DISCLAIMER: SM owns, I play. JM owns, I pine. I own the original ideas, so there.

A/N: Please enjoy! This chapter is also rated R for some graphic images and a couple F-bombs. haha

Ch 10. Divide

"Belief" -J. Mayer

Everyone believes

In how they think it ought to be

Everyone believes

And they're not going easily

Belief is a beautiful armor

But makes for the heaviest sword

Like punching under water

You never can hit who you're trying for

EPOV

What a terrible tragedy. My Bella, my love, lay broken and bleeding, her life ebbing to an end. I could kill that filthy mongrel, but I wouldn't. It was my entire fault anyway since I had to go and claim her the way I did. I knew that she still had feelings for him, but I took her anyway. I was such a fucking moron. Had I not thought to myself before that I should stay away from Bella to prevent Jacob from losing control around her? If he hadn't smelled me on her, she would be alive and well, but I had to stave off the guilt for a while and focus on saving Bella's life.

As soon as he ran off into the woods, the little coward, I wrapped Bella in the blood-soaked quilt and carried her to my home. Carlisle had a decent stock of medical supplies at the house since he often made house calls when he wasn't working a shift in the hospital. I would turn her, but I wanted the chance to give her morphine, and to have my family nearby for help in case I needed it. I was still a little unsure that I would be able to stop once I tasted Bella's delicious blood again, since I had no time to prepare for what I was about to do. At least I knew that I had been able to do it before, and that knowledge gave me some much-needed encouragement.

Alice's thoughts came back to my mind, I see her being like one of us, and soon. It was too soon. Bella wasn't ready for this, nor was I, but I could not let her die this way. She was too perfect, too young... it would have been such a... waste. I now understood why Carlisle had changed Rosalie so long ago. He described it the same way.

As soon as I was close enough, I shouted for Carlisle to prepare the morphine and his medical kit, and to fortify our house. I knew he would be able to hear me. The scent of Bella's blood was causing the venom to well up in my mouth, but I didn't swallow it - I had an idea. Moments later, I walked into the door carrying my bundled, unconscious Bella. The living room had already been rearranged to include a hospital bed with an IV cart, tables with supplies, and the normal glass walls were now covered with thick metal sheeting that slid down like a garage door. I asked for this precaution in the event that the remaining wolves did not listen to Jacob's orders. I was about to effectively nullify our treaty by biting a human, and I would have enough to deal with as Bella burned alive into immortality. I did not need a pack of rabid dogs distracting me.

I laid Bella down on the hospital bed, removing the quilt that was nearly glued to her skin as the blood congealed. Every member of my family gasped and their minds went silent as they took in her injuries. She had four huge slashes across her midsection where Jacob's claws had raked against her delicate skin, causing the contents to spill out into a tangle of bloody knots. While that was the worst damage, she was also peppered with hundreds of needle-like puncture wounds that were caused by his fur shooting out of him when he phased. She looked completely lifeless. Underneath all the blood, her skin had a sick pallor, and she was breathing shallowly.

I quickly looked to Jasper, worried that there was too much blood for him to handle, but he immediately thought, Edward, I am fine. We have to help her. I'll try to keep everyone calm so that we can get through this together. He sat down at the foot of the stairs, far from Bella, and closed his eyes in concentration. The shock wore off with his calming wave, and my family busied themselves with caring for her.

Carlisle administered the morphine while Alice and Esme did their best to pull Bella's clothing away and clean her lesser wounds. Rosalie was serving as Carlisle's surgical technician while he attempted to restore Bella's midsection to something that resembled a normal digestive tract. Even though she wouldn't need it when she was a vampire, she needed to be repaired so that she didn't bleed out while she was turning. The venom had to stay in her system for it to work. Emmett stood guard over Jasper and did anything else asked of him. I stood there like a dolt, consumed with the fear that I would lose Bella forever.

