Chapter 1: Too Late

Bella POV

I am a little surprised by the face that I see before me. She looks just like she did the first time I saw her; her catlike eyes and a few leaves in her hair, even though we are out in the water. Even the redness of her hair matches perfectly with the orange and red hue of the sun I can see behind her head.

Victoria.

She stares at me with a fury that chills me even more that the water does. I hear a vicious growl coming from her, and she moves closer to me. "I will have my revenge on your precious Edward, but I know that this is the best I will get for a while with all of your protectors…" she sneered. "So what better way to do that, then to leave a newborn vampire to a pack of dogs."

My breath catches in my throat. 'Just stay as still as you can,' Edwards' voice says in my head. I don't know how I am going to get through this. I tense all of my muscles as I feel her grab me and turn me around so that I am again facing the shore. I can see a couple of people coming towards me in the water, but I don't think that they will reach me in time.

She moves the hair from my right shoulder to my left, and I hear her hiss in my ear, "Be sure to give Edward a message from me…" and then I feel her lips close to my neck as she forms a smile. "I will see him soon to take everything he cares about away!"

And then there is a piercing pain in my neck and all I could do was cry out, "Edward!"

Jacob POV

I saw her jump! I can't believe that she did it! Why did she do it? I told her to wait for me, and she didn't listen!

I run up to the edge of the cliff and I jump off. Soon, I am slicing through the water. Gotta get to her, gotta get to her, gotta get to her, is all that is running through my head. I don't know what I will do if I don't get to her in time. Stop thinking like that! You will save her and she will be fine!

I bob up to the surface of the water to see if I can see her above the water anywhere. I can't, so I dive down to see if she is down there. All I can see is the dark waters that surround me, and no sign of life anywhere. I start swimming a little farther out, and I finally see movement in front of me. However, it is closer to the surface. I start moving up towards the surface, when all of the sudden, I see a body start to sink. 'No, no, no, no, no, no, no, Bella!'

I swim as fast as I can to get to her and finally grab her underneath her arms. I bring us both to the surface and I gulp a lungful of air as soon as I do. I look over towards the girl in my arms, and I see her take a deep breath, and when she lets it out, all I hear is a painful scream.

"Bella!" I yell at her. "What's wrong?" I am looking at her, and although she is pale, she is breathing and looks alright. Why is she in pain?

I bring my other hand up and place it on the other side of her neck to bring her face towards me. As soon as I touch her skin, I realize what has happened, but I have to see it with my own eyes. I turn her around in my arms, and I see the mess her neck has been left in. 'Oh no. Not Bella? But how?'

After seeing her like this, I do the only thing that I can. I start bringing her back to shore. I am dragging her along as fast as I can, hoping that I am wrong about what I am seeing. 'Please no, not Bella, please!' About half way there, I meet up with Jared and Embry, and the three of us get Bella back to shore.

Once we get there, I pick her up and run a little farther up the beach until I reach Sam. I lay her down, so that I can make sure she is all right. She has been quieter since that first scream, but after I place her on the sand, she starts screaming again.

"Edward! Please help me! Edward!"

"Bella! Bella, listen to me. It's Jacob. Can you hear me?" I ask.

"Help me! Make it stop…make the burning stop! Edward!"

I look up at Sam, and he kneels down next to us, and I see the look of horror on his face. "What should we do Sam?"

"What can we do, Jacob? She has been bitten, and while we will still search for this Victoria, there really isn't much we can do!"

"We can't just leave her here!" I say. "We need to help her. We need to fix this!"

"How are we supposed to fix this?" Sam asks. "The best we can do is to take her out into the forest, past the boundary line."

"If we don't help her, she will turn into a bloodsucker!" I yell.

"Unfortunately, that is no longer our concern." Sam says, sadly. "The damage has been done. Her fate is sealed. Due to the treaty, we can take this no further."

I am getting really angry now. How can Sam do this? This is Bella! He knows her, he's spoken with her! Hell, he found her in the forest after that idiotic bloodsucker left her! How can he not care? "I have to help her Sam! I cannot just leave her alone. I love her!"

Sam just looks at her sadly. "There is nothing we can do. Take her out into the forest Jacob. Let her rest there."

"I can't just leave her alone! She is in pain!" I am starting to get angry again.

Sam looks at me worriedly. "What are you going to do Jacob? Sit with her until she wakes up? How? Do you know the first thing about a newborn vampire? Do you even know what they go through during a change?"

I shake my head. "No. But I cannot leave her there to suffer alone! And what if she comes back? Victoria, I mean. We are supposed to be protecting Bella from Victoria, remember? How can we do that?"

"Take her of our land. If you want, you can patrol near the boundary line, but if she, when she rises, becomes a hazard, we will have to take her down!" Sam yells.

"I don't know if I will be able to do that!" I yell. Tears are now streaming down my face. Why did this have to happen Bella? Why you? We were supposed to be together…we were getting so close. Why now? Why couldn't I save you?

She is now only whimpering in pain. She is shaking, like she can't get away from anything, like her body is rebelling against her. How can I leave her like this?

Sam looks at me, and says, "There is no other option Jacob. Take her away."

He rises from that spot, and nods to Embry, Jared and Paul. "Brothers, we must go. Jacob, take Bella away. Then guard the boundary closest to her and let us know if there is anything to report."

Sam, Embry, Jared and Paul start to walk away. I look down at Bella again, and she is still whimpering. "Oh Bella. I am so sorry for this. Why did you have to jump off that cliff? Why couldn't you have just waited for me?"

I put my arms under her shoulders and legs and pick her up. She is still whimpering and shaky, and still wet from the ocean water. I start walking as fast as I can up the beach to get her to her truck. Once I get there, I place her gently in the passengers' side of the truck, and then get in and turn the ignition. The truck starts up loudly, and I pull away from my house and start heading back towards Forks.

The trip does not take long. Bella is still whimpering and moaning and shaking, but not as badly as she was at first. Every once in a while, I will hear her start murmuring words that don't make sense. The few I can understand are things like "Edward" and "sorry". Even after all this time, she is still asking for Edward. After everything that the bloodsucker did to her, after leaving her like that, and she still only calls his name. What about me?

I decide to leave her truck at home, that way her disappearance can't be linked to us. I pull up in the driveway to her house and turn off the truck. I get out of the driver's side door and shut it quickly as I go around to the other door. I open it gently, and again, I put my arms underneath her legs and shoulders and quickly take her past her house and into the forest. I run for a while. I don't want her to be too close to the house, I don't want to leave Charlie in danger.

She is still whimpering, but she seems to have calmed down a little.

What am I going to do? Sam is right; I have no idea how to handle a newborn vampire! All I know is that they feed off blood and sometimes have extra powers that they can use. How am I going to keep her from feeding on any humans? How did the Cullen's do it?

I keep running until I get to an open field. Off to the left, I see a little grove of trees, out of the sun. I decide this is the best place to leave her. I decide to sit with her for a bit. Hopefully, I can bring her some comfort, before I have to tell her goodbye. 'Oh Bella. What can happen with us now? And what about Charlie? How will he be able to handle this?'

I have been sitting with her for about an hour, when a familiar scent drifts up to my nose. The sickly sweet scent that I know only belongs to vampires. Bella hasn't changed far enough to start smelling like that. Who could it be?

Then, I start to growl. There is only one vampire it could be.

A/N: So, what do you think? Who do you think it is that has found them in the forest. Send me a review and let me know! Thanks!