Sorry it took me so long to update but I've been really busy with uni. I hope you enjoy it.
Claire's p.o.v.
When Alice teeth pierced my skin it was unlike anything I'd ever felt before. Carlisle had not been exaggerating when he told me that vampire venom was worse than anything I had ever experienced. As soon as the venom entered my body, fire seemed to erupt in my veins. It hurt so much worse than any of my previous injuries that I could not find the words to describe it. While part of me was glad that I could finally feel pain, no matter how unbearable it was, I mostly just longed for it to go away. And the worst part was that it kept getting more painful. Was I insane? I had just let a vampire bite me with consequences that were clearly beyond anyone's control. While the fire raged through my body I swore to myself that, should I survive this ordeal, I would stop torturing my body to try and feel pain again. If I survived...
The fire was still burning. Why had Alice not sucked the venom back out? With all the force I could muster I slowly sat up. Opening my eyes was nearly impossible but eventually I succeeded. What I saw was more than disconcerting. The entire vampire clan had gathered in the study and they were all staring at me. Their faces looked extremely shocked. I would have given it more thought if my mind had not been so preoccupied with the pain the venom was causing me. Unbelievably so, it kept getting worse. My muscles started contract beyond my control. I had just curled into a ball when the pain suddenly started to subside. Beyond any measure of relief I slowly got up from the desk, the remnants of the flames still flickering through my body. With the pain dissipating and my mind clearing, I remembered the shocked expression on the vampires' faces. I looked up at them and saw them watching me, still looking stunned. Recalling Carlisle's warning that venom turned humans into vampires I examined my hands to see if anything had changed. My hands still looked as tan as before though so apparently the venom had not affected me in that way. The fact that the vampires were still standing frozen on the other side of the room was starting to worry and annoy me at the same time.
"What?! Stop staring at me like that. You're really starting to freak me out!"
Alice's p.o.v.
It took all the self-control I could muster to not drink Claire's blood. Edward had been right. She tasted unlike anything I had ever tried before. Maybe it was because of her healing ability. Whatever it was, it made it almost impossible to resist the urge to drain her dry. Somehow I managed and pulled away. No sooner had I stepped away from the desk as her hand started to heal itself. I looked at Carlisle with concern. Could I still suck the venom back out if the entry wound was gone? Carlisle seemed to share my concern. I heard her heartbeat accelerate.
"Is that supposed to happen?" I asked.
"I'm not sure. Normally the heartbeat of someone who is bitten tends to accelerate. But in her case it may just be a response to the pain."
"Shouldn't we try to get the venom out?"
Rather than reply Carlisle stepped to his desk and bent over Claire's body. After a second he looked up at me, his face filled with anguish.
"What's wrong? Is it killing her?"
Even before he replied I knew what he was going to say.
"It's too late. The venom has entered her system. There's nothing we can do. I'm sorry."
"Oh God, please no!" I whispered, desperation taking hold of me. If she became a vampire it would be my fault. I would have destroyed the life of a healthy young girl forever. It would be so much worse than when Carlisle had turned the others. They had been on the brink of death but Claire... She had so much to live for.
Drawn to the room by Claire's rapid heartbeat the others arrived.
"What's happening? Is she all right?" Edward asked.
"I'm not sure. The venom is raging through her body but I don't know if her system is fighting it or being changed by it."
Suddenly Claire began to sit up ever so slowly. Her heartbeat had not slowed down. If anything, it was still increasing. From her movements it was obvious that she was in a lot of pain. I briefly wondered if she felt human, if the pain caused by my venom had given her some reaffirmation of her humanity. I sincerely hoped that was the case.
Once she had sat up she slowly started to open her eyes. The pain in them was almost too much to bear. I saw my shock at her predicament mirrored in the others' faces. None of us seemed to understand what was happening. As she pulled her legs to her chest and wrapped her arms around them, resting her head on her knees, hear heartbeat continued to accelerate. Even with my limited knowledge of medicine I could tell that her heartbeat was going faster than humanly possible. Any normal person would have died of a heart attack by now. Fortunately Claire was anything but normal.
Without any warning her heartbeat started to slow down again and she slowly sat up. We were too shocked to say anything. When she looked at us she seemed scared and angry at the same time.
"What?! Stop staring at me like that. You're really starting to freak me out!"
"I'm sorry," Carlisle replied, "but we just can't figure out what happened. How badly did it hurt?"
She glanced at me and a shadow seemed to cross her eyes. She probably did not want me to feel guilty about biting her. Well, it was too late for that.
"You weren't exaggerating when you warned me. Let's leave it at that." I was grateful that she did not say anything else.
"Do you feel any different? Your eyes are still blue and your skin colour hasn't changed so you shouldn't be a vampire." The scientist in Carlisle started to take over.
"Well I don't feel different."
She grabbed Carlisle's letter opener.
"If you can't control yourselves around blood you may want to leave," I told the others as soon as Claire's intentions became clear. Everyone except for Carlisle and me left the room.
Without hesitation Claire lifted the letter opener and stabbed it through her arm. I instantly held my breath. Her skin was obviously still human because the opener pierced it without any problems. I was rather surprised at the force with which Claire had rammed the object through her arm. The letter opener did not have a sharp blade so she could not have made an incision but putting it all the way through her arm seemed like overkill.
"Does it hurt?" Carlisle inquired.
Claire looked at him with a surprised expression, "no, but I didn't mean for it to go all the way through! I just brought it down with what I thought would be just enough force to pierce the skin. What's going on?"
"I have absolutely no idea," Carlisle looked about as baffled as I felt. "If you were a vampire that letter opener wouldn't have left a scratch on your skin. But shoving it all the way through your own arm from that angle should've taken more force than a normal human of your size could manage. Either your body as somehow gotten weaker on a molecular level or you've gotten stronger."
"Oh no, you mean I'm going to fall apart because my molecules aren't as cohesive as they used to be?"
"Actually I think it's more plausible that you've gotten stronger. Maybe the venom only gave you some vampiric abilities. Why don't you try and see if you can beat me in an arm-wrestling match."
"Uhm okay. Sure." Claire pulled the letter opener out of her arm. I watched in amazement as her skin knitted itself back together. If it weren't for the dried blood on her arm know one would have ever guessed that she had injured herself.
Carlisle pulled up a second chair to the other side of his desk.
"Please try to be careful though. I'm quite fond of this desk."
"I will be, don't worry," Claire allowed herself a small smile.
With that she grabbed Carlisle's hand and started to push. At first I was not sure if Carlisle was putting in any effort but when I saw the tendons protruding from his neck I realized he was giving it everything he had. Any newborn vampire would have easily beaten Carlisle but Claire seemed to struggle keeping her arm upright. Nevertheless, even if she didn't have the strength of a newborn vampire no normal human being stood a chance against a vampire. Clearly the venom had changed Claire in some way.
In an attempt to push her arm over, Carlisle tightened his grip around Claire's hand. All of the sudden I heard a snapping sound and Carlisle jumped up, releasing her hand as if it were a venomous snake.
"I'm so sorry, Claire. You're so strong I forgot that you don't seem to be a full vampire. I don't know what came over me. Is there anything I can do?"
"Don't worry," Claire placated him. She grabbed her mangled right hand and started pushing the bones back into place. "It's not like it hurt or anything. It'll be fine in a minute."