Chapter Six
1 Bella jumped out of the bath in a flash. Before she even knew it, she was at the bathroom door, ready to dash downstairs to see her daughter.
Alice, though, was quick on her feet and blocked Bella's way. "Wait!" She held up her hands, reached out, stopped short of grabbing Bella's bare shoulders. "Just…wait. Calm down. Be reasonable."
"Be reasonable? I have a daughter! I want to see her! I-" She heard them before she saw them: from downstairs, two different sets of feet sped up. They planted themselves right behind Alice; it was Jacob and Jasper.
"I got this, boys!" Alice chimed cheerily, not taking her yellow, repulsive eyes off Bella's. A very mechanical-looking, mask-like smile contorted her china-doll features. "Bella, be reasonable. You just had a little, uh…accident that left you rather unsettled. Self-control is not exactly your forte right now, wouldn't you agree?"
Bella blinked, focussed her sight, did all she could to see the surface of Alice's face rather than everything everywhere. "I…yes." She willed herself to stay where she was, to not think about pushing past Alice and the guys, to not think about just running downstairs and searching for her baby. It was so hard to think about doing something and not find herself engaged in that activity, already. Who had thought up the rules for vampire bodies? Her clumsiness was amped to the millionth degree, but at the same time, she was quicker than anything in nature was supposed to be.
Well, she wasn't a natural creature anymore, now, was she? She hadn't been one for over three months, now. It was time to come to terms with that simple, crushing reality.
"Besides, do you really want everyone to see you stark naked and dripping wet?" Alice put her tiny hands to her skinny waist and laughed that tinny, weird laugh of hers. It sounded affected as well as artificial. "Of course you don't. Now, why don't you march yourself back in there, dry off, get dressed, and then we can talk about Nes…I mean, Renesmee?"
That sounded reasonable. Bella's eyes flitted to where Jasper and Jacob were waiting in vigilant silence – the former smiling a little, the latter tense and glowering – and then she locked eyes with Alice again. Alice was her friend; Jacob had said so. She'd want what was best for Bella. She probably was a better judge of that than Bella could be, given the circumstances, too. It made sense to defer to her judgment. Besides, it wasn't as if Bella's decision-making hadn't landed her in a right bloody catastrophe earlier this day.
"All right," Bella said, and in a flash, she found herself standing by the bathtub again. She really needed to get a grip on her reactions. This could not go on forever. "What do I wear?"
The smile on Alice's alien face got more genuine. "Well, let me worry about that, honey, okay?" She raised a finger, said, "I'll be right back. Don't move," and dashed outside. Jasper and Jacob stayed where they were, though.
If Bella had thought that it would make any difference, she would've sighed with exasperation now. As it was, however, she just picked up the towel Alice had left folded on the toilet lid and started drying herself off. Maybe this day was not going to be a total loss, after all; she did manage to not force the others to wrestle her down right now. That certainly counted as a success.
2 Bella wasn't sure if wearing a beige cocktail-dress with a lop-sided skirt and uneven straps, as well as silvery stiletto shoes was appropriate for the context, but she decided to just roll with it and not ask every question ever about all the little things. Her new existence was bewildering enough as it was. There was no need to make things even more confusing than they already were.
After she got dressed, Alice led her to something her mind identified as Edward's bedroom. She actually had no idea why she remembered this little factoid so clearly, but hardly anything else from her human years. Maybe her brain was getting used to being what it was. Maybe now all her old memories would come back. Images of her father flashed before her mind's eye. They were a little blurred, but they did something her new, crystal-clear and sharp memories did not do: they created tangible sensations of warmth and happiness and longing and melancholia at the same time. They resonated. They made her feel.
There were other old memories, too: images of a thin, athletic woman with a cheerful smile and sonorous (beloved) voice, who hugged and comforted Bella after Bella had hurt her knee. That was her mother – Renée. Her mother was named Renée. Where were her parents? Were they all right? What did they think had happened to their only child? Were they suffering? Was there anything she could to help them, or at least make sure that they were fine? The wish to see them, to hold them, to apologise to them for everything that she had put them through, to cry on their shoulders and hear them tell her that all was going to be okay…oh, God, it was nearly overwhelming. Whatever else it was, it was a very bitter pill to swallow.
There was no way she could see them, though – not ever again. She understood that now. Her parents were out of her life for good. The worst thing about this was that Bella couldn't even cry about it. She could be despondent, yes, but the relief unabashed bawling brought was denied to her. She figured that she would just have to learn to live with it. It was the only option, anyway.
