CHAPTER TWENTY-EIGHT

Edward, Bella, Jasper and Alice spent the rest of the evening sitting outside on the deck, listening to the waves rushing over the stones on the beach. The moon had disappeared behind the house and was low in the sky, so the stars were shining brightly above their heads. Carlisle had retired to bed, so it was just two Vampires and two prospective Vampires who were debating the evening's events and talking about the future.

"It's not too difficult blending in," Alice said reassuringly. "The worst thing is the shimmery skin, but you have to be standing directly in a sunbeam for it to be noticeable. You learn to avoid the sunshine, unless you're completely on your own which is when you make the most of it."

"Shaking hands is easy too," Jasper added. "We keep hiker's warm-packs in our pockets and grip them for a few seconds before we shake hands; works every time."

"I'm going to miss eating," Bella said ruefully, "Especially Ice Cream and Pizza. Oh God, coffee! How am I going to survive without coffee?"

Edward laughed and kissed her on her forehead. Considering the trauma they had just been through, Bella had perked up really quickly once she knew she wasn't going to die. Alice had taken her to one side and reassured her, saying things like, "Just think, no Aunt Flo anymore," or, "The sex is great," to which Bella replied "The sex already is great!" Edward had chuckled about that.

His only concern now was his father. Before he went to bed, Carlisle had promised Edward that he wouldn't commit suicide just yet, but would actively seek a doctor who specialized in palliative care to find out whether he could improve his drug regime. Carlisle was keen to see Edward and Bella after their transformation and agreed to wait to end it until he was satisfied they were well and coping with their new way of life. Edward had come to terms with his father's prognosis, but was still dreading the day when they parted for ever.

They were all prepared for the following morning when they would inevitably receive a call to say that Anthony had been found dead in the lab so they all had their stories ready. Their visit to the labs last night would have been recorded on CCTV, so there would be no point trying to deny that they had visited him yesterday evening. Explaining the guard with the sore head might be more difficult though.

Alice agreed to use Edward's plane ticket and travel back to Seattle with Bella while Carlisle and Edward arranged Anthony's funeral. Jasper said he wanted to visit some friends in the New York coven while he was on the East coast so would be disappearing in the morning, no plane ticket required.

At three in the morning, which was midnight Seattle time, Edward and Bella went to bed, leaving Jasper and Alice out on the deck. They cleaned themselves up then fell into bed naked, because neither of them had the presence of mind to pack anything to sleep in.

"Do you remember what I asked you, Bella Swan, if we survived the night?" Edward whispered when they had made themselves comfortable.

"You asked me to marry you, Edward Masen."

"Do you still want to marry me, Miss Swan, even though we're going to live forever?"

"More than ever, Mr. Masen. Forever will still not be long enough for me."

"I love you so much, Bella. I feel as though I've loved you for a thousand years already."

"I feel the same, Edward, and I'm ready to love you for a thousand more."

Their lips met, then their tongues entwined, then their bodies were joined together in love and a fair bit of lust.

How sex could get any better than that, well they really couldn't imagine.


Anthony's body was discovered as expected and early the following morning, Edward and Carlisle went to the lab to identify him and to give statements to the police. After several anxious days waiting for the autopsy results, Anthony's body was released to the family as the coroner concluded that he had fallen and broken his neck while trying to negotiate the steps out to the lake.

Unknown to the family, Anthony had been taking massive amounts of codeine-based pain killers and anti-inflammatory drugs, and traces of this lethal cocktail were found in his blood and organs. The coroner's report therefore attributed the fall to his addiction, made worse by his disabling swollen joints. The case was closed, much to the relief of the family.

The funeral took place in the local crematorium with a humanist minister officiating. The service was quick and efficient, but his death was marked by many column inches in all the quality national newspapers and scientific journals as befitted a Nobel Prize Winner. Anthony had left all his assets to Edward in his Will, in the hope that he would keep the lab intact and carry on with his research projects. Edward agreed to do this, once he had set up a robust management structure so he could initially control the business from Seattle.


