AN: This one seems a tad boring to me but hey it doesn't end that way *wink wink, smirk*

Chapter 14

"Yes dad, just have fun, enjoy your vacation, we have everything under control here."

"Okay kid tell everyone I love them and I'll see you all next week. I'll check in a little later and tell Rose and Emmett hi for me, if you talk with them."

"I will dad. Love you!"

"Love you too, Bells, bye."

"Bye." Char hung up the phone and huffed. Imitating Bella's voice was difficult, but she did a good job and Charlie was none-the-wiser.

"That was horrible. I hate lying to him," Char stated as she sat down in the large blue chair that sat in our bedroom.

"I know, but it had to be done. He called yesterday, and I let it go to voicemail. We can't very well tell him Bella is under some sort of trance," I said, looking down at Bella.

Bella's arms circled me, her features still had a dark hue, her eyes still closed, her breathing still very very slow, and she appeared asleep, she didn't respond when prodded, she didn't respond to emotions I sent her, with or without skin contact, and all she emanated was anger. I sighed.

"I don't know what to do. It's been nearly 3 days and there's no change, she needs to eat, use the restroom, breath better. Nothing is right." I brushed a hand down her side lovingly, under the comforter that I had her covered in. She was still soft and supple, her skin warm, she wasn't changing I decided, but I don't know what this is.

"Maybe we should call someone that would know more?" Peter asked standing in the doorway.

"Phone a friend? Really? Who Carlisle doesn't know anything, our guests know more than he does, and they don't know anything about this either." I gave him a dirty look, just angry with everything.

"Well, we could call the one vampire that has some personal experience…" he trailed off.

"No! If they find out about Aro, they're going to order the trio down there to kill us," I growled.

"They need to check in anyway or we'll have the whole of the Volturi on our heads. I think it best we approach them first." Peter leaned against the door jamb, looking at me as though he knows he's right.

"Is this a feeling or a guess?" I had to know, if I was going to go down the rabbit hole, I had to be as informed as possible.

"It's just a guess. But we can't just sit and wait." Peter looked solemn before turning away and letting me decide.

I sat there for about three more hours debating the pros and cons of calling Italy. I knew they were not going to be happy once they heard about their fearless leader. The goon squad downstairs amazingly has been fairly quiet. Charlotte left me a couple hours ago and has been socializing with her husband and the Volturi while I watch Bella- sleep, for lack of a better word.

"Charlotte?" I requested, and she appeared in the doorway, giving me a questioning look. "I need to hunt. Stay with Bella, shut the door, no one allowed in or out." I ordered.

"Can you get out?" she asked softly.

I hadn't thought of that, I hadn't tried. I knew I was encased in her bubble on the bed, we'd been here so long I forgot about her own protections. I moved to get up and was able to stand, laying Bella back on the bed, a groan sounded from her lips. I knew that groan, she was upset because I moved away.

I began to walk towards Charlotte who stood in the doorway across from the bed and hit a wall as I neared the end of the bed. Guess that answered that question. I looked like a mime as I felt along the walls edges and looked back at Bella who now looked worse.

"Guess not," I answered. One last ditch effort came to mind and I faced Bella, "Bella. I need out, darlin', I need to hunt. I'll be right back 2 hours tops, I promise. Let me out, darlin'," I pleaded with her. I placed a hand against the wall to see if it would budge but no such luck.

"Okay, plan B. Peter, take Felix with you and go get me something to eat," I ordered.

"Would you like fries with that?" Peter quipped from downstairs.

The Volturi chuckled and I growled. "Go!" I bellowed.

"So testy when he's hungry," I heard him say to Felix as they walked out the door.

"What are you going to do? She won't let anything in?" Charlotte asked, and for the first time Jane showed up behind Charlotte.

"Well, she let me carry her in here and the bed wasn't part of the original protection so I'm hoping I can take her with me outside to eat." Both females gasped, and Demetri appeared at the door also. I growled at him.

"You can eat near her?" He asked the question that was on everyone's minds.

