Sweet Temptation-by Katty
I rolled my eyes as Alice, for the thirteenth time today, reminded me that she didn’t remember being human. I’d just told her that the one shoe she insisted on strapping to my good foot was pointless. “I’ll just fall and break my other foot you know.” I told her as she tied the blue ribbon around my ankle in record time, making a perfect bow.
“No you won’t Bella, just don’t decide to run a marathon or anything.” Rely on Alice to know the recent future, I thought at she helped me stand, using her shoulder for a support. “Would you like me to carry you to the stairs?” she asked, extending her pale arms toward me. I smiled meekly and nodded.
“Thanks for asking.” Effortlessly she picked me up and strolled to the bathroom door, down the hallway then toward the stairs, Rosalie followed.
“Turn around Edward and close your mind!” she shouted down toward the front door. “Ok,” Alice said to me. She gracefully walked down the stairs and set me at the bottom, then they both went to sit at the piano bench. Butterflies filled my stomach as I watch the back of his bronze haired head. Edward wore a dark tuxedo as he faced the door.
“Can I look yet?” he asked in that beautiful musical voice. Alice nodded and he quickly turned. I heard an intake of breath and realized it was mine own. He looked stunning, even more, if it was possible, than the last time I’d seen him. I tried to smile, unable to take my eyes away from his topaz ones.
“Alice, Rosalie, thank you.” he murmured, walking toward me and pressing his cheek to mine. “You smell…wonderful.” he complimented, breathing in. My heart raced, which I’m sure he could hear.
“Heh, thanks.” was all I could say, I felt like I could faint. He stepped back and showed me what he held. In his hand were several white flowers.
“Freesia,” he informed me and carefully put them into my hair. “Beautiful.”
“So are you.” I told him and stumbled forward to hold him in my arms. Naturally, he caught me and held me close, making my heart react again.
“We should get going.” He said, and took my hand, leading me toward the door.
“Wait! Pictures!” Esme declared, descending the stairs with a silver camera in her hands. Edward rolled his eyes and I attempted to muffle the groan making its way out of my chest, with no success. I immediately, out of habit, moved closer to Edward and he slid his arm around my waste, pulling me toward him. “Will you show up?” I asked him, looking into his eyes. They were lighter today, golden. He grinned and nodded, lightly kissing me on the lips. I’d finally been able to control my actions when he did this but hadn’t managed to control my heart as well. It hadn’t stopped thudding against my chest yet. Esme’s camera flashed and I laughed. We both turned toward her, smiling, and it flashed again, leaving white spots of blindness in my vision. After several more photos and smiles Edward finally protested jokingly.
“Bye everyone!” I called after them, still clueless as to where I was going.
“We‘ll see you there!” Alice called as Edward scooped me into his arms and carried me toward his Volvo. I waved to them and Edward chuckled darkly.
“Alice will be there?” I asked him.
“Yup, so will Rosalie, Jasper, and Emmett.” I frowned, still trying to figure out this puzzle.
“What?” I looked at him curious as he put me into his car.
“You really have no idea where we’re going?” I considered this, and honestly, I really didn’t.
“Nope, no idea. Are you going to tell me now?” I asked eagerly. He shook his head, already in the drivers seat and driving down the path that led away from the Cullen’s mansion.
“You’ll know soon enough.” he assured, patting my knee. His hands were cold as usual, but the casual gesture sent my heart a-flutter. Suddenly his hand wasn’t on my knee anymore, it was at his ear.
“Charlie?” he said into the silver phone he held.
“Let me talk to him!” I grabbed for the phone and he caught my hand in his left one, holding it. I quickly looked out the windshield. The car hadn’t moved a centimeter from the middle of the road. How did he do that?
“Edward..” I groaned, trying my luck with my free hand. He switch the phone to his other ear, out of my reach.
“Oh really? Let me talk to him.” he waited a moment, grinning darkly. “Hello Tyler, this is Edward Cullen.” he greeted him cheerfully. I frowned, why was Tyler as my house?
