Hi guys! Just thought I'd write a little note over here, you know an author's note?

I'm really surprised and happy that this is getting popular; I really didn't think it would be. All the reviews are lovely and thank you for following and favouriting this story! From now on I am going to dedicate one chapter to a random reviewer as a little thank you present. So, this chapter is dedicated to… Sofiaocampo! If you want the chance to have a chapter dedicated to you… please review! Thanks! ;)

Th-thank you Alice," I stammered. "I will be in your debt." I know I asked her to tell me what she had seen, and I don't blame her for doing so, I just never expecting this… apocalyptic catastrophe. I understand that I was slight over exaggerating things, but we don't know how dangerous this man could be. What would happen if he did expose us to the humans? Would there be a massacre of both vampires and humans. However, more importantly, (well in my opinion anyway) how could mon cheri be in such grave danger? What has she done to this man? Did she know him? I highly doubted it. Maybe it was someone she knew from her human life? No, the only person who would think of doing this would be Charles Evenson, Esme's abusive ex-husband but it couldn't be him. Edward… took care of him decades back. He made sure that he was completely thorough. He drained Evenson's body clean of blood, at least, that is what he told me. It seemed barbaric and masochistic, but that's what the man deserved. It suited his personality well.

I left her room and headed for my study, not wanting Alice to watch me wallow in my own misery. All I wanted to do was lock myself in my study & wait for this wretched letter to come. I heard Alice walk out of her room & whisper, "The letter should be coming in about half an hour. Just thought I'd let you know." I nodded & continued walking to the study, ignoring Edward who clearly wanted to ask what happened. I don't know why he bothered. He could've easily picked through my brains, or even Alice's for that matter, to get the truth. Maybe he decided to be polite and wait for me to tell him the news in my own time. Perhaps he felt bad and was blaming himself, as usual, for our previous episode this morning. Well, I wasn't going to go and tell him that this wasn't his fault, which it wasn't, and that everything is fine, which it really isn't. He somehow got the first part of my message and walked away, heading in no direction in particular. This was my cue to get away and I didn't hesitate.

Once in my study, I locked the door and cut off the lights. I pulled down all the blinds on my mahogany framed windows. All except one, the one furthest away from the door, which I left a fraction open so I could just see the porch which is, presumably, where this admittedly perplexing individual would leave a letter, without too much light gracing the room. At times like this, light was poison to me. Light meant happiness and peace, the opposite of what I was feeling now. Depression and war would be more accurate, so darkness is on my side. If I were in my right frame of mind, I would tell myself to get a grip and pull it together somehow. However, since I'm in a completely different mind, one which I have hardly ever experienced, I foolishly let these gloomy emotions encompass me. Surround me and engulf me in its dark hole. It's not like it is affecting anyone else, just myself so I'm not causing anyone anymore pain, like I had done before.

As a vampire, time is meaningless. To us, a decade in human time was more like a year. Normally, a half an hour's wait would fell like no time at all. Today, it felt I was stuck in time. It was as if I was reliving the same, pain-stakingly agonizing second infinitely. I felt like I was trapped in a blank room alone, screaming my lungs out for all I'm worth but no-one can return my call. Not even my beloved Esme. My father often gave sermons to the rest of the town about this particular place which, according to him, was the place where "spirit folk and demons" go. "The Duskterrains" he called it. I assumed that I fit into that category, though whether I was classified as a 'demon' or 'spirit folk' was down to personal opinion. Of course, at the time such things were just myths and legends but since becoming a vampire, I began to question their true meaning. I was just hoping that someone could save me from the all-consuming madness sooner rather than later.

As if on cue, Esme knocked on the oak door. I straightened myself out and banished my darkness and welcomed my light side once more. I didn't want my innocent dove to see me in this atrocious state. That was part of the deal of allowing myself to unleash the depressive beast from within every now and again.

"Sweetheart, can I come in?" Her voice trembled on the last word, which made me wonder if someone had clued her in on what was currently happening. I just hoped for their sake that they hadn't. Esme was too sweet and delicate to know such things.

"Yes honey," I replied, and then added, "anything for you." I unlocked the door and allowed her inside. She took a brief moment to scrutinize my office before saying,

"Oh Carlisle. Why did you close almost all the blinds and not turn a single light on? It makes it look so grim and gloomy here." At that moment, I wished that I had remembered to do such a simple action; one which would've easily avoided this rather awkward conversation.

