Author's Note: Two chapters in the same day? Yes, but only because this one is an extension of the last one, and it's a little longer, so I couldn't wait to post it. Reviews are always appreciated.

Disclaimer: All recognizable characters, places, and events are the property of Stephanie Meyers. No copyright infringement is intended.


A buck, a doe, and a bobcat later, Alice danced upstairs to Carlise's attic lab. She was feeling much better after her time hunting with Jasper. Her thirst was sated for the moment, and her adopted dad and brother were going to let her help find the right combination of venom and diluting agent to help Cassandra.

"Only a small amount for now." Carlise was telling Edward as she walked into the attic lab. As soon as Alice saw what the two men were so engrossed in, she took a deep breath and held it, not trusting herself to smell the O-neg blood and maintain control. Since Edward had gained such large control around the smell and sight of blood, he had become Carlise's assistant of sorts. Unfortunately, Alice couldn't say the same of her own control. "Alice, I'm glad you could make it. We need fresh venom to finish the experiments. I thought that you'd want us to use yours since it's for Cassandra."

Alice was honored that Carlise had thought to include her in such a meaningful way. It would be her venom that cured Cassandra. It would be her venom that would be the first proved cure for cancer. Alice Cullen, walking cure for cancer, that had a nice ring to it. Her excitement was short lived however, and she forced herself to come back down to Earth, meeting Edward's eyes and silently asking him if he would stop her if she started to lose control. Edward nodded his consent and sealed the deal between Alice and the mad vampire scientists. "Ok." She agreed, and let out the rest of the air she was still holding in her useless lungs.

"Spit out what you can in here." Carlise instructed her handing Alice a glass dish.

Tasting the air in the lab experimentally, Alice was shocked at the heavier than expected scent of human blood. She gasped as the venom seared her throat and flooded her mouth. Keeping control was much harder than she thought it would be. A glance at Edward reassured her that he was ready to stop her from drinking all the blood that was being used as a test for the different concentrations of venom. Alice wasted no more time, and quickly spit out the accumulated venom. It looked different when it was sitting in a bowl than when it was flowing into her prey. For an instant, Alice could understand what it was about the stuff that fascinated Carlise so much, and why Edward was so willing and eager to help him with all of his experiments. She handed the now very full bowl back to Carlise, not trusting herself to speak.

"It'll be easier if you concentrate on the venom smell, instead of the blood smell." Edward told her. "Since it's your venom, there's no risk in you thinking that another vampire beat you to the kill."

"Right." Alice breathed out, and in slowly, painfully slowly. "It's helping, thanks."

"How did it go with Cassandra today?" Carlise asked as he adjusted the magnification on the microscope he was looking into. Even with super vampire eyes, there were some things so small that he couldn't see without the tool's aid.

"It went ok. She knows." There was point in telling them just what it was that Cassandra knew.

"How?" Carlise didn't sound upset, just curious.

"I don't know, exactly. She read about us in a book. She read about something called a Vampire Angel in the same book, and suddenly she was combining everything together and telling me she knew that's what I was. Her Vampire Angel sister. That's what she called me." Alice admitted uncomfortably.

"That's not good." Carlise said in the same contemplative way that Jasper had only a few hours before. But this time Alice knew that he was speaking about the sister part and not the vampire part of Cassandra's unique name for her.

"No, I know it's not. I told Jasper and he thinks that we should just forget the whole thing, and euthanize her now. I'm sure that Emmett would agree. Rosalie enjoys being Auntie Rosie too much, so she would probably insist that we have to save her and change her when she's old enough so the Volturi don't come after us for sharing the secret with a human again. Bella's still too new to know what to think. But I'm pretty sure that she would never agree with Jasper and Emmet. I need to know what you two think. You're the only two I haven't been able to factor into my visions."

"I think...I need some more compound three." Carlise spoke to Edward and waited as the other man handed him a test tube of clear liquid. "And as for Cassandra, I don't know how she figured us out from reading a book. She must have an extremely high IQ. That's dangerous in and of itself. My position on her fate hasn't changed. It's really not up to us to decide what will ultimately happen to her. I still believe that God has something to do with that. Only He can decide life and death. But we have to try treating her. It's what's morally right, whether or not she knows that she's being treated by a vampire doctor. And if we fail, my honest opinion is that this just gives us one more reason to help her into the afterlife. It'll be a merciful euthanasia, to keep her from the Volturi and from life as an empty shell. Edward, will you please hand me that flask over there?" Carlise easily moved from talking about Cassandra to concentrating on his experiment.

