Disclaimer: Still not mine. Still wish he was.

A/N-Couple chapters of angst- sorry but its necessary- Don't throw stuff

This chapter is dedicated to my dear friend Jenny for knowing the real me and loving me anyway, for making me walk up the big hills even when I bitch and moan, and for listening to me ramble about this story. I'm lucky to have you. Now go let your puppy out before she pees on something.

Thanks again Lillie Cullen for being an awesome beta, and so much more.

If your 18+ and want to chat about the story and engage in random silliness and not so random suggestiveness, come play with us on the Twilighted forums! To find the thread go to Twilighted(dot)net , click of "forums", then " alternate universe", then " Choice and Consequences". You must be 18+ to register on this site as we do have discussions of an adult nature. Constantly.

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Previously:

I concentrated on not fighting them, but the pain was brutal. I felt my heart grow, expand, as if it was filling with fluid and growing in my chest. The pressure built - my heart swelling like a balloon larger and larger until suddenly it gave one loud final thump, almost explosive in force as it deflated and then went still. My heart had stopped.

"Bella…it's over," Jasper whispered, and for the first time in a while I heard a smile in his voice.

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BPOV

Edward leaned closer to me.

"Bella?" His voice was different, enchanting. His sweet breath fanned over my face and stirred my hair when he spoke.

I turned my head toward him and slowly opened my eyes, to find his blurry face just inches from mine. It took my eyes a few seconds to adjust, bringing him into sharp focus. I gasped at the sight. He was so beautiful. I had spent many days staring at his face, but had never seen it this way. Hundreds of shades of red and brown danced through his hair each reflecting the light. His skin was still pale, but I could see its texture, smooth and firm. And his eyes. The color had so much depth and swirling around in the golden liquid were tiny, microscopic specks of green, in several different shades.

"What happened?" I asked, and his eyes changed, subtly, the texture shifting slightly as his smile faded.

He pressed his lips together and took a deep breath before answering. "I bit you."

So he had done this to me. Confusion and anger welled up in me, and my chest began heaving, my breathing erratic. I tried to calm myself. I wanted to hear more, but then he reached his hand toward me to touch my face and I flinched.

I flinched, simply flinched. I tried to move away from Edward's hand and merely flinched. But the momentum sent my body spiraling upward and off the bed. I found myself suddenly startled, crouching, and face to face with a sight I was not prepared for, but couldn't look away from.

Jasper stood, a few feet from me, arms spread, regarding me cautiously. He had what appeared to be… scars covering his neck and jaw. The crescent shaped marks overlapped, and caught the light, making them even more pronounced. The same marks were covering the parts of his arms that were visible. There were hundreds of them. I stared... repulsed, but fascinated. Jasper had been so gentle with me, so soothing. It was hard for my mind to assimilate the caretaker I had come to rely on so much during the pain with the startling image before me. What had happened to him?

A shuffle of movement from across the room caught my attention, and my head whipped quickly to locate the source of the noise. That's when I noticed that there were indeed others in the room.

"Bella?" My face whipped back to Jasper; the movement was so fast and disorienting. He spoke with reassurance, "Remember, no one here will hurt you."

I looked to each of them. Alice stood behind Jasper, peeking around him and smiling at me. Across the large room, leaning against the arm of a leather sofa was the blond sister, Rosalie. Emmett stood by her side. He looked excited, expectant. Rosalie looked… bored. I continued to scan the room, aware of my surroundings for the first time. The walls were light, and contrasted with the dark beams running across the ceiling. The furnishings were rich, but simple. Behind me was a wall entirely made of bookshelves, containing hundreds of books. And directly to my right, was a simple hospital bed: the very bed where I had burned. It looked very out of place in the cozy atmosphere. Across the room stood a large fireplace with an oversized dark wood mantle. Carlisle was standing by the fireplace with his arm around a woman I didn't recognize. She must be Esme, his wife. Edward was standing behind me, just a few feet away. I didn't need to turn to know he was there. His scent surrounded me, and I could hear his breathing. The silence in the room stretched on, as they waited for me to collect my thoughts. It was all so overwhelming. Everything looked different, sounded different and my body felt so foreign. Really, there was only one logical explanation.

"Am I dead?" I asked. Nothing else made sense really. I must be.

