Their First Fight

An Emrys and Isa Moment

Written for Katmom for her birthday (I know it's not what you might have considered but it's what fell out of my head!)

Dateline: 1850, Somewhere in Brazil

"I can't believe you did that." He stormed through the jungle, the steamy air clinging to his skin like rotting linen. "Isa. Your soul is so gentle. How could you have?"

She wasn't near him to answer, but she heard his voice. Her mental spikes were a tangle of fury and regret. Leaning against a thick-leafed tree, he dug his fingers into the bark and listened to her thoughts.

He was killing them. Human women. Killing them! she lamented.

He could see her hands in her thoughts as she washed them in the small trickle of water that ran through the underbrush. Venom burned her skin and he ached that she was feeling that, but he was in such shock that he couldn't comfort her. Not yet. "He's a vampire. We are a rarity, my love. We have chosen not to kill people, but most of our kind do."

I could not stand by and watch him, not after what we saw, she declared silently, her mental presence strong. I am sorry you do not agree, but I will not change my mind.

They had been mated for more than two thousand years and her degree of mental communication was vivid, penetrating. Though he did not need her memories to prompt his own, Edward respected her enough to see it again, through her eyes and with her mental remarks.

As if to torment him, she showed him her memories.

The woman's screams were what caught their notice as they were hunting in this South American jungle. Edward had rescued humans when he could, from the violence of others or merely the violence of nature, so following the scream to its source was not uncommon. They had run through the verdant foliage, ignoring the cries of the animals as they careened out of the vampires' path.

A village, apparently abandoned, sprawled out through a cleared section of the jungle. As they reached it, Isa stopped at the edge, letting her mate lead the way. Two heartbeats were heard, fierce and fighting, and one more, muffled.

What happened, do you think, my Edward? Isa had wondered. She stepped forward to his side when they smelled no vampires or other dangers.

"I don't know," he whispered. "But there are two women here and one of them is just seeing a baby and what she sees as a monster."

He did not know the words the women thought, but their mental images were enough. A woman who had wasted away, looking as if she were quite ill while her belly rounded obscenely, to her sister's eyes. The other could only think of the striking man who had lain with her, whose child she hoped to bear, no matter what the cost.

A smattering of words was exchanged but Edward only saw the face of the man. And what might have been his name.

Isa dashed to the opening of the hut from whence the hearts were beating, and she peeked in. Neither woman saw her at that moment, so she was witness to the most horrible thing she had ever seen in her entire existence.

The mother shrieked, a piercing, desperate sound. The baby ripped open its mother's body and crawled from the dying womb of its own volition.

Isa gasped, distracting the watching woman. Accusation leapt from the human eyes to the vampire's awareness and Isa remembered how that stung. It was as if the jungle woman thought that she, Isa, was responsible for the suffering of the other woman.

Taking a step forward, Isa held out her hand, even though her mate hissed at her and told her not to venture thus. "I am so sorry," Isa murmured.

Edward knew that the surviving human had only horrible thoughts about the presence of his kind but those thoughts were interrupted by a giggle and grunt.

And a scream as the infant latched itself onto the living life-beat of the woman to drink her blood.

Edward only was privy to the pain that the survivor suffered. He reached out to his mate, pulling her out of the hut with him. Isa remembered the feeling of his arms around her, the shock to her entire body that she had undergone, and the love she felt for The Emrys. Love that would never die.

"I love you," Edward said now, his fingers releasing their grip on the tree as he moved back along the way he had come, back to his Isa. Back to his mate. "I'm sorry I overreacted."

I know you do. But I won't be sorry for what I did, even so, she warned him.

A vampire came upon them while they stood outside of the humans' hut. A vampire smug and filled with his own power. Edward had seen his thoughts immediately. This was the vampire that had impregnated the woman.

"Joham?" he asked.

The vampire went on the defensive, his mind rushing to the idea of Edward and Isa stealing his rightful property.

"No," Edward had said, trying to calm him. He shook his head and lifted his hands. "No."

"Este é meu!" Mine, was the basic idea and Edward had simply nodded.

"Come, Bella," he said, his arm around his wife. "Come. This is the baby's father." Edward could see that the vampire had positive thoughts about the baby. "We should go."

"But Edward! He killed the woman," Isa had cried, her soul clearly wounded by what she had just witnessed.

The other vampire ducked into the hut, his long dark braid swinging over his shoulder like a rope. A happy laugh and words tinged in pride preceded Joham's reappearance. The child was male. A son. Joham's thoughts grew bright with an instant image of a crowd of half-human, half-vampire people.

Edward gasped at the presumption and moved again to try to get Isa away from him. The man was...unstable.

Isa remembered the birth of the baby they had seen in a little town called Bethlehem, so very long ago, and contrasted it with this occasion. Her thoughts roiled with an emotion so dark that Edward had to look her in the eye to be sure the thoughts were hers.

"Isa, my love?"

He is happy. Happy he ended the life of the woman. Look at him!

They looked and Joham was holding the baby as if it were a trophy of some sort. Edward shook his head. "We cannot change it, now."

Without a warning, Isa leapt forward, jerking the boy from his father's arms and throwing him at Edward. Edward had no choice but to catch the laughing infant who thought his impromptu flight was fun. While Joham gathered the wit to protest, Isa ripped off his arms.

Then his head.

Isa was standing by the tiny stream, her hands dripping with water when he saw her. "My love, my own Isa."

She used her voice and it was a precious sound, to him. "I couldn't bear to think of him doing that again, my Edward. I couldn't."

"I know."

She came to him and he enfolded her in his embrace. Forgiveness flowed between them, affection heated to passion. They knocked down two large trees and dug six furrows in the fertile soil before they had made up sufficiently to move onward, making sounds that astonished local Ticuna hunters.

The animals avoided that region for days afterward.

It was their first fight and Edward hated that it had happened. But in after years, he was proud of his mate for doing what she felt was right. He wondered if they would ever meet that half-human male again. It might be...interesting.

In case you haven't met The Emrys and his Isa before, here is where you can find them in my collection, in historical order:

Edward to Emrys (in which Edward is changed into a vampire) Twilight Moments, Chapter 41

She Was His First (the story that started it all) She Was His First

The Emrys's Regret (takes place immediately after SWHF) Twilight Moments, Chapter 15

The Emrys Among the Celts (Dateline 55 BC) Twilight Rambles, Chapter 3

Their First Christmas (Dateline 3 BC) Their First Christmas

Their First Elevator (Dateline 1908 AD, Chicago) Their First Elevator