Author's Note: The song I use in this chapter is a traditional Welsh lullaby titled "All Through the Night." There are many variations of it, but these verses seemed particularly appropriate.

What it is we do. What did Tanya mean? I was sure they were vegetarians, and strict ones at that, otherwise Edward would have never agreed to let them babysit me. What could a vampire do that was more unusual than that?

I expected one of them to return, but the minutes dragged on, and I slowly gave up hope. Maybe they had decided to just patrol outside after all. Edward was already going to be ticked off; it made sense that they wouldn't want to provoke him further.

Charlie began snoring, and I began the hopeless task of trying to fall asleep. A sudden puff of cool air told me I wasn't alone. Tanya was sitting in the rocking chair again. The others must still be outside.

"All's well," she whispered.

I let out a breath I hadn't meant to hold.

"I do apologize for earlier." She settled comfortably into the chair, her eyes and mouth black against her white face in the dark. "I never imagined that you didn't know about... but there I go getting ahead of myself again. I'll be quiet now and let you do the talking."

"Okay..." I didn't want her to be quiet. I wanted her to explain what had happened between her family and Edward. Maybe there was a reason he didn't want me to meet them. Maybe he'd been with one of them. Did he lie to me about being... about never having... a woman? A soft gasp escaped my lips.

"Bella," Tanya cooed. "Lovely little Bella." She came to sit cross-legged on my bed, stroking my arm as though I were a frightened child. Her chill hand only reminded me that she could be with him in a way I couldn't. "Do not weep, Bella. Tell me your fears, and I shall lay them all to rest."

The moon came out from behind a cloud then, its light pouring into my room.

I managed to pull myself together enough to ask, "What is it you do?"

She gave me an appraising look. "Has Edward explained that an animal's blood does not fully quench the thirst?"

The question surprised me, especially since her teeth were inches from my throat. "Yes."

She spoke quietly, as though choosing her words carefully. "Irina, Kate, and I have learned to find satisfaction by appeasing hunger as well as thirst."

But vampires didn't eat. I lifted my head and met her gaze. "Hunger?"

She gave me a knowing grin. "Surely you are not so innocent as that."

"Oh." No!

"But not with Edward," she told me quickly. "With mortal churchmen and red-eyed hunters, with old and young and wealthy and wise, but not with virtuous Edward Cullen. He's the only vampire we've set our minds to who hasn't yielded in the end." She brushed a tear from my cheek with her cold fingertip. "And now that you hold his heart, he never will. That's part of why we came, even though only Carmen and Eleazar were invited." Her golden eyes sparkled with amusement in the moonlight. "We couldn't resist the chance to look upon you, the mere mortal who bested us all."

I searched her eyes. "You're not angry, then?"

Her sparkling laugh made me blush in embarrassment. "Hardly. Surprised speechless, when Mrs. Cullen first told me the news, but not angry. He'd refused us long before he ever moved to Forks." A knowing smile spread over her face. "But you must clear up a little mystery for us. I understand he spends virtually every night with you?"

Oh good grief! "It's not like that. I mean, you know Edward." I winced. Probably better than I did. "He likes watching me sleep."

"Watching you sleep?" There was skepticism in her voice.

"Yes," I gave her a disgusted look. "Watching me sleep."

Tanya's smile was sly as she pointed toward the rocker. "Watching from there?"

She knew. She was probably the most experienced woman alive — of course she knew! "No, not from the there." I sighed, loneliness plucking at the healed hole in my chest. But it didn't last. Edward would be back tomorrow night. "He holds me while I sleep."

"That's quite a breach of propriety for Edward." She raised a disapproving eyebrow, but there was laughter in her eyes.

Her expression made me laugh, and I was suddenly heady at the thought of dishing about Edward. There may be no secrets among the Cullens, but I couldn't exactly gush to Alice about my romance with her brother. "Hardly. My dad would freak if he knew, of course, but Edward's never done anything in private that he hasn't done in front of his family or mine."

"How did it happen for you two? He fled to our arms after that first day." She rolled her eyes when my heart jumped. "For pity's sake, Bella, it was just a figure of speech. The next thing I hear, he's in love with you. How did he ever work up the will to touch you, so sweetly enticing, without taking you?

Why did Tanya, queen of the vampires, care? In a thousand years, I was sure she'd heard every story imaginable. "Oh, I don't want to bore you with my school-girl romance."

"Lovely little Bella," she said, an eager hunger in her eyes. "My marriage was arranged when I was mortal, and at the time, I was too young and inexperienced to take pleasure from the union. My heart has never raced at my lover's touch, I've never felt the heat of passion. The human side of love is never boring, let me assure you."

An arranged marriage a thousand years ago, when women were still chattel. Maybe she did care. "Okay," I said uncertainly. "But let me know if I start to bore you. Because I could go on for days about Edward."

She laughed lightly. "Duly noted. Now, do go on. We were talking about Edward's first touch."

I smiled, remembering with pleasure those early days. I was even more attached to him now than I was then, but all those unusual things about him — golden eyes, icy touch, sweet scent — were still so thrilling in their newness. "It took him a full week after he started speaking to me again. He walked me from Biology to Gym, and just before he left for his own class, he touched my cheek."

"How?" Tanya asked eagerly. "Like this?" She cupped her cheek with her hand.

"No." I trailed my fingertips across my cheekbone. "Like that." The memory of his searing-cold touch that day warmed my whole body.

Admiration danced in her eyes. "And then what?"

"Then he went to his next class."

She laughed lightly. "I mean, when did he next touch you?"

"The next day, same time, same place," I answered with a smile. Every instinct had told him to kill me, and he was still undecided back then. I hadn't taken the time to reflect on his strength until now. Edward was amazing beyond words.

