Eight

Renesmee was throwing up. Edward was holding up a small wastepaper bucket to her at the side of the bed while Bella held her daughter's hair up and rubbed her back comfortingly.

Jacob was startled. In the four years since Ness' birth he had never seen her sick. As much as Ness was an unnatural kid, this was even more unnatural. "Damnit!" He shouted in irritation.

Alice said, "Carlisle's coming. He'll be here soon, he has news."

Jacob turned on her, as rabid as any animal. "Look at her?" He pointed at Ness.

Alice did, and her expression was not comforting.

"Wait, what did you see?"

Jacob could read the thoughts on Alice's face before she ever had to say them. "No," he insisted, he was angry enough to hit her. "She's not going to die."

"We have to wait for Carlisle," Esme warned, feeling the tension growing. "He'll know what to do."

"We don't have time for this."

Alice jerked, reaching out to Jacob. "No, you can't go in there. It's not safe. Whatever this is, it did come from another human."

Jacob stared her down. "How is that even possible?"

"Carlisle doesn't have all the answers yet, but he knows that for sure." Alice gripped his arm tighter, holding him in place. "It could have come from you. You could have given it to her."

Jacob was irate. "Of course, I didn't give it to her."

"Think," Esme reasoned. "How would you know if you did. Jacob," she started to plead, "No one is saying that you did anything intentionally, but we have to be safe. You know that she's very ill."

They heard Renesmee retch again from the other side of the glass as Carlisle sprinted through the trees.

"Alice!" Carlisle called out as he approached them. "I need your help." He pulled her aside but both Esme and Jacob's hearing was keen enough to hear them. "What did you see?"

"I saw what you learned. Human in origin."

Carlisle pressed, "Anything else?"

Alice didn't need to say anything, Carlisle knew.

"Stop it!" Jacob shouted. "She's going to be fine."

Edward's yell from inside the house stopped them. "That's enough, all of you. Carlisle, we need you."

Carlisle hurried into the cottage, giving Esme a reassuring smile before going in.

"Don't think that!" Edward barked as Carlisle entered the room. Father and son met eyes. "There has to be something we can do."

Carlisle reached for Renesmee, his deft hands searching her face and neck for fever. He quickly filled a syringe with a vile that he pulled from his pocket.

"Carlisle, talk to us?" Bella reached for Edward.

"It's human in nature," he told them. "It resembles a bacterial infection, the fever and vomiting, all fit. What's alarming me is that she's not responding to the antibiotics that I've given her. Her metabolism and immune system are both human and vampire in nature and the vampire side is fighting off everything I've given her to combat the condition."

Bella questioned, "Can't we give her a stronger anti-biotic?"

Carlisle gestured to the vile. "This is the strongest available."

"What about something vampire in origin to help her?" Edward questioned.

"We could try, but it doesn't come without risks. The only option is venom or blood. Both of which could harm her further. Venom could destroy all or part of her human anatomy, and blood could sustain her, but we have no data on what vampire blood could do."

"We should try," Bella stammered. "We should try everything, anything…"

Jacob thrust his closed fist against the side of the cottage. "Like hell will you bite her. Venom will kill her. I won't stand by while you turn her into a dead thing."

"We should try blood first. Venom would be the last resort," Carlisle told them. "Edward, it should be you."

"Wait," Bella stammered. "I can… it should…"

"It's alright," Edward reassured her. Rolling up his sleeve he brought his wrist up to his mouth and bit quickly into the vein before bringing the wound to his daughter's mouth. Renesmee struggled against the bitterness against her tongue.

"It's okay, baby." Bella soothed her daughter.

Edward hissed, not from pain but from irritation. "The wound has already healed."

Bella continued to coax her daughter. "Baby, we need you to drink, just a little bit."

Edward had already bitten another hole into his wrist and held it to his daughter's lips.

Renesmee gagged.

Edward's voice was filled with desperation. "It could help you, Sweetheart."

Finally, Renesmee drank, making eye contact with her father while she suffered the bitter blood of her father.

Sometime later she rested again, stilled. Jacob remained resolute at the window, occasionally calling out Ness' name softly, in the hopes that she might hear him, while Edward and Bella stayed watchful at the bedside like sentinels.

"She doesn't seem to be getting any better," Edward noted, wistfully.

Carlisle didn't say anything. He was standing in the corner of the room, arms crossed, deep in thought as the rest of the them were.

Bella was smoothing the damp skin on her daughter's hand. "She's going to die," she said with strangled finality. "She's going to die."