Laurent bit Bella in the meadow. . .

Chapter 2 Oh…..Sorry!

EVERYTHING WAS SO CLEAR.

Sharp. Defined.

I could plainly see each illuminating ray of sunshine coming from the sun. I could see every color of the rainbow in the rays of light, and at the very edge of the spectrum, and eighth color I had no name for.

Beyond the sun, I could easily distinguish each tiny leaf on all the small branches of every insignificant shrub nearby. Looking around, I saw that I was in an unfamiliar forest and, as I was taking the scenery in, I remembered that I was not alone. I looked first to my right, that was where I last remembered Jake being. He was still there.

As my gaze met Jacob's eyes and I could see his full face, I went into shock. He was so beautiful, that for a moment all I could do was to stare at him. This moment seemed to last for hours when really it was all less than a second after I opened my eyes. And as I looked upon Jake I finally took my first breath of air since my heart stopped beating. Air whistled down my throat, swirling bits of pollen into a vortex. The action immediately felt wrong. I considered this, and realized the problem was that there was no relief tied to the action, not to mention the horrid smell of wet dogs drowning me with such a powerful scent that it burned. Nonetheless I knew now that I didn't need the air. My lungs weren't waiting for it. They reacted indifferently to the influx.

And as I took that first breath of air, a few things happened all at the same moment before I could finish inhaling.

The first being two pairs of sweltering hot hands was pinning me down to the ground. Then just as my body felt these strange hands restraining me, my new vampire instincts took over.

Air hissed up my throat, spitting through my clenched teeth with a low, menacing sound like a swarm of bees. Before the sound was out, my muscles bunched and arched, slightly twisting away from the unknown. My body was trying to break away from the strange restraining hands but, the two pair of hands had an amazing strong hold on me. This made me want to break free even more. As my body started to push against the hands, I could feel this new strength flowing through out my body, I felt invincible.

I gathered all of the power I could get and within a split second my body sprung free from its restraints. I then spun around so fast that everything should have been an incomprehensible blur-but it was not. I saw every bit of pollen, every blade of grass, every stone and pebble on the ground, every single twig in microscopic detail as my eyes whirled past them.

Less than a sixteenth of a second later I was crouched low and was ready to pounce onto my enemies. The venom in mouth was swirling about and just ever so slightly burning. As my body was getting ready to spring into action, it was then that I looked once again into the face of Jacob Black.

Oh. Of course my Jacob. He was just trying to protect himself, from me. Jake is not the threat, I am.

I held my pose for an eighth of a second longer, adjusting to the scene before me.

Jake was standing a few feet away, his arms raised as if to embrace me or rather restrain me. Jacob's jaw was clenched tight and his eyes were full of caution, not fear, and this above all surprised me. Shouldn't Jake be terrified of me if he knows what I have become, and at this thought all the millions of questions I had but could not ask while I was burning, returned to me.

Yet I knew my questions had to wait a while longer so I slowly stood up.

Even as Jacob's face recaptured my attention for the third time now; I was using my peripheral vision to catalogue everything else, just in case. My instinct to defend had been triggered, and I automatically searched for any sign of danger.

I looked to my left and discovered that the unknown male voice that was with Jake was not and unknown male at all. It was Seth Clearwater. Seth was in a similar pose as Jake but his face showed more fear than anything else. I let my nostrils flare as I took in another breath but I instantly regretted it. The stench of wet dog was impossibly stronger than ever! Then to make matters worse I could feel the heat coming from Seth and Jake's bodies. My throat burned in response. I decided then that it would be best if I stopped breathing for a while.

Still all of this was a sideline, what with all this extra room in my head. The greater part of my senses and my mind were still focused on Jacob's face.

I had never seen it before this second.

How many times have I looked onto Jake's face while we were inside his garage or out by the beach sitting on our log?

I may as well have been blind.

For the first time, with the dimming shadows and limiting weakness of humanity taken off my eyes, I saw his face. I gasped, which of course meant I inhaled more of that horrid stench, where was that coming from anyways? Though I noticed that this time the scent didn't bother me as bad as the last. I suppose that I was getting use to the smell. I figured if I was gonna have to deal with the smell eventually, so rather sooner than later. Despite the fact that I didn't have to breathe, I liked it.

Still with all of this passing in only a couple of seconds, I wanted to speak with Jake, yet I was at a lost for words. I couldn't figure out where to begin. So I continued to stare at Jake's face, I was motionless again. Like a statue, exactly like a statue.

Then after what seemed for a never ending second Jacob finally broke the silence.

"Bells?" he asked in his deep husky yet somehow magical voice.

