~ Edward and Bella's Cabin, Alaska - July 6, 2005 ~
"Edward, this doesn't look like the picture you showed me." Bella said as we both viewed the cabin that would be our home for the foreseeable future. However the building standing in front of us was not the dilapidated structure I purchased, or even a renovated version of it. This was a large, multi-level log cabin that should be in the pages of an architectural magazine.
"I…I don't know what to tell you, love." Before I could continue, the front door of the cabin opened, revealing Carlisle and Esme.
"Don't look to me for answers," Carlisle said in his thoughts. "I just found out about all of this a few days ago."
"Surprise!" Esme called out to us. "Come on in and I'll explain everything, although I will just say, Edward, you should have at least asked Mr. Jenks about the seller when you purchased the property."
Esme's sneaky smile and thoughts told me some of what I wanted to know. Mainly, that I purchased this property from my own family, specifically, Esme.
Once inside, Esme confessed all.
"When you decided to move to Chicago six years ago, Alice and Rose came to me about this property. They knew I wanted a place where we could all call home beyond just a handful of years at a time. A place we could escape to that was more convenient than Isle Esme. Alice was, of course, cryptic in her insistence on this property, but I knew she saw something that made it perfect for us."
Esme grabbed a surveyor's map and handed it to me.
"Edward, what you purchased, which, by the way all of the money you paid went to help families and shelters in Fairbanks and Anchorage, is just part of the total parcel I purchased. With Alice and Rose's help, I divided the parcel into five sub-plots, each about twenty some-odd square miles in area. Over the ensuing years, we arranged to have five cabins built. Carlisle's and mine is roughly in the center, with the other four arranged outside in a loose circle. Each of my children will have their own place, yet we will be close enough to still have family time together."
Esme glowed just thinking about this arrangement. To her, it was her special way of giving back to the family she loved.
"I am confused, Esme," Bella said as she studied the map. "Why five sub-plots? There are only have three other couples."
"Alice, insisted on five and I did not understand either until Charlie mated with Irina," Esme answered before pausing a moment in thought. "Actually, at that time, I don't think Alice exactly knew why five made sense. It just seemed to feel right to her. Five made her the happiest, so who was I to complain." Esme smirked at the memory that with five she would one day be welcoming a new addition to our family. She really liked that Charlie and Irina were that addition.
"Really?" Bella replied. "So Dad and Irina will have a spot here too?"
"Yes! And you don't have to worry about him being too close, if you know what I mean." Esme said while bumping Bella's shoulder. The implication caused Bella to blush and Carlisle to look away in embarrassment. I on the other hand, was ecstatic about the arrangement. "Their cabin is on the western edge of the property closest to the Denali's. Your's and Edward's is on the opposite side. In fact, your cabin is far enough away from the others, that even with Edward's gift, you both should have privacy."
Esme's generosity and forethought, humbled me. I did not need Alice's gift to see what the future held. My family happy and together, yet able to still enjoy our mates privately.
Without any further thought, I hugged Esme. "Thank you! All of this is beyond wonderful. I know I haven't said it enough over the years, but I love you. I am so very happy you are now my Mother."
"I love you too, Edward," Esme said before releasing me and hugging my tearful mate. "And I love you too, dear," she whispered to Bella. "I know you both will be so very happy together."
"Now," Esme said while she released Bella from her hug, but still kept an arm around her shoulders. "Edward, you and Carlisle need to go out for a quick hunt while I spend some time with Bella pampering her a bit. Give us about an hour. Now shoo!"
I sighed as swallowed the last mouthful of blood from the moose I just captured. Logically, I understood the need to hunt, but I wanted to be back with my Bella. First making love to her, then changing her, so we could start our forever together.
I tossed the carcass aside, knowing the wolves would soon find it after we left. I walked slowly to the top of the small crest and looked out over the Alaskan wilderness. It was beautiful here. I glanced at my watch and frowned. I still had forty-five minutes to kill before I could head back to Bella.
"Nervous?" Carlisle asked as he approached from where he had just finished off a moose of his own.
"A little," I replied as I tuned towards Carlisle. "But mostly, I'm excited! Part of me never expected that I would find my mate. Now, in just a few days Bella will be by my side, forever."
"I was excited and nervous before, and during, all of the changes, but especially Esme's. I enjoyed our solo time together, Edward, and I love all of my children, but, Esme completes me in a way I never knew possible."
I knew all of the this from his thoughts. Esme and he shared a bond together that no other being could fulfill. It was the same for Rose and Emmett, Jasper and Alice, and now Bella and myself.
"Carlisle, I never properly thanked you for gifting me this extraordinary life. Besides Bella, your companionship has been the most treasured relationship I have had with another being. I am so very grateful to have you in my life. Thank you for being my sire and my father."
I embraced Carlisle in a hug. No other words were spoken. They weren't needed. In his thoughts it was if the weight of the world had been lifted from his shoulders. He knew I had struggled with so many demons. Some he wrongly blamed himself for, others he wished he could take on himself to ease my distress. But now, he and I both could move forward into the future without the ghosts of our shared past haunting us.
I raced towards the cabin and my Bella. I could just catch Esme's thoughts as she ran into the dense forrest to meet with Carlisle. Both of my parents would wait just within hearing range of the cabin. They suspected that before I changed Bella, we would be enjoying some intimate time together. They wanted to give us privacy so Bella and I could share this one last human experience together.
