The Journey
by Laura Spudzmom
Chapter 06
Carlisle's hand rested on the hilt of his sword as the light of the full moon glinted off his gold locks. He and his companions now walked through the back alleys of the seediest part of town, the stench of human waste and rot heavy and choking in its intensity. He glanced at Gideon and James, his brow arched as they coughed and gagged even as he held his own perfumed kerchief over his nose. "Praise God we don't have occasion to get used to this stench lads. Now come, we have a long night ahead of us. Let us be about it."
The two nodded and followed him as he strode ahead into the deepest shadows where they began to spy the dregs of society. Grunts, groans, screams and moans from the dubious ladies of the night and their clients filled the putrid air… Shouts, breaking glass, hissing and laughter rang out as drunkards stumbled on their way or engaged in brawls, heedless of the excrement, piss and vomit they wallowed in. It all served to turn Carlisle's stomach and, not for the first time this night, he wished he'd forgone dinner.
Carlisle snarled as the clawed fingers of an old hag grabbed his arm, her rotting teeth displayed in a wide, drunken grin as she leered into his face. "Ruby'll treat ya right gov'na. Only a sixpence for such a pretty 'un. Whaddaya say love?"
"Get back!" Gideon hissed and brandished his sword as Carlisle shoved the woman away.
"Aw, come on love, tell ya what. You're so pretty ol' Ruby'll do ya for free!" She cackled madly and collapsed into a heap as the three men strode away.
When they'd finally made their way through the crowd, James gestured at an alley. "Let's try that one," he said as Carlisle breathed through his kerchief to rid himself of the memory of the old hag's breath. James and Gideon looked to him and he nodded and stowed the kerchief.
"'Tis likely as any," he agreed and they turned into the mouth of the alley.
It was long, shrouded in shadow and appeared to be empty of whores which, at the moment, Carlisle considered a blessing. "Let's go lads," he murmured and walked forward.
They'd gone about a block when an unearthly hiss sounded ahead of them followed by guttural growls and ear-splitting screeching noises as dust and pieces of bricks began to tumble down from the buildings on either side of the alley. They tried to see through the deep shadows in the alley, but the moonlight was blocked by the buildings and what movement they could see was blurred like fleeting streaks of cream in black coffee. Gideon looked at Carlisle with wide eyes. "What is that?!" he whispered, his sword at the ready.
"I know not, but prepare yourselves," he said while drawing his own sword. He glanced at the men and they nodded as they began to advance toward the obvious fight.
Another screech and what sounded like a scream of pain from a male froze them in their tracks as James clutched at Carlisle's shoulder. The hand trembled and Carlisle glanced at the young man. "M—my Lord! We should not tarry here! Pray, let us leave!"
Before Carlisle could answer, something flashed by from the dark and James was…gone. There was no other way to describe it…he'd just vanished. Gideon whimpered and the smell of fresh piss rose up from where he stood, shaking and wide eyed. "What…what just happened?!" Gideon asked through quivering lips.
"I…" Carlisle shook his head as words failed him and he crossed himself before taking several more steps forward. He glanced back and saw Gideon rooted to the spot and shaking his head. "N—no my Lord! We cannot!"
Carlisle walked back to the frightened young man and grasped his shoulder. "We must remain together!"
"Bu—but something took James!" he wailed as tears streamed down his cheeks and dripped from his chin and jaw.
"Our strength is in God, Gideon! Take comfort and find courage in that! He shall not forsake us! We must continue on! We mustn't allow this evil to prevail!"
Gideon mopped his cheeks with his sleeve and swallowed thickly with a nod. "Yes my Lord," he muttered and Carlisle nodded.
"Right then," he said and began walking forward once more as Gideon fell into step next to him, both with swords at the ready. They both flinched however, when another unholy shriek rang out followed by a deep growl, the likes of which neither man had ever heard before.
"My Lord?" Gideon uttered just before something slammed into his body, throwing him back several feet as he screamed in terror. Carlisle swung blindly with his sword encountering nothing and sucked in a shocked breath when a body appeared seemingly from nowhere to crouch over the crumpled form of his sobbing companion. "Move away from him!" he shouted and the crouched being slowly turned its head to look at him, its eyes glittering darkly in its deathly-pale face as a sinister smile curved its lips. "Mine," it said.
In horror, Carlisle watched as the creature lifted a whimpering Gideon in its arms and disappeared just as he swung his sword at it. He panted and peered around the deep shadows, his sword gripped in both hands in front of him. Now he was alone with only the occasional low growl and hiss echoing from the darkness ahead of him.
