5
Bella stared at the attractive blond man for a second before asking, "Who are you?"
She'd never seen someone as beautiful as him. Though it wasn't just the perfect ivory skin, or the delicate features. There was an aura around him, something that she knew made him different, special.
"My name is Carlisle Cullen," he told her. "I want to help you."
She groaned and shook her head. Help was code word for treatments, trials, medication. "No more doctors!"
He smiled, a perfect smile, and said. "Not that kind of help."
Curious, she tilted her head to the side and asked, "Then how can you help me?"
"I can take all the pain away. Give you a new life, a different life."
"How?" she asked, wetting her bottom lip as her fingers loosened from her hair, and dropped between her legs and the rest of her body.
"Bella," Charlie said, drawing her attention to her father and she smiled. She'd missed him, missed him so much. "Carlisle is . . . He's a vampire."
Bella shifted her eyes from her father to Carlisle, widening but she didn't say anything. A vampire? Like a real vampire?
"Did you hear me, honey?"
She slowly nodded, but still she didn't speak. What was she supposed to say? Her father had just told her the beautiful man in front of her was a vampire.
"He can change you into a vampire, Bella."
She wasn't sure what to say, so she simply stared at the beautiful doctor. He wanted to help her, give her a new life. A different life. The life of a vampire.
"Do you believe your father, Bella?" Carlisle asked.
She smiled as she nodded, though she wasn't sure why she believed him. Maybe because she knew there was no way the man in front of her could be real, if he was a human.
"How you feel about being changed?" he asked.
"I don't," she murmured.
"You don't feel anything about the possibility of being changed into a vampire?"
She shook her head.
"Why not?"
She shrugged her shoulders, and she didn't know she didn't feel any kind of way. Carlisle slid off the couch, moving so that he was kneeling next to her father, who cringed away from him. Bella, however, simply stared at him.
"Do you know what being a vampire means, Bella?"
"Not really."
"It would mean you'd never die," he said
She scoffed. "Everybody dies," she whispered.
"Not everybody," he disagreed. "You would live pain free, Bella, forever. Physically pain free, I mean."
"Hmm," she hummed, still staring him down.
"You'd be like me," he said, flashing his teeth toward her. They were perfect, like the rest of him, but there was a sharpness to them, too. "You'd drink blood, Bella. Animal blood. Like the rest of my family."
Family? She thought, laughing. First time in a long time, she found herself laughing, really laughing from deep in her gut. He had a family, a family of vampires, and he wanted to change her into one.
She scrambled to her feet as she heard the rain falling heavier, having always loved the feel of the rain on her skin. She hurried past her mother and father, past the beautiful vampire who wanted to help her, and out into the yard, turning her face to the heavens. She closed her eyes and took a deep breath, enjoying the feeling, knowing it would be the last time before she died. She could feel the end of her life coming.
Her attention, however, was pulled to a shiny Volvo as it slammed to a stop across the street. The driver's side door opened and the most beautiful boy she'd ever seen climbed out, more stunning than the vampire inside her father's house. He was tall and thin, with wild auburn hair, and deep butterscotch eyes. Like the vampire man, there was an aura around him, something she couldn't explain, but their eyes met and she felt herself smiling — really smiling — for the first time in too long. In that brief, incredible moment, she felt alive, like her life had a purpose.
"I'll be back for her tomorrow," Carlisle said. "Noon. If she agrees, I'll change her, but only if she agrees."
"Okay," Charlie said, before hurrying down to Bella, placing his hand on her elbow, drawing her attention away from the beautiful boy across the street. "Come on, baby girl."
She nodded, and spared him another look before she turned and hurried back into the house, letting her mother lead her directly into the bathroom, where she stripped off her wet clothes and climbed into a hot shower. Her eyes closed as the pain inside her head intensified. Oddly enough, as she stared at the auburn haired boy, her head hadn't hurt.
—Stay—
By the time Bella managed to drag herself out of the shower, her entire being hurt, especially her head. Pain had just become a way of life for her, over the last few years. Thanks to Fred. Her tumor. That's what she called him. Fred was a dick, an evil dick, intent on killing her.
"Here, honey," Renee whispered, slowly and carefully creeping into the hall closet she'd been hiding inside since the day before. She knelt in front of Bella, holding out a cup of hot tea, which she pushed away. "It'll help."
"Nothing helps," she whispered, exhausted. She hadn't been able to sleep, thanks to Fred. "Where's Daddy?"
"He's coming." Renee sat in front of her, her knees pulled in front of her.
"I've missed him," Bella whimpered, leaning her head against the wall.
"Me too," Renee sniffed back her tears as the door to the closet opened and Charlie walked in, kneeling next to Renee. "Honey, we . . . we want to talk to you."
Bella's eyes opened. "About the vampire man."
Charlie and Renee shared a look, before he said, "Yes, we want to talk to you about Carlisle."
"He wants to help me," she whispered, grabbing the sides of her head. "Wants to take the pain away."
