EDWARD'S POV

This couldn't be happening. This couldn't be happening. This absolutely, positively, couldn't be happening.

How did I let his happen?

I stood in the men's room of a shopping mall. I had hidden in a stall until the room had emptied and then bolted the door shut to prevent anyone else from coming in. I had taken clothes from a store, moving so fast that no one had seen me.

I changed into the new clothes, shedding the ones I had been wearing-the ones that were soaked with Bella's blood. Those clothes were burning in an alley somewhere.

I wanted to burn the memory of what I had done.

Running water from a facet, I washed my hands and scrubbed my face, watching the pink-tinged water swirl in the porcelain white sink before disappearing down the drain. As I washed away the incriminating evidence of Bella's blood—my wife's blood, I felt disgusted with myself because a part of me was savoring the scent. Remembering the intoxicating taste.

It had all gone so wrong.

The moment I had tasted Bella's blood, I lost control. The worst thing about it was that I knew I had lost control and couldn't do anything about it. I couldn't stop myself no matter how badly I wanted to. I had been like a man dying of thirst who had a mouthful of water that he was not supposed to drink. Impossible. The swallowing reflex involuntarily and automatically took over.

Last time, Carlisle had been there to stop me. I hated myself for not convincing Bella to let Carlisle bite her instead of me. Carlisle would not have lost control.

But without Carlisle here this time…

If Jacob hadn't of showed up…

I flinched at the thought.

Granted, I had no idea how Jacob knew to show up. Had he somehow followed us?

It didn't seem likely. I would have known…

It didn't matter. I could wait to find out. All that mattered right now was Bella. My wife. It had barely been a full day of marriage and look where we were.

Just as I had always known deep down inside, Bella's number was up from the very moment we first met. I should have left her alone. How could I have been so stupid?

I stared at myself in the mirror. I saw the monster that I had promised to stop being about 90 years ago. He was back. Look at his red eyes, staring back at me. I wished the folk-legends were true—that vampires didn't cast reflections. I never wanted to see my despicable self again.

Anger boiling inside of me, I punched the mirror, shattering it to pieces.

Someone began banging on the door, trying to enter the restroom.

Right. Innocent humans were still out there, going about their normal lives. Not everyone was dealing with uncontrollable instincts to kill his wife on a romantic honeymoon.

Kill.

Had I…?

I fleeted to the door, opening it and snatching the sunglasses off the head of the man trying to get in, putting them on my own face to cover my red eyes. I was moving at a speed the human eye couldn't see. I only slowed down when I got to a pay phone, having pick-pocketed money along the way. Stealing seemed trivial and insignificant compared to the weight on my shoulders from what I had just done.

"Hello, Cullen residence."

"Carlisle," I croaked.

"Edward? What is it? What's wrong?"

"Bella-"

"Is she ok?"

"I…don't know…"

"Edward, tell me what happened."

"I bit her—but…I couldn't stop. Oh God, Carlisle. I couldn't stop! I took too much blood!"

"Where is she now?"

"They took her. I know they must have taken her. I had to leave before they saw-"

"Who, Edward? Who are you talking about?"

"Police. Jacob. They took her!"

"Calm down, son. I need you to tell me what you mean. They took her where?"

"Hospital."

"If you bit her, she cannot go to a human hospital. They won't understand."

"Carlisle, what do I do?"

"Get her out of there. Bring her back here."

I paused, agony overtaking me.

"Edward? Edward!"

"Carlisle," I said, the thought bringing me more pain than anything in my life, "what if she's dead?"

"Son, go find your wife. Bring her back home. Bring her to me."

I hung up the phone.

JACOB'S POV

It took us until that evening to get it together. We scrounged up fresh clothes and shoes, brushed our hair, and tended to our scratches, scrapes, and bruises. After managing to appear more presentable, we set out to find Leah.

She was where I expected her to be—at the hospital with Bella.

Seth and I went through the main entrance of the hospital. Immediately, we found Leah off to the side in the waiting area.

"Oh thank god," she said, rushing toward us.

"How is she?" I blurted out.

"Can I help you?" the receptionist at the front desk called out to us.

