A/N: Okay, so – a few author comments here. First of all, I beg your forgiveness for taking this long. Seriously. Second year at university? Not a joke! Who'd have thought, right? So I give you this chapter to make up for it. It is literally the longest chapter of anything I have ever written, and probably the words that have made me proudest of myself. I have to admit though, that after this chapter it will take a while before another chapter comes along – since I have all this work to do. But if you stick with me, I guarantee an interesting story for you .

Thank you to everyone who takes their time to read this story, I hope you continue to enjoy it! Special quadruple thanks to the awesome Janna, kidbydog, bloftus, frlarsson, Sherry80, and sujari6! You guys are amazing!

Disclaimer: I do not own anything Twilight, but I do own the British girl.


Chapter 6: Houseguest.

Edward's POV:

The girl was still awake.

Still awake, although I'd been running for about a day now. I'd already managed to run through Italy – by night – and the mountains of Switzerland by day. Apparently, I was fast enough despite the girl silently hanging on my back, still awake.

How was she still awake?

I was getting tired of her silence. I needed some answers, and one of them better explained why I couldn't read her thoughts.

"Hey," I said, asking for her attention as I kept running through the forests.

"What?" She asked innocently, as if she didn't know how strange this situation was for me.

"Who are you?" I asked.

"My name is Charlotte," she simply said.

"That's great. Who are you?" I repeated. "How did you know where to find me? What-"

"You know, you have a lot of questions for someone whose life I just saved. You're welcome, by the way," she said, chuckling.

"That reminds me. How the hell did you do that to him?" I asked, referring to the 990 year old vampire she just froze or… something.

"Why don't you just run for now? I'll tell you everything when we get there," she said reassuringly. I was not reassured.

"You haven't exactly told me where we're going. And since I'm the one carrying you, I think you should at least tell me who you are and where I'm going," I said, looking back at her while I ran.

"Jesus," she said, rolling her eyes at me. "Are all vampires this annoying?"

I raised my eyebrows, awaiting an answer. My being annoying to her really didn't matter to me right now.

"Fine," she muttered. "We're going back to my place in Lancaster. I'm working on something that may be able to help you."

I shook my head, looking forward at the road again. "How come every answer you give me raises ten other questions?"

"I honestly don't know, friend."

"Let's just run," I finally said, giving up my attempts for answers. This girl was much too frustrating.

Once we got to France, we caught a train to Le Havre, and a ferry to England from there. All that, of course, was paid for by Charlotte, since I didn't have a dollar – or a Euro – in my pocket. Who would've thought that a nice little nightly stroll would lead to having to run all the way to fucking Lancaster?

"I swear I'll pay you back," I said as we got down from the ferry.

"Don't worry about it," she brushed me off and smiled. "Consider it a pay back for carrying me all the way from Italy."

Since it was night again, we ran some more, until we got to Lancashire. I had no idea what we were doing there, but I was hoping that this girl could lead me to the person I was looking for.

"I think we should walk from here. Normal pace," she said.

"Yeah – humans. Wouldn't want to seem weird," I nodded.

"Sweetheart, you're American. Around here that already makes you weird."

I chuckled.

"Don't you want to know my name?" I asked a while later, when we reached her street. "The stranger you're letting inside your house?"

"I already know your name," she said.

"Yeah, I figured that. I was just trying to get you to tell me how you know my name," I said, not hiding my annoyance of her evasive attitude.

"Yeah, I figured that," she repeated my own words as she unlocked the door to her house. The house wasn't very big, but it wasn't very small, either. It was white, with a white picket fence, and a red rooftop. Not exactly the bachelorette pad you'd expect a young girl to have.

"Welcome, please make yourself comfortable," she said as she let me in. For a moment I thought she was going to invite me in, as many legends about vampires say is required. Which made me wonder, just how much did she really know about us, and how?

"Thanks," I said as I walked into the house. There was a ray of light coming for the ceiling at the entrance, causing my skin to shine. "What's this?" I asked her.

"What, this?" she asked, pointing at the lamp above me. "It's artificial sunlight. Just to make sure no vampires try to infiltrate without my knowledge."

"Huh," I smirked. This girl was oddly informative. "What other traps have you got around here?"

"Oh, just a few self-destruct buttons strategically placed around the perimeter. Which reminds me – if you see a button you don't know what is for, don't press it."

