2 : Escape
"Bella, it's me!"
Jacob was backed up against the wall as physically far away from me as the room would allow. My back was hunched and my body ready to pounce. Jacob's alarmed voice broke my trance. I was about to attack the person who just saved me.
"I'm so sorry," I apologized immediately. "I don't know what got into me."
"I do... I'm not sure how to say this." Jacob's brows twisted in pain and his eyes filled with sorrowful tears. He tugged violently at his hair and his lips trembled but his words came out oh so clear.
"Bella, the bloodsucker got past us."
"Victoria?" This must be a joke. Jacob's prank. His punishment for my careless jump.
I thought back in time, digging for prove I didn't want to find. My last memory resurfaced. Ice-cold waves. Ice-cold arms. A flash of violent red. Victoria was in the water with me! It was her frigid fingers around my arms. Her teeth scarcely sank into me before Jacob pulled her off. I touched my shoulder automatically and felt the semi circle of teeth marks.
"I'm so sorry! I'll never forgive myself."
"Jacob. It's ok. I'm ok."
Hadn't I wanted this? To become a vampire. Didn't I beg in my dreams for this? But now the reason for my wish is gone. He's gone. I'm a vampire. I didn't know what to feel. I was as lost as that day in the woods. Instinctively, my arms wrapped around my chest in a hopeless effort to hold myself together.
"Bella, I'm going to help you through this." Jacob reached toward me unlocking my arms. His skin was burning hot but he was a rock I could hold on to and I didn't let go.
"I'm not sure if you are actually a vampire." Jacob cracked his first smile since my awakening. It held the same vibrancy as in all my memories.
"What do you mean?"
"Don't you want to bite me?"
"Well now that you mentioned it, I do."
Jacob accessed my face while uncertainly covered his.
"Should I leave?"
"Actually, I was going to suggest that. You don't smell very good. I thought humans were supposed to smell delicious to vampires. You have a very unpleasant scent mixed in. Kind of like rotten food."
"Ha! Bella Swan, you don't smell too great to me either!" Jacob's eyes glistened in a joking manner and then turned serious again. "You are a vampire now and I'm a werewolf."
"And what does that make us?"
"I don't know, Bella." Jacob broke eye contact with me by staring at his feet. "This is partly my fault. I weren't going to let you suffer here alone."
He looked up and this time the pain and sorrow in his eyes shot straight to my heart.
"Bella, I don't know what else to do for you."
"Just don't leave me, ok?"
"I think I can manage that." He flashed me another brilliant smile.
.
.
Jacob was sitting on the steps with me. We were in front of an abandoned cabin somewhere north of Forks. And I was drinking Jacob's blood – from a cup. This was a strange situation, even for me after two years in Fork running with vampires and werewolves. Jacob, not knowing what else to do, had pulled out a plastic cup from his Volkswagen and a knife from his pocket and decided to drain some of his own blood to replenish my thirst.
The process was unpleasant for the both of us. Jacob had to cut himself repeatedly to squeeze out a full cup of blood because his wound kept sealing up and healing too fast. And I… well, I had to keep him alive through it all by holding my breath and restraining my body's strong desire to hunt. Now I am sipping from the cup trying to make its contents last as long as possible.
We were sitting side by side but with more distance than usual between us. A precaution for when I might lose it. Strangely enough, it was Jacob who uttered these words: "I thought I almost killed you."
"I thought I almost killed you, Bella. When we got here, I put you on the only piece of furniture inside and left to take care of some, um… stuff with the pack. When I came back, I almost had a panic attack because the sun was shining directly on your face! I thought vampire catch on fire or something in the sun!"
His face was so serious I was suddenly laughing – sincerely, happily laughing. Jacob joined in and echoed my laugh, a rough howl beside my cherubic song. I knew our differences, even greater now that I'm a vampire. But I was truly glad for the loyal friend I had in Jacob. I would have understood had he chosen to leave me to drown in pain in the ocean, hand me over to Victoria, or killed me himself. He was a werewolf and vampires are his enemy.
"So how did we end up here?"
"Well, I couldn't exactly return you to Charlie and Billy wouldn't stomach a vampire in his house. So I carried you north and luckily found this place. You've been out a long time, Bella. Almost an entire week. I was worried you were never going to wake up."
"Were you hurt? Fighting off Victoria?"
"She left as soon as she heard the rest of the pack coming. I think she was alone as well. You know that was a very stupid thing you did right? Going off by yourself. I guess after jumping of the cliff into a storm didn't kill you, Victoria did."
"Wow, I'm dead. I'm really dead. What does the pack think of you being here with a vampire?"
Jacob scoffed to himself. "They think I'm trying to get myself killed. But hey look, I'm still alive!"
"No thanks to me."
"Bella, I think you need to let loosen up on yourself. We just need to accept the present and figure out the future. One step at a time. You and me."
I thought really hard about what to do next. I probably can't go back to Forks again. It's too dangerous. So many people I knew and so many people I am now a danger to. I wonder if Charlie has reported me missing yet. I bet there would be pictures of me posted all around town and all the big cities in the area. I would have to leave Washington but where to go next - somewhere without humans. And I can't take Jacob with me. I'm a constant threat on his life, and I can't take away his family and friends by asking him to follow me.
.
.
A couple hours later, I was in the Rabbit with Jacob heading back to Forks. I'm not sure what his plan was or even if he had one. Whatever it is, it probably involves arguing with Billy and the rest of the pack. They didn't want me anywhere near Forks. I had to act fast.
"Can we pull over for a minute? I need to take a breath. Away from you." I said as casually as if I were asking for a bathroom stop. As a vampire, I must have gotten better at lying because Jacob smiled easily believing my lie and pulled to the side of the road.
"I'll try not to be offended." He joked. Werewolf or not, Jacob was still a sixteen-year-old boy. "I'll wait for you here."
I stepped out, planning to run for it. I didn't dare take any of my things from the car. What material things would I need now that I'm a vampire and completely isolated from my past life? And like so, empty-handed and empty-hearted, I walked away from everyone I loved – Renee, Charlie, Jacob, my life in Forks.