3.

Could this really be happening? It almost felt as if the pain was subsiding, the fire slowly dying. It left my toes and fingers first, leaving behind the feeling that they were made of stone. I could hear voices again, which was a great relief from the dead silence during the long hours of pain.

"How long?"

"Not very long, maybe a couple of hours now."

"She's doing amazingly well. I'm surprised her heart has held on for this long."

"She's responded a lot like Bella. She's very still and doesn't say anything."

"The accident did a lot of damage to her brain. Her motor skills were handicapped."

Silence.

"The venom will heal that?"

"Yes…I hope. We've never had anyone with brain damage be transformed, so I cannot be sure. But the venom has healed a broken spine, so I am quite positive it can heal the mind as well."

Silence again.

"I hope she's not in too much pain. We got the morphine in her but her heart was so weak that it may not have been distributed as fast."

"By the look on her face, I'd say she is suffering. But in her thoughts she seems to be concentrating mostly on counting the beats of her heart instead of the pain."

"Smart girl."

"Poor girl. She's so beautiful."

"Yes, and from what I heard in her thoughts, she seems very sweet and compassionate."

"Much like you, Esme."

"Yes."

"And she seems to have some sense of style, from what I can tell in my visions," the voice is cheery and bright, hoping to lighten the mood in the room. "Although I'm not sure if it's because of me or not."

Silence again.

"She seems a lot like me," someone finally whispered.

"Yes, Bella. Maybe that's why I felt the need to save her so badly. There was something about her that reminded me of you."

"But you said you thought she was gifted?"

"Yes, but I have no clue what she can do. I just felt it, when I listened to her."

Another voice. "Is she still counting? Has she thought about the pain at all?"

"Just once. She wondered if the pain could really be lessening and she marveled at the way her toes and fingers felt like marble."

"It is almost done then."

Yet another voice replied, "Yes, only about an hour now."

"Good."

There was a slight shuffle as people moved, hushed voices exclaiming. "Nessie, what are you doing in here?"

"I just wanted to see, Mom!"

"No! She's a newborn. If she wakes up and smells your blood, who knows what she'll do!"

"Mom, I'll be fine. I can stand behind Emmett, Jasper, and Dad. They'll protect me."

"She's a newborn! She's much stronger!" It was Edward's voice, tense with worry.

"But there's three of you! You were able to control yourself when you were a newborn, Mom."

"But we don't know if she'll be able to control herself like I did."

"You never know…"

The voices faded like they were leaving the room.

And then there were voices asking how they though I would react, what I would say.

But what was I supposed to react to? Wasn't I in Heaven? Why were these angel voices wondering? Wouldn't I rejoice if I were with them?

The pain was now only in my heart. My whole body felt made of stone. Is that how it felt to be in Heaven? And then, there was absolute silence, because even my heart had stopped. And I felt like a statue, frozen. Should I open my eyes?

I decided I would try. And when I opened them, I was shocked by how clear my vision was. There was no more haze, and when I thought about it, no more ringing in my half-deaf ears. Everything I heard sounded crisp. And then I saw them. Nine angelic faces peered down at me anxiously.

Where am I?

My mind started racing as I felt the bed beneath me and saw the bright lamp above me. Where am I? This can't be Heaven!

I sat up fast, surprising myself at how smoothly I moved. I expected to feel a rush of blood as it drained from my face, but nothing happened. And then, in one movement, I was off the bed and crouched in the corner of the room, facing the angels, before I could process my reaction mentally. My senses were telling me I was defending myself. And it felt natural to be crouched to the ground like I was. But somewhere in my mind I asked myself, why?

"Hello, Allisa."

I looked around, trying to focus on who spoke. The voice spoke again and I saw it was the first angelic face I had seen at the hospital… how long ago was it now? "I'm Edward."

He took a small cautionary step toward me and I straightened, trying to sink into the wall behind me. Again I wondered where I was. If I was in Heaven, where was God? And Jesus? And wasn't the apostle Paul supposed to lead me through pearly gates? But somewhere in the back of my mind I knew I wasn't in Heaven and I knew I wasn't dead.