Closing his eyes, he whispered a prayer and began walking ahead toward whatever awaited him. As carefully as he moved, he still stumbled over something. He looked down and when his eyes had adjusted, he stared in horror at a twitching, disembodied leg.
Leaning over quickly, he vomited what little dinner he'd managed to eat and coughed a couple of times before wiping his mouth on his sleeve. It was then he realized he was crying as he mopped at the rest of his face before hefting his sword once again. "What evil is this?" he muttered while clenching his eyes closed for a beat. "Father God, help me, I pray thee!"
With that, he moved forward once again toward the growls and hisses and the closer he drew, the more his fear and terror mounted for he could now see a legless body propped up against the building, a feral look on its face as it stared at him. "Come," it beckoned with a hand. "Help me," it implored and Carlisle shook his head even as he drew closer. He could now see the thing was also missing an arm and his stomach lurched again. Mercifully, he had nothing left to expel so he gagged and crept forward, intent on taking the creature's head with his sword.
When he got close enough, he swung with his sword and cried out as the percussion from the blow traveled from the blade and into his arms. 'It's as though I've struck stone!' he shrieked in his thoughts as the thing growled and hissed. "How…?" Carlisle uttered as he stared and the thing laughed at him and then lunged.
Carlisle fell back, his useless blade clattering to the cobbles and he struggled and tried to scoot away from the creature who'd clamped onto his leg with its one hand. To his horror, it dragged him forward effortlessly and clamped its teeth through his boot and onto his leg. He screamed in terror and pain. It felt as though his leg was set aflame and he kicked at the creature's head with his free leg as it struggled to feed from him. To his shock and relief, the creature lost its hold, taking a piece of his boot with it while growling loudly. Carlisle scrambled to his feet and quickly limped away as pained whimpers escaped his clamped lips.
Behind him, the creature laughed. "You think you've escaped, do you?" He laughed again and the next words out of its mouth would haunt Carlisle for eternity. "No my friend, it's only just begun!"
Hot tears ran down his cheeks as he struggled to put as much distance as possible between himself and the creature—the creature that had taken his best sword stroke to its neck unscathed! 'How was such a thing possible?!' he wondered frantically. 'How was it even alive after having lost three of its limbs?'
A moan escaped him as the burning spread farther up his leg and he fell, barely catching himself with his outstretched hands as his disheveled blond hair fell into his eyes.
Struggling back to his feet, he supported himself on the rough brick wall as he inched forward toward a building that looked inhabited—an inn perhaps?
As he drew closer to a more populated area, his heart sank as he heard the faint sound of his wife's voice calling for him. "Carlisle! Carlisle Cullen! Please my Lord! Where are you?!"
Propping himself against the wall, he leaned his head back and closed his eyes as sorrow filled him. Why was she out? How did she make it here? Was she alone?
He knew he had to get to her but the burning…the indescribable pain was making it hard to think, much less act but through sheer strength of will he pushed away from the wall and hobbled toward her voice. "Isabella?" he called, the pain making his voice crack. "Isabella, I am here!"
"Carlisle?! I hear you! Where are you?"
He wiped the tears from his face and called out, "Here love, in the alley!"
A crying, cloaked figure emerged from the shadows and fell against him as her hands clutched to his coat. He wrapped his arms around her trembling form with a pained sigh and she looked up into his face. "Are you well my Lord?" she asked with wide, tear-filled eyes as her hands began to search his body for wounds. "What ails you?!"
He tried to speak and failed, as the burn made its way through his bloodstream.
She cupped his cheeks. "Carlisle, please, speak…" she begged.
"I—I am not well," he choked out. "The cre—creature bit me. Burns…like fire…" He gasped and clenched his eyes shut while gritting his teeth as she wailed and buried her face against his chest.
"No! No, no, no!" she cried and beat her hands against his chest before looking up at him. She grabbed his face as she tried to control her tears. "Carlisle, hear me! You will…change now. You are becoming one of them—a—vampire," she choked and he shook his head violently.
"No! I cannot!" He pointed toward where he'd come from. "Back there…my sword…" She gasped as he grabbed her face and stared into her eyes. "Retrieve it and end this!"
She pulled back in horror, shaking her head in denial. "I cannot!"
He grit his teeth and growled. "You must! I must not become that which I abhor. I beg thee wife, end me now!"