Edward did as he was asked, hearing the thoughts in Alice's head that begged him to speak up on the issue. And he knew what he had to say when he opened his mouth. "She's started thinking of you as a sister. That's a huge responsibility. It's almost as big a responsibility as falling in love. You won't be able to deny her anything. It's not going to be easy, but when the time comes you know what you have to do…and you have my support Alice, just like you supported me with Bella." It was exactly what she needed to hear from her favorite brother. He understood all too well the attachment that didn't allow you to live without another in your life. The connection that would force her into finding a way to help Cassandra, even if it meant changing her. That thought terrified and excited Alice at the same time.

Alice impulsively hugged Edward after he spoke his short, simple, but meaningful piece. "Thank you, so much Edward, that's exactly what I needed to hear. I love you."

"I've been there remember."

"I know." The looks that the vampire siblings traded in that moment spoke volumes to them. It was a shared bond that no one else in the family could truly understand. "Carlise, can venom cure the brain damage that Cassandra would have if the Leukemia runs its course? I mean, can venom help her to come out of her zombie state if it comes to that?"

"I don't know." Carlise spoke slowly. "I believe that it could. But would you really be willing to let Cassandra suffer that long? Until she's old enough to be changed?"

"It's her decision to make. And she doesn't want to die. She told me that much."

"I see. It is a big decision. I'm not sure that she's really old enough to decide something like this. And even so, what would you choose, Alice? If the situation were reversed, would you want to suffer for years as an empty shell, or simply be put to rest?"

Alice didn't hesitate in her answer. "If I could live forever with someone I loved after a short time of suffering, I would choose that. Besides, how aware are zombies of what's happening to them anyway? How do we know that she'd really be suffering? You, yourself, called it an empty shell experience. She could simply be blissfully ignorant of her own plight."

"That's a good point, Alice. And I don't have an answer for you. We simply don't know enough about people in that state to have that kind of answers. After all, the only practical application we have is the Haitian version of a zombie. And that has its flaws. There are cases where humans have been made to suffer in a vegetative state for years before waking up. It's always explained as a miracle, but I think that evil just gets tired of making them suffer, and spits them out, so it can swallow someone new. The first hand reports are limited and mixed, so there's really no way to know for sure. The only thing I can think to compare it to is how Edward and Bella were during that time of separation that none of us want to think about or talk about. They were like empty shells in a way. They have both admitted that without those months of knowing what it was like to be apart from one another, they may not have ever gotten to the point where they are today. I won't ask you to talk about it, Edward." Carlise quickly tried to comfort his son, knowing how difficult this topic was for him. At least not with me here. But Alice might still need to hear it. Later, when it's just the two of you. If she's serious about this new theory, a theory you inspired by the way, then she has to know everything that she's getting herself into with it. I trust you to hold up your end of it, Edward. He finished his speech in his head, knowing that the person who needed to hear it would.

It was just after sunrise the next morning when Carlise spoke again. "I think we're ready for a test." These were his first words in nearly five hours, and they were words that caused Edward and Alice to exchange piercing looks.

"Are you sure that we don't need to try one more level of dilution?" It was Edward who spoke next. He trusted Carlise's judgment in such matters, but wasn't entirely certain if they were using enough caution. He knew Carlise well enough that he would never be so eager to make a new discovery that he would sacrifice caution, but he also knew that Carlise was convinced that Cassandra didn't have much time left, and that could make him a little less careful than he probably should be with the venom dosage and strength. He could read similar thoughts coming from Alice, but Carlise's mind was filled with confident reassurances.

"How do we do it? Test it, I mean." Alice finally asked the question that Edward had been hearing in her head for several minutes.

"We use one of us. If it leaves a mark, the venom is still too powerful. But if there's no mark, then it's diluted enough that it won't change her. Unfortunately, no matter how much of the diluting agent, we add, it won't erase the pain." Carlise said as if the answer were obvious. And maybe it was, to him.

"I'll do it." Alice volunteered without hesitation. Edward looked at her with surprise, but after reading her mind and hearing that she was serious, decided not to protest her decision.