Tanya gave me a prying look. "Same touch?"

I shook my head no, her kiss-and-tell attitude contagious. "Like this," I answered, brushing the back of my hand against my cheek. Anticipating her next question, I added, "And the third day he touched me like that again, only at lunch this time, because he was leaving school early to go hunting with Alice."

All of a sudden, I realized I wasn't missing Edward. Here I was thinking about him, talking about him, and it didn't hurt. A month ago, I would have thought such a thing beyond impossible. I also realized I was feeling and acting like a teenager, and it almost made me laugh aloud. It took a thousand-year-old vampire to make me feel young.

"So what happened on the fourth day?"

"That was the day he brought me to the meadow."

Tanya's voice dropped to a conspiring whisper. "The day you spent alone with him?"

The memories danced in my mind: Edward stepping into the light, my fear and fascination when he let slip the predator in him, our first kiss, Edward humming me to sleep. "It was wondrous." My voice was a whisper as well. "My life changed forever that day."

"He touched you again?" She was practically on the edge of her seat.

"He kissed me." I said grinning.

Tanya hissed, making the hair on the back of my neck stand on end, but she shook her head in disbelief. "He kissed you? There, alone with your irresistible scent, he was fool enough to kiss you?"

"He had enough self-control." I could feel my cheeks burning in embarrassment.

She caught the inflection and laughed. "You didn't?"

"I think I was almost as attracted to him as he was to my blood." With dismay, I remembered his wildly thirsty eyes and clenched jaw. I really was lucky to still be alive after a stunt like that. "I just couldn't help myself."

"What on earth did you do?"

"I clutched him to me and kissed him back... with," I cleared my throat, "gusto. Even then he was okay until my lips parted."

Tanya's perfect eyebrows lifted in utter disbelief. "Lovely little Bella, didn't you understand? You could have died, and Edward... I can only imagine what would have happened to Edward if he had killed you."

"I don't have to imagine." In my mind, I saw him on the edge of the plaza again, beautiful beyond imagining, about to be torn apart before my eyes. Why did Tanya have to remind me of that?

A long, aching moment passed, then she asked quietly, "So what else happened on that wondrous day?"

Yes, much better. Get me thinking about the meadow. "We sat in the sunlight and I held his hand for hours." Even to myself I sounded lovesick.

"You love him." The words were truth, pure and unadorned.

"I do."

There was an unfathomable sadness in her eyes.

"What is it, Tanya?"

A smile tugged at the corner of her frosted lips. "Damned if I do, damned if I don't. I can see part of why Edward dotes on you so, lovely little Bella. With your sweet, honest innocence, you leave a path of devastation behind you."

Somehow, that didn't feel like the compliment she apparently meant it to be.

Seeing my confusion, she explained, "It was centuries before I learned to bridle my thirst, and centuries more to perfect that control. I comforted a man about to die in the most pleasurable way I could, and when I was still weak, I hoped that he didn't hate me too much for what I'd done."

I couldn't forgive her for those murdered men — no one could. But she cared, and that counted for something. "You didn't just take, Tanya. You gave, too. There aren't many vampires who can claim that."

"Perhaps." She looked down, twisting a pinky-ring. Meeting my gaze again, she said, "But I've lain in the arms of many a mortal man. I know how exquisite a human lover is — his warmth, his soft skin and touch, his intoxicating scent. Even when I didn't kill him, I took as much as I gave. Listening to you... perhaps I took much more than I ever realized. How many of them now pine for me they way you did for Edward?"

I laid my hand on hers. "That's me and Edward, though. How many of the men you've..."

She understood my awkward silence. "...hunted," she quietly finished my sentence.

"How many knew you long enough to actually fall in love?"

"How long did it take you?" she countered, pain still in her eyes.

"That's different." I tried to keep my tone light. "Me and Edward, we're unique."

She laughed wryly at that. "More than you can know, Bella my lovely. You with your reckless courage, and Edward with his restraint." She shook her head almost sadly. "Only Edward could do it, I suppose. Only him. You entice his thirst and his hunger alike, and are placed in mortal danger by both. And here Edward could hold you in a loving embrace within less than half a year."

The implications for me and Edward suddenly dawned on me. "You've had... mortal lovers?"

Tanya grinned widely, showing more teeth than she probably meant to. "More than you can count, my sweet."

"Edward seems to think that it's impossible for him and me to..." Even to Tanya, I couldn't say it.

I was surprised when she didn't laugh. Her fierce eyes were suddenly black — and burning somehow. "He is correct." With some effort, she managed a smile for me. "In such a union, a human woman could find no pleasure. Do not let your heart and mind wander to such dangerous places, Bella. We are all too fond of you and Edward to see it end that way."

I stared at her numbly until, to my chagrin, I suddenly yawned. With a light laugh, she reached over and brushed a strand of hair from my face, the sudden tension gone. "Sleep, lovely little Bella. I'll keep you safe until your strong, noble Edward returns." She returned to the rocking chair and began singing, her seraphic voice low and lilting.

"Sleep, my child, and peace attend thee,
All through the night,
Loving arms shall e're defend thee,
All through the night,
Soft the silent hours are creeping,
Hill and dale in slumber sleeping,
I my loved ones' watch am keeping,
All through the night."

I could feel my mind beginning to drift.

"Angels watching ever round thee
All through the night,
In thy slumbers close surround thee,
All through the night,
They should of all fears disarm thee,
No forebodings should alarm thee,
They will let no peril harm thee,
All through the night.

"While the moon her watch is keeping,
All through the night,
While the weary world is sleeping,
All through the night,
O're thy spirit gently stealing,
Visions of delight revealing,
Breathes a pure and holy feeling,
All through the night."