POV: BELLA VINCENT
Tuesday, November 7 2017
"You're..."
"A witch," I finished for Alice.
"She's a witch!" Emmett was still laughing.
Everyone ignored him. Carlisle sat down with a confused yet intrigued look on his face. "That's how you came back to life."
I hummed. "Not exactly. I'm only half-witch. But it's more complicated than that."
"What's the other half?" Rose sat up straighter, and I copied her.
"You wouldn't believe me if I told you."
Emmett stood up and walked out of the room to pull himself together. "I don't believe her already," he chuckled to himself.
I raised my arm toward the remote on the ottoman that sat between all of us and gestured toward the giant clown. "Motus." It flew across the room and hit Emmett's shoulder blade.
I gave them a second to react.
"I come from the Gemini Coven. Our last name is Parker, though. It's from my mom's side. I'm a Swan because my dad raised me."
"And where are they now?" Esme wanted to know.
"My mom died when I was four, but I barely knew her. My dad died when I was fifteen. A Griffith killed him."
"I'm so sorry, honey." She came over to sit next to me and rubbed my back soothingly.
"Thanks. It was a very long time ago; I've since moved on."
"Four years isn't long at all."
I looked at her. "It hasn't been four years since my dad died. It's been one-hundred-and-thirty."
They all froze, even Emmett. His expression would've killed me if I wasn't in such a serious mood.
"How old are you?" Edward asked.
"Nineteen," I answered automatically.
"And how long have you been nineteen?"
I laughed. "I was born in 1872. September 13th... After he died, I lived with my grandparents. My grandfather was the leader of our coven. Our family is a lot more complicated than other witches. In order for our bloodline to carry on, we needed twins from every generation. When the twins turned twenty-two, they would merge. Like, literally merge. The weaker one would die and combine their power with the stronger one, who would become our coven's next leader. And if the leader ever died, every single person we shared blood with would die."
"Yes, I would say that's complicated," Alice commented. "So, you were nineteen when you died the first time... How did that happen?"
The cold silver rings I wore around my neck, always hidden under my shirt, had never felt so heavy.
I shut my eyes, seeing flashes of the night my life truly began. It took me a second before I could form the words. "I died in childbirth."
Edward and Esme gasped. Rosalie's hardened features softened entirely.
Knowing there was no way in hell I would cry in front of these people, I powered through. "There were complications. I was still mostly human at this time, so I didn't heal like I do now."
"I know how it feels to lose a baby." Esme wrapped her hand around mine.
My mouth formed a small 'o.' I did not expect her to be that open with me. "I didn't lose him," I whispered, squeezing her tiny fist. "The complications were just with me, not him. Most of it is blurry, but... I was a hybrid when I woke up. His father's immortal blood was passed down to him, so it was in my system when I died."
"Immortal?" Carlisle moved to sit next to his wife.
"My husband is a hybrid, too. Only a different breed. He doesn't have any witch in him. Just the other two." They were on the edge of their seat. There was no perfect way to say it, so I just blurted it out. "He's half-werewolf and half-vampire... Which makes our son all three."
"So your other half is werewolf," Emmett assumed.
"No. Vampire. That's how I can't stay dead. Werewolves aren't immortal."
"Okay, the witch thing—" he started.
"Siphon."
"What?"
"I wasn't born with my own power. I could only siphon power from things that had magic. And it was only temporary. The strength of whatever I siphoned determined how powerful I was at a given time... I was an abomination to my family. That's why my mother left me. My dad raised me as a human, and I didn't know what I was until I was four, after she died. That's when my powers started breaking out. After I died that night and became a vampire, I was able to constantly siphon off of myself, my vampire blood. We vamp-witch hybrids, we're called heretics."
"'We'?" Edward caught. "How many are there?"
"There's only one more left alive apart from me. Her name is Valerie Tulle. One of my best friends back home killed the most recent one, Kai, for being a sociopath. He killed my coven three years ago."
"He killed your entire coven by himself?"