“Holy crow..” I murmured, finally understanding what all this was about.
“I’m sorry if there’s been some kind of miscommunication, but Bella is unavailable tonight.” His voice was still friendly, but quickly changed to a more threatening tone. “To be perfectly honest, she’ll be unavailable every night, as far as anyone besides myself is concerned. No offense. Sorry about your evening.” he closed the phone and turned to my horror filled expression, smirking.
“Your taking me to the prom?!” I almost shouted. It was so obvious now, I felt a blush rising in my cheeks and tears welling up in my eyes. I quickly wiped at them before they could flow over and ruin my mascara. “You really had no idea.” he mumbled, shaking his head and opening the car door. I watched as he shut it and then heard my own door open. I crossed my arms, firm on not moving. “Bella, please.” he attempted to reason with me, his voice velvety. I didn’t dare turn to look at him, sure that my anger would melt immediately if I did. I had to stay firm. “I promise, nothings going to harm you. I won’t let you go once, I promise.” He held his hand out for me to take. I looked at it, no, glared. “I don’t want to have to use force Bella, but if I have to…” his threat was lost as I took his hand and unsteadily got out of the car. I didn’t want him to use force, not in the parking lot. “There we are.” he said, taking my waste and leading me across toward the large building that served as the small town of Fork‘s high school gym.. This was going to be hell.
We entered the place and I groaned loudly. Balloon trellises towered above my peers in every corner and a snack table sat at the far end. Chairs were lined up on each side of the building, girls sitting with friends, chatting. Some looked like multicolored bouquets of flowers, though I knew I didn’t look any different, I chuckled anyways, despite my anger. I spotted Rosalie and Emmett on the dance floor, spinning circles. Rosalie looked beautiful, making me look like a messed up Christmas present. I looked around for Alice and Jasper, finding them lingering at the far end of the gym by the refreshments, though they would never eat anything. Alice looked around, immediately finding me and waving. I waved back. She wore a slinky, black number, the dress complimenting her small pixy-like figure. I sighed, why couldn’t I look like that. “You don’t compare.” Edward whispered in my ear, following my gaze.
“Hey, I thought you couldn’t read my thoughts.”
“I can’t, but that doesn’t mean I’m not observant.” he answered. “Lets dance.” He led me to the center of the dance floor as another song started, it was slow.
“But I don’t know how to dance.” I stuttered, no use telling him about my luck with dance class.
“I know, but not to worry, its all in the leading.”
Edward placed both of my hands on his shoulders and his own snaked around my waste. I leaned against him and we swayed to the music. Despite how much we weren’t dancing, I felt as if it couldn’t go on long enough. And the dance didn’t. When we broke apart Edward had a glint in his eye.
“I want to show you something.”
I frowned, not another surprise. “And what might that be?”
“You’ll have to come with me and see.” he taunted, letting me lean on him as we crossed the dance floor and he led me out the back door of the gymnasium into a bright star-filled night sky.
“Ah, another day is gone..” I heard him mumble under his breath.
We turned toward the Volvo and my eyes widened. “But we just arrived.” I complained.
Edward stopped mid stride and turned to face me. “Oh, you want to go back there?” he jutted his thumb toward Prom.
Honestly, I didn’t. I shook my head and started toward the car again. “Won’t you at least tell me where your taking me?”
“Uh-uh..”
Edward started the ignition and drove quickly out of town and onto the highway. In several miles he turned onto a dark gravel road. We rode in silence. I had no idea of the thoughts in Edward’s mind, but in my own I was contemplating on weather this was a good idea or not. I trusted him, didn’t I? Didn’t I?
“Here.” he said and left the car to open my door. I glanced around, but all I could see by the light of the moon that filtered through the trees was an old-looking cabin-like house.
Out of habit I asked again, “Where are we?”
This time Edward replied with a useful answer. “This is the Morgan’s home, or at least, it was.”
I stumbled across the rocky earth and up a wooden porch. It looked like it couldn‘t support more than 50 pounds, let alone our weight combined. Edward turned the wooden front door’s handle and went first into the darkness.
