The Twilight Saga 4: Breaking Dawn 9. Sure As Hell Didn’t See That One Coming

9. Sure As Hell Didnt See That One ComingI didnt re every last(predicate)y plan to say goodbye to my father.After solely, genius quick c completely to Sam and the game would be up. Theyd cut me off and push me masking. Probably try to demonstrate me angry, or even hurt me nearly instructions force me to phase so that Sam could lay down a new law. more everyplace Billy was expecting me, reaping Id be in some lovely of state. He was in the yard, just sitting in that location in his wheelch tonal pattern with his look right on the spot where I came finished the trees. I saw him try my direction headed straight past the house to my homemade garage.Got a minute, Jake?I s befoolded to a blocking. I looked at him and then toward the garage.Cmon kid. At least help me inside.I gritted my teeth and decided that hed be more samely to cause trouble with Sam if I didnt lie to him for a few minutes.Since when do you indispensabi lightedy help, old man?He laughed his rumbling lau gh. My arms be tired. I pushed myself all the way here from Sues.Its downhill. You coasted the whole way.I rolled his chair up the little ramp Id made for him and into the living room.Caught me. Think I got up to about thirty miles per hour. It was great.Youre gonna wreck that chair, you get. And then youll be dragging yourself around by your elbows.not a chance. Itll be your job to carry me.You wont be going many scores.Billy put his hands on the wheels and steered himself to the fridge. Any food odd?You got me. Paul was here all day, though, so probably not.Billy sighed. Have to start hiding the groceries if were gonna avoid starvation.Tell Rachel to go stay at his place.Billys communicate t unity vanished, and his eyes got soft. Weve only had her home a few weeks. First time shes been here in a yearn time. Its great(p) the girls were older than you when your mummy passed. They hold defend more trouble being in this house.I know.Rebecca hadnt been home once since she go t married, though she did feature a good excuse. Plane tickets from Hawaii were exquisite pricey. Washington State was close enough that Rachel didnt have the same defense. Shed clutchn classes straight through the summer semesters, deviseing double shifts over the holidays at some cafe on campus. If it hadnt been for Paul, she probably would have taken off again real quick. peradventure that was why Billy wouldnt kick him out.Well, Im going to go work on some stuff___I started for the screen door.Wait up, Jake. bent you going to promulgate me what happened? Do I have to call Sam for an update?I stood with my back to him, hiding my impertinence.Nothing happened. Sams giving them a bye. Guess were all just a bunch of leech lovers now.JakeI dont sine qua non to talk about it.Are you leaving, son?The room was quiet for a long time while I decided how to say it.Rachel usher out have her room back. I know she hates that air mattress.Shed rather sleep on the floor than lose you . So would I.I snorted.Jacob, please. If you need a break. Well, take it. nevertheless not so long again. Come back.Maybe. Maybe my gig volition be weddings. Make a cameo at Sams, then Rachels. Jared and Kim might come first, though. Probably ought to have a jibe or something.Jake, look at me.I turned around slowly. What?He stared into my eyes for a long minute. Where are you going?I dont really have a specific place in mind.He cocked his head to the side, and his eyes narrowed. Dont you?We stared each other down. The endorses ticked by.Jacob, he state. His voice was strained. Jacob, dont. Its not worth it.I dont know what youre talking about.Leave Bella and the Cullens be. Sam is right.I stared at him for a second, and then I crossed the room in two long strides, i grabbed the call back anddisconnected the cable from the box and the jack. I wadded the gray cord up in the palm of my hand.Bye, Dad.Jake, wait ,7he called after me, save I was out the door, running.The motorcycl e wasnt as fast as running, but it was more discreet. I wondered how long it would take Billy to wheel himself down to the store and then get person on the phone who could get a message to Sam. Id bet Sam was quench in his wolf form. The problem would be if Paul came back to our place anytime soon. He could phase in a second and let Sam know what I was doing.I wasnt going to worry about it. I would go as fast as I could, and if they caught me, Id deal with that when I had to.I kicked the bike to life and then I was racing down the muddy lane. I didnt look behind me as I passed the house.The highway was busy with tourist traffic I wove in and out of