Alice led me through the hospital against the protestations of the nurse at the counter. I felt strange, like I'd gone cliff diving from just a little bit too high. I heard Alice speaking to a nurse urgently, I couldn't make out any of what she was saying — my mind just kept repeating 'I should be dead' like some sick mantra. Eventually I was sat down on a bed — the crinkling of the paper somehow pulled me out of the loop my mind seemed to be in.

I noticed Alice was holding my hand. I noticed I was gripping hers like a lifeline while hanging over some great height. She didn't seem bothered. I still felt like I'd taken a bit too far of a drop.

Alice seemed to notice I'd become more coherent and fixed me with a look of concern "Bella, are you okay?" She seemed full of worry, but I think I was going to be fine. The ache in my bones was gradually easing up, the nausea in my stomach going away bit by bit.

"I think I'm fine," My attention was drawn to the other person in the room, a nurse, and when I looked at him, he raised an eyebrow at me. A small smirk seemed to play at the corner of his mouth.

"So, Alice, this is the young lady you've been going on about, hmm?" The Southern drawl surprised me from someone this far north, and it might be kind of sexist, but I didn't expect a southern boy to be a nurse. His voice was pleasant though. He moved gracefully, like Alice, and suddenly I realized that his eyes were red too.

Alice seemed too busy glaring at the nurse to notice that I had stiffened slightly, my grip on her delicate yet still somehow stony hand growing tighter. "Do you two know each other?" I asked awkwardly; obviously they did, but I was hoping for some elaboration on how. Siblings, maybe? But besides the pale skin and red eyes there didn't seem to be much in common between them.

"This is my adopted brother, Jasper" Alice said. Her voice held an edge that confused me, wasn't she looking for him earlier? "And I'd prefer if he could take his job seriously and check on you." Oh, that explained it, then. Alice was concerned about me, it was… kind of endearing, actually.

Jasper's smirk turned into a friendly grin, and he turned his attention to me. His fingers found my wrist and with a gentleness that surprised me he asked me what happened. "Oh, I just… I guess I just slipped on some ice, there was a van… I thought it was going to hit me but I lucked out. Today must be my day!" I shrugged and laughed; I hoped it didn't sound too forced. Jasper's lips drew to one side and he seemed to exude a bit of disapproval.

"Alice did mention that you were a bit on the clumsy side." He said, Southern drawl somehow making me feel somewhat insulted despite how friendly it sounded.

"Jasper!" Alice slapped his arm, and he smirked again. I was starting to pick up on the dynamic between them, it was sweet. He was trying to comfort Alice through teasing. It was very much an older brother tactic.

The interplay between them made me smile too, I released Alice's hand and rubbed her arm consolingly, "It's okay I am pretty clumsy. I'm more of a reader than an athlete, I've made peace with it." Alice glanced at me, and she leaned into my touch a bit.

Jasper seemed to get all he needed from my wrist and pulled out a small flashlight "Alright, your heart-rate seems a little quick, but sitting so close my darling sister does have that affect on the ladies," he clicked the flashlight a couple times, and Alice glared at him again "I just have to check your pupillary response to ensure there's no lingering effects from hitting your head and you should be good to go."

I nodded and he shined the light in my eyes one at a time, he hummed in approval before pulling a lollipop from his pocket and handing it to me, Alice snatched it out of his hands before he could say anything, but my mouth still hung open and I narrowed my eyes at him in indignation "I'm 17 you know, not a child." I said with as much acid as I could manage. It was kind of funny, and any lingering tension in the room seemed to clear.

"Alright well, if she's fine, I'm taking her home." Alice said, smiling sweetly at Jasper, "Goodbye big brother, thank you for your help!" I couldn't tell if she was being sarcastic but I sent a thankful look at Jasper.

