SO FAR IT SEEMS SHANE IS AHEAD OF THE GAME. WHAT ARE THEY GOING TO DO IF SHANE AND HIS COVEN KEEP KILLING PEOPLE? BLOOD IS IN ELLIE AND EMMA'S HANDS. ARE ELLIE AND EMMA GOING TO HAVE TURN THEMSELVES IN? OR CAN THE CULLENS FIGURE OUT A PLAN? WILL THE SOLUTION BE TO TURN THEM INTO VAMPIRES?

CHAPTER ELEVEN *ELLIE*

"They are going to kill more people," I say, my voice completely strained. I'm sitting outside under the tree, with Emmett's arms wrapped around me tight. We are looking up at the night sky, discussing the events of today. I don't know how they think this is going to play out. If they keep protecting us, people's lives are going to be in danger. I don't think I can live with that. I'm still thinking about those girls, innocent and unknowing, slaughtered because of us. I hide my face from Emmett. My eyes are filling with tears once again.

"They will kill you," Emmett says to me, caressing my blonde curls.

I sigh against him. "My life doesn't compare to all the lives that could be lost..." My voice breaks saying this to him. I hate how much my past has came to haunt us. I wanted to live normal, now no matter where we turn normal is not the destination. "You need to turn me."

"We can fight El," Emmett begins. "We are strong and we can fight against them. Carlisle is devising a plan as we speak. We don't have to turn you." Emmett turns my head with his finger under my chin, making me look into his beautiful eyes. "Your humanity is important. You can't throw it all away. We will fight and we will win."

A tear slides down my cheek. "You are still not getting it, Emmett. That is risking your life. It is risking all of your families' lives. I can't..." I trail off again, my voice failing me. Emmett knows how heart broken I would be if any of them died because of us. I can't lose them. Any of them. I won't. "I think it should be my choice to make. I want to be turned." I try to make myself sound strong.

Emmett moves from underneath me so fast, I almost hit my head on the bark. "No El, you are still not getting it!" His voice is filled with anger as he stares down at me. "I don't want to turn you!"

His words slap me in the face. "Why? Because you don't really want me forever?"

Emmett paces back and forth, mumbling under his breath, before deciding to answer me. "I love you. I was born to love you and I always will! My love for you is why I won't turn you. This life," He gestures all around him as he says this, "is not what you deserve. You deserve to be human, to have all the perks of being human. What about kids, El? What about this..." He places his hand over my heart. "That heart beat. That wonderful and beautiful sound signifying that you are living."

He keeps his eyes on mine. He is waiting for my response. I choke back the tears that have been escaping. I place my hand over his-which is still over my heart. "This heart belongs to you. If something happens to you, my heart beat will no longer be in existence. I will not live a day without you."

We stand in silence, standing so close I know he can hear my heart pounding. He is staring me down, hoping that I will surrender. Doesn't he realize just how stubborn I actually am? Doesn't he realize his life is way more important to me than my own? I stare up back at him, standing my ground, showing him he won't win this argument.

Emmett shakes his head and heads towards the house. "You are impossible." He mumbles before disappearing completely.

I try to follow after him. I search the house, but with no luck, I end up finding Carlisle sitting at his desk. He raises his head and gives me a sincere smile. "Hello Ellie."

I return his smile. "Hello. May I come in?" I ask, not wanting to be rude and just enter inside.

He gestures for me to sit in front of his desk and I oblige. My eyes take in my surroundings. Most of the wall space was taken up by towering bookshelves that reached high above my head and held more books than I'd ever seen outside a library. Carlisle is sitting in a leather chair, placing the book he was looking through to the side.

"Do you need to talk about something?" He questions, probably noticing my facial expression.

I must look like a complete mess-with my eyes rimmed red from crying, and my hair wind blown from being outside. He must know that Emmett and I got into a fight. I look around the cultured room. There is a wall without bookshelves but instead various paintings with vibrant colors. I spot one that catches my attention, a small square oil painting in a plain wooden frame. The painting is not as bright as the others, it's painted in various tones of sepia. I study the details of it-a miniature city full of slanted roofs, a wide river fills the foreground, crossed by a bridge covered with structures that looked like tiny cathedrals.

Carlisle notices my interest in the painting. "London in the sixteen-fifties. The London of my youth."

I maneuver my attention to him, to his gold eyes, and smile. "When you turned?" He nods to my question. "Can you tell me about it?" I almost regret asking him. He may not want to go back to those days.

"Of course."

