Reborn : C11

Reborn : C11

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B E L L A


Waking up was a unique sensation, all in its own.

It felt sort of cleansing; it was as if I had awoken from a very deep sleep, ready to start my day fresh and revitalized.

Only this wasn't a day that I was simply beginning anew . . . this was forever.

I allowed my eyes to stay closed for a few moments, not yet ready to see what would be waiting for me when I would open them. I felt so odd, so changed. My chest felt strangely empty, and yet strangely full . . . My pulse, which I had been normally so aware of, had gone completely, making me feel hollow . . .

There was a new feeling, too, sort of making-do with the hollowness . . . a surging power, a building-up of strength, swirling tightly within my veins.

I opened my eyes slowly, my newly improved eyesight taking in everything around me. Taking in, especially, the form that was beside me . . .

I gazed up into Edward's eyes, very aware of his presence; he was positioned very close to me, his face only an inch from mine. I absorbed every detail, every feature . . .

"Bella," he whispered, his hand stroking the line of my jaw. I was immediately surprised, but not displeased; his skin was no longer hard and icy, but rather soft while still firm, and pleasantly neutral in temperature. It was the way that someone's hand should feel.

"How are you feeling?" His tone was polite, but deeply weighted with an array of emotions; I could only guess what they were.

"Okay, I guess. Different." An understatement, naturally. He studied me, searching my face, searching for some deeper meaning. "Confused, though."

A small smile formed at his lips, but it did not reach his eyes. "Naturally." He sighed, his breath flowering onto my face . . . I closed my eyes as my intensified senses breathed it in. Surely it was impossible for someone to smell so amazing, so full . . .

This reminded me. I opened my eyes again, hesitating. Was there any safe way to ask this? I struggled to find the right words – ones that wouldn't be awkward, or upsetting – and was briefly relieved of my stress when he chuckled.

"You must be thinking very hard about something," he noted, his voice less antagonized now. "Although, of course, I still cannot know what you are thinking . . ."

The questions that had been most foremost in my mind were set aside, replaced by a new round of curiosities. "My power . . ."

He chuckled again. "Well, you won't know what it is right away, of course." He spoke in a rush, but I was able to catch every word with near perfection. "If it was a power like my own, or like Alice's . . . you would have already known about it. I am assuming it is something more subtle, something different . . ."

He frowned then, his hands suddenly on either side of my jaw. His eyes were intense, hard. "I am so sorry, Bella . . ." His voice was heavily laced with formidable grief.

I blinked. "What for?"

He sighed, his eyes filling with unbearable sadness. "For damning you. For taking away your soul, your essence . . ." He rested his head on my chest, now, though he was no longer listening for my heartbeat. "For turning you into one of me." His voice was a solemn whisper.

I laughed now, though the sound was humorless. "You're kidding, right?"

He turned his head to look at me, his eyes wide with surprise. "Kidding? I've never been more serious, Bella . . . you don't have even the faintest idea – "

I cut him off. "Oh, because it isn't like I asked for this. It's not like I wanted to become a vampire . . . to spend eternity with you. No, I didn't want that at all."

He sat up now, his eyes hard again. "You didn't know what you wanted. You're young, stubborn . . . you might have changed your mind."

I was angry, now. "I never would have changed my mind, Edward. I was fully aware of what I wanted . . . of what it would cost."

Suddenly I was confused, a dizzy feeling pressing into my head. I tried to think back, to think of what had happened before the pain, before the change had begun . . .

"Edward," I said, my voice suddenly weak. "What happened? How did I get like this?" Obviously he hadn't changed me willingly, and something stuck out in the back of my mind . . . a great pain, darkness . . .

He studied my expression, his hands finding their way into mine. "You have no recollection?"

I shook my head, almost frantically afraid at the idea of that.

He sighed. "Your friend, the dog," He frowned as I winced, and then continued. "We were in our meadow, and he saw us there . . . he had already phased by then, of course – I had warned you that that was going to happen. I couldn't hear his thoughts . . . I'm guessing that that was because he was too far gone, too built up with rage to actually have any human thought by that point. He lunged at me, and you, foolish as you are, tried to stop him."