There was no use thinking these gloomy thoughts, but it was hard to keep them at bay as they popped into her head. Why had she decided to become a vampire again? Everything was terrible. Trying hard to keep it together, because she could not afford another meltdown today, she meekly let Alice steer her into the bedroom, which was big and richly furnished: there was a huge bed in there, bookshelves, a wooden cabinet, a desk, chairs. One of the walls was made entirely of glass, and it showed a view of the backyard and the forest. That was beautiful.
"Sit here," Alice said, pointing at the bed. "I'll go chat with the others a bit. They'll probably want me to get you something to drink, first, just to be sure you're absolutely full. Then, I'll go convince Edward and the watchdog to let you see your own daughter. It won't be easy, but I'll manage; I always do. Just…be a little patient. That's the best thing you can do right now, okay?"
"Okay," Bella said, saw that outside, two big wolves were prowling on the lawn, no doubt ready to pounce should she lose control again. That was a somewhat comforting thought. She sat down at the edge of the bed and watched Alice prance away.
They didn't leave Bella completely alone in the room, though. Jasper stepped inside, leaned against the wall by the door, and stuffed his hands into the pockets of his trousers. The way he kept staring at Bella, unflinching and unblinking, made her feel weirdly exposed. Where had Jacob gone, anyway? Downstairs? She had no clue.
"How do you feel?" Jasper said. There was no way to gauge his emotional state from his tone of voice, and he was talking so quietly, she could hardly make out his words.
"Better than I ever remember feeling." The words were out before she realised that she was thinking them. This was getting old.
"It's the blood, for the most part," he said flatly.
"What's the least part?"
The corners of his mouth twitched a little. "The kill. I know you don't want to hear it, and I know that the others would pitch a fit if they heard me telling you this, but it's true. It's who you are, now. You're not human. You're the thing that hunts humans. You're wired to want nothing more than to hunt them down and rip them to shreds and drink them up. That's what you did: follow your nature. It's why it felt like the most glorious thing ever. It's why you're so in control of your senses right now."
Bella stared at him, wide-eyed and stony-faced. She was pretty much in control now, wasn't she? Considering what she'd been like this morning? She could look at him with no problem. She could sit here and not go crazy about all the noises and smells and sensations all around her. Yes, she still had to focus, but it wasn't as hard, not nearly as hard as it had been before she'd fed on those four campers. Even the stony, alien fortress she was trapped in didn't seem as foreign and cumbersome as it had only a few hours ago.
Could he be right? Well, the real question here was this: if he was right, and this was what and who she was now, did she want this existence? Even more important, was this an existence that should be allowed to continue?
One thing after the other. She told herself to focus, focus, focus.
"I'm supposed to be a murderer?" she said, hating her flat and monotone voice like she never thought she could hate it. Truth be told, she never wasted one thought on how awful it would be to not be able to emote through speech – not before she was turned. Before, she thought that vampire voices were the most beautiful musical silver chimes in the history of forever. Now, she couldn't help but feel like a complete idiot for ever believing such shallow bullshit. It was too late for regrets, now, wasn't it? Far too late.
"It's not murder," he said, smiling a little. "They're cattle, Bella. We're apex predators. They're our prey. That's just how it works, and yes, it is that simple."
She remembered Edward telling her about his family's 'vegetarian' diet and how they were all devoted to protecting human life. Her parents came to mind again. They were human. They were people. The last thing she wanted was to see them suffer. The last thing she wanted was to imagine a vampire doing to them what she had done to those campers. "Why are you here if you think this way?"
He shrugged. "I have my reasons."
"But…why are you telling me all this? Aren't you worried that I might-"
"Tell on me?" He chuckled lowly. "No, Bella, I'm not worried you might tell on me – not after what you did today. Not now that you know what it's really like."
Well, she had to admit that he had a point right there. "I've been drinking from blood-bags all this time, but I never felt this…this…" What was the word again?
"Satisfied?" he offered, and she nodded curtly. "Yes, well, that's for two reasons: first, one or two blood-bags ain't gonna cut it, to put it casually; second, drinking from the living vein is how it's meant to be done. You're never gonna feel satisfied if you keep drinking human blood from a plastic bag. It's dead. You can taste that, and it doesn't do all it's supposed to do. It doesn't make you as strong and focussed as you're supposed to be. Drinking from a bag, you'll never be all you can be; you'll never live up to your full potential. Trust me; I know."
"What about animal blood?"
