The Inauspicious Beginnings Of A Prince
by Laura Spudzmom
Chapter 01
Carlisle's POV:
We had been searching for so long for our lost son. He had been missing since his birth and his subsequent turning of my wife, his mother, eight years ago.
She had gone into labor when driving by herself and she had had to pull over in a wooded area where she didn't have a signal on her phone.
There, she gave birth to him and he bit her and then disappeared.
We followed the scent trail left over from his birth, but it faded soon after, and we've been searching for him ever since.
We were now in a wooded area that had been notoriously dangerous for hunters for the last eight years.
There had been many so called animal attacks and killings of hunters in these particular woods and I was betting that it wasn't animals that were the culprit.
In the few that had been found intact, the bodies had been drained of blood. A classic sign of a vampire.
I just thank god that the humans hadn't figured it out, but I was terrified that the Volturi would get involved before we could find and stop him.
"We'll spread out and hunt as we usually do. Keep your eyes open for hunters and their camp sites. Despite the dangers, they still continue to hunt here in numbers. And as always, stay alert for any signs of our son. If you find any, or you manage to catch sight of him, call the rest of us to you before approaching him. We wouldn't want to lose him after coming so close. Wait until we all arrive and then we can surround him."
Esme spoke up then. "Please try not to hurt him." She wrung her hands together and looked plaintive. "He's still my baby. I just want a chance to know and love him."
All of the 'kids' surrounded her and hugged her. Rosalie spoke for them. "We'll find him Esme and we'll bring him home. I have a good feeling about this trip." She smiled softly.
I hugged my wife. "Rose is right Es. We won't give up until we do find him."
She clung to me for a few moments and then looked up and around at the group.
"Thank you all for never giving up and for your faith. I don't know how I would have gotten through these last years without all of you. I love you all."
They all moved in and hugged her again.
"Alright," I said, clapping my hands together, "let's get going! Everyone have your phones on you?" They all nodded or held up a phone. "Good. We'll see you all back here in eight hours unless we get a call to gather earlier."
We all took off in slightly different directions, creating a search web that would hopefully yield results this time.
I was busy taking down a buck when my phone vibrated in my pocket. I answered it, seeing that it was Emmett.
"Carlisle," he whispered into his phone.
That he was whispering had my attention.
"I think I may have found him. I'm watching a kid that looks to be about ten drain a hunter." My heart leapt.
"Have you called the others Em?"
"Not yet. You're the first."
"Alright, I have your coordinates on my phone. I'll send a group text with the info, and I'll see you in moments.
Don't try to approach him unless he tries to leave the area."
I sent the text and was moving out within seconds.
I arrived at Emmett's location seconds before Edward. Roselie, Alice and Esme showed up seconds later.
The boy was still there, searching through the hunters camp for whatever he could find. He was dressed in clothes that were slightly too large for him and looked to have been stolen from his previous kills.
He had blood on his chin and some running down his neck.
He turned and I got my first good look at his face.
He was strikingly beautiful for a boy, and a perfect mixture of my wife and me.
He had her eyes without a doubt. They were a beautiful mix between green and hazel, just like Esme's had been.
There was no doubt about it. I was looking at my son.
Esme gasped a little and his head whipped around toward our hiding place.
I signaled the others to circle the camp site. If he ran straight north right now and away from us, we risked losing him.
Everyone but Esme and I moved to circle around the camp site. Once they were all in place they texted on their phones, and I began moving toward my son.
I emerged from the trees slowly with my hands out, palms up. Instead of running he froze for seconds before crouching and growling lowly.
Maybe talking to him would help?
"Hello son. I am not here to hurt you. I would just like to talk to you. Is that alright?"
He stopped growling but didn't come out of his crouch. He was ready to spring at any moment.
"Who are you and why do you want to talk to me?"
I was shocked at his ability to speak. I guess he learned by listening to hunters.
"This may be hard for you to believe, but I am your father. I have been searching for you since your birth. Your mother is here with me."
