CHAPTER FIFTY-TWO
(JPOV)
I had never known pain like this. My body felt as if I was being torn apart from the inside out. My every muscle on fire and my bones protesting the shift of the beast Rana tried to force out. Sweat poured from me as she focused her energy. Her eyes were closed and her body shook as she spoke in a language I didn't recognize, the sound of it entirely foreign to me.
She had told me what she was... where she came from and I hadn't struggled against her when she placed her cold hands upon my chest. The feel of her touch alone made the wolf in me rage with fury. Her closeness was unnerving for me but needed.
She was the only way I could reclaim myself and get rid of the warrior who was using my body as a host.
Rana's concentration could not be broken. She had kept me locked in her spell for three days, each one of them becoming more painful than the last. The unendurable pain made me silently want to give in- to let the spirit warrior win, but every time this thought came to me, Bella's voice was what I heard. I clung to it, hearing it in my head so clear that I felt as if I could open my eyes and see her there with me. It wasn't long before I felt the undeniable pull to return home come over me. The weight of it hard to ward off. My head filled with images of Bella as I fought against the near constant pull to move.
"Jacob-" She warned, her hands pressing more firmly on my chest in an attempt to keep me still.
"Somethings wrong-" I panted, closing my eyes as the raging heat tore through me again. I bit back a scream, my throat already raw from the past three days.
"We're nearly done- I can feel it."
Her voice was smaller than before and I could sense her energy was waning now. She withdrew her hands from me, quickly pouring a liquid over my skin where they had just been. It stung like acid and I sucked in a sharp breath in response.
"What. Is. That."
"It will help you- Something that's been passed down to me from my ancestors long ago." She replied, her skin paling before me as she sunk down to the floor.
"Rana-" I huffed, trying to move when I saw the crimson red drip steadily between her fingers. It trailed down her arms as she gasped suddenly.
She was pushing herself too hard, using too much of her energy at once. This would kill her if she kept going. Her eyes were surrounded by dark shadows and sunken in from exhaustion. She hadn't hunted in days. I met her gaze as she forced herself back up from the floor, blood still dripping from her nose when she tried to start again. Her face was full of a determination and an empathy it should not be able to show. Her translucent skin and scent told me that she was frozen forever in time, but the blood dripping from her now told me otherwise.
What the hell was happening to her?
I had never seen anything like her. She was far from your ordinary vampire.
"Stop."
"I can still-" She protested.
"No - No more." I gasped.
"Jacob-"
"No!" I shouted, wincing at the pain as I moved to catch her hands in mine, pushing her away with any remaining strength I had left- which was very little.
Rana stilled in my grasp, her eyes wide when they met mine again. "This is going- to be the end of you- if you don't stop. Enough!"
"It's worth it." She replied.
"Not if you lose all your power before you finish- no one wins there-"
She nodded to me in reply, my hands slowly releasing hers when she moved away in compliance to my request.
"This was meant to be the end of me, Jacob."
"You have to have the strength to finish-" I painfully countered, feeling the heat recede from me when she placed further distance between us, retreating to the sink and wetting a cloth. She placed it on my forehead with a sincerity in her gaze that made me wish I had known her as a human. There was something about her that reminded me of my own mother.
"I'm sorry this has been so painful for you- If there was another way-"
"There isn't. You've done all you can."
"No- no Jacob. I will keep trying."
I saw the bruise like circles that rimmed her eyes and knew she would have to feed in order to gain any of her energy back. I swallowed back the sick feeling as I looked away from her, unwillingly voicing my concern.
"You need to hunt, Rana. You have to."
The words alone tasted bitter as I said them, for I loathed the very idea.
"I will not leave you here alone. Not in the shape you're in. You are too weak and unable to defend yourself right now, Jacob."
"I'll be alright."
She stared at me with a disbelieving expression, her eyes roaming over my face before nodding her reluctant reply. I watched as she tried to make it to the door of her cabin, her form visibly weakening with every step she took. I forced myself up, feeling the ripping pain in my muscles from the sudden and unwanted jolt of my movements.
"Don't-" She warned, holding her hand up toward me. "You have to stay here and rest."
"You won't make it long enough to hunt. You can hardly move, Rana."
"I have to put some distance between us until I feed. Even though- I've stopped the spell for now, your presence is still drawing out my energy. Your- close proximity is only- making me worse." She breathed, pulling open the door and staggering out through it. "I will be back for you, Jacob."
