Bella

Evie opened a door on her right and pulled me inside. I didn't want to let go of her hand, but I dropped it in my amazement. This room was as luxurious as the others, with thick gold carpet, a black leather couch, and glass french doors leading to a private balcony. But that wasn't what had caught my attention. Here, the walls were filled with more music than I'd ever seen in my lifetime. Beginning with a vintage phonograph in the left corner, transitioning to records along one wall, a small collection of cassette tapes in the far corner, and finally the right side wall completely covered with shelves upon shelves of CDs. The far right corner held a state-of-the-art stereo system. Evie saw what had caught my eye and waltzed over to switch it on.

The music sounded as if the jazz band was right there in the room with us, though I didn't think even a live performance would have sounded better. It was a moment before I recognized the song: La Vie en Rose, the Louis Armstrong version. I started looking through the CDs closest to me, but there was so much it was impossible to take it all in.

"How do you have these organized?" I asked her.

"Chronologically by personal preference." She answered offhandedly, watching me examine her collection. Now that I had a frame of reference I began to notice that the titles closest to me were from this year, getting older as I walked toward her. "Hand me your phone." She requested.

I retrieved my phone out of my pocket somewhat reluctantly. I always had it on me and wasn't usually comfortable with letting others use it. But she took it from me in one smooth motion and before I could protest was plugging it into one of the many docking stations on the stereo. She scrolled through to my playlist and selected the most played song. More for Me came through the surround sound and it had never sounded better. I smiled, listening to the familiar lyrics and bobbing my head along to the beat while I continued to read more CD titles.

"I like this," Evie said, and her tone implied she was pleasantly surprised.

"It's Tegan and Sara," I told her. "Canadian indie-folk-pop."

She grinned. "I'm definitely adding them to list." Her smile broadened as she watched me.

"Excellent nineties selection." I murmured appreciatively as I perused her CDs. "Ugh, eighties, blech."

She chuckled. "Music in the eighties was good. The seventies were abysmal though."

I looked at her, my eyes narrowing. "Are you ever going to tell me how old you really are?"

She lifted her chin and feigned outrage. "A lady never tells." She sniffed.

"Oh right, because you're a lady, sure." I retorted, but then something in her expression stopped me. "Wait….are you?"

"Lady Evalyn Cullen of Yorkshire, at your service." She said in a perfect British accent, and curtsied. Even wearing a turtle-neck and jeans, the movement looked graceful and practiced. My mouth fell open.

"No way!"

But she started laughing. "Gotcha!" she cried, and I threw her a dirty look. "My family was as peasant as they come. My father was a simple farmer and my mother worked in a church. It was the one place in town that had a piano, and they let her play during services every Sunday."

"And this was when exactly?" I pressed.

She sighed. Obviously I wasn't giving up. "I was born in Pomeroy Parish in Ireland in 1801."

"Okay." I said, glad to finally have a reference point.

"Okay?" She asked, gaping at me. "That's it?

"What were you expecting?"

"I just told you that I am over two-hundred years old, and you didn't even blink an eye."

"Well after the whole vampire reveal nothing seems too shocking anymore."

She stared at me, her face inscrutable.

"What is it now?" I asked, always unnerved by her stare. "Still waiting for the running and the screaming?"

She laughed. "Yes. It could still happen. But I was thinking about how nice it is, that you know everything about me now. It's more than just relief at not having to pretend to be normal. It makes me...happy." She smiled at me, and I smiled back. "I was also thinking about how once again you have managed to surprise me."

"How do you mean?"

"Well, like this:" she gestured in the direction of my phone. "you have music I have never heard. And I'm a world traveller." She said this with a mocking haughty tone.

I rolled my eyes. "The Canadian music scene is a veritable goldmine for indie music." I told her self-importantly. "You really need to get out more."

Her loud laughter cut through the music. "You're right, I do! But good luck convincing Emmett to go back there again. He's still sore about the bear that attacked him."

"What happened?"

