A/N: This takes place twenty-four hours after Edward bit Bella. He has now moved her operating table next to his piano. This chapter is in Edward's point of view. Enjoy!
Disclaimer: I do not own any of the Twilight characters, the saga's plot, or the settings, I'm only messing with them to take up time until Breaking Dawn. This is sort of what I would see Breaking Dawn as being. Also, Emmet sings Bohemian Rhapsody by Queen in his mind. Lyrics copyright to whoever made them.
Chapter II: Pain
I held my head in my hands as I sat on the piano bench. My shoulders shook with pain and torture. It was like I was being transformed all over again, only with even more pain. My beautiful Bella was being tortured, and it was all my fault. How could I have done this? I thought. I should have stayed with the Denali coven when Bella first moved here. Stupid, stupid, STUPID! I shouted at myself mentally, now rocking back and forth. I truly hated myself for doing this. I should've held up, argued with them all… taken her to a place far away never to be bothered again. She could've grown old, had children for all I cared! I would've stayed. Stayed forever, being miserable at myself for not being able to grow old with her, to have children with her. I hated myself now.
I looked over at her, writhing as she had for the past twenty-four hours. Pain pierced me once more. She had began the outer physical transformation. I stroked her hair, beautiful chocolate. She gripped my arm and screeched my name with still-brown eyes possessed by unconscious pain. I convulsed once more. I had done this. Ten minutes after her transformation began, I was begging Carlisle to change her back. To stop the transformation.
"Edward, I'm sorry," he had shaken his head. He wasn't speaking it all to me, but as usual I heard the rest in his mind. Along with images of my own transformation, and the pain it had caused him. "There isn't any going back. What's done is done. I'm so sorry, son. I should have done this while you were away." he thought.
I growled low at the time, for I knew he hadn't meant for me to hear that last unspoken sentence. How dare he? I seethed internally.
Bella was now beginning to get some strength. She was gripping the stainless steel table, her hands leaving imprints. Imprint. I thought with bitter poison. Stupid werewolves. But I knew, Jacob in fact hadn't imprinted on Bella, which made me giddy with joy. No! What was I thinking? She wouldn't be writhing with torture if you wouldn't have been so selfish as to want her. Jacob, I sneered again at the very name, would've been better off for her. Not wanting to eat her all the time. Not secretly wanting her to be dead. Not wanting her to be a slimy, filthy creature like myself.
"Uh… hey buddy," it was Jasper. His eyes were squinted with pain, his fists were balled, and he was trembling. I hadn't thought of him feeling Bella's torture as well. "It's not really all that bad, Edward. It really isn't entirely your fault. You know, I feel awful with all this guilt you're throwing at me. I've been apologizing to everyone in the house the moment they look at me. It really is driving all of them nuts. Sorry," he added.
"Jasper, you know you don't have to stay here for this," I informed him sulkily. "You should take Alice down to Seattle, she's been wanting to go shopping for a few days now," I informed him of her thoughts and wants for a dress she had seen on the fashion show on TV.
"But I have to stay, bro," he stated, no hint of indecision on his pained face or thoughts. "It wouldn't feel right if I weren't here. Bella's my sister-in-law now. She's part of the family, and I care for her as much as y- the rest of them do." He stopped himself from saying "you" because he knew it wasn't true.
"Fine." Was all I could manage. My head was still spinning with guilt. I sat at the piano and plunked distantly at the keys. It was Fur Elise, by Beethoven, but there wasn't any flowing sweetness to it. Pure bitterness and venom possessed my vile fingers. And there I sat, for the next twenty-four hours, hating myself.
"Edward," Alice interrupted my sulking, "can I have a word with you?"
I hadn't even thought to listen to Alice's mind for visions, and I couldn't concentrate enough now to do so. It was all I could do to channel into her thoughts.
"I've seen Bella in the future. Alpha, Beta, Gamma, Delta…" Alice thought. I was furious. She had seen Bella, and was now blocking me to see what she had seen. Damnit, I wanted to know. I had a right to know.
Alice looked at me nervously. "Epsilon, Zeta, Eta, Bella's gorgeous, Theta, lota, Kappa," the Greek alphabet continued in her mind. Pictures of kittens and pianos came next. So he had seen an image of Bella. I stood angrily, and pushed Bella's wheeled table from the large room.
Suddenly, an entirely different voice entered my mind.
Jacob Black.
I couldn't hear anything specific, it was just a jumble of images of forest and feelings of anger.
I cursed under my breath. My dark mood was overtaking. "Alice!" I yelled unnecessarily.
"Yes, Edward." She seethed from behind me. It was very unlike Alice to be effected by my mood.
"Seen anything lately about those wretched mongrels?" I lashed out.
"Not a thing," she said shortly. Suddenly her demeanor changed from venom-spitting to comforting. "Edward, don't worry about them," she crooned. "They can't know this soon." And suddenly, I was enveloped in her tiny arms. I didn't take kindly to the hug, my pitch black mood still with me. I pushed her away.
