England: 1668
Current Age: 23
Three days after explaining and organizing the attack on the vampires in London's sewers
Carlisle's POV
I was grateful for the one thing I was able to do better than Thomas and the other men who were working with us, and that one little thing happened to be able to ride with a pitchfork in one hand, a sword buckled to my waist, and a flaming torch in the other hand. I wasn't the best when it came to using my weapons, but at least I could stay on my horse without gripping the reins. William found it amusing that someone with my build and 'powerful' looks could easily be thrown to the ground. We all had our faults when it came to fighting, mine just happened to be slightly more dangerous for me because I couldn't fight well. I felt silly and awkward though when I stabbed a piece of wood or any form of a target. I knew I would do better when I was fighting things that moved and actually, well, fought back.
Oliver feinted to my left with the pitchfork that he had, smirking when I twisted out of the way. "You're finally getting it. If only you were as good at fighting as you are at carpentry." He taunted.
I tried to hide my smile as my twist managed to place the tips of my own pitchfork against his chest, "I can't be too awful, because you are 'dead' now." I replied, allowing my smile to show.
"Carlisle!"
I looked up instantly, recognizing the commanding the voice that I heard learned to fear since I was a young child. I stared at my father, knowing that surprise was written clear across my face. He had developed a cough recently, so I hadn't expected him to come out of the house.
Adam paused in his own mock fight with Thomas, his gaze flickering uneasily between my father and me. It wasn't a secret that our relationship had gotten rockier in the past few days, though none of us knew why, including me.
"Yes father?" the words came out of my mouth as they always did- hesitant and wary even though my aging father was struggling more and more to cause me harm now that I was the stronger one.
"Come inside. I need you to help me with something, might as well put your youthfulness to use." The words were grumbled with an obvious unhappiness as he walked inside the house again. He didn't like admitting that he needed me.
Oliver gave me a gentle, but firm, shove towards my home. I sighed, leaving the simple training session to be the obedient son that did whatever he could to please his irritable father. It took my eyes a moment to adjust to the dimness of the building, but when they did I drifted over to my father who was now sitting in a chair at the table. He went into a coughing fit, which tugged on my heart, which in turn caused me to gently place a hand on his shoulder to keep him from falling out of the chair.
"What do you want me to do?" I asked in a murmur. As much as I wanted to, I couldn't hate him. I could only feel compassion for him because he was ill- and he was getting worse each day. I tried to help him sit up, but his back had given up on being perfectly straight, so he remained in a hunched over position.
"Fix me something to eat, please."
I was able to hide my surprise when he added the p-word to his request. I nodded, starting on warming up the little bit of food from the night before. I was only vaguely aware of his hawk-eyed gaze on my back as I coaxed the fire back to life. "You've been doing well. I was worried that you would not be able to lead the church, but you have been doing better than I thought you would do."His voice was rough from his coughing fit, but that didn't matter, all that I cared about was that he had praised me. I waited impatiently for the broth to grow warm enough to eat as I listened for the mocking words that usually followed the rare praise I received, but they never came.
"It won't heat any faster if you stare at it, Carlisle. You're as impatient as your mother was when it comes to things like that." Now the idea that someone had kidnapped my father and replaced him with this much more friendlier version was starting to seem possible as he half ordered, half asked me to sit beside him.
Confusion washed over me as my father started to speak, "Your mother always wanted to have a strong son. She knew the world that you would grow up in would be hard…she wanted you to be able to take on everything that was thrown at you. When Mary was pregnant she would murmur to herself while she ran her hands over her swollen stomach. She'd say 'you'll be a strong boy, Carlisle; you'll be a strong one.' She was dead-set on having a son and naming him Carlisle. She thought that was the prettiest name she had ever heard, or that was what she liked to tell me. She was terrified of giving birth because she was afraid she wouldn't know what to do once you left her body. I think that was what she fretted over the most. "He said quietly, staring blankly at the wall as he relived the past.
I was completely entranced by the time he finished the first sentence. I had always wondered over what my mother was like, but my father had forbidden even the mention of her. All I had ever known about her was that her name was Mary, she had blonde hair and blue eyes like me, and that she had a similar personality to mine. I had picked up that information from other people within our community.
