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The Newborn
By : belladonnacullen
Category: Twilight Series > Het
Views: 3453 -:- Recommendations : 0 -:- Currently Reading : 0
Disclaimer: I do not own Twilight or make any money from this story.
Chapter List
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Carlisle and his newborn stayed with us for close to a month. As the days passed, the young one settled into life in our household. He was able to sit more calmly and converse with us for longer stretches of time. Likewise, we settled into life with him. It brought a new excitement to the household. He brought modern ideas and musical tastes, and would often have us all gather in the study to play the piano for us.
There was a veritable line of vampires waiting for the pleasure of hunting with Edward Masen. It is always a marvel to watch a newling hunt. The intensity of their need and the complete satisfaction that they show with the kill is something everyone should see. I let my family jockey for position, and satisfied myself with stories of the hunt. They said he was very fast, surprisingly so. There were glowing reports about the elegance of his attack coupled with the mercilessness of his kill. I wondered how much was observation, and how much was familial pride at our new addition. But the stories did set my imagination to work.
Edward and Carlisle spent quite a bit of time with Eleazar, testing the boy's skills. They experimented with his range, and with different members of the family. They circled Anchorage, measuring the boy's abilities with humans. At first I felt sorry for the boy, worried that he was being used as an experiment. But the young one seemed pleased to have more control and a better understanding of his capabilities, and was always eager to leave on their expeditions.
One day they returned from Anchorage with a football. We'd never played the sport, but Edward eagerly taught us the rules. We extended the playing field to one thousand yards and spent many days together as a family throwing the strange ball and tackling one another. As a strong newborn, Edward always had the upper hand, and there were more than a few minor injuries among the other players.
*
The first time I encountered Edward alone again was four days after his arrival. I was returning home late in the evening. There was a crew in Cantwell paving the roadway to Fairbanks that was keeping my sisters and I occupied. I walked into the study and tossed my hat and cloak onto the piano bench and unbuttoned the top buttons of my blouse.
A chair knocked back against the far wall, a book clattered to the floor and my head snapped up in the direction of the sound. A pair of wide golden eyes stared at me from across the room.
"Oh, Edward, excuse me."
Edward jumped to his feet.
"No, I'm sorry. I should leave."
"Please sit. I didn't mean to interrupt."
Edward settled himself back into the chair and braced his hands on the tabletop. There were four books spread around him. He would focus on one book for a few minutes, then jump to another, and then to another. Finally his head shot up in my direction and I saw his yellow eyes focus on me through long lashes. I hadn't realized that I'd been staring at him.
I stood and walked over to him slowly. "What are you studying?"
"Not studying, just passing time."
I settled myself across the table from him. "May I?" I asked, placing my hand on the book closest to me.
Edward nodded and looked away, shrinking from my presence. The large volume was open to Shakespeare's The Twelfth Night. "A classic."
"Yes," he smiled. It was the second time I had seen his smile. But it vanished just as quickly and he looked away.
"And what else?"
"Milton's Paradise Lost, A'Laventure: An Introduction to the French Language, and The Oxford English Dictionary."
"You're a smart boy."
"I have time on my hands."
"Have you studied any other languages?"
"No, I studied French in school, but most of that..."
"Was lost?"
"It's coming back so much easier than before."
"Of course," I smiled encouragingly.
"And you, Tanya," Edward looked at me out of the corner of his eyes, "do you speak any other languages."
I smiled. "Quite a few."
"Was English your first?"
"My first language is no longer spoken."
Edward's eyes went wide, and then he looked down and bit his lip.
"This is all quite new to you. I understand that. But please know that you can come to me with anything. Use me as a resource, Edward. I'm so happy that Carlisle found you, and I'm glad to have another young man join our small ranks."
"Thank you," Edward said quietly.
I saw him swallow and he looked like he might jump up from the table. I was afraid the truth about my age had scared him. "I'm making you nervous. I should be the one to leave."
