𝐜𝐨𝐧𝐬𝐭𝐞𝐥𝐥𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧𝐬 𝐬𝐡𝐢𝐟𝐭 | carlisle cullen (2)

(𝐜𝐡𝐚𝐩𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝐞𝐥𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐧) words don't make sense

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A VAMPIRE BEING WITHOUT BLOOD WASN'T EXACTLY like a human being without food. It wasn't just more complicated but also a lot more dangerous and this became increasingly obvious over the dragging days that surrounded the lives of the Cullens.

At first they'd been fuelled with blind optimism under the apprehension that it wouldn't last too long until the wolves decided to get a grip and let Bella be pregnant in peace but as they waited and waited and waited it became clear that it was going to go on a lot longer than they hoped it to.

When humans were without food for a number of days they'd grow hungry, their bodies would start to weaken, their stomach shrink. They'd draw what they need from elsewhere in their body and slowly they'd lose simple functions that would keep them going. As long as they had water they could keep their body alive but in a horrible and uncomfortable way. At some point the feeling of hunger would subside into discomfort when the memory of food started to become just that, a memory. However humans couldn't survive for good. After a while their body would refuse to draw nutrients from other sources or the body wouldn't have anything else to give. After that, it would only be a matter of time before the system shut down completely.

However, vampires and humans are wildly different.

Vampires don't need water to survive nor do they need blood to survive. As known, the only way to kill a vampire would be to rip them apart and burn the pieces. A quick and rather painful death that would leave nothing more than a pile of ash impossible to piece back together.

If vampires never fed, never coated their lips in blood or allowed the feeling of warmth to soak through them they would still survive. They would continue to breathe and walk around like ghosts in the living world. Their bodies didn't need to draw nutrients from the blood.

However vampires needed blood. It wasn't for survival but something a lot deeper. Just because they could live without it didn't mean they would ever choose to.

Vampires were supposed to hunt every four or five days. Never more than a week and Este was a different case entirely. When vampires reached the five day mark they'd start to experience a burning in the back of their throat. It was a collection of venom that would appear there if not probably exhibited or dwindled down in power. That was the only way Este could think to describe it.

Reaching a week a vampire could go used to the horrible burning sensation they were burdened with as long as they didn't come into any close contact with the smell or essence of blood. Evidently a impossibility for the Cullens considering they were harbouring a pregnant Bella Swan under their roof.

After a week the symptoms would often grow worse. Vampires couldn't necessarily feel pain and they couldn't sleep which meant the need for their body to shut down into a state of tiredness would be improbable however without the strength given by blood vampires would grow weak. They wouldn't be able to act as they normally did.

Vampires were known for their strength. It was incredible and so normalised in the Cullen household that Estella didn't even think about it unless the feeling of power was ripped from her. Of course even without blood, vampires would always be way more powerful than humans but not as compatible against their own kind, or the kind of others. The wolves flashed to mind under this thought.

They couldn't fight as well, their minds wouldn't work as fast and their senses would start to dwindle. It was like becoming numb to everything they knew so well, as though a feeling of safety had been pulled out from under their feet.