A/N: Oops, I finally did it! I’m keeping the prologue short and sweet just to see if anybody actually wants to read this. I have many chapters already planned so please let me know if you’re interested in seeing this develop!
“Go to hell,” Constance seethed under her breath, rising to her feet and leaving the bleeding body of her grandson sprawled in the road.
The heat of the moment disguised the stealthy approach of a black Mercedes across the street, parking almost silently alongside the boy prone on the tarmac.
“Carlisle, what the hell are we doing here?” called the young passenger to the driver. “No, hang on, what the hell am I doing here?”
“Emmett, you’re here to make this believable,” Carlisle confirmed in a steady, relaxed tone. “If a human sees us approach this boy and put him in the car, they need to see someone who’s strong enough to lift a teenager and someone who looks like they know him... from school.”
“He doesn’t even look old enough, the last thing we need is another immortal child on our hands after Bree Tanner.”
“Look at him,” Carlisle snapped. “He’s the same age as Edward, I can’t just leave him here.”
“But I just don’t get it,” Emmett pressed, his rocketing volume a signal of his anxiety. “Why did we come all this way in broad daylight? The Volturi will kill us if a human catches us out in the sun!”
“It’s a risk I’m willing to take,” Carlisle sighed resolutely, yanking up the collar on his jacket and pulling down the baseball cap placed conspicuously atop his slicked blonde hair. “For him.”
The click of the house door across the street made Emmett jump.
“Game’s on,” he confirmed as the duo sprung into action, swinging out of the car and speeding toward the bloodied pile of limbs in the road.
In what would have seemed a blink of an eye to the average bystander, Emmett scooped up the boy and bundled him into the back seat before climbing into the drivers’ side, while Carlisle joined the boy in the back to tend his wounds.
“Drive slowly, Emmett,” Carlisle commanded calmly from the rear. “Everybody here just heard three consecutive car crashes, we need to be careful.”
“There’s something seriously wrong with this kid,” Emmett tutted under his breath, curling his lips into a snarl and tightening his grip on the steering wheel. “He doesn’t even smell normal!”
“That’s because he isn’t normal,” Carlisle’s lips tapered into a focused pout as his gaze fixed on the boy whose life force drained beside him with every passing second. Groaning weakly and blinking frantically, his wide panic-stricken eyes lay upon the deathly pale passenger beside him.
“I… I…”
“Easy, Michael, don’t strain yourself,” Carlisle soothed, grabbing bandages and cotton padding from a medical case stowed under the passenger seat.
“Wh… who… are you?” Michael gasped for air, blood bubbling at the corner of his mouth as he battled his words out.
“My name is Carlisle Cullen, I’m here to save you.”
Carlisle drew his lips back to bare his teeth, gleaming brilliantly despite the blackened gloom in the back seat of the car. He ventured a sheet-white hand to brush Michael’s tumbling blonde curls from his neck, leaving his bloodied skin exposed as Carlisle leaned in slowly.
“This may hurt,” he whispered softly before correcting himself, shaking his head to dispel his answer. “Actually, this will hurt.”
“I… I don’t under…”
“I’m so sorry, Michael Langdon,” Carlisle sighed before leaning in closer, tentatively baring his teeth further. “Please forgive me.”
