Dark Goddess (Original Version)

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This book was automatically created by FLAG on November 25th, 2012, based
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http://www.thewriterscoffeeshop.com/library/viewstory.php?sid=5702.

The content in this book is copyrighted by Lissa Bryan or their authorised
agent(s). All rights are reserved except where explicitly stated otherwise.
This story was first published on April 2nd, 2012, and was last updated on
November 25th, 2012.
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Table of Contents





Summary
1. Chapter 1

2. Chapter 2
3. Chapter 3
4. Chapter 4
5. Chapter 5

6. Chapter 6
7. Chapter 7
8. Chapter 8

9. Chapter 9
10. Chapter 10
11. Chapter 11
12. Chapter 12

13. Chapter 13
14. Chapter 14
15. Chapter 15

16. Chapter 16
17. Chapter 17
18. Chapter 18

19. Chapter 19
20. Chapter 20
21. Chapter 21

22. Chapter 22
23. Chapter 23
24. Chapter 24
25. Chapter 25

26. Chapter 26
27. Chapter 27
28. Chapter 28



- 3 -

29. Chapter 29

30. Chapter 30
31. Chapter 31
32. Chapter 32



































































- 4 -

Summary





A free-spirited archaeologist and a shy, absent-minded genius find a 500 year old
vampire who thinks she's a goddess. They trying to sneak back to the US, teach her
about the modern world, and trying very, very hard not to fall in love with the Dark
Goddess. OOC/AU






























































- 5 -

Chapter 1





Dark Goddess

By Lissa Bryan




Chapter One

..


Edward ordered his jet fueled as soon as he got Jacob's message. He went upstairs
and pulled one of the Hermès suitcases out of the closet and began tossing clothes
into it at random while he dialed his mother's number. Esme Cullen answered, and
her smooth, modulated, lady-like voice held a hint of surprise that her son would be
calling. It was a Wednesday. He usually only called on Monday and Thursday.
"Hello, darling."

"Hello, mother. I'm calling to tell you that I'm sorry, but I won't be able to make it
to your luncheon tomorrow." It was for one of her numerous charity fundraisers; he
couldn't remember what cause it supported, but Tanya had reminded him about it
right before she left this afternoon to go shopping.

"Oh? I'm sorry to hear that." Esme did not need to ask. She simply waited for the
explanation she knew would be forthcoming. She knew him too well.


"Jacob called. He's on a dig in South America and he's run into some trouble."

Esme's voice cooled, though almost imperceptibly, as it did whenever Jacob was
the subject of conversation. "Not too serious, I hope."

"I don't know what it is. He sent me a text message asking for my help."


"When will you return?"

He ran a hand through his hair. "I'm not sure. A few days, I'd guess."


"Will Tanya still be coming to the luncheon?"

He flinched. Tanya would be furious. "I ... uh ... I can't say. I haven't spoken to her.


- 6 -

She should be home soon and I -" He heard the sound of the front door opening.
"She's home. I'll have her call you, all right?"


"All right. Be safe, darling."

"Sure. Love you." Edward disconnected and headed out into the hall. He could see
Tanya down in the foyer, sliding her purse from her shoulder. Her little dog,
Noodles, hopped out of it onto the marble floor. Noodles saw Edward at the top of
the stairs and glared at him. Edward glared right back. He hated that dog. It was
poorly trained, spoiled, and left messes on his antique Aubusson rugs. Behind them,
the driver entered, staggering under a load of bulging shopping bags. "Upstairs,
Miss?"

"Yes." Tanya said, without sparing him a glance, and he headed up the stairs,
huffing under the heavy load, and through the door into to Tanya's dressing room, a
guest bedroom they had converted to hold all of her clothes and shoes. Edward
stepped aside as the driver passed and murmured the "Thank you" that Tanya
should have given him. Tanya spotted Edward and smiled. "Hello, honey. Whew!
What a day! I had to go all over town to find the new Christian Louboutins! And the
sales clerk at Divas? She had the nerve to try to tell me that they're not out yet. I
said -"

Edward interrupted because he could see Tanya was about to work herself up into
a full-blown fit of pique and he couldn't wait until after she'd calmed to tell her his
news. "Can you come up here for a moment? I need to speak with you."

She started up the stairs, with a faint frown. Her hand slid gracefully up the
railing, her massive diamond engagement ring winking in the light. She followed
him into the bedroom and froze when she saw the suitcase on the bed. "Where are
you going?"

He tried to brace himself. "South America."


Her eyes narrowed. "Did he call you?" Edward was surprised she'd remembered
where Jacob had gone.


"He did."


