I'm so sorry It toke me forever to update. With my finals to study for I didn't have much time to write. Also I have chickens I'm raising for the fair in my backyard, and today and yesterday we had a big heat way. 8 of my friends chicks died cuz he didn't have his in the shade so I was freaking out that mine might die too. But there all alive and well=) and my beta was busy so it toke longer then I thoughts. But it's worth it=) to make it up to you I made this the longest chapter yet=)
I can't believe all the people that are reading my story. People from Denmark, Virgin Islands, India, Canada, Mexico, Turkey, Romania, Australia, the UK, Germany, France, Brazil, Ireland, Netherlands, Philippines, Hungary, Sweden, South Africa, Puerto Rico, New Zealand, and etc. are reading this story. I never dreamed this story would become this big.
Now I'm going to use this time to answer some questions.
anonymous – I try to update every 2 or 2 ½ weeks but now that its summer and schools out I should be able to update sooner. And I would answer your question sooner if u left your user name… just saying
Now, I have a whole plan about how Alice will come into the story. I think u guys will really like it but u might have to wait a little while so be patient.
The next chapter will be Edwards POV and he will kind do a recap of what happened when Bella was asleep and about Carlisle and Rose and all that drama. But I knew you guy would want to know what happen to Bella so I'm doing this chapter first. I know it's a little out of order but o well, sue me.
That reminds me… I DON'T OWN TWILIGHT. Now I can't get sued hahahahahah=) sorry the little kid inside me broke free.=)
And one thing I want to ask you. Should Mike, Tyler, and Ben be vampires or humans? Your call I don't care either way.
And someone asked me if there were going to be lemons in this story. There will NOT be ANY lemons in my story. I will never write a lemon. I want every from preteens to adults to be able to read this story. And I would hav no clue how to write one. I'm only 15.
Also before you read this chapter, one thing you need to know. The humans in the lower class know very little about vampire and imprinting. Also they only know who the king is, and not his sons. They don't really care about royalty and politics but how they get food on the table or how to treat there sick.
Now go on and read this chapter=)
Chapter 4
Bella's POV
The first things that started coming to me as I began to emerge from the darkness were the sounds: approaching footsteps and shallow, even breaths alerting me to the presence of people nearby.
Slowly I began to sense more of my surroundings, and I realized my head was unbelievably comfortable. Most of my face was buried in a pillow so soft that I felt as if I were lying on the very clouds of heaven.
How could anything be so soft? We never even had real pillows at home, just rolled-up old towels or shirts to support our heads at night. Yet I was definitely resting on something softer than anything we had at home.
Which meant I wasn't at home.
But if I wasn't home, where was I?
Was I in heaven? It didn't feel like I'd died. My whole body was sore, and I'd always imagined God's kingdom as place where such pointless noise, darkness, and pain could never exist.
Ruling out heaven didn't make me feel much better, so I started to open my eyes and twist my neck to see where I was. The moment I moved, a horrible pain shot up the length of my back to the point of contortion in my neck. I cried out in agony and dug my fingers into the sheets, choosing to remain ignorant rather than feel such blinding pain again.
But before I could settle into my blissful ignorance, two cold hands quickly cradled my face and a soft, velvety voice spoke to me. The jumbled words made no sense to me, but the soothing hands felt like fresh spring rain on my sore face.
The voice became louder and more panicked as I let my head rest against the comforting chill of the fingers and closed my eyes. I felt increasing pressure on my back as the pain slowly minimized, amazed that the heavenly hands never moved.
I must have lost consciousness for a few moments as the next thing I knew, the blackness had seeped away and my eyelids felt weightless enough to open. Most of the searing back pain was gone, yet the two hands were still cupping my face. So I decided to open my eyes.
And I wondered again if I was in heaven.
