Forbidden Fruit

by Thirst Contest

"You, Bella Swan, are forbidden fruit. You've been forbidden fruit for far too long. And the forbidden fruit always ends up bitten harder than she would've been had she not been so damn forbidden."

Title: Forbidden Fruit

Summary: "You, Bella Swan, are forbidden fruit. You've been forbidden fruit for far too long. And the forbidden fruit always ends up bitten harder than she would've been had she not been so damn forbidden."

Disclaimer: The author does not own any publicly recognizable characters herein. No copyright infringement is intended.

He was just a fraction of a moment too late to stop the lightning-quick, razor-sharp bite.

"No!"

Jagged teeth tore through my throat's flesh like a knife cutting through butter. For a split-second, the sensation was reminiscent of his playful nips and gentle sucking, when he'd offered us both a tantalizing taste of the forbidden fruit without actually biting into its core.

Unlike then, now, agony – swift and merciless – seeped into my skin and invaded my bones, so unutterably excruciating that I couldn't even scream. And I knew that somewhere along the way, I'd made a deadly miscalculation.

Several minutes later, I lay dying, with the meadow under me forced to relinquish its lush green in favor of my crimson blood. It was a savage scene surrounding me, yet one I could scarcely take in now. Just a short while earlier, I'd been writhing in unimaginable ecstasy in much the same spot as he hovered above me. Now, I writhed in inconceivable torture, and he hovered above me again, choking back tearless sobs.

"Please don't die, my love. Don't die…don't die…"

It was a useless plea, as if, like him, I had any control over my mortality. Nevertheless, mercifully numb in a short reprieve between the spasms of ending life and the oblivion of eternal death, I cupped his cheek.

"I don't…I don't want…"

In those few moments, as I gazed into his black eyes, my short time with Edward Cullen flashed before me, and I clearly recognized all my mistakes. I saw all the ways in which I'd failed to see the obvious warning:

Neither arouse nor provoke those creatures who exist on the fringes of life. After all, they remain hidden for a reason.

The moment my life ended wasn't my first brush with death on that fateful day.

At just shy of nineteen, I lived in a small, rural community in the northwestern part of the USA. With long brown hair, brown eyes, and a slim, average-height frame, I was the time's prevailing definition of cute – attractive in a pretty and endearing way, though by no means extraordinarily so.

I spent my days in the "normal" endeavors of middle-class American suburbia. A couple of months earlier, I'd graduated high school commendably, though no one would call me a genius. I'd played but never excelled on the girls' high school volleyball team. My parents were divorced – I lived with my dad – but they got along, so there was no drama there. Like most teenagers, my circle of friends reflected my thoughts, beliefs, and attitudes. And like many naïve young adults, we tended to quixotically peer out on the world as a place open to wondrous possibilities.

In other words, I was run-of-the-mill, garden-variety basic. I was an ivory carnation in a field of ivory carnations. My leaves were symmetric with the leaves of all the rest of the carnations in my field.

I mention my ordinariness not to undervalue myself nor in an attempt to be modest. I was as content with my life and with my mid-level rank in society as any eighteen-year-old could be. I mention it because I'd soon learn that even the most ordinary carnation can emit an extraordinary scent, a nectar so sweet and mouthwatering that it doesn't merely eclipse the carnations surrounding it. It attracts the type of honeybee who'll annihilate the entire field and all within, just to claim it.

That particular honeybee showed up on the third day of the third annual Clallam County Carnival. The carnival was held on a rarely visited meadow far from everything, and which every July was rid of its lush grass and colorful wildflowers and converted into fairgrounds. Rides, games, food stands, and variety shows sprouted overnight. The steely scent of rusty rides, the cloying sweetness of cotton candy, and the acridity of petting zoo animals all took over.

In the background, Calliope music played throughout the carnival's speakers – quaint yet almost haunting circus melodies marked by their high-pitched, whistling notes. Like a ghost, the music was always present, a constant accompaniment without invitation, drifting onto every ride, floating around the fringes of the midway.

This was the music playing the first time I saw him.

Jessica, Mike, Jake, and I had just stumbled off the Tilt-a-Whirl, a concoction meant to force vomit up your esophagus, and not much else. Like most teens who lived for thrills, we left the ride dizzy and nauseous but laughing. My head spun, the fairgrounds sloped and slanted, while fellow carnival-goers, stuffed prizes, and balloons all became a kaleidoscope of images, colors, and patterns.

"God, that was fun!" I said in those moments before everything changed.

"That was fuck awesome! See, Jess? I told you not to be scared!" Mike staggered and chuckled, throwing an arm around Jessica and leaning on her for support.

Jess offered him a smirk. "You told me not to be scared, huh?"

"Mike, it took us three days to get you on that thing, and all you did was scream, 'Oh my God, I think I'm going to puke!'"

"Hilarious, Bella. Jake, help a brother out here!"

"Mike, you've got to be more like me." Like Mike with Jess, Jake swung an arm around my shoulder. I allowed it. "I laugh at the gore that makes weaker men…"

I mention this mundane conversation because it was here that I gazed upward. A bright and rare sun had just concealed itself behind the Pacific Northwest's more common, gray clouds. It created a fiery sunset, like a shrouded eclipse that only revealed itself through its otherworldly glow. At the time, I found it beautiful. Perhaps, I should've taken it as a warning.

Either way, like a bright, incandescent blaze, its radiant splendor awakened a strange…longing within me.

"So…what do you want to do now, Bells? It's totally up to you."

There was more than a hint of suggestion in Jake's tone. Ever since I'd moved to town back in the middle of sophomore year, Jake had been blunt about his attraction to me. I suppose that evening, he figured that, between Mike pairing up with Jessica, and the self-indulgent, somewhat hedonistic aura of the carnival, he might get lucky.

And had what happened next not happened, he wouldn't have been wrong. After all, he'd gotten lucky once before at a house party a few months back, where hand games and teasing had ended up with Jake and me locked in a bedroom, and with me on my back while Jake thrust hard.

See, when I'd arrived in town a couple of years earlier, I was a bit of an introvert, happy spending her days daydreaming, keeping house, or with a good book. But at that age in a young woman's development, changes occur. While sometimes superficial and petty in the ways of teenagers, the friends I made were also fun, and the boys showed interest in me in ways they hadn't before. It was the effect of being the new carnation in the field, yes. But the interest remained, and at junior prom, Tyler Crowley became the first honeybee allowed a taste of my nectar. The once introverted flower then added the pleasures of sex to a world of interests beyond books and daydreaming.

Nevertheless, with college and my whole life still ahead of me, I could barely envision a day when I'd label anyone my boyfriend, much less my exclusive one. Yes, I'd enjoyed my hook-up with Jake. But I enjoyed the freedom of a woman born in the twenty-first century – free to fuck whomever she pleased – a hell of a lot more.

But, that evening, there was something in the air, something that had my insides coiled tightly and butterflies fluttering low in my belly. I was…agitated, for lack of a stronger word.

"Bells?"

Peering up at Jake, I allowed a grin to lift the corners of my mouth. I could almost hear his heart racing, pumping blood, which would rush to where he'd soon need it. But before I could verbally commit, something…or rather someone a few feet behind and just to the side of Jake's right shoulder caught my eye.

He stood under an awning, and all I saw within that awning were two black, fathomless orbs.

"Well, Bella? Where should we go to…you know?"

Jake's prompt and the impatient tone made me wonder just how long I'd been staring. Though I forced myself to blink, I took in the rest of the man.

