*Bella's point of view*
My mum had left the room just before the rest of them came in. She needed the toilet apparently. I was standing by my bed while I waited for Alice to bring me some cloths. Apparently she was very good at stuff like that.
"Why are you introducing to your family?" it was a very odd thing to do for a patient.
"Ah... well two reasons really, first is we like meeting new people, and you seem a very nice person, the second you probably won't like."
"Why not?"
"The thing is, you're what we call a new blood, you heard Alice say it, and well that means that you can be very dangerous, I'm actually surprised that you haven't killed yet." He said distractedly, "but the point is we want to keep a very close."
"How close?" he shifted nervously. An unexplained calmness descended.
"You'll be staying with us for a while."
"I'll be staying in forks?!" I exclaimed, I thought I was going to have a good day of new discoveries, but living in forks was a nightmare.
"Yes, we need to keep a very close eye on you, for our safely and your own. And the safety of others." He added. I sighed and sat on the bed, at that moment Alice came through with a pair of jeans and a plain white tee-shirt.
"Sorry I couldn't find you anything better."
"For me there're extravagant."
"Uhh ohh..." Carlisle said, I could see Alice shacking.
"What did say?"
"Umm..."
"I'll pretend I didn't hear that." She said after she got under control.
"She's touchy about cloths." Carlisle whispered. I laughed.
"Don't they have a name for that condition?" Alice slapped me on my head. I didn't feel a thing but I could tell that it was a very hard hit.
"Alice! She's new leave her be." Carlisle said. Alice shooed him out of the room and closed the curtains.
"Right off with that thing. Hospital cloths are disgusting... oh alright I'll look away... did you have to throw that thing at me! It stinks of hospital. There that's better. You look lovely; well you'll always look lovely now."
"Not when I'll old and wrinkly." I looked down at my cloths. They fit me very nicely, perfectly in fact. I realised that Alice was standing there very sheepishly.
"What?"
"Well..."
"What is it? Just spit it out."
"Oh you'll find out later any way. I'm younger than I look, a lot younger."
"What do you mean?"
"Well, if I told you that I was say... fifty..."
"What!"
"Yeh, Carlisle's in his three hundred and twenties now."
"Wait so does that mean you never age?"
"Me and you now." I staggered for a moment.
"Wow, culture shock or what..."
"I guess you could say that, oh by the way everyone else is on their way now."
"Oh god!" I quickly looked in the mirror. "Do I look stupid?"
"No how could I make you look stupid?" she asked hurt.
"What? Oh never mind, I feel it." I said, here I was, having just woken up out of becoming something else about to meet people who I'll be spending the foreseeable future with. Alice waltzed out off the room. That was when I noticed she seemed to move with dance like precision. I heard her speaking to someone outside. After a moment Carlisle came back in.
"Right Bella, this is what's going to happen, we'll come in one at a time, we don't want you to freak out... at all, is that ok?" he said from around the door.
"That's cool thanks."
"Ok I'll send Esme in first; she's been dying to meet you."
"Metaphorically of course." Alice said to me as she left the room. I sat down on the bed, but I still felt like I was standing up, or if I was standing, like I was lying on a bed. I felt perfectly comfortable everywhere. I looked at the door and a woman had her head sticking around the corner of the door. She was stunningly beautiful, of course, with curly blond hair.
"Hello Bella."
"hello." I said I jumped of the bed, my hand extended. I suddenly felt very brave, she was just so nice and friendly looking how could she possibly be nasty to me? The answer was she couldn't.
"I'm Esme, Carlisle's wife" she said, ignoring my hand and hugging me, to my surprise I hugged her back.
"It's nice to meet you."
"You too, welcome to the family."
"Uhh thanks." This was an ever so slightly awkward conversation. Mostly on my part.
"So how do you feel about what's happened?" concern was clear in her voice.
"Umm... well I don't really know the whole story yet..."
"I know, Carlisle said that I could tell you."
"He did?" that was a surprise, maybe he just wanted me to find out away from my mother.