"He was hunting in the Yukon, tracking a herd of moose when he stumbled into a grizzly sow. She was protecting her two cubs. But instead of just backing off, Emmett- never one to turn away from a fight, even as a human- tried to bring her down. Rosalie found him just as the bear was about to finish him off. She carried him hundreds of miles back to Carlisle, but there was no way to save him. So Rosalie asked Carlisle if she could keep him."

"Just like that?"

"Just like that. They've been nauseatingly inseparable ever since. I suppose we'll have to attend their wedding in a few years...again."

"And what about you?"

"What about me?"

"Have you ever…" I trailed off, suddenly losing my nerve. "I mean, were you ever married?" I finished lamely.

She laughed. "No, it's not for me. 'Til' death do we part' is a very big commitment for a vampire."

I laughed with her to mask my embarrassment. She of course could tell that something was on my mind. She looked at me with the frustrated expression I was so used to seeing on her face.

"What are you thinking?"

"I was just wondering…" I trailed off again, and could see she was getting impatient. I held up a finger to let her know I was planning to answer in a moment, and she seemed to relax. "I was wondering if you had ever found anyone. You know, how Carlisle has Esme and Alice has Jasper. Don't you...want that?"

She considered her answer for a second. "Honestly, I've never really thought about it. I never have felt that way about anyone in the past. I suppose if I did meet someone I felt strongly about, I might consider a relationship. But I've been around a long time, and met many different people both human and not, and no one has seemed to catch my attention." She was looking at me with her head cocked to one side, as if something had just occurred to her. "You, on the other hand, seem to have caught the attention of one Tyler Crowley."

I groaned, blushing scarlet.

"You never did tell me why you lied to him about being out of town today." She continued unrelenting. She took a step toward me. "If it's because you can't dance I'm sure I can get you some lessons."

I laughed once, too loudly. "No no, it's not that. I love to dance. I miss it, actually. I took ballet when I was little." I was rambling now, my voice getting shaky.

"Then what is it? And don't tell me it's nothing. Your heart starts racing anytime someone asks you about the dance. Even right now. I can hear it."

I gulped. There was no way out of this. I could lie, but I knew she would be able to tell. Should I- could I- just tell her the truth? It hadn't bothered Jacob...but Evie was from a different time. A time long before the current level of tentative tolerance. Even now there were still many people who hated people like me. It was a risk to tell anyone. And yet...when I looked at her I felt...safe.

"I said no to Tyler because I could never be interested in him romantically and I didn't think it would be fair to lead him on." The words came out in a rush, my hands were shaking and I couldn't meet her eyes.

"Oh?" She said quietly. "How do you know you wouldn't be interested in him, unless you spent some time with him?"

"Because...because…" the words were right there, but I could not get them out. Could I tell her the one thing I'd always kept a secret? The one thing I had never willingly told anyone, ever? But most importantly, could I tell her that I had finally found someone that I was willing to risk it all for?

I took a hesitant step toward her, just a fraction of an inch. I took a deep breath, drawing every ounce of courage I could muster. Another step forward. She was so close now I could almost touch her. I looked at her, and for the first time in my entire life I brought the truth up to the surface. I let the feelings that had been building up inside of me all week show through in my eyes, where I knew she would be looking for answers.

When I looked at her, her amber eyes were bright and filled with questions. It was now or never.

"The truth is, Evie, that someone has caught my attention. Someone enigmatic and fascinating and true." Before I knew what I was doing I took one last step and closed the distance between us. I gently touched my hand to her face, tracing the line of her cheek with my thumb.

And an instant later she was gone.

She had backed away so quickly I hadn't even registered her movement until she was through the double doors and grasping the rail of her balcony. She stared at me, her eyes wild with panic. I was trembling now, overcome with hurt and shame. But then I saw the patch of sunlight that was hitting the railing right where Evie's hand gripped it.

"Evie! Your hand!" I cried, all concerns about my rejection gone as I saw the pain register in her eyes. She screamed and fell the ground, clutching her hand.

I ran to her, stopping just before touching her again. "Are you alright?"

