Party

September 13th

My sister, Alice, was bouncing with excitement in her seat as I drove us to school. I smirked as I listened to her planning the evening's festivities. Today was a day worthy of celebrating. It was the birthday of Isabella Swan.

My Bella.

Alice and I had been looking forward to today nearly as much as Bella seemed to dread it. No gifts, she had instructed. No parties, no extra attention. She did not feel the desire to celebrate growing older, but I – and Alice and the rest of my family – felt the anniversary of her birth was something to celebrate.

Alice held the small silver package on her lap and continued making party plans. Esme is picking up the cake at noon, she thought. We'll need lots of candles; what's a birthday without candles? I can't wait for her to open your gift, Edward. She's going to love it! I'll run home as soon as school lets out and will have everything all set up by the time you bring her by.

Bella had made me promise not to spend any money on her birthday. That didn't mean I didn't plan on giving her a gift anyway. Despite Alice's reassurances, I was nervous over her acceptance of my gift. My smirk widened into a broad grin as I anticipated her reaction.

I glanced up at the overcast sky in satisfaction. Although the small town of Forks in the state of Washington was almost always covered in clouds and rain, we did have an occasional sunny day. Alice had assured me that the sun would not shine on this day. I would not have to hide away from public eyes today. This was why we chose Forks as our home. The near constant cloud cover gave my family the freedom to live almost normal lives.

Not that we were normal in any sense of the word.

As I pulled into the school parking lot, I scanned the cars for Bella's '53 Chevy truck, knowing she wouldn't be there yet, but unable to stop myself from looking. Not seeing her rusted behemoth, I parked my car and got out, prepared to wait for her arrival. I could hear the roar of her truck's engine and smiled in anticipation. Alice danced to my side and leaned against the car with me, waiting for Bella.

I watched impatiently as she parked her truck and slammed the door. She walked slowly toward me, and I wished, as always, that I knew what she was thinking. The expression on her face was wary, distrustful. She could see the gift Alice was holding and knew something was up. Too excited to wait for Bella to close the distance between us, Alice skipped over to meet her.

"Happy birthday, Bella!" Alice squealed excitedly.

"Shh!" Bella hissed as she glanced around. I shook my head at her and laughed. She worried over the silliest things.

Without missing a beat, Alice continued, "Do you want to open your present now or later?"

"No presents," she mumbled.

She's determined to be difficult, isn't she? She narrowed her eyes, but persisted cheerfully. "Okay… later, then. Did you like the scrapbook your mom sent you? And the camera from Charlie?"

"Yeah. They're great," Bella said without enthusiasm.

"I think it's a nice idea. You're only a senior once. Might as well document the experience."

"How many times have you been a senior?"

"That's different."

She finally made it to me and I reached for her eagerly. Her skin was warm on mine and I squeezed her hand. I heard the change in her heartbeat and grinned at her. Unwilling to have her even an arm's length away, I closed the distance between us and lifted my other hand to trace her lips with my fingers. I could feel her warm breath on my cold skin, and stared into her melted chocolate eyes.

"So, as discussed, I am not allowed to wish you a happy birthday, is that correct?" I asked her.

"Yes. That is correct."

"Just checking," I chuckled. "You might have changed your mind. Most people seem to enjoy things like birthdays and gifts." Most humans might, but then, Bella was not like most humans. She was selfless and gentle, good to her core, and as warm and radiant as the sun. She was a contradiction, a mix of tiger and kitten. Her body was fragile and delicate, but it contained a soul of such purity and strength, I was constantly amazed.

"Of course you'll enjoy it," Alice said with a laugh. "Everyone is supposed to be nice to you today and give you your way, Bella. What's the worst that could happen?"

"Getting older," Bella grumbled, her voice trembling.

I gritted my teeth, knowing exactly what she meant. I tried to keep the smile on my face, determined not to fight with her today.

"Eighteen isn't very old," Alice said. "Don't women usually wait till they're twenty-nine to get upset over birthdays?"

"It's older than Edward."

"Technically. Just by one little year, though."

