Part 1 here! / Part 2 Here!
* The flight feels shorter than you remember, maybe it’s because you don’t need to sleep anymore.
* When you land, you expect to see Carmen there, but instead it’s the entire Coven.
* They look like a group of supermodels, and they’re all holding gifts, you see several people staring at them. Every teenage boy’s fantasy no doubt.
* They’re holding balloons, and a woman (the one you believe is Carmen) is holding one of those giant teddy bears. They even have a sign that says “Welcome Home (Y/N).”
* You didn't think vampires could feel embarrassed.
* But here you are, living proof that they’re wrong.
* Tanya brings you into a hug before you can even be worried about being an unwanted addition.
* “Welcome home, we are so glad to have you here”
* “We have an important question for you,” the woman beside her asks, her long straight hair sparkles under the dark sky.
* “Which do you like more, pink flowers or yellow flowers?”
* The question catches you completely off guard, and when you look down you see she’s holding out a bouquet of sunflowers and hydrangeas towards you.
* You’re not sure if this is all a test, and maybe you’re overthinking all this, but you remember sunflowers mean loyalty.
* “Um... the yellow ones I suppose.”
* “See Irina I told you they would love the yellow ones.”
* Irina rolls her eyes, but she’s grinning. She’s the one holding a bouquet of balloons
* “I bet they like the balloons I picked out better though, they’re a nice touch.”
* “Is everything alright?” Tanya turns to you. Her eyebrows are threaded in concern. “Are you thirsty?”
* You shake your head, you feel bloated if anything.
* You’re happy, you really are. It’s just...
* “I’m just a little overwhelmed,” you admit.
* Back at the castle you did have company, but it was sparse. After you were transformed, you only saw Alec or Jane once every few days, if at all.
* So this much attention, all at once, it’s a lot to handle right now.
* “Let’s give them some space, it’s been a long day.” Eleazer nudges them all away, and towards getting your luggage in the car.
* While they’re all busy taking your things, and arguing about where they parked the car, you’re left alone with Carmen
* Carmen who is holding a very large stuffed bear.
* You gulp. You’ve been so busy worried about Tanya you haven’t thought about Carmen. Her husband disappears after he received a call from his old coven, and then he comes back with some newborn.
* You wouldn’t be happy if you were in her place.
* She clears her throat beside you.
* A long second of silence passes as your mind tries to comprehend what’s happening.
* She thrusts the bear out towards you, and you take it gingerly, balancing the two bouquets the Denali sisters had given you earlier.
* “If there’s ever anything you don’t like,” you whip your head to look at her, her eyes are focused on the horizon, they’re narrowed like she’s picking her words carefully. “Or if you would rather have a lion, or something completely different all together, you can tell me.”
* She turns to look at you, and tucks a strand of hair behind your ear.
* “Okay,” you smile back.
* It’s a long drive to their home, they live deep in the mountains.
* “We’re here,” Tanya sings from the driver's seat.
* The house is secured by an ivy ridden wall, so high you can barely see the tree branches hang over the ledge
* There’s a large iron gate at the front, and past it, what appears to be a gravel road.
* Tanya cracks her window down, pressing her finger to sensor.
* “We’ll have to add your fingerprints later, little one”
* “Tanya don’t call them that, it’s offensive,” Irina hisses from beside them.
* “Ah, sorry darling,” she meets your gaze from her rear view mirror.
* “No offense taken,” you mumble.
* The house is exactly the opposite of what the Cullens’ home looked like in the movies.
* It’s a four story home, well it’s a mansion, all dark brick, with a rugged face. You can count on one hand how many windows you currently see.
* It looks exactly like somewhere Dracula might live.
* The inside is equally intimidating, there’s actually a suit of armor near the entrance, like this is some Scooby Doo-esque castle.
* Kate leads the grand tour, walking you through their living room, fully equipped with a wall of swords, a 90 inch flat screen TV, and a family portrait hung over a roaring fire.
* She only waves at the kitchen.
* She explains the living situation to you.
* “Irina, Tanya and I all have our rooms on the second floor,” she points to each room, all in completely different directions.
* “Carmen and Eleazer use the third floor,” She waves to the right end of the hall.
* “There’s also a movie theatre and another living area on this floor,” Irina adds from her other side.
