Okay so I am not a die-hard Twilight fan, but I just thought of this & decided to write it down, because I can. Please don't be too judgmental.

Prologue

Carlisle sat in his office in the overly huge house, staring at a picture of the perfection that was Esme. He took in her perfect features: her hair, those passionate eyes, but mostly, her beautiful , caring smile. She had the most loving smile in all of history, human, vampire, or any other unknown supernatural being. It had been fifty years to the day since Esme had died. Actually, murdered was a more appropriate term. It was tragic. Had it not been for the fact that he had a family to look after, to protect, he would have demanded that the Volturi take him too.

Carlisle's vampire memory wouldn't allow him to forget any of the details. He remembered that heart wrenching day all too well.

Carlisle and Esme ran through the forests, just outside of Volterra. They ran freely for now, knowing that there were no humans that would discover them by their inhuman speed or the rainbows they threw in the sunlight.

They were here for a visit with Aro. Quite honestly, Carlisle would have rather not traveled to Volterra, but Aro had insisted, saying that it had been far too long, not to mention that he wanted to see Carlisle's new mate. Carlisle supposed that it had been almost a whole century since he had been in Italy, but that had in fact been for a reason, and he would have just as well stayed away from Volterra for the rest of his existence. He was also unsure as to whether bringing Esme would be a wise decision. She had only been a vampire for a year, still a newborn, and therefore hadn't had much contact with humans. Carlisle feared that she would lose control once she was in such close proximity to the blood running through the humans' veins. However, he knew that if he didn't travel to Volterra, Aro would just come to Forks, so reluctantly, he agreed to Aro's request for a visit.

Carlisle and Esme were soon at the edge of the forest, so they slowed to a human pace and pulled the hoods from the black cloaks over their heads. Esme looked a bit nervous, so Carlisle gave her a reassuring smile and leaned down to place a soft kiss on her lips.

"Everything will be fine, love," Carlisle consoled her. Esme smiled her incredible smile. It was not like the ones that reached her eyes, conveying happiness, but still it lit up the whole world, or at least Carlisle's world. With that, Carlisle took her hand, and they both proceeded into the city.

They had reached the clock tower when Esme suddenly stiffened.

Carlisle took both her shoulders in his hands and looked into her eyes, which had suddenly dilated, so much so that almost her entire iris looked black. Only a small portion was a glowing tangerine color, not quite gold yet since she was still young. "Esme, darling, what's wrong."

"Carlisle," she said in a terrified voice, "Carlisle, it's the most appealing thing I've ever smelled. It feels as if someone's poured molten lava down my throat. I need to taste their blood! I need to taste their blood now!" Her voice was desperate, yet it was commanding, much out of character for her.

Horror struck Carlisle as he understood what was happening to her. She had found her La Tua Cantante, the person's blood that sang to her, that called to her. To say that this was a catastrophe was a huge understatement; to be in the middle of Volterra with the law enforcement so close, there would be major consequences if she couldn't contain herself. Carlisle tightened his grip on Esme's shoulders in an attempt to keep her rooted to the ground.

The wind shifted, and with it, Esme. The breeze was light, but it was enough to make her go mad. It blew the smell of that wonderful human in her direction, making it ten times more potent, a hundred times more tempting. She suddenly hissed, baring her teeth. She pushed Carlisle away with more force than was imaginable. Carlisle might have been able to overpower anyone else, but since Esme was a newborn, she was still incredibly strong, much stronger than the over-200-year-old vampire who had not had human blood in his body since his change.

The force caused the hood on Carlisle's cloak to fall off his head. No one noticed the man that had been thrown into the shadows, however, for all they had eyes for was the creature that was sparkling like sunlight reflected off of pure white snow. Esme was fully exposed to the sun's rays. She shined brighter than any jewel, causing the surrounding ignorant humans to back away. They had never seen anything like this, and it frightened them beyond belief. Her appearance was bad enough, but Carlisle knew what was coming next. Esme had found the source of her eminent downfall. Carlisle would have tried to stop her but knew that he would never be able to get there in time. Only a couple of seconds passed before Esme sank her razor sharp teeth into the innocent teenager's neck. He cried out in agony, begging to die quickly. He had never felt so much pain in all his short life. This boy that couldn't be more than seventeen years old could not fathom what he had done to deserve such a punishment. Why him?

All was silent when the body finally dropped to the ground, drained of every last drop of blood. Everyone stared in disgusted horror, not knowing what kind of monster would cause someone so much torture. Some ran away; some just stood there, not remembering the motions required to walk, let alone run.