The hospital was pretty small, so we made it out to Alice's car pretty quickly. We both got in but Alice didn't turn the car on, instead to turned towards me with a worried look. I bit my lower lip nervously, unsure what she wanted to say. I was pretty positive I wasn't in any danger from her, instead, the boundless desire to know things that school tried so hard to tamp down seemed to force me to speak, "So I have—"

"I'm sure you want—"

Alice and I tried to speak at the same time, and when she gestured for me to speak, I shook my head, "No you go."

She glanced into my eyes before turning back to look out the windshield. "I'm sure you want to know what happened. I know… You kind of picked up on the strangeness on our date," she glanced at me, a mischievous grin overtaking the worry on her face momentarily, "but I'm sure you want to know what exactly it is…" She trailed off and turned fully towards me, legs pulled up, chin rested on knees. "I'm not supposed to tell you, but I will if you want. I do really like you." There was a slightly pleading edge to her voice, like she'd been waiting for this moment her entire life. It occurred to me that she might actually be older than she appeared.

"Yeah. I…" A deep sigh escaped my lips and she seemed preternaturally still again, "I think I kind of know, my gramma used to tell stories about…" I sighed again, it felt silly saying it out loud, but she had acknowledged that something was different about her, so I just powered through it, speaking quickly, "I think you're a sidhe, or a fae, or something like that. Like from Celtic folklore." I looked towards her and she had furrowed her eyebrows, a curious look on her face, "Am I wrong? I… I kind of thought you had a sort of Winter Court feeling, since you're so cold and sometimes you're so stiff…"

She giggled and I crossed my arms and glared through the windshield, I was about to chastise her for laughing at me, but she interrupted before I could get started "Oh my gosh, no! Or… I guess maybe, there are rumors that we are actually something like that, but I've always been told I'm a vampire. I drink blood and everything, it's always made sense." She paused and titled her head, "Winter Court, though… That would be really cool."

When she said vampire a chill seeped into my blood, the hairs on the back of my neck standing up, was she planning to kill me after all? I had never heard of vampires being particularly kind towards humans in their stories. Maybe Carmilla, but even she was a danger to some humans. The silence seemed to permeate the car, and Alice's face was growing worried again. I realized I wasn't breathing. I took a deep breath and said the first thing that came to my mind, "What… the fuck?" I turned towards Alice again, "A vampire!?"

"I don't kill people, Bella!" She said hurriedly, "All of the blood I drink is sourced ethically, no one dies. Some of my family even drinks animal blood instead of human, but I don't really like killing animals either… I don't harm anything sentient, Jasper doesn't either. We share the same view." A morbid curiosity filled me as she spoke, some part of me wanted to dive deeply into the details of her diet, some other part was happy not knowing; as long as she didn't murder people or hurt me… It was fine, right?

"Okay." I ended up saying. I wanted to say so much more, but I wasn't sure where to start. I decided to start with what worried me the most, "So… Do you actually like me, or is all this some ploy to get me to consent to give you blood…?" My voice felt small, vulnerable, I really hoped she wasn't just trying to manipulate me.

Alice looked mortified, though, denial evident in her face before she even spoke "No! Of course not! Bella, don't you ever think that. I wouldn't drink your blood anyway, too much risk. I do like you, I really really like you." Her teeth worried her bottom lip, and I had to strain to hear her next words, "Maybe too much…"

I took a steadying breath and turned fully towards her, I decided I was young, and stupid, and I liked her too. Why not take a risk? "Alice, can I kiss you?" I forced myself to sound as confident as possible, this whole conversation was like emotional whiplash but I decided it didn't matter to me what she was. I liked her, she liked me, why not try?

Alice's mouth fell open, a look of shock etched on her face before she started laughing heartily, trying to choke out words as she laughed "I just… told you… I'm a vampire… and you want to kiss me?" I tried to hide my embarrassment and started to reach for the door so I could flee but Alice grabbed for my hand and though her face still showed her mirth, she replied softly and pulled me closer, "You silly human, of course you can kiss me."

