***A/N: This chapter is a little shorter than normal because it was actually part of the last one, but it just got too long so I had to break it up. Enjoy!
Chapter 28 – Most Beautiful
Jasper was back in less than five minutes, and he was dragging Edward behind him forcefully.
"Easy now, Jasper," Carlisle insisted.
"Nope, we're all done being easy on him. He's not sick anymore, just weak," Jasper said harshly while pushing Edward down on his knees.
"What are you doing with me?" Edward asked confused, but not at all frightened.
Jasper twisted Edward's arm behind his body and then pulled it up into an obviously painful position. "What year is it?" Jasper asked him aggressively.
"What the hell are you doing, that hurts!" Edward shouted at him.
"What year is it?" Jasper asked again while pulling his arm even more.
"Jasper, he's not a vampire, you can't put his arm back on if it breaks off," Esme said worriedly.
"Yeah well, he has two. What year is it?" Jasper continued.
"Bloody hell!" Edward groaned from the pain, but still refused to answer the question.
"Jasper, stop, it's not working," I pleaded.
After seeing Edward in so much pain from the transition, it killed me to see him hurting again, but Jasper refused to back down. He let go of Edward's arm, but then pulled him over to a pile of snow, and shoved him down face first. Edward was only wearing a thin sweater, so I could only imagine just how miserably cold he was.
"Why are you doing this?" Edward shouted when Jasper let him up.
"Hey, it was your idea," Jasper told him before shoving his face back into the snow.
"Jasper," I protested again, but he still wouldn't listen.
"Where are we?" … "What year is it?" … "How old are you?" Jasper continued to question him while issuing various blows of pain, but Edward just didn't have any answers so Jasper decided on a different course of action. "Rose, come here," he instructed her.
"Um…I'd prefer to stay out of this, actually," Rose said indifferently.
"He thinks you're his wife Rose, so get over here!" Jasper demanded.
She huffed. "Fine…but if you mess up my hair," she warned.
"Yeah, yeah," Jasper appeased her, and then he suddenly grabbed her in a headlock, thus messing up her hair regardless of her request.
"What the hell are you doing?" Edward asked as he watched the scene in front of him.
"Yeah jerk, what the hell are you doing?" Rose mumbled from the confines of Jasper's armpit.
"You better remember who you are real quick before I snap her neck!" Jasper warned Edward.
Edward looked at everyone around the fire as if they were all crazy for allowing such behavior, and when no one did anything, he shrugged. "Well, if everyone thinks this is acceptable, then that just proves I'm the crazy one."
He glanced at me and our eyes met for a brief moment, but it was long enough for Jasper to notice, and before I could even see him move, somehow I ended up in Jasper's death grip. He was behind me with one arm wrapped around my waist, and the other knotted in my hair so he could use it to yank my head to the side exposing my throat.
"Now what are you doing?" Edward asked with his indifference beginning to falter.
"I'm a vampire, Edward…and I haven't had fresh human blood in weeks. I'd say I'm quenching my thirst," Jazz replied darkly.
I wasn't sure what kind of expression I had on my face, but I couldn't imagine it being a good one. I wasn't afraid of Jasper killing me, but at the same time, I definitely worried about him biting me. The only other vampire to ever bite me besides Edward was that stage two, and thankfully Edward had re-bitten the spot immediately after, so I could honestly say the only real scars I had were in the shape of Edward's teeth…and I didn't want that changing.
Edward looked around at everyone there again, almost begging with his eyes for someone to help me, but no one budged, and Jasper wasn't going to back down this time. Suddenly I had a déjà vu flashback from when Edward and I were in Phoenix in a similar position, except the difference was, when Jasper pressed his mouth to my neck, he didn't actually bite down and I was finally able to feel the difference. The lack of pain was strange to me and almost traumatic in a way, as the realization that Edward would never bite me again hit me full force.
I could feel my face crumble from the emotional blow…and that must have done it. One moment Edward looked lost and helpless, and the next he was in action. He charged us, so Jasper released me just as Edward hit him full force…and it was forceful. Jasper shockingly flew backwards from Edward's impact, and landed hard against the boulder several feet back, causing it to crack right down the middle. Everyone froze in stunned bewilderment.
