Chapter 1: Crush and Birth
"That's it Bella"
Charlie shouted smacking his fist on the table. Bella looked at him disinterested, she had that faraway look in her eyes a lot since the night the Cullens left, and heft her behind. He knew that look well; it was in his own eyes every time he looked in the mirror the past eighteen years.
A virtual light bulb went on above his head. Without waiting for a reply that would never come he grabbed his daughter's hand and dragged her outside the house and into the cruiser's passenger seat. He got in the driver's seat and sped out of town towards the beach house he rented every summer when he had Bella
"What are you doing?"
The girl asked confused. Good! A new emotion
"Taking initiative"
He replied cryptically. For the first time in a month Bella Swan felt something. Fear.
Sometimes experience can save your life. Charlie had one fifth of the second to see and react to the scene his headlights shed light to but the Ford Crown cruiser's tires got slashed by the glass on the road and he crashed sideways.
To his rescue came the angle in which the sedan hit the other car and the strong build of his cruiser. The right front part of the car bent so much that the car folded inside it, blew the tire and the force shoved the glove compartment and its airbag straight into Bella's chest. She thought it saved her life. In reality it broke a few ribs.
The car swirled on the side, the seatbelt pulling to the maximum level breaking his left shoulder bone before the cruiser tilted sideways and smacked to the other car breaking the passenger window, the glass showering Bella.
"Are you ok baby?"
Charlie stammered, his basic medical training coming out to play. Smelling gas he was quick to open his door with his uninjured hand and used the now torn seatbelt as a makeshift restraint for his injured shoulder. Bella nodded she was as the glass sparkled under the bright sunlight on her face and upper body.
"Can you move?"
"I can try"
Came her small voice and she pushed her seat back as far as it would go and crawled out of the car on his side. She didn't tell him she could hardly breath.
Charlie took a few steps back and used his cell phone to call for an ambulance and the police station. He didn't tell his daughter that he was in serious pain or that he could not feel his left arm and hand at all.
Bella's mind was far too active for the first time since that night at the woods and she staggered towards the large grey SUV that hit them. In the driver's seat was a very pregnant and unresponsive woman. Bella gasped and opened the driver's door to check the woman's pulse, exhaling in relief when she found it. Then she saw the blood pooling between the older woman's legs.
"DAD!"
She shouted, Charlie ran to her and gasped seeing the woman. Between his broken shoulder and Bella's broken ribs they had the woman on the ground.
They watched in horror as sickening sounds came from her huge stomach. Slowly the sounds became louder and a thing literally clawed its way out of her protruding stomach.
"I'm gonna be sick"
Bella muttered and fell to her knees. Charlie was more seasoned though and found it in himself to go closer and pick up the screaming creature. Under all the blood was... a... baby?
Bella was holding the woman's hand tightly so she was able to hear her when she whispered something
"Please, don't let them take her"
The woman's last breath was the baby's name, Joy. Bella's eyes however were set on the side of the woman's neck where a scar, identical to the one on her wrist, was.
Her broken ribs were jolted around with her moves, piercing her lungs and she felt the rusty taste of blood pulling in her mouth. She had seen enough episodes of E.R. to understand what was happening. It looked like she'd die young after all.
"I love you daddy"
She whispered before her eyes closed
Hearing a thumb Charlie whipped around ignoring how lightheaded he's suddenly become.
"Shit Bells"
He stumbled at her side ignoring the searing pain at his shoulder as he tightened his useless arm around the strangely wide eyed baby and dropped onto his knees next to his daughter.
"Bells"
He presses his freezing fingers against the pulse in her throat but there was no pulse.
"No"
He screamed and irrationally began to shake her as if she was deeply sleeping as his eyes water and curses loudly about the damn paramedics. Nothing happened. He closed his eyes and let the pain take him away.
The sirens of ambulances and the police were heard roughly five minutes later.
"Hello cute baby"
Charlie opened his eyes smelling the putrid air full of disinfectant. He was at a hospital. Again.
He took a moment to survey himself. He had a massive headache and his left arm hurt like a bitch. Not on the shoulder though, instead he wore a soft cast on his lower arm. Happy to know how he was his eyes traveled around the room and stopped on Bella who was oogling at the newborn baby in her arms. Her eyes met his and he was happy to note the sparkle in them.
"Daddy"
She let a low whistle and hugged him tightly careful not to jostle him to much.
"What happened?"
He rasped and drank the water she offered.
"No idea. The paramedics told me I had a couple bruised ribs and you have a broken arm that may take some time to heal. The other woman is dead. The doctors said we had angels watching over us"
She scoffed.
"I remember my shoulder breaking"
"And I remember tasting blood in my mouth"
She replied serious. She had felt a venom-like burning for a few minutes and soon after that woken up feeling… great actually. Sure, her chest hurt a little but that was it. She remembered Charlie using only his right hand and she had seen a nurse clean up the newborn baby that had blood smeared around its mouth.
In her mind, there was no other explanation, the baby was a vampire.
Only its venom didn't kill you, it saved you.