This is a brief story of Eleazar and Carmen. Enjoy!

A/N: I do not own the characters in Twilight. All credits are due Stephanie Meyers. My stories are only my thoughts or twists on missing pieces of the saga or alternate directions to the original works.

Reader reviews are welcome, good or bad—as long as not flame. I respect all cultures, rights, and positions regarding sex, religion, politics, and other. My stories will, as I see fit in the plotline, reflect different viewpoints and references. No intent is ever made to discriminate, but only show my opinion based on a particular story line.

Happy reading!

Journey of the Soulless

Cudillero, Asturias, Spain; 2012:

Many animals return to the place of their birth; perhaps such is the circumstance with vampires. Each year brought me—brought us—back to the same location in respect and adoration for our journey together. Our lives changed several hundred years ago and the undead became true contributors to the greater good. My life had changed, and a soulless monster was given a second chance.

I closed my eyes in contemplation and soon cold arms encircled my shoulders, as a heavy scent of wood and roses surrounded me. "Carmen," I both said and felt her name as I opened my eyes.

My mate leaned into me and tilted her head to meet my gaze, gently brushing her lips to mine. "Good evening "I" … memories?" she softly whispered with a touch of a giggle. "So long ago, yet so fresh."

"You still call me that," I muttered across her soft lips. "Several hundred years and you still remind me of my that moment and my beautiful fate." We both turned and stood in silent memory on the dock overlooking where it all began; both of us lost in time …

Cudillero Inlet (Spain); 1730:

The village around me was faint in my memory, but it still touched me. I grew up here. Cudillero was hidden by land and sea, but prosperity and happiness were ever-present on the faces of its residents. It never changed; nestled in time. Even the beached waves seemed to smile in accordance with their surroundings.

Blurred memories trickled thorough me, while I stopped to lean on a water-side post. It was here in this village my life had changed years ago. Somewhere in the darkness of night, in the stillness that challenges your heart not to jump, I was brought to the world of the forever damned—ever changed and ever lost to a world of the undead. I vaguely remembered the fear, but the pain and anguish of my change never strayed from my memory. My soul was murdered and tossed into a pit with those who fed from the essence of the living, vampires; and here I stood to possibly inflict the same consequence. "Monster," I whispered, distressed at my reflection in waters beside me.

It was strange how the visage of tranquility around me argued with my mission. I knew there were others like me in the area and those who could be altered to my level of existence. I knew a handful of those possessed immeasurable talents which could prove valuable for my masters. It was with this intent I was sent here, servant and guard to the elite. It is my mission to seek potential talents and abilities to bolster our already stalwart, parasitic empire—an empire of soulless monsters with a reclusive leadership, the Volturi as they called themselves, and in which I participated. My thoughts of obvious disdain toward my non-chosen kin, however, didn't stop me from doing my job and pressing forward to my assigned task. This was the life I knew. This was the life I felt represented the greater good of our kind—laws and leadership, embellishing our kind with the best talents for defense and enforcement.

Each passing day grew more intolerable as a guard and minion of the vampire elite. Their pompous attitude and disregard for human life sickened me; their dedication to the arts be damned, they were heinous. I respected the laws of our kind and worked to uphold them, but I despised my masters. Yet, I'd found no other avenue to follow and always found myself lost to their wishes. I was privy to their inner circle and participant to their feeding rituals; but something churned inside me to seek a better life.

I wanted a life where I wasn't a protector to torture, vicious appetites, death, and Godless rebirth. I wanted law and order with peace as its apex. I wanted a niche where my gift was not utilized for wicked status and enforcement, but was respected for its true nature. Through my gift I could see others talents and guide them to a purpose; I didn't want to continue on a path which twisted existence and stripped humanity.

Even with no moisture, I blinked back unshedable tears. There was such confusion inside me. I was dead, walking dead; my heart was no longer beating. Who was I to seek a better existence? Yet, there had to be possibilities, choices. I churned with my inner struggle.