"What the hell just happened?" Garrett asked after a moment.
When the shock subsided, Alice rushed to Jasper's side to make sure he was okay…and Edward rushed to mine.
"Did he seriously just bite you?" Edward asked protectively.
I rubbed the spot Jasper's lips were just attacked to, and then shook my head no.
But Edward wasn't convinced with my word. He grabbed my neck gently but securely, and ran his fingertips over the spot to make sure my skin was never broken. When he was satisfied that I was, in fact, untainted by Jasper's teeth, he pulled me into a tight embrace.
"I'm sorry I trusted you with him, I should have known better." He pulled back and looked at me intensely with his green eyes blazing. "Are you sure you're okay?"
"I'm fine," I whispered, still confused by his actions.
And then he unexpectedly kissed my forehead, before letting his concern morph into fury. He pulled back from me, and then turned to face Jasper who was just barely recovering from the shock of Edward's inhuman level of force.
"What the fuck were you doing?" Edward asked him irately. "I will not hesitate to rip your fucking head off if you ever touch her again!"
Jasper stared at him for a moment, and then he smiled. "Well, welcome back brother."
"What the fuck are you talking about?" Edward asked confused…and then he paused and put his hand on his chest. "Holy shit, I have a heartbeat!"
"Don't tell me you can't remember the past week now?" Jasper asked incredulously.
Edward thought about it for a minute. "Being ugly is a terribly traumatic thing, it's perfectly normal to block something like that out," he said pompously. The he turned back to me. "I'm not ugly anymore, am I?"
I smiled at him, and felt a zing zip through my entire body. Edward was back. My Edward. He had been through hell and back, and he did it for me.
"Hey, come here," Edward said to me gently before wrapping me in his arms again.
I didn't realize until that moment that I was crying. "You didn't remember me," I said pathetically.
"I'm so sorry," he cooed before kissing my hair. "I don't know what the hell was wrong with me."
"Well, it seems maybe Jasper was onto something," Carlisle said contemplatively. "Your mind had shut itself off for protection, but that brings us to this question – How are you feeling now that you can remember everything?"
Edward still had his arms around me, but he pulled back slightly to look at Carlisle. "I feel fine. I really don't understand why I shut it off at all."
"Guilt," Jasper stated.
"I don't feel guilty about shit," Edward said casually. "Why the hell would I feel guilty about being a vampire and doing the things vampires do? The only thing I regret is being a pussy and going to the leaders about your work," he told Carlisle. "Everything else…" he waved his hand in the air symbolizing that it was all nothing. "But I do think congratulations are in order, Carlisle. Your life's work worked."
Carlisle smiled. "Thank you, and I am definitely pleased with the outcome."
"Uh…I don't mean to cut this little celebration short or anything, but can we talk about the more important issue here?" Garrett asked. "How the hell was he able to send Jasper flying like that? I've never seen a human display that type of strength."
"Well, the mind is capable of doing incredible things," Carlisle mused. "For a brief moment he forgot he was human, so to him he had no reason to believe he couldn't do it."
"So you're saying it was a mind over matter, kind of thing?" Garrett asked.
"It's definitely a possibility… Or maybe I just didn't get the proper dosage of the cure right," he said unexpectedly.
"Wait, you mean I might not be human after all?" Edward asked confused.
"I'd like to run some blood work, if you don't mind. Your heart is beating, you've been breathing air and consuming food, so I'd say you're human, but it's possible you may have a fraction of vampire left in you. We'll do some testing and try to figure it all out."
"Alright, we'll do that…tomorrow," Edward agreed. "Right now we're going to consume some deer meat…not blood," he said with a smirk, "and then I'm taking my woman to bed."
I looked at him pleasantly surprised. "We could always eat later."
He considered it, but then he shook his head no. "We need the protein…and there won't be a later; I'm not letting you go for the rest of the night."
"Promise?"
Edward shot me a mischievous smirk, and then leaned in for a kiss. I had never felt a human's mouth on mine before, and for a fleeting second I was nervous. What if it didn't feel the same? And of course it didn't feel the same…it was better. His skin was still cold from Jasper's thrust into the snow, which was kind of nice because it was the temperature I was used to, but when his lips began moving with mine, they quickly warmed. His warmth was not only more appealing, but the soft texture of his flesh was one of the most incredible things I had ever felt and instantly sent me into a wave of desire.
