Chapter 25, Choices
I glanced around the gathered vampires. I’d never seen such a large group, not even when the Volturi had come to acquire Alice and Edward for Aro’s living collection. Every single one of them had the vegetarian vampire topaz eyes. I shook my head in disbelief. How had so many of them chosen to live a life of peace with the humans? What had happened in the vampire world?
Carlisle had called for a gathering. He had found a way, a possibility for us all to live together, a city of sorts. Vampires ranching.
It seemed like such a novel idea. It had been Nahuel’s, actually. He and Leah had picked Creighton University for a reason. There were a couple of slaughterhouses within a hundred miles of Omaha.
He had the brilliant idea that visiting vampires could visit the slaughterhouse and drain the beef carcasses as they hung. Beef didn’t taste much different from elk, and there was a lot of blood loss during the slaughtering process.
Carlisle took the vision one step further. He bought the plant. He could see that a slaughterhouse run by vampires made perfect sense. The humans got their beef and the vampires used the blood. He quietly purchased the ranches surrounding the slaughterhouses and had called for a meeting. Every vampire he knew was asked to spread the news.
The date was set for twilight on April 6. It was to be held at the largest ranch house on Carlisle’s various properties 40 miles north of the slaughterhouse.
As the topaz eyes filtered in, Carlisle, Esme, Jasper, Alice, Emmett, Rosalie, Edward and I were astonished at the number.
Carlisle moved the meeting to the little bowl-shaped valley a few miles from his home. A hundred pairs of eyes stared at Carlisle as he moved to the top of the natural indentation where everyone could hear him.
There was a hushed expectancy in the crowd. I watched as Carlisle moved and was astonished at how much he looked like an angel at that moment. The setting sun caught his golden hair and it shone as his skin glittered in its last rays. His white clothes turned russet as the sun said goodbye. He turned to address us.
Carlisle paused for a moment and looked over the crowd. “As you know, the world has changed. We, the vampires gathered in this group, have chosen to deny our thirst for human blood. We can live peaceably with our human neighbors.” He paused and looked over the gathered vampires. “I have seen a city of peace established in this place. A place where we can walk freely and not be afraid. All this land,” and Carlisle waved his arm, “for fifty miles in either direction is mine… and it can be yours, too, if you want. I have seen a possibility where we can co-exist with the humans. The slaughterhouse forty miles south can be our source of food. Beef isn’t much different from the elk most of us have dined on.” His eyes paused as he looked fondly at Eleazer, Carmen, Garrett, Kate, and Tanya, who was holding hands with her new tall, dark-haired mate, Lemuel. “We can use the blood and then the humans can use the meat. I see a system of cooperation established here, a system of peace.” Carlisle stood quietly, waiting for his words to sink in.
Benjamin and Tia were standing in front of me. Tia turned to Benjamin and whispered so softly even I couldn’t hear her. Maggie was here with her red-headed mate, the vampire she’d met while we were hunting through the Volturi castle. Siobham and Liam stood quietly. Carlisle had already spoken to them of his plan. Quiet whispers from vampire couples floated up from the small valley. A human ear couldn’t have heard the soft sigh.
Austin had come with his beloved Sarah. She had left Grace at the ranch house. Austin posed a question a few of the vampires needed an answer to, “What about schools for our children?”
Jaron and Lily turned to Carlisle. They wanted to hear his answer.
“We have a vast library in the house. Thousands of books, and there’s always the internet.” Carlisle’s teeth flashed in a sudden smile. “I’m sure your children won’t lack for information. What I’m proposing is a self-contained city with limited interaction with the humans. Nahuel and Leah will handle the daytime work of selling the beef and any interactions with humans. They don’t need to hide from the sun like the rest of us do.”
A few of the vampires nodded. They could see the possibilities, and most of us longed for a place to call our own. A place where vampires like us could interact and associate without feeling the need to move, to hide. Carlisle’s solution certainly made sense.
Suddenly, the group looked upward as one. Descending from above us was an immense round ship of sorts. I couldn’t really describe it. It was something outside my experience. It was huge—5,000 feet across—and a strange series of lights were flashing symbols across the bottom of the ship.
