Yay! Another chapter! This was interesting to write, but I am anxious for the chapters to come!
Disclaimer - I do not own the Twilight Series, but some of the characters in this story are mine.
This is me praying that
This was the very first page
Not where the story line ends
My thoughts will echo your name
Until I see you again
These are the words I held back
As I was leaving too soon
I was enchanted to meet you
Enchanted – Taylor Swift
Finally, finally, the last day. Everyone was anxious for this day, but mostly, I was looking forward to the end of it.
The fire burned me like it had for the past four days, but it seemed like I had more room to think. I could think about the books Edward continued to read, the spells Emilee was practicing in the corner of the room, what life would be like after, my parents, the pack, and the pain all at once.
It was an odd feeling, but with my eyes closed and my thoughts buzzing around, it helped me stop screaming after a while. Clenching my jaw was easier when I could think of so many other things at once.
After about two hours in, someone's heavy footsteps waltzed into the room. It was weird that I could tell the difference in sound so easily. These footsteps belonged to Jacob; the vampires all had lighter, breezier footsteps.
"Does anyone know how much longer this is going to take?" Jacob sat down, and the metal screeched beneath him. I didn't dare open my eyes. Bella said it was more exhilarating when it was all over if I kept my eyes closed.
"Jake, stop. As much as I want to know, I don't want a case of 'are we there yet?' coming from you." I whispered. Everyone laughed, including Seth, but I was serious.
"I know Arielle." Edward chuckled.
Emilee closed the book, and I heard the pages ruffle together. I heard her hand brush across the leather binding and the fabric bookmark flutter as she stood up and placed it on Seth's dresser. When I focused, I could hear the light buzzing and the clock on the side table ticking. Everything was so much easier to hear now. I didn't realize how dull my senses were.
Bella had left to answer a phone call ten minutes ago, and I could hear her downstairs. But not only could I hear her, I could hear the thrilling high soprano voice on the other end of the phone.
"I know honey, I miss you too. Your father is with Arielle upstairs." Bella cooed to the person on the other end.
"I want to meet her. If she took you daddy and Jake away from me, she must be pretty important." The voice answered.
"Of course Renesmee." So this was Edward and Bella's daughter. "I want you two to meet eventually. But do you remember Seth?" She asked, laughing.
"Of course I do." Renesmee laughed. It sounded like bells, just like all the other vampires.
"Well Arielle is his imprint. So we have to take good care of her." Bella walked through the kitchen to the patio outside.
I listened for more from the other end, but I couldn't hear anything other than Bella's whispering voice. As much as I wanted to try, their conversation no longer held my attention. Edward stopped reading for a second to laugh next to me.
"You can test out your new hearing later today." He laughed again, and Seth snored loudly next to me.
My mind was busy thinking about anything and everything as I listened to Seth's breathing and the ticking of the clock on the wall. I managed to block out most of Edwards words, but he continued to read for the sake of everyone else in the room. I started counted beats of Seth's heart.
About twelve hours, or fifty-four thousand, seven hundred and twenty beats later, the fire started to move just as Bella and Edward said it would.
It started to fade from my fingertips and toes. Slowly. But that wasn't the only change.
Just as Bella said, the fire in my throat was worse then before. It felt like my throat was dry, like I was parched. Only multiply that times 1000.
The fire in my heart got hotter and my heartbeat picked up to a new pace.
"Bella." Edward said, and I knew she would hear it. Not thirty seconds later, her swift footsteps were working their way into the room.
Edward must have motioned for her to wake Seth up, because I felt him jostle on the bed.
"Huh? What happened?" Seth asked, his voice groggy but his mind alert and ready for action.
"It's almost over!" Emilee cheered, and Jacob clapped.
"Seth, I need you Jacob and Emilee to go in the front yard, okay?" Bella asked.
"Are you sure it will be okay for me to leave?" It was obvious in his voice that he didn't want to leave.
"Seth, do you remember what happened when Bella was done?" Jacob laughed. I would have to ask about that later.
"Yeah, you're right." He agreed sadly. "Alright, let's go." He managed to squirm out from under me. "I'll be right downstairs Arielle." I felt his lips brush my forehead.
"I'll be fine." I smiled, keeping my eyes closed like Bella told me to.
Jacob and Seth's heavy footsteps worked their way down the stairs, but there was a pair missing.
"Emilee, go downstairs please." I begged, not knowing why she bothered to stay.
"I know, I just wanted to get a good look at you before I went for a while." She laughed, the sound high pitched. "You look gorgeous darling." She mocked before I heard her light footsteps getting further away.
I wasn't sure if she was kidding or not.
"No, Arielle. She wasn't."
"You do look beautiful." Bella threw in. "I can't wait for you to meet Rose. She's got nothing on you." Her tinkling laugh and Edward's hearty chuckle assured me that everything was okay.
The fire moved from my palms, and I could now actually feel Bella's smooth hand for the first time. My heart continued to get hotter and beat faster then I thought possible. I thought it was going to explode!
"It's almost over." Carlisle said as he entered the room.
I felt relief as the fire left my ankles and wrists feeling cool and pain free.
I stopped breathing as the pain left arms from the elbow and my legs from the knee in a ripping wave.
People down the street must have been able to hear my heartbeat it was so loud! And it felt like it was grinding the bones in my chest to dust. The fire had consumed every nerve and bone in my body, and it was now centered in my heart, leaving every other inch of my body besides my throat.
