Immortal Beloved

Epilogue

Edward gazed at himself in the mirror of his bathroom, taking notice of the progression which had gradually taken place over the last few months. It was most noticeable in his arms and shoulders, which had lost nearly all their flabbiness and had firmed into lean muscle. There was progress in his waistline as well. It didn't look like much, but his clothes had recently graduated from loose to baggy on his frame.

Peter's exercise regimen was working out quite well, Edward thought as his gaze ran over the faded cuts along his shoulders. Once Edward was in a little bit better shape, Peter promised he would teach Edward some self-defense techniques. Edward's gaze stopped at the larger scar on his right shoulder, this one the shape of a bite. He ran his fingers over the bite mark, the skin hard like marble and cool to the touch.

Gradually he had begun to remember that awful night. The details returned in his dreams. He remembered the male vampire, his crimson eyes bright with agitation and madness. That creature had grabbed Edward and lifted him as if he weighed little more than a cat, and had taken him deep into the woods. He remembered the vampire's sharp claws cutting into the skin on his arms, legs, chest, and belly. Shallow cuts, but painful ones. He remembered the female vampire straddling his waist and pressing her lithe, slender body against his, smearing his blood all over her white clothes, while Edward had been entirely helpless. Edward could only have wondered how long it would be before the vampires ended his life.

But they never did. Edward had been saved. And all it had cost him was her.

The girl.

The vampire girl. His vampire girl.

Some nights Edward woke up and wondered if he hadn't dreamt up the last few months. In those seconds upon waking, as his mind raced over the memories of all the things he had experienced, he briefly wondered if his imagination had simply overflowed into an elaborate story to keep himself content in the delusion that vampires exist.

But he would get up and see the healing scratches, the strange bite mark in his shoulder: proof that it had all been real.

Well, that and Jacob's giant muscles.

Edward's obsessive interest in the supernatural had begun with that encounter in his childhood, and it had colored his entire life thereafter. Most children enjoyed ghosts and ghouls, but as Edward's childhood friends grew up and left such interests behind, he had only become more mired in the possibilities. He had told his friends of what he had seen in the forest. As a child, it made Edward cool amongst his peers. But as they aged, and Edward continued to insist such an impossibility had happened, his friends gradually began to turn away from him, thinking him immature or even a little unhinged. Only Jacob believed that Edward was telling the truth, even if he couldn't understand what that truth was until recently.

And that girl, that vampire, Bella, had proved that it was all real.

The chime of his cellphone drew him out of his thoughts. He gazed down at the message from Jacob there. "You still coming down for Mags' party?"

"Yeah, just getting dressed now," Edward typed back.

As he dressed, he heard the chime again. "Can't wait to see you," Jacob's message read. Edward smiled at the message, but he made no reply.

The drive to Christo Rey was a sunny one. Edward pushed his beloved S60 to a high speed as he cruised around the twisting roads which split the forest along the coastline. Chopin's beautiful melodies permeated the cabin, given life by high-fidelity speakers.

It was the middle of June, and there was not a cloud in the sky. The weather had been quite fine all month. It was a rare dry season, and the forests were alive with new growth and foliage. He thought of Bella any time the sun shone. That image of her in the sunlight had haunted him more than any other. Her skin had glittered like refined diamonds, the sunlight reflecting off thousands of facets in a dazzling display. He had never seen an image quite so beautiful.