Halflings

Edward went from laying down, completely relaxed, to bolt upright, his eyes widening and his face twisting in shock. Emmett and Rosalie looked at him.

“You okay, Eddie?” Emmett asked lightly. No response and the two siblings began to worry.

“Ed?” Rosalie asked, moving over to lay a hand on his arm.

Edward shrugged her off and ran upstairs, slamming the door to his room.

“What was that about?” Emmett asked, laughing to hide his worry.

“I don’t know.”

Hours later, as dawn broke behind the rainclouds, Carlisle got home. Emmett and Rosalie, who hadn’t heard from Edward since he’d run upstairs, quickly filled their father in on their brother’s strange behavior. Carlisle was immediately worried. He put his things away then walked to Edward’s room and knocked. No response. Two knocks later, he pushed the door open. The window across the room was open wide. The floor beneath it was quite wet, attesting to how long it had been open. The room smelled like Edward, naturally, but he obviously hadn’t been in there in a short while. What alarmed the blond vampire the most was that Edward was gone, and he didn’t know if he’d just gone hunting or if he’d run away or…something else.

Edward was running as fast as he could. He’d left the rain behind hours ago. He needed to get to Oklahoma. He had to prepare for Caius. The poor thing was a wreck. His thoughts went back to the first time he’d ever met the white-haired Volturi.

“Stupid Carlisle,” Edward thought. “Why did he have to go and marry that bitch? He had me! He didn’t need anyone else!”

Edward had run away, desiring to live on human blood instead of animal. Not only that, but there was Esme. Horrible, sweet, doting Esme. Carlisle had married her and expected Edward to accept her as his mother. Edward couldn’t take the thought. He suddenly stopped right before he hit a group of vampires.

“Well, well, well,” said one of the males in a mean voice.

“He ain’t Jasper, but he’s fresh meat,” said a female.

They held up a bottle of whisky and tossed it. It shattered on Edward’s chest and he gasped, too shocked to react any further. What was that all about? He found out a second later as a lit match was tossed on him. He screamed as agony licked across every inch of him. He clawed at his skin, as if that could put out the flames. He had no idea what was going on for a minute, but the next thing he knew, he was ducked into water, which put out the flames, but made him scream as it touched his skin…well, it wasn’t skin. It was his insides at this point, and it hurt!

His mind heard voices and it took all of Edward’s mental strength to comprehend them.

“What do you think?” asked a male voice.

“Ah think Ah wants ta kill Maria,” said a deeper male voice with a heavy country twang to it. “Attackin’ vampires who’re just a mindin’ thar own business. That’s low.”

“Well it can’t be helped now. What do we do with him? It’ll take him months to heal from this.”

“We could change ’im. That’ll heal him lots faster.”

“The question still stands: Will he hate us forever afterwards?”

“We’ll just have ta take that chance. He’s obviously in pain.”

“Very well. You take the right, and I’ll take the left.”

The next time the deeper voice spoke it was right next to his right ear.

“Ah know ya don’t understand this, but yer about ta be in a whole helluva lot more pain than ya are raight now. We’re only doing this ta help ya, okay?”

Edward didn’t believe he could be in more pain. Then he felt two pairs of fangs sink deep into his neck. The agony of the fire became a mere memory as hot and cold sensations swamped him, clashing along every inch of his body and he screamed, loud and broken. All of his senses were blocked by the pain. The all encompassing, lava and ice pain!

When he became aware of himself again, the pain was dwindling. He shifted and moaned.

“Caius! He’s a wakin’ up!” said the deeper voice.

Edward opened his eyes to see a rugged face with honey blond hair down around the male’s ears. Another face appeared over him. This one was fairer, and his hair was much longer and was pure white. The first one’s eyes were honey gold, just like his hair, and the second one’s were ruby red.

“Who are you?” Edward asked, his voice scratchy.

“Jasper,” said the first one.

“Caius,” said the one with the white hair.

“As in the Caius?”

“If by the Caius you mean the one that’s with the Volturi, then yes,” Caius said, amused.

“Oh yes, hail the Caius,” Jasper snorted, reaching down to grab Edward’s hand. Caius grabbed his other hand and they pulled him to his feet.

Edward felt the blanket slide off and then air hit his skin. “Why’m I naked?” he asked.

“Yer clothes burned off. We got ya some more. Here,” Jasper said, grabbing a shirt, some boxers, and a pair of blue jeans out of a tree. “If’n ya want ta stay standin’, Ah’d move slowly.”

