Diamond Legacies: Epilogue

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 Five Years Later

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Nicholas Disney

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To say my life had turned upside down was an understatement. Since meeting Eden Balev my life had gone from a dull routine existence to a world full of colour and purpose. From the moment I saw her I couldn’t get her out of my head. From the moment I spoke to her she was all I thought about. From the moment I kissed her all I wanted was her. I knew from early on it wasn’t just lust. Something had been different about her from the start, something she did to me was different than any one I had ever met before her. I knew she had been hiding something from me but I trusted she would tell me eventually. To find out she was a Cullen didn’t surprise me quite as much as finding out about the supernatural. Eden had understood me from the first day we met, to find she was born into wealth as I was wasn’t much of a shock. To find out about the supernatural catapulted my life into a world I never knew existed. Making the decision to become a part of it was the hardest and easiest decision of my life.

When Pancrazio Cullen gave me the ultimatum of immortality or forget Eden forever, my gut knew I didn’t want to give her up. But after being in Edward Cullen’s head I wasn’t sure I was ready for the terror and greatness immortality offered either. I would be giving up so much. Sleep, food, a heartbeat. Human experiences I had yet to have. I would be trading it for bloodlust and a power I could only imagine possessing. The ability to snap a persons neck with the flip of my wrist, the speed of the fastest car in the world, the need and desire to drain a living thing of its blood.

Edward had done well in balancing the good with the bad when he showed me what it would be like to become like him. I would be forever grateful for him not sugar coating the flaws of vampirism. I may have had limited time to come to terms with the possibility but I felt informed and understood the weight of my action should I choose immortality.

In the end I did but not without a surprising objection from Eden.

I had stepped back into the building to find her angrier than I had ever seen anyone. I could see her emotions in the open for everyone to see. Her and her sister were crying and yelling as their souls battled in front of them. The sight was astonishing to me considering I wasn’t even aware at that point the ability Eden and her twin possessed. Any normal person seeing the damage Eden could do would be scared but it only solidified my choice as I stared at the broken sisters. I couldn’t leave her, I wouldn’t hurt her, I would make it my life’s purpose so that the woman I loved would never feel that kind of pain ever again.

After telling everyone in the hall that I accepted the proposal of immortality there were a few sighs of relief from the Volturi, but Eden stared at me in disbelief. She wasn’t convinced I knew what I was asking for, even after her uncle had explained everything to me in detail. She took me to visit several of her family members after that, first was her aunt Rosalie, who told me her story. I was sure Eden was expecting her to convince me away from immortality based on her past, but Rosalie surprised her niece by siding with me. ‘All I ever wanted was a choice. He got to choose, and he chose you.’ were her words to Eden when she asked her aunt why she wasn’t angrier at a human for giving up his life.

After Rosalie was Jasper. I had to admit his story did make me second guess the decision but only for a moment. To hear of Jaspers struggles and how it took him centuries to control his bloodlust worried me that I wouldn’t be able to have the best of both worlds. The reason I was making this decision was so that I could remain part of my family business, so I could run it for decades to come and bring good to the world whilst also coming home to Eden every night. The idea I may not be able to do that because of the proximity to humans and the bloodlust worried me. That was until I met Bella. I wasn’t sure what Eden expected Bella to say. It had been seeing Bella through Edward’s mind that made me decide all the bad was worth the good.

Seeing Edward and Bella and what she gave up to be with the man she loved and all the good that came out of it only made me want Eden and that life with her more. Eden sat there with her arms crossed defensively as Bella told me her side of her and Edward’s story and that she had managed to control her bloodlust through sheer will alone. Her love for Edward and her child and the fact she had wanted vampirism had kept her from killing others. At least that was their theory anyway.  She had said it worked with her daughter in law too and many others she has met since.

The last person Eden took me to see were her grandparents. I had seen Carlisle Cullen in the Volturi throne room on the day of my trial but to actually sit down with him, to see him interact with Eden and his wife was something else. I was face to face with the Carlisle Cullen. Not the one that paraded as the grandson but the original, the five-hundred-year-old vampire that had changed the world with his compassion and empathy. Talking to him was like meeting your hero. I never knew until that moment how much I admired and respected him. He was everything I wanted to be. He had used his money for good, he had made the world a better place and I would try my hardest to be worthy of his granddaughter.

