Raeve

The real reason she came back early was because, in reality, she's been in a mental facility for the last 5 or so months. She admitted herself due to increasing hallucinations which almost caused a terrible incident (I'm thinking she was either tricked into almost killing herself or into almost killing her friends).

But... They're not hallucinations. She's actually been looking through the 'veil' into the Divine Lands. Initially, when she was younger, she could only see the angels and the content dead. But, as we know, Lucifer is an angel too.

So he, at some point, notices that she can see him- and maybe this is tied to the Cullens arriving, maybe he was only present in Forks because he could sense the tension between the local pack and the coven. He wanted to be there to see the fight, if it should break out.

But Catherine, "Cat", sees him- and this is the first time since he fell that anyone other than demons acknowledge his presence. So he becomes obsessed- maybe there's a prophecy about it that he seeks to fulfill. Something like in the movie Constantine where, through her, he can be 'birthed' into the human realm to rule.

And Lucifer is the great deceiver. It doesn't take much at all for him to gain the trust and adoration of a little, lonely girl who wanted to understand what's wrong with her. Over time, his influence becomes so great, that it isn't until Catherine is in too deep before she notices that something is horribly wrong.

She sees more than angels now- now her mind has been open to the demonic. And because of it, she can see into Lucifer's heart. He is a monster. A twisted creature, tucked tightly into the skin suit of the Angel it once was.

Lucifer can sense the change in her, so he stops playing nice. He doesn't have to anymore. He's already rooted himself so deeply inside her soul that there's no way out- none that she can find in Forks anyway. So she runs away to one of the oldest Catholic cities in the world to go to college (idk, this place can be made up). She begins studying demonology and becomes heavily involved in the church.

There she gains the support of a secret sector of the faith- one closed to those who cannot see through the veil. They become invested in her and her story, seeking to aid her and prevent Lucifer from crossing over.

But, slowly, they start dropping like flies. They're being hunted down and slaughtered in ways no human could ever replicate. Catherine distances herself immediately, managing to save the rest. Soon after that, she has the episode that sends her into psychiatric care. She wanted to be in a place that would keep her under constant surveillance and, as an unexpected bonus, the drugs they give her make her so out of it that she can no longer 'see'.

Eventually the order sends someone to contact her. They discuss the situation, what they've discovered, and tell her, "you have to go back to the place he bound himself to you. There will be residual marks, things that only you can see. To free yourself, you must destroy them. When you have, contact us again. One of ours will be stationed in the town over. You'll have bought yourself enough time for them to complete the final cleansing."

"I don't want to put anyone's life at risk... I should just-"

"No. We have a strong reason to believe that, after his binding to you, he lost some of his power. He cannot extend himself past your reach- nor, no longer, anyone who isn't already half through the veil. He's so close to being born into our world, he's poured all of his power into it. You'll be safe there, and so will everyone else. He thinks he's already won.

If it gets to be too much, remember that you can take your medication for a brief respite. But, this is how we win. This is how we keep him from crossing over."

And so she goes back home to uncover the binding marks- a ritual so powerful means he'd have had to create an array scaling miles, so it's going to take quite a bit of time to find them.

Here she finally directly meets the Cullens. Here she finally meets Carlisle- he's the doctor she has to go to for monthly evaluations to keep getting her prescription.

The fic will scale the entirety of her hunt for the marks and her battle to keep things a secret from her family, completely unaware that Bella is also keeping a secret from her.... Until, after not taking her medication for a few days due to mounting frustrations, Lucifer finally punishes her. He leaves visible claw marks over her upper arms and back, right in front of the Cullens when Catherine is visiting to bring Bella home (she agrees with Charlie that Edward sucks).

Lucifer is more horrifying to look at than ever, the closer he gets to escaping, the more his divine form is shredded.

(If you're curious to know why no other angels have intervened, it's because they literally can't. Lucifer is too powerful for them and the rule, as imposed by God, is that- until they are invoked, they cannot interact with the human world. This might have saved her early on, had Catherine known better, but at this point, until the ritual to save her life is invoked, there's nothing they can do. But, she does have several angels watching over her at all times, deeply worried for her. They'll be the ones to save her in the end.)

Carlisle and Catherine were already close before, having kissed (ik, he's married- tbh, I don't mind the cheating trope bc I'm messy af and like when characters I love have fatal flaws or make horrible decisions. Carlisle is so perfect otherwise that I feel the desire to make him shitty this way. And Catherine plays fast and loose bc she genuinely believes she's not making it out alive.) but this brings them together even more. Especially because Catherine is the answer to if God is real or not, and he's so devout.

(I'm atheist so in my verse God is chill af, dw. I really just like the aesthetics and I was raised southern baptist so I have a level of horror when regarding the faith anyway.)