He was dressed in black – from his cargos to his tee-shirt to his boots and to his black bomber. Tall and lean, he had pale, sharp-angled features – thin lips set in a hard, implacable line and positioned above a squared jaw and below a triangular nose. Thick, dark brows were framed within a rectangular forehead. Standing perfectly straight and still, his entire frame could've been chiseled with geometrical precision tools. There was almost no flexibility about him. The only movable parts appeared to be his fists, which continuously curled and uncurled, and his dark, wavy hair, blowing wildly in the breeze.

Nothing about him was warm or inviting.

Yet everything about him drew me in.

"Bella, did you hear me?"

The man suddenly stirred as if Jake had spoken his name rather than mine. His nostrils flared as if, despite the distance and the loud carnival around us, he heard Jake's impatience as well. When the man quirked a brow and pivoted around, casually strolling toward a structure to his left – the funhouse – no one would've given the action a second thought.

But blood rushed like wildfire through my veins. My adrenaline spiked the way I imagined Jake's had spiked moments earlier.

"Bella, what's going-"

"I'm going to the Funhouse."

"You want to fuck in the funhouse?"

Disentangling myself from Jake, I waved hastily to Mike and Jessica.

"Guys, I'm going to the funhouse!"

"All right, Bella! We'll meet you there in a bit!" Jessica replied.

"Bella! Bella, wait!"

I was met by blindingly bright fluorescent lights and white walls inside the funhouse that forced me to slow my roll. A few feet in, the black-and-white checkered floor began undulating, delaying my progress all the more.

"Bella!"

Jake's voice drifted in from the funhouse entrance. Speeding up, I met with floors that curved and coiled. After half a minute, as I grew more accustomed to the continuous shifting and winding, the lights dimmed. The white walls turned into black walls. Everything around me grew dark. Once again, I was forced to slow down.

All the while, the Calliope music hovered over my shoulder.

I began wondering if I'd imagined him; if, in my inexplicable and heightened sense of stimulation, my mind had conjured him. When a burst of cold air shot out from the dark wall to my left, I shrieked before quickly realizing it was just another funhouse trick.

"Bella, are you okay?" Jake called. "Slow down and wait for me!"

Another burst of air shot out to my right, but I was more prepared now. What I wasn't prepared for was the breath of warm air that fanned across my face.

"Bella…"

My breath hitched at the sound of my name from his mouth. "Where are you?"

I received no answer.

The wall to my right became mirrors. Weak lighting illuminated the path enough to allow me to observe how the mirrors distorted my reflection. In one mirror, I was tall and long-necked; in the next, short and stout-legged. In another mirror, a tall, dark shadow appeared suddenly behind me, gone by the time I spun around.

"Who are you?" I breathed.

Jess called from a distance. "Bella, we're here! Where are you? Wait for us!"

"Bella…"

Like a crumb trail for me to follow, his deep voice resonated in the air. The path split in two, and I stopped and waited, head tilted to one side. When no sound arrived to guide me, I chose on my own.

Later on, I'd learn that had I taken the other path, a door merely a handful of feet further down would've led out into the midway, and maybe…maybe that would've been it. Perhaps that would've been the end of the tale, with few dark twists beyond the funhouse's winding and undulating floors.

Instead, all the walls of the path I chose became mirrors. They created another kaleidoscope, where my flushed cheeks and wide eyes looked back at me from a dozen mirrors, which in turn were reflected in dozens more mirrors, and then dozens of mirrors within those. It amounted to hundreds, thousands of reflections in which I was alone.

Until thousands of him stood behind thousands of me.

I spun around and reached out only to have my fingertips brush glass. Pivoting the other way, I reached out again; again, my fingers brushed the cold, smooth surface of another mirror. I glared at his reflection.

"Stop playing games."

His low and throaty chuckle reverberated across the dark room.

"Why? Games, illusions…distractions, they're the whole point in here – or so your buddy seems to think."

He spat the word 'buddy' like an accusation, and I watched through the mirrors as he moved as close to me as possible without touching me. When his eyes shut, he pulled in a long, profound breath, and a low, guttural groan, somewhere between pain and pleasure, erupted from him.

Shivers rolled up and down my spine.

"Jesus, your scent is even more potent than in the visions."

"What?" My head spun, and I twisted in dizzying half-circles, searching every mirror. "Who are you? Why did you lead me in here?"

"Why did you follow?" he countered with a hard grin, eyeing me through the mirrors. But then he pulled back and dropped the grin. "She said you wouldn't be able to resist once you saw me, and I should've never doubted her."

This close, and without the strange, steely edge of fury marring his features, he appeared younger than I'd guessed outdoors. He had no more than a couple of years on me. The lighting caught strands of red and copper hair framing his face, highlighting his youth all the more.

I quirked a brow, attempting to feign a sense of calm I didn't feel.

"Who is this she who claimed I couldn't resist you? A jealous girlfriend? Because maybe she should know that I noticed you noticing me too."

He shook his head and smirked. "You noticed me noticing you. My love, we're years past my merely noticing you. And no, she's no jealous girlfriend."

He spoke conversationally as if every word he uttered didn't throw my mind into further chaos, flustering me beyond comprehension and even determination of what I should ask.

"Is that a no, she's not a girlfriend or a no, she's not jealous?"

He sighed. "I don't have a girlfriend; I have people whom I fuck, as do you."

This time, I only managed a gasp.

"But, since they've known from the beginning that they're merely substitutes, manners by which I've kept from going mad these years at having to deny myself you…no, they're not jealous." He stopped, appearing to study my undeniably staggered expression. "I wonder, my love, if the boys you've shared yourself with have any clue they've been substitutes as well. Because had I been here, none of them would've ever touched you."

It took a few moments, but I finally found my voice.

"Dude, I have no fucking clue what you're going on about nor why you keep calling me your love. You don't know me."

He snorted. "Isabella Marie Swan, just because you don't know me doesn't mean I don't know all there is to know about you."

I shook my head, in denial of what, I wasn't even sure. My heart was lodged somewhere mid-throat, forcing me to struggle to speak my senseless questions.

"If you don't have a girlfriend, and I don't have a boyfriend, why would we need substitutes for one another?"

"Why?" he echoed. "For more reasons than I currently have the mental clarity to verbalize. You see, she showed me how this would end."

Once again, I watched his reflection as he leaned in closer…this time stopping when his mouth hovered just above my ear, warm breath bathing my face. The heat of his body created an electric charge that crackled in the menial space between us. When I felt his touch…when he curved his hands around my shoulders and pulled me against his hard chest, unlike the shivers of before, my entire frame shuddered.

But it wasn't fear. It was a rush of white-hot heat shooting through my core. And he knew it.

"Ahh. She showed me how you would react to me from the first moment, regardless of how or when we met." This time, when his eyes darkened, it looked more like despair than fury hardening his ominous gaze. "But she also showed me how it would end," he repeated, "every time. It's the only reason I made myself leave. But for how long is a man, regardless of his strength, expected to fight against Nature itself?"

Who was this 'she' he kept referencing?

Who in the world was he?

And how the hell did he know me?

The questions were there, before anyone thinks otherwise. But they may as well have sunk into an abyss far below the surface of everything else he woke in me because yes, I was enchanted. Naïvely enraptured. More than those, as much as he kept going on about my scent…I was mind-bogglingly drawn to his scent as well.

It was indescribable. Perhaps, had we been outdoors, it would've been as unnoticeable among the woods as the Calliope music still playing in the background. But confined within these walls…with him this close, it exploded savagely, invading all my senses, bringing to mind feral creatures…evocative of days when primitivity ruled.

