Chapter 9: Awake.

I can hardly remember the last time I feel like I do now.

You're an angel disguised.

Will you stay awake for me?

I don't want to miss anything.

I don't want to miss anything.

I will share the air I breathe.

I'll give you my heart on a string.

I just don't want to miss anything.

I'm trying real hard not to shake.

I'm biting my tongue.

But I'm feeling alive and with every breath I take,

I feel like I've won.

And if it's a hero you want,

I can save you. Just stay here.

Your whispers are priceless.

Your breath, it is dear. So please stay near.

Say my name. I just want to hear you.
Say my name. So I know it's true.
You're changing me. You're changing me.
You showed me how to live.

-.- -.- -.- -.- -.- -.-

This is in Edward's POV.

"Are they dangerous?" Carlisle was asking Alice, maybe we should leave to avoid them if they're going to pose a threat.

"No, the two vampire women are coming to talk to yourself and Esme. The human girl will want to talk to us all." Alice was telling everyone, 10 minutes ago she had had a vision of two vampire women and a human girl coming to visit us in our New Hampshire home, we weren't sure of what they were coming here to talk to us about yet but I guessed we'd find out when they decided how they would word it or when they arrive.

The two vampire's looked remarkably like Esme, they both had the same red tinge in their hair and the same shaped faces, I wasn't certain on why they were coming, but both Alice and I had the similar hunches. The human girl was something completely different, she was beautiful, even in Alice's vision and seeing her through her eyes, she looked beautiful to me. Her brown hair surrounded her heart shape faced and only accentuated her features, she was breath taking.

"What are their names?" I spoke up.

"I'm not too sure yet, they haven't decided on how they should introduce themselves, I think one of them is named Bella... another one is Emily, I'm not sure about the third one and I don't know whom is who." Everyone stayed quiet for a few minutes, as were their thoughts. It put us all on edge when there were holes in Alice's visions.

"When will they be here?" Emmett finally asked, that seemed to snap everyone back into motion.

"Tomorrow at 12 o'clock in the afternoon."

The 3 women arrived at exactly 12:03 in the afternoon – just like Alice had predicted, so when they knocked on the door, Carlisle answered. When he'd opened it, I heard someone exhale, the human beauty, I saw her face in Carlisle's mind. She looked relieved to see him.

"Hello" he greeted politely, though I could hear some reservation in both his thoughts and words.

"Good afternoon, Carlisle, I presume?" I saw the woman that spoke through Carlisle's eyes, I couldn't see them for myself yet. The vampire had light brown hair with that familiar reddish tint in it.

"Yes, I am Carlisle, I'm sorry, I don't know your name... well, any of your name's actually." He apologised, the human girl had a strange look apon her face, an emotion that was a mixture of loss and anger. Yet another thing that mystified me about her, who was this girl?

I hope Esme recognises us, an unfamiliar voice sounded in my mind, it was obviously the other woman's voice, I could tell because it didn't match the one who had spoken and couldn't be a human's voice because of the tone of it, bells and chimes.

"Of course, I am Emily Platt, this is my sister Alexandra, and our friend Bella Swan." The woman spoke, gesturing to the vampire next to her and then to the human girl. Bella Swan, Bella...Beautiful, it suited her perfectly. I wonder if Bella is short for Isabella.

...Never had these feelings come from him, interesting. I short a look at Jasper as I tuned into his thoughts.

I watched anxiously, wanting to see Bella Swan for myself, why was I so intrigued with this human? Surely she was no different to any other I've come across. I was wrong – horribly wrong, there was nothing ordinary about this woman, she had long thick Mahogany hair and a petite frame, her lips were full although the top one was slightly larger than the bottom, it didn't impair her beauty, only enhanced it. Her eyes were a different story, they were chocolate brown and seemed to last forever, we hadn't locked eyes yet, but they were still just as memorizing – they showed just as much emotion as her mind would have if she had been thinking at that moment.

"How did they know we were here?" The strawberry blonde vampire, Alexandra whispered to her sister.

It was Bella that answered though, rather casually – when the answer should have made her nervous, "Alice saw us coming" Everyone in the room froze, including Bella.

How does she know that? My family thought in syncrinisation.

"Perhaps, Bella should go first." Alice was the one whom recovered first, which was shocking considering it was about her – but already, her mind was racing. What if she knows more about us? What if she knows more about me? I saw Bella's eyes grow twice their size as she took in Alice, I tried to hear what she thought about her, but couldn't. Her mind was blank, I finally came to the conclusion – it was rare for a human, but did happen on occasion.

"Okay" Bella's beautiful voice said, I was still surprised of the reactions she was bringing out in me, in my whole 109 years I've never felt drawn to anyone, not until today.