“Edward?” I note of panic filled my voice as a sudden aloneness buried itself into my core. “Edward!” I half yelled, half whispered into the darkness. I imagined Laurent or Victoria jumping out of the darkness and revenging James by pouncing on me and then attacking Edward. Surely two on one wasn’t fair game. The thought terrified me and I stumbled forward, reaching out as more waves of panic trembled through me, my voice echoing my fear. “Edward don’t leave me…”
“Bella.” And there he was, tall and towering, his marble skin glowing in the moonlight that managed to pass through the front door. “Don’t be so dramatic. I didn’t leave you, I’m right here.” Edward pressed my head against his shoulder and kissed the top of my head.
And suddenly my panic was gone, I felt perfectly safe in his arms, secure in the knowledge that he wouldn’t leave me.
“This way Bella.” he took my hand, helping me forward.
And then he led me further into the Morgan’s house, down a dark hall and into an unlit room. Through a window on the far side of the small room, the full moon shown through, casting a blue glow on the sheeted furniture that lined the walls. I tried my voice now, attempting to ask the reason of our intrusion into the forgotten house.
It failed me.
Edward only grinned and walked across the room’s expanse, opening a door I hadn’t spotted before. I’d never been inside this place. The Morgan’s were a known family in Forks who’d lived only a few months in the house on the hill and then disappeared. I’d once asked Charlie about their absence, but he’d only muttered something about a sudden death and changed the subject. I’d decided not to press the matter any further, that my curiosity would have to wait, maybe forever, though it was nagging at me now. I made a note to ask Edward about it, hoping this was something he would talk of freely.
Inside of the door was still yet, more darkness. Again grinning, my boyfriend motioned for me to come to him with a crook of his finger. I frowned, paying more attention now to the feeling that was pulling at my mind. More curiosity.
“I’m not moving until you tell me what we’re doing in this poor family’s house.” I assumed they were a poor family, both literally, because of the house and the furniture it contained, and emotionally, due to the fact that Charlie had mentioned a sudden death.
He huffed and crossed his arms, leaning lightly against the door frame. “Bella, please.” he sighed in his most alluring voice.
I turned away, already knowing what was coming next. That gorgeous face which contained those eyes that could out-flame a thousand suns, would fix on my own and melt my heart completely. I wouldn’t let it happen and continued to stare at the wood that made up the floor, which had begun to rot, as he strolled toward me. I already knew who would win this one, who would win every one for quite a long time, at least until I was one of them. On that subject, I was determined to make it happen, if only I could convince Edward to…
“Bella darling, listen to me.” his voice interrupted my thoughts and a cool hand lifted my chin to face him. “Don’t you trust me?” he questioned as those topaz jewels burned at my heart. I nodded, already giving in, but knew what was coming, and waited impatiently. He smirked and kissed my lips. Sometimes I wondered at the extent of his power, weather he could indeed read my mind. The kiss was nothing like our last, but still stirred my heart into a frenzy.
“Alright, I trust you.” I breathed.
His smile of success was priceless and Edward immediately took my waste, helping me slowly cross to the door.
“It’s a surprise.” he murmured lightly in my ear, “but I’ll have to pick you up again, they’re some stairs.” I nodded and he swept me off my feet and into the darkness. As we descended, the air turned musty and damp, the tone in his quiet footsteps hinted at a cement floor.
I kept my eyes open, waiting for them to adjust to the darkness, but they didn’t have the chance. Soon I spotted a faint light and could see that we were going down a winding right-handed stair. I soon found out that the glow of light was from a wood burning fire, and the smell reminded me of the time on the beach when we’d built bonfires and I’d attempted to allure Jacob for his stories of the creatures Edward was. The memory made me smile.
Edward noticed.
“What’s that for?” he asked, looking down at me curiously, though the faint bounce of his walk didn’t cease.
“Just a memory.” I didn’t feel like discussing the matter again, it was too embarrassing. Before he could ask for any details I changed the subject. “So when will you be telling me where we’re going, and more importantly, why?” I guessed we were almost to the source of the light. The stones that lined the walls up ahead glowed orange, making the shadows dance.
