by Alicorn
"No, that's fine," she said. "I ate a badger last week, and I think I've got the hang of it."
"It's not quite that simple," I said. "One badger, when you've been eating humans for more than a century, doesn't mean you're a vegetarian overnight." Truthfully, I thought she was practiced enough to cover her hunting even if she went back to eating humans. But Gianna was still living with the family.
"Well, I won't hunt any humans in your territory, anyway," said Maggie. "That's just obvious. I can go to Sweden or something when I'm hungry if I decide animals aren't for me. Which I guess they might not be, I mean, badger blood, ick, but it wasn't that bad and it definitely wasn't my mate, right?"
"Right," I said dubiously. "Um, well, I can't reallystop you from visiting, but... uh... Maggie, I have a... a pet human." I didn't know how else to summarize the situation believably to someone who thought of humans the way Maggie appeared to. "You can't eat her. I don't know if I can trust you around her."
"You have a pet human?" asked Maggie, squealing over this quaintness the way I'd expect Renée to exclaim about someone having a sugar glider or a domesticated fox.
"She's not really a pet, but she lives here and Aro basically gave her to me and I'm not allowed to let her go, and... it's a really long story," I said. "But she is absolutely not for eating, and I don't know whether I can expect you toabsolutely not eat her."
"I will absolutely not eat her," swore Maggie. "Up till the badger I was doing really well at the only eating men thing, too! It's like, women don't even look like food anymore, you know what I mean?" She sounded so pleased with herself. "It's two whole layers of not eating your human. So I'm not going to hurt your pet, Bella, it's okay!"
"All right," I said, shrugging. I'd give Ilario a heads up, but he practically supervised Gianna all the time anyway; he wouldn't be significantly inconvenienced by serving as her bodyguard. "I'll let the others know that you're planning to visit, then."
"See you soon, Bella!" said Maggie.
I hung up the phone. "That," I said, "is going to be interesting."
* * *
Ilario was on high alert the moment I told him Maggie was coming. He bristled when I said that I'd described Gianna as my "pet human", although Gianna herself didn't seem that bothered - it was a step up from the Volturi, at any rate. But Ilario said he'd keep a close eye on Gianna and make sure Maggie didn't try to eat her.
"If," I said, "something does happen - I don't think it will, Ilario, but if - you have got to hold your breath. I got a whiff of human blood in the Amazon and it was... I wasn't ready for it. You're not ready for it now. Fight Maggie off of Gianna if you have to until someone comes to help, butdon't breathe." He accepted this instruction solemnly.
Edward found Jasper and Alice for me and told them, giving the empath some more time away from my unsettlingly non-emotional presence. I informed Carlisle, Esme, Rosalie, and Emmett. Carlisle seemed impressed that I'd gotten a non-vegetarian to go so far as to try eating an animal, although I wasn't sure how much of it was my own doing and how much of it was Maggie's native curiosity. Emmett was disappointed that Maggie was coming alone, as she wasn't as interesting a partner for sparring as Siobhan.
Maggie arrived on a Tuesday, having swum most of the way and climbed up the nearest fjord. Her curls were still wet when she found our house. Rosalie was up on the roof and the first to see her coming, but everyone knew by the time she entered the yard, and I was waiting to greet her; Ilario was with Gianna, indoors.
"Hi, Bella!" said Maggie with a great big smile. Her eyes were a bright gold, as expected if she hadn't eaten any humans since her badger. She'd probably eaten an animal more recently, though, as the gold was quite light and not darkened with hunger - so it was possible it had gone badger, human, some other animal. There was no way for me to be sure.
"Hi, Maggie," I replied. "Uh, welcome to our home."
"This is a big house," she remarked. "I guess there are a whole lot of you. Does your pet live here or do you put her someplace else?" She peered around with more physical movement than was really necessary, turning her head to look at things that she could have seen peripherally and standing on her toes for negligible improvements in vantage point. It made her look exciteable, maybe a few years younger than she physically was. (When she held still and I corrected for vampirism, I guessed she'd been twenty-five when turned.)
