บท 43: Chapter 43 - Daughters
BPOV
I opened my eyes to find the world completely different from the one I had left. I felt like I had only been watching the world in black and white before, and now there was colour. Everything was vibrant, and my previously impressive hearing could now hear every breath and heartbeat from what I quickly identified as my daughters downstairs. I looked into Edward's bright golden eyes, which showed a hint of anxiety. He squeezed my hand and I quickly registered that he no longer felt cold to me. Our temperatures now matched. "Bella love, how are you?"
I took a breath and was surprised when it didn't feel the same. I could taste the slight hint of a delicious scent, and my throat tingled. I quickly stomped it out, realising that it was my own scent that was making me thirsty. Other than that though I felt wonderful; I could feel the raw strength running through my veins, and all the little aches that I had had with my pregnancy were gone. I felt like a phoenix- risen from the flames and all that jazz.
I concentrated on Edward. Slowly, aware that as a vampire my speed and strength had severely altered, I slowly lifted a hand to his face. He leaned into it, his eyes softening. I knew exactly what I wanted my first words as a vampire to be. "I love you," I said in my new musical voice. If I listened closely I could still hear the undertones of my human voice in it.
Edward's answering smile was blinding, and with my new sight I could finally appreciate just how incredibly handsome my husband was. "As I love you," he leaned down and my hand moved cautiously from his cheek to cup the back of his neck. I kissed him and soon my desire raged through my body. I threw myself into the kiss, completely forgetting about my new strength. With no need for air I was revelling in our kiss when Edward pulled away from me. I looked at him in confusion. "Gently love, you're stronger than I am at the moment."
"Oops," I said sheepishly. He chuckled and offered me a hand and pulled me up from the bed. Moving as a vampire was ridiculously easy. I had to make a conscious effort to slow my movements, because as soon as I wanted to move I found that I already had. I looked deep into his joyful eyes. "Thank you for talking to me while I changed Edward- I heard every word, and it helped me concentrate on you and our daughters rather than the burning pain."
His smile got brighter, and I could see a hint of relief in them. "I only wish I could have done more love- but I'm so glad it's over now and that nothing can ever take you from me." he hugged me tight to his chest. I melted against him, running my hands lightly up his muscled back. It seemed that my libido hadn't changed one bit. He groaned, and then pulled away. I pouted and he chuckled. "I'm sorry love, but I'm sure you want to meet your daughters."
My mind immediately refocussed, although since it was larger now, I was still planning what I would do to Edward later, when I got him back to our cottage, at the back of my mind. I nodded enthusiastically, "How are they?"
Edward's eyes glowed with fatherly pride. "They are absolutely perfect love. They've been spoiled rotten by the whole family all day yesterday, and they are waiting anxiously to come up and see you again. They are already very alert and recognise everyone."
I beamed. "Can I see them now?" I bit my lip, suddenly worried that I might not be able to hold them with my new super strength.
He nodded. "Stay here and I'll be right back love," I sat down on the bed and waited, comforted that Edward wasn't worried about me with the babies.
He returned quickly cradling a beautiful baby in each arm. Instead of being day-old size they looked weeks old. I gasped at their beauty. They looked liked delicate cherubs, beauty seeming to emanate from them. At my gasp they focussed their stunning hazel orbs on me. Recognition dawned in their eyes and they smiled, each reaching out a hand for me as Edward sat down beside me on the bed. I hesitantly reached out a hand to each, allowing them to grasp my hands. I hefted my mental shield around all of us so that Edward could feel the love and awe I felt at us having created two such amazing little angels.
"I know love," he whispered in awed agreement as we gazed adoringly at Carlie and Jenna. Although identical to the human eye, there were tiny differences that a vampire could easily pick up about them.
"Hello my little girls," I whispered softly. Carlie reached a small hand up an touched my cheek. All of a sudden I was pulled into images of me laying, exhausted on the bed in the other room, gazing down with amazement and love, with Edward beside me. I pulled away in shock. "What was that?"
My eyes met Edward's shocked ones. "It seems that she has a gift- she just showed you her thoughts," he sounded shocked.
"Wow," I hadn't even considered the fact that our babies would be talented before, although now that I thought about it, with Edward and I for parents it was hardly surprising.