She held out her hand, which was smoking as angry red boils appeared all over the skin that had been touched by the light.

"What can I do?" I asked her, an edge of panic creeping into my voice.

"I just need a minute," she told me through gritted teeth. I sat with her while she waited for the pain to subside, wishing there was something I could do and also wanting desperately to ask her why she had reacted the way she did. But I didn't dare.

And then, amazingly, her skin began to heal right in front of my eyes. The burned flesh knitted itself back together, the charred skin fading back to white. She held her hand in front of her face, turning it backward and forward. It was as if nothing had ever happened.

"Whoa," I exclaimed. "Does it hurt?" I wanted to feel the skin for myself, to know that she was really fine.

"Not anymore," she told me, her eyes no longer showing any trace of the fear from a moment ago.

"I'm sorry," I told her, searching her face with my eyes. "I shouldn't have said anything."

"Don't be." My eyes widened at her answer. "I'm glad you did." Her eyes now held a new expression, one I had never expected to see on her face: the fear was still there, but now it was mixed with a strange uncertainty. Strange because she was always so confident and sure of herself. I didn't know what to make of it. "Bella," her voice was a whisper now, and my heart stopped at the sound of my name on her lips. We were inches apart again, our faces almost touching-

"What is going on up here?" a loud voice bellowed, and we sprang apart.

Emmett thundered into the room like a charging bull, Alice right behind him.

"We heard Evie scream," Alice said, her voice full of concern for her sister.

"I burned my hand," Evie admitted sheepishly.

"Well that was stupid," Emmett chided her, but his relief that it wasn't something worse was evident.

"What were you doing outside, anyway?" Alice asked, her shrewd eyes narrowing.

"Just showing Bella the view." Evie answered quickly.

"Whatever, it's time to eat." Emmett told us.

"Eat?" I asked, surprised. "But I thought-"

"No, not for us!" Emmett's laugh boomed out across the meadow below us. "For you, Bella."

I flinched a little when he clapped a huge hand on my shoulder and led me back inside. Out of all the Cullens, he was definitely the most intimidating. "For me?" I squeaked. "You didn't have to-" but my stomach betrayed me by grumbling quite loudly at that exact moment. I could hear it even without vampire senses, and I flushed in embarrassment.

Emmett laughed again, his levity unrestrained. "Evie, didn't you remember to feed her this morning?" He joked, as if I were some sort of pet. But rather than feeling offended, I warmed to his light-hearted banter.

"You're right, I've been horrendously neglectful." Evie shot back. "My apologies, dear Bella. Please allow me to make amends by escorting you to the banquet hall." Her British accent was back, and this time she executed a low and sweeping bow. "Right this way, madame." She extended her elbow, and I placed my hand gingerly inside the crook of her arm. And then she winked at me, and all of my shame at voicing my deepest secret was gone in the flash of her eyes.

Evie

Bella and I entered the dining room behind Emmett and Alice. I hadn't been too far off when I'd joked about a banquet hall. Carlisle and Esme had filled the large dining table with every Italian dish imaginable. Rosalie and Jasper were already seated, staring at the food with slightly disgusted expressions.

"This is too much!" Bella exclaimed. "I mean, you didn't have to go to all this trouble just for me…"

"Nonsense." Carlisle told her. "It gave us a reason to use the kitchen for the first time." He grinned as if cooking had been great fun.

"Thank you very much." Bella told him.

"Bella, won't you come sit next to me?" Rosalie beckoned to her. Bella's heart started pounding in my ears, and I felt her hand tense where it rested on my arm.

I told you so Rosalie thought to me smugly. She is quite besotted with me.

My stomach twisted violently. I had the sudden urge to jump over the table and wring Rosalie's neck. What was wrong with me? Rose and I had never been what anyone would call close, but neither had I felt so much animosity toward her. I glared at her, but resisted responding to her silent taunting. Instead I waited to see what Bella would do when pitted against Rosalie's gift. Of course, there was a chance that Bella did prefer Rosalie. Most people did, after all. Her beauty was renown. I felt my teeth dig sharply into my lower lip while I wished fervently that I could hear Bella's thoughts.