"Please accept my apologies mon cheri," I started. "The 'gloominess', as you would call it, was never my intention. At times, I just concentrate better this way." Her face instantly uplifted, her sensatio nal smile radiating out towards me. This meant that she must've believed this somewhat minor white lie.

"Well, that's no excuse!" she said playfully. She began pulling the blinds up and was back at my side almost instantaneously. Unlike me, she had no problem using the few supernatural powers she had.

I couldn't get mad at her though. In fact, I couldn't bring myself to be negative at all. It wasn't just the fact that the light from outside was encompassing the vast space we were standing in. No, it went much deeper than that. When I was with Esme, the whole world stopped in its orbit around the sun. Esme became the main attraction and I revolved around her. Darkness could never reach me now. It was lurking in the deepest depths of the 'Duskterrains', as my father called it and whilst with my love for her from both my livelihood as a human and my existence as a vampire, not even the true meaning of evil could revive it.

"Well my darling Esme. What was the real reason for coming here?"

"You caught me," she exclaimed, putting her hands up like a criminal being arrested as she purposefully stole a kiss from me. "I just thought that we should spend some quality time together. What with all the antisocialism that Edward has been expressing over the past couple of weeks. Our family now feels complete again and nothing can break it down." If only she knew. At least this proves that no-one told her anything yet, and that was a bonus. I pushed these thoughts away from my mind. My main objective was to fill Esme with euphoria so she would be too stuck in her own bubble to care about what was happening. Plus, she had been unhappy for far too long, what with Edward's on-and-off depression phases.

"Where I come fron, I could press charges for such robbery." I couldn't help enjoying myself with Esme. She was already ecstatic that I was playing along, something I rarely ever do. She tried to hide it by pushing me gently against one of the mahogany walls in a playful manner but I know her far too well.

"Luckily for me, it is a free country," she replied. She began kissing me, her lips moving passionately against mine. Her soft, yet firm hands were caressing my casually combed back blonde hair and I couldn't help but wrap a lock of her naturally wavy chestnut-coloured hair around my fingers. As if trying to mimic this action, my love fingered a few stray strands of hair which were next to each other & added, "Which means that I can do whatever the hell I want."

"If my father were here, he'd punish you for using that kind of language but I'll let it slide."

"How very generous of you," she smirked but then becoming slightly more serious. "So, what about it? Do you want to spend some quality time with me this week. Unless –" I cut her off.

"For you, anything. You really shouldn't have to ask me because you know I'd never deny you of it. Your happiness and safety are my gravity on this planet. If both of them became non-existent, I'd start floating off into space. I'd just be an entity, a lost cause, a nothing." I realised I put a bit too much meaning in the miniature monologue for it to be considered my regular, compassionate self. To any everyday person who hadn't heard about what Alice had seen, it seemed as if Esme's safety & happiness would be disappearing, which was, on the whole, true. However, I couldn't let my beloved yet fragile Esme know the truth. This is why I murmured, "I agree with you though. Proper quality time with you is long overdue," in her right ear. She seemed to somehow believe this and whispered in my right ear,

"You hopeless romantic." She nibbled my ear briefly before saying, "Well I'm off on a shopping trip with Rosalie. We've always wanted to go shopping, just the two of us, without Alice dragging us into every store we come across. You can't not love Alice though. It's just who she is." I knew at an instant that Alice had purposefully planned this shopping trip for them, knowing that it would ensure Esme's absence when I received the letter. I made a mental note of this.

"Enjoy it honey. I'll be anxious for your return." With a quick kiss on my forehead, she dashed out the room and I heard the front door close seconds later. It wasn't until I heard Rose's admittedly ostentatious Red BMW M5 convertible pull out of the driveway when I went into full-blown panic mode. Was it possible that the man would see Esme with Rose and kill both of them then & there? No, I highly doubted it. People like this man would probably want to make their victim, or the victim's loved one, suffer in a considerable amount of pain, emotional or physical, before crucially damaging them further. Isn't that how it worked?

I quickly realised what this constant worrying about Esme was doing to me. It was making me depressed; it pushed away any sense of happiness and was turning me into someone who belonged in an insane asylum. More importantly though, my compassionate side, which was greatly magnified when I was transformed, was slipping away from me like water seeping through the cracks of one's cupped hands. This was something I couldn't afford to lose. Without it, I was useless in more ways than one. For one, it would mean that I have no gift to speak of. I would only be as useful as a newborn. Easily manifested, easily discarded and easily destroyed. For another, I would lose everything that I had achieved over the past three centuries in very short order. I would become a masochistic vampire, and that frightened me to no end. That was my absolute law in this second life. Finally, I wouldn't be able to keep our family together, and I certainly wouldn't fulfil the 'patriarch of the family' position in that rather deranged state. No, that isn't me. That's not who I am and that's not who I want to be. I then snapped out of it. Something I should've done earlier.

