Thank you for your patience and your super-kind reviews. When my RL dies down, I promise more frequent chapters. I finally wrote one today, isn't that awesome? Big thanks to beachcomberlc for her beta work. I know this chapter is short, but I promise if I can write another one this weekend, I will post Chapter 8.
I don't own Twilight. Unlike SM, my vampires will curse! So be prepared.
Chapter 7
She's floating. Lifeless. Breathless. Motionless.
It's all very surreal to her and she's uncertain if she is dreaming or unable to wake from a nightmare.
Flashes of memories appear before her closed eyes and she sees her mother's headstone in Phoenix and then her father's in Forks. There are people offering her condolences, her visions flittering back and forth between each of the funerals. For a moment, she is at her father's gravesite, her fingers ghosting over his name until finally she looks down and sees her protruded stomach, her hand moving smoothly over it.
In another vision, she's dancing with a man whose face is unknown to her. He's taller than her, very dapper and gentlemanly, and smells delicious. Suddenly, she feels liquid pooling in her mouth and as she rapidly opens her eyes, everything is illuminated and so clear to her, but she has no idea where she is.
"Isabella?" she hears a voice call out to her, as she leaps weightlessly across the room and feels the cool skin of the speaker clutched beneath her grasp. Before she has a chance to understand what is going on, her emotions suddenly shift and Isabella feels relief, happiness and remorse, all at once.
"Thanks Jasper," the voice responds, as she turns her head, cocking it to the side, as she observes the man before her. The one she, only moments ago, attempted to strangle.
"I think she's confused and trying to figure out what is going on," a second man adds, and Isabella stares at him, thinking she recognizes him. His blonde hair, chiselled features, and calm demeanor seem to put her at ease, but as she recalls a memory, Isabella grows tense again.
"You were at my father's funeral," she states evenly as Carlisle simply nods in return. "How do I know you? Who are these men? What have you done to me?" she asks frantically, her emotions changing rapidly.
"I'm Carlisle Cullen. I'm a doctor over at Forks General Hospital, and these are my sons, Edward and Jasper." Isabella paces around the room rapidly, immediately confused by her speed until something more important hits her. Her hand covers her now flat stomach and she looks up at the men, furious. "Your daughter was born and I can assure you she's perfectly healthy. My family has been tending to her for the past few days."
"A few days?" she repeats loudly, her mind moving a mile a minute with all the new information she's attempting to process. Her daughter was born and she's being cared for, which is somewhat of a relief, but why are all these other things happening to her?
Why can she see so clearly? Why is she moving so quickly? What on earth is she doing in this house and why do these people have her?
"Have you kidnapped me for some sort of experiment?" Isabella asks tentatively, as Jasper lets out a laugh at her side and her anger subsides slightly. "What is this guy doing to me? Why don't I feel angry at you? What in the fuck is going on?"
"Isabella-" Edward begins to explain, but he is quickly interrupted.
"If you must know, I prefer to go by Bella," she states acerbically.
"Alright then, Bella," Edward corrects as he offers her a small smile, but her face remains stoic. "I was at London's Bar four nights ago when you were working there. Why you were working at such a late stage in your pregnancy I don't understand but…"
"My employment is none of your concern. Not that I have a job left after being away for four bloody days," Bella snaps at Edward as he holds up his hands in defense.
"Anyways, you left with a man named Marcus Samuels, who was not a very nice man…" Bella sees flashes in her memory of working that night, and briefly recalls seeing Edward, but when she remembers being informed that she was done for the night…she shivers. She's not cold; she's scared.
"That's putting it mildly," Jasper adds, his southern drawl evident in his remark.
"He attempted to rape you in an alleyway outside the bar and he knocked you unconscious." Edward pauses, because he can see that Bella wants to ask him something, but of course he still can't read her mind.
"He was going to rape a pregnant woman? Who in the fuck does that?" she yells out, unable to grasp the strength of her voice as it reverberates loudly from the walls. "Jesus fuck, even my yelling is loud as hell."
"You'll learn to deal with it," Jasper remarks as Carlisle frowns at him. Edward ignores both of them and steels his nerves, going ahead to tell her all the gruesome details. After all, who wouldn't be upset at being told that someone was murdered to save them, but that they had to be turned into a vampire in order to be truly saved.
"I killed Marcus to prevent him from killing you. Unfortunately, you already had head trauma and were knocked unconscious. I brought you home to Carlisle, hoping he could assist, but you were in labor. Tiny… I mean, your daughter… was delivered that same night. You were bleeding so much… Carlisle was trying to stop it… I didn't really have a choice." Edward's voice falters, his remorse finally setting in, as Carlisle offers him a pat on the shoulder for support.
"What choice didn't you have? What have you done to me?" Bella asks frantically as she pushed at Jasper, who is trying to calm her, but her intense strength causes him to be thrown across the room, knocking pictures from the wall.
"I had to save you for your daughter, so I changed you."
"You changed me? Into what?" Bella bristles as Edward lets out a small sigh.
"You're a vampire…like the rest of our family."