"I was hoping that you would say that." Carlise told her, after a look from Edward to encourage him to voice his thought. Before Alice had a chance to change her mind, Carlise firmly took her arm and gently grazed her skin with his teeth. A needle or a knife wouldn't have been able to pierce her skin, and Carlise's mouth was the only one completely free of venom at the moment. The doctor took a small drop of the diluted venom and rubbed it over the spot on her arm where his teeth had grazed her. Alice hissed at the immediate shock of the venom to her system. "It should subside in a few seconds if Edward and I got the calculations right." Carlise reassured her, not releasing her arm.

"No, it's fine." Alice promised aloud and added a silent warning to Edward to not tell Carlise about the string of obscenities running through her head as the venom burned in her system.

"Have you thought any more about how to administer it?" Edward asked Carlise in an effort to take the attention off Alice while they waited to see if the venom would leave a mark, and to provide her with a distraction from the pain.

"Yes. I think it would be best if I followed your idea and just mixed it into the regular IV regimen."

"She'll still know that something isn't right." Edward commented idly, reading what Alice was thinking. "I think that Alice should be there when you introduce it. At least the first time. She can help keep her calm through the pain."

"I think you're right. And I also think that you're right about needing to tell Cassandra something so that she won't be completely taken by surprise. Alice can help with that as well. If you're willing to?" He said turning back to his adopted daughter.

"Do you even need to ask? Of course I'll help. Wait? Did you say something about the first time?" She turned to glare at Edward, but quickly spun her gaze on Carlise. "You're going to do this more than once?"

"If we have to." The doctor clarified.

"I really hope it doesn't come to that. Once is enough. If it doesn't work after that, then it probably won't." Alice argued.

"I disagree. The amount of diluting agent might affect the healing potential as well. It's very probable that Carlise will have to administer several doses before there's any result." Edward argued the very thought that he heard echoing in Carlise's mind.

Alice was given a wakeup call of sorts by Edward's words, and it took her a few seconds to recover. Blinking, she looked down at her arm and grimaced. There was no way Jasper was going to miss that, and then she would have to tell him about Carlise's tests. "It left a mark by the way." The girl said holding out her arm for the two men to see for themselves. She hissed slightly as Carlise inspected the area with his finger tips.

"Sorry," he apologized quickly.

"No, you're not." She countered. "You had to know how tender it would be."

"Yes, but that doesn't mean that I can't be sorry for causing you any pain."

"It's ok, Carlise. I know this is just a necessary evil consequence. And it really doesn't even hurt that bad. I'm just being a baby about it. Honest."

Edward chuckled to himself at a random thought. If he didn't know better, he'd think that Alice was being hormonal. First she snapped at Carlise, then lied to him about how much it hurt. First, she was angry, then protective. If that wasn't hormonal, then Edward didn't know what was. In fact, the more he thought about it, the more he realized there were times when each of sisters, and even Bella were a little moody. "Don't even think about it!" Alice snapped at him. She added a silent note to never let Bella hear him call her moody.

She must have seen the question he was getting ready to ask Carlise. Can a female vampire have PMS? Just because they couldn't reproduce didn't mean that they didn't have hormonal fluctuations throughout their lifetimes. A vampire's emotive state and general overall mood may never change, but certainly there were times and circumstances that prompted a temporary deviation from the norm for any given vampire. And for the female vampire, Edward was sure that it could be linked to a PMS like condition.

"I won't." Edward finally promised Alice out loud knowing that she was still waiting for a response to her defense of her sister, his wife. Bella was still stronger than he was after all, and he didn't want to face her moody wrath. She would make sure that he would never make another comment like that one.

Carlise observed the mostly silent conversation between the two siblings. "That's enough! Both of you!" He let the words sink in before looking back at Edward. "You need to hunt. And so does Bella. Leave Nessie here, we'll look after her. Make it a short trip, and when you get home, go straight to the hospital. We still have enough O-neg and enough of Alice's venom to start from scratch with the dilution process. And there're some things at the hospital that might make it easier for us."

"What have you been using to dilute the venom anyway? I had assumed that it was saline, but that did not feel like saline to me." The question came from Alice.

"It wasn't saline. That wouldn't work. Venom reacts to saline in much the same way that it does to water." Carlise explained. "The toxicity of venom is such that very few things can dilute it enough. And half of those things you'd never want to introduce into the human body."

Why not? How bad could it get? Alice thought the questions in Edward's direction. She was rewarded with an image of a very sick Cassandra throwing up into a large bucket that Alice was holding. The next image was of Cassandra in a child sized coffin. Never mind. I get the idea. Alice thought at her brother and the images were quickly erased from her vision.