Bella and Alice returned to Seattle, leaving their men behind on the East coast and Alice stayed at Bella's apartment until Edward returned after the funeral about a week later. Contrary to popular myth, Molly didn't hiss and spit when she met Alice for the first time, but she wasn't too happy about sitting on her lap, possibly because Alice's lap wasn't as warm or as comfortable as Bella's.

Bella requested an interview with Victoria when she returned from Connecticut, but before going into Victoria's office she asked God for forgiveness for what she was about to say to her. She convinced Victoria that she was suffering from post traumatic stress disorder after losing Jacob so tragically, explaining that it had only just hit her that he was gone for good. Throwing herself into work too soon had put off her inevitable breakdown she explained, and now she felt she couldn't cope with the grief and would not be able to do her job properly. Victoria agreed without hesitation to put her on indefinite sick leave and told her to take as much time off as she needed.

The serial killer case remained open, but it was widely assumed that the murderer had moved away to another city or country as it was over a month since the hiker had died. Seth had sent Bella a text to wish her a speedy recovery and to call him when she felt ready to date again. Bella sent him a sweet message back saying she was flattered by his offer, but she had made a conscious decision never to start a relationship with anyone in the police service again.

One evening after they had been packing the contents of Bella's apartment into boxes, Alice told Bella how she became a Vampire. She had already told Bella that she had been changed at the turn of the century by a nomad when she was a patient in a mental hospital, but hadn't told her the whole story about how she came to be there in the first place.

Alice recounted that as young teenager, just after puberty, she started having visions of the future which troubled her and eventually she confided with her family and told them what she was experiencing. As her parents were deeply religious they sought help from the elders of their Church as they thought Alice's visions were unnatural and a curse, not a gift.

Alice's accuracy in predicting events frightened the clergymen and they had her committed to a Church-run mental asylum when she was sixteen in order to drive away the evil spirits they believed were controlling her mind. After three years of experimental drug treatment by incompetent doctors, her mind was almost destroyed and she had to be kept in a locked ward as the hallucinations she was having were making her violent and agressive.

"I can remember the night he came," Alice said, as they were curled up together on the sofa. Molly was wedged in between them purring contentedly and Bella was sipping a large glass of wine, making the most of her last few days of being able to eat and drink.

"Can you remember what he looked like?" Bella asked, hoping that he was young and handsome and not an old smelly Vampire. She was slightly drunk and was giggling at the thought.

"Yes, I can remember him. He was quite young looking and he was very handsome. He broke into my ward and found me tied down to my bed with leather straps, which was how I had to sleep every night. He tore through the straps in seconds, then picked me up and escaped with me through a window after he wrenched the metal bars away. The nurse on duty raised the alarm and very quickly the grounds of the hospital was swarming with staff looking for me. He bit me and drunk from me, and I don't remember any more after that, then he left me on my own while he made his escape. I guess he thought I was dead."

"What happened next?" Bella asked, now feeling quite contrite that she thought the situation was funny.

"I woke up a few days later I would guess, tied to the bed again. I lay there with my eyes closed for a while, listening to what was being said around me. The doctors thought I had rabies because I'd been thrashing around and foaming at the mouth when I was unconscious, but my father was convinced that the man who abducted me was the Devil because of his super-human powers. He thought my body had been taken over by evil forces again and he wanted to bring in some priests to exorcise me, then for the doctors to kill me if I wasn't normal when I woke up."

Bella gasped at the horrific story Alice was telling her. She couldn't imagine her own father wanting her dead, however sick or disturbed she was.

"I could feel a burn in my throat while the doctors were standing over me, but I presumed it was because I was thirsty. I pretended to be unconscious while they talked over my head, then after a while when I was finally left on my own, I opened my eyes. All the other patients on the ward were either drugged or asleep and there was only one nurse sitting at a desk by the door. I moved my arm and the strap across my chest broke away without any effort on my part. I moved my leg and that strap came away as well, and I knew then that my body had been changed and I was strong.

"I sat up on the bed and shook off all the other restraints, then looked around to see how I was going to escape, which was when the nurse noticed I was free. She hit the alarm bell then ran towards my bed. I put my hand out to defend myself and struck her in the chest. The force propelled her to the end of the ward and she finished up smashed against the far wall about six feet in the air, then she crashed down to the ground unconscious. I don't know to this day whether I killed her or not."

