CHAPTER 6

I didn't know how long the pain lasted, all I knew was that the pain eventually lessened and eventually disappeared as my once beating heart stopped for the last time. I opened my eyes and looked around. I could see very, very clearly and my sense of smell was incredible.

"Carlisle! I think she's awake!" Alice's voice said close by.

I heard something I had never heard while human, the sound of vampires walking toward me. I looked around to see Alice sitting next to me, Jasper standing right behind her.

"How do you feel Bella?" Carlisle asked kindly. I looked at him and noticed that he seemed drawn but somehow happier than he had in a long while.

"I…I'm wonderful. What day is it?" I asked.

Carlisle smiled faintly. "It took you three days to change." He sobered up then. "Bella, you can't go home anymore. We…we spread the story that you and Alice went hiking this weekend and went missing. In a few days we'll "find" Alice, looking not quite as clean or well as before, and she will tell us of the bear that attacked you and how you died protecting her from it."

If I had been able to cry I would have then. "Charlie," I moaned softly.

"He will be alright Bella. He did fine before you came here, he will do fine after you leave," Jasper said soothingly.

I shook my head, marveling at how easy everything was to do, how my voice had changed to the sound of wind chimes. "No, it'll be worse than before. He loves me more now, since I've lived with him. He'll blame himself for my death, blame himself for not being able to protect me."

Carlisle and Esme exchanged a pained look. "What do you want to do Bella? We can not tell him the truth," Carlisle said softly.

"I know, I just wish there was another way…a way to let him know that I'm alright."

"Well, we'll think about it and try to come up with another way. But no matter what, whether we can tell Charlie or not, you are dead to the rest of the world," Carlisle said.

I looked around at the others and noticed that the wariness they always tried to hide was now absent, gone with the last of my tantalizing blood. Then I looked at Jasper and saw his frown of mistrust.

"Jasper?" I asked, worried. "Why are you looking at me like that?"

"Don't you feel it? Any other newborn would be tearing the house down. It doesn't hurt or anything?" he demanded.

I frowned at him now. "What are you talking about?" I demanded in return. "I'm fine!"

"You don't feel the thirst? You don't feel the painful burn in your throat?" he asked.

I considered and finally shook my head. "I don't feel anything different from when I was human. I mean, I am a little hungry, but…it's not painful and it's not exactly thirst…"

The Cullen's stared at me in astonishment.

"What?"

"Bella, that's not usual for a newborn vampire. Nor is your behavior usual for someone just turned. Carlisle didn't even have your lack of thirst when he was turned," Jasper replied.

"Oh…is something wrong with me?" I asked quietly. Now, not only was I a screw up as a human, but I was a freak of nature as a vampire. Wonderful!

Carlisle shrugged when everyone looked at him. "I don't know. I've never heard of a vampire who didn't feel the thirst at all, especially as a newborn. This we will look into too. For now, I still think Bella should go hunt, just in case it just hasn't caught up to her yet."

"Come on Bella, we'll teach you how to hunt," Alice said, oddly excited by the activity we were about to partake of. I smiled at her and she blinked, seemingly dazed for a moment.

"Are you alright Alice?" I asked, concerned, taking her arm.

She smiled back, "yes, you're just…you're beautiful now Bella, but when you smile…you're breathtaking!"

If I had been human I would have blushed scarlet. Just then Emmett flung his arm around me much more heavily than he would have had I been human. To my surprise and pleasure it felt as though he wasn't even there.

"She's right you know, you are breathtaking. Why, I'll bet even Rose will admit that you're at least tied with her in that respect!" Emmett said playfully.

I looked quickly at Rosalie, instantly worried that she would be upset. As if hearing my thought, she was indeed upset. So upset that she walked up to Emmett and hissed. Then, before we could do anything, she turned and crashed through the window, leaving only the sound of falling glass behind her.

"I have the feeling you shouldn't have said that Emmett," I whispered feeling crushed by guilt.

"Indeed he shouldn't!" Jasper said, finally taking a breath. "Emmett, I've never seen her so mad. And you know I've seen her mad as hell. Her emotions…they're going crazy! What possessed you to do something so stupid? Especially when you know that Rosalie takes extreme pride in her beauty?"

Emmett didn't look embarrassed, upset, or guilty. Instead he grinned. "I was just telling the truth. It's not my fault that Rose doesn't like that. Plus, Bella's been through a lot and needs a booster," Emmett responded confidently.

"I didn't need one if it was going to make Rosalie hate me even more Emmett!" I said, faking a small moan. I felt Emmett tense just a fraction beside me.

"Rosalie doesn't hate you Bella, not anymore. Now that you're a vampire, against your will I might add, she has no problem with you," Jasper argued.

I sighed, "well, she didn't until now…until her husband hit on me!"

Emmett let out a playful growl. "You'll pay for that!" he shouted.

I smiled back at him sweetly, stopping him in his tracks as I started running. "Not if you can't catch me!" I yelled back, and I jumped through the empty space that had been the window Rosalie smashed. A moment later I heard Emmett's almost soundless thump as he hit the ground behind me.

I put on a burst of speed and rushed away from him. "I'm going to get you Bella!" he called behind me. Slowly, much more slowly than I would have thought, he gained on me and was right behind me. As he made to grab me I flitted out of his grasp. The second time he tried, I ground to a stop and he smashed into me, taking us both to the ground.

A second later I was on my feet again, looking around. A new smell filled my nostrils. Though I didn't know how I knew what it was, somehow I did. Somewhere very close to us now, were humans.