Chapter 12 – Heaven

'Thank you for allowing us to be with our sister again.' Gabriel said in his low voice. 'You can't imagine how much in hurts us to be away from her.' The two of them were no longer hugging, but Gabriel was holding her hand tightly, still smiling down at Elise, like a big brother would smile at his sister.

'It was no problem, Gabriel.' Carlisle said, waving off his thanks. 'Elise said that you might be able to help answer some questions we have for you.'

'Ah, I see. Well I guess that is understandable. You seem to already know the important details, what else would you like to know? We will answer everything to the best of our abilities; we owe you at least that.'

So Elise wasn't lying when she said that her debt would be respected by her brothers and sisters as well.

'Carlisle, don't you think we should head inside before we start?' Edward suggested. A couple of the werewolves had relaxed after being introduced to Elise's family, and were starting to fidget, gazing longingly into the warmth of the Cullen mansion.

The white living room of the Cullen's house had never been so packed. In the centre of the room and everyone's attention, were Gabriel, Elijah, Elise and Sara. Elise was curled up in the corner of the deep leather couch, her head resting on Gabriel's lap. He absentmindedly stroked her hair while he conversed with Carlisle. Elijah and Sara were next to them, in animated discussion with Seth and Sam. Elijah had his arm draped around Sara's shoulders, and Sara was leaning comfortably in to him.

Jacob, Edward and I sat on the couch opposite them, Nessie sitting on Jacob's lap. She should have been fast asleep by this time, but all the excitement of the night had kept her wide awake. Every now and then her slender little hand would come up to rest on Jacob's cheek, and he would answer her unspoken question in a hushed, low voice. Edward and I were both listening to the different conversations going on in the room when Sam walked into the middle.

'Alright, since the introductions have been completed, I think it's time that we get a move on with the information side of things.'

'That sounds like a good idea, what would you like to know?' Elijah said eagerly. Edward was the first to speak.

'Your names... is that how your parents christened you? I mean... you do know what you're named after, yes?'

All four of them laughed, and I was completely taken aback by music that reached my ears. The sound was harmonious, like wedding bells in a chapel.

'Trust me Carlisle, we are well aware of what our names imply.' Sara laughed. 'But yes, it's how our parent's named us. We've all wondered what came over them to call us the way they did... too much of a coincidence for it not to be fate.'

'Hang on, what? Did I miss something?' Jacob looked a little lost. 'What's with your names?'

Edward ran a hand through thick his bronze hair and sighed, shaking his head at Jacob. 'You really are simple, aren't you dog?'

I nudged Edward in the side, getting a 'hey!' in return.

'Be nice, the Quileute's aren't catholic, they mightn't know what the names mean.' I frowned. 'Even I don't know exactly what they mean.'

A giggle escaped Sara's lips. 'Jacob, we'd be happy to explain to you, as long as you promise not to actually believe it.' Jacob nodded eagerly, and Sara sighed and began.

'Carlisle should know a fact or two about what I'm about to say as well, since he was born in a truly... zealous era. According to Catholicism, I share my name with an Arch Angel on the seventh level of heaven. Seraphiel was supposed to be the angel of music, and the teacher of heavenly songs.' She explained in a jokingly majestic tone.

'An angel? Your telling me your an angel?' Jacob's eyes were wide.

'Didn't she tell you not to believe what she said?' Edwards tone was exasperated.

'Oh... right. But still, don't you reckon it's a little bit of a coincidence that you're named after an angel, and you can fly? You know, with the fluffy white wings and all?' His arms were outstretched, flapping up and down.

Elise cleared her throat. 'We don't all have fluffy white wings. And we aren't all named after an angel... In fact I'm the only one that's not named after an angel.' She pointed out.

'You're the only one? Why?' Jacob asked.

Elise shrugged. 'I have no idea, it's just how my parents named me. I looked it up a while ago. Apparently it means 'consecrated by god.'

'And that means...' Jacob looked clueless. I had to stifle my laugh. Sometimes he really was a little simple.

'Consecrated is really just a pretty way of saying 'commissioned' by god.' Elise explained patiently.

'So... he ordered you to be built?' Jacob caught on slowly.

'Well... that's the only conclusion the rest of us can come up with.' Elise's smile was wide.

'So... God may have actually had a hand in your creation... or birth?' Sam asked, his voice incredulous.

Elijah stepped in. 'We don't know for sure, there is no way to test a theory like that. But there really is no other explanation. There is no way that someone's DNA, which is supposed to be normal, can be altered so extremely. We were born to humans, all four of us, yet we are not human. If not God, then some higher force must have had a hand in our creation.'

