I drift. I dream. I float in dark, endless water. Everything is muffled, pressure builds in my chest that makes it impossible to get a breath in. My brain, trying to make sense of the flames that lick the side of my face despite the water, try to create a comfort. And that comfort comes in the familiar, furious roar that makes the void around me tremble.

I can see the light above me, dancing through the thrashing waves. Shadows dance violently, voices with cotton shoved in their throats rip through. But I can't make them out. And with every beat of my panicking heart, the light grows further away. The cotton starts to fill my ears.

... I'm dying.

Then that sickening, delightful, recognizable voice manages to penetrate my ears.

"Bella!"

Barely breaking through the inferno that slowly spreads through my blood, a cool touch caresses my cheek. And a pained gasp at what he sees almost covers the pained cries and cracks in the background. Like a grinding crystal, with a high keen as something - someone - is torn to shreds.

And then the screaming stops with one final snap.

" - ella, please! Listen to me -" The waves lap over my senses. I try to speak, but the water rushes in. My voice, if it comes out, is barely a whisper. But it is his name.

"...edward..."

"Carli-!" Agony, ringing through the air like a bell, and fear. "...stay with me, baby..."

Funny, I think I've heard him say that before.

Cool touches my face, the salt of the tears on my lips a welcome sensation. I'm not dead. Not yet. But my heart ... the pounding is slowing. I don't want it to stop. I prefer the deafening drums. Another voice, with a wise, aged tone, creeps in. Strangely clear, strangely focused. From the epicenter of my flames, it's getting colder.

"It's done. Edward, let me ..." A growl, a press to a hard, cold chest. Sharp pain shoots through my torso. I feel my body twitch. "Don't move her! He broke her leg, some ribs. I don't know how much longer she has. She-she's lost too much blood to change."

"What..?"

"Even if we let the venom change her body, there isn't enough human blood left to restart her heart."

"H-hurts..." I barely whimper. "Burns...on fire..." They don't see the white-hot embers crystalizing my skin, turning my muscle to rock. But God, it's almost too much to bear.

"Is there anything we can do?" Edward cradles me like an infant, pressing his mouth to my forehead. "I've got you, Bella...I've got you."

"I don't know. We used all my supplies patching up Charlie...but maybe. Bite her. There's a chance you can drain the venom from her before she's too far gone." Hesitance. Shaking terror. Edward shakes his head, pulling into himself. "Edward..?"

"I don't ... I don't think I can control myself if I try. Her blood sings to me, all I would do is excellerate her death. I can't do that to her. I can't..."

"I understand. I'll do it. I can handle being around it, dealing with it. I'll get it out of her."

"Carlisle, you've never drank human blood...what if it happens to you, too?"

"Then I trust you to kill me and lead the coven. But you have to trust me to at least try and save her. We love her almost as much as you do." My hand shifts toward Carlisle's voice, and he lets out a soft chuckle. "I think...I think we have an answer."

"...alright." Edward whispers soft comforts as he shifts my body to much thicker, more defined arms. Never leaving my side, his trembling hands take mine. "Alice, Emmett! Get something to brace her leg, and be ready to hold Carlisle down."

I don't feel them break my leg back into place. I don't hear Alice and Emmett discuss their chances of taking down a much older, more powerful vampire. A vampire they both see as a father or brother.

I feel a cold hand grip my hair and pull my head back. I feel a cold set of lips touch my neck, a shaking breath cool the flaming skin.

I feel the fangs slide along the canals left by an animal's attack. I wait for another rush of fire, another surge of fire to flush out what's left of my humanity, and leave me a dead stone on the ground.

And at first, I'm right. My senses are put into overdrive, and the water parts like the red sea from my body. My eyes are too focused, noticing the golden flecks remaining in Edward's eyes. The touch of blue in Carlisle's, the number of knots in the wooden structure on the ceiling. The flames rush down my veins. I watch Carlisle's face, the grim determination wrinkling his lightly freckled skin, his icy hands holding me tight.

He vices my body, holding me still through my body's unconscious thrashing until the fire dulls down. My limbs numb, drawing in toward my neck, toward Carlisle's lips. Until even that last flicker is dead. His nails, not claws, kneed my skin like a cat, and then he thrusts me like a doll into Edward's arms.

"Hospital. Now. Tell them whatever you must."

"Carlisle!" Edward holds me, rising to his feet. I start sinking back into the water, their words melting together. They argue until Carlisle is unable to hold back his high, monstrous scream. With what feeling I have, I grip Edward's shirt and urge him to go. "...alright. Alright. Stay with me, Bella. Stay with me."

"Go ... just go..."

"Bella ... Bella, I lo-"

I drift to sleep in Edward's arms.