Edward looked back at me balefully. "Everything makes me...nervous."
"Yes, it would. But it's getting better?"
He nodded emphatically. "Yes."
"And can I ask you something personal?"
Edward's eyes shot up to meet my own. He looked frightened and fierce all at once. "It depends on the question." He looked back at the floor.
"Such an intelligent answer. Well, I was wondering how it is for you, keeping to our lifestyle. As far as we know, except for Carlisle there has never been a vampire who has remained civil to humans from birth, until you." I saw the newborn clench his teeth and the muscles in his neck grew taught. There was fire in his eyes as he looked directly at me and held my gaze for the first time since we'd met.
"It is near intolerable, Tanya. It goes against everything that my body tells me is right and necessary." He turned his head away from me with force and flared his nostrils. I stayed still as a stone as I watched him taking deep breaths, staring out the windows at the night sky. "Have there always been this many stars?" He asked absently, with just a trace of his previous anger.
"Stars are born and die all the time. But, yes more or less the same number, I believe."
He shook his head slightly as he gazed at the heavens. "To be able to see such beauty, that feels like a gift. But to live with this burn, to want to do the things I want to do, I don't know how you all endure it."
"It gets easier."
"I hope you and the others are being truthful, because otherwise I might go insane."
"All of us have your best intentions in mind. We would never let that happen."
"Thank you," Edward said as he looked into my eyes for the second time.
He was sincere and I was touched. It was my turn to gaze out the window. I felt suddenly awkward being alone with the boy. I knew what I wanted, but he was too young. It wouldn't be right. And I didn't know the nature of Carlisle's claim on him. Edward flinched. My head snapped back in his direction.
"I'm sorry," I thought at Edward.
"I forget what you can do." Edward nodded, looking distressed.
"I didn't mean to offend you. Please, let me leave you to your reading."
"No." Edward's hand shot out and clenched my wrist. He pulled away just as quickly, as if I'd burned him. "I don't mind the company," Edward said, looking at the tabletop. "Talking helps keep me focused. When I'm alone my mind is unfettered, and it's unnerving."
"I remember how it was." I said settling into a chair across the table from him. "What should we talk about, then?"
"Perhaps you could teach me your language? The one you spoke of." I smiled. "I would be happy to. It will remind me of being young myself."
From that night on, Edward would often be in the study when I returned home. He quickly mastered the old language, and we moved on to other dialects that I'd spoken over the centuries. Concentrating on languages helped Edward to direct his thoughts through long sleepless nights. It likewise gave me the focus I needed to spend time with Edward without letting my mind stray to topics that might make him uncomfortable.
While the others enjoyed running and hunting and playing games with the boy, I liked to think that our relationship was special. I could certainly see how grateful he was each night when I would return home and retire to the study.
*
Finally Carlisle settled on a parcel of land to the southwest of our outpost. He'd be back to build a dwelling when he could. He had secured a position at a small hospital in the tiny town of Ashland, Wisconsin on Lake Ontario. He thought isolation from large packs of humans would make things easier on the boy. They'd be leaving in the morning.
That night I returned to the study with a heavy heart. I sincerely liked the boy. He brought out he best in our family. He gave us a jolt of newness that we hadn't experienced since Carmen and Eleazar's arrival. And even then, they hadn't been newlings, but mature, mated vampires. I dare say we would have all liked to keep Edward with us, but the bond between him and Carlisle was obvious and unbreakable. I sighed as I sat at the table.
"You're sad, Tanya."
"Sad to see you and Carlisle go."
"We'll be back; I'll make sure of it. It's been wonderful to meet more of our kind."
"Yes, you will return. I can console myself with that thought."
Edward smiled shyly and shifted on the chair. And at that moment a great howling wind slammed against the house, setting the windows to rattling and the boards to shrieking. Edward was up and out of his chair, crouching in the direction of the sudden swell.
