“From upstair there was a new sound the only thing that could stop me in this endless instant, a frantic pounding, a racing beat, a changing heart.”

“I'm gonna fight for you, until your heart stops beating.”

“Until your heart stops beating, Bella," he said. "I'll be here-- fighting.”

“It takes a few days for the transformation to be complete, depending on how much venom is in the bloodstream, how close the venom is to the heart. As long as the heart keeps beating, poison spreads, healing, changing the body as it moves through it. Eventually the heart stops, and the conversion is finished. But all the time, every minute of it, a victim would be wishing for death”

“Could a dead, frozen heart beat again? It felt like mine was about to.”

“Funny how it kept hitting me, like each new thing was a surprise. When was I going to stop being surprised?”

“And the sound of your heart," he continued. "It's the most significant sound in my world. I'm so attuned to it now, I swear I could pick it out from miles away. But neither of these things matter. This," he said, taking my face in his hands. "You. That's what I'm keeping. You'll always be my Bella, you'll just be a little more durable.”