Edward obeyed. He’d just slid the jeans on and was reaching for the shirt when the wind shifted and he smelled the most wonderful thing he’d ever smelled in his life. His stomach clenched and he wailed, grabbing his belly as he was driven to his knees.

“W-what?”

“You’re hungry,” Caius said, moving over to a pot hanging above a fire. “We figured venison stew would be good.”

“Hungry?” Edward asked, his brief laugh dissolving into a moan as his stomach clenched again. “I’m a vampire! I don’t get hungry!”

“Yer a halfling now,” Jasper said, filling up his own bowl. “We bitcha ’member?”

“I remember…bites. Then pain worse than anything I’ve ever experienced. Not even my change into a vampire was that bad.”

“Halfling changes are worse than vampires,” Caius said. “When you’re a human and have the right genetics to be changed naturally into a halfling, you have to die, but live. When you’re a vampire bitten by a halfling, your body has to come back to life, but still be able to die.”

“Sounds…weird,” Edward said as he was handed a bowl full of stew and a spoon.

He took one bite and as soon as the rich flavors hit his tongue, he sighed. The joy of eating came back to him and he quickly polished off the food. He filled his bowl twice more and emptied it both times. Caius and Jasper watched him, eating much more slowly. They finished together.

“That was amazing!” Edward sighed again.

“We’ll never really know what it’s like to take such a long break from food,” Caius said with a nod. “We’re both natural halflings.”

“Well, you’ve missed out,” Edward said as he pulled his shirt on.

Jasper shrugged. “We’re fahne with it. We’ve gotten ta eat food fer a long, long time.”

Edward nodded and they sunk into silence. The former vampire studied them. They were both in blue jeans. Jasper wore a long-sleeved work shirt, while Caius wore a t-shirt, like Edward did, but his was green instead of blue. Edward’s eyes slid up and they were staring at him, as well. Caius smiled. Jasper just arched an eyebrow.

“You don’t act like Carlisle told me the Volturi act,” Edward said to Caius.

Caius smiled sadly. “I’m a Volturi, but I’m not Aro or Marcus or any of the others. Because I’m a halfling, I’m part human. That means I can only bury my emotions so far. They can bury their’s farther. I can’t help that. When I’m here in America, though, I’m quite free to be myself. Jazzy-purr never minds.”

The nickname caught Edward off guard and he burst out laughing. Jasper punched Caius in the arm.

“How many tahmes do Ah have ta get onta ya fer callin’ me that?!” he growled.

“Aw, come on! It’s cute!” Edward chuckled.

“Ah am many, many thangs, Edward,” Jasper said seriously. “But Ah certainly ain’t cute.”

“Boy, that’s the truth,” Caius laughed. “He’ll kick your ass if he has to, and you’ll have no chance.”

Edward was about to reply when something caught his attention. “You knew my name.”

“Yes,” the two halflings said softly.

“How?”

“Yer a natural mahnd reader,” Jasper said. “Yer in our heads, but it don’t bother ya ‘cause yer used to doin’ it. What yer not used ta experiencin’ is somebody else’s mahnd in yers.”

“Mind in m-mine?” Edward’s face paled, making the former vampire realize that his face had actually been warm.

“Of course,” Caius said cheerfully. “All halflings are telepathic. We’re much better telepaths than you, though, because we can give and take information, not just take it.”

Edward felt very vulnerable. He didn’t like the thought of somebody reading his mind. It felt like an invasion of privacy.

“Now you know how your family feels.”

“I-I didn’t know it bothered them this much,” Edward muttered.

“At first it did. Then it just became a natural part of their lives.”

“How do you know?”

“Their reactions to you reading their thoughts diminished over time,” Caius said with a nod.

“How much of my life have you seen?”

“All of it,” Jasper said simply.

“So when do I get to see your lives?” Edward demanded after taking a moment to collect his thoughts.

“Depends on how fast and well you get to know us,” Caius replied, holding the younger halfling’s gaze.

“You mean to tell me that you two have snooped into every bit of what makes me, me, but you won’t give me any details about your lives?”

“We didn’t say that,” Caius said. “You can ask us questions if you want.”

“But,” Jasper said harshly before Edward could open his mouth. “If we say ta drop it, then ya’d better drop it. Understand?”

Jasper’s tone was darker than anything Edward had ever heard. It was darker than Carlisle’s warning tone. Edward swallowed convulsively as he nodded.

“Yes sir,” he said automatically.

