Chapter 12:

EPOV-

We all stood around the table holding our breath, waiting for her to move.

The changes in her appearance were subtle, but there. Her skin was now as hard as stone, and white like snow to match us. Her teeth had straightened and strengthened, her hair was a twentieth of an inch thicker and about a shade richer. Her eyelashes had thickened and darkened as well. Her lips were a little more pronounced and a light shade of peach but the most startling shock came when she opened her eyes.

I knew to expect it. They would be red. I just didn't expect it to be so startling against her beautiful face.

She lay on the table for a few seconds, unmoving, looking straight ahead of her, seeing nothing—everything. Just when I couldn't take it anymore and was about to say something, she turned to face us.

A loud hiss escaped her lips and the sound frightened her. Quicker than a flash she was backed into the far corner crouched and ready to pounce.

"I know this is scary, Bella." Carlisle said, stepping forward and putting his arms out in a non-threatening gesture. "But we're not going to hurt you."

"Who are y—" She started saying before standing up (just as quickly) and cocking her head in confusion.

"Where am I? Where's Charlie?"

BPOV-

The pain had finally stopped, and in the absence of my beating heart, silence rang throughout the small room I now found myself in. I knew I wasn't alone, though I couldn't hear any movement and my eyes were still closed. I took a slow, cautious breath in.

My nostrils were hit with the thick smell of wet dirt, but I could pick out other things too. Roses, grass, freesia, honey, lavender, something I could only describe as sun, and others were also there. I breathed deeper into my lungs and let the air out.

In—out—in—out— Breathing was effortless, but I noticed that when I held my breath for longer than I would have been able to before the changing, I was still fine, albeit a little uncomfortable. I found that I less wanted the oxygen as I did the flavor of the air around me. I opened my eyes slowly.

And quickly shut them again. What was that? What's wrong with my eyes? I opened them again slowly, taking in all of the colors around me. I was looking up at what appeared to be the dirt ceiling of a cellar but instead of the normal dark brown that I would have expected to see, I saw that as well as about twenty other colors. And I could see so far. I could see nearly the whole ceiling and I hadn't even moved my eyes yet!

A movement out of the corner of my eye caught my attention and I was pulled back to my surroundings. There were people in this room with me!

I turned to see who it was and heard a loud hiss.

Before I even had time to make my body react I was crouched in the corner facing a group of people. They looked familiar but I couldn't quite place them.

"I know this is scary, Bella." One of the men said, stepping forward and putting his arms out in front of him. He was obviously the leader. "But we're not going to hurt you."

"Who are you?" I started to say, but the voice that I heard wasn't my own. Again, my body reacted without me having to tell it to. I decided to test my voice again. "Where am I? Where's Charlie?"

Again, I was hit with a different voice than my own. If I really listened, I could still hear my voice under the wind chime quality that was most pronounced.

"What is going on?" I yelled, looking back toward the group who was still watching me.

Something fuzzy came to the forefront of my mind. It was a memory, but it looked like I was viewing it through a glass of dirty lake water. I knew these people—well, sort of. The short one was Alice, and the boy who wouldn't make eye contact with me was Edward. That must make the man with his hands up—"Carlisle." The word came out without my permission, and sounded more like a question than it had in my mind.

"Yes, Bella. Very good." He said, dropping his hands. He looked back at a curly haired man who was standing in front of Alice. That must have made him Jasper then. He nodded once, never taking his eyes off of me. Alice popped her head around from behind him and gave me a quick little wave as she flashed me a bright smile. I was momentarily distracted by the whiteness of her teeth before Carlisle pulled my attention back to him by taking a step forward.

Before I knew what was happening I was back in a crouch and that hissing noise filled the room again.

"Bella, it's okay." He said, lifting his hands up in front of him once again.

The hissing noise stopped abruptly as I came to the realization that it was coming from me.

"This is taking forever." I heard the blonde—that would make her Rosalie—mutter. Edward hissed and again I was crouching. "Stop it, the both of you." Jasper chastised them, still concentrating on me.

I stood back up. "What's happened to me?" I asked, ignoring the chimes that greeted my ears and genuinely confused, as well as more than a little scared.

"Bella, there's been an accident." Carlisle said, dropping his arms once more but not making any more moves in my direction. Edward scoffed at the word 'accident' but Carlisle ignored him and continued. "I know this is going to be hard to understand right now," He paused and took a deep breath before continuing, "but we're all vampires." He said, motioning back to his family.

I glanced at all their faces. Bear-man—Emmett—had a huge grin plastered to his face. Rosalie, standing a little behind him and to his right looked bored. Edward was still staring at the ground. A woman I didn't recognize—must be Carlisle's wife, Esme—looked like she wanted to come right up and hug me. Jasper hadn't taken his eyes off of me the entire time and had an intense look of concentration on his face and Alice, slightly behind him and to his left was looking at me with that sweet smile that she'd given me every day in English.

"You're—what?" Again with the chimes.

"Vampires. But we only drink animals. We fancy ourselves vegetarians, if you will." He chuckled to himself while I heard Edward whisper "Too soon." behind him.

"When you say accident…" I prodded "What exactly do you mean?"

"It's difficult to explain, but through a long series of events…you're now a vampire too." Carlisle finished carefully after another nod from Jasper.

My mind was running a million miles a minute as I searched through the muddy memories. One flew to the surface. It happened right before the burning. –That must have been me changing—my mind registered that at the same time it was replaying the memory. I was on a walk and all of the sudden Edward was there. He'd crossed the clearing so fast—his skin was so hard, so cold—the family's impossibly good looks and the way they snaked themselves into your mind—it all made sense!

"YOU DID THIS TO ME?" I screeched, pointing at Edward. He didn't look up, only nodded in reply. I barely had time to register the slight glinting of my arm as I pointed at Edward before my vision turned red and I was throwing myself at him.

"NOW!" Jasper yelled—this must have been what he was waiting for.

~.~.~

So…she attacked him. Surprised? Tell me about it!

First meal to come next. And this weekend I'm flying half-way across the US and back again to see my younger sister who is playing the Scarecrow in The Wiz tomorrow—exciting! The good thing for you about so much flying in three days? A whole bunch of writing time. The bad thing for me? Jet-lag major and eight hours of work come Monday. But, if I get enough done, I should be able to update sooner—like Monday/Tuesday if you want. Let me know. ;)

Hope you all have a great weekend and thanks for all the comments/follows/faves etc.!