Noonday Sun: a Fanfiction Book

  Chapter 20, Raining Vampires

  The vampire smiled hesitantly at Mom. “I’ve been distracted. I should introduce myself. My name is Austin.”

  Mom tried to smile, but I saw the worry in her face. Jasper was at the hospital collecting monitoring machines. “I’m glad you got here before…” She left the sentence unfinished. What was there to say?

  Austin shuddered.

  Sarah was sitting up, but her shivering body didn’t look like there was much life left. She coughed lightly and then moaned, clutching her side. I wondered again how many ribs were broken.

  I hoped Jasper would hurry with the equipment.

  Dad came down the stairs. “Carlisle’s library has been rearranged. As soon as Jasper gets here with the x-ray machine and monitors, we can proceed.”

  Esme followed quickly with a comforter in her arms. She gently lowered it around Sarah. I could smell the down. It was light but warm.

  Sarah’s short blond bob was slick with sweat, and her gray eyes were full of pain. Esme carried another cup of grizzly to her. She greedily sucked on the straw. That seemed to be the only move she could make with any strength. She rested her head against the back of the couch.

  Emmett walked out the door when he heard the approach of his jeep. He and Jasper carried in the x-ray machine and monitors. Carlisle had arrived in the Mercedes. He followed them upstairs. He must’ve been making sure everything was in order.

  Within moments, Carlisle rushed back down. He approached Austin and quietly said. “I don’t know that’s it’s possible for a human to give birth to a vampire child without becoming a vampire herself. I’ll do the best I can, but we need to collect some of your venom, just in case.”

  Austin trembled. “I don’t know how.”

  “Edward will show you.” Dad led Austin up the stairs. I assumed he’d be collecting the venom.

  I shuddered and looked at Sarah. Would she live long enough for the venom to cure her?

  “Time to move you, I think.” Carlisle carefully picked up the fragile human and carried her up the stairs.

  Bella

  Time stood still. If a vampire could be in shock, that would be me.

  Seeing another woman living through what I had barely managed to survive made it all seem more real.

  Carlisle called from upstairs. “Bella, can you assist, please?”

  I raced upstairs. Edward and Carlisle were wheeling the bed to the X-ray machine. The whir of the machine was the only sound in the room other than Sarah’s shallow breathing and the un-rhythmic thumping of her heart.

  They didn’t have much time. Her heart couldn’t fail or she wouldn’t even survive this as a vampire.

  Austin was standing next to the wall, still as a statue. His panic was evident in his eyes. Jasper didn’t trust himself to be near the operation of a human. He had left the house. We would have to struggle through without his calming influence.

  Esme had brought up another cup of grizzly. Carlisle caught her eye and shook his head slightly. “She can’t have any more until after the operation. I can’t risk asphyxiation.” She nodded and headed back downstairs. I could hear the liquid sloshing as she moved.

  Edward moved to Sarah’s side and administered a shot of morphine.

  I didn’t dare tell him the morphine wasn’t going to have an effect on her pain if she had to transform into a vampire. Someday, I would have to tell Carlisle morphine doesn’t work on the pain of vampire venom. That day wasn’t going to be it.

  Sarah moaned quietly, and we all heard a loud crack. We looked at each other in alarm. Another bone. Which one?

  The X-ray was ready for viewing. Carlisle and Edward looked at the ribs. They exchanged a worried glance, and Carlisle pointed at a couple of the ribs. “Jacob, we need you up here.”

  I could hear Jacob running up the stairs. “What do you need?”

  Carlisle gave him a measuring look. “I wanted to show you these X-rays. This one is in danger of puncturing the right lung.” He looked at Edward, who nodded. He stared at the X-rays again. “Do you see the sliver that’s come loose over here? Any movement could cut into this artery.” We could see where he was pointing. It was the aorta. She could die before she would become a vampire. It was a miracle she wasn’t dead already.

  “Jacob, I know you don’t like doing it, but, as Ephraim’s heir, you’re the only one that can approve the creation of a vampire without breaking our treaty.”

  Jacob ground his teeth. I could see that he didn’t like the creation of a new vampire on his shoulders. He didn’t know Sarah. Austin might be an animal eater, but that was no guarantee Sarah would be. He looked torn. He sighed.

  We could all see clearly from the X-rays that the only options were death or the creation of a vampire. He glanced at me. I was still a living being.

  He shuddered. I knew Jacob. He didn’t want the death of someone on his conscience, but if he approved this, how many humans would be at risk?

  Another crack sounded in the room. “Jacob.” Carlisle’s look was intense. “We don’t have any time.”

  Finally, Jacob whispered, “I give you permission, as Ephraim’s heir, to transform Sarah into a vampire. This action will not affect the treaty.” He turned on his heel and raced down the stairs and out the door. He needed some alone time.

  Carlisle didn’t need to talk to Edward, but he knew Austin would want to know what they were doing. “The venom will need to be inserted carefully. This piece of bone must be missed.” Edward nodded grimly. This was going to be dicey. They looked at the x-rays again, memorizing the placement of the ribs, the fractured bone, and the splinters that could be fatal.

  I could hear the stifled, dry sob from Austin. Choking tears that a vampire couldn’t shed.

