Thank you guys so much for all the reviews! You don't understand how much they helped me and gave me such an energy boost! I don't know why, but I was feeling extremely worried about your reactions- I am sorry if I disappointed anybody. Special thanks to biteorimprintonme (LOVE the user name by the way) for reviewing every single chapter in a day! Oh and sorry Twyfan, I haven't had enough time to work on the one-shot, but it should be up in the next week. Now, on we go =)

Chapter 24

Bella POV

As soon as I closed my eyes, I was in a different environment, a darker environment. Some part of my brain screamed to me that it was only a dream, but it was a very small part of my brain and therefore unimportant in my opinion.

I slowly walked up to the lit hallway with one door at the end- stereotypical. I did the only I could do and opened the door. The room was even darker the hallway. Before my eyes had time to adjust to the dark, a man grabbed me from behind and gagged me. I wasn't surprised when the man revealed himself to be Charlie; however, I was still horrified.
"I got you a present Izzy." He whispered. He turned on the lights to show all of my angels strapped to chairs. My eyes widened as I saw them and I whimpered.
"Told you that anybody who gets involved would be hurt." He had indeed and that only increased my already crushing guilt.
"Come sit here, this seat is now empty." He sneered while yanking the semi-conscious Esme of the chair and throwing her to the ground. He then strapped me in firmly and gagged me.
"Now, let's start with the mother, okay?" He said gently as he stroked her face then swiftly punched her. She whimpered but had no energy to cry out. He took the gun out of his pocket and aimed for her head.
"This will be the third of your mothers that I kill." He said calmly before pulling the trigger. I screamed as the tears poured down my face. All the Cullens sitting beside me were awoken by the gun-shot and they all started crying while Carlisle started choking on his gag.
"Ah, the father next?" Charlie questioned while coming over and knocking the still bound Carlisle to the floor with the chair.
"Was I not a good father? Did you really have to find a replacement?" Charlie asked coldly. I shook my head, I would do anything for him to not harm them. I tried to speak,
"P-leease, shhtop" I mumbled muffled.
"What's that?" Charlie asked politely while aiming his gun again. "Any objections to the respected doctor's death?" Everybody was trying to call out and desperately trying to break their bonds.
"No. Thought not." And he pulled the trigger.
"Well, this is taking too long, wouldn't you agree Izzy?" He said walking towards me and putting his hand on my shoulder. He tore my gag off.
"PLEASE STOP! JUST KILL ME! DON'T DO THIS!" I then turned my pleading gaze to the now parentless Cullens, "Please forgive me, forgive me, forgive me-" I was interrupted by Charlie slapping my with enough force that it toppled my chair.
"You don't deserve forgiveness. Or death for that matter, not yet. You will suffer." He kneeled before me and grabbed me by my hair. He lifted my head slightly and assaulted my lips. He bit one so hard, it bled. He then gagged me once again and pulled up my chair.
"Now, on with the show. I think I will do them in couples now." He pulled Rose and Emmett to the middle of the room. He sighed wistfully.
"I would love to torment you, but I am getting rather bored, I want to move on to my daughter you see." He smiled manically and shot them both. He kicked them to the side and dragged Alice and Jasper to the middle.
"Such a cute couple. Such a shame a have to kill you." He shot them without a second thought. One by one he had killed them before my eyes, enjoying my pain. My heart broke beyond the point of recognition and my writs bled where I fought my bonds,

Finally, there was only Edward left.
"Ah, and finally the boyfriend. How did you ever even look at this slut?! I bet you really regret meeting her now." Charlie chuckled and I sobbed- this was all my fault. I tore at the ropes once again and they finally came loose. I ripped them off as well as with my gag. I jumped out of my seat.
"No no no no! Not him too! Not Edward! ENOUGH!" I yelled and I did something I had never even thought of doing it my whole life; I fought back.

I lunged at Charlie, knocking his gun to the other side of the room. I temporarily surprised him which allowed me to pin him down but he was stronger than me and eventually threw me off him. He pulled out his knife and headed towards Edward, but I wasn't about to let him die. I ran it front of Edward and Charlie plunged the knife straight through my heart. I faltered and fell to the ground next to an unconscious Edward, face to face. Even with the knife in my chest, I felt the determination to fight. I worked on staying alive, resisting the numbing fog which seemed so tempting.

Suddenly, I felt a strong shock; it was violent- almost painful. With the current, Charlie disappeared. I felt another one soon after the first and Edward disappeared. I was alone now, and I was so near the surface and I was still fighting. I tried to break through the pain and the last shock permitted me to do so, gasping for air as if I had been submerged for a century.

I opened my eyes to see a worried Carlisle leaning over me with a few nurses at my side and the Cullens hovering in the background. Everybody was dead silent apart from the nurses, who mumbled things like,

"We've got a pulse."

I looked down at myself and saw my empty hand. Abruptly, Edward was next to me, his hand in mine. I didn't even flinch.

"Don't you ever do that to me again!" He sobbed which surprised me- he was always collected. I then realised that the nurses had left and the whole family was shaken. Edward put his head on my bed, his body trembling. Alice was frozen in Jasper's embrace and Rose was crying into Emmett's shoulder who looked terrified. Esme was also crying as she hid her face in Carlisle's neck. I slowly pried my hand from Edward's and put it on his back as I tried to soothe him, I couldn't stand to see them all this upset.

