Author's Notes: Thank you for your wonderful reviews! You all are amazing. Also, I've seen several authors offer incentives for reviews, like little extras. I would like to do that. So, when you review, make sure you are signed in or leave an email and I will send a quote from the next chapter. A little preview, per se. For future reference, let me know what you'd like to see, like POV of a scene I'd written already or something. It'll be cool. :)
The prompt for this chapter was simply "Fairytale." I had fun.
Chapter Two
Fairytale
I'm not sure what I expected when I begged Edward to save me. After Jacob's stories on the beach, I knew I should be afraid, that I should run and keep as far away from the Cullens as possible.
But I couldn't.
I couldn't explain the rush of relief that washed over me the instant I heard his voice. I couldn't explain the way the pain just vanished, the way that all I could feel was his presence. And I certainly couldn't explain the perverse happiness I felt in this moment.
It was a struggle to keep my eyes open but I had to see him and his beautiful face. His perfect eyes locked with mine as I convinced – pleaded with – him to save me.
When the light in his eyes shifted, I knew I had won and succumbed to the heavy weight of my body and the pain shooting through it. I lay limp on the cold concrete, struggling to breathe. Each breath brought a new stab of pain – broken ribs.
It hurt to move, but I could still listen. I listened hard for the sounds of Edward, desperate for the tiniest echo. He was silent as a ghost, but I heard the impossibly loud crack of bone and the thud of what must have been bodies crumpling to the ground. Was that him? Was he okay?
My heart beat heavily in my chest, an unfamiliar sensation – shouldn't it be racing with all the adrenaline in my system right now? I must be burnt out.
I could feel someone kneel beside me and I didn't even have the strength to tense up in fear.
"Bella," his beautiful voice at my ear broke through the fog closing in on me, laced with agony, "Don't leave me."
I must be hallucinating. The pain was finally addling my brain. But the still functioning part felt his ice cold lips on my skin in the gentlest caress.
And suddenly everything was crystal clear. His lips parted and his cool breath sent chills up my spine. I could feel his icy hands at my neck and waist, steadying me as he prepared himself for…whatever it was he was about it do.
In another flash of pain, I found out.
His surprisingly sharp teeth bit clear through the skin just above that large vein in my neck. In the last moment of clarity, I felt all my injuries – my left leg bent at an unnatural angle, ribs threatening to puncture a lung with each breath, a sharp burning in my core and between my legs, bruises on my arms and sides. And now, I could feel Edward at my neck, his moist tongue lapping up my blood as something foreign pumped into my veins, replacing the blood.
I couldn't even scream, I was in too much pain – it took all I had to keep breathing, willing my heart to keep beating, even if it was just the agonizingly slow rhythm it beat out now.
Then the fire started, like I was slowly being burnt alive. I couldn't take anymore and the world faded to black. The last thing I remembered was the feeling of Edward pulling away from me and scoop me up in his arms, sending yet another shock of pain wracking my body.
I don't know how long I was out, but when I woke, all I knew was that I hurt.
I screamed and thrashed around, trying to escape whatever it was that was hurting me so badly, only to find my arms and legs restrained almost immediately. My struggles yielded no results and only forced the hold on me to tighten and new waves of pain to shoot through my broken limbs.
I clenched my teeth to stop the scream as the wave subsided briefly and I forced my eyes open. I needed to know what sort of hell held me captive.
I was in a dark room, lying on a large bed. My brain was too deep in the fog to make out any details. But a single clear voice cut through the clouds, low and full of an emotion that I could not identify.
"Oh Bella," It spoke, near my ear, "I'm so sorry. Hang in there, it will be over soon. I'm so sorry."
I didn't understand. But before I could drag myself above the fog to even try to comprehend, a fresh wave of pain crashed over me and all my energy was devoted to screaming.
It truly felt like I was on fire. Flames were licking every inch of my skin, scorching every inch of my skin.
If this wasn't hell, I didn't know what was.
I squeezed my eyes shut and longed to pass out again, sure that the pain would do its job any second, but the seconds kept passing me by, turning to minutes, hours, days, an eternity. I don't know how long I lied there.
