I opened my eyes and found his open, too, staring at my face. It made no sense when he looked at me that way. Like I was the prize rather than the outrageously lucky winner.
Our gazes locked for a moment; his golden eyes were so deep that I imagined I could see all the way into his soul. It seemed silly that this factthe existence of his soulhad ever been in question, even if he was a vampire. He had the most beautiful soul, more beautiful than his brilliant mind or his incomparable face or his glorious body.
He looked back at me as if he could see my soul, too, and as if he liked what he saw.
He couldnt see into my mind, though, the way he saw into everyone elses. Who knew whysome strange glitch in my brain that made it immune to all the extraordinary and frightening things some immortals could do. (Only my mind was immune; my body was still subject to vampires with abilities that worked in ways other than Edwards.) But I was seriously grateful to whatever malfunction it was that kept my thoughts a secret. It was just too embarrassing to consider the alternative.
I pulled his face to mine again.
Definitely staying, he murmured a moment later.
No, no. Its your bachelor party. You have to go.
I said the words, but the fingers of my right hand locked into his bronze hair, my left pressed tighter against the small of his back. His cool hands stroked my face.
Bachelor parties are designed for those who are sad to see the passing of their single days. I couldnt be more eager to have mine behind me. So theres really no point.
True. I breathed against the winter-cold skin of his throat.
This was pretty close to my happy place. Charlie slept obliviously in his room, which was almost as good as being alone. We were curled up on my small bed, intertwined as much as it was possible, considering the thick afghan I was swathed in like a cocoon. I hated the necessity of the blanket, but it sort of ruined the romance when my teeth started chattering. Charlie would notice if I turned the heat on in August. . . .
At least, if I had to be bundled up, Edwards shirt was on the floor. I never got over the shock of how perfect his body waswhite, cool, and polished as marble. I ran my hand down his stone chest now, tracing across the flat planes of his stomach, just marveling. A light shudder rippled through him, and his mouth found mine again. Carefully, I let the tip of my tongue press against his glass-smooth lip, and he sighed. His sweet breath washedcold and deliciousover my face.
He started to pull awaythat was his automatic response whenever he decided things had gone too far, his reflex reaction whenever he most wanted to keep going. Edward had spent most of his life rejecting any kind of physical gratification. I knew it was terrifying to him trying to change those habits now.
Wait, I said, gripping his shoulders and hugging myself close to him. I kicked one leg free and wrapped it around his waist. Practice makes perfect.
He chuckled. Well, we should be fairly close to perfection by this point, then, shouldnt we? Have you slept at all in the last month?
But this is the dress rehearsal, I reminded him, and weve only practiced certain scenes. Its no time for playing safe.
I thought he would laugh, but he didnt answer, and his body was motionless with sudden stress. The gold in his eyes seemed to harden from a liquid to a solid.
I thought over my words, realized what he would have heard in them.
Bella, he whispered.
Dont start this again, I said. A deals a deal.
I dont know. Its too hard to concentrate when youre with me like this. II cant think straight. I wont be able to control myself. Youll get hurt.
Ill be fine.
Bella . . .
Shh! I pressed my lips to his to stop his panic attack. Id heard it before. He wasnt getting out of this deal. Not after insisting I marry him first.
He kissed me back for a moment, but I could tell he wasnt as into it as before. Worrying, always worrying. How different it would be when he didnt need to worry about me anymore. What would he do with all his free time? Hed have to get a new hobby.
How are your feet? he asked.
Knowing he didnt mean that literally, I answered, Toasty warm.
Really? No second thoughts? Its not too late to change your mind.
Are you trying to ditch me?
He chuckled. Just making sure. I dont want you to do anything youre not sure about.
Im sure about you. The rest I can live through.
He hesitated, and I wondered if Id put my foot in my mouth again.
Can you? he asked quietly. I dont mean the weddingwhich I am positive you will survive despite your qualmsbut afterward what about Rene, what about Charlie?
I sighed. Ill miss them. Worse, that they would miss me, but I didnt want to give him any fuel.
Angela and Ben and Jessica and Mike.
Ill miss my friends, too. I smiled in the darkness. Especially Mike. Oh, Mike! How will I go on?
He growled.
I laughed but then was serious. Edward, weve been through this and through this. I know it will be hard, but this is what I want. I want you, and I want you forever. One lifetime is simply not enough for me.
Frozen forever at eighteen, he whispered.
Every womans dream come true, I teased.
Never changing never moving forward.
What does that mean?
He answered slowly. Do you remember when we told Charlie we were getting married? And he thought you were pregnant?
And he thought about shooting you, I guessed with a laugh. Admit itfor one second, he honestly considered it.
He didnt answer.
What, Edward?
I just wish well, I wish that hed been right.
Gah, I gasped.
More that there was some way he could have been. That we had that kind of potential. I hate taking that away from you, too.
