Note; This is a Twilight Fan Fiction that follows on from Stephanie Meyer's works. However, I have already posted another Fan Fiction that comes before this one. To understand the story it would probably be best to check out that one before you start on Frozen Flames. It is called; Burning Horizon. To all returning readers: HEY! Here it is. Hope you didn't lose too much sleep over the ending;) Just kidding. It wasn't that great.

Hey! Sorry this is a little later than expected, I totally forgot that I had said I'd put this up on Thursday. Following on from Burning Horizon and the cliff-hanger ending.

Twilight VI

Frozen Flames

Chapter One; Curtains

Jacob's body was burning hot and rough against my skin, whilst on my other side Edward's was satin smooth and a perfectly natural temperature. What wasn't normal was that Edward's hands were reaching around my body to try and snatch the wolf whose large muzzle continuously snapped on alternate sides of my face. Those jagged teeth were so close that I could feel the air rushing out of the way as they opened and closed. Amongst the madness I knew one thing for certain, those two could not – under any circumstances – be allowed to reach each other. Neither of them could die without someone else at least attempting to follow them, as much as I had tried to stop that sort of passion between Renesmee and Jake. Inside the house only a couple of minutes ago she had proved that nothing he could do would knock that relationship down, I doubted that him killing her father would affect it much either. Not the way Jacob made her feel like she was the most precious girl in the entire world. Somehow, though it felt completely impossible to at the moment, I knew that I should be glad that she had somebody who would care for her as intensely as Edward cared about me. Just in case the worst came to the worst, because when she had Jake, I knew she wouldn't ever be alone if everyone else disappeared. Nothing could stop him loving her, it should be amazing to imagine, but it seemed so far from it in my mind...

"Bella... please... move...you'll...get...hurt," Edward growled viciously between trying to dodge around me. It was surprisingly easy to continue to block his way because I knew that he wouldn't try anything ridiculous with me in the picture. No baring teeth or raking nails, no twisting back flips or reckless dashes to reach his enemy. On the other hand, Jacob would. His hard, angular jaw bone slammed into my hip and knocked me sideways a couple of feet. The one short second that I was out of my defensive position was enough for them to strike out. Instead of trying to intervene again, I was stuck watching on in horror. Hoping and praying that one of them would soon come to their senses before the other got a clear swipe at their throat.

Edward slammed his foot into Jake's cheek. It was only after staring in horrific awe that I realised that the bone was already an odd, distorted shape. Oh, his healing. It had been so fast that I had forgotten about the injury Edward had given him inside. All that remained of it was the slightly crooked shape and the disgusting congealed blood that covered his attacker's arms and shirt. I lost sight of Edward for a quarter of a second as he spun so fast out of the way of Jacob's claws that he appeared invisible. When he reappeared by Jacob's right side he wound his hands at an frighteningly fast speed into Jake's thick, matted fur in an attempt to throw the heavy body further away from me. However, as the muscles in his arm wound for the throw, Jacob jerked backwards causing Edward to fly through the air and smash into an old pine tree opposite me. The wood splintered, cracked and shattered – landing on the top of my snarling husband.

"YOU'LL REGRET THAT JACOB BLACK!" I screamed. My legs carried my forward at an amazing speed; I could even go so far to say that it was the fastest I had ever run - until I heard a strangled voice behind me.

"Help, please, don't touch - help."

I froze with one hand suspended in the air and twisted round to face where the noise came from. Renesmee was laid on her side with both hands locked around her pale, delicate neck. She looked awful! How exceptionally unobservant had I been today? How could I not have noticed how ill she was? I took two steps towards her until something painfully sharp dug into my shoulder. Two blurry seconds later and I too had slammed into a tree, face first. Agony ripped through my chest and down my arm, werewolf bite, not good. I screamed a skin-peeling scream – more in fierce anger than in pain.

"Bella, what the hell has he done to you?" Edward yelled. Jacob's strength had flipped be about 100 metres back into the forest, either it was increasing with age or he was really mad. I was most convinced on the second option. I touched my tingling fingertips to the open crack in my flesh but I couldn't bring myself to look at it, just in case what I saw was too horrible for me to bear. I had never been a great one for gore.

"I'm fine," I hissed to myself with gritted teeth, Edward would hear me. Unsurprisingly, he appeared by my side as I finished the last sound.

