Reborn : Chapter 10
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B E L L A
I had been comfortably numb when the pain began.
I had been floating again – floating, separated once again from the rest of the world, separated from life itself. It was dark again . . . it seemed I was always lost in the darkness, these days. Only this time I wasn't so lost . . . there was a light there, bright and shining and warm. It wasn't a terrible distance away. I could reach it if I tried to . . .
And then, from far away, it was as if an unseen match had been lit. The embers cascaded across my hand, quickly traveling up my arms, circulating throughout my entire body; the numbness was gone, replaced by the prick of a thousand knives, stabbing me relentlessly. The fire continued, raging, burning . . .
There was fire in my throat now – a different kind of fire, a dry, scratchy sort of one. And noise. Loud and sharp, piercing my ears.
Oh. I was screaming.
My memories came flooding back to me, a rush of sound and color. I was suddenly painfully reminded of a strikingly similar event – James, the pain raking my body . . . the bite on my hand . . .
Wait. I was confused. Was I back in the mirror room?
I tried to settle my thoughts, to make some sense of what was going on, but it was near impossible. The pain . . . it felt as if my skin were red-hot, blazing.
No. This was something different. James was then, and this – though I did not know what this was – was now. A different time, a different place . . .
A distant corner of my mind was happy; it somehow, sanely, realized what this pain meant. It realized what I was becoming.
But a larger part of my mind – as foggy as that part was – understood that it was not necessarily a good thing.
Something must have gone horribly wrong . . . though I did not know what. I struggled against the pain, struggled to think, to understand . . . but it was as if the burning had reached my mind, blurring my thoughts, melting away any consciousness I had . . .
The pain seemed to last an eternity, and I ached for it to stop, for the numbness to return. The flames had completed the circuit, and I could feel them from everywhere from the line of my scalp to the tips of my toes. I felt my body heave and shudder, and then I was shaking uncontrollably, as if I were freezing to death rather than burning alive.
Somewhere in the pain, in the darkness, I felt a pair of cold hands grab mine. The fire in my palms subsided for a moment, replaced by a different sort of electricity.
The kind that reminded me of a feeling I had had, once. A sensation I had first experienced in one of my first days at Fork's High School, when a certain lab partner's hand had accidentally had touched mine . . .
The pain continued, but with the gentle hands holding mine, and the soothing sound of my name in my ear – spoken by a familiar, perfect, velvet voice – I knew that everything was going to be okay.
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E D W A R D
It was painful to watch her, those first few hours. She had been still at first; dazed, almost, as if the pain confused her.
But after a few moments, the screaming had began. To my oversensitive hearing, the sound was lethal . . . especially because it was her voice, her pain.
I saw her writhe and twitch in pain, beads of sweat breaking out on her too-pale forehead. I could smell the change in her scent as the venom began mixing with her blood . . . a scent which was most peculiar.
I felt the overwhelming guilt wash over me. I felt helpless, powerless . . . and of course, at extreme fault. It was hard to grasp the idea of what she was becoming . . . of what she was losing . . .
The scent of the blood that stained my carpet reminded me that my options had been minimal.
Bella, naturally, had thought that eternal damnation would suit her. That – rather than live out a full life and experience the wonders of being a human – she'd prefer to burn away her soul, to become a creature of endless thirst, endless desire . . .
My fault, again. If I had not been the deplorable beast that I was, she would not want to join me in this fate.
I could not sit still and watch her as she suffered; I could not do nothing. In sudden inspiration, I reached for her hands, enjoying the last of the subtle emanations of warmth. I struggled not to think about how much I would miss this. I recalled the day in the meadow, our first true time alone together. I had pressed her hand to my face; the sensation had almost made me feel human. I remembered the wonderment I had felt; my skin, usually icy and cold, had been almost warm.
I sighed at the memory. I ached with nostalgia; Bella would never be that way again. She would never blush, nor would her dark eyes fill with tears whenever she grew angry.
I shuddered for a moment. Her eyes wouldn't be the thoughtful, chocolate-brown that they were now. The next time she opened her eyes, they would be crimson. I had forgotten . . .