All of this happened at vampire speed, but it still did not seem fast enough, and her injuries were so extensive it did actually take a fair amount of time. Bella, thankfully, remained unconscious for her surgery. Thank God for the morphine! While my family was helping her, I finally spit out the mouthful of venom I had been saving for her and I drew the silvery liquid into a syringe. I desperately hoped that my idea to inject it into her heart, and bypass her circulatory system altogether, would make her change faster and less painful.

Once she was put somewhat back together, resembling a patchwork rag-doll, I drove the syringe through her breastplate and into her heart, pressing down on the plunger to dispense my venom. Bella's eyes flashed open, but she was unable to focus on anything. She was reeling from the pain and shock of all that her body was forced to endure, as I realized the effects of the morphine must have diminished. It was pure torture for me to inflict pain on her, but I also bit her wrists, throat, the insides of her elbows and thighs, the backs of her knees, and her ankles - any pulse points I could think of to get as much venom into her system as quickly as possible.

With each bite, I also ran my tongue across the wound I created, thus sealing it shut and keeping my venom in her system. I also sealed all of the pinprick holes caused by Jacob's fur that were still trickling blood. If it weren't for the fact that I was doing this all to save Bella's life, it would have been an extremely erotic experience. Her blood and skin tasted heavenly, but I felt terribly guilty for thinking so. I was certainly glad that I was the only mind reader in the family. Thankfully, I had no trouble stopping, since I was so intent on saving her.

Each wound that I closed for Bella caused her to whimper, and sometimes she would make a face like she wanted to scream. Her screams caused me so much pain, and I had to keep telling myself this was the only way to keep her with me. I could not bear to be the cause of her pain, but I would die trying before I allowed her life to end because of me and my impetuous decision. I could feel Jasper's calming effects in his attempt to help me. He was concentrating by looking out the window at the beginnings of an eclipse.

Just as Jasper saw the sun's chromosphere flash around the edges of the obstructing moon, Bella's eyes flew open and she screamed loudly, writhed in pain, then slumped back on the bed, lifeless, but I did not give up. I dutifully performed CPR on her to force her heart to pump the venom through her system. I had to pay close attention so that I did not exert too much pressure and crush her sternum, but it helped me reaffirm my belief that I was never again capable of hurting her.

Her heart finally started beating faintly, and her eyelids fluttered slightly. Waiting was excruciating, but probably not nearly as bad as the pain Bella must have felt. She mostly lay there with her eyes closed, but I could see the crease in her brow was permanently etched on her beautiful face. She must have been concentrating so hard on being quiet. She was so strong, so brave. Though she was fragile in so many ways, her courage was one of things I admired most about her.

There was nothing left to do but wait. I never left her side. I knew most transitions took about three days, but I was hoping that my strategy would lessen that. It was going to be difficult to wait that long before knowing for sure if she would survive. Will she be angry that I turned her? Does she still love me? Will she stay with me? Will she be completely uncontrollable? There were so many questions flying through my mind, I thought I would go mad. Every now and then, Bella would moan, or cry, but she never screamed again. I laid my hands on her face, and it seemed to help, so I ended up just laying beside her and holding her most of the time. I hummed to her softly. She seemed quieter then.

I had to keep telling myself, she will be perfect, and we will be together forever, but I wasn't so sure I believed that. She obviously loved Black enough to risk her life like this, so I worried that she may not have chosen me after all. After a few hours of waiting, I knew we would have to deal with some logistical issues. Charlie would be worried when he came home to find Bella was missing. He loved Alice since she took such good care of Bella when James had attacked her, so I sent her to tell Charlie that Bella had run away with Jacob. If he knew what was good for him, Jacob would stay away from this area for the rest of his miserable life, thus supporting the lie. Jasper went with her to ensure her safety, should our enemies decide to disobey their new leader.

About an hour later, Alice and Jasper came bursting into the house and enacted our secondary security system, which included surveillance cameras, and iron bars to cover the outsides of the windows and doors that were still fortified from the inside.

"We've got a problem," Jasper said. I was worried that something had happened to Charlie, or that he didn't believe their story. If he decided to begin a real investigation into Bella's whereabouts, it could be difficult for us.

