AN: I decided to continue with Edward's POV, because its just interesting. Thanks for the input!

"Oh my…Edward."

I turned to look at Bella. Her eyes were wide with shock. I couldn't tell if she was afraid yet. I looked down at myself, watching the way the sun glinted off my skin. I looked back at her and she stood spellbound. Before I could speak, or even think of words I would say to her she took a step toward me. And then another. She continued until she was right in front of me. I opened my mouth to explain, to tell her that one day her skin would be just as radiant. But then she did something I would never have expected.

She touched me.

Being a mind reader has its advantages. I know what someone is thinking. I know what someone is going to say before they say it. I know what someone will do before they do it. I know what someone wants to say and do, even if they don't always say or do it. I wanted so badly to know what she was thinking then, to understand what made her want to reach out and touch me.

As I watched her hand stretch to touch me I held my breath. I told myself it was because I didn't want to inhale the fragrance of her wrist, the blood beating so close to the surface. That was a lie. I was holding my breath in anticipation, like before you take a jump into deep water.

Her fingers made light contact with my face before withdrawing. She looked at her fingers to see if the glitter of my skin had somehow come off onto her hand. I would have laughed, but I was mesmerized by the expression on her face. She deliberately reached out and touched me again, ignoring the cold of skin. The burn her fingers left behind was incredible. It was like being scorched. The heat from the sun was nothing like this. I closed my eyes, basking in the warmth of her delicate touch.

"Edward," she whispered again. Her hand was pressed very gently to the side of my face, as though she was afraid to pull it back she needed to make sure I was still real. I opened my eyes again.

"Yes Bella?" I asked, finding it hard to concentrate. The heat from her hand was smoldering, burning through me into the whole of my being. That and the smell of her so close. I was drowning in it. She finally dropped her hand, looking embarrassed.

"What are you?" she asked. I hesitated. I didn't want to answer her. I didn't want to scare her away. I mostly just wanted her to touch me again, to feel that warmth coursing through my system again. I couldn't even begin to imagine how her skin would feel under my hands. I had held her the night before, rocked her until the pain in her eyes had abated somewhat. But I hadn't really touched her. I had noticed her warmth of course. I had felt her heart beating through her skin and into mine. But her skin and mine had not really connected, at least not like this.

"I don't think you really want to know the answer to that question," I said, dropping my eyes. She crossed her arms across her chest like she was angry. I looked back into her eyes and notice that she did look agitated, like she was upset with me. I was being honest—she really didn't want to know the answer to that.

"That doesn't answer my question," she stated, as though she was still waiting. I sighed. And then as though I was saved someone knocked on my door and didn't wait for my answer before coming in. Felix was standing in my doorway, staring at Bella and I. I was glad she wasn't still touching me. I was sure he would have seen the absolute rapture on my face.

"Edward I need to speak to you," he said. I could hear the undercurrent of anger in his thoughts. Bella smelled so good. He didn't understand why I was the one who got to have her. And she was quite beautiful. Perhaps after she was made…

I suppressed a growl. I didn't want him thinking of her at all, let alone the way he was thinking of her now. He wanted her—badly. But I didn't want him to know that I heard him thinking it, and I didn't want to scare Bella off, so I managed to control myself.

"Excuse me Bella, I'll be back in a moment," I said. She nodded weakly, still staring at my face. I wondered what she saw there that was so amazing. Was it simply the sparkle of my skin that drew her eyes to rest there?

When Felix got me into the hall I closed the door most of the way, not wanting this particular conversation to be overheard.

"Why have you not changed her?" he asked. His voice was furiously impatient. His eyes were a bright crimson. He had fed recently. It didn't help his temper.

"I don't need our permission to wait. I have already spoken to Aro about it. I have his consent to take as long as I wish."

"What are you waiting for?" he demanded. I didn't want to give him the satisfaction of telling him the fear I had of my own weakness.

"Its none of your business what I do, or why I do it," I said before turning to leave him in the hall. He stopped me with words that made me freeze.

"Aro told you that you could have her? Why wait? In three days time she will be yours for the taking, any way you want…"

The ideas that went through his mind made me shudder with rage. He had no right to think of her like that. In his thoughts she was writhing and screaming—but not in pain. It made me ill to think of him with her, so close, her skin against his…I shook with disgust.

"Leave Felix, she is none of your business," I said angrily.

"So you admit that you want her?" he asked, still taunting me.

"I admit nothing. And regardless, I am not for the practice of simply taking someone because I want them, no matter who's permission I have," I spat. Then I really did leave, slamming the door behind me. Her smell was so much stronger when I stepped in the room. Even being out in the hall for a few minutes made me vulnerable to its intensity.