A thought came, unbidden, “Holiness to the Lord” flashed in conjunction with the moving letters. I could see clearly now. It was some kind of language I’d never seen.
The ship had come so suddenly and quietly that none of us had any warning. It wasn’t and then it… was.
The bottom of the ship opened up. A bright light engulfed the valley filled with vampires. A bright stairway appeared in the midst of the light and an urge to ascend it overcame me.
The vampire couples ascended the stairs, two by two. Esme flitted to Carlisle’s side and they moved, together, as one, to join the procession. Edward and I were on the far side of the valley. We would be the last ones to ascend the staircase. I looked into Edward’s eyes and could see my stunned awe reflected in them. What could this mean?
As we ascended the staircase and entered the ship, I was overcome by the beauty of the scene, for scene it was. I could sense that there was something beyond this vision, and I wondered by what power it came. I remembered Zafrina’s ability to show us only what she wanted us to see, and I knew the mountain valley I was seeing wasn’t really there. But the meadow was glorious in its beauty.
I thought suddenly of the circular meadow where Edward had taken me to reveal the beauty of his vampire skin. This meadow held beauty beyond that. The mountain peaks rose up around us, grand and majestic, and this meadow appeared to be a flattened peak, the top of a mountain, surrounded by higher mountain peaks. The stars, the milky way, moved above us in their glorious, ordered journey.
Three beings descended from a neighboring mountain. We, the vampire group, waited, our anticipation for this visit not fearful but joyous, as if we knew these people that approached. And yet I’d never met them until this moment, I was sure of it.
Their bodies glowed in a white so brilliant a mortal eye could not have beheld it. Their long white robes hung down to their toes and enveloped their glorious bodies. They were beautiful, like the noonday sun.
Hushed silence hung over the group. The beings standing slightly above us on the slope had a distinctly human smell. They didn’t smell like food or blood, but they smelled human, somehow. One man, for I knew he was a man, I could sense, smell his masculinity, stepped forward. He spoke, but I could not hear him with my ears. His voice resonated through my body, as if I was a bell and his voice was the clapper. I vibrated and my soul sang, for surely I could feel the soul within me at the sound of this voice.
“Greetings.” I could feel the love of this being for me, an all-encompassing love that only a parent could feel. A love that lasted through the eternities.
“You have come to a turning point in your existence.” His voice stopped, and I suddenly yearned for the vibration of my soul, the sound of his voice. “I am offering you a choice.”
There was movement in the group as vampire couples looked at each other in surprise. What could this mean?
“You have each attained the status of immortality. You may stay here and retain that status, living out your existence on this beautiful planet.” His glance moved through the group, and I felt his piercing stare as his glance fell on me. I knew that he looked deep within each of us. He didn’t take up his speech again until he had glanced in every eye. “I am giving you an opportunity to achieve mortality once again.”
A gasp rose through the group. The being smiled. It was
a gentle smile, and I could see that his teeth did not share the fearful razor sharpness of the vampire teeth. His smile was a human one.
“There are other places, other planets, that are empty and need replenishing. I am looking for married couples who are willing to leave this planet, become mortal, and bear children so that God’s purposes may be fulfilled.”
I was astounded by this information. These couples, every single one of them, were married. Why would that even matter? I couldn’t breathe, and what was God’s purpose? What could he mean?
As if answering my silent question, the being looked at me. I could tell from the posture of the other vampires that they heard it, too.
“Man is, that he might have joy.1”
He was silent for a moment, as if letting our bodies that acted like bells to his voice stop resonating long enough for us to understand. Could I understand? This information was bigger than I was. I was given some time to meditate, as if I was a human and needed my stomach to digest a little before I could take another bite.
“Time is different from planet to planet, from solar and star systems. My time is not your time. One thousand years passes on your planet for every one day on mine.” He paused again, giving us a moment.
“Carlisle,” He smiled down at the golden-haired vampire, who looked stunned at being personally addressed, “was correct in seeing the importance of a plant in creating immortality. It was, indeed, the plant from the Tree of Life that created the fist vampire, and Carlisle was also correct in seeing that the Cherubim and Flaming Sword were no longer necessary after the bands of death were broken. Man would die, Jesus the Christ would die for him, and the great and glorious plan of the Father would be fulfilled.” He paused again, looking over the group.
