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Post by Esme Cullen on Mar 8, 2013 20:12:53 GMT -5
She sat on the edge of the cliff, her dim human memories washing over her like a tidal wave. She had no memories of hitting the rocks below the cliff face, or tumbling into the water. They say ignorance is bliss.
Her next memory was opening her eyes to excruciating pain. Her eyes darted from side to side. She was on a cold metal table. There were other tables in the room, all occupied by people - no - bodies - lying on tables covered with sheets.
Am I dead? If I am, why do I feel such pain? I must be in Hell, she thought. If I were in Heaven, I would not be feeling this. She remembered feeling as if her eyes were rolling in their sockets, but then they focused - focused on a familiar pair of kindly topaz eyes.
It can't be, she thought. Not here. I know I'm in Hell. I've lost my child, the most important thing in my life, and I committed suicide. He can't be here.
As all this ran through her mind, the man behind the beautiful eyes began speaking to her in a soothing and familiar tone. "Esme, it's okay. You are going to be just fine. I'll take care of you." Dr. Cullen? No - it couldn't be. She hadn't seen him since she was a child. She must be delirious if not dead. Maybe she couldn't even get suicide right.
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Post by Carlisle Cullen on Mar 8, 2013 20:30:20 GMT -5
Interrupted from his reading, he looked up to see the nurse holding the folder out to him. "White female, young woman mid twenties. She was found on the rocks by Clifford Peak. Suicide. We need someone to pronounce her." Her voice was somber and sad, she must have knew the woman. He nodded once and sat the book down, taking the folder from her hands and waiting until she left to open it.
Esme Anne Platt, 26
His heart felt like it had sank. Could it be the girl he'd treated for a broken leg some eleven years prior? He swallowed thickly and stood, if his heart beat it would be racing. The walk down to the morgue was the longest one he'd ever taken. He stood in the doorway and closed his eyes to hear silence and then...the faintest of heartbeats. She was still alive, but barely. Not using his normal human speed, he was next to her in an instant. Her beautiful features still the same although her face was mangled and bloody. Her blood...it beckoned him. Venom pooled in his mouth and he continued to swallow and clench his jaw.
"Esme, it's okay. You are going to be just fine. I'll take care of you."
He was able to mutter out, he had to decide....he had to choose. Touching her cheek softly he smiled, and searched her eyes for the answer.
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Post by Esme Cullen on Mar 8, 2013 20:36:37 GMT -5
Trying hard to form words through her mangled jaw, she could barely speak. "Dr. Cullen? Is it really you?" The words came out slurred and barely audible, but he must have heard her, as he answered her in a soft hushed tone. "Yes, Esme - it's Dr. Cullen. I can help you, if you want me to, but it must be soon. Do you want my help?"
Choking on the blood in my mouth as well as the tears welling up in my eyes, I stared into the eyes that had haunted me these past eleven years. He had touched my spirit in ways I could not have imagined. How could I not accept the help he was so freely offering?
"Yes" I managed to choke out. "Yes, please help me."
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Post by Carlisle Cullen on Mar 8, 2013 20:46:09 GMT -5
Their almost silent exchange gave him the answers he needed. He would turn her, she would be his second creation after his son Edward. The venom pooled as he inhaled her blood once more, closing his eyes and knowing it was now or never, her heart would falter soon. Moving her hair to the side of her face to expose her neck, he looked behind him once and moved in sinking his teeth into her flesh. She moved slightly at the sting of his venom entering her bloodstream, pulling some of her blood into his mouth and swallowing as his venom excreted in exchange. He had to force himself to stop, pulling away and wiping his mouth on the back of his hand, pained eyes as he watched her pain increase.
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Post by Esme Cullen on Mar 8, 2013 20:57:48 GMT -5
Feeling him lifting her hair, and assuming he was about to examine her, she felt a jolt of sharp, stabbing pain. Then, the pain changed - became a burning, searing pain.
This is it, she thought. Dr. Cullen was too late. She was going to die after all. She wanted her last sight to be of the man that had haunted her dreams, so she focused on his face - those beautiful eyes.
The burning rose to a fever pitch. If it weren't for her mangled jaw, she was sure she would be screaming. She was screaming inside. No, it couldn't be. The pain was becoming more intense. How could this be? How could she bear this much pain without the sweet release of death? Is this what dying feels like? Burning? It was now impossible for her to hold her eyes open. They seemed to be sealed shut with the pain. She could no longer hold them open. Dr. Cullen - are you still with me?
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Post by Carlisle Cullen on Mar 8, 2013 21:05:03 GMT -5
Her whispered breath saying his name made him fall back against the wall and watch with pained eyes knowing the torture he'd just subjected her to. It wasn't easy with Edward and this was even harder. When she woke, would she be upset? Was this the right choice? Was he being selfish because of this draw he felt towards her? Only time would tell and now, they'd have eternity. Someone as vivacious and full of life as the sixteen year old girl he'd met eleven years ago did not deserve such a tragic fate.
64 hours later
He'd taken her body to his home on the outskirts of town where Edward curiously asked what had made him turn her, to which he could only say, "It was in her eyes. I can't describe it." He smiled and knew the loneliness Carlisle had felt, offering him a kind word before leaving for a few days to give him some privacy. She laid in the bed he'd made up for her and he waited by her side, checking her occasionally...waiting.
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Post by Esme Cullen on Mar 8, 2013 21:12:24 GMT -5
Gradually she realized that the burning torture was beginning to fade slowly from her limbs. She was becoming more and more aware. Aware of the handsome doctor that she had always remembered in her dreams had never left her side during this entire time.
