Chapter 4

All I could do was stare. Of all the people in Forks…not that there were many...It seemed odd that the person who had tried to help me on my first day of school—the day I met Edward--

Edward's eyes were black with hunger. He tried to conceal his feelings from me, to protect me from the agony he was in, more than I deserved. But my heightened senses showed me what I had done. His beautiful features were distorted in concentration. His breathing had stopped since Eric had come, but it was clear it would have been ragged and shallow.

It was hard to believe that just two hours ago I had been suffering under the grip of that fiery venom. Still harder still was the disgusting fact that I could so easily complicate my life, or rather my existence, in such a short period of time…

Carlisle watched me carefully, considering, perhaps. He seemed to have come to a decision, because he murmured:" Bella, he has to drink now," and on a more hesitant note added," Renesme will need all the medically donated blood, and the doctors at the hospital are getting suspicious."

At Renesme's name—my daughter's name—a gasp broke from my carefully controlled mask. How could I have forgotten? The one I had risked my life for standing without either parent on the bottom floor.

Two heartbeats. Now I remembered. Anger surged through me at my stupidity, and I had a sudden urge to go down and just hold my daughter then and there.

As this sudden, half-anticipated burst of emotion exploded inside of me, Jasper lunged forward, wary of the sudden change in climate, to hold me back. Alice followed in his wake, wary.

Grimly they managed to pin my arms behind me after my impulsive resistance.

They were worried—I didn't need Jasper's 6th sense to tell me that—but my enlarged thinking spatial area also noted that now the door was left unprotected.

Evidently Eric had noticed this too, because immediately after my struggle, Edward walked, still fluidly, to his meal—which was about to make an immensely futile break for it.

And Edward was on him, so much stronger even at his weakest, sinking his teeth into Eric's throat and beginning to drink noisily.

Eric's high-pitched scream rebounded in my eardrums, echoed immediately with another cry of agony as the blood was slowly sucked out of him.

Inside, I was busy panicking. It was entirely my fault that Edward ever had to go into a frenzy like this. And, despite the irrevocably passionate love I felt for him, I hated to see his pupils, which had turned to meet mine the moment Eric had become dry and wrinkly.

His eyes were a fathomless crimson, his pupils far away. His recently acquired eye color, so like mine, made me shiver. It was so unlike the Edward I had come to love. The contrast with his hair was startling.

But he was alive, and to the core of my being he would always be my perfect Edward.

I fought to break free of Alice and Jasper, to run and embrace him.

Unfortunately, they took it the wrong way, forcing me to my knees as I struggled towards Edward.

He looked at them, shaking his head a fraction of an inch. Finally, their grip slackened, allowing me to lunge at Edward.

Forgetting his fragility (compared with my newborn strength) I threw y arms around him, pressing my lips to his passionately. To my freely expressed horror, he pulled away, holding me at arms length.

Would he ever forgive me? I thought grimly. It was just what I deserved. I pulled away.

Immediately surging forward he whispered, "Bella, love, it's over."

This was met by me with blank incomprehension.

"It's over. That was reckless of me, I'm terribly sorry."

He spoke with ringing sincerity, and finally I realized what he meant.

"No," I shouted. The strength of my voice surprised me. He couldn't honestly think that this was his fault! Knowing him, though…

I shook my head vigorously at him, "Edward, I'm so sorry," I gushed, completely unaware of the intent stares of everyone else in the rooms. "If it wasn't for me, I—I—, "I broke of, my eyes burning.

He pulled me towards him, his lips trying to stop my apology as I remembered that I was still a newborn.

He said, fiercely, "Bella, that was all my fault. I should have checked, but I'm alright." He spoke the latter to my mumbled protests.

But as we embraced, my mind flickered to one of my recent discoveries:" Edward…Renesme."