As You Wish
Note: While reading the first chapter of a story by rach 'na lasair, a visual popped into my head that stayed with me throughout the day. I was intrigued, in a sick way, by this thought/idea. As words started to come to me, god help me, I wrote them down. This is what transpired from a brief couple of lines from the story. Let me just add that I am totally against the idea of imprinting and forcing myself to read Breaking Dawn in its entirety was one of the hardest things I’ve ever done. If you’d told me that I would be writing a fic involving the evil spawn of Edward and Bella, I wouldn’t have believed you. With that said, read on…
As You Wish
It was not like Jacob to take off and leave without telling anyone, Bella thought. He’d been gone for days and hadn’t told a soul where he was going.
Except for the seven-year old.
Apparently he’d told Nessie he was leaving just before he’d gone. What was he thinking?
Now Bella had absolutely no idea where he’d gone to or when he’d be back. Trying to get detailed information from a seven-year old was like trying to pull teeth. No matter how exceptionally bright she was.
Bella shook her head. It wasn’t like him at all. She knew Jacob hated to be away from Nessie for more than a day, so it must be important. He was so committed to the little girl.
Bella still found the whole idea of imprinting a little creepy. Edward understood it and accepted it easier than she did. Sometimes Bella wished Jacob had imprinted on some nice Quileute girl instead of her daughter.
She wished she could discuss Jacob’s leaving with Edward. She was noticing the effect it was having on Nessie. But Edward, along with Emmett and Jasper had declared a ‘men’s only’ hunting trip and was gone as well. Which left Bella to deal with things alone.
And Nessie had been acting strangely.
Watching her.
Monitoring Bella’s every move, her chocolate brown eyes always on her. Poor thing was probably frightened that Bella was going to leave suddenly as well.
Last night Nessie had been afraid to sleep alone in her own bed. She’d begged Bella to let her crawl into her and Edward’s giant canopy that they kept merely for appearances sake. Nessie made sure Bella stayed by her side, with heavy blankets in between them to keep Nessie warm until she drifted off.
That was not like Nessie; she had never done that before. She was a very independent, capable little girl. Willful too. They spoiled her way too much. They were all guilty of it. Especially Jacob. He just could not say ‘no’ to her. Bella supposed it was partly because of the imprint. Jacob had always been selfless where Bella was concerned too, but this was to the extreme.
The two of them played a game. Bella had watched them play it many times before. Nessie’s favorite movie was The Princess Bride. She was Princess Buttercup and no matter her request, Jacob would gallantly reply, “As you wish.”
Nessie could wrangle anything her heart desired from Jacob with that game. Trips to the park. Jaunts to the zoo or the bakery for cupcakes. Or her favorite delicacy; fresh blood which she suckled from the crook of his neck; cuddling into his warmth, while she twirled his soft, shaggy hair around her chubby fingers.
Her newest request was demanding Jacob phase and taking her for a ride on his back through the woods.
Princess Bride had been one of Bella’s favorite movies as well growing up. Not every little girl had their own personal Westley to grant their every wish and whim.
Not much was denied little Renesme.
Bella heard a soft rustle and her head turned with supernatural reflexes toward the sound. She spied Nessie crouched down not quite quickly enough, behind the loveseat, on the other side of the music room. Bella sighed quietly.
She’d been watching her again.
“I see you,” she told her in a singsong voice, trying to make it a game, so Nessie would know she knew she was there and wasn’t angry.
The child didn’t answer. She stubbornly stayed hidden behind the plum floral-patterned seat.
“Come on sweetie. Help mommy gather up your dirty clothes and you can help me pour the soap. I’ll put the things in the washer and you can push the buttons.”
Nessie slowly crawled out from behind the loveseat. She loved to push buttons. Most seven-year olds did. Even if they were technically just over two chronological years old.
“Come on,” Bella told her, taking her hand and reminding herself that Nessie was sad, missing her imprinted companion. She would teach Nessie a tactic she’d learned when she was human and her heart was breaking - clean. It was what had kept her sane her last year of being human.
“Stop that!” Nessie was biting her fingers again. Though Bella had no need for food, she still cooked elaborate meals for Jacob and Nessie. But no matter how tantalizing the dishes, Bella could not lure Nessie away from the bloodlust. Some children bit their fingernails to the quick, Nessie sucked the blood from her own fingertips.
They went through the large, vastly windowed house together; room by room, gathering up the dirty clothes and collecting them in the large bin to bring downstairs to the washing machine. Being a vampire brought many perks; but clothes that stayed permanently clean and fresh smelling was not one of them.
