The Cullen family were gathered around their kitchen table, all apart from Renesmee who was staying with Jacob. Bella had called him to come over and get Renesmee when Carlisle had said he wanted to hold a meeting with the family. It had sounded important. Jacob had of course, been there within minutes, and promised that he would take care of Renesmee for as long as they needed.

Carlisle walked into the room, and only Alice and Emmett were missing from the group. "I'll start now, Alice and Emmett already know the situation with our first... issue," Carlisle said, his face looking serious. He looked at Jasper. "Alice, Emmett and Jasper came across a car accident when they were out hunting tonight," he began to explain.

"Actually, we smelled blood, we didn't know where it was coming from at first," Jasper corrected. "Alice wanted us to go and investigate, make sure there were no more murders. We found a girl inside an upside down car, looks like she had come off the road. She was pretty badly injured when we got there."

"They brought her to the house," Carlisle continued. "Hoping that I would be able to help her."

Rosalie looked at Jasper. "Why? We're not a hospital, or some kind of rescue service." Rosalie knew how dangerous it was to be bringing humans into this house, for all of them.

"Well, we were going to leave her at first," Jasper replied. "Alert Carlisle that she was there and try and get her to the hospital. But Alice had a vision, and then we had to bring her here. Why… I'm not completely sure," he finished, looking back to Carlisle, who he hoped knew more about it than he did now.

"Her injuries were too severe for me to be able to do anything with. She would have needed blood for me to be able to save her," Carlisle looked at Esme, knowing that she at least would support his decision. He hoped.

"So she's dead?" Edward asked, not really following where this was going.

"Well, sort of… " Carlisle paused for a moment, trying to decide his next words. "Alice wanted to turn her. I told her to do it."

There was silence at the table at first. Just silence, as everyone processed what Carlisle had just said.

It was broken by Rosalie violently pushing her chair back and standing up, the force causing the whole table to shake. She looked furious. "You did what?!"

Carlisle looked at her, his expression pleading with her to calm down. He'd had quite the night already and this wasn't helping. He tried to ignore her and carried on. "Alice and Emmett are with her now…"

Rosalie couldn't believe that Emmett would have agreed to this. "What… why…?"

"Because Alice had a vision of you being killed."

Rosalie heard Emmett's voice and turned around to see both him and Alice entering the room.

"Is it done?" Carlisle asked.

Alice nodded and looked at Rosalie. "My vision... I seen the Volturi in our house," she explained as they both sat down. Rosalie reluctantly sat back in her seat. "I don't know why they were here, but Caius was going to kill you, Rose. Jane was hurting Jasper and…" she paused, the emotions she had felt while seeing the vision coming back to her. "Before he could snap your neck, a girl, the girl we just turned, she attacked him and Jane. She killed them both. She saved you. I'm certain of it."

"How do you know that?" Bella asked, her voice sounding a little tense. She couldn't have her family in danger. "How do you know she wasn't going to kill us after that?"

Alice shook her head, "I don't.. I just… I didn't feel like she was a threat. And if we didn't turn her now, then she was going to die, and what happens when the Volturi come for us then?"

"Well, I bet this is going to come as a shock to her," Bella said quietly. She had known what the Cullens were long before being turned, and she had wanted this life. She had embraced it. It was going to be different for this girl, who probably didn't have a clue that vampires or werewolves or any of their world even existed.

"We'll figure out what to tell her," Esme said, her voice trying to sound reassuring, her motherly side coming through. "We'll figure it out. What's her name?"

Emmett passed her documents that he had found in her bag around the table. "Her name is Juliet Bennett. She's a 21 year old student, and she's from Portland. I went through her phone and it looks like she was supposed to meet her family for the holidays. They'll be wondering why she hasn't turned up."

"We'll deal with it," Alice was trying to sound positive, but she wasn't quite sure how yet.

Carlisle looked towards the sitting room where Damon was, and he knew would be listening in. "And that brings me onto our next problem."

Esme knew what he was talking about. "That man in the sitting room?"

"Which man?" Jasper asked, the rest of them still not aware of anyone else being in the house.

"His name is Damon Salvatore."