A slap echoed through the alley and his head snapped to the side as she looked on him with horror. "How could you ask such a thing of me?!" Tears spilled from her eyes and dripped onto her cloak as he groaned.
"The pain!" he gasped. "I am in Hell already…" He collapsed to the ground and she followed and held his face gently.
"Husband, hear me. You must survive this! We must hide you away until it's finished. I cannot tell you how I know, but you will be a fine man, even after this!"
His only answer was to writhe and moan lowly, but his eyes were open and focused on her. He was listening so she kept speaking. "When this is through, go to the forest. There you will learn to feed from animals." His brow furrowed and she continued. "You can control this! You will not be a killer!" She leaned forward and placed a soft kiss to his lips. "You will be a great man," she said as tears traced down her cheeks. "Trust in this, please. Now, we must hide you…"
She peered around the alley and looked back at him. "Can you make the journey to our home?"
His eyes widened and he shook his head. "My father…" was all he choked out and she nodded while stroking his cheek.
"All right," she soothed as best she could. "He is not a forgiving man, I understand." She looked around again and rose to her feet. Spying a slanted door at the base of the inn wall, she walked to it and grasped the handle. It was heavy and she struggled to lift it, but she managed to throw it open before going back to him. "Just over yon is a root cellar. Can you manage?"
"I shall try," he rasped while struggling to his feet. She wrapped an arm around his waist and guided his arm over her shoulders, both of them almost tumbling down before he finally gained balance.
The thirty odd feet to the root cellar door seemed insurmountable as they inched along, but they finally made it. Then she looked down into it and whispered, "The stairs…oh Lord help us…"
"Let me go," he said, already slumping down to the ground so she bent and removed his arm from around her shoulders.
"Carlisle!" she cried as he pitched forward through the door and tumbled down the steps. She made to follow and he held up a hand as he sat up in the shaft of moonlight that now peeked over the rooftops.
"Leave me," he demanded. "Go home. Be safe." He gasped and moaned. "I—I love you and tell—tell our child I love them too."
"Carlisle…" she sobbed.
"Go!" he shouted. "Leave me!" He crawled to a corner and hid himself behind some wooden crates. Peeking out, the last thing he would ever see as a human was her face, tear stained and filled with sorrow as she slowly closed the door.
Carlisle's hand rested on the hilt of his sword as the light of the full moon glinted off his gold locks. He and his companions now walked through the back alleys of the seediest part of town, the stench of human waste and rot heavy and choking in its intensity. He glanced at Gideon and James, his brow arched as they coughed and gagged even as he held his own perfumed kerchief over his nose. "Praise God we don't have occasion to get used to this stench lads. Now come, we have a long night ahead of us. Let us be about it."
The two nodded and followed him as he strode ahead into the deepest shadows where they began to spy the dregs of society. Grunts, groans, screams and moans from the dubious ladies of the night and their clients filled the putrid air… Shouts, breaking glass, hissing and laughter rang out as drunkards stumbled on their way or engaged in brawls, heedless of the excrement, piss and vomit they wallowed in. It all served to turn Carlisle's stomach and, not for the first time this night, he wished he'd forgone dinner.
Carlisle snarled as the clawed fingers of an old hag grabbed his arm, her rotting teeth displayed in a wide, drunken grin as she leered into his face. "Ruby'll treat ya right gov'na. Only a sixpence for such a pretty 'un. Whaddaya say love?"
"Get back!" Gideon hissed and brandished his sword as Carlisle shoved the woman away.
"Aw, come on love, tell ya what. You're so pretty ol' Ruby'll do ya for free!" She cackled madly and collapsed into a heap as the three men strode away.
When they'd finally made their way through the crowd, James gestured at an alley. "Let's try that one," he said as Carlisle breathed through his kerchief to rid himself of the memory of the old hag's breath. James and Gideon looked to him and he nodded and stowed the kerchief.
"'Tis likely as any," he agreed and they turned into the mouth of the alley.
It was long, shrouded in shadow and appeared to be empty of whores which, at the moment, Carlisle considered a blessing. "Let's go lads," he murmured and walked forward.
They'd gone about a block when an unearthly hiss sounded ahead of them followed by guttural growls and ear-splitting screeching noises as dust and pieces of bricks began to tumble down from the buildings on either side of the alley. They tried to see through the deep shadows in the alley, but the moonlight was blocked by the buildings and what movement they could see was blurred like fleeting streaks of cream in black coffee. Gideon looked at Carlisle with wide eyes. "What is that?!" he whispered, his sword at the ready.