"Yep," Emmett chuckled, nodding his head.

Six pairs of eye shot to him. He held up his hands in surrender, and then made the motion of zipping his mouth and throwing the key over his shoulder.

I stood, completely motionless, waiting for someone else to speak.

Carlisle looked to Jasper with questioning eyes. Jasper looked to me, then back to Carlisle, nodding slightly. Carlisle approached me, slowly, cautiously; the way you would approach a feral dog.

"It's true Bella, your heart no longer beats. You're no longer… human."

What. The. Hell? I looked at him, with my new eyes noticing the way the light reflected off his blond hair, accentuating every strand. I could see each individual hair, and follow its path through the tangle of other hairs. It was distracting. It was fascinating. I suddenly couldn't remember what we were talking about. I struggled to grasp the thought. Oh yeah…human. I was no longer human. My eyes snapped to meet his.

"What do you mean? If I'm not human…." I trailed off, not wanting to even finish that thought. What else was there to be?

Carlisle looked to Jasper who turned to Edward. They obviously had something to say but seemed to be unsure of who should deliver the news. Or perhaps nobody really wanted to. Edward and Carlisle locked eyes for a fraction of a second before they both turned to Alice.

"Carlisle." Alice stated simply.

The sun blond man turned to me again and took a deep breath before continuing.

"Bella…I'm afraid there is no easy way to say this." He paused for a moment before continuing "You're one of us now…you're like us," he motioned to the others in the room, "You're a vampire."

The silence in the room lasted only a fraction of a second before it was broken with the most logical sound I could manage. I laughed. My head fell back and laughter poured out of me with abandon. The sound was different, had more layers, and was richer. I laughed until I realized I was the only one laughing. And then I was angry…what the hell kind of a sick joke was this? I took a moment to collect myself before responding, judiciously surveying the 7 pairs of eyes staring intently at me…expectantly, almost as if they were…waiting for something.

"Vampires don't exist," I countered, because the notion was absurd.

They all continued to watch me, not saying anything as they waited still...for what I didn't know. My eyes travelled around the room taking each of them in, seeking some meaning in the golden eyes staring back at me. They all had exactly the same shade of eyes. After sweeping around the room, I let my body turn, looking behind me.

My eyes fell on Edward. Edward. He was looking down, his face thoughtful. Slowly, he lifted his gaze and our eyes met. Hazy memories began to form. Biology, his smile across the room, shirtless in the moonlight, kissing him, his body on mine, the bed frame bending under his fingers, his cold skin, and golden eyes, "I love you" and "forever," the pain, and my blood on his lips. Then it clicked.

"You!" I gasped my eyes narrowing. "You're a vampire!"

Edward smiled, sweetly, smugly. His eyes smoldered into mine.

"As are you, my love."

Heat rose within my cold body, flooding my thoughts. The look in his eyes stirred a strong feeling within me, though it wasn't the same stirrings I had felt the last time he looked at me this way. I felt my loose grip on control slipping, and I suddenly knew exactly what everyone was waiting for.

"She's pissed." Emmett practically beamed, smiling widely as he rocked on his heels with his arms crossed.

"Mm hmm. Oh yeah," Jasper was suppressing a smile.

Anger tore through me, filling me completely. Before the plan even formed in my head, my body put it into action. I crossed the room quickly, too quickly I realized as the images flew by in a blur lasting only a fraction of a second, but being clear enough to see every detail. I collided with Edward, lifting him and carrying his body with my momentum, slamming him in to the wall of bookshelves with such force that the shelves cracked and splintered, the books toppling from the shelves and falling around us. I held him there, my face inches from his, my hands pressed into his chest so firmly that I could feel his stone skin giving way underneath them.

Emmett and Jasper moved, taking a step towards us, but froze when Edward held up a hand motioning for them to wait. Was he insane? I wanted to rip him to pieces, and felt like I could. I admired him, a little, for being man enough to take my anger. But in that moment, I hated him more. I had trusted him. I had given myself to him, and he destroyed me. I stared deeply into his eyes.

"What have you done to me?" I snarled, still just inches from his face.

"I'm sorry Bella," Edward muttered, and I could see the remorse and torment in his eyes. "I just loved you too much. I couldn't risk losing you."