I just looked at her, not sure how I should respond to that. So, not only was she strangely informative, she was also strangely paranoid?

"Would you like something? I mean, I've taken the liberty to purchase some animal blood off the Red Market," she said.

Only more and more questions.

"Red Market?" I asked as I sat down on the couch.

"Blood market. Let's just say Lancaster has a very active nightlife."

I had heard about England being the home of many nomad vampires, but I didn't think anyone who wasn't a vampire would be aware of that fact. If the Volturi found out about this, they would probably go on a rampage.

"Who are you?" I repeated my question from earlier, hoping to get an actual answer this time.

"Don't you know, Edward?" she asked with a smile, sitting on the other couch, next to mine. "I'm the person you've been looking for."

My body froze. And I mean that beyond the sense of how it froze 100 or so years ago, when I was turned. She was it. She was my one shot.

"You're the…?"

"I'm the witch."


"Still overwhelmed?" Charlotte asked as I finished my bottle of blood, and overwhelmed wasn't the half of it.

I was aware of the existence of witches… vaguely. It was more of a myth, actually. So when Tanya told me of a witch that might be able to help me, I took it as a long shot. I didn't actually think there'd be witches out there – although the Volturi's lack of willingness to help me find her was kind of suspicious.

Her being a witch, though – it explained things such as her expanded knowledge about our kind, and my not being able to read her thoughts.

I sighed and nodded, placing the bottle on the living room table. "Thank you," I said. "So does this mean you're finally ready to give me some answers?"

"Will you do the same for me?" she raised an eyebrow.

This girl was impossible. I nodded anyway; it was only fair.

"What do you want to know?" she leaned forward attentively.

"Do you really have what I'm looking for?"

"I'm working on it. I think it's going to be ready soon, but I can't be positively sure until it happens," she said.

"Okay," I said. There was no point rushing her through it.

"My turn," she said, narrowing her eyes. "Why do you want to go back to being human?"

I sighed, not sure if I should tell her, or if I could trust her enough to involve Bella into this.

"There's a girl, isn't there?" she smirked. "A human girl."

I just nodded.

"I guess that's fair," she said. "Although I couldn't imagine any sane girl who would be willing to be around your annoying vampire ass," she joked.

Insufferable.

"Why, you jealous, witch girl?" I asked, snarky.

"I would be, but clearly, you have no game," she grinned.

"Fine," I shook my head with a smile. I had too many questions to battle wits with her. "How did you know where to find me?"

"I have a spy with the Volturi," she smiled proudly.

"That would be pretty clever, if it were possible."

"Her name is Gianna," she crossed her arms against her chest, once again annoyed.

"You're kidding me," I said. Fucking Gianna, spying for a witch. If only they knew.

"No, I am in fact not shitting you," she laughed. "She told me you were there and what you wanted. So I figured they'd try to kill you eventually."

"I figured that much, too," I admitted. "So do you… work with a spell-book, or what?"

She burst into laughter. "Spell-book? What is it, 1623? I'm a chemist, Edward. I work on dead vampire cells down in my lab."

"You have a lab?"

She just laughed some more, and nodded. "I also conjured up some other serums, like the one I used on your little friend while he was choking you. I fill some small darts with the serum; shoot him, and bam – the vampire's paralyzed for long enough so you could run. Now, the dart is of my own design; its needle is thin enough to penetrate even vampire skin. It even has a little venom to help."

"Wow," was all I could muster up. I felt like I was stuck inside some strange science fiction novel. And I was a vampire.

"Me again," she said. "What happens if I can't do it? What will you do then?"

I considered that. I had absolutely no answer. "That… is not an option." She gave me a suspecting look. I hoped she wouldn't think I was threatening her or anything. "Just wishful thinking."

She nodded silently, staring down at the empty bottle of blood on the table.

"How long do you think it'll take?" I asked. Trying not to push, I added, "If you succeed?"

"I can't know that, Edward. I promise you that I will do everything in my power to get it done, but for all I know it might take years," she said worriedly.

I sighed deeply and nodded. "However long it takes."

I really did mean it. I would just find Bella, whatever age she is, and convince her to take me back. Hopefully, she wouldn't turn 60 before I was human.

"Glad to see you're on board," she said. "So – another question. How difficult would you say it is, not being able to hear my thoughts?" she smiled, cocking an eyebrow.

