Is this what death looks like? The man lying before us was young and beautiful. Cleary, he was not human. He was vampire – but something was off. We all are pale, but Carlisle was even paler. His skin seemed..dusty.
I sensed Jasper's distress. He squeezed my hand. We exchanged a quick glance. In his eyes, I saw the fear, worry and concern for the man he considered almost as a father.
"Uh, is he..sleeping?", Stefano broke the uncomfortable silence.
"He spends more and more time like this..I am not sure if this is sleeping, or unconsciousness.", Esme replied quietly, her words heavy with despair.
"Bring forward the human", Gottfried says impatiently.
"I am still not sure this is right", Esme said, keeping her eyes down. We all had a brief but passionate discussion about offering Carlisle human blood, straight from a living person. Bella and Rosalie were very much against the idea, while Emmet and Edwards reluctantly agreed to try. However, it was my father who made the final decision, and what Marcus as king says, goes. Marcus trusted my gift even more than I trusted it myself. Jasper, too, endorsed all my ideas, but when it came to this particular idea, I knew that even without my input he would always support our natural diet as the generally healthiest choice. After spending numerous decades denying human blood to himself, turning back to human back made him more powerful than ever.
"It is decided", Marcus said gently but still firmly.
Stefano approached Carlisle. Puzzled, he asked us "What am I supposed to do now? Can you wake him up?"
"There's no waking him up the traditional way, but I have an idea.", Jasper said and approached Stefano, "Gimme your neck."
I heard a gasp coming from Edward and turned to see all Cullens staring at Jasper in horror. I realized that they thought Jasper would probably slaughter Stefano on the spot. I turned back to look at my mate. I knew very well that this man has nerves of steel and discipline like no other being I met. This is the man who endured the pain of his own mate rejecting him for months. Others would have succumbed to their baser urges almost instantly, but Jasper…my mate can move mountains.
He smiled at me quickly as he felt my admiration. The short look of annoyance vanished from his beautiful face. He, of course, felt the lack of trust from his former family.
Stefano offered his skin as he always does – calmly and trusting.
Jasper bit his neck deeply and then stepped back.
"I needed to bite you a bit more than usual to make it bleed freely", he explained to Stefano, "Now bend so the wound is above Carlisle's mouth. Felix, come closer. We need to pull Stefano away quickly if anything goes wrong."
We all stared without blinking as the first drops of blood landed on Carlisle's lips. He didn't move. Then, after a few seconds, it seemed as if there was some small movement. Then again, I saw it more clearly: Carlisle was sniffing.
Then it all happened in a matter of seconds: Carlisle eyes were wide open, almost white and not golden as the rest of his family. His arms flew up and he crushed Stefano in an unyielding embrace. Carlisle bit Stefano mindlessly, hungry, desperately. We heard the long, thirsty gulps and realized that Stefano was about to be drained.
Some of us managed to yell, while I threw Verena into Marek's arms. "RUN!", I commanded. I wanted both the youngest vampire and the remaining human as far as possible from this massacre. Jasper and Felix wrangled Stefano out of Carlisle's deadly embrace. The wound on Stefano's neck looked horrifying. Jasper was bloody all over, and suddenly, he kicked Felix with a force that sent him flying through the window. Then he proceeded to lick Stefano's wound, trying to seal it. The strong aroma of blood hit my nostrils, and I realized why Jasper kicked Felix out. We all were near to losing it.
"OUT!", Marcus commanded, and we all obeyed. Clearly, this command was not meant for Jasper, who was fighting to keep Stefano alive.
….
We barely made it downstairs, far enough from Stefano's truly intoxicating aroma, when the doors flew open. It was Alice, and she looked furious.
"I told you! Didn't I tell you? But nobody listens!", she yelled, "Blood! Blood everywhere! You ruined Carlisle! There's a huge vampire in the trees and I have no idea who he is! And there's another vampire on the run with a human!"
Everybody was in shock and no one had any strength to argue with the enraged pixie.
"And YOU!", she pointed her skinny finger at me, "You whore. It is all your fault."
And then she charged.
I never was much of a fighter, much to Jasper's amusement. He thought it was hilarious that he could sneak up on me without me noticing, and that he could manhandle and wrestle me in any way he wished. I simply had no moves and also, I had exactly zero will to fight.
So, even someone as small as Alice had no problem to knock me down. She got a few good kicks on me before she was pulled away by Emmett.
"I apologize", Emmett said, and I thought it was very funny, because he was apologizing to Marcus, not to me. He seemed to realized his mistake, and then he turned to me, while still holding a rather angry Alice, "I'm sorry."
And then, again, I got one of these strange feelings I sometimes get.
"This all is going to be fine", I said, but no one but Marcus understood what I meant, or even noticed what I said.
Suddenly, everybody but Marcus, Gottfried and me were on the floor, as if they all fell asleep. I raised my eyes and saw Jasper on top of the stairs. He was bloody all over, and while I had my thirst under control, I can't say the same about my lust. The idea of me licking my gorgeous mate clean clouded my mind.
"I need to talk the three of you and I don't need the audience right now", he explained and then he met my eyes and smirked lightly. I felt my mind clearing up and my lust vanished, "Save that for later.."
"Stefano will join us.", Marcus said with a finality. It took me a moment to realize what he meant. Stefano will join us permanently, as in becoming a vampire.
"Carlisle took too much blood. The wound would not seal. So, I turned him", Jasper nodded.
A scream filled the air.
"That's Carlisle!", I said.
"I don't know what is going on", Jasper admitted, "I'm picking up terrible amounts of pain from him – physical pain. Please, Gottfried, could you take a look?"
Gottfried left upstairs immediately. This was probably the most interesting chain of events that he encountered in the last few centuries.
"Were you hurt?", Jasper was instantly at my side.
"Not even one bit.", I smiled.
"You really should at least try and defend yourself", he chided me gently.
"She took me by surprise", I said.
"What kind of a vampire can be surprised?", he smiled at me, and I melted, as usual.
"A goofy one", I said and made my Jasper laugh. I existed for his glorious smile.
"She will not touch you again", Jasper was serious in an instant again.
"It's ok.", I said.
"It is really not all right.", my father interjected.
"We will sort it out.", I said, sure of it.
Both men refrained from saying anything, but I saw the doubt written clearly on their faces.
"We will sort it out.", I repeated, "It will all turn out just fine."
"Not for Carlisle", Gottfried joined us, "Something is happening to his body, something that I have never seen before. He's a vampire, therefore he's dead. But he's dying all over again. The blood did not work out. It's killing him."