"I'll go get Bella, and meet you back at the hospital later." Edward told Carlise, agreeing with his earlier instructions, and quickly exited the room. Carlise had been right about his need to hunt, and what he had just forced into Alice's mind was proof of that. He was sorry that his decision to inject Cassie with lethally diluted venom had hurt Alice like it had, but his dear sister needed to see that he and Carlise knew what they were doing.

"So, back to my original question. What did you use just now?" Alice asked again, unwilling to let the question go unanswered as she watched Edward flee from the room. She smiled to herself as his decision to apologize to her formed another vision in her mind.

"Beer." Carlise told her simply, but at Alice's shocked expression, he quickly added, "The alcohol and the venom cancel each other out. It's really the best solution for a diluting agent that we've found."

"Sure." Alice said, and spun around to follow Edward out of the attic. It was clear that Carlise had called a timeout on the experiments for now. Besides she had already seen that she would get to the hospital before Cassandra woke up and that was something that Alice didn't want to miss.

For the next two and a half days, Alice barely left Cassandra's side, and then it was only because one of the nurses or Dr. Milligan had made her leave. They talked a lot. About everything from what it was like to go through existence without ever having to sleep or use the bathroom to the books, especially the Mandie series, that Cassandra liked to read. They talked about music and sports, Cassandra's favorite was gymnastics and she had actually competed in a few events. Alice talked about the crafts that she liked to do, like sewing her own purses, and a dress every now and then. And Cassandra talked about the cute boy on the next floor who had come in with a broken leg. They had even managed to watch a couple movies. Alice had eventually started to call her Cassie, shortening her name as her affection for the girl grew.

Alice had also gotten to know Cassandra's parents quite well. They came to the hospital whenever they could, but were very greatful to Alice for being there when they couldn't be. They both had to work full time to pay for their daughter's medical bills. As soon as Alice heard about this, she arranged for an anonymous donation to be made to the family's account at the hospital effectively paying off everything that was owed on their bill and leaving some left over for the next few weeks that Cassandra was expected to stay in the hospital. She found out then that this wasn't the first time the child had an extended stay at Forks Memorial. She had no idea how the family had managed to cope this long.

Cassandra was the topic of almost every conversation in the Cullen home during those days. Esme, Edward, and Bella had all visited the hospital at one time or another to meet Cassandra, and all of them liked the girl almost as much as Alice did. Rosalie had visited several times, often enough that Cassandra was already calling her Aunt Rose. She never had been able to resist any excuse that she could find to spend more time with a child, even if the child was dying. She had confessed to Alice how much it hurt her to know that Cassandra may not be around much longer, but still insisted on visiting as often as Emmett let her. Emmett had flat out refused to meet Cassandra, stubbornly sticking to his opinion that it was foolhardy to become so attached to a girl that would die in a month anyway, or that they were going to have to kill.

Jasper was proving to be the most difficult Cullen when it came to Cassandra. Part of him wanted to get to know the girl, but was hindered by the fact that he was afraid her blood would be too tempting for him in close proximity. Alice had told him a dozen times that the girl's blood was so full of the Luekemia disease that she smelled entirely unappitizing. But it didn't reassure him. It was better just to stay away. Besides, he couldn't risk getting attached like the rest of the family. He had to be the one to stay unattached just in case. If they were going to have to euthanize Cassandra, then he needed to be the one to do it. There was no way Alice could at this point, and relying on Emmett was always risky. His killing wouldn't be merciful like Jasper's would be. He could relax the girl so much before snapping her neck that she wouldn't have time to be afraid or even to comprehend what was happening. So, he needed to stay objective, and that meant that as much as he would have liked to meet Cassandra, he couldn't do it. If Alice knew what he was thinking, he would stop her, so he kept his plans purposefully vague. She would expect the euthanasia to come from Carlise, and she would be watching him, and would stop him, but Jasper knew how to work around Alice, and he would if he had to. When she found out, she would be angry, but Jasper knew how to handle that too.