I laughed. "To be honest, you're not the first." I recalled walking into the school cafeteria that one day, trying to get into Bella's head and getting so frustrated by it that I wanted to pull my own hair out (to the dismay of a few cheerleaders, probably).

"Oh?" she said. "Let me guess. It's the human girl."

I just smiled.

"Well, that explains it."

I furrowed my eyebrows. "What?"

"You were attracted to her because of the mystery of it," she said simply.

"It's a lot more than that," I replied.

"Of course it is, now, but imagine back when you fell in love with her – that you could hear every single thought she owned, including her fawning over your handsome face and rock hard… body?"

I considered that. "I would still want her just as much," I said, not being able to think of any other outcome. Frankly, I didn't like what she was trying to say; that there was no way that I could love a girl who was "unexcitingly" human.

"If you say so," she smiled.

"Is this a usual for you?" I asked, trying to change the subject. "Working alongside vampires?"

"Actually, you're the first stray I've actually taken into my home," she smiled. "And probably also the last, seeing as how you're really annoying."

"So you think I have a handsome face and, what was that? A rock hard body?" I smirked.

"Would you look at that, it's time for me to go to bed," she gazed at her watch and faked disappointment. "Too bad you won't be getting any more answers tonight, right?"

"And what am I supposed to do while you're sleeping? And by the way – how is it possible that you haven't slept in days?"

"Remind me to tell you about that sometime," she said, only frustrating me further. "Now let me show you to the library."

She started working, and I started reading. That said library? It was massive. She had materials dating back to centuries ago – some about witches, some about vampires, a lot about humans. I was mainly interested in a couple of books telling about what seemed to be Charlotte's family history, the lineage of witches she descended from. Some of it was so personal that I decided to stop reading and just ask her about it. It just felt too intrusive.

I hoped to ask her in the morning, but somehow she slipped past me and went down to her lab, just leaving me a note to help myself to some blood and watch television.

This was surreal on so many levels.

I tried watching television, but most of the things on it seemed incredibly stupid. I mean, who the hell invented reality shows, anyway? I browsed around the house, just looking at the general decoration and her strange choice of objects. Her house was mostly big, but some parts of it still gave a warm kind of feeling. I wondered if she had always lived alone in the house, or if there had been a man with her there at some point.

I spent a lot of time in the library, but at some point, I couldn't look at words anymore. I needed to relax my mind and busy it with other things besides witches and serums that might turn me back into a human and send me back to Bella.

So eventually, I returned to watching reality shows. I was practically hooked on The Hills by nightfall, thinking things like, "Bella would so totally tell Audrina to dump Justin Bobby".

…Surreal on so many levels.

She came back up in the evening, looking exhausted. She immediately smiled when she saw me, making two small dimples appear.

"Any luck so far?" I asked, smiling as well from the couch, where I was sitting.

"No," she said, dropping herself roughly next to me. "But believe me – when I succeed, it won't have anything to do with luck, but mere talent."

I chuckled. "As long as you're not getting cocky."

"This is me being humble, is what it is," she laughed. "Is it true that vampires drink alcoholic beverages?"

"We do," I said. "I rarely ever drink, though."

"You won't even have a beer?" she asked, her green eyes looking at me hopefully. They kind of reminded me of my own eyes, before I was turned. Green and innocent.

"Okay," I complied.

She brought us a couple of beers from the fridge.

"Thanks," I said as I accepted mine from her. "So… what do you do, when you're not chasing down vampires just to help them?" I smiled.

"Reading. Strolling around Lancaster or London. But truthfully, I spend most of the time down in my lab, trying to develop new serums and medications."

"Medications?" I asked between sips of the beer.

"Yes. I've been trying to work something to heal old biting scars."

I paused for a moment before speaking. "Why are you helping vampires? Aren't vampires and witches supposed to be old time enemies?" I wrinkled my forehead.

"I just like the science of it," she shrugged.

I looked at her skeptically. "You just like the science of it?"

She laughed out and sipped her beer. "I'm a bad liar, aren't I?"

"I'd say that again," I chuckled.

She sighed loudly. "I guess… I guess I've always kind of thought that, if I could do something for the vampires, the animosity will eventually end. I know – that's incredibly naïve. But in my defense, I also have ways of paralyzing vampires and enhancing human strength, so…"

"No, I think it's great. You're trying to make a truce," I said, although I had my doubts about whether that would happen. The Volturi wasn't exactly kind and forgiving.