I cuddled back up to her and she seemed to relax as did I before answering his question. "I never have, no. But no, I don't think it'll be a problem. I have no blood lust anymore, I can control it- I'm just hungry, and for what I have planned next I need to eat just to make sure."

"What do you have planned?" Jane asked, cocking her head to the side, looking quite baffled.

With a heavy sigh I looked sadly at Bella. "I'm going to try a few things to rouse her and I can start that while they are gone, but my last-ditch effort…" I paused not sure how Char was going to receive it, "…I'm going to bite her."

"NO!" she shouted. "You can't do that to her! She's not ready to be turned! Charlie! What about Charlie?!" she was near hysterical and I held my hand up to stop her tirade. She stopped but only just, her glare showed me that she was still angry with my decision but she nodded for me to explain.

"I didn't say I was going to turn her, I said, I was going to bite her." I let that information sink in as everyone's eyes got wide.

"What do you mean? How can you bite her and not turn her," Demetri asked, he looked on curiously as I stood with Bella making sure to keep her wrapped in the comforter as I headed for the bathroom.

"I mean- move…" I ordered pushing past everyone, as expected her shield went where we went and I saw as Char and Jane was pushed slightly by the boundaries of the shield while I walked past them. "-that I'm going to try to shock her awake and if I have to I'll bite her and then suck the venom out, which is why I don't want to be hungry. We can't keep doing this, if for no other reason than she's human and hasn't so much as drank anything in over 4 days, her human body can't sustain that, she's growing weaker and yet there's still no change."

I moved into the bathroom and shut the door, setting Bella in the tub in her underwear and throwing the comforter to the side I turned the cold water on and began letting the tub fill up.

"What are you doing to her?" Char asked, her voice soft and full of worry as it floated through the door.

"I told you, trying to shock her out of it. I'm starting with cold water. Not that I expect it to help much, she is used to the cold, me. Please go wait downstairs and Char can you leave a change of clothes on the bed for both of us please, something comfortable for her."

No one responded but I heard their shuffling as the Volturi members headed back downstairs and I heard Char rustling around in our room. I focused my attention back on Bella.

"Come back to me, darlin'. Please. We need you. I need you," I began to murmur and used a washcloth to wet her face and neck, checking her responses. I know my vampire sight is perfect and I wasn't sure but the darkness that settled over her was starting to look a little less. I was trying not to get my hopes up, but I continued whispering to her and rinsing her body with the cold water.

When the tub was full, I turned the water off and continued quietly rubbing her face, chest and shoulders with the wash cloth letting the cold-water reign down her body. The ends of her hair bobbing in the water, she was beautiful, if not for the visible aura of darkness within her face. I wish I knew what that was, or better why it was.

This seemed to have worked if only minimally and about 20 minutes later I gave up. I dried her off, wrapping her back in the comforter and returning to our bedroom to redress her.

I next carried her down to the kitchen and set her on the floor, her back against the a kitchen cupboard, the rest of the vampires joined us, watching silently.

I first tried to get into the fridge but her shield wasn't letting me so I moved her, so she was touching the fridge and that worked. I pulled out some milk and some cheese. Just something simple. I was going to try to get her to eat or at least drink something. I had asked Char for the glass of water but I wasn't able to grab it and so it still sits on the nightstand in our bedroom.

I made no pretense to get a glass, I just held the jug up to her mouth, that I had gently opened, pushing on her chin and poured a little in, she swallowed. I waited to see if she'd ask for more. When 2 minutes passed and there was no change, her eyes still closed, she looked like a sleeping doll. I settled on the floor with her in my lap and began pouring little bits of milk into her mouth making sure not to choke her.

"She's drinking, that's a good sign, right?" Jane asked, her tone soft and curious.

"I think so. I'm not sure. I know she needs this." I replied giving her several more sips.

I spent the next 10 minutes giving her bits of milk, until she drank about 20 ounces or so. I then got a little bit of cheese and placed it in her mouth.

Nothing. She didn't chew, she didn't acknowledge it. I massaged her face, which was eerie to touch with the darkness there. Even if I couldn't see her face directly, I could tell from the look on the others' faces, it looked disturbing. And still nothing.

