Chapter 16 - Carlisle
Edward continues taking Bella on a tour of the Cullen manor. They enter Carlisle’s study. Edward asks Carlisle to tell his story, but he has to leave to tend to duties at the hospital.
Edward continues where he left off in the previous chapter, where Carlisle was infected with the venom. Carlisle had tried resisting the hunger and even trying to drown himself. He failed at killing himself, but he continued to starve himself–Edward comments on how remarkable that Carlisle could resist (Perhaps it’s both willpower and the knowledge anticipation of the hunger–Carlisle had been a professional vampire hunter before.) One night, when a herd of deer passed near his hiding place, Carlisle was so wild with thirst, he attacked out of instinct–and discovered that he could survive on animal blood without killing humans. Then, his life continued; he used his unlimited time to learn and explore. Carlisle swam across the Channel to France. Vampires apparently don’t have to breathe. He studied in Italy, and met the others–vampires who were more educated and civilized than the ones he’d known in the London sewers. Edward describes Aro, Marcus, and Caius as “Nighttime patrons of the arts,” who had inspired artists like Solimena, who often painted them as gods. Carlisle stayed with them for only a few decades; they’d tried convincing him to get over his aversion to “his natural food source,” while Carlisle tried persuading them to otherwise. Carlisle left for the New World. He was in Chicago when Edward suffered the then-incurable influenza, and turned him–to create the companion he couldn’t find–when there was no hope.
Edward mentions he’s been with Carlisle almost all the time since then, except for the time when he rebelled and went off hunting criminals. Edward, though he hunted criminals, couldn’t “escape the debt of so much human life taken, no matter how justified”, eventually returned to Carlisle. They’d been pacing during the story, and they have now arrived at Edward’s room.
Edward’s room has a large glass wall along the entire south front; the mountains are startlingly close by, and the western wall is entirely covered with shelves of CD’s. The room contains no bed, except for a wide black leather sofa on thick golden carpet.
Edward sits on the sofa and looks peculiarly at Bella; he explains he was prepared to feel relieved now that Bella knows everything, and he doesn’t have to keep secrets from her. But, he frowns. Bella tells him he’s “really not as scary as [he] thinks he is.” Edward mischievously takes a quick leap at Bella, taking her in his arms, and back to the sofa, “his arms formed an iron cage of protection around her.” He holds her there; Jasper and Alice enter, announcing that there’s a storm coming–and that they could play baseball!
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