FALLEN [P. LAHOTE]

[04]

I told yall I have would this update by today. Even if it is ten when I finally finish it. Small warning - this is some amount of cussing in the chapter. Like a lot from certain hotheads.

It wasn't until a week later that Skylar had heard from Bella. She had called Charlie, who had quickly motioned for his other daughter to come closer as he put the phone on speaker.

"What do you mean you're sick, Bella?" Charlie asked. "Why can't we see you?"

Skylar felt like the oxygen had left her lungs. Unable to catch her breath, she zoned out of the conversation, lost in her own thoughts. Sick.

Bella was sick.

She wasn't stupid, Skylar knew what that meant.

It meant that her sister was no longer truly her sister, but instead a dead corpse without a heartbeat. A creature that had to suck the blood of living beings to survive.

"I need to... I need to go," Skylar choked out, ignoring the confused look from Charlie. Instead of answering his questions, she ran out the door. She didn't want to see the sympathetic looks of the Cullens or the harsh stares from Jacob. All she needed right now was Paul.

She was practically sobbing by the time she reached his doorstep. He opened the door in a flash as he had heard the crying noises from inside the house.

Skylar knew it would hurt when Bella became a vampire. She didn't know it would be this soon. She didn't know it could hurt this much.

Paul immediately set his imprint on the couch. He was tense, not knowing what was wrong with her. As far as he could tell there were no physical wounds on her. So it must of been -

Oh.

The thought dawned on him as he stared down at her. Bella.

"Baby," he muttered. He moved his hand up to stroke her hair, pushing it out of her face. "It's going to be okay. Hey, hey, hey. Look at me, baby. I'm here, and I'm not going anywhere."

They sat in silence for what could have been minutes or hours. Neither of them knew. Neither of them cared. It wasn't until the loud, piercing howl sounded through the air that Paul jumped up. He cupped Skylar's face in between his hands. "I need to go to the pack meeting, okay. Something's wrong, but baby I'll be right back. Okay?"

Taking the firm nod as a yes, he gave her one more quick peck on the forehead before sprinting out the door.

Having finally gotten herself together a little bit later on, Skylar finally stood up from the couch only to have the sun in her eyes. Almost the entire day had passed and Skylar felt like it had been a matter of mere minutes.

She was about to head back to the bathroom to take a shower when the door slammed shut. Skylar's head snapped back to see Paul. Only instead of being comforting and loving, this Paul was red with anger.

"They're putting us all in danger now," he seethed. "They have done some shit before, but this. This tops the fucking cake. And that son of a bitch Jacob..."

Skylar put her hands up. "Woah, Paul. What the hell happened?" He was literally shaking in rage, so much so that he couldn't even open his mouth to answer her. "Paul, what's going on?"

"She... She isn't dead," he spit out. "Although I wish she was." Her breath caught for the second time that day. He wasn't talking about...

"That bloodsucker got her pregnant," he spit out.

"Bella?" she shrieked.

"She's not a vampire or a fucking corpse, although we would all be safer if she was dead. Because of that bitch, all of us are in jeopardy."