1600s

Two days later she came back, always at a safe distance.

"Why are your eyes yellow?" She asked before Carlisle could say anything.

"I believe it is because I don't drink from humans." The female looked at him skeptically. "I feed from animals." Disgust flashed in her eyes, but she quickly hid it. She moved to run away again.

"Wait! What's your name? I'm Carlisle Cullen." The woman turned back towards him and looked him over from head to toe in a slow sweep. He suddenly felt self conscious. She scoffed and ran off.

A week passed and Carlisle almost gave up on her, but then she appeared, just before sunrise. She looked expectantly at him.

"So Miss," he waited for her to fill in the blank, but she never did. "Do you have a gift?" The woman grinned widely at his question.

With a slow motion she raked her pointer finger down the side of a tree, leaving a flaming trail. Carlisle's eyebrows shot up in surprise and he took a step backward. The female's smile grew even wider before she pressed her whole hand against the tree and it started to burn and turn to ash under her touch.

She ran off again into her territory, and this time Carlisle was sure he heard her laughing.

Carlisle didn't know if he should leave or not. She didn't exactly tell him to leave this time, but the threat was clear.

After thinking it over Carlisle's loneliness won out and he stayed.

The following day she reappeared.

"I thought you would have left by now." She said and Carlisle could practically feel her eyes scrutinizing him.

"I don't want to be alone again." Carlisle said honestly. "Will you at least let me know your name?" She didn't respond immediately.

"Come with me Carlisle Cullen." She said and he hesitated. The woman raised her eyebrow at him and he stood up and walked to her. Walking over the invisible line of her territory set him on edge. They ran together and Carlisle noticed that she always made sure he was never behind her. They were always either side by side with a good distance between them or she was running behind him, verbally giving directions.

Twenty minutes later they arrived at a large, seemingly abandoned house. Her scent was very potent there. She seemed to relax a bit when they went inside.

Carlisle was amazed by the house's contents. Against every wall books were stacked to the ceiling. He gaped at the wonder of it all, especially considering the only book he'd ever read was the bible.

"You seem rather uninformed, Carlisle Cullen, especially about vampires." The woman said, startling him out of his thoughts. There was only one overly stuffed chair in the room and she sat in it, leaving Carlisle to stand.

"Please just call me Carlisle. And yes, you're the first vampire I met." He said, still looking at all the books in wonder.

"Your maker didn't stay with you." She sighed. "I feel obliged to inform you then. You know you are a vampire, obviously, but we have laws." The woman said as she swept her hair from her shoulder, before brushing though it briefly, reminding Carlisle of her beauty.

"Laws?"

"Just three, do not reveal the existence of vampires to humans, do not change a human under the age of 16 years, and do not feed within the walls of Volterra."

"Volterra?"

"Home of the Volturi. They're the law enforcement of our race. Don't let them fool you into thinking they are royalty. There were ones that claimed to be royalty of our race before them, and there will be ones that claim that title after the Volturi." Carlisle nodded and brushed his hand against one of the books, wondering about its contents. The woman hissed and he retracted his hand. "Don't touch that." Carlisle took a step away from the books. "Now, tell me why you abstain from humans. After you told me about your feeding habits I tried to drink from a deer. It was absolutely vile." The female scowled and Carlisle couldn't help but laugh at her expression.

"I don't want to hurt anyone. To take a life, it's a sin in the eyes of the lord." The woman scoffed at him.

"Human lives, they are meaningless. All the humans are the same and regardless of our actions they will die, either by our hand or by the indirect hand of this god of yours." She paused. "Which god are you referring to?" Carlisle blanched at her question.

"The only god there is. The Christian god, the one from holy bible, the old testaments and new." The woman nodded at him before standing and walking to one of the walls. She paused before pulling out one of the books. Carlisle recognized it as a bible.

"This one?" The woman held it up and Carlisle nodded, wanting nothing more than to read it again. He remembered religion had been such a large aspect of his human life. The female seemed to sense his want.

"Would you like to have this book, Carlisle? I've already memorized its contents." Carlisle nodded eagerly. The female smiled at Carlisle and he realized it was the first time he'd ever seen her actually show a positive emotion. She was even more angelic when she did. He was momentarily stunned with her beauty before she was scowling again.

Carlisle opened the holy book and frowned.

"I-I can't read it. I don't know this language."

"A trivial problem. I'll recite it to you in English as you look at the words. You should be able to read it on your own before we even get half way through." Before he could respond the female sat back in her seat and started reciting it from memory. Carlisle quickly found where she was at. He followed along, his finger pointing to whatever word she was saying. If he ever got off track she'd stop and told him which word he was supposed to be on. Every so often she would pause and explain the dual meaning some words had, or say the differences she had read in other versions of the bible.

Carlisle found her voice soothing. He enjoyed the process of learning a new language. Hearing The Lord's word again calmed a part of him he thought was lost once he became a monster.

So Bella gave him a bit of an education. Do you like this version of Carlisle and Bella so far?