Most bafflingly, it made my mouth water.

When the mirrors reflected him angling his face closer, and his nose skimmed my cheek, I exhaled unevenly. For an endless moment, he remained perfectly still. Then…slowly…he brushed his nose up and down the side of my face, and my breaths erupted harshly, completely ending my veneer of calm.

Jake wasn't my first. As I said, that title belonged to Tyler Crowley. Jake's title was 'Most Eager to Please,' while the title of 'Best So Far' went to Austin Marks, Ben Cheney's friend and neighbor. One recent Sunday afternoon, after I left Ben's house post-study-session with him and Angela, Austin was outside, fixing up a motorcycle. We talked, and he offered to give me a ride the next time I was around. The next time I was around, the rides he gave me – both on and off the motorcycle – were the best thrills I'd had up until this moment.

But this nameless man…teasing me with riddles, with his solid frame flattened against my spine, with his heady breath fanning across my face, with his hands possessively gripping me…and yes, with his scent, had me in the grip of a thrill so fierce I doubted it would ever be more heightened.

"I don't even know your name." My words were nothing more than inconsequential breaths, considering how I sought more of his heat.

"Don't, my love," he hissed in my ear, "don't move too much or I won't be able to stop. God, your skin…" His voice was rough, ragged as if an internal struggle raged within him.

"Then…don't stop."

"You don't even know my name," he chuckled hoarsely. "Bella…do you know the story of Adam and Eve?"

"Yes," I breathed, chest heaving. "Yes, of course."

"You, Bella Swan, are forbidden fruit. You've been forbidden fruit for far too long." He flicked his tongue against the rim of my ear, holding me up when my knees went weak. "Do you know what eventually happens to forbidden fruit?" When he licked a path down my neck and trailed open-mouthed to my throat, I arched and angled my head, resting it on his shoulder. Then…lips parted wide; he took up a gentle, rhythmic sucking right where my jugular pulsed.

I exhaled a series of wild, shaky breaths. "Jesus, what…what are you doing to me?"

"You have no idea, my love," he groaned, wet lips still on my skin, "no idea how hard it is to merely lick and suck…I won't break your skin. I promise."

Urgency, need, and bewilderment washed over me like a tsunami. I was lost in a dark and dangerous sea I'd never imagined diving into when I wandered within the funhouse.

And I was hungry.

No, more than that, I was thirsty – a deep, primal thirst I didn't understand, yet almost painful in its acuteness. And in some part of me, I realized that the yearning I'd been feeling all evening had been a vague echo of the thirst. It was a craving which shot like an arrow into my core, crawled into every crevice, and forevermore annihilated any common sense in the face of him.

"Tell me what happens to forbidden fruit?" I asked.

Honestly, I pleaded for the answer, shutting my eyes. At the same time, he continued sucking on my neck, lips puckered on my skin with increasing pressure, pulling my vein to the surface where it throbbed under his mouth and tongue.

And in the background, the Calliope music played on.

"Show me what happens…"

Another long moment transpired. "The forbidden fruit…the forbidden fruit always ends up bitten harder than she would've been had she not been so damn forbidden."

He finished in a low growl, and in the next moment, when I felt teeth scrape my throat, I hissed at the hint of pain veering on the edge of pleasure.

"NO!"

The howled word startled me, followed closely by a rush of glacial wind as if someone had unleashed a sudden twister into the funhouse. When his scent abruptly vanished, I reopened my eyes.

And found myself alone.

When I found my way out of the funhouse, I could've sworn hours, days, even years had transpired. Though the Calliope music, with its oversweet melody, sounded the same as when I'd walked into the funhouse, so much else was changed.

With the sunset, the carnival's lamplights filtered through the grounds. Rides glimmered like jewels and glowed against the dusky backdrop of the encroaching woods. Carnival revelers strolled in and out of the shadows.

It shocked me how unaware everyone was, how oblivious that while they'd been leading their lives, my life had changed monumentally. Within a few minutes in a funhouse, the simplicity of my existence had been simultaneously exposed and shattered. That carefree insouciance that marks the delineation between naivete and recklessness had been crossed…and my eyes opened when the beautiful serpent whispered in my ear.

You see, I've learned that we all have a forbidden fruit – a thing, a place…a person – and it's the moment when this fruit's actuality is exposed to us that we truly lose our innocence. Like Adam and Eve in that mystical garden, as soon as we know that forbidden fruit exists, we'll do anything, say anything…trade anything to possess it.

"Bella!"

Jessica advanced toward me with a grin, a stuffed animal, Mike, and a furious-looking Jake in tow, and I tried desperately to blink out of my stupor.

"Bella, look at the prize Mike won for me!"

"Bella, where were you?"

"Bella, Jake's been waiting to claim his prize from you!"

"I…I was in the funhouse."

"We were all in there, Bella," Jess smiled, "but the rest of us have been out for ages! What took you so long?"

"I…I took the long way."

"What happened to your neck?"

My fingers instinctively brushed the spot where Jake's accusing eyes wandered.

"Wait a minute." Mike leaned in close to me, sniggering as he pulled back. "Damn, Jake, if that hickey wasn't meant to mark your territory, I don't know what is!"

His amused eyes panned between Jake and me. But before I could say anything, Jessica's eyes grew wide, no longer on my neck but glued to something past my shoulder.

"Hey, isn't that…?"

Mike's eyes panned away from my neck and followed the trajectory of Jessica's gaze, his amusement suddenly evaporating.

At the same time, awareness prickled the back of my neck, something akin to the sense of anticipation I'd felt all night. Still, knowing what it was, or rather, who caused it, made the sensation a thousand times stronger. Even as I listened to Jessica, Mike, and Jake's ensuing conversation, even as I turned and looked over my shoulder, the return of my craving…of my thirst alerted me to the nameless man's return.

"Oh my God, it's Edward Cullen!"

"Ugh, Cullen. I remember him. Thanks to him and his adoptive brothers, my first couple of years of high school were a nightmare, what with most of the girls and half of the guys in school wanting to ride their co-"

"Their cars?"

"Hilarious, Jess. Seriously, what the hell is Cullen doing here? He and his family moved out of town a couple of years ago."

"Yeah, they moved up to Alaska in the middle of our sophomore year – their senior year. Their dad got that sudden, once-in-a-lifetime job offer over there, remember? I cried for days, knowing I'd missed my chance to ride Edward's…car."

"Everyone at the rez hated the Cullens. I'm not sure why."

"Probably because the Cullens were all stuck-up assholes who kept to themselves. Thank fuck they left, or else none of us guys would've ever scored with any of you girls."

"Shut up because I'm pretty sure I recall all you guys drooling over their adopted sisters."

"Forget the Cullens. Bella, can we talk?"

I said nothing as I silently watched him…Edward Cullen…cut a path through the darkness, eyes firmly on mine.

"Bella, you never met the Cullens, did you?" Jess asked. "They left town right before you moved in. Oh, shit, I think he's looking at you."

When Edward reached us, he slid an arm around my waist and pulled me against him. Then, leaning in, he dropped a feather-light kiss to the mark he'd given me.

For one long moment, my group of friends fell silent.

In the meantime, Edward offered me a tender smile. "Hello, my love."

"Hello. Edward. I wasn't sure you'd be back."

"I didn't think I would be, but," he sighed, "it appears I can't stay away now." His eyes strayed to my hickey, fingers following and gently stroking. "I hope it doesn't hurt too much."

Blood pumped wildly in my veins. "No. No, it doesn't hurt."

