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Carlisle couldn't shake the feeling that everything had suddenly, and irrevocably changed in the blink of an eye — if vampires did blink. Zafrina, a friend of Garrett's who was turned almost a century ago, but was familiar with the Amazon, had arrived just hours before. She was tall and intimidating, with dark hair and skin, and the brightest red eyes Carlisle had ever seen, mostly due to the contradiction against her skin color. She lead him and his traveling companions out of the small, overly crowded hotel room an hour before to start their journey into the Amazon in search of the Shaman who would hopefully have answers to why the Volturi Brothers — or more to the point Aro — wanted Bella Swan so badly.

The last few days had been . . . tense to say the least. They weren't used to hiding in the dark, so to speak. They had gotten used to being able to come and go as they pleased, having acclimated themselves in the human world. Emmett had been restless and had taken to standing just inside the window, overlooking the street. Esme, Rosalie, and Kate spent a lot of time on their phones, though they weren't really looking at anything. Garrett and Alistair shared war stories until Carlisle was ready to rip their heads off himself.

They had each ventured out a couple times, always finding themselves being followed by the men in the dark cloaks. And then suddenly, that very morning, they seemed to have all but vanished. Where they had been seen everywhere, they suddenly weren't anywhere, which didn't settle with Carlisle and only made that feeling inside him grow. What had happened that would draw the attention of . . . whoever they were?

He had tried to call her or Edward before they left, wanted to touch base but neither of them answered, which didn't help ease the feelings of uncertainly that filled him, either. He touched based with Alice, who simply said, "Shit's gotten real," but wouldn't elaborate with more detail. Again, that didn't help ease the feeling that everything in his world had changed.

"Why'd you change her?" Zafrina asked, speaking low enough that Emmett, Rosalie, Esme, Kate, Garrett, and Alistair could all hear her, but none of the humans around them could. "Your human girl. Why did you change her?"

Carlisle glanced at Garrett before he looked at Zafrina and said, "Her father approached me, and told me how she was dying. Said she was special, needed to be in this world. You know, the usual: I can't live in a world without her, blah, blah, blah. But he'd done his research, knew about us. The man . . ." Carlisle laughed and shook his head. "The man was damn near pissing himself with nerves, but he walked into my office at the hospital, sat in in the chair in front of my desk, just me and him, and told me he knew I was a vampire. He had enough nerve to put himself at risk like that, so I figured I'd entertain him for a few minutes before I either had to kill him, or we had to flee.

"He showed me her picture, and I will admit that she was beautiful and fragile, delicate. It had been taken just after she first got sick and I could see the affects the tumor already had on her by then. I figured I owed it to him to see her for myself.

"Why?" Alistair asked.

Carlisle laughed as he said, "The man knowingly put himself at risk because he loved her so much, that I figured I owed him that much. So I told him I would need to meet her for myself. He told me she and her mother would be there in two days' time, and to be honest, the anticipation was overwhelming."

"We knew you were hiding something," Rosalie scoffed, drawing everyone's attention to her, but she didn't look at him as she spoke again. "You knew, of course, that we . . . No, that I would have stopped you from even considering changing her if you told us." She finally shifted her eyes to Carlisle. "Which would have been a mistake."

"Yeah?" he asked, raising an eyebrow.

She nodded, the corners of her lips twitching into a smile. "She was always meant to be one of us, I think."

Garrett scoffed, which only caused everyone to look at him. "Sorry. She was mean to be one of us?" he asked, his words dripping in disdain. "She was a human girl dying of a brain tumor. What makes her so special? Not like there aren't hundreds, if not thousands of little girls like her with cancer eating away at their bodies. Why was Bella Swan worth losing everything you've built?"

"When I arrived at her father's house, I was prepared to let the man down gently, prepare him for the death of his only daughter, Garrett. I had done my research and the girl was on the verge of death. Even as I stood outside of his house, I could smell her death, but when I entered that house, and I saw her cowering in the corner, in the darkness with her hands clutching the sides of her head," he added, surprised by the emotion filling his words. "I knew she truly was different. I still wasn't convinced, though. There was so much to consider. We would have to leave everything behind, run for our lives because the Quileute weren't going to accept our decision, no matter where we took her."

"So what convinced you?" Alistair asked, and they stopped and looked back at him. He stood with his hands shoved deep into his pockets. "Changing that little girl was a risk, yet you accepted it. Why? Why, Carlisle? You had to have known the Volturi would hear about your coven growing."

"Family, Alistair," Esme said, his red eyes shifting to her. "We are a family, not a coven. You've never understood the difference between the two."

"She looked at me with this tantalizing smile," Carlisle said, causing everyone to turn back to him. "She had accepted her death, accepted her fate one might say. Even in death, I could see that she was important, unique and special. I just knew I had to save her. She was meant to be a part of my family, Alistair, and I don't regret making that choice."