  I closed my eyes and prayed. I didn’t want to see this human die.

  Edward looked at Carlisle. “Should the venom be administered now or after the baby is born?”

  Carlisle spoke, again, for Austin’s benefit. Edward didn’t need Carlisle’s voice. “It would be best if we do them at the same time.”

  They looked at the x-rays. Death seemed written all over them. “Has the morphine taken affect?” Carlisle asked.

  I reached out and touched Sarah’s foot. It didn’t move. “I think it has.” I could smell the sickly sweet morphine in her blood.

  Carlisle handed out our masks and hats. Austin accepted his wordlessly.

  Sarah was sheeted and in position quickly. Carlisle looked at Austin. “How long have you been eating animals?”

  “Two years.”

  Edward and Carlisle exchanged glances. “Edward has your collected venom. I think it would be best if you waited in the hallway.”

  Austin nodded and quickly left the room. Carlisle was speaking for me. “We will have to work quickly. Edward, you have experience with the placenta. You work on the caesarian. I will inject the venom.” Edward nodded his understanding.

  He didn’t have time for a bikini cut. We all knew it wouldn’t matter, anyway. If she survived, the vampire venom would heal any cuts we made. He sliced her abdomen starting at the top of her stomach. Blood flowed from the neat cut. I worked as quickly as I could to sponge up the blood. I was holding my breath. I wasn’t as good at this as Carlisle and Edward were.

  The placenta was exposed and Carlisle was administering the venom. I heard the change in the heartbeat. It was slower like it was working to pump thicker blood. Edward was ripping through the placenta and had pulled the squirming baby out. “Esme please take the girl.” She rushed up the stairs to get the baby.

  “Austin, we need you in here.” Edward said quietly. Austin moved into the room. We looked warily at him to see if the flowing blood was going to be a problem. He seemed in control. “You need to bite Sarah in as many places as you can and seal the bites with your tongue.” Carefully, slowly Austin moved over her legs and arms. The tearing flesh sounded eerily in the quiet room. I noticed he paused every once in a while,
as if he was regaining control of his desire to suck the blood. Any more blood loss wouldn’t be good for her.

  We all knew that Edward could have performed this function better than Austin. He was giving Austin the opportunity to be Sarah’s creator. He had remembered how much it meant to me, as a human, to have my husband’s venom flowing in my veins and not someone else’s. This was Edward’s gift to Sarah.

  The last bite was on Sarah’s shoulder. Austin stood up, looking strained, and whispered, “Will she survive?”

  Carlisle put a comforting hand on his shoulder. “We’ve done all we can. Her heart sounds strong. I think she’ll be fine.”

  Edward was quietly taping the incision while they talked. The venom was going to heal it, but Sarah looked better without an open wound down her middle.

  We took off our masks. I took in a deep breath. The blood would need to be cleaned up.

  I ran downstairs to get the bleach.

  Austin followed me to take a look at his daughter. I stopped to admire the infant in Esme’s arms. She was beautiful. She had the strange gray eyes of her mother and her father’s dark hair. Esme was feeding her from the same metal cup she’d used for Nessie. I could smell the grizzly blood.

  Nessie and Seth were sitting on the floor. It looked like they were playing a game of UNO. Emmett was watching a game on the big screen TV.

  “Emmett?” He turned to look at me. “You might think about bagging another grizzly.”

  “Awww man.” Emmett groaned. “I just cleaned up Alice’s SUV.”

  I never thought I’d hear Emmett complain about being asked to hunt. I stifled a giggle. “How far will you need to go?”

  Emmett shrugged. “We made it past the Idaho border last time. I don’t know if I can keep a bear alive much further than that. I’d probably have better luck in Canada. If I was just hunting, that’s where I’d go, but I need to bring the bear back. Canada doesn’t take kindly to having its grizzlies poached.” He smirked. “They don’t generally check cars when you’re driving around the U.S. The blood is just for the baby, how much will she need?”

  Esme answered. “If it was human blood, we have enough on hand. I don’t know if the grizzly blood will fill her up the same.”

  Emmett nodded. We were in unknown territory here, and we all knew it.

  Leah’s babies weren’t even eating blood. We certainly couldn’t compare this infant to hers.

  “Well, an extra bear should do for a few days, anyway.” Emmett looked unconcerned.

  Emmett walked out the door and headed for Alice’s SUV. It wasn’t going to be a short trip. Rose was busy at Leah’s so there wasn’t a rush.

  Edward and Carlisle were talking quietly in the corner. Or rather, Edward was talking and Carlisle was thinking. These half conversations always left me feeling left out.

  Esme was cooing over the baby, who had finished a couple of cups of grizzly blood already. Nessie was sitting close to her and held a tiny infant hand in her long fingers, so like Edward’s.

  I walked upstairs with the bleach and found Austin stroking Sarah’s short hair. It was saturated in sweat, a product of her pain.

  She looked like she was resting, but I knew from personal experience that the morphine was only keeping her immobile. She was feeling every searing moment of pain the venom could administer.

  “I think Esme wanted your help with the baby,” I lied. I needed to have Sarah to myself.

