CHAPTER ONE
ᴇʏᴇs ᴀs ʀᴇᴅ ᴀs ʙʟᴏᴏᴅ

Crimson, blood-deep eyes stared back at them all upon a tilted head. Such irises were startling, behind thick, black lashes and wide lids. They were unblinking, severely bright, so breathtaking that one was forced to look. It was such a compelling colour, that I had to call it beautiful. But it was the angled, exquisite face of the friend that surrounded them, that allowed me to call those eyes such complimenting words.

We'd all learned to fear such colour. It ran the same shade of red that ran through the vessels of humans- the same colour that would have flowed through Bella's arteries, and may temporarily still. Those eyes held power, one that many of us had forgotten. I could not. They reminded me of William, but he was gone now. As forgotten as horrors that hid behind such eyes- like the terrors that'd plagued Seattle and the Cullen family not so long ago.

Now Bella held that same colour, that same unmatchable energy. It could have scared us, had we not been so relieved to see those eyes open, looking up at the world with a child-like wonder, as if she'd been reborn. Because she had been renewed in such a way. The earth around her would seem so different, so much more vivid, matching the dazzling nature of the diamond-like skin of our kind.

She blinked as if suddenly remembering it once had been an instinct. Then she stared forward, feeling the unnaturalness of it, and brought her hands upwards, soaking in the feeling of her movements, the look of her skin.

Before those eyes could lay down upon us, we stepped from the doorway and stood behind the separating wall, letting Edward snake his way in.

They lasted five minutes before Emmett went barging in with a grin on his face. Our protests couldn't stop him.

"Emmett!"

"You've been holding out on me," Bella said as he enveloped her in a hug.

"It was necessary, believe me. Edward would have crushed me if I'd broken you," he said as he barked out a laugh, earning a glare from his brother. "But now it's your turn to attempt not to break me."

As the rest of us, all of the Cullens except Rosalie, piled into the room, Carlisle slid past us to Bella's side and place a hand on her arm. Bella smiled, eyes drifting over all of our faces as if it felt likes years since she'd last seen us. I supposed it was like looking at us for the first time, with her vision now being so much clearer. We might've looked as different to her as she did to herself.

"Bella. How do you feel?" Carlisle said.

"How do I feel?" she shook her head, unable to put it into intelligent words. "I- Overwhelmed. There's so much... But I still feel like me. I didn't expect to."

Edward's elbow brushed hers. "I told you so."

Carlisle nodded encouragingly. "You are quite controlled. More so than I expected," he said. "And that's taking into account the time you've had to prepare. It seems like we did something right with the morphine this time. Tell me, what do you remember of the transformation process?"

"Well, everything was so dim before. I remember the baby couldn't breathe."

"Renesmee is healthy and well," Carlisle reassured her. "What do you remember after that?"

"It's hard to remember. It was so dark before."

Alice, forever in the centre of attention, moved to stand in front of the pair, her mocking gaze landing in her brother. She took Bella's hand, marvelling at the new coldness of it, and boldly shook her head.

"Can we stop bombarding Bella with questions?" she moaned. "I'm sure she wants to test out what she can do now."

"Alice is right."

Alice winked. "Thank you, Edward."

"Let's hunt, Bella," he said. Upon the scared look on her face, he let out a gentle, comforting chuckle. "It's quite easy. Instinctual. I'll show you."

Edward moved to open the window, letting Carlisle and Alice fall back into their places amongst the rest of the family. Alice grinned at me, her arm resting on mine as she watched Bella with added curiosity. But Bella didn't follow him.

"Wait," she said, hands resting in her stomach. "I want to see Renesmee."

Edward strode back toward her, hand placing itself comfortably on the side of her face. She leaned into it, red lips moving into a frown.

"Bella, that's not really a good idea. She's half-human, love. Her heart still beats and blood runs in her veins. Until your thirst is positively under control...You don't want to put her in danger, do you?"

"Where is she?" Bella insisted, pulling her head to look straight at Alice, who shrugged and glanced away again. "Is Rosalie with her?"