His eyes grew distant then, sad. "If you hadn't been trying to save me . . ."

I interrupted. "He hurt me, didn't he?" My voice was barely audible now, a dry whisper. It was impossible to believe, though I knew that Edward was telling the truth. The memory was faint, but it was there . . . it had all happened so quickly. The last conscious, human thought I remembered was the russet wolf, briefly blocking the sun, teeth bared . . .

Edward's lips were on my forehead then. "I know that he didn't mean to, Bella. He had meant to hurt me, not you. As much as I may loathe him, I know that he does care about you."

I shook my head, knowing that if I were able to, I would be crying – I could almost feel the phantom itching at my eyes, the hard lump in my throat. "No. He tried to kill you, Edward, and that's just as bad as trying to kill me personally."

Edward sighed. "Still so absurd, still so irrational." He smiled, though, despite the torment I was causing him. "I'll be polite and thank you, though. You're foolishly brave and noble, but I love you for it."

I smiled back, a new kind of happiness dawning within me. "You do realize that this is it, right? That we're finally safe, finally free . . ."

He couldn't resist grinning at that, his eyes glowing. "As long as you're happy, Bella, I'm happy. And of course, it is much easier, now . . ." His nose skimmed my collarbone, his lips finding their way to the base of my throat. I did not feel the familiar heat rise up beneath my skin, naturally, but a new sort of electricity was brewing, instead . . .

The question that I was afraid to ask finally tumbled from my lips. "Am I still appealing to you, then? In that way? Even though I don't smell the same, anymore?" I cringed slightly, embarrassed by the bluntness of my words. Nevertheless, he chuckled.

"You still smell wonderful, of course – just safer. I no longer have the urge to kill you," He laughed, the sound round and buoyant. "But I have told you before, Bella – I may not be human, but I am a man. In every sense, you are just as appealing as you were before . . . if not more so, because I no longer have to inhibit the feelings I have for you."

As if proving his case, his lips were suddenly on mine, passionate and firm. He had never been so free before, so unrestrained . . . I felt the new, unfamiliar buzzing rush through me as my fingers knotted in his hair, my lips parting slightly . . .

I half expected him to pull away, as we had so many times before.

I was pleasantly wrong.

His tongue glided along my lips, smooth and as perfect as glass. His hands were more urgent, now, riding up and down my back. I pressed myself harder against him, the buzzing more intense, little gasps escaping my lips . . .

I felt a surge of something like pain run through me as he pulled away, his eyes apologetic. "I'm sorry," he said, his voice more than a little breathless. "But Alice is on her way up here, and I thought you'd like to have a little more privacy than that."

I nodded, trying to regain a normal breathing rhythm.

Sure enough, Alice politely burst into the room a moment later, her eyes wild with excitement. "Hi, Bella!" Her soprano voice was full of cheer, matching the shockingly bright smile that played on her angelic face.

I smiled, pleased that my breathing had returned to normal. "Hi, Alice."

She bounded over, gracefully plopped down on the carpet beside me, and studied me carefully. "Nice beauty rest, you had there." She laughed, winking at Edward, her eyes twinkling. Then her tone become more somber, more serious. "We're all so glad you're okay," she said sincerely, reaching for my hand.

And then Edward froze beside me.

I quickly turned to look at him, afraid of the sudden rigidity that passed over his features. He narrowed his eyes at me, but more in confusion than in anger.

"Alice, let go of Bella's hand." His voice was unnaturally even, calm. She obeyed, a look of utmost bewilderment playing across her angelic features.

"Take it again," he commanded after a moment, his voice still unnaturally composed. I knew better, of course – something big was brewing underneath.

We all sat in silence while we watched him close his eyes, his lips pulled into a tight frown. Finally, he smiled, his eyes snapping open. "I think we've discovered what your power is, Bella."

-

"Ready?" Alice's voice was light and full of laughter as I stood in front of the bathroom mirror, my eyes tightly closed.