I looked down suddenly; Bella had responded to my touch, her own fingers intertwining gratefully with my own. I felt solace that I could at least provide her with some sort of comfort. Her screams subsided, but a sort of strangled sound was audible in her throat. "Bella," I murmured, hoping to soothe her. "Hang in there, love."
She did not respond verbally, of course, but her fingers tightened around mine, a tight and strangled sigh escaping her lips.
I sighed. The worst was not over yet, I knew. While the venom had already made a tight course throughout her body, the crucial changes had not yet begun. I watched uncomfortably as her face contorted in pain, her hands trembling in my grip.
It would be a long three days, I knew. But I swore to myself to stay by her side, every second, every minute. I would not leave her alone.
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A L I C E
I watched my visions carefully, waiting for the moment when Bella would awaken, reborn.
Edward was amazing. I had never seen such determination, such willpower. I knew how thirsty he was – and how much that thirst was intensified when he was so near Bella, especially when she was bleeding.
I remembered that sad night, nearly five months ago, at Bella's birthday party. I remembered how the relatively short gash on her arm had been enough to clear the room, enough for Edward to struggle with an internal pain that he refused to let anyone see.
I knew better, of course. Edward and I had grown close in the many, many years we had lived together. I could recognize the strain in his features when he was trying to maintain self control – and was losing the battle.
He was incredibly thirsty. He hadn't fed in an awfully long time; perhaps not for a month, judging by the deep obsidian of his eyes. We never let our thirst get to such a point – we fed whenever our eyes lost their unusual golden hue – and Edward was risking a lot by letting it get to this point.
I did not know how he had managed to bite Bella, to simply inject his venom without draining her of her blood. It must have taken a self control that I knew I couldn't come close to mustering. The taste of Bella's blood – so much more tempting to Edward than the rest of us – would have had any other vampire's remaining essence of human nature ebbed out, the monstrous nature within overpowering any conscious.
But not Edward.
Suddenly, in my mind's eye I saw a pair of very familiar eyes opening. The vision I had been waiting for.
I rushed to Edward's room, seating myself onto his black leather couch. His eyes briefly met mine, but quickly dropped down to Bella's face, watching her carefully, intensely.
"It's time," I murmured, though I already knew he had caught the vision in my mind. I sat still for a moment, watching them, and then with a jolt of inspiration, I quickly stood up and left the room.
They would be needing their privacy.
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E D W A R D
I studied Bella carefully as she began to rouse, my hand resting gently on her cheek. I felt an odd feeling in the pit of my stomach as her lips parted, her eyelids slowly beginning to lift.
"Bella," I murmured, careful to keep the unease out of my voice. "Can you hear me, love?"
"Edward," she whispered. Her voice was low, but not low enough for me to hear the own fear that crept into her voice. I pressed my lips to her forehead, still holding her close. I did not want her to be afraid; I did not want her to experience any sort of discomfort, especially at my expense.
Slowly her eyes opened, and I pulled back, very slightly. I stared at her, wordlessly for a few moments.
I had expected to see crimson irises – and had feared it. The thought of the warm chocolate color being turned into something so monstrous had appalled me.
But Bella's eyes were not crimson. They were not scarlet, or red, or even anything close to that.
Instead, they were black. The same color that – when they were thirsty – the rest of my unusual family shared.
"Edward," she said again, her voice stronger this time. I could not help but notice that it sounded a little richer – slightly smoother, while also slightly more pleasant; although, Bella's voice had always been a sound of music for me. "What happened?"
I stared into her obsidian eyes, confused and amazed all at the same time.
"It's a long story, love."
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Read and Review. As always, a big thanks to everyone who has reviewed.
Yes, we will get to see Bella the amazing vampire in the next chapter. And if things go well, it will be up by to mid-week.
If things go poorly, then you'll have to wait until the weekend.
There may be a lot of spelling/grammar mistakes in this one. I didn't read it over like I usually do. Just letting you know.
-Lx3