Juliet had never felt a pain like this before. It felt like everything in her body was on fire. Like her blood had turned into some kind of lava, or some kind of venom, and was rushing through her.

She couldn't move. Couldn't open her eyes or her mouth to scream. Her thoughts were all jumbled. Where was she? How did this happen? What was happening to her? She felt like she wanted to die, just for this pain to end.

Every second felt like hours. Her breathing was slowing, it felt like it was stopping, but the pain persisted. There was a horrendous pain in her mouth, like something trying to cut through her gums. The pain went on and on, and Juliet was sure it was going to be never ending.

But gradually, it began to subside.

Until everything felt peaceful.

It felt like she had died and everything had just stopped.

But surely if she was dead, she wouldn't have felt so hungry.

Carlisle was aware that everyone's eyes were on him and he sighed.

"I met him in 1799. I had just started to get control of myself and gotten used to hunting animals instead of people. I was walking home late one night and he was on the street. He had been beaten pretty badly and was in bad shape. I don't know who did it, or why. I wasn't a doctor then and I didn't have anything to fix him up. I tried taking him into my house, to see if I could help him, but he was beyond it. To be honest, I struggled not to kill him right there and just feed. But I tried to make him as comfortable as possible. He looked at me, and all he said was 'I don't want to die yet.' I couldn't stop it, but I thought maybe I could give him another chance..."

"You… turned him?" Edward asked. He thought he had been the first person that Carlisle had turned.

Carlisle nodded. "I thought… well, he was supposed to turn out like you," he said, looking at Edward. "Except he didn't. I tried to get him to adapt to my diet, but… he was out of control. He killed four people in the town. I knew I was responsible for what he had become. I wasn't fully ready myself to guide someone else. I discovered that the hard way."

Carlisle hoped they would understand.

"After a few months, he told me that he was leaving the town, and I couldn't stop him. I didn't really want to, I wanted nothing more to do with him. He was stronger than me, because of his diet. He disappeared, and I didn't see him again… until tonight."

"Why didn't you tell us?" Esme asked. She thought there were no secrets between her and her husband.

Carlisle lowered his head. "Because I was ashamed. Those people died because I turned someone I couldn't control. I almost didn't bother to turn Edward after that incase… incase he turned out the same."

Edward was quiet.

"I don't know where he's been all this time," Carlisle confessed. "I mean, he's not like us. I think he still feeds on people, he's always been unstable and I don't think he's safe to have in the house."

"Why is he here?" Alice asked.

"Well, he's in trouble with the Volturi."

"What kind of trouble?" Emmett asked, his eyes narrowed.

The Volturi tended not to get involved unless it was something they deemed to be quite serious.

"Well the kind of trouble where he killed three of them," Carlisle almost regretted mentioning it, knowing that everyone would immediately be on his back to get Damon out of the house and away from them.

Rosalie still hadn't calmed down from the announcement that Alice had seemingly out of the blue decided just to turn someone, and she was seething at this latest news. "Well, we're not going to help him... send him packing!"

Carlisle didn't say anything for a moment before nodding. This was Damon's fight. But he had a feeling that his family were going to be somehow involved.

"Do you think this has anything to do with Alice's vision?" Edward asked.

Carlisle looked at them all. "That's what I'm afraid of."

Juliet groaned as she sat up and put a hand to her head. She looked around at her surroundings, she had no idea where she was. She was in a bedroom, beautifully decorated, an expensive looking dresser across from her, next to a potted plant. At the other side of it was a chair that looked vintage.

She was in a bed, that didn't belong to her. The covers were over her, like someone had tried to tuck her in and make her comfortable. She pulled them back slightly and noticed that the clothes she was wearing, which did belong to her, were ripped in several places, and they had what looked like dried blood on them. Had she been attacked? Kidnapped? She tried to think back to what she was doing before she woke up here, but everything was fuzzy. Had she been drugged?

After a quick feel of her head, her arms and a check of her torso and legs she couldn't find the source of the bleeding. In fact, apart from feeling slightly groggy and hungry, she couldn't feel any pains at all. She spun her legs to the side of the bed and slowly started to get up. Her feet were bare, but she couldn't see her shoes anywhere in the room. She glanced quickly into the dresser and seen women's clothes folded neatly. They looked expensive, sophisticated.