I opened her mouth and pulled the cheese from it tossing it to the sink, unfortunately the shield didn't include the sink and it bounced of falling on the floor. The spectators watched with interest to see what I'd do next. I gave her a few more sips of milk since that was something and then put the milk away, leaving the cheese on the floor. Just don't care about that right now.

I moved her to the living room back in front of the black mass that is Aro to see if there was any reaction. It looked like the darkness had faded a little more.

"Is the darkness fading or is it me?" I asked the others that stood just outside the room, I was guessing due to the shield and their wariness of my actions.

"Yes, it looks a little better to me," Demetri answered and the women nodded in agreement.

I sighed a little, knowing that she was a somewhat better if only barely. I knelt in front of her, the same position I held only days ago when this first happened.

"Bella!" I said forcefully, loudly. We had all been speaking softly for the most part but now I was trying anything. "Bella, snap out of it! Wake up!" I commanded.

Nothing.

"Bella, look at what you did to Aro! You need to fix this! I need you, Bella! Come back!" I was nearly yelling when Peter and Demetri showed up outside with dinner.

"Everything okay in there?" Peter yelled to let us know he was there and to get me to quit yelling.

"Ya," I sighed and picked up Bella taking her out the front and towards the woods just across the street from out house where Felix and Peter waited.

"Sure you want to do this with her here?" he asked, as I laid her on the ground next to the deer that was struggling in Peter's hold, I moved to grab it but was stopped by the shield.

I sighed and looked down at her. I was so close.

"Yeah, she's not letting either of you in. Break it's neck and step away, I'll see if I can get to it then, everything else has worked so far."

Peter did as I asked while asking, "What everything?"

Char filled him and Felix in while Felix held a second struggling deer and I moved Bella to lie against the carcass.

"That's gross," Felix commented as I bit into the animal.

I growled, they were all too close to my silent mate and my meal. I let the hot liquid slide down my throat before pulling the rest from its body, feeling more relaxed. I was taking my time, my mind wandering in 10 different ways as I drank.

Suddenly another idea came to me and I finished off my meal quickly.

"Peter, go grab me a glass from the house," I ordered the blood still on my lips. He gave me a questioning glance before running off.

"What are going to do?" Char asked, her eyebrows raised.

"I think you know," I responded sadly, looking into her eyes.

"She's gonna be pissed if it doesn't work, you know that, right?" she asked as Peter returned with a glass and when he hit the shield he set it on the ground and backed away.

"Pissed about what? What's going on?" Felix asked.

"He's going to give her animal blood," Peter replied having worked out my idea on his own.

"Gross!" Jane yelped.

"Why?" Demetri asked.

"Break it's neck," I nodded at the deer Felix was holding and cradled Bella in my arms to go get the glass.

"She's been exposed to a lot of venom, she may need it. I don't know. I'm grasping at straws here," I responded as I moved next to the newly deceased animal and again laid Bella against it's still warm corpse.

I used a finger to slice it's neck open and held it while blood leaked out into the glass I held in my other hand.

"Exposed to a lot of venom, why do you all keep saying this? You mean through sex?" Felix wasn't one to beat around the bush.

"It's more than that…" Peter began and I focused on moving the glass away when it was almost full, the deer nearly done bleeding anyway, because it's heart ceased pumping. I again opened her mouth and put the glass to her lips.

"I can't believe you're doing this," Peter interrupted his own story to Felix, which I had quit focusing on.

"Will it work? Do you have a better idea?" I asked, while she swallowed the quickly cooling liquid down.

"I don't know, and no," he huffed.

I felt the stares of everyone on my back, I hated feeling exposed but knew we were protected and that they weren't going to hurt me or my mate, still my instincts were on edge.

After several sips, I waited to see if there was any change and saw none. I downed the rest of the glass with a wince at it's cooling and coagulated texture.

"See, nasty," Jane commented. I ignored her.

"Okay, unless anyone has any other ideas, I'm biting her," I said turning around to look at the group behind me.

"What?!" Peter yelled and dove at us, head first into the shield about 5 feet away from us.