As we walked into the lounge room, I saw her looking wildly around the room, seeming like she was deep in thought, but once again I couldn't hear anything. I let out a breath of sigh and concentrated harder, watching her as she sat down on the couch next to the Platt sisters. Interesting, they had the same human last name as Esme. This confirmed it for me, that these had been Esme's biological sisters, I could hear the two of them think over how they could approach the topic of their human lives, I was only momentarily distracted until I heard Bella Swan speak again – gaining my full attention.

A smile broke out across her face when we finally made eye contact, I watched her take me in like she had with Alice, a different emotion on her face – it was a mixture of amazement and love... love?, No, I told myself.I smiled back curiously at her, not being able to help myself, her grin was contageious. She blushed in response, making her skin glow, I could feel the heat radiating from her cheeks, it surrounded me and made my throat burn – but was nothing I couldn't handle, I could never hurt someone like her.

"Well, a month ago, maybe two, I woke up from a Coma – I had fallen down an escalator at Phoenix Airport, and knocked myself out. Um... I was in a Coma for a year, but during that time, I sort of had a dream, except it wasn't a dream at all, everything about it was real. Except for... except..." I listened to Bella's words, watching her closely, her eyes drifted to me and I heard her breath catch. "Anyway, in my Coma, I lived with you" she finally continued.

Emmett was the one to voice everyone's question, "What do you mean, you lived with us? We've never met." Bella frowned at what he'd said, disappointed by it – I read in the back of Jasper's mind. A blush creeped up on her face and she looked as if she was anticipating something, still I wouldn't know – how could she still not be thinking of anything?

I gave a quiet sigh of frustration, no matter how hard I tried, I still couldn't hear Bella's thoughts. What's wrong? Alice and Carlisle thought in sync.

I was brought out of my own thoughts by Bella's voice saying my name, it was amazing, until I heard the words following it. "... Edward wanted to kill me"

"What?" I demanded abruptly, Bella's eyes flashed to me as she reassured me that I hadn't hurt her, smiling at me softly – how could she be so comfortable with all of this?

"Why would I want to kill you?" I asked, ignoring her attempt to assure me, I had been able to obtain from human blood for majority of my life, why would this be any different?

"Because my blood sung to you, I'm your singer... Aren't I tempting you now?" How does she know what a singer is? Un cantante as Carlisle had once described them – some of our family had even come across their own, but not me. It was preposterous that this human girl could know so much of our world, and from a dream, I knew that the Platt sisters hadn't told her anything, I could read it in their minds, they were as amazed as we were.

With all this aside, I answered her, "No... I mean, not any more than other humans." That was kind of a lie, her blood was more potent, a pure fragrance, but it wasn't sweet to the point of being my cantante, for this I was glad.

I saw Bella's gaze drop to the floor, a crease forming on her forehead, was she disappointed? I thought in shock, aggrevation becoming apparent inside me, she was disappointed that I didn't want to kill her?

"I guess that's for the best" She mumbled, I stared at her with horror on my face, failing to mask it, so I looked away.

Why are they here... Esme's thoughts broke through into my mind, she was trying hard to focus on Bella's story but was having difficulty concentrating, her mind and eyes always straying to her sisters – although they were never close, and in many ways were friends rather than sisters, in Esme's words. She was touched that they'd travelled this world looking for her, but she didn't know them well – them being only toddlers when she was changed.

This is ridiculous, Rosalie's said to herself in her mind, she got up quickly and stalked out of the room, growling that Bella had to be making all of this up. I heard her thoughts in her mind that she was going to retrieve her nail file.

I listened intently to all the details that Bella gave my family about our pasts – everything completely correct, complying with Rosalie's request to prove herself. Eventually, she got to my story, telling me everything that I had lived through without missing anything out, her eyes never left mine throughout the whole explanation. I could feel warmth spreading out from her to me as if her body heat was warming my stone frame.

I stiffened when she came to the story about my rebellious years, afraid of how she'd react to them – would she be disgusted? But that vanished when she smiled, instantly relaxing me, I gave her a grin in return but let it quickly disappear – why does she bring this out in me? Because she's interesting, mysterious and beautiful, I told myself.

"That is amazing, Bella. But how could you know this about us?" Carlisle asked, this thoughts racing with theories.

Bella shrugged and quickly explained, "We were very close, well I thought we were. And well, all of you told me your stories. I think you were trying to scare me off from wanting to become a vampire myself."

"You wanted to become a vampire, why?" I wanted to yell and forbid her to even think of such things, but it was Rosalie who spoke, recovering faster than anyone else in the room.

