Warning: Parts in this are a bit graphic and violent. Reader caution advised.

Chapter 1:

Edward and I laughed softly together as we exited the theater. Edward wanted to see a reshowing of Alice in Wonderland as he knew I enjoyed the book —not as good as Shakespeare or Jane Austen's work— and he enjoyed the film. I hated how his eyes lit up every time he saw the shorts films of the Great War. Edward was eager to join in the fight, and every time he mentioned it my stomach would drop. I know his mother felt the same way; she prayed at every dinner that the horrid war would end.

He, just like the majority of the male population, seemed to be turned to a soldier's glory. He would talk about how it was his honor and duty to partake in the war. Sometimes, I wish his mother would knock some sense into him, but I didn't see how it would help. Neither her nor I could get him to give up the dream of being a soldier. Even his father couldn't get him to focus on his studies to become a lawyer right away.

He knew how I felt. He just saw the glory of battle. The victory that was surely to come. All I saw was people needlessly dying. So much pain and bloodshed that he willingly wanted to participate in. When I would bring up our future, he would grimace and quickly change the subject. I knew he wanted a future with me; he brought it up before the war started. I just didn't understand how he would be willing to throw it all away for bloodshed and death. Possibly even his death. I shivered at the thought.

"Bella?" Edward's voice startled me. I looked up into concerned emerald eyes. "Are you alright?"

"I'm okay," I answered immediately. "Just a little cold." It was unseasonably cold for September. I huddled into my jacket and Edward walked closer to me as we continued to my house. I lived a little farther than the city, not so far as needing to use a car, but far enough away that we didn't have many close neighbors.

As the houses became sporadic, I sighed and peeked at him from the corner of my eye. He was smiling slightly, slowly gaining a look of mischief in his otherwise innocent eyes. "Edward," I sighed softly. He looked at me smiling wider until I spoke the next words. "You really don't have to walk me all the way home. We already passed your house. I'll be fine."

He frowned at me. "What kind of gentlemen would I be if I made a lady walk home by herself?" His eyes seemed to dare me to argue. He reached for my hand and intertwined our fingers.

I sighed again knowing he wouldn't listen and started to swing our hands slightly between us. "I'm used to taking care of myself. I used to walk by myself all the time at night." It was true. I was the only child of our household so there were no other children to share the responsibilities with. My father was gone a lot of the time because of his work in law enforcement and my mother was working long shifts at the hospital as a nurse because of the epidemic. That left me to take care of the shopping and household responsibilities. There were times I would be walking this stretch of road in the pitch black of night.

Edward's frown deepened and he abruptly pulled me around to face him. "I would prefer it if you didn't wander around at night by yourself. I'm not far away and am more than willing to chaperone you." He smirked and pulled me in for a quick peck on the lips.

I giggled, slightly shocked he wasn't acting like the gentleman I knew, and smacked his chest lightly with my hand. "Oh, is that so? It seems like it would be safer without you chaperoning me."

He rolled his eyes but then froze. "Don't move," he barely breathed. I was shocked to see a look of absolute terror in his eyes.

He slightly pulled me around to face the way we were going as he backed us up. It took everything I had to not scream when I saw it. The first thing I noticed was the eyes that shone in the moonlight. They were animalistic but held an intelligence unlike any animal I've ever seen.

As it came closer, I realized just how big it was. It looked like a wolf but it stood taller than a man on all fours. Its fur was black as night, the perfect camouflage. We should have noticed this massive creature immediately. When we slowly took another step back, the monster pulled its lips back to expose a row of bright white fangs. I didn't know what this monster was but I knew now that I didn't have to fear Edward dying overseas; we were going to die here. Tonight.

It happened fast. The next step we took caused my foot to snap a twig. Before the sound faded into the night, the monster had launched itself at us, almost invisible to the eye. It tackled me to the ground and I felt something sink into my shoulder as I hit the dirt. I let out a blood curdling scream as pain overtook my mind. I could hear Edward screaming my name in the background as he rushed forward. I saw the beast's head turn towards him and bare its blood-soaked teeth at him.

Just as the beast was about to launch itself at Edward, who was still running towards me, I grabbed onto the beast's front legs. My vision was blurring from the pain in my shoulder, but my only thought was to keep Edward alive. It might have been too late for me, but I would give Edward a chance to live.

"Run!" I screamed at the top of my lungs and the animal, with an irritated look in its eyes, turned back to me and sunk its fangs into my stomach this time. I screamed as I felt my body being slightly lifted off the ground as it ripped into me.

Edward, the brave fool that my love was, reached us. He started grabbing at the monster, trying desperately to get it off of me. The monster, without seemingly another thought, batted Edward away with its strangely human paw. Edward flew a few feet, claw marks running from his left shoulder down to the right side of his hip. Blood started pouring from his wounds as he started to choke up blood. Edward's name on my lips became unrecognizable as the monster continued to tear at my stomach, making me taste my own blood.