"I know not, but prepare yourselves," he said while drawing his own sword. He glanced at the men and they nodded as they began to advance toward the obvious fight.
Another screech and what sounded like a scream of pain from a male froze them in their tracks as James clutched at Carlisle's shoulder. The hand trembled and Carlisle glanced at the young man. "M—my Lord! We should not tarry here! Pray, let us leave!"
Before Carlisle could answer, something flashed by from the dark and James was…gone. There was no other way to describe it…he'd just vanished. Gideon whimpered and the smell of fresh piss rose up from where he stood, shaking and wide eyed. "What…what just happened?!" Gideon asked through quivering lips.
"I…" Carlisle shook his head as words failed him and he crossed himself before taking several more steps forward. He glanced back and saw Gideon rooted to the spot and shaking his head. "N—no my Lord! We cannot!"
Carlisle walked back to the frightened young man and grasped his shoulder. "We must remain together!"
"Bu—but something took James!" he wailed as tears streamed down his cheeks and dripped from his chin and jaw.
"Our strength is in God, Gideon! Take comfort and find courage in that! He shall not forsake us! We must continue on! We mustn't allow this evil to prevail!"
Gideon mopped his cheeks with his sleeve and swallowed thickly with a nod. "Yes my Lord," he muttered and Carlisle nodded.
"Right then," he said and began walking forward once more as Gideon fell into step next to him, both with swords at the ready. They both flinched however, when another unholy shriek rang out followed by a deep growl, the likes of which neither man had ever heard before.
"My Lord?" Gideon uttered just before something slammed into his body, throwing him back several feet as he screamed in terror. Carlisle swung blindly with his sword encountering nothing and sucked in a shocked breath when a body appeared seemingly from nowhere to crouch over the crumpled form of his sobbing companion. "Move away from him!" he shouted and the crouched being slowly turned its head to look at him, its eyes glittering darkly in its deathly-pale face as a sinister smile curved its lips. "Mine," it said.
In horror, Carlisle watched as the creature lifted a whimpering Gideon in its arms and disappeared just as he swung his sword at it. He panted and peered around the deep shadows, his sword gripped in both hands in front of him. Now he was alone with only the occasional low growl and hiss echoing from the darkness ahead of him.
Closing his eyes, he whispered a prayer and began walking ahead toward whatever awaited him. As carefully as he moved, he still stumbled over something. He looked down and when his eyes had adjusted, he stared in horror at a twitching, disembodied leg.
Leaning over quickly, he vomited what little dinner he'd managed to eat and coughed a couple of times before wiping his mouth on his sleeve. It was then he realized he was crying as he mopped at the rest of his face before hefting his sword once again. "What evil is this?" he muttered while clenching his eyes closed for a beat. "Father God, help me, I pray thee!"
With that, he moved forward once again toward the growls and hisses and the closer he drew, the more his fear and terror mounted for he could now see a legless body propped up against the building, a feral look on its face as it stared at him. "Come," it beckoned with a hand. "Help me," it implored and Carlisle shook his head even as he drew closer. He could now see the thing was also missing an arm and his stomach lurched again. Mercifully, he had nothing left to expel so he gagged and crept forward, intent on taking the creature's head with his sword.
When he got close enough, he swung with his sword and cried out as the percussion from the blow traveled from the blade and into his arms. 'It's as though I've struck stone!' he shrieked in his thoughts as the thing growled and hissed. "How…?" Carlisle uttered as he stared and the thing laughed at him and then lunged.
Carlisle fell back, his useless blade clattering to the cobbles and he struggled and tried to scoot away from the creature who'd clamped onto his leg with its one hand. To his horror, it dragged him forward effortlessly and clamped its teeth through his boot and onto his leg. He screamed in terror and pain. It felt as though his leg was set aflame and he kicked at the creature's head with his free leg as it struggled to feed from him. To his shock and relief, the creature lost its hold, taking a piece of his boot with it while growling loudly. Carlisle scrambled to his feet and quickly limped away as pained whimpers escaped his clamped lips.
Behind him, the creature laughed. "You think you've escaped, do you?" He laughed again and the next words out of its mouth would haunt Carlisle for eternity. "No my friend, it's only just begun!"
Hot tears ran down his cheeks as he struggled to put as much distance as possible between himself and the creature—the creature that had taken his best sword stroke to its neck unscathed! 'How was such a thing possible?!' he wondered frantically. 'How was it even alive after having lost three of its limbs?'