Eventually, the first finalized batch of double V solution was ready to try on Cassandra. The nickname for Carlise's miracle drug had been an easy enough creation. After all, they couldn't just call it vampire venom, so the double V moniker had been born. Everyone in the hospital had assumed that the new drug that Dr. Cullen wanted to introduce into Cassandra's system was FDA approved, and that he had acquired it through legitimate means. No one thought to double check the well respected man's decisions. No one was going to try to track down where the drug actually came from; it was all taken for granted by the ignorant humans that ran the hospital. Even Milligan accepted that double V solution was just another drug that Carlise had managed to find from an overseas supplier. The accounts payable division at the hospital would never receive a bill for the drug, however. But no red flags would be raised because no one in accounts payable would know be expecting a bill for the illustrious double V solution.

Edward had told Alice that if Cassandra's test proved successful, and they wanted to continue to use double V solution, then they would eventually have to legitimize its existence by creating an overseas drug manufacturing shell-company. Carlise's dream was to market the drug as an FDA approved substance available to all types of patients within the hospital setting. That would be a long time down the road, but he had high hopes for its success. The first hurdle would be today's test on Cassandra. They were all relatively confident of the outcome, but unfortunately, no one could be certain of it. Ideally, it would start to heal Cassandra immediately, without the danger of turning her.

During the previous evening, Carlise had tested the drug on each of the seven other adult vampires in the house. He excused Nessie from the testing for several reasons. Probably the biggest of which was Edward's threat to rip his head off if he hurt Nessie even a little. Out of the seven tests, all had the results that he had been hoping for. Not one of them was left with a scar on his or her arm from the diluted vampire venom he had injected into him or her. They all admitted that there was still some pain, pain that would be greater in Cassie, but pain that could still be endured. By every account, that was considered perfect results, and thus it was now time to step up the game a little, and increase the stakes. Now was the time to take double V solution to the ultimate testing grounds, to Cassandra's hospital room.

It went against everything that Carlise once represented. He had once viewed the testing of a new drug on a human patient for the first time without any concrete evidence of a certain outcome foolish. But he would be doing this for Alice, for his daughter that he could never say no to. And if anything went wrong, he would be there to fix it.

"Good news, Cassie, my dad found that drug I've been telling you about. The one that will help you. He should be here at any minute to give you your first dose, Alice practically sang the words as she danced into Cassandra's hospital room that morning.

"You still aren't going to tell me anything about it, are you?" Cassie asked weakly. During the week since Alice had first met Cassandra, she had come to easily recognize if the young girl was having a good day or bad day. And today was a bad day for Cassandra. Her eyes were sunken deep into her thin, fragile face. And her voice didn't hold the confidence that Alice knew it had on the girl's good days. Hopefully, Carlise's double V solution could change the course of the day for Cassie. If the venom could just stave off the spread of the cancer for one more week, she knew she would have time to convince the family that changing her was the only thing they could do now. It was a forbidden idea that came to her as Carlise performed his tests and Edward had talked to her several more times about his experience with Bella, and how idiotic he had been to ever consider not changing his mate. It all depended how today's treatment session ended. But unfortunately, Alice was as blind to the outcome as Carlise.

"Cassie, I told you before that I couldn't tell you exactly what is in Carlise…my dad's medicine, but I can tell you that it will help. It's very important that you believe that." Alice spoke quietly and honestly. She reached out to hold Cassandra's hand in her own. There was something about that contact, about knowing that if you made one wrong move, you could crush the fragile human hand, that gave Alice a sense of protectiveness over Cassie. She took a deep unnecessary breath before continuing. "But there is something that I can tell you now that I couldn't tell you before."

"What is it?" Cassandra tried to sit up in bed and gave Alice as big of a glowing grin as she could to show her interest.

"I can tell you what it's going to feel like," Alice told the girl, and instantly took note of the disappointment on the girl's face. "I think that it's important for you to know what to expect."

"I've been given a lot of different medicines. They pretty much all feel the same." Cassie said dryly.

"Not this one." Alice denied with a shake of her head. "This one is special. Remember who found it."

"Right. So, just because the vampire doc finds a medicine means that everything about it is automatically going to be different." Cassie said with a roll of her eyes.

"That's right it does." Alice said seriously. "Carlise has connections that aren't available to the other doctors here, thus, this medicine is unlike anything you could have possibly been given before."

"Fine. How's it different?" The girl had finally consented to letting Alice tell her what she needed to about double V solution.