I motioned behind me toward where I had left Esme. She took that as her cue to move slowly forward to my side.
"Hello my precious son. I have waited so long to meet you" Tears were shimmering in her eyes.
He cocked his head a bit upon seeing her. "I remember your face, but you looked different then."
He then heard a twig breaking behind him and turned his head a bit and began growling again. He moved as though he was going to run.
Esme threw up her hands. "Wait! Please don't run from us! Please stay and talk to us! We love you and want you home with us."
He looked feral. "You have others circling me. This is a trap."
He took off and we were after him.
It was Edward that caught him, as he was the fastest out of us all.
We gathered around them. Edward had him from behind, arms locked around his torso and arms. He was growling and hissing loudly at that point, trying to reach anything he could with his mouth to bite.
I moved around in front of him and knelt down. "Son, please calm down. We don't mean any harm. We just want to talk without losing you."
He was past the point of calming now though. He felt trapped and his instincts had taken over. He managed to sink his fangs into Edwards arm and Edward hissed in pain and almost dropped him.
It was time to do something, so that we could get him home and then deal with trying to reach him.
I took out the syringe that I carried for just such an occurrence and injected the sedative into my son. It took about a minute and he sagged in Edwards arms, still growling.
I took his mostly limp form into my arms and began the walk back to our vehicles with everyone else following.
We arrived home and I took him into the basement.
It was the only space that didn't have large windows and I knew that he would bolt through a window if he had to just to escape.
Something told me that we were in for a tough ride with my small son.
He had been in the wild his whole life after all, doing whatever he had to to survive.
As I laid my son on the bed I turned to Edward and Emmett who had followed me.
"Can you two go back to the site and clean up? That is only if it hasn't already been discovered by humans. But I would like to clean it up and make it look as close to an animal attack as possible."
They both nodded and Emmett answered.
"We understand Carlisle. We'll take care of it."
I smiled at them. "Thank you both."
Esme came in then, her eyes locked on our son.
"He's beautiful isn't he? I mean, despite all the dirt and grime."
She looked at me and smiled a tentative smile.
"Alice and Rose have gone to buy clothes and shoes for him. Perhaps we should take advantage of his current state and bathe him? Would you help me with that Carlisle?"
I nodded. "That's probably a very good idea. It will give me an opportunity to do a cursory exam too. I need to make sure he's healthy even though he seems to be fine."
"How long will he be out Carlisle?" I sighed and ran a hand through my hair.
"Probably another two hours."
She nodded. "Well we'd better get started then. He's got quite a few layers we need to scrub off and his hair needs plenty of attention although I don't think we should cut it all that much. That might upset him, and he has enough to be upset about."
I gazed down at my son and nodded. "I agree with you Es. Too many changes in such a short period of time will just aggravate him." I looked up at her. "You draw the bath and I'll carry him in once I get him out of these clothes."
She left the room and I got busy ridding him of the rags he was dressed in.
I noticed as I undressed him that he wasn't emaciated by any means.
His muscle tone and skin condition was very good and it didn't seem as though he had suffered any previous serious injuries as I couldn't see any major scars. There were a few small ones here and there like on his arms and legs, but that was all so far. That was until I turned him over. There, just beneath his right shoulder blade was what I recognized to be an old gunshot wound. My heart clenched at the thought of him going through such a thing in the wild, all on his own. It must have been a terrible ordeal for him, but here he was, alive and relatively well, thank god.
Why couldn't we have found him sooner?
I shook myself out of my melancholy and picked him up to move to the bath. I would explore the damage from the gunshot later just to make sure the bullet wasn't still a danger to him and there was no lasting damage.
Esme was ready for us and I placed him down in the water while keeping my arm under his neck and shoulders for support.
After much scrubbing and many changes of the water, he was clean and we placed him on towels on the bed.