"Something like that," she replied.

"Enhancing human strength, you say?" I asked, curious again.

She chuckled. "You wanted to know how it is that I didn't sleep for days?"

"I suppose one of your serums did that?"

She smiled proudly.

"What else?" I asked.

"Now, now. I can't be giving away all of my trade secrets to a vampire, can I? Although I guess you've found enough while exploring my home," she smiled once more.

"Your place is really nice, by the way. I realized I haven't told you that," I said, realizing I'd forgotten my manners somewhere between getting saved and getting bored.

"Yeah? Did you enjoy the library? I have quite a few history books there," she said excitedly.

"I've looked, though I didn't read the ones about your family history," I said, hoping she'd tell me. Knowledge about witches was extremely rare these days. "I didn't want to pry."

"Sure, Edward. I'll tell you," she grinned, understanding everything. "There was a coven in 1612 in Pendel Forest. That's actually around here, though some of it was cut down for a luxury hotel. Anyhow – there were about… twenty people in this coven. And this old woman – witch – Elizabeth Sowthern… she was accused of being a witch. Prosecuted. And instead of fighting, she gave herself up and confessed," she said, like she was trying to figure out why would anyone do that. "And not only did she confess, but she also gave up her own grand-daughter, Anne Whittle. Apparently, she was crazy. She claimed to have made a deal with what she described as the devil, who came at night and sucked all of her blood."

I nodded in understanding. She basically accused vampires of the whole situation.

"People, of course, believed in vampires back then. Not like today, when if someone says he believes in magical creatures he gets endlessly laughed at. So, apparently, it peeved your fellow vampires that the witch talked about them. As you know, they don't like to be exposed to humans, let alone be accused of anything, so that started the legendary war between the two sides. All because of one crazy witch," she smiled wickedly at her use of words. "Unfortunately, you guys have slightly greater powers than we do, which is why there are very little witches left."

I don't think slightly covers it, but okay.

"Do you know of any?" I asked curiously.

She thought about it for a moment. "I know of two in Africa, and one in Australia, but that's pretty much it."

I nodded slowly.

"So anyway, after Elizabeth and Anne went completely mad and managed to turn in every member of their coven, eight witches got released. And you're looking at the progeny of one of them," she smiled.

"So if you don't know any other witches… what happened to your family?" I asked, hoping I didn't cross any lines.

"Killed," she simply said.

"Vampires?" I asked, for a moment wishing I hadn't brought it up.

She shook her head. "Humans. Drunk driving humans, to be exact."

"I'm sorry," I said quietly, feeling most uncomfortable.

"That's okay. It was a long time ago. Just goes to show you that not every species are all good or all bad, right?"

I just nodded again.

"So, Edward. Tell me a little about your family. Gianna tells me that you live with six other vampires."

"My family," I smiled, feeling a twinge of guilt about the way I'd treated them since I'd left Bella. "Carlisle turned me a century ago, and since then we've been collecting our family members. Changing people who have been near death."

"Don't you guys have mates, though?" she asked.

"The rest of my family are mates. Three couples. And then there's Bella and I," I looked down, hoping there still could be a Bella and I.

"Oh god!" she yelled out with a smile, a few seconds later. "I can only imagine what that was like for you – living with three couples in one house and hearing their thoughts all day and all night long," she said, and burst into laughter.

"That's not funny," I shook my head.

"It sort of is, actually," she replied, still laughing.

"Well, let's just say that Bella has managed to distract me just fine ever since I've met her," I said, sipping my beer.

She raised her eyebrow at me.

"Not like that. We haven't… done anything," I corrected myself. I didn't want her to think anything like that about my Bella. Although I would… definitely love to be able to be with Bella, I would never tell people about our love life. Suppose we ever have those.

"Oh, no way!" she shouted again.

"What?"

"Don't tell me you want to become human so you could sex up your girl? Cause I imagine that doesn't work so well, what with you being a vampire."

"Of course not," I protested. "I want to be able to give her a normal life. This is not about me wanting to sleep with her."

"Although that's a little part of it, isn't it?" she winked.

I just shook my head with a smile and continued to sip my beer.

Of course it was a part of it.

Charlotte and I continued our daily routine for the following two weeks; She'd work through the day, I'd wait impatiently, and then we'd dedicate the evenings to just talking and clearing our heads.