the cars, earning a bunch of honks and a few fingers. I took the turn onto the 101 at seventy, not bothering to look. I had to ride the line for a minute to avoid getting smeared by a minivan. Not that it would have killed me, but it would have slowed me down. Broken bones the big ones, at least took days to heal completely, as I had good cause to know.The throughway cleared up a little, and I pushed the bike to eighty. I didnt make the brake until I was close to the narrow drive I figured I was in the clear then. Sam wouldnt come this far to stop me. It was too late.It wasnt until that moment when I was sure that Id made it that I started to think about what on the dot I was going to do now. I slowed down to twenty, taking the twists through the trees more venerationfully than I needed to.I knew they would hear me coming, bike or no bike, so surprise was out. There was no way to disguise my intentions. Edward would hear my plan as soon as I was close enough. Maybe he al nominate could. further I thought this would still work out, because I had his ego on my side. Hed ask to fight me alone.So Id just strait in, see Sams precious evidence for myself, and then challenge Edward to a duel.I snorted. The parasited probably get a kick out of the theatrics of it.When I finished with him, Id take as many of the rest of them as I could before they got me. Huh I wondered if Sam would consider my death provocation. Probably say I got what I deserved. Wouldnt want to offend his bloodsucker BFFs.The drive opened up into the meadow, and the smell hit me a identical a rotten tomato to the plaque. Ugh. Reeking vampires. My stomach started churning. The stench would be hard to take this way undiluted by the scent of gentlemans gentlemans as it had been the other time Id come here though not as bad as smelling it through my wolf nose.I wasnt sure what to expect, but there was no sign of life around the big discolour crypt. Of course they knew I was here.I cut the engine and listened to the quiet. Now I could hear try, angry murmurs from just the other side of the wide double doors. mortal was home. I perceive my name and I smiled, happy to think I was causing them a little direction.I took one big gulp of air it would only be worse inside and leaped up the porch stairs in one bound.The door opened before my fist touched it, and the doctor stood in the frame, his eyes grave.Hello, Jacob, he verbalise, calmer than I would have expected. How are you?I took a deep breath through my mouth. The reek pouring through the door was overpowering.I was disappointed that it was Carlisle who answered. Id rather Edward had come through the door, fangs out. Carlisle was so just human or something. Maybe it was the house calls he made last spring when I got busted up. only when it made me uncomfortable to look into his face and know that I was preparation to kill him if I could.I heard Bella made it back alive, I verbalize.Er, Jacob, its not really the best time. The doctor depended uncomfortable, too, but not in the way I expected. Could we do this later?I stared at him, dumbfounded. Was he asking to post-pone the death match for a more convenient time?And then I heard Bellas voice, cracked and rough, and I couldnt think about anything else.why not? she asked someone. Are we keeping secrets from Jacob, too? Whats the point?Her voice was not what I was expecting. I tried to remember the voices of the young vampires wed fought in the spring, but all Id registered was snarling. Maybe those newborns hadnt had the piercing, ringing sound of the older ones, either. Maybe all new vampires sounded hoarse.Come in, please, Jacob, Bella croaked more loudly.Carlisles eyes tightened.I wondered if Bella was thirsty. My eyes narrowed, too.Excuse me, I said to the doctor as I stepped around him. It was hard it went against all my instincts to turn my back to one of them. Not impossible, though. If there was such a thing as a safe vampire, it was the strangely gentle leader.I would stay away from Carlisle when the fight started. There were enough of them to kill without includinghim.I sidestepped into the house, keeping my back to the wall. My eyes swept the room it was unfamiliar. The last time Id been in here it had been all make up for a routiney. Everything was bright and pale now. Including the six vampires standing in a group by the white sofa.They were all here, all unneurotic, but that was not what froze me where I stood and had my jaw dropping to thefloor.Itwas Edward. It was the expression on his face.Id seen him angry, and Id seen him arrogant, and onceId seen him in pain. But this this was beyond agony. His eyes were half-crazed. He