Chapter 8

Tranquility and Pain


The door opened a little and I saw the face I haven't seen in the past ten years. His blond hair was styled differently, which I assumed was Esme's doing, he looked cleaner and happier than I'd ever seen him before.

His eyes met mine, his mouth opened a little in shock, he quickly glanced at Cedric too. Carlisle let the door fly open and wrapped his arms around my shoulders. He squeezed me hard and I wrapped my arms around his back, sobbing into his shoulder. He held my head into his arms.

"You came back." I heard a smile in his words.

"I'm happy to see you again, old man," I mumbled into his shoulder.

"Edward." Carlisle let me go and hugged Cedric, just as tight.

I heard footsteps coming from inside the house and saw a woman in her mid-20s with beautiful caramel hair and gold eyes. She stopped a few feet away from the door and a wide smile appeared on her face. She ran to hug Cedric when Carlisle let go of him.

"Hi, Esme." I noticed Cedric smile. He missed her greatly.

"Dear, meet Bella," Carlisle spoke.

The woman looked at me, a smile still present on her face. She gave me a hug too, which I was surprised about, but accepted with pleasure. The woman barely knew me, but I could sense that she was a kind soul, just like Carlisle. This match was made in heaven.

"Please, come in," Carlisle rushed us inside.

Cedric and I followed Esme and him into the living room area. The whole house was designed with style. The dark furniture contrasted well with light floors and ceilings; the room looked bigger than it was supposed to. Yellow lights coming from the lamps gave the room a homey feeling, pictures on the wall made it look like it was a happy household.

"I can't believe you met one another," Carlisle spoke. "What a small world!"

"You can't even imagine." I laughed and looked at Cedric, who took my hand and held it in his. I noticed Carlisle was now staring at our entwined hands with a curious look on his face.

I laughed when I saw the deep-in-thought look on his face that I'd missed so much, and he looked me in the eyes.

"You can ask us already." Edward chuckled; he was probably reading Carlisle's mind.

"I don't want to be insensitive." Carlisle looked at me.

I smiled at him and took a deep breath.

"Carlisle, this is my Cedric."

Of course, after this sentence left my mouth, Carlisle's eyes shot open and his stares now ran from us to our entwined hands for a few minutes, trying to find the right questions to ask. I chuckled and decided to tell him the story of how we reunited in the woods.

"So, is it Cedric now?" Esme asked.

"I like Edward more." He smiled at her. I gave him a curious look. "Unless you mind it?" He asked me.

"Not at all, I prefer to call you 'love' anyway." I kissed his cheek. "Might need some time to adjust to it though."

"What a night," Carlisle whispered as he laid back on the sofa and put his arm around Esme's shoulder. "I hope your visit means you are planning to stay with us."

"Only if you both don't mind." I looked at him and Esme.

"Oh, honey, the more – the merrier. We are family." Esme smiled at me, and I couldn't not believe that she really meant what she was saying.

"Thank you."

"Nonsense." She shook her head. "See, how the first guestroom is occupied already, I told you we will be needing the second one, dear." Esme smiled at Carlisle.

"I should know to trust your judgments from now on." He spoke. "Upstairs, the first room on the right is mine and Esme's bedroom, you can choose between the other two...unless you want to live apart."

"I think it's only right for an engaged couple to live together." I smiled at Ced…Edward and showed my new ring to Carlisle and Esme.

"You didn't mention that!" the other couple jumped up and Esme touched my hand, looking at the ring.

"It's so beautiful," Esme whispered. "Congratulations to you both."

We thanked both Carlisle and Esme, and Ced…Edward led me upstairs. Maybe calling him Edward would be a little harder than I thought. Upstairs, he led us to a room to the left and opened up the door.

The room was painted with pastel beige color, light blue sheets were placed on a big bed next to the window. The room had some paintings and pictures of the mountains on the walls. The large bookcase and a closet. I opened my enchanted purse and took out our clothes, placing them on the bed in small piles. While I was getting staff out, Edward was putting the clothes into the closet.

I noticed he took out his wand from the holster and pointed to the closet. "Engorgio." The closet grew bigger, protruding more from its place next to the window. "That's much better." He said and put the wand away. I laughed and handed him some of his shirts.