"Let's just hope it doesn't cost all of us our freedom," Alistair quipped before he walked past them, leading the way into the thick, brush that led into the Amazon.

"She won't," he said, mostly trying to reassure himself as much as those around him.

They made the rest of the trip in silence. The deeper they traveled, the thicker the trees and foliage got. Normal humans would never have survived, of course. They would have been hunted and preyed upon, picked off one by one. Zafrina led the way, keeping them on the 'trail', not that there was one.

After traveling well over a hundred miles into the middle of the Amazon, they found themselves standing on the edge of a small village. There were a few dozen small huts, but what stood out to him the most were the dozens of vampires staring at them. It would appear that everyone inside the small village had been changed many years ago.

"What the fuck is going on here?" Emmett asked, shifting so that he was standing in front of Rosalie and Esme before his eyes moved to Carlisle. "He changed all of them?"

"I don't know," Carlisle replied, his eyes darted between each and every one of them, landing on the youngest of them.

He was a male, couldn't have been more than twenty years old when he was changed, but the robe and headgear made Carlisle think this was their Shaman. He placed his hands against each other's as he walked through the crowd, which parted for him, until he was standing thirty yards or so in front of them.

"Do you speak English?"

The man tilted his head to the side, and when he spoke, this words were thick and heavily accented. "I do. You are a long way from home."

"Yes, we are," Carlisle replied. "We need your guidance."

"My guidance?" he asked. "What kind of guidance do you need from me, friend?"

Carlisle shifted his eyes to Zafrina before saying, "We are looking for writings. Ancient writings."

"We have no writings here," the man said immediately before he turned and started walking away.

"We know you do," Carlisle belted, causing the man to stop, but not look back at them. "You showed them to the vampire who sired you."

The man turned and looked over at him. "You know nothing of what you speak, sir."

"Oh, I think I know exactly what I speak," Carlisle argued, moving so that he was standing in front of all of them. "He held you against your will for months, forcing you to translate your writings. You received the vision, didn't you?"

"I did," he confessed. "Almost a millennia ago, my village was infiltrated by an evil man. He tortured my people, demanded I give him my words. I resisted as long as I could, but then in a fit of rage, he bit me, turned me into one of him. The struggle was intense, but I could not resist, so I showed him where I had carved the vision as it had come to me. He fled not long after, and left me behind. I was weak, afraid of being the only one of my kind. I am not proud of what I did, but my people were everything to me and I was their leader."

"So are mine," Carlisle said, gesturing toward those around him. "The man who came to you, he wants to hurt my family, take one of ours for himself. I cannot allow that to happen."

The Shaman lobbed his head to the side. "You found her, didn't you? The girl marked with the crescent moon?"

"Yes."

"Then we must hurry," the man said, gesturing for them to follow. Or so Carlisle thought. When Emmett, Rosalie, Esme, Kate, Garrett, Zafrina, and Alistair started to follow, the Shaman stopped and put his hand up. "Only you."

"Carlisle," Emmett said, shaking his head.

"It'll be fine," he insisted, giving him a look. "I'll be okay."

Though, he wanted to believe the words that left his mouth, Carlisle couldn't deny being wary as he found himself following the Shaman though his village, bypassing the vampires who stood and watched him. Before he stepped back into the thick Amazon, he looked over his shoulder, making eye contact with Esme. He mouthed, 'I love you' before disappearing from her view.

They didn't have to walk far until they found themselves standing outside the entrance of a large cave at the base of Cotopaxi Volcano. The Shaman headed inside, so Carlisle followed. He was expecting to find himself in total darkness, and initially, he was, but as they crept through a small crack in the wall, he found himself in a large cavernous room lit with fire torches. The walls surrounding the room were filled with carvings. He brought his hand up to the back of his neck as he looked around.

"I was chosen by the Gods to be my people's Shaman when I was only ten years old," the man stated, drawing his attention to him. "I had a dream so real, so terrifying, my parents were afraid I had become . . . I believe you call it, insane. Our Shaman, though, told them that I had received my fate. You see, in my dream, I found myself standing in the middle of a large field filled with colorful flowers. The air was chilly, thick with moisture, and when I looked around, I saw the most beautiful young girl standing just a few feet away from me. Her hair was thick and long, the color of cocoa, and soft and flowing. Her skin was like ivory, flawless, and her eyes were warm and accepting the perfect shade of brown. And when she smiled, it felt like everything in the world was right and natural, perfect even. She was wearing a long, flowing white dress and on her head was a crown of many colors. She was beautiful and I fell to my knees at her feet, in awe of her beauty.

