Edward's POV
I woke up slowly, not sure where I was. Nothing in the room seemed familiar to me. I was on a hospital bed in a large room, with a fireplace on the wall opposite my bed and a great many bookcases, their shelves brimming over with volumes. I could make out some of the titles scrolled along the spines of the books. I wondered briefly how I was able to read something so far away from me when I realized how bright and extremely clear everything seemed to be. It didn't appear that I was in the hospital anymore, but how could that be? I rubbed my eyes and looked around the large room. I had been so ill. The ward doctor had practically reassured me that I was on the brink of death. Perhaps that was it. I was dead. I could still recall the seemingly never-ending burning pain that had made me cry out constantly for someone to take mercy on my soul and kill me so that I could be put out of my misery. The pain felt like flames tearing their way through my body, ravaging anything in their path. As the fiery inferno finally ceased I was sure that I had died. I actually welcomed death after that hellish torture. But this didn't look like Heaven – or Hell. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw the young doctor that had tended to me in the ward enter the room.
"Where am I?" The sound of my voice shocked me. It was my voice, but something was decidedly different about it. Maybe it was just the fact that I was healthy again…or dead.
"Home." he replied simply.
"This place is not my home." I knew that much for certain. My home, although certainly upper class, was not as lavish as this place appeared to be.
"For all intents and purposes, and I suppose, for as long as you wish, this is now your home.""Why am I here? Am I healed? I was very ill, wasn't I?" I questioned. "I felt like I was on fire…the burning…I thought I was dying. Am I dead?"
The doctor sighed and looked away from me.
"Please tell me what has happened to me!" I pleaded. "Why am I not in the hospital anymore?"
"It's a story I don't know if you are ready to hear." The doctor sat across from me and crossed his arms over his chest.
"I'm ready." I insisted. It was strange, but after feeling weak for so long, and after waking from I presumed to be a lengthy sleep I was feeling surprisingly strong. I pushed myself up in the bed and studied the doctor's tortured face. "What's wrong, why do you look like that?"The doctor tented his fingers under his chin and sighed. "You will find out soon enough. I willtell you what you need to know now, the rest of the story can wait until you fully understand your...situation." He drew in a breath and began. "My name is Dr. Carlisle Cullen. I was your attending doctor in the hospital during the influenza outbreak. I also looked after your mother and father. Your mother asked...she asked that I look after you. That I made sure you survived your illness."
"Obviously you were successful, so for that I must thank you." I said sincerely.
"Don't be so quick to thank me, young man, you haven't heard the whole story." Carlisle cautioned. "You were quite right, you were very ill. To be honest, you were not going to survive, the influenza had completely taken over and there was nothing more I could do for you. Your mother however, was very insistent. She seemed to sense that there was one more thing I could do, one very drastic measure that could save your life."
"I fail to see the problem. You are a doctor, you're supposed to save lives if you are able."
"I used rather...unusual...methods...to help you." The doctor chose his words very carefully.
I was becoming rather frustrated with Dr. Cullen. "Will you please just let me know what you've done for me?" I was once more surprised at the sound of my voice - loud and strong and with a touch of what sounded like a growl. "Why am I here with you and not in the hospital or at home?
"I'm so sorry."
I heard the words as clearly as if the doctor had spoken them out loud, but his lips never once wavered. The shock must have shown on my face, the doctor was studying me carefully, still not saying anything, not out loud anyway.
"What is the matter, has he somehow realized?"
The doctor raised an eyebrow as he stared at me.
"I haven't realized anything! What is wrong with me? What did you do?" I raged.
"My God. Can you understand what I am thinking?"
"Stop!" I demanded. "I must have gone mad. Am I in an asylum?"
"You poor boy, you're not insane."
"I am!" I screamed. "I can hear your thoughts!"
The doctor gasped, his face registered shock for only a moment and then settled back to gentle calmness. "Your mother insisted I save your life, Edward. I did all I could with the regular methods available to me. You were far too ill. I did the only thing I was able in order to honour your mothers wishes."
"Please tell me, I fear I'm going insane!" I grasped the bed rail to pull myself out of the bed and stared down at my hand in horror as the solid bar snapped in my grip. I looked wildly around the room, desperate for an explanation, but Dr. Cullen seemed to have disappeared. I glanced down at the jagged piece of metal clutched in my hand and tossed it to the floor. Once again I was shocked as the metal bar lodged itself into the floor. Even when I was completely healthy, I would never have been able to break a metal bed frame. Or throw something so hard it would go right through the floor. Something was dreadfully wrong with me. Dr. Cullen suddenly appeared once again at my side.
"I'm a vampire, Edward. I bit you on the neck and allowed the venom to work its way through your body. The burning sensation you felt, that was part of the transformation. You are now like me. You are now a vampire."