The girl I had seen at the hospital with long brown hair stepped forward and put her hand into Edward's. "Bella," she introduced herself. She had the same almost-golden eyes as Edward. I glanced around. In fact, all of them had the same color eyes. Except for the girl who stood behind the big one and the blonde boy. Her eyes watched me warily, almost as if she were afraid of me, her dark brown eyes trying to penetrate my mind. The stance of the two boys in front of her was defensive, as if they expected me to attack.

My head turned as a man caught my attention. He stepped forward, along with a woman. They held hands as the man introduced himself as Carlisle Cullen. I recognized his voice, though the memory was faint. Why could I not remember anything from before clearly?

He's the doctor who saved me? The one who helped me in the hospital?

Edward looked at me and nodded. Now that my mind was clear, I began to wonder if the conclusion I had come to on my deathbed was really right. Could it be possible that someone could read my mind? I tried to reason away the idea, but the woman next to Dr. Cullen interrupted my thoughts. "Hello, Allisa. I'm Esme." She smiled a warm smile at me. "You're safe now." She held her arms slightly open as if she wanted to embrace me. I shrunk away.

And then I heard it. I would never have realized that there was absolutely no sound in the room until I heard that single heart beating. My head snapped toward the sound, letting out a low snarl. Everyone instantly stepped in front of the girl with the dark brown eyes, watching me warily, ready to defend the girl.

What am I doing? I scolded myself. But it seemed almost like some unknown natural instinct was begging for… blood.

When it hit me that that was what I wanted, to drink this girl's blood, I was repulsed by myself. I was growling again, but this time at myself. Edward sensed the change in my behavior first, along with a curly-haired, blonde boy. They both stepped forward carefully. Edward reached his hand out as if to touch me, though I was at least five feet away from him. "It's okay," he whispered.

Someone tell me what's happening to me! I screamed, hoping that somehow, this Edward could really hear me.

Edward's face became slightly distracted and he frowned, as if he was trying to figure out how to explain this to me, how to answer my question. Finally he sighed softly as he turned towards the people behind him. "She wants to know what is happening to her."

Dr. Cullen spoke, breaking the long silence that had come after Edward's revealing of my thoughts. "Maybe it's best if we just tell her?" I glanced at him.

Please, I begged in my mind.

Edward turned back to me. He licked his lips slowly and said finally, "Do you believe in the stories about vampires and werewolves?"

I couldn't comprehend where he was going. I simply nodded, pursing my lips.

"Well, they're not stories." When he saw I didn't understand, he added, "They're real."

But what does that have to do with me?

"You're a vampire now, Allisa." He said weakly, as if terrified of the idea. Or was it just the word 'vampire' that made him uncomfortable?

My head began to spin and I could not think straight.

Edward continued to explain. "We knew you were dying and we wanted to give you a second chance at life, whatever kind of life that might be."

Faintly, I remembered the conversation I had overheard while I thought I was dying. I thought it had been a dream, but I realized it wasn't.

"We're all vampires, and each of us, except for Carlisle, were…created… when we were found nearly dead. We save lives, unlike many others of our kind, who simply take them."

My head was still spinning.

"We're the good vampires," A petite girl with short hair whispered.

And then it finally hit me. They way I reacted when I woke, my want for blood; all of it began to click in my mind. I had read novels about these people and afterwards dreamed dreams about them. But never in my wildest imagination had I ever thought… they were real or that I could ever be one of them. I began to cry, though no tears wet my cheeks. I sank to the floor and wailed. My heart broke as I realized I would forever be this foul creature, craving blood. How could they do this to me!

"No, it's not like that. We feed only on animal blood. And we had no choice." Edward's voice trailed off. My sobs continued to erupt from my throat. And then I felt a cold body, pressing me into her chest, hugging me fiercely, and I cried into the soft silk that I assumed was her shirt. Another cold hand touched me lightly on my knee. A feeling popped up in my mind, almost like a thought, and I felt confusion and sympathy. And then the body next to me was sobbing also. We held onto each other.

I heard murmuring around me. "What is she doing?" I heard someone whisper.

Edward responded, confusion making his words sound uncertain. "It's like she's sharing her mood with Alice. And she can feel what Alice is feeling as well."