Kissing Alice was difficult to describe. I vaguely expected that it would be something like kissing a statue, but her lips – though quite cold – were surprisingly soft. She growled somewhere deep in her chest and pulled back, "Wow, that was kind of more difficult than I expected — but wow, was that… your first kiss?" Her hand caressed the side of my face as I breathed heavily, mind quite blank.

"Um, yeah, was I okay? And, wait, difficult? Why difficult?" I blushed deeply, I hoped she didn't think I was lame for not having experience in kissing, but I was not exactly flush with other lesbians to kiss.

"No no, you were fantastic, don't worry," she giggled, and pulled me in to place a quick kiss on my cheek, "It was difficult because even though I don't want to hurt you, or drink your blood, you still smell… Pretty incredibly appetizing to me…" She leaned back from me, seemingly waiting for a reply, she looked worried. I certainly didn't know what to say to that.

"More than… more than most people do?" I asked, confused. I felt like her statement should worry me a little, but I was still caught in the heady feeling of kissing what had to be the most beautiful girl in the world. My blood ran hot in my veins, and despite the idea that she might to drink it after all, I still just wanted to kiss her.

It looked like she didn't know how to reply, the car was filled with a deep silence, broken only the rain that started to fall heavy on the car. She seemed to hesitate before she replied, "There are legends among vampires that all of us have one person who's blood… Well they say it 'sings' but basically it just smells exponentially better than most human's blood. I guess it would be like comparing food cooked by a toddler to your favorite meal prepared by a master chef, and also you're starving." She rested her chin back on her knees, but then suddenly she was facing forward, one hand on the steering wheel, and the other turning the car on.

"Are we going somewhere? And wait what does this mean, you want to drink my blood or not? I'm getting mixed signals." I was confused by her demeanor and words. I also just didn't want to leave yet. Really, I just wanted to keep kissing her.

The steering wheel creaked as she gripped it, "I shouldn't…" She sighed, "I don't know. I don't want to drink your blood, but also I want to drink your blood, does that make sense?" I understood perfectly actually. That kind of solidified it for me, that she wasn't dangerous to me at all. That anything my gramma told me about how I should be cautious, and how some of these creatures were dangerous, might be true, but not for Alice. I think I would trust her with my life.

"Alice," she turned her head towards me, the rumble of the engine mostly drowned out by the rain, "I'm going to kiss you again, okay?" I leaned in slowly, giving her the chance to turn away. But her eyes went to my lips and then my eyes, and she leaned in to meet me in the middle.

Later that night as I lay in bed — iPod on full blast, playing Momentum by The Hush Sound. I couldn't help but feel that the lyrics spoke to me. Alice and I had inertia. We seemed to fit together so well, like we were made for one another. And if my blood really was such a heady scent to her, well, she smelled pretty incredible to me as well. She had clarified that she didn't use any special body wash, it was just something about vampires that attracted humans.

She also wanted me to meet her family. I couldn't help but feel like that was a pretty big deal, but she assured me it was just to assure them that I wasn't going to start blabbing about vampires to the world; apparently there was laws they had to follow. Alice claimed nothing could stop her once she decided to do something, but I hoped I wasn't putting them in any danger anyway.

I found myself curious about so many things, but mostly looking forward to our second official date tomorrow, and I fell asleep with thoughts of Alice running through my head.

Suddenly I found myself enclosed in inky darkness, 'Wasn't I just… in bed?' the silence around me seemed absolute, but strangely I didn't feel any danger. I wandered around for what felt like hours, there didn't seem to be anything here… When there was sudden movement in the corner of my eye I turned quickly, curious about what I would find in a place like this, but all I saw was a woman walking behind some obstruction without shape or form, her head turned towards me, seemingly daring me to follow.

