Warning/ Author: Remember this story goes with book character ages. So Carlisle is like 23. So maybe not... For the faint of heart and the frigid... It gets romantic and sexual later in this chapter. Honestly, I had to read those romantic novels that have very artistic lovemaking scenes so this would not turn into trashy porno. And if you are just here to read that... Welcome to the next chapter.

"Love is something far more than desire for sexual intercourse; it is the principal means of escape from the loneliness which afflicts most men and women throughout the greater part of their lives."

-Bertrand Russell

A strong smell of blood fumed through these black chambers. No light surfaced here and life never touched this subterranean chasm. This place was called the Obsidian sanctum. The home of the 'Leech Warlock' and the followers of the red eyed jackal.

The warlock sat on a withered throne in a grand hall with ebony pillars with banners showing the coven emblem. A jackal head with red eyes.

Two followers clothed in dark purple cloaks and jackal masks brought forth two vampire women. Through his silver mask the warlock's rouge gaze met with the forms of the two. They had been the two he had been looking for all this time. Memory and foresight. Two abilities he coveted greatly.

"Welcome to my home." He greeted the two with open arms. His voice muffled by the mask.

"They call you Spiridon Petricallas the warlock. Right? My name is..." Said the first female who he cut off with a simple gesture.

"I don't care who you are..."

"You know... You are an interest to the Volturi kings..." Informed the other vampiress.

He groveled, "You mean Aro? We have a co-existing peace arrangement."

"Your daughter has come out of hiding, Spiridon. She is in London." Said the one with foresight.

"My dearest daughter Zenobia, A rebellious girl that one is. I would have to pay her a visit." The warlock snickered lightly.

"We will be leaving now that we gave you the information you asked for." The vampire of memory replied turning her back to Spiridon.

"Not so fast, My dear." He used his power of telekinesis to bring her back into place. Four strong followers held memory and foresight down. They both begged to be set free with no success. Spiridon took off his white gloves and touched them both on the forehead transferring their abilities onto himself.

"Thank you for these gifts." His smooth baritone voice chimes and ordered a masked subordinate. "Destroy them both."

He was on her mind often. In the beginning. Themis blamed himself for everything and so he abandoned her in fear of putting her in danger once again. The flames of their Athenian palace carved into his mind. A permanent memory of his dreadful past. It was only when they separated, she learned the truth. He was the one who told the hunters about their palace hideout in retribution for the mass murder done by his Phoebe. That traitorous bastard.

Zenobia chose to never falter. If he chose to disappear in shame... So be it! She bared responsibility for others. She hated feeling vulnerable and betrayed. She hated weakness.She was fire on ice. Her heart frozen. Zenobia was broken. The dhampir reformed the pieces of herself and took flight. Anew. She moved on.

"I am surprised you can sleep... I cannot... Ever since the metamorphosis." Carlisle walked into the living room of their small estate, His navy blue coat and blonde hair drenched by the down pour outside. Zenobia opened her eyes and yawned. She sat up and stretched out. "You seemed to have been dreaming, About what? If I may ask?" He stood before her.

"A memory, I wish to forget. It is most painful once the person who you loved betrays you. Once you meet them... It's like nothing in this world exists... Only the two of you. Once you see their true face... Betrayal and heartache." Zenobia mused. She angered. The only love she truly felt was like an obsession. In the end it was all a lie. If she found him again he is as good as dead.

Carlisle was unable to understand her experience. However, He nodded and listened. "I refuse to crumble... I strive on... I survive." She was brought back to primal thoughts of survival. Zenobia stood up in her white night gown and walked away, "Please escuse me, Mr. Cullen." She hurried out of the apartment and ran out into the hard rain. The street lanterns had been dosed off by the rain. Zenobia ran from their home in Westminster, London and to the river Themes.

Water soaked and flattened her frizzy onyx hair. Running down her face. Her glittering eyes cried. A little girl formed in front of her. Only an astral projection. She wore a little red dress with bows and roses. Her hair the color of ember. "Callisto! You still exist! You must hide! Always! Live life through the eyes of humans of the outside world! Like you always have... or be hunted!" Zenobia smiled at the realization that Callisto was okay.

"Zenobia, I was once human... You were born the way you are." Said the mature voice of Callisto.

"Yes, I am a monster! I created other monsters! I will never stop thirsting for... human blood... My mother's blood." The mustard red in Zenobia's eyes circulates.