Carlie reached her hand back up again, and I accepted it without hesitation as she showed me her day yesterday, from when she had been taken from the delivery room, downstairs with Rose and Esme. She recalled her and Jenna being fed bottles of blood, which made my throat itch lightly, but I swamped that feeling and continued to concentrate on her memories. She gave me a complete run down of her and Jenna meeting the rest of the family, including impressions of each. She seemed to think Jasper was quiet, but perfect for a cuddle, and that Emmett was delightfully amusing. Edward snorted at that. She remembered Carlisle trying to feed her and Jenna human baby formula, and I scrunched up my nose in sympathy as she recalled the taste, and laughed softly at the images of her and Jenna spitting it all over Carlisle. We were lucky he was so good natured. Soon she had finished running through everything I had missed while I was changing. "Thank you baby girl," I cooed, overjoyed that I had gotten to experience the day I had missed after all. She pulled her hand back and I reached out softly to stroke her cheek.
All of a sudden a shiny silver ornament in the shape of a musical note came flying off the shelf and into Jenna's hand. My eyes opened wide and Edward laughed. "It seems our other daughter has the gift of telekinesis and wanted to show you that she's talented to."
"Of course you are," I reassured my other daughter, "You are both so special." I gently took the ornament from her, proud of myself for having the control to not crush it.
"The others are all downstairs listening," Edward muttered, "It seems Alice wanted their gifts to be a surprise. Carlisle is fascinated."
I laughed lightly then reached cautiously towards my baby girls. "So you think I could hold them?" I was unsure of whether this was a good idea, but I desperately wanted to hold my babies.
Edward nodded encouragingly, "They're skin appears to be as indestructible as ours," he reassured me. I relaxed a little and slowly reached out as Edward gently placed them in my arms. I beamed down at them. Sitting there with my baby girls and Edward, I felt complete. I looked up so see Edward watching us with absolute adoration, love, pride and joy etched into his features and glowing in eyes. "My three beautiful girls," he whispered reverently.
Seeing that, and hearing his words, my heart leapt with love for my amazing husband, the other half of my whole, and the other side of my coin. I had waltzed in and turned his life upside down, and he had valiantly braved every step of our shared journey wherever I wanted to go with a devotion that still left me speechless. Thank you, I thought, looking deep in his eyes.
"No love, thank you. Before I met you I lived a lonely lifeless existence. You brought me to life showed me how to be truly happy, gave me your love and our two miracles. All of this is far more than I would ever have dreamed of, and I now have everything I've ever wanted as well as the things I never knew to ask for." There was nothing I could say that would adequately express my feelings at that moment so I simply tilted my head back. Edward leaned towards me and out lips met in a soft, loving kiss.
We spent some more time with our beautiful babies before it was time for their next feeding. I reluctantly handed them back to Edward to take downstairs, knowing that I wouldn't be allowed at their feedings until I had hunted myself. There was a large chance that if I smelt the blood I would go for it and that one of the babies might be hurt in the process.
"They'll be fine Bella, go and hunt," I heard Alice call up the stairs as Edward's footsteps came back up the stairs.
"Okay," I muttered as Edward reappeared. "Before we go though I want to see what I look like now," I mentally prepared myself for the inevitable red eyes as I dragged Edward into the bathroom. I gasped as I took in my image. The red eyes stared back at me. The rest of me was fairly unchanged. I was paler, and my features had all been enhanced, but underneath I could still see me. I sighed with relief. I still looked like me- only far more beautiful. I couldn't wait until the red eyes disappeared.
"What do you think?" Edward asked.
"I'm beautiful," I murmured.
Edward rolled his eyes, "Bella, you've always been far more than beautiful."
I grinned up at him, "You're my husband, you have to say that," I teased. "Come on, I'm hungry," I announced, turning away from the mirror.
He took my hand, eyes dancing with excitement. "Are you ready for your first hunt love?"
I nodded. I had seen Felix and Demetri take down animals before, so I had a rough idea of what to do. "Let's go," I smiled. He grinned and led me to the glass doors in the window that lead the forest. Holding my hand, we jumped. I stopped myself from instinctively casting a shield to catch myself, and allowed myself to land on my feet, my new vampire body easily absorbing the impact. Edward watched with amusement as I discovered my new body. He tugged on my hand, and I followed as we raced away into the forest. I had always loved speed, but this was the most enjoyment I had ever gotten from it. Running beside Edward, sharing our mutual love of running as we sped quietly through the forest, watching the clear crisp forest as we passed at blinding speeds was amazing.
Far too soon for my liking Edward drew us to a stop. Releasing my hand he brought his hands up to cup my face. "Okay love, what do you smell?" I sniffed the air cautiously, and smelt a musky scent slightly north of us. It smelt familiar.
"Deer?" I asked, sure I had drunk something similar during my pregnancy. Edward nodded encouragingly. "How many?"
I cast my shield out and felt them. "Six."
"Good, now let your instincts take over."
