After the burning, came the light.

When I woke, everything was so bright, the sheets on my bed shone, and they stank. While I'd still been human, I'd sweated right through the sheets. They were dry now, but the stench remained.

I wrinkled my nose and growled at the unpleasantness of it.

That was weird. I'd heard vampires growl before, but I had never done it myself. It sounded feral, but felt really good, raw and freeing.

I could smell other, sweeter smells too. More like me. Well, like the new me.

I sprang from the bed to the doorway in one smooth jump, landing easily on the balls of my feet without a sound. It was incredible.

I wanted to jump again, find out how high I could get, how far one bound could take me. I wanted to jump again for the sheer joy of jumping. I was about to but, then I saw them: other vampires.

I peered around the door carefully, not making a sound, wanting to make sure what I was facing before I let them see me. I needed to assess the exact nature of this threat, before I exposed myself to it.

Despite the array of furniture, they were all sat on the floor.

They were arranged in a rough square, two couples each side, surrounding something that I couldn't see yet.

There were two sat with their backs to the wall: a large male and a smaller, but equally dangerous looking, female.

There was a second couple closer to me. The male was slighter, but he sat with his legs coiled, ready to spring, he was covered in silver scars. He had been in many fights and he was still here. That made him dangerous.

The female with him was tiny. She was holding his hand and had her eyes tightly shut.

They all had their eyes shut. And I think that the scarred one was humming, very soft and low.

What was this? Some kind of séance?

Four vampires sat in pairs, holding hands with their eyes shut, all gathered around - I had to take a step to my right to see properly.

In the centre of the group, clutching at his hair with fierce fingers, was Edward.

Of course, that's who these were: Emmett holding hands with Rosalie, Jasper with Alice; and right in the middle, panicking about something, was Edward.

His siblings looked different through my new eyes. They looked like vampires, competition, threat. But, Edward was just my Edward. He looked just the same as ever. Everything else might have changed, but as long as I had Edward I knew it was going to be fine.

I ran over and grabbed him, wrapped my arms around and squeezed. It had only been a couple of days since I'd held him, but it felt like a lifetime.

"Careful, Bella," Alice said, "remember that you're rather strong now." Then she sighed, "never mind," she said, "anything I say ends up making this worse, just carry on as you were."

He may have looked just the same, but Edward felt different. He was soft now. His flesh yielded when I touched it. His arms weren't the immovable rock I remembered. They felt more like human arms now. I tried wrapping them around me. They moved wherever I pulled them. It was strange to be able to move part of Edward. His arms were just as large, just as strong, but now I was stronger still. I pulled his arms around me, but he didn't hug me back. His arms fell useless to his sides, they were floppy and loose.

"Edward," I said, "what's wrong with your arms?"

He looked incredulous, "I think you may have dislocated my shoulders," he said, "you know, when you tugged my arms - playfully - out of their sockets."

"Oh, I am so sorry! I didn't realise. I was just trying to hug you and, then, your arms felt soft and so I . .."

"You wanted to know what would happen if you pulled them a bit," Emmett offered genially, "perfectly sensible, Bella." He chuckled warmly. "I would have done the same."

Hearing that I'd done something Emmett would have done didn't make me feel any better. "What have I done?" My world was over. I'd broken Edward! The man I loved more than anything was destroyed. He would hate me now.

"Edward!" I said, "how will you live without your arms?"

Now it wasn't just Emmett, all of his siblings started laughing.

"Oops," Alice said, "hang on, Bella, don't panic."

They weren't worried about Edward. They were our enemies. He was broken and they were laughing. They were all against us.

I took up a defensive position, ready to pounce on the first cackling monster to advance. I pushed Edward behind me and backed us against a wall, so he would be safe. Then I hissed at the enemy.

"Too late," Alice said.

"Bella," I heard his soft voice behind me, as he spoke, my stress seemed to ebb away, "we're not in any danger."

"You're hurt," I said, wondering how he'd forgotten.

Edward made a strange coughing sound, I looked back at him briefly, but he seemed fine.

"I am a little hurt," he agreed, "but, Rosalie can click the joints back into place."

"Yet she just stands there! Why?" I growled at Rosalie now, "why don't you help him?"

Rosalie didn't look intimidated, she looked away from me and muttered, "Jasper, would you mind?"

"This is Bella," Edward said, sounding irritable, "no funny business, Jasper."

So, Jasper was our biggest threat. That made sense, he looked untrustworthy. I adjusted my stance to face him.

Jasper was leaning back casually, resting one foot on the wall, his hands in his pockets.

He acknowledged my cold stare with a calm nod. "Good afternoon, Bella," he drawled, "how are you feeling today?"

I hissed in reply, but it felt unnecessary, somehow I was started to relax. Maybe Jasper wasn't such a great threat after all.

"It must be good to see Edward again," Jasper went on.

"It is!" I said, thrilled that someone understood me, at last.

"Shall we get Rose to fix him for you?" Jasper asked, "those pesky arms aren't quite right."

"They got damaged," I said, wondering if Jasper was going to blame me.

Instead he gave half a shrug, "a minor problem," he said, "we'll fix that right up."

I nodded now, he was right, Edward did need fixing.

"You can trust Rose," Jasper said.

I looked at her again and, sure enough, I felt like I could trust her.

I reached behind me.

"It's alright, Bella," Edward said, "I love you."

I intended to guide him gently towards Rose. I might have pushed a little hard. Edward shot across the floor, skidding around in a spiral.

Rose grabbed her spinning brother.

"Edward," she said sternly, "you need to hold still for this and, don't do anything to worry Bella. This might be a tiny bit uncomfortable."

Edward snorted, "just a tiny bit," he echoed.

"Ready?" Rose asked.

Edward nodded.

"Jasper," Rose said, "are we good?"

"Just dandy," Jasper said cheerily.

I wondered if Emmett had noticed how concerned his wife had become about Jasper.

There was a crack and Edward flexed his right arm.

"Thank you," he said to his sister.

"Again," Rose said, "ready?"

Edward sighed, but he said, softly, "of course, Rose, I'm fine."

"Jasper?" Rose checked in on him yet again. If I had been Emmett . . . I would have been seething with jealousy. What was Rosalie doing? Why did she keep looking at Jasper?

He held up his hand to her, warding her off. "Wait a moment," he said. Then he leant towards me, "what do you think, Bella, should Rose carry on?"

"No," I said, "she most definitely shouldn't."

"Bella?" Edward asked, turning to look at me now, "are you OK? You need to hunt. Shall we go now?"

While he was distracted, Rose jumped on him.

She was insatiable. First Jasper, now Edward!

I couldn't allow it. I sprang towards her.

But, at the same moment, Emmett grabbed Rose from behind.

Edward seemed to misunderstand my intentions. He caught me in a warm embrace and started kissing me on the lips.

Jasper, for some reason, strode over to stand between myself and Rose.

"I love you," Edward said between kisses, "shall we hunt?"