"You are almost a perfect replica of her. You have her hair, but your eyes aren't as soft in their coloring. Her face was more rounded than yours is, but you get your facial shape from my own father. She loved to read anything and everything that she could get her hands on, and that was what she would do when she was done with the housework. I lost count on how many times she read her Bible, but she read it whenever she got the chance. She also loved to help people. She hated to see people hurting or without the things they needed to live, and she tried to help every person she came across. She just…she just loved helping others. She hated violence with a passion. She was determined to raise you without ever having to punish you- she wanted to avoid hurting you. She wanted to avoid hurting everyone." My father laughed a little to himself, "When she found out that she was pregnant she was ecstatic, near the end though she wasn't so happy because you were so big. Her love for you didn't fade though, even if her tolerance for carrying you around started to shrink.
"I loved her, I truly did. Mary was exactly what I needed to balance out my own hard to deal with personality. She was like the sun for London- everyone we knew loved her. She was just one of those people that everyone felt better with. She didn't let that get to her though, and she remained the same old Mary that I fell for. "His words grew quieter and I knew he was running out of things to say.
He suddenly seemed to find more to talk about after a few minutes pause, and he continued with his story. I listened intently as I took care of the broth I had been heating over the fire for my father. He ended his tale when he started to cough again, and once again, I felt a swell of compassion arise in me. Hearing him talk about the mother that had died minutes after my birth reminded me that he was still human, that he wasn't as cold as he made me think. He did have a heart. I knew that as he shakily took the bowl of broth from my hands…his heart was failing him. He would soon join my mother. And when he did, I would be alone and without any family.
We were all unusually quiet as we neared the place that the vampires were hiding. Our group of ten wasn't much, but I had managed to pick the strongest and most able men out of the twenty that volunteered. The lower number also meant a lowered death rate. I wanted as many people as possible to get out alive. Most of us were young in age and stayed under the thirty year old mark, with Oliver being the eldest and I the youngest at twenty three.
By the time we got there, my heart had started to pick up speed, hammering away in my chest. It took a lot for me to get upset or nervous, but everything in my body was screaming- no, begging- me to forget about all of this and just run home as fast as I could. If I ran home though, I wouldn't accomplish anything. The trust that the community had in me would be lost in an instant if I called everything off.
I sighed as I dismounted from Ash, typing him up, but making sure he could run for it if he needed to run. I watched as the rest of the group did the same, and then I lit the torch that I had. I couldn't help but meet the gaze of each man that was with me as I used my torch to light theirs. I could see the fear in their eyes, but I could see the trust they had in me mixed with it. Thomas's gaze wasn't at all afraid, just trusting. The sight made me feel sick at my stomach and I had to turn away quickly to avoid showing my own fear.
How could they trust me so much? I was probably about to be the reason why they would die, and yet they had agreed to this on their own free will. They expected me to be able to keep them safe if something happened- they trusted me to keep them alive. I wondered at the idea of what would happen if they knew I was afraid.
I was suddenly aware of how cold it was despite the clear skies. I winced as I tried in vain to bring my jacket tighter around my body. It was from when I was much younger, meaning it barely fit because, unfortunately, I had grown several inches in the past two years. "Do not try to attack in any form until I tell you to. If I tell you to stay, stay. If I tell you to go, then I better see every single one of you running back to your horses. If you ever see me go down, then run. I do not want any of you to die a foolish death while trying to be brave and go back after me. Help each other as often as possible and try to keep them away from the sewers, but out of the main streets. I do not want them to get out and wreck havoc on the rest of the city. "I stepped towards Thomas, grabbing his collar. I forced my face to become hard and steely so I could hide my fear for my childhood friend. "And you: You better get out of this alive. If I go down and you try and help me I swear I will come back from the dead and pester you until you die. You will listen to me Thomas, if you don't…" I shook my head as I let him go.
Thomas looked a little unnerved from my orders, but he said nothing. He stepped back to Adam's side, and it was only when I saw one of the five vampires emerge, then another one hesitantly showed its face, that I started to understand what we were facing.
They were beautiful in a terrifying way. Their pale skin took on a luminous quality in the light of a full moon, and even with the ragged clothes they wore they still radiated beauty and deadly power. When the second one spoke, I recognized it to be the same vampire who had laughed at me when Thomas and I had journeyed into the tunnel that led to the sewers. He was talking so fast that there was no possible way to understand him. He also spoke in a language I didn't understand. His tongue was much older than what anyone spoke in today.
