"Lark!" Diane's voice rang up the steps to where Lark laid on her bed, flipping through her latest novel, her ears perking up at the sound of her mother's voice. "Jacob's here to see you!"
"Coming!" Lark called, cautious to keep the confused tone from her voice as she descended the stairs to where her mother came into view, chatting animatedly with Jacob, who still stood on the Hudson family's doorstep.
While it wasn't out of the ordinary for Jacob to be in the same place as Lark, what with the years of friendship between their fathers and Lark's relationship with one of Jacob's best friends, it wasn't often the two would be together without the others, especially now that the pack had split up. It was certainly the first time he'd come to her house unannounced, anyways.
"Hey Jake," Lark said, reaching the bottom of the staircase.
"Well, you guys have fun today." Diane said. "Lark, sweetie, don't forget your purse, Jacob, tell your dad hi from us."
"Got it," Lark said, picking up her purse from the coatrack before following Jacob outside, the smile only once dropping from her face once the door was shut behind them, concealing them from her mother's view. "So where are we going, exactly?" she asked the tall Quileute boy, crossing her arms over her chest.
"Well, your mom thinks we're going to La Push." Jacob said, leading the two to his car, but Lark stepped in front of the driver's side door, preventing him from getting into the car.
"But..?" she trailed off, staring the boy down.
"I need your help." Jacob pleaded, his dark eyes filling with worry. "B-Bella's got this... this thing inside of her, and it's killing her. Please, just come see her. Maybe there's a legend or something you've seen before in one of your dad's books."
"Let me guess." Lark said. "Paul doesn't know you're here."
"Sam's pack thinks they have to kill Bella before it's born, so there's no chance of it posing a danger to the town." Jacob said. "Sam's way past listening to reason at this point. But if there's another way, if something like this has happened before... Lark, I'm desperate." Jacob's voice cracked. "I don't want to lose the girl I love. Please help me."
Lark sighed. "Bella's my friend." she said. "I can't decide for her, but I owe it to her to try and help. Truth be told, I did some research the other night when Paul told me, and from what I've read, there's not much on the subject, but... I can take a look."
"Thank you," Jacob said as Lark made her way to the other side of the car, climbing into the passenger seat. "What all did Paul tell you?" He asked, climbing into the driver's seat and turning the key in the ignition.
"He didn't tell me too much." Lark admitted. "You know Paul, he's not a man of many words. He said that Bella was pregnant, but it's never been seen before. And that the pack split because Sam thinks they have to kill Bella but you didn't agree. He agrees, though. He thinks it's dangerous, but you don't want to kill her."
"It's killing her already." Jacob said gruffly, staring out the window, but not making a move to put the car into reverse. "I want this thing out of her, same as Sam does, but not if it means us killing Bella. I can't do that to her."
"So tell me everything," Lark said as Jacob finally regained his focus, putting the car in reverse and backing out of the Hudsons' driveway, heading for the forest where the Cullen residence was buried deep in the woods, far from any human sight. "How far along is she, how fast is the baby growing, how is she doing?"
"According to Carlisle she's three weeks along." Jacob said, hands clenched so tightly against the steering wheel that his knuckles were beginning to turn white, eyes glued on the road ahead of them. "I don't have much experience with pregnant women, but she's huge. She looks like she's almost full term, and I don't know how much time she has left."
In the months she'd known Jacob, she had never known her friend to get emotional. He got angry, sure, most of the pack members did, their wolf instincts kicking in and taking away their ability to think clearly and rationally. As the wolves didn't age, they had appeared much older than they were, however the fear written across Jacob's face revealed him to be the sixteen year old he really was. Jacob had lost so much in life, and the thought of losing his best friend and the girl he loved was almost too much for him to bear.
"She looks like it's killing her." he said after a while. "She's skin and bones, aside from where it is. It won't let her eat anything, it makes her sick, but she won't let anyone touch it." He sighed as the Cullens' house finally came into view, a familiar face watching them from the front door as Jacob turned the key in the ignition, killing the engine.