"She lives in this house," I said. "Edward and I actually have our own cottage, that way." I waved in the relevant direction. "Everybody else is based here, including Gianna. That's her name."
"Gi-an-na," said Maggie, tasting the word. "Pretty. I want to hear your long story about how you got a pet human! It's so weird, I've never heard of anybody keeping one before."
I was beginning to regret that description very much. "She's really not a pet," I said. "It's just that I'll be in trouble with the Volturi if she goes off by herself, so she lives here for now."
"I want the story anyway," said Maggie implacably.
I told it to her, although I skimped on the exact reasoning behind why I'd chosen to designate Gianna as a surrogate mother; better to let that sound to outside parties like a deeply held desire instead of a way to save Gianna's life. I'd cozied up to the idea of having a baby over time, but when I'd first said it, it hadn't been my favorite plan ever - but Maggie didn't have to know that. Even if I wasn't immune to her power, she couldn't detect lies by omission.
The Irish vampire was absolutely tickled by the entire thing. "So cute!" she cried when I'd signaled the conclusion of the explanation.
I decided it was wise to check whether Maggie could tell when I was lying, with something that no one, even my family, would be able to call me on. "She mostly looked scared, not cute, when I told her I was bringing her home," I said. "But once I got her calmed down it took her just twenty minutes to get packed." It had been eighteen, but Gianna hadn't timed it and wouldn't remember that precisely if she had.
Maggie didn't so much as twitch. "That's a long time," she pointed out.
"For a human it's not. I think she left some things behind, she was in such a hurry to get out."
"The Volturi must sure have scared her," cooed Maggie. Like she was talking about a kitten, who could be soothed with petting. Although I supposed a kitten wouldn't find a vampire's petting to be soothing at all; animals hated being around vampires.
"Yep," I said. "That'll happen when people you can't effectively oppose plot your death."
"I want to meet her," said Maggie decisively.
"I'm not sure that's a good idea..." I began. I hadn't explained about Ilario's fraternal status; as far as Maggie knew our coven consisted of four mated pairs, one miscellaneous newborn of unknown provenance, and one pet Gianna.
"I told you I wasn't going to eat her!" interrupted Maggie, and I gritted my teeth.
"Don't," I said, "interrupt me. That's a good way to seriously annoy me."
"Oh," said Maggie, eyes open very wide. "I'm sorry. But I'm not going to eat her, really. Why else would it be a bad idea?"
"Because Ilario - that's the newborn - probably wouldn't like it. He's very protective of her," I said. "And he knows you are not a lifelong vegetarian. He barely trusts himself around her, and he's never eaten a human since turning back in July."
"Are they mates, or whatever it is when one's a human?" asked Maggie. "Like you and Edward before you turned?"
"No, he's her brother," I said. "He was dying, and she wanted him saved, so we brought him up here and turned him."
"Awwww," said Maggie, obviously finding this outrageously adorable. "But she's yours. Aro gave her to you, not him. So I can meet her if you say so, right?"
I dragged a hand through my hair tiredly. "She's not really my pet," I said. "I don't boss her around or anything."
"Then her brother shouldn't either," said Maggie reasonably. "Why don't you ask her if she'll meet me?"
This... I had no ready objection to.
I heard Alice inside, askin
g Gianna if she wanted to be introduced to Maggie; of course my conversation had been audible to everyone except Gianna herself.
I heard Gianna dithering, and Maggie - fidgeting, swaying, head-turning Maggie - went completely still.
Gianna finally said, "All right, then," and Ilario grumbled and Maggie smiled -
My pet human, closely followed by her brother, walked out the back door -
And Maggie just stared.
* * *
Gianna rapidly became self-conscious under Maggie's fixed attention, and blushed, taking a little half step to get behind Ilario. Ilario stared Maggie down, growling in the back of his throat.
Maggie's gaze flicked to Ilario and became a perturbed glare. She leaned to try to see Gianna around him, but he got in her way, and she made a whining noise. Then Maggie whirled to face me.
