I glanced at my phone as I pushed through the doors of my apartment building and into the thick, sultry heat of Chicago summers. Even at eleven fifty-nine in the evening, it was still uncomfortably warm. I pulled my hair away from my neck, entertaining the idea of going back to my apartment and getting an elastic. Laziness won out in the end, though, and I continued on my journey.

I was headed for my professor's place, an apartment that was about a twenty minute walk away. It was in an alright part of town, as was my own residence. Crime was not common, but my decision to walk alone down a street at night was not prudent.

With that thought in mind, I walked quickly, peering over my shoulder every now and then. Maybe my professor would give me money for a cab ride back later, or drive me back himself. Maybe he would let me stay the night.

I passed a dark alley and the hair on my neck stood on end. I looked into it as I passed by and saw nothing. Relief washed over me. As my heartbeat sped up, I began to walk faster. I felt like I was being watched.

Then I felt someone grab me by the hair and pull me back. I fell to the ground. When I looked up around me, there were five men standing above me. I was momentarily speechless. I held the back of my head; it had hit the pavement and was throbbing. They were smiling, laughing.

"What do you want?" I finally managed to say.

One of them stepped over me, bent down and grabbed me by my neck, pulling me up. I noticed how cold his hands were. I looked at him. His hair was a shade of blonde. He was very pale. His skin was so white that he nearly glowed in the dark of the night. But perhaps the most upsetting characteristic of the man was his eyes- They were glowing red.

I began to scream, both in fear and in pain- Being drug up to a standing position by my neck was not exactly pleasant. But the man covered my mouth. "It won't do you any good."

"Let me go!" I cried.

"Don't worry, we will," he said. His words did not bring me any comfort.

But suddenly, I felt at complete ease. Intellectually, I knew that I should be scared, that I should try to fight this man off of me, but I was not scared anymore. At all. I was at ease when he pulled my hands behind my back and held them together effortlessly with just one hand. I was at ease when he called for his friends to go get someone from the shadows. I was at ease when his friends emerged from the alley with a rather reluctant looking man with them. I could tell he did not want to be here, that he probably did not even wish to be in the company of the others.

His friends shoved him towards me and underneath the streetlight. He had a flash of bronze-colored hair. He, too, was practically luminescent with his pale skin. But his eyes, they were not red. No, they were black. I felt fear creeping into my conscious again, but it was quickly extinguished.

"What do you think of her, Edward? Doesn't she smell just...Tempting?" I heard the blonde one say behind me.

"Guys, just drop this," he pleaded.

"Oh, come on. This is what we are. Don't try to pretend you're above this. Come on, do it."

With that, the blonde man slid his cold hand under my jaw and pulled my chin up, fully exposing my neck.

The others held Edward by his arms and pushed him even closer towards me.

"Drink, drink, drink, drink," they started to chant.

I was confused. Drink what? Why were they pushing Edward to me? He was about a foot away from me now.

Then, all my comfort and ease completely disappeared. I was scared. My heartbeat sped up, my stomach churned, tears sprang to my eyes. I started to cry, to beg, to plead, though my appeals were muffled due to fact that the blonde one still held my jaw and chin.

"It's right there, Edward," he said as the others continued chanting. "We all know how thirsty you are. Your eyes are totally black. And she, she smells better than anything we've come across in awhile. We won't hold it against you."

Edward was silent as they pushed him closer to my neck, he looked to be in deep thought. His eyes caught mine. I tried to put every ounce of emotion I had into my eyes. I prayed that he would see something in them to keep him from doing whatever it was they were egging him on to do. If he felt any pity for me, I could not tell. His eyes were completely black and conveyed nothing.

"Drink, drink, drink," the chanting was getting mind-numbing.

I looked at Edward. I saw him coming in for my neck. I closed my eyes firmly, preparing myself for whatever pain awaited me.

Instead, I heard the blonde cry out in pain. I felt him release me.

I began to run. I ran as fast as I could, and did not look back. I heard yelling and cursing and fighting. I wanted to look back, but curiosity would not kill this cat. I ran until I arrived to my professor's apartment.

I beat on his door. He opened the door, looking angry. "Bella, please! Be quiet!" I did not say anything, but instead immediately leapt onto him, hugging him tightly. He backed up inside the apartment, me still attached to him. He pulled me off of him and looked at me. I was still crying. His demeanor softened, "What's wrong? What happened?"

I sat down on the black leather sofa, running my hands through my hair. I breathed heavily, out of breath from running so much and crying at the same time.

He grabbed my elbow as he sat next to me, "What happened to your elbow, Bella?"

