Chapter 2

Welcome Home

"Dr. Cullen? Dr. Cullen? You have a phone call from home."

"Thank you Beth," I replied to my assistant who had just called me from the front desk. I left the examination room I had just finished treating a client in for my office down the hall. When I opened the door and stepped into the richly furnished, mahogany walled room, I took a deep breath. The heightened smell that I had been granted after my transformation allowed me to smell the wood's history, back to when it had been a small sapling in the lumber yard it had grown to maturity in. I sat down at my desk and lifted the receiver off my telephone's hook.

"Hello?" I said. I didn't have to wait very long before my beautiful wife replied.

"Hello? Oh, Carlisle, he's back! Edward is back to stay!" Esme shrieked with obvious joy. In a human, her voice right then would have sounded somewhat calm, but in the voice of someone of her species, it stood for a very startling sound. I knew my newly transformed wife of eight years was probably bubbling with emotion.

I had to admit, I was about ready to bubble as well from the news.

"Did he just arrive? What brought him back? Put him on the phone."

There was a slight pause, and then the line was picked up again.

"Carlisle?" queried my adopted son Edward, the one who had been living on his own for the past three years, and the one who had been my first real companion.

"Edward, I knew you would come back to us."

"You were right, about everything. I'll explain to you fully when you come back home from the office."

I didn't want to let him go, I didn't want to ever hang up. These three years had been some of the most pain filled years of my nearly 300 year existence.

But I knew I would have to hang up now and finish with my last two clients before I could find out about Edward's recent adventures. I quickly said goodbye and painfully hung up the phone. Then I swiftly raised myself from the chair and was out of my office before any human could have finished blinking an eye; just another perk of being what I am.

A vampire.

By the time I walked into my last appointment I was jumpy with excitement, and was immediately greeted by the alluring scent of blood. The others of my kind all thought I was immune to the smell of blood, but I really just have learned to think about something else: the fact that the humans I am supposed to live off of have thoughts, have family, have emotion. Once I made up my mind not to attack the young girl, it was done. No more temptation. Once I remembered who she was, there is no thought in my head about killing the innocent human.

Only of saving her.

The others of my kind also think there was something wrong with the way I was created, for I am different from them. Unlike them, I don't hunt humans. I have never drunk the blood of a human, and I never will. When I was first created, I was disgusted with what I was. Disgusted. So, I starved myself. I didn't eat anyone. I even tried suicide. I jumped from high heights, I tried to drown myself in the sea; but, I soon learned that it is nearly impossible to kill a vampire.

After starving myself for so long, I became very weak. One day, I was wandering, wraithlike, through the forest when I came upon a herd of deer. Unable to stop myself, I attacked and slaughtered the entire group. After, while reflecting on what I had just done, I realized that I had an alternative to human. I had eaten deer in my past life as a human, it was therefore not wrong to continue doing so in this curse of a life I was forced to live now. From then on, I worked on my ability to withstand drinking human blood, and prepared for my next challenge.

If I was no longer able to be human, I decided, then I would do everything in my power to help them.

So, I swam to France from England, where I had lived ever since my birth. There, I learned the art of medicine, which I have been practicing ever since.

I stitched up her leg wound which she said had been caused by falling off of her bike. Humans are incredibly clumsy creatures.

After the child was released, I quickly finished my charts and exited the building. My fellow doctors always pat me on the back for riding my bike all the way to the office from my remotely located residence. They couldn't be farther from the truth; I only brought the bike to the hospital to keep up appearances. I did not ride my bicycle; I carried it while I ran through the forest. Running is second nature to vampires. We go faster then the fastest horse could ever run. I sped home, threw my bicycle down in the shed outside the mansion, and burst through the door.

Edward and Esme had already heard me approaching, so, naturally, they were waiting by the front door. Edward and I slammed into each other as we pulled each other into the biggest bear hug, ever. I looked over at my beloved Esme, and I was sure that if it was possible, she would be crying.

She had always been extremely attached to Edward. It must have something to do with the situation of how she had met him.

