I barely had a chance to breathe in the fresh air (who cared if it didn't really affect me) before I felt a pair of strong arms encircle my waist and swing me around.

I smiled widely—I had been waiting for this moment forever. Now there was nothing between us; nothing at all. I was a vampire too. I turned in his arms and pressed my lips to his; I didn't have to contain my kiss now.

He kissed me back, but he still seemed hesitant. I wrapped my arms more around him and tried to pull him closer, but all of a sudden he let go of me and stumbled backwards. "You…you…." He whispered, over and over.

I wasn't in a mood for this. "What?" I snapped, annoyed at him. I hadn't seen him in…days? Weeks? I couldn't remember anymore. But it had been long enough, and I missed him so much.

"You're a vampire." His voice was half awed, half surprised, and half guilty, but towards the end it even got angry. "Why are you a vampire?" It sounded more like he was trying to convince himself, but then he turned on me.

"Because you bit me, you numbskull. And no one was there to suck it back out." I told him, suddenly angry at him, too. He had no right to talk to me like this! Not when I went in there and rescued him from that midget! I wouldn't have been able to do that as a human. If Capruti hadn't eaten me first, any of those vampires would've.

Speaking of them, they had all scattered. Only a couple were still traipsing through the flowers, where I looked and couldn't find any trace of what might have been anything leading to Capruti's hideout. There were just flowers everywhere. In the distance I saw the pathway we had been walking on, and where it suddenly stopped. Wow. That tunnel must have been long.

My attention turned back to Edward. His face was crestfallen. He looked so sad that I would have been sure his heart had just fallen out his behind, had he not been immortal. "I'm so…sorry…Bella…" With each word, he took a step backwards, until he was at least ten feet away. Which was unacceptable. I closed the space between us.

"Listen here!" I told him, even madder now. "You have no right to do this to me. First you bite me, and now you don't want to come near me. I'm not contagious, and I still love you! And there's nothing you can do now, I'm a vampire, and this isn't a nightmare, and I know you still love me!" The last part was more for my benefit than his, but I wished he would just get it through his thick skull and leave out the heartbreak and all that.

18th century boys were just so difficult. Think they know everything because they've lived 100+ years.

Okay. He was coming back. That was good. Back…back… "Where's Alice?" He finally asked. He was close, but not close enough; maybe five-ish feet away. It looked like he was keeping his distance purposely.

My brain lit up. I felt my anger flaring, bucking inside me. Every thing he did, every word he said, was like a blow on the fire, making it grow higher, and higher, and…. "Why the hell do you care!" I screamed at him, and turned and ran as fast as my legs could take me—which was pretty damn fast. I didn't even realize how fast I was running; that is, until I ended up at home, at Charlie's house….

"B-B-Bella?" The voice was wavering and weak, and it seemed to be coming from the direction of the family room. Charlie.

I tried to walk at a normal pace towards the room, hearing the TV on in the background; and I realized what I had done. How could I? I saw him there, and I felt myself whitening, my hands shaking.

Charlie was sitting on the couch, empty pizza boxes strewn about him. His eyes were red; his face was saggy and tired. He was slumped like he didn't care about anything, and he smelled—it hit my nose with annoying clearness. Thanks, vampire senses. His gut had definitely grown.

"Oh, Charlie!" I cried, and ran (human pace) to hug him. I ignored the smell; it was the least I could do. I had completely forgotten him, alone, here, watching TV and ordering dinner every night…. "I'm so sorry, Charlie."

"Bella…Bella? Bella." He kept repeating my name, sometimes questioning, sometimes firm, as if he couldn't decide whether I was really here or not.

"It's okay, Charlie. I'm here. I'm right here." I sat next to him and put my arms around him.

"Bells? You've changed." He touched my face, and I felt the tears building up inside my eyes, the pressure against my nose, knowing that I wouldn't be able to release this pain—at least, not in the way I wanted.

"I know, Daddy. I know. I'm sorry." I whispered, wishing beyond anything at that moment that I could cry. I hated not having those emotions.

Charlie's grip suddenly tightened on me. "Bella."

And then he fell into a deep, hopefully peaceful sleep.

My thoughts were too big—my pain was too deep. The ceiling couldn't contain it. I felt so claustrophobic, like I was going to explode; those nasty tears that built up inside me but couldn't be let out weren't really helping, either. After making sure Charlie was comfortable, I eased myself off the couch and headed for the kitchen—food always made me feel better.

Food.

No.

I was overcome by a terrible sense of doom. It was like the walls were closing in on me, everything was gone, I was spiraling downwards, and I couldn't stand up and I couldn't understand anything. My brain was jumbled and I wanted to cry and scream and kick and bite and…bite…and my head was burning and my stomach was ice cold and my heart wasn't there anymore.

And neither was Edward.

I collapsed on the floor, my mind broken and my throat constricted. Everything was wobbling; I felt like my whole world was tipping one way or another. It almost felt like I had a fever—but of course, that was impossible. My skin was ablaze and I wanted to sweat, but I couldn't. This wasn't normal, was it? Vampires were supposed to be cold, but I could have been in an inferno right then and I wouldn't have noticed the difference.

Maybe this always happened to new vampires, and Carlisle had just forgotten to tell me. Or maybe this was an aftereffect of Edward's obnoxious behavior; maybe vampires reacted differently to emotions than humans and Carlisle had forgotten to tell me.

What I had thought would be a blessing was finally a curse. Unconsciousness would have been a sweet relief from my half-alive state on the floor in front of the stairs, the contents of my mind and body sloshing around like soup, but my newfound abilities wouldn't allow it to happen.

One more thought raced through my mind before I gave up thinking and just focused on being: Be careful what you wish for.