Chapter 7: The Whole Story

Bella gasped when Edward set her down on the ground. She looked around to see that she was in a beautifully lit meadow. She looked up and her eyes widened when she saw the light bouncing off Edward's exposed skin like diamonds. "Wow…" she whispered. Edward let out an unneeded breath as he kneeled down in front of her while sitting in the shade.

"I was eighteen at the time, the year was 1862 and it was just father and me, Jasper had gone off to war already," he murmured quietly.

Bella bit her lower lip. "So…what happened?" she asked. Edward winced slightly at the memory, letting out another unneeded breath.

"I was engaged to be married at the time, it was two weeks before the wedding," he said quietly as the memories flooded back to him.

Edward was standing in front of the mirror of the tailor's shop as the old woman checked and rechecked every single part of his suit. "Anything uncomfortable?" she asked.

"No ma'am," he replied.

"Good good," she said grinning.

She fixed the front of the jacket. "Lucky young lady," she commented chuckling lightly.

"Actually I'm the lucky one," he answered.

Edward looked towards the window to see that Isabella wasn't back from getting her dress fitted yet. "You can change now," she informed. Edward nodded as he went to change out of his suit.

Walking out of the tailor's, Edward started heading home. The air was cooler than usual for the summer. Stuffing his hands in his jacket, he thought that he would just meet with Isabella and his father at the restaurant that was just around the corner.

Just then someone bumped into him. "Excuse me," he told the stranger.

"No worries boy no worries, say do you have the time?" the stranger asked.

"Yes," Edward replied.

Edward reached into his pocket to pull out his watch when he looked up into the man's face. His heart stopped when he saw deep red eyes staring at him. The stranger hissed, shoved him into the nearest alley, ripping Edward's jacket off when he tried to escape. Throwing the young man back to the ground, he landed on some broken glass, making Edward hiss in pain as the vampire pinned him down to the ground. "What are you?" Edward gasped out.

"The last thing you'll see alive," the stranger hissed.

As Edward struggled, the vampire forced his head to the side and he felt his fangs piercing into his skin.

Edward snapped out of his reverie, looking over at the stunned young woman as he stated, "I don't remember what happened after that. I woke up three days later in an abandoned room with my father." She gave him a quizzical look.

"You mean you don't know how Carlisle was turned?" she queried.

Shaking his head slowly, he moved his fingers through his hair. "That would be his side of the story to tell," he replied quietly. Bella moved closer to him, tracing her fingers over the scar on his neck. "Don't," he hissed pulling her hand away. She let out a gasp when his face was extremely close to hers. "Just a horrible reminder that I'm now a monster," he growled.

"You haven't hurt me," she answered.

A shriek filled the air when Bella was suddenly pushed onto her back and Edward was above her. "I can't hurt you, even though your blood sings to me like honey does to a bee. Your scent is so…alluring…delectable, but I just can't hurt you," he told her.

"You don't want to be a monster," she murmured.

"It's not just the monster part," he answered staring down at her.

He reached out, tracing her jaw gently, reaching up to the back of her neck. "You remind me of her. How can fate be so unkind that someone that looks like her is right here in front of me?" he said quietly more to himself than to her. The young human could suddenly see pain in his caramel eyes. "You even share her name," he hissed quietly.

"Who?" Bella questioned quietly.

"Isabella, the woman I was to marry," he answered as he got off her.

Sitting up from the ground, she drew a knee to her chest. "I look like her?" she asked. He was suddenly quiet, his jaw locked.

"We need to go back," he told her.

Grabbing her by the arm, he pulled her onto his back again and ran back to Bella's house.

The next day, Bella was unable to sleep. All of Edward's words from the day before kept her up all night and she wanted more answers. During school, Edward wasn't in school again, making Bella even more curious about his story. After school, she acted like she was going to head back home when she saw the rest of the Cullen siblings walk out of the school to their respective cars. Climbing into her truck, Bella started it up and drove after the cars.

When she turned a corner, she was disappointed to see that the cars were out of her sight. Stopping the truck, she sat back, pushing her hair from her eyes. "Did you really think that was going to work?" a voice asked next to her. Startled, she looked over to see Alice sitting in the passenger's side of the car.

"How did you…" Bella started.

"I'm a psychic," Alice replied smiling.

"So…you saw all this?" Bella asked.

The petite vampire shook her head slowly. "My visions are subjective, I can only see into the future depending on a person's decision. They change their mind the visions change," she explained.

"So…where's Edward?" Bella queried.

"He's at the house," Alice replied sitting back in her seat, she gestured to the road, "Carlisle's waiting for you."

"He is?"

Nodding Alice smiled a little as Bella started up he truck and drove to the Cullen house with Alice directing her.

As they walked into the house, the first thing Bella noticed was piano music. Following the music, she came across a room that was right next to the living room. Peeking inside, she saw Edward sitting at the piano playing a beautiful piece of music. "I think it'd be best if we left him alone," a voice said behind her. Turning around, she saw a young woman standing there, she recognized her from school.

