Chapter 1
***BELLA’S POV***
"Are you sure you still want to do this?” Edward asked me for what felt like the millionth time.
"Yes, Edward” I sighed.  “I’ve never been more sure in my life.”  And it was true.  I knew that now was the time.  I wanted him to bite me, to change me, right there and then.
We had only been married for a week-- I shuddered at the thought of the wedding.  Alice had overdone it, of course.  There had been a gold and silver theme; streamers, balloons, and flowers everywhere.  Alive had been my maid of honor, as I promised, and Esme and Angela Weber had been the other bridesmaids.  Edward had chosen Emmett to be his best man-- I had laughed silently at the sight of him in a tuxedo, though I’d seen it once before, at the prom.
As much as I hated to admit it, I secretly loved the wedding.  I felt proud as Charlie walked me down the aisle; I was embarrassed, but happy, when I saw Renée in the front row, crying.  But above the love of the wedding, I kept feeling twinges of regret, sadness, and guilt when I looked into the faces of my friends and family-- because this would be the last time I would see them.  Ever.  Thankfully, Jacob hadn’t come to the wedding.  If he had, the guilt would have drowned me, and I probably wouldn’t have been able to utter “I do”.
Then, after the wedding, and the celebrations, six Cullens went hunting.  I knew why-- to give Edward and I some true privacy.  I knew he would now have to fulfill his side of our little “deal”.  And he did.  I felt a little bad, because it was so hard for him to restrain himself as to not hurt me.  Which he didn’t.
“Bella?” I heard Edward’s voice say distantly, anxiously.  I jumped as I came back to the present.  Edward was snapping his fingers in front of my face, his expression nervous.
“Sorry,” I mumbled.  “Flashbacks, you know?”
“Yes,” he said, laughing darkly.  “They say that your life flashes before your eyes right before you die.”
I glared at him.  “You sure that you are ready for this?”
He sighed.  “I promised, didn’t I?  But we’re going to make it easy on you, okay, sweetie?”
“How?” I gasped.
“Carlisle’s going to five you some medication, and you’ll sleep painlessly through the transformation.”
I gulped and nodded.  At least I wouldn’t be in pain.  Two more flashbacks came to me at once: the first was me, in a hospital room in Phoenix, recovering from James’s attack; the other memory was of Edward, writhing on the floor in Volterra, under Jane’s gleeful stare, his face twisted in agony…
“Carlisle?” Edward called softly, bringing me once again back from my memories.
Carlisle was there in an instant, standing beside Edward’s black sofa where we were sitting, a gas tank in his hand.
Edward sighed reluctantly.  “She’s ready,” he declared.
Carlisle nodded and sat beside me, a mask ready.
I closed my eyes and felt a pair of cold hands pull away my collar, exposing my neck.  Another set of hands, Carlisle’s, were putting the mask on my face.
I felt Edward’s cold stone lips on my neck.  “I love you,” he promised, before softly breaking my skin with his teeth.  I felt a burning pain for a fraction of a second, then I was asleep.