CH 1: The Casualty

A/N: This will eventually become a Bella/Jasper story. Even if you aren't a fan of that pairing, I do encourage you to read this fic anyway, because you may find that it goes very differently than most B/J stories. Just no comments bashing the pairing, please. This story begins amid the newborn fight in Eclipse. Theme song for the chapter: "Watch Over You" by Alter Bridge.

Seeing that Victoria had no intention of helping him, Riley fled. Both of his arms lay on the ground near my feet, but he ran away without them. Seth followed close behind, disappearing into the trees. That worried me. Seth was just a kid. I didn't want him running off alone, but a part of me knew he'd be fine. Riley was pretty much defenseless without his arms. Seth would finish him off. I was much more worried about Edward.

Edward and Victoria still blurred in my eyes as they continued to fight. I couldn't tell who had the upper hand. Victoria's movements had slowed down slightly. I took that as a sign that she was hurt, but it wasn't making much of a difference. She was still holding her own against Edward. When I'd seen him fighting with Jasper before, Edward had seemed so invincible to me, but he didn't now. He was having trouble with Victoria. Trouble that very abruptly got worse.

There was a loud crack as Edward was thrown into a tree. The tree trunk cracked in half with the force of the blow, and the upper part of the tree fell over. It fell straight toward me and I tried to dive out of the way. Most of the tree missed me, but one long branch whipped me in the shoulder as it fell. I cried out at the sharp pain as the branch left a long gash where it hit. More than anything, I was shocked that the blood flowing out of the wound distracted neither of the dueling vampires. Edward had recovered and was launching himself repeatedly at Victoria. She kept dodging every attack. Each one until…

Though I had heard the high-pitched keening sound before, it still hurt my ears. Victoria screeched in pain as Edward tore one of her arms from her body. It fell close to her feet, and she made the mistake of reaching for it. Edward broke off her other arm. It looked like he had her at that point. It was all but over, but then…

"EDWARD!" I was sure my scream of agony could be heard by all the vampires within a five mile radius of where I lay. All the Cullens and any of the newborns still fighting them must have heard it. Jasper must have felt it. Any pain I felt during Edward's absence several months ago was nothing compared to this. Victoria had no arms! She had no arms, but she still managed to do it… She lunged forward and bit into Edward's neck. As the force of her lunge carried her forward, she tore all the way through… There was no cry of pain. There was nothing. Everything went black. That is, until a woman's voice brought me back to the surface.

"Bella. Bella, sweetheart, wake up. Please wake up. Open your eyes…" A cool hand stroked my face and hair. Was it Esme? No, the voice was wrong. Alice or Rosalie? It couldn't be. My curiosity helped me force open my eyes. I immediately wished I'd stayed in the darkness.

"Oh good, you're awake, Bella," Victoria said to me, her voice menacingly silken. Her arms were reattached and she was staring down at me with pitch black eyes. She was thirsty. Oh please, just kill me quickly. Please. Edward is gone. He's dead. Please, just kill me now.

Victoria smiled down at me as if she could hear my pleading thoughts. "Don't worry, I'm not going to kill you," she almost cooed. No! I want you to kill me! Please! "Not in the way you think, at least." What? No. Whatever you're talking about, no! Edward's gone! Kill me! Victoria laid a hand on my right shoulder and squeezed lightly. I whimpered as her fingers pressed into the gash in my shoulder, but then she let go. She brought her fingers which were coated in my blood to her face and licked at them like a cat. No, please… My eyes widened in terror and Victoria laughed.

"I'm just enjoying what I can of the taste, since I won't be drinking much," she said casually. "I'm very thirsty, but I've had a lot of practice creating all the newborns I brought here." That was when it clicked. My stomach lurched violently. Victoria wasn't going to drain me. She was going to change me.

Though I knew it was pointless, I tried to get up. She easily pinned me back down, placing one of her hands on each of my upper arms. "You see, Bella," Victoria purred as if she hadn't been interrupted by my struggles, "this all worked out even better than I'd originally planned. My plan at first was to kill you and leave Edward to suffer over your loss, as I have over James. The problem with that plan was that it made more sense if your and Edward's positions were switched. A mate for mate loss is fair enough, but what about you? You love Edward, but you have no concept of how it feels to know that you may live forever without him. Bella, you've wanted to be a vampire for a while now. And you will be."

I had no time to react. I had no time to scream. All of a sudden, Victoria's teeth were at my neck. I'd felt the burn of vampire venom before, and here it was again, searing through my veins. Victoria didn't stop at one bite. She pulled back and bit the other side of my neck, then each of my wrists, ankles, and the inside of each elbow. I shrieked in agony every time. When Victoria finally pulled away entirely, all my screams blurred into one never-ending stream. Victoria smiled down at me.

"The rest of your coven will be busy for a little while longer," she told me. "Same with those wolves you've befriended. I doubt there will be more casualties on your side, but the newborns will keep them distracted all the same. By the time anyone comes up here looking for you and Edward, it will be too late to stop the conversion. Alice shouldn't even see anything, since this change in my plans was so sudden…" Victoria leaned down, and I thought she was going to bite me again, but she just kissed my forehead as I thrashed on the ground. "Enjoy forever, Bella." She purred, and then she was gone.

I continued to scream and thrash on the ground, but no one heard me. No one came. I looked wildly around and saw the tower of purple smoke over an open fire just a few yards away from me. I screamed in agony that had nothing to do with the venom burning through me. I screamed out Edward's name. No one came.