Jacobs POV

I heard the scream before anyone else and recognized it at once. It was Bella. The bloodsucker must have made it to the beach sooner than we thought. Damn it. This couldn't be happening. I pushed myself faster, not willing to let that leech get her. I had sworn to protect her, and protect her I would.

Sam picked up on my thoughts and was soon running beside me. As we both picked up speed I could hear the other close behind us as well. We all knew this was our chance to finish this. I was the only thinking about Bella. The others were just focused on killing the leech.

Head in the game Jake. Sam thought in his Alpha tone.

What did he think I was doing? I was in the game. Bella just happened to be the main focus of the game at the moment. Did he even understand how close this was going to be? What damage Bella might be suffering right now because we screwed up.

She's more clever than we thought, Jake. If anything happens to Bella you can't give up on this. We're a pack, and we all have to be in on this. Sam wasn't using his Alpha tone anymore; he understood what it would do to me if anything happened to Bella because of our slip up.

When the beach finally came into view I couldn't believe my eyes, I wished that I wasn't really seeing what I was seeing. I somehow managed to push myself faster than ever before. The leech was escaping, but that wasn't my focus right now. Bella was lying, lifeless, on the beach below the cliff. She couldn't be dead. I wouldn't allow it. I changed and ran on foot the rest of the way.

"Bella! Bella, no!" I yelled as I ran towards her. "Sam, what can we do? I think she's still Alive!"

The bloodsucker ran into the water so we couldn't chase her. Sam immediately split the pack up and sent some up the beach and the rest into town. He knew I wasn't going to leave. Her heart was still beating though, that was good.

"The bloodsucker bit her Jacob. She's changing. We have to kill her, now, before it's complete. It can't happen, I'm sorry Jacob." Sam was still in his Alpha mode.

"NO! I won't let you!" I couldn't believe he was saying this. It was Bella. She would still be Bella after right? Wasn't her being a bloodsucker better than nothing? It had to be. I couldn't lose her.

"Jake." Bella mumbled, obviously in immense pain. "Jake, make it stop please. Jake it hurts so bad!" I looked back at her and cringed. She was a mess. I couldn't help her. There was nothing I could do. I also knew that they would kill her after she was changed. It wasn't a maybe situation, it was a now or later. I couldn't let that happen. Maybe she could run. I could buy her enough time. I looked at her again. Could vampire venom fix damage that extensive? She looked pretty bad. I had to hope.

"Jacob, we can't let this happen." Sam said in his Alpha tone. This was a command. He wasn't going to let her change; he wasn't planning on letting it go that far. I could feel the Alpha command on my shoulders, trying to make my listen. Then I realized that I didn't have to listen. I was the rightful Alpha of the pack. I could make the rules. I didn't want to be the Alpha, but it was the only way to protect Bella.

"And I can't let you kill her." I retorted with what I hoped was my strongest Alpha tone. I could tell it affected him more than his affect me. He knew what was happening.

"You're going to destroy our pack for her Jacob Black?" Sam said, trying again to use his Alpha tone.

"No Sam, I'm not. I'm just not going to let you kill her. You're not going to." My tone affected him once more, and he knew this argument was over. I had won.

"Good luck with this Jacob. You're going to need it." Sam said staring me straight in the eyes. With those last words he left. And I had no idea what I was going to do. What had I done? I was going to destroy the pack.

Bella let out a scream and I was brought back to the realization that I needed to protect her, and help her. As long as she needed me I would be here. So I gently scooped her up and carried her into the forest, running as fast as I could. I knew I couldn't take her to the hospital, that was out. Charlie's house was also, definitely out. There was no way I could take her back to the reservation, they would kill her. The only place I could take her was away from people, I had no idea what to expect when she was changed. I knew that I definitely shouldn't be here when she was done, but I couldn't bring myself to leave her. Even with her screaming in agony and covered in blood, she was still the most beautiful girl I had ever seen. I loved her, I couldn't leave her. I had to tell myself that she would still be Bella. There was nothing I could do now except protect her.

