I awoke to find her sitting next to my bed. She was wearing Carlisle's old shirt and she looked as if she hadn't hunted in days. With the flicker of my eyelids she had turned towards me, a tentative smile on her face. "Esme?" I asked cautiously, scared I may have gotten her name wrong in my daze.

"Yes Rose?" She replied with a smile, taking my hand from the mattress and holding it in her own.

"How long have I been asleep? What's happened to-" My question was cut short by a searing pain in my throat.

Like a thirst.

I realised what it was. Blood thirst. I looked at her in shock and she nodded in confirmation. I couldn't believe it. I had been made like her. A vampire. A monster.

Before I could open my mouth Esme placed a cup in my mouth. I drank and my thirst was gone. "Was it human blood?" I asked, fearful of what I had drank.

"No," She replied, placing the cup on a table, "it's panther blood. My choice in game."

I couldn't believe how calm she was. I felt angry. "How can you be so calm when you have just made me a vampire! A monster!" I raged.

"It wasn't me!" She began to cry, "It wasn't me Rose! It was Carlisle!"

"Well you could've stopped him!" I strained to get out of the bed, only to find they had chained me there. "Dog chains?!" I screamed. She bit her lip in apology.

"I wasn't there! I wasn't there when he changed you!" She sounded hurt. As if she sympathised and knew my pain. She didn't know what I was going through. She said herself that becoming a vampire was the best thing that had happened to her.

We sat staring at each other in silence. After a few minutes she knelt beside me and stroked my hand. "You know I would've stopped him. Even if it meant losing you." A tear fell on my hand.

I was confused. "Losing me?" I asked.

Esme looked up into my eyes. "Don't you remember anything that happened?"

I shook my head slowly.

"Ralph." She whispered. One word and my heart collapsed. "He found out about you, me-us."

"Wha-what did he do?" I asked cautiously, scared of the response.

She shook her head. "You don't want to know."

Suddenly I saw it. What he had done. It shocked me to my core. "He-"

Esme nodded, her eyes brimming with tears. "Rose. Don't say it."

"He just left me there to die!" I hissed, my eyes also brimming with tears.

"Rose! Please don't. I don't want to hear about what happened." Esme looked pale, well even more pale than a vampire could be. She looked delicate and fragile. Like a little porcelain doll. Like she was about to break.

I realised in that moment that I forgave her. I still loved her.

"So what will happen to us?" I asked. "Will you tell Carlisle?"

She shook her head. I opened my mouth and then she said "He already knows."

I felt somewhat relieved but confused. Esme saw the look on my face and proceeded to explain. "My relationship with Carlisle is as his mate. His hunting partner. My relationship with you is based on love. He has a similar relationship with Edward." I screwed up my face, the image of the two of them was too much to handle. She laughed at the face I made.

I was still confused though. About my future as a vampire. "What do I do now?" I asked, fearful of the future.

"I don't know. Maybe me?" She poked her tongue out and I laughed, "You have eternity."

I could then see the small silver lining. I had eternity to spend, with her.