Bella.

Time was frozen. I was paralyzed to the spot where I stood. My entire body shook in slow tremors, as I came face to face with my intruder. He was staring back at me, the same bewildered expression as mine upon his face. His familiar brown eyes darkened, and I inhaled sharply, ignoring the foul odor that was clogging my senses. Though it was hard to endure, his human blood was calling to me as well. I held my breath, surprised that I had the strength to resist.

"Jacob," I mumbled, keeping my eyes locked to his. He was studying me, mostly my eyes. I blinked them open wider, hoping for him to catch a glimpse of the golden specks that lined my dark crimson eyes, almost taking over the red color completely. I watched in despair as his long, thick fingers curled into fists at his sides. I gulped, and stepped back.

"I thought you were dead."

The tone of his voice startled me, bitterness swallowing any trace of the happiness that I was waiting for. I flinched involuntarily, and opened my mouth to respond. I couldn't find the decency to form words, though I knew Jake deserved them. I had hurt him. I had caused both him and Charlie pain, because of my selfish actions. I deserved all of the hate that he probably held for me.

"Technically, I am," I mumbled, giving a hearty chuckle. I snuck a peek at his distraught face, hoping he'd at least find the humor in my response, but his face remained hard. He was breathing heavily, his chest rising and falling at a slow, but irregular pace. I could almost feel the anger radiating off of him.

"I'm sorry," I whispered, hanging my head. We fell into an uncomfortable silence. I listened to the sounds of his angry, shallow breaths as we stood motionless. Say something. Forgive me. I closed my eyes, waiting for any kind of movement. My ear twitched when I heard him sigh.

"You know what this means."

I snapped my head up, suddenly confused. His face was still tense. His jaw was locked, and his eyes were narrowed. His dramatic breathing had ceased, but I could tell he was trembling as well. I shook my head, my eyebrows raised in question.

"War, Bella. They broke the treaty," he seethed between gritted teeth. War? Treaty? I frantically searched my head, trying to remember any detail about a treaty. Like always, the knowledge fell on my shoulders, and slapped me in the face with sudden realization. I gasped, jumping back.

"No!"

He sighed once more, shaking his head. His shoulder lengthed dark brown hair swung with the gesture, falling down to his upper-back.

"They broke the treaty," he repeated in a dark voice. "The Cullen's had to refrain from biting humans. I don't know the whole story, but you're a vampire now. We have no choice."

The anger was creeping up into my system, blinding me with a surprising fury that I didn't think I had inside of me. I growled loudly, baring my teeth and stepping forward on instinct. Jacob was startled, moving back as the growl continued to rumble low in my throat. I couldn't help myself. Though I had always considered Jake to be family before, he was now talking about slaughtering the only family I had left.

"Look what they've done to you, Bells. You're a monster." Though his words were soft, they boomed loudly in my ears, shooting at me like a bullet. Monster. I hated the word. My face fell, and I stepped away from him, relaxing myself to prevent from hurting him. I nodded, and watched at he relaxed as well. I wanted to show him that I had no intention of inflicting pain upon him. Me, on the other hand .. well, I was already in pain.

"Bella?"

I jumped at the different voice. It was loud, demanding and frantic. Jacob and I both turned our heads at the same time. A wave of relief and comfort fell over me, but I could see the hate and rage begin to take over my former best friend. The bushes moved aside as Edward, Alice and Emmett pushed their way into the small clearing, moving quickly to my side. My eyes were still on Jacob's, but I gasped in shrill surprise as I felt Edward's fingers lace through mine. I looked up at his face, but he was set on Jacob.

"We haven't broken the treaty," Edward snarled, his head moving forward an inch toward Jacob. I gripped his fingers tighter, silently asking him to refrain from attacking. Jacob scoffed, displaying a bitter smile as his eyes moved from Edward to our intertwined hands. He sniffed the air that surrounded me, and began to cough loudly. I quickly moved to help him, but Edward held me back, and I watched as Jake began to wave his hand in front of his face, as if getting rid of a bad smell.

"She reeks. She just like you." I flinched at his words, and desperately tried to think of some kind of witty response, but Edward snarled loudly again, and I felt that was a good enough way to sum up how I was feeling as well.

"It wasn't one of us who bit her. It was a nomadic vampire that passed through Forks last month. We've done nothing wrong. So I'd appreciate it if you would stop formulating vile plots of slaughter in your head."

Jacob looked surprised, but more defeated. My insides began to deflate. My best friend was thinking of ways to kill me. To kill my family. I watched as he shook his head, his eyes locking with mine. The look on his face was full of pure hatred. I shrank back into Edward's side. He pulled me closer to him, and every problem we were dealing with disappeared as I found my comfort. He was still snarling, probably in accord to something Jacob was thinking.

"Don't assume, Mutt. You have no idea what she's been through," Edward snapped viciously. I stared in curiosity, wishing that I knew what was going on. Jacob laughed once without humor, before narrowing his eyes at me yet again.

"Do you have any idea what you've done to Charlie? What you've done to your friends in Forks, what you've done to me?" he asked sharply, huffing in anger. "You're destroying Charlie. He hasn't been to work in weeks. My dad and I have to visit on a daily basis to make sure that he's eating. He's ruined," he spat in disgust at me. I pushed myself closer to Edward, feeling the depression as the mental image of Charlie popped into my head. I was hurting him. I was doing this to him. He doesn't deserve it.

"Put your tail between your legs and run, Mutt. I'm warning you. Keep your mouth shut-" Emmett began, moving to my other side.

