Disclaimer: Breaking Dawn is not mine. But I can name all the books in French. Fascination Temptation Hesitation Revelation. Bam.
Chapter Fifty Six: HopeEdward's voice interrupted our silence this time: both Jacob and I poised to listen.
"I'll be right back, Bella," he said. "I just want to speak with Carlisle for a moment. Actually, Rosalie, would you mind accompanying me?"
I twisted to face the door, so that I was watching when first Edward and then Rosalie burst through the door. Edward seemed determined to speak whatever was on his mind. Rosalie glanced over her shoulder and proceeded to glare with suspicion at her brother.
"Carlisle," Edward murmured, the shadow of hope dancing in his eyes.
"What is it, Edward?" I encouraged.
"Perhaps we've been going about this the wrong way," he said. "I was listening to you and Jacob just now, and when you were speaking of what the…fetus wants, Jacob had an interesting thought.
"We haven't addressed thatangle. We've been trying to get Bella what she needs. And her body is accepting it about as well as one of ours would. Perhaps we should address the needs of the…fetus…first. Maybe if we could satisfy it, we'll be able to help her more effectively."
"I'm not following you, Edward," I told him, trying to find the angle of his logic. Surely feeding the fetus would make it stronger and therefore moredangerous to Bella's failing form.
"Think about it, Carlisle," Edward prodded. "If that creature is more vampire than human, can't you guess what it craves – what it's not getting? Jacob did."
Edward watched me as realisation dawned. It was so obvious! And yet, it was so horrible it would never have occurred to us except at our moment of greatest desperation.
"You think it's…thirsty?"
Rosalie's face lit up.
"Of course," she muttered. "Carlisle, we have all that type O negative laid aside for Bella…it's a good idea." Of course, she was not willing to credit Jacob.
"Hmm…I wonder…" I thought over it, over just how much a risk we were taking with this. It could be detrimental to Bella's very fragile health, not to mention warp her psychologically. But then…Bella was running out of options: she would very likely die if we didn't do this. Butthen,howwouldweadministerit?It'snotliketherearepillsforthissortofthing...
"We don't have time to be creative. I'd say we should start with the traditional way."
"Wait a minute. Just hold on." Apparently, Jacob had just caught up with proceedings. "Are you- are you talking about making Bella drink blood?"
"It was your idea, dog," Rosalie scoffed.
Drinking it? That just seemed barbaric. Surely there must be a better way…a needle, perhaps, like a blood transfusion…
"What do you think, Carlisle?" Rosalie demanded, bouncing impatiently and glancing anxiously back toward the living room once more. "Can we try?"
"We'll ask Bella," I concluded. Neither Edward nor Rosalie would force Bella to do something she didn't want to; that was how I ended up in the middle of this mess in the first place.
We disappeared inside, Jacob following at a slow walk, and I tried to ignore Bella's failing heart as she shifted to look at us.
"What's going on?" she whispered hoarsely.
"Jacob had an idea that might help you," I started. "It won't be…pleasant, but-"
"But it will help the baby," Rosalie interrupted eagerly. "We've found a better way to feed him. Maybe."
I felt like kicking her, just to get her to stop feeding Bella's delusions. We had absolutely no idea what this would do to the girl, and yet Rosalie was insistent on leading poor Bella into false hopes so far above anything realistic it was very likely she was wrong. Not to mention the facts that Rose had omitted: making Bella drink blood could very likely kill her and make the baby stronger.
"Not pleasant?" Bella said, chuckling weakly. "Gosh, that'll be such a change." She coughed out another laugh, and Rose laughed with her. Edward's face didn't even flinch as he stepped around Rosalie and took Bella's hand.
"Bella, love, we're going to ask you to do something monstrous," he told her gently. "Repulsive."
"How bad?" she rasped.
"We think the fetus might have an appetite closer to ours than to yours," I told her. "We think it's thirsty."
Bella stared at me.
"Oh. Oh."
"Your condition – both of your conditions – are deteriorating rapidly. We don't have any time to waste, to come up with more palatable ways to do this." I had to admit Rosalie was right on that point. "The fastest way to test the theory-"
"I've got to drink it," Bella choked. She nodded – only just perceptible – and tried to smile. "I can do that. Practice for the future, right?"
Rosalie started tapping her toe impatiently. I wish Esme would do something – if I tried, I would probably throw poor Rose through a wall.
"So who's going to catch me a grizzly bear?" Bella joked.
Itwasajoke,right?I glanced at Edward.
"What?" Bella asked, looking from Edward to me and back again.
"It will be a more effective test if we don't cut corners, Bella," I told her.