Bella looked around at us, whispering "Because you guys we're my life." When her eyes landed on Jasper, she quickly glanced between us before her heart started to race, and I could see beads of sweat forming on her neck and forehead. I registered in Jasper's mind as he read her emotions as nerves and hurt, before he sent her waves of calmness to soothe her, how I wished I could be the one to do that – I saw her shoot him a grateful smile.

"Why can't I read your thoughts?" I finally exclaimed when I couldn't put it off any longer, it made me so annoyed that the only mind I wanted access to, was blocked from me.

"I'm a Mental Shield, I can block mental attacks, it's a sort of force field that I can push around people." Bella explained in a casual tone, a Mental Shield? I'd never heard of that – it was similar to one of the guards in the Volturi, something that was unique and just made Bella even more magnificent.

"Wow" I said to her, amazed at this creature in front of me. "Could you take it down? It's very frustrating."

I stared, horrified at Bella when she explained that she'd only just been learning how to control it when she was a vampire, a vampire! I managed to rearrange my features to look nonchalant about it by the time she glanced at me, Rosalie however wasn't so quick.

"You were a vampire and turned back human?" She asked, her mind racing with the possiblity that she could have a child and grow old.

Unfortunately though, she'd misunderstood and Bella explained that she hadn't actually ever been a vampire – just dreamt it. Rose's thoughts were blank with disappointment, pictures of babies with mixed features from both her and Emmett.

"Sorry" Bella Swan whispered. After that, nobody said anything for a few minutes – no one knowing what to say.

It took an hour and 3 minutes of almost full silence with the exception of a couple of questions before Esme's sisters asked to speak to Esme and Carlisle alone. I already knew what they were going to ask.

I sat in my room for almost 2 hours before I couldn't stand it any longer and went downstairs to play my piano, I had listened to Esme's discussion with her sisters – they'd asked her to leave with them, claiming that they'd searched for decades looking for her. She'd asked them why they wanted her to be with them when they barely knew each other and when Emily had explained that they were family and she wanted them all to be together to have a fresh start after their parents had passed, Esme politely refused their offer.

She'd made it clear that she already had a family that she adored and couldn't bare the thought of leaving us, she also told them that they were welcome to visit any time they wanted.

Emily and Alexandra had left soon after – in a rush to be away from us, who they thought to had stolen their sister, thankfully Bella decided to stay, something I knew I shouldn't have been so relieved about, but was.

So now, here I was playing my piano, not a composition just anything that felt right at that moment, eventually I drifted into one of my own makings that was Esme's favourite. I could hear Bella and Alice chatting upstairs, I listened in on their conversation.

"...We don't have any food here, I mean I saw you visiting, but in my vision you left with Esme's sisters. We're leaving next week, you see." Alice was saying, her thoughts unusually focused on their current topic, she was trying to hide something.

Alice and Bella desended the stairs not long after she'd offered to drive Bella in to town to get something for her to eat. I heard Bella's breath hitch only a few metres behind me as I continued playing Esme's favourite. I heard her steady heart behind me before she was led away by Alice, her thoughts started translating the English Dictionary into French. Why does she keep blocking me? I thought ferciously to myself, it was really starting to get on my nerves, this was probably the tenth time she'd had blocked me today.

I followed Alice and Bella into the garage – but only through my sister's eyes, watching Bella the whole time, I felt kind of giddy when she stopped at my Volvo and smiled, reaching to stroke it a few times – never actually touching it though.

I anxiously awaited their return, feeling oddly nervous without Bella in my sights, how is it that I'd only known her for a day and I was already feeling attached to her? This can't happen. I let myself breathe again when I heard the familiar purr of Alice's Porshe. Bella was approaching, Bella would be here again, I'd be able to smell her scent, hear her heart beat. I tried to make myself look occupied while Alice and Bella returned to the house – her holding some revolting human food.

I wanted to get her alone, I wanted to be able to talk to her and get to know her for myself but I knew getting close with a human was a dangerous and selfish thing to do – no matter how mysterious and amazing that human may be. I'd just have to wait out the rest of her visit, we'd be leaving soon enough and I'd never see Bella Swan again.

The thought of never seeing her again made me sad, maybe if I just give her the option of being in my life, that seemed fair... no I couldn't do that, Bella seemed to attract danger – as far as she'd told us. I sighed, not remembering when I'd ever been this perplexed before, this human brought out such incredible feelings in me, something I'd learned to accept would never happen to me.

[AN: I hope this was what you guys thought Edward would react to Bella's story. If not, sorry! I'll try to update as soon as possible but I've got a few things happening at the moment. REVIEW :) x]