Eight years ago, when Esme was still human, she had been married to a dastardly man, Bill, who abused her about as often as he breathed. She was continually in a state of unhappiness. However, there was a single bright side to her torment: she was pregnant for the first time and was amazingly excited about being a mother. She prepared the house for the baby, bought as many baby clothes as her husband would allow her to, and painted the extra room in the house in simple pastel colors that would be easy on her child's young eyes. Her son was born early, just a little tiny baby, but the nurse had said that it was not crippling in his case. Esme thought that her life would be forever blessed, for that was how her mother had always described parenthood to her.

She loved her son as much as any one person could love another. Nursing and changing him was not a chore, it was a miracle. All of her days were spent at the side of his crib, walking him in his stroller, or nursing him on her rocking chair.

However, a few days after the birth, her child contracted a fever and died a sudden and horrible death.

Left with no one to live for, she committed suicide and jumped from a cliff. I was working in the morgue that she was brought into. Contrary to the beliefs of the people who had delivered her body, she was not yet dead, although she probably would have been paralyzed for life.

Yet, even in her obvious pain and loss of consciousness, I could tell that her beauty was unsurpassed by any I had ever seen. I fell in love with her at first sight. That night, I snuck back into the morgue and brought her home to my residence at the time, a ranch style house in northern Tennessee. Edward had already been told about Esme, her position, and what I planned to do for her, so when I arrived, he had already set up a bed.

I laid her down and brushed the hair back from her eyes. Such glorious hair, it was caramel colored with soft curls. Edward coughed behind me and drew me out of my reverie. He reminded me of the importance of quickly starting the transformation process before she actually did expire. I took a deep breath, then I leaned over and buried my teeth in her neck. I could only stand to stay in that position long enough for the appropriate amount of venom to penetrate her blood system. I then drew back and waited for the process to begin.

After one minute of strained silence, her scream pierced the air. Her eyelids fluttered open and she looked absolutely panicked. I leaned over her again and tried to sooth her, but to no avail. She started screaming that she was on fire, that I must help her and make the pain go away. I winced, for I know I had given her this torture, but I knew it was necessary if I was to save her. I told her that I couldn't stop the fire, but that I would be here the whole time to give her support.

She looked at me, straight in my eyes and held my gaze for a moment, then her eyes lost focus and she slipped into a restless slumber.

I turned to look at Edward, only to find his face arranged in an absolutely horrified expression. I gave him an inquiring glance, and he answered my unasked question.

"I know why she fell off of the cliff," he stated simply.

Edward, as a vampire, had been blessed with an extra special talent; he had the ability to read minds. I do not know for sure why that is so, but I had met another vampire many years previous who had also been able to see someone else's thoughts. There were other vampires I had met that had been given other gifts, but not one of them seemed to know why.

If Edward was so badly scared by Esme's past, then I would trust him to have a reason.

Why then? Was she pushed? I thought, frowning.

"Her baby died."

Oh. Now I understood. She hadn't fallen. She had jumped.

I looked back at the beautiful women lying before me as she twisted and writhed in agony. I went to her side, sat down on the bed, and held her delicate hand. I could feel her pulse beating erratically against my thumb, and I was suddenly swept up in emotion. What she had gone through was something I couldn't even begin comprehend. When I was transformed, I had left nothing behind but an overzealous, evil hunting father. Suddenly, I realized something that horrified me more than the idea of her dead child, she was married. I couldn't make her become a vampire, to become my beloved, if she was already in love with someone else.

I cursed myself inwardly at my inability to remember to check on details before I threw myself into something. Now I knew that I would most likely have to kill her since I had vowed never to take anything away from someone who deserved it, and she so obviously did deserve love.

"She didn't love him."

"What?" I asked Edward, surprised, yet, at the same time, knowing I shouldn't be.

"She didn't love her husband, Bill. He abused her constantly and she was only married to him because her parents had pushed them together."

I was furious.