Alice interjected, "We ran across the trail of some of the wolves on our way back here from Bella's house. Not five minutes ago, I was trying to see how much longer we would have to wait for Bella, and then our whole house disappeared! It scared me to death. I thought that meant we might have company, hence the extra precautions."

Not a moment later, we heard someone's approaching footsteps, saw a young Quileute boy approach the house on the surveillance monitor, and I heard the thoughts of our guest. It was Seth Clearwater. Please don't kill me, please don't kill me. I'm just here to talk. I hope Bella's okay. I hope this is worth it, Jake.

He rang the doorbell, and waited uncertainly at the door. "Emmett, you can let him in. It's Seth Clearwater, and he does not mean us any harm," I informed him. "He's here to check on her."

I had to give Seth some credit, he was quite brave entering a house full of vampires alone, and in his human form. I recalled from our previous interactions that he had a kind and honest mind, and after so many years of hearing people's duplicitous thoughts, I could certainly appreciate that.

Emmett opened the door, and Seth stepped across the threshold, obviously uncertain about what to expect. He took in the makeshift hospital scene calmly and simply asked, "Is she going to make it?"

Carlisle took charge and responded, "Yes, I think she will be just fine. The transition usually takes about three days, so we won't know for sure until then, but her prognosis is good. We were able to stop all the bleeding before she received any venom, and Edward had an ingenious idea to get it into her system faster. I am very hopeful that we will not have too much longer to wait."

"Oh man, that's great news," Seth said genuinely, "Jake... umm, will be very glad to hear that. He sent me here to make sure she was okay."

Rosalie hissed at him, "You mean that coward didn't have the nerve to see for himself if he killed her?"

"Rosalie," Esme chided, "that is no way to treat our guest. He is only trying to help, there is no need to be so rude."

"Sorry," Rose said, but she added a sneer at Seth anyway.

I heard several howls in the forest, and they sounded like they were headed in our direction. Seth heard them too and a worried look crossed his face.

I asked him, "Seth, are the others going to honor the conditions that Jacob assured for me and my family?"

He looked concerned, "Uh, I'm... not sure. See, Jake sort of went off on his own. He left the pack behind somehow, but I chose to leave them too and now I'm in Jacob's pack, along with my sister. It's just the three of us. Jacob is supposed to be the chief now, but I guess Sam is still in charge of the others. I don't really know though - I can't hear them in my head anymore."

This news worried me terribly. Sam's written warning to me made me think that the power had gone to his head, and that he was more radical than I had thought when we first met him.

Seth spoke before me, "Look, umm... I'll go phase so I can let Jake know what's going on, and then I'll try and talk to my brothers. I'll find out what their plan is. You were given permission to change her, and she would have died if it wasn't for you - still might." I winced at those words, but Seth continued, "I don't think you did anything wrong either, and it isn't Sam's place to decide now anyway."

I was astonished at his assessment. Never in a million years would I have thought that a Quileute wolf would support us against his own kind. I was really starting to like Seth, not because he was on our side, but because he could be objective enough to see things from our point of view. He walked out the door and I heard the air hiss around him as he changed into his wolf form.

The other wolves were still too far away from me for me to hear their thoughts, but I did hear snippets that worried me even more. Traitor. Danger. Treaty broken. Fight. It seemed to me that the rest of the pack was indeed going to ignore their new Alpha. My family and I gathered around Bella to protect her, just in case they got past our precautions. We saw Seth running back toward the house as a human, so Emmett went and opened the door to let him back in.

"Oh man!" Seth panted, "You guys, this is bad! They wouldn't even listen to me! Our minds aren't linked anymore and none of them would go human to talk to me. I got a pretty good idea of their plans though just from being around them. I'm pretty sure they want to kill all of you for having anything to do with this. I called my sister in my head, and she's on her way here." She hates you guys, but she's going all protective big sister on me. She doesn't like Bella, but she doesn't want her to die - well, anymore. Oh crap, you heard that didn't you? Sorry, Edward.

"No, it's alright. Thank you, Seth. We are truly humbled that you would be willing to stand up for us," I told him, hoping that he believed me.

