The Unwanted Imprint

Chapter 3

Carlisle had thought that they might have some resistance, specifically from Edward and Rosalie, and as it turned out, he had been right about that.

"You want her to live with us?" Rosalie asked incredulously. They were all gathered in the living room,with Nichole having been moved into Carlisle and Esme's room for the time being, and she was looking at Carlisle and Esme in shock. "Please tell me that you're joking."

"They're not." Edward murmured. "They have full intentions of having the human girl live here with us."

"Nichole." Esme said firmly. "Her name is Nichole."

"Well, it seems like you've already made up your mind about this." Rosalie spat, and Carlisle shook his head. "Nothing has been decided yet." He responded. "We wanted to get everyone's opinions about this before we decided what to do."

"Jasper is starting to get his blood lust under control." Alice spoke up. "Personally, I don't see any problem with having Nichole live with us. I know that I would love to have a younger sister." She seemed all for it, excited even, and she looked to Jasper to see what he had to say on the subject.

The former Civil War soldier nodded his head. "I think that I would be able to control myself if she were to live with us." He spoke slowly, deliberately, choosing his words carefully. "But there is just one problem. She has no idea what we are, and if she is going to be living with us, then she is going to have to be told. We don't know how she is going to react. She may be perfectly calm about it, but there is also the chance of her not being so calm about it."

"It's clear that everyone has differing opinions about this." Carlisle said as he moved his gaze between each of his family members. "Which is why we're going to put it to a vote."

"Well, my vote is no." Rosalie said sharply. "And if any of you say anything other than that, you're idiots."

"Having a human live with us would be dangerous and reckless." Edward said, siding with Rosalie on the matter. "What if the Volturi were to find out about it? I'm saying no."

"I think that she would be a nice change, for all of us." Alice stated. "Yes, it would be a risk, but I think that it's a risk that we should take, so my vote is yes."

"Jasper?" Carlisle asked, and Jasper was silent for a moment before responding. "It would be a definite risk having her here, but it would also be a pleasant change. We would be able to be around something alive, be around a human other than school hours. Ultimately, I don't think that the choice should be up to us, but to Nichole. She has to know about us, as well as know the risk of being associated with vampires. If she is willing to risk the dangers, then I see no problem with her being here."

Alice squealed and she hugged Jasper tightly, causing Carlisle to chuckle a little bit.

"I'm going to have to side with Alice and Jasper on this one." Emmett said after glancing nervously in Rosalie's direction. "I think that having a new person here would be pretty fun actually."

"You're undecided." Edward said to Carlisle. "We all know that Esme would like nothing more than to have Nichole join our family, but you are still unsure."

Carlisle nodded his head. "Nichole seems like a very nice girl and she would be a good addition to the family, but I have to say that the possible dangers involved give me pause."

"There would also be dangers if we were to turn her away." Esme snapped. "The foster system is no good these days, it could hardly care less about the children that are in its system."

"She would be better off there than here." Rosalie insisted. "A human living with a group of vampires? Esme, it would only be a matter of time before something was to happen to her, and you know that too."

Suddenly there was a gasp from Alice. Her eyes were squeezed shut, and she had a deep frown on her face.

"Alice, what is it?" Carlisle asked urgently. "What do you see?"

"It...it's Nichole." Alice stated. "At least I think that it's her. She's in a foster home, but...but her father managed to regain custody of her. Hold on...I'm in a cemetery now, there's a gravestone in front of me, it says...it says Nichole Anne Williams, born August 2, 1992, died April 20, 2006."

"That's one month from now." Edward said in a quiet voice. "If she goes into the foster system, then she's going to die, exactly one month from today."

Silence filled the room after that, everyone knew that Nichole's fate had been decided. Carlisle wasn't going to put her in the foster care system, not now that they knew a likely outcome of it was going to be Nichole's death.

"I suppose that its been decided then." Carlisle said. "We have no choice, now. Nichole is going to be living with us."

"I can't believe this!" Rosalie shouted as she stood up. "You can't actually be considering this!"

"Rosalie, we don't have a choice." Carlisle said, his tone gentle but firm. "If we put her in the foster system, knowing that there's a great possibility of her being put back in the care of her father, then her death, if it happened, would be on our hands, and that is something that I am not going to let happen. Jasper is right though, the choice has to be hers. Alice, would you mind talking to her?"

"Of course." Alice responded with a nod of her head. "I'll tell her about us, as well as the vision that I just had."

"Thank you. After that, the choice is up to her. If she wants to remain here with us after that, wonderful. But if she wants to go back to her father or take her chances with the foster system, then we have no choice but to respect her wishes."

Rosalie scoffed and she stormed out of the room, and Emmett quickly stood up from his spot on the couch. "I'll go and talk to her." He said before quickly disappearing after her. It had been decided then. If Nichole agreed to it, then she had just become the newest member of the Cullen family.