Carlisle and Esme

8. The Beginning

Chapter Eight

I had been born in the 1600's. It was around Cromwell's ruling so at a guess, the 1640's. My mother had died during childbirth and as a result, I had no siblings. Just a father who spent his life being obsessed with his work of accusing and killing the innocent. He was an Anglican pastor, happy to accuse innocent people of being vampires, witches and werewolves. When I came of age, he put me in charge of the accusing, of the raids but I couldn't accuse where there was no wrong. I had grown up watching innocent people die. Families that I had known my whole life. I couldn't accuse the people whom I had grown up with.

However I was intellectual, reading books designed for the pastor which gave correct knowledge of the species whom we intended to kill. And as a result, I found a coven of true vampires living in the sewers where no harm would come to them. Of course vampires wouldn't live in homes right next to us. They burnt in sunlight. Didn't they? Isn't that what the books said?

I gathered the raid and set them around for an attack. Patience was paid off as a vampire appeared on the streets of London. He attacked us, clearly thirsty of human blood. And attacked me. He bit my throat but my fellow raiders attacked him with their pitchforks and torches. The vampire was strong, killing two and taking a third. The raiders left, in fear and I crawled away to hide.

I was in pain but I kept my lips sealed, knowing that my father would kill me if he knew I was alive. He would kill me if he knew what I had become... A vampire....

I couldn't stay knowing this. I was a shame to my father and a disgrace to my family. So I tried to kill myself. I jumped from cliffs into oceans, tried drowning, jumped from buildings. But it made no difference. The thirst was unbearable but I did not give in. I was strong and able to resist. How, I wasn't sure but I did. But as time went away, I got weaker and weaker and my will was weakening with it. I moved as far away from society as much as I could. I could not, would not harm a human.

One day when a herd of deer passed where I was hiding, I attacked without a thought. My strength came back and with it, came a philosophy of another way of life. Life without being the demon. Life without being feared by humans. Deer... I had eaten the meat of venison in a former life. Was this so different?

I swam from England to France, wanting another life. I wanted to study in the universities of Europe. I chose different subjects including music, science, English and maths but finally found my calling with medicine. What could be better in saving human lives instead of destroying them like my father so desired or indeed, saving lives instead of ending them like my alternative future of being this... This creature?

I studied for many years, studying medicine at night and trying to stop the temptation of human blood. It was hard, an agonizing torture but I was determined to save lives. Eventually... I made it and could work without having the need to drain humans. That was the moment of my life where I felt proud of what I was and certain that my father (must have died by this point in life) would have been proud too.

I was studying in Italy when I came across a coven of vampires that were completely different to any vampire I had discovered before. I had met a few vampires on my travels and all believed in the natural ways of the vampire. However, this coven of vampires was considered royalty in our domains. The leader, Aro considered his coven as a family but they could not be considered as much. The two other rulers, Caius and Marcus were probably like brothers to Aro but the rest were not so. The guard, all chosen for their talents and gifts. Something which I believed must have been due to something from a past life. Aro liked my theory. In fact he liked all my theories, admired my studies but he continued to try to tempt me and persuade me to change back to the ways of a vampire. My natural food source was, in his opinion, unsatisfying. But I was too set in my 'vegetarian' ways, too practised in my new philosophy to wish to be the demon I didn't want to be. I tried to get the coven into my own ways but they refused. I would look away when meals came, shrieking and crying. That disturbed me.

I made a friend with one of the guard, giving him my way of life. He took to it and we remained in touch ever since. He left the guard after meeting a partner who he loved dearly. I left not soon after, intent on joining human society. I went all over America, practicing medicine and working in hospitals. I was in Chicago when I met Edward. The Spanish Influenza was at its peak and patients were dying. I worked full night shifts while I considered creating a partner. Of course, creating a companion was a cruel idea. Why would I WANT to harm another person? I had become a doctor to PREVENT that from happening. I wanted to save lives, not end them... I couldn't give a person the pain that I had been through.

The Masen family consisted of a mother and father and their only son. The mother was caught trying to comfort her son from her cot. The father died almost immediately but the mother continued to fight for her son until the influenza took all fight out of her. Elizabeth Masen was close to death on one of my shifts. She told me to change Edward into a vampire. I puzzled over why she could possibly want eternal life for her son. Why would she want her son to become like me? A literal dead man walking? And how did she know what I was? Was I not careful enough? But the woman died within the hour of making her request and I was left with a dead woman's wishes on my hands.

I had craved companionship and Edward Masen JR was dying. He looked very much like his mother. The bronze hair and green eyes. Red eyes? No one noticed one body had gone amiss against the hundreds that passed through to the morgue. I bit Edward every spot I knew there was a major artery and vein. The venom seared through his body, causing that agony. He became like my son. He was everything I would have wished my son to be. And Elizabeth could rest in peace, knowing her son was safe in my care.