The day had begun so well.

Every day begins well now. Every day begins when the sun rises on me in bed with my beautiful wife. After all those years I spent alone, I don't think that I can ever have enough mornings with Bella.

This morning we watched the sun rise together and she sighed, "I have to get up, sweetie. I'm going out with Esme and Alice, Rose and Renesmee. It's a girls day out."

I hummed my frustration into the back of her neck, "can I come?"

Bella sniggered, "are you a girl?"

"An honourary girl," I tried, "just for today?"

She laughed at me, "no, Edward, no girls day out for you. How about tomorrow we have a Masens day out, just the two of us?"

"I would like that, with just one slight change."

"Of course, what?"

"Let's have our day today and you can have your girls day tomorrow."

Bella didn't laugh again, she rolled out of my arms and off the bed. "Don't pout," she said, "you knew that this was planned. I'm sure you'll have fun with your brothers, and Carlisle and Jake."

She went into the bathroom for a shower.

"Can't you at least take Jake with you?" I said, "it's awkward when he's here."

"I would have expected you to like the idea of Renesmee and Jake spending the day apart," my lovely wife replied from the bathroom, calling over the sound of the water.

I scowled. She was right, of course, I did quite like the idea of splitting up Renesmee and Jake for the day, but not enough to like the idea of spending the day with Jake myself.

Things had become tense between Jacob and me recently. There was something I didn't like about the way he was with Renesmee now. And, I don't think he liked it very much either. Having me hearing his thoughts was awkward at the best of times, but, right now, while his relationship with my only daughter was in flux, it had gone beyond awkward and entered unbearable.

Alice had tried to warn me before they left, "something's going to happen," she said, "I think it's connected with Jake, I can only see flickers. But it looks really bad, Edward. You've got to be careful."

I scowled at her, looking at the images in her mind, "there's so much interference, it doesn't mean anything," I said.

Alice stomped her little foot, "you can see as well as I can; it looks like you're in trouble. Please, Edward, change the course you're on."

I sighed and tried to humour her, "alright, Alice. I'll be careful, I promise."

"Edward! You don't mean that. Nothing's changing at all."

"Maybe I can't change it until I know what it is," I offered, "I will look out for trouble and I will steer well clear."

She wasn't satisfied. Alice could tell that I wasn't taking her warning seriously. But, she obviously couldn't think of any way of making me listen better. She was irritated with me when the girls left.

Nobody planned on leaving me and Jacob Black alone together, not even for a second. But, I snuck away from them all, back to the blessed silence of the empty house, just needing a few minutes to clear my head, and, when I left through the back door, Jake was there, come looking for something to eat.

"Er, Edward, I didn't know you were in here," he said. But what he was thinking was much more unpleasant. Don't think about last night, he was telling himself. Don't think about her lips. Definitely don't think about her lips on your . . . Oops.

"Sorry," he said out loud, "I was really trying not to let that picture in my head. But, you know, it's like trying not to think of an elephant."

I scowled at him, "you are disgusting, I wish you would keep your hands and your eyes off my daughter."

He smirked. Keep my hands and eyes off her, we could make that work. Nessi quite likes blindfolds . . .

I growled a warning.

"Come on, Edward, it's not like I can help it. You know how imprinting works: I become whatever she needs me to be. I love her like this because she wants me to. Basically," he winked horribly, "this is all down to your daughter's dirty mind."

So I tried to kill him.

I'd wanted to kill him before, of course. I'd fantasised about it. Though it seemed a long time ago to Jacob, all those nights of panic and fury felt like yesterday to me. He was so close - so terrifyingly close I couldn't breathe when I thought on it - so close to taking my Bella from me. He wanted to take away the light of my existence, and he nearly managed it. How could I forget her running off to be with him? How could I let go of that image of him kissing her? It was always there, crystal clear in my mind, every detail as precise as ever. No memories, however terrible, ever left my mind.

And now, now he was after my daughter. Now it was my precious, miracle child that he wanted. Now she was running after him. Now he was filling his head with pictures of her kissing him: a mixture of memories, plans and longings, but always my daughter in his arms. First my Bella, now my Renesmee.

It wasn't going to keep happening. I was going to destroy him before he destroyed me.

With a primal roar, all the barely suppressed rage rose up and burst forth, and I leapt.

