Chapter 1.

Newborn

All I could feel was a fire going through my whole body. I screamed as the fire got stronger and stronger. I would be dead in less than 10 minutes now. The time was going by so slowly and every minute felt like an hour. I couldn't see anything, but I could hear voices discussing while I was sitting there, dying.

The first voice I heard was a man who seemed young, thirties maybe.

"Calm down," the voice said.

Calm down? I was dying for God's sake how could I calm down now!

"Everything will be ok in just a little while now," the man said.

What could he possibly mean by that? All I could do was scream more as the fire burned inside of me. I felt different, stronger.

Another voice came into the room and it was another man.

"I found her on the streets. There was blood all over," the new voice explained.

As I heard them discussing things about me, I started to remember what had happened. It was not a very good thing that happened to me.

My parents wanted me to marry a man named Robert Duggar. Though I was grateful for my parents trying to find someone for me I was not in love with him. My parents wouldn't let me say no. Soon enough I met a man named William Shirley. He was so sweet to me and I loved him so much. So I told Robert that I wasn't in love with him and planned to run away with William some day. Robert found out what I had planned and found William and I out one night. Little did I know that Robert's intentions were not good. He took out a knife and stabbed my only love. Then he came up to me and stabbed me in the stomach. I looked over at William and he was already dead. I shout at the remorse of my love. The next thing I knew a young boy, seventeen at most, was kneeling beside me telling me that everything would be ok. The last thing I could remember was that I felt the sudden burn starting in my throat then it started to spread throughout my body.

The older man came next to me and I could feel his cold hands touching mine. The fire started to die down as I started to get calmer and was able to speak again.

"Wh-who a-are you?" I asked.

"My name is Carlisle Cullen," he answered, "What is your name?" he asked.

I didn't answer him as I tried to remember everything about me. I didn't know if I could trust him because I didn't seem to be able to trust anyone.

Finally I replied, "Caroline Shirley… Am I dead?" I asked.

He chuckled.

"No, you're not dead Caroline. I will explain what all of this means, but you have to promise to listen," he demanded.

"I promise," I said. I just wanted to know what was going on.

"Well, where do I begin."

He hesitated for a moment and the younger man came into the room.

The younger man stood on the other side of me. I still couldn't bare to open my eyes. I just listened to the noises around me.

"Carlisle explain it carefully to her," the voice whispered.

"Who are you?" I asked the young voice.

He hesitated.

"I'm Edward Cullen, the one who found you."

I felt grateful for this Edward because he had saved my life.

Carlisle cleared his throat and started speaking once again.

"Caroline you are different now. You are not the same as you were before."

What is that supposed to mean?

I thought about it for a while as he hesitated to tell me the whole truth.

"My family and I are not human. When Edward found you he could smell… your blood."

Not human? What?

"You see," he continued, "Edward saw you dying and he… bit you."

Bit me?

I tried to sort through all of this.

"The fire that you felt in your body was the venom going through you. Once the venom spread you became… a vampire."

"So much for careful," Edward mumbled.

A What? How could this be? Vampires don't exist?

"Yes they do," Edward said as if he were answering my thoughts.

"So what you're saying is that I'm….a vampire now?"

"Yes," Carlisle answered.

I sat there shocked and finally opened my eyes for the first time.

The two men in front of me were inhumanly beautiful. They both had golden eyes and very pale skin. One had bronze hair and the other had blonde hair. The one with bronze hair stared at me as if he were waiting for me to start freaking out over all of this.

The blonde one started speaking again, "How do you feel?"

I felt…very different. I could no longer feel a heartbeat inside of me nor blood running through my veins. I also felt stronger.

"I feel different," I said.

The bronze one chuckled. This was probably my rescuer, Edward. Then that would mean that the blonde one was Carlisle.

"How old are you?" Carlisle asked.

I sorted through my thoughts trying to remember. It was strange I didn't seem to really remember much about myself.

"Sixteen," I answered.

"I'm surprised you remembered," Carlisle commented.

Why wouldn't I remember my age?

"Because most newborns don't remember much about their human life," Edward said answering my thoughts again.

I looked at him with a blank expression on my face.

Carlisle started speaking again, "When you become a vampire you sometimes receive special abilities. Edward can read minds."

Read minds? Well I guess my thoughts aren't private anymore.

