Marble and Mahogany COMPLETE

Marble and Mahogany COMPLETE, J-N

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Marble and Mahogany
By letmesign
Summary:
Bella is broken and unstable, trying desperately to start her own life after leaving her
creator. Edward feels doomed to an eternity of wandering alone and finds himself hoping to find a
mate for the first time in his existence. AU--some dark themes.
Prologue One ~ Mahogany In The Moonlight
"
A gentleman is one who never hurts anyone's feelings unintentionally."
--Oscar Wilde
EPOV
I alternated between clenching and unclenching my jaw, then did the same with my fingers. Finally,
I slammed my fist on the table, the cheap metal groaning in protest. "Damn it, Alice! If you are intent
on guarding your thoughts from me, the least you could do is not make it so obvious. I swear, if I
have to listen to you chant the Polish national anthem one more time, I will rip your arms off."
Alice's honey-colored eyes went blank as an image flashed through her mind that proved that I
meant just what I said. She glowered at me and rubbed her arms protectively.
Instantly, a wave of guilt washed over me. I glared at Jasper. He smirked and then snarled
protectively.
You will
not
speak to my wife that way
. I took a deep, unnecessary breath and turned to
my sister again. "Look, Alice, I'm sorry; but you know that particular language irritates me. Why
don't you just tell me what you saw? I'll figure it out eventually."
Her tiny face lit up with a mischievous grin.
Not until it happens, though,
she thought. A flicker went
through her mind before she successfully closed me out again.
Brown hair. Brown hair? What did that mean? My eyes narrowed as I concentrated on breaking
through her mental block to see the vision.
Emmett groaned in frustration at the same time as I did. "You know I hate it when you guys do this.
What's going on?" He scratched the back of his neck in confusion while his eyes darted between us.
"Trust me, you can't possibly be as aggravated as I am," I assured him. "Alice had a vision this
morning while I was hunting, and she is hiding her thoughts so I can't see what it was."
If you needed to know, she would tell you,
Jasper tried to placate me. Amongst our family, he rarely
needed to use his powers of emotional manipulation. His presence and demeanor was naturally
soothing. But not today. Alice's obnoxious attempts at blocking me were causing more indignation
than even Jasper's artificial calm could fix, and my other siblings getting involved now was only
exacerbating the situation.
Why can't you just mind your own business?
Rosalie snapped.
Sorry, Edward, but I know you'll thank me later if I let this be a surprise,
Alice mused unhelpfully,
keeping her thoughts surprisingly quiet.
What is everybody saying?!
Emmett wondered in annoyance as he watched the different emotions
flitting across my face.
Rather than answering, I stood from our usual table in the cafeteria of Seattle University and
pushed in my seat with a little too much force. I glanced around me to make sure no one was
watching while I quickly smoothed my fingerprints out of the back of the metal chair.
Nice going,
Rosalie sneered.
"Have a lovely day, everyone," I grated dryly. With that, I turned and stalked out of the dim cafeteria
and into the bright, fluorescent lights of the hallway. I had to work harder than normal to keep my
agitated pace slow enough to not draw any attention.
What is Alice hiding from me?
If she really
wasn't going to tell me what her vision was, I wondered how long I would have to wait until it came
to pass so I could find out. I was not used to having anyone keep secrets from me.
I didn't really know where I was going, but it certainly wasn't to my next class. It was the first day of
a new semester, and I had Professor Clayton's opening lecture memorized. Besides, I had taken
inorganic chemistry thirteen times already. I knew more than the old man did about the subject
anyway.
The thoughts of hundreds of students buzzed through the air around me, and it was impossible to
tune them all out. Another hazard of attending college once again.
I wonder if he's finally going to ask me today?
Damn, look at her!
Whatisthevelocityofonecubicmeterofairina10footcolumnofwater
QueenCatherineofAragon,AnneBoleyn,JaneSeymour
I wonderiftheblackbrawouldgooverbetter
Why did I subject myself to this every day? I squeezed the bridge of my nose between two fingers, as
if trying to squelch a headache, and focused on not breaking anything around me as I wove through
the monotonous lines of beating hearts and mindless thoughts.
Finally, I burst through the last set of doors and trotted down the steps, passing the fountain in the
middle of the courtyard. I quickly focused my mind away from the thoughts of a couple on a nearby
bench, caught up in an uncomfortably intimate embrace. That was the last thing I needed to hear. I
breathed a sigh of relief as I got into my car and cranked up the volume on my stereo. Any music
would be better than the mundane ponderings of the generation of idiots around me.
I whipped out of the parking space and onto the busy streets of downtown Seattle, tapping my
fingers to the beat of the Red Hot Chili Peppers. Unwilling to be deterred by traffic, I maneuvered
the Volvo around the stop-and-go line of cars and onto a back street, where I quickly sped to twice
the limit.
After a few minutes, I pulled into a parking space at Elliot Bay, kicked off my shoes, and got out of
my car. The cloudy beach was deserted and I sighed again as I ran at human speed—just in
case—toward the water and jumped in. I swam quickly north, allowing my frustration to exit my
body through exertion. I pushed myself as fast as I could go, arriving at my destination after only a
few minutes.
Useless Bay. How apt.
I swam to where a clump of trees met the shoreline and got out of the water, reveling in the feeling
of the streams running down my legs and the clothes clinging to my body. I lay back on the sand and
groaned, my mind racing.
What am I doing here? Why am I going to college,
again
? Why are my
siblings constantly getting under my skin these days?
I didn't have the heart to admit to myself what
Jasper had been suspicious of for months.
I had no one. I was entirely alone. My family supported and loved me. But every member had a
mate; someone to dedicate their lives to. Someone to care for and live for. I lacked something that
each of them possessed. Some
one.