"I could smell you both the second you turned off the road." Anastasia announced as they walked up to the door. "Lark's isn't as bad, but she's spent way too much time with you wolves." Her nose crinkled with a tiny chuckle, and Jacob walked past them, throwing open the door to the Cullen residence.
While Jacob hurried up the stairs to see Bella, Lark followed behind Anastasia, her eyes trailing around the inside of the Cullen house. While it had only been about a month since Edward and Bella's wedding, it had felt like a lifetime since Lark had set foot inside the house's walls.
Since she had figured out the truth about what they really were.
She could hear murmuring from the top of the stairs, and when she finally reached the top step, she found herself in a room with all eyes aimed on her.
"Hello, Lark," Esme said with a warm smile, and Alicia waved from where she sat next to Bella on the couch.
Lark felt her heart drop the second her eyes landed on Bella, and fought hard to remain stoic, not letting the horror seep into her features. While Bella had always been pale, she was even more so than normal, and looked like a skeleton. Her face was skin and bone, her eyes sunken in and prominent dark circles ringing her eyes. Her hands rested on her swollen stomach, her wedding ring threatening to slip off her bony fingers whenever she moved. However, while everyone else in the room was tense, and morose, Bella couldn't help but smile.
"Hi," Lark said, suddenly feeling small amidst the group of vampires.
"You don't have to be scared." A southern drawl rang out from behind her, and she turned to see Jasper emerge from the hallway, his eyes trained intently on her.
As they locked eyes, Lark felt an instant rush of relief flow through her, followed by a sense of happiness. Anastasia giggled next to her, and Lark had recalled Alicia's stories of how Jasper was able to feel and control emotions. While she normally might've been angry at the manipulation of her emotions, Lark felt thankful, and Jasper gave her a kind smile in response. She didn't know the boy very well, and had only ever spoken to him a couple times in passing, but she could tell he only wanted to help her.
"Thank you," Lark said coolly, letting out a deep breath before turning back to Bella and crossing the room to where she and Alicia sat on the couch, Jacob kneeling before them. On the opposite side of the room was Edward, leaning against the window and glaring outside, refusing to look at the situation before him.
"Larkin," Carlisle said, "Have you ever seen anything like this? Anything mentioned in old folklore, an old tale, something even I haven't seen before?"
"I did some research the night Paul told me about everything." Lark announced. "There's an old legend in a tribe in Brazil, but admittedly I don't know much about it. The Ticuna legends are sacred to their tribe, and their stories are kept a secret to outsiders, much like the Quileute ones."
"But you're saying there's a chance." Edward said, turning away from the window, and for the first time Lark could finally see the pained expression carved into his granite face.
"I-I don't know anything about what happens to the mother once the baby's born." Lark stammered, shooting an apologetic glance at Bella. "Or anything that happens with the child, really. It's a small chance, but-"
"But we'll take it." Bella said firmly, and Alicia took her cousin's hand. "Carlisle can turn me when the time comes. No one is getting near my baby, this is my decision."
"Bella," Carlisle started, but she shook her head.
"There's a chance, Carlisle." Bella said, her hands rubbing her engorged stomach. "And if there's any chance that he and I will both be fine, then I have to take that."
"Lark," Edward said, "Is there anywhere you haven't looked yet? Anywhere in the recesses of the Internet where we might find answers?"
"I-I can try, but..." she trailed off before taking a deep breath, nodding slowly. "I'll try everything I can. If there's something I haven't found yet, then I'll do my best."
"Thank you," Carlisle said. "And you're welcome to use my study anytime you'd like. Our systems might have access to some things a normal computer wouldn't, certain firewalls that we've managed to break down over the years."
"We owe you a great deal." Esme said, reaching out and taking Lark's hand in her ice cold one, giving it a squeeze. "Thank you for helping our family."
Lark looked around at all of the stone like faces around her, their eyes having darkened from their normal golden hue due to their hunger. However, their only concerns seemed to be that of Bella and her unborn child. While neither of them were blood relatives to each other, it couldn't have been clearer in that moment that they were a family.
And family always protects family.