Chapter 29: Eternal Night
My scream echoed through the house and shot back into my ultra sensitive ears. Jake stood in terror, disabled by my reaction. He couldn't even seek to comfort me. The rage flew from so many directions that there was no way to control it. My new level of emotional expression only intensified my distress. I tore helplessly at my own flesh, fighting to rip it from my being, from my very soul. My glassy nails dug deep into my exposed skin, my blood defiled the crisp white sheets of my bed. I felt the surge of power ravaging my inner core. My self inflicted wounds seemed to heal faster than I could create them. I viciously struck out against myself again and again, but to no avail. I could do myself no harm. Each wound healed faster than the previous. Jake's hands fought to stop me from tearing myself to shreds. I felt his hot hands close over my arms, but in the fury I flung him effortlessly against the wall. His head hit with a loud thud. He slid to the floor and my hands flew up over my sobbing face. My chest heaved with my efforts although I felt no sensation of exhaustion. I should have been tired from my exertion. I should have been dead from the slashing of my skin. I should have been laying in a pool of my own blood falling into nothingness. But here I sat, in a bed in the house that I was raised in, staring pitifully at my lover and best friend with tears of frustration and disbelief spilling hopelessly down my face.
I took a deep breath in between my sobs and found the courage to look at Jake. I was winning the battle in silencing my rage, "Tell me what happened." Jacob remained unmoving, unchanging, terrified by my tantrum. His eyes opened and shifted uncomfortably to the blood surrounding me on the bed. The stark white sheets made for a brilliant contrast against the drops and gushes of my fiery blood. I slapped my hands down roughly on the pillows surrounding me sending down feathers spurting in every direction. As the little white feathers fell like a blanket of winter snow around us, I screamed, "God damn it Jake! Tell me what the fuck happened!"
"Uh..." he stammered, looking at me from across the room trying to regain his focus, "Nessie, just calm down, its okay."
"It's not okay, Jake!" I said cruelly, "Now tell me!"
But he didn't have to. My eyes met his and in the strangest scene, like reading the pages of a book, I saw the set of events leading up to the reason for my unbearable distress. The words seemed to leap from his mind. I was able to flip through the pages of his thoughts and extract the memory that I so desperately needed to see. I found it quickly and drew it from him. I saw myself in a puddle of dark blood with that wretched Athenadora standing over me laughing hideously as I bled from a deep gash in my throat. I saw my father seize her by the throat and my mother leap to his defense as she threw him to the ground. The two of them fought savagely to bring her down, but she seemed to be able to dodge their movements. Jasper came out of no where and closed his jaws over the bitch's throat. The blood spurted from her like it does in a bad horror flick. She screamed and tried to pull Jasper off of her, but Alice dove in and tackled her. She fell to the ground and the four of them ascended upon her. She somehow managed in one ferocious blow to send them all flying in opposite directions. I saw the image of my mutilated body as Jake fought to revive me. My eyes where open, but showing no response. The chocolate color of my irises was muddy and dead. Jake lifted my arm and it fell limply back to the ground with a deafening thud. I could feel Jake beginning to cry and twitch with hate and sorrow all at once. His body shifted violently into its true form and he charged my murderer. His powerful black jaws gripped her throat. She struggled, thrashing her arms all over the place. Emmett came up behind the two of them and slammed his fist into the back of her head. Her body thrust forward impaling her neck brutally upon Jake's teeth. Her blood splashed over his muzzle and contaminated his fur, turning his wolfish face to an ugly rust color. He shook her now lifeless corpse, growling vengefully. Her neck clung to the remainder of her head vainly trying to reassemble itself as Jake let her mutilated body fall to the ground. Alice and my mother had started a fire. The flames leaped into the grayish sky producing a thick smoke. In one last burst of anger, the black wolf tore the head from the body of the corpse and tossed it into the fire. Emmett followed suit with the rest of her body. Ugly black smoke polluted the skies as her body burnt to ashes. Carlisle came to the side of my seemingly dead body. With the help of my father, they picked me up, my body lay limp and lifeless. They sped me up the stairs to the hospital wing. Jake followed, stopping for a moments time to return to his human form. When he opened the door to the room, I could hear his terrified gasp.
Carlisle wasted no time in hooking me up to a million machines. I could see the blip on the screen monitoring my nearly non-existent heartbeat. He struggled trying to administer an IV, but my father urged him to continue, "There's no time," he insisted. Carlisle nodded sadly and quickly moved to his table of instruments. He selected the scalpel and with a deliberate breath sliced through the skin of my belly, splitting me open. My body showed no sign of reaction. Carlisle's skillful hands reached inside of my abdomen. The blood trickled down from the open gash in the side of my belly. It slithered away in one single strand like a snake slipping out of sight. My insides moved sluggishly out of the way of Carlisle's grasp. He cut through one more membrane and with both hands withdrew a tiny fetus. It was purple and curled up into a tiny ball. He placed it gently in the incubator beside him and dove in for the second baby. It looked much the same as the first. They were so small, so helpless. Carlisle's grief-stricken face motioned to my father who immediately took over care of my babies.