"Yes," I said, not waiting to hear Leah's answer. I wanted to see Bella with my own eyes. I headed to the desk, leaving Seth behind as he and Leah spoke with one another in whispered voices.

"I need to see Isabella Swan," I said.

The receptionist, a middle-aged woman with kind eyes, turned to a computer and typed in the name. There was a moment's pause while she searched a database. The light chatter of a couple of kids with their mother coming down the hall to exit the hospital combined with the voices of Seth and Leah, who were still carrying on their conversation.

"There is no Isabella Swan on record here, young man," the receptionist finally said.

"What?" I said, looking back at Leah.

"Bella Cullen," Leah said, approaching the front desk to stand beside me. "She's here under the name Bella Cullen."

The receptionist eyed us both curiously before doing a new search for 'Bella Cullen.'

"Who checked her in under that name?" I mumbled.

"I did," said Leah. "It is her name, you know."

I rolled my eyes. I didn't want to think of Bella as a Cullen. An uncomfortable feeling knotted in my stomach at the thought, the fear, that Bella was lying in a bed somewhere becoming exactly that—a Cullen.

"Yes, there is a Bella Cullen here," said the receptionist. She turned away from the computer, looking at Leah for a moment and then focusing on me. "Visiting hours are nearly over though. Is it necessary that you see her now? You can come back in the morning."

"Yes, it is necessary," I said, trying with all my might to keep my voice controlled. Two thoughts had gone through my head, creating mixed feelings inside of me. One—Bella was still alive. Two—maybe she wasn't truly alive, but instead, undead.

I couldn't work out how this made me feel.

"Actually," said the receptionist, "our records show that the patient's family has not yet been reached. Are you family?" Her eyes travelled the length of me.

"Yes," I said.

"Your relation?"

I grit my teeth and swallowed. Stay calm, I ordered myself.

"Ma'am," I said, "does it really matter? You told me that visiting hours were almost up. I can't help but notice time is wasting. The patient is a very, very dear friend of mine and I've been worried sick about her. Her family is out of town. We're the only family she has here," I indicated to myself, Leah, and Seth. "So please, let me see her so that I can report back to her family."

"No more than 15 minutes," she said. "Then I want you back down her, and I want your information and Ms. Cullen's family's information so that the doctor can reach them directly. Only two of you can go up. Room 304."

She handed over two visitors' passes. I took them. "Thank you," I said.

"You two go," said Seth. "I'll wait."

Leah and I headed to Bella's room quickly and silently. Leah kept looking at me, waiting and wanting me to say something. Yet, no words came. I couldn't articulate anything I was feeling. I was in a state of numbness.

I didn't know what to expect. She was alive, but what condition was she in?

The elevator door closed. Leah pressed the number 3.

Her eyes returned to me.

We reached the third floor, the elevator doors reopened. A man stood before it, waiting to get on the elevator. Leah and I got off.

"This way," Leah said.

I followed her.

How long would it take to get to Room 304?

Clearly, not long enough. We were outside of the door before I was prepared to face whoever or whatever was inside.

Was it Bella? Or was it something that used to be Bella? Was it alive or undead? Brown eyes or red eyes?

Human or vampire?

I was standing just outside the room, frozen on the spot.

"Jake?" Leah said.

"I can't do this," I said. The logic was there, waiting for me to put it together. And though I hated it, I had finally put it together. "Bella should have died. You saw the condition she was in. If she's not dead, then that can only mean one thing. She's a vampire."

I felt my muscles twitch as I said it all out loud. The inevitable truth, threatening to send me bursting into wolf form to numb the wave of unpleasant emotion crashing over me.

"Well?" I said to Leah, looking her right in the eye and waiting for a sign of confirmation. "Am I right?"

"I don't know if it's that simple," she said slowly.

"How much more difficult can it be?" I said.

"I initially had the same thought as you—that if she didn't die, then she must be transformed. But when they rushed her in, they were carrying on about how much blood she lost. They did a transfusion—and it seemed to go normally. No one noticed anything strange except all the bite marks…I don't know exactly how these things work, but wouldn't they have noticed something…something off about her?"

I weighed Leah's words, not knowing what to think. I had no idea how long it took for a human to transform into a vampire. In hindsight, I hated that I hadn't found this information out. It proved to be something useful to know. Was there some type of window, some time-frame in which it needed to occur?

