Carlisle slowly explained it to me and the others; I could feel Edward's tension grow as his "father" spoke.
"The venom locked inside of you has turned into… a balloon of sorts," he informed us. "Like a venom balloon: if we pop it, it will unleash the venom and your transformation should continue as normal."
"Should?" Edward asked, jaw clenched as he tightened his hold on me.
"There are no guarantees, Edward," Steven informed him. "Just like there aren't any guarantees with an ordinary transformation."
Edward looked down at me painfully. I knew full well that he did not wish for me to become a vampire, that he wanted it to be my choice at the very least. And here we were again, a silver sword ready to swing down on my neck. Literally.
His head snapped up and he glared at Carlisle.
"You could have mentioned that that was a possibility," he snarled angrily.
"What?" I asked panicked.
"It's a fifty-fifty chance," Alice frowned, peering into the future. "It could go either way!"
"What?" I repeated.
"The venom is… old." Carlisle explained hesitantly. "There is a high chance that it will not be… strong enough to complete the transformation."
I stared at him warily before turning around in Edward's arms to face him. "If the venom is the problem… Couldn't you just suck it out like you did with James?"
"Who?" Melody asked her brow furrowed.
"Nobody," I waved and Edward raised an eyebrow. Melody could be even more over-protective than he could.
If that was even possible.
Melody narrowed her eyes at me, "Bella, whenever you say it's nothing, it's always something."
"Well it doesn't matter, cause he's dead." I replied grinding my teeth, annoyed with her accurate accusation.
Her eyes widened in surprise, and I turned back to Edward waiting for an answer.
I jumped in surprise when I realized that his eyes were bright red.
"No, Bella," his voice was almost robotic as he said it and I took a frightened step backwards.
"Bella?" Edward's voice asked me worriedly, but the Edward in front of me hadn't said anything. "Bella, are you alright? Carlisle, what's happening?"
"I cannot allow you to live!" The red-eyed Edward shrieked as he dove at me, his fangs flashing.
Edward didn't have fangs!
I screamed as his teeth ripped into me, my blood flowing freely. The pain was intense.
Edward continued to suck my blood for a few minutes before he pulled away.
"You may not be good enough for me, but your blood certainly is," he growled before continuing to suck me dry.
I shrieked and struggled against his iron grip.
"Bella!" the other Edward – the one I couldn't see – shouted. "Love! Wake up! Carlisle! What's happening?!"
"Edward!" I shrieked. "Stop! Please stop!" I tried in vain to push him away but he was just too strong.
"Bella!" the other Edward shouted and my eyes shot open.
Edward had me trapped in his arms, but his eyes weren't crimson, they were melted topazes. The others were all crowded around me worriedly and I stopped struggling.
"Ed-Edward," I choked around my tears.
"I'm right here, love." Edward pleaded, "What's the matter?"
I felt a wave a calm wash over me and I shot Jasper a grateful look.
"B-bad dream. What hap-happened?" I shuddered – even with Jasper helping me, I couldn't reach a normal level of calmness. I felt tears prick at my eyes though and I buried my face in Edward's shirt.
"We sucked the venom out and you blacked out," Edward said slowly, and I could hear the frown in his voice. "But then you started to scream like you were in pain and shouting for me to stop – even though the venom was all out."
"Oh," I sighed, blackness slowly engulfing me. "Good."
******
I woke once again in Edward's arms but this time we were on the couch surrounded by family and friends. My neck felt like it was on fire and I winced slightly. He instantly moved one of his ice cold hands to cover the new scar on my neck and the burning lessened.
"Are you alright, love?" he asked worriedly.
I quickly took inventory and determined that – despite the slight burn in my neck – I was perfectly fine.
"Right as rain," I replied hoarsely and Alice appeared with a tall glass of water. "Thanks," I told her, drinking it all quickly without pausing for breath.
"Don't drown yourself, Bells," Lysander smirked and I choked slightly.
I rolled my eyes as I coughed. "Shut it."
Melody was bouncing in her seat as I scowled at her brother, and she spoke excitedly as soon as Alice disappeared with my empty cup. "Okay! Now that the venom is all out of your system – we're allowed to kidnap you, right?"
Edward frowned at her and Alice reappeared, this time with a plate of gourmet spaghetti – the Cullens loved to spoil me.
"No." I told Melody as I took the plate from Alice. "You're no longer allowed to kidnap me, remember?"