He grimaced. This wasn't hard to interpret, for once: that was an expression of pure and utter disgust if she'd ever seen one. "It's repulsive."
Before she could ask a follow-up question, she heard steps approaching.
It was Alice, carrying three blood-bags in her spindly arms. "Here you go, sweetie. Drink up. Just be careful not to spill anything on your new dress. I really want everyone to see you wearing it, after you trashed my hopes of presenting you in the blue one the way I had foreseen it. First public appearance indeed, but I'm nothing if not adaptable!" She tittered.
"Alice, she isn't a debutante; she's a new-born vampire, for crying out loud," Jasper said, sounding mildly exasperated. "I told you that playing dress-up with a corpse wasn't such a great idea, and now you're doing the exact same thing with a live and wild one."
Alice made a face. "Nonsense! Bella is a fashionable young woman who would always want to look her best, no matter the circumstances. Nothing has changed about that at all. It's a woman thing. You wouldn't understand, you big brute. Right, Bella?"
Bella followed the exchange blankly. "Uh…sure." She looked at the blood-bags, smelled them, and felt a faint burning pain in the back of her throat.
"Just give her the blood, already."
"You have no sense of decorum, mister," Alice chimed, sounding vaguely disapproving, dropped herself to Bella's right, and handed her one of the bags. "Here, honey: one after the other. Remember your manners, now. We're not animals."
Surprised at how controlled her motions were, Bella did as she was told and drained the blood-bags slowly and carefully, one by one. The blood tasted all right and it sated the mild thirst, but the sensation of drinking it was nowhere near as glorious as gulping down the blood flowing through the (dead oh God they were dead they were ripped to pieces she had murdered them killed them ended them) campers had been.
When she was ready, she licked her rubbery lips and looked from Jasper to Alice and back again. "Can I see my daughter, now?"
"What has the council of elders decreed in its infinite wisdom?" Jasper said, looking at Alice.
"Don't be mean," Alice scolded, and Bella had no clue what was going on. Had that been mean? How did everyone know how to tell? This was quite infuriating. "I'll go and talk to them again, tell them how calm and composed you are, Bella. You don't feel thirsty anymore?"
Bella shook her head. "I feel fine."
"I'll take care of the rest," Jasper said, a smile in his voice. That was what this was, right? "There's no need to worry. There won't be another slip-up – right, Bella?"
For some reason, she had to wonder if he could have prevented the first one, had he tried. But he wouldn't allow her to flip out like that if he had known how to prevent it, would he? No, of course not. None of these people were capable of something that awful and cold and sadistic.
"No," Bella said, instead. Hey, she was pretty sure that this was the first time she'd managed to keep her thoughts to herself ever since she'd been turned. Progress! "There won't."
"Wonderful!" Alice chirped, clapped her little hands together, grabbed the empty plastic bags, and hopped to her feet. "I'll go take care of the formalities. You two cuties just stay right where you are. I'll be right back with great news! Trust me, I know!" She dashed off.
"She doesn't, by the way," Jasper said, now positively smirking. "Her precognition? Doesn't work around your kid and the wolves. Just to give you a heads-up."
Bella scrutinised his face attentively, but remained clueless. Somehow, the feeling was more familiar than she would've thought. "Is there anything else I should know before I meet my own daughter?"
The smirk turned into something resembling a grin. "Plenty, but I think I've told you quite enough," he said. "Wouldn't want to spoiler you too much. Let's just say that you will be…enchanted."
"Enchanted," she echoed hollowly, and took a useless, no-relief-bringing breath. "Well, that's something I can work with."
For some reason, this remark made him laugh lowly. "Oh, you'll work with it," he said, "whether you want to or not."
3 Telling time wasn't as easy as Bella had hoped during her long months of learning how to see and hear and move. She'd imagined that since she was hyper-aware of everything, she'd be more precise than a Swiss watch at telling the passing of seconds, once she learned how to control her senses. Reality turned out to be quite different. How much time did she spend in that bedroom, waiting, under Jasper's watchful eyes? Minutes? An hour? It was hard enough getting a grip on all the thoughts swirling in her brain. Counting the seconds became secondary, not to mention impossible.
"I used to think it would all come to me naturally," she heard herself saying at some point.
"What would?"
She looked up into his scarred face. It wasn't awful to look at anymore at all. To be perfectly honest, his face was less of a shock than Edward's had been – probably because when she'd first seen Edward with her new eyes, she had not been prepared. "Everything," she said. "Moving. Thinking. Multi-tasking. Nothing is easy – nothing."