"To fight against your nature is to fall to pieces... Welcome back to society, Matron Zenobia... We will meet sometime in the future no doubt... In the physical sense... Besides, Themis was destroyed by your father two hundred years ago." With that the daughter of Olympia's astral form disappeared into rain drops.

Themis destroyed by her father Spiridon? He must have been after his telekinesis. This revelation eased her conscious slightly. That judas was murdered by her father no less [A traitor himself] and not recruited or executed by the Volturi. A much more merciful fate of equal measures to the outcome of the latter. How did Callisto know this?

"I refuse to crumble, I shall strive on... You cannot fight the world on your own... Too long and you will crumble." She heard a familiar voice behind her. She turned to see Carlisle poised behind her. "I am here with you." He lent out his right hand to her.

She lightly smiled and accepted that hand, "We are not alone."

"No, I invited an old friend tomorrow evening... He is a vampire." He replied walking shoulder to shoulder with Zenobia.

She nodded acceptingly, "Who is he?"

"Callum Anderson. Someone who used to attend my father's sermons... He too is cursed with my condition." Cullen replied to her. He was unsure if Callum had ever escaped from the tunnels that night.

"Do you know what happened to your family?" She peered up at him.

"So far I discovered my father died from the plague of 1666 along with most of our community... I don't think anyone is alive who would remember me." Sadness and relief poured over him. Carlisle wondered how his father would react to knowing his only child became a monster. A vampire. A so called heretic. Heretics became vampires when death came for them; according to the lore his father told him. "I am alone here."

"As long as I am here, You have me." She gathered both of his hands into her own and rested them atop the place where her heart lay.

"You plan to leave? At some point?"

Zena shook her head, "No, But there may be some out there who are looking for me..."

"The Volturi?"

"Also a woman who wants revenge on me for her consort's death. Something that happened soo long ago."She held his hand tightly around the fingers.

"How long ago?"

She chuckled, "A little under three thousand years ago... You probably think I'm a haggard."

He wholly disagreed with her, "Nonsense, I was thinking more of a fearsome Amazon from the ancient Greek dramas."

Zena blushed a little, "You flatter me." Flattery and sycophancy wasn't foreign to Zena's understanding. She was surrounded by them in her golden regime.

Cullen's aurelian eyes glittered and he gave her a genuine smile, "I am serious. You are sublime."

He was soo brutally honest with her and she loved him for it. Zena had only known so many liars and a few honest ones. She moved her frizzy wet hair out of her face with her free hand, "My dear, You leave me no choice but to indulge in you."

The blonde witnessed her eyes darken with an intensity that penetrated his own. A feeling reserved for those with fire in their veins. He was the hunter turned prey and she was the one after him. There was no escape from her. She would have him in her embrace. Her mind was already made up about how she felt about him. He was tempted to submit to fate which laid deep inside of her. Her beast which yearned to satiated for so long. He found; He could not turn away from what was calling him to her.

He had expected her to make a move but instead she twirled around in her soaking dress with her arms up to the clouded sky. She laughed happily and jumped at him. Embracing him around the neck with her arms.

"Enjoy the forecast and the warm fires later." She ran her fingers through his blonde hair. She always wanted to see his face as she did now. So close. Stare into his soul. She found a field of gold there. A feeling of Elysium.

The past three years in the presence of Zena he came to know her well. She was an exceptional organizer and knew how to utilize those to aquire positions their talents fit. Zena did, expressed and said things that no woman would think of in this time. Her thoughts, wisdom and her sexuality. She did not live on the shelf only to be seen. Yet she was self composed and never ventured out that often. Worry flooded over him with the thought of her speaking out amongst their neighbors at a party. They would call her an uncouth foreign rich woman. Her truth far from their meager understanding and his own.

Cullen leaned in to kiss her. Zena froze in place for a moment. She reveled in the taste of his saccharine kiss. Their lips met again abandoning all chains restraining them.

Back at the residence...

Gene remembered well the week of the death of her family. A vampire came upon her familie's farm asking for where Zenobia lived. He was obessed with finding where she lived. Gene told him she didn't know. When her father threatened him with a weapon he killed him by breaking his neck. He set the whole house on fire by lighting the hay thatched roof. A badly burnt Gene was saved at the last moment by Carlisle. She passed out due to the trauma and woke up as a vampire.