I growled at him, "Watch yourself."

"You can't change her! You can't do this! She isn't ready, this isn't how its supposed to go! What about Charlie! You told him he had 2 years, he still has a year left!" He was ranting and I was growling, he just said way too much in front of the Volturi.

"Charlie is her father? He knows of us?" Jane asked, not maliciously, she looked very innocent with her inquiry.

"Pe-ter," I growled and turned to check on Bella, no change. "Explain to them and everyone needs to leave, now!" I snarled, my eyes turning onyx in anger, if he just endangered her father I was going to have his head.

I sent him my anger and annoyance at the situation and he glared, his body responding to the anger before he nodded and took off for the house, everyone following in his wake. Char lingering for an extra second, I sent her a burst of fear, and she took off without a word.

"Baby, I love you. I need you to come back to me. I don't know what else to do."

With a last-ditch effort, I sent her all my love and felt it rebound, not reciprocated, rebounded. In that moment I felt lost and alone. I couldn't reach her. I didn't want to hurt her. I hugged her to me away from the dead animal. She was going to be pissed when she found out she drank blood. I'm surprised that alone didn't just wake her up. I don't know what I was thinking, she was beyond pissed now. Fury. She was furious. And it hadn't dissipated in days.

"Bella, give me some clue, tell me what you need? I just can't do this." I thought I could, but I couldn't. I couldn't bite her, to hurt her, just to make her feel the pain of venom. I couldn't do it.

I cradled her in my lap and felt the heaviness in my chest that I hadn't felt since I first found her, since I first realized I loved her and she was near comatose from Edward leaving her. She responded to the dogs back then, I wonder if I should… no that's not going to work. She responded better to me. I'm her true mate. I finally grasped a sliver of hope, this wasn't my last resort, there was another.

I stood with Bella in my arms and ran back into the house. Peter and Charlotte sat cuddled in a chair, seemingly very upset and the Volturi sat on the sofa across from their stone like Master.

"She lived at least," Peter glared at me.

"I didn't do it. I couldn't." I looked toward Jane, "Call Marcus."

It was an order and she nodded and pulled out her phone without hesitation. They really were good about taking orders.

"Master Marcus," she greeted when he answered. Who knew she could direct dial, I thought they'd have to go through some silly secretary or something.

"Jane? What can I do for you?" Not one to beat around the bush, his voice was sad and despondent, like it took a great deal of effort for him to speak. I had never met him, but I had heard that losing his wife, made him very depressed.

"Master, we have a situation…" she looked up at me and I just nodded for her to continue. "Master Aro has been encased in some sort of shield produced by Major Whitlock's human mate."

"Human?" he inquired, his voice a little livelier.

"Yes Master, she apparently is the true mate of Major Whitlock and her power showed itself about a year ago. But she hasn't used it since. Their plans were to wait one more year for her to age a bit more before turning her, however, she got angry at Master Aro and well that was several days ago. She is now seemingly asleep, her eyes are closed, her breathing shallow, and this dark hue has taken over her facial features. Major Whitlock is trapped inside another shield with her and though he can move her around there's about a 5-foot perimeter around them. We don't know what to do, can you help?"

Jane looked to me asking silently if that was a good enough explanation and I nodded my thanks.

"I see," he responded slowly. "True mates, like me and Didyme? Are you 100% sure?" He spoke as though he didn't believe it.

"Yes Master, Master Aro identified them as such, and so did Carlisle according to what we've been told here," Jane responded, keeping an eye on me and vice versa.

"Very well," his voiced took on a longing that was almost painful to hear. "I can't be sure, since there's never been anything like this before with a human. Why not just change her? That would conceivably fix the problem," he asked, speaking low and slow.

"Sir, this is Jasper Whitlock," I spoke up now. "I am worried about her current state, she has a blackness around her that looks as if the devil himself is trying to push through. I worry that something terrible could carry over and I do not want to do that to her in this state, vampires freeze in whatever state they were in and I worry that this is not a good thing, she is full of rage. I do not wish for her to carry that into her new life. This is not her, normally. Do you know of a way to help?" I tried to speak respectfully but I would not be told when to change my mate and it wasn't like I hadn't thought of that. I thought about it a lot over the last 4 days.