"Ask a human baby how it feels about not even being able to turn to the side by itself," he said, sounding…what was this? Kindness? Understanding? Something like that. "You'll learn. At some point, it'll all be automatic. You won't even think about it. You'll be fine."
"Thank you," she said, and looked down at her hands. They seemed less grainy and disgusting than they had before. Was that the human blood from the vein, too? If it was, the implications of this, of the price for a quick-fix to her problems, were not at all savoury.
This time, she could make out Alice's light steps the moment Alice started going up the stairs. Bella really was getting better at this, wasn't she?
"All right, guys, we're ready for you," Alice twittered, as she hopped into the doorframe. "Come on down; it's okay. Just…remember to take it easy, okay, Bella? Slow and steady does it."
"Isn't that ever so true?" Jasper said, earning himself a slap on his arm from Alice.
Bella had no idea what that was all about, but she had other priorities at the moment. As she very slowly got to her feet and started walking toward the door in what was an almost ceremonial stride, she wondered what she was feeling. It was so hard to tell without a heartbeat, without adrenaline, without anything physical to go by. Was she nervous? Was she excited? She was definitely curious, but whether the rest of it was anxiety or anticipation was very difficult to tell. All she could do right now was hope that Jasper was right: that at some point, all of this would become easy and automatic.
Alice took Bella's arm and started leading her outside, down the corridor and the big staircase, whilst Jasper followed.
In the living room, there was a little crowd. All except Jacob were vampires, and even though Bella ground her teeth together at the sight of their strange faces, she managed to keep her cool with surprising ease. It had to be the gallons of human blood she'd consumed – it just had to. Like this, she was even able to put names to the faces: Carlisle, Esme, Rosalie, Emmett, Edward…wait, who was the blonde woman standing in the background? What…had Bella ever seen her? She didn't think so.
Jacob was standing further away, close to the front door, and he looked just so, so tense. His shoulders were set, his hands were balled into fists. He looked at if he were ready to jump and run at the first sign of trouble. What the hell was…
…there was a second heartbeat she hadn't been able to hear before due to the deep thumping of Jacob's own pulse. This other heartbeat was quicker, lighter, less…wolfy, somehow. It wasn't human, either. This was her, wasn't it? Her daughter. Her daughter had a heartbeat.
"Bella," Carlisle said, stepping forward, arms outstretched, smiling. "Welcome back. We're all so glad that you're feeling better."
The campers. Screams. Shots fired. Blood. Tearing. Fear. Satisfaction. Horror. Death.
Bella snapped out of it and tried to return his expression. It felt weird and artificial. At the same time, a wave of contentment washed over her, and she relaxed. That wasn't her. No, that wasn't her doing at all, but other than at the camp, she was now glad of the supernatural dope. "Thank you." Her eyes found Edward's. He was standing by the window, watching her with a slight frown. His face was less repulsive, now, less…detailed. It looked smoother. That was a huge relief. "I'm sorry about…this morning. I'm sorry." She didn't even know whether she was telling this to all of them or just to Edward.
"It's okay; it's over, now," Carlisle said, crossing the distance between them and slowly placing his hands on her bare shoulders. "You're all right; that's what matters."
Was it? She wondered what had happened to the campers' ripped-up corpses. "I'm…I feel in control, now."
"Yeah, because you're chock-full with human blood. Small wonder."
"Rosalie!"
"What, Esme? It's the truth." Bella's eyes found Rosalie's. The latter didn't look very forgiving at all. "Look, Bella, you might be feeling grand right now, but it'll wear off. You should know that."
"How about we focus on positive things?" Carlisle said quickly, probably wanting to cut an arising argument short. He focussed his attention on Bella again. "Bella, listen to that little heartbeat. Take a deep breath. Tell me what you smell."
This was all a little confusing, wasn't it? Why couldn't they just tell her what to expect, instead of making her guess? Still, Bella obligingly listened and breathed. "There's nothing human about any of it."
"Does it smell appetising to you?"
"No!" She flinched at her own vehemence. Apparently, so did everyone else. "No, not at all."
"Good; that's good," Carlisle said, stepped to the side, and nodded gravely at Jacob. "It's okay. Bella can handle it."
"What if she can't? What if she flips out and-"
"She won't," Jasper cut in from behind Bella.
Jacob glared at him. "What if you're wrong?"
"I'm not."
He sounded so convinced, Bella couldn't help but agree with him. She felt good. She wasn't going to lose control. Everything was going to be just fine. "Please, Jacob, I want to see my child."
