Waxing Gibbous

More incriminating Evidence (A)

I sat on the beach with Embry, Quil and Seth, we weren't really talking about anything. Once they asked me about my driftwood pile at home, but nothing really important passed by our lips. It was nice though, to get to just relax. With everything going on back in Forks, and my mind it was nice to finally get away.

Too soon the clouds took on a darker complexion, the temperature dropped, the tell-tale sign that it was going to rain. The boys helped me pick up and I offered them the rest of the sandwiches. It was easier than taking them home, and with the boys I knew they would get eaten. At home they'd go to waste.

I looked around to see everyone coming back, with the exception of Bella and Jacob. I worried about what he might tell her. From what I've seen Bella is very prone to digging, she was insistent that there was something wrong with the Cullens and while I agree and I am starting to believe the legends, I know Bella will get herself hurt or in trouble to figure it out.

She didn't need to know; it wasn't her business.

In the end Mike and Jess went to find her.

There was a few seating arrangement switches on the way back to Forks. I could sense the tension with Bella and Lauren so for their sake I offered Bella a spot in my car. With that we began the drive home. It was quieter, probably because of the weather and everyone was exhausted.

The next morning, I decided to get down to the bottom of everything. I wanted to know if the legends were true; if there were other indications to consider. But most importantly were the Cullen's part of the same group my Great Grandfather met years ago.

If i looked up vampires on on the internet, all I would get would be horror stories and dozens of myths. I could go to Port Angeles, there's a tribal bookstore and a microform. If they were cold-ones and the same ones my great grandfather met there would be some sort of documentation, especially if one of them was a doctor.

But first I decided to google them.

I sat on my bed, laptop in my lap and began the search, I started with the obvious.

The Cold Ones or more commonly known as Vampires.

When the results came up, there was a lot to sift through —everything from movies and TV shows to role-playing games, underground metal, and gothic cosmetic companies.

Then I found a promising site — Vampires A—Z. A simple white
background with black text, academic-looking. Two quotes greeted me on the home page:

Throughout the vast shadowy world of ghosts and demons there is no figure so terrible, no figure so dreaded and abhorred, yet dight with such fearful fascination, as the vampire, who is himself neither ghost nor demon, but yet who partakes the dark natures and possesses the mysterious and terrible qualities of both. — Rev. Montague Summers

If there is in this world a well-attested account, it is that of the vampires. Nothing is lacking:
official reports, affidavits of well-known people, of surgeons, of priests, of magistrates; the
judicial proof is most complete. And with all that, who is there who believes in vampires? — Rousseau.

The rest of the site was an alphabetized listing of all the different myths of vampires held throughout the world. The first I clicked on, the Danag, was a Filipino vampire supposedly responsible for planting taro on the islands long ago. The myth continued that the Danag worked with humans for many years, but the partnership ended one day when a woman cut her finger and a Danag sucked her wound, enjoying the taste so much that it drained her body completely of blood.

I read carefully through the descriptions, looking for anything that sounded familiar, let alone plausible.

It seemed that most vampire myths centered around beautiful women as demons and children as victims; they also seemed like constructs created to explain away the high mortality rates for young children, and to give men an excuse for infidelity. Many of the stories involved bodiless spirits and warnings against improper burials. There wasn't much that sounded like the movies I'd seen, and only a very few, like the Hebrew Estrie and the Polish Upier, who were even preoccupied with drinking blood.

Only three entries really caught my attention: the Romanian Varacolaci, a powerful undead being who could appear as a beautiful, pale-skinned human. The Slovak Nelapsi, a creature so strong and fast it could massacre an entire village in the single hour after midnight, and one other, the Stregoni benefici.

About this last there was only one brief sentence.

Stregoni benefici: An Italian vampire, said to be on the side of goodness, and a mortal enemy of all evil vampires.

Nothing really new; strong, fast, blood drinking, pale skin. And then another problem, one that I'd remembered from the small number of scary movies that I'd seen and was backed up by today's reading — vampires couldn't come out in the daytime.

The Cullen's never come out on sunny days.

I shook my head, there was no proof, it could all be a coincidence. I knew the dates my great grandfather was alive, if a new family moved to town, then it would have made the news, especially if one was a doctor. More importantly if they were Vampires then they had to have 'died' or disappeared – leaving articles about it.

The question was where do I start and when. Obviously pre-1936; downside I don't know where, it wasn't like I could google their name and get the result. Besides they probably changed their name. I did the basics – Carlisle Cullen.

Of course, I got several articles about him about being an amazing doctor, but I can't get much else, since newspapers were better bet.

Sighing I closed the laptop deciding to try and relax.

Unfortunately, all my homework was done so I couldn't distract myself with that. I looked around my room and grab my sketch book and pencils.

I shrugged into my rain jacket before venturing out of my window and into my back yard. It wasn't much of a yard, just a small grassy area that led into the forest that surround the home.

It didn't take long till I was deep enough for the house and the road to be invisible, the only sound was the squish of the damp earth under my feet and the birds chirping in the trees. I followed my man-made path until I reached a creek of sorts.

It was a beautiful area, with a small waterfall, winding creeks, wildflowers, all under the safety of branching trees as far as the eyes could see. I positioned myself onto a boulder, my book on my lap and I began sketching. Getting lost in my mind, forgetting everything else.

The mysteries behind the Cullens... I knew it was true, but I was my mother's daughter and I relied on evidence.

I sat on my boulder sketching for who knows how long, by the time my stomach started growling I had a beautiful sketch on the paper. I couldn't help but give a small smile at the page before closing the book and heading back home.

I slept dreamlessly that night, mentally exhausted from the day's activities, with one thing on my mind, I would be taking a trip to Port Angeles this week. Maybe Tuesday after school.