"Yeh, would you like to know?"
"Defiantly."
"Right, it's a bit complicated. Do you believe in mythical creatures and things like that?"
"What you mean like dragons and werewolves?"
"Yeh."
"Umm... not really." Which was true, after all if things like that existed nothing would make sense? How could we walk down a street calmly if we knew that some sort of monster was about to jump out and kill us? It wouldn't make sense.
"Shame, it might have made it easier to believe."
"Why?"
"Ok umm... well what we are, you too now, are umm... well we're vampires."
If I could have died from laughing I would have. After what felt like an eternity I stopped laughing.
"Vampires... good one." I said to her face. She was smiling.
"I wasn't joking, you'll see soon enough. Why do you think your throat felt like it was burning whenever someone is nearby?" I took a sniff of the air, as if to prove her wrong. She wasn't. My throat burned. I clutched at it. "See."I was struggling to find an explanation. "That's what the smell of blood does to us. Look at your eyes that are your left over blood making them do that?"
"Do what?"
"Go the colour they are." She held me up in front of the mirror that was still in the room. She was right; my eyes were bright blood red. I flinched back.
"But it can't be?"
"Why not?" she said in a motherly tone.
"It doesn't make sense."
"I know, it was a bit of a culture shock to me too when I found out." she said in tone that made me think she was talking to her own child.
"But..."
"Shh now, we'll explain everything in a better place." I just nodded, I felt like my eyes were stinging. I wiped my face, but there was no liquid there. I looked up at her my hand help out with a questioning face on.
"Is this a vamp thing too?" she laughed.
"Yeh you'll get used to it." I looked back at my dry hands.
"Is there any way back?" I said to them. Esme didn't answer at first.
"I'm sorry." Was all she said?
"Will I ever be allowed to see my mum and dad again?"
"Well you've already seen you mum, and she's still alive so I guess it might be possible to meet your family again, after we've made sure you're safe of course. And to learn what's stopping you from attacking." She looked at the door, listening for a moment. "Sounds like Carlisle's brought you dinner. I'd best get jasper out of the way unless Alice has taken the liberty." She moved to the door and sniffed. "Oh by the way don't breath right now." I did as she told. She looked out the curtain that led onto the main corridor outside my room, them back at the window the over looked a park just outside. "Oh and don't go into sunlight"
"Now that's stereotypical" I laughed. She smiled neatly and moved over to the window, after closing the curtains to my room. She held her hand out into a single ray of sunlight.
Her hand... it dazzled like it was made of crystal, or diamonds. It was incredible, I couldn't help but reach into the sun with my hand, and she didn't stop me.
My hand sparkled the same.
"Vampire thing?" she nodded with a smile. "Then I am..."
"Yes dear."
"wow." I heard the door open my hand was still in the light. Carlisle walked in, I still held my breath, I was amazed to find that I had remembers to do as I was told.
"Found out about the sunlight have you." He smiled. "Well it's a pretty neat trick but we have to be careful about it, that's why we don't go out in sunlight. I've brought you something to drink." He said laying down a bag of blood on the bedside table next to me. "Uhh I have a straw on me somewhere." He said patting his coat. After a moment he pulled on out and handed it to me. I couldn't see a way of getting the straw into the bag.
"How am I going to drink it?" he took the straw from me and in one quick stab it was in the blood transfusion bag.
"Like that." He said grinning as he handed me the drink. I was still not breathing when I took it in my hands. The blood nearly went everywhere when I grabbed hold of it. I wasn't used to this. I held it with such little strength I was sure that I was going to drop it, but I didn't, my hold on it must have been vice like.
"Ready?" Esme said.
"Ready for what?"
"You may get a bit umm... absorbed in the act so to speak." I didn't say anything; I just looked at the blood.
"I don't even like blood." I heard several voices outside the door laugh. Carlisle chuckled.
