The Immortal Children

Electric Vampire

Alice was insane. I was trying to focus on the papers in front of me as I once again berated myself for agreeing to be my little sister's teacher. Those dang puppy eyes. They were impossible to say no to. Now I was faced with the task of gathering information and creating assignments for her.

Despite all of the work I knew I had to do, all I could do was watch in awe as Alice darted around the room as she set up decorations. The theme of the party seemed to be "fairy tale". Our Mother had used to have themes for the little birthday parties she threw for us. My last birthday had a "horse theme", which entailed games like pin the tail on the horse and a painting station where we could decorate the little wooden horses that my Mom had found at the dollar store.

But this... this was a different level. Instead of "pin the tail", Alice had set up a "pin the wings on the fairy" station. There was a huge, insanely cool paper mache dragon dangling from the chandelier, complete with a bubble machine inside the mouth that could bee set off with the literal push of a button. The walls had all been decorated, with what I assumed to be temporary wallpaper that had castles under rainbows and knights fighting dragons. 

I had been confused about why Alice felt the need to start setting things up when the party was still a few days away. But now I could see why. She was turning this into a huge celebration, despite the fact that there were very few guests coming over. Alice was even talking about renting a horse and carriage. I kept my mouth shut, not reminding her that the horse may very well end us being the birthday cake of the vampire party.

I shook my head, trying to ignore the commotion around me as Alice ordered Jasper and Emmett to go and get boxes of streamers and balloons from her car. I stared at the book in front of me, tapping my pencil. I wished that I was comfortable enough to just take this book up to my room. But it was Carlisle's, and he hadn't specifically told me that I could take it out of the living room.

"Alexandria, Carlisle won't mind". I turned around to glare at Edward, growing tired of his presence in my mind. I was even more irritated with him when Carlisle suddenly appeared next to me, having overheard Edward's words even from a different part of the house. "What wouldn't I mind?" I was quiet for a second, trying to decide what to say. I didn't want to request anything from Carlisle, especially since we were already inconveniencing him in so many ways. He hadn't expected to suddenly have three new people in his house, and he certainly hadn't expected this huge party for my sister. "Nothing", I muttered, turning back to my paper. I sent a mental message to Edward, telling him to leave it alone.

"You're not an inconvenience". I clenched my fists angrily as Edward once again commented on my thoughts. Now he was doing it in front of Carlisle, too. As expected, Carlisle put a hand on my shoulder as he assured me. "Of course you're not, Alexandria. Please, tell me what it is you need". I shook my head and jotted down another math problem from the curriculum book in front of me. Hopefully my silence could convey that I wanted them to leave me alone so I could focus.  

I should have known better. Edward could never just leave people alone. He was always poking around in our minds, ready to announce our inner thoughts to anybody who asked. "Alexandria is having a difficult time focusing down here and wishes to take the book to her bedroom. She's too worried about being an inconvenience to ask you if it's alright". I slammed the book shut, ready to storm up to my bedroom without it. Was I really allowed no privacy? Not even within my own mind?

Unbothered by Edward's interference or my burst of temper, Carlisle smiled at me. "Of course you can take the book to your room, Lex. Any of my books. Simply walk into my library any time you want and you can borrow any of them for as long as you need. You don't have to ask, alright?" I forced a smile, trying to sound sincere as I thanked him. I would have to start censoring my thoughts, if that was even possible. Edward was a spy for Carlisle, even if Carlisle didn't want him to be. Edward clearly couldn't be trusted, even with the most unimportant things.