We finally arrived in a little clearing next to the rock face. I gently laid her down and went to search for spruce bows to lay her on. I made a little bed and a make-shift hut and carefully moved her inside. All the while she was twitching and screaming in pain. It was pure agony to have to watch, knowing there was nothing I could do. I suddenly remembered poor Harry Clearwater and his family. In one day, Charlie Swan had lost one of his best friends and his only daughter, of course she wasn't dead, but as far as he would ever know, she was.

I grabbed Bella's hand again as she let out another blood curdling scream. "Bella, I don't know how to stop this. I don't know how to help you. But I'm here Bells, I'm not leaving." I squeezed her hand once more in confirmation. "I'm here honey, I'm doing my best. Please don't die."

I knew she wasn't going to die. Well I didn't know that, but it seemed that she was getting better. Her face seemed to be changing; the scrapes were disappearing before my eyes. I must be going insane. How could she be getting better? Even if she was getting better, she wasn't going to make it out of this human, I knew that much. I also knew I should be leaving. She would probably be thirsty when she woke up, she would probably want to kill me. No, I couldn't think that. She would know it was me.

Just then she let out the worst scream I had heard yet. No, she was definitely not getting better. It seemed things were getting worse for her. This was worse than it appeared. All of the sudden her heart kicked into overdrive. What was happening to her? Was she having a heart attack? Was the venom too much for her?

Bella became very still as her heart beat one last loud beat. NO! No, she couldn't be dead. What had I done? I should have taken her to the hospital, our stories did say that the venom was poisonous, maybe it meant in the worst way, maybe it was killing her and I had done nothing to stop it. As I began to stand her eyes fluttered open.

She wasn't dead, not in the literal sense I guess. I had no idea what to do. Should I change? She wouldn't hurt me would she?

With speed that astounded me, Bella threw herself towards the rock face. She had he back against the rocks and was ready to attack. At first I was so overwhelmed with happiness that she was alive that I couldn't move. Then the fact that I was standing face to face with a vampire in my human form clicked in. I was toast.

Bella's POV

I was really disoriented at first. It seemed that I would be burning for much longer; it didn't seem to be ending. It was amazing how much I could see. Everything was in such detail; it was hard to believe I didn't see this before. I laid there for what seemed like quite a while just staring at all the detail around me, of course it couldn't have been more than a few seconds. Out of the corner of my eye, I caught a movement. My instincts kicked in just then and I flipped myself backwards so my back was to the rock face. I scanned around for what had moved. Then everything clicked, I had all but forgotten about Jacob, my best friend, who had sat with me while I was burning. I vaguely remembered his desperate plea for me to make it through.

"Jake?" I tried to make my voice as soft as I could, I didn't want to scare him, he was probably disgusted with what I had become. I was now a leech. I was so focused on trying not to hurt him when I realized that he should have changed by now. Why wasn't he in his wolf form trying to fight me? Why...ouch? My throat felt like I hadn't had a drink in years. I was parched, but I knew that wasn't a thirst for water. It wasn't safe for me to be around Jake right now, even though he didn't smell very good at all. In fact, he downright stunk. He didn't notice my hesitation; my mind was so fast now that it took merely milliseconds to think things through.

"Bella? Bells, is me. Please don't hurt me. I swear I don't mean any harm. And I'm sure you could find something better to eat." Jake was pleading with me. He really did think I was a monster. He didn't seem angry though, or even sad, just, worried? I couldn't help it, I had to giggle.

"Jake, I'm not going to hurt you...well I don't think I am. Honestly, you don't really smell that good." It amazed me how easy it seemed to be to tease him.

"Well, maybe you should go, hunt or something. I don't really want to be your first meal." Jacob said with a smile. This wasn't my smile, or even Sam's, it was different, forced.

"I think that's a good idea. I'll be back in a bit. You'll still be here when I get back, right?" It bothered me that I was unsure where I now stood with him. Things had always been easy for Jacob and I, but now I was in unchartered waters, what was going to happen now? I made myself focus, one thing at a time. I had to hunt, the burn in my throat was getting worse, and even though Jacob didn't smell like dinner, I knew I couldn't ignore the loud, wet thumping of his heart.

"Don't worry about it Bells. I'll be fine." This time the smile was mine. He meant it.