"Please, Bella." Rosalie asked again, turning the full force of her power of persuasion onto the girl standing next to me. "I would so love to sit beside you. Here, I saved you a seat." She pulled out the chair next to her and waited expectantly.

"No thank you, Rosalie. I think Emmett has dibs." Bella answered.

Rosalie was aghast. No one had ever refused one of her requests in all her life. I tried to keep my lips from smiling and failed. Rosalie's enticing smile had turned into a vicious snarl, and Bella stepped closer to me.

"Now now, Rose." Esme chimed in, always the peacemaker. "Bella can sit wherever she'd like. How about right here, at the head of the table?" Bella nodded, swallowing loudly, and took the chair offered by Esme. Her eyes never left Rosalie until Emmett walked around and sat at the corner chair in between them.

"Don't feel bad, Hon." Emmett told Rosalie jovially. "This one's immune, remember? Hmm, I wonder...Hey Bella, after you eat do you wanna arm wrestle me?"

Bella looked bewildered now.

"Maybe later, Em." I told him as I took the chair opposite him, hoping he would take the hint. Alice sat to my right, next to Jasper, and Carlisle and Esme took their seats at the other end of the table. It was the first time all eight chairs had been filled. I liked it.

Bella looked famished as she tried dish after dish, only getting in one bite of each before Carlisle would suggest the next one. He was watching her intently, as if he could taste the food right along with her. Finally she had to refuse, saying she couldn't possibly eat another bite.

"What are you going to do with all of this?" She asked him, sounding concerned.

"There is a shelter in town," Esme answered. "I'm sure they'd be grateful to have extra. We'll be happy to run it over to them when the sun goes down." Bella nodded enthusiastically.

"Thank you, truly." Bella told them. "Everything was delicious." Carlisle beamed under her praise. I didn't know why he was worried, everything he tried always worked out.

"What would you like to do next, Bella?" I asked her.

"What else is there?" She asked. "I have a feeling I've only seen a fraction of this house."

"There's the gym." Emmett jumped in. "We could race, or box, or swim." He looked like a kid wanting to show his new friend all of his toys.

"Umm, thanks Emmett, but I'm not really very athletic." She answered diplomatically. "What do you usually do when the sun is out?"

They all answered at the same time with different answers. Bella laughed. "Why don't you just go on with your day as if I'm not here? You don't have to entertain me, I promise. I'm having a good time just getting to know you all." She smiled genuinely at all of them, even Rosalie.

I was getting antsy and started fidgeting. I wanted to continue my conversation with Bella away from prying ears. She had been about to tell me something important, until I screwed it all up. It was just that when her skin touched my face I almost lost control for the first time since the day I met her. The heat from her touch still warmed my cheek. I hung my head in shame. She couldn't even touch me without putting herself in danger. How could she even stand to be in the same room with me? And yet here she was, sitting in the chair next to me. She would never cease to amaze me.

"Well there's the art room, or the game room, or the entertainment room." Esme was telling Bella.

"Can I show her the lab?" I interrupted, suddenly realizing the best place for us to have a conversation was the basement.

Esme and Carlisle shared a look. "I'm not sure that's the best idea, Eva." Carlisle told me, and I heard his thoughts behind his words: We don't want anyone to find out what we've created.

"I already told her that we developed a way to go outside during the day, she just doesn't know the details." I admitted. The table fell silent. We had never disclosed our secret before.

"Well obviously we've been going to school most days. She must have realized we had found a way to do it." Alice chimed in. I shot her a grateful glance.

"I don't see why not, just be very careful." Esme told me. "Please don't disturb anything."

"We won't," I grinned. "I promise."

I led Bella swiftly away from the dining room. She looked as relieved as I felt to be away from the scrutiny of my family.

"What did Emmett mean earlier?" She started in with the questions immediately. "When he said I was immune? Immune to what?"

