There are few vampires that exist today – many have lived hundreds or thousands of years – that have found their la tua cantante. Even fewer still have had the willpower not to kill them as soon as they come across them.

Michael's POV

Another dawn, another day. I hated the night all of my three hundred and five long years. Night always reminded me of the thing that I have never had, and the one thing that I doubted I ever would find, the love of a woman, and the feel of her in my arms. I could distract myself easily enough with books, music, working, but at the end of the day the loneliness, which I have felt for over three hundred years finds ways of making itself known.

Most vampires find their mates after maybe a decade or two, or some even a century. Me, never. That is one of the reasons that I decided to travel to the Olympic peninsula and ask the Cullen family if I could join them. Of course, they saw me coming. I had no idea what I was looking for when I knocked on their door, all I knew was that I had always been different from the other vampires that had crossed my path, except one. His name was Carlisle Cullen.

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There are many reasons why I am different from those of my kind. First and most importantly, I did not drink the blood of humans. I only hunted animals, although I found their scent less appealing. Second, I was not ruled by the scent of blood or by the thirst that when I was a newborn burned in my throat like a fire engulfing a house. Third, I had made something of myself. I had become a doctor about fifty years ago, because I needed a change of pace. I wanted to help people, to make up for my being a monster. And finally, I was gifted. I had always been able to read the vibrations coming from people. See what kind of a person they are underneath it all. See if they were lying and feel what they were feeling.

This 'gift' was the reason I could not bear to drink human blood. Animals were easier, their panic less intrusive; their pain easier to stifle. After all, animals use instincts, not feelings.

Carlisle and I had met up about two hundred years earlier, in London. I was looking for meaning to life and Carlisle was trying to convince others to try a 'vegetarian' lifestyle, which I had picked up out of necessity a hundred years earlier. It was amazing we had not come across each other before. We stayed together for about a decade, but the loneliness that I felt would not go away. I needed to search for the meaning, for an answer, for someone to quench the burning desire I felt. I am still searching, but I no longer have hope of finding exactly what I need. Although Carlisle is hopeful, I believe that my chances of staving off this hunger, finding my soul mate, died out long ago.

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When I arrived at the Cullen's home to ask for acceptance into their family, a very small pixie looking girl with spiky black hair opened the door, and embraced me as if she had known me for decades.

"Hi, Michael! I am Alice. Welcome to the family. We are going to be great friends, I can see it now, especially when you find what you are looking for." She said, then danced up the grand staircase to go get Carlisle.

When Carlisle came down the stairs he looked happy to see me, but not at all surprised. "Michael, my old friend. You look well. Alice told me that you would be coming soon." He smiled warmly at me. "We have a room ready for you, but first I will have to fill you in on the rest of the family and the rules that go along with us now."

We then spent the majority of the day going over who was who, what we must do to keep the secret, so on and so forth. When Carlisle spoke of his family, even the newest members Bella and Renesmee, I was amazed at the love he had for each of them. I kept thinking to myself maybe I will be able to finally fit in here, maybe this will be home for me.

It was not long before I was completely incorporated into the Cullen family. They adopted me and I adopted their name. I was now Michael Cullen, the brother of Carlisle. As I was a doctor like Carlisle, he set me up with an interview at Forks General Hospital, and I was hired with my extensive background in infectious diseases and my surgical experience I was able to get a good deal of patients right off as well.

My new family decreased the yearning and loneliness for me. It wasn't gone, but it wasn't quite as noticeable. Carlisle and I worked together, floating around the hospital. I knew that what I had been searching for I would not find here, not in this small town where nothing ever changes…

I have been working at the hospital for a few months now, everything becoming routine but exciting as usual. I never expected that a normal day could go so awry. It started out with an early morning emergency triple coronary artery bypass grafting surgery followed by a visit from Edward.

Edward came to the hospital to have lunch with Carlisle and myself every Tuesday, usually just to shoot the breeze, or to talk about how the family was doing. I practically lived at the hospital now and when I wasn't there I was at different seminars. Anything that would keep my mind busy.

After I changed out of my surgical scrubs, Edward and I went up to the medical floor of the hospital, where Carlisle undoubtedly was. He never failed to be on the floor making rounds by 10am. Edward and I were discussing Renesmee's earlier childhood and his relationship with Bella from start to finish. I was definitely jealous of him. He had everything that I ever wanted, and he waited for it less than a century.

Some people have all the luck. I thought to myself. However, I could tell that Edward heard me. Damn mind reader. I knew he heard my jealous thoughts frequently and I felt guilty for it.

Edward turned to me, "Don't worry about it Michael. Trust me, I was just as frustrated as you are before I met Bella. I had also given up on finding anyone. I think that is what worked for me, I quit looking for love, and something better found me."

I just nodded trying to clear my head. Edward and I walked silently off the elevators and down the hall towards the nurses' station, where my patient's charts were and where Carlisle probably was.