This wasn't getting me anywhere, though. Sure, I'd made a friend. But I wanted to return to my humanity, go back to Bella, tell her that I had been the biggest idiot for leaving and beg her to take me back.

One night I realized, it could take years before that serum works. Who knows if she ever does it? She'd promised me that she'll get it done and working, but thus far I hadn't seen any results, and I was getting beyond frustrated. That was the night when I snapped at her.

I was pacing when she reached upstairs. The television was off. The only sound made in the room was of the fire crackling in the fireplace.

"What's going on?" she asked, eyeing me suspiciously as she probably realized I was pissed.

"Nothing," I said flatly. "Any progress yet?"

She opened her mouth to speak, but I wouldn't let her. "Let me guess," I said, stopping my pacing steps. "There isn't any, but you'll surely have better luck tomorrow."

She looked stunned, her brows furrowed and her mouth gaped. "You're seriously angry with me?" I gave her no response. "For what?"

I was silent again. I didn't want every bit of frustration inside me to burst out. I didn't want to get ugly.

"Great. You don't even know what you're mad about. You men are terrific," she said and chuckled, like it was a matter of nothing.

"You promised me. You promised that you would do everything in your power to give me my humanity back," I said quietly.

"Edward," she said, her tone softening, and made a few steps towards me. "I've told you, it might take years. I never said I could get it done quickly, have I?"

"No, you haven't. But you did say that you would do everything in your power, and you're not," I said coldly.

"Really? Because I'm pretty sure I am," she said.

"You're just… I can't handle with it taking years, okay?" I was yelling now. "Not years, not months. I need to go back. She needs me to come back. And you need to make that happen soon."

"And you need to calm the fuck down, okay? Don't threaten me," she fumed.

"I'm not threatening you," I said impatiently. How absurd to think that I would do that. "I'm going crazy here, and it seems like you're not at all uncomfortable with my waiting around here."

"Oh my god, are you cocky. Do you think I actually give a damn if you went away? That I'm some sort of a lonely bachelorette looking for company because I'm allergic to cats?" she shouted, crossing her arms against her chest irately.

"I didn't mean it like that," I said. I was just so desperate to see Bella. I was losing my mind thinking about the last time I'd seen her; telling her that I didn't want her anymore. Everything was so fucking messed up.

"Whatever you meant; you need to remember that I'm doing you a favor here. What more do you want from me?"

"I want you to make a serum that fucking works," I spat back. I was being unkind. Needlessly unkind – just like I had been with my own family. But I was so riled up that I couldn't even bring myself to care.

"Oh, and you don't think I want that to happen?" she replied angrily. "I'm spending every bit of time on my hands working in that damned lab, so I would at least expect to be appreciated for it – and there goes this prick and tells me that I'm not doing enough," she ranted, more to herself than anyone, poking my chest with her finger as she said the words 'this prick'.

I grabbed her hand to get it off my chest, and said, "You know exactly what I want you to do." And she knew exactly what I'd meant. She'd been working all day, yes. But she could've been working all night, as well. I knew how selfish I was, but if being selfish was necessary, then so be it.

She pulled her hand back, and stared at me for a few moments with a heaving chest and a deathly glare on her face.

"Fine," she finally said coldly. "So here's what's going to happen. I'm going to take that fucking awakening serum and stay up all night in the lab, just like you wanted. You're going to take my vampire sedatives, because honestly, you're an extremely large pain in my arse and if I think about your pacing down here while I work, I might just burn this freaking house down!"

I stared back at her in silence before I spoke. "What the fuck are vampire sedatives?" I asked.

She rolled her eyes with a groan. "That's all you heard just now?"

"I heard you. Are you right about done?" I asked with a smirk on my face.

"Yes," she pouted slightly, as if disappointed I didn't continue the argument. Man, were witches strange.

"So what are vampire sedatives?" I repeated my question.

Her lip curled up with a half-smile. "When was the last time you had a good night's sleep?"

"1918," I answered warily, after a quick recall.

"Well, you're about to have one tonight," she said. "A while ago, I tried to make something that will paralyze you people for longer periods of time, but it turned out more like a light sleeping pill. You just slowly doze off for a few hours, like you just had a really long day. Which I guess you've been having for the past ninety years or so," she chuckled softly.