There was a collected gasp of amazement from everyone around Alice and me. "Amazing!" Dr. Cullen whispered. Even Alice stopped her crying for a few seconds and looked at me in amazement. I saw that she was the petite one with the cropped hair, and I noticed that the cold hand on my knee belonged to the boy with ruffled blondish hair, who had stood beside Alice. He still hand his hand on my knee, kneeling down in front of me, concern etched in his face. I was surprised that I could not only see the concern but feel it like it was my own.

Then tears filled Alice's eyes again. And now I was hugging her, begging her to not hurt for me. She seemed to understand and sniffled. I felt her pain in my head and released her instantly, shocked. "You're strong," she whispered, answering my question of her pain. She sat back, though still holding me in her arms, and looked at me.

"You were right about her, Edward." And I saw everyone nod out of the corner of my eye, agreeing with her.

But the girl with the throbbing heart stood still. She didn't appear to have moved this entire time. I looked at her now and saw everyone tense. The burning in my throat intensified and some natural instinct inside me wanted to leap at her and drink her blood. But I held onto my human side, desperately wanting not to give in to my cannibal ways.

"Allisa," Edward whispered to me in caution, but he stopped when he heard my thoughts. And though almost every cell in my body begged for it, I did not want to harm this beautiful girl. I just wanted to know what she was doing here. I saw her skin, heard her heart, felt the heat flowing off of her, and I knew she wasn't like the rest of them… the rest of us.

Edward took the girl's hand and slowly pulled her forward, though everyone watched me, waiting for me to attack her. Edward must have heard their anxiety in their thoughts. "She's not even thinking about attacking her. She seems to be even more controlled than Bella was. In her mind, she has no longing for blood, though her body craves it. She is refusing to give in to her vampire instincts and holding on to her human ones."

"She's repulsed by blood?" It was the biggest one who spoke. His body was covered in muscle and he stood still, his arms crossed over his chest.

"No, just by the fact that she wants to drink it." Edward answered slowly, amazed.

Dr. Cullen spoke up, "Could it be your venom that gave her and Bella such self-control?" He seemed to be thinking carefully. "Perhaps the self-control you yourself posses, Edward, somehow translates to them?" He continued muttering to himself.

Edward looked back at me. Finally he introduced the brown-eyed beauty.

"This is Renesme. We call her Nessie."

I recalled the name and the argument from earlier popped into my head. I replayed the dim memory in my mind. So she convinced her parents to let her stay.

Edward cleared his throat before continuing. "She is Bella and I's daughter."

My mind swam with confusion at the thought of this. How was that possible? Everything that was happening was beyond comprehension, but this seemed to top it all off. I felt like I was going mad, and wondered again if I wasn't dreaming or dead. Edward looked at me and just shook his head.

But how was it possible?

"I will explain the details later. All you need to know now is that Bella became pregnant with her when she was still human."

I remembered Alice's comment about me being strong and wondered how a vampire could have sex with a human without hurting her. Again Edward answered my thoughts.

"It was hard and I did hurt her." He broke off, and glanced at Bella lovingly. "But she wanted it," he added, softly.

I could feel the way he felt for Bella. I was amazed. Even more so by the fact that Renesme was a half-breed. As I contemplated this, Dr. Cullen spoke to Edward in a low voice. I saw Edward nod.

"Allisa?"

I looked at Dr. Cullen and nodded slowly.

"During the accident, your brain was damaged. Some of your motor functions seemed to be damaged, along with that of speech."

I simply nodded, trying to comprehend what he was saying.

"Well, we just haven't heard you say anything yet, so I wondered if maybe the venom didn't heal your mind?"

My mouth opened and formed an 'O'. And then I licked my lips and focused on speaking.

"I think,' I began. I stopped and cleared my throat and licked my lips. Both were fiercely dry. "I think I'm fine."

And Dr. Cullen nodded with a smile. "Good. We don't know if the venom healed you or not, but it's good that you are alright."

I nodded again.

Again it was quiet and I became absorbed in my thoughts. I could not shake the feeling that I knew Edward felt when he looked at Bella, the love he had. It reminded me so much of my husband and how I loved him. And with that, I moaned and sank down into myself. Alice's arms were still around me and they tightened as she felt my mood change. With an aching heart, I longed for my husband and baby. But the slow realization that I had lost them, maybe forever, sank in and I hid my face in my hands, wanting to die.