“Believe me, I wanted to say. I've tried.Oh, and also, I'm wretchedly in love with you.Keep it light.”

“I lied, and I'm so sorry—sorry because I hurt you, sorry because it was a worthless effort. Sorry that I couldn't protect you from what I am. I lied to save you, and it didn't work. I'm sorry.But how could you believe me? After all the thousand times I've told you I love you, how could you let one word break your faith in me?”I didn't answer. I was too shocked to form a rational response.“I could see it in your eyes, that you honestly believed that I didn't want you anymore. The most absurd, ridiculous concept—as if there were any way that I could exist without needing you!”

“I've never felt normal, because I'm not normal, and I don't wanna be. I've had to face death and loss and pain in your world, but I've also never felt stronger, like more real, more myself, because it's my world too. It's where I belong.”

“How can I put this so that you'll believe me? You're not asleep, and you're not dead. I'm here, and I love you. I have always loved you, and I will always love you. I was thinking of you, seeing your face in my mind, every second that I was away. When I told you that I didn't want you, it was the very blackest kind of blasphemy.”

“I miss you," I whispered."I know, Bella. believe me, I know. It's like you've taken half my self away with you.""Come and get it, then," I challenged."Soon, as soon as I possibly can. I will make you safe first."His voice was hard."I love you," I reminded him."Could you believe that, despite everything I've put you through, I love you, too?""Yes, I can, actually.""I'll come for you soon.""I'll be waiting.”

“So this was different. I was amazing now - to them and to myself. It was like I had been born to be a vampire. The idea made me want to laugh, but it also made me want to sing. I had found my true place in the world, the place I fit, the place I shined.”

“But how could you believe me? After all the thousands of times I told you I loved you, how could you let one word break your faith in me?”