AUTHOR'S NOTE: Okay, here is the rest of Chapter 9! Hope you all like it! Happy Holidays!!

DISCLAIMER: I do not own anything that is recognizable as being from the Twilight books by the amazing Stephenie Meyer. I also do not own The Phantom of the Opera or anything associated with it.

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Chapter Nine - Continued

Carlisle's POV continued….

I stepped out from my corner to stand next to Mrs. Daniels. She turned watery light blue eyes to me, as she gently laid a hand on my sleeve.

"I should have known something was wrong," she said with a shake of her head.

"We all should have known," I agreed, turning to her. "I will stay with her tonight, Mrs. Daniels, with your permission. I would like to monitor her condition to make sure it doesn't worse."

"I know I won't be able to be much of use, as much as I would like to be. I appreciate whatever you can do for my granddaughter, Dr. Cullen. She is all I have left."

I smiled softly to her. "I will do what I can."

"Thank you. Can I offer you something? Coffee maybe, if you intend to stay up all night."

"No, thank you."

With a nod, she left me alone with Natasha, who rolled over in bed to look at me.

"Promise me, you won't take me to the hospital," she gently pleaded. "Just wait until morning, please!"

As much as I wanted to argue the point, I knew that it would be fruitless.

"I promise."

Closing her eyes, she nodded her head and fell sound asleep. I took the chair that was tucked over her desk and pulled it over to the side of her bed. Draping my coat over the back of the chair, I settled down for the night.

I watched for about an hour, as she tossed and turned, moaning softly in her sleep. When I could take it no more, I reached out and pressed the back of my fingers to her forehead.

If I thought she was hot before, she was even hotter now. I could tell that her fever was escalating to a very unsafe height. Raking a hand through my hair, I debated what to do. I knew I could get Mrs. Daniels to bring me ice water and a towel, but there was only so much good that could do. Besides, it would probably heat up too quickly.

So, I went to the dread plan b, which was probably not the smartest idea on my part, but I knew that it had to be done.

I rose from the chair, pulling off my sweater and rolled up the sleeves on the shirt underneath.

Natasha had rolled over so that she was almost pushed up against the wall. I sat down on the side of the bed and reaching out a gentle hand, stroked her heated cheek with a finger. She sighed softly into my touch, rolling back over again, and settling her whole cheek in my hand.

Each second that passed, all I could think about was how bad an idea this was. However, there was no way around it and no matter how much I tried to reason with myself, it was the only choice I had at the moment.

I stretched out on the bed next to her and gently pulled her so she rested against my side. Her head was nuzzled into the crook of my shoulder and I could feel her hot breath against my neck.

I felt her shudder at the first touch of my icy cold embrace, but quickly settled into it. She fell into a deeper and more comfortable sleep, as I pulled the blanket around her so I would be too cold for her.

I continued to stroke her cheek with a single finger as I gazed down at her now peaceful face.

She was beautiful with her dark eyelashes resting against her porcelain skin. I wondered what I had done in my long existence to be able to hold this angel in my arms.

For the first time in a long time, I was ashamed of myself, of what I was, of what I was capable of doing. The dull aching pain in my chest, where my heart would have been beating, made me feel completely hopeless. It was like I was standing on that cliff, as I had all those centuries ago, just wanting death. Even now, I am still a monster, the one thing that my father and than myself despised the most. I am a killer and it was something I had grappled with for a long time.

Of course, I had grown into myself over time. I was successful at what I did, I maintained an unreasonable amount of self-control, but now I felt the wall that I had built up around myself, crumbling down. I had learned to accept the things I could not change, I had built a family, but I was still alone.

After almost three centuries, I knew that I needed someone in my life. I found Edward and while he filled that void that was missing from my existence, he still was not what I needed. Edward understood me in ways I did not understand myself. In my own way, I felt like I had done right by him and by Rosalie and Emmett. It was their fates in my hands and immortality was the only option I could give them. Even Alice and Jasper had added something to my existence that I had never expected to find.