Carlisle stepped in, "Seth, I don't want you to fight against your brothers. I cannot have that on my conscience. You should just go."

"Sure, sure, Doc," Seth replied, "but, it will be on my conscience. I can't stand by and let them attack you for trying to do the right thing. Anyways, I don't think that Bella will be a problem, with all of you here to help her. You know, you guys really are like a family." A family of creepy, stinky, bloodsuckers, but a family. Oops, sorry, dude.

Finally, Leah arrived, but I wasn't as confident of her allegiances. While she approached the house, she was thinking, I can't believe I'm here to stick up for that bitch. She isn't Jake's responsibility, so why should I care?

No, but Jacob was as responsible as I was for what had happened to Bella.

She continued, At least I'll be able to watch out for Seth. And I'd do anything for Jake, including take care of his little human friend. Oh, geez! Where the hell did that come from? I do NOT like him like that. Ugh. Suck it up, Leah, time to play nice.

Her interest in Jacob was certainly enlightening. She knocked on the door, and I asked Seth to get it, mainly so that he would be in between his sister and my family. I still wasn't sure she would be able to hold herself together. She entered, and her hands shook slightly, but she calmed herself quickly and said, "So, I guess I'm here to help. I'm really fast, so I can just, uh, run patrols or something."

Esme spoke first, "Thank you so much for helping us. I know you don't really feel comfortable here, but I want you to know that you are welcome to any food, clothing, and shelter that we can offer. I understand you are not quite able to go home at the moment." Esme was so gracious. I didn't think Leah really deserved it, but it was in my mother's nature to love everyone.

Leah did end up running patrols, and Seth created a smaller perimeter surrounding our house. Alice, of course, felt useless since she could not see the wolves' futures, and therefore, couldn't see ours. I opened my mind up as best I could to let in all the voices around me. I didn't like doing so very often because the noise was rather unbearable, and I didn't like invading people's privacy that way, especially my family. However, I wanted to hear Sam and his followers as soon as they were within my range.

At dusk, I heard them approach, or at least one of them if all of their minds were linked. We heard Leah and Seth howl a warning to us. Incoming! Seth yelled in his mind. I think it's all of them. Sam's leading and Paul is his second. I did not like that at all. I didn't really know any of the pack personally, but I had heard enough of their collective thoughts to know that Paul was short-tempered and that was very dangerous considering our precarious situation.

I heard Sam calling to me, I know you can hear me, leech. You have broken the treaty. I don't care what Jacob said, I'm not going to let you get away with this. We just killed an army of newborns, you will be no match for us, including your precious Bella. I hissed and my family all looked at me anxiously.

"What is it son?" Carlisle asked me. "Are they going to attack us? Perhaps it would be wise to move Bella upstairs for now. She will be uncomfortable for a moment, but she will be safer up there."

I did not want to be separated from her, but he was right. If it came down to a fight, I needed to be able to defend my family, and her, and if she were still silently burning alive in the living room, I would lose focus. "Alright, I want to do it though. I'll take her upstairs. Sam is intent on punishing us for changing her. I will deal with him, there's no need for all of you to be a part of this. I was the one who turned her."

Esme and my sisters all shrieked, "No, Edward!"

Alice continued, "I can't see you. I don't know if you'll be okay! Please, don't go alone."

"We'll go with him," Emmett and Jasper offered, but that still defeated the purpose of protecting my family.

I firmly replied, "I don't want either of you to come with me. You didn't do this. I'm sorry I brought more trouble to our family, but I won't let you risk your lives for me."

After a brief silence I heard, "I'll go with you."It was Seth. I could not disguise the shock on my face as I glanced at him, casually leaning against the front door. I don't agree with Sam at all, and I have always wanted a shot at him after what he did to my sister. I'll come with you and help. You are actually pretty decent... people. "I don't think you did anything wrong. Most of the other guys won't want to fight me anyway since they think I'm just a kid."