It took me a minute. I know what Im doing.
How could you know that, Bella? Look at my mother, look at my sister. Its not as easy a sacrifice as you imagine.
Esme and Rosalie get by just fine. If its a problem later, we can do what Esme didwell adopt.
He sighed, and then his voice was fierce. Its not right! I dont want you to have to make sacrifices for me. I want to give you things, not take things away from you. I dont want to steal your future. If I were human
I put my hand over his lips. You are my future. Now stop. No moping, or Im calling your brothers to come and get you. Maybe you need a bachelor party.
Im sorry. I am moping, arent I? Must be the nerves.
Are your feet cold?
Not in that sense. Ive been waiting a century to marry you, Miss Swan. The wedding ceremony is the one thing I cant wait He broke off mid-thought. Oh, for the love of all thats holy!
Whats wrong?
He gritted his teeth. You dont have to call my brothers. Apparently Emmett and Jasper are not going to let me bow out tonight.
I clutched him closer for one second and then released him. I didnt have a prayer of winning a tug-of-war with Emmett. Have fun.
There was a squeal against the windowsomeone deliberately scraping their steel nails across the glass to make a horrible, cover-your-ears, goose-bumps-down-your-spine noise. I shuddered.
If you dont send Edward out, Emmettstill invisible in the nighthissed menacingly, were coming in after him!
Go, I laughed. Before they break my house.
Edward rolled his eyes, but he got to his feet in one fluid movement and had his shirt back on in another. He leaned down and kissed my forehead.
Get to sleep. Youve got a big day tomorrow.
Thanks! Thats sure to help me wind down.
Ill meet you at the altar.
Ill be the one in white. I smiled at how perfectly blas I sounded.
He chuckled, said, Very convincing, and then suddenly sank into a crouch, his muscles coiled like a spring. He vanishedlaunching himself out my window too swiftly for my eyes to follow.
Outside, there was a mute
d thud, and I heard Emmett curse.
Youd better not make him late, I murmured, knowing they could hear.
And then Jaspers face was peering in my window, his honey hair silver in the weak moonlight that worked through the clouds.
Dont worry, Bella. Well get him home in plenty of time.
I was suddenly very calm, and my qualms all seemed unimportant. Jasper was, in his own way, just as talented as Alice with her uncannily accurate predictions. Jaspers medium was moods rather than the future, and it was impossible to resist feeling the way he wanted you to feel.
I sat up awkwardly, still tangled in my blanket. Jasper? What do vampires do for bachelor parties? Youre not taking him to a strip club, are you?
Dont tell her anything! Emmett growled from below. There was another thud, and Edward laughed quietly.
Relax, Jasper told meand I did. We Cullens have our own version. Just a few mountain lions, a couple of grizzly bears. Pretty much an ordinary night out.
I wondered if I would ever be able to sound so cavalier about the vegetarian vampire diet.
Thanks, Jasper.
He winked and dropped from sight.
It was completely silent outside. Charlies muffled snores droned through the walls.
I lay back against my pillow, sleepy now. I stared at the walls of my little room, bleached pale in the moonlight, from under heavy lids.
My last night in my room. My last night as Isabella Swan. Tomorrow night, I would be Bella Cullen. Though the whole marriage ordeal was a thorn in my side, I had to admit that I liked the sound of that.
I let my mind wander idly for a moment, expecting sleep to take me. But, after a few minutes, I found myself more alert, anxiety creeping back into my stomach, twisting it into uncomfortable positions. The bed seemed too soft, too warm without Edward in it. Jasper was far away, and all the peaceful, relaxed feelings were gone with him.
It was going to be a very long day tomorrow.
I was aware that most of my fears were stupidI just had to get over myself. Attention was an inevitable part of life. I couldnt always blend in with the scenery. However, I did have a few specific worries that were completely valid.
First there was the wedding dresss train. Alice clearly had let her artistic sense overpower practicalities on that one. Maneuvering the Cullens staircase in heels and a train sounded impossible. I should have practiced.
Then there was the guest list.
Tanyas family, the Denali clan, would be arriving sometime before the ceremony.
It would be touchy to have Tanyas family in the same room with our guests from the Quileute reservation, Jacobs father and the Clearwaters. The Denalis were no fans of the werewolves. In fact, Tanyas sister Irina was not coming to the wedding at all. She still nursed a vendetta against the werewolves for killing her friend Laurent (just as he was about to kill me). Thanks to that grudge, the Denalis had abandoned Edwards family in their worst hour of need. It had been the unlikely alliance with the Quileute wolves that had saved all our lives when the horde of newborn vampires had attacked. . . .
Edward had promised me it wouldnt be dangerous to have the Denalis near the Quileutes. Tanya and all her familybesides Irinafelt horribly guilty for that defection. A truce with the werewolves was a small price to make up some of that debt, a price they were prepared to pay.