Nessie’s room was the last one at the end of the long hallway. Bella opened the door and a terrible stench hit her sensitive nostrils. Something foul hung heavy in the air. Bella snuck a glance at her daughter. Was she sneaking food in here and leaving it to rot? Despite her thirst for blood, Nessie wasn’t much of a carnivore and hardly ever ate meat.
“Sweetie? Were you eating in here and forgot to throw it away?”
Nessie’s large brown eyes turned up at Bella before she trained them on the floor and shook her head.
Bella visibly gagged while her daughter dutifully gathered her dirty clothes from her hamper alongside the closet door and placed them in the bin.
“Come on, Mommy,” she pulled at Bella’s pants leg to leave the room.
“Just a minute, sweetie,” she told her absently, petting her glossy bronze hair and scanning the room. It was hard to tell where exactly the odor was coming from; it was that heavily permeated throughout the small enclosure.
Bella went to the bed and gracefully flowed to her knees, pulling up the comforter that covered the side of the bed and looking underneath. Aside from a Barbie doll and a discarded Tangled dvd, there was nothing.
“Mommy, let’s go,” Nessie tugged on the back of her shirt.
“Just a minute, Nessie. Don’t you smell that? What is that smell?”
Bella’s vampire senses were sharper than her daughters were, but Renesme’s were superiorly heightened as well.
“I don’t smell anything, Mommy. Let’s go. We’ll go do wash.” Nessie’s little hand reached out for the back of Bella’s shirt again, and her hand brushed against Bella’s bared skin.
A glimpse of exquisitely fresh blood being gulped greedily flashed through Bella’s mind. Nessie drew her little hand back as if Bella’s cold skin had burned it. On pure reflex, Bella spun around and grabbed Nessie’s hands in her own.
Nessie’s eyes widened and the closet filled every visual crevice in Bella’s mind. Not wanting to see more, Bella dropped the little girls’ hands, as her daughter backed away.
“What’s in the closet, sweetie?” her voice shook as she tried to keep calm.
Nessie continued to back away, edging toward the open bedroom door. Bella was frozen, too terrified to move.
“What’s in the closet, sweetie?” she asked her again. “It’s okay, you can tell me. Tell Mommy.”
“I was thirsty,” she whispered.
If Bella had needed air to breathe, she would have been done for as her throat closed with icy fear.
“What do you-,” she had to clear her throat. “What do you mean, baby?”
“I was thirsty. It was an accident.”
Nessie ran toward Bella earnestly, as she realized she’d been caught. “It was his fault, Mommy. He should have made me stop.”
Bella reached out and grabbed hold of her daughter’s shoulders.
Her mind raced at vampire speeds. It was okay. She would take care of this. She would tell the others that he’d run off, trying in desperation to break the imprint. Maybe she’d even tell them she believed he’d come back someday, his tail between his legs in surrender.
The last scene Bella saw before she pulled her hands away from her daughter’s form were Jacob’s final words to her daughter before she lunged, latching onto his carotid artery.
As you wish.
Bella pulled her hands away and ushered Nessie from the room.
She found a spot far-off in the woods, far enough away that no supernatural beings in her household would ever sense the slightest sniff of anything awry, and buried the body.
She opened all the windows, letting the chilly April winds carry the scent far, far away, before scrubbing the room with potent florally scented cleansers until she detected nothing but the most pristine of scents diluting anything remiss.
Life went on.
Edward returned two days later. When he naturally asked where their daughter’s constant companion was, Bella told him he’d left, leaving a tearful note that he was fighting the imprint and going to attempt to live a normal, natural life somewhere far away. She told Edward she’d been so angry and distraught she’d immediately burned the letter.
As months and then years passed, everyone assumed that Jacob had accomplished his goal and found the real happiness he’d always longed for. Even if it was at ‘poor Nessie’s’ expense.
Bella took to wearing sweaters with deep, deep pockets that she kept her hands buried in at all times, making Edward chuckle. You’d think it was the old Bella, human Bella, with her cold hands, always searching for her friend Jacob’s warmth to take away the chill.
Bella learned to brush her daughter’s hair without her fingers ever straying from the brush’s handle, sure to never accidently graze against the girl’s pink-cheeked face or long, pale neck.
Bella deemed her old enough to bathe herself as well, refusing to help her wash her hair or soap her dimpled perfect skin.
Bella loved her daughter, she lied for her, and sometimes still coddled her. But she never touched her again.
Sometimes late at night, when the house was quiet and the closest she would ever come to sleep was a deep, meditative state, she’d hear him. Whispering in a soft, familiar, husky sigh.
As you wish…