The days in Gene's transformation were painful. She was conscious, moving and at random times she could feel anguish. Her body becoming colder than the fires that once burnt her skin. Her eyes changed and her body.

Carlisle looked after her warily and with interest in the vampiric design. He reminded her of father who was supportive and understanding. Zena on the other hand was strict but a good teacher. She also had a more caring and loving side that would show itself randomly. Usually at times of despair or happiness. Gene liked Zena's caution that came with an experienced life.

Her ability to read hidden intentions and desires of others helped her get through this chapter in her life. Her new guardians wanted the best for her and to protect her. Even when both went about it so differently.

The first lesson Zena taught her was about blood. She simply said to only look at blood as what it is to her and not from whom she aquired it from. We mustn't let our emotions and judgement keep us from maintaining survival and good health.

On her second lesson, She was taught about this life. Gene didn't like the idea of being immortal but the status was better than being dead. She liked how everything seemed to be with her enhanced senses. Hearing things and seeing things her human senses would never. The bumble bees pollinating Zena's rose garden and Gene's caged nightingale singing a secret song. A lyric of hope.

Knowing the secrets and desires of others. She thought it was funny knowing all of this as it did impede her from her natural food source knowing people as who they were from first inspection clued her into what she was taking away. A nobleman she read at the park overstressed himself over his arranged marriage to a woman of lower class yet he feared disappointing his mother and father, A young woman in a love affair over her secret love for cake and pastries who feared her fiance would discover her secret and call her horrible names, A pastor who preoccupied himself with activities much below his station, and lastly Zenobia's desires made her laugh. Zena was half vampire/human and she held the most common of desires. The matron wanted love and intimacy. Her self inflicted loneliness had it's toll. Now the crazy woman wanted to dance in the streets and laugh.

Gene listened to her song bird sing and watched the down pour outside. She returned and began to write music. She hummed softly the notes as her hand wrote the symbols on a parchment paper.

She was schooled by Zenobia and private tutors. Zena found it best to make her learn music language while learning to just read. Which was nutz, per contra, Gene knew how to mix both to create a compatible choir. Her voice seemed to sing while she read books given to her by her teachers.

The opening of the front door and a loud close with a bang broke her focus. The young vampire opened her door and peeked down the stairs. Her eyes witnessed a heated exchange of touching and kissing at the bottom of the stair case. Zena doesn't waste time. Gene returned to her room and returned to her work. Trying her hardest to cut out all external influences and finish her work.

Tuesday. The afternoon. Zena woke up from her sleep. She was an unkempt mess. Bright sun's radiance brought something to her knowledge. A shimmer reflected onto her body length mirror and the source was the vampire rested next to her. Carlisle laid with his night shirt and breeches on. He had his eyes closed in contact with the sunlight. His hair absorbed the fluorescence; making those locks seem golden white and his skin luster. Her right hand touched his cheek and her rouge lips caressed his own. The goddess kissed an angel. He opened his eyes and gazed into her eyes. She at the halos around his pupils.

Cullen rested his head between her breasts and her fingers played with his hair. He could hear her calm heart beat against his ear. "Your heart..."

Zena replied looking up to the ceiling, "When I was much younger... My heart used to beat much faster... It was most irritating to hear and feel."

"Amazing, Gene believes you are half human." He came to the same conclusion.

She thought Gene must have figured that out by using her odd powers whatever they were. Zena sat up, "Still you would kiss me? I am a monstrosity."

An unnatural creature.

He nuzzled his head against her breasts and rested his head in her lap, "Between us... You are the most human."

"You want this part of me?" She placed her hands gently against his cold chest.

"You as a whole is enough for me." He replied with the same honesty.

"I feel the same way." She nodded earnestly.

He moved on to something else, "My childhood friend will be coming over tonight... I told him something that you should know."

She simpered, "What may that be?"

"I told him you were my fiancée."

He caught her by surprise, "You told him what?"

"I will not let the men at the University and outside this house think you are my mistress, You are above such a filthy occupation." Cullen explained in a more serious tone.

She knew well the limited choices women had in these times. Zena swallowed her pride and kissed his brow, "In that case; I thank you... I am humbled."

"After everything you did for me, You don't need to thank me for anything." He kissed her jaw line and trailed down to neck. She purred softly and her heart started to beat faster. Her sweet aroma fumed and invaded his senses.