I looked around my study for a fifty-sixth of a second before closing the doors. I knew that Edward had several questions for me, begging to be answered but he was probably still feeling polite enough for me to come to him when I was ready. After all, I had done the same thing with him when he was feeling socially inept. I supposed this was part of the 'I will be forever in your debt' quota. Nevertheless I wanted to put him out of his misery… partially. I wasn't going to tell him everything just yet – there's too much too tell. No, I would reveal everything to him, and possibly to Emmett and Jasper as well, after I received the letter. Some things may become clearer that way. I 'thought' this whole message at Edward, and he seemed to understand. He nodded and resumed pacing the hallway, waiting for that certain madman to show. Apparently, he had been doing so ever since I left Alice's room.

"He should be coming any moment now." Alice began, sounding tense. "Edward, go get Jasper. He should be in the loft. Oh, and Emmett as well, if he feels like coming." She tried changing the anxious atmosphere with this light-hearted comment and I smiled gratefully. Edward paused for a moment, then reluctantly stalked off towards the attic. Edward was travelling at a quickened human pace, which gave me and Alice some time to talk. Alice didn't waste a single second. "Carlisle, I'm sorry. I never meant things to turn out this way. If only I had told you sooner. Things may have been different then…" She trailed off. I couldn't have her feeling guilty for my sadness. She wasn't to blame and I needed her to know that.

"Alice, what's done is done," I started, putting one hand on her left shoulder. "We can't change the past, as much as we'd like to. I find that life, or in our case existence, has many roads. Within those are forks and alleyways. Now I feel that I took a wrong turn somewhere on my previous track and am heading somewhere new." I brushed my thumb gently below her eye, as if I was wiping her tears. Of course, we couldn't cry, but that doesn't mean we didn't try to when we were upset. She nodded and smiled, though it was still clear that she was still upset.

Thankfully, Edward came down the stairs, Jasper and Emmett in tow. This broke me and Alice off as Jazz gestured for his wife to come closer to him. Clearly her sadness was unsettling for him as it was an emotion she rarely experienced and any unhappiness and negativity she expressed set Jasper on edge. I took comfort in the fact that Emmett hadn't changed at all since I'd hear the news. Great. That makes one person who wasn't affected by my selfish actions. Still; it was better than nothing.

"So Carlie, who is this idiot who threatens to hurt my mother? No-one messes with the Cullens. He deserves a taste of his own med-" he cut himself off as he saw out of the corner of his eye Alice giving him a death glare. He wasn't the sharpest knife in the black so he didn't understand why he was being given one of Alice's don't-say-another-word-or-I'll-take-your-arm-off' glares. However, he understood that he wasn't supposed to pry any further and stopped and straightened himself out. However, he was still intent on diffusing the tension that lingered around the room. "Well, all we have to do is wait a few more minutes. How hard can that be?" He had no idea.

I stared at the 18th century clock in the hallway, waiting for the seconds to tick by. Seconds turned into minutes and I couldn't help but wonder if Alice had got it wrong. If there was a different Esme out there who was to be assassinated. Alice kept on trying to go into vision mode, find out more about this individual and his background. According to her though, it was no use. I decided to check the front door, just in case we had received the letter. I wasn't expecting it to be there though. How wrong I was.

My whole body froze for a moment. There was an old woven paper envelope on the doorstep. There was no indication of a postmark, or a return address. More to the point, there was no address at all. There were just three words on it: Carlisle Emerson Cullen. how did this ominous man know my middle name? I've never revealed it to anyone except my family members and they never told anyone else. I suppose it was on some legal documents… but how could he get hold of them? There were so many unanswered questions floating around in my head that I decided to ignore them. They would probably drive me to insanity if I did.

My attention came back to the letter. Who was it from? Had he revealed himself in the letter? I highly doubted it. I was going to muse about this longer, but my curiosity was too great. I picked it up with one hand and opened the door with the other, my gaze fixed on it the whole time. My family members noticed the letter in my hand and took one step, as if they were scared that it contained radioactive blood which would kill them all in an instant if they drank it. I noticed that they all calmed down soon after though, so I assumed Jasper was controlling their emotions. "This is it," I muttered under my breath. "The moment of truth." Of course, everyone heard my comment. There was an odd moment of silence and I sincerely hoped that someone would break it sooner rather than later. Emmett decided to do this, of course.