“But there is another part of the plan.”
We looked at each other, wondering how this could be.
“If you remember the history of this planet, there were two plants placed in the garden. The Fruit of the Tree of Life is very bitter. Its flavor is utterly repulsive. It is not a plant you would willingly eat.
Most of you can remember the painful fire at your creation. The bite from this fruit creates the same kind of fire. The transformation after you eat the fruit is almost identical to the one created with a vampire bite.” Quiet shudders were scattered throughout the group. One of them was mine. None of us wanted to repeat the hideous pain we felt at transformation.
“The other plant is one that will make your mouth water. It will call to you the way human blood does. It is the most delicious fruit imaginable, but in the day you eat it, in my day—the day that equals one thousand earth years—you will die. The changes to your body will allow you to be fertile, to multiply, to fill the planet with your offspring.”
He was quiet another moment, letting the resonation of our bodies in response to his voice stop so that we could hear our own thoughts.
Slowly, couples throughout the field turned to each other. Edward and I stared into each other’s eyes.
What would we choose? Immortality here, on this planet, to be with our friends and family together, co-existing peacefully with the humans around us, or would we choose to leave this planet and spend an eternity someplace else? An eternity we could decide to end by eating a fruit so unimaginably delicious it made my mouth water just thinking about it. And if we ate the fruit, we would have children—together. We looked deep into each other’s eyes. I could see the decision emanating from Edward’s soul.
Carlisle and Esme were the first to approach this being that glowed with the fire of the noonday sun. Carlisle looked at him, his skin glittering brightly, reflecting the light emanating from the glorious being. “Esme and I wish to stay.” Carlisle and Esme disappeared suddenly. It was like the appearance of this huge ship above us. They were and then… they weren’t. I wondered where Carlisle and Esme would find themselves. Would they find themselves in the field below staring back at the ship above?
I looked at Edward and wondered if he could hear him. Edward looked down at me and smiled gently, seeming to hear my thoughts. I wondered if the workings of this ship opened my mind to him. He leaned toward me and whispered, “Carlisle is exactly where you envisioned him, in the field looking up at us. He is content, and so is Esme. She loves Carlisle and will be happy wherever he is.”
Next were Emmett and Rosalie. Rosalie’s shoulders were shaking with unshed tears. I was sure she would pick mortality. Her greatest desire had always been to have her own baby, her own little Emmett. She’d had plenty of experience with the half immortal children. She was a wonderful mother. I’d seen her with Nessie, Michael, and Henry. Carlisle could find someone else to help him with the half immortal infants. Somehow, I knew there would be more. This vampire world had changed.
Emmett spoke quietly, but my vampire ears didn’t strain to hear them. “We will stay. Rose,” he put his arm around her gently and looked adoringly at her face, now distorted in unshed tears, “wishes to remain with Henry.” At once, I understood the tears. Her love for Henry wouldn’t let her leave. I knew she wanted a child of her own, more than anything in the world, but her love for her adopted son was stronger than that.
My throat constricted with the tears I could not shed. Rose’s sacrifice for her son was bigger than I could imagine. They disappeared just as suddenly as Carlisle and Esme had. I looked at Edward and wondered if they were below with Carlisle or if they had been whisked somewhere else. His puzzled eyes looked into mine. “I can’t hear them.” He whispered.
A flash of a vision entered my head and I saw Emmett and Rosalie walking up to the Cullen mansion. Henry had been left behind with Jacob and Nessie. I wondered briefly if I was given the gift Alice had been born with.
I sucked in my breath as the vision unfolded. This was a vision of the present. Henry’s six year old body burst out of the door and ran to Rose, jumping into her arms and giving her a fierce hug, “Momma, Momma, you’re home!” She smiled brilliantly, her white teeth flashing in the sun settling in the western horizon. She wrapped gentle arms around her precious boy. The three of them entered the house and shut the door. I could hear the happy voices of Nessie and Jacob and felt peace permeate the home.
