Twist of Intuition (Twilight: Emmett Cullen/OC)

Chapter 14

1907

Carlisle did take me back to his home where we ended up getting to know each other. I stayed that day and the next and before I knew it was months later. I found myself to enjoy Carlisle's company and we got along well. We eventually shared back stories where I told him of how I had started by drinking blood and killing an innocent family, I expected him to throw me out of his house right then and there but he didn't judge me at all and let me continue the story. He told me that it was in the past and that I couldn't help it and I had no way of knowing there was another way of life.

Eventually he told me his past as well. He was the son of an Anglican pastor. He was born sometime in 1640 London. His mother died giving birth to him a fact we shared. His father and other pastors led hunts for werewolves, witches and vampires. As his father aged Carlisle took over these raids. He was less at ease about killing as his father was, but he was intelligent enough to find a real coven of vampires inhabiting the sewers of London. Carlisle led the hunt after them and in the chaos that ensued, he was attacked and left bleeding in the street. Knowing what his father would do he hide himself inside a potato cellar for his painful transformation, emerging three days later as a vampire.

He was horrified by what he had become and tried various ways of killing himself, including starvation, drowning and jumping off cliffs. Eventually he was so desperate for blood that while hiding in a cave in a forest he attacked and fed on a passing herd of deer. He found that he could survive off animal blood. He studied at night while perfecting his ability to resist the bloodlust and was able to become a doctor. I admit I envied his control. While studying in Italy he met the Volturi. While they attempted to convert Carlisle to his natural food source, their attempts were unsuccessful. After living with them for two decades he moved on to the new world.

Once we were done exchanging pasts Carlisle was curious about my gift and how it worked. I explained it to him as best as I could and he asked what I was like as a human. He then brought up his theory that gifted vampires usually brought it over by a small ability they had when they were human. Like when I was human I was able to sense things around me and when you became a vampire everything about yourself was heightened. Then with Carlisle's compassion he had as a human was magnified into motivating his self-control. So while his theory was not proven and probably never would be, it was much more solidified.

It was never really spoken of until people started to notice that Carlisle was not aging as he should. Apparently he was supposed to be passing for his late 30s now and he still looked very young. Carlisle had to move before suspicions arouse to great and he asked me to accompany him. I said yes of course.

1908 Stanford, Montana.

Carlisle and I got settled into our new home about a month ago and he had started his new job as a doctor sharing a practice with another man whose former partner had gone on leave. The house Carlisle had purchased was a quaint two story home with a front and back porch that had a forest for a backyard. A very convenient placement for us. I was home alone while Carlisle was out hunting today and had called in sick because it was a sunny day. Before we came here I had purchased a new set of paints and canvases for myself to start up again. I remembered the lessons Maggie had given me over nineteen years ago. I was painting a small letter sized landscape to accompany the letter I was going to write and send to her. I would have done so while I traveled with Garrett but I didn't know what I wanted to say. I talked with Carlisle about it and he gave me some solid advice that pushed me foreword.

As I was painting, my double vision flared up with a single yellow aura of a human who was on their way directly to our home. I continued painting and didn't stop until there was a knock on the door. I stood up and looked in the mirror to make sure I looked presentable before I studied the aura outside the door. It had a nervous edge to it but the intent was not to harm. Making sure to make the suitable amount of noise a human would make when moving about. Something Carlisle had to specifically teach me to do. Opening up the door I came to face a woman with dark brown hair and brown eyes standing there with a pie.

"Hello." I said smiling, careful not to show teeth.

"Hello. My name is Louise Blanche." She said then lifted the pie to emphasis she couldn't shake my hand.

"Hello. My name is Jules Cullen." I replied.

She looked very put off by this, as she stuck her nose up in the air and stared down at me as she was a couple inches taller than I was."Oh, I was not aware that was married." She said looking me up and down.

"He's not. He's my uncle actually." I responded with the lie Carlisle and I had come up with before we came here.

"Oh! Well I didn't know he had a niece" She replied looking much happier. "I heard that he was out sick today and brought him this pie." She said gesturing to the pie. "Is he around so I can give this to him?" She asked attempting to peer over my shoulder and into our house.

I moved the door so it was closer to me and blocking her view. "Well, as you know he is sick today. He's actually sleeping at the moment. Thank you for the pie." I said taking it from her hands and looking down at it feigning interest.

"Blueberry? My favorite. My uncle is sick as you know so I doubt he will be eating it. Why don't you try soup next time?" I asked backing away from the door and closing it before she could get another word in.

I heard her 'Humph' and start muttering very unladylike things while she walked away. I smiled to myself and walked into the kitchen and placed the pie beside the others we had received in the last few days. Honestly how Carlisle could stand it and still be so polite was beyond me. I was still smiling to myself as I went back into my room and started on the painting again.

Finishing the small painting I let it dry completely and then compared it to the visual I had outside my window and was happy with the results that my small painting could capture the view. Setting it down on the desk I walked down the end of the hall and went into Carlisle's study taking a nice piece of parchment and borrowing one of his pens I went back into my room and sat at my desk to start on the letter.

Maggie,

"It has been a very long time since you have seen or heard from me. I hope you did not worry for I was fine and have had an eventful time in America. Though I didn't arrive there at first... I'll get into that later. I want you to know that I think of you often and that I miss you terribly. I have recently started painting again and have painted a small landscape that I can see from my window. Why I haven't painted or written you is another story. Part of the reason was I didn't know what to write. It started when I left Ireland and I was in the ocean. A very strange creature attacked me and after months of starvation the smell of its blood caused me to feed from it. Afterward's I found myself not as hungry as I once was so I continued to feed from these strange creatures in the ocean all the way until I ended up in South America. I believe that a current must have swept me in the wrong direction. I ended up in the Amazon Rainforest where I continued to feed from animals. After a while I looked at my reflection in a pool of water and discovered that my eyes were golden. Now I know you must be thinking that I am joking but I am telling you the truth. No, I am not trying to convert you to this way of life as you so happily put it when I tried to get you to drink only on the blood of criminals. Anyways after spending thirteen years in the forest where I had grown accustomed to drinking only animal blood and using the few natives that lived there I no longer crave human blood. Then I left for America where I met a very interesting nomad vampire named Garrett..."

I continued the letter telling her everything that had happened and leaving a return address while leaving out all things involving the amazon coven. It wasn't that I didn't trust Maggie, I did it was just that I had made a promise not to tell anyone of their coven. A promise I intended to keep.

Later I sealed the letter and wrote the address for it to be sent to, then putting it in my pocket I picked up the multiple pies and various foods that the women who had become enamored with Carlisle had dropped off I walked to the church where I gave them to the kind pastor who was grateful for the donations. Carlisle and I wouldn't be eating them but I didn't want them to go to waste. Finally I dropped the letter off at the post office and paid for it to be sent away. Then I left and made my way on the quick, (well quick for a vampire) walk back to our house where Carlisle should be back by now.