Marianne Swan used to have a fascination with the fragile nature of mortality until it was her own life on the line. Marianne is not scared of much in this world, with one key exception: the name Edward Cullen. She reunites with her father - chief o...
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I must have some really bad luck.
Not only did my cough get worse, but they didn't know what was wrong with me. Carlisle warned me that I would need to prepare to be kept in the hospital for observation if the steroids and antibiotics prescribed were not effective.
That worried me, I wanted to be home in my room. Plus, I wouldn't be able to see Jasper at all since he and hospitals were not a good mix. He and I had been spending every night together; tonight was the same as all the others, but the first one since Carlisle had broke the news to me.
"What do I do?" My voice had become much more raspy, near a whisper, but of course, Jasper could still hear me perfectly fine.
"Mary, don't worry about something you can't control. We can just hope the meds help your body heal."
"But the nightmares," I frowned.
I had been having nightmares of a new death.
I was in a white room, my body was burning and freezing simultaneously. My throat felt like it lost a fight with a cheese grater.
I was slowly drifting out of consciousness after a particularly intense coughing session when I felt a cold hand on my jaw. And then pain.
Burning worse than any imaginable pain.
Jasper frowned, "If you go to the hospital Carlisle will keep you under close supervision - you will not be in danger."
We were laying together on my bed and I buried my face deeper into his chest, "I don't want to be in a hospital, I'll never get to see you."
"You'll have your phone, you can reach me any time and you'll find I'm up all hours of the day," This was his attempt to lighten the tension.
I let out a sigh, "Has Alice seen anything new?"
Jasper shook his head, "No."
"I'm starting to worry that that's a bad thing."
Jasper wrapped his arms around me tighter, "Mary... if it came to it. And I'm not saying I expect you to die, but if it came to it would you want to turn?"
I keep my face hidden; I go through several emotions. Fear of the unknown, losing my family; resignation of the inevitability of death; and hope that I might just come out of this alive. But I couldn't turn, I couldn't watch Bella and Charlie grow old while I remain frozen.
"I... I don't think so, I'm sorry. It would be extremely painful to watch the people I love die."
"I understand. The rest of the family were turned without a choice, and that's the best I can offer you is the choice to remain human."
"Can you tell me about them? I don't think I'll be seeing them... anytime soon. Where did it start?"
"Alice and I were the last to join everyone that was sometime in the late 1940s, maybe the 50s - during those times I wasn't paying particular attention to the year as I stayed away from humans.
"Carlisle is the oldest of all of us, born in the 1700s. His father was a preacher as well as the leader of 'monster hunts' in England. Once his father retired; Carlisle was out leading one these hunts when he was attacked. Due to his upbringing, he was repulsed by what he had become. It's incredible, most newborns are so dominated by their need for blood that they go into frenzy and will sink their teeth into the first human they smell. Carlisle has never tasted human blood, he starved himself for weeks, trying to kill himself, but nothing worked. He eventually moved pass this repulsion, driven by starvation, and discovered he could survive off of animals.
"He would be better suited to tell you about the years in between Europe and traveling to America. He did spend a brief time with the Volturi and he is on good terms with Aro - they think his way of life, feeding off of animals, is strange, but Carlisle's compassion and peacemaking had been beneficial for the family over the decades.
"Edward was the first one he turned. He had never actually turned anyone before, never tasted human blood so it was a risk. It was during the 1918 influenza, Edward and his mother were in the hospital. His mother begged Carlisle to save him; Carlisle was lonely, and seeing that Edward had no surviving family he took the risk to turn him.
"Next came Esme, she had known Carlisle in her human life. But life was not kind to her, she lost her child from illness and attempted to kill herself. By some miracle, she was reunited with Carlisle on her deathbed and he turned her. They've been inseparable ever since.
"Seeing that he had Esme, Carlisle began to think that Edward needed a companion. During the Depression, they were in New York when they came across Rosalie... I think she would rather tell you her story, it's awful what happened to her. But her and Edward never saw eye to eye, they didn't become the couple Carlisle had hoped they would be.
"Rosalie actually saved Emmett several years after her transformation. She was hunting when she came across him... mauled by a bear of all things," Jasper actually laughed.
"That is very Emmett," I agreed.
"She was too scared to change him herself so she carried him all the way to Carlisle and begged him to save Emmett. They had an instant connection. Alice and I found them a few years after that."
"How did Alice turn?"
"She doesn't remember much from her human life, she woke up alone. If not for her visions she probably would have gone down a much different path."
"That's horrible, she can't remember her human life at all?" I frown looking up at the blonde vampire.
Jasper shook his head, "The first memory she can recall is waking up to this new life."
I try my best to suppress an oncoming coughing fit, "This *cough* sucks."
"No, Mary, vampires suck," Jasper teases.
"Whittlock, do I need *cough* need to reiterate that I wouldn't hesitate to knock some sense into you, if I knew doing so wouldn't hurt me" I shake my head disapprovingly.