Bella was staring at Alice with wide eyes imagining the scene, which was so far removed from anything that had happened in her life, even their experience with Aro a week ago. Alice continued.

"I knew then I had to get out, so I escaped from the ward the same way as the nomad did, by ripping the bars away from a window and leaping out. I wasn't thirsty for blood when I woke so wasn't tempted to attack any humans. I just focused on getting away from the hospital.

"I ran across the grounds and jumped over the perimeter wall, then ran for hours during the night across open countryside until I found myself in dense woodland. I didn't know it but I was running North towards the Canadian border and didn't stop until I was somewhere near Niagara, which was where I encountered humans for the first time. You have to remember, Bella, this was over a hundred years ago, and New York state was very sparsely inhabited with most of the population living in a couple of small towns and the city.

I was thirsty by then and instinctively I wanted to feed from a human, but there was no-one around. Eventually, after several hours of hunting through the forest, I picked up the scent of a family who were having a picnic by a river. There was a mother and father sitting on the ground on a blanket watching their three small children running around them playing with a ball. I hid in a tree plotting who I would attack first, but then I realized I couldn't bring myself to do it. Even though I was thirsty, I couldn't deprive the family of a father, or the children of a mother, or parents of a child, and I couldn't convince myself it was okay to kill all of them, so I turned back into the woodland and ran away to find another human to feed from.

I kept running until I crossed paths with a herd of large deer and I attacked one out of desperation. I drained it dry then carried on running through Canada, living off the wildlife. I stayed there for months in the cold North, too frightened to venture into a city in case I attacked someone, and eventually I made it all the way to Alaska. The Denali family of Vampires who lived there picked up my scent one day and found me by a lake near their home. I was filthy and feral, but they took me in and cared for me while I learned how to live as a Vampire and blend in with the human population.

"What sort of Vampires were they?" Bella asked.

"They were and still are like Jasper and me; they feed off animals mainly. Occasionally they slip up, but it's more difficult for them to resist the lure of a human as all of them have been true Vampires in the past, like Jasper. I've never tasted human blood, so I don't know what I'm missing which makes it easier. Jasper was a true Vampire for nearly two hundred years, and he still finds it difficult to control himself in certain circumstances, but I will let him tell you his story one day. I don't know everything about his past, but I guess parts of it were quite horrific."

"Do you know what happened to the nomad Vampire?"

Alice went very quiet and stared into space for a few moments.

"Bella, I have never told a soul this, even Jasper, so you must promise not to say anything to him."

Bella nodded her head and said, "I promise."

"Some years ago, Jasper and I traveled to Alaska to visit the Denali's, who are our dearest friends, and now, I suppose, our only friends now that Peter and Charlotte have gone. When we got there they had visitors staying with them and I recognized one of the males instantly as the one who changed me all those years ago. I could tell he recognized me too, but he didn't say anything to me in front of Jasper. I wanted to leave immediately but Jasper wanted to stay, so I kept quiet and tried to stay close to Jasper at all times.

We had been there a couple of days when the nomad caught me on my own and propositioned me. He wanted me to leave Jasper and travel with him, but I told him to get lost. Jasper walked in when he had his hand on my arm and they argued, so we left that day and haven't been back since."

"So you've never told Jasper it was him. Why not?"

"Because after he bit me in the hospital, he raped me, Bella. Jasper only knows I wasn't a virgin when we met."

Bella's hand shot to her mouth, then she threw her arms around Alice and held her.

"Oh Alice, I'm so sorry. I don't know what to say."

"Don't worry, Bella. I didn't realize I wasn't a virgin until I met Jasper. The nomad raped me when I was unconscious from the blood loss, so Jasper was my 'first' in all other ways."

Bella smiled and was slightly reassured that Alice had come to terms with this horrific experience, but still felt very concerned that this nomad was still roaming unchallenged. However, now seemed the opportune time to ask Alice a question that had been bothering her for a while, as she'd been waiting to speak to her when they had some girl-time.

"Umm, I've been meaning to ask you something, Alice. When I touch you, your arms and body feel hard. Are all parts of your body hard, I mean ...err ... you know, down there?"