I heard her slow steps, listening to the earth barely give way to her weight as she moved along, further retreating into the dense forest. I forced myself to stay put as a clear memory of Bella flashed before me. Her laughter surrounding me in front of Charlie's house when I caught her by the waist. I closed my eyes, focusing on the memory as it invaded my mind. Her face was alight with joy as I hauled her up in my arms, placing a kiss to her lips and holding her body close to mine. I tried to hold onto the memory for as long as I could but it soon vanished from me, leaving me alone and unable to keep the lingering pain away.
I had endured this for days now and my body was tiring from it. I could feel the heat pouring from me as my phase drew near. Fighting it off was excruciating.
The many hours passed as I laid there waiting for Rana to return. When the night secured itself in around me, I knew she should've returned by now. I pulled myself up from the small cot, my vision blurry as I tried to gain my footing, and my head pounding from the fight I feared now I would lose. My hands balled into tight fists as an angry cuss left me
"Fuck."
The suffocating heat ran through me as I braced myself against her cabins door frame, the wood splintering under my grasp as my anger took hold. I knew the agony I would be in if I phased again and had to fight to get back on two legs, but she wasn't back and I knew what that meant.
I took a few steps outside, seeing the moon cast shadows around me as I let out a scream that had been building for hours. My skin was then rapidly replaced with russet fur as I phased and landed on all fours, my senses on high alert when I caught wind of her scent mixed now with a rustic copper smell that was unmistakable.
It hung heavy in the air with its potency.
She was dying ...
I took off into the forest ahead of me, following the acidic stench that morphed into something more human the closer I got to her. I let my instincts take over, leading me to the mossy trail that she had taken herself hours ago. Blood stained the forest floor as I picked up my pace, my limbs already burning from exhaustion when I soon caught sight of her by the riverbed. Her acidic stench nearly gone and leaving only the rustic to remain in it's place. I sucked in a lungful of air, smelling just how human she was now as I approached her still form, my wolf eyes roaming over her. She let out a ragged gasp when I nudged into her side. She tried to scurry away from me, her eyes wide with fear when they met mine. The color of them dark brown now with no hint of the golden hue left from before. She was disoriented and afraid when I drew even closer. Her white dress stained from the blood that poured from her nose in a steady flow. My mothers face suddenly flashed before me as Rana sunk back down to the rock she had been curled up on, her body trembling from the cold she shouldn't be able to feel.
My mother had cared for her... She had meant something to her.
I took another step, hearing her gasp for air, her hands coming to her throat as she coughed, the sound of it wet. I pulled forth all the strength I had left, feeling the beast rage from my attempt to phase back to human form again. I fought against his hold and was soon back on two legs. My body filling with the same agonizing pain from before as a result. I sucked in a sharp breath as Rana tried to move, her body failing her while she crawled forward. I stood before her, pulling on my ratty and near shredded jeans as she met my gaze. Her brown eyes filling with tears that quickly spilled down her young face.
"I-I'm sorry- Jacob."
I crouched down, pulling her into my arms and feeling her huddle herself close to me as she gasped again for air. I tried to stand with her, my weakened strength making her feel heavier in my arms than she should.
"It's okay, Rana."
"Leave me- here-... "
I looked down into her gaze, seeing for the first time since I had come across her days ago, just how young she really was. She looked no more than twenty- five, her skin returning to its warmer shade now and revealing to me what she had looked like when she was close to my mother all those years ago.
"You're changing-" I huffed, unable to grasp what was happening in front of me.
"I'm dying- "
"You're supposed to be immortal-"
She shook her head to me in return, her tears returning when she spoke again.
"The witch in me dominates the venom. It always has. When I become too weak from using all my energy- I become human again- weak and frail- and mortal."
"Tell me what to do to stop it, Rana?"
"I don't think you can- I'm already... too far gone. I can feel it- I'm dying... alone."
"You're not alone and I'm sure in hell gonna try to help you." I replied, hauling her back up in my arms and securing her frail frame closer to me.
"You are just like her- Sarah- just like her." She breathed, laying her head on my chest as her eyes closed.
I ran with her back to the cabin, my strength holding out until we were nearly at her doorstep again, the night swiftly turning into dawn as I stumbled inside and laid her down. Her eyes were still closed and her pulse was weak, but it was there. I had to keep her with me somehow - she was my only hope.
A/N: Hi again all my fantastic readers! Thank you for reading this chapter and please review to tell me what you think of Rana! :-) Love to you all! There will be another update tomorrow! Till then...