"Well, you know how I can read everyone's mind except for yours?" She nodded. "It is the same for everyone else's gifts. Alice can't see your future, Rosalie's persuasion doesn't affect you. I'm assuming Jasper would not be able to influence your mood either."

"And Emmett?" She asked.

I laughed. "That's why he asked you to arm wrestle him. His gift is his strength."

She gulped. "I somehow think I would still lose that one."

"You're probably right." I acknowledged.

"What about Esme?"

"Her gift doesn't really work on people so much. She can manipulate molecular structures. That's how she was able to develop our special sunblock. Let me show you." We had arrived at the door to the basement, a thick steel door hidden behind a huge hanging tapestry. I pushed the tapestry aside and unlocked the door. It opened inward with a hiss of air pressure being released.

We walked down the concrete steps into the darkness. Bella stumbled behind me, and without thinking I reached out to steady her. The instant my skin touched hers, electric heat raced up my arm. I pulled my hand back quickly, fighting down the bloodlust. But to my surprise, Bella took my hand back into hers. I froze, waiting for the monster inside me to recede into the background again. When I regained control only a few seconds had passed and I resumed walking down the stairs, now guiding Bella by the hand. As we descended into the darkness she began to shiver, and I realized she must be cold.

"I'm sorry I don't have a jacket to offer you this time," I told her.

"It's okay I'm fine," she answered, though her teeth started to chatter.

We reached the basement and I switched on the light for Bella's benefit. She gasped, staring all around her at the vast underground laboratory. It stretched out in all directions well beyond the walls of the house above. There were projects in various stages of completion stationed throughout the room. Bella wandered through them, inspecting them with interest but not touching anything.

"What is this?" She asked, pointing to a stack of sheets of glass.

"Esme has altered the glass so that it repels UV rays while still letting in light. That is how we are able to live above ground during the day." I walked around the glass to show her the work currently in progress. "Now she's working on a windshield for our vehicles."

Bella gazed at the glass in wonder. "Incredible."

"Look at this," I took her hand once more, thrilling at how much easier it got each time. I led her through the workstations to a corner in the back. Here there were shelves and shelves of jars filled with a thick creamy substance. I picked one up and unscrewed the lid to show it to her. "Sunscreen for vamps," I told her, grinning. She smiled back, then took my left hand in both of hers. I froze again, this time not to fight for control but to wait and see what she was going to do. She dipped a finger into the lotion and touched it to the back of my hand, where I had been burned. Her finger moved in circles, rubbing the cream into my skin.

"Is this okay?" She asked.

"Yes," I whispered, not daring to move. "You can't imagine how that feels."

"Is it helping the burn?" She asked.

"No, that's already healed. I meant…" What did I mean? There were feelings inside of me that I didn't understand, things that had been dormant for two hundred years. Being around Bella was strange. She made me feel uneasy, but at the same time exhilarated. Almost overnight, this girl had become the center of my entire world. And now, with her touch on my hand, I felt almost...human. "Bella," I began again, trying to organize my wildly spinning thoughts, "what were you about to say earlier, before I behaved so rudely?"

She frowned, a crease forming in between her eyebrows. She ducked her head, not meeting my eyes. The frustration was overwhelming. Looking into her eyes was the closest I ever came to hearing her thoughts. It was infuriating to be denied that. I couldn't stand it, so I very gently, very carefully placed my hand under her chin and tilted her face back toward me. "How easily frustrated I am," I explained. "Please, tell me what you're thinking." I pleaded with her.

"I was thinking that I was too forward earlier, when I touched your face." Her eyes were guarded now, afraid. "I didn't mean to offend you. I hope," Her voice caught, and she worried her lower lip with her teeth. The movement caught my eye, and I suddenly wanted to smooth her lip with my thumb and feel its full softness for myself. I shook my head to clear it of such thoughts. Thoughts like that were dangerous. "I hope we can still be friends." Bella continued. "But I would understand if you feel uncomfortable around me now." She looked crestfallen.

