me's soft, comforting voice. "Can you hear me? You're safe now,
dear."
Yes,I was safe. Did that really matter?
Then cool lips were at my ear, and Edward was speaking the words that allowed me to
escape from the torture that had me caged inside my own head.
"He's going to live, Bella. Jacob Black is healing as I speak. He'll be fine."
As the pain and dread eased, I found my way back to my body. My eyelids fluttered.
"Oh, Bella," Edward sighed in relief, and his lips touched mine.
"Edward," I whispered.
"Yes, I'm here."
I got my lids to open, and I stared into warm gold.
"Jacob is okay?" I asked.
"Yes," he promised.
I watched his eyes carefully for some sign that he was placating me, but they were perfectly
clear.
"I examined him myself," Carlisle said then; I turned my head to find his face, only a few feet
away. Carlisle's expression was serious and reassuring at the same time. It was impossible to
doubt him. "His life is not in any danger. He was healing at an incredible rate, though his
injuries were extensive enough that it will still be a few days before he is back to normal,
even if the rate of repair holds steady. As soon as we're done here, I will do what I can to
help him. Sam is trying to get him to phase back to his human form. That will make treating
him easier." Carlisle smiled slightly. "I've never been to veterinarian school."
"What happened to him?" I whispered. "How bad are his injuries?"
Carlisle's face was serious again. "Another wolf was in trouble -"
"Leah," I breathed.
"Yes. He knocked her out of the way, but he didn't have time to defend himself. The
newborn got his arms around him. Most of the bones on the right half of his body were
shattered."
I flinched.
"Sam and Paul got there in time. He was already improving when they took him back to La
Push."
"He'll be back to normal?" I asked.
"Yes, Bella. He won't have any permanent damage."
I took a deep breath.
"Three minutes," Alice said quietly.
I struggled, trying to get vertical. Edward realized what I was doing and helped me to my
feet.
I stared at the scene in front of me.
The Cullens stood in a loose semicircle around the bonfire. There were hardly any flames
visible, just the thick, purple-black smoke, hovering like a disease against the bright grass.
Jasper stood closest to the solid-seeming haze, in its shadow so that his skin did not glitter
brilliantly in the sun the way the others did. He had his back to me, his shoulders tense, his
arms slightly extended. There was something there, in his shadow. Something he crouched
over with wary intensity. . . .
I was too numb to feel more than a mild shock when I realized what it was.
There were eight vampires in the clearing.
The girl was curled into a small ball beside the flames, her arms wrapped around her legs.
She was very young. Younger than me - she looked maybe fifteen, dark-haired and slight.
Her eyes were focused on me, and the irises were a shocking, brilliant red. Much brighter
than Riley's, almost glowing. They wheeled wildly, out of control.
Edward saw my bewildered expression.
"She surrendered," he told me quietly. "That's one I've never seen before. Only Carlisle
would think of offering. Jasper doesn't approve."
I couldn't tear my gaze away from the scene beside the fire. Jasper was rubbing absently at
his left forearm.
"Is Jasper all right?" I whispered.
"He's fine. The venom stings."
"He was bitten?" I asked, horrified.
"He was trying to be everywhere at once. Trying to make sure Alice had nothing to do,
actually." Edward shook his head. "Alice doesn't need anyone's help."
Alice grimaced toward her true love. "Overprotective fool."
The young female suddenly threw her head back like an animal and wailed shrilly.
Jasper growled at her and she cringed back, but her fingers dug into the ground like claws
and her head whipped back and forth in anguish. Jasper took a step toward her, slipping
deeper into his crouch. Edward moved with overdone casualness, turning our bodies so that
he was between the girl and me. I peeked around his arm to watch the thrashing girl and
Jasper.
Carlisle was at Jasper's side in an instant. He put a restraining hand on his most recent son's
arm.
"Have you changed your mind, young one?" Carlisle asked, calm as ever. "We don't want to
destroy you, but we will if you can't control yourself."
"How can you stand it?" the girl groaned in a high, clear voice. "Iwant her." Her bright
crimson irises focused on Edward, through him, beyond him to me, and her nails ripped
through the hard soil again.
"You must stand it," Carlisle told her gravely. "You must exercise control. It is possible, and
it is the only thing that will save you now."
The girl clutched her dirt-encrusted hands around her head, yowling quietly.
"Shouldn't we move away from her?" I whispered, tugging on Edward's arm. The girl's lips
pulled back over her teeth when she heard my voice, her expression one of torment.