I sighed. Technically she was right. I had stopped aging at seventeen, nearly a hundred years ago. My adoptive father, Carlisle, found me then, dying from the Spanish Influenza. Both of my parents had already died and I was alone. He had been alone for nearly three hundred years and had decided that, since he could not find a companion, he would create one instead.

My seventeen human years were foggy to me, seen as if through a thick haze. My first clear memory was of the burning pain of my transformation. Vampire venom is not something that is easily forgotten. After the fires died, I began my new… life… as a vampire.

He soon increased our family's size when he changed first Esme, his wife, and then Rosalie and later Emmett, my adoptive sister and brother. Alice and Jasper found us a few years later. Our family had been complete for decades, three couples, perfectly matched and in love – and then me. I loved my family fiercely. Our bonds to each other were strong, but it was not the same for me as it was for them. They loved one another and they loved me, but they also had their mates.

I was alone.

Until the day half a year ago when a new human girl moved into town. The first time I had met her eyes from across the crowded lunch room, I had been shocked to find myself unable to read her mind. Carlisle had discovered early on that, along with the speed, strength, and enhanced senses being a vampire brings, I had another gift – although it often seemed more of a curse. Hearing people's thoughts was unpleasant. It was useful, though, as it allowed me to monitor the humans around us for any suspicions regarding our nature. But from Bella, I heard only silence.

The surprise of her silent mind paled, however, when compared to my reaction the first time I smelled her.

My family was unusual in many ways: our intense love for each other, our family's size – most vampires lived alone or with their chosen mates – but also in our diet. Unlike others of our kind, we chose not to drink human blood. We lived on the blood of animals. We laughed as we called ourselves vegetarians. Human blood was so much more potent than animal blood was, though, and our lifestyle was a constant struggle. The pain we experienced living among humans and smelling them constantly was a small price to pay for us to hold on to the shreds of our humanity. Yet never, in almost a hundred years as a vampire, had I smelled blood as sweet as Bella Swan's.

There had been a time when I gave in to my vampire nature and hunted humans. I could remember all too well how powerful drinking the blood of a human was. Although I had limited myself to those I considered as monstrous as I was – I killed only other killers – when I looked into the mirror and saw my crimson eyes, I knew that this made me no less of a monster. It wasn't long before I recommitted myself to Carlisle and his vision.

That day, when I smelled Bella Swan for the first time, I nearly ruined the decades of sacrifice and self denial. Her scent was overpowering, devastating, a siren's call, impossible to resist. Yet resist I had. Not just once, but again and again. I found myself drawn to her, to her scent, to her mystery, and to her silent mind. I discovered how truly good she was, self sacrificing and generous, gentle and graceful – despite her tendency to trip over her own feet. The more time I spent around her, the more tied to her I became. Now, I was hers completely, bound to her life for the rest of my existence.

Incomprehensibly, amazingly, she loved me, too. I was a soulless monster, a vampire, a killer. Yet somehow, she saw in me a being worthy of her love. Although it baffled me, I was grateful and treasured every smile she gave me, every time I made her laugh, every touch she graced me with, every kiss we shared. The only dark spot on our relationship was that as intensely as I treasured her humanity, it seemed of little worth to her. She thought she wanted to become a vampire. I resisted this fiercely. No matter how she pleaded with me, I fought just as hard to keep her alive, to keep her human.

"What time will you be at the house?" Alice asked Bella, sidestepping the tricky conversation.

"I didn't know I had plans to be there."

"Oh, be fair, Bella!" Alice said loudly. "You aren't going to ruin all our fun like that are you?" Edward! She has to come to the party! Please, talk some sense into her.

"I thought my birthday was about what I want." Bella grumped.

"I'll get her from Charlie's right after school," I promised Alice.

"I have to work," Bella protested.

"You don't, actually," Alice said smugly. "I already spoke to Mrs. Newton about it. She's trading your shifts. She said to tell you 'Happy birthday'."

Determined to find some excuse to avoid Alice's party, Bella stammered, "I – I still can't come over. I, well, I haven't watched Romeo and Juliet yet for English."

"You have Romeo and Juliet memorized," Alice said with an indignant snort.

