Bleeding Stars/Emmett Cullen (Sequel to Whispering Dusk)

Chapter Two

"Why do you do it? Being a doctor, I mean."

"I want to help people, even if I am damned," Carlisle said quietly. I stiffened. This was a rough subject for our families.

The Cullen's believed their souls were damned; that when they were eventually killed by humans or wolves, that their souls--whatever was left--would go to hell. I didn't believe that. It wasn't our fault that we were this way.

"Like hell?" Bella pressed on. Carlisle told her of his belief that vampires don't have souls. He was speaking quietly out of consideration for me.

"That's why he won't change me, isn't it?"

"Imagine if the situation were reversed. Could you take away his soul?" He put the blood soaked bandages and everything that was bloody in a silver bowl and burned it.

Edward took her home soon after and I went upstairs to Alice and Jasper's room. I knocked lightly on the door and Alice told me to come in. She sat on the bed next to him.

"Hey, Jazz. How are you doing?" I asked tentatively. I sat on the other side of him and he was tense. I put my arm around him tightly.

"It's okay, Jasper. Bella knows you didn't mean to do any of that. You couldn't control yourself."

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The next day passed slowly. Edward, Jasper, and Alice weren't at school. I knew why, but Bella didn't need to know. She kept bugging me about it and I may have snapped at her. I hung on to Daniel for the rest of the school day.

I was too depressed about what was going to happen. The Cullen's were going to Denali for a while. Jasper was so ashamed of what he had done and if one family member wants to go, they all go.

Emmett would go with them and I didn't know what to do. I was torn between the two options... When I arrived at my house, everyone was there.

"You're leaving, aren't you?" I whispered. Carlisle looked at my dad and then at me, nodding.

"I'm not going. I can't. Someone has to be there for Bella. She'll be depressed or she'll try to hurt herself! She'll do something dangerous!" My voice got louder and I ran upstairs to my room.

I wouldn't leave Bella here by herself. Sure she had Angela and Charlie, but she needed me. Didn't she?

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I found out later that night that Edward had met Bella after school at her house. They walked into the forest and he made up some excuse for them leaving town. He even told her the others had left already. They were leaving early the next morning.

He basically left her there, alone in the woods, with Victoria possibly still around, hunting Bella. A search party formed around dark, looming for Bella. I wanted to go, but I knew the La Push wolf pack would be called...

The Alpha, Sam Uley, found her and brought her home. A few days have passed now. Emmett decided to stay with me after my little outburst in our living room. Bella was depressed and she kept trying to contact Edward.

She sent emails to Alice, but Alice chose to cut her email off. She had nightmares. Charlie even tried to convince her to go to Jacksonville, Florida,to live with her mom and step-dad. She finally told him, after months, that she was going shopping with Jess and me.

We went to some zombie movie, but I had to leave early to go hunting with Emmett. I wondered what Jess and Bella were doing... I hoped she wasn't putting herself in danger. After Emmett and I were done, we sat on my bed all night.

After prom night, Emmett and I hadn't talked about having a baby much anymore. I didn't know if that's what he really wanted. And now, with all of this drama going on, I wasn't sure we were ready.

Then again, I also wasn't sure what my pregnancy would be like. Then there was the Victoria problem. No one but I thought that she was still lurking around. She's not the type to give up on a hunt.

Bella started being friends with that Jacob guy again. Emmett says he's going to turn into a wolf soon and I'm scared for Bella... I knew Edward wouldn't like it, so I kept my thoughts to myself and my mouth shut.

She told me about the dilapidated motorcycles that she brought to his house. She asked him to help her refurbish them. She said it was weird, that they were heavy and he just picked them up out of the bed of her truck with ease.

She met two of his friends, Embry and Quil. They're from the wolf blood lines so they'll phase before long, too. She still has bad dreams. Sometimes I sleep over so I can quieten her down before Charlie gets worried about her again.

She invited me to hang out with her and Jacob one day, but I told her I couldn't...because of the treaty. She said they saw some of the Quileute tribe: Sam, Paul, Embry, and Jared, cliff diving.

Jacob referred to them as 'Sam and his cult' or 'Sam and his disciples'. I was sitting at lunch with Mike, Eric, Jessica, and Angela one day. Bella hasn't sat with us in a long time, even though I bug her about it. Then one day, she rejoined us.

Everyone was speechless, of course, but I was overjoyed with happiness. I smiled brightly as she sat next to me. I looped my arm with hers. We had been talking about some hikers that had gone missing.

"I saw a huge wolf the other day. I swear!" Angela persisted. I heard Mike quietly talk to Bella.

"Would you wanna go to a movie? It's called Love Spelled Backward Is Love, which is kinda stupid, but it would be fun," he suggested. I rolled my eyes and nudged Bella's ribs.

"How about...Face Punch? Hey, you guys wanna go see Face Punch with us?" Bella asked, inviting the rest of the group. I covered my smiled with my hand and we all agreed. Mike was visibly annoyed.

That night at the theater, I waited with Mike, Emmett, and Jacob. Jake wasn't bad looking; he had shoulder length black hair, was muscular, and tanned. He told Mike that Face Punch sucked and I could tell he was being territorial over Bella.

Bella parked her truck and walked up to us.