Chapter 19: Senses

I woke up gasping for breath. My entire body felt as though it was on fire. It was worst around my throat, my wrists, and my ankles. It also felt like there was a hole in my chest. I attempted to sit up, but felt cold, strong gently push me back down on the bed. I opened my eyes and saw Edwards, only inches above mine. They were pitch black. How long have I been out? I wondered silently. I couldn't seem to bring any words to my mouth, so instead, I gave him a grim smile and closed my eyes again.

"I'm so glad you're awake, Bella." A voice said. It sounded cool and crisp, familiar, almost, but with a different edge to it. I opened my eyes to see Carlisle standing at the end of the bed. Why did he sound so different?"You may notice that your senses are different, more alert, more acute to the things around you.

He was right. I could hear birds chirping outside and I could smell smoke in the distance. Smoke? I looked outside and saw huge mushroom clouds of smoke rising from the field that I had found Jacob in. Jacob… "What happened?" I managed through a sore, dry throat.

"Try not to talk just yet, Bella. I'll explain everything." I nodded and Carlisle continued. "You ran into Jacob in the field out there." He pointed toward the smoke. I looked at him, alarmed. "Don't worry, the smoke is nothing. Some people deal with anger in different ways. In the case of Jacob, he decided to burn a few trees. We've taken care of it. Alice saw you disappear and called Edward." He glared at his son. "Of course, he over reacted and attacked before assessing the situation." I looked at Edward and saw the shame in his eyes.

"Sorry." He mumbled. I eased him a little by placing a shaky hand on his, he gave mine a light squeeze.

Carlisle continued. "Neither of them were hurt badly, but you, Bella, lost a lot of blood." Blood? Why can't I remember that? "You stabbed yourself in the chest; I'm assuming to get them to stop fighting?" I nodded. "Well, you missed your heart, but you were very close. Since you lost so much blood, there was no other way to save you. Edward had to bite you." I looked at him again and he looked as though he might cry. I tried to sit up again, this time no one stopped me. My head spun as I looked around the room. Alice was sitting in the corner, watching Edward and I closely. Other than that, no one else was with us. "I know you probably don't want to, but you will need to feed very soon. You will not be as strong as an average new born because you have less of your human blood left in you, but you will still be strong." He turned toward my husband. "Edward," he looked up. "You will need to keep a really close eye on her. Like I said, she's not as strong as an average new born." He silently nodded and Alice and Carlisle left the room.

"Why, Bella? Why did you have to stab yourself? I would have been fine, he couldn't have killed me, but you nearly did. If it was possible for me to have a heart attack, I would have." He looked so sad as he got up and walked to the other side of the room. Slowly, I stood up, attempting to gain balance. When I was sure I wouldn't fall over, I ran to him and wrapped my arms around him, nearly knocking him over. "Silly Bella." He sighed. "Looks like we have a lot of work to do."

"I love you." I said, my voice hoarse.

"I love you too." He said, leading me to the couch. I looked around the room again and realized that the lights were off, but I could see as if the sun was shining brightly in the room. "Now, what questions do you have?"

I thought about it for a minute. There were so many, where should I begin? "How long was I asleep?"

"The whole three days. I suppose technically, you have a few more hours, which is why you probably still feel the pain, but it is wearing off. You were lucky that you were unconscious for most of it."

"Most? I don't remember any of it."

"You were…brave…I suppose you could say. You hardly made a sound, but you thrashed around a lot. I never left that bed. You seemed to calm down when I held you, so I spent most of the time right there. I did have to let you go a few times for Carlisle to check on you, but I didn't like it."

I thought about that for a second. "Do you regret it?" He looked at me, confused by my question. "Do you regret biting me. Would you have rather let me die?"

"I would never rather death for you." He said, flatly. "I'm not happy that this was the only choice, but I am selfish and I would rather you a vampire then dead." I flinched at the word vampire. I knew I was changed, but it seemed more final when it was said out loud like that.

I nuzzled my face into the base of his neck and he drew small circles on the back of my head with his thumb. "Ready to hunt?" He whispered after a few moments of silence. I swallowed the lump in my throat.

A little short, I know. I'm sorry people, I've been really busy lately and am trying to catch up on the story. Be prepaired, it might be a while until I get the next chapter up :)

A few 'commercials' before I let you go :)
first: I will be adding a Q&A chapter at the end, for all your unanswered questions.
second: YOU SHOULD ALL READ MY BEST FRIEND, ASHLEY'S STORY :) Pen name: Dinkx and her story is titled: Kiss and Control. It's absolutely amazing! read it and review it and make me and her happy because you love me and my story :) hehe. now...GO! hehe.