35.
John's perspective –
I had never seen her acting like this. She wasn't responding to anything anyone was saying and her eyes moved back and forth like she was scared of something. I wondered what had happened inside that house and wondered if I would ever know.
Her eyes were as black as coal, which Edward told me was because she had not had any blood since three days ago. Her mouth moved as if she was trying to form words but nothing came out. She sat leaning against me in the car, Alice on her other side. Edward was speeding down the small country road, kicking up dust and debris. He kept glancing back at Lisa with an odd expression on his face; it almost looked like there was something going on that he didn't understand. Alice was murmuring to Lisa, holding her hand tightly in both of hers. Lisa was still shaking slightly, as if she was cold. I wrapped my arms around her and held her against my chest. She smelled like dust and blood, but I ignored this as I lay my cheek against her hair.
We were driving through a forest when Edward pulled over the car in a hurry and jumped out.
"What's going on?" I asked, turning in my seat towards the now-open door.
"She needs blood," Edward explained as he motioned for me to step out of the car.
I let go of Lisa and stepped out, watching Edward catch her as she fell back and carefully pull her out of the car. He let her stand to see if she could walk, but her knees buckled in under her, and if it weren't for Edward's arm around her, she would have fallen to the ground. He pulled her over his shoulders and took off into the woods with a, "I'll be right back."
Alice glanced back at me, looking extremely worried and tired, and offered an apology before taking off after Edward. I put a foot forward to follow her before realizing how stupid that was. Bella saw me move and put her hand out to stop me. "Stay here," she said softly. "They won't take long."
Ten minutes later, I began pacing from one end of the car to the next. Bella had sat down in the driver's seat, her legs out and head in her hands, looking out towards where we had last seen Edward. She didn't move and was either ignoring me or didn't see me. I began biting my nails nervously – something I had been doing a lot lately – and watched for any signs of them coming back. The sun was beginning to rise, a bit of light showing itself over the treetops.
I had told Lisa that I wanted her to make me like her, but something about seeing her like she was now, eyes black and completely vulnerable, made me question if I wanted to be like that. Seeing her black eyes look around unseeingly, lost somewhere inside her mind – it was scary to me. I had thought of her as invincible up until now. And something about what Edward and Alice were helping her do in the forest sent my fears rolling in my gut with a strange feeling. All I wanted was to protect my baby, but maybe changing into a vampire couldn't even do that.
My hand was shaking now and I stilled it as my eyes ran over the grey tree trunks, watching for any sign of movement.