Burning Star: A Twilight FanFic

Ch 3- Great Aunt

"How did you even find me? Why would you even think I was alive?" Rosalie asked. She seemed to be trying to hold back strong emotions. Her hands clutched the letter delicately. I wondered if that was a conscious effort she was making so she didn't rip the letter.

"I have friends in high places. Thanks to my connections, I hear a lot of news not only about witches but all supernaturals. A few weeks ago, I was in the Archives- it's this big library type place with all the history of both humans and supernaturals- looking up something for a friend. The records I needed had an appendix about the Cullens, and it listed your names. I started to think about what I knew about you. I knew my grandfather's sister Rosalie had disappeared under mysterious circumstances. They never found a body. Later, her ex fiancé and his friends were murdered without any sign of the killer left behind. I decided I would do more research on you. After getting my grandfather's approval to look, I went back to The Archives and began searching. Everything added up, so I came to find you."

"Edward, is this all true?" Rosalie asked her brother. Eagerness laced her voice. She wanted it to be true.

He nodded. "I can see it all in her mind. She isn't lying."

Rosalie turned back to me. "He said there were other letters. What does that mean?"

In response, I stuck out the stack still in my hand. "These are just the ones from him. Well, some of them, anyway. There's a lot more still with him." I went back in my bag and pulled out the other stack. "These ones are from other people. Apparently after everyone thought you died, your family and friends all wrote letters to you with the things they wished they could say to you. There's ones from your parents, your brother William, a woman named Vera, and a few others. He told me he might have more, but those were the ones we could find."

She took both stacks and moved to sit down. Her mate followed her and sat on the arm of the chair she chose. I decided to occupy the others to give her a moment of privacy.

"Brielle, why don't you sit down?" Esme offered graciously.

"Thank you," I agreed. I followed her to a couch by the large window in the back. Carlisle's obvious curiosity was the perfect distraction.

"I'm sure you all have questions about me, and about witches. Feel free to ask away. Though, there may be things I can't say. I'll be blocking my mind for those, so you won't be able to get an answer even from Edward," I warned.

"You can shield like me?" Bella asked.

I shook my head. "That's not exactly it. I could do that, I guess, but it's much better to use a spell that conceals instead. If he tried to listen to a concealed thought, Edward would hear something completely random. There's ways to counter all vampiric gifts. Though, countering a seeress is a little trickier."

"Do you have experience with others like me?" Alice piped up.

I laughed. "A great deal. I have abilities along those lines, though my visions are much more rare. I can only see definitives, and those don't happen very often in this world."

"Definitives?" Alice pressed eagerly.

"Right. I only see things that are absolutely going to happen. A lot of times that's a death, or occasionally a birth. Most commonly I see romantic involvements- soul mates to be exact. Nothing I see has a clear time frame, though. Something I see could happen the next day, or it could happen decades later. The fact that I spend most of my time with people who don't age doesn't help."

"People who don't age? Do you spend a lot of time with vampires?" Carlisle asked.

"Some, but that's not really what I was talking about. Powerful witches have the ability to stop their aging. Most people who have the option chose to do it."

"What else can witches do?" Carlisle's eyes were bright. New knowledge was exciting to him.

"That depends on the person. Most witches can influence nature, the elements, and many can affect their physical body temporarily- speed themselves up, make themselves stronger. Any alteration of your physical capabilities or appearance is called self altering. Making objects float or move is easy. And basic healing magic is pretty common, too. Though the extent to which people can use it varies. For someone like me, healing a stab wound or a gun shot wound would be nothing, but it would be very difficult for most."

"What sorta stuff can you do?" Jacob questioned. He seemed more casual than the others, less tense. I wondered why.

"Many things- most things. A lot of it I can't talk about. My full abilities are technically highly classified information. But I primarily use things like healing magic and self altering magic," I explained. My mental block was firmly in place. "Most of my time is spent in magical research. I help with The Archives. Sorting information and deciding its classification level. The entirety of mankind's history is in The Archives. A good bit of prehistory, too. That requires a lot of upkeep and management."

"Prehistory?" Edward spoke. They all seemed surprised.

"Yes," I said. "My mentor, who runs The Archives, is very old. She won't tell anyone, not even her mate, exactly how old she is, but she has knowledge of things that happened well before recorded history. All we know is that she's the oldest living being on this planet."

"Wow," Jacob said from the couch.

"Wow, indeed," Carlisle murmured wistfully.

They went on with questions. I covered lots of things. I explained that most personal information in The Archives was vague unless the individual had done something significant. Carlisle's backstory was recorded thoroughly, but the rest of the family had more vague descriptions. Witches aren't all in covens, and we don't fly places. Our population was smaller than that of vampires, since witches were free spirits and tended not to have kids.

Eventually, there was a pause. Rosalie was done reading the letters and she took the opportunity to speak up. "Jack- you really think he won't mind seeing me?"

I shrugged. "I doubt it. My brother and his wife stopped aging a few years ago. Most of the people that visit us frequently don't age either."

"Can Emmett come? To the party, I mean?" she asked.

"Of course. I'm sure everyone would love to meet him," I replied.

"Then I'll go."