Esme had me hold him up while she combed his hair and trimmed it to just above his shoulders. It began to curl into soft platinum blond curls as it dried. She was gently running her fingers through it when Alice and Rose arrived with clothes and shoes for him.
They both gasped softly when they saw him.
"Oh, he's so beautiful Esme. I've never seen a child as ethereal looking. He looks like an angel."
Rose nodded her agreement. Esme smiled softly.
"He does doesn't he? My son. I can hardly believe he's here."
She looked up with tears shining in her eyes and then shook herself out of her reverie.
"You have clothes for him?"
She looked at the two girls that seem to both shake themselves from the trance of staring at my little son.
They laughed at themselves.
"Yes! Alice went crazy and bought half the mall again."
Alice slapped Rose's shoulder and rolled her eyes while I groaned at the thought of the bill.
Esme grinned. "Well, let's get my son dressed before he awakes."
I stood back just in case they needed my help or he woke up during the process. I was sure that he was not going to be receptive to all of the attention once he was conscious again.
He might look like an angel while sleeping, but I knew that wouldn't be the case when he was fully back to himself.
The thought made me contemplate medicating him just until he became more used to us but I dismissed it.
It certainly wouldn't help to build his trust in us if I drugged him and I was sure that he was astute enough to realize when something had been done to him.
They dressed him in artfully faded jeans, a t-shirt and a hooded sweatshirt with socks and shoes going on last.
He now looked like a regular little kid lying there.
That was until his grassy colored eyes began to flutter and he began to growl.
I grasped Esme's arm and moved her from the bed.
"Girls, you may want to leave for a bit until he gets used to us and this new environment."
They both nodded and left quietly, closing the door.
I stood back holding Esme, and waited for our son to come fully awake.
I could tell the moment full awareness took hold because his eyes flared to life and he launched himself from the the bed with a furious growl backing quickly into the corner.
He swayed a little once he was there and had to place a hand on the wall to steady himself. He glared at us furiously.
"What did you do to me?"
Carlisle's POV:
We had been searching for so long for our lost son. He had been missing since his birth and his subsequent turning of my wife, his mother, eight years ago.
She had gone into labor when driving by herself and she had had to pull over in a wooded area where she didn't have a signal on her phone.
There, she gave birth to him and he bit her and then disappeared.
We followed the scent trail left over from his birth, but it faded soon after, and we've been searching for him ever since.
We were now in a wooded area that had been notoriously dangerous for hunters for the last eight years.
There had been many so called animal attacks and killings of hunters in these particular woods and I was betting that it wasn't animals that were the culprit.
In the few that had been found intact, the bodies had been drained of blood. A classic sign of a vampire.
I just thank god that the humans hadn't figured it out, but I was terrified that the Volturi would get involved before we could find and stop him.
"We'll spread out and hunt as we usually do. Keep your eyes open for hunters and their camp sites. Despite the dangers, they still continue to hunt here in numbers. And as always, stay alert for any signs of our son. If you find any, or you manage to catch sight of him, call the rest of us to you before approaching him. We wouldn't want to lose him after coming so close. Wait until we all arrive and then we can surround him."
Esme spoke up then. "Please try not to hurt him." She wrung her hands together and looked plaintive. "He's still my baby. I just want a chance to know and love him."
All of the 'kids' surrounded her and hugged her. Rosalie spoke for them. "We'll find him Esme and we'll bring him home. I have a good feeling about this trip." She smiled softly.
I hugged my wife. "Rose is right Es. We won't give up until we do find him."
She clung to me for a few moments and then looked up and around at the group.
"Thank you all for never giving up and for your faith. I don't know how I would have gotten through these last years without all of you. I love you all."
They all moved in and hugged her again.
"Alright," I said, clapping my hands together, "let's get going! Everyone have your phones on you?" They all nodded or held up a phone. "Good. We'll see you all back here in eight hours unless we get a call to gather earlier."
We all took off in slightly different directions, creating a search web that would hopefully yield results this time.