"I don't know," I said in response to Leah's question and my own unanswered ones.

We stood there silently for a while.

"Visiting hours are going to end soon. Do you want to see her or not?" said Leah.

I ran a hand through my hair, exasperated. I was grateful to have Leah there though. She had a knack for facing reality and dragging me into reality when my mind tried to escape from it. I hated to admit it, but I needed someone like her around.

"You've come this far…" she said.

I nodded. I took a deep breath and turned to the entrance of Bella's room.

Leah grabbed my hand and headed inside, steering me in behind her.

EDWARD'S POV

I succeeded in pulling myself together long enough for some brief human interaction—I went to a cell phone shop to get a phone. I had left mine in the hotel suite—a detail that I knew wasn't good. Yet, I knew that I couldn't afford to go back. The risks were too high.

The moment I left the shop, my phone rang. I had an idea of who it was. I answered immediately.

"Edward?!"

"Alice," I said, my inkling proving correct. No doubt she had a vision of me getting this new phone.

"Edward, is she…is she…" Alice's voice trembled on the other line, causing a lump to swell in my throat. I had stopped breathing long ago, yet somehow, I still felt suffocated.

"You tell me, Alice," I said.

There was a long pause. I nearly thought Alice was having another vision right then and there. Finally, her voice sounded again over the phone.

"I don't know," she said. "I've been trying. Carlisle is so worried. We're all so scared. I can't see anything. I—Oh, Edward, I couldn't see her future at all! I thought that meant she was…that she was…"

"With Jacob," I said, a bit of insight dawning on me while listening to Alice's rushed and frightened voice.

"What?" she said.

"Jacob and his…pack members…showed up. I don't know why, but they did. They must be with her. That's why you can't see. The wolves block your vision, right? Right?"

"Yes, yes. Right," answered Alice, saying what I needed to hear. I needed to hear that Alice couldn't see Bella's future because her visions were being blocked by the wolves—not because Bella was dead.

"That must be why I can't see where she is," said Alice.

"It is," I confirmed, refusing to believe otherwise.

"Well, you've got to find her, Edward. Do you need us? I'll come! We'll catch a plane and get there as soon as possible!"

"No…I'm going to find her," I said. "I need to bring her back there. I've got to get her to Carlisle."

"Edward, hurry," said Alice. "I've got a strange feeling."

"I'll call you," I said. I hung up the phone, ready to face the task before me.

I needed to find my wife.

JACOB'S POV

The curtains were drawn closed around the bed Bella was lying in. I was momentarily being shielded from the answer I was afraid to discover—solid proof of Bella's condition. I held my breath as Leah squeezed my hand before letting it go and reaching for the curtain. I watched, transfixed and frightened as Bella was slowly revealed to me.

My eyes absorbed her in one section at a time.

First, I saw the small lumps under white sheets at the edge of the bed where her feet were. The outlines of her legs showed through the sheets. At her middle, small pale hands rested one on top of the other. An IV tube protruded out of the hand on top. My eyes traveled along the tub, leading to the IV stand beside the bed. A bag of blood was being drained into her.

Finally, my eyes traveled to the head of the bed. Dark brown hair was scattered over the pillow…

On the pillow, there was a sleeping face with long eye-lashes, pale skin, and pink lips. The face was pretty and child-like in its unconsciousness.

Bella.

The Bella I still recognized.

A long breath escaped from my mouth and suddenly, I felt guilty for being afraid to see her. It was ridiculous. How could I have been afraid to see Bella? This was the girl I loved and still loved that was lying in the hospital bed. It didn't matter who she chose to be with or what had happened to her. She looked so innocent and helpless-all I wanted to do was protect her…

Protect her…

As the words fluttered through my mind, my eyes went straight to her wrists. They were bare.

"Jake," said Leah. She reached into her pants pocket and pulled out Bella's bracelet. She held it out to me. I took it, trying to count just how many times in these past days, hours even, I had found myself feeling grateful toward Leah.