It had been Esme that asked Eden her fears of my transformation. At first, she listed the usual ones, the blood lust, the separation from my human life and family, giving up human comforts, Esme nodded along politely. She then stared into her granddaughters’ eyes and asked her again. As my heartbeat loudly in my chest I knew the vampires in the room could hear it. Was this her rejecting me after all? If she didn’t want me to be a vampire, did she want me to leave her after everything? Or was she asking me to give up everything I’ve ever been raised for, for her.  She looked at me at her side with sad eyes before she said the words she had been so scared to say up to this point.

“You can’t start this journey together if you begin it with secrets. Eden, you need to stop being afraid and talk to him or you’ll lose him anyway” Esme said as she took her granddaughters hands in her own. Eden was staring at them in her lap before she finally spoke.

“I like being a part of his world” she answered her grandmother, her voice was barely louder than a whisper. Esme sighed and nodded in relief that Eden had said it out loud.

“And you don’t want him to be a part of ours” Esme continued the sentence for her. I sat there in thoughtful silence as Esme coaxed Eden into talking about her fears. The bond they shared was incredible and I wasn’t sure Eden knew how lucky she was to have so many people in her life that loved her like this.

“it’s not that I don’t want him in it, it’s that I like pretending sometimes, I like the escape of the human world” Eden said as she raised her head and her eyes filled with tears. I resisted the urge to comfort her, her grandmother was doing that well enough.

“Oh Eden,” Esme said with a sigh as her other hand reached to stroke Eden’s hair behind her ear. “You know that won’t change. You’ll both still be a part of that world. Your father and mother and grandfather have mastered the art of disguise in the mortal world, why can’t Nicholas too? Nothing changes for either of you, except you get to come home to man that loves you enough to give up his life for you.”

“Do you think a week of knowing about the supernatural world is long enough to make that kind of decision?” she asked, and I bit my lip to prevent me from stepping in with my own opinion. I knew she needed to say these things and her grandmother was doing well enough to convince her of my side so I bid my time before I could give her my view of things. She kept looking at me as she spoke as if she was scared I was going to run away from her honesty.

“Some people get much less” Esme said with a knowing look. “And it’s not about the supernatural, it’s not about immortality or choosing one world over the other. It’s about love. Do you think Nicholas loves you?” she asked looking at me for a moment before turning back to her granddaughter.

“I know he does” she said with a strong voice as she looked at my chest. I knew now, after so many months that when she did this, she was watching my soul. Before now I thought it was a nervous habit she had, now I knew better. She was staring into the essence of my being, she loved me having known and witnessed every single thing about me, the good, bad and ugly. Which only made me love her more for it. She knew me, she understood me, and she owned me. Completely.

“Then strip away everything else, take away the fear and the doubt, take away the pressure of forever, take away the anxiety and the worry and focus on that. That’s all you need to get through this. The knowledge that you will love each other always. That you were made for each other. We may not have a word as strong as ‘imprint’ for it but that’s what it is. A vampire mate is our best version of our other half, and you already know he’s yours.” She said her finger running over the tear that fell over onto Eden’s cheek. Eden swallowed and nodded to her grandmother before turning to me.

“Are you sure?” she asked, her eyes bore into mine.

“You can tell if I lie right? You can tell if I doubt myself, how I feel?” I asked her. I knew she could, but I was saying the words for dramatic effect. She nodded and waited. “I love you, Eden Balev. I don’t know what the future holds, I don’t have the experience or the knowledge of a ‘vampire mate’ but I do know one thing. No matter what, I will not regret making this decision. I will make it a thousand times over if it means more time with you. to see what we become.” I said without breaking eye contact once. I saw her sigh and the concern in her face melt away.

“Promise me something” she said with a smile. It was a suggestive smile and my eyes flickered to Esme who was still sitting by us but was giving us some distance.

“anything” I responded looking back at her. She leant towards me, and our foreheads rested against each other.

“Never lose your way with words. Stay prince charming forever” she said with a smirk. I leant forward and kissed her cheek, not wanting to be disrespectful in front of her grandparents.