I felt bad. It wasn't what I'd said to her that I regretted; it was how I'd said it. I could have definitely been nicer about it.

Though I was excited about the idea of sleeping. I almost forgot how it felt, except for the vague memory of how nice and cozy it is to wake up and continue sleeping a little longer.

"Okay," I nodded, and waited for her to disappear into the lab and come back upstairs with the sedatives.

She was silent as I sat down on one of the kitchen stools, and she stuck the needle in the top part of my arm. It actually hurt a little as it penetrated through my hard skin, but I tried not to wince.

I was already starting to feel strange as she showed me to the guest bedroom. I felt heavier somehow, slow. It had been so long since I'd felt… tired, like that. I stood in front of the already made bed and actually yawned.

She laughed in response. "I can't tell you how nice it is to know that it's working," she said. "I've only tested it on tissues beforehand."

"…What the-?" I asked, outraged. Who gave the witch permission to use me as her guinea pig, anyway?

"I'm kidding," she said, smiling politely.

Oh.

I scowled at her. "Would you look at that, it's time for me to go to bed," I used her previous words against her, and then stopped short. "Wow, was that weird to say," I added with a laugh.

"I can only imagine, thankfully," she chuckled. "So, umm… if you need anything, just use the intercom next to your bed, it has a direct line to the lab. And… have a good night," she said, and started receding towards the hall.

"Hey," I called after her hesitantly.

She turned around. "I know – you're sorry."

"Actually, I was just going to say thanks," I said with a grin.

"Good night, Edward," she said with an eye roll, and headed to the hall, closing the door behind her.

I didn't even feel myself fall asleep before I did. I don't think I was dreaming per se, but I had this certain feeling, an essence… Bella's essence. It was as if she was near me, surrounding me in all directions. So when I sensed I was being pulled away from her by rude voices urging me to wake up, I protested. What I tried to say was, "leave me alone, I'm sleeping." What actually came out was a moany "Mm hmm huh hmm."

I tried to stay under the influence of my sweet sleep, and along with it – my sweet Bella. I tried to get sucked back in and succumb to the dark, but the annoying British female wouldn't let me.

"No, you must wake up this instant!" the voice urged further.

Finally, I woke up with alertness. My chest filled with feelings of grief, like I had lost Bella all over again. And then I was filled with anger.

"What, god damn it, what?" I groaned loudly at Charlotte.

"No, I don't even care that you're being utterly offensive right now," she enthused. "You wouldn't believe the news I have!"

I took a second to look at her, her words not fully registering with me just yet. She looked like a complete mess; her hair looked like a hurricane hit it, her eyes – did she have those glasses on before? – were mad, and there was some sort of red liquid staining her shirt.

"What happened to you?" I asked, sitting up.

"The serum – the serum!" she yelled out. "Are you sleeping naked?" she asked with a crooked face.

"What? No," I answered, and wiped my face with my hands to try and gain my own awareness back. It was proving to be difficult.

Why would she think I'm naked? Did she say something about a serum?

"Edward," she said, more seriously now. "I've got it. I did it. I can make you human again."

I realized two things. One was, she probably thought I was naked because I slept in my boxers. The other thing? Well, I only half-realized that one.

"You mean…?"

"I mean, I can friggin' make you human again, so you need to wake up, get dressed, and meet my in the kitchen – that is, if you still want your humanity back."

I flew out of bed, gave her a quick hug of gratitude (which made her look dazzled at best) and then quickly dragged her out of the room and closed the door, ignoring her objections. Then I proceeded to get dressed – which I did quicker than she could even arrive to the kitchen. At vampire speed, I beat her to the kitchen and sat down on the stool I was on the night before, a childish grin splattered all over my face.

And I was like I kid. A kid at Christmas, about to get the present that he specifically requested from Santa. Being human again and getting back together with Bella Swan. I was glad to say that Santa found me to be nice, rather than naughty, this year.

"My, are you eager," she chuckled.

I chuckled back with happiness, waiting for her to fill the needle with fluid. I actually couldn't remember the last time I had been quite this thrilled.

"You must really love her," she said, her expression unreadable for a moment.

"More than anything – are we doing this or what?" I asked.

"Hold your horses please," she said, finishing with the needle. "Okay. So there are a few things you need to know before I inject you with this."

"Quickly, please," I said, calculating in my head how fast it would take me to get back to Forks, Washington.

