Author's Note: Thanks again to everyone who reviewed, added me to their story favorites, author alerts, etc. Please continue to review! It inspires me to keep going better than anything else. :)
Disclaimer: As you most likely know, I don't own Twilight.
Chapter Three
I was about halfway through my feast when I heard the thoughts of Carlisle and Alice approaching. She had seen that I would attack Bella as soon as I made the decision and had gotten Carlisle to come find me. I registered the horror in Alice's mind, which then spread through me. I looked at the half-dead girl below me who I loved. How could I have done this to her?
Carlisle bent down next to Bella and checked her breathing and her heart rate. "Edward," Carlisle's gentle voice broke through the still air. "If you want to save her, you must turn her into a vampire. It's the only way for her to survive, if that's what you want. But you must do it fast. She is fading quickly."
I considered his words. "But how could I do that to her? Damn her for eternity?"
"If you love her and you want her forever, that's what needs to be done. I will not make the decision for you." Carlisle told me in his thoughts.
I battled myself in my head for several moments. Should I save her, even though it would put her into this horrible life? Or should I let her have this shot at heaven? I answered myself by leaning down over Bella, near her neck. I quickly bit her, and then swiped my tongue over the wound to seal it. She was now doomed to be a vampire.
***
A little over two days later I sat next to Bella as she experienced her transformation. We had brought her home and laid her on the couch in my room. I had not moved from her side once, just sat over her. Several times she would suddenly cry out about the fire burning in her limbs, and each time my undead heart seemed to break at her pain. I was extremely regretful over what I did to her, but at the same time was excited to have her for myself forever. Even though I did not know her much, I already loved her with all my being.
After a while we could start to see the physical changes occurring in her. Her skin grew even paler and smoothed out to marble. I could feel the skin on her hand become stronger underneath mine, and her features became more symmetrical and even more perfect than before.
I heard Carlisle's soft rhythmic footsteps come into the room as I sat there. "How's she doing?" He asked me in his head.
"She's cried out two more times in the last hour," I replied, my brow furrowing. "I hate to see her in pain." My voice broke slightly at the last word.
I heard Alice skip into the room. "She'll be fine, Edward," she said, sighing. She showed me a recent vision of hers, of Bella awaking from her transformation. She did indeed look healthy, for a vampire anyways. She also looked very confused.
"Emmett's and Esme's injuries were far worse than hers," Carlisle reminded me, clearly sensing my ever-present distress.
"But what if she's angry at me? What if she leaves me? What if she doesn't love me back?" If I could still cry, I would probably be crying now. I felt my eyes prick, but the tears that should be falling never came.
"You worry too much Edward. Now you guys leave. I need to change her out of these awful clothes. They're all bloody and torn, we don't want her to be too alarmed when she awakes," Alice said, shooing us away.
"Oh yeah, if her clothes are a tad bloody she'll be terrified. But waking up to find herself a vampire, that shouldn't bother her at all," I muttered, knowing she could hear me. She stuck her tongue out at me and pushed Carlisle and I out of the room. Carlisle left to go back downstairs, and I stood leaning against the wall next to the door, listening as Alice changed her into a pair of expensive jeans and a blue silk blouse. Barely a minute later, she opened the door with a smile and let me back in.
"Doesn't she look pretty?" Alice sighed. "The shirt really compliments her skin and her figure."
I growled at her, "She's much more than merely pretty." How could she not see Bella's obvious beauty?
Alice rolled her eyes. "Yeah, yeah, whatever you say."
At that moment, Bella cried out again. Her eyelids fluttered, and her back arched into the air. She gave another blood-curdling scream, and I felt like my heart was being ripped to pieces.
"Bella," I whispered. I rushed to her side and held her hand tightly in mine. "It's alright, my love. The pain will go soon. I promise," I bowed my head over her once-again motionless form, and thought again about my stupid decision. "How could I have done this to her? She's in so much pain…"
Alice danced to my side and ran a hand through Bella's hair. "It'll be over soon, Edward. Then you get to keep her forever," she told me softly.
"But she'll never love me. How could she? I damned her forever. No one could love a monster like that."
"You don't know that. Now stop moping. She'll be waking in just a few hours." With that, she left the room.
I turned back to Bella. She looked even more like a vampire now. I knew that if I could see her eyes, they'd no longer be a beautiful chocolate brown. They'd be the chilling bright red of a newborn vampire. But her lids were closed, and if not for the traces of pain on her face she could have been sleeping. However, just as the thought crossed my mind, she thrashed out again. Oh, the pain she must be in…I could remember my own transformation only too well, even after nearly a century…
Another Author's Note: -WARNING: BREAKING DAWN SPOILER AHEAD!- I know some of you may be wondering why Bella cried out so much, unlike in Breaking Dawn. But, as you may remember, she had only been keeping quiet because she didn't want Edward to be upset. Of course, in this story, she barely knows Edward, plus she doesn't have any idea what's going on. Thus, she doesn't have a problem showing her pain.
