Chapter 9 Humpty Dumpty Came Crashing Down

"Good evening, Dr. Marrow. Did you dye your hair, again?" One of the ER nurses asked handing me a file.

"Yeah, decided it was time for a change." I flipped through the papers. So far the ER was empty of in danger patients.

"I like it; maybe you should straighten it, too. Maybe your boyfriend would like it." She said with a suggestive look. "He dropped this by for you."

She handed over a manila envelope, the kind the sheriff's deputy delivered. "He's not my boyfriend." Not for lack of trying.

I took the envelope with a nod and headed to my office to drop my stuff off. For the past three months I had been the sheriff's confidential informant, as they put it, and had taken down over thirteen vampires but had failed to take down the vampire ring leader. The police weren't worried but I was. I had made arrangements with James for us to leave as soon as I'd cleaned up my connection to the police. Or in the case that I did finally take down the guy and I could live with leaving this place, we could leave quietly.

The envelope contained payment for the previous week's excursion and a note to meet the deputy at the local café for breakfast. I debated the idea of going but decided to leave that for later. My first patient was a little girl that had tripped and fallen down the stairs while playing with her cat. Besides the cut on her forehead, all she had were bruises thankfully no broken bones. She was still upset when I walked in the room and her mother was beside herself with worry. Pulling on a pair of plastic gloves I squatted down in front of the girl with a big smile.

"Hi there, I'm Jenny, what's your name?" I asked gently.

The little girl sniffled, trying to pull herself together. "L-Lily."

"Well, Lily, I have a little something for you." I pulled a lollipop out of my lab coat and the girl seemed to relax. "Now, Mom, the cut isn't deep and it doesn't appear to need stitches. In that case we use a little super glue; most people call it liquid stitches, to close the cut and seal it off from infection. Okay?"

The woman nodded just as there was a knock on the door, "Dr. Marrow?"

"In a moment, I'm with a patient right now." I grabbed the small tube and dabbed some on to the girl's forehead. She whimpered a few times but otherwise remained calm. "Alright one last thing, I'm going to ask some questions, Lily, okay? Just answer as best you can." I wiggled two fingers in front of her face. "How many?"

"Two." She answered with a smile.

I finished the test and gave her mother instructions to do the same thing every few hours and that if Lily fell asleep to wake her up every so often to make sure she could wake up. One of the nurses came in and did the last little bit of the check up and helped the mother fill out the last bit of paperwork. On their way out Lily waved with a girlish smile. I waved back with a genuine smile. The nurses chuckled and cooed at the cute little girl. Someone pointed out that her lips were stained red; I stuck my tongue out at them.

"You have a way with kids." The Deputy said.

The same nurse who had handed me the envelope earlier waged her eyebrows at us. "We're going to talk in my office, get Dr. Lane if you need anything or page me if there's an emergency." I led him down the sterile white hallways to my small office and closed the door behind us. "I thought I was supposed to meet you for breakfast."

"Yes, well, you see Ms. Swan, things change." My blood ran cold as he turned around to face me. Blood red eyes met mine as I backed up into the door. "You had me fooled, you know that? That was until I met Damien. Dying your hair, hunting vampires, living away from everyone…who else needs to do stuff like that? But now of course it makes sense." His fingers brushed my cheek bone. "How many people have died because you've been here in hiding this whole time?"

He was so close, so cold. Had it really been just a half hour since I'd joked about him wanting to be my boyfriend? Now looking into those red eyes I wondered when I had ever felt so afraid. Not since the time in Phoenix, with the vampire James. I shouldn't have though; my hand felt the hilt of the knife I always carried at my side. My heart calmed as my fingers wrapped around it. He didn't have the power here, I did. The knife didn't even flash as I moved it. He saw it coming and grabbed my wrist. Twisting he attempted to remove the knife. I kicked and slashed at him managing to give him a large gash in the arm he'd been holding me with.

"My aren't we feisty? Doesn't matter though, he knows Isabella and he's coming."

Even veiled in a cryptic message the end result was clear. Edward was on his way to get me and, most likely, add Canada to his list of conquests. I could let this happen here. The hospital didn't need this on their heads right now. I dashed past the bleeding vampire and slid out a window. He followed but I just had to get to my car to have the upper hand. My feet pounded grass and pavement as I worked my way to my car. The cold air burned my lungs as I searched behind me for my pale vampire tail. Finally the dark green paint job caught my eye and I turned sharply.

"You can't run from me Bella, not on foot, not in your car, and you can't run from Edward either."

His name pierced the night air. It shocked me the way I didn't react the way I normally did when I thought about him. "Who said I'm not done hiding?"

I reached my hand into the Jeep and opened the glove box. My hand gun was there with its silencer. Quickly screwing the thick cylinder on to the gun I found the former sheriff's deputy in the moon light. He was still a ways back, certain I could not escape. Now, now I had the upper hand. I spun and shot. The first shot hit his gut so I shot again. The second shot hit higher and he was doubled over in pain from the wounds as I climbed in the jeep. Wheeling around the stumbling vampire I shot him once more in the back and pulled him into the back. Once I'd covered the body and stashed the gun I called James.

"Meet me in the woods; we're having a bonfire tonight."

"Really, you caught one and you plan on burning it?" James asked somewhere just beyond consciousness.

"Yes. I shot him three times and he's feeling the effects of the silver but I'm not going to risk him regaining his strength." I glanced back at his blackening skin and my stomach churned.