I had just pushed the very last thought from my mind about love and relationships, when it happened. BAM! A nurse flitted out of a room, heading for the storage room beside me. She wasn't paying attention and nearly ran Edward and me over. I looked at her and had my heart been beating, it would have stopped.

She was breath- taking. Long wavy chestnut brown hair, bright blue-green eyes with long eyelashes, rosy pink cheeks, and full pouty lips. She had a figure that a model would kill for, with mile- long legs, and an abnormally large chest for her size. Out of instinct I wondered to myself if they were silicone. I took a deep breath to find out, but my breath caught as I inhaled. A fire burned in my throat like no other had ever burned before. This fire was even stronger than the fire of loneliness and desire. This was a fire of the greatest kind: bloodlust.

Oh, she smells mouthwatering. Get a grip on yourself man, I thought trying to regain control. I looked at Edward, locking my body in place and pleading with my eyes. I was hoping that he had read my mind and knew what I was thinking, so he would stop me from killing her. I tentatively sucked in another small breath of air through my nose thinking that I had to be mistaken on how she smelled. *Sniff* It hit me harder then. Oh, I want her so bad. I have never actually wanted someone like this before. Not in centuries, no not ever.I tried to block out everything, but her angelic voice cut through. Her voice was a soft soprano, like the sighing of a wind. She was looking at me, looking in my eyes as she let out a little laugh that sounded like bells ringing in the distance. Do not breathe, Michael. Get a grip on yourself. Say something, no don't you might get her scent again. No, not here. I cannot. I cannot kill again. She stiffened. Oh just go away, you gorgeous woman. If you want to live, just keep walking, little human Aphrodite!

When she stiffened, I could swear that I saw the faintest trace of fear in her eyes. I didn't know what she was really feeling as I couldn't get a read on her yet, and she walked off muttering apologies a few seconds after my mind pleaded with her to go away.

After she went into the room behind me I contemplated going in there after her, but Edward was pulling me after him. "I told you man, stop looking and something stronger finds you. La tua cantante! Wait until we tell Carlisle." Edward said excitement dripping from his voice. He looked at me and knew what I was thinking.

"Listen, Michael, try not to breathe around her, let alone speak. You need to feed if you are going to be near her. You found your Bella, Micheal- angelo." He let out a hearty laugh when he called me by the nickname that I loathed. "Just remember, I went through this. I will help you deal."

I took a tentative breath. A little better. I took a deeper one and thought to myself a line from Casablanca, and twisted it to fit my situation. "Of all the hospitals, in all the towns, in all the world, she walks into mine!" and then laughed on the inside as I thought another one. "Here's lookin' at you, kid."

Cheyenna's POV

"No Eric! Don't! I will always love you! I promise I can love you and the twins at the same time! Nothing will change, just put down the knife!" I pleaded with my fiancée.

"The only way for it to be the same is if they do not exist. We can have more when the time is right, now hold still." Eric said his eyes crazed. If the time is ever right, he thought,which will not be for a long time. I would rather you died right now than let those children come into this world.

"NO!" I screamed at him, hearing his thoughts. I love the small twins growing inside of me so much, this could NOT be happening. I only had four more weeks left in my pregnancy. "I will NOT let you kill my CHILDREN!" I ran for the door. I had other ways of getting him away, but he did not know what he was doing, and I was in a full on panic mode.

Eric caught me and threw me to the floor. I did not have time to react before he began to thrust the ten inch stainless steel hunting knife into my abdomen.

"Aaaaahhhhhhhhhh!!!!!" I screamed...

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I awoke screaming, the pain in my abdomen as real as if it were actually happening over again. This nightmare was one I was guaranteed to have every time I closed my eyes. I have been having it for five years, and they just get more vivid and painful each time I relive it. It would have been better if I had died that day, rather than have to relive it every time I slept.

Although in the course of those five years I had to endure being in the same room as Eric and relive the experience in front of a judge and jury, it had never been as bad as the dreams. My only regret was that Eric only got life in prison without parole. I would have liked for him to get something a little more equivalent to what he had done to me. Stabbed a few times, castrated maybe. Life in prison sounded like a lifetime in the spa to me.

It wasn't enough that he had taken the life of two precious creatures before they had a chance to even live, but to add to that I came to find that I would never be able to conceive a child ever again. I was doomed to be barren for the rest of my life, a hard thing to find out at eighteen, but even harder to live with at twenty- three, when all of the women around me seemed to be having children and rubbing it in my face. I suppose that working as a registered nurse in the neonatal intensive care unit didn't help things all that much. It simply reminded me of what I had lost.

I guess that is what made me decide to make a change. That and the fact that I was a bit of a freak of nature. I have never been what any sane person would call normal, but I have been able to hide it well. "Gifted" is what my mother called me, even after I had inadvertently set fire to our living room couch … twice.

My mother had always been there for me when my so-called gifts began to get to me. The visions were bearable, the mind reading was creepy to me but usually helpful, but the other things were downright weird to me. When I was ten, I began to figure out that I could control the elements, manipulate them. For example when I cried it always rained, and when I got really angry something usually caught fire. I lived in fear of what I could do, but my mother always told me, 'use your talents, you were gifted with them for a reason.' So, last year, when my mother was killed by a drunk driver, I decided to make a change. I moved to Maine, then to Arizona, and finally to Los Angeles.