"Are you okay?" he asked, leaning around me to examine the damage.

I winced as my body fought to protect itself; my sharp venom was already rushing towards the damage to do its unbelievably painful work. Time to experience something that I didn't want to feel again...

"I'll be fine," I stated firmly, trying to avoid his eyes for fear of him understanding how much this was all shaking me.

"I'll make him regret that, I swear," he snarled, pressing his lips lightly to my cheek. "Stay here."

Stay here – as if! When would he get to grips with the fact that my humanity had gone? I was no longer fragile and totally incapable of protecting myself. I sprung up to my feet as quick as he did and shadowed his movements back towards the open garden. For once, he didn't even bother trying to stop me walking directly towards a threat. It was as if he was hoping for my control to slip and for me to rip open Jacob's stinking throat. As the trees opened up Edward's whole body rippled and tensed in anger and as I slid to his side mine almost mirrored his exact actions.

Jacob was nuzzling Renesmee's limp body with his snout, letting out strange ripping sounds as he did so. His eyes were wide and his pupils almost swamped them completely. She looked as pale as a corpse, only the sound of her breathing stopped me from falling down to my knees. My vision shone a fierce red as he placed one paw on her chest; those teeth were so close to her flesh, those claws resting on her skin, one second and...

"GET AWAY FROM MY DAUGHTER YOU MONSTER!" I screeched, running over towards them. Edward beat me of course, slamming into Jacob's body and setting off another burst of rough snarls, growls and snaps. The two of them flung each other away from Renesmee, clearing my route to enter.

"Did he hurt you Ness?" I asked, running over and placing both of my hands on her face. As I did so my shoulder burned angrily, protesting against movement, it would just have to grit its teeth like I was doing.

"No, he wouldn't, please, stop," she mouthed, only the tiniest squeaks of sound emerging from her lips. Her beautiful eyes were glazed over in an odd fashion, the waiting tears shimmering a little in the soft evening sun. Leaves flew up into the air around us as a gentle breeze blew. Why could she not be happy, why couldn't all of us be happy right now to complete the perfect picture? How had everything gone so wrong? Now was one of those moments where I wished that I had a time turner – something to allow me to relive the past, erase everything that has ruined what we had. Because we did have it, for four years we had managed to live as close to a perfect life as possible! I had never realised before that Renesmee had spent so living in a protective shell with us that everything would probably ten times more scary for her little mind. A little shiver ran down her skin as I touched her arm. For some reason, this made that spiky burning sensation of tearless crying return to the back of my eyes. Only a second later I heard approaching footsteps and out of sheer instinct my gaze flickered up and my body tensed to fight.

"Go Jacob, now, and I won't kill you unless I see you again," Edward shouted, backing slowly towards where I was crouched.

Protectively, I spread my arms out to the side to create some sort of barrier between Renesmee and the advancing wolf. Her eyes were now shut and I could barely stay standing again. Jake's expression was defiant and somewhat challenging like he was beckoning Edward forward for a scrap to the death. He needed a serious knock down and seen as nothing would work from Edward, I would have to serve up some words.

"Jacob you're ruining her life!" I whispered. "Please let her live a peaceful life. Unless all you want is your own happiness because you certainly don't make her happy. Not now. Not after what you did."

To my relief, some of the cocky glint faded from his dark eyes. More footsteps had started to sound behind us on the gravel driveway, there was no way that he would get what he wanted now...

Rose almost pushed me out of the way as she scrambled to reach her niece. Automatically she placed her hand over Nessie's chest to feel for that smooth rising and falling that signified life – surely she could hear the heartbeat, or maybe not over Edward and Jacob's snarls. Emmett paced to stand next on the right side of his brother with Jasper taking the left. Carlisle and Esme stood about ten metres behind the wolf, both of their faces furious and stone like. Alice was flitting around us all in a circle, stopping at different points and then quickly moving on like she couldn't decide where to be - protecting Renesmee, sticking with Jasper or getting ready to attack if things got sticky.