I looked back to the darkened road and tightened my grip on the wheel. No, no I couldn't go back to being stupid little weak Bella. No, she had died the moment Edward had left on is crusade. What remained was strength learned from hard work and the pain of loss. This was the new me, not Dr. Jennifer Marrow, not Isabella Swan, but someone else entirely. Someone I had created to be the strong side, to protect the weaker identities. Or maybe, this was the real Bella. Maybe Jennifer was the weak one who was in hiding.

There were headlights shining out of my driveway when I passed by. James pulled out and followed me to a commonly used campsite about 10 miles behind my house well hidden in the woods. For some reason I felt jumpy in the darkness. Edward was coming, but that meant he wasn't here yet. The Deputy was still a newborn which accounted for him still being alive and also meant he would have only recently been in contact with Edward. I had two days at least before Edward showed up. Two days…it wasn't much but I could work with it.

"Gather some wood; we need to make a pyre." I said as soon as we had both gotten out of our cars. Silver could do the job but it could take a while. Fire was the best choice.

We gaged him before we lit the wood. The smoke danced hot and sweet smelling before us as we stood in silence. "What happens now?" He asked.

"The vampire I've been chasing must have changed him when he figured out that the police were paying me. The others are probably dead." I stated trying to keep down any emotion. It was my fault they were dead. "He needs to be gotten rid of. We have another problem though, Edward's coming. By my best guess we have two days before he's here, maybe more if he does what he did to Europe here."

"Where will we go?"

"We take to the road. No real destination, just roam. We can survive in the wilderness, rummage through abandoned cities if we need to. I'll keep killing vampires anyway I can but survival is the key." The flames danced throwing shadows everywhere.

"You used to tell me about where you came from. Couldn't we go there?"

Memories flashed in front of me. Summers at La Push with Jake and the stupid tantrums that ended my visits. My old truck, Jake had brought it back so that I could have it. The good times with Edward, our meadow, his kisses, and all the other things he did that made my heart stop. Then my birthday, all those years ago, everything coming crashing down. And Jake being there to pick up the pieces as the pack taught me to be strong. My brothers and sisters, I missed them. I saw my goodbye to Jake, felt his hug as I reflected on his secret confession. Then there was the dream. I felt so cold despite the heat of the fire, I wished he was there to warm me and give me strength. But I had left to save him; I couldn't risk his life even if it meant not knowing how he'd turned out in the end.

"No," I answered hoarsely. "We resist or I'll resist and you just do whatever."

"I'm coming with you. I'll get things ready for us to leave if you can get us a cover."

I nodded and got in my car. He stayed and watched the fire burn so he could put it out later. I picked up my newer cell and called the hospital. "This is Dr. Marrow," my voice still sounded horrible.

"Doctor! What happened, you and that man just disappeared? Everyone's been looking for you!" the nurse exclaimed.

"I'm sorry. I just suddenly felt very sick. Right now I'm pretty sure it's the flu. My friend just wanted to make sure I got home safely." I groaned for effect and out of exhaustion. "Look, I don't think I'll be in tomorrow."

"I'll log it in and get someone to cover it for you." She said.

"Thanks."

I relaxed into my seat and drove home in silence. It disturbed me how good I was getting at lying. Before I couldn't even lie about doing homework but ever since I met Edward I had perfected my own style and art of lying. Once again it made me question who I was and how I had changed since I left home. I forced myself to stay away from what people would think of the new me. I wasn't even sure what I thought about myself. The woman in the mirror wasn't even close to who I'd been.

Getting back to my house I changed out of my scrubs and found the envelope the deputy had brought with him. I opened it cautiously, not surprised when I didn't find money inside. Instead there was a single slip of paper folded several times. No doubt it was from the mysterious "Damien" who was skilled at avoiding death. I read it as I redressed in my gear and drank an energy drink in preparation for a long night. There was almost no information in the note just threats, most likely empty threats since the only threat he could truly follow through on was the Edward coming to get me. I straightened the collar of my leather jacket as James came in.

"The fire's out, we didn't have much of a response from the police." James said taking off his coat. He paused with one arm free.

"I suspect that the police are dead, changed, or on the run." I looked at him as he stared at my clothing. "What?"

"You're going after the one that did this aren't you?"

"That was the idea, yes." I checked my knife and then my gun before putting them in their respective holsters. "I need you to pack the Jeep and then go to the grocer. Get as much fresh meat and vegetables as possible to fit in the coolers. Get as much nonperishables as you think we can fit and then fill the gas canisters and the tank. Whatever gear you haven't already picked up, now the best time to go get them." I took a breath and got ready to leave. "And medicine. Find a way to stock up on medicine. I don't want to have to scavenge for that in an emergency."

"Is that it?"

"No. Don't get caught."

I made eye contact with him for a moment and then left. We had our jobs to do. I sat on my bike and pushed the helmet down on to my head. The first thing I did was check out the police station and the carnage I could only assume was there. Maybe there was a clue there as to where Damien had vanished to. I pulled off the road to a building that looked almost too much like the police station in Forks and still set me on edge. Dismounting I walked up to the front entrance cautiously. Only then did I realize what had set me off earlier. It was dead quiet and dark and even in a small town the police still ran a 24/7 shift, someone should have been there. Grabbing my flash light I entered slowly. When I found no one I grabbed my gun too. The uneasy feeling returned until the thin beam of light landed on a pale figure.

"Let me guess, Damien?" I asked.

Within the hour it will be 2013. Personally I'm excited. R&R!