Twilight: Chapters 14–18

“Are you ever going to tell me how old you are?” I asked, tentative, not wanting to upset his buoyant humor.

But, to my great embarrassment, my stomach growled. I’d been so intrigued, I hadn’t even noticed I was hungry. I realized now that I was ravenous.

“And while there was still that possibility that I might be...overcome”—he breathed in the scent at my wrist—“I was... susceptible. Until I made up my mind that I was strong enough, that there was no possibility at all that I would...that I ever could...”

He threw back his head and laughed, quietly as a whisper, but still exuberantly.

“Bring on the shackles—I’m your prisoner.” But his long hands formed manacles around my wrists as he spoke.

He thinks that I must have already been very sensitive to the thoughts of those around me. And that Alice had some precognition, wherever she was.

“Carlisle brought his compassion. Esme brought her ability to love passionately. Emmett brought his strength, Rosalie her... tenacity. Or you could call it pigheadedness,” he chuckled.

He was quite charismatic in his first life, able to influence those around him to see things his way. Now he is able to manipulate the emotions of those around him—calm down a room of angry people, for example, or excite a lethargic crowd, conversely.

The forest encroached on both sides, leaving the road ahead only discernible for a few meters as it twisted, serpentlike, around the ancient trees.

The gloom of the forest didn’t relent, though, for there were six primordial cedars that shaded an entire acre with their vast sweep of branches.

Something about her heart-shaped face, her billows of soft, caramel-colored hair, reminded me of the ingenues of the silent-movie era.

No one else seemed to know quite what to say, and then Jasper was there—tall and leonine.

Jasper snickered and Esme gave Edward a reproving look.
“I hope you haven’t been showing off—it’s rude,” she scolded.

The music slowed, transforming into something softer, and to my surprise I detected the melody of his lullaby weaving through the profusion of notes.

“I have to, because I’m going to be a little...overbearingly protective over the next few days—or weeks—and I wouldn’t want you to think I’m naturally a tyrant.”

The last note hovered poignantly in the silence.

My hand raised automatically, one finger extended as if to touch the large wooden cross, its dark patina contrasting with the lighter tone of the wall. I didn’t touch it, though I was curious if the aged wood would feel as silky as it looked.

“He jumped from great heights,” Edward told me, his voice impassive.

One night, a herd of deer passed his hiding place. He was so wild with thirst that he attacked without a thought. His strength returned and he realized there was an alternative to being the vile monster he feared. Had he not eaten venison in his former life?

By night he studied music, science, medicine—and found his calling, his penance, in that, in saving human lives.

His expression became awed, almost reverent.

“He was studying in Italy when he discovered the others there. They were much more civilized and educated than the wraiths of the London sewers.”

“But as time went on, I began to see the monster in my eyes. I couldn’t escape the debt of so much human life taken, no matter how justified. And I went back to Carlisle and Esme. They welcomed me back like the prodigal. It was more than I deserved.”

He stopped, raising his eyebrows in blatant disbelief.

Up until that moment, I’d had no doubt that he’d be staying with me while I spent a few interim hours in the real world.

“That’s probably best. Be careful, though. The child has no idea.”
I bridled a little at the word child.

“That’s true,” he acceded, his eyes guarded.

But I knew that if he wanted to talk to me, he’d probably just materialize in my room.

I picked myself up, ignoring him as I brushed the mud and bracken off the back of my jacket.

I could see the others all there; Esme, Emmett, and Rosalie, sitting on a bare outcropping of rock, were the closest to us, maybe a hundred yards away.

I learned the other reason they waited for a thunderstorm to play when Jasper, trying to avoid Edward’s infallible fielding, hit a ground ball toward Carlisle.

Only Emmett seemed unperturbed; the rest stared at Carlisle’s face with anxious eyes.

Their walk was catlike, a gait that seemed constantly on the edge of shifting into a crouch.

Their sharp eyes carefully took in the more polished, urbane stance of Carlisle, who, flanked by Emmett and Jasper, stepped guardedly forward to meet them.

The second male hovered unobtrusively behind them, slighter than the leader, his light brown hair and regular features both nondescript.

“That sounds very interesting, and welcome.” His smile was genial.

Neither James nor Edward relaxed their aggressive poses. James feinted slightly to the side, and Edward shifted in response.

“She’s with us.” Carlisle’s firm rebuff was directed toward James.

“And you’ll make it look like that’s a ruse, obviously. He’ll know that we’ll know that he’s listening. He’ll never believe I’m actually going where I say I am going.”

And graceful little Alice pulled back her lips in a horrific grimace and let loose with a guttural snarl that had me cowering against the seat in terror.