A/N: This chapter has yet to be beta read.

Chapter Eight

It hadn't been enough. Her beautiful little girl was still dying and there was nothing she could do to help her Isabella. The thought pained her more than she'd thought possible considering her immortality.

She knew Rosalie had told them of her involvement, of how she had saved Isabella from the woods that day, taken her back to Him, and cared for her. She knew the Cullens were angry and wanted answers, but she couldn't give them. Despite the fact that she had watched over Isabella almost her entire life, there was nothing she knew that would benefit them now. She didn't know who Isabella's father was and wouldn't know how to find him even if she did.

As to how He had found Isabella, she had a few theories, but the idea that he had followed her without her knowledge was impossible. She had no scent and left no trail. Anyone who saw her would never remember her. She blended into the background so well, she was often forgotten even when she wasn't actively using her power.

He was a smart man, though, and his tracking skills were better than even the Volturi's hound dog, Demetri. In the end, it wouldn't take much for Him to realize she still lived. All it would take is one person having come in contact with Isabella to come across Him and He'd know. She knew that was how it had happened, the only way it could have happened.

As she watched the Cullens move Isabella into the doctor's office, she knew her time was limited. She wouldn't live long after Isabella's heart stopped beating. No mother should outlive their child.

But she could do one thing for her beautiful Isabella before that time came.

Taking a deep breath in preparation, she turned away from the Cullen home and headed back to the camp.

"Comfortable?" Carlisle asked, holding up a syringe.

"As comfortable as I can be," Bella mumbled with a weak smile.

Emmett trembled watching her, so frail and lifeless on the hospital bed. Carlisle had "borrowed" the bed from work, claiming a family need. He'd set the bed up in his office along with the machines necessary to keep his Bella alive. Emmett wished he could cry as he watched Carlisle insert the IV into Bella's arm, knowing it was their last hope.

"How's that feel?" Carlisle asked, already inventorying other parts of her body.

"Fine, I guess," Bella sighed, shrugging slightly.

"Let me know if it starts to pull," Carlisle instructed, examining the bag hanging over her head.

Bella nodded against her pillow, her eyes already drifting shut.

She'd just woken up two hours ago when Emmett had carried her from their room into Carlisle's office. In all honesty, he was surprised she'd managed to stay awake as long as she had. The move had tired her out and her body was desperately trying to heal itself against the poison infecting it. Every passing second of the clock marked a step closer to her end and Emmett wanted to roar in agony as the tick-tick-tick mocked him.

"That was Char. She'll be here within the hour," Peter whispered, shutting his phone as he entered the room.

Emmett nodded, unable to speak in his current state. He hovered over her bed, eyes closed as he listened to the whoo-whoosh of her lungs and the thu-thump of her heart. He was holding on by a thread and they all knew it.

"Carlisle's trying to reach the others, but so far he's only managed to get in touch with Edward and Rosalie. They're on their way back now," Peter continued.

Emmett shuddered, hearing what Peter didn't say.

They were giving up hope.

Desperate for any connection he could get, Emmett grasped her frail hand in his much larger one, struggling not to grip it too tightly. She sighed at the contact, shifting slightly towards him even in sleep.

There was nothing left for them to do but wait.

Emmett heard the shift in her breathing before the monitors picked up on it and he jumped to his feet, the chair he'd been sitting in going through the wall with the force of his abrupt movement.

"Carlisle!" Emmett shouted, but his father was already there, moving over Bella with careful precision.

She whimpered, her body trembling as she fought for air.

"Sit her up," Carlisle instructed and Emmett had her sitting in the blink of an eye.

Her eyes flashed open and met his with a kind of panic that made him want to scream.

"Breathe, babe. Please, you gotta breathe for me," Emmett pleaded desperately.

She struggled to take breathes and her face was turning blue right before his eyes.

"Carlisle, do something!" Emmett demanded, the force of his helplessness crashing over him with all the force of a two thousand ton boulder.

"Open her mouth," Carlisle said, tube in hand.

Emmett worked her jaw open, ignoring her flailing hands that grasped for his wrists. Working together, they managed to insert the tube down her throat. In the next instant, Carlisle had the machine whirring away and a needle in Bella's arm.

"Relax, Bella," Carlisle said, his voice soothing.

