Carlisle and Esme

13. The Rose Falls

Chapter Thirteen

"You've been very cheerful today, Dr Cullen." One of my fellow doctor colleagues said as I put my card in to sign out for the shift.

"I've... I've just been thinking about a holiday that my family have been planning for a while." I had to quick think because the fact that I was married to Esme was now known by most of Rochester. I couldn't just tell them that I had just proposed to her.

"Anywhere nice?" I put my coat on. It was the cold winters now and the weather had changed between snow, wind and rain. It was very rarely a brilliant sunny day in Rochester, which is why we had moved here. But the winters were even worse than the summers.

"Los Angeles. Esme has had her eye on it for quite some time."

"Sunny L.A? Definitely better than this weather." Dr Shelly shivered as another colleague left the staff cloakroom, allowing a blast of icy wind to enter the room.

"Oh I agree." I pretended to shiver as well. We left the cloakroom together.

"Oh it's snowing..." The snow flurries were falling down all around us. "Well, have a good weekend Dr Cullen."

"You too Dr Shelly. Say hello to your wife from Esme and I."

"Will do." Dr Shelly touched the brim of his cap and went right. I went left. I walked along the empty streets of Rochester. The peace and quiet with the beautiful snow falling around me was just magical.

And then that was when I smelt it. Blood.

I took a different street at a faster pace now. As I got closer to the source, I could smell other scents. Male human. Four? Maybe five? A female. The scent of roses. I recognised the scent. Rosalie Hale. The Hales oldest child and only daughter.

I saw her on the floor alone. She was bleeding in so many places and so thickly, I couldn't see where exactly it came from. But I could guess because she wore so few clothes. Her coat had been torn off altogether, the buttons scattered around her. Her dress was torn in places. One shoe had fallen off. The pins from her hair were scattered too. Her hair had come undone as a result. Her eyes were closed. She had a faint pulse. She was dying...

I looked around but there was no one. I picked her up in my arms. The closest safe place was my house. The hospital could do nothing for her, but I could. I would try...

I ran as fast as I could. Her pulse weakened and her breath shortened with every step I took. I burst in through the front door and straight to my study. I pushed all the books off the desk and lay her down on it. My doctor's bag was filled with everything I would need. I worked as fast as I could, stitching the wounds and cleaning the blood but she continued to bleed in places where I could not go without proper surgical utensils... I looked down at this woman. She was eighteen years of age now. I thought of how Esme and I wished for a partner for Edward. How he could be happy with someone. I thought how she was dying... Such a cruel way to die...

I bit her. I bit her throat, ankles and wrists. Having done this transformation to Edward and Esme, I was getting more practiced with it and able to stop when I needed to. Her blood had nothing for me now. She would be able to become one of us with no worries of me draining her. All she had to do was get through the pain which was to come. I had no idea where Esme and Edward were and as I watched Rosalie start to whimper and sob at the pain, I was somewhat glad that they didn't have to witness this too.

Rosalie's whimpers turned to full blown screams. She cried and sobbed.

"Make it stop!" She screeched. My heart ached, wanting to stop her pain but knowing how close to death she had just been...

"It will be over soon. I promise... It'll stop..." I whispered. I took her hand and she clenched my hand tightly in response. Her eyes opened to look at me. Tears spilled down from her lids, down her cheeks.

"Please! Kill me! KILL ME!" She screamed.

"I can't do that... I won't do that... I'm sorry Rosalie." I continued to talk to her. I thought it would help. I wouldn't leave her side, just like I did with Esme and with Edward. She continued to scream and I apologised every time she did.

"It'll stop, Rosalie. I promise you it will. You'll be alright."

"Carlisle?" Esme appeared at the door.

"I'm not leaving her." Edward was behind Esme, a disapproving look on his face.

"Please!" Rosalie begged. I looked back at her to see that she was looking at Esme and Edward with tear filled eyes. "Kill me!" Esme folded her arms across her chest. Not in anger or annoyance but with pain as if she was trying to stop herself from helping to give Rosalie the death she so wished for.

"Carlisle, what is this?" Edward demanded. I closed my eyes and stood up from my chair, letting go of Rosalie's hand to face him. She had stopped screaming but was whimpering and moaning in pain. Her eyes were closed now.

"Well? What were you thinking, Carlisle? Rosalie Hale?"

"I couldn't just let her die..." I thought back to the scene I had come across. Edward frowned at my memory. "It was too much... Too horrible, too much waste."

"I know." Edward sighed softly. I was now reconsidering this. It was too late to take it back, the transformation had begun now. Rosalie would have to go through this... I felt torn and heart broken... Pained at having caused such an innocent girl such pain... But on the other hand, knowing that she could have died... Having been hurt in such a way... If it had been my daughter in this position, I would have done it. Or if I had known her, I still would have. Because she didn't deserve to die... It was too cruel...

"It was too much waste... I couldn't leave her..." I sunk down on my chair, putting my head in my hands.

"Of course you couldn't." Esme was sympathetic. I didn't deserve her sympathy.

"People die all the time. Don't you think she's just a little recognizable though? The Kings will have to put up a huge search. Not that anyone suspects the fiend." Royce King the Second... His engagement to Rosalie Hale had been the gossip of the town. Had. He couldn't marry her now he believed Rosalie to be dead due to him raping her.

"Then we'll leave again. It was nearly time anyway."

Edward and Esme stayed and watched. Rosalie sometimes screamed in pain but it was less often now. I held her hand and comforted her. I told her what she was becoming. What to expect. She listened through her sobs and writhing. I was getting thirstier but I refused to leave her alone like this. That wasn't fair. But eventually, time began to help and we could hear her heart getting faster as the venom slowly seeped through her arteries, preparing for it to stop altogether.

"What are we going to do with her?" I sighed at Edward's tone. I wished he would have more respect for this girl.

"That's up to her, of course. She may want to go her own way." Rosalie's heart got faster and faster until it suddenly stopped. I pushed my chair back, letting go of her hand. She had to wake when she was ready. Esme and Edward leaned closer just as her eyes opened to a new life.