A/N: Sorry it took so long to update--I've been really busy and things. I'll try to go quicker after this. Enjoy! And keep reviewing

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The first thing that I felt was that I was ravenously hungry, even before I focused on myself in the mirror. It came like a jolt, like someone had suddenly evaporated everything in my stomach.

I ignored it, though, and tried to concentrate on myself. That's when I nearly fainted. I probably would have, too, if the laws of being a vampire allowed it.

I was, well, pretty. And not just pretty, but, well, extremely pretty. Even, beautiful. I blinked hard twice and then dared a second look—my face was still there. Well, my new face.

I could see parts of myself shining through, my old self, but most of my face had changed (wow, that's a surprise). The shape of my eyes was the same, but my nose was smaller, and my lips were fuller. My eyes were colored topaz, instead of the dark brown they had been before. My hair was long, dark, and silky, and fell without any frizz.

Oh. My. God.

I turned back to Esme, who was smiling widely at me.

Please don't be a dream. Please don't be a dream.

When I turned back around to face the mirror, I was the same. That is, the same beautiful version. I guess I had sort of been expecting it, but it still came as a huge shock; I mean, come on. It was like I had had plastic surgery.

And then there was my body. It hadn't changed so much in appearance, and I was still slightly shaky from my throttling three-day experience, but I definitely felt stronger. I grinned at myself, and my perfect white teeth stared back at me.

Maybe I could get used to being a vampire, after all.

But then there was that little, itty-bitty problem. As in, food.

"I'm hungry," I announced to Esme.

Esme nodded. "I had thought as much. I'm going to take you hunting. All right?"

I agreed and walked. Well, turned and walked towards her. But then the edge of the couch was right in front of me. Uh-oh. I prepared myself for a crash bang, but then realized nothing had happened.

"Um?" I said.

Esme burst out laughing. "Your power, honey. You can avert danger." And then she dissolved into laughter.

I glared at her. She was obviously mocking me. Well it wasn't my fault I was so darn clumsy. Maybe this special skill could help, though.

When Esme could finally control herself and talk, she said, "Well, not any danger. Just the kind that might make you trip, or fall, or do something clumsy. Doesn't seem like much, but there might be another part to it. We'll have to see."

Wow, that's great, I thought grumpily. My skill fixes my clumsiness. Which basically brings me back to human standards. Okay. So it was pretty much like not having a skill at all. That was cool.

I went out the door past Esme, and suddenly I was at the bottom of the stairs. "Uh…wait…what…?" I stuttered.

There was Esme, breezing by, laughing at me, again. It suddenly struck me that that would have been Alice's role, my, per say, mentor, if she had been…available. "We can walk fast," Esme told me. "You have to pace yourself. Once you get used to it, it's not very hard."

Wow, that was assuring. I took a tentative step, and to my relief, I could walk at a human pace. Okay. This was good.

Esme shook her head. "You'll never get anywhere like that," She told me. "You'll take hours to hunt if you go at that pace."

I sighed and tried to walk faster. Whoa—whoa—too fast! I nearly crashed into a tree, but it was like the tree moved aside to let me pass. Clumsiness. Hey, maybe this wouldn't be so bad, after all. I would never have to worry about crashing. Did this apply to cars, too?

Esme slid in beside me, still giggling her girlish, bell-tinkling giggle. "Okay, Bella. First, focus on your target." She was serious again. "You know where you want to go, right? Now let your feet take you there. Imagine how long you want it take you—it works the same way as when you're a human. You just step quicker or slower, depending on how long you want it to take."

I nodded. Esme shot ahead to another tree in the distance, and I followed suit.

To my surprise, I got there. Without any injuries. "Score!" I yelled, and Esme had new waves of laughter.

My hunger was starting to grow. It was spreading to my arms and legs, and I felt my eyes burning. I needed…but that was so gross!

Esme must have noticed, because she told me where we needed to go and then began to run. I followed her, running as hard and as fast as I could, because that intense hunger in the pit of my—heart?—was starting to take over my body, and that was a scary, scary thought.

I had never really understood Edward when he refused to take me on those hunting trips of his. He told me that he let go of himself, and would kill anything in sight. Me, with my, ahem, delicious smell, would be a red-hot target, and he would probably suck me dry before he even knew what was happening.

I think I was beginning to understand what he was talking about.

A deer passed us by as we shot deeper and deeper into a forest. Esme shook her head at me, though, and it took tons more self-control than I thought I had to keep going. It got harder as we went; several more deer, and rabbits, and birds passed us, and Esme kept shaking her head.

I never thought I would find deer, rabbits, and birds appetizing, but at the moment they looked like bread, butter, and mashed potatoes to me.

After what seemed like forever, and way too long, we finally stopped. Esme put a long, slender finger over her lips, and tiptoed up to a tree. She looked meaningfully at me, and then suddenly attacked on something behind the tree.

Let me tell you, I have never been so startled or so freaked out by anything in my entire life. I mean, that sight—Esme's fangs seemed to grow about a hundred sizes—and her staring at the animal with wild abandon and then springing on it and sucking its blood…that sight made my own blood run cold.

Oh, my god. My blood. I didn't have blood anymore. Did I? I felt for a pulse, but it wasn't there. Oh, my god. My fingers were ice-cold.

I guess I hadn't noticed my drained face before, but I figured I must look deathly pale, like the rest of the Cullens. Oh, jeez. I had forgotten about this part—the part where I turned from a living, breathing human being to a bloodless, pulse-less, breathe-by-choice vampire.

Experimentally, I took a huge breath. I couldn't feel the air. I couldn't feel it go anywhere. My lungs didn't expand.

So now I couldn't even take deep breaths to calm myself down. It was like trying to eat air and get full. It just wasn't happening.

Suddenly feeling very, very doomed, I followed Esme to where she killed a deer for me and told me to suck its blood.