I just wanted to let go of my dreadful life at that moment. A life without Edward wasn't a good life at all.

I knew it was storming outside, and I knew that there was water at the bottom, but I was intent on killing myself at that moment, just to stop hurting.

I flung myself off the cliff, spiraling towards the blackness, and hit the water with a splash.

The water was rushing into my lungs, drowning me, slowly killing me as it seeped into my throat. I gurgled, then went under the cold blackness.

I was dreaming, hearing voices.

What is she doing?

She's tried to kill herself!

Someone dive in!

Huh. In my dream, I was floating on the water, people all around me, their faces obscured by wind and rain. I felt a small sting on my stomach. I heard a splash.

La la la.

Dying is so peaceful, I thought to myself.

Several minutes passed by, when I felt a rhythmus pounding on my back. I coughed. Water was pouring out of my mouth.

Slam.

I sputtered, choking, as the water kept coming out, unable to take one single small breath. The water slowed, then, I took a breath of the ice cold air. I opened my eyes and tried to focus on the face in front of me.

"Are you stupid? Diving off a cliff like that, you could have died," the boy said. He shook his head, his blonde hair bouncing.

"Oh, give her a break Jace! She obviously wanted to die," a beautiful girl came into my view. She had black hair and a beautiful tight- fitting black war dress. A dagger and a whip at her hip, she held out her hand. I grasped it and stood up, shivering in the process. Another older boy came into view. His cheekbones were prominent on his solemn face. I coughed once. The cough racked my body, and I coughed again, wrenching into a series of wheezing, throat wrenching coughs that shook me. I removed my hand from my mouth and looked at it. Blood.

"She must have been infected by that water demon we were chasing, we have to get her to the institute, now," the boy said, looking at my stomach.

The blonde, Jace, scooped me up without a word.

"Hey!" I protested. He ignored me.

"Is that your car?" Jace demanded, pointing at my red truck. I nodded. The motion hurt my head, and I faltered, my head drooping a bit.

"She's dying Jace, pick up the pace!" Alec said. Jace hurried down to my car.

"Keys, we need keys," Isabelle said calmly. I fished them out of my pocket and threw them in her direction. Unfortunately, it went about a foot off. Isabelle jumped and snatched it from the air in a swift, graceful movement. She unlocked the car and slid into the passenger's seat. Alec got into the driver's seat, and Jace pulled me into the seat in the back. I pursed my lips, then felt sick. My stomach heaved, and I leaned out of the window and threw up blood. My stomach hurt a lot, and I felt like crap. Jace pulled me into the seat.

"Izzy, do you have the med kit?" Jace asked.

"Yeah, here," Isabelle replied, opening her bag and tossing him a sack.

"Take off your shirt."

"What?"

"I don't have time for this, take it off!"

I looked down to see a dark liquid seeping into my shirt. I gasped, then obliged. I had on a bra. Jace didn't even look up there; he was too busy fixing his eyes on my upper abdomen, where something was stuck to, something sucking on it. Correction, many things were sucking on it. Blood was seeping out of the suckers, around the edges. They were all around, approximately ten of them, all sucking on my abdomen. I bit my lip to keep myself from screaming. Jace rummaged through the sack and brandished a pair of metal tweezers.

"This is going to hurt," he advised. I was inclined to look away; this would not help me with the problem with my stomach. I felt him pull one off with a pop. I couldn't help it, I screamed. I tried to pull myself to the edge of the seat, away from Jace and his tweezers, but he held on to me with a strength so fierce, I couldn't move a millimeter away. I kept trying to resist, and eventually, he got annoyed.

"Isabelle, come back here and hold her down," he said. Isabelle lithely slithered into the back and pulled my shoulders down to the other seat, where I laid down, unable to move. Her arms held me in one place. She looked at me, saying,

"This is for your own good. You really don't want to have those poisonous, energy- draining leeches on you, trust me."

I grimaced as Jace kept plucking. When he stopped, he rubbed a balm on the wound that dulled the pain, then bandaged it. Isabelle let go of me and went back to the front. Jace helped me sit up, which hurt, and made me take some foul, acidic medicine.