"Don't worry you'll enjoy it." I just nodded and put my lips to the top of the straw. I caught a sniff of the blood through my open mouth. If I could I would be slobbering all over the straw, my throat nearly exploded in flame. The moment after I smelled the blood I knew it was good and so I started to suck at the straw like there was no tomorrow. I shuddered as the blood reached my mouth. My body convulsed in pleasure at this new experience. It was amazing, the best I'd ever felt, I drank it all in moments. I dropped the empty bag from my shaky hand, shaking from pleasure. It was amazing, nothing I'd ever had was better. It was impossibly good. I felt slightly embarrassed at my outburst.
"sorry." I said to the floor. Carlisle grinned and Esme patted my shoulder.
"Don't worry dear." She said.
"It's natural, we all do it." I sighed.
"Sorry just feels..."
"Odd and stupid?" said Esme.
"A little." I said, I heard the crowd outside the door laugh. "Shut up..." I said in a voice so low that if I had whispered it into human's ears they wouldn't have heard it. But the vampires did. They all laughed again at me.
"Time to meet the family..." he was about to finished his sentence first.
"Jasper you go first." Alice said for him, I was expecting Carlisle to get angry or annoyed but he just laughed. "Right again, I'll catch you out one day."
"Never!" came the pixy voice. Through the door walked in who I assumed was jasper. The first thing I noticed was the scars. I immediate flinched from him; he was covered in them, thousands of them. I wondered how many people put them there, and died trying. He smiled when he saw me flinching.
"Don't worry you'll get used to them, I'm jasper." He said his hand extended, I shook it politely.
"I'm Bella."
"I know. How you are?"
"Amazing after that." I indicated to the bag on the floor, it was the most amazing thing in the world.
"I know how you feel." He said dreamily, I heard a nervous shifting outside the door. Eager to break the awkward silence I carried on.
"So tell me a bit about yourself." To that he laughed. So did Carlisle and Esme.
"Well that's a very long history."
"According to Alice I've got a lot of time to learn."
"Good point, I've had since the American civil war to learn."
"You look... good for your age." Looking good and being covered in thousand of teeth marks at the same time was one hell of a feat, but he managed to pull it off.
"Thanks. Well I'll give you a brief over view of myself. I was in the American civil war; I joined at the outbreak of the war and was quickly promoted. I was the youngest officer in the army, and I'd lied about my age to get in. I was bitten by a vampire, obviously, and we stayed together helping each other. See we had a tactic on how to get more food right, at the time I ate humans. What we did was we created more vampires, like yourself and them we set them on other vampires, kill them then take the food. It worked for a while, but eventually we were betrayed by some "friends". Eventually I left her and stayed with some friends that I had made as a vampire. But I have a gift see, it made me useful too. I can manipulate emotions of others and feel them too. So I could feel the fear of my victims. Eventually I found Alice, more she found me actually, then we found Carlisle, well more she found Carlisle. So that's a brief history of me." he said in one breath. It was so fast I barely had time to hear it. Actauly I heard it all perfectly, it just felt like I had a hard time listening to him.
"Is that where you got those scars?" he nodded. "Wow..."
"Cool hu?" he was asking if I thought it was cool that he was covered in scars?!
"Umm..."
"No?" he asked offended.
"Well scars aren't really my thing I guess..." outside every one burst out laughing.
"Nice one." I heard a voice said.
"Damn it you win again." I heard a hand pull out money from a pocket and someone putting it in there's.
"Well I think I've taken enough of your time, and I think Emmett wants an introduction now." he said moving to the door again. I took in his image one last time. He was tall, his hair wild and blond. His thin build hinted at very strong muscles under it.
"Cya around."
"yeh." He said waving himself out, Carlisle and Esme were still in the room I noticed.
"This is Emmett." Carlisle said as the grinning face of the most massive person ever came around the door. He was huge! Like a massive bear, or maybe a Saharan lion, or Asian tiger. Whatever he most looked like he was unimaginably huge.
"Hi Bella." He said, his voice was deep, but also slightly refreshing in a weird way.