He sighed and his broad shoulders rose and fell. I thought I’d almost won, and that his next words would be the answers I was looking for. Instead he only said, “Almost there.”
It infuriated me and I flailed in this arms.
“Edward Cullen! That’s unfair! You have to tell me where we’re going. The darkness is scaring me and I have no idea why there’s a stupid fire down here. If you don’t tell me this instant I’ll….I’ll…” I felt my brow furrow at the strain of trying to come up with a threat that could hurt this man that held me in an iron grasp. The effort was pointless. I knew there was nothing that could possibly hurt him, in my ability, that wouldn’t hurt me as well.
“You’ll what, Bella? What will you do?” He’d read my mind again, and knew full well that there was nothing I could do to threaten him into telling me, or letting me go. Recently, life seemed terribly unfair.
I exhaled a large amount of air that made my head spin and crossed my arms in my lap. My unhappiness was obvious and I hoped he’d take notice.
It worked.
“Bella, please.”
There were those two words again, they’d become more common than house flies these days.
“Just tell me. There’s no point in trying to hide anything. No point in getting me upset over this simple thing.”
His eyebrows almost met in the frown he made. What was his problem?
“It’s….it’s not that simple, alright?”
We’d reached the end of the stairwell now and he came to a stop on the bottom step, carefully setting me down on my one good foot. I used his shoulder for balance as I examined the room. It held a worn wooden table and two chairs to match. A very large stone mantle surrounded the opening to the fire, where it burned strong in its place. Old black iron pots hung from wood rafters and manicotti pots lined the walls. From the looks of the place, I didn’t want to know what was in the pots, or how long they’d stood there. A small door stood in the far left corner, almost hidden. My curiosity sparked further.
“My family, the Cullen’s I mean, knew the Morgan’s really well. Tom and Martha Morgan owned this house for two years until the death of their three month old son. They’d come to Forks when Martha had her second boy, in hopes of raising him here. Jack wasn’t a very healthy baby, like their previous deceased one, and he’d had a lot of sickness and health issues. They figured that the fresh air from the ocean would do him good. They thought he was recovering, but one day the baby started coughing and never stopped. His strength ran out, from the coughing and he couldn’t possibly recover. They couldn’t take him to the hospital, he wasn’t a human baby, like you were. You see,” Edward cleared his throat, as if saying this pained him, “Martha was a witch, at least that’s what you would call her. She really only studied the unknown and experimented with the elements. I guess only a scientist, with benefits.” he paused, examining my face. Was he looking for any signs of panic or disgust? Like he had so many other times, as I grew to know more about this other world he lived in.
“Benefits?” I prompted.
“Yeah, she had powers, kind of like us.” I assumed he meant the vampires. “Only she had to have earthly objects to make them useful.” My face must have given something away because he then looked around the room quickly, for some kind of explanation.
“Uh…like fire. She could use it, transform it. Like alchemy.”
“Oh” was all I could say. I’d have to see such a performance to believe the women could do, with ease, something so many people had tried before and failed.
“Anyways, Jack eventually died after two days of his suffering. Both Tom and Martha were distraught and gave up their residence here. Carlisle offered to buy it from them, when Tom mentioned they could never return to the place of their second sons death. Tom agreed and by the next week the Morgan’s were gone and we owned the property. Alice and I came down here last month to see what we’d bought and to our surprise found more than we’d expected. I was thrilled, but she didn’t see much in it.”
“What did you find?”
He looked shocked.
“Why this of course?!” his voice boomed in the small room and I flinched at the noise. A large smile spread across his face like melted butter.
“Well what’s this?” I had so many questions about Martha, Tom, and their lost baby, but I’d decided to start on the easy ones first.
He smiled kindly down at me and then looked over the room.