"And so you go running to save him from whatever mess he's gotten himself into
this time."


"Tanya, he's -"

- 7 -

"I know, I know," she spat. "He's been your best friend since you were six. I've
heard it before, Edward. What about me? I'm your fiancee. You should care more
about what I want."

"I do care about what you want."


"No you don't! I'll have to go to that luncheon tomorrow alone. Do you know how
that will look? Everybody who's anybody will be there." Tanya came from a
middle-class family and was deeply conscious of her social status as his fiancee,
about being accepted by the realm of "high society." She was obsessed with having
the "right" clothes, the "right" shoes, and the "right" house in the "right"
neighborhood. Even her little dog, Noodles, had been chosen for bloodline and
appearance rather than actual affection.

"You won't be alone. You'll be with my mother." Esme was a far better champion
in the social sphere than he was.

"People will think you don't care enough about me to be with me!"


"That's not true," Edward protested. "Just tell them - "


"That you ditched me for Jacob again? I am not saying that!" Tanya's dark eyes
flashed with anger. "The time has come, Edward, for you to choose which one of us
means more to you. Me, or him."

Edward said nothing. He stuffed some socks into his bag. He hoped they matched,
but he had no way of knowing.


"Well?"

"Well, what?"


"Me, or him?"

"You're serious? Jesus, Tanya."


Tears splashed down her cheeks. They had ceased to affect him since she'd
demonstrated she could pull them up on cue. "Are you staying with me, or going to
him?"

"I'm going. I have to."



- 8 -

She whipped off her engagement ring and threw it at him. It hit Edward's
cheekbone with enough force to leave a cut. He felt a small trickle of blood run
down his face and clapped a hand to it instinctively.

"Don't expect me to be here when you come back!" she snapped and whirled to
run from the room. Wincing, Edward went into the bathroom and dabbed the blood
from his cut away with a piece of tissue paper. He stared into the mirror and
realized his heart should be breaking right now, but all he felt was a faint sense of
relief that the argument was over for the time being. He cleaned the cut carefully
and then applied a butterfly bandage.


He returned to the bedroom and saw the ring lying on the carpet. He picked it up
and put it on the bedside table. It would serve her right if he left it there for that
annoying little dog of hers to swallow. It had a magpie-like voracity for shiny things
and had once swallowed a beer bottle cap when Edward carelessly let one fall to the
floor while he was watching television, necessitating a midnight trip to the
emergency veterinarian. Edward wished he'd kept the x-ray, because he'd found the
image strangely hilarious, much to Tanya's fury, despite the fact that the emergency
had been easily and painlessly resolved with an emetic.


He finished packing and put his laptop and Kindle and their respective chargers
into a carry-on bag. He headed for the stairs. Tanya was nowhere in sight. His driver
sat waiting on a chair by the door. He stood when he saw Edward and took the
suitcase from his hand when Edward reached him. "Is this all, sir?" he asked.

"Yes, thank you." One of the things Esme had taught Edward was to be polite to
everyone, whatever their social status. It was how a gentleman or lady should
behave, and it was something he could not get Tanya to understand. She seemed to
think wealth and highly-placed friends relieved her of the burden of courtesy to
those "below" her.

Edward climbed into the back of the car while the driver put his bag into the
trunk. He sighed and rubbed a hand through his hair. He was hoping that Tanya
would come to the door and at least wave him off, if not offer him a goodbye kiss
before he left.


The driver got into the car and they pulled out of the driveway. The door remained
firmly shut and there was no crying Tanya who ran out to the car to kiss him one last
time before he left, to sob that she loved him. Edward settled back, disquieted.
Maybe she was really serious this time.


If it really was the end, Jacob would be delighted. He'd always disliked Tanya.

- 9 -

Jacob kept insisting Edward could do better, that he should do better. Being with
Tanya, he said, was ruining his chances of finding the girl that was really right for
him, which had been the subject of the conversation - argument, rather- that they'd
had nearly six weeks prior, right before Jacob left for Catalupa.

"Dude, she cheated on you!"


"She was lonely. I left her alone." Edward defended her automatically, using the
excuses that she had given and he had accepted.


"Edward, you were gone for three days."


Edward didn't really want to articulate the real reason that he didn't want to lose
her, though he was pretty sure Jake already knew. Tanya was comfortable. Tanya
kept his mother from nagging him about "settling down". Tanya had pursued him,
had pushed their relationship through all of its stages from initiating their first kiss
to picking out an engagement ring. All right, so she wasn't all that bright, but
Edward got enough intellectual stimulation at the university, right? And listening to
Tanya babble about designer clothing or the subtle machinations of her climb up the
social ladder allowed his mind to drift. It was almost Zen, actually.