I could never take away the deeds which I had perpetrated since my transition. Ridding my cold life of the images and sounds would be a true blessing, but never possible. I had to carry the deeds which I had done. The faces and screams of the innocent; I would always carry their final rattles with me—their resonating, desperate cries which were quickly extinguished by a gluttonous hoard of monsters seeking to sustain themselves, myself included. I would forever see the deep red eyes and confusion of the newly transformed. I couldn't rid myself of these acts and visions, but I wanted to do something to change my existence.

My contemplation, however, was soon moot and lost as brisk evening winds from the outer ocean brought smells from every corner of the village, so intense … fish, wood fires, damp moss, and … blood … unshed, unleashed, pulsing-warm blood. Sustenance … food … prey … hunt; my head whipped and mind raced as the last noted scent flared my nostrils. I needed to seek the scent; someone to drain and fulfill my animalistic desires. The drive was so intense it overruled any intentions of changing my existence. In mere seconds I went from wanting a new existence to embracing my true nature. I too quickly became the monster I abhorred.

The delicious scent led me to an unsuspecting prey standing alone by the water's edge. He seemed to be contemplating something on the horizon; he would never suspect what was about to happen—my approach, my strike. He would simply be another who disappeared, perhaps lost to the ocean. I would drain him; I would use him to sustain myself. Yes, my next meal was the pinpoint of my focus as I felt my chest give a low growl—hunter to prey. Monster.

Somehow in mid-spring I stopped; my strike as quickly ended as it began. There was another here, another of my kind. No, I vehemently thought to myself, this prey was mine. Quickly darting my eyes, I found the intruder hovering by a rocky outcrop. Mine! My prey! My instincts wanted to rip the other apart for daring to impose and threaten my meal. So much for my changed existence!

As I looked up, the shadow by the rocks was quickly gone; but in a non-heartbeat it appeared mere inches from me. The man by the water was lost to my vision, as the interfering figure received both my attention and anger. "Who," I started, but caught myself after the first word.

What stood before me was the most beautiful creature I'd ever encountered. She—yes she—was of my kind, yet was so gentle faced, so beautiful. She held more than vampire beauty, she had a beauty and essence to her which moved outward like moonlight across the water. I was smitten from first glance, and I fell into the well of her eyes. I found myself holding a breath I didn't even possess; and had my heart still beaten, it surely would have jumped from my chest.

"I apologize for ruining your dinner," she lilted with a flawless Spanish accent—a local. Even her voice went through me. "I'm Carmen."

I parted my lips, but nothing escaped. Finally, I managed to stutter, "I"—only to her amusement.

"Very well, I," she said bemused at my one word answer, "It's an honor to make your acquaintance sir."

Can you kill a vampire with a look? Surely, this creature before me was performing such an action. I'd never felt such pull toward another. I felt as if my world had suddenly melted and become one with her existence. Stories from other vampires pressed into my thoughts, and I knew from their references, I'd stumbled upon—by fate or other—my mate. It was from that day forward the creature before me would forever change my existence to one for which my undead soul yearned.

Cudillero, Asturias, Spain; 2012:

My mind slowly returned to present and the woman beside me. She was every ounce a woman as surely as a human—well a bit stronger and more formidable.

Carmen had been the life for which I was searching. She completed me. In our first fifty years together, I left the Volturi guard, as I was free to go, and we set out on our quest for a new and better lifestyle. Aro, one of my masters, wasn't happy with my decision, but he felt I would always return to the guard to serve the—no, his—"greater good" given my belief in upholding vampire laws. My soulless soul, however, had found its true resting place. I belonged at Carmen's side and she at mine.

We spent decades discovering and rediscovering every unique and wonderful aspect about each other. We explored together and lived our undead existence together. We were as one.

When word of the new world began to circulate, I remembered how eager we were to yet again set out on a new journey. Little did we know it would lead us to Tanya, the Denali clan, and a new way of life—a practiced 'vegetarian' style, where human life was spared.

"Look at where we've been my beautiful song bird. You spoke to my undead soul and I followed. My life without you was incomplete. Now we live in peace and respect for life." I sighed and shook the heavy weight of the past from my thoughts, as my hand found its way to gently caress Carmen's cheek. "Siempre a mi compañero, te voy a amar y cuidar que, siempre y para siempre." I nestled my head closer to Carmen, as she looked into my eyes and I heard one quietly uttered word from her, "Mine."