Rip Tide: A Twilight Fanfiction

Chapter Two: Tell No Lies

Rage; that was what I felt, like a furnace burning in my gut. His cold flesh began to crack like porcelain while my grip tightened, but Carlisle raised his hands up without any intent of fighting me off; a pacifist.

"Hello, my name is Carlisle," he greeted calmly, his voice light and melodic even with my hands threatening to crush his windpipe. "I was informed there was a lost girl with potential head trauma being treated like a criminal. I assume she is you?"

My lips were curled into a snarl, while my green eyes narrowed. His non-violent composure came off as arrogance, like he didn't take me seriously. I felt deep rooted hatred for a man I had never met before then. How could I recognize a stranger the very instant he walked into the room?

"C'mon now, let's just...settle down," Charlie said uneasily, trying to defuse the situation while he kept his distance, most likely to avoid intimidating me more than out of fear. "Carlisle is here to help. He's a friend."

"Carlisle," I repeated the name, speaking it out loud for the first time. The venom in my voice was unmistakable; if that unnerved him, he made no show of it. He simply returned my hostile glare with a patient, mild-tempered gaze. As if flipping a switch, the rage died and I blinked as if waking from a trance. 

"I...I'm sorry," I said quietly, dropping my eyes as I released my hold on his throat and took several steps back. "I don't know what just happened..."

"It's quite alright," Carlisle assured with a very handsome, warm smile. Smoothing the front of his rain-dampened shirt, he remarked, "You're stronger than I anticipated. I think it's safe to assume you're not human."

Those words struck me like a sucker-punch to the face. "I'm not...what?"

Carlisle exchanged a glance with Charlie, who let out a heavy sigh. "Don't look at me, you're the one with all the answers," he said to Carlisle before slumping back down in his chair.

Smirking to himself, Carlisle shook his head before returning his mesmerizing gold eyes to me. "You are a half-vampire. Born of a human mother and a vampire father."

"Vampire?" I repeated incredulously. Maybe I was a little confused about my identity, but I knew reality from fantasy, and I knew vampires weren't real. They were the imaginings of superstitious people who feared the night. Creatures that existed only in imagination. Everyone knew that. 

"Screw you," I spat at Carlisle, feeling obligated to choke him again. Then I directed my disgust toward Charlie, "What the hell is this? Some kind of test to see if I'm sane enough to be charged?"

Charlie shook his head and held up his hands. "No, I really wish it was some kind of trick, trust me. I question my own sanity sometimes...But uh, no, it's true. Carlisle here is a Dracula."

The weary Captain chuckled at that last bit. Upon seeing my deadpan expression, he wiped the grin off his face and rubbed the back of his head sheepishly. His joke was lost on me.

"Ah well, I'm not nearly as tall, dark, or brooding," Carlisle joked, seeming flattered to be compared to this unheard of bloodsucker. "But I assure you in all honesty, I'm a vampire. It's a condition I have learned to use to help others. Which brings me to the reason I'm here."

He started toward me and I tensed, taking a defensive stance with my hands clawed. For some reason, despite how friendly he was being, the sight of him filled me with a volatile mixture of fear and disgust. "Don't," I warned him, narrowing my green eyes harshly.

"It's alright, you're safe here. No one wants to hurt you."

"No, you're lying! I know who you are. I know what you're capable of. Monster!" The words spewed forth like venom, meant to burn and paralyze, and I hardly understood them myself. Where had that come from?