"No." I shook my head violently. "Vampire! Vampires don't exist! I am crazy. You probably aren't even really here, you are a figment of my imagination." I reached out to touch Dr. Cullen, but he had somehow disappeared from my side and now stood on the opposite side of the large room. I got up from the bed, ready to walk over to him. I thought it would take some time, my legs were shaking and I felt so awkward, but I appeared next to him in mere seconds.
"Take this." The doctor commanded. He held out a small rock and dropped it into myhands. I caught it and watched in shocked silence as it crumbled to dust as my fingers grasped it.
"I'm afraid it's true Edward. You are now a vampire. You are incredibly strong and very fast, more than most of our kind, from what I've observed so far, and apparently you have some other abilities as well. You are a vampire. It was all I could do."
"All you could do?" I scoffed. "Dying would have been better than being a monster."
"Perhaps, but you don't have to be a monster. Did I seem like a monster when I treated you in the hospital?"
"This is madness!" I shook my head again. "There are no such things as vampires! I'm just dreaming. I'm going to wake up and…" As I ranted, I felt a cool breeze through an open window and an overwhelming desire suddenly came over me. I slumped to the floor and began crawling towards the nearest exit, ignoring the table and bits of flooring that I destroyed as I went.
"Edward?"
I paid him no attention, finally reaching the door and I leaned against it, sighing in relief. I could smell it better here. The dreadful need swelled within me.
"No Edward, you mustn't."
I stared at him in curiosity. Vampires need blood. According to him I was now a vampire. I was feeling the need to feed. To feel the incredible thirst for some innocent persons life's blood. Itwas so overwhelming; it started to make me feel like I was going mad again. I tried to push the sensation away. I didn't want to feel like that. But nothing else would quiet the desires of this strange new body of mine right now.
"That smell…is it blood? I want it!" The sound of my own voice frightened me now. It was demanding and full of desire.
Carlisle knelt down in front of me and grasped my wrists. "I have never fed from a human, ever. I can teach you my ways. I can teach you how to co-exist with humans. To live a somewhat normal life."
I scoffed again. "Nothing will ever be normal again." I groaned loudly as someone passed byoutside. The smell was exquisite. I raised my head and breathed in deeply as my thirst rose to the forefront again.
"Edward." Carlisle cautioned in a low, warning voice. He moved closer, watching me carefully.
"The smell…it's delicious…I…need…God…I need it!" My words horrified me, but they were thetruth. I needed it badly. My new body carried me swiftly to another door, away from Carlisle. My hands pulled the doorknob right out of the solid wood that encased it, in my haste to capture that scent, to have the blood that now seemed like a drug to me. Carlisle was beside me instantly, dragging me back into the house. I struggled to remove myself from his strong arms. He had to understand my need! I could hear growling that sounded like a wild dog. I tried to deny that the sounds were coming from me even though I could feel the deep, rumbling snarls within my chest.
"Here." Carlisle attempted to push a flask into my shaking hands, then gave up and held it to my lips. "Drink. It will stave off your thirst for the moment." I let him pour the thick liquid down my throat, ashamed at myself for the childish need to have him feed me because of my weakness and thankful for quenching the unbearable thirst at the same time. It was the most wonderful elixir I had ever tasted. I eventually took the flask from him, drinking deeply, shaking it for every drop and licking the rim, careful not to miss any.
"Was that…human?" I asked, fearfully. "It doesn't smell the same."
"No." Carlisle shook his head. "I told you - never human. I keep a supply of deer and bear blood for times when I am unable to get away to hunt, it holds off the hunger."
"I need more." My voice sounded pitiful, like a begging child.
Carlisle laughed. "I had forgotten the intensity of the newborn thirst!"
"Newborn?" I raised an eyebrow.
"It's how we, our kind, refers to newly transformed vampires. You are entirely new. Your body – inside and out, your abilities, your sensibilities, everything about you is new." Carlisle explained.
"I need more." I repeated. "I can smell it, it's driving me mad!" I started to rise, moving towards the door once more.
Carlisle regarded me with careful eyes, like he was afraid I was going to attack him. His thoughts mirrored the look in his eyes. He was unsure about many things – my strength, my speed, my anger towards him, how deep my thirst was. Carlisle needn't worry, he didn't haveany of what I was craving.
"We'll go hunting, Edward. Right away. I'll teach you what to do." He put his hands on my shoulders, preventing me from leaving the house.
"I don't want to hurt anybody. I'm afraid of what I might do out there." I whispered. I meant my words. Even though I knew I needed the blood in the worst way, I didn't want to harm a human to get it, but I didn't know how to stop myself.
"You won't hurt anyone, Edward. I'll keep you away from humans until you have learned some control, some patience."
"How long will I be like this?" I questioned, meaning how long would I be this needy for blood, surely the constant need must wane at some time? My answer came unspoken.
"For time eternal."