Jacob opened his mouth to reply (protest, more likely), but then a high-pitched, smooth, child-like girl's voice chimed up from behind him: "Let me see my momma, Jake. I want to see her now!"
Something weird happened: all tension just drained out of Jacob's body. His shoulders slumped, his fists relaxed, his expression grew pained and resigned. "All right," he said, his voice soft and indulgent, as he moved out of the way. "Don't think I'll let her hurt you, though."
"She won't hurt me. She'll love me," the girl's voice said, and then the girl herself stepped forward from behind Jacob, past Rosalie and Emmett, stopping two steps away from Bella. "Hello, Momma. I was so eager to meet you."
Bella laid eyes on her and was…transfixed. That was the word. It came easily to her, like it wouldn't have only a few hours ago. The girl was at about 3'5'', petite, had lush brown curls and big brown eyes. She looked…well, she looked like a mix between Edward and what Bella remembered of her own human looks. The thing was, this girl…well, she was, uh…uh…
…flawless. Her skin wasn't grainy and pervaded with pinkish veins as a vampire's; her skin was smooth and white, the way Bella remembered seeing vampire skin before her transformation. The girl's eyes were big, her nose was small, her lips were full and deeply red, her cheeks were faintly flushed. Her features were completely symmetrical. Bella could not put her finger on it, but something about this perfect symmetry was disquieting, somehow – off. It was weird. It was unnatural. The girl was perfectly beautiful and perfectly inhuman.
That was when Bella saw how everyone else was looking at this child. Their faces were entranced, charmed, hypnotised. There was unmistakeable worship in their expressions, love beyond what seemed possible for a vampire. Lack of adrenaline or no, Bella could not help but feel the chill of dread creeping up her spine.
What was going on here?
"I…I…I'm…your mom," she heard herself mumble stupidly. It sounded incredulous and astounded. Wow. She really was getting the hang of sounding alive, wasn't she? Was this a consequence of the human blood from the vein, too? Would it go away if she stopped killing? Was there an upside to any of this? What a nightmare.
"I know," the girl said, smiling as sweetly as sunshine after spring rain. She took the last two steps forward, ignoring everyone's horrified gasps, and reached out to Bella, who had to exert all her self-control not to recoil. "Let me touch your hand, Momma. You'll understand everything then."
Bella couldn't help but scan every other face in the room. Her eyes briefly settled on the blonde woman at the window. This woman...she wasn't mesmerised. She wasn't enchanted. She looked paralysed. When Bella was about to open her mouth and talk to this woman, the woman just very subtly shook her head. Bella pressed her lips together and looked down into the little girl's beautiful eyes. "Of course," she said feebly, "Renesmee."
Renesmee's smile broadened, and it was truly the most dazzling, unsettling thing Bella had ever laid her eyes on. "Good," the girl said, and touched Bella's cold fingers with her sizzling hot ones.
Bella waited and waited and wondered what exactly was supposed to be happening, here. She frowned a little. "I don't understand." Her eyes found Carlisle's.
He looked perturbed. "You don't see it?"
"See what?" Bella returned irritably. Why couldn't any of them just come out and volunteer information, instead of playing this useless guessing game?
"She's a shield," Edward piped up. All turned to him. "I can't read her mind. It makes sense that Nessie's ability doesn't work on her, either."
"Nessie?" Bella cast an exasperated look over her shoulder at Jasper, who just shrugged. "Like Eliot Ness?"
"Why doesn't she see?" Renesmee sounded seriously angry. Bella flinched and took a step backwards without even noticing it. "I want her to see!"
"Calm down, honey," Jacob hurried to say, falling all over himself to hurry to the girl's side and put his hands on her shoulders. "It's all right. It's all right. I'll do whatever I can to make it better."
What was wrong with him? This wasn't the boy that Bella knew in her new life or remembered from her human one – and she remembered! Snippets, that was, but there were images and sensations, which was better than nothing.
"Can you please explain to me what is going on?" Bella cried out, cringing at how loud and metallic and toneless her voice sounded again. Her hands were balled into fists, and she felt like running. "I don't understand anything!"
Several things happened at once: Jacob grabbed Renesmee and carried her outside the house in a flash; basically every vampire present jumped into formation, circling Bella; the unknown blonde stayed where she was; Jasper grabbed Bella and spun her around and crushed his hands to the side of her face, so that she looked right into his eyes.
