When we got back to the house, Seth and Carlisle were talking on the couch in hushed tones. Or, they would be hushed tones if it wasn't for my totally awesome super hearing.

"…are you sure, Seth?"

"Positive, Carlisle. This isn't something I can fake."

"Has anyone else in the pack ever…?" His voice trailed off.

"Never. There's Jake, but no one's imprinted on—"

"What are we talking about here?" I asked abruptly, my confidence peaked. I sat down next to Seth and looked expectantly at him.

"Pale skin suits you nicely," he said, stroking my cheek. His touch set fire to my skin. "And look, I can see some gold in your eyes already."

I smiled. "Thanks. But don't try to change the subject. What's this about imprinting?"

Carlisle sighed. "Seth thinks the imprint might have been broken."

Kill me. "What?"

"The imprint seems to have broken between the two of you," Carlisle said, motioning between the two of us. "Jasmine, do you still feel it?"

I searched deep inside me and realized that I didn't. Through all the excitement—if you could call it that—of my transformation, I hadn't realized that the bond of the imprint wasn't there. I still loved Seth more than I could possibly say, but the current that bound us to one another wasn't there.

"No," I said, shaking my head. "I don't. Is there a reason?"

"Carlisle has a theory," Seth prodded.

"The imprint between a shape-shifter and a human is made when the wolf, having been Seth, in this case, sees the eyes of the human who is their other half," Carlisle said. "But, some further research on the matter has revealed that wolves imprint on those most likely to pass on the wolf gene. Since you are a vampire now, Jasmine, that ability is far beyond—or, technically—behind you."

"So… the imprint broke because I can't have kids?" I asked, completely taken aback. I would not have been able to see that coming for the life of me.

Carlisle nodded. "That's what I'm guessing."

I turned to Seth, on the verge of being heartbroken. "So, you… don't… love me anymore?"

"No, no, no!" he assured me, immediately taking me in his arms. "I love you, of course I do! The… broken bond hasn't changed that much."

Leah came trotting down the stairs, a smirk on her face. "I told you so!" she sang.

"You told me what?" I asked.

"I told you he would've picked you anyway." Her smirk widened to a full blown smile.

"Wow, I was not expecting to see my little-sister-in-law," she said, taking me in with wide eyes. "Pale skin, red eyes, almost more gorgeous than me. Yup, Jasmine, you're definitely a bloodsucker now."

"Thank you?" I laughed.

"Where's Nayeli?" I asked a few bad jokes later.

"Momma!" my daughter's voice squealed in answer. She hopped over to me and threw herself onto my lap. Soon enough, she started shivering.

"Momma, you so cold," she said, her teeth chattering as she tried to warm herself by rubbing her hands against her arms. I put her on Seth's lap and she curled into him for his body heat. Even then, she still reached out to take my hand. I smiled, but that smile quickly faded when she looked into my eyes and let out a small yelp.

"Red eyes," she gasped. "Why?"

I sighed. "Nana, I'll tell you—"

"When you old-ah. Nayeli knows," she muttered.

I cupped her warm, breakable face in my hand, and feeling the pulse beating under my palm was enough to make venom pool in my mouth. My vision miraculously tinted red. I leaned forward subconsciously.

I lunged a second too late—or before it was too late, depending on how you looked at it. Alice grabbed me from behind and Rosalie took Nayeli and zipped up the stairs. My eyes refocused on Seth.

I felt myself fighting against the monster inside me. One side of me wanted to feel that blood running down my throat again, but the other side was completely disgusted with me. But no matter how hard I tried, my eyes never left Seth's throat.

Alice pulled me back and I could tell it took every ounce of strength in her to slam me against the back wall.

"Jasmine! Oh, God, damn it, Jasmine!" she cried as I leaped over her shoulder.

"Seth, get out of here," Jasper growled, standing in front of him. I snarled at him, crouching. He did the same. All the while, I fought an inner battle against the monster controlling me. My humanity was losing.

"Jasmine, angel," he whispered. One hand reached out to me, and while part of me wanted to just take his hand and sob my apologies, the other part made me snap at it.

"Seth, get the hell away!" Alice screamed. She had her tiny arms around my waist while the rest of the Cullens started helping. Carlisle and Emmett helped her in restraining me. Leah was in wolf form, snapping at me. I snapped right back at her. She didn't seem phased, but I didn't need Edward's power to know what was going on in her head. It was probably something along the lines of, Shit, man, what's happening to Jasmine?

I felt guiltier than I'd ever had in my life. What I felt when I was leaving to Volterra, when I almost got myself killed… that was nothing compared to this. But, then again, getting stabbed was a prick on the finger when compared to the burning ache in the back of my throat. I hated being the danger, and I was metaphorically sweating as I continued to fight it.

