Stephenie Meyer

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.

"'Bout time somebody scored around here."

"I'm not even sure she's really a vampire, let alone a newborn," Emmett called from under the stairs. "She's too tame."

This place was truly the highest and the lowest of all worlds — the most beautiful senses, the most exquisite emotions... the most malevolent desires, the darkest deeds. Perhaps it was meant to be so. Perhaps without the lows, the highs could not be reached.

"It was a miracle — more than a miracle — when I found you, Melanie. Right now, if I was given the choice between having the world back and having you, I wouldn't be able to give you up. Not to save five billion lives."

"I held you in my hand, Wanderer. And you were so beautiful."

"It's a strange world," I murmured, more to myself than to the other native soul.

"The strangest," he agreed.

"You. Are. Not. Leaving. Me." His eyes blazed — burning brighter than I had ever seen them, blue flames.

It probably wasn't very mature. But I figured it would take Aro about half a second to guess — if he hadn't already — that my shield was more powerful than Edward had known. [...] So I grinned a huge, smug smile right at Jane.

"You never know how much time you'll have."

"How do I look?"

Edward smiled. "Gorgeous, of course—"

"Yes, yes, she always looks gorgeous," Alice finished his thought impatiently.

I was all alone in my head — exactly what I had once wanted. It made me feel lost.