Thanks to all of you who have been reading this! Sorry I haven't updated in a while, but between work and having to go to the library to use a computer, it hasn't been easy.

I sat in the living room while Carlisle was in the kitchen with his cell phone. I strained to hear what he was saying, but he turned a little radio that he had sitting on the counter on and I growled under my breath. It wasn't loud, but it was enough to mask what he was saying. He knew me well to know that I'd try to listen in on what he was saying.

He emerged into the living room a few minutes later, a smug smile on his face. I wondered what he was up to, but didn't ask. Instead, I merely raised an eyebrow and waited for him to speak.

"We're all clear to go." he said, grasping my hand and pulling me up to my feet.

"Where are we going?" I asked, fully expecting him to try and evade the question.

"Sequim." he asnwered readily and I frowned. I knew Sequim. It was a tiny little town known for its fishing, but not much else. Why on earth would he be taking me on a date in Sequim? I would find out, though.

He chuckled to himself as I got my shoes on and I rolled my eyes. "You know, it's not very nice to be laughing about something you have no intention of talking about." I reminded him in a mockly stern voice as he opened the passenger door of his black Mercedes for me before I even cleared the door into the garage. He immediately wiped the smile from his face and I laughed at him. He had old-fashioned manners, but it made a really nice change from the pack and I gave him a small smile as I climbed in and put my seatbelt on. Before I even had it clicked in, he was already in the driver's seat. Vampire speed was sort of impressive at times.

"Do you have any questions for me?" he asked lightly as we left the driveway and got onto Highway 101, heading east toward Port Angeles. Sequim was a little way past that.

"Like what?" I asked. I had a million of them and wondered if there were any topics that were off limits.

"Anything you want to know." he replied. "I am an open book to you."

I considered this carefully for a moment before I blurted out, "Just how old are you?"

He smiled as we went flying down the highway and I noticed how fast he was driving. He was in perfect control though, and always slowed down whenever there was a cop nearby. "I'm 363, give or take a couple of years. I'm not sure of exactly when I was born."

My brow furrowed. How could you not know exactly when you were born? Carlisle seemed to read the question in my face and continued on. "In my time, dates were not marked as accurately. I was born sometime in the 1640's, before Cromwell's reign but I don't know an exact year. I could be somewhere between 22 and 24, so I go with 23 as my physical age since it's right in the middle."

That made sense and I nodded. "Were you always a...vegetarian?" I asked, picking up the term I had heard Jake use a couple of times.

"Always." he answered immediately.

"Why?" came my immediate rejoinder.

He took a moment before he replied. "I never wanted to be like this." he said softly. "My father saw evil everywhere he looked and it was his mission to eradicate it. I was his only son, his heir if you will to his parish, for he was a preacher."

Carlisle's father was a preacher? That was an oxymoron if I ever heard one and he shot me a slightly amused glance before continuing his story. "When he grew too old to continue his raids against witches and other forms of evil, including vampires, he made it my job to continue this. But he was never satisfied with me, for I did not see what he did and I was careful to gather all of the facts before I acted."

His face still had a smile, though it twisted into a slightly bitter expression. "I was smart. Too smart, if you will, for I found a true coven of vampires in the sewers under the city of London. I gathered my father's parishioners and gave chase to them one night. One was an ancient, I am certain of it, for he called to his companions in Latin. I was a very fast runner as a human, and I caught up to him. He fell on me, biting into my neck. Two others were close by, however, and he left me to die in the street while he carried one of the men off to be his meal."

I was spellbound, hardly daring to breath as he talked. "I knew that if my father found me, he would have the bodies burned. I crawled away into a cellar and laid for three agonizing days while I was changed. It was only after that I realized what I had become. I was disgusted. I was evil, an abomination before the eyes of the church, and God. I tried to drown myself. I tried to leap from the highest cliffs I could. And yet, I remained whole. I wandered far from other humans, so I could not do what was done to me. Finally, crazy with hunger one night, I drained a deer. And something happened after I finished. I had eaten deer when I was human. Obviously, I could do the same now with the blood. And it was then that I began to have some hope for my existence. I swam to France and began to study in the universities there, far from the eyes of my father. It was there I discovered the art of medicine and found my true calling in life; healing others."

He smiled as he glanced at me, sitting so still. "You may talk, you know." he chuckled as we sped out of Port Angeles.

I had to laugh at this, though I felt bad for him. How hard was it to know that your own father would kill you without giving you a chance? I was glad I would never know what that felt like.

"I guess...I'm just taking it all in." I replied lightly and he smiled. It was a kinder smile this time, not as bitter as the other one had been.

"It is a lot to understand." he said kindly as we reached the beach in Sequim. I was utterly shocked at how little time it had taken us to get there and I didn't answer as he came around and unlocked my door. As I got out, a man immediately came up to greet us and it was then that I saw the hang gliders sitting in the sand.

"Seriously?" I demanded, looking at him. Nobody had ever taken me on a date this awesome before!

"Seriously." he laughed, his grin lighting up his face. I threw my arms around him before I thought about what I was doing. I quickly stepped back, going slightly red at my impetuous gesture, but a quick glance at his face told me that Carlisle was surprised, as well as pleased. Smiling to myself, I listened as Tom introduced himself to me and began guiding me through the finer points of hang gliding...

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