My mind was reeling. Could I really be in the presence of angles? I looked at their beautiful faces and the structure of their bodies. There was always a chance. I remembered the light that emanated from Elise's body when she came into my shield and their massive wings as they floated through the night sky. I couldn't deny that they were certainly powerful beings, but angels? Elijah and Sara, with their blonde hair and cheerful faces could definitely pass, but Gabriel and Elise? They were too dark, with their black hair and burning eyes. Their bodies were too feline, too much like predators to be angels. Sara's chiming voice cut through my thoughts.

'Elijah is named after the Angle of Innocence.' She said smiling. Elijah's mouth turned into a full smile, his eyes glinting, and I could see that the title fit him perfectly. On my lap, Renesmee started to giggle and clap, then held both her arms up, motioning for Elijah to take her. He smiled kindly at her and then looked up at me.

'May I?' He asked quietly. I hesitated for a second. His eyes seemed earnest, and I felt like I could trust him. Renesmee's bubbling giggle was still coming from my lap, showing that she had no fear of him either. I nodded. Elijah beamed and stood up from the couch, slowly took Renesmee out of my arms and held her to his chest. Edward was tense by my side, so I took his hand and held it in my lap. He relaxed noticeably and gave me a weak, crooked smile.

Sara was smiling at her brother and Renesmee. 'He forgot to mention that he is the guardian of children's souls, too. Sometimes he just acts like one though...'

Looking at Elijah with my child now, I could see that this was something he and the angel shared.

'And what of you, Gabriel?' It was Sam who had spoken. 'What does your name signify?'

Gabriel looked up and met Sam's gaze with a cool casualness. He didn't stop stroking Elise's hair as he spoke in his rich, deep voice.

'The angel called Gabriel was known as the hand of God. He supposedly carried the strength of heaven with him.'

'Gabriel...' Carlisle's voice was quiet and full of wonder as he looked at the tall, dark man. 'The Angel of Death...'

A low hiss came from Jasper, and his eyes went icy. Gabriel didn't seem to notice. He didn't even acknowledge Jasper's reaction. Elise spoke for him.

'Gabriel is not the Angel of Death, and he is certainly not the grim reaper.' She gave a hard look to some of the wolves. 'He is exactly the same as me.'

'I cannot control death, that's a ridiculous notion. It is a natural process of humans. None of us would ever dream of touching a human...' Gabriel closed his eyes when he spoke the last sentence, and I was sure I could see a miniscule shudder roll down his shoulders. Was he horrified at the notion of harming a human? Or... was he afraid?

'Ok, so that settles the name question then.' Jacob said, satisfied that Gabriel was not a threat. 'What next, guys?'

Emmett put a hand up, like a school boy waiting for his turn to speak. Sara laughed and pointed at him. 'Yes, Emmett?'

'So...' He hesitated 'Venom, hey? How does that work?' Was all he asked.

'Ah... Well that was going to come up eventually.' Sara sighed. 'We feed almost exactly the same as you do. We hunt our prey, and then drink from them. We can stun them for a small amount of time, giving us a huge advantage. We are also built to compete against any vampire talents that we come across.'

'Well that much is obvious, but how do you get to it? I mean, our skin is kind of... tough.' Emmet said.

'There is venom running through your veins, just like a human's blood. We have certain... adaptations to get passed your skin and into those arteries.' Elise said.

'Like what? Extra sharp teeth?' Alice joked, but I considered that it was probably very likely.

'Not quite... our teeth a specially designed.' Elise said, and with that she opened her mouth. Sara did the same thing, opening her mouth wide. At first, all I could see was the light pink of their tongues and two rows of perfect, pearly white teeth. Indeed they looked incredibly sharp, and I was sure that they could probably chomp down a concrete pillar with them if they had wanted to. But slowly, so slowly that I almost didn't notice, the teeth started shifting. The top row spaced out more, the teeth on the sides moving further back into the mouth, making space for the incisors, which were growing. I felt Edward's had squeeze mine, and I gripped his hand back tightly. Their teeth kept growing down, elongating in shape, and sharpening down to a severe point at the end. After a full ten seconds, the shifting stopped, and the incisors had reached a full inch in length. Everyone in the room was silent, speechless. Edward had stopped breathing, and even some of the werewolves were holding their breath. They had fangs, and they looked deadly.

'Not all vampire tales are false.' Gabriel explained. 'In fact, many mythological tales and legends are based on fact, however exaggerated. The children of the moon, or werewolves, are true for example. They aren't just a tale. The idea of fangs was not just made up by an author a long time ago. Our existence is written all over the pages of history, you just had to know what to look for.' As Gabriel spoke, Elise and Sara closed their mouths, their fangs reducing in size quickly, returning to normal.

'So... what had been recorded about you? And where?' Alice's voice was shaky.