"What were those things?" I asked.

"Water demons," Alec answered, "They put their venom into you, which is a sharp sting, then it calms you to the point where you begin to day dream as they suck your blood out. When they have enough blood, they grow into a squid- like creature, who makes more of the suckers from their tentacles, then die. They usually only live for a day or two, but they're like viruses, they keep multiplying."

I was silent. Water demons? Just add another mythical creature, why don't you? I already have to deal with werewolves and vampires, but demons? This was a bit weird to accept. I sank into the seat and closed my eyes, trying to sleep, but not quite being able to. I heard Alec, Isabelle, and Jace talking.

"Water demons don't attack humans, their blood isn't fulfilling enough for them," said Alec.

"Maybe this one was desperate," said Isabelle.

"It didn't even go for us. Why would it want her? Nephilim blood is the purest on the planet!" Jace argued.

"Unless she's not human," Alec said quietly.
"She has to be a Nephilim. There is no way that thing would have attacked her if she was human," Isabelle said.

Everyone was silent.

My head was pounding, trying to make sense of all the things they were saying. I was a Nephilim? An angel offspring? I looked out the window and saw a silver Volvo sweep by. A silver Volvo.

Edward!

I looked back to just in time to see the Volvo swerve behind us.

Crap!

He came back at the worst time possible. What would I do? Should I keep going? No, Edward deserves more than that.

"Alec, pull over," I said fiercely.

"No, we have to get to the institute! You're going to die in about an hour, and you want to pull over?" Alec kept his tone calm, but I detected a note of finality in it.

"You don't understand, that's-"

"It's a downworlder."

Jace's voice came from next to me. I saw him fiddling with some strange radar instrument.

"It's probably a werewolf or vampire," he continued. My jaw fell. He knew about vampires?

"How do you-"

I was cut off by a flash of silver in front of my car. Alec stepped on the brake and I slammed against my seatbelt. I felt my abdomen crush against the seat belt painfully and I grimaced. I unclipped my seat belt and got out of the car, almost toppling over. I steadied myself against my car. Edward was at my side in a flash.

I wrapped my hand around my wound and looked up to gaze into Edward's topaz eyes. His eyebrow was creased with worry, and he was the most beautiful thing ever. I felt a sob catch in my throat and threw myself into him. He caught me and embraced me. I sobbed hysterically into his shirt.

"Edward. Edward. You came back! I- I thought you didn't love me anymore," I said between sobs. He held me steadily.

"Bella, Bella. You are my life. I left for your safety, I had to lie. I'm sorry, I'm so sorry Bella," Edward said. He pulled me from him and inspected me. I had my sopping wet shirt back on, blood and all. I was wet, shivering, and tired. I was glad Jace had saved me. Jace!

I remembered him. I looked around to see Isaelle, Alec, and Jace all crossing their arms and staring at me and Edward. I blushed, embarrassed that they had witnessed the scene. Edward held me protectively, glaring at them.

"Who are you?" he asked.

"That is none of your business, bloodsucker. What is our business is that there is a seriously injured Nephilim in your arms right now that needs to be taken care of, or she will die."

Jace's clipped, brusque tone was very blunt. Edward's face was impassive. A few agonizing moments passed. Edward then spoke up,

"Nephilim?"

"Part angel- part human."

Edward raised an inquisitive brow.

"What happened to her?"

"A water demon just attacked her, and she is going to die in approximately forty-five minutes if we don't get her to the institute right now," Jace said.

Edward looked at Jace, then Alec, then Isabelle, obviously reading their minds.

I looked from one face to another, trying to decipher their emotions, when I felt an agonizing pain rip through my body like a poison. I screamed, falling to the floor. My entire body felt like it was on fire, every nerve, every inch of it. I screamed and thrashed around on the floor when I felt Edward's arms pull my hands back in an iron grip.

"It's the venom! Quick, get her into the truck. We don't have much time!" Alec's voice echoed through the night. I kept thrashing as the pain got worse.

"ISABELLE, GET THE SEDATIVE!" Jace yelled. A few moments later, I felt a sharp sting, and my world went black.