Jessica found her voice. "Uhm, hey, Edward! How are you?"

Edward's fingers left my neck. He turned to Jessica with a faint smile. "Jessica. How are you?"

"I'm good! Do you remember Mike?"

Edward turned to Mike and stretched out a hand, which Mike met with apparent reluctance.

"Yes, I remember Mike as well," Edward smirked. "How are you, Mike? Finally getting somewhere with the opposite sex?"

Jessica burst out laughing. Mike pulled his hand away and shook it off, scowling at Edward.

"Hilarious, dude."

"I'm joking, Mike," Edward said flatly.

"How about Jake? Did you ever meet Jake?" Jessica asked. "He didn't go to our school, so I'm not sure…"

Edward made no attempt to shake Jake's hand. "No, we never met. Though had I remained in town, I'm sure our paths would've crossed."

"I'm not so sure about that, Cullen. Your family wasn't welcome in my parts."

"And your parts wouldn't have been welcome anywhere near what was mine."

Jake bristled.

"Ahem, Edward, Bella," Jessica quickly continued, "I had no idea you two knew one another – and so well. Edward, I could've sworn you left town right before Bella arrived."

Sweeping his dark gaze back to me, Edward smiled. "We…met briefly after Bella arrived in town, right before my family left."

"Really?" Jessica said. "How come I don't-"

"Like he said, it was brief. We kept in touch." I held his gaze, wondering why I was lying to my friends, yet feeling no guilt over it. "Though…Edward, I was surprised to see you here tonight."

In reply, he brushed his lips against my forehead. "I hadn't planned on it, and I apologize that I got a bit carried away when I saw you."

We remained locked in one another's eyes until Jessica cut in once more.

"Edward, is the rest of your family here?"

"No."

"How about-"

"Bella, would you like to ride the Ferris Wheel with me?"

"Yeah, Edward. I would."

The Calliope music followed Edward and me to the top of the Ferris Wheel, the notes floating and wrapping around the stars like sheet music, creating a unique and wondrous arrangement. It was…

Yes, it was beautiful. I won't allow what happened later to taint it.

For most of the Ferris Wheel's first rotation, Edward and I quietly studied one another, our hands nervously splayed on our respective laps. But as the Ferris Wheel climbed again, Edward's hand crawled onto my lap. When he weaved his cold fingers through mine, we both exhaled in relief.

"You feel it too, don't you? Not as acutely as I do, but you feel it."

"Tell me what's going on," I breathed.

He angled himself toward me and cradled my jaw in one hand. The other hand palmed the seat's backrest and formed a semi-cage around me. When I slipped my hands under his shirt, I meant to dig my nails into him, to scour him, to warn him, to rattle him…to mark him as he'd marked me.

Instead, my nails met taut, cold skin, rock-solid beyond anything I could've ever imagined in a man. He chuckled wryly; his breath so close that I could almost taste his bewilderingly addictive scent on my lips.

"Tell you what's going on," he echoed. A few strands of my hair billowed between us, and he carefully pushed them behind my ear. "My love, I'm not even supposed to be here, and even once I found myself here, I told myself I wouldn't approach you. But then I saw you planning…escapades…believing the heat you've felt within you all evening had anything to do with him," he scowled.

"Have you been watching me?"

He nodded, and before I could protest – if that's what I meant to do – his gaze strayed to my mouth. My heart stuttered as he leaned in closer…and I waited…but at the last moment, his mouth veered toward my ear. He nipped my earlobe.

"That. Heat. Is. Mine," he growled.

I shuddered as he pulled back.

"I don't belong to you. I don't belong to any one man, and it'll be a really long time, if ever, before I do."

Snorting, he shook his head and pulled away further. "I suppose that's fair, isn't it? After all, I relinquished that heat. I relinquished you, so I have no right to jealousy, do I? Even when I saw you, I only meant to glimpse a peek of what could've been. But when you felt me close by and you confused it with want for him," his nostrils flared, "do you have any idea how you unraveled me?"

"No, I don't because I don't understand any of this. You speak in riddles."

He made no reply.

"You and your family lived in town? You were a student at the high school?"

He nodded. "For a couple of years, yes. But then, we had to leave."

"Why? Because your father got a sudden job offer?"

Again, he held my gaze wordlessly.

"Because of me? Because I arrived?"

We must've been close to the ground because Jessica shouted from close by.

"Woo-hoo, Bella! Make sure you ride that car good, girl! Flip it and reverse it!"

Despite the substance of our conversation, Edward chuckled and shook his head.

"You heard what Jessica said earlier?"

"She speaks…and thinks loudly."

My breaths stuttered. "You heard Jake and me earlier too. You knew…what we were thinking?"

"I knew what he was thinking," he hissed. "I know what they're all thinking. Your mind, however, is closed to me."

"I really don't understand."

"It's probably better that way. You wouldn't believe it even if you did understand."

His struggle with those words and with accepting them as fact was apparent.

"Better for who? For you or for me? Because I'm a big girl. I make my own decisions about what's good for me."

He chuckled, but there was no mockery nor amusement in it. Instead, when he lifted a finger and traced the outline of my lips, he looked pensive.

"Bella Swan, you're as reckless and impulsive as she showed me you would be. Had I remained in town, all that recklessness and impulsivity would've been for me, regardless of how you now balk at the idea of belonging to only one man," he said with a frown. "You would've thrilled at being mine and only mine."

I remained silent, unable to deny what I didn't understand.

"Do you know that this same meadow that's now razed yearly for this carnival…was our meadow - our Eden? In one of the visions," he murmured, still outlining my lips, "you begged me to take you, to make you mine right here in this meadow. And though I tried to resist…atop these fields of wildflowers, I pushed myself inside you, slowly and carefully," he whispered. "It was the first time for both of us. Your quiet susurrations for me to take you then turned into frenzied pleas for me to take you harder. You were my reckless, forbidden fruit," he mused, longing thick in his voice; his ensuing sigh painfully wistful. "In another vision, I made you marry me and promise me forever first."

I laughed like a madwoman, both aroused and bewildered by the puzzling yet erotic picture he painted.

"Marry you? I'm not even nineteen! And forever is a long time and something I'm definitely not ready to promise any man."

"Oh, but I'm not just any man," he grinned. "You would've happily married me."

"You're insane is what you are. None of this makes any sense."

No longer angry or even amused, he simply looked melancholic. "As I said, it's better, for both of us, and for a whole lot of creatures, if I make myself leave."

I caught the 'if,' the short word that, like the alternate exit to the funhouse, could've put a quick end to everything. And I knew that as much as this unmalleable man with black, fathomless eyes spoke of leaving…he wanted to stay.

He was just waiting for me to ask.

With my eyes on his, I puckered my lips around the fingertip that continued shadowing them. Then I drew it into my mouth and gently sucked…kissed.

He hissed sharply.

"Bella, don't do that unless…"

"Unless…?" I held his gaze.

He pulled out his finger and crushed his mouth to mine.

The hunger in our sudden kiss was that of a kiss that was years, rather than hours, in the making. I was surprised and elated to discover that his lips were warm and soft, unlike the rest of him. And they were demanding.

"Open wider for me, my love," he breathed. When I did, he caged my face tightly between his hands, covered my mouth completely with his, and drove in his tongue.

All bets were off. I fisted and tugged his hair, and he stroked my cheeks tenderly with his thumbs.

"Remember this, Bella Swan," he growled against my mouth when I came up for air, "I tried to make myself leave."

It was a final warning.

