A Thousand Years // Edward Cullen

Chapter 8

"Edward!" Esme called from downstairs, "Can you come here a minute?"
Edward was downstairs in a second only to find that the rest of the Cullen family was already there and seated except for Emmett who was leaning against the railing of the stairs.

"What's up?" Alice inquired.

Esme and Carlisle exchanged looks before Carlisle spoke, "We are going to be having some guests over in a few hours."
"Ooh! Is it our cousins?" Rose inquired. They were the only guests they got that she enjoyed.

Esme shook her head, "They are old friends of ours who just recently moved back here. Carlisle knew them before Edward, and I joined the family."

Edward's eyebrows rose. They must be really old friends if Carlisle knew them even before Edward became a vampire.

"They'll be here in about an hour," Carlisle explained. "The father and I went to college together. He was a little more serious about studying than I was. Which is probably why he got better grades. Anyway, they're new to Forks and the parents have been hoping that you kids and their kids would bond. It's hard to come by friends when you are not human."
"Tell me about it," Rose muttered.

Emmett smirked at the back of the girl's head, "Anything you want us to do before they get here?"

Carlisle nodded, "Go hunting. Get your thirst out of your system. I know it's not like we're having humans over, but they have little ones and we don't wish to scare them."
The kids all nodded in understanding before sprinting upstairs to change into hunting attire. Edward of course was the first one out the door and already up to the ridge before his siblings were out the door. He stood atop the cliff, looking out over the vast water below him. He took a deep breath and smelt the air. He could smell the blood of different kinds of animals around him, but he wanted to make a kill other than a squirrel or a rabbit.

Suddenly he caught wind of the blood of a deer... but there was something off. There was the heartbeat... the scent of blood... but for some reason it didn't make him thirsty. Shaking his head, deciding that it was just because he wasn't overly thirsty, Edward sprinted off in the direction of the deer.

He found the creature about a mile from the house. It was just calmly walking through the woods, nibbling on some bushes here and there but completely oblivious to Edward watching her. It was a healthy white doe. Edward couldn't get a good look at her because she was hidden behind a cluster of bushes, but the white ears told him that it was an albino.

Edward slowly crept towards the deer, trying to not step on any branches. He froze when his foot touched a dry twig and it snapped. The deer froze but not like most. Its head didn't shoot up and its eyes didn't show any horror. Instead, the deer's ears pricked up with interest. Edward could hear the deer chew a few leaves before it slowly made its way out of the bushes and towards... Edward?

Edward frowned in puzzlement as the deer slowly strode out of the bushes and stood there, about ten feet from him, just staring. Edward was in a crouching position, one hand on the ground and his legs bent, prepared to pounce but he suddenly relaxed.

Edward had seen many beautiful animals in the world and had eaten many of them, but this deer was beyond beautiful. It's pure white coat was untouched and reflexed the sunlight off its coat. It's pretty white ears stood erect with interest and were pointed in Edward's direction. Its nose had a slight pink blush instead of a black color like most deer. What shocked Edward were it's huge blue eyes. They stared at Edward, unwavering.

Edward slowly rose to his full height, relaxing his body as he stared at the deer. Any other deer would have bounded off the moment he made a move, but this deer just watched him with curiosity. Edward took a few steps towards the doe when he almost had a heart attack when two huge creatures bounded through the bushes towards him.

Edward took several steps back to keep from getting trampled by the two beasts who now stood between him and the doe. The doe looked at the two creatures and almost seemed annoyed at their presence. Edward stared in shock at the two huge beasts before him. One was a giant albino stag, ten point horns and was at least twice the size of the doe. His legs were spread apart in anger and he was spouting grunts through his nose as if trying to intimidate Edward.

What really intimidated Edward was the massive white bear who stood next to the stag. It wasn't a polar bear... just a giant white grizzly bear but it was huge. Edward had taken down a grizzly before, but this bear was twice that size.

Edward took a few more steps backward, thinking of running but something happened. The doe scampered around the two male beasts and stood between Edward and them, facing the bear and the stag. The doe spread her legs apart to give her a stance before letting out an annoyed bellow. The stag and the bear both froze and seemed to relax but kept their piercing blue eyes on Edward.

The doe glanced at Edward over it's shoulder before turning to the stag and bear. With a single bound, the three animals were gone and Edward was left standing there, perplexed.

"EDWARD!" Alice called as she and the others ran up, "Found anything yet? We already finished."
Edward shrugged, "I'm not that hungry...."
Jasper frowned and waved his hand in front of Edward's face, "You seem out of it man. What's up?"
"Nothing." Edward replied. "Let's go before Carlisle's friends arrive."
When the kids came sprinting in through the back door, they heard a lot of voices downstairs in the living room. Guessing that the guests were already there, they slipped upstairs and changed out of their hunting attire before descending. Edward took longer than the rest which was completely unusual but none of the others seemed to notice.

When he came down the stairs, he found his four siblings standing on the stairs, frozen in place. Edward walked down and standing next to Alice, looked over at where Carlisle and Esme stood, greeting the guests. Edward felt his heart catch in his throat. Other than the two adults who stood with Carlisle and Esme, there were at least fifteen kids, the oldest being around Emmet's age and the youngest was just a baby. Most of the kids had apple red hair while all the others had jet black hair.

Esme noticed the Cullen kids and smiling, she called to them. All eyes turned towards the Cullen kids and that was when Edward felt a hand punch his insides.

The person who was holding the small baby turned and Edward was met with a huge pair of bright blue eyes, a head full of red hair and a beautiful smile.

"Hey guys!" Kamber Vicasi called.