And so Sarah and my dream came true. We became parents.

Well vampires cannot conceive children. Actually, we were going to adopt a child.

Sarah and I were at a local orphanage. We were meeting a little three year-old girl name Mary Lisa.

Once she walked into the room, my eyes lit up. Mary Lisa was a beautiful girl. She had brown curls and brown eyes. Her skin was beige and she had rosey cheeks.

"Are you two going to be my new momma and daddy?" She asked. It was strange about the tone and mood of her voice. It was like she wasn't even a kid.

"That depends," I said. "Do you want to be part of this family?"

"I don't know. I've been rejected by a lot of parents. They found me to be too weird."

"I don't think you're weird at all," said Sarah. "You're just a little different from other kids your age. I never heard a little girl like you say rejected."

"Weird is a bad thing, isn't it?"

"Not in our family." I said.

"Do you have any other kids? Members of the family?"

"Our best friends, Rory and Erica live with us—"

"Can they be my Aunt Erica and Uncle Rory?"

"Of course." said Sarah.

"There's Benny. Do you want him to be your uncle?" I said

"No. He sounds more like my older brother."

"Okay."

"I have a good feeling about y'all." She said as she stroke a strand of her hair. "But I seemed to notice something odd about you two. Just seem so…magical."

Sarah and I exchanged a few looks. We looked back and Sarah said, "Yes. We are a little different from other people. We're not like you."

"Mary Lisa," I said, "we want to offer you a chance to be like us. But you can't be like us just yet. You're too young."

"First of all, I hate Mary Lisa," she said. "The name doesn't seemed to fit me good."

"Okay, we'll change it." said Sarah.

"How about Isabelle?" I said.

"Yes. I'm now Isabelle."

"Isabelle Morgan." I corrected her.

"Will this life be amazing?"

"Yes, it will. It's nothing you ever seen before. Beyond your wildest dreams."

"I'll take the offer." She smiled.

Mary—I mean Isabella was now legally and officially our daughter. As we signed papers, the lady said to us, "Are you sure you two want to be parents? Are you two even married?"

"Yes, we're already married," said Sarah. We both showed her our ring fingers.

"My goodness! You're so young! Too young. Marriage and children already? Why so young? How old are you?"

Sarah seemed to be offended. That lady didn't need to be like that to my wife.

"Ma'am, my wife and I are a little annoyed by your comments. Adopting and married is none of your concern. My wife is only nineteen." I said. It sounded convincing. Sarah is perpetually seventeen, but she can pass for nineteen, while I have to pass for twenty.

The lady's curious face turned sad. She carefully pushes her glasses to her face.

That man was right, her thoughts said. His wife's age was none of my business. I'm so nosey!

"Okay. You two fit the page. Now just sign here."

Sarah and I both signed the forms. It's official. Isabella was now our daughter.

We were heading home. Isabella sat in the arms of Sarah while I drove.

"Will your family like me?" She asked.

"They will," said Sarah. "More than that. They're gonna love you."

"I'm pretty sure," I said. "Erica will have someone to dress up like a Barbie doll; Rory will be talking you into dumb stuff; and Benny will have someone to show off to."

Isabella giggled and smiled. "I think I'm gonna love your family."

"They're your family now." I said.

Once we brought our new daughter home, Isabella had already gotten along with Rory, Grandma, Erica, and mostly Benny.

As Benny carefully watches her, it was like he never let us touch her. It was like Benny would take a bullet for her or something like that.

Carefully, I read his mind.

A burning was coming through my chest, said Benny's thoughts. I'm sure it was burning. It felt like it was coming through my heart. No, it was burning. It was glowing. I liked that glowing feeling inside of my heart.

What was he saying? I don't think I'm gonna like this.

Everything about me—my friends, my deceased parents, my magic, my name, my self—disconnected from me. They slowly floated up into the air. They all left holes inside of me. Suddenly, something was started fill all of the holes. The holes were now complete and unbreakable. I know noticed who completed those holes. Isabella. She completed me.

A rage came over me. I was furious at Benny.

"Benny, give Isabella to Grandma now." I said.

Benny handed my daughter to his grandmother.

Once Isabella left Benny's arms, I grabbed him by his collar and slammed him against the wall.

"What the hell is wrong with you?!" I snarled at Benny.

"Ethan, stop it!" screamed Sarah.

"It wasn't my choice to begin with, Ethan," said Benny.

"How dare you?! My daughter! My precious little girl! She's three years-old!"

"It's nothing like that."

"Then, why is it like that?"

"Ethan, I just want Bella to be safe and happy."

I listened to him. It made me calm and relaxed. Finally, I let him go.

"All right," I said. "If you ever hurt her—"

"I'll never hurt Bella."

Nighttime came. Since Erica and Grandma were already making plans for Bella's bedroom, Bella will be sleeping in our room for awhile.

"Your family is different," said Bella. "I like being different. It's a good thing."

"Glad you're enjoying it, Bell," I said.

"So I get to stay with y'all?"

"Yes, Bella." said Sarah. "You're gonna stay with us forever and ever." We both kissed her goodnight.

After we left her sleeping in our room, Benny smirked, "Should I start calling y'all Mom and Dad?"