We left behind the carnival thrumming with life, with hundreds of people, including my friends, laughing and playing. And with the Calliope music following us the entire way, we wandered off the fairgrounds, unable to resist the pull, the craving once we'd met…kissed…breathed one another in. With my legs wrapped around Edward's thighs and my arms around his shoulders, he held me up and against him. The entire way, our mouths moved together even as he circumvented massive cedars and hidden brush in the dark, without looking or tripping.

As I've fully admitted, I was a woman with no hang-ups regarding what a woman was allowed to feel or not feel, or a senseless need for first or second dates. But it was more than instant gratification I sought. All night, Edward had called me and treated me as his love. And while I still didn't fully comprehend what that meant to him, it made me feel cherished. He alluded to a longing that withstood time, that transcended an overwhelming struggle, and it made me feel worshipped beyond the pretty, mid-rank, suburban girl I was. To be wanted to those extremes was a heady sensation.

As for Edward…well, Edward believed he owned me, and he'd denied his ownership, allowed others to have what was rightfully his, for long enough. He was ready to claim, and I…again, unable to comprehend what exactly that meant, was ready to be claimed.

When he judged we were far enough, Edward set me down and removed his jacket, spreading it across the damp grass.

"This was one of our spots," he murmured.

No, I still didn't understand, but when he took my hand and guided me atop his jacket, I lay back without hesitation. The blood in my veins pulsed wildly when his body covered mine. He kissed me tenderly, reverently. Behind him, a glowing half-moon illuminated his pale face, his angular features, and his coal eyes – all reminders…one final, final warning.

But I shut my eyes, complying submissively when his mouth grew demanding, when his hands first skimmed my body and then gripped it possessively.

"You're mine now."

"Yes," I whispered. "Yes, Edward. You played mysterious well. Now, claim your prize."

He chuckled, dragging his mouth across my neck again, once more starting that sucking action that drove me mad. I threw back my head.

"Yes…Edward…yes…"

He unbuttoned my shirt and unclasped my bra, mouth skimming the space between my breasts.

"If it makes you feel better, go ahead and tell yourself that we're here because you believe me a mystery, an enigma. Tell yourself that your blood and your scent don't call to me," – he paused, while his tongue licked and his lips puckered – "and that mine doesn't call to you in a mutual craving as old as time."

All the while, I whimpered and writhed under him. "Oh…"

He moved on to removing my bottom layers. Despite the dampness in the air and the chill of his fingers, heat wrapped itself around us like a lasso. It increased exponentially as his hands and mouth continued southward. My jeans grazed my hips, fell past my thighs, and his breath hovered…

My back arched, and my mouth fell slack. I reached down and fisted his hair, playing with it while the evening wilderness, the Calliope music, and Edward's warm, wet mouth made the only sounds.

A few wondrous minutes later, Edward sat back on his knees and licked his lips. He watched and waited patiently while my heart ceased its furious pounding.

"I'm ready for more," I breathed.

Gingerly untying his laces, he stood and kicked off his boots. Then, he reached behind his neck and yanked off his shirt before moving on to his fly.

"I've told myself many lies throughout the years." He popped open his button. "The first, after what she saw, was that I would stay away from you for the rest of your existence." He pulled down his pants and boxers together and stepped out of them. "Then, when staying away became maddening, I told myself that if I took other women, they'd satisfy me enough to keep me away from you."

As he stood before me, moonlight streamed in between the trees. It highlighted every lean and sinewy muscle…every perfection in his athletic build.

"When I realized the first tale I told myself was a lie, I then thought I might come here and merely catch glimpses of you, satisfy myself with just peeks into your life. And when I realized on that Ferris Wheel that the second tale was a lie as well, I thought I'd only allow myself a taste of you...a kiss to remember you by."

I gazed at him in open desire, his scent bombarding me, drawing me in more than his enigmatic words or his dark gaze.

"But it's not enough, and it'll never be enough. Tell me, did any of them ever make you want the way you want now?"

"No." I shook my head. "No. Never."

He quirked a brow. "Do you even know what you want?"

"I know I want more than just kisses."

In a flash, he was on top of me, caging my face between his hands and lining us up.

"In my dreams, and while reliving the visions, I've taken you so many times…and in so many different ways. I'm certain now that I won't hurt you, but we'll start slowly."

For my part, I contributed that we didn't have to worry about pregnancy since I was on birth control. Edward merely chuckled. Then, without further discussion, he pushed himself in, slowly, hissing sharply as he advanced inch by inch, and I stretched around him.

"Oh, God. Oh…Ohhh…"

I uttered a high-pitched, strangled sound, and again, my back arched. Edward raised his face to the black sky and growled savagely at the half-moon.

"Jesus. Bella…" He gripped my hair, fisting it tightly in both hands. When he pulled back, he held himself still for a moment, driving me almost mad before he pushed back in, flattening his hips against mine. Then, he began long and deep strokes.

"Bella, my love. I thought…I was prepared. I thought…fuuuuck."

The scent permeating us now was him and me together, and it was delicious. If before, I'd wanted him in ways I'd never wanted before, I was now addicted, branded. When he groaned, I grinned. When he yelled explicit obscenities, I spurred him on. When he refused my plea that he thrust harder, yes, I begged, and he acquiesced.

"My reckless love, is this what you want?" he hissed against my mouth, hips moving with increased urgency. "Like this?"

"Yes…yes…"

He grunted in time with his powerful strokes. When I orgasmed, he kissed my mouth, my nose, my forehead…and resumed his thrusts. Again, he took me to the brink, only allowing me to skirt the fringes of another orgasm so we could act out everything in our uninhibited imaginations. By the time I straddled him, I was the one who threw back her head and screamed up at the moon. Then, leaning forward, I buried my face against his neck…and bit him, hard.

Edward's hips reared.

I sat up, momentarily startled by how high off the ground he'd bucked, and I found the frenzied eyes of a wild animal, ready to pounce, on me. Nostrils flaring, his ensuing roar resounded throughout the forest. It shook the branches above us. It roused the sleeping birds, who flew away in fright at the feral growl of a predator. Had I doubted before that he was something…other, the untamed sounds that erupted from him would've confirmed it. Even if he hadn't opened his mouth wide, his teeth catching a sliver of moonlight, right before he frantically clamped them down…on his fist.

And my orgasm tore through me like wildfire, exploding into every extremity while I rode him hard, and together, we chased the never-ending heat.

Afterward, I lay on top of him, shivering both from the afterglow and the cool temperature of his body. I couldn't move, and neither did I want to. When my shivers continued, Edward reached for the clothing pieces we'd discarded and carefully covered me.

"I apologize for how cold my body is."

"Funny, how I didn't feel cold a few minutes ago," I smiled wryly. "Edward…what are you?"

His fingers skimmed my tangled hair.

"I bit you hard…and you bit yourself as if what you really wanted to do…and there's no mark from either bite. Better yet, why did I bite you? What am I that drew you to me?"

"You're my forever."

Still stupidly misunderstanding what forever meant to him, I lifted my face and found his dark eyes staring at the moonlight.

"Like I said, forever's a long time. But I see us doing this with one another over and over," I grinned.

For a long minute, he held my gaze. "For you, this was purely instinctive desire and a primal call you're powerless against. For me…it was that and much more."

"Perhaps it wasn't all it was to you, but it was more than usual for me too, Edward."

He looked…somewhat relieved. "Since we have all the time in the world, that's enough for now."

"All the time in the world?" I echoed.

His ensuing smile was enigmatic. "We'll have an eternity for you to understand, and for your more to turn to lo-"

He cut himself off, his head shifting sharply to one side.