Bracelet in hand, I moved closer to Bella. I gently separated her hands, taking the IV-free one and sliding the bracelet over her wrist. The wolf-charm and imprint talisman I had given her dangled, along with the crystal heart given to her by Edward. It took every ounce of restraint I possessed to keep from snatching that heart off the bracelet I had given Bella, crushing it to shreds, and throwing it out the window.

The fleeting thought of Edward was all it took for reality of the grim situation before me to come back into focus.

Edward bit Bella.

I began to search Bella's body, looking at the bites that were visible. An ice-cold chill ran down my spine.

Why hadn't I noticed before? It should have been the first thing I noticed.

Her neck.

The bites had been the worst on her neck. Yet now…

They were still there, but they were faint. Significantly healed. Those wounds had been open and bleeding profusely. The very life of Bella had been spilling out of her from those wounds Edward had inflicted. Yet now…

I continued to stare in disbelief. It had only been hours ago that Bella had been bitten. Even if doctors and nurses had cleaned and treated the bites, they shouldn't have healed this much so quickly…

I closed my eyes and reopened them, hoping my eyes were playing tricks on me, but knowing that they weren't.

"They…They weren't like that when I last saw her," said Leah. She too, was looking at the rapidly healing bites on Bella's neck. That meant that Leah also understood…

A voice sounded through the hospital.

"Visiting hours end in 10 minutes. Please make your way down to the main entrance and return your visitors' passes to the front desk. Thank you."

"Jake, when we go back down to the front desk, they want information to contact her family," said Leah. "What are we going to do?"

"Give fake numbers," I said.

"Jake-"

"What can we do?" I said. "Tell her mom and dad that her new husband nearly killed her and probably turned her into a vampire? Sure. That's a great idea. Not to mention that type of news will get back to Sam and his minions, who will be plotting a killing spree."

"Clearly that would be undesirable," said Leah patiently, "but her parents do deserve to know something. They don't have to know all the details, but something has got to be said. Things will start looking awfully suspicious if she has no family to contact. Things already look suspicious!"

"How do we get news to her family without Sam finding out?"

"Tell her mom. Charlie is in Forks and telling him will get the news to Sam quicker. If Bella's mom is called, maybe it will slow down the process a little bit. Maybe even tell her mom not to tell Charlie. Say that he'll worry too much and that it's nothing serious."

"Leah," I said, starting to feel exasperated, "that's a terrible idea. Rene will tell Charlie and she'll hop on a plane to get here as soon as possible and then she'll realize something is wrong when Bella wakes up and wants to eat her. And even if it wasn't a terrible idea, I don't know Rene's number. The only way I could get it is by calling Charlie and asking him. And I think it would look suspicious for me to be asking for his ex-wife's number."

"I've got her number," said Leah.

I stared at her for a moment. "What?"

Leah reached into another pocket, this time pulling out a cell phone. She held it out to me, but I was afraid to take it. It reeked of the bloodsucker.

"With all the commotion going on at the hotel, I noticed Edward's phone lying on the table. I just didn't think it was good for it to be left there." She pressed a few buttons and started scrolling through the contact list. "Bella's mom's number is in here."

I couldn't respond. I didn't know what to say. Before I could think of anything to say though, I was distracted by the sound of footsteps coming down the hall. A nurse soon appeared.

"Oh!" she cried out, surprised at the sight of us.

"Hello," Leah said politely.

"Hello," the nurse said. She was an older woman with straggly hair. "You know visiting hours are over. Unless one of you is staying overnight with the patient."

"Yes," I said quickly. "I'm staying overnight." I made eye-contact with Leah, who did an excellent job hiding her shock.

"I was just on my way out," she said, not missing a beat. She made a show of returning Edward's cell phone back to her pocket. I knew this was a sign that she would be delivering the name and number of Bella's mother to the front desk.

"Very well," said the nurse. She looked at her chart. "How is Ms. Cullen doing? Has she been awake yet?"

"No," Leah and I said in unison.

"Good, she's getting her rest then," said the nurse. "Let me take a look at her."

Leah and I exchanged glances.

"Hmm," said the nurse, "she looks a lot better than she's described here." She proceeded to check the equipment around Bella. "Heartbeat still weak," she mumbled. She scribbled something on her chart and cast a skeptical look at Bella, and then turned to me. "We'll be needing to keep a close eye on this one."

