Annora |E. Cullen|

FIFTEEN

I walked into my home in DC, which was far too large for my taste- I much preferred small flats, and took off my heels at the door. I had suggested to Emmett that I stay in the city for a few months just to have some sort of evidence to back myself up if my father had started to ask questions. Emmett thought it was a rather brilliant idea, he even stayed at the house for the majority of his time.

I tossed my heels over in the corner adjacent to the front door before I walked in, fixed the temperature, and made my way to the kitchen. I let my hair fall out of its tight bun and discarded the tie on the countertop next to the sink. After rooting through my pantry, I found something quick and simple to make myself for dinner. I checked my phone as I wondered where Emmett was, but quickly remembered that he was out hunting and would be gone for the rest of the week.

I turned on some music through the speaker system that surrounded the house before I returned to making up some black beans and rice to eat for dinner. After eating, I went up to my bedroom, on the top floor as opposed to the house in Forks where I inhabited the basement, and drew a bath.

I shed my clothes and tossed them in the laundry basket before I closed the bathroom door, found the right playlist to put on, and then stepped into the warm water. After about an hour in the bath, I decided to spend the rest of my night in bed with a book in my hands. I got out, dried myself off, and headed back for my main bedroom.

There, I changed into some underwear and a t-shirt and then combed my hair. I looked at myself in the mirror, something I did not do very often, I studied my features. I wasn't sure how anyone would find me attractive, how Emmett did was beyond me. While studying my face, I noticed someone standing behind me, someone I had never seen before.

I continued to comb through my hair as I looked at the person, never once taking my eyes off of them. "Hello," I greeted.

"So she isn't blind," the woman scoffed.

"Who are you?" I asked calmly and finished running a comb through my hair. I placed the comb on the top of the dresser and turned around to face the woman.

She tossed her long, blond hair over her shoulder, "That's none of your concern."

I racked my brain for possible ties to the Cullens without portraying that thought on my face.

"I just have a message for you to convey," she bared her teeth as she grinned.

"And what might that be?" I questioned as I subtlely reached for my phone.

"What are you doing?" Her near-black eyes flashed towards my hand.

"Security measures," I shrugged and hit my number one speed dial- Emmett. "Let me take a guess, Rosalie?"

She looked shocked, "How would you know of me?"

"Clearly you know the answer to that, darling, otherwise you wouldn't be here."

"Ugh, whatever," she flashed towards me, "I hope this hurts," she grabbed me by my neck and nearly took skin off as she bit into my arm, my shoulder, and my chest.

After she threw me to the ground, she vanished from my line of sight. I groaned, pushed myself up as far as I could, grabbed my phone and crawled over to the bed so that I could lean on something. I looked down at my phone and saw that the call was still going.

"Em?" I breathed.

"I'm running as fast as I can, Nora, please stay awake," he begged, I could hear the wind whip around him through the phone.

"Your crazy ass ex just bit the shit out of me," I groaned. "Mind over matter is about to give out," I warned.

"Nora," he was rather panicked.

"Y-yeah?"

"I love you."

"I love you, too," was the last thing I managed to get out before the fire in my veins spread and caused me to drop my phone.

I curled up into a ball, still leaning against my bed frame, and attempted to breathe deep breaths in order to push the pain to the back of my mind. Before too long, my vision escaped me and I was left to suffer in the dark. I curled up on the floor after everything went black. I could still feel everything, I just couldn't see anything.

It felt as though hours went by before I could hear footsteps coming from the staircase. I could feel tearstains across my cheeks, I couldn't move my hands to wipe them away, however. They were bothering me just as much as the burning was. I couldn't open my mouth to say anything, I couldn't move at all. The footsteps could have very well been Rosalie back for more torture, I was forced to wait until I heard a voice to decide on my fate.

I felt arms weave their way underneath me before I heard a voice accompany them. "I'm so sorry, Annora. I know this is a very painful experience," Carlisle's voice was the only noise I could hear and it brought a new level of comfort to me, knowing that it wasn't Rosalie coming back for me.

I felt myself being placed on my bed and a blanket being placed over my waist, the blanket was an appreciated comfort measure as I had felt extremely cold before. I was almost completely sure that I had been sweating. It was that kind of temperature where you were sure you had a fever, and a high one at that, but you felt extremely cold inside.

I weighed all of the possibilities in my head, I had heard of the cases that took a day to transform, and I heard of the cases that took three. I wasn't sure if I could handle going through the level of pain that I had been going through for three whole days. I wouldn't be able to watch the time pass, I would never know if I was correct in my assumptions. I could have felt three hours pass by, but only five minutes had really passed.

After what felt like another hour, I heard Emmett's whispers as he got into the bed next to me. I couldn't tell what he was saying, but it sounded like he had been singing rather lightly to himself. After what felt like a few more hours, I decided to let my mind relax in hopes that I would be able to sleep through the transformation. The last thing that I had heard before my mind truly went silent where the words of the song Emmett had sung.

"Please don't take my sunshine away."