"Hia." I said holding out my hand. He ignored it and hugged me.
"It's good to finally meet you, last time I saw you, and you were screaming your head off in a dark alley way." he said grinning.
"Umm... thanks, good to meet you too."
"Right now before you ask my histories not a great a jaspers, not long wars with vampires, no special powers no anything, just a nasty incident with a bear years and years ago."
"Is that it?" I asked slightly disappointed, I wasn't really, I was only joking.
"Yeh sorry, but I do have a pretty neat trick with a spoon!" he said grinning.
"Emmett do you have to?" Esme said her arms crossed.
"Yeh, I spent five years practicing this, it's my first chance to use it against a stranger." He said grinning. With that he pulled out a table spoon from his breast pocket. "I came prepared."
"Brace yourself." Carlisle said "this is going to get pretty sick." I nodded and looked back at Emmett who was now eating the spoon. I heard him chew the metal into a blob them he swallowed it. He grinned at me.
"That's it? You eat a spoon?"
"No. You'll see." Said the chocolate voice from outside. Emmett suddenly clutched his stomach, and then he squeezed it. After a moment and some noise I heard the spoon move down through him.
"Oh no..."
"Yup."
"Told you its sick." With that Emmett manipulated his stomach some more. After a moment he grinned.
"That's it, watch this." he put his hand in the back of his jeans and pulled out the spoon. But it wasn't in the shape of a spoon any more. It was a duck now.
"Nice umm... duck..." I said not taking it.
"Duck! It's not a duck it's a swan! I practiced just making it just to meet you."
"Why?"
"'cos your names swan and I can shit metal spoons" he grinned.
"Emmett just go." Carlisle said, like he was tired after the decades of Emmett's stupidity. I could tell it was going to wear after a while
"Oh but I haven't even done my party piece yet." He said in a voice that made him sound like a little kid.
"Go!" Esme ordered him.
"Oh fine, cya around Bella." He said leaving the room. That was... weird.
"I feel so sorry for Rosalie." Carlisle said.
"Carlisle! That's a terrible thing to say, those two are good together." Esme said.
"Wait he's got a girlfriend?" I asked disbelievingly.
"Wife."
"No way!" who could bear to be married to someone who shits swan shaped spoons out for fun?! I shook my head, trying to get rid of the image. At that moment Emmett came back in the room.
"Just to let you know Rosalie's just gone off to hunt. Oh and Bella..." his throe the "swan" at me, meaning for me to catch it. Instead I just dodged it. I sure as hell didn't want it. "Fine suit yourself." he said leaving the room once more.
"Ok it's Edward next then, just to let you know, he's not exactly like us."
"What do you mean?"
"Well he's not a vampire as such."
"He's human?"
"No he's a half human, half vampire, but more to the point, he has a heartbeat. You'll need to be very careful around him. Ok?" I just nodded, trying not to breath.
"Ready dear?" Esme said. I just nodded, not breathing still.
"Ok," at that moment Carlisle opened the door. Edward stepped in. he had to be the single most beautiful person I had ever seen. Everything about him was perfect, his face, the way his cloths mapped his figure and muscular chest perfectly, walk too. I couldn't see a single flaw.
"Hello Bella." He said taking a seat on my bed. I gasped at his magnificence, my mouth hanging open. My throat exploded again. My hand shot to his my throat; I looked away from Edward with embarrassment.
"sorry." I said.
"Don't apologize. You'll get used to it I'm sure." He smiled at me. What a smile!
"You too?"
"Yes."
"But you're half human right?"
"Yes but I prefer blood, I need it also." He said, he had an Illinois accent, Chicago maybe. I looked at him when my thirst came under control. I couldn't find words to say, I was just so stunned. I could hear his heart beat, it was so good. In fact it was even better than the blood from the bag. Maybe because it was fresher. He waved his hand in front of my face, trying to get my attention. I didn't respond. "Bella?" he asked worriedly. He turned to Carlisle, I looked at the way his messy, upstanding but not spiked crimson hair waved and sparkled in the light. What was weird, I don't think I'd ever see crimson as a hair colour before. Then I realised that it wasn't crimson, that was just the light, and it was more of a russet colour. Whatever it was it was very nice... very, very nice.