I could not answer immediately, lost as I was in the silkiness of his voice and the beauty of his face. His voice was the most perfect symphony, a symphony in one instrument, an instrument more profound than any created by man…….

Back in my days as a human I could only think of one voice that would sound so beautiful as Jake's , and that was Edward's voice. And as a small part of my now large mind thought about Edward; I realized that I could now go back to all my memories of Edward and the rest of the Cullens and I no longer felt that hole in my heart. I felt like I never had a hole at all, as if the hole had never existed. The part of me that was still in love with Edward, the part that was still clinging onto him, the part that had me doing reckless things just so I could hear his voice inside of my head must have been a human weakness.

Suddenly Jake spoke again, pulling me out of my reverie.

"Bella, I know you are upset that we had to restrain you but we had to do it, I'm sorry. But I am gonna ask that u chill out and not attack us. I know you have every right to be mad at me for the way that I have been acting lately , and I am so so so so so sorry that we weren't able to save u in time from that bloodsucker. I'll understand if you will want to finish me off, but first I'm begging you just to give me the chance to explain myself."

What!? Is he really asking me for forgiveness? He is pleading with me to explain, he defiantly doesn't have to plead with me to explain anything, I WANT explanations! Yet how could he blame any of this on his self! This is all my fault! I should be apologizing to him! In more ways than one. I just didn't understand anything. I was so confused I wasn't sure how to respond.

So my mind spun out yet again, spiraling back to my last human hour. Already, the memory seemed dim, like I was watching through a thick, dark veil-because my human eyes had been half blind. Everything had been so blurred.

I remembered Laurent biting me and was bout to finish me off, then he was suddenly gone. I remember hearing some strange sounds……and we were in the meadow but now as I look around this forest looks nothing like the one's back in Forks or La Push. So where are we? How did we get here? Who or What stopped Laurent. How did Jake and Seth get so strong. What day is it? How long was I burning? And where in the hell is that damn wet dog smell coming from!?

And what about Charlie? He must be going insane with worry. But what would I tell him if I had the chance to talk to him? What did he think has happened to me? I certainly cant see him in person ever again, I couldn't risk his life like that…

As I deliberated for one small piece of a second over which question to ask first, Jacob reached out with his hand to take my own hand in his. This time I was a bit more prepared to what his touch would feel like.

Jacob's skin was smooth as satin, soft as a feather and holy crow! He was HOT! Of course I must have felt freezing cold to him, but I couldn't help but to wonder if he should feel this hot to me? I know Edward would say my skin was hot compared to his but surely he couldn't have meant this hot, could he? Is this what I felt like to him? Or am I a freak among freaks and I'm the only extra cold vampire in the world! Ugh! It would be just my luck as well.

And as Jake held my hand his touch seemed to sweep beneath the surface of my skin, right through the bones of my hand. The feeling was electrifying in a way. It jolted through my bones, down my spine, and trembled all the way into my stomach.

Wait, I thought as the trembling blossomed into a warmth, a yearning. This was all happening so fast, all too soon, all too much at one time. My feelings for Edward have finally ceased and I immediately start have these yearnings and longings for Jacob . In fact those words are insufficient to describe of how I'm really feeling for Jake right now. It feels like Jake is my whole universe that I belong to him and he belongs to me and, when I look into his eyes I feel this gravitational pull towards him. I feel like a blind woman looking at the sun for the very first time. How odd?…..

Then uncontrollably I threw myself at Jacob and hugged him around his waist tightly. And when I moved, it was like there was no movement. One moment I stood straight and still as a statue; in the same instant, he was in my arms. There as we hugged I pressed my face into his smooth chest and, I made the huge mistake of taking a breath in.

Finally I discovered the source of the horrid wet dog smell! It was coming from Jake! I quickly removed my face from Jacob's chest and looked up to see his face.

When suddenly Jacob shifted his weight uncomfortably. Leaned away from my embrace. I stared up at his face, confused and frightened by the rejection.

"Um…..Bells?… Ow. Your hurting me."

I yanked my arms away, folding them behind my back as soon as I understood.

I was too strong.

"Oh….Sorry," I mouthed.

He smiled my favorite Jacob grin, it was the kind of smile that would have stopped my heart if it was still beating.

"Bella don't be ridiculous! If anyone has anything to be sorry for its me. You don't have to apologize to me for anything. I blame myself for letting this happen, when it didn't have to," Jacob said this as if he was pleading with me.

My eyebrows pushed together. Not only was I baffled that Jake was still trying to apologize to me but, for the briefest moment I forgot that I was a new born vampire. And now that I am a vampire I get super strength, super hearing, super sight, well super everything. It was just the point that I never in my whole life have hugged anyone so tight that I made them say OW.

I could see that being a vampire was going to take some getting use to.