* You expect to be staying near the happy couple, so they can keep an eye on you.
* You’re surprised when Kate keeps climbing the stairs,
* “On the right is the library, and on the left is a stairwell that leads to the roof”
* “And right here,” Irina grins, “is your room.”
* The second she opens the door you’re engulfed in light.
* When the place comes into focus, you’re amazed.
* The entire room aside from the entrance wall, and the ceiling, are made from glass.
* There’s a roaring fireplace on one side, several cases full of books, a large plush armchair, and a bed.
* It’s like a queen’s bed, with mahogany spirals and creamy white bedding.
* “What’s with the bed?” It adds a nice touch to the room, but it’s not like you need it.
* “Oh well we thought maybe-“ Kate breaks off mid thought, looking to Irina for help who nods.
* “We thought maybe you might want it to pretend to sleep,” she finishes for her sister. Then noticing your confused expression she quickly adds “or as a comfy place to read, or for... other activities.”
* “Irina!” Kate shouts at the same time you cover your face in embarrassment. Sex is the farthest thing from your mind.
* “What? They need to know this is an open household.”
* “What did you mean about pretending to sleep?” You quickly interject.
* “Well you know,” Irina exchanges a look with her sister.
* “You just shut your eyes, and imagine things,” Kate finishes.
* “I did it a lot when I first transformed, helped me feel more human” Irina adds.
* “I still do it every so often, it’s a nice way to relax” Kate tells you.
* “I never thought to do that.” You mumble to yourself, sitting on the bed. The two exchange another look.
* They want to ask you questions, about the Volturi, and about your past.
* But thinking better of it, they decide to leave so you can get settled.
* As soon as they’re gone, you fall back into the bed.
* Pretending to sleep, what a strange thing, the books never talked about it.
* You turn your head to the side, looking out your window walls.
* “It really is a beautiful view.”
* The pine trees sway in the wind, the grey sky beyond it.
* You sigh, you’ll try and give that “pretending to sleep” thing a try.
* You close your eyes and imagine all sorts of things. You imagine being in your old body and doing crunches so that you could get abs. You imagine eating soup on a cold day while it rains outside, and you think about reading in the library with Alec and Jane. How you would sit in the nook, right below the window and bask in the sun.
* You’re abruptly broken out of the dream when you hear your door creak open.
* You sit upright with a start, eyes open, and your head turned to face the intruder.
* All you see is Eleazer shaking from laughter, as he hides his mouth in his hand.
* You turn to look at the clock, it’s 3 in the morning and it’s dark outside.
* “Thirsty yet?” He finally manages to say after a solid minute of laugh at you.
* You are growing a little parched.
* “We’re about to go hunt,.” Eleazer actually grins as he tells you.
* You move to stand and follow him outside.
* Tanya and Carmen are already waiting for you outside, they don’t need to explain much, it seems pretty obvious.
* Stalk the animal, and then kill, totally easy.
* Tanya and Carmen even corner a deer for you.
* You should be able to kill it, you should WANT to devour it, your throat is so dry, even a bit of relief seems nice right now.
* But when you look into it’s eyes, wide with fear, it looks just like a dog.
* But everyone’s waiting for you to drink, how are you going to survive from here on out? There’s no Alec, bringing you a blood bag every few days, you can’t drink from humans and you can’t drink from animals what are you going-
* You’re broken out of your internal monologue by a pained scream, when you look around you, you see Carmen and Tanya kneeling on the ground.
* The deer crumples to the floor, the fearful look in its eyes intensified.
* “I-I’m sorry I didn’t mean to. I’m sorry.”
* And then you run, you climb up the tallest tree you can find and crumple into yourself like a collapsing star.
* What was your end game here? To raise hell on this world? Right.
* How are you going to do that when you can’t even control your emotions or even feed yourself.
* Geez, even Edward managed to eat rapists and murders.
* You feel the branch you’re crouched on shift a bit and look up to see Carmen.
* She instinctively reached for you only to flinch back, your power to reaching her.
* She must notice the look on your face because she smiles and says:
* “Don’t worry I’ve felt worse.”
* Well you don’t have time to unpack all of that.
* “I can’t kill an animal,” you finally admit.
