There were so many names.
Carlisle remembered his father's name. After all, the man had been the most prominent presence in his human life. His mother's name too had stuck with him through the fire of transformation. But beyond that, Carlisle did not recall much. The early days of his new life that he could have used to remember as much of his human experiences and relations as possible, were gone in terror and self-hate.
But after the short, almost one-sided phone call, Carlisle knew so much more. And oh how he wished he didn't!
Elias. The vampire killed because of him.
William. Carlisle's neighbor, and apparently a close friend who turned out to be Elias' singer. The fellow twenty-three year old who had died that night. The sweetness of whose blood had distracted Elias to the point that the mob was able to put him to fire.
Mary. The young mother who had painted the gruesome portrait for his creator. She knew she was going to be killed by this strange, red-eyed man. But she did not care. John Cullen had sentenced her barely seventeen year old son to be hanged for laying with another man.
Arthur. His creator. The one who had unwittingly given him this life and now swore to end it. The one who, in painstaking detail, described the fateful night to Carlisle. He found no need to describe his father's death to him. Mary, the talented woman, had done far too good a job.
There were more. Exactly thirty-three more. Men who had joined him for his first and last hunt. Men who had in turn been hunted down, one by one, by Arthur over the years.
Now only two people remained alive who had walked the stinking street on the outskirts of London that night.
The killer and the victim. Only time would tell who would be what.
"I had seen you walking around the area so many times in the preceding days," Arthur had told him. It was strange to attribute a name and a face to the being Carlisle had thought about with varying frequency throughout his life. "I should have killed you then."
He should have, but apparently the human Carlisle knew when to step away from the sewer grates and back alleys into more crowded, sunny streets. That skill had served him for a few more days until he had ascertained the presence of demonic beings in the area and then led the hunt.
Carlisle had sat and listened to Arthur talk. And when given a chance to speak, he had done so only twice.
Once, to apologize. He owed it to the man.
Predictably, Arthur had laughed at him. And then cussed him out.
The second time Arthur had tried to goad him, taunt him into a challenge. Carlisle's reply was simple and measured. "I have no desire to kill and no intention to die."
"We will see about that," Arthur had laughed. "Very soon, Carlisle Cullen."
With that, the call disconnected. And sitting on the sofa of his study, Carlisle looked at the phone in his hands. He knew that he would not be able to call back on that number. He had no will to either.
Instead, he placed it on the stack of papers and books beside him, gently keeping it on the small, pocket-book of Psalms he sometimes took to the hospital with him. Slanted rays of sunlight struggled to enter through the window in his room. He extended his arm out, dipping his fingers in the waning warmth of the orange light. The light burst into hundreds of tiny bedazzled sparkles. The paleness of his fingers hidden away by their refractive brilliance. And then, the clouds took over. The light disappeared and the bleakness of his hand returned to glare back at him.
It had been a constant battle between the cloud and the sun. One moment, the sun would embrace the world in its coral warmth. The next, the clouds would cover the sky with its ashen blanket. Neither seemed to be winning, and the sun seemed ready to call a truce as it edged closer to the horizon. Barely an hour or two and the sun would visit the other side of the world while the clouds would continue their battle with sun's silvery brother, the moon.
A soft moan of pain floated in the air.
Carlisle stood up. He had learned a lot about his past. He had learned a lot about many things. There were so many things he would pray over and ponder. Soon. But not now. There would be time for it all.
Right now, he had patients to attend to.
He exited his study, walking to his room to find Collin awake. Emily had taken to tending to the two boys while Kim and Rachel sat beside their mates. They helped each other, the three girls forming an unspoken alliance. They were scared of his family. But brave enough to fight through the fear and do what was needed for their friends. And for Billy and Sue. Carlisle had heard them struggle to lift Billy's wheelchair over the two steps so that he could be wheeled to the washroom. Any member of his family could have done that with ease. But the girls still persisted, struggling till they succeeded. Because they knew Billy would not enjoy being tossed about by vampires. Rachel helped her father inside and then waited till he came out and they brought him back to his usual spot. Without drawing the humans' attention, he had heard Esme use a panel from his broken table as a make-shift ramp for the next time.
"Emily?" he called softly and the girl looked up at him. She was sitting beside Collin, holding his hand as he came around. "The others will wake up soon too. You should get something from the kitchen. They will be hungry."
Emily nodded and pulled herself off the floor. She left the room and Carlisle took the time to examine the boy physically. His wounds were healing well, the soft tissue injuries gone without a trace left behind. Carlisle checked his vitals and spoke to him softly, asking him simple questions till the boy oriented himself to time, place and person.
The food had gone cold, and smelled even more unappetizing to Carlisle when Emily brought up three boxes and kept them beside Collin. Carlisle covered the modesty of the kid just when she entered and moved on to the next one.
One by one, he checked on each. Rachel and Kim asked him about their mates and Carlisle answered them honestly. He told them they'd be completely fine by early the next morning or by late afternoon. It was soon enough for an ordinary person. But when the threat of vengeful vampires and rogue shape-shifters loomed heavily on their head, it was far, far too long.
Leah was doing well too, but Carlisle decided to keep the girl on stronger medications a little while longer. As he changed her bandaging, he could hear the girls bringing the four boys upstairs up to date with what all that had transpired while they recovered.
It was not an easy conversation and the wolves' tendency to swear out loud worried Carlisle about the vocabulary Renesmee would be picking up. Rosalie was keeping her distracted enough with other games.
When Emily told them about their unintentional run-in with the vampires, Jared erupted in expletives. It took strict scolding from both Kim and Emily to calm him down.