A moan escaped him as the burning spread farther up his leg and he fell, barely catching himself with his outstretched hands as his disheveled blond hair fell into his eyes.
Struggling back to his feet, he supported himself on the rough brick wall as he inched forward toward a building that looked inhabited—an inn perhaps?
As he drew closer to a more populated area, his heart sank as he heard the faint sound of his wife's voice calling for him. "Carlisle! Carlisle Cullen! Please my Lord! Where are you?!"
Propping himself against the wall, he leaned his head back and closed his eyes as sorrow filled him. Why was she out? How did she make it here? Was she alone?
He knew he had to get to her but the burning…the indescribable pain was making it hard to think, much less act but through sheer strength of will he pushed away from the wall and hobbled toward her voice. "Isabella?" he called, the pain making his voice crack. "Isabella, I am here!"
"Carlisle?! I hear you! Where are you?"
He wiped the tears from his face and called out, "Here love, in the alley!"
A crying, cloaked figure emerged from the shadows and fell against him as her hands clutched to his coat. He wrapped his arms around her trembling form with a pained sigh and she looked up into his face. "Are you well my Lord?" she asked with wide, tear-filled eyes as her hands began to search his body for wounds. "What ails you?!"
He tried to speak and failed, as the burn made its way through his bloodstream.
She cupped his cheeks. "Carlisle, please, speak…" she begged.
"I—I am not well," he choked out. "The cre—creature bit me. Burns…like fire…" He gasped and clenched his eyes shut while gritting his teeth as she wailed and buried her face against his chest.
"No! No, no, no!" she cried and beat her hands against his chest before looking up at him. She grabbed his face as she tried to control her tears. "Carlisle, hear me! You will…change now. You are becoming one of them—a—vampire," she choked and he shook his head violently.
"No! I cannot!" He pointed toward where he'd come from. "Back there…my sword…" She gasped as he grabbed her face and stared into her eyes. "Retrieve it and end this!"
She pulled back in horror, shaking her head in denial. "I cannot!"
He grit his teeth and growled. "You must! I must not become that which I abhor. I beg thee wife, end me now!"
A slap echoed through the alley and his head snapped to the side as she looked on him with horror. "How could you ask such a thing of me?!" Tears spilled from her eyes and dripped onto her cloak as he groaned.
"The pain!" he gasped. "I am in Hell already…" He collapsed to the ground and she followed and held his face gently.
"Husband, hear me. You must survive this! We must hide you away until it's finished. I cannot tell you how I know, but you will be a fine man, even after this!"
His only answer was to writhe and moan lowly, but his eyes were open and focused on her. He was listening so she kept speaking. "When this is through, go to the forest. There you will learn to feed from animals." His brow furrowed and she continued. "You can control this! You will not be a killer!" She leaned forward and placed a soft kiss to his lips. "You will be a great man," she said as tears traced down her cheeks. "Trust in this, please. Now, we must hide you…"
She peered around the alley and looked back at him. "Can you make the journey to our home?"
His eyes widened and he shook his head. "My father…" was all he choked out and she nodded while stroking his cheek.
"All right," she soothed as best she could. "He is not a forgiving man, I understand." She looked around again and rose to her feet. Spying a slanted door at the base of the inn wall, she walked to it and grasped the handle. It was heavy and she struggled to lift it, but she managed to throw it open before going back to him. "Just over yon is a root cellar. Can you manage?"
"I shall try," he rasped while struggling to his feet. She wrapped an arm around his waist and guided his arm over her shoulders, both of them almost tumbling down before he finally gained balance.
The thirty odd feet to the root cellar door seemed insurmountable as they inched along, but they finally made it. Then she looked down into it and whispered, "The stairs…oh Lord help us…"
"Let me go," he said, already slumping down to the ground so she bent and removed his arm from around her shoulders.
"Carlisle!" she cried as he pitched forward through the door and tumbled down the steps. She made to follow and he held up a hand as he sat up in the shaft of moonlight that now peeked over the rooftops.
"Leave me," he demanded. "Go home. Be safe." He gasped and moaned. "I—I love you and tell—tell our child I love them too."
"Carlisle…" she sobbed.
"Go!" he shouted. "Leave me!" He crawled to a corner and hid himself behind some wooden crates. Peeking out, the last thing he would ever see as a human was her face, tear stained and filled with sorrow as she slowly closed the door.
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.