It pulled back abruptly, its head flying up in the direction of the city. It released the most spine-chilling growl I had ever heard before it was thrown back by a white and gold blur. I was shocked to see a man standing in front of me. He looked at Edward and me from the corner of his eye, a look of fear on his beautiful face. I wanted to yell at him to run. Get Edward to safety and leave me but I could barely breathe let alone speak.

Suddenly the beast flew at the man and soon a blur of black was trailing a blur of white. Occasionally I could make out the man and beast. I was shocked to see the man on equal footing with the beast that had killed us so easily. As I was watching the fight in growing horror, I heard a wet cough. I looked over at the sound and saw Edward, blood trickling out of his mouth, struggling to breathe. With my good arm and all the strength I had left in my body, I pulled myself to him. It was grueling as the uninjured parts of my body were starting to grow numb. The pain in my shoulder and stomach seemed to magnify and I felt tugging at my wounds.

As I reached Edward the beast landed by us. It looked at us and the man before running off. I was dumbfounded and felt like crying. Yes, the beast had run off but Edward was still dying. The man knelt down by us and, as I looked at him, I felt hope.

"Carlisle Cullen," I breathed. The doctor my mother worked with.

He looked shocked, then smiled sadly at me as recognition registered on his face. "Isabella Swan," He greeted me softly.

I looked at him and then Edward. "Save him," I choked out. "Whatever you can do, save him."

He examined Edward quickly and slowly shook his head. "There's too much damage." As I felt tears of frustration prickle my eyes, he continued. "He can't survive as a human."

My eyes quickly flew to him where a contemplating and hopeful look shined on his face. "What do you mean? There's a way for him to live as something other than human?"

He paused before nodding. "Do it," I said. He looked at me, startled. "The world would be nothing without him in it." He nodded again as determination filled his eyes. He slowly bent over Edward and bit into his throat. Edward let out a garbled scream before he fell silent. It seemed almost painful for Carlisle to pull away from him.

He took a deep breath before turning back to me. "Unfortunately, there is nothing I can do for you," he said slowly. "The minute that thing bit you, your fate was sealed. Your wounds are already closing from its venom. Your body is healing, changing."

"What was that monster?"

"A child of the moon. A werewolf." He looked at me with sorrow filling his kind eyes.

A werewolf?! Werewolves were real? As I looked down at myself, I could already see my stomach healing over, my shoulder wound closing itself. "I'm going to change into that thing?"

He nodded. I looked between him and Edward. "What are you? What will he become?"

"A vampire."

I took a deep breath before looking deep into his eyes. His eyes were a deep gold. They were kind as always, holding a compassion that was rare to see. I tried to muster up what courage I had. "Please, kill me." He looked appalled. "Don't let me turn into that monster? I don't want to kill people."

A slight smile graced his lips before he shook his head. "I'm sorry, but I cannot. Practice control. It will take time but hopefully you can tame your beast as I have. I learned to use animal blood to sustain me. Maybe you can do something similar." He looked down at Edward. "I will take care of him. It is best if you both, new to this life, learn control before being reunited. You will be natural, mortal enemies and must learn to see past that."

At that he picked Edward up off the ground and, with one last glance at me, took off into the night. I managed to drag myself off the path and into the brush before breaking down in sobs. The physical pain wasn't as bad as the emotional pain. I lost Edward. We were to become each other's enemies in a world we had no idea existed. I didn't know what to expect. All I knew were the legends, but I doubted those were correct. Carlisle and the beast didn't fit the legends of vampires and werewolves I grew up with.

It seemed like vampires had more humanity than werewolves. Carlisle didn't go around mauling people from what I saw. He saved us. He saved many lives from the stories my mother told us.

My mother! I had to go home. I had to tell Edward's family… what? What was I to tell them? That he was to become an immortal creature of the night like me? No, I couldn't tell them any of this. I looked out to the road and saw the puddles of blood from both Edward and I, parts of his shirt still on the ground. Animal attack. That was it. We were attacked by some sort of animal and Edward died protecting me before his body was dragged off.

My throat clenched at the thought of having to tell his mother. She would be grief stricken at losing her only son. The sobs racked my body as I realized if Edward wasn't with me tonight, he never would have been attacked. This was all my fault.

I flipped over onto my back and stared up at the full moon as the pain started to subside wishing that I would wake up from this nightmare. That I wasn't the cause of my beloved's death. As my consciousness faded, I prayed that I wouldn't be like the monster that killed me and my Edward. That I could have a somewhat normal life.

I would learn to control my beast.