Disclaimer: I am not Stephenie Meyer. I do not own any of the Twilight characters. I only own ones I have made.

CHAPTER I – FIRST SIGHT

The guard made the announcement that Heidi was bringing in the catch for the day. It was time to gather to the grand hall. Begrudgingly, I made my body glide to the main chamber joining the others. I arrived just minutes before the bustling of tourists echoed throughout the room. Within seconds the chirpy tones of the travelers changed to screams of horror. I rubbed my temples in irritation. How I despised the shrieking of humans. Their shrilly cries and vain attempts to defend themselves aggravated me. I was perfectly content moments earlier in my private chambers, and even though I am beyond human ailments, I could not help but feel a headache coming on.

Of course, Aro noticed and addressed me in his usual upbeat manner, "Brother, do not sulk. Rejoice! You must feed. Do not spoil Heidi's fruitful efforts." With that said he danced over to his prey and quickly fed.

Rolling my eyes I began to breathe in the scent of freshly spilled blood. Truth be told I was hungry, but I was no newborn. I took my time and scanned the bounty that was before me. There was more than enough food for everyone. Then my eye caught a young maiden inching slowly along the wall towards the entrance that was now locked. How she managed to stay alive this long I did not know, nor did I care. I easily caught her and grasped her by the shoulders raising her to my eye level. As I gazed upon her face I suddenly found myself paralyzed. Involuntarily my face softened from its snarl and my mouth relaxed. I was hit with a wave of tranquility and felt a longing I had not felt since…her. No! I won't say her name. Focus. I pushed my memories aside and stared at my prey. The girl was not what humans would call a "traditional beauty" but she was far from plain. Her blue eyes stood out against her olive skin and seemed to sparkle as if light was dancing off a precious stone. As my mind regained focus I noticed that I did not smell fear on her, nor was her heart beating erratically. Instead, her blood flow was slow and steady. Curious? As I finally took in the rest of her face, I noticed that her features were calm, or more accurately described were detached. Only now did I wish I had my brother's gift to read minds. What are you thinking little creature?

My trance was broken by an irritated growl from Caius. "Get on with it! You're too old to be playing with your food." After his callous chiding Caius fled the room.

My brother's harsh words brought me back to reality as I saw that everyone else was done feeding and the room was nearly emptied except for the lower ranking guards that were cleaning up. To my embarrassment I also realized that I was still holding the girl in mid-air. Gently I placed the girl down in front of me, my back blocking the view of the mess. To my surprise she did not struggle or make any sudden movements. She remained limp in my grasp and never took her eyes off me. I could only assume she was stunned by my beauty and alien features, but an insecurity I could not quell told me otherwise.

My attention was broken as Aro waltzed up beside me smiling from ear to ear, "Ah, what do we have here? Are you going to save her for later or did you have something else in mind?" I furrowed my brows at his last remark. I put my hand out to him and let him read my thoughts. I hated speaking unless I had to and with Aro it made things easier. "Ha ha ha! Mircales do happen, eh? Or course, you may keep your pet…for now. Come my wives let us away!" Taking advantage of my brother's generous mood I quickly scooped up the girl in my arms and covered her face with my robe exiting the grand hall to my chambers.

As I ran up the stairs I felt the strangest tingle on my face. Am I smiling? No, stop this! Think. What are you doing with this human? I quickly shut the door behind me and let the girl out of my arms. She slowly backed away from me till she was against the west wall. As she felt the thud of the stone behind her, she quickly scanned the room. Upon realizing it was a resting chamber I could see the panic in her eyes. The scent of fear surrounded her, but it was not to last. As if she sensed it too, she quickly controlled her breathing and returned her gaze to me. My curiosity and confusion grew by the second. I could not help but feel drawn to this human. Yet, I kept my distance and even widened the space between us to help calm her. What are you waiting for? Why did you not take her life like the others below? Foolish!

As I battled with myself, it was she who broke the silence. "What are going to do with me?" Her tenor was that of a child and her words were flushed. Her forehead crumpled with worry. I was horrified at my craving to rub her worried creases away and stroke her cheek. Stop it! What's wrong with you? I was frugal with my response, "I don't know." With my back to the girl and my hand hovering upon the door knob I quickly addressed her. "If you value your life you will not leave this room. I am one of the masters here. No one will dare harm you as long as you remain within my company."

As soon as the words left my mouth I was gone. I did not wish to look into her eyes when I gave my ultimatum, no, I needed to flee from whatever spell her presence had on me. But, instead of escaping to a place of solace, my feet led me to the nearest pantry that was kept for the human devotees. As if I was being controlled by another, I found myself gathering food and water to bring back to the girl. Once again I warred with my psyche trying to get a hold of myself. What are you doing? You're feeding the creature? Stop this! But I couldn't stop. I felt compelled to care for this human. Why? I had no answer and finally I resolved to stop trying to rationalize my actions. I just accepted this longing, this attachment I had. To be truthful, I felt alive, for the first time in a millennium.