Did he not need to rest or to take nourishment? He must be utterly devoted to his work.
She realized that the pain and burning was nearly gone. All that remained was a white hot coal in the center of her chest. It burned bright and radiant, then was suddenly extinguished, as if a candle flame was snuffed out. She felt that she was in a soft, comfortable bed, not the cold metal table.
She opened her eyes again, and gasped as she saw that Dr. Cullen was still there. Not a dream. He was real, and standing by her bedside.
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Post by Carlisle Cullen on Mar 8, 2013 21:17:06 GMT -5
He heard her heart stop twenty minutes ago and watched as her cuts and bruises vanished, her back fully healed and the venom made her whole again and so beautiful. When her eyes opened, he stood and watched her. Her gasp made him step back and not really know what to say.
"Esme, I need you to listen to me." His cool demeanor took over and his official doctor's voice came forth hiding the fear he felt deep inside. Slowly stepping forth he sat on the edge of her bed at the foot. "You were in an accident." Not really an accident, but those details did not matter, for all he knew she fell from clumsiness. "You were badly injured. On the brink of death and in order to save your life, I had to change you." He watched her crimson eyes intently, hoping she was following him.
"You are now...vampire. Like me."
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Post by Esme Cullen on Mar 8, 2013 21:23:58 GMT -5
After his patient explanation which seemed to take only moments, but in reality had taken quite a long time, she once again gazed into his eyes. The eyes that she had loved these many years.
"Vampire?" I remembered the sharp pain in my neck when he lifted my hair on that cold metal table. He bit me? I had heard of such things, but in the stories the monster was always dark and ugly. Not this wonderful, compassionate, handsome man.
I felt the sharp burn in my throat. It felt like the hot harsh sand of a desert. I was parched. Is this what he meant?
"Do I have to drink blood now? Will I have to hurt or kill people?" I felt shock at the realization that I might have to kill in order to survive. Am I alive?
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Post by Carlisle Cullen on Mar 8, 2013 21:29:48 GMT -5
Noticing the pained look in her eyes as the thirst built in her throat, the scorching pain of a newborn with only one goal: to feed. He stood and offered her his hand with a warm smile. "I shall explain it all, but yes you must hunt. My diet consists of animals. I'll teach you everything you need to know, I'll protect you. I would never and could never kill another for my own thirst." He believed in life and spared human life whenever possible. Only turning those in dire need, the last and final option.
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Post by Esme Cullen on Mar 8, 2013 21:34:55 GMT -5
Placing her hand in his, she gazed into his eyes and returned his smile with one of her own.
"I trust you. I've always trusted you."
Animals? That's not so bad. I've eaten animal flesh all my life. Now I would just drink their blood instead? I can do that - especially if it quenches this horrendous burn in my throat. All of a sudden, the craving for sustenance overwhelmed me.
"I'm willing to learn."
At that point, I would have dived off a cliff again if that is what he wanted me to do.
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Post by Carlisle Cullen on Mar 8, 2013 21:40:28 GMT -5
He continued to smile and looked down at her hand in his. The same temperature, she did not recoil and she looked at him like he hung the moon, looking up to him and wanting his guidance. "Then we hunt." He led her outside to the wooded area behind his home and stood behind her.
"If you'll close your eyes, you'll hear everything. Narrow that down and concentrate letting your senses pick up your prey." Standing behind her with his hands on her arms as he waited for her to pick up the sounds of the animal drinking from the stream in the distance.
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Post by Esme Cullen on Mar 8, 2013 21:44:23 GMT -5
Feeling acutely aware of his gentle hands on her arms, she did as he asked. Closing her eyes, she concentrated on listening.
Amazed, she heard sounds she had never before heard - the tapping of ants, as they crossed the ground to their ant hill - the chattering of small rodents. Finally, she heard a lapping sound. A drinking animal? Then she heard a rhythmic thumping. The beat of a large animal's heart.
"I hear it. What do I do?"
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Post by Carlisle Cullen on Mar 8, 2013 21:49:56 GMT -5
Her voice made him open his eyes and smile. "You drink." He walked around to the front of her and kept his voice gentle. "Follow the sounds to where it's drinking and bite. The venom in your mouth will immobilize the animal and you drink it's essence. It's blood. I'll be with you every step of the way, this is your hunt though. You can do this." He nodded and stepped aside to let her instincts take over, scanning the area with his nose and ears for any humans nearby.
All clear...
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Post by Esme Cullen on Mar 8, 2013 21:59:26 GMT -5
With trepidation, I listened to his instructions. Can I do this? Won't the animal hurt or kill me?
He seemed so sure of my ability to do this. I wish I was so sure. I didn't want him to think me too timid, or unbelieving of him. Squaring my shoulders, I went over what he said in my mind. I can do this.
Listening again, I followed the sound of the animal's lapping tongue to the nearby stream. It was then that I realized how fast I was moving. It almost felt as if I was flying!
In no time, I was upon the animal before it even had registered my presence. Feeling an almost primal instinct take over my mind and body, I lowered my head to the spot on its neck where the pulse beat the strongest and bit.
Feeling the warm, coppery tang of the blood filling my mouth, oddly I felt no revulsion, only a faint sense of relief as the animal's essence ran down my throat.
By no means was the burning sensation in my throat completely gone, but it was bearable somehow. All too soon, I had drained the animal, dropping its lifeless carcass on the bank of the stream. I straightened up and wiped my mouth on the back of my hand, looking around for Carlisle.
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