"I'll fight you for her," she said.
There was a second's silence as everyone processed that. More family exited the house to get a closer look at the proceedings. "Um," I said eloquently. Ilario hissed.
"Or you could just give her to me if you don't want to fight," wheedled Maggie.
"Not wanting to fight is... only part of the problem with me giving her to you," I said. Maggie didn't appear to fill in the blanks herself, so I explained. "I know I used the word "pet" when I first told you about her, but I really shouldn't have, it was just a shorthand for the long story I just told you about why she lives with us. Which story, you'll remember, includes the part where I am not allowed to let her leave. Conveniently, she hasn't been inclined to try, but both I and she could be in a bad place with the Volturi if they show up and find that I'm not at least sort of supervising her. Even if she actually belonged to me, and I was comfortable doing whatever I wanted with that, there's Ilario." I pointed him out. "He's kind of attached to her. I don't think he likes the idea of you taking possession of his sister much. He probably wouldn't stop Gianna if she tried to leave - I'd need to do that myself - but unless she says otherwise he's acting as her protector."
Ilario hissed at Maggie again, confirming this guess.
"But I want her," said Maggie, as though nothing I'd said had sunk in at all.
The entire population of the house was scattered around the lawn at this point, watching things unfold. Edward turned to Alice. "Was I this ridiculous?" he asked her.
"You were worse," said Alice placidly.
"Huh?" said Maggie, looking their way.
Alice just smiled, the picture of innocence; Edward strolled around Ilario and Gianna to stand next to me.
Gianna peeped around Ilario's arm to look at Maggie; predictably, this meant that Maggie could see her too, and they held eye contact for a few seconds. Gianna was mostly confused, green eyes blinking more rapidly than usual; a flush gradually returned to her cheeks. Maggie's hands crept up towards her own face, where they clasped under her chin to accompany an expression that was half enraptured longing and half... anxiety of some kind, maybe just unfamiliarity with the situation. Or she was confused about wanting me to give her Gianna, however certain she was on the fact of the matter.
"I don't understand," said Gianna softly.
"You're so pretty!" exclaimed Maggie, addressing Gianna directly for the first time. Gianna's blush got darker, and Maggie started shifting her weight from foot to foot, perhaps restraining an urge to rush forward and pick up the object of her interest. She looked back to me. "I'll take good care of her," she pleaded.
Ilario was beginning to look confused himself. He turned his head marginally to be able to see Gianna, a dubious expression on his face. "Refresh my memory," he said slowly, in Italian, "as to how... exactly... this works. I thought she was trying to get permission to drink your blood, but..."
Gianna shrank away from her brother, taking two steps backward. Maggie didn't seem to understand Italian, but when she saw Gianna leaving the sphere of Ilario's protection, she held out her arms eagerly as though expecting Gianna to run straight to her. She didn't; instead she backed towards Carlisle and Esme, who were close to the house. Ilario didn't move a muscle once she started inching away from him, just stood there looking stunned.
Maggie dropped her arms. "What's going on now?" she asked, sounding lost.
Ilario spun in place and stalked out of the yard, passing me and Edward on his way out. "Look after my sister," he said through gritted teeth as he went.
* * *
"I didn't tell him," Gianna said frantically. Rosalie and Emmett had not-so-gently encouraged Maggie to join them for a walk, and Alice and Jasper were looking for Ilario to calm him down, while the rest of us talked to the resident human inside. "It - it honestly didn't seem to matter, I wasn't seeing anyone and wasn't looking, I didn't want to make some kind of huge civil rights issue out of my relationship with my brother if I didn't have to - so - he didn't know."
"He was surprised," acknowledged Edward. "I think he'll get over it... but this wasn't the best way for him to find out."
"It's not even as though I had a secret girlfriend all along and he caught us together!" cried Gianna. "I'd never seen Maggie once before today!"
"I don't think Maggie meant to hurt you, sweetheart," soothed Esme. "She didn't know."
"That said," I put in, "we need to figure out what to do about her. And Gianna, that's mostly up to you."