My heart beat twice before it thudded quietly just once more. And then there was no sound in the room beside the ticking clock on the wall. Even everyone below us was silent.
Besides my throat, there was no pain, and I was relieved.
"Arielle, open your eyes." Bella said a few minutes later.
"I'm scared." I laughed lightly, but when I spoke it sounded like I was singing. My voice rang and shimmered like a bell, just how Bella described. That couldn't possibly be my voice, could it?
"Don't be." Edward and Carlisle said at the same time.
When I opened my eyes, I was in wonder. Everything was so clear! If I thought I had good vision as a human, I was more than wrong. Everything was defined and sharp.
I could see the dust particles in the air, floating and spinning. The tiny little bumps in the walls of Seth's bedroom and the rainbow of light from his lamp were all so defined.
I looked at Bella, Edward, and Carlisle. I didn't notice how inhumanely beautiful they looked. I never really saw them when I was a human, but it was probably nothing compared to seeing them now. All three of their faces were smooth, perfect planes. And their eyes, I wanted them, as selfish as that sounded. Their eyes were beautiful, a gorgeous golden amber color.
"Okay now when I'm done talking, I want you to take a deep breath. It's going to feel wrong since your lungs don't need oxygen. When you breathe, you are going to taste the room around you. It's an action we use when hunting." Bella told me, and when she was done, I inhaled.
She was right; it felt weird to breathe when my lungs weren't expecting air. But I sort of liked it. It was interesting to taste the air.
One of the two closest things to me was something that tasted like honey, lilac, and how you would expect the sun to smell. The other was freesia, lavender and strawberries oddly enough.
Again when I spoke, it was music.
"Bella, you smell delicious." I laughed, and Edward joined in.
"Imagine having blood smell like that."
Now I understand why their relationship must have sucked for a while. Edward laughed louder then I had ever heard him laugh.
"Well thanks guys." Bella grinned.
Tasting the air again, I searched for Carlisle's scent. It was a mix between cinnamon, leather, apple and rising bread. It was odd, but sweet, and not at all unpleasant.
I felt Bella squeeze my hand, and was startled. It should have been cold, right?
I heard two people having a conversation outside.
"I can't wait any longer! This is unbearable." Seth whispered, but to me it was clear as a bell.
"Seth, calm yourself. I'll go check on them."
I heard heavy footsteps start up the stairs, and my body reacted strangely.
I felt air rush through my throat with a low hiss. When I moved, I expected everything to be a blur, but it stayed defined and crystal clear.
Not even a whole second later, I was crouched in the corner of Seth's room. I barely had to think about it before I was standing straight again.
"I'm guessing I shouldn't continue the hike up the stairs?" Jake asked.
"Arielle, I know it's disorienting. It was just Jacob." Carlisle smiled slightly.
"Does everyone react like that?" Jake mumbled, walking back down the stairs.
"I did the same thing." Bella assured me.
I was barely paying attention to what anyone said. I was amazed by the way my body moved! The second I thought about moving, I was already in the position I wanted to be in. The change was instant, like I hadn't moved at all.
The scorching ache in my throat was more bearable then I thought it would be.
"Bella, this is going to be like déjà vu for you, but you know it's necessary." Carlisle spoke up, and she just nodded.
"How do you feel, Arielle?" Edward asked.
"There is so much to take in!" I listened to the soprano of my voice.
"Yes," Carlisle started before Bella cut him off.
"It can be quite confusing." She laughed. I was missing out of the joke, but I nodded, one quick bob of my head.
"I feel like a more powerful version of the old me. Is that how it is supposed to feel?"
"That's normal. Technically, that is exactly what you are." I could hear the doctor tone in Carlisle's voice. "What do you remember? You are just as controlled as Bella was, almost more so." He mused.
"Carlisle." Edward spoke up, but it was condescending. It seemed Carlisle was forgetting something.
"Ah, yes. You must want to go hunt. I'm sure the thirst is uncomfortable." Carlisle nodded.
What I said must not have been what they were expecting, because they all gasped.
"Actually, it's not really all that unbearable."
"Carlisle, how is that possible? Even I had trouble . . ." Bella's words drifted off and all three of them looked at me in shock.
"Is that not supposed to happen?" I asked with a raised eyebrow.
"No, not at all." Edward seemed almost . . . pleased? "Carlisle, how is that possible?"
It took him a minute to come up with a hypothesis that seemed to please everyone.
"It must have just been the way the venom was introduced into her bloodstream. She must have swallowed some of it saving Seth also."
Sounded good to me. If I was a freak, at least there was a reason for it.
"Since you seem so controlled, we can give you a choice. Do you want to go hunting with Bella, we can get you a mirror, or you can go see the three other super naturals downstairs."
"Well I don't know how to hunt. And as much as I want to see Seth, I don't know what is going to happen with that." As I spoke my thoughts aloud, the conclusion seemed obvious. "Choice number two please!" I laughed.
Okay guys, I thought that was a good place to end the chapter; it was already reaching six pages in word! I get carried away sometimes :)
How about we get to 500 reviews before the end of the story? Sound good! Please, please, please!x3 Review away!
EDIT: Guys, when I said 500 reviews before the end of the story, I DIDN'T mean, 500 reviews before I post the next chapter! hahah I'm not THAT crazy :p I just meant that it would be nice to end the story completely with 500 reviews.
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- Arielle