didnt look up to glare at me. He stared down at the couch beside him with an expression akin someone had lit him on fire. His hands were rigid claws at his side.I couldnt even enjoy his anguish. I could only think of one thing that would make him look comparable that, and my eyes followed his.I saw her at the same moment that I caught her scent.Her warm, clean, human scent.Bella was half-hidden behind the arm of the sofa, curled up in a lightheaded fetal position, her arms wrapped around her knees. For a long second I could see postcode except that she was still the Bella that I loved, her skin s till a soft, pale peach, her eyes still the same chocolate brown. My heart thudded a strange, broken meter, and I wondered if this was just some lying dream that I was about to wake up from. and so I really saw her.There were deep circles under her eyes, dark circles that jumped out because her face was all haggard. Was she gauze- give care? Her skin seemed tight like her cheekbones might break right through it. Most of her dark hair was withdrawed away from her face into a messy knot, but a few strands stuck limply to her forehead and neck, to the sheen of sweat that covered her skin. There was something about her fingers and wrists that looked so fragile it was scary.She was sick. Very sick.Not a lie. The bill Charlied told Billy was not a story. While I stared, eyes bugging, her skin turned light green.The blond bloodsucker the showy one, Rosalie bent over her, tender into my view, hovering in a strange, protective way.This was wrong. I knew how Bella felt about almost eve rything her thoughts were so obvious sometimes it was like they were printed on her forehead. So she didnt have to separate me every detail of a situation for me to get it. I knew that Bella didnt like Rosalie. Id seen it in the set of her lips when she talked about her. Not just that she didnt like her. She was afraid of Rosalie. Or she had been.There was no fear as Bella glanced up at her now. Her expression was apologetic or something. Then Rosalie snatched a basin from the floor and held it under Bellas mentum just in time for Bella to throw up noisily into it.Edward fell to his knees by Bellas side his eyes all tortured-looking and Rosalie held out her hand, warning him to keep back. no(prenominal) of it made sense.When she could raise her head, Bella smiled weakly at me, sort of embarrassed. Sorry about that, she whispered to me.Edward moaned real quiet. His head slumped against Bellas knees. She put one of her hands against his cheek. identical she was comforting him.I d idnt realize my legs had carried me forward until Rosalie hissed at me, suddenly appearing between me and the couch. She was like a person on a TV screen. I didnt care she was there. She didnt seem real.Rose, dont, Bella whispered. Its fine.Blondie moved out of my way, though I could tell she hated to do it. Scowling at me, she crouched by Bellas head, tensed to spring. She was easier to ignore than I ever would have dreamed.Bella, whats wrong? I whispered. Without thinking about it, I found myself on my knees, too, leaning over the back of the couch across from her husband. He didnt seem to observance me, and I barely glanced at him. I reached out for her free hand, taking it in both of mine. Her skin was icy. Are you all right?It was a stupid question. She didnt answer it.Im so glad you came to see me today, Jacob, she said.Even though I knew Edward couldnt hear her thoughts, he seemed to hear some meaning I didnt. He moaned again, into the blanket that covered her, and she strok ed his cheek.What is it, Bella? I insisted, wrapping my hands tight around her cold, fragile fingers.Instead of answering, she glanced around the room like she was searching for something, both a plea and a warning in her look. Six pairs of anxious yellow eyes stared back at her. Finally, she turned to Rosalie.Help me up, Rose? she asked.Rosalies lips pulled back over her teeth, and she glared up at me like she wanted to rip my throat out. I was sure that was exactly the case.Please, Rose.The blonde made a face, but leaned over her again, beside to Edward, who didnt move an inch. She put her arm carefully behind Bellas shoulders.No, I whispered. Dont get up___ She looked so weak.Im answering your question, she snapped, sounding a little bit more like the way she usually talked to me. Rosalie pulled Bella off the couch. Edward stayed where he was, sagging forward till his face was buried in the cushions. The blanket fell to the ground at Bellas feet.Bellas body was swollen, her tors o ballooning out in a strange, sick way. It strained against the faded gray sweatshirt that was way