Bella had changed in so many ways. She knew three things: she was madly in love with Edward Cullen, who was a vampire; she was a vampire too, and that if she went out during the day to talk to all of her other friends she would burn to death. Probably. The memory of Spike, the vampire that turned her when she impulsively searched for them on a quest to become a vampire so she could be with Edward. She also knew that she did not regret anything.

Bella and Edward are in Edwar's room, and they are sitting and talking. They are looking at each other and smiling. The window is open and they can see the black sky and the moon and the stars. They lose track of time and soon the night passes and the day comes. They don't see it coming and aren't used to having to make sure they see it coming.

The sun leaks into the room and Bella's hand starts sizzling. Edward smells the smoke first and wonders where the smell of smoke is coming from. Then he turns to Bella and sees that her hand is burning. Bella is shaking. She is a teenager and not used to pain. Edward runs to close the blinds of the window and rushes over to Bella.

"Are you okay? I'm sorry. We lost track of time," Edward says.

"I'm fine, Edward. I promise," Bella says.

"Your hand is red," Edward says. "I'll kiss it better."

He kisses her burning hand.

"It's just a little burn," Bella says. "At least I'm not that fragile mortal getting cut and triggering Jasper with my blood."

"That wasn't your fault, Bella," Edward says. "Are you okay? Are the blinds closed enough?"

Edward was not used to worrying that the sun would hurt his princess. He had been a vampire for over hundreds of years and hadn't known there were vampires that were burned by the sun and cursed to walk in the night. He had heard rumors, of course, but he had never really believed them. He had never had to. He was safe, and at the time that was what mattered.

"You're sure you're alright?" Edward asks.

"Read my mind," Bella says jokingly. I'll be young and in love forever. I hit the jackpot.

Edward Cullen wondered if there was anything he could do to make Bella like his family. Would his venom make it so she could walk in the sun and not get burned? Or would biting her to heal her from being cursed by the sun make it spread to him, and then he would be burned in the sun too? He was willing to take the chance and would even risk becoming like her, bound to darkness. Ironically, he knew Bella would never let him take that risk. He brings it up and Bella says it's too dangerous, that it wouldn't work, that sparkling is way better than burning.

"I'd rather burn with you than sparkle alone," Edward says.

"I know," Bella says. "But you don't have to. We're both immortal. We're together. It's fine. I'll be fine."

The lovebirds go downstairs to interact with the rest of the family. Rosalie, who had thought she was cursed and who had never wanted Bella to be a vampire, realized how lucky she was. That at least when she was forced to be a vampire, she never once burned in the sun.

"Hi Bella," Rosalie said. "Your hand! Are you alright?"

Although before Rosalie had resented Bella and had made it seem to the others that she hated Bella, really she just wished a long and normal life for Bella.

"It's fine, Rose," Bella says. "I'm immortal. It didn't happen the way it should have, but it happened. I'm happy."

Edward, Rosalie, Emmett, Alice and Jasper were headed to school and Carlisle was headed to his job at the hospital. They had not yet worked out if it was safe for Bella to go to the school when it wasn't really that sunny outside but it was daylight. Carlisle an Esme were doing research to figure out how to best protect Bella. For now, though, Bella stayed at the Cullen house during the day. Esme Cullen also stayed home and was teaching Bella about vampire rules and stuff like that. Bella was bored just staying home all day and wished she could go to school with Edward and also talk to the friends she had before becoming a vampire.

Although Bella could sleep, her body did not need sleep. She was immortal and bored as hell. In love, happy most of the time, a little scared, and secretly curious about Spike and his clan. Later she would learn about Drusilla, Angel, slayers, and other vampire politics such as those. Carlisle had brought home blood bags from the hospital as rabbit and mouse blood wasn't really enough for a newborn vampire. Bella hungrily downed several of the blood bags. Her face was covered in blood and she wanted to go out and drink the blood of random unprotected innocent people. it was daytime, though, and she wanted to be like the Cullens. She wanted to emulate them, she wanted to be good, she wanted Edward to love her, but she couldn't stop thinking about Spike and how he lived.

All she knew of Spike was from the night she danced with him and let him bite her and turn her, but still, despite the fact that she was madly in love with Edward, something was pulling her to Spike. She was thinking about Spike, dreaming about Spike for the few hours she dozed off and dreamed. Vampires like Spike who were night walkers could sleep but didn't have to. And Bella was bored and new and thirsty so she slept to pass the time and fight her cravings to go out and find human blood. The sun was out anyways, but maybe she could go into the sewers and find some victims. Maybe. But that wasn't the kind of vampire Bella Swan was going to be. So she slept, dreamt, talked with Esme, and drank blood bags.

Soon it was 2 pm and Edward was home from 21st century high school. Edward tells Bella that Jessica and Mike and all of the other kids miss her and hope she's okay. Bella doesn't really care what the norms think, but she is jealous that they get to go to school, socialize and go to the beach. The beach, where Jacob was. Jacob had turned into a wolf and Bella didn't even know. But she could sense that something had changed with Jacob too and she wished that she could get in touch with him. She wasn't ready, though.

"I really think it's okay for me to go to school. It's foggy. I'll be fine," Bella says.

"There's no way I'm letting you take the risk. Besides, if something happened people would find out about us," Edward says.

"Then we have to find Spike and ask him what the rules are. How it works," Bella said.

Edward hated Spike even more than he hated Jacob.

"I know the rumors of the nightwalking vampires, cursed to be burned if they stepped into the sun. For some reason you have that curse. I'm not risking you getting hurt, Bella," Edward says. "Not just to socialize with a bunch of teenage girls who don't even care about you."

"It's not just about that," Bella says.

"I know," Edward said. He could read her mind; he did know. She was so happy she was finally immortal but she wanted to be getting an education and talking to her old friends that she never cared about before because she was obsessed with and in love with Edward. She wanted to spend time with her parents and let them know she is okay but she does not regret at all becoming a vampire.

"We're going to figure this out," Edward says.

"By finding Spike," Bella says.

"Without Spike," Edward said. "Are you trying to make me jealous?"

"No!" Bella says. "Of course not. Wait...is it working? Just kidding. I need to know more. We have to talk to Spike."

"He's worse than the werewolves, Bella."

"Ok-aaaay," Bella says, laughs, and then kisses Edward on the chin. Then she kisses his lips and holds onto him. She is so happy to hold him.

But when Bella sleeps, she dreams about Spike. Spike is biting her and kissing her and talking about this mysterious vampire named Angel who likes to brood and who was cursed with a soul. Bella does not know how she got this info, or even if it is true, or if she is a intuitive vampire and almost psychic like Alice, but if this vampire with a soul is real, she has to find him so Edward could finally get this soul that he felt he was missing for most of his life as a vampire...

But she keeps these dreams to herself, and she counts and does math in her head if she recalls the dreams when Edward is around. She is not ready to share the information with Edward. Someday she would, but not yet.

The dreams kept coming, and they were passionate, and Bella was troubled by them. But her life went on, and for now she kept Edward in the dark about it.

To be continued...