A/N: Another ridiculously long wait…I am sorry!

The sun had risen casting golden rays of light across the land as a gentle breeze rustled the trees, allowing flecks of light to set Bella's skin aglow with sparkling diamonds.

I don't think I could ever tire of seeing her like that.

A comfortable silence had grown between us as we walked at a human pace towards home. Our home.

I began planning which room she ought to have, torn between allowing her the option to choose and rather greedily wanting nothing more than to have her room right beside mine. I tried to justify it arguing with my niggling conscience that the others were at college for most of the year and so it made sense. True, but no matter how hard I tried that little voice in the back of my head told me I was being selfish.

Okay, okay she can choose, it seemed to pacify the voice of reason.

I was so completely lost in my inner debate that she was several paces behind me before I realised she had stopped.

Turning to face her I saw her head tilted in a curious pose as she stared into a thicket of trees, her body tense, nostrils flared. Her eyes burned black in the dazzling sunlight, dark holes devoid of humanity.

I knew that look all too well.

"Bella?" I whispered, hoping a little gentle coercion would be enough to bring her back to me.

I tentatively stepped towards her and her eyes flickered fleetingly in my direction before she ran, allowing herself to be swallowed by the darkness of the trees, consumed by her demonic thirst.

I gave chase after her and as the wind swirled around me I realised what had attracted her attention.

Blood. A tiny amount, perhaps from a scratch or stumble. Nothing to someone as experienced as I, a positive banquet to a ravenous new born.

On and on I followed her, or rather I followed her scent for her fresh new body had carried her so swiftly that she was well beyond my sight. I could barely even hear her running ahead of me but I had to reach her. I had to hope I would not be too late.

Knowing it would be pointless to call out to her I poured every ounce of energy I had into catching up with her.

Suddenly I became aware of an eerie silence echoing in the morning dawn, piercing a hole of fear into my heart.

It was then that I saw her, crouched yet poised, like a tiger waiting to pounce. A small stream was all that separated her from him, a rambler who was bathing a superficial cut on his ankle in the quiet waters.

She knew I was there but her mind was gone, set on one thing and one thing only. She was the hunter and he was her prey.

The look of deep concentration on her face, her determination to quench her thirst, frightened me beyond anything else I'd seen over the past few days. I could not lose her to the darkness for she was the one bright light that shone in mine.

It pained me to know that I was the reason she was standing before me ready to kill. I knew I was a monster but how could I do that to her too? I had resigned her to my fate because I couldn't live without her.

I was selfish beyond words. I knew I had to stop her from spilling innocent blood. She would never forgive herself for it, or worse I would lose her forever.

No matter what Edward had believed I couldn't accept that I had taken away her soul when I changed her, she was too beautiful a creature to be an empty shell. But that soul was in danger.

How to stop her?

I could sense a subtle change in the wind, alerting the young rambler to that sinister feeling that he was not alone. He cast his eyes around the near vicinity, scrutinising the landscape but our kind were far too clever for the human senses.

Shrugging off the feeling of being watched he turned his back to us as he went to replace his sock and boot.

My eyes snapped instantly back to Bella, still waiting patiently. Did part of her want me to stop her?

Still, I was sure that if I moved she would strike and I would not catch her.

An inner battle raged through me, as I debated whether or not I should just wait and see what she did. Allow her to test her will power, which appeared to be strong.

Then it happened.

He stepped a little too heavily on his wounded ankle and she just snapped, fleeing silently forward, closing in on him with blazing black eyes.

My instinct to protect instantly propelled me towards her and, though I would never have believed it possible, I had thrown myself against her a mere few seconds after she began to loom menacingly over her poor victim.

I tackled her to the ground and together we rolled down a gentle slope away from the rambler who was scrambling away from the scene minus sock and boot.

Over and over we rolled struggling against each other, fighting for dominance, her eyes still decidedly a livid ebony.

Her teeth were bared and she was snarling but her eyes constantly flickered back to the not too distant retreating form of her prey.

It killed me to see her this way, so feral and wild.

This is all your fault…those words kept echoing in my mind, tearing me apart with guilt.

My conscience was my undoing. In a moment of weakness she easily overpowered me, pinning me firmly to the leafy earth, triumph glittering in her midnight eyes.

A short way off I heard the source of our conflict fall in his rush to get as far away as possible and it did not go unnoticed by Bella.

Instinctually her eyes trained themselves on her fallen prey. I could feel her muscles twitch as her body naturally readied itself for the attack.

There were no options left now bar one.

"Bella" I whispered and I saw her jaw unclench slightly though she didn't look at me.

"Bella listen to me, this isn't you. You're stronger than this and you can fight it."

This time she lowered her eyes to stare at me, she seemed to be elsewhere, as though she were in a trance but something that glittered in her eyes, a certain sparkle of the Bella I knew shone through.

"You will fight it Bella because deep down you know you don't want to hurt him."

I could see and feel her coming back to me, my Bella returning from the edge of the abyss.

"You are good, kind and gentle." Her face had drifted closer to mine as though she were straining to hear my perfectly audible words.

"And I love you."

My words brought her back to me as a gentle breeze enveloped us, whipping stray leaves all around in a whirlwind of ambers and golds dancing merrily in the sunlight.

We were completely lost in the moment, all previous worries about not being quite ready yet completely forgotten. I had caught her off guard and instantly I knew that something inside her had changed.

She did not say those three little words I so longed to hear back to me but she did not remove herself from our close embrace.

"You saved me." She whispered.

"Saved you from what?" I asked, confused by a certainly unconventional reply to my confession.

"From myself."

Realising she meant my intervention in her hunt I hastened to add that she had managed to stop herself for she had complete power over me.

"No." She was speaking terribly softly, " No it was you Carlisle. I only stopped because of you. I might have been in control but just by being here you prevented something which I would never have forgiven myself for." Her voice broke though no tears flowed. She collapsed sobbing into my chest and delicately I wrapped my arms around her holding her just tight enough so that she would know I was there. I raised a hand from her back to stroke her long locks of hair as I closed my eyes, savouring the moment.

For a while we just laythere lost in our own little world.

Reluctantly and only after I was sure I had held her long enough to console myself should she ever leave, I broke apart from her.

She stood there unsure of what to do, arms hanging awkwardly by her side, her eyes still black but tinged with a natural new born ruby red.

Not too far off I could smell something I was more familiar with - deer.

I noticed that her attention was drawn towards the exact same direction as mine and right then I knew that Bella's soul was safe. She was one of us, someone determined to abstain from human blood.

Wordlessly I held out my hand to her and without hesitation or question she took it.

Together we ran towards the scent.

Together we shared her first taste of blood.

Together we completed each other.