Elise


Meeting Carlisle


Black.

Disoriented.

Unknowing.

I was used to this feeling. Blank spots in my memory were normal.

Now, I would wake up, spend a few minutes racking my brain of what I thought had happened, and then move on. More and more I would find that stressing over the past was pointless. Especially when you couldn't remember most of the details.

But now, it was different. I wasn't in my bed. My arms were tangled with tubes and there was a faint beeping sound. A clinic? Hospital? I wasn't at base anymore, and that spiked panic. I looked around, trying to strain my neck to see if anyone else was in the room. I closed my eyes and tried to lead my brain down a familiar path. What had happened? Why was I here? How did I get here?

My limbs felt stuck to the bed beneath me. Moving them required an immense amount of effort. It was as if my bones weighed three times the weight I could handle. What had Damon given me? My eyelids fought to stay open, but they lost the battle. I was back to black.

But I woke again to light. It was too bright. My eyes tried to adjust when I heard someone talking.

"Would you like the lights off?"

Yes. Please. I felt exposed. Looking over the bed, I saw the back of a white coat. When he turned around, he held a medical instrument, but that wasn't what alarmed me.

His skin was pale, and he was dreadfully beautiful. The greatest indicator of trouble.

He stepped towards me and I shrunk back against the bed. "I'm Dr. Cullen."

Doctor?

"Don't worry, this won't hurt one bit. Would you mind sitting up?"

He looked at me kindly, which in itself felt like a joke. This vampire with his golden eyes and genuine smile was a doctor? What universe had I woken up to? I stared at his instrument.

"Why do you need that?" It was the first time I'd spoken for a while. My voice cracked, and my lips were unbearably dry.

"I need to make sure you're breathing properly," he smiled at me. "May I?"

This was ridiculous. I knew what the device did, but why did he need it? "You can hear my breathing just fine. What's going on here?"

"Excuse me?"

Did this vampire not know he was a vampire? I fought to get up, but a belt held me down. I shouldn't be here. "I want to leave."

The man offered me water. I didn't trust it. I couldn't risk being drugged.

"Stop acting so nice." It was fake, I was sure. Was this a test? Who was watching me? What reaction were they looking for? "I want to leave. Either kill me or let me leave."

He paused with a frown. "Let me get some assistance."

The panic set in. Reinforcements would just up the vampire to human ratio. Never a good a sign. "No, stop." He turned to look at me. "Your eyes should be red."

The shock on his face was almost comical. Had I just confused a vampire? That was a first.

"I-I'm sorry. I'm not sure what you mean. Please, take this time to recover. Your body's been through a lot. I will check back in tomorrow."

I sincerely hoped he wouldn't return tomorrow. If this was a hospital, it couldn't just be infested with vampires, could it? Where were the humans?

I let myself drift off to the sound of my heartbeat on the machines. The creak of the door opening woke me, but I kept my eyes closed. Was he back? I opened my eyes slightly and saw a woman scribbling frantically on a clipboard. A nurse?

I opened my eyes wider. Human.

"Oh, good," she said. "You're awake." She seemed tired. What time was it?

"Now, sweetie. I need to learn your name. Can I get an emergency contact? We couldn't find a wallet on you."

I looked around the room, then back at her. An emergency contact? "I don't know what you mean."

She stopped writing and pushed down her glasses to examine my face. "Who do you want to come pick you up once you're discharged? We also need to collect your insurance information."

Damon would have surely thought of this. I wouldn't dare give his name. "I don't have anyone."

She put down the clipboard and messed around with the machine. "Are you over eighteen?"

I nodded and watched as she replaced the big bag of IV liquid with another one.

"I'm sorry," she said. "You're a legal adult, which means we can't do much on our end. What was your name?"

Was it important? "Does it matter?"

She didn't like my attitude. "I need to fill out these forms. You will receive a bill for this treatment, and I need to know who to send it to."

"Elise," I said.

"Elise what?"

"Elise Adams."

She kept eye contact long enough to let her annoyance shine though. She handed me a remote. "Press this if you need help using the restroom."

I spent the next hour watching the IV bag drip down into the plastic tubes. It was calming. Constants were always calming, and I lacked a lot of them in my life. My eyes began to droop, but they were wide open when I spotted a shadow against the wall. Before I could turn my head, the figure came into view. Bright, red eyes with a mischievous edge. Now this was a vampire who knew who he was.

"I thought you forgot about me," I said.

Damon flicked the IV bag with his finger. "Now why would I do that?"

He produced a small device and held it up for me to see. "This is how we will communicate."

It was a small phone. Not high end, but not the crappiest either. A charger was wrapped around it.

"I will text you twice every day for status. If you don't hear from me, something's gone wrong."

He threw it in my hands. I felt the cold metal against my fingers.

"Damon, what happened?" I always mindlessly asked these questions, but answers to them were a dream.

"Doesn't matter. I'm planting you here. You've met Carlisle, I presume?"

