The Alchemist

Chapter 48

"I'm sorry to hear that. Stella." Felix hugged me sideways and kissed my temple.

"We have kings?" Darren asked. Felix explained how the Volturi were considered the kings as they ruled the vampire world to make sure we remained hidden. The boy was around thirteen maybe fourteen years old which made my heart hurt a little. He was still so young and all this was forced on him.

"Thank you both for teaching me. I have a lot of fun with making this place look neat." Darren said once Felix was done.

"You're welcome, sweetie. Nothing more of this talk let's get back to work." We did just that. Thanksgiving came around and Charlie was coming for a weekend with Sue, Seth and Leah. William and Alice were actually spending time here as well, because Bella didn't want him near Renesmee either.

"Hey dad, it's great to see you again." I greeted Charlie first. He hugged me back and then greeted Felix and Alice.

"Who are the boys?" He asked.

"Oh this is William, Alice' mate and his little brother Darren. They found us working and asked for training in exchange for helping with the renovations." I introduced the brothers.

"Alright. Good to meet you boys. William, you better treat Alice like a queen." Charlie seems to adopt the protective parent role with people left and right. He was the same with the twins.

"Yes sir. May I ask who you are?" Wiliam was a bit wary of a human knowing.

"Charlie is my father in all but blood but he is protective of any girl in his life. He is an honorary member of our world." The rest were introduced and Charlie settled down with Sue while us 'kids' went back to work. Except for Darren. He was curious about Charlie, so he helped him get the luggage to their rooms and stuff while they talked.

"We heard from Jacob what Bella did. Are you okay?" Leah asked as she helped me weed what seemed to have been a patch of flowers. The weeds however had a strange smell to them. A little sweet and some familiarity to it. Venom. It was all dead too.

"What's wrong?" she asked when I didn't answer her questions.

"I smell venom. Here." Leah smelled it too and scrunched her nose. We dug around and found heads.

"What do we do?" she wondered.

"There are five more patches. Let's dig around in those." We did just that, with the guys helping and it turned out we had found bodies ripped apart and buried. Small bodies.

"These are all children?" William exclaimed horrified.

"Child vam-. Oh dear god. Mia Stella, I know who they are. Many years ago, when we had to put down the second Wanderer. We had discovered she had practiced bringing back children, but in order to give them life, she had turned them in murderous children. Immortal children. She had confessed in hopes of survival. but we never found any sign of the children." Felix explained.

"They were buried here after ripped apart, it seems. If we hadn't smelled their venom contaminating the ground, we wouldn't have found out until later." 

"Let's give them a proper grave." We burned the bodies which saddened me a little because so many children were lost to the needs of someone supposed to protect.

"Leona?" Seth joined me as I just watched the new grave being made.

"I'm fine. I just feel bad for these children. And maybe secondhand guilt and shame?" It wasn't easy to figure out how I felt about all this. 

"Don't feel bad. The children are at peace now." He tried to comfort me. 

"At least the venom brings something useful." I thought out loud.

"What's that?" He asked.

"I can form stonewalls infused with it so the walls are sturdier." It took a lot of energy though. And I had only two of the buildings done. Three more to go.

"That saves a lot of time. Great job, Leona." Everyone went back to their work but Dad approached me as I was going back inside for some rest.

"Hey sweetheart, how are you doing these days?" He walked with me back to the mainhouse.

"Pretty good considering all I learned about me. Edward and I get along better too, but Bella seems to be incapable of trusting me after all that happened. And the fact I won't ever have children keeps getting thrown in my face. First because of the legends, then Bella used that to get me to keep Renesmee safe but when I try to keep her from hurting Jacob for something he can't control, she throws that same reason in my face. And she doesn't trust me around her daughter because I don't drink from Bambi. She actually made Will and Alice come back here too because of that fact." I told him.

"I get wanting to protect your child, but this is just a step too far. I wonder why Carlisle let it happen." He could've stopped it.

"Because I wanted to keep William from getting attacked." A voice answered from the entrance gate.

"Hey." I hugged the parental figures. "What are you two doing here?" I asked.

"Well we figured we could come see you and your project. Eleazar has agreed to help with gifted newborn. Emmett and Rose say hi but they stay back to help with Bella and Renesmee, just in case. She has great self-control, so we aren't too worried."

"That's good to hear. We have made quite some progress so far. But let's get you settled first." I showed them their rooms and then I gave them a tour of the area. Esme cried when I told them about the children we found. We found out the guys had made a little tombstone for them to honor them and not forget their tragic end. I also explained to them I used the venom in the ground to strengthen the stone walls of the buildings. It cleans the ground giving new plants room to grow.

Esme joined the design team while Carlisle helped me with the more financial part of the whole scheme. Charlie was watching as the guys played ball for a bit and Sue was cooking with Leah.

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