"Why not?" Melody scowled at me.
"Two words," I replied, almost smiling at the irony of my food and words. "Spaghetti noodles."
The Goldeneye kids all started laughing and the Cullens just looked majorly confused.
"Oh, come on, Bella!" Melody groaned. "That was three years ago."
"And try as I might, I still can't suppress the memory of that entire day," I replied, my voice dripping with ice. "I spent the vast majority of it puking into public garbage cans, remember? And I still have your solemn oath to never kidnap me again."
"What was that about noodles?" Edward raised one perfect eyebrow and I smirked.
"You can explain, Mel."
She shot me a scowl and sighed. "Bella was refusing to let us through her a party for her fifteenth b-day but we all really wanted to go to the local amusement park and it was supposed to be really cloudy that day so we kidnapped her at three in the morning and stuffed her in our trunk which we had filled with cooked spaghetti noodles but of course her claustrophobia kicked in so she ended up screaming the entire ride over and freaking out because she thought the noodles were worms so when we got there her face was all red from lack of oxygen and then she got really sick on the roller coasters and had to throw up into the garbage bins which smelled really nasty anyway so that just made things worse for her." She explained hurriedly in one breath so that I barely caught it all. "And it wasn't even my idea!" she added as an afterthought.
Emmett and Alice burst into laughter, Rosalie ignored us, and Carlisle, Esme, and Jasper sent me sympathetic looks. I shuddered at the memory and Edward tightened his hold on me protectively.
"Hey, Bells," Taylon grinned suddenly, holding up the guitar they had tried to force on me earlier. "Is the real reason your refusing to play is because you've forgotten how?"
I glared at him. I knew exactly what he was doing – he knew I couldn't stand people questioning my intelligence. I smiled sweetly than, "I'll play if you'll sing."
There was no way he would accep-
"Sure," Taylon returned my smile triumphantly.
My own grin faded and I scowled, defeated. "T.G.I.F." I sighed, resigned as I slid out of Edward's lap and took the guitar.
"Thank goodness it's Friday?" Emmett frowned as Taylon just grinned his approval.
I smiled briefly before strumming the guitar. "Geez," I winced at the state it was in. "It sounds like a dying cat."
Taylon took it from me again and had it tuned in less than a minute. "Quit stalling, Swan."
"Fine," I sighed and launched into T.G.I.F by the country music band Lonestar.
"Monday was a bummer, Tuesday was another day
They could've left out of the week.
Wednesday nearly got me, Thursday all but stopped me
I was broken down and beat
But I started feelin' strong when Friday finally came along."
I relaxed slightly as I played and even joined in on the chorus.
"T.G.I.F, you know what that means
Get down to the beach A.S.A.P."
Melody joined in the singing and I laughed as she and her brother danced around the Cullen's living room.
"Encore!" Alice shouted when we were done.
Taylon shot me a look and I snorted before striking the first few chords on the song he wanted. All Because Two People Fell in Love by Brad Paisley.
Melody rolled her eyes, "Disgusting!"
"How about I do your song?" I laughed and launched into Daddy's Hands by Holly Dunn.
"I remember Daddy's hands
folded silently in prayer
And reachin' out to hold me
When I had a nightmare."
"Ugh, no," Melody begged. "Tay's been singing that since you left. And he put dance moves to it. It's scarring."
I giggled and skipped to the chorus with Taylon shrieking and dancing along with me.
"Daddy's hands
Were soft and kind when I was crying
Daddy's hands
Were hard as steel when I done wrong
Daddy's hands weren't always gentle
But I've come to understand
There was always love
In Daddy's hands."
"Shut it!" Melody cried dramatically, covering her ears like she was in pain.
She dove for Taylon angrily and he danced out of her way, laughing. Chasing him around the living room, Melody finally caught him and put him in a head lock.
"You know you love me," Taylon rasped out, pushing air through his tight wind pipe.
"Yeah, otherwise you'd have been killed again over a century ago." Melody snarled.
"You kids have an interesting mated relationship." Emmett guffawed.
Melody and Taylon froze, looked at each other in horror, and promptly sprung to opposite sides of the room. The Goldeneyes stared at Emmett with disgust.
"I can't believe you would even suggest that!"
"That's disgusting!"
"Blasphemy!"
"The polar ice caps would melt before that ever happened."
"Eww!"
I finally had to laugh at all of their expressions and Edward chuckled next to me, reading my friends' minds.