I took off running. I wasn't really sure how I was going to do this. I didn't know what I had to do. I did know though, that humans were out of the question. I was far too close to home and what if I was to run into Angela, or Jess, or Charlie. Charlie. The name tweaked something inside me. This was going to destroy him. What had I done? Was it possible that I could risk a chance to see him? No. I couldn't. I was sure that the pack would tell him I was dead. I was so selfish. Poor Charlie. I would look out for him though, as best as I could. And, maybe interfere, show up, make him happier, show him I'm fine. No, that was definitely out of the question. Who knew how much control I had.

When I found a heard of elk, I figured it was the best place to start. They didn't smell very good either, but I didn't have any other options at the moment. I followed my instincts. I just crouched and ran at them. By the time I was done I was a mess, worse than I had been before. I didn't know how long I had been gone, but it couldn't have been long, and I was feeling sort of sloshy. So I decided I should go back and find Jacob. Sure enough, he was there waiting for me. Still in his human form, he was sitting cross legged against the rock face. I moved as slowly as I could to go and sit beside him.

"Jake, what happened? How long was I, out?" I asked gently.

"Three days. After that bloodsucker got you, Sam wanted to, um, well he wanted to kill you." He stuttered on the last part, I knew he had a hard time saying those words. "So I brought you up here. I couldn't leave you. To be honest, I wasn't sure if I should move you, you seemed to have broken your back. You were all twisted in weird ways, but I didn't know what else to do. But I knew that if I left you there, they would get you, or Victoria would come back to, well, you know. Then when I got you up here, well I felt so helpless. You kept screaming." Jake cringed again, I knew this was hard for him to talk about. "Then I didn't know if you were getting better or worse. You looked like you were getting better, but then your heart started racing and...here we are." Jake mumbled as he trailed off. I was remembering that scene from another point of view. I remembered how the fire got worse in those last moments. My last human moments.

"Jake, I don't know how to thank you. For everything you did. I can't believe you stayed, I would have thought you would have been disgusted." I cringed at the reaction I had expected.

"It wasn't your fault Bells. It was her, it wasn't you choice." I felt a twinge of guilt as I remembered the choice I had once made, but I couldn't tell Jacob this, not now. "And you should be the one apologizing." He continued "It was my fault. I should have been there to protect you, and I wasn't. And now this is my fault."

"No Jake, it's not." I tried to make him stop feeling so guilty, but he seemed so sure it was his fault.

"Bells, I, well I can't stay here with you. I'm sorry. I don't want you to be alone, but, I mean, we're enemies now, right? The pack needs me...I guess. I can't just stay with you forever." Jake mumbled, he was trying hard to hide the tear I saw escape down his cheek. My heart was breaking too, if an already broken, dead heart could break again.

"Jake, Jacob, please. Please stay. I know you have to do what your pack needs you to do, but can't you come back?" I whimpered. I couldn't lose him. Now that I had lost everything, I couldn't lose the last piece of my miserable little world. My eyes started to sting and I was fighting back broken sobs. I guess this was crying in my new body. I guess Jacob could read the pain on my face because I could see it echoed in his. All of the sudden I saw a spark in his eyes that I didn't quite understand.

"You know what Bells? There might be a way. You're sort of like, an honorary Cullen right? Opps, sorry, I guess it still hurts hey?" Jacob said as he tried to pull my hand from my waist. He didn't even seem to pull away from the cold texture of my skin. "I didn't mean to hurt you, what I meant was, you can claim their land for them. Then the pack can't touch you. You could stay there and I can visit. It works right?" Jake finished with a smile.

I wasn't sure if I could do it. Go back to that house. Live in that house. Reality seemed to be mocking the dreams I once had.

"Yeah, good plan Jake." I said with as much enthusiasm as I could gather. I wanted this to work.

I stood outside the house for hours, just working up the courage to walk up the front stairs. I wasn't sure if I could go inside. This was stupid. I was immortal now, invincible, more or less. I stepped gently onto the first step, trying not to make a sound, which was stupid really, there was no one around to hear me, no matter how loud I was. The next step was easier. I took the next steps in a hurry only to come to an abrupt stop in front of the door. Well, I had taken the first steps, all I had to do was open the door. And open the door I did. I vaguely remembered being here months ago, and wondering which would have been worse, if the house was empty, or if everything was left untouched. I quickly discovered which was worse. On the landing, covered in dust, was Edward's piano. A broken sob burst through my lips. This was definitely worse.