As I approached the chamber door I slowed to a human's walking pace and approached the threshold. To my surprise, before entering, I cleared my throat; a human habit I used to do when I was nervous. "Nervous," I laughed under my breath, but, that was how I felt. Standing in the entrance I saw the girl sitting on the edge of the bed with her hands folded in her lap. Her cheeks glistened, an obvious sign of crying, but her eyes were wiped dry. She raised her gaze to meet mine and once again I felt a wave of tranquility wash over me as her sapphire eyes bored into my center. Bashfully I realized I had stood in silence staring for far too long and, yet again, cleared my throat before speaking, "I thought you might be hungry." Awkwardly I placed the bundle of food upon the nearest nightstand then returned to my position at the entryway.

The girl's eyes followed my movements but she made no sound, nor did her features reveal any emotion. More foreign feelings stabbed my inward parts; frustration, insecurity. Why does she not speak to me? I stood motionless except for my eyes that spun wildly like my thoughts. Then, to my delight the girl grabbed a piece of bread and slowly ate. However, the silence remained, as did my anxiety. It wasn't until she finally spoke that I began to breathe again.

"Thank you, for sparing my life." Her voice was soft and feminine. Her high tone rang like a church bell lingering round my ears. I wanted to hear her speak again but all I could answer was, "Your welcome." I was not accustomed to conversation. In truth, I hadn't had a conversation in centuries. Unsure how to proceed I struggled to recall the procedures of formal etiquette. After an egregious amount of silence, at last my memories awakened. Introduce yourself, you fool! "Forgive me, I have not introduced myself. I am called Marcus." The words left a bad taste in my mouth and my nose crinkled as if I smelt a dreadful odor. Such pleasantries were unfamiliar and my body immediately rejected them. For so many years the only emotions I was able to produce were grief, wrath and apathy. At once I could feel the rage building within my chest.

But as easily as the flame was ignited, it was her voice that extinguished it. "My name is Juliet."

Juliet. I repeated her name in my mind several times. What a beautiful name! Tell her, tell her it's beautiful! No! Trying to control my thoughts, I attempted to respond politely, "Juliet, I'm sure you have questions. Now would be the time to ask."

She quickly swallowed the piece of bread she was consuming and asked, "Am I a prisoner here?" Her questioned leak out the fear she had been concealing and I immediately felt a twinge of pain.

"For the time being, yes, you cannot leave the premises."

"Why?!" Her voice cracked slightly with terror.

"There are laws amongst our kind and these laws must be obeyed." I tried to make my tone steady and authorative.

"What "kind"? What are you?" Her eyes displayed more urgency this time.

I fought to keep my composure and quelled the urge to comfort her. "We are what you humans call the undead; or, more crudely identified as vampires." I could see her contemplating everything that was said and recalling the slaughter that occurred earlier in the grand hall. As her eyes glazed over staring off into nothing it was apparent she accepted what I said as truth. Suddenly the piece of bread she held in her hand fell to the ground and tears drowned her face. Again I fought against the urge to console her, now more than ever, I wanted to hold her and make her pain go away. "I…I am sorry."

Disgusted with myself I ran, like a coward, taking flight up the west staircase not stopping till I reached the northwest corner of the rooftop. Breathing in the night air I attempted to calm myself. More questions with no answers plagued my mind. But most of all I felt guilt; guilt for betraying my past, betraying my love. Wallowing in my pain I did not hear his footsteps.

"Brooding again are we brother? What happened to that spark of vigor? Have the embers cooled already?" Of course Aro would make light of any situation.

His false concern brought a growl through my teeth. "Come, come now. Let us be civil. If you prefer." He held out his hand to mine assuming I wished to confide through thoughts and refrain from speaking. On any other occasion he would be right, but not this time. Even now in my torturous bewilderment I was not that desperate.

"I prefer not to. Thank you." His eyes furrowed in agitation but he did not press the matter. Instead he chose to inflict me with verbal dialogue.

"Is this about the human?" Of course his question was rhetorical. It did not merit a response, so I gave none. "I see." Murmuring to himself, he carefully prepared for his next question. Aro was many things, but never a fool. He knew my patience was thin, barely in existence actually. He also knew that my disposition from calm to violent was a speedy transition. He would not press me too long.

"Do you still wish to keep this human?" I nodded. "Very well then, I will alert the coven of your…guest. No one shall harm her; however, keep the human close to you. We do not want to tempt our young ones now do we?" Again, his question was rhetorical, but I nodded. "Good! I will take my leave." I listened till his footsteps disappeared down the stairwell. Only when I was certain of his absence did I let out a sigh and relax my muscles. I did not want to think anymore, not even about her; my Didyme. I closed my eyes and let the breeze brush against me letting my mind float away with its current.