"What-"

"Shh."

He listened for something, but at first, I heard nothing – nothing but the faint sounds of the Calliope music and the far-away laughter at the Carnival. Then I realized…the forest itself was silent.

Edward jumped up with dizzying speed, yanking me up just as quickly and rattling my teeth.

"What-"

"Get dressed." His eyes were wild as he pulled my shirt on.

"Why? What's-"

He dressed me with a speed that defied logic, twisting my clothing around my limbs and ignoring undergarments. In a blurring motion, he pulled on his pants and tugged me hard against his side. In the next moment, four people, two women, and two men, all as equally strange and beautiful as Edward, emerged from the tree-line.

"What are you doing here?" Edward demanded.

A tall, thin, blond man with…a peculiar eye color was the first to speak. He looked young, perhaps a couple of years older than Edward, about mid-twenties.

"Brother, that's our question."

A petite, dark-haired woman, with strange eyes as well, stood next to the blond man. She spoke next.

"After everything you put us through when we left. After everything that you know."

Edward crushed me against him so tightly that I felt my ribs bruising.

"All I know, Alice, is that I could no longer stay away from her."

"Selfish bastard, you lied to me," the petite woman – Alice – spat, "to your sister and the only one who stood by you the entire time! You played with the holes in my vision."

"I meant to stay away from her, you know I did. The decision was split-second and last-minute, but you, more than anyone, know how torturous and maddening the past couple of years have been!"

"Typical male," the other woman, tall and blond, said. She stood a few feet away from Alice and next to a dark-haired, brawny, and muscular man. All of them had strange eyes.

"Wanting what you can't have," she added.

"Rosalie, you know nothing about me or my wants. But I know all about yours."

"Watch how you speak to Rosalie, Edward," the brawny one said. "I, like Alice, was always on your side. But you upended all our lives just to end up back here?"

"Emmett, if you knew half of the garbage that goes through Rosalie's mind, you wouldn't be so quick to defend her."

What followed was a heated exchange between all five, fired out so rapidly that I couldn't understand one word. All the while, Edward held me caged against him.

"Enough! Let's all leave before it's too late!" Alice said. "Otherwise, you know what will happen!"

"It doesn't have to happen!" Edward said. "If the four of you leave now…"

Trailing off, he angled his head, listening again. I listened too, all while trying to make sense of the senseless scene. My heart beat spastically, for the first time all night out of fear. The adrenaline coursing through me had nothing to do with desire but with an age-old, inborne instinct. Then…as all six of us remained still and silent, as the forest creatures continued hiding, and as the breeze remained eerily subdued…I heard it.

The Calliope music weaved and threaded through the forest, its haunting melody saccharinely sweet. All night, it accompanied the merriment at the carnival, then Edward's and my encounter in the funhouse, then our conversation atop the Ferris Wheel…and then our lovemaking.

Now, it accompanied screams of terror.

Edward fisted his hair in one hand, appearing ghostly white in the moonlight. "What have you all done?"

Alarm pulsed in my veins. "What is it? What's going on?"

"Did you really think that Tanya, Kate, and Irina would be fine with your sudden disappearance?" Alice scowled.

"What have you done?" Edward shouted.

"Edward, what's going on?" I breathed. "Why is everyone at the carnival screaming?"

"Because Loverboy here toyed with the wrong trio's emotions, got them used to dick," Rosalie spat, "and then disappeared. Now, they're furious, and they've come to reclaim him."

"What does that mean?" I demanded. "Edward, what does that mean?"

I tried to break into a sprint, but Edward's arm may as well have been a concrete wall.

"Let me go! Let me go find Jessica! Mike! Jake!"

"Bella, stop! Stop!" Edward commanded. "It's too late!"

"What does that mean? Oh, God, what does that mean?"

"Edward, listen to me," Alice said. "When you made the decision to leave before this human arrived in town, it changed everything. You weren't here for her to obsess over…I wasn't here to befriend her, so she turned to other amusements, to other friendships and relationships which have shaped her into someone completely different from who she would've been, different from who she was in my visions."

"In the ways that matter, she's the same," Edward hissed. "Go, Alice! Leave! All of you! Because I'm never leaving her. No matter what!"

"No matter what?" Alice countered.

And all the while, screams and cries of torture streamed through the trees.

"My friends!" I cried. "What's happening to my friends?!"

"Have you forgotten how this ends?" Alice asked.

"It can still change if decisions change-"

"It can't! Your selfishness has already cost lives, but what you're about to do-"

"I won't."

"This Bella isn't even devoted to you!"

"She will be devoted to me forever!"

"Forever?" Panic welled like a broken dam. "What does forever mean?"

"It means eternity, you ignorant human," Rosalie spat. "Decades that turn into centuries that turn into millennia."

My breath hitched wildly. The blond tilted her head, smiling wickedly at me. "Didn't he…? Do you even know how old he is?"

"Twenty? Twenty-one?"

She barked a bitter laugh. "Multiply that by about six, sweetie."

"No," I breathed, shaking my head. "No, that's not possible."

"Do you know what he is, you stupid girl?" Alice yelled. "Did you even bother finding out before you spread your legs-"

"ENOUGH!" Edward howled. "Alice, don't speak to her that way!"

Dread turned my blood to ice. "Oh, God, what are all of you?"

Edward spoke soothingly, his gaze remaining fixed on the…beings before us. "Shh, it's okay, my love. I'll explain it all to you. What matters is that you're mine, and I'm yours. It's fated."

"Fated," the blond man – Jasper – who'd spoken calmly upon their arrival, now spoke again. "There's no such thing. You're obsessed with her sex, Edward, and addicted to her scent. Nothing more." He snorted, seemingly emotionless. "So much for your lauded self-control. You've had her, so now bite her and get it over with, so we can go. After all, that's how this ends, isn't it?"

For one long, bewildering moment, Edward and Jasper glared at one another, both standing inhumanly erect and still.

"You would love that, wouldn't you, Jasper?" Edward finally said, his tone as cold as Jasper's. "Because if I could do something like that, lose control that way, you'd no longer be the weakest link."

"Edward, no," Alice warned, "don't."

"Shut the fuck up, Ed!" Jasper hissed.

"Before you joined our family, Rosalie was the weakest one when it came to abstaining from human blood. She's faltered what…three, four times since she was turned? You, Jasper, have at least a yearly fuck-up."

"You asshole," Jasper bit out.

"That's your biggest motivator, isn't it? The constant fury and resentment at having to deny your thirst when you don't even really want to deny it. Meanwhile, the rest of us deny it easily. Your envy and self-loathing are-"

"Stop, Edward!" Alice yelled.

"You deny your thirst easily, do you, brother?" Jasper's lips twisted in a cold grin.

Suddenly, Edward grabbed his own throat. He smacked his lips together then swallowed with obvious effort as if his throat were dry…parched. A long groan escaped him.

"You manipulative bastard," he said hoarsely.

"I'm just amplifying what you already feel. Now, drain that piece of sweet-smellin' sugar," Jasper sneered, "so we can go."

"Just drain her already, Edward," Rosalie agreed, "so we can all go home."

"No." Edward dropped his head and shook it hard. He tried to swallow. "No!"

"Edward, maybe you should," Emmett shrugged. "It'll end this madness, once and for all."

Edward squeezed his eyes shut.

"Edward, please, don't," I whispered. "Don't kill me."

When he reopened his eyes, he glowered at me, his chest heaving. Then, he turned his glare toward Jasper.

