Chapter 11:
Lay Me Down

They carried Bella to Carlisle's office and tended to her hurridly. Shouts came from every single one of them, all hands moving at a speed she couldn't comprehend.

She stayed at a great distance, watching on with empty eyes. She couldn't register the danger of it all. Losing Bella was a thought she could never get used to.

"Rosalie, pass me the morphine." Edward ordered, only paying attention to his wife. They had quickly realized that Bella was in labor, something that also shocked Hunter.

That's what she was, in shock.

They continued to shout at each other and pass things around, a frenzy erupting the doctors office. Hunter didn't even flinch when more blood filled the air. Rosalie had cut open Bella's stomach, screaming to her brother that the baby was dying.

Everything was happening so fast and Carlisle was nowhere to be found. Alice and Rosalie shoved out the door, both of them lusting for blood.

The world seemed to be blurry for her. She couldn't tell if it was her own tears or if she was blacking out, either way she couldn't see much. "Hunter!" Bella screamed out.

The hybrid could feel her hearing come back to her and she tried her best to reach Bella's side. There was a lot of red and she could see the bruises that littered Bella's skin.

"Save her! You gotta change her!" Jacob yelled. He didn't care if Bella would become a vampire, he needed her alive. Edward shook his head, "I can't! Not while he's still in there. I gotta get him out first."

Bella gripped onto Hunter's hand and it was then when she registered everything. The hybrid's bottom lip trembled and she examined the area with wide eyes. She glanced over to Bella who's eyes drifted in and out.

"Bella." She whimpered, pressing her hand softly to the girl's forehead. "You have to fix this." She said louder, wiping her sweat away. She could hear how faint her heart beat was becoming. "Hurry up! She's dying!" Hunter screamed, holding onto Bella's hands tightly.

"He's suffocating!" Bella screeched. Hunter watched Edward bend down and bite open the embryonic sac with his teeth. More blood continued to leak out along with Bella's screams of pain that seemed to echo around the room. It was deafening.

Edward stood up straight and blood coated his lips. He wiped some of it away before continuing. Bella screamed a few more times before the pain became too much and her eyes drifted to the back of her head, falling unconscious.

Hunter watched in horror. She wanted to cry for Bella, to scream and pray for it all to be over. She couldn't begin to understand how this must feel, nor would she want to. Her other hand gripped onto Jacob's and she sobbed silently, listening to Bella's slow heart beat.

Edward's hands shoved into the embryonic sac and Hunter looked away. The sounds of flesh and blood moving around was nauseating but it was all shoved aside when it stopped. Bella's eyes opened and closed lazily. Her body was tired and the pain had settled. Peering up she could see a smile on Edward's face.

Then it started. The baby cried loudly and Hunter inhaled sharply. "It's Renesmee." Edward beamed, holding the bloody baby lovingly in his arms.

"You're beautiful." Bella sighed. Edward moved closer to her, holding her out for Bella to hold. Hunter's hand slipped out of Jacob's and she let out a thankful smile. Bella survived the birth and everything would go back to normal.

A gasp left Bella's lips and the baby began to cry once more. Edward pulled Renesmee away and frowned. "What happened?" Hunter asked, her eyes falling back to Bella who laid motionless.

"Bella?" She asked. The human's hand slid out of her own and her heart beat had disappeared. Hunter backed away in horror, "Oh." She felt sick. She felt like the world had ended all over again.

Jacob had moved over to Bella and began CPR, urgency in his voice and movements. "Jacob take the baby." Edward cried, wrapping Renesmee in a small blanket.

"Keep that away from me!" He yelled, continuing to push on Bella's chest. Hunter breathed heavily as she backed away further and bumped into a table of equipment that knocked over from her force.

"Edward, I'll take her. I promise I'm okay. Let me." Rosalie told him. He quickly handed her the baby and watched his sister walk out before he slid a drawer open and pulled out a large syringe.

"What is that?" Jacob asked, gaining Hunter's watery eyes. Edward held it above Bella's chest and moved her shirt before he stabbed it into her. "It's my venom."

Hunter shuffled back to them and waited in anticipation. She hoped that Bella would wake up and breathe. "Come on." She cried, brushing Bella's now cold skin.

But she didn't move.

Edward gritted his teeth and continued the CPR. He pushed on her chest eagerly, whispering to himself that she'll be okay.

