Grr, this chapter was so hard to write! And I have no idea why! So I'm sorry it's so cracked up and it took so long to get up (even though its not like it was incredibly anticipated)

This is NOT for Quinn 'cause she called me preppy :(


Pain.

Pain and fire and darkness and cold.

It was strange how she felt cold and hot at the same time. Like an outer shell made of ice, with veins filled of liquid fire. Burning and freezing at once, twisted together in some sick symphony.

Carlisle had told Isabella, before he laid her down and bit her, that it would hurt. He never said she would wish to die the entire three days. That she would wish she could beg and scream at him to kill her, to end it. But she couldn't even whimper, because she couldn't break through the darkness. So she lay in the black for God knows how long, thinking about where Edward was and if he was any better off than her.

Sometime after what felt like eternity, the pain started to fade and stars of light pierced through the night. She could hear faint voices, talking to her. If she focused, she could hear that it was Carlisle and Edward, but she could not for the life of her comprehend anything they were saying.

And so she sunk back into the dark.

She knew it was a very short time later that she could feel again. She felt a smooth, cool hand in her own and another hand stroking her hair and forehead. She could also now hear snippets of the conversation around her.

"Not long…worry…fine…few hours…"

Carlisle. He seemed to be reassuring Edward. A few hours until what? Until the pain and dark and loneliness went away? She fervently hoped so.

And suddenly it did go away. The dark, anyhow. The pain seemed to have circulated and joined together in her throat, which was burning so bad, she wanted to rip her own throat out. She took a deep breath, but that only intensified the burning and she hissed impulsively as a response.

"Bella."

She sat up quickly, searching the room for the voice. Doctor Cullen's house was just as she remembered. White walls with no pictures. A few wooden chairs. The dark velvet couch she was lying on. Carlisle himself was sitting in one of the wooden chairs across the room. He leaned forward, resting his elbows on his knees with a politely concerned face.

"How are you feeling, Bella?" Isabella glanced down at herself, feeling as if there was more to his words. She frowned as she looked back at him.

"My throat hurts."

"Yes, that's natural. Anything else?" He raised his eyebrows slightly.

"Where's Edward? I want to see him." Isabella looked around the room again, starting get paranoid. Did he not want to see her?

"He's out. I'll explain in a moment. First, I need to know how you feel, Bella."

Isabella turned to the doctor again. His golden eyes were darker, more of a teak than butterscotch.

"I'm…fine? I don't feel…unwell." That was the truth. In fact, she felt better than fine. Other than her throat, she felt better than she ever had before.

Carlisle nodded, "Bella, Edward is out hunting. I told him to wait in the mountains for us. Are you ready to go on your first hunt?"

Isabella swallowed, even though there was no need, and gave the doctor a curt nod.

He led her outside the back door, and into the forest that surrounded the small house. Isabella looked at all the tall trees with her new eyes. She saw a small ant crawling up the bark of a spruce tree fifty feet away from her. She heard a bird rustle the branches of a huckleberry bush half a mile away. When she touched a fern leaf in awe, it felt like smooth, waxy silk under her fingers. And then she smelt everything around her, particularly the animals near by, and her throat burned ten fold.

She grimaced, and Carlisle noticed.

"Come now, Bella. You follow me, okay?" But then he was gone. Isabella could smell his scent, like honey, but he had just disappeared. Then she heard his voice calling from the direction his scent was.

"You can run, Bella!"

So she started running, slowly at first, but found her body aching to go faster, and faster. So fast that the trees were a blur, and soon she had caught up with Carlisle. She laughed with exhilaration.

After several minutes, Carlisle stopped. Isabella ran about fifty feet more before she could get her feet to slow down, and then she trotted back to the doctor.

"Where's Edward?" She said lightly, looking around the forest.

"Bella!" Her name was called from above her. She looked up to see Edward jumping down from a one hundred foot tree.