"First, this will feel strange. And from what I've seen in the lab, it will happen quickly – very quickly. Secondly, I can't guarantee that it will work. This time you really are the first human, or soon to be human, subject. Also, I can't guarantee that it won't kill you. And I mean that beyond the sense of being vampire-dead."

I nodded. So far, so good. If I couldn't be with Bella, what point was there to exist anyway?

"Now, I'm not going to wear you with reminders that you will, in fact, be human if all goes well, and you will not have all the virtues you have today. That is, you'll be vulnerable, and you won't be able to hear people's thoughts… I'm not going to do that," she said, despite the middle part of her sentence where she did it. "Because I know how much you want this."

"Yes," I said.

"So that leaves the most important warning I have to give you," she said, sighing heavily. "After you do this, there's absolutely no going back. Once you're human again, you won't be able to turn back into vampire. If you get bitten, you die. That's the deal."

I considered that for the slightest moment – that was all it took for me to realize how much this was worth it. Growing old with Bella, away from supernatural danger, somewhere quiet.

I rolled up the top of my shirt's sleeve. "Let's do it."

She nodded, and gave me one last meaningful look. "Just in case you die on me… it was really nice knowing you, Edward."

I smiled. "You too, Charlotte."

If the lovely miss Bella's mistaken again, I might be forced to suspect that something is wrong here, I heard abruptly. I hadn't heard something like it for over two weeks, so it was hard to tell, but that was definitely someone's thoughts. And they were about Bella. What were the chances of a coincidence? I needed to keep hearing.

"No, wait –" I tried to warn Charlotte. But she had already forcefully stuck the needle in my arm, thoroughly hurting me this time, and pushed the fluid in.

She looked at me with alarm in her eyes, as I began to get dizzy. Everything was suddenly a blur; it was like in the movies, where the hero takes off his glasses and can't see as well. Like when Spiderman lost his powers. The male voice I'd heard before was only a whisper now, rapidly echoing in my head until it was no more.

I felt myself collapse, but something held me up. I realized it was Charlotte, steadying me back onto the stool. I felt weakened. I felt as if all my senses were getting significantly less sharp. I felt sick.

And then a heartbeat. A pounding heartbeat, signaling me that I was no longer dead; I was alive again. A deep breath entered my throat like an old instinct that had just resurfaced, making me cough a few times. I closed my eyes, unable to take the ongoing dizziness.

Finally, just as I was about to be sick, I felt everything balancing. I felt… human.

I opened my eyes, and saw Charlotte. She looked a bit different, and the image my eyes saw wasn't as good as before, but it was still her.

"How do you feel?" she asked, and I had to strain my ears a bit to hear as clearly as before.

"Horrible," I summed it up, trying to get used to breathing regularly again.

"Edward, why did you tell me to stop?" she asked, a frightened look on her face.

"Oh no," I said, and came to the kitchen window. No one was outside. "I heard someone's thoughts. He was coming here, and he was thinking about Bella. Shit," I said.

"He was coming here, you say? Are you sure?" she asked, the alarm clear in her voice, which was getting easier to hear.

"Yeah," I replied.

"This area is suppose to be secluded, nobody should know we're here," she said, and ran to one of the kitchen drawers, opening it and fetching something that looked like a first aid kit. She unzipped it, revealing about 20 darts and a small dart-gun. She loaded the gun, put it in her pants along with a few more darts, and zipped the kit back. "Let's go," she said, pulling my hand and leading me after her.

"What's going on?" I asked, assuming it had something to do with this uncalled guest. What did it mean, though? Did he know Bella? Was he looking for me? Too many questions spun in my head, and my mind was no longer capable of containing it all, and thinking about what to do at the same time.

"We have to get out of here," she said, and ran outside. I ran out after her, feeling strangely slow, but not tired.

I was also very, very cold. I was only wearing a long sleeved t-shirt, no coat and no layers. I'd forgotten humans needed to keep warm.

We ran past her picket fence, reached the road where we came from, and then – then we saw them.

I'd thought I was adapting to this new condition, to being human again, but apparently I wasn't; I wasn't, because I was seeing things now. Or wasn't I?

There was a man coming out of the woods, walking slowly with a huge smirk upon his face. On second thought – that wasn't a man. But that wasn't the part I thought I was hallucinating, no.

Alongside that man? It was Bella.