Jasper laughed, releasing the tension. “Ah ain’t been called ‘sir’ since Ah left the Vampire Wars. Caius sure as hell don’t call meh that, and Alice May calls meh worse!”

“Alice May?” Edward asked.

“Drop it,” Jasper said immediately.

“Okay. So…what am I allowed to ask?”

“You know, Jazz?” Caius queried after a moment, surprise coloring his tone. “That’s the only question I can think of that he can ask at this point!”

Jasper frowned. “Well, he could ask about our human lives. We could tell him fragments.”

“Then tell me,” Edward said eagerly.

“Well, Ah was born in 1844 in Houston,” Jasper said. “Ah was raised on a farm away from the city. Ah was a bit of an outcast. The other boys neva wanted nothing ta do with me, but Ah couldn’t care too much. Ah was too busy on the farm.”

“I was born 1344 B.C. to a normal family,” Caius said with a nod. “My father was a high priest to Baal. My mother, as was expected, stayed home to raise her family. I was…an unwanted child because of my appearance. I was considered a curse and a great shame. I was the thing that nobody talked about in town.”

“Appearance?”

“There’s a scientific explanation for it now,” Caius laughed, his voice strained. “I’m known as an albino.”

Edward was surprised. “You mean you had red eyes before you were a vampire?”

“Yep. I was considered the spawn of the devil. In fact, the only reason I wasn’t food for Aro and Marcus is because of my strange appearance. They were fascinated that I had the eyes of a vampire with the heartbeat of a human. They decided to solidify my vampire status. However, they half failed, and they still don’t know it.”

“They don’t?”

“Nope. I didn’t know I was part human for many, many years. Usually we don’t until something strange happens to reveal it. I told Jasper what he was, but nobody was there to tell me.”

“There is a reason you haven’t told them, right?” Edward asked, feeling a little afraid. Jasper placed a hand on his arm.

“We ain’t ’zactly supposed ta be alive,” he said with a sad smile.

“Yes. Halflings are illegal by vampire law,” Caius added.

“So I’m…?”

“If Aro finds out about you, you will be killed. If he can catch you, that is.”

“If?”

“The reason halflings are so dangerous, my young friend,” Caius said proudly. “Is because we are stronger and faster than normal vampires. And we don’t get thirsty like a vampire. We can survive just as well on human food as blood, and our thirst can be quenched with human drinks.”

“You mean I have full permission to eat and drink whatever I want?” Edward asked, his fear lessening as the appealing thought made its way into his mind.

“Yep. Ya won’t lahke all of it, to be sure, but you’ll certainly enjoy the freedom,” Jasper said, patting his arm.

“Sounds great!”

“Yep. Hey!” Caius exclaimed. “We need to get you some good clothes!”

“Good clothes? Why?”

“We go out to restaurants a lot. And as you know, there is a dress code.”

“That’s fine.” Edward yawned. “I’m tired?” he asked.

“Probably. The change is exhausting. Go get some sleep,” Caius said gently.

Edward lay down and closed his eyes, but sleep eluded him. He was worried about what would happen to him if anybody ever found out about him being a halfling. He started as a body lay next to him and arms wrapped around him. He opened his eyes to see Jasper staring back at him.

“Jus’ relax, Edward,” he said softly, and peace flowed over the on edge halfling. “Yer fahne. Even Ah’m fahne. It’s Caius we gotta worry ‘bout. Aro is very unforgivin’ a thangs he don’t understand.”

Edward barely caught the end of that. He was already drifting off to sleep.

And now Caius had been caught. He had blocked his mind to Aro, a wall that was impenetrable to most, and had projected his experience to the three halflings in America: Jasper, Alice May, and Edward. Alice May had sent her sympathies, but was stuck with the family. Jasper had immediately run for the seashore that Caius was going to swim to. And Edward was going to make some paste for Caius’ burns.

Burns. Any vampire, anywhere, could have burned them thanks to Aro. And it wasn’t burns from fire. Or holy water, like the humans thought harmed them. But it was a liquid. A special combination of ingredients that burned halflings only. And they were horrid, horrid burns. But they left no scars, thanks to the vampiric healing rate. And Aro, in his blind rage, had thrown a large amount of the liquid on Caius.

Edward got to the clearing and began pulling ingredients out, mixing them together in a large bowl. Tears slid down his cheeks as the unfairness of it all. Why? Why did Aro have to hate them? It just wasn’t fair! But, Edward thought miserably, when had life ever been fair?