Frau des Winters *Under Editing*

1.11

"Thank you for coming out with me, Charlotte." Esme smiled as she looked at Charlotte from the corner of her eye as she sat in the driver seat.

"Of course! Anything you need." Charlotte smiled in returned to the warm hearted woman as she slid into the passenger seat, buckling up.

Charlotte had noticed that Esme's fridge and pantry were rather bare after the party and in order to keep up appearances Esme opted to go on a shopping trip. Charlotte offered to lend her a hand when she noticed that Esme was planning on going alone. It had been almost an hour since the brothers left with Jared to discuss business and in that time she had helped Esme finish cleaning the inside. Though she had put her foot down on cleaning the downstairs bathroom. Someone must have had one to many drinks. After drawing straws Emmett was deemed the lucky winner and she heard him gagging all the way in the kitchen. 

"So Charlotte, tell me a bit more about yourself. Bella said you had graduated college." Esme decided to make small conversation with her future Queen and new friend.

"I was in school for recording arts." Charlotte's face lit up and Esme felt proud to know she had picked the right subject of conversation.

"I heard that you have been teaching Paul the violin. How is that going?" Esme asked.

Charlotte threw her head back in laughter, "I think it's going well. At least I hope so. It's hard to tell. He seems to have picked up on it a bit."

"That's good!" Esme giggled at the thought of Paul trying to learn how to play such a delicate instrument.

"Do you play any instruments?" Charlotte asked as she twirled a ring around her finger,

"I have dabbled in a few. Not very good at any single one though. Edward plays piano and Carlisle is good with a cello." Esme cringed at her admitting she was very good, but tried to cover it up by bringing up her husband and son.

"Really? Bella told me that Edward played but I didn't know about Carlisle. Is there any one instrument you enjoy more than any other?" Charlotte's eyes grew and she realized that a cello was a perfect choice for the loving doctor.

"I do enjoy the flute a bit." Esme chewed her lip.

"I haven't played flute in a while, but I was good in band class. I could try giving you some pointers." Charlotte grinned and Esme knew she couldn't turn her down.

"I would like that very much. Maybe one day we can all get together and play."

"That would be great! I haven't played in a group since my friend Amanda passed."

"I heard about that too. Charlie was looking into it a few years ago, right? May I ask what happened?"

"She was my college roommate. A fire broke out in our dorms and she didn't make it out." Charlotte's eyes turned sad.

"I am sorry, Charlotte."

"It's okay. It was a long time ago."

"Three years isn't a long time."

"No... but it feels like it was."

The rest of the drive was relatively quiet, Esme deciding that they should go further out of Forks so she could take Charlotte shopping for something other than food. It would be fun and the Queen had a great sense of style. 

"So, where do you like to shop?" Esme eyed Charlotte from the corner of her eye and smiled when Charlotte's face lit up again.

"I actually do most of my shopping at Goodwill." Charlotte blushed.

"Really?" Esme was surprised, she never thought that a Goodwill would be Charlotte's scene.

"Oh yeah. You never know what you'll find and it's all good deals."

"I've never shopped at a Goodwill before." Esme hummed in thought.

Charlotte gasped and Esme laughed. Now she knew where they were going. And that's exactly where they went. Before the two knew it they had spent over two hours in a Goodwill laughing and trying on clothes. They had very similar likes and dislikes so when found something cute they both tried it on to see who looked better in what. Charlotte had protested Esme paying, but $315.13 later they walked out with arm loads on bags. Esme had found some rather unique vases and bowls for the house and several nice dresses for date nights. And Charlotte had found a rather large silver wolf stuffed animal for Paul's birthday (Esme had to hold her in laughter at it considering Paul turned into a giant silver wolf), some very flattering jeans, and a pair of bright red ankle boots to compliment the red jacket Esme had found her. As they placed the bags in the car Esme swore she smelt something off, but when she scanned the surrounding area nothing stood out to her. Driving away Esme kept looking at her mirrors to check. When they pulled up to the grocery store Esme sent a text to Carlisle asking who was on guard duty. However, she never got a reply because Carlisle had been called in for an emergency at the hospital. 

After a grueling hour and two full carts later, the sun had set and as they loaded the car Esme smelt the scent again. This time she knew there was trouble.

"Charlotte get behind me." She spoke and tugged Charlotte behind her, gold eyes flashing towards someone on the other side of the dark parking lot. 

"Esme? What's wrong?" Charlotte felt the hair stand up on the back of neck. 

"Well, well. Look what I found." 

Charlotte gasped as a pale man appeared only a few feet in front of her and Esme. His eyes a bright red and a threatening smirk on his face. He had showed up so quickly that she knew deep down this man was not human. The air around him was dark and she felt the need to run. 

"We don't want to fight." Esme hissed and pulled Charlotte further behind her.

"Oh, of course you don't But I do." the man hissed and crouched low to the ground.

Esme mirrored his movement, "Charlotte, run. Run as fast as you can. Get back into the store."

"Esme..."

"Go!" Esme screamed and launched herself forward meeting the man in a head on attack. 

The sound their bodies made was like thunder and Charlotte froze as she started seeing images flash before her eyes. She found herself glued to the spot until she heard Esme cry out in pain. Charlotte let out a blood curdling as she watched cracks form on Esme's neck when the man caught her in a headlock. Charlotte acted before she knew what she doing. The man looked shocked as he watched ice start to form beneath the human woman's feet and her eyes turn white.

"NO!" her voice was loud and it echoed through the parking lot, "Let her go!" 

Charlotte's hands found themselves wrapping around his head and he roared in pain as she pried him away from Esme. Pure power radiating off of her as she stood above the injured Esme. Esme watched in amazement as snow started to swirl around them and the man stood slowly. 

"Well, look at you." The man licked his lips and chuckled, "Haven't seen one of you in a long time. Thought your kind died out years ago."

"I don't know what you're talking about." Charlotte snapped and helped Esme up.

"No? Then you're not much of a problem." The man smirked and moved like lightning towards her, his hands stretched out in front of him to grip her neck. 

Charlotte shut her eyes and gripped Esme tightly, but the blow never landed, Opening her once again blue eyes she gasped when she was met with a back and saw bright blonde hair.

"C-Caius?"