BPOV: I watched, horrified, as Edward shut his eyes and let the strange vampires take over him. At the same moment, I was frozen in place and Rosalie, Jasper, and Emmet let Edward stand and leave. In his eyes, I saw how broken it left his heart to do that. He was at the end of his strength, though. I struggled wildly to move, but couldn't.
It seemed like an eternity until we all could move again. I immediately took off into the trees, screaming Edward's name over and over again. I couldn't live if he died. I pummeled through the trees, the rest of the family following right behind me.
Alice's eyes glazed over as we ran. It was only a second before she returned to reality again, though. "Let's split up. Bella, I think he's in that direction somewhere." She pointed to my left. I tore through the trees as fast as I could go when I finally caught his scent and followed it to a clearing much like the one Alice had described.
He was there, lying in a pool of his own blood. I ran to him. Unconscious. They'd left him to die. I growled sharply at the surrounding forest, but they were already gone. I felt for his heartbeat. He was still alive, if only just barely. "Carlisle!" I screamed as loud as possible. He was there after a few seconds. "Oh my goodness," he whispered in shock when he saw the limp form on the ground. I sobbed tearlessly, wishing more than anything that he'd live, that I could take his place.
The rest of the family was there too in a matter of seconds. Everyone was by him in a fraction of a second, looking furious, horrified, worried, and heartbroken all at once. Jasper sank to the ground, the overload of emotions assaulting him, growling softly. Emmet gritted his teeth, his eyes going from gold to black instantly. Mine must have, too. Everyone's seemed to. I collapsed by Edward, wiping some blood off of his face.
"I don't know if he can make it, Bella. We may have to bite him."
I gasped in horror. "No!"
"It might be the only thing that will save him," he said quietly.
"Please," I begged, "just try."
"I'll do my best." And he leaned over him, starting to work on a large gash in his arm. I growled again when I saw how bad just that was. "Get his shirt off. I have a feeling there's a gash on his chest, judging by how much blood is there." I clenched my teeth together and pulled off his shirt.
He yelled out as the movement caused more pain, and I called to him softly as I removed it. I gasped when I saw the huge gash. It went all the way across his chest, and it was deep. Dangerously deep. Carlisle drew in a sharp breath. "That one's bad. It should have killed him. He's lucky to be alive."
"Bella," he whispered, his voice very slow and weak.
"I'm here, Edward. You'll be okay."
His eyes fluttered a bit, and then opened slowly. He shut them quickly when he saw the gash in his chest, grimacing at the pain. Carlisle quickly cleaned the wound, then handed me some gauze. "You need to bandage that before he loses too much blood. I'll move down to his leg, so you can do that." I looked at his leg. It was twisted in an odd way, obviously broken. I snarled loudly, but quickly turned to do my job.
"Edward, I'm going to help you sit up so we can stop you from losing too much blood. Are you ready?" He tried to say yes, but it just came out a garbled sigh. I cautiously slid my arm behind him and carefully helped him up. He gasped when he tried to use his left arm for support.
"It's broken," I said angrily. Alice held him up while I wrapped the gauze around his midsection. When that was done, Carlisle had already put makeshift braces on his arm and leg, and there was gauze wrapped around his other arm and his chest. His eyes fluttered open once more, his eyes filled with tears. We all froze. "Thank you," he whispered before he blacked out.
OoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoO
As we ran through the trees, Edward moved ever so slightly and mouthed something. I stopped. Everyone else did the same. "What was that?" I whispered. He squeezed his eyes shut tighter and whispered, "Where are we, love?"
"Almost home. Just hold on for a little longer."
"Kay," he whispered. I kissed him lightly before I resumed running. When we arrived home, I set his limp body on the black couch in the living room. He was still awake, but he wasn't responding to any of us.
"Edward Cullen, if you don't at least open your eyes right now…." Rosalie grumbled at him. I wanted to be mad at her, but she was always like this, so I forgave her. Edward grinned slightly and opened his eyes. She clenched her teeth together and stalked off. He frowned after her.
"It's okay, she's just upset by all of this," I murmured. He jumped a bit, but he relaxed quickly enough.
"I don't blame her," he groaned.
"I wish she would have the decency to be at least a little kind to you, though. You've been through plenty recently." I hoped she heard that.
His eyes narrowed. "You aren't… mad at me, are you?"
"Why the hell would I be mad at you?!" He winced.
"I gave up and let them control me. Doesn't that upset you at all?"
"I don't give a damn! It was those vampires' faults, all of it! I won't let you take it out on yourself!" He nodded and shut his eyes. A small tear escaped from the corner of one. He bit his lip. "Sorry."
"Don't cry, please," I said softly, pleadingly, "I'm sorry. I shouldn't have yelled like that." He didn't answer me. More tears glittered and slid down his cheek.
"Edward?"
"Mm-hm?" His voice gave nothing away.
"Please stop crying."
"I can't really. It's not your fault."
"What's wrong?"
"I'm just lamenting over the whole of the events of these past few days."
"Okay," I said softly, wiping away a few tears with my finger. He sighed and tried to sit up, sharply drawing in a breath when that caused his arms to react badly. I put my hand on his back for support and helped him up. He nodded and opened his eyes.
"I have truly horrible eyesight lately," he commented.
"Happens," I muttered.
Carlisle once again entered the room too quickly and quietly for Edward to notice until he was right beside us. Edward jumped again, but not as much as earlier. He sighed in exasperation.
"I'm sorry. However, it's a good idea for us to sow those wounds shut. Is that going to be all right with you?" He nodded at Edward.
"Whatever helps," he muttered uneasily. Then he turned to me. "You can go hunt. I can tell that you need it. I'll be fine." I hesitated, then nodded and ran out to the forest.
EPOV: Once that ghastly procedure was done, Alice and Jasper helped try to get the blood out of my hair. It didn't work well, sparing the details, but at least I managed to get into some clean clothes. At about that time, Bella returned.
"Hello, love," I greeted her from the head of the stairs. Alice was helping me stay standing. She moved away from me to give us some privacy, and I leaned against the wall for support, wincing slightly as my bandaged arm, the one that had been cut, reacted painfully. Bella was by me in less than a second, smiling largely. I smiled back, surprised at how cheerful I'd gotten so suddenly. Then I realized it. "Thanks, Jasper," I whispered. Bella laughed.
"I can hear you, you know that, right?" she said teasingly. I felt my face get a bit hot, but I nodded and tried to ignore it. She brushed her finger curiously along my cheek, resulting in a deeper blush.
"It's been a long time since I've blushed," I murmured. She smiled and continued to lightly stroke my face. "You really blush often." I glared playfully at her, and she laughed again.
"Come on into our room. We can get more privacy there."
"What for?"
"I don't know. Talking. We have an awful lot to talk about."
I nodded gratefully, and she helped me down the long hallway and into our shared room, not commenting on my slowness. When we were safely inside, she swept me into her arms, ignoring my protests, and carried me at a vampire speed to the couch we had kept from the house in Forks.
"I really detest that."
"What?"
"Being carried. It's degrading."
"I'm sorry, but you're a bit slow. Even I can get impatient, you know."
"I know."
