned me, it was at a time that I felt protective over my fellow man. I was taught that hunting supernatural creatures was to save humanity. That was probably the most prevalent emotion I felt at the time, so looking at them as a food source weeks later revolted me. Knowing I could not resist my thirst long, I ran into the woods and away from any hint of civilization. Sadly, I then looked for ways to end my suffering before I lost control of myself and returned to take innocent lives. Fortunately, in my crazed wanderings, I came across a deer and fell upon it and satiated my thirst on it. Realizing that it wasn't too different than consuming the flesh of the animal, I was able to accept this substitute for human blood and learned to control my thirst."

He shifted in his seat, "Years later, I was to learn of another Coven that also sustains themselves on animal blood, they are called the Denali Coven. They maintain a regular house in Alaska. We have spent time with them on occasion."

We both lapsed into silence for a time. But then Carlisle broke it, "Edythe is a very strong-willed woman, and now that you have come into her life, I can only celebrate her happiness. If you have any questions about our nature that you cannot ask her, then feel free to talk with me about it. Until then… You may as well come in, dear. I don't think either of us didn't know you were at the door the whole time."

The door opened to reveal Edythe, "Then you should have invited me from the beginning."

As Edythe drove me home that night, we talked about more of her history. She was explaining her first encounter with Alice.

"So, Emmett and Edward were out hunting, and Alice basically broke into the house and started referring to everyone as if we had known her for years. We were all a bit intimidated by Jasper, who looked just as lost as us, now that I think back on it."

"You can only see a slight scaring on his face, but to us, it is much more obvious. We are able to see the many bite marks of those looking to take his life, and seeing him standing there made it obvious that they all died while he survived. To our eyes, he just radiates Danger. Then she started moving all of Edward's stuff out of his room so she could claim it for herself and Jasper."

She turned into my driveway and turned the car off, "If I hadn't been able to read their minds, there is no telling how frightened the others would have been."

I just chuckled in response to her story. It's not that I didn't care, but it also just seemed like inane chatter used to fill quiet spaces. As we sat there, I asked, "So did the evening go the way you wanted?"

Edythe smiled at me, "Everything was wonderful, and I am so glad we don't have to worry about your control. I wasn't too happy with Carlisle embarrassing me with the whole dad talk, but his heart was in the right place, I guess."

I smiled at her, "I was glad to get the explanation on what to expect, besides, I am pretty sure that Esme would have stopped him from being threatening in any way."

"Yes, you should hear her thoughts every time you touch me. I think she is almost more excited about us than I am."

We sat there for a few more minutes, "Well, I better get inside, it's getting late. You probably need to rest and get ready for classes tomorrow."

I reached for the door handle, but her words brought me up short. "Actually, I don't. We don't sleep... You see."

I blurted out, "You don't sleep? Do you not get tired?"

"We don't. Our stamina is related to our appetite. Not our sleep schedule."

"What do you do during the night? When everyone is asleep?"

"We all have our own interests, I keep up with our companies. Carlisle and Edward have a medical project they are working on. Just random stuff really."

It was a bit hard to wrap my head around, no need for sleep. Just thinking about the stuff you could accomplish without the need to sleep was mind-boggling. I was at a bit of a loss, should I invite her in?

"Do you want to come in? It will probably be boring for you. I will be going to bed in about an hour."

Edythe's face brightened up, "Let me drive home and come back, just open your window and I will be back soon."

I nodded my head and opened the door, "See you soon."

When I turned toward the house, I saw a curtain shift a bit and knew that Bella had been spying on us. When I reached the house door, I turned and watched Edythe back out of the driveway and drive off quickly.

When I walked in the door, the first thing I heard was, "No good night kissing? I expected better of you. What, you didn't have a good time meeting her parents?"

I smile at her, "It was great, had an awesome dinner. Spent time with her family, we talked a lot about family history. About the only thing that was weird was Edward insisting I tell him stories about you. He loved the one about your bad habit of sucking your thumb until you were nine years old. Explaining the videos of your dance recitals at that ballet studio down the street from the Phoenix house went over well, also. He didn't seem too interested in your black makeup phase when you were 14, though. With as much of an emo vibe that he puts out, I thought for sure he would appreciate that one."

Bella turned bright red and shouted, "YOU DIDN'T!"

I laughed at her look of embarrassment, "Nope, but keep pushing and I will." She started looking around the living room for something to throw at me, so I wisely ran upstairs laughing and closed my door. I knew I would most likely pay for that bit of amusement with oatmeal breakfasts for the next couple of days, but it was still worth it. I took some time to quickly clean my room up before opening my window. It was a bit of a struggle to open, looked like it needed some oil in the tracks. {I will have to fix that.} I told myself.

After showering and packing my school clothes into my backpack to wear after working out the next morning, about 20 minutes had passed. I was wondering if working out for vampires even did anything for them when I heard a slight scraping noise, and suddenly Edythe was standing next to me.

"You got here faster than I thought. What did you do, drive the car a few blocks, park it, and run back?"

"Nope, I just buried the speedometer on any straightaway and drove as fast as I could on the turns. Took less than 15 minutes to get home. Then I ran back here, easy. I don't want to miss any time with you, I don't have to."

As Edythe spoke, I watched her eyes travel over my room. She really focused on a pile of paintings that were stacked together. They were my failed thoughts for my art project. When she walked over to them and started looking, I spoke a bit defensively.

