"Luke," she whispered, touching my face. "You're amazing. Did you know that?"

I gulped. You still don't know what we are. I couldn't answer. "Elle." I'm not amazing; I'm your personal monster.

"You don't think that, do you?" What? Can she read me that easily? "I don't know what you are, but you're not human."

I nodded. Great, Aro will have her blood for this.

"But," oh no, she knows. "I don't care." She looked down at her feet. "I just care about you."

You do? I touched her hair, softly trying to smell something. I got nothing. "Did I tell you I love you?"

She giggled and turned red. "Yeah."

"I do. I really do." I just wish I wasn't a vampire. A Volturi.

"But you shouldn't," she replied. "I shouldn't either."

I breathed out. It's nothing. "Why shouldn't you?"

"I don't know. Wait," I breathed in. "Is your last name Volturi?"

Oh, no. "I can't lie," I said, in a tone that she couldn't hear.

"Lucas Volturi. I don't like it. It seems too powerful. Right now, you're just Luke."

Speaking of names. "Why," I asked, slowly, "does Tom call you Lizzie?"

"Everyone who knew my mother does."

"You said her name was Eleanor."

"My father met her while she was still in high school. He was in law school. I still don't see how she could have been attracted to him. Everyone called her 'Ellie Mae'."

I nodded. "What's your middle name?"

"I was getting to that."

"Sorry."

"Anyways, one thing led to another and Mom had to drop out. I'm guessing that you can guess why. They decided they didn't want to get married, but both my grandmothers were old fashioned.

"Mom wanted me to be an 'Elle', since she was Eleanor and Mimi (her mother) was Eleftheria. Dad was furious with her for choosing Yo'el."

"That because it's a boy's name," I interjected.

She nodded. "Hebrew equivalent to 'Joel'. Funny, that's Grandfather Winters' name. So Dad choose the middle name Elizabeth, after his mother."

"So in affect, you were named after your father's parents, and your father didn't even realize."

A true smile crossed her face. "She mentioned it when she and Dad divorced. She said, 'He never realized you were a Joel-Etta' Grandfather had died when I was nine. He hated my guts."

"Why doesn't it hurt you to talk about your mother?"

"She wouldn't like it. Plus, I feel safe with people I love."

Does that mean what I think it means?

"I love you too, Luke. And I don't care if you're some monster straight from Victorian Era Horror."

If I could have, I would have fainted.