* You’re waiting for her fury, but she just shrugs.
* “That’s alright, you know, I hate pretending to be a student, so I don’t do the school thing.”
* She continues on, “Kate hates going to the grocery store, Irina hates making small talk with the mail man, even Eleazer hates having to deal with their forgery, especially when it’s time to move
* “Tanya hates having to see Edward,” then realizing you might not know Edward she adds, “One of Carlisle’s coven.”
* You knew in the book Tanya felt scorned, but you didn’t think she hated him.
* “The point is, we all have things we don’t like to do.”
* Ah here it comes, the whole “but we do them for the better of the coven” spiel.
* “So we do them for each other.”
* Well this is unexpected.
* “Eleazer and I get supplies, Kate and Irina handle going to school and keeping our front, and Tanya handles the big picture stuff.”
* She puts her hand on top of your own, you hadn’t realized she had gotten so close, or that you were feeling calm enough to let her get close.
* “The point is, if there’s something you don’t want to do, it’s okay. You’re apart of our family now, and we help each other.”
* When you get home, you see Tanya and Irina literally draining the blood out of a bear in the kitchen.
* “Ah you’re back! Look what we got you!”
* Tanya says it like she got you a new desk, not that she’s literally draining the blood out of an animal into a reusable starbucks cup.
* “Maybe we should do this for ourselves too, it’s much more convenient, and this way my blouses won’t get dirty” Irina comments, sealing another bottle and putting it in the fridge.
* “Tanya I’m sorry about before, I-“
* “There’s nothing to be sorry for little one,” she cradled your face in her blood stained hands. “I am sorry, I thought you seemed uncomfortable, but I thought it might be the thirst.”
* You nod slowly, they’re being so kind to you. You don’t know how to handle it tbh.
* “Tanya! We talked about this, you can’t call them little one, it’s condescending.” Irina hisses, and Tanya sucks her teeth.
* “Ah yes, sorry darling, you are just so young.” She pats your cheek, and then grins. “More importantly, you are so powerful!”
* Tanya’s beaming like a pageant mom who’s child just won first place.
* “You should have seen it Irina, she had me AND Carmen on the ground! It was incredible!”
* “I’ve never seen anything like it except with-“
* “Except with Jane,” you finish.
* The similarity had been noted by Aro, the type of power that only came once a century.
* Tanya’s expression darkens for a moment, Jane had been the one to carry out the order to kill her mother.
* Then it’s gone, her eyes fill with warmth once they settle onto you once more.
* “Eleazer, what is their power?”
* You hadn’t even realised he had come into the room
* “It’s an aura” he says it all matter of fact, like everyone in the room should know what that means. Upon noticing the confused looks he elaborates.
* “Basically whatever emotions they feel are felt by those around them, right now it seems to be a limited range of emotions.” He meets your gaze, he must mean the despair you feel.
* “But given time, it can extend to all emotions.”
* Well this is news to you, does that mean one day... you might be able to give happiness to others as well?
* You take a sip of the blood and have to hide your cringe.
* It’s disgusting, what the hell was that bear eating.
* “Delicious” you murmur, taking another disgusting sip.
* “Fantastic! This finally gives us an excuse to stock the fridge!”
* Irina opens the fridge to show several bottles full of blood.
* The next few days pass in a haze, you “dream” every so often, drink the disgusting bear blood, and read.
* Oh and you also spend a lot of time with your new family. Getting together for a morning run is compulsory
* The only cringe worthy thing is drinking that gross blood.
* If you had to describe the taste, you would say it had a rich flavour at first, but it’s masked with a game-y aftertaste, it only gets worse over time, developing into a straight up skunky after taste.
* You sit on your bed, looking out your many windows/walls, to the frost covered estate.
* You wonder if humans taste that bad when you find them at random, it makes sense why the Volturi’s main racket were wellness retreats, three days of cleansing the blood with vitamin rich food.
* And then you’re struck with an idea.
* “Hey Carmen, you said I could ask if I need something right?”
* “I was wondering if I could have the far most corner of the estate?”
* You spend a few days making the fence, sanding down the wood.
* It’s actually pretty easy when you never get tired, or need a break, or when you’re not afraid you might get hurt.
