Caterina Bianchi is a nomad. When an old friend is in need of help, she travels to Washington to stand as a witness against the Volturi. Seth Clearwater is everything Caterina should hate, but is he really?
[breaking dawn]
[caterina bianchi 1]
bega...
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The snow fell quietly to the ground that January. Only days had passed since the confrontation with the Volturi, though it seemed like years had passed with how normal everything seemed. Caterina sat on a wooden bench that she would have normally remarked as uncomfortable in any other circumstance. She watched as patients and visitors entered Seattle Children's Hospital, the smell of salty tears and bouquets of flowers invading her senses. Her eyes were drawn to the ground, though, sharp nails clashing with sharp teeth as her foot tapped on the cement way too fast to be human.
Finally, she stood up, the bench shaking with the force. As she entered the hospital, the quiet night shifted into bright artificial lights and screaming, crying. A team of nurses pushed a gurney through a set of heavy doors with a doctor straddling an unconscious patient, pushing heavily into his chest to keep his heart beating. Caterina's eyes widened and she knew that if she had one, her heart would be beating uncontrollably out of fear. Despite that, she swallowed the venom that had pooled in her mouth and walked to the help desk where a pale woman with lackluster black hair and dull blue eyes offered her assistance.
"I'm looking for Dr. Hale? I'm her sister." Caterina said the first relation that came to mind.
The woman, whose ID badge read "Lucille", held up her index finger as she began typing on her computer, muttering under her breath, "The whole damn family must be attractive." When she finished typing, she picked up the phone and announced, "Paging Dr. Hale to the front. Paging Dr. Hale to the front."
Rosalie soon walked through the doors, a white lab coat covering her navy red dress and heels effectively letting Caterina know that she had arrived. When she noticed the other blonde vampire, Rosalie stopped suddenly, her expression becoming worried.
"I need to speak to you. Alone."
The smell of coffee was repulsive to both vampires but Rosalie knew the breakroom was the only place they would get any privacy.
"Cat, what's wrong? Is it Ness?" Caterina held back a laugh as she knew that Rosalie would never call her niece the nickname that Jacob had given her.
"No, no. None of that. So pediatrics? I mean, I don't know why I expected anything else, you're great with kids. I'm willing to bet you're Nessie's favor-" Caterina rambled until Rosalie stopped her.
"Caterina! I know you didn't come all the way up here to tell me how I'm Renesemee's favorite aunt, what's wrong?" Rose spoke gently and Caterina knew she used that voice with her patients.
"Something's wrong," was all that Caterina could say. Rosalie urged her to continue but the older vampire just turned to the small mirror that she figured doctors probably used to freshen up and began rubbing vigorously at her face. Before Rosalie could say anything, Caterina had already turned around, her cheeks flushed with color.
"I covered it up with makeup when I noticed it this morning."
The room was silent for the next few minutes as Rosalie attempted to articulate the right words to say. She moved closer, placing her pale hand on the red skin and letting her golden eyes take in the anomaly before her.
"It's soft."
"What?" Ruby met topaz in a gleam of confusion and worry.
"Your skin. It's soft." Rosalie's hands moved from Caterina's face to her neck then down to her arms. "Your arms are still the same, the softness stops at about here," Rosalie's finger found itself halfway down Caterina's neck.
"Why did you come to me?" Rose's question held no malice or ill intent, only true confusion.
"I didn't want to go to Carlisle for fear that his thoughts might get to Edward. Believe it or not, you have the most control over your thoughts than anyone I've ever met," Caterina mused, her venom coated teeth pulling her lip in between them.
"I don't want people in my head."
"I understand. So what do you think is wrong with me?" The look of pure, untethered fear in Caterina's eyes only reminded Rosalie of her last moments as a human, when fire overtook her body and she swore that death would surely suffice.
"I'll have to do some research, though it might be pointless, but I believe you might be displaying human characteristics as a way of combating your imprint. I can't be sure the extent to which this will go, Cat." Rose placed her hand gently on Caterina's shoulder. Cat nodded and Rosalie whispered, "I won't tell anyone, don't worry." That proved the end to their conversation and Caterina stood up to leave, a new feeling of sadness washing over her.
The Cullen house was silent when she returned, the only sound being a steady heartbeat and a low hum of a song she didn't recognize. Caterina knew immediately it was Seth, the pull in her chest felt sated and she knew a blush covered her cheeks. She found him sitting on the back porch, laying on a loveseat with his hands behind his head and his brown eyes closed. Caterina had decided days ago that brown was her favorite color, more specifically, the brown that represented Seth's irises would forever glow as her favorite.
"Seth," even as gently as she spoke, her voice still startled him.
"Woah, your cheeks." He stood up quickly, concern laced in his eyes and his warm hand found its way to Caterina's cheek.
"Follow me." She didn't have to say it twice. Hell, if she hadn't said it at all, Seth would have still followed her. He followed her to a bedroom on the third floor, in which the only contents were a large made bed covered in a white duvet, a small dark brown dresser, and an off-white loveseat - half of which was covered in first edition books.
Before Seth could ask what they were doing in the room, Caterina placed a passionate kiss on his lips, grabbing forcefully at his short brown hair to which he responded by almost desperately pulling her waist towards him.
"A-are you su-" Before he could finish, Caterina had already pulled him down onto the bed. He laid passionate kisses on her neck and collarbones and she welcomed them fervently. She pulled at his white t-shirt before deciding that he was taking too long and simply ripped the shirt from his body.
He stared in awe at the blonde beneath him, he had never seen her act so feral before that his breath caught in his throat before he performed the same destruction of her clothing. Caterina clung to Seth's body heat, pulling and scratching his arms, which only pushed him further down the rabbit hole that was her. They both knew that once they had tasted poison, they could never go back. Neither of them cared.
