Nightfall

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The Prophecy

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DISCLAIMER: After reading New Moon by the wonderful Stephenie Meyer I realized I was going to have a hard time writing my story because there are a lot of things that no longer fit, but also a lot of little details (crucial to my story) that resemble New Moon in a lot of ways. After thinking about it for a while I decided that I will continue this story exactly as it was planned almost five months ago. Nightfall does not contain spoilers to New Moon. Any resemblance to the book's story line is entirely coincidental.

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"I'm sorry, Bella."

I barely had time to frown before I saw the sharp piece of glass in his hand. For a moment I went back to my human ways and covered my face with my arms. It took me a while to remember that he couldn't hurt me, but what really made me take my arms down was the sudden smell of human blood. I looked up in time to see Jacob slashing his throat open.

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I lost myself. The second his scent hit my nostrils I became somebody else. Something else. I threw myself at him, unable to stop and think about what was going on.

The taste of human blood, Jacob's human blood, was overpowering. Never in my life had I felt such a deep and overwhelming pleasure as the one I got from the warm, red liquid as it filled my mouth and traveled down my throat. The taste was wild, so filling, so consuming. I was barely aware of my teeth sinking into his already slashed throat.

Out of nowhere a strong, irresistible force pulled me backwards, away from Jacob's limp body. I heard the growls and the snapping sounds fill the air. It took me a while to realize they were coming from me. Edward was yelling my name, holding me back. In spite of all the love I felt for him, I wanted to hurt him, to cripple him so he'd let me go, so I could get back to that taste.

He dragged me backwards. I kicked and screamed the whole way but the more he pulled me away the easier it became for me to control myself. Finally I couldn't smell Jacob anymore, and reality sank in.

"Oh God." I mumbled.

As soon as he heard me speak coherently, Edward threw me over his back and ran home.

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The whole Cullen clan was standing in the living room when Edward burst in. Alice took one worried look at me and sighed. "I was hoping it hadn't happened yet." She mumbled.

I was trembling, the reality of what I'd done slowly sinking in. My super human mind processed the facts quickly. I drank Jacob's blood, that fact repulsed me and made me loath myself. But he hurt himself, why would he do that

He'd known about me, I was sure of it. He'd known and he'd done it on purpose. But what was he trying to do? And why? Did Billy have something to do with it? Would he really sacrifice his son? And for what?

Questions clouded my mind while Edward filled everyone in. I didn't listen to his side of the story, I was busy looking for answers in my head. What I did hear was Rosalie's harsh voice.

"I told you it was a bad idea! I told you she'd bring nothing but trouble to this family!" Rosalie growled in anger.

Edward roared right back at her, then turned to Alice. "Why didn't you see it coming? I could've taken her away! I should've taken her away."

Alice threw her arms in the air. "I don't know! It wasn't supposed to happen like this!"

The shock I'd felt slowly started to ware off. Something else was filling my head now, intense guilt, dread and panic.

"We have to leave, right now before he's found." Carlisle looked about to dash over to his car but Alice stopped him.

"It's too late. They know."

Edward cursed under his breath. "I left the Volvo in the gas station. We'll be linked to this sooner or later."

Rosalie stared at me with such hatred she made me wince. "You just had to go and eat the young son of an elder for supper didn't you?"

I couldn't look at her. I had taken Jacob's blood, just not his life. Somehow, the feelings that consumed me had formed a knot on my throat that prevented me from telling her this.

"That's not how it happened, Rosalie." I managed to mumble through the knot.

Edward ran a hand through his tousled hair in frustration and then pulled me close to him. His strong arms around my body comforted me for a moment. "It doesn't matter how it happened. We've all fallen off the wagon at some point. We just need to get out of here and fast."

I could tell from the tone of his voice that he blamed himself for everything. It broke my heart.

"We had a good thing going here for us you stupid little girl." Rosalie spat out.

"Rosalie that's enough!" Carlisle told her firmly. "Now everyone go pack. I want you all ready to leave in thirty seconds." He yelled out his instructions and everyone ran off to carry them out.

"I'll go check the gas in the cars." I offered and ran to the garage before anyone could object.

I'd never felt something quite like the guilt that weighted me down right then. I had taken a life, an actual human life. My stomach tightened painfully and the panic consumed me so fully I had to stop on the porch and lean on the doorframe for support. I had been a part of Edward's family for less than a month and already I was putting them all in danger. Something wasn't right, Jacob's strange actions made me feel like something bigger than myself had been set in motion and I had the feeling I wouldn't be able to stop it.

I closed my eyes and tried to think about the worst case scenario. The police would probably look for us. No, that wasn't the source of my bad feeling. The Cullens knew how to start over. So what was it then?