"Tell me something, Jasper. Who actually toyed with Tanya, Kate, and Irina's emotions? They don't feel love or jealousy, and they knew," Edward nodded, "they knew it was just sex. So, who manipulated their emotions and sent them on that rampage?"

Jasper's hands formed claws at his sides.

"Edward, stop!" Alice said. "He didn't-"

"He did. I read minds. You see visions. He controls emotions. Alice, how much longer are you going to turn a blind eye to how he controls situations?"

Jasper growled ferociously. "Stop invading my mind."

"How much longer are you going to force me to turn a blind eye to what you see and choose to ignore to preserve his fragile ego?"

"Stop!" Alice shrieked.

"Edward, don't taunt him," Emmett said. "You know Jasper doesn't have our-"

Emmett cut himself off, but everyone, even me, knew what he was about to say.

"He doesn't have our self-control," Edward finished for Emmett. "He'll never have-"

The next few moments occurred in a blur.

Edward shoved me in the chest, and lightning struck where I'd just stood – at least, that's what I first believed. The lightning created a boom and a cloud of smoke that shrouded everything. My chest ached where he'd pushed me, but before I could say anything, before the cloud disbursed, Edward lifted me and locked me against him once again.

And when the air cleared, I saw Jasper where he lay prone on the meadow…his head a few feet away from his torso.

Alice screamed. "NOOO!"

She glared at the sight in disbelief, gripping her hair, weeping brokenly and tearlessly. When she looked up at Edward, her eyes glowed with pure hatred and fury before they flared toward me.

"No, Alice. Don't look at her. It was me, and I had no choice. He was going to kill her."

"No," Alice choked, shaking her head. "No."

"You saw it! You saw him make the decision! Admit it to yourself! Accept-"

Again, everything blurred. I felt more than saw Edward pull away from me. And again, he pulled me back before I could speak. When my eyes refocused, Alice's petite body was also separated from her head, discarded like a broken ragdoll littering the space between us.

I covered my mouth and screamed.

"You killed them," Emmett breathed. "Our brother and sister…you killed them."

"They both wanted to kill Bella, Emmett. Had either of them ever tried to hurt Rose, you would've done the same."

Rosalie cried furiously. She crouched and put up her hands.

"Rose," Edward warned. "Emmett, tell her to stand down. I don't want to hurt her."

Instead, Emmett fell into a crouch as well.

"Take care of him," Rosalie grinned, "and I'll take care of her."

"Don't," Edward pleaded. "I-"

The half-moon was unequal to the job of spotlighting what followed. Bodies streaked like flashes of lightning, meeting like claps of thunder, like rock slamming against rock. Edward yanked and shoved me, hoisted me high, and flung me low like another ragdoll, one he tried desperately to keep from being torn to shreds. The sensation was eerily similar to a moment that felt like a lifetime ago, when on the Tilt-A-Whirl. Like then, I shut my eyes and tried not to vomit.

When I felt myself fly through the air and landed hard on my ass, I opened my eyes.

Across the field, Emmett had Edward on his knees and in a headlock, while Rose wrapped her arms around Edward's head, ready to pull.

Another recent memory hit me.

'Rosalie was the weakest one when it came to abstaining from human blood…'

It was a split-second decision, one I didn't even fully understand nor realize I made until I rammed the twig through my forearm, and my blood spurted.

Rosalie's head shot up, and she lunged toward me.

"No, Rose, NO!" Emmett yelled.

In the next moment, Emmett joined the carnage. Edward blurred toward me so fast it seemed as if he were already moving before Emmett's body parts landed on the gruesome pile. Then, he dropped to his knees.

"Please, don't, Rose. I'm begging you; don't."

She held me in an unshakable headlock and tightened her concrete arm, cutting off my air supply.

"Her blood does smell amazing," she said. "I almost can't blame you."

"I'm begging-"

"I begged you once, too, remember? Many decades ago, I begged you to have me, but you didn't want me. And now, you've ended the one man who did. You've ended most of our family. All for this one, who doesn't even love you." She flung the words at him like a knife.

"Do you love him?" she asked me, angling my head sharply.

"I…I…"

I heard a roar, and something sharp pierced my throat before I fell on the ground and writhed in agony.

I floated in and out of waves of consciousness, sinking then breaking the surface. When submerged, all was black and peaceful. Whenever I resurfaced, the pain was excruciating, the sights macabre: heads, torsos – including Rosalie's – and black gore flowing like lava. I preferred the blackness.

All the while, the Calliope music played.

Edward knelt beside me. At one point, three women appeared, ridiculously beautiful despite their red eyes and blood-streaked mouths. Edward didn't turn away from me when he acknowledged them.

"I know Jasper manipulated your emotions, so I'll allow you a head start. But get the hell away from us, and get away quickly, before I end you like I ended them."

"Edward, the Volturi will come after you for this…and they'll come for her if she lives."

"I'll worry about the Volturi. GO!"

I sank…and resurfaced.

"My love, you have to feed," Edward begged. Only then did I note the wrist he held under my mouth, gore oozing. "It'll complete the change. Otherwise, you won't survive this."

It was draining and horrific to speak while blood spurted from my mouth. What resulted were half-formed words that erupted as I choked.

"You knew…from the…begin…it would…end…like this…that's…what she… Alice…"

"No," he shook his head. "Not exactly like this. Alice's visions are…were subjective. They changed as decisions changed. She saw you coming, and her visions showed us that if I remained in town, you and I would fall in love. But at a party for your eighteenth birthday, you received a papercut, and Jasper bit you so hard that he tore off your head before I was able to end him. We never told the others that's what she saw. We told them she saw me killing you. She wanted to protect Jasper from the self-destructive knowledge of his continued weakness…and I just wanted to protect you. So, I made us all leave. But then I convinced myself that by staying away for so long, I'd changed the ending…and it did change. You're still alive. Now, drink."

"No."

"You'll die otherwise!"

"I want my life back. I want my friends back."

"You can't have your life back, not the way it was! And your friends are dead! Drink, and you can have a new and everlasting life!"

My eyes focused momentarily, and yes, I saw the despair and desperation in his black eyes. But I also saw his torn ear regenerating, pieces of flesh hanging off his chest…and healing, the vein he kept having to pull viciously with his own teeth to place under my mouth. I saw the broken body parts a few feet away.

"No. No. I don't want to be like you. I don't want to be a…a monster."

For an eternal moment, all I heard was his grief-filled weeping, while my torment ebbed and flowed, close to an end.

"We weren't always this way, Bella. We were a close family. We had parents who loved us, who taught us to hunt and feed only from animals. We weren't always monsters."

My eyes fluttered open and shut, blessed darkness claiming me for longer periods.

"Please don't die, my love. Please don't die…don't die…"

I cupped his cheek.

'Do you love him?' Rose asked.

No, I didn't. But with more time, could I have loved him?

Neither of us would ever know.

"I don't…I don't want to be…a…"

Something warm and sticky…and as delicious as pure nectar from the gods wet my lips. It invaded my mouth. I struggled and thrashed, my head lashing from side to side to avoid it, to deny it entry, to deny myself its dark…rich…delectable…and damning taste.

Then I swallowed hungrily, greedily, lifted my hands, and pushed his wrist harder against my mouth.

"Drink, my love. Drink," Edward sighed. "We'll have an eternity now for you to forgive…and learn to love me."

A century later:

Beyond the castle walls, the Italian meadow rises lush and verdantly, while the Tuscan sun sets behind the rolling hills and terracotta-tiled rooftops, lending the horizon its golden glow. With sundown, the festivities for the yearly St. Marcus Festival begin. It's a big event around here. We spend the evening celebrating and mingling with guests from all over the countryside.