"Not by hand. He merged with his brother, then killed himself. Being the leader, it killed them all. He came back to life as a heretic."
"How did he turn? Do all siphons that die come back as one?"
"No. For someone to come back in transition, they had to have died with vampire blood in their system. The guy that finally killed Kai, his name is Damon Salvatore. Damon's mother, Lily, turned all of the other heretics, including Kai and Val. There were more between them. I'm the only one out of them all that she didn't turn."
That was probably a lot of information to get in just a few minutes. I gave them a moment to process.
Rosalie spoke up with a hopeful voice. "What happened to your son?"
The question confused me, but I answered anyway. "I raised him with my husband and his family. He's still alive. They all are." Except for one...
"Where are they?"
This one stumped me. "I don't have an answer. I don't even know where I am."
"What do you mean?" Carlisle wondered.
"This town isn't familiar to me at all. I was on the run from my husband. He had found me and was chasing me through the woods. The next thing I knew, Griffith brought me here. I remember seeing your house, but I ran off when I heard something."
"That was you," Alice mused. "I would've chased after you, but I got blinded with visions of you instead."
"Visions?"
Carlisle chuckled. "I guess it's our turn for story time."
"Wait," Emmett interrupted. "I still don't buy it. There's no way you're a vampire."
The veins under my eyes were suddenly visible without even trying. It was like some part of me felt threatened by that. My fangs and red scleras added onto the proof, and they all stared for an uncomfortable amount of time. I sank back into the couch.
"Now do you buy it?" I smirked.
"More than I did, but still..."
"We're vampires, too," Alice announced with glee, clearly proud.
I found myself in Emmett's shoes, shaking with laughter at her words. "Good one."
"No, really," she insisted.
"I've always known you aren't human, but come on. Anything else would be more convincing."
"You've always known?"
"The first time I met you..." I paused to glance at Carlisle, then Edward. "I didn't hear your heartbeats. Even I have a beating heart."
Carlisle folded his hand in his lap. "It seems we have a lot of dissimilarities."
"What are some others?"
"The eyes, the fangs..."
"You don't have fangs?" I asked in pure disbelief. They all shook their heads. "Then you're not vampires," I chuckled. "I don't smell blood anywhere in this house."
Alice and Jasper shared a look.
Carlisle grinned. "Well, it's kind of hard to take blood from wild animals."
"Oh, god," I groaned, standing up and walking to the window. "A whole family of Stefans..."
"Pardon?"
"A friend from back home. Damon's younger brother. He's a Ripper, so he's forced himself to be on an animal diet for the last hundred-and-fifty-three years. Minus a few years every now and then that he's fallen off the wagon." I rolled my eyes.
"A Ripper?"
"Yeah, passed down from Lily. He doesn't have control when it comes to human blood, but animal blood makes him weaker than the rest of us. Our powers aren't half as strong when we do that. He made me try it once. Hardest two months of my life, especially being married to a Mikaelson."
Jasper stood up. "Mikaelson? You're married to a member of the most powerful witch coven?"
This was the first time I heard his voice. It had a hint of a southern accent, which I didn't expect.
"Yes, Niklaus Mikaelson."
"You said your husband didn't have any witch in him. Just werewolf and vampire."
I nodded. "Him and his six siblings have the witch gene from their mother, Esther. But Klaus has a different father. Esther had an affair with someone in the next village, who were werewolves."
"Village?" Carlisle caught. "What year was this?"
"Tenth century." I continued after I enjoyed their reactions. "Esther's husband, Mikael, and Klaus's half-siblings didn't know until after he triggered his wolf curse."
"And how did he do that?"
"The werewolf gene lies dormant until the holder takes a human life. It doesn't matter if it's an accident or direct. The outcome is the same."
"Which one was his, accident or direct?"
