Baby Steps

42

It's been quite a while since Eleazar explained all the ups and downs of my ability, which I grew very fond of. Dad got me a job at his hospital, that way I could experiment with my gift all I wanted. I managed to heal a good about of people, but nothing worse than small injuries and fevers. However, it was hard to heal them without raising suspicion.

At least my feeding problem was taken care of. Aro found out about my diet and assembled a group of willing human blood donors they entrusted with the vampire secret. They lived on the first floor of the castle and were used as donors for me. Aro ensured me that the humans are well cared for, and most of them didn't have close friends or family they'd miss.

Demetri and I bought that island, though, along with three other houses. One in England, one in Italy, and one in Forks. We travelled between the first two a lot, depending on when he's needed in the guard. Everywhere we went, I practised to strengthen my gift, healing all sorts of people as subtly as I could. Asthma, common colds, injuries, and fevers. However, I found out by accident that I could do more.

We were staying in Italy for a while in a cosy cottage close to the Volturi castle. One day, Demetri had to run to the caste for guard duty, which left me alone at home. It was an overcast day and I decided to take a trip to a clinic nearby. The goal was to just heal two or three people, but one person caught my eye. A woman with cancer, who the doctor mentioned didn't have much time left. She was asleep when I snuck over to heal her. But as I projected my gift into her, something unexpected happened.

After she was cured, my fingertips started turning back to a human, peachy colour. It lasted only a few seconds, then turned back to their usual paleness.

But that was all I needed for the idea to pop into my head.

So, my powers worked on vampires, but the results weren't permanent. They'd faded after two minutes or less without physical contact. With that new information, I had something else to focus on. I practised on Demetri first, managing to turn certain parts of him back to human. His eyes were a big accomplishment the first time it worked. After a few months of keeping it up, I finally was ready to talk to Dad about my plan.

I talked to Dad to see if he thought my experiment could work. After getting his blessing it was time to put it to action. The two people who I hoped to see, were chilling in the family room. Rosalie was flipping through the pages of the latest Vogue, and Emmett was playing games on his phone, while lazily sitting on the floor by her legs. I figured that this was the right time to tell them since all the others were out hunting or doing romantic couple stuff. All who were present were Mom, Dad and Demetri.

"Hey, can I talk to you two for a sec?" I asked and took a seat next to Rose.

Emmett paused his game and she lowered the mag, focusing on me entirely. "Anything for you, Gracie." He mocked.

"First, I didn't know how to tell you this because of how you'll react." I started, "Remember when Eleazar said that he didn't know the extend of my gift? Well, I practised a lot, and I discovered that I can influence vampires, too. And then I had this idea. It's crazy and I can't promise that it will work, but I need a vampire couple to volunteer. Do you still want a child?"

Rose inhaled in shock. The magazine dropped to the floor next to Emmett, who was also wide-eyed and shocked half back to life. I knew the news would be a surprise to them, which was why I chose to tell them first, to see if they wanted to be the first vampires in history to expect a baby.

"You can... I can... we... It's possible?" Rose stuttered.

I nodded, "Maybe. But there's a catch." Emmett swallowed and urged me to go on. "I need to make physical contact with Rose the entire time, it will definitely be awkward. Then, if it works, I'll need to keep physical contact with her until the birth of the baby, otherwise, the results will fade and kill the fetus. It's not permanent for immortals. I also have no idea if the baby will be human, hybrid or full vampire." I sighed and looked at Rose, "Are you up for the challenge?"