Lips of an Angel

Interlude: Edward's Perspective

Interlude: Edward's Perspective

It had been four months since I'd met Isabella Swan in her spacious office, deep in December, for a therapy session I hadn't wanted in the first place. Four months, during which my life had changed so drastically I could barely keep up with what I was and who I knew.

The main change? I was suddenly a mythical, blood-drinking vampire.

As I ran through the forest, Bella hot on my heels, I thought back to our first meeting, thoughts flitting through my head at speeds I certainly wasn't used to.

Walking into that office had been one of the singular most terrifying experiences of my life. The first thing that had run through my head was that I needed to flee. And then I set eye on the woman's dead, feral black eyes, fixated on me as she gripped the edges of her seat so hard I could have sworn she was damaging it. And she most certainly wasn't breathing.

All the way through the session, I found myself trying to avoid her angry obsidian eyes. I had no idea what Dr Swan was, or what I'd done to make her so utterly furious, but nevertheless, there was clearly something about me that made her turn from an ordinary psychologist into a monster. I couldn't wait to get out of that room, despite how much calmer inside her questions and methods made me feel regarding the attack from James and the betrayal of my girlfriend. My ex-girlfriend.

My subsequent meetings with Bella were easier. She seemed more ... human. Though her eyes were still black, and I was sure she wasn't breathing. I had to admit, going to see Bella Swan had been the best decision I'd made in a very long time. Perhaps, I'd go so far as to say ever.

She had saved my life on so very many occasions. When she saved me from James after he'd attacked me, from Victoria, from James once again, from Tanya, and then from the wolves and the dreadlocks vampire.

I hadn't realised my emotional attachment to her until she called me to say that her family was leaving London. Yes, I'd made excuses to see her more often before, but I certainly hadn't thought into it after my last disastrous relationship. If it hadn't been Bella that had torn of my ex-girlfriend's head in front of me, I'd never have let them touch me. But as it was, the terror inside me at seeing somebody fight and snarl in such an animalistic way only made me want to look to Bella for comfort, and for help. Yet she'd done the fighting. My emotions were in turmoil.

Vampires. To learn that Bella and her family - not to mention James and Victoria - were vampires had scared me to death. But once again, a single look at Bella's dark eyes had calmed me. A lot. Which was the moment I truly realised that I'd fallen for her long ago, human or not. I'd fallen, and I'd crashed.

And our kiss. Tender, but restrained. I knew by then how my blood affected her, and something in me wanted to be selfless and tell her not to make herself uncomfortable. But the way she had watched me as she cupped my face in her petite hands had silenced me. She wanted that as much as I knew I did.

The feel of her firm, frozen lips on mine had rendered me breathless. A single, light touch of her lips to mine for a split second had unlocked every deep desire within me. I wanted to pull that oh so beautiful woman towards me, kiss her senseless and drag her upstairs. I wanted to kiss every inch of her body - kiss it, worship it, love it. Fall into those enchanting golden eyes as I did so.

The self-doubt in her eyes as she pulled away to look at me had been the only thing to bring me back to reality. She could kill me without meaning to. She could lose all control. So I kept still, shoving down my human wants, and focused merely on the feeling of her skin and lips on mine.

Every moment I'd spent with Isabella Swan there on had been magical. Magical and glorious. And yet, I didn't understand a thing. Why would such a gorgeous, not to mention immortal, woman bother with someone like me? I knew I was above average on the appearance scale, but I was human. She was indescribable. More angel than human, despite how many times she told me she didn't have a soul.

And then came the wolves. Then came the fire. Then came the end.

The moment she leapt in front of me to face the monsters of nightmares head-on to keep her human boyfriend safe, I knew I had all the proof I needed that Bella was an angel fallen to the Earth. My angel.

Fire roused me from my unconscious state. Fire burned through every inch of my body, and I couldn't escape it. I heard voices around me, but most of the time they blurred together into a meaningless roar. I did, however, hear the conversation between Bella and Jasper. Even then, my heart ached for her.

Upon awaking, I knew what I was. But the words coming from Bella's family were driving me mad. Until, of course, Bella told me what it was. A gift. I could read minds. All minds except hers, of course, due to her shield.

Watching Bella hunt had made me shift uncomfortably, and for two reasons. The searing burn in my throat made me wish to leap towards her and steal the hunt from her, to savour every drop of blood that could be drained from the carcass. But also, watching Bella press her lush red lips to the neck of the deer threw up all my human desires again. All of them, just a thousand times more powerful. What had been a desire to kiss her and touch her had suddenly become an urgent need. A need that seemed to overpower even my bloodlust.

The first time I'd kissed Bella, just a few minutes ago, as a vampire had been the most spectacular moment I could imagine. At first, our kiss was slow and careful, as we'd been when I was human, but Bella's arms came suddenly around my neck, and it was like she unleashed an animal. I grasped her hips tightly in my hands, aware that I could hurt her but my new and spacious mind unable to focus on one thing long enough to do anything about it. I drew her towards me, our lips moving together sensually and urgently. Kissing Bella as a vampire was nothing like as a human.

Hearing her say three words that told me all I ever needed to know felt so right. Once establishing our relationship as soulmates, she declared her deepest feelings for me. And in that instant, I realised that everything I'd felt for her as both a human and a vampire, both emotionally and physically, amounted to that same thing.

Love.

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A/N

I know that was a short interlude, but lots of you were asking for a EPOV on that first kiss. You've got that in there, accompanied by another! I will update again on Friday next week.

Lucy xX