Bella let out a shriek. Instantly, I had her in my arms, surrounded in internal torture and hate. I pressed her cheek to my chest. Her heart had stopped hours ago.
"Edward," my love said between her pained jerks and convulsions. It had been forty-eight hours since I changed her, and the pain was lessening, I could tell.
These were the first words she had spoken since her last "I love you." I turned her around in my arms. This was a slight feat, because she was about as strong as I now.
"Yes, love?" I barely whispered.
"Edward," she repeated, cut off by another violent jerk. "I love you," she said.
My heart instantly melted, as I was jerked out of my horrible mood. "I love you more than you can imagine," was all I could think.
She smiled, and yelled out in pain. Her skin was hardening now. Another horribly painful experience, but nothing compared to the heart-stopping. She continued subtle writhing, and I carried her up to my room. Coming through the door, I swiftly turned and locked it so we wouldn't be interrupted.
Before I could sit her on my bed, however, there was a knock on the door.
Alice.
"Edward, her transformation will be a short one, only ten hours to go," she informed me, and I heard her breeze down the stairs to give us privacy.
I sat down with Bella on the bed. Ten hours? I thought. Shouldn't the rest of the transformation take at least another day? I noticed her skin was already hard, and she had stopped writhing. She lay still now, and I took her hand between mine. The IV had been taken out, and the bruise it had left was now gone. I began to inhale deeply, and my breath hitched in my throat. The smell. She didn't smell of bloodlust, but the same extreme sweet, fragrant scent still filled my senses. Bella's scent hadn't changed, except for the want for blood with it. I smiled, and thought that if Bella were awake now, her heart would've fluttered at her favorite smile. No, Edward, you've killed her. No more heart. No more blushing. The pain came once more, and I doubled over on the couch, nearly unable to bear what I had done.
Alice stepped into the room. "Eight hours, Edward," she beamed, hiding a secret reason for her sudden exuberance. I probed her mind. "Hehehe… oh where did I leave off… tsk, tsk, Edward, no peeking! Lambda, Mu, Nu, Xi, Omicron…" more mental giggles.
"Alice," I said as sternly as possible, "Is there something you're not sharing?" My hands were shaking with rage now. There was something big.
"Oh, silly, silly beloved brother of mine," she chimed giddily. "You have to have some sort of surprise, why don't you go play some piano, I'll watch Bella for the next eight hours," Yep. My suspicions were confirmed.
"Alice," I growled. "I'm not leaving her," I said with as much finality as possible.
"Oh, but Edward, I do believe you will," she said with an evil grin. With that, images of Alice and Jasper…er… together came into my mind. I put my head in my hands and groaned. This was something I really didn't want to have to see.
"Fine," I spat. "But if anything, a-ny-thing happens to her, so help me, Alice, you will be ripped apart and burning before you can even have a look-see what's coming.," that took her off guard, and it wasn't too easy to surprise either of us.
She eyed me with some indeciphered emotion building, then exploded with joy, "Now shoo, Edward, and no peeking in my mind, if you do, you'll be so-rry." She sang the last word, and put it into two syllables.
I crossed the room with vampire-speed to my Bella. Her appearance hadn't changed quite yet, and she was laying with her eyes squeezed shut, jerking every now and then. Once again, the pain crashed down. I stroked her hair, and her eyes fluttered open, then closed again.
"Don't worry, love," I said, my voice thick with pain and compassion, "I'll only be in the other room, if anything happens," throwing a look at Alice, I continued, "I'll be here immediately. I love you." Almost finished, I leaned down to kiss her forehead. "I'll be back, love, don't worry." I stroked the side of her face now, studying her beautiful features.
"Go on, get out of here already, Edward, it's not like you won't be able to see her after seven hours and forty-seven minutes," Alice chided.
With one last glare at Alice, and a longing look at Bella, Alice pushed me out of the room. Sulking down the stairs, I plopped onto the couch next to Emmet. He put his arm around my shoulders.
"It's okay, bro. She'll be fine. But… I wonder what in the world Alice could be hiding…" he said in a way that caused me to be extremely suspicious. I turned my head to eye him, and before I knew what was happening, he picked me up in a bear hug, and rushed out the door.
I felt a hand on me, followed by extreme lethargy. I couldn't even react, let alone fight back, and I was strapped in Emmet's Jeep before I knew it.
Jasper Whitlock Hale-Cullen was an evil creature at times. Like now. They were taking me somewhere I wasn't going to like… I just knew it. What about Bella? What if she needs me? That evil hand was still on me, making me unable to move much.
I slowly turned my head to Jasper, locking eyes and giving him a death-glare.