Suddenly, Gene's scream rang out on the first level as the door closed with a glass breaking bang. The red head started to curse. The two fixed their clothes and ran down stairs. Gene threw her bonnet onto the marble floor and belted out, "That false-hearted bastard! He is as good as dead!" She moved back to the front door but Carlisle stood there blocking her way.

"Calm down, My dear." By the shoulders he turned her away from the door, so she faced Zenobia.

"Is this something about your boyfriend? Gene?" The raven haired woman crossed her arms and tilted her hips to the right.

"I caught that shite with some tart!" Gene shot back in all the rage. "I'm going to kill him!" Serious murder in her eyes.

"You shall not. Remember who you are, Gene." Cullen lectured Imogen.

She exhaled a needless sigh. Lectures and patronization hit one and two on her list of pet peeves. "I don't need wisdom from you, Carlisle."

"You will not talk to him like that." Zena insisted between them both.

"Go back to arousing him and leave me alone!" Gene dashed up to her bedroom and closed the door.

Zena turned her head to her companion and spoke, "She is young and has many things to learn."

Cullen agreed, "Yes, Things she must learn on her own."

Zena nodded but said nothing. She embraced him around his neck with her arms and his hands clasped her curves and pulled her closer. Her body against his. They kissed and she rested her head on his right shoulder. She lead him to the lion pelt rug facing the fireplace. Zena invited him down with her.

Her stiffness melted into yielding passion as he kissed her. Carlisle made her feel like she was more than a monster. Without saying anything she could feel his compassion that compelled her to feel loved and belonged. She desired to be with him.

Her right hand wandered to his breeches and slipped out his white night shirt. Her hands explored his rigid chest, lower abdomen and unlaced his britches. She stroked his dignity and elevated his vigor. A groan arisen from his throat. He had not expected she would be the first to act.

He easily undone the back of her night gown and threw the regalia to the floor. The lion fur fleece felt naturally comforting against her skin and back. He ascended between her thighs and she gazed into his gilded eyes. The lit flames burning from the fireplace reflected in them. Her black curling hair laid about all around her like strands of silk and her skin absorbed the light making her glow. She was the embodiment of temptation.

A trill escaped from her mouth as his numbing lips kissed her mouth, neck and down to her opulent bosom. The warmth of her wild blood steamed off of her beige skin. She ran her fingers through his auricomous hair. Zena whispered, "Are you sure you want this?"

He understood what she meant. What they were about to do was 'extra-marital'. Carlisle replied, "I'm already damned. What more damage can be done now? To my soul? If loving you unconditionally damns my soul deeper into the inferno, So be it. You are the only heaven I shall ever know."

His defiance and acceptance awestruck her, "As you to me."

His cold physique against her own felt comforting. Followed by Pleasurable conjointment. Her enraptured serenade overwhelmed his senses and allured him on. Zena's heated pulse and strong heart beat against his chest galvanized the vampire inside of him. He could taste the venom drip from his teeth and into his mouth. The darkness in the back of his conscious compelled him to drink her blood. Cullen forced himself to remain clear of mind and focus on her love.

She reveled in his crashing kiss. The taste of old blood in his mouth and trenchant venom against her tongue. Carried by a delectable moan Zena swallowed his poison. Carlisle gazed into her dark amber eyes shocked by what his beloved had done. Zena chuckled and her fingers wandered down the sides of his torso to his lower back, inflicting relaxation and arousal. Lighting the fires once again.

"Why did you imbibe my venom?" His English accented voice said huskily in her ear.

"It will not make me more like a vampire but it will mark me and mask my stench with your own." She explained following the rhythm between them.

"My smell?" Cullen tried to remain within himself.

"Your ordour is ... like any male human or vampire... Strong with blood... Your's makes me... crazy but happy." Zena elaborated amid her own blissful sighs. She regarded his restraint as problematic. "Just let go, My love."

"Why were you out near the cliffs the first day we met?" He asked her another question.

"I like to watch the dawn, I felt drawn to that place the day we met." Zena closed her eyes as his thrust became more powerful.

"Fascinating," She didn't know if he meant the storm between them or about what she told him.

Zena pin pointed the bite scar on his neck. Her hand rubbed his scaring. Logical intuition couldn't make out if it was the size of a man or woman's mouth. The impulse to caress her teeth against his scar tissue overcame her. With hands clasped to his upper back, She leaned into and vexed him by grazing her teeth across his wound. Hoping to get under his skin and unleash the creature inside of him.