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The Strength of Blood
2: New Blood
I sat up without any difficulty, my anger displaced with wonderment at how agile, how flexible, how strong I felt. I raised my hand to look at it, to see if it was any different, before turning to my 'Healer's face.
'His face has changed, which will be good should he decide he wants to vanish from his old life. But it is quite odd...' Buzzed inside my head. I frowned. "Carlisle, I would appreciate you not calling me odd after you just had a meal out of my blood," I snapped at him.
"I didn't swallow any after my first intake, I spat it out." He explained motioning to the puddle of dark blood on the floor by the bedside. 'How very interesting...'
"So, it's true. I really do have bad blood," I managed to keep the sadness out of my tone somehow. "And will you stop doing that?"
"No, you don't have 'bad' blood, I just prefer to not drink human blood as much as I can. I think of it as my way of giving back, repenting if you will. And, just what am I doing?" He spoke so calmly that I felt comfortable, safe around him. Odd, since a few moments earlier I wouldn't dare to shut one eye around him if I could help it.
"I don't know, just when you talk sometimes it sounds like I'm underwater. It's annoying." I shrugged. "What do you mean you try not to drink human blood, I thought all vampires drank it. Are some kind of special vampire?"
Carlisle put a hand on my shoulder and wore a smile like those who have a secret to tell. I felt warmed inside that some stranger was already welcoming into his fold, but disheartened a bit that I had a secret that could destroy all that immediately. Strangely melancholy because my own father couldn't love me like that anymore.
"One could say that, yes. I was a wizard before my Change and, like you, my family has many special abilities." Once he put his hand on my cheek, and gently patted it a few times, I struggled to fight off the urge to cry. I wasn't sure if I could now that I was a vampire, but even so, who had ever heard of a weeping one?
Then the moment ended as Carlisle stepped back and removed his touch. As sensitive as I was now to my environment, it seemed that those spots lingered cold. "Now, are you hungry?" He asked soft-spoken still. I contemplated this thoroughly. It was logical, I thought especially in my case where I had just lost lots of blood and the rest possibly contaminated by the curse or curses, to me that as soon as a person was Changed they would suffer from blood lust. This didn't apply to me, however.
"No, not really," I said, jumping down off my death-bed. "How are we going to explain this, Carlisle?" I gestured to the bed and my should-be-lifeless-body and them him.
"Well, I could say, to excuse my sudden departure, that I could not stand to watch you die and know I could do nothing about it, especially when you reminded me of..." He closed his mouth and yet his words still reach me. 'My adopted son, Edward. He died from the Spanish Influenza by medical record, but I could have saved him...You look a lot like him, especially after you became one of us, so it would not be difficult for me to play this part.'
I felt a shiver go down my spine when he spoke the name 'Edward' and a warming sensation pooled in my stomach as he said 'one of us'. Something about this connection felt right to me. That's when he turned his golden eyes on me, settling deep within my own. And it was all too easy to see my Harry mourning my death and beating up himself for not being able to save me. He'd be tortured forever by it, compelled to save others because of it.
It made me want to stake myself, even though I knew vampires did not die from being staked. It would be the least I could do for Harry. I would do anything for him, I wanted to be there for him. Which lead to a thought that occurred to me and sent my respiration erratic and into hyperventilation.
"Calm down, calm down, stop breathing and you'll be alright," His voice soothed me and eventually I could slow down my breathing. I couldn't stop, it just felt too weird to not breath after 16 years of doing just that every moment of my life however cool it was. "What are you thinking?"
I looked deep into his eyes, I wanted him to understand the seriousness. That I wasn't hyperventilating because I forgot my broom at my house, but because I had irthsma or something like that. Hypothetically, of course. "Where do you live Carlisle?"
I think I came off too strong, since he stumbled backwards and tripped over his words. "Where do I live?" He laughs, smiling, akwardly and looks in another direction shortly before looking back at me. "Why, I move all the time. Vampires like us have to be nomadic..." He trails off.
"It's a simple question, Carlisle. Just where am I going to move?" He takes a deep breath, to steady himself I think.
"Look," he exhales. "I know about your lover, and I don't think that you or Jasper would be able to stand being around him as young as you both are. We will have to move out of this country, and even then I doubt you will see him again soon. I'm sorry, I wanted to protect you from that pain..." I have all the confidence that if I were able, I would have been redder than anything on the planet.
"My..my, my lover?" I squeaked out, unable to look Carlisle in his eye.
"Yes, or do you kids not call it that anymore? I suppose the new term is boyfriend, it has indeed been awhile for me. He's that nice boy that kept you company, and me as well, as much as he could, more than most of your fellow pupils even. Harry, I believe his name is. Quite popular he is, I didn't think Europe was that accepting of gays."
