I could feel Charlie’s eyes on me from the doorway of the living room as I lay on the sofa. He was going out with Tess but he was worried about leaving me alone. He worried too much. I know there was some mad man out to get me but he needed to lighten up. He’d given me the protection I needed. If Mitchell even dared to harm me I would stab him so fast he wouldn’t know who’d killed him. My hands wound round my stomach, once again feeling the need to protect my baby.
“Was it a serious argument?” Charlie asked me.
“Yes,” I answered. When would Jacob get here so Charlie would leave.
“Did he hurt you?” Charlie’s voice came out in a growl.
“No,” I sighed, not in the way he was asking anyway. I wished I’d had the chance to hurt Edward just so he could feel even a tiny bit of the pain he was causing me when he wanted to kill my baby. How could he even think I would agree? See his reason? Even consider what he was asking me? Even though he wanted to kill our baby, amazingly the baby still saved him. Why? Why did the baby protect him? Did it not know what he was going to do? What he wanted to do? He must be loved. My baby was taking after me. Showing abilities so early I must be having the smartest baby ever. I smiled.
“Charlie, don’t ask anymore questions,” Tess said. “She’s not feeling so well.”
I heard Charlie’s footsteps on the carpet and then felt his hand on my forehead.
“Are you ill again, Kay?” he asked me, his voice soft. “Do you want to go back to bed?”
I shook my head. “I’ll be fine.”
Tess was implying I was emotionally not well. I was so torn up. I felt like Edward had ripped my heart out, shredded it into tiny pieces and then set those pieces on fire. I didn’t know if I could ever forgive him.
“Has he called you?” Tess was kneeling in front of me before I could blink. She stared at me with her big gold eyes, sympathy radiating off her.
“No,” I said, sighing again. “He hasn’t come to see me either.”
“That’s strange,” Charlie said. He stroked his chin. “He never leaves you alone, even when you’re arguing. I remember that time he used up three tapes in the answering machine begging you to talk to him. And if you don’t answer his calls he comes around and grovels at your feet until you forgive him.”
I tried to squash the panic I suddenly felt as Charlie’s words.
“Maybe he understands that I just need some time alone and his constant bothering won’t help,” I suggested. Wait, was I defending Edward? I shouldn’t be defending him when he wouldn’t defend our baby.
Tess, sensing my panic, stroked my hair.
“Of course,” she said, in a soothing voice.
“But with Mitchell trying to kill you?” Charlie continued. “It doesn’t sound like him.”
What was Charlie trying to do to me? Give me a panic attack? It didn’t sound like Edward to just leave me here when Mitchell could attack any time soon, especially since I told them it would be soon because of the vision I’d had two weeks ago. But maybe he was just giving me some breathing space, to clear my head, to clear his head.
Or maybe he’d left me. He was using the baby as his get out card. He’d finally realised he couldn’t have a relationship with me. It would never work out because I was still human. He and the rest of the Cullens had probably left already. Leaving me with his vampire baby.
Something wasn’t right. I could feel it now. Edward wouldn’t leave, even if he didn’t love me anymore. He wouldn’t leave me here, unprotected and carrying his child, when I could be killed at any moment. I know I had Jacob and the wolves watching me but that was never enough for Edward. He would only leave in the most dire of circumstances. What was going on?
“I’m going over there,” I said.
Tess stepped back, allowing me to stand up.
“Now?” Charlie asked. He looked at Tess who simply nodded her head.
“Yes now,” I said, walking out of the living room. “I know something isn’t right.”
“What could be wrong?” Charlie shouted after me.
“I don’t know,” I shouted back, running up the stairs to get dressed quickly.
In my room I threw on the first set of clothes I came to when I opened my wardrobe. It turned out to be a pair of jeans and a plain white t-shirt. After tying my hair in a ponytail I pulled on a pair of boots. Just as I had grabbed my jacket, Jacob opened my door. He didn’t come fully into my room, he stood just in front of the doorway.