My brain fought hard to keep up. Carlisle? "Cullen? Dr. Cullen?"

He nodded. "He will take you in. He has no choice. Find out what you can."

What? "You want me to go with him?"

"You wanted to earn your freedom? Here's your chance."

My heart leaped. "What do you mean?"

"I want you to dig through their dirty laundry. You will respond to the two texts I will send you every day with any status updates. Besides that, if anything comes up, you will contact me immediately." He came closer and grabbed my chin in between his thumb and index finger.

"There are a lot of very important people counting on me. Don't disappoint me."

And he was gone.


Meeting Edward


"It's you," I managed to get out at the sight of Carlisle Cullen the next morning. The documentation said I had been pumped with oxycodone. Too much of it. If Damon hadn't been careful, he would have killed me.

"Good morning, Elise. How are you feeling?"

I examined the doctor. This was the man I was here for. The man Damon wanted to know more about. But who was the other?

"Who are you?" I looked at the other beautiful creature in the room. Copper hair, piercing golden eyes.

"This is my son," Carlisle said. He said his name was Edward, and he stared at me too much for it to be comfortable. I looked away.

"Edward," I played with the name. "Vampires can't breed."

"No, but we are a family."

I had never heard the words family and vampire uttered together. The feelings the words brought out were completely opposite. "I want to leave." And please, take me with you.

The pair exchanged looks before Carlisle spoke. "You can't. I have to release you myself, but I think it would be valuable for us to chat for a little bit."

Was I supposed to convince them to take me? How many seeds had Damon planted? What did they already know about me? Blood. Blood was always a good topic to start off with. "If you want a taste, I can just donate some blood and we can be on our merry way. If you prefer drinking from the source, that can also be arranged. But please, just make it quick."

What was I saying? Their eyes were golden. Vampires' diets reflected directly on their eyes. Red meant recently fed, black meant hungry. Golden meant…

"Never mind," I corrected myself. "Your eyes aren't red. You obviously don't drink human blood. How do you bear working here?" Blood lust was the sole driver for a vampire. This doctor worked at this hospital and pretended his blood lust didn't exist?

He grinned at me. "Your blood doesn't appeal to me. And my family feeds on animal blood."

There were more of them? "An entire family? Of vampires?"

"Yes," he nodded. "And we'd actually like to take you in for a few days."

This wasn't hard. Damon was right. When was he not right? There was a certain desperation I could sense from Carlisle's tone. I took my time with the cup of water he had handed me.

"What do you say?" he asked. "Would you like to contact your parents first?"

The fact that he assumed I had parents stung. It was normal to have parents, and my life had been anything but normal for the past few years. My hand gripped the sheets underneath me in frustration. "No," I said. "How long do I have to stay?"

"However long you would like. No harm will come to you. You have my word." His word? That was supposed to make me feel better?

This is fine, I told myself. It'll always be fine.

The little boxes I had created in my brain were sorted chunks of unprocessed information, and I happily stuck the reality of this situation in one of them. Compartmentalization was how I had survived for this long, and it would define how long I would survive from here on out.


Meeting the Cullens


It wasn't hard for me to be checked out of the hospital. Carlisle obviously had a lot of say in how this hospital operated. They led me to a car, which was odd. They could run, could they not?

"Where are we?" I asked as Edward pulled out of the parking lot.

They told me that we were in the small town of Forks, Washington.

It worked for them, I supposed. The clouds were always present, and the area had a dreary feel to it. The commercial areas began to diminish as we made our way into a more residential part of the town. We veered outward to a secluded patch of land. After a few more minutes, a sizeable residence peeked from the hill tops. Of course, they were loaded.

I braced myself for the presence of more vampires. A house of this magnitude probably warranted way more of them than I cared for. Carlisle and Edward escorted me into their home.

Once inside, Carlisle, whom I presumed was the coven leader, wasted no time in commencing the introductions. The three vampires in front of me examined me closely. One with a muscular build, one who could pass for a soap opera mom, and one with golden locks. They all shared the golden undertones in their irises.

Their house screamed modernity. Everything had its place and looked immaculate. Did vampires or a very prominent movie star live here? A passerby would probably hang out at the front of the property, dying to snap a picture or snatch an autograph of the mystery celebrity.

This was nothing like base. The décor was tasteful, and it didn't smell of bleach and blood.

"You don't look scary at all," I remarked. Was that inappropriate to say?

My gaze finally rested on the being that didn't belong. The human.

Numbers were all I could see, and they were erratic. Her count lingered on a specific date, but it wasn't set. What were the decisions she was making? What was she going to do that would end her entirely? Would one of these people be the one to do it? Would they do the same to me?

"It's their eyes. Welcoming, right? I'm Bella, by the way," she extended her hand to me. Bella. I didn't take it. My mind raced a mile a minute. The Cullens were not as innocent as they seemed. They kept a human.

