So here's the new story I'm working on, and give it a little credit because I've been working really hard on it.
You love simply because you cannot help it
-Kim Anderson
The Chicago General Hospital
Chicago, Illinois
7:44 p.m
The wind was abnormally strong for a Chicago spring, luckily for the frazzled looking humans hurrying past me; it was a balmy thirteen degree's outside. Not that my body could feel the temperature anymore, but the sunshine had always seemed to cheer me up. A mother hurried by with two children – when a strong gust of wind blew up from behind them, taking the hat off the smallest boy's head. He cried out, and the mother stopped in her tracks, and her brow creased. I looked at her, and a sudden image of a bearded man filled my mind. I frowned, glancing at the boys.
This woman's husband had died.
In a sudden bolt of pity, and reached up and caught the hat with my fingertips. The woman's brow returned to normal, and the little boy was racing towards me – obviously having not seen my actions. He was so intent on getting his hat; he didn't notice me and almost crashed into me. I reined in my supernatural strength and used only my fingers to stop him. After all, crashing into a vampire was like walking straight into a brick wall.
I was going to see my 'brother' of sorts, of course in today's day in age I was masquerading as his wife. A man and woman who were living together without the bond of marriage was sacrilege and unheard of. We already caused enough stir when where moved, we didn't want to cause any more rumours about us than necessary.
Men stared at me when I walked past, and not just a fleeting glance, I'm talking full out stare. It didn't matter who they were, young men, older men or even men with a woman on their arm. I opened the thin door, letting myself into the dimly lit hospital, the golden band on my left hand gleaming.
As soon as I stepped foot inside, the rush of death and illness hit me like a runaway train. How had Carlisle and I ended up here? He had decided to leave the Volturi, I went with him and somehow we ended up here – in the middle of the Spanish Influenza epidemic.
I turned the corner, skirting around a young girl who was sobbing on the ground, past three men that were pale and ill-looking and finally found who I was looking for.
One of the nurses, Nicole, was leaning against the counter, blood on her hands, blonde hair falling out of its bun. Her eyes were closed; her skin was sallow and gaunt. I glided towards her, ignoring the eyes that followed me. For some reason, I felt guilty, though my subconscious knew I had done nothing to earn these feelings. Perhaps it was the fact that I could never contract an illness that would lead to my death?
As I approached I made sure to make some noise, this girl already looked bad enough. I thought it best that with all this; she shouldn't have to suffer a heart attack as well. She looked up and as soon as her hazel eyes landed on me she straightened. Her expression belonged on a child that had been caught with their hand in the cookie jar.
"Oh ... um... Mrs. Cullen... I was just, well, I was just um, inspecting the dirty floors – really should have Darren talk to the- oh please don't tell anyone I was taking a rest!" She pleaded, cutting herself off and looking at me desperately.
"Mmm? Oh, I would never Nicole. Besides, it's understandable that you're tired. You've been working for the past, what? Twenty four hours?" I asked, raising a nearly translucent eyebrow.
"Thirty one," she muttered, and I pretended not to hear, because human ears wouldn't have caught it.
"Do you happen to know where Carlisle is?" I asked, looking around, though I could smell him out if need be. Asking directions just seemed like the thing to do – all necessary in fitting in. Even if it was a giant pain at times.
"Um, I believe he was in the south wing, but I'm not really sure," She replied, and looked over at a new patient that had been brought in, and was choking on something. "Excuse me," she said and hurried over.
As I strolled off down the hall towards the south wing, I worried about Carlisle. He was one of my oldest friends. He was so connected to his job, and the south wing was where they kept the patients that were basically on their deathbeds. Every death hit him and I could see how if effected him.
As I walked, other nurses noticed me, and quickly their neutral expressions turned sour. Most female nurses hated me, especially the ones who'd developed quite the crush on Carlisle. Personally I found it scandalous, some were married!
Speaking of married, that was why they hated me. I was Mrs. Angeline Cullen – even if physically I was only nineteen, almost twenty. I sighed, anticipating moving again – out of all the places we'd lived I hated this one the most. Chicago was full of crime and hate – enough that you could feel it in the air. I supposed when we left, we'd have to renew our wedding licence and get new papers once more. If only they knew, Carlisle and I harboured no romantic feelings towards each other whatsoever. It was a charade, a cleverly planned out charade. At least this way, people didn't question why we were single, and we weren't hit on by the brasher of the humans around us.
Men were too intimidated by Carlisle to approach me, women intimidated by my beauty to act on their feelings towards Carlisle. If only they knew how the actual relationship between Carlisle and I was, then there'd be a line from here to the southern states.
At last, I found him. In a room were two people – besides Carlisle – one unconscious, a young man with reddish hair, if I'd have to guess, I'd say he'd be around sixteen, seventeen. He still had the young, boyish features of a teenager. The other was a woman with the same hair color with a sick greenish tinge under her pale skin. What I noticed the most was her angry brown eyes, directed at Carlisle; who was staring back at the woman in blatant shock.
