~*~ Eternal ~*~

Disclaimer: I own nothing of twilight or any of the characters. Everything belongs to Stephenie Meyer.

~ I would like to apoligize to every one who has been reading my previous story Uncondiontal Love. I am very sorry for all those who were following it, and I hope this story makes up for that. This one is already finished, and I am simply tweaking each chapter before I post it. I hope you enjoy.

~ For those interested in the Lemon filled version please reffer to my profile for the necessary links. I will put up the links as the chapters missing lemons are uploaded. xxx

~ Romance

~ Bella + Edward

~ Rated M – Because there is some violence in one of the chapters. Not between Bella and Edward.

~ Bella – Eighteen years old.

~ Edward – Twenty Two

~*~ Chapter One ~*~

I woke up to the sound of the rain tapping against the window, my dream still as clear as the memory it was born from. As I laid there I watched the rain fall outside of my window like a curtain of tears.

I stayed there, unmoving for a long time, before I dragged myself off the bed and picked out a fresh set of clothes, and then walked down the hall and into the bathroom. I took care of my morning business, brushed my teeth, then tied my hair up in a bun and stepped into the shower; the warm water felt nice against my stiff muscles.

I reluctantly turned the water off, and quickly dried and got dressed, since the house was too cold – due to the fact that I had been unable to pay the heating bill – for me to be walking around with only a towl on.

I threw my used clothes in the hamper, pulled the hairband out of my hair, then walking back to my room I pulled on my trainers and walked downstairs and into the kitchen.

I grabbed a bowl from the cupboard and poured myself some ceral, before sitting down at the kitchen table.

I could still hear the sound of my mom huming while she cooked, or laughing with a laugh that always made you laugh. The once sweet memories were now bitter sweet in my mind, as I ate my cherios one at a time to pass the time.

When I was finished I cleared my bowl and spoon away, I pulled on my raincoat from the hall way. I paused to glance in to the livingroom, where my step-father was sat in the armchair watching something on TV with a beer in his hand, like he did every day. He was only in his early thiries, yet he had aged ten years in the last two years.

For only a second I contemplated telling him that I was going out, but in the next second I decided not too, for I doubted he would care.

I sighed, for he had once been a nice guy – we had gotten along from the start, for he had always treated my mom with respect and love. They were a perfect match, but the drepression and the alcohol had changed him to someone who I no longer recognize as my step-father.

I walked out of the house that had once been filled with so much love and laughter, yet was now a dwelling place of silence and sadness.

I walked towards the woods, planning on a walk to clear my head and allow me to breath for a short time, before I had to go back inside the house and cook dinner.

Most of my friends had left for college, and it was hard to know that I was not able to follow any of them, for I could barley efford the bills I had to pay, let alone pay for college.

And just to make things worse, Mrs Newton had informed me and the rest of the staff that she and Mr Newton were selling the restaurant and that she would have to let all of the staff go. After working at Eclipse for two years I had been let go with only my last paycheck which would not even get us through another month, and a good reference that will not put food on the table.

I felt a moment of envy at my friends – and work colleagues – Jane, Victoria and James, for they either had family or savings to fall back on, while I had neither.

I had cried that night, for there were not many jobs in Forks, what with it being such a small town, and I could not see how I was going to be able to pay the bills.

It had been two days since that night and the weight on my shoulders was more than I should have had to deal with.

I had not told Phil that I had lost my job, since I knew that it would not have changed anything, since he was usually too drunk to even notice I was in the same room as him. Or maybe he chose to ignore me.

It was time likes this when I wished that I had a larger family, for it would have been nice to have someone to help me, someone who I could have gone to when I needed them.

Unfortunately my mom was an only child – due to the car accident which left too much damage to the lining of my grandmother's womb to carry another pregnancy. And my grandmother's sister's had passed away when they were still teenagers in a boating accident.

Was my family cursed with bad luck? Why else would so many bad things happen to each generation of my family? Maybe that was why each generation was left with only one child. Would I carry on the tradition someday?

As I continued to walk my thoughts became deeper and I did not take much notice as to where I was going.

~ A couple of hours later ~

I sighed as I looked around at the endless trees. I had never gone this far into the woods before, and now I was lost. I had tried going back the way I had came, however that only seemed to get me more lost.

I wrapped my arms around myself, as a cool breeze brushed passed me, and although my body temperature ran a little lower than a normal humans, the cold still sent a chill down my spine. My frustration began to turn to worry as the light began to fade from the sky and the shadows of the forest grew around me.

Soon it would be dark and there would be no hope of me finding my way back to the path, if I could not see where I was going. My mom had always warned me about going into the woods at night, and now my mind began to race with scary thoughts. What if something happened to me? What if an animal attacked me? What were the chances of someone finding me?

I felt my normally slow beating heart begin to dance to a fast rhythm, and I closed my eyes as I took a deep breath, for even though fear kept you alive, kept you alert, it would not have done me any good to panic.

It was moments like this when I understood why a vampire would be so protective of his mate, for hybrids were almost as fragile as humans. I could run slightly faster, see a little clearer, and hear a little better, but in every other way I was almost normal.

