I assume it would work the same as a snake bite. "I don't know," he admitted. "But we have to hurry." You have to do this, Edward; I can't do this for you.
The thought of consuming her blood, even if it was saving her life sent pleasure and pain flooding into my body. To taste her would be wrong...fallacious. I felt utterly disgusted with myself but the temptation was growing. My veins felt like they were being filled with acid as I contemplated putting her life in more danger...the liability...to place her in mortal peril, where she may never come back to me... I felt like I was choking. "Carlisle...I," I faltered. The thoughts tilted back and forth in my mind like a see saw. "I don't know if I can do that," the words were laced with the agony that was consuming me, I felt like I was being strangled, desperate for air.
Carlisle was working quickly over Bella's head, pulling a needle through her skin over and over, sewing her up. He looked at my face. "It's your decision, Edward, either way. I can't help you. I have to get this bleeding stopped here if you're going to be taking blood from her hand."
Bella jerked a quick sharp pull of her body. Another thrust and a suddenly arrested motion as she thrashed against the burning pain in her hand as my mind was racing for alternatives. "Edward!" she shouted spasmodically. Her eyes flew open and her dark brown eyes darted around in every direction until they landed on me.
Watching her writhing in burning pain, pain that I remember well, burnt me, like I could feel it too. I could take the pain away - I could make it all stop - but would I take her life in the process?
"Alice, get me something to brace her leg!" Carlisle shouted as he was finishing up the stitches on Bella's head. Maybe he should let her become a vampire; it would make things a whole lot easier. "Edward, you must do it now, or it will be too late."
At his thoughts - to think of Bella as a vampire - death would be better than this...this...life. Bella was beginning to jerk in violent spasmodic muscular movements, the abrupt motions making her leg flail limply around. Carlisle caught her leg to hold it still.
Now, Carlisle ordered in his head. I shot him a furtive look.
My fingers wrapped around her tiny and delicate wrist, preventing her involuntary reflexes, like she was pulling her hand away from a flame. The desire to taste, the agony of the bite...every second I bent closer to her my mind tittered on an unstable line of right and wrong. My mind was traveling between two different worlds. Reason, truth, maybe some standard or principle - this had to be the solution; the right answer. Not proper, awry, not appropriate. The thoughts scattered across my already stressed mind as I bent down further.
She thrust against my hold making the prolonged pain of my intense mental suffering grow exponentially. Her breathing was harsh and ragged as her wild yells filled the studio, reverberating off the mirrors and walls. My lips touched her skin, the fresh blood soaking into my lips. Hunger. Completely ravenous. I pulled her blood from the bite wound and it rushed into my mouth. The blood was hot and wet in my mouth. Sensations I'd never felt before tingled my tongue, sending a pleasurable warmth down my frozen and dry aching throat. Each second the monster was threatening to take over as he reared his head in appreciation.
She screamed and lashed, struggling to get away from my grip. I knew it was hurting her, but my instincts had taken over, I held her tighter, intensely eager to devour the palatable, savory...delectable...I tried not to moan in pleasure. The luxuriant fullness that had consumed me brought intense satisfaction. I was ultimately determined to seize her, to have all of her, as I sucked down the blood in large gluttonous amounts.
I could feel her becoming limp in my strong grasp as I continued my consumption of her gratifyingly warm, red...crimson blood.
"Edward," Bella mumbled incoherently, bringing me from my frenzy - like a soft voice had just whispered in my ear.
Edward! Please...please don't kill her. Stop! Alice cried in her mind, not wanting to scare Bella. "He's right here, Bella." Her voice trembled slightly, her visions showing her an unsure course.
Bella's eyes rolled in her head like marbles on an unstable surface. She was dying. With a stupendous effort I let go, placing her hand down gently, forcibly reminding myself of her delicate nature. The dazzling sunlight of the day bathed the studio with a natural light, making the pool of blood glitter.
Bella was silent and limp, her heart barely pumping the little amount of blood that was left in her body. Did I kill her? I felt like someone had just stabbed me in my heart. Would this be her brutal ending? I felt a horrible compression in my chest at my thoughts. They placed an inexcusable trust in me! I looked at her intently, waiting for another reaction with increasing desperation. She took an unsteady breath - the small cry of pain still present. I was devoutly thankful to whatever god had been watching over her this morning.