"When it's first exposed to your system via the IV, it'll be very thick, so it spreads very slowly through your body. You'll probably actually be able to tell exactly how far it's spread at any given moment. Once it's been exposed to your system for a while, it'll start to move faster. The pain…" Alice had to stop for a second and swallow as she was overcome with the memory of the feel of venom in her system. "The pain you'll feel is stronger than average. Actually, those who have already been given the medicine have described it as the worst pain ever. It burns and your body will take on a life of its own. Carlise has tried to negate the effects of this by simply introducing the medicine into your existing IV, but there's still a really strong chance that you'll feel a lot of the pain, and it only gets worse with time. It'll be a total shock to your system."

"But you'll be here right? You won't leave me?" Cassie's expression didn't hold any of the fear that Alice thought it would. Instead, it was strong and confident. "I mean, the new medicines, they always hurt the worst, but that's just because I'm not use to them yet. And I know that you're saying this will be even worse than that, but that's what I'm always told about a new medicine. And I always have the same response. That I'm strong and that I can handle it. And as long as you're here with me, my Vampire Angel sister, then I can handle it, no matter how bad it gets."

Alice pulled Cassie into a snug embrace, and if she could have cried, she would have in that moment. "I will be here for you. I won't leave you." She promised before releasing the girl. "Carlise's here." She said simply and turned her eyes to the door.

"I trust that we're all ready in here," the beautiful blonde doctor said looking at his adopted daughter.

"Yes." Alice answered her adopted father.

"Do you have any questions before we begin then, Cassandra?" This time the doctor was looking at the young child in the bed.

Cassie shook her head from side to side. "No, Alice explained everything. Or least what she said she could."

"Good. Now I want you to close your eyes and start counting. Don't stop. Just count, all the way to a million if you can."

Cassie shook her head again. "No, I want to watch. You don't have to keep me distracted like some little kid. Remember, you said yourself just how mature and intelligent I was for my age. So, I think I can handle watching this. And for the record, there is no limit to how high I count if I had the time."

Carlise had to smile at the last part. "I'm glad to know that. But Alice explained to you about the pain. It is considerable, perhaps counting…"

"No." Cassie interrupted the doctor more forcefully this time. "I don't need a distraction. I have my Vampire Angel. Now, please, I would like to watch." Carlise snapped his head in Alice's direction with a meaningful glare at the girl's words.

"Later." Alice whispered in response.

Turning his genuine smile on Cassie, Carlise nodded. "Very well, then." Carlise removed the syringe he had sequestered in his lab coat pocket, and slowly injected the contents of it into the port that was attached about halfway up the IV line that led into the back of Cassandra's hand. The girl's eyes had followed his movements carefully the entire time. He stood to the side and watched the young girl intently for any sign that the venom was starting to leak into her system yet. He didn't have to wait long before the signs he was looking for appeared. There was a gasp from Cassie and she squeezed Alice's hand even tighter than before. She was clearly starting to feel the pain of the venom in her veins. Carlise carefully watched the interaction between the two girls, as Cassie clinched her eyes closed, and tried to squirm around on the bed hoping for a more comfortable position to ease the burning ache in her body. Alice tried not to crowd Cassie, but at the same time felt an impossible need to try to comfort the young girl by massaging her arm where she knew the initial burn from the venom would be the strongest.

It felt like forever, but in reality it was only a couple hours when the venom had finished running its course, and Cassie was visibly less tense. Her breath was shallow, almost as if she was panting, and a thick layer of sweat still covered her body. Her voice was hoarse from the effort of holding back her screams. And her eyes were bloodshot from the tears she had been fighting. "Is that it? Am I cured?" She managed to wheeze.

"We don't know yet. We won't know for a couple days." Alice whispered the admission to the girl. "How do you feel?"

"Tired. Sore. Scared. Relieved." The girl panted.

Alice cut her eyes to Carlise briefly as if asking permission for something. The doctor nodded imperceptibly, and moved to the locked medicine cabinet in the corner of the small hospital room. "Here," he said handing the syringe he had prepared to Alice. Alice knew how to administer the clear liquid that filled the needle as well as any doctor or nurse in the hospital, and she was closer to Cassie than he was at the moment.

"This will help you get to sleep." Alice promised as she gently inserted the needle into the port on Cassie's IV and allowed the contents to drain into the girl's system. "Tell Jasper that I won't be home until late." Alice said as she handed the now empty syringe to Carlise.

The picture before Carlise couldn't have been more perfect. An exhausted child was quickly plummeting into the waiting arms of sleep, and a pixie sized Vampire was laying her head down next to the child's to keep watchful guard over her as she slept.