“Charlie said you’re going to the Cullens,” he said, folding his arms across his chest. He was a barrier to stop me from going. To say he wasn’t happy with Edward was an understatement. If it wasn’t for the treaty Edward would have been a pile of ashes as soon as he’d implied he wanted to abort my baby. I loved Jacob and I knew he was looking out for me but I loved Edward too and I needed to know that he was okay. So then I could kick the living shit out of him, properly this time. I felt a nudge as I thought that.
Don’t you get involved again, I told my baby. Your daddy deserves a good beating for even thinking of hurting you.
“And?” I said to Jacob. “It has nothing to do with you.”
“Kayla, he wants to kill your baby,” Jacob stressed to me. “I can’t believe you’re going back to him.”
“I am not going back to him. Jacob, he hasn’t called me or come around to see me at all. You know what he’s like.”
“I know, but maybe he’s giving you some space.”
“But what if he isn’t?” Panic rose up in me again and I couldn’t squash it down. “What if he’s left me? Jake, I’m carrying his child. I cannot do this on my own. I need him.”
“I’m here, I’ve told you that.”
“But you’re not a doctor. You’re not Carlisle. A half vampire baby is not normal and no normal doctor can oversee this pregnancy. If Edward’s left, it’s more than likely the others have left to. I’ll be on my own.”
Jacob was in two minds. He wanted to protect me from the hurt Edward would cause me but he knew that without Edward I was going to get hurt.
“Hasn’t he got a cell phone?”
“Jake, seriously, this can’t be done over the phone. We need to sort this out face to face.”
His arms unfolded and he walked towards me. He pulled me into a hug and I leaned into his warm chest.
“I just don’t want to see you hurt again.”
“I know,” I sighed. “Just understand why I need to see him.”
“Unfortunately I do. But can’t you just wait?”
I pulled away from Jacob.
“This can’t wait,” I said. “I’m going now.”
“There hasn’t been a peep from the Cullen house all night,” Jacob said, thinking this would stop me but it only spurred me to go quicker. It was proof something was wrong.
Before he could stop me I ducked past him. I ran down the stairs, shouted a goodbye at Charlie whether he was still there or not, and sped into the forest.


Jacob was right. The Cullen house was quiet. I could hear nothing inside. I could hear no one. I stood on the porch, staring at the door, too afraid to open it to find nothing inside. Too scared to find out they had really left me here. But I wouldn’t know unless I did, so I took a deep breath and pushed down on the handle. The door swung open slowly and silently and I stepped in just as slowly. But as I took in my surroundings my heart began to race as if I had just ran the London Marathon.
The Cullen house looked like a bomb had dropped on it. The place was destroyed. Broken furniture everywhere, ripped to shreds. Glass seemed to layer the floor like a sparkling carpet. The TV, next to a wooden table turned on its side, had a huge gaping hole in it exposing wires and circuit boards. It was still hissing and sparking so the damage to that was quite recent. I looked around, taking in everything, wondering what the hell had gone on. Were they attacked?
Something caught my eye. A shoe just behind the TV. I hoped the owner was still alive. I quickly made my way past the broken items, treading carefully on the glass. I screamed when I saw who it was. He was lying behind the table and TV, looking just as if he were sleeping. Only he didn’t need to sleep and never would he fall unconscious. He looked dead.
I dropped to my knees next to him, ignoring the shards of glass that cut my knees, and began to feel for a pulse only to realise he wouldn’t have one.
“Oh my God!”
I couldn’t tell whether he was alive. I didn’t know what to do. I was so scared now, knowing he was hurt when it was practically impossible to hurt him. Nothing could but fire. Was he dead? I didn’t want to think about it. Tears were falling from my cheeks when I felt a nudge.
“It’s going to be okay,” I said to the baby. “Daddy’s fine. He’s just pretending.”
I stroked Edward’s cheek. He still felt as ice cold as always, his skin still pale and smooth as silk.
“Wake up,” I told him. “Come on, Edward, wake up. It’s me, it’s Kayla.”
He just lay there, not speaking and not moving. I couldn’t here any thoughts from him either. He couldn’t be dead. He couldn’t be. He couldn’t die. Not now. Not when we hadn’t made up. Not when I’d told him to leave. He couldn’t. I had to apologise to him. Tell him I still loved him, take back what I’d said about him.