"Go Jacob," Edward demanded one final time. He was surrounded; there was no way of doing anything else other than complying with his orders without getting ripped apart. There was no way that he wouldn't understand that with vampires in all directions. With one final ear-splitting howl that echoed through the air for several seconds, he turned and shot into the forest leaving only a horrible smell behind. As his rusty fur disappeared into the darkness I looked down at my little girl. Her eyes were still shut, her mouth shut and I guessed that her heart was shut too, but that didn't really interest me right now because her breaths were short, strangled and sharp.

"Edward, Carlisle!" I choked in sadness.

They were both by my side in a second yet instead of Edward's hands shooting to where they were needed, he pressed them against my scorching skin, cooling it the slightest bit.

"She's fine, she just needs some rest and some care," Carlisle assured me. "Rose, will you go sort out the couch so she can go on there?"

"Of course," she whispered, springing up and vanishing inside. I could hear her rattling around in draws and opening cupboard doors almost instantly – muttering things as she went, mainly gruff insults. Carlisle straightened up and walked slowly across the garden to where Esme was still stood.

"Are you OK?" Edward asked as he left. How many times did he need to be told? As much as I loved him there were some moments where I wished that he would get his priorities the right way around.

"Why are you asking me that?" I asked, a little annoyed and very shaken up. My words probably came out a little harsher than I had wanted them to.

For a couple of seconds he eyed my shoulder and then lifted his head back up to me as if that was the simple answer.

"Should I not be concerned?" he asked in a way that sounded like he was really asking me my opinion.

I was speechless at his failure to understand me, at his sheer blindness to everything except me. But I didn't want to get angry at him, I couldn't, so instead of coming out with what was really on my mind, I just uttered "It doesn't even matter."

He nodded sternly, swung Renesmee up into one of his arms and wrapped the other around my shoulders as we walked swiftly back towards the open French doors. I couldn't stop myself taking one last look over my shoulder into the long shadows that the trees were now creating. No sign of anything, no lurking body or glimmering eyes, he was really gone. What I had seen there was not the Jacob I knew, nowhere near. Just shows how love could drive you to madness, it had totally wrecked him.

Rosalie had already completed her task with precision. She had dragged the ivory, leather couch across the room so it was positioned almost in the middle of semi-circle of chairs. There were four or five thick blankets piled on the floor and she had already set up the minimum equipment that Carlisle needed to hook Ness up to behind the leather back. There was also a large plastic tub of steaming water placed at the head of the couch with a white towel next to it. Then, lurking near the back wall was Carlisle's medical bag – something that I dreaded seeing from my human experiences. I hadn't realised quite how ill she was, Carlisle would not have asked her to bring out his medical equipment if he wasn't seriously concerned...

"Bella," Edward murmured anxiously. I realised that I had frozen in the doorway while he had continued on ahead. He was worried again about my health; maybe I should wrench my arm apart again and give him something to really worry about!

Calm, you don't really want to fight with him Bella. I told myself. So I had resorted to self reassurance in my head, everyone was going mad amongst the chaos.

"Sorry, just thinking..." I whispered, stepping over to the couch. I watched in silence as he laid her on the cushions and then pulled his bloody hands away.

"About what?" he asked, not looking me in the eye but instead staring sadly down at the battered girl that was his daughter while he dipped his fingers in the water.

"Everything," I answered - such a simple word with such complication behind it that it was almost unbelievable.

He bent down to pick up one of the throws with wet hands before tucking it gently around her thin body. She seemed so fragile; I could see the ridges of her bones beneath her skin, like she was draining away. I could barely stand looking at her.

"Would you care to elaborate for me?" Edward queried as he sat down on the cool floor. I slumped down next to him and with a deep sigh, begun to let the contents of my brain spill out for him – I couldn't resist his curiosity.

"There is so much to worry about my brain is buzzing. Aro will come back, after what we did to his coven there is no way that he will just let it drop without some sort of revenge. I can't bear the thought of anyone being punished for something that I arranged. Not you or Alice or anybody. One of his targets would inevitably be Renesmee and I don't think that she is strong enough to protect herself. Not now Jake's... elsewhere. If she can't even feel secure with us then how is she going to cope if he and Jane and Caius take her again in this state?"

"She won't need to protect herself; we'll make sure she's never alone." His face was stony and stern, but seriousness wouldn't be enough in this situation.