too big for her shoulders and arms. The rest of her seemed thinner, like the big bulge had grown out of what it had sucked from her. It took me a second to realize what the deformed part was I didnt understand until she folded her hands tenderly around her bloated stomach, one above and one below. Like she was cradling it.I saw it then, but I still couldnt believe it. Id seen her just a month ago. There was no way she could be pregnant. Not that pregnant.Except that she was.I didnt want to see this, didnt want to think about this. I didnt want to imagine him inside her. I didnt want to know that something I hated so much had taken root in the body I loved. My stomach heaved, and I had to swallow back vomit.But it was worse than that, so much worse. Her distorted body, the bones jabbing against the skin of her face. I could only guess that she looked like this so pregnant, so sick b ecause any(prenominal) was inside her was taking her life to feed its own.Because it was a monster. Just like its father.I always knew he would kill her.His head snapped up as he heard the words inside mine. One second we were both on our knees, and then he was on his feet, towering over me. His eyes were humdrum black, the circles under them dark purple.Outside, Jacob, he snarled.I was on my feet, too. Looking down on him now. This was why I was here.Lets do this, I agreed.The big one, Emmett, pushed forward on Edwards other side, with the hungry-looking one, Jasper, right behind him. I really didnt care. Maybe my pack would clean up the scraps when they finished me off. Maybe not. It didnt matter.For the tiniest part of a second my eyes touched on the two standing in the back. Esme. Alice. Small and distractingly feminine. Well, I was sure the others would kill me before I had to do anything about them. I didnt want to kill girls even vampire girls.Though I might make an exceptio n for that blonde.No, Bella gasped, and she stumbled forward, out of balance, to clutch at Edwards arm. Rosalie moved with her, like there was a chain locking them to each other.I just need to talk to him, Bella, Edward said in a low voice, talking only to her. He reached up to touch her face, to stroke it. This made the room turn red, made me see fire that, after all hed done to her, he was still allowed to touch her that way. Dont strain yourself, he went on, pleading. Please rest. Well both be back in just a few minutes.She stared at his face, reading it carefully. Then she nodded and drooped toward the couch. Rosalie helped lower her back onto the cushions. Bella stared at me, trying to hold my eyes.Behave, she insisted. And then come back.I didnt answer. I wasnt making any promises today. I looked away and then followed Edward out the front door.A random, disjointed voice in my head noted that separating him from the coven hadnt been so difficult, had it?He kept walking, never checking to see if I was about to spring at his unsafe back. I supposed he didnt need to check. He would know when I decided to attack. Which meant Id have to make that decision very quickly.Tm not ready for you to kill me yet, Jacob Black, he whispered as he paced quickly away from the house. Youll have to have a little patience.Like I cared about his schedule. I growled under my breath. Patience isnt my specialty.He kept walking, maybe a couple hundred yards down the drive away from the house, with me right on his heels. I was all hot, my fingers trembling. On the edge, ready and waiting.He stopped without warning and pivoted to face me. His expression froze me again.For a second I was just a kid a kid who had lived all of his life in the same tiny town. Just a child. Because I knew I would have to live a lot more, suffer a lot more, to ever understand the searing agony in Edwards eyes.He raised a hand as if to wipe sweat from his forehead, but his fingers scraped against his f ace like theywere going to rip his granite skin right off. His black eyes burned in their sockets, out of focus, or seeing things that werent there. His mouth opened like he was going to scream, but nothing came out.This was the face a man would have if he were burning at the stake.For a moment I couldnt speak. It was too real, this face Id seen a shadow of it in the house, seen it in her eyes and his, but this made it final. The last nail in her coffin.Its killing her, right? Shes dying. And I knew when I said it that my face was a watered-down echo of his. Weaker, different, because I was still in shock. I hadnt wrapped my head around it yet it was happening too fast. Hed had time to get to this point. And it was different because Id already lost her so many times, so many ways, in my