I was busy taking down a buck when my phone vibrated in my pocket. I answered it, seeing that it was Emmett.
"Carlisle," he whispered into his phone.
That he was whispering had my attention.
"I think I may have found him. I'm watching a kid that looks to be about ten drain a hunter." My heart leapt.
"Have you called the others Em?"
"Not yet. You're the first."
"Alright, I have your coordinates on my phone. I'll send a group text with the info, and I'll see you in moments.
Don't try to approach him unless he tries to leave the area."
I sent the text and was moving out within seconds.
I arrived at Emmett's location seconds before Edward. Roselie, Alice and Esme showed up seconds later.
The boy was still there, searching through the hunters camp for whatever he could find. He was dressed in clothes that were slightly too large for him and looked to have been stolen from his previous kills.
He had blood on his chin and some running down his neck.
He turned and I got my first good look at his face.
He was strikingly beautiful for a boy, and a perfect mixture of my wife and me.
He had her eyes without a doubt. They were a beautiful mix between green and hazel, just like Esme's had been.
There was no doubt about it. I was looking at my son.
Esme gasped a little and his head whipped around toward our hiding place.
I signaled the others to circle the camp site. If he ran straight north right now and away from us, we risked losing him.
Everyone but Esme and I moved to circle around the camp site. Once they were all in place they texted on their phones, and I began moving toward my son.
I emerged from the trees slowly with my hands out, palms up. Instead of running he froze for seconds before crouching and growling lowly.
Maybe talking to him would help?
"Hello son. I am not here to hurt you. I would just like to talk to you. Is that alright?"
He stopped growling but didn't come out of his crouch. He was ready to spring at any moment.
"Who are you and why do you want to talk to me?"
I was shocked at his ability to speak. I guess he learned by listening to hunters.
"This may be hard for you to believe, but I am your father. I have been searching for you since your birth. Your mother is here with me."
I motioned behind me toward where I had left Esme. She took that as her cue to move slowly forward to my side.
"Hello my precious son. I have waited so long to meet you" Tears were shimmering in her eyes.
He cocked his head a bit upon seeing her. "I remember your face, but you looked different then."
He then heard a twig breaking behind him and turned his head a bit and began growling again. He moved as though he was going to run.
Esme threw up her hands. "Wait! Please don't run from us! Please stay and talk to us! We love you and want you home with us."
He looked feral. "You have others circling me. This is a trap."
He took off and we were after him.
It was Edward that caught him, as he was the fastest out of us all.
We gathered around them. Edward had him from behind, arms locked around his torso and arms. He was growling and hissing loudly at that point, trying to reach anything he could with his mouth to bite.
I moved around in front of him and knelt down. "Son, please calm down. We don't mean any harm. We just want to talk without losing you."
He was past the point of calming now though. He felt trapped and his instincts had taken over. He managed to sink his fangs into Edwards arm and Edward hissed in pain and almost dropped him.
It was time to do something, so that we could get him home and then deal with trying to reach him.
I took out the syringe that I carried for just such an occurrence and injected the sedative into my son. It took about a minute and he sagged in Edwards arms, still growling.
I took his mostly limp form into my arms and began the walk back to our vehicles with everyone else following.
We arrived home and I took him into the basement.
It was the only space that didn't have large windows and I knew that he would bolt through a window if he had to just to escape.
Something told me that we were in for a tough ride with my small son.
He had been in the wild his whole life after all, doing whatever he had to to survive.
As I laid my son on the bed I turned to Edward and Emmett who had followed me.
"Can you two go back to the site and clean up? That is only if it hasn't already been discovered by humans. But I would like to clean it up and make it look as close to an animal attack as possible."
They both nodded and Emmett answered.
"We understand Carlisle. We'll take care of it."
I smiled at them. "Thank you both."
Esme came in then, her eyes locked on our son.
"He's beautiful isn't he? I mean, despite all the dirt and grime."
She looked at me and smiled a tentative smile.