Gradually, with the help of the ventilator and Carlisle's drug, she was able to relax back onto the bed. Emmett wasn't satisfied until her breathing evened out and her color returned, but he waited until she shut her eyes before giving in to the fear.

"Oh, God. Please, don't take her. Please," Emmett cried, falling to his knees.

"Easy, son. Easy. Don't give up yet," Carlisle encouraged, moving around to embrace Emmett.

"I can't. Oh, God, Carlisle, I can't lose her," Emmett said, eyes filled with venom tears.

"I know, Emmett. I know," Carlisle whispered.

Despite the fact that Emmett was a fully grown man, as he sat there in the arms of a man who had been like a father to him for seventy years, he felt more like a child than ever before. He was lost and was desperate for something to hold on to.

"We'll leave her on the ventilator for now. She shouldn't have any more trouble breathing," Carlisle said gently.

Emmett nodded, gradually pulling out of the embrace. He reminded himself that Bella needed him to be strong. He couldn't let her see him fall apart.

"Good man," Carlisle said, clapping him on the shoulder.

"Thanks, Pop," Emmett muttered.

He dragged a chair back beside her bed and resumed his position at her side. Her hand in his felt almost normal and it worried him. She'd always been hotter than him, hotter than even a human. Unable to bear the thought, Emmett rubbed his cheek against her palm, a deep rumbling starting in his chest and vibrating out. The growl was for her, a reminder that he was there to protect her.

If only he could have protected her from this.

The ventilator didn't last long on its own. By the following morning, Charlotte had arrived and with her a whole host of new problems. Carlisle was having trouble keeping Bella's organs from failing, exhausting every resource to keep her alive minute by minute. Emmett couldn't so much as think about living her and he became a constant shadow hovering over her bed as Carlisle worked.

At the foot of her bed, Peter and Charlotte stood sentry, their arms wrapped supportively around each other. Peter hadn't been able to stop shaking since he'd come in to find his little girl on the ventilator. Now, as Bella seemed to have more tubes in her than veins, it was all Charlotte could do to keep her mate standing.

While Emmett could understand, he hated their show of weakness, feeling as though it was working with the clock, slowly leeching Bella's life out of her. She needed them to be strong, but Peter's hopelessness was like a cancer, spreading through the house. If Emmett weren't so focused on watching his mate, he'd have thrown the vampire from the room long ago.

As it was, he couldn't. Any move on his part and he worried he'd damage Bella further, so he remained as still as a statue, her hand clasped in his immovable one. He watched the not-so-steady rise and fall of her chest, counting breaths and heartbeats as they waited for news, any news, about her father, the only person who could save her.

"I'm sorry, Emmett, but there's nothing more I can do. Her body is giving up."

Carlisle voice was soft and soothing, and probably the same voice he used on countless others whom he'd had to tell that their loved one was dying. Emmett instantly hated the sound of his maker's voice.

"No, she can hold on a little longer. Just a little longer, babe," Emmett said as venom filled his eyes.

"You only prolong her suffering. Perhaps it would be better to just let her go," Carlisle said quietly.

"No! No, not until her heart stops beating. She promised… she promised. I won't let her go." He began with a shout and ended with a whisper, incapable of maintaining his anger as he watched his little mate.

"Em."

Emmett managed to tear his eyes away from Bella's chest to find Charlotte's steady gaze. Despite the tears welling that would never fall, her voice was strong as she spoke.

"She can't hold on any longer. We need to be strong enough so that she can let go."

He shook under the force of her gaze, unable to accept what she was saying.

"I can't," Emmett breathed.

"You can. For her, you can," Charlotte said, still in that same strong, steady voice.

Emmett looked back at Bella, taking in her sunken, sallow skin, the dark circles under her eyes, the bones of her wrist, collar, cheeks, jaw, ribs, ankles, all protruding under the strain of keeping her alive. He wanted to scream out in despair, knowing it was cruel to keep holding on to her, but unable to let her go until all hope had vanished.

Helplessly, he lifted her hand to his face, turning her palm so that her fingers brushed across his cheek. He ached for the decision he was about to make, but he saw no other alternative. It was either let her continue to suffer or kill her.

The two sides of his mating bond with Bella warred with one another. It was his job to protect her from any and all pain, but it was also his job to make sure that, even if he died, she lived. To take away her pain would be to kill her, but to kill her went against everything within him.