  Austin started, as if he hadn’t even noticed I’d entered the room. “Oh. OK.” He whisked out of the room. If he was anything like Edward, he wouldn’t be gone long.

  I bent so my mouth was close to her ear. “Sarah.” I began and then paused, not quite knowing what needed to be said. I wasn’t even sure she could hear me. All I could remember at first was the unendurable pain and wanting my life to end. I hadn’t heard the movements of those around me until the morphine had worn off, but I had some small hope that she might be able to hear me somewhere in her subconscious mind.

  “Sarah, I know the pain you’re experiencing right now is beyond anything imaginable. I was there not so long ago myself. The morphine is holding you still right now. Austin won’t want to see you in pain. Screaming doesn’t help. The pain will recede, I promise. And then you can see your beautiful daughter. She has Austin’s hair and your eyes.”

  I stepped back, hoping my small speech helped. I would come back again before the morphine wore off. I would try to do what I could to help this fellow sufferer make it through the next couple of days.

  Austin arrived then, looking a little disgruntled. “Esme didn’t need anything.”

  “My mistake. I must’ve misunderstood.”

  He looked at me suspiciously then moved back to stroke Sarah’s hair. I didn’t think he’d be moving much until her transformation was complete.

  I quickly cleaned up the blood. The smell of bleach hung heavy in the air along with the sickly sweet scent of morphine in Sarah’s blood. I wrinkled my nose and headed back down the stairs. I put the bleach away and washed the bleach smell off my hands.

  I headed into the living room and wondered if Esme would let me hold the baby.

  I was surprised to see the infant in Nessie’s arms. She was looking at the sleeping baby with a half smile on her lips. My human heart would’ve turned over. I wondered suddenly if she would ever hold Jacob’s child in her arms. I quickly shoved the thought away and moved to sit down beside her.

  Nessie looked up at me. “Oh, Momma,” she breathed. “Isn’t she beautiful?” She stroked the downy hair with a finger then moved her arm back in cradling position. She was a natural.

  I smiled. “She is.”

  I wondered if the baby had a name preference like Leah’s children had.

  Austin wasn’t in any condition to be thinking about names, and her momma wasn’t going to be coherent for a couple of days. We’d have to wait for them. It wouldn’t be right for us to name her even if she did have a preference.

  I glanced at Esme. “How much is she eating?”

  “She’s not eating any more grizzly blood than Nessie ate of the human. We might not need Emmett’s bear.”

  I nodded then looked back at the sleeping baby. “We’ll bleed the bear, anyway. The blood should store for a couple of weeks. We won’t need to send Emmett out for a while.”

  Edward and Carlisle were sitting on the other couch.

  I looked at Carlisle and asked, “How are we going to keep a new vampire under control here?”

  Carlisle shifted uncomfortably. “Edward mentioned it was about time for us to move.”

  I pressed the point. “But where can a coven this size go with a new vampire in tow?” I paused, but no one seemed to have an answer, so I continued, “Do you think Carmen and Eleazer would mind taking the new vampire in?” The Denali clan had returned to Alaska the day before.

  “I’m not sure they’ll understand why we even did this. We could’ve let Sarah die, but it didn’t feel right.” Carlisle was pensive. “I will ask.”

  He picked up his cell phone and called. We all waited, anxious to hear what Eleazer would say.

  Just then, Alice and Jasper walked in. He knew his abilities were essential and the surgery that required his departure was probably finished. There were too many stressful events occurring for him to stay away. I was grateful for his return.

  Alice still looked rattled. Two big events had happened this week without her being able to see them.

  Jacob returned from his solitary walk right behind them.

  “Yes, Carlisle?” We could all hear Eleazer’s soft voice.

  “We’ve had a… situation here.”

  “Oh?”

  “A strange vegetarian vampire showed up with his human mate in tow.”

  “Hmmmm.”

  “She was expecting, and the infant broke several ribs. One of the bone fragments was dangerously near her aorta.”

  “Yes?” I could hear Eleazer’s brain working, trying to
figure out why Carlisle was telling him this.

  “We had to inject her mate’s venom to keep her alive.”

  “I see.”

  “Do you think you can keep the new family with you until she adjusts to being a vampire?”

  Silence.

  Finally, Eleazer answered, “I don’t know, Carlisle. I will have to consult with my family. I’ll call you back.” The phone went dead.

  We looked at each other in apprehension.

  “Great.” The word was an explosion from Edward’s mouth. We jumped at the sound. He glanced around the room at us. “Sam is coming with his bodyguard, Paul and Jared.”

  We heard the quiet footsteps cross the porch, then a loud knocking at the door. Carlisle moved to answer it, “Good evening, Sam. What can I do for you?”

  Sam brushed by, hardly acknowledging Carlisle’s presence. I’d never seen him be so rude to Carlisle. Sam’s eyes were narrow slits. “Where is she? Where is Leah?”

  “She’s resting comfortably.” Carlisle’s quiet voice answered from behind him.

  I couldn’t imagine why Sam had decided Leah was here in the Cullen house. Then I remembered that Leah and Nahuel had tried to come straight here and then moved on to Charlie’s place. One of Sam’s pack must’ve seen them come. I shuddered. Sue had been right to keep the birth a secret.