"It's OK, my boy, just the wind."
He recovered and stood tall, still staring with intensity out the window.
"Do you feel the change in air pressure?"
He nodded.
"It's a low pressure system coming off the coast. I imagine the storm will blow in within the hour."
Edward turned and was in his seat, a book of verb conjugations in his lap. "Thanks," he said concentrating on the text.
"Oh, understanding the weather will come in time. There are only so many things that can happen."
"No, Tanya, thank you for everything. You've made the nights more bearable."
It wasn't the first time I'd been told that, but probably the first time the sentiment involved the past perfect tense and subject verb agreement. I noticed Edward's body tense and I abandoned that line of thought.
"Where did we leave off last night?"
"We were studying old English."
"Yes, what do you say we dive into Beowulf?"
"Isn't that middle English?"
"Yes, how silly." I was definitely rattled.
*
As I predicted, the storm was upon our house in twenty minutes. Edward was out of his seat and at the window, his hands pressed to the glass. I was at his side.
"There's nothing like a blizzard in the arctic."
He turned to me and his eyes were two yellow beams of light that lit up his face.
"Let's go."
"What? Out there? But we were-" Edward didn't let me finish. He grabbed my hand and pulled me to the door. His newborn grasp was strong, but I didn't put up much of a fight. As soon as we were outside Edward took off into the whiteout. He ran swiftly enough to pass soundlessly into the night, lightly enough to avoid making prints in the snow. The wind blew off the coast ferociously, making his scent impossible to detect. I ran off in the direction I thought Edward must have taken.
"Edward! Edward!" I stopped and listened, but couldn't hear a thing over the howl of the wind. I turned in a circle looking for a reason to run in any direction. Then suddenly there were two strong hands at my waist. They hoisted my body into the air and threw me. I soared into the wind; snowflakes coated my body like down, and I fell into a large, soft drift. I sank like the stone I was and was buried under two feet of snow.
Somewhere in the distance I heard a low chuckle. I'd show him. I began digging my way out of the drift. My body was almost completely uncovered when off to my left I heard Edward call out.
"Cannonball!" I was just able to make out a graceful figure somersaulting through the air in my direction. He landed next to me in the drift and I was buried in the snow once again. But this time Edward's hands helped to dig me out.
When my head was uncovered I looked up at Edward to see that he was smiling and happy, more cheerful than I had seen him yet. The warmth in his eyes was enough to melt the rest of the snowdrift away. He held out his hand to me to help me needlessly out of the drift.
"What do you say Tanya? Can you show me what kind of damage a vampire can do in a snowstorm?"
With that he ran off again, but this time I wasn't about to let him get away. We ran and leapt through the snow, over deep ravines, through what trees we could find, and finally out into the mountains. We tumbled through the snow deep into Devil's Canyon, and then back up along the top of the Kesugi Ridge.
We stopped there, letting the wind and snow swirl around us, as we looked out to Denali, recently renamed Mt. McKinley. The black night was fading into the shade of gray that passed for daylight in the Alaskan winter.
"Let's go," Edward said eagerly, nodding toward the peak of McKinley.
I sighed. "Next time, Edward. It's almost day break and Carlisle said that he wanted to get an early start."
That brought Edward back down to earth. "Right," he agreed with a bit of a frown.
But he looked back at me and smiled again. It was more sunshine than I'd seen since the fall equinox. "I'll race you back then."
And with that we were off towards home. Edward waited for me at the doorstep. We smiled at one another wordlessly. I made I move to open the front door, but Edward moved quickly to block my path and touch my hand.
"Tanya, I feel like things might be falling into place for me in this life. I have a wonderful father, and now cousins, and I've also found a friend."
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The Newborn	By : belladonnacullen Category: Twilight Series > Het Views: 3453 -:- Recommendations : 0 -:- Currently Reading : 0
Disclaimer: I do not own Twilight or make any money from this story.

The Newborn