My heart was racing, threatening to burst right out of my chest. I felt sure it would explode. I couldn't contain it.
As the fire continued to consume me, I could feel…something changing within me. My body wasn't my own, something was happening and I didn't know what. All I knew was that it frightened me. I screamed until my throat went raw, but nothing helped. It felt like my bones were being torn apart and put back together, piece by agonizing piece.
And yet, through it all, there was a voice, an angelic voice, constantly at my ear, alternating between apologies and reassurances, but always there.
It made this hell bearable, somehow, just having that voice near, telling me it would end. Just knowing there was an end kept my sanity in tact. Barely.
Time became truly meaningless as I continued to writhe, my heart racing impossibly fast, my breathing labored and uneven.
And then…it stopped. My heart stopped. Right as I thought it would truly explode or fly out of my chest, or spontaneously combust or something, it just stopped without warning.
I waited for death, for unconsciousness to finally claim me, but it never came.
The pain stopped in an instant. I froze, afraid if I moved an inch it would come back, afraid to even breathe.
After a gloriously painless moment, I dared to inhale.
Several things happened in that instant. I heard a sharp intake of breath at my side, alerting me that I was not alone.
More pressing, however, was that that breath meant I wasn't dead. I couldn't be – that breath held more life than I thought possible. That breath brought scents of fresh pine from the Washington forest, various perfumes, vanilla and something sweet I couldn't quite name, the faint smell of bleach stung my nostrils, as did some surprisingly familiar scents of hospital sterility. But the strongest was right in front of me. I was curled up on my right side, and the sweetest smell overrode all the others. It was new, and almost completely unfamiliar. I couldn't place it. Something sweet but not sugary. It was frustrating.
Even still, the most overriding sensation was an almost painful itch at the back of my throat. Compared to the pain I had endured for the past forever, it was nothing more that a tickle, but it was still there, gnawing at me, clamoring for attention. I didn't know how to make it stop, and swallowed several times, trying to rid myself of the sensation.
"Bella."
That worked. My angel's voice called to me again, velvet and anxious. It was wrong somehow to hear so much worry and pain in such a perfect voice.
"Bella, open your eyes, please," the voice pleaded. I was happy to comply. The angel must be here to save me from this hell.
It took a surprising amount of effort to wrench my eyes open after they had been closed so tightly for so long.
More surprising was the sight I beheld once they were open.
Edward Cullen knelt in front of me, face tight with what I might have called worry, but that wasn't possible. And yet I could see with a perfect clarity, clearer than I had ever seen before.
"Edward?" My voice was raspy, and my throat constricted painfully as I tried to speak. "What happened? Why are you in hell, too?" Nothing was making sense.
He laughed once, the hard sort of laugh that was more from relief than any real amusement. "You're not in hell. At least, not in the traditional sense." His face hardened.
I still didn't understand and told him so.
"Do you remember anything that happened?"
I thought hard, but all I could remember was pain. And an angel's voice. His voice.
When I didn't answer, he spoke again, "You asked me to save you. You begged me." He eyes took on an overcast gloom and he looked away. "I didn't want to lose you like that."
Lose me? I still didn't understand. I struggled to remember what happened. I went to Port Angeles with Jessica and Angela in search of dresses for the dance. I had wanted to find a decent bookstore and Jessica pointed me toward one. It wasn't quite what I was looking for, so I started to explore on my own. And then…
Oh.
The memory came back in a painful flash of recognition.
My eyes must have shown the moment the memory came back because Edward tensed and the words started spilling from his perfect lips, almost faster than I could catch them.
"Bella, I'm so sorry. If I'd had any idea what was about to happen to you, I would have been there sooner. I should have been there sooner. I should have watched you more carefully. I should have done something. I will never -"
"Stop it." He looked at me in surprise, and I couldn't blame him – I didn't even know what I was doing. "It's not your fault. If I have to tell you a million times, I will. These things happen, and the usually happen to me."
"But," he started to protest, but I cut him off.
"I don't want apologies or excuses. I just want to know what happened."