"Ifthe fetus is craving blood, it's not craving animal blood," Edward explained.
I suddenly felt…dirty. Truly horribly monstrous. To force this poor humangirl to drink more human blood than I – the three-hundred-and-sixty-four-year-old vampire – had drunk in my entire existence…it was vile.
"It won't make a difference to you, Bella," Rosalie assured her. "Don't think about it."
Bella's eyes widened.
"Who?" she breathed, eyes flickering to Jacob.
"I'm not here as a donor, Bells," Jake grumbled. "'Sides, it's human blood that thing's after, and I don't think mine applies-"
"We have blood on hand," Rosalie told Bella, as if Jacob hadn't even spoken. Like he wasn't even there. "For you – just in case. Don't worry about a thing at all. It's going to be fine. I have a good feeling about this, Bella. I think the baby will be so much better."
Esme was watching the proceedings with concern, but she remained silent, looking instead to Bella for the verdict.
"Well, I'mstarving, so I'll bet he is too," Bella resolved. The joke died in the humourless room, but her enthusiasm did not. "Let's go for it. My first vampire act."
.o.o.o.
"We could try another method," I said quietly, almost unable to bear the cruelty we were about to enforce on poor Bella. The doctor's voice in my head was listing reasons this was a horrible crime against nature: madcowdisease,bloodpoisoning…I told myself to shut up. Edward didn't need to hear a new list of ways Bella could die because of this.
"No," Bella objected. "No, I'll try this first. We don't have time…" She took the cup from me with trembling hands, and the blood sloshed against the edges.
Rosalie helped support Bella so that she could half-sit up. The room was all but empty – the wolves' starvation blockade was beginning to take effect and so only Rose, Edward, Jacob and I had stayed with Bella for this twisted experiment.
Bella lifted the cup and sniffed at the end of the straw. She made a face – I was not surprised.
"Bella, sweetheart, we can find an easier way," Edward crooned, reaching out for the cup. He fought to keep his voice steady as pain ripped through him.
"Plug your nose," Rosalie suggested bluntly.
"No, it's not that," Bella explained weakly. "It's just that it…it smells good," she admitted in a small voice. Jacob's heart skipped a beat, and he swallowed hard. Edward looked wounded, but Rose was thrilled.
"That's a good thing," she encouraged. "That means we're on the right track. Give it a try."
Bella took the straw between her lips and squeezed her eyes shut. Her shaking hand made the blood slosh around the cup as she took a sip. She moaned quietly, and Edward and Jacob immediately came forward. Edward touched Bella's face gently, and Jacob clenched his hands behind his back. I was doing the same, forcing myself to stay back, to refrain from snatching the cup away from Bella and insist on some other method.
Bella's heartbeats began to steady out, and despite my crawling skin, the slightest of smiles crept onto my face.
"I'm okay," Bella whispered, staring up at Edward. Her face was apologetic but scared, her hand still shaking and the breath still wheezing in and out of her chest. "It tastesgood too."
"That's good," Rosalie said eagerly. "A good sign."
Bella took a bigger mouthful of blood, as driven as any of us would be. I was torn between disgust and fascination.
"How's your stomach?" I inquired. "Do you feel nauseated?"
I was making a mental checklist in my head, to soothe the part of me that kept insisting Bella was going to die of some horrible blood disease.
"No, I don't feel sick – there's a first, eh?" she replied.
"Excellent," Rosalie concluded, beaming.
"I think it's a bit early for that, Rose," I murmured, but I didn't have the heart to scold her. I needed all the hope I could get. I retreated to the back of the room to observe.
"I did it," Bella announced. The strength of her voice caught me off guard; the first words that had been louder than a weak choking. "If I keep this down, Carlisle, will you take the needles out of me?"
"As soon as possible," I vowed, that slight smile taking over now. "Honestly, they aren't doing much good where they are."
"Would you like more?" Rosalie pressed. Bella's shoulders slumped, and Edward shot a glare at Rosalie.
"You don't have to drink more right away," he told her.
"Yeah, I know. But…I wantto," Bella admitted, sounding guilty.
"You don't need to be embarrassed about that, Bella," Rosalie crooned, running her fingers through Bella's filthy, knotted hair. "Your body has cravings. We all understand that – anyone who doesn't shouldn't be here."
I watched Jacob from the corner of my eye, curious but not wanting to make him feel like he was under surveillance. His mocha-brown skin had taken on a sickly bluish-green tinge, and the usual temperature radiating from him had dropped a few degrees. He was disgusted – and I couldn't blame him – but he was relieved. And I had another reason to thank the true Quileute Alpha.