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The line of black advanced on h the shroud-likewith desire, lusting for the kill Their lips pulled back over their sharp, wet teeth - some to snarl, some to smile

I heard the child behind h I was desperate to be sure that he was safe, I could not afford any lapse in focus now

They ghosted closer, their black robes billowing slightly with the movement I saw their hands curl into bone-colored claws They started to drift apart, angling to co to die

And then, like a burst of light froed - the Volturi still stalked toward us, poised to kill All that really changed was how the picture looked to e The panic changed to bloodlust as I crouched forward, a sh ht, shocked out of the dream

The room was black It was also steamy hot Sweat roped the warm sheets and found theers encountered so smooth and flat and stiff One sheet of paper, folded in half I took the note with ht switch

The outside of the note was addressed to Mrs Cullen

I’ you won’t wake and notice my absence, but, if you should, I’ll be back very soon I’ve just gone to the mainland to hunt Go back to sleep and I’ll be here when you wake again I love you

I sighed We’d been here about teeks now, so I should have been expecting that he would have to leave, but I hadn’t been thinking about ti along in a perfect state

I wiped the sweat off h the clock on the dresser said it was after one I kneould never be able to sleep as hot and sticky as I felt Not to ht and closed ures in h the dark house, flipping on lights It felt so big and empty without Edward there Different

I ended up in the kitchen and decided that maybe coe until I found all the ingredients for fried chicken The popping and sizzling of the chicken in the pan was a nice, homey sound; I felt less nervous while it filled the silence

It sht out of the pan, burning h, it had cooled enough foroff about the flavor? I checked the h, but I wondered if it was completely done I took another experih - definitely bad I jumped up to spit it into the sink Suddenly, the chicken-and-oil s I took the whole plate and shook it into the garbage, then opened the s to chase away the scent A coolish breeze had picked up outside It felt good on my skin

I was abruptly exhausted, but i didn’t want to go back to the hot room So I opened ht beneath them I turned on the same movie we’d watched the other day and quickly fell asleep to the bright opening song

When I opened ain, the sun was halfway up the sky, but it was not the light that woke ainst him At the same time, a sudden pain twisted ina punch in the gut

T as he wiped a wintry hand across hness I didn’t think about how hot you would be with one I’ll have an air conditioner installed before I leave again"

I couldn’t concentrate on what he was saying "Excuse et free of his arms

He dropped his hold automatically "Bella?"

I streaked for the bathroom with my hand clamped over my mouth I felt so horrible that I didn’t even care - at first - that he ith me while I crouched over the toilet and was violently sick

"Bella? What’s wrong?"

I couldn’t answer yet He heldtill I could breathe again

"Daht?" His voice was strained

"Fine," I panted "It’s just food poisoning You don’t need to see this Go away"

"Not likely,Bella"

"Go away," I et up so I could rinsethe weak shoves I aimed at him

After my mouth was clean, he carried?"

"Yeah," I croaked "I ht It tasted off, so I threw it out But I ate a few bites first"

He put a cold hand on ht about that for a moment The nausea had passed as suddenly as it had co "Pretty norry, actually"

He lass of water before he fried s I felt perfectly nor up in the ht He put onCNN - we’d been so out of touch, world war three could have broken out and ouldn’t have known - and I lounged drowsily across his lap

I got bored with the news and twisted around to kiss hi, a sharp pain hit ht over my mouth I knew I’d never make it to the bathroom this tiain

"Maybe we should go back to Rio, see a doctor," he suggested anxiously when I was rinsing ed toward the hallway Doctors ht after I brush h my suitcase for the little first-aid kit Alice had packed for es and painkillers and - my object now - Pepto-Bismol Maybe I could settle my stomach and calm Edward down

But before I found the Pepto, I happened across so else that Alice had packed for me I picked up the sin ain

Theknock startled me; the little box fell back into the suitcase

"Are you well?" Edward asked through the door "Did you get sick again?"

"Yes and no," I said, but led

"Bella? Can I please come in?" Worriedly now

"O kay?"

He caed on the floor by the suitcase, andHe sat next to ?"

"How ?" I whispered

"Seventeen," he answered autoain I held up a finger, cautioning him to wait, andabout the days before We’d been here longer than I’d thought I started over again

"Bella!" he whispered urgently "I’ my mind over here"

I tried to s It didn’t work So I reached into the suitcase and fuain I held them up silently

He stared atto pass this illness off as PMS?"