"But Mr. Berty said we needed to see it performed to fully appreciate it – that's how Shakespeare intended it to be presented." I rolled my eyes at this.

"You've already seen the movie," Alice reminded her.

"But not the nineteen-sixties version. Mr. Berty said it was the best."

At last Alice lost her composure and glared at Bella. "This can be easy, or this can be hard, Bella, but one way or the other – "

"Relax, Alice," I interrupted. "If Bella wants to watch a movie, then she can. It's her birthday."

"So there." Bella beamed, victorious.

"I'll bring her over around seven," I continued. "That will give you more time to set up."

This brought the smile back to Alice's pixie face and she laughed. Yay! "Sounds good. See you tonight, Bella! It'll be fun, you'll see." Thanks, Edward! She darted in to peck Bella on the cheek and danced off to class, rethinking her plans for the evening, now that she had extra time to set things up. She loved Bella nearly as much as I did and was never afraid to show it.

Bella turned to me with an agonized look. "Edward, please – "

I stopped her by pressing a finger to her lips. "Let's discuss this later. We're going to be late for class."

Last year Bella and I had only had one class together. Unable to bear the separation and unwilling to have to listen to the petty minds of the humans around her in order to watch her through their eyes, I had used all of my charm to convince Ms. Cope to schedule Bella and I for almost all the same classes this year. I wouldn't have to resort to eavesdropping on her through the mind of others. After having to listen to Mike Newton's vulgar fantasies about Bella last year, the boy was lucky to still be alive. Now I could watch her myself; indeed, I rarely took my eyes off of her. I could see her plotting all day, trying to figure out a way to get out of having to go to the party tonight.

Before Bella had entered my life, my family and I had kept to ourselves. Though we were beautiful to them, the humans avoided and ostracized us. Well, most humans did, Bella being the exception. While we wanted to be around humans, we never really felt part of their world. We preferred it that way – it was safer for the humans not to get too close to us – but it still made us unhappy. We tried to act human, but we weren't, and they could tell. They may not have known they could tell, but their instincts knew. We were dangerous. We were predators and they were our prey. At any point, our control might falter and we could kill them. We didn't look like they did, with our pale, icy skin, our toothy smiles, and our strange shifting eyes. Being around teenagers who were going through all of the changes puberty brought made our lack of any changes seem off to them.

Bella had changed all of that. Now, at lunch, Alice and I sat with Bella and her friends, ignoring the tension that divided the table – the humans from the vampires. I listened to their banter and tried to ignore the false smiles and snide internal monologue of Jessica Stanley, just as I tried to ignore the bitter thoughts Mike Newton directed at me. His fantasies involving Bella were harder to ignore, though, and I found myself glaring at him, feeling a low growl in my throat. The fantasies stopped when he caught my glare. He looked away, a sudden sweat appearing on his forehead as he paled.

if looks could kill… ugh, Cullen is such a freak… what does she see in him?…he's so creepy…

I chuckled and went back to watching Bella.

When the school day finally ended, I walked Bella to her truck and held open her passenger door. I was planning on driving her home, giving her no opportunities to escape. She folded her arms, refusing to get into the truck.

"It's my birthday, don't I get to drive?"

Her ancient truck was slow enough as it was. I was used to driving vehicles that reached speeds more appropriate to the autobahn than small town streets and her even slower driving was agonizing.

"I'm pretending it's not your birthday, just as you wished."

"If it's not my birthday, then I don't have to go to your house tonight…" she said slyly.

Fine, then.

"Alright." I shut the passenger door and walked to the driver's side to hold that door open for her instead. "Happy birthday."

"Shh," she shushed me again as she climbed in.

I turned on the radio and played with the dials, trying to get even one station to come in clearly. I shook my head saying, "Your radio has horrible reception." But not for long, I thought happily, knowing what my brothers had planned.

She frowned at me and defended her truck. "You want a nice stereo? Drive your own car." I couldn't help feeling delight at her sour mood and tried not to smile.

When she – finally – parked in front of her father's house, I reached for her. Although I had spent nearly every minute of the day with her, I hadn't kissed her yet, and the desire to do so was growing unbearable.