He may be a werewolf - well, shape shifter who looks like a wolf - but I am older and far more experienced. Jacob Black has never stood a chance against me. He never knew how much danger he was in, teasing me, mocking me, challenging me! Now he will know.

There aren't words for what I did. Hitting, tearing, biting: it was all those things, but they are not the core of it. I was a vampire attacking an enemy. It's a feeling, an action, not a sequence of words. It felt as though my heart was beating again. It felt as though, as I destroyed my rival, his life filled me, brought me back to life, but not as a human, rather as a superhuman, living vampire. It should have been the pinnacle of my existence.

Except I couldn't finish. I was grabbed from behind. In my excitement, I had missed Emmett's approach. He wrapped his huge hands around my arms, trying to spin me around, and put himself between me and the dying wolf.

Emmett had a grip of me, but I could read his intentions and see where his grip was weakest. It was child's play to slip from his arms.

At that moment, Carlisle and Jasper came into view, I hesitated. Fighting Emmett was one thing, pushing my way past Major Jasper Whitlock was quite another.

That brief hesitation was enough for Emmett.

"Calm down, Ed," he said, grabbing me in a headlock, "get a hold of yourself."

He grinned at the others, "I've got Eddie boy," he said, "you see to Jake."

Carlisle ran to the dog's side, "Jasper," he said, "fetch my bag."

Jasper barred his head in acknowledgment and ran off towards Carlisle's office. I wasn't going to get a better chance to finish what I'd started.

One again, I slipped Emmett's grasp, and he cursed loudly. I ran towards Jacob, determined to make the most of this last opportunity.

Carlisle stood up, but it was easy to dodge him. Suddenly, Jacob was within my grasp.

But, then before I could grab him, strong arms grabbed me once more and dragged me away. I might be able to outrun Emmett, I could even outwit him on a good day, but he would always be stronger than me.

"No, you don't," he said, "you're coming with me, Eddie my lad."

Jasper was back, running past us to Carlisle's side, handing him the bag and looking Jacob over for himself.

"His arm," I heard Jasper shout, "hang it all, Carlisle, the boy bit him!"

Carlisle growled in frustration, in his mind, I saw him rush through every conceivable outcome. Then he said, far calmer than he was feeling, "I'll have to amputate."

I saw Carlisle's words coming, and used Emmett's shock to escape him a third time. I wriggled free from Emmett's restraint and he snapped.

He moved so fast I didn't see what he was thinking before he did it. It was an instinctive move: the best kind to use against me.

By the time I heard him thinking how much I reminded him of his baby brother, he had me bent double over his knee. At the same moment as he thought to himself that what I needed right now was a good walloping, I felt the first burst of pain as his hand snapped down on my backside.

"Yow!" I heard myself scream out in surprise. I might have been prepared for a fight, but that was not the same thing as being prepared for a swat on the rear.

I couldn't fight against this. It felt different.

Spankings were something that I got occasionally - when I was completely out of line and Bella thought that I needed a firm boundary - and when Emmett's hand cracked down on me, it reminded me of those. I stopped fighting him and tensed up. My body recognised this position and this sensation. This meant that I had been naughty. All the times that I had been disciplined added up and insisted that I submit now. My body knew what to do during a spanking, hold position and take your punishment.

But, however similar it felt, this was not a proper punishment session. This was my brother grabbing me without any authority. I did not want a smacked bottom and I most definitely didn't want to get one at Emmett's hand.

He brought his hand down hard, again and again. His hand was huge, easily covering my entire seat with each swat. Emmett had hit - literally - on the ideal way to hold me still. There were consequences to messing about during a spanking. I was now so well-trained that I was finding it hard to work out how it would even be possible for me to move right now. I would have to wait until my spanking was over, and I knew that it wasn't my place to decide when that would be.

Meanwhile, Carlisle was trying to soothe Jacob, "I'm sorry," he said, "but we have to remove your arm before the venom spreads. I can give you a little morphine, but you'll probably burn it off fast."

Jacob's mind was shockingly clear, all he was thinking about was Renesmee, and this sudden possible chance of staying with her. "Hurry," he panted out.

Carlisle agreed, there was no time to waste. He tied off the arm with a tourniquet, hoping that would keep my venom from spreading. He gave Jacob half the morphine he had and he began to cut.

