la belle dame sans merci | carlisle cullen

37

Carlisle loathed to leave the little plant shop but it was closing time. Unpleasant as it might be, he suggested she try to get some moderated sleep. Even an hour at a time if it was all she could manage.

His drive was spent in deep contemplation of the state Minerva was in. A husk compared to how she'd been a month ago. Her admission of the Saturnalia having been unsettling made a lot of sense now. In retrospect, it had been about that time that he'd noticed a change in her.

It made him uneasy to think of how she suffered in silence, putting on the performance of being totally unencumbered. He hoped she'd take him up on his offer of company when she couldn't sleep. Perhaps it would have been more likely if he could have admitted that any hour of the night, he would be on standby in case she needed him.

The house was mostly quiet when he returned home, save for some country music drifting up from the basement. There was no disturbance of his tranquil contemplation in his trek up the stairs.

His energy was dwindling, as much as it could, with a coming need for a hunting trip. He was loath to leave town with the dark cloud of danger hanging over his beloved's unknowing head. It was improbable they would go and be back within the constraints of daylight, less so if his children began to wonder why he was insistent on a rush.

Carlisle let his rigid bones settle into his bed with a deep, unnecessary sigh. It wasn't often he afforded himself the luxury of reclining. His bedroom was an untouched crypt compared to his office. When rest wasn't necessary having a bed at all felt kind of silly. Only a reminder that he once had someone to share it with and now, he didn't.

It was quite peculiar when he thought about it. A few months ago the mere thought of Esme was like a knife in the heart. They hadn't been happy for quite some time and things did improve when she took leave but nostalgia was the twist of the knife.

Since he'd discovered his soulmate lurking in town, a foreign sensation of relief took over him with the idea of Esme's departure. Of course, he was keeping his distance either way but he could not have gotten to know her even slightly so well.

Luck had it that Esme would go off in pursuit of her own soulmate so he had nothing to keep him away but the disapproval of his children. He did hope Esme found what she was looking for out there. While it would seem a grand cosmic joke for her to go seeking with no luck while his would be in a fifty mile radius.

Carlisle was beginning to drift into the closest his kind could ever get to sleep in a deep meditation when his phone ringing jolted him from his serenity.
"Hello?" He asked with delirious annoyance.

"Hey, uh, Doctor Cullen. It's Charlie Swan." Said the gruff voice through the receiver making him sit up, rubbing his face.

"Chief Swan, what can I do for you?" Carlisle asked with a considerable increase in civility.

"I was wondering if you could run by the morgue. The Pathologist is out of town. I just need a starting opinion. You don't have to do a whole autopsy or anything." Charlie said with steadiness though his tone was noticeably off, "I know you've got the training and all."

"Of course." Carlisle responded, swinging his legs off the bed. He grabbed his jacket off the chair he'd thrown it over. "I'll head right over."

"Could you come by the station after? This is all kind of time sensitive."

"What's happened?" Carlisle asked, his stomach churned. A tiny, unhelpful voice in the back of his mind whispered to him that it was Minerva. Her car found wrecked with a bloodbath inside. He tried his best not to picture it.

"Looks like an animal attack down at the docks. Waylon Forge, if you knew him." Charlie said clearing his throat slightly. Carlisle froze in his speed to the car, stopping dead in the doorway to the garage.

"Minerva mentioned him." Carlisle said stiffly. An amalgamation of worries were berating him at once. The least of which was presenting his dear one with the unfortunate news to add to her woes. The other that an 'animal attack' was hardly ever just that. "An animal attack, you said?"

"It's the only thing I could think of. A person couldn't do that." Charlie said though the last of his affirmation was lost to a growing static in Carlisle's ears. "Anyway, I'll be at the station whenever you're done. Thanks again, Carlisle."He hung up without saying goodbye. He forced himself to move again, getting into his car with inhuman speed and driving away with just the same.