Without thinking about it, I chomped down on Emmett's hand.

He cursed in a language I didn't understand, but regained his composure soon enough.

"Jasmine, please," Seth pleaded. He was fighting, too, but fighting against his fear. He didn't want to be afraid of me, and I didn't want him to be afraid of me. "You don't want to hurt me."

He was right, I didn't. That was the last thing I wanted. I loved him; I wouldn't kill him. But, as I continued to fight against my own family to get to him, I was sure no one would believe that.

He reached out again, but Edward knocked his hand out of the way. Seth sighed, and reached out again.

I reached out, too. I touched his hand, and suddenly, I wasn't seeing the scene in front of me anymore.

I saw his past, just like I'd seen Mike's and Jasper's few hours before. There were his years before I came to Forks; getting teased by the pack for not having imprinted, seeing Leah get her heart broken by Sam, becoming part of Jacob's pack, Renesmee's birth… God, that'd been bloody. Then there were all those memories from the time I came into his life, and I wasn't sure if that was just me, but they seemed to be more brilliant than the others.

My red-tinted vision dispersed and so did Seth's past. I fell to my knees and stopped struggling. Esme came to my side with a cup filled with red liquid. She guided the straw to my mouth and I slurped down the drink. Animal blood; just what I needed. I held my breath, and found it to be so much easier than I thought it would be.

"I'm sorry. I'm sorry!" I yelled, shaking. "I—I don't know what came over me! It's just—it's just—"

"The blood," Alice said. "We know. We get it. We don't blame you."

"Oh, God," I gasped, turned my face to Seth. "I—I could've killed you! I could've… oh, God.

"But you didn't," Seth said. "You held yourself together better than most newborns."

I turned to Bella and placed one hand on hers. Aside from me, she was the most recent to be turned. The memories of her first few months as a vampire would be the most potent, or so I hoped.

I was right. Her outright strength during those months shone through her memories. I suppressed a sigh—she didn't even come close to attacking her father. She ran away from humans instead of killing them. I pulled my hand away.

"Bella, teach me how to be strong," I pleaded.

Bella bit her lip. "Jasmine, I can't teach you how to go against your newborn nature," she said. "I was lucky because I was mentally prepared for being turned."

"You can't try?" I asked. "Please. I don't want to be…"

"A monster," each of the Cullens completed for me.

"Jasmine, I told you," Alice said. "We get it. We were all there. Even Bella with her utter self-control fought against it. You have to understand that you're not alone there."

I shook my head in an attempt to clear my mind. "I know," I breathed. "I just—it's hard, you know? I didn't expect to get so lost in myself." Esme passed me another cup of animal blood—my forth.

"How long will it last?" I asked between gulps.

"Forever," Jasper said with a light smirk. "The burn will always be there—and so will the fight. But we've found that when your eyes turn from red to gold, it gets easier."

"And how long will that take?" I asked warily.

"Well, at the rate you're downing that animal blood, I'm guessing about one—maybe two days," Emmett teased.

I turned to Carlisle for a more informed answer.

"I think Emmett may be on to something, actually," he confessed. "If you continue to drink as much of the blood as you do, the gold may appear earlier than normal. If you'd look at yourself in a mirror, you'd be able to see a few flecks of gold."

I nodded. "Am I allowed to go upstairs?" I asked.

"Why wouldn't you be?" Edward chuckled.

I smiled. "Right." It was dark out, but I obviously wasn't going to be sleeping.

I stood up and absentmindedly brushed dust off my clothing.

"Would saying 'goodnight' be appropriate?" I joked.

Esme laughed. "Yes, I suppose that would be somewhat accurate, since we may not see you till morning."

"Oh. Goodnight, then," I said. I gave Seth a smile and peck on the cheek. I turned on my heel and timed how long it took me to get to my room. Two and a half milliseconds—nice.

I walked into the darkness of my room, not bothering to turn on the light since it wouldn't really make a difference. I wandered into my closet and pulled the rope down from the ceiling. Without thinking about it, I opened the window and tossed it out, knowing it would soon be lost in the night. I closed the window again and stared out at the stars absentmindedly.

Soon, I heard sneaky footsteps outside my room.

"You can't scare me anymore," I laughed without turning around. Seth walked defeated into my room and snaked his arms around my waist, pulling me against him and laying his head on my shoulder. I closed my eyes with a smile creeping over my lips. I reached up and curled my fingers around the seashell that still rested in the crook of my neck.

"I'm not safe, you know," I warned him. I didn't want him to see me with my red eyes, so with my eyes still closed, I reached up and stroked his cheek with my finger. I turned my face toward his.

"A wrong twitch of my fingers," I said, "and I could kill you."

"I know you can," he said. "But, then again, I know you won't."