I sat up, more easily than I would have guess and motioned for him to sit. He looked so miserable, kneeling on the floor like that. He reluctantly sat in a chair not far from the bed. He looked like he had been sitting there before, if the ease in which he settled himself in it was any indication.
"Now. Explain."
He still looked uneasy, as if he didn't know where to start or how to say the words.
"You asked me to save you, as if you knew I could do more for you than anyone else."
Images of talking with Jacob on the beach suddenly flashed through my mind.
Edward continued warily, "It was as if you could see through me. I didn't what else to do. So did what I could. And now…" he trailed off and wouldn't meet my eyes.
"I'd heard stories," I confessed. "At the beach with Mike and everyone." I edited the details, just a little. "A bunch of kids from the reservation joined us for scary stories around the campfire." I stopped suddenly realizing what he must have done to me.
"And?" He prompted, clearly anxious.
I looked at him in a daze. "Your family came up. Lauren baited me. I got one of the boys to explain what they meant." I tried to get him to meet my gaze. "Is it true?"
"True?"
"Is your family…are you a vampire?" I gulped.
He finally looked back at me, his eyes a startling scarlet and unreadable.
"Yes."
"And when you saved me…Edward, did you bite me?" I asked breathlessly, already knowing the answer.
He nodded.
I stared at him in disbelief. We sat there silently for a long time while I digested this.
"Some Prince Charming I turned out to be," Edward said bitterly, breaking the silence and staring at this hands.
"What?" I asked, startled out of my reverie.
"I tried to come to your rescue and instead damn you for eternity. This is the worst fairytale ending I've ever heard."
"Are you serious?" I couldn't tell, he wouldn't look at me again.
"I've never been more serious in my life, Bella." The way he said my name still sent a thrill through me. "Don't you understand what's happened?"
He looked up, trapping me with his inescapable gaze. I shook my head slowly, suddenly unable to form a coherent thought.
"I bit you," he enunciated each word as if they were heavy weights pulling him down. His expression was so tortured. I didn't know what to do. "You're one of us now. A vampire."
"I figured that out already." I managed to say. "So?"
"So?" He repeated, shocked. "So? I just told you you've been changed into a vampire, and you say 'so'?"
I shrugged. "Well, yeah. I mean it's a little unusual, but it can't be that bad."
"A little unusual? Can't be that bad?" He stared at me like I'd gone insane.
"You heard me, stop repeating what I say." I shifted uncomfortably.
"I heard you, I just can't believe you."
"Well," I started, trying to explain my logic. "You're a vampire, right? But I feel safe around you. I can tell you're still a good person." Now I was the one struggling for words. "I mean, you tried to save me, so I know you have a good heart. And Jacob – the boy on the beach – said you weren't supposed to be dangerous. You still go to school and everything." I gave up as his stare unnerved me. "What?" I asked, annoyed.
"Bella, I don't think you understand. You're a vampire now."
"I know." I was getting frustrated. "And it doesn't matter."
He looked like he was about to protest again and I interrupted him, "Tell me, then, what my reaction should be. Since I seem to be doing it wrong."
"You should be screaming, or going into shock, or something." He got up and started pacing.
"I feel fine. Drained, and my throat hurts, but fine."
He flinched as I mentioned my throat. "What?" I asked.
"You're thirsty," he said simply.
"Thirsty?"
"What does a vampire drink, Bella?"
It hit me then. "Oh. But…you're different somehow, aren't you?"
He resumed pacing – he had frozen once I mentioned my thirst. "I – and my family, for that matter – we don't want to be monsters. We drink blood, yes, but only from animals, much like eating meat when we were human. We do what we can to retain some of our humanity."
"Oh."
"And now you're thirsty. You need to hunt." He hesitated, "I can show you if you like."
"Please."
"You're free to leave after we're done, of course. Just," he paused again, "stay away from humans for awhile."
"Why?" I prompted when he didn't elaborate.
"Just promise me you will." His eyes suddenly burned. "I couldn't bear it if you turned into a monster because of me."
I nodded dumbly, and followed him out the door, wondering how on earth my life had taken such a turn. Here I was, a newly turned mythical creature with the most beautiful man I'd ever seen as my knight in shining armor.
Some fairytale indeed.