"Oh," I said, nodding.

"What type of animal attack was this, now?"

"We…don't know," I said.

The nurse shook her head. "I tell you, the world just gets weirder every day." She paused for a moment. "And do you have any idea whether she has made any other suicide attempts in the past?"

"Excuse me?" I said, unable to hide my shock.

"Oh dear," said the nurse, instantly regretting her question. She turned to Leah.

"Uhm…there was a mixture of pills found in her stomach," said Leah, looking at me. I could only stare back at her, dumbfounded.

"These things just happen," said the nurse, coming forward and patting me on the arm in condolence. "Even the person closest to the victim can miss the signs. But you know what? We deal with this type of thing all the time here. I'll be sure to bring up some pamphlets about recognizing the signs for you. And if you want to talk about it, please don't hesitate to ask, ok. We've got counselors to help deal with this sort of thing."

I nodded, barely registering what she said. Bella, suicide? That couldn't be right…

"Well, come on, sweety," the nurse said to Leah.

Leah cast a glance back at me, apologizing for having forgotten to leave out the suicide detail. "We'll be around," she said.

I nodded again.

Bella and I were left alone in the room. I turned out the lights and settled into the reclining chair in the corner. I sighed.

Suicide? Bella?

What the hell had happened in the hotel?

JACOB'S POV

This had been quite some day and I knew things were on their way to just getting even more complicated.

There was a terrible crick in my neck. I grimaced as I stretched and was momentarily startled by my surroundings. I had almost forgotten where I was, but it quickly returned to me. I shifted in the reclining chair, becoming aware that someone had placed a quilt over me. I was amazed that I had drifted off into some form of sleep, given the craziness I was in the middle of at the moment.

I was well aware though, that I had scanned the whole entire room but had not yet looked where it was most important…

I swallowed, my mouth feeling dry.

I threw the quilt aside, balling it up and placing it to the side of the recliner.

Then I looked up.

I froze. My muscles tightened beneath the surface, ready to burst into wolf form at any moment's notice—prepared to fend off danger. I took a deep breath, held it, and let it out slowly, forcing myself calm.

The eyes that stared back at me from Bella's bed were large and bright, and they reflected light like a cat. They sat in the middle of a pale face, surrounded by long brown hair…

"Bella?" I said. I had sprung to my feet, staring ahead at her, trying to piece together what I was seeing.

"Jake?"

My heart practically melted at the sound of her voice. It was her voice. It hadn't changed.

I hurried to her side to see just how much actually had changed.

"Jake! Jake! Oh God! What happened?"

"Shh." I said to Bella, taking her face gently in my hands. "It's ok. It's going to be ok, Bells."

I tried to comfort her while taking a close look at her. She brought her hands up, placing them over mine. Her hands were cool to the touch, but were they cooler than normal? I couldn't tell. I couldn't remember.

"Are you cold?" I asked.

"A…A little, I guess."

I examined her face closely. I think she looked a few shades paler. The most noticeable and obvious difference though, were her eyes and the way they were reflecting light.

And their color…

They weren't red. That was a relief. But they weren't her normal shade of brown either. They appeared to be something in between the two…

Moving quickly, I turned on the lights. As the room illuminated, Bella squinted.

"What's wrong?" I asked, watching her reaction closely.

"It's bright," she said, blinking repeatedly.

I returned to her side, grabbing her by the chin and tilting her head upward toward me.

"Bella," I said, "do you feel any different?"

The question lingered in the air. A long, pregnant pause stretched on and on. I stared at Bella and she stared back at me, unspoken thoughts racing through both of our minds, but not leaving our mouths.

Bella blinked and a tear fell down her cheek.

"Goodness, Bells," I said. That single tear caused so many emotions to collide within me. I knew vampires couldn't cry. So did this mean…?

Did it mean that she wasn't…?

I pressed my forehead against hers and closed my eyes. I tried to organize my thoughts…

One, Bella was awake. Two, she was crying—and vampires didn't cry.

Open your eyes, Jake. I obeyed the voice in my head and opened them.

Burgundy. It finally registered. The color of Bella's new eyes were burgundy.

What the hell did all of this mean?