Alice laughed out loud, breaking the somber mood. "You mean, how did Jasper know I wasn't a virgin if our bodies are made of stone?"

"Well yes, I mean you've said the sex is great, but I don't know how you can feel anything if you're made of stone?"

When Alice stopped laughing she got hold of Bella's hand and drew it up to her mouth.

"Feel my lips, Bella, and inside my mouth. We're not hard everywhere, thank God. If every part of our body was made of stone, all the male Vampires would have a permanent erection, and that would make them very easy to spot. You wouldn't need a sunbeam to know you were in the presence of a Vampire!"

Bella's eyes opened wide when she said that, then they both fell about laughing. Bella was holding her sides to prevent them from splitting, imagining Edward with a permanent hard-on. After they calmed down, they talked long into the night about the advantages and disadvantages of being a Vampire, and Bella went to bed a lot happier, leaving Alice to carry on packing all of Bella's possessions into boxes and cleaning the apartment.


Before she left for Forks for her transformation, Bella finally took all of Jacob's belongings round to Billy's house. He was pleased to see her, and he thanked her again for making Jacob so happy. She felt like beating herself with chains when she left.

When Edward returned after Anthony's funeral, they visited Charlie and Sue and spent a few days at their house. Charlie was delighted that Edward and Bella were a couple, even though it was only five weeks or so since Jacob died.

The story that Bella had invented to explain her forthcoming absence was that she was going to move to Connecticut to support Edward, and to be with Carlisle during his last months of life. Then she would help Edward take over the running of the laboratory now that Anthony had willed the responsibility to him. They warned Charlie that they probably wouldn't see him again until Thanksgiving or Christmas possibly, but they would stay in touch regularly either by phone or Skype. They enjoyed their time in Forks, and Charlie even got Edward to go fishing with him, but they both pretended not to notice that Charlie seemed to have trouble whistling any other tune than 'Here Comes The Bride' whenever they were in earshot.

Bella also spent some time with Angela, revisiting some of the restaurants they used to frequent when they were students and talking about those times. Angela was sad that Bella was planning to move East, but was delighted she had reunited with Edward and believed Bella when she said she was blissfully happy.


Twenty days after their meeting with Aro, Edward and Bella arrived at Cullen House. They had finished packing up Bella's apartment and had put the majority of her belongings in storage for the time being, so Edward's car was filled just with the essentials, plus the most essential thing of all, Molly, who had complained bitterly throughout the whole journey from Seattle to Forks. When they got to the house in the woods, Bella lifted her out of her carry case and held her tightly as she carried her around her new garden. Where Bella lived in Seattle there were very few tall trees in her neighborhood, so Molly was a bit freaked out at the sight of the huge pines that surrounded the property.

So, just short of three weeks after meeting Aro, Edward and Bella were ready for their transformation and Alice showed them the room that she had been preparing for their procedures. Through his contacts at the hospital, Carlisle had got hold of a strong anaesthetic to help them through the beginning of the process and Edward would anesthetize Bella first before administering the drug to himself. Alice had warned them that the process was very painful, and it could take anything from two to three days depending on the 'patient'.

Alice would inject her venom into Bella's bloodstream first, then Edward's. Neither of them knew that as soon as they were both out cold with the anesthetic, Alice would be securing them to their beds with metal chains as things could get a bit violent about twelve hours into the process.

Alice left them alone together so that they could say what they wanted to say in private. It was an emotional time for both of them as they were stepping into the unknown; almost a leap of faith, but unlike Saint Peter they had no choice in the matter.

Edward held Bella tightly in his arms and his mind went back to the first time he had held her like this, just over ten years ago. That night he had felt and acted like a man for the first time, and now, ten years later, they were making a commitment that would lock them together for eternity, and he never felt so sure about anything in his life. His father had told him to put love before everything else, and that was what he was going to do.

"Are you ready?" he said, and kissed her tenderly on her lips.

"Yes, she whispered. I'll see you on the other side. I love you, Edward."

She lay down on the bed and Edward administered the anesthetic. As she drifted into unconsciousness, he told her he loved her, then her eyes closed and she saw no more.