"But I don't know," said Gianna. "I don't know hardly anything about her - she just showed up - I mean, she's beautiful, of course she is, she's a vampire, but she also talked about me while I was standing right there like I was the family dog or something. And she used to eat people, she might do it again..."
"She is new to vegetarianism, and for that matter to thinking of humans as people," said Carlisle gently, "but if anything can keep her on course, you can, Gianna."
"That's a hell of a responsibility to put on her," I said. "Gianna, if Maggie kills people, she kills people - not you. She ate her first animal without knowing you existed; if she eats her eight thousandth human after knowing you exist, that doesn't make you any more guilty for that death than for the last seven thousand nine hundred and ninety-nine. Or however many." Gianna nodded mutely; Esme patted her on the back with an encouraging smile.
"That said," I went on, "if you want to be with her, or give it a try, or whatever, it still has to be here or at least compatible with me and Edward tagging along - I've had to visit the Volturi without extensive advance planning for it twice now. If I run into them again unexpectedly during the next ten months, I don't want you or me or anybody dying over you moving to Ireland when you're supposedly my "gift" from Aro. It was one thing to leave you behind while we went to South America, surrounded by people the Volturi know are our coven and at our known address; sending you off with Maggie would be something else entirely."
"I understand. I'm not planning to run away," Gianna said. "I've heard them conducting "trials" before... I don't want to be the defendant."
"And I, for one, am going to cast a solid no vote on tolerating a non-vegetarian in the family the way the Denalis are putting up with Laurent," I said. "This is not as sticky a situation as that: Gianna's a human and not subject to the same impulses. She won't fly into a rage if something happens to Maggie. Right?" I asked, looking to Gianna. "If I go outside and find that Maggie's kidnapped some Norwegians and is snacking on them and some are still alive and salvageable, it's okay with you if I have to attack her to make her quit?"
Gianna nodded, although she looked a little queasy.
"So... if Gianna decides to "give it a try" with Maggie, you propose that we de facto add Maggie to the family until she slips up?" asked Edward.
"Not "slips up"... anyone can do that. It's awful and we should avoid it. But once it actually happens, then it's not necessarily a great predictor of future behavior in vampires who've already eaten humans, which Maggie has. If shedecides to eat humans again, then that's it."
Edward nodded. "The good news is that Maggie is very trustworthy once pinned down to a commitment. He
r power didn't come out of nowhere - she has a solid respect for the truth and prides herself on honesty and keeping her promises."
"That's a relief," I said. "But this is all if Gianna decides she's up for it. You don't have to, Gianna," I told her. "You're free to accept or reject Maggie - now, or later, or whatever you like. I'm not entirely sure what will happen after you turn if you don't see her once you're a vampire, but at least for now, the ball's in your court - on turning as well, for that matter, although personally I still recommend it unless you really don't care for Maggie. But you don'thave to."
"Thank you, Bella," said Gianna in a low voice.
* * *
Edward and I went looking for Maggie. She was still with Emmett and Rosalie, who were standing nearby looking respectively amused and bored while our visitor sat on the edge of a fjord staring dejectedly at the water.
When we approached, Maggie perked up at once and sprang to her feet. "What'd she say? Can I talk to her?"
"She hasn't decided yet," I said levelly.
Maggie actually hopped up and down in frustration. "This isn't fair! It's not supposed to be complicated! When Siobhan found Liam she didn't have to work hard to convince him to leave his old coven and even fight them off, let alone to be with her at all! Why'd she have to still be a human? Can't you just turn her and make it simple?"
"Not now, I can't," I said. "She can't carry a baby if she's a vampire, which I already told you she has to do if Aro's going to be kept from dealing some extra death. Anyway, that's her own choice too, if she wants to turn. She's liked the idea in the past, but if she decides she doesn't care for you, then she might decide against it specifically for that reason."
Maggie threaded her fingers between her brightly orange ringlets and moaned. "But she's supposed to be mine! Why shouldn't she want me? Aren't I nice?"