1926
Carlisle
It had been a complete shock to the pair of us when we returned home to find Edward gone. We had returned only five minutes after we left, Esme's motherly concern for our son, and her knowledge of how much his words had hurt me no matter how much I tried to hide, making it so she could not bare for us to separate on such bad terms, even if it was for just a few hours.
We had followed his scent, expecting to find he had gone on a hunt of his own. As we crossed each state border, our joint panic grew. Once we crossed the border into Ohio, I knew exactly where he was going. He was hunting - but a very different sort of prey.
I had left Esme in the woodland near the outskirts of Columbus, she had no desire to go anywhere near the house where she had suffered so much again.
~o~ ~O~ ~o~
"You don't want to do this, Edward." Edward turned around at the sound of my voice. He was stood in the middle of Charles Evenson's living room.
"Oh, I don't, do I?" Edward hissed. "He deserves it. How can you live with yourself, knowing he's still alive and you do nothing about it?"
"We are not murderers, Edward."
"Not murderers? We're vampires, Carlisle, designed to kill, and that man up there deserves to die. You don't have to see it in her mind. The way he beat her and raped her. How can you stand there and tell me to let that monster live? You're supposed to love her!"
"I do love her, Edward, and you know it. Esme doesn't want this." It was only that knowledge that kept me here. For as much as I might despise myself for it, there was a part of me that wanted to kill Charles Evenson just as much as Edward did.
"Carlisle's right, I don't want this." We both turned round at the sound of the new voice.
"Esme," I said in surprise. "I thought you were going to wait in the wood." She had been so very clear in her desire to not have to come back to this house ever again, and who could blame her.
"I couldn't stay there, not knowing what was happening."
"We should leave," I announced, wrapping my arm tenderly around my wife and steering her towards the front door. I wanted to get us all out of here before someone got hurt, either literally or figuratively.
"He deserves to die," Edward growled.
"He is a monster, no doubt, but I won't have you become one also over someone like him," Esme told him sternly. Still Edward didn't move. "Please, let's go," she pleaded.
Just then the sound of bedsprings creaking came from upstairs, followed by the sound of feet landing on the floor.
"Edward, we have to go," I said desperately. If Charles came downstairs he would surely recognise Esme. And I wasn't certain I could be in the same room with the man who had brutalised my precious wife without killing him myself.
Edward's eyes flickered between the stairs and us.
"Please, Edward," Esme pleaded.
"Whose there?" a male voice shouted.
Please, Edward. You are not a monster, son!
Suddenly, Edward took off up the stairs, and I followed behind him.
"She doesn't want this, Edward. If she did, I'd do it myself." Edward turned to look at me in shock. But I knew my thoughts would reveal I was telling the truth.
"Who are you?" We both turned in shock to look at Charles Evenson. Hatred unlike anything I had ever felt before boiled up in me. This was the man who had hurt Esme. I remembered when I had first found Esme in the morgue. Bruised and broken, she was no longer the carefree girl whose leg I had once fixed. Charles had done that to her. My sweet, loving wife, who completed me in so many ways, this man had treated like she was worth nothing. Never in over two centuries had the need to kill filled me so strongly.
"What are you doing in my house?" Charles stood closer to the two of us, trying to act threatening.
"Answer me," he ordered, before going to grab Edward. In one fluid movement, Edward moved out of his way, and Charles was left to stumble into the now empty space where he had stood.
I knew I should do something to stop this. That I should make sure I got Edward and Esme, especially Esme, out of here right now. But I was too busy trying to control my instincts. Not since my newborn days had I been so desperate to kill. But it wasn't my throat that called for me to kill. I did not want the man's blood. I just wanted him dead.
"What are you?" Charles stammered, staring in horror at the pair of us.
"We're here to make you pay for what you did," Edward said menacingly, walking toward him.
Charles backed away, until he stumbled down the top of the stairs, righting himself about four steps down. Edward and I followed.
Esme's down there, son, don't let him near her. I no longer knew whether I wanted this man to live or die. But I knew for certain I did not want my wife to have to come face to face with her human torturer.
But the decision was taken out of my hands, as Charles tripped and fell down the rest of the stairs, landing in the living room.
Esme gasped and Charles turned around at the sound.
"You!" Charles hissed. "You dare to come back, you little whore. They told me you were dead, and good riddance to you. And now you're back." Charles raised his fist to hit her, as he had done throughout their marriage.
I saw nothing but red. As I saw the monster I loathed raise his fist to hit the woman I loved, my entire vision went red and I acted on instinct. Before Charles got a chance to touch Esme, I had him pined against the wall, my mouth at the fiend's neck. Every long buried vampire instinct was now telling me to kill.
"Carlisle, no!" I heard my wife shout behind me. Her shout reminded me of who I was and what I believed in.
I was not a killer, but that thought alone would not have been enough to stop me at this point.
Esme doesn't what this. It was that thought that stopped me. I had promised to be a better husband to her than the man I currently held in my grasp. I would not sink to his level, she deserved better than that.
"You live because of her," I hissed in Charles' ear, and then I let him go.
"What are you freaks?" Charles shouted. Nobody answered, but Esme took a step forward.
"Listen to me, Charles. You will never hurt me again. You have no power over me now. You are a despicable man, and you live simply because I will not waste another minute of my life worrying over you," Esme hissed at him. I had never heard her sound so angry before, and a surge of pride filled me as I realized the strength it must have taken for her to finally stand up to this man who she had feared for so long.
Behind her, Edward snorted. "You can try, but you may have noticed we're not exactly normal." He was clearly responding to something in Charles' thoughts.
"Edward," I said warningly.
"That plan I like," Edward said calmly. Charles scurried off upstairs.
"Come on, we need to leave," Edward announced flatly. I took hold of Esme's hand and together all three of us left the house.
"What is he planning, Edward?" Esme asked.
"He was planning to shot us, but now he has a different use for the gun." Just as he spoke the sound of a gunshot came from within the house they had just left.
"Problem solved," Edward said grimly and then ran ahead. Esme looked shocked, and I turned to face her, waiting for her reaction.
"He's dead," she said unbelievingly.
I didn't know how to feel; usually I detested any waste of human life. But with Charles Evenson, I could make an exception. The man who had ruined my wife's human life was dead. Though I knew it was wrong, that thought give me a grim sort of contentment.
Many of you thought that this was going to be the beginning of Edward's rebellious phase, and for those reviewers who I promised a twist or an unexpected surprise to I hope I didn't disappoint.
The way I see it, even perfectly controlled Carlisle is going to lose it when faced with the man who used to abuse his wife.
As for Charles' final decision – Edward will be giving us more insight into that next chapter.
So what did you make of this twist? Do you agree that Carlisle would have lost it just as I portrayed? What did you make of Esme finally having the strength to stand up to Charles? And what did you think of Charles' ultimate end? Reviews are greatly appreciated :)