I doubled over laughing as my shoulders shook. "Oh, geez, Em, that's just wrong."
"What? What'd I say?" Emmett asked, greatly confused.
"First of all, I was turned at the age of twelve," Melody scoffed.
"And second, they're all family," I enunciated, giggling uncontrollably.
"So?" Alice asked. "We're all family and mated to each other."
"Perhaps I should explain, Bella," Marie offered and I laughed again.
"This should be interesting," Edward chuckled, pulling me into his side.
"You see," Marie began, glancing around the room at all of the Cullen's, "unlike your family, ours was not formed slowly over the years. I bore and gave birth to each one of my children before we were all turned."
"Whoa," Emmett breathed.
Rosalie glared furiously at the blank TV and Esme looked like she would cry if she could.
Carlisle cleared his throat unnecessarily, "That does not make sense – what vampire would have the restraint to turn all of you at once without killing anyone?"
The Goldeneyes all pointed to their father, and Esme raised an eyebrow.
"You are not their birth father?"
"Nay, I am. I was turned by mistake when Melody was only two years old. They all believed me to be dead, but in truth I was hidden in the forest, mastering my self-control. As the years past, I had gained enough restraint to do what I had planned – turn my entire family."
The Cullens all stared at him for a minute in silence.
"Now, we run," Taylon smirked at me, breaking the quiet tension, and I quickly started the song We Run by Sugarland.
"Are the only songs you know country?" Emmett scoffed disgusted, and eager to get back to lighter conversation.
"Yeah, pretty much." I shrugged, pausing in my song. "But that's Taylon's fault."
"How so?" Edward asked.
"I bullied her into learning all of the songs she knows," Taylon answered grinning. "And country music was an obsession of mine when Bella lived near us."
"He had me learn a different song for each person I was close to – Daddy's Hands for Steven, All Because Two People Fell in Love for Harriet…" I frowned into space, trying to remember something. "I forget, who did you have me learn We Run for?"
"Drew." Melody answered easily before cussing.
"Pay up, Mel-Mel," Adrian and Lysander chorused as they all flashed to her side with out-stretched hands.
Grumbling angrily, she pulled out her wallet and handed each of them a hundred dollar bill.
"Ooh," Emmett grinned, "gamblers. What'd ya bet?"
"That she couldn't go twelve hours in Bella's presence without pestering her about Drew," Harriet giggled, slipping the bill into her pocket.
"You're too predictable, Mel," Taylon snickered. "And obsessive."
"Whatever, but now that I lost the bet, I can pester Bella about Drew," Melody grinned, turning towards me. "So… Where is Drew? How is he? Do you have any pictures on you? Is he even hotter than the last time we saw you? Does he still hang out with Jacob Black when you guys are here? Ooh! Did you ever get back at Jacob for putting the red hair dye in your shampoo? Do you have pictures of what you did to him?"
I stared at her in confusion, and decided to stay on familiar ground. "How do you know about Jacob Black? And when did he put hair dye in my shampoo?"
Taylon laughed heartily, "We know about Jake because you would come home from your summer trip to Charlie's complaining about one prank or other that he and Drew pulled on you."
"Like when they replaced all of your shoes with sandals," Adrian smirked.
"They pulled the hair dye one when you were fourteen, remember?" Melody offered me a picture of me scowling with red hair and a boy's arm slung around my shoulders as he laughed his head off.
I stared at the boy for a minute, frowning. He had the exact same heart shaped face as I did and an unruly bunch of brown curls. His brown eyes danced with merriment as he laughed at my expense; his lips, the upper one slightly fuller than the other, curled against his pearly white teeth.
If I wasn't looking at the picture with my own two eyes, I might not have believed it. This boy was practically my twin.
"Who's that?" I frowned, pointing to the boy.
"Funny, Bells," Melody scoffed, annoyed. "Like you don't know who Drew is."
I felt Edward stiffen next to me and I saw Carlisle do the same out of the corner of my eye.
"Who is Drew anyway?" I asked studying his face in the picture– really the resemblance between the two of us was uncanny. "And when did he and Jacob put dye in my shampoo? I don't remember any of this, and I'm pretty sure I would remember looking like Victoria. And I just met Jake last year when I moved here!"
The Goldeneyes were all looking at me like I had grown a third eye or something.
"Bella…" Melody said slowly. "Drew… is your twin brother."