There were six of us now, which for a group of vampires was an exceedingly large number together in one place. But I was proud of them, of all of them. Each held a special place in my heart.

I looked down at Natasha again. Here was this single human that filled the final empty space in my long dead heart. I had tried to keep my distance from her, and while she may not know how much she means to me, no amount of strength I had would ever keep me away anymore.

I wanted to get into her head and understand her. I had thought of allowing Edward to come close, to come the hospital or something, to get near enough to her to hear her thoughts. But I soon realized how invasive that may be and I knew that Edward would not exactly be happy about using his gifts in that way. So, I resigned to leave it be for now.

Around four in the morning, her fever started to break and she cooled down significantly. While, it would have been a good idea then to get up from the bed, to let her go, I could not do it. I pulled the blanket around her some more.

Even though I was relieved that her fever had gone down, I was hoping to have some excuse to take her to the hospital in the morning. Now, it seemed like that was not going to happen.

Under no further conditions, I had to find out what was wrong with her. It was driving me crazy that I could not just figure it out on my own. No matter of reading that I had done, had lead me to any more conclusion. I needed facts and numbers, and without tests, I was not going to get them.

In the morning I was going to have to have a serious talk with her. I could not stand the suspense for much longer. One thing, I was absolutely certain about, was that this wasn't something common. Something was seriously wrong.

I spent the rest of the night, thinking. Thinking about what I was going to do come morning. I knew I was going to have to tell her sooner or later what I was. As much as it wasn't a good idea, probably the stupidest I had ever had. My family was going to kill me for that. However, there was no way around it. If there was one thing I was absolutely certain about, was that I wanted Natasha in my life. The only way I would be able to live with myself and to allow our relationship to grow, I could no longer keep secrets from her.

While it was a dangerous thing, to disclose my darkest secret and that of five other individuals, it was the right choice.

Natasha's POV

I shifted restlessly in my sleep. It felt like my head was resting on a cold hard rock. God only knew where that feeling had some from. I knew I was in my bed. That much I did remember.

I remembered Carlisle taking me home. I remembered Grandma helping me get ready for bed.

It was all very strange. My head was on a rock, my body was pushed up against it, and it was ice cold.

I shot up into a sitting position, clutching my blanket to my chest. My heart was pounding against my ribs. I pressed the heel of my hand to my head, it was pounding and I felt kind of dizzy from sitting up so fast.

"You should probably lay back down," said a velvety smooth voice from behind me.

I slowly turned my head and came nose to nose with Carlisle.

I gasped, "What are you doing here?"

"I was watching over you last night, to make sure that your condition didn't worsen. You still look quite pale."

My head was swimming. I knew I had a fever last night, but it still didn't justify why he was in my bed.

"I mean, what are you doing in my bed?"

He smiled, flashing his brilliant white teeth. "Your sleep was very fitful, I thought it might help."

I took a deep breath. "So, holding me helped?"

He just nodded.

Just then a thought hit me! He was the rock I was laying on moments ago. It was so strange. Over the weeks I had known Carlisle, there were certain things about his nature that were hard for me to go unnoticed. Day after day, the list was getting longer. This much I did know: he was pale white and ice cold, I had never seen him eat or drink anything; he never got tired, his eyes were the most unusual shade of hazel and gold and sometimes he moved at a pace that was impossible for most other people. And while I was thinking of it, I had never seen him go out in the sunlight.

I lifted my hand slowly and gently touched his cheek. His skin was cold, smooth and hard, like I was touching an ancient marble statue. His unusually colored eyes bored into my mine.

Then I asked the one question that came to mind, before I had a chance to stop myself.

"What are you?"

"Do you really want to know?" he asked in a soft voice as he took reached out a hand to cup my cheek.

I hesitated for a moment before answering. There was no going back now.

"Yes."

"I am a vampire."

TO BE CONTINUED…