Her skin had been dark like rich mahogany, with hair blacker than night and flowing like a river. She was beautiful in the way space was — from far away. I found myself infinitely curious about who she was, and made my way carefully towards whatever she walked behind. Something about her eyes made me feel electrified, like there was some energy about me that couldn't be stopped or penetrated. I was about to reach where I suspected a corner would be, I was turning, and I caught sight of her, in the corner of my eye again — and suddenly I was in my bed, sitting up suddenly. And not at all tired.

'What on earth…' my thoughts still seemed clear; I didn't forget the dream but it was confusing. I did suddenly remember that I had a date this afternoon and the thought of what to wear pierced me with a sudden panic. I didn't think I had to try especially hard to make Alice attracted to me — I'd somehow managed that in mom jeans and a decent blouse — but for an actual date I wanted to dress to impress. I also had to manage an outfit the school wouldn't yell at me for…

After showering and taking care of various human needs, I settled on a nice pair of low-rise jeans and a royal purple blouse that only showed my midriff if I raised my arms high enough. No one could dress-code me for this, and it was pretty cute in my opinion.

School passed in a blur of socializing and eagerness to see Alice, and when the last bell rang, I turned towards her, curiosity evident on my face, question on my lips, "Where are we going?"

Alice smiled at me and spoke quietly enough that we wouldn't be overheard, "Okay so I realized that anywhere we went, we'd probably have to deal with people staring at us, so I figured I'd ask my family to clear out of the main part of the house and I'd just cook something for you there. We live in a great location." In my eagerness I hadn't even thought of the other people so I was glad that Alice at least using her head.

"Sounds great! I hope your family isn't upset. I don't want them to resent me already" I laughed, but it held an undercurrent of nervousness. I didn't know how big Alice's house was but the way she worded that made me feel like it would be fine.

"It'll be fine! Rosalie spends most her time in the garage anyway, she's a total gearhead. Don't let her impeccable style fool you." She paused and put a finger to her chin in thought, "Hmm mother might want to help cook but she'll be unobtrusive, dad and Jasper are working, Emmet will just bother Rosalie, and Edward is probably just brooding in his room anyway! So really, it's fine." She linked her arm in mine and we headed off to her house.

Despite Alice's assurances we wouldn't see her family, her mother opened the door when we arrived to the house. When we pulled up I was distracted by the house, it was a massive thing in a strangely modern style I hadn't seen much — all glass and rich wood. Her mother, though, was equally as gorgeous as the rest of the Cullens and Hales seemed to be; she had a heart-shaped face and beautiful flowing caramel hair that framed her face perfectly, and matched her stark golden eyes.

She definitely looked older than Alice, but there was no way Alice could ever have been this woman's biological child. She greeted us at the door and her demeanor was so calming and motherly, I almost forgot how young she looked. We wandered into the kitchen and I took a seat at the bar that was attached to the kitchen. The floorplan was so open that I could imagine the sunlight streaming in through the windows and providing a warm and comfortable atmosphere.

Actually… I wondered if the vampires could be in the sunlight, I didn't think it would be a problem if they were actually sidhe, but vampires? The lore could go either way I suppose. Alice and her mother puttered about the kitchen gracefully, setting up all kinds of things I had no idea the use for, and I found myself curious at how familiar Mrs. Cullen seemed in the kitchen, her dexterity could put any top chef to shame. "Mrs. Cullen, are you a chef? You really look like you know what you're doing."

She turned towards me and smiled warmly "Oh you can call me Esme, dear. But yes, I have been a chef before." Her answer was straightforward until I put thought into it, she spoke as if she had been a chef in a past life or something. "By the way, Bella do you have any dietary restrictions we should know about? I'm afraid Alice went quite wild with grocery shopping when she decided on this, and we could accommodate just about anything at this point." She chuckled and ruffled Alice's hair, and the tiny girl responded by sticking her tongue out at her mother.

"Um, not really. I try to avoid meat and dairy, but I'm not especially picky to be honest." I wasn't vegan or anything, but ever since I was 11 and Renée took me to an animal sanctuary, I felt bad eating anything that came from such adorable creatures.