"First, let me kick your ass," I said, "then I'll think about it."

Sarah laughed. Grandma came up to us. "The Council wants to see us now," said Grandma.

"What?" I asked. I can't believe it. The Council found out about Bella!

Benny snapped his fingers and teleported us to Venice.

Sarah, Grandma, Benny, and I were in the Council Mansion.

Leonardo, Demetri, Barnabas, and Cordelia were sitting in their seats. Demetri, of course, seemed pissed off.

"What have you done?" hissed Demetri.

"Nothing!" I said.

"You adopted a new member into your family," said Barnabas. "A child."

"She's three years-old," said Sarah. "Just an infant."

"A child at that age always sees things they shouldn't be seeing," said Leonardo. "Your daughter could start telling other mortals about us."

"Bella doesn't know anything about vampires or the supernatural world," said Grandma. "She doesn't even know about our magic."

"Is that the truth? Is she mortal? Or do we have to ask Isabella ourselves?" grinned Demetri.

"She's human, okay? Just leave her alone!" yelled Benny.

I looked at Cordelia. She was silent and had a worried look on her face. Why wasn't she saying anything?

"Cordelia," I called out. "I know what you're thinking."

She looked up at me. I said, "For three thousand years, you've only been a leader, a wife, a sister, and a vampire. I know what you were going through just like Sarah. You can't have children. You wanted to be a mother. Raise a little girl or boy of your own like most women."

Cordelia stood up and walked towards me.

"Fair words, dear Ethan," said Cordelia. "But what is to become of your little Bella? Will she be mortal forever? Or like us? Either way, someday you are going to tell her everything. Once Bella listens, she will blurt it out someday and it will turn into chaos."

Cordelia looks back at the leaders and few guards. "My love, my brothers, my children, our forever might be coming to an end. This child could be the one thing that will kill us in the future. Maintaining our secret has never been more imperative."

"No!" Sarah cried out. "My baby!"

"Stay away from Bella," said Benny.

"Claudia," said Demetri, "get Sarah first."

"Don't worry, Ethan," said Claudia. "This will hurt her just a bit."

I threw myself in front of Sarah and took pain for my wife.

Once Claudia gazed at me, fire spread trough my veins. Every single cell inside of me was burning so much that I couldn't even hear myself scream. My legs gave out and I dropped to the floor.

The pain stopped. My body slowly rejected the pain as I moaned in agony.

"Leave my family alone," I moaned.

"What else could we do?" said Leonardo. "Put ourselves in danger?! She could expose us right now."

"Then, we won't tell her anything until she's ready."

"We cannot wait that long."

"Why? We have all eternity!"

"I do whatever I can to keep our secret."

"Well you may know what it's like to be a leader, but you don't know what it's like to be a father! You don't know what it's like to love someone so much with all your heart, to protect from harmful and dangerous things, and be proud enough to call them your CHILD!"

Leonardo grew silent. He looked down at the floor and looked back at me.

"I know what it's like to be a father," he said. "My village was attacked by vampires long ago. My wife died and so did my son. He was only six years-old. They killed them and killed me too, but somehow I was changed."

"I-I'm so sorry, Leonardo. I didn't know about your son." I said.

"My sister, my brother-in-law, my co-leader, my guards are the only family I have left. I do anything to keep them safe."

"Me too. If you want to hurt someone, then you're gonna have to hurt me."

"You risk your life for a human child?"

"Bella's may be a danger to you, but to me, she's my daughter. My little girl."

"Your Bella." He breathed.

"I won't let you hurt my family." I mumbled.

Leonardo stepped towards me. His hand gripped my jaw. Before I could close my eyes, Grandma yelled, "Wait!" Leonardo stopped. "Bella will be immortal. I saw a vision of her future. We can change her ourselves."

"Is that true?" asked Barnabas.

"If I could show you my vision, it will be proof," said Grandma.

"Mmm." said Cordelia. "Ethan! You read minds and I trust you completely. Look at your Bella's future."

I gazed at Grandma Weir. As I stared at her, I took a glimspe into her vision.

Bella is enjoying her new life with us. I could tell our life with her is going to be epic. As she goes through life, I noticed that she is aging. For us, we are still at our perpetual age. Suddenly, I saw Bella as a teenager. She seemed to already be eighteen.

The moment that shocked me so much was when I slowly bit her in the neck. It turned into a bright light.

The bright light turned into the woods of Whitechapel. Sarah and I were running in our normal vampire speed. Then, an unfamiliar girl ran next to us. It was Bella. I looked closely at her. Her eyes were gold like a vampire.

Reality came back to me.

"Bella will be a vampire when she's older," I said.

"I do believe you, Ethan." said Cordelia.

"I'll make you a deal. On Bella's eighteenth birthday, I'll change her."

"Will you?" asked Barnabas.

"Before we change her, we will tell her everything then change her."

"Very well then," said Leonardo. "Dismiss."

Benny snapped us back to our home. He and Grandma went home.

"At least she will live a normal childhood," said Sarah.

"Then, Bella will live forever with us," I said.

"Everything's perfect now. I don't know where to start."

"Let's start with forever."

The End