"I knew something was up. At your funeral, they were all there!" he shouted, his accusing finger pointed at Alice. I shifted my eyes to look at her, surprised to find her lip curled in a snarl as well. "I could tell by the looks on their faces that you weren't gone. Not from them, at least. I knew that they had something to do with this!"

"Enough!" Edward bellowed, jumping forward. I grabbed his forearms with force, and held him back. Even as a newborn, I wasn't strong enough to keep him contained in my grip. I shot a helpless glance at Alice, and she quickly advanced to my side. She grabbed Edward's other arm, and we pulled him back. I looked at Emmett, who was on the verge of attacking as well.

"Please, Emmett," I whispered. His head shot up towards mine, and he sighed. Surrendering, he nodded. Turning my head, I glanced back at Alice, who was still holding a scowling Edward. I moved my head to Jacob, who was smirking. Something inside of me snapped. That was it. I advanced towards Jacob, not stopping until I was only inches away from his face. He didn't flinch, nor move backwards as I approached him.

"My transformation might've been a mistake, but there's nothing you can do about it. The Cullen's had nothing to do with the vampire who bit me. You have no reason to touch them when they're only taking care of me. You're my best friend. Well, you were my best friend. And even though your new found disgust for me is hard to swallow, I won't let you stand here and ridicule me. I've done nothing wrong!"

"Nothing wrong? You don't consider murdering over ten innocent humans wrong?" His accusation was sudden, and I had to draw a breath to take it in. Edward was by my side in less than a second, moving closer to Jacob.

"That's not her, you idiotic dog! She has yet to have human contact!"

I was still confused. The sharp turn of this argument left me somewhat dizzy. I rounded on Jacob, pulling away from a overprotective Edward for a moment.

"You think I've been feeding off of humans? You think I would actually do that?" I asked, my voice barely above a whisper. The accusation left me with a dulling pain. His faith in me was completely faltered, just because of my transformation. I was a vampire, and my entire existence revolved around blood. I knew that. But how could he ever think I'd willingly kill to satisfy my thirst?

"There has been a string of murders in Forks. I know it's a vampire," he muttered. His eyes gazed at me, and seeing my hurt face, he sighed in defeat. "Seeing you, a newborn vampire. I'm sorry, Bella, I just thought-" I glared at him, and he stopped talking. I turned around, and pulled Edward with me. I laced my fingers with his left hand, and we headed for the forest entrance. I stopped suddenly, turning my head. Jacob was sulking in the opposite direction.

"Jacob?" I asked warily. He stopped walking, and his head turned to meet my gaze.

"Have a nice life."

Edward.

"It's Victoria, isn't it?" Bella's shaky voice asked, as we neared the house. I sighed, and kept my eyes ahead of me. Her hand gripped my forearm tightly, and I reluctantly met her stare. I bit my lip, gulping down the resistance. I knew I had to tell her. She wasn't a breakable human anymore. She didn't deserve to be kept in the dark like she so often was.

"I think so, yes. Carlisle has been keeping tabs of the murders for awhile now. And after Alice's vision earlier, well .." I trailed off, knowing how perceptive she was. She would get the point. I heard her sigh heavily next to me. Her hand was still on my arm, but I wasn't complaining. I have been without Bella's touch for so long, that any chance for minor contact that I could get, I eagerly took. I glanced down at her. She was chewing on her bottom lip, her face fallen into a saddened frown. I stopped abruptly, and pulled her back to me.

"What's wrong?" I whispered, as I stared at her crestfallen face. She released her bottom lip from the grip of her teeth, and it began to tremble lightly.

"Charlie .. he's hurting .." she whimpered. I grabbed her hand, and stroked the skin of her wrist with my thumb. It didn't help. Her body began to shake, and I watched helplessly as she began to fall to the forest floor. I didn't know what to do. She was still so tense with me, still upset with me after leaving her. I didn't want to make any wrong moves, or do anything that would push her over the edge.

"It's my fault," she sobbed, grabbing fistfuls of moist soil into her hands. She heaved, and pounded against the ground so hard, that the trees around us began to shake. I crouched down to her level, and took her small heart-shaped face with both of my hands.

"Shh, hey, look at me," I cooed. She met my eyes with hers. "Charlie will be fine. He may be hurting, but it's inevitable. He'll come to terms with it, and he'll be just fine," I assured her. She nodded, and brought her hands up to meet mine. She held them to her face, not breaking my gaze. Her body shook in another tearless sob, and I couldn't find the strength to hold myself back any further. Releasing her face, I enveloped her into my arms. My grip around her shoulders tightened. For one second, I relished in the feeling of having her in my arms, fearing that any minute now, she would thrash and demand to be let go. Instead, she leaned her head against my chest, wrapping both of her arms around my torso. I leaned down, and pressed a gentle kiss to her forehead.

I felt complete. This is where we belong. Together. We didn't belong separated, broken apart by our ridiculous decisions. Since the moment I spoke to her, I knew that we completed each other. This was where happiness was. This was the only way I could be happy.

She shifted in my arms, and I watched as she lifted her face from my chest. Her shadowed eyes met mine, and she sniffled. She gave me a small smile, before returning her head to my chest.

"Edward?" she squeaked weakly.

"Yes?"

"I'm sorry," she mumbled into my shirt. My hand, which was currently stroking the ends of her wavy hair, stopped. I leaned my lips closer to her ear.

"What are you sorry for, Bella?"

She shook once more, and her grip on me tightened. She inhaled a sharp breath.

"Everything."

Sorry it took so long for an update! I've been kind of sick lately, so sitting at the computer for long periods of time was not something I wanted to do. No, this will not be the last of Jacob. And I'm not going to make an enemy of his character (sorry, Jacob haters) But I hope I satisfied you all with this. Let me know what you think, I love hearing your input!