Well, I promised you'd find out why Seth was at the bank…but this chapter turned out longer than I thought. So you'll have to wait until next time…sorry. But I just might get another chapter up tonight, if you be good and review!
Oh yeah – you might recognize a few of these lines that I shamelessly stole from the books/movie. Not many. But a few. And I don't own them.
Jacob's POV:
I could smell the bloodsuckers from here.
I hesitated just inside the door, but the thought of Bella lying a hospital bed, pale and possibly dying, spurred me on. Seth didn't seem to mind that in a few minutes we were going to be stuck in a room with seven vamps.
"Isabella Swan," I told the receptionist.
"Oh yes. Second floor, room 209. Terrible tragedy, that shooting," she called after me, but she was speaking to my back.
"Thanks," Seth said, then turned to catch up with me as I headed towards the elevator. I punched the button for 2 a little harder than strictly necessary.
"Chill, man," Seth said, sticking his hands in his pockets.
I grunted a response, and he fell silent. I was not in the mood.
The stench grew stronger as we got off the elevator and moved down the hall. It was easy to find Bella's room, even if we hadn't had the room number. I nearly gagged as we walked up to the door.
"Want me to go in first?" Seth asked, infuriatingly cheerful.
"No," I growled.
He shrugged.
As I raised my hand to knock, the door opened and Mrs. Cullen walked out. "Hello, Jacob. Seth," she greeted us. Of all the vamps, the leader was the one least likely to make me puke. So I guess the least I could do was be civil to his mate. "Mrs. Cullen," I offered reluctantly. Seth grinned at her. "Hey."
"Are you here to see Bella?" she asked, leading us a little way down the hall.
I nodded, as Seth's grin disappeared for the first time that day. "Is she doing okay?" he asked.
Mrs. Cullen hesitated. "She's as well as can be expected," she finally said. "And she's been asking for both of you."
I used my foot to push off the wall I'd been leaning against. "Let's go then," I said impatiently.
"Wait," she said, her liquid golden eyes freezing me into place. "There are a few things you need to know first."
She smiled at an orderly passing by, waiting until he was out of earshot to continue. "She's been having a hard time…coping…with what happened. Carlisle says it's not unusual after a traumatic event. You'll need to be gentle with her. Don't upset her."
I narrowed my eyes – she was holding something back. "And?"
She sighed. "And…Bella asked me not to tell you this, but the rest of my family and I feel you should know. She was injured taking that bullet for Carlisle."
I swore. Loudly. If Seth hadn't gripped my forearm to calm me down, I probably would've sent my fist straight through a wall.
"I always knew you bloodsuckers would kill her," I hissed, my voice too low for human ears to pick up. "What was she thinking?"
But no one had to tell me what Bella had been thinking. She'd been protecting her precious leeches, keeping their secret safe. She'd nearly died. Keeping a secret for a bunch of murderers.
Esme didn't physically react to my outburst, but I saw her shoulders tense and her eyes narrow as she watched my every move.
In the next heartbeat Emmett and Edward strolled casually down the hall and took up places on either side of Mrs. Cullen. They didn't say anything, but the look in their unnatural eyes spoke volumes.
For a moment we squared off, but Seth tugged at my shirt. "This isn't helping, Jake."
I took a breath. Then another. Through my mouth – the smell was making me wrinkle my nose.
"You don't smell so good yourself, dog," Edward muttered, and I was instantly angry again. "Stay the hell out of my head," I snarled.
He shrugged.
"Okay," Esme said, her tone letting us know she'd had enough. She turned to Seth. "She wants to see you first. She's pretty anxious to know you're okay."
His grin popped out again.
He was so innocent. Would the boy ever learn? He didn't seem to understand they were our natural enemies.
"He has one of the purest, kindest minds I've ever heard," Edward murmured, as Mrs. Cullen and Seth moved towards Bella's room. "I don't think he does understand that we're meant to be enemies."
For a brief moment I envied that innocence. But Seth hadn't watched a girl he loved slowly fade away into nothing, because one of those leeches broke her heart. He hadn't pulled her from the water, nearly lifeless, after what I was still certain was a suicide attempt, despite Bella's assertions to the contrary. He hadn't lost that girl, after he patched her back up and made her smile again, to the same leech. He hadn't watched her run back to him with open arms, leaving him behind. Bitter. Angry. Helpless. Alone.
I saw Edward's face twist in pain as my memories invaded his head. Good. He deserved it.
"I know I do," he said. "And I still owe you a debt, Jacob Black, for keeping her alive. I don't like it any more than you do, but it's a debt all the same."
I snorted. "You'll end up killing her someday. Either by draining her lifeless, or turning her into cold dead stone."
He flinched. "Don't you think I know that?" he asked, his voice intense. "Don't you think I agonize over it constantly? But I've already tried living without her. And that didn't work out so well for either of us."
I glared at him. "Six more months. If you'd given me six months, I would've made her happy."
I allowed my dead fantasies to fill my head. Mrs. Bella Black. Little Bellas and Jacobs, playing on the floor in our house, next to their doting grandpa's wheelchair, while their other grandpa sat on the couch watching a football game. Bella, a lovely flush staining her cheeks, belly round with a child – my child – cooking dinner while I kissed her cheek.
He held my gaze as I poured it all out.
"Would she have been happy?" he asked quietly. "Or would you always have been second best? Something to fill the gaping hole I left in her?"
It was something neither of us would ever know; still the words made me angry.
I might have said something I would regret later – okay, let's be honest, I wouldn't have regretted it – but the door opened and Seth slipped out.
I studied his face. He looked a little shell-shocked, and the smile was long gone. I frowned.
He looked at me and gave a minute shake of his head. Anger filled me again – they were responsible for this.
"I hope you're happy," I hissed at Edward, my last parting shot.
He didn't reply as I pushed the door to Bella's room open.