I obediently took a deep breath. My throat burst into flames and I raced towards my prey. The wind changed suddenly and I smelt a far more delicious scent. I stopped. My instincts roared at me to race for the tantalising scent I would smell, but I didn't recognise it. I pushed back my thirst as Edward came up beside me. I was half hoping that the scent was a particularly tasty lion or bear that I would be allowed to have, but one look at Edward's panicked face and I had my answer. Human.
"Bella, no! They're humans!" Edward's voice was fearful. I raised an eyebrow and his eyes widened in shock. "You stopped," his voice was incredulous, which I admit, felt a little insulting. He looked like he wanted to interrogate me with questions, but instead he grabbed my hand. "Come on, we can't hunt here with humans so close."
I followed as we raced away from the delicious scent. When we were far away Edward stopped and turned to me. "Bella, you always amaze me. I can't believe you stopped! I'm so sorry I didn't check to make sure there weren't any humans in the area before I let you loose- it would have been my fault if you had gone after them." Once I realised what he was talking about I was feeling pretty proud of myself. I had been told stories of newborn bloodlust for over a decade, and I knew that theoretically, I shouldn't have been able to stop. "I don't know how or why Bella, but that was amazing."
I shrugged, "I don't know either, I just knew that I hadn't drank blood that smelled like that before, and I was afraid it might be a human so I stopped and waited for you to tell me what it was," I explained.
He looked awestruck. "Well, we can talk more about that later love, let's get you fed." I nodded an refocussed.
I smelt something east of us that smelt rather good- better than deer, although nowhere near as appealing as the humans had smelt. This time I cast out a shield, enveloping the forest momentarily. "Huh," I mused at my new discovery. "My shield range had doubled," I muttered, vaguely impressed. I shrugged that aside for the moment, focussing on my prey now that I was sure that there were no humans in the area. I knew from my shield that it was a mountain lion I was after and it was in a tree. I raced towards it, spotting the tawny fur. It managed to take one swipe as I leapt on it, my teeth easily finding the throbbing jugular and biting easily through the fur and muscle to drink down the warm delicious blood. I moaned as I sucked the animal dry.
When I was finished I dropped the carcass and looked up to see Edward a few paces behind, eyes mesmerised, and staring directly at my chest. I looked down, and realised that the one swipe the lion had given me had torn the bodice of my dress to shreds, giving Edward a fairly unobstructed view. When he saw me watching he refocussed on my face. "Still hungry?" I nodded. "There's a herd of elk nearby- four of them.
"Let's go," I took off, using my new senses to pick up the beating heartbeat and musky scent of out prey. I took down two of the smaller ones, draining them quickly. When I looked up I was in time to see Edward take down the last elk- a large buck. He looked so raw and powerful, muscles rippling under his still clean shirt. It was strangely sensual to watch this wild side of him that he no longer needed to temper in my presence. He finished quickly and turned to find me. His eyes turned dark and he stalked towards me as he took in my lustful gaze.
In no time our lips were fused, our bodies hot and desperate against each other. I revelled in my heightened senses as we connected for the first time as vampires.
Afterwards I glared playfully at him while running my hands up and down his chest as we lay on the forest floor. "You were holding out on me."
He grinned, "Only a little, and only because you were still breakable," he protested, "Rest assured love that I will never hold back again."
"Good."
We picked up the torn shreds that had once been clothes and headed back, my gaze trained mostly on Edward's naked form as we raced through the forest. A quick change at our cottage and we were soon back at the main house and doting over our beautiful daughters.
Time sped by as our daughters grew fast. Far too soon for our liking they were already talking- not forming babble like normal children, but properly enounced sentences. Likewise before they were a fortnight old they were walking- with perfect balance. They never ceased to astound us with their amazing developments. Throughout it all Carlisle took down all observations, Rosalie and Alice photographed every major event, and the rest of us doted on them. Their uncle Emmett was a favourite- his fun loving nature making him a natural with them.
Both Jenna and Carlie could easily manipulate their gifts, and it quickly became apparent that when they were touching they could share each other's gifts- a side effect of being twins Carlisle and Aro thought.
Before long it was time for them to learn to hunt for themselves. The blood stores were running low since Carlie and Jenna needed a lot of blood to support their rapid growth, and Carlisle announced one day that it was time they learnt to hunt for their own food. Naturally I was hesitant, desperately trying to rid my brain of images of them up against a grizzly or a mountain lion.
Emmett was ecstatic, "Don't worry girls, Uncle Emmett will show you how it's done!" I glared at him, but he ignored me, smiling at the enthusiastic looks on the girls' faces.