"I'm sorry," he whispered meekly. "I just…"
Carlisle heard him shift on the mattress and pull someone - probably Kim - beside him. He sighed. "I just feel guilty. Leah and I…we asked everyone to retreat. They younger wolves were doing so much damage…we had no choice. And when that leech picked up the humans and ran …I couldn't save them Kim. I left them to die…"
His voice faded away into nothing and Kim whispered words of comfort to him. Jared was silent for a while, listening to his mate. Eventually she quieted down too.
"You know one of them was wearing that movie t-shirt," he said, his voice a little hoarse. "High School Musical one. It reminded me of you."
Kim laughed lightly. "Mmh, there is only one man in the world I love more than you."
Carlisle pressed his lips together to keep from smiling while examining Leah's sutures when Jared good-natured-ly cussed out 'that damn Efron.'
"You know I met a fellow High School Musical fan today, when we stopped for…" her voice dipped low when the mention of their close call came up. But Kim recovered quickly. "It was the first time I saw a guy in one of those. It was such a bright pink, I doubt I could have pulled it off so-"
"Wait, a guy?" Jared interrupted. The squeak of the mattress told Carlisle that he had pulled himself up into a sitting position. "What did he look like?"
His voice was curt. Demanding. Carlisle gave up the pretense of not eavesdropping, his eyes wandering towards the ceiling as his hands re-bandaged the injuries.
"Umm." Kim seemed taken aback at the abrupt change in the tone of their discussion. "Short. White. Red hair…I don't know, I didn't pay a lot of attention. I spoke to him for barely a minute or two!"
"White…Red hair…Kim you need to tell me everything you remember about this boy!" Jared seemed breathless, and Carlisle curiosity piqued.
Kim seemed uncertain about what to say. Emily was the one who answered. "He had a scar down the side of his face if that counts…"
A string of expletives escaped Jared's mouth as he gasped out. "It's the same person! It's got to be him! The human that the leech ran off with!"
Alice appeared at the top of the staircase, her eyes wide, questioning. Carlisle gave a small shake of head. He busied himself with removing the sutures over some of Leah's wound. Her skin was already uniting and the sutures were just a hindrance at this point. Yet, even as his fingers worked, his attention remained on the conversation going on upstairs.
"Are you sure?" Emily asked.
"Come on Em. How many short, red-headed men with scar on their face would go around wearing bright pink high school musical T shirts in a single day within the same area?" Jared countered.
They fell silent for a moment. Except for the heavy breathing and accelerated heart beats, the entire house was quiet.
"I mean, the guy did look very disheveled…" Kim relented, uncertainty tainting her voice.
Alice was beside him now.
Unaware of the conversation going on upstairs, Billy and Sue were startled by her sudden appearance. She busied herself with cleaning up the dressings and other things Carlisle was using. "Meet me near Jasper," Alice said, too quietly for the humans to hear and with all the waste piled into a kidney tray, disappeared out of the house.
Carlisle lingered, busying himself with opening the boxes in the foyer. Esme had already unpacked quite a few but there were still some left. His ears were trained on the quiet, disjointed conversation upstairs.
"What did the other human look like? There were two, right?" Emily asked quietly, as if she did not really wish to know the answer to her query.
Jasper gave a description of another man, a lot more generic without any feature that would make him stand out. Emily let out a soft exhale.
"I saw a man who fits the description at the gas station, but really a lot of people fit this description so I am not sure…"
"But Emily, the other-"
Jared continued speaking earnestly but Carlisle had heard enough. He went out the back door, joining Esme, Jasper and Alice in the forest. They stood close enough to the house that if they stayed quiet and listened, he could hear the voices of the people inside but also far away enough that their conversation would not be overheard unless one of the Quileute wolves phased.
"Carlisle, do you think the mutt's right? That the girls met one of the humans Arthur was carrying about?" Alice voiced the question they were all wondering.
"I can't be sure, although I am inclined to believe he may be right," Carlisle relented. "Edward will be able to read their minds and confirm that once he comes back."
If he comes back Carlisle's worried mind supplied unhelpfully and he pushed the thought away. Jasper was still using his powers on him so his wayward thoughts were limited, if not completely eliminated.
"Why has he not killed them?" Jasper asked, more to himself than anyone else. "It doesn't make any sense. He is putting in the effort of saving them from the wolves. He is letting them roam around gas stations freely. From their description, they don't sound like any human we particularly care about. They are not meals. They are not hostages. Then why is he bringing them along everywhere he goes?"
"I don't-"
Carlisle reply was cut short. His head snapped to the west and the soft buzz and chirp of the forest gave way to the foreign clamour. Racing hearts. Panting breaths. Crush of dirt and twigs under feet. Friction of clothes on clothes and skin and skin.
They were still a little ways away, but the rest of the pack was returning.
"Why are they running in their human form?" Esme wondered out loud.
Carlisle and Jasper exchanged a worried glance and bolted in the direction of the approaching boys. Together, they covered the short distance till the boys in mere seconds and Carlisle came to an abrupt halt.
Broken. Bloodied. And only a little over half in numbers.
Carlisle scanned the overgrown teenagers' haggard and exhausted faces, looking for the familiar ones.
"Jacob?" he called out once he spotted the boy. He took a few steps towards him. "What happened? What is going on?"
"Bella," he gasped out, coming to a staggering halt before him. "We need Bella. Those vampires…they have done something! The third pack is under their control!"
A/N:
I was going to dedicate a separate chapter to Carlisle's last moments as a human. Either a recount of events through the telephone conversation or an entire chapter of that night written in Carlisle's creator's POV. The latter was a fun idea to explore. But the last few chapter shad been a little on the slower side. So I decided to cut that short and get the story moving again!
The pack's back. Half the Cullens are gone. Jared is coming to some confusing conclusions! I am excited to write action again!
Hope you enjoy the chapter! Do share your thoughts!
-ZQ