On top of the dresser were beautiful pieces of jewellery in a delicate little box, and a row of makeup sorted neatly next to it. Juliet noticed there was no mirror, and reached into her pocket for her phone to check her reflection for any signs of injuries on her face, but she couldn't find it. She looked around the room for any of her things and felt relieved when she seen her bag sitting in the corner. But when she walked over to it, she seen it was empty. She dropped the bag to the ground again, noticing when she did so that her hands seemed paler than usual. She didn't have much of a tan to begin with and certainly wasn't one for fake tan, but they seemed almost too white… there was no rosy tint to them or blue where her veins usually were.

Juliet thought it might be best just to wait in the room until she was certain of where she was and her short term memory came back. Although, she was concerned that her bag was empty. She was on the second floor by the looks of it, so jumping out the window wasn't really an option if it turned out she was in danger. But she was getting hungrier by the second, and didn't want to wait in here too long. She cursed her appetite and wished she didn't enjoy food so much.

She then seen a photo frame on one of the bedside tables that she hadn't noticed before. She walked over and picked it up.

The photo was of a young blonde woman, who was extraordinarily beautiful, next to a well built looking man. They were standing outside of a school and were both wearing graduation caps. The photo looked quite old, like it had been taken quite some time ago.

As she studied it, she heard a noise behind her and jumped, almost losing her grip on the frame.

As she turned around, she noticed a man eyeing her from the doorway. "You look like you've had a rough night." His smile and his eyes were just… dazzling. He was leaning against one side of the doorway with his arms folded, and looked like he had not long come in from outside. His hair was damp and sticking to his forehead and he was wearing a leather jacket, which was glistening from being wet.

Juliet suddenly felt very awkward, standing there in her ripped clothes and swallowed. "I uh… don't really remember to be honest," she replied quietly. "Perhaps you can tell me about it, or maybe where I am?"

Damon shook his head and walked into the room. "I think I'll leave that to the person that found you," he replied, sounding slightly amused. His odds were probably already low of Carlisle helping him, and he doubted that would be increased by him scaring off the family's newest 'pet' or whatever it was they were doing here. But he had gotten bored sitting listening to the family gossip about him, so he had taken a wander.

"Is this your house?" Juliet asked, as she sat down on the edge of the bed.

Damon shook his head. "No, it belongs to a…" he seemed to pause for a moment to think. "Distant relative." He eyed the blood on the bed sheets and her clothes. What a shame they had to turn her. He was sure she would have been delicious.

Juliet was quiet for a moment before looking up at him. "What's your name?" Juliet was confused as to why she didn't feel more threatened in the current situation, she had woken up in a strange room, in a strange house, and now there was a strange man in the room, and she still didn't have any answers to any of her questions. But she didn't feel like she was in any danger.

"Damon, Damon Salvatore. It's nice to meet you, Juliet Bennett," Damon smirked. He had of course, learned this from listening in on the Cullens.

Juliet furrowed her eyebrows, wondering how he knew her name. But just as she was about to ask, the hunger grew stronger, to the point where she was now almost painfully hungry. "You don't have anything to eat, do you Damon?" Juliet stopped herself and wondered why she was being so forward, she didn't even know this man. "I'm sorry, that was incredibly rude, I…"

But she was cut off by Damon's chuckle. He extended a hand for her, which she accepted. Oh, her cold, cold skin. Thankfully, he had picked up some tricks in the last two hundred years since leaving Carlisle and no longer felt like a walking ice cube. "Let me take you to the kitchen. And to your rescuers."

Juliet walked with him through the house. It seemed large, with plenty of doors to various rooms. "This house is… beautiful," she remarked, quite impressed by the furnishings and the decor.

Damon couldn't deny it was a nice house, and nodded in agreement.

Juliet noticed there weren't any family photos on the walls here, but instead there was a vast amount of artwork. The house was impeccably clean and the lights seemed to sparkle off the marble floors.

After walking down a lengthy hallway, Juliet began to hear voices, both male and female. There was definitely more than one of each. They soon came to an archway which led into a large kitchen and dining area.