Touching her face gently, I leaned toward her and whispered, "You should be in a good mood, today of all days." I heard her breath catch and her heart race.

"And if I don't want to be in a good mood?"

"Too bad," I said, my need for her burning in my eyes. Unable to resist one second longer, I pressed my stone lips to her warm, soft mouth. I could feel her anger melt and it was not long before she returned my kiss with feeling. Perhaps a little too much feeling. She leaned into me and wrapped her arms around me. The fire burned in my throat, making me ache as I pulled her arms away from me. As much as I wanted to kiss her and have her kiss me back, I knew how easily having my lips on her could turn into something other than a kiss. Something deadly.

"Be good, please," I begged. I gently brushed my lips against hers once more and then folded her arms across her stomach, firmly placing her away from me. I could hear her heart hammering, her breath coming in fast gasps as she struggled to control herself.

"Do you think I'll ever get better at this? That my heart might someday stop trying to jump out of my chest whenever you touch me?"

"I really hope not."

I delighted in her reactions, as much as they made me fear my own reactions to her. The fact that I could make her heart race thrilled me and I knew that if my heart was not a dead thing in my chest, that it would be racing, too.

"Let's go watch the Capulets and Montagues hack each other up, all right?" she asked, rolling her eyes at me.

"Your wish, my command." I did wish she could have chosen some other way to spend the afternoon. Trying not to dwell on that, I wrapped her up in my embrace while we reclined on the couch. Knowing my skin was cold and not wanting her to be chilly, I threw an old afghan around her to keep her warm while she fast-forwarded through the opening credits.

"You know, I've never had much patience with Romeo," I couldn't help saying.

"What's wrong with Romeo?" she asked, sounding surprised.

"Well, first of all, he's in love with this Rosaline – don't you think it makes him seem a little fickle? And then, a few minutes after their wedding, he kills Juliet's cousin. That's not very brilliant. Mistake after mistake. Could he have destroyed his own happiness any more thoroughly?" I commented disapprovingly.

She sighed, "Do you want me to watch this alone?"

I decided to ignore the movie and concentrate on her. "No, I'll mostly be watching you, anyway." I lightly ran my fingers along her arm, watching her skin raise goose bumps at my touch. "Will you cry?" I tried not to smirk.

"Probably, if I'm paying attention."

Hmm. Maybe this will be fun after all.

"I won't distract you, then," I lied, pressing my lips into her hair.

As the play progressed, I started to whisper Romeo's lines into Bella's ear. "Love is a smoke raised with the fume of sighs; being purged, a fire sparkling in lover's eyes; being vex'd a sea nourish'd with lover's tears. What is it else? A madness most discreet, a choking gall and a preserving sweet." She shivered, her breathing quickening.

I played with her hair loving how the silk felt against my skin. Her hair was long, thick, and dark, and smelled lightly of strawberries. I moved my face close to her neck, tracing the lines of her jaw with my nose. Breathing in the scent of her skin, I moved back to her ear and whispered, "If I profane with my unworthiest hand this holy shrine, the gentle fine is this: My lips, two blushing pilgrims, ready stand to smooth that rough touch with a tender kiss." I pressed my lips against the soft spot under her ear, feeling her pulse race beneath my touch.

Eventually watching Romeo end his life, unwilling to live without Juliet by his side, I began to understand his point of view. I heard Bella sniffle and chuckled, drying her tears with a lock of her hair.

"I'll admit, I do sort of envy him here."

"She's very pretty."

Pretty? Ugh. "I don't envy him the girl – just the ease of the suicide. You humans have it so easy! All you have to do is throw down one tiny vial of plant extracts…"

"What?" she gasped. Hearing her heart rate increase, I realized I had upset her and tried to explain.

"It's something I had to think about once, and I knew from Carlisle's experience that it wouldn't be simple. I'm not even sure how many ways Carlisle tried to kill himself in the beginning… after he realized what he'd become…" Realizing how brooding I sounded, I tried to lighten my tone. "And he's clearly still in excellent health."

She twisted around to face me. "What are you talking about?" she demanded. Her face was fierce, her eyes wide. "What do you mean, this is something you had to think about once?"