Edward chuckled at my thoughts.

"Are you thirsty?" Carlisle asked.

I tried to pay attention and searched for an answer. I suddenly felt a burning in my throat.

"My throat is…burning."

"We'll have to go hunting soon," Edward said.

"Hunting? Why do we need to go hunting?"

Carlisle started to explain, "Well vampires drink blood and the burning in your throat is a sign of thirst for blood."

Well of course vampires drink blood what was I thinking? I suddenly felt the burning again and realized that I was thirsty for blood… human blood.

"We don't drink human blood," Edward said listening to my thoughts.

"Yes", Carlisle continued, "We only drink animal blood because we live here with humans. Consider it as being a 'vegetarian' vampire."

Now I'm a vegetarian vampire?

Edward laughed again.

I was so thirsty! I wanted human blood badly!

I couldn't understand why we had to live with humans anyways.

"Because we want to live lives as normal as possible," Edward growled.

I didn't say anything to them. I just felt the need to drink blood. All I wanted right now was blood.

"We will be going hunting soon enough," Edward said.

"Yes, but first we have to sort through all of this," Carlisle replied.

I was still shocked, but feeling more comfortable with who, well what I was now.

"So are you all…vampires?" I asked.

"Yes," Carlisle answered.

"How many of you are there?"

"Well, there is Edward and I, my wife Esme, Alice, Jasper, Emmett, and Rosalie."

Wow big family.

Edward laughed at my thoughts again. I was really starting to get annoyed by him knowing what I was thinking.

"Does anyone else have special abilities like Edward?"

"Yes. Alice can see the future and Jasper can control the emotions of people around him. But all vampires are very strong and can run very quickly."

So that was why I felt so strong all of a sudden. This was all going to take some adjusting. I felt the burning in my throat again.

"I need…blood," I said.

I tried putting the thought of blood out of my mind, but it kept coming back to me and the burning became more than I could handle.

"We should go hunting now, before you start to lose control," Edward said.

I got up for the first time. It was strange because I could feel that I had definitely changed. I haven't even given much thought as to what I looked like.

"Do I have pale skin and gold eyes like you?" I asked curiously.
"Well you do have pale skin, but your eyes are going to be red for a while," Carlisle answered.

"Why red?"

"Well it's because since you're a new vampire you still have some human blood inside of you but the redness will go away in a year or so," Carlisle replied.

I was so curious as to how I looked right now. Had I really changed a lot?

"In some ways you have changed," Edward said.

Edward gave me a mirror and I stared at the beautiful creature that was in front of me. I thoroughly examined my new face. I still had my long and curly brunette hair, but my eyes were a bright red. The next thing I noticed was that I was very pale now and I felt very beautiful.

"Why am I so pale?" I asked.

"Well since you're a vampire now-" Carlisle explained.

"And since you no longer have a pulse," Edward interrupted.

"You're immortal and can no longer age. Which means you can't die basically."

Well I guess I could deal with that, but for now all I really cared about was drinking blood.

We reached the bottom of the stairs and I saw the rest of the Cullens waiting downstairs.

Carlisle introduced me to all of them.

The first one I saw had long blonde hair. She was so beautiful.

"I'm Rosalie," she said smiling at me.

"Caroline," I replied.

The next one I saw had curly brunette hair, almost like mine.

"Welcome to the family, I'm Esme."

She hugged me and kissed me on the cheek. I felt very welcome here.

After that I walked over to one who was huge. He had a big grin on his face.

"Emmett," he said.

"Caroline," I said smiling at him.

The last two stood there hand in hand. They must've been a couple. I shuddered trying to keep the fading memory of the only one I loved out of my head.

"I'm Alice, it's nice to see a new member of the family," she said.

She had short and spiky dark hair.

When I came up to the last one I suddenly felt calmer. I tried to remember what Carlisle had told me before. This must be Jasper, the one who can control people's emotions.

"Pleased to meet you, I'm Jasper," he said.

I smiled at the new family that I was going to be a part of now. I felt a sudden burst of thank you going through my mind.

"Your welcome," Edward answered.

He smiled at me like he was surprised that I was thankful towards him.

"Let's go hunting," Edward said.

I really don't know how to hunt, I thought knowing he would hear me.

"You'll learn," he said.