Shadowborn POV
After leaving the hospital, Niklaus went to find Freya. After 800 years, her scent is extremely easy for him to pick out, even in a town with over 3,000 residents.
He found her walking along the main street, seemingly invisible to everyone around her.
While both Niklaus and Freya have spent a lot of time mingling with humans, they prefer to do so from a 3rd-person perspective.
Niklaus approaches her from behind and falls into step with her.
"So, princess, how's the town treating you so far?"
"It's not that bad, Dad. There really aren't many people, and the weather seems perfect for us. We'll have to make sure we stay at home if the sun ever comes out. How was your meeting with the local coven leader?"
Niklaus thought back to his meeting with Carlisle before answering. "He seems amicable enough. As long as we don't have any problems with the rest of his family, everything should be fine."
"Family?" Freya asks, slightly confused. The only covens that acted as families that she knew of were her father's and her uncle Amun's.
"Yes, family. Doctor Cullen and his wife adopted all of their children over the years. I don't know who exactly they are, but look out for vampires with the name Cullen, and you should find them fairly easily. I'll go and look into some records later to see if I can find them."
Freya nodded at that, before he father asked, "So what have you found out so far?"
"Possibly shifters nearby. There is a tribe with a history, but no one seems to have shifted yet. That may change with our arrival, though."
"Indeed, red-eyed vampires can cause shifting in their vicinity. Let's find out what land their tribe holds and avoid it. The Cullens don't seem to have any issues so far, so we can probably manage. By the way, Doctor Cullen has golden eyes. We should watch to see if anything strange is going on. I can't imagine a vampire willingly weakening himself like that, so it's possible that a third party is involved."
Freya nods her head, "I'll keep an eye out and see what I can find. There is always the possibility that they are doing it of their own choice, though. Perhaps they simply don't want to hurt any humans. Could be their morals that passed over from their human lives"
"Well, just watch for anything suspicious. It isn't really our problem either way. I have no intention of getting involved with another family simply out of curiosity."
Freya listened seriously. There had been a couple of instances where they had gotten needlessly involved in another coven's conflict, only for it to cause them more trouble than it was worth.
After walking along the street for a while, Freya spoke up again.
"I met with the chief of police earlier. Said he wanted to meet the 'new additions' to the town. I gave him the sibling story we usually use. Turns out his daughter will be here soon, and she'll be starting school on the same day as us."
Niklaus gave a questioning look. "So? Why would I care about some random human I've never even met before?"
"I was just thinking we could use her arrival to somewhat cover our own. Draw people's attention to her so we're less likely to be noticed. I never said you had to 'mingle with the humans'."
Niklaus thought the suggestion had merit. They certainly didn't seek out attention, and if they could avoid it, then they would at any opportunity.
Before he could respond, his daughter spoke up again. "Although, maybe you should give some humans a chance. Who knows, maybe you'll find your mate among them. I'm quite interested to meet my future mother, you know," she said with a slight chuckle.
Niklaus rolled his eyes. He had long since given up the idea of having a mate. He wasn't against the idea. In fact, if she suddenly walked into his life, he would accept her with no difficulty at all. He already knew that the bond matched people with their perfect partner, so why fight it?
Unfortunately, after all this time, he found it far more likely that his mate was simply a human whom he had never met. He had heard of a few cases of a mate dying simply due to old age before their vampire mate could find and eventually turn them.
Rather than worry about his own love life, or lack thereof, he would rather focus on finding Freya's mate instead. At least one of them deserved to be happy.
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Cullens POV
The Cullen residence was isolated along a desolate road, surrounded by trees. Much like the new Shadowborn residence.
It was a large, modern construct that practically screamed wealth. Wooden panels lined the entire outside of the second floor, a two car garage sat near the entrance, and nearly the entire front of the house was glass.
Inside, Emmet and Jasper were engrossed with a racing game on the large TV in the living room. Rosalie occupied a couch nearby, reading a book while listening to the two boys.
Esme was working in the kitchen. She had heard about Edward's human mate, and was determined to perfect her cooking before she visited the house.
Upstairs, Alice was absorbed in her closet. Edward's, Jasper's and her mates were all due to meet them in school in a week. She was obsessing with making the perfect first impression.
Edward was in his room, brooding as always. Depressing music flowing from his piano.
While everyone was occupied, Carlisle's black Mercedes pulled up in front of the house. Parking it in front as the garage was full, he stepped out and entered the house.
"Everybody gather for a meeting," he called out to the house, everyone speeding towards the dining table.
Carlisle sat at the head of the table, with Esme and Edward beside him. Alice and Jasper sitting by Esme, while Rosalie and Emmet sat beside Edward.
There were three empty chairs. Something Alice insisted on as the time for meeting their new family members grew closer.
Carlisle addressed them all. "There are a new pair of vampires in town. They will be staying for around a year, and will be attending the same school as all of you."
Everyone looked alert and slightly worried. Except for Alice of course. The moment Carlisle spoke, a spark of excitement appeared in her eye and a radiant smile appeared on her face. Feeling her emotions, Jasper completely calmed down from his apprehensive state.
