Einfach Mich's Rec of the Week: 10/31/11

November 02, 2011

Belonging by forthelongestday
Review by Einfach Mich

Rating: M
Genre: Angst/Horror
Characters: Charlotte/Peter

Summary: A routine walk down an alley in Laredo sets into motion the events that end Charlotte's life, and sends her tumbling into a dark world full of hate and war. 

One of the things I love about fan fiction is how it allows us to fill in the gaps. I don’t mean it like that you pervs! I mean, the gaps in canon. The untold stories of Twilight. There are so many untold stories that could be based before the events of the books. Entire lifetimes that passed before Bella Swan was ever born. In those lifetimes are love stories as equally powerful as the one told in Twilight.

Belonging tells the story of how Charlotte became a vampire and met her mate, Peter. It’s dark, haunting and utterly entrancing. We begin the story at the end of her life, on the shadowy floor of a barn in Laredo. Charlotte awakens to a world painted in shadows, pain and death. Peter is her guide through this terrifyingly violent life, much to his apparent displeasure. Charlotte obligingly hates him in return. However, it is the silent, shadowy figure of Jasper that terrifies her more.

There are so many amazing things I love about this story, I don’t know where to start with listing them. I love that we see this world through the eyes of newborn Charlotte. Her fear, anger and curiosity mirror the conflicted kaleidoscope of emotions I went through while reading. Even though I know the Twilight universe, this part of it was still strange and new, which kept me hooked and fascinated to see what was going to happen next. Sure, I knew how Peter and Charlotte’s story was going to end, but it didn’t stop me from fearing for them and wondering how these two people, who initially have every reason to hate each other, will fall in love.

forthelongestday breathes life into these characters and brought me around to loving them dearly. Peter is an intriguing and enigmatic man. His entrance into the story is memorable and to be honest, damn sexy.
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"You." The word came out as a growl, and my hand flew to my throat; I wasn't capable of such a sound.  

"Sir," the man corrected, raising his right eyebrow in a perfect arch. His skin had a strange pattern etched into it, every few inches semi-circles shone just a little lighter on his flesh, and had I not known better I would have sworn they were teeth marks. The patterns stirred a memory within me, and in that moment I could just barely see his face in a memory of an alley in Laredo; I could almost feel his hands on my shoulders and teeth against my throat, and I bolted backward from him; my back against the wall. 

  The man laughed darkly, "The danger I present to you has mostly passed." 

The most intriguing aspect of this story is the chance to see pre-canon Jasper from the point of view of a member of Maria’s newborn army. Here we get a very different, much darker version of the fandom’s favorite Texan.

Hate, pain, fear, desolation...  

It all wound around my neck in a tightening noose, and it was no wonder that Jasper's victim didn't fight back; I couldn't even move a finger with all these constricting emotions flowing over me. He was savage, brutal, and when he finished with the one he turned on the two standing closest to him and ripped each of their limbs off before kicking them off to the side, paying no mind to the screams of agony that tore from their mouths. 
 
He pivoted in place slowly, glared into each of our eyes as he blanketed us in acknowledgment, and we all nodded our understanding tentatively. This was not a man to defy, no matter the order. 

In the end this is a story about two people finding each other and finding love under the worst of circumstances. Their careful, compelling dance is fascinating to watch even if you know how it will all end. After all it’s not about the destination, but the journey, right?

If you love AU vampire fic, especially if you love pre-canon and wonder about the world that Jasper lived in before he found the Cullens, Belonging is the fic for you.

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