"No," Ito tell you that my period is five days late"

His facial expression didn’t change It was like I hadn’t spoken

"I don’t think I have food poisoning," I added

He didn’t respond He had turned into a sculpture

"The drea soAll that food Oh Oh Oh"

Edward’s stare seelassy, as if he couldn’t see me anymore

Reflexively, almost involuntarily, ain

I lurched tohands I’d never changed out of the little silk shorts and camisole I’d worn to bed I yanked the blue fabric out of the way and stared at my stomach

"Impossible," I whispered

I had absolutely no experience with pregnancy or babies or any part of that world, but I wasn’t an idiot I’d seen enough movies and TV shows to know that this wasn’t hoorked I was only five days late If I was pregnant, istered that fact I would not haveor sleeping habits

And I most definitely would not have a s out betweenit froht light I ran e, surprised by how rock hard it felt under e or no bulge, period or no period (and there was definitely no period, though I’d never been late a day in nant The only person I’d ever had sex as a va out loud

A van of ever ain

So there had to be soe South Anancy, only accelerated

And then I re of internet research that see at the old desk indully through the , staring at h a web-site called "Vampires A-Z" It had been less than twenty-four hours since Jacob Black, trying to entertain ends he didn’t believe in yet, had told h the first entries on the site, which was dedicated to va, the Hebrew Estrie, the Roend actually based on my new father-in-law’s early exploits with the Volturi, not that I’d known anything about that at the time) I’d paid less and less attention as the stories had grown ue bits of the later entries They s like infant mortality rates - and infidelity No, honey, I’ out of the house was an evil succubus I’m lucky I escaped with my life! (Of course, hat I kne about Tanya and her sisters, I suspected that so but fact) There had been one for the ladies, too How can you accuseon you - just because you’ve conant? It was the incubus He hypnotized me with his mystical vampire powers

That had been part of the definition of the incubus - the ability to father children with his hapless prey

I shook ht of Esme and especially Rosalie Vampires couldn’t have children If it were possible, Rosalie would have found a way by now The incubusbut a fable

Except that well, there was a difference Of course Rosalie could not conceive a child, because she was frozen in the state in which she passed fro And hue to bear children The constant change of a es needed to accoe

But mine could Mine did I touched the bump on my stomach that had not been there yesterday

And human men - well, they pretty much stayed the same froleaned from who knohere: Charlie Chaplin was in his seventies when he

fathered his youngest child Men had no such thing as child-bearing years or cycles of fertility

Of course, hoould anyone know if vampire men could father children, when their partners were not able? What vampire on earth would have the restraint necessary to test the theory with a human woman? Or the inclination?

I could think of only one

Part of h fact and memory and speculation, while the other half - the part that controlled the ability to move even the smallest muscles - was stunned beyond the capacity for norh I wanted to ask Edward to please explain to o back to where he sat, to touch him, but my body wouldn’t follow instructions I could only stare at ainst the swelling on ht, the scene abruptly transfor I saw in theactually was different

What happened to change everything was that a soft little nudge bumped my hand - from inside , shrill and deain I tried to tune it out while I pressedIn the er

bewildered - it ondering now I barely noticed when the strange, silent tears started strea I wished Edould answer it - I was having a !

Finally, the annoyance broke through everything else I got down onmore carefully, a thousand times more aware of the way each motion felt - and patted his pockets until I found the phone I half-expected him to thaw out and answer it hinized the nu

"Hi, Alice," I said My voice wasn’t much better than before I cleared my throat

"Bella? Bella, areyou okay?"

"Yeah Urn Is Carlisle there?"

"He is What’s the problem?"

"I’ht?" she asked warily She called Carlisle’s name away from the phone and then

demanded, "Why didn’t he pick up the phone?" before I could answer her first question

"I’ on? I just saw - "

"What did you see?"

There was a silence "Here’s Carlisle," she finally said

It felt like ice water had been injected in reen-eyed, angel-faced child in my arms, she would have answered h the split second it took for Carlisle to speak, the vision I’d iined for Alice danced behind my lids A tiny, beautiful little baby, even more beautiful than the boy in hthe ice away

"Bella, it’s Carlisle What’s going on?"

"I - " I wasn’t sure how to answer Would he laugh atanother colorful dreao into shock?"

"Has he been harent