Disclaimer: Characters from the Twilight novels / movies are the property of Stephanie Meyer. All original characters are my property.

Also, I appreciate any and all reviews / proposed edits, so long as they are presented in a respectful manner. Thank you in advanced for your support and input.

New chapters should be up every Friday. Hope you enjoy.

Chapter 2

Falling

I was thrust down an abyss, falling for an infinite amount of time. My body slowly melted away, leaving nothing but a ball of fire sailing through the empty air. Even though my body was gone, my suffering continued, escalated. I kept trying to extinguish the ball of fire with pure willpower convinced that it would end my pain. This made no difference and, if anything, it seemed like it only made it worse.

All the pain I was experiencing made me want to go home, to see my parents, even if that was impossible, and be comforted by them like when I was a little boy. What I wanted, however, didn't seem to matter. My fate was no longer in my hands. It was as though I was a passenger in my own body, just watching my own life stream past like I was some rider on a train. One moment in particular kept replaying in my mind: the reason I was like this. In a coma? I wasn't sure. I kept on trying to picture the person responsible.

Then I realized a bigger question my mind kept slinging at me. What was happening to me? My veins had been on fire when they still existed. I ran through a gamut of possible things that could cause this feeling, but only one, impossible, option stood out. I had been envenomed. I wasn't any sort of Biology major, but being poisoned by a venom made sense because it was my veins that burst into flames first. This deduction lead my mind to it's next question: How could a human envenom me?

As I tried to figure the answer, I realized how I had never really lost track of the fire and how it was growing. It had become almost white hot, but now I could see minute lines of flame were jutting from it. Filling the areas where my veins used to be, then seeping out into the rough outline of where my body used to be. In a process that seemed to take forever the burning sensation started to become manageable, my senses began to reboot, and my body went limp.

"He's finally still. Lets get him cleaned up before we wakes," a motherly voice announced as the inferno began to recede from my fingertips and toes. I could feel several hands moving my body around.

"We got lucky that his voice was crushed," a man chuckled. "That way we didn't have to put a muzzle on him."

"Emmett!" the woman scolded him. They laid me back down.

"Sorry," replied Emmett.

"Edward. Could you bring me a bowl of water and some towels?"

"And let everyone know he'll be waking up soon," I recognized Alice's voice.

"Sure." Edward replied and I could hear him rush down a flight of stairs. In fact, I could hear every minute sound around me. From the tiniest shift in Esme's weight to the sound of water dripping from a spigot outside the house.

As Edward returned, I could feel the flames receding further, toward my heart. The fire was barely affecting me now and I could easily think around it. "Lets get you cleaned up." Esme whispered into my ear. Her voice comforted me. She began washing my skin. I must have been a mess.

As she finished, I felt the fire drain from my body and into my heart. The pain flared up again though and my chest rose up as the fire went into overdrive. The intense flames consumed themselves in a matter of seconds and as they went out I could feel the control of my body return to me. My eyes snapped wide open.

I didn't recognize the world around me. The colors and detail of everything was remarkable. I sat up to look at the room in front of me. It was nice with white walls and ceiling, a light blue carpet, and filled with dark wood tables, chairs, bookcases, a large desk which stood in front of a large window that comprised an entire wall. This must be some sort of study. Even with my contacts on, things never had this kind of vibrancy and precision like the difference between standard and high definition televisions. My nose was in overdrive as well. Aromas filled the room; mostly a honey-lilac scent, but there was a hint of something that made my nose wrinkle, a wild animal maybe. The sounds of the world were equally stunning. I could hear animals quietly passing through the brush outside, droplets of water falling from the rain gutter, the slight shifting of someone's weight nearby.

Even with all the other things going on my mind could concentrate on all of them, not equally though. The forefront of my brain was focused on the sound of the shifting weight. There was this instinct, unlike any I had ever felt before, or at least not this intensely. It began to fill my mind, and with it my muscles, with tension, an overwhelming feeling of defending myself. I gripped the table. This momentarily distracted me, because I could feel the metal supports of the table mold to the shape of my hands like Play-Doh.

"Hello." someone behind me said and my body and mind went straight back into overdrive. In a matter of a moment I shot up, off the table, my back to the closest wall, books fell around me. I was crouched over, my hands clawed, and I was making a terrible hissing noise like that of a snake. This stopped me up for a moment. What was that? How did I get over here so fast? Why did I hiss? How did I hiss? All these questions pushed to the front of my mind and my hands relaxed, slightly.

"Please, try to calm down. We don't mean to hurt you," Esme said this which made me want to believe her. My instincts still told me to be ready for an attack, but my mind won the battle as I pulled myself out of the crouch. I was standing, bolt upright, in less time that it took to flip on a light.I was completely confused. There was so much information streaming in; so many emotions, thoughts, and instincts all mixing together I couldn't keep it all straight. The instinct to defend myself kept trying to take hold and I knew if I let take control I would hurt someone, which was the last thing I wanted to do.

That's when I realized who was in front of me. It was the Cullens, all of them. Jasper, Emmett, Edward, and Carlisle stood in front of the four girls: Alice, Rosalie, Bella, and, I assumed, Esme. They stood there like they were defending the girls from something and based on how they were all staring, it must have been me. "Jasper," Edward said, turning to Jasper. I felt a sudden wave of calm wash over me. What was that?

"Where am I?" I asked and heard my voice had taken on an angelic reverberation.

"You're at our home and you're safe," Carlisle tried to sound reassuring.

I started to loosen up a little bit. It seemed that everyone in the room could feel it because all of the Cullens began separating into pairs and moved through the room. I traced all their movements carefully. I was stopped up while looking around when I noticed a mirror that was reflecting the entire room back at me.

"Why don't you take a seat William," Esme with a polite tone. The mirror had my complete attention though. I looked at it slowly counted and compared the nine people I saw standing in it. Jasper and Alice stood near the window, close to the desk. Emmett and Rosalie stood near the unlit fireplace, leaning against it. Carlisle and Esme sat in a small loveseat across from the fireplace. Edward and Bella sat on the edge of the desk, backs to the window. Every single one had their eyes fixed on me. Then my vision fixed on the ninth person in the mirror. I stared for what seemed like a millennium at the pale man in the mirror. His eyes were flames and the little movements he made were smooth, almost feline like. Who was this person in the mirror?

Edward let out a short chuckle and, while looking at Bella, nodded toward me. Bella glanced back at me and a look of concentration crossed her face. Edward stood up and approached me slowly. I felt the defensive instinct start to flare up again, but, just as quickly as it came, it disappeared. "That person is you," Edward pointed to the person in the mirror that was holding the bulk of my attention. I looked at Edward puzzled. That can't be me, I can't see myself in that person at all! "Look carefully. I'm sure you can find something that reminds him of you."

My eyes refocused on the person in the mirror. I kept coming back to the bright red eyes, but made a concerted effort to look elsewhere. After several moments of searching the perfect face I finally noticed a flaw, one I could recognize. An old, healed over cut that split my eyebrow in two near the outermost edge. I remembered a summer, years ago, where I tripped while on a hike with my parents and gashed open my eyebrow. "How can that be me?" I turned to Edward, "what happened to me?"

Everyone in the room braced themselves for Edwards response, "You were bitten by a vampire."