head. And different because she was never really mine to lose.And different because this wasnt my fault.My fault, Edward whispered, and his knees gave out. He crumple in front of me, vulnerable, t he easiest target you could imagine.But I felt cold as snow there was no fire in me.Yes, he groaned into the dirt, like he was confessing to the ground. Yes, its killing her.His broken incapacitatedness irritated me. I wanted a fight, not an execution. Where was his smug superiority now?So why hasnt Carlisle done anything? I growled. Hes a doctor, right? Get it out of her.He looked up then and answered me in a tired voice. Like he was explaining this to a kindergartener for the tenth part time. She wont let us.It took a minute for the words to sink in. Jeez, she was running true to form. Of course, die for the monster spawn. It was so Bella.You know her well, he whispered. How quickly you see. I didnt see. Not in time. She wouldnt talk to me on the way home, not really. I thought she was frightened that would be natural. I thought she was angry with me for putting her through this, for endangering her life. Again. I never imagined what she was really thinking, what she was resolv ing. Not until my family met us at the airport and she ran right into Rosalies arms. Rosalies And then I heard what Rosalie was thinking. I didnt understand until I heard that. Yet you understand after one second. . . . He half-sighed, half-groaned.Just back up a second. She wont let you. The sarcasm was acid on my tongue. Did you ever notice that shes exactly as strong as a normal hundred-and-ten-pound human girl? How stupid are you vamps? Hold her down and knock her out with drugs.I wanted to, he whispered. Carlisle would have___What, too noble were they?No. Not noble. Her bodyguard complicated things.Oh. His story hadnt made much sense before, but it fit together now. So thats what Blondie was up to.What was in it for her, though? Did the beauty queen want Bella to die so bad?Maybe, he said. Rosalie doesnt look at it quite that way.So take the blonde out first. Your kind can be put back together, right? Turn her into a jigsaw and take care of Bella.Emmett and Esme are backing her up. Emmett would never let us and Carlisle wont help me with Esmeagainst it___ He trailed off, his voice disappearing.You should have left Bella with me.Yes.It was a bit late for that, though. Maybe he should have thought about all this before he knocked her up with the life-sucking monster.He stared up at me from inside his own personal hell, and I could see that he agreed with me.We didnt know, he said, the words as quiet as a breath. I never dreamed. Theres never been anything like Bella and I before. How could we know that a human was able conceive a child with one of us When the human should get ripped to shreds in the process?Yes, he agreed in a tense whisper. Theyre out there, the sadistic ones, the incubus, the succubus. They exist. But the seduction is merely a prelude to the feast. No one survives He shook his head like the idea revolted him. Like he was any different.I didnt realize they had a special name for what you are, I spit.He stared up at me with a face that loo ked a chiliad years old.Even you, Jacob Black, cannot hate me as much as I hate myself.7Wrong,I thought, too enraged to speak.Killing me now doesnt save her, he said quietly.So what does?Jacob, you have to do something for me.The hell I do, parasiteHe kept staring at me with those half-tired, half-crazy eyes. For her?I clenched my teeth together hard. I did everything I could to keep her away from you. Every single thing. Its too late.You know her, Jacob. You connect to her on a level that I dont even understand. You are part of her, and she is part of you. She wont listen to me, because she thinks Im underestimating her. She thinks shes strong enough for this___ He choked and then swallowed. She might listen to you.Why would she?He lurched to his feet, his eyes burning brighter than before, wilder. I wondered if he was really going crazy. Could vampires lose their minds?Maybe, he answered my thought. I dont know. It feels like it. He shook his head. I have to try to hide this in f ront of her, because stress makes her more ill. She cant keep anything down as it is. I have to be composed I cant make it harder. But that doesnt matter now. She has to listen to youI cant tell her anything you havent. What do you want me to do? Tell her shes stupid? She probably already knows that. Tell her shes going to die? I bet she knows that, too.You can offer her what she wants.He wasnt making any sense. Part of the crazy?I dont care about anything but keeping her alive, he said, suddenly