Almost.

Due to my vampire genes my ageing process would someday stop once I reached the same age of the dad, and unfortunately it was one of the many questions I had never asked my mom. Which left me in the dark in many areas.

One of them being why she would marry a human, who was unaware of what she was, when she knew someday she would have to admit the truth, or leave him.

Yet at the same time, she had taught me an important lesson, for while my mom was still pregnant with me, my dad Charlie had not returned to see my mom again – I know it broke her heart, even though she never told me, for I was able to see it in her eyes – and when I was ten–years old she married a human man called Phil, and although they tried, they were never able to conceive a child, which only proved the myth that had been passed down through my family that hybrids could not conceive a human child.

Maybe that was why she had doted on me as much as she had. Although most of the time I was more of a parent to her than she was to me, for Renee was always looking for something new to try and that sometimes resulted in a few bad ideas. However, she was very easily lead, and I was able to talk her out some of the bad ideas.

Most of the time.

I sighed again as I sat down on the trunk of a fallen tree. After a few minutes I stood and once again looked around at the trees, before I began to walk again, hoping that if I kept to one direction I would find a way out, but the trees were endless, as if for ever step I took the forest expanded another mile.

Why had I left my cell phone at the house? I should have known that the one time I leave the house without it, would be the day I need it the most.

I stopped when I felt the sky open up above me, and release all it had on the ground below. "Really?" I asked, throwing my hands up in the air as I looked up at the treetops. As if this day was not bad enough, the universe had to throw this at me.

"Haven't I suffered enough?" I demanded, knowing that no one would answer, yet wishing that there was someone to explain why everything had gone wrong? I had never hurt anyone, never done anything to anyone!

So why me?

I took a deep breath to stop myself from crying, for my will too be strong was being tested to it's limit and I was not sure how much longer it would last.

I forced myself to keep moving, while I held on to the hope that I would find my way out of this mess and I would be safe and dry back at the house.

I don't know how long I walked when, I felt something shift in the atmosphere. And the noises of the forest went silent, as if in anticipation of what would happen next.

I stopped still and listened for any sign that I was being tracked by an animal, the sound of a twig snapping, the crunch of leaves under paws or a growl from somewhere dark and hidden. Mountain lions and bears were common in these woods, and my heart skipped a beat at the thought of being attacked by an animal that could take me down with no difficulty.

But there was only the sound of the rain. Which only scared me more, for it provided a hiding place for small sounds of danger.

Still I waited.

And waited.

As the rain continued to drip through the tree tops I could feel that there was something wrong – like on a dark night when you are walking home alone and the feel of eyes on you causes goosbumps on your skin. I could not bring myself to move, for fear that something nasty would jump out of the darkness and attack me if I so much as flinched.

Time seemed to freeze as I stood there. Then from the darkness I saw something move. Was it my imagination? Rain drops filled the air, making it harder for me to see.

Then I saw it again.

"Hello? Is someone there?" I said weakly – my words coming out more quiet then I had intended. I would feel really stupid if I was talking to animal. Even if there was no one around to witness it, but the speed in which it moved was more than an animal.

There was nothing for a long moment, then the sound of a twig snapping caused me to spin around, as adrenaline began to course through my veins giving me the strength to run as fast as I could if I had to.

My eyes searched the shadows for the source of the noise, when a figure began to appear from the darkness. Drops of rain trickled down my face as my heart skiped a beat.

For a short second I wondered if it was dad. I had never told my mom that my dad would visit me at night sometimes – he would sit on my bed and talk to me for what felt like hours – for the mention of him would always make her sad, and when she met Phil she started to smile, she was finally happy, and I could not bring myself to ruin that for her.

And then one day – not long after my mom and Phil had married – he just stopped coming to see me. The last time I saw him he never said goodbye, never told me that it would be the last time.

I would sit by my window most nights and watch the trees at night, wondering where he was, and when he would come back. I used to wonder if I had done something wrong to make him not want to come back to see me.

He had always been everything I would want a father to be: he would listen when I talked, and give me adivce and even help me with my homework. He would even tickle me until I was fitting with laughter, and then leave when he heard my other coming down the hall to see why I was still awake.

After a while, I just stopped waiting...

As the figure moved closer it took only a second more for me to realize that this was not my dad, and that was when a trickle of fear set in. I took a step back. Apart from my dad I had never seen a male vampire and was not sure what he would do to me. Would he attack me? Would he bite me? Would he know what I was? Would that make a difference in whether or not he killed me? I knew that running would not work, for I was sure that no matter how fast I ran he would catch me, yet my human instincts urged me to flee from the danger infront of me.

I took another hesitant step back, feeling the hard bark of a tree against my back.

"Don't be afraid," he said, with a soft velvet voice as he came closer, "I'm not going to hurt you." Was he lying? Should I believe him? Why was he here in the woods with me if he was not here for me?

I then felt my breath catch in my throat, for even in the dim light of the forest I could see his face, and it was like I was seeing the sunrise for the very first time.

He looked as though he was in his early twenites, but more importantly, he was beautiful! His skin was as pale as the moonlight, his wet hair – in the dim light looked to be brown, and his eyes were the most extraordinary colour of gold.

As I gazed into his eyes I felt something click into place inside me, and for the first time in my life I felt as though I had been walking around with a hole inside of me, and that the missing piece was in his eyes.

I felt whole.

Complete.

I did not even know his name, and yet I knew that he was everything that I had ever wanted, or would ever need. How was that possible? Suddenly I knew it was no longer gravity holding me to the planet, it was him. I knew in that moment that I would do anything for him, or be anything that he wanted me to be.

As the emotions shot through me like lightening, I released the hold I had on my will, and allowed the tears to start falling down my already wet face. He instantly moved closer to me, until there were only a couple of inches between us. A cool hand came up to brush away the tears, and I found myself leaning into his cool touch. How could so much change in a few seconds.

"Please don't be afraid of me, Isabella," he said, as if he was talking to an old friend. I should have been terrified off him, yet I felt no fear what so ever.

I blinked at him. "I'm not," I answered, wondering why or how I could have ever been afraid of him in the first place.

Despite the continuous rain, we stood there in silence as the realization of the situation seeped through my mind, like a meteor shooting across the sky – it was so bright and beautiful that it needed no words to describe it.

After a couple of minutes I broke the silence. "How do you know my name?"

"I've been watching you for a while," he said, in a velvet soft voice that was almost as beautiful as his face. That should have creeped me out, yet I found it sweet that he would find me intresting enough to watch me. Was that wrong? Was that weird that I liked it? I should have found it wrong.

"You have?" I whispeared.

He nodded. "You are so beautiful...I knew you were mine the moment I saw you...but I had to wait for you to come to me...to choice me...I have no intentions of having a mate that does not wish to have me in return." I blushed at his compliment. No one had ever called me beautiful before, and it caused me to doubt whether or not he could see properly, for I had skin that was too pale, eyes that were a dull brown and brown hair would never lay right due to the wave in it.

I had thought that when a male bonded to a female that the bond would be equal for both sides.

In the back of my mind my dad's words echoed, "I tried loving your mother, but not everything in this world is equal." I finally understood why he had left my mom.

Mate? I thought, while a smile tugged at my lips. There was no other way to explain why my mind and body was reacting the way it was, without it being the obvious. I had found my mate, and looking into his eyes had created the bond that would last forever.

"You know what I am?" I asked, feeling relived at the thought of having someone know what I was without having to worry that they would think I was insane or a freak.

The corner of his beautiful mouth twitched, as if he was fighting a smile. "Yes, beautiful I know." My face became warmer from the compliment. He cocked his head to the side, as he added, "You are a lot calmer then I thought you would be...all alone...in the dark with a monster...any normal person would have ran."

I shrugged. "I'm not normal...I thought you said you knew that?" Besides, I knew he would not hurt me. Strange how I had known him for mere moments and yet I trusted him with my life.

He shook his head, then narrowed his eyes slightly. "Are all hybrides as reckless as you? I leave you alone for half an hour and you wonder into the woods and get yourself lost. What were you thinking? You could have gotten hurt!" The trace of anger in his voice made me blink. He was angry at me!

I opened my mouth a couple of times but no sound came out. What was I suppose to say? What if I said something that made him more angry? In the back of my mind I knew that a couple of years ago I would have been annoyed that someone was repremanding me like a child, but it had been so long since any one actually cared about me enough to worry.

I was not sure how to answer his first question, so I skipped to the second one. "I...I'm sorry...I just...went for a walk and I got lost...were you watching me?"

He lifted a hand again and brushed my cheek with his cool fingertips, causing me to shiver in the already cold air. "Yes...I went mad with worry when I couldn't find you...do you have no concern for your own safty?"

"I'm sorry." I tasted the saltiness of the rain as I bit my lip.

Lifting my hand, I placed it on his chest where his heartbeat should have been, but instead where silence would forever dwelled.

Looking into his gold eyes, I saw all the emotions that were running rampage inside me reflected back at me.

Taking a deep breath I said, "What's your name?"

He gave me a one-sided smile, which caused my knees to go weak. "Edward Cullen. It's nice to officially meet you, Isabella." Edward? It was very old fashioned, but it suited him somehow.

"Bella, I prefer Bella." He leaned down and kissed me, with a gentleness – that most girls dreamed that their first kiss would be – that made me want to cry. His kiss tasted as sweet as his scent, which surrounded me like a blanket. What neither of us were expecting was my response.

Blood boiled under my skin, burned in my lips.

My breath came in a wild gasp.

My hands reached up and wound their way into his soft wet hair and pulled him closer to me as if I needed to prove to myself that he was real, and was not going to dissapear once I opened my eyes.

"Where have you been?" I whispeared against his lips, as his sweet breath washed over my face and I breathed it in as if it were my favourite perfume.

"Waiting for you," he whispeared back.

Thank you so much for reading. Please review. Tell me what you think.