When I got back into the room, Bella was looking out the widow. Her back was to me, but I could see the tension there. I wanted to alleviate it, but I didn't know how. So instead of speaking I simply went to the window beside her, resting my forearms against the sill. She didn't turn to look at me for a long moment. She inhaled and sighed, as though she was steeling her resolve.

"I…heard some of that," she commented. I felt her eyes on my face, watching me as I responded.

"What did you hear?" I asked. I wanted to know what it was I needed to explain to her before I went and told her more than she needed to know.

"That I…he said that…Aro told you…you could have me."

I turned and looked into her eyes, watching to see what her thoughts were. I wanted them to be easily readable through her eyes or her expression. But they were both flat, revealing nothing.

"Bella, I am not…I would never. I couldn't." I didn't know what else to say. I didn't want her to think I would ever do anything to hurt her.

Besides inflict the most horrible, unimaginable pain on her because you were ordered to?

I shivered, despite the warmth of the sun and her being so close.

"I believe you," she whispered, her eyes boring into mine. And even though I couldn't read her mind and I didn't know what she was truly thinking, I believed her. She honestly amazed me.

"Why are you not afraid? You seem so…normal here, as though this is where you belong. Aren't you frightened of this place, of being trapped here with…with monsters that sparkle in the sunlight?"

She straightened.

"Of course I am afraid. I was kidnapped, taken to a place full of people who look at me like I am something to eat." I held in a laugh. "There were all these people who kept trying to figure something out, as if I were a puzzle they were trying to put together. And they kept talking about change, as though it was supposed to mean something to me. And then they sent me to you. And you terrify me."

I stiffened when she said this. I terrified her? But I could see she was not done explaining, so I listened to her finish speaking.

"At least you did. When I first saw you I thought…I mean you looked…shocked, almost angry. And I thought you were going to…kill me. Just the way you looked at me was scary. And I was so overwhelmed. I was trying not to break. But then you were so nice to me. After being shoved around all day like I was not even human I was astonished that you treated my like an equal. So I told myself that as long as you are here I would be okay. Because I don't think you will hurt me."

Her utter trust in me was frightening. As were her incredible powers of observation. Of course the moment I saw her I was thinking of little else but how delectable she looked and smelled. I hadn't thought she noticed, but I was wrong. And now…she trusted me so explicitly. How could I tell her that she was wrong to trust me so? I wasn't the worst one here to put her trust in by any means—I thought back to Felix—but I was the one put in charge of her change. I was he one who had to kill her.

"You never answered my question from before," she mumbled after a moment. I hadn't noticed that minutes had ticked by as my eyes stayed locked with hers.

"What question was that?" I asked politely. I knew which one, but I was hoping she would be too embarrassed to ask it again.

"I asked what you are." No such luck.

"Bella…"

"Please," she begged. She bit her lip again, nervous or excited I couldn't tell.

"Fine. But I warned you Bella." I sighed. "The reason you feel as though everyone has been looking at you as though you are something to eat is because to them…us…you are."

She stood in shocked silence for a moment and then laughed. I could hear the hysterical edge to that laughter.

"What are you talking about?"

"Do you have any idea how good you smell? How mouthwatering your scent is? It's all I can do to keep myself from killing you."

Her eyes widened as I explained myself. I knew this was going to happen. As soon as she understood what I was she was going to hate it—hate me. I didn't really know why that bothered me so much, but it did.

"And as for the change you mentioned I should tell you that they—Aro, Caius and Marcus that is, the old men you met, my masters—want you to be like us. They want you to be a…vampire."

She began to shake. I let out a slow breath, afraid to tell her what was next.

"I am supposed to change you."

She continued to stare into my eyes, looking shocked, almost appalled. I thought she as going to cry again.

"You want to…to make me...like―"

"NO! I don't want to. But…the masters, the ones who are the very epitome of my kind have given me their orders. I am to change you. I have some time, but I don't know how much exactly. It won't be more than a week, if that much. I don't want to hurt you Bella."

"Then don't," she whimpered. The sadness that replaced her nervous curiosity was astonishingly agonizing. She could see now what I was, beyond the sparkling skin. I reached out to touch her face in kind, the way she had to me earlier but she flinched away. Nothing in the history of my life had ever hurt me so much. Then look of fear in her eyes as I dropped my hand away from her was heartbreaking. I didn't wish for her to fear me.

"I need…to go clean up," I mumbled. I turned from her, attempting to hide the hurt in my expression. I walked from her and went to the large dresser on the other side of the room. After removing some suitable clothing from it I went into the bathroom. I was getting undressed, the water heating up in the shower when I heard a small creak, like metal being bent.

I went into the main part of my suite, holding my shirt in my hand. I looked around, searching frantically. She had no idea how much danger she was putting herself in. A fleeting thought about the danger I was in flitted across my mind but I paid no heed to it. I didn't matter right now. What mattered was that she was risking her life right now and she didn't even know it.

The window was open and Bella was gone.