They arrived at the airport and Edward took his bag from the driver with a word
of thanks and a nice, fat tip pressed into the palm of his hand as Edward shook it.
He always tipped heavily to try to make up for Tanya's rudeness. His jet sat on the
tarmac and the pilot stood at the top of the rolling metal staircase. Edward knew the
pilot, and so was able to greet him and chat for a moment while the co-pilot went
through all of the safety checks. The flight attendant, however, was a stranger. He
stammered and blushed through his "Pleases" and "Thank yous", the only
conversation that he could manage. She was friendly, but the pushy type, and the
pilot eventually had to call her off to rescue poor Edward, whose face was fire
engine red and whose stammer was making his few words almost unintelligible.


Mercifully alone, he belted himself into one of the plush leather armchairs. He
accepted the Coke the flight attendant brought him. She was subdued and merely
smiled at his thanks, so the pilot must have talked to her. Edward vowed to give him
a bonus on his next paycheck. He closed his eyes and clenched at the arms of the
chair as the plane began to taxi to the runway. Statistically, he knew, most plane
crashes occurred during take-off or landing and so he was always nervous during
those times. He didn't lose that tension until the plane leveled off and the pilot used
the intercom to say, "Mr. Cullen, you can use electronics now."


He fished out his laptop and turned it on and went straight to the internet browser

- 10 -

where he typed in two words: "Catalupa archaeology". In just a few seconds, he had
his answers.


..

Archaeologists Find Evidence of Ancient Advanced Culture in Catalupa


Archaeologists digging in the forests of Catalupa have found an elaborate temple
complex, the first ever discovered in the area.


"We knew the ancient Catalupan people were advanced," says Lauren Mallory,
head of the Austlyn University archaeology program, whose researchers uncovered
the monument. "There was artistic evidence for temples such as these, but we had
never located one, but now the ancient Catalupans can take their place among the
Incans and Aztecs and Mayans as master builders."


Mallory says that locating the tomb was the work of a dedicated team of Austlyn
University researchers who pored over satellite images and topographic maps until
a likely site was located ...


..

Edward felt indignant on Jacob's behalf. Jacob had no support for his theory that
Catalupan monuments existed, undiscovered. There was no "team" which worked on
locating a possible building site; it had been Jacob alone who'd studied images and
maps endlessly, late at night, after he'd finished teaching for the day.


The university had refused funding for the dig when Jacob had located a likely
site, and so Edward had paid for it. Neither of them had expected the first dig to be
a success. After all, field archaeology more often than not involved sifting massive
piles of dirt to try to find tiny shards of pottery or flint chips. Jacob had hoped to find
a start, to find some clues which might lead him to a more promising site in the
future. What he had uncovered was a once-in-a-generation find, something that
every archaeologist might dream of, but would never actually experience.

He'd called Edward to tell him the news, speaking so fast in his excitement that
Edward could barely make out what he was saying over the crackling connection.
The temple was small, pyramidal, and beautifully preserved by the jungle vegetation
that had grown over it. He'd sent Edward reams of photographs to get his opinion
on the texts and images carved on the steps as the diggers uncovered them one by
one. It appeared to be a temple dedicated to the worship of the Dark Goddess, a
religion about which little was known, but there was much speculation.

- 11 -

They'd spent the last six weeks clearing the site of the rubble and now were ready
to enter the actual temple itself. Jacob was convinced that there was also a tomb
located inside the building, but the archaeology department had dismissed that idea
out of hand. If the preliminary findings were correct and the structure was a temple
with living quarters for the priests, the Catalupan death taboos would have
precluded a burial on site.


Jacob was undeterred. He'd proven the experts wrong once and he'd do it again.
His translation of the carvings on the outer walls (a translation not universally
accepted) was that this was the worship and burial site of the Dark Goddess. The
problem lay in the fact that the world for "burial" in the Catalupan language was the
same as "sleeping place." Everyone other than Jacob (including Edward himself,
though he'd never hurt Jacob by telling him that) thought it meant that the Dark
Goddess dwelt in the complex, though whether she had been an actual person
worshiped as the incarnation of the Goddess, a statue, or a spirit, none of them
knew as of yet.

And now, after her scathing denunciations of Jacob's search as a waste of time,
Lauren had swooped in and taken the credit. Poor Jacob had to be livid. Edward
didn't know what Jacob thought he could do. He could threaten to pull his funding,
but now that Jacob had something interesting to show for his work, the university
would gladly fund the rest of the excavations.