"Calm down," he said very lowly, ignoring her harsh grip on his wrists. It must be painful, given her new-born strength, but apart from wincing slightly, he didn't seem to mind it at all. On the contrary: he looked like he was having a jolly good time. "Keep it together."
Bella wanted to shove him away and scream in frustration and ask them why no-one in this group thought it necessary to just talk to her, but the moment she decided to do all this, she was drowned in a thick, syrupy, honeyed tidal-wave of complacency. It was warm and relaxing and all-encompassing, and when it hit her, all anger and tension and exasperation puffed out, and her whole body slackened. Her hands dropped from Jasper's wrists, and she just stood there, looking back at him vacantly.
After a while, he let go of her face. "Are you in control again?"
"Yes," she said, her voice slow and slurred. That was weird, but she didn't care. This feeling was great. Why couldn't she feel like this all the time? What had happened to that little girl, again?
"Jasper, that's enough!" Edward snapped angrily, rushing to Bella's side, steadying her as her knees buckled. "For God's sake!"
"Do you want her to tear your daughter's face off in unchecked, new-born anger? No? Then let me do my job. In fact, if you hadn't stopped me from doing it before, those campers would still be alive and we wouldn't be facing war with the werewolves right now."
Edward's jaw tightened and he meant to advance on Jasper, but Carlisle held him back, saying, "Don't, son. We're all on edge. Please, let's all calm down."
"Don't you dare pull this number on me!" Edward barked at Jasper, jabbing a finger in his direction. "I'll calm down my own way! Back off!"
"Children, please!" Esme cried out, anguished. "We're a family!"
Bella just blinked at them through her thoroughly enjoyable stupor. "I feel good."
"Of course you do, honey," Alice said, taking her by the shoulders and steering her away from both Edward and Jasper. "I'll take you upstairs again, so you can, uh…rest."
"I'll do it." Everyone turned to the owner of the voice. It was the unknown blonde, who'd approached the little group without Bella noticing.
Alice gave her a doubtful look. "Are you sure?"
The blonde nodded. "Yes. You should go out and hunt. You're starving. You too, Jasper," she said, and gave Bella a stiff little smile. "You don't know me, but I'm a friend of the family. My name is Irina."
Irina. That rang a bell. Bella tried smiling back, but she just felt so lethargic. "I'm Bella."
"I know," Irina said, put an arm around Bella's shoulders, and started steering her back upstairs, whilst everyone else stayed put. Once they got to Edward's room again, both of them sat down on the edge of the bed. "Can you think more clearly, now?"
Bella could. It was eerie. "He's…impressive. Jasper. Helpful."
"That's one way of putting it," Irina said, uttering a low-pitched, throaty, bitter little laugh. For a good long while, she just scrutinised Bella with a little frown creasing her forehead. "You really didn't see anything when the girl touched you, did you?" Bella only shook her head, after which Irina nodded briefly. "Good," she whispered, so that Bella could hardly understand her despite sitting right next to her. "She puts pictures in your mind, you know. It doesn't matter if they're true or not, you can't help but see what she wants you to see. Everyone she touches becomes her acolyte."
What was left of Bella's drug-induced tranquillity was pierced by cold, harsh horror. She froze up. "You?"
"I can see what's really happening, understand it, but I could never hurt her," Irina said, and one didn't need to be an empath or a mind-reader to see the obvious pain in her expression, to hear the anguish in her voice. "They say she isn't an immortal child, and in a sense, they're right: she's worse. They could charm all vampires they came in contact with, but your daughter is so much more powerful than that. She is something that must not be."
Bella stared at her, started to see the graininess of her skin, the veins, the pinkish fluid in the capillaries of her eyes her hair her lips her lashes the dust the light the-
She shut her eyes firmly and rode it out as well as she could. When she had herself under control again, she looked at Irina and managed to see not everything. That was good. That was a success. Jacob had taught her to focus on her successes. Was he a devotee of Renesmee's, too? The thought was painful and hard to bear.
"But…what do you want me to do about it? That's my daughter." Without even aiming for it, she'd whispered this just as lowly as Irina had.
"If you don't do something, all of us will die," Irina said, placing her left hand atop Bella's right. "They will come here. They will be suspicious if I don't report to them soon, and they will know. They'll kill us all. They won't have a choice. You have to do something. Please."
Frowning and shaking her head jerkily, Bella whispered, "Who? Who will come here to kill us?"
Irina closed her eyes for a second, as if to gather herself. "The Volturi. They will find out, and they will rain destruction on every single one of us. That is a mathematic certainty."