So how did I make the decision to move to Forks, Washington? Easy, it rains a lot there. That way people will not think that it is the end of days when I get depressed for weeks at a time. I would miss the sunshine and the fast-paced world of LA, but at least I could continue to hide from my problems in a small, rainy town like Forks.

I ended up getting a great job at the local hospital, on the medical- surgical floor. One of the nurses who was working there was retiring and they had me there ready and able to take over her job. My apartment was not the greatest, but it was roomy and cheap.

I looked at the clock, and though it was four in the morning I wasn't going to go back to sleep. I already knew what dream I was going to have if I did. Instead, I got up and began to unpack more of the boxes to waste some time.

My first shift at the hospital didn't start until seven, which gave me plenty of time to get ready, unpack, and dwell on the mess that is my life. I finished unpacking my things in an hour and a half and decided to just give up on distracting myself and get ready for work.

When I got onto the unit, I was amazed at how welcoming everyone was. The patients were not really all that difficult, but I kept myself busy. One of the other nurses, Melanie, informed me that the doctors made their rounds at nine, so I needed to be ready for them when they came. The morning was passing like any other, with me bouncing from room to room doing assessments of my patients, giving meds, doing bed baths, and I was done with most of my patients by nine.

When I went to the nurse's station to do some charting, I saw one of the most gorgeous men of my life. He was tall, pale, and blonde with golden brown eyes. His lab coat said Dr. C. Cullen. I recognized the name as he was the physician for the majority of my patients.

When I walked over to him he was holding a chart of one of my patients, so I decided to introduce myself. He looked up from the chart like he heard me coming, although even with my sharp hearing footsteps are almost inaudible on these carpets.

"Good morning, my name is Cheyenna. I believe that I have a few of your patients today Dr. Cullen." I said with a smile.

He returned the smile and astounded me as he flashed his pearly whites. "Well, good morning to you, Cheyenna. Please, call me Carlisle. You must be the nurse taking over for Ruth." His voice was a smooth bass. There was no way that a doctor should be so perfect. He would make models want to cry.

"Yes, I am." I said with a small smile. He was so calming in his demeanor, and his thoughts were genuine. That in and of itself was a blessing. If I had to hear one more doctors thoughts about my rather large chest, I was going to commit a murder.

He was a great doctor very concerned about all of his patients and their progress. However when I pulled a few more charts with the physician listed as Cullen he informed me that they were not his patients.

"Whose patients are they?" I asked a little confused now. "They say Cullen."

"My brother Michael Cullen, also has patients on this floor. Those are his patients. I know it can get confusing. He should be here by ten, I believe he had an emergency surgery this morning." He said a little amused that I was so adamant that the patients were his.

"Oh," I said turning about five different shades of red. "Sorry, I guess I overlooked the first name of the physician on the charts. My mistake." I turned to put the charts away, trying to calm myself down before something catches on fire.

After that I went on his rounds with him, making notes on who was to be discharged, and who had changes in medications. I noticed that all of his patients adored him. The men respected him, and the women lusted after him. He even assisted me in changing one patients bandages. We needed more supplies for cleaning the wounds, so I rushed out of the room to get them.

As soon as I walked out, I just about ran into two men, who had to be related to Dr. Cullen. They were both perfectly gorgeous and pale, with the same golden eyes.

Oh, she smells mouthwatering. Get a grip on yourself man.

Who was thinking that? One of the two I had nearly run over? "Sorry," I said. "Excuse me, I really should watch where I walk more."

Oh, I want her so bad. I have never actually wanted someone like this before. Not in centuries, no not ever. Do not breathe, Michael. Get a grip on yourself. Say something, no don't you might get her scent again.

I let out a laugh at the thoughts of that man. I knew that it was one of them, but which one.

"It's no problem." The one with bronze hair said in a velvety smooth voice. He looked away from the other man with alarm seeping across his face. The man standing next to him was frozen in place and looked like he wasn't breathing. He was even more gorgeous than the other two with brown hair that had natural highlights of red, blonde, and black. His eyes were almost almond shaped and his mouth perfect with full lips. He was taller than the bronze haired man and was also more muscular. His eyes were a darker form of the gold but that might have been the lighting. He also had dark circles under his eyes like he hadn't slept in days.

No, not here. I cannot. I cannot kill again. Oh just go away, you gorgeous woman. If you want to live, just keep walking, little human Aphrodite!

When I heard these words pass through the tall georgous man's mind, I knew it was time for me to excuse myself. I muttered another apology and bustled off to get the needed supplies. I took a little longer than usual because I was rerunning through the strange events that had just occurred.

Suddenly I heard the velvet voice of the bronze haired man in my mind. Oh shit. He is going to kill her. She does smell amzing. Better to him than Bella did to me. She is definately his la tua cantante.