Except it wasn't Edward, not really. His hair was a much more brilliant bronze, as if it had been polished. His features were stronger, more defined. And he had a certain angelic glow about him. But what had changed the most were his eyes. Instead of the beautiful clear green, they were crimson. A bright, blood red.

He landed in front of her with no more sound then a slight rustle of dry leaves and smiled. He stepped forward and embraced her. She buried her head into his chest and gave a dry sob.

"I was so worried about you." She breathed. He stroked her hair and kissed the top of her head.

They jumped apart when Carlisle cleared his throat.

"Bella, you really should hunt now." He said, looking apologetic about interrupting.

Edward and Isabella nodded.

"Come, I'll show you how." Edward said, smiling at her. He grabbed her hand and lead her deeper into the forest.

He showed her how to smell out the prey and follow it. Once she had found a pack of deer, it was all-instinctual from there. She ate two deer and a small black bear before she felt satiated. Edward smiled at her soiled clothes when they met again.

"Don't worry, Carlisle has some clothes you can change into."

Isabella looked around, "Where is Carlisle, anyway."

"He said he was going back to the house, to let us catch up."

"No, he didn't." She frowned, wondering what Edward was talking about.

"Well, Bella…I…I can read minds. As in, hear people's thoughts." Edward twisted his hands in front of him, and then nervously placed them on Isabella's shoulders. She let out a dry laugh, nodding vaguely.

"This is all so surreal. I can…I can barely believe it." She finally whispered. Edward pulled her into a tight embrace and they stood like that, holding each other, for a long time.

Carlisle was sitting in one of the leather chairs, reading a thick book when Edward and Isabella walked in. He smiled gently and placed the book on his lap, intertwining his fingers.

"How are you feeling, Bella?"

Isabella smiled graciously at Carlisle, sitting beside Edward on the velvet sofa.

"Much better now, thank you." Carlisle waved his hand, dismissing it.

"I assume that Edward told you what he can do?" Isabella nodded, glancing at her love, who smiled back at her.

"Then I am curious. You see, Bella, I don't have any extra abilities, so I can't be sure what to look for. But do you find you have any extra senses or abilities…" Carlisle leaned forward, resting his elbows on his knees. It reminded her of earlier this morning.

Isabella shook her head, "Not that I know of, doctor."

"I can't read her mind." Edward said quietly. She looked over at him, and he had a mask of frustration on his beautiful face.

Carlisle hummed, "That is interesting. We'll have to look into that. But for now, I'm sure the two of you want to get into a change of clothes. And then we'll leave."

Edward and Isabella both turned to him in surprise, "Leave. How come?" Edward asked.

Carlisle stood up and placed his book on the small table beside his chair. Isabella saw the cover had the words Holy Bible in gold cursive writing. It seemed a little ironic that a vampire was reading the Bible. She gave a wry smile before turning her attention back to Carlisle.

"Well, you two are dead, according to the rest of the people in the city, as well as the hospital papers. Plus, I have been here too long as it is." Carlisle nodded to himself and gestured to the staircase.

"There should be some clothing for you in the room to the left."

That night Doctor Cullen's secluded house mysteriously burnt to the ground, and the doctor himself disappeared. The police department assumed his body was destroyed in the fire. Charles and Renee Swan attended the memorial service, in respect for the help he gave to their daughter's deceased beau. Isabella Swan had died in a car accident while walking to the hospital four days earlier. And of course, Edward Masen died of the Spanish Influenza. If the police department and hospital had not been so chaotic at the time, dealing with the flu and the war and other such problems, they might have realized there were no bodies for all three incidents.

Meanwhile, in a small town in Vermont, a young doctor and his brother and sister in law moved to a small house at the end of the most desolate road.


Umm...please don't be too harsh. I don't like it when people are harsh to me.

There is gonna be one more chapter, and then it's finished. I said it was short.

Eh, just get it over with and click that little review button.