Emily

She screams, she's dying, it's only natural. The pain, I can't stand it. Watching this is worse than the worst form of torture. I can't do anything. I can't stop it. I let this happen, I allowed it. This is the only way, a voice whispers in the back of my head. It's going to kill her though. You don't know that. Maybe it will save her. It's worth a try. The voice is right. It might save her, and she would have died if I'd done nothing. I had to at least try. Just try.

It's nearly midnight when I walk through the front door. I see my beautiful Emily standing at the stove. She greets me with a smile. I go over and wrap my arms around her waist. She lays her head on my chest. I look at her ruined face and recall how those three long scars got there.

I stretched out my hand to her, pleading with her to understand. She said something and the hurt look in her eyes made me so infuriated with myself that I exploded. The searing heat coursed through me. My arm elongated, claws appeared on my hand, claws that had cut through Emily's soft flesh. She collapsed, and my claws raked down her arm. I froze with horror at what I'd done. Luckily, Jared and Paul were in their wolf forms at the time. They got Sue Clearwater, who worked on Emily while my brothers worked on me. Emily had survived, but she would remind me of my carelessness forever. Each time I see those scars, pain washes through me and I'm astonished that she doesn't see it.

I'm brought back to the present by the blood draining from Emily's face. She collapses, her knees giving out, she becomes a dead weight in my arms. I am frozen with panic and terror. What happened? What can I do? The hospital. But, that bloodsucker works there. He won't hurt her, he's proved that.

I run to my car, I have to get her to the hospital. Running would be faster but would attract too much attention. If she starts getting too close, I'll get out and run, I think to myself. I jam the key in the ignition and put the pedal flat on the floor.

I hear nearly silent footsteps behind me and I turn to find Dr. Cullen walking towards me, a somber expression on his face. Why does he look that way? What's wrong?

"I'm afraid I have some bad news for you, Sam," he says with a worried expression. I'd never seen him look that way before, so unsure, so conflicted.

"What is it?" I ask apprehensively, needing an answer but not really wanting one.

"I'm afraid Emily's not going to make it. She has a ruptured lung. There's nothing any of the other doctors can do about it, but I can do something. I know it's repulsive to you, but it just might save her. I can change her. Make her one of us."

I struggle for a few minutes, concealing the raging conflict inside me. She might live, but she might not. What have I got to lose? She'll die if I don't do anything but if we try this, she could live. That decides it. If there's any chance, I'll run with it.

"Okay, Doc. Do whatever you have to, but please, let me see her first. I want to explain this to her."

"I'm not sure that's a good idea, Sam…" he trails off nervously.

"Please? I have to tell her myself. I have to explain."

"All right."

I follow him to her room, I enter the room. I stare at her face, her beautiful, ruined face, in horror. It looks as if someone has taken all her color. Her beautiful russet skin is a pasty cocoa brown, and her lips are dry and cracked. She weakly lifts her head at the sound of my approach.

"Hey, Sam. I guess I don't look so good, huh," she says, her voice quivering with the effort. She licks her dry lips, wetting them in anticipation of her next attempt at speech. I cut her off before she begins.

"Dr. Cullen says you have a ruptured lung," I say, hiding my pain from her. I don't give her the chance to reassure me. "You can't pull through this on your own. There's nothing the hospital can do," I breathe deeply, preparing myself for the words I must say. "But there is something Dr. Cullen can try. It's worth a try."

Her eyes widen as the meaning of my words hit her.

"You would do that for me?"

"I have to try. I can't just wait for you to die, not knowing I had a chance to save you and didn't take it, not knowing if, maybe, it could possibly have worked and I didn't give it a chance."

"All right," she says with a determined expression, "I'm ready."

Day One

She's screaming, telling me to kill her, but this will anyway. I can't believe I let this happen. None of the bloodsuckers seem to have any particular worries about her discomfort. They told me it would hurt her, that it would feel like her veins were on fire. She would want to die, but, in the end, she would be immortal. It goes on.

Day Two

Day Three

Day Four

Her screaming stops, she is still. Her eyes open. They are vivid scarlet, as all newborns' are.

"Sam?" she asks. Her question sounds like a song, her face is unnaturally pale and beautiful, but, underneath it all, she's still Emily, my Emily.

I throw my arms around her and kiss her. I see my own joy echoed back to me in her eyes, it is then that I realize, no matter how she looks or what she is, we will live forever, and she is what I will live for.