I remembered all too clearly the panic I'd felt as I raced to find her. The terror that filled me at seeing her lying on the floor, broken and bleeding. The despair – and the ecstasy – I'd felt as I tried to suck the vampire venom out of her veins from the bite that James – one of three nomads we had run across – had inflicted upon her, certain that I would be unable to stop… that I would end up killing her myself.

"Last spring, when you were… nearly killed…" I stopped and took a ragged breath, trying to collect myself. "Of course I was trying to focus on finding you alive, but part of my mind was making contingency plans. Like I said, it's not as easy for me as it is for a human."

I saw her trace the silvery scar on her hand. She frowned and shook her head. James had decided to hunt my Bella, tricking us all along the way. He had tricked me by making me think I was leading him away from her when really he was assuring that I was out of the way, unable to interfere. He had tricked Bella into believing that he had her mother, forcing her to sacrifice herself to save Renée. It was only due to Alice that I was able to find her in time to stop James from killing her. I felt a moment of satisfaction knowing that he was dead, only wishing that I could have been the one to rip him to pieces instead of allowing my brothers that pleasure. But Bella had needed me.

"Contingency plans?" she pressed.

"Well, I wasn't going to live without you," I rolled my eyes at her, "but I wasn't sure how to do it – I knew Emmett and Jasper would never help… so I was thinking maybe I would go to Italy and do something to provoke the Volturi." I saw again the fire that burned James into ashes, smelled the vile, icy stench of the smoke that rose from his body. I knew I would be unable to simply throw myself into a fire, but the Volturi would not let me live if I threatened their secret.

"What is a Volturi?" she said in a hard voice.

I thought about Carlisle's memories of the time he had spent with them and tried to explain. "The Volturi are a family. A very old, very powerful family of our kind. They are the closest thing our world has to a royal family, I suppose. Carlisle lived with them briefly in his early years, in Italy, before he settled in America – do you remember the story?"

"Of course I remember." The first time I had taken her to my house, to meet my family, I had shown her the pictures in Carlisle's office, and told her of his early life in Europe. I had shown her the painting of Carlisle, Aro, Caius, and Marcus. It was a vivid painting, I had been sure she would remember it.

"Anyway, you don't irritate the Volturi, not unless you want to die – or whatever it is we do."

Carlisle and I had spent countless nights arguing theology and spirituality. He was convinced there was more to this life. That, even though we were not truly alive, neither were we truly dead. He tried to convince me that our lives served some higher purpose, even though we were vampires, damned creatures according to all the old stories. He believed how you lived your life determined your afterlife.

I argued back. We were dead. This was as much of an afterlife as we were going to get. If ever our bodies were destroyed, we would cease to exist, or worse, perhaps our consciousness would live on in our ashes, a true hell in itself. But heaven? I shook my head. That was no longer obtainable.

Bella took my face in her warm hands and made me meet her eyes. I saw the horror in them and immediately regretted my words.

"You must never, never, never think of anything like that again!" she said fiercely. "No matter what might ever happen to me, you are not allowed to hurt yourself!"

Trying to reassure her, I spoke calmly. "I'll never put you in danger again, so it's a moot point."

"Put me in danger! I thought we'd established that all the bad luck is my fault? How dare you even think like that?" She was angry now and I felt guilty. I'd tried so hard not to fight with her over the birthday party and now my words had angered her far more than any silly party ever would. But now I was morbidly curious. She had to go on living if I was dead. Humans were able to heal after all, but would she want to?

"What would you do, if the situation were reversed?"

"That's not the same thing."

I laughed, my point made.

"What if something did happen to you?" her face paled. "Would you want me to go off myself?"

I felt my face contort in pain at the thought of a world where Bella did not exist. No. I couldn't allow that. Would she feel the same pain at my loss as I would feel at hers? How could she? Her frail human form could not possibly contain the power of the love that I felt for her. I wanted to believe that she would move on, marry, have kids… I felt a new pain knowing that I was preventing her from living her life by being with her. But I could not live without her, and for some reason, she wanted to be with me.