  Sam’s eyes found the baby nestled in Nessie’s arms. His eyes were angry slits. I could almost see the hair at the back of his neck rise up as he growled menacingly. His human growl wasn’t far off from his wolf one. Jasper jumped in front of the child and crouched protectively.

  Jasper’s peace permeated the room and Sam relaxed, but his eyes showed that he was fighting the feeling.

  Carlisle moved to stand with Jasper. Edward moved to Jasper’s other side. “She’s just an infant, Sam. She’s not a danger to the humans.” Carlisle’s voice was meant to be soothing.

  “A shapeshifting vampire is a danger to every human on this planet.” Sam said.

  Jacob jumped forward, almost snarling, his eyes narrow slits. Even Jasper’s power wasn’t enough to calm Jacob’s rage. “Are you saying any shapeshifter with a vampire mate is a danger to the community?”

  Sam’s eyes grew wide, and he backed away with his hands in front of him, a defensive posture. Jacob towered over him. Jacob was the rightful heir to the Alpha title, and it was clear at that moment which of the two wolves would win. Sam’s cower reminded me of a dog with his tail tucked between his legs.

  “Easy, Jacob. I wasn’t talking about you…”

  Jacob was calmer. Jasper’s influence was being felt. “You were talking about a member of my pack, Sam. You will not touch any infant born to a vampire in this territory.”

  I suppressed a smile. Jacob was covering a huge geographical area. It included Forks.

  Jacob looked around the room, as if he was searching for something. Maybe he was trying to organize his thoughts. Finally, his face took on a look of determination. “We have a situation here, Sam.” Jacob looked at him. “A human came here today heavy with a vampire’s child.” He glanced at the grouping of vampires in front of the baby. Sam’s eyes followed his, and Sam swallowed nervously.

  Sam could be impulsive. Maybe he finally realized he was in a house full of vampires with two enormous shapeshifters standing firm with them. This hadn’t been Sam’s most brilliant move. Obviously, the fear of a shapeshifting vampire had muddied his thinking.

  “She had a bone fragment half a millimeter from her aorta. Any CPR would’ve thrust the bone fragment into it. Carlisle’s medical opinion was that she was facing death. I couldn’t let her die, Sam.” He paused and let his words sink in. “She will be a newborn vampire in a couple of days.”

  Sam straightened up, taking on his cloak of authority. “My pack will be on alert, Jacob. If she hunts past the treaty line, she is ours.” He turned around and angrily marched out, joining the two huge werewolves that had remained outside.

  I shuddered. I wouldn’t have wanted Jacob to fight his brother-in-law. Paul and Rachel had been married in late June. The Cullens hadn’t been invited, but Jacob and Nessie were allowed to attend.

  Sam’s pack had an uneasy truce with us. Sam’s truce didn’t include the easy friendship of Jacob’s pack.

  A collective sigh sounded as Sam and his pack retreated. We knew they would remain on their side of the treaty line.

  Jacob sat carefully next to Nessie. He didn’t want to wake the sleeping infant. He put his arm protectively around Nessie. His expression was thoughtful.

  Edward broke the uncomfortable silence. “Jacob, you probably ought to call Sue and let her know what happened. She needs to call a council meeting to set clear boundaries for Sam. He can’t be threatening Leah’s children.” Jacob nodded and opened his cell phone. We listened as he explained the situation.

  Sue’s voice was clear. “I’ll call a council for tonight.” Hopefully, Sue and Billy would be able to convince Sam Leah’s children weren’t a threat. The fact that she was breastfeeding the infants would speak volumes to the tribe. These children weren’t going to be raised as bloodsuckers. They had Quileute blood running through their veins and Quileute milk filling their bellies.

  Sue had introduced Billy to her grandchildren on Sunday. She had called Charlie while they were fishing to give him the good news, so Charlie had stopped by with Billy before taking him home.

  The half-vampire children had enormous appeal to both the vampire and the human world. It was this same appeal that had decimated whole covens when they’d fought to defend the immortal children, but the half-immortal children grew and understood so quickly that they weren’t the threat to the secret that the immortal children had been.

  Billy left Sue’s house entranced with the children but troubled. He hadn’t known how he would broach the subject with Sam.

  The infant in Nessie’s arms stirred and opened her intelligent eyes. Esme had been watching and quickly approached with another cup of grizzly blood. She took the girl from Nessie and started to feed her.

  I walked back upstairs to check on Sarah. I could still smell the scent of the morphine, but it was getting fainter. I needed to have Sarah to myself again. I whispered, “Your daughter won’t know you. Esme is feeding her. I can keep watch for a minute, if you want.” Austin looked torn between his desire to remain with his mate and his desire to be with his daughter. He looked longingly at Sarah then walked out the door.

  Once again, I bent to Sarah’s ear and repeated my message about the pain. About how screaming wouldn’t help. This time, I added some more information. “When you wake, the searing pain from the venom will feel like it landed in your throat. You will need to drink, and that drink will be blood. In order for you to be with your beautiful daughter, you must drink only animal blood. Otherwise, you will be a danger to her. And you will be strong. Stronger that the strongest vampire. You need to be careful. You could even hurt Austin.” I could only hope my visits would help.