“I know it may not look like anything, but this is where Martha did all her work. She didn’t do any “magic” anywhere but down these stairs while the family lived here. This place is sacred, untouched by harmful modern technology. If any was ever did touch this room, the fire here would be diminished and the magic gone. I haven’t come across a place like this is about a hundred years. It’s really something, and I wanted to show you.”
“Ahh…” I nodded as if I understood the importance, but I really had no idea. My thoughts flashed across my face.
“You don’t get it, do you?” Edward raised a dark eyebrow at me and I smiled meekly, shaking my head. He exhaled slowly and then led me to a chair in the middle of the room, taking the other one. The air was smoky down here, not fresh at all. Cruel as it was, I wondered if the baby had ever been down here.
“So why on Prom night?”
He took my question the wrong way and stood quickly.
“Do you want to go back?” The alarm on his face was very convincing and I fell into his teasing trap.
“No no! This is fine.” Anything but prom, I thought.
He grinned and sat back down.
Edward was beautiful in the small wooden chair, and made the dazzling fire look ugly in comparison. I sighed and again wondered at my luck in falling in love with such a god. It was hard to believe him when he claimed he loved me more than I loved him. Unimaginably hard.
“Tell me more about the Morgan’s.” Not only did I want to know more about the mysterious family, but to hear his voice, how relaxed it sounded here. Almost just as much as in the meadow.
Edward grinned at me, “Well when they first moved here Tom took up a job at the hospital, working side-by-side along Carlisle. He was a very good doctor, but not as good as my father. Tom was merely a human, no offense towards you, and couldn’t stay as long of shifts as Carlisle ever did. He didn’t have near the strength or skill that Carlisle has, but for a human, he was a wonderfully practiced doctor. Martha stayed home with the baby and nursed both him and her skill. She wouldn’t have been able to take up a job without being revealed.” Edward waited for the question he knew was coming.
“Why not?” I asked, giving it to him.
“She didn’t look like Tom or any other human. Her hair…” Edward struggled with his words, something I’d never seen him do. “It was beautiful. Even more so than any of ours, including Rosalie’s and you know how people stare at her. The color was an original auburn, but it was perfect and shined with a brilliance that showed the flame within her. And her eyes, they were white, glazed over like a blind persons, though she could see perfectly well. Such a creature would never pass in your society. Vampires are weird enough, and even we cause much questions.”
“And what about the baby? Where was Jack born?”
Edward took several seconds to think, and then answered. “In Asia I think. That was the previous home of the Tom and Martha. They’d lived there for three years after the death of their previous son.”
I opened my mouth to ask another question, but Edward beat me in speaking.
“He was eight years old when the boy died. They lived on a lake, Tom mentioned they’d made sure to teach him to swim as soon as he could walk. But it wasn’t any of the lakes dangers that killed him. Not far from their house a railroad track had been laid and the Morgan’s hadn’t warned their son about its dangers. They allowed the boy to play around the house as long as he “stayed in the yard”.”
Edward bent his second and third fingers in the sign of quotations marks around his head, face serious.
I was engrossed in his story and eager for him to continue.
“One day while playing the boy hears the train from a distance and follows the noise. He gets to the tracks but doesn’t see a train. The boy follows the path toward the nearing Woo! Woo! of the locomotive. You know the rest.” Edward stops talking and all is silent but the crackling fire. I feel wetness near the edge of my eyes but it doesn’t spill over. I did feel sorry for the Morgan’s and there two dead children. As the silence grew, more questions filled my head.
“What about the door?” I nodded toward the dark corner, but Edward didn’t look away from me.
“That’s another room, here I’ll show you.” He stood and his height surprised me in the small room. Edward’s head almost touched the wooden ceiling and he had to duck under the pans. I waited for him to open it before getting up and hobbling inside.
It was completely dark except for the light from the fire in the other room and it was impossible for my eyes to adjust to such a darkness. Edward closed the door behind me and what little light that’d seeped into the room disappeared completely, plunging us into total darkness.
Edward chuckled darkly behind me. I shivered as a spider-like feeling crawled up my back and dissolved into my scalp.