"I guess I see your point… a little. But what would I do without you?" I asked.

"Whatever you were doing before I came along and complicated your existence."

Complicated? My life had been empty before I met Bella. Just go back to the emptiness? Impossible. I sighed, "You make that sound so easy."

"It should be. I'm not really that interesting." Her mouth turned down at the corners.

How could she think that? I found her endlessly fascinating. I decided not to argue with her anymore, though.

"Moot point." Suddenly, Charlie's thoughts intruded on my mind and I realized how inappropriate we would look to him, under a blanket cuddled up together. I pulled away from her with difficulty, shifting her so she sat beside me in a much less compromising position, scooting over so that we weren't even touching, despite the ache I felt at her absence.

"Charlie?" she always was so perceptive. I smiled.

She reached for me and firmly took my hand in hers, as unwilling as I was to be separated so completely.

Charlie came in with a pizza box in his hands.

"Hey, kids," he said with a smile at Bella. "I thought you'd like a break from cooking and washing dishes for your birthday. Hungry?"

"Sure. Thanks, Dad."

As usual, I did not join them for dinner. Bella didn't expect me to keep up appearances to the point of forcing me to eat human food for her father, for which I was grateful.

When they were finished eating, I asked permission of Charlie to take Bella out for the evening. I could hear his anticipation over a ball game and he was fretting over having me there, being forced to pretend to enjoy my company for his daughter's sake. Bella looked hopeful that he would refuse and I had to hide my grin.

"That's fine – the Mariners are playing the Sox tonight, so I won't be any kind of company… Here." He tossed the camera to Bella, but it glanced off her fingers. Moving a little too quickly, I grabbed it before it could hit the floor, stifling my annoyance at Charlie.

"Nice save," Charlie commented. "If they're doing something fun at the Cullen's tonight, Bella, you should take some pictures. You know how your mother gets – she'll be wanting to see the pictures faster than you can take them."

"Good idea, Charlie," I said and handed the camera to Bella. She immediately snapped one of me while I laughed at her.

"It works," she said.

"That's good. Hey, say hi to Alice for me. She hasn't been over in a while," Charlie grimaced. He and Alice had become friends during Bella's recovery from James's attack, saving him from having to deal with the daily hygiene needs of his teenage daughter.

"It's been three days, Dad," Bella said, rolling her eyes. "I'll tell her."

"Okay. You kids have fun tonight," he said as he edged toward the livingroom.

I grinned broadly at her in triumph as I grabbed her hand and pulled her to the truck. I didn't offer to let her drive this time, knowing how difficult finding the turn off for my house would be for her. Glad I didn't have to endure her speeds, I tried to push the old truck at least a little faster.

"Take it easy." She was so overprotective of her ancient truck.

"You know what you would love? A nice little Audi coupe. Very quiet, lots of power…" Thanks to my psychic sister and Carlisle's years as a doctor, not to mention my own inheritance, we had plenty of money. I didn't understand why she wouldn't let me spend some of it on her. It wasn't like it was doing me any good in the bank account.

"There's nothing wrong with my truck. And speaking of expensive nonessentials, if you know what's good for you, you didn't spend any money on birthday presents."

"Not a dime." I couldn't wait for her to see what I did get her.

"Good."

I thought of Alice and my family's excitement over the upcoming party. Suddenly worried, I begged her, "Can you do me a favor?"

"That depends on what it is," she said, eyeing me warily.

I sighed. "Bella, the last real birthday any of us had was Emmett in 1935. Cut us a little slack, and don't be too difficult tonight. They're all very excited."

The look of surprise on her face was adorable. Then she grimaced. "Fine. I'll behave."

"I should probably warn you…" I glanced at her, wondering how she would take this news, but knowing it was better that she be prepared.

"Please do."

"When I say they're all excited… I do mean all of them."

"Everyone?" she choked. "I thought Emmett and Rosalie were in Africa."