"I think you better forget the meat and take her to bed now," Jasper suggested.
"God, I can smell you all the way from here," Kate added.
Edward smiled against my lips. "Why Bella, are you horny?"
I smiled back at him. "You've been indisposed for almost a week now, what do you think?"
"That is definitely a smell I'm going to miss," he said wistfully.
"Oh, humans can smell arousal," I informed him seductively. "We just have to be closed off in a room somewhere and pressed against each other to really detect it."
Edward nodded absently. "Okay, let's go do that."
I giggled. "I thought you were hungry?"
"We can eat later…and by later I mean tomorrow…or maybe the next day depending on how long I keep you locked up in there."
I laughed again, and then nearly lost my breath as Edward yanked me by the arm back towards the house.
"Damn it, humans are so freaken slow," Edward grumbled as we practically ran to the house.
By the time we got all the way up stairs to the room he had been staying in, we were both huffing, but not even tiredness was going to stop us at that point.
Our mouths crashed back together as we simultaneously began ripping off our clothes. Edward was still thinner than he was as a vampire, but I really didn't care because having his soft heated skin pressed against mine was absolutely incredible.
I ran my fingertips over his exposed flesh, and caressed my way up his torso to his newly grown in buzz length hair. "Tell me you love me," I asked him.
"I love you so much," he murmured, and then he took my hand off of his head, and placed it on his chest. "Every beat is for you."
I hugged myself closer to him so that my head was resting on his collarbone. "I would have changed for you…still will, if you want."
He gently lifted my chin so that I was looking at him. "There is nothing about you that I want changed, because you are absolutely perfect the way you are."
"You were perfect before too…but you still are. I love you no matter what you are."
He smiled at me heavily. "And I'd still love you either way, so we'll just wait and see how it goes."
I nodded in agreement, and then our passion took back over. When all of our clothes were off, we somehow made it onto the bed, and my nerves returned. I was used to having sex with a vampire - even when it was tender, it was still rough just because of the hardness of his body and his limitless strength – what if I was ruined sexually to the point where a human could never be enough? Edward and I had previously spoken about us parting ways and me moving on with my life by getting married to some random human in my village, and I could easily remember thinking that I'd never be physically satisfied by a human... Of course, I loved Edward regardless of his form and would never dislike making love to him, but simply from a physical aspect I was anxious.
However, when he pushed into me for the first time as a human, all my concerns evaporated because I realized then that it was never about his vampirism…it was just him. Edward had ruined me sexually to the point that I doubted anyone else could ever make me feel that good, and even after just a few thrusts, I was already feeling it.
But the sensation obviously wasn't mutual – his face almost looked pained the way it did the first time we ever had sex, and somehow I understood the problem.
"Edward," I said as he continued to move in and out of me slowly.
He looked at me, but didn't respond verbally.
"You can't hurt me anymore," I whispered. "We're the same now…just, let go."
He wasn't at his full strength, but I knew that wasn't his issue. He wasn't used to his new body and probably had no idea how much exertion to use, but my simple words seemed to reassure him because he quickly picked up his pace, and his face morphed from pained restraint, to indulgent ecstasy.
He began slamming into me in a way that he was never able to before, and I felt my inner walls clamping down on him much sooner than I intended. He moaned from my pulsating tightness, but kept his rhythm hard and fast, which only made my climax that much stronger.
But even more than the incredible feeling of our connection, I couldn't get over how amazingly different human Edward actually was. Not only was his skin soft and warm, but as I kissed his neck I noticed the unfamiliar saltiness of his sweat. His smell, the noises he made, the way his muscles tensed, the feeling of his pulse thumping below my palms; it was all intoxicatingly delicious, and I wondered how I lived so long without any of it. Even the new feeling of his hot ejaculation was a turn on I was never expecting. It was all so pure, and raw, and primal, and above everything else, it was just naturally right and gave me a sense of completeness that I never knew existed before. This was the way it was supposed to be… Life, at its most beautiful.