I notice the way his face twists as he thinks back to all those years ago. He glances at the paintings, taking them all in, reminiscing I'm assuming. "When I knew what I had become I rebelled against it. I tried to destroy myself. But that's not easily done."

"How?" The question slips out of my mouth before I can catch it. I must seem so rude to him.

Instead of scolding me for abruptly asking that question, he answers it. "I jumped from great heights. I tried to drown myself in the ocean..." He trails off, thinking back to those dark days. "But I was young to the new life, and very strong. It was difficult to resist feeding, but I somehow did it while I was so new. The instinct is more powerful as a newborn, it takes over every part of you. But I was so repelled by myself that I had the strength to try to kill myself with starvation. But it isn't possible though. There are only a few ways to kill one of us."

I almost ask about them but I bite my tongue before it can slip out.

"I grew very hungry, and eventually weak. I strayed from the human population, afraid I may give into the temptation. My will power was weakening. For so many months, I wandered by night, seeking places I could be alone, loathing the very thing I had become. One night a herd of deer was passing through my hiding place. The thirst was wild within, it took over and I attacked without a thought. My strength returned and I realized there was an alternative to being the monster I hated. My new philosophy was born."

I smiled at his sudden happiness that replaced the haunted look. I can tell how victorious he feels to not have to do the very thing he hated himself for. It was remarkable.

"I could exist without being a monster. I found myself again. I began to make use of time. I always was eager to learn. I studied by night, planned by day. I went to universities in Europe. I studied various things like music, science, medicine-and found my calling. To save human lives. It took me two centuries of torturous effort to perfect my self-control. Now I am all but immune to the scent of human blood, and I am able to do the work I love without agony."

He seems to find great peace being a doctor. I have always thought about going into medicine myself, but never really had the chance to buckle down on my studies. I watch him in awe. He is tremendous, everything he went through and able to do what he does, while being what he is.

"I was studying in Italy when I discovered the others there. They were much more civilized and educated than the wraiths of the London sewers." Carlisle saunters over to a painting that has a balcony in dark colors. There are figures standing on it, looking down on the mayhem that is unfolding below.

I examined each figure, analyzing each of their characteristics, when I notice the golden-haired man. "That is you?" I point at the figure and Carlisle nods. "What happened to the others?"

"They are still there," He sits back at his desk, and I return to the seat in front of it. "They have been there for a very long time. I stayed with them for only a short while, a few decades. I admired their civility, their refinement, but they persisted that my way of life was needing to be cured. They believed it wasn't natural. They tried to persuade me, and I tried to persuade them, to no avail. I then decided to begin a new journey to the New World. I dreamed to find others like myself. I was very lonely."

I can only imagine how lonely and sad he must have been. Being alone in his world, no one to talk to, no one to share his new philosophy with. He must have been the odd man out. I feel myself sadden just thinking about it all. Carlisle has been through a tremendous amount of pain.

"I didn't find anyone for a long time," He continues. "But I found I could interact with unsuspecting humans, as monsters began to be well fairy tales. I began practicing medicine." I once again see his face light up talking about his passion. "I'd been turning over the idea in my mind for several years, that if I couldn't find a companion, I would create one. I was a little clueless on how my transformation occurred. So I was hesitant. I decided when the influenza epidemic hit that since I couldn't find a companion, I would create one. I wasn't absolutely sure how my own transformation had occurred, so I was hesitant. And I was loath to steal anyone's life the way mine had been stolen. That's when I found Edward."

After Edward, throughout the years, the full circle of Cullens was created. "How did you meet Esme?" I ask him.

Carlisle's lips turn up into a smile. "I first met Esme when she was 16 and I treated her broken leg; she fell out of a tree and I was the only doctor present at that time. Her affection on me was strong enough for me to turn Esme into a vampire 10 years later, when I found her dying after she tried to commit suicide because she had lost her son. I couldn't watch her suffer any longer, I had to turn her. I had fallen in love with her. To my surprise, Esme accepted her transformation very easily. We fell in love and married quickly."

I watch his eyes fill with the love he has for her. Even after all these years he still has that first love look on his face. It is incredible. Could Emmett ever love me the way Carlisle loves Esme? "Your love for her motivated you to turn her?"

He nods his head slowly. "She was dying. The way she was suffering-it was hard to watch. I was scared on how she would take all of it though. But Esme said that her love for me was stronger than any fear she had of being a vampire."

I wring my hands together. "That is really amazing."

Carlisle nods, before saying, "Emmett really loves you. Within the short time you have been together, I have seen his love grow for you. He has his reasons for why he doesn't think you should be turned."

"What are those reasons?"