For when I opened my eyes, I saw the most beautiful face in all of creation. His hair was the most unique reddish-brown, like the color of a priceless bronze coin. It looked as if he'd run his hand through it one too many times, but somehow, the messiness suited him. His skin was snow white, but unlike the sickly pale of many people in the lower class, his paleness held beauty not illness. His face also had a strong jaw line, smooth lips, and a regally straight nose.
But by far, his best feature was his eyes. They were a dazzling topaz and held several emotions at once:
Love.
Pain.
Wonder.
Panic.
All these emotions contradicted each other but seemed perfectly harmonious in his golden orbs.
He stroked his thumb across my cheek a few times, gazing into my eyes before he spoke. "My angel," his eyes were brimming with tenderness. "Are you still in any pain?"
His molten eyes burned into mine, his care overriding my apprehension. Even if I wanted to look away—which I didn't—I could not have stopped staring at him. As I lost myself in his eyes, memories started coming back to me: my father's illness taking a turn for the worse; trying to steal medicine for him; the guards taking me to the palace and into the gray room; getting whipped by the cruel man; running to the thick, wooden doors, searching for salvation.
At the rise of this last memory, I raised my hand to cup his cheek without thinking. His skin was cool and smooth and absolutely flawless. He covered my hand with his, shocking me with the swiftness of the movement, and closed his eyes.
He looked so at peace.
And then, as I found myself entranced by his calmness, he began to purr.
He purred…actually purred…like a housecat.
And suddenly, I understood the reason for his inhuman beauty.
"You're a vampire!" I exclaimed, waiting for the fear to descend.
All my life, I had been taught to fear vampires and never, ever trust them. My father told me countless times to avoid vampires at all costs. He told Alice and me that they had short tempers, would not hesitate to kill you if you displeased their imprints, and on occasion, have been known to drink from humans in times of weakness. The vampire would be killed if caught drinking from a human, but that belated punishment wouldn't save the human.
Even with all this negative knowledge of vampires, I didn't pull away my hand. My mind knew that I should, but my body wouldn't let me.
The angel's eyes had flown open in a panic at my cry. "My angel," he pleaded, "Please, please don't be afraid of me."
He was calling me an angel?
"I will never hurt you," he continued in a passionate hurry. "Hurting you would be like cutting out my own, still heart." His eyes were so loving as they studied me, intense as though they were searching for something. "What is your name, my beauty?"
"Bella," I said before I could stop myself. The memory of Kurl striking me because I didn't state my full name bubbled to the surface of my thoughts, and I quickly added, "Isabella Marie Swan."
"Bella," he whispered as a smile curled his lips. "My name is Edward." Then his smile broke, and agony absorbed his features. "Oh, my sweet Isabella, I am so sorry. It's my job and sole reason for living to protect you, and I have failed already. I don't deserve you."
He hung his head in shame as I tried to sort out everything that was happening. Nothing that he said made sense. Why would a vampire care about a human girl? And a human girl who was a criminal at that?
With the weary hand that was resting against his cheek, I turned his face and made him meet my gaze. His topaz eyes still burned with self-loathing and what looked like love, but I didn't understand it. I didn't understand any of it!
"Where am I?" I asked after a steadying breath. "And why are you here? You're a vampire, and I'm just a low-life criminal who…"
"Don't you ever call yourself that again!" he interjected as horror added itself to the emotions in his eyes. "Do you hear me?" His voice was both soft and stern as his hands held my face in place so I wouldn't turn away. "And to answer your second question," he said in an even gentler tone, "I am here because you mean everything to me, Isabella, and I would never spend another minute without you if I had it my way."
Edward neither blinked nor stuttered as he spoke these impossible words, and I continued to stare at him in amazement.
Could it be? Could this really be happening?
No. It simply wasn't possible for a girl like me…and a vampire like him…
No, it could not be true.