He loved me? That was his reason?! It wasn't enough, and it wasn't going to change anything. I wanted to tear him to shreds, to bite him. To hurt him the way he hurt me. But I couldn't, because I could see the truth in his eyes.

I dropped him and turned away. There were too many questions for me in those eyes, and I had no answers.

Rosalie snickered from her spot across the room, still leaning against the sofa." I like her."

Edward sank to the ground against the broken bookshelf, and watched me intently, though I didn't look at him. I couldn't look at him. I fell to my knees, and sat as still as possible to give my brain a chance to catch up with the influx of information and sensations that it was not accustomed to dealing with. Jasper approached, asking permission with his eyes, and I nodded. He sank down beside me, sitting close but not touching me. I felt calmer instantly, and was glad he was near. My head fell into my hands, as I struggled to stop the hysteria, even with Jasper's soothing presence close by it was threatening to consume me. It was all too much. Too much emotion. Too much sensation. Too much loss.

I just needed to get away - away from Edward and away from this place. I needed time to figure out what was going on.

"Will someone please take me home?" I asked and the room went completely still. I raised my head to find everyone staring behind me at Edward. There was no hesitation this time, no question who should speak. Suddenly, Edward was beside me. He reached his hand toward me, but pulled it back before it touched.

"Bella…love," I glared at the word. "You can't go home."

"I sure as hell can go home, you can't keep me here." The anger was surging again. "And don't call me love"

Carlisle moved toward me and kneeled down to meet my eyes. "I'm afraid it's true."

Anger shifted to outrage and I shot to my feet. I stood, crouching, confused. Jasper stood remaining closely by my side; he was trying very hard to calm me. After a moment, he nodded curtly to Carlisle, who turned to me again.

"Do you feel the burning in your throat?" He asked.

I did. Not only did it burn, but it felt so…dry. My first thought was to ask for water, but that didn't seem to be what I wanted. Why was it burning? I vaguely remembered Jasper mentioning something about the burning. I forced myself to re-focus on Carlisle and nodded, urging him to continue.

"If you get anywhere near a …human…the instinct to feed will take over and you will not be able to control yourself at this point. So, you see…" he trailed off. The look on my face told him that he didn't need to finish. I knew what he was saying. If I went home, I would kill Charlie. I would bite him and drink his…blood…until he was dead. I could never go home. And I had never longed for home as much I as did right then.

"But...Charlie will be worried…I need to call him," I stammered, imagining the entire state of Washington looking for me.

"That won't be necessary," he murmured quietly. Shifting slightly, he measured his words carefully. "Charlie and the rest of the humans have already been informed… in a way."

"You told him?" I asked in disbelief.

Carlisle reached out cautiously to take my hand, the years of practice with delivering bad news evident in his empathic demeanor.

"Your human life has ended. That's what Charlie knows. I'm afraid that's all he can know. It's for his safety as well as ours."

"My dad thinks I'm…dead?" My musical, beautiful voice broke on the last word.

Carlisle closed his eyes and nodded his head slightly.

It was all too much. While I burned, I had wanted answers so desperately. I had wanted nothing more than to know what was happening to me, and what it all meant. But now that I knew, I wished I didn't. I wished with all my being that I wasn't different, that I wasn't…dead. That I could will my heart to beat again, and see my family again. I wanted it back. I wanted this nightmare to end. The hurt and rage and fear and loss built in me, suddenly overwhelming my senses and crippling my control.

So I screamed. I screamed as loud and as long as I could. I screamed until I couldn't remember why I was screaming, until I couldn't think of Charlie and my home, and my bed and my mom and Angela and all the people I loved. I screamed until I didn't want to anymore, but then found I couldn't stop. I tried to close my mouth but it would open again. I wanted to end the rage and hurt and willed the noise to stop, but it just wouldn't.

"Jasper!" I finally managed, knowing that he would help me. And then he was there, his arms wrapped around me, restraining and calming. The bursts of anger and torment and fear subsided, flooding out of me as waves of calm radiated through my body, finally stopping the screams. I was spent. I had reached my limit. I collapsed in his arms.

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A/N - Another big thanks to everyone who takes the time to review. I read and LOVE every one of them. You guys make my day!!