I emptied out the purse, only leaving the cauldrons and potions inside it. Edward took the brooms and placed them to the side of the closet, I wanted to leave them inside the purse, but my fiancé assured me we will want to show Carlisle and Esme flying, take them for a ride with us. I didn't think Carlisle would enjoy such an adventurous type of traveling, he didn't even like a simple apparition.

I placed my magic books and the regular books that we took from our house in Chicago into the bookcase, arranging them in alphabetical name order. Edward watched me do that with a slightly annoyed look on his face. I was sure this reaction was caused by the amount of time I spent rearranging the books and not the actual purpose of me doing that.

The next day, Carlisle started telling his friends at the hospital about a horrible fire that happened in his brother's house. We created a fake story and once again, I was Carlisle's niece, who had to move in with him because of the tragic loss of my parents.

At the same time, Esme started telling her girlfriends that her younger brother was visiting from Oregon. Edward played the role of Esme's brother. The story was believable, now we only needed to change our names legally.

Edward found a man who made fake identifications fairly easy, his mind-reading was a valuable tool. I was once again Bella Cullen, while he was Edward Platt. We used Esme's maiden name for him.

In a few days, I went into the city with Carlisle, he was supposedly showing me around. We went into a few stores to get me new clothes that were popular during these new times. In a week, Edward and Esme came with us for a family outing around the city. People expressed their condolences to me when they stopped by; the news were spreading fast in the city.

Edward and I could barely pass for the 16-year-olds, the age we pretended to be. But this lie would allow us to stay in Rochester for longer. Edward and I both started school in September 1931 and went to the 11th grade. This was my first experience in high school, as I never pretended to be so young before. I noticed that most high schoolers acted the same as when I was in college.

There were popular kids, with rich parents and known names who only sat and talked with each other. The guys who were interested in sports and played them sat together and looked significantly bigger than other kids. The low-class families who still had some money for their kids to go to school were segregated from the rest. Edward and I didn't belong to any class, we caught looks from other kids, and later, when we were home, Edward would tell me what they thought about us.

I liked going to school with Edward, we kept each other company. A few girls in our classes were jealous because he was not paying attention to me, the guys were jealous of Edward because I wasn't paying attention to them, but there was one person who seemed to be jealous of both of us. Rosalie Hale. She was among the popular kids, the most beautiful girl in school. Tall, pale with long pale blonde hair. If it wasn't for her violet-blue eyes, I would with certainty say she had to be was a vampire.

Edward told me she was indeed jealous of me because he wasn't paying any attention to her. Apparently, everyone paid attention to her, all the boys in school were in love with her and begged her to go out with them, but Edward and I ruined that. Rosalie Hale was also jealous of us, which I didn't understand. Edward explained that she saw how he looked at me, with love and adoration. Even though there were so many boys following her skirts, all that she ever saw in their eyes was physical wants, none of them were interested to know how her day went or what she was interested in.

I felt sorry for her then. I never knew what it was like to be liked for my looks, I was always ordinary, but it must have been hard for her. There was nothing I could do to help her except not pay attention to the jealous looks she was giving Edward and me.

We finished school the following year, and both looked into going to Rochester University in September 1933. Esme reminded us that we were supposed to change, so I started styling my hair a little differently and wearing proper clothes for a young woman. My favorite attire was my deep blue dress, reaching my knees, and the same-colored hat. I wore it as much as it was appropriate.

During the summer before university, the whole family attended social gatherings with Carlisle to seem normal, we announced mine and Edward's engagement a few weeks before Rosalie Hale and Royce King announced theirs. The engagement parties that we hosted were completely different though.

Edward's and mine were simple and included just the closest family friends, we served food for the guests and pretended to eat it as well. Both the Hale and the King families were present as Carlisle insisted. Rosalie followed Royce around the room, smiling at everyone. I noticed, however, that I couldn't read happiness about her engagement in her eyes. She didn't really love Royce.

Edward and I danced a lot that night, he didn't want to share me with the others, so as soon as he heard someone think about asking me for a dance, he waltzed us away from them to the other part of the room, which I found hilarious. People clapped when we did the dance that Professor Sprout taught us for the Yule Ball.

Rosalie's and Royce's engagement party was open to every important person in the city, they hosted everyone in the King's mansion. The food was overcrowding the tables, champagne was overflowing in the glasses, there was music and dancing, but in a much more official way. Edward and I danced again, only this time he allowed Carlisle to interfere and spin me around.