I heard a match strike and then a small flame was put into a dust-covered lamp that sat on an old oak desk beside the closed door. It allowed me to see shadows and shapes of the furniture inside the room, but no color. I recognized a bed and the soft and plump shape of pillows and maybe a quilt or blanket. No other doors on the walls led into unknown places and I figured this was the deepest you could get into this house, and the darkest. I didn’t question why he’d shut the door when Edward curled a hand around my waist and lightly tickled my neck with his eyelashes.
“You smell lavishing tonight.” he complimented and squeezed me tighter to him, inhaling heavily. “It’s…intoxicating.”
I heard a small giggle and, with shocked, realized it belonged to me. I moved toward the bed, pulling Edward along with me. The darkness here with him was more comforting than any fireplace could ever be. I wanted to stay with Edward forever, or at least, as long as possible. I was determined to have him change me. I wanted no others bite in my flesh.
“Edward?” I breathed softly.
Edward played with the skin on my wrist and his mouth moved upward toward my elbow, and back down again. The feeling was very distracting. I tried to concentrate and cleared my throat.
“Edward?” More urgently this time.
“Hmm?” the sound vibrated on one of the most sensitive parts of my body, my wrist. He sounded distracted as well. Maybe this would work.
“Edward…” I hesitated, bit my lip, and tried to predict his reaction. I told myself I shouldn’t wait too long, his distraction would be gone. “Edward change me.” I held my breath, waiting for his anger to pounce but the caressing didn’t cease.
“Bella, why would you want me to do such a thing?” Yes, he was very distracted.
That fact flattered me.
“Because you love me, and I love you, and you want us to be together forever.” As I said this in my most sing-songy voice Edward pushed me back onto the bed. I expected to feel dust on my skin, but the blanket was soft. Had he planned this?
Instead of objecting to the “forever” part, his touch only became more frequent on my skin, continuing down my waist and onto my freshly-shaved legs. That’s right Bella, tell him what he wants, no asking if you want to be like him, I thought to myself. “You do love me, don’t you?”
There it was, a pause, my plan ruined. His face appeared above me, it’s expression concerned.
“Why of course I love you Bella.”
I tried to smile sweetly and hoped he wouldn’t change the subject.
“Just…tell me if I cause your leg any pain, alright?”
I nodded and Edward’s face disappeared. Goose pimples rose on my skin all over my body and a blush spread over my every inch.
“Alright…” I murmured. The truth was, I was in no pain at all, only pleasure and that came from just the light touch of his fingers on my skin. Edward was perfect at everything.
Don’t stray from the subject Bells, I told myself.
“So change me then.” I could feel his lips and teeth on my calves stretch into a grin.
From knowledge of his previous experiences, I knew he was longing. Longing for both human blood, mostly my own, and the instincts of a male deprived of his wants for at least a hundred years. Edward couldn’t possibly resist much longer.
Instead of pulling back as I had guessed he might, Edward opened his mouth slightly and touched the tip of his tongue to the skin on my legs. My heart accelerated and body pulsed. I knew he could feel the speed of my blood increase and it would only tempt him more. I knew he was debating it, fighting his every instinct to give in.
And for a moment, I was truly scared. Scared that he wouldn’t be able to stop himself. Scared that my Edward could turn into a vicious monster his race was made to be.
The flicker of fright was gone and I felt confident Edward could turn me into a vampire, confident he would do it within seconds.
And he did.
~
Stage One
The darkness closed in around me, drowning out every other sense until I could only scream, in an agony I’d never felt before. I would murder for this pain to cease, for it all to be gone and numb, or better yet, pleasurable once more. The feeling was like my previous experience with a vampires bite.
Fire.
Instead of the dull roar of suffering spread throughout my body by several wounds, the pain was focused in one spot in my lower half. I identified it as my leg, two puncture marks in the skin that spewed crimson blood, staining the bed.
When I could get a breath in I shouted only his name, over and over until my lungs ran out of air to supply the sound.