"Those are failed paintings, I plan to trash them."

She held up a painting of a bookshelf with random tapes and CDs stacked haphazardly. It was easy to make out some of the names of some. There was no rhyme or reason to the style, it had N.W.A. and Too $hort stacked on top of a Chris Ledoux's greatest hits album. Wilson Phillips leaning next to Metallica Black, and many other off-the-wall pairings.

"The project is music, and I was looking at different ways to express the idea, so I thought a music collection would be appropriate. But it just doesn't have the impact that I wanted to convey. The next painting is..."

She interrupted my explanation when she saw it, "NO WAY! That's Jimi Hendrix, Jimmy Page, Eddie Van Halen, Stevie Ray Vaughan, and Eric Clapton. You painted each one in the middle of an Iconic concert scene. I can't believe you meshed them so well, all on one painting."

"I am tempted to hang onto that one, I have to admit. But it still just doesn't match the feeling I want for the project."

"Why did you go with Eric Clapton instead of David Gilmour?"

"In my opinion, Gilmour is great with Pink Floyd, but Clapton did his own thing, plus his work with multiple bands that made a solid impact on music. He branched out of his initial comfort zone and grew. Gilmour didn't, so far as I know."

I felt the desire to sit down, but the only place to sit was my bed. I was feeling a bit shy at having Edythe in my room with the door closed. I was super happy she wasn't able to read my mind right now, but it didn't stop my thoughts. As I was trying to get control of myself, I reflexively sat down anyway and watched Edythe move around my room some more.

Just a bit later, I heard Bella walking up the stairs. Edythe stepped into the closet where she couldn't be seen, and then Bella knocked on the door. She opened it before I even said anything, "Charlie called a bit ago and said he would be staying at the station tonight again. He is working way too much."

"The man does love his job, I wonder if something happened to keep him there. I will ask him in the morning. You headed to bed?"

"Yep, I will see you when I pick you up. Also, we need to go food shopping soon."

"Got it sis, have a good night."

"You too." She then closed my door, and I heard her door close soon after. Edythe came out of my closet. "You sure you are ok with me here?" She asked awkwardly.

"So long as you are fine with it. I am a bit jumpy, but you are the first girl I have ever been in a room alone with other than family. I am sure you can hear my heart thumping."

She smiled, "That is music to my ears."

I smiled at her, "That my heart is beating so loud or that you are my first girl being alone with?"

"YUP!" Her lips popped to emphasize the last syllable of her reply.

I scooted up the bed to lean on the headboard, she walked over and sat against the wall on the bed with her legs taking up the foot of my bed. She looked calm and comfortable, I guess her strength gave her confidence. If I could read her thoughts though, I would have found that she was just as nervous and worried as I was. She just had better control over her features as a vampire.

"You seem to be taking this tension better than me. Have you been in situations like this before?"

Edythe had a look of worry on her face when I asked her this, "Well, not with a guy. But I did have a short relationship with Kate in Alaska. I heard Carlisle tell you about them a bit today. We didn't last very long, I think we were both trying to force something that wasn't there. Does that bother you?"

I took a moment to roll it around in my head, "No, you have been alive for more than a hundred years. It wouldn't be fair of me to expect you not to have had a life before me. The idea that it was another woman is kind of hot. How sexist does that make me?" I laughed.

She smiled, "From the minds that I have read, you are in the majority. At least you are honest about it, though. Most guys would try and deny it. As much time as I have spent on college campuses, you can't imagine the thoughts directed at me and my sisters."

I chuckled out loud, "Just seeing the way Jessica looked at both you and Edward with no change to the lust in her eyes the first day I watched you all walk into the lunchroom tells me I'm glad I don't have that power. My mind wanders enough on my own, it doesn't need encouragement from others."

Edythe softly laughed at that, "You should hear Lauren when she is around you. If you ever find yourself in a room alone with her and Jessica, I recommend you use all your strength to keep your pants buttoned up and find a crowded place as quickly as you can. Edward has talked me out of Compelling that girl many times already."

I was confused, "Compel? What is that?"

Edythe thought about the time she tried to compel Thomas and looked a little ashamed, "I have a second power that allows me to compel people to do what I want them to. It doesn't work if it's so against their nature that they would naturally resist. I tried making a serial killer stop killing, and it only lasted for a short while before he went back to it and had to be stopped by the police. But something simple like making Tyler obey all traffic laws unless there is an emergency is possible. There is a time limit if I use it on vampires as well. Jasper asked me to compel away his desire for human blood, but it only lasted a couple of hours, and he shook it off." She didn't bring up the time she tried to compel him, and it didn't take.

"So that's what you meant when you said you could convince people to go along with what you said when we were talking the other night." My question ended with a yawn.

I looked at the alarm clock next to my bed, it was 11:40, and my body was so used to going to sleep at this time that I was finding it hard to stay awake.

Edythe saw me rubbing my eyes and said, "Go ahead and lie down, I can leave if you want me to."

"I lay down, curling my legs to stop from crossing over hers at the foot of the bed. "If you want to, you should. I'm about to fall asleep, and I cannot imagine watching me sleep would be enjoyable at all."

Edythe started to hum a little tune and watched as Thomas fell deeper and deeper into sleep. {Just being this close to you makes it so much better than most any night in my life, Thomas.} She thought to herself.