"Oh come on! Open it, Doc! I'm dyin' over here!" Everyone scowled at him and shouted,

"Emmett!" in unison. Everyone except me.

I left the letter on one of Esme's favourite antique coffee tables, knowing that four curious pairs of golden eyes, varying in shades depending on their last hunting trip, would start staring at it the moment my back was turned. I went back to my office and took one of my many letter openers from the drawer of my desk. I held it at the top, my index finger encircling the encrusted ruby to calm myself, and headed out. I still feared the inevitable, but that wasn't going to change was it?

As I was walking down the stairs, I heard murmurs from in the living room. I assumed that Alice was just catching them up to speed but as I came closer, they were talking about something else. Well, in a way. Jasper was the one catching Emmett up to speed, which made me assume that Alice had told Jasper before he told Edward. This meant that half the family knew about this before I did. Well, there was nothing I could do about that now, was there? However, that wasn't what piqued my curiosity. No, it was Alice's mutters to Edward which had pricked my ears up, so to speak.

"I'm telling you Ed, I know what I saw. We should tell Carlisle. You and I have hurt him in more than ways than one. This will help relieve the pain a little." Edward had a hard edge in his voice as he spoke.

"It won't. It's best that he knows as little as possible." That hurt. The son I loved the most, trusted the most was hiding things from me. I swallowed hard, well tried to, and took this emotional blow. Perhaps Edward was right? Maybe he had a very good reason for withholding information from me? Alice however disagreed. She seemed to have a pleading look on her face, a sign of desperation.

"Edward please-"

"Fine. Whatever," Edward replied, a low snarl coming through his teeth. "Tell me then. What exactly did you see?" Alice hesitated for a twelfth of a second, and I turned to leave. I didn't want to hear this. Not yet.

"Well, nothing. But-"

"Exactly," Edward interrupted. I froze. What did he mean? Well, I wasn't going to give myself time to figure it out. Not now anyway. I turned around and continued walking into the living room. I needed to stop this conversation before it went any further.

As I expected, the moment I walked in, everyone froze and started staring at the letter once more. I shook it off and pretended I didn't care. They all seemed to pity me one way or another. I'd better get on before I was engulfed with pity messages. "Let's get this horror show started shall we?" I tore the letter opener through the top of the envelope and took the letter out in one swift movement. The paper, like the envelope, had a woven feel to it. I could tell instantly that it was written with a quill. I decided to read it aloud. It said:

C,

At last. I've found you. I'm sure you don't know me, but I know you quite well. You are the one who has interfered with my plans from the beginning. The best part is, that you didn't know you were doing it. Oh how pathetic and naïve you are.

You must've been expecting this, expecting me. Don't ask how I know about the psychic and the mind reader. You see, I'm used to being second best, an afterthought in life; always a step behind everyone else. And you, well you haven't properly suffered loss yet. What happened three centuries ago doesn't count. It's time to turn the tables.

I expect you roughly know what I'm about to say, but let me clarify. I have 4 paths ahead of me, and only time will tell which one I will take. The first, one of my personal favourites might I add, is marrying Esme, the love of my life who I was too late to save. The one you stole from me. But of course, I highly doubt that Esme will willingly accept me again, since you brainwashed her.

The second is for me to have the joy of assassinating you. Oh, and don't even think for a millisecond that I will be nice about it, or murder you the human way. I know who you are and what you are. I won't even take the liberty of dismembering you first. That would be too generous of me. I'll burn you alive, starting from the tongue.

The third will possibly result in a major destruction and unrest. I will reveal your precious secret to the world, starting with a little known town in Italy called Volterra. I have a feeling you know this place. The fragile lives of your family will be shattered in the hands of your precious monarchy, the Volturi, and they will show you no mercy. They will make sure you pay the price for my 'mistake'.

The fourth is for me to annihilate Esme. Of course, this is a big price for me, but an even bigger price for you. Besides, she won't be the same innocent sweet girl that I once knew and fell in love with. You've changed her into a monster and I know she can never love me the way she did before. When she sees me, the memories will come rushing back, but she will always stay faithful to you. This is why I have to silence her… permanently, you see. I don't want to cause her any more pain.

So there you have it. I look forward to the time when our paths cross and when I write to you next. T hope I've given you something to think about.

Until then,

E.S.

