Chapter 10
The Priest, the Seamstress, the Student
The Mansion. November.
Her half-vampire nature was affecting the withdrawal. The symptoms had persisted for several weeks before finally ceasing.
Bella had been forced to endure them, as she and Edward realized feeding from him delayed her recovery. This was not made any easier by the hunger.
Even if Bella had been able to stand up to the heroin, she could not go for more than a day or two without feeding.
She found it frustrating. Edward was more patient.
"A few weeks, Bella, that is all. You are fighting it well. The symptoms are lessening. Soon you will be free of this entirely."
Bella knew this was true. Yes, she was fighting hard against the withdrawal, spending much of her time in bed with Edward at her side. Yes, the symptoms were lessening. Yes, she would soon be free of it.
It didn't dampen her anger, her sense that it was profoundly unfair that she should have to go through this at all.
After a few weeks, Bella had grown curious as to why her transformation was not progressing. She drank from Edward routinely. Shouldn't she be a full vampire by now?
She had asked Edward one night after drinking, sitting with him in a small parlour on the western edge of the mansion's first floor.
The room was dimly lit, the walls lined with leather-bound books, furnished with couches of crushed red velvet and dark mahogany.
Edward had explained that he considered the room 'his' and had cleared most of Carlisle's clutter from it long ago.
"No. Right now, I am only replacing the blood your body uses to power itself. Think of it like trying to gain weight. If you burn every calorie you take in, there is no change. When you take in my blood, your body converts it to a compatible form with its own. Right now, your blood is not complete.
"When I finish you, I will drain you as far as you can go, nearly to death. Then you will drink from me. Your body will be so desperate for the blood that it will absorb it without conversion. You will effectively replace your blood with mine. Over time, and with repeated feedings, that blood will work within you, changing you. Some of the effects will be immediate, but most will only be a shadow of the abilities you will one day possess." Bella raised her eyebrows.
"Repeated feedings?"
"Our strain of vampire is very powerful. The ruling class, effectively. But the nature of the blood differs from the other strains. Our fledglings must drink, periodically, from their masters, or risk reversion."
"I can be human again?"
"You can." Bella contemplated this.
"You'll need to explain this all to me some day, Edward. How vampire bodies work."
"What I know, I will tell you. Unfortunately, Carlisle has limited my access to writings on the subject, so there may be questions I cannot answer. I will try my best, though, and there will be many years in which we can learn, after you are complete."
If I let you complete me, Bella thought, but she found that this carried little weight.
The idea that she could return to humanity was intellectually interesting, but she no longer held the belief that vampires were monsters. Not all of them, at any rate.
She was no longer terrified by the prospect of becoming one. If Edward heard any of these thoughts, he gave no indication.
Bella was not prepared for a lecture on vampire physiology at the moment. She was still too warm and content from the blood. It would put her to sleep. She changed the subject.
"Where is Rose?" She had seen the perky young vampire here and there throughout the past few weeks.
Rose would stop by periodically to say hello, although she seemed to have knack for catching Bella at a bad time, and her visits were usually restricted to a greeting, a short expression of sympathy, perhaps a few questions.
After "let me know if there's anything I can do for you" (which Bella believed to be genuine sentiment), Rose would leave to hunt. For the past few days, though, she had been simply gone.
"Rose stays in the city sometimes, if she's in the mood. She will return eventually."
"Ah." Bella lounged on her couch, happy to be where she was. Thoughts of drugs and needles, pimps and hookers were far from her mind.
That life was gone. Dead. The last remnants of it had largely left her this week, with the end of the withdrawal.
Her mind instead looked toward the future: a life of luxury and power. It seemed miraculous how quickly her life had changed. Change: Bella was wearing a pink dress and a diamond necklace that must have cost more than she had earned in her entire life.
She had not put on a pair of jeans since her bath with Rose, only a series of gowns and robes. Edward had not forced these things on her. Bella had chosen them.
She enjoyed it, this expression of femininity, so rare in her previous life. She knew it wouldn't last.
She liked wearing jeans and a t-shirt, liked pulling her hair back into a ponytail and forgetting about it. But for now, she was content with the dresses. Edward rarely left her side. When he left, usually to feed, he was rarely gone for more than an hour, and he spent most of his time doing his best to make her comfortable.
The withdrawal, it seemed, sometimes pained him more than it did her. His sorrows at seeing her suffer filled Bella with an odd happiness. It proved that he cared.
"Is there anything specific you would like to know, Bella?" Bella considered this question. For days now, she and Edward had hardly uttered a word to each other.
There had been little need. He could read her mind. His expressions, his touches, these were enough for Bella. They had forever for talking, and in the time before forever she wished only to enjoy his presence. Now, though, she was curious.
"There's a lot I'd like to know, Edward. Where should I start?"
"It doesn't matter."
"How very Zen." Edward smiled, nodded, continued to look at Bella in his direct manner. From anyone else, this would have set her slightly on edge. With Edward it was simply natural.
"Who are you?" Bella asked, smiling slightly. Edward nodded, as if he approved of the question.
"I am Edward Cullen. I was born in Norway, in the late 16th century. My family immigrated to Great Britain while I was still very young. It was there I met Carlisle, there I felt the temptation of immortal life and succumbed to it. I haunted London like a bloodthirsty ghoul for more than a hundred years. The new world called, we answered, and have been here since." He raised his eyebrows, as if questioning whether this would suffice. Bella smiled, shook her head.
"No, Edward. Who are you?" He grinned, expecting this.
"You'd have me condense four hundred years into an evening?"
"Four hundred years are four hundred years. A story's a story, Edward. It will take as long as it has to."
Edward looked into her eyes, and Bella felt herself swimming suddenly. She gasped.
"Don't fight." Edward's voice, next to her yet distant. "Don't fight, Bella." Bella breathed deeply. Stopped fighting. Floated. Descended.
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Chantinique