Twilight: Caylie Cullen

Prologue

Bella gently pressed down into the ground and leaped a full 30-feet forward. The pale white dress that grazed her knees billowed slightly around her as she sailed through the air. From the elevated height, she could see Edward running at full pelt, gracefully dodging trees and low-hanging branches. She landed softly and accelerated. In the 5 years that they had been married, she had never once been able to beat Edward in a foot race. As far as she knew, no other vampire had ever been able to. But Bella never got tired of trying.

She sped past trees, a clearing and the remnants of the rock that Emmett had once pounded to bits when his team had lost a game of baseball. She was catching up to Edward - she could see the sunlight reflecting off his skin.

With a burst of speed, Bella pressed her shoes into the ground, simultaneously creating mini-potholes in the earth. She tore past Edward and let out a victorious cackle.

I finally did -

She felt a rush of wind on her right. She briefly saw Edward's wickedly smiling face before he disappeared again.

"I love you for trying, baby!" he said. Bella sighed. Oh well. At the very least, she always won when it mattered.

She reached the foot of the cliffs. They towered above her and everything else in the forest. If it wasn't for her vampire eyesight, she wouldn't have been able to see the setting sun.

Twilight was approaching - her favourite time of day. It was time to hunt. There was usually a mountain goat or two resting somewhere on the cliffs. Twice, both she and Edward had even dined on a mountain lion. They were particularly delicious and kept them full for longer periods of time.

"Come on up, baby! The view is beautiful" Edward's voice tickled her ear.

She scaled the wall, careful to ensure that her dress didn't get torn anywhere. It was another creation a la Alice and she had no wish of inciting her wrath when she got home. Again.

Edward's arms were around her waist as soon as she cleared the top. He held her close and together they watched as the horizon swallowed the sun. The fading light bounced off their skin. Bella was entranced by the colour that filled the sky. In her human life, she had only ever seen traces of orange and red in the sky. But with the full vampire-package upgrade, she saw so much more. There were tinges of violet and blue. They intertwined with the reds and the oranges and the overall effect was nothing short of spectacular. The symphony of colour lasted for just under a minute and the moment it was over, Bella closed her eyes wanting to commit it to memory.

She felt Edward push his lips against hers. She smiled and gently kissed him back. His fingers twined in her long black hair. Her hands played with the grooves on his back. She slipped a hand under his shirt and caressed the small of his back. He moaned into her mouth and pushed her backwards till she was leaning against a tree trunk. She flicked her finger up the front of his shirt, undoing all the buttons at once and pressed herself into his chest. Their kissing intensified and Bella groaned as he moved his hand up her thigh -

They broke apart and looked at each other intently. They had both heard it. A little whimper and a gentle rustling. The wind blew towards them, carrying a scent that Bella didn't recognize. It smelt slightly heady and sweet. It was a strange mix. Bella turned to Edward, wondering if he could smell it.

"I've never smelled that before. That's definitely no animal or werewolf. What is that?"

"I don't know baby...to be honest it smells like you."

Bella looked at him startled. "Like me?" Is that really what I smell like? Maybe Alice was right about the perfume...

"Yes. Like your skin, your blood. When we first met."

Bella's eyes widened even further. She remembered how Edward had explained the way her blood had called to him. She had been told by multiple vampires that her blood had a floral scent to it - but there was nothing remotely floral about the scent filling her nostrils.

"Baby, I'm not picking up on -"

The rustling happened again. Crouching down, they silently made their way towards it. The closer they got, the stronger the scent got. There is absolutely nothing floral about that. What is he picking up on?

They were moving up a steep incline that ended at a sharp point. With every step forward, the ground below them got narrower and narrower. Till finally, Bella's feet barely fit. Right at the tip, there were leaves artfully arranged. It was clear that no stray wind had blown them together - they had been placed there. The leaves formed a perfect sphere.

The ball wobbled ever-so-slightly.

"I should destroy it" Edward muttered under his breath.

"What - no! We have no idea what's inside it."

"This doesn't bode well, Bella. I can feel it."

"Anything that can fit in such a small space can't do us much harm. I need to see what it is, Edward. I know you do too."

"Whatever is inside is intelligent, Bella. I am getting...thoughts. But I can't make heads or tails of it...the images are incoherent...like the frequency is off."

Bella frowned at her husband. Well, there's only one way to find out. She inched past Edward and moved towards the leafy sphere. She crouched down and for safety's sake, she extended her shield. It pushed out from the crown of her head like a rubber band and she felt Edward's light come under it.

"Be safe, baby."

'I will', she thought, knowing that he would be able to hear it.

Bella's hands gently pushed the leaves aside. They were so intricately woven together that she had to use a little strength to break the top half of the sphere. Gently, she removed it and tossed it back toward Edward.

Bella looked down into the remaining half and went still. Her shield snapped back as she lost focus.

Edward flew to her side. "I didn't catch that entirely. What do you mean a baby?"

Bella pointed down into the sphere.

Lying in more leaves and covered tenderly in a thick brown blanket was a chubby baby girl. She had thick blonde hair and was gently sucking on her tiny thumb as she slept. She must have been dreaming because she kicked her legs sporadically, causing the leaves to rustle.

Finding a baby was strange enough. Stranger still was the undeniable fact that the baby was clearly a vampire. Bella could see it in her skin and in the way she was just absolutely perfect and a little too graceful for an infant. 

"I - I don't understand. Who would do this? Abandon a baby? Especially a vampire baby? Do they not understand the damage they could do to us - to other people?" Edward hissed. His hands were balled into fists and Bella knew that he was thinking of the immortal children. They were human children who had been turned by older female vampires who created their own children because they were unable to have their own.

Bella bent down to pick up the baby. She was beautiful - just as beautiful as Renesmee had been.

"Careful, Bella. You don't want to fall under its trance. We should just destroy it. I can light a fire and we can be done with this whole mess", Edward hissed.

Bella looked from the sleeping infant in her arms to her husband. His mouth was pressed into a firm line and his body was rigid. Bella knew that his repugnance stemmed from the idea of an older vampire stagnating the life of a child even before it reached full maturity. She knew that only a very sad or disturbed individual will do something like this to an innocent child. But she couldn't fathom why Edward would be so ready to harm something so delicate and beautiful.

She touched his arm and Edward started, breaking out of a haze. "Edward. We are taking her to Carlisle. He will know what to do."

Edward looked at the baby for a long while. Bella waited patiently for her husband to come to the correct conclusion. With a nod, he took her arm and they shot home to the Cullens.