My muscles locked frozen in place. My mind screamed at me to move but my legs wouldn’t obey. I screamed, not that anyone would come to my rescue.
Three bullets blasted into my chest throwing me back into the wall. I stood there for a moment, utterly stunned. Pain ripped through my chest, particularly my lungs, almost immediately and I could feel my top becoming gradually wetter. I slid down the wall and clutched at chest. I couldn’t feel where the bullets had entered my chest but I could feel all the blood.
“KAYLA!” Edward was screaming. “Kayla, speak to me!”
“He shot me,” I said and looked down at my chest. There was blood everywhere. It was soaking right through my top and spreading to me blankets. I tried to take a deep breath to calm myself but I only hurt myself. Was I shot in the lungs?
Loren cackled madly and I looked up at him. He smiled once at me and it sent shivers down my spine. He was pleased that I was bleeding and about to die. I glared at him before a spasm of pain had me screaming. I heard him cackle again before coughing violently.
“Let’s go,” he said to his Shadow Hunters mid-cough. Edward snarled viciously and tried to attack Loren but the Shadow Hunters held on to Edward. One Shadow Hunter placed a hand on Loren’s shoulder and they both shimmered taking Loren but leaving Edward.
“Where were you hit?” Edward asked me. He was gently touching me everywhere, deliberately missing the blood. His self control was great but it wasn’t perfect.
“I don’t know,” I said. “But I can’t breathe properly. It hurts.”
Every time I breathed in or out it hurt badly. Edward was listening to every thought in my head because he could a clearer explanation from my head than my mouth. Al l I could think about was where it hurt. There was pain in my stomach and close to my heart.
“I think you where shot in the stomach and at least close to your lungs,” Edward said, after some careful listening. “But I can’t examine you if your hands are there.”
“You shouldn’t be here,” I said, in between quick breaths. The quick breaths hurt less but made me sound like I was in labour. “My blood will drive you insane.”
He smiled and kissed my forehead.
“I’m not breathing so don’t worry about me,” he said. “I’ll see if I can wake Charlie. He can heal you.”
He was gone for two seconds. Two short seconds. But I felt like a lifetime had passed. The pain was getting steadily worse and I was getting steadily weaker. I hadn’t begun to heal yet and that wasn’t like me. Even if the venom couldn’t heal me then my healing ability should. Then my Azdi mind kicked in. It was a funny little thing. It seemed to have upgraded over the last year. It now assessed my body whenever I was injured, not that I had suffered any major injuries, but minor ones like a bruise or a small cut. It assessed the damage and told me what would happen and then it healed. It wasn’t like someone in my head told me; it was just like I knew.
Major tissue damage to two vital organs - my right lung and stomach. And a bullet had grazed the left side my heart. There was also heavy blood loss but I didn’t need to be told that. I could see it!
“Charlie is completely out of it,” Edward said, appearing at my side. “I can’t wake him up. Loren wasn’t joking when he said they were comatose.”
“Edward,” I whispered, grabbing one of his hands. “I don’t think I’ll make it.”
Edward squeezed tightly onto my hand and held the other one. He suddenly looked like a small child, if that was possible for a vampire.
“What do you mean?” he asked. “Of course you will.”
As he spoke my Azdi mind was telling me what was going to happen. My Azdi mind had upgraded and as it had it had included the venom in my bloodstream as one of my abilities.
“I can’t heal from this,” I told him. “There is just too much damage and too much blood loss. My healing ability can’t heal me in time before my heart stops.”
“But the venom!” Edward insisted. “The venom will. Esme jumped off a cliff and was nearly dead but Carlisle saved her!”
“Do I have to tell you everything?” I said, a little irritated. “You already know, Edward. It’s weaker because it’s circulating around my body and mixing with my blood. It reduces the strength of it so it isn’t like a normal vampire’s. Not like Carlisle’s.”
Saying that took a lot of energy and caused a lot of pain. Not only physically but emotionally too. I was dying and nothing could save me.
“You’re not dying!” Edward snarled, not to be mean but because he was getting desperate. He was losing me and it my pain was just as much his. He let go of one of my hands and pulled out his slim silver cell phone and pressed buttons so fast it was like a blur. I saw my blood standing out starkly against his pale skin.
I closed my eyes and listened to Edward’s half of the conversation.
“Carlisle,” Edward said. “I need your help now!....You already know?....Yes, she’s bad, she said she can’t heal at all....Charlie’s comatose....I’ll explain later, just hurry!”
Edward must have returned the phone to his pocket because I could feel him holding my hand again.
“Just stay awake, Kayla,” he told me, softly. “Carlisle’s coming. He’ll make you all better.”
I nodded but didn’t open my eyes. It just took so much so effort now. It was just easier to lie here with my eyes closed and drift into a nice peaceful sleep.
“No!” Edward spoke so loud and sharp my eyes flew open.” Don’t go to sleep, Kayla.”
Because you might never wake up.
“I love you, Edward,” I whispered closing my eyes. Speaking normally hurt me too much. “Always remember that.”
“I won’t have to remember,” Edward said, shaking on my hand to wake me. “Because you’ll be here to tell me, everyday for as long as we live, if you just stay awake!”
I opened my eyes and took in a deep breath just so I could speak louder, to tell him that I couldn’t, but it hurt so much I coughed violently which forced me to sit up. When I coughed something wet came up like I was throwing up. Only it wasn’t vomit. It had a metallic taste and Edward instantly recoiled back.
“I’m sorry,” I said, lying back down and closing my eyes.
“It’s not your fault,” Edward said and he came closer again. “I don’t mind your blood. I know how to restrain myself.”
There was two quiet thwumps on the floor. I heard soft footsteps come closer to me and the sound of sharp inhalation.
“There’s so much blood,” I heard a light musical voice say.
“Go outside, Alice,” I heard Edward say. “If you can’t control yourself.”
“No,” Alice protested. Her light dancing feet pranced closer to me. “I want to be here with her.”
“Alice,” I murmured. “Don’t stay if it’s too much. I don’t mind.”
“Don’t be silly,” she said, and she stroked my cheek gently. “I’m not going to leave you alone.”
I felt cold hands press down on my chest and I screamed.
“Carlisle, you’re hurting her!” Edward shouted. “Stop!”
Carlisle’s cold hands were lifted off me so fast I knew that Edward had pulled them off.
“Edward, I need to examine her!” Carlisle’s voice was raised in anger. I had only ever heard him speak like that once when Edward and I had been fighting. It sounded strange coming from Carlisle.
“Leave him alone, Edward,” I said. “Let him do what he wants.”
I heard the ripping of my top but I didn’t get embarrassed. I was beyond caring what I looked like.
“How are you feeling, Kayla?” he asked me. I felt something soft being applied to my chest. It was done quickly and I realised after I heard the ripping of tape that it was bandages.
Suddenly, there was an excruciating pain in the centre of my chest. I tensed my entire body so nothing moved to cause more pain. I screamed out to Carlisle.
“It hurts! My heart!”
“Alice, get me the blood!” Carlisle shouted.
“You’re going to be ok,” Edward whispered softly in my ear.
“It hurts,” I whimpered. “It really hurts!”
I felt a needle being inserted into my arm. I heard the sloshing of liquid and new Carlisle was giving me a blood transfusion but would it work?
“Do you feel better?” Carlisle asked me.
The pain died down a little but it still lingered. I nodded and relaxed.
“She’ll need surgery,” Carlisle said to no one in particular. “There is just so much damage. I’m amazed she’s survived this long with all that blood loss.”
Everything was quiet for a few seconds. They were all waiting to see if the blood transfusion was helping. I just didn’t have the energy to speak. We could all hear my heart beating rhythmically which was a positive sign. But then it got faster. And faster. And faster.