"She knelt in front of me, placing her hand on my face, here," he said, gesturing toward his cheek. "Her hand was warm and soft, and I found myself overcome with emotion. And when she spoke, my heart paused and the tears that filled my eyes fell as she called me by name. She said, 'Nahuel, your journey is only just beginning. Rise up and take your rightful place. Time is fleeting, and you must hurry. Be strong, hold your faith, and remember who you are. Go, Nahuel. Go now.' When I woke, I was terrified. I did not know what had happened. My parents took me to our Shaman, who explained that I had been ordained as his successor. I left my parents care and began my training with him, where I remained until his death when I was just seventeen years old."

Nahuel paused and looked back at Carlisle. "I had just entered adulthood when I had another vision. Again, she was there, only this time, she was different. She was sick, fragile, and frail. I could see death hovering over her, ready to take her for himself. The urge to pull the young girl into my arms, beg our Gods to save her, to protect her filled me, but then he was there. The blood drinker with eyes as red as fire. He wrapped his arms around her, taking her away, draining her of life. When he had taken everything from her, he threw her dead body onto the ground, brought his hands up in front of him — hands that glowed with power. His eyes met mine as he grinned and raised his hands above his head, and the world went dark."

Nahuel closed his eyes, shaking his head. "I awoke, realized that I had just seen how the world was going to end, friend, and I kept those images to myself until the day he came for me. He held me here for months, trying to get the vision from inside my head. He killed my family, tortured me daily. Still, I resisted, friend. I resisted for a long as I could, but he . . . he was persistent and when he changed me, the pain was . . ."

"I know all too well how much the change hurts, Nahuel," Carlisle replied. "But we want to stop him, prevent the end of the world from happening, but we can't do that without knowing what you told him. Please, for the sake of my family, for the sake of your people, tell me what you told him."

Nahuel nodded and walked across the room, pausing in front of the largest of the walls. Carlisle followed, his eyes flickering over the images in front of him. Of course, it was a language that he did not know, which spoke volumes, as Carlisle was a lover of the written word in any language. He had spent much of his six hundred plus years learning French, Italian, Russian, Chinese, Spanish and so many more. This, however, was something he had never heard of before, and that scared him.

"Many moons ago, long before we were even thought of," Nahuel started. "The world was protected by the messengers of the Gods. His warriors. Sentinels, as they were called, loomed over the humans, protecting, cherishing and treasuring them. Though they had amazing power and strength, their dedication to their charges was admirable. The Sentinels were guided by Eve, the most powerful and beautiful of their kind. She was tough, but fair. Held them at a high standard. Her second in command was a male named Adam. He was not as powerful, or admirable as her, and he became envious of her, envious of the love the humans had for her. When the blood drinkers rose from the pits of despair, he willingly gave himself to them in exchange for unyielding power."

Nahuel gestured toward the first of the carvings. "One by one by one Adam infected others in the Sentinel's guard with the blood drinkers' poison, and then to the humans Eve loved so much. Once his numbers were growing in haste, he turned his attention toward Eve, wanting to take her for himself. He wanted her power, he wanted the humans to love him the way they did her, yet, she fought against him, and though he managed to kill her body, her soul survived. And for a millennia, she has been born time and again in search of a human body capable of containing her power, and time and time again she failed, her body dying before she could age past her seventeenth year.

"Adam continued to infect the humans, turning them into blood drinkers like him, like his guard. The night I had my vision, there was a great earthquake and the earth shook in fear. Adam sent his men to find me, to seek out the truth behind my vision until he came for me himself. He was cruel, terrifying, and I tried to resist, but in the end, I gave into the poison that filled my body and I told him what he wanted to hear."

"Wait, just wait," Carlisle said, putting his hands up in front of him as Nahuel turned and looked at him. "Are you saying Aro Volturi is really this . . . this Adam?"

"Yes."

"And Eve . . ."

"Yes, friend, Eve is the girl born with the mark of the crescent moon, reincarnated over and over and over. Her human body has never been capable of handling her power, but once she found her true love, her mate, she would be changed. Unlike most humans, who are consumed by the poison of the blood drinkers, she would have the ability to resist the urges the rest of us are not able to."

"What will happen if he finds her?"

"If she does not find her strength, he will take her power and end the world, sending us into the pits of despair. The world would cease to exist."

"And if she does find her strength?" he asked, lobbing his head to the side. "What will happen if she finds her . . . her strength?"

Nahuel turned back to the wall, lifting his hand and placing it against the cool, dark stone. "She will end the poison that fills our bodies, and free us from our bindings."

"What exactly does that mean?" Carlisle asked, though he had a good idea of what Nahuel was going to say.

The young vampire Shaman turned and looked at him, his eyes wide and filled with a mixture of fear and hope. "She would cure us all from our thirst for blood."

Carlisle brought his hand up to his mouth, covering the sharp gasp as the reality of exactly why Aro Volturi wanted to find Bella Swan. If he didn't stop her, she would have the power to turn all the humans who had been changed into vampires back into humans, freeing them of the life forced upon them. Bella Swan truly was the savior of all humankind.

Thank you for all the AMAZING reviews. Imma go hide now.