I couldn't answer the question, but the irrational fear that I had for Edward's safety continued to press down on me. It came to me then. I knew what I had to do.

When I got to the renovated barn I just kept going. I flew into the woods, running as fast as I could towards Jacob's body.

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I still didn't know exactly what was going on, but there was one thing I did know. Billy was behind the whole thing. He was probably trying to expose me, or maybe he just wanted me and the Cullens as far away from Forks as possible. And yet it seemed like too much, sacrificing a child just to bully us into leaving.

I stopped a few yards away, just enough so the scent of Jacob's blood couldn't reach me if I held my breath. I could hear lots of people already at the scene. The truth of what I had done hadn't fully sunk in yet, so I was able to stand calmly away from everybody to plan my next move. I hid behind a tree. The thin clouds covering the sun shielded me from the rays, but I still hung around the shadows of the forest, waiting for my moment.

I walked closer, careful not to make any noise. I could see cops surrounding Jacob's body. The one camera crew in Forks had already arrived. I spotted Billy sitting in his chair under a tree. Another Quileute elder stood next to him, I remembered the man from my childhood. He was Billy's brother.

The somewhat younger man was trying to comfort his sibling by gently placing a hand on his shoulder. His bright blue eyes contrasted wonderfully with his dark skin and his hair blew in the wind, making him look imposing and wise. One of the cops called his name and he left Billy alone to go answer. The long hair, already tainted with white, flew around his face, making the elder even more magnificent.

I got closer to Billy. He wasn't near the body, which made my job somewhat easier. I placed my cold hand on his shoulder and he stiffened instantly.

"Isabella." He said my name without even turning around to see me.

Staring at the broken man in front of me crumbled my defenses. "I'm so sorry Billy." My voice cracked with pent up emotion. "I still don't fully understand what happened but..."

"I asked you to stay away, Bella. Why didn't you listen to me?" His voice was so full of sorrow it made me shudder with sadness. His eyes were focused on something. Following his gaze I discovered he was staring at his son's body. If I could've cried I would've broken down right then. As it was, my body could only shake with the silent sobs that overtook me.

"Her! She was in the car too!" I heard someone yell from the road. The two cops interviewing the guy who worked at the gas station turned around to stare at me. I guessed they had made the connection with Edward's abandoned car after all.

"Look, Billy." I knelt down next to him, "I will go with you. I'll go quietly. You can do anything you want with me, just leave the Cullens alone."

Billy shook his head sadly. "This isn't about you, Bella. It's not even really about them. You have started a war, one that was announced by our people a long time ago. You fit the description perfectly. You were meant to kill my son."

The two officers were approaching quickly. One of them grabbed my arm and pulled me up. "You need to come with me miss Swan. We need you to answer some questions."

"Billy, I didn't kill him." I didn't resist the officer, I had to be careful with my strength. "He did it himself, Billy!" I yelled while they half dragged me away. His sad eyes were still focused on Jacob, but he looked up suddenly to stare at me. His brother walked up to him and placed a supporting hand on his shoulder. He glared at me and I found myself unable to look away from his penetrating gaze. Then the officer yanked on my arm and the spell was suddenly broken.

I wanted to study Billy's reaction to my words more carefully, but at that moment I saw something that made my heart sink. Chief Swan had arrived.

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"What are you doing with my daughter? Let her go, Hanson!" He barked at the young police officer holding my arm. His demand was so strong that Hanson not only dropped my arm, but he stepped away from me quickly.

"We found the Cullen boy's car abandoned in the gas station." Hanson tried to explain himself.

Charlie glanced at Jacob's body once and flinched with pain. "Bella, do you know anything about this?"

I opened my mouth to speak but for once I couldn't come up with a decent lie, so I just closed it again.

"Did Edward have something to do with this?" Charlie's hands shook, so he shoved them into his jacket pockets.

"No, dad." I shook my head.

He sighed. "Where is he?"

"I don't know."

His next words surprised me. "Take her downtown. I'll interrogate her when I'm done here."

"Dad?" I frowned.

"Keep a close watch on her until I figure this all out."

I sighed. He was afraid Edward had done something to Jacob. But he was even more afraid I'd try to skip town with him.

As we approached the road, leaving the forest behind us, I saw that a small group of camera crews had already arrived at the scene. I wondered where they came from while Hanson escorted me to the car.

I also wondered what I was going to tell everyone. I couldn't escape, not if it meant putting the Cullens at risk. I'd been good at coming up with stories even since I started dating Edward, but this one was going to require some serious imagination.

Something, other than my sudden arrest, was troubling me. What had Billy meant when he said I'd started a war? What did they want? A sacrifice? Well there I was for them to take. I would've done anything to keep Edward and his family safe.