He had long since learned to trust his sister's visions. They were what brought him to his new family, and soon they would bring him towards his mate as well.
Looking at Alice's face, Carlisle had already confirmed his theory, but for the benefit of everyone else still decided to bring it up with Alice.
"From your expression, I think my theory about them being your mates must be fairly accurate," he stated, while smiling gently towards her. It warmed his heart to see his children happy.
Alice's smile grew slight while she nodded her head excitedly. "Yep! My visions have been happening a lot more recently, which means they are very close. So, what were they like? How does his voice sound? What does he like? Where do they live? Did you get his phone number?"
Alice rattled off too many questions for Carlisle to answer properly, so he waited patiently for her to finish. Seeing Alice's enthusiasm, the others calmed down as well. They already knew that Alice and Jasper's mates were arriving, so there was nothing to worry about if they were the ones that were here. Esme smiled seeing her daughter fire off questions too fast for anyone else to get a word in.
Carlisle patiently waiting for Alice to calm down before speaking again. "I only met one of them today. Alice's mate. His name is Niklaus. He came to discuss their stay in Forks for the final year of high school. Since we have a permanent residence here, I suppose he wanted to avoid any friction that could be caused by simply arriving unannounced.
We only discussed the important details, so no phone number or address I'm afraid. They already have feeding arrangements made, so we won't have to worry about humans disappearing over the next year."
Rosalie frowned slightly at that. "So they feed on humans?" She wanted nothing more than to trust in her sister's visions of the pair, but she couldn't disregard a possible threat to her family.
"They feed on human blood, but not live humans. They get their blood from various blood banks, and they have already made arrangements to have it delivered to their house. Niklaus told me that the only live humans they feed on are criminals that they find at night."
Rosalie relaxed slightly at that. It wasn't realistic to expect all vampires to be vegetarian just because her family were. Even if those vampires were her siblings mates.
"There wasn't any more particularly important information I gathered. Though, they were significantly older than I thought they would be though."
Alice, Jasper and, surprisingly, Emmet perked up at that. Emmet had no-one except Jasper to spar with properly. The thought of two new, old, and most likely experienced new opponents sparked his competitive nature.
"How old are they?" Esme asked from the side. She knew that neither of her children would mind about their mates ages. Age meant very little to a vampire anyway. She was simply curious.
Carlisle recalled in his head before answering, "Jasper's mate, Freya, turned 800 years old at the start of this year. As for Niklaus, even he isn't entirely sure. He was a member of the Original coven, the first vampires in the world, so he estimates he should be slightly older than 8,000 years."
Well, the family certainly weren't expecting that. They were expecting them to be a couple of hundred years old at most. The only people who didn't seem surprised were Edward, Jasper and Alice.
Edward had already seen the conversation in Carlisle's mind, so this wasn't new to him.
Jasper was caught up with how right the name Freya sounded.
Alice, on the other hand, sat with a slightly smug look on her face. She already knew from a vision she had that Niklaus had never been with another woman on the chance that he might meet his mate in the future. To hear that her future husband had waiting over 8000 years just for her made her feel extremely happy.
Esme spoke up next.
"Wasn't the Original coven supposed to be gone. I thought all of them had died?"
"I thought so as well. After my conversation with Niklaus, I looked into some old texts I had. After the death of the progenitor, there hasn't been any record of any other coven member dying. They simply scattered and disappeared, there was no record of a reason for this disbandment aside from the coven leaders death. Although, judging from my meeting, I can say that the texts weren't entirely accurate. The Originals are described as evil, unfeeling monsters with no regard for anyone but themselves. Niklaus, on the other hand, didn't strike me like that at all.
Maybe slightly arrogant and commanding, but that's to be expected from someone as old as he is. Judging by his relationship with Freya, he obviously cares about people. Maybe just the people he has grown close to, but people nonetheless."
The word 'monsters' sent a slight feeling of deja-vu through Edward's mind.
Rosalie looked up, "What do you mean by relationship? They aren't together, are they?"
Carlisle shook his head. "No, from what Niklaus told me, Freya is his adopted daughter. Neither of you need to worry when interacting with them," he said while looking at Alice and Jasper.
Emmet whistled slightly. "Looks like Jazz is gonna have a hard time. With Alice as his mother-in-law, that's gotta be a nightmare in the future"
Jasper's eyes widened slightly with realisation, before his head dropped slightly. He adored his sister to death, but she could be extraordinarily bossy at times.
Esme clapped her hands slightly to gather everyone's attention.
"Enough worrying about what might or might not happen for now. You'll all meet them next week, so see for yourself and make your own judgements. There is no point judging them based on history that may not even be true, you can simply ask them about their lives when you meet."
As everyone got up to leave, Alice jumped up from her seat before darting back up to her room. She still hadn't decided what to wear for her first meeting with him yet.
Niklaus
The family shook their heads at her antics. They all knew she would be stressing about this all week until the day finally came.