I told him the entire story. He stroked my hair and patted my back as I recounted everything. "Oh, I'm so sorry. We have to call the police right now," he said as he held me and grabbed for the phone on the coffee table in front of us.

"No!" I exclaimed. "I mean, I didn't really get a good look at them and the chances of finding them are slim. It could have been anyone."

"Are you sure?"

"Yeah, I'm sure," I nodded. My tears had stopped now.

"Is there anything I can do then?"

"Carlisle, can I...Can I please spend the night?" He sighed. "Or can you stay with me? I'm just really scared. I don't want to sleep alone."

"Bella, we've been through this. If Esme were to unexpectedly come home tomorrow morning, we wouldn't ever get to see each other at all."

"What if she came home right now?"

"Finding a teacher and his student in the teacher's living room is easier to explain away than finding a teacher and his student in his bedroom."

"Then let's stay at my place tonight. Please," I held his hand and frowned.

Carlisle sighed. But then he smiled, "Alright. We'll stay at your place for tonight. You have been through an awful lot tonight. Let's clean up those scraped elbows, though."

He led me to his kitchen where he searched for antiseptic and bandaids.

"Will it always be like this?" I asked as he was looking through the lower cabinets.

"Like what?" he replied without looking up.

"Will we always have to be sneaking around Esme?"

Carlisle looked up, "Are you asking if I will ever leave Esme?"

"I guess, yes. Basically. I mean, do you know how great it would be to come over here whenever I liked? To not have to worry about her coming home early? For us to just be able to lay in bed for days at a time without that constant fear in the back of our minds?"

"That would be nice, yes. I'm not denying that. But, Bella, divorce is expensive. The lawyers and the papers and the court dates. I'm a professor. I'm not exactly made of money."

"Then save up!" I replied exasperatedly.

Carlisle ignored my suggestion and instead pulled out some antiseptic and a bandaid. He gently cleaned off the dried blood from my elbows. The hydrogen peroxide burned as he glided it across the wound. He placed bandaids over them and then softly kissed them. He gave me a grin. That grin that had made me weak on the first day of cell biology a year ago still made my stomach do flip flops and my heartbeat skip. Everything was okay when he gave me that grin.

He pulled me closer to him, "I'm glad you're okay. From now on I'll come pick you up or just come over to your place."

I smiled, "Thank you."

"So," his tone turned mischievous, "Is there anything else I can do to make you feel better?"

I laughed, "I can think of a few things."

"Oh really?" Carlisle laughed, too, before kissing me. "Like what?"

"Hmm, why don't you take me to your room and we'll go over the options?"

With that, Carlisle swept me up into his arms and carried me to his bedroom. He laid me on the bed, perpendicular to the edge. He kissed my collarbone and ran his hands up my thin white tank top while he still stood. He pulled back for a moment to unbutton his own shirt, and I studied his face. His golden blonde hair contrasted against his suntanned skin and brown eyes. His features were perfect. I could not believe that a man like Carlisle Cullen would have the slightest interest in a girl like me. I was incredibly lucky.

Later that night, I could not sleep. We had come back to my apartment after a quickie at Carlisle's. After being at my place for about an hour, we had sex again. Carlisle was now asleep next to me. But my mind was still on my run-in with that group of men earlier. I kept thinking about how that blonde man's skin was so cold against my own. How his eyes glowed at me.

But most of all, I thought of the boy with bronze hair and black, empty eyes. I wondered why he had hurt my captor instead of me, why he hurt someone he knew and let me escape. Why was he with a group of people whom he had obviously disliked? What was he, that the blonde boy said he could not pretend he was not? Why was he fighting against his own nature? What was his nature? But still, I wondered why he defied his 'friends' and helped me escape.

Edward had been his name.

"Thank you, Edward," I said aloud into the quiet darkness of my room.

Carlisle stirred, "Wha? Hm? Did you say something?" he mumbled, half asleep.

"Nothing," I replied. Carlisle mumbled something again before turning over and his breathing slowed. He was asleep again.

And my eyes, too, grew heavy.

A/N: So yeah..I should be studying for my final exams, but this came to my head so I wrote it down tonight instead haha. So let's hope I don't fail my exams tomorrow morning. So! Bella and Carlisle..Weird. Just writing their minor kissing scene was really strange for me, haha. And just so everyone is clear, Carlisle and Esme are definitely not vampires, lol. Review if you like. I might continue with this..I do have an idea of how I would like for it to go, but at the same time, I could leave it as is and just have it be a one-shot. So yeah...If you want MOAR just review :)