"Emmett wanted to be here." During the horror of dealing with James, Emmett had developed a real big brother fondness for Bella. In fact, the only one of my family who didn't adore her was Rosalie, but that was Rosalie's problem, not Bella's. While Rosalie didn't desire me for herself, the fact that I didn't desire her had always bothered her. Though it wasn't until I fell in love with Bella that she had let that secret slip. The absolute acceptance of the rest of the family for Bella, especially how enthusiastically her Emmett approved of Bella, bothered her as well. Rosalie was jealous of Bella, and that emotion manifested as dislike.

"But… Rosalie?" Bella worried, knowing how Rose felt about her even if she didn't understand why.

"I know, Bella. Don't worry, she'll be on her best behavior." I decided to change the subject. "So, if you won't let me get you the Audi, isn't there anything you'd like for your birthday?"

She whispered, "You know what I want."

I frowned. Again? Hadn't we already had this argument today? Why did she have to keep bringing it up?

"Not tonight, Bella. Please."

She persisted, "Well, maybe Alice will give me what I want."

Alice was convinced that Bella would be a vampire someday. Her visions of the future were imperfect and changing, but this one, the vision of Bella pale and cold with crimson eyes, was firm in her mind. I was determined to change that future, but so far, all I had managed to do was to delay it.

I growled furiously, "This isn't going to be your last birthday, Bella."

"That's not fair!" She was so determined to end her life. Couldn't she just enjoy it? With me? I clenched my teeth and vowed that she would live a long and happy life if it was the last thing I did.

As we pulled up to the house, we could see the decorations Alice had set up. Strings of Japanese lanterns hung from the porch and bowls of pink roses lined the wide stairs up to the front doors.

I could hear my family gather in the front room, ready to welcome Bella. I tried to calm myself. Entering the party angry would not make anyone happy. I heard her moan.

"This is a party. Try to be a good sport."

"Sure," she muttered. I flashed around the car to open her door and offered her my hand. She took it, her expression thoughtful. "I have a question."

I eyed her warily. What could she possibly want to know now? I waited for her to continue as she toyed with her camera.

"If I develop this film, will you show up in the picture?"

I couldn't help but laugh. She really was so silly sometimes. Grateful that she had found a way to lighten the mood, I pulled her from the truck and up the stairs. I was still chuckling at her when I opened the door.

"Happy birthday, Bella!" everyone called when we walked in. I watched the blood swirl under her skin as Bella's easy blush colored her face. Alice had been busy, filling the house with the scent of roses. There must have been several hundred of the flowers in the living room alone. Candles burned merrily from every surface, adding their own rose scent, mixed with the faint scents of sulfur from the fire and melting wax. Next to the pink cake was a small pile of packages, wrapped in the same silver paper as the box Alice had tried to give her that morning.

Yay! You're finally here! Alice's thoughts sang. What took you so long?

I just shook my head at her and wrapped my arms around Bella, kissing the top of her head.

Esme reached for Bella and hugged her carefully. We're so glad you're here, Edward. Alice was about to run to Charlie's house and drag you both here!

Carlisle put his arm around Bella's shoulders and whispered loudly, "Sorry about this, Bella. We couldn't rein Alice in." As if that were even possible.

"You haven't changed at all," Emmett said with mock disappointment. "I expected a perceptible difference, but here you are, red-faced just like always." Edward, I know how much you enjoy hunting mountain lions, but you have to try chasing a cheetah! Almost as much fun as wrestling a grizzly bear. Hah!

"Thanks a lot, Emmett," I could feel the heat radiating off of her body as Bella's blush deepened.

"I have to step out for a second," Emmett winked at Alice, "Don't do anything funny while I'm gone."

"I'll try." Bella grimaced, embarrassed.

Rosalie was doing her best to behave, as I had promised Bella. Even her thoughts were less venomous than usual. I had a feeling Esme had spoken to her sharply.

"Time to open presents!" Alice announced, skipping across the room. I saw Jasper smiling at Bella, but he stayed where he was. Have fun watching the movie, Romeo? he taunted me.

When I had first brought Bella to meet my family, I had been worried about Jasper's lack of control. His previous lifestyle made it difficult for him to conform to our feeding habits. This worry subsided quickly, largely because whenever he was around us, he ignored Bella, spending most of his energy silently mocking me. While he leaned against the wall, he quoted parts of various Shakespeare love scenes at me, substituting the characters' names with mine and Bella's. I threw him a dark look, but he just raised his eyebrows and tried not to laugh.

