CHAPTER THIRTY-SIX
(BPOV)
Jacob kept Clarissa close as she slept, her fever still raging at 103.5 degrees while the night carried on.
"I need to get more ice." I fretted, hurriedly heading to the kitchen to refill another zip lock bag with it and pausing my steps when Jacobs gruff voice carried out behind me.
"It won't help her, Bells. Her body heat melts it too fast for it to be effective in cooling her off."
"Then another bath or-" I tried, swallowing against the building tears that loomed in my gaze as I turned back to him.
He merely shook his head and peered down to her with his solemn reply.
"There's nothing we can do but be here-"
"I don't believe that!" I disagreed. "When Brenner first phased, you were able to hold it off for him. Even a little while longer...-remember? Why can't you do the same for Clarissa! She's too little for this, Jake!"
My tears welled up and spilled over with this as Jacob adjusted her in his arms and met my sorrowful gaze.
"Bella, Brenner was different. The threat was less-"
"How!?"
His face fell and he looked as if he didn't know how to answer me then.
"It just was. The threat of one fails largely in comparison to-"
"The Cullens!? You're really telling me that this early phase could be so easily triggered by a clan of that size alone. One whose not even a true threat anymore!? That doesn't make any sense!" I argued, feeling the stress of the situation starting to get the better of me as I tried to think of a way to help her. "That kind of fever...-in her little body- it's too much- too soon, Jake. She's not ready. You were sixteen and barely ready for it."
"I know." He hoarsely whispered. "But I can't stop it. If I could, believe me, I would. I don't want this for her either!"
"But you're not even trying to-" I countered.
"-because it would be effort wasted in doing so, Bella. She's going to phase. With the rate her body temperature is rising, probably faster than what I did. Maybe by morning or sooner. I can sense it."
I was horrified at this, my stomach churning violently as I peered down at her there in his lap. Her skin giving off heat in waves as I drew closer and hovered over her sleeping form.
"She's just a little girl. Why is this happening again?"
Jacob raised his head and met my stare, his look causing the color to drain from my face as he held it.
"When there's a threat, it starts a chain reaction. You know this. Clarissa is next in line. She's the oldest and I'm the grandson of a chief. That birthright runs heavy in my veins and its in her, too. I wish it was different. With all my heart, Bella. I wish it wasn't like this- but it is." He ground out.
"What aren't you telling me? I can see it all over your face. Just tell me."
He studied Clarissa's face a bit longer, sweeping her bangs out of her eyes as she slept, her forehead now beaded with sweat and I wanted to scream when he finally spoke.
"The Cullens are rushing back to Forks and the note Edward left you was laced with a warning of what's coming."
"What's coming?" I repeated, barely able to get the words out now.
"Edward is already in Washington, Bella. He and Tanya- his mate. They're here together and the rest of them will be arriving soon. By first light tomorrow."
"How do you know that?" I weakly questioned.
"-because I met with him. Tanya crossed over into our lands and we chased her down. I was mere inches from catching her, until Edward came to her defense and plowed me down over the river embankment." I gasped at this but Jacob shook his head and continued. "I'm alright. Could have been worse. Gentry was there. The whole pack was. It was a close call, but we needed to hear what he had to say."
"Which was? Why are they here?"
Jacob stood then and laid Clarissa down carefully on the couch and thankfully she didn't stir when his arms left her.
"Come with me." He asked, reaching down for my hand and swiftly leading us outside to the front porch.
"You're scaring me, Jake." I softly admitted when he quietly closed the house door behind us and took me in his arms.
"Come here, honey." He whispered, his comforting embrace my only solitude in the chaos right now, but that comfort was too short lived. "Bella, you know there's nothing I wouldn't do for you, right?" Nothing...-"
I pulled back and saw the honesty there in his dark eyes before his lips met mine with the kind of desperate kiss that had my fear nearly palpable.
"Tell me-" I sighed against his mouth. "Whatever it is. Just tell me."
Jacob drew in a deep breath and held my hands tightly in his.
"When we fought the Volturi with Alaric, the Cullens joined with us-"
"I remember-...and you ended them."
"So we thought."
I stared up at him in confusion as my mind raced to keep up.
"What do you mean? So you thought?"
"We did all we could. They covered us twice over in numbers. Even with the aid of the Cullens, it was a hard battle and we truly thought we'd searched every inch of ground to be covered. That we'd ended them all, but we missed one. Somehow, Demetri, a member of Aro's former guard, he got away from us that day, Bella. He fled back to Italy and he's been rebuilding the Volturi ever since. That's what the hidden warning was in Edwards letter to you. Alice has seen things in her visions that prompted them to come back here."
The world around me suddenly felt as if it was caving in on itself, and I tried to keep my breathing steady as I took in what he was saying.
The threat had never been gone like we thought, just delayed. All this time. Freedom really wasn't mine after all.
Jacob pulled me into him again, his hands swiftly reaching up to cradle my face and hold my attention as my fear became overwhelming.
"You mean- he's- r-rebuilt the v-volturi?" I stammered, my head spinning. "The past six years, he's been restoring it in Italy? In Volterra?"
He nodded and I felt my legs threaten to give out as the safe world I'd known came crashing down around me with enough force to send me into a panic attack.
"Yes."
"How many are there?" I managed.
"A lot."
"According to Alice's vision? I mean, those aren't always sound, and with you and the pack effecting the clarity of them, whose to say they can be trusted as a solid source, right? What if she's off?" I nervously questioned, but Jacobs worried expression only got worse at this.
"Bella, she's seen us in Volterra together. Edward said there's been a few times where in her visions- your future disappears." He admitted, his voice sounding strained and empty.
"Disappears?"
"Yeah, honey. Disappears."
"-and Edward, he sounded sure of this to you?"
"Yes."
I moved back, half stumbling over my own two feet as I moved away from him and covered my mouth, silencing the panic that I could already feel building. I could still sense Jacobs heated gaze on my back while I stared blankly ahead to the pitch black forest waiting out there.
"They're coming for me, right? Demetri and the new Volturi. That's what you brought me out here to tell me."
"Edward said Alice saw it that way, in another vision, but the path and the timing wasn't clear. Could be years from now. Could be days." He regretfully informed me then.
"-and Clarissa?" I tearfully hedged, "She's being pushed into this so young because of what's coming for me? Oh, God. Is that why the fever is taking hold on her so early!?"
I was falling apart, my body shaking like a leaf at the knowledge of this and my heart beating so fast I feared it would burst any minute.
Jacob took hold of me, whirling me back around to face him before I could sink down to the porch below.
"Bella, it's who she is. It's who she was born to be."
"...but I- this brought it on-" I cried. "You know it's true. She's being forced into the change for me."
I was inconsolable as the reality struck me.
She was losing part of her childhood because of a threat that was coming for me.
A/N: Thank you for your reviews. More coming soon. Be blessed today!