"I'm okay." I whispered even though pain was spreading through my torso. Edward gave a choked, humourless laugh.

"What happened?" I eventually asked.

"You went into cardiac arrest." Carlisle said strained. "You need to calm down Bella; it's not healthy to overwork your heart." His voice broke slightly.

"S-sorry." I stuttered surprised. They all let out shaky breaths and Emmett said,
"Oh no problem Bellsy. Any time." He now wore a fragile smile which could break at any second but I appreciated the effort and smiled in return. It had a sort of domino effect as all the Cullens slowly started to give me relieved smiles. Everybody did, except Edward who still had his head buried at my side.

"Edward?" I asked gently and he lifted his head to look at me.
"Are you okay?" He looked at me incredulously for a few seconds.
"You are unbelievable." He eventually muttered and my face fell.
"You have just gone into cardiac arrest, you just bounce back into the living and you ask me if I'm okay?" He clarified himself. I smiled a bit at the irony of his words.
"No, I am not okay Bella. You almost gave me a heart attack, and trust me, that's difficult!" He took my hand back and I just sighed in relief. They were alive, the weren't mad and they didn't regret meeting me.

"I'm hungry." It was partly the truth, but I also wanted to get rid of all the tension. It worked, they laughed.
"Ah Bella, you truly are one of a kind." Alice said softly. Carlisle got me some food and after a few minutes of comfortable silence, I decided to use whatever was left of my determination and come out clean with the last of my secrets.
"I haven't been honest with you." I said while fidgeting. They looked at me curiously. It was now Rose sitting beside me, holding my hand and she encouraged me to continue.
"The night Marc did this, he-" I was cut off by my memory of that night and I automatically started counting my breaths.
"You don't have to do this honey." Jasper said.
"Oh, but I do." I responded firmly. "He will not have any more power over me." They looked surprised but proud.

I recounted the evening in detail, including my plans to run away. I needed them to know everything.
"And so," I concluded. "Marc, or should I say Charlie is my biological father." While I had told my story, a missing detail caught my attention. I pulled my hand out of Rose's and lifted it to my neck. As fast as lighting, Rose re-took possession of it and she looked extremely wary.
"What did he engrave on my neck?" I asked deadly clam meaning I didn't want to be lied to. Nobody answered so I turned to Edward. His face made me re-think my decision, but I held my ground.
"C. S." He said pained. I started to hyperventilate. I had been doing well until now, but I could no longer suppress my panic attack.
"Charlie Swan." I whispered through my fuzzy mind. It felt like there was calm thrust upon me, but it didn't help.
"Bella, listen to me. We need you- all of us. Keep fighting, you are being so brave. Now come on! Breathe!" Alice said frantically, now on the opposite side of my bed from Rosalie who was also trying to soothe me.

They needed me? Nobody has ever needed me, but who am I to ruin their happiness? I would be stupid to not see that the Cullens did care about me, I may not understand why, but they did. I concentrated on pulling myself back from the edge of the deep abyss I was about to fall into.
"He will always haunt me." I moaned through sobs, but now I was aware of what I was I was doing.
"No. You said so yourself Bella, he will no longer have power over you." Edward assured me but how could I believe that?"
"Trust him Bella. He is saying the truth." Jasper stated. What?! Could he feel my denial? Or were my facial expressions that obvious?
"I don't see how I can do this." I muttered after getting full control over my body.

"Bella, we haven't been honest with you either." Carlisle said sadly. I immediately knew what he was talking about. "It may not be the best time, but I honestly don't believe there will ever be a good time and you need our honest support… if you still want it." He added hesitantly at the end.
"Of course." I said breathless.
"We'll see." He said gently.
"There is no easy, or nice way to say this. I can think of no other way than to just come out straight-" Edward stopped him and came to my side to claim my hand from Rose. He looked at straight in the eyes, as if he was searching my soul.

"Bella, we are vampires."

Edward POV

Obviously the start with my love had been rocky. To realise how I really felt about Bella then to think I lost her… Well let's just say that I am surprised that Jasper isn't dead due to my emotions. Not only that, but then having to endure more pain as Bella revealed that horror-filled night was very challenging for me. My love for the angel was the only thing that kept me rooted to the ground instead of going to hunt that monster down. Which I will do eventually.

I also found out what the scar's on the back of Bella's neck meant. C.S.- that man was truly sick. She was right when she said that he will always haunt her, as he will now always haunt me. All the things Bella had to go through alone, that was made her life even more heart-braking as it needed to be worse; she was always alone. I vowed to myself to help her rise above the constant reminder her 'father' left her. I now know that I will never be able to leave her alone, even if she pushed me away, nobody could stop me from living in her shadows, which I will probably have to after what is to come.

I was now risking losing Bella forever by telling her the truth. I knew she would demand we leave her alone. So, when Carlisle was about to reveal our secret, I cut him off to hold Bella's hand for the last time. I also wanted her to hear the truth from me. I looked deep into her eyes.

"Bella, we are vampires."

There we go, I know, still not the longest, but technically I wasn't even going to update until Wednesday. I do hope you guys enjoyed this chapter, and if you were wondering, the Cullens are powerless in Bella's dream because she doesn't know they are vampires- yet…