Smile, Part 1
In more than three hundred years, I had had few obsessions. My very first began the moment venom was pushed into my unwilling veins; while I felt the need to scream, I kept myself silent through the three burning days of my change. Shame was part of it as I had been raised to hate the demons I had been becoming, but the obsession came with the anger - the sweet anger toward the creature who had stolen my life - I would not give in.
When I awoke, my second obsession flamed into existence. Humans. The need to feed had been imminent, but my tutelage had an unmistakable hold on my being, even in my state of un-death. I slaked my thirst on the too-tart flavor of animals in the forest near the home of my birth, and while I screamed and plead with my body to turn to a new town, a new set of faces, I could not help but stare in wonder at those who had raised me.
I had never taken the time to simply be among my town, my father’s flock, but then, distanced from them as I needed to be, I had watched in fascination. I could see heartbeats fluttering, yes, but I could also smell and see the wonders of life and death that surrounded what I had once been. For years, I worked to desensitize myself to the alluring scent of my natural food source, not only to appease my late father and my own sense of right, but so I could use my longevity to somehow help the human race. The fruits of that labor continue now with my multiple medical degrees in the Forks Hospital.
My third obsession began a little more than two hundred years into my existence. In the early 1900’s, I had set up camp in Chicago where influenza had raged, claiming the lives of many. Unable to catch the disease myself, I dedicated as much time as suspicion allowed to put my learning to good use. Too many innocent people died in those years, though the death of one led to that third obsession.
Family.
I had not thought much about joining a coven since I had left the Volturi in Italy, finding no vampires with similar diets as myself, and not wanting to deal with the rash behavior of those human-drinkers that I had met. Elizabeth Masen’s whispered plea to save her son, however, lit within me that need. That night, her son Edward became my own. Over the next sixty years, my obsession grew, adding my lovely wife, Esme, two daughters, Rosalie and Alice, and two more sons, Emmett and Jasper.
We lived in relative peace, moving towns every four to five years, celebrating the high school and college graduations of each of our children, and multiple weddings between Rosalie and Emmett as well as Alice and Jasper. Esme and I found no real need to continue publicly displaying our vows, but we reveled in those of our children. I had worried constantly about my first son, Edward, always surrounded by both emotional and physical love and yet never being able to find it himself - until we moved to our current location of Forks, Washington. During all of my prayers that he would find someone of his own, I never dreamed that the very answer would test my own limits.
My fourth obsession is not as obvious as my previous three had been, but it is the most potent and by far the most dangerous.
My shift at the ER was almost complete when we received a call from the ambulance service, calling in a car wreck involving two students from Forks High. Moments after, my cellular phone had buzzed with a message from my first son.
“Saved a human today; no one else saw, but she did. Family meeting when you get home.”
Rather than pass the case to my interns, I deemed it immediately necessary that I check in on the newest patients. A teenaged boy was slightly bruised and bloodied, tripping over himself to apologize to the girl in the adjacent bed. The growl of the local police chief cut him off before I had the chance to, allowing me to focus on the girl who had just come into my view.
“Dad, I promise you that I’m fine. The truck took the hit - I got out of the way in time - see? Still have all my moving parts.” Charlie Swan had sighed.
“You are still getting that bump on your head looked at, Bella, and give your old man some peace of mind.” Bella echoed his sigh, but ducked her head to the side, shielding her smile from her father.
My very existence stilled. The girl was little more than a child, not terribly stunning in any sense, and had a scent that was too sweet for her own well-being. The brief smile that had graced her pale face, however, had imbedded itself into my mind, and began reviving and seeding thoughts that I had long since buried.
Shaking myself, I let my presence be known to the Chief and his daughter, and sent them on their way, suggesting the Chief look in on his daughter every few hours for the slight concussion she had not actually sustained.
When I arrived home, my family was in an uproar. Rosalie, Emmett, and Jasper stood defiantly at one end of the table, Alice and Edward at the other, Esme in the center calling order to the chaos. Their eyes all turned to me in varying degrees of frustration and anger as I stepped into the room. It wasn’t often that I used my position as head of the family to restrict my children from doing something, but I certainly was now. “The girl, Bella Swan, is not to be harmed. Even if she saw too much, I have convinced her that she sustained a concussion, and whatever she saw after she hit the pavement may have been a part of her imagination. She is confused and disoriented, but innocent and not a threat. Am I clear?” All my children nodded, even Jasper and Rosalie eventually bowed their head in consent. Though I had no extra powers like Edward’s mind-reading, Alice’s sight, or Jasper’s empathy abilities, I knew they were not pleased with me decision; just as I knew they would not be moving against it.
I retreated to my study to analyze the feelings I had for the human girl, after only minutes of being in her presence. That smile of hers brought to life in me a fury of lust I had not felt for many, many years. There was no doubt in my mind that I not only needed to see that smile again; I needed to be the cause of it as well. The way members of my family had wanted to kill her to protect the family granted a fierce protectiveness over the girl. While I was proud of my children for their own need to protect the family, I could not allow them to harm Bella.
