A/N: Hi guys, this is posting kind of later than I had wanted, I'm going through a break up right now and it's been rough, but I wanted to get this to you all out asap.

All mistakes are mine.

Disclaimer: Do not own Twilight

For a moment, I had enjoyed the brief reprieve from the sun.

Until I realized that the man in front of me was glowing, his skin sparkling.

Was I dreaming?

"What are you doing?" He hissed again, annoyed and impatient.

"You're glowing," I murmured. It seemed like the elephant in the room, the only thing I could mention.

And if this was a dream, which, it so clearly was, then I really had nothing else to worry about. I just had to wake up.

"So are you" he hissed.

What? What was he talking about? As I stared at him in confusion, his finger jabbed at my arms.

I looked down.

"Oh."

My arms were glowing too. Shimmering like diamonds.

"Let's go inside," he murmured, before reaching out to jerk me up unceremoniously.

I scrambled away deftly, feeling the dirt kick up under me.

"Don't touch me."

As much as I wanted this to be a dream, there was too much touching going on, too much realness happening. The odd sense that this wasn't something I could escape.

The man bent down so his face was close to mine.

"We need to go inside," he said again, slowly and more patiently. "We can't be seen like this."

My breath caught.

Not because this man was easily the most handsome guy I'd ever seen, but because I'd seen him before.

Edward Cullen.

Freshman year, he'd been the older brother of one of my dorm mates.

He'd stopped by a couple of times to visit her and all the girls in my suite had goggled from their doors each time he'd walked by. It was inescapable. That kind of male beauty didn't seem to exist in this world beyond photoshopped magazine covers. But there he was each time, copper colored hair, golden eyes, and pale skin. A square jaw and defined muscles beneath tailored clothes. Perfection in the flesh.

I'd done my best to play it cool, faking disinterest by concentrating on my studies, but behind closed doors, I had been just as in awe as the rest of them.

Certainly in awe enough to know his first and last name. And to know that Edward didn't have much of a social media presence.

And that had been that. He had graduated that year, and I'd written him off as my first college crush.

Somehow though, recognizing his face made it that much more terrifying.

Because I didn't know who Edward Cullen was. My interest in him had been purely shallow - there'd never been even a remote chance of conversation.

I didn't know what he was capable of and why he was here.

"Edward Cullen."

The name slipped out of my lips as he half way dragged me towards the warehouse, where the sun cast a long shadow.

His arms jerked in surprise, and then tightened on my arms.

His flawless symmetrical features crinkled slightly - and if I hadn't been looking for it I maybe wouldn't have noticed. Edward was upset.

"How do you know this? Who are you? Why can't I read you?"

He shook me lightly, his emotions seeping out.

I frowned, breaking out of his hold.

Maybe this wasn't a good idea, maybe he was some sort of sociopath.

"I dormed with your sister, Rosalie." There. Insert a personal detail about myself, my association with his sister to let him know that I wasn't someone he could just kill and get away with. "And shouldn't I be asking you these questions? And what do you mean, 'read' me?"

He stared back coolly, his eyebrow only lifting at the mention of his sister's name.

"You're the one with blood all over your face and hands, so I feel entitled to be asking the questions. You've clearly just been turned, so I'll ask you this then. Who was your maker?"

As he spoke his brow crinkled with intensity, as though he was trying to find these answers by piercing my brain.

I was taken aback. "I don't - I don't know" I shook my head trying to clear it. "Is this some big prank? Because I don't know what the fuck you're talking about, or what happened or why I'm here or who put here."

As he stared at me imperturbably, I was suddenly aware of our positions. His body caged over mine, his defined muscles. If Edward Cullen wanted to hurt me, there was nothing I could do to stop him - I was a small girl, and I rarely worked out. I felt my mood swing from one to the next - disbelief, anger, and finally hysteria.

"Actually, could you please help me? Please don't kill me - I won't tell anyone about the warehouse or the glowing thing," I gestured to his body. "I don't know what happened with the animal- I was so thirsty and then - okay I think I'm going crazy. Can you take me to the hospital? I think I'm sick and I'm seeing things. I don't know if you're real or not but I really need help - I know your sister Rosalie. My name's Bella, Bella Swan. And my roommate will be wondering where I am. I know you're a good person Edward, even though we've never spoken, I know you are."