I shook my head as I accepted this conclusion. "But I…"
He refused to let me finish as he took careful hold of my hand. I noticed the mostly-healed rope burns indented into my skin, but they paled in importance as he showed me the inside of my wrist. I was shocked to see that on my skin was an exact replica of the beast that roared atop the fountain on the green. The fur around his head was the same color as Edward's messy mane, and under the beast was some kind of rune written in a dark maroon.
I could fell tears pricking my eyes as I stared at this strange marking on my flesh.
"Wh-what is this?" I asked him as I grew more and more confused. "How does this explain anything?" My throat became tight with emotion while I tried to speak, and I wanted to just crawl in a hole and stay there but at the same time I wanted to run into this vampire's arms. The sting in my back was gradually returning, which in no way helped my already cloudy mind understand what was happening.
A few silent moments passed before he spoke, moments during which he seemed to be deciding what to say.
"This is my Mark," Edward eventually stated, his tone suggesting that those four words would explain the meaning of the world.
For some reason, I didn't want to look foolish in front of this extremely friendly vampire. But at the risk of being ridiculous, I had to ask. "What is a Mark?"
"You don't know?" he asked in awed confusion. I shook my head, and he smiled kindly. "Isabella, this Mark means that you are my life, my light in the darkness, my soul mate. It means, Bella, that you are my imprint. This Mark," he ran his thumb over the soft, colored spot on my wrist, "is the same Mark that lies above my silent heart. I am forever yours, and you are forever mine. From this moment on, I will protect you from anything and love you with every part of myself and more."
I blinked at him blankly as I repeated his romantic vows over and over again in my head. And I was sure that even if my head wasn't throbbing with pain, I still would have no way of comprehending what he was saying. I was nothing, especially to a vampire. The only people who would truly care if I lived or died would be my father and Alice; to everyone else, my passing would go completely unnoticed.
Yet…there was Edward's declaration.
It continued in a baffling loop in my head, but I paid closer attention this time around. And of all the impossibly beautiful words he'd spoken, one of them began to echo more loudly than the others.
Imprint.
A recurring dream that I've had since I was a little girl came back to me in vivid colors:
My six-year-old self was sitting on a curb, looking at new rips and tears in my tattered, old, way-too-big-for-me t-shirt. As I sat there, a man came and sat beside me. In the dream, his face was always so foggy that I couldn't tell exactly what he looked like, but one thing that always stood out to me was a mess of copper hair. In every dream, he said something different, but he always spoke words like "love," "imprint," "soulmate," and "vampire." The dream always ended with my father and me going somewhere with the man, but after I woke up, I always forgot where we had gone.
Now, gazing at Edward, I began to see him in the place of the mysterious copper-haired man. Could the dream from my childhood really be true?
"Imprint," I whispered, playing with the word on my tongue. There were so many things I wanted to say, but that was the only word I could force out of my parched lips. Suddenly that one word held so much more meaning then it ever did before. Before it had been just an idle utterance in a crazy dream that every young girl sought after, a tiny little light of hope in a life of suffering and darkness.
But now, Edward was telling me that he, a vampire, has imprinted on me. Could he really be telling me the truth?
"Yes, I imprinted on you, my beautiful angel." Edward stroked my hair, his eyes still shining with love and adoration. "And I will always take care of you."
"Imprint," I said again, repeating the surreal word that I'd never thought would describe me. I was still trying to grasp the beautiful pictures his words were creating, expecting them to fade away at any moment. Could it be that I would never have to step foot in that rat's nest that I grew up in? Would I finally have someone to take care of me instead of the other way around?
The notion was too outrageous to comprehend.
"So," I asked with great hesitation, "does that mean that I don't have to go back to the lower class?"
"Never," he said with gentle firmness. "From now on, you will live a wonderful life where there will be more food on the table than you could ever eat and more dresses than you could ever wear in a lifetime."
Slowly a smile started to form on my face as this fantasy became more detailed. I would never go to bed hungry again? I wouldn't have to wear my ripped and soiled dresses again?