Alice sighed and seemed to decide that doing anything in the kitchen when Esme was there was pointless, so she went to sit next to me, moving so quickly it seemed like she teleported. She took my hand under the bar and smiled at me. I noticed that Esme stilled suddenly, and she turned an admonishing look towards Alice, "Dear, is there something you'd like to tell me? Perhaps something you've revealed about us to your new friend?"

My heart raced in my chest; Alice hadn't told her mother about telling me? Would her mother take the law more seriously? Was I actually in danger now? As if Esme could hear the fluttering of my heart, her face softened and she looked at me with a small smile, "It's okay, Bella, I'm not mad, I just wish I had been informed," she turned another admonishing look towards Alice, but Alice didn't seem to care, instead she threw an arm around my shoulders and pulled me close.

"Actually, mother, Bella is my girlfriend," my heart began racing faster, sure we'd made out quite a bit, but girlfriends? I tried to hide a wild grin so I didn't seem crazy, instead I reached around and held her waist as well, "and I only told her that I am a vampire. I think she was under the impression I was a fairy though." Alice grinned like a loon; her musical voice full of confidence.

Esme sighed dramatically, "You're lucky your siblings decided to go out, or Rosalie would have an absolute fit. You know how protective she is of our nature. She will not be pleased. Oh well, what's done is done, but really dear, fairies?" she raised a questioning eyebrow at me and I blushed.

"I actually said sidhe or fae, or maybe Winter Court," I grumbled in reply, it did sound pretty silly now that I thought about it, but honestly, so did vampires. I gripped Alice's waist tighter, raising my voice to normal conversation levels to add "And it makes more sense, aside from the whole blood thing you and vampires don't actually have that much in common from what I can tell."

"Hmm, well you might be right, and some of our kind do think we are Aos Sí, or sidhe, as you'd say. There is certainly some possibility of that, but considering the oldest among us is over three thousand years old I would place our origin not in Ireland but in Mycenaean Greece or Africa." Esme continued to prepare the meal, which, if not for the fascinating conversation, I would find myself interested in. Esme's voice was pretty engaging, more of an alto to Alice's soprano, but just as musical. I found listening to her easy as she continued to speak.

"If you asked me, I would say we were possibly created by Nyx or we may even be creations of Tartarus. What that makes us is unclear, but some of us certainly have power that seem like they could only really come from the gods." Esme was somehow balancing explaining all of this fascinating information with cooking. I wasn't sure what it would end up being, but there was eggplant, rice, and almonds so I was beginning to get quite curious about that as well.

Alice had an odd look on her face as well, as if she hadn't heard her mother talk about this before. "Isn't… Isn't dad a Roman Catholic? Where is all of this coming from?" She sounded confused and almost as interested as I was in this.

Esme hummed, pausing in her prep work, "Charlisle was raised a certain way, and then had to live a certain way for centuries to avoid too much negative attention. He didn't meet many of our kind, and instead chose to live amongst the humans, sharpening his ability to resist the more dangerous aspects of our nature. He has found strength in his faith, and I won't begrudge him that," she turned a sly look our way, "even if I find that he's likely wrong about who the real gods are."

I thought back to yesterday when I invoked Apollo during my tarot reading, and seemed to get some scarily accurate results. Gramma had instilled in me from a young age a healthy respect for the gods, particularly the Celtic and Greek gods who she said were one and same, with different cultural expressions. Maybe there was something to what Esme was saying, but I wasn't sure what that meant what exactly Alice and her family was.

"How have I never heard of this!?" Alice seemed flabbergasted. I looked at her with surprise. "I mean this is… This is like, massive, right? You're talking as if there's a good chance that there are actual gods and that we were made by them!" Alice placed her hands flat on the bar — which as made a little difficult by how short she was — and seemed to be trying to get the truth from her mother by sheer force of her gaze.