"Both. Esther created the vampire spell when her youngest son, Henrik, died, so she wouldn't have to risk losing a third child. She made them immortal. They're called the Original Family, the first-ever vampires. They didn't expect the raging hunger that came with the species, so when the first person Klaus fed on died, his werewolf curse was triggered. He was a hybrid. Vampires are abominations of nature, and witches are servants of nature. So since no person can be both, they all lost the ability to use magic."
"But you're a vampire and a witch," Emmett pointed out.
"I'm a siphon. Siphons are the only ones who can be both because they're the only type of witch without their own magic. We're part-time witches, only able to do magic when we have something to take magic from. It wasn't discovered until I died. I was the first... In order to make it up to Mikael, Esther placed another curse on Klaus. 'Tonartsliitsii Metslii,' which, roughly translated, means 'the Curse of the Sun and the Moon.' Klaus couldn't be a true hybrid until he broke that curse, which meant killing one werewolf, one vampire, and one of my best friends... Damon's girlfriend, Elena."
"Why her?"
"She's a Doppelgänger. The second Petrova Doppelgänger, Tatia, was alive at the time Esther created the vampire spell. Her supernatural blood was used in the ritual, so that's why he needed Elena's blood to break his curse. He was also able to make more hybrids like him after that, but he killed them all shortly after."
"He sounds great," Emmett muttered.
"You don't know him like I do," I said sharply. I didn't think I was supposed to hear him; his voice was so low. "His family gets a bad rep, but they were more of a family than my mother's side ever was to me. He's the best husband and father anyone could want."
"So why were you running from him?" he challenged.
My blood started to boil. "I think that's enough for today. I should go." I started walking out. If I started attacking him for bad-mouthing my husband, I wouldn't get to hear their story.
"Wait, Bella. Emmett, apologize," Esme demanded.
"It's a reasonable question," he argued.
I whirled back around to face them. "He didn't do anything to me. Not one bad thing, ever. It was me. I betrayed them, so I ran. It's none of your business."
The phone rang, and the doctor got up to answer it.
"Okay, fair enough. But from what I gather, you don't drink animal blood. You killing people in our town is definitely our business."
"I don't need to kill to feed. But, reality check? You're vampires, too. That's what vampires do. Humans are sustenance. You pretending to be something you're not is seriously delusional."
"Okay, kids, calm down." Alice tried to lighten the mood a little, but I wasn't having it. Who the hell did Emmett think he was?
Carlisle put the phone back on the receiver and stepped back into the living room with a grim expression on his face. In such a heated argument, I didn't pay enough attention to overhear the conversation. "I have terrible news..."
"Oh, no," Edward stood up and looked at me.
"What?" I asked, still in a sour mood.
"That was a friend from the hospital. His son's friends... Two children from your school passed away last night."
What? "Two? Who?"
Edward stepped closer to me, a hand raised. "Jessica... and Mike."
My heart started racing, but my breathing stopped.
Mike.
Mike died.
He died... with my blood in his system.
That meant...
"They think Mike fell asleep at the wheel," Carlisle continued. "He crashed into a tree on his way home. I'm not sure about Jessica, but maybe she was in the car with him."
"Where are they?"
"They were both just brought to the morgue. I have to go into work."
"I gotta go." I sped away to my truck, not wasting a second. As I made a three-point-turn, the tires squealed. Edward was suddenly in the passenger seat. "Get out," I told him, not bothering to hit the breaks as I swerved down their windy driveway.
"Where are you going?"
"To the hospital. I thought that was obvious," I remarked rudely.
"Why? You won't be able to get into the morgue."
"Sure I can. Now, get out."
"Tell me why."
I laughed without humor. Why lie now when he already knows everything? "Because Mike is dead."
"And Jessica."
"I already knew she was dead. But Mike wasn't supposed to die, too. This is bad... so very bad. I don't have time to deal with this."
"What? How did you know Jessica was dead?"
"Because I'm the one who killed her," I revealed bluntly and unashamed.
"You what?!"
"I thought I told you to get the hell out of my truck."
"You killed Jessica Stanley?"