Once I picked up the cadence of Bella's heartbeat, I slowed to savor the rhythm that has meant so much to me. I entered the cabin and followed the sound up the log stairs to the main bedroom, where I was met with the glorious sight of my Bella lounging on the bed wearing the most sinful negligee I had ever seen.
"Are you ready to make me yours?" Bella purred, while a sexy smirk curled up from her lips.
I slowly unbuttoned my shirt. "Love, you've been mine since the first time I saw you in Phoenix."
I tossed the shirt onto a chair before kicking off my shoes. Bella's eye widened and her heart rate strummed faster as she ogled by naked torso. I unzipped my pants before dropping them, and my boxer briefs, to the floor. Bella bit her lower lip and waggled her finger to coax me to come to her.
As I slid into bed next to my beautiful Bella, she wrapped her arms around me before kissing me slowly. As the heat from her body soaked into mine, her negligee did very little to hide her lithe form from rubbing up against the cold stone of my skin. Soon our lust ignited and our need to be joined became a sensual inferno.
"I love you, Edward. Make me yours, forever." She whispered against my lips
She would not have to ask again.
"I love you, Bella, forever." I replied before I settled myself between her thighs.
For the past hour I had been worshipping her human body, committing all that she is to memory. Her heartbeats…her heat…her skin…her scent…her breaths…her gasps…her moans…her very life itself had been etched into my soul for the final time.
I felt Bella shake beneath me as her fifth orgasm overtook her. With one more final thrust I allowed myself to be carried over the same precipice, as we shared this final human joy together. Bella locked her gaze with mine, nodded, then she exposed her neck in a final act of surrender. As I pulsed within her, I stored forever in my memory the lovely variegated brown color of her human eyes.
After one more kiss and final oath of my love for her, I bared my teeth and bit into Bella's tender flesh. I did not wait for the rush of blood before I started to push my venom into her. Despite being my singer at one time, savoring her blood now seemed repugnant to me. Internally my beast howled, not in victory, but rather in abhorrent disgust at finally tasting my Bella's blood. The moment her fragile body registered my venom, she seized and cried out in pain. I quickly injected her with more than twice the amount she would need for the change, before I sealed my fatal wound.
I would do anything…I would give anything…to be able to take away the searing hellfire now coursing through Bella's veins. However, I knew all I could do now was hold my mate while her human life was incinerated away. Before I could lay in vigil with her, I left her side for only a couple of seconds while I slipped on my pants and slid her writhing arms into the sleeves of my shirt. She always told me wearing my clothes to bed allowed her to sleep better. I knew my shirt would bring her zero solace during the change, but I wanted her surrounded by as much of me as possible.
I slid in behind Bella and wrapped my arms around her, enclosing her within my embrace. I refused to spend the next two and half days expressing guilt or sorrow to Bella. So instead of mourning the loss of her human life, I planned on whispering to her my undying love and tell her about all of the wonders of the world I wanted to share with her.
Soon, Bella's cries of pain eased and she calmed in my arms. I was surprised by this this. The other changes I had witnessed included long stretches of thrashing limbs and cries of anguish. My family had done its best to prepare Bella and Charlie for the fiery torture they would undergo. I know I had spent probably too much time secretly lamenting that the price for Bella's immortality would be the igneous horror of her change. However now, with my arms and love surrounding her, Bella's flailing had subsided and she was almost calm. I could tell by her occasional random jerks and the trembling of her lips that the inferno still raged beneath her skin, but at some level my touch and words soothed her. For this I was grateful.
As we continued to lay upon the pyre, I never once stopped holding my beloved or speaking softly to her.
Shortly after I closed her wound, Carlisle and Esme came to check on us. After quickly diagnosing that Bella's change was underway and proceeding well, they both left to provide support for Charlie's change.
Over the ensuing hours, I could slowly start to sense the seismic changes going on to my mate, as her body started to shift from human to vampire. It started with the gradual lowering of her core temperature. Next came the subtle changes to her skin and hair. I could also feel her gradually grow more heavy and dense in my arms. Flesh that once yielded to the slightest of my touch, had started to become firm.
About fifty hours into the change, I could tell Bella's consciousness started to transform. I remembered this portion of my change as well. As the venom changed the biology of my brain, I started to sense the outside world around me. The hellfire still raged, but a small sliver of sanity was able to rise above it. As I held and spoke to Bella, some part of her could now recognize my words, and in response, she would often squeeze my hand or snuggle in closer.
Now, nearing the end of the change, Bella was stunning. Her temperature was nearly the same as mine. Her skin was flawless and luminous, except for the light crescent shaped scar on her neck that would forever marke her as mine. Her hair shimmered with new body and highlights that would make any runway model envious. Her exotic and floral scent was sensual and arousing. Her grip upon my hands and arms, was strong, and even painful when a surge of fiery pain wracked her body. She was perfect.
As the final seconds ticked away, Bella's heart thundered in her chest and her sweet breath came out in pants and gasps. I shifted her in my arms so we were facing each other. Suddenly, her body arched and shook violently as her heartbeat stuttered a few final times, then stopped.
I anxiously stayed motionless, still holding Bella, waiting for my mate to awaken to her new existence.
Author's Note...
The change is done...and like the cliff-hanger ending of the BD 1 movie, you will have to wait just a bit longer to meet vampire Bella. At least the wait won't be a year like between the BD 1 and BD 2 movies ;)
You don't know how much it means to me that people are enjoying this story and willing to share their thoughts. Thank you for reading and reviewing! See you on Friday.
-Chris