Well this is the second beginning to blood crescent. I did the first because I wanted it to resemble the books, but this little short blast from the past will be VERY important later on in the story. And I know that I might get a lot of hate mail for making Carlisle "weak" or whatever, but I just thought that it would be extremely difficult for one person not to eat blood when they are all by themselves, so I gave him a little help. I own nothing but my original charries. Hope you enjoy this one!
Dordogne, France – 1664The light of a dying fire stretched out from the small house. It was not much to look at but it was build strongly with heart and spirit, and could hold up against the worst of storms. Just inside the house, tending to the fire and also trying to warm herself, sat a girl. Her nose was red for the cold and her hands shook as she stirred the fire, but she did not move from her resting place. The morning had come dark and cold. Winter was coming and as she had predicted it would be a harsh one. Somewhere behind the mountains the sun had come up, but it would be three more hours before the small village would be able to see it from their spot, safely tucked away in the valley. For now, the orange light dyed the fair girl's skin golden, her hair was set aflame, a roaring torrent that spilled over her shoulders. Her eyes though, stayed the same vivid green as if they refused to change for the dim light. The odd amber color that surrounded her irises simply glowed, mirroring the fire before her. Shadows moved around her, but only one of the larger caught her eye. "Hello, you need not hide in the shadows. I can see you as if you stood in the fire light before me." Her voice was soft and touched with a hint of an accent, but held a tone that had an air of power to it.
The man made no move toward her, instead he seemed to drift further into the shadows. He stayed hidden in the corner of the room, his figure distorted by the darkness. Only his glowing golden eyes and the velvet smoothness of his voice comforted the girl in knowing she was not alone. "Are you the witch they call "le béni"?"
"Yes, I am, but what request could a vampire such as yourself have of me?" She knew what he was, yet she could not help herself to close her eyes at his voice swam around her. It was a part of his nature to be charming, in that way his victims would be easier lead to his web. She snapped open her eyes, breaking any enchantment he had tried, or nor tried, to seduce her with before she was lead to her death."The-The cravings…they are too much for me…I can hear every heartbeat…and the blood flowing through their veins, I just want to…" his voice cracked with intensity and a great need that expressed his fierce appetite. She noted to herself that the edges of his eyes were black and closing in on his irises.
"I believe you are referring to the way your species lives," a smile tugged at her lips, though her guest did not to see the humor in her words."Yes how we live," He spat out the words from the darkness. "If you can call this curse living." She felt his anger grow from his corner to spread around the room. She stirred the burning embers once again, buying time for her mind to find the right words to say.
"I do not see your situation the same as you do," a snort of laughter quickly followed her words and she knew she had caught his interest.
"Then how do you see it, sorceress?" His tone was light enough, but she knew to tread lightly on this subject. Her eyes peered into the darkness, trying to read his expression as she spoke."I have seen your face, in the future, in a time where vampires are thought to be just old legends to scare the young ones of the night. I see you as a healer. Saving the lives of countless mortals, saving them for sure death." In fact, she had seen it more than once. It seemed that ever since she had the vision of her nightly visitor, she would also receive the vision of his future and hers also, intertwined. She knew now that he would not accept her words easily, but in the future he would come to see them in a new light. She could not help the small smile that cracked on her face at the thought of this man's future family and the young mortal girl that would change them all for the best.
"Are you sure that I am not their death. That I am healing them by taking their lives for my own needs?" A bitter laugh filled the room, and the girl fought off the shiver that was creeping down her spine. Yes, it would take time, many decades upon decades for him to see the good of his situation and to learn control. But it would happen.
"You disgust me," she hissed, snapping her head in his direction. She was every bit human as the people he talked of draining. She made no move to hide her distaste for his words, she wanted him to know not to talk that way in her presence.
"I disgust myself," was his curt reply.
"Is that then why you need my assistance. To satisfy your thirst for blood." There it was finally said. Why he had come to him, why he needed her. She began running through lists and lists of items and potions and spells that could possibly help. Some were immediately dismissed, others were tested, and chants rolled off her tongue until half way through when she declared that would not be powerful enough. But she was finding it hard to come up with the exact item needed when he spoke again, still hidden in the corner.
"I am a monster." It was the only words that left his mouth. He either had no answer for her or he felt that her question did not require an answer. Though she felt no anger from him avoiding her interrogation, but he was bantering around why he had visited. It was almost as if he wanted her pity, but she knew better. Though she would never wish this poor man's fate upon even her worst enemies, he and his father had been hurting her kind for generations. Slowly killing off hundreds of intellectual minds that had been destined to improve the world, were now nothing more than ashes.
"You are no more a monster than I am," she whispered, more to the fire than her companion. Her eyes stared directly into his for the first time and their intensity forced him to look away, as he lowered his head and muttered.
"You do not feed off the blood of the living to sustain yourself." Shame was uttered in every word and she felt herself soften at his words. But as quickly as it came, it disappeared twice as fast from his eyes.
"Neither do you, it seems," She indicated to his golden eyes.
"I could not do it again. So that is why I have come to you." It was a plea. He was finally telling her what he had come for, but he still did not say it exactly from his lips. She wondered it he could, or if he would burst into flames if they were uttered.
"Well, I am sorry to inform you, but the only way that you do not have to drink the blood of the living is for you not to be alive. Even the living dead need food to thrive." It was a well-known fact. Everything needed to feed on something to gain power. Even the few corpses she had seen risen from their graves had needed warm flesh to feast on. He should count his blessings that he could satisfy himself with animal blood instead. His anger filled the room once again, and she felt the hairs on the back of her neck rise.
"I have already tried killing myself more times than any man should ever try. I can't die! That is why I came to you, you were suppose to help." She felt that she should have been threatened by his lone tone, but she did not flinch. He would not harm her, but he did need to control his anger. How did he expect to control his hunger, if he could not even reign in his anger? A light of realization shine in her eyes for a moment before the flickered over to the opposite corner of where he stood.
"I might have something." She moved from her spot by the fire to one of the large chests stored in the opposite corner of where her guest stood. She hesitated for a moment, as if questioning her own actions before returning to her task of finding whatever she believed could help. It took longer than either one expected, for they both thought the witch knew where she had left the item in question, but it seemed that it had a knack for disappearing. For it took enough time for her guest's patients to wear thin, which it was only a few moments. "Ah, it was were I thought I had left it, after all." She held up a bundled up cloth. His eyes narrowed as she unwrapped the bundle and help up a small silver ring. A large red gem sat in the middle of the silver band that had words and phrases etched onto sides in a language he could not decipher. She mouthed the writing to herself as she rolled her fingertips over the ring before returning her eyes to him. "It will not stop your need for blood, but it will diminish it. If you can live off what changed your eyes golden, then you should survive."
"Please, sorceress." At seeing the glint of the ring, it took only two strides for him to reach her side and slip the ring from her out stretched hand. From where he stood, the girl was able to study his face. He was a little more than six feet tall. His hair, that seemed to have been tied back at one point in time, was a wild golden wave that washed over his chiseled and flawless face. He was surprisingly dressed head to toe in black, a stark contrast to his light features. A black silk shirt was laced causally at his collarbone, revealing his broad chest. Dark trousers were tucked into knee-length boots that scrapped against the dirt floor of the small house. A dark unfitted waistcoat reached to the tops of his boots and the large buttoned sleeves hid most of the glittering red ring. He was beautiful, but deadly.
"And what will you give me in return for my services, Carlisle?" One of her slim eyebrows raised in question. She did not do anything for free, especially for a vampire. And seeing as she knew what she would get in return, it was needed for the state of the future and both of their families. A whisper held her answer."Anything."