Esme stood over the boy, terror on her face when she realized what she had done. She couldn't believe how she could do that to such an innocent, unsuspecting child. Not only that, but she had violently pushed away the man she loved in order to do so. She turned to look back at Carlisle, trying to express all her emotions. Her eyes were apologetic, yet filled with fear.

There were no more humans around anymore. They had all retreated to their homes in fear that they might be the monster's next victim.

The humans were soon replaced with four other vampires, Aro's guards. Carlisle knew this was coming. He tried desperately to think of a way to help Esme escape this fate. Carlisle had lived with Aro long enough that he knew the odds of the latter letting Esme live was almost nothing. She had exposed the secret of vampires to over fifty humans. She was a risk now and could not be trusted.

One of the guards spoke, "Aro wants to speak with both of you." His voice was low and ominous.

Carlisle reached for Esme's hand and looked into her eyes. They were a deep red now, the result of drinking human blood, rather than animal blood. He tried to giver her a comforting smile, but knew that it was not successful. He feared her doom awaited her in only a few minutes.

Two of the guards started forward, leading the way into the huge castle-like building. The two others, the more masculine ones, followed behind Carlisle and Esme, ensuring that they would not be able to escape.

It seemed like they were facing Aro within only a few seconds, but they knew it must have been longer, for they were walking at human speed, and Aro's thrown room was deep within the castle.

"This is not how I expected to greet the two of you today," Aro said in a smooth voice. He stood and walked to Esme to more closely examine her. "So you are Carlisle's mate. It is a shame that I will have to waste such beauty."

Carlisle took a step closer to plead with Aro. "Please, old friend," he said, trying to make the ancient vampire feel like he owed him. "Spare my love," he said simultaneously placing a hand on Esme's cheek and looking her in the eyes, pure love reflecting in them.

"I am sorry, Carlisle. I cannot," he did not sound apologetic in the slightest, simply uncaring.

"Aro, I beg you. Do not take her away from me," he waited awhile, but when he saw that Aro would not cave to sympathy, he tried to explain Esme's case. "It was not her fault. She could not control herself, not with her La Tua Cantante so close," he looked deep into Aro's eyes, willing him to comply. "You have only to touch her to see that she is truly regretful."

Aro would not listen to reason. "She is a liability to us. If she did this once, she will do it again." He gave one of his minions a look. The latter nodded in understanding, and was at Aro's side in an instant.

Esme looked terrified, and she cried without tears. "Please," she begged, "No. I do not want to leave Carlisle." If Carlisle would have had a beating heart, it would have broken, shattered into unrecognizable shards. His pain was soon accompanied by fury. He felt rage for Aro readily willing to kill the woman he loved. He wanted to tear him apart, and smell the too sweet scent as he burned. Carlisle lunged for the tyrant, but another guard restrained him. Even his anger could not make him strong enough to overtake the guard that feasted on human blood daily.

The man standing next to Aro reached for the trembling Esme.

"NO!" Carlisle screamed. But it was already too late.

Carlisle was brought back to reality by the sound of his office door being opened.

"Hello, Alice," he said as he put the picture of Esme facedown on the desk. "What do you need?" Even though it was the anniversary of his wife's death, he still sounded his usual kind self.

"Nothing. I thought you might need some consoling today," Alice in a sad voice. She was sitting on Carlisle's desk holding Esme's picture frame in a fraction of a second.

Carlisle looked up at her pixie-like face and smiled. "Thank you, Alice."

"I wished I could have met her. She seemed so loving in my visions," A look of guilt passed her face, and it was obvious that she put part of the blame on herself for not seeing Esme's death.

Carlisle placed a hand on one of Alice's tiny ones. It was only half the size of his own. "Alice, you must know that I don't blame you for Esme's death. You hadn't even met her when we went to Italy."

"I know. But I should have seen it," she said in a small voice.

He gave her hand a squeeze. "This is not your fault. Try to cheer up. Esme wouldn't want you to be sad, especially on her account."

Alice tried to smile. "You're right. I'm sorry, Carlisle. I came here to comfort you, not the other way around."

Carlisle chuckled. "Don't worry about it. Go enjoy the rest of your day. I'll be fine." She looked at him for a moment before she jumped up from the desk and leaned down to give Carlisle a hug. He smiled and wrapped his arms around his newest daughter.

"You will meet someone, you know," she whispered in his ear. Carlisle's expression changed to a look of surprise, not expecting this from her. He thought about this and couldn't imagine the emptiness where his unbeating heart was, being filled again. As if reading his mind she continued, "And she will be your heart."

Please tell me what you think. I would love to hear your reviews. Unless you just totally hate it. I think I'm too sensitive for that. But constructive criticism would be nice.