"Have you tasted her blood? Shared blood?" he asked after a brief pause.

"I've tasted her many times, yes Sir. But shared blood? She's been exposed to lots of my venom if that's what you mean."

"No child," he admonished me.

I bristled at the words. I knew he was considerably older but I had never been called a child, not since Maria. I stayed still and waited, if I angered him over a silly name then I may not be able to help my mate. She was more important than what a decrepit old vampire though of me.

When he was satisfied that there was no response or when he gathered his words he finally spoke again, I wasn't sure since everything seemed to come slowly. I held Bella cradled to my chest and listened.

"Our blood is different from our venom, the blood in our veins is similar to the venom we secrete in our mouths but just like humans, each body fluid is slightly different. Have you given her blood? Cut your body open and fed her from her your veins?"

"No?" I answered, maybe asked looking down at Bella curiously.

"You've taken from her but you've never replenished her?" he asked, his voice speeding up to a more normal cadence, as well as a touch of interest seeped into his tone.

"Well, I guess. I mean, we've shared, other body fluids, but it sounds like you're saying they are different," I looked over to Peter who just shrugged.

"So young," he mumbled, more to himself than to us but everyone heard and the Volturi all snickered at the comment.

I glared at them. I realized looking at them, that yes I was young compared to them. They were all several hundred years old and I wasn't even to my 200th year yet.

"You cannot take from your soul without replenishing it, you will pull the lifeforce from it, slowly. You must always cultivate your bond, nurture it, child. Even humans know that if you cut a tree down, you should plant another to replenish what you have taken. With your human it is conceivably no different. Didyme and I often shared venom, drank from each other, it was necessary for our bond to remain strong. A way to reassure each other we were still there…" his voice trailed off in pain and now I think I understood more than ever.

"Will sharing my blood change her?" I wanted to know. I needed to know, be prepared.

"I do not know," his words came in a whisper. He was done, emotionally he was spent, I could tell.

"Thank you." I nodded to Jane and turned to leave the room.

"Good luck, child," he whispered and hung up the phone. He seemed to forget about Aro's predicament or just didn't care.

"That was very hard on him," Demetri commented to no one in specific as I reached our bedroom.

Conversation was solemn downstairs as I laid Bella back on our bed.

"I'm sorry, darlin'. I never realized. I don't know how to do this and I don't know what the outcome will be. I love you," with a heavy heart and venom in my eyes I decided I could do at least one thing for both of us. I picked up her arm and placed my teeth over James' bite mark, something we both detested and bit down gently.

I let her blood flow into my mouth, making sure to keep my venom out of her vein, I took a quick drink, loving the ambrosia that was my mate as it took over my senses. I quickly sealed the would and then bit my wrist in the same place and held it to her mouth. She didn't suck, but she swallowed gently like she did the milk and deer blood before.

I pulled my arm away when the wound sealed itself and waited. I studied her face waiting for any kind of change, hoping to see the darkness disappear, the darkness scared me. I wasn't lying when I said I didn't want her changed like this. I was terrified of what it would mean if she changed while like this.

I let my mind wander to Marcus. He was a shell of a vampire, his mate gone, not just his mate, his true mate. He is the only other vampire in existence known to have a true mate and she was taken from him, by Aro, the vermin in my living room encased in a black mass.

I couldn't imagine losing Bella, like Marcus, I would die. It would be mercy to kill him. I would do it if he ever asked.

Seeing no change, I snuggled Bella down into the bed and cradled her in my arms. I just didn't know what I was going to do. All I knew was that at least we were together. I blanketed us in my love even though it wasn't getting to her I felt better knowing that if she even had a second where she felt something from me, it would be my love.

Everyone downstairs had quieted down probably contemplating all they had heard, the devastation and loss in Marcus' voice.

While I was laying there with her I thought about Marcus' words, "You cannot take from your soul without replenishing it." Those words replayed over and over in my mind. I did this to Bella. I didn't know, didn't do it on purpose, but it was my fault. I drained her soul, my soul.