The next article was from a local Catalupan newspaper. Edward read it in its
original Spanish and learned that Catalupan officials were now claiming that "the
archaeologists" (that strange plural again) hadn't secured proper permission to dig.
They'd been granted permission to dig in the soil, the article noted, not to excavate
any buildings. Edward brightened slightly. Here, at least, was a problem he might
be able to solve. He'd had experience with politicians before and bribes worked
more often than not.

He would do whatever he could, pay whatever the price may be, because Jacob
was his best friend. His only friend.




Jacob was in his hut, signing paperwork when Lauren tapped on the door and
entered before he could give permission. That was just her personality, he seethed,
barging in wherever she liked, whether she was wanted or not. Since the university
officials, headed by Lauren, had descended on his find, he had been ordered to stop
digging, both by the university - who wanted more conservationists on site - and by
the government officials of Catalupa, who were alarmed at the media attention and


- 12 -

the significance of the find itself.


Jacob was pretty pissed off by the implication of the university that he didn't know
what he was doing. Despite his carefree and somewhat reckless personal life, he
was very careful about his work. No one had ever had cause for complaints in that
area, and many of the "conservationists" they were sending down were empty suits
and people like Lauren, who had never grubbed in the dirt of an actual dig.

"Helloooo," Lauren cooed and leaned back against the door after she closed it.
She'd been wearing a long-sleeved light cotton shirt over a tank-top today, but now
the long-sleeved shirt had been removed and was tied around her waist. She wasn't
wearing a bra.

"How are you, Jake?" she asked with a small smile.


"Since before, or after, you stole credit for my discovery?"

"I didn't steal anything," Lauren countered. "You're an employee of the university,
Jacob. You used our resources for your research. As such, anything you discover is
considered a 'work product' and belongs to the university."


"You fucking lied," Jacob said. "That's what gets me the most. There was no
goddamn 'team'. It was just me and all of you fuckers said I was wasting my time
and now that it turns out I was right, you're shoving me out of the way to preen in
front of the cameras."

She stood up straight and strolled the few feet over to where he sat at his little
table, her hips swaying. She leaned down, giving him a clear view down her tank top
if he cared to look (which he didn't). "I suppose I could be ... convinced ... to mention
your name in my next interview."

"That's not the point, and you know it." He shoved back his chair, away from her,
and took a swallow from the bottle of beer he had on the table. "I should be the one
to open that temple, but it seems now that you have bigger problems than just me.
The Catalupans are now trying to revoke my dig permits, so you could lose the
whole ball of wax."


She shrugged. "I'm sure the university will work out something with them. They're
just afraid they're going to lose control of a major find." She traced a finger along
his jaw and he jerked away.


"Knock it off, Lauren. It's over."

- 13 -

"It doesn't have to be."


"Yeah, it does. I told you from the outset, it was a one-time thing. You promised
you wouldn't do this."

"I didn't realize how good we'd be together," she said. She dropped her voice into
what she must have thought was a sexy tone. "God, Jake, you were the best I've ever
had and I can't wait to have more." She tried to perch herself on his lap and he
stood, nearly knocking her off her feet.


"I said no, Lauren."


Her expression turned from salacious to scalded. She glared at him. "What the
fuck is your problem?"


"As of this moment, you," he said bluntly. "I don't like you, Lauren."

Trembling with fury, she whirled and slammed out of his trailer. He figured he
hadn't done himself any favors there, but this was why he had the rule that he did, a
rule which he made absolutely clear to all of his partners: He never slept with any
woman more than once. It was supposed to cut down on the possibility of
attachments being formed. He had known, even at the time, that fucking Lauren was
a mistake, but he'd been drunk and she'd been persistent and all of his scruples had
gone out the window when she unveiled those magnificent breasts of hers.

He drank more of the beer and rubbed his temples. God, he wished Edward was
here. Edward always had excellent advice about these sort of situations, even
though he was completely socially inept himself.


He remembered the first day they'd met. Both of them, six years old, starting first
grade in a new school. Edward had spoken to no one his first week there, and Jake
had felt an almost instant affinity with the lonely and silent red-haired boy. He
recognized in Edward the same skittish traits as the feral cat that lived in their tool
shed. His grandfather, who still lived back on the reservation, had taught him that if
a creature was afraid of people, you had to get them used to humans by sitting near
them quietly and slowly working up to interaction. Jacob's desk was beside Edward's
and every day he chose a spot next to him at lunch as well. A week later, Edward
had offered him a cookie from his lunch box, and after that, it was easy being his
friend.

