The Goldeneyes (Part 4)

"What the freaking HECK!" Melody shrieked. "What the heck did he do to you?!"

"Hey!" I protested, trying in vain to squirm out of her grasp.

"Bella," she hissed, "why haven't these healed? And why are they silvery like this?"

"I don't know," I sighed. "Now will you please let go."

Melody ignored me and continued to stare at the old wounds which throbbing dully like usual. "These should have healed years ago, yet there still radiating pain. Let me try..."

Using her unusual gift of healing, Melody moved her hand across my back and attempted to pull the pain out. I had to bit back a swear word when the dull pain I had long ago grown used to suddenly intensified. Instead, I shrieked and tried harder to escaped from her grasp.

"Bella!" Edward shouted, lunging for Melody before Lysander and Adrian stopped him.

"That hurts!" I screamed to Melody.

She frowned, "It shouldn't be..."

The pain dulled again for a minute before flaring back more painfully than the last time.

"Stop it!" I begged and Edward tried to wrestle his way to me.

"I have to get this to..."

The pain suddenly spread from my back and through out my whole body. I had though vampire venom had hurt, but that was only a fraction of the pain. It slithered through my torso, and like a snake, bit into my heart.

Suddenly, I was behind Melody, pulling her arms backwards at an awkward angle.

"I said STOP IT," I growled.

Then I released her shocked. This wasn't me. I couldn't move that fast or gracefully, like a vampire. Nor could I actually move one without their assistance. And I felt... powerful, like I could run then thousand miles without tiring.

I stared in horror at my hands, trying to figure it out, and I heard Steven and Edward -- who had stopped struggling when I had stopped screaming -- gasped.

"No," Steven said, amazed. "Impossible. I've heard legends, but this..."

"What?" I asked worriedly. "What is it?"

"There is a legend about the lamia regina," Steven said hesitantly, studying me. "The vampire girl that became a vampire... with old venom, the most powerful vampire that ever lived.. When Matthew," the Goldeneyes all scowled at their brother's name, "hurt you the way he had, he must have locked the venom in your body, and Melody just released it."

"Lamia regina?" Carlisle frowned, "Isn't that Latin for -?"

"Yes," Steven said, awed, "Vampire Queen."