Standing in the shadow of a huge tree I discovered, much to my dismay, that the thin clouds had parted. The sun shone, opaque but clear, on the road. A good 20 feet of sunshine separated me from the squad car. I sighed, resigned. The chief was going to find out about me after all.

I heard him then, well, not him exactly, more like the gush of wind the fast pace of his body left behind. I saw him running towards me, his face determined. He ran faster than I'd ever seen him run before.

No, Edward stop! My mind yelled at him. Did he know he was about to run by a camera at a hundred miles per hour? Stop Edward! Stop! I'd stopped walking so I could stare at him. He couldn't read my mind but maybe he'd be able to read my face.

Stop Edward! I was getting desperate and he was getting closer.

Edward, STOP!

He froze, his body rigid. He stared at me with wild eyes while he stood, unmoving, in the middle of the road.

His body burst into a million diamonds as the sun hit him. His glowing face started at me with panic.

What the hell are you doing? Run! My mind yelled at him. He moved so fast I almost missed him. He crashed into me, the sound booming all around us. He didn't even stop, he just lifted me in his arms and kept running away from the cops, away from Billy, away from the camera crew.

My superhuman ear allowed me to hear one of the reporters exclaim, "What the hell was that?"

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He kept running and didn't stop until we were in the woods close to his house. He placed me gently on the ground, and then started yelling at me.

"Isabella what were you thinking!" His hands shook my shoulders. I stared at him with wide eyes. His face was hard, he was obviously frustrated by my actions.

For a moment I thought he was talking about what I'd been thinking when he froze in the middle of the road, so I answered with a weak, "I don't know..."

"Bella, my god, do you know what you almost did? Do you realize the kind of danger you almost put yourself in!" He shook me again. Apparently he was taking advantage of the fact that I was no longer breakable. The tight hold he had of my shoulders was gentle but firm. He wanted to get his point across, no matter what. Only his point didn't really make sense to me.

"I... what danger?"

"What danger? Bella, what were you going to do? March up to your father and say: "hey dad, I guess I should tell you, I'm a vampire! Watch me glitter!"? We have laws, Bella!" His deep voice rumbled in his chest.

"You're yelling at me because I tried to turn myself in." Realization hit me slowly.

"Of course I'm yelling at you for that! You were about to step into the sun!"

"But you walked right into it! Further more, you stopped right in the middle of it, IN FRONT OF A CAMERA!" I started shaking on my own. He took one look at my trembling body and pulled me close to him, embracing me forcefully.

I buried my face in his chest and tried to stop my tearless sobs. His hands framed my face as he leaned down to kiss me. His lips were hard against mine. It was a desperate kiss. He poured all his worry and frustration into it. I buried my fingers in his hair and pulled him to me, desperate to taste him, to feel some sort of comfort.

He broke the kiss abruptly, pushing me gently away so he could stare into my eyes. "Don't worry about me, Bella. I can take care of myself. I'll handle the exposure. I just want you to be safe okay?"

"What do you mean you can take care of yourself?" I frowned when I heard him sigh.

"We need to keep moving. I'll explain everything to you later." He let go of me and took my hand. He tried to pull me along but I didn't move.

"What's wrong?" He asked.

"It was my fault." I replied in a small voice.

"It was your absurd sense of right and wrong, but it wasn't your fault. I should've known better, I should've kept you close to me..."

"No, not that. I mean that too, but that's not what I was talking about."

Edward dropped my hand to frame my face with his long fingers once again. "Bella, what's going on?"

"Why did you stop running? Right in front of that reporter, why did you do it?"

He shrugged. "I don't know. I froze up. It was like I couldn't move."

"Don't you think that's a little weird?" I asked hysterically.

"Bella, we don't have time to think about this right now. We have to get out of here! It was probably fear for your safety! Or your sanity, either way..."

I couldn't hold his gaze. He finally noticed my guilty face and stopped short. "You did it?" He asked in amazement.

"I'm not sure. I was yelling at you in my head for you to stop and..."

"Wait." Edward shushed me with his hand, "Not here. We can talk on the way." He led me deeper into the forest and took my hand. "Run with me, Alice hid your car for us."

"My car?" I immediately thought of my old, red truck. I loved it to death, but the poor thing would never be able to handle Edward's desperate driving.

"Your birthday present, remember?"

We stopped running right in front of my long forgotten Porsche 911.

"Get in." He commanded. For once, I didn't argue.

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He drove north, that was all I knew. In the darkness of the car I was finally able to think. So many things had happened in the last few hours I felt as if I'd dreamed it all. I retraced my steps slowly, trying to make sense of everything.

