The Other Twin

37

Rory's POV -
"I mean... He didn't say no increased amount of caffeine?" she says.
"I'm pretty sure that definitely falls under one of the catagories."
"Ugh. Why do you humans have to be so goddamn breakable?!?"
"I'm not that breakable."
"More breakable than anyone else I know."
"That's coz you're all vampires."
"I know. But still."
"What do you want to do?"
"Come on. First, let me put down this violin. Then we can go to my room. I have Hamilton."
"Can I put my flute down?"
"No. You just have to carry it the rest of the day. Yes you can put it in the music room."
"You have a music room?"
"Yah."
"Why?"
"We have a piano. And violin. And cello. And guitar. I'm pretty sure we even have a harp somewhere. So yes. We have a music room."
"Why though?"
"Boredom. Sheer, sheer boredom. Same reason I speak over a dozen languages."
"You speak over a dozen languages!!!"
"Yup. Think about it this way. I'm 250-ish. That's a lot of hours. So when I get bored, I learn a language. English I actually had to learn, though. Carlisle speaks French, but we were living in America, sooo..."
"Understandable."
"Allons-y."

We drop our instruments into the music room, before going to the kitchen.
"Smells delicious Es. What's cooking?" Addy asks.
"Carrot and Coriander soup."
"Nice. Rory, you like carrot and corriander soup?
"Uh, sure."
"Edward told me to feed his human. Will it make a huge difference if there's one less ladel full?"
"Go ahead Rory dear. And it's not polite to refer to someone as your brother's human Adrienne."
"If it makes you feel better, he's my human too."
"Let's go Addy," I interrupt with taking a bowl of soup with me to stop her digging herself into a bigger whole.
"Yep. Follow me." I follow through the door and up the stairs. We go through the door next to the black one with paint splatters.
"Welcome to my room."
"Thank you. I designed it myself."
"This yours?" I ask, pointing to the british votes for women sash hung on the wall.
"Yes. I have a bunch of stuff from my life. Including my old uniform. Really old uniform. It's kinda bloodstained and has a hole in it. But that's fine."
"Cool. You fight a lot."
"I like fighting."
"How do you hunt?"
"Let's just say I can switch between human and animal blood very easily."
"You drink human blood."
"I'm sorry. I go to dead bodies and drink their blood. I'm not too big a monster."
"You're not a monster. You did what you had to do."
"That's the worst part about all this. Having no choice. We have a choice sometimes but not all the time. Best part is I can rip apart my siblings. Literally."
"Yeah, kinda wish I could rip my sister's head off."
"If it makes you feel better, I pushed her off a cliff. Which involved her breaking some shit."
"Yeah. A little."
"Good. I am so glad I never had biological siblings."
"Why?"
"Because I technically don't owe my brothers or sisters anything. If I had real siblings, I'd be related to them and have to do stuff for them."
"I don't do much for my sister."
"You're covering for her."
"For my Dad's sake."
"And for her, a little. Probably subconsciously."
"I don't think so?"
"I dunno. I only studied one module of psychology. Then we had to leave."
"You move around alot, right?"
"We have to. Not aging makes humans suspicious. So we move every few years."
"You don't make many friends, do you."
"I have my brothers. And my two sisters. And I have you."
"Of course you have me. What else am I, chopped liver?"
"You will be if you play quietly in tune whilst the rest of your lot plays out of tune in orchestra again."
"In my defense, I don't know anyone there. And the big people are very scary."
"I'm technically the youngest in the firsts, by three years. The next youngest is 19."
"Fuck you. You're 250. You can't complain about being little."
She holds up her middle finger. I stick my tongue out at her. Is it a little childish? Yes. Was it necessary? Also yes.

"Y'know, I'm not that old. Carlisle's, like, over 300."
"Cool. You're still a golden oldie." She gasps.
"How can you say that!"
"Coz you're old."
"You're just a baby."
"Compared to you, yes."
"Little baby Rory."
"Golden Oldie Addy."
"Yeah, well my mother probably gave me a few more grey hairs."
"ESME?"
"God no. Catherine Blanchet. My birth mother. Esme's fucking great."
"Definitely. If you don't want her, we can swap."
"You don't like your mom?"
"Course I do. She's my mom. But I like yours better. And Charlie."
"Well, take both Es and Catherine. Two for the price of one, but you'll need a time machine for the latter. She's hella dead."
"When did she die?"
"Ah, about 1795. So a little while ago."
"Sorry for your loss."
"Trust me, I'm over it. Oh, that reminds me, I was going to tell you my human story."
"If you want to."
"Why not? My story isn't bad. Definitely not compared to some of my family, but that's their story to tell. Not mine."
"Course not."
"Let me have Hamilton as my backing music. Hold on. It's already in the thing. And play."
Alexander Hamilton comes on quietly.
"So imagine this. It's 1764. The most amazing female in history is born. Okay, maybe second. Or third. But definitely top 10. 15. Whatever, it's not important. Anyway, in 1777, my mother married me off to Louis Garnier. Who also happened to be one of my best friends."
"Wait. Let me do math. 64, 6, 70, 77 equals. Hang on. You were 13!"
"Yup. It was the 1700s. It makes sense in context. Ish."
"Okay. Carry on."
"Thank you. So basically, I was married young. Look. I keep my ring on the dog tags around my neck. I used to where it before I got them. And... Alexander Hamilton. My name is Alexander Hamilton. And there's a million things I haven't done. But just you wait. Just you wait. Anyway, and so he wanted kids. I didn't. He respected that. He told me I didn't need to, but I gave him one child. In 1779, I came to America. Fought the American War of Independence with my father. Was shot in 1780, turned by Carlisle. He wanted someone. A companion. He found me next to my dead father, half dead myself. We would then travel together, splitting every few decades, him to Volterra, me to wherever. It worked. Then, Edward came along. And Esme. And everyone else. Obviously I love my family, I really do. But I loved my time with just me and him. It was in that time he became my dad. And the
greatest person I've ever known. And I will always have that. No matter what."
"You were really young. Like, really young."
"Not really. I was effectivly middle age for my time period."
"Shit yeah. Medicine wasn't there. Or Health and Safety. Or food."
"Yup. I know where my family is now, if you're interested."
"Really?"
"Uh huh. Two parts in France, one in Bordeaux, one in Paris. Two parts in America, one in Brooklyn, one in Shelton. Weirdly one in Quebec. Don't quite now how that happened."
"You traced your family?"
"Trust me. I have so much time. One of my however many great granddaughters is a doctor. Takes after her adopted however many greats grandfather."
"Cool."
"I know right."
"Yo Addy. We're doing something stupid. You in? You can bring Rory," Klaus says from the doorway.
"Definitely. Rory, you in?"
"I'm pretty sure this comes under the trio category. I'm in."
"Great. Let's go," Klaus says.