Jacob slipped away from the table and out of the room, his own tears free falling down his face. The shield of anger he held before clattered to the ground and a flood of emotions escaped him. Bella was dead and they were left in heaps of traumatic dazes.

"You're not dead." Edward repeated to himself every few seconds. He was guilty, guilty for doing this to her. As bad as it sounded, he was more afraid of Hunter hating him forever if Bella didn't wake up. "Come on!" He screamed.

Once again, her insides had turned jagged and her guts wrenched tight. A sob rakes through her throat and out her mouth at Bella's unresponsive body. It was too late. The venom wouldn't have anything to infect because she was already dead. All of her organs have failed.

   "Edward it's too late."

He ignored her. He bent down to Bella's neck and bit her, forcing more of his venom into her body. He repeated the process all over her, sobbing as he did so.

"Kill the baby." Sam's voice told her again. She sniffled and shook her head frantically.

The wolves were well on their way. The goal being Renesmee's demise. Hunter looked away from Bella's lifeless body and grabbed onto Edward's arm, forcing him to look at her, "They're coming."

His eyes were frantic. She could see how torn apart he was and she couldn't help but forgive him for all he's done. For leaving them unprotected, for getting Bella pregnant, even for falling in love with her.

"Alice, Jasper!" He yelled before running out of the room. Hunter stared at Bella once more, her dead eyes staring into the room. It was a haunting image, one that'll never leave her mind.

She didn't know how she'd be able to go on knowing that Bella wouldn't be around. Her child was alive and well, but she was not.

"I'll keep her safe. I promise." Hunter sobbed to Bella. She grabbed onto the cold, limp hand and cried. She didn't move and she didn't say anything else. The breath in her lungs had escaped and suddenly the world got a bit colder.

She just cried.

___

It's been hours.

The Cullen's, along with the help of Seth, Leah, and Jacob, had managed to fight off the Quileute pack. Sam was hell bent on murdering a newborn baby until Jacob had revealed that he imprinted on Renesmee.

Hunter didn't necessarily react to that information. She was more confused as to why he did it. But she stayed by Bella's lifeless body until Edward and Jasper had to force her out. She put up a fight, kicking and screaming, thrashing and crying.

Leaving Bella's side meant that it was all real life and Hunter hated the thought of that. So she left.

She escaped the house and disappeared into the woods. Her boots stomped into the mushy soil and she shoved through branches. Hunter cried as if her body was being ripped apart, limb by limb. The emotional pain poured out of her every pore and from her mouth, came a scream so loud it shook the leaves above.

It was louder than ever before. The hoarseness ripped apart her fleshy insides and finished tearing her heart in two. She cried as if Bella would come back to life, as if the time would rewind and it'd be just them again. Back to junior year when they were just getting used to one another.

She's losing her mind again. She can feel it unfolding, the strings of every happy memory she could remember, all but shambles of pieces scattered at her feet. Her knees dug into the earth as she hit the ground, her hands erratic as they silently tear at the dirt. She opened her mouth, but not a sound released.

This couldn't be it. This can't be her fate; to repeat the grieving process over and over again, to watch everyone she's ever loved and needed fall victim underneath the complexity of death.

It wasn't fair.

She wasn't even hungry, she wasn't angry. There was no need for more bloodshed and torment. Her body was under fire in a cold and dark world, and she needed release.

But there it was, a heart beat. It could've been her own but she knew better than that. She listened to it and it calmed her. Her tear stained cheeks relaxed and her body stopped shaking, only her breath remained out of order.

It was familiar and that was all she needed to sit on top of her knees, and remain still. Even her fingers curled into a fist, a knowing sensation growing behind them. It stung much like her tattoo, but it wasn't as strong.

In the pitch blackness of the woods, she could see everything so clearly. She could see the shadows the trees casted onto the ground, the birds that cuddled into their nests for bed, even the more nocturnal creatures were seen from their hiding places.

   "You disobeyed me." Sam's voice entered her ears. It wasn't a deep growl like it was before, now it was as clear and hard as she remembered. She climbed onto her feet and she held her fists by her side.

She should've expected a visit from him, he was the alpha and she strayed away from him. The tattoo on her arm has done nothing but remind her where her loyalties are supposed to lie, but she ignored that.