* And, because Alaska is known for cruel weather, you make a barn with Kate’s help.
* “If I knew you were building something out here I would have asked Esme to draw something up for you.”
* “Nah, I wanted to do it myself.”
* Between the two of you, it’s pretty quick work, but it’s basically a rickety poorly built box.
* It’s a good parcel of land, at least a quarter of an acre.
* Now comes the hard part.
* You’ve finally cornered a deer, probably the same deer from a few weeks ago.
* “Do you want to be friends?” you hold out an apple, and it watches you with a curious glance before running away.
* Well, it’s not a dog, it’s not going to follow you home because you just because you gave it food.
* You repeat the process with several other deer, but you don’t make much progress.
* You repeat the process for a few days, until you finally get the deer to eat the food you offer, and another several days until one will follow you back into the pen.
* You’re not really sure why it did, it’s trembling and afraid, but you guess it’s probably close to starving at this point.
* “Here,” you give it a healthy meal, before leading it to the barn you’ve sloppily built.
* You’re about to go inside, but noticing that it’s still trembling in fear, you decide to spend the night with it.
* “Dreaming” isn’t any different in your bed than it is in a creaky, poorly built barn.
* After that night, you and the deer are closer.
* “I think I’ll name you Henrietta, that’s a good name don’t you think.”
* You get a few more after that, but none of them like you as much as Henrietta.
* They’re mostly following you for food, well at least they won’t die as long as they’re with you.
* And so three days pass, you deer have healthy nutrient rich blood flowing through their veins.
* He hums in acknowledgement, his hands are busy nailing in the nail on his birdhouse.
* “Do you think Carlisle might visit sometime?”
* Eleazer’s hands stop moving.
* “Do you want him to visit?”
* Well of course you do, he’s the only person you know with any kind of medical experience. He has to show you how to -hygienically- extract blood from your deer without killing them or contaminating the blood.
* “I think we were making a lot of progress with my powers before we stopped.”
* “I’ll give him a call soon.”
* Another few days pass, time seems to move differently now. You can’t tell how much time has passed, even the nights and days start to blur together, after all the nights are so much longer here in Alaska.
* And yet, it’s peaceful, you read books, and drink your disgusting bear blood. You watch Irina and Tanya play chess, and Kate sharpen her sword. Carmen likes to embroider when she can, and Eleazer enjoys wood work.
* You’re reading in your room when you hear them, Carlisle’ss soft gentle voice from down stairs.
* You haven’t seen him in so long, you convince yourself you’re rushing to greet him because you’ll always be grateful for what he did for you.
* But you know it’s actually because you miss him.
* He was the first person to show you true compassion.
* You get to the bottom of the stairs expecting to see Carlisle, and you do, but there’s someone else.
* He’s tall, at least he’s taller than you.
* His hair... it’s -what’s it called-, not quite red, not quite brown either.
* Auburn hair as thick as a lions mane, hangs around his face, deep gold eyes, and a splatter of freckles across the bridge of his nose.
* This is actually the first boy vampire around your age you’ve seen. Alec was close, but he was younger than you by a handful of years.
* If your heart could beat, you’re sure it would be drumming.
* He’s beautiful. Chiseled cheekbones, and full lips.
* You’re suddenly starting to feel very conscious of the baggy sweatshirt and leggings you’re wearing
* His eyes meet yours, and they stay there, narrowing into a glare.
* Carlisle doesn’t seem to notice, pulling you into a hug.
* “You look well,” he says, his eyes are so warm as they gaze down at you that you can’t help but smile. “How are you handling the transition?”
* You know he really means to ask if you’re happy now, if you’re free.
* You nod, this is more than you could have ever hoped for.
* “I’m glad to hear that,” then noticing he hasn’t introduced you yet, he looks over his shoulder.
* “(Y/N), this is the son I told you about, Edward.”
* You turn to look at him again, this amber eyes narrowed.
* It’s not a glare, it’s concentration.
* He can’t read your mind.
* “Edward, this is (Y/N), my friend from Volterra.”
* Carlisle says it in such an easy way, like he didn’t meet you in the brink of despair, when you were pleading him to kill you.
* You gulp as Edward lifts his hand, and you gingerly take in yours.
* “It’s a pleasure to meet you.”