"Alice and Rose have gone to buy clothes and shoes for him. Perhaps we should take advantage of his current state and bathe him? Would you help me with that Carlisle?"
I nodded. "That's probably a very good idea. It will give me an opportunity to do a cursory exam too. I need to make sure he's healthy even though he seems to be fine."
"How long will he be out Carlisle?" I sighed and ran a hand through my hair.
"Probably another two hours."
She nodded. "Well we'd better get started then. He's got quite a few layers we need to scrub off and his hair needs plenty of attention although I don't think we should cut it all that much. That might upset him, and he has enough to be upset about."
I gazed down at my son and nodded. "I agree with you Es. Too many changes in such a short period of time will just aggravate him." I looked up at her. "You draw the bath and I'll carry him in once I get him out of these clothes."
She left the room and I got busy ridding him of the rags he was dressed in.
I noticed as I undressed him that he wasn't emaciated by any means.
His muscle tone and skin condition was very good and it didn't seem as though he had suffered any previous serious injuries as I couldn't see any major scars. There were a few small ones here and there like on his arms and legs, but that was all so far. That was until I turned him over. There, just beneath his right shoulder blade was what I recognized to be an old gunshot wound. My heart clenched at the thought of him going through such a thing in the wild, all on his own. It must have been a terrible ordeal for him, but here he was, alive and relatively well, thank god.
Why couldn't we have found him sooner?
I shook myself out of my melancholy and picked him up to move to the bath. I would explore the damage from the gunshot later just to make sure the bullet wasn't still a danger to him and there was no lasting damage.
Esme was ready for us and I placed him down in the water while keeping my arm under his neck and shoulders for support.
After much scrubbing and many changes of the water, he was clean and we placed him on towels on the bed.
Esme had me hold him up while she combed his hair and trimmed it to just above his shoulders. It began to curl into soft platinum blond curls as it dried. She was gently running her fingers through it when Alice and Rose arrived with clothes and shoes for him.
They both gasped softly when they saw him.
"Oh, he's so beautiful Esme. I've never seen a child as ethereal looking. He looks like an angel."
Rose nodded her agreement. Esme smiled softly.
"He does doesn't he? My son. I can hardly believe he's here."
She looked up with tears shining in her eyes and then shook herself out of her reverie.
"You have clothes for him?"
She looked at the two girls that seem to both shake themselves from the trance of staring at my little son.
They laughed at themselves.
"Yes! Alice went crazy and bought half the mall again."
Alice slapped Rose's shoulder and rolled her eyes while I groaned at the thought of the bill.
Esme grinned. "Well, let's get my son dressed before he awakes."
I stood back just in case they needed my help or he woke up during the process. I was sure that he was not going to be receptive to all of the attention once he was conscious again.
He might look like an angel while sleeping, but I knew that wouldn't be the case when he was fully back to himself.
The thought made me contemplate medicating him just until he became more used to us but I dismissed it.
It certainly wouldn't help to build his trust in us if I drugged him and I was sure that he was astute enough to realize when something had been done to him.
They dressed him in artfully faded jeans, a t-shirt and a hooded sweatshirt with socks and shoes going on last.
He now looked like a regular little kid lying there.
That was until his grassy colored eyes began to flutter and he began to growl.
I grasped Esme's arm and moved her from the bed.
"Girls, you may want to leave for a bit until he gets used to us and this new environment."
They both nodded and left quietly, closing the door.
I stood back holding Esme, and waited for our son to come fully awake.
I could tell the moment full awareness took hold because his eyes flared to life and he launched himself from the the bed with a furious growl backing quickly into the corner.
He swayed a little once he was there and had to place a hand on the wall to steady himself. He glared at us furiously.
"What did you do to me?"
DISCLAIMER: Twilight and its inclusive material is copyright to Stephenie Meyer. Original creation, including but not limited to plot and characters, is copyright to the respective authors of each story. No copyright infringement is intended.