  I stood and waited for Austin to return. It wasn’t long before his steps whispered up the stairs. He couldn’t stay away from her long. This time, he carried his daughter.

  He talked quietly to her. “Grace, this is your mother. She loves you very much. She’ll be awake in a couple of days and she can hold you then.” He continued to talk to his daughter and I quietly left the room, hoping that his words would be true.

  As far as I knew, I was the only vampire who’d woken up and been able to hang out with humans the day after my creation. I hoped my little visits with Sarah would prepare her for the same kind of birth. One that didn’t involve consuming human blood and, hopefully, would include the ability to care for her daughter.

  As I walked down the stairs, I heard Carlisle’s phone ring. I rushed down the last few steps so I could hear what Eleazer had decided. Carlisle looked puzzled. “It’s for you, Bella.” A furrow formed between my brows. I couldn’t imagine why Eleazer would want to talk to me.

 
I put the phone to my ear. “Hello?”

  “Hi, Bella” It was a female voice. “This is Kate. Can you please undo your shield? I’d really like to feel like a whole person again.”

  “Okay?” My voice rose in a question. I’d completely forgotten about shielding Kate. I stared at the phone for a minute, as if it could answer my unasked question. How can my shield be working still? She is in Alaska, for crying out loud. I closed my eyes and thought for a moment. I hadn’t even noticed the little light that glared into my conscious as I thought about the shield. Kate’s light disappeared.

  “Are you unshielded now?” I heard Garrett yelp and then curse. I giggled. “I’ll take that as a yes.”

  “Bella,” Kate breathed, “How are you doing this?”

  “I-I don’t know. I didn’t even know you were shielded. I completely forgot about it.”

  “Wow.”

  That’s how I felt. Wow. I can’t believe she’s been shielded since Sunday. When she left to play croquet, I forgot about the shield. She must’ve, too. Kate doesn’t normally go around zapping people.

  “Ummm, Kate?”

  “Yes,” her voice still sounded wobbly with shock.

  “Do you know what Eleazer has decided about the newborn?”

  “Actually, that’s why I called. They are welcome to stay with us a while. Grizzly are plentiful here, as you know. That should keep her newborn appetite in check. I was making sure my power still worked and it was like I was turned off.” She paused a moment, as if still not quite believing the shield could work over such vast distances. “I’ve never heard of anything like this, Bella. You’re… amazing.”

  She hung up the phone then and I lifted my eyes to eight pares of stunned eyes. Edward whispered, “You kept her shielded all the way to Denali?” He shook his head in disbelief. “How are you doing this?”

  “I don’t know, Edward. Remember that newspaper article I was telling you about?”

  He nodded.

  “It made me wonder about my shield and if my shield could act like… like an antibody. Antibodies work without any conscious control at all. They just run around inside the body and attack anything they’ve already met and know is dangerous. I thought that, maybe, my shield could act the same way. It appears that it does, in a way. I have to concentrate to put my shield where I want it, but it looks like it won’t be removed unless I decide to remove it myself.”

  “Wow, Mom.” Nessie was impressed. Jacob looked as shocked as I felt.

  “Denali. Awesome.” Seth was as amazed as everyone else.

  Jasper looked thoughtful. He was the warrior in this family. I wondered if he was suddenly re-thinking our odds in a Volturi battle.

  Edward was clenching his jaw, so I was suspicious I had guessed right. He didn’t like to think about my battling the Volturi.

  A cautious knock sounded on the door. Carlisle threw it open. To our utter astonishment, a strange male vampire, his sandy hair cut into a crewcut, his eyes the same topaz as our own and a short strawberry blond female standing next to him, was standing with his hand raised to administer another knock. She was obviously pregnant, but wasn’t as far along as Sarah had been. She was still standing. That was our biggest clue.

  We all stared at each other, alarm showing clearly in our eyes. What could this mean? Vampires just didn’t do this.

  I looked at Edward. He had his head in his hands. I knew he didn’t want to perform another delivery. Labor and delivery wasn’t something either he or Carlisle had specialized in, and creating new vampires was dangerous in more ways than one.

  Jasper was crouching protectively in front of Alice, as if this visitor was a threat beyond everything we’d seen this week.

  Esme’s face was distraught.

  Jacob’s look of stunned disbelief would’ve been comical if I hadn’t been sharing the same look. Seth’s mouth had fallen open. I hoped he’d remember to shut it sometime that night.

  Nessie was shaking her head, as if the apparition at the door could disappear if she just willed hard enough.

  “Ummmm. Hi. I’m Jaron and this is Lily. Is this the home of Dr. Carlisle Cullen?”

  Carlisle nodded his head numbly. This was beyond anything he was prepared for. One was an anomaly. Two was an oddity. Three? In one week? What was happening here? This was a population explosion like never before seen. He could hardly get his voice to work. “I’m Carlisle. How can I help you?”

  I shook my head dazedly. What were we going to do with Sarah?

  From the looks of things, Lily had a few days to go. Maybe Carlisle could safely deliver a pre-term half-immortal child without damage to the baby or the mother.

