Chapter 6 – Goodbye

I had Prof. McCallister sit down and tell me everything he knew. "Daywalkers are a stronger, more conspicuous breed of vampire. Unlike the others, they have their own blood. They are as strong as a newborn vampire and that strength doesn't fade. They can have children." I almost broke the compulsion on that bit of information. "Really? Tell me more. How do you become a Daywalker?" "For a vampire, they need to have blood in their body and then be bitten by a Daywalker. The Daywalker's venom, mixed with the blood causes the change. For a human, they must ingest Daywalker blood, be bitten and then they must feed to complete the change." "How do Daywalkers feed?" "They feed on humans and vampires." I blinked, "Explain that." "They can bite a vampire and draw out the blood from their bodies. The vampire lives, but they would need to hunt again. You can see the vampire's eyes turn from crimson to black."

I tapped my foot. There had to be more he knew about, "Ok. Why did you want to find one?" "It is believed that the Daywalkers are no more. Aro had them wiped out by werewolves." "If the Daywalkers are as strong as you say, how can wolves kill them?" Prof. McCallister hadn't moved, "Wolves are the only things that can kill vampires and Daywalkers. However, the Daywalkers are more difficult to kill. Two to three wolves are needed for one vampire, but five are enough to take down a single Daywalker." I looked back at him, "Ok. Prof., I was bitten by a vampire last year and a year later, I become a Daywalker. How did that happen?" He stared at me, "You may be descendent of a Daywalker. It is believed that Daywalkers let the Volturi think they died out. A few got away and they agreed to only mate with humans. They wanted to dilute the bloodline. Their blood could be passed on to later generations. They hoped that their children's children would avenge them and destroy the Volturi." "Hang on. I know some werewolves and they cannot tell that what I am. Can you explain that?" "The werewolves couldn't tell the Daywalkers from humans. Aro had to trick them. He had his humans point out the Daywalkers and when the wolves attacked, the Daywalkers defended themselves and their mates. That is how the wolves knew the Daywalkers from the humans. But that is how several Daywalkers got away. They pretended to be humans, escaped and continued to mate." I tilted my head. "Huh?" That was an interesting fact, but there was a hole in the information, "Well, another vampire drew out the venom from my body before it could change me." "It was too late. Once the venom was in the blood, it awakened the gene. It is a very dormant gene and with no venom in your body, the change was very slow."

I was a Daywalker. My ancestors were Daywalkers and now, I was one, too. Something came to my mind, "Wait? A regular vampire bit me. How could I become a Daywalker from his venom when he is a different breed?" "It was in your blood. The blood is the stronger than the venom. Again, the gene was dormant and the vampire venom awakened it, causing you to change." I huffed, "This is amazing. Did you know I could eat human food?" "That was the Daywalkers. They could blend in better with the humans than vampires. They had the physical beauty of vampires, but their skin was luminous in the sunlight, inside of diamond-like facets of the vampire skin. The Daywalkers are faster. They have their human eyes, but when they feed, their eyes turned blue. When their body needs more blood, which is how you can tell they are Daywalkers. Their pupils turned black and veins appear around their eyes." I have not experienced that. I could always feel when my body needed more blood and it never came to that. I always hunted before that could happen, but now, I was curious to how it looks. There was so much more I wanted to know, but I doubt this human would have much more information.

"Is there any written information about Daywalkers?" "Cornell University. I have a colleague there who has an extensive library about this topic." A coy smile grew on my face, "Well, it looks like I'll be transferring to Cornell. Will you write me a letter of recommendation?" He nodded, "You're one of my best students." I smiled, "Thank you." I was letting the compulsion lose its effect, until a thought struck me, "Do you know of any other vampires?" "Yes. Aro's confidant in the portrait from the 1700s. His name was Carlisle. He was different from his kind. He fed on the blood of animals. He is a few centuries old." "Just so you know, Daywalkers can feed on animals too." He nodded, "That is interesting. I always believed that the nutritional value of animals' blood was not as good as human blood. However, Daywalkers' bodies used the blood more efficiently. They could go an entire month without hunting." This was a lot of information to take in, but my quicker brain retained it all. He knew about Carlisle. I had to take care of that. I leaned closer, "Prof. McCallister, I want you to forget about this conversation. It never happened. But, I do want you to feel comfortable discussing vampires with me. Also, regarding Carlisle, you will never mention him again. If you agree to this, I may change you into a Daywalker. Do you agree?" "Yes." I walked away, "And, I will be needing that letter of recommendation, so before I go, let's work on that."