In my time here on this earth, I had seen many customs changes since I was born in the early 1640's. However, one of the only traditions that were at this time still unchanged was the fact that marriages were still for the most part arranged. Love had very little, if anything to do with who a person was married to, marriages were all centered on the enhancing of social connections and social power.

But to think that this beautiful woman had been so tortured by a man she had never chosen to marry in the first place infuriated me. What a horrible life God, the fates, or whoever was in charge, had granted her.

Suddenly motivated by my fury, I roared, loud enough to wake the dead (but, fortunately, not Esme) and stormed out of the house. It was now two-o-clock in the morning, but that did not enter my thoughts as I ran to Esme's previous residence. I did not get far, however, from the house, for I was suddenly pounced upon from behind and I tumbled to the ground where I was then pinned to the soft earth by two strong, solid arms.

"Don't do it Carlisle, it's not worth it. You will only regret it," Edward said calmly while struggling to hold me down.

At first I felt my anger turning from the Bill person, to Edward. Who does he think he is, trying to keep me from punishing the evil man who had helped drive Esme over the edge? Then I realized what I had been about to do; I had been about to kill a human being, something I had sworn never to do. I would have broken a 300 year old vow.

I relaxed and lay breathing for a moment. I let Edward help me up. I felt tired, exhausted, like I needed a good night's sleep: something, of course that I would never be able to have since vampires are not able to sleep. He slowly led me back to the house. I opened the front door then immediately went to sit at Esme's side. I touched her hand, and her eyes opened. She looked surprisingly calm. It must be a lull, I thought.

She looked at me, her eyes full of confusion. "Who are you?" she whispered. Her voice was slightly awed.

"Carlisle, and I'm here to make it all work out all right."

She smiled a sad smile and looked away. "Nobody could make that happen."

Just then, Edward walked over and sat down on her other side. He tapped her shoulder lightly and she looked up at him.

"I can help," he said. "You miss your son, right?" he paused. "Could I be your son? My mom and dad died five years ago during the influenza epidemic, and ever since, I've been raised only by Carlisle. Having a mom is something that I have really missed, and I would really appreciate it if you would think of me as your son."

Esme looked at him, frowned as if in thought, then smiled, and reached out the hand that I wasn't stroking to lightly cup his face.

"Of course."

Edward and Esme's relationship grew from there. Esme taught him the manners he had forgotten since he was transformed and he began slowly began to regard her as his mother, even though he was technically a few years older than she was.

That was why his leaving dealt her such a blow.

Half a decade after Esme was created, Edward started to question our lifestyle. He began to wonder why, if we had been created to live off of human blood, that we didn't. When I was unable to satisfy his questions, he left.

He wanted to try the lifestyle of a regular vampire, to see if being "vegetarian" was really the way to live. So he packed up his things and left.

But not before I had given him a few thousand dollars for him to live off of. I loved him like a son, and I was not going to force him to make something of his undead life without my help.

Esme was heartbroken. It was like she had lost her baby all over again. I tried to consol her, but she soon fell into a depression that lasted a few months. Eventually, she realized that he could not be gone forever and began await his return.

I did not like her pining away for him, but it seemed as if her hopes were the only thing keeping her with me, so I let her dream.

I also believed he would return to us. Though I did not think it would solely be because of his love for us. If he had not had his special power, I might not have had as much hope for a permanent return, but since he did have his gift, I knew I could hope.

For before he killed any human, he would be forced to hear the thoughts of that person. He would be able to hear their fears, hear their regrets, hear about the things they wished they could tell their loved ones before they died such a horrible death. And since I knew Edward had a conscience, I knew he would not be able to live with himself.

But three years passed by. I did not hear from Edward and I almost began to loose faith. I started to head towards my own depression, but Esme never gave up hope. Her ability to believe that he would eventually return and the love that we had developed for each other were the only things that were able to keep me going.

So when I did let go of Edward from our passionate bear hug, I went straight to Esme and enfolded her in my arms. She buried her head in my chest while I looked over her head at Edward and thought accusingly, She was heartbroken when you left. Then my face softened, But she never stopped believing you would come home.

He smiled desolately and nodded.