"Yes."

"Wait. What about Jacob? And Charlie? Tell me everything that I missed. Please," Bella begged.

"Jacob is still here, and Charlie still believes you're sick," I said, watching as her eyes softened in relief, landing finally on me. I'd made sure myself, that he believed it.

"He thinks you're in Atlanta right now, undergoing tests at the CDC. We gave him a bad number and he'd been frustrated. He's been speaking to Elide and Esme," Edward added.

"I should call him," Bella said, but before any of us could protest, she'd changed her mind again. "Wait, Jacob is still here?"

To the side of the room, Emmett was grinning, nudging Jasper, who was beside him.

"There's much to discuss, but we should take care of you first. You have to be in pain," Edward said as he tried to steal her towards the window.

"But Jacob-"

"We have all the time in the world for explanations."

They were almost out from the room, when Alice threw her arms up suddenly, almost throwing me with them.

"Wait. Wait. Wait," she called. Edward sighed, already knowing what was coming. "You promised I could be there the first time. What if you run past something reflective?"

"Alice-"

"It will only take a second."

"What is she talking about?"

She was gone seconds later, zipping from the room into her own. When she returned, a small, hand mirror was held out to Bella, face down.

"Edward gave me grief for not getting you a mirror before the wedding."

"Don't blame this on that," Edward said loudly, head shaking. "Maybe this has solely to do with your own voyeuristic gratification."

Bella held the mirror up to her face and took another minute to look at herself. She ran her hand over her smooth skin, her lips, the bridge of her nose, but it was clear that it was her own eyes that she was captivated by. Those same eyes that I could not stop staring at.

"The eyes. How long?"

"They'll darken up in a few months. Animal dilutes the colour more quickly than a diet of human blood. They'll turn amber first, then gold."

"Months?" Edward reached out to her as the shout left her lips, but she brushed him away. "No, I'm fine. It's just a lot to take in."

Edward smiled, suddenly, admiring her up close. "Jasper's wondering how you're doing it."

"I think we all are," I said.

"Doing what?"

"Controlling your emotions, Bella," Edward said. "I've never seen a newborn do that- stop its emotions in its tracks that way."

"Is that wrong?"

"No. It's impressive."

It was amazing. Not even Carlisle had described his transition to be so... calm.

"Come on, Bella," Edward said, reaching out for her hand. "Let's hunt."

☾

Alice stood to her feet suddenly, clapping her hands together to gather the attention. Only Rosalie didn't look. Her eyes were still trained on Renesmee, who reached her hands out to her face, placing her fingertips against her cheek.

"Alright, Jacob's letting her in," Alice said.

"Oh, this is going to be good!"

"Emmett!"

"What?" he shrugged, a grin still playing on his face.

Bella walked into the room then, searching around quickly for her daughter. Jacob walked quickly at her heel. We could all hear the quickness of his heartbeat, leaving us to wonder how Bella could ignore it without questioning his panic. But her concentration was focused straight in front to Rosalie, and the small girl who was cradled in her arms.

"Yes, that's her," Edward whispered.

Bella stepped forward quickly and everyone crowded around her. She was controlled, but there was no trusting a newborn vampire. Alice and I stayed still.

"Oh, give her some credit. She wasn't going to do anything. You'd want a closer look too," Alice said, sending an encouraging smile Bella's way.

"Edward- the risk," Jasper said, ignoring his sister with a shake of his head.

"Minima," he said. "On the hunt, she caught the scent of two hikers."

"Edward!" How could you be so irresponsible!"

"I know, Carlisle, I know. It was stupid. I should have checked," Edward said, his hand hovering over Bella's shoulder. "I made a mistake. the fact you're stronger than anyone I've ever known doesn't change that."

"Tasteful joke, Edward."

"I wasn't making a joke. I was explaining to Jasper why I know Bella can handle this. It's not my fault everyone jumped to conclusions."

Jasper's face was riddled with shock. "She didn't hunt the humans?"

"She started to. She heard me and reacted defensively. Then she broke right out of it. I've never seen anything equal to her. She realized at once what was happening and then she held her breath and ran away."