"We have to stay here," Edward murmured. "Theyare coming to the north end of the clearing
now."
My heart burst into a sprint as I scanned the clearing, but I couldn't see anything past the
thick pall of smoke.
After a second of fruitless searching, my gaze crept back to the young female vampire. She
was still watching me, her eyes half-mad.
I met the girl's stare for a long moment. Chin-length dark hair framed her face, which was
alabaster pale. It was hard to tell if her features were beautiful, twisted as they were by rage
and thirst. The feral red eyes were dominant - hard to look away from. She glared at me
viciously, shuddering and writhing every few seconds.
I stared at her, mesmerized, wondering if I were looking into a mirror of my future.
Then Carlisle and Jasper began to back toward the rest of us. Emmett, Rosalie, and Esme all
converged hastily around where Edward stood with Alice and me. A united front, as Edward
had said, with me at the heart, in the safest place.
I tore my attention away from the wild girl to search for the approaching monsters.
There was still nothing to see. I glanced at Edward, and his eyes were locked straight ahead.
I tried to follow his gaze, but there was only the smoke - dense, oily smoke twisting low to
the ground, rising lazily, undulating against the grass.
It billowed forward, darker in the middle.
"Hmm," a dead voice murmured from the mist. I recognized the apathy at once.
"Welcome, Jane." Edward's tone was coolly courteous.
The dark shapes came closer, separating themselves from the haze, solidifying. I knew it
would be Jane in the front - the darkest cloak, almost black, and the smallest figure by more
than two feet. I could just barely make out Jane's angelic features in the shade of the cowl.
The four gray-shrouded figures hulking behind her were also somewhat familiar. I was sure I
recognized the biggest one, and while I stared, trying to confirm my suspicion, Felix looked
up. He let his hood fall back slightly so that I could see him wink at me and smile. Edward
was very still at my side, tightly in control.
Jane's gaze moved slowly across the luminous faces of the Cullens and then touched on the
newborn girl beside the fire; the newborn had her head in her hands again.
"I don't understand." Jane's voice was toneless, but not quite as uninterested as before.
"She has surrendered," Edward explained, answering the confusion in her mind.
Jane's dark eyes flashed to his face. "Surrendered?"
Felix and another shadow exchanged a quick glance.
Edward shrugged. "Carlisle gave her the option."
"There are no options for those who break the rules," Jane said flatly.
Carlisle spoke then, his voice mild. "That's in your hands. As long as she was willing to halt
her attack on us, I saw no need to destroy her. She was never taught."
"That is irrelevant," Jane insisted.
"As you wish."
Jane stared at Carlisle in consternation. She shook her head infinitesimally, and then
composed her features.
"Aro hoped that we would get far enough west to see you, Carlisle. He sends his regards."
Carlisle nodded. "I would appreciate it if you would convey mine to him."
"Of course." Jane smiled. Her face was almost too lovely when it was animated. She looked
back toward the smoke. "It appears that you've done our work for us today . . . for the most
part." Her eyes flickered to the hostage. "Just out of professional curiosity, how many were
there? They left quite a wake of destruction in Seattle."
"Eighteen, including this one," Carlisle answered.
Jane's eyes widened, and she looked at the fire again, seeming to reassess the size of it. Felix
and the other shadow exchanged a longer glance.
"Eighteen?" she repeated, her voice sounding unsure for the first time.
"All brand-new," Carlisle said dismissively. "They were unskilled."
"All?" Her voice turned sharp. "Then who was their creator?"
"Her name was Victoria," Edward answered, no emotion in his voice.
"Was?" Jane asked.
Edward inclined his head toward the eastern forest. Jane's eyes snapped up and focused on
something far in the distance. The other pillar of smoke? I didn't look away to check.
Jane stared to the east for a long moment, and then examined the closer bonfire again.
"This Victoria - she was in addition to the eighteen here?"
"Yes. She had only one other with her. He was not as young as this one here, but no older
than a year."
"Twenty," Jane breathed. "Who dealt with the creator?"
"I did," Edward told her.
Jane's eyes narrowed, and she turned to the girl beside the fire.
"You there," she said, her dead voice harsher than before. "Your name."
The newborn shot a baleful glare at Jane, her lips pressed tightly together.
Jane smiled back angelically.
The newborn girl's answering scream was ear-piercing; her body arched stiffly into a
distorted, unnatural position. I looked away, fighting the urge to cover my ears. I gritted my
teeth, hoping to control my sto