  Edward moved over to Lily. Jaron hissed threateningly and moved into a protective crouch. I’d seen Edward in this same position defending me.

  Edward held his hands up a moment, as if to show he wasn’t dangerous, then said quietly, “I’m a medical doctor. I’ll be assisting Carlisle. I just need to check things out.”

  Hesitantly, Jaron straightened and stepped aside so Edward could get by. Edward listened quietly for a moment and then stood up. “I think we can safely deliver.”

  Jaron looked suspicious. “How can you tell? She can’t be more than a few weeks…”

  “These things happen fast.” Edward looked at me. “Trust me. I know.”

  He waved his arm in my direction. “This is my wife, Bella. My daughter, Nessie, is over there on the couch next to that hulking beast.” His smile at Jacob took the sting away.

  Carlisle continued the introductions. “My wife, Esme,” he nodded at her, “my daughter, Alice, and her husband, Jasper. Seth is sitting on the floor and Jacob is the one sitting next to Nessie.”

  Lily’s human voice sounded assured, as if she was as comfortable here as she would be in a house full of humans. “Nice to meet you.”

  I hid a shudder. She might not be so happy we met if things didn’t go well.

  Jasper was rising out of his crouch. He and Alice moved so Lily could sit down.

  Carlisle was curious, “Where do you come from?”

  “I’m from Ohio. Lily is from Kansas.”

  “That’s quite a distance. Where did you meet?”

  “I was traveling through Kansas. They have a big deer problem right now, so the deer are plentiful.” He smiled down at the woman. “I met Lily while I was hunting.”

  There was a collective gasp in the room. How could Lily be alive if he met her while he was hunting? It seemed an… impossibility. What vampire could ever resist the draw of human blood in the middle of a hunt? And yet, I had done it—as a newborn.

  Maybe this power of mine wasn’t a power at all. Maybe a lot of vampires could resist the draw of blood. Tanya and Kate had learned on their own. So had Carlisle. Even Jasper had grown tired of dining on human blood.

  A vivid image of Peter and Charlotte, Peter telling Charlotte to run as Jasper was preparing to kill her, filled my mind. I wondered if Peter had created Charlotte himself.

  Maybe this strange behavior we were seeing, maybe the love Edward and I had, wasn’t so unusual in this strange vampire world.

  When James had decided her blood was to his liking, Alice had been created by a vampire who had loved her enough in her human form that he had created her so her blood would no longer be a draw. He had then willingly died for her. James himself had told me about Alice the day he was preparing to kill me.

  I was seeing more patterns here than I’d ever thought possible. I snuck a look at Jaron. He looked down at his beloved Lily with all the love and devotion I’d ever seen from Edward’s eyes. I’d experienced love as both a human and as a vampire, and I knew without a doubt that my love as a vampire was stronger than any human could imagine.

  Perhaps the ability of Edward and me to conceive had given the vampire world a different approach to their vampire/human relationships. They were given a hope that their physical need for their human lovers could be met without killing them and witho
ut the need to turn their mates into vampires.

  Surely this rash of pregnancies had some catalyst, and I had to think that the catalyst had been us. The fifty vampire witnesses at the Cullen/Volturi incident wouldn’t have kept quiet. Whispers of what had happened would have made their way around the globe.

  Without an explanation, I ran upstairs to once again have a one-sided chat with Sarah. All these pregnancies would mean nothing if Sarah woke into a raving mad newborn and went on a killing spree. This time, I didn’t even care that Austin was in the room quietly standing next to her with Grace sleeping in his arms. I didn’t have any time, and we would need to be moving Sarah soon.

  The morphine scent was very faint now. I knew she’d be able to start moving her muscles. Her ability to scream wouldn’t be lost in a few moments. Her screams wouldn’t help any of us.

  “Sarah,” my voice was quiet but urgent. “This is important. Please pay attention. I know you’re burning. I know the pain is an exquisite torture. When you wake, your throat will burn with this same torture. You will have a thirst beyond anything you could possibly imagine. You will burn for blood, and the sweetest blood you will ever smell will come from the humans. You must fight this scent. Hold your breath. Run away. If you cannot control your appetite, you will not be able to hold your beloved Grace. She wants to meet you, Sarah. Be strong. Be still. You will get through this, I promise.” Austin stared at me in astonishment. There was no time. I whisked back downstairs.

  I had only been gone a few moments. Lily looked unbelievably healthy for a human carrying a vampire. She looked up as I descended the staircase. “What have you been eating?” I asked.

  “Jaron has been hunting for me. Deer mostly.”

  My brow furrowed. “How did you know what to eat?”

  Lily and Jaron exchanged an amused glance. “I took a survivalist course in college last year. During my camp, it had rained like crazy on the first day and my matches wouldn’t work. It’s amazing what you can eat when you’re starving, so I’d eaten raw meat previously. When I started craving it, I just thought it was one of those weird pregnancy things.” She smiled at her mate.

  “So what, exactly, were you doing when you met Jaron?” I asked.

  “I work for wildlife services. I was counting the deer population. The numbers were down for some reason and they needed a count before they issued deer permits.” She giggled. “I didn’t know we had a resident exterminator.” Her eyes grew dreamy. “I never thought watching a deer die would be so fascinating.” She looked at Jaron.