Before the semester ended, I had to tell Jacob I was leaving. This wasn't going to be easy. Jacob and I were very close. In some ways, I loved Jacob, but that wouldn't help anything now. I would have to hurt him. There were times when we were walking and I would hear him muttering to himself, "Tell her, Jacob. Tell her the truth. Just say it, 'I love you.'" He never said it, but it rocked me to my core. He was in love with me. I couldn't let him say it. I knew how much it hurt to have someone you love leave, but in this case, it was best for him. It would be better if Jacob forgot about me. Maybe, just maybe, Edward felt the same way. Besides the fact that he broken the law, it would be too dangerous for me to be around his family if the Volturi found out about me. Well, if I ran into the Volturi, I could take care of them myself.

It was the day of Emily and Sam's wedding. The ceremony was in the early afternoon and the reception was still going on. "Emily, I have to get going." She hugged me, "Have you told Jacob yet?" I grimaced, "I've been trying." She took my hands, "It won't be easy." I half-smiled, "You're right. But I should get going. I do need to pack." I walked away, leaving Jacob and the other pack members laughing away. "She's leaving already?" I closed my eyes and sighed. I wanted to slip away unnoticed, but Jacob was attuned to me. He needed to forget about me. It would be better for him. "Bella!" I turned and feigned a smile. I let fatigue show on my face, "Hey Jake." He put his arm around my waist, "I'll take you home." "Jacob, you guys have the night off. Don't waste it." He smiled and tightened his arm around me, "I'm not." This was a fight I wasn't going to win. At least have one good night before I have to break his heart.

Jacob and I had fun, just watching a movie, laughing and talking. He fell asleep with his arm around me. What I realized about myself, when someone hugged me, they didn't notice the hardness of my skin. When I hugged any of them; that was the first thing I noticed. That and the coolness of their skin. There were times Emily held my hand and she didn't shudder away from my touch. While he slept, I thought about what I would tell him. I couldn't tell him the truth about what I was now. Before he woke up, I decided to make breakfast. Sort of trying to soften him up. After the meal, that's when I would tell him my decision. In the kitchen, the smell of toast, eggs, cheese, bacon and sausage filled the air. I could hear Jacob's snore stuttering as he woke up. Preparing myself, I placed his breakfast on the table, "Good morning, Jake." He walked into the kitchen, yawning widely and topless, "Morning Bella." He kissed my cheek and towed me to the table, "This looks great." "Yeah, I made enough for three people, so you should be satisfied." His body shook with his laughter. We sat and ate together. He attacked the food on his plate before I could even finish serving out my own. Jacob was so involved in his food to notice that I hardly ate. I was too anxious. It was funny, I was a vampire and butterflies still assaulted my stomach when I was nervous. I tried to eat, but it wasn't successful.

Finally, he sighed and leaned back, "That was amazing. You and Emily should open a restaurant." "Yea, she already knows how to prepare meals for a lot of people. Just have to work on the portions." Jacob laughed, "What do you want to do today?" "I have to pack." He looked at me, "For what?" I bit my lip, "I'm transferring school, so I have to move." His shoulders drooped and his eyes saddened, "Seriously? When did you decide to do this?" "Last week, when I got my acceptance letter." Panic was starting to color his face, "To what school?" I had to maintain my composure, "To Cornell, in Ithaca…. New York." Jacob's eyes widened, "New York?" he bark, "Bella, you're moving to New York?" Looking into his eyes, I answered, "Yes." "Bella, you said Forks was your home." This was getting hard. I had to end it. "I know I did, but Charlie was right." This was low, but it would work, "I could be doing so much more than attending a community college." "What about Washington State?" he offered.

I closed my eyes, then looked at him again, "I want to get out of Washington. Besides, Cornell is a great school and it offers more than the universities here do." Jacob stood, "Fine, just leave then!" I stood, "Jacob, this has nothing to do with you. It's what I want. I want to see the world." His hand was trembling under my touch. "Fine and I'll be stuck here, protecting La Push." I had to do it, "Jacob, you're going to forget about me. You're going to imprint on someone. I'm just keeping you from her. Jacob, I'm not your soul mate." He looked at me, with his frame shaking and his eyes red, "Bye Bella." Jacob turned to walk out of the kitchen, but I caught his wrist. He tried to jerk his hand out of my hold, but I wasn't letting go. He couldn't look at me, so I just hugged him, "I'm leaving you in charge of Charlie's house. I promise I'll be back. This isn't goodbye. It's more like 'see you later.' Can you understand that?" He was motionless, but soon his arms wound around me, "I can. See you later, Bells."