I'd gone for a walk with Jacob, we talked, he asked for forgiveness and then killed himself. I remembered the taste of his blood, it was clearer in my mind than anything else. Just the thought of it made my insides churn with hunger. The truth started to sink in then. Jacob Black was dead, and I'd attacked his mangled body like an animal.

I didn't even realize I was shaking until Edward covered my hand with his own. He was staring at me with concern. "You look terrible, Bella. Are you alright?"

"Jake is dead." I whispered.

Edward sighed. "I'm so sorry, Bella." I detected something in his words, some ancient sadness that I'd never heard before. I also sensed guilt, worry, but most of all, regret.

"You're sorry you gave into my pleas and changed me into a vampire." I whispered.

"Yes, there's that. But I'm more sorry for not taking you away like I should have. I just thought we had more time, I thought we'd see it coming."

It was almost as if he were speaking to himself. I analyzed his words carefully. What Alice had said just a few hours ago came to my mind then. It wasn't supposed to happen like this.

"You knew." It wasn't a question, it was a fact. Edward just kept driving.

"How?" I asked. It took him so long to answer I was almost convinced he wasn't going to. "They had legends. When we first met them, they told us. They didn't want us in their land not because they thought we posed a threat to them, even if they didn't really believe we could restrain ourselves, but because they knew you were coming."

I stared at him, confused and waiting to hear the rest of the story. He continued in a whisper. "They had one legend in particular, a prophecy if you will, about a human girl being turned into a vampire out of love. Something about facing an accidental death and being saved by a cold one who couldn't bear watching her die. That human would start the war between the cold ones and the wolves, they said."

He wasn't making much sense. He must've seen my confused look because he let go of the wheel to caress my cheek. "You've got to understand, what they described is pretty rare. In case of an accident, blood would most likely be spilled. There are not many vampires out there who would be able to resist the bloodlust in order to turn someone. The love would have to be deep, selfless, more powerful than the lust. That's incredibly uncommon, in fact, I've only seen it happen once before you."

"Rosalie and Emmett…" I whispered under my breath.

Edward nodded "Only in their legends it had to be a girl. You fit perfectly."

"If you knew this was going to happen, why didn't you tell me? Was this why you refused to change me for so long?"

He took a deep breath. "The burden of destiny can be pretty heavy. Bella, at first I thought I could protect you! Keep you safe as a human, away from any harm. It soon became clear to me that you'd have no problem getting killed in an accident. Bella, if it ever came down to changing you or losing you," He took my face in his hand again, forcing me to look at him. "I'd change you in an instant. I'm too selfish to watch you die. I would have loved to see you live a long and happy life as a human, but if you were to die at such young age..."

He closed his eyes before continuing, "I thought if you were changed by choice that you wouldn't... I mean you no longer..." I'd never seen him struggle for words like that. "Besides, I guess I never really believed their legends. Who would've thought you'd actually kill an elder's son."

His last words sent me into a shaking fit again. He wrapped his arm around me and pulled me close. "So you see, it's all my fault. I'm so sorry, Bella. I'm disgusted with myself for not being strong enough, for not doing what was best for you. If you want to leave me for not telling you everything, I understand. I see now I shouldn't have kept such a thing from you. I just thought I was looking out for you, giving you a chance at happiness."

"There is only one problem with your story, Edward." I whispered.

"Oh?" He tightened his hold of me.

"I did not kill Jacob Black. He slid his own throat with a sharp glass. Once the blood started flowing, I couldn't hold myself back. Somehow, I think he knew the reaction I'd have to his blood."

He let go of me so fast if I hadn't been a vampire I would've fallen sideways. In a flash, his tiny silver cell phone was at his ear.

"Alice. We were set up."

I looked out the window then, as if some invisible force were pulling my eyes to the side of the road. A huge, wild, furry animal sat a few feet away from the highway. Its sheer size made me cringe with fear. It stared at us as we drove by with its powerful blue eyes.

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Okay guys, this chapter was originally going to be about 30 pages long but I decided to cut it here because this is the turning point for me. From here on the story will be very different, the plot will pick up some speed and everything I've been foreshadowing throughout the story will come to pass. We are… roughly three chapters away from the end.

I would just like to remind everyone that I planned this story from beginning to end back in April (I think) and I'm going to leave everything exactly as it was originally thought. The only thing I will use from NM will be the Volturi name, because I was originally going to call them something else but it would be stupid of me to do that now. I am now sorry I got rid of Jacob so quickly... but there's really nothing I can do about that now so, on with the story!

Thank you for being patient with me, I went into a writing crisis after reading New Moon hehe. I'll update much faster now, I swear.