'We make appearances every now and then in fiction.' Elijah said, smiling cheekily. 'And also non – fiction.'

'I lived in a castle for a time, around three hundred years or so. I think it was around the early sixteenth century...' Gabriel was smirking. 'The castle was located near a small town, on the fringes of Transylvania.'

'Transylvania?' Carlisle sounded stunned. 'Early sixteenth century... you're Bram Stoker's Dracula?!'

'Well, I'm not the Dracula that most people seem to imagine when they hear that story. Obviously I didn't kill those people. There was a bit of a vampire plague in that town at the time, and those vampires were responsible for all the killings. I moved there to help with the problem, but naturally the humans blamed me instead, since I was there after every killing. Eventually time changed this history into a story, like a lot of other things.'

Most of the wolves were staring at Gabriel with their jaws hanging open. Jasper had a look of incredulity on his face, and Alice just looked stunned by his side. Gabriel chuckled when he saw all our faces. I could feel that my mouth was open too, and I slammed it shut when I realised. I was sitting in the same room as Dracula?

'Please, don't look at me like that. Elijah has had worse tales written about him. In fact, I think he has the worst of us all. Why don't you tell them your conspiracy, brother?' Gabriel was smirking at him. Elijah glared daggers at his brother before dropping his eyes guiltily to the floor.

'I... I make an appearance in the bible...' He mumbled into Renesmee's hair.

'The bible?!' Edward spluttered out. 'You're in the holy bible?!'

Elijah nodded sadly. 'I was hunting an Incubus, one of those sexually driven vampires... I managed to catch up to him, but by the time I had he was already in bed with a human woman. He caught my scent, realised that I was after him and bolted out the door. I could already smell that the woman was pregnant with the vampire's child, but then her husband came home by some cruel coincidence. He saw her in bed and accused her of adultery, but I knew that she had no hope of resisting the vampires will. I decided to intervene and tell the husband that she wasn't cheating, and that his wife was going to have a very special baby. Then I left to trace the incubus again...' he trailed off, obviously embarrassed.

'Oh yeah, he forgot to tell you that the woman's name was Mary. Her husband was named Joseph.' Sara was grinning her head off at her brother, and Elijah buried his face in Renesmee's curls, groaning.

'I can't believe this... you were that angel?' Edward's hand was holding mine in a death grip. If I were still human he would have broken it in several places by now, but I wasn't thinking about Elijah's appearance in the holy bible. Something else had stood out in the story, more important than the other details.

'If what you said is true... doesn't that make the child a hybrid?' I asked slowly.

Elijah lifted his head from Renesmee's and nodded. 'Jesus was half vampire, half human. His beauty was what made people follow him, listen to him and love him. He was also a bit of an alchemist, hence the water to wine story.'

Edward was silent. Carlisle had his head in his hands, shaking it slowly. I felt sorry for both of them. They had grown up in hugely religious eras, Carlisle especially. His father had been a devout catholic, and he had been raised to worship God's son like him. Now he had discovered that Jesus was not a deity, but a vampire hybrid. I was amazed that people had come to love and worship something that was in fact their worst enemy.

'Please, don't believe that this man was a bad person. He was forever guilty about killing his mother during birth, and he spread the word of humility and love throughout the land. He was really the good person, and he only ever fed from evil people.' ELijah's voice was soft, consoling.

'It does explain how he rose from the dead and everything...' Alice was rubbing her chin in thought. 'Is he still alive today?'

Elijah shrugged. 'If he is, I lost track of him a long time ago. People these days are not as easy to manipulate as they were back in his time. The impact he had on humans so long ago still exsists today, and he has no need to come out from where he is living.'

'This is so cool... it's like the "This is Your Life" for history. I can't believe the big man could still be alive!' Seth exclaimed. I could hear his heart beating erratically with excitement. Trust Seth to always look on the bright side of things. 'Is there any other massive conspiracy's that you guys can tell us?' His eyes were hopeful.

'Well...' Sara thought. 'I was the sorceress that Jason and his Argonauts sailed into. Mind you, I did not turn them all into pigs.' She snorted. 'But I did make them pay for their lucrative thoughts...'

Loved writing this chapter! Loved it! Ok, now I am looking for a beta to help proof read this story. I would like someone who is good with grammer, and does have idea's to help me along with the story. BUT I dont like people changing the story too much, unless I condone the change. If you are interested, please leave me a comment saying what you would like to do, and any ideas you have. Hey, even ideas from people who aren't Beta's can leave ideas of where you want the story to go! Because im half way through the next chapter and im so stuck for idea's... writing block's a bitch. I know where it's inevitibly going to end up, but how to get there... hmmm =] Comments PLEASE! any idea will be listened too!

XoX