My Bella. Isabella Marie Swan.

I thought I was probably imagining it; but on the other hand, I could never imagine Bella to be this beautiful. She looked glowing, her dark hair flown in her face by the intense wind, her slim figure almost floating in our direction, lovely yet hesitant.

Another point against imagining – I wouldn't picture Bella this worried if she really were just a fictive creation of my mind.

Which meant…

It was Bella.

My heartbeat picked up a few thousand notches, racing like a hungry cheetah. Bella was slowly approaching me, along with a vampire. And she seemed so different. Not the expression on her face, or the cute little worry creases on her forehead – just her in general. I couldn't quite point it out – she…

Her eyes, I suddenly noticed, and my newly beating heart nearly stopped altogether. Her eyes are red. That's when I noticed the almost transparent complexion of her skin, the silkier nature of her hair, and the smoothness of her walk; Bella would never walk this elegantly. She walked like… Bella. She'd try her best just not to trip and fall. She wouldn't walk like this, unless she was…

Oh god.

If I thought I'd had questions before, it was nothing compared to what was going on in my head at that moment. I wished so much to be able to read minds.

Has someone turned Bella? Why did she do it? Was it simply because I wouldn't? She had someone else change her? This complete stranger? Who the fuck is that? Are they… together? Fuck me if they're fucking together. What are they both doing here together anyway? Was she looking for me? Why is she looking this worried? God, she looks beautiful-

Before I knew it, they were both standing a short distance from us. Bella kept looking between me and that fellow she was with.

"Edward Cullen," he stated, smiling sinisterly. It reminded me of the way Aro smiled. A hypocritical smile – like a lion smiled to a sheep.

I could barely take my eyes off Bella. She mouthed my name, as if she were unable to actually say it. Like she was in too much of a shock. Well, if I was in shock looking at her as a vampire, she would be in 10 times more of a shock to see me like this… human. Green eyes and everything.

And then it dawned on me.

I was human. Bella was a vampire. I'd turned human to be with her, and she was a vampire now. Maybe she did it for me, maybe not. But once again, there was something separating us. She wasn't human anymore. And I couldn't be changed back.

"Y-you're human," Bella stuttered.

"You're not," I said back, but it turned out to be nothing but a whisper.

No, no, no no no.

"Okay, enough with the chit-chat," the man said. "Time to kill the ex-boyfriend. Bella?" he said, and turned to her.

Before I could even register what he had just said, they both froze in their places. I looked at Charlotte, only to find her in firing position, her dart-gun in her hand. She shot a paralyzing dart at Bella. At my Bella.

"What the hell are you doing?" I asked outrageously.

"I don't know if you've noticed this, Edward, but it seems these two are here to kill you," she said as she ran to the fence, pressed something behind it, and ran back to the road, in front of the two frozen vampires.

"No… no! Bella's not here to kill me," I said. It couldn't be. Bella loved me. Or at least, used to love me. And she couldn't hurt a fly. And I mean that in the most literal way possible.

"Fine. Let's go," she said and tried to pull me away.

"No," I repeated. "Look, I don't know what's going on here, so until I do – I'm not leaving Bella alone with this creep," my protective side kicked in.

"You're human, Edward! Vulnerable, remember? She's a vampire, she can handle him better than you can, and she won't be harmed by the explosion."

"What explosion?" I asked, looking at the frozen figure of Bella, like a frightened little china doll.

"I pressed self-destruct. Now move it, come on!" She said, pulling at my arm.

"No," I said once more and shook my head, getting closer to Bella, trying to figure out how to take her with us before the house explodes.

"You can't move her, Edward, you'll harm her!" Charlotte cried out, pulling me harder.

Harm her? I didn't want to risk that.

I managed to sneak one stroke of Bella's hair and cheek before Charlotte managed to pull me away and lead me to the car, as if I was a rag doll. Just the opposite of Bella, the china doll. A rag doll too shocked to be able to do anything but obey.

Apparently, I was sitting in a car now. I could see fire in the side-view mirror, but I couldn't shake off what had just happened.

"We'll come back for her, Edward, with backup" I heard Charlotte say. She was driving the car, and it felt like we were going very fast. "You won't do her any good if you die trying to be a hero. Think of how she'll feel then," she added.

I knew that was supposed to make sense, but nothing did.

Bella was a vampire, and I had left her behind.