'thoughts'
CHAPTER 12
EPOV
I
heard his thoughts from a mile away. Muttered and indistinct, they
faded in and out of consciousness. 'I hope she's taking me to
Carlisle….Really do…. Will she listen, I mean…like him…got
to…'
Silence.
'Bloody hell, this hurts!'
Then nothing. I jumped up from the window seat where I had been reading a new book, Wuthering Heights. There on the street, in the stifling blackness, walked two strangers. Or I should say, walked one with another hanging off her shoulder. The crimson of her dress and his trousers was striking against the night and I could make out an expression of fury and sorrow on her face. His eyes were closed.
A
small swirl of wind, and Alice, half of the new addition to our
family was by my side. Her eyes were wide and confused but she spoke
in a strong voice. "Get Carlisle. Get everyone."
Her gift had
already helped us several times, avoiding trouble in where we hunted,
so I nodded and gave a small shout. The others came quickly, Rosalie
and Emmett in perfect sync, Jasper slinking out from the kitchen
where I'd had no idea he had been waiting and Esme and Carlisle
composed. That was, until Carlisle saw the two vampires. Then he
looked incredibly unbelieving, just for a second until the doctor
retook control.
"Emmett, get my kit. Edward, can you
hear-"
"They mean no harm," Alice was earnest. "If you
help them-"she cut off. "Help them."
Carlisle smiled, "I
was never going to refuse." As he spoke there were the sound of
footsteps, then suddenly a low voice filtered through the air to
us.
"Carlisle, open the door. You must help me. He is hurt and I
don't know who else to turn to. I know you can hear. I wouldn't
be surprised if Edward or your new protégée hadn't already
figured out our intentions." More thoughts suddenly rang through my
head, although this time they were cloaked in a strange flicker.
"Help me. If you can hear me, Edward, I mean no harm. But I
need help!"
Then
the voice was gone, so were the thoughts, Emmett was at the door, it
was creaking open and there stood the strangest vampire I would ever
meet. She smiled, briefly, a beautiful smile that contained the
warmth of a roaring fire, but just as quickly it was gone. The blue
eyes, just another anomaly in this random string of events flickered
to the dark-haired man on her shoulder. "His leg..."
The
crimson I had seen was not dyed cloth, but rather the vampire's
blood gushing out as if trying to hide the terrible white of bone
that was revealed. Carlisle gritted his teeth and started
forward.
"Come with me." Alice spoke quickly to the woman.
"You will not like this."
"Not until he is well." She
calmly settled to the floor, still holding the dark man's hand.
"If the psychic says you won't like it, love, you won't
like it. So off you go. I am sure I will be perfectly well in Dr.
Cullen's fine hands." The raspy voice drifted up from the floor,
along with the ghost of a smile.
The stranger rolled her eyes and
replied in an irritated voice, "You are badly wounded and you want
me to just leave!?"
"Would be nice."
She was gone, storming into the next room, muttering under her breath about ungrateful princes. The girls followed, while Emmett and I stayed with Carlisle to help with the procedure.
TPOV
Yet
another explanation of our identities followed. I was still mentally
furious with Henry over making me leave and incredibly worried about
his leg. He might never walk again with his easy fluency, if Carlisle
didn't- Rosalie's dry voice interrupted my griping. I was
impressed and a little surprised. Most sat there confused a while
longer after my history was revealed.
"How did he hurt his leg
like that?"
"Some vampires were following me- the eyes always
bring them. I can take care of myself, but my idiotic mate decided to
rush in and save the day. They were stronger than usual. Newborns, I
think. He got careless, didn't kill them all. One grabbed his leg
and slashed him. By the time I reached him and removed the survivors
he was on the floor." A shiver crept up my back at the image.
"Anyway, it needed looked at and the only doctor I knew who could
handle it was Carlisle." Well, knew
was probably a bit strong, but I had met Carlisle before.
They
stared at me. Totally and utterly mystified. I often had that effect
on people.
BPOV
"So
his leg was alright in the end?" I nuzzled against Edward's arm
as we lay on our bed together, some hours after the fight's end.
"Yes, Carlisle was very clever and managed to stitch it up. He
does have a scar." Edward fingered my hair. "He always said it
was dashing. They stayed with us while it healed and of course,
managed to completely charm us. Rosalie even began to like Tia, after
they went hunting together for wolves," he shrugged, "and of
course Esme adores Henry. She was so happy when they visited us again
some decades after. And again later and so on."
"That's so
sweet." To me, it sounded as if Tia and Henry had never really had
anyone other than each other, and the Cullens had taken them in, just
as they had me. I turned to Edward with a small smile touching my
lips.
"We still have a long time till dinner…"