Alice steered Bella over to the table filled with cake and presents.

Bella protested, "Alice, I know I told you I didn't want anything – "

"But I didn't listen," Alice interrupted, smugly. "Open it." She took the camera from Bella's hands and replaced it with a large silver wrapped box from Emmett, Rosalie, and Jasper. Blushing again, Bella tore off the paper and stared at the box blankly, apparently unable to decipher the numbers and letters on the box into a meaningful name. She opened it, looking for a clue as to what it was supposed to be, but the box was empty. I did my best to control my laughter.

"Um… thanks."

Jasper laughed and even Rosalie smiled. "It's a stereo for your truck," Jasper explained. "Emmett's installing it right now so that you can't return it."

"Thanks Jasper, Rosalie," she told them smiling. "Thanks, Emmett!" she called, knowing he would hear her. Emmett's laugh echoed up from her truck.

See? I told you she'd have fun! Alice scolded me. Someday I'd learn to stop doubting her.

I grinned with anticipation as Alice handed her the box from this morning. "Open mine and Edward's next." Alice's excited voice was a high pitched trill.

Bella glared at me furiously. "You promised."

I opened my mouth to answer as Emmett bounded back in."Just in time!" He knew what was in the box and how excited I was. Emmett crowded in behind Jasper, who had come in closer to watch Bella's reaction. Jasper could feel her happiness and mine and was drawn to it.

My eyes alight with anticipation, I brushed a strand of hair from her face. "I didn't spend a dime," I assured her. I heard her heart stutter at my touch and tried to control my nerves.

She took a deep breath and held her hand out to Alice. "Give it to me," she said with a sigh.

She rolled her eyes at me, stuck her finger under the edge of the paper and jerked it under the tape. Her powerful scent suddenly filled the room. "Shoot." She muttered examining the tiny paper cut. A single drop of blood oozed from the tiny cut.

I heard Jasper's sharp intake of breath and saw him crouch in preparation to spring at Bella. The thoughts suddenly flowing through his mind were primal, consumed with thirst.

"No!" I yelled throwing myself at Bella. I knew as I touched her that it was with too much force and I heard the table crack as she hit it and Bella, the table, cake, flowers, and her presents tumbled to the floor. The bowl full of flowers shattered as Bella landed in the middle of the pile.

I had no time to go to her as Jasper hurled himself at Bella. I caught him, the sound of our bodies crashing together was louder than the sounds of the breaking glass and splintering furniture. Unable to control himself with the scent of Bella's potent blood clouding his thinking, he growled at me, snapping his teeth together.

Emmett came to my assistance, grabbing Jasper from behind. Jasper continued to fight against Emmett, straining to get to Bella, never taking his eyes off of her. I looked frantically at Bella and saw that she had much more than a paper cut to worry about now. In my rush to keep her away from Jasper, I had made the situation far worse. Blood streamed down her arm as she struggled to sit up amidst the sharp pieces of broken glass. It was a deep red, flowing thickly down her arm, overpowering the scent of roses in the room. The monster within me looked at Bella and strained against my control with the burning need to taste her again. Without thinking, I immediately stopped breathing, trying to contain my sudden, intense thirst. I looked back to my family, and saw the blood lust in every one of their thirsty eyes.


Author's note

When a friend of mine told me that Stephenie Meyer had written an Edward version of Twilight, I was thrilled and had to find it. Although saddened by the way it was leaked, published online without her permission, I am very glad that she pushed past the betrayal and posted a link to the story on her website. IMO Midnight Sun is the best of all the twilight series, for all that it was unedited and not officially published. If you haven't read it, I highly recommend looking it up!

When I finished reading it, naturally I wanted the rest of the books from his point of view as well, but alas, she hasn't written them... to my knowledge at least. So I did 8-D. My version of New Moon tries to follow Edward's "voice" from Midnight Sun and there are a few references in various chapters that link back to his side of the story.

I hope you enjoy reading as much as I've enjoyed writing it!

~Leona