"Excuse me?" He asked, not believing what she had previously said. Her eyes darted to my golden eyes accusingly, and they widened a bit, before looking back at Carlisle. He noticed my presence then too, and smiled warmly. "Mrs. Masen, this is my wife."
I smiled with closed lips, careful not to let my teeth show. I found in the past, smiling with too much teeth just scares humans. "Hello Mrs. Masen, I'm Angeline Cullen."
"Your one too!" She pointed a shaky finger at me, and I glanced sharply at Carlisle. One what?
Her scowling face turned back to Carlisle. "You must save my Edward. Save him, do whatever it takes."
"I will," Carlisle began. "Mrs. Mas- ''
"You are the only one who can save him now; he's the only thing I love left in this world." She whispered, and Carlisle gestured for me to meet him in the hall. I looked in the small window, the boy was still unconscious.
Once we were in the hall, Carlisle looked at me and I could tell he was just as anxious as I. "Carlisle? Did ... did she know what we were?" I asked, bewildered.
Carlisle looked back at the room once more and then back at me. "I don't know, perhaps she sensed we weren't human?"
I thought of the boy lying in the room; the boy whose mother had deciphered our secret, and I looked back at my friend.
"Carlisle ... are you going to do it?" I whispered, suddenly anxious.
He looked at me and in that moment I could tell he was just as frightened as I was. "He would hate us; we can't take away his life."
I worked my jaw. "What life?" I asked, an even to me it sounded bleak. My supposed husband raised an eyebrow. "Carlisle. This child is dying; he doesn't have any more life left. If you don't change him, he'll die. If you do, he won't and you'll have another companion after I'm gone." I reminded him.
Carlisle's sweet eyes lost their shine, and he smiled slightly. "You're going after him?" He asked, folding his arms over his chest.
"I have to, someday I'll love him. Someday, he'll be everything to me," I reminded him, and Carlisle shifted a bit, unhappy at the thought of my leaving. "I'll come back to you, you know that." I reminded him, and he smiled. Inside the room, the woman's heart beat faltered a few beats and then stopped forever. I could still hear the feint beat of her son's heartbeat. I looked at Carlisle. "You need to decide Carlisle. This boy may not have much longer."
He deliberated for a moment, staring hard at the wall behind me, as if it may hold the answers he was looking for. After a few minutes- which at the speed with think at is about three hours in human time- he looked back into my eyes.
"Prepare the house for when he wakes up."
...
That night, Carlisle brought home the screaming Edward; he had bit him while I wasn't there. I knew Carlisle had the inner strength to do it, and I couldn't be around human blood. After drinking human blood for around one hundred sixty years, give or take, I still wasn't the best around blood. Sure, I could resist it if I needed, but I preferred not to be around it to take any chances.
Carlisle had bitten him, and slipped him out – which I had no possible idea how he managed it, seeing as only a deaf person could miss Edward's wails. But seeing Edward's transformation reminded me of the pain I had been avoiding thinking of for the last century. The hell inducing flames that licked every piece of humanity from your body.
I sat with Edward all day while Carlisle was at work, and muttered soothing words to him as he screamed. It did nothing to calm him, and I eventually took to laying my head on him chest and listening to his quickened heartbeat. This seemed to calm his jerking and twitching – so it was a small relief at least.
After two and a half days I could clearly see the differences in Edward Masen, his skin was paler, colder and harder to the touch. The sallowness of his skin had faded and left if smooth and perfect – like mine and Carlisle's. I cringed internally as I thought of the crimson his eyes were guaranteed to be, but I suppose that eventually they would fade into gold and become like ours ... that is ...if he even chose to stay with us.
Most vampire cling to their creators within the first couple years of this new life, but after that – when they lose the need to depend on someone else, most leave. Some come back, most don't. I hoped that Edward stayed with Carlisle, because I was soon leaving.
I glanced at Edward, wondering if I should take a peek at her. My first instinct was no – it almost seemed like an invasion of privacy- but then my incessant need to know everything took hold (as well as immense boredom)I closed my eyes for a split second, and when I opened my eyes again, I really looked at him. When my power comes into play, it feel's odd. It feels like I'm drinking the person in – like I can feel him. Then a face appeared in front of my eyes, and I smiled.
Long dark hair framed a pale, heart shaped face like a curtain. She was fluid, and strong with large eyes and a perfect nose. She looked basically like any other vampire out there, but in that moment I knew – she wouldn't be any other vampire to Edward. She'll be his mate, his one true love throughout his time on this earth.
Suddenly I was jolted from my vision when a startled hiss rang in my ears, and I jumped back, landing gracefully on the other side of the room. I stared up at the hissing figure. Crouched on the other side of his bed, staring at me with such confusion I could have cried (if that were even possible)
I smiled, showcasing my perfect teeth.
Edward was awake.
...
So here's the first chapter, and I hope you all liked it. Please R&R.