Chapter One - Carlisle's Broken Angel

Before...

The year was 1723, Carlisle was studying late as he always did, when there was a knocking at the window. A young woman, by his guess 17 was standing there, clutching her side, she was so pale, and Carlisle could smell blood. Lots of blood. He was initially transfixed by the scent and stepped closer towards the window, but he snapped out of it when he saw the pain on her face. She looked like a broken angel with her face illuminated by the dim light shining out the window. Carlisle went to the window and opened it, he gently lifted her up and brought her into the room. He cleared off the metal table and laid her down. He not only saw the source of the blood, but smelt it too, he felt himself become overwhelmed, he knew the veins under his eyes were showing. He closed his eyes and tried to compose himself, then he heard a raspy voice, "Please.." she spoke softly, Carlisle was sure that if he wasn't a vampire he wouldn't have heard it.

Hearing her plea motivated him, he had to save her, he told himself. He looked at her wound and his heart fell, there was no way he could help her without... He looked at her, she was dying. He had never done this to someone before, he remembered how badly it hurt him, he didn't want her to have that pain, but she was about to die forever, or live... forever. He moved the blonde strands of hair away from her neck, he tried to think, control yourself, don't kill her, control. He bit her, she gasped, he did too, he hadn't tasted human blood in a long time, but he had to save her, and that pushed thoughts of hunger from his mind. With great focus he pulled away. She was already writhing in pain, but to his surprise she made no noise.

He knelt down to her eye level, "I'm going to take you to my home, so you can recover, is that okay?" Carlisle asked her. She turned his head to face him her mouth was open like she was screaming but no noise came out, she nodded her head. He carefully picked her up, and speed off towards his home, a house in the upper east side of then-London. Carlisle watched over her for the two days that it took her to transform, and he was relieved when it was over. He didn't know a thing about her, and he was hoping that no one would be searching for her, the last thing he wanted to do was draw attention to himself.

She opened her eyes, they were bright red, but Carlisle knew they would change after she had eaten. She clutched her throat and said "You couldn't have thought this was a good idea." Carlisle looked at her sadly, she didn't want me to turn her he thought. "No, it's not that. You brought me to your home, your home surrounded by humans..." She spoke again, but trailed off when she realized that his mouth hadn't moved, she focused on him, and tried talking in her mind. Can you hear me? She projected to him.

"Incredible..." Carlisle spoke, and the girl knew that he had heard her. Questions raced through his head, what was her name, where she came from, what happened to her.

"My name's Katerina, I was born here, and I live here now, but I lived in Paris for a few years before this, and I was killed by my finance." She stated, "Everyone thinks I'm dead, no one will be looking for me."

"Hey..." Carlisle said kindly, "You're not alone".

Now...

"What's this?" Bella asked Edward about the painting in the Cullen home, the one depicting the Volturi.

"That's the Volturi." Edward told her, but could tell she wanted to know more. "They're old vampires, they're like the kings of our world. They keep order. It's Aro, Caius and Marcus, at the front of the picture."

"Are there laws, rules?" Bella asked him.

"Not many, only a few are regularly enforced." Edward told her.

"Is that.. Carlisle?" Bella asked, pointing at a figure off to the side of the painting.

"Yeah, him and my sister lived with them for a few decades, Carlisle left to start a new coven in America, but she stayed." Edward said, with a hint of sadness in his voice.

"Your sister?" Bella asked, looking at the painting. Edward pointed to a beautiful woman standing next to who he had described to be Aro, his had was resting on hers.

"Katerina, she was the first person Carlisle had ever turned. She always had a hard time controlling her abilities, but being around Aro helped because their abilities are similar, Carlisle was always nervous that they would badly influence her. She would come home for a few years at a time, but she would always go back once her abilities got too out of control."

"Is she... dead?" Bella asked, confused by the use of past tense.

Edward did a double take, "Dead? No, no, it's just that we haven't seen her in a while is all."

"I'm sure she'll be back soon..." Bella said, but not reassuringly. Edward smiled a sad smile, and they continued on with their day.

Not long after...

Bella's birthday had so far been bad, to put it lightly. She had gotten a paper cut, and Jasper had been crazed with bloodlust, Edward had tried to help her by putting her behind him, but he used too much force and had thrown her into the china cabinet, where she had cut herself even worse on the broken glass, there was so much blood that Carlisle was the only one who could stand to be with her. So there she was sitting in his office getting stiches.

"Carlisle... if you don't mind me asking, Edward said you had another kid, Katerina? How come she's not here with the rest of you?" Bella asked after a period of silence. Carlisle froze in place at the mention of her name. "I-I'm sorry, that was really rude of me." Bella said. Carlisle continued stitching in silence for a few moments.

"She's my daughter yes, and I haven't seen her in a very long time." Carlisle said sadly.

"Where is she?" Bella asked.

"I'm afraid I don't know, she stopped writing me ten years ago. I haven't seen her in nearly sixty years. A part of me wonders if she's..." Carlisle paused, "Gone."

"I'm so sorry Carlisle, I'm sure she'll show up soon" Bella said, much more convincingly this time.