A/N - I am on my hols so this is the first of only 2 updates in the 2 weeks I will be away. Sorry guys. I really hope you like this one!

Disclaimer: As always, not stephenie meyer.

Chapter 14 – Fire

It took barely a second for the venom to start burning through me. At first it was not as painful as I had imagined it to be, but it was fast becoming worse than I could have ever imagined. I watched Demetri pull away from me, intensely struggling with the bloodlust that I knew was raging through him. I saw the look in his eyes turn from struggle to pain.

I reached out for him, biting my lip against the horrific pain, trying to choke back my scream of agony. He held me close to his body and the icy skin cooled the heat of the fire a little, a little but not enough. A bloodcurdling scream came out of my mouth, and once one came out I found the screams kept coming.

The venom started to spread down to my legs and lower body, a new fire of pain broke out causing another horrific scream to echo around the room. I started to writhe around on the bed as the fire became amazingly intense. I felt like it would be a release to die, I begged Demetri to kill me, or to get someone else to kill me.

He refused to kill me and, for one second, I forgot the pain as I looked into his tortured eyes. I realised how much it must hurt him to see me screaming for death, I couldn't let him see me like this.

"Go!" I commanded him, my voice hoarse with screaming. He shook his head at me; I could see the fear in his eyes. "Please, go!" I begged. He looked at me, his eyes pained, but he nodded eventually. He kissed me once on the lips and murmured something I didn't catch before walking out of the door.

There were no words to adequately describe the horrific agony I felt. Nothing was strong enough to retail the pain of the transformation. A few times I regretted choosing vampirism over death, and screamed in pain and anguish. I was glad he couldn't see me in this sort of pain. It was unbearable, searing, with no relief, not even for one moment.

The turret room was dark and I knew it had been cold but I could feel nothing but agony. Nothing but the burning, smouldering agony shooting through my body. I tried to search my mind for some kind of thought to distract from the unimaginable pain, but I could not concentrate. Nothing would ever compare to this hurting, aching, burning torture.

There was no sense of time in that room. I could have been there for days or it could have been mere minutes, I just hoped it was nearly over. A new wave of fire swept through me and I screamed again, this time I could not stop. One loud cry rolled into the next, had I not been in so much pain already I was sure my throat would have hurt.

Just as I thought the pain had reached its peak it got worse. The fire was burning my heart, entangling itself around the sole thing that had kept me alive for the past 16 years. I prayed that the end was close, but whether I begged for the end of my life or the end of the pain I was unsure. I didn't care anymore; as long as something stopped the agony. I stopped screaming and, in the silence, I heard my heart thump out its last uneven, tortured beat before falling silent forever.

I was dead.

There was no going back. No more pulse, no heartbeat, no sign of life. I wasn't human anymore, and I never could be again. I didn't realise that the pain was fading, that I had with gone the last stage of transformation. But when I did I concentrated on that feeling, on the slow spread of cooling ice, starting from my neck – the place where I had been bitten.

I closed my eyes and breathed in, the pain ebbed from my arms and head. When I opened my eyes the world was on fire. Everything was brighter, sharper, more in focus. I breathed in through my nose and I was amazed. I could smell the wooden thrones, the stone of the floor and the woollen scent of the bed. I had never truly realised how bad human senses were – or how much better vampire ones were.

The last of the fire was cooled; the tips of my toes were relieved from their agony. At that same moment I felt an odd feeling in my throat. I realised what it was, thirst. It was easily ignored but I supposed it was harder near humans or blood. I smiled and looked down at my new body.

My skin was hard, and I felt invincible, incredible. I rose from the bed, marvelling at the grace of my movements. I looked at my figure; it had changed, of course. I was slimmer, but still curvaceous, my legs looked longer and more slender, and my arms looked toned. I had the same beautiful, chalky skin as all the other vampires. I was amazed.

I ran to the door in half a second, the speed was fantastic. I opened the door and ran through the corridor. I opened the grate and sped into the 'reception' area. Demetri, Diana, Aro, Marcus and Caius all looked up. I beamed and threw myself at Demetri. He caught me in his arms and laughed, wincing ever so slightly. New-born strength, I reminded myself.

"So," I began, and then stopped in shock - My voice sound like an angel's, high and beautiful. I tried again. "How do I look?" My voice was still the same, not that I minded.

"If it's possible, even more beautiful than before." He was staring at in shock, his eyes full of love. I ran over to the mirror on the desk, Gianna gaped at me and I smiled at her. I picked up the reflective surface and gazed into it.

A beautiful woman stared back at me. Her face was elegant; she had a dainty, oval face, wonderfully angled cheekbones and wide, vividly scarlet eyes under perfect eyebrows. Her luscious brown hair was the colour of dark chocolate and waved gently to just below her shoulders.

As I gasped my mirrored image did too, one hand flying to cover her full lipped, pouty mouth. For the first time ever, I felt I looked beautiful. I turned to my new family and smiled.

"Thank you," I told them. I had never meant it more in my entire life.

Review please people! I will give all my reviewers credit when I get home and have a non turkish keyboard to type on.