Thirsty

Part I: Too Far Gone

"My eyes closed, and I drifted."

It didn't seem like long before the sensation overcame the grogginess, becoming a rising inferno expanding throughout my veins, burning my nerve endings and retracting my muscles.. I jerked, and a scream ripped through my throat.

Fire coursed through my limbs at such a rapid rate I couldn't remember where it began and where it ended. My fingers locked into a fist, my fingernails digging into my skin so deep blood trickled through my knuckles. My eyes fluttered open, releasing a stream of tears down my cheeks, dripping through my lips as I cried. I was dying.

It was the only logical explanation. No one could live through this, this agony. No one could survive this. I twisted against a hard surface, my wrist thumping against wooden floors, wet with blood. This wasn't something people came back from. This was not tolerable. I was dying. I was dying. Dying. Dying. Dying. Please, let me die.

My lungs burned for air as I screamed, and the sound of a creature growling and moaning was like a thick, heavy whisper breathing in my ears. It seemed too shriek in agony, and the sound of flames bursting to life echoed against the walls. More voices, angelic and lyrical, seemed to glide through the chaotic tremors.

"Oh no, Bella, no!"

I jerked at the sudden anguish in his voice, and a fresh wave of flames tore through my skin like acid. I writhed under it's hold, screaming in agony.

"He bit her! He bit her!"

Let me die. Please, God, let me die.

"It's too much. We have to stop the bleeding."

"The venom, Carlisle! She's changing!"

I cried out. The fire. The fire!

"...she's too far gone, Edward. I wouldn't be able to get it out of her system without draining her."

I screamed again, desperately preying for the blaze to stop. Cool, strong hands pressed themselves against my arms, pinning me to the wooden floor.

"You have too, Carlisle! You have too!"

The voice, the calm, even one, seemed torn, "I...can't, Edward. I'm sorry."

"Edward!" I shrieked, arching my back and writhing under their icy grip. Tears burned at my lash line, and seemed to sizzle atop my burning skin.

His voice, like a perfectly white cloud in the center of a tornado, whispered in such anguish that my heart thudded all the faster, "Bella...I'm sorry. I'm...so sorry."

My heart was like a basketball, pounding against my chest so hard I thought I would burst. It simmered as though it were being boiled in hot water and, as the voices argued and conversed, I felt myself slipping away, into the depths of what could only be hell. The voices drifted into whispers, soon dying out, leaving me to the sound of my own heart racing.

Author's Note: The rest of this is finished. If you want more, review and I'll post the other two chapters.