A/N: Here we go, chapter 2. This was surprisingly hard to write. Anyway, hope you enjoy and please RR :)

Chapter 2 The Point of No Return

The doctor quickly stepped out of the way. "Please, put him on this bed." He pointed the men to the bed situated in the corner of the room. "What's happened to him?" he asked.

"We found him in the sea two days ago. We think he went down with that big ship doc."

"The Titanic?"

"Yeah. He was floating on some wood so we pulled him aboard and kept him warm."

"Has he been awake at all?" The doctor enquired as he examined Jack's body.

"No. Is he going to be okay?"

"There's no way to tell right now. I will do all that I can." The good doctor assured the captain.

"Thank you doc." With that the captain took his leave.

The doctor checked for a pulse and miraculously, felt one but it was weak. No other doctor would be able to feel it, to hear it. To know that however slowly, there was blood moving in his veins. To feel the slightest warmth radiating from the red life force within him.

It was true, Doctor Cullen was like no other doctor; that was because Doctor Cullen was a vampire.

Dr Carlisle Cullen, an immensely compassionate man, was born in England to a religious zealot. An unintelligent man who sought out vampires, once he became ill, this responsibility fell to his son, Carlisle. Being much smarter than his father, Carlisle was able to trace a coven of real vampires and during the hunt was attacked by the blood thirsty monster.

The pain was excruciating and after days he had been turned into the beast he was hunting. He knew he could never return to his father but he would never take on the life of a vampire and attack humans either. So he chose a different path. That was almost two hundred and fifty years ago. Now he called the Americas home but he could never stay in one place for too long.

Carlisle completed his examination of Jack but knew that the chances of a recovery were slim. He heated a bed in his surgery and placed Jack on it. He had then covered him in a thick blanket and started a fire in the fireplace.

Carlisle stared into the red golden tendrils of flame wondering if he should leave this young man to the fates or if he should step in and allow him the life he could have; a life that may last centuries. The thought of turning him appalled Carlisle but the reality of the situation was that if he was not turned he would certainly die, slowly. These unpleasant thoughts took Carlisle back to his own transformation. Walking into that dark sewer knowing that a vampire coven dwelled there. His lamp bobbed about in the blackness but never provided enough light. The silence that engulfed him as he trudged further and then, the sudden appearance of the monster in front of him, the spine-chilling smile that sent the group running. The sudden slash across his face the left him reeling. It was as if Carlisle could see these memories through a fog, it was more the feeling of that night that never left him. The complete and utter terror of coming face to face with the demon.

Carlisle absent-mindedly touched his wrist where received his first bite then his neck where he was bitten again. With a sigh, he went back to Jack's bedside.

"Let's see how you do before we think of damning your soul."

Over the next few days, Carlisle did all he could to take care of Jack. He kept an eye out for the slightest sign of improvement. He knew he was being hopeful but a part of him was tired of the loneliness. Carlisle needed another soul for a companion. Two hundred years was a long time to be alone.

After five days it was clear that Jack was not going to get any better. The fact that he had been unconscious for a week meant there was no way for Carlisle to know what his mental faculties would be like. Carlisle knew he had to make a decision but he had never turned anyone before and there was no way for him to know how much the vampire venom could fix.

He looked out the window at the people passing by. Jack would never be one of those people. If he did turn Jack then he would have to leave Halifax sooner than he wanted to. He knew where he would go. Carlisle had already set up a home in Alaska for himself and it would be easy enough to take another person along. He needed to make sure that this was the only way. He could not force Jack into an eternity of being a monster. He would never be able to live with himself. At the same time Jack was so young. Leaving him to a human life would rob him of so many experiences. Death was a very final end.

Carlisle thought back to the potato cellar that had crawled into, bleeding and dying. He hid there for days until his transformation was complete. He hated what he had become. The days and weeks that followed were torture. Not even killing himself could bring an end to his nightmare until a herd of deer passed by too close to him. The hunter in him unleashed at the smell of fresh blood. It was then he knew, there was another way.

These thoughts brought both dread and hope.

"What if he hates me or worse himself? He won't be alone though. I can guide him. He won't be alone." Carlisle thought to himself.

With that Carlisle made his decision. Jack still showed no signs of life. He was not going to recover. He had no family that could be traced, especially since the ship sank. If he would have any life at all, Carlisle would provide him with an extraordinary one.

He wrote a memo informing the town of his departure due to family considerations and that it was unlikely that he would return. He stuck the notice to his door then bolted it, pulled shut the curtains, and packed his clothes in a trunk along with his medical supplies and doctor's bag. He loaded his car through the back door then wrapped Jack in his blankets and carefully lay him down on the back seat. Carlisle locked the door behind him and left the key under the mat. He had rented the surgery since Halifax was meant to be a short stop on his way further north.

He put on his trilby, started his car and drove out of town. Carlisle drove for hours and only once he was sure that they were in an area that they would not be bothered did he pull off the road into the woods. He stopped the car and killed the engine, plunging them into an engulfing silence. He climbed into the back seat and looked at the lifeless blonde young man.

"I hope you grow to like this life." Carlisle whispered. Then, in a flash no mortal could see he bit Jack three times, matching his own bites from two hundred years ago. One bite on Jack's arm followed by his neck then his shoulder. He forced himself to pull away before the frenzy started that would turn Carlisle into the monster he did not want to be. He bit hard on his hand trying to quell the raging torrent of power surging within him. He looked down at Jack knowing that once his eyes reopened, they would be those of a bloodthirsty killer.