Edward didn’t answer me, I didn’t expect him to, didn‘t know where he was, but I couldn’t force myself to shut my mouth and felt it open and close like a guppy’s out of water. I worried about Edward then, through my pain, and was grateful he’d been able to stop his thirst for my blood by only taking a few drinks.
Another wave of pain left me breathless again and my lungs struggled for air, burning to the point I thought they could burst from lack of. And then the darkness came again, a comfort from unyielding pain.
Alice Cullen POV
I revved the gas again and the car lurched forward, not swerving an inch from the gravel roads center. I knew, from the moment Edward had mentioned showing Bella the Morgan’s old house, that going alone wasn’t such a good idea. Stubborn as he was, Edward did not listen to a thought in my mind and I knew it wasn’t good news when they’d left the High School gymnasium so early. A small growl rumbled in my throat and I let it chime out in the small space of the car. I’d left Jasper at Prom with a kiss, told him I’d be back soon, that I’d gone to find Edward and Bella. He hadn’t asked anymore question’s when I’d mentioned her name. I sighed and wished that one day we’d all get along when Bella was finally one of us. It was unavoidable, I knew it. Edward’s love was too strong, and my visions had never failed me yet. Now, though, I wished they might. The latest one I’d seen was of Bella in the Morgan’s bed, squirming in pain, her face contorted, and blood on the sheets. It deeply disturbed me now, and I swerved dangerously past 90 on the thinning gravel path. As I reached the Morgan’s drive I spotted Edward staggering out of the house, his eyes bulging. Forgetting the car I rushed out to hold him and help, somehow.
“Whoa…hey. Edward…” I forced him to look at me, taking that sculpture-like face into my hands and exhaling deeply so he could smell my breath. “What has happened?” I spoke slowly, already knowing the answer. I knew I had to get down to Bella, but made sure Edward could control his thirst. He staggered again into me and I easily picked him up and ran him to the car, setting him inside. “Edward, listen to me. Stay-here. Control yourself and stay here. Do you understand? Stop breathing.” Edward nodded slowly and his shoulders stopped moving. He sat statue still inside the car and remained there when I reached the house again. “Bella?” I could smell her blood, it was strong and thick down the stairs. Before descending I made a quick phone call to Carlisle, laid my phone aside and darted down them, holding my breath.
Bella Swan’s POV
“Bella…” a familiar voice taunted in a faraway place. “Bella, breath. You have to for your heart to pump the venom faster or you‘ll get no where.” I couldn‘t breathe, my Edward was gone, my leg was on fire, and the voice wanted me to breathe? I wavered in and out of consciousness as my faithful Alice explained how my next few days were already planned for me. It went something like: “You’ll go through three complete stages.” “Your on the first Bella.” “Only two more days.” “Stay strong.” Somewhere through that first step toward becoming what I wanted most of both life and death, Carlisle joined Alice in the small room at the bottom of the stairs. Only a day later, when my body began to heal, did my beloved Edward join me in the suffering.
“Edward?”
“Yes love, yes I’m here.”
“Edward I love…”
“I love you too Bells. I promise that…”
But blackness swallowed his next words from my ears and the waves of pain become more excruciating than ever before.
~
Stage Two
“Edward?”
I almost choked on the taste inside of my mouth, cringing in disgust. My lungs rose and fell too quickly, I could feel my blood pressure rising and skin beginning to sweat. “Edward?!” I began to panic and braced myself for the beginning of another end. I had no idea what would happen to me next, it was fear that haunted me now. His face appeared above me, concerned, fragile.
“Yes Bella, I’m here.”
I sighed, relieved, but when I tried to move. my every limb felt as if a thousand needles jabbed as their nerves.
“Bella you mustn’t move now, your bodies changing. If you don’t move you’ll be alright.” I stopped myself from nodding and focused only on keeping every part of my body still. The next few hours passed unbearably slowly and I faded in and out of a dead sleep.
As I drifted, I dreamed.
In my dream I was surrounded by shadows, and then a white light that shown so brightly I couldn’t make out the hundreds of figures that stood behind it. And then one stepped forward. Without any introduction I knew it was death, that had finally come to take me away from this constant pain. I welcomed death with open arms.