Jacob discovered quickly that Esme Cullen hated him, though she was far too
polite and ladylike to ever overtly display it. Jacob, as sensitive as he was, picked up

- 14 -

on subtle cues. He was in no way good enough to be friends with her precious son.
Jacob was poor. His family lived in Section Eight housing. His clothes were ragged
and often dirty and, as time passed, he grew out of them faster than they were
replaced. His father was a habitual drunk who had lived on disability since a DWI
accident had crippled him, and his mother was loud and crass. His older brother,
Emmett, was constantly being arrested and spent more time in jail than out of it,
and his sister, Alice, had two kids before she had dropped out of high school.

He knew that Esme had hoped that Edward would outgrow his friendship with
Jacob and by high school, would begin to prefer the more affluent, popular kids.
Sometimes, Esme Cullen could be very blind where her son was concerned. Esme's
dismay and concern for her son had grown exponentially after her husband had
died. She had focused all of her energy into trying to nudge him into being the
Cullen prince he should be by setting him up on dates, and sending him to parties he
didn't want to attend. She was convinced that his shyness was something he could
get over if he just tried.

God knows, he succeeded at everything else he tried. As it turned out, Edward
Cullen was brilliant. Not just a bright kid, but one of those rare geniuses that comes
along to grace humanity once or twice a century. Part of his social ineptitude was
that his mind was rarely on the present. He would be doing differential equations in
his head and fail to notice that a girl was flirting with him.

He could have graduated much earlier, but he refused to be skipped ahead. And
when it came time for college, he had his choice of Harvard, Yale, Stanford ... and
decided to go to the University of Austlyn where Jacob had been accepted. It was a
good school, quite respectable in academic circles, but it was an odd a choice to
those who knew his brilliance as deciding to go to community college.


He and Jake shared a little apartment near campus, paid for by Edward, who'd
gained access to the trust fund set up by his grandfather at age eighteen. They were
probably the only guys in school who had their own maid, but it was a requirement
for them because Jake was a total slob and Edward rarely noticed his surroundings
long enough to know if they were clean or not.

It was an arrangement which worked out well for the both of them. Edward
needed Jake to remind him to eat, to go to class, to check to make sure his socks
matched and his shirt didn't clash with his pants. (Edward was completely
color-blind.) And he needed someone to smooth things over with the landlord when
he did things like cover the walls with equations written in Sharpie because he
couldn't find a piece of paper.



- 15 -

Jake needed Edward's patient tutoring to help him through some of his classes
and to keep him grounded. Without Edward's help in the academic sphere, and
later, his monetary assistance when Jake's loans didn't fully cover his costs, Jacob
would have never realized his dream to become an archaeologist. He had no idea
how much money he had borrowed from Edward over the years. Edward probably
knew down to the last penny, because he had an incredible memory for numbers,
even if he couldn't remember mundane things such as to buy groceries, but he
refused to divulge it or even consider allowing Jake to repay him. Nor would he
allow Jacob to pay for things like the on-a-whim roadtrip Jacob had dragged Edward
on to Tijuana to see if the rumors about sex shows were true. To Edward, who had
always had it, money was inconsequential. And Jake had sufficient grace to not allow
his pride to get in the way.

Jacob did help pull Edward out of his shell on occasion. With Jacob he had gone to
his first kegger, drank his first beer, kissed his first girl. Girls loved Edward. Despite
his untameable thatch of rusty hair and his jaw that usually bore about three days'
worth of scruff, they swooned. Edward rarely noticed, and when he did, his first
instinct was to retreat, blushing, stammering. Girls found that charming as well, and
he always had a flock of hopefuls circling around his periphery, even after he began
to use his engagement to Tanya as a shield.


Tanya. Jacob's lip curled just thinking her name. That bitch had completely taken
over Edward's life from the moment she set her sights on him. And Edward had let
her. She didn't mind that he didn't talk much because she talked constantly. She
didn't mind that he was shy, because she was bold and assertive. There was only one
area of his life that Edward refused to allow her to rule, and that was his friendship
with Jacob. She had won a significant victory (in her eyes) in getting Edward to buy
a house just for the two of them, but she could not erase Jake entirely from her
fiance's life, try though she may.

One small comfort was that Esme seemed to hate Tanya even more than she hated
Jacob. Jacob had learned manners from his association with Edward, and thus had
become marginally more acceptable in her eyes over the years. Tanya was of the
strong opinion that people should accept her just as she was.

Jacob finished the beer and tossed the bottle into his recycling bin. Edward would
be here, soon. He would know what to do about the permits and how to get his
discovery back from Lauren's greedy clutches. It was his temple, and he'd be
damned if anyone else would open it but himself after all of the hard work and
persistence when everyone else said he was a fool. Everyone but Edward, that is.





- 16 -