The Beacon -Paul Lahote 2-

Chapter 20

"Banshees are destroyers. Everything they touch. Everything they love, dies. It's in their nature to kill what is around them."

Mavis would never forget those words. Claus was right. Banshees were destroyers. They were meant to destroy everything around them. Mavis didn't believe that then, but she did now.

There was a darkness inside her. She was different. That much was true. But this darkness did not branch from her trauma.

"Once you open that door, you can not close it."

Mavis had opened a door in her mind that never closed. She had left it wide open. The world around her was different, darker for a reason. It wasn't because of Melissa. That door had allowed her to hear and see things on an entirely different level.

That night, she had a prediction—a prediction of what was coming next. Mavis knew her issues were far from over. She had seen death like never before. Everyone was dead. Everyone had died and it was all because of her. She had seen it. She would cause it. She would start the downfall of everyone around her. 

It was always her. Mavis was always the problem.

She wanted to believe it was simply the circumstances of the situation she was in when the prediction happened. Mavis was dehydrated, bleeding out, and choking on smoke. There was a chance it was simply a dream. She had passed out for a moment.

Pretending it was a dream was easier, but Mavis feared deep down it was something more. The noise inside her mind hadn't quieted, not once. The memories replayed on a loop. The fear was constant.

Mavis wanted to quiet the noise. She needed to quiet the noise. It hadn't stopped since that night, and it seemed to be getting worse.

She stood in front of the window, staring into the backyard as she poured warm water into her cup.

"Banshees are destroyers. We destroy everything around us, everything we love. It's in our nature."

She would destroy her family. She would destroy her friends. She would destroy Paul.

Mavis continued to stare into the backyard. Her head was spinning from the sounds. Gentle whispers and buzzing filled her mind. It was almost paralyzing.

"Mavis," Jacob ran towards her. "What the hell are you doing?" He ripped the pot away from her and grabbed a towel. Her skin felt hot from the water and was red in color. "What are you doing?"

"Sorry," she whispered. "I didn't realize-"

"How could you not?" Jacob threw the cup to the side. He used the towel to gently pat her skin dry. "It was burning your hand."

"The time will come when you won't be."

Mavis feared that time was coming.

~~~~~~~~~~~

"A letter from the Volturi," Esme noticed the letter in Carlisle's hand. It was open. His eyes scanned the words repeatedly.

The others were in the room. At the mention of the Volturi, they all looked up. "What do they want now?"

The concern on Carlisle's face was clear. "Carlisle, what is it?"

"The Volturi," he looked up at them. "They have found Mavis in violation of one of their laws."

That alarmed them. A wave of panic spread through the room. "What?"

"What law?"

"They said she has exposed the secret to a human. That she has spoken of us." They didn't need to ask who. They already knew. It was Melissa. She knew about them.

"Mavis didn't expose us," Rosalie argued.

Alice raced across the room and grabbed the letter. "What does this mean?"

"Are they going to come for us again?"

"No," Alice read the letter. "They're giving us two options."

"Okay," Jasper rubbed his hands together. He did not like where this conversation was going. "What are they?"

Alice read the words again, making sure she had seen them correctly the first time. "We can turn her. She can become one of us."

"No way," Emmett said. He was in a state of shock but knew the dangers of turning her. "With how bad they want her? The Volturi would do anything for her to become a part of them."

"Plus, Mavis doesn't want to be a vampire," Bella spoke up for the first time. "She would be unhappy."

"What's the other option," Esme asked.

Alice set the card down. "She can join, or she can die."

Emmett snorted, "of course, that's their options."

"Neither work for us." Rosalie crossed her arms.

"We have till her next birthday," Carlisle informed them of the date set by the Volturi. "If we don't abide by one of the options. They will find us all in violation." The Volturi would kill them all.

"Great."

"What do we do?" Mavis listened from behind the wall carefully. She didn't know what to do. The words that were spoken terrified her. She didn't like either of the options.

"We could fight-"

"We can't stand against them again," Carlisle said. The opportunity for a fight was long gone. "We can try and reason with them, but I don't know what more we can do."

Mavis slowly walked down the stairs. Her fears were coming true. She was destroying everything around her. The Volturi wanted her, and if the Cullens didn't abide by their rules, they would all be killed. Mavis didn't want to be the cause of the Cullen's deaths.

There were two options. The first, she became a vampire. It was the last thing she wanted. Mavis couldn't imagine living forever with her abilities. The second was death. Truthfully, it was the better option.

She had made her choice. The only problem was making the others agree with her. "Mavis," Alice noticed her.

"Mom-"

"No," her mother approached her. She knew what Mavis was going to say and didn't want to hear it. "We will figure out another option."

Mavis stared at her sadly. "There isn't one."

"We still have time," Esme reasoned. "We still have till December." It was the last day of July. They still had time to figure something out and come up with a plan.

"We have until December."

"December," Mavis said. "If you can't find another option, then you have to kill me." They went to argue, but she stopped them. "The Volturi will kill all of you, and then me anyway." This was the only option.

It was true, but they didn't want to admit that. "Don't give up hope. We have time. We'll figure something out."

Mavis had given up on hope a long time ago. It was a paralyzing feeling. "Okay, I won't."