Bella POV:
I woke up sometime in the middle of the night, still curled up on the couch, with the calming smell of Edward still clinging to my clothes. The day's events came crashing back to me, and suddenly my throat was on fire, the flames flicking against the delicate flesh. To swallow was like swallowing sandpaper, only worse. However, that's not what caused my breathing to accelerate, and my heart to pound so loudly it almost deafened me.
I broke the silence, and the others knew about James. Even worse, they knew about Seth and the real truth behind my parent's murder. The fact that I might as well have pulled the trigger myself for letting that demon inside the house.
"I know that look Bells," I jumped and whipped my head to my right. Sitting groggily in his wheelchair, was Billy. "That's the same exact look your father would get when he thought he'd done something wrong, or hadn't done his best."
Billy extended his hand, slipping an ice cold glass of water into my shaky hand. I signed him a 'thank you', almost afraid to speak until the icy liquid could extinguish the inferno in my throat. It only dulled the flames, but it was enough for me to speak, only in the confines of this small house, where my voice would stay behind when I left.
"I don't ever remember him doing things wrong, he'd always been my hero. He was always invincible and indestructible," I smiled sadly and sipped my water again before meeting Billy's gaze, my eyes felt as dry as my throat did, but twice as puffy. "You know, I use to think he was a super hero when I was little? He would always play along with it. I remember he once told me that his uniform was his disguise, to keep the villains from knowing his true identity," my smile faltered, and my eyes cast downward. "I suppose a disguise does little when the villain is your partner."