"Oh come on, Edward," he drawled lazily. Hah, I wasn't the only one affected by this. Too bad Emmet wasn't.. or we could've had a human-speed fight. But, it wasn't like Jasper to speak with a southern accent… Sure, he was from the South, but that was what, several decades ago? He had dropped the drawl long, long ago.
Nothing left but to think, I probed their minds. Jasper was continuing the Greek alphabet where Alice had left off, "Pi, Rho, Sigma, Tau, Upsilon, Phi, Chi, Psi, Omega… uhhh… Alice is pretty… I love my Alice. I love it when she-" Ew. His mind was wandering to the gutter as it always did when he didn't want me to listen. So, I tuned him out, and listened to Emmet. He should tell me something, he wasn't very good at hiding things.
"A, B, C, D, E, F... um… oh, G, H, I, J, K, M, L, N, O, P… la la la la… Ooh hehe, I see a little silhouetto of a man. Scaramouche, scaramouche, will you do the Fandango? Thunderbolt and lightning, very very frightening me! Galileo Galil-" Wow. I wish I hadn't listened. Emmet had just started singing Bohemian Rhapsody by Queen. It was nowhere near in-tune. That was really really scarring. Not listening to Emmet anymore.
With that, I tuned them both out, and sat silently pouting in the car. They were going to get it when Jasper would stop with the lethargy thing, it's really annoying. Children. I thought bitterly. That's what they are, immature little infants. Where are we going anyway? I had been in the car for already an hour, and with Emmet's driving, an hour could take you anywhere. I was really worried now. A thought occurred. Without me as his little police radar, he can't speed… I was triumphant that I was impairing him somehow.
We pulled into… oh dear Lord, the mall. They were trying to hide something so bad, they had to take me to the most crowded place in Seattle. Looking around, I noticed we had to park on the very outskirts of the parking lot, which was extremely packed. Lovely. I wouldn't be able to think for myself, let alone hone in on anyone's thoughts. I would've been able to, but given the circumstances of Bella, I couldn't think of much else.
Walking into the wretchedly crowded building, I was flooded with hums of thoughts. If I were able to get a headache, I would have a full-blown migrane right now. Wandering the mall, I drowned out everyone else's thoughts with thoughts of Bella. Not only was this extremely difficult, because I could hear everyone's thoughts and words. My head was spinning. I glared at Jasper and Emmet, also known as Evil and Eviler. They were covering their ears with their hands with pained expressions on their faces.
"You think you guys have it bad?" I scowled in their direction.
"Wow, Eddie, I'm sorry, I didn't know it would be this packed," Emmet snickered sarcastically.
I just glowered.
"So what are we here for, other than to find out if a vampire can get a migrane?" I spat out at our speed, so humans couldn't hear.
"Well, dearest Edward," Jasper began. "We've decided it was time you picked out something… special for Bella."
I didn't even attempt to hone in on his mind. I just let the hum overtake me as I sulked.
Emmet giggled in his goofy way, and dragged me by my arm over to the lingerie store. I didn't try to escape, not wanting to cause a scene in the mall, resulting in two options: massacre the witnesses, or have the Volturi come and do it for us. We entered the store, and I immediately turned on my heel and darted out at world-record-sprinter speed. That being a little bit of a vampire jog. Emmet and Jasper instantly had me again, and dragged me back in.
"You have no idea what she's thinking right now," I said through clenched teeth , gesturing towards the… large woman digging through panties that should be illegal to be sold over a certain size. Of course, Emmet and Jasper howled with laughter because she was staring at me. Lovely. I flashed my left hand all over the place, trying to display the wedding band. She didn't even notice it.
I cringed. Her thoughts were so… vivid it made me want to vomit. The action was not impossible, all I had to do was eat human food. It had to come out, so I could run and grab some fries, eat them, and vomit right there in front of her. Anything to get her mind out of… where it was now.
"Hey, Eddie!" Emmet had a bra on. Very mature, Emmet. Jasper was holding up a thong next to him, waggling his eyebrows. Emmet, of course, was picturing the thong on Jasper. Oh God. Now I really wanted to vomit. With those two, and the woman who had it in for me, I couldn't think.
Suddenly, one "voice" screamed out in my head. It was so horribly familiar. A chill ran down my spine, and I whirled to see where he was.
Jacob Black. Once again, I heard his voice in my head. This time, it was so deftly clear I knew he couldn't be more than fifty feet away. The smell hit me like a brick wall. How could I have been so dense as to not notice by now? I should've been able to smell him when he was a mile away. Emmet and Jasper were instantly at my sides.
"What does the mangy mongrel want now?" Emmet thought.
"Bella," was the only word that escaped my lips.
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A/N: Ahh! Sorry about the cliffy, guys! I had to end this chapter with a little something from the next chapter. Yeah, I thought it was a boring chapter too, but I promise it gets better! Way way better! Bella's going to wake up in the next chapter! Until next time!
IvoryAddiction