"You're their human?" I asked. Damon had wanted me to invasive. I could do invasive.

"Oh," she smiled uneasily. "I'm Edward's girlfriend."

A vampire and a human in a romantic relationship? My eyes darted between Edward and Bella, trying to make sense of the possibility of their nature.

"Okay," I said. But this was not okay. The girl probably didn't know any better. They were completely and utterly beautiful and they could do whatever they wanted with her. She couldn't fight them if she tried. She couldn't even fight one, let alone five.

I further examined their sanctuary. My eyes lingered on the modern décor that made up the living room, and I couldn't help but gawk at the plates of food placed perfectly on the kitchen isle.

The soap opera mother told me to grab anything I'd want. I stared at her in disbelief. What charade was this? "How many humans are you keeping here?"

The blonde spoke up. "Just you and her."

Who was all of this food for, then? I noticed their mannerisms and how they held themselves. It was like they were fighting to preserve their humanity. But they had none. Why were they pretending?

"I see," my eyes found the blonde. "You're one of those covens that attempt to mimic human life."

"We don't attempt," the muscular one effused. "We've mastered our art," he glanced quickly at the blonde man. "Mostly."

If it was their goal to act and appear human, the blonde seemed to be at the back of the race. It was obvious that it didn't come natural to him. He was as still as a statue, and his breathing was noticeably uneven. I looked at him, still confused about the game they were playing. The gaze that met my eyes hardened.

"Anyway, I'm Emmett," the muscular guy pushed forward and extended his hand. I decided to play the friendly card. My arm extended out to shake his.

"Damn," his arm vanished quickly. He commented on my skin's temperature, and I let him know that I was perfectly alright. Poor circulation was the explanation I always gave myself.

A few minutes later, they had us convene in the living room. I grabbed a piece of toast to satiate my stomach. It felt like I hadn't eaten in days and I savored every moment of it. I hadn't even realized that I was being spoken to.

"Elise, we weren't able to find any records of you. There's no link to a set of parents, or even a birth certificate," the leader said.

Of course, I thought bitterly. Damon would have taken care of that. "Is that really your business?"

They told me that they would be delighted to take me in. "But we believe we can help you better if we know you."

They wanted to help me? "My name is Elise, and I am not suicidal." I held Carlisle's gaze. "I guess I took a little too much pain medication, but I wasn't intending on dying." Rather, Damon wasn't intending on killing me. Which was a pleasant surprise.

They questioned me about my second statement. I gave them the truth.

"My body hurts sometimes."

And the doctor took that as his cue to open my chart. Did they take insurance? Because I had nothing that I could pay them with besides the food that they craved. They surely still craved human blood, right?

Carlisle proceeded to drill me on my symptoms, all the while making quick notes on a notepad. I watched him, partially annoyed. No matter where I went, I would always be the observed.

The tested. The experimented. My tongue got the best of me. I snapped too often for my own good. "If you were going to be my primary care provider, I would've rather stayed at the hospital. I'm here because I can't fight you. You don't like the fact that I know of your existence, I get that. I wish I could cleanse my brain of your existence, but I can't. I would offer you my blood in return of my gradual freedom, but I see that you don't follow that lifestyle."

An uncomfortable silence blanketed the room. I didn't want to be here as much as they didn't want me to be alive. They hid it well under their hospitality, but I was a threat to them. Anyone with basic understanding of vampiric law knew that.

They went on to describe how Bella was family. They considered a human to be part of their coven? Who were they fooling? Not me. If they were really as nice as they seemed to be, they would let me go. The thought of it brought unrealistic sensations of hope, which was dangerous.

"So, I can leave?" I clarified. Would they agree to let me walk out that door? Or would they watch as I rolled around in my false sense of freedom, only to pounce on me when I reached the garden fence?

Carlisle played on the fact that I had that freedom, and that it wasn't false. He described the guest bedroom they had prepared for me and even offered to look into my symptoms.

The fact that they wanted me to stay made this too easy. "I knew I could get you in a lot of trouble."

Perhaps it was the way I played with them that caused the angry forces to condemn me. Perhaps my feign reluctance didn't go over well with the fates. They wanted me to depend on this coven, I supposed, so they shot me with pain. The oxy wasn't here to keep me afloat any longer.

I folded over instantly, clutching my body. I held onto the dream that the harder I gripped myself, the less of it I could feel.

"I'll stay," I gritted through my teeth. It made it all the better, in a sense. All they saw was a girl who despised them, but also a weak, sick girl in dire need of their help. Yes, I wanted to stay. I needed to. The pain was just the icing that brought the whole cake together.


A/N: We'll need a trip down memory lane for the next few updates.

I'm curious to see how well this will be received by you. Some of you had intense reactions to Elise's choices the previous chapter, but let's see how those opinions will hold through the more her perspective is unraveled.

Reminder: Jasper's world is his own. We can lift his twisted veil that he's thrown over us. For now.