"I can't kill her," Emmett practically sobbed.

"You're not. Oh, Emmett, you're not killin' her. You're savin' her," Charlotte insisted.

"Darlin', no. Don't," Peter pleaded, falling to his knees as Charlotte moved to comfort Emmett.

"We've had seventy good years with her, Peter, but I refuse to let our little girl suffer any longer. It's time," Charlotte said.

"Please, not yet. God, just not yet," Peter sobbed, his head hitting the floor with a loud boom.

Torn between comforting Emmett and hold Peter together, Charlotte paused. With a gentle shove, Emmett pushed her back towards her mate as he stood to lean over his.

"I love you, babe. I'm sorry I never told you, but maybe… maybe after this is over and if we end up in the same place, I'll get to tell you there. Wait for me, Bella. I won't be far behind you," Emmett promised, leaning down to kiss her still lips.

Choking on sobs, he reached over and jerked the machines keeping his Bella alive. With a fatal chirp, they died. The ventilator gave one more pump before stopping half-way. The heart machine flat-lined, filling the room with a constant tone. The IV stopped dripping and the dialysis machine stopped whirring. The only sound in the room was the hum of electricity in the walls and the stuttering sound of Bella's heart.

Emmett crouched over his mate, alternating between growls and sobs as her heart slowed, the beats becoming farther and farther apart. Just as her heart reached 20 bpm, there was a shout from downstairs.

Furious at the interruption, Emmett roared in response, his eyes torn between the doorway and Bella. The decision was made for him with a filthy redhead came speeding through the door, a blond vampire head held in her hand.

When the vampire saw Bella and took in the still machines along with Emmett's crouched position, she let out a wail, falling to her knees.

"No! My darling Isabella, no! I killed Him for you! I killed Him!" the woman screeched as she crawled forward.

Emmett hissed at the creature, turning to further protect his mate. In a flash, Charlotte and Peter restrained the sobbing vampire, pinning her to the floor as she thrashed and screamed in agony. Emmett watched as they pulled her head back, Peter's teeth poised at her throat. Just before decapitation, Edward came racing into the room.

"Stop! It's Victoria!"

Peter only paused momentarily before ripping the bitch's head off and tossing it aside. Even removed from her body, Victoria screamed silently and her body continued to squirm towards Bella. While Peter and Charlotte tried to hold her down to remove the rest of her limbs, another sound reached Emmett. Two pairs of footsteps racing across the yard and into the house. Carlisle barely had time to shout a warning before the vampires were standing in the doorway behind Edward.

"Who the fuck are you?" Peter snarled.

Emmett would have answered, but he was too preoccupied trying to defend his mate without hurting her further. Her heartbeat was continuing the slow, the beats coming nearly thirty seconds apart. He knew it was her vampire blood that continued to try to save her, just as he knew the foreign venom was still winning.

The female vampire was familiar to him. Mary had visited the Cullen coven on a few occasions since Emmett had joined, but the male was new to him. Judging from the way he held himself, however, he was not new to the vampire world. This man had lived a long time and it was to him Peter snapped at as he entered the room.

"It matters not. Remove yourself from the girl," the man said.

Emmett hissed a warning, debating whether or not he could attack the man without injuring his mate.

"I don't wish to harm her," he said, holding out his hands submissively.

"Emmett, he's going to-" Edward started.

"Silence, boy! This is not your concern," the man snapped, glaring at Edward.

It was the wrong move. Emmett sprang across the room, intent on tearing the man's head from the rest of his body. Just as he was about to land on the vampire's shoulders, a dark blur came at him from the side. Twisting with the force of impact, Emmett tried to fight Mary off. Days of not hunting had taken their toll, however, and he was unable to subdue the much smaller woman.

She pulled his arms behind his back and forced him to watch as the man approached his Bella.

"Get away from her!" Emmett spat, renewing his struggles.

Without even glancing his way, the man bent over Bella's prone body, her heart giving one last thump, and sank his teeth into her jugular.

Okay, so a little short, but a lot of stuff happening.

It's that time of the year again. Moving back to school, so the next few days are going to be a little hectic, but hopefully writing won't be stopped for long.

Next chapter is already written and will be up within a week.