The wedding was set to be in two months, in the middle of August and I couldn't wait to officially get married to Ce...Edward. Esme and I picked the dress and the decorations, she took decorating the house on herself, leaving me nothing to worry about. I knew Carlisle had 'the talk' with Edward about me, I wondered if it was the same talk that my dad had with him when we turned 14. I laughed at the idea of Carlisle promising Edward to hunt him down and beat him up in case he hurts me, which I knew will never going to happen.

The day of the wedding came sooner than I expected. Esme insisted on keeping it traditional, so Carlisle and Edward both left the house at midnight. It was strange not having Edward by my side, especially during the night, but it gave me more time to get to know Esme a little better.

We talked about my life before I got to 1695, my family, and Hogwarts. Talking with Esme was like going to therapy, at least that's what I imagined therapy looked like. She was asking just the right questions and listened carefully, never interrupting me in the middle of a sentence. She smiled for the longest time when I told her about mine and Edward's relationship when we were human and how everything began. I decided that if Carlisle was sort of a father figure in my life, Esme was definitely the closest person I had for a mother figure.

Esme did my nails and braided my hair, so it could be hidden under my veil. She helped me put my dress on closer to noon and left to greet the guests, who would be arriving shortly. I took a deep breath and looked into the mirror. The woman in the mirror was looking back at me, I chose to have light makeup on my eyes and lips, Esme put a tiny amount of blush on my cheeks as well so that I would look more human. The blushing bride, that was the image we were going for.

I heard the front door open and smelled humans; the guests were gathering now. I took a deep breath, pulled my veil over my face, and waited for the ceremony to begin. Carlisle knocked on my door and I told him to come inside.

"Look at you, you look gorgeous!" Carlisle put his hands on my shoulders. "I would hug you, but I'm afraid I will ruin the look."

"You can hug me after the ceremony, nobody will care anymore, they will be too busy drinking." I laughed and so did he.

"Ready to go?" he offered me his hand, I rested mine on his elbow and we walked out of the room. Us holding each other like that reminded me of all the times we left for the city when we traveled together before. He was taking me towards another adventure. I thought to myself. An adventure that will last forever.

The music started playing downstairs, and I looked at Carlisle, he gave me an encouraging smile and we started going downstairs. When we came to the backyard, where dozens of chairs stood on the lawn in front of the floral arch, I felt a smile creeping up on my face. Edward was standing on the right side of it, grinning at me.

I stopped noticing people around me, only he and I existed in this universe now. I took my steps carefully, trying to walk in beat with the music. Ced…Edward looked very handsome in his tux and all I wanted to do is run up to him and kiss him.

When we came up to the arch, Carlisle put my hands in Edward's, I turned to face him, and he took off my veil. We both looked at the pastor. It was a standard ceremony, at the end of which we both happily said, "I do."

Edward got permission to kiss the bride, which he did happily. I smiled at our kiss and opened my eyes when it stopped. We were surrounded by people clapping for us, Carlisle and Esme were already coming up closer to give us hugs.

I lifted my shield and thought: "Is it bad if I want to kick everyone out, so we can have our wedding night already?"

I noticed he tried to contain a giggle, which only made me laugh. We accepted congratulations and presents from our guests and then invited everyone inside, so they could enjoy food and drinks.

That night we had our first dance as a married couple, Carlisle had his 'Father-daughter' dance with me as well, while Edward danced with Esme. That night, when all the guests left, Carlisle and Esme gave us another gift, they were going away for a couple of days to hunt, leaving the house in our complete control.

We spent both days in our bedroom, consummating our marriage. I liked being called Mrs., I just wished it was Mrs. Black-Diggory instead of Mrs. Platt. I guessed, being called Edward's Mrs. was good enough for now. He was mine and I was his. Legally and forever.


Ce…Edward and I started university in September. Being newly-weds, other students on campus avoided us even more than in high school. To the natural fear that they had when we were in their presence, added the fear of our possible public display of affection. I didn't mind, Edward was with me, and it was all I needed. I now had his old ring on my right thumb and the two newer rings on my left ring finger.

Our peaceful and wonderful life ended in late September. I was walking from the university library late one night when I heard strange shallow breaths coming from a dark alley, and when I took a breath, I smelled blood.

