Carlisle's Diary

Disappearances

Dear Diary:                                                July 10, 2014

        It was another good two minutes before the shaking stopped. There were cracks in the wall and in the floor. Everyone, human and immortal alike were hanging on to stable furnishings. A lot of people screamed in the more severe shaking period. Dan O'Leary seemed to be the only one really enjoying himself. Even his wife Julia looked petrified. When it was all over, security appeared to assess the damage and thankfully the penthouse was intact. I still couldn't believe they called it a penthouse; considering it was on the 5th floor of the office building. It was hardly a skyscraper like say New York City. But whatever.

        Once everything was back to some form of normal, the dinner party resumed. Esme had been talking to a few of the other writers and enjoying herself as the rest of us just mingled around. We helped ourselves to the delicious food that was set up buffet style and the now mellow again atmosphere. Some people chose to leave after the earthquake though Dan did everything in his power to get them to stay. An earthquake of that magnitude has never been felt on the east coast before and it was quite disconcerting for people. Who could really blame them?

        I noticed Julia escort some of the guests into a back room area; our eyes met and she smiled at me. There was something a bit off about that smile but I couldn't put my finger on it. Just then Esme returned to my side looking a little perplexed.

"What is it honey?" I asked her.

"Oh nothing, I guess. It's just that when Dan invited us to dinner he said his other guests were writers. And though that's true, most of the people here are investors and don't know the first thing about writing." She said looking confused.

"Really? What kind of investors?" Alice popped to my side instantly having cleared through her vision haze. We still hadn't asked her what she had seen.

"Like what you do Alice. Stocks and bonds and trading. It's all very confusing for me but that kind of stuff. Why would Dan invite investors to a dinner party for writers?"

          She had a point that was really puzzling. This evening earthquake or not, was getting weirder by the minute. Before I could ask Alice about her vision, I saw Julia emerge alone from the back room and go over to Dan; she then whispered something into his ear and he smiled. But even with our keen hearing we didn't know what was said. On top of that, Edward mumbled it was in some kind of a different language he had never heard before.

          The Watchers were outside on the patio where Dan then went to join them. He was waving his arms about like a giant bird but he kept staring at Rogue. Julia had taken her place by his side and it was quite obvious to anyone with eyes that Dan was practically drooling all over Rogue; to such an obvious degree that Julia had to swat him on the arm a few times. Alexander was looking down at him with a look of disdain as Rogue didn't pay him much mind and Amy's face was scrunched into a "eww" expression. I could only imagine what kind of thoughts were going through his mind. You could practically wipe the patio floor with his saliva. Yuck! Get a grip man! Your wife is right there! Humans, I tell you!

          The rest of us remained inside until the sun set as we didn't want to turn the evening into a shining spectacle but I did notice one sparkling thing and it wasn't any of us vampires. There was a staff leaning against Dan's chair. It looked like it was made out of some kind of iron or metal and wood and on top of it was what looked like a precious gem of some kind. I couldn't tell what it was because it kept changing color from purple to blood red to white to sapphire and back to purple. It was a very fascinating piece. As I approached it, I heard Dan's voice behind me: