Turn Scars to Stars [2]

Mortality

Really lonely and sad right now. Here's an early chapter because I love you all and I need love <3

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Even more exhausted and irritable after her unexpected nap in the school library, Mel went right to her room to sleep as soon as she was dropped off at home. She didn't wake up until loud voices downstairs disturbed her sleep.

Mel squinted her green-grey eyes at her alarm clock to read the time and groaned. It was two in the morning.

She stared at the blurry stars on the ceiling as she contemplated getting up. Her stomach whined in hunger; she had skipped both lunch and dinner the day before.

Rolling out of bed and putting on her glasses, Mel headed to the kitchen in search of food.

Instead, she found her family gathered around the polished oval table with Bella Swan standing at the head. Mel stepped closer and rubbed her tired eyes. "What's going on?"

"My mortality is being put to a vote," Bella announced. "We were just getting started, and I want you to vote, too, Mel."

"This had to be decided before the sun came up?"

"I was motivated."

"You're obsessed," Mel countered. Her filter of words didn't start working until decent hours of the day, but Bella didn't seem fazed.

Mel glanced around the table as she took a seat between Jasper and Esme.

Edward's expression was resigned; it was obvious where he stood when it came to Bella's mortality. His main reason for not wanting her to be immortal was because he didn't believe that humans carried their soul into their vampire life. Carlisle did not agree with that, and the others were pretty neutral on the subject.

Alice was grinning at Bella. She had seen the fate of Bella from the beginning. Emmett and Jasper looked curious, while Bella and Rosalie exchanged tentative smiles.

Carlisle nodded towards Bella and said, "The floor is yours."

Bella checked with the family to make sure that everyone was on the same page as to what happened in Volterra. Mel wondered if Edward informed Bella that she was also a victim of the Volturi's laws...

Bella quickly presented her case: "Alice promised the Volturi that I would become one of you. They're going to send someone to check, and I'm sure that's a bad thing--something to avoid. This now involves you all, and I'm sorry about that."

Bella took in the faces of the Cullens around her. Edward grimaced. "But, if you don't want me, then I'm not going to force myself on you, whether Alice is willing or not."

Mel raised her hand as a habit from school, and Esme opened her mouth to speak, but Bella held up a finger to halt them both from interrupting. With everything going on because of the Volturi and vampirism, Mel was kind of peeved that Bella was giving in to the pressure so easily. She wanted to say so but lowered her hand down onto her crossed legs.

"Please, let me finish. You all know what I want. And I'm sure you know what Edward thinks, too. I think the only fair way to decide is for everyone to have a vote, as I mentioned."

Edward butted in and tried to sway the decision by coming up with a plan to trick the Volturi from finding Bella with a flaw in Demetri's tracking ability. If Edward and Aro couldn't read her mind and Jane couldn't use her pain illusion, then Edward was confident that the guard tracker would be unable to catch Bella's "flavor" to hunt her down.

Bella wasn't pleased, but Emmett was. He laughed and exchanged fist-bumps with Edward. "Excellent plan, my brother," Emmett said with enthusiasm.

"No," Rosalie hissed.

"Absolutely not," Bella agreed.

"Nice." Jasper's voice was appreciative. Mel sent a what the fuck look in his direction.

"Idiots," Alice muttered, while Esme glared at Edward.

"All right, then. Edward has offered an alternative for you to consider," Bella said coolly. "Let's vote."

The line was drawn through her family in a way that Mel could have predicted. Rosalie and Edward, along with Mel herself, voted no to Bella's immortality. Alice, Jasper, Emmett, and Esme voted yes. Carlisle remained neutral; his vote was whatever was best for the family.

Edward stormed off at the majority vote. An earsplitting crash echoed from the other room, and Mel flinched against the wooden chair. She clenched her hands to stop them from noticeably shaking.

Bella jumped right to it: "Well, Alice. Where do you want to do this?" Alice stared, eyes wide in terror.

"No! No! NO!" Edward roared, charging back into the room. He got up in Bella's face with an expression twisted in rage. Mel couldn't help but blink back anxious tears at his volume and tone.

"Are you insane?" Mel's copper-haired brother shouted. "Have you utterly lost your mind?" Bella also cringed away from Edward, her hands over her ears.

Alice apparently had promised Bella that she would be the one to change her if it came down to it, but now the pixie was doubting her ability to not kill Bella in the process. Without skipping a beat, Bella desperately turned to the Cullen patriarch. "Carlisle?"

Carlisle agreed. There would be no danger of the vampire doctor losing control. Edward remained grasping at straws.

"In the interest of remaining inconspicuous," Edward said through clenched teeth. "I suggest that we put this conversation off, at the very least until Bella finishes high school, and moves out of Charlie's house."

"That's a reasonable request, Bella," Carlisle pointed out.

And so, it was decided. After graduation, Isabella Swan would officially be changed into a vampire by Carlisle.

As the family meeting was adjourned, Mel sped out of the dining room. A moment longer in the proximity of an angry Edward would have resulted in a meltdown. Mel sucked in a deep breath and released it slowly.

Since she was still in need of food, she scrounged around the kitchen for a snack.