By the end, I was babbling and near tears, although surprisingly there was no telltale flush on my cheeks or prickle of tears in eyes. Edward was staring at me with wide golden eyes.

He pushed his fingers back through his copper hair, making the ends stick up in a way that would have been amusing if the situation wasn't so horrific, or if he wasn't so ridiculously handsome.

He leaned forward and grasped my hands, stopping me from continuing and stared into my eyes.

"Bella, listen to me. I didn't do this to me, and I know you don't know what happened. But I do know that someone did something to you and that I need to you to come with me. My father is a doctor, and he can help me explain to you what's happening."

Despite the earnest look in his eyes, I drew back uncomfortably. As the daughter of a police chief, I still knew better than to go anywhere with a stranger, no matter how big of a crush I'd once had on him.

"That's okay, you can drop me off at the hospital. Or," I added hastily. "If you point me in the right direction I'm sure I could find my way there, like with an Uber or something"

He drew back away from me then, and he seemed truly sympathetic when he spoke.

"I'm sorry Bella, that's not an option for you."

Then he looked past my head, and I was suddenly very aware of a presence behind me.

"Jasper?"

And then everything went black.

Strangely, this blackness did not cause me to lose consciousness. Instead, it felt as though I suddenly became too tired to hold my eyes open any longer, and too tired to fight back when arms wrapped around me and picked me up.

Somewhere, deep below there was a panic brewing, but it was tempered and held back by the lethargy that overwhelmed me.

Voices whispered above me, but as I tried to focus, the lethargy would push down harder, so only a few phrases leaked through.

"What?"

"Bella Swan... I remember... Her dad's a cop"

"So you can't read her at all?"

"How do we know-"

"You sure?"

And then nothing at all.

I was floating in space when the oppressive weight of the cloud lifted.

I opened my eyes to white.

The bed I was lying on was completely white, from the sheets to the beams that supported it.

In stark contrast to the warehouse, this room also had all white walls, a window with sheer breezy curtains opening to reveal a green forest.

But not just not any forest - my forest.

The one of my youth, before Mom had fled with me out of Forks to the warm desert of Phoenix. The forest I still saw sometimes when I visited my dad.

Relief washed over me.

So, I was still in Washington then.

Something moved in the corner, and my body went into alert, every ounce of my being screaming "Predator!"

I found myself somehow pressed against the corner of the room, perched on the edge of an end table.

There was a man there, with blond hair and golden eyes - like Rosalie and Edward. And like them, he was also one of the best-looking men I'd ever seen.

But his eyes were kind when he smiled at me and spoke.

"Hello Bella, I'm Carlisle Cullen, Edward and Rosalie's father"

I eyed him suspiciously, hands and legs ready to spring towards the open window.

"You look too young to be their father"

He smiled again and moved his hands slowly in shrugging gesture. Trying to appear harmless, I realized.

"Yes, well I can explain this to you right now," he paused. "I had meant to ease you into this more, but… Bella, when you awoke in that warehouse did you notice anything... different about yourself?"

"Yes," I replied slowly. "I think I'm sick or hallucinating. Edward said you were a doctor - are you going to take me to the hospital?"

His smile wavered, and although I did not know him well, I knew I was not going to like what he said next. It must have been the doctor in him, and the patient in me, that I could recognize when bad news was coming my way.

"I can't take you to the hospital Bella - and not because I don't want to, but because I can't" Again, he paused.

"Why not?" I interjected. "Am I being held hostage?"

There was a part of me that recognized I could not escape, open window and everything. Like Edward, Carlisle Cullen looked strong, like he could easily overpower me.

He shook his head. "It's not that. Bella - what you are now, what I and my family are, is the reason we can't take you to the hospital. Because you would slaughter them all"

And then, as if that statement hadn't shocked me enough already, he spoke again.

"Bella, you're a vampire."

Will try to update sooner next time! Thanks for reading.