Rip Tide: A Twilight Fanfiction

Chapter Five: When Life Gives You Lemons

"Why?" I cried, looking around at all of them. "Look at her! She's harmless."

"We have survived for thousands of years, only because we have kept our existence secret. In this modern age, it would only take a single human to upset the masses. As I have stated before, we cannot afford to take that chance, child."

"But-" I began, desperate to save her from following her husband in death, but Mason cut me off.

"Melanie, enough," he said sharply. His dark eyes met my wide green ones, urging me to shut up before I got us both into trouble. Then, he looked at Aro. "I'll take care of her."

My brother was reliable. I fought to hide the smile creeping up my cheeks. He left my side, striding toward the woman. She wailed loudly in fear, but refused to let go of her husband's body. For a fleeting moment, I wholeheartedly believed she would be okay; Mason intended to wipe her memory, so she didn't have to die. He would save her life.

When he reached her, he bent down to one knee. His back was to me, but I could picture his eyes turning black, so they could suck out all of the horrors the poor woman witnessed. My naive presumptions were obliterated in an instant.

A shrill scream of agony made me gasp. I heard the sickening sound of teeth ripping into flesh. Fresh blood trickled to the floor, as Mason drained the woman, right next to the man he had killed moments before. Bile rose in my throat and I fought the urge to throw up.

It was then I realized what my brother had become.

"Monster..." I whispered. The sun was warm, bathing my skin in rays of gold, but I still shivered. Memories continued to flood in, filling the emptiness with a dreadful cold.

I had curled up beside the river, not too far from the Cullens' place. After my breakfast episode, Carlisle had phoned Charlie to feed him the latest information regarding the suspect's description. Then Edward and Carlisle took me into the study for over an hour, dissecting my brain for every shred of detail I remembered about my brother. Without Jasper there, my patience quickly ran out and my volatile temper erupted. I ended up throwing a rather expensive looking vase at Edward before running out of the house.

Call it over-dramatic, but I needed to be alone. Edward knew that, so he was probably the one who made sure no one went after me.

Huddled with my back against a tree, I hugged my knees to my chest. I just listened to the sound of rushing water; it was sweeter than any lullaby. Even when embraced by the tranquility of nature, I was far from relaxed. My fingers dug into the flesh of my arms. If I didn't hold myself together, I would shatter into a thousand useless pieces just like that vase.

Finally, I knew who I was, where I came from, and what happened in the forest. Somehow, Edward and Carlisle had been able to chisel away some of the blockage in my brain, allowing memories to trickle through. Reflecting on all that recovered knowledge, I felt more lost and confused than ever.

My brother hadn't always been a monster. He had a warm heart before the Volturi corrupted it. For the first seventeen years of my life, he had been the one to raise and protect me.

Mason had only been fifteen years old when our father Jethro met his demise. Not that it was a huge loss for us, or the world at large; the man had practically been the definition of evil. Having lived hundreds of years, he had made killing into a morbid art form. When he heard the legends of half-vampire children, he set out to create his own coven of flesh-and-blood. He kidnapped a young woman from a brothel and forced her to give birth to Mason.

Tragically, birthing him destroyed her frail human body. Her agonizing death was of no consequence to Jethro; in his eyes, she had served her purpose and was therefore disposable. Without a mother to nurture him, Mason had no choice but to rely on Jethro's guidance. Whatever transpired in the early stages of my brother's development, it was anything but innocent father-son bonding.