Edward's arms wrapped comfortingly around me, "Don't worry love, their skin is as impenetrable as ours, and we'll start them off small," I relaxed into his arms and huffed, nodding reluctantly. "No grizzly bears until they are older Em," he warned his brother.
Edward and I followed along behind Emmett and the girls as they ran through the forest- even though they only looked to be about six they had already taken after their father as far as speed went- they could already keep up with Emmett. We hung back a bit and I sighed with relief as I realised that Emmett was leading them towards a herd of small deer- far safer than a grizzly in my point of view.
As with everything they did they took to hunting like ducks to water- making their first kills neatly and efficiently like their father, with only a few spots of blood spilled. I was still trying to keep my clothes from being soaked in blood when I hunted.
The whole family helped to raise them. Esme, Rose and Alice pampered them and loved dressing them up, Carlisle doted on them and loved telling them stories. Jasper taught them to read and play chess, and Emmett showed them how to have fun.
Jenna and Carlie developed into sweet, good natured and fun-loving girls. Jenna had the more mischievous, sportive streak and would often enlist the help of her more musically and fashion orientated sister in playing pranks on their favourite target- Emmett. It seemed that they had inherited traits form both Edward and I. We couldn't be prouder of them, and Edward loved listening to their happy thoughts and devious plans for Emmett.
Edward was delighted that Carlie was so interested in music, and while he taught her to play I often helped Jenna refine some of her pranks. One particularly entertaining one was when I found Jenna sitting comfortably on the couch watching as Emmett attempted to catch the game controller that was moving erratically around the room thanks to Jemma's telekinesis. I couldn't help but laugh and the rest of the family immediately came to see what all the fuss was about. "That's it Emmy! Bounce like Tigger!" Jemma called to him and the rest of the family joined in my laughter. She truly did take after me when it came to mischief.
Jenna and Carlie also loved playing playstation, Wii and Xbox games against Emmett. Both had their own preferred method for beating him. Carlie would subtly reach over in the middle of a game and touch Emmett- showing him an image of him losing. This would then get him so distracted that Carlie would be bound to win. Jenna had a different approach. She would sit back and use telekinesis to handle her controller, floating it in front of them. As soon as she said the words "Look Emmett! No hands," he would turn to look at the controller, for some reason no matter how many times she used that trick he couldn't stop himself from looking at her controller floating and moving without hands on it. This distraction would inevitably cost Emmett the game. I couldn't have been prouder of my girls.
The Volturi loved hearing about them and seeing regular pictures and we made plans to visit them soon- we were only waiting to see whether the control I had shown on my first hunt meant that I could be around humans, and how the girls would react to humans. Carlisle provided a solution though. He brought home human donor blood from the hospital one day and tested us. I took a deep, but hesitant breath. My throat burned with thirst, but it was controllable. I found that as I kept breathing the familiarity helped. "Not so bad after all," I muttered.
The girls fared even better. They sniffed it and shrugged, "Mountain lion tastes better," Jenna muttered. I turned to glare accusingly at Emmett.
He put up his hands defensively. "She was fine Bella, and she didn't want a deer when the mountain lion smelt better," I growled at him. He backed away slowly.
"It's the principle of the thing Emmett- you should have told me," I demanded.
"I know, and I'm sorry- I promise I'll tell you next time," I sighed and looked back at Jenna. He was right- she was fine. I nodded to Emmett and relaxed, clamping down on my heightened newborn emotions.
Since the blood test had gone so well we made plans to visit the Volturi in a month. They were all excited- Heidi, Didyme, Sulpicia, Jane and Renata all rushing out to redecorate my tower and buy beds for our daughters. I was looking forward to seeing them again too.
All was going so well and our family couldn't have been happier, so I should have been on the lookout for something to go wrong, but I had grown complacent.
Soon after we began to plan our trip to Italy Emmett and the girls came back from their hunt with confused looks. "Tanya and Irena were coming to see us, but when they saw us they turned around and ran off," he explained.
Alice nodded. "I saw them decide to come and apologize- they wanted to make amends with our family, especially since we have close ties to the Volturi, but they hadn't decided when they were coming so I didn't mention it," she murmured. Then her face went blank. Beside me Edward froze. They snapped out quickly and their faces showed horror. "The Romanians," Alice whispered.
"They've been building an army to go up against the Volturi, and now Tanya and Irena are going to give them an excuse to use it- they're coming for us."
My eyes opened wide, "Why?" I demanded, "What excuse do they have?"
Edward turned his eyes on me sadly. "They saw our girls and they think they are immortal children."
I gasped. It had never even occurred to me that someone might think out beautiful creations were immoral children. "Well they're not going to win," I said determinedly.
The others nodded in agreement.
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