𝐥𝐮𝐧𝐚𝐫 𝐬𝐡𝐚𝐝𝐨𝐰𝐬 | carlisle cullen (3)

(𝐜𝐡𝐚𝐩𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝐬𝐢𝐱) clash of power

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"WHAT DID I DO?" Estella asked as she found herself seated on the sofa within her room. The candles burnt dangerously bright, spinning swirls of smoke around the stone walls. Her hands were shaking and she could see Caius sitting beside her but somehow she didn't even register his presence nor the hand on her shoulder.

Her mind was glued to the previous events. Despite her mind being taken over she could still remember the way it had felt, how it had looked. The image of the poor girls torn throat stained her eyes, the hot blood in her mouth and the scream that had pierced the castle like a knife. All of it worked against her in crackling flames. Este watched the candles.

"It's alright" Caius spoke gently, "it wasn't your fault"

Este was still shaking, she frowned in contemplation. Had she even fought to retain control of her own mind? Could that girl have lived. She saw her hopeful smile when Este had told her she needed help and the slowly dawning fear. The scream was a broken record in her mind and Este couldn't forget the way her blood tasted, not when it still lingered inside of her like a constant reminder.

She turned her eyes away like a snap from the candles when their lights seemed to stain her vision. Instead she turned and looked at the folded sweater lain on the sofa next to her. Even from a distance, his aura still pooled from the material. Este wanted to pull it around her like a comforting hug but at the same time she couldn't.

Este felt she was drifting away from him with every blink of her eyes. She reached out a hand and touched the material. She thought of him as she always did. It would be early morning in Washington now. Este couldn't imagine what he was doing. She didn't know how Bella was, whether the baby had killed her off or whether she was still living. She imagined he was flustered, too busy to think about Este. Somehow this comforted her even though she knew it could never be true.

She turned away from the sweater despite the difficulty it took to tear her eyes away. Her breathing was short, panicked. Este tried to remember how she'd dragged herself away from the parasite that had seeped into her mind. She hadn't lost consciousness this time yet like a switch she'd found herself again. She didn't understand how she'd managed it when last time she'd remembered fighting in her heart to find her love again. What had changed? Was Caius really making progress?

"I killed her" Este turned to Caius.

"It wasn't your fault" Caius shook his head, "you aren't in control Estella"

"I feel... I could've stopped it if I'd just tried harder"

"You couldn't have" Caius spoke very sternly and Este frowned, "I've been looking into your mind for a week now Estella, it has hold of many parts of your brain and I know that you couldn't have fought it. Even though you believe you could've"

"You sound very certain" Este said carefully, "I wasn't aware you'd come to any large understandings about what was in my mind"

"This I know" Caius replied, "it's obvious, it's way too powerful to be stopped"

"How did I stop it then?" Este asked, "because this time was different. I managed to pull myself away but last time I passed out. What did I do? I don't understand it"

"We must be making progress" Caius looked at her with a hopeful glint in his eyes, "did you think I was doing nothing?"

"I didn't feel any difference" Este shrugged, "what was I supposed to think?"

"It may not seem like much Este but we are getting somewhere. I've been unraveling parts of the parasite from your mind, trying to loosen its control on certain sections. It's gruelling work, very exhausting. You see there's precise detail inside of the power, it takes effort to get it away"