It couldn't be just blood, could it? Blood and soul are not synonymous. Is there another way to replenish a soul? We always felt a deep connection when making love but again sex and soul weren't synonymous either. But that's when I took blood from her, when were connected in the throws of passion.

"Peter?" I called out and he appeared in the doorway.

"Yes? Is it working?" he asked hopefully.

"No, remember last year when you told me I'd have to have sex with Bella or she would die you just didn't know why?" I knew he did but I needed a way to start this conversation.

He nodded hesitantly giving me a wary look.

"We never really knew why, right? You weren't hiding anything were you?" I asked looking at him pointedly. This was no time for jokes or lies.

"No, I just knew that she would die, I don't even know when, just that she would. I know it sounded like a ploy to get you two together, but you know me well enough to know I wouldn't joke or lie about that. Why?"

"I'm trying to put together everything that has happened with everything that Marcus said. He said, you cannot take from your soul without replenishing it. I was trying to figure out how to replenish a soul, it's not just blood or even sex, but when we're together, making love, there's a connection unlike anything I've ever felt personally or from anyone else…" I trailed off in thought.

"So what are you saying?" Peter gave me a skeptical look.

I looked at Bella longingly and then at Peter searching for some of that wisdom. "I think in order for the blood transfer to work we have to be fully connected like that. Otherwise, I'm just feeding her. But I can't take advantage of her like that, not when she's catatonic, I don't even know that it'll work."

Peter got a look of concentration on his face as though he was trying to pull something out of his memory. I waited, burying my face in Bella's hair letting her scent calm me.

After a few minutes, he stated, "I just don't know, Jasper." My knower hasn't worked in a while, it could be her shield.

I sat up away from Bella, giving him a serious look. I instructed, "Then go, take everyone, go hunt, go far, you have 24 hours, do not return, call me when you know something or in 24 hours. Go. Now."

"It could help. You want to be alone? Don't do anything stupid, Jasper." He was agreeable but suspicious, I could tell by the look on his face, he thought maybe I had another motive. I did.

"Go!" I roared.

He looked between me and Bella before he nodded, his lips pursed, but deciding not to argue, he turned and ran downstairs.

"Let's go, all of us. We'll take your car, unless you want to go separate from us?" I heard him speaking with the others and relaxed myself back into the bed.

"Do you think he'll be okay?" Char asked, concern lacing her words.

"That's what we need to find out. Come on." I heard five pairs of feet shuffle out the door.

I had to give the Volturi credit, they were surprisingly accepting of this situation and of my orders.

"We're alone, Bella…" I began, rolling her to her back as I looked down on her face. "We need you to get better. I know what I have ta do but I couldn' do it with them here. Please come back to me?" I pleaded as I stroked her hair, letting my southern drawl out that had recently faded away again. Her face did look a little better, the darkness was there but the circles under eyes were better.

It would be difficult to connect with someone on a spiritual level when they're checked out but I was going to try. For the first time ever, I let myself go. I let my control over my emotions, my thirst, my nature go. It wasn't easy at first, all we're ever taught from the time we wake up is control and restraint. It's not easy to drop those barriers.

I started with the easiest ones, my thirst, that was new so turning it off was as easy as a switch and since I had just fed and had a taste of Bella, I was in control. No, I couldn't be in control. I searched myself, my gift, my mind, for all the blockades I had put up over the years and mentally tore them down one by one.

My thirst, my emotional control, I had to go back to being a newborn vampire, with no knowledge of anything, nothing to lose, nothing to gain, only seeking my soul, my comfort. My emotions swirled around but I was still controlling them, my thirst increasing with my effort and loss of control. I couldn't worry about that now. I needed feral, not hunting feral, completely uninhibited feral. Finally, hours later lying next to my soul mate I felt the snap, the snap that I was looking for and thought I may never find. I let loose a roar and …

AN: Mwahaha, this may be one of the most evil cliffies of my writing career. Don't worry though. I'm on it! Review Please...what do you think happens now?