  He laughed outright, almost preening. “And I never thought I’d hear such frank admiration in the word ‘wow.’”

  “I saw him down the deer. I was amazed, thrilled, and terrified all at once. Mostly thrilled, though.”

  “The wind was the wrong way or I would’ve smelled her. When she said ‘wow’ in that amazing voice of hers, I turned to look at the most beautiful creature I had ever seen.” He reached for her hand and kissed her fingers softly.

  “And we’ve hardly been apart since.” Lily smiled up at him.

  I remembered well the first time I’d watched Edward hunt. I had the same amazing reaction, but without the terror. I was already a vampire by then.

  Nessie’s eyes were wide with wonder. She’d never heard a love story like this one. I don’t think she’d bothered to look at my life book yet. Someday she might be interested in the love story of her own parents, and someday, she might appreciate her own love story, the one that had started before she was even born…

  Carlisle and Edward exchanged glances. I could see the hope on their faces. If there was a human pregnancy that would have a good ending, this would be it. Lily was in glowing health. The baby hadn’t started to break any bones yet. The child seemed mature enough to be healthily delivered. This mother would survive.

  But there was always a chance that something could go wrong. Edward turned to Jaron. “To be honest, we haven’t had a successful human delivery of a half immortal child yet.” Jaron looked shocked and stared pointedly at me. Edward continued, “By successful, I mean having the child and mother come out of it unharmed.” He paused to let his words sink in. “In every case so far, the mother has had to be transformed into a vampire.”

  Jaron and Lily exchanged an uneasy glance.

  Carlisle jumped in, “It would be in Lily’s best interest for you to have some of your venom ready, just in case.”

  A look of extreme distaste flitted across Jaron’s face. He calmed himself, then asked, “How do I collect my venom?”

  Edward stood up. “I can show you, and I already have the syringe.” Jaron followed him up the stairs.

  Carlisle turned to Jacob. “I have every reason to believe that this delivery will turn out fine. The mother and baby are in good condition. We have Leah’s delivery as a model to follow. However,” Carlisle’s voice was grave and a pleading look entered his eyes, “if something goes wrong, I don’t want this to break our treaty.”

  Jacob closed his eyes for a moment. He was feeling the weight of the responsibility. Life or death? The risk of an out-of-control newborn or the risk of forever denying Jaron his mate? I knew Jacob was carefully thinking through all the possibilities. It had been a little easier with Sarah. We were all staring death in the face.

  Lily was a harder choice. Everything looked great. Did he really want to give permission for something when the likelihood was small?

  I saw the change on his face and wondered if he was thinking of his Nessie and how he would feel if she was torn from his embrace—forever.

  He opened his eyes and nodded. “I, Jacob, as Ephraim’s heir, give you permission to save the life of Lily, even if it means creating a vampire to do it.” He thrust himself off the couch and rocketed out of the house. Seth followed close behind.

  Carlisle turned to Alice. “Do you mind if we use your room for Sarah? She’ll need the bed for another day or two.”

  “Not at all.” Alice brightened. “Maybe Austin will let me dress her.”

  Esme and I smiled. This was such an Alice moment.

  I followed Carlisle up the stairs. Edward was overseeing Jaron filling the syringe with the collected venom.

  Carlisle whispered our plans to move Sarah to Austin. He handed the sleeping infant to me and picked up his beloved Sarah. He quickly moved her to Jasper and Alice’s room and put her on their bed. I looked at her still form and knew she was suffering an immeasurable agony. I hoped my speeches had helped. If they hadn’t, the whole house would be rocking with the power of her tortured screams.

  I headed downstairs with the sleeping infant in my arms. I needed some time with Lily.

  She was talking quietly with Esme and Jaron when I walked down the stairs. I walked over to Nessie and handed Grace to her, then I caught Lily’s eye. “You’d probably like to know where the bathroom is.” I thought that would be the easiest route to getting her alone with me.

  Her look of relief was instantaneous. “You know it.” She stood to follow me, and we were soon down the hall by ourselves. She stared at me in surprise when I stepped into the bathroom with her and quietly shut the door.

  I could only hope my whispers wouldn’t be heard by the distracted vampires. “Listen, Lily. This is important. If something goes wrong,” I stopped and shuddered. I couldn’t help myself. “the morphine won’t stop you from feeling the pain. If you get enough morphine, it will hold you still until it burns off. That’s only a few hours.”

  She looked at me, wide eyed. I don’t think anyone had told her how painful the transformation would be. “You haven’t met Rosalie. She’s my husband’s vampire sister. She was created by Carlisle just like he was. They were dying and it was the only way to save them.” At her startled look, I could tell she thought Carlisle had created a whole army of vampires. I assured her, “Carlisle doesn’t create a vampire every time a human he’s working on is going to die, though. He’s only created four vampires in the few hundred years he??
?s been alive.”