One of the hosts makes a toast. Tall, bronze-haired, and said to be descended from the castle's original inhabitants, he's undeniably statuesque, and he's exquisite in his modern-day tuxedo.

"Have you ever heard the rumors concerning this castle?"

One of the guests asks the question – a good-looking, olive-skinned man in about his early thirties. I pretend to sip my champagne, my gaze still on the man making the toast.

"What are the rumors?" I ask.

"They say it was built thousands of years ago, by a coven of vampires who still reside in this castle, from where they covertly rule over a vampire world. They call themselves 'The Volturi'." I hear humor in the guest's voice. "They say that the man making the toast isn't really a descendant of the castle's original inhabitants, but he is a vampire as well, head of the Volturi Royal Guard. They say he traded his service in exchange for clemency for a transgression to their laws he committed a long time ago. His job is to guard the coven with his inhuman strength and special powers." He finishes in an overly-dramatic whisper.

"A shocking story," I smile. "Where do people come up with such tales?"

"Who knows?" The guest chuckles.

The man making the toast finishes, and the guest beside me clinks his flute to mine.

"Cent' anni!"

It's a traditional toast meaning 'may you live a hundred years,' and one which I find amusing to no end. The guest throws back his champagne as if it's water, eyeing me above the rim – liquid courage, based on his next suggestion.

"Mi perdoni, but you're the most ravishing creature I've ever laid eyes on, and I'll die a painful death if I'm not permitted to make love to you."

"You're partly right," I grin.

He chuckles at my joke. "What if I promise to make it the most mind-blowing experience of your life?"

"You'd have a hard act to follow, but tell me more." I take another sip of champagne.

Encouraged, he shifts closer. "I've heard there are secret rooms in this castle."

"You've heard quite a bit regarding this castle."

"I propose we find one, where I can tear that dress off you, and lick and suck every part-"

A throat clears behind the guest. As he looks over his shoulder, frowning at the interruption, his olive complexion blanches.

"Scusi, I believe that's my wife you're propositioning," Edward growls in his perfect Italian.

This close, and this furious, it's hard to disguise what he is, even had the guest not heard rumors.

"Mi perdoni, but I didn't see a ring on her finger. I didn't realize she was your wife."

When I chuckle, Edward smirks.

"My wife likes playing games sometimes. For example, every decade or so, she picks an unsuspecting man to flirt with, knowing full well how easily I can crush men's bones to dust."

"Oh, mio Dio," the guest whimpers, trembling.

"It's her way of punishing me for an age-old disagreement, one she should get over already."

"Hmph," I snort, sipping the bland liquid in my flute.

When Edward snarls, the man scurries away, and Edward takes his place, shaking his head. His scent instantly makes my mouth water, but I conceal my reaction.

"Must I constantly come upon stupid men planning escapades with you?"

I chuckle heartily. "Poor Jake. It's not kind to speak ill of the dead, Edward, nor to frighten humans who don't know better."

"A kindness would've been snapping his neck before he turned, especially considering what Aro has planned. But I suppose he'll end up like Jake, regardless." He shrugs and threads his warm fingers through mine, lifting our joined hands to his mouth and grinning. "It's been a hundred years, my love. How long do you plan to hold a grudge?"

He's teasing, but I won't give in that easily. Instead, I gaze out at the lush meadow beyond the castle walls. It's reminiscent of another meadow I once visited.

"I married you, and I allow you to have me every morning, noon, and night, in so many different ways. What kind of grudge is that?"

Edward chuckles. "Bella, despite all our time together, despite everything we've been through, all the places we've been…and despite our insatiable lovemaking, you've never said the words."

I roll my eyes. "A girl's gotta maintain some mystery in her relationship – especially if she wants it to last forever."

He laughs. "A hundred years, and you still won't say them."

"A hundred-year relationship for our kind is like a week-long relationship for humans. You're moving way too fast."

He shakes his head. "Stubborn…"

"What was it you said that night in the meadow?" I pretend to search my memory. "Something about having an eternity to earn my forgiveness and my love?"

He pulls me into his arms, buries his face against my neck, and bites me. My ensuing shriek attracts attention, but half of those here know exactly who and what we are. They're used to our games. The other half…won't be around much longer.

By the time he pulls back, my neck is perfectly smooth. I look up at him and smile.

"I'll make you a deal."

"I'm listening," he says curiously.

"Answer me something I've been wondering for the past, oh…fifty years or so. You told Carlisle and Esme that it was self-defense. They were devastated, but they believed you. You're their first son, their most beloved…"

"The question?" he prompts.

"How much did you know that night? You defeated them all as if…as if you'd seen the entire scene play out, as if you'd prepared, and you knew exactly how each of them would come for you."

For our kind, standing still and holding one another's gaze for hours is nothing peculiar, not when you measure time how we do. The party continues; the other hosts invite the guests to tour the rest of the castle.

"I made a decision," Edward finally says, "an agonizing but unavoidable, split-second decision. My family loved me but would never understand me. They loved me, but each of them had their own mate, their own lover. None of them would ever comprehend what it was to know that your true mate was forbidden to you, to know that she'd live out her short lifespan without you, then die, and you'd have to spend the rest of fucking eternity without her. I loved them, but none of them would ever fill the void of my true mate. So, I made a split-second decision. Alice saw it, and I saw what she saw and tried to hide from me. I didn't want it to go exactly how it did, but I knew if I had to, I could exist without them. I couldn't fathom an eternity without you."

Another hour transpires while we gaze at one another.

"I've realized something else over the past decades," I say.

He moves his mouth closer to mine. "What is that?"

"Once Eve knew of the existence of the forbidden fruit, she would've never chosen otherwise. She chose the fruit because she realized that biting that fruit, and getting Adam to bite it with her, was a thousand times more thrilling than life on that lifeless paradise could ever be."

A slow grin lifts one corner of Edward's mouth. "Is that your way of saying you finally forgive me for changing you?"

When I press my lips together, he smirks and pulls back. I laugh.

"Bella, why do you think you were more than hungry for me when we met, but thirsty for me?"

The answer to that is in every day of our existence, in how easily I've taken to this life, in all I've experienced, and in everywhere we go and everything we enjoy with no guilt.

Quick as a flash, I surrender and skim my nose across his neck, inhaling deeply, groaning. Then I take his hand and pull him.

"Where are we going?"

"The meadow beyond the castle. I want you to take me on that open field and take me harder than you ever have. I want you to make me scream so loud all of Volterra will tremble with either fright or lust."

"You reckless woman. If we're seen making love out in the open again, Aro will be upset."

"He'll forgive us. He always does. We're his favorites. You read his enemies' minds, and I shield him from them. Besides," I spin around, caging his face between my hands so that I can whisper in his ear, "I haven't told you yet what I want you to make me scream."

He exhales unevenly. All these years later, our mutual thirst hasn't abated.

"What do you want me to make you scream?" he murmurs thickly.

For a long while, I hold his gaze. Finally, he grins as understanding dawns on him. But when I tug him, he holds his ground.

"Bella, that day, when I compared you to Eve's fruit, I was wrong."

I quirk a brow. "Were you?"

He nods. "Rather, I wasn't completely right. You weren't merely forbidden fruit. You're the temptress as well, the true architect behind the entire tale because Bella Cullen, I would do anything…say anything…and trade anything for you."

I offer him a slow, sensual grin. "Edward Cullen, I know you do, and I always knew you would.