For the first time in almost one hundred years, I was positive I was dreaming. I gathered all the strength I had left in my suddenly weak body and attempted to speak through my dreaming state.
"Bella?" I mouthed. It seemed even all my strength couldn't help me form the words. The perfect creature in front of me only nodded. My lips curved into a smile. "This is a wonderful dream," I sighed, so content in that moment. I felt so tired all of a sudden—it was lucky that I was taking a rest after almost a decade.
Bella smiled along with me. "We both know you can't dream." Her smile was stunning.
We stood drinking each other in for a moment before I moved towards her. Bella flinched slightly at my sudden action but did not back away when I stroked my cold hand down her cheek. I leaned in towards her, pausing a few seconds with my eyes level with hers. In this dream, Bella was different. I didn't take the time to figure out why before I let my frozen lips press softly—ever so softly—to her perfectly luscious ones. I wasn't sure if it could be considered a kiss. Only the fullest points of our top and bottom lips touched, our mouths left open to breathe the other's scent. "Bella," I sighed, taking her in.
My love moved in closer to me, cautiously, slowly. I felt her fingers brush the back of my hand. I used my quick ability to catch that hand in mine before she drew it away, fearing for my sanity if she did.
Our movements, while careful, were electric with tenderness and affection. The simple flutter of her eyelashes would shock my whole body, leaving me trembling.
My dream self could take it no longer. I opened my eyes to gaze into hers, hoping to see reflected in them what I knew she must see in mine: total and complete love. I was curiously unable to read her expression, though I could read her mind clearly.
"Kiss me."
I needed no more encouragement. I pressed my icy mouth to hers, my hands pulling on the small of her back. I never wanted to wake from this delicious dream. Her touch was intoxicating; her fingers tracing lightly over my neck was enough to send me over the edge.
Bella's desire got the best of her as her tongue softly caressed my lips, asking for entrance. With overwhelming regret, I pulled away. "Bella…" I breathed her name, my hands dropping to circle her waist in my strong grip.
"What?" she asked shyly, sadness beginning to pull at her beautiful features.
"You know I can't…"
With this last sentence, she tensed. It was as if her body was preparing for a battle, one in which she was determined not to get hurt.
"Edward, look at me," she told me sternly. I reluctantly allowed her to leave my grasp only to have her stand before me. My dark eyes searched hers. Her gaze left my face and looked downward to herself, so I followed, my fingers already yearning to touch my Bella once again.
But the more I looked, the less I saw of my Bella. Her soft curves had turned voluptuous, her skin vacant of color. I scanned her face. Her teeth no longer had the small overlap, but were seemingly perfect in size and structure. She flashed a quick smile, allowing me to notice their extreme whiteness. Bella's hair was still long—but now more chocolaty and thick, making me long to reach out and run it through my fingers. I ended on Bella's eyes. The brown I had before seen as warm and alluring now reflected back at me a color resembling my usual one—amber.
My mind was reeling. I knew what this meant—I obviously knew those characteristics. I just had never expected to see them on Bella.
"You would make a magnificent vampire," I informed her, giving in to my prior want and stroking her lavish strands of hair.
A look of confusion flitted across her stunning new features. "Edward, listen to me." My eyes wandered to her perfect face, filling myself with nothing but her presence. "You're not dreaming. This is me." I simply half-smiled, amused at her attempts to make this real. It was so like Bella to try and please me when I was already pleased beyond belief.
"Don't worry, love, I'll find you when I wake," I reassured her. My hands trailed down her neck and shoulders, all the way down to her fingertips and back up again.
"Edward!" Bella cried, momentarily annoyed. I didn't like any look on her angelic face besides the look of contentment.
"What?" I asked quietly, silently trying to decipher what had gotten her agitated.
"How can I make you see?" her beautiful voice thought. I let the sound fill my senses. The only thing I couldn't figure out was at what point I had started to dream this wonderful dream. I was lost in thought when Bella's mind interrupted me. "Watch."
My fingers stopped their trail on her skin as Bella caught my hand in hers, her skin as soft as ever. Slowly—never breaking eye contact—she brought my hand to rest above her left breast, obviously wishing me to feel her heart beat within her divine body. I felt nothing.
My eyes left hers to look down at our hands, unbelieving. The hand covering my own reached up and stroked my cheek. It all started piecing together.
"Edward, you can't smell me anymore, can you?" she asked me quietly, her voice carrying caution and pain. "You can't smell me because I have no blood." Bella's new heavenly face flashed as light rain fell through the canopy of trees above us. "You can't hear my thoughts. My skin, it's cold. Edward, where's my flush?" She went on. My eyes grew wider with each word she spoke. Could it be?
If in fact I wasn't dreaming—which I realized must be the case seeing as I was unable, then could my beautiful Bella really have become one of us? I let my hands rest on her chilly cheeks, waiting for the warmth to seep through. It didn't.
"Edward, I'm a vampire," Bella whispered. I knew for that moment if she were lying and she was a human, tears would be falling from those now magnificent amber eyes. It was clear by the hurt on her face. I tried to wipe away her pain with my hands, smoothing them over her cool, hard features.
What did this mean? She spoke from beneath my wandering hands.
"I know my life is lost and my heart is dead." It broke my own to hear her say this. "But know that if it still beat inside me, as sometimes I pretend it might, it would beat for you, as it always has." I was sure I could feel imaginary tears welling up inside me. "Only you, Edward."
Yay for sappy love stories! I'm not sure where I'm going to go with the next chapter, and I have a grossly large amount of homework piling up, so please forgive if I don't have the next one up by tomorrow! Of course, I might get struck by inspiration and shoot out the next chapter, so never lose faith.