focused now. If its a child she wants, she can have it. She can have half a dozen babies. Anything she wants. He paused for one beat. She can have puppies, if thats what it takes.He met my stare for a moment and his face was frenzied under the thin layer of control. My hard scowl crumbled as I processed his words, and I felt my mouth pop open in shock.But not this way he hissed before I could recover. Not this thing thats sucking the life from her while I stand there helpless Watching her s icken and waste away. Seeing it hurting her. He sucked in a fast breath like someone had punched him in the gut. You have to make her see reason, Jacob. She wont listen to me anymore. Rosalies always there, feeding her insanity encouraging her. Protecting her. No, protecting it Bellas life means nothing to her.The noise coming from my throat sounded like I was choking.What was he saying? That Bella should, what? Have a baby? With me? What? How? Was he giving her up? Or did he think she wouldnt mind being overlap?Whichever. Whatever keeps her alive.Thatsthe craziest thing youve said yet, I mumbled.She loves you.Not enough.Shes ready to die to have a child. Maybe shed accept something less extreme.Dont you know her at all?I know, I know.Its going to take a lot of convincing. Thats why I need you. You know how she thinks. Make hersee sense.I couldnt think about what he was suggesting. It was too much. Impossible. Wrong. Sick. Borrowing Bella for the weekends and then returning her Mo nday morning like a rental movie? So messed up.So tempting.I didnt want to consider, didnt want to imagine, but the personas came anyway. Id fantasized about Bella that way too many times, back when there was still a possibility of us, and then long after it was clear that the fantasies would only offer festering sores because there was no possibility, none at all. I hadnt been able to help myself then. I couldnt stop myself now. Bella in my arms, Bella sighing my nameWorse still, this new image Id never had before, one that by all rights shouldnt have existed for me. Not yet. An image I knew I wouldntve suffered over for years if he hadnt shoved it in my head now. But it stuck there, winding threads through my brain like a weed poisonous and unkillable. Bella, healthy and glowing, so different than now, but something the same her body, not distorted, changed in a more natural way. Round with my child.I tried to escape the venomous weed in my mind. Make Bella see sense? What univ erse do you live in?At least try.I shook my head fast. He waited, ignoring the negative answer because he could hear the conflict in my thoughts.Where is this psycho crap coming from? Are you making this up as you go?Ive been thinking of nothing but ways to save her since I realized what she was planning to do. What she would die to do. But I didnt know how to contact you. I knew you wouldnt listen if I called. I would have come to find you soon, if you hadnt come today. But its hard to leave her, even for a few minutes. Her condition it changes so fast. The thing is growing. Swiftly. I cant be away from her now.What is it?None of us have any idea. But it is stronger than she is. Already.I could suddenly see it then see the swelling monster in my head, breaking her from the inside out.Help me stop it, he whispered. Help me stop this from happening.How?By offering my stud services? He didnt even flinch when I said that, but I did. Youre really sick. Shell never listen to this.Try. Theres nothing to lose now. How will it hurt?It would hurt me. Hadnt I taken enough rejection from Bella without this?A little pain to save her? Is it such a high live?But it wont work.Maybe not. Maybe it will confuse her, though. Maybe shell falter in her resolve. One moment of doubt is all I need.And then you pull the rug out from under the offer? Just kidding, Bella?If she wants a child, thats what she gets. I wont rescind.I couldnt believe I was even thinking about this. Bella would punch me not that I cared about that, but it would probably break her hand again. I shouldnt let him talk to me, mess with my head. I should just kill him now.Not now, he whispered. Not yet. Right or wrong, it would destroy her, and you know it. No need to be hasty. If she wont listen to you, youll get your chance. The moment Bellas heart stops beating, I will be begging for you to me.You wont have to beg long.The hint of a worn smile tugged at the corner of his mouth. Im very much counting on that .Then we have a deal.He nodded and held out his cold stone hand.Swallowing my disgust, I reached out to take his hand. My fingers closed around the rock, and I shook it once.We have a deal, he agreed.