Carlisle sighs as he ponders what to say next. "Emmett and I share a close bond. He goes to me anytime he needs help and I to him. He has opened up to me that not only does he not want to take your humanity away, but he is afraid you will despise him for it."

I nod remembering him mention that. "I told him I wouldn't though. Why does he believe I will?" I know I sound like a love struck teenager, and I guess in truth I am. I am only eighteen, but every time I see Emmett, there is something inside me that tells me we belong together.

"I'm sure you know that awhile before you, Rosalie and Emmett were together." He says to me and I nod. "They seemed to be very happy but there was something going on deep down. Rosalie resented who she was, still does, and let Emmett know that every day. She had said, on many occasions, that she would give him and everything else up to be human again if she had the chance. She wasn't as happy as she was letting on. Rosalie is set in her ways, and Emmett loved her but in his mind she was telling him that he wasn't giving her everything she wanted. He would do anything in the world for her, but in return she would still be miserable. Emmett was tired of feeling unworthy."

The realization slaps me across the face. He thinks I am going to do to him what Rosalie done. He thinks I am going to be miserable with him.

"I love them both very much. I know Rosalie is just hurting because of the things she missed out on, I understand it completely. But true, deep love, washes away that pain. It did for Esme and I. They just wasn't right for each other. I believe that you are the reason for that. To me, you are Emmett's one true love, like Esme is mine. Emma and you are exactly what Jasper and Emmett needs."

Hearing him say this, makes the tears I had been holding in fall down my cheeks. Carlisle believes we are meant to be together. He hands me a tissue and I gladly take it. "Thank you. For everything." I say between whimpers.

Carlisle smiles, before getting out of his and walking over to me. He wraps his arm around me. "You are very welcome. I know you and Emmett will make the right decision in the end. I believe you know what you are doing. And if it helps Esme and I would love to have you and Emma in our family. We just want your thoughts to be clear about all of this. This decision is a huge one to make."

I hug him back before I begin my way out of his office. "I believe my decision was made the day I realized how much I love Emmett." I smile at him, which he returns it, and walk out into the hallway. I'm glad I reached out to him. It was amazing learning his history. The sadness that he has felt has made him the strong vampire he is today. I hadn't known what I wanted to do with my life-love, career, and everything that goes along with it. But after listening to Carlisle explain his life to me, it has become clear.

I will be with Emmett forever. That is definitely decided. I will study medicine like Carlisle and be the strong vampire I know I can be. I know they say that it is almost impossible for a newborn to have control, but for some reason deep down, I know that I will be able to. I don't know why but after that conversation with Carlisle, it has made my future seem more clear than ever before.

I head into my room, and jump when I see Emma sitting on my bed, black lines running down her cheeks. The smile I once had has disappeared and is replaced with worry. "Hey what's wrong?" I place my butt on the comforter and wrap my arms around my sister.

Emma hands me a slip of paper. "This was on my nightstand in my room at our old place."

"What were you doing there?" I ask, wanting to scold her for going in the first place.

"I was picking up some things I left. Look, stop trying to go all mom on me and read the damn thing."

I open the paper and try to flatten out the creases.

Emma and Ellie,

It seems you haven't listened to my warning. I guess human lives are meaningless to you. Well let's see if this rattles you. If you don't come to the forest where Jasper took Emma, at midnight, your boyfriend's will be dead. You better hurry, their lives are in your hands.

I drop the paper onto my lap. All the happiness I had before has evaporated. "We have to go Emma."

Emma has fresh tears fall down her face. "My question is how did they know I was going to go there?"

I shake my head, confused as well. "It doesn't matter at this point. What matters is do you remember where Jasper took you?"

She nods her head.

We both get off my bed. "It's eleven. We need to head that way." I grab the back pack in the corner of my closet and pack some things that we may need.

"Are we going to tell them?" Emma questions.

I shake my head as we try to quietly exit my room and the house. "Alice may see this anyway. But we can't risk anything right now. We have to go Em."

I try to ignore the despair I feel in the pit of my stomach. I am never going to see Emmett again. All the future I was picturing is but a dream now. Shane will kill us. I know he will. I suck in the sadness though. I will be strong. We inch our way into the forest, flashlights pointed in the direction we are needing to go. Emma is leading the way.

I swipe away branches as we walk towards our doom. Death. The word makes me choke. After what seems like hours of walking, Emma stops at a clearing. I look down at my phone clock and notice it is five till midnight. We made it.

Emma waves her flashlight around to see if she spots anything. The light illuminates a pale face then with glowing red eyes. "Kevin?"