When Carlisle found Adrian at the hospital, the first thing he asked was, "Have you seen Charlie?"

 "Oh. Yeah. Um, he drove back to my house last night, after he went to see you."

 "Okay. What did he say? How is he?"

 "He's...he's not good, Carlisle. At least I don't think he's good. But, weirdly enough...he seems to be drawn to me even more, despite my being a vampire. So, I guess maybe he really is my mate, after all."

 Carlisle nodded. "Then that's good, Adrian. That really is good. If you guys are still friends, do you think you would be able to convince him to come back and visit us at some point? Bella's really worried about him. She's tried calling him, but he won't answer."

 "I'm sure that can be solved with a little space. I think he'll be all right, eventually. We're going to meet up later, after work. He wants me to tell him about the supernatural world." 

 "And...you're just going to tell him everything? Adrian, is the Volturi-"

 "I couldn't give a damn about the Volturi!" Adrian snapped. "They are nothing but a bunch of sick psychos, and you know that. They don't know, and they don't have to know. You're certainly not going to tell them, are you? Or anyone else in your family?" 

 "Of course we wouldn't. Why would you ask something like that?"

 "I...don't know. I think I'd better just get to work."

 Truthfully, Adrian was worried for Charlie. The Volturi's reach was far and wide; they could find out about Charlie sooner rather than later. If they did, Adrian doubted they would hesitate to kill Charlie. They were probably still sore of the issue with Renesmee, and this would give them the perfect opportunity for revenge. It seemed like the kind of thing they would do, which was exactly what Adrian was afraid of.

 But he had to shrug off for the time being; he had work to do, and then Charlie would be waiting for him later.

~~~~~~

 Charlie waved to Adrian when he walked through the front door of the diner.

 "I'm sorry, I ordered without you," he said. "But then I remembered you said vampires don't actually eat anything, so...I mean, do you want anything?"

 Adrian shook his head. "No. I wouldn't be able to keep it down for long. Honestly, it's hard to remember what food tastes like. The food now probably tastes better than food from the eighteenth century, though. So...I know you wanted to meet with me because you want to know more about vampires."

 "Mm-hmm. So, what should I know?"

 "To start, most of the things you've heard are false. We can't be warded off with crosses, holy water, or any kind of religious thing. It just doesn't work. Vampires do not burn up in the sun; our skin glimmers when the sunlight hits it, making it look like we sparkle. So, we can't exactly have humans seeing that, which is why we live here, in Forks, where there's hardly any sun." 

 "Huh." Charlie nodded. "You guys are smart, then. Are the eyes a thing, too?"

 "Um, yeah, they actually are. Since we feed off of animals, not humans, our eyes are golden. But when we're very hungry, deprived of nourishment, our eyes turn a dark color. Most vampires have red eyes, because most vampires feed off of humans. Not everyone agrees with the way of life the I and the Cullens lead."

 "And you always drink animal blood?"

 "I...well, no. Living in a big city like London, it's harder to find food. I...would steal blood bags from whatever hospitals I worked at. I felt terrible about it," Adrian added quickly, "But I only do that when I can't get to animal blood. Here, I can. But whenever I'm working in a city, I take blood bags. That's why my eyes can shift from gold to red."

 Charlie nodded. "Does Carlisle know about that?"

 "He does. He's never chastised me or anything like that. I think he just figures that as long as I don't go crazy or get too out-of-control, it's fine. I did have trouble with control when I first met him. But I've had over two hundred years to learn to control my hunger."

 "And it seems like you did it," said Charlie. "So, what now?"

 "What do you mean?"

 "Well, I mean, now that I know about all of this, what should I do next? I'm honestly clueless on that point." He sighed. "Instead of going to work after leaving your house this morning, I went to go see Billy at the reservation. That story he told me? Vampires and werewolves. They're friggin' werewolves, Adrian. Billy told me that I should leave Forks and never come back, but...you know, where would I go? I've been here my whole life."

 "I can help you," Adrian said. "If you decide leaving might be the best thing, I can get you someplace safe."

 He reached across the table to grab Charlie's hand, but Charlie quickly pulled it away.

 "Not here," he said softly. "Let's...let's just get out of here, okay? We can talk more at your house."