  I paused and made sure she was listening. “Becoming a vampire is the most painful experience you will ever have. It is beyond anything a mortal could survive. Yet you will survive it to become immortal.” My voice was grave. “I know you love Jaron,” she nodded vehemently, “and you wouldn’t want to hurt him. You must not scream. It would torture him. Rosalie told me before I became a vampire that the screaming doesn’t help. Nothing helps. You might as well burn in silence. It will keep Jaron sane while you’re going through the transformation.”

  My eyes narrowed. “The other thing I wanted to talk to you about is what happens after your transformation. The burning of your body will settle in your throat. It is very painful. Indescribable. You will thirst for blood, and the sweetest scent, the most alluring scent you will ever come across, will be the scent of human blood. If you smell something indescribably sweet that feels like it will cool the hot burn in your throat, you will know that is the scent of a human. Hold your breath and run away. If you can’t control your bloodlust, you will be a danger to your child, and you will not be allowed near your baby.”

  I paused a moment, letting this information sink in. “Another thing you need to know is that you will be strong—stronger than any vampire you’ve ever met. Until you’re a year old, you need to be very careful. Even the other vampires can be hurt by you.”

  Lily’s eyes were wide. “How do you know all this?”

  “My baby is just four years old.”

  Lily gasped. “She looks like she’s fifteen.”

  I nodded. “These half immortal children grow fast, even in the womb. That’s why you’re already so big.”

  Lily looked alarmed at the thought of her child growing up as fast as mine had. I understood her fears. “The half immortal children reach full maturity around the age of seven. After that, they quit changing. The only other half immortal I know, Nahuel, is over 150 years old and looks like a young adult.” Relief washed over her features.

  She looked down and gently patted her stomach. It looked as though she had grown while we’d been talking.

  I put my cold hand on her shoulder. She flinched at my touch. “My greatest desire is that everything will be ok. You look great. The baby is fine. But, just in case, I wanted to talk to you before you go into delivery.”

  Lily smiled weakly, and I left the room. I felt better after having talked to her.

  Carlisle and Edward were waiting in the living room. They looked almost light hearted. They’d delivered three half immortal children in the past few days and Leah’s delivery had gone well. There was no reason this one wouldn’t go just as well.

  It was a happier group that ascended the staircase than the one earlier in the afternoon.

  We donned our masks and hats, then Carlisle hooked up all the monitoring equipment and inserted an IV. Lily was prepped quickly for surgery.

  Jaron stood in the room, quietly standing a few feet away from the hospital bed. If he could have enough control over himself not to eat her while he was hunting, he certainly wouldn’t be a danger in the operating room.

  Edward paused a moment. “If something goes wrong, you’ll need to insert the venom here.” He indicated the spot right above her heart. The syringe was sitting on a small table close to the bed.

  Carlisle looked at Edward. “Did you want to perform the incision?”

  “You have more experience, Carlisle.”

  I could see the crinkle of amusement around his eyes. “That’s debatable.” Carlisle moved into position and he made a neat bikini cut. This was closer to a standard human cut. The half immortal infant was still small. Carlisle hadn’t even bothered to x-ray Lily. The child wasn’t big enough to break bones.

  Edward sponged and I quietly took the soiled pads and replaced them with sterile ones. The operation was going smoothly.

  Carlisle exposed the placenta. “Jaron, this is your part.”

  They’d already coached him, so he moved over and the strange screech that signaled the tearing of the placenta filled the room. Carlisle pulled out the infant. “It’s a boy.” He smiled and handed him to Jaron.

  I breathed a sigh of relief. Everything was going as planned.

  Lily had a bleary smile on her face as she looked at Jaron holding their small son. He looked perfect, like a small rusty-haired replica of the infant we’d pulled out of Leah just a few days before.

  I looked back at Carlisle. His eyes were full of horror. “She’s bleeding out.” He whispered to me. “Bella. Get the Oxytocin now. It’s in my black bag. I need this uterus to contract. I can’t stitch her up.” I got a brief view of her uterus as I flew over to the bag. It looked like a pile of bleeding pudding. He couldn’t stitch her up like this. “Edward, clamp those blood vessels.”

  In all the rush, none of us noticed when Jaron gently laid the little boy on his mother’s chest. His natural instinct to bite took over.

  I looked through the medicines in Carlisle’s bag and handed the Oxytocin to Edward, who had a syringe ready. He pulled it out and injected the medication. A few seconds, that’s all we needed. The uterus responded and started to contract. A few more seconds. Please. Carlisle’s eyes filled with relief. He started to stitch the uterus.

  Then we froze and looked at each other in horror. The sound of Lily’s heart had changed. It sounded like it was pumping slower, the blood was thicker.

  Carlisle closed his eyes for one split second. “No.” He whispered in horror.

  I whisked the boy off his mother’s body and Edward grabbed Jaron’s syringe and plunged it into Lily’s heart. Her son’s venom was already changing her, but the change was quicker the way Edward had done it. One less day of that excruciating pain. He’d already explained exactly what to do to Jaron. Although he didn’t understand what had happened, he could see that something had gone terribly wrong. Obediently, he worked from her legs up to her shoulders. Biting, tearing, sealing.

  Three vampires stepped back, our bodies jerking with unsheddable tears.

  We had been so close. Success was at our fingertips. How had this happened? I carried the small infant downstairs. He was hungry.