My medical journals and research forgotten, I let my mind wander, as always in ancient languages to avoid Edward’s power, over how the girl’s lips might feel against my own. After so long, her scent was delicious and tempting even to me, who had been elbow deep in human blood before, with no second thoughts. I felt my member harden as I imagined what treasures her dull clothing hid, but I dared not take myself in hand; this would be a pleasure I would reserve for the sweet girl I vowed to soon bring into my home.
The hospital and thoughts of how I would come back into contact with Bella Swan kept me rather busy over the next few weeks, until Esme pleaded with Edward to bring the girl for a visit. I knew my son had struck up a tentative relationship with the girl, and even through my lusty thoughts for her, I could not have been happier. It was obvious the effect she had on him; I had not seen my son so happy in all the time I had known him. The girl he gently ushered into our glass house in the woods tripped over air several times before making it into the kitchen where I and the rest of my family waited for her. Each time, Edward caught her, with a soft, “Are you alright?” This had my wife beaming, even more excited than she had been when Edward agreed to bring Bella by the house. When she tripped into the kitchen with a smile so innocent and apologetic, it was all I could do to keep from vaulting across the room and dragging her away.
“Everyone, this is Bella. Bella, you’ve seen Alice, Jasper, Emmett, and Rosalie around school. They are my siblings. This is my mother, Esme,” who immediately wrapped the girl in a hug with a warm, “welcome, Bella,” before Edward continued. “And this is my father, Carlisle. You’ve met him before.”
“It’s good to see you again, Bella, and under much better circumstances,” I said politely. She was staring at me with curiosity now.
“It’s good to see you too, Dr. Cullen. Thank you for inviting me into your beautiful home, Mrs. Cullen,” her blush was perpetual, but my family was slowly relaxing around her.
“Oh dear, do call us Esme and Carlisle!” Bella nodded after I inclined my head, agreeing with my wife.
From that day forward, Bella was a constant fixture at our house, and so was my lust. I spent more nights in frustration than I ever had, locked away in my study, afraid that I might tear Edward’s limbs from his body when he brought his mate to the house. The routine began a few months after they began officially dating. Bella would visit, the couple would pack away to Edward’s room, they would grope about like the horny teenagers they were, and then Edward would push away in fear of hurting her. While she lay frustrated, their previous lust would rocket around the house, thanks to Jasper’s abilities and his limited control over that specific emotion. Esme had taken to re-landscaping the house when Bella came over.
Meanwhile, my obsession with Bella and her smile only grew. When Edward was not endeavoring to bring the house down with their incomplete sexual escapades, Bella would plant herself in my study and beg for stories from my travels, and listen excitedly each time I gave in. As my original plans for her little body were temporarily delayed the moment I realized she was Edward’s mate, I did what I could to see that beautiful smile. While I was never made happier that our family participated in open relationships, I knew that I could not have her until well after she and Edward were established. As her eighteenth birthday approached, I began putting the finishing touches on the journal filled with her favorite of my stories I was going to gift her with. It was during one of these days that Edward approached me about his trouble.
He was terrified of hurting her and wanted to know how he could possibly give in to his desires. I assured him that I supported him taking her and I was confident that he would not hurt her. I suggested that he allow the deed to happen in the Cullen home, and that I would be home to pull him off of her if necessary. He agreed, tentatively, but I knew that his fear had quieted and been replaced by determination. He mulled over the decision for a few days, but the morning of Bella’s birthday, he asked that I stay behind after the party Alice had put together for her, instead of hunting with the rest of my family. I quickly agreed, though the caged monster within prowled back and forth, wanting to break free and tear his smirk from his face.
To date, her birthday celebration was the worst sort of test of my strength, but I knew it would not be my last. She had distinctly told each member of the family not to purchase anything for her; she hated receiving gifts when she believed she could not get us anything in return that would spike our interest. Not one vampire had listened to her, but out of consideration, kept the gifts small, by Cullen standards. Despite her protests, she loved each one, as they all represented their giver in some way. Before she began opening her presents, Edward cleared his throat and announced to her that the family had had a discussion about her mortality. Bella had stiffened, expecting to hear a resounding no as she had heard so many times before, but squealed in delight and threw her arms about Edward’s neck when she heard just the opposite.
She understood that it was not only a birthday party in that moment, but also her official welcome into the family. Jasper handed her a blank journal and pen, suggesting she write down everything about her human life she did not wish to forget. Rosalie gave her the promise to take her and Alice to Seattle for a day of pampering and sisterly bonding time. Emmett issued a wrestling challenge which she eagerly agreed to, and Esme handed her sheath of sketches of her own room for the next house we moved to. Besides the bedrooms that each of the couples had, each vampire had their own space to retreat to when they wished it, and this was Esme’s way of welcoming her further into the family. Alice’s present was that of a new wardrobe. Her laughter covered Bella’s groan, which instantly turned into a hug when Alice reassured her that she would not have to be a part of the selecting. I also received a hug for the journal I bestowed upon her, and though I was loathe to let go, Edward still had his own gift for her. The rest of the family slinked out, and I up to my study as Edward escorted a blushing Bella to his room, where a new bed waited silently for them.
Part two: Where we get kinky.
silver-raven.livejournal.com/39128.html#cutid1