𝐂𝐇𝐀𝐏𝐓𝐄𝐑 𝐓𝐄𝐍:
Knowing

CARLISLE CULLEN IS A NERVOUS WRECK, Alice already told him that everything would go well, and that didn't ease him even a little bit.

He's silently cursing his past self for convincing himself that telling Thalia everything is just easy breezy, that she'll accept him for the way he is.

What if she left him? Or disgusted by him? Or worse, scared of him? And those thoughts only worsened as he got in the car to drive towards Thalia's apartment building.

Carlisle Cullen wouldn't know how to deal with the situation if Thalia Bennet didn't want his presence any longer. He's getting himself ready for getting yelled at with profanities.

Weeks of spending time with Thalia have been one of the best days she has ever experienced for centuries, and he wishes for it for the rest of his immortal life with Thalia.

To be honest, Carlisle Cullen would never blame Thalia if she left him. A monster like him doesn't deserve to have an angel like Thalia.

Knocking on her apartment door with a solemn look on his face, Thalia opens the door with a kind smile, and he's beyond confused. Maybe Alice's vision is wrong? Perhaps she didn't know? Or is the vision, not today? maybe it was supposed to be next week.

"Good afternoon, Carlisle," Thalia greets kindly as she takes hold of his freezing hand and guides him inside his apartment, and leads him to the sofa, and Thalia went back to the kitchen, and that is when he heard of a bottle popping, and the smell of animal blood.

She definitely knew, without a doubt.

Walking towards him with two glasses in her hands and placing them in front of him, she encouraged him with a smile to drink, and he did.

"So you know."

"I know"

"How?"

"That's only for me to know," Thalia tells him. The book is a family secret. Only the Cohen lineage is supposed to know the book, and if that means keeping it a secret even from Carlisle, she'll keep her mouth shut.

"And you're not scared?"

"Why will I be scared of you? You'll never harm me."

"You don't know that."

"Oh, trust me, I know. If you did want to harm me, you would've done it the second time we met and the second you walked into this apartment."

Thalia smiles as she takes a sip of her wine. They both knew that she was right. Carlisle would never harm her or let anyone touch a hair from her head. Carlisle sighs, "What would you like to know?"

"I knew the minor details, the skin, the eyes, the sun, that you never sleep, and you never eat human food, you know I really felt guilty when I read that. You should've just told me from the start that you're a vampire so you wouldn't go home and throw up."

Carlisle chuckles and says, "Well, it wasn't really a good conversation starter that I'm a vampire. You wouldn't believe me in the first place."

"Oh, how wrong you are. I would've believed you when you told me."

"How so?" Carlisle asks curiously. Then he remembers Thalia isn't a normal human being, and she's a banshee, part of the supernatural community like him and his family.

"You're not the only creature in this room, Carlisle." Thalia smiles knowingly at him, and he just shakes his head, and he knows what's about to come.

"I'm a banshee, Carlisle. I feel possible deaths and scream like no other."

Carlisle's expression didn't even change, and that's when Thalia knew that he already knew what she was and she just rolled her eyes at him "And you already know that,"

"Indeed I do," Carlisle says with a chuckle escaping his lips. This conversation is more civil than what he had imagined earlier, and he prefers this to what he had prepared for.

"Where did you get the blood?" Carlisle asks. He is sure that Thalia wouldn't go on a hunt.

"From a butcher shop downtown, said that I'm doing some kind of dish with it," Thalia says. She brings down her glass and looks at Carlisle. "Is this the blood of your choice?"

Carlisle nods. "My family and I are different from the others. While they drink human blood, we chose a better lifestyle and diet, and we drink animal blood."

"Explains the eyes then, how about the sun? You always made a reason for not going on a picnic with me, and I would like to know."

Carlisle sighs and unbuttons his shirt one by one, revealing his toned chest, and Thalia looks at him with wide eyes and can't look away. He looks extremely attractive.

He walks towards the curtains and opens them, the sun rays entering the room, and he steps in front of it, and Thalia's about to warn him, thinking that he'll burn, but no, what happened is so much better.

He is freaking sparkles in the sun.

Oh, how Thalia squealed like a kid high on sugar. She runs towards him and immediately places a hand on his chest, and Carlisle can't help but feel flustered in his position.

"This is amazing, god. You look like a freaking disco ball."

Carlisle laughs, looking at Thalia, who is clearly amazed at what his skin does when the sun hits its skin. He couldn't help but change his views of his skin being a skin of a monster when the person in front of him whom Alice told him he was supposed to love was already adorning every inch of his sparkling skin.

Thalia takes her phone out and immediately takes pictures of Carlisle. Of course, she'll delete this later after Carlisle goes home for their privacy sake and keeping his secret safe, but she just can't help it.

"You are like a walking and breathing disco ball. This is just so cool."

"Yes, love, we do sparkle in the sun. Now can you stop taking pictures and calling me a disco ball."

"But you are!! Have you seen yourself in front of a mirror? I would like to see myself sparkle," Thalia says while she doesn't think much of what she said.

Carlisle thought about it. He wouldn't like this life for Thalia. She deserves a normal life that she craves every day, and if she's with him, it would be far from ordinary.

After that, Carlisle told her everything and came clean about how he was changed, his struggles, his lifestyle, his family, everything. He told her everything, including his life with the Volturi, and their rules, everything.

Thalia listened carefully and attentively to everything he revealed to her, asking questions here and there, and Carlisle answering them honestly. Thalia began to trust him even more.

Then it was Thalia's turn, she didn't have anything that much to tell him, since she didn't live for 300 years, only 26 years, she also told him everything, her first scream and how her parent's death triggered it, how her childhood is only her seeing dead bodies, her rebellious teenage years, her regrets in her adult life, and the starting of gaining wisdom in her now adult life her ex (very minor details), and what really happened last week. Thalia felt a weight had been lifted off her shoulders. She felt relief spread through her body.

"Have you felt death this week?" Carlisle asks, wanting the murder of this city to stop and not to get the numbers to increase. If they want to stay here for a while, they need to be kept in low profile and have no suspicions whatsoever.

"No, but I have this inkling that something will happen. I feel it," Thalia tells him, and Carlisle nods. He needs to keep Thalia safe, especially if she wanders around the city at night if she does feel death.

Sometimes, she doesn't even know that she walks around in a daze if she feels death. That was one of the things Carlisle observed when he looked out for her.

"Since we're being honest with each other, I must tell you that I was there when you first screamed," Carlisle reveals, and that's the only time Thalia became shocked.

"How?"

"Alice saw you, she had a glimpse of you when your banshee side was still dormant, but she saw a vision of you screaming, and that's when we knew what you were, so I had to keep an eye on you to keep you safe," Carlisle admits. He just left out the part where Alice's vision contains the two of them being together, but he didn't want to overwhelm her even more.

"Wow, thank you, Carlisle."

"For what?" Carlisle asks curiously and is confused at the same time. He didn't know why she was thankful he was just doing the bare minimum.

"That after all those years, I wasn't alone to witness death."

Author's Note:

➵Ta Da!! The secret is finally out. I hope you guys like this chapter. The murders will be starting in the next chapter. WARNING, I'm not a professional when it comes to investigating murders so that these chapters will be fast-paced. Honestly, I think PRE-TWILIGHT will only have twenty chapters.

➵This was just honestly too funny not to put in here.