"Hm," I sighed. "You're right. I love you too much." We stood in complete silence for a moment, just listening to the outside wind whip against my window.

"But I'm still dangerous," I reminded him.

He chuckled. "Are you trying to seduce me?"

"No," I said with a slight shake of my head. "Simply stating a fact. Why—are you seduced?"

He turned my head toward him and pressed his lips to mine, running one hand through my hair. I mentally stabbed the burning in my throat.

"Would you like to know?" he laughed softly.

I kissed him again and smiled. "Surprise me."

Keeping my eyes down on the ground—and feeling a huge sense of déjà vu in doing so—I went to sit on the bed. Seth followed and sat next to me. He grabbed my chin and turned my face toward him.

"Jasmine, look at me," he said.

I stayed silent.

"Jasmine, please," he said. "Look at me."

I scooted away from him and kept my eyes on my hands, suddenly extremely self conscious. I had to be careful. I couldn't let my guards down like that. I'd almost killed him…

Oh, God, I'd almost killed him.

I'd all but forgotten. I couldn't keep doing this. I had to strengthen myself before I could do things like this with Seth again. I didn't want him looking into my red eyes. I wasn't the girl he'd proposed to, gone to college with, married, and had a child with. I wasn't her anymore—and I knew it would be a while before I was her again. I rubbed my arms with my hands, even though I obviously wasn't cold.

"Jasmine," he sighed. "Look at me."

Reluctantly, I opened my eyes and looked up at him, suddenly wishing I could cry. It was going to be very difficult not being able to let out my emotions in tears.

"Don't be ashamed," he said, tracing my eyes. "I love you and—"

"No, Seth, that's just it." I shook my head and pulled out of his gaze. "I'm not the girl you fell in love with all those years ago."

"Jasmine, don't be silly," he said. "I fell in love with you, and I love you still, and—"

"Seth, look at me!" I screamed, standing abruptly. He stared at me for a second before blinking several times.

"Do I look like the girl you fell in love with?" I demanded.

From the look on his face, I knew the red eyes, pale skin, wind chime voice, and inhuman beauty was finally sinking in.

He stood up, and tried to walk toward me. "You're still my Jasmine." He reached out for me, but I stepped away.

"Give me some time," I said. "Give me enough time to find myself again. Then—then you can tell me I'm the girl. I won't look like my old self, but I'll have enough of me so that it'll be as if I just had an Alice makeover." I was sounding a bit hysterical, but I was trying to make a point.

"Jasmine. Jasmine, no," Seth said. I didn't fight him when he took me in his arms. I couldn't stop the sob that found its way out of my throat, and I could've sworn I felt the familiar rush of tears down my cheeks, but when I lifted my hand to wipe them away, I felt nothing. It had just been my mind playing tricks on me… again.

"No, Seth, no." I shook my head. "Listen to me; the imprint is broken. It won't kill either of us to be apart for any amount of time. Jasper said that the gold eyes mean we've gotten in control of ourselves. You could—you could try and find someone who will love you without worrying that they might kill you. You could—"

He pressed his lips to mine with such intense passion that I couldn't help but kiss him back. Our relationship was never really based on—man, I hated even thinking the word—sex, but we still had our moments. I felt my back press against the bed and Seth's warm weight settle over me.

I broke the kiss and gasped for the breath I didn't need. I rested my hands on his chest.

"So you still think I'm cute, even when I don't… look like myself?" I asked. "You really still love me?"

"Of course I love you," he breathed. "I'll always love you. And I think you're beautiful."

I smiled despite myself and brought his lips back to mine.

"Momma? Daddy?"

At the sound of the cute little voice, I instinctively pulled myself out from under Seth and we both straightened. Rosalie was holding Nayeli in the doorway. Rose smirked.

"Looks like someone's having trouble with her self-control," she commented.

"I haven't killed anyone else," I muttered.

Rose's smirk turned to a large smile. "Not what I was talking about."

Thank the heavens I couldn't blush anymore. My face would've been as red as a tomato.

Rosalie put Nayeli on the floor. Nana walked over to us.

"I'll leave the three of you alone," Rose said. She left, closing the door behind her. Nayeli sat herself on Seth's lap.

"Daddy," she said, looking up at him. "Is Momma all better?"

Seth smiled. "Yes, Nana, Mom's all better."

Nayeli smiled, too. "Yay!" She climbed over to me and gave me a big hug.

"No more tears, Momma?" she asked.

I laughed. "No, Nayeli," I said. I looked from Seth's smiling face to Nayeli's. "No more tears."

A/N: Hope everyone liked the chapter. Just wanna tell you that the next chapter will be an epilogue (and I promise it'll be far less crappy then the one I wrote for Jasmine Isabella Cullen) then an author's note.

Reviews are love! ^_^