"Uncomfortable," I repeated, turning the word over in my mind. "That's one way of looking at it." The fear in her eyes spilled over, and they glistened now with tears. I then realized my gaff, a second too late. "No! That's not what I meant!" I had never had so much trouble expressing myself. "Let me explain." I paused to carefully consider my words this time. "It is uncomfortable to be around you because of the way you smell." Her finger stopped circling my skin and she looked embarrassed. "Not that you smell bad or anything!" I just kept digging myself in deeper. "It's like this: You know how everyone has a favorite flavor?" She nodded, looking perplexed. "Well, your blood, for reasons unknown, is the most potent flavor I've ever encountered. Imagine you had been on a deserted island for two hundred years eating nothing but fruit, and then finally you are rescued and they place in front of you a perfectly seasoned and cooked to perfection filet mignon."

"So, I'm the filet?" She asked, catching on.

"Yes. I'm sorry for the food analogy, but it's the way my mind works. Although, it's not quite strong enough to describe how I felt. For us, feeding is more than just nourishment. It is everything- the hunt, the chase, the kill. It is what we are built for, what we crave. It is the one desire that drives us. So you can imagine how difficult it was for me when you sat beside me in biology that day. I thought you were a demon sent to tempt me away from my chosen lifestyle." I smiled at the absurdity of the notion. Though I still longed to know why. Why did she smell so incredibly enticing?

"That explains why you looked so angry! And I thought you were mad at me for bumping into Jasper."

"Oh, I had nearly forgotten about that! It seems like you've been marked for death since the moment you arrived. Jasper isn't anywhere near ready for human contact yet."

"And yet somehow, both of you resisted." She pointed out.

"Yes, we did. Somehow…" I murmured.

"Is it difficult for you now?" She asked me.

"Yes. You smell just as delicious as that first day." I winked at her wickedly. "You are very lucky I have had so many years of practice. Otherwise, touching my face the way you did earlier might have been the last thing you did." Bella's face went white, and she shuddered. She was starting to understand.

"I'm sorry," she whispered. "I didn't realize…"

"I can't be sure yet, but it seems as if being near you all day has helped me get used to your scent. It won't be as difficult the next time."

"The next time?" Was there a note of hopefulness in her voice?

"Just do me a favor."

"What is it?"

"Try not to surprise me next time?"

She smiled now. "I promise."

"Thank you," I smiled back. And then I did something neither of us was expecting. I let my hand reach toward her to brush back a lock of hair from her eyes. I let my fingertips graze the soft skin of her cheek. I let my palm rest along her jawline, absorbing the heat from her skin. She was holding her breath, and then suddenly let it out in a whoosh. The warmth of her breath caressed the inside of my wrist.

"Ahh." I closed my eyes, relishing the feeling. Everything with Bella was new and ephemeral. I tried to grasp each moment before it disappeared forever. "That's incredible, the warmth."

"Are you always cold?"

"It doesn't feel that way. I don't even notice it until I touch something warm. You are very warm."

As if to prove me right, a blush rose up to her cheeks as I spoke, warming her skin even further. My eyes focused on the blood swirling beneath her skin, and I felt the blood vessels in them burn. My vision was about to turn red, so I squeezed them shut and tried to recite the Declaration of Independence from memory.

It worked. The burning in my eyes faded and I could concentrate again. I opened my eyes, grinning with triumph, but all of this had happened so quickly that Bella wouldn't even realize something was amiss.

"What just happened?" She asked me. I was wrong, she had realized something was off. This girl missed nothing.

"Another battle won," I told her, still grinning. "We'll see who wins this war."

She shook her head, confused.

"Watch this," I told her, my continued success making me bold. Her right hand still rested on top of my left, where she had placed the sunscreen. I lifted my hand with hers, lifted her wrist to my lips, and breathed her in.

Her scent was still fire in my lungs and desire in my throat. But this time I wanted to burn.

I let the heat scorch through me, warming me from the inside and quickening my blood, thinking I have never felt more alive.