"Seriously?"

"It's not natural."

"She could have turned on you- she's only hours old," Esme called, though not unkindly. Her face was plastered with the usual motherly look. "Oh, we should have gone with you."

Renesmee cried out, hands waving in the air. Above her, Rosalie smiled, her eyes finally pulling away from the young girl to land on Bella for the first time. She gave her a once over, then held her over.

"She just wants Bella."

"She wants me?" Bella asked, eyes wide. Rose nodded.

"She's been waiting on you," Edward whispered in her ear.

With tender hands, Bella took her daughter into her own arms, cradling her gently, a hand placed endearingly on her chin. She smiled as Renesmee brought her hand up as she always did, wrapping fingers around her mother's cheek. Bella's eyes widened, a gasp leaving her lips. We all grinned, knowing what was happening.

"What was that?"

"What did you see?" Rosalie asked quickly. "What did she show you?"

"She showed me that?"

"I told you it was hard to explain. But effective as far as communications go. What was it?"

"Me," Bella breathed, staring down with awe at her daughter.

"It was the memory she has of you," Edward said, wrapping his arms around his two girls. Alice held tight to my side, a grin spreading across her face. "She's letting you know that she knows who you are."

"How?"

"How can I hear thought? How does Alice see the future? She's gifted."

Bella let out a laugh, gently brushing a finger across her nose. "I remember you too."

From the doorway, Jake was brooding. His arms were jittery, shaking at his sides as if he itched to reach forward to them. He watched Bella with an added nervousness. Not even Edward's grip around her shoulders could ease him. She was too close.

"Haven't we experimented enough for one day?" Jacob said, hands lifting toward Renesmee. "You're doing great, Bells, but let's not push it."

Bella pulled her daughter from him, a dark glare painting her face.

"What is your problem, Jacob?"

"Just because I understand it, doesn't mean I won't throw you out, Jacob," Edward said when Jake looked past her to him. "Don't ruin this for her."

"I'll help him toss you," Rose chimed in.

Carefully, Bella watched him, her hands held protectively over Renesmee. It was slow, but realisation soon set in.

"No!" Bella shouted, the words almost coming out in a growl. "Rose. Take Renesmee. Edward I don't want to hurt you so please let go of me." When Rosalie had reached for her daughter, Bella added, "Go stand in front of Renesmee."

"You didn't."

"You know I can't control it," Jake groaned.

He stepped back as she advanced forward, fingers curled into solid fists. They were out of the front door before she stopped.

"How could you! My baby!" Bella screamed at him. "I've held her once, Jacob, and already you think you have some wolfy claim on her? She's mine. How dare you imprint!"

"Bella, please just try and listen for a moment," Jake said. Then he sighed again as a growl rang through from the treeline. "Leah back off."

"Why should I listen?"

"Because you're the one who told me this, remember? You said we belonged in each other's lives. That we're family. It's what you wanted," Jake pleaded with her, but her fists only tightened.

"You think you'll be part of my family as my son-in-law!"

"Stop her, Edward. She'll be unhappy if she hurts him," Esme said from the doorway.

"No! How can you even look at it that way? She's just a baby."

"That's my point!" Bella said as she began to move forward again out of Edward's reach.

"You know I don't think of her that way. Edward wouldn't have let me live if I did. All I want is for her to be safe and happy."

"Amazing, isn't she?" Edward said as he watched them, arms crossed casually over his chest.

"Hasn't even gone for his throat once," Carlisle said in agreement.

"You're going to stay away from her."

"I can't do that!"

"Try. Starting now," Bella growled.

"It's not possible. Remember how much you wanted me around before? It's gone now, isn't it?" Bella staggered back, wide-eyed at his words. "That was her. From the beginning."

She shook herself from it, face darkening dangerously again. "Run away while you still can."

"Come on, Bells. Nessie likes me too."

"What did you call her?"

"The name is kind of a mouthful-"

"You named my daughter after the Loch Ness Monster?" Bella screamed at him.

Then the chaos began.

☾