Poco a Poco Chapter 10
-Lianna-
Despite the fact that I was probably dead, I liked this dark, quiet void. It was cool and calming, yet warm and comforting at the same time, a nice pocket of peace that I basked in, oblivious to light, sound and feeling. If time was passing, I was not aware.
"Are you sure that she's changing? She hasn't made a sound." Edward's voice suddenly jerked me out of the darkness. I could suddenly feel and hear at his call. According to Edward, vampire transformations were extremely painful, but I felt nothing, in fact, despite the pain in my stomach, foot and shoulder, I felt alright. My wrist hurt too, but it wasn't the harsh burning he had described.
"She has more than enough venom in her blood stream. I don't know why she wouldn't be." Carlisle sounded tired, even though he couldn't get more rest if he wanted to. After a few minutes of silence, there was a knock on the door, and I heard Alice speak quietly, but then two pairs of feet came in.
"Edward, I have great news," Alice sounded so happy, that I wondered what it could be about. "Now, let me finish, don't get too upset,"
"What is it, Alice?" Edward interrupted, and I couldn't help sigh inwardly at his impatience.
"Lianna built up immunity to the venom when Maria licked her hand 7 years ago. Carlisle would have found this out tomorrow, but I decided to speed things up." Alice said sweetly into the dead silence.
"Immunity? To venom? That's impossible." Edward snapped.
"According to the future Carlisle, the venom that got into her blood stream was treated like an antigen, her body's immune system started to try to fight it off. It actually made new proteins to use specific parts of the venom to its advantage." I heard someone sit down. Carlisle started muttering to himself, to see if that could possibly work. "What advantages?" Edward asked slowly.
"She'll have venom glands, and in her bloodstream to keep making that weird protein. Apparently she has a mutation on one of her genes that helps with making proteins, so she'll start producing her own, against evolution, basically. The venom then, instead of changing her the nice and painful way, has been making gradual changes she probably wouldn't have noticed that much. Paler and colder skin, faster reflexes, better at everything she tried, smarter…
"That's why she could punch you in the face." Carlisle almost laughed. "That's why she, according to you, played violin almost as well as you." He sounded awed.
"So she's not in a transformation right now?" Edward sounded relieved, yet guarded. I heard quiet vampire footsteps that I hadn't been able to hear before come over, and Edward sat, then I felt a hand on mine, and it wasn't cold. Could Alice possibly be right?
"Her hand isn't warm." Edward sounded shocked.
"She'll slowly keep changing, thanks to the huge amount of venom you and Maria gave. But you're in luck Edward, she won't die like a mortal would. The venom will be fuel for her heart to keep beating." I could imagine Alice smiling hugely. "Oh, and she'll wake up in exactly 13, no, 10 seconds." She said as I forced my eyes to flutter, than open. Jasper, Carlisle, Alice and Edward were watching me curiously.
"It's good to see you awake." Carlisle said, and after a moment, I realized I was in the Cullen house in Toronto, I recognized the sterile white walls with bookcases everywhere.
I went to sign, and then gasped when I remembered that I had talked, actually spoke the last time I was conscious. "Pain?" Carlisle asked mildly as he helped me sit up, then realized what I was referring to without a word from me, and a grin came over his face.
Maria…did you kill her? I signed one handed; my one arm was up in a sling. The smile fell off of Carlisle's face. "I did it personally." Jasper said reassuringly, but I heard the bitter edge to his voice as he gazed at me, looking deep in thought. After a quick moment of meeting his gaze I looked at Edward as he spoke.
"You're perfectly safe now, Lianna. No one will ever be able to hurt you again." Edward said this like an oath, and I looked down into my lap, starting to smile. Deep down, I knew that my family had been avenged. I would still miss them, and if Alice was right, I would never, ever forget them. "How are you feeling?" Edward pressed on when I didn't say anything.
"I'm just a little sore." I spoke quietly, hesitantly, but the smiles that came onto everyone's smiles was my reward. My voice still was not recognizable to me; I hadn't heard it in so long. It reflected the musical side of me exactly, it was flowing and clear.
