I swung a hard left, and sped over the boundary. That’s when the beach came into view, and my vampire senses kicked in. Her scent wasn’t headed for Jacob’s…it was headed up towards the cliffs. Then I saw her, a small, insignificant little dot on the distant cliff edge. But what really got me worried, was her posture. She was standing there, crouched with her arms stretched outward before her, her face raised to the sky. Then, as I watched in total horror, she sprung from the edge and fell, flailing and screaming, toward the black, frothing water below.

That’s when the rain began.

“No!” I screamed incoherently. I was angry, so angry the driving wheel was protesting between my hands. Where was Jacob? Why wasn’t he watching over her? Why was she jumping off a cliff, anyway? And then a more potent question hit me. What was I doing just sitting here?

And with that I threw myself from the car, leaving it spinning and still running to crash into a nearby tree; but I didn’t care, for my Bella was hanging in midair, and I had to save her.

My feet hit the pebbles like boulders, crunching them to rubble. Then the water rose up around my ankles, then my waist. All I could think was: Bella. Bella. My sweet, soft, breakable Bella.

I heard her soft, exultant scream before I saw her head disappear beneath the waves. Two seconds later I threw myself headfirst into the current, kicking and reaching with all my strength. I propelled myself through the water, not breaking the surface until I had to see which direction to head. The water was black and freezing, even to my granite skin.

I looked, but her head did not appear above the surface.

My legs thrashed out behind me, my arms stroked at such a fast tempo that waves roared out from them. I threw myself back under the water’s surface and streaked for my beloved.

I screamed to her in my head, Please. Fight. Don’t give up. Swim. Swim to me.

My head broke the surface again, and I was twenty feet away from where she hit the water. I shoved my face back under and peered through the gloom for any trace of my beloved. I saw nothing.

Ten feet. I pushed myself faster, spiraling through the icy waters while a storm raged above my head. I searched and searched, but nothing.

But then, as I was about to return to the surface, I saw her hair. I looked closer and there she was, tossed and turned back and forth by the current, spreading her arms and fingers and kicking around in distress.

My heart exploded with joy. She was alive! And new strength pulsed through my arms, and I streaked for her, a mere three feet away. Then my arms encircled her, and I propelled myself backward; slower this time because of her added weight and my arm wrapped around her.

Our heads broke the surface momentarily, but I don’t think she even got a breath before a wave crashed over our heads and we were forced back under.

“Keep swimming!” I urged her as our heads broke the surface again. Then I was thrown back under, her with me.

She turned her head back and forth, obviously fighting to see through the gloom, though I doubted her weak human eyes could see anything. Her body went limp in my arms.

Another wave knocked us sideward, but I fought the current and got us back on the right track. Her arms stopped moving, her legs stopped kicking, her head sank to her chest.

“Fight!” I screamed at her when I reached the surface again. She didn’t react. “Damn it, Bella, fight!” But she wouldn’t, her eyes were closed and her body was as icy cold as the water.

I shook her, hard. And for a second her head lifted to look at me, and her eyes grew big. Then it sank again, and the life drained from her.

“No! Bella, no!”

I swam extra strong, extra quick. And then the shore came into sight, just ten feet away.

Come on, Bella. I prayed, Wake up for me, babe. Look at me.

But she wouldn’t, and just as my feet struck the pebbles again, her mouth opened, and water gushed down her throat.

Please, Bella.

Saving the Gracious