That was the big problem, but there was a small problem, too: my fragile self-esteem.
Id never seen Tanya before, but I was sure that meeting her wouldnt be a pleasant experience for my ego. Once upon a time, before I was born probably, shed made her play for Edwardnot that I blamed her or anyone else for wanting him. Still, she would be beautiful at the very least and magnificent at best. Though Edward clearlyif inconceivablypreferred me, I wouldnt be able to help making comparisons.
I had grumbled a little until Edward, who knew my weaknesses, made me feel guilty.
Were the closest thing they have to family, Bella, hed reminded me. They still feel like orphans, you know, even after all this time.
So Id conceded, hiding my frown.
Tanya had a big family now, almost as big as the Cullens. There were five of them; Tanya, Kate, and Irina had been joined by Carmen and Eleazar much the same way the Cullens had been joined by Alice and Jasper, all of them bonded by their desire to live more compassionately than normal vampires did.
For all the company, though, Tanya and her sisters were still alone in one way. Still in mourning. Because a very long time ago, theyd had a mother, too.
I could imagine the hole that loss would leave, even after a thousand years; I tried to visualize the Cullen family without their creator, their center, and their guidetheir father, Carlisle. I couldnt see it.
Carlisle had explained Tanyas history during one of the many nights Id stayed late at the Cullens home, learning as much as I could, preparing as much as was possible for the future Id chosen. Tanyas mothers story was one among many, a cautionary tale illustrating just one of the rules I would need to be aware of when I joined the immortal world. Only one rule, actuallyone law that broke down into a thousand different facets: Keep the secret.
Keeping the secret meant a lot of thingsliving inconspicuously like the Cullens, moving on before humans could suspect they werent aging. Or keeping clear of humans altogetherexcept at mealtimethe way nomads like James and Victoria had lived; the way Jaspers friends, Peter and Charlotte, still lived. It meant keeping control of whatever new vampires you created, like Jasper had done when hed lived with Maria. Like Victoria had failed to do with her newborns.
And it meant not creating some things in the first place, because some creations were uncontrollable.
I dont know Tanyas mothers name, Carlisle had admitted, his golden eyes, almost the exact shade of his fair hair, sad with remembering Tanyas pain. They never speak of her if they can avoid it, never think of her willingly.
The woman who created Tanya, Kate, and Irinawho loved them, I believelived many years before I was born, during a time of plague in our world, the plague of the immortal children.
What they were thinking, those ancient ones, I cant begin to understand. They created vampires out of humans who were barely more than infants.
Id had to swallow back the bile that rose in my throat as Id pictured what he was describing.
They were very beautiful, Carlisle had explained quickly, seeing my reaction. So endearing, so enchanting, you cant imagine. You had but to be near them to love them; it was an automatic thing.
However, they could not be taught. They were frozen at whatever level of development theyd achieved before being bitten. Adorable two-year-olds with dimples and lisps that could destroy half a village in one of their tantrums. If they hungered, they fed, and no words of warning could restrain them. Humans saw them, stories circulated, fear spread like fire in dry brush. . . .
Tanyas mother created such a child. As with the other ancients, I cannot fathom her reasons. Hed taken a deep, steadying breath. The Volturi became involved, of course.
Id flinched as I always did at that name, but of course the legion of Italian vampiresroyalty in their own estimationwas central to this story. There couldnt be a law if there was no punishment; there couldnt be a punishment if there was no one to deliver it. The ancients Aro, Caius, and Marcus ruled the Volturi forces; Id only met them once, but in that brief encounter, it seemed to me that Aro, with his powerful mind-reading giftone touch, and he knew every thought a mind had ever heldwas the true leader.
The Volturi studied the immortal children, at home in Volterra and all around the world. Caius decided the young ones were incapable of protecting our secret. And so they had to be destroyed.
I told you they were loveable. Well, covens fought to the last manwere utterly decimatedto protect them. The carnage was not as widespread as the southern wars on this continent, but more devastating in its own way. Long-established covens, old traditions, friends Much was lost. In the end, the practice was completely eliminated. The im
mortal children became unmentionable, a taboo.
When I lived with the Volturi, I met two immortal children, so I know firsthand the appeal they had. Aro studied the little ones for many years after the catastrophe theyd caused was over. You know his inquisitive disposition; he was hopeful that they could be tamed. But in the end, the decision was unanimous: the immortal children could not be allowed to exist.
Id all but forgotten the Denali sisters mother when the story returned to her.
It is unclear precisely what happened with Tanyas mother, Carlisle had said. Tanya, Kate, and Irina were entirely oblivious until the day the Volturi came for them, their mother and her illegal creation already their prisoners. It was ignorance that saved Tanyas and her sisters lives. Aro touched them and saw their total innocence, so they were not punished with their mother.