I ran into the alley, holding my breath just in case. The ground was covered with pearls, that I assumed were once a necklace. A woman was lying on her stomach. I couldn't hear her breathing anymore, but her heartbeat was still there, very quiet and slow. I noticed she was still bleeding heavily from between her legs and chest. I couldn't dare to imagine what happened to her.

I turned her around gently, supporting her neck and waist, crap…Rosalie Hale...I was afraid to apparate, she could become even more hurt than she already was, she was just a muggle. I knew I couldn't leave her here; my only option was to run to the house and hope Carlisle could help her. She didn't deserve what happened to her, crap, no one deserves that.

I lifted Rosalie's body gently, pressing her torn dress to the body parts from where she was still bleeding. I ran to the house as fast as I could while supporting her neck in one place. I thanked the heavens that Carlisle had a day off.

"Carlisle!" I yelled when I was about a mile away from home.

I took my shield off and felt Edward in my head, I knew he was listening now, so I told him exactly what happened, hoping he would prepare everyone. When I ran up to the door, it was open. Esme, Edward, and Carlisle were all waiting for me on the first floor. I ran inside the house and into the kitchen. Edward took everything off the kitchen table, and I placed her body on it. Carlisle quickly examined Rosalie's injuries and shook his head guiltily.

"Save her," I told him. "Please, she doesn't deserve to die like that."

"Bella, this life…" He started.

"…Is still better than dying like that." I pointed to the bottom part of her body. "Please, Carlisle."

Carlisle looked at Esme, and I saw her nod.

"You should probably go and clean up your tracks in the city, we will be leaving as soon as possible," Carlisle spoke slowly.

I nodded and Esme took us out of the house. We got into the car and Edward drove us to the university library. I wrote mine and Ce...Edwards letters for the university, Esme wrote letters to Carlisle's work and the hospitals in Tennessee, where we planned to travel next anyway. Edward ran around the city, right after he dropped us off, he was checking if anyone was thinking about Rosalie tonight.

Since we were already on campus, I went to the director's office and slid the letter under his door. It was Friday night, I wrote that neither Edward nor I would be returning to university on Monday because Carlisle got an offer from the hospital in Tennessee.

I spent the next few hours in the library with Esme. She felt for Rosalie, her ex-husband was an abusive man, so I could only imagine how hard it was for Esme to see the girl so young being in that kind of state. I held her hand, while she sobbed quietly. Edward came a few hours later with no new information, so we decided to go home right after we dropped the letter to the hospital Carlisle was working at now and a few letters to the post office, so they could be sent out to Tennessee.

Our house smelled like blood now, Carlisle's eyes were reddish. A strong heartbeat and soul-ripping screams were coming from upstairs. He changed her.

"What do we do now?" Esme asked.

"You and Bella can go change her, try getting as much blood off her as you can." Carlisle sighed. "Edward, when they are done, take Rosalie's old clothes and put them in the woods, stage it as an animal attack. I need to hunt."

We all nodded. Esme gave a kiss to Carlisle, and I took her hand in mine.

"I can do it if you don't want to," I whispered.

"Thank you for offering that, honey. I'm fine, I want to help." Esme squeezed my hand, and we went upstairs.

The room we were in right now smelled like it was covered with blood, Rosalie's eyes were closed, her body was pinned to the bed. She screamed louder than I've ever heard anyone scream. I only now realized why Carlisle didn't want to do it, he didn't want to inflict even more pain on her.

Esme went to her room and got some of her baggier clothes out of the closet. Rosalie was taller than both of us and her parameters were much curvier. I took a small bucket from under the sink in the bathroom and poured the water into it. I took a towel with me as well.

Esme ripped the clothes off of her, throwing them downstairs to Edward. Rosalie reacted to the touch; the coldness of the water seemed to make her scream less. I hoped it helped with the pain. I washed her arms first, then her torso and chest. Her thighs were the worst, the blood was already dry on them, and I worked on them as soft and gentle as I could.

Esme helped me get her up so we could put a shirt on her. I gently lifted up her hips, so Esme could slip a skirt on her as well. She was still screaming, so I tried calming the pain with a few towels soaked in cold water. That seemed to work a little.

Esme went downstairs to clean up the blood with bleach, so when Rosalie woke up, the smell of blood wouldn't provoke her. I stayed in the room with her, only leaving to soak the towels with more cold water every other hour. I held her hand in mine and continued talking to her. I hoped the talking would get her mind away from her pain, although I wasn't sure if she was able to hear me.

