Edward's POV
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She lay inayofuata to me with her wide eyes staring right back into mine, a light dhahabu because I had satiated my thirst before. Her lips curved into a smile as she lowered her gaze. I leaned in closer to her, no longer to touch my beautiful angel. I no longer needed to fear her touch. Her pale skin glowed a pearly white, and in the moonlight she seemed ethereal.

Finally, her soft voice broke through the silence, “Well, I never expected it to happen quite like that.”

I smiled slowly, a crooked smile that I knew she loved, “Neither did I.”

In the darkness, her hand found mine easily; she was no longer blind at night. Soon her lips found mine and she pulled me under once again. There was no world except for the contours of her body, there was no scent except the smell of her hair, there was no sound except for the sound of her breath, a warm breeze against the nape of my neck.

All too soon, she pulled away, her scent permeating through the thick air. The scent surrounded me like a warm blanket, and I wrapped myself in it, forgetting that I no longer needed to save her scent so that I could cherish it later. I would never have to leave her side again. She sat up suddenly, her back erect. To my immense despair, an expression of grief and pain crossed her face, her expressions now extreme as a vampire than they were as a human.

“What’s wrong? Did I hurt you?” I whispered as I kissed her. I tried to hide the panic in my voice, but I failed miserably.

She turned around and smiled brilliantly, and I feared that if she were human she would be crying now. “No, no. You’ll never be able to hurt me again, Edward. I feel stupid asking this, but. Why didn’t it happen like it was supposed to? Did something go wrong?”

I knew she would ask, and I had been thinking the same thing, the swali ever present on my mind. dakika passed until I finally answered, “I don’t think so. But I have to admit, it wasn’t what I expected to happen. I guess I got a bit carried away.”

“I suppose that I contributed, though. I did ask wewe to do it,” she whispered, the echo of her voice lingering in the air.

“There wewe go again, taking all the blame, au should I say, the credit,” I teased gently.

“So, am I like wewe now?” she alisema in disbelief.

“Like me? Well I would hope not, since I’m an incredibly selfish person who –”

“I meant am I a vampire now?” she interrupted impatiently.

“I wish I could say that I’m pretty sure wewe are, but I honestly don’t know. It didn’t happen for wewe like it happened for the rest of us,” I answered, “Did it hurt?”

She smiled suddenly, a seductive curve of her lips that I had never seen before. “No, it didn’t hurt at all actually. It felt . . . nice.”

I was baffled kwa these words. Where were the days of pain that resulted in the bite? Where were the screams that I had steeled myself to listen to, as a punishment for what I did to her? I did not understand what happened, and the realization that I might never know hit me. What if I had created something else? What if she was not one of us as I had thought? I felt a terrible regret, then. The feeling was even worse than I had thought.

“You’re thinking about it, aren’t you? wewe regret it,” she whispered, her voice thick with despair.

“No! I don’t regret it,” I lied.

“You’re a terrible liar, and I never saw that before. I see so many zaidi things that I could not see before. I know that I am a vampire. Can’t wewe see it in my eyes? I can taste the thirst in my mouth. I don’t think we can put it off any longer. wewe have to onyesha me. I – I don’t want to make any mistakes.”

I gazed into her eyes, not brown anymore, but red. Red with thirst, such terrible thirst she would have to feel now. Out of curiosity I asked, “Do wewe know what your gift is? I still can’t read your mind, if that comforts wewe in any way.” To tell wewe the truth, it nearly drove me insane.

“Gift? No, I don’t think I can really tell yet. But I’m so happy right now, wewe have no idea. You’ll never have to worry about me again,” she trilled.

“Then why were wewe crying before? Did I do something wrong?” I asked anxiously. I hoped that I would never see her cry again.

How strange her eyes looked when they were wide and open, the scarlet color of her eyes seemed to pierce through my soul. “I just needed to let go of everything that still tied me down. I just needed to let it all go.”

I didn’t know exactly what she meant kwa that, but I didn’t feel like probing too deeply into it. When the time was right, she might tell me. Perhaps she had Lost her obstinacy? The thought made my lips curl into a smile again.

“Maybe we should ask Carlisle, though he doesn’t expect us until inayofuata week. And I think he expected me to return as a human too,” she mused.

“I think it can wait, don’t you?” I murmured, twining my fingers around her hair.

“I need to feed,” she alisema abruptly.

How could I forget? The agony of her thirst normally drove most Wanyonya damu to insanity, unable to control themselves. So why wasn’t she losing her control? I always knew Bella was an oddity, but this was definitely extreme.