No longer Kayla’s POV.

“She’s going into VF*!” Carlisle shouted, listening to Kayla’s frenzied heartbeat.
“What do we do?” Alice screamed. She jumped up and down in a panicked state. She looked from Kayla to Carlisle and back again.
“She’ll go into cardiac arrest* and she’ll die,” Edward whispered. He held onto Kayla’s hand. Her eyes were closed and she hardly drew a breath.
“We need the defibrillators!” Alice panicked. “I’ll run home and get them!”
“I don’t have any portable ones, Alice!” Carlisle was desperate. He had never had a patient who he had failed to save because of no equipment. “It would take too long!”
“Defibrillation is the only thing that can save her.” Edward sighed and kissed the hand he held. “We’ve lost her. I’ve lost her.”
Kayla’s heart wasn’t dead yet. It still beat erratically. There was still a chance she would survive.
“Edward. Bite her!”













For those who don’t really get that medical jargon....here’s some definitions:


*Sudden Cardiac Arrest occurs when the ventricles of the heart stop contracting effectively. As a result the heart begins to beat in an abnormal and chaotic rhythm. The heart then loses the ability to effectively pump blood. That is VF - Ventricular Fibrillation. Because a person in VF is not pumping blood they have no detectable pulse. They suddenly become unresponsive, stop breathing, and could die if treatment is not received in minutes. Defibrillation can stop VF before it turns into sudden cardiac death. However, defibrillation must occur soon after the onset of an attack. A victim's chances of surviving SCA decrease by 7-10% with every minute that passes without this life-saving shock. Few attempts at resuscitation succeed after 10 minutes.
Defibrillation – use of a carefully controlled electric shock to restart or normalize heart rhythms. You might have seen it in medical programs when the doctor shouts something like ‘Charging to 300! Clear!” and he rubs them two pad things together.