I had no idea how long I had been sitting at the piano. I didn't even know how long I intended to sit there. This was a bitter mockery of the life I had once wanted. Here I was, sitting at the piano of my fickle Romeo, in the house of the family I was once so desperate to belong to, as the creature I had dreamed to be. Life wasn't fair. I honestly didn't know what to do now. What was I supposed to do, sit around and wait till Jacob could find time to visit me? I couldn't stay here. As much as I wanted to have Jacob with me, I shouldn't have him risking his life by keeping me from being alone. I didn't know how much control I had. The odds of me slipping up around him were probably pretty good.

The pain started to get overwhelming. I laid my head down on the piano keys, ignoring the sound it made, and wrapped my arms around my chest. I would have thought that nothing would have been worse than the burning, but I was wrong. The hole in my chest was so much stronger being in this house, so close to the family I lost, than the fire ripping through my veins. As I was wallowing in my pain, I heard a car turn down the windy drive towards the house. It was too fast for a human, but I shouldn't get my hopes up. It was probably just Jacob. I heard the car stop and a car door open and close. I couldn't bring myself to move, I hoped that Jacob still had the power to calm the hole. The mystery visitor flew up the front stairs, I realized it wasn't Jacob. The front door flew open and I heard the figure fly up the stairs and stop. I had to look up, my instincts were fighting against the pain. The visitor jumped over the railing in a crouch and let out a snarl. I looked up to see the most beautiful face I'd seen in what seemed like forever.

"Alice!" I yelled as I jumped at her and tackled her to the ground in a bear hug.

"Bella?" Alice asked in confusion. "What on earth is going on? You should be dead, but you're, a vampire? What happened? She changed you?"

"Wait, Alice, what are you doing here?" I was trying to piece everything together, but it just didn't make sense, this couldn't be random.

"I saw you jump and Victoria attack. I came here to see if Charlie was okay, I knew it was too late for you. I never imagined that, this!" She exclaimed, frozen in shock.

"Shouldn't you have seen my change then?" It didn't make sense, she should have seen Jacob stop Victoria. "Why didn't you see Jacob save me?"

"Jacob?" She asked. She was obviously mad about having missed something this important.

"He's my best friend. Him and his pack ran Victoria off, but not before she bit me..." I trailed off, I couldn't remember much, the human memories were cloudy.

"Jacob? His pack? Bella, you're going to have to explain this in a bit more detail." She whispered in a strained voice.

"Well, you see, Jacob is sort of, a werewolf. I can't really remember it all Alice, everything before my change is hazy." I was straining to remember my last human moments.

"Bella, only you would find the next greatest danger when the vampires left. You said he saved you?" Her little face puckered in frustration.

"Yes, he took me to the forest, to protect me from the pack, they wanted to kill me when they knew I was changing, but Jacob wouldn't let them, so he took me somewhere safe. He protected me even though I was changing into something he hated." I trailed off when I realized that he would see this as a betrayal, choosing Alice over him.

"Well this all seems really ridiculous." She started to laugh, and then she paused. "Edward?"

I froze. No, it couldn't be. He wouldn't come back for me. But maybe...no. I stopped that thought in its tracks, this was just going to bring more pain. He jogged in with a horror struck look on his face. My human eyes and human memories had not done him justice. He was even more beautiful than I could have ever imagined, even with his face contorted in, pain? That couldn't be. Maybe something had happened to the family?

"Alice, what's going on? Rosalie called; she said Victoria got to Bella." He seemed to be choking on his words. Just then his eyes met my gaze and his face flashed from confusion, to shock, to relief. Then with a speed that caught me off guard he ran towards me. My instincts kicked in and I was on the other side of the room in a flash. The pain returned to his face as the realization of my rejection hit. That couldn't be it, he left me. He didn't love me anymore. Then a fuzzy human memory of my last moments hit me.

"You seem to be underestimating our kind Bella. We love once. This will hurt him." Victoria had said to me, moments before she bit me. Maybe I was. I wanted it to be true. But now I was beautiful and immortal, surely he would want me now.

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