Defective - Jacob Black {1}

Chapter 45: Rightful Place

Bella inhaled a trembling breath, sweat accumulating on her skin; icy cold. Her natural peachy-pink glow had sunken into a tone so lifeless it scared me just to look at her, to see what it was doing to her. Her eyes closed wearily and she sucked herself into a deeper place to cope, her frail, limp arms cradling her swollen, rock hard stomach. All that I could do was stroke her dulling brown hair and hold her hand.

It barely seemed like I was doing enough but my high body temperature alone was enough to keep her somewhat comfortable. From time to time my eyes would drop to the fabric of the couch, but mostly they were fixed on her face in a soft stare, always watching, ready for something to change within a matter of seconds.

It was killing her. It was taking her life to feed its own and all we could so was standby and watch. She loved it and that was clear, whilst she was alive she was never going to let anything hurt it. I had promised to stick by her, to protect her and her wishes, she didn't want to abort the baby, it was her choice and I respected that despite what it was doing to her.

Of course I didn't want Bella to die, I knew that subconsciously she should have gotten rid of it as soon as she got home... before it turned into this horrific mess. If she did die, and it looked like it was inevitable, and if the baby survived, Rosalie and I had promised to look after it as if it were our own. It was Bella's wish.

Edward was remorseful, he hated himself for what he had done. I'd seen him angry, and I'd seen him arrogant, and once I'd seen him in pain. But this - this was beyond agony. His eyes were half-crazed. He was permanently stuck to Bella's side, never moving but always in such torturous pain inside his head I had to block him out.

They had been home for six days and within that time Bella went from looking like a healthy, tanned, four month pregnant woman to becoming a heavily pregnant skeleton. It didn't make sense but that was the only way to describe her. Her skin stretched so tightly across her face as if her cheekbones were ready to pierce through.

Carlisle had no way of finding anything out about the baby, the amniotic sac was too hard to penetrate with needles. It was already stronger than Bella, each time it moved it caused another deep purple bruise to splatter across her skin.

My days consisted of being at Bella's beck and call, Rosalie was as well although she was more focused on keeping the baby alive than Bella. I also hadn't been home in a week either, my excuse being my argument with Jacob was keeping me away. I couldn't tell my family the truth because who knew how Sam would react to hearing about Bella carrying a vampire child.

I missed Jacob desperately, despite our argument he had tried to make contact but I had sworn to Edward that I wouldn't say anything. He didn't want to put Bella at risk of Jacob's temper, if he saw that Bella was dying at the hand of a creation like that who knows how he'd react. My only option was to ignore his calls.

Bella's chest heaved, her skin turning a pale green as she took a deep breath in. I could hear the sloshing of her stomach and I only had mere seconds to grab the bowl from the floor and hold it in front of her. I rubbed circles onto her back until she was done, giving Rosalie the bowl of puke to dispose of as I helped Bella catch her breath again.

"I'm sorry." She panted weakly, slowly settling back into her fetal position in the corner of the couch.

"You don't need to apologise." I comforted, wiping her forehead with a cool flannel.

"She's done this to herself. She should do." Alice snapped inside her mind, I shot my head round to her and hissed in anger.

"You're not helping." I seethed, she bowed her head and took a few steps back. I looked at Edward, hoping he'd say something but instead he kept his eyes trained on Bella from his seat in the armchair across the room.