"Annabelle right?" she asked.

"Yeah," Annabelle replied smiling.

She looked into the room to see Edward concentrating on his music. Annabelle then looked towards the stairs. "Dad's calling for you," she informed, pushing a curled hair behind her ear as she lead Bella upstairs.

"So…you're a vampire too?" Bella asked as they walked up the stairs.

Annabelle laughed a little. "I'm half-vampire and half-human. Carlisle and Esme are my birthparents," she told them.

"But…" Bella started.

"I'll have to explain it to you sometime, but dad's wanting to talk to you so it'll have to wait," Annabelle told her, smiling a smile identical to Carlisle's.

Nodding her head slowly, Bella walked over to the large mahogany painted door and went inside. "Dad will be right there," Annabelle informed before going downstairs. Walking into the office, Bella closed the door behind her and looked around the large office. After calling Charlie and telling him she was studying at the Cullens', she closed her phone and looked around at the many pictures hanging up on the wall.

Walking around, she pushed a strand of hair behind her ear. Many of the pictures were black and white, some were paintings. There were a few pictures that caught her eye that sat on a bookshelf. Reaching up, she took the picture down.

The picture was of Carlisle, Edward, and Jasper. Carlisle was standing between his two sons, all three had small smiles on their faces as they were standing outside a house. "That was taken a year before Jasper joined the war," a voice said behind her, making her drop the picture. Chuckling, Carlisle walked over and picked it up.

"Sorry I wasn't meaning…" she started, but Carlisle stopped her with another chuckle.

"Don't worry, you have every right to be curious," he answered, placing the picture back on the shelf.

"Annabelle said you needed to speak to me?" she questioned.

His face turned serious suddenly and he nodded his head slowly. "Yes, it is about Edward," he informed leaning against his desk, "how much did he tell you?"

"Um…just what he remembered on the night he was turned," she replied sitting down.

Nodding his head slowly, he rubbed his hands together, clearing his throat. "Edward would only know his side of the story, he was unconscious when I found him," he explained quietly. Bella saw his eyes start to glaze over as his mind drifted to that same night.

Carlisle had dismounted his horse, tying the rein to the vertical pole when he suddenly heard scuffling in a nearby alley. Hurrying over to see what was going on, he suddenly heard his son say, "What are you?"

"I'm the last thing you will see alive," the person answered.

Carlisle looked into the alley to find the person hovering over his now unconscious son. "No!" the man exclaimed running over and shoving the attacker off Edward. The attacker was back in the crouching position.

"That was foolish!" he hissed.

Carlisle looked over to see his son groaning in pain, his neck was bleeding. Looking at the attacker, he saw the fangs, making his eyes widen in disbelief. "You won't touch my son!" he snapped going after the vampire.

The vampire grabbed Carlisle by his shirt throwing him to the ground. His world spun when his head connected to the ground. "Two for one," the vampire sneered as he placed his hand under Carlisle's chin and forced his head up, exposing his throat. He felt the teeth sink into his skin and he cried out in pain. His shouts of pain suddenly started attracting attention and the vampire let Carlisle go, disappearing into the night.

Carlisle felt the venom spread through his body, but forced himself to get up. "Edward, Edward, talk to me son," he begged, his hands on his son's face.

"Isabella…" Edward groaned as the venom continued with it's journey through his own body.

"Over here!" a voice called.

Carlisle grabbed a hold of his son, lifting him over his shoulder with whatever strength he had left. "Hold on son," he said quietly as he moved through the nearest door to the abandoned room. Unable to take another step he collapsed to the floor, holding onto Edward so he wouldn't hit the floor too. He held onto Edward like a lifeline as darkness claimed him.

Carlisle opened his eyes and looked over at Bella. "For the next three days and nights Edward and I were hidden in that room," he concluded his story. Bella was staring at him in disbelief to hear how he tried to fight a vampire to protect his son was captivating. "But I didn't bring you in here just to tell you my side of the story," he commented.

"What is it?" Bella asked quietly.

"I wanted to tell you that after the change, it has hurt Edward a lot, especially with everything about Isabella," he informed.

She nodded her head slowly. "I understand," she said quietly.

"I'm just saying that you should be patient when it comes to Edward, he'll come around. When he thinks about her, he just needs a few days to get himself back together," he explained.

He rested his hand gently on her shoulder. Bella smiled a little, nodding her head slowly. "I can understand why it's so hard or him…" Bella started. Carlisle sighed a little.

"It's not my story to tell, but its more than just the fact that he was turned into a vampire days before his wedding, no it's mort than that, it has to deal more with his Isabella," he said quietly.

"What is it?" she asked.

Carlisle cleared his throat. "Once again, that is not my part to tell, just give him time and he will explain it," he assured her. She nodded her head slowly and pushed a strand of hair behind her ear.