At the second mention of dresses, I looked down at my body and realized for the first time that someone must have removed my yellowed dress because I was now wearing a silk nightgown. I ran my trembling fingers over the sleeve on my shoulder and was astounded at how soft the lavender fabric was. I have only felt silk once on one of my mother's dresses, but it was so long ago that it seemed like a dream, but this material was even softer than what I remembered.
"Isabella." Edward's voice brought me out of my daydreaming. "The doctors told me that you will have to stay here for a few more days so they can make sure you don't catch an infection." He reached for my hands and stroked them lightly, his cool, loving touch convincing me that I was in fact awake. "Are you tired? Thirsty? Hungry? If you're in pain, you must tell me. My doctors have medicine that will make it go away." Edward was being so nice to me, so compassionate and kind. Maybe I really was his imprint.
Yet in spite of his unbelievable behavior, or maybe even because of it, my brain insisted that I must have been missing something very important. My life had always been one hateful joke after the other, never giving my small family a break. So there had to be some catch, some sinister detail that would explain this unreal situation. For why else would this beautiful vampire care so much about a low-class girl like me?
But as my nerves steadily surrendered to Edward's loving caresses, I couldn't help but wonder, 'Was I really getting a chance at a better life? Could this really be my recompense for all those years of hardship?' Edward's eyes were fondly fixed on me, and as their golden gaze melted a little more of my misgivings, I decided to worry about the "what ifs" and the hundreds of other questions in my head later and enjoy these moments with Edward.
Whether all of this was real or not.
"Well, my back is mostly numb," I finally replied to his question, "but my cheek does sting a little." He had mentioned medicine, but there was something else I wanted there, and I took a calming breath before asking. "Could you put your hand on it?"
Without a moment's hesitation, Edward laid his cold palm where the whip had slashed my cheek, and the throbbing pain immediately began to fade. I smiled as the relief flooded my body and tried to make more sense of my wonderfully strange situation.
"So I'm really your imprint?" I asked in disbelief. His actions were saying "yes," but I needed to hear it again, to know that this wasn't some sick nightmare that would torture me with false hope.
His eyes lit up, and he nodded. "Yes, my dear Isabella. You are truly my imprint." His lips broke out into a smile, and I couldn't help but return it a little.
"I really don't know anything about imprinting or vampires," I admitted, "because it's mostly useless for us in the lower class. Like this," I pointed to his Mark, as he called it. "I never learned about this."
He moved his hand, the one not cupping my cheek, and gently lifted my right hand to his lips. He turned it slightly and softly kissed his Mark. The brief contact sending a delicious, unfamiliar shiver through my entire body, and I briefly felt as if I'd been set on fire.
"Would you like to ask me anything?" he asked as he set my hand back on the bed. "Or tell me anything? I want to get to know you, but I also want you to know me. The last thing I would want to do is leave you in the dark."
He paused as I tried to compose myself and answer him, and then he added, "How about this: you ask me a question, about anything you can think of, and I promise to answer. Then I'll ask you a question, which you don't have to answer if you don't want to, but please be honest if you do. Does that sound good?"
I nodded, and he looked at me in anticipation. "My family, can they live with us? As much as I wanted this dream to be real, his answer to this question would truly decide my fate. "They need me, and I cannot leave them there."
"Bella, of course they can live with us, if that would make you happy." The smile was back, and I felt truly relaxed for the first time since awakening.
But before Edward could ask his first question, footsteps approached us from the side, and a human man with white blond hair soon stepped into my line of sight.
"Miss?" He held up a silver spoon with a thick liquid pooled inside. "This should help with any pain you have and will help you heal quicker." I didn't argue as he put the bitter substance into my mouth, noticing the concern in Edward's eyes as he watched me swallow.
The medicine took quick effect, and I started to feel sleepy soon after the white-haired doctor took his leave. But things were just starting to make sense to me, and I willed myself to stay awake and find out more.
"Isabella," Edward said gently, "you can sleep. I will be here when you wake up."