Juliet quickly surveyed her surroundings.

There were eight people at the table. If it wasn't a kitchen, she would have said they were holding some kind of meeting, they all looked like they were gathered around a table in a boardroom. She immediately recognised two of them, from the photo she had seen in the bedroom. The beautiful blonde girl, and the man that she was sitting next to. Though they didn't look like they had aged much from the picture, which was strange since it had looked so dated. Then there was a young girl, with short dark hair, who stood up and smiled softly at her. She was joined by another man. Another couple sat towards the end of the table, the girl with long dark hair, and the man with shorter blonde hair, both watching her with expressions that she couldn't read. Juliet couldn't help but notice that they all looked really quite pale, the same as she had noticed on her hands. Hopefully there wasn't some sort of illness going around here.

Finally, there was an older looking man and woman who stood up from the table and walked over towards her. "Ah, Juliet, you're awake," The man smiled at her and extended his hand for her to shake. "My name is Carlisle Cullen, and this is my family." Carlisle looked at Damon, whose eyes weren't giving anything away. What had he told Juliet already? Juliet seemed fairly calm though, as she shook Carlisle's hand.

Damon smirked at Carlisle. "Your guest is hungry."

Everyone in the room knew that nothing in their refrigerator or cupboards, which they kept for Renesmee and Jacob when he visited, would satisfy Juliet's hunger. Apart from Juliet, that was. Carlisle gestured towards the table. "Perhaps you can come and sit with us, and we can explain why you're here first?"

Juliet smiled gratefully. "Yes, that would be nice."

Carlisle waited until she had sat down before turning to Damon. "You're not a part of this," he warned, annoyed that he was only here to complicate things more, and seemed to be wanting to stir up some trouble. "Why don't you go and wait in the lounge and we'll discuss your problem once we're done here." By discuss, Carlisle meant try and get rid of him.

"Ohh, no fair," Damon grinned, but he did slowly start to back away. "I wanted to see her reaction when she finds out what y'all turned her into."

"This isn't some kind of joke, Damon," Carlisle said between clenched teeth, and watched as he left the room, waving a hand at Carlisle dismissively.

Carlisle walked back over to the table to join everyone else, where Juliet had now sat down next to Esme. The poor girl probably wondered why everyone was staring at her.

"Juliet, I'm Esme, Carlisle's wife," Esme introduced herself, before going round the table. "This is Rosalie and Emmett, Alice and Jasper, and Bella and Edward."

"It's nice to meet you all," Juliet smiled, noticing now that she was closer that all of them had a very unique eye colour, all of their eyes were a beautiful gold. She wasn't sure if they were all related, or in couples, but their eyes were all matching, which she found odd.

"So I suppose you're wondering why you're here," Carlisle decided it was best just to get to it. This was going to be a long night.

"I am," Juliet confirmed, "I can't really remember anything prior to waking up here."

"You were in a car accident," Alice told her softly, waiting a moment to see if it would jog her memory at all. "We found you at the side of the road, Jasper, Emmett and I, while we were... out. Carlisle is a doctor, so we brought you back to the house to see if he could help. You had a lot of injuries. We didn't think you were going to survive."

Juliet was quiet for a minute before speaking. Surely if the accident had been that bad she would have had broken bones, or cuts or bruises. "But.. I don't understand? I don't have any injuries? How long ago was the accident?" Maybe she had been in a coma or something? No, surely not.

"Not long ago," Emmett confirmed. "A few hours."

"Your injuries were life threatening," Carlisle said, showing her pictures he had taken using Emmett's phone. He wanted her to know that there wasn't much that could be done for her, and that they hadn't turned her without good reason. If she knew that she was going to die if they hadn't, then maybe she would take it easier. He showed her the pictures of her head wound, as well as a large cut on her torso, and a deep one on her leg. "You were losing too much blood."

Juliet looked even more confused. "Then how have I healed so quickly? How am I alive?"

Esme put a hand on hers, and Juliet noticed she was cold. Really cold. But then she realised that she was just as cold as Esme was. "That's the thing," Esme began. "You aren't."