Carlisle stitched my stomach back up, although it seemed unnecessary. Jake took my side, holding my hand as his tears began spilling relentlessly into his lap. The rest of my family filed into the room. My mother collapsed into Jake's lap, staring at my broken body. My father continued hooking the babies up to various devices.
I saw the sun set for the last time. Its golden hue pulled longingly at the heart strings of the night, begging to stay. But alas the night was victorious and stars began to shimmer silently in triumph. David burst into the room. His face was twisted in apprehension. He looked frantically to Jake's face and to my mothers. "I still may be able to save her," he whispered, not daring to allow anyone false hope, "it's a long shot, but there may be a chance if you let me." My mother and Jake looked at each other, both distraught and unwilling to make the final call.
"Do it!" my father shouted from the corner, still trying desperately to revive my children. "Don't just stand there! I said do it! Save her!" David instantly pulled the cuff of his sleeve back and slashed his fangs into his exposed wrist. A fountain of rich blood sprung from the wound. He pressed the dripping mess hastily to my mouth, pulling my lips open with his other hand. My body showed no response, but David was patient. He seemed to be focusing all of his will, all of his power on my lifeless body.
"Come on, Nessie, drink!" he said almost intimately, shaking his wrist at my mouth. But I did not move. The blood fell down my throat. David continued to let it drip onto my tongue and lips. And as a zombie rises lifelessly from the dead, my mouth began to mechanically move without any animation from the rest of my form. The muscles of my lips had come back to life, tightening the slack of skin in my face. I reached anxiously for the source of my reanimation. I saw my lips close over the open wound and my throat began to pulse with the taking in of blood. David strained at the force of my nearly dead thirst. In a matter of moments, my hands had closed around David's arm, cradling the wound to my face and I drew deeper and deeper taking in the dark blood. David winced and churned in pain, fighting to allow me to continue to drink. He had fallen slowly to his knees, determined to withstand the pain and give me all that I needed. The air of the room was horribly tense as my family watched in a stupor. I could feel Jake's disgust, his repulsion, his fear of what was transpiring before him. He wanted me back, but at what cost?
I pulled myself from the vortex of Jacob's mind that I had fallen into. I regained my surroundings, only barely realizing that I had just peered into his memory, into his thoughts and feelings. I shook my head, still confused by the new details surrounding me. Out of nervous habit, I bit into my bottom lip, shocked at what I had just seen and unsure of what to say. I tasted blood, hot, oozing blood leaping into my mouth. I closed my eyes and ran my tongue carefully over the line of my top teeth and stopped short-- tiny fangs. They were sharp and defined, malicious and deadly and absolutely horrific.
I turned to Jake, my teeth bared. He recoiled in surprise and fear. I began to sob. I let my face fall back into my blood covered hands, wishing for the nothingness again, wishing for death. Surely he could not love me in this monstrous form. I would never again see the light of day or know the love my family. I began to lose myself in self pity and fear. It shook me to the core... I was no longer any part human. I was two parts vampire, two colliding species, a hideous disaster of a mistake. I had never felt more alone. The blood filled my open palms, my heart burned in pain and inconsolable fear. What had I become?
"They're alive," Jake managed to push out of his trembling lips, "Our babies, they survived."
I lifted my head from my hands and stared cautiously into his face, not wanting to relive the memory of my death through his point of view again. I choked back a sob. I hadn't even entertained the notion that the tiny lifeless things that Carlisle had pulled from my body could have survived. Tears of blood blurred my vision, "Alive? But how? I didn't think..."
"Edward, your dad, he saved them. They are in the other room. They're still in the incubator, they're lungs aren't fully developed, but Carlisle thinks they will make it," Jake's jet black eyes were filled with tears, his beautiful face was twisted in agony at the sight of my plight.
"Nessie, its gunna be okay, I promise."
"My babies," I said, the thought induced more tears and confusion. How could I hate myself or not want to exist if my babies were alive? "Can I see them?" I whispered, my heart filling with alien hope. The feelings rushing over me were so intense, so much more than I had ever known my emotions to be.
"Of coarse," Jake said, a new vibrancy rushing through him, "They're your babies, aren't they?" he wiped the tears from his cheeks.
"Our babies," I said, still in shock and finding it difficult to move.
"Yes, our babies," Jake repeated. "Come here, let me help you." He took my hand, I nervously accepted. His hand felt different, like I had never felt it before. My fingers closed around his, I stared down at our union with detailed interest. I lost myself briefly in the sensation of touching him, this beautiful and amazing creature, the father of my children. I shuddered slightly at the overwhelming sense of closeness. He helped me to my feet, even the ground felt different. My body seemed so light, so easy to control. I glided across the room following his lead.
"Come on, its okay," he flashed me a smile. The same smile that I had known for years, only now it revealed so much more. I could see his protectiveness, his vibrancy, the essence of his being-- all through his easy smile. I fought the tiny distractions and tried to focus on the big picture. I followed him across the hall on the wings that were my own two legs into the other room where my children awaited their mother.
Sorry for the gore for those of you who are a bit squeamish, but it was necessary. Hope you can look back now and have seen it coming with the foreshadowing. Let me know what you think... I can't wait to write the next chapter and we can finally meet the twins! Happy reading... and reviewing, hint hint ;)