I believed him but would not be deterred. "Your turn," I said.
He sighed but surrendered to my request. "Isabella, why were you brought here?" His question sobered me instantly, and I started to feel afraid. He noticed my reaction and took my hands again. "I will not be angry with you nor do I care what you did. But I do want to know."
His eyes pleaded with me to trust him, and I took a deep breath before answering. "My… my father. He's ill, and he needed the medicine. We don't have enough money for food, let alone something as expensive as medicine." The tears slipped from my cheeks as I recalled my father's sickly pallor. "He had done so much for me…taking care of both Alice and me even after my mother passed away, never worrying about himself or his own needs. I couldn't just let him die."
Edward wiped away my traitorous tears after I finished, his compassion overriding my shame. "Please don't cry, Isabella," he whispered. "To do that for your father, risking your own life for his…" He shook his head in admiration. "Bella, you were so brave, so selfless. I can think of nobles and princes who would not have done what you did. You truly are remarkable."
I had no words to reply to his compliment, so I accepted them with a small smile.
"Think no more about it," he continued. "I will send some of my vampire guards to retrieve your father and any other family you might—"
"No!" I screamed before I could stop myself. I covered my mouth with my hand as Edward gaped at me in shock. "I mean," I said with less volume but equal alarm, "Alice…she's like a sister to me, and she's afraid of vampires and the guard. And my father wouldn't trust the guard, not after they took me away from him before. No, they will only come with you if I am there. Alice will have a panic attack if I am not there! Please." I tugged on his arm. "You have to bring me."
"Isabella, I don't want you going back there." He ran an aggressive hand through his bronze hair. "Are you sure they would not come with my men?"
I nodded my head as vigorously as the pain would allow. "I've seen how Alice reacts to vampires, and it is not a sight you would want to see."
He sighed, the heavy sound tugging at my heart. "The doctor said that in about three days, you could leave here and recuperate in my private chambers. But for now, Isabella, you really should sleep. It will help you heal."
Three days?
That didn't sound right.
"Edward," I whispered as my eyes started to droop.
"Yes, my love?"
I let my head rest against Edward's hand as it was becoming too heavy to hold up. "How long have I been asleep?"
"A little more than a week," he whispered. "You needed to rest to heal, and the medicine also helped you
sleep."
"A week?" I could not believe his words. "I have to get to my father!"
I tried to sit upright at the news, determined not to let my father down after all he'd done for me.
But a blinding pain coursed through my body as I tried and failed to lift off the bed, forcing me backwards into the cloud-like pillows.
"Isabella, please," Edward pleaded as he caressed my face. "You need to rest."
"But my father..." I fought against the pain and the coming drowsiness. I needed to get to my father. Didn't he understand? "I'm his only hope. I have to get to him before the...the infection gets...gets worse...he needs medicine...please Edward."
My mouth ceased to work as the urge to sleep overpowered me.
"Isabella, calm down," he vowed in an urgent whisper. "I won't send any of the royal guard to your father, but I will make sure he gets the medicine he needs." He caressed my aching head as his words calmed my soul. "I will take care of your father, but before I can do that, I need to take care of you first. Will you let me do that?" His velvety voice was like a lullaby, but I fought against his cooing with all my might. "Just relax and you'll be asleep soon."
"But I don't want to sleep." I willed my eyes to stay open, but they kept fluttering closed in spite of my wishes. His cool hand ran down the length of my arm, raising gooseflesh, and it felt so very nice.
"Why do you not want to sleep?" he asked gently.
"Because when I wake up," I mumbled miserably, "you'll be gone, and this will become just a perfect dream that will never come true, and it will torture me for the rest of my wretched life, and I will be…"
"Shhh." Edward gently pressed his lips to my forehead, causing my eyes to surrender to the peaceful darkness. But before I completely drifted into the realm of unconsciousness, I heard Edward whisper, "Like I could ever leave my angel."