Excerpt: Remembering When Time Stopped

Björn

I studied her troubled, but lovely face. Her eyes were like mine only in color. They were slightly almond shaped and with thick lashes the same color as her hair. Her nose was small and slightly upturned; I had the urge to kiss the tip of it. Her lips were full and would have been perfectly pink if she were human. Her skin was wonderfully porcelain; almost translucent. I looked into her eyes and noticed the fear again.
I reached out and took her hand. I was slightly surprised that she let me. She seemed like she would bolt at the slightest movement. "It's okay." I whispered to her again. "I won't hurt you."
She looked into my eyes again, and I found myself wanting to protect her. She seemed like she needed protecting; she was trembling now. Finally, she blinked and said, "Yes, I think I will go with you. You're sure your family won't mind?"
I smiled down at her, "No, they won't mind at all. They love having new people visit. Come with me; it's not far." I tugged on her hand gently and we walked to the house. She didn't seem to be in a hurry or inclined to talk so we walked in silence. I glanced at her and remembered that feeling I had about her earlier. I studied her profile, trying to figure out why she was familiar to me. I didn't think I had ever met her before. If I had, it was before I had been changed. That part of my life was a little vague. Actually, it was very vague.
It wasn't something I thought of very often and talked about even less often. I know Edward wondered why I hated the History channel. The only people of my family that knew about my past was Carlisle. He was my father. I called him my father; he was actually my adopted father and my family was all adopted as well. I didn't think of them that way though. I had lost my real family long ago and the Cullens where the closest thing to family I had.

Anastasia

I enjoyed the feel of his hand in mine. It had been a while since I had walked anywhere. Vampires were always in a hurry. Not that I didn't like running. The speed I had was one of the best things of being a vampire. I loved the feel of the wind against my face and through my hair. I peeked at Björn through the corner of my eye. The way he had looked at me before we started walking had awakened feelings in me that I hadn't remembered existing. I kept hoping he would kiss me, but then he didn't. He just continued to stare. I had finally realized he was waiting for a reply.
I couldn't think of a reason not to go with him, and I could think of about a million reasons for me to go with him. So here we were. I saw that he was looking at me, I tilted my head back to smile at him. He was at least a foot taller than me. He smiled back at me, and laced his fingers through mine and squeezed them gently. I sighed internally. I could feel myself falling in love with him and I had only known him for a few minutes. Something felt so right about it though. He was...familiar.
Finally we reached his house. I blinked in shock. It was huge, with lots of windows. Actually, I thought it might be all windows! I stopped, and he turned to me with a questioning look. "Is this where you live?" I stated in shock.
"Yeah, impressive, huh? I think I had the same amazed look on my face the first time I saw it."
"How many people live here?" I figured at least a hundred had to.
"Well, I have two brothers and two sisters who live here. My brother, Edward and his wife, Bella and their daughter Renesmee live close by. Also, my parents Carlisle and Esme are here."
I jumped back as if someone had shocked me. Carlisle. I knew that name. No one else could have that name. What if he remembered me? What if the memory block I'd put on him wasn't complete? I hadn't as much control over my power when I had known him. I had blocked him for his own good; knowing me was dangerous, especially then. I was still being hunted, and I was still hunting. He had been too good to be drawn into my problems. Then I looked at Björn, and I realized why he was so familiar and why I felt so close to him. He was the one. The one I had left. The one I blocked from my own memories. The world tilted before my eyes, and I heard Björn call out my name before darkness overwhelmed me.