"Carlisle? What's wrong with Bella?" he asked to the Dr.
"I think she's a little bit stunned." He looked into my eyes. I could tell what he was doing but I couldn't snap back to reality.
"By what?"
"By you son." Esme looked at her son with pride. Carlisle patted his back and Edward looked at the floor, his face turned the same colour as his hair did in the light. What a shade... it was amazing.
"I think we'll be seeing a bit more of her in the future after she's safe." Carlisle said to Esme. Edward took one look at Carlisle and throe the "swan" at his head. It found its mark.
"Nice throw." Was that all I could say?! Edward smiled.
"Thank you." He said through grinning teeth. I could a whiff of his breath; it was the most amazing thing I had ever smelt. Like it was my favourite food, and half my favourite person. The food in him made my throat bleed (not literally), and the vampire in him attracted me so much I didn't know what I wanted to do. Like I wanted to gobble him up, and only in the good friendly type of gobble in some ways. He noticed my discomfort.
"I'm sorry." He said "I should leave." He said getting up I jumped to my feet faster than I had ever imagined in all my dreams.
"No no no! It's fine honestly!" I nearly begged. I tried to keep the hint of hysteria out of my voice."Tell me a bit about yourself as well." I said patting his seat. He looked nervously at Carlisle who nodded.
*Edward's point of view*
I told her most things about me there was to know. And for the whole god damn time she just looked at me with her mouth wide open. I tried to be polite, and I think I pulled it off well. I hated her in honesty; she didn't even try and see the person in me, just my damn looks. I hated looking so good, sure it had its perks, but bloody hell did it get me so much damn unwanted attention. I'd asked Carlisle is there was anything that could be done to get rid of them, but my diamond hard skin prevented that. Stupid skin. I continued to talk; right now I was on the part of when I went on holiday to Britain and the Queen of England had flirted with me. She wasn't remotely interested in that, all she wanted was to look at me! Stupid little new blood! Why couldn't she have been different? But she was very different I realised. After a moment I noticed something, something very odd.
"Bella?"
"Yeh..." she said half like she was daydreaming.
"What were you just thinking?"
"What?" she asked suddenly aware.
"What were you just thinking?" I asked slightly more urgent.
"Umm..."
"Don't worry about embarrassment."
"Oh well... I was just thinking that you and I could..."
"That's all I needed to know." I turned away to Carlisle. I hadn't heard a thing like what she was saying.
"what is it son?"
"I can't see her mind?" I half asked him.
"You can't?" Esme said, looking at me, shocked.
"This has never happened before." I had never had someone that I had never been able to read the mind off.
"Wait you can read minds?" Bella asked.
"Yes I mentioned it but you weren't listening." Stupid new blood, what's wrong with them! I looked at Carlisle, away from Bella's embarrassed and slightly hurt face. Carlisle looked at me.
"I have no explanation, Alice can see her future..."
"Wait Alice can see the future?" Bella asked, I ignored her this time.
"... and jasper can calm her."
"But they both involve physical changes. My power works on the mind."
"Good point we can talk about this in Forks but right now we need to get her out."
"Why?" Bella asked. I was tempted to ignore her again, but I realised that I hadn't mentioned it. So I answered her.
"I'm sorry but we have to get you somewhere you'll be safe, and where you won't hurt people." I said, she just nodded, slightly more eagerly then I had thought she would. Carlisle looked at his watch.
"I'd better explain it you Renee, I'll go do that now." he said leaving the room.
"I'd better be there too." Esme said running out of the room after him. Damn them both! I knew we couldn't leave Bella alone, but alone was the way I wanted to be right now. I looked back at her, she was still gawking at me.
And that was the start of my realationship with Bella Swan. I hated her.