Author's Note: So, the story's in the middle bits now. There's about to be some major plot stuff happening now. If I've made any errors, I'm sorry. I'm barely sleeping anymore so it's hard to make sure I filter through every plot bump. Anyways, if you could leave a review telling me what you think or how you feel about what's happening, that would be so amazing. I'd really love all your feedback! -Eli x

Chapter Sixteen - Blood and Morphine

Juliet POV

The house was eerily quiet when I woke up. I couldn't place what was wrong until I realized that Charlie's voice wasn't begging for death. I began to worry - had something gone awry during his change? I leapt out of bed, bolting down the hall to Carlisle's study. Everything shifted by in slow motion as my bare feet hit the carpet.

The only sounds I could hear were my heavy, ragged breaths and my heart pumping in my chest. I stopped at the doorway of Carlisle's study.

A face I hadn't seen in years stared blankly back at me. She stood in the center of the room, gazing evenly towards the door as though she'd been expecting me.

"Erica?" I squeaked. "How did you find me?"

"Juliet, you have to - ugh!" My sister cried out as two pale hands wrapped around her chest. A dark-haired man sank his teeth into her neck. Dark red blood sprayed everywhere as my sister choked. The predator made quick work of her before meeting my eyes. His own blood red irises caught the light. I knew those eyes.

"CHARLIE, NO!" I screamed as I sat up, tears pouring from my eyes. "NO!"

Someone was holding me down and shouting. I screamed, a thousand bitter memories flooding back at once. I couldn't see, I couldn't hear. I just tried to save myself from the enemies attacking at all angles, kicking and screaming and fighting back. Hot hands burned my fevered skin - I cried out, tears dripping, or maybe it was blood.

Cool hands suddenly replaced the hot ones. Strong, firm arms wrapped me up.

"Julie, Julie, stop!" Someone shouted. "It's me, it's Emmett!"

"Emmett!" I cried. He held me close, whispering in my ear. Slowly the cool temperature of his body brought me back to reality. I opened my eyes.

Emmett was sitting on the bed, holding me like a baby. Seth was standing next to Jacob, looking petrified. Nessie was being restrained by Jacob in her attempts to get to me. Edward and Esme were standing in the doorway, similar masks of shock on their faces. Rosalie was in the middle of the room, a knowing and forlorn look on her typically angelic features.

"What's happening?" I wiped tears from my face, attempting to calm my racing heart.

"You started having a nightmare," Edward explained quietly, coming up to the bed. "Seth tried to wake you, but you just kept screaming like you were being attacked. Your skin was burning up so Emmett tried to cool you down."

"I'm sorry," I felt like throwing up. "I'm going to go get a drink of water. Excuse me, sorry."

I leapt up and darted out of the room. My stomach churned. As I was going down the hall, I heard their voices behind me.

"She thought I was hurting her!" Seth was snapping at someone.

"Seth, she needs space," Edward sounded calm. "Just let her gather herself."

"Edward, does this mean what we all think it means?" Esme sounded horrified. "What did they do to her?"

"She's a fighter, Esme," Edward responded. "She's going to be alright. The nightmare triggered her fight or flight response, she didn't know where she was. She knows you'd never hurt her, Seth."

"That looked like an episode of PTSD," Jake was saying. I just turned away and ran down the stairs to the kitchen. On the way back, I refused to look into the study. I didn't hear any screaming. There was probably a good explanation for that.

Back in the guest room, everyone was staring at me.

"We'll give you some peace," Esme patted my cheek. Everyone left besides Nessie and Rose. I sat on the bed, rubbing my temples. Renesmee quickly checked to make sure I was okay with being touched before launching herself into my arms.

"Juliet, I know this may be hard to talk about," Rosalie sat down on the bed with us. "I went through something similar to what you went through at the end of my human life. I'm not going to force you to say anything, but I'm here if you want to talk."

"Thank you, Rose," I nestled into Renesmee's warm skin. "I really appreciate it."

Rosalie excused herself while Jake and Seth came in. They didn't say anything at first, just climbed into bed with Nessie and I. The four of us piled together like dogs, with no real consideration to where we placed ourselves. My three best friends just silently comforted me, no questions asked.

"Charlie isn't screaming," I pointed out, looking up at Jake. He was absently braiding a small lock of my hair.

"No, he's not. They injected him with morphine before the venom. They did the same with Bella," he explained, his voice vibrating in my ears a bit.

"Hope it works this time," Seth said with an apologetic look at Nessie. She just shrugged. Her legs were over Jake's waist, with her head tucked against my chest. I was leaning into Jake's chest with my legs over Seth's lap. One of Seth's hands was holding mine. Jake was braiding my hair and Nessie seemed to be napping, although she participated in the conversations.

After everyone had gotten over the shock of this morning's unpleasant episode, we basically resolved not to talk about it anymore - which was fine with me.

As we were packing in the afternoon to get back to Forks, I stopped by the study to see Charlie. No longer the vicious predator in my dream, he was lying very peacefully and oddly still on the table. Bella sat next to him, her elbows folded on the hardwood surface, chin resting on her forearms. She looked rather childlike as she watched her father with wide golden eyes.

"He doing okay?" I asked, leaning against the door. Bella nodded. Charlie was a lot paler than he had been when he arrived - the pockmarks and wrinkles that used to accent his features were now replaced with smooth white skin. He would have looked like a corpse if not for the steady rise and fall of his chest.

"The morphine won't last," Bella sighed before I left. "And once it's gone, he'll be too vampire to give him more."

"He can handle it," I promised her. "It'll be worth it in the end."

"Thanks, Jules."

"Yeah."

I went downstairs, standing in front of the wide window. The sun was dipping low behind the mountains, casting a pink-orange glow over everything in sight. One more sunset, one more day ending. I'd stopped thinking of it as 'one more day survived' since I really started to feel at home here.