Chapter Text
A loud growl rang out throughout the woods. Carlisle froze and raised his hands in an innocent manner. The wolves did not appreciate his quick steps towards the living, breathing man that lie amid the surrounding ferns. Despite Carlisle being a licensed medical professional, the wolves did not trust a bloodsucker as far as they can throw one.
Sam was busy staring at the body in front of him – his mind racing with different thoughts and questions. He was out of his element here. The man looked like he was in rough shape. His clothing torn and scuffed in some places, but not all the way through – and covered in dirt and blood in others. He didn’t know what kind of injuries this man had, so there was no telling if it was safe to move him to a better location or not.
He turned to Carlisle, who was still standing cautiously nearby. There weren’t any words exchanged, just a single nod from Sam, calling off the rest of the pack’s defensive stances. Carlisle nodded in return, carefully moving aside some of the brush so that he could get a better look at what he was dealing with.
The man was in what appeared to be a one-piece suit. He could not for the life of him figure out what material it might be based on the looks of it, but some parts did seem to have a metallic shine to them. It was an odd outfit to say the least. It almost reminded him of a Superman costume one would wear on Halloween – only much more expensive-looking and with a different color scheme.
“He seems to have a few superficial wounds to the head. That’s where it looks like most of the blood is coming from at first glance. Breathing is a bit shaky – my bet is on a broken rib or two. I can’t tell much else without getting him out of these clothes.”
Esme stepped closer to her husband. “Would it be safe to move him?”
“I think so,” Carlisle stood. “He doesn’t seem to have any damage to his neck or upper spine. Anything else, I would have to evaluate somewhere with proper equipment.”
The wolves bristled at the news. They looked at each other, having a silent conversation. Sam could guess what they wanted to say. “He needs to go to the hospital. Can we call an ambulance out here?”
Carlisle’s face twisted in a slight grimace. “I don’t think that’s the best idea.”
Sam looked at him incredulously. “What do you mean? He needs professional medical attention. We can’t just leave him here and hope for the best.”
“That’s not what I was suggesting.” Carlisle glanced at Esme with a meaningful look in his eye. Esme caught on immediately and nodded subtly. “We can bring him back to our home. I have an office with enough supplies there. I should be able to treat him.”
The wolves growled at his suggestion – Sam included. “There’s no way we are letting you take a bleeding human home with you. He needs to be in the hospital.”
“Did you forget the circumstances of us finding him? We are not sure of where he came from nor are we sure that he is not connected to our kind. The safest and best place for him would be where we can keep a close eye on him and not involve any unnecessary parties.”
It was silent. They knew that Carlisle was right. They didn’t know what happened to this man. What if he was bitten somewhere underneath his weird clothes? Just because he was breathing now doesn’t necessarily mean that would last.
But then, what if the man was just injured and bleeding and they were sending him off to slaughter in a house full of leaches.
“I know the treaty is still in full effect, but if it would make you feel more assured, I can allow a few of you to come with us until he wakes up.”
Sam weighed his decision for a moment before sighing.
“Paul, Jared, come with me. The rest of you, I want you all on a tight perimeter until we come back. If something did attack him, I want us to keep an eye out. Leah, Seth, please head back and check on Emily and Kim. Stay with them until this is over.”
Carlisle carefully picked the man up, letting his head loll onto his shoulder before quickly heading off towards his family’s home.
Sam turned back into his wolf form and called his two right-hands to follow behind him after the Cullens. The rest of the pack went on their way to do as they were told – nobody complaining about their tasks considering the situation at hand.
As leader of the pack, Sam couldn’t help but hope this wasn’t another leach problem they were about to get stuck with.
Carlisle placed the man down on the medical table that stood in the center of his office. The area was quite spacious, which gave him the room he needed to work while different members of his family rushed around him to help set up for what was to come.
“Esme, please get me an extra pack of gauze. Rosalie, I need a larger pair of scissors if I am going to be cutting these clothes off him. I don’t think I have anything strong enough in my kit. Alice, please go check on Jasper and keep him away from the house for the time being. Emmett, if you need to step out, it’s no problem at all, son. Please do so now though.”
Everybody went into motion, leaving only Carlisle, Edward, and the unconscious man in the office.
Edward frowned. “The wolves are pacing in the front and back. They don’t trust us.”
“That’s alright Edward. If they have their doubts, let them do what they need to do. Let’s just focus on fixing this man up and figuring out what happened.”
Edward didn’t like the thought of their natural enemy pacing their front and back porch, but he nodded along none-the-less, turning his attention back to their guest.
“Do you think that this was another vampire? Or even one of Victoria's people?”
Carlisle was silent for a moment as he prepped some pain medicine to be injected once they remove the man’s clothing. He then sighed deeply. “I’m not sure, son. He doesn’t seem to be going through any sort of changes yet, and it has been enough time for something to have started happening. But then again, he seems to have a few broken ribs and did not look like he was tossed into those trees lightly. I’m not sure what else could have thrown a man like that.”
Edward was quiet as he thought over his father’s words. He was right. The whole situation screamed of something paranormal. Then again, if it was another vampire, why didn’t they turn him or even just kill him?
“Here’s the extra gauze,” Esme sped in, placing it beside Carlisle’s workstation. Rosalie followed shortly after.
“And I have the scissors.”
“Thank you both. I’m going to ask you to please step out for a moment though. I don’t know what he has on underneath this suit.”
The women nodded, stepping right outside the door just in case they were needed. Edward stayed put, keeping an eye out for any signs of change starting to occur.
Carlisle took the scissors and places his finger in between the fabric of the suit and the man’s neck so that he could find a safe spot to start cutting. He set the blades in place and made the first snip along the sturdy material. Frowning when the scissors failed to go through the fabric, he tried sawing the blades back and forth instead. He was only met with the same problem.
The fabric would not cut.
Upon closer inspection, the seemingly metal pieces among the upper part of the suit were not only seemingly metallic in nature but were in fact some sort of metal that was somehow built into the suit.
“What’s wrong? Why isn’t it cutting?” Edward asked, just as confused Carlisle.
“I-” Carlisle starts. He tries again – this time at a different angle. Nothing. “I don’t know. It won’t go through.”
Edwards brows furrowed. “Try putting some extra strength into it.”
Carlisle didn’t want to accidentally hurt the man, but he needed to get this suit off to assess what kind of danger he was in. With that in mind, he used a bit of extra force, but even then, nothing was working.
“I don’t understand,” he stated simply, placing the scissors down. “It should have torn.”
Edward huffed. “Here, let me try.”
Just as he moved forward to grab the collar, the man gasped. His eyes flung open, startling both Cullens in the room. Before either of them had the chance to react, the man flung himself off the table with a loud CRASH! He pathetically dragged himself like a wounded animal into the corner of the room.
“Sir please calm do-”
“What’s happening in here?!” Rosalie and Esme busted back into the room upon hearing all the commotion. Carlisle glanced at them before turning towards the man again. He was going to try and calm him down again when his words suddenly died on his tongue.
In the midst of the chaos going on around them, nobody had noticed the boy crawling up the wall until he was sitting in the far corner of the ceiling.
“What the fu-”