Emmett seemed caught up in the rush, dealing harsh smacks as if he thought we had a time limit too. After the first half dozen, I managed to stutter out an objection, "Em, stop! Hurts!"

It didn't have the desired effect, the next handful of smacks were even harder. Emmett was the strongest of all of us, and he was angry.

"Supposed to hurt," he muttered, "teach you a lesson. We do not hurt family."

I didn't think it was worth pointing out the irony of the situation: Emmett laying into me as hard as he could in order to teach me not to hurt family members. I knew the difference perfectly well. I had been completely out of control and given into my rage; Emmett was deliberately administering a traditional spanking to my rear. Besides, however much this hurt me right now, I was going to fully recover in a day or so. There was no such prospect for Jacob.

Emmett was remembering his baby brothers from his human life. He'd doled out a few spankings to unruly boys, and knew just what he was doing.

Without really considering it, he tugged my slacks down and started spanking me over my underpants. I cried out at the loss of my protection and dignity and Emmett made a satisfied grunt.

He worked fast, ensuring that there was never a long enough pause between swats for me to gather my thoughts and wriggle off his lap.

Carlisle was right and Jacob's metabolism quickly burnt through all the morphine. His cries mixed with mine in the air.

But, while my yelps were reaching a crescendo as Emmett continued to punish my already sore posterior, Jacob's cries tailed off into a puppyish whimper as Carlisle finished the operation and the burning pain disappeared with Jacob's arm.

Once he'd reduced me to a whimpering child, felt me sag against him and give up struggling, Emmett stopped my walloping - as he thought of it - as suddenly as he'd begun, and stood me back up on my feet.

He pulled my trousers up, without ceremony, letting the fabric drag against my raw skin. I was snivelling and hiccuping, and Emmett's face didn't cheer me: I had never seen him look severe before.

"I expect Bella will want words with you," he said, "you'll put your nose in the corner and wait for her to come and deal with you."

I obeyed instantly, having no idea what Emmett would do with me if I hesitated, and even less desire to find out.

In the corner, I let myself have a little sob at my embarrassing predicament, and reached back to rub my sore rear end.

Emmett put a stop to that with a sharp rap on the back of my hands, "arms straight by your sides," he ordered, "you are in deep disgrace right now, young man."

I mumbled a wet apology and didn't move again.

I saw a rather unpleasant image flash through Emmett's mind of him using a belt to take me properly to task. He dismissed the idea as soon as it came to him, reminding himself that he had no authority to thrash me and he might be able to help Carlisle.

Now that I had been successfully subdued, the rest of the family ignored me. They concentrated their energies on calling the women back and soothing Jacob, leaving me to stew in my solitary thoughts.

In case Carlisle thought of some miracle cure later, Emmett put Jacob's arm on ice. But nobody held out much hope of that.

"Rose," Emmett was saying, "you need to come home, straight away, it's Jacob . . ." from where I was standing, I couldn't make out Rose's answer, "Edward hurt him pretty bad . . . he's here; he's doing everything he can. Just hurry home."

"Do you think the venom spread?" Jasper said.

Carlisle sighed, "I'm afraid I don't know. Jake, do you still feel it burning?"

"There is one way to be sure," Jasper said hesitantly, "but it is a little unorthodox. If I could taste . . ."

Ignoring the very natural grimace of distaste - could anything be more disgusting than the suggestion of drinking wolf blood? - Carlisle said, "you can't, Jasper, even if you were trying to drink, just the touch of your teeth would poison him . . ."

"I wasn't thinking of biting him," Jasper said, hesitantly, "I was thinking of, well, bleeding him . . . then drinking that. Sorry, Jake, I just . . . If there's any venom left in your bloodstream . . ."

Emmett couldn't contain his laughter, "Jazz, that is gross," he said, "if you're that thirsty, maybe you should look in the woods for a badger or something."

Jacob gave a snort, "help yourself, " he said, in a pitiful attempt at his usual voice.

Carlisle must have agreed because, after a few footsteps - fetching a cup, I suppose - I heard Jasper apologise again, then Jacob gave a slight gasp of pain and the smell of his blood was refreshed.

There was a splashing noise then a slurp and a splutter.

"Well, you taste as bad as you smell," Jasper said, and Jacob chuckled weakly, sounding like a much older version of himself. "But, I can't taste Edward's venom at all. I think we were in time."