"She's four years old Edward and already she has faced being taken from her family, horrific torture, experiences beyond scary, nearing death, having to fight her feelings, arguing with her family." He flinched at that. "Excruciating pain and not knowing what the heck is going on in a whirlwind of things that she should not even know about. I can't stand knowing that we've dumped her into this out of our own careless actions and not being strong enough to protect her from all of it. What should have been the easiest part of her life has been ruined because I was so stupid! To add to it all she's already in some sort of crazy relationship with a boy about eighteen years older than herself and that boy is a supernatural, mythological, unstable creature who nearly took away her life and has now been sent away for as long as we live."

It felt good to let all my true feelings out. So good that my voice had raised itself so I was almost shouting, it was so rushed and vicious that Edward had backed away from me a little.

"Do you regret keeping her Bella?" he breathed. "Do you regret having our child?"

I choked a little in shock. Was that truly what it sounded like I was saying?

"Never!" I spluttered. "I will never regret having her Edward. I only regret letting her be so close to all this danger, surely there could have been an easy way to hide her away."

He shook his head slowly. "After the Volturi found out about her, there was no way that it was going to be possible to hide her in the shadows. That was of Irina's doing, not yours."

"If I hadn't exposed her to everything so openly then that wouldn't have happened. Anybody could have been out in that forest, anything could have happened to her at that age!"

"If Irina had not seen Renesmee, Aro would have undoubtedly found out anyway. Something as big and as new as her is impossible to keep from the lot of them - especially when a law break could be involved. Would you prefer her to have been able to play in the open air and develop happily, or her to have been stuck inside only being able to stare out of glass panes and dream about being let out?"

"You know my answer," I mumbled. "But what is going to happen to her now? What happens when she wakes up and someone has to tell her that she won't see Jacob again as long as she lives if we get our way? What if the venom never leaves her veins? What if...?"

"Stop," Edward interrupted, taking my face in his firm hands. "What is going to happen to her now is that we are going to take extremely good care of her and help her to get over everything that has happened recently. Carlisle is certain that the venom is draining out of her system, she'll be absolutely fine. I'll tell her about Jacob, or you can if you think she'll listen better, but nothing serious happened between them. After time, she'll simply forget. They did not have enough time to get the relationship that I had with you when I left, it won't be anything like that. And the Volturi, well, Aro took a hard hit and he won't be up from it in a while. I should think we have years."

"But when he does..." I whispered over him, letting the horrible images of another fight flicker into my mind.

"When he does," Edward said, sighing at my pessimism. "We'll have to cross that bridge, somehow."

"I can't stand another threat Edward, I just can't." I stared him in the eyes, trying to keep my mouth cemented shut so that no sobs would make their way out. His gaze dropped from mine and his mouth turned down a little in sadness. He brought my face, which was still in his hands, to his chest before dropping his arms to wrap them around my waist. It was a soft hug, one of comfort and one that relaxed me – ever so slightly.

"You may not regret becoming what you are now, but I certainly regret changing you. You should have stayed the fragile, beautiful human that you were."

My eyes stung, tears would have fallen if I had the ability. His words somehow sounded harsher in the soft tone that he used. I was about to apologize, or ask why, or let those sobs escape but he beat me to it, holding me to his chest while he spoke.

"You were not made for being thrown at all of this. You have the heart of a child still. If I had to change you at all, it should have been later - when you were ready. I shouldn't even have married you, as much as I desired to, because you truly weren't ready. You are so much younger than me Bella and you should be nowhere near this danger as well as Renesmee. To think I thought of this as a way of protecting you is heart-wrenchingly stupid..."

Compared to him I was young, but compared to my daughter I was nowhere near. He was right though, I was terrified. At every single thing that posed a threat I was instinctively petrified.

"I'm scared, Edward," was all I could utter...

"That's why I hate myself."

We sat for a minute in tranquillity. It was far from peaceful inside my head though. There were images of fires, smoke, enemies, eyes, bodies, blood, venom, darkness, torture and Aro, above all Aro, raging through my mind like a horror film. As if one beating wasn't enough, we were going to get another, and no one had a clue when.

"I can't hear her thoughts! I haven't for ages!" Edward suddenly blurted, dropping his hands and swivelling around to face the couch.

"My shields over her," I mumbled dully, turning around too. My shield had slid out by itself, moulding around the shape of the sofa behind me, but I hadn't protested. I would do anything to protect her now. "Oh."