The vision closed, and I looked at Edward, stunned. He looked at me with the same surprised expression. Before I could ask if he’d seen what I’d seen, he answered. “I could see your thoughts. I saw what you saw while you were seeing it.” His convoluted sentence made sense, somehow.
I reached for his hand, and we turned to watch the next couple make their choice. Garrett and Kate. Garrett stepped forward. His voice was a whisper, but I could hear it. “We want to go.” They disappeared as well. I looked at Edward, a question in my eye. He bent down and whispered. “I can still hear them. I think they’re on this ship.” I nodded understanding.
I didn’t know the next several vampire couples. They were some of the strangers that had answered Carlisle’s call for a gathering. Some chose to stay. Some chose to go.
Benjamin and Tia took their turn. They chose to go.
I was shocked to see the next couple. I hadn’t even noticed their arrival with all the vampires in the area. Peter and Charlotte were next in line. They’d fought our lifestyle for so long, I hadn’t even realized they’d gone vegetarian. Peter’s voice was firm, “We want to go.” They disappeared.
Jasper and Alice were right behind them. Alice looked around and found my eyes. She smiled. It was a tender smile that held just a hint of unsheddable tears, and I knew without being told that I wouldn’t be seeing her beautiful face again. My throat caught with the same tears. I loved Alice. She was my sister. I would miss her more than I could say.
But then a question came to me. Were there ever really any good-bye’s? Or was every farewell just a temporary one, with a permanent, endless association somewhere, sometime in the future? I didn’t think I’d get my answer that day.
Jasper’s voice was firm and sure. Alice’s foresight no longer wo
rked here. There were too many half breeds being produced on this planet. She didn’t feel like she belonged any more. “We will go.”
The line was getting shorter. Edward and I were last in line. His hand held mine in a firm grip. His tender eyes met mine, and I knew what our answer would be. For the answer wasn’t his and it wasn’t mine—it was ours, together.
Phil was whistling as he stepped out of the Lexus. Practice with his team had gone well.
He stopped to pick up the mail on his way to see Renée. He shuffled through the junk and stopped to toss it in the recycling bin as he headed into the house. He stopped as he saw one particular envelope. It was square and blue and looked like some kind of card. It was addressed to Renée and had a return address from Nebraska.
His brow puckered. He didn’t know anyone from Nebraska. He shook his head, a puzzled expression on his face, then tucked the mail under his arm and headed for the door.
Renée looked up from the computer. Phil smiled. She was on her favorite UFO site. He walked over and kissed her passionately then tossed the mail onto the desk. “You got a note from Nebraska. Do you know anyone there?”
She shook her head then picked up the envelope. She slit open the envelope with the scissors sitting on the desk. A letter dropped out, and she picked it up.
Dear Mom:
I always felt like a stranger here.
Do you remember that dinner we had together the day I graduated from Dartmouth? You said something about a 76-page report on the Stephenville, TX sightings. Your interest wasn’t misplaced.
By the time you get this letter, I will have boarded a ship very much like the one described there. I was allowed a quick minute back to write you. Don’t try to look for me. I won’t be anywhere you can find me.
When you look at the stars at night, know that one of those very distant stars will contain my eyes looking back at you.
Nessie will marry Jacob someday soon. She’ll need you to anchor her here. Her place isn’t with me. It’s here. I’m sure they’ll have kids, and you can enjoy your grandma moments with them.
Leah and Nahuel have two beautiful children. Her son’s name is Michael. The Quileutes have a bigger place in the history of this planet than they ever dreamed. I think you’ll be amazed at how things unfold.
I just want you to know that this isn’t the end—for either of us.
Someday, we will meet again.
An age ago, Job said it better than I can:
For I know that my redeemer liveth, and that he shall
stand at the latter day upon the earth.
And though after my skin worms destroy this body,
yet in my flesh shall I see God;
When I shall see for myself,
and mine eyes shall behold, and not another;
Job 19:25-27, KJV
If you pick up the written records of the past, they all reveal a divine hand from the beginning of time. This life is no accident. Your life is no accident. Read the records of the past. They all point to the future.
I love you. Always remember that.
Bella