“How about I stay your prince forever?” I winked at her. She let out her usual laugh when she felt awkward with how ‘cringy’ I was being.

“that’s a tall order” she said leaning away from me but keeping her hand in my lap. I took it in mine.

“I mean we’re both going to live forever, its not so tall in the long run” I responded as Esme turned back to smile widely at us.

That had been five years ago.

In those five years so much had happened in both mine and Eden’s life. I took over from my father just a few years later. My transformation was smooth, well, after the three days of pain anyway. Eden stayed by my side every second of it and I woke to a whole world I never knew existed. The world was different now, it took a few months to get used to my senses. Textures and smells were overwhelming at first, my eyes adjusted to every minute detail around me until I trained myself to refrain from focusing on the small things. Eden didn’t leave my side and we stayed in Chicago for a month before the Volturi were confident enough in my self-control to return home. I had told my father I had become unwell on a visit to Chicago and that I had to stay in hospital with no visitors for a while. Micah was more than happy to corroborate the story with official hospital documents. Upon my return to New York, I knew I was entering a whole other world. I would no longer have the support of other vampires around me. Over the month I had become close to Bella and Jasper Cullen. They helped me immensely in controlling and processing the changes. I would miss them greatly. Especially when I was faced with a room full of humans at my first board meeting.

Eden managed to help me with that. She couldn’t take it away permanently, but she could lessen the bloodlust for me. It was handy having a girlfriend that could manipulate and alter your feelings and emotions. Although the hunger was there, the actual desire could be lessened, and we always made sure I hunted every morning before work.

One of the things I did miss was sleep. Especially waking up next to Eden. I knew she missed it too, but she never said anything. We had a mutual unsaid agreement whereby I stayed with her until she fell asleep. Most of the time I never left the bed even after that. I liked being near her, even if she was unconscious. I would normally work on my laptop or let her sleep curled into me and I would just close my eyes and rest, thinking about the day, or my next meeting, or imagining our life in a hundred years, or planning when I would propose to her.

I knew she thought marriage wasn’t on the cards for us yet. It was complicated and the paperwork alone would be weeks if not months of lawyers and meetings. I would wait a few more years until I planned to bring it up to her. Right now, her life was very focused on her career and worrying about her grandmother. She was also trying to repair her relationship with her sister and that was taking a lot of her attention. After their outburst it was evident that the pair needed to build their trust and friendship again. Three years later when the demonic war was finally over, Nova transferred to Manhatten Cullen Hospital and moved to New York with her boyfriend Lucan. That was two years ago, and Eden and Nova were slowly repairing their relationship. Two years ago, was also when Eden and Nova’s grandmother finally returned to them.

Hearing the stories of Esther was like hearing a fairy tales as a child. When she was finally back, she was kept hidden and protected. I wasn’t allowed to meet her and only her close family ever saw her in the early months of her return. After a year and a half, she was still weak, but Esther had requested my presence specifically as she wanted to meet the man who loved her granddaughter.

Meeting Esther was like meeting a god that you didn’t know existed. She was a walking collection of contradictions. She was equally wonderful and terrifying. She was both young and old. She was strong and weak. But at the end of the day, she was Eden’s grandmother, and I could see her love for her granddaughter every time she smiled. Seeing Eden with her grandmother made me realise Eden was missing a piece of herself I never even knew. Her and Nova became stronger together when Esther returned, it was like a light inside them both reignited and they remembered why they had to work together with their abilities. Eden told me Esther had been their teacher and without her they felt little enthusiasm for their abilities, in neglecting that bond, Eden had lashed out when her sister had seemingly betrayed her. Even though Eden knew Nova didn’t mean it and that it had been a wrong place wrong time kind of deal, she still couldn’t control the emotions she felt as they overwhelmed her, and her ability took control.

Now Esther was back, and Nova was living by us, she finally felt whole again.

Although I missed parts of my human life, knowing all these things about Eden and being with her as her equal outweighed the curse of vampirism tenfold. I knew one day I would marry Eden, even if she didn’t think it was a possibility for us. I wanted that picture perfect life. The wife and the 2.5 kids and the dog. I just knew it would take time.

Luckily, now I was immortal, I had all the time in the world.