“Edward, wake up!” I smacked my hands on his hard chest but it did nothing. Another nudge and I touched my bump soothingly.
“It’s going to be okay,” I said. “We’ll find Carlisle and get some answers.”
But even as I said it I knew that if this amount of damage had been done, each of the Cullens would have heard it. Unless they weren’t here when it happened.
“Kayla, are you in here?”
I turned my head when I heard Jacob. I heard the crunching of glass and knew he was walking into the house.
“I’m here.”
“What happened in here?” He asked me. He couldn’t see Edward yet. He was hidden by the TV and the table.
“I don’t know,” I cried. “Jacob, he isn’t moving!”
I felt Jacob’s arms around me almost immediately. He took one look at Edward and pulled me up but I refused to be moved away from him. He knew something was deadly wrong.
“I can’t leave him!” I felt a nudge in agreement.
“Kayla, we have to leave,” Jacob said, urgently. “None of the Cullens are answering their cells.”
“None of them?”
“Not one.”
Fear flooded through me faster than Edward’s running speed. No one was answering their cell phones, Edward was lying there probably dead for real this time and there was no explanation.
“I’m afraid I’m to blame for that.”
Jacob growled at the same time I snarled. We both turned around to see him standing there. The man who had just killed my love, my life. I wanted to run at him and rip his throat out but Jacob’s arms were still around me.
“Hello, Kayla,” he said, smiling serenely at me. Mitchell stood there looking as handsome as ever, trying to mesmerize me with those piercing blue eyes but I wasn’t falling it. I was so filled with hate and rage for him, it was amazing I was standing so still.
Kayla, run, Jacob thought to me. Get out of here!
I couldn’t leave Jacob. I was the only one who had the weapon that could kill Mitchell. I’d seen it in my vision, I knew that was how he was supposed to die. Jacob wouldn’t be able to take Mitchell on his own. I did run though. I ran at full speed upstairs to Edward’s bedroom where I’d hidden the dagger. As I was running I saw Jacob begin to phase.
I dived under the bed. I’d taped the dagger to the underside of the wooden slats of the bed after my many training exercises with Edward. He’d make me work so hard to get the target on the tree. I wasn’t excellent using my hands but with my telekinesis I was a pro. I ripped the dagger off the slats just as I heard the sound of a small bottle breaking. I looked at the dagger and caught a glimpse of my wrist, where my scar was. Then I understood. I quickly tucked the dagger into the belt of my jeans, hiding it with my t-shirt. I ran back downstairs to find Jacob missing. He wasn’t there, only Mitchell. I walked slowly to Mitchell, wondering where Jacob had gone in the three seconds I’d been upstairs.
“Your friend decided to take a nap,” Mitchell said, pointing at his feet.
Jacob was completely out of it. He hadn’t even phased. Maybe Edward was just sleeping. Maybe he wasn’t dead.
“Is this what you did to Edward?” I asked Mitchell.
“And the rest of the vampires,” he gazed at his fingernails, bored. “They’re scattered about the house somewhere.”
“Will they be okay?”
I glanced at Edward and then to Jacob.
“They’ll wake up, eventually.”
My panic and fear decreased but didn’t go away. Edward would be okay, Jacob would be okay, the rest of the Cullens would be okay. That’s all that mattered.
“Were you crying?” Mitchell asked. He stepped over Jacob and walked to me, stopping when our faces were just inches away. “You have tears on your cheeks.”
“I thought my husband was dead!” I spat at him. He stepped back, almost standing on Jacob’s arm.
“Yes, you were getting married,” he mused, smiling. “I didn’t get an invitation.”
“You weren’t invited.”
He threw his head back and laughed.
“Who told you? Who told you I was going to kill you?”
“Zach,” I answered. “You killed his wife.”
“I was meaning to kill him but she got in the way.”
He spoke so casually about killing that I was beginning to wonder if I even knew him. He sounded like Loren, not like the Mitchell I knew.
“Are you ready to die, Kayla?”
“Not just yet.”
“Oh?” he raised an eyebrow.