There was absolute silence in the living room at that moment. Not even Emmett made a sound. Everyone had frozen, rooted to the spot. Any form of life or thought had left them momentarily, leaving their angelic bodies behind. It was like time had stopped moving forward. We weren't reliving a second infinitely, as no seconds were passing. It was like time itself had stopped in its tracks and we stopped with it. I was so overwhelmed by the recent events that I didn't really know how I felt. What they say about extreme emotions altering vampires in permanent ways was true, and there was no denying it.

For some reason, I wanted this emotionless time to be over. I wanted the family members around me that I know and love to regain their personalities and who they are, or at least who they were. For Emmett to crack some sort of joke so the rest of us could scowl at him for being so immature. For Alice to drag me to my bedroom and lecture me about my depleted – well depleted to her – closet and what I should wear for hours on end. For Edward to compost another intricate lullaby for Esme and make him teach me how to play it. For Jasper to use his mood control on Alice for Emmett & Rose's personal entertainment. More importantly than all of this though, was that I wanted my normal - or as normal as vampire life could get – life back. Normality was what I wanted most now.

Eventually, Emmett did break the silence. "This E.S. guy is incredibly cryptic, don't you think?" I smirked, a feeble attempt to lighten the darkened mood surrounding us. My gaze turned towards Edward. It seemed as if he was trying to understand something, a key detail that we had all overlooked. He nodded briefly and I assumed it was to do with my most recent thought.

'Is it fine for you if the rest of them know?' I thought at him. I nodded again.

"Umm, you two," Emmett began, coughing lightly. "This is all rather cosy and all, but I think the rest of us would like to know what you guys are telepathically discussing." I shook my head, as if to come back to the present moment. Emmett chuckled to himself and mimicked my stance and facial expressions. "After all, it is incredibly rude to have a discussion with someone else without excusing yourself first or allowing other members join the conversation," he said in an exact copy of my American accent with a hint of British which I always spoke in without even trying or knowing. I looked down at my feet, ever so slightly embarrassed. Emmett continued, obviously happy that his 'plan' partially worked. "Isn't that what you always say?"

"Yes, well…" I replied, my voice trailing off into the distance. I was still embarrassed. Edward picked up on this fact.

"Let us return to the matter at hand, shall we?" I mouthed a 'thank you' at him, but he took no notice. He seemed hesitant to continue.

"Go on, son," I prompted. "Tell them what you think." He nodded.

"What confused me is that there was no scent trail left behind. The forest smelled exactly the same as it had done before we received the letter." Everyone thought about this obvious fact for a moment, clearly annoyed that they hadn't thought of it prior to when Edward had told them.

"I vote we go searching in the forest for some sort of lead," Emmett growled, obviously keen to hunt this man down. I was about to reply, when Jasper said,

"Perhaps, but we need to be on our guard. There must be a reason why he has no scent. We don't know who he is or even what he is, and we don't know if he poses a threat to us or the humans." Alice stood up and leaned in closer to Jasper.

"I agree with Jazz on this one. We need to be careful, and fast. Esme and Rose will be back home in one hour."

"Well then, that settles it," I replied. I highly doubted that this E.S. would still be lurking around in the forest. However, I hoped that he had left something behind, something which could reveal a bit more about his secretive self.

In no time at all, Emmett, Jasper, Alice, Edward & I were outside. We decided to split up in smaller groups. Edward & I covered the west side of the vast forest, whilst Emmett, Jasper & Alice took the east side. This is one of the few times where I used my supernatural speed, but even then I was only running at less than half of my maximum speed. Edward wasn't travelling at his highest potential speed either, because he wanted to be thorough. We stopped after a while as we both decided that the area we were standing in seemed to be different than the rest of the areas, both in smell and in feel. I didn't know how at that point, but I had a feeling that I was about to find something crucial to our crisis.

I was walking aimlessly around the outskirts of the area we were searching in, when I stepped on something which didn't seem to fit with the rest of the earth and leaves. I picked up, wondering how I had never seen or smelt it. It was a single carnation pink tulip, completely fresh with no signs of wilting. It was near a fir tree, surprisingly the only one for miles around. It also had ivy wrapped around the trunk and spreading out towards the branches. There was also a small card attached to the tulip. It read:

'For Esme Anne Platt Evenson. May this single tulip show my true undying love for you. Remember that I will always be forever yours. Don't forget where your heart lies. Your loving Eben'

I didn't know what to make of this. It was clear that she knew this man, at least in her human life. I didn't want to interfere, or let Edward see, so I dropped where it was before and hoped that she wouldn't find it. If she did find it, it was meant to be. Fate works in such interesting ways, and it is important never to interfere with its course.