Renesmee was awake, staring straight down through my body to the floor. Her eyes were blank and clouded. This was going to be nowhere near easy.

"How long have you been awake?" Edward asked with a hint of dread in his voice. I waited for a response from her, begging that she had only just awoken. No words came from her mouth; however, Edward answered his own question after a couple of seconds.

"Long enough," he breathed, turning to talk to me as if she wasn't there. "She's been awake since we sat down on the floor apparently."

So she would have heard everything we had said, great. As if she wasn't going to be mad enough with the both of us already.

"Are you hurt at all Renesmee?" I asked and after a moment of silence Edward hissed, "She isn't going to speak."

He pulled back the blanket so that it was only covering her legs and then retracted his hands as she shuddered. No longer was she ignoring both of us with her stare, her gaze that was now on her father was so cold that it could freeze an ocean solid. It disturbed him. I could tell that by the way his shoulders tensed and by the fact that he spoke no more words. Awkwardness silenced us all, my stomach was doing horrendous flips and my eyes could not settle upon one item. How Edward was managing to keep his eyes on her confounded me. I listened to Rosalie worrying away to Emmett in the garden and Jasper reassuring Alice that everything was fine as she flicked between visions. Could I not switch places with them, there was no one in a worse position than me at this moment; I would put a serious amount of money on it.

"Who's going to tell me about Jacob then?" Renesmee shouted, making me jump and Edward retreat a little. "Who was going to be lumbered with that task? Or should I just tell myself and save you the trouble of possibly upsetting yourselves?"

"You understand why," Edward said. "He's not stable-"

"I don't understand why! I don't get why you are both denying me everything! He hasn't done anything wrong and yet you were prepared to kill him there and then! I can't bel-" she stopped, gripping her throat with both hands.

"Are you okay?" I shouted, putting my hands on top of hers.

She jerked her head from side to side and sat bolt upright, whimpering and wheezing. My frozen heart seemed to be racing. Before Edward or I could shout out for assistance, Carlisle was by my side just as quickly as he had before. Much to Renesmee's annoyance, she couldn't push away the hand's that lowered her body back down onto the couch.

"Your fine darling, it's just the venom. Just relax, it'll make it easier for you to breathe," Carlisle told her calmly, replacing all the needles and pipes that she had ripped off before the confrontation.

"It really hurts," she squeaked, moving her hands down to cover her chest instead of her throat.

"I know," Carlisle whispered. "It should be out of your system in a couple of days, the shoots of pain are getting closer together. Is it around your heart?"

"Yeah," she croaked, immediately followed by three hoarse coughs. Edward placed the back of his hand on her red cheek that had flushed suddenly from cool and pale to hot and bright. This it seemed was a step too far for her. She used all the strength she had in her and shoved his hand away along with his other hand that was set on the couch supporting his body. Luckily, he managed to slam it down onto the floor before the rest of his body did, clamping his lips together to stop the insults brewing inside flowing out.

"Maybe you should put her to sleep for a bit Carlisle, she's not herself," he hissed as he jumped up and stormed out of the room.

"Do you want me to Renesmee?" Carlisle asked, wrapping his hands around her neck in what I guessed was an attempt to cool it down. She shook her head, panting.

"I'm going to follow Edward," I mumbled, standing up and beginning to make my way towards the door we had entered through. It was obvious that she didn't want me here. My heart was breaking. However, after a couple of slow steps Renesmee let out a horrific scream causing me to reverse at double the speed. Tears sprung from her eyes as she let out another strained screech.

"No, no, no, shh," I hushed, stroking her forehead. With a staggered breath I kicked Carlisle lightly with my heel, flashing my eyes down to my daughter when he looked up at me. He got the point of my aggressiveness and after preparing a syringe, slid it into her arm where his thumbnail broke the skin.

"Get Jacob back for me mom, please," Renesmee pleaded as she slipped into silent sleep. It seemed the best way to stop her pain, even if it was not what she wanted. Even though her screams had stopped I knew that she would still be able to feel it.
This was my entire fault, everything. The guilt was incredibly strong. Ruining her feelings was something that I never wanted to do.

Another thing that created horribly strong guilt inside my heart was that I swear that I saw a teardrop fall from Jacob's eye as he left, that one small tear of sadness was his entire mental life draining away.