I knew my only option was to kill Mitchell if I wanted to protect my baby. But what I could reason with Mitchell? Appeal to the good side I knew he had, tell him I was pregnant. Surely he wouldn’t still kill me?
“You don’t have to kill me,” I said. “You can walk away with your life.”
“Are you going to kill me, Kayla?” he mocked me by pretending to shake with fear.
“If you attempt to hurt me I will.” I ignored his pretend fear.
He laughed again. He found this so hilarious. He moved fast. He was behind me and his hands clamped on my arms.
“I’ve learned a new ability,” he whispered gleefully in my ear.
“What’s that then?” I humoured him.
“Would you like a demonstration? It’s very quick and takes only one hand.”
I froze. I would not like a demonstration. I knew what his new ability was and I’d seen it in action.
“No, I’m cool.” I tried to sound nonchalant, like what he had said hadn’t bothered me.
“Honestly, it’s spectacular a gift. I would teach you it if I wasn’t going to use it against you.”
“No, I don’t need to see it.”
“The dog could be our willing assistant.”
His hands left my arms, to get to Jacob, but I moved quicker. I grabbed one of his hands and threw him over my shoulder. He landed with a resounding thud next to Jacob.
“Don’t touch him!” I hissed.
Mitchell was fast on his feet. He was on his feet in less than a second. He whizzed around me, a manic smile on his face.
“I’m giving you a chance here, Mitchell,” I said to him as he continued his crazy circles. “Leave me alone before I hurt you.”
He laughed and stopped behind me. I turned to face him, where I got a brilliant view of the damage to the Cullen home.
“As if you could!”
“I can, Mitchell, and I will. See, if you kill me, you kill two people.”
Confusion swept across his handsome face.
“I’m pregnant.” I placed a hand on my bump to emphasize it. He laughed. A creepy, crazy laugh that would make a crazy person look normal. What was wrong with him?
“Are you still going to kill me?” I was hoping he would say no. That he couldn’t possibly end the life of a baby who hadn’t even begun it yet. I didn’t want to kill him. I didn’t want to hurt him but if he so much as threatened my baby I would have no choice. I had to protect my baby.
He smiled, evilly and sadistic. I closed my eyes as my vision came flooding back to me.
“Two for the price of one.”
I knew I was going to kill him. I knew it. I had known it since I’d looked at my scar and realised. But what I didn’t know was how I would feel. Rage surged up in me as he said those words. I whipped the knife out and held it in my hand. He saw it and I raised it into the air with my telekinesis. Like I said, I was a pro with my ability.
“Do you think that will kill me?” Mitchell snorted. “I can heal.”
I didn’t say anything. I sent the dagger directly for his heart. I knew he wouldn’t heal. I’d seen his death. Blood instantly flowed from his chest.
“I’ll heal,” he said, weakly. I could hear his heart begin to slow. “Just you see .”
I watched as he vainly tried to remove the knife. It stayed in there. I felt no emotion as I watched him die. Nothing at all. He fell to the ground, still trying to pull the dagger out. As I watched his eyes close, as I watched him drag in his final breath, a tear slid down my cheek. When I heard his heart stop, I raised my hand up once. The dagger flew out of his chest and I caught it. I saw my scar and knew my vision had come true.
I hated it. I hated that it had come true. I knew that he had to die. I knew that. I wanted my baby to live but I hated that I had to do it. Would it have made it easier if someone else had done it? Of course. I wouldn’t have his death on my conscience. I wouldn’t have his death burned into my memory forever.
I felt a gentle nudge and I cried.
“I did this for you!” I screamed to my baby. “For you!”
Did that justify the killing? I killed him to protect my baby. It eased it, yes. I had said to Carlisle and Jacob that I would kill Mitchell without a second thought to protect my unborn child and I had. I’d stabbed him with that dagger as soon as he’d threatened my child.
I held the dagger tightly in my hand as I kneeled down next to Mitchell.
“I’m sorry,” I whispered to him through my tears. “I’m sorry.”
I bent over his bloody chest, weeping. This would pass. My guilt. Some would say he deserved to die for the killings he had committed. I would nod and agree. I had done the right thing.
I had.