“Shoot,” Bella whispered, absolutely oblivious. She brought her finger to her eye, as a tiny droplet of blood came out of the cut.

She didn’t see him coming, but I did. I turned to Jasper whose thoughts had gone wild. I must have her! He roared in his head as he charged after her, deciding what part of her would taste the best.

My beast couldn’t fight the love that was deeply rooted inside me and all I could think about was how to save Bella from him. Just like with the van I rushed over to her, shoving her out of the way. She fell spectacularly through the air and landed onto the cake, breaking the glass dishes. I heard more tearing of skin and a rush of blood surged from her arm. I didn’t need to see it to know this. I could smell it. The monster growled. But all I could think was, I broke her, over and over, shrieking it in my head.

Pandemonium hit. Jasper was struggling against me fiercely while growling. He began snapping at me and Emmett grasped him while holding his own breath. His bite would not kill me, but it would be painful. The scent hit the rest of my family and Bella was suddenly the only human in a sea of thirsty vampires. Most of them were able to keep their calm by holding their breath. Not Jasper. And not me. I wanted to fight him – to kill him. Anything to stop him.

Jasper was thrashing around under me, trying to fight me to get to his prey. He was running on instincts alone. As was always with Jasper, I felt the twin thirsts, but suddenly it was more than that. Jasper felt everyone’s thirst and I heard their thirst. The fragrance emitting from Bella was not only doubled, it was radiating off of everyone’s thoughts and feelings effecting Jasper and I more than ever. I had dealt with the taste of Bella on my tongue before and I wanted it more than ever in this moment. I had a sudden great urge to swing around and seize her by the throat. If it wasn’t for my protecting her, I would be feeding from her myself. Looking around I saw everyone’s thirsty expression. How would I protect her from all of them? Carlisle would help, I hoped. Instantly, I felt bad for doubting him.