"We owe you, we are in your debt, Lianna. You kept this whole family safe from harm." Carlisle said firmly after a moment. "I'd like to thank you, on behalf of the whole family." I barely resisted the urge to flush, but looked down as we went into an awkward silence. "That…really isn't necessary, Carlisle," I started, but Jasper spoke. "You were loyal to us, to me, when you knew that if you told, the family would still be able to fight them off." I looked up in surprise. Jasper had kept his distance before, probably because Edward would tear him to shreds if he so much as snarled at me.
"I…I hoped that if I lived, you would someday do the same for me." I said almost inaudibly with my new vampire-y voice powers, but they heard me just the same. "Speaking of…how did I survive?" I added quickly, to avoid any other comments. Edward shot Carlisle a look.
"We aren't…well, I'm not 100% sure, but according to Alice, I will be in a few days. Somehow, when you were first exposed to the venom, your body treated it like a bacteria or a virus, and tried to make antibodies to stop it when it entered your blood stream. Your body ended up making proteins to almost dissect the venom and use certain parts of its qualities and composition to your advantage, while destroying the rest." Carlisle laughed at my confused expression. "As far as we know, your body has started using venom instead of blood in your veins, and has somehow produced glands to produce the venom. We also are aware that it made you stronger, colder, and well, more like all the good qualities of being a vampire. We aren't sure if you'll want blood or human food, however." Carlisle ended carefully. My mind exploded for a moment as I tried to register that all of this had actually happened. It sounded like something straight out of a science fiction movie.
"It obviously didn't take the healing accept." I joked after a minute, and pointed to the sling. Carlisle shook his head almost sadly. "Your body has taken that particular trait, you healed from surgery within minutes, but the minor injuries that did not require surgery, such as your shoulder and foot, are healing at a normal, human pace."
"So I almost have to get hurt more in the same place for my body to realize that it needs to be healed?" I asked, peeking lightly under the sling to see my shoulder covered in bandages. "That's the current stand on it, yes." Carlisle took me in for a moment. "Now, are you thirsty or hungry, or both?" He asked, and I frowned. "I'm not exactly sure yet." I said quietly. Did I want to know the answer? "Alright, take your time." Carlisle smiled and left. Alice skipped over to the other side of my bed, looking excited.
"I'm so happy to have another sister!" She said, and I suddenly remembered Helen, and the smile I had given her slipped right off my face. Edward, Alice and Jasper looked at me curiously as I took a deep breath.
"I take it I won't be going back to Helen?" I asked, and everyone seemed to pause, unsure of what to say to me. "She already thinks I'm dead, doesn't she?" I asked, the true meaning of their silence dawning on me.
"Well…yes. We had to burn the barn to burn Maria and her followers…so we just planted some of your clothing, hair and blood at the scene. I'm sorry, Lianna, but even if you had recovered from the attack, we still wouldn't be able to explain the bite marks, the obvious long absence…" Edward stopped talking looking frustrated.
"But, I can stay here, right? I mean, I don't want to force myself on you all, but I kind of have no place else to go otherwise-" Alice's laughter drowned me out, and she took my free hand and squeezed it, bouncing up and down.
"Of course you can stay here, that was the whole point! I mean, everyone has already accepted you as part of the family, Esme went wild and made you a room, Edward is totally devoted to you, so you're set there-"
"Alice!" Edward said, and I knew that if he could flush, he would be right now. Alice smiled wickedly at my expression.
"Oh grow up, Edward. You've been a bachelor for how long?" Alice smirked as Edward glared at her, avoiding my gaze at all costs. Alice squeezed my hand again, totally ignoring Edward as he shifted uncomfortably as I quickly looked over at him, met his gaze, then looked away.
"This is going to be so great, I should know!" Alice almost squealed, and kissed my forehead and danced out, humming a tune that sounded horribly like 'Here Comes the Bride'. Jasper smiled sheepishly, almost an apology for Alice, and quietly exited the room, leaving me alone with Edward, who was supposedly 'totally devoted' to me.