"Honey, I hardly think it's as big as you might imagine; it's merely a fanciful notion of our origins. I may have come across as thinking one way or another on the source of powers, but I myself am agnostic towards it all and find the idea fun." Esme resumed cooking, the meal beginning to take shape, she opened the oven and placed the eggplant – scattered with broken up almonds – inside. As interested as I was in this conversation, I was pretty hungry and even the unfinished food looked delicious.

Alice and Esme continued to converse about mythology, and while I tried very hard to pay attention, I found myself slipping off into sleep on Alice's shoulder. As unconsciousness claimed me, the woman from my dream the other night seemed to waver on the edge of my awareness, though I didn't dream of anything in particular.

"— in my future. Every time I look. Rosalie can throw a fit all she likes, but that girl isn't going anywhere unless she decides to opt-out. Sometimes… A lot of times she's even one of us." I rose from my unexpected nap, groggily rubbing my eyes and then stopping suddenly when I remembered where I was, 'Oh my god I fell asleep on Alice and she put on a couch.' My heart started racing and the voices in the kitchen quieted down making it abundantly clear that the vampires were aware I was awake.

"Bella honey," Esme's voice called gently from the kitchen, "You have perfect timing, the food is two minutes from being done!"

I rose from the couch and walked sheepishly back to the stool I had been in before. I noted that Alice was now sitting on the counter, legs swinging freely and face holding a smirk "Hey there sleepyhead, I almost left you to sleep on my shoulder, but I knew you'd be more comfy on the couch" her melodic laugh just made my blush worse.

"Yeah, sorry about that, I guess I didn't realize I was a little tired. My dad always jokes I can nap anywhere… Turns out he's right," Esme began plating the food, and it smelled heavenly. I couldn't wait to dig in what was sure to be an incredible meal, until I noticed that there was only enough for me, and it was quite clear the vampires did not intend to partake. "Uhh… Do you guys… eat food?" I hoped I didn't sound as awkward as I felt. "Nope!" Alice said, lips popping on the 'p' and making me curious again.

"Can't… Or don't?" I asked slowly.

"Well, we certainly could if we really wanted to," Esme started. "But it would do nothing for us in regards to taste or nutrition."

"And we'd have to cough it up later." Alice added with a discomforted tone.

My participation in the conversation mostly died after that, as Esme placed what appeared to be a heavenly creation of divine food in front of me. They continued talking about banal things, how is school, how is work (I learned Esme works in architecture, and designed this house), and I figured most of that was for my benefit.

By the time I finished eating Esme had made some excuse and left, so it was just Alice and I in the kitchen. I rinsed my dish, in an effort to be a good guest, and Alice and I looked at each other. "So," she started, "I briefly considered suggesting a hike, but then I remember that time you tripped on air while walking to our desk in Art History…" I scoffed in a mock offended manner, eliciting a giggle from Alice, "So instead how about we go to my room and listen to some music?"

I couldn't deny that sounded like a pretty good time, so we made our way upstairs and when we got to Alice's room, I was surprised at how it was decorated; there were posters for movies like V for Vendetta and Pride & Prejudice, seemingly random dance-hall music posters, and even some actual art (notably I saw Sleeping Venus and several paintings of Sappho). Her room was so varied and eclectic, it was incongruous to the style I was used to from Alice.

"You like? My tastes are many and varied, but this," she pressed play on a record player, "Is Brahms, and say what you will about classical music, the violin theme in this work is to die for." We listened to a while to all sorts of music. I moved from snooping around her room, to sitting on the edge of her bed, to sharing a large comfy beanbag with her.

"Are you going to fall asleep again? You're welcome to if you're tired, I don't sleep but listening to music and cuddling you does still make for a great date." Alice glanced in my direction and winked. I rolled my eyes but cuddled closer to her anyway.

"As far as first dates go, I think I'm probably the luckiest person alive." Alice giggled next to me and we both relaxed into each other while listening to the music, I couldn't have been happier.