The burning pain had been slowly dissipating for many hours until small pinpricks were all that was left, hot embers instead of engulfing fire. And then nothing, nothing at all. I felt better than I had ever. The silence from the previous roar of the flames was uncomforting. Then a soft hand touched mine. This more than anything else caused my eyes to fly open.
Nothing soft except the comforter should be touching me, let alone holding my hand. Why was a human here, and more importantly, why wasn't I killing him or her.
I followed the length of the hand up the arm, noticing how clear and precise everything looked; I could see the individual hairs on this arm. I could very distinctly tell no one was breathing. But then I realized that my eyes and thoughts were really just spread up enough that no one else had had time to breath.
"Bella?" a musical voice asked, even without my newly superior hearing I would recognize that voice anywhere. My eyes snapped up to his face. A magnificent face, enhanced even more, to be utterly breath taking, more so than ever before.
"Edward" I sighed, and my voice sounded different, it had the more musical tonation that all the other Cullens had, but still distinct and unique in its own way.
I sat up quickly and let his stone cold arms engulf me. But something was different. He was granite-like hard, or bone-chillingly cold. He felt warm and soft like a human; and I had to listen closely and listen for a heartbeat, which of course I heard none.
I pulled away quickly and Edward smiled in a knowing way.
"Just another perk of us all being vampires, now think of how fragile a human would feel to one of us." His words confused me, leaving my brain to consider the options of the meaning behind his words.
Then it clicked.
"Everyone feels this way? To you too?"
Edward chuckled, the sound deep, warm, and bubbly, "of course sweet Bella, vampires skin is hard to a human and the wolves, but why would it feel hard and cold to one another?"
"This is a perk I wasn't expecting. It makes being with you even more perfect now." I finally felt like I belonged on Edwards playing level, like I could fit in with his family and just belong, just fit. We had always been made for each other, more than soul mates, and now he even felt made for me, warm and soft. And just utterly perfect.