"Hey, It's Bella, Bella Platt. I know you are in a lot of pain now, but it will go away soon. You are becoming something else, something stronger, so hold on. You are a fascinating young woman; you can do it." I spoke again when the sun came out the next day. "Just a little longer, Rosalie."

Edward came to check on me a few times, offered to switch, but I declined. I thought after what happened to her, she would prefer to have another woman by her side. I heard Carlisle, Edward and Esme discuss it downstairs after. Carlisle decided that he and Edward would leave the house when she awakens, at least until we could talk to her and take her hunting first.

On the morning of the third day of Rosalie's transformation, two things happened. The morning newspaper was out, and everyone was talking about Rosalie Hale's dress that was found in the forest. Just like Carlisle predicted, everyone blamed it on the animal attack. The other thing was Rosalie's heartbeat started beating faster. The new screams were more painfilled, even the coldness of the towels couldn't quiet those down. She would be waking up soon.

Carlisle and Edward left to go hunting, Esme came into the room and waited with me. I saw Rosalie's bruises were slowly healing themselves, her skin became even paler. I noticed she was gripping my hand now and I moved in my place, preparing for her awakening.

Her heart suddenly started beating slower and I looked at Esme. She came closer to Rosalie and held her other hand. She stopped screaming.

"Just a couple more minutes," I spoke to both. "Rosalie, just a couple more minutes to go and the pain will stop, I promise."

Her grip on my hand grew tighter until her heart made its last beat. Rosalie opened her eyes and sat down in bed in less than a second, shocking both Esme and me. She looked around until her eyes contacted mine. She looked at me confused and then started sobbing hysterically. I looked at Esme, not knowing what to do.

Esme sat on the bed next to Rosalie and brought the girl's head to her chest, brushing through her hair. "I know, honey, I know."

We spent an hour in her bed, Esme comforting her with words, me just sitting next to them, still holding Rosalie's hand in mine. She managed to calm down a little and we told her about who she was now and what being a vampire was like. We took Rosalie hunting, and she quickly found a herd of deer. I hunted with her, while Esme followed us, constantly smelling the air, making sure no humans were in close proximity to us.

"We also have two males living in the house, as you probably know." I started talking cautiously as we walked home. "Would you be alright with that?"

"Yes." She said after a moment of consideration. I smiled at her and squeezed her hand in mine.

We walked to the house, and I showed her around it. She was happy with the room, and Esme asked her about her preferences for her room in the new house in Tennessee. I left her to settle down and take a shower, while I was going shopping for new clothes for her.

I managed to get some more comfortable dresses and skirts for hunting as well as some new clothes that she could wear around the house. Edward and Carlisle would only be back tomorrow morning, and that's when we were planning to leave.

"Rosalie?" I asked as I knocked on the door.

"Come in." She spoke. "And please, you saved my life, it's Rose."

"Okay, Rose." I smiled at her and placed the bags on her bed. "I'm not very good at shopping or fashion, so I apologize if you don't like the clothes."

She went through the dresses and other clothes that I got. I could see she wasn't a big fan of the things that I chose, but she smiled at me anyways.

"They look great, thank you." I pretended I believed her little white lie and started walking away. "Bella? Can you help me with something?"

"Sure. What is it?" I turned back around.

"It's about the guys who did this to me." She whispered with clear anger in her voice. "I want to kill them all. Tonight."

I looked at her, not really sure how to react. On one hand, I promised myself to stop killing people, on the other hand, I saw what they did to her. These weren't some wizards killing off muggles who I didn't know…This was Rosalie, she was a part of the family now. Carlisle always said, 'we do everything for the family'…Would that include killing the men who nearly killed one of us?

"I'll help you, but I won't kill anyone," I spoke after a few seconds of consideration.

She ran up to me and crushed me in a hug. "I didn't expect you to."

I coughed a little when I felt my skin was about to break.

"Oh, sorry." She let go and we both laughed.

Rosalie and I left the house when the sun came down. I was surprised to see Esme reading a book, she wasn't trying to stop us. Maybe she felt the need to teach those bastards a lesson too. Suddenly, I felt relief. If angel Esme was on our side, then this night's murders were truly justified.

"Bye, Esme," I spoke.

"Good luck, girls."

We ran into the town.


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