There had been only a small number of times in my existence
that I actually acknowledged that fact; but when I did, I felt the stinging numbness of full force.
During those few instances, I had left the family for several weeks at a time, not wanting to torture
Jasper with my temporary feelings of loneliness and despair. I waited until the uncharacteristic
emptiness passed, and returned to live with them again, hoping and struggling to be content.
In the past, I had nearly always been able to convince myself that I was better off alone; that it made
me stronger not to be concerned for another being as much as I was for myself. I heard the thoughts
of my family in times of conflict with others of our kind. They were always concerned for their
mates, valuing the life of their spouse above their own. I had only to be watchful over myself. It
made me stronger, independent.
For a few decades, I had enjoyed that freedom. I had relished each second of autonomy, preferring
not to be tied down by unnecessary romance and commitment. Yet despite my efforts at denial, my
mind had steadily grown tired of hearing the thoughts of people in love.
And another four years in high school and my return to collegiate mating rituals had inspired the
dawning of a realization: I had been single for over a century.
I chuckled bitterly to myself. I could point out more than a hundred women whose thoughts I had
heard just today who were ready to give up on love entirely after having been single for a full year.
They would never know what it meant to be lonely.
"Well, it's not like you don't have options," I told myself reasonably. My thoughts immediately went
to the Denali sisters in Alaska. On more that one occasion, Tanya, Kate, and Irina had made their
interests known to me. Emmett thought I was insane for refusing their advances. But I wasn't
looking for a mate in one of them, and I certainly had no desire for a sex-only relationship with
someone like Tanya, no matter how devastatingly beautiful she was.
The idea made me shudder.
Still, the knowledge that I wasn't repulsive to the opposite sex was a small comfort. The thoughts of
the women around me were enough proof of that. However, their daydreams about me had passed
disturbing on more than one occasion.
I sat up as the invisible sun began to melt down behind the clouds and shadows overcame the bay.
This was my favorite time of day. As I watched the distant lights of Seattle twinkle through the
darkness, I allowed peace to come over me. Carlisle had survived centuries alone, without even a
coven to keep him company. He was one of the best creatures I knew. The least I could do was follow
his example and hope for the best. If there was a woman on this earth for me, she would be worth
the wait once I found her. Even if she didn't exist yet. Even if I had to wait another four hundred
years. There had to be someone for me.
My thoughts were interrupted by a low giggle and a faint splash. My eyes snapped up to search for
the source of the sound. Across the bay, I saw the ripples leftover from the body that had entered
the water. I listened, but heard no new thoughts in the stillness. My brow knit in confusion. I could
have sworn that I heard someone nearby, but there was not even a mental whisper to accompany
the person I was sure was in the bay. I waited, but after five minutes of silence, I leaned back on my
hands and looked up at the sky. A few stars had started to push through the dark blanket of the sky.
Somewhere in the city behind me, a police siren wailed.
Oh, shit.
I chuckled at the irritated thoughts of the woman being pulled over a mile away from me.
Sometimes, my gift did provide me with good entertainment. If only it could always be that way.
Trying to shake off my pessimistic attitude, I looked out onto the water again, enjoying the restored
silence without thoughts blaring around me. The simple chirping of crickets and croak of frogs was
a welcome change. There were no sounds of anything larger nearby, however. Even birds knew to
keep their distance from my kind.
Suddenly, the still surface of the water was broken as a body shot out of it, turned a somersault
about ten feet above the waves, and dove back in.
I blinked.
What was that?
My frame went into rigid stillness as I watched.
Do it again
, I thought
quietly.
Moments later, the same form leapt from the water again, and this time I heard a peal of liberated
laughter before she disappeared beneath the waves again. It was the same voice that I had heard
giggle earlier. But why were there no thoughts? She was only a hundred yards in front of me.
Frustrated, I leaned in to listen closer, as if that would help. Silence.
This time, when the surface shattered, the girl did not jump from the water. She swam quickly to
where the waves were breaking against a large rock and climbed up to sit. My breath caught in my
throat.
The fresh moonlight was glistening off her skin, pooling cool beams of milky shadows on and
around her. The faint sparkle combined with the sweet smell floating toward me across the waves
confirmed my suspicions: she was one of us. But that wasn't what made me feel like I couldn't
breathe.
NotthatIdidntneedtobutthatI
couldn't
.
The creature before me was the most beautiful thing I had seen in a hundred and seven years. Long
hair—brown, but nearly black with the water cascading through the tresses—shimmered down her
back, clinging to her like a cloak. She wore a midnight blue bathing suit that exposed her perfectly
formed body and ivory colored skin in a deliciously tasteful way.
I was surrounded by my kind, used to seeing perfection. But nothing and no one I had seen before
this could compare to her. Against my will, I trembled.
~*!*~
Prologue Two ~ Soft As Marble
"
She lacks the indefinable charm of weakness."
--Oscar Wilde
BPOV
With one final gulp, the body was drained. I eagerly dropped the filthy man into a pile of garbage
stacked in the alley and glanced around as I wiped my mouth.
Filthy bastard
, I thought vehemently,
taking in his lifeless form crumpled at my feet. I sighed in disgust as I shoved the contents of his
wallet into my bag, lit a match to his coat, and watch the flames leap instantly as I stepped back.
If there was anything I had a healthy fear of, it was fire. I winced as the dull gray and purple smoke
curled into the air, carrying a hazy sweet smell with it when the fire touched the venom that had
coursed through his body. One final glance around the alley told me that my tracks were covered,
and I quickly sprinted away from the small fire into the streets of downtown Denver.
There was no one around to see me this early in the morning as I raced at inhuman speed toward
the car I had stolen. I had driven a lot better than the blue Mustang I was now behind the wheel of,
but I had also had a lot worse.
I wonder what it would be like to own a car
. I would probably never
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