   "You were going to kill Bella." She hissed. Sam circled her menacingly and the rest of the pack emerged from the darkness, grumbles rolling from behind their sharpened teeth.

Sam scoffed, "The baby did that job on its own." She could feel his hatred and disappointment in her, it didn't make her feel any worse than she already was but it still bothered her. He trained her, he accepted her, and he was willing to look past the beast she was. She had room to feel sorry.

   "And what about the baby? You were willing to kill her too?" Hunter asked with disgust. Sam shrugged his shoulders. His chest was frantic with each breath he inhaled, as if he was holding himself back from something. "She'll be a danger to us all. It was a necessary evil." He replied confidently.

Hunter breathed a chuckle, her head shaking as she responded, "You're sick."

   "Maybe." He deadpanned, "But at least I'm loyal and I stand with the protection of the humans. Unlike you and your bloodsucking demons."

Her fists tightened, as did her mouth as it formed a straight line. The comment bugged her more than it would've a year ago. The Cullen's weren't demons at all, they were caring, protective, and loyal friends. It took Winston and Bella dying for her to realize that.

   "You don't know a thing about loyalty, Sam." Hunter spit, closing the space between them quickly. Their shoulders were raised and straightened, chins aligned too. Both of them weren't afraid of a fight but only one would make it. "You only know power, which is why you wanted me in the pack, and why you want to kill a harmless baby."

Sam didn't fold. "You want what can benefit you, and destroy what threatens you." Hunter's watery eyes stabbed into his and she could see the glimmer dimming by the second. "All you care about is being the big guy, the alpha everyone will talk about after you're long gone."

His nostrils flared angrily and the breaths that blew out fanned her face, a sign that she was getting to him. So a smirk spread onto her face and she sniffled, "All you care about is getting out of my father's shadow."

It was silent for a few moments before his arms raise in the air and his body phased into a werewolf. Hunter scrambled backwards and gasped when the tall black wolf roared in her face. She could feel her arm stinging and her body quaking at the loudness, almost like she was submitting.

Spit flew from the wolf's mouth and sprayed onto her cheeks as the force of his breath fanned her hair backwards. This was what Sam wanted, for her to become submissive like his other betas. But she wouldn't.

When his roar was done, Hunter stayed still. Her face was unamused and there wasn't a scent of fear in the air. "You are not my alpha." She seethed. Her red eyes stare into the golden ones that dilated with an animosity that rattled her chest.

In an instant, Hunter ducked down. Paul and Embry's arms swung at the air in what felt like slow motion, her body maneuvering around them in a blinding speed. She latched onto Embry and bit into his neck, aiming to hurt him rather than drink his blood.

She tossed the young werewolf across the field to the rest of the pack and zoomed away from Paul's grasp. Sam growled angrily and urged his pack to attack her.

Hunter let out soft yet heavy breaths as she watched the wolves emerge from the dark. Their fur shined in the moonlight and their eyes lay menacing. She had no idea if she could take them all on.

Paul was the first to prance, as she expected. He carried the most anger out of the bunch which meant it'd be easier to predict his movements. His paws kicked dirt and Hunter inhaled sharply.

She held her hands up and Paul's snarls left his throat. He was suspended in the air. His legs thrashed around furiously, urging her to let him down.

Before she could even think, a roar shattered her ear drums and an excruciating pain erupted in her. Her hands reach for the pained area and she opened her mouth to scream. She could feel the rawness but she didn't hear a thing.

Peering down at her arm, it trembled beneath the blood that slipped out relentlessly. She had been sliced. There was a gash right down the middle of her pack tattoo.

Hearing nothing but white noise and seeing the black dots appear in her vision worried her. Sam had cut her connection to the pack. They watch her crumble to the ground without a care, though there was a small part of them that hurted for her too.

"What'll happen to her?" Jared telepathically asked his alpha. The blood scent was putrid, impure with vampirism. Sometimes they forgot that she was half immortal. It was so easy to forget about that before.

Sam huffed, "The ancient ones will decide what to do with her. We're done here."

"Screw you." She muttered, her back meeting the soil with a thud. She was blacking out from the loss of blood and the pain. But she managed to see them disappear into the trees again, leaving her to succumb to the darkness alone.

Much like before, she stared up at the sky. Instead of being afraid, she felt safe.