"No," I sighed. What if I hadn't changed? What if, next to Edward's god-like beauty, I still looked the same – pathetically average? Ugh.

"C'mon, Bella. You can't possibly be vain enough to worry about something so trivial." Her voice was mockingly disappointed, and I could almost imagine the way her thin black eyebrows would be knitted, her lips pushed into an exaggerated pout.

"Fine. Fine." I opened my eyes, bracing myself, before turning to look at my reflection.

My skin had not paled drastically, for it had already been quite pale to begin with. It seemed harder, though, somehow . . . firmer. My hair was still brown, of course, but somehow richer, glossier . . . it tumbled down my back in the way it only had when I had worked extra hard on it.

The softness that my body had seemed to always carry had hardened out, putting more emphasis on my slender figure; my shape was more well-defined, more pronounced. The same went for my face; stronger jaw-line, pronounced curving of the cheekbones . . .

It was almost startling not to see myself blush, for when I was human and had looked in the mirror, even to do the most trivial things – brushing my teeth, even – I had always gained a little color in my cheeks out of embarrassment.

But the most startling thing of all was my eyes. Naturally, they were framed with a set of long, dark eyelashes – if I was not mistaken, all of the Cullens had this feature – and were circled with the familiar purple bruises . . .

But the irises . . .

"Alice," I said, slowly. "Aren't my eyes . . . supposed to be . . . red?"

Alice giggled, her own golden eyes flashing with mischief. "That they are."

"Then why . . ." My voice trailed off as I studied my deep black irises . . . so similar to the way Edward's had looked only moments ago . . .

"Tell me, Bella. Are you thirsty?"

I froze. How could I have forgotten . . . ?

I had expected the thirst; waited for it, even. I had expected the challenge, and was ready to fight it . . . ready to prove that I would be okay.

But as I tried now to detect it, I felt it very hard to do so. It was there; I felt it, a deep, primal hunger that lurked within me, contributing to some of the emptiness I felt in my chest . . . but it was not the maddening, sickening feeling that I had expected . . .

Alice smirked. "You're special, Bella. Your eyes are black because your body seems to have a natural handle on the thirst . . . and to be more exact, a thirst that only will pertain to animals . . ."

I blinked in confusion. "What . . ."

She laughed, but then her expression grew serious. "Do you remember James's eyes when he had you in the mirror room?"

I felt a familiar shudder rake through me. "Yes," I whispered.

"Do you remember what color his eyes were?"

Of course – how could I forget? They had been a disturbing, deep burgundy . . . almost like the shade of dried, blackened blood. The thought disgusted me.

"That was because James was thirsting for human – mainly, you. But we Cullens, who feed only on animal, do not have that red tint to our eyes when we are thirsty. Therefore, we can only assume that your body – maybe even more so because of the strong aversion to blood you had as a human – has somehow naturally made you one of us – an animal blood drinker."

She frowned for a moment. "I'm not sure that this won't change once you come in contact with actual humans, though. We'll have to be careful. But I'm pretty sure you'll be okay."

I smiled, suddenly absurdly happy. "That's great, then! I won't have to be away from everyone, then – things can be normal!"

Alice smiled. "Probably so – as long as we test you out first."

Ugh. When put that way, it made me sound like I was some sort of experiment, or a test car.

But that didn't matter – not when everything was going to be perfect. I would even get to see Charlie again, soon.

"Now, missy, I think the others would like to have a word with you in the other room, concerning a few things . . . mainly, your new power. I know Edward's eager to try it out again."

The word felt uncomfortable, as did the idea . . . but I shrugged, smiling a little.

"Okay, Alice. Let's go."

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Read and Review-

All of you who have reviewed – I love you all D

Next chapter should be up by next weekend. Updates will be a bit slower because I don't have a lot of time to write during the week anymore.

Oh, and again, I didn't exactly do a read-over, and I kind of wrote this very quickly at a very late hour, so excuse it if it's a little off in tiny places – Haha.

Hope you enjoy!