To Please the Monster Inside [Carlisle/Jasper][Chapter Twenty]
Title: To Please the Monster Inside [Chapter Twenty]
Pairing: Carlisle/Jasper
Rating: PG-13
Disclaimer: Fiction
Summary: The monster inside Jasper lusts for human blood. When the desire is too strong to resist, there is only one who can help. Carlisle tamed this monster once, and now he must try again.
The sound of the engine.
Deafening.
They had been driving for hours.
Alice and Rosalie up front.
Emmett and Edward in the back.
Jasper was being held between them, still growling, struggling.
But he was getting weak.
The hunger was exhausting his body, disrupting the natural rhythms of his brain.
His muscles began to spasm, skin itching, throat burning.
And the noise.
Everything was so loud. Too loud.
A single breath sounded like a strong wind.
The touch of skin against his own was felt by every nerve in his body.
His brothers’ hands felt like the heaviest weights on his arms, legs, chest.
And their icy flesh burnt like flames.
Edward watched his brother, terrified. His fingers dug into Jasper’s bicep, deep enough to feel bone.
It felt strange to see his brother like this.
He had witnessed him fighting his hunger before, even helped him through it.
But this wasn’t fighting. This was being consumed. Overpowered. Possessed by hunger.
And Edward knew, though his mind was finding it difficult to accept, that this wasn’t something they could wait out.
It wasn’t going to pass with time.
And no bear or mountain lion could give him the slightest relief.
Jasper was starving.
He needed blood.
Human blood.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~
“Where are you going?” Edward asked as Alice turned Emmett’s truck down a dirt road.
Forest surrounded them on both sides.
The first light of dawn shone through the trees.
“Someplace isolated. We can’t risk the possibility of him picking up a human scent.”
“Alice, you told me yourself, there’s nothing we can do…”
“There’s not. But that doesn’t mean we can put the lives of innocent people in danger.”
“I know… Still, we have to consider the option… I mean, look at him, really look at him. Giving him what he needs might be the kindest thing we can do.”
“So you’ll offer up a human sacrifice, will you?”
“I’m not talking about just any random person on the street. We can find someone, a criminal, a murderer or a thug - someone whose life won’t be missed. Someone who deserves to die.”
Nobody said a word.
They all knew Edward was right.
Allowing Jasper to suffer within himself like this was a cruelty of which none of them were capable.
Emmett broke the silence. “Do any of us know what happens to a vampire if they’re left to starve? I know there is little point trying to force him to drink animal blood. But… if we just… keep him here, like this, hoping for it to pass… I guess what I’m asking is, can a vampire die from starvation?”
All of them seemed to consider the question.
“I don’t know.” Edward answered.
“I suppose its possible… right?” Rosalie.
“Carlisle has always told us, the only way to kill a vampire is to dismember it and burn the pieces.”
“Yes, but blood is our sustenance. It is the essence of a vampire. Without that, how do we survive?”
“We don’t.” Alice spoke, a vacant tone to her voice.
“Then what do you think happens?” Edward asked.
“This.” She said, gesturing toward her mate. “This is what happens. We go mad.”
~ ~ ~ ~ ~
Alice parked the truck outside a massive, abandoned warehouse.
“What is this place?” Rosalie asked.
“Jasper and I found it a very long time ago. It was just before we met up with Carlisle and the rest of you. We needed a quiet place to feed, and came across this old building. It is very old. Nobody will bother us here.”
Alice and Rosalie moved from the car to the warehouse, entering through a small door at the side.
Edward helped Emmett drag Jasper inside the building, still kicking and snarling like a newborn.
“Over here!” Rosalie called, holding a length of thick, rusted chain at least twenty meters long.
“That won’t hold him forever.” Edward mumbled, kneeling to restrain Jasper’s legs while Emmett and Rosalie began to wrap the chain around their brother’s torso, pinning his arms to his sides.
“But it will do for now.” Rosalie stated, bending to loop the chain around Jasper’s legs. “Here.” She said, giving Edward one loose end of the chain, offering the other to Emmett. “If you each keep a hold of your end of the chain, then he won’t be going anywhere.”
Edward stared at the chunks of iron in his hand, his gaze following them up to where they coiled tightly around his brother’s body.
Jasper tried to twist and turn, snarling, his black eyes fixed on Rosalie.
Stepping forward from the shadows in which she’d been standing, Alice moved to stand in front of her mate. Her expression was pained, lips drawn tight, brow slightly furrowed. Despite the threatening sounds coming from Jasper’s throat, she stood close, placing a pale little hand on his cheek. “I’m going to get you what you need.” She whispered. “And then you can come back to me…”
“Alice, we don’t know that this will pass completely, even with human blood… What if he doesn’t change? If he just wants more? Are you prepared for that?”
“No, Edward, I’m not. Are you?”
“… No.”
“Rosalie and I will go into town tonight and hunt for a human.”
“Why don’t you take a look into the future, Alice? Just search for something… to show us what to do.”
“No.”
“Come on, Alice! Just one look. Why not?”
“Because I’m afraid of what I’ll see…” She muttered, staring deep into her mate’s predatory eyes.