CHAPTER FORTY FOUR
RE-BORN
LEAH LUCIER (NEE CLEARWATER):
TWO MONTHS LATER -
I had phoned my Mother three days after I was re-born as a vampire. I told her not to worry I was fine. Yes I'd had a run in with Sam whilst he was in wolf form but I was recovering well at Etienne's. Yes we were back together and no I didn't care any more what anyone had to say about it. She'd accepted my words. She had no choice. So today, two months after I became Immortal, I was going back home to face everyone. Bella and Edward knew I was changed but no one else did. I had asked them not to tell. Now I had another surprise. Etienne and I were married. We'd had a private ceremony in his garden earlier in the evening. The registrar who married us was from the humanist society and I really don't know what she thought of the couple she was marrying. I guessed Etienne had used his power on her! It was short and sweet and over in five minutes. Still, it was perfect and amazing because now I could call Etienne my husband.
In the days after my transformation Etienne and I had spent our time distracting each other. I had loved and admired his physique and beautiful face many times before but nowhe was so much more than perfect in my eyes. He was a bright beautiful jewel, a rare entity who shone with light and glittering rainbows. His skin fascinated me, his eyes mesmerized me and his lips drove me insane with desire. I had thought him perfect and handsome as a human, but now I saw him through my vampire eyes, it was like seeing him in all his glory for the first time. Amazingly and completely true: he felt exactly the same about me. Those first few weeks were magical. I did not have the raging thirst for blood or the incapacitating hunger which newborns usually had. This meant we had plenty of time to revel in our new found lust and desire for each other. And revel we did, without boundaries.
I always knew deep down that Etienne still held fast to his old fashioned ideas on courtship and love. He believed a couple should be married before they were intimate in a sexual way. I know when I was human he had gone much further down that path with me than he would have liked, but we had always been in lustful admiration of each other in the physical sense since our first passionate kiss. Of course I loved so much more about him than his mere physical beauty. He was kind, he was intelligent, he was inquisitive and surprisingly child like. He was amusing, he was brave, he was loving and gentlemanly in all ways. I loved him. I really loved him. Would my family accept him as my husband? I couldn't answer my own question.
Not only did I have to explain that I had married in secret I also had to explain why I now had translucent pale skin, amber eyes, speed and strength beyond human comprehension and a totally different demeanour than before. I didn't know how I was going to do this, but I knew I had to for my sake and my family's sake. I could not start a new life with Etienne unless I tied up the loose ends of my old human one. Then I would be free to spend eternity with my husband. My husband. Two words I would never, ever get sick of saying. Two words I relished and treasured for ever more. I gazed at my reflection in the mirror as I slowly brushed my long, lustrous mane of dark shiny hair. I loved how my eyes had turned a beautiful warm amber. So much more appealing than the scarlet blood red they had been in the beginning of this life. Although Etienne had confessed to loving my red newborn eyes once he had got used to them. He said I looked wild and sexy with them. Now, he really loved the colour my eyes had turned, he said I was beautiful as ever. He said I was as I should be.
He was right, despite all of the troubles in my past, despite my distrust and hatred of "bloodsuckers" I truly did make a great vampire. I didn't have the terribly frightening out of control feeling that most newborns suffer. I didn't change into a soulless empty shell. I didn't become a mindless killing machine. I was quite refined! Etienne kept animal blood in his freezer, once defrosted it tasted fine to me. I didn't know any different though and I never wanted to find out. I did wonder how Etienne had resisted me when I was human though. Lucky for me he was old and wise and very very restrained when it came to human blood. But my scent, my taste, my skin, well it must have driven him mad with vampire desire. I had only ever come into contact with two humans. Once when we married only hours ago, and once when I had accidentally answered the door to the postman. Etienne liked to bid for antiques online and he often won due to being very rich, something he never boasted about. This day, about two weeks ago when my eyes were thankfully amber the postman had delivered a parcel for my love. Etienne had gone hunting in the early morning light leaving me home alone. I didn't think. I answered the knock at the door. I knew as soon as I opened that door that I shouldn't have. The poor postman was dazzled by the vision of beauty which answered the door. I was wearing a short, low cut almost see through silky nightdress in seductive midnight blue which complemented my pale skin perfectly. The guy's eyes almost popped out of his head. I was too busy concentrating on blocking out the smell of his delicious blood. It only took a minute or so for me to banish all thoughts of preying on him out of my mind. Etienne had planted seeds in my mind, but I didn't honestly need them as it seemed my shape shifting half cancelled out the blood thirst. Yes, I needed blood to survive, but I did not need to kill innocent people to obtain it. By the time we were married I was simply not that affected by the sight of a pulse or by the aroma of sweet thick blood flowing through human veins. Thankfully.
So, it was nearly time to leave for La Push. I felt nervous and apprehensive. I didn't realise I would still have these human emotions. If I thought about the vampires I knew then it was ridiculous. Bella was still the same. She looked different but basically she was the same girl inside. I hoped I was too. I hoped my family and friends did not disown me, but I needed to know. I needed to go home, even if it was for the last time. I caught Etienne's unique scent before I felt his hands on me. I breathed in the essence of him as his cool lips touched the bare skin of my shoulder. I shivered intensely as his mouth inched it's way up my neck to my ear lobe. "You look like an angel my love. A beautiful perfect angel I wish to devour" he whispered seductively in my ear. As ever I was captivated by him. I turned my head so our lips could meet in cool passionate desire. His taste, his scent envelop me as we fall deeper into the kiss, deeper into each other, lost again and again. As we fall into each other's arms and into our bed I thank my lucky stars for the day I first set eyes on this perfect creature. I love him so much. So much more now he is my husband, if that is possible. Our sighs, our movements and our bodies rise together and clash in passion and love. Always will he be mine. Always will I be his. Home is forgotten for now. It can wait for a few hours. It is our wedding night. He is completely and irrevocably mine.
At last.