Before he could continue and torture me even more, I blurted out, "It's not. And he's not my lover, boyfriend, or whatever. He's just a friend, not that I don't wish he was more," The latter part I muttered to myself, but I suppose I underestimated the sensitivity of vampire's hearing because when I looked up, Carlisle was nearly smiling ear to ear.
"Oh, maybe I wasn't supposed to hear that," He teases lightly.
"Yeah, kind of," I grumble, crossing my arms. It just occurred to me that we had been standing without moving for that long without any need to change posture.
"Edward," Carlisle sighs and I snap my head up. Surprized at my sudden motion, he apologises. "I thought..."
"No," I say softly. "You didn't do anything wrong, I like it, it fits. It just feels right," I turn my head to the side, contemplating Carlisle's thoughts and memories that he allowed to run through my mind. "Don't second guess yourself, follow your instinct. It wasn't right for him to live. There was a darkness within him that you hid, denied existed, he would not have become like you. And if he had, he would have turned into a self-loathing being. Cursing his soul to hell, just like you automatically assume.
"We each have a soul, no matter what we are. It's just what we do with ourselves that condemn us to our fate," I placed a hand on his shoulder for support. While his face displayed nothing, his eyes glowed in a way that I knew meant I was helping him combat his demons. "Stop dwelling on that. You're a doctor, Carlisle, you save lives. You have one of the most pure souls this earth knows,"
"Esme is going to love you," He choked out. I smiled, removing my hand and that moment faded away.
"Who's Esme? And Jasper?" I asked, remembering that he said something of a Jasper being young like me.
"Esme is my wife, and Jasper, for lack of a better word, is one of our children. He's been gifted with the ability to manipulate one's feelings and be able to read them. Like you have been, just you can read minds. Emmett, Rosalie and Alice are my others. Emmett retains a portion of the strength fledglings like you are granted and Alice can see people's possible futures," Carlisle explained.
The information that I could read minds was new to me, though it made sense as to why I could. I was a wizard for one, and my blood gave me the ability to be unnaturally keen on instincts and the occasional thoughts running through a person's head. My blood was very close to the gift Luna Lovegood has: the ability to read auras. And if I had payed more attention, I could hear the muffled sounds of the insides of the minds of everyone at St. Mungos. Yet this didn't freak me out as I expected.
"What about Rosalie? How is she different?" I questioned, throwing Carlisle off by my nonchalance.
"Yes, well, she's very beautiful and very out-spoken about it," He chuckled and I laughed along.
"Is there anything else I need to know?" Meaning about being a fledgling.
"I expect everything will be covered when we settle down in Forks," He replied.
"Then, how are we going to pull this off?"
Carlisle grinned mischievously. "I took a few acting lessons back when I was young, it's been awhile since I've used them..."
*
His acting (flirting) payed off and I was well on my way to my new family. Carlisle insisted that I could not go back home, nor even write a letter to Harry at all to explain. I tried to argue it, saying that Harry would never dare tell a soul, not even unintentionally, but it was apparently against some Volturi rules.
They're the great ancients or whatever who live far away and yet dictate how we, vampires, should live. I felt like ripping their heads off, which Carlisle laughed to once I told him.
Now, I am meeting his family in London without any apprehension oddly. I thought I would be at least a bit nervous, but even the idea of nerves melted away once I was jumped by a sweet-smelling pixie-girl. She enveloped me in a tight hug and whispered in my ear. "I'm so glad Carlisle finally gave me a little brother to play with!"
I pulled back, mulling over the ideas of torture she was planning to give me with cheerfulness. She could obviously tell I was gay, but I had no inclination towards being a make-up doll! Eventually, once we got past this breech in mutual understnading, we would probably be the closest of friends. I watched her step back next to a guy with a semi-constipated look on his face. 'This is Jasper, my mate' I heard and nodded to him. He gave a soft smile back and I felt rushed with a feeling of joy and happiness and warmth. I sent him my thanks through a warm smile.
Not everyone was as warm though. Emmett looked torn between his mate I guessed, the cold-looking blond named Rosalie, and welcoming me equally. I looked at Rosalie and raised my eyebrow at her. She sniffed and lifted her nose back. 'He's nothing special, just a liability' For some reason, I had to stop myself from attacking her, though I didn't hide my growl from her.
"Rose," Alice spoke. "He has helped Carlisle with his past," Rose looked surprised at that for a moment, flickering to jealousy, and then back to her snobbery.
Esme, the mother of this group, came up to me. "Thank you," She said. "Thank you for helping Carlisle. He has been battling those demons for as long as he lived," I bit my lip to refrain from hugging her too hard, Carlisle warned me about the strength of fledglings, since she reminded me of my own mother.
*
Yes, that is all. I have a part that is long but needs to go in the next chap. But before I write it, tell me guys, do you want Rosalie to play nice or be cold towards Edward?
Review it to me plz!