Finally, with my relief, it came.
~
Stage Three
Edward Cullen’s POV
“Bella stay with us, it’s almost over.” I urged, resting, lightly, a hand on her shoulder. I hated to even look at her lying there weakly on Martha Morgan’s old, now stained, bed. Carlisle had said it was probably the last day of her transformation and I looked forward to the second this was all over. It hurt me horribly to see her in pain, and such as this. I never actually planned to bite her two nights ago, only to play around. I cursed myself daily for my stupidity of bringing her down here, and for not listening to Alice. She was always correct and her visions never failed her. Why did I have to be so darn stubborn?
Carlisle pushed a clear plastic bag of blood into my hands and motioned toward Bella.
I had to feed it to her, it was my duty. I loved her more than anything in this world and outside of it. I vowed to help her through the pain any way possible.
“Bella, you must open your mouth.” I whispered into her ear.
She’d changed a lot since my bite and even now she was near more beautiful than Alice, lying there in her coma-like state. My mouth watered for her blood now, what was left of it. That night it took all of my strength not to suck her dry and then leave the country, my family, behind. I’d held my breath and staggered out of the house, thinking only of the consequences of my would-be actions and not to the voice that urged me to turn back and finish her.
I truly did love Bella Swan.
Now, she didn’t even respond to my words, didn’t move. With what gentle care I could muster, carefully I touched her lips, and parted them, sliding a straw into her mouth.
“Drink Bella.” I commanded, though kindly, I thought. Surely she would smell the blood, surely the vampire in her wanted it. I knew I did.
And then a lurching breath rattled through her chest and she sucked in, choking at first and then drinking more eagerly. “That’s it love, there’s plenty more.” I stroked her arm lovingly and helped her sit up on a pillow. When Bella’s eyes opened they were a dark crimson red of a rose, beautiful and hungry.
~
Bella Swan’s POV
I drank only a few more gulps, but then pushed the bag of blood away. It tasted horrible, and the smell, still, nauseated me.
“No more, I don’t want any more.” I stood, feeling energized.
“Bella, you need this, if you can’t control your hunger when we get into town we’ll never be able to hide what you are.” Edward raised an eyebrow and threw a pointed stare my way.
“Hunger or not, they’re going to know something’s up. Look at her, her eyes, her skin, her smell!” Alice rolled her own dark eyes and held her hands to show them my features that stood out to reveal the monster I now was.
“Oh, thanks Alice, I love you too.” I did love Alice, she was my sister, had always been. Even before, when I was still human, Alice had always been there. Rosalie on the other hand, I couldn’t guess her reaction to me turning, and I somehow felt I didn’t want to know it. Not yet.
Dark eyes. They hadn’t eaten. I glanced around at each in turn. Edwards were almost black, and glinted in the lamp light. Carlisle’s were lighter, golden, and he looked almost normal. Alice’s were just like Edwards and their hunger worried me. I grabbed the bag of crimson liquid from Edwards hands and drank eagerly. They couldn’t drink this human blood, it’d be harder for them to go back to hunting in the Wild. And my body needed it, I felt that. Mentally, I had no desire to drink the blood and if a human were placed in front of me now I could easily turn away a total stranger’s vulnerable, weak body. Compared to my own, Jacob’s body was weak. That scared me. It terrified me, what I’d become over the past two days.
Jacob.
How would he react if he ever found out I was his tribe’s enemy. The answer was simple. He wouldn’t ever know. I couldn’t live in Forks anymore, couldn’t attend High School here or live with Charlie another night. All the problems that I hadn’t given a thought to rushed into my mind, flooding out the one good thing, the reason why I’d desired this fate.
Edward. I clung to him now, and whispered my feelings. “I love you Edward.” If he didn’t return those words, I would truly be broken. He might totally reject me as I was now, and turn away in disgust. But instead of what I feared he only embraced me in a huge hug and then kisses, more passionately than any human could bare.
“I love you too Bella.“
He was my Edward, forever.