As I curled my fingers tighter around the weapon in my hand, I whispered a prayer before I straightened out of my crouch-like position. It was then that I was thankful for my youth that made me faster than the others with me- if I was ahead of them then maybe I would be the only one who would be attacked or killed, so my friends could get away while the vampires were distracted by my spilled blood.
It did work that way…or it kind of did. When one of the vampires turned to attack, naturally it fell on me first. It hissed as it knocked the pitchfork from my hand, but when I moved the open flame of the torch closer to him, he shied away.
Oliver had been close to me, so when he saw the vampire shy from the flame, he yelled that fact out. Fire was the only thing that could help us. It was obvious that this would be a lost cause now. How could I have been so stupid, so foolish? I had led every single man here to their deaths, including myself. Louis had been right after all.
As I expected, most of the group stepped back and formed a tight group. That left Oliver, Thomas, a man I didn't know, and me at least ten feet away from the rest of the group and within four feet of two vampires. The other three had fled somewhere. A scream to my left got my attention just before I saw the man I didn't know go down. He struggled against the vampire who had attacked him, but his attempts were useless- even when they were starving and weak, they were still stronger than we were. "Go! Get out of here!" my voice, thankfully, sounded braver and stronger than I actually felt.
Most of the men didn't have to be told twice- they were eager to leave the chaos. My blood ran cold as I saw Oliver's neck shredded by one of the two vampires. His scream made me feel sick….
My distraction only lasted until I felt icy hands grab my arm. Then I felt a horrific pain tear through my neck as the vampire who had laughed at me attempted to get a good grip. He seemed to be having trouble finding purchase on my neck as I struggled, so it only made my neck become all the more torn as I fought and he buried his teeth into my skin several times. "Carlisle!" the yell came from Thomas. He had gotten backed into a wall by the other vampire- apparently killing Oliver and the other man wasn't enough- now it had to go after Thomas.
For some reason I managed to get free that time. Maybe it was fear for my friend that gave me the ability to push free of my own attacker, but I stumbled over something that gave a moan. I didn't stop to see who it was.
My vision was fading from all the blood that I had lost; the hot blood that I could feel running down from my torn neck and down my back and chest. I didn't stay up on my feet because of the fire that felt like it was inside of me.
Everything burned. My mind whirled as I searched for the flames that were burning me alive, but there were none.
Arms wrapped around me, but there were soft and human, not icy and hard like the vampire's when he had tried to hold me still long enough to get a good hold on my neck.
Thomas.
His eyes were wide with panic as he took in the sight of whatever my neck now was- whatever was left of my neck. "Get out of here Thomas. Go…don't worry about me…just get out of here." I pleaded. I looked away long enough to see that the vampires were distracted by their earlier kills, Oliver and the man.
One of them noticed that we were still alive-how I don't know. Maybe he heard our voices or maybe he could hear our hearts beating frantically in our bodies. As one grabbed Thomas and the other reached for me, the first one hissed a sharp no.
"No, please…take me with you….just kill me now…please." I hated the begging words I was whispering, but that was all I wanted. I just wanted to die. If it stopped the fire, then I wanted to die.
"*Iam vos vadum exuro , nos ostendo haud misericordia in ones ut iuguolo nos."
The whispered words were so soft that I could barely hear them. I had no trouble seeing the two vampires run though, one of them carrying Thomas. They would kill him. My best friend was about to die because of one, fatal mistake that I had made.
It was several hours before I finally managed to move while the fire still burned me on the inside. I couldn't stand, so I crawled. As I saw the two men who had been left in the streets like I had, I shuddered because of their injuries. Oliver's neck was…there was nothing left of it. The other man was in a similar condition. Apparently there was just enough of my neck still there that I was able to stay alive. I dared to touch it, but as my fingers probed deeper and deeper into the wound, I quit. The wound was deep, but most of the shredded skin was somehow patched on by a cool liquid that I assumed was the vampire's venom. So most of my wound had been sealed with something…meaning it was only a matter of time before I became one of them.
I did not stop crawling until I found a house that had a cellar close to where I was. I buried myself in the potatoes and stuffed one into my mouth so if I screamed, no one would hear. If I was heard, I would be killed, and as much as I wanted to die, I could not handle the idea of what my father would do if he found out what I was becoming.
*Now you shall burn, we show no mercy on the ones that kill us.