"He does, and we . . . we need you to let him," Charlie said, frowning. "Do you understand what I'm saying, honey?"
Bella nodded. "You want him to change me in a vampire."
"Yeah, yeah, we do," Renee whispered. "It's your only chance."
"Because I'm dying."
Charlie and Renee flinched, but nodded.
"Why?" she asked. "Why should I let him change me?"
"Because you deserve better than to die at seventeen," Charlie said, reaching for her hand.
"Will they change you, too?"
Charlie and Renee shared a look, before they turned back to her, and she knew the answer before Charlie said, "No, honey, Mom and I aren't going to be changed. Just . . . just you."
"But why not?" she pleaded, her eyes filling with tears. "We could be together, right?"
"Because we've already lived a lifetime, honey." Renee slid her hands over Bella's, pulling them from the side of her head. "Daddy and I just . . . Honey, we need you to say yes, okay? Because this is . . . this is the only way you're not going to die."
Bella pulled her hands away from her mother, once again covering her ears. "Everybody dies."
"But you don't have to." Charlie shifted so that he was seated next to her, sliding his arm around her, nestling her against his chest. The tears that filled her eyes, fell down her face, seeping into the front of his T-shirt. "You've got so much to offer this world, honey. So much. Let him change you, let him give you another chance to be more than . . . than the girl with cancer. Please, for me and Mom, just . . . just live."
Before Bella could say yes or no, someone knocked on the door, and she pulled away from her father, curling into the corner of the closest, the sound echoing inside her head like a drum.
Boom, Boom, Boom.
Charlie scrambled to his feet and hurried out of the closet, and she heard the door open, and him tell someone to come inside. A moment later, she heard someone stop outside of the closet, and when she looked toward the door, she felt her lips curve into a smile when she saw the auburn haired boy standing next to Carlisle.
"Hi," she whispered.
"Hi," he echoed, grinning. His voice was as soft as velvet, smooth and warm. "I'm Edward."
"Bella," she murmured, biting her bottom lip. "Are you a vampire, too?"
Edward shifted his eyes from her to Renee before he nodded. "I am."
"And you want to change me into a vampire."
"If you'll let us." Edward walked into the closet, and squatted in front of her, stretching his hand toward her. "Will you let us?"
She shifted her eyes from him to Carlisle to Renee to Charlie and back to Edward, before she lifted her hand and placed it in his. The second their hands touched, she felt a tingle spread up her arm, and through her chest, causing her heart to beat faster. She smiled wider as his fingers wrapped around her hand, and he gently tugged her to her feet. She was unsteady, though, and stumbled into him, his cold arms wrapping around her, his hard body bracing her fall. She tilted her head backward, looking up at him.
"Yes," she whispered.
Edward smiled, his butterscotch eyes sparkling as he slowly walked backward, leading her out of the closet. She closed her eyes as the bright, morning sun hit her through the windows, her head pounding.
"We should be going," Carlisle said, checking his watch.
"Where are we going?" she asked, causing Carlisle to look from her to Charlie and Renee.
Charlie cleared his throat. "We hadn't gotten that far yet."
"What are you talking about?" she asked, warily. "Where are we going?"
"Honey, calm down," Renee murmured, reaching for her. She grabbed her mother's hands and allowed her to hold her, one arm wrapped around her waist while the other nestled into her hair. "You have to go away for a while. To keep you safe."
"I'm never going to see you again, am I?"
She felt Renee press her lips against the top of her head. "No, honey. Probably not."
"Buy why not?" she cried, holding her mother tighter. "Please, Mommy, I need you!"
"I know, baby, but I need you to live, to be strong and brave. For me, and Daddy."
Bella peeked over at her father, who was leaning against the doorframe to the living room, his arms folded in front of him. "Daddy."
Charlie's eyes snapped to her, and he opened his arms. She hurried to him, holding him as tightly as she could. "We love you, Bella. We love you so much. Just remember how much we love you."
"I love you, too, Daddy," she cried.
"I don't mean to be pushy, but we really need to go," Carlisle said, and when she looked back, she saw him throw Edward a look that had him tensing and nodding. "I'm sorry, but now."
Bella frowned and nodded before pulling away from her father and moving so that she was standing next to Edward, who immediately had his arm wrapped around her. "Goodbye."
"Goodbye, Bella. We love you." Renee walked over to Charlie, who draped his arm around her waist. "Live, okay? For us . . . just live."
Carlisle grabbed her suitcase, and opened the door, moving quicker than she'd ever seen anyone look. Bella spared her parents another look before she allowed Edward to lead her out of the house, and out to a black Mercedes. And before she climbed into the backseat, she turned and looked back at her parents, who were standing on the porch, wrapped in each other's arms, crying tears of sadness and maybe relief, she knew — somehow she knew — they would spend the rest of their lives together, and maybe, just maybe, they'd find peace together.
And she hoped she wasn't making a mistake letting these beautiful people change her into a vampire.
Thank you for all the AMAZING reviews. It was hard getting into Bella's head for this chapter. Do me a solid and let me know what you think.