Bear No Malice | Paul Lahote

Nineteen

"Emma, I'm glad you could make it." I smiled back at Carlisle as Alice gave me a small goodbye wave and danced off to another part of the house. The man led me in further and I admired as we went along.

"Your house is amazing," I breathed. "It's so open."

"That was the intent behind the design," Carlisle smiled. "Esme and Alice designed the whole thing. We wanted to feel comfortable here, where we can just be ourselves and not have to hide."

"They have impeccable taste. Remind me to hire them if I ever need a new home," I joked. As we made our way upstairs, my eyes lingered over a massive frame that held a plethora of graduation caps. I smirked at the implication and followed Carlisle as we walked into what I could only guess was his office.

Like the rest of the house the small space had a very open feel to it. A large pane of glass replaced the entire wall to my right, and an open patio opened up the back. The left side of the wall held a massive built-in bookcase covered in medical volumes and old texts. His desk was by the back patio, with only a laptop and a few picture frames on top of it. Simple, yet perfectly balanced.

"Please, have a seat. I'm sure you have a lot of questions."

I nodded and sat down across from him, tucking my legs up underneath me. "I do. But if I start getting too nosy please tell me. I don't want to cross any lines." Well, more than I have already.

"In all honesty, we try to keep humans away from all of this. It's important we keep our existence a secret for many reasons. However you were exposed in a very abrupt and violent manner, and if I'm being honest not many survive an encounter like yours. Those that do aren't usually human anymore."

"Yeah, I figured as much." I shuddered at the thought of Victoria. "Has she been around at all?"

Carlisle seemed to know who I was referring to immediately. "Yes. She keeps coming back, trying to get through the borders. Between us and the wolves we've held her away but can never catch her."

"What is she after?" I was afraid to ask.

"Bella. Because Edward killed Victoria's mate to protect his own, she wants revenge in the same way. An eye for an eye, so to speak." I almost sagged in relief but refrained from it. Yes, I was glad she wasn't coming for me, but Bella was still in danger. The girl seemed nice enough to me, why would she deserve that?

"So how exactly is she different from you and your family?" I asked. "I mean, the wolves aren't trying to kill any of you, just Victoria."

"My family and I don't want to harm humans in any way," Carlisle began. "We wish to live peacefully, only feeding off of animals. Not many vampires choose this lifestyle and so it makes it that much harder to maintain it. The majority of our kind keep to the shadows, or to themselves and continue to feed off of human sources, either live ones or from blood bags."

"That's what makes the difference in eye color. Animal blood."

Carlisle nodded. "Yes. It's a more difficult diet to follow because it's not as sustaining as human blood."

"Yeah, well I bet the golden eyes are bit more inconspicuous than red ones," I joked. "How many vampires exist?"

"Hard to say," Carlisle shrugged. "I know quite a few friends of my own in many different parts of the world. But as for how many actually exist, I have no idea."

"What happens if you're exposed to humans?" I asked. "Surely there's some kind of backlash."

Carlisle smiled grimly. "That's where the Volturi step in. They're our governing body, and house some of the oldest vampires in existence."