"You people really are a special kind of stupid. Why do I have to repeat everything?"
"Why did you kill her? Did you kill Mike?"
"Are you listening to anything I say? I just said Mike wasn't supposed to die. I have no idea why his truck crashed."
"And Jessica?"
"I died the night before. I was weak, I was hungry. She was annoying me. I couldn't help it."
"Was Mike with her?"
"Yes, at The Lodge. He was pretty resilient. I almost killed him, too, but he was stronger than I gave him credit for. I healed him, but I guess he was still too weak to drive. I didn't mean to, I swear."
"But you meant to kill Jessica."
"No one at school will miss her."
He stared at me with wild eyes. He was quiet for a few minutes as I sped down the main road. "If you're the one who did it, why are you freaking out?"
I sighed heavily, tired of explaining myself. "Because he died with my blood in his system."
He understood at once. "You gave him your blood?"
"To heal him! But he's gonna wake up any minute to a room full of people who can't witness it. I have to fix this before word gets out that he died."
"How can you possibly fix this?"
"I have no idea yet. I'm still not completely recovered from the night of the carnival, so this will most likely drain my powers," I complained to myself.
"I'll mourn for you," he mumbled sarcastically.
"Hey! I didn't ask for your judgments. I didn't ask you to insinuate yourself into my already miserable life. I asked you to get out of my truck. This is the last time I'm doing that nicely."
"This is nicely?"
"You can't say I didn't warn you." I slammed on my breaks, but he didn't budge. "Dissera portus." The passenger door opened, and I gestured to the outside. "Motus."
He got knocked out of the vehicle, and I drove off. I didn't think he wouldn't follow me; I was just tired of hearing his voice.
I parked in the back of the building and rushed inside, downstairs.
"Hey, you're not allowed down here!" a man yelled in an office I ran past.
I searched for the right place, and as soon as I went through the threshold of the—thankfully empty—room, Mike gasped and coughed harshly. A body bag was zipped shut against the wall of drawers behind him. Jessica.
"Mike!"
"Bella?" he breathed.
I held onto his arms, helping him sit up carefully. "You're okay, you're okay."
"What happened?"
Pull the ripcord, or ease him into it?
I had a lot of work to do, so I didn't have much time to deal with him beforehand.
"You died."
He stared up at me with a look as if someone had lit him on fire. "I... died?"
I sighed. "I'm so sorry, Mike. I didn't want this to... It'll come back to you in a few hours."
"What will come back?"
"Everything that happened to you last night. I'll help you in any way I can if you want me to. If you never want to see me again, I'll understand that, too, but for now, we need to go."
I held his shoulders as he tried to stand. I saw the doctor and his irritable son round the corner down the hall on our way back to my truck. "I can handle this on my own," I told them.
Mike had to squint to see who I was talking to. "Edward? Dr. Cullen?"
Edward ignored him. "What are you doing with him?"
"I'm gonna help him adjust like I'm supposed to. You can go. This doesn't concern you."
"We're letting it concern us. This is our town."
"You have no idea what it means to be what I am. Nothing. We have nothing in common."
"Except the title," Carlisle whispered. They both stood in front of us now. Mike tried to stand tall in confidence, intimidated by them.
"Be that as it may, you don't know how to help him. I do."
"Bella, what's going on?" Mike turned slightly toward me.
I tried my best to make my voice sound comforting. "You'll understand it soon. I'll tell you everything."
"I'm coming with you," Edward announced.
"Like hell you are!"
"You don't have a choice."
"Over my undead body." With my left arm still behind Mike, I grabbed his right hand with mine. "Invisique."
Carlisle and Edward widened their eyes as we became invisible. I ran around them at full speed. Having to leave my truck, I gripped Mike tighter on the way to Aaron's to keep him with me.
"What the—" Mike gasped.
"Shh. We're almost there."
Aaron was asleep on the couch with the television on. I didn't stop until I wooshed upstairs and sat Mike on my bed.
"So... Do you want the short version or the whole thing?"