Sam and Billy came in from outside, prepared to console Jacob over Bella's death. Sam saw the truth first, and he froze in the doorway to the living room, blocking Billy in the hall.
"Jacob?" Sam asked softly.
Jake turned slightly to meet Sam's eyes. One hand still held the dying girl's hand; the other was pressed to the place on her neck that had been bleeding profusely twenty minutes ago. The bandages had been pulled away, but there was no fresh blood.
What was more, the girl was still breathing. If she had been dying of blood loss, she would have been long gone.
"Is she…?" Sam started to ask slowly.
Jake shook his head. "She's… still dying. It's just… taking longer."
And then Sam was absolutely sure, not only of what he'd feared was happening, but that Jacob Black knew, and understood what it meant. He came into the room to look down at the girl on the couch.
She was still covered in blood, though she was no longer bleeding. She was sweating, too, and it smelled wrong, too sweet. Her face was contorted in pain, but her body was too weak to struggle against the inevitable any longer.
"What do you think we should do?" he asked softly. Jacob had been very close to Bella, from what Sam knew. It was his call.
"What can we do?" Jacob was watching Bella's face, wishing it was peaceful so that he could pretend she was just asleep. Assuming he could ignore the smell, of course. He was unconsciously stroking his thumb across her fingers.
"…We should kill her now, before she changes," Sam offered quietly. Even before Jacob's hand tightened on the girl's and he looked up with that dangerous, disbelieving look, he knew it wasn't really an option.
"We can't! She's still human!"
"For now. But there's no way to stop this, Jake."
Jacob lowered his voice, trying the logical explanation. "I don't think we'd be able to, anyways. Her neck healed. I don't think there's anything we could do short of…" He couldn't finish the sentence. He dropped his gaze back to Bella's sweating face.
Sam thought absently that human bodies weren't as flammable, anyway, but he shoved the thought away with disgust. "We wait, then? Then what?"
Jacob didn't answer. Instead, he lifted the hand on Bella's neck and brushed her hair out of her eyes. The sickeningly sweet vampire smell drifted up when he moved, and he felt Sam stiffen. Jake smiled perversely, even though the smelled made his nose burn, as well.