I was touched again by his gracious acceptance of my family, but I couldn't disagree with his brothers, "You are 'just a kid', but I would be honored if you would join me. I can certainly understand the desire for vengeance on the person that has hurt someone you love." Like Jacob Black, I thought darkly.

I scooped Bella into my arms and ran up the stairs with Alice behind me carrying the bed and monitors. We arranged Bella in my room, and I was grateful I had asked our windows to be fortified. I did not think that the wolves would be able to get to Bella unless they first went through my entire family and that was a mild comfort.

Someone better get their asses out here NOW! Leah shouted in her mind. Seth and I walked out the front door to find Leah backed up nearly to our front steps, her back bristling and a low growl rumbling in her throat. Seth phased immediately, ruining his last pair of shorts - I would have to make that up to him with some new clothes. In front of Leah, the rest of the pack was in a loose formation, led by Sam, the coal black one. Seth joined his sister and adopted the same posture, while I stood behind them, trying to hear one person at a time.

I decided to try to speak first, just in case it was my only opportunity. "Sam," I said, "I understand you feel that the treaty has been broken, but I was given permission, no, I was begged to turn Bella by the rightful chief of your tribe. You do not have the authority to attack us, but if you must, then please let it be me alone. My family helped me care for Bella, but I acted alone in causing her change. Do not harm them because of me," I pleaded.

You are in no position to make any demands, vampire, Sam thought angrily. The treaty was between our tribe and your entire family. If any ONE of you bit another human, you were all to be held responsible. Jacob acted rashly in giving you his permission - he was wrong, just as you were wrong to bite her. It was an unfortunate accident, but Bella knew the dangers of our kind, and you have to admit, Jacob was provoked.

What are we waiting for? Let's end this already! I heard Paul think, his tail twitching with anticipation.

Emmett was trying to get my attention from inside, Dude, you can't do this alone. I want to crack some skulls, too! We're right behind you, whether you want us to help or not.

Sam is such a self-righteous asshole. I can't hear him anymore, but can guess what he must be saying to the leech. Probably more bullshit about the treaty being broken and Jake not being the Alpha. I'd like to rip him to shreds. Those thoughts surprised me - they were coming from Leah.

Finally, I heard someone shout, ENOUGH! It was... Jacob. He was not here, but he must have transformed into his wolf to check in with the Clearwaters. Too bad they were the only ones that could hear him (and me through them). Leah and Seth looked at each other warily when they realized that Jacob was with them in spirit. Leah, Seth, thank you for helping the Cullens, and for keeping me updated. I'm so thankful that it looks like Bella will be okay. Please give my most sincere thanks to Edward for doing what he did, and to his family. I don't deserve his acceptance, but I swear I didn't mean for any of this shit to happen. I'm sorry I ran away.

Leah and Seth quickly apprised Jacob of the situation, and he could see through their minds the very dire situation in which we found ourselves. Then I heard Jacob's mind take on a new voice, one of authority and wisdom - the voice of the Alpha.

Listen to me brothers, he began, and I noticed that all the other wolves could hear him too, not just Seth and Leah. You WILL NOT attack the Cullens. With that statement, all of the opposing wolves bowed their heads slightly, including Sam, as if they were being weighed down by his authority. I would have felt sorry for them if it were any other circumstance, but his orders were saving the lives of everyone I loved.

Jacob continued, They saved Bella's life, a life I stole from her because I acted recklessly. I will NOT let you make the same mistake I did. I am Jacob Black, son of William Black, and Ephraim's heir. I am the true Alpha of this pack, and I am the rightful Quileute chief. I accept this birthright and responsibility, and you WILL obey me. I neglected the tribe by running away, but I am returning to you all as fast as I can, and together, we will set things right. The Cullens do not harm humans, so they are our allies. They were just as willing to fight Victoria and her army, and therefore, they should be considered 'protectors' as well. Now go home to La Push, you have no business on their land.

With that speech, the rest of the pack had no other options, but to obey him. Jacob had saved my life, and Bella's. Fucking hell, now I really couldn't kill him...

A/N: (How's that for anticlimactic chapter endings a la BD?) Bella narrates next!